Well the waiting game is over! Baby John Paul Gabriel is here! John Paul after Blessed (soon to be Saint) John Paul II (sorry, not after the man with the perfect hair). Gabriel after St. Gabriel Lalemant (whose martyrdom story is very inspirational to us). Joseph, or Mose, no longer needs to bide his time writing his name on our front lawn.

Becca, the Champ, Millette had a ridiculously long labour. Having to push out a baby after just three hours of sleep over two nights is just unfair. Here she is seconds after giving birth. Note the time on the watch: 11:03am.

An equally sleep-deprived Daddy holds the wrinkly sausage, er, bundle of joy.

Joseph meets John Paul for the first time. He was a little scared at first, especially to see someone else cuddling with his Mommy, but now he's the most excited little boy you'll ever see.

Two boys. I just can't believe it! We both were cheering for a boy. I can't imagine the fun, and trouble, these two boys will have.

The first family picture. Tired, but happy nonetheless. That John Paul. Silly little guy. He thinks nighttime is daytime, and vice versa. Silly guy! Haha. Becca and I were up allllll night last night. Periodically we might get 20 minutes of sleep. Haha. Funny guy...

The Grandma's and a Rocky pose.

More details and stories will be coming in the coming days/weeks.

P.S. During the labour I had a job interview, was offered, and accepted, a full-time permanent contract with my current school. Quite the stressful/blessed week.

JPGM

John Paul Gabriel Millette. I hold him in my arms as I type this. More details coming soon. Mother and son are doing fine.

Putting the 'Face' in Facebook

 

"Give me a second I... I need to get my story straight..."

Permit me a few moments to think out loud. I need to wrap my head around what I've seen on facebook this past weekend. Ok, so it seems that random girls are snapping selfies of themselves without makeup or hairstyling and posting them on facebook. Then, they're supposed to tag a friend or two (girls) to do the same. After posting the picture all the (girl) friends of the selfie girl are supposed to comment, on, or rather gush about, how incredibly beautiful the girl naturally is. Following the selfie girl doing this, she I'm sure runs to the bathroom to put on her normal bucket of makeup and style her hair for the recommended 45 minutes. And then this repeats: Girl gets tagged. Girl posts natural picture. Girl gets affirmed in natural beauty. Girl puts on makeup to mask natural beauty. Repeat.

Thumbs up!

We're all stupid.

11th Hour

We're approaching the 11th hour, so to speak. At some point the baby simply has to come out. Poor Becca, despite being a trooper throughout this, has been living with the impending doom of facing an excruciating amount of pain. Please pray for her. In some ways this time is her agony in the garden. However, it would be rather silly to spend endless days focusing on the pain ahead. Sometimes you just gotta look to the end and not the means. It's unbelievable to think that very soon we're going to have a new person kicking around.

Spring is a-coming! Maybe?

Spring is a-coming! My calendar tells me that tomorrow is the First Day of Spring. And I can well believe it with the beautiful weather we've had this week. But... and that's a big but, I won't be fooled (maybe just disappointed) because I know we've gotta be in for some more cold weather and snow before the end of Winter is really here. After all, we still had some snow left in May last year and it's not uncommon for April blizzards. For now, though, everything is melting, our roads are crazy with water and ice, and... and... well, we're still waiting for a baby.

We spend Sunday in Nipawin this week to celebrate Aunty Lynda's 17th birthday. Joseph and I hadn't been out to the Millette homestead for over a month, so we figured one last trip was in order. Plus, we love hanging out with our favourite dog, cats, birdies, and, of course, Grandparents and Aunty.

Joseph ran and ran around on the now-beyond-repair ice rink playing with a deflated basketball. Meanwhile, I snapped picture after picture because it was just so beautiful out. And that is what I'm going to subject you to today... 

Of course, we had to get at least one picture of the birthday girl and her cake. I love the expressions on Lynda and Joseph's faces. Before she had a chance to react, Joseph was quickly helping her blow out all her candles. He is the expert, after all. And while poor lactose-intolerant Joseph ate his favourite food of all time -- i.e. donuts -- the rest of us enjoyed DQ ice cream cake. It doesn't get much better than that!

It is with great joy that I announce...

It is with great joy that I announce to you...
 

 

 

 

 

...that Becca has....

 

 

 

 

...for our great benefit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

finished our taxes!

 

 

 

 

 

What, were you expecting another announcement?

 

 

 

Taxing Year and Happy Anniversary

Here's an uninteresting update on my life.

* Thank you Becca for recently stepping up and blogging more. I've been busy on other things. Mainly, I've been working on job applications. It's been that time of the year when teachers on temporary contracts fill out endless cover letters and application forms. Hours upon hours of work go into filling out these job applications. Often I don't expect to ever hear back from the places where I apply. But I leave that up to God to decide. Anyway, as it stands right now, I don't have any real job prospects for next year. But as St. Jose Maria Escriva used to say: "0 + 0 = 0. But 0 + 0 + God = ...." In other words, I do my best and trust that God will have something in mind.

* The other day I spent half of my lunch break in the back of a police cruiser! Let me tell you, the back seat isn't very comfortable. You see, I was walking home for lunch when I saw some idiot teenagers in a big black truck fly through a yield sign, narrowly miss a van full of kids, and then ram into a guy who was driving a car he just bought. The car was absolutely demolished. Thankfully the driver wasn't hurt. The kids in the truck got out and started lying, saying they were skidding etc. Well, me being the star witness, I stated otherwise. And so I got to spend sometime in the back of the police car as I wrote out a statement of what I saw, and chatted with the cop. Needless to say, the cop assured me he'd be giving out a ticket or two to the kids. They should get one for making me miss my lunch break!

* Tax time has begun. As Wanda on Corner Gas says: "Tax time kicks the crap out of Christmas!" Maybe not. But if it can reap a nice return then, um, well...

* I am officially a second year teacher. I got an email confirming this from my school division on Monday. So now I walk around the school calling all of the first year teachers "Rookie."

* I just can't leave off without commenting on the fact that it is Pope Francis' one year anniversary! My how excited we were when he walked out overlooking St. Peter's Square that day. Now I've written before on some of the difficulties I have with Pope Francis, and it's taken a lot of effort on my part to look past some of his I'm-not-like-Pope-Benedictness. Mainly my beef has been that he is not a very good teacher (he confuses rather than clarifies) and should perhaps be more careful in this regard. But all in all, as I've said earlier, I believe he was elected in order to reform much of the Church, and he has my prayers, whatever they may be worth, for this most important task.

Waiting for Baby

So, folks, we're T-1! Or in regular old English, tomorrow is my "due" date! Joseph and I headed out to the doctor's this morning for what I hope is my last in-office visit while pregnant. But as it turns out, I'm not feeling like this baby is coming anytime soon and a quick little check indicates he/she is only about 1/5 of the way (as my doctor said) down as far as he/she needs to drop. Looks like my track record will continue to be "late" babies! But I'm trying not to feel anxious for it all to be over and just enjoy the time we have left with our one "baby."

What a beautiful week of weather we've had so far! And look at this for a forecast: 

I know some of you might think I'm crazy for saying this, seeing as we've had Winter since November... but I feel like we're just staring to ENJOY our Winter! It's been so bitterly cold and windy for so much of the cold season (as our energy bills have attested to, ugh!) that we've barely managed to make it outside for 15 min some days -- and that in -30 degrees.

It's the first time all Winter that we actually had snowman building snow! Joseph has been reading all kinds of books about snowmen in the past few months and desperately wanting to build one. Most of these stories involve the snowman coming alive or the possibility that snowmen work at night clearing our roads, so I think it's safe to say he's got the idea that the snowman we built yesterday just might be able to talk with him or have a little snack or walk to the front yard. 

While it only took a few minutes to actually build the man, Joseph spent the rest of our time outside calling me over to fix his eyes and mouth. Whether with a little help or not, the little rocks we'd put to the task just kept falling off and Joseph couldn't bear to have his little friend without them. Before going inside, he had to give the snowman a kiss... and asked me if I'd like to as well (um, no thanks!). 

And once inside, Joseph wanted to keep looking out the windows and standing at the door to check on his friend. Needless to say, we also had to look out his bedroom window first this this morning to greet the snowman!

We're using these baby waiting days, or so I like to think, to play a bit more. After reading Alfie Gives a Hand by Shirley Hughes last night, Joseph requested me make him a mask. Okey dokey! So after our morning tasks were done, we set about making a scary tiger... or maybe he's just cute. I managed to find a pretty simple design on Pintrest and used my best drawing talents to sketch it out on cardboard. Thankfully, there was enough cardboard to let Joseph go to with his own markers while I coloured in his mask because the end result would have been quite different. And of course, he loves it and "scared" Daddy when he came home from lunch! These are his scary paws, if you couldn't tell...

We'll keep you posted on Baby Millette, but in the meantime please pray for a safe and speedy delivery sometime in the near future. Thanks!

Contains: Milk

Yesterday, being the first Sunday of Lent and we having enduring 4 whole days of Lent so far, we were pining for some sweets. While Joseph and I napped, Dan decided to mix up some strawberry jello and chocolate pudding for a "little tweet," as Joseph likes to call any special kind of food.

After our great pizza supper, sans cheese for Joseph (remember, he's dairy intolerant), Dan dished up our little dessert. He'd been careful to make Joseph a separate bowl of pudding with almond milk in it (remember, he's dairy intolerant). Meanwhile, I gingerly took the pudding package out of the garbage. "Did you check for dairy ingredients?" I ask. "Uh, no," Dan replied. Scanning the ingredients I find "modified milk ingredients." Then, in bold, "Contains: Milk." "I hope this doesn't backfire," Dan says, "I guess I'm sleeping with Joseph tonight." I debate trying out some lactose pills a friend gave us, but decide it's probably not worth it.

Of course, Joseph loves the "little tweet" and asks for seconds on the pudding. "No, we'll save the rest for another day," we tell him. 

9:45pm. We shut off our light after reading for a while and turn over to get a good night's sleep. 

10:45pm. I get up again, with a growling belly to eat a granola bar, then head back to bed.

Unknown hour. Joseph wakes up. Dan goes to sleep with him and I roll over knowing that it can't be very far into the night because I'm too sleepy and tired to even glance at the clock.

2:44am. Joseph wakes up. Dan, still in bed with him, comforts him and tells him he can't have Mommy right now. I glance at the clock and groan, knowing it's going to be a looong night. 

3:46am. Joseph wakes up. He sounds very unsettled from my distance away. I decide to offer to take him in bed with me, hoping Dan might get what's left of his 2 hrs of sleep before his very busy Monday. Joseph is really fidgety in bed with me. Yep, typical dairy intolerance reaction going on here! I cuddle him, then eventually put him on a pillow and roll over. He rolls against my back. 

4:53am. I roll back over and take the fidgeter in my arms. 

Me: Are you still awake?

Joseph: My diaper hurts.

Me: Do you want me to change your diaper?

Joseph: I want you to change my diaper.

I lay him on the bathroom counter and turn on the light in the office across the hall so we have some light, but not in our eyes. We do the whole diaper thing and put cream on his legs because he's scratching them and they're dry.

Meanwhile...

Joseph: Is Daddy eating toast in the office? (Dan eats his breakfast while using the computer).

Me: No, it's nighttime, Daddy's sleeping.

Joseph: Is Daddy sleeping in the office?

Me: No! Daddy's sleeping in your bed.

Joseph: Oh.

Back in bed, I cuddle him and he begins to settle, but not before... 

Joseph: Mommy, my nose hurts!

Me: Joseph, we're going to sleep now.

Joseph settles down and moans a bit as he drifts off to sleep. "DA-ddy!" he says in his sleep. Eventually I move him onto a pillow and roll over. His feet slide over against my back. I start to drift off.

5:48am. I'm nearly sleeping. Joseph fidgets, kicking me. Not sleeping anymore. I glance at the clock and roll over, knowing Dan's alarm will go off in the next room in less than half an hour.

6:45am. Joseph is stretched out starfish style in the middle of my bed. I'm just not going to get anymore sleep, am I? The very thought is enough to make my head hurt.

7:20am. Get up. Growling stomach again. Joseph still a starfish.

Two words - Contains: Milk. 

Maybe we'll laugh about this someday? I blog it for the sake of posterity. 

Our Lady of the (dead) Gwass

We had beautiful weather today and took advantage of it to take a very slow (read: pregnant woman at 39+ weeks waddle pace) walk to our little grotto. The sun was shining and melted the snow just enough to make the top layer packing snow, so Joseph was carrying his little snowball the entire walk.

Joseph requested we say "hi" to St Therese, so we turned off our path to greet her. And there, what do you know, but the path became grass! I wish I had a camera to record the reactions. "Gwass! Look it's gwass!" Joseph exclaimed. He couldn't get over it! He leaned over to touch it, pat it, pick some up and throw it. As we went on our way, he even carried a handful. Dan was nearly as equally enthralled! 

We made it to "Mama" Mary and Joseph immediately approached her. "I brought you the snowball, Mama Mary!" he told her, placing it at her feet. "Look, it's gwass," he added, giving her some little brown pieces. "Mama Mary has the snowball," he went on telling me, "she's praying."




Then he had to run off to see the grass again. Yes, run! In a snowsuit that isn't an easy task for an under 40" person, but when it's grass, well you know how it is. 

You'd think he found the world's greatest treasure! He took off his mitten and stroked it. He brought some for me to feel. He wouldn't leave and not even the idea of building his snow fort up or eating pizza for supper would budge him. Eventually we brought a bunch of little pieces of grass back with us.

So although we still have at least 3 feet of snow everywhere, we now know there is indeed gwass underneath. And if we can't gift Mama Mary with flowers, she smiles even for our snowballs and dead gwass. Our Lady of the Snows, sure. But, Our Lady of the (dead) Gwass?!

A Labour of Love

Golly! Two weeks without blogging! Needless to say, I've been very busy. Just look:

But wait! You don't understand! Back in grade three, the Christmas of '92, or as I simply put it, THE Christmas, I got this lego set. It looked so nice and awesome in the Sears catalogue, and to actually get it for Christmas blew my mind away. To this day it is the best Christmas present, nay, best present, I have ever received. Well I broke the set once, but regrouped a year later and built it again.

And then my brother Stephen came along...

Yes, he broke my set. Destroyed it. Ripped it apart. Ripped up my heart in the process. The set was beyond repair! All the pieces scattered like dust from the ashes of a liberal Ash Wednesday liturgy held outdoors in the wind to signify that the Spirit is a'moving.

That is until now!

It took directions from the internet. It took hours and hours of painstaking labour to find each and every piece. Frankly, I didn't know I had such patience. It took me neglecting my job searching and writing of cover letters. It took tense moments of fighting off Joseph, again and again. But I persevered. My life is complete once again. And just in time too! Now I will have a more than suitable activity to occupy my time at the hospital while Becca is in the other room labouring and giving birth. I will be able to relive my childhood playing with this most meaningful lego set, while Becca brings in a new life in the very same building. The significance is not lost on me. Creation. Re-creation. Childhood memories blended with memories of a new childhood.

Don't expect a blog from me for a while either.

I'll be busy.

A Childlike Imagination

When Joseph woke up this morning at 6:20am, I snuggled into his bed with him hoping we could both get another hour of sleep. An hour later, he woke up with his usual, "Let's get up now!" Sitting up in bed, with his thumbs pressed to the other fingers of each hand, he told me, "I have two kittens, Mom!" Oh, um, ok! Good dream or something?

It's been happening more and more recently. His little imagination runs wild and we jump to catch up, hoping our reaction looks like we understand what he's talking about.

The other day as we walked into church for Ash Wednesday Mass, Joseph was grasping a snowman and snowbear. I just knew he wouldn't be able to let go of this idea very quickly. And sure enough, as soon as he saw our priest, he announced, "I have a snowman and a snowbear!" The poor man didn't know what to say and didn't have a clue what Joseph was talking about.

Then today, at Mass time again, Joseph was carrying around a yellow balloon he'd taken from the big bunch of balloons in his Curious George book. Slowly, painfully, we transferred the balloon from one hand to the other while I helped him on with his mitten, then again from that hand back to the first.

Part of me wonders why on earth I do this. Why do I pretend that he really does have a "lello" balloon in his hand? Why do I go so far as to remove the balloon from his hand to put on a mitten?

Over and over again, we do the same thing with every book we read whenever there is a page with food or drinks on it: we take a little bite of the food and have a little drink. In the snowman book, we have a little hot chocolate and a cookie. In the Curious George book we eat ham, fish, potatoes, and all the other goodies off the feast table. Joseph loves it!

It brings me back to the days when I did the exact same thing. We made stew outside from dirty puddle water, leaves, and pine needles. We played Narnia with a secret entrance between two magical trees. I think of Anne of Green Gables and her famous "scope for the imagination." 

Life would lack a lot of its beauty if we had no imagination! Everyday, I'm delighted and awed by the imagination of a little 2 year old. He teaches me how to play again and how to enjoy the little things in life. And it makes me think how God wants us to be like little children. It takes a little imagination, along with faith, to think what Heaven must be like, or meditate on the Mysteries of the Rosary, or understand the communion of saints. For a little child, it's easy to understand and believe with real faith. No wonder, then, God wants us to be like little children. 

"Hullo!" in his best Wrinkles voice