What to Wear

...At this point I really do not care to make a fashion statement every time I leave the house and certainly not while I am in the house.  For the past few months I have been living in my Mountain Equipment Coop fleece lined leggings - they are heaven.  Likely not the most flattering article of clothing I own but my options are limited.  Now that I am at home all of the time, I really could wear the same thing everyday - Carmy, you don't mind do you?  But I realized that I may be wearing my favorites a little too much as the fleece is starting to pill, forming these crunchy patches all along the inside.  I thought it may be time to go out on a limb and switch it up, (or at least alternate) so when I came across a pair of cozy grey knit leggings at Winners, I snapped them up.  

Carmon says they look like long underwear, frankly, I do not care.  

They have made their debut in public and like I said, It's not about making a fashion statement, or maybe I am...I could be on to something here!  Fortunately with just under two weeks to go, I can likely avoid a fashion intervention - I just need to promise myself that the legging phase gets shelved once I deflate a little.

Not Quite Ready...

So I have been off work for nearly a week now (bliss!) and still feel rather ill prepared for our baby's arrival.  Fortunately, I have 14 more days until the due date but I have been repeatedly reminded that the baby can really come anytime now (gulp!).  I was feeling nauseous and really achy on Tuesday and by evening it had not subsided.  I thought it may be a good plan to refer to one of my pregnancy books...sure enough I found that these are some of the symptoms of pre-labour.  WELL, that got us in a tizzy and we very quickly pulled together our Hospital Bag - which I had been promising Carmon that I would pack two weeks ago - yikes!  Nothing like a little pressure!  As you can see, nothing came of that episode and I am back to feeling chipper again. 

Unfortunately the Hospital Bag was not the only item on my To Do List.  

Our 'Nest' is certainly not in order.  

We decided to take our chances and try to get our master bedroom looking a little fancier so we designed a day bed, ordered carpet, patched and re-painted.  Carmon has been working hard to get this big job done and we can now scratch off a few of the tasks; the patching, painting, the day bed is half built and our new carpet is being installed tomorrow.  We figure by the weekend we should be back in our own bedroom and THEN I can get busy organizing and making things feel a little more like home again.  And as for the baby, well, if  he came tomorrow he would not know the difference really - but someday it would be fun to show him just how 'ready' his parents were...

Scary!

 

Oh Happy Day!

Yesterday was just one of those great days.  Yep, I turned 29 years old, finished up my last day of work and as my friend Michelle put it "officially joined the Maternity Leave Club".  The whole day was just a treat - I received phone calls, text messages and emails with birthday wishes.  I was escorted to lunch by my work mates to my favorite Italian Restaurant, Terroni.  As I happily wrapped up a few last things on my to do list - I realized that the office was unusually quiet - little did I know there was a Baby Shower being pulled together just down the hall...I was finally informed that I was needed in the Board Room where I was greeted with a booming 'SURPRISE' from the entire head office group.  Wow!  My immediate team, Nataliya, Jennifer, Renee, Suzanne, Carla and Sylvia had pulled this one off with fresh home baked goods, brewed tea, balloons, streamers and a beautiful array of baby gifts.  

...Nataliya had been drinking a surprising amount of coffee that morning and had blamed it on the fact that her little boy was teething - leaving her with very little sleep the night before...well the truth came out once the shower was in full swing.  Nataliya hadn't been up with little Marcus, she had been up until 3 am making the most gorgeous hand decorated cupcakes for my party!  I am hoping that I will get a picture from her later this week to show you all - they were too beautiful to eat.  Little babies adorned each cupcake, some were boys, some were girls all with little faces, hair and wrapped in blankets - I think dear Nataliya is in the wrong line of work - somebody call Martha!  

After overindulging on treats and saying proper goodbyes to everyone - I was on my way - officially leaving the wild world of retail buying for 12 whole months.  I am excited about the year ahead - it will be a different kind of job which, similarly to my job at Home Outfitters, will likely be full of challenges but also incredibly rewarding.  I recognize that this is an important and special time in my life and I am ready to embrace the change.   My Happy Day continued as I spent the evening with my Sweetheart, dinner and then home early to snuggle up on the couch, chat with family and friends and dig in to one more piece of cake.  Life is good.   

...many, many years ago...I just love how young my Dad looks!  

A Dee-lightful Baby Shower

I am one lucky mom to be!  My LOVELY Toronto girlfriends showered us with well wishes a few weekends ago.  Marie-lou hosted at her fabulous pad where she and Delphine co-ordinated a fun afternoon that comprised of tasty treats, lots of girl talk, adorable gifts and a few games that got our creative juices flowing.  We were so spoiled with gifts and received a lot of books - a great start to a little library.  Most of the books that were gifted were childhood favorites of the girls - so they are all very special.  

We were also very lucky to receive a few other items on our wish list like a Sophie the Giraffe teething toy, the adorable Flensted Sheep Mobile that I have had my eye on for awhile and can hardly wait to hang over the crib, and possibly THE cutest snowsuit for next winter with little black bears on it!  I couldn't help but think how much Carmon was going to love this little snowsuit and possibly want one of his own!  

Delphine and Laura

   Amy, Marie-lou and Kamla

Liza

Thank you girls for such a lovely, special day!

Baby Tunes

Tonight I am procrastinating...well let's just say I am delaying some things on my to do list. I discovered this very cool music on I-Tunes today called Babies Go. Trust me - I am not one to sign up for kiddie music downloads BUT when it's Babies Go Guns n' Roses or Babies Go Coldplay...um yes! These albums take some of the best songs by the coolest artists and make them baby friendly and er parent friendly (can anyone else recall Baby Beluga by Raffi? need I say more?). So tonight I have compiled our first playlist for the baby containing the following so far:

Chiquitita - Abba

Super Trooper - Abba

The Scientist - Coldplay

Clocks - Coldplay

Swallowed in the Sea - Coldplay

Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses

With or Without You - U2

Rock on!

Belly Update!

Here it is - week 36!  Just when you think it can't get any bigger - this tummy keeps on expanding.  I can tell that the baby is beginning to outgrow his current digs - lots of pushing and kicking from all directions, I think we will have an active baby on our hands very soon!

4 More Mondays!

I can't believe that tomorrow is Monday - ick.  Even though I really only have 4 more Mondays left until I am off for a whole year - I can't help but still have the same reaction as I do every Sunday evening when I have to contemplate what to wear, what to pack for lunch and what lies ahead for the work week.  Over Christmas I had nearly 2 weeks off and managed to keep myself fairly busy.  I see that this was good conditioning for when I really am off as I will have about 20 days at home prior to the baby's due date...what to do with all of my time?  I will certainly enjoy and appreciate this gift of time as I have been told that I may never experience this again once the baby arrives!  To ensure that I do not forget all of the great things that I could be doing while at home - alone I will compile a list...a good reference in case I forget and find myself checking in at work, wandering around stores aimlessly and tuning in to day time soaps:

To Do:

1. finish reading baby books

2. yoga video every morning

3. start and complete our wedding album (long overdue!)

4. cook up all sorts of things to stock the freezer and pantry

5. blog

6. tune into my favorite blogs

7. get crafty and work on baby announcements

8. try to get outside every day

9. ...and if all else fails I have already found a great site full of Time-Wasters!  I have already tested a few of them...not that I was bored or anything...