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Gearing up…

Have you noticed?  In the last month or so I’ve posted more than I had in the previous 8 months or so.  There’s a reason for it.  A marathon runner doesn’t just jump back into it after a few years off, right?  They need to train (hard) and prepare themselves mentally and physically for the race.

Well, that’s what I’m up to.  No, not training for a marathon.  I am not crazy.  I am in training for the photo of the day posts I plan after Frank the Baby is born, just like I did for Jaia.  I always promised myself that if I was going to do it for one, I’d do it for the other.  It’s only fair.

Well, as any of you who been reading all along know, I’ve attempted the ‘photo a day’ at least a couple of times since Jaia was wee and have failed miserably.  Once less than a week later.  Shame.  So I figured if I prep from now until the baby arrives with no pressure and no promises, I’ll be able to do it.

I think.

I hope.

And so since I took NO pictures this weekend – even with ample opportunity to with plenty of family over 3 days in a row, including a surprise breakfast with my sister Kathryn, I have to post a slightly older photo for today.  This one, like the other, was taken by Dan.  Not too many exist of just Jaia and I.  I love it.

March 22, 2010 - 11:18 am

Auntie Jenny - gorgeous.

March 22, 2010 - 1:04 pm

Auntie Kris - What a beautiful shot of you two. Can’t wait for POTD of Baby Frank!

Friday Goodness

1.  FAMILY DINNERS – Since my sister and her husband moved back to town, we have more family closeby than we ever have before, and though it’s amazing to be able to see them whenever we want to, it’s still not enough.  I’ll always wish we lived closer to more of our family, or better yet, that they lived closer to us.  I miss family.  I crave family time.  And yet for most of the year, it’s just not possible.

So on weekends when some of our family plans to visit, I’m like a kid at Christmas.  Tonight, around dinnertime, my parents will roll in from Virginia.  It won’t be a long visit, but it’ll be a good visit. They always are.   And if I sound excited, you should see Jaia.  Grandparent time for her is the bees knees and she’s already asked me 30 times this morning if Nana and Papoo are going to be here soon.  Not just yet, my little Smurfling.

2.  EMPTY GARAGES – When we gutted our kitchen, we ended up with a large amount of ‘waste’ that I wouldn’t let Dan throw out, despite his repeated requests.  I couldn’t imagine it tossing it in the dump when we could take our ‘perfect but just not our style’ cabinets, countertops, sink, etc. to the local Habitat for Humanity and hope they could get some use out of them.

That was in October.  And they sat in our garage since then.  We have a beautiful double garage that sat so full of crap all winter, that we were forced to park both vehicles outside.

Our plan this weekend was to take advantage of Papoo being here to fill both cars a couple of times and do drop-offs at the HFH depot and be rid of all the old kitchen remnants for good.  Dan decided that first he would put them out on the curb and hope someone would take them off our hands instead.  I laughed.  There was no way.

20 minutes after he stacked a mountain of cabinets on our front lawn, the doorbell rang.  “Are you giving these away?”  She asked.  I laughed again.  Seriously?  Did that just really happen?  Dan was right and I was wrong?  😉

And right he was.  10 minutes later, a trailer pulled up and hauled away each and every one of them.  Perhaps we should have offered them the countertops and sink too!

3.  BAKING WITH JAIA – She loves it because it’s messy.  I love it because she loves it.  And today we are attempting a super fun baking project (or so it looks, anyway).  All the supplies were purchased and are sitting on the shelf until this afternoon.  If the recipe works and is easy enough for an amateur to attempt (me, not Jaia) I’ll it and the in progress pictures later today.  I’m excited – for the baked goods, not the mess.

4.  FACIALS – Ok, it’s scheduled for Sunday, not Friday, but I’m already dreaming of it.  P

Pregnancy has been anything but kind to my skin.  There were a few weeks over Christmas that I looked more like a teenager in the midst of puberty than an adult in my mid-thirties.  And though that was the peak, my skin has not improved whatsoever since then.  I even had one friend admit to me that I look grey.

Awesome.  Aren’t you supposed to glow when you are pregnant, and not look half-dead?  Bring on the facial.

5. BLUE EYES – There’s nothing like a blue shirt to make my baby’s baby blues pop.  I swear I could stare at her gorgeous eyes all day – and some days I just do.

March 19, 2010 - 11:14 am

Auntie Jenny - Sounds like an awesome friday. And what a gorgeous little girl indeed 🙂

Happy…

Birthday to my beautiful niece, Avery!

Jaia and I literally spent the entire day  outside.  We lunched, we played and then met up with some friends to play, play, PLAY!  If I can’t go to a pub and sit out on the patio and have a pint or two to celebrate one of my favourite days of the year, the way we spent today was a close second.  I feel drunk on sunlight, warmth and vitamin D.  Is it obvious?

How did you spend your St. Paddy’s day?

March 18, 2010 - 9:32 am

Heather - Avery had a wonderful day at school and got a gift from her teacher. Later at home she had her favorite supper of chicken fingers and craft dinner and then she opened her gift from Grampy which was Leap Frog Tag with the Cat in the Hat book and 7 tinny cupcakes (the seventh for good luck) each with a candle and we sang Happy Birthday…It was a good day.

March 18, 2010 - 1:21 pm

Dan - Love love love the swing photo, my new favourite 🙂

Our Tuesday…

After hibernating for the last few months, finding something to do to keep both Jaia and I entertained and occupied during the day is suddenly MUCH easier.

On a whim, I called my hairdresser, who was able to fit me in for a 12 noon haircut.  I’ve never been one who can plan something like a haircut months in advance.  In fact, I just don’t understand that at all.  If I want it cut, it has to be that day or not at all.  So when she had a free hour, I jumped at the chance.  Besides, Jaia loves going with me.  She’s very much a girly girl, so a day at the salon suits her just fine.  Especially because of the twirly chairs.

I tried to convince Jaia to get a trim of her own, but she would have none of it.  She wants to have long hair, like a mermaid, since that’s what she wants to be when she grows up, and you never see mermaids with short hair.  She has a point.  I conceded.

So the hairdresser convinced Jaia to let her style her hair instead.  Within a few seconds she was perched up on the chair, staring at herself  mirror with a GIANT smile on her face.  A few minutes after that, she was glowing with beautifully French-braided hair.  Totally adorable.

As we headed back to the car, I noticed the meter maid pulling in behind where we were parked.  A quick glance at my phone told me the meter was up and he/she was writing a us a ticket.  Without thinking, I scooped Jaia up and booked it down the street to get there in time.

Picture it:  Newly coifed, very pregnant mama with french-braided kid in her arms, tearing down the street at full speed (or as full speed as I could manage).  My guess is that it wasn’t pretty.  Nor was the panting I was doing after we got to the car.

The good news:  No ticket.  The bad news:  I still had 4 minutes left on the meter and was in no real danger of getting a ticket anyway.  It was all for nothing.  Oh well.

At this point the sun was shining brightly and it was HOT (or maybe that was just me, still out of breath from my mini-marathon) so I decided that rather than go home, we’d make a pit-stop at one of our favourite paths and go for a bike ride.  I luckily had Jaia’s trike in the trunk and my camera bag with me, and I could think of no better way to spend an hour or two.

It was awesome.  We both enjoyed ourselves so much.  Treasure hunting, photo-taking, rock throwing, sun-gazing…It was perfect.

See for yourself.

Notice the braids…

And then she tired of the braids…

The end.

March 17, 2010 - 7:47 am

Dan - I’m sad I missed the adventure, looked like fun. That certainly is a nice basket on her bike … perfect for carrying red pandas or other friends.

March 18, 2010 - 12:20 pm

Auntie Jenny - She’s such a beautiful little girl! Looks like she has grown a lot since Feb.

Love the braids 🙂