frenchy's finds du jour

Since the name of the blog is Frenchy's Finds, and since I did happen to find these deliciously yummy things this afternoon after work (yay, payday!) I thought I would share them, even in pre-washed state.

Item number one is a Baby Gap purse-y sort of thing. I couldn't give Adam a good answer when he asked "What's it for?" For toddlers to have a bag to carry around like mum, I guess. Regardless, when you look a bit closer, all of those little speckly things are:
TURTLES! Tiny, shiny, embroidered turtles! Painfully cute. I think she charged me 30 cents for it. If we don't have a girl, I'm sure I'll find someone to pass it along to. If I don't just keep it for its cuteness factor. And the inside is:
striped! With a handy dandy little secret pocket. Very cute.
Item number 2 is a pair of Old Navy maternity stretch pants, suitable for work. Not just any pants, but ones I DON'T NEED TO HEM. This is nearly unheard of. I'm 5 feet tall, so I have a sewing machine which is used pretty much every time I buy pants. These ones are the perfect length. Colour me delighted!
And lastly, stripes! This is a double sheet I found, which I love the pattern of. If we have a girl (I seem to be saying that a lot lately) I would love to make a sling out of this after she's born. My mother-in-law is coming for a visit in February, and we're going to work together to make a sling in a more gender-neutral pattern (this does have blue, but it's a little heavy on the pink. Not that I'm averse to boys wearing pink. Although I guess it would really be me or Adam wearing the sling...)

Speaking of slings, I have serious sling envy for this beauty. If we have a girl... I still won't be able to afford it! :) Lest I leave the impression that I would be in any way disappointed if we have a boy, let me assure you that is very much not the case. I'll just need to find some more things at Frenchy's!

Edit: Just had an idea for the striped material - if we were to make a reversible pouch sling and use a neutral colour (tan or chocolate or something) for the opposite side, it could be suitable for a boy or girl!

20 weeks!

Adam took this picture this morning as I was on my way to work - 20 weeks today! Wild. We're going to be taking some much nicer pregnancy pics sometime, hopefully soon. These will have to do in the meantime. The baby was moving a lot this morning, and I had several tiny kicks right under my bellybutton as I was working away at my desk.

I'm still in awe about the ultrasound. I feel like it has changed everything, and now this baby is somehow more real and it means more to protect and love him/her than it did before. It's crazy what a change in perception can do to a person. I guess I can't really put it into words very well, but bursting into tears when I saw our baby moving around on the screen pretty much says it all. Or maybe it just says what the hormones are doing to me!

Speaking of the baby, I did manage to get the soon-to-be nursery cleaned out on my snow day the other day, yay! My office and Adam's are now happily co-existing, but there are still lots of things I have to sort and organize. But the room is ready to be attacked, so that's a great step forward.

In weather related interesting-ness, we have a wind warning and a rainfall warning in effect today. It is WILD outside, and I wish I could just curl up by the fire with a good book. (Speaking of which, I'm reading The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck these days. Good story!) Well, lunch is almost over, so I guess I should get back to work and forget about the cozy fire.

Happy snow day!

Yay! The first full snow day of the school year. And warranted - the streets are snow covered, snow is still falling and blowing around everywhere (a blowing snow warning and everything!), and it is -16 with a windchill of -28. A good day to stay inside for sure! Quite a contrast from the promise in this amaryllis bud. I've got two of them started, but there are only leaves and no bud on the other one yet. The fire is merrily blazing and the furnace is warming up the far corners of the house, and baby is doing somersaults as I type.

Speaking of buds, plans for today include some preparations for our bud's impending arrival. First on the list is moving the rest of non-baby stuff out of the baby's future room and setting up my office-y space in the room with Adam's. I'll post some before and after pictures when we get the room done. That will probably take up the bulk of the day, along with the regular cooking, dishes, and perhaps some laundry. Which I actually like doing, so it's not as dull a day as it sounds.

If you're looking for something to do today, here is a fabulous recipe for oatmeal raisin or chocolate chip cookies which Adam and I made the other evening. It's from an administrative assistant at one of the schools I work in. Mmmmmmm, they're the perfect texture and combination of tastes, and they take no time to whip up. I think they would be good with some coconut added. Here it is:

Maureen's Fabulous Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (I use one whole wheat and one white)
2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips or raisins

Cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla until well combined. Mix together dry ingredients and add to wet mixture. Mix well, add in chocolate chips or raisins. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Makes a bunch... we started eating them before we counted!

today's highlight - Baby Graham!

Here's baby Graham, for the first time! The ultrasound was today, and everything looks very good. The baby is reclining, and you're seeing a profile view of his / her face on the left, then his/her belly and legs are curled up. The big stick-y upp-y thing is the umbilical cord. The hands are up by his / her face, and you can see the fingers on the left hand pretty clearly. The still image really doesn't do it justice - we got to watch baby moving around, grabbing at its toes, rolling over, etc. And that was SO much clearer than the still shot! You could see the baby's face pretty nicely - it was amazing. And it's nice to know that the baby was moving around so much when I wasn't really feeling it. Moving around so much, in fact, that the technician had a really hard time getting all of the images of the heart that she needed (she showed us the four chambers, pretty amazing!) I am rather overwhelmed by it all.

room with a view

The view from all of our east-facing windows looks like this this afternoon. If it were up to me, we would have many, many more stormy days in the winter. I love a good storm! Elementary students went home at 11, and the rest at 12 today, so I've been at home this afternoon, puttering away at a few different things. I'm crossing my fingers that this freezing rain will stick around through tomorrow morning and school will be cancelled tomorrow (not because I don't like my job, I just like snow days better), but since it's supposed to be +5 by morning, I think my chances are slim. I'm thankful for the half day, though!

One of the things I've been puttering with is a spreadsheet of things we need for baby. (Google spreadsheets is great! I can see a lot more (organized) lists in my future.) I've tried to keep it to a minimum - like with most things, you can go overboard with extras that aren't necessary. I'm trying to stick to pretty necessary things, and hopefully we can get some of them second hand or as gifts. I've also come up with a few storage solutions which I think will work in the tiny room that is to be the nursery. There's no closet, so that makes things a bit trickier, but definitely manageable. Now I'm really excited to get the room ready!

Google Desktop is another thing I've had fun with lately. It's one of those computer-y things that I'm sure my husband finds annoying and silly, but I've had fun with it. I especially love my little weather globe that is snowing when it's snowing, raining when it's raining, etc.

Diapers. Ah, diapers. If only babies didn't have to poop. I think we will do primarily cloth diapering, with some supplemental disposable diapering when we're not at home. I've been looking at a terrific Nova Scotia company called Valley Cloth Diapers who have lots of info and diaper selection on their site. It's hard to sort out exactly what works out to be the best for both price and sensible-ness. I think the easiest diapers are these adorable Kushies which you don't need covers for and which anyone can use without practice (especially good for babysitting grandparents and the like.) But prefolds are cheaper, even though you need covers. This is all new lingo for me, I'm just sounding like I know what I'm talking about. I just love the idea that I'm using the same diapers over and over and if we have more babies, they can use them, too. I'm much more comfortable with that choice than all disposables, all the time. Seventh Generation has some better alternatives to regular disposable diapers which are still thrown away but don't use many of the crazy chemicals in mainstream disposables. So much to think about!

Enough babbling for now. There will definitely be a post tomorrow with the ultrasound picture of our beautiful baby!

belly pic

Here I am with my ever-expanding belly! I took this (lame quality) picture this afternoon, 18 weeks 5 days preggo. Every day it sticks out more! Very exciting. Adam will be taking some nicer ones soon, I'm sure. I just wanted to get one out there.

Also in exciting news, we had a new bird at our feeder today. Usual visitors include 6 cardinals, about 5 blue jays, piles of chickadees and little brown birds, goldfinches and housefinches. This guy (apologies for the low quality pics; Adam had to use optical zoom so you could actually see the bird) showed up today demonstrating great bravery (he scared away the blue jays, which is no small feat) and delightfully bright plumage. We don't know what he is, but we're hoping Josh might know. I'll keep you posted.

Update: The mystery has been solved (thanks, Josh!) It's a female Baltimore Oriole.

prediction

OK, I just came across this prediction for our baby at sheknows.com and had to share a laugh (comments in parentheses, mine):

"The day you deliver, outside will be breezy. (We are in Yarmouth. It's ALWAYS breezy.) Your baby will arrive at night. (50/50 chance!)

After a labor lasting approximately 8 hours, (I hope!) your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 11 pounds, 10 ounces, (ACK!) and will be 19 inches long. This child will have light brown eyes (like Mama!) and be almost bald."

Even Madame Zaritska thinks that it will be a girl! And a hefty one, at that!

baby news

Good evening, all. A quick post to bring all up to speed on baby's progress. I'm now 18 weeks 3 days pregnant, and the baby is 6 inches tall and growing rapidly from here on in. I'm supposed to be gaining a pound a week from now on, so I'm hoping it will all be in my beautiful round belly.

Speaking of bellies, there will be belly pics coming soon... I'm getting rather rotund. I love it! And my collection of maternity clothes is coming along nicely, so that makes it extra fun (although no one warned me about how droopy maternity pants can be). I've also been feeling the baby wiggling around fairly often (usually when I lay down, before falling asleep), so that makes it exciting, too. And I'm feeling good. And I love how people light up when they see that I'm pregnant - it makes me feel like I'm making the world a better place. Which is exactly what I need this week after some very sad news from both sides of our family.

I don't think I've mentioned that we have our first ultrasound next week; I'll be sure to post the picture as soon as possible. Hopefully everything will be fine and it will be all good news. And thanks to Ingrid for offering a lovely pink baby hat she knitted if it turns out to be a girl, as everyone suspects. We'll see!

the true story of Virgil the cat

On November 26, Virgil was picked up at our house and taken to live in a very cat-friendly home in Meteghan. Reports are in that he gets along famously with the other two cats and is very much at home. This may come as a shock to some of you who know how much I care about this cat, and I can imagine what some of you fellow cat-lovers are thinking. I feel somewhat obligated to explain our decision - essentially, we don't want copious amounts of cat fur, a litter box, and hairballs around when the new Graham arrives. Also, some cat temperaments change when a baby shows up, and we didn't really want to test that out. And since I can't change cat litter because I'm pregnant, that left it to Adam, and he was ready to hand over the duties to someone else asap. I do miss the company, but I must admit that it is REALLY nice to not have to vacuum constantly, sweep cat food bits up off of the floor, or get out the lint roller every time I leave the house. Anyway, we miss Virgil, but he's in a very happy home, and I'm sure he's jumping at doorframes regularly.

Happy New Year!

Well, we enjoyed a mostly uneventful New Year's Eve last night and had a great time driving around with Matthew in his new (to him) car. Everything looked magical - the moon was almost full, and there was snow on the fields so everything looked really surreal. It was lovely, and lots of people had their Christmas lights still up, so that was fun, too.

The eventful part of the evening came when the firework we bought a few weeks ago (cleverly called "The Out of Space" (I think it was intended to be "Outer Space", kind of like the soap holder my sister bought my at a Chinese market in Ottawa that said "Happy and Enjoy") was lit in Matthew's back yard. It was one of those huge fireworks which sits on a nice level surface and has a whole bunch of different smaller fireworks within it, all lit by a single wick. Matthew lit the single wick, then came running across the lawn toward us to watch from a safe distance. There was a huge CRACK which made me jump and yell, and the above picture is the only one I got before I clued in that Adam was yelling to me to run away from the fireworks that were exploding straight toward us. Apparently what happened was that somehow, all of the smaller fireworks inside had lit at the same time, making the huge sounds and tipping it over for one extraordinary firework. We were kind of disappointed, but it definitely made for a memorable experience. Maybe I should have clued in from "The Out of Space" that it might not have been the greatest quality merchandise.

Red shirt

This is the other shirt I found at Frenchy's the other day. It's kind of probably a dress, but I think it will be cute with jeans underneath.

Yay, Frenchy's!

Up until this morning, I was starting to wonder if I would have to pay full price for a few pairs of maternity pants to wear to work. I was having decent luck finding shirts at Frenchy's (and Value Village when I was in Saint John), but suitable pants were scarce. As in non-existent. Until I stopped at Frenchy's on the spur of the moment this morning after dropping Adam off at work, where I found not just these brand new Gap maternity pants in my size exactly, but two other pairs of Old Navy and Gap pants perfect for work. Also a red t-shirt and a really cool red shirt which I will post a picture of post-wash (far too wrinkly at the moment) came home with me. Grand total for the three pair of pants and two shirts? $15.72. Ahhhh. The pants need to be hemmed, of course, but that's certainly nothing new. I'll whip out the sewing machine this weekend.
Is this not the cutest hat EVER? I hope we have a girl, just so I can see this hat on our baby! Predictions are in from most people, and the general consensus is that it is a girl. Nana even said so, and apparently she knows. I found some other cute baby things this morning at the first Frenchy's I went to (where there have been no new maternity clothes put out in the last week and a half) like pale yellow pants with little feet and funny yellow and green striped velour pants which I get a kick out of. And so cheap!

adventures at the pee-in-a-styrofoam-cup prenatal clinic

Appointment #2 at the prenatal clinic was this morning at 10:00. We walked into a pink-floored waiting room full of beautiful big-bellied women (and a couple of very cute children) and read silly magazines. I also peed in a styrofoam cup and wrote my name on it and left it on the counter (you're supposed to) and was weighed and my blood pressure was checked ("Perfect" on both accounts; I've only gained 2.5 pounds since my visit at the beginning of November). We met a very friendly doctor who measured my belly (also "perfect"). But the best and most amazing part of all (even better than writing my name on the styrofoam cup which I was clever enough to do before and not after I peed in it) - we heard the baby's heartbeat! It was amazing. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. It was the most beautiful sound I think I've ever heard. It was regular and sounded strong. :))

pink petals

This is really the last one! I ADORE how the petals shimmer.

The last ones, I promise

OK, these are the last cacti photos (except for one more I'm posting separately because it wouldn't fit). We came home today and they were all open and beautiful! I thought the orange one was really neat because it's on a plant where all other blossoms are that pale yellow / pink combination.

We had a lovely holiday, and it's nice to be home. Appointment #2 at the prenatal clinic is tomorrow, and hopefully we'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat! My belly is continuing to get bigger... I think I'll get Adam to start taking pictures soon. Off to unpack!

Ta-da!

The same bloom as yesterday, only when we saw it this morning, it was fully open. :) I'll be away for a little while, so there may be limited (or no) posts. Have a wonderful holiday!

On the first day of vacation, my camera said to me...

Further proof that the cacti are alive and well. These fuschia ones still haven't opened, but I'm starting to think that they probably will and I might not jinx them!
A wonderful friend of mine made these kind of creepy ornaments for us for Christmas a few years ago. Yes, they are the remains of decapitated snowmen. There are six of them on the tree, the aftermath of Massacre at Snowman Corner.
My favourite gift wrapping job. Recycled paper from the office, too!
I love these little seals - this one is on a gift for my wonderful husband.
This is the most open of the cacti, and I can't wait for it to open fully. It's already beautiful, and I'm excited to see the inside middle part (can you tell I'm not a botanist?) since I can't remember what colour it is.

Well, it is my first day of Christmas vacation, and may I just say "Holy energy, Batman!" It may be because I slept for about 2 hours yesterday, but this morning I have felt FABULOUS. I dropped Adam off at work, found two Old Navy maternity shirts at Frenchy's, picked up a few groceries, went to the library, came home, fed the birds, took down the 5 trellises (trelli? :)) in the yard and composted the remains of several clematises (clemati?:)) took a bunch of pictures, have laundry going, and ate two oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Phew.

We went to our second prenatal class last evening. Most of the information isn't new, but there are a few tidbits here and there which make it worth the effort. In the new year, we're going for a tour of the labour and delivery part of the hospital, which I think will be very helpful. My belly is getting bigger by the second - 2 inches more in a week and a half. The baby is almost 4 inches long. As part of the class last night, Adam and I each had to predict whether the baby is a boy or girl, how much it will weigh at birth, and what it's birthday will be. I predicted a girl, 8 pounds even, and June 15. Adam also predicted a girl, June 9, and I forget what he predicted for the weight. He weighed 10lbs 10oz at birth, so I'm hoping that our little one will be a wee bit smaller. Whoever in the class is closest to the actual information will get some kind of prize at our reunion class, after everyone has their babies. I think that will be really fun - to see all of the little ones in real life without a belly in the way.

Merry Christmas!

The proof is in...

A few better pictures of the Christmas cacti buds... even double ones! And one of the ornaments on the tree.

The fondue was a flaming success, although not as flaming as last year! We had a lovely time together.

Baby keeps on growing, and the way my pants are fitting reflects that! I'm going to need some maternity pants for work very soon. Other than that, not too much is new. I'm really excited for Christmas break, and our first prenatal class is tomorrow evening!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Christmas! We've had two lovely snowfalls this past week, one blizzardous one which arrived yesterday. It makes it feel a lot more like December than when it's muddy and wet.

Annual Christmas fondue is at our place this evening... I'm in charge of desserts, so I've made lime meltaways, shortbread cookies with almond icing, cranberry shortbread bars, and I'll make some lemon bars this afternoon to go with tea for dessert.

I was sick this week with a flu-like yuckiness (only time I've thrown up since being pregnant, yay!) and am feeling 100% better today. The baby is growing hair this week and can grasp, squint, frown, and grimace! Pretty amazing.

in the spirit...

I realize that the quality of these pictures is most certainly lacking, but I wanted to make it well-known that the flower blossoms on both of my Christmas cactus plants are definitely there! I somehow managed to not fuss over them too much, but I don't dare get too excited lest they sense it and all fall off. Assuming they don't, I will definitely take some better shots when they bloom.
Ah, the Christmas tree! I went with Dad to his woodlot on Saturday, and we picked this fine specimen of a tree while husband was at work. Husband and I set it up yesterday, and I think it looks quite lovely. The lights are kind of odd, though... we had some working strings of regular white lights, but some were flickery. So we bought some 'pure white' LED lights to do the rest of the tree rather than risk some sort of firy incident, and it turns out that they're the ones that look blue. The ones which look like the other ones cost a bunch more. Oh well, there are definitely more important things to think about at Christmas.
My big project after getting the tree and a bunch of branches on Saturday was to make this garland for the staircase. A bit messy, a lot delicious-smelling, and a lovely enough result. Not bad for my first garland-making attempt, if I do say so myself!
Another poor-quality picture, but this sums up the feel of our house this season. (Not the poor quality part, but what's in the picture.) I got some pine branches and put this lovely lantern which a very sweet friend gave to me a long time ago in our dining room window, and I think it looks perfect. I guess it really has to be seen in person for the full effect (same room as the cozy wood stove, you can see the tree through the doorway, etc.) but I'm enjoying it very much.

In other Christmas-y-ness, I'm reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, which I love. I've read it a million times, but I love to read it at Christmas. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but I've already cried about three times, and I'm only on chapter 4. Speaking of crying, husband and I watched Love Actually last night (which I've seen a million times and love more every time I watch it). Other reading that I associate with Christmas and plan to work away at after Little Women is done are The Chronicles of Narnia series, the Harry Potter series and the Anne of Green Gables series. That should take me until the baby is born! I don't feel like I have enough energy to read strenuous stuff. I just finished The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, and that was a very well written and entertaining read. Couldn't put it down - totally absorbing.

In baby news, baby Graham is about the size of a jumbo shrimp! How exciting. I'm feeling pretty good, but even though I'm not as tired as I was, I'm more tired than pre-pregnancy me. Which means that although the tree is up, decoration boxes and miscellany still need to be sorted and put away sometime in the near future. Maybe tonight after a few more chapters are read...

Hey! The rain just turned to snow! Merry Christmas!