3+ weeks

I finally found a crib toy that I think is sufficiently entertaining for Kicky without being annoyingly flashy. The butterfly has a rattle in it and the blue thing has a mirror. The one in the middle is springy and can be pulled on. I think it should be a lot of fun to play with!

Also see here for the picture of the stroller, which folds up into something about the same size as a hankercheif.

This Tuesday will be week 37 of 40, at which point fetuses are considered full term. Most women give birth within 2 weeks of their due date (before or after) and mine is April 10th. We will see what happens – I get the feeling she will be early but I hope it will be after the 29th at least, as I have quite a few things lined up after I stop work on the 23rd.

Sad to say I have some stretch marks. Already. Given that they are right around by belly button and Kicky is quite insistent that this is her favourite toy, I can’t help but wonder if they came from her stretching her legs and arms so much! Now things are quite cramped for her and she can’t stretch her legs out like she used to, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t trying.

It’s been quite chaotic trying to prepare things at work since both our major projects hit a snag a week or so ago. It makes it somewhat hard to leave instructions when the results from the next few weeks could change the way we approach things. What I can say without a doubt is that qPCR is the most difficult thing I have ever tried to do and it has a wicked learning curve.

My co-workers had a little party for me on Friday featuring a homemade carrot cake, tortilla chips & salsa (my favourite snack), muffins and probiotic juice. They pooled to get me a very useful gift – a gift certificate to my favourite clothing store, so I can get some T-shirts after, since my existing shirts have been stretched somewhat.

Dan’s off on March break this week so it looks like he will be working on a composition (for his composition class), some troubleshooting to get two pieces of electronics to talk to each other, and helping me out with groceries and cooking. Dan’s mom will be arriving the 31st of March, so I will have plenty of help getting things ready here.

The provincial election isn’t very far away and I really don’t know who I am voting for yet. I looked at the platforms of the 3 main parties and ruled out the PQ already (“Bien sûr, notre objectif fondamental est de réaliser la souveraineté nationale du Québec. Nous en réitérons ici la nécessité. Ce grand objectif, qui transcende tous les autres, permettra au Québec, nous en sommes profondément convaincus, de réaliser des progrès plus substantiels et plus rapides.”). Hmm. The ADQ are running on the “adequiste” plantform which insists that Quebec is a nation inside Canada and that is very important to “defend Quebec’s borders” from the policies of Ottawa. It’s hard to believe that Quebec could be any more different than the rest of the country than it already is. I’m not sure what to think about that one. In the end, I will likely vote for the Liberal party even though everyone seems to complain that they didn’t do much of anything this last term. With respect to personalities, some the PQ and ADQ candidates seem to be experts at making fools out of themselves and can’t seem to understand that making racist, sexist or homophobic comments is not a good idea during campaign time.

We have had absolutely no luck finding tap filters in Montreal – everywhere that sells them is sold out!

I just finished reading The man who was Thursday yesterday. Quite an amazing book – I’m not sure what to think yet. We also watched Star Trek III (the Search for Spock) on Friday and enjoyed it as much now as back when it first came out.