Greetings from Phlegm-ville!

Where it's all-virus, all-the-time! Liliane has been sick for about 2341 days and I have finally succumbed. I dodged the pink-eye that Stéphane picked up (phewf) for the relatively pleasant sore throat/cough combo. Luckily we found a new pediatrician (our original Dr. just didn't come back from maternity leave - ironic AND annoying) and our appointment is tomorrow. We are armed with not only a stuffy and coughing baby but a huge list of big-time parental concerns like: just HOW MUCH Vicks can we apply to our wheezy baby? Are you SURE there are no DRUGS we can give her?? And when you say "illegal", how flexible are you on that?

Sigh. I'll let you know how it goes.

Anyway, we took a break from chilly Montréal last weekend and skipped off to Hawaii!


Just kidding! Those exotic photos are courtesy of our visit to the Centre de la nature in the suburb of super-fabulous Laval, Quebec!

Since we're still enjoying a snow-free autumn, we figured we should do an outdoor activity and the Centre de la nature has a little farm that's open all year round:

And next to the farm there's a greenhouse full of exotic plants that we ducked into just as the skies opened to pour rain... Made for a rainforest-type experience, minus the bugs.

We found this sign on the little footbridge:

ABSOLUTELY NO DREAD-LOCKED SOCCER PLAYING!

We got up close and personal with a parrot.

Play count the chins!

In other news... Julie's partner Joyce risked explusion at the YMCA last Friday to take these exclusive photos of our swimming class.

Right after this photo was taken we got in trouble because we may have captured, you know, naked people in the background.

The girls in action! There are actually about 15 other kids and parents in our class but Joyce was respecting the rules and being sure not to photograph anyone else...

The goal is to get your child as comfortable as possible in the water and not clutching them in your arms. It would be WAY easier if the pool wasn't so chilly!

Why does my child wear a violently pink bathing cap that clashes completely with her swimsuit? I thought it was cute. Sorry baby. I'm starting a savings account for future therapy.

Both of our girls have been underwater and are even sort of enjoying splashing around at arm's length. I can even sit Liliane on the side and she'll lean down to "jump"in the water to me. I think it's mainly because she's freezing, but I'll take it!

And that's about it for us!

Aside from the pediatrician tomorrow, we'll be tidying up for my Dad's visit next week. And when I say "we" I mean "the cleaning ladies". Except that my cleaning ladies are not returning my calls so I'm hunting for a new one. I have officially given up the charade of keeping this place clean on my own on a regular basis. A big FAIL on my part but I'm OK with that.

Plus Christmas is coming! Is anyone else feeling the sparkle in the air? It's that magical time when it's early enough not to be freaked out about everything there is to do but close enough to startmaking shortbread. Miam. (That would be french for "yum".)

OK the ladies of The View are officially grating on me. Must turn off the TV and get dressed. Have a good weekend everyone!

Halloween - Part 2

Finally! Stéphane has been editing all weekend so I haven't been around the 'pooter all that much although I have been composing this post in my head since Friday night!

There are about eleventy billion photos here so I'll keep the jibber-jabber to a minimum. (Thank you M+B for the Mr. T in your car that has been haunting my brain since your visit!)

This is how Liliane went to daycare in the morning. This expression says "MoTHUR. I look like a DORK."

I went along to do some trick or treating around the neighborhood with the daycare gang. Here they all are in their "appropriately dressed for Montréal fall weather" costumes:

That's Rosa, their educator with the toucan visor.

A carbon copy of the first photo, with the addition of her personalized treat bag.

Tammy, also known as "the other baby" and princess Cassandra.



The whole crew! Zoom in to see Liliane doing her impression of a REALLY irritated butterfly.

Fabio as Tinky Winky.

We went to the banks, the optometrist, a couple of dépanneurs (corner stores) and the drugstore and Liliane got a pretty good haul.

The weather was absolutely PERFECT - 12 degrees, sunny, no wind. I took these on my way back to work after it was all over:

After dinner, we got Liliane all dressed up in her costume and headed downstairs to give out candy and do a little more trick or treating...

I accuse YOU of eating all my Reese's Pieces.

Her very first Trick or Treat experience with our neighbour Sylvain:

Then we went down the street a little where they had the BEST pumpkin ever:

Plus they had a wee 9-month old in a bear suit!

The weather was still perfect.

We ran into a little bunny:

A little farther down the street, these neighbours had some nifty pumpkins themselves:

With a creepy costume to complete the experience:

We ran out of candy at around 7:30 (what a coincidence! right when Liliane gets her bath!) but we made a quick stop at our dépanneur to take a picture with Peter, one of the owners:

Then it was time to get into new Halloween PJs:

And say goodnight.

Stéphane and I shared this treat: (the closest I'll get to one of my Mom's caramel apples this year)

We ended the evening by watching John Carptener's "The Thing" which was pretty good.

I took these the next morning because I can't get over how good she looks in orange!

Anatomy of a rule violation...

Head for the TV when Maman has the camera!

That way she will be busy taking pictures of me pushing all of these awesome buttons instead of actually doing any parenting!

Hey Papa, someone's putting their sticky fingers all over your TV!

Oh HAI!

I have to say that this Halloween was super fun and I am totally looking forward to next year!

I think a big part of our joy comes from having our daughter Liliane back with us instead of the screaming banshee that replaced her for most of last week. After my last post, she just got sicker and we ended up at the clinic on Monday morning where she was diagnosed with conjunctivitis (pink eye) on top of all the rest. Stéphane and I juggled work to stay home for the next couple of days but I can't even begin to describe how HAPPY I was when Wednesday came and she was cleared to go back to daycare. Poor baby, I think she was teething as well but man was she CRANKY. As in, NOTHING WORKS cranky. I actually flashed back that bone-tired fatigue that we had during her newborn days when we felt like we couldn't do anything right and she was howling for her real parents to please come and take care of her. Ah, the good old - wait, no, the crappy old days. Have I mentioned before how happy I am that we survived this first year?

Anyway, her pink eye cleared up quickly (still have to give her the drops though which brings out the banshee twice a day but only temporarily), she's not feverish anymore and hardly coughs at all. I think we're done.

Oh, but Stéphane spent two hours at the clinic this morning to get HIS prescription for eye drops as the pink eye is the gift that keeps on giving! I don't have any symptoms yet but I'm predicting waking up tomorrow and having to steam my eyes open. Eww.

Here is my happy baby on the swings today:

I am so happy to see you sweet girl! Please stay for a while!

Still not walking but I feel like we had setbacks what with all the drama last week. Lots of babbling, still says Wow a lot and apart from the 6AM wake up this morning (cursed daylight savings time!) she's sleeping fine. Life is good.