[Blogspot appears to have swallowed the original version of this post, so I am reposting it today, even though I wrote the whole thing last week. Sigh]
Just a quick one to summarize some of the events of the last week. We seem to be pretty busy lately, and I keep meaning to sit down and write a good post (I have a few running around in my head), but it might have to wait...
In health news, FIL started his radiation therapy, and so far things seem to be going ok. He hasn't started losing his hair or anything like that, and it doesn't seem to affect him physically too much. He's made of strong stuff, that's for sure. We're hoping to go visit him one of the weekends in November (can't believe October is almost over!), so that should be nice. We'll see how well I handle a trip to London ON in the third trimester ;)
In other health news MIL got her gallbladder out. Sounds like she did very well, was in and out pretty quickly and handled the anesthesia very well. It'll be nice for her not to have the gallbladder attacks anymore, as those seemed to be really painful and disruptive.
In other news, we finally acquired a crib on the weekend. I'd been looking in the classifieds for months now, without much luck. I was getting a little worried that I wouldn't find one until December or something, when I'll be too awkward to assemble it ;) But finally I found the right crib at the right price, It's all white, so it will fit with the rest of the furniture no problem, It's in pieces in the garage right now, and hopefully we can get a chance to assemble it this weekend. I've also acquired a rocking chair, to hopefully help with the feeding and putting baby to sleep (I'm hoping it will go to sleep at some point :S). So the baby room is finally taking shape :)
On the weekend we've also spent some time cleaning up the Probe to get it into showable state. We've posted it for sale, we'll see if we get any interest. It's hard to say goodbye, but we sure don't need three cars! That would be a little silly.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
New addition to the family
Well, this week we've finalized the new vehicle purchase. Yes, DH's new toy (new to us, although it is 8 years old) has been purchased, imported, modified, tested and finally plated. It's a 1999 BMW Z3 coupe, one of only 400-some built, or so tells me DH. Here's what it looks like:
It's taken a little while to deal with all the paperwork and bureaucracy, but now it's here and it's registered in DH's name. I have one happy hubby on my hands :)
Of course with my ever expanding belly, it is getting harder and harder to get in or out of the tiny little coupe. But I have to admit it is a lot of fun to drive (and be driven in). And not completely impractical - last night DH managed to bring a mattress back from the store in it. And not strapped to the roof, it fit nicely inside.
Since it's a two-seater, we will not be putting an infant car seat inside. In fact, we'll probably never put any kind of child seat in it. It's really a commuter car for DH. After all, it's fun to drive and fuel efficient and easy to park, what else would one look for in a commuter car?
It's taken a little while to deal with all the paperwork and bureaucracy, but now it's here and it's registered in DH's name. I have one happy hubby on my hands :)
Of course with my ever expanding belly, it is getting harder and harder to get in or out of the tiny little coupe. But I have to admit it is a lot of fun to drive (and be driven in). And not completely impractical - last night DH managed to bring a mattress back from the store in it. And not strapped to the roof, it fit nicely inside.
Since it's a two-seater, we will not be putting an infant car seat inside. In fact, we'll probably never put any kind of child seat in it. It's really a commuter car for DH. After all, it's fun to drive and fuel efficient and easy to park, what else would one look for in a commuter car?
Saturday, October 13, 2007
No GD!
So I got my glucose test done this week. The news is good: no need to worry about gestational diabetes. However, they checked my blood for other stuff too at the same time, and it appears I need more iron. So I am supposed to take some kind of supplement to replenish my iron, as the baby is supposed to intensify the iron demands, which will basically be taken from my reserves, meaning I will be heading for anemia. At least it was caught early, so I don't have too much to worry about (just take the supplement).
Other than that, not much else is new. Well, we got our new couch delivered yesterday, it looks scrumptuous. The colour is chocolate, although depending on the light it can look many shades of gray-brown, from mocha to cafe-au-lait to dark chocolate. We need to rearrange the living room now, because this is a big sectional and it takes a lot of space. But it's quite exciting. Once the living room is setup, I will post some pics.
I'm also intensifying my search for baby stuff. Mainly the crib and maybe a changing table. I have a lead on a few rocking chairs, I will be taking a look at this weekend. I've picked up a few more bath accessories, so things are slowly falling into place. Well, except I still have no idea about the whole car seat/stroller/transportation system business. I really have to look into it, but the myriad of choices and exorbitant prices have really scared me off so far... Hopefully December will not be too late for me to look into it. I figure once work is done, I'll be able to better concentrate on big purchasing decisions like that (though I might be totally off on that one...)
Other than that, not much else is new. Well, we got our new couch delivered yesterday, it looks scrumptuous. The colour is chocolate, although depending on the light it can look many shades of gray-brown, from mocha to cafe-au-lait to dark chocolate. We need to rearrange the living room now, because this is a big sectional and it takes a lot of space. But it's quite exciting. Once the living room is setup, I will post some pics.
I'm also intensifying my search for baby stuff. Mainly the crib and maybe a changing table. I have a lead on a few rocking chairs, I will be taking a look at this weekend. I've picked up a few more bath accessories, so things are slowly falling into place. Well, except I still have no idea about the whole car seat/stroller/transportation system business. I really have to look into it, but the myriad of choices and exorbitant prices have really scared me off so far... Hopefully December will not be too late for me to look into it. I figure once work is done, I'll be able to better concentrate on big purchasing decisions like that (though I might be totally off on that one...)
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Long weekend already over?
Another long weekend went by in the blink of an eye... But boy have we been busy! Friday we picked up the new (to us) car at the US border. All that's left now is a mountain of paperwork and checks, and we should be able to register the car in Ontario, and then we can breathe a sigh of relief. Importing a car from the US is not for the faint of heart, although truth be told, so far it couldn't have gone more smoothly.
Saturday we had a Thanksgiving dinner at our friends'. It's a tradition thing, they've been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the group for years. As always, I was tasked with bringing a vegan entree, and this time I went mediterranean, with a 7-veggie couscous. In the end, I think it was more like 10 veggies, but who's counting? It turned out pretty yummy if I may say so. Not that hard to make either, it just requires a whole bunch of different spices (most of which were luckily already in my spice rack). Dinner was great, as always, it's nice to get together with the gang. Our friends' 6 year old is getting really excited at the prospect of having a new little friend to play with in the next few months, and she's so sweet to me (well, mostly my belly).
Sunday, DH's sister and her husband were in town, so we went out for breakfast. After that, they came over to our place, where we hung out for a while. Then my parents arrived, and we hung out some more. It was nice to have some family time, especially since DH's family and mine rarely get the opportunity to meet! We got to admire BIL's brand new tattoo. The consensus amongst the ladies was that the tattoo was a bit over the top, while guys thought it was cool :) Apparently, what originally started as a design of a simple maple leaf had over the years grown to include a very colourful (and faithful) reproduction of BIL's beloved motorcycle with a maple leaf in the background. He does seem pretty happy with it, though, so the pain (and nagging from the wife and other female relatives) must have been worth it. I really hope DH never decides to get a tattoo, as I have no good reasons to ask him not to other than "I'm not crazy about them".
After DH's relatives left, we worked outside for a bit, and then had another huge turkey dinner. It felt a little sparse with just the four of us, both of my sisters being very busy in Montreal. But the food was good, and the evening went by in a flash. We concluded the festivities with a viewing of the night's episode of "Laflaque" and "Tout le monde en parle", two shows my Mom likes to watch on Sunday evenings.
Monday was very busy again! The weather turned out pretty nice, despite all the predictions of rain, so my parents decided to stick around and do some more outside chores. We now have a huge pile of wood to burn this winter (yay!). DH was very busy trying to get over a cold he's had on and off for the last two weeks. Unfortunately, he's still not completely healthy, but at least he got a chance to rest a bit and even catch a few Zzzz's. We concluded the weekend by watching a few more episodes of "Wild Palms", a miniseries from the early 90's that DH picked up recently. The action takes place in 2007, and it's interesting to see how many political parallels one might find to the current situation in the US. Of course the miniseries is sci-fi, so a lot of stuff is a little over the top, but quite a few things were predicted (guessed?) right.
And now it's back to work. Counting down to the next weekend ;)
Saturday we had a Thanksgiving dinner at our friends'. It's a tradition thing, they've been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the group for years. As always, I was tasked with bringing a vegan entree, and this time I went mediterranean, with a 7-veggie couscous. In the end, I think it was more like 10 veggies, but who's counting? It turned out pretty yummy if I may say so. Not that hard to make either, it just requires a whole bunch of different spices (most of which were luckily already in my spice rack). Dinner was great, as always, it's nice to get together with the gang. Our friends' 6 year old is getting really excited at the prospect of having a new little friend to play with in the next few months, and she's so sweet to me (well, mostly my belly).
Sunday, DH's sister and her husband were in town, so we went out for breakfast. After that, they came over to our place, where we hung out for a while. Then my parents arrived, and we hung out some more. It was nice to have some family time, especially since DH's family and mine rarely get the opportunity to meet! We got to admire BIL's brand new tattoo. The consensus amongst the ladies was that the tattoo was a bit over the top, while guys thought it was cool :) Apparently, what originally started as a design of a simple maple leaf had over the years grown to include a very colourful (and faithful) reproduction of BIL's beloved motorcycle with a maple leaf in the background. He does seem pretty happy with it, though, so the pain (and nagging from the wife and other female relatives) must have been worth it. I really hope DH never decides to get a tattoo, as I have no good reasons to ask him not to other than "I'm not crazy about them".
After DH's relatives left, we worked outside for a bit, and then had another huge turkey dinner. It felt a little sparse with just the four of us, both of my sisters being very busy in Montreal. But the food was good, and the evening went by in a flash. We concluded the festivities with a viewing of the night's episode of "Laflaque" and "Tout le monde en parle", two shows my Mom likes to watch on Sunday evenings.
Monday was very busy again! The weather turned out pretty nice, despite all the predictions of rain, so my parents decided to stick around and do some more outside chores. We now have a huge pile of wood to burn this winter (yay!). DH was very busy trying to get over a cold he's had on and off for the last two weeks. Unfortunately, he's still not completely healthy, but at least he got a chance to rest a bit and even catch a few Zzzz's. We concluded the weekend by watching a few more episodes of "Wild Palms", a miniseries from the early 90's that DH picked up recently. The action takes place in 2007, and it's interesting to see how many political parallels one might find to the current situation in the US. Of course the miniseries is sci-fi, so a lot of stuff is a little over the top, but quite a few things were predicted (guessed?) right.
And now it's back to work. Counting down to the next weekend ;)
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Not so good news
Yesterday, we finally got the results of the biopsy of FIL's brain tumor. We had been under the impression that it was not malignant, because it hadn't grown much over the last 2 years of MRIs and Cat scans he's been getting. Well, it turns out we were wrong. He's got grade 2 astrocytoma, also called diffuse astrocytoma, which means it has tentacles that extend into the brain (and look remarkably like brain matter). So even though the surgery was a success, and the seizures are gone, FIL is not out of the woods. The whole tumor cannot be removed, so his only option at this point is chemotherapy.
As far as we can tell, he's in good spirits at this point, getting ready for the new treatments. We'll have to go visit him soon, while I can still handle the eight hour drive one way. So far I've been good with cars, but I don't want to assume that it will be as easy once the third trimester officially kicks in... SIL will be in town this weekend, so we will be getting more specific news straight from the source (she met with the oncologist). Apparently with the chemo treatment, they expect FIL to be free of seizures for the next 5-10 years (that's if everything goes well).
The really sad thing is that DH's brother's wife's Dad has brain cancer as well, and has been fighting it for the last few years. He's been doing pretty well, and has far outlived any of the predictions that had been made, but he's still alternating between chemo and surgeries. My two nieces and nephew have two grandfathers with brain cancer :( That's just no fun!
So that's the depressing news of the day. I've been trying to come up with some good news to end the blog on a sunnier note, but my head is still a little cloudy from a cold I caught earlier this week (I guess the fact that I'm getting over the cold is good news)...
As far as we can tell, he's in good spirits at this point, getting ready for the new treatments. We'll have to go visit him soon, while I can still handle the eight hour drive one way. So far I've been good with cars, but I don't want to assume that it will be as easy once the third trimester officially kicks in... SIL will be in town this weekend, so we will be getting more specific news straight from the source (she met with the oncologist). Apparently with the chemo treatment, they expect FIL to be free of seizures for the next 5-10 years (that's if everything goes well).
The really sad thing is that DH's brother's wife's Dad has brain cancer as well, and has been fighting it for the last few years. He's been doing pretty well, and has far outlived any of the predictions that had been made, but he's still alternating between chemo and surgeries. My two nieces and nephew have two grandfathers with brain cancer :( That's just no fun!
So that's the depressing news of the day. I've been trying to come up with some good news to end the blog on a sunnier note, but my head is still a little cloudy from a cold I caught earlier this week (I guess the fact that I'm getting over the cold is good news)...
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