BFF!

This is Rose. She just turned one this month. Yay! She's been featured here before.


She and Liliane have had semi-regular playdates for all of their short lives.

Her Mum, my dear friend Julie, and I have decided that they will be the best of friends.

Another example of baby Viking face! (Sorry, inside Thomassen family joke).

Earnest baby conversation.

Rose very sweetly shared all of her playthings.

Liliane shared her Papa and his mad reading skilz.

Liliane, sporting her daring, midriff-baring spring look. Julie seems OK with that.

This is Rose's Gran (Victoria) who was visiting from England last week.

Such lovely girlies, all three.

Not pictured, Rose's other Mummy Joyce who was away in California last week. Hi Joyce! Sorry you missed out on a good visit!

I promised an update like a week ago and never did do it. Liliane has had a wacky few weeks of random waking up at all hours of the wee morning, with the recent addition of barfing just to make it interesting. Did I say interesting? What I meant was COMPLETELY INCONVENIENT. Anyway, I just didn't have it in me last weekend to do much but loll around and try to get some sleep. Oh, and get Liliane some new shoes. Check out these babies:

Her aunt Danielle gave us a gift certificate for Panda at Christmas and we were so happy to use it on these little beauties. Merci beaucoup!

As an interesting side note, the blanket in this photo is currently in the washer due to its close proximity to the spray of aforementioned nocturnal emissions. Too much information? Sorry.

So, back to the new house. Long story short, we're signing on June 5th and taking possession June 18th. The owner of our new place and I had a lovely conversation (no evil agent M lurking in the background) so it was easy to figure out a compromise. They will take care of expenses incurred until the 18th (ie - mortgage payments! gulp!) and we get the satisfaction of knowing that we helped get them out of a tough spot. Done.

Back to the barf for a minute (sorry folks but I have learned that a disproportionately large part of this job revolves around vomit. They don't tell you that in What to freaking Expect, do they?): we decided not to give her a bottle before bed last night thinking that a big ol' belly full of milk can't be good if you're already feeling vomity. Surprise! A puke-free night. She didn't really even mind that the routine had changed, just a little whining for about a half an hour until she conked out. Geniuses that we are, we didn't give her a bottle tonight either! I swear, if she hurls tonight anyway I'll turn in my Mama license but I think we may be on to something here...

So.... that picture I posted of her with Stéphane and her bottle? One of her very last ones. Ever. I think we'll take advantage of this to end the bottles before I wake up one day driving over to her dorm with to replenish her stock of Playtex liners and nipples.

And on that inspiring visual, I will end this post and go celebrate the Earth by turning off the computer. Bonne nuit!

Bottled Up

Our baby holds her own bottle now thank you very much. And she gets down from my lap and toddles over to cuddle with Papa to watch the hockey game. All by herself.

Awww.

Life insurance agent here tonight AND more papers to sign for the new condo. It's like a party, but with paperwork!

Proper update on everything to come this weekend.

Our New Baby

Let me start by saying that it was a GOR-JUS day here in Montréal. Sunny, clear and warm, almost 10 degrees. The snow is almost completely gone and I could almost believe that that maybe winter was on its way out. Really and truly.

Oh and what a perfect day for a condo inspection! Our guy, Sunny, (who is as manly as can be, don't be fooled by the name), met us at our new condo this morning at 11. Our agent referred us to him because he's good and about $200 cheaper. Which is a good thing when you're talking about a condo that is still under the contracter's guarantee... Plus he delivers his report on the spot, photos inlcuded. Please imagine that I was with the program enough to include a picture *here*. Hi Sunny! How virile you are with your flashlight and clipboard! (Thank you.)

While Sunny was doing his thing, we chatted with the current owners and started to tackle our very important list of 1001 random questions. I put everything I could think of on there from cable hook-up to frequency of spider squashing to taxes. They were super helpful and took our questions very seriously.

Then their agent arrived. Let's call her M. I don't even think we had been introduced before she launched into a "discussion" of how it had all been decided that we would be taking possession of our new place earlier than planned. Much earlier. Like ASAP. Not living there, just taking possession while the current owners would be living there and, oh yes, paying whatever expenses came up. Like our mortgage. Huh??

Our agent was running late so we did our best deer-in-headlights impression which wasn't hard since we were genuinely perplexed. Just a few days ago we had all signed the very official papers wherein we agreed on the price AND the signing date: June 15th. And we were doubly confused because when we made our original offer, Louise got the impression that there may be some negotiating around the possession date since they were starting to get nervous about what kind of place THEY were going to find and when. We said that if they accepted our original offer, we would be willing to get it all done faster, but they chose to take more money and keep the date in June as we proposed. So why exactly was this coming up again?

Louise arrived at the same moment that Sunny was ready to show us around. We got the low down on the three things that he wanted us to show us that weren't problems per se, but things that weren't necessarily regulation. Plus we learned where the main power and water switches were, what the building and structure are made out of, etc. It's actually really interesting.

We also took some time to take pictures! I was trying to listen to the agents talking at the same time so I wasn't really on my game, but here are some attempts:

Bonjour beautiful new kitchen with many many many cupboards and so much lovely counterspace. I hardly know you, but I love you already.

Oh, hi open dining room and living room with fancy light fixture. I love you, too.

Say, nice wooden blinds on the living room windows! They're staying you say? Of COURSE they are.

Well HELLO honey colored real wood floors that don't squeak! I fell for you (ha ha, no bruises!) from the moment I saw you.

Oooh la la! frosty French doors into the bedroom and baby room! Quelle bonne idée!

And you, cement terrace off the master bedroom. Your spaciousness makes my soul sing. Your lack of complex care plus garden hose and drain make my horticultural dreams come true.

Peek-a-boo baby room! Love your two-toned yet neutral green paint! I think we'll be leaving you just the way you are! (Except for the window treatment. Fail.)

I swoon for you digital thermostats that are found in every room. Truly, I do.

And I saved you for last, bathroom with separate bath and shower, for I think you just might be my favourite.

From your sophisticated ceramic tiles to your robin's egg blue wall...

You are cherry on the sundae.

Sigh.

If you haven't seen where we are living now (and have been for the past almost 11 years), you might not realize what a LUXURIOUS PARADISE OF SPACIOUS AND FANCY DECADENCE DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE AND SERVED WITH CHAMPAGNE this place is to us. We're so happy.

Everything is perfect...except for the wee detail of the evil agent trying to change all our plans. Stéphane has already booked the movers (which, as I explained in my last post, is something to be taken very seriously around here) plus we don't even have our final OK from the bank yet (coming tomorrow morning in theory, but we're pre-approved so no need to worry but we're flipping out a little anyway). Our agent told us we have nothing to worry about, we are not obligated to junk up our timeline to accomodate them - especially since we already offered and they chose to take the money instead.

So there you have it. I'll keep you updated as the drama unfolds. We haven't let our landlord know that we're moving yet (waiting to hear from the bank, just in case) so I think once we do that it will really seem real.

A big huge high-five to our friend Pierre who came over to babysit and totally rocked not only playing and diaper changing but also lunchtime, AND she was SLEEPING when we got home. We so owe you guys - so get on the pro-creation, will ya?

Have a great week internet!

New house? Check!

In the immortal words of Dora the Explorer... We did eet!

The third place we looked at turned out to be the winner. We both loved it immediately and made an offer the same day (last Sunday). Did I mention that we are MOTIVATED to get out of here? Even if we weren't, the price was right, it's all new (2005), it's big (almost 1100 square feet) it's in a great location and there's a WALK-IN closet in the master bedroom. Hello!

Now logically I would post photos of our new condo *here* but we have our inspection tomorrow morning so I'll be bringing the camera so I can get some photos of my own.

Once the inspection is done, we're just waiting for the final OK from the bank (who pre-approved us for WAY more than we will be spending) which we should have on Monday. Then all we have to do is make an appointment with the notary for the signing on June 15th. Oh, and pack.

My super-organized husband booked the movers yesterday. For those of you living outside la belle province, we have a tradition around here of Moving Day on July 1st. Conceived perhaps as the anti-Canada Day, when you rent an apartment, the lease is almost always from July 1st to June 30th. As you can imagine, July 1st is a total free-for-all of moving trucks and blocked streets and all kinds of random stuff left outside on the curb. It's kinda fun when you're 20 and all your friends are helping you and you don't have any nice stuff anyway. Not so much when you're old like us :)

And to add to the fun? Major appliances are rarely included so fridges and stoves must be schlepped from one place to another. Hey, they don't call us a distinct society for nothing!

In the midst of all our house-hunting angst (we had seen two places and already I was despairing that we were trying to find the impossible), my Dad came in for a visit. I managed to stop asking him questions about mortgages and interest rates and square footage long enough to snap a couple of pictures.


Lilane basically ate every meal like this while he was here.


Note the red nose - she was still feeling pretty lousy although she put on a brave front.




In other news, Liliane is back at her regular daycare so no more long-haul with Papa on the metro everyday. Can you hear Stéphane's sigh of relief from your computer?

Check back tomorrow for pix of the new place!