29 posts tagged “sean”

I've been keeping my distance from this place lately. It's been hard to share what's going on in my life when the biggest, most life-changing-est event ever to happen to Sean and I was something we wanted to keep to ourselves until we were ready to share it, first with our families and friends, then with the world at large.

Sean and I are incubating a little critter. Said critter is due around September 8th.

We are starting to get really excited. We're a whole lot of other things too, but happy and excited are the big ones. It got easier to be excited and happy once we passed the first trimester and started telling people. My mother is ecstatic - this is her first grandchild, and while she has never pressured my sister or I for grandchildren, she admits to feeling relieved that she finally gets to be a grandmother. Sean's mom is happy too, and has already begun knitting and sewing for me and the critter.

We don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet. We want to find out as soon as we can - we're dying to know! I ask it if it is a boy or a girl and it doesn't tell me. Maybe we'll work out a system of "one kick means yes and two kicks mean no" and I'll get some answers.

I'm just over three months so I'm not showing much yet. I'm a big girl so I had a good-sized set of boobs and belly to start with. I did look at my belly today, and while I don't think it's bigger, it does seem to be changing shape a bit. It feels a little different too.

I still can't believe that I am going to be someone's mother in less than six months. Mothers are smart, mature, organized and generally have their acts together. I hope I can rise to the occasion.

Sean and I came back from the Dominican on January 31st. It feels like we've been back for a lot longer than that. Here are some pictures from our trip. The full set can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mpricemitchell/sets/72157603835667824/

Names in the sand

Beach

melissa

This was a self-portrait that turned out pretty good. I bought this bathing suit especially for the trip and I really liked it. It was comfortable and I didn't look horrible in it.

Sean relaxing with a cigar

Sean bought some cigars when he was down there and is now trying to learn more about them. Apparently, it's a lot like wine appreciation. However, they really stink up the house so he has to smoke them outside.

Sean catches a wave

We did a lot of swimming in the ocean. We spent an afternoon playing in the waves and came back to the resort with enough sand in our suits to make our own private sandboxes. It was totally worth it.

melissa and Amanda in the ocean

Given my extreme fear of water-dwelling creatures, I wasn't sure if I would do more than get my feet wet in the ocean. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the water was warm and the bottom was sandy. I only saw one fish and it was dead and about 6 inches long so I wasn't too panicked by it. Playing in the waves and cooling off overrode my fear of whatever dwells in the deep. Fortunately I didn't see anything else that would have scared me out of the water, and no one brushed my leg and tried to tell me it was a fish or an octopus to make me run screaming to the beach.

Group shot

This is everyone we came with. It was a good idea to go with other couples because there was always someone who wanted to do what you wanted to do if your spouse wasn't interested. So no one ended up doing things alone unless they were stretched out on a beach chair reading a book.

Sky from the plane

If I didn't know this picture was taken from an airplane, I would think I was looking at a snowy landscape. The clouds looked so solid from this perspective.

Sean and I are going to the Dominican Republic on January 24th for a week-long vacation. This is our first Caribbean trip and we are going with friends. We have spent most of January preparing for this trip - lots of shopping and list-making. I just starting putting clothes in the suitcase today, but am certainly not done packing yet. We've probably bought more summer clothes in the last week and a half than we did last summer, which is no mean feat here in wintry Toronto! We've managed to find:

• bathing suit and cover up for me
• 2 bathing suits for Sean - same style, different colours - in case "the first one isn't dry the next morning" said Sean the fashion plate
• "swooshy" capri pants with beading on the cuffs for me that can be dressed up or down
  
• a button-up shirt that is way too big for Sean ("they didn't have my size so I bought the next size up"), but he doesn't want to return it. I told him to wear a smaller shirt underneath and leave it unbuttoned so people can see he is not that ginormous
• flip-flops for me (in pink of course - probably wouldn't have bought them otherwise as I am a Birkenstock girl at heart)
• dark green pants that button up into capris for me - that way I can leave Toronto in pants and turn them into capris when we get off the plane - makes for one less item to pack!

Sean still needs sandals as he doesn't usually wear them here at home. He usually wears really thick socks with his shoes all year round, which would just be a stupid thing to do on a beach. He also needs khakis as his usual work dress pants would probably be overkill in the "must wear long pants" places. We also need to get a few more toiletry-type things, but the buying is just about done. I also picked up three novels of varying trashiness for me to read - it's been really hard not to pick them up and start them right away.

We're starting to get really excited. Just another week and a half to survive at work and we are outta here!

We're a pretty hardcore bunch of partiers around here. I didn't even remember to say Happy New Year.

I don't know if I'll be able to stay up past midnight tonight as I had trouble sleeping last night and couldn't get to sleep until nearly 3AM. I had a little nap earlier this afternoon, but once I've had some wine and am in my jammies, I'm not promising anything.

Sean and I are staying home and having fondue (a New Years tradition when we stay home). We're doing chicken in broth fondue and the classic cheese fondue with French bread. I was all excited to make a fancy cheese fondue from my fondue cookbook, but couldn't find any gruyere cheese at the grocery store (either they were out or I passed it over as I wasn't sure what it looked like). So I wimped out and bought what is essentially "cheese fondue in a box" - a mixture of cheeses that is ready for fonduing - just put in a pot and melt it then transfer to the fondue pot. It has gruyere cheese in it so I'm not too disappointed. I've used this kit before and it was tasty. I did want to try something different though - I guess I will next time.

If I don't post again before next year (*eyeroll*), Happy New Year.

Today was election day in Ontario. We're voting for our new members of provincial parliament (MPPs) and our new premier. We're also having a referendum about how to vote - whether it be first-past-the-post, or whether we should switch to mixed-member-proportional (MMP).

Fun fact about me - I love voting. I value the privilege of being able help elect our government. Too bad that my choices never seem to win! But seriously, I think it's incredibly important to vote and I wish more people felt that way.

But this isn't why I'm giggly. I'm giggly about what happened at our local election hall earlier tonight.

Sean and I went to the election hall (actually the public school near our house) earlier tonight. We got to bypass the front crowd since we had our voting cards and could skip the registration lines. Skipping lines always makes you feel cool so we went to the polling station in a good mood. We were both processed quickly and ended up beside each other behind our separate voting screens.

That was when Sean got a little silly. He started talking in different voices: "Vote for ." "Yeah! He's right, vote for that guy!" Don't worry - I didn't fall for his ruse. I love my husband, but I don't always agree with his politics. Then he couldn't figure out how to fold the ballots. (use the folds they made for you!). I started giggling and I'm surprised we didn't get in trouble for talking to each other while behind the screens. Never mind that Sean threatened to vote for me just before he gave me my card that he was holding for me. We weren't looking at each other's ballots or anything - we were just being silly. By the time we got in the car, I was laughing so hard I could hardly talk without giggling.

This story probably doesn't translate well in writing - it's probably one of those "you had to be there" kind of stories. However, the moral of the story is this: voting is way more fun when you go with someone else.

Bumblebee #1

When I got home from work today, I found Sean sitting on our deck, slouched over in the chair. He looked like the dog had died, so I wondered if anything was wrong. What, me worry?

When I got closer, I saw that he had the camera in his hands. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was "watching the bees" and pointed down.

He then explained that he noticed them when he brought Leia back from their walk. The dog wanted to check things out too, but Sean shooed her inside so that she wouldn't end up stung. Her exploration probably would have been more boisterous than ours and a sting would have been likely. I was also reminded to be careful as I have a tendency to not watch where I am walking.

Bumblebee #2

We're pretty sure they were mating, but it looks like there are three bees - a big one in the middle and one on either side. Are bees known to have threesomes? Or were they doing something else? When Sean dangled the camera strap down by the biggest bee, it waved one of it's legs lazily that made us think that it was saying "Go away already". Then I felt embarrassed for watching such a private moment, even though it was taking place on *my* deck.

We decided then to leave the bees to their activity. However, when I looked out the window twenty minutes later, they were still there. I just went back out to check now (nearly six hours later) and they are gone.

When did you last write/receive a handwritten, snail-mail letter? Who was it to/from? 
Submitted by Places Unknown.

I can't think of a recent letter, but I do get cards in the mail. The last ones were birthday cards I received from my parents, my aunt and uncle, and my girlfriend Carrie.

I just asked Sean if he ever mailed me letters. He hadn't, but he used to write me notes when we were first dating. I knew that, but I wanted to be sure I wasn't forgetting any actual mail.

When Sean and I first started dating, we were in high school. Since we were in different classes for 75% of the day, we would write each other notes. Nothing too exciting was shared in these notes - they were kind of like blog entries - what we did during the day, ideas for plans for the weekend, that sort of thing.

Being a teenage girl, I was a good note writer, and I used to do anything to make them creative. I'd use different colours, illustrations (of the stick people variety) and one memorable one was written in a spiralled square format that you had to constantly turn to read.

I actually just went and found one that Sean wrote me while he was in college and I was still in high school. I won't share it here, but it was very sweet. The letters we wrote were much better than the fights we used to pick with each other on the phone and via IRC. Can't say I miss those days.

...just in time for bed. Maybe it was a delayed reaction to the flash.