NINE

 HI! I'm 9 months old.  

LIKES:

Shiny stuff

Exersaucer

Exploring

Swings

Peas

Toast, bananas, pears

Blackberries

Playing with Liliane's stuff

Papa

Maman

But most of all:

Liliane

Also likes:

-baths

-to be held by a very select group of people 

-Dora

-other kids

-anything that makes noise

-feeding herself

DISLIKES:

Boring stories

Crispy spinach

Tilapia

Broccoli

Long car rides

 Also dislikes:

-formula

-bottles

-any suggestion of weaning

-any suggestion of daycare

-going to bed without snuggling

Yes baby, you are awesome.  Uninterrupted sleep is totally overrated.

xo Maman

Road... Repose? Reform?

I have been driving since I was 16 years old.  It was October of 1990 and after about 3 months of lessons I took my test, botched both attempts at parallel parking but squeaked through to get my hands on the Holy Grail - my license to FREEDOM.  In those days that freedom mostly meant picking up groceries for my parents but I could listen to any music I wanted to in the car! And I could sing along! Alone!

But like everything else, the excitement wears off, the "I'll go!" turns into "Do I HAVE to?" and then you find yourself living in the city where buying a car is superfluous to your snobby "I WALK to work" urban hipster lifestyle.

But since we bought a car last month, the thrill is back.  The idea that we can just GO gives me a rush.  We were members of Communauto for many years and often while we were driving back from some mundane trip to Wal-Mart Stéphane would say "let's go to Boston!"  We always laughed (until we actually did drive to Boston but that's another post) because ha ha - we only booked this car until 6.

So.  All this to say that yeah, yeah, the new car is amazing, we are so happy, blah, blah, but also to say that I had a minor revelation.  I GET why people are so crabby while they drive!  From the ridiculous state of the roads (I'm sure London wasn't this torn up after the Blitz), to drivers who forgot what a turn signal is to the IDIOTS WHO ARE TURNING LEFT BUT STAY BEHIND THE LINE WHEN THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN (that's a big one for me). And I am not kidding you, most days the only driving I do is to daycare and back, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  It's a round trip of 5 km.  And even so, I still have time to get irritated.

So I decided to get all pro-active about it (darn you, Oprah!) and I made a pledge.  A pledge to not get mad while driving.  A pledge to wave my hand in thanks when people let me into their lane (however rarely), to always stop at pedestrian crosswalks, to not tailgate, to ignore people who think I'm driving too slowly and most importantly, to not let that anger get the best of me.

Zen, right?  Look at me!  I'm so healthy!  Yeah, NO.  I seriously take a deep breath and clamp my mouth shut at least once every single day.  Not for me, mind you, but for the sake of my two kids.  Honestly, that's the only reason.  Have you ever driven with someone who is angry on the road? Whether it's justified or not?  It's awful.  And I firmly believe that it's a choice we make every time we get behind the wheel.  It's MY CHOICE.

Liliane is already parroting some of the things I say (I heard her tell Elmo this morning that he was to sit still and eat his breakfast, is that clear?) and I really, really don't want to explain the significance of the middle finger to a 4 year old.  Besides, she is already telling me to "GO Maman!" when we're at a red light.  Apple, tree, etc.

Le sigh.

My husband will read this and laugh because while I am attempting to be all-benevolent to my fellow drivers, my fellow parallel-parkers are a different story.  We live on a busy street with only parallel parking. (BOOYAH, ICBC!) Lady Elantra got her first scratch from a woman who didn't have time to let me leave before she squeezed in right behind me. RIGHT BEHIND ME.  I don't know if she gouged me while parking or if I did it while trying to get out of a now impossibly tight space but either way, if you drive a late-model Nissan Sentra, I WILL FOREVER JUDGE YOU.

ANYWAY, all this to say...  I am so impatient in other areas of my life (um, ALL other areas of my life) and it's becoming a full-time job teaching Liliane that she doesn't need to be impatient either (uhhh.... do as I say, not as I do?) so how about focusing on being consistently patient in this one, tiny area of my day-to-day?

It's a start.

Have a great weekend everybody. And drive safely :)

Eggstatic

Hi everybody!  I'm back and about to inundate you with photos of our Easter weekend Eggstravaganza.  

Saturday was what I'm hoping is a new Arbour family tradition: Easter Lunch, Cabane à sucre style! 

Yes, I freaked out a little.  No, no one tried to CLEAN THEIR STICKY HANDS WITH THIS NAPKIN. *shudder*

Ah, nothing like celebrating Easter by eating Christ's ears. No, seriously. 

I took a picture of this because it was my favourite dish.  But it looks like hotdogs, you say.  Ah, but they are cooked in maple syrup, I say.  Salty and sweet ambrosia.

Our friends (and honorary Arbour family members) Manon and Luana came along with us.  Manon was my partner in all sticky evasive tactics. 

My father in law took this one (Salut Maurice!) and I like it because you can see half of our table AND  a great view of my fancy braids. I so did not do them, calm down.  When I get my hair cut now, forget the fancy blow out.  I'm all about the braids. Especially when there is maple syrup in my near future.

 After lunch, we did a tour of the grounds via horsedrawn carriage and ate the obligatory maple taffy.  I think that's how it's translated.  Basically maple syrup poured on snow then wrapped around a popsicle stick.  A.k.a. THE STICKIEST SUBSTANCE ON EARTH. Yeah, Liliane got it everywhere. But it's deliciously delicious.  If it's not in your hair.

No syrup for you!

Pretty sure we had salad and lima beans for dinner.

The celebrations continued the next day, Easter Sunday! Due to scheduling issues, we did not go to church on Easter Sunday which was a little strange.  To me, you go to Good Friday service which is usually sombre and thought-provoking and frankly a little dirge-y, knowing that you get to go to the Easter Sunday service with all its uplifting music and generally positive sermon.  I missed out on the positive part this year.   Note to self for next year.

Before we left the girls got to open their present from me: matchy matchy Easter outfits! I never thought I would be that kind of mother but SURPRISE! I love it.  I know this is only a temporary thing.  As you can see, Alice is already over it.

SO.  Off to the middle of nowhere Beaconsfield to see what the Easter Bunny brought and indulge in Manon's amazing baked ham. 

We had secretly stashed our Easter treats in Manon's car the day before while the girls were running around burning off their maple syrup sugar high so that she could hide everything in her yard early Easter morning.

She prepared an elaborate hunt with 100 eggs in total (YES, ONE HUNDRED) but guess what? 

Horrible, horrible squirrels wanted in on the fun and scarfed a bunch of the eggs.  Plastic eggs with treats inside.  

I caught this one in the act.  Did you know that it's illegal to kill a squirrel? Yeah, I found that out later. 

 HA! Just kidding.  I couldn't kill a squirrel.  Seriously, they move waaaay to fast.  Sorry PDag,but come ON - THEY STOLE CANDY FROM CHILDREN.

 The girls didn't even notice, they were too busy running around NOT seeing the eggs that had survived. 

 They came inside with their booty and got a couple of non-chocolate items from the Easter Bunny (who is maybe also moonlighting as the tooth fairy?  Isn't that a conflict of interest?)

I think this was lipgloss.  Remember when you had that reaction for makeup? 

Yeah, now I only do that for  free babysitting and coffee.  

All around eggsellent.  (Oh get over it, I like puns.)

In the works: a post about why I am canceling my newspaper (I KNOW, 1975 called and wants its relevance back!) and an update on my about-to-be-9-months old baby.  

Stay tuned! Or at least don't be mad at me for my unreliable posting! How about a comment? That'll teach me to wait so long between updates.

Wordless Wednesday: Don't Tell Papa

How We Roll

Hello shiny baby.  Welcome to our life.

I hereby dub thee...  Lady Elantra.  

Protector, transporter and spacious gateway to carefree mobility.

Let's always be this happy, okay? At least until 2019 or so.  Deal?

But if your seat warmers ever stop working - WE'RE DONE.  Just kidding.

Yes dear readers, we finally bought a car.  After I spent waaaayyyy too many hours checking out car stuff online we booked a test drive with this bad girl and BAM! Done.  

For the record, I researched the used option and we even went to look at some.  But the deal at Hyundai made the whole BRAND SPANKING NEW option just as economically friendly.  Actually it was the 0% interest and big fat 7-year guarantee that tipped the scales.  Plus the fact that OH MY, WE HAVE A NEW CAR.  NEW NEW NEW.  ONLY OURS. Can you tell we've been sharing cars  maybe a little too long? Yeah, it was time to make the leap.

So there's that. 

Speaking of MOBILE, someone around here has been scooting around on her very own steam.  I tried to catch her in action yesterday.

Aaaanndndd... I'm tired now.  

OK so she didn't actually GO anywhere in these, you'll just have to take my word for it.  

In other news, I figured out a way to make mealtimes a little happier.  No more purée!  It's all about the finger food around here now.  I can sneak in a couple of spoonfuls of actual protein as long as she has plenty of DIY options on her tray.  As Stéphane sighed when I pointed this out: Oh great, another INDEPENDENCE OR DIE kid.  

Yeah, sorry about that.  

But look how cute she is? 

In other news, I've already skipped one of my cardio stroller workouts.  In my defense, IT WAS SNOWING.  I did go to the very first class on Monday and froze my bee-hind off because it was so crazy windy.  But I went! Props to me! 

In related news, I made this recipe for the first time last weekend.  I brought it over to our friends' house for dessert and once I tasted it, I promptly tried to give as much of it away as possible.  Otherwise HELLO - welcome to my week of eating nothing but chocolate cake! (A.k.a. PMS Daily Special).  In fact, it's very hard for me to not put it on the menu for brunch this weekend.  What!?  I'm sure it would be perfect with quiche. 

I may be a little obsessed with this cake because after much reflection (I managed to eat a lot of pieces in the end.  Sigh.) I realized that the icing reminds me of the chocolate glaze you would get on an eclair or a chocolate donut.  Wow, now my food shame is really on display.  Hi!  I'm crazy!  Man, I better get to cardio next week.

Sorry, no pictures of Liliane this week but she is good. Really really looking forward to Easter (thanks a lot, daycare! Talking it up for 4 weeks really helps with expectations!) but so are we.  She is currently on a Mary Poppins kick (Mary Pop!).  Unfortunately she learned the chorus of "I'm Sexy and I Know It" from a friend and sings it daily like "I'm Sesseek and I Know It" despite my repeated warnings to PLEASE NOT SING THAT ANYMORE.  Also, try explaining sexy to a 4 year old.  Not so successful.  For grownups! Not for you! YOU ARE NOT SEXY.   We suggested that she sing "I'm Lili and I know it" or "I'm silly and I know it" but no go.  She much prefers making my hair turn grey.  Yeah. Help.

How are YOU?

PS - I've had a few stalkers come out of the closet lately... Welcome! Thanks for reading! Once you leave a comment, you are officially no longer a stalker.  Just sayin' :)

  

Pick Up, Dust Off

Hi internet!  Remember me? Yep, still here.

All good in the Piercy Arbour house. Aaaaallll good.

Well, we have some nightime-waking-due-to-teething happening and some semi-unpleasant, very whiny bedtime behaviour going on (looking at YOU baby and 4 year old) but otherwise, we're all good.

So good that I haven't made time to document all the goodness on this here blog. A situation I would like to rectify right now.

To start, Alice asked me to share something with you:

Ahem.

DIS HOW I YOOSHALLY LOOK:
(yes, in this house, babies speak like LOLcats, my fave):

NOT LIKE DIS. FER REALZ.

And it's true.  I posted this picture on Facebook yesterday and whined about what a drag it is to spend time making wholesome and delicious baby food only to get the "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE PARENT" reaction.  But I could be reading into it.

ANYWAY in no particular order, these are all the very first-world-problem issues on my list that are keeping me busy (which you understand is a relative term when you're home with a baby all day and having a shower not to mention actually making dinner are considered achievements):

-iPhone.  My cell phone contract is up soon and I need an iPhone.  I'm doing a lot of research/shopping around at the moment because I feel like my current carrier (rhymes with CELL BANADA) is not doing it for me anymore.  Also, in order to be able to PAY for my iPhone, I've possibly gotten a little obsessed with the rest of our household budget and may or may not be thinking about getting rid of our landline. Why do we have it? Yes, I realize that if there is a zombie apocalypse, all the cell phones would go down but wouldn't phone lines go down, too?  These are the things that are ON MY MIND. I know, sad.

-Car. We are shopping around for a car.  I have also researched this to DEATH and we're buying a new car (not used, not leasing) and if you have an opinion about this, please don't share it because I CAN'T TAKE TALKING ABOUT IT ANYMORE. Going on a test drive tomorrow and if I can negotiate it down to the monthly payment I have in mind, SOLD! I'll keep you posted.

-Daycare. So far no confirmation about where Alice will go to daycare so I can go back to work.  Yeah, that.  And it's happening soon!  Soonish.  June.  I have a few options so I will be dialing up the charm/attempting to bribe my shortlist of options and hope that something works out. Fingers crossed.

-Cookware. Did you know that there is a special cleaner for your stainless steel cookware? I know, seriously. The things you learn when you have time to a) care about how your pots and pans look and b) go through the cupboard and find the cleaner that you bought 7 years ago.  OK moving on.

-Writing. Ironically, writing other stuff has been keeping me busy. As some of you know, my Dad is in the industry as well and he asked me to help get his company's social media up and running. So I made them a Facebook page and a Twitter account and I'm working on keeping those things up to date as well as updating their newly designed website which will launch in 2015 at the rate I'm going.  Also:

-Story Editing.  This is a new thing for me but Infinity is super busy with a project right now, part of which requires the delivery of a bunch of 2 minute interview clips. After a little instruction from my Dad (aka KING OF THIS KIND OF WRITING) I've been reviewing the transcripts, stringing the juicy bits together to make a story, writing narration and generally feeling like hey!  I HAZ A SKILL.

-Birthday Parties. Liliane had two back to back birthday parties last weekend which was totally fun for her but HELLO! When did the 4 year old develop a better social life than me?  That costs more money?  Nothing planned for this weekend but I'd like to make plans with another one of her friends (Manon!  Call me!) because the following weekend is booked up already.

So there you have it. That's what we're up to. Aren't you glad you asked?

Alright, here are some adorable sister pictures to make up for my rambling:

See you soon!