Makeshift Story: Mish-Mash Catch-up

That brief moment when it was a wintery February

Creeeaaaakkkkk! That was the sound of my rusty blogging muscles warming up. It's been a good few weeks since I last posted... in part because I claim pregnancy rights to do whatever I feel like doing (or not doing). More to the point, however, this February has been particularly uninspiring. Had I indeed faithfully posted every week, you would have likely been treated to a running narrative about the various stages of minor but inconvenient illnesses that were currently sweeping through our household, paired with the bad attitudes that went along with them. And undoubtedly, there would have been some well-placed jabs about February thrown into the mix for good measure. So, in truth, I did a favour to everyone involved by just taking a step back and a breather for a little bit.

In case anyone is keeping track, Linden has now indeed managed to lose one of this pair of custom-crafted convertible mitts I made him.

So what I am offering today is a relatively random assemblage of photos from the few moments I actually brought my camera out this past month, with maybe a handful of stories if I remember them. It is a good reminder that February isn't ALL bad.

Linden carefully and fastidiously crafts Valentines for his class

Oh! Valentine's Day. OK, that warrants a bit of a story. So this year, both kids were very keen on hand-crafting cards for their respective classmates. It was a project that spanned over a week, and involved scissors, markers, card stock, stickers, and even individually-rendered poems and messages for the most deserving of friends. On the day of, the cards were carefully packed up, and off they went to school.

Meanwhile, I started getting ready to head to the IWK for my 20-week ultrasound. I was excited, and therefore (thankfully) ready nice and early, in order to both pick Clark up from work and get to the hospital with lots of time to spare. When I went to call Clark to tell him I was coming, however, I could not, for the life of me, find my phone. Finally, I decided to check the car, but... my keys were also gone. Now, I have been known to misplace things now and again, but both my keys AND my phone was a bit unprecedented, and completely baffling, as I tend to put them in the same place 98% of the time. It was then that I realized, to my horror, two things simultaneously:
1. My phone was, indeed, inside the car, with a completely dead battery, and
2. Juniper had been the last one to use my keys, when she went to get the mail the night before.

So there I was, with no phone and no way of getting into (or driving) the car, and a very important ultrasound on the other side of the harbour, ticking closer and closer. I managed to get a hold of Clark (via Google Hangouts, thank-you, internet), who immediately called a cab to come back home, hopefully with enough time left to drive us both to the hospital. MEANWHILE, Clark had also gotten a call from Juniper's teacher, explaining that her Valentine's cards were nowhere to be found, and that Juniper was very upset. What the hell? I'd watched her pack them in her bag myself!

Fast-forward a bit, and though the cab was slow as molasses, Clark and I got to the hospital for EXACTLY my appointment time (not 20 minutes early, as we had been advised, but I'll take the small miracles when I get them). I'd offer you an ultrasound picture, but since I am no longer high-risk, I was down on the first floor where they don't tell you anything, won't offer you pictures (unless you want to pay $40), and ban the use of cameras or cell-phones, lest you sneakily try and take a photo of the screen yourself.

After the appointment, we decided to head on over to the school, to check in on Juniper. We didn't have her missing cards, but we DID have her indoor sneakers (which she had accidentally taken home the night before and then forgotten to bring back in), and I was, shall we say, a little bit anxious to see if my keys were in her coat pocket. When we got there, she was eating lunch while determinately cutting out a whole new set of cards for everybody, and in relatively good spirits (she'd had a bit of a cry when she couldn't find them earlier). Here were the end results of that day:

1. The 2nd set of cards got made in time to hand them out, and the missing cards were returned the next day, as they had fallen out on the bus.
2. My keys WERE safely tucked away in Juniper's coat pocket, and therefore I didn't need to pay the gajillion dollars to get a new car one made.
3. Wait for it ... unless there was a craftily hidden organ throughout the ultrasound, we're having a GIRL! Though they won't tell you anything at the ultrasound itself, they will now divulge the information to your practitioner, who can tell you. (Back wen I had Juniper and Linden, you just weren't allowed to know, period).

Whew. There must have been some strange planetary alignment that day or something!

Juniper reads to Zoë, our adorable next-door neighbour

OK, I truly think that was the only real story I had to relate. Otherwise, a few shots from some woods walks, and other day-to-day activities throughout the month:

On Heritage Day (or Family Day, as it's known in other parts of the country).

Clearly, we haven't been getting out enough - here are both kids at the end of that tiny little Heritage Day walk around the pond, looking as though they'd just completed a multi-day marathon.