Old Montreal

I've already posted some of these pictures here but wanted to talk more about them.

Here are some pictures from our temporary apartment on Rue St. Jacques in Old Montreal. It was on the 7th floor and really contemporary.

Kitchen/ Dining Area

Living Room

Morgandy's/ Guest bedroom

Guest Bath

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Just down the block was Place D'Armes and Notre Dame Cathedral. Morgandy loved running around the fountain and tossing in coins for good luck. There were usually lots of tourists here and once time a couple of nice gentlemen in a tourist group gave her some money to throw in the fountain. Also down the street on the left was a cupcake shop that we might have visited once or twice. :)

This is called Cartier Plaza (I think). There were lots of craft and jewelry booths and mimes and restaurants lining the plaza. Lots of tourists. Really all of Old Montreal is tourists. The building in the background is Hotel de Ville de Montreal (Town Hall).

There were also balloon artists as you can see. Morgandy asked for this "chat" (cat).

At "Vieux Port" or Old Port having Ice Cream.

Huge ships at port. The crazy thing to me is how shallow the water is at the port. I think it was less than 50 meters. I didn't seem deep enough for a ship that size to float!

Walking on the trails around the fountains right beside the port. Also down here is the Science Museum and IMAX and where they have some festivals as well.

The Marina, looking back to Old Montreal and Centre Ville (Downtown). Everytime we go there Morgandy asks to ride on the boat. We need to make some friends with a boat I guess ;)

Cirque du Soliel. We will be going there sometime.

To get a better idea of where we were click here.

While it was fun and exciting to be in Old Montreal, I'm so glad to be out of the city. I love where we live now and will be posting soon about that. Our apartment is completely unpacked and Patrick is working on hanging things so I'm going to wait to post pics of our apartment. It shouldn't be too long :).

Biodome

A couple weeks ago, we decided to do something fun with Morgandy because she's been doing so AWESOME with potty training. We were going to go to a playground, but it was raining so we decided to go to the Biodome. It's a huge domed area that has 5 different ecosystems in it.

We rode the metro (or choo-choo train, as Morgandy says). I really like riding the metro. It's really pretty easy to get around and much less stressful than driving downtown. Morgandy does really well on it.

Here is some of what we saw at the Biodome.

In the Laurentian Forest

Sliding down the otter slide

We had a great time and can't wait to go again soon.

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July (on the 5th) :)

July 1st is Canada Day (Canada's Independence Day). Morgandy and I walked down three blocks to the water front and found they were having a parade and had set up all sorts of blow-up bouncy houses and obstacle courses. I didn't have my camera with me so I don't have any pictures. Morgandy was not into the bouncy houses but did have lots of fun on one of those bouncy balls with handles that you sit on and bounce around. They also gave out flags and flag pins and Maple Leaf tatoos. We were able to watch some awesome fireworks from our living room apartment window at our temporary place. It was a fun way to spend our first Canada Day.

We moved in on the 2nd and we're still unpacking and it was rainy yesterday so it didn't feel like the "typical" 4th. But we did do some "American" things. Like go to Home Depot and eat hot dogs and rotel for dinner. And Morgandy helped me make this cake. She's an excellent sous chef and our cake turned out "de-wish-ous" as she says.

Morgandy-isms and Potty Training Update

Our wi-fi connection here is pretty intermittenant so I'm going to have to wait until next week to post more pics. So I thought I'd steal a post idea from my friends Tanya and Caren and record some of the funny things Morgandy says lately.

Computer - "Poo-puter"

Banana - "Ba-man-na"

Sometimes she says "Go away" but I think that's distrespectful so instead she says "I need some pwivency" or "I'm busy wight now".

TV- "shows"

She will yell at the wind or the fan for "bwowing" on her and say "No, stop doing that!"

More proof she's my daughter, I walked into her room the other day to find this in the closet. (Whenever it was time to clean my room I would spent hours organizing my closet.)

Morgandy's become very independent and wants to do just about everything by herself. She says "No IIIIIIIII dooooo iiiiiit!" a lot.

Potty training update:

After what I considered what a rough start (two accidents and a glass of spilled milk in about 30 minutes - I honestly thought I was not going to make it). I am so glad to be able to say that Morgandy is doing fabulous. By day 3 we were just having one accident a day and have had one day with no accidents. The accidents have happened when she was really distracted or overly tired. And she's been VERY upset about them a couple of times. She uses her little potty and uses the big potty as well. She will go on her own without me having to tell her, when I ask her to (sometimes) but so far has not told me she needs to go when we are out of the house. We've been able to go out and about and been able to use the potty in unfamiliar places. I did buy a foldable potty seat for when we're out. She has been very nervous about going on a big toilet but has done it with the seat. So brave! I feel like we're "fine tuning" things at this point. She has to learn to tell me when we're out that she needs to go and I have to learn to trust her and let her go by herself without telling her to go.

Here's what's worked for us:

- Staying at or close to home with no plans for a week (by the end of the week we were able to go out an about for longer periods of time).

- M&M's and a sticker chart.

- Letting her be naked a lot at home.

- Letting her watch lots of TV sitting on the potty.

- Letting go of any "Mommy guilt" about letting her watch so much TV.

- Lots and lots of praise and big girl talk.

- Deciding that no matter what we are only using diapers during naptime and nighttime.

If you're in the midst of potty training I would encourage you to do what works and stick with it. Your kid WILL get it eventually. And you have my prayers. :)

Montreal

We arrived in Montreal June 10th and are stayning Old Montreal. We've found a more permanent place to live and will be moving July 2nd. In the meantime we've been adjusting to our new city. I'll just say right now that I think we are falling in love. There is so much to do here. We've explored Old Montreal some and here are a few pics. Blogger is not being my friend so you'll have to settle for this collage without any captions. These pictures don't do justice to the beauty of this city. You'll have to come see for yourself ;)

Before we move into our permanent home I'm taking advantage of being in a temporary apt (with wood floors) and taking advantage of having no friends here and potty training Morgandy. We're on day 3 and it's going really, really well. I'm so proud of her!

More later.

The Seals on the Bus

You can always count on Aunt Lana to teach you a new song. Here's one Morgandy learned on our trip.

Singing w/ Aunt Lana from Myra Moran on Vimeo.

Orlando

Since I'm over a week behind on blogging and can't wait to tell you about Montreal, I decided to make this video of pictures from our trip to Orlando.

My sister has a much better camera than mine and took most of these pics.

We had a great time hanging out with my family (especially my Grando), swimming in my parents, pool, going to Ft. Desoto beach (highly recommend that trip if you are ever in the Orlando, Tampa or St. Petersburg area). I also had a great afternoon shopping with my sister and Patrick and I got to go on a date, too!

Orlando Summer 09 from Myra Moran on Vimeo.

Grandma Moran

While we were on vacation we learned that Patrick's paternal grandmother, Iva Moran, was very ill and in the hospital. She passed away while we were traveling. Patrick was able to make a quick trip to Virginia for the funeral while we were in Florida. I feel so blessed to have known this beautiful and sweet lady. I will miss her smooth southern accent and her amazingly generous spirit. She was a great servant to her family and took care of many of her relatives who lived near her. I'm so glad she was able to meet Morgandy and love on her lots.

I have a more recent picture of Grandma Moran but I think it's on our other computer. Here she and Grandpa Moran are with Morgandy, Christmas 2007.