David's new job

After about a month and a half of searching I finally found a job. I have become the only male staff member (apparently the second in it's history) at a Francophone daycare in Kitchener. Despite the early mornings and consequently waking up when it is still dark outside, I am rather enjoying it. It not only gives me the chance to work in French, it also gives me the opportunity to continue to work towards my goal of becoming a teacher. The daycare is attached to a Catholic elementary school (which is funded by the Ontario government...) which apparently is quite common. Both the daycare and the funding...
While I am quite comfortable with working with school aged children I have found it quite a bit different to work with 2 to 4 year olds. With older kids you can use rationality. With littler kids this concept does not yet exist. Saying, for example, throwing sand at someone will not only make a mess but will also get into your eyes and hurt, doesn't work. I found that a simple don't with a finger shake works better. Another technique is to get them to sweep up the mess themselves. On the one hand this works well in terms of teaching the idea of action-reaction. On the other hand man kids are terrible at sweeping. I mean, don't quit your day job kid. Stick to eating glue and shoving things into your mouth. Leave the sweeping to me.
In any case, this will be good practice.

The Ws

No, I am not talking about the current president of the U.S.A. Nor am I talking about the famous 5 Ws we all learn in school. I am talking about Winnipeg, Waterloo, Winter, and Wrong. Having left Winnipeg talking about how wonderful the fall is here in Ontario mother nature saw fit to prove me wrong. Today, upon my departure from home, and yes it is the 29th of October, we had a blanket of snow on the ground. Oh and out came the windshield scraper for the 3rd time! If disapointed or sad started with a W it would fit perfectly in here. Believe me frozen tears were shed. To further add to my sadness I saw that the weather in Winnipeg was about 13 degrees warmer than here in Waterloo. What gives mother nature? Have even you been affected by the financial crisis? Did you invest in those faulty mortgages too? Was there no more money warm weather?

Well, this bring me to my last W, wrong. It is just wrong to have snow in October. I am sure you will all agree.

20 WEEKS!

Here is the most updated pregnancy picture, and I am actually looking pregnant now. Last week I woke up and realized that my clothes no longer fit, so it was time for a trip to a maternity store. And I am so thankful for the new (comfortable!!) clothes. We have our next ultrasound on November 4, and we will find out whether "it" is a girl or a boy. But... we're not telling. :-)

A few more pics

A few pictures of Graeme's menagerie... (his pets all have wonderful names that I always mix up.)

The Gecko

Graeme and the Little Egg-Eater Snake

Me and the Big Egg-Eater Snake

Toben, who doesn't belong to Graeme, but provided amusement by getting stuck inside our lamp.

Thanksgiving weekend with Mom & Dad

And over Thanksgiving weekend, my parents came to visit... something I've been looking forward to since moving all the way out here. We had a wonderful time with them. We spent time outside taking walks in the beautiful autumn weather... the leaves stay on the trees longer in this part of the country. We made a trip to IKEA where we enjoyed Swedish furniture, fish & chips and wish lists. We also went to Stratford, where we saw Romeo & Juliet in the Festival Theatre. We also spent an evening in Guelph with Graeme, getting to know his magical animal kingdom. :-) The weather was dreamy... 30 degrees in October!! It was so good to spend time with my parents, showing them around our new home... we are looking forward to coming home to Winnipeg at Christmas to see everyone again!

Mom, pretending to enjoy a coffee on the flowery chaise longue.


Mr. Peanut comes for a visit

My parents enjoying the scenery on the Avon River in Stratford


The River Avon

The Festival Theatre in Stratford

October Update

The beginning of October meant visits from people from Winnipeg that we love... our doors are always open, and we love visitors!

First came Takashi, the most artistic sushi maker I know.

Our biggest adventure: grocery shopping at Sobey's.

Julia & Amy were in town because of Cara's wedding (Don't be blinded by Whitey in the middle there.)

Verbs and Nouns

Here we are....week 17 of pregnancy. There were some days, when Christine was cuddling cozily up with her porcelain friend Flushy, that I thought to myself that it is certainly amazing that the human race has made it this far. I mean, if every woman feels like this while pregnant (and yes not all do but for the sake of my point they all do) I can't imagine wanting to put yourself through this more than once. Perhaps it is like winter and summer in Winnipeg. Winter is kind of like the crappy parts of pregnancy; uncomfortable, long, and tiring. Once the summer arrives we all forget about how dumb of an idea it was to build a city in such a bitterly cold and ruthless environment and thus, the cycle continues. I guess in the end it is all worth it. I mean, I do like summer and especially summer in Winnipeg. It's just that when you feel like your eyeballs are freezing solid well it's not an experience one wants to repeat. I am sure once I see our little one working away in the wheat field I will want/need another to pick berries or something.

Anyways, the nausea has let up. I do not want to jinx it but we are quite happy about this. Our next ultrasound will be in a couple of weeks and at that point it should resemble a baby rather than an odd looking alien object. In other news, we have heard the heart twice and that was pretty neat.

Well, we hope everyone has a safe, relaxing, and family/friend filled Thanksgiving weekend.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.