Today my friends Félix and Romane came to see me (with their parents). We played together, and then our mommies took us out for a stroller ride! It was fun! However, this was the first time that Romane and Félix met, and I noticed Romane was eyeing Félix quite a lot.

I knew then I had to do something cool.

So later, after Félix had to go, I had the all clear for Romane’s attention, and with the dishwasher door wide open there… Can you guess what I did? That’s right : I climbed up and got myself standing straight on my two feet. For the first time! Mom tried to film me doing it again right after, but I didn’t bother. I’d made my point.

There I was, doing my morning workout…

When suddenly, this happened!

Mom thinks this is way cool, but I’m wondering: what is it good for?

- Xavier

A whole birthday weekend for me (and my dad, whose birthday is on the 22nd)!

1. Thursday
My mom and dad have lunch with me. My mom brings out two little desserts for us – she thought they heading out of town, and this was the only opportunity she’d get for a pseudo-birthday.

2. Friday
Called in for a lunch meeting at work. I’m on maternity leave, but figure my boss has something global to discuss with everyone, so we ask Frank’s mom to take Xavier meanwhile and I show up. Surprise! Birthday lunch for me, with card and cake! They send home the rest of the cake with me, which means about 2′x1.5′x0.5′ of sugar. Good thing it tastes good.

3. Saturday
We scheme a surprise birthday dinner for my dad, by telling him it’s a birthday dinner for me. (This is getting complex.) In any case, it was fun – we had dinner at my brother’s place, with cake (again). I got a purse! Pictures over there :

4. Sunday
Birthday day – March 18. My brother comes over to set the bookcase back in place, which means my basement is FINISHED (apart from the ceiling, but let’s not get into that now…) on the day of my birthday! How awesome! (Just have to put the books back in now, and I’ll have pictures, promise.)
We often have dinner at Frank’s parents on Sunday evenings, and this Sunday was no exception. Italian food, yummy!
Birthday message from Éric & family when we come back home and, to top it off, we’ve chosen this day as Xavier’s last breast-feeding. Seemed a right date.

Thanks to all the well-wishes from my last post’s comments. I feel loved.

I’ll be turning 27 on Sunday, and have been reflecting on how fast the last 10 years have passed, and how much my life has changed since then. I’ve done some wings flapping, some gathering, some nestling, and most of all I’ve shaped the path my life will take, and have settled into it. I do hope my future still has some great joys to reveal, but the great joys I did receive yet have shed some light on what the rest of my life will be like, and I can envision it much more than I did at 17.

My last decade’s accomplishment, somewhat in chronological order and somewhat – though not quite – in order of importance :

- I graduated high school.
- I made friends and partied some.
- I studied and became a professionnal.
- I moved out of my parent’s home to a place of my own.
- I joined the workforce et gained some experience.
- I built a long-lasting relationship with the man I love.
- My parents built a house for me, and I made it a home.
- I bore a son.

I’m not one to brag, but it wouldn’t be fair to myself not take some measure of pride in all of that. Turns out it does pay out to be a good girl.

It feels like I should make a wishlist for the next decade now. I won’t go with something precise, but I do hope for another child – maybe more… my answer to ‘how many’ remains that we’ll make them one at a time in any case, so I guess we’ll stop when it feels right – and travels. Art projects, if that’s possible (I’m in a writing phase lately, though that’s never been constant and I don’t want to make too much of it until it is). Oh, and tackling the yard’s landscaping.

And to finish this post with the most important thing: I come to be 27 as a happy person.

Yesterday was paint day. (I mentionned some renos in the basement, right?) Frank’s mom was nice enough to take in Xavier for the day, so I could do a painting sprint. And with my little ray of sunshine gone, the sky a colour of ash, and paint – guess which colour we’re going with? – it was a pretty gray day.

I never got people who’d choose gray as a wall colour (it’s not a colour!), and thought that was highly bland, and said I’d never have it on my walls… We have an expression in French that goes ‘only fools don’t change opinions’. Guess I’m not, then.

(I’ll post pictures when all the furniture’s back in place.)

Here are some easy to do mini-pizzas, which might not look chunky, but believe me… they’ll fill you right up!

- Pita breads
- Grated cheese

AND EITHER…
- A can of pizza sauce
- Cut vegetables : green pepper and/or tomato and/or mushroom… you get the idea
- Pepperoni
- Optional : shrimp, proschuitto and whatever else you think of.

OR…
- Seafood : shrimps and/or scallops and/or pollock…
- Alfredo bechamel

You can pretty much figure out where we’re going here. Prepare all your ingredients and top a pita bread to your taste. Then 15 minutes or so in the oven (to warm it up and melt the cheese… if necessary, broil it just a little to get a nice color on the cheese) and voilà!

The pita bread works really nicely for this, and it’s fun to experiment with different toppings. We did this once with people over : everyone would make his/her own pizza. A success!