I like the Feng Shui philosophy that you need to dejunk once in a while because if you hold onto things that no longer serve a purpose, your beliefs are also holding you back from reaching your full potential in life. Besides, by thinking that you may need it again in the future and therefore you don’t want to part with it, you are confirming to the universe that you don’t believe in your own capability to earn the money in the future that would enable you to buy that item again if need be. Not a very Western way of thinking, is it? “Got too much junk? Buy a bigger house!” “Got too much junk in your garage? Buy organizers to stash all that away!” I didn’t do enough dejunking when I moved out of my mom’s. I just literally opened up my desk drawers and threw the contents of each drawer into its own box. And now I think it’s time to let go of old MAC lip glosses, mismatched earrings, and so on.

I knew the moving day was fast approaching but it kind of crept up on me too. I tried getting a two week head start on organizing and packing but there’s still some stuff to sell and still lots of things to find a proper classification system for. What to store away, what you can’t live without – very difficult to decide. And wow, I never realized my “crafts” category took up so much room! Fabrics, notions, felt, yarn… and guess what, I need that stuff at the most random of times too!

I’m a little anxious to find out how much stuff we’ll need to move in a year for the three of us together. Ayye..

I don’t know if she simply didn’t want to look up the active ingredients of each of those syrups or she really was concerned but I wonder where the line is drawn between what’s best for the mom and the baby? Is it really better for the baby if no meds enter the system and the mom feels like shooting herself for weeks at a time? I remember working with a girl who had a hereditary condition: diagnosing pregnancy was nearly impossible for doctors with her until very late in her term. She only found out at 6 months along! She happened to go to the hospital for food-poisoning-similar symptoms and after 8 hours of tests and scans, they sent her home saying that they couldn’t find anything that was wrong with her. The doctor had to chase her down in the parking lot asking her to return because they noticed in the ultrasound she may be pregnant! But all up until that point she’d have negative blood tests and all that entailed. Then she says that she was really worried about her baby because just a few weeks prior to it she drank a whole lot of alcohol celebrating her boyfriend’s birthday. Her baby was already 1 or 2 years old when we were having this conversation and healthy as a clam. So I’m wondering how much control do we really have over these things? You could do everything by the book, eat the most organic vegetables and exercise as prescribed, and still end up with sketchy test results if you were really meant to be confronted with it. And you could also do everything they tell you not to do and have your fairytale happy ending.

Now I’m not promoting drinking / smoking / using drugs in pregnancy by all means. But I’d say a little cough syrup to ease the suffering of the mother might also be good for the baby? Just a thought. Off for bed rest once again. Wish me luck with the natural remedies.

Pros:

• Jacuzzi before bedtime in the moonlight is truly something
• Room service is included so you don’t need to leave your suite if you don’t feel like it or got *better* things to do!
• Main pool is the cleanest pool I’ve ever seen – you don’t miss the ocean when big waves are striking the shore
• “a la carte” restaurants are on a ‘first come, first served’ basis – no reservations needed and you may go as often as you like
• Biosilk cosmetics line: shampoo, conditioner, bubble bath, and lotion – all available for your personal use in your suite.
• Palace dollars / credits / points: you may use your $1500 credit (available if you book 7 nights) towards things like room upgrades, trips and tours, wine upgrades in restaurants, spa treatments, photo sessions, and even some jewelry (with lots of exceptions, limitations, and being responsible for taxes on the last two listed). You can use these at any of the other palaces if you get to visit them as well.
• Room is serviced three times during the day (twice for cleaning and once for restocking)
• Oriental Restaurant was the most decent one out of all (probably because they get to work with different ingredients there) and you can even take take-out to your room. My favorites there were their desserts, especially the deep-fried ice cream and the tempura banana dessert.

Cons:

•  ”a la carte” is not really what you get in other resorts: same buffet food that gets served to you by waiters now instead of you getting it yourself
• Room service food is a long shot from what our western hotels would call to be room service (again – buffet food only wrapped in plastic wrap)
• LoBster dinner is abysmal – They definitely cook up one old ass lobster for you and oversalt it to a point of no return. And for $350 per couple – are you SERIOUS? I literally had to spit out the lobster due to the awful awful taste it had. And I’m definitely a lobster person, so for me to spit out lobster is just horror!
• Jungle tour, something people rave about in reviews, is no longer covered by palace dollars so you’ll have to settle for something that’s overbooked and less exciting than power boats and snorkeling
• If they include champagne for you, it’s the most bitter kind you’ll taste for free.
• Spa treatments: highly overpriced and delivered by highly underqualified personnel. Waxing: the wax resembled something like an actual glue you might find at a home hardware store at home and it sticks on your skin for days afterwards; the strips would constantly tear up in her hands so at times she would “paint” a new strip on top of the old one to tear it off if she couldn’t get it off herself after 5-6 tries. No joke. Massages ($139 for 50 minutes which was really like 40 minutes given all the time you had to wait for them to set up) are more like being “soaked and stroked” in oil. No real technique, no effort to get the knots out, no knowledge of the body anatomy. And what I hated most about it is that she actually got lots of that oil into my hair by going directly from my shoulders onto my scalp and doing so several times over and over. Truly gross. The pedicure was the only thing that I’d say was decent but at $70 a pop, maybe paint your own toes at home? There’s also a $300 credit limit on spa treatments.
• Just because they say you can spend your credits on jewelry or sunglasses doesn’t mean you get anything for free! If you look really really hard through their little silver store at the hotel (called Fini), you might find a pair of so-so earrings for $125. You can only put $100 of your credits towards earrings or sunglasses and you ‘re responsible for the taxes on those items as well so that’s an additional 11%. Most decent items cost $300 and above. Sunglasses (of a brand I’ve never even heard of before) are something like $500 and $600. You begin to appreciate why that store is empty most of the time now.
• Rooms: we probably got one of the least popular rooms in the whole hotel. We couldn’t upgrade to the concierge level room like we were going to initially because they were at 95% capacity when we checked in. They said we would have a jacuzzi in our room but it ended up being on the balcony because the room was so tiny on its own. It was also located at the end of the hallway, so we had to share our own little “lobby area” with a bigger suite. There was no real space for us to sit and eat inside the room (other than the balcony, on the dusty patio chairs) so occasionally we’d drag the chairs and the coffee table from the common area into our own suite to actually eat the room service food / take out. What’s the point of getting room service if you are forced to eat at the bar or on your bed? And we could hear the conversations word by word from the suite next to us as well as their phone ringing. Thankfully they weren’t honeymooners.
• The service people visit your rom 3 times a day. That really cuts into your schedule. They would always come to restock the fridge in the afternoon when we would be trying to catch a nap while the sun is too hot outside. So if you miss the restocking guy, you have to call reception and list the items you want to be restocked and then wait for them by the door to bring it up for you which may be 20-30 minutes. And because we had two doors (one for the common area and one for our own suite), you couldn’t be on the patio in the hot tub while waiting because you wouldn’t hear the knock. It’s kind of a snowball effect at that point. And while it’s nice that they clean your room once in the morning and once before dinner (which they call “turning down your bed”), I still think it’s a little excessive but hey, maybe it’s just me.
• There are no real shows other than on Fridays right before people are leaving, that’s when you get to see the “fire show” which is nothing truly spectacular. I started yawning 5-10 minutes in and left early to go read in the suite. Other than that, you get an occasional karaoke night in the lounge on the first floor and a dance class at 7 somewhere.
• They only have a shuttle service to the Moon Palace and for any other palace, you need to take the bus (or the bus and a ferry like to the Cozumel Palace) which isn’t expensive but takes a loooooooong time. It took us over an hour to travel 20 km along the “hotel zone” strip to downtown Cancun (which is also nothing to be missed).
• Service: aside from disappointing spa experiences and slow-beyond-belief waitressing, I couldn’t lower my guard regarding cleanliness and hygiene. I’ve found hair in my food on more than one occasion and once I even found a spaghetti on my plate that was definitely not mine ))) I took a picture of it even. I didn’t want to document the hair incidents however because they’ve done enough damage as it is by ruining my appetite. The plates were often dirty, smudged with many handprints all over them. Even our little chocolate dessert, delivered to our room with champagne, had a plate like that. Talk about killing the romance.

Here’re some handouts you are presented with at check-in:

• Spa treatments price list
• Tours available to you to use with your credits – Page 1 & Page 2
• Palace dollars “break-down”
• Resort’s weekly schedule

Hopefully this helps some of you choose your vacation destination :)

It’s truly a mind-whirling phenomenon to realize having something so intimately yours within you be a part of something as expansive as the Universe itself.

The good news is that now whenever I feel all of this, I actually have the luxury to listen to my bodily cues and follow them instead of being forced to continue sitting at a desk and not being able to rest when I need it. Now if only I could find some specific exercises to stretch those particular muscle tensions, I’d be good!

I made a mobile a few weeks ago for a family friends’ baby shower.

Needless to say, there are many mobiles available already on Etsy similar to this design. But most of them are made for adults. Babies love vibrant colors, patterns, and detail to look at. It’s the parents who love the pastels which don’t interfere with their carefully-picked interior design choices. It’s the parents who want every little thing to match: the bedding, the decor, the toys, the clothes, etc. I’d say that if you’re hanging something above a kid’s head that is meant for him/her to look at 50% of the time, why not hang something they can actually enjoy looking at? It can still “fit” into the room without looking like a blob of ugly has plagued your house.

I might be guilty of indulging the baby clothes too much down the road but the toys should still be picked out with the child’s best interest in mind. You already have enough toys at your house that your kid doesn’t get to play with, right? Stereos, laptops, iPhones and such? And your kid didn’t get to pick those out for you; you did. So why not return the favour? ;)

30 minutes could be a long time if you spent it wisely.

So what can you do during your 30 minutes of happiness?

1. Meditate on your happiest moments, be it the first time you rode a bike, got your dog, or heard your firstborn laugh
2. Write down all the big and small things your loved ones have done for you that you are grateful for. Make sure to relive the happy feelings you have felt at the time when it happened. (I once decided to record all the little things that Anton did for me during the first year of us dating and then right it all into a notebook and give it to him as a present. And when you read them all out in order, you got to relive all the butterfly-fluttering moments you have experienced at the time. I really enjoyed it, as did he.)
3. Daydream of what you would like to come true in your life. No, don’t think about how much money you want to see in your bank account one day. Daydream about the kind of work would make you feel fulfilled, happy, and re-energized every day. Daydream about the places you would like to visit, what you would do there, and how you’re going to enjoy it. Daydream about the ideal home you would like to live in, be it something new or an improved version of what you already have. Daydream about everything and anything that would make you HAPPY and insert yourself into the dream as if you already have it. And now all you have to do is just bask in the sunshine :)
4. Is there anything else that is happening in your life you are truly ecstatic about? Don’t just dismiss it. Celebrate it and give thanks for it as you remind yourself that all of this is happening thanks to your efforts, which means you can manifest anything else that you want in your life. If you just bought a new car, you can celebrate it in your mind for 2 weeks or a month if you can boost up your energy reliving the excitement every day. If you got the job you were dearly hoping to get, recognize how grateful you are for this opportunity every day that you go to work. Bask in the happiness for as long as you can when these events enter your life. Be present in the moment. And you will attract even more :)
5. And most important of all, MAKE THIS A DAILY ROUTINE! Pick a time in your day when you can do this uninterrupted. For some people, it could be while they are getting ready for work; for others, it could even be while they are at work or before bedtime. Whatever works, just make sure it’s daily. 2% of your time isn’t that much to ask for now, is it?

I don’t really know how to respond to that. Do I say thank you? Or is that kind of remark supposed to imply that the bigger the belly, the “more of a woman” you are? I think it’s enough as it is that you have to deal yourself psychologically with the fact that your body is changing shape every day without any kind of effort of your own, have to continuously look for new clothes that fit you today and make you feel good about yourself today, but now.. if you’re not trying to prove someone that you aren’t just gaining weight but are pregnant, then your body is examined to see how it fits within the “normal ranges” of pregnancy standards.

There are no standards. Unless you look like a toothpick one day and a whale the next day (or vice versa), only doctors may look to see how your body is doing and only for the purposes of yours and your baby’s health.

If you want to compare me, then I’m outside the Western norm in other ways too. Anywhere we go for prenatal anything, I’m always the youngest mother-to-be there. Most women there are in their late thirties and forties, like my mom. And maybe it’s just me imagining things but I feel like at times I’m being confused for a little high school girl, knocked up out of wedlock. Don’t get me wrong – girls who go through with it at an early age like that are unsung heroes of our generation and how they make it work is beyond me. But that’s not what my position is – we planned it a year ahead and even waited until the wedding had passed to start trying. And just because the average age for first-time maternity in Canada differs by about a decade than in other countries like, say, Russia – I don’t really want to feel like an outsider in places where it’s supposed to be all about sisterhood in one of the life purposes we all share.

1. “Tender” breasts = breasts feeling like they are bruised all over, to the point that not only do they have to be untouchable but you can’t sleep normally on your stomach anymore if you wanted to! So you start losing sleep from the first few days onwards…
2. “Morning” sickness can last you all morning, all day, and all night. You may or may not be vomitting but your body will make you think the entire time like something is just about to surface.
3. Bloating;  constipation / diarrhea (it depends on your system which one of the boats you will fall into there). Sometimes it will feel like your body is rebelling against you. And you have no idea what you’ve done to deserve it. And at any one time, you could feel like you are bloated, nauseated and hungry! And that’s when you go, “What the *&%^ do I listen to?!”
4. When you think you’ve “popped”, it could be the first time that you see yourself bloated from the side. And you’ll know it only the next morning when your “bump” had deflated. Not only will you feel let down but realize that certain phases of this will leave you feeling unattractive. Just part of the ball game.
5. Cramps! I thought that it was a fair trade-off if you get 9 months pain-free with a “grande finale” of labour at the end but it’s not entirely pain-free! You get weird cramps here and there at the most random of times during the first trimester, almost every day for several weeks, sometimes couple of hours in length at a time! No one tells you that either…
6. You could be saying good-bye to the foods you used to love. And not because it’s coffee or alcohol, which are bad for the baby, but because the baby had decided that those smells are unappealing to him/her, you banish those foods from your house for 9 months. I remember going grocery shopping and each time grabbing a different kind of ice cream I thought might appeal to me. At one point, I had three different kinds of ice creams in my fridge, all unfinished, including Haagen Dazs! There’s now just two… And along with ice cream, which the baby thought was too sweet, there’s chocolate stashed all over the place that I don’t eat any more and various other foods that are creamy / fatty / sweet. And I thought I’d eat everything were I to get pregnant!
7. But even if you developed a tasty knack for veggies and other healthful nutritious foods, it doesn’t mean that it will prevent you from becoming “cushiony” in certain areas! I used to think that women would gain weight because their cravings were out of control but no! My cravings are all the right ones, like for a nice piece of meat or else, but I’m definitely “developing” more in certain areas than others.
8. You will try to unbutton your pants / skirt when no one is looking. You may fantasize about cutting the waist band while sitting at work.
9. You will feel drained and tired 24/7 and aching for a nap anywhere anytime. The alarm clock will become enemy #1 because no matter when it rings or how early you’d go to bed at, there will never be enough sleep for you to feel totally refreshed and ready to tackle a new day. I used to have absolutely no problem with my sleep. And now I’d wake up two or three times during the night to pee or just to lie there upset that I’m losing vital minutes of perfectly undisturbed sleep. Why? Who knows!
10. You will go through phases where you either have too much libido or not enough. And your partner will have to make peace with that. Just tell him, “Hey, it’s two against one.” ;) And sometimes it may feel like the sensations are doubled or tripled, and that’s never bad either :)
11. You will bawl your eyes out during every sad movie, no matter how many times you’ve seen it before. And then your partner will be left to figure out how to cheer you back up. Deal with it.
12. Prepare to be traumatized. Every so-called baby book will come off more like a book of horror with countless “normal” symptoms such as swollen legs and widening of the feet, deafness in one ear, and so on. And no matter which decision you will make about your choice of caregiver and your preferred method / locationg of birthing, there are always scary stories to accompany that choice. Do the research, make the choice, stick with it, and everyone else can go to hell. Moms know better what’s best for them if they have faith :)