Author Archives: Nicole

P365 Day 96 – April 5th 2008

A Good Day.

Kei was gone all day on Saturday for a training course so Thomas and I had a chance to spend the day together. He was in a great mood and we had a fantastic time together. We started at the optometrist where Thomas amused himself for a whole hour while I had my eyes tested. He started by checking out the contents of his backpack ( a few books, toys etc. that we chose before we left the house) and then he moved on to “arranging” all the magazines.

Next up – coffee (for me) and a muffin (for him) at Peet’s. We just sat and shared the muffin while we enjoyed each others’ company. Then it was on to the mall where we made it just in time for story hour at Barnes & Noble. They read this great kids book that we ended up buying on the way out.

Ran a few more errands – Clinique gift time at Macys, some stuff for Mum’s impending visit and some new shoes for Thomas (pictured above). Then it was home for a well deserved nap (for both of us).

The best part – I felt completely in the moment. I really miss our Wednesday’s together so it was wonderful to make the most of this opportunity to spend some time with my boy. I realize time with just the two of us is going to be harder and harder to find in just a few weeks so I am cherishing these moments while we have them.

Oh, and the cutest comment of the day? Thomas was sitting in his stroller with his hand on his face. I asked him if he was tired and he looked at me and said “No. I’m just thinking”. Sometimes I can’t believe he has only been on this planet for 2 and a half years.

P365 Day 95 – April 4th 2008

The long walk home.

Kei and I both walked to pick Thomas up from daycare on Friday and I finally found out why it usually takes them so long to get home. There is a park between daycare and home and it seems Thomas almost always wants to walk through the park on the way home. And when I say “walk through” I actually mean run, jump and play on the gazebo (apparently its a pirate ship) for a VERY long time before checking out the baseball diamond and picking up every rock he can find. Yes, it was a LONG walk home.

Intermission

I will be back a little later today to catch up on P365 but in the meantime check out my post on the Lauren Reid CT blog.

And because I HAVE to include a picture – here’s a little bit of Zen to help bring some calm to your Monday morning.

Photobucket

Nicole

P365 Day 94 – April 3rd 2008

Action shot. Thomas started getting a little restless while we were finishing dinner last night so Kei challenged him to run from one end of the courtyard at the restaurant to the other until we left. Don’t worry – we were the only people sitting outside. We’re not THOSE parents. 🙂

Thomas woke up at 5:30 this morning (!) and got really upset when Kei told him to go back to bed because it was too early. He told us he had a bad dream about Sesame Street…(hmmm) so he jumped into our bed and proceeded to wriggle and squirm for the next hour until we decided to get up. Of course he was all the way on my side of the bed but at least Kei got some more sleep… I am not resentful, really!

We have rooms..and a roof!

And just before the rain started again.

We also have walls. You can’t see them from this photo but they have put up all the framing – walls and all. It is so exciting to be able to see just where all the rooms, doors and closets will be. Kei and I are already thinking about furniture placement (premature, I know) and Thomas loves walking around pointing everything out to us.

We are actually a week or so ahead of schedule which is also great news. Now if only they could catch up on a couple more months then this renovation might beat the baby’s arrival. I know it’s highly unlikely but a girl can dream can’t she?

And one more new thing…silence. Thomas and I have become used to the banging that starts every morning at about 7:30am – 30 minutes before we walk out the door. But this morning…nothing. The construction workers were there but I guess they were outside discussing what they were going to do next because it was blissfully quiet. So much so in fact that when I had to run back inside to grab something before we left I was almost scared to death by one of the guys coming in the back door.

Thomas has come to enjoy saying hi and bye to “the guys”, as he calls them, every day. He is especially attached to Miguel who has been with us since day one. The unfortunate thing is that poor Miguel gets blamed for all the noise. Every time there is a loud banging from upstairs Thomas says “Is that Miguel?” I think he’ll miss them all when they’re gone.

P365 Day 93 – April 2nd 2008

Me and my additional appendage. Thomas has become more and more clingy lately. My friend Laurie warned me that this happened with her son as her belly began getting bigger and bigger. I think Thomas is beginning to realize that this baby is coming soon. He is very excited about it but at the same time starting to understand that it won’t be all about him any more.

The other night Kei had a picture on his computer of a cross section of a belly where you could see how the baby was positioned. He was telling Thomas that it was a picture of our baby and that he was in mummy’s belly just like that. After we looked at that for a while Thomas said “I don’t want any more pictures of the baby. I want to see pictures of Thomas. I want to see pictures of ME.” This is going to be interesting…

Blocked

I am feeling a little stalled creatively. Weeks of overtiredness and overwork have taken their toll on  my (Gasp!)scrapbooking. I am just not feeling inspired and don’t feel like I have the time to get inspired. I have dozens of idea books, scrapping mags and galleries to browse and I just can’t bring myself to do it right now.

To be honest I think part of the reason is that I need a new subject. Don’t get me wrong, I love Thomas and all but I feel like 2 years on the same topic (albeit, many different stories) is starting to take a toll. Maybe it’s the impending arrival of this baby. I have so many ideas going through my head about how to scrap brand new baby pictures as well as how Thomas responds to being a big brother, that I am having trouble focusing on the right now.

And did I say that I am tired?

Nevertheless, I did manage to scrap a couple of LOs in the past week. Not sure how I feel about this first one. It was for a sketch challenge on the Jen Wilson blog and I don’t think I would have chosen this sketch to begin with. The good news is that it pushed me out of my comfort zone and I did manage to scrap a story that I have wanted to record for some time.

I really like this next one using Dani Mogstad and Manda Bean’s Very Merry Unbirthday. It’s a very girly kit but I fell in love with some of the patterned papers, many of which are great for boys too. You can actually see where my creativity stalled. Check out the inventive title (haha).

LOVE the colours though and that photo is too cute. You can click on the images for full credits.

So there is my tale of woe for this week. To be honest I think I just need a good night’s sleep to revitilize. Oh, that’s right. There’s unlikely to be a good night’s sleep anywhere in my immediate future… OK then, I’ll settle for a block of good belgian chocolate and a couple of hours on the couch watching first runs of my fav TV shows. (Note to self: substitute wine for chocolate after the baby is born).

Ahhh – feeling better just thinking about it. 🙂

P365 Day 92 – April 1st 2008

Thomas was just about to jump into bed when I realized that I had not taken my photo of the day. This was the face he made for me to memorialize the moment. He then asked to look at the photo immediately. Guess he was checking out his handy work. 🙂

I also took a ophoto of the house – first day without the big blue tarp yippee. Roof should be going on by the end of the week or early next. Also relieved to see that they flattened out the mud pit in the back yard. Now we have no excuses – have to get it looking nice by the end of the summer.

P365 Day 91 – March 31st 2008

Came home to the smell of freshly cut timber permeating the house. Much nicer than the dusty smell of demolition. I had to include two photos today – my artsy one above and this one I captured of Thomas and Kei enjoying a Father/Son moment in the construction site. Thomas likes going up there to check on the progress and remind us which room is which. “Here’s the closet, here’s the shower, here’s my room” etc.

Random Weirdness

  1. Generally feeling a little weird about work. I am in that strange transitional period between being very busy and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel which is my 4.5 month maternity leave. A few recent developments have got me thinking about my career and where it is going (and how I can get there more quickly).
  2. Also feeling weird about the fact that I just scheduled the birth of my second child… down to the hour. 10am Monday May 19th. I always imagined myself having a natural childbirth (well, as natural as possible with as many drugs as I can legally take), but my doctor was pretty convincing (not pushy – just convincing) about the dangers associated with a vaginal birth after a c-section. Thomas’ c-section was not planned – in fact quite the opposite. Very much a last minute decision. The good news is that I won’t have to experience the “excitement” of his birth. I can do without that type of excitement.
  3. Weird dreams – dreamt I was flying from Melbourne to far North Queensland (Australia) with Thomas. The weird part is that we had to transfer about 5 times to get there. THEN I missed one of my flights but luckily made it just in time for a better, more direct flight. Woke up just as I reached my destination. Anyone want to decipher that one for me?
  4. Mental retention – Have had a song in my head for about three days thanks to Eli Stone. Seriously love that show and not JUST because they share my appreciation for George Michael. Yes, the secret is out and I am NOT ashamed to admit it. I still remember my first George-related experience. I must have been in year 7 or 8 at High School and I remember seeing a big sign (printed on a dot matrix printer) and posted above the year 12 common room door that said simply “I Want Your Sex”. I went to a very liberal high school for the first couple of years of my life…

Anyway, this is the song in my head… And don’t worry, it’s not “I want your sex”.

 Thanks for letting me share.