Omie boxes

Here are my initial thoughts on the Omie box.  We are loving our Omie boxes (thanks Sis H for this lovely Christmas gift)!  We ordered 2 boxes from readisetgo.ca.  It's the only Canadian site currently selling this lunch box at the moment.  It retails for $50 USD... and with the current exchange rate and weak dollar, the Canadian price $69.95 is expensive but fair.  We just finished off our first week back to school and the Omie box got used 4 out of 5 days.  The kids like having "hot lunch" and I like not packing extra containers with separate thermo containers.  The compartments are deeper than a Yumbox.  The food isn't hot at lunch time, but does stay warm.  The things I don't like about the Omie boxes are that they are heavy and the divider slides around and doesn't always keep food separated (in the section that uses the divider).  My grade 1 boy doesn't have any issues opening or closing the box and thermos.  My 2 yr old needs help with opening and closing the Omie box.  She can open the thermos if it's not closed tightly.  So in comparison to a Yumbox, this is trickier for a preschooler to use.

The only other big name lunchbox we don't have in our collection but may get one day are stainless steel lunchbox kits: Planetbox (they come in three sizes: launch, rover and shuttle).  I'm not in a rush to pick one up because I don't mind the plastic ones we have.  I've heard that the Planetboxes do leak... so it might not be good for directly packing things like yogurt.  Looks like they are moving in the direction of bento style accessories with silicone food cups... They have recently introduced some silicone "pods" but I don't know if it seals closed in the container when the lid is closed.

I've been sick and haven't had energy to make themed lunches.  I picked up some new supplies over the holidays that I'd love to try out soon.  I hope to recover and get back into making fun snacks and lunches.

Pneumonia

I was diagnosed with pneumonia on boxing day after getting chest x-rays taken at the hospital.  I took two antibiotics for a week and it helped clear up my fever and chills.  I'm still feeling out of breath and find I tire easily.  I went to a doctor to get a requisition for a follow-up chest x-ray.  The doctor says my left lobe still sounds a bit softer than the other side... so it's possible that the pneumonia hasn't cleared up yet.  He wants me to go get the x-ray today.

I'm going to get DH to drop me off at the radiology lab after we pick up the boy from school.

Good bye 2015

It sure was a rough year in terms of health.  We had whooping cough (it's a really bad cough that lasts for 2+ months) in the spring with the boy being diagnosed with walking pneumonia as a secondary infection from the whooping cough, and again we picked up whooping cough in the winter (end of November) and ended off with me coming down with pneumonia.  I went to a walk-in clinic on boxing day because I was feeling miserable and got sent to the hospital for a chest x-ray.  I was diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home to rest.  I've basically been bedridden for the past week.  I'm still trying to get back on my feet.

What I don't get is why we're getting the whooping cough, and not just once, but twice this year.  Our immunization are all up to date.  Shouldn't that offer some protection?  Is there some new strain or were we one of the few who weren't fully protected?  According to the CDC, the vaccine is effective in 8 or 9 out of 10 children to get the shot, but the protection fades over time.  About 7 out of 10 children are protected after 5 years from their last vaccination dose.  So, the question is, for those whose immunization are not effective, do we need to go get vaccinated again?  My doctor doesn't seem to have an answer for me.

Another disappointment for this year-end was that I had another miscarriage in mid-November and I had to deal with it by myself because DH was out of town.  It was what I would call a chemical pregnancy.  I had days of faint positive home pregnancy tests, so went to my doctor to get a requisition for a blood test.  My beta hCG came back at 20 - which was considered inconclusive (< 5 is not pregnant - so yes, I was pregnant, but it was unclear if the pregnancy was viable or not).  I got a set of blood requisitions from the doctor to continue testing - he was worried my pregnancy could be ectopic.  I booked a blood test for every other day - dragging one or both kids with me.  It was stressful waiting to get my results and disappointing when I saw the numbers.  My hCG progression was (IU/L): 20, 24, 10, 3.  My doctor wanted me to do one more test after, but I was feeling done with being poked.  While it was disappointing, I surprisingly did not feel overwhelmed with sadness or grief.  It just wasn't meant to be.  We still want to try for a third, but my health is not the greatest at the moment and there are other factors as well.  The only thing that makes me want to go for it anyways is that I feel like I'm running out of time.  As I know my FSH is high, and my cycles are shortening - I feel like I'm hitting peri-menopause... My chances of miscarriages are high and will only get higher as I get older.  I'm not worried about another miscarriage.  I'm more concerned about whether my body can sustain another pregnancy.  I guess I'll deal with it if I get pregnant, but in the meantime, I have to try to get well.

Finally, we ended off 2015 with an earthquake on Tuesday, December 29th at 11:39pm.  Reports vary about the intensity, but the range was between 4.7-4.8 magnitude.  I was in bed (still recovering from pneumonia) with the girl sleeping beside me.  Suddenly I hear a loud sound (like something slamming into the side of our home) and the shaking started.  We have a mirror behind the bed that was not secured and was rattling, I pushed it against the wall and felt the entire wall shaking.  It lasted for 10 long seconds.  I didn't follow the "stop, drop and take cover" guideline at all.  While it wasn't a big quake, it was the first one I've felt and my hands wouldn't stop shaking afterwards for quite awhile.  While there was no damage or power outage or tsunami, it certainly was a wake up call to show me just how unprepared we are.  I've since ordered more emergency kits and supplies, but I still worry about future earthquakes if we decide to stay on the West Coast.

I'm not sad to see the end of 2015 and I hope for better things to come this year.

Moustache day

It's Moustache day at school.  The boy made a moustache to wear to school today.  I forgot to take a photo of it and I don't think it'll survive the day at school.  :(  Oh well.  For lunch, he's just having left-over pasta with zucchini, ham, meatballs, peppers and peas packed into his LunchBot Thermos.  I added in the snap peas to make a moustache...  The boy sampled the icing eyes and didn't like them and he didn't want the food pick eyes, so I had to switch out the eyes with cheese.  I'll probably stick with the food pick eyes next time because I noticed that the cheese eyeballs ended up sticking to the lid when I closed the container.

Carved carrot fishes

Here's the boy's fish themed lunch today.  Lunch includes: a mini ham & cheese sandwich, raisins and grapes, pork jerky, celery and carrot sticks and dip.  He got some popcorn for his recess snack.  On retrospect, I regret not including actual fish in the meal. I'll have to plan it better next time (if there is a next time). :)  On a whim, I wanted to try to carve mini carrots into fishes last night... I made two fishes and went with that theme for today's lunch.  I was going to make more fishes, but it was getting late and I was pretty slow at it.  

First I tried to make a fish completely with one piece.  I didn't really know how to start, so I carved the head and tried to picture where I wanted the fins and gills.  Then I shaped the tail.  After refining it, I added eyes, scales and some vein details in the tail fin.

On the second fish, I kept the shape simple and added slits where I attached the dorsal and pelvic/anal fins.  After I carved in the gills and eyes.  I know they're missing more fins and other details, but it has enough features that they look like fish. :)

Good-bye Summer, Hello Fall

To celebrate the start of autumn, I made a leaf themed lunch for the boy today.  He's having left-over sushi rice with smoked salmon and masago sprinkled on top, ham and cheese leaf sandwiches, celery sticks and a mini strawberry jam tart.  I cheated using pre-made tart shells and soaked some strawberries in with sugar the night before.  All the leaf shapes were cut and pressed using leaf-shaped pie crust cutters I picked up from Michael's.

Sushi lunch day

We're having sushi for lunch today.  I had a timer set for the rice cooker to finish the sushi rice for 7am this morning.  I mixed in a bit of sushi rice vinegar seasoning, and sprinkled in some salmon rice seasoning.  We buy frozen sliced smoked salmon from Costco and thaw it in the fridge overnight.

Our rice rolls include: smoked salmon, cucumber, fake crab meat, masago and mayo.  I just spread out the rice onto some Saran-wrap over our sushi rolling mat, add on the toppings in the middle, roll into a long log, add on pieces of seaweed, re-roll the seaweed on, then cut the log into pieces with scissors.

Their lunches were packed in cute Kokeshi (Kotobuki) bento box sets.  The girl has the Hanako Girl Bento Box  and the boy has a Ninja Boy Bento Box.

I pack it with an ice pack and include a bit of soy sauce for dipping.  The boy also got a bag of grapes for his recess snack.  The girl ate her lunch after preschool then came home and is currently napping. Now I'm enjoying my lunch (also sushi rolls).  After we go pick up the boy from school and drop him off to an outdoor after school activity.