checking the mail...

Baby's due date has come and gone and I am now 1 week past due. Choo Choo will be an Aries baby.Choo Choo is giving me a hard time and I have been experiencing pre/practice/false labour (whatever you want to call it) and consequently Dave and I are quite anxious for the babe to make its arrival.
i'm chopping wood.

Nursery - After Shots

...and here is the nursery! We are very pleased with how it turned out. All we need now is Choo Choo.

Nursery - Before shots

busy times in the nursery

i found the dresser in the alley last fall. it needed a lot of stripping and much sanding. somehow i ran into a friend downtown who has a fully functioning cabinet making shop. i would not have been able to rebuild those drawers without access to a nail gun. wonderful tool.

the nursery needed serious work. stripping the painted over wall paper lines then mudding was grueling. paint colours came together nicely.

the teeny tiny closet (which may have been a door way many years ago) needed much work. crumbling plaster and a strange useless space. Brandy is wanting some shelves installed next.

taking off the tape was gratifying too! Very pleased to have completed the sanding and varnishing of the hard wood floors the year before.

check out the after shots, which will be our next post.

first two weeks of maternity leave

Monday, March 1st marked the start of my maternity leave. I must admit the transition was not easy, but fortunately there was lots to do to keep me occupied. Surprisingly I had not gone shopping for the baby - with the sole exception of the crib- since finding out I was pregnant. So that first week I took my mom to buy cloth diapers at AMP Diapers, a fabulous local store where you can see the diapers being sewn in the back room! The selection of diapers was daunting but I think I selected the right system. The owner was selling a couple of her baby gear items and so I was able to pick up a change table and a nursing pillow! I made several trips to echildren to pick up baby gear as well as frequented A Child's Place and few other stores to complete the nursery. This included picking up some foam and material to create a mattress for the baby cradle (Dave says that Mitchell Fabrics on Main is an amazing building).

That first week I went to my first La Leche meeting with my neighbour Edwina and her children, Miriam and Silas. The next evening I met with my girls (Christy, who is also pregnant, Michelle, Vivian and Kiri) for dinner; it was very nice evening. The next day I went for a massage (Dave had gone earlier in the week) and our massage therapist, Karen, was quite pleased to see us before the big day. Dave and I had a date night on that Friday. We went to Inferno's and had a lovely meal. The hostess, a young woman, seemed surprised that I was out having dinner when labour was so imminent!
That Sunday, Dave and I visited with my cousin Jason and his wife Janine and their new baby, Jenna Claire. We are thrilled that our babies will be so close in age! They are leaving on the 25th and are hoping to meet our baby before they fly back to Ottawa.

Week number 2 was marked by pampering appointments: pedicure, haircut and highlights. I also visited with my friend, Muoi, who was also pregnant. I found out that her c-section was moved up to Friday of last week so she already has her baby, a boy named Anton.
Dave and I had another date night and this time we went to Fude in the village. It was a lovely evening. Later that night I experienced close to 12 hours of early labour (we thought it was the real thing, but alas, just a work up).

Through out the two weeks Dave worked on the nursery, which will the focus of another post.

Emma's new coat + dog sledding on the river*

Emma has a new winter coat!! (too bad winter is on the way out, it will fit perfect for next year.)
Mrs. Antonio from The Pas made it especially for Emma and Emma LOVES it. The trim of Emma's coat has a dog and sled. i called neighbor Sid and asked if he was taking his dogs out. Emma met Hobo, Wolfie and momma Vicki and went for a dog sled ride on the river.

Sounds too good to be true but we have proof.

the end.


* with improved video link

pregnancy update

So I will officially be on maternity leave on Monday. I ended up working all last week (with the exception of Friday afternoon) and still have a few odds and ends to wrap up over the weekend and then I'm done.

I am now 38 weeks or 40 weeks. My early due date is March 9th -Tuesday! But I believe baby will come closer to the March 21st date. But we'll just have to wait and see...

Emma and Gody are visiting and will be spending the night (Naomi as well, in between her work shifts).
Emma touched my tummy and said "it's very big". Indeed it is.
She discovered some baby soap at home and brought it over for choochoo.