Lily Catherine Morrice

{August 20th | 1:45am | 22 inches long | 7lbs 12 oz}

{Lily}
This flower and name are so dear to me.

My grandfather "Pa" always named the four of us, his granddaughters, his "flowers". He chose flowers that corresponded with our names and would take us to the Royal Botanical Gardens on "Pa Dates" when we were little and show us which flower was ours.

We were Lisa Lupin, Maggie Marigold, Sarah Sunflower, and Emily Lily.

Pa passed away in 2003 and lilies have become even more important to me - helping me remember him and how much he loved his family. How he would have loved to have met Lily.

{Catherine}
My mom's name is Catherine and since the beginning of my journey into motherhood I've always said, I so admire how my mom raised Lisa and I and I am so proud to follow in her footsteps.

She was my age when she had Lisa, her first, a beautiful girl, and now I have my Lily, just like my mom, Catherine.

Brad was in charge of choosing the middle name for Lily and he loved the idea of naming our daughters after their grandmas, so our next daughter (Lord willing we'll have lots more!) will have the middle name Rose, after Brad's mom :)

~
This marks the end of the Baby Bump (for now!) and the beginning of our life with a daughter. Thanks for journeying with me from the very beginning when Lily was just a thought and a prayer.
Find us Morrices, especially the newest member, @
{OUR NEST IN THE CITY}

Bienvenue, Lily!

ignorance is not equal to bliss.

I'm living in a waiting game.
Every woman who's nearing 39 weeks of pregnancy is.
I know I'm not experiencing anything unique of unlike all my other pregnant/mom friends, but I just can't help but feel SO out of the loop.

I don't know my body. I don't understand it, and I don't understand most of the advice I've been told. Something that would be good to realize sooner I agree, but something I couldn't comprehend until I was actually in the state I am now... ignorance.

Take contractions. On the movies the woman's screaming at the first sign of a contraction while she's still at the restaurant/school/public place-you-don't-want-to-go-into-labour-in... but everyone including my doctor has told me it's not like that. It's uncomfortable, it's a tightening of the whole baby bump (read: uterus), it almost feels like your baby is flexing and your whole belly becomes hard. Oh and not to go to the hospital until they last 60 seconds each, are every 5 minutes, and last for 1 hour. Fair enough.

OK. If that's true, I should have gone to the hospital about 12 hours ago. Last night around 12:30am I started getting regular "contractions". My whole stomach would go hard, I would feel the pressure and tightening and then after about 60 seconds it would relax, only to be repeated less than 5 minutes later... I would nod in and out of sleep but it was constant all night, and believe me I know, because I went to pee NINE TIMES. Yes, a new record for me.

But my intuition told me not to go to the hospital, that this wasn't the "big moment" and I was right... this morning I've had these so called contractions much less regularly. I'm glad I didn't rush off to the hospital because I would probably have just sat there for hours since I'm clearly not in labour... so I should be happy I didn't take the bait. But I'm just confused and frustrated.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Stupid Braxton-Hicks, you make me doubt my body and all the advice I've been given... and you may just be doing me a favour...

MM's Dresser Make-Over

it looks terrific!!!!
{if I do say so myself}

Recap: we got this piece for $20 at a garage sale.

Then Brad painted it white with the paint we used for the trim in MM's room

They I covered the bland white change pad with a fun IKEA fabric and bought new knobs at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store for $2 each

And lined the drawers with a fun wallpaper I also bought at the Re-Store for $2

Ta-Da!

The drawers are now all packed and MM's diapers, clothes, and general things have a home :) Now I'm feeling very prepared...her crib is yet to arrive but that's not as much a hurry since she has a bassinet home for the first month or so. So MM, if you're listening... you can come now.
kthanksbye.

SCORE!

we were THIS CLOSE to buying the white, $170, Hemnes dresser from IKEA (below).

this close!!

I had dreamed of finding a cute old antique-looking, solid wood, and thus much better than IKEA plywood, dresser on Craigslist or Kijiji but after months of searching it seemed it wasn't in the cards. Everything I found online was either just people selling their old IKEA dressers or over $100, which to me is way too much for something second-hand!

So we were about to bite the bullet and get the white Hemnes dresser for the nursery until today Loni and I stumbled upon a garage sale in NDG while we were shopping at Emeline & Annabelle!
And there it was.
A beautiful, perfect-sized, antique-looking, complete with a key hole at the top, dresser with three drawers selling for $20!!!

We'll be painting it white and getting new hardware from the Re-Store this week.
Will show the finished product soon :)

twenty three percent.
As I type this, it's a wonder my fingers aren't accidentally pressing the wrong keys and spelling gibberish.
My hands feel HUGE and they hurt like they've been belted, old-school disciplinary-style.
Apparently it's due to water retention, same as my feet, though the feet make way more sense - I'm walking on them a lot, holding up my 30lb-heavier frame, etc.
Hands just hurt and it makes a lot less sense, other than hormones pumping through my body and my body retaining water (which again is laughable since I'm peeing on the hour, every hour, even through the night).

Anyway, this post is HAPPY and I don't want it to be an outlet for my complaining (tempting....sooo tempting...) so I'll get to it.

Months ago I did a baby-cost calculator, which adds up the costs of the first year, mostly one-time costs like a crib, stroller, etc and some repeated costs, such as using disposable diapers, or clothes - especially if your next baby is the opposite sex.
I choose my options frugally even with this calculator, but the cost of baby's first year, should we be paying everything ourselves and paying the "going-rate" for these items was approximately $4500.

I'm typing proudly today because I've added up all of our costs, and thanks to extremely generous family (buying our big ticket items such as the stroller and crib) and the amazing craigslist/ second-hand community of Montreal (our car seat, 90% of our clothes, a free breast pump from a friend who didn't use it, etc) our personal costs were only $1,050!

23% of what we thought we'd be paying.

!!!!

correction: before I thought it was 27% but then we just found the dresser for $20 (plus we'll put $20 into it for supplies to spruce it up) instead of the one we were gunna buy, so now it's 23%!

"any day now"

update: just over 2cm dilated, 70% effaced...

translation: "your baby could come any day now, I wouldn't be surprised if you're not at our appointment next week!" - Dr. M. Hall

a baby is being born AS WE SPEAK

{not mine!}

But ahhhh it's so exciting.

Our dear friends Martin and Amy from our church here in Montreal are having a c-section literally as I type this post! It has been such a fun journey with them this past year.

In September Amy and I met for the first time and bonded pretty quickly and one of the things we both discussed over coffee was when we were going to start trying. It became something we talked about a lot even though we weren't ready to start trying officially... Then without consulting each other (not like we needed to!!) we both started trying, and BOTH got pregnant within days of each other!

They were exactly 10 days ahead of Brad and I and we all went through the same stages together - constant puking, misery, extreme fatigue, excitement, stroller shopping, starting to "show", cloth diaper buying, nursery decorating...

Since they're having a Cesarean their "due date" was pushed a bit forward, so now our kids will be two weeks apart instead of one, but it's so fun to think that they'll grow up together and we'll have friends who are experiencing the same things we are as the years go on. It's SUCH a blessing when you move to a new city to find a friend who you can relate to in such specific ways and to have things like kids and pregnancies knit you together even more.

Praying for them right now and so excited to meet their boy,
Adrian William

ps - something about friends who conceived at the same time as you really makes you realize you're too having a BABY soon. Obvious? Maybe. Wild and thrilling? YES.

OMG

oh my gosh... where do I EVEN start?

Last night was our first prenatal class - yes we're extremely behind on that and had a good time seeing everyone's reactions when we were the "37.5 week's along couple" to the other "24, 25, 30 week parents".

But the good times were really only in making light of what a disaster the class was. I had a glimpse last night into what going to high school with my husband would have been like, and the truth is, I would have failed every class! We were doing everything in our power to not buckle over in roaring laughter in front of our less-than-prepared/aware/educated-teacher.

it.was.a.GONGSHOW.

Let me begin with out teacher. Whose credentials are that she WAS a nurse 15 years ago and did give birth twice, in the late 60's. Have times changed medically since then? naaaa, let's go with it. Groan. We had our hunches that she wasn't the most up to date on the current birthing process when she made comments like
"but honestly, people don't really get epidurals or they shouldn't ",
to a room of terrified, birthing-plan-ready, moms who had already made up their minds, or
"if they're kicking hard it's because they're a boy, boys are stronger than girls",
can you say Old School methodology?

But what really sold us on her inexpertise was the personal narrative of every labour stage. Instead of telling us medically and technically what is happening during this stage she just told us how SHE felt, 40 years ago.
Sentences like "you will be nervous but excited at this point, because I was" or "you probably will become introspective when you're 4cm dilated and not want to talk much to people around you, as I didn't" should never make their way into a professional, government-run hand-out to first-time parents to be, but oh there they were.

Aside from her lack of current medical knowledge, she was just plain rude, and it was HILARIOUS. She's one of those people that you find yourself saying often after she speaks "Oh No You Didn't..."
Yet it was so outrageous I don't think anyone was offended, just astonished.

Like when Brad and I walked in 1 minute EARLY but the class had already begun. There were no seats and she said "The class has begun, you may not find a seat". Um what does that mean? We signed up for this class and we're still early!?

Or the couple that came in AFTER us (God-forbid) that she didn't even greet or give hand outs to (they may have been 2 minutes late and were dressed in business clothing, clearly just coming right from work).

But my favourite was this poor single mom-to-be from LaSalle who our teacher decidedly hated from the get-go. When there would be a long pause and she would ask a question, our teacher would abruptly start talking over her and not let her ask until she rose her hand. Or when our teacher blatantly said "Because you're from LaSalle and not Verdun, you shouldn't be here. I wish you weren't because there are a lot of people in this class, but what can I do?"
She tried to explain that she lives on the boarder and it would take her 3 bus transfers to get to the LaSalle CLSC and only one straight bus to get to the Verdun CLSC which was met with more talking-over and a "yes but really you shouldn't be here" from our teacher.

Is she for real!?

Then she had us go around and say to the group that we've just met what all of our preferences for birth are (i.e. our birthing plan i.e. kind of personal). It was a hilarious time, where people were publically shamed for choosing the epidural or others made to seem cold-hearted for not having their moms in the room at the time of delivery. The good part being, everyone was in the same boat - hating it but getting a kick out of her audacity.

Lastly the video. OHHHHHH the video!
Aptly titled "Together in Love" and filmed no sooner than 1973, the film captured a couple whose marriage was clearly on the rocks having their first baby. It seemed more like a commercial for prenatal classes where we watched people doing what we should have been doing (i.e. learning breathing exercises), only decades prior. My favourite part was when the mom-to-be said "for the first time it felt like Paul and I were a team" to which someone in the class yelled "haven't they been married for 4 years? Paul's a dead beat!"

And so the class went on. A teacher who had no expertise and almost no English, with random materials in SPANISH of all languages, including a small Mexican statue of a woman birthing in the squatting position, her wielding her out-dated Quebecois cultural experience of birth on our unsuspecting class, and a video that was both terrifying (up close shots with little warning = scary!) and most certainly the same video our own parents watched in the 80's and laughed at for it's age and inappropriateness.

a little behind...

For many reasons (i.e. traveling for 2 months this summer, visiting family in Ontario for weeks after that, not knowing if we were staying or moving apartments, etc) I am feeling very BEHIND.

I know the baby won't notice if her room is finished or not (but I will) but it's more than that... tonight we're starting our FIRST labour and delivery class of four, the last being precisely two days after our due date... The reason being, the class we should have taken was happening while we were in Africa this June. Apparently the last class should be exactly 1 month before your due date... Oops. Dropped the ball on that one!

I need to sit back and RELAX and enjoy these last few days/weeks before a baby infiltrates me and Brad's tight knit home and becomes our never-moving-out roommate that we love so much, we barely have time to think... I am so excited for her to come though that all I want to do is prepare FOR her instead of enjoy this time without her while it's here.

In reality, the things we have still to do aren't urgent (which is probably why they're not done) but to me they are because I want everything done and done right before she's born...

* we still need to buy between 6-10 more cloth diapers, but we're not starting cloth diapering until a month AFTER she's born

* we still need to get her correct crib in our nursery and assemble it, but she won't be sleeping in the crib until a month or even two AFTER she's born (bassinet will take care of that)

*we still need to take these labour and delivery classes, though my doctor's assured me that she knows what to do (duh) and the nurses and doctors are there to HELP me, so I won't be up a river with no paddle if I don't watch some terrifying video in the local health clinic with a bunch of strangers who are far less pregnant than me...

So really the things I'm behind on aren't something to stress about... I'm just stressing needlessly. But it's so hard not to! Stress is sometimes the easiest response when things don't go my way... Faith being the hardest and the most necessary.

Nursery {part 3}

The work is progress!!!

Thanks to friends Alexandre and Amanda, plus my hard-working husband Brad, our nursery is finished being painted, and now only a few things remain until it's finished and put together.

In the meantime here and a few pics/hints to when the room will actually be a nursery :)

{Dr. Alexandre Cossette to the rescue}

{a glimpse into the fabrics/themes}

{fresh colour on the walls, all MM's stuff in her room}

{as if she gets the one room in our house with exposed brick!}

{our re-claimed living room, free from all of her things...for now!}

"hope your bag's packed!"

Were the words from my OBG at our appointment,
with an excited smile on her face.

I can't imagine being pregnant for 3 weeks or more at this point - yet that's when my due date is... Though after my ultrasound last week, the theory was that I certainly wouldn't go late and maybe even would go a few days early (but these are just theories, I know). Even though all the while I was elated to hear this and was praying silently "please let me go a few days early, please!!"

Why?
(1) my husband is in the busiest time of the year for work on the first week of September. Having an August 28th due date complicates things in that he can't take pat-leave right away, and I'd love him to be around...

(2) my family had planned well in advance to run a half marathon (I know...and what have I done today?) in Quebec City on August 29th before knowing the due date... so if she comes a bit early, they would get to meet her, instead of going all the way back to Ontario (7 hours + driving) and then back to Quebec a few days later.

SO, all that to say, at today's appointment one of the first things I asked my doctor was "so, do you think I'll go early!?"

She laughed and said "your due date is pretty much set, and plus first time moms almost never go early... we'll start internal exams to see if you've begun to dilate next week as we don't expect you would anytime before then".

Oh. Sad times. But then she added, "but why not, lets do an exam now and see just to clear your head". THANK YOU LORD FOR THIS DOCTOR. I was so glad she was willing to just do it anyway, though she thought otherwise, because she knew it would give me peace of mind. Peace if I hadn't started dilating yet and peace if I had, to know either way.

To her surprise and my hopes, I HAD! She was surprised and laughed saying "wow! well you're almost 2cm dilated already... so happy we checked! I hope you've got your hospital bag packed, the baby will most definitely come before August 28th"

YESSSSSSSSSSSS!

Now... to pack that hospital bag and finish the nursery... MM, can't wait to meet you!

reason 3,486,230,498 why I love the body of Christ

I read this announcement in our church's weekly e-mail yesterday:

5. MEALS FOR THE PARENTS-TO-BE @GMC [from Melanie D'Almeida]
We are all excited and waiting with great anticipation the arrival of baby Zoellner (boy!) and baby Morrice (girl!). Melanie has taken the initiative to organize and prepare meals for a few days after Amy/Martin and Emily/Brad come home from the hospital with their new little bundles. It would just be a practical way to help out as they begin to get their feet back on the ground and adjust to being a new family of three. If you are interested in helping out, please contact Melanie D'Almeida

"let's get you a diaper bag"

Music to my ears yesterday morning.

Bradford asked,
"is there anything you didn't get for your shower or we haven't bought that you'll need the first few months of MM's life?"

{as I'm having another baby shower from his dad's side of the family, but not until October}

"I guess a diaper bag is something I wanted but haven't yet got", I replied.

"let's get you a diaper bag", he beamed, knowing he's made my day

indeed he did.

Nursery {part 2}

I'd say we're in the "calm before the storm" stage, wherein we are getting ready to re-do two rooms in our home and expecting a baby any week now... but really it's already a storm!

My nursery TO-DO list is slowly getting accomplished, but not without leaving the rest of my house/life in it's wake!
Good thing I'm on maternity leave and have the time, if only the energy! So here's a glimpse into what we've done so far:

{fabric hoops wall-art}

• used left-over fabrics from the quilt my sister made
• bought fabric hoops at Fabric Ville, about $2 each
  
• this is actually the arrangement they'll hang on the wall in
  

{empty frame wall art}

• inspired by pictures like this and this
• bought all frames at Dollarama + spray paint

Stay Tuned!