3 great things: volume 3

1. a new (to us) fridge!

2. raspberry-chocolate milk shakes

3. I wore these shoes yesterday for the first time since vacation where inside I found....

my missing blue stud earring! 

The set was made for me by a jeweler in Madagascar and I had worn them on our wedding day(s).

life is good :)

3 great things: volume 2

1. Forts

2. Craft time

Mama wore a headband that day, so Luc wanted one too.

3. Freshly picked mulberries from our neighbor's yard

After the harvest.

pregnancy update - 24 weeks tomorrow

We went to St. Rose this past sunday to have a picnic on the old lava rock beach.

I have another scheduled Dr's appt tomorrow.
I plan on asking him about midwives and starting my research to find one. 
I'm beginning to have to stand sideways at the kitchen counter.
My back is beginning to ache, but I've found a way to help it feel better.
I have to lay on my back (on the yoga mat) and bring my knees up, then roll from side to side.
I've got a craft list that may be too long.
I did a mini clothing exchange with a friend and that shirt up there is from her.
She had a bunch of longer length shirts which I love.
I've been cheating a little bit on my no-coffee rule; some days I just can't resist a small cup.
My weight gain has stayed on track, I'm up about 4kg total, depending on the time of the day.
The sleep issues have been all smoothed over for a few weeks now, and I wake up feeling refreshed, thankfully.
My belly button has popped back out.
This boy likes to dance around in my belly when it's naptime (yes I take one too!) but otherwise he is pretty content to just hang (or sleep?) most of the day away.
No major inspiration yet for names.
We're going to keep it a secret anyways until he's born.
We ordered this book (I want to make the tent pictured on the cover!) through Amazon waaay back in July to have it delivered to Alex's parents house, but it didn't make it there before our vacation ended. It hasn't made it's way here yet. Now I'm really itching to get it so I can start on a few baby projects.
I finally watched The Business of Being Born. Whoa. You should watch it too, I don't care who you are, go, now.
Also, have you ever seen the film Babies? Take note, you need to watch this one too.
I think Luc and I are going to rewatch it as the time gets closer to his brother's arrival.
Ok last film plug. Luc loves this one, OCEANS. (We watch the french version.) He is particularly fascinated by the orca eating the seals.
I want to eat sushi. Mad cravings.
And chocolate too. But that's normal for me.
:)

22 weeks + 3 days

According to the echographie sonogram I had this morning, that is.
Along with some cool 3-D pictures of the babe, we saw that everything looks to be in normal, healthy working order.
And....






































it's a BOY!!!!!
We are so happy, happy, happy! But I do feel a bit silly because I felt for certain that it was a girl. In fact, I was a little afraid of feeling disappointed if we found out that it would not be a girl, but that is not the case at all. I wasn't the only one who felt sure this little one would balance the gender equation in our family, so I guess I'm not alone in being wrong about it! haha!

this is our today

It's been one of those perfect little Saturdays here; we are so lucky! There's been some pain perdu, smoothies, good coffee, and rugby watching for breakfast. A little morning shopping at the fabric store. Some fresh off the grill chicken from our favorite street vendor with a huge mustache. A little afternoon napping, and then some thrifting. And maybe a little bit of petting the kittens. It all makes me smile.

good positioning for rugby watching

1 euro for all these!

10 euros for a kids table that I plan on re-paintng this week

it's a lazy saturday for the cats. like everyday.

scenes from around the house

the Hooray banner went up for Alex's birthday on wednesday.

Our new mama cat! The babies are one week old today!

She and Luc are buddies.

Cats like dinosaurs too.

He loves having a pet.

fresh herbs for now. need to get started on that herb garden....

blogger needs to stop turning my pictures!

what's on the craft table for the moment. 

and Luc's craft area too

remnants of the world's best chocolate cake. ever. seriously. 

Notes about the chocolate birthday cake; it was made with Guinness. Yup! And a whole lot of butter, sugar, and love. The recipe is enough to make cake for a family of 15, so I reccomend cutting it in half. I ended up using a pan that was not quite big enough and of poor quality, so the result was not picture perfect, but tasted amazing anyways. The batter began to fall over the sides of the pan halfway through the cooking time leading to a huge mess in the bottom of my oven. Also, I made a half portion of the frosting in the recipe and that was too much, plus I found it uneccessary to dress up such a moist cake. I think the cake is plenty great all on it's own, with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Here's where I found the recipe.