teeth! books!

Okay, so last time I blogged I Sunday got the shaft; the weekend doesn't end on Saturday! And Sunday held some new things for - all of us? - well, for Hendrik and Heather it did anyways. I went to my very first Epicure party and felt like a suburban housewife as I sat there listening to all of the little quips and perfect-fors that accompanied each passed-around tin and jar of spice and seasoning. I had to buy something - or make that three things - and could have bought a lot more; I reeled in my self-restraint after I paid for the chocolate pudding. (Yum.) And Hendrik! Our little monkey got in a walker for the first time, and quickly figured out how to push himself backwards (though I'm not so sure how much he was actually trying to move). He loved the steering wheel on the contraband kiddie toy but after five minutes or so decided that it was not where he wanted to be. Was it because he somehow somewhere some-reason kept moving away from mommy? Perhaps. Anyways, he was not to be consoled and I had to pull him out of there.


Interested on the left, and not so sure on the right...

The week has been busy - but with what? We've been going to mom groups, getting ready for time at the cottage, running errands, and more... there has to be more! And no, we're not going googoo for the royals and no, we're not heading to Parliament Hill for Canada Day; I went last year (for another royal visit - the Queen) and I will never ever go down there again if there's royalty in town. It was insanity, and all I wanted to do was get out of the sardine-packed mob of people. So, the plan is to either head for the Brinkman-Tukker cottage or wheel up to Dan's abode on the Gatineau River for the day.


And oh my goodness! I can't believe it's taken me so long to get this out but Hendrik now has FOUR teeth! FOUR!!! The second front tooth on the upside (how technical is that) has made its appearance - ! No pics, but they're coming soon - like, hopefully tomorrow. I'm hoping to finish my library book so I can get it back before we go (a Mme Ramotse gem), but I'm not sure that I can part just yet with the two Brainwaves books that I'm oggling (sp?) at: The Most Brilliant Boldly Going Book of Exploration Ever by the Brainwaves and The Greatest Intergalactic Guide to Space Ever by the Brainwaves. Yeah sure I know they're for kids, but the they're fabuloso and um, yeah, I'm just scouting books for Hendrik. And in case you were wondering what books he actually has, his digital bookshelf is here. Yum, books!!

brossing les dents + the weekend!

Hendrik has finally made the switch from brushing with washcloth to brushing with toothbrush - or, er, I guess we've made the switch for him. And this is what he does:

Hands open and out in a what is this new thing that's happening to me sort of way; it's adorable.

I've been meaning to blog about our weekend since, well, the weekend - and before another week flies off the shelf I'll get this business down and done. Okay, so there's no business really, just recounting, so here goes: Saturday was grrrrreat, and not just because there was greasy food, woolly mammoths, excitement over the woolly mammoths (we parked, I saw them, and like an over-exuberant sugar-highed five year-old I screamed "I want to see the woolies!"), but because this momma stayed out on Saturday night at ... wait for it wait for it... a party. Gasp! It's true. I stayed out until almost 1:00 and had fun and didn't wake up feeling too tired or sluggish or anything - ! Eek. So, after searching for sushi in downtown Ottawa on Saturday afternoon and finding two of our establishments of choice closed (doh), we decided to dine at the Elgin Street Diner, a famous little spot that I'd never been to. It was busy and buzzing, and all three of us enjoyed ourselves. I ate breakfast number two and Steve gobbled a delicious club sandwich while Hendrik wowed and smiled and spread cuteness around our corner of the restaurant. People were goo-goo over him, and he was absolutely loving it in there... the people, the noises, the lights, paper, food... you name it, he loved it. We might have to go back again; great ambiance and happy family food times = good good goodness.

Hendrik was being such a flirt with the girl on the far left of the photo; is her boyfriend telling him to back off? Hmmm...

After everything else fell on the floor...

And then we went back to the woolies!! There was also a baby wooly, and we considered pulling Hendrik out of the carrier to ride the wooly (ha!) but there were other people there and he wasn't as excited as I was, so we moved on to the museum. Believe it or not, but our trip the The Museum of Nature was our first Ottawa museum trip, and we've been living here for over a year - !! Woops. It was great, and not just because of the woolies. There were five (or seven?) exhibits: birds, extreme mammals, dinosaurs, ocean life, a geology-planet one, and hmmm... maybe that's it? Make that five. Our favourite was the ocean life one, and it made me excited about bringing Hendrik out west to check out tidal pools and ocean things; too bad we don't have that teleportation machine yet, or I'd be writing this at Thetis.


The bird exhibit was also neat; did you know that there are more than 10,000 different bird species on our planet? Or that the world's smallest bird is just 5cm tall?

There were a ton of other moms in there (an interesting visual) - note to self as a good place to meet other mothers. We came home and rested our feet for a few hours before heading to a friend's place for a little BBQ action and too, for a surprise kiddy visit for Hendrik. I open the door to our friend's place and who is there but one of the women that we played vball against last Tuesday night; a bit of a surprise, but not really I suppose... the volleyball universe is a small one. Anyways, Celine and Dave and Jasmine were there, and Hendrik was a bit of a novelty for her; she liked giving him kisses... and hugs... and my heart almost melted right out of my body it was so cute.


Cute cute cute! The rest of the night was good - mellow and easy - and I came home and passed out in a millisecond and slept like a dead person for seven hours, and that is exactly what I feel like doing right now. My day today was almost too productive, but it's going to feel good crossing things off of the to-do list; is it too late to add go to bed at 9:30? Nope!

7 months old!

33!

This cake, from Costco, was ah-mazing....

Eek! I'm 33! As long as there's cake to ring in another year, I'm fine with it. Or, hmm... maybe once I hit 40 I'll change my mind about that? Probably not; I LOVE cake. But anyhow, there was cake, there were presents and favourite people (not all of them, but some - hurray) and there was even a night out with my favourite guy, my husband Steve. Awwww... cute. But yes, it's true; with babysitters galore, we managed to finally sneak away - just the two of us! - on my birthday. We ate out at Cafe Soup-Herbe and then spent two hours at the Nordik spa, and it was amaaaaazing. I had thought that it might be busting at the gills busy - a clear, warm Sunday night (and Father's Day at that) - but it was close to empty... yay. It was a great way to cap off a great week full of family visits, volleyball and ? good food. We had my cousins and aunt over for haaaam (said with a southern twang) on Saturday before we convoyed off to watch Team Canada knock down Puerto Rico in three sets for the bronze medal. It was hot hot in there, so Hendrik and I took off with Grandpa Osberg for some stories and chill time before the rest of the group arrived home. And eesh, that was almost a week ago.


The guys have been training hard all week, which makes for two tired parents at the end of some long(ish) days. I've been busy too, though it sounds kind of not-so-busy when I think about it: mom groups every day, a swim here, swings and a walk there, dinners made, library trips, grocery store shops, hmmm... and there is more, I'm sure. I played beach vb on Tuesday night and had sooo much fun - Jordynn and I won (yay!) and she delivered me a few beauty sets, and laid down a few professional looking shots too. Of course I have no pictures of that; is it true parent mode when the camera is used for kiddies only? Argh - that's got to change. We only have another week here before it's time off for Team Canada; up to the Brinkman/Tukker cottage we'll go, though for how long we're not so sure. I'm in the midst of organizing a regional volleyball program, so I'll have to get some work done on that before we head away to internet-less cottage country. So on that note, I'll post some pics and get to it!

Three generations of Brinkmans

Some former TC teammates and their babes

Grandparentals!

a quick, listy update

I'll just come out and say it - there's too much to blog about and I'm going to short circuit if I try to get it all out in any sort of detail SO, in list form (I love lists), here are a few thoughts from the last week or so:

• my parents are here! Steve's parents are here! I love having visitors and I wish we could teleport and travel with the blink of an eye; I love Canada in its vast sea-to-shining-sea-ness, but sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), it just feels too big.
• I canNOT believe what happened in Vancouver after game seven the other night; what a group of total idiots/losers/degenerates that acted out in the streets of such a beautiful place; it was so strange to see the mayhem in places so familiar to me. Not so surprising to see that it was mostly young dudes punching, kicking, throwing, beating, firing etc. - what is wrong with these people? Ugh, idiots.
• On the same vein as point #2, I am interested in seeing how social media leads to arrests and reveals the identities of some of these looters (losers) and rioters. I've seen some snapshots of peoples' facebook pages, which show them bragging, posting about their involvement in the mayhem. Again, what idiots.
• Ummmm - there's more. Ooh! The games! Steve looks like his old self out there on the court, and even though they lost last night against Brazil (putting them in the bronze match at 6:00 tonight), it was good to see all the guys out there playing tough.
  
• I'm looking forward to seeing some friend and fellow v-ballers at the gym tonight; former nat'l team players, out of town friends... yay, it should be good.
• Hendrik can now pull himself from sitting to standing (in a laundry basket), and we lowered his crib just in time. Grandpa and Grandpa lowered it down on Wednesday and on Thursday the gaffer did his first pull up for Grandpa Osberg.
  
• The source of our ceiling drip has been identified and the fix-it process is to begin on Monday at 7:15am. Let's hope this is quick and painless.

And with that, I'll stop. Pho-tos!

Steve in action against Mexico - hemos ganado!

Baby and Poppa this morning

He still LOVES being on his feet... watch out!

Busy in the kitchen... food food food!

Hendrik with Grandpa Brinkman

With the Grandparentals in the Byward Market

Doing laundry? How about standing up instead :)

We made this amazing sandwich the other night... YUM!

go team!

Day one of the tourney was a success! Canada won over Puerto Rico 3-0 and Steve made it in - he was a spiking machine! Okay maybe not a machine but he killed and skilled and made it look like he's been at it all along... hurray! Hendrik was squirmy, but very well behaved, looking as cute as ever in his Canada T. Grandma and Grandpa Brinkman arrived last night and my mom and dad are flying in on Wednesday, and it's going to be grrrrrreat; I'm looking forward to a good week of volleyball and family family time!

sunny saturday

This is going to be another short one - I'm not wanting to spend much of this sunny Saturday morning in front of the computer, no no no. And nope, it's not because we have any pressing plans, but because maybe I've been overdosing on screen time; I could really use a week away from this contraption - a week up at the cottage away from electronics and connectedness... hmmm. Anyways, a few things... We took Hendrik on the swings the other day for the first time and he LOVED it! He was smiley and giggly, and liked it just as much the second time around. Photos, from the very first time:





He wasn't quite as impressed with his first time on a boat, though I'm sure it was the life jacket and not the bateau that didn't sit (/squeeze) so well. I did a trial run in the pool on Wednesday, and he didn't seem to mind - the jacket fits well and keeps him afloat, and he didn't panic doing the float-alone. He sure did have a kung-fu grip on the front straps though, and his eyeballs stayed glued to mine. Sooooo we ventured out on Dan's beautiful new boat on Thursday afternoon (day off for the guys) after a lovely family (Dan, Jess, Freddie, Shants, and the Brinkman trio) dinner of lasagna, salad, garlic bread, wine, lemonade and fruit tart for dessert (yumdelish) up at Dan's cottage. The guys were happy to cast their lines and catch a few fish, and Hendrik fussed and then fell asleep, all cuddled up in mommy's arms - awwwww. And then - here comes the not so fabulous part - we came home to water dripping through the ceiling in our furnace room - uggggh. And not just a little bit - a lot bit. There's a fair amount of water damage, but seeing as how it was late and the drip was slowing every so slightly, we decided to deal with it in the morning. A longer story short, people came, cut holes in ceiling, and the room is now being dehumidified in plastic isolation. The furnace has to be taken apart (boo) so that a crew can get at the ceiling - the bulk of the water damage is just above the main furnace vent, so no one can really get at it unless things are dismantled. Initially I was stressed, but it's fixable and I think that it's the responsibility of the builder to fix and finance sooooo hopefully the crew can find the source and get everything fixed up properly.

from directly below - the damage seeping out up behind the furnace vent - yuck

and a taped off furnace room

And lastly (this is becoming not so short - woops), my mom and dad and Steve's mom and dad are coming to visit soon! Woop! They're all making their way out yonder to see us, yes of course, but too, to see some Pan Am Cup men's volleyball action. The tourney gets underway on Monday afternoon with a showdown against Puerto Rico, so yoohoo, it should be good. I'm sure Steve is excited about some game action, as he hasn't played in a game since last... May? Eep, that's a while. And that makes more than one of us that can't wait to see Team Canada take the floor!

a tiger!

So I've kind of been wanting to talk about the TIGER that now lives in our apartment, ever since he (or she?) showed up on Friday. Out of suitcase number three came this tiger - the tiger that came to Gati-oui - chaperoned all the way from Denver by Karin and Claire. For real. It's the kind of stuffed animal that almost looks real, and it has a look in its eye that says at night I wake up and prowl around. Eep. I'm closing that door in my imagination....

high fives!
grrrrrr don't even think about taking this remote away from me!


This panthera tigris is big. It's a big big big cat - and well, to be frank, no one was really sure where to put it exactly; our place isn't teeny, but it is just a bit small for such a large beast. Whatever, anyways, he was/is a hit. Steve was scared - okay, not scared but startled for sure - when he walked in after practice and came face to face with it (think The Hangover, but suburban and stuffed), and Hendrik, well, he was as bemused and observant as always. So yeah, it was a big hit - we just need to figure out where he'll live.

The visit was great - I think I've got most of it covered. On Friday night we had dinner - here? Yup, dinner was here. Zella and Elspeth came for bbq'd chicken, potato salad and a super yummy appetizer concocted by Karin - bruschetta with avocado, yummmms. We were thinking of going out, but before we knew it it was late and no one really wanted to cab downtown just to cab back an hour or two later. Soooo yeah! It was awesome, so good to see my sisters and it just made me wish that they lived closer. Karin and I both agreed that if we could have a superpower it would be the ability to teleport - as long as I could bring my two honeys along with me. I mean really, could I ever leave this behind?

goooooood times

Our great great-aunt Hope :)

Soooo our apartment is still mess-central and I'm only now beginning to think of the list I'm going to make: fold laundry (two loads), go grocery shopping, order meat from Aubrey's (the only groupon I've ever bought), tidy tidy tidy the mess mess mess. I could be way more specific but I won't bore you... onwards we go with Sister Weekend Part Two. Karin and Claire rolled in around 8:30 on Thursday night after a long trip - Denver to ? to Buffalo in the air-plane, and then Buffalo-Ottawa in the car... ugh. But they were happy to be here and the three of us were super happy to see them too, but of course! Hendrik was asleep but we all peeked in and ooh-ed, and his adorable little sleeping self made us all smile. We sat around chatting, had some food and then literally got our hands dirty with ... jewelry. My great-aunt Hope who passed away a few months ago was a great collector of things (she was great at mucho, but especially great at finding a place for everything), and among those things that got passed on to the Osberg girls was a portion of her jewelry. My sister Sarah took the task upon herself of dividing the bedazzles into two parts: potentially valuable and full-on costume, and it was all amazing. I feel like I want to describe the contents - the earrings and badges and brooches and the assortment of necklaces and bracelets and pins - but I'm not sure that I'm capable. It ranged from ooh-ahh beautiful to weird and wonderful ("is this a necklace or a Christmas ornament?"), and there was everything in between too. We laid everything out on the table, and with wine in hand, went through it all, picking and choosing for ourselves and for each other. We remembered pieces she'd worn and thought about the stories - the tales behind and in each of these things. It was fun, and by the time we'd made our way through the two boxes, all three of us were exhausted. To bed, where we all slept soundly.

my goods of choice

We had lofty plans to head into Ottawa on Saturday, but time ran too quickly - so we stayed put in Gatineau (Gati-oui). We checked out the team's training centre, ran some errands, did some dinner prep and then met up with Steve just in time to make it to the Chelsea Pub for lunch before hunger knocked down the door. Yum yum - we had a delicious lunch and enjoyed the sun and summery breezes on the patio. More to come manana, it's time for bed.