Welcome to Little Miss Peach!

The Details:
Water broke 2 am after about 2 hours of hard labour, baby born 4:35 am. NINE minutes of pushing.

8lbs, 2-1/2 oz. 21 inches long.

We're home, we're doing good. She's a good little eater. I have lots of broken blood vessels all over my face from pushing hard.

I cursed three times.

Time to relax! Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive during my pregnancy!

More to come later, of course!

Minutes old.

The big introduction.

A kiss from big sis!

Sleeping soundly.

Is Something Happening?

So, I'm getting some good contractions. They're about 5 min apart, and lasting about 35-40 seconds. My midwife told me to get some sleep and to call when I'm really "working" with the contractions. So, if I don't update by 10am Pacific Standard Time, then, you can assume I'm in the hospital.

Here's hoping I didn't just jinx the whole thing!

Dear Peach*

Hello there. I just want to start this letter off by directing your attention to that little counter in the top left hand corner there. That's right. It says I've had you in my belly for approximately 40 weeks and five days. That's a long time, you know? And I'm getting pretty anxious.

I can understand that it's nice and warm and snuggly inside, but there are a lot of people out here who would like to meet and see and cuddle you. Maybe you're just smart and know that it's freekin' freezing outside and that the ground is covered in snow. Not even born yet, and you're already showing signs of good common sense; you and I are sure to get along.

I am trying to be very patient while I wait for your arrival, but it's very difficult. You push on my bladder, you kick me in the ribs, you cause me to have heartburn, and make it very difficult to function on a very basic level. I'd love to house you for as long as you are comfortable, but you're not being overly gentle with your poor mamma.

Your Daddy isn't feeling very patient anymore either. I keep on getting contractions, and when I mention them to him, he sort of rolls his eyes and claims I'm "crying wolf". Daddy has been really awesome lately by taking care of pretty much all of the house hold and child care duties, and he hasn't complained much about it, but I KNOW he's ready to be able to snuggle his new little girl, and be able to take a rest from the house work after I've had a chance to recover.

Your big sister only sort of knows what's going on, but I'm sure she's ready to meet you as well. She knows there's a "De-de" in my belly, and she loves to run up to other babies and tries to hug them. I'm sure she'll love you to bits. For her sake, I hope you come soon, because Daddy and I purchased a special "big sister" present for her, and we've been dying to give it to her. (We bought it before Christmas, thinking you'd be on your way soon, and we put all 5000 pieces of it together the Saturday before Christmas in order to get it all ready for your not-so-impending arrival. It took two hours. But I'm not complaining.)

I can't wait to hold you in my arms and to gaze into your eyes. I can't wait to smell your downy head and tickle your newborn toes. I can't wait to study your personality and learn your little nuances. I can't wait to take hundreds of photos of both you and you with your sister. I'm looking forward to introducing you to all the special people in our lives including some of our family and several friends.

It's time for you to make your arrival, the world is waiting for you babe!

~Your loving Momma.

*I've decided on just "Peach" instead of "Peaches", 'cause um, there's just one kid coming out, and not two, so having a plural name is sort of weird. That, and it's confusing figuring out where the apostrophe is supposed to go when writing out possessive sentences.

Birthday Wishes.

No, not for a baby..

FOR ANDREA!

It's her 27th birthday today, and she's pretty cool. She's an artist from the Lower Mainland of BC, and she has some amazing talent. Go check out her blog and give her some well wishes!

SIL baby news

My SIL got induced at 1pm today, and had her daughter at 4:01. The two of them are doing fine, and are trying to get some rest at the hospital. The baby was 8lbs, 13oz and was dry and shrivelling due to being 10 days overdue.

I can't wait to see pictures! I now have 4 1/2 hours to have my baby on the same day as hers! (I'm having contractions again)

Oh, and I'm less swollen! I can actually hold a pen right now, and I'm FINALLY writing out my Christmas Thank You cards that I've been putting off 'cause my fingers just could not wrap around that pen!

BABY NEWS!! (NOT)

Yeah, this is sort of like the opposite of baby news.

My SIL got induced today, so I might have baby news about HER baby later today, but nothing from us, I'm sure.

This seriously has got my panties in a knot. I'm probably the most miserable person you've ever met today. Good thing there are all these wires and miles between us all, 'cause I'm sure if you were hanging out with my sad sack sorry ass, you'd probably kick me in the teeth.

I FREAKING CRIED TODAY FOR ABSOLUTLY NO REASON, WHILE EATING A HOT DOG. At which point, Armondo says "Yeah, I get really emotional while eating hot dogs sometimes too."

Oh, in case anyone is keeping track, there are two people who guessed today as the birth date, and two who guessed tomorrow. No one guessed any later than tomorrow, so maybe I'm in luck.

Ok, I have to go now, I'm crying again, and can barely see the screen.

Oh, right, I already HAVE a kid! Seems like I had forgotten!

I've been pretty self absorbed lately. Or baby absorbed. You know, I haven't taken a single picture of Cherry since ... Boxing day? I've barely mentioned her here except to talk about her crankiness. She's a GREAT kid, and I love her lots. And, I know you all do too, so, here, for your enjoyment, is a picture I took a few minutes ago of her playing in the snow with her Daddy.


*CRASH* What was that?

Oh, that, that was the sound of reality coming back! Cherry and Armondo just came inside for lunch, and Cherry threw a FIT.

"Snow!! SNOOOOOWWW!" Whine cry, whine, kick, "NOOO, SNOW!!"

She just threw a HUGE fit 'cause it was time to come inside! She'll be able to go out again after nap time, but holy crap, try to explain that to an 18 month old! Yup, we're going on 15 minutes of whining and crying now... Fun times!

It's not fair!

I was in labour for over 16 hours yesterday. Then it stopped.

It's not fair!

In fact, the labour stopped right around the same time as the snow stopped. It's snowing again now. Maybe that's a good thing.

To answer some questions:

Giving birth in the hospital.

I watched "The Pursuit of Happyness" the other night.

My midwife is coming over today for a home visit.

I can still fit Armonodo's shoes, thank goodness.

Cherry was a week overdue.

Ryann, you could probably come for dinner tonight if you want. You should have come yesterday. Use your phone!

See you all later!

Baby Watch, 2007 continues *updated.

*update. It's freaking snowing. Like MAJORLY snowing. The baby HAS To come now!

It's 7pm, and my grumpy little Cherry has just hit the sack. She has been so grumpy the past couple of days. We totally can't figure out what's going on with her, and it's upsetting. Maybe she knows that her "only child" status is on the brink of change, and that's upsetting her, who knows?

Anyway, nothing is really progressing yet. The contractions are coming on a little stronger and a little faster, but it's still pretty minor labour. I'm pretty sure there's no turning back at this point. The baby is on her way, it's just a question of how long I'm going to have to put up with this crap. I'm not really in pain, which is nice, but it's uncomfortable. I actually had a little more energy today than usual. Well, maybe not "energy", but more of an uplifted mood anyway. Having something actually "happen" is lifting my spirits. Or maybe it's just the endorphins!

I got about 2 hours of sleep last night due to cranky child, combined with the start of labour, but I WAS able to get in a nice, long nap today, which made up for it.

Oh, and Armondo hit his thumb with a hammer this afternoon, and he's being such a whiney baby about it. It looks like it hurts a LOT, and I believe that it does, but in his own words: "I'm sorry, but I'm feeling really sucky about this! I know it's bad timing, but it's really taking a lot out of me!" And he is now resting in the bedroom with the TV on. Poor guy, hee hee. (is it bad to sort of be glad he's uncomfortable too?)

Oh yeah, it's DELURKING week right now. So, leave a comment! I'm sort of busy and not answering them all right now (you know, this whole having a baby thing sort of takes up some time) but leave a comment anyway! I'll love you for it!

Soft Labour.

I've been having "soft" labour since about 5 am. Nothing's progressing really. Just simple little contractions every 8-20 minutes.

I've been meaning to let you all know all day, but of course, today, being an important day, blogger is acting all strange. They are trying to force me to switch to the new version! It's not that I'm scared of change, it's just that I'm scared I'll lose everything. I have not backed up a single entry on here, and as you all know, my WHOLE LIFE is here. I don't want to lose all this stuff, 'cause lazy me hasn't written all the important stuff in Cherry's baby book, and I haven't backed up photos on my computer in MONTHS, so, this blog is sort of like my back up!

Ooh, only 6 minutes between those last two contractions!

Send baby delivery thoughts my way, ok? It's supposed to snow here today, and we've got a nasty wind storm going on, so it's the perfect sort of weather for a baby to make her appearance!

Week Forty.

I am in my fortieth week of pregnancy now. I have resolved that this pregnancy will NEVER end. It's ok though. Now that I've figured out that I'm going to be this way forever, it has taken a lot of stress away.



These last couple of weeks have brought on a lot of new stretch marks. I'm not so sure that I'm liking them as much as I used to. They look angry and very red, and they sort of bother me. Luckily, Armondo says he likes them. He says they feel neat, and he likes the look of them. Hopefully he's not lying, but I guess, even if he is, he's still sweet for saying it.

I've figured that part of the reason why the little one hasn't come out is 'cause she knows she's in trouble for teasing me almost a month ago with a night of contractions. I think she knows that as soon as she comes out, she's headed to the naughty corner!

But today would be a good day for her to appear. It's Elvis' Birthday! And, for the first time in weeks, I'm leaving the house tonight to do something FUN! I'm going to a movie! I get to go out and hang out in a dark room where no one will notice my football feet!

A Tale of Two Parents. *updated with another piece of conversation.

Parent number one: Armondo's father.

The Background: Click here.

Recently: We haven't been able to get a hold of my FIL for quite some time. We've phoned and left messages on his answering system with no return calls, (including one message asking him to join us for Christmas dinner) and our Christmas card was sent back to us. Armondo's oldest sister was also having troubles getting a hold of him, and between Armondo and her, (with help of a suggestion from a friend of mine) they decided to call the police in his area to see if they could find out if he was alive or dead in his apartment. In the meantime, we figured out that we had sent the Christmas card to the wrong apartment number.

Now: I have no idea if the police ever connected with FIL or not, but the other day he phoned. Apparently he's been holed up in his apartment feeling sorry for himself and not answering his phone because he felt guilty that so much time had gone by since his last call or visit. He told Armondo he would come to visit the next day (yesterday.) They didn't make solid plans as to exactly when he would show up, (there's a ferry involved for him to get over here), but Armondo was pretty sure he'd come over at some point during the day. I even showered and changed out of my Pj's and everything!

By mid afternoon, he hadn't shown up or called, so I got Armondo to call him. He actually answered his phone (a good sign) and then basically said he wasn't going to come over that day, but he would some time soon.

Later last night, he called again. I picked up the phone. The call went a little something like this: (yes, I know it doesn't make any sense, just roll with it.)

Me: Hello?
FIL: Uh? Is this (the drug store)?
Me: No, this is C. Is this FIL?
FIL: Huh, YEAH, it is! Hey sweety pie, how are ya?
Me: Good thanks, how are you?
FIL: Good, hey, I just got back from (the drug store), and the package I bought is totally empty, and I was just trying to phone them. Do you think they would believe me?
Me: Sure, things like that happen all the time. Just call them, keep the receipt and go back quickly. I'm sure they'd replace the item.... So? Are you coming over?
FIL: Hey, you know when you called me a flake? Well I think you're right, I AM a flake.
Me: Umm.. I don't remember calling you a flake.
FIL: Well, (Oldest SIL) told me you called me a flake and I think you're right.
Me: Umm... ok.. (avoiding the issue) So, are you coming over?
FIL: No.
Me: Why?
FIL: 'Cause you don't like me.
Me: What? Who says I don't like you?
FIL: You! You called me a flake, and you don't like me.
Me: First of all, I said you were "flaky" and I have NEVER said that I didn't like you. You're a fun guy to be around! (it's true, even if he IS crazy)

A bunch of other crazy stuff is said, then...

FIL: Well, you say you like me, but how come you don't LOVE me?
Me: Well, I don't really know you. I love you 'cause you're my husband's father, and my child's grandfather, but I don't really know you very well.
FIL: Well, how come you don't hug or kiss me?
ME: I hug you all the time! When you're around, anyway.
FIL: But you don't kiss me!
Me: I don't kiss anyone!
FIL: Well, I think I deserve a kiss on the cheek or something!

*Update: (I forgot about this part when I was writing this before)
FIL: I know why you hate me! You think I want your mom! (they met at our wedding)
Me: I don't care about THAT! And I don't think you like her, I KNOW she likes you!
FIL: No, you think I like your mom, and you hate me because of it!

And the conversation continued on is such a way. "You don't love me" and "you don't like me" were repeated several times, and on my end I said on several occasions: "Are you trying to start a fight with me or something?" By the end of the conversation, I was under the impression that he was going to come over soon. Possibly that night, maybe the next day (today). In relating the conversation to Armondo, I started to think about how insane it would be if MY father had had the same conversation with ARMONDO! Talk about crazy making!

By part way through the day today, he hadn't shown, so Armondo called him, and he answered his phone (again, a good sign.) and he decided he wouldn't come over 'cause he currently didn't have the money to spoil us while he was here, and there was some sort of pride issue surrounding that.

And that's where we're at with that. Armondo's conclusion to the whole thing? FIL has been drunk for several months holed up in his apartment. He hasn't been working for quite awhile, and his very lucrative job is in jeopardy because he hasn't been paying his union dues. (If you don't work, you don't pay the dues, and the dues are due in a month.) FIL is an alcoholic, and needs some recovery and rehab. Armondo's goal right now is to stay in touch with his father and try to convince him to contact his union rep and tell him what's going on and get him into rehab, which the union would pay for. (It's assumed that the union would also give him some extra time to pay those dues if he's taking an active role in recovery.) FIL has everything around him to help him get better, he just has to take initiative.


Parent number two: My mother.

The Background: Click here.

Recently: Click here. (and read part 4)

Now: My mother called here tonight. This is the first time since Christmas day that she's called, and it was two years before that that I talked to her.

Turns out she lives in my town now. She might be getting an apartment as soon as tomorrow, but she's been staying with friends so far since she's been here.

She says she wants to turn her life around.

Some interesting highlights from the conversation:

Ma: So, what's my grandchild's name? (yeah, that's right, my kid is 18 months old, and she doesn't even know that she's a girl, let alone know her name)

Ma: So, how are you doing?
Me: Um, ok, I'm due to have a baby tomorrow. The due date is tomorrow.
Ma: Really? No way!

Ma: So, maybe you'll have the baby today, do you know what today is?
Me: Sunday?.....
Me: oh wait, is it your birthday today?
Ma: Yeah!
Me: Happy Birthday.
Ma: Thanks!
Me: Yeah, I don't think the babe's coming today.

Ma: So, I'd like to know when you go into labour.
Me: *silence*
Ma: So, I guess I'll just keep on calling and then when you're in labour, I'll meet you in the hospital.
Me: *silence*
Me: Well, actually, I only want Armondo to be there when I have the baby. I don't have any friends coming or anything.
Ma: Oh, well who's watching (Cherry) when you're in the hospital?
Me: A friend. A GOOD friend. Yeah, she's great. She watches her often. It's ALL taken care of.
Ma: So, when do you want to see me?
Me: Well... *long pause* Ok, you say you want to change your life around, and I'd love to be around and help you through that and everything, but the truth of the matter is, it's been two years since we last talked, and that combined with what you did to your mother.... You know, there's a lot of hurt there. So I think we should just take it slow, and we can talk on the phone here and there for awhile before we jump into anything, you know?
Ma: Ok.
Me: 'Cause, you know, I'd really like you to be a part of our lives, but there's a lot of hurt to deal with.
Ma: Ok, I'd like to be apart of your lives too.

And with that, we ended the conversation with her basically promising to keep in touch.


Whew. Wow. I. AM. STUNNED. Too. Much. Stimulation.

You asked for it!

Since you were all so insistent on seeing pictures, here ya go.

Can you see the stretch marks? One is in the shape of an "S". We call that one "Super Stretch Mark"

Let me just remind you: I am not responsible for the drool on your monitor as you try to make out with my foot. And, in case you find yourself completely unable to control yourself, just remember that it's probably ok to lick and kiss a regular old school monitor, but you might want to keep the slobber off of any LCD screens. I will not be responsible for any damage.

This is getting a little insane.

So, I thought my feet were sexy when they were too swollen to wear my own shoes. Well. Apparently, my feet just weren't sexy enough, so they decided that it would be better if they swelled up enough that I CAN'T EVEN WEAR MY OWN SOCKS. That's right. I am now wearing Armondo's socks. Oh, and yeah, I have stretch marks on my feet now. And my calves. My calves are as big as my thighs right now. The sexiness is killing me. I look at my feet and I want to make out with them. That's how sexy it is. You wish your feet were as sexy as mine. I know you do. I could post a new picture, but I wouldn't want to be responsible for all the slobber you'd leave on the screen when you tried to virtually make out with my feet.

Baby Watch, 2007, continues. Bovine edition.

I went to the midwife today and had my weekly check. She's is NOT my favourite person this week. She tells me that, considering certain signs, I should not expect to have my baby until after the due date. That makes me very upset. But, 'tis life.

Since I've been so big and so exhausted, and sore, Armondo and I haven't been sleeping in the same bed lately. Every night, he comes and cuddles with me on our double size bed, then once I start getting all uncomfortable, he gets banished to the couch.

This arrangement has been working out fine, though I feel a little lonely when I wake up by myself.

Our house is pretty small, and all the bedroom doors open up to the main living area (no hallway), so Armondo isn't really all that far away from our bedroom, which means I can hear him snoring loud and clear. (Which doesn't bother me, FYI)

Now, some of you may know, Armondo talks in his sleep. I find this highly amusing and will often try to have conversations with him while he's unconscious. This often works. However, I almost always forget the conversations by the next day.

Anyway, last night, at around 4:15 am, I was awoken by mutterings coming out of the living room. Though it wasn't one of the more "normal" nocturnal conversations that I'm used to hearing come from Armondo. It went a little like this:

"Mooo!"
giggle giggle (man giggles, of course)
"MOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And then he went back to snoring.

He blames it on reading farm stories to the little one before she goes to bed.

*oh, and I actually answered comments on that last post!

Baby Watch, 2007

Happy New Year everyone!

Neither myself, nor my SIL who is due, have had a baby yet.

My feet are still swollen.

My house is still full of flies.

The new hot water tank is great.

I was awake past midnight last night, but spent the last 10 minutes of 2006 desperately trying to get Sabre to come back inside due to the crazy amount of fireworks people in my neighbourhood were setting off. I was worried about her. She didn't come home until this morning. Considering how much I worry about my CATS, I'm going to be one heck of a mess when I have two teenage daughters!

I hope no one is offended that I'm not answering individual comments lately. I really do read them all, I just find myself too wrapped up in myself these days to actually respond to them. Please keep them coming though. My mind is feeling like a garbage dump these days, and I really appreciate all the kind support I've been getting!

Oh yeah, I got a new monitor for my computer as a post-Christmas present. This monitor is awesome, and actually shows colours the way they're supposed to look, which means that I've been posting a lot of pictures in the past that I've edited to look lighter, but now look like crap! Including my pregnancy photos. I've re-done some of them, and included them in my NEW flickr account. Feel free to go take a click on the sidebar and have a look.

Here's to hoping that the next post has newborn pictures in it!

~C

Baby, Get out of my belly!

No baby yet.

It better come tonight.

A New Year's Baby would be fun!

I'm feeling a little anti social these days. The swelling and exhaustion has taken its toll on me. I don't even feel like blogging 'cause I'm feeling so weird. And every little emotional trigger sends me over the edge. This kid better get outta me soon. I want to start the recovery process!

Oh yeah, HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Memories (the not so good stuff)

In my first Christmas post, I told you about some of the good and cute stuff that happened over the holiday.

Well, not all of Christmas was pretty.

Three of the four "problems" all sort of appeared on Christmas Eve. There was some slight indication that two of those problems would occur when small signs of them appeared the night before THAT, but basically, it was Christmas Eve when just a tiny bit of heck broke loose in our house.

We were planning on watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve, as neither Armondo nor I have seen it, but due to the few problems we encountered, we were unable to relax and do such a thing!

Problem number 1: Flies.

Out of nowhere, in the middle of winter, flies began to infest our house. Now, there had been one or two here or there for a couple of days, but on Christmas Eve, our house filled right up. The majority of them were in our bathroom and we had no idea what the source of them was. So, it was time for some investigating. With fly swatter in hand, we moved change tables and dressers and searched for a source. We came up with several theories: rotten walls, dead animal in the wall, some sort of problem with our septic system, dead animal in our crawlspace. But we could not find the actual source. For hours, we ran around the house killing fly after fly, and wiping up the dirty splatter and picking up fly carcasses.

The next morning, we woke up, and there were less flies than the night before, but there were definitely quite a few news ones to deal with. So, for the first half of the day, we searched for more possible sources as well as ran around killing every fly we saw. By the time guests started arriving, we figured we had most of them killed off, and there wasn't really much else we could do, so we hid the fly swatter in the bathroom and tried to relax.

All night, I kept returning to the bathroom to kill another fly here and there. The whole time hoping that none of my in-laws were noticing. I think we were pretty stealthy in keeping them pretty controlled, but all night there were two of them flying around the main part of the house. I couldn't exactly take out the fly swatter and kill them in front of a houseload of guests, but I couldn't just ignore them either. I would find my eyes following them around the house, and then, find myself looking around at the other guests trying to see if THEY noticed the flies and if THEY were following them around with their eyes as well. No one seemed to really notice, or if they did, they didn't say anything, which is really good, 'cause I would have just been MORTIFIED. Seriously, who has a fly infestation in their house in the middle of winter? Yuck!

Anyway, that night, Armondo figured they MUST be coming up through the drains, so, we plugged the drains and killed off any flies remaining in the house and continued on with clean up. The next day there were even less, and there's been less each day following, but they're still appearing, and we cannot figure out where they are coming from! (Searches in the crawl space ruled out dead animals, and Armondo called a septic company who ruled out septic problems.)

The cats are quite enjoying playing with and chasing them though. So that's cheap entertainment!

Problem number 2: The hot water tank.

Weeks ago, I bought Armondo a watch for Christmas. It's a really cool Timex that has analogue and digital, as well as several alarms for several time zones. When I got it home, I stashed it with the rest of his presents in the way far back of our bedroom closet. (He knew his presents were there, and knew not to snoop.) The day after I bought the watch, I took a nap, and part way through the nap, an alarm on the watch started to beep! Not exactly the best way for a watch to stay hidden! So, I got up, tried to figure out how to stop the watch (stopping the analogue was easy, but I couldn't figure out the digital part) and I decided that I would stuff the watch in a bag full of "stuffing" (for cushions or stuffed animals) for sound proofing and threw it into the back of the closet on top of the hot water tank.

On Christmas Eve, I was getting all the presents together and stuffed some in Armondo's stocking. When I went to get the watch, I reached into the bag of stuffing and found that it was full of moisture. Upon further investigation, I found that the pipes on the top of the hot water tank had some corrosion on them, and there was a slow drip. It just so happens that the stuffing in the bag acted as a wick, and the watch box got soaked and soggy. The box was ruined, but luckily, the watch was just fine.

So, this means that on Christmas Eve, we were now faced with the possibility of a major hot water tank malfunction. I showed Armondo the damage, and warned him there might be some large project ahead in the next couple of days, but that that night wasn't the night to worry about it. (Can't do much at Christmas time anyway!)

So, yesterday, Armondo went out and bought all the new tubing, fittings and tools to replace the corroded stuff. He spent about $50, and when he got home, he told me "It's cool, I spent $50, and I got to buy more tools! I could have paid someone over $100 to do the job, but that way I wouldn't have these new tools!" (Such a man, eh?) Anyway, upon even further inspection today, it turns out that the top of the tank is all corroded too (it was covered by an insulating energy efficient blanket thingy) and now the whole thing needs to be replaced. Armondo is currently at the hardware store buying a new tank and the other bits he needs. (Woo hoo, another $300 down the drain.)

Problem number 3: Fat feet.

My feet are so swollen I can't wear my own shoes.

It started on the 23rd. By Christmas Eve, my feet were so humongous that my toes didn't touch the ground as I walked. If I need to leave the house, I have to wear Armondo's garden clogs. It's very sexy. And painful. My fingers are swollen a bit too. Enough that I can't hold a pen properly or open bottles of pop, but not enough to really look as ridiculous as my feet. I pretty much can't stand for any major period of time, and putting my feet up is pretty much an impossibility, 'cause it throws my hips outta whack, and then I can't move for hours. Oh, pregnancy is SOO much fun!

Problem number 4: My mother aka, the problem that wasn't really.

On Christmas day, I took my shower at around 2pm. We were expecting everyone to show up a little after 3pm, so as soon as I had finished getting everything ready around the house (and had finished killing as many flies as I could possibly find), I took my shower. While I was showering, Armondo came into the room and told me my mother had just phoned. I have not talked to my mother in about two years. Not since I was pregnant with Cherry. Apparently she was in my town, and was going to call me back in about an hour.

I started to panic. I was filled with mixed emotions. My mother is troubled. She's a possible drug user, possible drunk, and most definitely messed up. The last time I had talked to her was a couple of weeks before she got some thug to threaten to beat up my grandparents if they didn't give him (who was working for my mother) $600.

"Ack! What do I say when she calls? It's Christmas, of course I should be nice! What would Jesus do? I'll invite her for dinner, of course. Where will she sit? We already have to squish 11 adults into seats around two tables that really should only hold as many as four people each! Should I tell her to come AFTER dinner? What if she's stoned? I'm having a house full of recovering alcoholics, maybe it would be a good thing for her to come over!"

At which point Armondo interjects with:

"I so don't want Christmas to turn into a big AA meeting!"

Armondo was pretty good about the whole thing. He told me he didn't want my mother around because he didn't want to see me get hurt, but that I should do what I felt was right.

Then, we hid my purse and his wallet and waited for her call.

Which never came.

So, there you have it. A little bit of fun thrown into the mix. Things never just go 100% smoothly around this house. There's always got to be some sort of drama. But we seem to be able to take it all in stride. Pretty much only because we have a credit card with a high limit (to cover costs like the hot water tank) and we have a good little family of three (and a baby in a belly) here that love each other.

Kid Quips

Me: What sound does a horsey make?

Cherry: Yee Haw!

Christmas Memories (the good stuff-more to come later)

Christmas morning started out with Armondo and I taking all of our stockings into Cherry's room and opening them in there. We figure that in the future, she'll come to US in the morning, but this year, we just went to her!

After stockings we let her out of her room, where, under the tree she discovered her new tricycle and Little People castle. (Isn't that bed head just PERFECT?)


She loved the trike, and was excited to put on her helmet and get up on it!


She was possibly a little TOO excited about the helmet, which she wore for most of the rest of the morning! Here she is opening a present from our blog buddies in Philly.



And here is Armondo, getting a little too excited about his new underwear. See his tongue? Yeah, he was practically drooling.



Speaking of drooling... Cherry loved her fake food. Little does she know that this present is to go along with her "big sister" gift of a kitchen that she's getting the day the baby is brought home.



After breakfast, Cherry is seen here in her second set of PJ's (from Philly). She got hollandaise sauce all over the first set of PJ's. And, she is also seen using my firm and large belly as a trampoline!



"Ooh, a belly button! And there's a Dolly in there, right?"


For the first time ever, "Nonny" was her favourite person. Once all the relatives showed up for the evening, she was clinging to me for hours. That is, until she warmed up to everyone else and started to totally ignore me. But I got quite a few good cuddles during the course of the evening, and I was loving it! "Daddy" is so last week!


These shots are the "Second Christmas" framer pictures. Doesn't she just look like a doll?
Serious business opening up these presents from Grandma!



My contribution to dinner. 10 345 servings of baked goods, and a punch. Armondo made the dinner. Besides what you see here, I also gave away four tins of goodies to our guests! And then, of course, there's all the stuff I already ate.

Dinner was awesome, there were 11 adults plus Cherry, and everything was wonderful. We all squeezed into our tiny house, and once we had our dinner and sat down, we could not move without getting three other people to get up to let ya out! You don't really need to see all the pictures of all the in-laws, but I thought I'd share this one. This guy, Armondo's mom's fiance, is my FAVOURITE in-law. Why? Can you see what he's doing? HE'S WASHING OUR DISHES! Well, he got at least half of them done! (Please ignore the nasty decor in the kitchen, it's the only room we haven't touched since we moved in.)


And this is a picture of Cherry on boxing day (the day after Christmas.) We just chilled all day. That is, after Armondo got up super early to go shopping at Future Shop! I thought I'd include this picture because, well it's super cute, and also, because this shows the THIRD set of pj's she wore on Christmas day due to getting covered in food! (Plus of course, she wore her dress. What does she think I am? A laundry fiend?)

And, over the next couple of days, I might just share the "not so good" Christmas stories. Thought I'd keep this post cute and good though.

Merry Elfmass From Cherry!

Click this link

Pre-Christmas Catch Up. *updated with photos.

It's another one of those posts. A catch-up post with several random thoughts mashed together pretending to be a real post! It'll probably be my last post until boxing day, unless by some miracle I have some free time tomorrow to post and something actually interesting happens from now until then!

~Aliens have invaded. Sabre, my grumpy, pissy, bitchy cat has disappeared, and in her place, some cute, cuddly, friendly, cat that's full of kisses has replaced her. I have no idea what happened! The cat who would never let me pick her up to pet her, is now tolerating not only being picked up, but being picked up UPSIDE DOWN, and is not only tolerating that, but is PURRING when I do it. She's always been a little warmer towards me than towards other family members, but seriously, something in her has changed in the past little while. She'll even PLAY with me, like a kitten! She's been cuddling in bed every night, and will even stay on the bed if I roll over or accidently kick her, which in the past was always the trigger to make her let out a hiss and run away!

"It's true, all of it is true. And I. Am. So. Embarrased!"

~Seriously, I don't deserve this! I REALLY wanted a burger last night. A spicy burger. I was going to go to Wendy's and get one, but was too lazy to do that. That, and Wendy's is sort of far away when you're lazy. So, Armondo got up off the couch, without saying anything, and made me a burger. It was a grilled chicken burger, and it was seriously THE. BEST. BURGER. I. HAVE. EVER. EATEN. He made this awesome spicy cheese sauce and everything. Oh man, I'm salivating just thinking about it!

~I'm evil. As if it isn't hard enough for a one and a half year old to resist touching a Christmas tree, but now I've added insult to injury and have put actual presents under the tree that she's not allowed to touch! Oh, but she's doing so well! I'm so proud of her!

~I'm crazy! So, due to the fact that I'm "due", I decided I wasn't going to travel anywhere this Christmas. So, umm.. we're having Christmas dinner here. And, including our little family, there will 12 people here for dinner! In our 1100 sq.ft house. With our junky little dining table, and our outdoor plastic lawn furniture! Oh, I'm so excited! (Did I mention that all of the family that's coming are my inlaws? That's right. None of MY family is coming, in fact, the majority of my family is MIA these days. Which means, it's just me against all of THEM. Wish me luck!)

~We are now officially your typical nuclear family. We got a mini van. It only took several days of test driving different vans and several hours sitting around in a dealership doing paper work, and we got ourselves a van. Yeah, and we forgot to bring extra diapers for Cherry that day too, so she had to run around with a full diaper for a couple of those hours while we did the paper work. She wasn't overly impressed, but was surprisingly good about it. You know? Having a mini van really rocks in bad weather! You can actually get INTO the vehicle while you're strapping the kid in, and you don't have to get rained on! Oh? and also? Key pad on the door in case you or your kid locks you out! So, she's locked me out of the house, but she will NOT lock me out of the car! (All the comments you guys made about that totally freaked me out!)

~I'm excited. This Christmas morning is going to be awesome! Cherry is so funny these days. Everything is "OOOHHH" and "WOW!" I'm looking forward to her reaction to her new tricycle and Little People Castle.

~So over baking. I have done SOOO much baking this year. I still have a couple of things to make, but I'm not totally sure if I'm going to or not. Tonight's the night to do it if I'm going to at all... The major problem isn't so much the baking itself, it's all the "testing"... which leads me to the next item.

~So over weight! I am seriously a porker this pregnancy. I've already gained close to 10 pounds more than my last pregnancy, and I still have some time yet to go. Dang you Christmas baking!

~Pain! GET. OUT. OF. MY. BELLY! The pain is killing me! The pressure on my pubic bone, the back pain, the indescribable pain that wakes me up screaming in the middle of the night and crying in pain for more than ten minutes... it's gotta stop. Baby, it's time to come out!

So, there you go. Some little tidbits. I'll be back in a couple of days hopefully with pictures from a great Christmas celebration!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF MY AWESOME READERS!Happy Ho Ho!

Totally Her Father's Daughter!

Me, walking into Cherry's room: "HEEEYYYYY, Who. Made. This. Big. Mess?"

Cherry: "DADDY!"

Love Thursday

Never done a "Love Thursday" post before, but I thought it would be a good way to share this picture I took of Cherry and her Daddy colouring yesterday. The two of them sat there for about half an hour colouring an old colouring book from my childhood. (Mr. T. pitites the fool!)

I took the picture shortly after her rude awakening yesterday. She stopped being all sucky and grumpy when Daddy took some time to sit with her and colour. (She didn't care that *I* actually coloured with her first. She just wanted her daddy! And well, he colours nicer than I do, so maybe that has something to do with it!)

Sort of Like "Where's Waldo?" but a little cuter! *updated*

Today Cherry was a little grumpy Mc. Grumperson, so I INSISTED she take a nap. Well, she did end up falling asleep, but not until after she happily destroyed her room. And this is how she ended up:

That CANNOT be comfortable! (At least she put a blanket under her head!)

She's actually still there. I opened her door a few minutes ago, so she would "gently" wake up from her nap, and she's barely stirred. It's getting a little late in the day, so I don't want her sleeping too much longer, but after falling asleep in a position like that, I can't imagine she's going to be very refreshed and happy when she gets up!

*update* I decided that softly playing some Christmas music might be a good way to wake her up. Well, it probably was a good idea, except the sudden addition of an unknown voice in the house caused Jacy to start barking and freaking out, which in turn woke Cherry up suddenly instead of gradually. And, with tears.

So, I picked up my sucky little girl and parked her on the couch, where she lay for a few minutes just being sucky!

I'm dreading the day that she no longer wears footy pjs!

Oh, and yeah, turns out that not only did she fall asleep on top of a bunch of toys, but one of the toys was a doll stroller! She fell asleep right across the hard handles of the thing! I won't be surprised if she has bruises across her ribs!

A Name Has Been Chosen!

A few days back, I took a poll asking what the best "blog name" for the little girl who's on her way.

And, the winner is....


PEACHES!

How cute!

So, it'll be Cherry and Peaches.

Now, if the baby somehow hid its parts during the ultrasound and turns out to be a boy, we'll have to do this all over again!

But for now, "Peaches" it is!

Good Cookies Deserve to be Shared!

Oh my goodness! Debambam, your Anzac Biscuits are SOOO good!

Awhile back, Kelly wrote about some cookies she made (on her old blog, I don't think it's archived) and I asked her for the recipe. Well, it took me several months to try it, but I figured that with the holidays here, it was time to give them a try! I've been baking up a storm lately, making shortbread cookies, Nanaimo bars, chocolate chip cookies, haystacks, and now the Anzacs. I still have butter tarts to make.

I highly recommend these Anzac Biscuits though! They're easy to make, and they're so tasty! (All of the recipes I've been making have actually been pretty good, so if you want to know how to make any of the other goodies I mentioned, just let me know!)

Anyway, if you're interested, here's Debambam's recipe! (reprinted without permission! and using N. American terms)

1 Cup coconut

1 Cup all purpose flour

1 Cup cooking Oats

1 Cup sugar

2 tbs boiling water

1 tsp baking soda

125g/half cup butter or margarine

2 tablespoons Golden Syrup (corn syrup)

Mix first four ingredients together in a bowl.

Melt butter with syrup.

Dissolve baking soda in boiling water then stir into butter and syrup mixture-it will foam up.

Mix dry and wet ingredients until well combined.

Shape heaped teaspoonfuls into balls (a little smaller than a golf ball), flatten slightly and place on cookie sheet covered with foil leaving 1-2 inches space between each cookie. *Umm.. I read this wrong, I think... I made the cookies with foil covering the COOKIES, not the sheet, so um.. maybe Debambam can straighten me out on that one!*

Bake in a moderate oven (around 350F) for around 11-14 mins or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and stand for 2 mins before placing on wire rack to cool. (Or just leave them on the sheets until they cool-worked for me). If you're moving them to racks, be careful because they will still be soft.

Don't assume that because they are still soft that they aren't cooked. Do not put them back into the oven. They will harden up a bit once cool, but still stay nice and chewy!

Thanks Kelly! I think they're going to be a family favourite!

Of blood, sweat, and tears.

~Armondo cut the quick on one of Annie's toes last night. There's blood all over the house. She bled slowly almost all night. She's fine. Armondo stopped the bleeding this morning with superglue that he ran out of the house at quarter to eight to go buy. I repeat: Annie's fine. But we were pretty freaked out. Now, Armondo gets to take out the carpet cleaner and shampoo the carpets. And I get to bleach the blood spotted white bed sheets that Annie just had to jump onto. (We made sure that Annie would be ok, by double checking on the phone with the vet.)

~Armondo and I have no clue about cars. So, when our car started sputtering and stalling the other day, we were both a little freaked out about it, but ignored it. Last night it started again, but it got to the point that we almost stalled in the middle of the highway. Time to deal with it! But it was too late to get it into a shop. So, after we (luckily) made it home, I got on the 'net and figured out that we probably need to replace the fuel filter. So, after stopping Annie's bleeding toe, Armondo went off to get the car fixed up.

~We might be trading in our car and buying a mini van soon. We SO cannot afford to do this right now, but Armondo is right when he says that this is the best time of year to do such a deal, and we need it before summer in order to go camping again. There is NO way we'd be able to fit TWO kids, two dogs and all of our gear in the car this time. We barely fit it all last time! So, after Armondo is done fixing our car, he's off to a dealership to look at mini vans and to see how much our car would be worth as a trade in.

Wow, What an exciting life we lead!

Slight update.

Thought I'd give you an update from the land o' storms.

First of all, sorry for being lazy and not really answering comments the past day or so. I'm reading them all, I swear, but I've sort of been busy.

Busy doing what?

Well, I've been baking.

And sleeping.

And braving blackouts almost every day.

And that's pretty much it. I'm in so much pain these days. I'm running out of breath just reading stories to Cherry. I'm big, and heavy and ready to get this little munchkin outta me! I spend more time laying down than anything else these days. Armondo's been an awesome help. Actually, he's pretty much taken over all of the responsibilities around the house and has been taking care of Cherry.

But! I have all of my Christmas shopping done (which was pretty easy, 'cause I only bought for Cherry and Armondo), and I only have two presents left to put into gift bags. (We don't use wrapping paper here. Bags are much easier, and re-usable, which is how we roll.)

And besides all the Christmas presents and empty decoration bins littering the nursery, we're ready for the baby to come!

And, umm.. that's it for now. I *might* have something good to write some day soon. Don't hold your breath ;)

Isn't He Dreamy?

Me: Geez, I'm feeling so SICK lately!

Armondo: Maybe you're pregnant.

Preggo Photos.

I've been wanting to take some "artsy" photos of my belly, and I've been bugging Armondo about it for a while now, but due to the scare last night, I figured TODAY was the day! So, he took around 70 photos and we got quite a few good ones! Here's a sample. (Quite a few were nude, but they're sort of private, so here's some of the not-so-nude ones.)

See, I DID end up with stretch marks. But I like them! (The lighter ones are from my pregnancy with Cherry, the darker ones are new.) I probably won't like them as much when my tummy is all loose and saggy!

If I Disapear for a While...

It might be because we've been hit by another major weather front, and we've been left in the dark for hours on end...

OR

It might be because I'm off delivering a baby...


Last night the power went out due to a large windstorm. I don't know WHAT us southern coast British Columbians did to smite the Gods, but we sure are taking a beating this year!

So, Armondo cooked our dinner on the wood stove and we ate in candlelight last night. The power was out for over 11 hours.

And then...

I started getting contractions. In the dark. (Oooh, contractions by candlelight, sounds sort of.. romantic!) A bunch of them, 15 minutes apart. But they were mild and they stopped after a couple of hours. But it made us get our asses into gear. We got my hospital bag packed, and made some final arrangements with my wonderful friend L.B. who will be watching Cherry while we're at the hospital.

So, that's the heads up. I could have this baby soon. Maybe not for a couple of weeks... but my body is getting ready! And NONE of you guessed it would be born in December!

Random Quips.

Last night while watching SNL:

Me: "Does it bother you that that (black) dude has a mohawk?" (Joking)

Armondo: "Yeah, it's like he's totally trying to steal my culture!" (Joking)

Stressing out. But it's a good stress, right?

Ok, so dang... we're having another girl. I umm.. whoa, I totally don't know how to fathom that. I never thought that I'd ACTUALLY have two girls.

I mean, sure I was worried about boy pee and all the other things that go along with having a boy vs. a girl. Sure I thought it would be best to have two girls so that we could get more use out of the hand-me-downs and they can share a room and whatever, but to be honest, I just really didn't think it would happen!

When the tech hinted it would be a girl, I didn't really believe her. I mean, I didn't think she was LYING or anything, I just thought for sure it would be a boy. Not that I "felt" that it was a boy or anything, it's just that... well, you have a girl, then you have a boy, right? That's the way it's happened for almost everyone in both Armondo's and my families.

And OMG. How to you choose a SECOND perfect girl name? Is it even possible? There's one name that I really like, and so does Armondo, but if we use that name, we're going to be one of those families that gets laughed at because all of our kids names start with the same letter. And in our case, it would mean that the shortened form of Armondo's real name, Cherry's real name, and the other child's name would all be the same. (Sort of like having the names Alexander, Alexia, and Alexandria or something.) We have a shortened list of girls' names, but seriously, none of them are really appealing to me except the one that's so similar to the others!

But I think I've come up with a couple of "blog" names for the little one. I need your input though. I put some of the suggestions you guys had for this post.



Anyway, let me know what you think!

It's a girl! (Or at least the tech hinted that way!)

TAKE A LOOK AT THOSE LIPS!!

I got my second and final ultrasound today. The baby had been breach for awhile, and I needed the ultrasound so we could check the position. Well, yesterday, I felt the baby move back the right way, and today the ultrasound confirmed the baby is head down. (This is a VERY good thing!)

So, I told the tech that I wanted to know the sex, and she told me that she wasn't allowed to tell me (which I already knew) and that she'd take pictures of the area and the radiologist would decide whether to include it in the report or not.

But I asked her to pass the wand over the genital area so we could try to see for ourselves, to which she replied "that won't help you much." Then she said.. "think about what I just said!"

To which I said "well, that could mean two things: One, that the umbilical cord is there, so it wouldn't help us much, or Two, there's nothing there to see."

To which she replied "the second option is a little more likely."

So, apparently it's a girl. A girl with Angelina Jolie lips.

And the baby kept on blinking the whole time we were watching it, which the tech said was really amazing and that she'd never seen that before. So, we've got an amazing, big lipped girl on the way. How exciting!

That's my Hubby!

1)
Me: "You know, last night when I was driving home, there was this guy totally riding my ass most of the way!"

Armondo, with an angered tone: "That's MY job!"

2)
Commercial for a new personal lubricant spray comes on TV.

Armondo: "Oooh, just in time for Christmas!"

Grateful?

I really love it when Armondo helps out and does dishes and other cleaning duties around the house. But sometimes, when he leaves the sink like this:

I wonder... is it bad for me to be a little pissed off?

(No, I didn't bitch about it. I threw one offhand "eww, the sink is disgusting" out there, but he didn't do anything about it. I know the truth is he saved me about 30 minutes of work by doing the dishes and it will only take me a couple of minutes to clean the sink, but still... YUCK!)

My First Time.

This week I watched "The Sound of Music" for the first time! I say "this week" 'cause it was a three day process! That movie is LONG.

Long and lovely!

I can't get the songs out of my head. My kid is even singing the tunes! (I think, though I can't be certain.)

Cherry and I danced in the living room during the ball room dance and sang and laughed together.

Then there was the "intemission". And besides the wedding, the rest of the movie is sort of depressing. I like to pretend that bad things didn't really happen. Armondo likes the second half better. Oh well, a little for the gals, a little for the guys.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll be buying that movie soon, as I'm sure it'll be a family favourite!

Oh yeah, and it only enforced my belief in the fact that Nannys are NOT a good idea! Bring them into the house, you're only asking for your husband to fall in love!

Photos With Santa

On Friday evening, we took the little one to get photos done with Santa. At first, we did a family shot, to try to get her used to the Big Guy (and that picture turned out crappy, luckily it was all done digitally, so we were able to scrap it and demand another one!)


Then, we left the kid to take a picture with Santa by herself, but she would have none of it! She cried as I set her on his lap, and was much to squirmy to even get a crying Santa shot, so, Santa just knelt on the floor, and the camera guy got a pic as Cherry was running towards her daddy who was standing by the camera guy.

You can't really tell here, but she's a good two feet ahead of him running away as the photo was shot! At least she's smiling!

Then we demanded another family shot, and here it is. Do I look eight and a half months pregnant to you? Naw, didn't think so! Black is a magical shade to wear!

(much better than the white outfit from the last holiday!)

So, this is what parenting is all about, eh?

This is the post I promised. The first part is what I wrote when it happened, but I stopped part way through, and now I'm finishing it!


I never really understood how people could "hide" their house keys under mats, or in flower pots or other places outside their home. It never really seemed all that "safe" to me.

I understand now. Those people all have or have had kids.

I'm writing this now to help calm myself down. I won't be posting it until after everything is all fixed and worked out.

I needed wood for the woodstove, so I left Cherry and the dogs inside while I walked to the woodshed in the back yard. It's not like I went far, or I was gone for very long, but it was long enough for Cherry to engage the lock on the bottom of the sliding glass door. Her new trick: pushing buttons.

So, there I stood on the outside of the glass door trying to tell her to press the other button to unlock the door and there SHE stood on the inside having no idea what her crazy mother was trying to tell her to do. Then I burst into tears. Then SHE burst into tears. Then I quickly racked my brain as to what to do next. I looked over at my neighbour's house, and both cars were in the driveway, so I ran over there and tried their doorbell, which apparently doesn't work, and their screen door was locked, so I couldn't knock on the door, so I started to run away in a panic, then their dogs starting barking, which alerted the neighbour, who I could see stand up in his living room, and so I started waving wildly...

And that's as far as I got... The rest of the story..

My neighbour noticed me, and came out to see what was wrong. I was bawling as I told him I needed help breaking into the house to get to my kid. He quickly grabbed some tools and met me in my yard. At first he tried to lift the sliding door to get it open, but that didn't work. Then I got him to climb on our oil tank to try to see if he could get into the only window that I hadn't put a stick into, and that didn't work. (The regular window lock was engaged).

Inside, Cherry was shaking and crying uncontrollably, and outside, I was doing the same. I finally figured out that I was going to have to break a window to get inside, so I took the neighbour around to a kitchen window, where he broke one of the small panes and turned the handle to open the window for me. Luckily, the blinds were closed, so the glass just fell down onto the sill and not all over the floor where Cherry was standing.

I hopped into the house, thanking the neighbour, who replied "I guess I can break a window as well as the next guy!" and I ran to Cherry who, at this point was in complete hysterics. (I figure she wouldn't have even realized anything was wrong if her crazy mother wasn't in hysterics herself!)

I spent the next few minutes holding her and trying to calm down, then I gave her a bottle and set her in front of the TV where she happily sat while I tried to figure out what to do next.

I looked at the clock, and noticed it was almost 5pm, so I started making some phone calls. I wasn't by any means calm by this point, but figured I should call and make an appointment with the glass shop before it closed. So, I called the closest place, and in between sobs and sputters, I told the guy I needed my window replaced, who told me that I would have to call back the next day to make an appointment. I said "Can't I make an appointment TODAY for tomorrow?" To which, the insensitive jerk said "Nope."

So, then I called my house insurance broker to see if the window was covered by insurance. (I couldn't, for the life of me remember if we paid for the extra window insurance or not.) The woman on the line was gentle with me, and calmly listened as I tried to explain my situation between sobs.

Then, I spent the next three full hours crying. I was so upset. Part of it was most definitely pregnancy hormones. Part of it was just feeling so incredibly scared that I had put my child in a pretty dangerous situation. Part of it was that I felt really, incredibly alone, due to the fact that Armondo wasn't home. Part of it was that I had a broken window, in an easily accessible place that was just asking for an intruder to break into.(Unlikely, given where we live, but I wasn't really thinking rationally.) Part of it was that I had to figure out how to cover that window as the weather was incredibly bad. And, to top it all off, I couldn't get ahold of Armondo on the boat, and I just really wanted to talk to him!

In the end, I covered the window with some plastic bags, and I still happened to have an old fridge on the deck at that time, so all eight months preggo of me moved that fridge in front of the window (on the outside) to partially help block the wind, and partially act as a security measure. (I know that if *I* could move the fridge, that so could a robber, but I figured I would at least HEAR an intruder move it, and I'd have enough time to dial 911.)

I didn't sleep well that night at all.

The next day, I got a different glass company come to fix the glass, and the small little piece of glass cost a whole of $8, whereas all the other fees, such as "truck fees", "labour", etc, made the total pretty darn close to $100. (Yikes!)

So now, I have a spare key hidden outside, as well as I ALWAYS take my keys with me when ever I leave the house! But now, all is good, 'cause Armondo is home, and I make HIM get the wood for the wood stove!

Guess What We Did Last Night?

It's the most beautiful tree I've ever decorated! We bought a fake tree *gasp* and put some LED lights on it. I bought a bunch of blue and silver balls, as our base colours, then put all of our silly plastic ornaments on afterwards. I even bought too many ornaments and have to return some! I love it. Cherry loves it too. "OOOHHHH" she says. And she's listening well so far and not touching!

Armondo is Home!

YAY!

Armondo came home today after being gone for three + weeks.

These last few weeks have been the hardest of my life! Between having crazy colds, sore hips, nasty rain, water boiling, isolating snow, and being more than eight months pregnant, things have been tough.

But my knight in shining armor has returned!

No more hauling heavy baskets of wood from the shed to the wood stove! Cooking duties being shared! Dish duties being shared! I won't have to get up every single time in the middle of the night with Cherry!

I tried not to complain about him not being home while he was actually away, 'cause I have to admit I was feeling a little vulnerable. I did mention some things that would indicate that he wasn't here, but I tried not to make it too obvious.

He'll be home now probably straight through most of February!

So, that's it for tonight, but now that he's home, I'm going to go back and find a draft post I started writing the night Cherry locked me out of the house and finish and post it soon!

Tired of Hearing about the Weather Yet?

I call it "The Lonely Apple"

She calls it "Appooo?"

"Forgotten Berries"

"Dancing Water, Frozen in Time"*

Snow.

Snow.

Mmm.. icicle!

Snow.

Snow.

Yup. That's it. That's our life right now. It has snowed non-stop for the last 24 hours or so. Just a little, light dusting for 24 hours, but it has accumulated up to a few more inches.

We are trapped. Even if I WANTED to drive in this crazy white stuff, there'd be no way I'd get out of the driveway.

Here on the southern west coast of British Columbia, we don't know the meaning of "winter tires". Therefore, we hang out in our house for days on end.

I might decorate tonight. There's no good TV on tonight (I know, I know, "House" is supposed to be good, but I have yet to watch it, and really, I NEED to have a night off of the TV at least once or twice a week, 'cause I watch MUCH TOO MUCH TV.) I'm thinking I'm sending Armondo out on the ladder in the next couple of days to hang the outside lights. This will be the first year we've ever hung outside lights, and the first Christmas spent at home! I'm going to go a little crazy on the decorations, I think. I'm buying a fake tree soon (you know, if I'm ever able to get out of the house) and I'm going to cover it with blue and silver decorations. That's the plan anyway. I've got lots of other decorations to put out though in the meantime.

Now, sorry, back to the weather. What the heck is WITH THIS WEATHER? Two weeks ago we were being pelted with rain and wind, forcing us to boil our water for several days on end, and now we're being buried in the white stuff, two whole months earlier than usual! And, according to Erin, who left a comment in my last post, said we have more snow here than she does in ALASKA! We were lucky here to have not get flooded out with the rain, but I'm sure when this snow melts, we're going to float away! Anyway, wish us good luck!

*isn't it cute how I named some of the photos?

WTF?!?! When did I move to Alaska?