Daddy's girl

(her tent)

Santa's alive and kickin'

I took Navarre to the same mall to take her picture with the same Santa that she has taken a picture with for the past 2 years. He's a very nice, believable Old Santa; there isn't a big line up; and it's cheap. Perfect.

I will try to describe this year's picture with no expletives, but I'm telling you it will be very short. The not nice lady taking the picture jingled her bell one too many times and wouldn't take her finger off the zoom. You should see Navarre's pretty dress and shoes and Santa's whole set up with the big chair and decorations. Instead, you see Navarre and some of Santa's face. Jamie thinks I'm over-reacting because I'm pregnant. I think the woman who hates her job taking the pictures is a complete moron. You can judge for yourself. Although, Navarre is smiling and about to enjoy that great candy cane.

Just in case you don't remember how far this little girl has come...have a look back and notice how you can see all of Navarre and Santa.

2008 - Christmas memories of the ER and the hospital and the generous people who brought gifts to Navarre while in the hospital.

2007 - the year of "is it a boy or is it a girl?"

Pink Christmas

The other day we're in the car listening to an Elvis Christmas CD, and I ask Navarre if we're going to have a blue Christmas. Her prompt reply was, "No, Momma, a pink Christmas." How could I have ever thought otherwise?

We finally got our tree decorated and some decorations up in the house. We still don't have lights outside, but maybe before Christmas Eve it will happen...maybe.

It's been hard getting into the Christmas spirit when I feel so crappy. I haven't actually gotten sick in over a week, but the non-stop nauseous feeling is worse. Anyway, enough details about that. I've gotten up and made breakfast for us both mornings this weekend, so that's progress.

Here are some picture to enjoy. I'm hoping to not make it as long until my next post.

Navarre making her Christmas list, which included the following: camera, baby doll, Upsy Daisy doll, Christmas magic wand, blue play dough, green play dough, and I'm not kidding and I didn't even prompt her to say this - little sister.

Our first big snow of the season. Jamie and Navarre made a snowman that fell over about an hour later. Momma got hot chocolate ready for everyone.

Us decorating the Christmas tree.

Crappity, Crap, Crap

Just to inform all of you, if you ever need to know anything about septic tanks or septic pumps, just come to me. I've learned a lot in the month of September about these things. May and June's topic was generators and how they hook up to your house. This month - the shitter tank.

What did you do today?

I drove Navarre to Lisa's. Jamie went to work. I stopped at Tim's and got a coffee because we have forgotten to buy more at the store for the past 2 days. I rapelled down a 23-story building. Yes, that's right - I, Leslie Falcone, rapelled down a 300 foot building today onone of the most gorgeous September days we've had in a while.

Here is 1801 Hollis. It's your typical mirrored glass window office building in a downtown. I actually smiled and waved at a guy sitting at his computer on my way down. I think he was saying, "Wow, she's nuts." I was saying that and "where the hell is the ground?"

When I was on the roof waiting my turn - side note: there was absolutely no traffice this morning. so, after my coffee from Tim's I went to the building and I was just killing time talking to all of the RAT International folks who ran the show - I took these while waiting (and avoiding the inevitable).

I actually stopped my rapell, took my hands off of my equipment and snapped this shot over my shoulder.


I did it. I can't believe I did it.

Blank walls make Leslie crazy!

I'm looking at the awesome pic I just posted, and my eye keeps being drawn to the huge blank, beige wall behind Navarre. I swear something will be on that wall by 2010.

Please, hold all of the comments re. how my going crazy is going to be a short trip. You're preaching to the choir.

Coal miner's daughter

I like a girl who keeps her options open. Will she be a ballerina? Will she a coal miner? We'll just have to wait and see.

Oh what a night

I don't think words can adequately describe how much fun I had camping at Dollar Lake with the 3 of us last weekend. Everything...everything was the best it could be. Navarre's first camping trip was definitely a success. I think her highlights would be meeting Mr. Lizard again after seeing him in Louisiana at Paw-Paw's, napping in the tent, and throwing rocks into the lake. I enjoyed everything - even our camping crepes.

That was only an inkling of the fun we had captured in pictures.

Calling all Superheroes!

As many of you know, I am participating in Drop Zone - Halifax 2009 in support of Easter Seals Nova Scotia. I will be rapelling down a 23-story building in downtown Halifax on September 18th. You too can take part in this by sponsoring me for this great cause.

Easter Seals Nova Scotia supports children, teens and adults with physical disabilities in Nova Scotia. My goal is to raise $2,000, but I have to at least meet the minimum of $1,500. Help me help Easter Seals, and you can be a Superhero too! Follow the link below to donate. You can donate by credit card online and have a tax receipt emailed to you for donations over $15.

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?SID=2280103

Thank you in advance to everyone who donates.

New passwords

So freakin' funny. Just laughing my ass off..really.

More to come on the Turquoise Twins Project later tonight or tomorrow...I have a baby gift to finish.

You've Been Hacked!

What happens when you check your email on your sister's computer and leave yourself signed in?  She now has access to your blog!  And if she was on the other computer, she would add the current pictures of you and Caroline.  But this is all she has on this computer.  

Oh no, Mr. Bill!

Our tubs are filled; the beer is cold; and the vienna sausage is ready. We're bunkered down and waiting for Hurricane Bill. Here's to hoping my Houston/Oklahoma trip isn't delayed, to hoping that Steph doesn't go into labor during the storm, and to hoping Navarre enjoys her first hurricane.

And, yes, finally, here are some pictures from the summer.

Tick tock, the baby clock

We're back. We made it. Jamie's back survived the trip; Caroline survived Navarre, and I survived it all. I had such a good time in Oklahoma...watching Navarre with Caroline, watching Nicole and T with their beautiful daughter, watching all of it. One day Nicole and I went to Target with the girls (yep, with the girls), and we're riding down the long Oklahoma interstate. I'm thinking to myself, "I can't believe the two of us are sitting here with our daughters in the backseat."

What I love about my sister is that no matter what changes in our lives or where we are both physically and emotionally in our lives, our relationship doesn't change. When I walked into her house and we hung out that first night, it wasn't like it had been months since we had seen each other. It was like I saw her last week. I love that. Maybe it's because since I've had a child my brain turns to mush much quicker than before and I just can't wrap my tired brain around the actual continuum of time. That could be it too.

And just as Nicole promised on her "website" (he he), I'll have pictures up soon. Except give me at least a week; she's got a newborn to take care of, but I've got a kickass bachelorette party to prepare for this weekend.

Psychedelic birdhouse

For Father's Day, I bough a wooden birdhouse for Navarre and Jamie to paint together, with my gift being that I would handle the entire set up and clean up. Navarre had never ventured into the painting, but I thought she would like it...boy did I underestimate her enthusiasm.

The men in Navarre's life

It's no secret that Navarre likes the boys...a few of her favorites are Lucas at the sitter's house and Hudson, Shelly little one. Lucas is enjoying her hugs I believe - evidence is below.


Hudson on the other hand...he just gets mauled. The looks he gives in return are priceless. I can almost hear him saying, "Look woman, leave me alone." At his birthday party, in the bath, on the floor, it doesn't matter when or where; Navarre is coming in for some lovin'.. The poor child just wants to eat his food and play basketball in tub; is that too much to ask?

Have you seen a cuter baby since Navarre?

Go to Nicole's blog here to see pics of the gorgeous Caroline. I swear I haven't seen such a beautiful baby since Navarre.

Auntie baby

Nicole and T welcomed their beautiful baby girl into the world at 12:33 am on June 9th. Weighing in at 22 inches and 8 lbs. 1 oz., Caroline Frances sure gave her momma a time.

I've been working on "Hi Caroline" with Navarre. Now when I say Caroline, she says, "Auntie baby." Close enough.

I can't wait to get down to OK and see the Smith family and my niece! I'm an aunt; can you believe it? So in the past two years I've added two titles to my name, Momma and whatever Caroline will call me. These are two names that probably about 5 years ago I couldn't fathom would be here in 5 years. I saw in my calendar at work yesterday that August 7th will be mine and Jamie's 5th anniversary. I know what you're thinking...Leslie, you're too young to have been married 5 years, and isn't Jamie too old to only have been married 5 years!!!! I'll say no to both.

Jamie and I have been through a lot in the over 10 - yes, that's right, we've known each other over 10 years - years we've known each other. I've read and heard experts say that having a baby and selling/buying property and moving are like the trifecta of stressful events in one's life. Jamie and I have done these three in the past 22 months. Combine these with trying to balance family and work life, both physical and mental health issues and you're everyday life events and it makes for a strained time. Sometimes stressful, sometimes strained. Sometimes relaxed and laid back, but not nearly enough.

Usually the summer is one of my favorite times of year. This summer, I am looking forward to meeting Caroline, having the first two cousins interact (well, Navarre poke and prod and Caroline lie there and take it), sharing in Ben and Shaina's wedding day and hopefully sharing our new house with friends. But, honestly, I find myself looking forward to fall. It could be argued that it is the best season in Nova Scotia. I see the fall as a time to rest and relax and to enjoy our new house with the three of us together.

I feel like this summer is the old friend that has come into town and stays with you. You party your ass off and enjoy the time together and reminisce about old times, and when the friend leaves, you are sad but sure are glad you can get some rest.

Sweet Caroline...

She's on her way....

A couple of faves

LA Confidential

Here's a good example of where my head is lately....

After my post yesterday, Nicole reminded me that I forgot to include my trip to Baton Rouge in my short listed series of events over the past month. How could I forget surprising my sister for her baby shower and seeing her cry and her calling me a nerd? How you ask...I'll tell you how.

I have been homeless for 4 weeks; I left for Louisiana on a Friday and came back to an empty house on the following Monday with all of my stuff in storage. It took Navarre only about a week to figure out something was going on, and this wasn't just a fun weekend at Oma and Grandpa's house. She was like, "Where's my stuff and where's my clothes and more importantly, where's my stuff and why are Momma and Daddy here too?"

It's no excuse, but here's the corrected list:

1. looked for a new house
2. bought a house
3. sold a house
4. took a quick trip to LA to surprise Nicole and baby Caroline
5. put all wordly possessions in storage
6. moved in with in-laws
7. live with in-laws
8. buy a whole ton of expensive house stuff
9. do whatever I have to do in order to stay sane while my husband, my 22-month old and myself share space with others
10. learn about 1.5 years of university courses on electrical engineering in order to be satisfied with my generator purchase for my country home with acreage
11. learn to sleep at night knowing there is a very large tank of shit (also known as a "septic tank") under my lawn

(I added that last one just now; I had allowed myself to forget about the tank o shit, but now that the closing date is looming....I've got shit on the brain)

Anything but mundane

So here I am. I've been away for a LONGGGG time. How have you been? Good I hope. I could bore you with details of what's been going on lately with us, but I won't. If you talk to me on a regular basis, then you know. If you don't, here is a brief synopsis...

1. looked for a new house
2. bought a house
3. sold a house
4. put all wordly possessions in storage
5. moved in with in-laws
6. live with in-laws
7. buy a whole ton of expensive house stuff
8. do whatever I have to do in order to stay sane while my husband, my 22-month old and myself share space with others
10. learn about 1.5 years of university courses on electrical engineering in order to be satisfied with my generator purchase for my country home with acreage

So, that brings you up to speed. We close on the new house Thursday. I have been all consumed by house stuff lately.

Now, back to good old blogging and working and having fun with Jamie and Navarre.

On a side note, our weather has been gorgeous, and I've been soaking up as much vitamin D as possible. On a even wider side note, my new contemplation is whether or not I can jump on board the Twitter bandwagon.

Peace out.

Can I get some shroves for anyone?

Happy Shrove Tuesday to everyone out there!

Hope you had awesome, fluffy pancakes today; although, we didn't have any....maybe on the weekend.

To the American readers, Shrove Tuesday is like Mardi Gras with the following exceptions:
1. One day - not a season
2. No cake with plastic babies
3. No prolonged bouts of drunken revelry
4. No beads
5. No anything else that goes on at Mardi Gras
6. You eat pancakes at some point during the day on Shrove Tuesday.

Get some good beads and don't fall on your face

Happy Mardi Gras to everyone. Hope you've had a safe and kickass Mardi Gras weekend.

and fyi...Bbg pooped and peeded in something other than something covering her butt. Can I send the light at the end of the diaper-changing tunnel? Stay tuned...

Click the vote

Weekend Pictures, Steve's website dedicated to educating the general populous on user-generated content and privacy on the web is up for an award at SXSW Interactive Festival.

For those unfamiliar with SXSW, it's the infamous South by Southwest Group that puts on the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. The Interactive Festival is one of the festivals this groups puts on and it is geared towards the "blossoming interactive media industry.

Needless to say, this is a huge accomplishment, and I invite everyone to click here and vote for Weekend Pictures in the People's Choice award for the Student category. You can vote once a day until March 6th...so go and click the vote.

Everything I wanted to know

For years now I've tried to wrap my little ole American head around how the Canadian government works. At first I tried to compare/contrast against the US government, and it's just incomparable. A republic vs. a constitutional monarchy/parliamentary democracy match up just doesn't make much sense.

It has also bothered me that when I ask most Canadians questions about government, they look at me like I have a horn growing out of my head - as to say why in hell would you ever ask that or how the hell should i know. Didn't Canadians have a Canadian version of School House Rocks or a basic Civics class in jr. high or high school? Apparently not.

Then in the end of 2008 this so-called coalition government almost takes over, and I have Americans asking me what the hell is going on up here. As if I know. I only live here, and I can't find a Canuck to give me a straight answer. ...then comes Rick Mercer.

Rick Mercer is like the Jon Stewart of Canada, but smaller (if you could imagine that) and funnier looking. On his show last week he had an entire segment on how the Canadian government works. Go watch it now!

What I find hilarious about this piece, is that it's as if it were written by an American living in Canada. So, for all of you south of the border (and for those north of the border) who don't have a flippin clue about the Canadian government, I hope this has shed some light on it for you, or at least given you a good laugh.

Enjoy.

Why am I not asleep?

I'm exhausted. It's been a long week. I haven't slept well this week. I skipped tkd tonight to bake a king cake. I REALLY wanted one, and so did Jamie. I'm sitting here, tired, and I'm not asleep. What's wrong with this picture?

Patchwork heritage

For those who didn't see President Obama's inauguration speech live today, you can click here and watch it. The BBC posted video and full text. It may seem ironic to some that I'm linking to the BBC when its a video of the US Presidential Inauguration, and I live in Canada.

While I was watching it online tonight (because all of the internet traffic all around the world today wrecked havoc on my already temperamental internet connection at work), I thought a lot of things.

One of the most important things I thought was how much our family was made from the patchwork heritage that President Obama spoke about. After having a child and living outside of the US, I sometimes think about passing on my culture and my heritage to Navarre, and I wonder if I will be able to pass to her the knowledge and understanding of where she comes from and where I come from. I'm almost sad to say that it took this speech for me to realize that our family is somewhat a mirror of American culture - different cultures coming together out of love and hope and starting a new family.

This gives me confidence in myself - confidence to teach Navarre about her Southern Cajun American culture and confidence in my country that we can remember the values that allowed us to become our own country.

Happy Inauguration Day.

Catch up

This is what we came home to....

Lions, Tigers, and 2009 - Oh My

Now that the New Year is here, I'm trying to think of ways to improve my well-being - my physical, emotional, mental, financial well-being. Every year I say I'm going to actually do things I want to do, instead of saying oh I wish this was a certain way or that was a certain way. This year, I'm going to just make it that way. So, here's to 2009 and making it the way I want it.

And right now, I want to enjoy a Sleeman Original Draught and to see pictures of my incredibly bright and adorable and sneaky 17-month old.

4 boards and 5 Ponchatoulas

I'm about to post all out of order, but given the way December went for us, it seems fitting to do so.

Early in December, Jamie, my sister-in-law Shaina, her fiance Ben and I went to White Point "Resort" for a weekend sans baby. While White Point is nice, I use term resort loosely. Jamie and I sat through the time share presentation for 1 1/2 hours and got a weekend away with Shaina and Ben for dirt cheap. I would love to post a picture of Shaina in her winter boots and swimsuit in the women's bathroom, however, she might kill me if I do that.

Before the Eastern European couple was all over each other and ruined the atmosphere for the rest of us, Ben and I had a duel of who could "stand" on more kick boards for longer. During this feat of balance and super stealth surfing skill, I thought it reasonable to ask if Canadian kids growing up learned to count by saying, "1 Mississauga, 2 Mississauga, 3 Mississauga..." instead of "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi." While I never really got an answer to my question, I decided we should count how long we could stand on each board by counting Ponchatoulas. It seemed, and still seems, perfectly reasonable to me. I may defer to Claire on this one...what do you think, Claire?

Speaking of Claire, I'm leaping forward to New Year's Eve when we found out our credit card number had been hijacked and the culprit(s) ran up thousands of dollars worth of goods in Toronto and Mississauga. I tried to tell them that if it was a bald guy buying electronics or golf gear or a short lady with a cute purse and shoes trying to buy more cute purses and shoes and liquor, then I could help the authorities find them. I'm not kidding when I say after thousands of dollars in purchases at Best Buy and other stores, it was a shoe store that did them in......I'm pretty sure the culprits ran off to Louisiana and racked up tons of charges down there too.....

As always, most but not all readers check the blog to see pictures of bbg. So, here you go. Enjoy. More to come throughout the week.