So... I have been in Regina now for almost a month.  It is well into December but I just haven't had time to update this blog.  This post will be back-dated to fit into the real sequence of things. 

It was Friday November 12th when we got the notice.  I  remember it well.  The notice read something to the effect of: 'Bed Bugs are suspected in a suite near you.  Here is a list of things you are required to do to prepare for preventative spraying in your suite.'  The list was exhaustive: move all furniture off walls, empty all closets, wash every piece of clothing/linens in your suite in hot water and dry for at least 40 minutes and seal in garbage bags, the list went on.... Further, because we had a child under 1 in the household we were required to vacate for a 24 hour period each time they sprayed and they were going to spray TWICE -- once on the 15th and then again on the 30th.  Did this mean living out of plastic bags for 2 weeks??

We were pretty horrified.  We wanted more information. We have a baby.  We did not want our home sprayed with chemicals!  This notice was delivered at the end of day Friday.  No one to get information from until Monday.  Pest control was coming the following Wednesday.

We ambushed our building manager on Monday morning.  By then we were pretty angry at the way this information had been communicated.  When I expressed my concerns at having the baseboards sprayed with chemicals she replied, "... well your kid shouldn't be licking the baseboards anyway."  What a BITCH!  Kids touch everything and my kid puts his hands in his mouth.  I was FURIOUS!

In the end, we found out that the suspected suite was not on our floor; we were either above it or below it.  This we were told was a good thing - harder for them to spread this way?  We also found out that the exhaustive list that had been included in our notice was not supposed to have been sent to us but only to the suite infested.  We did have to move our furniture off the walls but that was where the 'preventative' list ended.  The damage was done though... we had started the preparations over the weekend.  I was so freaked out that we had removed ALL of Alex's things and put them in storage at N's aunt and uncle's. 

We did eventually receive an apology from our buildings management team and were told that we were not the only people to complain only the first to.  We were given a guest suite free of charge for the nights we were getting sprayed but it didn't matter... I had already changed my Xmas flight to Regina -- I took my baby and ran.  Poor N was left to live with a mess for two weeks and then had a household to put back together alone.

We never did have bed bugs but now have an appreciation of what a horrorific thing it would be to have them and how easy it could happen. 

This fall the weather has been great.  Cool, crisp and colourful.  The leaves here turn a wide spectrum of colours and it's one of the only times of year I would say Toronto looks lovely. 

This year we didn't have visitors for Thanksgiving.  Instead, we had turkey at my Aunt and Uncle's in Bradford on the Saturday. 

Then we had our own turkey dinner just the three of us on the Monday.  It was a pretty low-key weekend.

Not much exciting happening around here.  Just enjoying the season.  Alex's first autumn.

This week's video:

Well, I am now into week 37 of this pregnancy.  A lot has happened since my last baby post so here goes....

N and I finished our pre-natal parenting classes.  I actually enjoyed them.  The hospital tour was traumatic... hospital is old thus facilities are not like what we witnessed in the labour videos we had previously seen.  We saw a woman arrive clearly in active labour (and what appeared to be tremendous pain). It did not ease my fears.  All in all though, I think I am as ready for labour as you can be, which is to say, not really ready at all. At our last class, every couple was given a doll.  We were taught how to hold our babies and then directed through a breast feeding tutorial.  N was really sweet - he held our fake baby properly the entire three hours!  I tried to snap a picture but he refused to cooperate - but take my word for it, it was a cute scene.  Last, to round out this journey, our instructor is planning to get all us first-time parents back together in August for a "baby reunion" and that may be interesting.  Not sure if we'll be around as we are planning to be at N's sister's wedding in Regina at the end of August but we'll see what happens.

Weekend to-do lists are starting to thin.  We have everything we need, I think.  This weekend's list seems lighter than the past few... install car seat, set up baby monitor, a few items left to throw into storage, etc.  Manageable. Last weekend we installed some shelves near our baby's "change station" and well -- N and I are not handy at all but I think they look pretty good.

36 weeks

My doctor's appointments have been ok.  I don't need to see my BP specialist again until a week after I deliver.  She's happy my blood pressure hasn't skyrocketed the last few weeks. 

I am not going for a 4th ultrasound until after I deliver -- they think I may have a cyst on one of my ovaries (something registered on my last ultrasound) but I have been told not to worry about it as this kind of thing is common and almost always resolves itself.  Still, I do need to follow-up with more appointments after I deliver to be certain.  I was told that baby is head down (good) and borderline big (not sure if that is good or bad??).  I'm going to say it is good.  I've gained 14 pounds so far and so that just means the added weight is mostly baby.  Maybe I'll come out of this lighter... I can live with that!

We have a potentially interesting/disturbing situation to contend with the week I am due.  The G20 summit is in Toronto that week and the downtown is going to be shut down.  I mean a HUGE area of the downtown will actually be fenced off and inaccessible to the public.  What worries me most, is that they have announced that the "official protest area" is to be at Queen's Park (the Ontario Legislature) and this is one block from the hospital I will be trying to get to.  They keep talking about how the last G20, held in Pittsburgh, was marred by three days of angry protests, clashes with police and tear gas.  In fact, the concern is so great, that the U of Toronto -- 2 blocks in the other direction from Queen's Park is closing down campus during the summit and relocating all students that live on campus for the duration of the week. This means that N will be working from home those days, which is nice for me, but does nothing to relieve concerns that we will have one hellish trek to the hospital.  Parking is bad enough in the area when there are no angry, insane, protesters marching down city streets disrupting the peace. We could take transit but they are warning of major disruptions on all forms of transportation in and out of this area.  So... all I can say is that should this baby arrive on time, we will have one hell of a story to tell about how exactly we got to the hospital and what we witnessed en route. 

View

Hmm.. that may be it.  Until next week!

N said to add that this is what we hope to encounter en route to the hospital!

Last night we took in Rock of Ages at the Royal Alexandria Theatre on King Street.  I was looking forward to a night of classic 80's arena rock and well, at least that part delivered.  The main characters I had seen in other performances: Yvan Pedneault played Galileo in We Will Rock You and Elicia McKenzie starred as Fraulein Maria in the Sound of Music - and I must say that the transition from nun to stripper was pretty fantastical!  Both did a great job with the material they were given, but unfortunately this show is no where near as great as their past claims to fame. The plot in Rock of Ages is pretty thin.  Still, it had it's entertaining moments... at least if you ask me (don't ask N -- his take is worst show ever and he's swearing off all future musicals).  On a side note -- they just announced that Wicked is coming back to Toronto -- so N will be forced to at least one more next fall - haha!

This is a synopsis of the show that I stole from the web:

In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small town girl met a big city rocker and
in LA’s most famous rock club, they fell in love to the greatest songs
of the 80s. It’s ROCK OF AGES, an arena-rock love story told through the
mind-blowing, face-melting hits of JOURNEY, NIGHT RANGER, STYX,
REO SPEEDWAGON, PAT BENATAR, TWISTED SISTER, POISON, ASIA, WHITESNAKE and many more.

Last but not least -- here's a clip -- though not of the Toronto cast (couldn't find one) but one of cast from NYC.

My cousin Samantha was in town last week.  She just recently finished up a little stint called a Journalism degree and was looking for one last escape before starting the never ending grind of working for a living.  I have to say that talking to her about how the media works is incredibly fascinating and I think she is one of the most interesting people of my aquaintance.  I hope she had a great time while here even though I wasn't much of a hostess as I had to work most of the week.

I did manage to show her some sites (AGO, Much Music, City Hall / Nathan Philips Square, Yorkdale Mall, Eaton Centre, Dundas Square, etc.) and she managed to brave the downtown and subway on her own as well.   I even managed to get her to the Ontario Science Centre for the Harry Potter Exhibition (which was great - in my opinion. v.v. cool).

We also managed a day trip to Niagara Falls.  We rode the Maid of the Mist and got completely and utterly soaked.  This was especially hilarious as I have been on this boat at least twice before and have only encountered minimal spray. 

Hope Sam knows she will always have a place to stay if she ever ventures back to the Centre of the Universe.

Click here to see pictures from our walks around the the Niagara Area and downtown TO.