Late, but Still Grateful.

You know, maternity leave is not just lying on the couch, occasionally breastfeeding and otherwise eating bon bons. No sir, it's a complicated race against time to get all the things done that you think you SHOULD have time to do while spending quality time with your newborn.

And watching daytime TV.

Ahem.

This is why it has taken me all week to post about our spectacular Thanksgiving weekend. Can I get a holla for the weather in Montréal? 24 degrees and sunny all three days. Makes up for the ridiculous amount of time I had to spend trying to find a half-decent turkey in this town. (Maxi & cie, I will start with you FIRST next year, promise.)

My Dad came in to feast with us and meet his newest granddaughter.  As you can see, Liliane was, you know, kind of excited to see him. Whatever.

 Heck even Alice was excited. I thought her face was going to split in half from all the smiling. Of course I don't have photos of THOSE moments, but this will have to do.

This is what our weekend looked like:

 Oh and Stéphane introduced my Dad to instragram. Nice, right?

Those are the pies he made (my Dad is a brilliant baker of pies, frankly the reason we invited him) - one apple and one pumpkin. We used the apples from our trip to Oka last month and I don't think I can describe the deliciousness of that pie without salivating all over the keyboard.  Ridiculous.

I will note here that my Mom is also a brilliant maker of pies although she is a Tenderflake girl while my Dad is all about the Crisco.  I know, no wonder they aren't married anymore, right?

Not pictured are Pierre and Ariel and Remy who also came for dinner. I would have loved to get a photo of  us all around the table but just as we were sitting down to eat, Alice pronounced that she was thankful by performing an epic diaper blowout, the kind that involves a two-parent cleanup. At the same moment, Pierre and Ariel were trying to get Remy down to sleep in the other room so Dad and Liliane were the only two to actually eat a hot meal. 

When we were all finally back at the table, we each came up with one thing that we were thankful for (a family tradition that I force request our guests to engage in when they come for Thanskgiving), my Dad said he was grateful not to have any children under the age of 2.  The rest of us laughed and then immediately gulped our glasses of rosé. 

The rest of the weekend was spent watching movies and marvelling at Liliane's proficiency at finding clips on Youtube with Grandpa's iphone. Also preventing her from calling Japan.

Speaking of Liliane, it's her 4th birthday on Sunday and I promise I will bring the camera and even take pictures. She and a bunch of her friends are going to have all kinds of gymnastic fun at Club Gymnix, then we'll do cupcakes (chocolate with pink icing as requested) and presents in the birthday party room. The best part is that it's a) not at our house and b) over by 5! 

In baby news, Alice is still sleeping through the night and then some. She has started to swing her legs around so turning over on her own is in her very near future.  She smiles all the time but when she's frustrated, she has very particular, squeaky cry. Breastfeeding is going well although there were some concerns that she's not gaining enough weight due to her long sleeps.  Her pediatrician assures me that it's fine but we're keeping an eye on it. 

Does this look like a kid who is not getting enough to eat? 

Am also thinking about doing NaBloPoMo. My SIL has been doing it for the last couple of years and it's such a treat to have new content every single day! Plus it would be good exercise. For my brain I mean. I'll get back to you on that.

Back next week with a full report on the birthday festivities.