In her own little corner

We moved into our first home at the end of October, when I was already very pregnant and not really motivated to do anything.

Except maybe bake cookies.

So I could eat them.

But I did experience some of the nesting instinct that they promise will propel you as you head for the finish line. I channelled all of it into the nursery. So, while the rest of our house remains in that sad transition state of having stuff in roughly the right place, but none of the finishing touches added, Vivi's room looks pretty good.



It's hard to tell from the photos, but the walls are a nice soft gray. The animal prints are by Sharon Montrose.


That's the Gryffindor scarf I got at the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter when I was a couple months pregnant.


The change station. (You can tell who was getting a little tired with my photo shoot...) The Husband picked up the picture at the Fan Expo here in town last year. It's called "Grow" and the artist wrote a little message to our unborn child on the back. We had it framed so you can still turn it over and read the note.

The Husband also bought the poppy wall decals, this time as a Valentine's Day present for Vivi. Even though her official moniker is the name of a different flower, when I was pregnant we referred to the baby as Poppy. It came from one of those emails that tell you how big the fetus is. The first one said she was the size of a poppyseed, so Poppy stuck. She loves to look at them when we change her. We need to also add something for her to gaze at on the underside of the shelf. Any suggestions?


Our amazing "Star Wars" figures were a major labour of love by one of our dearest friends and her family. (The friend that was here to take me to the hospital when my water broke and the Husband was out of town!) They're also one-of-a-kind treasures, so we put them up nice and high. Vivi will only be allowed to admire them for many, many years to come.

The shelf that they're on was a gift from the Husband's mom to him several years ago. It's such a perfect little perch for a children's room. And the lovely sentiment on the wall was a gfit from my mom to Vivi when I first announced my pregnancy.


Two more gifts from the Husband's mom. The lamp turns as it warms up and we can watch the geese fly.


Our good friend Nipples the Cat! Also a piggy bank from her auntie on the Husband's side (There's money in there!) and some awesome books for future reading from the great women in my little book club.

And speaking of books...




We've been lucky to receive all sorts of great books for Violet, both new and secondhand. The best part is that she will already sit and look at them with me! I hope this is a sign that she'll love them as much as both the Husband and I do. (Although I'm not sure how many more books our home can hold!)


More wonderful gifts! The cute rubber ducky doubles as a bath water thermometer and the vintage blocks were a thrift store find from a lady with a discerning eye.


Just a few of Violet's growing shoe collection! She is a girl, after all. Funny thing is, I cannot get any of them to actually stay on her feet yet, so she's never worn them out of the house. I don't want to lose one and break up a set!

And every nursery needs a big comfy chair for reading and rocking.

The pillow was a gift I gave the Husband a couple years ago. I'm not sure it will stay in here once we get the office put together, but it works for now. And the adorable little doll is another fantastic gift from a far away friend.


I get the feeling that Vivi likes her little space!

How Violet got her name

When the husband and I started dating, I brought up the topic of marriage and children pretty quickly. I ignored every bit of dating advice that tells women to dance around such issues for fear they will "scare the guy away" and cut to the chase. Because life is too short to invest time in something that isn't going where you want to go, right? Besides, if he wasn't the guy for me, he would have run for the hills. Instead he stayed. And eventually we got married and now we have a child.

At some point, long before we got married, we started talking about kid's names. Generally it did not go well. We both had strong negative reactions to each other's suggestions. I found his choices too run-of-the-mill and he found mine too out there.

But one day, during a visit with his mom, she told us about one of her aunts. A woman who left the small Ontario town she called home at just 16 years old and made her way alone to Detroit. There she became a dressmaker and eventually ventured out to Los Angeles where she opened a dress shop. She even made a dress for Bette Davis.

She also had a crush on Bing Crosby, who was a big bridge player (who knew?), so she taught herself to play bridge and went on the tournament circuit, hoping to meet him. Sadly, it wasn't to be.

My Mother-in-Law recently told us that her aunt would send home a box of clothes every year, knowing that money was tight. In particular she remembers a white angora sweater and a gold necklace with a leaf pattern, which she wore for a school concert.

And while this aunt married, she never had children of her own, so when she passed away she left money to all of her 13 nieces and nephews. The money my Mother-in-Law received allowed her to buy the land on Georgian Bay where my Husband grew up and where she still lives today.

Her aunt's name was Violet.

From that time on, we always referred to our future child as Violet. And while we discussed other girl's names when I was pregnant, we both knew that it was already a done deal. (If a boy had arrived, we were much less prepared!)

So when they lifted her up so I could see her and said, "It's a girl," I didn't hesitate. "It's Violet!" I said. "Violet is here!" And so she was.


We call her Vivi, since I'm not that crazy about Vi. And her middle name is my last name, since we didn't want to hyphenate, but I wanted her to have a part of me. It all suits her.

I hope she likes it. And I hope she has the adventurous spirit and determination of her namesake.

From the land of mommyhood

Remember when I used to blog? And bathe regularly? And exercise? And wear clothes that didn't have breast milk/spit-up on them?

Me neither.

I really miss blogging. (Also bathing and having some sort of muscle tone.) And I have grand plans to write a lengthy blog with the story of the Girl's birth. (It ranks right up there with actually finishing unpacking our house and recycling the wine bottles that are sitting on our kitchen floor from the housewarming/baby shower that took place here back in November.) Instead I spend a lot of time feeding and cuddling this:


And when I'm not doing either of those things, I take pictures of her. And then coo over pictures of her, even though the real thing is right beside me.

But soon, I will get my head above water and find time to blog again! In the meantime:

Crib Building 101

A few weeks ago, we picked up a crib for the baby-to-be at Ikea. In fact, we found the one we wanted in the As Is section for $40-off, because it had been a floor model. (Don't worry—we bought the mattress brand new!) Late one night, the Husband crossed a milestone off his life list and assembled said crib:


I helped by snapping photos that included another Ikea purchase: Nipples the cat.


Inappropriate name for a stuffed animal meant for a child, you say? Well, agreed*. But what you can't see in these photos is that Ikea manufactured a stuffed cat and added 8 nipples to said cat. Why, pray tell, does a stuffed cat need nipples!?

Nevertheless, Nipples has such personality:


And the Husband did a fantastic job:


Nipples had to rest with Daphne afterwards.


We're getting closer to finishing the nursery decor—just need to hang some shelves and artwork (we purchased some from here). Then I will snap some shots and post a few for all of you!

*We also have an owl named Hooters. Meaning we've possibly already ruined this poor little human being.

Moving and Hallowe'en

Okay, we're playing blog catch-up here, since there's been amazing amounts of stuff happening in my life of late. Bear with me!

First, we moved. Daphne was clearly worried that we would forget her in the chaos, so she took to sleeping in the Husband's suitcase as a precaution:


But when moving day actually arrived, Schmatty was none too pleased with the arrival of strange people in the apartment, so she cowered in the closet for most of the day:


For us, moving day dawned with a feeling of excitement in the air. We were finally moving into our house!

This excitement ended around the time the movers were officially late (they finally came an hour past their scheduled arrival, which was enough to drive the pregnant, type-A Virgo planner in me completely around the bend ) but reappeared hours later when everything was finally in the new place. And we'd had proper food.

Much of the following week looked just like this picture: the belly and the boxes:


(Unfortunately for the Husband, the belly meant he was the one to move the boxes from room to room to room as we tried to make sense of our living space.)

Daphne tried to make sense of her new surroundings and discovered the best place to keep an eye on both of us is generally the landing going down the stairs:

Two days after we moved in, our first house guest arrived fresh from Montreal, with her own kitty, to take up residence in our basement for a while. It's been awesome having her here! And she made it in time for Hallowe'en.


Okay, we'd only been in the house for about four days when the big night arrived, so there were no costumes. The Husband did manage to carve a pumpkin and we stocked up on a ton of candy, thinking there'd be a steady stream of kids all evening long.


Alas, we counted about 60 kids in total. Plus three moms that had their own bags for candy...

Belly shot update!

Okay, it's been busy and there's lots to blog about, but my to-do list keeps getting longer! However, here's some more belly shots:

Week 30


Week 31



Week 32


I have to admit, I'm done with the pregnancy part. My back and hips are sore all the time. Thank goodness for Tylenol! I can only seem to sleep in one-hour increments before I have to get up and pee or try to shift to a slightly less uncomfortable position in bed. Leaning over in any way is almost impossible. I'm short-of-breath all the time. Oh, and the skin on the top of my belly gets so sensitive it's crazy painful!

I'm getting anxious to meet the little person that's rolling around inside me.

Okay, stay tuned for more posts soon. Lots more to share!

Weeks 27 and 28

Lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend, including a baby that is squirming all over the place in my ever-growing belly.

Week 27:



And week 28:



A full seven months pregnant now, I am finding it harder and harder to haul this body around. I ran errands for an hour at lunch today and felt like I'd run 10k!

But I'm persevering! Trying to get our apartment packed up in preparation for the big move. (What were we thinking combining two of life's most stressful events?) And sometimes just watching the Husband pack while I sit down and rest.

Other things I'm thankful for: the Husband, our crazy cat, wonderful friends, my super-excited family, a job in this awful economy, the new house, and a beautiful place on the water to spend Thanksgiving weekend.

I am a lucky, lucky girl.