lazy days

honestly, i could just write a quick note to tell all (3-4) of you that i'm alive, and the baby's not born yet, and that would be it, mostly. getting into the final stretch here, so i wasn't really planning on doing lots of activities these days...and guess what! as a result, i don't have lots of activities to do.

the funny weather we've had (very cold, then  a couple of almost springy rainy days, then huge snowstorm etc) also completely discourages me from going outside. if i do go, it's usually because it tires me out and helps with the falling asleep at night - which otherwise has been terrible. i've started to hate going to bed, because i can't even toss and turn properly: turning from one side to the other requires about 2 minutes for sitting up, rolling and grunting. my belly feels very heavy when i stand up (it is!), so sitting down feels good...until my back hurts. yeah yeah, apart from this everything's perfect.

also, counting baby kicks (am very anxious because she's supposed to start kicking less.)
also, half-heartedly half-packing for the hospital bag.
this baby is almost not-premature by now, and almost certainly an Aquarius (fingers crossed!)

apart from waddling from kitchen to salon to bed and from home to the park and back, i'm trying to solve some bureaucratic stuff at the last possible moments...if i don't do it now it will be all pushed back until the baby starts eating solids, i'm afraid. so i put up a minimal effort fight against all my procrastination of the past 6 months, trying the "1 phonecall+1 e-mail /day" method. of course some days i feel i'm on a roll and insist a bit more, other days i'm completely deflated and resort to just eating a lot of frozen yogurt. 

only slightly connected, pics of the past couple of weeks:

tina adopting the living standards of her owners: sleep day and night at weird times, bask in the glow of the night lamp, play with small objects then leave them lying around,  ask for attention randomly because bored

36 week belly. no posing or anything, B. just thought it looked particularly big because of the strange angle. 

the only daily news that matters is regarding skating rink status: a fresh fall of snow, or temperatures above zero, means they have to close it in order to clean it or refreeze it etc. in the new year they finally opened the big rink on the lake, and it's always full of people, mostly families with children, on a good day

B. wants to take advantage of winter as much as possible. this particular day was very cold (below -20C, legs get numb in about 2 minutes, even wearing double pants), so after he went on the lake i waited for him at  cafe vito nearby on villeray, with coffee and cannoli. to each their own fun. 

the machine that cleans the snow off the lake (though i don understand why then it seems to spew some of it out at the back)

this is the cabin by the lake that functions as a locker room, so people don have to put their skates on outside. i went in (tough to wait in the cold) and obviously was the only non-skater there. lots of kids, and parents with flasks full of hot chocolate. good cheer all around.

on the south side hockey rink, this kid had a support to help her keep steady on her skates. (B. is against supports for when our kid learns skating, also no training wheels on the bike.) there were two other couples there that day: one pair that skated well, clearly enjoyed it and did coordinated moves on ice, and a guy teaching his girlfriend the basics (he was basically the support; but he let her try to go alone a bit). it was very entertaining watching all of them.

the snowstorm this weekend - this brave person being very proactive about car-unburying

i actually went out that day (and in a car!) so i saw a lot of funny snow-piling around the neighbourhood, but i think this one, across the street from us, is illustrative enough. practically, at some point you couldn't tell where the road stopped and the sidewalk started or where the cars really were in the whole picture. it'll take the city until friday to clean the streets.