Bumblerazz

Where have I been?

2008-03-09T18:47:00.002-04:00

BURIED. Call in the troops...

Note that usually, the feeders are 4' off the ground...

SEND HELP.

Just kidding...it will (hopefully) all be melted in 6 weeks and my daffodils will be blooming!

In other news, I start a new job tomorrow (another huge reason for my absence...totally brain dead from work) and the boys are still brilliant (and occasionally bratty. So, "normal"??). We're all (but mostly me) looking forward to spring and a fresh start.

The rut

2008-01-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

You know that big hole* in the road you drove over this morning? The one that you tried desperately to avoid, but couldn't, so a big chunk of slushy, dirty snow fell out of your wheelwell into the hole? Well, I was in the hole too. Have been for a good while (hence the lack of posts) and I just can't seem to get out no matter how hard I try. My creativity is down the crapper. I went away for a scrapbooking weekend back in November and only managed to come home with eight completed pages. I'm not putting anything extra into anything at my job…bare minimum at best. Its bad.

I'm not sure how to fix it. Write more regularly, and the words will come? Scrap more, and the pages will put themselves together? Do something besides sit and stare at the tv/laptop every evening? In my defence, I've also been getting a lot of crocheting done lately! Scarves for Christmas gifts, as well as a scarf and two hats for myself! Anyone what a scarf and/or a hat? I'm getting pretty good at them…just don't ask me to do anything fancy.

Regardless of the rut, I've promised myself that I AM going to write more. I think a weekly entry is a good start and we'll see where it goes from there. Wish me luck! And send Doritos and root beer…

*I know that technically a rut is the set track that your wheel follows as you make your way up the street, but I couldn't find a way to make that work without making my brain hurt. Case in point...

Friday Shuffle

2007-12-07T12:32:00.000-05:00

Stolen...no, borrowed from CCW...breaking my long silence with some fluff! (wow...out of my past three entries, two were stolen from her.)

"Enjoy the Silence" - Depeche Mode
"Helpline Operator" - The The
"More for Me" - Tegan and Sara
"Anyone" - Weeping Tile
"One Week" - Barenaked Ladies
"West End Girls" - Petshop Boys
"Here and There" - Sandbox
"Thanks for the Memories" - Fall Out Boy
"Frankly Mr. Shankly" - The Smiths
"Guns of Brixton" - The Clash

Permanent

2007-10-15T11:37:00.000-04:00

I've always said that two children would be perfect for me. There were two kids in my family, and two in Jon's. Both of us are the firstborn in our families and there were largish gaps between next children. When I found out I was pregnant when Cael was eleven months old, I was quite overwhelmed at the idea of having two kids so close together. I had hoped to get Cael through the twos at least and enjoy him for a while (maybe even until he was in school!) before introducing a sibling. But Jon was ectatic, so the idea of having two under two grew on me...quite literally. Har de har... When we found out halfway through the pregnancy it was another boy, I was beyond thrilled...brothers so close in age. How wonderful! It also hit home that my childbearing would quite possibly be done by the time I was 30 (if Iain came early...which he didn’t). Which was always my "goal" when I was "young"...to be done having kids when I was "young" so I would have the energy to enjoy them.

Shortly after Iain was born, I had an IUD, um...installed. Put in? Placed? Anyway. Like most forms of birth control, there are side-effects. I don't know if I can attribute the fatigue etc., to it, but Jon is convinced that it is evil and should be removed and destroyed, and that it should be banned for use by ANYONE. *

People keep asking me when we'll try for a girl, to which I say "No, thankyouverymuch". I've always wanted boys...I got my boys. So I should be happy, right? I have my happy (usually) little family, two boys who are close in age, have very different personalities and will be great buddies when they're older.

So why did I start crying when Jon suggested I have the IUD removed and he'll look into something more...permanent?

That's right...I cried like a baby. I'm even tearing up now and the discussion happened over a month ago. Even though I'm happy with what I have, I've never really pushed the idea of having another baby someday completely out of my head. And its not that I'm a patient baby mama! I hated night-time wakings with a passion, for one. I spent Cael's first months (Iain slept through the night at 6 or 7 weeks, so I was lucky there) as a zombie. Cael's constant eating got on my nerves (I was used to it with Iain so I was much calmer), and he refused naps unless he was being held. But the good and cute things linger. Isn't that always the way? The first smiles, the jerky newborn movements, the sweetness of falling asleep whhile nursing, the new-found mobility of a creeper/crawler, the grins of pride when they stand and take their first steps...so many things that I will never experience again.

My reasons for (potentially) wanting another baby (someday) are largely selfish. A co-worker's wife just had a baby and they were lucky enough to have a homebirth. After Iain's quick arrival, the idea of a homebirth is very appealing. No nurses/doctors telling to pushpushpush HARDER, no-one insisting on putting the damn heartbeat monitor on my belly between contractions instead of just letting me go into my zone, no-one waking us up on cue every four hours for a feeding etc. I would love to experience it all at home. Not to mention that the idea of selling off all of my little wee cloth diapers makes me sad. And I'll never breastfeed again, which makes me sadder.

So all of the reasons are about ME. Nothing in there about being able to manage a third child, having to move out of our little three bedroom bungalow on a quiet street across from a park or shell out even more money for daycare. It really makes more sense to just stop with what we have and be done with it...in two years Cael will be in school and the money spent on daycare will be (mostly) back in my pocket, except for the various school expenses of course. Why would I commit myself to paying for another four years of daycare? Silly, really...

A small part of me just says to sit back, enjoy what I have and wait for grandchildren. And hope that I have daughters-in-law who don't mind me being active in their kids' lives, as most women tend to go to their own moms for advice/guidance with their babies, not their mother-in-law.

I guess I should have that girl, huh?? So I can be sure that I'll have a wedding to help plan and I'll have someone calling me in a panic because my lovely grandchild won't stop crying and hasn't pooped in three days? Hmmm...tempting, but no.

* Not exactly, but pretty close.

How fitting...

2007-08-20T08:45:00.000-04:00

That I clicked on CCW's blog to find a birthday meme. Why not, since its my birfday! *does a little jig...waves to colleague passing by*

What you do is go to Wikipedia, enter your birthday in the search (month and day only), and pick 3 events, 2 birthdays, and a holiday, then tag 5 others.

August 20

Events:

1882- Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.

1938 - Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam - a record that still stands.

1998 - The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.

Birthdays:

1946 - Connie Chung, American journalist (cool!)

1948 - Robert Plant, English singer (Led Zeppelin) (coooool!)

Holiday:

Hungary - St. Stephen's day, the main national holiday in Hungary.

Tagged:

Meh, I hate tagging...do it if you wish!

What's this?

2007-08-16T15:28:00.000-04:00

Holy crap. I have a blog. *Looks around* Wow, it really sucks.

Uh, I have no excuse. Really. Just busy with life I guess! I'll do a summer vacation thing at some point soon. Spent some time at the cottage and we all had a blast. Yeah! That's my excuse! We had to pack and get ready, then I don't have access up there, and I just got back to work this week. Right on…don't feel so bad now.

So for the five readers I have…don't give up on me yet!

Bullets of things I've learned (so far) this summer

2007-07-17T11:07:00.000-04:00

- Three year old Caels pee a lot

- Mostly in their pants *

- Almost-Two-Year-Old Iains "talk" at least 10 decibels louder than necessary

- They also get louder and louder if we refuse to give him his soother

- Baby Einstein videos only hold the attention of A-T-Y-O Iains for about five minutes, after which he will want to watch a different one

- The next video will receive the same amount of attention

- A-T-Y-O Iains like to hit and kick

- Retaliating just doesn't work…that is all

- Cameras are fun

- New lenses and filters are even MORE fun!

- You shouldn't put Soil Moist in small pots with no drainage holes

- Pansies don’t like to be drowned

- A 10 pound cat sheds the equivalent of a grocery bag of fur weekly during the summer

- Starbucks espresso frappucinos are the most wonderful (non-alcoholic) summer beverage ever invented

- Booster juice Mango Hurricane is a close second

- The Tiger-Cats are so not winning the Grey Cup this year

- I start a new job sometime within the next couple of weeks

- Vacation can't come soon enough

* That is sort of unfair because he has been a "superstar" (his words!) the past couple of weeks. Telling us when he needs to go and everything! Almost time to take him shopping for the Edward engine I promised him...

My new toy...

2007-06-25T12:45:00.001-04:00

Yes, it has been more than work, Facebook and general family stuff keeping me from blogging. My friends, I have a new toy. Its more exciting than my Moto Q that I got in the spring. And slightly more exciting than the wireless, solar powered weather station that is now installed on our roof.* A couple of weeks ago, I became the proud owner of a Canon Rebel XT SLR camera.

Oh, is it a beautiful thing. So much fun to use, and the crisp photos I've been getting are amazing. I still have much to learn of course. And I'd like to get a better lens than the kit one that came with it (pretty small zoom and not as sturdy as the Sigma one I played with at Henry's camera store...), but I love it. The best part...I feel like a "real" photographer when I use it. You actually have to hold it up to your face to take a photo! Up to your face! I haven't done that in years... Its a bit hefty to take everywhere, but the neck strap makes it kind of easy. And the guy I got it from (eBay rocks...local seller no less) threw in the carry case he bought for it, so we have that too!

Anyway, a few of the shots I've taken:

** The embedded slideshow was messing with my page, so here's the link to it instead...

Sweet! :D

* We are HUGE gadget geeks...is there a recovery program?

The one with the bean bag

2007-06-05T11:03:00.000-04:00

Last Christmas we got the kids each a personalized bean bag chair. Actually, I just bought the outer covers…I got an inner bag and bought my own filler for Iain's and just slipped Cael's over the bean bag I had got for him the previous year. So Pinxit had been sick...the day we came home and found her lethargic after the drug "overdose", I caught her peeing on Cael's bean bag. Groovy. I stripped the outer cover to wash and sprayed the crap out of the actual bag with Nature's Miracle. It seemed to work ok, but we recently started the migration of toys and other kid stuff to the basement so they have more room, and as soon as I picked up the bean bag to move it, the smell hit me. I tried, but no amount of Nature's Miracle would take care of the smell…the pee obviously had leeched into the filler.

So, in my brilliance I decided that I would just empty the filler, wash the bag really well and buy the same stuff that I'd used tor Iain's to re-fill it. Easy! I flipped the bag around to look for the zipper. There it is!...but it had been disabled by the manufacturer for safety reasons. Fine…I'll just rip it out, empty the filler and buy a new zipper to sew in. No problem!

Off I went to the Evil Big-box Store in search of a zipper and bean bag filler (a.k.a. styrofoam balls). I found all that, but also somehow ended up with two TtFTE short sets, cute placemats also featuring said engine, lightweight summer pants for Cael and some chipboard letters for my scrapbooking. Oh, and something for Jon for Father's Day. Which I can't tell you abt since he'll probably be reading this…heh.

I got home and the kids were still napping…perfect! Jon went out golfing for the rest of the afternoon, and armed with garbage bags for the smelly filler, I started ripping out the zipper.
The old filler was much finer than the bag of "beans" I had just bought. It was literally like shredded styrofoam. So even as I was ripping the zipper stitching out, little bits of foam were flying out and sticking to my arms. There was fine layer of styrofoam snow on the outside of the bag and on the floor around me by the time I got the zipper out. At this point I moved the operation into the furnace room, away from the carpet in the laundry room. Easier to clean off concrete, right? I grabbed a garbage bag and carefully fit the mouth of it over the bean bag opening. I cautiously picked up the bag and the contents started pouring into the garbage bag. Perfect!

The bag was about halfway full when I noticed the small leak around the "seal" of the garbage bag. I adjusted my grip to try and move the bag which failed miserably. In about three seconds, I had a good sized pile of fine stryofoam beads at my feet. I had a semi-smart moment before starting the pouring and had placed the little mat that sits in front of the kitty litter boxes at my feet, so it caught most of it…I just dumped it into the garbage bag. For the rest, I grabbed the broom. Have you ever tried to sweep up packing peanuts? Yeah…they get really staticky. So there I was holding a broom that is coated with little foam beads, my hands are full of them and so are my legs. They are just clinging to me, and the more I try to brush them off, the more charged they get. Luckily I have some dryer sheets on hand…I don't use them in the dryer, but for rubbing my paper before heat embossing when making cards. So I grabbed one and rubbed my hands with it. Success! So I set to rubbing my legs and feet as well. And the broom…and it worked. I quickly swept up the rest of the beads.

As I mentioned, the garbage bag was only halfway full. There was no way I could fit it over the bean bag hole without spilling the contents of both all over the place, so I set to scooping the contents out using the dustpan. Which barely fit in the hole, so every time I pulled the dustpan out of the bean bag, it would hit the edge and most of the beads would fall off, back into the bag. But finally I had filled garbage bag number one and tied it up.*

I was using those easy tie bags with the four "ends" if that makes sense. I tied the first pair and when I pulled it tight, I got a face full of foam snow. Oops. No problem…when I tie the second pair, it will seal the holes right? Nope…now I had FOUR little holes that spewed foam every time I moved the bag. FUCK…this is getting old. So I untie the knots (more spewing…) and tie it up with twist ties that were in a Costco sized box of orange garbage bags being stored in the furnace room. Perfect.

In the middle of all this was a certain Big Little Kitten (a.k.a. Percy) running around exploring my work. So he had foam bits all over his feet, belly and tail. Great. I just rubbed him with my dryer sheet treated hands…didn't want to rub him directly with the sheet. But it was enough and he was de-staticked. AND he smelled fresh for the rest of the day!

Ok, so I decided to skip the green garbage bag for the rest of the beans…the opening was just too small. So I grabbed an orange bag and fit it over the bean bag opening. It was much bigger and I was able to dump the remaining filler into it without spilling any….the bean bag fit right in the garbage bag and I shook it 'til it was empty. FINALLY, something is going right. So the bean bag is empty, but there is lots of residual foam bits inside. I think about just throwing it in the washer as is, but have visions of the machine getting clogged so decide to go outside and give it a shake. Every time I move, the thing is dropping more foam crap, so I run on tip toes (picture a new dad with a dirty diaper…) outside to the carport. There was a bit of a breeze, so I figured the stuff would just float away. And don't worry…it wasn't a HUGE amount of foam being released into the air. So I wait for a gust of wind and start shaking. Did I mention that the car was in the car port? Yeah…Jon was picked up for golf, so the car was right there. Now covered in a fine layer of foam snow. As were my arms, legs and hair. I shook off as best I could and went back in to chuck the bean bag in the washer.

Fastforward to that night. The bean bag was now fresh and clean (and I had wiped the small amount of foam out of the inside of the washer) and ready for the new zipper. I sat down at my sewing machine, found the proper colour of thread and an already wound bobbin and threaded it all up. For whatever reason, the machine kept fucking up. Jamming, thread snapping etc. After close to an hour of fighting with it, changing settings etc., I gave up. I grabbed a needle and another spool of thread and sat down to start hand sewing. Brand new sewing machine, and I'm hand sewing a zipper. I finally finished last night and now all I have to do is fill it with the new (and much bigger) foam beads. Which will be another fun time, thinking back to filling Iain's.

Cael had better really love it. And if a cat pees on it again I might have a nervous breakdown.

*No, they don't recycle…I know, I know…I feel guilty enough.
_____________
Bonus conversations:

Cael: Mommy are we going to Costco?
Me: No, not today...
Cael: C-O-S-T-C-O spells Costco!
Me: It sure does…

Cael: (grabbing little plastic wheelbarrow) Mommy, I'm going shopping at Costco!
Me: ok! What are you getting?
Cael: Strawberries!
Me: Great! See you later!
Cael: (does a tour around the pool) Mommy, I'm home…I got lots of juicy strawberries!

(do you think we go to teh Costco too much?)

Cael: (out of no-where) Are you proud of my pee?
Me: Uh, that depends…did you pee your pants?
Cael: Yes! You're so proud!!

Iain: Row, row, row da BOAT, genty dow da PEEEEM…
Cael: IAIN! No more singing!
Iain: Mamalymamalymamalymamaly…
Cael: NO!!!
Iain: Like is a a neeeeeem
Cael: STOP IT!
Iain: Twinkle twinkle wittle stah…
Cael: No Iain, its LITTLE STAR…

Sens fever baby!

2007-05-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

Go Sens go!

What a wonderful day...

2007-05-24T09:37:00.000-04:00

Do you ever just get that silly, giddy, happy feeling? You know…you just feel so happy and perky that tears come to your eyes for no apparent reason and you can't stop smiling? That's me today. I have a perma-grin. It hit me while walking to work and I just can't shake it. Its great!!

I guess there are many reasons for it. For one, the weather is STUNNING. It was a perfect walk…warm enough to be out in just a tank top but not blazing hot yet. The lilacs are blooming and there is still some colour on the tulips. So pretty… For another, I finally received my headphone adapter yesterday, so I can listen to music on my mp3 player/phone in STEREO instead of having music in one ear only. So I was strutting to the beat. I also had a most excellent time out on a patio with friends last night. We drank too much, stayed out way too late for such old foggies and had a blast! So I was flying high on that. AND the absolute best reason to be happy…I'm going to the Sens rally today. I've booked the afternoon off and will be taking in the festivities along with potentially thousands of other fans. I'm going to eat a hot dog (or two…) and cheer along with the crowd. And there is a rumour that Don Cherry (DON CHERRY!!!) will be there! It is going to be teh awesome…

I just hope they are handing out rub-on Sens tattoos…that will top off the day perfectly!

Vive teh Facebook...

2007-05-11T12:50:00.000-04:00

So yeah, I'm one of the umpteen billion people who are on Facebook. With my whopping 68 (so far) friends. Its been wonderful for me so far…I've re-connected with lots of stimulating people from high school (including my grad year prom date!) and its been really great seeing the different paths people have taken. There is no-one on my friend list who I wouldn't like to sit down and have a friendly chat with. I understand that Facebook is a popularity contest for some, but I don't treat it that way. I don't see the point of having people in your list just for the sake of it…luckily there have been no major eyebrow raising additions…you know the ones. The "WTF is that person wanting to add me as a friend when we are obviously not?" friends.

The majority of people in my list are people from my "adult" life. Mostly online friends (long story as to how we all ended up in the same place…don't ask. lol!), several whom I've met in person. I've also had the "pleasure" of being involved in more than one online feud within the group. The feud(s) have caused me and several other friends to see some of the other women in a totally different way. Its broken up friendships and made others stronger. As a result, there are at least three different cliques that came out of the original group.

I had kind of left it behind me…I have better things to worry about than a bunch of catty women who have nothing better to do than gossip and talk trash about their "enemies". I don't need it anymore. I'm happy that I have so many strong and meaningful friendships and don't want to waste our "friend time" with being bitchy towards others. But something has been brought to my attention by a Facebook/online/real life friend. Apparently said "mean girls" are STILL being children and trash talking on their walls. No names are mentioned, but my friend isn't stupid…it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who they're talking about.

Holy hell. I feel like I'm in high school again. I felt it back when the original catty crap was going on a couple of years ago, and I'm feeling it all over again with the Facebook thing. Its not a nice feeling.

High school was NOT a particularly fun time for me. Long story short, early on in my high school career, I was associated with some people who didn't have the best reputations. That association stuck with me, no matter how hard I tried to shake it AND the people "responsible". For six long years. It didn't help that I was homely, skinny and awkward. Needless to say, I didn't even think twice about getting the hell out of my hometown. I was so happy to leave the mess behind me and start fresh. So this whole going back to high school in my thirties thing isn't sitting well.

None of the people on the "other side" are in my friend list. I honestly don't know what I'll do if any of them initiate contact. Refuse? Add them and play nice? Part of me says to do the latter since we are all adults. But I small part of me thinks there's always the worry that they are trying to dig up dirt on others who are legit friends in my list. Which would piss me off and the whole fight would start anew if/when I removed the culprit from my friend list. See??? High school…

What is the Facebook etiquette on this? Anyone? *sigh*

What do you mean?

2007-04-27T08:40:00.000-04:00

A header photo with icicles is not appropriate for April, almost May? Huh... I'll get right on that.

Yes, I've been lapsing in my posting. At the very least I'll get rid of the winter header soon.

The Cat

2007-04-17T11:20:00.000-04:00

Pinxit-cat, that is. I think that I mentioned a while back that I was syringe feeding Her Bitchiness because she wouldn't eat. A hunger strike brought on by the introduction of the foster kitten now known as Percy. And she ended up with fatty liver. Lost a lot of weight, lethargic etc. I was syringe feeding up until last week. Yep, over two months of syringe feeding. The vet assured me that her appetite would come back once she had food into her. I was adding Milk thistle and dandelion root supplements to her food as it is supposed to help heal/clean the liver and increase appetite. Nothing.

I had to take Sir Percival of The Backyard in for his booster just before Easter, so I mentioned the still not eating to the vet. She prescribed a medicine (that I forget the name of because its at home) that is intended to be used as an antihistimine for humans. I Googled it (of course…teh Google is indispensible) and found out that for whatever reason, it increases cats' appetites. Sure, whatever. I get it, pill her (which is another story…thank friggin' god its Newton and not her that I give six vitamins a day to…) and I kid you not…within HALF AN HOUR she was scarfing down wet food. I wept. Well, practically.

That continued for the weekend. She seemed to really be digging the dry food…sick of the wet stuff that I forced down her throat for so long, no doubt. We came home from work on Tuesday to find her lethargic and weak, and there were piles of puke (food and foam…sorry for the visual) all over the house. Dammit. So I put in a call to the vet and while I was waiting, I took advantage of Google again and found that she was getting four times the amount that is usually recommended. If that happens, they do well at first, but the drug builds up in their system and they get sick. The vet recommended that I cut the pills in half (they were already in half…so quarters) and give 1/4 day and nite. I decided that I'd try 1/4 once a day only since that's what the Google gods said to start with, working up to more only if necessary. She perked up within a couple of days, but was still throwing up everything she ate. I stuck with it…figuring it was still the excess meds.

We went away for the weekend, so the last dose of meds she had was on Saturday morning. I wasn't sure what we'd come back to on Sunday. To my surprise, she met us at the door looking great. And NO puke anywhere in the house. She was still eating like a horse. So I made an executive decision to stop the meds without talking to the vet. She is still eating. On her own. Yay. Looks like she's on her way…thank the gods because I honestly thought we were losing her last week. She looked terrible. And I'm not ready for her to go yet. Selfish I know…but I knew it was fixable and not worth putting her down for.

So there's the latest chapter in the Cat Chronicles. What we do for our animals…its crazy.

And just because Newton needs a royal name too…King Newton the Rotund. There.

Spring Resolutions

2007-04-03T15:14:00.000-04:00

I don't do New Year's resolutions. For me, the dead of winter is not a time to be making promises…I'm not likely to keep them. But now that the snow is (mostly) gone and its (getting) warmer, its time.

My main problems right now are my physical shape, my diet and everyday "stress". I've come up with a few things to hopefully get me on the right track.

1) Eat better

A no brainer, really. Right now, we're lucky if we eat three good dinners a week. The kids get their meals of course, but we don't all eat together. By the time we get home, the kids need to eat right away. Then there's some play and sometimes a bath, then in bed for 7 - 7:30. They are only home for a little over two hours before they have to be in bed. I don't have time to cook our meal until the kids are in bed (unless I was organized the night before and threw something in the crock pot to cook all day) and by then I'm often so exhausted that we eat beans and weenies (THE best comfort food ever…but anyway) or KD with tuna and some veggies thrown in. Better than nothing, I know, but not overly healthy and not enough.

And no, Jon doesn't cook. So don't even suggest that…

2) Exercise

Again, duh. And yes, I've been saying I've had to get in shape since Cael was born (then I ended up pregnant again before he was one, so I gave up on that for a while obviously). I'm not fat by any means. In fact I'm quite a bit underweight…I need to gain a good 15 pounds to be at a healthy weight.

I didn't gain much weight while pregnant…from behind, you couldn't really tell I WAS pregnant. Until I walked…the tell-tale waddle near the end. I did stay active, walking from our parking spot in the morning and usually back again in the afternoon up to when I started my leave (a month before with each). But pregnancy does weird things to a body and my muscle tone is absolutely GONE. My stomach muscles split down the centre when pregnant with Cael and they are still split, over a year and a half after Iain was born… I understand they do "heal" but I haven't been working at it enough. My stomach looks fine, but its not as firm as it once was. My legs are ok, but that's because I walk a lot. I do have a pretty loose butt tho, which I HATE. All in all, I'm in half decent bikini shape, but just…soft. Very soft. My cardiovascular shape is another story…its terrible.

Of course, the exercise depends largely on resolution #1. I need to seriously increase my calories so I don't waste away when I start to exercise. I'm hoping that I'll be hungrier, which will force me to eat. What I want to do for activity is just go and run. No gym membership to pay for and there are bike/running trails with a few minutes of us. I think I'll start a slow-paced running program in May and slowly work up to a full run. I have no miles per week in mind or anything like that…I just want to get out and do it. And we're hoping to get out biking a lot this summer too. We got a fancy bike trailer for the kids to ride in last year and used it a handful of times.

3) The drinking

Suffice it to say that I partake of the boozy goodness too often. I'll leave it at that for now. I bought a case of Perrier at Costco over the weekend, so I'll be drinking a lot of that with a little lemon instead. Except the weekends…that's mommy's drinkin' time. *

4) Improve my attitude

In general, I'm a wise-ass. And a pessimist. I can't change that and if I did, my friends would wonder WTH happened. ;) But there are some things that I need to be more upbeat and positive about. Finding a new job, being more patient and helpful to the various stupid people I deal with (which means not blowing up at them…yes I did it at work recently. It felt good, but probably wasn't the best idea), and having more patience with the kids. I seem to spend most of the limited time I get with them either scolding or rushing them. I'm going to try really hard to relax and enjoy their yummy babyness before it disappears completely.

5) Take my French training more seriously

I've been taking language training off and on since 2003. I have the background from my time in Europe and got the levels needed in writing and comprehension, but haven't gotten the oral part yet. I haven't been trying to speak as much as I should be outside of classes, which is really key. If I want a better job, I need my levels. I'd really like to get them this year.

6) Take more "me" time

I have lots of stuff I either have to get done or just want to do. Scrapbooking/crafty stuff, reading, exercising, even organizing our home storage a bit. Might not sound fun, but I do like being organized. Plus, we live in a small house, so its really necessary. I'd rather be doing the other items to be honest, but hey. This also links to my nurture post…I'm still working on that btw.

So. None of these things are completely unobtainable. They depend on my being motivated. Ok, I thought of another one.

7) Stay motivated

Do I need to go into that? Nah…I think its pretty self-explanatory. Anyone know how to stay motivated? Anyone?

Wish me luck!

*I'm kidding of course...
__________________
And excuse my absence…my work duties are currently very finance heavy and it was the end of our fiscal year last week. Busy busy…

ENOUGH already!

2007-03-20T12:09:00.000-04:00

Gah…I'm so done with winter. I'm sick of struggling with getting coats and boots onto two toddlers who turn into Gumby when getting dressed. I'm sick of wearing hats myself…I'm trying to grow my hair out and it doesn't like staticy hats. I'm tired of having permanent windburn on my face from my morning walk. And I really hope this was the last day I had to don my uber sexy, saggy arse windpants…the swooshing sound when I walk is starting to really grate on my nerves.

*breathe in….aaaand release*

Ok, I'm fine now. I know the warm weather is coming…they're calling for 14 glorious degrees on Thursday. And rain…but I'll take it.

Despite the cold, I've been feeling particularly warm and fuzzy the past few days. And no, its not a leftover St. Patty's buzz. Its thanks to the "warm glow" coming from the screen of my New! Toy! Jon bought me a Motorola Q on Friday and I've been proving my geekiness ever since by playing with it and tweaking things. I finally figured out how to get my Gmail properly set up on it, so I can now check my webmail while at work without breaking any internet rules. Ooooh yeah!

And since I have zero imagination lately, I'll share some conversations the kids have had with EACH OTHER. Definitely the coolest, most adorable thing in the world to listen to.

Car convo from this morning:
Cael: We're goin' to watch Thomas at Gail's.
Iain: Oh. An' Poko?
C: *sighing* NOOO, Iain…THOMAS.
I: Oh. Tumaas…

Dinner conversation:
C: Iain, say boogablahbeedabeedapoop!
I: *giggles* Funny Cael…
C: NO Iain, say boogerbleepboop!
I: No. I eet.

Overheard while they were playing with their FP garage:
C: Here Iain, you play wif da blue car an' da red boy.
I: ok!
C: No, dat's da orange one. I play wif dat one.
I: *Stomping and yelling* MIIIIINE!
C: Well, dat's jus' too bad.
SILENCE
C: Dat's a good boy Iain....I'm so proud uv you! See? Da blue car is fun!
I: Fun!
C: NO!! Iain!! I don' want kisses wight now! I'm playing!
I: Maaaaa! (his kiss sound)

Iain waking Cael up from his nap:
I: CAEL!! Whud you doin'? Seeping?
C: yes.

You're melting from teh cuteness, am I right? Yeah…

Score one for Nurture

2007-03-15T11:29:00.000-04:00

Apparently I have a problem. Not a huge one, but its something about myself that I am now aware of and have to try and change. Some background…

My parents are currently visiting from out East. My dad is a politician and had some time before the assembly started sitting again, so they came out to watch the kids while the sitter is in Vegas (lucky beotch). My dad is…special. He is very high maintenance. As in he doesn't do anything for himself and my mom basically waits on him. She doesn't do it willingly mind you…she gripes and growls that he's quite capable of getting his own damn tea etc. etc. But she still does it.

They've visited before, obviously and I've just let it all roll off me…its not my problem, its my mom's. For some reason this time, its REALLY bugging me. I've bitched about it a little to Jon for the past two mornings on the way to work. He's been noticing the little things too…I guess dad is going all out this visit. This morning Jon asked me if he was like that, to which I replied "Oh gods, no!". He may be annoying and clueless some days, but he's nowhere near as bad as dad is. To which he replied "Let me know if I get that bad, ok?" "Deal…"

We chatted some more and it came out that I sometimes act like I'm trying to control the house (not in a bad way, apparently) and he never knows what he can do that won't disrupt the "flow". Its true, I guess. I have my little routine that I do every morning, then have the things I do in the evening to get ready for the next day. Get the kids' clothes out, put Iain's diapers together and in the bag, feed the kids dinner, bathe them if its that night, make our lunches (sometimes…) get the cats fed and medicated, make our dinner etc. If I have time, I try and do some little bit of cleaning…a quick round of the bathroom, change someone's bedsheets, clean fingerprints off windows, throw on a load of laundry etc. Somehow the house still always seems messy and disorganized, but I guess that's to be expected when you have two kids. While I do all this, Jon is downstairs on the computer so he's "out of my way". Yes, its annoying and gets on my nerves, but that's not the point today.

As we were chatting in the car about my dad and everything my mom does for him, it hit me. I am my mother. Growing up, I watched my mom essentially run the house. She was the secretary, cook, plumber, cleaning lady and everything in between. She did it out of necessity because my dad did not help a whit. I do it now because that's what I've seen the woman do. Granted, Jon is nowhere near as dependant on me as my dad is on my mom. He is at least capable of cooking himself something if I'm not there to do it and he has no problem taking care of the kids if I have to do the shopping or whatever. But I still have this need to "control" (that's not the right word IMO, but I can't think of any other word right now) everything and make sure it runs smoothly.

As some of you may recall, I am adopted. I've always wondered where I got certain traits and habits…apparently I "came with" stubborness and a temper. I think this characteristic is one thing I can definitely count as a learned behaviour.

I've made a decision that I don't want to do that anymore. Mainly because I don't want us to become like my mom and dad. I don't want to wait on Jon hand and foot because he gets lazy and expects it, and I certainly don't want to be stressed, bitter and snippy like my mom. So starting next week (since my parents leave on the weekend), I am going to try and relax. I will do the bare minimum and take the time to enjoy the kids in the short two hours I have every evening before they are in bed. If the house is messy, who cares? If the fingerprints stay on the window 'til the weekend, that's ok. Certain things can't be put off. Newton needs his dinner and insulin every evening and its really much easier if I get the kids' stuff ready the night before. But the small stuff can be put off.

Talk to me in a month to find out if I've caved and started being a freak again...

I've always wanted to invent something...

2007-03-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

I have a couple of ideas going around in my head. Who wouldn't want a pretty ceramic (or something…stoneware? Should I get a clay wheel?) pot that neatly fits your container of Philly dip so you don't have to scoop it out into something nicer while entertaining?* Quite useful, I'd think.

But today, which I swear is the coldest day of the winter (yes, in MARCH), I thought of a winner. I was walking from the car to the office, as I do every day. It’s a good 25 minute walk. Fine as long as you're dressed for it. But today is "snot and nose hair freezing" cold. About five minutes in, my nose just couldn't take it anymore so I pulled my scarf up over my nose. I wear glasses. You other spectacle wearers know where I'm going, right? So yeah, my breath caused my glasses to fog up. Normally, I just pull my scarf down a bit and they de-fog. Not today. The condensation FROZE. They're not huge glasses, so I was able to "see" (as well as -8.5 on one side and -4.5 on the other can see…) by looking over the top of the frame. After tripping over a few chunks of ice on the sidwalk, I came to the conclusion that my glasses needed serious de-icing. I tried rubbing with my huge, awkward mitten. Nothing…didn't even make a mark. I finally had to take off my mitten and SCRAPE the frost and ice off my glasses. My fingers instantly turned into useless, numb mini sausages. I managed to scrape enough that I could see (there were even little ridges like you might get if you scrape your car window with your fingernails…), but even after putting my mitts back on, my fingers were cold for the rest of the walk. I've been here for an hour and they're still a little wooden.

So, I have to come up with some sort of device/tool that would allow you to scrape the frost and ice off your glasses without removing the handwarmers. Maybe a mini-squeegee type thing to strap to your mitten that doesn't get in the way when doing normal…mitten things, but flips open if you need it.

I'm working on it…

*If any of you steal that, I might have to kill you. Or at least slap you silly and never buy you a beer again.

No-bake recipe for dry underwear

2007-03-05T13:50:00.000-05:00

Breaking my long silence (have I mentioned that I'm doing at least two, maybe three different "part-time jobs" lately? Yeah...) with a Monday Mission post...

Ingredients:

1 Dora seat
17 pairs of leak-proof ABC underwear
1 lb Gummy Bears
27 lbs of stubborn three year-old
2 cups diluted apple juice
2 cups milk
Various books
1 TtFTE dvd
~~1 pinch~~ patience as needed

1) Place dry underwear on three year-old. Dose lightly with juice. Let digest one hour and place willing subject on Dora seat with chosen book. Place wet underwear in diaper pail and get another pair.

2) After an hour, chase whining subject and after catching, place on Dora seat again with another book. Praise extensively for not having wet his pants and reward with Gummy Bears (one of each colour). After subject has voided his bladder, pull up pants and release. Further reward with TtFTE video.

3) Add a small glass of milk at the subject's request. Repeat step two approximately 2-3 more times before lunch.

4) Feed subject lunch. Then place on Dora seat with more books. Place wet underwear in diaper pail and get one cloth diaper for nap. When subject doesn't produce any waste, dress him and put him in bed.

5) After 5 minutes, respond to knocking on subject's door and place him on the Dora seat. When the subject has voided both his bladder and his colon, clean him up and put him back to bed.

6) Repeat steps 1-4 after naptime.

7) Repeat step 5 at bedtime.

Pants...why oh why can't I find pants?

2007-02-20T15:44:00.000-05:00

I need pants. For the majority of the time I've been working in the past four years, I've been in maternity clothes. So pretty much everything I have from before pregnancy is horribly out of date. Or just looks wierd since my body seems to have changed for some odd reason. *ahem* I've been rotating jeans, cargo-style and two pairs of nice casual pants every day and I'm bored.

I recently went through my closets and got rid of everything that I don't think I'll ever wear again. Regardless of what I paid, whether I loved the colour or might possibly have a reason to MAYBE wear it again. I had quite a few things that I loved but wore to death and they were just no longer…fresh looking. Out they went. I'm not saying that I want/need to replace everything. I want to have a few key pieces that I can mix and match and that can be dressed up or down. My workplace is very casual as far as government goes…I can get away with jeans and cargos with a basic long-sleeved tee every day if I want to. But sometimes I want to femme it up a bit so I wear a blouse, and maybe dress pants.

My problem is that I have a very hard time finding pants that suit me. I have no waist, no hips and a normal length inseam (32"), and my legs are super super skinny. Its hard to find the waist and hips I need in the right length. I especially HATE shopping for dress pants. I despise the polyester pants that you usually find in most big stores. Give me thick cotton with a bit of stretch. And no pleats, tapering or high waists. All three of those make me look like I have no ass or hips at all, which isn't what I need. Last month I was in Jacob (which is usually way out of my price range…) and found a wicked pair of casual, straight leg, low (but not plumber low) waist cotton pants with just a bit of give. And they were ON SALE! The only ones they had in my size were beige. Well, they had brown (I already have brown dress pants that are actually half decent) and a weird green, but I wanted black. I do have a pair of black dress pants, but that's only because I got suckered into the skinny pant phenomenon in the fall and I've since decided that I really don't like them. As if my feet don't look big enough… Anyway, I did get the beige at the time because they were just so comfy and it’s a style that hopefully won't go out of style for a few years.

So I hit the stores during my lunch break today. It was a whirlwind trip…I hit four stores at the Rideau Centre in an hour and tried on clothes in three of them. Shopping should be an Olympic sport…

I have my favourite stores for each style of pant… Old Navy rocks my world for cargo pants. I don't even have to try them on…I know that a size one will always fit perfectly. (I know, I know…"shut the fuck up you skinny bitch"…) but I have three pairs of cargo-ish pants…I really should get something else. Next store…

I do need a pair of jeans. I have one pair and they are six years old and faded. They were faded when I bought them, but I want a pair of the dark ones that seem to be the trend now. I said I'd treat myself to a pair of 501's when I came back to work in the summer, but I tried a pair on and they look much more terrible on me than I remembered… So today I looked at Old Navy but they didn't have the size I needed in the low rise. Ultra low rise just isn't my thing… My usual place for never fail jeans is Bluenotes. The only annoying thing is that they have every waist size and leg length combo you can imagine, but never what you need. I tried a pair of 27s in a 34 leg 'cuz that's all they had. Too big. (yah, yah…STFU, I know…) And miles too long. The dressing room chick brought me a different style in size 26 and they were much MUCH too low. I don't like the feel of the wind blowing in my ass crack at all. Not to mention they were too tight in the leg...putting tight pants on me is a big mistake. Makes me look even skinnier. So scratch the jeans for now…I'll try back in a couple of weeks to see if they have new stock.

On a whim, I checked to see if Jacob had received stock in the pants I have in black…no go. Looked at a few other styles, but none of them really looked quite right. Too tapered, too high, weird pockets, "tenting" when I sit, etc. Just before I left for the office I ducked into Gap and they have a couple of styles of both jeans and dress/casual pants that might work, but my hour was up. I'll go back next week to try some.

So all that and I came back with a bag of shirts for Jon and the boys. And I'm seriously considering going back and getting the cargo pants that looked soooo good and were soooo comfortable. They were on sale…and dark blue cargos is ALMOST the same as jeans, right?

There's always one...and sometimes both

2007-02-19T11:45:00.000-05:00

I think we've been very lucky with the boys so far. Very rarely do they both go through a difficult stage at the same time. Right now, they are. Just once, I'd like some drama-free time. Just once…and a week of calm is all I ask. Is that too much?

As you may recall, Iain went thru his "getting into everything" stage in the fall. He's pretty much over that now. He still gets into some stuff and will throw a mini fit (throws himself on the floor crying…its pretty funny as long as we're not in public) if I take it away, but if I ignore him long enough, he gets up off the floor and goes to play. At least he's not going from one thing to another like he was before Christmas. But the terrible two's have started with a vengeance and the next 18 months or so are not going to be fun.

Ever since he was sick and waking up to crap himself several times a night, he's been waking up crying. At least once, if not 2-3 times. We thought maybe night terrors or nightmares, but now we're leaning more towards him being used to us going in and comforting him. On Friday night, he was awake from midnight until 3 a.m. Screaming. We tried to be patient, going in every 15 minutes or so. But after two hours of that, we'd had enough. I put in my earplugs (thought I could still hear him) and Jon tried his best to ignore his screeching. He cried for an hour. And by the time he finally passed out, Jon and I were so stressed and on edge that we didn't really sleep the rest of the night. On Saturday night Iain woke up crying and we ignored it, thinking that if he continued for 20 minutes we'd go check on him. He cried for maybe two minutes and went back to sleep. Last night, he didn't wake up at all. Progress? I hope so…its like having a newborn all over again. Except I have to get up and go to work the next day and I'm knackered.

And Cael. My sweet little boy who was such an angel while he was two. Well, look out, 'cuz he's three now. The little darling has decided that "son uv a bits!" (thank you daddy!) is the perfect thing to say in many circumstances.* While I was home with them last week, he had his teeth brushed with mandarin orange and patchouli hand soap twice. I don't know if that approach actually works, but he really hated it, which gave me some perverse pleasure. They started back with Gail today (do I hear a YEEHAW!! from the audience?) and she will do the same. And STUBBORN. Oh man… He's started refusing to pick up his toys, so I told him whenever I have to pick them up, they are going in the "garbage". He's decided that he'd rather help me put toys in garbage bags than put them in the toybox. Including his beloved dinky cars and his one and only TtFTE. He helped me close the door after I went out and ceremoniously dropped the bag by the garbage can. He doesn't seem to care…I wouldn’t be surprised if he somehow knows that I snuck the bags back inside while they were sleeping. He's not stupid. So I have two full bags of toys in the basement. I'm hoping the stubborness is a result of being mixed up. Home for a few weeks, then at another sitter who wasn't fabulous. He really likes routine and his has been seriously screwed with lately.

The fourteen (yep…fourteen. It was supposed to be eight, remember…) weeks of wierdness has really hurt in the potty training department too. The same sweet boy mentioned above has also decided to start hiding and peeing himself instead of using the Dora seat (we got a padded Dora seat for toilet that he's always liked). I'm refusing to put diapers on him during the day (not brave enough to start at night tho…) and have been bribing him with all sorts of stuff if he'd just tell me before he pees and goes in the toilet instead of his pants. Gummy bears sometimes work, but not always.** Gail called me just now and said that she's gone through THREE pairs of clean underwear with him so far today. THREE. And he had already peed himself when we dropped him off…we took off his coat and saw that his pants were soaked. What gets me is that he only had a couple of sips of juice at breakfast this morning and she gave him a small glass of milk (maybe half a cup) mid-morning. wth is all of the liquid coming from?? Is the child getting up in the middle of the night and sneaking out to drink gallons of water?

A couple of weeks ago I found TtFTE undies at Zellers. I snagged the last two packages of size threes (it was the smallest they had) and hoped to god they'd shrink in the wash so they'd fit. They did...just a little. I'll cinch up the adjustable waist on his pants to hold them up if we ever get to that stage... We told him that he can't wear the Thomas undies until he stops peeing in his pants because being peed on makes Thomas sad. Hey, that's feasible, don't you think? Who likes to be peed on? Certainly not a useful engine... Anyway, I've caught him sitting at his dresser with the drawer open, holding his undies and talking to them. How sad...

Anyway, I know it won't last forever…it probably won't take long to get him back on track (haha...on track...little Thomas play on words there...). At least I hope...

* Thing is, he's usually bang on. He uses the phrase in PERFECT context every time…its very hard not to laugh and praise him for proper usage.

** Maybe I'll offer his favourite toys back if he starts telling us? Hmmm…

I'm alive....

2007-02-07T14:05:00.000-05:00

(Hmmm…I typed that I was Alice at first…what could THAT mean?)

I did indeed come down with the nasty stomach bug, but the worst of it lasted one day. I was able to go to Toronto for the rest of the week, but I was a bit queasy/dizzy off and on. Had to sit down quite a few times while at the booth. But I made it. My colleague and I did fun touristy stuff in our free time (the basketball game was a BLAST!! So glad I went…), I had a nice break from the kids (at the worst possible time too…they were both feeling crappy and not eating or drinking. Iain almost needed a Children's Hospital trip. Poor Jon…hee hee!) and came back pretty rested despite running around at the conference. Appetite came fully back by the weekend, so all is good.

Anyway, I'm not doing conference follow-up stuff and will come up with a proper post soon. But to sum up the really exciting bits, interesting things are still happening at work, I have a kid with the worst diaper rash I've ever seen from the poops (mostly cleared now thanks to corn starch. Who knew??) and a sick cat who I am having to force feed high calorie/protein food for potentially the next few weeks (I'll elaborate on that…suffice it to say that it was scary). Good times in our house… But at least the kids are eating like horses again. A bit of a relief.

Back at it…stay tuned!!

Pukefest 2007

2007-01-29T12:11:00.000-05:00

Its not as fun as it sounds, trust me on that one…

It started with Cael on Friday. At the sitter's. Who is pregnant. The smell of his puke made her puke. Which made Cael upset…he was fine with the puking until she ran for the bathroom…she says he kept telling her he was sorry. Awwww…. Thank the gods her husband was home to clean him up and give him a quick bath. He hurled three times at home that night and has had no episodes since. No appetite, but in a pretty good mood all weekend. And again, he apologized for making a mess each time he calmly puked…what a sweetie.

Sunday night. I'm tired and ready for bed. Iain starts crying. It’s a...moist cry. We go in, and sure enough he's puked all over his crib and himself. He's in a good mood tho…talking and chatting as we mop up. Put him down again with clean bedding to have him puke again shortly after. He finally stopped the cycle at 2:00 in the morning. At which time I put on laundry because he had hurled all over all of the extra sheets (I gave up on crib sheets…I just wrapped flat bed sheets around the head of the bed with towels underneath as a make-shift pillow) and all of his pajamas. He slept the last part of the night in jogging pants and a shirt. But he slept…a good five hour stretch without puking and he was in a pretty good mood this morning.

This has been my first ever experience with kids puking (unless you count my first babysitting gig when I was 13…THAT was an experience) and I handled it better than I thought I would. I didn't retch and gag while cleaning it up. It was pretty easy actually…scoop up soiled sheets/blankets, change, wipe up and console pukey child, repeat every half hour. Easy! *sigh*

Jon woke up puking today and is home with the kids, so I guess I'm next. Which would be fine except that I have to go to Toronto this week for work. And I have to deal with people. I guess I'll make sure I have hand sanitizer with me. The good news is if I wake up puking one day when I'm there, I can actually stay at the hotel and REST instead of having to run around after munchkins while taking puke breaks. It will be like a little mini-vacation! With puke added at no extra cost...

Our Children's Hospital adventure

2007-01-25T12:40:00.000-05:00

As mentioned in Tuesday's post, Cael developed a pretty bad cough as of late. When we picked him up form the sitter that day, he was coughing so bad he was wheezing and couldn't catch his breath. Apparently just before we arrived, he was crying and telling the sitter it hurt. Which made him anxious, thus making the wheezing/coughing even worse. We got him out of there and he had stopped coughing by about two minutes into the drive. Odd, no? I kept him home on Wednesday since he still had a bit of a wheeze and his regular doctor's appointment was that afternoon.

We walked into the doctor's office and she commented on his cold. Then she started the exam. And promptly took off her stethoscope and told us to take him to CHEO. Now. The rest of the check-up would be rescheduled for next week.

Of course I started to panic. And felt like the worst mom ever for not taking him in the night before like I wanted to. So we picked up Iain from the sitter, dropped him and Jon off at home and off we went. We left the house at around 4:30. I'll skip the boring medical stuff that came in the middle, but fast forward to eight hours later and we were on our way home. After three ventolin masks, a dose of oral steroid meds, a puffer tutorial and a whole lot of boredom. Its beyond me why it took so long for such an obvious problem. Its not like they had to run tests or anything...there just weren't enough doctors to deal with all of the ER patients who came through. (And there were a couple of lame ones...would you take your 10ish year-old to the ER if they were constipated, or would you just give her some All Bran and an apple? That's basically what the doctor told the parents to do, after three hours of waiting...) Luckily they had portable TV units sitting around, and I was able to snag one so he could at least watch a video when he was out of his mind with ennui. And their video choices were stellar. Lots of Barney (kill me now) and long Disney movies that would never hold his attention. But there were two Dora videos and a Baby Mozart, so that got us through.

He's such a good kid though, and did so well despite being obviously bored silly. I did have my wits about me enough to grab a few cars and books as we dropped daddy and little brother...I knew it would be a bit of a wait since I'd already done the CHEO thing when he had his swollen foreskin (how many hits will THAT bring from Google? Its not what you're looking for, pervs...) last summer, but I had no idea it would take eight hours. Considering he was exhausted from a bad sleep the night before and no naps that day, he was amazing. After the three ventolin masks, he was so HYPER I could not control him. He didn't do anything bad...he just wanted to talk to everyone. The nurses were smitten with this wee curly haired boy, and he was carried around for a bit by one of them during his really hyper time. They'd seen this before obviously, and knew a little tour of the nurses' station would hold his interest long enough for me to use the washroom before I burst.

I left with a prescription for steroid and airway clearing inhalers (Flovent and Ventolin, for those in the know), as well as a few days worth of the oral steroid meds since they work faster...I guess? And one of those AeroChamber things to make it easier to give him the puffers. I was told that he should have the Flovent (steroid) daily until the cold weather is over, and to fix what may have been damaged since this has been happening for three weeks (worst mom EVER), and the Ventolin every four hours as needed. I'm going to keep him on the Ventolin until they're back at Gail's, because I'm so sure that its something at the temp sitter's that caused this. And at least we'll have the puffers if it flares up again.

The doctors and nurses did assure me that just because he's being treated with asthma meds doesn't necessarily mean that he has asthma. They can't diagnose that properly until five or six. But he is being treated as being "sensitive" and "prone" to respiratory distress. I'm so hoping that's all it amounts to.

They did weigh him when we first arrived (I was happy...I was waiting for the weighing at his doctor's appointment and it didn't happen) and he weighs in at a whopping 26 pounds. Yikes. Dunno if that's after weight loss from his lack of appetite the past couple of weeks or what. It did cross my mind that Play-doh is non-toxic, but I just couldn't go through with it. And lets face it, he probably wouldn't have eaten it anyway.

I do have a regret. That I didn't have my camera. The image of him giving me a cheesy grin with an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose would have been a great basis for a scrapbook page. But I'm really not hoping for a next time...

Bullets for a Tuesday

2007-01-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

The sitter's second surgery went this morning. FINALLY. After being postponed a couple of times and full-out cancelled TWICE after she had already been prepped. The kids will be back with her on February 19.

Cael isn't doing terribly well at the temp sitter. He likes her just fine and doesn't complain, but there is *something* in their house that is making him cough. A really nasty, deep bronchial cough. It shows up on Monday, lasts until Wednesday. Repeat for five weeks. Not fun.

He also won't nap there because she tries to get him to lay on the couch or wherever...he really needs to be in a bed by himself. He looks awful...pale with big dark circles under his eyes. And because he's so tired, his appetite is terrible. It scares me to think about how much weight he must have lost. His three year check-up is tomorrow, so I guess we'll see. Oh, and I ended up borrowing a large playpen from their full time sitter and took it to the temp's house. He slept a little yesterday until Iain crapped himself and started yelling.

Big Little Kitten's neuter is on Friday. I SO failed Fostering 101. Wait now, I guess its Fostering 201 since I did pass the first class a few years back with another little tabby. I think I was too cocky this time around.

Big Little Kitten doesn't have a name. His neuter is booked under the name Kitten. BLK seems to be sticking...but its a mouthful. I was tentatively thinking Hamilton (since my CFL team is the Tiger-Cats, a.k.a. the Tabbies...clever, non? "Oskee wee wee! Oskee wa wa! Holy mackinaw! Tigers eat 'em raw!" ahem...). But it might be nice to find something that incorporates BLK in some way...still thinking about that one.

Can you feel the love? Awwwww....

We are moving offices. Yes, again. Too many people have left and there is no reason for us to be taking up three floors. So we're being squashed onto two. Should be FUN! *she said sarcastically*

I think I alluded to "potential big stuff" happening with me re. work. The short version is that I was offered another job. At first I jumped at it, but then I looked more into the position and waffled. Its very admin...mostly data entry. Not so fun. My current (new since December...long story there) manager stepped in and said that her program will be needing people and she could get me something closer to my field instead. At least it would be out of the admin area. So on her assurance that something would definitely be coming up for me, I turned down the position that was offered initially. More on that as soon as I find out.

I am going to my first work trip next week to Toronto! I'm helping (wo)man a booth at what's being called a Super Conference in a particular field. And apparently we're going to a Raptor's game. Meh...not a huge fan of basketball, but if its sports, I'll watch it!

Is it really terrible that I'm looking forward to being away? I guess it helps that I'll be with someone and not sitting moping in the evenings, thinking about my boys. Tho I'm sure I could have easily filled the time with visiting some friends. Hopefully we can still connect at some point, but I'm not sure when...schedule is tight. :(

Someone take these damn Sour Patch Kids away from me. I bought a bag yesterday and they're almost gone.

We're getting a new car! A 2007 Jetta TDI. We're currently leasing a 2004 of the same and love it. Test drove the new model and love it even more...a lot quieter and handles sooo nice. Clutch seems shorter and the shifter is...different. Don't know how (what do I know about cars...really?), but its different. The dealership offered us a deal if we end the lease early...I guess they're used to people shopping around as their lease ends. We were planning on looking at the Prius and other hybrids, but the fuel efficiency for the diesel is awesome, and like I said, it was a GREAT deal. Many, many extras thrown in. We're waiting for the inspection on the current car (to see how much $$ they can get from us for damage...) and pick-up will be within a week.

I'm really sad about giving up the old car. Hans (yes, its a VW and his name is Hans...so?) has served us well and both kids came home safely in him. I hope his next owner appreciates him.

I found out yesterday that my parents are coming to visit in early March, as my dad will have some time before the house starts sitting again! They are taking the train from Truro to Ottawa, something they have never done. Usually they fly or drive. The cool thing is, our sitter (full time one) is going to Vegas that week and she was going to ask a friend if she would look after the boys so we weren't put out again. Now I won't have to pay a sitter at all! And my mom is thrilled that she'll be able to spoil them the whole week...she was thinking I'd keep them home for a day or two at the most.

Jon and I are on a "diet". He's trying to lose weight and I'm trying to gain. Wish us luck...

WHOYCBE Spoilee gift!

2007-01-22T09:20:00.000-05:00

OK, so this was my first time participating in an exchange like this. I'd done it for kids, but never for adults! I had loads of fun hunting for stuff, and of course found many other things I would have bought instead after I sent the package. Typical…

The person whose name I "drew" said that her main favourite colour was blue. So I went a little hog-wild with the blue.

The gift box itself, and the funky bow:

The notebook (which was listed as something she likes, and also incorporates sparkliness) and roller ball pen (also a like):

And the chenille bath mitt I made, complete with loop for hanging:

As for other stuff, I picked up some dark Belgian chocolates (which was in a pretty box already…I just added the ribbon):

A cinnamon scented bath bomb from Lush (to DIE for…I was in last week to get some stuff and ended up buying one for myself)

And of all things sweet pea scented linen spray! This was listed in her favourite smells section and I wasn't even looking for it when it practically jumped off the store shelf at me. I hope it actually smells like sweet peas…and I hope it didn't leak. As I was walking into the post office with the box I could hear it sloshing and it dawned on me that I should have wrapped it in plastic.

And I made a card (since it was my obsession this year...how could I not??) using blue, of course, and what I hoped was fresh mango colour.

I had a lot of fun…I did end up holding on to the package longer than I should have just in case I was inspired by something else to add to the box. And of course the same day I sent it, I found two things that I would have loved to include. I also regret that I didn't write up a nice letter explaining why I picked up the items I did, as my giftee did for me. Anyway, I really hope it all arrived in one piece and nothing was damaged. I always worry about that since I stupidly sent a rather fragile item regular mail and it broke en route.

Three years...

2007-01-18T10:25:00.000-05:00

In three, all-too-short years, we went from this (sorry for the barely-covered shot):

To this:

You haven't been my baby since Iain came along, but at the same time, you will always be my baby. My first baby. The one who taught me how to be a mom. You teach me more every day, and the things I learn from you shock me.

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. You have become a wonderful, smart, caring little boy before our eyes. You have your moments of course…all kids do. But we never experienced the so called Terrible Twos with you. Just a few moderately stern refusals with your little arms crossed on your chest. Usually whatever it is you’re refusing is forgotten in a minute or two.

You are our independent, serious little man. I get frustrated by your laid-back personality sometimes…especially when we're trying to get out the door in the morning. Apparently three-year-olds don't have schedules and can't be rushed. Who knew? But that is what makes you YOU.

"They" say three is worse than two. Well, bring it on! We'll be ready and we'll try our best to keep up.

Happy birthday my little Cael-bear.

P.S. You know what would be great? If you'd eat something. Your brother is going to overtake you in the weight department soon. Its great that you like healthy things, but you need calories! Lets make your fourth year on this earth the one where you try pizza! And pasta! Deal? Super...

My WHOYCBE gift!!

2007-01-17T09:33:00.000-05:00

The day I arrived home and saw the package in the door, I was immensely excited! I had a lot of fun preparing my package and I could barely prevent myself from opening it right away. I did open the box and saw more than one item wrapped in pretty foil, so assuming each foil had something in it and I couldn't take them out without seeing everything, I left the box alone. *sigh* (It gave Jon great glee to see me squirm when I looked at the box every day. This is a guy who purposely tells me that he bought me a birthday/xmas present waaaay before he can give it to me just because he knows it drives me batty…jerk.)

The big day finally came…we even went home from work early so I could take the photos in the daylight!

The pretty packages, with a lovely personalized letter (which I didn't even think to do myself…can you tell this was my first year doing it? Yeah..):

The sweets!! Homemade dark, milk and white chocolate bark. Oh. My. God its sooo tasty.

Yummy cinnamon apple pie shower gel/foam bath/shampoo. I used it last night and it is divine! It really is like scrubbing up with apple pie, but sans the stickiness.

Some scrapbook paper in awesome browns, yellows, creams and oranges. I used a piece to do a page last night! Its funny…I love those colours, yet I rarely buy scrapbook papers with them in it. I tend to go for blues, reds…bright primary colours. Go fig...

And the pièce de résistance…the scarf. Hand-knit by the giver using lots of different yarns, some which were hand-dyed by her grandmother!! How cool is that? The colours are stunning…I love the mix. Not to mention that it matches every winter jacket I own (rusty orange parka, light blue knee length with brown faux fur at the hood, black pea coat)! I absolutely love it…

And here it is being modeled by a willing toddler.

Those photos don't do it justice…honestly. Its stunning.

Thank you "mystery giftee"!

The raw milk debate

2007-01-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

The issue of selling raw milk directly from farms has been popping up a lot lately. Farms in Ontario have been raided, or are being threatened by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO). The farm owner in question argues that they can't afford to sell the milk produced in their small operation through the dairy marketing board, so why not do it this way! In my opinion, its a pretty clever plan! Instead of directly selling the milk, you sell shares in the cows. As a shareholder, you are entitled to drink the milk produced by "your cow". Granted, it would be hard to determine what milk comes from what cow, but that's a minor detail. You could go to the farm and pick up your glass bottles of milk once a week, or however often you need to. What kills me is that its apparently ILLEGAL for farmers to take their own raw milk off their property. If I was a farmer and wanted to take a container of unpasturized milk with me to drink somewhere other than my home, it would be illegal. That seems a little extreme.

We give the kids organic milk at home. Maybe unnecessary, but I feel better knowing that at least their milk is more "natural" than the usual hormone laden milk that is pumped out at large farms. But even organic milk is being mass produced by large farming operations. Its great that they are providing us with that option, and I don't mind paying the extra money for the organic since I assumed it cost more to run an organic dairy farm. But looking at the chart at the bottom of this page, I don't understand why organic milk is so much more expensive than non-organic. Vet care is less, feed is less...all around it costs less to raise/feed an organic cow than one fed standard feed and receiving hormones to boost milk production. Yet I pay almost $7 for a 4 litre bag of milk at Costco. And it costs even more at Loblaws. Why? Supply and demand? I'm not complaining since its my choice to buy it and if money was an issue, I wouldn't bother. But I wonder how much of that goes back to the farmers?

We drank "farm milk" when I was a kid. It was hand milked into a bucket at a small farm down the road and delivered to our door in glass bottles. I have no idea if it was legal...according to some stuff I've read, the Federal raw milk regulations have been in use for decades and something like that would certainly be illegal. I'll have to ask my mom. Anyway, it was never an issue. If there was bacteria and bad stuff in the milk, we certainly never suffered. If anything, we were pretty damn healthy. I rarely had a sick day from school. The farm eventually went under, so we started buying milk at the store. It wasn't a big deal...and we were still healthy.

For me, its not even a health issue. Its not that raw milk is any better for you than pasturized. To me, its a choice. If I want to risk salmonella or e. coli exposure by drinking milk that hasn't been super heat treated to kill all bacteria, good and bad, its my choice. Hell, its possible to get e. coli from raw fruits and vegetables...doesn't mean you're not going to eat them.

Don't be alarmed...

2007-01-12T18:51:00.000-05:00

If you visit in the next few days and find some weird stuff going on. I'm messing around with my template and no doubt it will take some trial and error to get it just right. (Which means I have to try and remember what little tweaks I did and make sure I re-add them to the new template...I wish I'd kept a log. Next time.)

Not that I get a whole lot of readers who might have a panic attack if they see something besides the blah look i have now. Just thought I'd warn anyway!

Potential "Big Stuff" happening with me at work...stay tuned. Bonne weekend!

Finally!!!

2007-01-10T12:38:00.000-05:00

Its winter in Ottawa. The current temperature is -11.5 C. -22 with the windchill. I've been waiting for this more normal weather...the warm winter we've been having makes me nervous. AND I finally get to wear the pretty knee-length down-filled jacket with faux fur around the hood. I got it at Costco in July (why they would have a coupon for a down-filled coat in July I'll never understand...) and it just hasn't been cold enough to wear it. Yaaaayy winter!!

(And the first person who mentions the rain we're getting on Friday gets a Banana Guard in the mail. Don't say I didn't warn you...)

In other news, this is post #100! It only took me a year and a half to get here...so please, no applause. Just send cookies.

Now, to celebrate my entry into the 100 post club, I have a fancy pants new header. Anyone who can help me figure out how to insert the dang thing into my header will be my new favourite person. I've followed lots of different tutorials and just can't get it to work. All I see is the text header when I preview. What am I missing?? FWIW, I'm still on the "old" blogger and use the minima template. You can even email me if you want... bloonsie AT gmail DOT com

A milestone?

2007-01-08T09:34:00.000-05:00

Cael received his very first Thomas the Tank Engine (I gather a.k.a. TtFTE) toy as an early birthday present. Its a DVD set that came with a "Limited Edition Collectible" engine, so I'm sure its not the fancy ones that most kids have. But he's thrilled with it and it hasn't left his hand since Gail spoiled him with it at Best Buy yesterday. It even went to bed with him, and when I woke him up to start at the new (temporary) daycare this morning, it was still gripped tightly in his little hand. Apparently you can add to it (there's a little magnetic thingie on the back where a car attaches), so Gail said she is going to buy him more for each occasion. Oh dear... Well, it could be worse, right? RIGHT??

So yeah...as mentioned, the kids are at a new home daycare today. For the full five weeks we need her for. We found yet another woman (this was the third that I visited) who seems awesome and the kids loved her. I think because her five year old son has a plethora of cars, trucks and trains to play with. There are no other kids there right now (she's pregnant and off work and will be opening an actual daycare once she feels up to it after baby is born) but she has run a daycare in the past. She is willing to try the cloth diapers too, tho she was a bit nervous about it. But she's going to give it a go! I feel pretty good about the whole thing.

So here I sit, with my grande decaf and maple oat nut scone. Alone. I can actually finish my scone and drink my coffee before it gets cold and nasty. Is it bad that I'm the happiest I've been in a long time?

The big news here...the building management had to fumigate the bottom part of the building on the weekend (I'm exactly half-way up...does that count as bottom half?) because apparently there is vermin of some sort in the little cafeteria on the second floor. Nice... I've been boycotting them anyway 'cuz the service is SHITE and the employees are rude, but there's another good reason to steer clear.

On a lighter note...

2007-01-02T17:08:00.000-05:00

Whoever can guess what this is gets a free container of leftover turkey from my freezer:

Hint that's not a hint at all, but its pretty funny...it was a gift from my mother-in-law.

ETA... DINGDINGDINGDINGDING!! we have a winner! congratulations to the fabulous and wonderful ccw with her guess of a banana keeper. according to the mil, its all the rage in camping stores this season and is flying off the shelves! she thought we could also use it for lunches at work, but i can just imagine the raised eyebrows if i pulled THAT thing out during a brown bag lunch date. "its for my banana!" suuuure...

so ccw, do you really want the leftover turkey or would you rather skip it?

and amy, for shame!! honestly...get your mind out of the gutter woman! *shakes head* :D

Wiped

2007-01-02T13:37:00.000-05:00

Where to start?

Christmas was ok. Unlike most with toddlers/preschoolers who look forward to the Big Day more than their kids, I was pretty much "meh" about the whole thing. We decorated and put up the tree...nothing. It finally snowed and got kind of cold...nothing. I fought to make it through the week leading up to our big pre-Christmas dinner on the 23rd. On top of planning for that, I had to get packed and organized for our week at the cottage. Add a non-napping, potty resisting almost three-year-old and a stubborn, teething toddler to the mix and you've got yourself instant hell in a blender.

I got past the dinner and entertaining, which is fun for me, so not much of a stretch there. We frantically finished packing and left for the cottage at noon on Christmas eve. I took deep breaths the whole way there thinking that now I could relax and get in the spirit. We went to a party that night...nothing. I wrapped gifts after the kids were in bed...nothing. We got up and opened presents after a fitful night's sleep on my part...nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Then I lost it. I broke down over our boxing day dinner of steak and potatoes. Jon asked what's been up with me lately. Apparently I don't look at him or others in the eye anymore and don't show affection to him or the kids. My answer to him was "nothing". Because that's how I feel. I can't even explain it. I feel like nothing. I'm numb. I must be handling the oragel a little too much and it somehow seeped into my pores. My appetite is crap, I'm barely sleeping, I have zero energy. Maybe working out and eating better (read, more than one meal a day) will help? Is it just a being underweight/energy thing?

I have no idea why I'm in this funk. Before today, I couldn't blame the stress of not having a place for the kids to go next week when I go back to work. I say before today because I found out this morning that the woman who was taking the boys for almost four weeks starting on Monday wants some down time before she goes back to school on February 1. She's taking them for two weeks only. That means we have to find something to do with them for another three weeks. I just can't fucking win.

So now my stomach is in knots again. I was just going to cancel the two weeks she said she'd take them for and extend my leave at least another three weeks if not four. Then Jon could take a week or two before the sitter is ready to take them back in mid February. Jon doesn't want me to do that in case it jeopardizes my "chances" for "advancement" at work. Which are non-existent at this point since the branch is shutting down. I'm so torn. Again. Add to all that my new manager. The one who approved the leave I'm on now got another job and we have a new interim manager. I'll have to go to her if I want an extension, and I've heard she isn't the most accommodating/flexible when it comes to work and leave arrangements.

I'm hoping that when I (eventually) go back to work and get my routine back I'll feel better. I like routine. A lot.

But for now I'm numb.

Ride-on update...'cuz I know you've been on the edge of your seats

2006-11-24T08:42:00.000-05:00

OK, so I looked on eBay (I'm SO friggin' addicted to that place...) and found the identical ride-on as Cael has, brand new in box. Long story short, it cost me less to buy it from the nice eBay lady than I paid last year for Cael's at ToysRUs. Including shipping. Unreal. And my mom and Jon thought it wasn't a bad idea for them to have the same one. Less fighting. But gods help me when they're both tearing around on their "bikes" (Cael's term) blaring their "radios" (the little battery operated thingie on the front that plays annoying songs and other random noises).

I'm seeing visions of 15 years from now...except the vehicle(s) of choice will be our car(s) and not little plastic "bikes". And the music will be significantly more annoying. And of course they'll be out in the streets annoying the neighbours and others.

I think I'll enjoy their innocence while I can...

Catching up bullets

2006-11-23T10:27:00.000-05:00

My mom is here. Along with taking care of the kids, she's done laundry, cleaned the house, and played with the kitten instead of keeping him locked up in his laundry room jail. I heart my mom…

She hasn't done any cooking tho. Which is disappointing. But I don't blame her…she spends her life back home waiting hand and foot on my dad and brother. I don't blame her for taking a break. And hey, she did my laundry...

I've had a cold for a week and a half. The sinus congestion is gone, but I still wake up every morning hacking like a smoker. Charming.

I have a painful zit the size of a damn mountain on my chin. Well, just below my mouth actually. I've been applying tea tree oil a few times a day since Tuesday and it seems to be going down.

Iain is TALKING. Yesterday he was whining and being annoying and I told him I didn't know what was wrong and could he tell me what he wanted? "Bottle daddy?" OK, so he got my name wrong (EVERYONE is daddy lately), but he told me he wanted a bottle. I love it!

He also tells us when he's stinky and hungry. And we know when he's done something he's not supposed to 'cuz we hear him yelling "Iain! No!" from wherever he is.

Since I know I'm going to be off for six weeks starting in December, I have NO desire to be working. I'm not really caught up, but hey, I figure I have next week to do that…

On the being home note, I've decided not to amend my income averaging application. It would make each paycheque that much less for the next year. Instead, I'll just take another week of vacation. As Jon pointed out, I already have 12 days banked and 15 more coming to me in April. He only gets 15 days and we tend to take our vacation days together. So I'd may as well use it!

And I can only assume the the surgery went on Tuesday. I told Gail to call me if it was cancelled again and I haven't heard from her. So I guess that means she's in pain and jacked up on morphine right now.

I'm going to a liquid lunch today at one of my favorite pubs. Should be fun. Its been a while since I've done one of those, so I hope I make it out alive.

People are leaving the branch in large numbers lately. I don't blame them one bit…in a way I just wish I could get out. But in another way, I'm cautiously optimistic (I KNOW! So not like me…) that our program might get funding and I'd like to stick around to see what happens.

I'm almost done my Christmas shopping! All I have left is stocking stuffers, really. I'm the best mom ever and I'm getting the boys personalized beanbag chairs! So cute.

But its been impossible to find a decent ride-on toy. I wanted to get one for the I-man so he'd stop stealing Cael's, but all of the ones I've found are either insanely commercial (Dora, Diego, Disney crap) or too big/small. Cael's is the perfect size and converts to a scooter (!!!), but I don't think I want to get the exact same one for Iain. So I gave up and bought him his own beanbag. And the new cover for Cael's current bag. I guess in the spring we'll get Cael a trike and Iain will get yet another of his brother's hand-me-down toys...

I'm no-where near ready to send out Xmas cards. All of my supplies have arrived (yes, I leave things to the last minute. So?) and I'll get on it after my mom goes home.

As mentioned in bullet #1, the "big little kitten" (Cael's words) is still in residence. He's ADORABLE. But a little devil. He's bored stupid and is getting aggressive. I think he's about 12 weeks now, so its almost time for his snip-snip too, which could be part of the aggression. I've been letting him out to wander the house some, which drives the cats crazy, but he's become much calmer since I started doing that. He basically ignores the cats and plays with their toys. Too funny...

I do have a home lined up, but not until January as the guy is away for work right now and is going home for two weeks holidays in December. Its not ideal keeping him in the laundry room, but at least he has somewhere permanent to go very soon.

Did I mention I don't feel like working? Oh yah, I did… An hour and a half 'til ~~beer~~ lunch…

I'm sitting home wasting my vacation days

2006-11-16T10:06:00.000-05:00

I only get three weeks a year and figured it was no problem to take a week now since I'll be off on other leave during Christmas. Otherwise I'd have been cringing at the use of the precious five days. So I'm here with the kids. Its been pretty good, despite Iain and his sometimes screechyness. And Cael deciding that potties are for suckers and its a much better idea to pee in his undies. I've been using popsicles and "lollipops" (his word...) as bribery.

Gail was supposed to have her surgery yesterday. You know where this is going, don't you? Yep, it was CANCELED. The special instruments that the surgeon booked were for whatever reason not available and no-one let him know until an hour before she was scheduled to go under the knife. She was prepped and ready for the surgery when he came in and said it would have to be rescheduled. They sent her home drugged and pissed off.

The doctor was livid. Gail was upset that she put everyone out this week for nothing. I'm upset that I'm going to have to find alternate arrangements for potentially two weeks in January, because as it is I was slated to go back to work a couple of days before the eight weeks were up. I tempted fate by hoping that she might be well enough to take the kids back that week. Partly because when you count the weeks, she actually would have off for nine weeks. Now it might be ten. And I'm pretty sure I can't change the dates on my income averaging form because I would have to do a whole new application for the extra week(s) and the minimum I can apply for is five weeks. So it looks like I'm going to have to take ANOTHER week of my precious vacation leave and will have none to carry over into the next fiscal year.

Any other government folks out there who can shed some light on HR policy for this? Can I simply add another week to the end of my already applied for leave without pay on income averaging?

I'm here!

2006-11-14T09:35:00.000-05:00

If anyone cares that is. ;) The last couple of weeks have been insane with me trying to get all my work caught up, and I'm home this week with the kids. My mom is here next week and then Jon will be home the following week. THEN I'm home for five weeks. I honestly don't know if I can take it. Iain is such a little shit lately. Purposely doing exactly what he knows damn well he isn't supposed to. We just do the circuit of him getting into something, me taking him away, him moving on the the next thing, me taking him away etc. etc.... I so hope its just a phase. A short phase. Cael wasn't like that at all, so I really don't know what to do. I refuse to fully babyproof. IMO they should just learn what they can and can't touch. I have already moved a clock from the end-table and the phone, camera and remote controls have taken up permanent residence on the dining room table. Its the only place he can't reach.

It doesn't help that I'm sick as a dog. The cold started Sunday and now I'm a feverish, coughing, sniffling mess. I just can't get warm...last night I took a steaming hot shower and didn't warm up at all the whole 15 minutes or so I was in there. I had goosebumps, yet I couldn't see a foot in front of me because of all the steam. Good times. Oh, and Cael is sick too. He seems better today, but he spent the whole weekend coughing and wheezing. I have a bad feeling the kid has asthma. If he runs around (even when well), he coughs and wheezes. And the wheeze he had on Sunday was AWFUL. Poor kid.

ANYway, posts will be few and far between in the next little while. Unless I find something to keep the kids occupied for a time. Right now they are watching 4 Square. THE most annoying show ever, but they're glued to it. The way I'm feeling today, they can watch whatever they hell they want. Well, within reason... I'd say that I'll post while they nap, but Christmas is coming and I have lots to do! I'm going to actually bake this year, and I'm in the middle of making Christmas cards. Plus I thought it would be a good idea to make scrapbook calendars for the grandmothers. It was a nice idea at the time, but its a helluva lot of work. Twenty-four layouts to do. Believe me, they're pretty basic...nothing fancy.

AND I got my spoilee name for the Winter Holiday Blog Extravaganza and Gift Exchange! So I'm excited to get into that! :D

Now, excuse me while I go throw out the mountain of tissues that has somehow appeared on the table while I was writing this...

What to do?

2006-10-27T13:36:00.001-04:00

So. I just came back to work in August. I've known since late spring that Gail (sitter) was going to need surgery on her neck and arm at some point and would be out of commission for a good two months...maybe longer. I hoped it would be before I went back to work and I could just stay home a little longer, but no such luck.

She was told she was on a cancellation list and could get called with a day's notice, which would have sucked. I was stressing big time about what I'd do if I all of a sudden had to drop work with no notice. Well, we found out this week that her first surgery is scheduled for the 15th of this month and she should be able to take the kids back in mid January.

All along, Jon and I said we would split the leave, each taking a month without pay using income averaging. But since she told us it would be happening, things have happened at Jon's work that would make it very difficult if he took a month off. A week is a possibility, as long as he takes it at the beginning because once I start the income averaging, I can't come back to work before I'm scheduled to.

I COULD try and find temporary daycare for them, but honestly the odds of finding a place that would take them for a short time are slim to none. Hell, finding permanent spots is hard. I'm still on waiting lists from when I was pregnant with Cael...that's four years!

Thing is, my boss is a little pissed that I'm not trying to find alternate PERMANENT arrangements. I honestly wouldn't think of it. Gail is SO good with the kids, not to mention we are in tune with each other's styles of care and its working well. The kids are thriving under her/our care. They aren't getting confused with two different ways of discipline (not that we have to do that much) and rules. Not to mention that the potty training we've been doing for the past six months might go down the crapper...so to speak. Plus they love her to bits. She spoils them both absolutely rotten and would be so upset if I pulled them for good. If my boss is mad, too damn bad. (Hey, that could be the name of a country song, no?) I have to think of my kids first and foremost and I think its best for them to stay there until they start school.

The thing is, being away that long might mean that I miss out on possible career advancements. The branch may or may not shut down in the spring, and employess will be put on staffing lists until work comes up for them. I'd love to get out before that, which means I'd have to get my french levels if I want to get something better than what I have. And I do. But taking two months off would put a real stitch in that since I just started French training again and need to continue to work on it as much as I can if I want to get my levels.

I'm so torn. I called my mom last night to see if she wants to come in for a week to take care of them. She jumped at the chance of course, and will call me back on the weekend to let me know for sure. If I can take a few days vacation at the beginning, then my mom comes for a week, then Jon could take a week, that would leave me with five weeks of leave. Which I found out is the minimum if you want to do the income averaging thing. That would work for me...I just hope my boss agrees that five weeks off (well, five in a row anyway...I'd still have the week of vacation time taken at the beginning) is better than eight.

So that's the reason I've been MIA. Trying to get all of my work done...which means doing stuff as soon as it arrives on my desk instead of putting it in my to-do pile. ;) Now that I have an actual date to go with, I'm breathing a little easier.

Some updates:

The un-named kitten in my basement. He's still there. And will be there for as long as I can keep him there. He's starting to get a little bored I think. And bitey. Very bitey. I'm trying to hold him and be gentle as much as I can just to show him how cool it is, but he just wants to play. Normal I guess since he's alone all day and night. I bought him a rope dog bone to beat up and when he starts to bite me, I give him the bone instead. He also has a scratching post, a crapload of little mice and some other little toys. And special food and water dishes. What do you think...is he staying? haha! I keep forgetting to get more pictures of him. But honestly, he moves so damn fast it will be hard to catch anything but his wee bum and his pointy little tail sticking up in the air as he tears around the laundry room.

Halloween was generally uneventful. I dressed the kids up to help greet trick-or-treaters and they had a blast! Maybe next year we'll take them out, but I really think they enjoy greeting people. And they get the left-over cheesies and Welsh's fruit chews so its win-win! Here are my little ghouls:

Cael the skeleton:

And Iain, my little punkin. ;)

So cute... I feel a little bad about going the store-bought costume route. When I was a kid, we never ever bought a costume...it was all thrown together with help from mom. She loved it more than we did I think. But for now, costumes on clearance on Halloween day are good enough.

Work calls...and how I'd love to ignore it.

Winter Holiday Extravaganza Answers

2006-10-26T09:06:00.000-04:00

As invented by Andrea, my answers for the Winter Holiday of Your Choice Blog Extravaganza!

If I could, I'd invent a self-cleaning house, and damn it, the world needs one because, who has time to clean properly?

I sometimes buy lotto tickets, because it is/they are more like the me I want to be than the me that I am.

If you came over to my house to play and touched my ________________ I'd be a little bit mad at you forever. I dunno…nothing in my house is really off limits for touching. I encourage touching. Unless you're a 14 month old and you want use the remote as a phone/teething ring.

The colour pink makes me want to shave my eyeballs with a cheese grater.

The colours orange/brown/yellow/any earth tones are so beautiful that when I see them, a beam of light comes down and I hear a choir sing.

Oysters make me gag, feel it in my mouth for a minute, and then wash it down with champagne rather than spit it out (or else I just don't like it, but I'm too nice to say it.)

I might get sick or die if I touch lawn grubs, or look at earwigs. (picture dancing on tip-toes and waving hands while squealing…its that bad)

Same as previous answer gives me the willies and I might need to consider a frontal lobotomy if I even think about it further.

I love the feel of pashmina and other soft wools so much I want to hump it like a puppy on a sofa pillow. (what a lovely image THAT is!)

No one should have to watch me eat Zesty Cheese Doritoes or Belgian chocolate, because then I might consider being polite enough to share, and I don't want to share it.

I'm a grown-up now, so I don't have to eat beets any more, and you can't make me.

If I could invent a way to permanently coat my nostril hairs with this scent, I'd be my own biggest customer: sandalwood or cinnamon

Three things I like that anyone might like: good chocolate, Canadian football, hockey

Three things I like that nobody else in the world likes: (wow, that's hard…I'm not that unique in my likes) Thrills bubble gum, curling (ok, maybe some people like it, but I sure as hell get made fun of for that one), spiders

I have TOO MANY/TOO MUCH OF lip gloss/balm (its an addiction…but I won't stop buying it), and not enough funky coffee/travel mugs (also an addiction…and I'll never stop buying them either).

Okay, we know the best things in life aren't things, but these are the best things in life if there are going to be best things: strong coffee, purring kitties and warm squirmy toddlers, all while sitting in front of a roaring fireplace on a stormy day.

When people have kind, sweet and nice things about me, they're usually talking about my sweet kids. When they say I'm a bleeding heart, they're usually right too.

It's true, I'm a scrapbooker. I'm learning to be proud of it. (Andrea, this was there from when I started entering my answers waaay back when, honestly!)

If I could have any talent in the world, I'd choose ultra-creativity and use it to complete all of the half-finished things that are sitting around, waiting for me to become inspired.

You are given a day and a no-limit credit card to spend in one of these places, childfree. Choose one, or write your own:

An auction, where you never know what you want until you see it, and then you want it more than anyone. It's all about the adventure and the atmosphere.

Or my own:

A never visited health food store, where I could browse the beauty products (and probably buy more lip gloss), natural foods and green cleaning supplies. Geeky much?

And here's the last chance to make sure that you're not going to get a "Jelly of the Month" club membership when you're expecting your bonus for a swimming pool:

It is important to me that the items chosen for me are I dunno…unique I guess. Natural is nice. But to be honest I just like the giddy little thrill I get when I open stuff! ANY stuff!!

And

If I could suggest that you read only one post from my archives, this would be it: Are you my Mother?

And

If I were to name the Holiday of my choice for this exchange, it would be:

Christmas, but only because I don't know what else to call it as we don't really observe the religious aspect.

The perfect Friday quiz...

2006-10-20T12:39:00.001-04:00

You Are a Classic Martini

You are a sophisticated drinker, who knows that simple quality is over-rated.You're a knowledgeable drunk, but sometimes you're a know-it-all when you're blasted.

You should never: Drink and gossip. You tend to forget who's standing right behind you!

Your ideal party: Has a real bartender. But no one mixes a better drink than you.

Your drinking soulmates: those with a Chocolate Martini personality

Your drinking rivals: those with a Margarita Martini personality

What Flavor Martini Are You?

A bit of a vent...I hope it doesn't make me sound intolerant

2006-10-19T11:36:00.000-04:00

We heard a story on the radio this morning about many English language schools in Montreal potentially closing because of low enrollment. This makes me nervous about schools in our area because the boys will be going to English school. But only because we are lucky and semi-organized.

The way the Quebec system works is that there are actually two separate systems…English and French. Kids have no choice but to attend French language school. UNLESS either parent has a little Piece of Paper (I'm sure there is an official name for said paper/certificate, but I don't know what it is) from way back in their public school days stating that they attended English school in Quebec. Even though I went to English school, I don't count since it was in Nova Scotia. Lucky us, Jon's parents kept the little piece of paper from when he went to English school in Montreal many years ago. Which is quite amazing, considering they had no idea that we would ever live in Quebec or send our kids to school there.

From what I understand, the reason behind sending all kids to French school (unless they have a way out) is so that the French-Canadian culture and language will remain intact. Am I the only one who finds this ridiculous? Don't get me wrong…I completely understand the need for different cultures to maintain their identities. I'm just not sure the Quebec school system is going about it the right way. So enrollment has increased at French schools and decreased at the English ones. I'm sure French groups would consider this a victory. I would have to disagree, as the reason for the decreased English enrollment is that parents have NO CHOICE but to send their kids to the French schools. To me, forcing the kids to learn French isn't an effective way to maintain the culture. Yes, kids will be learning the language, but that DOESN'T make them Francophone…big difference.

It makes me sad that some kids will suffer and stumble through French school just because their parents don't have that little Piece of Paper. I know of one family who were able to put their son in the English system, but they put him in immersion to start as they did with their older son, who did wonderfully. The younger boy has a slight learning disability and did very poorly in immersion…he just couldn't pick up the language and do his schoolwork in it. But they were lucky enough to be able to switch him to the English system within the same school after a couple of years. The teachers and principal were very understanding and accomodating. He has done much better since the switch. Not a straight A student, but his disability means that he never will be, and that's fine. But if they had no choice but to enroll him in the French system, he would have been miserable. Who knows…maybe he would have considered dropping out as he got older.

I think its important that our own kids learn French. We live in Quebec, in the National Capital Region of Canada. We probably aren't going anywhere, so for them to get jobs (even as teens…) or do basically anything on the other side of rhe river, they need French. When I shop across the river, I always ask questions and respond to greetings by salespeople in French (unless I've heard them speak and know they're Anglophone)…in my opinion its just good manners to chat with store employees in their native language. Plus the cottage is in a very French area of Quebec…you really need it up there. We will enroll the boys in English school, but in the French immersion program. Why not just enroll them in French school? Well, talking to others who have had one of their kids in each system, the English schools are much better for kids who start kindergarten with no background in the language. The teachers are more patient, there isn't the "get off the playground, maudit anglais" taunting, since all of the kids are English. God knows there will be enough bullying in to worry about without adding language-based stuff to the mix. The quality of teaching in both systems is the same, so enrolling them in the English system won't be detrimental to their learning. The only thing I've heard is that the English boards don't get the same level of funding as the French, so they often do without new computers and proper teaching tools. That is unfortunate, but as far as I'm concerned, both kids will get their fill of technical knowledge from Jon and me since we're such huge geeks.

What I wish the provincial government would do is eliminate the need for the Piece of Paper. The loss of the French culture has nothing to do with Anglophones not learning the language…it’s the other way around. It seems to me that Francophones are being fed English culture (music, movies, etc.) and the youth are gobbling it up. If Quebecers want to preserve the language and culture, maybe they should be looking at their own people instead of putting the blame on us.

________________
And since I'm in the venting mood…

Why is it that people think that pounding the crap out of the pedestrian crosswalk buttons will make the light turn faster? Almost every day I see it…I'm waiting to cross at Elgin to get to Sparks Street. There are pedestrian buttons to push, but I'm not exactly sure why they are there…to make us feel empowered maybe? Anyway, I walk up to a pole and push the button once. The little red light comes on. A chick smacking on gum and gabbing on her cell phone walks up and starts frantically pushing the damn button. I hate to tell you sweetheart, but once the little red light below the button is on, it doesn't matter how much you press the damn button…THE LIGHT WON'T CHANGE ANY FASTER. And I hate the smug look that some people get when they waltz up to an intersection, press the button and the light changes immediately. It was just good timing, so get over yourself...

It must be Fall...

2006-10-06T10:42:00.000-04:00

Because all of a sudden I'm busy at work and I have a kitten in my laundry room. Yep, that's right.

I'm a sucker, what can I say. I've seen a black and white cat around all summer. She looked young to me…under a year for sure. She looked pretty good tho, so although I felt guilty, I didn't do anything. Fastforward to last Saturday. I was sitting in the living room crocheting while the kids were napping and I heard a high pitched noise that sounded like a kitten. I turned and looked outside and lo and behold, a tiny kitten trying desperately to follow the black and white cat. It was barely walking, soaking wet (it was raining that day) and crying. Without even thinking, I rushed out. The kitten came towards me, but the mom grabbed it and took off. I was in tears…why are people so stupid and don't take animal ownership seriously? But anyway…that's another post for another day…

That minute, I started putting wet food out morning and night. Every time I checked, it would be gone. My big master plan was to get the mom cat comfortable with me and used to eating chez moi, and hopefully she'd bring her kitten(s) to eat too. Then I'd catch them. Sounds simple, right? Riiiight.

Last night at dinner time, there was a knock at the door. Jon answered…it was the neighbour's 23ish year-old son and he was asking if the black and white cat was ours. Jon said no…then I heard the meowing. The neighbour had found the kitten wandering around in their backyard and he was standing at our front door (knowing I'm a cat lady and that I'm a total sucker…) cradling and rocking this tiny tabby. Then I told Jon that I'd been feeding mama and had already been talking to rescue groups about sending her and any kittens to foster homes if I could catch them. He just shook his head…I've done it again. So of course I take the kitten, tho the neighbour was reluctant. He had never had a cat…only dogs. In five short minutes, this little kitten had captured his heart. But there is no way his dad would let him have a cat. But at least he offered to help me get the mom cat if/when I was ready.

So. I busied myself getting it settled in the laundry room. A couple of shallow boxes with blankets, a stuffed animal (nope, I have no clue what I'm doing…I thought it might be lonely), and a pan with a little kitty litter. I warmed up some of the highest fat wet food I had and he ( I think it’s a he…) scarfed it down. Poor little thing...

I called my cat sitter and told her what happened…she immediately brought me some milk replacement and a syringe for feeding squirrels. Its not ideal, but it did the trick. I'm going today to see if I can get a proper bottle and nipple. I know that it can probably wean since its eating food, but I figure any extra calories would be good since it IS pretty skinny.

AND just a few minutes ago I found out that I might have a home for this little guy as well as the mom if I can catch her. Its at a farm, which I know to some isn't ideal, but I know these people and they have a nice heated barn and nice fat cats living there catching mice and lazing in the hay. So I'll hang onto him and work on getting the mom semi tame so she will eventually eat the food in the trap and I'll catch her.

But in the meantime, this little guy will need pretty much constant care and I don't want to dump it on the sitter, who comes in twice a day to give Newton his insulin. I want to make sure its getting enough to eat…I don't think its eating enough right now. So that means I will probably have to bring it with us to the cottage this weekend. Along with a full house of people, PLUS my SIL's cat and dog. Where the fireplacing hell am I going to put a kitten?? There are no extra rooms with the whole gang up there. I could create a space in the basement, but it can get pretty cold down there. And the other cat and dog could get into the space…if this kitten is sick, I don't think it’s a good idea to be mixing it with well animals. Any ideas are welcome…I don't know what to do.

Now, a little history. This isn't the first time I've taken in a stray who was wandering in my backyard. I guess about four years ago this fall, there was a tabby, who I estimated to be maybe 10 months old, who would come and lay in the sun on the deck until we made a noise, when she would take off. She seemed semi tame…when I came outside she would run away, but stand at a distance and meow. I started feeding her, and within a week she would let me touch her while she ate. Soon after, I was able to pick her up, even though she was very jumpy and would scramble to get down if she heard a noise. So I took her in and kept her in a room in the basement (we've renovated since…that room isn't there anymore) for a couple of weeks.

Our cats knew she was there…I did all of the things you should do when introducing a new cat to existing cats. They all seemed curious, but not aggressive towards one another. So eventually I let her out of the room and she made her way up to where the cats were. They watched her, but ignored her at the same time. But within a minute of being upstairs, she attacked Newton. I guess she was just used to having to fend for herself. I decided right away that I couldn't do that to my cats, so I was able to find a home for her pretty quickly where she will be an only cat. That was my first experience with cat rescue. How many more will there be? ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news, alien spiders have been plotting to overthrow SH and his government ever since the ill-fated election in January…and They have arrived. *

* Not really…but I was walking past the gallery this morning and thought this picture would be really cool...

Are you my Mother?

2006-09-29T10:03:00.000-04:00

Something has been on my mind for the past couple of weeks, thanks to questions asked by a curious friend.

As a lot of you know, I'm adopted. My parents adopted me when I was two months away from turning three, so almost the same age as Cael is now. I know absolutely nothing about my birth parents, and very little about my life before the adoption. I know I spent some time in a foster home, but I don't know how long. If I go by pictures, then I THINK I was placed in care at about the age of 18 months. I say this because I have very few photos of myself as a baby, and the ones I do have are so blurry you can barely make out my features. (I do see a lot of me as a baby in my kids though, no matter what the MIL says…) There are a lot more photos of me as a toddler, which makes me think that my birth parents took very few pictures, but my foster family took more when I was placed with them. One of the few baby pictures shows me at about nine months old with a black eye.

I had fallen down the stairs in my walker at the babysitter's (according to the picture caption) and had spent some time in the hospital. Notice that I am sitting/standing in…the walker. The photo was taken the same day I got home from the hospital. Great.

So now, here I am. Thirty-one, married and two kids. I still have no idea who my parents are or where they are. I don't know how old they were when I was born, I don't know the circumstances surrounding my foster care and adoption. All I do know is that Jon and I aren't related…mom checked when we got engaged.

My brother was also adopted, four years after me. I remember very clearly being allowed to take the day off school so we could go pick him up, and I was the first to hold him. He was only three months old and so tiny! My parents were thrilled to have the opportunity to care for an infant, since I was well beyond that stage when they got me. They happily got up for night feedings, made bottles, changed diapers and wiped spit-up. And he was an incredibly good baby. So happy and giggly…I had so much fun with him! Especially when he got to the jolly jumper stage…he loved it when I would pull him back and let him swing through the doorframe. Until mom caught me…she wasn't too impressed.

My parents have always been very open about my brother and me being adopted. I'm sure they would have answered any questions we may have had growing up, but we just never asked. Partly because we were happy, loved and well cared for…why would we question such a great life? Neither of us have ever used the "you're not my real parents" thing in a fight and I can't imagine what that would have done to them…my mom for sure would have been devastated. Because as far as I'm concerned, they are my parents. They are Mom and Dad, while my biological parents are known as my Mother and Father. I don't share DNA with Mom and Dad, but they've raised and nurtured me to become the person I am now. And I think I turned out pretty good! I'm polite (which I'm sure came from growing up in the political spotlight, with dad always being involved at some level), environmentally aware and vote New Democrat. All from them.

Which leads me to the nature versus nurture debate. I think I'm a LOT like my parents. I have a temper, which most attribute to the hair and that I MUST have some Irish blood in there somewhere. But my mom is pretty firey herself…so it may have come from watching her. I'm fairly scientifically minded. My dad has a BSc in biology and is always interested in all things scientific. My mom is insanely mathematical….I'm SO not. She does Sudoku like its going out of style…she loves it. But she is also bookish…and so am I. When I was a kid/teen you'd never see me without my nose in a book. We'd go to the library every weekend and my mom and I would each get a few books each and read them all within the week. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a broadcaster, and threw myself into school. Didn't get a job even remotely related to my training, but that's ok…the interest was there to take the course, and I'd still love to get back into it in some form someday. I'm sure that comes from my dad…he could sit and watch the news all day, as could I. I love cats. So does my mom. Although I have a toddler photo of myself at the foster home petting the resident cat, a big fat calico, practically curled up in the chair with her.

When I was pregnant with Cael, it was pretty much understood that I would breastfeed. And use cloth diapers. (Actually, that's how I broke the news to them that I was pregnant…I handed Mom a Kissaluvs diaper and asked if she could replicate it since she is a good sewer). Mom was thrilled about both. Little did I know that her biggest disappointment of not having biological children is to be able to breastfeed. If she were to adopt today and knew more about the options, she would have done induced lactation. And she used cloth on my brother until he got such bad rashes that she switched. I had no idea of these things until I was pregnant.

So where do I get the traits mentioned? IS it from Mom and Dad, or Mother and Father?

I look at my brother. He is very artistic. So NOT like mom and dad. Neither of them have any artistic ability whatsoever. But since we grew up in small town Nova Scotia, a man who is an artist MUST be gay. Unfortunately my brother is easily swayed by public opinion and decided against taking any art courses. For a time he wanted to go to chef school, but changed his mind for the same reason he didn't pursue any art training. He hasen't taken any training since he graduated high school six years ago. He just doesn't know what he wants to do, and won't go with what he's good at. Now he's working as telephone support for a high tech company. And its looking like he's going to go west at some point to work on the oil rigs. He does have an excellent work ethic, which would come from both parents…my dad grew up a farmer and my mom was in a military family. Both pretty strict. So I guess it’s a mix…he gets the artistic ability from someone, and is sure as hell isn't mom or dad.

Usually I don't even think about being adopted. Its part of who I am. But sometimes I get a pang…I'd like to know who my parents are. When I'm home I look at people in the street, wondering if we're related. Who do I get my fast metabolism from? And the hair? And the damn freckles? Do my kids have any traits from them? What are their occupations? Do I have brothers/sisters/nieces/nephews somewhere? What happened that I ended up in foster care? I'd even like to touch base with my foster family, more than anything to thank them for taking care of me until a more permanent family was found.

But somehow I don’t think I'll ever find out who they are, let alone meet them. And that's ok. I am very lucky to have parents who have supported me in whatever I wanted to do, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Conversations

2006-09-27T11:54:00.000-04:00

I'm swimming in boxes and packing tape here, but Cael has been a riot lately…have to post these before I forget.

This morning, after he finished his oatmeal:

C: Yes!
Me: Uh…yes?
C: Yes!!
Me: Yes to what, sweets?
C: Yes to grapes, mom!
Me: Would you like some grapes?
C: Oh! Yes please!
Me: (brings grapes) Here you go…yummy grapes!
C: Oh wow! Thanks mom!

C: (running pantless into the living room) Come see!!
Me: (following him into his room) Well look at that!
C: (dancing) I did a poop poop poopyyyyy!
Me: You sure did!
C: And its stiiiinky!

Newton has an issue with the litter box. As long as his paws are in it, then he lets loose, even if his arse is hanging over the edge. Which he did last nite…and he had an audience.

C: (standing two feet away from Tubby) Oooooh…that's not good.

Dinner on Monday:

Me: Would you like some broccoli?
C: Sure! I LOVE broccoli!
Me: (scrambling…that wasn't the answer I was expecting) OK! Here you go…some nice crunchy broccoli!
C: (takes a bite) I don't like broccoli.

B-I-N-G-O

2006-09-25T11:45:00.000-04:00

Its that time of year…the United Way fundraising campaign. Every year, our department does all sorts of stuff to raise money (hee hee…I typoed monty…freudian slip?). Dress down Fridays (which are a little silly 'cuz every day is dress-down day here), a big karaoke fundraiser that usually brings in thousands of dollars (that's for sector wide only…its loads of fun! No doubt there will be more on that from me in the coming weeks), 50/50 tickets and other stuff.

This year, they're trying something different. Yep, Bingo. They sold us our cards last week and the draw is every day at 11:45. Just so we can be authentic and all, my co-worker and I just went to Zellers and bought…wait for it…bingo markers. Yeppers, I'm officially an old, bingo card dabbin' woman. I chose the turquoise one. I sensed it was the lucky one.

Seven minutes 'til the draw…my marker is at the ready.

Friday bullets

2006-09-22T16:09:00.000-04:00

I actually started this yesterday…and that's a pretty good indication as to what my whole WEEK has been like. I'll be So. Glad. When this move is done.

So yeah, we're still packing. Its slow and torturous. Enough said on that, I think.

Building on the recent talk of the new skinny pant fashion craze, I actually bought a pair of (semi) skinny pants my first week back. Just because I needed a pair of black pants that fit me properly. I noticed that they had a slight taper, but shrugged and bought them anyway. But I haven't worn them yet. Partly because I have no clue what shoes to wear with them. I guess chunky heels? But not pumps (not that I own a pair of actual pumps anyway), 'cuz the pants themselves are kinda funky? Please don't say ballet style, or flats at all, 'cuz flats on my feet when I'm not wearing at least a boot cut are bad news. I have big feet compared to the skinniness of my legs and when I wear flats it looks like I have flippers on. Seriously.

Cael has started pushing Iain and just being mean in general. I'm shocked 'cuz he is such a gentle kid and for the most part ISN'T rough with him. He's just being a jerk sometimes. Please tell me it’s a phase?

Newton isn't quite right. He's increased his eating, drinking and peeing again, which usually means his insulin dosage is off. But according to the vet, he's at the maximum dosage already at 3 units morning and night. Though the last time I went to pick up some insulin, they gave them to me still in the case and the instructions on there said to go up to 4 units. Which is right?? Must do research on that…

I started my classe de français on Wednesday! Its great…a lot better than the classes I was taking before my mat leave(s). They actually cover the exact course outline as the school of the Public Service, which rocks. And the teacher also speaks English. My previous teacher was from France and didn't speak a WORD of English. So its nice to have a teacher who can explain why something is like it is to us in our mother tongue. So here's hoping I get my B's in the next few months!

I've jumped on the Lucky Bamboo bandwagon and bought one to dress up my new office. Apparently, you can't kill it. I've had rotten luck with plants in my office, so all I have to say about that is "we'll see…"

I'm so in denial that its going to rain all bloody weekend. The kids get so wound up when they have to spend the day inside. I hope it least gets warm out…we'll don our rain gear and go out in it anyway.

Have a great weekend!

Politics and the War

2006-09-19T15:47:00.000-04:00

I don't often write about political issues. But I am a total political junkie…I love reading about what's going down on the Hill, and would love to be able to just sit in the gallery in the House of Commons for a day and watch the proceedings. I know, how boring of me, right? No way! As much as we gripe about politicians, they ARE the ones who pass the bills and run the country. I find it pretty neat that it happens a couple of blocks away!

As more and more Canadian soldiers are killed in Afghanistan, insistance that Harper pull out the troops is increasing. Jack Layton has said that the mission is no longer what it was supposed to be, which was a reconstruction mission, and that troops should all be home by February.

I can't BELIEVE that I am actually backing this* man (can you say YEEHAW!) on something. I've been an NDP supporter for as long as I can remember (I had no choice really, with my dad being NDP and all…the party values were instilled in me very young) and it kills me to say it, but I think the troops should stay. Like SH (Stephen Harper or shithead….take it as you want) has said, we're there now and we should finish the job. If we pulled out now, how would that look? Canadian military personnel have always been seen as the peacekeepers, the rebuilders. I don't think it would be a good idea for us to turn our back on the Afghanistan at a time when they need support.

Having dated a couple of guys who were involved in the military, I know they are a proud bunch. They don't want to be killed or injured while serving, but they go anyway and serve with honour.

That being said, I don't like the war. I think it sucks that so many of our troops are being killed, and they aren't even in combat. Which brings me to another controvercial action by our buddy SH. He refused to put the Peace Tower flag at healf mast for fallen troops. At first, I was pretty upset that he wouldn't lower the flag. The least he can do is have the flag lowered to show respect and to honour yet another man or woman who has fallen for their country. But if you think about it, at the rate we're losing soldiers, the flag would never be raised. Pretty depressing. I for one would be sad every single time I walked by Parliament Hill and saw the flag down yet again. Which is worse for national morale? So again (dammit) I support SH on this one (double dammit).

But believe me, there are lots of things I don't agree with. The guy is a backwards, redneck** moron...

* That cartoon is in NO way meant to bash Americans, for any who might be reading. I just did a search for SH and there it was…and I think its pretty damn funny.
** I have nothing against rednecks either. I grew up one and managed to turn out ok!

Quick hair update

2006-09-19T12:07:00.000-04:00

The good news is, its not pink! The…well, not BAD news really, is that the dark blonde dye actually turned my hair darker. Go fig. So now I have a chestnutty-reddish colour going on. Vague enough? In any case, its much better than it was…and looks like a more natural colour, even though it isn't MY natural colour. But apparently I can pull off many different colours with my eyes and skin tone 'cuz everyone here always says that whatever colour I have at any given time suits me. Or maybe they're just being nice and tittering about me behind my back...

I did take before and after pix (well, Jon did…and he stood way too close to the back of my head and the flash level was way too high to see anything other than a big reddish pink mass in the centre of the picture, so I can't see a difference at all. But he assures me that it no longer has a fushia tinge. Which is definitely a good thing...) but in my rushing around this morning, I forgot to grab the memory card. And I'm not spending any more time sulking about my hair, so I won't bother posting them tomorrow either.

Onward! :D

Worst dye job EVER

2006-09-18T09:15:00.000-04:00

For the summer, I went lighter than usual. Normally I have auburn-ish hair…this summer I went all wild and dyed it a light strawberry blonde. Incidentally, when my mom visited, she said it was the EXACT colour my hair was when I was a kid…and now I have to do it artificially. I guess that's why everyone said it looked so natural on me.

Anyway, now that fall is coming (yaaay! Fall!!), I decided it was time to get rid of the blonde and welcome back a warm red that I usually get with henna. But since I'd used a dye (ammonia free from the health food store, but still…I had a bad experience a couple of years back with using henna over blonde highlights after the hairdresser assured me that they didn't have to bleach it since my hair was already fairly light, so it would be safe. Ask me someday about my green hair…), I was wary of using henna. So off I go to the health food store to try another colour of the same line I used to get the blonde. Colour 8C...copper blonde (the translation of that page is very funny…) sounded nice! And it was just a shade darker than what I had…perfect. Not too drastic.

Last night, I decide to do it. I only need half the kit since my hair is short…so I get two dye jobs for the price of one. I leave it in for the allotted 20 minutes and then wash it out. While wet, it definitely looks darker. I let it dry naturally, as recommended in the instructions. When it was dry, I went back to the mirror. And nearly passed out.

My hair is burgundy. I'm not kidding. Jon even thinks there's a pink tinge to it. What the fuck do I do now?

NEVER have I had a dye job that didn't look somewhat natural. This is soooo not a colour found in nature. I wish I'd been in the state of mind to take a picture last nite or this morning to show you all. Its bad. I was almost embarrassed to walk here from the car because I felt like everyone was staring/laughing at me and my wine coloured hair. That's probably not the case, but humour me here...

So now, I have to go to the health food store near my work (they have a different line of herbal dyes than this one was, but I've used it before) to check out what they have. Just to tone it down a bit…maybe a light chestnut would cover it up enough to still let some red through, but tone down the burgundy? I don't want it much darker, but I don't think I have much of a choice. I'm scared to go lighter in case I end up with totally pink hair. That would be much, much worse.

Oh well…its not the end of the world. Its just hair, after all! At least I'm wearing a funky outfit, so maybe it looks like I MEANT to do this? The burning question is…what the holy hell do I do with the other half of the kit? Does anyone out there have short hair and look good with burgundy hair?

Ok, you can laugh now. Even though I'm pretty sure you already were. ;)

And to make a ~~funny~~ bad thing into a bad day, I forgot to put my boobs in this morning. Super duper.

In other news…

Our Big Move has been pushed back a week. Fuuuuuck. We're all working out of boxes because we were told it might happen today, but might not happen 'til Friday, so be ready. Now the phone company says they won't switch all of the phone numbers over until the end of the month. What I'd like to know is what the people who have already moved are doing. I assume they got THEIR phones switched. So we're in limbo. At least I'll have lots of time to get stuff cleaned properly (like the walls in my new office…honestly, it looks like someone sprayed coke all over the back wall. At least my bookcase is going there if it doesn't come off with some scrubbing) and properly archive some stuff.

And the kids! Adorable as usual. Iain's latest thing is wandering around the house with his pudgy arms in the air yelling "TOUCHDOOOOWN!" even if there isn't any football on. Everything he can get his hands on is to be used as a phone (he'll hold a dishcloth to his ear and wander around talking into it). And he also says "d'oh!" and hits his head a la Homer Simpson. Makes me so proud. Cael is doing insanely well with his potty training. He'll quite often spend all day in the same diaper/underwear because we manage to catch him before he pees every time. But he still doesn't always tell us when he has to go. Which I understand is normal and it will be a while before he does. He did shock Jon yesterday by telling him he needed the potty tho, so we were thrilled with that.

My laptop is back in the hands of its mama! And I missed it. It took Jon all morning yesterday to get the wireless configured, and it still is dropping the connection every five minutes, but we're almost there.

Anyway, I think the store opened at 9:00, so I'm gonna duck out before the fun starts here...

Crickets

2006-09-12T10:29:00.000-04:00

Hear them? Yeah…thought so. Its pretty dead in here, huh? Shall I make more excuses? Suuuure….

For starters, as I've mentioned, we're moving offices. Next week. Am I ready? Hell no. I've been packing OTHER offices. Somehow our group has three uninhabited offices that are full of junk. Most of it is just cabinets full of stuff to be recycled, but there everything has to be gone through in case there are items to be archived, or confidential documents that need to be sent away for shredding. HUGE job. To make things interesting, our building only has seven big recycling bins that have to be shared with thirteen other floors. And leases must all be up this month or something because we're all fighting over bins. We're basically calling every day hoping to get one bin. And when we do finally get one, its filled within five minutes because we dump all of the paper that we've been clogging the smaller bins with. Then we wait for pick-up and delivery of another. Usually, time between a full bin and a new empty one is two days. Ridiculous.

It doesn't help that some big important people are moving. Jack Layton currently has some offices upstairs and they apparently get priority over bins…they get two per day. But I guess that's ok.
But anyway…within two weeks we'll be moved and settled. But not too settled because its looking like our program is sunsetting (fancy pants = ending), so we'll be asked to vacate next year. Groovy.

So what's up with us? Besides lots of snot and whiny boys? Actually, that's about it. Both kids are sick. Although I really can't complain…Cael has been wonderful. No whining, still sleeping well and pretty good appetite. He started getting symptoms last Wednesday and he's right as rain now. Iain on the other hand…he was pretty miserable. I stayed home with him on Friday and he basically whimpered in my arms when he wasn't sleeping. Which he did…twice that day, thank the gods. His nights have been decent too, so I guess I can't complain too much about him either. I guess I'm just a whiner. But he has been teething as well. It looks like the appearance of two more teeth is imminent. I wish they'd just pop out and be done with it…I'm not used to having a bad teether. Speaking of whiner, Jon has been sick too. He went out Saturday nite (I won't go into that one…the whole netiquette thing) and woke up Sunday with a cold. Karma, I tell you… And he's been worse than the kids. Makes me laugh.

In other news, my laptop is still in the shop. Its been six weeks. *sigh* I know they said six to eight, but come on! I'm dying here! I keep telling myself that it will be worth it in the long run to have a laptop that is actually portable. The battery has never worked and it makes it hard to take it to the kitchen to do a recipe (for example) when you have to shut down, unplug, log in again blah blah blah. So I'm looking forward to taking it with me to the cottage or wherever so I can just tap away wherever I am.

I have a couple of photos (since the boys are cute as buttons right now and you MUST all be suffering withdrawl) but as usual, Blogger is being a pain in my ass by not letting me upload photos.* So I'm just going to load 'em from Photobucket and hope that the resizing works…it can be sporatic.

Let's start with some eating pix. Cael with his new favorite snack...freshly picked carrots! Grown in window boxes, which worked wonderfully! I'm going to attempt winter gardening as well once I get a light fixture. If it means Cael will actually eat something different, I'll do anything.

And Iain...his taste in food is more...varied.

And if this image doesn't make you melt into a puddle of goo, then I'm sorry. You have no heart.

Yes...they are ACTUALLY hugging! Cael will also walk around the house holding Iain's hand (which means, Cael drags him around the house while Iain giggles like a fool and tries not to fall because Cael walks too fast), showing him everything. "See that Iain? That's planets!"** Friggin' adorable.

The bookcases are calling my name. Someone make them shut up, PLEASE. And send me a few recycle bins...

*Has anyone been brave enough to try the Blogger beta version? I'd like to do the switch if its better...plus the categories would be awesome. Or am I the only one that has problems?? Anyway, if you come in here one day and everything looks different, that's why...

**I am the best mom EVER and bought Cael a solar system mobile. He LOVES it. I thought it might be a bit above him, but he is genuinely interested!

A world of Francophones

2006-09-01T14:56:00.000-04:00

Currently I work with four french speaking individuals. It doesn't bother me at all…partly because they all know I can understand every word they're saying, therefore they don't say anything (in front of me anyway…) that they don't want me to hear.

Now, my position is I BELIEVE English essential. Which is a fancypants way of saying that you don't necessarily need French in this job. Which is surprising to me, since I am technically unit support (another fancypants term meaning assistant) and I would think that they want whoever is in this position be able to converse with anyone who calls. Not to mention that I think its now mandatory in the federal government for all jobs to be bilingual. Maybe its just new jobs that are listed and certain levels…dunno. I guess it isn't as crucial for my position since my program is relatively small and we don't get many calls. But I would really like to have a better grasp of the language so I could eventually move up, away from this position.

ANYway, when I first came back and realized that I was surrounded by Francophones, I thought "Great! Maybe I'll get some practice!". Not so much. They all want to practice their English with me! Which is actually kind of ok since I'm incredibly shy about speaking French in front of Francos because I know my accent is terrible.

Which brings me around to language training and testing. Back when I, and the majority of the agency folk in my branch, became indeterminate (fancypants…it means full time and that status pretty much will stay with me until I retire), they had us all go for language testing to see where we stood. The levels are weird…A means you can understand some, maybe write and talk a little, but you kinda suck. B means that you understand most of what is being said, you could write an email if you had to, and can talk well enough to make yourself understood. C is excellent communications skills all around. There are three tests to be taken. Two are written, and are done on the same day. If you get to a level B on these tests, you can be scheduled for your Oral Interaction test. Which makes everyone sweat. Its hard. The teachers look for perfect grammar, use of certain key terms regarding your work and tasks etc.

So back six years ago, I took the written tests and got B on both of them…no sweat. Then I only got an A on my oral test a couple of months later. Which was disappointing, but not unexpected. I started language training shortly after, but never got to the level in my speaking that I thought I could be re-tested and pass. Then I went on parental leave. I came back and found out that our lovely new minister at the time had scrapped language training. Super. So while I was back (for eight whole months between the boys…heh), I couldn't continue my classes. And my B levels ran out last summer, as they require people who receive A, B or C levels to be re-tested every five years. Unless you're lucky and achieve the elusive E (Exempt) level, which means you never ever have to take a government language test again. I'd LOVE to get that, but odds are I never will.

Since I came back, I've learned that the new (Francophone...) post-election minister has re-introduced language training. Unfortunately I think I've missed out on the fall term as the person who is in charge of booking is off until next week, which is when the new sessions start. I'm hoping there might be an opening for someone at my language level, but I'm not holding my breath as lots of people in the branch were really pissed when the classes were cancelled last time and they all jumped on the chance for more training.

I do find it frustrating that there is no point in even applying for a job you qualify for (or even just enjoy, so you apply even if you don't quite qualify) if you don't meet the language requirements because you will be automatically screened out. I guess can understand why the rules are in place, but to me, its most important that higher level officers and managers have a good grasp of French, not necessarily us lower on the totem pole.

On Blogging

2006-08-31T11:53:00.000-04:00

I'm not a very inspired blogger. I've tried to write posts like many do, with deep meaningful insights on something or other and I JUST. CAN'T. DO IT. Its ends up sounding ridiculous. Disorganized, blathering, uneducated, one-sided nonsense.

I envy people who can string lots of words together and have it sound good. I just don't have that gift.

But Tanya, aren't you trained in Journalism, you big flake?

Um, yes. But that's different. Plus, I'm trained in radio/tv journalism, which stresses the use of less words, not more. And (in tv) the use of pictures to tell the story. Maybe that's why at least 80% of my posts consist of mainly photos.

Who knows…maybe someday I'll get struck by lightning and *poof* I can write good. (yes, I did that on purpose…I'm not that thick…) Until then, you'll have to be satisfied with kids, cats and the occasional blathering about environmental something or other. And lots of photos…hopefully soon.

With our move coming up very soon, so I've been spending a lot of my time turfing binders full of crap that have followed me from office to office for four years. Stuff that no longer has relevance to the work I'm doing now, and certainly has no historical value. So I haven't spent as much time "writing" as I'd like. Read: I haven't been slacking as much as I'd like. *ahem* But never fear! In the next month (hopefully) I'll be installed in my new digs and can go back to slacking for half the day. 'Cuz I know you're all DYING for more photos. ;)

Recent conversations

2006-08-24T12:45:00.000-04:00

Me: What's that SMELL?? [sniffs air and Cael's head and face à la Bear in the Big Blue House]
C: Its sunscream [a.k.a. sunscreen] mommy!

Me: Dora is over…do you know what that means?
C: Yeah.
Me: OK squirt, lets get you in your bed.
C: No, it means I play with cars.
Me: I don’t think so…its bedtime, bud.
C: Its bedtime AFTER I play with cars.
Me: I see…

Me: Do you have to pee?
C: okay
Me: [getting potty] All right, here you go!
C: [shakes head] No potty mommy.
Me: Don't you have to pee?
C: [shakes head no]
Me: Did you just pee in your undies?
C: I guess I did! [looks down in mock surprise]

Working girl

2006-08-24T10:54:00.000-04:00

So. Here I am, back at work. Its summer, so its pretty dead…a nice time to be transitioning back into things. But at the same time there is lots of program related stuff going on that I have to wrap my head around. I honestly feel like I've been walking around in a daze the past three days. Which isn't much different from my usual state of mind, but that's ok.

When we dropped the kids off at the sitter's on Monday, it was bittersweet. I KNOW Cael is happy there and I know Iain will be too. But I got a pang when we were driving away and Iain was watching us go with a worried look on his little face. :( He looked so confused and it hit me that I'll never get that one-on-one time again unless I purposely create the time. Either have Jon and Cael take off for a while or I take Iain away so we can do something. But its still not the same. My "home with baby" days are gone forever.

Don't get me wrong…I like being in the land of the living again. I'm wearing nice clothes (even tho a lot of my stuff doesn't fit me anymore…I cried this morning 'cuz the first three outfits I tried on sagged on me), I'm wearing make-up (and breaking out…thank you, thank you…), I have time to eat at least two meals a day (breakfast when I get to work, and lunch of course) and I get to be a part of the busy city again. Yes, even though I am a total rural girl, I did miss the bustle of the city. And Ottawa is beautiful, especially in the summer! I love the old buildings and flower arrangements they plant in public areas. I love being close to where the decisions are made…I'm literally a block away from the Parliament buildings. I love hearing the Peace Tower bells when I'm out walking. And the view of the newly renovated and put back together Library of Parliament that I get while walking from our parking spot is stunning. I can't believe how good of a job they did…its truly a work of art.

I get regular updates throughout the day from Gail…whenever one of the boys does something cute (or not so cute, but that rarely happens), she'll call. I've had two this morning, one saying that both of the kids were dancing to her son's music. Cael will dance like a fool, jumping around with his skinny arms flailing, and Iain will try his best co copy. Which usually leads to him falling over because he just doesn't have the coordination yet. I so wish I could see it…

So once I get more settled, look for more posts. I have some Green Toddler stuff to update on, some photos from our cottage vacation, and maybe even a book review if I think I could do a good enough job of it. We ARE moving office space sometime in the next few weeks, but no-one knows when exactly. So preparing for that will take some time since I have a looooot of file sorting to do. Which I love. Immensely. Can you hear the dripping sarcasm? Yeah…

Long lost blogger, checking in!

2006-08-18T15:54:00.000-04:00

OK, here's the scoop on the past three weeks. Jon has been home on vacation, our internet was down for 10 days of that (stupid Bell...how I hate them. I didn't read any blogs on my "to read" list during that time and I thought I'd go INSANE. I'm trying to catch up in bits as I have time but am failing...), we were at the cottage for some of it as well, and now my parents are visiting. The good news is that I'll be back to work next week (tho I've heard that I'm sharing an office 'til the 31st...joy) and will hopefully experience some brain cell re-generation so I can come up with some insightful and halfway interesting entries. I have a couple of things I can't wait to write about...is that enough of a tease? The bad news, I'm going back to work. *sigh* Tho I have to admit that it will be nice to wear nice clothes and eat more than one meal a day. I DO like a routine, so it will be nice to have one again.

So, briefly on the kid front. Cael is talking more and more and Iain is walking. Officially on his own walking. Crazy. And he's looking more and more like Cael every day. Very cute indeed.

So yeah, that's about it... But never fear...there will no doubt be an extensive kid post in the near future.

Blogiversary!

2006-07-18T14:57:00.000-04:00

I realized that its been over a year since I started this thing...huh. Hard to believe its been a year since I was fat, hot and obsessing over every little uterus twinge. Even harder to believe that in a month, my leave will be over and I'll be back to the grind until I retire. Oh, what a cheerful notion THAT is...

On that note, I will probably be scarce until then. I'd like to really enjoy the rest of my leave with Iain. Not to mention that my laptop is going into the shop this week...the battery has never worked and we want to get it fixed before the warranty runs out. And apparently it takes three weeks for them to send it away and fix it.

So a quick update on the boys...

Iain is becoming quite the strong willed little man. He knows what he wants and tries until he's blue in the face until he gets it. Or has a meltdown, whichever comes first. He STILL only has the two teeth...frig! I'm sure a whole bunch will come at once at some point...this is ridiculous! He's not walking, but is still teasing us by standing on his own for a few seconds at a time. He LOVES the pool. Splashes and kicks like crazy. And puts his own face underwater!

Cael is just getting over a f o r e skin infection (spaced out to hopefully avoid searches...) that just happened last week. I ended up rushing (well, moderately hurrying) to the Children's Hospital in Ottawa to get treatment. So we'll have to keep an eye on that and hope it doesn't become a recurring problem. He's officially a little fish! He's discovered that if he lets us put water wings on his arms, he can swim. That's right...on his own. He'll go all around the pool with one of us following. I'm nervous of the deep end, but as long as he has the wings on he can't sink. But still...ack! Potty training is ok. He has his good days and not so good days. He seems to be resisting doing #2 on the potty, which is frustrating. He'll sit there for a good half hour and as soon as we give up and put a diaper back on, he'll poop. *sigh* And he tells us AFTER he pees in his diaper. "I peed....horraaaay!!!! I have gummy bears now." He doesn't understand that we only reward him and celebrate when he goes in the potty. But anyway...

So on that, I'll sign off for now...if anything big happens I'll go sit downstairs in the dingy basement and post. But more than likely there won't be anything big to note until I'm back at work. Ugh...

Some scrapping pages...

2006-07-10T14:50:00.000-04:00

Since its on my mind and I have a few minutes...

Canada day:

Swinging:

Cottage:

Fall:

They aren't anything super special, but I've had fun creating!

Long promised garden photos

2006-07-10T14:21:00.000-04:00

Not that you all were waiting with bated breath to see my half-hearted attempt at gardening or anything, but anyway...

As previously mentioned, I've been putting a lot of time into my gardens this year. I figure I'm never going to get another summer "off", so I'd best do as much as I can this year...then it will be just maintenance. And everything looks so pretty! Mainly thanks to the regular weekly rain...nothing has had a chance to get fried like most years.

The front gardens:

The first pic looks less than impressive...I think the mounds of stuff there will look better next year. And the yellow thing? A butterfly feeder. Supposedly the stuff I planted there are huge butterfly attractants. We'll see... The second photo is mostly stuff that was either there when we moved in (I just moved stuff around) or stuff I planted last year. Except the clematis vine...its doing GREAT and I just put it in this year. I still have some work to do...everything is so crowded. I might have to do even more splitting and moving in the fall.

The tub 'o pansies on the back deck, with the cute little dragonfly suncatcher type thing on the side:

And the veggie experiment...tomatoes and peppers in baskets:

The peppers are supposed to be regular green peppers, but I've been watching them and I'm not so sure. By the shape of them, they're looking like green hot peppers. Is it too soon to tell? Will they change from a longish shape to round as they mature?

Oh, and the green globes in the pots are supposed to be slow release watering spikes. I'm not sure how well they work...I mean, we got the larger ones because they are supposed to be good for large containers, but it seems to me that they have to be placed in just the right spot to water everything. I planted the tomatoes before I got the globes, so I had to just stick the spikes where there was room. Which was near the side...not great. If I use them again next year, I'll put them right in the middle. Another tool that I've discovered that works insanely well is Soil Moist. You can't use it in food plants, but I've put some in with the pansies and I barely have to water, which is amazing because everything on the back deck usually dries out and dies by this time of year. Love it. As I re-pot my indoor plants, I think I'll sprinkle some in those too.

And baby carrots...we also have another "crop" that was planted two weeks after these:

The beginnings of my little oasis at the side of house. Mind the backwash hose...ahem... You can't really tell, but I planted creeping thyme in among the stones and Jon threw some grass seed here and there. Pinxit preferred the knee-high grass and weeds I think... I did leave some of the thicker bright green grass/weed stuff. I don't want it to look perfect.

Cael likes to water it all...

And that yellow thing in the background, is our new BIKE TRAILER!!

Isn't it beautiful? *snif* I love it...we all went out yesterday for a family jaunt and I stuck Iain in it on his own this morning to go for his weigh-in. Oh, its awesome. So much faster...I'm not much of a walker 'cuz its just so slow. I would walk anyway just to get out, but I'd much prefer to bike. I can't wait to get in shape. I feel like such a slob lately.

And just because Iain needs to be shown off too...here is a shot of him with Checkers. We had Jon's cousin's family over on Saturday for a bbq. Another friend came too and brought her dog...Iain LOVED that dog. The ball he's holding...its Checkers'. He scabbed it and the dog was desperate to get it back but wouldn't try too hard. Watching them was so cute...especially during dinner when Checkers was licking Iain's high chair seat to get the food he dropped. He'd get his toes on occasion and Iain would giggle like mad...adorable! And if anyone tries to tell me we should get a dog, sorry. Not gonna happen as long as the cats are around...they're too old and cranky. ;)

The little fence showing up there is to keep the I-man away from the pool. He'll crawl right for it and if we went out for some air I'd spend the whole time playing lifeguard. So Jon built the barrier with leftover supplies from the fence! Its worked great so far! On Saturday afternoon he was more than happy to stand at the fence watching everyone on the pool.

(And Lorie...those leftover ribs you guys left haven't made it to the freezer yet. I keep digging into them. Heh...)

What should one do with Playdoh...

2006-07-08T07:27:00.000-04:00

that has been peed on? Wash it? Chuck it?

Just askin'...

Ready for another kid post?

2006-07-04T17:55:00.000-04:00

Well, too bad. 'Cuz that's all I've got.

Cael stuff:

he is the funniest kid ever. a sampling of what he's saying lately:

"mmmm...good job mommy!" (after i make him dinner)
"oh nooooo" (with hands on his face)
"i had fun on the trampoline mommy. ow ow ow ow ow ow..." (the sitter's younger son takes the kids on the trampoline sometimes and cael loves it. we have no clue what the "ow ow ow" is for tho...)
"oh wow! look at the _____"
"iain, please don't touch. IAIN! what did i say baby boy?" (this one kills me...)
"where's daddy/mommy/dump truck/noo-noos? oh! its right here...hi daddy/mommy/dump truck/noo-noos" (this is always said when the person/object in question is right in front of him...)
"hi daddy! hi cael. how are you? i had fun on the trampoline daddy. ow ow ow ow ow..." (he played out this conversation with large and small watering cans...large being daddy and small being him. he even changed the voices)
"shhhh iain...mr. murphy is sleeping..." (mr murphy is his sock monkey...he named it after mr. murphy on poko...)

he's loving the pool this year...he's an expert bubble blower. he's already quite comfortable doing the "1-2-3 jump" thing from the side of the pool. last year it took him a good month before he'd try that.

we're kind of sort of trying to potty train. i got a cute little potty that actually makes flush sounds. at this point, he just likes to sit there (if i'm lucky) and "flush". he hasn't peed for me at all in the potty yet, but he has peed for gail. they made quite the big deal about it. AND he got gummy bears, which we've decided is our bribery tool.

we're at the "what's that" stage. he asks what everything is. and he retains it...

he tries to bargain at meal times...

"cael, would you like a grilled cheese?"
"how about...ice cream?"
"we don't have any ice cream...but i can make you a grilled cheese!"
"how aboooout...vitamins?" (gummy bears)
"um, noooo..."

For your viewing pleasure...here is Cael demonstrating his "ow ow ow" thing while Iain looks on:

Iain's turn!

he loves doors. he is always crawling into a room and closing himself in. when i go to rescue him, he's inevitably behind the door so i can't open it. i've also discovered that he can open doors if he's up at that level. he can reach his closet door from his crib, and i've gone in several times to get him after a sleep to find the door open, even though i had closed it.

still eating well. and i'm trying to figure out how he manages to make crunching noises when he only has two teeth.

he's another water lover. and damn is he brave! we have one of those spring floats (the outside inflates and there is mesh on the inside) and both he and cael like to use it as their own personal tub within the pool. iain will put his face right in the water and blow bubbles. we were amazed.

he says daddy! and means it!

he's insanely rough with the poor cats. he grabs handfuls of fur and yanks for all he's worth. cael was never ever this bad. the cats are both pretty patient...they'll yowl for me to come rescue them but that's about it. tho newton did give iain a scratch on the weekend. and that's fine...he's gotta learn.

he starting to stand for a few seconds at a time. and he will walk while pushing anything he can get his little hands on. usually his walker thingie, but he'll push his high chair, the exersaucer, the little rocking chair...you name it. he's a bit of a brute...

Here's the little fella walking with his push-walker while giggling like a fool. And trying to get it to go my favourite way...smacking the crap out of it:

We're all better now...no more shit attacks. Iain lasted until Sunday...almost a full week for him. And this week he's resting up. He's been sleeping 6 hrs a day, plus his nights. Which is good for me 'cuz I'm still feeling pretty run down.

Speak of the devil...he's awake and babbling in there!

Knee deep in, uh...poop

2006-06-30T12:41:00.000-04:00

That's us this week.

It started with Iain's fever on Sunday. Then the poop started. We're talking newborn-like-pooping-every-diaper poop. I cut out dairy and anything too fibery from his diet...he's getting complex carbs, bananas and applesauce. He's still not quite right. Tired (he's taking 2-3 hour naps twice a day, plus sleeping 12 hrs at nite), cranky, zero appetite. Sometimes his diapers are completely dry, besides the poop. Which has me worried. He doesn't even want juice. Or formula. And forget water... I'm trying not to worry too much tho. He's still alert and has some bursts of energy where he's all over the place. It might be teeth that's casing a lot of it. His top gum is so swelled...

Then Monday Jon started to feel crappy. He went to work on Tuesday anyway, which was a mistake. He ended up having to take the next two days off. Only 'cuz he wanted to make sure he was good to go for his golf tournament today...

On Tuesday it was my turn. I've NEVER been that bad. Ever. I felt ok in general. Just running for the bathroom every 15 minutes. I don't think my butt was even that sore with post-childbirth hemroids. All I can say is thank the gods for Cael's Kandoo wipes... But I've lost 10 pounds this week. As if I have it to lose... Its a rough way to diet, but I highly recommend catching a gastro if you want some quick weight loss.

As for my first born, he escaped all this. Again. He was apparently terribly cranky and had a bit of a fever on Wednesday morning and Jon had to go get him at daycare. We thot that was the start of it, but the fever was gone by the time he got home and he didn't have one poop that was even a bit loose. The kid has a very impressive immune system. We still don't know where the fever came from... And the crankiness could have been gas pains. During lunch that day, the kid was letting rip some farts that made me proud.

So Jon and I are back to 100%...just tired from taking turns running to the can all nite earlier in the week. I just hope Iain starts to get better soon...poor tyke.

Sorry for the non-inspirational post...my ass still hurts.

A whole lot of bullet crap

2006-06-12T08:33:00.000-04:00

But I do ramble ("Noooo....really???"), so the bullets may get...rambly. If that's even a word.
First, what's keeping me so damn busy that I can't even manage an entry a week?

scrapbooking. yes, i've become one of those. in my album right now are two completed pages and three almost done pages...i just received supplies won on eBay so I can finish said pages. i have to admit that i've already been drawn in by the gadgets. part of my shipment is an embossing gun so i can make an attempt at pretty christmas cards this year... i try to spend a couple of nap-times a week ~~staring at pictures and paper waiting for inspiration~~ scrapping. considering i have 2+ years of Cael and almost 10 months of Iain to cover, the time i spend on it isn't nearly enough.
gardening. as i mentioned before. LOTS of stuff being done. the perennials i planted this year have taken well, and the ones i put in last year have doubled in size! flowers are almost out...i'll take pictures when its all abloom. well, the peonies and roses are blooming, but the coneflowers and daisies are soooo close to opening. so hopefully they'll bloom soon and i'll catch the end of the peonies in the photos.
other misc yard and house stuff. jon FINALLY touched up the paint and got the window trim up on our new windows. two months later. the kicker...one of the pieces of trim that the window installers cut for us to nail up is too small. all i could do was laugh. and its probably too late to call them to replace it. so jon will just take a piece in to Rona and try to match it. then he'll just caulk around the frame and we can put the curtains back up. again, FINALLY. i hate not having curtains.
the pool. nope, its not open yet. we got the water off the cover, only to have it rain all last week. so now there's water on it again...and the ducks have decided the little bit of water that's there is good enough. so they land and waddle around on it while i talk to them and throw bread. i'll have get it vaccumed off this week. i'd take the cover off myself, but its heavy and awkward. if jon gets it off, i'll do the shocking etc.
chasing iain. lawrd is he busy. the fastest crawler in town...
watching the World Cup. yes, i am a self-professed sports freak. if its sports, i'll watch it. last week was the French Open... (sorry, there's an embedded video on that site...annoying music, so watch the speaker volume...)

Cael stuff:

he's pretty much always doll...what more can i say? we can hold a full conversation with him now...he's talking a blue streak. i should start posting some of the stuff he says...he cracks me up. ok, here's one from the weekend i can think of right off the top:

C: please mommy, i think i'd like some juice please (JUST like that too...)
Me: go ahead sweetie...there should be a cup already in the fridge for you.
C: the REFRIGERATOR mommy.
Me: oh right...in the refrigerator...

we get lots of that...

his seeds are still growing, and he points it out every morning. though the pansies in the pop bottle are sadly not doing so well. i might have to buy some pansies for the metal tub...not sure what i'll tell him. do i say they are from his seeds and they miraculously quadrupled in size and flowered while he was at daycare? or do i just say that the seeds grew nicely and now we're going to take care of these flowers in the tub? i'm thinking the latter...and i'm sure he'll be thrilled regardless.
in the not-so-charming file, lately he's taken to having his tongue hanging out of his mouth and letting spit dribble off. it makes me shudder every time he does it...sososo gross. i try to act disgusted and tell him its not a nice thing for big boys to do and that only babies drool and spit. it doesn't seem to be working...but he has learned the term disgusting and actually uses it properly. i'd love some tips on nipping the dripping habit in the bud. oh, he's also become a bit of a screamer. if we do something/make him do something he doesn't want to do, he'll whine for a minute, then SCREECH at the top of his lungs if we ignore him. we just continue to ignore him, which pisses him off even more, but eventually he stops. i so hope this stage doesn't last...
he's become very interested in everything iain is doing. usually because iain is into "his" stuff. we hear lots of "NO iain...MINE!" over the weekend, or in the evenings during the week. and he'll even gently tap his fingers when he's really serious. very funny.

Out in the rain feeding the ducks...

Iain bits:

as mentioned, he's crawling all over. driving the poor cats insane...cael NEVER terrorized them this much. he's cruising furniture like a pro as well, and has stood on his own for a few seconds at a time. he's losing his pudgy legs already. i mean, he was never much of a chub anyway compared to most babies...he's apparently considered "below average" on those (stupid) charts. but he has some leg rolls and chins galore. just no belly or arm fat really.
sleeps are ok, but usually annoying. he'll go a couple of days where he falls asleep no problem and will snooze for a couple of hours twice a day. then he'll decide he has to scream and cry each and every nap and only sleep for half an hour after all that. we're assuming teeth. but i so hate drugging him before every sleep just in case. so i give camilia before naps and motrin at nite.
he's a good eater. a little piggie usually. although lately he's started to get choosy. mostly for anything i try to spoonfeed. i think its normal at this stage....usually i just give him finger food meals. but there's lots of foods that i just can't give him for finger food. yogurt for example. but i can generally manage to get some into him anyway. the weirdest thing is that he seems to prefer green veggies. if i were to put sweet potato chunks and broccoli on his tray, he'd scarf down the broccoli and squish the sweet potatoes. very strange.
he's started giving the cheesy grin whenever the camera comes out. you know the one...scrunched up nose, eyes squeezed shut, teeth showing. YES...he has teeth! two little chicklets on the bottom. he's always running his tongue over them.
he has a door thing lately. he wanders the house, going into rooms and closing doors. then he whines because he can't get out, but when i go to rescue him, he's sitting right behind the door so i can't open it. eventually he figures out that he has to move his arse if he wants out. then he goes on to the next door and we repeat the process. fun.

The afore-mentioned cheesy grin:

On a family note, Nova Scotia votes today in their provincial election. And my dad is up for re-election. He's an NDP MLA, and the party finished #2 in the last election, resulting in a minority government. They're hoping for another good showing this time...go dad!!

See??? Told you i'd get rambly. Maybe someday I'll be able to piece together a decent post that's not in point form and/or full of photos...

AND I've been trying for two days to get this entry up. It would either time out or my formatting would somehow fuck up just as I was about to post so I'd have to try and fix it. Everything...bullets, pictures, links and all. I can't seem to load pictures with their uploading tool either, so I'm putting them on Photobucket...that's why the duck ones below are so huge...I didn't have time to resize. With Iain's bad sleeping and Cael home (the sitter is sick) I've been working on it as I have time. Am I the only loser who is having terrible problems with Blogger lately?? I hate to try to find excuses for not posting, but the technical issues are a big part of it...

The wilds of the city...

2006-06-05T13:22:00.001-04:00

We've been "entertaining" some pool guests as of late. And they don't care that the pool isn't open yet, or that the cover is full of rotting leaves. In fact, they seem to love it!

I was sitting here relaxing while Iain slept when I heard a splash. I swore, thinking that the skunk we've been smelling at nite managed to fall in and that I'd have to fish the damn thing out. Imagine my delight when I saw the pair of them swimming around checking things out. I did the whole waving my hands around trying to figure out what to do ("how's my hair look??"), so I just grabbed the camera and started snapping. I was trying so hard to be quiet lest they get scared and fly away. I decided to step out to see if I could get some better shots and didn't they swim to the edge and look at me. So yah...they've done this before...

I fed them bread and talked to them...they didn't seem bothered at all. And of course the whole time I'm thinking about how much Cael would LOVE this. Luckily they came back on the weekend and he was able to see them and throw some crumbs in to them. And narrate... "The duck is going to eat it...she's going to eat iiiiit... SHE ATE THE BREAD MOMMY!!!! The duck is eating bread!!" I tried to shush him so he wouldn't scare them...he was quiet for a minute or two but would get all excited and giggly again...very cute.

I took this JUST as he spotted them...we braved the (very lovely and warm) rain on Saturday just to feed the ducks.

First you get some bread...

Then you throw it in the water and instruct the duck where to go...

Iain was also enthused...

The cats weren't sure... Newton didn't seem to care one way or the other, but Pinxit spent most of the time the ducks were there at the window huffing and puffing.

Another one just 'cuz...they actually would get up on the side and rest for a couple of hours.

And who can resist a hiney shot??

Cael translator needed

2006-05-19T16:22:00.000-04:00

We undertand the "once upon a time" part at the beginning and the "never sad ever again" at the end, but we haven't the foggiest what he's saying in the middle. Ideas are welcome...

Kid stuff

2006-05-19T14:44:00.000-04:00

Its been a while since a real kid update, so here goes. If I can remember...I swear my brain won't retain anything lately.

Iain:

As seen in the video below, he's crawling. Since that video was taken, he's doubled his speed. Crazy stuff. And within a few days of him crawling, he started pulling himself to standing. He even let go and took a step before falling down...he really wanted that ball, I guess! And with the mobility, he's been following Cael EVERYWHERE. Poor kid...he can't even go to his room to escape anymore. ;) We think its adorable...he sure loves his big brother. Jon and I try to tell Cael that Iain is just a baby and needs to learn from him...not sure if he gets it. He is extremely patient tho...if Iain grabs at a toy, Cael will usually let him have it instead of freaking out. We praise him to the hilt of course, saying that Iain doesn't know any better yet and how nice it is that he's sharing. (Crap, this section turned into a partial Cael update...back to the baby...)

He is still such a happy little guy, despite the teething. He rarely gives me a hard time while awake...likes to play and explore on his own. Naps have been a bit of a problem lately. As I type, he's in there flipping the starfish (anyone with the Fisher Price aquarium thingie will know what I mean) and talking to himself. Its been an hour since I put him down. Tho he did sleep 2.5 hrs this morning...can't complain too much I guess.

His recent cradle cap is just starting to clear up. I thot we were in the clear until a couple of weeks ago when I noticed an...unpleasant odour. I pushed aside his hair (he has a lot of it compared to Cael the cue ball at this age) and there were loads of yellow scales. EW. I couldn't believe I didn't notice... Anyway, after the past two weeks of treating with tea tree oil, it seems to be going away. Still some scales, but nowhere near as stinky and I tend to absently scrape it off when he's sitting in my lap. Bad, I know, but that's the only way to get rid of it!

Speaking of hair, I had to give the kid a haircut at abt the eight month mark. It was getting mullet-ish in the back and I was smoothing it behind his ears all the damn time. After Cael, who got his first haircut just before he turned two, it seemed so odd to be cutting Iain's so early. So I already have hair for his first "curl" box. Its still pretty straight so far, tho it does curl after a bath. Time will tell...Cael's fuzz was dead straight 'til after he turned one.

Iain is such an excellent eater! He eats anything I offer...tho he is starting to show dislike for certain things. Noodles in pureed carrots or whatever veggie I happen to have on hand to use as sauce is losing its appeal. I did give a little bit of regular tomato sauce this week and he seemed fine with it (not to mention he liked it...), so maybe its time to give up on the veggie puree. He is a neat eater too...picks up a chunk of whatever and chews it carefully before swallowing and picking up another piece. Both kids are like that...I think we're very lucky that we don't have crammers.

Cael:

He's doing great...no big changes. He is speaking more and more in sentences. Today he told Gail "I would like some cheese and crackers please Gail" at lunch. He cracks us up daily with his little quips and dramatics.

Gail also tried to put him on the toilet, with his pants and diaper on, just to see what he did. He whined and wanted a hug. So we're not gonna push it. He is certainly INTERESTED in what we do in the bathroom (especially since he learned to open doors and barge in...), but maybe isn't quite ready to try it himself. We'll keep trying over the summer.

I guess there isn't anything new and earth-shattering going on with him. He's just such a loving and sensitive little boy who surprises me and makes me smile at every turn. We are so lucky to have such a great kid.

As for us, I am personally very sad that football is gone AGAIN from Ottawa. Its apparently temporary, until the Renegades get an interested owner. *sigh* I really thot they were doing well building the team, after only three years of being back in the city. Now (if they actually get a buyer), they will have to build from scratch again, as there will be a dispersal draft. So I'm hoping they will be back next year. To think we almost bought season tickets when they had their promotion last fall...

No news yet on the rink closures. I got a call from our city councillor and he urged me to write the mayor. So I'm working on getting that done. I want it to be GOOD. Not just another frantic email from a mom who wants to keep the local outdoor rink open so she doesn't have to drive her kids somewhere to skate. I want it to be stronger than that. And I'm barely thinking clearly enough to blog on a regular basis, so it should be interesting.

Newton is great. I increased his insulin a bit again and noticed a decrease in urine production almost immediately. He's even started going downstairs to nap and use the litter down there, so I am thrilled to bits.

OK, the child is still not asleep, so I'd best rescue him from the jail that is his crib... ;)

Our Green Toddler initiative update

2006-05-16T08:46:00.000-04:00

As seen over at Andrea's and an update on our seed planting, I'm proud to say that we have growth! It took some careful watering and Cael talking to them ("hi little seeds! you grow now."), but we have success! So far...

A week ago:

And today!

The larger leafed ones are green peppers and the small ones are pansies. The one in the pop bottle will go in its own pot right outside the patio door so he can see it and water it himself. The smaller ones are for me to do what I want. Smaller pots on the patio tables I guess. I'd say that I'd put them here and there in my front flower beds, but I bit the bullet last week and bought a mess of small perennials to fill up the space! Its a hard bed to plant annuals in. No matter what I put there, they get fried and look like shite by the end of the summer. Actually, more like by the end of July. So I stuck some asters, ice plants, dianthus and...something that starts with C... Coreopsis. We'll see how they do. Oh, and I stuck a clematis between my hostas. The whole "head in the sun, feet in the shade" thing. Its doing very well already. Climbing its trellis like a pro, even tho its wee.

Its very cute...Cael will get up every morning and announce "My seeds are growing mommy! I water..."

Oh, and we'll also plant some carrots. I found these seeds while cleaning up...the kit also came with tomatoes and cukes, but I think I would have had to start them inside already. The carrots I can plant right in a pot outside. Maybe this weekend if the rain ever stops... The package says these ones are perfect for container planting. We'll see... Carrots happen to be one of the only vegetables Cael will eat, so I thot he might get a kick out of growing them.

Andrea, I REALLY was going to come in and post this today, regardless of your own gardening post. Funny coincidence. ;)

As for other green activities, we went for a rain walk at the tulip festival on Mother's day. It wasn't supposed to be a rain walk...when we left the house it was cloudy, but not rainy. Five minutes after we left, it started raining. But we went anyway. We don't mind the rain, but if it had been raining when we left, I'd have dressed Cael in his rubber boots and little MEC rainsuit that he never ever gets to wear... :(

So much for that...

2006-05-15T12:45:00.000-04:00

We are probably losing our rink. The one in the park across the street from us. The outdoor rink that was a huge reason we moved here.

Some background. Our little town was amalgamated into the larger city the year we moved here. We closed on the house in November, and according to the official tax papers, we moved in January. Even though we really moved in December. But anyway...shhhhh. We don't know what its like to be a part of the "old" town. Which was fine...we didn't know what we were missing. We did notice that some services went down the crapper even since we've been here. We're on a quiet crescent street, and in the winter, it doesn't get plowed until a day after snow stops. Unless we get more than a foot...then they'll plow. Partly because there is ONE large plow for our entire town. One. And main streets have to be plowed first. No biggie...we have winter tires. But more than once we've listened to to someone with "all-seasons" spinning their tires trying to get up the street.

With city boundary amalgamation comes joining of the budgets. Our town had no debt starting out with the large city. Now there is a debt (since we inherited it from the other towns that now make up the city) and we personally have seen our property taxes increase over $600 in the five years we've lived here. I don't know...maybe that isn't much, but it seems high to me. And its not like we're getting more out of it. We still don't have a sidewalk on our street. Hell, there aren't sidewalks on any of the small streets in our neighbourhood. We border a park...shouldn't we at least have a sidewalk? And its not like we're a new neighbourhood...our house was built in the 60's, as were most of the other homes here. Apparently our sector was promised more sidewalks to sell amalgamation to citizens.

Recycling services have gone downhill. We have pick-up every second week instead of weekly. And we have to sort now instead of putting everything in one bin. Most people don't have the room to store and/or can't be bothered to sort their recyclables, so it goes in the garbage. Good show... I think the recycling rules are changing next year tho, so hopefully they'll go back to what it was. It never really bothered me. Sure, its annoying to have the recycle bin overflowing after a week, but I just sort the non-paper into blue bags and we're good 'til pick-up day.

Now, council has made a decision to close three outdoor rinks with boards and twelve without boards. We have one of each across the street....the one with boards usually has a hockey game going and the smaller one is for younger kids to learn how to skate...its wonderful. I was so looking forward to being able to send the kids across the street to skate. They would be getting valuable exercise FOR FREE within shouting distance...so perfect. Two of the boarded rink sites also provide access to heated buildings where people can put their skates on. Our rink is one of those.

The reason they are being closed is because our sector has more outdoor rinks (26 total) than the others and it isn't fair. In my opinion, its not our fault that we had more rinks than the other sectors...they chose to put their money elsewhere when we were all separate. So now, the city is planning on doubling the rink budget and putting what they call twin rinks in each sector. It would be like a regular rink, except outdoors. From what I understand, there would be one ice surface with and one without boards, same as we have across the street. Except larger. Users would drive to it, fight to get a spot to change, and jostle each other on the ice with the hundreds of others who have lost their community rinks. Sounds fun, no? There would be no way people could play hockey on them. There will be too many folks just looking for a skating surface with their families. Which is fine, but those kids who want to play a game of pick-up are out off luck.

The three councillors for our sector are pissed. They actually walked out of the council meeting after the vote. I'm happy to say that they are fighting to keep the rinks open. I've been in touch with our councillor to show that we support him in his fight. I figure the more people contact them, the better. Several local schools have started their own campaign...the outdoor rinks were part of gym class for a lot of schools as there was always a rink within walking distance of the schools.

There have been several rumours floating around. One is that the up-keep of the rinks will be given back to volunteers. That's the way it was 30 years ago when they first opened...but the town took over the clearing and flooding, which was great. Its just since amalgamation the number if rinks has been doomed. I'm not sure how realistic using volunteers is. I mean, its great to put your name on the list saying you'll flood and clear, but how willing will people be at midnite when its -20 with a -35 windchill? And yes, flooding has to be done at nite to let the ice set and allow for maximum public usage. They do clear snow during the day tho...skaters just move aside and let the plows/snowblowers do their thing.

What I think is happening is that the councillors will propose that we don't get the large twin rink, but the money budgeted for the upkeep of it will go towards keeping at least some of the current ice surfaces open. That idea pleases a lot of people...to me, its much more convenient for most citizens to have ice nearby instead of having to drive, park and fight crowds at the larger rink. From what I understand, the proposed amendment is going to be added to the final vote on the matter at the June council meeting.

And another big thing the councillors are using is the fact that physical activity and childhood obesity is a huge issue right now. As is the increase in vandalism and "gang" activities with local youth. Shouldn't we be encouraging kids to get out and be active by having facilities such as small community rinks instead of taking them away? I would be incredibly disappointed if the rinks disappeared. Cael is almost at the age where he can learn to skate and we won't have easy access to ice. I was looking forward to buying the little double blade cheese-cutter skates, a big ole' helmet and letting him lose on the ice with a chair.

I'm so hoping that the amendment goes through so we have a reason to stay. Its a shame...I honestly thought we'd live in this house until we retired. Its a nice, quiet neighbourhood and the rink was a real selling point. I loved looking outside on weekends during the winter to see a dozen teenagers playing hockey instead of sitting inside staring at the tv, and another few younger kids on the smaller ice surface...it always made me smile. But with the cost of housing on this side of the river going up, property taxes rising with no visible upgrades going on, and no easily accessible recreational facilities, we'd may as well move back to family-friendly neighbourhood in Ottawa where we can get better English service.

Here's our rink last winter after a storm. Local kids were clearing so they could skate. I SO wasn't expecting this to be the last year we'd have it or I'd have taken more photos.

Taa daaaaa!

2006-05-11T10:58:00.000-04:00

Here it is...my first ever scrapbook page!

The burgundy is actually material that is the same colour as my bridesmaid's dress. The other bridesmaid wore dark green, like the paper on the right. We used raffia to tie the tags on the favours (candle holders made out of clay pots), thus the use of the raffia. The paper I used to mat the photo is handmade, and its what we used for our invitations. The main flower in my bouquet was daisies, and we used daisies to decorate the cake, as well as floated some in rose bowls on the tables. And I looked EVERYWHERE for some sort of daisy embellishment to use and couldn't find any. So I made the daisies. I also made the wire "Our Day" on the top right. The only thing I'm not pleased with is the lettering for the date. Might re-do that at some point since its only attached with brads.

Not bad for a first attempt! :D

He's crawling!

2006-05-10T17:08:00.000-04:00

But is still toothless. Video taken today, when he was enticed by a bath...

YES...he does sound like a baby velociraptor when excited. And NO...Pinxit doesn't weigh more than he does. She's just big boned is all...

I plant seeds!

2006-05-04T14:47:00.000-04:00

Last week, Andrea posted about raising and nurturing a Green Toddler and I was inspired! Jon and I are geeky tree huggers ourselves and always say "we should get him out more". The fall was a right-off with Iain's arrival, but I'm so hoping we get out more this summer and fall. I'm still hinting that maybe a double bike trailer that converts to a stroller might be nice. But I don't think I'll win.

I know we don't need fancy equipment to enjoy the great outdoors with the kids. Something as simple as worm rescue in the rain can provide for minutes of fun! ;) We always looked forward to rainstorms when I was a kid...nothing better than a rainspout gushing cool, fresh rainwater. We also loved digging in the earth for the first time every spring. My brother and I always had our own little plot where we could do whatever we wanted. My big dream as a teen was to somehow create a Montreal Canadiens logo out of flowers, but I never did it. But someday, I WILL do it.

So. I thought it might be fun for Cael to do some gardening. He's already helped me dig up my new perennial bed, removing the rocks and hauling them away in his dump truck. So, last weekend when I was out for my weekly two excursion by myself, I picked up some peat pots, green pepper seeds
and pansy seeds!

Cael poured the water over the peat pots (which he thought were cookies...he even sampled them and proclaimed them not to be...) and we waited. He was quite thrilled that the "cookies" plumped up so much.

Then we planted. He was so meticulous. I showed him how to put the seeds in the pot and said we'd put two in each. He very carefully counted out two for each pot.

Then we covered the tray, with the explanation that we'd check them every day to see if they needed water. I showed him how we'd spritz them with a spray bottle and he thought that was pretty neat.

We had to wait until early this week to do the pansies 'cuz it was suggested that I plant them in a two-litre pop bottle cut in half with the top half put back on after planting, so he can check the progress without opening. We didn't have a pop bottle, so Gail sent one home with him on the Monday. He thought using the shovel was fun...

As was the watering can...

And then he got distracted and had to water the grass.

I'm afraid we don't have any photos of the actual seed planting as Daddy got distracted too. By some weird cartoon on tv. *sigh* But Cael thought the whole planting thing was great. Pansy seeds are a bit smaller than green pepper seeds, so he had a bit of trouble getting them off his finger, but he did manage to get 4 in the bottle before he wandered off to pick up rocks. Big, heavy rocks apparently.

So now he has to check his seeds every morning before breakfast! When the pansies are big enough, we might transfer them to a big pot and put them right on the little step by the back door so he can see them. And I'm not sure what to do with the peppers. I was going to put them in pots too, but I might just put them in the ground somewhere. I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see his seeds grow. And who knows...he might even be inspired enough to eat some of his green peppers! :D

Hey, I can dream, right?

Spoiled? Naaaaah...

2006-04-28T10:54:00.000-04:00

Stolen from Dani...my guess is no, I'm not (that...) spoiled!

Are you spoiled? You are if you can check of 40 of the following:

Do you have...

your own cell phone
a television in your bedroom
an iPod
a photo printer
your own phone line
TiVo or a generic digital video recorder
high-speed internet access (i.e., not dialup)
a surround sound system in bedroom
DVD player in bedroom
at least a hundred DVDs
a childfree bathroom (HA!)
your own in-house office
a pool (i'd die w/o it...)
a guest house
a game room
a queen-size bed
a stocked bar (define stocked...we have a few bottles of our faves...)
a working dishwasher
an icemaker
a working washer and dryer
more than 20 pairs of shoes (heh heh...)
at least ten things from a designer store
expensive sunglasses
framed original art (not lithographs or prints)
Egyptian cotton sheets or towels
a multi-speed bike
a gym membership
large exercise equipment at home
your own set of golf clubs
a pool table
a tennis court
local access to a lake, large pond, or the sea
your own pair of skis
enough camping gear for a weekend trip in an isolated area
a boat (does a canoe count? lol!)
a jet ski
a neighborhood committee membership (cottage)
a beach house or a vacation house/cabin (cottage near the woods)
wealthy family members
two or more family cars
a walk-in closet or pantry (closets)
a yard
a hammock
a personal trainer
good credit
expensive jewelry (no gems or anything...but nice custom made rings)
a designer bag that required being on a waiting list to get
at least $100 cash in your possession right now
more than two credit cards bearing your name
a stock portfolio
a passport (damn...i really should renew it)
a horse
a trust fund
private medical insurance
a college degree, and no outstanding student loans (WOOHOO!! jon is still paying tho...)

Do you:
shop for non-needed items for yourself (like clothes, jewelry, electronics) at least once a week
do your regular grocery shopping at high-end or specialty stores
pay someone else to clean your house, do dishes, or launder your clothes (not counting dry-cleaning)
go on weekend mini-vacations
send dinners back with every flaw
wear perfume or cologne (sometimes...not just hanging out at home)
regularly get your hair styled or nails done in a salon
have a job but don't need the money OR stay at home with little financial sacrifice
pay someone else to cook your meals
pay someone else to watch your children or walk your dogs
regularly pay someone else to drive you
expect a gift after you fight with your partner

Are you:
an only child
married/partnered to a wealthy person
baffled/surprised when you don't get your way

Have you:
been on a cruise
traveled out of the country
met a celebrity (debatable...stood in line for some hockey players' autographs, but didn't hang out with them or anything)
been to the Caribbean
been to Europe (lived in Belgium, visited Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France)
been to Hong Kong
been to Hawaii
been to New York
eaten at the space needle in Seattle
been to the Mall of America
been on the Eiffel tower in Paris
been on the Statue of Liberty in New York
moved more than three times because you wanted to
dined with local political figures (with my dad's people)
been to both the Atlantic coast and the Pacific coast

Did you:
go to another country for your honeymoon (what honeymoon??)
hire a professional photographer for your wedding or party
take riding or swimming lessons as a child (swimming)
attend private school
have a Sweet 16 birthday party thrown for you

31, if I counted right. So, not spoiled! :D

Pooor Newton....

2006-04-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

Here he is with his shaved neck. Feels like peach fuzz! ;)

So yah...the test results came back and everything apparently looks great. His levels are "good"...not excellent, but considering he hasn't needed any increases, he's good. The vet suggested a small increase in his insulin dosage anyway, so I've done that. I'm giving him the vitamins and haven't noticed a HUGE difference yet. He still won't do stairs. But he really has no reason to since there's a poo box up here and so is the food. lol! So I might increase the vits...he just pees out the excess, so it can't hurt. (which reminds me...haven't given them to him yet today...crap.) But he's not any worse and doesn't seem uncomfortable at all. He still jumps up on furniture and can run away from Cael if he has to...

Anyway, he's been on my mind a lot lately, so sorry for all of the cat posts. ;)

What's a snail say?

2006-04-21T14:27:00.000-04:00

Cael has several wooden puzzles that he loves to play with. This is a conversation from this morning after he finished breakfast, as he played with his animal puzzle while waiting for Jon to take him to the sitter's.

Cael: Its a dog!
Me: Right! What's a dog say?
C: Woof woof! (very properly btw...not like a dog at all)
Me: That's right! A dog says woof!
C: Its a cat!
Me: Indeed it is...what's a cat say?
C: Mew mew!
Me: You're absolutely right...that's what a cat says!
C: Its a rabbit!
Me: It sure is!
C: [looks at me] What's a rabbit say?
Me: Uh...a rabbit is pretty quiet. I guess they squeak a little.
C: Squeak squeak...mousie!
Me: Yes, mice also squeak.
C: Its a snail!
Me: [oh crap] It IS a snail!
C: [gives me an impatient look] What's a snail say mommy?
Me: Uh... I don't know. Snails are also quiet. They just...slime along. They're slimy.
C: Slimy...yucky.
Me: Yes, I suppose they can be yucky....

Christmas in April??

2006-04-21T08:38:00.000-04:00

Apparently the folks across the park from us celebrate it year round. I kid you not...they still have their lights up and on. They are ALWAYS on. I get up every morning and look across the park to see this:

It might not be so bad if the lights were actually nice, but they're terrible! One sad string of shitty lights...and its not like they have a bigger display during the holidays. Just that one string. Half of them are burnt out and the rest flash randomly. Not even the whole string...only certain bulbs will flash, like they're short curcuited. Reminds me of that Simpsons episode when Homer puts up the craptastic Christmas lights. That's what these people have...craptastic lights.

...........................

On another note, I took the cat in to the vet last nite. I always wrap him in a towel to try and keep him from kicking as I carry him in. Putting him in a cage is impossible. He howls and moans as if we're killing him. Not to mention he throws himself against the door to try and get it open and usually ends up skinning his nose or something. Anyway, I put him in the car with the towel...I didn't try and place it any certain way, but it kinda ended up under him. Good thing, 'cuz he decided to pee on the way there. *sigh* Luckily the towel took it all 'cuz Jon would have freaked if Hans (the car's name...his middle name is Gunther. Yes, its a VW...) had gotten soaked with cat pee. But I had to carry Newts into the vet's office in a towel soaked with pee. I reeked.

So I was armed with way too much info. I had taken pictures of him walking (in hindsight, I should have taken video...I keep forgetting I have that option now) to show how he's walking, as well as research on Methylcobalamin and how it can help regenerate nerves in diabetic cats who have had some damage. The vet just gave me a look and said that she guessed it couldn't hurt. Are they not used to people going in after having done their research? In my experience with this vet office, I don't think they like people who educate themselves, 'cuz it means they can't pull the wool over our eyes as easily. I had opinions on how often to vaccinate and where to give the shots. After having a cat who died of Vaccine-Associated Sarcoma, I'm wary of cat vaccines. I knew Newts had diabetes before I even took him in. I also knew when he was constipated and what caused it. I knew when he had a urinary track infection, etc. etc. (The only thing I have yet to find any info on is whether cats can get warts. 'Cuz Pinxit has what look like warts or moles all over her. She's had them for years...they don't get any bigger and they don't bother her. They don't seep or bleed. If anyone can find any info on that, I'd love ya forever. And um, she hasn't been to the vet in over 2 years because she's TERRIBLE. Bites the vet and us, won't let them do an exam, howls and growls like a wildcat...awful. I'm so embarassed by her...lol! I know I have to get her in...might try some Rescue Remedy to see if it calms her at all. I'd really like to have the warts looked at.)

ANYway, they took blood (and raved abt how good he was when they shaved him and did the draw) and said the results would be back by the w/e. She also said she doubts he even has neuropathy 'cuz he'd be walking like a rabbit. But I'm pretty sure he still has some signs of it as he won't do the stairs to go potty, has problems jumping the gate to eat and definitely has weakness in his legs just when he walks. What else would cause that?? I said I was going to give him the vitamins anyway and she just shrugged and said whatever. Good then! She figures we'll have to up his insulin dosage and was very surprised he was only on 1.5 units twice a day. She figures he should be on double that, so we'll have to do a gradual increase of half a unit each shot (damn, I typo'd "shit" three times...), increasing again every couple of days 'til we're at three. Oh, and his weight is stable! No loss, which is good, and no gain, which is also good 'cuz he's a hefto. So $80 later, I came home with a pee soaked towel, a pissed off cat with a shaved neck (he looks hilarious) and another vial of insulin.

And he seems to be feeling pretty good today bacause he won't leave Pinxit alone...chasing her and playing with his nip toys like a kitten. So funny to see such a gigantic cat jackrabbiting a nip-stick. His tummy bulges and jiggles with every kick. Hahaha! But his baby-face keeps him from looking too ridiculous...

I rocked my baby

2006-04-20T09:48:00.000-04:00

Iain has been having separation issues at naptime. He sobs as if his heart is breaking as soon as I leave the side of his crib. He will eventually fall asleep, but often I have to stand there with my hand on his back, my other hand stroking his head.

Yesterday he would NOT settle no matter what I did. He was crying himself hoarse. I was getting mad...I kept thinking how ridiculous he was being. He's been insisting on falling asleep on his own since he was three months old, so why is he being such a pain in the ass? I didn't want to have to start sleep training or anything like that at this age. I thought maybe he was hungry...I had just boobed him and he had stopped on his own, so I'd assumed he was done and put him to bed. But I decided to mix up a little bit of bottle anyway and picked him up to see if he wanted it. I begrudgingly sat in the rocker recliner in his room, cuddled him up in a fleece blanket and rocked while he guzzled the bottle. Of course I felt terrible, starving the poor child.

He played with the edge of the blanket as he drank...he is a very active feeder. His little hands are always searching for something...the nursing necklace has been a godsend. Within a couple of minutes, his wee eyes started to droop. He continued to eat, drinking almost the entire three ounces I had prepared. Soon he was out cold, and I couldn't bring myself to put him down just yet.

With Cael making the move to his big boy bed, I've been a wee bit emotional. These kids are growing so fast I can't keep up. Before I know it, I'll be back at work and won't have the chance to enjoy one-on-one time with either kid without the other wanting equal time. Not to mention that all too soon, mom won't be the most important person in the world and cuddles will be few and far between.

So I sat in the rocker with Iain for another half hour. When I finally put him down so I could get some things done, he opened his eyes and looked at me sleepily for a minute, then grinned as his eyes closed slowly and he went back to sleep.

I rocked my baby, and it was wonderful.

I can't believe I forgot to mention this...

2006-04-20T09:16:00.000-04:00

I think I might be in denial.

Cael decided last week that he no longer wanted to sleep in his crib. On the Sunday I was playing with Iain in the living room when I heard Cael talking to himself in his room. He kept saying something over and over, getting louder and louder (which he will do until you acknowledge him and repeat what he said....). I listened more carefully and realized he was saying "nite nite". So I wander in and he is laying on his bed pretending to sleep, in among the stuffed animals, clothes and training pants.

I ask if he wants to sleep and he says no (of course...what ELSE would a 2 year-old say when you ask him something?), so I tell him that is his bed and if he's ever feeling sleepy and wants to lay down, he can go ahead. He napped and slept in his crib that day. Then Monday nite when we said it was bedtime he ran in and climbed up onto his bed. I didn't know what to do. I asked him if he wanted to sleep there and he said "yes, oh yes please mommy!" How could I say no? There was no sheets on the bed...the orange blanket was just to cover up the mattress. There were all of those stuffies on it. I left them, but I put the creepy Spongebob one under the bed. The poor kid would be traumatized if he woke to that in the middle of the nite... I quickly grabbed his pillow and duckie and bunny rabbit from his crib, as well as his special orange fleece blanket that he insists on sleeping with. I left the room and sobbed in the hallway. Well, not really...but it was a close thing. He woke up once during the nite because his soother dropped down the head of the bed.* Nothing since. He even will STAY IN BED until we go in and get him. So funny... Tho the past couple of nites he's gotten up and knocked on his door so we'll go in and do the whole goodnite ritual again. But then nothing...he'll sleep 'til morning.

We haven't even had the chance to go get a guardrail thingie yet!! Jon says maybe we won't bother...he's had no issues yet. When I go do the bedcheck before I go to bed myself, Cael is usually closer to the wall than the edge. So maybe we'll leave it.

My firstborn is a little boy now. No doubt. Gail is even bringing out the potty soon to see if he'll use it after lunch, before naptime. *sob* Although the crib is still in his room. You know...just in case he changes his mind. *ahem* Plus, I need somewhere to keep his diapers. Previously, the clean ones were piled in a basket on his bed. Can't do that now. And yes, I do realize that I could just put the basket on the floor where the crib is currently standing. lalalalala...

*Yes, he still gets his soother. I said I didn't want to take it away from him until after the transition to the big boy bed. And now that he's decided to sleep there, he's become more attached to his soother. Not to the point where he wants it during the day at all, but its harder to get it from him when he wakes up. But soon we'll have to do the "soothers are for babies and you're a big boy" thing...but like I said, I'm in denial over him growing up so maybe he'll be one of those kids who still has a soother when he's four. (kidding...)

Must be Spring

2006-04-18T09:30:00.000-04:00

'Cuz we do a lot of work around here when it is. Winter is over...its time to get out and do stuff! What we've accomplished so far:

Finished the fence. Yep, its finally done. A work in progress that took a year. And it looks MARVELOUS! I have the before shots, and once I get the afters I'll post pix. I could cry, its so beautiful! And no more neighbour's dog shitting in our yard and ON our pool when it was frozen. Dumb dog. Don't get me wrong...I love dogs. But their dog is dumb. Is constantly breaking her chain and running around the neighbourhood like an idiot...why they don't get a stronger chain, I don't know. Anyway, all that to say I heart our fence.
New windows! Something else we've been desperately needing to do since we moved in. But since we already had windows (albeit old shitty ones), other things would come up that took priority. So we finally got them done last week. We have an awesome sliding door out to the backyard, so no more going out the front or side door before entering the back. Much easier to take Cael out to play in the back without him being distracted by the car (he loves to just sit and play in the car...). Awesome. Not to mention the living room windows actually OPEN now. Bonus! The only thing is...we're not done. There is some gyprocking to do...long story. The short version is there was some water damage, so we had to take some wall out. The nite after the windows went in, Jon was putting up the replacement drywall and installing another plug, which was much needed. He decided to put the satellite wire back thru to the outside and ended up drilling thru the power wire in the wall. *sigh* so we had no power in the living/dining room 'til the next nite when he could fix it. Groovy. Anyway, all is fine now...except the drywall finishing and paint touchups. Oh, Jon also built the step for the new door already. Looks great!
Gardening! Now that the fence is finally done, I can move some perennials to the back w/o them being crushed by the construction. The front flower beds are terribly crowded. Not to mention the previous owners were idiots. They put a peony smack dab in the middle of the front yard. Its annoying when we mow and its kinda sad looking, all by itself. SO. I've dug up a good portion of soil at the far corner of the back yard and will move the front lawn peony and will split one gigantico one. AND I'll move some mounds of something or other (they have woody stems and grow little clumps of shiny leaves. And they have teeny yellow flowers in July or so. And good lord do they spread. I looked them up once but I forget what they're called...) that they also put in a weerd spot...in the middle of the only useable space in the backyard. Along with a shitload of irises. I'd like someplace to put the kids' sandbox. And I'll eventually get a really nice perennial bed in the back! Might try to make it a butterfly and/or hummingbird garden.
CLEANING. After all the mess of the window installing, it was dusty. I've dusted three times and I still see some around. So we rented a carpet cleaner and did all of the rugs, upstairs and down. Ahhh....fresh! Now I just have to strip the couch covers and wash 'em up. Dunno what we were thinking, getting beige covers. Oh, I know why. All of the darker colours were made of material that was waaay too thin. Damn that Ikea...

I guess that's it. The four day weekend went by way too fast and we never really had any downtime. Because along with the cleaning and stuff, Jon's Mother arrived on Saturday to visit for Easter. Sore back and all...needless to say she sat and groaned about how sore she was the whole time. I mean, I felt bad that she was in pain, but for god's sake, stop milking it. Anyway, her visit apart from that was actually ok. Except on Sunday when Jon's sister and her boyfriend were coming for brunch, she kept puttering trying to clean up after Cael. And getting after him when he would take out more than one toy at once. "That's too many toys...put the car/bus/blocks away first..." Leave him the hell alone...he's a kid and will just mess it as soon as its clean anyway. I don't bother until he's in bed. And she insisted on putting out a tray of veggies and dip and kept telling him to stay away from it. I freaked...we're trying so hard to get him to eat like a normal person, and she goes behind us and tells him not to touch the veggies becasue "they're for the grown-ups". I just made him his own special little plate of veggies and he was tickled. Get this...he ate BROCCOLI! And apparently didn't hate it!! I could have cried...it was quite the moment.

Cael has also discovered "tlocolit". Chocolate to you and me. He had some on Sunday and spent eh rest of the day asking for "more tlocolit eggs please mommy". Very very cute. And yes, that was his first chocolate ever. He had chocolate cake a couple of weeks ago, which was a hit. But now pure chocolate...we're doomed.

Iain is almost crawling. He's been creeping for a month or so and gets up on his knees. SO close. He's been having separation issues lately too. Super hard to get him to nap. And he's waking for good at 4 again for the past week. So I'm tired again. But i've been going to bed at 9 every nite...makes for an exciting life!

And I got my period. Its super super super lite. I thot that the first post-partum period was supposed to be a gusher? I never got one with Cael, so this is the first actual period bleeding I've had in almost exactly three years. Anyway, I'll take it!

Quick cat update. I have to take Newton in very soon for a checkup and probably bloodwork. When I was in Nove Scotia, he started peeing inappropriately. We thot it was just behavioral...mad that mom was gone. But it continued...I was in denial, thinking maybe he was upset that Iain is more mobile and seems to really like the cats...lol! Then I watched him walk. It looks like he's in the starting stages of Feline Diabetic Neuropathy. Its VERY mild so far, but I figure its enough to cause some discomfort when taking stairs. So we moved a litter box upstairs fo rhim. All accidents have stopped and he is much happier. Poor guy...I felt terrible. So today after the little dude wakes up , we're going to the health food store to try and find some Methylcobalamin (a form of vit B12) for him and will call for a vet appt too. Curious to see what his sugar levels have been doing. I might talk to the vet about doing home glucose testing. It can be done with a human blood tester, even tho most vets will tell you it can't be done...just 'cuz then they lose $$ from people coming in to get their cat's blood tested.

Anyway, must get ready for our walk...its so beautiful out already! Gotta pull out the capris! :D

We made it!!

2006-04-04T15:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, we survived the trip back East. Barely. It was nice to visit, but hoo boy. I was ready to come home after night #2 of all of us sleeping in the same room. It sucked. But we made it thru. Oh, and its not a good idea to try and make a two year-old walk thru security on hi sown, even with mommy right behind him. Baaaad idea...temper tantrums may follow. Just a warning.

I've been trying to recover since we got back. Got halfway caught up on sleep, only to have the time change take away a whole precious hour of sleep. Dammit.

So, what's happened? Uh... Not much actually. The kids are pretty much the same. Oh, I think Iain has a tooth. No, I'm not 100% sure. I think there's a little nubby on his top gum, but he won't stay still long enuf for me to look, and for all I know, I might be feeling the vertical line on his gum. I figure if its a tooth, I'll be able to feel/see it better in a few days. he's teething like crazy tho. He has two HUGE lumps under his gums on the bottom...the lateral incisors. Why go in the "proper" order? He's almost crawling. For now he's getting around by creeping and is happy with that. Weighed him yesterday...17 lb 12 oz. Oddly enuf, the exact same weight Cael was at 3 weeks older.

Cael is doing well. He was pretty tired out after the trip. Took him a couple of nites to get back to normal. Poor kid...he didn't like sharing sleeping quarters at all. He's learning a lot, as expected. Sings all the time. Alternates from the ABC song, Twinkle twinkle, pat-a-cake, The Wheels on the Bus, 1, 2 Buckle my shoe, Itsy Bitsy spider.... I think that's what he knows. He picks up stuff pretty quick tho and will start reciting some rhyme or other when we least expect it.

As for me...I'm still dead tired and have a feeling I'm getting sick. Just from being so tired and running around like a lunatic. I've had a headache and upset stomach for a couple of days. Just waiting for it to hit me. And I've been working on developing a little business idea. I have no idea if its gonna work, or if I'll even try at this time. More on that another time, once I figure out what I'm doing...

I do hope I still have some readers. I know I've been a less than stellar blogger. And kids are no excuse...other moms do it no problem.

Actually, I have to confess that I may have a slight addiction to eBay. I always find myself on there just looking at scrapping supplies, trying to figure out if its worth it to buy those cheaper clear stamps that you peel and stick on a block, or just bite the bullet and buy the wood mounted rubber ones. And other similar dilemmas. ;) And of course now that spring (!!!!) is on its way, I'll be out doing gardening. I have a lot of perennials that have to be split/moved to make room in my insanely over-crowded beds, and I want to add a few things this year.

OK, apparently the exersaucer is no longer interesting...

Sick kids and a trip home

2006-03-14T12:47:00.000-05:00

As the title suggests, the kids have both been sick. So needless to say I haven't been very inspired in the blogging department. We have no idea what was wrong with them. Cael was home with me all last week with a mysterious recurring fever. He'd be fine for a day, so I'd plan to send him to the sitter's the following morning. He'd have a crappy sleep and wake up with a raging fever again. I finally managed to get him in to a doctor who told me he had a cold and it had to run its course. And I felt like an idiot. I guess we've been lucky that this was the first bad sickness Cael has had. He's had little colds and teething issues, but never a fever for that long. So I was a bit worried. Anyway, as of Saturday he was fine. Just in time for Iain to start running a fever. Which only lasted two days...he bounced back pretty quick. Partly 'cuz its much easier to get him to eat...Cael would NOT eat. I had the sitter weigh him on her digital scale yesterday and he's down to 22 lbs. Super...

Also, I've booked my plane tickets to fly back home to Nova Scotia next week. It will be nice to see people I guess, but I'm dreading being dragged to boring social events with my dad the Politician. He did that to me when I was home with Cael the first time and the poor kid was beside himself with exhaustion 'cuz he never got any naps. This time will no doubt be the same as the provincial legislative assembly doesn't start sitting until April sometime. Except this trip, I get to drag TWO cranky kids to these events. YAAAAAY! So I'm not looking forward to that...

AND, I'll have to sleep in the same room with both kids. I'm terrified that they will keep each other awake the the whole trip will be spent with two tired kidlets who aren't getting any sleep. Not to mention a paranoid tired mommy who already wakes up if a cat farts in the living room...

To top it off, I feel like I'm getting sick. I've had a headache and have been achy in general for the past couple of days. It won't be a fun flight if I'm congested...my ears won't pop after the flight.

I know, boo hoo. Sorry... ;) I will definitely post some sort of update this week in between cleaning and getting ready to go.

If you all will excuse me, I have a bowl of butterscotch pudding chilling in the fridge. Ah, lunch!

Even toddlers wake up confused

2006-02-27T16:45:00.000-05:00

I went in to get Cael up this morning at 6 ayem, as usual. He was fast asleep...dunno how well he slept last nite. When I went in to do my tuck-in ritual before I went to bed, he was lying there awake. :( But he was quiet, so maybe he slept before that...who knows.

Anyway, this morning he didn't move when I opened the door...usually he at least stirs a bit. I touched his back under the covers and he drowsily lifted his head and said "cookie". I fought back a laugh and said "Pardon?" and he mumbled "cookie" again. I told him that cookies were not an appropriate breakfast and that he'd have something else. So he said "vitamin"...which to him are gummy bears. He loves gummy bears, and we give him gummy vitamins, therefore all gummies are vitamins.

'Twas funny...

My name is Tanya...

2006-02-22T15:12:00.000-05:00

and I'm an Olympics addict. Gawd...I've been glued to it. I just love watching all of the events. Curling is by far my fave to watch, but I'm also a huge speedskating fan. And bobsleigh. And hockey, tho I haven't been as into it since NHL players have been allowed to play. IMO the Olympics should be for amateur athletes. But anyway.

WTH am I gonna do when its over? :(

The good news is, Cael seems to be a curling fan. Maybe we'll form a team within the family!! :D

Bad boobs...BAD!

2006-02-22T14:42:00.000-05:00

Well, not BAD persay...just not up to snuff. According to the doctor anyway.

Iain had his 6 month appt today. The first thing she said to me was "Wow...you look awful." Um, thanks? She says even tho she isn't my dr and doesn't want to tell me what to do, she thinks I am way too skinny and drawn looking. I either have to take better care of myself (i.e. eat the insane amt of calories I'm supposed to while boobing...) or start giving Iain formula so I can get a break and hopefully gain some weight back. Dammit. Not what I wanted to hear.

Then she weighed him. He's dropped in those (blasted) percentiles from 75th to 25th in less than two months. Fuck...that's a lot. She said its possible that I don't have fatty enuf milk. I asked why he had done so well up to now then. Apparently it might be that as his appetite increases, I'm producing enuf but it isn't the quality it was when he was a newborn. I started worrying that I'm giving him too much solids and he doesn't want to nurse enuf. But I don't think that's it...I don't really give him that much.

I don't know what the problem could be. I'm thinking it might be useless leftie. I only feed twice a day from it, and even then I have to switch to rightie after a few minutes so Iain doesn't melt down from hunger. There's just nothing there. I've tried compression as he feeds so the milk that's there flows faster, I've pumped after ever feeding (and i'm lucky if I get an ounce each session), I've tried offering that side at each feeding to stimulate production...it doesn't work. It produces enuf to feed once in the morning and once at dinnertime. Rightie, on the other hand, is in super production mode. Its always full. So I'm thinking that when he feeds from that side, he feels full, but its not always the luscious hind milk.

(HAHA! Just writing abt feeding caused let down. Hoo boy...)

Even tho I know its ok for him, why do I feel like I've failed? :( I mean, I feel pretty good that I gave him an excellent start and was able to nurse him for almost 6 months w/o giving any formula. Better than I did with Cael. I was so happy that bfing was going well from the start this time and was looking forward to nursing for as long as Iain wanted to. But this puts a kink in those plans. I want him to be healthy. I also wondered if maybe his nite waking is from hunger, even tho he doesn't really insist that I feed him. He's usually happy with the soother, tho he's started waking 3-4 times a nite for it.

And before anyone suggests otherwise, the dr is very pro-bfing. She's not one to push formula at all. She said not to stop bfing altogether...far from it. Any amt of boob juice is good for him. Just to replace a couple of feeds a day with formula. Thank the gods 'cuz I love it too much. And since this is our last baby, I want to prolong bfing as long as I can. I already get teary thinking abt weaning completely.

Jewellery, candy and flowers for Valentines day??

2006-02-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

Not in our house. Well, I got flowers and candy from "the kids". And a team Canada Olympic hat. But from Jon, my romantic husband, I got a new camera!! Sweeeet...a new toy! Better than any old diamond earrings!

Some background...our camera decided to die this week. I'd noticed that it sounded different when it took a photo, but I thot it was just from the memory card being too full and there was a strain on the memory. If that's even possible...I have no clue. Anyway, even after I cleaned off the card, it was taking pix like this:

And this...trippy:

Not good. I told Jon that I'd started looking right away (starting at the Costco site, of course. Since we have one of those gold memberships so we get $$ back at the end of the year) and found one that was decent for the price. We don't need anything fancy, tho I drool over Nikon cams. I loved our old Canon A20. It never did me wrong. I liked the lens, and I loved that it had a decent optical zoom, not just a digital zoom like the majority of digicams. The only thing I wished I had was the option to play with the settings...the aperture, shutter speed and all that. Just 'cuz I like to play. So I showed him the Canon A510. Basic point and shoot camera. 3.2 megapixel, which isn't much compared to most cameras now. But for what we use it for (mostly web posting and printing some 4x6 prints), I don't need more than that. 4x optical zoom, 13x total zoom when combined with digital. And lots of features to play with. Not that I'll really play that much, but I wouldn't mind learning more abt the settings.

It has lots of built-in modes too, even one labeled "Kids and Pets". Its supposed to capture fast moving objects with no blurring, so I'm looking forward to trying THAT out. It has a video option as well. Not something I'd purposely look for in a camera, but it seems that they all come with video now. I guess it will be handy for those short videos when we're out and about. Good thing he also bought me a 1 GB memory card. ;)

Yep, laptop for my birthday/Christmas, camera for Valentines day. We looove our toys.

He ate a pea

2006-02-14T10:17:00.000-05:00

He. Ate. One. Pea. That was Cael's dinner last nite. I set out potatoes and peas with butter and not one bit of it touched his lips unless we held him down and shoved it in his mouth. Which he hated. I sat down in front of him and said "Cael, this is your dinner. If you don't want to eat it, fine. But its all you're getting. No booty-booty (a.k.a. veggie booty), no yogurt, no blueberries, and certainly no cookies. We've had enough of you not eating normal food. If you eat even a little of what is in front of you, we'll be so happy and proud of you that we'll give you something else to eat." To which he picked up his fork, stuck one measly pea on a tine and ate it, glaring holes through me all the while. Then promptly asked for raisins. Frig...he's not dumb. So I said that was good that he tried the peas but wished he'd eat more. Then I caved and gave him some ground beef, which he loves. He gobbled it while singing "meeeeat, MEEEat, mee-eee-eeea-t...". I don't think he learned the lesson. But when he asked for an apple and some yogurt, I gave it to him. Just stamp "SUCKER" on my forehead.

So what can we do?? I'm so tired of having to either make him a special meal (which usually consists of a grilled cheese) or him sitting in his chair making high pitched screeching noises that grate on my nerves until we give him what he wants. And it isn't junk he wants...he loves yogurt and fruit. Which is GREAT, but I really wish he'd eat what we eat. I don't know where I went wrong. Everyone tells me that its a phase and he'll grow out of it, but I can't see it. Most of my friends with kids Cael's age don't have the issues we have...their kids will willingly at least least try what they're served. IMO if we continue to baby Cael with his eating habits, he'll always be like that. So over the weekend we decided that it was time for tough love. We offer something and if he eats it, great. If not, then he goes hungry 'til the next meal. No snacking, except for maybe some water to drink and MAYBE a few raisins or something. Too harsh? Gail thot maybe if we offer the main meal and if he doesn't eat it, then no treats. But yogurt or fruit is ok since its healthy. But to him, yogurt and fruit IS a treat. He isn't a big fan of cookies or sugary things. So what to we threaten to not give him? I don't want to take away his healthy foods.

We have found that if we open his mouth and shove something in, he'll scream, cry and sob as if we're killing him, but he'll often eat more of what we made him eat. He just isn't willing to try anything on his own that looks different from what he's eaten before. And he doesn't like sauces, so putting ketchup on everything won't work. I've tried. He loves ground beef, but won't touch it if I give him some with pasta sauce and noodles. 'Cuz there's sauce on it. Last Friday, Gail was able to get him to eat a bowl of pea soup. Great!! He was really mad at her at first 'cuz she pried his mouth open to shove the first couple of spoonfuls in, but eventually he ate it. So I go out on Saturday and buy some cans of pea soup and some dry peas so I could make my own and maybe freeze it. He threw an absolute fit when we served it to him on Sunday for lunch. Even tho he ate it on Friday. I honestly escaped to the bathroom for a minute and cried.

Any other suggestions? I'm at the end of my rope and feel so tense after every meal that has passed where he hasn't eaten anything. He's a small kid...24 lbs at his 2 year weigh-in. He doesn't have extra to go on and I certainly don't want to purposely starve him. Every meal is a fight. To the point that he actually starts to whine as soon as his arse hits the chair. I know its prolly because we try to force him. But I don't know what else to do. I distinctly remember my mom doing the same thing when I was a kid. She told me I could sit at the table all nite if I wanted to, but I had to eat some of what was on my plate. I can't count how many times I sat at the table for a good 2 hours or more before I finally ate something. And now I'll eat anything...I love food. My brother on the other hand was spoiled...my mom would make special meals for him. And now at age 23 (24 next month), he won't eat most foods. It was always a big production when we went to restaurants 'cuz he wouldn't eat anything on the menu. He'd always ask if they could make him a grilled cheese. Do you see the trend I'm falling into?

Help. What do you do to feed a fussy kid? :(

Cael's first haircut

2006-02-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Another lame photo post coming up...I'm feeling so incredibly blah lately. Dunno if I'm cut out for this blogging every day thing...at least until I go back to work. lol!

Cael was born pretty much bald. Over the past two years, all he's really had on his head was some fuzz. Lately, the fuzz has become...fuzzier. He had a mop of frizzy curls that was starting to drive us nuts. I had cut off his "rat tail" just before he turned one 'cuz it bothered Jon. So that's in his My First Curl box. But this week I decided I had to try my best to trim him up in the bath while he was distracted. And it went ok. All I have to say is its a good thing he doesn't have dead straight hair 'cuz it would look horrible. ;)

Before (I wish I knew I was gonna cut it...I'd have taken a decent before photo. You can really see the fuzz in the second pic tho.):

And after:

The "pile" of hair:

Considering how fuzzy and big his hair looked, it sure doesn't look like much!

I have to admit he looks pretty damn cute. And very grown up. *snif*

One 4 AM riser + no coffee = ....

2006-01-31T09:50:00.000-05:00

Uh, lets just say One tired mama. Too exhausted to come up with anything interesting. And caffeine isn't Iain's friend, so no coffee. I don't get it...he's been doing great for the past month and now his "schedule" is all fucked up again. Ugh... Is there a 5 month growth spurt? Maybe that's all it is. Here's hopin'...

Is that a good enuf excuse for not posting lately?? Good then... I'll get back in the swing soon I hope.

I have been crocheting (in all my spare time...HA!) too...I found a super easy poncho pattern (which I've altered slightly...) and some beautiful khaki, rust and cream yarn (the kind that has all those colours in it...my mind is drawing a blank as to what its called), so I'm a crocheting fool! But in hindsight, I should have made a scarf so I'd have something to show for my work a lot sooner...by the time i finish the damn poncho, it will be too hot to wear it. ;)

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

2006-01-25T14:14:00.000-05:00

Ach! Thanks to Jacqueline over at Corrie Canuck for the reminder.

Who is Robbie Burns? A Scottish poet (actually, I think he's considered a bard), that's who! He was born on January 25, 1759 and penned the infamous Auld Lang Syne, as well as Address to a Haggis, an ode to the traditional Scottish dish.

Ah, haggis... I have to admit that I love it. I'd rather eat it with a good scotch than hurl it. And its ok to celebrate, even if you're not of Scottish descent. Everyone is a wee bit Scottish on Robbie Burns day!

(there's even vegan haggis! ;) )

Blah blah blah...

2006-01-25T09:48:00.000-05:00

Conservative minority. I guess it was the best we could have hoped for. Unless any of you actually support Harper. Ya know, I don't think I've ever met anyone who likes the guy. Seriously. But I guess there must be some fans out there... Our riding didn't change. The Bloc guy came close, but the Liberal hung on. Joy. I didn't vote for either of them, so I'm not really happy. Well, I guess its good that the Bloc didn't win it. I am pretty happy that the Bloc didn't gain as much as it was predicted...in fact they lost seats! Yeah, the Conservatives took the Quebec seats from the Liberals instead. But it still will be better for Quebec than a huge number of Bloc MPs. Not that I'm really caught up in Quebec politics. I just don't want to be forced to move across the river to stay in Canada if they separate. Our house value will plummet and we'd have to pay three times as much in Ottawa for a similar house. Anyway, that was all over the place...sue me. ;)

_________________

Kid stuff:

Cael is still adorable. I can't wait 'til he's talking more. The stuff he comes up with already is so damn funny. His likes to hold toys etc. upsidedown and tell us all about it. Then he added his own little Cael-ism. "Mommy! Van-sidedown!/Bunny-sidedown!/Car-sidedown!" Kills me... Gail (sitter) has taken in a little girl starting this week...she's 10 months old. My boy will stand there looking at her, then point and laugh at her. Nice. That's ma boy...laughing at the cootie ridden girls. We didn't teach him that, honestly.

It was his birthday last week (as you know from the sappy post below) and Gail made him a nice cake for them all to have at lunch. My kid cried when they gave it to him. He cried when they put on the special home-made birthday hat. The only way they could get him to leave the hat on long enuf to take a picture was by telling him he could go outside on the deck if he put it on. Good thing it was a warm day. ;) Except then when he woke up from his nap, he grabbed the hat and ran for the door, wanting back out. *snicker*

We celebrated his birthday on Sunday. I made a yummy ginger cake (like gingerbread, except cake. Yum yum.) with whipped cream. This was the reaction:

But he did like the whipped cream beater:

And loves his "bike" as he calls it.

Iain is doing great as well. Appetite is still...healthy. lol! He's not big by any means tho. Might have another skinny boy, which is fine. He's learning more every day. He rolls front to back without blinking and is soooo close to rolling the other way. He's starting to move around on his tummy. I often find him up at the head of the crib after a nap, playing with the teddy bears that are there. And he tries to follow me into the kitchen from the living room, but the most he can do is turn himself around to face that way. He gets so mad and it cracks me up! Mean eh? ;) He has his favourite toys...he's actually pushed the ones he doesn't like out of the way if I offer them. He's also at the stage where he always has to be doing something. As soon as I lay him on the changetable, he's looking around for something to grab and shove in his mouth. Or push onto the floor... He also like to kick me in the boobs while I'm changing him. (We have the Ikea changetable/dresser with the huge changing surface that converts into a regular dresser later...the kids lie with their feet aiming towards us.) Not nice first thing in the morning when I'm so full I walk hunched over. He likes to fiddle as well, especially while eating. I broke down and bought a funky nursing necklace that seems to do the trick. The kid was actually leaving marks on my neck from pinching and scratching.

His voice is coming along nicely. Screeching is a favourite passtime. Pretty shocking some days! He LOVES Newton...oh man. He could be upset and crying and as soon as Newton walks into the room he stops immediately and starts giggling and reaching for him. :)

Now that being said, this kid is rarely cranky. I think I'm just so much better at reading cues this time around. He's only awake for two hours between each sleep. I put him down before he gets a chance to get tired and cranky and he PASSES OUT on his own and sleeps for at least two hours. I'm still amazed. It does make for some rushing in between naps tho, especially if I want to actually get out of the house. He spends almost half of the two hours eating, so that leaves me an hour. With no car, I don't get far. I know it won't last...I'm sure soon he'll regulate himself to a two nap a day thing. I'm just glad he sleeps.

_____________________

Cat stuff:

Newton is adjusting well to being diabetic. Scratch that...I'M adjusting well to him being diabetic. ;) He gets his wet food morning and nite, then one unit of insulin. He's starting to give me a bit of a look when I come towards him with the needle, but he lays down and lets me stick him. I have noticed that he's increased his drinking again the past couple of days. I have to make a vet appointment for next week so they can do a blood test, so depending what his weight has done I may have to increase the dosage. Just weird that he was doing well and now has gone down a bit. I was hoping to be able to extend his life and keep his quality of life high, but its definitely going to be hard. My poor baby kitty. :(

Pinxit is good. She's always good. Her usual cranky fidgety self. ;)

______________________

House stuff:

We are ordering our new windows this week! We got the quote last year and just couldn't swing paying for it last fall since we bought the new fence materials. So the window guys gave us a tip...order in the winter 'cuz its cheaper, and they'll hold on to the materials in their warehouse 'til spring, when they'll install them. Sweet! We're replacing the four basement windows, the bathroom window, and the huuuuge picture window in the living/dining room. And adding a patio door to where one of the big windows is. I'm sick of having to go out into the carport to go to the backyard, especially if I'm in my bathing suit and just want to go get a drink of water... Anyway, I'm all excited about that! Imagine...we'll be able to see out the windows without having to peek around the fogged up parts where the seal has broken!

Iain is awake, right on cue. ;)

Is it too late to nominate another candidate??

2006-01-23T09:18:00.000-05:00

He'd get my vote!

(and yes, that is me wearing the tshirt. i've had it for prolly 15 years...)

Is there a Knit-anon?

2006-01-19T15:12:00.000-05:00

I need it.

I decided (in among mourning my baby turning two) that I need an interesting hobby. Which, if you read between the lines, means I need something to do during Iain's naps that won't turn my brain to mush. As I was contemplating what to do, a flyer comes in the mail. Join the Crafter's Choice Book Club! Receive three books of your choice for $1 each and you only have to buy two more books in the next year to fulfill your membership requirements! Yeehaw!

So I'm looking at the flyer. All sorts of stuff...soap making, candle making, scrapbooking, crocheting, knitting. Mostly instructional books too, especially included in the mailing for suckers like me, no doubt. I talk to Cael's sitter often...at least once a day she calls to tell me how cute Cael is (of course) or to bitch abt one particularly anal and annoying parent she has to deal with. She's a knitter...she made Cael a beautiful sweater for his birthday, as well as matching hat and mitts for Christmas. She always has a project going, and makes dishclothes when she's bored. ;) I tell her I'm thinking abt getting some of the books for fun, but couldn't find three that I wanted. Turns out she has the knitting one I was eyeing, so she sent it that nite with Cael's dirty diapers. Its a good book! Lots of good info. And I'd knit before, so how hard would it be to get back into it? So I decide to get that one.

The next day, I mention to Gail that I'm getting the book and will have to practice before I start any grand projects. She sent home a set of needles and some practice yarn for me to work with. Last nite I sat on the couch and learned how to cast on and knit. Then it came time to purl. Lets just say I'm a purling idiot. The pictures in the book made no sense at all. I literally sat on the couch looking dumbly back and forth from the needles in my hands to the pictures in the book. Jon thot it was pretty hilarious. Thank the gods, today I found this site which has videos of knitting techniques etc. Muuuuch better! So I spent Iain's morning nap purling it up. And I can't wait 'til his next nap so I can practice some more. My goal is to make myself a nice simple wool poncho for the spring. And hopefully a nice scarf, hat and mitt set for next winter. I think its safe to say that I won't be able to finish one for this year...

Now, I also used to crochet. Not very well mind you...I still have my first attempt at a scarf. It somehow got narrower and narrower as I went along. Anyway, I always found it easier than knitting, with the one hook to work with instead of two sharp pointy sticks. I spot an instructional crocheting book in the lot...Gail owns that one too! She quickly looked thru it and said she thot it was a good book. So I decide to get that one.

I need one more to get my three books for $1 each. I figured there was no point in getting any pattern books...there are so many free knitting and crocheting patterns online. So I consider the other options. Soapmaking? I've been thinking abt making my own soaps...but it seems like a lot of work. Next! Beading? Sounds fun...and so pretty. But beads and an almost crawler who will be shoving everything in his mouth doesn't sound like a good idea. Home sewing projects? Again, wonderful...but my ancient hand-me-down sewing matching from my MIL died (while I was sewing velcro on diapers...I was so pissed), and buying a new one isn't on our priority list right now.

I moved on to the obvious. Scrapbooking. *sigh* As much as I love people's scrapbooks, I feel bad that I haven't even started a book for Cael yet, and I worry that any attempt I make now will be pretty rushed and crappy. But I saw a book that boasts "quick and easy scrapbook pages" and figured I'd give it a shot. If it isn't quick and easy, I'll sell it on Ebay! ;)

THEN I saw that I could buy one of my two required books now for $8.99. Not bad, considering that most books sell for $20 and up. So, having been inspired by the gorgeous homemade Christmas cards we received this year, I pick Quick and Clever Instant Cards. Look for some inspired creations next Christmas...knowing my skill level, I'll have to start making them at Easter.

So, I'm becoming one of those crafty people. Andrea, are you proud of me? ;)

Two years ago today...

2006-01-18T12:52:00.000-05:00

...to the minute, Cael was born.

Has it really been two years?? It feels like yesterday. I still remember the smell of you, lying on my chest right after you were born. And the exhaustion...you just didn't want to come out and meet us! We were so anxious...we didn't know whether you would be a Cael or a Kaelyn! Though I felt all along that you were a boy. ;)

You were such a beautiful baby...perfect skin, perfect shaped head, adorable wee nose, a lovely bow-shaped mouth, beautiful little hands and feet.

Then the acne developed. Oh man...it was pretty horrible. Our little pizza face... Luckily it cleared after a month or so. You should be good until age 13 or so now...

We've had our challenges, honey bear. The appetite you had...good god. Looking at the size of you now, you'd never know you ate non-stop most days as an infant. And you never slept. You were much too nosy and just wanted me to cradle and entertain you all day. At the time I was frustrated and upset that every time I put you down so I could eat or use the bathroom, you'd cry. (Though I did very quickly get the hang of using the bathroom while holding you...the key is elastic waist pants...) Now I wish I'd held on longer... Thankfully I had many friends (virtual and in person) who kept me going and didn't let me give up nursing you even though I was sure I was the problem, not producing enough or whatever. And I'm so glad I kept at it... I must have done something right somewhere because all of a sudden you decided sleep was good, and now you run for your room as soon as we ask if you're tired. As for eating...well, we won't go there. Hopefully soon you will realize that the yummy food I make isn't poison. I'm sorry hon, but you can't live on Veggie Booty, toast, fruit and yogurt!

You were motivated from the beginning. Wanting to move...you would get so frustrated just lying there. You were much happier once you started creeping around at 6 months or so. And the cats haven't been the same since. Good thing you were so gentle with them...

Before we knew it you were all over the place. Your first tumble was when you were just barely 6 months old and pulled yourself to standing at the gate. We happened to look over and see you standing and no sooner did we say "Holy shit! He's upright!!" when you fell over backwards and hit your head on the floor. And from there, you fell over a few more times...I was sure the bump in this photo (above the right eye) would turn into a black eye. You fell over in your crib when you stood up one day after a nap.

Last year's birthday was memorable, but not for the obvious reason that you turned one. You and I ended up back in Nova Scotia for my grandfather's funeral. It was supposed to be on the day of your birthday, but there was a wicked snowstorm so it was pushed to the 19th. Luckily you had already met Grampie the previous two times when we went home to visit. He acted gruff, but he loved us grandkids to bits and was so proud and tickled to meet his first great-grandchild.

You've changed so much this past year. We've watched you mature from a baby to a boy. You started walking (and running), finally grew some hair (tho I've still only had to cut it once, just last week. And you freaked out...) and learned to express yourself with words. You always make sure all doors, cupboards and gates are closed. And heaven forbid we take our time getting things out of the fridge. Your independance floors me...who knew that such a needy baby would become a kid who likes to play quietly in his room? You are such a sweet, smart, goofy little boy and you always make us laugh.

You love to read, do puzzles and draw. Just yesterday you learned to draw a swirl. And you shocked me to bits when I wrote "HI" on your Aquadoodle and you knew it said hi. You also know your name when you see it written. I mean, I knew you were a genius, but is it possible that you are recognizing words?? I can't keep up with you...

You are so good with your baby brother...always giving kisses and hugs. This morning, daddy was running late, but you still insisted that you had to give Iain a kiss before you left. We really lucked out there.

Everyone who meets you marvels at how good you are, and how bright. We take the compliments of course, but it really has nothing to do with us. You came with the personality to be a learner...we didn't have to do a thing except some half-assed nurturing. You are destined for greatness, my little man. I just know it...

Happy birthday, baby boy. We love you very much and are sososo proud of you.

A boy and his cat

2006-01-16T10:51:00.000-05:00

Gawd he loves that cat...chases her all over (gently tho...and never tries to actually pick her up or anything) and she totally puts up with him. :)

Cael: "Nice Pinx-pinx..." (he actually says that while he pets her...hilarious)
Pinxit: "kill me..."

Cael: "There you are..."
Pinx: "dammit...i can't escape"

Cael: "Pinxit under table!"
Pinxit: "note to self...don't try to hide in the boy's room"

Cael joins her under the table...

Some photos for your Monday

2006-01-16T10:09:00.000-05:00

'Cuz the boys are just so darn kewt and you should all be subjected to them. ;)

Cael first:

Nice hat!

Little bookworm...

Who needs a couch?

Helloooo? (um, wrong end kid...)

And Iain:

Snowbaby...and yes, I plopped him right in the snow. Bad mom much? ;)

Multitasking...

I'm such a happy dude!

Falling over in the bumbo...

De-lurking week!

2006-01-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

I noticed this mentioned on Monday and now its posted everywhere I go! :D

This is National De-lurking week, as proclaimed by Sheryl! So lurkers, post a comment or two! Please tell me I have some readers...

I am also going to de-lurk. I read many more blogs than are listed on the right...I really have to update that. And this is a perfect opportunity for me to come out of the lurking closet and post comments! Wheeee!!

How to get a feline urine sample

2006-01-11T08:11:00.000-05:00

I had an appointment with the vet on Saturday to have Newton-cat checked for diabetes. The vet agreed that it seemed likely...he was drinking and peeing in insane amounts, as well as eating a lot, yet he lost more than a kilo since his appointment last year. Which is good in a way since he's a big boy...23 pounds pre-weight loss. But also bad...they don't like to see such drastic weight loss. So I left the office with instructions on how to obtain a sample for them to test for sugars. Apparently the easiest way is to lock the cat in a room with food, lots of water and a box with non-absorbant materials for them to pee in. Then you syringe the liquid out (as long as he didn't poop as well, as that would contaminate the urine sample and you'd have to start over) into a clean container and take it to the vet. Knowing my cat, he'd just yowl and scream at the door until he's let out so he could scoot and pee in the litter box. I guess I should be happy about that...

Knowing that's what he'd likely do, I decided that maybe the best way would be to just catch it as he peed. Jon thought I was insane when I suggested it and wished me luck. I started by watching the wiley Newton's habits, starting with his morning nap. In the early morning he'll usually sleep an hour or two in the basement, then come upstairs and drink right away. Lately anyway. Then he'll wander to wherever I am, socializes with me and Iain for a while (he LOVES that kid...and Iain thinks he's hilarious), eats and drinks more and lays down on his window perch for a while. Then he'll be ready for a nap again, so he'll drink more, maybe eat a couple more bites then go downstairs for a pee before curling up in his basement chair.

Once I knew his schedule, I was confident that I could catch the pee. Jon still thought I was crazy. I dug out an old baby food jar to put it in for the trip to the vet. Thought it was the best leak proof option... I was going to catch the sample with the jar, but decided that I didn't want my hand that close to his arse. So I decided to catch it in a rectangular plastic container instead and transfer it to the jar. Newts did his usual morning socializing and headed for the water bowl...I knew it was show time. Luckily Iain had just eaten (with Newts crowding in on my lap as well...) so he was happy for a good 15 minutes on his playmat. The cat wandered downstairs with me close behind. He was watching me closely so I went to the far end of the basement and watched. I figured if I waited until he was actually IN the box squatting before I approached him, he'd go and it would be fine. But if I scared him off, he'd just hold it and nap without peeing.

He continued to watch me for a minute then headed for the box. He sniffed the litter and started to squat. I bolted for him with the container in my hand and saw he had started to pee. I deftly got the container under the stream and collected the sample. His ears were back and I could tell he was a little uncomfortable with me being there...understandably so. I got enough (the vet said at least a tablespoon) and hightailed it upstairs to leave him in peace to finish his business.

I was so excited I was shaking...the exhilaration!! I had succeeded in getting a urine sample from my cat without locking him in a room, catheterizing or squeezing the crap out of him. ;) Jon was impressed with my new-found skill. As was the vet-tech when I delivered the jar of pee. I shrugged and said piece of cake, but my heart started racing just thinking about it! What a thrill!

So the results...he is indeed diabetic. The levels were as high as they could get, so we went right to insulin. I took him in last nite so the vet could show me how to do the injections. I practised with saline first and then gave him his first insulin injection. I was a little nervous about it, but he didn't even flinch! The needle is so fine that he barely feels it. So I have to do two shots a day, approximately 12 hours apart. If after a week there is still no change in the drinking and peeing, we'll up it. The vet suspects that it will take a couple of weeks to get the dosage right. The good news is that I caught it very early and he is still quite healthy, so there is no huge rush to get the correct dosage immediately. If it was urgent, they would keep him at the vet and take daily blood samples to get the dosage right in the first week. Once he's regulated, I'm not sure if there's anything to do besides give the insulin. I've read that they should have at least daily urine tests, if not blood tests, but there was no mention of that yet.

My first shot without vet supervision was this morning. I was told the only thing to make sure is that he had either just eaten or was eating while I gave the shot so I could be sure he had some sugar in his system. Both cats wait patiently for their wet food morning and nite, so this morning I put the bowls down, waited until Newts was eating and stuck him. Easy! He kept eating without missing a beat...er, bite. So that's my exciting life. Cat pee and needles. ;)

Some pics of the big guy himself...he's such a sweetie. So good with the kids. He used to lay there and let Cael crawl all over him and I assume he will be the same way with Iain. :)

A beautiful snowy day...

2006-01-04T15:32:00.000-05:00

I tried to take a picture, but the snow is so thick all I get is white blurring. So this will have to do. ;)

The snow started here maybe an hour ago. In the beginning it was very fine...almost freezing rain, I think, but it soon turned into big beautiful flakes, blowing around and sticking to the pines and cedars. I'm looking out the window into the backyard, where the birdfeeders are. There are sparrows, juncos and chickadees on every perch of the three feeders I have hanging, even the thistle feeder that sometimes attracts finches, and there is also a chickadee hanging from the suet cage. The ground is covered with birds, scavenging the dropped seeds their messy friends have left. In the bare lilac bushes, there are five cardinals waiting for the smaller birds to clear off so they can eat: three bright red males and two more dusty coloured females. Perfect...

Exciting happenings

2006-01-03T16:17:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to remember any crucial news or almost news from the past month. I have to admit that I've been around a lot, reading other blogs etc. Just a little pre-occupied with the holidays and not much into writing anything. Not even emails...I have lots of emails to write this week. Ok, in point form and random order...

Cael was exposed to chicken pox the week before Christmas. So we were (and still are...he could break out anytime before mid-month) on spot watch. Nothing so far...
MIL visit before Christmas wasn't terrible. I KNOW!! I was surprised too! There's almost always something that she says/does that I just have to shake my head at. Her gifts were also kinda thoughtful, which is a nice change from last year.
Cael is almost done with teething! One of his two year molars came thru over the holidays and earlier today he was saying his mouth was "icky", which means itchy. I assume that means sore...
We might have a diabetic cat. The Fat One ( a.k.a. Newton) has been drinking a lot since before Christmas, as well as snacking more than usual without gaining any weight. His mood has been great and he's been more playful lately than he has been in years, but I know I have to take him in to see what treatment he needs. So that should be interesting.
I've started giving Iain solids. His eating was getting out of hand and I had to try. He just started waking earlier and earlier in the morning. I think his earliest was 3:40. And he was up for good. Nothing I could do to get him back down before eating, and even after that it would be his usual up for 2 hours before being ready for a nap. Then he'd only sleep for an hour at the most 'cuz he was hungry. It sucked. He was tired, I was tired...not good. Anyway, I know its early since "they" now say to wait 6 months to give solids to bfed babies, but its made such a difference that I don't feel bad. He's adjusted very well with no digestive problems. I started with a little in the morning so he'd quit cluster feeding all morning (which worked) and now I give a little at nite as well. He's still boobing quite a bit (which is good...I don't want to replace nursing by any means), but its not urgent feeds every hour or so, which is nice. His nites are back to being good, and his napping has been great too (except today...I guess he's a little off with daddy and big brother being away). So I feel some guilt, but just a smidge.
I still haven't taken down my Christmas deocrations. Was gonna today, but wanted a down day since Jon and cael just went back today. So during naps I talked on the phone, replied to emails and surfed instead. :D

That's all I can think of...nothing earth shattering. I do promise to update more often now that the Christmas rush is over. I'm not sure what my excuse was before Christmas, but that's ok. Hmmm...maybe I should come up with a New Year's resolutions list. I certainly have a few things I want to accomplish this year.

What I did on my Christmas vacation...

2006-01-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

Well, not a whole lot actually. We had a chill-out relaxing week at the cottage. Ah, what a picture of winter beauty...

Too bad we had to share it with the facking squirrels. Funny story...I was in the kitchen making dinner and Cael was in the living room. He was babbling non-stop as usual and I was just saying "mm hmm" every so often. Then he got quite animated and yelled "MOMMY!". I turned and asked what was up and he calmly said "squirrel. right there.". I looked up and sure enuf there was a red squirrel on the beam. As soon as our eyes met, the animal took off. Leapt from the beam to the stairs, then it must have fallen down the stairs or something. Lots of noise anyway. Then it took off to the basement. I'm ashamed to say that I squealed like a little girl and almost jumped up onto a chair. Cael thot it was pretty funny and told Jon all abt the squirrel when he got in from snow clearing.

So yah, apart from our houseguests, it ws fun. Lots of playing in the snow...

Lots of presents...

Lots of cuddling with my boys...

AND I got my first handmade kid ornament made at daycare! Cael painted the white himself and helped with the glue! :)

I was planning on posting more, but some little squirt is going against his regular routine and has only slept half an hour. So more later hopefully...