here we are, montreal-nord

so many things. so i want to start small. still waiting for the snow to go.
we arrived. unpacked boxes. got furniture from IKEA. actually went to IKEA to look at it before ordering! (shoutout to meatballs and excellent cake! yes we finally did the thing, my bucket list is getting shorter and shorter)
then i got super-sick, to the point where my kid is imitating me clearing my throat. lots of fun.
still getting used to getting downstairs at night to feed the kid - i find it so hilarious that now i have a "downstairs".

montreal-nord is part of montreal, but actually a former independent city, only incorporated this century! so it's like ville st-laurent, i.e. it mostly refers to itself independently, i.e. i don't live in montreal anymore, it's montreal-nord. still i continue to maintain it's not a suburb, for reasons i hope to touch on later.
time added to commute: about 20 minutes one way. manageable so far, i'll report back after more serious commuting.
basic grocery shopping: maxi, euromarché (more on this later! i really mean it!!) and a corner store that is so ridiculously bad it's funny.
on the other hand, it's full of schools and daycares. and old people's homes (more on this later! i promise.) also some decent parks.

best view is from my mother-in-law's room, neighbours' slightly creepy-looking (in the good way) house. it looks even better on a gloomy day. also, my mother-in-law, and, by extension, the kid, are obsessed with bird-watching from the window. lots of seagulls just making seagull noises...we are close to the river. 

front room with all the furniture boxes. so far we've only assembled the table, chairs and dressers. one bookcase and one bed to go - and, with some minor arrangements, we can consider ourselves settled. we're not going to go crazy with interior design, trying to keep it as uncluttered as possible. i guess we'll see about that. 

the baby (sorrry, toddler!) has her room upstairs, but her crib is still disassembled (she doesn't use it anyway) and most of her toys are still in boxes (she would use them if she saw them, but her playing right now consists in throwing random things around...might as well throw spoons and pants). anyway, she resides mostly in her grandma's room, except for when she likes to walk all around the front room, dining room and kitchen while i'm trying to feed her. 

we did some photoshooting of her in every single summer dress she's got.
she likes to sit on the radiator (and says "too hot" when it's hot) and to hide in a corner between the dresser and the wall ("hiding!"). she does and says so many things, it's very hard to keep up.
most importantly, she just started at the daycare yesterday! so far she's just been there for 3-4 hrs at a time, so i still have no idea how she's doing. yesterday she cried the whole time, today she didn't. said bye-bye to everyone when leaving, and at home she was running around saying "à demain".