Tiny Bubbles

This week has been RAIN RAIN RAIN, COLD RAIN and WIND and then... THIS!

Our friends Manon and Luana came over yesterday and we hung out in our urban backyard a.k.a., the back alley.

I know, it sounds ghetto. But look! It's really nice back here!

And it comes complete with polite, funloving neighbour kids!

L, foufling the bubbles. (To blow in French is "souffler" but L says "fouffler" which cracks me up every time. I don't even correct her. She may be the only high schooler with a speech impediment but man will she kill at parties!)

Time for corde à danser. Yeah, in English it's jump rope or skipping. In French it's dancing. They must have been starved for good moves when they came up with that one.

Mohammed's turn. He did pretty well. That's Miriam on the left, she came to join us.

It must be said that Luana is a dancing QUEEN. She was leaping and spinning in the air and generally amazing the heck out of us.

Liliane not so much. No photos because I was busy turning the rope for her but she could usually get the first jump.

Looks like we're back to rain and general gloom today but on the up side it's been good for my plants!

Off to see Kung Fu Panda. Not sure but Stéphane may be more excited about this than Liliane. I'll let you know how it goes.

All good on the bébé II front. Lots of movement. Lots of ice cream and a renewed need for raspberries.

Air conditioner coming next Friday! I may have sold Liliane off to the highest bidder in order to pay for it but I figure that will be one less person to have to keep cool.

Kidding!

Happy Sunday!

Ring My Bell

A lot of firsts this May long weekend.

First time we hung out at our local fire station.


Come to think of it, first community BBQ!




Some of Villeray's finest. I'm sure their firefighting skills are not too bad either.






First blossom sighting. This tree is on our street.

Liliane had her first waterfight with the kids in the neighbourhood! Isn't that cool? She made a new friend in an adorable 6 year old girl who lives across our back lane whose Mama is not only anglophone but she and her francophone husband lived for 8 years in.... Surrey, B.C.!

Turns out there are a bunch of really sweet kids on our street who hang out in the back lane so she spent Saturday afternoon running around with them (under Papa's watchful eye of course). It did my heart good.


For the first time EVER I actually got flowers planted on the May long weekend! We (along with the rest of the ENTIRE CITY) hit Jean-Talon market on Saturday afternoon and I picked up some pansies....




And a wee herb garden! There is parsley, two kinds of basil, lemon thyme (man I love the smell), oregano and sage. That other pot is Rue, an anti-cat/anti-squirrel plant.


The beginning of urban paradise!


Not pictured: our first trip with two kids to the park! We took care of our friends' 3-month old baby all day Sunday so we tried out our new stroller. You know what? Not a problem! He fell asleep on the way and snoozed all the way through our picnic. Plus he doesn't walk yet so HELLO. So EASY.

Call me naive, but I felt pretty good about it.

I wish I could say that this weekend was our first visit to Dairy Queen but HA! My readers know that's not true. All I can say is THANK YOU LORD for the Mini Blizzard.

Speaking of thankful, I saw an osteopath this week. My painful pelvic issues were DEALT WITH. As gentle as it was effective, my treatment lasted about 45 minutes and it was awesome. This particular osteopath is a pregnancy specialist and he also does a pre-birth treatment to make sure your body is ready for labour. Cool, right?

Oh and he also treats babies! Sounds weird? I know. But think about it - birth is as big event for them as it is for the mother. All that squeezing and pressure and trauma of coming into the world. Like the worst sports injury EVER. If anyone could use an adjustment, it's a newborn, am I right?

Project Air Conditioner is coming along nicely. Consequently, so is my marriage :) I should have news on that soon.

Hope y'all had a great long weekend!

Around Here, Lately

Morning breakfast on the counter. The child knocks over her juice glass, of course. I overreact maybe just a little, mostly because I KNEW THAT WAS COMING.

Me: (cleaning counter/cupboards/floor, furiously) No more juice in a cup! Ever! EVER!

L: *silent*

Me: *various grumbling and pregnancy-related-bending pain*

L: (quietly, respectfully) C'est pas grave, Maman. (It's not a big deal, Maman).

Me: (guilty) You're right, c'est pas le fin du monde. (it's not the end of the world).

I give her a hug and she puts her hands on each side of my face.

L: C'est le fin de TOI! (It's the end of YOU!)

Hit the nail right on the head, kid.

*****************************************

Bedtime. Story is done, prayers are done, time for kisses and hugs.

L: Un gros câlin Maman! (A big hug Maman!)

T: *big hug*

L: say "mmmmmm"!

T: *big hug, this time growling mmmm in her ear*

L: Ca sent les cheveux à Maman. (Smells like Maman's hair)

T: What does my hair smell like?

L: C'est bon, like Maman!

I think that's a good thing.

And then the obligatory sign off:

T: I love you!

L: I love you! Je t'aime!

T: Je t'aime! Bonne nuit!

L: Bonne nuit! Good night!

In that order. Otherwise we start over.

*****************************************

Have a great long weekend!

Spring... So Far

Wow, this lack of regular posting means a lot of catching up. I'll be brief. Ish. Brief-ish.

The bump! Please do not be concerned by the freakish appearance of my left hand. I have no idea what is happening to my once-photogenic self.

The Playoffs. We're now rooting for Vancouver in case you were wondering.

Easter, oh Easter. Beautiful celebration of spring, redemption, hope and SUGAR.

Chocolate pudding cookies with mini eggs, adapted from this recipe.

My dear friend Manon invited us over on rainy Easter Saturday for brunch and backyard Easter egg hunt!

The Easter bunny thoughtfully packaged treats in ziploc bags due to inclement weather.

It was awesome.

Inside we feasted on wafffles, amazing baked ham and CAAANNDY!

That is not made out of chocolate, get it away from me.

What better activity for jittery sugar-jacked pre-schoolers than egg painting?

It was pretty rad actually.


Not pictured: Excellent Sunday morning service and Easter treat hunting at our house that Liliane is STILL talking about. Stéphane nixed my idea of putting out lettuce scraps and raisins as evidence of the Easter bunny's visit. But it was still thrilling. The lapin put chocolate in my CUISINE! Yeah, we're all about the Frenglish in our house these days.

In other news... Bébé II is growing and wriggling and forcing me to eat a lot of ice cream. Which is fine since I'm not diabetic this time. My father introduced me to Chapman's sugarless ice cream in case of emergency so even if I do end up with diabetes, it's all good. Priorities, people.

We bought a stroller! After much research to determine what we wanted to get, I found a used one for at least half the price and although it was a 45-minute trek out to the burbs to get it, we LOVE IT. The car seat adapter came with it as well so we can use it right off the top. We've taken it out for a few test rides and Liliane loves her little seat in the back. I love that we will have a way of getting around with TWO KIDS (!) that doesn't involve a lot of back pain or money spent. WIN.

My new obsession is air conditioning. We have everything we need to have a mural air conditioner,we're just missing the actual unit and the intelligence to install it. Oh, and the budget to do that. Details! We WILL have air conditioning, mark my words. I'lll keep you posted.

It's a very rainy weekend here in Montréal. My saintly husband took L to the movies and just called to ask if they had to rush back. HECK NO. Stay all day! I'll be here, putting our stuff on eBay.

The One Where I Don't Have an Ego

So I was in Vancouver last weekend, partly for work:

partly for family:

but mainly to GET AWAY. Ha ha, just kidding. Kinda.

It's crazy how much I appreciate air travel these days. What, NO ONE can reach me? Or ask me stuff? No one needs me to take them to the bathroom or get them a drink or anything? For five and a half solid hours? And I can watch TV or watch a movie or read my book or have a nap? Heaven. Spa-like.

ANYWAY, I'm back, it was great, it was exhausting, it was exhilarating. I saw my grandparents in their new digs, I saw my sisters and my nieces and nephews, I saw lots of friends and even more family. I got my dose and it was good.

I also had my check up with the doctor this week and GUESS WHAT?! Sugar levels are... NORMAL. What!? All that pre-emptive whining for nothing. Not that I'm busting out the Jolly Rancher and maple syrup sandwiches or anything, but I'm just so relieved that I don't have to deal with all that. Yet. I'll have another test in 4 weeks or so but until then - Mama needs a BLIZZARD.

Related: I actually had a Blizzard while I was away but I ordered the new mini size. How virtuous am I, right? A MINI Rolo blizzard. It practically doesn't count! Unfortunately I then went to the Marble Slab Creamery (sluurrp, yaaarrrggg, must. eat. ice. cream. yyaarrr, mmmmm) and restraint really didn't come up in the conversation. Weird.

Also related: I ate 3 White Spot burgers in my 5 day sojourn. I got off the plane, got to my Dad's, dropped my suitcase and immediately ordered take out. True Story. I saw this while I was going through the Triple-O drive through for fix #2:

No, I didn't try it. But can you imagine? The best of both worlds. Or something.

My Marble Slab poison: Birthday Cake ice cream with fresh strawberries and pieces of white cake. Excuse me while I wipe off the keyboard now.

Hoping my OB-GYN doesn't read my blog. Hi Dr. Johnson! I was really careful about eating sugar AFTER I finished this ice cream. Really!

Stopped in to see the girls at Beauty Nail and got a manicure because hey! It's good for the morale. Plus it means I have to stop eating for a few hours while I'm there.

This is me with my little sister Jaime (R) her friend Rachel and Tara Johns, writer/director of The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom. We went to visit Jaime's writing class to talk about writing film scripts and making movies and... boobs. You have to see the movie. We had a great time, the students asked lots of great questions and Tara and I were both relieved that the high school days were safely behind us!

Speaking of sisters, I have to post this photo. In the spirit of Pioneer Woman's "keepin' it real!" you have to see what might be the DORKIEST photo of me yet. And it's almost worse because my sister Jennifer looks so completely adorable.

Even my captioning powers fail me.

She did point out that I tend to be the photogenic one so it's payback time. I bet she would revive her blog just for the pleasure of posting ALL the photos we took in this series. Oh ego, get over yourself. Just go look at our wedding pictures and remember the glory days.

Since we're on the subject, here is a self-portrait of Tara and I when we found out that the film was being extended for a second week at Tinseltown.

Oh well. We were excited.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Those Three Little Words

Let's. Make. Coffee.

Aaahhhhh.

Three and a half years we've been waiting for this moment. It just started last week, as part of a new morning routine. (Maybe we have the new Dora bed to thank?) Instead of watching cartoons when she wakes up, she prefers to sit on the counter while I get breakfast organized. She scoops the coffee into the bodum then stands by to stir it once the kettle whistles. Sometimes we listen to the music from Tangled (or as it's known around here, les cheveux longs), but mostly it's just quiet.



While we're waiting I usually unload the dishwasher and get lunches organized and we eat a banana or share a grapefruit. Then she eats her usual raisin bread (cold, not hot! No toast!) with du butter, Maman. A LOT of butter. What can I say, I guess she's not adopted after all, her freakish aversion to potatoes aside.

Then she gets to push down the plunger and joy abounds.

We've had a few nights of fully UNinterrupted sleep (of course now that I've actually typed those words I'm sure that's the end of that) and it's almost the best part of my day when she comes bursting into our room in the morning: "Maman! Je veux faire du café!"

Luckily she has no interest in DRINKING the coffee but she does love making it. And I love having her sleepy little self perched on the counter with me. She's great company.

In other news, we have watched the Tangled DVD approximately a bajillion times since Papa brought it home on Tuesday. It's a really adorable film with a great message (a smart and capable princess-type that doesn't need rescuing!) and although I can now watch the end without crying, I may have developed a crush on Flynn Ryder. A cartoon crush. Sad.

Speaking of sad, it looks like the ol' gestational diabetes is back. My doctor sent me for an early test and I got the news last week that my sugar levels are a little high. Do not pass GO, get to the hospital for the dreaded two hour exam! Crap. There goes another half day! I know it's really not a big deal as far as pregnancy complications go but I was still disappointed. It means extra time hanging out at the diabetes clinic and following a sugarless diet until delivery not to mention random feelings of dread that PREGNANCY - UR DOIN' IT WRONG. Great. Oh and the Dairy Queen right down the street is now open for the season. I might get them to put my picture by the cash "DO NOT SERVE THIS WOMAN, NO MATTER HOW SHE BEGS FOR A STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE BLIZZARD."

Yes, B.C. readers, due to the frigid temperatures that we get around here almost 6 months out of the year, Dairy Queen closes down in the fall. Plus we don't have actual restaurants that sell burgers and stuff. They are all (I think anyway) outdoor walk-up/take-away counters.

Heading to Vancouver on Thursday, can't wait. Lower Mainland readers, we'll hang out at the movies next weekend, right? I'll be at the 7PM-ish screenings on Friday and Saturday of The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom at Tinseltown along with the writer/director and B.C. homegirl Tara Johns, not to mention Julia Stone, the star herself. Thanks for your comments on my last post! We wavered somewhere between panic and despair for a while, but now we're at peace with embracing the chaos. It's all good.

How Ikea Tried to Kill My Marriage

We survived. Probably because we ate lunch for less than $10.

But we got what we went for - a big girl bed. We decided to go for the not-quite-single-bed-size model which turned out to be perfect.

While Stéphane stayed home to put it together, I took the big girl out to choose bedding. Surprise! It's all about Dora.

Mission accomplished.

So the crib is now on the other side of the room, juuuust out of frame of all these photos. Once we moved a few things around, we were surprised at how well the two beds fit. We also got some super cute under-the-bed storage which took care of a surprising amount of toys.

So.... right. We're going to be putting another baby in that crib.

Wow. Kinda makes it real now that it's all empty and just sitting there. Ready.

It hits me every now and then, like when I'm combing out Liliane's hair after her bath and Stéphane is cleaning up the kitchen, that it's pretty easy just having one. How the heck are we going to add a newborn into the mix? Do I comb hair with one hand? Will the kitchen just always be a mess? Is it too late to change our minds?

Anyway, everything else is fine. I think my husband has almost forgiven me for Sunday. Liliane is good although all about Maman these days.

Parents, any advice on the morph from one to two? Everyone says it's easy but... really?

Girl Power, Etc.

I'm still here! Really! Blah, blah, still busy (please see my last post) oh and pregnant. Which is fun and everything but this kiddo is sucking the LIFE out of me already. ALREADY. Ha ha, just kidding, baby. I can't wait until you get here (stork is dropping off, right?) and you can suck the life out of me... literally! Actually I can't wait to nuzzle your fuzzy head and nibble your teeny toes. BAYBEE FEET. NOM NOM NOM.

So in case I didn't mention it already, we had an ultrasound 2 weeks ago and yep, definitely another girl. We're relieved because we have all the stuff already although hoping desperately that this kid is a little more, um, easygoing than her big sister. There's a finite allowance of personality per family, right? Surely Liliane has used up all that Type A juice so fingers crossed that the new girl is kind of a slacker. Or at least likes to sleep and doesn't hate doing her jacket up or wearing snowpants or being buckled into her carseat. Can you tell I'm a little tired of winter?

Speaking of which, since today is actually the first day of Spring, Montréal decided to celebrate with a 10 cm wet snowstorm. Yep, it was awesome. On a related note, I have seriously stopped calculating how much money we've spent on crap-weather taxi rides to and from daycare since January. Just doing our part to keep the car-for-hire industry alive and well here! Sorry baby, hope you like hand me down EVERYTHING because Maman couldn't handle a little bit of slush.

ANYWAY. Now that I'm firmly in my second trimester, I'm waiting for that "burst of energy" I'm supposed to be getting anytime now. Hello? Anyone? The all-around queasiness is definitely gone, but oh ho ho! Surprise! It comes back with a vengeance when I'm too tired or too hungry or the wind blows the wrong way or I get a massage. Yeah, a blissful, stress-releasing, muscle-soothing maternity massage last week made me want to hurl. Sigh.

So that's what's up with me! Aren't you glad you asked? Just be glad I didn't tell you about the pelvic pain (how is it possible to HURT LIKE THAT, THERE) and how I am periodically blinded by homicidal rage towards the upstairs neighbours for, you know, walking around so loudly.

The good news is that Dairy Queen will be opening soon, I have no stretch marks (wait, that first point could be a problem) and I'm totally enjoying feeling this kiddo move around so much. I also appreciate knowing specifically what I need to buy this time around. I have my eye on the Arm's Reach co-sleeper and I'm narrowing down the stroller/car seat combo we need to get. I'm even already checking Craigslist!

I'm also completely looking forward to my upcoming trip to Vancouver in April for the Dolly opening. Which reminds me: Lower Mainland readers - consider yourselves BOOKED for the weekend of April 8th! The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom is opening at the International Village/Tinseltown theatre (downtown) on Friday April 8th and you definitely need to see it!

While we're in promo mode, if you're on Facebook, I'm sure you're already a fan of the Dolly Facebook page. Right? Are we friends or are we friends?

Speaking of Facebook, while you're there becoming a fan of our page, check out this contest that Stéphane made a video for. Click this link, watch the video (it's 30 seconds, you can do it) and hit LIKE. (Where it says "votez pour Stéphane Arbour.") He and I will be forever grateful. Or at least happy for a few minutes.

Alright, time to put this way long post out of its misery. Before winter leaves us completely (don't let the door hit your butt on the way out!), a couple of happy hivernal memories.

Back soon!

Still Kicking

Hellloooo from Preggoville! Land of snacks, naps and ill-fitting pants!

As some of you know, I helped make a movie that is coming out here in Quebec TOMORROW so between gestating new life and tending to the life we already made, my professional life has been off the charts with the BUSY.

Blah, blah, blah, everybody's busy. You're right. So I'll skip all that and just POST SOMETHING already.

I'm going to cheat a little and share a video with you that my adorable and talented husband made last weekend. It stars one Miss Liliane Arbour AND her new fish Dory.

Enjoy! While y'all are watching that, I'll be working on some more posts. Promise :)

Sunny Side-Up from Stéphane Arbour on Vimeo.