Monday, Monday

It's Monday morning again. I know you are wondering why a girl all cozy at home on maternity leave cares that it's Monday, so I'll tell you. Even though I don't have to get up (or even get dressed) and go out into the very cold and windy world (minus 30 with the wind chill today), my husband Stéphane does and it signals the end of our happy little family cocoon that we enjoyed all weekend. The good news is that in five days, we get to start all over again! In the meantime, caffeine got me through this Monday morning.

Speaking of the weekend, we didn't do too much. Took a big walk on Saturday to pick up some things at Home Depot, got coffee from the Guatemalan café on the corner and strolled through the Jean-Talon market to splurge on some upscale chocolate. We started watching a few episodes of the HBO series "Entourage" which I liked and Stéphane didn't. I admit that it leaves me with the urge to take a shower, but it's brainless, snowy weekend fun. Please note that I don't recommend it or anything but I can see why it's popular. I also watched "No Country for Old Men" thanks to my husband and his DVD connections. Now I only have to see "Michael Clayton" and my Oscar Best Picture screenings will be complete!

Liliane and I went to church on Sunday morning. I was feeling extra virtuous since I decided to walk which turned out to be a major trudge through all kinds of slush, snow and ice. Oh well, it only took about 25 minutes each way and it's a good way to work on getting rid of all this extra baby jelly. Plus, as a bonus, when we got back home I felt fully justified in getting into my pajamas. We stayed in for the rest of the day and I made chocolate chip cookies (surely undoing the positive affects (or is it effects, I never know) of my big walk but let's not talk about that) and they turned out fine... sort of. For some reason, they started to get really, really brown on the bottom while they were barely cooked on the top. Is this a cookie sheet problem perhaps? An oven issue? Is it because I had to use half a cup of lard and half a cup of butter instead of a whole cup of butter? They taste fine (thanks Mom!) but I don't know why that happened. Any thoughts anyone has would be appreciated.

Now to the real reason you all actually check my blog... pictures of Liliane!

Random photo from last week wearing my current favorite cozy sleeper:

Playing horsey with Papa... This first picture says "Are you lookin' at me?"

Since Liliane has been sleeping in her crib, we feel like we haven't had a chance to cuddle with her as much, so I indulged a little last night when she fell asleep after her bottle...

These are fresh from this morning:

Waking up happy from morning nap #1:

Feeling introspective on the change table.

And here she is in her vibrating chair playing with her new activity cube.

Speaking of Liliane, I hear her waking up so I'll sign off. We are going to brave the cold and get a few provisions (we're out of coffee!) so if you don't see a post tomorrow, you'll know it's because we fell down our treacherously winding, icy front stairs. (Ha ha - that one's for you, Dad!) xo