friday the 13th: part II.

December 13, 2013February 16, 2014 by Joanne ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

What? Not this again…

Today marks the second occurrence of Friday the 13th this year. It’s been a fairly innocuous day thus far, yet I can’t help but think back to Friday, September 13th, and the bomb that was dropped on me that morning.

I have talked about my superstitions in various posts in this blog, but aside from a single unfortunate coincidence, I’ve no real ties to (nor fears about) this day. Still, in keeping with the somewhat ominous tone of Friday the 13th, I thought I’d share something that I’ve been keeping to myself for a while…

* * *
I am a creature of the night, and my habitual night owl tendencies have been thrown into overdrive by my inability to sleep comfortably for any stretch of time. To fill the hours between sleep and wakefulness, I rely on my old friend internet to keep me entertained. I’ve mentioned that I’m an avid reader of mommy blogs, but my natural curiosity finds me poking my nose into things that are likely best left alone while pregnant.

bucking superstition.

October 3, 2013February 2, 2014 by Joanne ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Praying to St. Joseph, patron saint of pregnant ladies.

Even though I’ve made a point to blog fairly regularly about my pregnancy, IRL I’ve been fairly low-key about it, keeping it mostly mum among even my friends and off social media. That’s because I’m wildly superstitious.

In my first trimester, I refused to linger in the childrens’ aisles of clothing stores, never giving more than a passing glance to the adorably shrunken versions of adult items – hoodies, pea coats, cargo pants for boys, or leggings, tunics and blazers for girls. As if just gazing upon these items would trigger a miscarriage or some kind of uterine mishap. At that time, I didn’t even know whether Peanut was a he or a she, so it didn’t make much sense to purchase as much as a onesie in a gender-neutral green, grey or yellow.

I just figured it was bad luck to buy something so early in the pregnancy, when it’s been proved, time and time again, that anything can go wrong in the early days. Better to just wait until I got the all-clear, no?

And even then, there’s no real guarantee that I/we were “safe”… Read more ›

weekend wrap-up: mixed bag.

July 6, 2013February 2, 2014 by Joanne ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Miscellany. This ‘n’ that. You know, just…stuff.

almost 100% positive
I went to see my GP on Thursday. She was surprised to see me, as I just had a physical not too long ago, and last week I’d gone in for a consult on an ingrown hair that had got a little out of control. “You’re back again? What now, girl?”

I told her about the missed period and the positive pregnancy test. “You don’t say?” She exclaimed. Her reaction was like that of a proud aunt. She chattered away excitedly while she filled out the requisition for a blood test and offered an early, but sincere congratulations. Twenty years this woman’s been my doctor. She’s been through a lot with me. As I left her office, lab paperwork in hand, I realized that I’d actually been excited to tell her.

there’s an app for this, natch
I spent the week researching and downloading pregnancy apps. A lot of them are free, and a lot of them are garbage. After loading and deleting several, I settled on the Health & Parenting app, and I think I’ll stick with it. It’s colourful (I’m a magpie), informative and by far the easiest to use. A few simple information inputs, and it calculates things like due dates, and devises a timeline of essential milestones to be aware of. There is a section for mommy (that’s me!), baby, an appointment tracker thingy, tons of infographics and day-by-day illustrations/2D/3D images of the baby at various stages, what it looks like and how big it is. Read more ›

this wasn't in the manual

I'm Joanne: freelancer/blogger/social media thingy and mommy to Aisha, a beautiful little girl with Down Syndrome.

Tag: superstition

bucking superstition.

weekend wrap-up: mixed bag.