notre petit jardin

Ca marche et on a du mal à y croire! On dirait même qu'on va avoir UNE fraise bientôt!

It's so amazing to see things grow and develop! I felt so encourage by our little sprouts that I am now attempting to grow Jorge the third!

( I have a silly habit of naming my avocado plants "Jorge")

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Nous avons voyagé jusqu'en Caroline du Sud, à Myrtle Beach, pour le semi-marathon. 23 km pour lesquels David se prépare depuis maintenant 9 mois!

Nous sommes restés dans une suite d'hôtel avec 2 chambres, une salle de bain et une petite cuisine~vue sur la mer, s'il vous plait!
Juste ce qu'il faut pour relaxer et se bourrer de pâtes le soir d'avant!

The only hard thing for the fan club ( Jeff and I )...and the competitors, was that it started at 6:30am! It took all I had to roll out of bed and be supportive about this.


David was amazing! the official pictures of the race are here for you, and his thoughts and comments are on his blog.

Pour ma part, j'ai eu assez de mal à juste êre présente au départ, aux 5 km et à l'arrivée... Cela m'a pris plusieurs jours pour m'en remettre!

Nous avons ensuite eu assez de temps pour aller faire un tour sur la plage...mais l'Atlantique était bien trop froid!
I was disappointed that the hotels line the beach...so when you are on the closest street to the ocean, you don't actually see the water...oh well! This is an "after" picture...my man is looking good!

I have come to appreciate being so round...and stay as far away from the scale as I can. I keep dreaming of being skinny again one day...only a few more weeks and I can start working at it!

Happy Valentine's day!

I thought we could do things a little different this valentine's day : I convinced David to commit to a community garden plot a few months ago. He is a very willing city kid who has not clue about gardening and mowed his first lawn on his mission...so it did take some convincing because I am getting bigger every second and we most probably will have to be giving it the most attention just about the same time our baby comes!

So we had our little date and planted our garden together : just a few strawberries, tomatoes and herbs...so now we just wait patiently...not my forte!

Nous avons choisi de dépenser l'argent des fleurs et autres gadgets de Saint Valentin en plantes pour un jardin! Comme je n'ai jamais vraiment fait ça toute seule et que David est un enfant de la ville...on verra bien ce qu'on récoltera~ il ne nous reste plus qu'à être patients...

Snow in North Carolina!

Croyez- le ou non, mais il a neigé chez nous! Sur la photo, mon amie Debbie...et le blanc que vous voyez par terre: de la neige! I had to wear a sweater it got so cold!

Sébastien

C'est un peu dur de prendre une bonne photo d'un bébé...surtout quand l'écran est cassé- mais bon, en voilà une de potable!

Museum day

We were in Washington D.C. last week. David was skipping school for a conference...and I had no better plans in Chapel Hill, so I decided to go with him and tour all the free museums I could...

Pendant que David assistait à une conférence à Washington, j'ai eu l'occasion de visiter des musées dans la capitale américaine( ils sont tous gratuits!)

J'ai vu des protraits célèbres et ai aussi trouvé la petite soeur de l'énorme araignée qui est à Ottawa.

Happy Birthday Guillaume!

Je pense qu'Estelle est en train de dire "Thank you, David" ...I think she is trying to thank David too for this AWESOME birthday gift!

Pendant mon petit séjour avec la famille Couture, à Gatineau, j'ai emmené Rebecca et les enfants à "Cosmic Adventure"- un parc intérieur immense- en cadeau d'anniversaire avancé! We spent the day there playing until we dropped! The best thing about this place is that the adults get to go in with the kids...though I have to say I felt a little clostrophobic in the tubes!

January in Montréal

Voici quelques photos- prises avec ma pauvre caméra sans écran digital- de certains de mes amis que j'ai eu le privilège de voir lorsque j'étais à Montréal!

Emilie et Sergio invested in a little ikea bed for me to sleep on...thanks so much for making my stay so comfortable!

Merci à tous d'avoir pris le temps de passer un peu de temps avec moi! C'est dingue comme tout le monde grandit si vite!

Aren't they cute? Félicitations les amoureux!

Updates

The screen on one of our digital cameras broke, and the other is acting wierd, so we might have fewer pictures on the blog during the next little bit. Even still, I have to report our latest immigration miracle: Sarah has a North Carolina drivers license! That may not seem like a big deal, but it's very symbolic for us of overcoming all the obstacles we've faced in the last year and a half. North Carolina was one of many states to pass laws last year making it much more difficult for anyone but citizens and permanent residents to get a drivers license (ie, excluding legal non permanent residents like Sarah was until Jan 18). The car was in her name, so we've had to keep it licensed in Quebec, have two seperate sets of insurance, etc. It wasn't that much more expensive or difficult, but a symbol that our life was still somewhat fractured even though she was totally legal. Well not anymore. Once that magical social security number arrived in the mail, it has opened a lot of doors for her, including geting a NC drivers license. She actually studied pretty well for the test too, which was good since at least some lessons were learned from the fact that I failed it my first time!!

The other update is that we spent a few days this week in DC for the AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference. It was a good conference with important speakers (former HHS Security Donna Shalala, current CBO Director Peter Orzag, congressional staffers, representatives of the 3 major Presidential campaigns, etc. The days were long but I learned a lot. Sarah spent all day monday walking around to the various museums, sitting to watch free movies as often as she could. Her poor pregnant body was so tired that she slept in on Tuesday until noon. She deserved it, our little girl is working her hard!

What a day

Today has been a major day of transition for our little family. We've conquered craigslists and listservs and now have a baby crib, a new couch and living room rug. Sarah also worked really hard to build new book shelves for us. I'm not talking about taking parts out of a box and putting them together, she went to Home Depot, had them cut specific sizes of wood, then hammered and screwed and stained 12 or so small shelves which stack perfectly. We've been accumulating these items and working on these shelves for awhile, constantly talking about how to re-arrange the apt so my office could become the baby's room, our living room could be more comfortable and asthetic, and our bedroom could be a productive study place for me.

It all came together today! We borrowed, drove to get the couch in Raleigh, dropping our old couch off at a friends along the way. My dad came by and helped us move everything around so that now it feels like we live in a completely different apartment. I've been real resistant to change, but am now glad Sarah plowed forward with her artistic vision. You should come by and check it out.

The REALLY big news though is that this evening we received mail from the US Social Security Service. After almost two years of trying to figure out how we can legally live as a married couple in the same country, Sarah now has a social security number!! This isn't quite as great as a canadian social insurance number (she doesn't get free health care with this card), but it does allow her to pay taxes and work!! Things are really working out well for us. Thank you to everyone that helped make this happen.