Another Spirit Soon To Breathe

Way back in February I wrote a story that described the conflicts that had arisen in my mind concerning my employment, and the struggle that I went through to find peace in the lifestyle that I wanted to create with my wife Joanne.

http://bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com/2011/02/stepping-back-to-move-forward.html

After many deep searches within my heart, I realized that I had to go back to being the driver of the Peacebus. My first day, back to work, just happened to be February 14th – Valentine’s Day – the day of love and peace!


The evening before I went back to my previous job, this beautiful sunset graced the skies and I knew that I had made the right decision.

My first day back with the Peacebus was a great one, filling me with many positive thoughts; about myself, the future of the world and my part in it! That evening, after dinner, Joanne and I were relaxing in our living room, before it was time for bed. Joanne leaned in close to give me a kiss and said, “I have a very small Valentine’s present that I’d like to give to you.” And then she told me that I was going to be a Daddy!!!

This day had changed the direction of my life in two ways! We were – and still are – very excited!!! Babies see the world as new and grand and great. They recreate for us all its possibilities and give us the inspiration to believe again.

We kept this news quiet for a few months, because – although it is painful to think about it – the fact remains that many pregnancies end up being miscarried. But, soon enough, Joanne gave me the ‘thumbs up’ to share this news with my friends.


I used Jo’s first ultrasound picture to create this image for my new profile picture on Facebook. It was great reading so many positive comments that were left for me, from people from around the world.

We’ve had a very busy year, so far, and I expect that it will continue to get busier and busier for the next seventeen years or so! LOL! Joanne has been spending her time reading all sorts of books on babies – to learn about things that can be expected during this time. My first job was to move all of art supplies, tables, computer, etc out of ‘the babies room’. My ‘art room’ is now cozily situated in the basement of our house.


Since Jo’ and I both believe in supporting a localized economy, most of the items we have purchased for our baby have been used. At first, we spent our time looking for items that we knew we would need no matter what sex our baby turned out to be: strollers, playpens, changing tables, cribs, etc.


Then we had another ultrasound and were delighted to learn that we were going to have a boy. It was time for me to change my profile picture again!


There are many wonderful used baby clothes stores throughout London and now that we knew our little munchkin was going to be a boy, we could start preparing early. A few weeks ago, one of the stores had a huge sale. Joanne spent most of her time selecting clothes. Most of the clothes are decorated with images of animals and fish and several items had ‘environmental’ messages written on them.


I headed straight for the toys department! When we got home, Guido helped me to inspect this big bag of oversized Lego blocks. He approved!


I got busy creating a peace of art inspired by my love for Joanne!


I also selected a few really cool books that Jo’ and I will be reading to our baby over the next few years. You can also see some of the small rocking toys that I selected, in the back of this photo.


Joanne asked me if I chose the books for our baby or for myself! Just look at this cool watercolour painting that I found inside one of these books.


Since musical creativity is an area where children excel in learning, I knew that I just had to buy this small drum. Joanne cringed!


It wasn’t until we got home, and I had a chance to check it out more closely, when I discovered that the drum was also filled with other musical toys, like this bee shaker…


… and this caterpillar tambourine. Joanne cringed again!


But wait! What’s this, way at the bottom…? Ah! A ladybug xylophone!!!! I started playing a little tune for Jo’!!

I looked up at Joanne and asked her why she didn’t seem as delighted as I was. “I can just imagine you, our son, and all the other babies in our neighbourhood having ‘jam’ sessions in our living room. I have a feeling that the two of you are going to drive me crazy!” We both laughed cuz we both knew that this would probably be the truth!!!

This will be a mostly ‘stay at home’ summer for us. We have a lot of work ahead of us, getting ready for the big day. Joanne just recently finished painting the baby’s room – after weekends of wallpaper striping, hole patching and priming. I’m just starting to prepare a design for a fun wall mural for this room and I imagine that will take me some time to complete that task.

We usually do quite a bit of camping, but Jo’ and I both agreed that sleeping on the damp ground will do her muscles no good at all, especially now that her back causes her a bit of discomfort.


So we’ve agreed that a few day trips to the beach will have to suffice, instead. Of course, Koly was in total agreement!


I think that Jo’ was thinking of the beach when she bought this rug for the baby’s room. I just love it! Buying used items does not mean that you have to buy poor quality. In fact, we are both discovering that we are able to purchase many top-end products for very reasonable prices. You just have to take your time selecting the items that you want until you find what you are looking for.

It really brings me a lot of joy to see Joanne so happy. She will be the best mom in the world!!! The first month or so, saw Jo’ experiencing a lot of fatigue, but lately she has been glowing! I can tell that she is enjoying being pregnant!! I just hope that she continues to feel this way when we hit the peak of summer’s heat in a few more weeks.


But that is still a ways off, so for now, we’ll continue saving our oceans from pollution by buying high quality used items, we’ll continue to grow and harvest organic vegetables in our gardens for next spring’s baby food, we’ll continue to enjoy day trips to the beach where mommy can relax so she can build a healthy baby and we’ll continue to enjoy trips to Toronto to see world famous Rock’N’Roll bands! Ummm… well, we’ll enjoy at least one trip into Toronto anyway… I think it may be a while before U2 comes to town again!

But that’s another story….

Jim