working on the baby's room

With 7 weeks to go (oh my god), we're finally getting stuff done in the baby's room.

I took some pictures of the room to share (cause I know you're all curious)!

We bought plain dark brown curtains that block out the light when closed and I added patchwork materials on the bottom that match with the baby's comforter.

I need a few more small stuffed animals to add to the top shelf (I've already got the books)

So far we've been incredibly blessed and have managed to acquire most nursery items second hand from family and friends. Given how quickly baby stuff adds up, this is a huge bonus, especially for an eco mama like me who really wants to minimize our carbon footprint whenever possible.

I covered the lampshade with matching fabric. It's not perfect but it'll do.

We did splurge on some cheap Ikea frames, photos, and shelves (don't get me started on how much, particularly as a pregnant lady, I loath shopping in Ikea). We're going to use the shelves to put up some books and stuffed animals and we have 5 mini frames with colourful animal prints to go on the other walls. The photos are actually a great score because they help bring in some of our mismatched elements (ie, non owl elements) into the room (monkeys and sheep).

 I'd like to find a nice rug to add to the center of the room, but so far we haven't found anything that really fits and doesn't cost a fortune. But we'll keep looking.

random pregnancy fact #230

I'm finding it really hard to make peace with this, but slowly but surely I'm learning to accept that my pregnant body has very different limits than my normal body does.

Throughout my pregnancy breathing has been an issue for me. As early as mid November (when I thought I was fighting a cold), I've felt congested  and easily out of breath. Talking and going up a flight of stairs would really wind me. Hell, talking and walking down the hallway with colleagues was something that would start my breathing into overdrive.

As I move further along in my pregnancy (namely my 3rd trimester) my out of breathedness has moved into epic proportions. If I have to go up and down the stairs in the house, I'm completely out of breath now. Forget trying to go to the basement and then the 2nd floor. It's a recipe for disaster. The irony of it is, is that I can go to Aquafit and do the prenatal exercise and be relatively fine so it's not an out of shape thing. It's just a pregnant thing.

Suffice to say Paul has had to learn to walk a lot slower when we're out and about. I'm one of those slow walkers now. My fast walking nature is finding this to be a kick in ego to say the least. I can't wait to be able to walk normally again, you have no idea!

I've also had to accept that I just can't stand or do as much as I used to without paying the price for it. Painting, sanding a cradle or shopping for a few hours now causes my hips and back to ache for hours (if not days when I don't take care of myself properly) afterwards. I feel like a complete whiny baby for this fact. 4 hours of walking/shopping should not make me want to cry in pain at the end of the day. But it kind of does now. And I'll be honest, I find this very hard to deal with.

Thankfully I'm starting to wise up a bit about these things. I'm learning that if I have pain like this, it means I must sleep with a pillow between my legs that night to help ease the pain. If I don't, forget about it. Just standing up in the morning is the horrendous pain inducing exercise.

That said, and all whininess aside, I have a new found appreciation for all the difficulties that pregnant women  complain about. I'll be honest, I just didn't understand before. I mean, I knew that the baby caused back pain but I never imagined that it could be so bad. I knew that the belly became awkward and had heard the stories about not being able to tie your shoes, but now I finally get why this is the case (although I can do this still, albeit with a bit of strain and out of breathedness).

And more importantly, aside from learning to be kinder to my body, I've come to appreciate how wonderfully my body works in its normal state.

Random Pregnancy Fact #217

Being sick, sucks!

Being sick when pregnant, sucks ass!

Being REALLY sick when pregnant is like the worst thing ever! Why you ask? Because it's a treacherous combination of illness and hormones that conspires to bring out the worst in you. It's all a wanting to whine and cry at the same time type of deal. And it ain't pretty.

At this point, every time I blow my very raw nose or start hacking up a lung, there's a voice inside of me saying "why me?" while my eyes water over (both from the sensitive eyes/nose blowing and the desire to cry). I'm not handling things gracefully or stoically at the moment (which freaks me out when I think of my current whiny self handling labour)! 

Suffice to say, I'm throwing myself a dang good pity party right now!

On the other hand, if it weren't so sad, it would be kind of funny. I'm sure there's a comedian out there that could turn this shit into a good comedy routine.

I'm just saying.

It's not me, but someone could!

On a brighter note: today marks week 31, which means that we're officially in the single digits. Only 9 more weeks to go!

saturday brunches, art galleries, and gentrification

In case you haven't caught on to the trend lately, I'm really trying to make the time to do as many cultural things as I can before Bean arrives.

Last weekend, despite being sick, Paul and I headed for brunch at the Griffintown Cafe before finally making it to see Arsenal's exhibit, Like Thunder out of China.

Tee Hee... sneaking iPhone photos in when he doesn't know it!

I'd heard about the exhibit in February on the CBC and was really intrigued by the subject. All of the artists are Chinese and banned (from what I understood) in China because their art is subversive and political in nature. 

I won't claim to have understood all of the references in the works, but overall they were really interesting. Plus, the Gallery did a lovely job of creating captions for each piece to help viewers contextualize the work more. 

I was a bit surprised that they did this as it breaks into the viewer's interpretation and is a bit heavy handed with imposing the artist's intention, but honestly, I also really appreciated it! Sometimes it's nice to be able to interpret art for yourself, but other times, it's just awesome to see what the artist intended and then go from there, especially when you're less familiar with the cultural context of the work!

Another interesting thing to note, is that the Gallery in question is a shared space between 3 galleries. When we first drove up to it, coming via the back way because we didn't realize that we could access it via Notre Dame, the building stands out from it's neighbouring factories, and it immense with much of the space still left vacant. Apparently it was an old boat building warehouse. Having first lived down the street from the area in question, it constantly fascinates me to see how gentrification is changing the neighbourhood. 

We also ventured upstairs to visit the other exhibits and Paul was particularly fascinated with one exhibit in the Division Gallery.

Overall, I'm really pleased that we finally made it to the Gallery. It was a fun art excursion and a cheap afternoon out (entrance was a suggested donation of $5/person).

Next up... hopefully... is a literary adventure and revisiting of my love of all things lit geekery!

One Little Word Updates

This year I wanted story to be the word that I focused on, and I have been, but I haven't been great about sharing it. Ironic, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah...

In February we were prompted to make a collage, which I did but in an extra large format that wouldn't fit into my album, so I made this to document the process in said album:

March's prompt was a little less flashy and I honestly wasn't that interested in it, so I put it off and did it retroactively instead of pursuing it through the month. It looks like this:

April was more visually interesting, using a photo collage and words that capture my story right now:

Some of the elements are directly linked to my monthly goals, some are just stories that happened during this month (or in March).

I wanted to do some new things before Bean arrives, some of them have included:

• Seeing Rollerderby
• Making soap at home (which put me out of my comfort zone because I was nervous about doing it)
• Seeing a play

•  and various other little things

Overall, despite falling off the bandwagon in March and most of April, I still managed to make story a part of my daily life. Sweet!

Random Pregnancy Fact #210

I've been noticing it for a while now, but Bean definitely has a schedule. It's cool but freaky all at the same time.

In the mornings he's pretty quiet as I putter around. I'm told that his is pretty normal because my movements will lull him to sleep and I tend to be most active in the morning.

In the afternoon however, Bean is a busy little guy. Starting around 2:30 or 3pm (right when I tend to hit my energy wall... Oh how I wish I lived in a country with siestas), Bean gets busy.

He calms down again and stays quiet until around 6:30-7pm. Then he's super active and kicks up a storm.

The rest of the day is a bit hit and miss, with no absolute pattern that I've noticed yet.

What really intrigues me however, is whether or not he'll carry the same sort of sleep pattern when he's out and about in the world. It'd be pretty amazing if he did.

And truth be told, as I start to notice said patterns, it starts to feel so much more real that he's a human being with a mind of his own, habits of his own, and will have his own little personality.

Totally amazing. Just amazing. That's all.