Woo Hoo!

My Too Cute bookmark made the front page in this great looking treasury last night. Thanks to Jenn for letting me know about it. And thank you to the new blog and twitter followers. There's still a few days left to enter my August giveaway! Winner to be announced on September 1st.

And I'll finally be able to find out if we're expecting a boy or a girl on the 2nd! My doctor is making me wait - poo on him! - until then. At least he/she is kicking lots, which makes me happy.

Have a great weekend! I'll be back in a day or two to unveil some new items.

New Shop Items

Finally listed a few new tees in the shop. More things are coming and I will hopefully get around to adding them sometime next week.

Clever Kitty Boatneck

Light Aqua Hi Kitty Shirred Front Tee

I'm meeting Matt for lunch soon - my hard working hubby who was asked to work on the weekend - so I'll say Ciao for now!

Happy Furry Friday!

Here's an iphone snapshot that Matt took of the kitty he and a coworker rescued earlier this week. She looks pretty big here, but I think she was actually tiny. We tried to go see her after work that day, but were told that we wouldn't be able to until 4 days had passed. The owner apparently had 48 hours to come and claim her if she wanted. We're hoping that whatever happens the kitty is doing well and finds a good home. As much as we'd love to adopt her, 2 kitties and a baby on the way are plenty for now.

Happy Furry Friday!

It's a...

?? MYSTERY ??

still

--- what we're having.

We went for the latest ultrasound yesterday, where the sex of our baby could have been determined. But the technician said at the beginning that she wouldn't be allowed to tell me if it was a boy or girl. That's the doctor's responsibility. So Matt and I are trying to be patient with it... My next doctor's appointment isn't until September 9th, but I can call my doctor and get the news in a week. I will probably call him before the end of this week though :)

We will be happy either way, but we both have a feeling it's a girl. And of course the most important thing is that he/she is healthy. And from the ultrasound, baby seemed to be doing well. He/she is growing bigger everyday (along with my belly) with a good heartbeat, so we're pleased.

I also found out what caused my erroneous blood test results last month... someone messed up and entered the wrong estimated due date, which totally affected my numbers. And luckily someone noticed the error. It was good to get to the bottom of things, considering all the stress it put us through.

Okay, these are a little late, but I have a hard time taking decent photos of myself. At least ones that I feel okay sharing with others.

before

after

My haircut couldn't have been timed better though. The past week has been so hot and humid, I'm glad I don't have hair flowing down my back right now. Plus I was badly in need of a cut, I had so many split ends. Although I'm not a Katie Holmes fan at all, I do like her hair right now. And I thought a short bob would be more manageable as I transition into motherhood. That's what the cut was based on, but of course it never looks exactly like the photo you bring in, at least for me.


I also went on a little shopping spree last week, spending some birthday money from my sister. I had planned on getting stuff for my home office from Ikea (of course) but ended up buying some much needed maternity clothes instead.

I adore this tunic from Suzy Shier that I think will serve me well into the Fall/Winter season over a pair of leggings.


New sandals were on my list of things to get too but I didn't see any that I liked at the Mall, so I decided to save that purchase for another day. Go figure that as I was walking to meet Matt after work for one of his coworker's going away party, my one sandal decides to come apart. I still had several blocks to go so prayed that there was shoe store around. Luckily there was one just down the street and I limped my way over, then rather hastily bought a pair of sneakers AND a pricey pair of sandals.



Love the red sneakers despite the one giving my right heel a beating on the walk home, but I will be returning the sandals as I don't really like the way they fit my feet.


I'll round out this post with a photo of some less recent purchases: these sweet miniature renditions of Suki and Dex in paperclay by one talented artist and devoted animal lover/activist. They have the purrfect place on my desk atop this darling miniature chair that I found at Value Village many months ago and share it with two ceramic lucky kitties from my mom.

And new things are coming to the shop soon. Really! Ciao for now.

The August Giveaway & A Superbad Cat

(Click on image for a closer view)

I've been superbad at blogging lately, but honestly haven't felt inspired to write much lately. It's time for the August giveaway though, so a post is due!

This month's giveaway features some great summery items...

The prizes: include two tank tops, one each of pirate kitty and clever kitty (pick from S-L); a clever kitty glass tile pendant necklace and three moustache kitty buttons in new eye-catching colours. Total value = $67 US

To enter: All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your favourite movie has been so far this summer - could be one that you saw in a theatre, on dvd or on tv, old or new.

As usual, any purchases made in my shop from now until the 31st will also get your name entered in the draw.

For bonus entries: Become a follower of my blog (follow button to the left) and/or on twitter and come back here to let me know that you did so.

**********

Since I did not hear back from the original winner of last month's giveaway, Matt redrew a name last night. This time Ashley was the lucky kitty! So I will be in touch with her shortly and hopefully get those goodies mailed out to her early next week. If worse comes to worse and I don't hear back, I will simply add last month's prize to this month's. How's that for a prize?!

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In kitty news, I was not a pleased kitty mom the other night, after discovering a chunk of fur missing out of Suki's neck scruff. The cats were alone in the house for about 7 hours - not long at all - but ample time for Dex to get restless and decide to use Suki as his plaything. Of course, I don't know for sure that he was the cause of her little wound, but that's my first guess, since I found a few tufts of fur scattered on the floor downstairs. Plus Suki has never hurt herself on anything else in our place before (knock on wood!).

My little sweetpea, I'm sure she curses me for the day I brought Dex home. He is actually really good-natured 99% of the time and I don't think he ever means to harm Suki. And after their last vet visit, we found out he's not even that much heavier than her anymore (9.5 pounds vs. about 8 pounds), but still, that little bit of size difference plus the fact that he's younger and male gives him the advantage when he decides to wrestle with Suki. The way she's yowled before, I know she doesn't enjoy "playtime".

Anyways, I'll be back in a few days with photos of some recent purchases, my new do and hopefully the results of my next ultrasound!

Happy Weekend!

Missing in Action

Baby bump at 17.5 weeks

Oh, Blog! How I've neglected you.
You could say I went AWOL.
(This post should make up for it. Beware, it's a big long-winded)

But I had good reason to these past several weeks.

Various projects have been keeping me busy. A graphic design job - my first big design job really - has been taking up most of my time. It's been fun and a good learning experience, but reminds me that I'm not creating my own things. So I'm looking forward to when I finally finish everything and can get back into creating for myself.

I also had a few wholesale/custom orders to fulfill. And some shops to restock.

But most significantly, Matt and I had a rather unnerving development with the pregnancy the other week...when I got a phone call from my doctor's office. You know how they tell you no news is good news? Well, to put it mildly, I was not too happy to have received that call.

I had gone for my 3rd prenatal visit mid-month and since I was around 15 weeks, I was due for some genetic screening. This is optional, but I didn't know that until after doing some reading on the internet. My doctor seemed to have thought my results would be normal. But 4 days after I had my blood taken, I got a call asking me to go in to speak with my doctor about the results. No other explanation really and since it was the end of the day he had already left. It was not a good night for us. Matt and I both had sinking feelings.

So the next day I got in touch with him to find out more. I was partly glad I did, but also a sobbing mess after I had. The gist of it was that my blood test indicated I was at a higher risk for a baby with a chromosomal disorder, specifically Down Syndrome. It didn't mean it was definitely true, but it certainly wasn't good news to us.

To hear this after months of carrying this little growing miracle inside me, after months of trying to get pregnant, after years of trying not to, was just a little devastating. We all hope for healthy babies and to be told that yours may not be is a big blow. You wonder if you could have done anything different? You wonder "Why us"? You pray (even though you're not religious) that things will turn out alright.

After a night of soul-searching and deep discussion, Matt and I decided that we would continue with the pregnancy, and we would love our baby no matter what. And we opted not to have an amniocentesis - the invasive procedure involving a needle going into my amniotic sac - even if it would tell us one way or the other whether our baby was healthy. The slight risk of miscarriage was not worth it to us.

I know the thought of terminating a pregnancy wouldn't ever cross some people's minds, even if they knew their baby had some kind of deficiency. But I have to be honest and say that it did cross mine. I may be getting myself into some sticky territory here by admitting that, but becoming a parent is scary enough to me. To think that we'd have to raise a child who was born with a disadvantage terrified me. I didn't think I could handle it. But I know it was just my fear getting to me. Plus I couldn't imagine ever going through with that.

The next day, Matt and I were able to see my doctor in person and he went over my results again, and explained that the next thing to do would be to get an amniocentesis, if we wanted. He said that most people who had the procedure and did find out that their baby had Downs decided to terminate. Since we'd already decided against one, the appointment was more of a formality. The doctor just wanted us to be aware of our options.

Anyways, we took our time getting home from the doctor's. When we finally did get back, there happened to be a message from him. Another phone call! What could have happened in the few hours that I had seen him? I called him back immediately and was floored by what he told me. Apparently he was faxed new blood test results and this time the news was much better... like 250% better!

The weird thing is that I never had any more blood taken. So where was this coming from? And why had they done the test again? Or was it not my results that they initially gave me? Matt and I were pretty confused but a lot relieved. The doctor told me not to worry anymore and well, I'm trying not to. It's all really a waiting game now. And I'll find out more in a few weeks' time at my next checkup.

So, now for the winner of my second blog giveaway! Matt picked the name again and the lucky winner is Kim! Although there were only 4 comments on the blog post, other ways to enter the draw including buying something from my shop and also being one of my Happy Customers on flickr. Kim sent me a photo of herself in one of my mustache kitty tees a while back, so earned an entry into the draw. I'm not sure what this month's giveaway will entail yet, but I promise it will be another good one.

That's all for now. Happy (Long) Weekend (to my fellow Maple Leafs)!