t-ONE DAY!!

Still no baby! Even the intensity of watching Avatar in 3D at IMAX wasn't enough to coax him out... though it was enough for me to feel seriously overwhelmed for a few solid hours after the show ended. What an awesome movie - I loved it! But the metaphors and lessons and parallels overwhelmed me, and so did the beauty of the blue people and their culture and their planet; last night I even dreamt that I was one of them, living on Pandora. The special effects were incrrredible - I'd love to watch a how-it-was-made deal... it won most of the Academy awards last year, no? Anyways, in retrospect it may have been a little too intense for me, but I'm glad that I saw it on the big BIG screen. I wonder how superSteve felt about it, with all of the noise; probably none too happy.

Soooooo it looks like the little guy will be here by December 7th, at the very latest. If nothing gets going before then, that's my induction day - eeeek! Eek. It's still a ways away, and we're both super excited to meet him, so hopefully it happens before then... wait wait, waiting waiting. And sleeping sleeping. No other baby news really; I'm feeling good, and am definitely not at the get this thing out of me stage... yet. We are both getting more and more excited about meeting him, and that's the only real hook that is pulling the days forward and by.

Okay, projects. I saw something like this on a design blog a few months ago (I might have blogged about it... I think), and we finally put it together ourselves. It was, for the most part, a one-person job, so Steve was all over it - with the super glue and staple gun and man tools... arrr. SO! We finally have something up on our wall! A year later - incredible. It looks great though, and we love it; it's easy to change the pics too - we just don't have so many vertical photos, which isn't a bad thing, since it made the task of choosing pics a whole lot easier. So, voila.




Also voila, pics of the delicious roasted red pepper soup that I made the other day; it was SO good, and so good with corn bread (said with very twangy southern accent). The corn bread recipe was gleaned from allrecipes.com and was decent, but not amazing... I don't think it will be my go-to corn bread (accent) formula - I'll have to keep looking. (Or does anyone have a good recipe? Light and not too sweet?) The soup recipe follows.... YUM.

ROASTED RED PEPPER SOUP, C/O MARG!

1 oz. sun dried tomatoes, about 8 pieces (do not use the oil-packed variety) - I did!

soak in warm water for an hour.

4 large red bell pepper

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)

1 large potato, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cup)

3 cloves garlic

1 carton chicken stock (or vegetable stock for vegetarian option)

1/4 cup milk

3 Tbsp butter

Cayenne or hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste

1 Cut the red peppers in half and take out the seeds. Roast by placing skin side up on baking sheet and bake in 425 oven for about 25 min...the skins will start to blacken. Place the blackened peppers in a bag, close the bag and let the peppers steam for 10-15 minutes, or until the skins feel like they can easily be slipped off. Remove the peppers from the bag, peel off the blackened skins. Chop the peppers roughly.
2 Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes and cook another 1-2 minutes, then add the garlic and roasted peppers. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes.
3 Add the stock, stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium heat until potatoes are soft.
4 Purée the soup in a blender/hand blender or food processor until very smooth. Fill the blender about halfway with the soup. Start the blender on low and keep your hand on the top, in case the lid wants to pop off from the rising steam. Once everything is well chopped, turn the blender to its highest setting and blend until smooth, about 1 minute. You might need to do this in batches.
5 Return to pot set over low heat. Add the milk, stir well and taste. Add some cayenne or hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste.
Serves 4-6.

Next time I will double it up for SURE. Delicious.

decor and more

It's 13 and sunny out, and there's no way that I should be inside right now on the computer. Snow and cold are both on their way to stay, so I must must must get outside and enjoy the weather while I can. BUT... I did want to blog about the fact that I'm 39 weeks pregnant with 4 - or 14 - days to go (!!), and post some pics of our latest decor project. It's funny that the most decorated and put together room in the house is our second bedroom, which is tripling as office, guest room and baby room. We are working on getting things up on the walls elsewhere in the apartment, but the focus has definitely been on that second room. So! Here are some pics of Sunday morning's project, with completed room pics to come.





And now that the conference is over and my volunteer stint at CAC has come to a close, I'm sort of wondering what to do with myself. I can aaaaalways come up with things, but as far as having something structured(ish) that involves working or volunteering outside the house... I got nothing. And I know that it would be silly to look for something now, since the bean could come any day. So I suppose I'll stick to projects around here, read (The Elegance of the Hedgehog and The Art of Racing in the Rain are up next), and ?? I have lists, and there's always something to do. I'm just so curious - when is he going to arrive, and what will it be like?!

(Steve just pointed out that it is -9 in Vancouver (what?!) and -29 in Calgary; it is 30 degrees warmer here than in Calgary... 30!!!!)

busy?

Woops! Six days since I last blogged? And one week until the due date?! Eeeeeesh! Time is flying. I don't think I've been too busy to blog, but the past week has held a schedule almost as inflated as my belly. On Wednesday night I spoke in front of a few hundred people at the Ottawa Fusion Volleyball Club's opening night, which was not on fun-par with, say, going down a waterslide, but, well, I enjoyed myself. Isn't it strange, that, at least for most people, getting up in front of a large crowd is a source of anxiety, nerves and general uncomfortableness? I wasn't too nervous or apprehensive or anything, and I feel that the message I can send to younger athletes by talking about my/our sport experiences is worth a few steps out of my comfort zone. So yes, it was a few steps out of my comfort zone, but nothing major. And then since Thursday I've been helping out at the annual Sport Leadership conference, which has, for the most part, been fabulous. I've been in charge of session management - making sure presenters have what they need, that gifts are distributed, blah blah blah - which involves basically sitting in a room, directing volunteers and managing problems when they arise. This equals some short bursts of flurried activity and demand amid long days of near nothingness. So, boredom, sort of. But! I had Mme Ramotswe and all of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series characters to keep me company, and I can't really complain about that. This morning someone took over my post so that I could attend a session - one session! - and it was great: Advancing the Canadian Sport System: Investigating Critical Issues, run by Roger Jackson, the former CEO of Own the Podium. And now, I'm back in the room at my post, with a few hours of conference to go.

There is so much great dialogue here, so many questions about our sport systems and how we can make things better across the board; it's a great networking opportunity too, that is, unfortunately, almost completely lost on me since here I sit in this room. But, lots of seeds have been planted and ideas and questions and to-google lists formed with thoughts of a potential future or at least involvement in sport administration. I will always want to coach, but there are so many ways to contribute and make sport in Canada better... it's a dynamic and exciting field. With lots of potential. Ramble ramble ramble. And that's all I've got for now - back to my volunteerjob!

12 days...

Can you see me can you see me? Right, I know... if it weren't for the belly. Only 12 days left until the due date - eeek! I can't believe it. But I think we're ready, and I'm mentally ready (I think) for the wheels to start turning any time.

We had a great weekend with visitors from all the way down yonder in Bowmanville: Bob and Marg arrived Friday and left this afternoon. There were plans on the table and things to do, and most - or all? - of it is finished! Project one was to put a counter on top of the washer and dryer in the laundry room AND to raise an existing shelf a few feet to increase storage space and give ourselves a place to hang non-dryer items. I had zero involvement in this project, and actually wasn't even that interested in giving input... other than good job good job keep it up and making lunch, which, I suppose, is a very important sort of input. Project number two was to get curtains hemmed and up, and sadly, I didn't have much to do with that either. We'd searched high and low (something my mom would say) for red curtains... red ones, and all we could find were burgundy drapes that might fit perfectly in a mahogany study or with droopy heavy furniture. BUT! When Marg and Bob were south of the border last week Bob spotted these perfectly fire engine red curtains at Target; I mean of course they have to have red curtains at Target! So Marg worked her magic and hemmed, and I ironed, and the room is slowly looking much more put together. More put together than any other room in the house I might add... but anyways. It was a productive weekend, and we had some great meals and enjoyed good company - hurray. And now it's back to me and Steve and the little time that's left before the new addition arrives. We are trying to sponge up these days, and take advantage of this just the two of us time... we know that it's in short supply. We are, however, getting more and more excited to meet this little one, and the question now is - when? When when when?

serious self-control...

I have exercised such major restraint in buying (er, or, in not buying) for baby that I'm kind of - no, I AM - amazed; I never have this much self control. And there's cute baby stuff everywhere. And a lot of it is affordable, so I can see how a little overboard turns into a lot overboard with all of the little things adding up, which, I suppose they're doing anyways. We've had a pile of very generous pass-ons and gifts from friends and family, and, like I said, have somehow managed to not go bananas over the non-stop-cute. Clothes and blankets are in drawers, a few packs of diapers are stashed, and the few books that we have are on the lovely shelf that Steve put up on a whim - it looks fabulous. So the clothes have been one thing that I've really resisted buying (since we don't really know how big he's going to be - more on that in a sec), and the other item, I suppose, are books. Books books books, anyone who knows me knows I love books, and I especially love children's books... so that self-control is even more commendable. Part of me wants to hit the second hand stores and library sales and go berserk, but the practical-Polly side of me is saying nooooooo, Christmas is coming up and you can buy stuff later. Later later later. The necessities now, and the nons later; plus, what's the likelihood of us being able to read Good Night Moon to the little guy in the first few weeks? The answer to that question I really don't know. Hm, google maybe. When do you start reading to them? And when can I give him his first soft book? Eeeeee... so exciting.


Two other things before I get back to dinner on the stove. First: at my doctor's appointment today they finally gave me the results from the growth ultrasound that was done two weeks ago, and the little guy weighed in at 2.641 kgs (5.8 pounds) - 52nd percentile. So, will he be an average-sized baby or long and skinny? Hmmmm, we'll have to wait and see. Secondly: I am back to Alexander McCall Smith and I LOVE his writing. This one, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, is, for some reason, extra enjoyable... the stories, the tone, the people, they are all so delightful. And with that, I'm back to the pot of potatoes.

37 weeks!!!!!

Christmas stuff is out and all over the place, and for the first time in a while, I actually don't mind! I think I'd be annoyed if jingly jangly Rudolph music was playing in every store I walked into, but as far as the decorations and the hints at get-ready-for-this-season soon, I like it. Anyways, so I'm 37 weeks pregnant (!!!), and still feeling good. I signed up for an email newsletter from babycentre.ca (it usually just gets deleted) which tells me this week that I "may be getting huge, and increasingly impatient" - I know that I'm lucky that I'm feeling neither of these things. And on that note, I have a funny story. So I went to see my GP the other day, just to check up and see when I need to make appointments post-partum, ask a few questions etc. I think when I made the appointment I said it was with regard to pregnancy (vague), so when I walked in and was asked for a urine sample, I didn't really think twice. Well, it turns out that the receptionist thought that I was there because I wanted a pregnancy TEST and not because I'm 37 weeks in...!! Very flattering, yes, but I'm not that small. Maybe she didn't have her glasses on, or she thought my fitted sweatshirt was just bunchy in the wrong places... who knows. But as a friend pointed out, this is a way better side of the fence to err on than the mega foot in the mouth alternative; now that would be embarrassing.

Are we any closer to being organized and ready? Mmmmm yes. My hospital bag is sort of half packed, and most of the need-to-haves are around, here and there. We went to Ikea yesterday to return and pick up a few things, and on our way out I had a small coffee and sort of (but not really) shared a cinnamon bun (sooooo yummy) with Steve. Has anyone else ever had the coffee from Ikea? Because I'm not sure if it's to blame, but on our way home we stopped at Solutions, a ridiculous storage and organization store, and at first I felt fine; lots of cool organizing knick knacks and things and boxes and you get the picture. And then - I don't really know what happened, and whether or not it was the coffee or the pregnancy or whether or not I was totally thrown off my game because I swear Jessica Simpson was in the store - I could not handle being in there any more. I was overwhelmed to the MAX... incapable of making a decision, incapable of absorbing or managing the ridiculous amount of storage solutions for any and every space in any room imaginable. It was like quicksand... organizer quicksand, and I almost lost all ability to function... it was sooooooooo weird. So we got out and by the time we were at dinner an hour later, I felt more or less back to normal. It was, however, after a mild laughing attack in Pharmaprix because the toothless french lady behind us in line thought we were from England, and that perhaps that was why Steve was so tall - giggle attack. Anyways, strange. And today we're getting stuff crossed off the list: install car seat, set up futon (again), put stuff up on walls (finally) and more. And with that, I better go and help with these things. Until next time!

winter wear

Winter time is solidly on the in. Mornings are consistently frosty, and flannel pyjamas are OUT. I'm saying it's too early for flannel sheets... but not by a long shot. We've had the fireplace on and the heat too now and then, sooooo the time is coming. The first snow came this past weekend, and with mucho gusto; we came out of Scotiabank place to a blanketed, snow-covered parking lot, and I drove home in a blizzard-white flurry frenzy. It didn't last long, and the past few days have been sunny and lovely, but cold early and late.



And now we can say that we're due this month (November 27)... !! I'm super curious whether or not he'll be a November or a December baby, but there's no way to know... so we'll just keep on keeping on and try to get as close to ready as we can. He's been moving a LOT... like father (and mother) like son - it feels like he's playing vb in there some days. Even though I still don't feel overly humongous, the belly is getting more cumbersome; getting out of bed and out of slumped-in-the-couch requires a little more effort, and maybe a bit of the side-roller move... which definitely makes me feel like a big pregnant lady. I'm in lulus and leggings all the time and overall still feel pretty good! Lucky me, I know. Though we still have a few weeks to go, so I am aware that I may bust out of this profile soon.

In my flannels... just over 36 weeks :)