Freedonism - A selfless devotion to making our world what it SHOULD be: allowing independent and collective freedom from oppression, violence, hunger, resource destruction, and other social and environmental injustices that we would be ashamed of if we could only step back and view our world and cultures from the vantage point of a fresh new visitor. -AS&B

Friday, November 30, 2007

Address & Directions

For those who haven't been to our new place yet...

Address:

Apt 602 - 1227 Wellington St. W
Ottawa, ON
K1Y 0G7 Canada
The residential entrance is at 1227 Wellington, just east of Holland and across the street from the Home Hardware (don't go to the theatre entrance on the corner of Holland). Our buzzer is 1117, under "Kynoch/Dumetz".
Directions:
  • By bike from downtown, take the pathway along the Ottawa River to Parkdale Ave. S, then right on Wellington to Holland. Here's the Ottawa Cycling Map.
  • By bus, take Route #2, which goes along Wellington, or take any Transitway bus that goes to Tunney's Pasture station (Holland & Scott), then walk 2 blocks south along Holland.
  • By car, take Hwy 417 to Parkdale Ave. N, then left on Wellington to Holland. There's 2-hour parking on Hinton Ave just south of Wellington... Hinton is a block east of Holland. Or you can park anywhere around our block, but watch the signs. See map below.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Hiya, baby! :: Salut bébééé!

I'm absolutely ECSTATIC to announce that Anne-Sophie and I celebrated roughly three years by welcoming a new ray of sunshine into our lives... a beautiful new baby girl! Her name is Soléa (Katja Dumetz) Kynoch, pronounced [so-LAY-ah] and based partially on the French word soleil, meaning sun. Having basked in her smiles and radiance every day since the birth, I know her name suits her perfectly :)

She made her grand entrance into our small world on Nov 8, 2007 around 01:30, almost two weeks after the not-so-exact due date. She weighed in at 8 lb (3.6 kg) in an adorable little hammock hanging from a scale, like a fine delivery that we'd been waiting our whole lives for :) Although we stretched her out to 20" (51 cm) long, she'll probably do her own stretching to match the long fingers, feet and toes that hint of her tall prairie genes.

The birth experience was not only amazingly beautiful, but was as comfortable and intimate as we had hoped. Anne-Sophie had an all-natural birth in the comfort of our new home, with the help of our wonderful midwives, as well as Anne-Sophie's mom, and yours truly.

After a couple weeks of coaxing Soléa out with countless natural induction techniques, she finally decided it was time to join us and that the trip was going to be quick! Fortunately, the entire labour was about half as long and reportedly much less painful than Anne-Sophie was "psyched up" for. I used acupressure points to help her cope with the pain and she conquered the rest using only the first breathing technique. By the time we were ready to use the "advanced" techniques, it was already time for our little croissant to come out of the oven!

There are lots of photos on our Flickr page and, if you're interested, here are instructions for downloading or printing.

We'll update this blog as often as we can with our amazing adventures as new parents!

Love,
Brad (Dad!) on behalf of the new family!


Je suis EXSTATIQUE d’annoncer qu’Anne-Sophie et moi avons célébré à peu près trois ans avec un nouveau rayon de soleil dans nos vies… une nouvelle petite fille ! Elle s’appelle Soléa (Katja Dumetz) Kynoch. Pendant que je me baigne dans ses sourires et sa radiance chaque jour depuis la naissance, je sais que son nom est parfait :)

Elle a fait son grand début dans notre petit monde le 08 novembre 2007 à peu près 01h30, presque deux semaines après la date prévu d’accouchement. Elle a pesé 3,6 kg (8 livres) dans un petit hamac adorable en dessous d’une balance, comme une belle livraison que nous attendions depuis toujours :) Bien que nous l’avons étiré à 51 cm (20 pouces), elle s’étirera probablement plus pour être assorti à ses doigts longs, et ses pieds et orteils longs, qui sont des signes de ses gènes des prairies.

La naissance n’était pas seulement très belle, mais était aussi très confortable et intime, comme nous voulions. Anne-Sophie a accouché naturellement dans notre nouvelle maison, avec l’aide de nos supers sages-femmes, et aussi la maman d’Anne-Sophie, et bien sûr, bibi.

Nous avons essayé de convaincre Soléa à sortir avec des méthodes naturelles d’induction, elle a décidé finalement qu’il était le temps de sortir et que son voyage serait rapide ! Par chance, le travail a duré environ deux fois moins longtemps et moins douleur qu’Anne-Sophie était préparée. J’ai utilisé des points d’acupression pour l’aider à gérer la douleur, et elle a conquis le reste avec seulement la première technique de respiration. Quand nous étions finalement prêts à utiliser l’autre technique « avancée » de respiration, notre petit croissant adorable était déjà cuit, et prête à sortir !

Il y a beaucoup de photos sur notre page de Flickr et, si vous êtes intéressés, voici les instructions pour télécharger ou imprimer (désolé, elles sont seulement en anglaises pour l’instant).

Nous allons ajouter à ce blog aussi souvent que possible, avec nos aventures comme des nouveaux parents!

Bisous,
Brad (Papa !) au nom de la nouvelle famille !

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Moving & Growing!

We have some big news!

At the end of April 2007, we moved out of the rental world and into the "Oh My God I Own a Condo and have a Mortgage" world. So far, so good. We're living in the vibrant Wellington Village 'hood that feels a little European, with patios, little shops, and a fresh fruit and vegetable market only a couple blocks away. We're in a new green condo building that's more environmentally-friendly than buildings these days usually are. There's also going to be a theatre downstairs to make it a good mix of ecological and cultural. Maybe we can call it our eco-cultural pad, which is perfect, since Brad works in the enviro field and Anne-Sophie in the cultural field!


All right, this is all fine and swanky, but we have even BIGGER news! We're pregnant! Yeah, we admit, Anne-Sophie is doing a lot more of the pregnancy thing, even though Brad is doing really well, talking to The Belly and rubbing it every chance he gets :) Right now, we're just past the half-way point... that means we're due in late October. That's one of the reasons this message is waaaay overdue. Again, apologies. And, no, we don't know what sex it is yet, and yes, we will wait to find out, and yes, we have ideas for names, and no, we won't share them, and yes, we're super pumped and excited! Anne-Sophie has felt a few movements already, like reminders in her belly saying: yes, this is actually happening! Woohoo! Since we thought you'd want to see us, we've uploaded a couple recent pictures of the amazing Expanding Belly.

In other news, Anne-Sophie had her first public art show with her friend Pablo and other artists this winter!

And if you want to see all our photos, you can peruse through our huge photo collection on Flickr. For the new grandparents and others interested, here are the download and print instructions.

We'll update our blog with news or new photos, if we remember.

Looking forward to seeing you soon. Let us know when you want to come by and visit!

Anne-Sophie, Brad & belly (hers, not his)

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Happy New Year 2007!

Happy New Year to everybody!

Hope you've enjoyed your holidays and that you've merrily eaten, drank and laughed yourself into 2007 :)

We had a funtastic year including some trips, some outdoor adventures, a few weddings, and some great times with family and friends. Thanks for the good times! We're also super-excited about the new environmental condo we bought in Ottawa. It's being built now and we should be able to take possession in April, so we'll let you know more about it at that time.

Here are photos from a couple of our favourite trips, if you're interested:
And, for those of you with way too much time on your hands, you can check out the rest of our photos. For those interested, here are the instructions to download the original high-resolution versions for printing.

We hope you've had a great year and we wish you lots more in 2007!

Take care,
AS & B