Merry Christmas Baby!

Well that was slightly unexpected.... What an incredible experience! Ezri arrived at 4:50 pm on Christmas Eve, weighing in at a hardy 8lbs 5oz. She decided to wait for her daddy to arrive, my water broke only 2 hours after Nathan arrived from Nunavut at 4am, Christmas Eve. She also decided it was a good time to come, in the middle of a huge snowstorm. My sister in law was the one taking me to the hospital and we couldn't even make it out the drive way there was so much snow. When she tried to open her door, it was stopped by the massive snow accumulation and she ended up first calling my brother in law on her cell phone "Yeah, we haven't even made it out of the driveway!", and then did some crazy acrobats, climbing out the car window! All I could think about was what a birth story this was going to make! After Nathan, my father-in-law and brother-in-law shoveled us out, we promptly got ourselves stuck again 5 ft back on the road. Luckily with the good excuse of labor, a neighbour nudged us out with his massive monster truck. This is all after we watched the plow drive down the road, with it's shovel high in the air...that didn't quite make any sense. I'm assuming the plow was just on an early morning joy ride? Here is Nathan trying to dig us out. More photos & story to come...

37 & half weeks

These will be some of the last pregnancy belly shots I'm going to get in before the big day comes. I was lucky enough to get my great friend Julie (you all remember the super fantastic photographer) to take some shots. We kept trying to get out and take these photos but Ontario weather is quite schizophrenic and were delayed 3 times. The day previous to these photos the 4 feet of snow was washed away with rain and plus 8 degrees C. Then the day we shot, it was a snap freeze of minus 8 degrees C! All within 24 hours... it started snowing again that evening so it's back to winter wonderland. These photos might look like fall, but let me assure you I was freezing my pregnant belly off. Not to mention the ill effects it had on my boobs. We would stop periodically so I could warm up in my coat and Julie could melt her fingers. I even had to keep her battery warming up against my back in the elastic part of my maternity pants. Yeah, yeah it doesn't compare to Nunavut. But cold is cold! Minus 8 is darn cold on the boobs be you in Nunavut or the southern tropics of Ontario. The shots turned out amazing, displaying a very glamorous side of pregnancy. Tomorrow I might just show you some stretch marks so we don't stray too far away from reality.

The four of us

These are my parents, Little Girl will be their first grandchild, so they are pretty excited. Arguably the most excited grandparents in history. I figure it's because this time around they are going to get all the fun and excitement of a child, minus all the poop and sass talk they got from their own kids...oh and I made sure they got their full dose of that while I was growing up. I'm in for some real karma pay back.There are only 3 weeks left until my little human addition will be here. Things are starting to become a little uncomfortable, but I still don't have too much to complain about. Everything seems to be pretty normal and on track, except that I don't feel terribly comfortable unless I'm in a completely straight position, bending in any way is hard work. Even sitting in a chair can be a challenge, depending on how the little pretzel inside of me is sitting. So that leaves standing and laying down. Standing is hard, my feet are swollen. Laying down also a challenge, I have horrendous pain if I lay on my back(which your not supposed to do anyways at this point) or side pain laying on my side. Yeah, of course it's all worth it, especially when I get to finally put her in those cup cake patterned, footsie pajamas I bought today. Yep, it's all worth it, until she learns how to back talk.

Meanwhile, I'm still down south patiently waiting for the day when Nathan is supposed to come down. My family has done a wonderful job of keeping me entertained and distracted, but I am still counting every second until he comes down. Mainly because I really need a good foot rub!

Christmas Shopping: Shopping in a store vs. Online

Now that I'm down south, one advantage to Christmas shopping is the instant gratification you get in a store making a purchase, not like having to wait 10,000 years for it to show up in the mail, the way it shows up north, when ordered online. It takes a little adjustment period for me switching from online to in store shopping... even though I regard myself as an high level experiance shopper (Nathan is nodding his head in agreement right now, whilst crying silently into his wallet). I am a shopping Ninja...but not in the find the deal kind of way. No, more in the stamina, can shop till I drop kind of way. I usually know what to get and where.

Except recently I have been finding it hard in some stores. I have become a little jaded shopping online. If I need a book, I go to amazon, pump in the title of the book and BAM it pops up. In a store...I acutally have to go and look for that book... peruse the isles. I recently became frustrated in Futureshop because I knew the title of the movie I wanted but could not for the life of me find it. I also couldn't find a sales person to help me either. I felt so helpless needing the help of another person to shop, like my ego was taking some kind of hit. All I wanted was for some magical "search box" to appear in front of me so I could type in the movie I wanted and click purchase. Traditional shopping, in a sense is becoming too slow and inconvenient for me.

Did you know that when your in the south things show up in the mail really, REALLY fast? It's kind of weird for me to think that I could be in the south, but prefer to some extent to continue shopping online. Shopping online also adds some sanity into your life after you've spent a Saturday afternoon at Walmart during their extended holiday hours. No one should go to Walmart on a Saturday, let alone during the Christmas season. That is one way to throw a laid back Nunavummiut into an anxiety attack.

You want Photography, I'll give you Photography!

My friend Julie, who I met spending two amazing, but long years in photography with has started her own blog. This blog demonstrates her incredible talent and bug for traveling, mixed in with some random photos of her cats and daily life. I urge you all to go over and have a look at some of her gorgeous work. You can also read what she has to say, but I guaruntee you'll stick around for the photos! Check it out here "Insert Witty Blog Name Here"

These photos stolen directly from Julie's site. Photo Credit Miss Ju-lie.

Showered With Gifts

One benefit of being down south is getting lavished with my mothers party throwing talents. She went over the top for her first Granddaughter today, we had about 30 guests at the shower. she made many delectable snacks such as gourmet carrot cake cupcakes, with baby blue birds made of icing on the top. I figure this child won't need a single thing for the entire first year of her life.

Now I almost feel prepared for this little one coming along, we even have the first name, Ezri (ez-Ree), but are still missing a middle name. Nathan thinks he is picking, but perhaps I can give him some ideas. Anyone have any suggestions on a normal middle name that would go well with Ezri?

The Arctic Breed; In his natural habitat

Something has been happening to my little snowman recently, we have been catching him sleeping on things that are warm...and more shockingly inside. He never used to sit still while inside, always wanted back outside the moment he came in. Recently, in his apparently "I'm turning into an old man" phase we have found him in such places as the middle of our bed, feet under the duvet and head gently resting on Nathan's pillow. Or on the couch, curled into a relaxing ball. I finally broke down and gave him a blanket for his Kennel in our room. He uses it as a pillow, resting his head, while holding the balled up blanket with his front paws. He finally sees the importance of a blanket other then tearing it up into little pieces of batting.

Right now he is home with Nathan in the arctic keeping him from getting lonely, while I'm down south. Apparently he was confused when I left and waited, sleeping at the front door. He is going to be happy to see me again...for all of 10 seconds, until his puppy brain resets.

Beached Tootsie Roll

I was going to say Beached Whale...but really I look more like a juicy, fat Tootsie Roll with that Jacket on. I was trying to pose on the ice for a belly shot and ended up just slipping around like a turtle on her back. It really was amusing for my sister-in-law Jen to watch.

I have safely made it out of the north for my Confinement period, where I'm within driving distance of a hospital and Mcdonalds. Two things every prego lady needs. Poor Nathan is still up north for an entire month and the whole thing just bums me out. On one hand I will be enjoying my family, the shopping and dinning out and on the other hand I would love nothing more then to be tucked away in my northern home with my favourite person. It seems like forever until I will return, and when I do my life is going to be a lot different.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...

Good things comes to those who wait, even if they didn't have a choice about wanting to wait or not and even if they grumbled about waiting the entire time! But I survived and my family finally arrived last night. I even got my food mail and the box of Halloween candy that I ordered 6 weeks ago...you know so it would be here for Halloween. Apparently whoever deals with Canada post thought it should go into the "it can wait pile" because I can see by the little airport sticker that it arrived in Iqaluit on October 22, you know like 4 weeks ago. Apparently it only took that extra little bit of time to make it the one hour flight over here, because Canada post is a priority and all. Now I have a truck load of candies and mini chocolate bars to deal with before I leave on Thursday for the south. I guess I could just leave them to console Nathan for the entire month he is up here without me, but I'm probably going to be evil and pack as many as I can back. Plus I have my family to share them with.
We got out for a nice walk and snowmobile ride this morning, enough time to throughly freeze us through to last the entire day. I think the Little Girl enjoyed it very much as she "danced" around around to the sound of the snowmobile.

Northern Airline Heartbreak....once again!

Nameless northern airline strikes again at being crappy. Tonight I sing the northern airline blues once again, like I have done so many times in the past, like all northerners have sung at some point. Two airlines fly into my community but I usually fly with one in particular, but really both airlines are clones of eachother and both run up the same amount of irritation with their customers. Still, most of you know which airline I am speaking of when the blood vessels in my eyes pop and I grind my teeth together.

Why am I so upset in particular today? Well my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and their oldest son were supposed to be sitting, relaxing on my couch all of 24 hours ago and will not reach said couch destination until tomorrow at 4pm (fingers crossed).

Their story starts off in Ottawa, being stranded because of a mechanical issue. Mechanical issues happen, so do weather ones, especially up north, understandably. Today after finally making it into Iqaluit, my family were unable to fly the rest of the way into our community because of "weather issues". The flight has been canceled right out. After clarification I find out that the weather issues are not coming out of Iqaluit, but in fact with regards to landing in our community. Understandably there is less flight equipment here, many times we have been stranded because of fog and visibility to the runway. Today the flight was canceled here because of our apparently horrendous weather conditions. Lets all take a look now at the terrible weather conditions we were suffering from today in my community.

Remarkably bad, blue sky and sunshine, I can understand why they would cancel the flight... even though other nameless airline landed this afternoon. Would wind possibly be a factor in todays cancellation? No, not at a whopping 9 km/hr, it was a gentle kiss on the cheek. It was seriously a gorgeous day out today. I had made mention of that to my husband as we took the dog out to the park for a leisurely walk this morning, before we even knew the flight had been canceled.

Meanwhile Nameless Airline in Iqaluit did not want to pay to put my family up in Iqaluit, as it was a weather issue and not mechanical. My most amazingly convincing sister-in-law pointed out that if it hadn't been for the mechanical issue the previous day they would be at their destination already, as their connecting flight successfully made it in last night (not on time though, what a shock). Thankfully they relented and are paying for their accommodations tonight.

The last shred of hope I have is that they get in tomorrow on the only scheduled flight, because they don't come in on the weekends and they only fly scheduled flights. Thus meaning if they cancel a flight, they don't just make up a new one, you just get bumped (hopefully) onto the next scheduled flight. That is also of course if their are no rogue snowflakes over here, that would be another absolute cancellation for sure! BTW I have seen both airlines land in blizzards and less then ideal (A LOT LESS ideal then today) weather many, many times. Sometimes it feels like they just cancel because they are not in the mood to run a flight out here. And landing/take off times are suggestion only, what is time schedule really?

If I sound a little bitter it's only because I'm hormonal and Nameless Airline has prevented this pregnant lady from A)Receiving her Food Mail today and B) Receiving her much anticipated loved ones for the second day in a row! Not to mention this happens every aggravating time I want something off the plane, fly with or have family flying in on this airline. It's a little exasperating the kazillionth time.

I can only hope they redeem themselves tomorrow with the arrival of food and family.

it's warm inside

Remembrance Day Ceremonies

Indigo, being wonderful over on South Baffin!

Indigo strikes again! Could she be the next Santa? Queen of the solstice! Check over here to see what other November Miracles Indigo has been creating on the other side of Northern Canada.Little Girl thanks you Indigo for the copious amounts of beautiful (non-pink always nice) girly clothing you sent her! She will be stylish her entire first year!! AND LOOK AT THE SHOES OMG!!! And thanks for thinking of mom and the wonderful booby cream! I love that my northern friends think about the safety of my boobs! Little Girl's mommy is sending you a thank you in the form of something hand made as well, just nothing as fantastic as Kara's booties lol.

Honorary Auntie

When I was growing up I had but one Auntie and didn't see too much of her. However, I always had woman in my life that I would prefix Aunt in front of. These were people who might not have even been related to me but were still considered aunts to me. Even though our little girl will have more real aunts then I ever did, she will still have some honorary Aunts too. We aren't doing the whole god-parent thing, but there still are people I would like to honor as important figures in Little Girl's life. My friend Julie is one of them. Now what is the roll of an honorary Auntie? Well their job is to spoil and enjoy their nieces and nephews without any of the crappy jobs like changing diapers or having to discipline them.

My good friend Julie from down south is someone that I am still very close with even though we live so far apart. Julie recently went to NYC and the only present she brought back was for Little Girl. She said that she looked into getting some Manolo Blahnik shoes for her, but didn't see any baby sizes. She said if she puts away money in a fund for every year that Little Girl is growing up, she might have enough for a pair by the time she is 20. Tallinn is modeling the gift Auntie Julie bought Little Girl. Julie is also Tallinn's Auntie, so he had no problem helping me out with this photo.

Brain no go.

I guess I should be getting to posting up here on the blog. Really though I can barely string together a a sentence let alone a thought to save my life. I really should be eating more Omega 3's!

Well what is there to catch up on. I'm leaving the north in 2 weeks for my confinement period, meaning time spent stuffing my face with Mcdonalds and within driving distance of a hospital. We have finally come up with a contending Name, but I don't have Nathan's signature on a contract yet, so it might still change. It only took blood, sweat and many tears to come up with a name and I'm hoping we can stick with it. Now onto a middle name...eek! The little girl has been kicking lots and I'm really starting to get excited to meet her, just not about the whole birthing thing. Something that has to happen, but I don't have to be happy about it.

My sister-in-law, brother-in-law and their oldest son are coming up next Wednesday for week. They are flying back with me, it just worked out that way, good thing too because I might need my sister to do some yelling if the person in front of me puts their seat down on the plane. I normally hate when people put their seat down, not only because I can't put down my table, but because the back of their head is usually in my face and that's just too close. I really don't need to know what kind of shampoo anyone else is using or lack there of. This time however, I am going to say something if it happens, seeing as I have a good excuse, but will probably have to borrow my sister-in-law's assertiveness to make that happen. I know no one will mess around with this pregnant lady when she's on the team.

Meanwhile my Halloween candy I ordered a month ago from London Drugs has not made an appearance! And I know it's not their fault. Canada post said the last time they scanned in the box was in Montreal almost 3 weeks ago...meaning it's sitting in Iqaluit collecting dust. Iqaluit is the like the big white dryer that absorbs socks like a black hole. Good bye little package, I thought we would have had a good time on Halloween with those fake eyelashes and Halloween goodies, I guess it's not meant to be. Bah! I don't know really what's to blame about the mail system up here, but I could send a box across the world 3 times over before anything gets to me up here. Boxes are also always ALWAYS smooshed, bashed and torn. I know it's all isolated and stuff up here, but I'm sure I would get better service living at the top of the Himalayas!

It's pretty cold here now. I called my in-laws yesterday down south and they were out on their deck enjoying some warm weather, while I snuggled into 20 blankets because it was snowing and so cold outside the ocean was freezing up in front of my eyes. I even saw some crazy driving his quad out on the newly sheeted ice. The other issue is the whole "fall back", while most of the country isn't suffering, it's now starting to get dark here at 2:30. But I guess I can't complain, I will be south in 2 weeks. I just don't feel ready to leave my home and Nathan behind for a month. I don't know if all the Quarter pounders in the world can console me.

It's a beautiful day, eat some snow!

Pregnant, Halloween & 2 hours to come up with a costume

And no I would never have had the guts to do this minus there being a 3lbs human being living inside my stomach. This is just another one of those "can get away with while pregnant" things. I've never even worn a bikini in my life.

I was going to sew together a witch's costume for my Halloween party yesterday, but kept messing it up. I threw this together last minute, as you know you have to be crafty in the north. There weren't really any other options of just going out and buying something. I will not be sporting this kind of attire either next Friday while handing out candy, it will just be too cold. Lucky I have another warmer costume handy. I will make sure to post photos of that later on.

Kara sent me Chocolate!

Ok I went a little crazy, maybe even psychotic when I opened a package of mini Halloween candy bars Kara sent to me in the mail. It's even more special because a box of 50 usually goes for about $18.99 up here. At first I opened the package while I was at work and then started getting possessive when other people started noticing what was inside. Sure I shared a little, then I hid in a dark corner and clenched that bag of chocolate like Gollum from LOTR. The words coming out of my mouth usually are something like don't mess with a pregnant lady and her chocolate, but really I'll admit that this had nothing to do with being pregnant. That's just an excuse, because it's just socially excepted for a pregnant lady to scarf down entire bags of mini Halloween chocolate. Where as it isn't so acceptable for a young lady pre & post pregnancy. I did it anyways, I just didn't talk about it openly.

My wonderful family also sent me a couple of boxes full of a variety of Halloween candy and Halloween paraphernalia, I just didn't take any photos because my candy eating hand is much faster then my picture taking hand. I have a wonderful family though!!

Inside

During a blizzard, the arctic breed is truley in his element snuggled up next to a kitty on a soft mattress.Then he saw some doggies running free out the window and wanted back outside.

Times, how they change...

I was saying to Nathan last night that I have no conception of how big my belly is until I look down at it. If I was blind or never had to bend over I don't think I would really be aware of the massive bump out front. Now the back pain is telling enough on it's own, but I still feel like a little person...even though I have been "growing" sans-baby from the first picture to the second. Food is too tasty.

A lot about nothin'

I had my 28 week check up at the health centre this week and had the pleasure of getting my Rogam shot. I get this shot because Nathan has a positive blood type and I'm O negative (Go universal donor!). The shot is for protecting this baby and all future babies from my body building anti-bodies, potentially attacking the babies like they are some foreign parasite invading my body . The shot is only for RH negative mommies, not actually very common up north because most people up here are RH positive. Nathan jokes that he has the superior blood type, so I made him come to my appointment in the hope that the boredom of sitting around and watching me whine about a needle would be a punishment. Of course he took that opportunity to tell me the whole time that the needle was going to be huge, 18 gage he said ( I don't think he even knows what that is, nor do I really, it just sounds horrible). When I asked how big that was he put his thumb and index together into a circle, indicating that it was going to be the size of an Oreo cookie or something. The nurse was concerned , was I going to have a boy? Because he would feel bad for me if I ended up with one just like Nathan. I said no it's going to be a girl, but I'm sure she is going to be just like her daddy, loving to torment her mommy. My mother also said the shot would be unpleasant, when she had it done 25 years ago it was some massive thing that was injected into her bum. Meanwhile the nurse came back with this tiny little thing that gets injected into my arm. That's one huge Hurray for modern medicine!

Morena and I attended a Penny Sale this week too and bought a few tickets. The idea of a penny sale is that you buy tickets for 25 cents and place them into bags around a table and then wait for a draw to see if you won any of the donated items. We didn't see anything we wanted at the 25 cent table, but the $1 table had a some awesome carvings, prints and a couple of parkas. We were unsuccessful winning anything, but we had a good time anyways.
It snowed all last night and now everything is beautiful. It's like the community got a make-over. I love snow, it hides all the mud and litter on the ground. However when I went to let the dog out this morning in my jammies I got hammered by a shelf of snow hanging over the front door. I felt like I had just walked into a Spy vs. Spy trap. The dog was a little taken aback as well. I must remember to put on a coat next time I got to the door. Also some proper footwear, I was wearing crocks (better then flip flops eh Tina? lol).

October Snow

It's been snowing a little, but I'm really hoping for a lot more. The best part is that it's finally cold enough that the muddy ground has frozen solid. I can now break out my super cute boots and not worry about getting them dirty. Bless snow and the cold temperatures in Nunavut for not wrecking my expensive Uggs! Tallinn is still shedding his coat from summer and although enjoying the new snow, we are finding him also enjoying being inside more often.
Here I am 7 months along. Everything might look peachy here, but really it's very cold and my jacket no longer does up. I'm now normally wearing a larger sized puff jacket I picked up this summer from Cost-co. I got it in anticipation of a belly busting zipper problem. Meanwhile it's brown, massive and I look like an oversize tootsie roll! I guess that may be appropriate for Halloween.

Nunavummiut Vote 2008

The Canadian federal election was yesterday....as I'm sure 59% of you are aware of... and you other ones... well apparently it was the worst turn out in our history. Nunavut however didn't have the worst voter turn out in the country, it actually beat Newfoundland/Labrador who came in last place, which I must admit I'm a little surprised about. We also kicked the Northwest territories by a whole 0.8%! Good for us, but seriously why aren't more of us voting? I have to wonder if it was slightly more advertised maybe more would have gone out? I didn't see a single campaign sign and I don't think the conservative party even made it to our community. The only reason I knew the NDP and Liberal representatives made it here was I saw one, that's right ONE liberal pin and started asking around to see if I could get one (only because I would have liked to collect all the parties pins, I also snagged an NDP pin, but nothing from the Conserves or the Greens). I really believe there wasn't enough campaigning done up here, I think a little more hype would have made everyone a little more excited. Not everyone is going to sit around catching details on CBC news world (which I found to be leaning more on one side vs the other). I don't even think some people here even knew there was an election.

Meanwhile I've got my "only in Nunavut" election stories to tell. I received a phone call from my mom the other day reminding me that I have to take TWO, yes TWO pieces of I.D. with me to the polling station come election day. I just laughed and said probably not, but closer to the hour, I decided to take my wallet, crammed full of identification. I show up, get a "what's your name" and a "you can only vote once" and BAM I'm voting. No I.D needed, good ol' Nunavut.

The other wonderful tale of stupidity is definately my fault, but probably only got away with it because of where I was voting (they are a little more sticky about things down south I find). Now at the risk of getting in trouble I'm not going to say I actually did this... I hypothetically brought my camera into the polling station. I might have taken a photo of my blank ballot and also maybe one of me putting my ballot in the box. Apparently you can't do this. I might have told the people running it that I was documenting my voting experiences and they hypothetically didn't say anything or seem to care. That is until we were leaving and Nathan started saying something about how I don't think your allowed to bring cameras into a polling station and blah blah blah...and this lady comes running out and says "you can't take photos inside". O.k., well it's too late now if that's true, I might have already done it. Anyways if I did take photos it wasn't of anyone else or wouldn't have compromised anyones else's vote, it also helped that no one else was in there. I was maybe just dumb enough to take photos of my own unmarked ballot, which apparently is taboo or illegal (I couldn't find anything written about it later, but if anyone knows anything official I wouldn't mind you sharing your knowledge). Anyways it's obvious that if this story is true, I'm not going to be posting any taboo photos. So are some safe and boring images to hold you over.

Here is sweet picture of the outside (outsides are safe). As you can see it has snowed, three cheers for that!

Also hope I'm not breaking any rules with this Pulizter prize winner!

BrAiNs, Zombies Must have eaten my...

That's why I haven't been posting, yeah that's it, the zombies ate my brains. That or I'm really having a bad case of the pregnancy brain fuzzies. The baby is sucking all the juicy fatty acids away from the think part of my brain, she is my little zombie. If you really think about it, it's kind of freaky. I have an organism living in my body that is sponging off of my brain...it's kind of Halloweeny really.

Meanwhile I have the attention span of a monkey and have no creative juices in me to post anything really interesting. Nathan is even starting to get frustrated that I haven't posted in so long. I eat, I sleep, I wake up screaming bloody murder from leg cramps, eat some more. That's about my life right now, with the occasional other activity, but I can't think of what those are because I have a temporary lobotomy until the baby is born, when I get my fatty acids back.

The other day I went to a community event honoring a woman who is very active with this community. Cheryl has seen to it that this community experiences a wide variety of programs for all ages. Most recently she put together a program to teach youths carving techniques by a few master carvers. All the kids from that program where there to thank her on this day. She has a long list of accomplishments and a few members of the community wanted to let her know how much she is appreciated. Cheryl was given the most amazing carving by the master carvers of the youth carving program, a pair of amazing kamiks by one of the sewing groups and a hat, mitts and parka by the other sewing group. She was stylishly dressed for a blizzard before anyone knew it.

I posted a few photos of the event on facebook and Tina said she liked this photo, so I'm posting it up here. It is pretty cute. Maybe when I see my little zombie all dressed up in the cutest pair of kamiks like this little boy, I'll forgive her for all the brain juice she sucked out of me.
Just a reminder today is ELECTION DAY! DON'T FORGET TO GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

It's begining to look a lot like Halloween...

I must be in heaven because our local Northern store produce lady (YO Heather!) ordered the store some Candy Apples. I-ALMOST-DIED! I bought 5 of them. No, I did not eat them all at once. Now she is telling stories of a possible caramel apple delivery.... this is going to be a yummy October!

Rocked by the Flu

I was hit with a bad Flu bug like a Ninja out of the night two days ago. I had no idea what was happening to me when it started. I was in so much pain I thought I was going into early labor (I'm sure this is an over dramatic thought during a lot of first pregnancies). The pressure and pain was so bad it caused me to end up crumpled on the floor waiting for a moment of relief. This is when my husband found me. Clearly worried, but unable to express his feelings like as is normal, he could only say "I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do". I explained that it was something to do with my stomach, but I wasn't sure what was going on. I finally picked myself up and made it to our bed where I crashed and could only get out "Get me a bucket or a bowl!". Nathan disappeared and all I could hear from down the hall was him mumbling to himself about that he didn't know what kind of bowl, and what kind of bowl was it that I needed? At this point answering him was out of the question, so I thought that he would put two and two together and figure it out. When the poor guy came back with a tiny cereal bowl, I had to explain that I needed something big enough to be sick in. I have to wonder what he thought I was going to do with a cereal bowl? He quickly returned with a MASSIVE pot! Even though I was feeling so ill I had to giggle a little. He was trying so hard to help. The next day he went out to the store to get me soup and Gatorade, even though he hates going to the store by himself. And I was very thankful for him to be around, even if his intuitions are lacking sometimes. In most cases it's your mother who just knows what to do when your sick, and I can see what roll I will be having to fill once the baby arrives. He can teach her baseball.

Coffee Mate

I was sitting in the office yesterday letting my brain wander and the stale hint of coffee hit my nose. I then began to think about how I had never really come across Coffee Mate until I moved north. If it's one thing the people love up here is their coffee and there always seems to be a jar of Coffee Mate not to far away. I would have never stooped so low in my posh days of living in the south to ever think about trying a milk substitute. I would have rather taken it black, but being up north I, at some point opened my mind to trying new things. It was good, not like having a steamed latte (I mean come on!) but it wasn't so bad either. When that scoop of powder coagulated together in my coffee and then settled like a clump of pancake batter waiting to be mixed together, I at least knew that the coffee would stay the same temperature, unlike when using milk.

However if I can use milk over Coffee Mate, normally I would. Until yesterday that is. I Asked myself why do people up here always use powdered creamer? Ask and ye shall receive. Not long after I was having this conversation with myself I sent Nathan to the store to get me some milk. We had run out and as a pregnant lady I do a lot of milk swigging, sometimes straight from the carton. When Nathan returned from the store, I popped off the lid of the delicious 1 L container, momentarily checking the expiry date (because that's a must up north as well), confirming that October 7th was a very reasonable safety zone and then proceeded to guzzle down a mouth full. And then it hit me, like a sour, curdling truck out of hell.... maybe this is why you might want to use Coffee Mate. Milk no good. You might imagine at this point how good a pregnant lady's gag reflex is and we'll leave it at that.

But has anyone ever seen the commercial for Coffee Mate, where this guy is doing his morning routine and you keep thinking he is going to pour some milk into his coffee, but no they have fooled you he put it into his cereal or the cat's dish? Why would you want to waste your Coffee and put something as low as milk in it? Then he ends up putting Coffee Mate into his cup. That commercial is pretty weak, probably like his coffee. I'm sorry but all milk goes in my tummy, don't be wasting it on the cat!

Chewing Seal and Sewing

I've been going to sewing classes in the evenings some days. It's always such a great experiance. I tend to get a little bummed out about humanity sometimes because of my husbands line of work and it's really great to take time to remind myself how wonderful human beings really are deep down inside. And it's going to sewing class recently that has reminded me of this.

I can't sew. I can take a photo, I can paint, I can draw, I can play a few instruments, but I can't sew. Worth beans!! The whole idea of making something out of fabric just throws me for a loop, I think it's terribly fascinating beyond my brains capacity. And this is where I run into trouble because Nathan can't sew either and what do you know it every single pair of his work pants have to be hemmed! Last year we ended up taking down south 10 pairs of his work pants just to get them repaired or hemmed and it almost took up an entire suite case, what a waste of space!

Some nights back, a few ladies and myself went down to the sewing class at the community centre just to visit some of the local ladies there and see what they were making. That night some of them had been working on parkas and my eyes just lit up with wonder. I sat there watching amazed trying to put it all together in my head, when the lady in charge came over and said "You know, you can do that"! I said "Aaga" ("no" in Inuktitut)! She then told me about one of the ladies there, who originally had no clue about how to sew and today she is one of the best in the class. I wasn't sure I would be able to create anything, but some how her warm smile was convincing enough for me to dive in full force and now I'm going 3 times a week!

The woman who is running the sewing class, who I call Hopi (because I can't pronounce her full Inuktitut name lol) should win some kind of awesomeness award because she is always in class ready to lend a hand. I haven't seen her working on anything of her own yet because she is constantly running around helping others put together their sewing projects. The other night she blew my mind away when a lady came over wondering the best way to attach a sleeve to the body of her parka. Hopi took the sleeve, turned it inside out and placed it inside the Parka making it much easier to sew on (I'm sure this isn't making any sense, but it did when I saw it happen, you'll just have to trust me). Last night when I was trying to sew something (I'm not going to say what because it's a Christmas present), Hopi stopped and took time, along with another awesome lady to try and fix a problem I was having. Here I am sitting between two Inuit ladies while they are having a conversation in Inuktitut over my project and how to fix it for me. I felt so cared for. I'm also getting a lot of help and support from my also pregnant friend Meaghan, who again I wouldn't be able to produce anything without. Last night she drove all the way home just to get her sewing machine for me to use because all the others were occupied! These crazy wonderful ladies just make your day!

While I was sitting on the floor in class (this is where the most important work gets done), a lady from another class, one that was making tradition Inuit Kamiks came over with a piece of seal. She had been chewing the piece used for the bottom of the foot, the traditional way to soften it up. She propositioned me that since I had good teeth maybe I could spend some time chewing and she could sew up my project. I took one look at her and questioned "but you have good teeth too". She then said "nah, I have dentures". Best looking dentures I'd ever seen. So just for fun I took the piece from her and took one big bite. My mistake, I must not have realized that seal skin pre-chewed is ROCK HARD. As my teeth were zinging from the pain I realized I probably should have used my molars instead of my front teeth. I handed her back her pelt and she giggled. She probably has a good 3 days of solid chewing ahead of her and that's just one foot. Now I realize why they cost so damn much if you are to just buy them. I think I'm just going to stick to sewing for right now.

Waiting

Like everywhere else in the territory it's been snowing. It's so clean and crisp, especially when accompanied with a cloudless blue sky. I can't wait for the temperatures to drop and the for the rain to be gone for good. It's all just a matter of time.While we are waiting for the baby to arrive we have been working on Tally's manners. We have a few major concerns like "borrowing" food from an unsuspecting toddler or excessively using his massive paw as communication and knocking the baby around. No more people food, no more pawing. HAHAHAHA!!! Apparently Malamutes are stubborn. I have been reading Cesar Milan's book on how to become a pack leader, we have been watching the "Dog Whisperer" and another show called "At The End of My Leash" to hopefully get some insight. A lot of the cases are very similar and we have started implementing some new rules such as "claiming" the kitchen as my territory and off limits to Tallinn. We have also stopped giving him scraps, stopped treating him like a person instead of a dog, not letting him crawl all over me and most importantly trying to give him more exercise and walks. Tallinn is great on walks off leash, but as soon as I put him a leash I immediately turn into a big juicy sled that he can't resist pulling. In my state right now I just don't have the strength to handle that. I really don't know what to do about that and I don't think Cesar Milan is willing to come up to Canada, let alone the arctic. I finally saw a show on this morning called "Downsize My Pet" where really overweight dogs and cats are put on a diet. This morning's episode had a very large Husky who could barely walk, let along pull her owner around on a leash. Then I thought maybe I could just plump my little cupcake up and he would stop pulling? Maybe not.
I'm also desperately waiting for Halloween. The urge to decorate and get in the mood too early is a symptom of living up north because it gets colder earlier. I started feeling the need for Halloween the end of August and have been trying to keep it under control for this long. My mom sent me some Bath & Body Works hand soaps in the mail a couple of days ago (becuase they don't ship in Canada, even though they have stores here...bad, Bad, BAD Bath & Body works, shame on you!). I can hardly contain myself any longer and think I may decorate my house soon! It's time to bust out the scary movies too!

Must Love Dogs

It snowed today, but it didn't last more then a few minutes. I'm really looking forward to the snow. If it's a choice between cold and muddy or cold and snowy, I pick snow. After the snow was long gone I took Tallinn out for a walk with Tank (the Bull dog), his monkeys, Luna (the Alaskan Malamute) and her monkeys. Luna and Tank are still puppies who enjoy a good rassle.

"Tank, your neck tastes like bacon" CHOMP CHOMP CHOP!!!!
"Luna, your thigh tastes like chicken" CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH!!!!Tallinn is an old man who enjoys investigation, investigation, investigation, drive by rassle, more investigation. He doesn't have too much time to play with the other two because there are miles and miles of untouched tundra to sniff and discarded goose poop that needs attention.

*Speaking of love for our pets, Kristen has just shared this link with me. Make sure your dog doesn't have one of these toys!

White Hairs On My Black Sweater

At first you thought it was just a cat, then one cat turned into two and now there is talk about another human joining our household. I worry that you will feel left out, as you are our first "child". Seeing as how you already know well the art of attention seeking behavior, I worry what storm you could possibly bring after the new human is born. You are a true Ninja of disaster. You mastered this well as a puppy, and have only refined it to a more subtle variety of destruction after almost 2 1/2 years of age. As I have been reading a little more about your breed, as it seems like you constantly need new training all the time, I am reminded that you are prone to attention seeking and destruction. As if I didn't realize this already about you, these things are pounded like a hammer into the side of my head. I'm also reminded that you are an opportunist, and that you couldn't help yourself last night when you went into the kitchen, even after we have spent the last two weeks trying to train you to stay out, where you helped yourself to the open garbage can. In that moment I had left the kitchen unattended, you seized the left over roast beef pieces I had recently disposed of, even though we have spent the last two years training you that the garbage is out of bounds. When seconds later I had realized what had just transpired, you ran from us, mouth full of partially expired beef, dropping pieces as you escaped, where you ended up under the coffee table pretending to blend in with the wall.
I worry that the destruction is going to get worse. In preparation for this we have kept you inside more frequently to keep an eye on you, as when you are left to you own devices, destruction follows. The kind of destruction that we thought might have gone away from when you were a puppy, like how you chewed our deck apart, we thought that was over. I guess you wanted to wait until the new deck was installed and painted to show us that in fact the deck chewing was not resolved. Now that we have you inside more often to keep you in check, you have found ways of destroying things to show us that you do not approve of being held prisoner inside. You made your message quite clear after I fell asleep on the couch and you found your way into the bedroom, where you proceeded to chew an entire pack of gum....and a candle.
I will still love you even though given the chance you would gladly eat all of my Halloween candy in a heartbeat, even if it's still in a wrapper. I will still keep you even though you try to charge past me to avoid getting towel dried after you have been out in the rain, like maybe this time I will let you into the house completely soaked. You can still live here even though I have one nice black sweater and you find yourself attracted to it like a magnet, crawling next to me on the couch and rubbing your shedding body into me, or sleeping on top of it any chance you get. I hope that even though you are the largest pain in my butt you understand that we would never get rid of you even though there is a new baby coming. I know that's quite a popular move with new parents, but it's not our style. Dogs are for life. We just have some work to do before the baby comes.