The most beautiful sound in the world

This morning me and Armando listened to our baby's heart beat for the first time. It was a magical and one of the most amazing moments. I was so happy I couldn't stop smiling and laughing. I kept saying "see babe its really there! I wasn't lying! It's really there!!!" Our midwife Rea kept smiling and Armando was just amazed. He said it made it more real to him and he was very moved and teary eyed. We kept looking at each other and smiling and just feeling all this love. When I first heard the heart beat I thought that it seemed pretty fast so I asked if it was suppose to be that way. Rea said that yes and that it was a perfectly healthy heart beat. Ohhh I could have listened to that sound for the whole day! In fact I kept "hearing" it over and over again for the rest of the day and kept smiling whenever I thought about it.

When she first got me to lay down she rolled her fingers across my belly to feel where the baby was. I got so excited that she could feel it and I used the same technique to find the baby. It was awesome. Then she used the stathoscope to hear the baby's heart beat. When we were done Rea gave us a referral for an ultrasound. She told us it was to make sure how far along I am and that I am not carrying twins! She explained that my uterus was a little higher than it should be for 13 weeks. So next week we are going to "see" our peanut! By the way I don't think we are having twins and if I am wrong than I am going to be happy either way. So this was definitely one of the most awesome days ever.

Yesterday was another great day. I went to Lululemon in Oakville and then I stumbled into this beautiful little store called Akasha's Den. It was filled with:

Tibetan and Crystal singing bowls
Feng Shui chimes and water fountains
Himalayan salt lamps
Indonesian pottery and carvings
Drums and masks
Native Canadian dream catchers
Healing wands, stones and crystals
Pendulums and gemstone jewelry

It was so calming and energizing to walk around the shelves and look at all the beautiful pieces. Every single thing was filled with high vibration energy and it just felt uplifting. I knew I wanted to buy something for the baby there. I want the baby to grow up with healing, beautiful objects to inspire inner growth and creativity. I know I won't be filling its room with plastic or other low quality materials and I will pay attention to Feng Shui so that it can feel really good there. Few things drew my attention especially these pretty blue lace agate crystals. The owner told me that many kids who come to the store are drawn to it. She said that she just ordered agate crystal wind chimes to come in and I absolutely fell in love with them. I will have to go back and get them. I also liked the himalayan salt lamp that cleanses and ionizes the air improving its quality and enhances peace and quiet. The lamp also looks so pretty! I think the baby will enjoy gazing at its gently glowing light.

Simply Salad

My daily staple. Salads are great as you can create a different one each day depending on what you feel like. I use spices like cayenne and chili pepper to add some heat. I make my salad dressing with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. This one is my favourite. I add sprouts, nuts and seeds to add protein and avocado for healthy oils. For desserts lately I have been eating lots of fruit like banana, asian pear and apples dipped in almond butter. I still have some date nut torte in the fridge. I started to drink some green tea but no more than once every few weeks. I prefer ginger tea as it gently stimulates digestion and cleanses digestive organs.

Haven't done my weigh in lately so here it is:

Week 1-4: 124 pounds
Week 4-8: 124 pounds
Week 8-12: 124 pounds

Not much has changed but a baby bump is definitely there!

I met my friend Tamsin yesterday at Starbucks for tea. She is a beautiful soul, yoga teacher and an artist. We got very close after our Teacher Training. Tamsin created prayer beads for each one of us when we were studying yoga. They were all different depending on what you needed. The beads are all precious stones and crystals. My necklace was made of lapis lazuli and aventurine. Its beautiful. When I first visited Tamsin at her apartment I was welcomed by colorful, artist's space, lovely paintings everywhere, lots of antique furniture, plants, beads, and her cat Jimmy. I immediately felt that I wanted Tamsin to create a painting for my yoga room. And so she did. It was totally custom made and I was a part of every stage of the work. We did it together (of course I wasn't painting anything but asking for things and giving feedback lol) and I love it. Here it is:

So now Tamsin is creating another 3 smaller paintings also for my yoga room. They go together and have an ocean/tropical theme. I look at the progress of these 3 and love it. Needless to say Tamsin will create a painting for my baby's room as well :) That way the baby can have a painting to grow up with, something reflecting its energy and something they can take with them when they grow up.

Shanine is away for a week in Dominican Republic! Lucky her. I miss her already but I know she is just soaking in the sun, the ocean, the beach and recharging her batteries. She will come back and teach her classes from that space of tropical beauty and gentle wisdom.

Nesta my main yoga teacher, the owner of Yoga Center of Burlington, facilitator of Teacher Training and a wonderful friend is back from her vacations and teaching classes again. I took her morning class yesterday and wow was it ever intense. We did back bends, which means opening the heart space, moving energy up the spine to the heart and opening the thoracic spine. It also means releasing lots of emotions from the heart. Back bends create a unique state of being, openness, cleansing, increased energy and vitality. I felt so energized after the class, took Ronin to a doggy park and then I was teaching two classes. I needed that class as lots of that anxiety that I have been feeling has been released. Today morning I did my personal practice at home and I balanced yesterday's class with restorative, pranayama and supported forward bends. I just wanted the energy to settle in the heart. The energy was just bouncing around so it was good to calm it down a bit. Now this is only because I am pregnant. Before I could go for days with this energy moving and energizing me. Now I need to settle the energy and synchronize it with the baby, which means finding my center and peace. Pregnancy is all about feeling peace and quiet by creating calm energy inside.

Valentine's Day

These are beautiful dozen of roses Armando got for me for Valentine's Day. I am so lucky to be married to such sweet and caring man. We celebrated by going out to Thai Coconut for a meal. It was yummy like always. I had the papaya salad and soup and ginger tea. Armando loved the restaurant, the food and the service as it was his first time going there. Thai Coconut is one of these hidden gems with great food, lovely ambiance and super nice service. It is definitely the best Thai restaurant I have been to. Sharing a meal with someone who is not only my husband but also best friend is always heaven. I fell in love with Armando from the first sight and I continue to fall in love with him every day. He has all these qualities that I need, he is patient,always cool and collected, grounded, and analytical. Most of all he holds loving space for me whenever I am going through something. He doesn't try to help out too soon but gives me time to process and figure it out and then I feel this incredible sense of accomplishment. I am always thankful for his loving and supportive energy.

So I have been overly emotional since week 9. I just felt snappy and short tempered. Week 10 was worse and week 11 better. I am at the beginning of week 12 now. I began to understand today that I have not given myself time to enjoy being and feeling pregnant. I was super busy with subbing this month and having no day off. It got to me so much and my entire being and body just protested. Enough! Enough! It seemed to scream. I felt like I was beating myself up, pushing myself hard.I normally can push myself pretty far but this time around not an inch of me liked it. I only did it because it was too late to change anything, cancel classes or get subs. So I worked so hard. I just went 20 days without a day off. Yes insane I know. I used to do this all the time just out of excitement for the adventure. But when you are pregnant its really different. You feel everything so much more and if you don't rest enough your body will tell you.

On day 12 I got an anxiety attack. I just felt overwhelmed. I am not used to feeling this way. I normally love to be busy and not doing anything or sitting around drives me crazy. I always think that I could be working rather than sitting. I told Shanine over lunch about this. Its hard to admit that you are doing something to cause yourself to react this way. She is non judgmental like Jason my homeopath so I feel safe in opening up and sharing. I felt so terrible and guilty but Shanine was so loving and supportive that I worked through these emotions and came to some great conclusions.

I felt all the pressure leave today, mentally I just relaxed and started to breathe. So the lesson is that being pregnant is no time to be crazy, pushing yourself, focusing on everything else but relaxation. The lesson is that this is a very precious time between me and my baby. Time to go within, feel, dream and think about the future. Definitely slow down.

I am excited for March. In March I will let go of two classes and instead I will teach prenatal. I will have two hot classes a week. I will see how I can handle those. So far the heat has been getting to me. I mean I never felt bothered by teaching in the heat but now its like I get tired half way through and I feel anxious. Maybe because I am working 20 days straight...I don't know but heat is something I am going to keep my eye on. Also, for the entire month of March I will be going to Maureen's prenatal at YCOB. Its definitely time to start enjoying my pregnancy!!!!!I really had no time until now!!Crazy. I am 3 months and its time. At the moment I am barley taking any of my own classes...and I feel I really need it. I need a good and supportive yoga teacher to guide me on my path right now.

I am so much more sensitive to other's emotions. Its crazy. I had never had any problems with manual adjustments . Now, if I feel negative or "unclean" energy from others I will not want to touch them. Its so weird. I would approach them or walk by them and then I back off instead of I choose to verbally adjust. It is really surprising me. Same with people who just emanate negative energy in class, even if they look good, their alignment is fine, they smile, etc. I can still tell and feel if they are sending negative energy out. Its bizarre. At the other hand I love being around good energy people especially Shanine. I go religiously to her Restorative classes on Sundays. She is not only my best friend but my soul sister. She knows how I feel just by looking at me and she knows what to say or do to make me feel better.

The other day I finished teaching my hot class and as always I planned on staying for Shanine's class. This time though the heat was making me feel anxious so I decided to go home and rest. It turned out that Maureen put together a Partner Yoga class instead of Shanine's hot class. Shanine was happy she didn't have to teach and could just enjoy a class and asked me to stay. I contemplated and decided to stay since the class would be at the reg. temp studio. I never done partner yoga so I was happy to do it with my best friend. It ended up being super fun. There were many couples there, some married, some dating, some friends and two strangers paired up together. Working with Shanine and supporting each other in poses was so amazing. I kept feeling love from Shanine and also kept laughing from joy and amusement. We did sun salutations facing each other and looking into each other's eyes and that connection with someone who is your best friend is delightful. All of my anxiety left and I left the class feeling recharged like I usually do when I share my practice with Shanine.

Hello week 11 :)

The baby at this time is a size of a large lime. It weights about 8 grams and measures from 1.75 to 2.4 inches. The baby is kicking but the mother cannot feel it yet. All vital organs are formed and, for the most part, function normally. From now on, they will grow in size and efficiency.



I find myself dreaming in colour every night. I dream of water all the time (I usually do anyway but now there is more colour!) Last night I was dreaming of a beautiful turquoise lagoon, warm waters, lots of sunshine and feeling great. The night before I went horseback riding through he mountains up to a beautiful cabin where I stayed and admired nature. The horses were quite amazing, there were lots of them, I was riding one but the others were just keeping us company. They were so powerful, strong, brown and black, carrying me through the forest and the hills. I had wind in my hair and a feeling of freedom and adventure.


I find myself wanting to spend time meditating, contemplating life, listening to beautiful music and reading inspiring books. I am drawn to go within and that is where I find peace. I am drawn to peace. I am normally very busy planning what my next goal would be and then I am busy reaching for it. Its different now. I want to slow down, breathe, feel, surrender to love and dream.

Raw Bruschetta

My husband Armando made this today. It is simple and delicious. Here is his recipe:

Bruschetta

3 or 4 tomatoes, diced

1/2 small red onion, diced

6 or more black olives, pitted and sliced

1 garlic clove

Basil (4 or more leaves or dried)

1 Tblsp olive oil

sea salt to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve over dehydrated onion bread, flax crackers or enjoy on its own.

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I love it when men can make raw food dishes. Armando has been so great in the kitchen creating new recipes that we haven't done before. We both love simplicity. Fresh hummus and seasonal veggies go a long way or a plate of seasonal fruit and some tea. Armando has made an amazing guacamole this week and we both loved it so much he made another batch one after the other. We also bought a lot of fruit including Asian pears. They are a cross between a pear and an apple, and are very crispy and fresh.

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I am still drawn to all of the raw food dishes and I am happy that I don't have any aversions to any of my favourite things. Yes that happens to a lot of ladies so I hear. Many can't look salad in the eye but I love all of my fruit, veggies, nuts, grains and spices. I am 100% raw for most of the week with an occasional dish of cooked organic rice pasta or sauteed vegetables. I feel amazing after eating living foods and that is probably why I crave them. I feel my body is cleansed from doing the master raw food cleanse back in November so its easier to eat high vibrational foods. When our bodies are filled with junk and low vibrational foods that is what we end up craving. Like attracts like. I have been craving papaya salad from my favourite Thai restaurant and ordered it to go on a couple of occasions. I figured I must have been craving not only papaya, which is filled with enzymes but also garlic that is in the salad. In fact I have been making a lot of green salads with olive oil, lemon and garlic dressing. I have been drinking lots of smoothies too but not any green ones recently. Next week I am back to green smoothies and I am going to start juicing too.

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I am still feeling very sleeeeepy especially around 1pm and 6pm. I find it interesting how the sleeping patterns change so early on in pregnancy. Almost immediately you start waking up 2 or 3 times during the night to go to the bathroom. So you are not getting a full night sleep. This prepares you to be awake for the feedings at night when the baby comes. I guess better start now then last minute-that would be so much harder! I take a lot of naps...sometimes two a day. Its funny too because I am out cold for 30min which seems like forever..but then the middle of the night I am wide awake. Oh the joys of being pregnant! This is week 11 for me and my baby is a size of a lime. All of the major organs are completed and the last touch ups like fingernails and toenails are being created! Isn't that great?

Crispy Kale Chips

Oh yes finally a great alternative to potato chips. Healthy, crispy and can be done in a variety of flavours. My first batch came out a bit too salty as I used both sea salt and tamari. Regardless, I really enjoyed the texture and it made a great snack. I'd love to try other variations as the choice of seasonings is pretty much endless. Here is the basic recipe:

Ingredients:

1 or 2 heads fresh green or purple Kale, washed and torn into a slightly larger then bite size pieces.


Simply fresh:
1/2 lemon juiced
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt

Cheesy:
¾ cup Tahini
¼ cup Tamari
1/4 cup Cider Vinegar
½ cup Water
2 scallions
1 clove garlic
1 lemon juiced
¼ teaspoon Sea Salt
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast

Teriyaki Style:
1 tsp raw honey
1 tsp tamari
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp dried ginger

Preperation:
Place kale in a large mixing bowl. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth to get a thick consistency. You may have to add more water. Pour over kale and mix thoroughly with your hands to coat the kale. You want this mixture to be really glued onto the kale so massage it well. Place in dehydrator and dehydrate for 6 hours at 115degrees. Rotate kale occasionally. Enjoy!

Health benefits of kale:
Kale provides an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotenes, and manganese. Kale is also a very good source of vitamins B1, B2, and E, fiber, iron, copper, and calcium.

It's becoming more real.
Entering my 10 week and sharing the news about my pregnancy with all of my students now. Very exciting and of course emotional! Will these emotions ever settle?..its like I am feeling everything 100x more. Last night I told one of my favourite and most special yoga classes. These students are the most devoted group that have been with me since the beginning pretty much. They are more like my family and I love all of them. So I broke the news. They were all great, so loving and supportive. I of course will be their teacher until at least August or so I hope. And then its baby time and time off from teaching for at least 3 months. I am so happy about creating new life of course! Yet I felt sadness that I will not be part of their yoga journey and what if some of them will move on and I won't see them again. So I had to process my emotions and work through them, which I did, who wants a yoga teacher who is sobbing because she will miss her students! I have to be strong and positive!

I sometimes read to my students when they rest in savasana (final resting pose at the end of the class) Yesterday I opened the book "Journey to the heart" at a page that had a message not only for them but also for me. Oh yes big time! I loved the reading so I am going to share it here:

Embrace Change

You don't have to fear change. You need to fear, a friend once told me, is things remaining the same. When that happens, life has stopped.
Life is an evolution. Your life is constantly, quietly evolving each moment into something new, something different, something that adds gracefully, beautifully, and perfectly to what was. You can trust that process with all its insights, clarity, confusion, and emotions. You can trust that process with its peace, joy, laughter, and its side trips.
Learn to honor and love the process of continual evolution and transformation. Its how things grow. Its how you grow. Its how life is. Learn to embrace change.


So appropriate for pregnancy as everything changes and life is transforming in a huge way. This reading has helped me so much to realize that this is exactly what each of us has to do. We need to learn to honour change. We need to let go of fear and we need to learn to trust. This is a great lesson for a mother to be. I know that is how I need to approach my parenting too. I have to trust and honour my baby's path in life instead of living in fear and trying to control the process. Sometimes all we need to do is let go.

Date Nut Torte

I make this all the time. It is my favourite raw dessert. Each time I top it off with different fruit depending what I feel like. It can be strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, mangos, peaches, etc. Here is how to make it:

Date Nut Torte

For the base:
2 cups raisins
2 cups walnuts

In a food processor combine raisis and walnuts and blend until well blended and moist. It should come out like a fudgey mixture. Remove from processor and mold onto a plate in a round circle about 1 1/2 inches thick.

For the frosting;
1 cup dates, pitted and soaked
1/2 lemon, juiced

In a food processor, combine dates and lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
Spread the frosting on top of the torte. Decorate the top with any fruit you'd like.

Serve either in room temperature or after refrigerating for a few hours if you want a firmer texture that will be easier to slice. Enjoy!

My menu today:

Smoothie (Orange juice, almonds, flax meal, Udo's oil, maca , raw cacao nibs, honey, supergreens, two bananas, handful of strawberries and blueberries)
Raw fruit and nut energy bar (dates, walnuts, almonds, raisins, cashews and cinnamon)
Green salad (avocado, cayenne, apples, red peppers, romaine and spinach with some olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt)
Organic rice bread topped with organic hummus
Lots of water
Ginger tea

Daily weight in:

Week 1-8: 124
Week 9: 124
Week 10: 124

Chinese New Year, Lucky coins and Superfoods

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is a 15 day celebration this year starting on January 26. According to Chinese tradition, the red envelope and the coins symbolize luck and wealth. Red packets are typically handed out to younger generation by their parents, grand parents, relatives, and even close neighbors and friends.

This year Armando and I have celebrated the Chinese New Year with our friends. I think it is an important tradition for us to celebrate as a family because Armando is half Asian. It would be nice for our child to know this tradition as well. We were invited by our dear friend Sayma for a dinner party to her house in Toronto. Sayma, her sister Tasmia and our friend Xiao have prepared deliscious dinner for us to enjoy. There were many wonderful raw food dishes such as mango salad, chinese cucumber salad, and fresh spring rolls (sprouts, mint leaves, carrots, cabbage) and lots of delicious Chinese green tea. My friends eat cooked food as well so there was rice and some noodles but again lots and lots of raw choices. It was a wonderful feast and great company. We always spend all day just chatting, eating, and playing games. Last night we were playing cranium and it was super fun.

Superfoods

Superfoods include: goji berries, hempseed, cacao beans (raw chocolate), maca, spirulina, bee products, coconut oil/butter, green superfoods, and many more.
The pivotal role of superfoods in promoting nutritional excellence, health and well-being, beauty enhancement, sustainable agriculture, and the transformation of diet, lifestyle, and planet.

Today is a superfood day. I went to Goodness Me natural supermarket and bought some yummy, yummy things. I got some organic hummus, raw crackers with spirulina, raw organic energy bars, raw cacao beans, Udo's Oil and Maca powder. I will make wonderful smoothies with the cacao nibs, Maca powder and Udo's oil, which is a great source of Omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids.


Maca powder (Ancient Peruvian Superfood) has an outstanding ability to increase energy, endurance and strength. Maca, like goji berries and ginseng, is a powerful adaptogen, which means it has the ability to balance and stabilize the body's systems (cardiovascular system, nervous system, musculature, lymphatic system, etc.)

Cacao Nibs are pieces of the Cacao Bean. All chocolate is made from Cacao Beans (also known as Cocoa Beans) The raw cacao bean is one of nature's most fantastic superfoods due to its mineral content and wide array of unique and varied properties. It contains: magnesium, iron, antioxidants, zinc, copper, serotonin and omega 6 fatty acids.

It is so interesting to note that I am very drawn to superfoods and organic foods in my pregnancy. I would always find a reason (mostly financial as these things tend to be costly) not to go organic or get any superfoods. Now I have a great reason to do it! I have a baby in my belly!!!Oh and this is week 10 and my baby is a size of a small plum!