Awesome afternoon at the Musée des Beaux Arts.
We went with the intention of visiting out the Big Bang exhibit and ended up checking out a few other cool rooms on our way. It had been awhile since we visited and we'll definetly be going back again soon. Leo wants to bring his sketch book next time!

In front of the origami tree

My attempt at art.
Marc's silhouette in front of a Riopelle

Clara

Leo

Part of the Big Bang exhibit

More Big Bang

Happy Holidays!

Waiting for Santa Claus last night

Christmas brunch with Grand-Maman and Uncle Alex

They are famous!

Seven years old!?!?

Leo's 7th Birthday in Lachute on Thanksgiving Sunday.

Birthday party for the new 7 year old!

Gluten free cake!!! And it was delicious, even better the second time around ;)

Sauble Beach

I brought the family to Sauble Beach for the first time this Summer, I hadn't been myself in about 18 years but I still remembered the white sandy beach and the freshwater waves. Thanks to Adrian and Laura's hospitality we had the best beach vacation EVER!

Going for a paddle with Clara, Cobus, and Leo.

Birthday cake for breakfast!

Hair dye on the beach

Laura's colourful hands

Go carting!

Clara and Amelia

Alex's art on a pretty canvas

Alex getting down to work

Final product

The amazing, happy baby Sloane and one of her many fans.

Clara and Amelia after their last swim together for the Summer

Mont-Saint-Hilaire
We climbed all the way to the top of Mont. Saint Hilaire on Tuesday - this retired Papa thing is lots of fun! We followed the path to the Pain du Sucre, a 2.5km hike with lots of rock climbing. Grand-papa joined us and we had a really wonderful afternoon. In fact, these are all his pictures:

=

A digital painting from the frog pond at the bottom of the mountian.

Hanging out on Mount Royal Spring 2011

I don't think I've ever gone 5 months between blog posts before and now I feel the need to explain myself. Clara, Leo, Marc and I are all well. We have had no major disasters, emergencies or health problems that could explain my silence. We've just been b.u.s.y.

At the beginning of this year I promised myself that this would be the year I immersed myself in my doula work. I've privately called it my year of "yes". My plan is to say "YES" to every doula opportunity that comes my way. As a result I've already witnessed 11 humbling and beautiful births, have provided countless hours of prenatal education, and have had the absolute pleasure of supporting new families in the days and weeks following the arrival of their babies. This is so the job for me.

Of course, life with an on-call mom is quite different for the entire family. I like to think everyone is coping well. Marc is very supportive, even when I disappear for 24 hours leaving him responsible for school lunches, drop offs, pick ups, and all the other little things that come up over the period of the day. Clara and Leo are also very accepting of my absences and when I come home again I get the most glorious welcome back hugs. I think the time alone with their Papa is also a really amazing side effect of this job. I feel like both kids have a better connection with Marc these days, he tells me they have great times together doing stuff they enjoy.

We are on the verge of adding another major change in our life - Marc has quit his job and is embarking on new adventures. He has taken a leap in the spirit entrepreneurship and has been enjoying telling everyone that he is taking an early retirement. Who knows what the future will bring but we are open to all of it.

Self portrait on the mountain

For anyone curious, you can find me on my two doula business sites:
MotherWit Doula Care - a collective of doulas who work together in the Montreal area
Doula Laurel - my personal little spot on the web.

Marc is working on a few projects... I'll share as they become available. For now you can check out SaveWall.com in its Beta version.