Another post about boobs!

But this time, it is not about my boobs!

This week, in a baby / kid store a few feet from my office in downtown Montreal, two women were asked to stop breastfeeding their babies by a salesperson.

The Québec charter of rights and freedoms protects women against discrimination on the basis of sex. And preventing someone from breastfeeding in public exactly constitutes discrimination on the basis of sex.

So let me tell you that when I read about this story I was outraged! I know that breastfeeding in public can be a delicate subject depending of where you live and that not every society is open about women showing some skin when their baby is hungry. However, I always believed that Montreal was a place that respected women who decided to breastfeed in public places.

So on January 19th, between 1:00 and 1:30, I will walk my pregnant belly to that baby / kid store and give my support to the women who will participate in a nurse-in (women rendez-vous at the store and, at a given time, they breastfeed together).

And I'm curious, where you live, is breastfeeding in public acceptable or is it a big no-no?

Got Breast Milk Onesie

Ignorant Claudia - weekly question (week 27)

*Sigh*, week 27 was a long one! Going back to work after two weeks of vacation and sitting on an uncomfortable office chair for 7 hours turned out to be a big challenge. I'm lucky enough to have a job where it is "acceptable" to lie down on the floor next to the receptionist's desk. And, as a masculine co-worker said, "coming from you, it almost seems natural"!!!

While on the floor, I was looking at my list of stuff to buy for the baby (I won't tell you how much time I spent researching, analyzing and evaluating it...you will think that I'm crazy). Most of it is already purchased but I still hesitate on the relevance of getting a few items. So, should I invest in:

1) a mobile
2) a fancy diaper pail (ex: Diaper Genie 2)
3) a diaper bag...what is wrong with using my beloved backpack?

I hope that you have a lovely weekend....and that you are not as freaked out by the raining dead birds phenomenon as I am!!!

Right this second I want to get...

...a few eco-friendly cozy bundlers from Mini Mioche. It is so difficult to find great baby basics at a reasonable price. And, eh, it is Canadien!

The dream nursery

A few weeks ago, I had this recurring dream that one of our friend was kidnapping our baby. He would come to our home, take the baby, leave quietly and I would wake up in panic. This was very strange because 1) he is a nice guy 2) he is very supportive 3) he has a good sense of humor and ... 4) he thinks that kids are most of the time annoying!

I don't know anything about dream interpetation but one day I asked him, half joking, to stop kidnaping my baby! He looked at me and said "Oh, don't freak out, babies are too much trouble, I would bring it back after 15 minutes"!!!

However, he knew why I had those dreams. He said it's because your nursery is not done yet and I can't let you have a baby in those conditions!!!

At that time (early second trimester), I just told him that he was silly. However, he made me realize that I do have a difficult time getting inspiration for the nursery. Everything is so "little kit", crowded with stuff...maybe over designed would be a good way of explaining it.

Today, I saw this picture on flickr from a decoration ideas book for modern living circa 70's. This is, my friends, my dream nursery! It might not be for everybody (maybe too boring for some people) but I totally see my little family in a room like that.

Finally, no more nightmares!

Knitting grandma

As soon as I told my mother that I was pregnant, she started to knit baby stuff like there is no tomorrow! Her initial reaction to my "no pastel, go for neutrals like navy, brown and gray" rule socked her and all the other knitting grand-mothers aware of my strange request. Luckily for her (and me), she discovered a delightful pattern book full of chocolate brown, mouse gray and caramel beige.

Of all the items that she made (I will take more pictures eventually), Dan and I fell in love with this little fox scarf that she gave us (well, to mini A's attention) for Christmas. It is knitted with the softest yarn and sometimes, when I daydream on the baby's room floor (I do that quite often these days), I just pat the scarf like it is a real animal.

Since my mom reads my blog, I would like to take this opportunity to thank her greatly. I know that a naturally stubborn daughter full of pregnancy hormones can be quite difficult to deal with. I appreciate everything that she does for me and I know that she will be a wonderful grand-mother. Of all the people that I know, she is the only one (except Dan obviously) that I can trust 100% with "mon petit bébé"!

Merci beaucoup maman d'amour! xox

Scaredy Squirrel and me

Way before I got pregnant, I had this plan. I would do the pregnancy test and if the result was positive I would give Dan a Scaredy Squirrel book. I wanted to do that because whenever we visit a book store or a library, we look at a Scaredy Squirrel book and say "when we will have a kid, we are so getting the entire collection".

Basically, Scaredy Squirrel suffers from some form of paranoid schizophrenia but at the end of each book he realizes that things are not that bad after all! Ok, I must admit that written like that you must wonder what kind of person would enjoy those books! Trust me, they are hilarious and won many awards.

Not that I suffer from paranoid schizophrenia but sometimes I get freaked out by things that are in reality not scary at all. Lately, I have this irrational "fear" of cribs (we still need to buy the crib).

I can spend hours looking at cribs online and having visions of spontaneous combustion, implosion and other dramatic things that could *never* happen to a crib!!! But on the other hand, I'm also quite cheap. So I can spend hours looking a cribs online and calculate how much future parents are getting screwed by baby cribs companies!

However, last night (3am), during a baby kickboxing tournament in my belly, I went again online to look at cribs and got an epiphany: the classic Jenny Lind crib (in white)! So please, if somebody is against this purchase let me know now or remain silent forever!!!

Nursery Tour: Parker's Black and white nursery - ohdeedoh

week 26

Week 26 is almost over and depending on which maternity book I look at I could be in my 3rd trimester (it is actually a bit confusing)! Except for the usual gastric reflux, frequent bathroom visits and an obvious feeling of looking like a yurt when I wear my winter coat everything is pretty good. My husband could even tell you that he appreciates my increasing libido...c'mon, I'm pregnant, I don't think I can pull the virgin card here!!!

Without getting into details (nobody wants that...especially since my mom started to read my blog - allo maman) but you know, since I already told you about my boobs, I just want to add that I understand why parents tell their kids that babies are made "when two people love each other VERY much"! You really have to be in love with your husband (and vice-versa) because it could be a challenge to feel desirable when you can have gas or burp at any moment without any warning (stupid hormones)!

I also would like to wish you a wonderful new year. May 2011 brings you beautiful projects and obviously lots of love because, believe me, it makes everything much better!

note: credit to my friend Marie who took this lovely picture with an old toy of mine.

Vintage baby love

Style evolves and it's a good thing because not everything from the 80's was beautiful. However, when my mom gave me some of the outfits that I used to wear as a baby, it was love at first sight!

The yellow velvet one-piece with embroideries is what I was wearing when I left the hospital in 1980 and our baby will be just as cute in it in 2011!