Mom Life in the PNW

Local Eats: Shanahan’s Irish Bar in Downtown Vancouver, WA

shanahans bar and grill

Although we haven’t been able to visit Shanahan’s Bar & Grill as much as we’d like since having our daughter, this is the place that I do love to come to for bar food and drinks.

This is the best place for happy hour in the area, period. Most places happy hour times are from 3-6; Shanahan’s is from 3-8pm every day of the week! WOWzers!

The happy hour menu has been changed since I’ve been going there for the prices have increased a tad, but everything is still inexpensive and both the food and drinks are great!

They don’t skimp on the booze, which is what people like. If we wanted to pay bottle prices for 1 drink, we’d just drink at home.

The only downfall is that the place is packed every.single.day.of.the.week., so you pretty much have to fight someone for a place to sit, or at least wait until one becomes available and pounce on it FAST! I watched a group of 5  take a single man’s booth once he got up to go to the bathroom. He came back to grab his seat and then left because he had no place to sit. So if you’re here and you have a seat, make sure you grab their business cards and turn it over. It reads something like “don’t steal my drink” then people will assume you’re still there and coming back.

It does clear out after happy hour is over on the weekdays. The weekends are still quite busy.

They have updated the outdoor area which is a much bigger space so hopefully, it won’t be so bad in the summer or spring.


My favorite food items are the Steak bites and mushrooms for $5, which can be eaten by a single person, and the shanny fries which consist of green onions, tots, fries, cheese, and bacon. So delish! But don’t expect to finish it alone, the fries are huge for $4.50!!

shanahans bar and grill

 

The staff is all friendly, but when it’s busy, you may have better luck going up to the bar to grab a drink as they seem a little understaffed during happy hour.

I’m just glad this place is only a mile from my house; it gives me the motivation to ride my bike since there’s absolutely no parking available most times. Plus, I’ll need the cardio after eating shanny fries!

It’s absolutely worth it though and is a must visit if you’re in the area.

5 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me

5 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me

I’m not always great at talking about myself, partly because of my lack of self-confidence and shyness, but mostly because I don’t even know what to say.

I am super shy in person whether I know you well or not

When I first meet someone, I usually don’t spark up the conversation. I wait until they start up the questions and then I get major anxiety if they’re the types of questions I like to avoid. I then hope and pray they won’t keep asking them if I don’t keep the conversation going. It’s something I really need to work on and get over, but it’s also a part of who I am. I’ve always been shy for as long as I can remember. It’s my downfall.

I met my husband online

This kind of goes hand-in-hand with my shy personality. I wasn’t really looking for a man online, I just used online chat rooms as sort of a way of engaging with other like-minded individuals.

I think my first chat room experience was back when AOL was popular in the 90s. I was obsessed with Nsync, so I’d always hang out in that chat room and chit chat. Lol, I was only 15 or 16, so it was exciting to me.

But yes, I met my husband in a local Yahoo chat room in 2004 or 2005, and I really hate admitting to that when people ask how we met. It’s rather embarrassing, but hey, if I wouldn’t have gone in that Yahoo chat room, I wouldn’t have my loving husband or my beautiful daughter. We started dating Dec 9, 2005, and still going strong.

I never got my license until I turned 30

I am currently 34. 😛

Again, it was an anxiety thing. I used my fear of used cars and anxiety to keep me from having an outside life whenever I wanted. My grandma’s car caught on fire one time with everyone in it, so that always freaked me out. Thankfully my husband got me out of my shell and pushed me out of my comfort zone to get my license. Now I can’t stop leaving the house. Target is usually where you’ll find me Lol, or at a kids place with my daughter.

I did medical editing and transcribing for a short time

I did schooling for a year then I got hired on at Nuance. Let’s say, it was basically a big waste of time since you get paid peanuts. Fortunately, Nuance paid at least state minimum wage instead of cents per word but that didn’t last long because they’re well, let’s put it this way, dicks!

IF you’re thinking about doing this as a profession, maybe think again. It’s so stressful and you don’t get paid what it should be worth. I didn’t learn that until afterward.

Blogging and running an Etsy shop is how I make extra spending money now.

I am afraid of spiders

I had to call my friend over once because there was a quarter sized spider on the stairway wall and I was stuck upstairs. That’s how bad it is. Lol, I know some of these hairy buggers jump and I am not risking it. It ended up disappearing after she tried to kill it. Ahhh!

There are obviously many other things that people may not know but I will save that for another post.

What are some things that people may not know about you?

Rockabye Plush Rockers: A Great 1st Birthday Gift

Rockabye Plush Rockers: A Great 1st Birthday Gift

“This post is brought to you by Rockabye Plush Rockers. All opinions are 100% my own and were not influenced in any way.”

I remember as a child having one of those wood rocking horses that hurt your bum if you sat on it for too long. But, boy oh boy were they fun! This new modern day Rockabye Plush Rockers have a little more cushion to make your wee one as comfortable as possible.

I was actually surprised at how heavy duty and durable these Rockabye rockers are. They are heavy and solid, unlike the rocking horse my mom got for my daughter last year at TJMaxx.

And how cute are my daughter and niece on the Petals the fawn and the bitsy bird rocker? I have never seen such cute rocking animals; it’s usually just your basic horse or zoo animals, but Rockabye has unique rockers for every child to love. There’s owls, dragons, unicorns, firetrucks, butterflies, trains, plains, motorcycles, pirate ships, kangaroos, turtles and so much more! They’re all adorable, it was pretty hard just choosing 2!

I love how detailed Bitsy Bird is with its cute little birdhouse backing on the seat to make it feel more like a chair for little ones who can’t really support themselves that great yet, and a crinkly pouch inside the door where itsy bitsy bird comes out.

Rockabye Rockers Play Music

All of their rockers have 4 stitched buttons on the back of the rockers heads or dashboard of the vehicles that activate original songs that teach ABC’s, 1-10, colors, shapes and more. The songs to me are a little cheesy and outdated, but my daughter really likes them when she’s rocking on the rockers. Luckily, there is a battery pack where you can disable the sound (or change the batteries) if these songs end up driving you nuts. LOL

I feel like the Rockabye plush rockers that have the backing of a seat are more for the 9 month age group since those rockers are a little smaller it seems. As you can see from the photos, my 23-month-old daughter and 17-month-old niece both fit in bitsy the bird, but I do notice when my tall toddler is on her, the birdhouse backing kind of bends to the side. It doesn’t end up staying like that and will go back to its original shape; that’s just my reasoning for the 9-month-old and up use.

I must say though, my daughter is practically the size of a 3 or 4-year-old. People are shocked when I tell them she’s not even 2 yet. Next month she will be!

The Rockabye plush rockers are made of high-quality North American maple hardwood, which is handcrafted and put together in their USA factory. Fabric skins and music boxes are sourced from China.

The rockers average 24”L x 12”W x 17”H in their shipping box, so the actual size is slightly smaller than that to fit in their box.

Rockabye rockers are built to last decades, not just years. They are sponge washable and easy to maintain.

I feel like the handles for little hands to hold onto could be a little longer, but other than that, we love our Rockabye Rockers and will get many years of use out of them by passing them down to nieces, and/or perhaps future children.

Go check them out, they’re adorable!

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My D&C Experience: For a Miscarriage at 10 Weeks

My D&C Experience: For a Miscarriage at 10 Weeks

The main goal of treatment during or after a miscarriage is to prevent hemorrhaging and/or infection. The earlier you are in your pregnancy, the more likely your body will expel all the fetal tissue but 10 weeks and on is not recommended to do naturally according to my doctor.

Let me just say, the D&C was the best option for me mentally and physically. There’s no way I’d be okay birthing my dead baby at home.

My surgery was set up for noon on Friday, March 24th, 2017.

That dreaded day had come…

I arrive at the surgery center at 10:30 am to check-in. They call me back, get me undressed and in bed right away. Take my vitals and plug a fluid IV in me. At least this nurse knew how to work with veins, unlike the one I had when I was giving birth to my first who ended up blowing my veins out with her unnecessary prodding.

Then my husband and daughter get to come back into the curtain room with me and visit before I go in. Even though it was a few hours, I needed her there to give her love and kisses beforehand.

Honestly, I freaked myself out more than I should have worrying about anesthesia, but for this procedure, they can give you as little or as much as you’d like and I opted for light twilight. Essentially I was still asleep and don’t remember anything but you come out of it feeling less groggy and not nauseous. The last thing I needed on top of my worries was to feel more sick to my stomach.

The anesthesiologist was kind of funny, so he lightened the mood a bit. I explained my concerns about anesthesia and how I wanted to not be in a deep, deep sleep.  I told him I was nervous about it so he ended up bringing me anxiety meds for my IV, which made me feel calmer and better about the procedure.

I had about a half an hour to go…

Dr. then came in and introduced himself and then the nurse came back and started wheeling me to the operating room.

They switched me to a different bed and then put an oxygen mask on me and then about a minute later, I was asleep because that’s all I remember.

I didn’t wake up during the procedure, nor did I hear them talking and I didn’t feel anything. I woke up shortly after they were finished with them trying to put mesh panties on me.

From the time I went in, to the time I got wheeled out, it was about 40 minutes.

I immediately felt light period type cramping and had light bleeding which is to be expected.

The Dr. came out and told me everything went well and was sorry we had to meet under such circumstances. He’s not my normal Dr. but he is a decent one around here. I checked out reviews beforehand and everyone loves him. Definitely look into Dr. James Calvert if you’re in the area and need an OB/GYN.

Also, I wanted to state that they never did another ultrasound, so make sure if you’re still feeling uneasy about the results you received to get another one. It may end up making the pain more real but at least you now know and can have a peace of mind that you’re doing the right thing and won’t be lingering with “what if”.

I hope everyone who has gone through this heals both mentally and physically and goes on to have happy, healthy babies.

Now I need some much-needed rest because this has me all kinds of exhausted.

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Not the Announcement I Wanted to Make

I was saving up a post to talk about our new pregnancy, but after having my first prenatal visit at 11 weeks on Monday, we got unexpected and unfortunate news. Our babies heart beat could not be found on the sonogram, but she told us not to worry and that we’d try the trans vaginal ultrasound, which unfortunately gave the same results. Now they were treating it as a serious matter and had me go do an ultrasound in the radiology department.

I was completely shocked and saddened to hear this news. In a way, almost guilty feeling because I’ve been feeling so sick with this one for the past 10 weeks and I haven’t felt too excited about it. Now I wished I had nausea, the bloat and the crazy bowel movements just so I know that my little one is alright.

Unfortunately, the ultrasound yielded the same results, and she showed us where the heart should be flickering. Baby measured at 10 weeks and I was 11.

miscarriage quote

You never really expect anything like this to happen to you after having a healthy first pregnancy, but miscarriages are so unpredictable that it happens to 1 in 4 people who are under 12 weeks pregnant, which I didn’t realize. That’s way too many. I feel for all who have gone through this.

Now I get to somehow mentally prepare myself for a D&C Friday afternoon since I can’t bare to sit and wait for my baby to come out naturally and see it. That would be too heartbreaking to deal with right now.

I am sad that we don’t get 2 babies to love on, but I am at least grateful for the one I do have. If I didn’t have her, I am sure I’d be going a little crazy right now.