watch where you step...

Happy sunny first Saturday of Spring! Walking around the yard this morning, I had to be watchful for little clusters of these harbingers of warm Spring days. I love how they just kind of pop up where they want to every year. I also think it's great that they're there when the frost is crunchy underfoot. Tough little cookies!

le stroller

Here's the stroller! Mother-in-law took this picture when we were scouting out possible strollers for adoption. It's all set up with the car seat adapter thingy, so this is how it will be used with Baby G for the first while, until s/he is big enough to sit in the stroller part. It's much smaller without the carseat on top, and when folded it's really quite compact.

In a funny series of events, we decided to roll our new stroller (in the picture is the store's demo) on to the ferry with us rather than put it on the luggage cart. We had the carseat (still completely wrapped in plastic) sitting on the seat of the stroller. When we went to get our boarding passes, the woman at the counter said
"So... there's just the two of you?"
Us: "Yes."
Woman (looking kind of concerned that we were either trying to scam Bay Ferries or that we were totally unaware that we had a baby with us and she was trying to figure out how to break it to us) : "Ummm... what about the baby?"
So we explained that no, we were not hiding a baby wrapped up in a plastic bag on a stroller.

Then when we were getting on the ferry and needed to use the elevator, the crew guy who was crammed into the elevator with the stroller and I gave it a funny look and said "Where's the baby?" He thought there was a baby somewhere between the plastic wrapped car seat and the stroller.

When we were docking, a guy sitting near to us said something to his travelling companion about what a good baby that was in the stroller - slept the whole time. The girl replied: "It's covered in plastic. There's no baby in there." Good eye!

And when we arrived at the terminal in Digby and I was on yet another elevator with said stroller, another woman gave it a funny look and said "Well, where's the baby?" So I explained. Again. I think the stroller obscured the big belly, making the situation a bit more perplexing.

Adam suggested that we roll the stroller and plastic-wrapped carseat around as a performance art kind of thing, just to see how people react. Which would be hilarious, judging from today's responses. I really liked that it got people to talk - it's something strangers don't do enough. I can't imagine how many people will approach me when I have an actual visible baby with me! I also like that when many people see that I'm pregnant, they kind of look at me sideways so they don't appear to be staring, and smile. That always makes my day - the thought that someone seeing me and the prospect of a baby can bring them even a smidge of happiness.

we (finally) made it home

Pink and green, one of my favourite combinations. The in-laws had the prettiest little begonia at their house which I couldn't help taking a picture of. Adam prefers 'elegant' flowers to 'pretty' ones; I just like them all. And the second picture is a small tray (I'm going to use it as a soap dish) which I found at Frenchy's in our travels.

After a nastily rough boat ride during which we managed not to get sick (we tried some Life brand 'Seabands' since I can't take Gravol and I think they worked) we're back home. The snow is all gone, and there are more snowdrops in the yard which were covered before we left! Very exciting. All kinds of bulbs are popping up here and there, which makes for a delightful surprise when one is discovered. We had a great trip, but I can't remember the last time I was so glad to be home!

Stranded in SJ

Adam and I were sitting on the ferry this morning, eager to get home, when an announcement came over the PA system: "We regret to inform you that the crossing will be delayed by half an hour due to mechanical difficulties." OK, no problem. Half an hour later: "We regret to inform you that the ferry will not be able to make the crossing today due to mechanical difficulties." So we're here in Saint John, hoping that the ferry will indeed be making the crossing tomorrow. I understand that things happen which aren't really anyone's fault (although the three weeks with no crossings in February for maintenance would take care of things, one would think) but this really throws a wrench into my week's plans. Things will sort themselves out, though - there's not really an option! We were promptly rescued at the terminal by an avid blog reader - thank you!

So this week's belly pictures and begonias will have to wait until we're home... hopefully tomorrow!

hyacinth

I took these shots of my no-longer-in-the cupboard hyacinth the other day. I'm hoping it will open and change colour soon. The roots in the water look very alien and beautiful, I think.

We're having a grand time away from the usual routine, and we found a stroller for baby G yesterday! It's the Safety 1st Evolution stroller, and it's everything we were looking for. It's not navy blue (it's a lovely brown with that sheep fleecy look padding which sounds tacky when I type it, but it's lovely in person), it has three wheels and the front one swivels, an adjustable handle suitable for both of us, folds up pretty darn compactly, and doesn't weigh a ton or take up much space. It's even made in Canada. I couldn't find a link to a picture, but I'll try to post one when we get home. I'm very glad that's looked after - there are so many to choose from. The baby's crib and mattress were also ordered yesterday, which is the other 'big thing' we needed. We took the chance while we were at Sears to update our registry and add some little things which aren't available online to add, so that was fun. Adam had a good time with the beepy scanner thing.

We also made a quick stop at Value Village last night and I found a brand new American Eagle green canvas purse, which I love, as well as a great pair of maternity jeans and a purse for my mom to use at my sister's wedding. Hopefully she'll like it. It was only $1.99, so even if she doesn't use it, it's not a huge deal.

I think we're off to the museum this morning, so that should be fun. And educational experience for baby G, who will probably be resting the whole time. Especially after keeping me up in the middle of the night with a new calisthenics routine. I love it!

Hallelujah!

Taken in our leafy, snowy, and messy garden on this most beautiful of March mornings, we have Lily of the Valley...
More LOTV...
Sweet little chickadee at the feeder, enjoying the sun...
SNOWDROPS! (I nearly lost it when I saw these!)
And an open quince bloom!

It's the most wonderful time of the year... well, my favourite, anyway. Every Spring, I feel like all winter long I haven't quite been myself, but I haven't realized it until the air starts to smell like spongy earth and the sun feels warm on my face, and then I wonder how I could have possibly made it through such a dark season. Well, friends, 'the winter's over and gone; the time for the singing of birds has come'! We haven't seen the lawn for the snow since the beginning of February (very unusual around here). Just over the past few days, larger and larger patches of green have been exposed, the mud has been muddier, and the sun has been warm and friendly. I took the evergreen branches off of the flower beds this morning, and now they're warming up nicely. Can you tell that I'm a little excited about this?

In other news (seems pale in comparison), we're going away for a few days, so posts may be non-existent for a bit. But hopefully we'll find a super stroller for this little one on the way.

Speaking of whom, baby G's heart rate at the clinic this morning was 145 (perfect!) and s/he is now head down (yipeeeee!) and has had a very active morning (ouf!). My iron is good (I went for standard bloodwork yesterday) and I don't have gestational diabetes, so that's always a plus. I'm still feeling wonderful, and this gorgeous weather only helps! I just might explode if I'm not careful...

a drop of golden sun

My very sweet husband brought me daffodils yesterday! I love receiving potted bulbs, especially when the bulbs can be re-planted in the yard. I think it looks like the lower daffodil in the bottom picture is kind of sticking it's toe in the water... testing to see if it's really safe to open up.

marvelous miscellany

A cousin of mine is due to have her first baby just a bit over a week before I am. I bought them a shower gift this morning, and had fun wrapping it and making a tag. I love grommets!
The quince branches are producing lots of leaves, but this is the only cluster of flowers to appear so far. I'll enjoy them just as much as if there were 10.
While I was in Halifax, I saw these flip flops and fell in love with them. I didn't buy them initially, but when the teacher I was with mentioned stopping back at the store, I decided to get them after all.
Another stop in Halifax was at Lee Valley. I LOVE this place! It's not a regular store... you go in and fill out a small order sheet either by hand or on a computer (if you know what you're looking for), pass it to the clerk, and they disappear into the cavernous warehouse and come back with exactly the things you asked for! Just like magic. They have very neat gardening stuff, tools, and an amazing selection of hardware for cabinets, doors, etc. I bought this completely biodegradable weed rug, which is made of corn starch. Who comes up with these things? I'm eager to try it with some of our vegetables this summer. I also am pleased with a set of four canvas totes I bought, which I took with me to get groceries last night. They have square bottoms, so they stand up nicely, and they're really sturdy, so they hold a lot of groceries. It's really nice not to consume the plastic bags, and it's not really a hassle at all. (I was so eager to remember to take the totes in with me and excited to use them that I left my wallet in the car last night. I realized as I was getting a cart, so it wasn't an embarassing situation or anything. Funny, though.) I think that North American stores should follow in European shoes - at lots of places there, you pay for the bags you use, so people take their own reusable ones. Only makes sense.

It sounds like I've bought the world this week, but I have one more exciting purchase to share - I stopped at Frenchy's this morning after dropping Adam off at work, and guess what I found? (You'll probably never guess, so I'll tell you.) The other pillow sham that goes with the duvet and sham I found a few weeks ago! How exciting. A little Frenchy's fated moment. I also found a few other little things I might post after they're washed.

Happy Saturday, and don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight (if you go for that sort of thing where you live!) An extra hour of daylight tomorrow, yipeeeeee!

27 weeks

Since baby G is kicking up a storm right now (right after lunch is always an active time), I thought it would be good to post the latest belly picture. I'm 27 weeks pregnant now, and baby G weighs about 2 pounds and is about 14.5 inches tall. Kicks just keep getting stronger - a couple of big ones this morning made me jump! The baby's brain is developing and s/he may be dreaming while sleeping. Pretty amazing!

returned

I've returned from a few days in the big city, where I was attending a placement with one of my students. It was a lovely couple of days, but it's always nice to come home. Since I didn't have any new pictures, here's another one from our beach visit on Saturday. It's been another FRIGID week, and it's supposed to be another warm weekend coming up. Hopefully we'll get out again and I'll have some more pictures!

When I was in the city, I found an area rug for the baby's room, which is just what I was looking for (and was only 12.97, so I bought 2!) Machine washable, neutral beige-y colour, nice and soft for playing on, and non-slip. Adam spent a bunch of time working in the baby's room today, so it's almost ready to paint! That will be a very exciting step.

I'm 6 months pregnant today! I can hardly believe that in three short months, I will have a living, breathing, wonderful human being outside of my body to be responsible for. Wow. I'll be sure to post an updated belly pic on the weekend - it feels like it's grown a lot over the past few days! I think the baby's been building up muscle by wiggling and kicking in there. I love going to sleep with those little pokes and prods.

beachy goodness

Adam and I went to Port Maitland beach late this afternoon with a sub picnic and plans to stick around until the lunar eclipse exposed itself. It was an incredible day weather-wise, especially given yesterday's unpleasant snowy and icy mess. Today it was sunny and 7 degrees, making for beautiful beach walking (and picture-taking) weather.
This sand formation reminded me of stone carvings, especially ones on cemetery stones.

We found these little gelatinous globs strewn along the entire length of the beach. I'm not sure if it's a trick of light, but it almost looks like there's some kind of insides to this one. Could it be a jellyfish washed up after the storm? Or a part of a jellyfish, perhaps? On the sand, they look exactly like those clear glass beads with the flat bottoms which can be used for crafts.
These three were in close proximity, so Adam made a snowman. (They slid off of one another when he tried for a real 3d one.)
This little tide pool seemed out of place. It looked very much like a desert oasis.
And the sun was stunningly bright awhile before it set. Then the clouds took over and we walked the length of the beach getting colder by the minute (it really wasn't that bad) all the while watching for the moon to appear. We finally saw it right before we left as a little crescent, and continued to watch on our way home. Pretty amazing!

26 weeks

Belly pic time! Adam took this today at 26 weeks pregnant. Baby G is growing away in there, and is approximately 14 inches tall and weighs a little more than 1.6 pounds. Lots of movement going on, which still seems like the coolest (and strangest) thing in the world to me. It's most exciting when Adam feels it, too.

sewing machine cover

Since I've been sewing a lot more lately, I've had my machine out for easy access. I took it into my head after seeing some sewing machine covers on a variety of blogs this week that I wanted to make a cover for it, to keep the dust off and to make it looks little more pretty (and tidy). So I whipped this up this morning - it took very little time and effort, and I think it looks great! I simply measured my machine (including the height of the spool of thread on top because I know I'll usually want to leave it threaded), then cut two pieces of material for the front and back and one long skinny one for the sides and top with a little bit added for the seam. I pinned it all together inside out, and stitched it up, and as a final step hemmed the bottom. If you wanted to fancify it, you could line it, add a little handle on top or a hole for the machine's handle, or make a slit for the cord (I can't leave it plugged in, so I didn't bother with that). Super easy - definitely worth the effort! Check out Adam's photos of the process here.

tea for me

This is one of two mugs we have which will go with me wherever I end up in life. A university roommate bought it for me (before we were roommates) on one of the first really beautiful days of Spring in my first year of university. We went for a walk together in the sun and sidewalk slush of Fredericton. I saw this at a little shop and fell in love with it, and she snapped it up and bought it for me. I love turtles, and everything about this mug is lovely. It's giant (which is kind of hard to tell from the pictures), unlike the other little favoured mug, which is tiny and perfect for a little blip of hot chocolate. It was also given to me by a friend (who has a matching one). The other day, I was making a cup of Orange Pineapple tea from Java Moose (mmmmmmm!), and when I went to check on it, I saw what's in the first picture - completely separated tea-ness and water. I thought it was lovely.

home

First, the pictures. Here's the sweetest little night table I have ever seen, and it's now in my posession. (And hey, that's the duvet cover from Frenchy's I posted about a little while ago!)
The quince branches have these tiny little leaves emerging! They're so small and delicate... I can't wait for the flowers to appear!
This is the polished table my last post was about. We also have (not pictured) three leaves and an extra leg with it, along with two captain's chairs, one of which needs one new arm. Perfect for having lots of people over. Adam's been saying that we need to have a big potluck with our friends, and now we have a table large enough to serve the purpose!

Home. Home is a huge concept to me. I love spending time at home, making it comfortable and livable and cozy and friendly and welcoming and just enjoying being here. (Speaking of which, it's a snow day today - the snow is supposed to begin any time now and turn to ice pellets and rain tonight. Mmmmm, cozy!) People's homes say a lot about them, and you get an immediate sense when you enter someone's home if it's one of those friendly welcoming places, one of those sterile plastic-y disinfected locales, one of those medicinal-smelling senior's homes, or one of those places you don't really want to breathe in because you're afraid of what might be floating in the air. Being welcomed into someone else's home and really feeling at home is a wonderful and rare thing. We have a couple of friends who will soon be moving away, and their house is one of those places. They're doing a lot of work on the house before they sell it, and have been so kind as to give us any furniture and other things we were interested in (they're not taking anything with them). My hope is that their 'stuff' will serve not only useful purposes in our home, but will add more of that friendliness and sense of relaxation to our space. So as much as I enjoy the stuff because it's lovely, there's a smidge of sadness because they'll be leaving, and a smidge of warm fuzzies because it's an extension of them which is now a part of us.

clapham's beeswax polish, lemon body polish

We were given a lovely antique dining table and chair set (I'm planning another post about that whole story, hopefully up tomorrow when I'm hoping to have a snow day) which was in need of a little love, as you can see in this picture. The top half is untouched table; the bottom part has one coat of Clapham's Beeswax Polish on it.
One of the table legs. Top part has one coat of the polish, the bottom part has none.
And here's the stuff itself, on a thrice-coated tabletop (doesn't it look great?) It's a beeswax and carnuba oil polish, has virtually no scent, and a little goes a long way. Three coats on the table used about half of the 50g tub, which cost $6.99 at Home Hardware. I'll post a picture of the set when I have a daylit chance to snap a decent one.

This evening, I whipped up some lemon body polish. A super easy way to scrub yourself to smoothness in the shower or bath. I originally saw a video clip of Martha Stewart making a similar scrub, but I couldn't find the recipe when I searched her site earlier tonight. So I made one up! It goes something like this:

Put some granulated sugar in a bowl
Add some oil (sesame oil works well, grapeseed or olive or whatever you happen to have) until it goes kind of scrub-like when you mix it together
Add lemon essential oil (I love lemon, but you could add any eo you like)
For extra lemon-y goodness (not suitable for Ingrid) grate in a bit of fresh lemon rind

Store in a glass jar in the shower for scrubbing hands, feet, elbows and anywhere else you like. Scrub at the end of your shower and rinse off. You'll be delightfully soft afterward!

i simply remember...

my favourite things! I baked and cooked up a small storm on the weekend (frittata, blueberry muffins, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, baked beans), and kept thinking about how much I love my pantry. Our house is 120 (ish) years old, and the pantry is definitely one of my favourite features. Especially when it's sunny and I'm working away in there. The drawer pulls are très old and lovely, and the jars on the counter contain most of the standard baking goods - whole wheat and white flours, Speerville Mills oats, bran, etc. They're very handy, and I like how they look, lined up and ready for action. And the storage space is wonderful!

25 weeks

Here's my 25 week belly picture - I'm certainly getting bigger all of the time! I had a clinic appointment on Wednesday, and got to hear a very wiggly baby's heartbeat again, which still amazes me. 141 beats per minute. Adam had to work, so this was the first baby-related appointment he's missed. Baby G now weighs approximately 1.5 pounds, and is 13.5 inches long. H/she kicks a lot in the evening, especially when I'm going to sleep, and also when I wake up. It's really neat - kicks and movements feel like muscle twitches. I'm getting very eager to meet this little one 'in person'. At prenatal class last week, we talked about the possible interventions which may be necessary during delivery (c-section, forceps, vacuum extraction, etc.) and watched video clips of them. I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed by it all and had a hormone-y (translation: teary) evening, thinking about the (remote) possibility that I would have to be apart from baby G and Adam right after birth, blah blah blah. Thankfully, those moments are very few and far between, and I'm usually back to my old self pretty quickly. Adam didn't get much sympathy for his nosebleed that evening, though, which I still feel a little bad about. (Although, I must say - blood and guts and needles and such can make me feel queasy pretty often, but seeing nosebleeds has never bothered me. Kids would get them in schools and at camp frequently, and it was simply not a big deal. Probably because there's no pain involved. Anyway...)

I try to remember what I thought about how parents think and feel about their children before being pregnant, and find it difficult. Maybe it's all of the hormones, but I realize that most parents probably feel the same way about their children as I do about this baby - that h/she is pretty much the only baby who has ever been born. I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about how we can be the best parents possible, and how to care for, raise and teach this child how to get along in the world. And I can't imagine how our lives are going to change, but in a good way rather than a scary one. At the same time as I love this baby ridiculously much, I don't want to become someone who can only carry on a conversation if it has to do with my child. I imagine it's tricky, especially while staying at home to look after the baby (since your world revolves around this little one's itinerary for the first while). But I really, really, really want to be able to hold a conversation about other things without feeling the need to turn the conversation back to me and what the baby's up to. I think that part of that is probably me wanting other people to see me as more than someone who can reproduce, but I also imagine that it will be a defense mechanism to keep myself sane. And who knows, everything might just work out beautifully and in a lovely balanced way and I won't even have to think about these things after baby G arrives. Like most things, we'll just have to wait and see.

ahhhh, Saturday

It's been a few days... I guess that's what happens when you don't have so many snow days to fill up with blogging! Adam and I just got back from a lovely little hike on a local trail - a perfect Saturday morning. I was given these terrific boxes from a teacher I work with - she had them filled with all sorts of sweet things for baby G from Frenchy's! She knows the way to my heart! I don't have specific plans for the boxes yet, but I know they will be put to good use.

Kind of a funny story about the coffee beans: Since I've been pregnant, my senses of smell and taste have been incredibly more sensitive than usual. Which is great when I'm smelling or eating something wonderful, because it's all the better. Something unpleasant, however, is an entirely different matter. On the positive side of things, I was cleaning the pantry last week and found these Java Moose mocha coffee beans. I gave them a sniff, and nearly fell over, they smelled SO good. (Note: I don't drink coffee at the best of times, because I can't stand the taste. But I've always liked the smell.) So that I could enjoy the smell more often, I put a few in a little jar on the kitchen windowsill. Every time I go by, I give them a deep breath in, and it makes everything wonderful. To be completely forthright, I also took a few beans to my office. Adam thinks this is funny.
Other Saturday morning goodness - smoothies! When I have the time and the goods, I love to make a smoothie in the morning. And it really doesn't take much of either time or goods, so it happens pretty frequently.

Loose guidelines for a delicious smoothie, open to as many modifications and adaptations as desired:

Toss into blender:
yogurt (my favourite is Activia vanilla for smoothies)
banana
whatever other fruit is desired (I have kiwi and lots of blueberries in this one)
something sweet (honey or maple syrup)
ground flax seed for those omega-3's
a bit of milk to thin for good blending (especially important when using frozen chunky fruit)

Blend until smooth and serve as soon as possible. Extra smoothie will keep in the fridge for most of a day, but it's just not quite as good after it's been in the fridge for awhile.
I came across Alicia Paulson's blog featuring Audrey the dog (amongst other crafty wonderful-ness) a couple of weeks ago, and saw that her home is featured in the March edition of Romantic Homes. After looking at some of the images, I thought "Oh, I'd love to get my hands on a copy" but thought that it might be hard to come across here in Yarmouth. To my great and pleasant surprise, when Adam and I were on our weekly Globe and Mail expedition this morning, they had one copy left at Toots! Yay, some last-weekend-in-February reading! And might I also point out that daylight savings time changes in two weeks? Hallelujah!
In other house-y things, the avocado plant hasn't sprouted yet, but apparently you're supposed to wait 8 weeks before giving up hope. It's been less than 2, so maybe I'm just a little impatient. I brought in some quince branches for forcing yesterday, and I love how they look even without blooms. And that mug is one of my favourite little things I've ever found at Frenchy's. I'm going to try some honeysuckle vines, too, which I've never done before. My hyacinth in the cupboard is making slow and steady progress - I'll post pictures if it ever blooms!

a sling, a sling, a wonderful thing

Here's my project of the day - a sling for baby G and me! The top picture is the cut material, pinned and ready for the first stitching, and I'm wearing the completed sling in the bottom picture (it's stuffed with a rolled up piece of material to simulate baby G, and should fit a bit better after the baby's born and my belly's a little smaller). The material I used was once a tab-top curtain from (take a wild guess!) Frenchy's, which I made into a shower curtain. When I found the new Martha Stewart shower curtain at Frenchy's, I decided that this one would be great sling material. It's thick cotton, in a nice neutral colour. I found the pattern for the sling here and it couldn't be much easier to make. I'm going to make one for Adam soon. Because this particular one is a pouch sling and isn't adjustable, the one pictured is made to fit me. And since Adam is over a foot taller than me, he definitely needs his own! Although it isn't adjustable for the adult, it can be worn in a variety of ways to accommodate a growing baby.
Edit: I just found a video clip illustrating the proper way to fold and put on the sling, which isn't quite what you see in the picture! We'll get it down before baby arrives!

perfect storm day lunch

I was inspired with warm pancake-y thoughts last week when I saw a clip on Living East of a place called Sugar Moon Farm here in Nova Scotia. It had the most cozy log pancake house and the coolest gravity fed syrup system I've ever seen. It's a year-round, family-run place, and definitely on our list of places to visit, hopefully in the near future. I've been thinking about it ever since, so today for lunch I made the most incredible buckwheat pancakes with this amazing wild blueberry syrup from Granite Town Farms in New Brunswick. Delicious! Any extra pancakes can be frozen between layers of wax paper (wax paper is compostable, you know) and popped in the toaster when you're hungry for them again!