Merry Christmas, Love, and Joys of the Season to All!

Chaos update
Well, it's past the middle of the month and almost nothing is accomplished at the new place. The biggest problem is that I can't work over there during the day because of Ben, and after Steve gets home, we're both too tired. That leaves the weekends, when we've also had to do all of our regular errands - ack! My downstairs neighbour is helping me knock down a wall in the nursery that had about two feet of space behind it that I can use for storage. Of course there were big old heating ducts there and when we took them out, part of the hallway wall came with it - oops! Now we have to fix that as well, and have an electrician in to take down a register. She's also going to add some plugs for us in January some time. If she's going to do that, we have to remove some baseboards to make her job easier, which means that we're going to have some wall issues which will make painting impossible until she finishes. We should be able to start with the kitchen and bathroom though because we're not doing anything in there until we buy the the place. We've had huge piles of snow falling on us recently which makes wandering around with Ben a bit more difficult. On the up side, the snow is beautiful and Christmassy and Ben looks very Maggie Simpsonesque in his snowsuit. I've almost finished the shopping too. We went downtown on Tuesday and got most of it completed. I pushed the stroller and Steve carried Ben around from store to store, which is easy when you live in a city with such a great underground network. Ben, of course, got a lot of attention. Part of being carried around by someone who's 6'4, is that you get a great view. He looked like a figurehead on a ship, all wide-eyed and smiling at everyone. He's really becoming an atrocious flirt!

Let the chaos begin!
We are now renting two places until Feb 1. Yup, the lady moved the last of her stuff from next door and hopefully cleaned up a bit. This means a month of cleaning, painting, sanding, and organizing for the big move sometime in January. Steve's mom arrives for a visit tomorrow, so I should be able to start getting stuff done over there Wednesday. It will be great to paint in a place without furniture! I've almost decided on paint colours, but I have to take the colour chips over and stick them up on the wall and have a look.
Yesterday officially ended something called black powder hunting season. First it's bow season, then two weeks of rifle, then black powder.I can only assume that this means hunting with muskets. I suppose that the deer have more of a chance this way, as you only get one shot, and then you have to reload, but it just seems silly to me. Do you also dress up in period costumes? To me, hunting is fine for food, but I've never appreciated people heading into the woods with their new red hats shooting at anything that moves for sport. My grandmother puts orange coats on the dogs for a month, because you hear all kinds of stories of city folk coming up with their rifles and shooting cows, and horses, and dogs, mistaking them for deer. My dad used to hunt when we lived in Alaska. He and a group of friends would get flown up north into the middle of nowhere for a week and hunt moose and bear. They normally came back with a couple of moose (mooses?) that they would split between them and we would have meat for half a year. When we moved back here, my dad retired his rifles. He didn't think that it was fair to shoot something that couldn't defend itself. My dad's opinion is that if you're hunting a moose or a bear and you miss, that animal has a pretty good chance to kill you (of course, not as good as if it had a rifle with a site and opposable thumbs), but what's a deer going to do? Blink you to death?

Ack!
Ben's been feverish since Friday night - probably because of his latest round of shots. Must not panic. Tempra's great!

It's a beautiful sunny day and with any luck Ben and I will be going out for a walk when he gets up from his nap. We celebrated our friend Terences' 40 birthday on Saturday and Ben was an excellent party guest, although he did conk out on his daddy, at least he wasn't wearing the lampshade this time. On Sunday, Guislaine came over for a belated birthday supper. Normally, we join her and other friends for a delicious meal at a French restaurant,but this year we couldn't make it. Steve made beef bourginon and I made a chocolate layer cake that was very yummy.
I'm starting to really think about paint colours for the new place. I have to decide soon, we must start painting at the beginning of December. I'm not sure if I'll be using the same colours as I have now, it's probably time for a change. Maybe I'll use some of the colours, but in different rooms. I keep having dreams that I'm walking through the place and it's huge, wishful thinking! It's going to be a whirlwind this Christmas with so much going on. There's a transit strike going on here, so Steve drove himself to work today. It kinda sucks because he bought his bus pass and now has to shell out for gas and parking. Ben's going to the doctor for his next set of shots on Thursday. The first time we went I was so anxious for him - I hate needles. He took it like a champ and only cried for a few seconds, then slept for most of the day. I almost forgot! He tried cereal for the first time on Sunday and seemed delighted with the texture and taste. It must be bland as cardboard, but I'm sure that just to try eating something off a spoon is fun. Most of it gets pushed back out and then shoved back in with his hands. We videotaped the event for posterity. Sigh, he's so super!

Another weekend has zoomed by! On Saturday we drove out to the townies and changed my tires and picked up a spare car. My folks bought a used Oldsmobile stationwagon because their older car gave out on them. After they bought it, they found out that the other car was fixable, so they offered the old Ford to Steve so he can get some practice driving around. Because of complications, he drove the Oldsmobile home. It was cold on Saturday, there was some snow and a really biting wind - hello winter!
Sunday we had many visitors and we watched Finding Nemo. We went to see it in the theatre when I was still pregnant, and I cried a lot. This time I only cried a little, but there was a lot of blinking. Why do animators always kill off the mother?
Ben's been in a very good mood lately, he seems to be smiling at everything and everyone. This morning he woke up in his co-sleeper and babbled for quite a while, he's generally very happy in the morning, but not so talkative. Eventually he's going to have to sleep in his crib in his room and I'll miss watching him wake up and stretch and squeak.
I have a lot of errands to run today, so naturally Ben has decided to have a long nap instead of his short little catnaps. Maybe I'll go have a nap too.....

Gone Fishing
Steve discovered that Ben loves watching fish. The Finding Nemo DVD has a virtual aquarium. The fish from the movie aquarium swim by and every now and then do something cute. He was entranced for at least 15 minutes!

Say Cheese
When you have a baby, you get on all sorts of new mailing lists. So far, I've received samples of and coupons for diapers, baby wipes, baby soap, lotion, formula, baby magazines, books, toys, you name it. The most recent was a free photo session. They called, and when I said I wasn't that interested, the lady on the phone said "It's free, the photographer will be at your home between 10 and 11 on Monday". Yesterday, the photographer showed up on time with all his photography stuff. He turned out to be a very nice young guy, two years out of photography school and great with babies. He managed to set up in the livingroom and we began. Ben was a real pro, of course he's had a camera in his face since he was born. First he took shots of Ben on his tummy in clothes, which went much better than I thought it would. After this, I stripped him to his diaper and the cheese began. Within the blink of an eye, the photographer whipped out a tarzan getup, complete with a stuffed monkey. I have to admit that I thought it was pretty funny. After this came the basket of fruit which Ben was added to with a lettuce leaf on his head. Seems that there's no escape from the dreaded Anne Geddes. The last photos were taken of Ben in his diaper posing again on his tummy. The sitting up shots were exciting, mostly because after the photographer got him into position, he let go of Ben for a split second while he took the photos. For this reason, I think that it was better to have a young guy, I'm sure his reflexes are much better than some middle-aged guy. We should get the proofs in a few weeks, so we'll see what we get. The really great part was that about five minutes after the photographer left, Ben was fast asleep. Apparently being beautiful takes a lot out of him :-)

Spongebob's pants are on fire
Note to self: when disinfecting sponges in the microwave, do not accidently hit ten minutes instead of ten seconds and then walk to the other end of the house. Burning sponge in the microwave is about the nastiest smell ever - but at least we know that the smoke detectors work.

Wow, it's the end of October already! I keep looking at the blog and wanting to post, but somebody's been taking up a lot more of my time than I previously anticipated. It's funny, you have an idea of what it's going to be like to have a baby and stay home with him, but you never really know what you're getting yourself into. For the most part, I've really been digging the mom thing, Ben's an amazing baby. He's sleeping about 6 hours a night now, which is pretty good. People tell you that you learn to live with less sleep, and they're right! Steve can fall asleep in seconds now to take advantage of any quiet moment. I tend to be more alert to Ben's fussing, so it takes me a while to get back to sleep after night time feedings and cuddling. Did I mention that Ben's a cuddler? He's about the cutest thing ever when he falls asleep in your arms.
I'm also getting pretty good transporting baby in the car seat and stroller to run errands. When I started, I had no clue. I'm sure that more than one mom has rolled her eyes at me and muttered "rookie" under her breath as I've tried to attach the infant seat to a grocery cart or tried to get him into his stroller in the parking lot of the mall. A few tips:

• At the grocery store, park near where you return the carts, that way you can get a cart and attach the infant seat and then roll across the parking lot to the store (this becomes important when your baby starts packing on the pounds), and you can put the baby in the car and return the cart without taking your eyes of him. I was sprinting across the parking lot a few times before I figured this out.
  
• Keep your stoller in the trunk of the car, you never know when you'll need it, and if you live upstairs, like me, you don't have to drag it up and down.
  
• Get yourself a nice, light, small-ish stroller. You can't get those SUV strollers up and down stairs easily if there are no ramps, and let's not talk about narrow aisles! I have a small stroller, and I can barely manage some store aisles.

Stepping Into the Void...

Thought I'd put something up here. I'd almost forgotten that this is a group blog, actually.

Well, Dina is fully into the baby-bliss, and it makes me all weepy (happy-weepy)just to think about it. People keep asking me whether I want another child and all I can say is "Yes! But when?" With the husband back in University it doesn't seem like the time will be right 'til at least next summer. And we don't even need contraceptives, cuz we never see each other...

Actually we do manage to spend time together. We just went up to my sister's in the Laurentians this past weekend. What a treat that was. My sister and her husband are the caretakers of the Molson family's estate up there. They live in a beautiful house with a guest apartment attached (just right for li'l ol' us), and the estate is 1500 acres on pristine lakes (3) and forest. It's like going to a resort, particularly because my sister loves to make beautiful meals that we linger over for hours in between swimming, boating, fishing and walking adventures. And her two boys take care of my kids all day. The good life.

This has been the best summer in recent memory for me. It was full of fun and yet it was very peaceful and relaxed at the same time. I feel refreshed and invigorated after it. I didn't get married and go to Paris (like Elizabeth), but I think I will remember this summer. My kids are at a good age to enjoy it, I guess (6 and 4), so we enjoy it as well.

I don't have anything particularly scintillating to say, here, in case you haven't already made that assessment. But I will mention one more thing: My cat has cancer. She has a tumour in her face that has eaten away some of her bone and is starting to eat away her sinuses. She is behaving pretty normally, so it is very difficult to make the decision to euthanize her. We only found out it was cancer on thursday, and we're watching her closely to see if it is interfering with her breathing. I figure when she can't breathe comfortably is when we'll do it. But so far her behaviour is normal. I'm so sad, because we got her 2 years ago, when she was already 10 years old, and I don't think she'd had a very happy life until she came to us. I am glad, however, that she has been happy with us. She cuddles with my daughter in bed, and she appears to be in the throes of ecstasy every time. My daughter squishes her like a teddy bear, and she couldn't be happier. I will be very sad to see her go, but I don't want her to suffer. I've explained things to the kids, but it's hard. What a weird thing to have to make the decision when another living creature will die. It seems wrong, but I guess humans have had to take that responsibility since we started domesticating animals. It's a responsibility I'd rather not have, but I accept it as the inevitable end of our animal/human relationship.

So, anyone else up for blogging? Tell us how your summer was. Let's not let Dina down!

I'm back!
Well, I'm kinda back. Ben is a wonderful baby, but he has this problem with sleeping alone, so all too often I am under a baby which makes typing a bit impossible. I will try to post whenever I have two free hands! Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, I will get those thank you cards out soon. Someone just started squawking- gotta go!

As promised, shower pics and the baby's room here. A million thanks again to Maggie for throwing a great shower!!!

Showered and ready to go
Saturday was the baby shower and it was a blast! Friday night, we went out and my mother-in-law got a mess of fruit. On Saturday morning, we chopped and washed and peeled and then threw it all in a box and headed over to Maggie's place. We decorated a bit and set up the food table and then people started to arrive. People carrying gifts and food! I decided that Saturday was going to be a black-out day for the gestational diabetes thing-I didn't check my sugar, and I didn't care. We all hit the food table and there was much chatting and laughing, nobody told me any birth horror stories which was appreciated. The gifts were piled high atop the table-people were very generous and there was much oooing and awwing at all the little clothes and stuffed creatures. Thank you everyone! I have pictures and they will be posted soon! We managed to get the loot home and Steve and I got to assemble and play with it. Steve and dad got the carpeting installed, after encountering many problems. By Sunday night, we had the crib up with the bedding and suddenly it's starting to look like a room!
On Monday morning, Steve's mom left and we went off to the hospital for the attempted baby turning. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. The doctor strongly advised against it because the chances of the baby turning were about the same as it turning on its own and the risk of having an emergency cesarean were looming. The baby appears to be moving well and seems very healthy despite the fact that it's small, that's good news. There's always the chance that it will flip over before the 28th, so I'm trying to stay positive. It's getting harder and harder to work, my brain's having a difficult time focusing on anything. Today, I'm pretty happy to be in an air conditioned office though, because it's going up to 31C + high humidity.

What else?
We finished painting the squares in the baby's room on Monday, it looks really neat! We also finally got around to taking the stroller out of the box. It took us 30 minutes to figure out how to unfold it! It looked easy enough when the guy was doing it in the store. I think that I even did it myself at the store. Good thing that we decided to try it out before actually needing to put a baby in it and go somewhere, two idiots and a baby out on the sidewalk manhandling a folded stroller. The instructions were really more diagrams without much detail which didn't help. The baby shower is this weekend and my mother-in-law is arriving today, with more presents. The doctor is going to try to turn the baby around on the 14. I've been told that this hurts quite a bit by the doctor, and generally when doctors tell you that something hurts, they're not making it up. Until Monday, I'm still going to try all of the stuff I've heard about to get it to turn by itself. Perhaps when we get to the hospital, the doctor will have a look and discover that we're heads down and feeling fine!

thhhhhppppttttlllll
Last Thursday we received a call from the hospital confirming my scheduled c-section on July 28. This scared the hell out of us because we didn't schedule anything with the hospital. Turns out that my doctor decided to book it because he's 99.9% sure that I'm having a c-section. You have to love a doctor who gives you so little hope of avoiding having your midsection sliced open. He logically explained why he thought this, but that's not what I wanted to hear. I wanted some compassion from him, perhaps any sign that he actually realised how big a disappointment this was to me and how scared I am of the surgery. I didn't get it, which of course just made me mad, and stubborn. I talked him into trying to turn the baby, which will be attempted either the 14 or the 24. I got some advice from an experienced midwife, she made me feel hopeful. I talked to a female doctor and a nurse at the hospital who sympathised and told me there's still a good chance that the baby will turn of its own. The nurse did tell me that my doctor is one of the best at the hospital, even if he's not the most compassionate. This made me feel better, because I was starting to worry that I had chosen a c-section crazy man.
Needless to say that I'm still very down in the dumps about the whole thing, I'm trying to stay positive and relaxed, but it's difficult.

Busy weekend!
So, as of Thursday I have to check my blood at least three times per day and watch what I eat and worry about the fact that baby continues to enjoy hanging around the uterus with its head up, instead of down which should be its preferred orientation. We also discovered that it's something called a "frank breech", which means that its feet are up by the head. Essentially, we have a Cirque de Soleil baby. We had our birthing courses this weekend. The Saturday session was very good, the teacher was animated and organized and taught us many breathing and relaxation exercises. The teacher on Sunday was not very good and was more of a natural childbirth/breastfeeding nazi. She did take us on a tour of the birthing centre and recovery floor though, so it wasn't a complete waste. The funniest bits were the videos we had to watch, most of which were filmed in the late 70s. The hair was great! Of course, none of the mothers screamed, or cursed at their husbands, or took the drugs, so you had to assume they were insane. We also enjoyed bbq with Terence and Irene Saturday night, and Ramsay and Mirella Sunday, so today I'm a bit loopy. I'm looking forward to the holiday tomorrow to rest up.
I got the new Harry Potter last week and have been reading it in short intervals, don't want it to end too fast. It's quite different from the first four, there's a complete change in tone which I was disappointed with, but it really was inevitable considering that the character is growing up and the plot is getting progressively darker.

I was going to talk about the weekend, but it was pretty uneventful. We put Scott on the train Saturday morning which was sad, and Kathy came over Sunday, which was a perfect way to spend an afternoon. After weeks of eating everything that moves (doctor's orders), I am now 6 pounds heavier than before I got pregnant, which should make my doctor very happy. Of course, now I fear that when I go in at the end of March he's going to say, "hey, whoa there tubby", but the butter really was worth it :-)
I think that I can kinda feel something moving around down there, and I definitely have started to look pregnant, at least to me. One day last week I looked down and there it was, not just my regular belly, but a rounder, harder belly. Freaky! My next ultrasound is March 17 (should I paint a shamrock on my tummy?). They should be able to tell us the sex of the baby, but we don't want to know. My friend Kuan wants to know what she's having, but her baby is apparently being very shy about the whole thing. I want a surprise at the end, we know so much more than our mothers did when they were having kids; I know how healthy the baby is, I can hear the heartbeat and see what it looks like, why wreck the ultimate surprise? Besides, this way if I'm having a girl I don't get pink stuff, not really crazy about pink.

Woo hoo! Sofa!
The sofa and chair arrive sometime this afternoon! Yay! I'm in training today, so Steve will be heading home to wait for sofa men. In other news, it looks like I'm heading back to NY next week for business... oh joy, that's about a week of x-mas shopping time wasted.

The Latest James Bond Movie

Yes, I confess, I saw "Another Day to Die" and frankly it's too violent, long and seemingly pointless car chases that somehow make for a very flat and tired forumla. However Brosnan makes a good Bond and the Bond girl in the movie, Halle isn't bad either. The song, by Madonna is okay too and if you catch the music video by the same name as the movie, it's also good (and in my opinion better than the movie, it's not as long). As you would expect, Madonna does make a cameo appearance in the movie and if you have seen the video, you'll recognize the setting.

As you probably heard the movie does a shameless job of product promotion. I felt that this was one of it's strengths, it gave me something else to think about while someone else was being brutally beaten and killed.

The special effects ranged from okay to absolutely terrible. The worst scene is one that allegedly takes place in Iceland where Bond is driving across some ice that is being cracked by a device from outer space and as you would expect he drives over any icy precipice and drops a 100 feet or so straight into the ocean. What makes the whole thing totally unbelievable is a) the way the setting looked, totally fake, something out of a 1950s el cheapo Sci-fi movie, b) you can't suspend you disbelief when he somehow manages to yank a piece of the car off and turn it into a surfboard and ride the surf to safety. (I think he managed to grab the car's parachute too before the car fell straight into the ocean.)

I am glad I saw this at Guzzo cinema as a Sunday matinee as opposed to lining up for it on a Friday or Saturday night and paying full fare for it. Don't bother with the video when it comes out unless you really want to see the scene where Halle comes out of the water in her spectacular orange bikini and her equally spectacular body...


I rarely go to movies, especially ones my husband wants to see and this is one he had been champing at the bit to see. (I didn't know he liked orange bikinis). I think the next time he goes to a movie, I will stay home and rent The Shipping News or The End of the Affair. I am bound to see some plot, drama, and some good acting.

Quiet Monday
Many people have taken today off because tomorrow's a holiday here, so it's vewy quiet. I like days like these because there's no traffic and almost no one bugs me so I can get some work done. This weekend we didn't get as much done as we'd hoped. The heat wave has started, so we were a bit dazed by the return of summer heat. We did get out to a friend's housewarming which was lots of fun. Everybody feels obliged to talk about baby stuff when I'm around. I guess it's an obvious conversation choice, and I do love to hear everyone's cute baby stories and how happy they are about being moms and dads, but I'd like some variety. Tell me something horribly embarassing about your first parenting experience that makes me feel completely normal about feeling so totally unprepared for this. I'm serious, I'm freakin' out here people!

Dang!
Fixed my blogback and lost some of my comments. Sorry!

This sucks
Doctor made a mistake, I have gestational diabetes after all, which means that now I have to go the the hospital from 7:30-3:30 next week. The hospital doesn't seem to care that I have to make that time up somewhere.... I'll probably end up waiting for hours in uncomfortable chairs. Oh! and just to make my day a bit brighter, my doctor has completely freaked me out by telling me that the baby hasn't turned yet, so I should be mentally preparing myself for the possibility of a cesarean. I've been frantically searching the internet for exercises that I can do at home. So far I have found lots of advice involving tilting yourself up on an ironing board and using frozen peas, music, and flashlights to coax the head down. I'm thinking a full sound and lights show between my legs ought to do the trick. I'm very unhappy at the moment.

Drat!
Yesterday I checked the weather and it said that it was going to be sunny and low 20s all weekend. Today, it's rainy and high teens. The gods are thwarting by birthday BBQ...... everyone bring a sweater and an umbrella.
I had a lovely birthday, went out to lunch and Steve took me out for a great mexican dinner. He gave me a Shaun figurine from A Close Shave, so cute!

Happy Birthday to Me!

You've got the cutest little ...

Can't see it? Try this and squint a bit:

The camera loves ya baby!
Had another ultrasound today, and blood tests, and an appointment with a dietician. It was a very busy morning of running up and down stairs. The baby looks pretty good to me. It decided to position itself so that we got a very good look at its face, posing for the camera already! I'll have a photo up tomorrow, with the appropriate arrows, etc. It was moving its mouth too, which means a good appetite, or it's already working on a welcome speech. The doctor said that the waist looks a bit small, so I have to go back in at the end of the month. The dietician told me a whole bunch of stuff that I already knew. I suppose many people do not know how to eat well, but I am not one of these people. Of course, seeing as how my birthday is this week, I doubt that I will be choosing not to eat cake and ice cream either. I think that the hospital policy errs on the side of the overly cautious.
Saturday was spent at a sad family function. My aunt died last Monday, and we had a small memorial service in the townships. My grandmother is holding up well, despite her own illness. It was very draining to say the least. Sunday we were going to go out and shop for a dresser and look at more strollers, but instead we worked around the house and did some groceries. Yesterday gave us a little reminder of the warm weather to come, it was hot and humid. Steve set up the air conditioner in the bedroom, perfect timing! We were watching the season finale of Six Feet Under last night, my wonderful brother-in-law tapes it for me, when the tape suddenly went fuzzy grey screen in the last minutes! Luckily, we have an alternate supplier so we can find out what happened.

Baby report
It's been a while. Let's see, as you know my belly exploded a few weeks ago, which was hard to get used to, but I seem to have finally adapted. I have discovered that bean burritos are not the best thing to eat right now. Spicy food is so far still a-ok. The ever-generous mother-in-law insists on getting us the stroller, and with the help of her sister, is sending us about a million receiving blankets, so I'll have plenty left over to wax the car. I'm still stripping the closet door of the nursery and we haven't started painting the squares on the walls yet, but maybe we'll get a few taped off this weekend. The baby is moving around, although now it seems more like gentle rolling than kicking. According to the books, the baby is now about 18 inches long and 3 and a half pounds, which really doesn't explain why I have now gained over 25 pounds, but my doctor says that I'm normal.
In other news
I have had better weeks. Had some very bad news on Monday (not baby-related), so I'm rather blue.

We registered this weekend for babystuff at the big chain toystore. It wasn't so bad, although I'm not completely convinced about the stroller, and I'm still looking for a nice crib set that isn't stupidly expensive. I think that we have all the basics covered. Anybody have anything that they couldn't live without when they had a baby? A friend is coming over with a crib tonight, so we're going to put it together and have a look and decide if it's a good fit. After we registered, we went out for lunch and then on to Club Price, where we stocked up on cleaning supplies and priced diapers just for fun, man those things are expensive! Sunday morning I just lolled around and then I went over to Maggie's to see the newly painted facade-very nice! Last night we went with Guislaine to see the new Matrix movie - which was action packed and all the things that you'd expect from a Matrix movie. We knew that there was a trailer for the next movie after the credits, so we stuck around to see it. The only problem was that the music that went with the credits was incredibly loud and the credits were really long. I had my hands over my ears, and it was still deafening. I came out kind of cranky about the whole thing. I'm going to call the cinema today and complain.
This week is going to be another super busy one, I have another release which always creates havoc and late nights while things compile and crash.
It is also the start of my birthday month, truly the most amazing time of the year! Let the games begin!

What else is new?
Well, for starters, last Sunday my tummy went from being merely round, to pregnant! Somewhere between 9am and 1pm, I exploded, and the truly weird part is that I didn't notice, despite being awake and alert the entire time. I had been carrying low, but now my belly has expanded up, just below my rib cage. I've also discovered that moving around is getting a bit harder. At my last doctor's appointment, I found out that one of my glucose readings was slightly abnormal, which means that I have to see a dietician, but it's not gestational diabetes. The doctor doesn't seem too concerned, everything else is going perfectly. It's so hard to believe that I'm only two months and a bit away from meeting the little person moving around in my body. The doctor showed my how to figure out how the baby is positioned, of course it's much easier for him to tell the head from the bum.
Steve painted the baby's room the base coat over the long weekend. It's a purply blue, very soft and calming. Now that that's done, we are going to tape off some random squares and paint them in different shades of yellow, purple, green, etc., it's going to look great. We went to Fly last weekend and picked up a couple of hippo lamps, and I found some really cute hippo posters online today. We're going to try not to overdo the hippo theme. On Saturday we're going to go to that chain toy store to register for baby stuff. Knowing how bad I am registering for things (the wedding registry was so hard for me to do), we're bringing Maggie along so she and Steve can run around putting stuff on the list.

New York trip
It's been two weeks since I went, and Steve blogged about it already, but we had a blast. After a pretty good drive, we arrived and found some illegal parking (luckily we didn't get a ticket) and went to see Kuan. Not only did I get a new purse, but she also gave us a tour of her company. We had a nice dinner with her, compared bellies and got caught up. It's so cool being pregnant at the same time as a close friend. I really wish that we lived closer together, but at least we have someone else to compare notes with as we go along. After we said goodbye to Kuan, we made our way to the village to Dan and Libby's place. We had a lot of trouble finding the parking lot and the apartment building, but eventually we found everything. They live in a great place. One of the neatest things is that they are just down the street from the Magnolia bakery, so I got to try a piece of the chocolate bundt cake that I made from their cookbook! It was almost as good as mine :-) The village is kind of like the Plateau, full of tons of bookstores, restaurants, and people with babies and dogs. On Saturday we wandered all over and took in a movie at the Tribeca film festival. On Sunday, we headed off with Libby via subway. We first went to Old Navy, so I could pick up some maternity wear, then on to Central Park and the Museum of Natural History where we took in the Einstein exhibit and the dinosaur section of the museum. The exhibit was fantastic and full of very ingenius visual examples of many of Einstein's most important theories. You can read an explanation of a theory, but I got much more from seeing it in practise. For the evening, we got some Indian takeout and played some games. It was sad to say goodbye, but we made our way back home with occasional bouts of heavy rain.

It's like a blogging wasteland here lately. Is there anybody out there?
I've been super busy, I have a bunch of stuff to get out by the end of next week, and people are just starting to give me information. I made some kickass peanutbutter cookies Wednesday night, perfect not too crisp, browned to perfection. The funniest thing that I've seen lately was in a movie called The Price of Milk. It's set in the New Zealand countryside. A farmer is out in his field talking to his friend, and a medium sized box runs up to them and barks. The farmer scratches the box, and the friend asks, "How's his agoraphobia then?". The farmer replies, "Coming along". The box then runs away, barking.

Happy Birthday becca!!
Yeah, I know it was Sunday, but haven't touched the computer all long weekend!

Back!
We returned from New York Monday after a long and rainy drive. We had a great time and I promise that I'll write about it as soon as I get a chance. Right now, I'm swamped with work! Until then, here are pictures.

The sun is back!
It's been a dreary couple of days, but it looks like we might have a few days of rejuvinating sunshine to look forward to. My bananas are finally ready for making banana bread tonight. I saw a new recipe and have been craving it since then. I love homemade banana bread, it smells divine and nothing can beat it with a cold glass of milk. I have a ton of stuff to finish before I leave for my long weekend tomorrow, and everytime I start working on something, I get interrupted with a problem or a question. I'm also trying to decide what to pack, a small crisis for me. There's always something that you have to leave behind that you need, and a bunch of useless stuff that you end up taking with you. I should also leave a little bit of space in my luggage in case I happen to pass by the Old Navy that sells maternity clothes in New York:-)
Any requests for things to see, photograph, or purchase while I'm there?

Rainy days are for snoozing
It's one of those days. I slept in this morning and I could still use a nap. The glucose test yesterday was pretty ugh. They took blood, made me drink an entire bottle and a half of that sweet drink, then took my blood an hour after, an hour after that, and an hour after that. Luckily, the technician switched arms halfway through. When you drink that much sugar on a very empty stomach, you not only feel really naseous, but you also feel incredibly tired. I was the second person there, so I got one of the two "good chairs", which are ancient pink vinyl recliners. They're not the greatest, but compared to the hard-backed jobbies, they're a huge improvement. Steve stayed with the chair while I was having my blood taken to prevent poaching. I managed to nap for an hour, which was nice. After the test, Steve got me a chocolate pastry and got my carrots out of the trunk for my drive to work. After I dropped him off, I started to feel really shaky. They don't tell you not to drive, but perhaps they should, I managed to get to work alright, but I doubt it was very smart.
We're taking Friday and Monday off and heading down to the Big Apple to visit Kuan Friday night, and Dan and Libby over the weekend. I've heard plans of a puppet show :-) I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!

Countdown
Yesterday was our 20th month of wedded whatchmacallit. It sunk in yesterday that there are only three more months of being able to enjoy just being a couple, after that we'll be a family for the rest of our lives. In honour of this, we will be going to see X-men 2 tonight!

You know, we can see you....
Middle-aged guy in a suit in a Mercedes parked right outside the main entrance of a grocery store with his finger buried in his nose. I'm sure he meets his clients like that.

Drat
I have to go in for the long glucose test next Monday. I have to follow a diet, but it's a diet of more food than I think that I can eat. Then I have to fast, then I do the test again, but this time it's longer and I have to drink more sweet stuff and give more blood. Ugh....
Besides that, everything's fine with the baby, it's nice and healthy and moving all the time.

Life in SARS City

Here I am in Toronnah where SARS rules or at least the media has deemed that it does along with the WHO. Anyway, this is my farewell tour before leaving CDS next Wednesday. (This time next week I plan to be out in the back yard, weather permitting reading a good book and soaking up the rays.)

So far this week I have had 3 great lunches and a dinner. Today I lunched with my boss, two colleagues and our CEO (surprise guest) who told some really good stories. I also found out that he is as much of a dog nut as I am so you can imagine the dog talk over lunch.

Tomorrow is the grand finale lunch at a wine bar (it's like letting me loose in a toy shop) with a bunch of other people and then when that's over, it will be the goodbyes and heading off to the train station to head for home. It is a "bit" bizarre having this much of a send off, but then this has been a strange year all round. I will at least leave with no regrets or anger. I feel that I will have closed this chapter in my life well and will remember both the good and the bad as lessons learned.

In about an hour I have to go for my exit interview in which I get to say whatever about the company, then off to troubleshoot some Intranet issues and then hopefully go back to the hotel and relax.

As for SARS, I have seen some people wearing masks and the washrooms here in our building all have hand washing instructions (in a large font) taped on all the bathroom mirrors. So far I haven't witnessed much the approved handwashing procedure...but I have witnessed handwashing.

Famished
I'm back from my glucose test and I'm starved! Someone, pass me that pile of sandwiches and easter bunnies and stand back!
It went alright, I thought that they were going to suck way more blood out of me, and the stuff that they make you drink isn't so bad, just not very appetizing. As usual, there's a study going on for this test. Apparently, there's a long test (3 hrs), and a short test (1hr). Normally, you go in for the 1 hour test, and if you get a normal reading, then you're ok, but if you test high, then you have to go back for the 3 hour test. The problem is, about 75% of the positive results end up being false after the second test is administered. The new idea is to do one 2 hour test that's more accurate, thereby preventing a lot of women from having to return, pay for expensive parking, and lose time at work. As a part of the study, they have you pick an envelope that has either the 1 and 3 hour test, or the 2 hour test and I assume that they will eventually decide which method is the most cost and time efficient for the staff and patients. I picked the old method (1,3), so I hope that my blood studied up last night and I don't have to go back!

Happy Bunny Weekend!
I'm at work today so I can take Monday off. I wish everyday could be like today, no real distractions, no traffic, a parking space close to the door, and indian food with Maggie. Watched Road to Perdition last night, which was much better than I thought it would be. Tom Hanks is amazingly quiet in this film, which proves that the man can actually act. I'm really looking forward to the long weekend. We're hanging out and going to a BBQ tomorrow, Sunday we're up at my folks where we will also be putting on my summer tires and hooking my parents up to the internet (our house is about to become tech support central), and Monday is all to ourselves. I hope that the sun comes out so we can go for a nice walk.

The Lion, the *itch, and the Wardrobe
Seeing as how it was going up to 21C today, I decided to wear a skirt to work, the first of the year. I only have one skirt now, a black stretchy, mid-length number, but what to wear with it? The short story is that it took me way more time getting dressed than normal and I've discovered that I don't have nearly enough shirts to wear with skirts-ugh! I'm kind of in-between at this point and mostly I just look overweight instead of pregnant. At least I'm wearing clothes and didn't decide in a hormone-raging fit of disgust to just go naked.
Hey! we have a new governing party! Really, it seems only fair that another party gets a turn at screwing up our province for a few years, the other had been playing with it long enough - you have to share.

Leadfoot
I got my very first speeding ticket this weekend, in the townships, where police car sitings are so rare that people talk about them years later. What are the odds? I was driving a bit too fast through a town, coasting really, but seeing as how the town consists of a depanneur, a church that is closed, and a guy who sells used furniture out of his garage, nobody ever really slows down. He had taken the lights off his car so that you couldn't recognize it as a cop car, sneaky bastard. As I said to my folks when we saw them, I was due to get one sooner or later, to which my dad added, "especially the way you drive". Sigh, if only I looked a bit more pregnant, I might have gotten away with it. I guess my baby's just gonna have to live with the fact that its got a leadfoot felon for a momma.

What's beautiful weather like you doing in a Friday like this? Why can't you wait for the weekend when I can go out and play?

The sun is out and it's supposed to get up to a balmy 11C today. I think that I should go outside at lunch and catch some very needed light therapy. Yesterday I spent most of my energy just trying to stay awake. Let's hope that this nice weather stays!
I'm in charge of the weekly lottery pool this week because the guy that normally does it is in Colorado (we see the world, we do!). It hasn't been so bad, a lot of people gave me money right away without any nagging, but there's always a few that you have to chase after...if I did this every week, I think I'd get a pointy stick.

I've been feeling very unmotivated the past couple of days. Perhaps it's the weather and the fact that we haven't had a long weekend yet this year, but I'm not feeling very diligent or guilty for not feeling diligent. Thankfully, Easter weekend's coming up! The day after the Easter weekend, I'm going in for the dreaded glucose test. They make you fast, then take blood, make you drink something disgustingly sweet, and then take blood from you a few more times. It takes about 2 hours I've been told. What this boils down to is that I can't pig out on Easter candy just in case that gives a false gestational diabetic reading and they force me to follow a strict low everything diet. Guess I'll be hording most of my candy for later!
I'm picking up my Dad's birthday gift tomorrow. He's 80 tomorrow, but we're celebrating on the weekend. I think that he's going to like it :-)

Ok, so the snow wasn't as bad as we all thought, but it's still all over the ground which means I still have to wear boots. Yesterday was beautiful and sunny. I was going to stay in all day, but a friend threw out his back, so I found myself driving downtown with extra pillows and blankets so he could sleep on the floor. I should explain that my husband is the reincarnation of Florence Nightingale. He called from a cafe where he was gaming to say that our friend had just called and was lying on the floor of his apartment, unable to move. The ambulance technicians said that it was severe spasms, and going to the hospital would just be time-consuming and uncomfortable, so Steve stayed with him all day, kept him company, got him drugs and lunch, and then moved his tv and stuff so the poor guy would have something to do. Did I mention that he also brought him breakfast this morning and is going to bring him dinner tonight on his way home? All I did was bring supplies, visit and get him an ice pack and cookies. I also bought him some smokes at a magazine shop, and bought myself a pregnancy magazine. If you ever want to get a nasty look from a cashier, just take those two items up to the cash...

Loud sigh
15-20 cm of snow tomorrow with high winds...

Table for one
I was dying for Indian food and no one was available, so I went out and ate by myself. I don't really like eating alone when I don't have a book or something to read, but I was desperate for chickpeas and chai tea. It made me think about the restaurants that have attractions/distractions. The one that I always remember is an A&W my parents used to take me to in Anchorage when I was very young. They had car service, and all the spots faced a large cage containing a real lion. I remember that it was on wheels, so he was probably rented, which is good because the thought of that poor lion living in the A&W parking lot is too depressing. Actually, when I look back it seems pretty cruel anyway, having to watch us all chewing away and watching him, but as a kid it was about the most exciting thing ever.

Woo woo April!
The doctor's appointment went great, not too long a wait and I'm a textbook pregnancy, everything's perfect! I bid a happy good riddance to the month of March as I flipped the calendar this morning. Sure, we're supposed to get snow for the next couple of days, but it's April now so we know it's almost over, right?
Too many people at the office are sick. My office mate has been sick for a week and refused to stay home through the hacking and phlegm no matter how much I threatened him. Today I am tired and wondering if it's going to strike me down. Perhaps I will take off a bit early this afternoon and go home and nap. Being sick and not being able to take drugs really sucks....

Put the boots back on, sigh...
It was a quiet weekend. On Saturday it was warm and rainy. We managed to get out and purchase a kitchen scale, a food mill, and general groceries. We went to a fabulous kitchen supply place with aisles of everything you can possibly imagine for a kitchen, and more. Steve had to drag me out!
Sunday was cold and snowy. We stayed in and I made cookies for a friend that came over to play with Steve. Today I had to bring my shoes to work in a bag, how depressing.
Going to see the doctor again today, get to listen to the baby's heartbeat and see what's what. I forgot to start drinking a ton of water this morning, so now I'll really have to chug if I want to be able to pee in a cup!

My child or Jack the Pumpkin King?

I smells something
I woke up this morning smelling curry. Steve couldn't smell it. Must be a weird prego thing. I am going out for Indian food at lunch though. Perhaps I have developed some strange form of ESP with my nose?

Joys of Spring
I know that I'm jumping the gun a little, but I've been wearing my shoes to work all week. This is probably tempting fate, but I don't think that there is a better feeling at the end of a long, cold winter, than slipping on shoes and walking out the front door. I am free from the bending,lacing, unlacing,and those silly paper shoes that they give you when you go to the dentist.
I'm doing conversions today, so very dull.
I was looking at a cooking magazine last night that was showing some yummy pictures of fresh spring lettuces in salads. Can I grow leaf lettuce in window boxes? Does anyone know of some good types of leaf lettuce?

Nice bundts

Insert bundt pictures here
I completely forgot to put the pictures of the bundts up on the site this weekend. I will do it tonight, I promise! The cakes were a big hit and there was much asking for the recipes and seconds and thirds, which always confirms that people actually liked them and weren't spitting stuff into their napkins. There were even a couple of pieces left for hubbie to try!
The weekend was rainy and grey, perfect for catching up on sleep and being a lump. We went to see the accountant (tax time!) and did some house work. Sunday I downloaded the 30-day trial version of Paint Shop Pro's photo organizer. I now have about half of my photos in the searchable database. The program also allows you to burn cds of slideshows that you can play back on a DVD player. That will probably come in handy for sending hundreds of kiddie pictures to the grandfolks!
I dreamed last night that I had the baby. It was a cartoon baby, very expressive and seemed to know what was going on. Steve and I were in a pharmacy because we realised that we had no baby supplies at home - no diapers, etc. We were staring at a long aisle of diapers (it must have been about 12 feet high) trying to figure out which ones to get. The baby was looking at us like we were stupid, but seemed good natured in general.

Adventures in baking
One of the things that I almost never check in a recipe is baking time, and this time, it really bit me on the ass. Many of you probably know this, but bundt cakes take at least 70 minutes to bake. That's a long time when you have two to bake in one night. The last one was cool enough to glaze at around midnight, so I got to bed at 12:30. Of course I had been "testing" the chocolate glaze, so I was sugar wired and couldn't sleep. I'm a bit out of it this morning, but did manage to remember to bring the cakes in to work. Hope that they turned out! That's the problem with cakes, at least with cookies you always know how they taste before you foist them on your friends.

Mmmmmm, coffee
For the first time in over four months, I smelled Steve's coffee this morning and wanted some. I had a sip, and it was good. I haven't wanted coffee since I found out that I was pregnant, not because of the caffeine (I normally only had a cup a day), but because the idea of coffee made me sick to my stomach. Today, I liked the idea of coffee. Too bad the coffee here at the office is terrible. I think I'll start with a cup of decaf on the weekend and see how it goes from there. Steve got me a cocoa butter stick from The Body Shop for my tummy. I'm prone to stretch marks, but we'll see what happens, it certainly feels wonderful and smells divine!
Everyone wish me good cake karma tonight, think moist, tasty thoughts :-)

The tale of Sleeping Greasy
Went out for chocolate milkshakes with Bill last night, yummy! I also had a cheeseburger and fries. I made it halfway through the cheeseburger, ate all the fries, and an hour later I was incredibly sleepy. I had a bunch of weird dreams too, in one that I remember, I foiled a group of vicious raspberry smugglers. Do you think that my dreams are going to switch into rated G mode now that I have an audience? Can babies sense your dreams?

Fika!
Last month another writer here suggested that the department get together for a fika pause every Friday. A fika is a Swedish coffeebreak. This week, it's my turn to bring the goodies. What's a gal with a kitchenaid mixer to do? How about a chocolate-sourcream bundt cake? I'm thinking that may not be enough if everyone shows up though, so I probably should also make a vanilla-lemon cake too, right? Come by on Thursday and I'll let you lick the spoon (and maybe do some dishes) ;-)

My little leprechaun
Went in for my second ultrasound today. This time, my doctor did the ultrasound and pointed out all the things he was looking at. At one point, we could see the baby playing with its toes! Perfect little hands and feet, perfect little head, and heart, and body, and liver, and gallbladder.... you get the picture. The baby even moved around for us.
I am now officially half-way through the baby-making process. Doesn't seem like it's been that long, does it?

Is there a draft?
I bought some maternity jeans on ebay and they arrived yesterday. They have a stretchy panel in the front. When you put them on, you feel like you're walking around with your pants wide open with your gut hanging out. Actually, I guess that I am. Not a very flattering look without a long sweatshirt...

Cat update
Woody finally supplied a sample and the vet couldn't find a trace of infection, only an elevated ph level which could possibly cause some discomfort. He sent me home with a case of special canned food to feed him for three weeks. On the way home I figured out the plan: I would give Woody his canned food in the bathroom and feed the other two their regular kibble in their regular eating area. Woody's a big eater, so he would demolish the canned food, so I'd leave him in there for a while until the other two finished and then let him out-no problem. That was the plan.
I opened the can to a captivated audience (cat's are genetically programmed to respond to the can opener), put the food in his bowl, and put Woody and the food in the bathroom and closed the door. I fed the other two, they were a bit disappointed with the lack of canned food, but quickly recovered. 3 minutes later, Woody's crying at the door. Turns out, he doesn't want the canned food and he doesn't want to be locked in the bathroom. I tried to get him to taste it, which he did, but he still wasn't interested. I left him in there for a bit longer. The other two cats went to investigate the cause of the crying and scratching on the other side of the bathroom door. Solution? I took the two cats and put them in the diningroom with what was left of their food and let the whiner out and put his food back in its normal place. After two hours, he still hadn't touched the food, so I let the other two out of the diningroom (they were napping) and they wolfed down his food in no time flat. At least I know that it doesn't taste bad. We went through the whole thing again this morning. He's hungry, but he refuses the yummy soft food. Let's hope that tonight he'll be hungry enough to eat it.

We're number one for "juicy fruit song"! At least four people, or one very forgetful person, have googled and arrived at our site. Welcome juicy fruit song lovers! Perhaps we should start a club?

When you don't gotta go...
I took one of the cats in to the vet last night because he was having some "accidents" over the weekend, which has never happened before. You can't be too careful when it comes to male cats and their urinary tracts. The vet needed to take a urine sample, but darned if the cat didn't go before we left the house, so I brought him back in this morning. At the vet's request, we fed him and then put him into the carrier until I left for the vet. This was supposed to hopefully force him to cross his legs so to speak until we got there, at which point he should have been quite eager to oblige. He bawled the entire time he was in the carrier, spilled the tiny bowl of water that I put in there with him, and basically did the equivalent of the metal-cup-on-the-bars routine until I got him to the vet. I just called to find out how he was doing and he hasn't peed yet! Other than that, he's just fine and dandy. Could he be like those people who can only pee in their own homes?

Fashion police
Feeling decidedly sleepy today. Perhaps it's the slow down at work again, but I'm ready for a snooze! It's a beautiful, if cold, sunny day out, and I bet you that there are sunbeams just waiting to be napped in. I think that I was just channeling one of my cats.....
Scott, my favorite brother-in-law, sent a video tape with more Six Feet Under, he's so cute! We even have the first episode of this season! He's single ladies!! He's also able to dress himself properly.
My office mate is heading off to near Dallas this week for business. I think that I have managed to talk him out of packing his regular wardrobe, which consists of jeans (too tight, too short, with bleach stains on the back) and t-shirts and sweatshirts that he's seems to have had since he was 18 (all ill-fitting, with holes, and in unflattering colours). I can't think of anyone who would show up to represent their company dressed like that, am I wrong?

Comfy shoes and brownies
There are very few things in life that are more satisfying than a comfortable pair of shoes. I found said shoes at the mall on Sunday. I wasn't really looking for them, but other stores that I normally go to didn't have the plain style that I was looking for. It was love at first sight, but the price wasn't right, so I talked to the sales guy and tried on several other lesser shoes before he checked his pricing list and told me that he could let me have them for a more affordable price. They are loafers so I will not have to bend down to tie anything up this spring and summer :-) Ahhh... true love!
Prego Update: The tummy is progressing nicely. Without the sweater covering my gut, it's pretty evident that there's something going on. I've managed to gain the weight I was supposed to, and some extra! Gotta lay off the butter now.....
I made brownies for the bookclub last night. The last time I made them, they were really bad. This time I followed a new recipe and they were very much improved, although I have to find a store that carries better chocolate than Baker's. According to the cookbook, Hershey's semi-sweet is very good, but try to find it in Montreal stores! I guess I will have to go to the market and have a look, any ideas?

Another post inspired by TV

I have a question: In the new Juicy Fruit commercials with the guy playing guitar and singing the old Juicy Fruit song ("Get your skis shined up, grab a stick of Juicy Fruit, the taste is gonna move ya") why is he so badly treated? There are these other two guys, who I guess are supposed to be cool, and they smash his guitar in one spot and suck him into a garbage truck in another. Now, I don't claim to be super-cool or anything, but I'm totally into the guitar guy and harking back to those great Juicy Fruit ads from the 70s or 80s or whenever. If I came across that guitar guy in real life, I'd be smiling and tapping my foot and feeling like a big ole stick of Juicy Fruit. Are we supposed to relate to the mean guys instead, who, remember, earn their living driving a garbage truck? Sure, they're snowboarders, but you never see them do anything worthwhile, like snowboarding or playing guitar or singing. They're just useless and mean. It seems like really bad advertising to say "oh, Juicy Fruit ads from the past were so lame, and in fact maybe Juicy Fruit itself wasn't as good as it is now in these new blister packs". It would have been much more effective to go with the guitar guy and do a whole new version of the Juicy Fruit song for a younger generation, with a nod to the retro style and aesthetic of the original.

And, is it just me, or does Rob on Survivor: Amazon look like the love-child of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin?

Hooked on 6 Feet Under
I have become thoroughly addicted to this tv show. It's smart, funny, tragic, and real. It's about a guy who returns home and decides to help out with the family funeral home. It's also about disfunctional families, relationships, sexuality, and death. I don't get the channel that it airs on up here, so I borrowed the first two seasons from some tv buff friends. It is wonderful! Steve and I have been trying to stretch out the second season so we don't go into withdrawal. The first episode of the third season just aired this Tuesday, but we will try and wait until our friends have a full tape before asking to borrow it. I don't know if we'll be able to hold out. I doubt that it will air on any regular channels here because of the language and nudity.
I'm doing very dull work today and the weather looks absolutely horrible. Sure could use a comfy sofa and a nice fire about now.

The long wait is now over

After 14 months of moaning and groaning I finally got my marching orders last Friday afternoon (at 3:00). My last day will be April 30th. While being informed on a Friday afternoon like that really sucked, the timing for being laid off really couldn't be better. This morning I got my letter which told me about the "goodies" I'm getting and now is the time to get organized and ready to move on. After the initial shock I'm getting over it. (I know, I've known forever,so why get upset? But when the rubber hits the road it moves from being something that could happen to something that is about to, one's lizard brain kicks in and screams that it doesn't want change...the status quo will do thank you!) It was just a little tough being all alone over the weekend. (Incidentally, my husband is in China in Mongolia, of all places and will be back next weekend). However today my spirits have improved (I also over ruled the lizard brain) and I feel for the first time in a very very long time even as I stare down the abyss that at least I know I can start to make plans for the first time in I don't know how long.

Speaking of new beginnings, when I saw Dina and really, she isn't fat. If anything she looks thinner than she did before she got pregnant. She just has a little bump on her belly now. She may think it's big, but really it's still small and nobody would really guess yet that she's working on building a baby.

When you're in the mood for looking at cutely distorted baby animals.

I am so sad today. Mr. Rogers is dead.

I know that most people have and will continue to make fun of this wonderful, gentle man and his program, but I loved him almost like I knew him personally. I watched the Neighborhood as a child and when my daughter was a baby I started watching it again. Fred Rogers understood children and their imaginations like very few other entertainers/educators ever could. He explained the world to them/us in a way that made it fascinating and real and perfectly accessible. He was a friend who was as curious as the children who watched him. Even as an adult, I learned so much from his show.

But most of all he was gentle and loving, a kind presence in the lives of children who might never know such gentleness and patience in an adult. And he was always first and foremost an adult. He knew that children need grown-ups to be grown up.

My husband said today that Mr. Rogers' death marks the end of an era of children's programming that was quiet and loving. The Friendly Giant (who got his start from Fred Rogers) and Mr. Dressup are gone too. I hope there is someone else out there who understands that in a child's world quiet and safety are places where the imagination can wander and understanding can grow.

Hibernation
I am soooo sleepy today! I'm used to working at top speed on ten different things, and now I'm in a short lull, so my brain's conserving its energy. Had a great lunch with Maggie and Bill yesterday, had a nice walk on a very nice and sunny day, too bad it's so freakin' cold. My street has still not been cleared of snow. They put up the sign saying that they were going to do it on Tuesday during the day. When I got home Tuesday night, the signs were gone, but the snow was still there. Apparently, the city crews are a bunch of practical jokers. I feel a little betrayed. We've barely had any snow all year, so they really have no excuse. Perhaps they're putting it off for the weekend when they can charge more overtime?
We received a lovely package in the mail yesterday, How to be a Domestic Goddess and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy DVD from our friends Dan and Libby. I was drooling over the pages of the book this morning, be prepared for some very good desserts! Speaking of good food, Gibby's tonight-woo woo! I'm putting butter on everything!

Happy Birthday Steve!!!
My wonderful husband turns 30 today. As everyone knows, I had a basic freak out when I turned 30 that ultimately resulted in being with Steve. Fortunately for me, he's holding up brilliantly in the face of 30 and being a dad in a few months. Perhaps he'll hold off on the crisis until 40...

More baby stuff
I finally found pants at another chain store that just opened last October out on the west island. Let me tell you, maternity pants are wonderfully comfortable! I'm not sure why other pants exist. We're going to Gibby's this week for Steve's actual b-day, and I'm eating large! I also found a bunch of cute tops that will be very nice this summer.
I don't really feel much different than usual. People keep asking and all I can say is that I don't feel pregnant, whatever that's supposed to feel like. I have developed a nasty pain in my tailbone, which isn't uncommon, and every so often I have a sharp pain in my stomach area or breasts, but I assume that it's due to things stretching out. According to my books, the baby's about 16cm long and weighs 5 ounces. I'm on week 17.
It's hard to believe that there's something in there that's already capable of sucking its thumb and I don't realise it's there most of the time. I should be able to feel it moving soon, which is kind of exciting. Sometimes when I'm awake in the middle of the night, I think that I may be able to feel something, but it's probably just gas. Pretty soon it will will moving all the time and kicking me in the bladder, so I should enjoy being blissfully unaware of the little person while I can.
Steve's not budging on Lily for a girl's name, I don't know why he doesn't like it. I suggested Ella, which he does like, so that's what we're going with right now, until one of us get tired of the name. Perhaps if we have a girl and name her Ella she will get an awesome set of pipes unlike either of her parents.

Rebecca's big gala!
Tune in to Radio One between 8-9pm tomorrow to hear the CBC Literary Awards, co-scripted by our own non-horn tooting becca. It's live across Canada! Woo woo! We're so proud!

The price of warm weather
I can tell you exactly how much you have to pay mother nature in order to enjoy the temperate climate we are currently enjoying. I had an autostarter installed on my car on Tuesday, and since then, we have had nothing but lovely weather. I am using the starter anyway because I have it and it's really neat, and I'm stubborn. The trick is setting it up so that you can start it remotely. I have a manual transmission, so there are a few extra steps to the setup, which I don't mind because it's better than having the car start and lurch into a wall. Still, it's new, so I still have to talk my way through it everytime I park the car. It must look pretty funny to pedestrians, this girl sitting in her car talking to herself and hitting the brakes, opening and closing the car door, flicking the lights, doing the hokey-pokey.....

Will Evan and Zora Live Happily Ever After?

The blog has been stunningly silent on the subject of Joe Millionaire. Was no one except me among the 3.5 million Canadians who tuned in to the last hour to find out who Evan would choose and who would wind up being humiliated? Anyway I don't think it was any surprise that he picked Zora over Sara. And remember Melissa, she who was falling out of her dress over dinner, who didn't know what a garlic bulb looked like and who also thought that if she could get her claws (oops hands) on some of Joe's money she would spend it on third world children by providing them with nice clothes and giving them their shots. As for Sara, she was whatever she was, a purveyor of adult entertainment. Besides she and Joe had had it off, off camera or so we were led to believe. So it stands to reason that Joe would pick the "purer" girl next door, who of course would play along. And of course now they have a decent wad of cash which of course will ensure their complete and blissful happiness. (Yeah, right...)

Anyway, not to be overly cynical (but I already am), this leads me to the next question, does anybody really think (or does anybody care?) whether Zora and Evan have made a go of it? Any bets how it is turning out? We get to find out next Monday on Joe the Millionaire the Aftermath.

Seriously though, I am trying to imagine what it would be like for them. There would be the initial intoxication of the win--the money and the partner. But when it comes down to brass tacks, based on what the audience has already seen, do you think they have more than a snowball's chance in hell? Personally I would like to see it work out, just because it such a long shot and I'm a sucker for happy endings. Theirs had the appearance of a happy beginning...

A rant
Ok, my pants are getting really tight, so I decide to go out a find some proper maternity-type pants that allow for expansion. Guess what? Unless you were a size 2 when you got pregnant, there is absolutely nothing to be found in this bloody province. There is basically one chain of stores that sells maternity clothes. This company also owns quite a few normal women's clothing chains in the malls. The only difference between the clothes in the normal stores and the maternity stores is the cut. The theme this year seems to be skin-tight and stretchy, neither of which is flattering or sounds particularly comfortable to me at the moment (well, the stretchy does, but not this kind of stretchy). What the hell is the deal? What kind of sick, twisted store would do this to pregnant women? They must realise that most women looking for maternity clothes are not particularly slender, and that perhaps some of us were already over a size 12 before getting pregnant. I nearly cried when I saw the complete lack of things that I could wear without looking like some large, misshapen sausage stuffed into a nylon bag.
In a fit of desperation, I found some regular pants at Sears with a stretch waist to get me through until I can order something online from the States that will cost me loads more than I wanted to spend, or warmer weather hits so I can break out my skirts with elastic waists. What a pain!

Happy V-day everybody!!!
May your day be full of hearts, and flowers, and candy, and love.
Mine was full of chocolate, my sweetie took advantage of my doctor telling me I have to gain some weight (that's never gonna happen again!) and presented me with a heart-shaped box of Godivas this morning and Kitchen Confidential by Tony Bourdain. When I got to work, I discovered that he had hidden Belgian chocolate cherries in my purse, what a sweetie!!
Looks like my rush is almost over, 11 hour days for the past two weeks, including some weekends are great for my paycheque, but crappy for just about everything else. I shall take advantage and try to book a manicure and facial next week to make it up to myself ;-)

Take a look at this

If you're ever totally without something new to do (I'm not talking about our topic), here is an inexpensive and challenging new hobby.

Quick update to the Ringers: sorry for the ragged syntax and rampant typos in my previous post. Blogger's acting up and I can't seem to fix the bloopers... sigh.

Fighting the Fizzle

To get back to your original topics, Rebecca, the one on keeping the sparks going in a relationship got me thinking. Daily life has a way of squeezing all spontenaity and playfulness out of a relationship, especially when you have kids or money worries. You hear a lot about using toys, props, strip-tease acts, slinky clothes, and just plain keeping yourself toned and looking good. But while I believe keeping your appearance up does loads for you self-confidence and your partner's interest in you, I've never found these props worked for me; they felt too contrived and forced.

One strategy I do hear from couples who do manage to keep the fires going is regular "dates" or nights out together. It gets you and your hon out of the same old, same old, and into an ambiance/headspace that's new and unexpected. And I don't think it needs to be expensive, either: sometimes just walking along a boardwalk or checking out a café in a new neighbourhood can be fun. These times together can be thought of as vitamins for your relationship.

But the best tonic I've found for my relationship was the very thing I didn't do this year, much to my disappointment: leave the kids with Grandma or another similar guardian angel and go away for a couple of days. We did it last year in November up at Tremblant. Nothing brings the sizzle back in a couple like a little sleep, fresh air and good food--away from the little darlins. Just the energy you get back in those few days makes you realize how much of your personal vitality is drained each day by myriad inanities and looking after everyone else but yourself.

We didn't do it this year because our guardian angel wasn't free to get away, but you can bet as soon as she is, we're booking her.

Does anybody else have any ideas on keeping things jiggy? Here's what