37 weeks + : Full-term baby!

Baby Mateo will soon be receiving his eviction notice, as you can tell from my swollen face, swollen hands, etc...

Birthday thanks!

Well, my birthday came and went and despite popular belief I don't feel much older or wiser. I do, however, feel very thankful for all of the wonderful birthday greetings I received throughout the day. So, thank you one and all for your love and support. I am incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life.

I will leave you with a quote (I know, how inspirational...normally, I shy away from these types of things...too cliché but a conversation with one of our neighbours left me with this bit of knowledge.

"We say that in the west they have the clock but in Africa we have time"

Baby bear

We just got our cloth diapers in the mail two days ago. Four or five days ago we purchased our car seat/stroller combo. What better way to break these things in than to use baby bear.

See it is pretty much the same as a regular baby...less poop and crying though. Doesn't he look happy?

5 point harness = you are goin' nowhere baby!

More pictures from the baby showers

Lots of clothing...lots

Me taking note of all the gifts...your thank you cards are on the way...by on the way I mean will be sent out within the next 6 to 8 months.

Christine queen of the diapers

Chez Nicole

Look what happens when you end up in a room full of women. I am crying...on the inside

Baby showers

About two weeks ago we had two baby showers. The first was planned by my mom and my cousin Vick the slick and held at the iconic farm. The second was planned by my former co-workers at La garderie des lutins de Kitchener. Here are some hi-lights.

Vick the slick

My mom (a.k.a. giggles)

Left to Right: Patricia, Erwin, Catherine, Gertie, and the back of Gabrielle's head

Little Ryerson with Patricia (pretty cute little guy)

35 weeks

We forgot to post the picture of Christine at 35 weeks so without further ado here it is. We will post a "Christine at 37 weeks" in a few days

David's krrrraazzzy kindergarten adventures II

In case you were saying to yourselves, "wait a gosh darn minute...didn't he already write about this?" I would like to call your attention to the double capital I that you see following adventures. Roman numerals just seem cooler on paper and, well I guess in this case, robot paper.

Anyways, I could seriously write many, many posts about the crazy world of kindergarten. For a while I have had a few blog post ideas running through my head but, since I have been working unhuman hours, I have been unable to get them down and out to the masses (i.e. the 5 people who read this blog.)

I will start today's rant with....Ironman, Batman, Spiderman...basically superheros in general. I, I must admit, am a fan of superheros. The whole having super cool powers and takin' care of bad guys has, I guess, always appealed to me. I have a feeling this is more of a guy thing than a girl thing (no offense to you girls/women out there who enjoy superheros/comic books. I have a sister-in-law who just looooooooves graphic novels...so I know you are out there. I just mean that the whole concept of aggression and toughness with a tint of rightousness seems to appeal more to the male population than the female population. Here's the problem though. While, as a parent, it may be funny to see your child run around pretending to be Ironman, it loses it's hilarity when "Ironchild" punches another four year old in the face. Then, since "Ironchild" is a robot who simply doesn't understand why hitting the girls playing barbies was a bad thing, he goes and does it again...and again...and again. Now, not all children have this same problem. There are many, myself included, who were, and are, capable of differentiating between reality and play. Clearly, if your child already has a tendency to pick up and imitate fight scenes from a movie at the age of 4, you need to be concerned. One, how was this behaviour not curbed before it got to this, and two, what do you think is going to happen when you show your young children violent movies? Sure it may be cute the parents right now but it certainly isn't cute for the parents of the children that come home with storys of how the same kids hit them again.

This annoys me in so many ways that I lost count. It is further complicated by the fact that, for these types of kids, there seems to be a lack of both consequences and supports. Without a proper chain of conseqences (i.e. if you do this...this will happen...if you do it again...then this will happen...etc) these kids never learn how to behave properly. And the thing is, it really isn't their fault. Someone's dropping the ball and when you have both the school administration and the parents asleep at the wheel the people that suffer are the kids and their teachers. The classroom teacher can only do so much without the support from the administration and the parents. Is it really any wonder why some teachers burn out so quickly?

Anyways, I digress. Here is some actual news. Christine is now in her 35th week (picture to follow) and she has once again become friends with Mr. Flushy the porcelin pony. For the second time in her life she had to leave church during a service because she was feeling cruddy. She tried very, very hard to use mind over nausea but, as per usual, nausea won. I think she frightened some eleven year olds in the bathroom with her sounds from the sea. On tuesday we will be doing a tour of the birthing centre part of the Stratford hospital. We are both looking forward to this.

This is my last week at the Daycare/school. I decided to take a job with the Waterloo region school board on the E.A. sublist. The hours I was working between the two jobs were proving to be too much. Also, the money left a lot to be desired not to mention the fact that I want to enjoy the last few weeks before the baby with Christine. I am still hoping to do some substitute teaching with the school and hopefully in the other 2 French schools in the area as well. I am still waiting on that part to come through. Next Saturday I have an interview at York university (yes the infamous York university) for the one year education program. I would start in September and would be studying to teach French. Since I like interviews and talking about my experiences in education I am looking forward to it.

One last thing...we had our first baby shower yesterday and it we had a great time. My cousin Vickie did an absolutely amazing job. We will do a specific baby shower post once the pictures are uploaded.

I will leave you with a conversation I have nearly everyday with one of my kindergarten friends.

Kindergarten Kid (shouting very loudly): Monsieur!!! Monsieur!!!
Me: Yes, black tuque (names have been altered for privacy reasons)
Kindergarten Kid: She called me poop!
Me: Ummmm...she called you what?
Kindergarten kid: Poop! She called me poop!
Me (not knowing quite how to resolve this conundrum): Okay black tuque. I will talk to her.

(2 mins later)

Kindergarten Kid (shouting loudly once again): Monsieur!!! Monsieur!!!
Me: Yes, what is it black tuque.
Kindergarten Kid: He called me pee!

And this is how it continues. Seriously who calls someone poo or pee?

Toben's Second Movie

30 week belly

As promised, an updated photo. I'm now in my 31st week, meaning that I have 30 weeks behind me. The end is coming closer.

Christmas in Winnipeg Part 2

Before Christmas, Jeremy asked Sarah to marry him... wedding's in August.

The ring

Julian & Andrea, knitting furiously at a (late) Christmas scarf

Lauren & Jie, our Shanghai cousin

Colin, in town from Seattle, Stan & David

Three sisters: Charlotte, Gina & Dorothea (Missing: Lorraine, Herb, Stephanie, Zachary & Hillary... we missed you guys!)

Toben's feline cousin, Nixon, the cross-eyed Kroeker cat

Surprise Sisterhood Shower: (l to r) Rose, Amy, Julia, me, Rachel, Danika, Sonja

Christmas in Winnipeg Part 1

On December 24th, David and flew home to Winnipeg to spend Christmas with our family & friends. Although it was too short, it was wonderful to see everyone and spend time catching up. We had a Kampen gathering on the 26th, and got together with all the Rempels that were in town on the 27th. My Sisterhood girls threw me a surprise shower (thanks girls!), and we were able to see almost everyone we had hoped to. I am looking forward to going back to Winnipeg in May, when Mateo is here and introducing him to all of the Winnipeg people we love so much- Omi & Opa and his (aunt- she doesn't want to be called this, so we have to figure out something else) Andrea, Auntie Anna, and all our other special friends and family.

Surprise layover in Thunder Bay... seriously, a more boring airport than Winnipeg.

Mini Christmas concert for Oma


Keith & Alexander try to take a "serious" shot


Attempt #5: gotcha!

Happy cousins: Melanie & Evelyn

January news

Over the Christmas holidays we decided that we would share both the gender and name of our baby. Since we certainly didn't get around to telling everyone we figured it would make the most sense to post it here. So for all of you who thought it was a girl....you were wrong. It's a boy! And for all of you who thought we would name him Gordon....you were wrong again. I already have two of those in my family. His name is Mateo Josef. Mateo is the Spanish version of Matthew and is a name that pronounceable in English, French, and German. Josef is my brother Gordon's middle name but spelled as it would be in German. We are planning to raise him bilingually (German-French) hence the reason for needing a name that is pronounceable in all three languages.

Pregnancy update: We (by we I mean Christine) are now in week 31 I believe. The nausea started again but definitely not as bad as it was in the first trimester. Christine has been dealing with her new friend back pain but I am sure that she would rather have back pain than nausea. Mateo has become quite the performer it seems. While Christine was teaching her German course one day last week he kept doing flips which, because you can see his movement now, was enjoyed by her students. Speaking of teaching, Christine will be teaching for the first six weeks of the semester and then, in preparation for the baby, will hand off the reigns to her teaching partner. This will then leave her with course work and lectures. Since her profs are, and have been, very understanding we are confident that everything will work out.

We will be posting a picture soon of Christine at week 31 so stay tuned.

Soccer Stars

Yesterday was David's soccer championship game. He has been participating in a co-ed rec league throughout the fall, and his team made it all the way to the finals. They lost badly yesterday, but #2 isn't so bad. :-) Some of the teams were fun to play, but the ones that were really aggressive (like the winners of yesterday's game) are not as much fun to play, and for me, it is not fun to watch, because you have to watch as the players go flying across the field. Always good for a laugh was Sean, the (really good) goalie, whose colourful vocabulary peppered the game. The whole team is coming back after Christmas, so "the Kickers" will strike again!

Goalkeeper Extraordinaire... Sean waits for action

Blurry Kickers: back row (l to r): Matt, Sal, Sean, Dave, Grant
front row: (l to r) Thomas, Mandy, Jo, Joni (sorry about spelling, guys)

Snow, snow, and more snow

So today we enjoyed our first "major" snow storm. I don't know why I put that in quotation marks because it infers the opposite. Let me try again.
So today we enjoyed our first major snow storm. Okay...better.
In the morning when I left for work there was no sign of impending doom but once I left work two hours later the snow had started to fall. Also, it wasn't falling in the "oh it looks so pretty and magical, like unicorns playing with rainbows" it was falling in the "my eyeballs are hurting from the ice daggers that are falling in every possible direction."

All of the kids had their faces pressed against any and every possible window in order to get a look. I'm sure in the morning before school the thoughts of "perhaps they will cancel school today," danced in their heads. But...like many a school day and division before it, these dancing thoughts and hopes were dashed. Now dash away, dash away, dash away all, thought the school division deciders.

However, all hope was not lost. At noon, begrudgingly admitting defeat, the school decided to close. Fortunately, and by fortunately I mean unfortunately, I drove all the way back to school for lunch hour supervision only to find out that the school was closing. I guess in the craziness of calling every single parent they forgot to call the staff. Whoops! I did manage to squeeze in an hour of work supervising the main lunch room about a quarter full with the remaining kids. All was not lost. Yes David, there is a Santa Claus.

Now we have about 20 cm of snow on the ground with another 20 on the way for Sunday and more perhaps Tuesday. Since we leave for Winnipeg on Wednesday we are hoping that things will be clear and ready to go by then. If not, I have always wanted to spend Christmas at the airport. I mean, look at how much fun people have in the movies.

Albrecht/Robinson/Baker/Kampen Robinson Christmas at Dave & Christine's

So yesterday was Christmas at our house. We finally got some decorations up, baked some Christmas cookies, and had family over. We had invited David's brother Jason, his fiancee Michelle and their children Lorisa, Britney and Lucas, David's other brother Gordon, and David's mom and step-dad. Unfortunately Gord had the flu (we missed you Gord), but everyone else came. It was nice to spend time with David's family. We didn't have a table for everyone to sit at, so we did a lap meal, but it worked out pretty well. David and I made soup and baked chicken, Ellen brought a casserole, Michelle brought mashed potatos, and everyone brought delicious goodies to share for dessert. It was fun to host a "Christmas party" for the first time.

Ellen, Gordon and Lucas wait for lunch to be served...

My two favourite nieces, Lorisa & Britney


Grandma Ellen


Ellen & her boys: from left to right Lucas, Jason, Gordon, Ellen & David

The Robinson/Baker Family: Jason, Lucas, Michelle, Lorisa & Britney

Christmas Tyme in Wellesley

On Friday, David and I went to spend the evening in the small town of Wellesley, Ontario, where our midwife and dear friend Cindy lives. It was Christmas Tyme (that's actually what it's called, not a typo.) It's a real small town Christmas parade, and is followed by a real life nativity (with a camel!!) and a tree-lighting ceremony. It's so cute. All the businesses & churches in town have a float, and all the fire trucks and snow ploughs are decorated festively with their horns blaring. I think our favourite part were the Shriners in their mini-cars... a mini police car, fire engine, taxi, etc. It was hilarious because there were these old men in funny sparkly hats whizzing around in these tiny ridiculous cars. Afterwards we went to Cindy's for dinner & hot tea. Since I was sick for the Kitchener Christmas market last weekend, it was nice to do something to get into the Christmas spirit.

David & Cindy brave the cold (it wasn't THAT cold, but David was freezing as soon as we walked out the door.)

Looks kind of like the scene of an accident, but really, it's the fire trucks roaring along the road honking at everyone.

How small town is this?!

This was the funniest truck. Jumbo hotdogs.

I told you there was a camel. We felt kind of sorry for him because he was covered in snow.

Baby Belly

You have knit me together in my mother's womb...

Setting up the nursery or Adventures in the 100 acre wood

We found this amazing deal from a couple in Cambridge who was selling the exact nursery furniture we wanted from IKEA, plus Winnie the Pooh bedding & nursery paraphernalia. David managed to transport it all in our little Echo, and with a few minor scrapes & bruises, got it into the upstairs bedroom, which is now officially a nursery. Toben, perplexed as always by the presence of new stuff in the house, was ever so helpful in the set up. This morning, it appeared that he had had a fight with the mobile, the bumper and the toys I placed in the crib. Hmm... that's what he thinks of that. There is different advice about how to keep your curious feline out of baby's things: double sided tape, pop cans filled with coins... we'll keep you posted about our progress.

Papa David getting ready to set up the nursery


Toben being helpful

Toben testing out "baby jail"

Classic Pooh

The finished product...
except we couldn't figure out how to hang the dust rufflle... what is that for, anyway?

David and Kindergarten Kraziness

So....in the last month I have had the opportunity to substitute teach in 2 different kindergarten classes. Yes...I did say substitute teach. Since I am working for the Franco-Catholic school division (part of the Catholic school division...yes funded by the Ontario government...but that is a whole other post) they allow people i.e. me to sub even if you don't have a teaching degree. For me this is great because it gives me the opportunity to 1) do what I love to do and 2) gain experience in teaching and classroom management.

Now, when I think about kindergarten kids usually the image of oompa loopas or monkeys comes to mind. In fact, this image is not too far from the truth...except, of course, for the singing of enjoyably "you should have listened" songs in unison. Actually, I think it might be a little scary if that happened every time something occured a kindergarten class.

Kid knocks over milk.

oo-mpa loom-pa doopedie do

You get the idea...a little unnerving isn't it.

This brings me to my second image, monkeys. First off, not every kid behaves in this way. Generally, it is the boys. For some reason boys tend to find farting, playing in the bathroom, and smashing toys together incredibley enjoyable and amusing. When I am watching these events unfold before my eyes I think back to when I was that young. Did I too find eating things off of the ground great even if the snow was a little discoloured? Did I also whine when I didn't get the toy I wanted? Did I call the teacher over just to tell him/her that I have 3 cats and that my dogs name is Sparkles? Thinking about it...I probably did. I was one of the little monkeys jumping on the bed and now it is time for me to pay my dues.

Sometimes the kindergarten classroom does resemble that of a zoo exhibit but I certainly do tip my hat to those brave men and...well, let's face it mainly women who do this day in and day out. I knew before hand that I didn't ever want to teach kindergarten and that thought has most certainly not disapeared. On the other hand, I have gotten better at managing the class and better yet, I got through the morning routine and even got them to do an activity. While this may seem like a very insignificant accomplishment, it is one I am quite proud of. On the last day that I subbed I had a parent in the room whom was helping with a toffee making activity later on in the morning. I mention this because at the end of the day this woman came up to me and said "I was thinking I should get you a hard drink after the morning you had." To which I responded "Well, that wasn't even that bad if you can believe it. The first time....," and I briefly recounted my first experience with the same group. Next, she made my day by saying, "Well obviously you are good at what you do. The way you just kept repeating and explaining to the kids...I certainly couldn't have done it. You have an amazing amount of patience." This made me feel like I must be doing something right. Having had no training and, like at the start of all of my educational endevours, feeling completley untrained and underprepared, I really had no idea whether I was even halfway decent at what I was doing. I guess you either sink or swim and since I am not very good at real swimming I am glad I am okay at "swimming" in the educational environment.

One kindergarten kid = really easy
Three kindergarten kids = easy
Five kindergarten kids = getting harder
Sixteen kindergarten kids and one monsieur = panadmonium

Ultrasound # 2

Definitely looks more like a baby this time

With these little feet he/she has been kicking away at Christine's organs

St.Jacob's

Today, David and I braved the rain to take a small trip to St. Jacob's Village. I think we've mentioned going to the St. Jacob's Farmers' Market, which is one of my favourite places in this area. We had lunch at the market today... the food court is indoors, and I think that's why it was crazy busy. The food court is always crazy busy, but I think because of the rain, everyone was hiding out indoors.
We went to go see "The Mennonite Story," which is a small Mennonite museum in the downtown of the Village. It was very interactive... lots of video clips, maps that lit up, pictures, artifacts. David loves museums that are interactive... so he really loved this one. It is totally worth a visit, even though it is pretty small. It traces the journey of the two main "kinds" of Mennonites, the Swiss ones and the Dutch ones. And in the portion of the exhibit about Mennonites around the world, there was a huge picture of Leah Bock, which was fun... a familiar face. :-)
David and I both have schoolwork to do this weekend, since the term is quickly drawing to a close. Amazing to think that my first term of MA work is almost over!! My students write their final exam on December 19, and David and I are heading back to Winnipeg on December 24. I am so excited to get home to see everyone and relax! (although I will be working on my thesis proposal)

Toben vs. the flyers

Spoiler - Toben wins.