Remembering Memere

Remembering Pierrette's Grandmother in the years that I knew her:

She was a sweet little old lady, always bustling about.

She reminded me a little of my own grandmother.

She liked to cook; I mostly tasted simple acadian dishes like fish cakes and pates, as well as a lovely brown roll recipe that I'll be keeping.

She got to meet her great-grandson, our son, for the first year of his life.

I was hoping she'd be around longer so that Christophe might have recollections, but I guess we don't get to pick the time.

She had a good life, and she was ready for what comes next; I hope I can say the same for myself when the time comes.

Laura Bourque Arsenault AKA memere

At the age of 94 my grandmother has recently published another book "La Vie a travers ma poesie". I felt compelled to blog about this because first of all I am extremely proud of her but furthermore she is probably the person I look up to the most on this planet. She is an amazing women that has always lived by her own rules; she was a feminist before one knew what the word meant. She has always shown unconditional love to her family and respect to everyone that cross her path. These days if you goggle my memere's name some of the items you will find are: An interview with Radio-Canada; An article in l'etoile; A poem written for her; to name a few.

Here is a snippet from her book:

"Une mere est une personne
Qui est a l'ecoute
Donne des petites attentions
Jour apres jour.
Aime sans retour et
S'efface
Pour laisser ses enfants vivre leur propre vie."
Laura Bourque Arsenault 11 mai 1994

These are words every mother should live by.

Christophe already has his copy of her book autographed by her that he will be able to read once he is older as a way to know her. Hopefully he will find it amusing seeing pictures of himself and his mother published in a book.

Je t'aime memere.

We just finished waving goodbye to memere and pepere they are off to the airport to return to Moncton. It's weird some of the time while they are here I feel overloaded and wishing for quiet but as they left I got all teary eye. I have not gotten teary eyed saying goodbye to my family in years; I remember when I first moved to toronto I would cry quietly every-time I left Moncton. Now Toronto is my home and I almost never miss Moncton. I think the sadness comes from the fact that I know Christophe loves his grandparents and I wish they could spend more time together. They get to see each other 4 times a year for a few weeks but so much happens between each visit, next time they see him I am sure he will be crawling or walking...

Spoiled Rotten - Book review

I guess you can't spoil a child with too many books. It's hard to find French books in Toronto that will not cost you your first born child. There is basicly one store where you can buy french books in the city and they grosly over charge for them.

So memere and pepere made sure his library was well stocked by adding 11 French books.

As much as I like all the books we selected; if I had to pick 3 for my favorite ones they would be:

Il était une fois un arbre, by Mary Newell DePalma. This story is about a beautiful tree that ages and passes away leaving his children behind to continue his legacy. It's a beautiful story to introduce a sad subject to a child.

Caprice a la campagne, by Melvin Gallant. This was one of my favorite books growing up. The auter is a friend of the family; the story is about his cat.

Je t'en prie ne tourmente pas Tootsie, by Margaret Chamberlain. This one has these great eye catching illustration and is about what you "should" and "should not" do to your pets.

Thank you memere and pepere for all the great books.

grand-memere

As many of you know we are in Moncton now.

On Friday afternoon we went for a walk up the street from my parents house to meet Christophe's great-grandmother. We have visited with her every day since then, it's just a short 10 min walk. I want to make sure he gets to see her as much as possible.

Growing up, my memere (grandmother in french) was like another mom to me; she would look after me when my parents were at work and sometimes I even just wanted to go visit for the fun of it. I was lucky to be surrounded by so much love when I was at her house and I want my son to have an opportunity to see that as well.

When I was little I used to say "Maison memere; maison heureuse" (grandma's house happy house).

Before heading out to see memere we call first to ask my uncle guy to stop smoking. My uncle is an amazing artist but also a chain smoker. He is great and goes to smoke outside while we are there; he is also the reason why we only do short visits each day. As much as he smokes outside while we are there and otherwise only in the basement, there is still a bit smoke left in the house.

The first thing memere said when she saw him was let me sit in the rocking chair so I can rock him. I don't know why but seeing them together made my heart just melt. She rocked him and we talked about stories of her motherhood and children when they were little. I saw a side of my grandma that I had never seen.

I think being far away from my grandma is the hardest part about living in Toronto.

Memere and pepere

We had a few busy weeks, my mom and dad arrived early in the month for a visit and stayed till last Wednesday. It was great having them around to help out.

My dad did al sorts of stuff around the house including finishing the Nursery (thank you so much); I will post about the nursery separately. My mom help with cooking and cleaning. Both of them also spent tones of time with Christophe.

One of the more eventful days was when we ventured out to the Eaton Center to visit with Suzan and Ed (my aunt and uncle). We ate out at a sit down restaurant, I breast-fed in the mall, we did some shopping at the Disney Store, Indigo, the Bay and Sears; I was so tired when we got home.

My dad bought Christophe the greatest toy - Fuzzi Lovebug.

Most of the days where not as action packed they involved walks in the afternoon and naps in the morning.

Well we miss you mom and dad; looking forward to the next visit.

1 month has gone

I can not believe April 1st marks one month since little Christophe was born. Time has just flown by.

Today just after lunch and before the crazy wind storm picked up, we went for a walk to the post office. I had a few letters to mail. This was my first time out of the house with him solo. It's crazy how many people stop to ask how old he is and compliment me on my beautiful little boy.

Tomorrow memere and pepere arrive from Moncton to meet their first grandchild. They will be visiting for 2 weeks. I am sure they are anxious to meet Chistophe as there trip has now been delayed twice. The first time my dad had the stomach flu and the second time the flight got canceled due to engine trouble. They are not the first from my side of the family to meet the little one as my sister was here for a few days last week. We will talk about her visit in another post.

We are now waiting for papa to get home and make us some supper as I am using my new found skill at one handed typing while holding Christophe sleeping to write this.