Healthy Debates...who am I kidding...FIGHTS!!!

My coworker and I had a discussion about fighting with your significant other. A few people around quite proudly said they have never had anything more than an arguement with their wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend. Huh. Weird. I admitted having moments where my fists are clenched, my teeth are gritting, my eyes are narrowed, and where I choose the most hurtful words I can think of. Thank god someone else agreed, or I would have had one of those awkward moments where my lack of inhibition sometimes leads to uncomfortable silences and blank stares! Anyway, this discussion led me to almost pee my pants. Some fights (obviously only after the moment has passed) are friggin hilarious! My coworker said one of the biggest fights he had with his girlfriend was over him not wearing a jacket. They were in the movie theatre parking lot, getting out of the car, when he decided to take off his jacket and leave it in the car. She FLIPPED out. He was only wearing a short sleeve shirt, and it was winter...minus 1...not minus 30. Anyway, he argued that they were literally going from the car to the theatre (a 30 second run from one door to the other), and he didn't want a bulky jacket around him in his theatre seat. She said she didn't want to be a participant to him getting sick. He retorted by saying it was his own choice to possibly compromise his health by not wearing a jacket in the cold weather for 30 seconds. This led to a full-on fight. She left in a huff, catching a cab home, and he let her leave. Ha ha ha, I loved it. I'm sorry, but that is hilarious...so ridiculous...but so real. And I can relate. Rob and I seriously fought once about Q-tips. We were having breakfast at IHOP, and writing a list of things we had to do for the day. I told him to put down that we needed to buy a box of Q-tips. To which he answered "I think we still have almost a whole box". I told him we were almost out, and he was ademant that we weren't. OH MY GOD did this infuriate me. I seriously use Q-tips every single day...clean my ears when I get out of the shower, and use them to remove my mascara at the end of each night. He uses Q-tips maybe once in a blue moon to clean his ears. I got mad...really mad. Until I saw the next item he wrote on the list. Banas. Then I laughed, and pointed out his spelling mistake on Bananas. Okay I admit...it was a psycho-PMS moment. Like the time I called him (cover your eyes Romy) a "f_cking a_ _ hole" for not accepting the free Krispy Kreme donut that they offered us as they were coming off the "donut-line" hot 'n fresh as they could possibly be!!! I would have LOVED to have a second sweet glazed donut, instead my husband politely told the person "no thanks". Actually...even now...I don't think I overreated...who says no to free Krispy Kreme?!? ; )

DOES IT EVER END???

We got our new couches delivered today...these are the ones that we ordered back in February. We were told by The Brick that the reason it took so long was that the couches had to be made in China and then shipped here (we were joking that the 6 year old Chinese factory workers did an excellent job making our furniture...yes I know...very poor taste joke). Anyway, I LOVE them!!! The sleek, brown leather looks sexy and modern...but now...everything else in the room looks wrong! It seems that now I need...no wait...I guess "want" would be a better description...a new armoire...a new area rug...new side tables...new lamp shades...new drapes...new ottoman/coffee table...the list goes on. Seriously, our current $19 laminate Ikea side tables just don't go with our new sofa-set. Neither does our area rug, which is way too small. For as long as I can remember I have had an obession for a magazine-worthy looking house. While most girls my age would buy Fashion magazines, I would prefer Home Decor ones. Rob got me a subscription to "House and Home" and "Style at Home" magazines for my birthday, and I get so excited every month when a new magazine arrives. Anyway, I guess the same way girls compare themselves with the unrealistic, airbrushed models in the fashion magazines, I am doing the same thing with my ideals for the perfect living room! But...who knows...it IS garage sale season...what are the chances that someone is selling an antique, wood, armoire big enough to house a 32" TV for $100 or less?!?

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

"The World's Best Mom Award" should definitely go to my mom. She is the most selfless person I know. I have never seen anyone who will ALWAYS wait until everyone else at the table has filled their own plates before reaching for her own food, or someone who will ALWAYS take the smallest piece of meat, or ALWAYS take the broken/ugly/less-than-perfect piece of "whatever", and ALWAYS giving the nicest ones to everyone else. My mother's life could be a movie. She grew up dirt-poor in a small rural-country part of Korea. We often talk about how she grew up, and it seems like a totally unimaginable life to me. Her friends and her would catch bugs and roast them over a fire and eat them like a delicacy! At home she would have to wait until her younger brother ate first, and then once he was finished, she would get the leftovers! She never had a pair of shoes that fit her, as her parents would always buy them way too big, so she could grow into them! Her own mother died when she was really young, so it amazes me that she still learned to be such a good mother. There are millions of stories like this, that I just can't fathom. Then her brave decision to move to Canada, a country completely foreign to her, different language, different foods, different culture, and to do it alone with just one other friend, to work as a nurse here! She got off the plane in the middle of summer in Saskcatchewan wearing a fur coat, because all the pictures she ever saw of Canada were about our snowy, cold, climate!!! Ha ha ha...funny. Anyway, three daughters and five and a half grandchildren later...she has come a long way! She is an amazing cook (just ask her grandchildren...who have offered her their own money for her to make them sushi), an amazing seamstress (I always get compliments when I wear clothing made by my mother, and love to see people's shock when I tell them my mother made it!), an amazing student (going back to University while in her sixties!), and an amazing all-round person! Happy Mothers Day...I'm glad I got to spend the afternoon with you yesterday, even though our visit was short! Love you!

OUR DANCING RASPBERRY!!!
We were blown away. Amazed. We got to meet our little Raspberry yesterday. And it was incredible. Before the technician started, I told her quite seriously that I thought if she pressed hard on my stomach with the ultrasound device I may pee on the table. She asked me to hold it a few more minutes. Then she "started"...and as soon as I SAW the Raspberry I completely forgot about how badly I had to go! There on the screen, CLEAR AS DAY...was our baby. I didn't think a fetus the size of lemon would look so much like a baby...but it did. Rob grabbed my hand and was in as much AWE as I was. My eyes started watering instantly. Our little Raspberry was dancing!!! It's too small for me to FEEL the movements, but there he/she was...moving their tiny little arms...legs...whole body! I saw the amazing details of tiny tiny tiny little fingers and toes! Can you imagine the tiniest little fingers moving around? So cute. And the heartbeat...WOW. The tiniest little heart beating away...156 beats a minute...normal. The Raspberry is currently 6.8cm, which is normal for how far along I am. Ha ha ha...we kept asking the technician "is that normal?" for everything...to which she answered "yes" to each question...whew!...she was really nice. They gave us a choice of three pictures, unfortunately none of which shows as much detail as we saw on the screen...but there it is...the first official picture of our Raspberry. I am truely and utterly in love.

FUN TIMES WITH MY FAMILY!!!



Edouard showing off his toothless grin...the twoonie is from the Tooth-Fairy!



Rob trying to save his candles from being blown out by the boys!



The girls minus Sue (who is taking the picture...we should have set up the timer)!



Romy and Bosco hugging...he licked her ears lots last weekend!



Victor at Taekwondo...both him and Romy passed on to Orange belt!

Our Little Raspberry!!!

I woke up this morning and said a prayer of thanks to God, that my Little Raspberry is 12 weeks old today!!! I know that the first trimester officially ends at the END of this week...but "week 12" is the milestone that Rob and I have been waiting for since we found out that I'm pregnant! "The Raspberry" stuck as his/her name after reading in week 6/7 that the embryo was the size of a raspberry (imagine a baby the size of a raspberry having a tiny beating heart)!!! It was the first time we could visualize what was previously referred to as a "sac of cells" by a doctor, as our "baby". Obviously since then the Raspberry has grown (into the size of a LIME), but the initial nickname has STUCK. Here's what's happening now...

Week 12
"The fetus now sleeps, awakens and exercises its muscles energetically- turning its head, curling its toes, and opening and closing its mouth. The palm, when stroked, will make a tight fist. The fetus breathes amniotic fluid to help develop its respiratory system. The fetus can suck its thumb and the kidneys are able to make urine."

Cute, eh? Okay, maybe not the part that the "fetus" is already peeing in me. But I keep wondering what my little Raspberry is doing! I kinda know why Tom Cruise bought the ultrasound machine now! I would LOVE to be able to spy!!!

I MISS IT A LOT SOMETIMES...

Don't get me wrong...I LOVE my house, and the fact that I have my own (albeit tiny tiny) backyard, and that everyday I hear kids playing outside and hear the birds chirping when I open my eyes in the morning...BUT I often miss living downtown. Rob has been working nights this week, and I'm kinda lonely and bored. I lived downtown Vancouver for 6 years, and then downtown Ottawa for a year before buying a house in the suburbs...and I loved how no matter what time of day it was, there was always somewhere I could walk to, to window shop, grab a Starbucks, walk the dog, people watch...etc. The grass is always greener...because I used to complain about the noise, dirty streets, bums, loud drunks and all the other urban things that make a downtown, downtown. But I find myself missing all that. I even have an urban dog, who quickly learned the "routine" of being tied up at a Starbucks or Second Cup patio, and getting to drink fancy ice water from a cup (instead of his usual water bowl at home), while his owners drink their own fancy drinks! Rob and I dream that one day we can own a place right outside of the downtown core (in whichever city we wind up in), and then have a cottage somewhere in the country. The best of both worlds.