and now a few afters

we lost some our upstairs den space with the new bathroom. but in the den the window was replaced with a french door and in the bathroom a bizarre rusted door was replaced with a much smaller window. the pictures don't really give the whole story. the bathroom is tiled all the way around to 4ft high, usual sort of whirpool bath and raindrop shower head and then cherry vanity with a plain porcelain sink. simple, and tried to keep the feeling of late victorian/early edwardian with the tiling. i like it, it fits this old house. and it is nice to house our extensive native art collection throughout.
and some of the chair railing that has been done in all of the hallways up and down stairs.

before and after photo time!

ok...it has been a while since our first set of renos were done so thought it was time to put in a few before shots and next blog some afters...oh and a photo of roisin from december

so the photos are the downstairs and upstairs bathrooms and the kitchen before...thank god for living in between chinatown and little italy - lots of cheap, and good food for the 2 months we didn't have a kitchen.

oh and the renos to the upstairs bathroom were while i was the 1st trimester peeing queen so for days i had to trek downstairs several times a night - depends were looking really good let me tell you.

there was a lot to clear...a lot demolished...a lot of dust...but it is done

joys of pregnancy

just back from the trip late last night
hence no blogs for the past several weeks
don't even want to talk about how nice it was to get away
so
now that i have been pregnant for half a year
suppose i have been reflecting on it
and what i have discovered about myself

i have an incredible capacity for paranoia - incessant worrying - piling stress on myself as if every pang and twitch is laden with doom

i hate dreams - at least the ones i have had since this pregnancy began - vivid, lucid, stress-infused dreams

i don't sleep well - even though i am tired a lot, my capacity for sleep has not increased so i am sort of moving about in a fog of lethargy most of the time

i am more forgiving of myself than i thought - i see a few veins popping and a little stretchmark or two and that is life, i am not fretting about it

i miss a great glass of port - enough said...may can't come sooner...can it?

i enjoy spending time on my own - i think this is more responding to the impending change about to hit me in a few months

i miss my friends and family - it is nice having a few good friends, and my brother here, but it just isn't the same as the people you grew up with

i am not a big fan of being pregnant - some women revel in it, i think i am just more about it being the means to an end. i am not "enjoying" it i guess as i should be, i think the joy will be present when i get to meet this little boy and man can he kick...a lot...at any time of the day or night

cruising

so steve and i are off this weekend on our last trip before the baby comes
off to cruise the southern caribbean
love to see the islands this way...pampered and well fed
a few of the islands we've been to, but there are ones we have yet to visit
then a week of island hopping by air afterwards
sigh
can't wait

the river today

steve and i took a 2hr walk along the ottawa river pathway this morning
and with the sun and no sign of snow i saw signs of spring
not flowers budding or anything
but lots of cyclists
and there were a fair few of us walking
an older gent stopped and chatted with us about all of the plaques that have been added along the route
about rafts and logging and the fires that destroyed about a 5th of ottawa at the turn of the 20th century
the things you miss on a bike
or when they are covered by snow
the things you miss in the cars somewhere above the pathway on the parkway
are more numerous
the air was crisp and mild
the water calm
and it was hard to imagine the rapids at chaudiere falls, and pine logs moving downstream
but it was a beautiful walk
and a cute baby was sporting sunglasses as his dad ran and pushed the jogging stroller at a rapid pace along the path

in case you wondered...

steve and i went to the ultrasound clinic and i found out the sex of the baby today

let's just say my intuition was right!