Any day now...

Ultrasound

Here are some ultrasound pics and a vid at 5 months

Ultrasound Full Album

Dentists

About a month back, I made a long delayed visit to the dentist here. The first procedure done was a cleaning. It's quite different here. It seems a lot more thorough, and as a result, a whole lot "bloodier" and a bit more painful. In the Philippines, most of the cleaning seems to be with that machine. Here it's a lot more with that sharp tool thing (pick?).

Then a couple of days ago, I had my 2 remaining wisdom teeth removed. I originally had 4 wisdom teeth, all underneath the gums. the top ones had a normal downward growth. The bottom ones were weirder, growing sideways towards the other teeth. I had one side done in the Philippines. Those weren't very fond memories. Let's just say I had it done around 2003/2004 and waited this long to have the other side done. So I wasn't looking forward to the procedure. Surprisingly, aside from the anesthesia injection, I didn't feel a thing. I wonder what they did differently? If only it was this painless in the first place, I would have had this done a long time ago. I guess it being a lot more expensive here is a factor. And Finding Nemo was also playing at the same time. Oh well, it's over now. Just have to get through the swelling. We can move on to the next Dental problem. Braces aren't covered in our current dental plan though. We'll deal with it when we clear other priorities. Crap, I'm going to be one of the oldest people with braces. Oh who cares, I'm married, no need to be cool :)

Winter Laboy and Record Breakers

It began to get warmer about a week ago. So we were able to spend some time outdoors at the Forks.

Winter Laboy

Record Breaker?

A couple of days later, Winnipegers attempted to break the record for longest human chain (on skates). The city recently took the record for longest skating rink (made official just a few days ago)., so there was a perfect place to try it. Last I heard they had enough people but it hasn't been made official yet. The current record is held By Mexico City (imagine that...).

Longest Human Chain on Skates

I'm pregnant! :)

Well most everyone I know knows this by now.


That test was done back in November. Pretty much threw a monkey wrench in all our plans. We wanted to do a bit of traveling for a year. Oh well, at least we'll have a new travel companion. Not to worry, unplanned doesn't mean unloved. Does that sound too korny or mushy to you? Well, kiss my ...

Shortly after, we went on a pregnancy book borrowing spree. I personally went folate crazy when buying food. "Does it have folate?" "How much daily %?". I haven't done as much reading as I want to though.

I want to do the best job possible supporting Mean. It's not so easy since I'm just naturally lazy. Thankfully Mean doesn't have any crazy food cravings. Not a lot of mood swings either. Though she says I'm the one having the mood swings. I don't know why. Maybe that's what Scared+Excited does. I dunno, I just have to fix that so Mean can relax more.

We had an appointment with the OB-GYN only this January (3 months). I heard our child's heartbeat for the first time. Pretty cool. I wish I could have recorded it or something. Can't wait for the ultrasound. I'm not sure if I want to know the sex yet though. It's either we could be more prepared or have a nice little surprise. In any case I'd like a photo and/or video. Maybe even a 3D image. Of course I'll post them here.

Here's a little update:

Bonchaks

Lazy Blogger

Obviously, I haven't been blogging for several months now. Oddly enough, some big things have happened in that span of time. One of which is probably the most important event since I started blogging. Hopefully I can get back to my previous frequency of posts from here on out.

My birthday happened in December. Moving on...

It was also winter during most of this hiatus. We've gotten temperatures as low as -51C (with wind chill).

Winnipeg Winter

Christmas Tree

That picture was taken in the Fort Garry hotel during my company's Holiday Party. It's a pretty nice Christmas tree. It doesn't compare to our Christmas tree though:


Humidifier/Air Purifier
I noticed the above 2 items in flyers and I wondered whether we should purchase them. After reading up on why to buy these, I found out that indoor air can get much drier and dirtier than outside air. Especially here where windows aren't kept open too much with heating in the winter and air-conditioning in the summer. Other effects of dry air are frequent shocks due to static electricity and dry throat. Mean also has (presently mild) asthma so the air purifier could help there. After doing a bit of research, I settled on a Bionaire cool mist humidifier and a Honeywell True HEPA Air Purifier.

They seem to be doing their jobs so far though it's less obvious with the air purifier. We experience less static shocks and our throats aren't as dry as before in the morning. We probably need to tweak them a little more for maximum effect. However, we now have some extra maintenance to do like cleaning the filters, water containers, etc.

Furniture
We went on a small furniture buying spree at the end of 2007. We got 2 new side tables, 2 nightstands, a hutch, roman blinds, and a bookshelf (ok, a couple of these were gifts). We went on another binge in February adding cocktail table, dresser, headboard and an extra nightstand Our house is a little less bare now though there's still a few things we'd like to add like the sofa's matching loveseat, a computer chair and maybe a bench. I'll consider not buying these until we get a house since moving's going to be harder with more and more stuff.

Got a Car

On Tuesday, we tried to buy a car again. This time, we decided to offer $2000 up front just in case Toyota Credit bites. If not, then we would pay the likely $5000 with credit and debit combined. So we went in and did the usual test drive and filling in of info. They still had the 2008 Corolla with the same color as the one we tried out before. The finance manager who handled us before wasn't in though so they said they'd call us the next day. No problem though, we didn't expect to bring it home right there and then.

So Wednesday went by and we didn't receive a call. Thursday afternoon, and still no call. I called and found out the finance manager wasn't in again. A bit annoying for me and more so for Mean. So Friday comes around and the finance manager finally calls Mean up, and it turns out we still need to make the $5000 down payment.

She tells Mean that we have to submit a bunch of work/income documents, some of which we couldn't give immediately. She told her though that we could still get the car on Saturday and the other documents could just be sent when they were available. However, when I called to finalize when to get the car, she said that it's best to wait for all required documents before picking up the car. Mean was really upset now, while I wasn't too affected.

I guess that I'm more patient with people. In this case, this wasn't a good thing. This was confirmed even more when I learned of friends with similar backgrounds (credit, length of stay, etc) who had much more pleasant car buying experiences. Despite their convincing us to switch dealerships, I decided to give it one last try. If we couldn't get the car on Saturday, then we'd try another place. So Mean called to indicate our intentions of getting the car and also aired some of her grievances. After sending our documents by e-mail, and waiting an hour or two, the finance manager called and told us that we could get the car in the afternoon. When we got there, she was apologetic and mentioned that Toyota credit was being a bit tough these days. So we finished some paperwork, signed some documents and paid the down payment. We couldn't leave without car insurance so they brought us to the nearby mall too get Autopac. After this, they attached our plates and after a brief rundown of the car's features, we were ready to leave with our new car.

So there, we have a car. It's definitely gonna give us a whole lot more freedom. The weather will be less of an issue now. Waiting at the bus stop when it's -40C isn't pleasant. We also have to be careful though that we don't go too far with this new convenience. Gas and eating out a lot is expensive. I also have to learn a whole lot about maintaining it especially with the weather here.

We haven't taken any pictures yet though. We were busy in the weekend and it's usually dark when we get home. Maybe next weekend. Too bad it doesn't have that fresh from the car wash look anymore.

UPDATE:
There are a few pics now. Also, the Canadian Government finally released the models that can have rebates for fuel efficiency and our car was included. We just sent out the application.

New Car

Mean @ 29

Don't worry, she doesn't mind me posting her age. :)

Mean celebrated her birthday just Saturday (her Birthday was Friday though). We ate out with our household mates in CFC at Boston Pizza. I'll post some pics later on.

Friends

Reunited at last (sort of). In the Philippines I was able to complete the whole Friends series on original VCD. Unfortunately, I had to leave it all behind since it would take up too much space in my baggage. I was a bit sad about that but what can you do? I was always tempted to buy the DVDs here but they were $30 each. A few days ago, it went on sale in Wal-mart (2 for $35). With a bit of hesitation we got them all. All in all, it was just a little bit more expensive then my old collection. However, it has much better picture quality and takes up much less space. Plus, there are those bonus features. So in the end, I'm happy with our purchase.

Martyr's Shrine Day 5 (Last)

Today is the last day of our little Toronto trip. We're going to go to mass to this place outside Toronto. It's called Martyr's Shrine. On the way there, we caught a glimpse of Canada's Wonderland. We'll go there one day. We also saw a lot of plains that reminded me of the view at Caleruega. I guess Martyr's shrine is somewhat like Caleruega with the church, the nice view, and the gardens. They also attract a lot of pilgrims/tourists. Martyr's shrine though has a lot of statues around the compound. The Church is also quite nice inside and out. It also has the bones of some saints on display.

Martyr's Shrine Full Photo Album

From there we stopped by Cookstown outlet mall to get some "pasalubong". Other than that, I was sleeping for most of the way. We also stopped by Yam's friend's place who was having a party. After that, we picked up our bags and headed for the airport. It was a pretty packed plane so we weren't able to get a window seat. It was a guy holding his kid who got it. Since he was sharing the seat with a small child, the stewardess gave him special instructions/procedures. So no sights = all sleep. We wouldn't have seen anything anyway, since it was nighttime. Pity though I couldn't take a picture of the Winnipeg lights from the sky. We arrived slightly after midnight, took a cab and went straight to bed. It was a fun but tiring trip. I even told Mean that I was having a great time and at the same time couldn't wait for it to end. Perhaps on our next trip, we won't have such a packed itinerary. Then again, we'd probably have to give up going to some major attractions which I would regret. Or maybe we could rent a car. I wonder where we'll be going...

Bye Toronto Full Photo Album