Pumpkin carving with Baby J

Happy Hallowe'en!

Baby J spent her first Hallowe'en helping Mommy carve a pumpkin.

We started with a pumpkin from k-town


We spilled its guts


About this time Baby J decided she just really wasn't all that into pumpkin carving


But I finished it...it's not too fancy and I tried to make it very happy because I had a very short window of time to carve it and we didn't want to scare Baby J!


And we put it on the balcony where we hope the people in the cars on the street could see it.


No trick or treating kids for us this year...that was one advantage the blue house had over the lyons' den!

The Flying Troutmans

I actually finished reading a book! I love books, but since Baby J was born, other, more important things have been occupying my time. Rebecca lent me The Flying Troutmans and I read it, slowly, but surely over about seven weeks. I never take seven weeks to read a book!

Now, it wasn't the only thing I've been reading. What to Expect the First Year lives close by at all times and I'm well versed in Welcome Song for Baby, Hug, Guess How Much I Love You and others.

It was good and I'd recommend it. I told Rebecca that if she ever decided she needed to take Baby J on a road trip because I had gone a bit nuts and Alex had moved to a tent city on the California/Mexico border, to at least please make sure the car wasn't going to break down any second after she left.

On to the next book...I wonder how long it will take me to get through that (I'm not sure what the next book will be...suggestions are welcome...)

Our Civic Duty

For the second time in just over two weeks, we voted. Not that my vote made much of a difference, but I did vote, so I can complain all I want (or not) about our federal and provincial governments.

I could complain about the cost of both of these elections (one general, one a by-election in our riding), but there's no point.

We of course took Baby J with us when it was time to vote. I remember being very little and going with my parents when they voted. They explained how everyone's vote was private and it could be a secret and you didn't have to share it with anyone, not your mom or dad or sister or brother or husband or wife or child or neighbour. That was why they had to go in a little curtained box to vote. So it would stay a secret. Or you could share your secret if you wanted. But it was up to you. And they explained how important it is for everyone to vote. And because of that, I have voted in every election since I turned 18. We figure while Baby J won't remember these elections (we're back at the polls in just over two weeks and again in six months!), if we start early, hopefully she'll understand the importance of her vote too!

Too early!

I saw my first Christmas ad of the year on TV today...it was well done and it wasn't until the very end that the product being advertised was mentioned, but I was in a bit of shock when I heard Silent Night coming from my tv...two MONTHS before Christmas.

Now, I love Christmas, but really, this is a bit early!

Postcrossing revisited

Two years ago, TWO years ago! I posted something about Postcrossing, fully thinking I'd sign up and try it out.

Yeah, it took two years for me to get on that one. Two years. Almost to the day.

But I did it. My first postcards are in the mail and we'll see what happens.

I bet you didn't know that

• there are over 70,000 users in 191 countries
• over 1.5 million postcards have been received because of Postcrossing
• average postcard travelling time is just over 15 days
• the US has the most users (not surprising) followed by Finland and Germany
• Finland has sent more postcards than any other country! Yes, Finland!

You can find out other facts on the website.

So that means in about a month I should receive the first of my postcards. Oh my, is this destined to be another one of my obsessions? Good thing I have Baby J to occupy most of my time!! I'll keep you posted!

As promised

A few weeks ago I posted some pictures of the Lyons' Den before we moved in...now, as promised here is the Lyons' Den today...I don't have a picture of our bedroom - it needs some unpacking still - or our bathroom which looks pretty much like the original picture - and as you can see, Baby J's room looks more like a storage room than a nursery. It will come, in time. My dad and Alex are going to install some shelving in our bedroom this weekend to house our books and most of the boxes in Baby J's room appear to be books. (October 27 EDITOR'S NOTE: Shelving was not installed...key items like brackets to fasten shelves to wall, stud finder and step ladder were missing.)

Baby J's bathroom

eating area

balcony off eating area with K-town veggies

kitchen

living room

more living room

Just to prove to myself how far we've come since we moved in:

living room after moving in

dining room after moving in

living room and dining room after moving in

Baby J's room (yes, yes it does look like storage at this time! check back soon for an updated view of this particular space)

from the bedrooms to the front door

One day, one day soon we hope, we will have a built-in shelving unit/buffet where the bookcase and baker's rack are there on the left and the kitchen cart will be leaving too. Oh, and the walls, the walls will be some other colour!

Oh my, oh my, oh my

Rebecca and I entertained ourselves with this for a bit yesterday...until Sarah Palin's voice drove us nuts. AND she killed Bambi.

If only our boring election had had a bit of this kind of entertainment...

Three-generation Italian Thanksgiving

That's what we had, Italian Thanksgiving complete with loud talking, lots of yummy food, hand talking, and confetti...and here, representing the three generations, are three small branches of the Zinio family tree.

Little Voice

No, not that Little Voice, Baby J's little voice.

She has recently discovered she can "talk" and often instead of waking up from her first morning nap and her afternoon nap yelling to be fed, we hear a little voice coming from Baby J's room. There is a mobile over her bed and she spends a good 15 - 20 minutes talking to the teddies hanging from the mobile. She still wakes up yelling from her second morning nap, but that's probably because it's usually lunch time and she's hungry!

Friendly neighbours

Over the past few years I've had some great people living in my neighbourhood (or maybe I was living in their neighbourhood?). In any case, from Harmony and Tom down the road, to Peggy and Craig across the alley on 11th and at the Hobbit Hole, to Team Hard Core in various locations, to our upstairs and downstairs neighbours, K and R, in the Blue House, we've totally lucked out. Now, well, good neighbours are following us to this neighbourhood too...

Yay Mulvijohns who will be living a whole five blocks away!

But she can also sleep!

After Tuesday's performance, I wasn't sure what to expect from Baby J yesterday when we went to the doctor for the six week check up or today when I went to our weekly parent and infants group.

Um, yeah, so she slept, in the snuggly, all the way to the doctor's office, through most of the visit (waking only to eat), and all the way home.

And today, well, I was the only mommy who didn't have a baby to play with cause mine, yup, she was sleeping. Soundly. Even when five or six of the other babies started protesting group tummy time, in unison. And some other poor mommy, she had the baby that wailed through the whole thing...poor little guy was rather unhappy about something...

And last night, last night Baby J went seven full hours between feedings! Yay sleep!!