Reflections of the year past

Another birthday has come and gone. It was a rather uneventful day. My gift from Marty was time to go swimming. It was wonderful. Since Marty is back at school, we are on a pretty restrictive budget, and the time to go swimming was worth more than a big ol' wrapped gift. And we went out for Korean, with Max, who was a complete angel. Who could ask for a better way to end the day?

Do I feel older? Not really. But this is the first year that I really feel blessed. Sounds a bit odd, doesn't it. Last year at this time, Marty and I were still reeling over the news that we were pregnant, considering we were told it was almost impossible. How incredibly fast the year has gone. I was pregnant and now we have Max, who is already 4 months old! One third of my mat leave is already gone. It's speeding by. At this rate, Max will be heading to university in a blink of an eye. I don't even want to think about that.

What have I learned over the past year? Laying upside down on an ironing board will not turn a breech baby, PC grapefruit soda is actually pop and not grapefruit flavored carbonated water and I finally understand the whole parental love thing. Today I was sitting on the front stairs with Max on my knee blowing strawberries on his neck, making both of us laugh. And I thought to myself, there is no where else in the world that I would rather be. The only thing that was missing was Marty sitting beside me.

And tonight we had the most incredible meal of home made ravioli. Yep, a four month old baby, and we made home made ravioli! I will post the extremely easy recipe in the next couple of days. It'll blow your mind.

Mr. Detto

Marty started Teacher's College on Monday. He is doing the on-site program from University of Ottawa. This means that he is in a school actually teaching more than sitting in seminars. He has been placed at a school in town and has met his mentor teacher for the first half of the year. He will be in a grade 5/6 split. Originally he was supposed to be teaching kindergarten which gave everyone a good giggle. I think he is actually a little relieved not to have to teach the wee ones.

I love seeing Marty so excited about something. He has come home from school every day, energized and excited. He even wants to go out and buy some books, that aren't on his reading list!! Marty is going to be such an incredible teacher. I am so very proud of him.

You've made it baby! The rest is just gravy.

Reno woes

We are still amidst bathroom renovations. I don't even want to try and figure out how long we have been at it. Or to be perfectly honest, how long Marty has been at it. We finally called a plumber to install the toilet, and he finally showed up on Tuesday afternoon. We went a whole day with no leaks to wake up this morning to find it dripping again. Pretty much put a damper on the day, and it's our anniversary! Both Marty and I are starting to get really down about the whole thing. Living in a house that is in complete chaos, not to mention having a bathroom with no door on it, is no longer fun. Both of us are very anxious to get it completed. Or at least the door back on!

But there is a little good news. Yesterday Marty and I bought a dishwasher. We have been waiting for a portable one from Home Depot for about a month now. It's back ordered. So on a whim, we checked UsedOttawa.ca and voila! A two year old Kenmore portable dishwasher for a third of the price we were going to pay for the one we were waiting for. We called, checked it out and 30 minutes later arrived home with a dishwasher! Marty changed the faucet today and we are good to do a load tonight. Very exciting. And the 4 year anniversary is appliances! Marty lucked out on that one!

Max and I went to our first play group today. It was interesting. The conversation didn't flow very freely so there was a fair amount of sitting around staring at each other. I tried my best to get conversations going, but you can't get blood from a stone if there just isn't any there. There were two women that I could see myself doing stuff with, but they live out in Rockland or Orleans. I really would like to meet some women in town. In a couple of weeks I will be starting a Kindermusik group with Maxim here in town, so hopefully I will meet some nice moms and maybe be able to strike up a friendship or two.

We are still waiting for Little Booger to arrive (Olga and Jonathan's bundle). Olga's on mat leave already and Matteo is not due for another couple of weeks. It's nice having her off already so that I have someone to play with!

Marty starts school next week, so I will be back on my own. It's been really nice having him home for that past few weeks. I think it will take a little adjusting time when he is gone all day and I have to get back into fulltime Mommy mode. With a little more organization, I hope to have a nice little routine. We'll see how well that works out...

Another gift

We must send out another thank you for the latest gift that came at the right time. Our friend Karen is a great cook. And when Max was born she made a meat pie for us. We finally managed to get together this week and K (as she is affectionately known) gave us the pie. Now this isn't any old meat pie. This is a home made crust, ground pork, turkey and big chunks of apple pie. And it is THICK. Well, it was thick. We made short order of it tonight. After another day of the bathroom beating us down (no we are not finished, and have resolved that a plumber will have to be called in) having a dinner already made for you makes all the difference. And when it is one of K's pies and a lovely glass of wine, well the day didn't seem to be that bad after all.

So our thanks go out to you K, especially from our very full stomachs. You can cook us meat pie any time!!

Simpsonizing

This is pure fun. Marty and I have been Simpsonized! You upload a picture of yourself and then they give you the base look and then you can customize it. I think Marty and I look pretty good! The website is through Burger King. http://simpsonizeme.com/#\

Babble

I challenge anyone to remain in a bad mood after watching this video. We are now entertained by Maxim's babbling several times a day and no matter what comes our way, be it a leaking toilet or a 'nuit blanche', we smile and laugh with him.

Gifts

We have received some wonderful gifts over the past few months. And three of the most thoughtful were received in the past few weeks.

First, our friends Kevin and Sabrina popped by one day to say hello and came with a gift certificate. It is for three hours of house cleaning with a maid service. How incredible is that? I'm thinking we will call once the bathroom renos are completed, the house is beyond dirty at the moment.

The second came all the way from Halifax. Our friend Chara is a textiles artist and sent an email to friends calling for pieces of material. Along with the material, she asked for a little story about the history of the piece and its significance. Once Chara received the material, she created a quilt based on the poem "The Owl and the Pussy Cat." It is the most incredible quilt. When I opened the gift, there was a little booklet. The booklet had pictures of some of our friends, who I know Chara doesn't know and I was a little confused. And then I got it. I was so overwhelmed. I could barely read the little stories for tears. It really is the most beautiful gift. It's something all three of us will cherish for a life time.
The third gift came while I was at home. Last week I stayed with my sister Tammy and the clan. One night Tammy and Matthew said that they were going to bring the play pen into their room and take Max for the night. They gave me the gift of sleep. Oh blissful sleep! It was wonderful. I don't remember turning out the light, woke up at 4am to pump and then again at 7am. It was wonderful!

Thanks to all of you.