weekend of normalcy

This weekend was filled with exciting things like cleaning the shower with the new foaming shower spray and buying paper towels in massive bulk quantities for the stink-machine (aka Olive). I do like domestic weekends and with the arrival of the little baby I have enjoyed "nesting" a little bit. Though, in comparison to what others might consider "nesting" my version falls more into the realm of actually getting household chores done in a timely manner.

Friday after work I ran into Pickle on the second subway home. It was a nice little surprise and welcome to the weekend. I got on to to transfer, was looking for a seat, decided not to crowd that woman in the green coat and then realized that she was my girlfriend, surrounded by bags of diapers, I mean, wee-wee pads, for the bebe.

Then, I brought my sister dinner and talked to my new nephew in her tummy a bit. It was nice to see her and while walking there I just revelled in the fact that my new nephew has made it this far so I might actually get to meet him soon. I did my part and brought the poor woman some vegetables (her fave salad) and fried chocolate. She is only now realizing that something is growing inside of her and therefore might need something green once in a while, but who am I to talk. On my vegetable crusade, I picked up some fresh spinach for the dinner Pickle was cooking for me at home.

On Saturday we gave Olive a bath, giggling the entire time as she squirmed between our sudsy hands. We bathed her in the kitchen sink which worked quite well, since the bathtub would have been too big for her to get completely wet. I blew her dry with a hairdryer, which Pickle thought silly, but I think it made her much more comfortable afterwards so Olive was able to fully take advantage of that "so fresh and so clean" feeling by being a rambunctious little fuzzy furball. So cute!

I have been dying for a new camera, specifically a digital SLR. I had wanted one earlier for my birthday in September, but then asked my parents for other things, and as Olive's arrival approached, it really couldn't be a reality and went to the back burner. It still can't be a reality, but now it has a whole new purpose of capturing the extremely quick and cute puppy on film! At first, I thought about getting a new camera as a way to get myself a new hobby. I had just finished intense studies in visual art and I had spent the majority of my time painting before graduation. Photography seemed (and still seems) like a way for me to continue to make art within my limited physical space. I feel like I have closed off the portion of my brain that accesses creativity now that I am not painting. Because I was doing it so intensely before, now that it is simply gone, the only resolution for me to cope with this new 9-5 corporate lifestyle has been to turn it off. Lately, I cannot fine a single creative bone in my body, including any that help me write funny or intelligent blog posts because I am not painting or making art. Now that I have adjusted to living out of any state of depression because of this lifestyle change, I am ready to continue to find more and more things that make me happy. I want hobbies. I want reasons for me to smile beyond the things that make me smile already. It is like I suddenly actively crave happiness. Maybe the arrival of a puppy will do that to someone. I want to raise Olive the best I can (the way we have been), I want to knit, I want to scrapbook, I want to make sure our house is clean, and I want to take pictures! To be able to capture that puppy the way I see her, or at least try to as an active hobby, would be amazing. The pictures that I have taken just do not do justice.

We only emerged from the house once on Saturday and that was to try and get my boots repaired down the street. The shoe repair said it was closed indefinitely. So instead we went grocery shopping. But first we stopped for a beer. Ah, freedom from the baby! We sat at the bar and reveled in the fact that we can simply put our baby in a cage and then leave the house to do our errands undisturbed and it is perfectly okay!

Sunday Olive woke at her usual early hour, despite the time change. Throughout the whole weekend, she had been very good with her potty training. She has stopped going poop anywhere else besides the piddle pad and she stopped stepping in it afterwards. (Thank god since we can only give her so many upside-down-two mommies cleaning butts and hind legs-squirming-in-the air-baths!) Her piddles have been consistently on the piddle pads, except when Pickle is around she sometimes misses completely (but that doesn't happen often, and really only this morning). We didn't do the laundry because we didn't want to leave her alone that long, so we vegged out all day until the spontaneous decision to go to Target for exactly 5 items. The lines were insane, we missed the first bus home, and the stink-machine didn't get her dinner until after 6pm! The quick trip did not prove to be so quick at all and we still have a lot of laundry in our hamper.

So here we are at Monday with so many things to do and lists to make and items to remember!

Stay tuned for another post with pictures (maybe)...