Catch up (warning - looooooong post)

Wow - I realize how long overdue this post is - I will try my best to rehash the last month and a bit as efficiently as possible, but since we all know how long-winded I can be, this post will probably be a long one (maybe I'll time an intermission for you in the middle). So let's get started...

Week of August 20th
This was our 'moving' week! Seth took Friday off work and left (with our kitties) to Kingston on Thurs night in a cargo van to pick up all our stuff that had been sitting in various parentals' houses for a few years now (yikes)... that includes all our wedding gifts, some furniture and other odds and ends. So while I was at work on Friday, Seth spent the day loading and unloading the cargo van into our new house (with his parents' help of course!). That night had dinner at the Firkin (how we will miss you faithful pub!) and made an early night of it....because the next day was moving day!

The movers showed up right on time (1pm) and had managed to finish the job by 5pm - 4 hours including the travel time - not a bad experience for our first time using movers. Joe the Mover - highly recommended by friends of ours, now highly recommended by us - they were fabulous to work with. So there we were, surrounded by random piles of furniture and boxes, with absolutely no motivation to begin unpacking whatsoever - I mean, we still weren't going to be living here for another week, why start now, right?

Instead, we hitched it on over to our new neighbours - Greg & Liz - where they were just wrapping up a painting party (that's what you officially call it when you rope 6 of your closest friends into helping you paint almost every room in your house - in ONE day!) ... the BBQ was set up and we all enjoyed a few frosty beverages outside that evening. We spent that night in our new house - bunking down on a mattress on the ground - and headed back to the city on Sunday.

Week of August 27th
My last official week at work - and our week of 'camping out' in the apartment. It was an extremely hectic week at work - ridiculously hectic for me, but worth it in the end. Coming home to the apartment night after night - sleeping on an air mattress when 8-odd months pregnant wasn't the wisest decision in the world. It made for a bit of a challenge in the sleep department - and definitely made the anticipation of moving to our new house sweet indeed.

That Friday, after everything was wrapped up at work, we had a few hours to pack up the rest of our belongings and vacate the apartment. I thought we had left ourselves only a few key essentials, but when it came to packing up, we realized that we had kept A LOT of unnecessary items behind, that now had to be stuffed into a mini-van and moved to Brooklin. Good thing our dear dear friends Greg & Liz had agreed to stop by and help us with the move - we wouldn't have been able to do it without them.

Saturday saw poor Seth heading to work, while I started the process of unpacking and trying to sort through the absolute piles of boxes we had stacked in every room. I kind of wish I had taken some before pictures, because you really would believe that a couple that lived in a small 1 bedroom apartment for 5 years could accumulate so much junk - well, let me tell you, it is somehow possible.

Anyway - lucky for us, my mom was coming to visit for the week and lend a helping hand to the unpacking process. She showed up early Saturday afternoon and we started tackling the kitchen right away. That night we popped over to Greg & Liz's - they were already completely unpacked after only a few days (yes, how impossibly unfair is that?), and we enjoyed some BBQ dinner while Seth headed into the T-dot to visit with a friend that was in town from out west.

Sunday was a 'chore' day - Seth got to clean all the carpets while Mom and I continued working on unpacking the kitchen. Sounds like it shouldn't take as long as it did - but there were a lot of things to unpack, re-pack (old appliances that we were boxing up for a garage sale), sort through and/or throw away. The mountain of boxes in the middle of the kitchen floor was slowly but surely dwindling away.

Week of September 3rd
Not really much to say about this week - Seth had to work (obviously) and I spent the week with my Mom unpacking and shopping for odds and ends for the new house (why do you always realize that you need so much stuff when you move?). Luckily (for mom and I) we didn't kill each other - heck, we didn't even argue all that much! And on Thursday of that week she got to join me at the doctor's office while I got my last ultrasound - that was cool for her to get to see - and lil miss V was doing just fine according to the ultrasound tech.

On Friday, Debbie & Shorty arrived for the weekend - our first week there and already hosting a full house of guests! Saturday was spent with everyone chipping in and helping us get even more unpacked - finally our main floor looked relatively organized - still work to do, but the mountains of boxes were gone (or hidden!) - which was great. Saturday night we found a nearby butcher and got some shish-ka-bobs to grill up - made for a tasty dinner, but also an early night with such a heavy meal on our stomachs (and the manual labour everyone did all day long).

Sunday was the day of the baby shower - being hosted for me by my good friend Liz - it was a blast. She had 2 hilarious games - one dirty diaper/guess the melted chocolate bar game that you have to see to believe, and one that managed to start lil miss V's shoe closet off to a great (cute) start - really well thought out and I think I can say that everyone had an amazing time. Of course the gifts were outrageously adorable and generous - really a big shout out to Liz for organizing that whole thing - it was great.

Week of September 10th
Not much to say about this week - Tuesday I went into work for a day to help with training of the new person taking over some of my duties while I'm off - she's settling in nicely and I think will be a great addition to the team. It was weird going into work for the day though - I still miss it, but after only a week already felt so strange - weird.

Seth left on Tuesday to head to Niagara Falls for the week for work - and that weekend was his 'Fins, Skins + All Ins' weekend that is hosted at Greg's cottage annually - so don't ask me too much about what he was up to that weekend - but I can guess there was some drinking and 'male bonding' involved - haha.

I spent the weekend painting the nursery - which was nice to finally get done - and when Seth got home on Sunday we finally put the crib together. I've posted some pics so you can see the end result (still need to hang some pictures for some frames I bought on the walls - but you get the picture)...


Week of September 17th
Not much to say about this week - it was our last prenatal class - and 2 of our classmates had already had their babies! Made me think that it must be coming soon for us, clearly I was wrong!

We had planned on having a BBQ on the Saturday night to have a few friends over to see the house set up and done - it was good motivation to get everything done and organized (to an extent - there's still patch work that needs to be done on the walls of each room etc, but at least things are put away or hidden in the basement by this point!).

It was great to finally get a chance to host a BBQ of our own after way too many years of not being able to do so - and everyone had lovely things to say about our house, which was nice - it was great to see everyone.

Week of September 24th
If you had asked me, I thought this was definitely the week that the baby would be arriving - clearly I would have been wrong - but after rushing around getting everything organized the week before, there wasn't a tonne for me to do, except sit and wait for the labour pains to start.

I think I did start to 'nest' though, as on Saturday morning I made a chocolate cheesecake from scratch for a friend's birthday we were going to that night. Doesn't sound like much to some of you out there - but for me, this was a feat of domestication - and I was quite proud of the outcome! Saturday night we spent at Greg & Liz's house for a lovely birthday dinner and some gaming (Clue Master Detective - a retro game that has become a fan favourite).

Sunday was spent lounging on the couch watching football (Seth) and out to lunch with a girlfriend and some final shopping (Sara).

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Wow - that finally brings us to this week - which has been spent cooking on my part (freezing meals in prep of a time when we'll have none - time, that is) and doing some light cleaning, trying to get things going. I can't believe that Thanksgiving may come and go and I haven't popped yet. I honestly thought I would be early, although as my mother would say, "Sara, you haven't been early for anything in your life, why would you think you would start now" - wishful thinking I guess.

I can tell you that I've been having cramps for the past couple of days - but nothing that would qualify as 'labour'. But it's funny - women talk about the last couple of days being very 'uncomfortable' - I always thought they just meant because they were a huge lumbering elephant by that point. Apparently 'uncomfortable' is just polite-women-speak for 'constant pain' - yep, that's right - I'm laying down the truth - it's crampy and tiring and gross feeling. I take the 'uncomfortable' and raise you a 'miserable as hell'... kidding - well, not really. I think it's also the anticipation - like you know it's going to be hard and hurt and etc., and you just want to get it over with.

Oh yeah, and of course we're looking forward to finally meeting her - and I know you all are too - thanks for all the calls and 'check-ins' - you'll be first to know when she finally decides to make her way into the world... Leaving you all with a pic of my belly as it looked just a couple of weeks ago - I don't think I've gotten any bigger since then, so this is the best reference of my elephantism that you're going to get...

Will try to get back to a more regular routine of updates as of next week - love to you all...

S&S

Too fast

Not much to say about this weekend for us - but as I promised to be better at posting on a regular (weekly) basis, I'll give you a mini-update...

This Wed we picked up our keys for the house - so we are 'officially' homeowners! We also started our prenatal classes on Wed. They are....well, exactly what you expect. I'm sure we'll learn a few things though and hey, if anything makes us feel more prepared - well, all the better!

Friday night we grabbed some dinner and headed up to our new house to take a closer look around and just spend some time up there. Fun, but a long drive to and from for just a couple of hours.

Saturday Seth had to work in the morning and then headed to Greg's for his annual football draft get together with the boys. I stayed close to home, packing and actually chilling out on the couch for most of the day as I wasn't really feeling all that hot.

Sunday I finished our packing (literally everything we could possibly not use in the next 2 weeks is now packed away in a box). Seth got home by noon-ish, helped with a bit of packing and took a nap for most of the afternoon (get togethers with the boys are always so tiring...).

After he got up, we walked up Yonge St in search of dinner - stopped at a Mexican restaurant and ate on their back patio - it was a nice anniversary dinner (yup - 2 years as of Sunday - where have they gone?).

That's it really - low key weekend not quite as productive as I had hoped (as I brought some work home from the office that I didn't even open) ... next weekend is moving day - so it will be busy - and then a week later we 'officially' leave our apt forever... exciting stuff.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend - we'll post another update soon!

S&S

Pack it up!

After that novel of a post to catch everyone up to the last month, there's not much more to say ... but in the effort of staying on top of my posts and not having to sit down for another hour to recap the past month + a half, I will try...

On Thursday afternoon this week, we met with the lawyer to sign our lives away. Seriously - no one tells you how many bloody papers you sign when you buy a house - it had to be over 20 signatures. Of interest - apparently the property we just bought comes with some by-laws to 'keep the integrity of the neighbourhood' ... including not being allowed to cut down any trees that are growing on our lot (not that we would - but makes me wonder about whether you're allowed to plant more trees?), and very specific requirements re: the type of fence we're allowed to have - in essence, they state no 'chain-link' fences allowed. Not that this really affects us either - we have a fence and it's to the specified height etc., but interesting to know regardless - apparently everyone in Brooklin needs a bit more privacy than a chain link fence would provide.

So now we've signed all the papers, given them our cheque (that was for more money than I've ever put on a cheque before) - we get our keys on Wednesday of this week! This Wed is also the first day of our prenatal classes - so yeah, we couldn't be busier that day if we tried. It will be tiring and I kind of wish that we could put off the picking up of the keys until Thursday - but I guess we have to go do an inspection of the house to make sure that everything is as it should be - and that needs to happen on the day of change in ownership.

This weekend was pretty quiet for us - Friday saw Seth hitting the Slayer / Marilyn Manson concert (yes, he's a rocker), while I went for a girls night out with some colleagues. Needless to say, I beat Seth home, and then he had to get up and go to work in the morning - although he didn't appear to be suffering from too bad of a hangover.

While Seth was toiling away at work, I was packing up the last of our boxes here - I keep feeling like I'm 'almost' done packing, and then I fill another 2 or 3 boxes - it's really shocking just how much stuff we have. I'm really not looking forward to the unpacking process now.

Seth got home early afternoon and went straight to bed for a nap, while I took myself out to Mt Pleasant for a well-deserved pedicure - it was nice! I got home, Seth got up and we walked up to the Rogers store to rent a couple of DVDs and then hit a patio for some dinner before heading home to watch the Number 23 (not great - but not as bad as I heard it was).

Today we got up relatively early and packed some more (yes, I actually got Seth involved - shocker!) - and now he's ensconced on the couch to watch some pre-season football games he PVRd while I write this post. The rest of the day is going to involve a bit more packing (I'm determined to get everything that can possibly be packed done today, so next weekend is less stressful than I expect it will be) - and for Seth - watching lots of football.

So that's it - the only other update I have for you all is that the sprog is continuing to be active and wiggle and kick her way up into my ribcage. Makes for some uncomfortable moments while I sit at my desk - really looking forward to being done with work now, not sure how some people work right up until the end - I'd love to be done now, but know these next 3 weeks will fly by.

Oh and I almost forgot - on Wednesday night I was surprised by some girlfriends with a tiny baby shower - it was adorable. Two of my good girlfriends weren't able to make the shower that's happening in September, so they (along with Liz) decided to get together and throw me a surprise shower. There was munchies, we ordered pizza and there was cake! It was absolutely perfect and adorable - I am a lucky girl that's for sure!

So that's all for now - love to you all - S&S.

Where to start?

I guess tardy is an understatement when it comes to explaining the lateness of this post. I will try my best to recap the past month for you all ... including pics as I can along the way...

June 30 - July 2 weekend
So the weekend after this last post was the Canada Day long weekend and we were fortunate enough to be invited up to our friend Greg's family cottage. We arrived late on Friday night and everyone was already seated around the kitchen table playing poker (shocking!). So we sat down, and I (not Seth - haha) actually got down to final 3 - of course I had no business being final 3, not even sure how it happened myself, and I was quickly outed at that point. That's okay - it was bedtime anyways.

The boys got up ridiculously early that morning to go fishing - I mean BEFORE the birds early - not sure how they did it. Liz and I were up around 8-ish and because the sun wasn't really shining, we decided to head into Trenton to hit up Old Navy for a bathing suit (for me) and some breakfast. Both objectives were met - I finally had a preggo bathing suit and our bellies were full by the time we made it back to Brighton. We stopped and picked up some sunscreen and groceries - all in prep for a lovely, sunny long weekend!

Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with our plans - and it remained pretty overcast and chilly for the rest of the weekend. I didn't get to try out my bathing suit or my chair floaty (boo!). And the word "tan" was stricken from our vocabulary. As was "fish" for the boys - they didn't do so well out there. On the upside of the weekend though - lots of yummy food, always fun Sequence competition, and rediscovering the board game "Clue" (although this version was Master Detective - impossible to find in a toy store now, as it was a limited edition, but the best version of Clue you have ever played). Good times had by all - with the exception of the drive back on Monday - that was a nightmare, took over 3 hours when should take only half that - oh well, that's the price you pay for getting out of the city for the long weekend.

July 6-8 weekend
The following weekend saw us travelling again. This time to Kingston on Friday night for a quick stopover, before continuing on to Carp (Ottawa-area) for a wedding on Saturday.

We got into Kingston quite late on Friday night and went straight to bed (staying at Sara's mom's house) - up early on Saturday morning we spent it sitting outside enjoying the sunshine on the back deck. After a yummy lunch of perch fillets, we were on our way to Carp.

The drive took us through more small towns than I could count - and it was so winding that it constantly felt like we were backtracking, but after a lovely 2-1/2 hours we finally made it! Just in time for a quick visit with Seth's parents + Nana, time for Seth to jump in the shower and for us to don our dress-up clothes. I got so lucky that friends have had to attend weddings pg before me, that I had a lovely black dress that I borrowed. The v-neck was a little more scandalous than what I'm used to showing off, but the accordion pleated skirt was adorable (and also succeeded in making me look like a bit of a house)!

The wedding was for Seth's Uncle Kenny + his (now) wife, Yvonne. It was a lovely ceremony and great reception - lots of family, everyone having a great time, hilarious speeches and shenanigans by Kenny's son, Jessie, and delicious munchies (yes, it's the food that keeps me going people). By about midnight though, I really felt like I was turning into a pumpkin, so dragged everyone home with me.

The next morning we were up early again and not feeling so great - hit the road before noon and decided to take the 'scenic' route home - Hwy 7 all the way to Peterborough. A few quick stops for fresh blueberries and a chip wagon, and we were home in a mere 5 hours - ha! That's okay - it was nicer than taking the 401 all the way and we got to stop in at Grandma Cronk's farm in Mountain Grove so I could show Seth around a bit.

The next morning I woke up with a terrible stomach flu (I know it was some kind of bug, but I still blame the wild blueberries) - I was sick for 2 days, with only ice-chips to ease my stomach issues - wasn't fun and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

July 13-15 weekend
Luckily for us, while the weddings continued, our weekend traveling didn't have to. This weekend we were attending the wedding for one of Seth's cousins - but because it was in Oshawa, we didn't have very far to drive!

Saturday morning poor Seth had to work - but I was up early too - heading up to Brooklin as our current house owners were having a big garage sale and I wanted to check it out (and drop off the cheque for the leather couch we were buying from them). I picked up Greg & Liz on the way and we were there by 10-ish, but unfortunately the suburbanites get up super early, so practically everything had already been sold. Oh well - we got the leather couch and that was clearly the best item up for grabs! Although would've been nice to snag the chiminea (sp? little outdoor fireplace thing) for $10 before one of the neighbours did - oh well.

Then Saturday afternoon it was off to Oshawa for the wedding - another beautiful ceremony and we got to see a few friends from high school that we hadn't seen in a very long time. The reception was a few hours later at a nearby hall - delicious food (and LOTS of it!) and open bar (how unfair that I had to be pg through that!) ... all in all a great night and looks like they will be a very happy couple.

The Sunday after the wedding, we headed back into Oshawa to have breakfast with Seth's parents, took them on a tour of Brooklin (since we were so close by) and then ended up doing a bunch of furniture shopping in Whitby. Seth had his heart set on a king size bed, but I've brought him back down to the reality of budgets and basic room size.

July 20-22 weekend
This next weekend we had kept open as we knew after 3 weeks of planned weekend, we needed one just to recuperate. Seth had a baseball tournament, but also had to work the Sat morning, so he wasn't able to attend all of the games. Instead we headed out furniture shopping (again!) - trying to see if we could find any better deals at the outlets. Not sure if you've shopped for bedroom furniture lately, but unless you're willing to drop a bucketload of cash, you cannot find very many bedroom sets that are even reasonable in the price/quality continuum.

After getting no where pretty quickly, we headed home for the night - renting a couple of movies and getting some munchies to have a quiet night in. Seth decided to take a 'nap' when we got home (5pm) and ended up sleeping until 11pm - I actually woke him up by getting into bed to go to sleep for the night. Needless to say, he was up super early Sunday morning, but that was okay as we had to get up early for his 9am baseball game (last game of the tournament) - grabbed some breakfast and headed down to the field. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur - I don't think we did much of anything (I may have packed a bit).

July 27-29 weekend
Our last (planned) travel of the summer - we were heading out on Saturday morning to my Dad's cottage (just north of Kingston).

We did have plans to go out on Friday night with Ryan, who was in from Ottawa for the weekend, but unfortunately I got the call that evening the my Grandma Cronk had passed away - it was a bit of a surprise, even though she was 90, so wasn't really in the socializing mood that night.

Saturday morning we headed out and hit some crazy traffic and it ended up taking us over 3 hours to get there - not fun. It was great when we finally got there though - there was all sorts of family that I hadn't seen in a long time, we got to go out on the boat for a tour around the lake and again, there was all sorts of yummy food! And they all decided to surprise us with a mountain of presents for little baby V - a TONNE of newborn outfits, some blankets (one homemade quilt that is so sweet), a baby bath and some other diapers + wipes and goodies. Really, we got spoiled - it was so nice, but I almost started blubbering like an idiot (pg hormones strike again!) ... managed not to embarrass myself too much I think.

Sunday morning we were all up pretty early and had a light breakfast before heading out in the boat for some light fishing - Seth finally broke his unlucky streak and caught two small-mouth bass - although sadly one of the fish swallowed his lure and ended up dead - poor guy. We were back on the road by 1pm as Seth had two baseball games back-to-back starting at 5 - we didn't have time to go home, so I had the chance to sit and watch some baseball, relaxing in the shade.

Aug 3-5 weekend
For what is normally the long weekend for most folks, is just a regular weekend for me, as I don't get Monday off (Civic holiday isn't a stat holiday) ... yes that makes me a little bitter, but also means that we don't have to fight traffic on the Monday back from whatever cottage we would have been at.

Instead we had a quiet night on Friday, and headed out on Saturday morning to do some more furniture shopping (have we finally made a decision yet, you ask? Well, yes we have - and proud to say that we are going to get close to 40% off the total price - that's what shopping around, and connections, gets you!). We also hit Costco to get our membership cards activated (we're now officially suburbanites, before we move even!) + then we headed over to a friend's new house on the east side of the city. They've downgraded in mortgage value, but upgraded from a house perspective - it's crazy what a few kilometres outside of the city will get you in added value - just nutz.

After the grand house tour (including raiding their backyard blackberry bush for some treats - yes, they have a blackberry bush in their backyard - so jealous), we headed around the corner to another friend's house for a Sat night bbq. It was nice just sitting around, shooting the shit for several hours, and the food - well, let's just say, I've been spoiled for food this summer. Banana & cherry chocolate burritos were served for desert if that gives you any idea.

Sunday was spent cleaning (for Seth) and packing (for me). I would say we now have about 80% of our non-essential items packed - just a bit more to go, and we're ready for the movers in a few weeks.

This week we meet with the lawyer to sign all the paperwork (and hand over the certified cheques), and in a week and a half the house is ours! I can't believe we're finally getting to this point. House poor, but happy - feels like we've been waiting for this forever.

Well, that was a short novel - I promise I won't leave it so long again in the future. Have a good week everyone - I'll leave you with a pic of my belly (a few week's ago, when I was 28 wks - I'm even bigger now I think) ... love to you all.

S&S

3D ultrasound weekend!

Well, we finally got to do the 3D ultrasound that we tried to do several weeks ago - it was pretty amazing. I'm not sure how to really describe it - the time flew and Seth and I were enthralled the entire time. They give you a DVD of the entire 30 minutes you're in the office, as well as a CD of a tonne of still shots - which is a great keepsake.

And we finally found out - it's a GIRL! We're both super excited - I thought Seth was holding out for a boy, but turns out I'm wrong - and he's already talking about how much he's going to spoil his little girl.

Not much else to say - it was a fab summer weekend - Seth was in a baseball tournament all weekend, went to a friend's bbq on Sat night - all in all, spent most of the weekend outside, which is always nice.

I'll leave you with a few shots of out little princess... :)

A little fist and partial view of her face

And a better view of her face + chubby cheeks (that black thing in front is the umbilical cord)

Have a great week everyone - next weekend is a long weekend - enjoy as much as we will!

S&S

A very cool feeling

This week was a bit of a milestone for us as Seth got to finally feel the baby kick from the outside! It was last night (Sunday), and I'd been feeling the kicks growing stronger, so I put my hand on my stomach and you could definitely feel it and see the stomach move! So I called Seth over and told him to poke right in that spot - and the response he got was a solid kick - pretty cool really.

Overall, we had a great weekend. Friday night was spent cleaning, which doesn't really sound like fun, but it's because we were planning on leaving Saturday morning to hit the cottage with our friends, Greg & Liz. We got out to the cottage by noon-ish and sat around chit-chatting and eating (well, and drinking for them) ... we played some bocce ball, we played some euchre and enjoyed the sunshine. A tonne more people arrived around 7pm and it turned into quite the rowdy party (I snuck off to bed by midnight - too tired!).

Sunday morning came early, and it was even warmer out. We had a lazy morning cleaning up and eating a yummy breakfast, and by 1pm we were heading back into the city. If I wasn't feeling so crappy, we would have stayed and enjoyed the full afternoon there, but I think I caught a cold or something the night before - today I'm really congested and crappy feeling - oh well, it was worth it!

By the time we got back to the city it was mid-afternoon and we just conked out on the couch. It was a pretty lazy evening, with the highlight being the baby kicks. And now it's Monday, sigh, oh well, only 5 more days until the weekend!

Love to all!

S&S

Another belly pic

This week went by incredibly fast for both of us - work has been busy and with Seth playing on two baseball teams, just seems like there's fewer and fewer weeknights in the mix. Oh well - I for one could just wish this summer away - as much as I love the warmer weather, I'm so looking forward to August 31st and can't wait for it to finally get here.

Friday night was spent at the Firkin around the corner from us - I met my girlfriend for dinner and Seth joined us when he finally got home from work. Wasn't a late night though - yes, we're thoroughly boring now.

Saturday Seth had to work, and then attend a work-related baseball event - which meant I had the apt to myself all day. I spent the better part of the morning trolling the nearby 'hoods for garage sales, but I found that really, garage-saling isn't all that fun on your own. I came home empty-handed, took a much needed nap (ha!), and then did my cleaning 'chores'. Seth got home at 6-ish and we headed out to see a movie and grab a bite to eat (saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 - good flick, but looooooong).

Sunday we had big plans to hit the Toys R Us that's out on the QEW and finally pick out some furniture for the impending nursery, only to find out that the Don Valley + Gardiner were closed - and no way in hell were we trying to get there on Lakeshore alone. So instead we hit the one at Vic Park + Lawrence (actually not as bad as we expected, thought it was smaller than what it was). Managed to find furniture that we both agreed on - which is always a bonus. After that, we did some grocery shopping and Seth is back out playing baseball w/ his men's league team. Yes, we are an exciting couple. I've just finished packing a few more boxes and am going to sit down and watch Pan's Labyrinth - will let you know how it goes...

S&S

PS - I know I promised another pic - here's my gigantic buddha belly as of today. I included both side + front views, so you can see that my waist has fully disappeared, along w/ my self esteem ;) ... kidding, but seriously, I can't believe that I'm only 22 weeks - I know I'm going to get a lot bigger, but honestly I can't imagine the skin stretching much more - it's weird, and I think unless you've felt it, it's hard to explain. Anyhoo - have a wonderful 1st week of June!

We'll take the hint

This weekend was the culmination of a bit of a roller coaster week. On Wednesday we had our 20-wk ultrasound and had hoped that we would be able to find out the sex of the baby at the same time. Well, little Val-Jr decided to play shy with the technician on Wednesday and we couldn't get a clear reading. Otherwise though, everything was healthy and progressing along fine - which is great news, and what (in hindsight) we should just be focusing on.

After going through the disappointment of looking forward to finding out and not getting our answer, we decided to take matters into our own hands and pay for a 3D u/s at one of the private clinics for gender determination. There was actually an appointment available for this Sunday, and we snapped it up.

The rest of the week flew by (as short weeks after long weekends usually do), and Friday was here before we knew it. We spent the evening on the couch watching the movie 300 (great but gory), and hitting the sack early. Saturday, we spent the morning cleaning and by 12:30 were off to our 1pm registry appointment at the Bay.

Registering for a baby when you've never had one, or really been around babies before is a bit of a meandering experience. Luckily I had researched online (nerd) and found a pretty comprehensive checklist of items that we would need, but actually picking which one we wanted to register for (i.e. figuring out what the hell the difference is between this stroller and that stroller, aside from one being uglier than the other) was a little difficult.

We ended up putting a number of items on the list (with the lovely saleslady's help) and I think we have a good start at least. But it took the better part of the afternoon, so by the time we got home at 4:30, we were ready for a bit of a nap.

Sat night we had a bbq to attend - a few boys' b-days were celebrated and some cake was scarfed down. Funnily enough, after chatting with some of the moms in the group, I found out that the Bay actually sucks for it's baby department - so perhaps it wasn't just our ineptness that kept us from finding everything we were looking for. After looking online at Target.com, I've decided a quick trip to Buffalo may solve some of our problems. Why, oh why, can't Cdn department stores just get it right though? It's sad really.

Then Sunday morning was the well-anticipated 3D u/s appointment - we got down there in plenty of time, only to find out that there was an issue with the appointment booking, and they had us down for 10am, although our confirmed appointment time was actually 11:30am (which we had arrived early for). Because the u/s tech had left for the day, it left us up shit-creek, with the only option to rebook for another time.

Since this clinic couldn't do a simple thing like book an appointment accurately, I was a little less than thrilled to rebook for a later date for them to then give me a gender determination (I mean really, if they can't book an appointment, why would I trust them to look at my baby and tell me important things?) - so we declined and told them exactly what we thought of their 'service' and legged it out of there.

We've decided that we should just be happy that we know all is healthy and good with the bean, and let the 3D u/s thing go for now. We might get one later - at 30 weeks, when we can see some more detail and stuff, but for now, we're happy to think in greens + yellows, instead of pinks or blues. Sorry folks - I know there were some of you looking forward to buying little girl or boy things, but it's just not meant to be I guess.

So that leaves us at early afternoon on a Sunday - I'm going out for a bite to eat w/ a girlfriend I haven't seen in a while, Seth's playing some video games, and nothing else on the agenda for today. Whew...

S&S

Wow, I can't believe that May is almost over - first long weekend of the summer and it was an enjoyable one.

Last weekend saw Seth and I heading to Kingston on Saturday for my Grandma's 90th birthday - there was a tonne of family there for the party - almost like a reunion for me, as I hadn't seen a tonne of them in many, many years. Saturday night we spent with Seth's parents, watching a movie and some hockey, along with pizza from Capri (of course!). Sunday we spent taking the Moms out for a Mother's Day brunch - an all you can eat place that this preggers woman enjoyed!

This past week seemed to drag by - I think for some reason the nicer weather is making it seem longer and longer to wait for the weekend to get here. And since it was a long weekend, the anticipation was even higher I guess!

Saturday I spent downtown shopping along Queen Street with my friend Liz, while Seth went golfing right after work. Because we were meeting up at Liz & Greg's house in Markham for dinner, the ladies picked up dinner on the way home. St Lawrence market was just about shutting down for the day by the time we got there, but managed to get some filet mignons, some huge sea scallops and fresh tiger shrimp - dinner was looking to be quite promising!

The boys finally got home around 8pm, and we cooked all the goodies up - eating dinner outside, such a nice luxury that I don't think I'll ever get tired of! After dinner, we decided to play some games - they had just gotten a Wii gaming system, so we had to try that out - a lot of fun, and great exercise! After that, some board games and lots of wine for everyone (me, I was on the non-alcoholic Becks - the only way I think I'll make it through the summer) - it ended up being 3am before we got to bed - late night for this recent early bird.

Sunday we got a fancy breakfast made for us, and we played some more Wii before we left. We then spent the rest of the afternoon running some errands before settling in for the night. Today was a pretty lazy day - although I did have brunch with a friend, and Seth did a bit of cleaning around the house, but mainly we just lazed around.

All in all, a pretty perfect long weekend had by all! Hope your weekend was just as restful!

S&S

Fast weekend

Why do the weekends fly by so quickly when the week feels like years? Blech. Anyways - it was a great weekend for Seth and I - not for any major reason, just a nice weekend overall.

Friday saw Seth getting off work early to meet his friend Greg for some afternoon golfing - which of course started his weekend off nicely. My Friday night was a bit more lame, as I just came home from work and rented a movie (Notes on a Scandal - brilliant movie, seriously rent it!). Since Seth did the requisite beer + wings after his golf, I was actually asleep by the time he came home - exciting life I lead!

Saturday Seth had to work until 1pm, and I ended up cleaning + doing laundry in the morning. I had plans to go shopping in the afternoon and so I thought it would be good to get some of the household chores out of the way that morning. It's funny though, I know I'm not that far along yet, but I already feel like I'm moving at the pace of a tortoise. By the time Seth got home, I had the laundry done, but was only about halfway through the rest of the cleaning. And I mean literally, halfway - half the dishes were done, half the bathroom was clean, half the coffee table was clean - so strange! I think it's pg-related attention deficit disorder or something. But how perfect is my hubby, he actually came home thinking that I would already have gone out shopping, and was planning on surprising me by cleaning the house while I was out. So he finished my halfway jobs and I hopped in the shower and met Liz for some much-needed shopping!

That night, Seth and I had a 'date night' planned - we went to the movies to see Disturbia - good, but not great. Really more of a teen flick (sadly enough, it wasn't 'gory' enough for us). But whatever, it was entertaining, and really, isn't that worth the $40 you spend to go to the movies nowadays? ;)

Sunday saw Seth going to baseball practice in the morning and then lazing away his afternoon on the couch, while I met another girlfriend for lunch and hitting the Eaton Centre for some more shopping. I've been on the search for reasonably priced maternity clothes and it's been a struggle, let me tell you - and I just can't bring myself to pay $70-$100 for a pair of black pants that I can only wear for a few months - so I'm going to look a bit more 'casual' at work than I had originally planned. Oh well, I guess all you moms out there went through this, right?

After some grocery shopping later on Sunday night, we came home, made a pizza and watched the finale of the Amazing Race. Oh - and Seth PVR'd a Saturday Night Live special that was all about the cast from the 90's - it was actually hilarious - if you missed it, you missed out!

So that's all for now - it's Monday morning and I'm procrastinating getting in the shower to get my ass to work... have a great week everyone!

S&S

Belly pics

Two posts in one day - what are the chances? But I had promised to post some belly pics, so here they are...






4wks

7 wks

10 wks

14 wks

And POP goes the whale - 18 wks.

Another catch up post

Wow, it seems I just cannot keep on top of these weekly updates lately - okay - here goes...

So the weekend of the 20th, I can't even remember what we did on Friday night it was that uneventful (either that or pregnancy-brain is kicking in) - Saturday Seth had to work (story of our life), and I did a couple of friends a favour by babysitting their daughter for the afternoon. It was pretty cool - she actually fell asleep shortly after they left and slept for 2 full hours - by the time she got up I gave her a snack and we went out to play. Just about when she was getting tired and cranky, her mom and dad were home, so I was like, hand off!

That night we were back at the same place (Rob & Vone's) to take advantage of the warm weather and bbq the night away - it was lovely sitting outside for our first meal of summer (?spring?). High points of the night? A new hot-sauce shrimp recipe, yummy filet mignons from the market and me finding my non-alcoholic Beck's at the grocery store. All in all, a pretty enjoyable night.

That Sunday, Seth had baseball practice and I had brunch with the ladiezz at Cora's downtown - yummy happy brunch place for pregnant women as they garnish your plate with a rainforest of fruit. After that, shopping with the girls to find some spring garments (that will fit!) - which was only successful thanks to the ingenious designers at H&M - thank you for making maternity clothes that don't make me look 16 or 60 - thank you ever so much.

So blah blah blah working the next week - although I had another Dr. appt on the Wednesday - all is good in the hood (or womb, I should say). Next appt is May 23 when (knock on wood) we find out the sex of the little bean. Woo hoo.

Last weekend Seth was in Orlando (since Thurs actually), and I had a bday party to attend for my nieces in Harrowsmith. It was good to hang out with the family and do some shopping. AND I got to meet a new member of this earth - Quinn Sammon - my girlfriend, Stefanie's new little one - he's adorable (of course) and super tiny (but I held him and he didn't break, so that's a good thing).

That's it - this weekend is going to be quiet. I have another brunch with a girlfriend and Seth has to work (is there a pattern here?) ... hoping to get some more packing done around the house, feeling urgent about everything lately. Might as well do it while I'm not a clumsy oaf of a whale, right?

Love to all ... S&S

A sick weekend

What a way to spend the weekend - poor Seth had to take care of me for the past 3 days because I've been seriously under the weather. What started with some nausea and grossness early Friday morning has carried through all the way to today. Needless to say, there's not much to report on our past weekend - but I'll try...

Friday, since I was off sick from work, I went out and rented a few movies - Pursuit of Happyness (for me to watch that afternoon, as Seth had ZERO interest in watching it - according to him, the entire plot and meaning of the movie could be gathered from the preview - I say, cynic....) + Bobby. Seth had a busy busy day at work, so he came home exhausted (as usual) and sadly enough, we didn't have enough energy to watch Bobby, and were actually in bed before 10pm.

The next day I thought I was feeling better, so I headed up to Markham with Seth in tow - the plan was for me to pick up Liz and make our way over to the Baby Show in Mississauga, and for Seth and Greg to chill out, doing what boys do - drink beer, watch sports, play xbox. Well, the Baby Show wasn't as rife with giveaways as one would be led to believe, and the walking around for the couple of hours we were there killed my fragile health state. We made our way back to Markham, I met G&L's new member of their family (and still-nameless puppy), and Seth and I headed home. I knew before I even got home that going out that day was a mistake - and I paid for it dearly on Sunday - which I spent literally, sleeping, all day.

Seth on the other hand actually had some energy and got out of our quarantined house for some baseball practice in the cold weather. Nice way for him to spend the afternoon - especially as I was hogging the couch all day.

So that's it - no other news here. I woke up still feeling really crappy, and decided to call in sick again (honestly, can't remember when I was last sick for 4 days - insane), and take myself to the doctor. Of course there's nothing they can do for me - they don't exactly dole out antibiotics to preggers that easily - so this sinus/fever whatever-I-have just needs to 'run it's course'. Blech.

Sorry for the boring post - hoping to have much more interesting news for you next update!

Love to all - S&S

Easter weekend and promised pics

Finally a long weekend that actually felt like one! Don't you love getting Fridays off vs Mondays? I think it's because the week really does feel shorter, so you get the full advantage of enjoying every minute of the long weekend.

So we spent the early part of Friday morning just lazing around catching up on some shows we had PVR'd, and the later half of the morning cleaning and doing laundry (ah, the joys of domestic bliss). Seth took off to Greg's to watch some well-anticipated Masters tourney in the afternoon, while I ended up crashing on the couch watching a few movies (all good intentions of doing the work I brought home with me this weekend still being procrastinated as we speak!). That night I went to the movies with my friend Liz (The Reaping - it's ok, but more of a "renter") and Seth hit the Firkin to hang w/ the guys, playing some Golden Tee and darts. Liz and I popped by the bar after the movie to check in with the lads, and they were all well on their way, so after a few hours I dragged Seth's ass home, as he had to work on Sat morning (don't feel sorry for him, he had a very 'good' Friday). Seth was home by 1pm and his parents, Debbie & Shorty got up to Toronto by 1:30 - they were visiting for the weekend.

We took them down to the Eaton Centre to do some weekend shopping - it was a madhouse - absolute zoo! Seth got a couple of shirts from Abercrombie (bday presents from the parents) and we headed back uptown to stop in at the Firkin for a bite to eat and some more drinks. Afterwards we headed back to our place to get changed for dinner and watch the start of the hockey game. Around 8:30 we headed back downtown to the Keg for dinner - it was packed as well (the joys of living in the city for a long weekend), but we finally got a table and had a fabulous dinner.

This morning Debbie treated us all to a yummy breakfast (that she brought up pre-prepared with her - we're spoiled!) and by noon they were off. Seth spent the rest of the day watching the Masters + hockey - disappointed in the outcome of both - oh well. I continue to procrastinate not opening up the computer to do the work I desperately need to get done for tomorrow - it's going to be a late night I think - oh well.

That's our weekend in a nutshell folks - and of course, as promised - here's the pics of the house from last weekend....How cute is it that we got a pic of us with the SOLD sign?

Our lovely kitchen - finally a kitchen I can be proud of!

Our living room/sitting area - it's small, but will be perfect for a few bookshelves. And PS - how cute is my husband - look at that big smile on his face!

And this is our family room - right off the kitchen, with a gas fireplace - yes!

What's new?

Wow, I can’t believe that I’ve been so poor at posting the updates after our Dominican holiday. Yikes – sorry people! Will definitely try to do better in the future.

So what news can we share with you – lots actually. We bought a house in the last week of February – up in Brooklin, which is just north of Whitby, so still ‘GTA-ish’, although it’s now long-distance. Yes, living in a long-distance zone from Toronto is giving me heart palpitations. And I think lowering Seth’s blood pressure.

Our house is adorable. The lovely thing about living in a long-distance zone is that the prices drop like a stone up there. So we got our 9 year old house for under $300k. I know you’re supposed to be coy about how much you paid for your house, but really, you’re all family and I hate that secretive bullshit. So yeah, we paid not that much really, for a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom house with a brand new kitchen and stainless steel appliances – yessssss!

Bonuses of the house that we are looking sooooo forward to?

• A backyard. This is probably first and foremost, because we miss grass, I miss tanning and Seth misses BBQ’ing. And hopefully this means we can start to repay all the entertaining we have enjoyed at friends’ houses as much as we’ve always wanted to.
• A dishwasher. I’m not going to lie to you. We both hate doing dishes more than anything else in the world. Well, except maybe Seth and cleaning the bathroom, it’s like drinking and driving – they just don’t mix. Yes, every time I see a commercial for Jet Dry, I get a little bit more excited.
• An unfinished basement. If we had found a house with a basement finished to perfection (like our lucky friends did), we would have jumped on it. But aside from that, unfinished I think is the 2^nd best option. Because now we can finish to our own taste. And to be honest, that’s a FUN home-reno project, because really, it’s just an Adults Playroom.
• A double-car garage. Such a rarity with (smaller) new houses that we really lucked in on this one. Love that we still don’t have to worry about cleaning off ice/snow like we’ve so not become accustomed to with our luxury underground parking the past 5 years.
• Central air. Another bonus to those of us that have still been suffering with in-window air conditioners for many years. It will be wonderful.
• A gorgeous kitchen. This was actually what I went into each and every house hoping to see. I mean, you’re looking at 2-3 year old houses and the kitchens are still crap. I just wasn’t getting it. And then we saw this house, and honestly, I think it was one of the biggest selling points.
• A fireplace. I realize that my romantic notions of evenings in front of the fireplace are never going to happen, but I can’t remember when I haven’t longed to have a house with a fireplace (woodstove not counting), and now we have one. Gas, but still, a fireplace.

I know there’s more – but the list is long enough, you get the picture. Needless to say, Seth and I are super excited about finally getting the house that we’ve been talking about wanting for years. It’s like it’s all falling together.

And of course, I saved the other (best) little nugget of news for last… we’re preggers! Well, technically it’s just me that’s knocked up, but for some reason people always announce it like it’s happening to ‘us’. And I suppose it is in a way. Except for the 6 week morning sickness. Or the cramping. Or the gas / bloating. Or the headaches. Or the insatiable hunger. Yeah, that doesn’t appear to be happening to Seth. Well, maybe the gas… ;)

I actually plan on posting some belly shots soon – so you can monitor ‘our’ progress. And while ‘we’re’ only 13 weeks, there’s definitely a pouch. Bye bye abs.

So we move into our house at the end of August and ‘we’ are due October 4^th. Yes, it’s all happening at once. Which is just the way we like to do things I guess (4 month engagement/wedding planning anyone?) … lots of changes for us Valliers coming up. Good changes. Big changes. Scary changes.

:) S&S

PS - I promise I will post both pics soon

Our Dominican Weekend

Yes, we've been extremely tardy in writing our update - sorry about that folks. Well the week in the Dominican was amazing (as I'm sure you can all imagine). We'll take you through a quick synopsis of the vacation, and let you know that we've updated our www.sethandsara.shutterfly.com account with all the pics from the trip - take a mosey over there and check it out (yes, there will be some funny/intoxicated/childish pics - hey, we were on vacation!

So we arrived slightly later than expected, due to a flight delay (surprise, surprise) - and while we all planned on making it an early night, we took advantage of the Sports Cafe that stayed open until 6am (yes we did - it was a rough Sunday morning).

Sunday was spent hanging out by the beach and pool, eating dinner at the Mexican restaurant and later at the disco. Monday saw most of the guys going on a fishing charter that turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Most of the people were seasick and the water was so rough, the boat almost capsized - all in all, everyone was relatively lucky, although one person had to be taken to the hospital for a pulled shoulder - it was really quite crazy. The girls had much less of a crazy day - mainly spent lazing on the beach. That night was a mutual stag/stagette - the girls went to dinner at the Italian restaurant, on to the casino for some luck on the tables and then to the disco. The boys went to the buffet for dinner and then to the bowling alley to play poker and ended up meeting the ladies at the disco. It was a pretty crazy night for all!

Tuesday everyone took it a little more easy - we hung out by the pool, nursing our hangovers, eating at the buffet as much as possible. That night Seth & I had dinner at the Dominican restaurant with a few of the ladies - stopped by the lobby bar for a few drinks and went home early - since the next day was the wedding!

7am came pretty early on Wednesday morning - the girls all congregated in our room to order room service, have breakfast (complete with Mimosas) and get ready. Lindsay did an amazing job on everyone's hair - and we quickly got dressed, put on our makeup etc. to wait for the JP to arrive. The boys all got ready in Greg & Liz's room - after playing 9 holes of golf earlier in the morning.

The wedding, as you can well imagine (and view via our pics on Shutterfly) was beautiful - really amazing, very short - just picture perfect. And Greg & Liz were lucky enough to get an amazing photographer at the resort - their wedding pics are absolutely amazing. After the ceremony (which wrapped up around 2pm), we all went back to our rooms and changed into our bathing suits and chilled out around the pool some more. Dinner was at 7pm down by the beach - it was the yummiest dinner (salad, chicken wings, steak and coffee mousse for desert)! After the dinner, we all walked up to the lobby bar and enjoyed the live music and a few more cocktails before heading along to the disco - which turned into another long, crazy evening...

On Thursday, Seth and I had an early breakfast and couples massage - then spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach, shopping at the vendors etc. That night we had our special dinner (that came with our room) - lobster dinner on the beach - it was actually really romantic (as cheesy at that sounds).

Friday was 'activity day' - everyone congregated on the beach to hangout, play a few games and enjoy our last 'full day' in paradise. We played some kind of water polo/soccer/football type game that the guys made up, boccie ball and some of us went riding on the banana boat (which was hilarious - we fell off twice - which is kind of scary and funny at the same time when you're in the middle of the ocean). That night we all had dinner together at the same restaurant on the beach that we ate at for the wedding dinner - most of us actually ordered the exact same thing, since we knew it was so good (and have no imagination). It was karaoke night at the Sports Cafe, so we all ended up there, watching many bad singers sing many bad songs.

So that's our vacation in a nutshell - Saturday went by in a blur and we left the resort by 6pm to take a very late flight back to Toronto - we were dropped off by the cab at 3am and fell asleep almost within seconds of hitting the pillow.

This past week at work was torturous, it was very hard getting back into the swing of things. The weekend couldn't get here soon enough - and has been spent taking it very easy. We did visit our friends Rob & Vone for a yummy Indian dinner on Saturday night - and of course Sether is at a Superbowl party as I write this. All in all, a relaxing, fun weekend and so sad that it's Sunday night...

S&S

The last weekend before vacay

Wow - in 7 days time we will be sitting on a beach, catching some rays and enjoying some cocktails - love it! But this post is about looking over the past week, not the week ahead, so let's get to it...

Overall the week was crazy busy for both Seth and Sara with work etc. The weekend was a relaxed one though. A quick spa appointment for Sara while Seth watched Sat afternoon football up in Markham with Greg (yup, playoffs and now it's all football all the time!). Sara then met up with her friend Liz and they did some last minute shopping both for wedding stuff (the necklaces for the bridal party are gorgeous!) and of course, bikini's a la Old Navy prices - love it! We did sushi for dinner up in Markham and Sunday has been spent lazily cleaning up around the house. Not an overly exciting weekend, but well-needed just before this coming work week and the impending trip. Sooooo many things still to do - including, buying some luggage, making a packing list, buying vitamins/sun lotion etc., and getting $ exchanged for US$.

Really can't wait for the trip, especially after the last couple of months of work - we are in dire need for a vacation and I'm hoping it won't fly by as quickly as I expect it will. So you won't be hearing from us next weekend - but we promise a long, newsy post after the vacation with lots of pics.

Love to you all..... S&S

The Bachelorette Part-ay!

Well this weekend Sara hosted the bachelorette party for her good friend Liz, who is getting married in just a few short weeks in the Dominican. With Seth out of town on another fantasy football boys' weekend (in Kitchener), Sara was able to host 15 girls in the apt. for Liz's bachelorette. Everyone started to arrive around 7:30pm and the martini's flowed right up to 9pm, when 'knock knock knock' - Liz received a special visitor! She was surprised and the rest of us were laughing our asses off, as 'Officer Sebastien' entertained the ladies for the next 1/2 hour. Very few of us had ever seen a male 'entertainer', and quite honestly, probably won't again - they're not that entertaining - a bit gross really - although still highly hilarious and will post pics to share soon.

After the 'entertainment' left, the ladies then hopped into a stretch Lincoln Navigator limo, which drove us down to Crocodile Rock - THE stagette bar in Toronto - it was packed and we had plenty of fun for a few hours there. Next on the list was the Fire Station - not another bar, this was actually a visit to the Adelaide St. firehall, where Liz got all sorts of pics in the fireman gear, with a few friendly firefighters and on the truck - it was fun, but probably not so much for the poor fireman that had to put up with the tipsy ladies. Last on the list was a trip to another club - Blvd Lounge - used to be called My Apartment and was a great stagette stop, but is now apparently catering to the under 22 crowd, so we had one drink and legged it out of there - no reason to feel old on a girl's night out. After a quick stop at the Pita Pit, we headed home - at this point the group had dwindled down to 6 survivors and we were all ready to take off the dancing shoes (sore feet!) for the night - since it was just before 2am (last call), we were able to get into a cab easily and headed up to Sara's apt to sit and chat for another hour before finally calling it a night.

Overall, a great weekend with all the ladies had by Sara. And I'm sure Seth had a wonderful guy's weekend as well - he's not home yet though, so we can't say for sure....

:)

Busy holidays

I know, we've been tardy, allowing another 2 weeks to go by without an update. Well, as you can imagine (and as I'm sure you've also been), we've been busy - running from place to place and working all those non-holiday weekdays in between.

Well, going back to the weekend before xmas, we had a party to attend at a friend's house on Friday night - it was a great chance to see the gang before the holidays. We left early as Seth had to work that Saturday - which gave Sara a chance to do some last minute shopping and we left the city early that afternoon. Traffic was surprisingly not bad at all and we made it to Kingston by early evening.

Sunday morning Sara did some more last minute shopping, and Seth picked her up and we visited Sara's dad + step-mother in the afternoon. After a nice visit there, we then spent the evening at the Vallier's watching It's a Wonderful Life, having (more!) food and hitting the sack pretty early. Xmas morning was spent with the Vallier's opening lots of presents and having a huge breakfast. Then it was over to Sara's mom's house for more present-opening and Christmas dinner with the family.

Tuesday morning Sara went out to check out the boxing day sales and then we did another Xmas dinner at the Vallier's and it was back to Toronto for us. A very busy few days visiting a lot of family, which is always great, but also exhausting - we can't wait for next year and (hopefully!) hosting our own Xmas in our own house!

The week went by pretty quickly, as 3-day weeks usually do. This past weekend was spent visiting and being visited by lots of friends. New Year's was surprisingly calm this year - we must be getting older - haha. Today we spent the day lounging around and mentally getting ready to go back to work for the next couple of weeks until we get to go on our holiday to the Dominican. Can't wait for that!

Next weekend Seth is out of town for a football fantasy pool thing, and Sara is hosting the bachelorette party for her good friend who is getting married in a few weeks - should be a great time!

Xmas shopping, a new 'do, and dinner at MidTown

Hello family and friends! Well this past weekend (not over yet, thank god - don't you just love weekends!) was another busy one for the Valliers, but all in all pretty good. Friday night was spent watching the Devil Wears Prada on DVD - a nice relaxing end to a long week. Sara had Jury Duty on Mon + Tues, a Montreal trip on Thursday (as she managed to not have to serve the entire week of Jury Duty - lucky girl!) - and Seth had a very busy week at work with his new branch and a work function he had to attend on Thursday night.

Saturday Seth had to work yet again, and Sara got up early to do her update on the Ultimate Survivor Pool blogsite she contributes to. That and some light housework, by 1pm she had to bust her butt down to Fiorio for her hair appointment - highlights and a cut in time for the holiday season - a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon! While Sara was getting her hair done, Seth was getting home from work and relaxing from the way-to-early-morning he had - then at 4pm we both met up at the Eaton Centre (Seth shopping - shocking!) to do some more xmas shopping - thank god we're almost done!

From shopping we headed straight to a new restaurant that recently opened in our 'hood - the old Summit House - now called the MidTown - it's a well-priced joint with good food - and a great wine list. That was enjoyable. After that we went home and watched yet another movie (Clerks II - Seth's pick) and made it a relatively early evening.

Today will be spent on the couch watching football for Seth, and Sara will be making up all the cookie tins/trays and finishing her xmas cards - we're late this year! And tonight - the season finale of Survivor - woo hoo! A great weekend all around for the Valliers...

Early xmas, baking, b-days and football

Wow - it was a crazy busy weekend for the Valliers! Seth had a quasi-bachelor party to attend that took him (with a gaggle of ganders) to Windsor + Detroit for a weekend of drinking, poker, football and much debauchery we can only assume. He arrived back home at 4:30am on Sunday night (Monday morning) and the poor guy is still tired - good thing that he had Monday off work!

Sara's weekend (which you'll get much more detail on, as I'm a girl, and really the only one of us that ever writes this blog...) was also super busy. She drove straight to Kingston from work on Friday night - making excellent time on the highway and getting to her Mom's around 8pm. It was Sara's Mom's 60th bday - so she got a new purse, some angels for the tree and a certificate for a girls' weekend all expenses paid by her lovely daughter ;) to Toronto. Yes, she's a spoiled mum.

After a couple of drinks and catching up, it was time to wrap A LOT of presents - we were doing Xmas early with Derek, Amy and the nieces on Saturday afternoon - and being the only grandchildren in the family (so far), they are S-P-O-I-L-E-D - and we love doing it. The next morning it was off to a girls brunch with Mom and her 3 closest friends at Ramekins, then straight off to Aunt Reta's for the Xmas celebrations. It seriously looked like Christmas exploded in that living room - and the nieces favourite phrase? I wanna open ANOTHER present! Well, I think after piles of clothes and toys, they got their fill. And Auntie Sara got the Aunt-of-the-year award for the My Little Pony castle + accessories - that was cool. Although I didn't win the contest of favourite clothing - that went to Mom and her picks of some fuzzy jumpers that were adorable. Don't you love pre-school fashionistas? They are so adorable!

Saturday evening was spent baking shortbread, then Mom did some more cookies on Sunday morning and our annual xmas baking extravaganza is finally DONE! That's our weekend in a nutshell - check back next week for more updates!

Wow - where did the time go?

Once again we are very behind on posting our updates - so sorry people, but we'll do our best to get you all caught up on our lives very quickly...

The weekend of 17th Sara went to Kingston for the weekend as Liz was having another shower held for her there. Lisa D - another of Liz's bridesmaids was holding it at her parents' house - long time friends + neighbours of the Prices. It was a fun shower - and again a late night - who knew bridal showers could be so dangerous? It was a great time had by all and gladly the showers are now done - it's just the dangerous-nous of the impending bachelorette that we have to worry about now!

The following weekend (the 24th) was a chance for Sara and Seth to kick back and relax a little, with no big plans and lots of interest in doing nothing. Friday was spend watching a movie, then the gym in the morning on Saturday and later that afternoon, Sara had a lunch/shopping date with a friend while Seth cleaned the house. Sat night was spent at the movies with friends, and Sunday was a busy day of football-watching for Seth and chocolate-making for Sara. Overall a productive, but relaxing, weekend.

This past weekend has been (so far) just about the same. Friday spent staying in - watching part of a movie - that is until our TV died. Saturday's agenda for Sara included a lot more Xmas baking and for Seth - a trip to Best Buy to get a new TV. Although he seemed quite determined to come back with only a slightly larger tv - of course, what was he dragging through the door an hour later? Yup, a 37" LCD - oh well, we can view it as an investment.

Saturday night was the annual Caribbean Christmas Blocko at friends', Rob & Vone's - it's always a blast, although for some reason this year seemed a little more tame than previous years. Today (Sunday) we both got up early, watch some TV and then Sara went shopping for the nieces' xmas presents and Seth got started on his football-watching.

Wow - reading this over, our lives sound pretty boring - and repetitive. Well - I guess that's what happens when you get older... ;)

Sex and the Kitchen

This weekend was the bridal shower that I hosted for my best friend Liz - preparations started on Friday night, getting a lot of the food prepared and the house decorated. Lisa Deir came over with her roommate to help on Friday night, which was much appreciated and reward with many glasses of wine - ouch.

The day of the shower was pretty hectic - there was a lot of things to do with very little time until the 3:30pm start time, but with Lisa's help it all got done - thank you thank you thank you Lisa - your help was essential - I never could have done it without you! Melissa came over slightly early too - so she helped a tonne as well - it's great friends we have! The theme was "Sex and the Kitchen" - a play on our fave show, Sex and the City, so the food was all cocktail munchies and there was an assortment of flirtinis and rasptinis - very yummy - see below for the recipes.

Desert was meant to be fruit + ladyfingers with a chocolate fondue - the only thing was that none of us getting everything ready had ever used a fondue pot before - so the fondue turned into a fondon't. Yup, we filled the butane to high, and there was an out of control fire under the pot - so the chocolate burnt and the fire would not go out - funny now that I look back on it, but very stressful at the time while everyone was arriving and the phone was ringing off the hook with the buzzer etc. So desert turned into just plain fruit - oh well, at least we had a lot of it!

With the theme, everyone was asked to bring a gift for the bedroom and a gift for the kitchen that were related. Liz got some great gifts - a French Maid's outfit - that was hilarious! Some female 'bedroom' appliances and then coordinating utensils for the kitchen, a toaster and then a cozy bathrobe (to keep her 'toasty') - everyone was very imaginative and Liz got some great stuff for both rooms of her house!

Well, that was pretty much the weekend - poor Seth had to work on Saturday, and since his home was filled with women for the entire afternoon (and late into the evening) he ended up going to Greg's to play video games, eat pizza and be 'men' - so wasn't too terrible for him.

Next weekend is the shower in Kingston that Lisa and her mom are hosting - it should be a great time and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend out of the city! That's all for now - love to you all!
S&S

Flirtini
1 part vodka
1 part champagne
1 part pineapple juice
Shake over ice, strain into martini glass, use 1/2 a strawberry as a garnish.

Rasptini
1 part vodka
1 part blue raspberry cordial (found at grocery store)
Shake over ice, strain into martini glass with 4-5 frozen raspberries as garnish.

The Irish Weeks

Well - it was such a busy couple of weeks that we didn't even have time to post! Okay - hold on to your horses, as this will be a long one...

Louise and Phil arrived on Tuesday - in on a flight around 8pm - so we stayed up that night chatting and having a few drinks - just catching up really. Wednesday Sara had to work, and the Irish decided to sleep in (jet lag!) - so Seth didn't do much that day - he did drive them around our 'hood - looking at all the houses we can't afford! Thursday, Seth took them to the Hockey Hall of Fame, which sounded like a fun time. Another non-eventful night though - Sara made a pasta dinner and we all watched Survivor. Friday finally came - the first day of our Montreal trip - we left pretty much right after Sara finally got home from work - doing the full 5-hour drive straight there - nightmare.

Getting in just after 1am, we were all pretty shattered, drank a few beers and went to bed in hopes of getting up early to do all the touristy stuff we wanted to cram into one day. Well, 10am is early right? Haha - so we were all starving and just started wandering towards St. Catherine Street to find somewhere to eat - ended up at a pub/pizza place - it was okay, but not great food. After that we went to find out about the tour buses - the easiest way to get a 2-hour snapshot of a city! There was only one tour operator still running though - and it was a 3-hour tour - we didn't really want to eat up that much time, but we did want to get the tour done - so we decided just to go for it. It was pretty cool - although we all took a few cat naps on the bus - well, that is except Seth - who knew he was such a tourister?

So here's a pic of Sara and Seth in "Old Montreal". We kinda wished we had more time in here - it was all narrow streets and plenty of cafe's and shops - looked like a very interesting area to explore. The tour tooks us to the Olympic park and past a number of churches and the university - we did stop at one church, but can't remember what it was called.

Going up to Mount-Royal and looking down on the city was probably the best part of the tour - it was really cool. Here's Louise and Phil on the mountain.

After the tour, we did a bit of shopping, but we only had about an hour of shopping time available - so we quickly did Simons, Roots and a few other smaller shops. Found a convenience store to buy 'refreshments' on the way back to the hotel and went back to get ready for dinner - that turned into a 4-hour long chat-fest where we all had a few drinks before trying to find somewhere to eat. Luckily, we ended up finding a great little Italian place called "Bellagio" right near the hotel - fantastic dinner had by all!

That night we went to Crescent St to find some fun places to party - that street is happening! We all had a blast, and I wish we had pictures - but the Irish brought their camera, so we'll have to try and get the pics from them.

The next day was painful for us though - everyone was pretty hungover. Because of that, we didn't do the additional shopping that we thought we would be able to do before we left Montreal - but probably better on the pocketbook in the long run. We drove straight to Kingston, after a pitstop at Pete's Smoked Meat Diner - a little place on the way into Montreal that Seth found a while back and apparently has the best smoked meat sandwiches and poutine - too bad Sara couldn't try it - but there was no way to keep that down.

We arrived at Seth's parent's house close to 5pm - they had dinner waiting for us (roast beef dinner) - class! It was a nice, quiet evening - just what the doctor ordered. We sat around and chatted and watched a couple of movies before going to bed at a reasonable hour. The next day we finally got out and about by around 1pm - we were going into Kingston to do the 'touristy' stuff. Kingston has actually got some interesting places to see. We went to Bellevue house (Sir John A's home in Kingston) - toured around that which was fun. Then we did the Penitentiary Museum - which was really quite interesting. We drove them around Kingston, showed them Fort Henry, the waterfront, Queens, and last but not least - Wilton Cheese Factory for curd!

That night we went to Sara's mom's house for dinner - this time it was John's shish-kabobs for dinner - yummy! We chatted for quite a while after dinner, so didn't get on the road until after midnight - getting into Toronto at 3am - tiring, but nice to have the Tuesday to relax and do nothing before Sara & Seth went back to work on the Wednesday. Seth went to the hockey game with Rob on Tuesday night and Sara, Louse & Phil went to see an early movie - the Departed - amazing movie - see it if you can!

Wednesday night was pretty low-key, then we went out for the required Fynn's visit on Thursday night - it wasn't too late of a night though - saving up our energy for Friday. We spent that night up at the Firkin (although Seth had to leave early as he was working on Saturday - poor guy - he was exhausted!). Saturday was pretty rough - but we had to go out and get costumes for the Halloween party we were going to that night. What kind of costume do you do when you're super hungover - Pirates of course! So we all got dressed up again - and headed out to Scarborough to Kelly & Steve's for one of the best parties we've been to in a while - it was great for Louise & Phil to see everyone!

Sunday was very low-key - we needed to recover! Monday and Tuesday seemed to go by in a blur - Louise + Phil's last two days were spent shopping (for them) and working (for Seth and Sara). Tuesday night turned to be a late one - we stayed up chatting forever - trying to fit it all in I guess! So Louise and Phil left on Wednesday afternoon and to be honest, our tiny little apt feels empty without them now. It was a great couple of weeks - we had a tonne of fun and it was really fabulous to get a proper 'catch up' with them - since most of our visits have only been a few days here and there - more partying than just hanging out.

So that's been our life in the past 2 weeks - now you can understand why there was no time to post an update until now! This past weekend was quiet for us, we went to see Marie Antoinette last night (how did I get Seth to go - I have no idea) - not a great movie all in all. And now I'm all in preparation mode for the shower I'm hosting next weekend for Liz - I hope it's as fabulous as I've promised her it will be!

That's all for now - love to everyone - we'll post an update next weekend and let you know what else is new!

A busy + sick weekend

The weekend was supposed to be very low-key, but ended up to be quite a busy one. Sara was (is) still sick from last Monday - it just keeps lingering and is now a rough, phlemy cough - which is just gross and she's wishing would just go away. But that also meant that Friday night's plans of drinks w/ a friend that she hadn't seen in quite a while were cancelled - instead, she rented a movie (the Lake House - sappy, but good!) and decided to tuck in for the night. Seth got home around 8-ish and by 9 was in bed and out for the count - guess it was a long week for both of us!

Well, Seth also had to work on Saturday, and after work, he met Sara at the nearest Ikea to buy a few things for around the house - with our impending visitors (Louise + Phil) stopping in for a few weeks, we needed to get some chairs that would give us more seating than just the couch. We got home just in time to put the chairs together and tidy up the house before our friends Rob, Greg + Liz stopped by to watch the Michigan football game. Many beers ensued for the boys, and they ended up going to the nearby pub, the Bull & Firkin for many more drinks - the girls stayed in and watched lame tv on the PVR while Liz waited for Greg to call to be picked up. Although it was a quiet (and sober!) night in for the ladies, we were still up until past 2am waiting for the boys to be done with their night.

Sunday has been spent cleaning up the mess from Saturday night, and finishing up the invites to send out for Liz's shower - they didn't turn out quite as 'creative' as Sara would have liked - but they'll have to do - they're already late going out! Oh and surprise surprise, Seth is a 'little' hungover and watching football for the rest of the day! Haha - boys will be boys!

So this week will be exciting (and a busy one) - Louise + Phil get into town on Tuesday night, and Seth has the rest of the week off to show them around Toronto and play host. On Friday we're planning to head to Montreal for the weekend - meander back through Ottawa and spend a day or two in Kingston showing our guests around the eastern part of Ontario. It should be fun and we'll make sure we post some pictures of the trip for everyone!

2 week update

Okay, so we're running behind on the weekly Sunday updates on this blog. Sorry about that - but here's a two week update for you...

Last weekend we did the Murder Mystery Party at our friends' Greg & Liz's - they hosted the party as it was Greg's birthday and he's always wanted to go to one of these parties. So he threw one for himself! It was great fun - Seth was a rich gambler and Sara was the detective (it was a Casino-themed party, so there was also Elvis, a number of showgirls, a senator + wife, more degenerate gamblers and casino staff there was well!). It was a blast - everyone really got into it, both acting-wise and in their costumes. Lots of fun had by all - unfortunately too many drinks were also had by all, so no one correctly guessed the murderer - but Sara did the get best-dressed award!

So that was last weekend - Sunday being a bit of a hangover day, with not much to do except for Seth to watch football and Sara to do laundry and other around-the-house chores. This weekend we drove directly to Ottawa on Friday night - another friend's birthday, another birthday party.

This time it was to visit Sara's friend Melissa - she was joining the 30, Flirty and Fabulous club, and Ottawa is also Seth's best man's home, so he got to visit with his friend Ryan. Friday night was a late one as traffic was so terrible from Toronto, and Saturday the girls waited for Liz to show up (she drove up in the morning) and went directly out to meet the boys for lunch at Cora's and then an afternoon of shopping!

Shopping was quite evenful - everyone got a new outfit and we had just enough time to get back to Melissa's apt to put out some appy's, get ready and have a few cocktails before heading to the restaurant for dinner and to meet a number of her friends.

Seth and Ryan had a date for the hockey game - so didn't meet up with us until after - then we headed out to another bar - had a few more cocktails and finally headed home to bed. We tried to leave at a decent time in the morning, as we were due back in Kingston for a very quick Thanksgiving visit early afternoon - unfortunately we didn't leave until closer to noon, bringing us into Kingston around 2pm. We had dinner with Seth's parents and then headed over to Sara's parents for a quick visit - then back on the road by 7:30pm, to get stuck in traffic heading back to Toronto and getting home close to 11pm.

No wonder we're both exhausted today - thank goodness it's a long weekend...