I spoke too soon..

So you know how I said I luckily hadn't gotten morning sickness at all? Well it turns out I spoke too soon. Who knew it could creep up on you at week 16? I sure didn't! So here I sit, hoping that my breakfast stays down today, Taco napping beside me and knowing I should be reading for my Masters class this evening.

Speaking of Taco, we had a trainer come by on Monday to help us with his bad habits of pulling while on leash and not returning when we call him. She said that we were off to a great start! Taco is such a sweet dog that I knew it wouldn't be terribly difficult to train him but the extra help is very appreciated. She gives us a lot of little tips and tricks and I will definitely let you know how it goes over the next few weeks. We especially wanted to take care of this before baby comes, so Taco doesn't pull me out into the street or anything crazy!

As for my masters in second language education, things are going really well. I'm happy to be back at McGill where I did my undergraduate degree. This semester I'm taking Stats and Critical Race and Indigenous Theory. I hadn't done any math since high school, so stats is definitely a change of pace for me, but it has been going really well. In CRIT, I've been reading about so many things I didn't know about such as slavery in Canada (our history is full of covered-up blemishes of the sort) as well as mass incarceration in the USA.

To those of you who have previously dealt with morning sickness, do you have any tips? I find now I'm afraid of eating!

I'm a REAL tree hugger

First of all, for those of you who aren't aware:

Our family is growing and so is my belly! It is super duper exciting! Now that I'm out of the first trimester, let me share with you a few things that I did not expect about pregnancy, so that if you are thinking of getting pregnant you might be better prepared (then again, everyone is different, so this may just be my personal journey):

1. I had crazy doctor issues when I found out I was pregnant so I had to run around to find a doctor and felt very stressed about it. Now I can't complain too much because every doctor I saw was free (yay free healthcare!) and attentive, but if you don't have a doctor yet, I suggest you find one BEFORE you get pregnant - it will save you some stress.
2. Nausea is different for different people, and I was one of the lucky who didn't have terrible nausea, but when I did, it did not feel like what I expected. It was this odd sensation of being REALLY hungry, like my stomach was about to eat itself, but at the same time the thought of food made me want to throw up. Basically its a vicious circle because you are terribly hungry, but when you think of something you could eat you feel sick. As I said, I was lucky I never got sick and I found the way to trick my body was to NEVER allow myself to get hungry. This brings me to my next point:
3. You will eat and sleep CONSTANTLY. Oh dear. I literally ate every two hours, but I always tried to eat healthy small snacks, like carrots, mandarins, yogurt, crackers, those kinds of things. But I was ravenous the whole time. I also am off work on preventative leave so maybe I wouldn't have slept so much if I didn't have the choice to sleep so much. I napped two to three times a day and slept a solid ten hours a night. I figure this is like putting money in the bank for the sleepless nights ahead... haha... 
4. You feel like you are getting fat. I gained 7 pounds during the first trimester but there is no cute belly to show for it yet, you basically just get thicker around the middle. It's a very odd sensation. 

Now I know you know I'm a pretty spiritual person and that I am quite quirky. Since we moved to our condo, I walk by this tree on my way to the metro every day, twice a day: 

You can't really tell from this angle, but that huge knot in the tree looks like a fetus (at least it does to me). Every time I walked by it I thought somehow it would help me get pregnant when the time was right, and it did! So now when I walk by, I hug it. When I told my husband this he laughed and asked what people said when they saw this. I have had no comments and no strange looks so far, people tend to mind their business. I feel an odd connection and sense of gratefulness to this tree, as crazy as that might sound. I'll continue to hug it whenever I feel the urge, as I somehow think it helps keep baby and me healthy.