Author Archives: Kara

What I’m Reading: Sarah’s Key

Posted in Book Review, What I'm Reading by

What I'm Reading

Synopsis, from Goodreads.com:
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family’s apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. 

Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France’s past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl’s ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d’Hiv’, to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah’s past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

I had heard about Sarah’s Key a while ago but never thought it would really interest me. A self-confessed chick-lit freak, the historical nature of the book made me quite hesitant to pick it up! But, after Amber and Amber (Amber²? *snort*) had nothing but good things to say about it when I asked about it on Twitter, I figured, why not?! Bookstore gift card in tow, I picked it up and started reading it a couple days later.

My verdict? LOVED it!!

The author, Tatiana De Rosnay, tells the story of a young girl, Sarah, during the French Round-Up (Vel d’Hiv’) of all the Jewish occupants of Paris in 1942. Sarah, along with her mom and dad, were transported to essentially a “holding tank” before they were shipped off via train to yet another holding queue, where they would eventually be separated and then executed. Sarah’s little brother, however, hid in a secret hiding area of their home after Sarah told him that she’d be back to rescue him. Sarah’s chapters in the book tell how she escaped the round up and made her way back to Paris to try and save her brother.

De Rosnay alternates Sarah’s chapters with those of Julia, an American journalist who has been living and working in Paris for (I believe) 16 years. She is assigned to write a story for the anniversary of the round-up and doing so, she discovers a family secret that seems to both intrigue and shock her all at the same time. On top of her research, Julia also struggles in her marriage to her French husband.

Now, usually I like reading one character’s chapters over the other, but both sides of the story were so compelling that I loved them both equally. The historical nature of the book actually made it more gripping because Vel’ di’Hiv was an actual event, even though Sarah’s story is fictional. I personally didn’t know of France’s role in the execution of Jewish occupants of Europe, so I was quite shocked that it had happened. (Sadly, it’s amazing that 70 years after WWII, we still can’t all seem to get along …)

My heart broke for Sarah while reading the book and I cheered for Julia as she searched for everything she was looking for, both in work and in life. I don’t think there was anything that I didn’t like about it, other than I wish I could have read more about Sarah’s story.

I could go on and on about the book, but I don’t want to give it all away! I will just say that I highly recommend you pick up this book if/when you can and give it a read! I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Have you read Sarah’s Key? What did you think of it?

16 Weeks and the Sh!t They Don’t Tell You

Posted in Baby #1, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Update, TMI by

Normally I’ll give you the pregnancy update info second, but – considering today’s topic of discussion involves what some may find to be a little TMI, it will go last!

To sum it up, today’s topic will include all of the crazy shit that happens to your body when you’re pregnant, or at least some of the stuff I’ve experienced. I’ve also included links to a couple of Kallay’s blog posts from when she was pregnant with her beautiful twin girls (who are now a whole year old and a bit!).

So, if you don’t want to be turned off from having children, don’t read anything after my “bump” photo! You’ve been warned! (Although I’ll also warn you that you’ll miss out on slight comedic relief!)

How far along? 16 weeks! How has four months already gone by? Sheesh …

How big is baby? He or she is about 5″ long from crown to bum, or the size of an avocado, according to BabyCenter.ca!

Total weight gain/loss: I’ve still only gained about 2lbs since I last weighed myself, which is surprising because I’ve visibly bigger in the tummy area. Oh well!

Maternity Clothes? I haven’t gone out and bought anything more yet, but I may soon. My work pants are starting to get more and more snug, and I kind of have to slouch in my chair at work so they don’t squish my guts. Ugh.

Stretch marks? Still none, but I’ve started rubbing lotion on my belly to help improve my skin’s elasticity. I have no idea how to prevent stretch marks otherwise. (Can you actually prevent them? Because that would make Kyle very happy!)

Sleep: It’s still very hit or miss. I really have to be careful of not drinking too many fluids after dinner or I’ll be up peeing all night. I’ve also started having really bizarre and vivid dreams. The other night I dreamed that I was in Calgary for some dancing competition but lost, so I was pouting in my hotel room. What?

Movement: According to BabyCenter.ca, I should be able to start feeling my baby flutter around soon. So now I’m wondering if I’m actually feeling something or if it’s all in my head. (It’s most likely the latter, but you never know!)

Food cravings: Last week I was craving burritos and sushi. I actually had two burritos last week (on two different days) and they were AMAZING. The sushi craving passed though! The other morning I woke up around 4:30 as Kyle was getting ready for work and had a hunger pang for pickles. That’s the weirdest one yet!

What I miss: I miss being able to sleep through the whole night. I’m so grateful when I only wake up once to go to the bathroom. Too bad it’s only going to get worse! I also really miss being able to take sinus meds for my ridiculous sinus headaches. Coffee helps, but only temporarily!

What I am looking forward to: Being able to feel the baby move. How I’m not going to freak out is beyond me. How can you not freak out when something is MOVING inside you?!

Milestones: I have about 6 different paint swatches taped to the future baby room and have no idea what colour to choose. It’s a pain in the butt! At least Kyle has given up the reigns on the paint colours though and is letting me paint the room whatever colours I want! Ha!

Photo:

Now – Onto the TMI section of today’s post!

A lot of crazy shit goes down when you get pregnant, in case you didn’t know. Shit that goes waaaay beyond morning sickness and peeing all. the. time.

Disclaimer: I will note that not all women experience all or any of these same symptoms during pregnancy. I’m only speaking from personal experience. Just thought I’d get that out of the way now before women start hating on me.

Lucky for me, I didn’t experience morning sickness. The worst thing that happened was that coffee made me feel like puking, so I had to give it up for just over two months. Bring on the caffeine withdrawal headaches! Meat also made me want to upchuck, but I never did. Two bites of protein was enough before I lost my appetite. And bell peppers. Cooked bell peppers still make me want to gag. The smell is horrid.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there when it comes to TMI. I’m talking fluids. Boobs. Poop, or lack thereof.

Let’s start first with how ridiculously sore my boobs are right now. They ache. A lot. I don’t think they’ve hurt this much since I hit puberty and first started growing them. They have become a “no fly” zone in the bedroom, unless approval is otherwise given.

Also? They’re heavy, probably because they’re busy getting ready to make delicious (?) milk for my sweet little baby. As a result of this preparation, my boobs feel weighed down and – they leak. Kind of. If you squeeze them. Don’t judge me for squeezing my own rack, but it does help the achy-ness. But, this weird, clear, fluid comes out as a result (which is normal), and it’s shocking at first but you get used to it once you learn that it makes your boobs feel better.

And then there’s leakage of other sorts. Down there. It’s actually quite annoying because well, I don’t wear underroos when I go to bed (pajama bottoms only) and I now have to strap on a pair of granny panties with a pantyliner (because sleeping in thongs it way too uncomfortable) so it doesn’t feel like I peed myself. The leakage has slowly stopped, but lord, was it awkward. I felt like an 80-year-old with a weak bladder. Bring on the Poise! No one likes leakage and feeling like you’re slowly wetting yourself. No one.

You know what usually happens when you eat a lot of junk food? You poop. You know what happens when you’re pregnant? You can’t poop. You get constipated, and all the fiber in the world doesn’t seem to make it any better. I don’t think I’ve had worse cramps than the ones I had around weeks 8 to 12, all thanks to not being able to poop. Hormones and rapid body changing be whack, yo. And they make you unable to poop. Luckily that has more or less gone away and I’m back to somewhat normalcy.

Another irritating thing I’ve noticed is that I’m soooo itchy. My skin just feels like it’s crawling, and apparently that (among most other things) is to blame on raging increases in hormones. How delightful! I’ve brought a whole new meaning to “it puts the lotion on the skin …” I can’t get enough lotion!!

I think that’s about everything that I’ve experienced so far. Not pooping, peeing myself a little bit, and boob leakage. Ah, the joys of pregnancy. Of course, it’s only going to get worse as time goes on. Like not being able to shave.

Actually, Kallay wrote it best in this (hilarious!) post. Yeah, you won’t be able to shave your legs, but there’s other bits and pieces that you won’t be able to tend to either. Like your va-jay-jay. Seriously, click through and read her post!

You should probably also check out this post she wrote about the love/hate relationship she had with being pregnant. I gotta admit, I’m the same way. I love how I’m pretty much Super Woman for growing another person inside me, how my hair is so AMAZING right now, but I hate a lot of things about pregnancy as well. Like the stuff I listed above. I totally agree with her list!

So there you have it – the TMI part of being pregnant! I hope I didn’t turn you off of becoming a parent some day. I think every woman should know and be warned!

What are some rumours you’ve heard about what happens to your body when you’re pregnant?
If you have had a child, did you experience any of these “symptoms”? Do you have anything you’d like to add to the list?

Calling all Moms!

Posted in Uncategorized by

I’m working on a post that includes all the weird, annoying, and seemingly gross stuff that happens to your body when you’re pregnant.

If you’d like to contribute, send your experiences to kara (at )karaschatter (dot) com. I’ll let you decide whether or not you’d like to remain anonymous or not, but if you don’t tell me, I’ll assume you don’t mind me using your name/blog URL. (Though I can understand if you want to remain anonymous – some stuff is pretty TMI!)

I’ll be publishing the post Monday morning, so send them to be by Sunday afternoon!

And the reasoning behind this post? Well, there’s a lot going on with your body when you’re pregnant than bigger boobs, constant tiredness and food cravings. Like, weird shit. You pregnant ladies know what I’m talking about, and who wouldn’t want to freak out those who haven’t been pregnant before?

So – email away!! (Please?)