Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Quiet Before the Storm

I just spent 20 minutes on my deck reading a magazine. In the quiet. In the sunshine.

It was fabulous.

It hasn't happened once in the past 2.5 years.

And it probably won't happen again for some time.

I'm working from home this week, my last week of work before officially going on (a working) maternity leave. Cramps and sleepless nights last week made me realize that I needed to slow down and this seemed like a great compromise.

And the timing couldn't have been better since yesterday's doctor's visit left me with the knowledge that I am 2.5cm and 70% effaced. So the minute those contractions start up, off to the hospital I go. Good thing its only five minutes away.

So I'm calling this week the quiet before the storm. Wrapping up work, getting organized pre-baby (cells for life, bag packed...) and unfortunately still showing our house. We have an approved offer on our condo but have to wait until Friday for the financing to come through. And the owners of the house we want to buy are on vacation until Saturday so nothing is happening on that end either.

It's quiet.

But in a matter of days (hopefully) or weeks, there will be a new baby in the house, a sold sign on the lawn and the task of packing boxes.

Ya, I think I'll end this post here and go back outside. Just a few more minutes...

Monday, September 12, 2011

This Week's Winners and Losers

A bunch of mom-related things came my way this week and I thought I'd highlight the best and worst of them.

The Best:

A special shout out to D for passing this along.

This designer creates one free children's illustration per day.
On the day that the illustration is released it is free to download and print as you like.
After 24 hrs the image can be purchased for a nominal fee ($4.99)

Best of all, each week has a theme (last week's was back to school) so you can download photos that work together in a montage.

Here are just a few examples:



The Worst:

This one came in via A-List Mom.

They are calling it the Ultimate Tantrum Tammer but if you ask me its going a bit too far.

It's called the iLatch. Invented by a mom, its a special iPad case that can be attached to your stroller to play movies for your little one while you walk around. What ever happened to the great outdoors? Watching the world as it goes by and lulling themselves into a non-electronic sleep is what strollers and strolling is for...no?

They do show it being used in a car which is a fantastic idea, but putting it in a playpen or on a kitchen cabinet seems a bit much to me.

What do you think?

Have you spotted anything you think is a mom-must or absolutely shocker? Feel free to share!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Memories in the Making

At the early hour of 8am tomorrow morning our family will be assembling in Westmount's Murry Hill park with a slew of wardrobe changes for a family photoshoot.

Some may find it strange that we're taking photos just weeks before baby #2 makes his/her debut but we wanted to savour just one more moment of being a family of 3 (plus 1 furry tailed friend).

And, selfishly I also wanted some belly shots to remember being pregnant (as I have a feeling this will be my 2nd and last time sporting a belly).

Montreal seems to have been invaded with some very talented photographers including renowned maternity photographer Mellanie D. Her work is amazing. You look at her bump shots and see sexiness all over them. And while I have written about her in the past, her rates are unfortunately slightly out of my league.

We lucked out for our wedding by having an amazing photographer who provided us with a high-res CD of all of our images, so paying for prints is a bit of a foreign concept.

So was I ever thrilled to discover Ella Photography. While not a maternity/newborn photographer her style and portfolio have just the look we are going for. Kids, pets, families....outdoor smiles.

Here are just a few of my favourites that I hope we can replicate:





So hopefully the weather will be on our side tomorrow as we have already rescheduled once thanks to hurricane Irene.

As soon as we see some proofs I'll be certain to share!