Who am I?

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Day!! I never would have anticipated how much fun the baby girl's first Christmas would be. We've taken a ton of movies so far, and more are to come. They will be posted shortly...

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

I'm back

Our computer was down for like....too long. I never thought I would miss my blog, but I did. It was something about a corrupt operating system...yada, yada, yada...it was sent away to the computer ER and now it's back and better than ever.

So much stuff has happened since the last blog, where do I begin?

Well, all of the Christmas shopping is officially done. OK, not true. I have one more thing to buy, and I was going to do that today, but Navarre started fussing in the car. I thought I shouldn't press my luck, so I took her home. I am going to get that last one thing today though. I only have a couple of things left to wrap, so I'm doing well there. The stocking for Navarre has hit a snag. I needed embroidery hoops to do the embroidery on it ( I knew that; I don't know what I was thinking). So, I haven't done that yet. I'm going to give it a few practice runs before I do hers, because if momma messes it up, well then she's going to have a messed up stocking.

We've had a Christmas card kafuffle with the computer crash. We also took baby girl to get her picture with Santa. She wasn't too impressed. The jingling bells and adults acting like jackasses didn't seem to amuse her either. See for yourself...

She didn't cry and claw his eyes out with her fingernails that I forget to keep trimmed, so it was a successful picture in our proud parent eyes.

On a more serious note, I'm sad I won't be home this Christmas. The family has had a rough year, with my cousin Cleve passing away and Paw-Paw moving to a nursing home. Things are good now with Paw-Paw, but it was a rough time getting here. I wish I could be there with the family on Christmas Eve, but I will see them very soon after in January. I plan to take Navarre to Cleve's grave and "introduce" the two and tell her about her cousin. Hopefully, she and Caden, Cleve's son, can play together lots while we're home. There are actually 3 babies in the family this year.

So, I've been shopping, wrapping, baking, but not blogging. I've also thought the blog topics need to be a bit more exciting, so if you're a reader and you have some ideas...send them my way.

Another year down and I have pink sheets

So, another year passes, and I'm 27. A year ago today we found out I was pregnant. Wow, how a year can totally change your life in every possible way. Some people take time on birthdays for inner reflection on the person they have become or the person they want to be. All I can think is that I have no idea who I am because I bought pink sheets for my bed the other day. For those who know me, you know that this seems completely outside of the possible realm for Leslie, but let me explain.

My husband can't seem to sleep on sheets without pulling them off of the matress. It doesn't help that we have a super thick faux Temperpedic matress topper that makes it difficult to keep the fitted sheet on the bed. Anyway, we go to Linens-N-Things with our 20% off coupon. Good news - we found super deep fitted sheets with a ridiculously high thread count. Bad news - the pink color is on sale, but the other normal colors are not. I could not bring myself to pay as much as they wanted for the other colors, so we have pink sheets. Nicole, quit doing your happy dance right now. I don't expect this to be a trend.

So, I'm thinking about all the changes that have come about this year and how happy I am with my family and my super soft sheets, even if they are pink.

I love Christmas!

Check out the Falcones getting down with the Christmas spirit. We're preparing for the Christmas tree a-gittin', a-gittin', a-gittin'; a Christmas tree a-gittin' this weekend.

Look out baby, 'cause here I come

She's a solid 12 lbs. 11 ozs today.

Definitely not like Auntie

How the hell do you get a baby who fights sleep (screaming and pulling and scratching...) to learn to fall asleep on her own? I would love to know how I'm supposed to put my baby down to sleep when she is "drowsy" and not fully asleep and have her actually go to sleep. The experts (by experts I mean M.D.s, Ph.D.s and Mothers) say put the baby to sleep drowsy, not asleep...will someone please tell that to my beautiful almost 4 month old daughter who hates sleep more than her bitter tasting Zantac medication and more than the sunlight shining in her eyes in the car.

The baby has ESPN

By the look on Navarre's face, she must have known the outcome of the LSU game on Friday. She must have ESPN. That's all I can say about Friday's game.

Another favorite...


Look dahling, the jacket's attached.

Greatest Picker Award goes to...

So, it's Thanksgiving and I'm getting ready to watch football. Well, between taking care of the screaming baby (she had a bad day today) and making cornbread dressing and a sweet potato pie with pecan streusal topping, I'm trying to get ready to watch football. Great matchup today with the Packers and Lions. NFL Today on Fox is on before the game with James Brown, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson. There are military personnel in the studio asking questions.

One marine asks, "So guys, whose the best picker?"

I did a double take since I wasn't paying full attention. Jimmy asks for clarification, "The best picker or the best pick?"

"The best picker."

Jimmy responds, "Well me of course! I'm the best picker. You can't talk about the best picker without mentioning me."

While I'm starting to double over in laughter, I'm wondering if these guys are actually talking about the "best picker" on national television (I guess international since I'm watching in Canada) without mentioning Jim "let's kick field goals and never win a game" Mora, former head coach of the New Orleans Saints. That idiot had his finger so far up his nose every time the camera was on him he must have made it rich from the all the gold he dug instead of winning football games. I don't understand how the NFL Today guys could even have a best picker conversation without a mention of Mora. I remember counting how many times he would be picking his nose during games with my family on Sundays...aaaah, quality time together.

So, on Thanksgiving 2007, the best picker award goes to Jim Mora and Jimmy Johnson. Keep on pickin' guys. And, congrats to the Packers on their 10-1 start...Favre hasn't looked this good since...well maybe ever. Have you noticed no one has asked if this is his last year yet???

Oh, and I think one little girl had too much turkey today.

pictures for the fans out there

Yes, it's a girl...this is one of her boy outfits according to Jamie.

yum yum...here I come!

I think I'm getting a bit ahead of myself but since I'm not working outside of the home, I'm thinking I'm going to have time to do all of this baking this holiday season. I'm really looking forward to it. I love to bake. I went cake tasting with a friend of mine last week for her wedding. The woman baking the cake has her own business run out of her home. She's converted part of her basement into a fully functioning kitchen and "studio" for brides-to-be and friends to sample cakes. It was the cutest, most functional space I've seen in a long time. This woman works for a hotel two days a week and runs her wedding cake business, Layers. She does about 4 weddings every weekend. Why can't I do something like this??

I'm not sure I want to do wedding cakes though. The pressure of baking someone's wedding cake may be too much for me. I wasn't one of those brides that would have even noticed at my reception if something was slightly off with the cake, but there are plenty of them out there, and I don't think I want to deal with these women. Anyway, maybe I could use this time on maternity leave to get a business plan together that would allow me to work out of the home partime and bake the other time. I could be at home more with the baby girl and I would actually love what I do. After growing up with my family owning a small business, I've always said I wanted to be my own boss someday. I could start small with a stand at the Halifax Farmers' Market (this is the best farmers' market I've ever seen). Hmmmmm, something I'll have to look into. I think this will be my new year's project.

Nicole's handknits and Leslie's desserts...we could be a force to be reckoned with.

(Jamie - no comment on ending with a preposition)

Queen of the mountain

So, when I was a kid we loved to play King of the Mountain. My friend down the street had a fabulous dirt pile in her backyard, and we loved throwing each other down in the dirt to see who could reign supreme as the King or Queen - although we never said Queen when we played even though there were more girls than boys playing. Somehow it was fun getting thrown down a pile of dirt, and we would jump up looking for more dirt in the eye or dirty scraped elbows.

I loved to play in the dirt, both organized play as described above and spontaneous play. Digging in dirt was fun! You could find worms or rocks; you could make mud pies; you could try to get other kids to eat your mud pies, and you were filthy at the end of it. What could be better? I was beginning to think this type of play was not accepted from adults, excepts for maybe digging in sand at the beach - which is also a favorite pastime as long as there is a drink to go with that sand. But I was wrong.

I have never been enticed by gardening, but I planted spring bulbs in our front flower bed on the weekend. As I was raking dirt and digging holes and measuring to make sure my bulbs weren't too close to each other and were planted deep enough, it hit me...adults play in the dirt as much as kids; it's called gardening. I started by pulling out all of the annuals we planted in the summer and cutting back the perennials. I had to dig up our dahlia bulbs to store them for the winter. I enjoyed this more than I expected. My hands were dirty; my knees were wet from kneeling in the flower bed, and I was in heaven!! Ok, so maybe not heaven...my back was hurting from bending over, then about halfway through my husband suggested I get the padded cushion I bought for him to kneel on when he planted the summer bulbs. Anyway, I loved it!!

It also fascinates me that these tulip and hyacinth bulbs will lay dormant in the frozen ground all winter, then in spring these beautiful blooms will appear. I just can't fathom that anything in the ground during the winter here with snow piled on top of it can survive and produce such a gorgeous plant in the spring. So, not only did I get to relive a favorite childhood pastime of playing in the dirt (although I didn't get to throw anyone down a big dirt pile), I'm going to see the fruits of my labor in the springtime. The before picture is not too exciting, but wait until spring!

I will post pics of the blooms when they come up. For those of you who live in a warm climate, you really can't imagine the pure jubilation when you see the first green plants sprouting out of the ground in spring.

I was definitely Queen of the Flowerbed.

Exhausted

I'm exhausted today. I'm not feeling well. My sinuses are making my throat hurt...It's taking me longer to go to sleep after getting up with the baby around 4 am every night. I'm not sure why because I'm so tired, but that's probably the reason...because I'm so tired.

Anyway, not much happening today. We went for a walk this morning. Don't think I'm super eager to go for walks in the morning when it's chilly outside. The baby wouldn't sleep, but needed to sleep. I thought the fresh air and strolling would knock her out, and it did like a ton of bricks - that is right until I got into the bathtub, then crying. So, she's finally asleep again. We'll see how long this one lasts...

Oh, I don't think I updated Nicole's colonoscopy for everyone. The procedure went fine. She'll get results from some biopsies next week, but everything looks good.

Well hello stranger

Ok, so it's been a while since the last post. I'm not doing too well on the posting everyday thing. It seems like if there is somewhere the baby and I need to be...doctor's appointment, shopping, etc. then the post doesn't get done. I don't have a clue how my day is going to go before it actually happens, so every day is like an adventure. I think that's the best way to describe this motherhood so far. Also, my guilty pleasure - The OC - is on every night from 8-9 on Much Music (think Canadian MTV for you American readers). They started airing the show from its pilot episode and there is a new episode every week night. I'm glued from 8-9...it's pathetic. Anyway, this blog would have been posted an hour earlier tonight if it weren't for that.

I guess I should start with Halloween; that's where I left off the last post. We had a ton of kids, which wasn't a surprise. But I have to say, doesn't anyone believe in homemade costumes anymore?? Not necessarily handmade, sewn costumes, but you know the kind where you piece together a costume from stuff around the house - not the Buzz Lightyear store bought kind or the lion store bought kind. I was a bit disappointed in the costumes. No rock stars made from your Mom's oversized glittery striped shirt; no handsewn clown costumes; no witches with spanish moss hair - ok, we don't have spanish moss in Nova Scotia - but there wasn't anything close to that. I digress, Navarre was the cutest:) Now, I'm left eating the Halloween candy, and it's wrecking my weightwatchers plan of getting back to pre-preggo weight. I've instructed Jamie the leftovers are to be sent to Halifax West for jaded, or maybe just holiday lusting, English teachers to eat. Enjoy the pics of our pumpkins this year. It definitely wasn't anything compared to our 10 jack-o-lantern year, but it'll do.


Not much has gone on since Halloween. The craft projects are done for now. My next is a Christmas stocking for the baby. I'll do that in the next few weeks. The hardest part is making up my mind for fabric/embellishments, etc. My sister-in-law, Shaina, is coming over to sew some for her and her boyfriend...I'm hoping for cute and homemade, but not too obviously homemade, if you know what I mean.

I'm glad to say the Christmas shopping is going pretty well so far. There are a few key gifts left to buy, but I have an idea for most everyone on the list, except for the Louque names...ugh, I hate drawing names so late for that family. We draw at Thanksgiving (American Thanksgiving for you Canuck readers - ok, I just had to ask Jamie how to spell Canuck), which is way too late in my opinion. I'm excited about Navarre's first Christmas. Big will be up here for it too. Big is her grandmother, my mother...that is a long story that deserves it own post, so maybe another day.

Switching back to baby talk for a minute...we gave Navarre formula for the first time last night. I know; all of the pro-breastfeeding readers out there try to pick your bottom jaw off the floor. Honestly, I had a feeling I wouldn't last 6 months, but I wanted to. If she were more on a schedule or something, then maybe it would be different, but she's not. For mama to be sane, we need to do it. Not exclusively, which I'm happy about, but using the formula to give us some more flexibility and me some more sleep on the weekends was needed. She took it wonderfully; I swear if she could talk she would be screaming for more. I was very happy:) It didn't seem to make a difference with the throw up either, so it was great for everyone.

A few more things before I go fall asleep to Monday Night Football...Nicole had her colonoscopy today...I haven't talked to her yet. I tried calling but didn't get an answer. I'll try again before bed. I hope everything went well, and the results are good. She sent her beautiful niece a dress a couple of weeks ago. Well, I finally got her in it. See how cute she is, Auntie:)

That's all for now. I don't even know whose playing tonight. I do know that the Green Bay is 7-1 this season - Geaux Packers!!! Enjoy the pics...baby gumbo anyone??

Cutest Baby Ever

So, I made a mistake (it happens from time to time). LSU has an open weekend this week and plays Bama next weekend. Thank you for pointing that out, Nicole.

Now, tell me who is the cutest candy corn you've ever seen?


Here's is her Halloween outfit that Aunt Nicole sent her.

Finally finished!!

I've finally finished the Halloween costume for the baby. It took me longer than I thought. Let's just say I made a "rough copy" first and that buttonholes aren't my favorite thing in the world. Jamie teaches his kids that they have to do a rough copy of their essays first, then a good copy. I took that same route with the costume...not by choice, but once I realized her neck wouldn't fit in the teeny, tiny neck hole that was on the first try, I made a second one. Luckily, not much fabric is needed for a body that size:) It's a bit late to get the little one dressed in her costume now, so I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. I've been slacking on the photos the past 5 days or so...I'll try to do better. I will also post pics of Navarre in her new outfits from her Auntie in Oklahoma. She's very excited about them.

I'm working on the accessories for Jamie and I now. We won't be in costume, but will have head gear to put us in the Halloween mood. You know you're on mat leave when you watch Martha Stewart's show, actually go her website and print off patterns, make holiday crafts, and get excited about them.

I am a bit disappointed that I haven't pulled out any of my Halloween decor as of yet. There's still time though. I think I need more Halloween decor. This is one holiday that I'm seriously lacking in the decorations. I'll be looking for things in November on sale:)

I have great news...my friend Shelly is pregnant!!! She's due on May 7th (my cousin's birthday). I'm very excited to have one of my best friends having a baby around the same age as Navarre. Hopefully they'll be as good as friends as Shelly and I are. Shelly's baby will have a cousin the same age since Jenny, Shelly's sister, is pregnant too! I'm very excited for them to be pregnant together at the same time. Watch out Manzer family...two preggos at the same time! I think everyone as baby fever right now. It seems like everyone I know is either pregnant or trying to get pregnant. Evie is still a hold out, but she may come around sooner than later!!

Onto a different topic...LSU is number 3 in the BCS poll. With Ohio State #1 and Boston College #2, I think we have a chance to be at #2 next week. BC has to play Virginia Tech in Virgina, and I think that's going to be difficult for them. On the other hand, we have to play Bama. I really don't like Nick Saban, but he is a good coach. If we play like we have the past few weeks...big holes in the defense, dropped passes, etc....we'll get our asses handed to us on Saturday. But if we play like we did in first games of the season, then we should be Bama. Man I want to beat Saban. Even if it wasn't Saban, who wants to lose to Bama...not me and any other self-respecting Tiger fan. We have other plans for Saturday evening, so it looks like I will have to tape the game and watch it on Sunday. I'm not very happy about this, but this is what happens when your spouse's family are not football fans. We'll have a good time on Saturday, and I'll watch it on Sunday, so I'm ok with that.

So, enough blog for now. I'm taking lil' punta to get weighed tomorrow, so there will be pics of the costume and a new weight tomorrow...stay tuned.

Can't wait for Halloween

I can't wait for Halloween this year. My sister-in-law, Shaina, is having a Halloween dinner. She had one last year, but I was in OK visiting a certain 30 year-old! She's insisted we all have costumes, even the baby. So, I'm going to make her a candy corn costume! I bought the orange, yellow and white fabric today. It will be a simple thick striped A-line dress with a white cone-shaped hat. I'm a bit scared the hat will look like a KKK hood. I'll try my best to make it not look like a KKK hood. I'll post pics when it's done. My last sewing project was a disaster, so I'm looking forward to a successful project.

Jamie had a concert last night with Nova Symphonia. I couldn't go because of the bebe, but he said it went really well. Here's a pic of Navarre and her dapper daddy.

It's only Tuesday

This week is a long one. LSU lost on Saturday and Jamie has rehearsal or a concert or parents' night or something every night this week, including a double rehearsal he had on Sunday. That means I don't get relief from the baby on weeknights. I love her to death, but I need a break when he gets home! His concert is tonight, and I would love to go. However, I don 't think the 2 month old would really behave at the concert for that long:)

So, not much else going on. I'm trying to get the baby's passport nonsense straightened out so that we can fly to LA in January. Don't get me started on that. I thought the US process was ass-backwards, but as it turns out the Canadian process is just as screwy. These things don't surprise me, just annoy me.

Here's today's pic...sleeping baby:)

Ugh...

Ok, so that was the worst game ever. LSU's defense against Kentucky has so many holes a Mack truck could have done figure 8s on the field. And I loss count of the dropped passes around 6 or 7. The Tigers are much better than they played tonight, so the game should not have come down to overtime, however the horrible calls in the 4 quarter and overtime can't be overlooked. I think the Kentucky touchdown that was reviewed at the end of the game should have been called back. It didn't look like he broke the plane of the goal on the replay. Then, in the last overtime I don't see how the Kentucky receiver can knock down the LSU defender, causing the receiver to be wide open in the endzone for the touchdown, and not get called for interference. Anyway, that game blows...more like the LSU effort blew.

On a happier note, I'm trying to stick to my vow of taking and posting a picture a day. There were so many cute ones today, I'm posting a couple.

It's Friday!!

Thank goodness it's Friday! I'm perplexed as to why I have this overwhelming relief that the weekend is here. Honestly, my weekends are not that much different from my weekdays, except Jamie is here all day. That is wonderful...that must be what it is:)

I'm wondering what we're going to do this weekend. I would love to go the farmer's market downtown tomorrow morning. Sometimes that works with the baby, and sometimes it doesn't. The Halifax Farmer's Market is awesome!! Not just your typical vegetable stand, it is in the old Alexander Keith's brewery downtown. Bring me to a brewery, and I'm happy!! http://www.halifaxfarmersmarket.com/ Here's the link if you want to check it out. Oh, baby calls, will have to continue blog later tonight. I suspect I'll have a lot like this...

Ok, baby settled and we've eaten dinner. Back to the market...there are lots of artisans there and baked goods, vegetables, herbs, flowers, you name it, they have it. We like the butcher/sausage guy, Sweet William's, that's there. That's the only place I've found good smoked pork sausage in this city. I'd like to see if I can get some more Christmas presents at the market.

I'm doing ok on my Christmas shopping. I have many friends who laugh at me for thinking about Christmas in October, but what's really funny is I like to have all of my shopping done by the end of the summer. And to all of you who laugh, I can get you much better gifts this way because I can spread the cost over more time and spend more!! Jamie and I are seriously considering buying Navarre diapers for Christmas since this is the only year we think we'll be able to get away with something like that. I'm sure the grandparents will spoil her rotten come Christmas time, so I'm not that concerned about it. I've got ideas for most, but some of the guys are more difficult.

Ok, so to use this to keep the fam and friends informed about the baby, I'm going to try and take one pic a day and post it. We'll see how long that lasts...

Tomorrow is GameDay for the Tigers. Now that we're #1, we'll get all the games on TV up here I'm hoping. Tomorrow we play Kentucky, and I'm hoping it's another victory. Geaux Tigers!!

Technically challenged

So, I'm figuring out how to get my picture on the profile...Nicole, quit laughing. I think everyone has a blog, or it seems like it. There are over 6300 in Nova Scotia alone on blogspot. Anyway, this is mainly for uploading my profiile pic since I have to post it in the blog first. Well that figures, I just tried to add my image and I'm getting an error message. I'll have to work on that later.

Although I did go on a bit of a rant yesterday about all baby all the time, I will be giving little updates on the blog. Last night, she slept so well. Navarre went to sleep around 8:30 and didn't wake up until almost 3 am! That's her longest sleep yet. She was up for about 2 hours, then slept until 7:45 this morning. Last night was the longest block of sleep I've gotten since she was born!

First blog ever!

Ok, so here is my very first blog. I've been inspired by my sister's blog, and my friend, Steve, who seems to be a regular on the blog scene. I'm going to try to post as often as possible, but with the new baby, I'm not sure how often that will be.

I've got a 2 month old baby, Navarre, so I'm at home for the next 10 months. Yes, we get 12 months maternity leave in Canada. If I ever thought about moving back to the States, it would definitely be after I had all my children...not that we're planning on having a whole load of them or anything like that.

I've got to check out other mom blogs. Steve's given me a couple to check out because I'm getting tired of everyone acting like I'm not my own person anymore just because I have a baby. I'd like to talk about the things I talked about before the baby...does it have to be all baby all day every day with everyone??? Ok, it's not everyone, but sometimes it feels like that.

I'm horrible about sending pictures and emailing sometimes, so I'm hoping the blog helps me stay connected with friends and family. I'll still be sending emails, but keep checking the blog for updates on me (and yes, the baby too).