After the Friday night we had in Montreal, we all slept in a bit on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, we woke up to pretty overcast weather. Our hotel had a nice breakfast (included in the cost of the room, nice!) so we stumbled downstairs to get something to eat before showering and getting ready for the day.
We hit the streets of Old Montreal, with umbrellas in hand.
(Don’t mind me; jackets don’t really fit properly anymore. They’re too short in front!)
Old Montreal is pretty cool. Love the “old” feel on the streets.
Since we’re all into visiting old churches, we went in search of Montreal’s famous Notre Dame. Because we can’t read French, we saw a sign outside of this church that said something about Notre Dame, so we mistakenly thought we were there.
It was really pretty inside…
…but it was also really… small. We lit candles and said novenas, but I think we were all kind of wondering what the big deal was. It wasn’t that fantastic a church.
We continued our exploring. The rain let up a little bit so we walked down to the waterfront.
The old Molson plant… yessss. :) I have to say, it was very disappointing not to be able to enjoy any Canadian beer during our trip. I mean, isn’t Canadian beer half of the reason anyone wants to go to Canada? ;)
As it began raining again, we went back up and explored a bunch of the shops. My mom shopped around the different artists/street vendors to find a photograph or painting, since she likes to get stuff like that from the cities she visits. She was pretty sure she found the one she wanted, but we decided to walk around a bit more before going back to get it.
It was during our quest to find the liquor store (not for me, obviously!) that we stumbled upon Notre Dame. The REAL Notre Dame.
Alright, yeah. This was much more impressive. We wanted to go inside to check it out, but we found that they charge an admission fee. While it’s only $5, I feel pretty strongly that churches should not be charging people to walk through their doors. I understand the donations requested for lighting candles, but in my opinion, if a homeless person needs a place to stay warm or dry, they should be able to go into churches. Like St. Patrick’s in New York… it’s huge and beautiful and a tourist destination, but they don’t charge you to get inside. Out of principle, we decided to forego Notre Dame. Sorry, Montreal.
By this time, it was late afternoon and we were ready to go back to the hotel for a little bit before getting some dinner. Before that, though, we stopped in a convenience store so Michael could get a 6-pack of Canadian beer to enjoy. We also picked up some Canadian delicacies. :)
Ketchup flavored chips! I love Canadians. :) None of us had ever tried them before so we decided to give them a go. We also saw a Dill Pickle flavor and wanted to try that, too. It’s my understanding the Dill Pickle ones are actually available in the States, too, but we’ve looked for them since we’ve been home and haven’t seen them anywhere. So apparently they aren’t available in our area!
The ketchup chips were… interesting. I didn’t think they were half bad, but my mom and Michael weren’t really fans of them. The Dill Pickle ones, though… YUM. They didn’t really taste like “pickle,” per se, but they had a nice dill flavor, like dill dip. We liked these so much that we went back and got a full-size bag the next day. :)
Anyway, before we went back to the hotel to enjoy our chips and drinks (I got an Orange Julius! Do people still have Orange Juliuses in the States? The ones around here closed YEARS ago…), we walked back down to the little alley where my mom had seen the photograph she wanted. She purchased it, and the artist spent some time telling us all about the photo and Montreal.
On our way back down the alley, another artist my mom had been talking with earlier (when she was shopping around) completely harassed her. As we walked by, he said, “It’s really frustrating to me that you would listen to that guy’s bullshit.” (Referring to the artist she purchased from.) My mom started apologizing to him–even though she totally did not owe him an apology–and he continued to lay into her, telling her that his photos are way better than the other guys, and “I deserve to have a good day!” (Referring to his sales.) What a freaking asshole. I finally told my mom to keep walking and we continued on our way as he continued to yell after her, in front of a whole bunch of people. Nice way to win customers, you douche.
After unwinding in the hotel room for a little bit, we walked back down and had dinner at a place called Trois Brasseurs. It was casual and nice, and exactly what we were looking for. We ended up ordering a couple of their “flamms,” which are essentially really thin-crust pizzas. We got The Provencale, which had pesto, tomatoes, romano and parmesan, and The Louisiana, which had BBQ chicken, peppers, onions, and cheddar cheese. YUM! My mom and Michael also shared one of their beer samplers.
After dinner, we walked around Old Montreal a bit more, then retired to the room fairly early since my mom and Michael had to be up early on Sunday for the bike ride.
Fast forward to Sunday morning, and I barely remember hearing them leave. I slept in, waking up around 9:00 a.m. to find that it was basically pouring rain outside. Yuck. I figured that while they were doing the bike ride, I would maybe go out and explore more on my own, but with weather like that, I was not motivated to go anywhere. I went downstairs and got some breakfast on my own, then putzed around the hotel room, surfing the internet, watching TV, reading, taking a long, hot shower, etc.
Meanwhile, Michael and my mom were braving the elements. The temperature was only in the 50s, and it rained for the ENTIRE RIDE.
At the starting line. They still look relatively dry.
Looks fun, doesn’t it? (With this weather, I was sooo glad to have a good excuse to not be riding. I would’ve been miserable.)
Still, my mom and Michael toughed it out.
At the 51km marker. They did it!
At around 1:00 p.m., there was a knock at the hotel door and I answered it to find my mom and my husband standing there, looking like drowned rats. They were completely soaked, shaking (so cold!), and dirty.
Of course, I snapped a photo of them.
And one of my mom’s back, since she was filthy.
I was so happy to be dry, warm, and cozy. As far as I’m concerned, these two were nuts. I’m pretty sure I would have insisted on bailing on the ride. I give them a lot of credit.
After they were all showered and dry again, we headed out to have a late lunch/early dinner since we were all hungry. It was just MISERABLE outside. Rainy, cold, and disgusting. There were hardly any people on the streets of Old Montreal, as I think everyone just wanted to stay inside.
We perused menus at some nearby restaurants, and ultimately decided on a little Italian place called L’Usine de Spaghetti Parisienne. They served fresh bread with an awesome garlic butter, had a lovely salad bar (which was included with the meal), and our food was delicious. My mom and I both had the pasta primavera, and Michael had one of the specials–a pasta dish with mushrooms and olive oil. The waitress was really friendly and delightful. We were very happy with our choice.
I wish I could say we did a lot more with our day, but it was just so disgusting outside. It was not meant to be a day for being out and enjoying the city. Plus, Michael and my mom were tired. We ended up back at the hotel for a bit, then Michael and I made a run for DQ Blizzards (something else we don’t have at home–DQ!) later in the evening. Once again, we retired early.
Of course, we woke up on Monday morning to gorgeous, sunny weather. Figures, right? We took our time eating breakfast and getting ready, but we were soon on the road to go home.
I will be completely honest and say that Montreal did not live up to expectations for me. To be fair, I had a horrible experience that Friday night, which tainted the whole weekend, then the weather was absolute shit. I’ll be one of the first to admit that weather can really make or break your experience with a city, and unfortunately for Montreal, the weather gods were just not with us that weekend.
Those of you who’ve been readers for a while know how much we usually enjoy our vacations, and how much we usually pack into our time in each new city–so you can probably tell by the lack of activity and photos that we really just did not have that great of a time! But at least my mom and Michael made the most of their bike ride.
We’ll have to go back some day to give it another chance!
Tonight, I am feeling overwhelmed by my life.
We have a lot going on right now. Usually, I’m OK with it, as I’m used to being busy and I know to just take one thing at a time. And I know that’s sound advice, which I have to follow.
But right now? Right now, I feel like I have a mountain of stress sitting in my chest. I can’t breathe.
I’m feeling pressure to bust ass at work because I have my first performance review coming up next week.
I’m constantly worrying about the whole daycare situation. Trying to find candidates, get in touch with people, and set up meetings is time-consuming. It’s already hard to think about leaving our child with a stranger. The whole situation weighs heavily on my mind.
We are getting new carpet installed throughout our house next week, so there is all the preparation for that–we want to paint the nursery (so we don’t spill any paint on the new carpet!), and then we have to rip out all of the old carpet and padding. Oh, and we also have to move all of our furniture from room to room. So, we’re essentially ripping apart our entire house. It’s not a small project.
After the carpet is in, we want to finally get the nursery going. We have to get the crib and dresser over here somehow, then get those things put together.
I’ve tried to schedule childbirth classes (which I was really supposed to do like 6 weeks ago, apparently), but the lady in charge of them at my doctor’s office won’t call me back. Considering we’re supposed to start them in a few weeks, I’m worried we’re not going to get into a class. I also need to schedule the hospital tour/pre-registration session, and take a breastfeeding class.
I want to get together with my mom to finish the baby’s bedding! It’s hard to find time when we’re both available to work on it.
…All of this, among other things. We also have all of the typical summer stuff to go to that occupies time. Family get-togethers, baby/bridal showers, birthdays, picnics, our annual weekend getaway to the Poconos, etc.
I would rather be busy than bored, especially this time of year. Plus, all of this stuff is actually really nice and generally fun, but it’s just… A LOT of stuff.
So I’m overwhelmed. I wonder how it will all get done.
Due to the events of last week, I’m way behind in posting a recap of our weekend trip to Montreal. But I still wanted to make note of it, so here we go…
Michael, my mom, and I all took half days at work on Friday, June 3. We left town around 1:30-2:00 and drove up to Montreal. The weather was pretty good and we made good time, even though we had to stop like three times to let the pregnant lady pee. :) We arrived at our hotel in Montreal between 7:00-7:30.
Michael and my mom had been hoping to do the night ride (The Tour la Nuit), but we were running short on time, as it was supposed to start around 8:30. After unloading all of our stuff, the suggestion was made that since I wasn’t riding, I could drive them up to the starting line (instead of them riding their bikes). Since we hadn’t eaten dinner and I was starving, the plan was for Michael and my mom to ride only part of the route, then meet me back at the hotel so we could still get dinner at a “decent” hour (like 9:30-10:00).
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
We made our way to the starting area without incident, and I dropped them off around 8:00, telling them I’d see them back at the hotel. I turned around the way I had come, with the intention of following the directions (given to us by the concierge) in reverse and getting back to the hotel. It wasn’t long before I found myself stuck in traffic gridlock, and had to abandon my return route because the road I had come up was–thanks to the bike ride going on–suddenly closed. I had a city map with me, and I’m perfectly capable of reading one, so I wasn’t too concerned at first.
Oh, man. I had no freaking idea what I was in for.
To try to make a long story short… every route I tried to get going back in the direction of our hotel resulted in failure. I’d sit in horrible, barely moving traffic for blocks, only to get to an intersection where the road was closed and I was being diverted back in the opposite direction. This happened countless times. COUNTLESS TIMES. It was like taking one step forward, then being forced to take two steps back. After being stuck in this ridiculousness for an hour and a half and finding myself at yet another roadblock, I actually started sobbing. Here I was, alone, stuck in this foreign, French-speaking city that I’ve never been in before, and I could not possibly get where I needed to go.
And wouldn’t you know… soon, I got a text message from my mom saying they were back at the hotel waiting for me. This was at 9:30. They wanted to know where the hell I was, as it shouldn’t have taken me longer than 15-20 minutes to get back to the hotel.
The fact of the matter was that I was trapped. I couldn’t get back to the hotel. I couldn’t park. I could do nothing but sit in the car, in traffic, being constantly diverted back in the opposite direction from which I needed to go. Minutes turned into hours.
I was starving.
I had to pee. (And my baby was helping out by kicking me in my bladder.)
I was stuck.
I was losing my freaking mind.
I would go from being alright one minute to sobbing and screaming during another. (Pregnancy hormones, for the win!) At one point, when I was (once again!) faced with a closed street and was forced to turn up another street going in the WRONG DIRECTION, I actually ripped my map in a fit of rage. Looking back on it, it’s hilarious, but at the time, I was more miserable than ever.
Crying, I tried to ask directions/advice from one of the volunteers who was stationed at a roadblock. He spoke virtually no English and we could not understand each other. Fabulous. A while later, I found myself at another closed street with a police officer stationed there. By this time, it was 10:45, I had been driving around the same area of Montreal for three hours, and I was in rough shape. I rolled down my window and was thankful to discover that she spoke English. Hysterically, I told her what I had been through and she said, “I believe it. There are like two days a year you don’t want to drive in Montreal, and this is one of them.” WELL, WOULDN’T THAT HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW. Damn.
The police officer then told me, “Worst case scenario, the roads will all open back up at midnight so you can get back to your hotel then.” Again, this was at 10:45. I had already been sitting in the car on the streets of Montreal for three hours. And she was telling me to wait it out until midnight. I started sobbing again and it was then that she noticed I’m pregnant. I was in such hysterics that she actually asked me if I needed an ambulance. (I was so tempted to say yes, just to get me the hell out of there!)
It seems kind of pathetic how upset I was, but I had been in the car since 1:30. We had driven 5 1/2 hours just to get to Montreal, and now I had been stuck, less than three miles from our hotel, for more than three hours, with seemingly no end in sight. And again, I was freaking HUNGRY. And tired. With a full freaking bladder.
MISERY, I tell you.
The police officer gave me a route to follow that would take me way up and out of my way, cut over, then take me down an open street back to our hotel. With no other choice, I began making my way through the route she mapped out. I was stuck in barely moving traffic the entire time.
I did eventually make it back to the hotel, though. At 12:15 a.m.
I gotta tell you: Montreal made a lovely first impression on me. (NOT.)
The way the roads were blocked off and the detours were set up was the most ass-backwards operation I’ve ever seen run by a city. The detours did not get you where you needed to go, they merely redirected you in circles within a 1-mile radius. I was never more than 3-4 miles from our hotel, yet I spent more than four hours trying to make my way back there. RIDICULOUS.
When I had finally started making progress toward the hotel, my mom and Michael ran out to get takeout food for us at one of the only still-open restaurants in the area. So, when I got back to the hotel, they were still at the restaurant waiting for the food. We finally ate dinner sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 a.m. SAD.
Exhausted, I crashed into bed.
I was determined to not let this night ruin my time in Montreal, but I knew that the city would have to pull out all of the stops to make up for the hell I had been through.
Would it? Only time would tell…
(I planned to combine all of Montreal in one blog post, but this is too long. Part 2 to come tomorrow!)
Alright, well, I know I just did a pregnancy update a few days ago. And I know it was actually my last post. So… two pregnancy posts in a row. Sorry!
Thankfully, I still have new, “fun” pregnancy things to share. Aren’t you excited?
I know you are.
First up, my updated belly pic:
26 Weeks Pregnant
Guess what? I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly, we are under 100 days! There are less than 100 days left until baby’s estimated date of arrival. Whoa. I remember there being a “100 Days Until Graduation” happy hour when we were seniors in college, and after that, it was like–BOOM!–we had graduated. Sometimes, September seems so far off still, but then I think of things like that and I realize that it’s really NOT.
In my last update, I forgot to say that I had a doctor’s appointment right before we left for Montreal. It was my “24 week” appointment, but I was pretty darn close to 25 weeks. I’m up 14 pounds now, which I guess is good. We didn’t have any questions for the doctor this time, so it was one of the quickest check-ups I’ve had so far–but the waiting was brutal! We had a mid- to late-morning appointment, which we rarely ever do. I guess our doctor had fallen behind with her earlier appointments, because we had to wait for 45-50 minutes just to be seen! That has never happened before, but it was annoying. We’ll be sticking to the early morning appointments from now on, or the early afternoon (so they’re coming off of lunch). Now, my next monthly appointment is at 28/29 weeks. After that, we start going every two weeks! Crazy!
I’m starting to experience a little more discomfort these days. My back tends to hurt at the end of the day, and when I lie in bed, it’s really uncomfortable for me to lie on my back. This is actually a good thing since pregnant women aren’t supposed to spend too much time on their backs in the first place (it can reduce blood circulation to the baby), but I’m not sleeping as comfortably now that my only two choices for positions are left side and right side. Bummer. I have also been feeling some stretching pains in my belly when I turn over or get up out of bed to go to the bathroom. Thanks, Baby!
I still feel like I really can’t complain, though. I am still feeling pretty damn good, aside from the minor aches and pains and occasional heartburn. I am a lot better off than many of my pregnant peers!
State of my belly button: People always want to know if your belly button has popped out. As I think I’ve mentioned before, I have a REALLY deep belly button, so I’m skeptical that mine will ever really pop out. However, I’ve noticed the past few days that it feels really… tight. I think it’s actually getting more shallow and stretched out, but it’s still no where close to popping out, if that makes sense. Innnnteresting.
Things are coming along for the nursery. We are still waiting to do anything major (like move furniture in) until after our new carpet is installed late next week, but we’re still making progress. Last week, we went and picked up a sample can of paint and painted a patch on the wall to make sure we were going to like it. We do, so we’ll be buying the real paint this week and painting this weekend. Also, on Saturday, we disassembled the futon we had in there and put it in storage. We also cleared off the bookshelf in there in preparation to move that out as well.
On Sunday morning, I went over to my mom’s and we got started on the DIY bedding! Even though we had purchased a pattern, we opened it up to find that, for the pieces we’re making, the directions said things like “Cut fabric to XX” x XX” measurements.” Say what now? No helpful pattern to use to cut with? The answer, unfortunately, was no. Sooo I had to make my own patterns out of tissue paper so I wouldn’t have to measure 20 separate times. Those bastards! Needless to say, the cutting part took way longer than we anticipated, so we didn’t get to do too much sewing. But we did almost get the crib skirt done, so we’re getting there.
I know some of you have been interested in or wondering if we’re going to do a baby pool here on the blog. YES! :) Yes, we’re going to do a pool. We’re going to let y’all enter guesses for the baby’s sex, birthdate, weight, and length. We’re actually going to offer a prize as well, so stay tuned for that. We just don’t want to open it too early and have to wait so long to determine the winner. Originally, I was thinking we should hold off until about 35 weeks, but I’m starting to think maybe we’ll start it up sooner than that. We’ll see!
My first baby shower is coming up in a couple of weeks, but we’ve already been lucky enough to accumulate a couple of gifts. I had lunch with some of my friends at my old job a couple of weeks ago, and look at what they got us:
A mini adirondack chair! *LOVE*
Also, my mom decided to help us out and buy a few necessities that weren’t on our registry–the car seat and the crib mattress. We ordered the car seat a couple of weeks ago and it was delivered right to our house. It was so exciting to receive and seeing it in our house makes things feel so much more real. Isn’t it cute?
Now, I’m off to savor my last week of the “heavenly” second trimester before this all turns to shit. ;)
For reasons I know you all understand, my pregnancy post is very late this week. It almost feels silly posting it now, since I’ll be doing another one in a few days, but for the sake of documentation, I don’t want to miss a week. I did manage to force myself to take my weekly photo on Tuesday, so at least that was relatively on time!
Here’s the growing belly now:
25 Weeks Pregnant
Getting bigger, my friends. Oh, and you should know that after posting my update last week, I received my first “stranger comment” the very next day. :) Michael and I were at the carpet supplier to pick out some new carpet for our house (it’ll be put in two weeks from now–yay!) and the saleslady asked, “Are you moving before or after the babe?” It was as simple as that. Exciting, isn’t it? HA. Then, one day at work last week, I was standing in the doorway of a coworker’s office (a coworker who I don’t see/talk to very much) and she was in the middle of a sentence when she interrupted herself and said, “…and you are SUDDENLY PREGNANT!” Yep, suddenly six months pregnant. It made me laugh. Then, at the wake and funeral this week, I received several more comments from people who didn’t know previously. It’s official; I look pregnant!
Also official: This baby has an attitude. I have no idea where on earth he or she would get that from. *looks around* Who, me?
Very funny.
Yesterday morning, I had a dentist appointment before the funeral, and as I was lying in the chair, the baby was going BONKERS. I think the dental hygienist must have caught a glimpse of my jumping belly, because she asked, “Is the baby being active?” I told her that it felt like baby was trying to bust out of my gut, and she said, “Well, it’s probably saying, ‘Stop poking my mama!'” (Side note: Ahhh. Clean teeth. I hate the process, but love the outcome of the dentist. Side note #2: The dentist freaking HURTS when you are pregnant. My gums were ASSAULTED. Ouch, ouch, ouch.)
Then, this morning, I was sitting at my desk at work, reading something, and I had one of my arms lying over the top of my belly, like you would when you cross your arms in front of you. No sooner had I put my arm there than I was feeling STRONG kicks to the forearm. Repeatedly. There is no doubt in my mind that the baby was like, “Get off of me! Get out of my space!” I decided to be a mean mama, so I took my palm and pressed down at the top of my belly, putting deliberate pressure on it, instead of just resting my arm. The baby responded by kicking my hand. Repeatedly. HARD.
Anyway, I think we’re in for it with this one. Little punk.
Earlier this week, we went to an open house at a nearby pediatrician’s office and walked away with a pediatrician for our child. That was nice and easy.
I’ve also lit a fire under our asses to finally get the daycare arrangements made, so we’ve finally started that process as well. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been as easy so far. We met with one woman on Wednesday, and both walked away knowing that she was just NOT the one. As a person, she was OK, but we were less than thrilled with the condition of her house. Everything seemed really old (decor, kids’ toys, baby gear) and we were pretty surprised when she told us that, despite having two sets of stairs within reach of all the kids (the house was a split level), she doesn’t use baby gates. *Insert wide eyes and dropped jaws here* Also, we’re pretty sure she told us that she feeds babies their bottles in their car seats instead of holding them. Say what, now? We were just not impressed, and not comfortable with the situation.
So, we continue the hunt for decent childcare. Ideally, we’d find an in-home provider that we love, but we’re also going to look at a center or two for comparison purposes. I’ve called a few more places and people and we’re working on setting up appointments. This seems to be one of the most stressful parts of preparing for parenthood so far. I’ll be happy when everything is worked out and all of the details are squared away.
It seems like it’s been forever since I last posted over Memorial Day weekend, so there’s actually a lot more I could chat about. But since I’ll be posting again on Monday, I’ll save some of the other updates for then.
Enjoy your weekends!
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
