Top 10 Quiz

I had a couple ideas about what to write today... I'd love to do a review of my strollers (cause I'm a bit of a stroller whore) and I have some interesting thoughts on parenting the second time around... buuuut I'm just not up to it today.

Instead I'm going to take a page from the blog Controlled Chaos and do a little quiz!

1. What topics do you most like to read about on blogs?
I'm all about the parenting blogs right now. I love reading reviews, recipes, birth experiences and opinions on different parenting styles. Plus, it's always nice to know there are moms out there who's lives are just like mine and full of the same struggles and humor.

2. What are your favorite blogs?
Well that's easy, they're all right there on my blog list. I will add that I LOVE the recipes from Kevin & Amanda's blog (which isn't a parenting blog at all). Also, Peaceful Parenting has a lot of interesting articles related to attachment parenting.

3. How did you decide your family size?
I was always kind of a tomboy. I never dreamed of the perfect wedding or the picket fence. However, I always felt I knew I would one day have two kids (although I imagined a girl and boy). When we became unexpectedly pregnant with Kaeda we talked about it again. Both B and I didn't feel right about having an only child, and as I grew up with just one sibling I felt two was perfect. We decided that three years was as big a gap as we wanted and so as that time drew near we started trying for a second.
I feel that I have been waiting to meet Bowynn for so much longer because we planned a second baby long before she was conceived.

4. How did you grow up?
When I think of my childhood I feel lucky. My parents were older but stable, loving and respectful. They took us on trips, were very involved in our day-to-day and schools. We lived in the same house the whole time and had a wide range of pets. My younger brother and I always got along and are still good friends. We have a colourful and loving extended family and are all very close.
Of course there are things I want to do differently with my kids and perhaps things I might have changed - but overall when I think of my childhood I picture sunny days, the smell of fresh cut grass and the whole family outside together.
A very different upbringing from B's.

5. How did you meet your spouse?
It was my 19th birthday and my friends and I all went out to celebrate. My boyfriend at the time had gone to school with B. When we showed up at the bar it was closed. B and his friends happened to be outside contemplating what to do about this when I invited them to join us at a different bar. B and I became friends quickly. He was different from anyone I'd ever met and we just got each other in a way I'd never known before.
Because we don't recall when we actually started dating we celebrate my birthday as our anniversary.

6. How were you proposed to?
After Kaeda I told him I didn't want to get married just because we were having a baby - I had seen too many marriages not work on those grounds. The summer of 2009 saw our family (and extended) in some really rough places. It made us both realize how short life can be and how happy we were with each other. I was planning on proposing to him when apparently he had the same idea!
I thought we were going for a late birthday celebration (he had been out of town). We went to a fancy restaurant in Victoria and then B took me up to the top of Mt. Doug. He was worried that the fog would ruin the view but as it turned out we were looking down at a misty city of shimmering lights and the sky was clear and full of stars - he couldn't have planned it better. He pointed out different places and told me stories about his youth and then he gave me my birthday present. I opened it to find an iPhone box, inside the box was another box - and the ring!

7. What do you believe?
Well that's not a loaded question, but I'll give you an idea:
I believe in family. That believing in yourself can make anything possible. I believe in adopting pets from shelters. I believe balance - of food, tv, computers, activity, etc. I believe that people change, and in seeing both sides of an argument. I believe in 'intact' baby boys and breastfeeding. I believe that a baby's cry should always be answered. I believe that marijuana should be legalized. I believe that engaging children is the key to education. That empathy should be taught to discourage bullying. I believe in pro-choice and that child-abusers should be shot. I believe in the saying "it takes a village to raise a child".

8. What are your favorite things?
Drink: Coffee!
Band: The Beatles
Show: True Blood
Chore: re-organizing/de-cluttering
Season: Summer
Book: That's too hard! Let's just say anything Tamora Pierce.

9. What do you normally wear?
Lately... yoga pants. Yoga pants and a light top of some kind - I get warm too easily.

10. How did pregnancy affect you?
Well I suppose! I worked right until 9 months with Kaeda. I felt pretty good, a few aches and pains near the end - about 10 minutes of morning sickness all together. Bowynn I felt a little worse off at the start but less of the aches and pains near the end. Although I'm sure I whined plenty I really had nothing to complain about when you hear some of the stories of bed rest and puking every morning.