SF

Day to day

We took Ben to the Children's yesterday for his pre-surgery checkup. He has to go in for a procedure next Tuesday. We have been assured that this is a common procedure and he will be fine, but of course with general anesthetic there's always a risk, and the surgery is going to take at least 2 hours, so I'm freaking out a bit. Words like "best specialist in Canada" are good things. Steve's mom is coming in for a week to help just in case we need her. Either way, she gets to spend time playing with her grandson. Work's still hectic as I try to get out a release and edit a bunch of docs. We've also discovered that we're moving to a different building sometime in the near future. I am going from an office with a window to a converted conference room with no windows which I will have to share with two other people - and just when I was getting used to having a plant in my office!
I've been listening to ex-Men at Work guy, Colin Hay's album Man @ Work. I am especially attached to his acoustic remake of Overkill, which is funny because I didn't really care for the original at all.

Post vacation post

We got back a week ago tomorrow and I'm still reaching into the suitcase for shirts in the morning. Steve and Ben are unpacked, but I haven't managed to unpack, perhaps it's a refusal to let the vacation go. I got back to work and the review I sent out before I left hadn't come back. I'm already over my hours on this project, so I told my manager to sort it out with the project manager - I'm tired of all the postponing and "just one more build" additions.
We had a great vacation. San Francisco's a nice city. I was a bit surprised to discover that although I really enjoyed SF, I didn't fall in love with it, and wouldn't choose to live there. The weather was beautiful, the people were very pleasant, but there was something about the city and me that didn't click. Perhaps it was the endless hills to drive and walk up, or the relentless search for decent parking, or that it was just so warm and sunny everyday. I loved the taquerias, the cable cars, the street cars, the ocean, the redwoods, the fact that you can find wonderful organic produce on almost every block, the ultra-blue sky, and that breath-taking view of GG bridge and the city. Seeing our friends Dan and Libby was the best part of the trip. Libby's looking great, and Dan makes a cup of coffee you'd trade your parking spot for :-) They were excellent hosts, even though Ben was constantly creating chaos in their nice clean home! It's so weird to think that the next time we see them, they'll be parents too, well, at least they've had a brief glimpse into their future.
This weekend was spent visting the folks and Maggie and Andrew which means that we didn't get much cleaning done. I managed to make some muffins for Ben, but that was it. He's eating more everyday thanks to his new teeth. His latest favorite is plain wholewheat pasta, I'm amazed that he can eat so much of it. He's still not walking yet, but he's so close that I know that one day he's just going to go for it - I hope I'm home when he does.

Life's a beach

Ben recovered and so did everyone else, so we continued our adventures with another visit to Stanley Park, Vanier Park, and Kitsalano Beach. Ben was christened by the Pacific and loved the waves and the sand.




I would love to live near the ocean, I could walk along a beach every day and never tire of it. Must be that maritime blood kicking in.


We spent a lot of time with Steve's family to end the Vancouver leg of the trip, we are sad to go, but are now looking forward to seeing Dan and Libby tomorrow! Here we come guys, wheeee! It's also our anniversary tomorrow and Dan's birthday, I sense a few alcoholic beverages in my future :-)

Rain, fishes, and naps

Tales about west coast rainy-ness are not exaggerated. It's been cloudy and rainy since the day after we arrived. We ate at an IHOP, shopped, and napped on day 2 in preparation for our visit to see Melissa in the evening. She has a really nice place, complete with a cozy fireplace. Tucker was funny with Ben, and I'm sure Ben was amused to find someone to play with who is taller than daddy. It was so great to see her and Tucker, and far too short, but I'm glad we got to meet up before they left on vacation. By the end of the visit, Tucker and Ben were getting pretty cranky.

Day 3 began with a phone call from Steve's folks, looks like we brought the 24-hour stomach flu with us and gave it to Steve's mom, brother, and grandmother. So far, I seem to have side-stepped the bug, but I'm armed with gravol and pepto bismol! We went to the aquarium which was a lot of fun, but the constant rain made it difficult to enjoy the outdoor areas. That's ok, there was plenty to see inside and Ben loved the fishies.







We drove around Stanley Park while Ben slept in the carseat, it's huge and beautiful and only $5/day for parking! After our tour, we headed to Granville Island for a little shopping.

We had hoped to take a ferry across, but it was too yucky out, but we lucked out and nabbed some parking and had a nice lunch and look around. After all this I was pooped, so we headed back to the hotel, found out that Steve's family was feeling a bit better, and I passed out on the bed. We have a nice view from the hotel and Ben loves the sink.

We woke up this morning and Ben was sick all over our bed, looks like he caught the bug again, or he wasn't quite finished yet. He's sleeping it off while we wait for some pizza to be delivered. Hopefully he'll be feeling better by tonight.

Welcome to the west coast

Well, we're here and we're still alive! The flight went quite well. We had hoped to get an extra seat for Ben, but the flight was fully booked. The day before we left, Ben had a stomach flu of some kind - and of course on the day of our flight he had diarrhea, but luckily we avoided that during the flight. He slept part of the way.

We picked up our rental at the airport - a PT Cruiser. The guy actually gave me a choice between that and a minivan - what was he thinking? I gave it a hug just for you Maggie!

Eight days

Only eight days until we leave on vacation and we have done no vacation preparation. Actually, that's not true, we have found our passports and asked the landlord to feed our cats. I should be making a long list of things to do, but for some reason I keep thinking that it's ages away. I think that part of me keeps thinking that I'm just joking about flying for 6 hours with an almost-toddler. Ben wiggles off our laps at home and just crawls off now, he pulls himself up and cruises until there's nothing left to hold on to in his path. What am I thinking taking him on a plane where he's not going to want to sit and there's a tempting Ben-sized hallway full of people to poke and meet? Unless the plane is lined with grandmas, we're doomed.

All the big girls are doing it

Lisa's having a baby! A big congrats to her and Paul and Jasper.

Vacation!

We are going on a vacation at the end of the month! We will be spending a week in Vancouver, visting Steve's grandma, and a week in San Francisco with our friends Dan and Libby. I've never been to SF before, the two times that I've been to California I managed to make it from San Juan Capistrano up to Monterey. I know that there's a ton to see, but we're trying to keep it relaxed, especially for Ben. Travelling with an almost-toddler should be an interesting experience. I just hope that he likes flying, because we're going to be going on four planes by the time the trip is through. The amount of luggage is nearly staggering - we'll need his car seat, an umbrella stroller, his clothes, toys, bottles, blankies, books, and I'm sure a hundred other things that will come to mind. If we're lucky, Steve and I may have enough room to pack a spare pair of underwear and a t-shirt to share. We'd also love to bring his backpack, but I doubt we'll have room. We're hoping that the flights aren't fully booked so that we can get a free seat for Ben. We had to get his passport so that he could travel into the States. It has his photo-it's so cute. I love to travel, but I haven't been anywhere, other than business trips to NY, in ages. Steve is incredibly untravelled, which is sometimes fun because I get to watch him discover new things, and other times a bit annoying. Between vacations and moving, I've been from one end of North America (Alaska) to the other (Florida), most of it by car, so I don't know what it's like to grow up without travelling. I'd love to travel a lot with Ben, give him a sense of what's out there. My dream vacation would be a month in New Zealand. I've wanted to go since I was a teenager. If we ever won the lottery, that would be our first destination.

standing moose

Ben's getting really good at this standing thing, now if we could only keep him out of the liquor cabinet....

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
2004 Results

Pictures of the day

See pics of Ben's birthday party here.

Birthday boy 

One

A lot can happen in one year. Last year, at 8:32am, you arrived, a teeny little red man, screaming and mad, from my body and out into the world. For all your protests, it was you who decided to come 3 weeks early and wake me up at 4am. You sent your daddy into a mild panic while we decided whether we should go to the hospital, because neither of us knew that I was in labour. Because you stubbornly remained in the breech position, you came out the window, lifted from your comfy spot sitting on my bladder with your arms frequently stretched over your head, your little fingers scratching the bottom of my ribs.
You changed our lives in that moment. Before you came, we were shadows of the people that we are today. Because of you, we have discovered new heights of love, joy, amazement, and sleep deprivation. We delight in every new thing that you discover every day, and our capacity to love you more and more as time goes by.
Happy birthday Booboo, thank you for coming into our lives and making us a family.
A thousand hugs and kisses,
Mommy

Happy standing boy 

Vindication

As you may already know from reading Steve's blog, I had a little run-in with Canon Canada this week. We got a digital camcorder last Friday, a Canon Optura 40, and I was doing a little research about the camera on the Canon Canada web site. On the features page for the Optura 40, I found three paragraphs talking about the Pinnacle Studio 9SE software included with the Optura 40 kit. I didn't receive this software with my camera, so I called Canon Customer Support. The first guy that I talked to said that it was a promotion until June 30. I explained that it wasn't on the promotions page, but the features page for the Canon Optura 40. He said that he would get back to me. I called back when I didn't hear anything, and talked to someone else, who said that the matter was still being investigated. I called again and was told that it was escalated to the supervisor, then that the supervisor was talking to his supervisor. Keep in mind that for each call I was waiting at least 20 minutes to speak to someone and then was on hold while the support person tried to figure out what to tell me. Finally, the supervisor (not the supervisor's supervisor) called my house and spoke to Steve (I was on my way home from work). He said that Canon Canada would not give me the software because it was a promotion and what was on the features page for the Canon Optura 40 was a mistake. They offered to send a small nylon case for my Canon S30 digital camera (not the camcorder). Steve told them to send it, but warned the guy that it wasn't over (he knows his wife all too well). I got home, found out what happened, jumped on the internet and found the email address for the Media and Public Relations director, and the names of all the VPs and the President of Canon Canada and emailed them all a nice letter explaining my case and asking that they please honour their statements and keep a loyal customer happy. Today at noon, the same customer support guy called back to say that they found a copy of the software and would like to send it to me by courier. He also said that they would not be sending the camera case - cheapos. Although I know that the President of Canon Canada probably does not open his own email, I like to think that he did and that he called those customer support guys and demanded that they send me my free software. I wish that he had also told them to send the flashlight attachment, a wideangle lens and several batteries, but that's ok.
It's just a shame that I had to put so much effort into it just to get some proper service.

Matters

We had a great weekend. Steve made me a wonderful chocolate cake, I got lots of gifties, and we enjoyed some laughs and good food with friends - what more could you want? Ben was doing his part as a good host until he finally conked out at 10:30. On Sunday, we drove out to the townies where I had a second cake, and more goodies. My brother was up for the weekend from Toronto. he managed to get all the machines started, and even cut down a few trees.
Then it was back to work. Work's going alright, so little has changed here. The only thing truly noteworthy is that I got a brand new hp laptop and flat monitor. It has bluetooth, so when I brought it home, Steve and I could beam stuff back and forth from the laptop to his palm pilot which was cool. It also found my laser printer and connected itself through the infrared port.
The one thing that has changed since I've been back at work is my whole attitude. Since Ben, my priorities have been reset, and that means that I'm not killing myself at work anymore, or taking too much on myself because of my silly high work ethic. I may work through lunch, but I leave at 5 so I can rush home to my two favorite men. I don't want to be the one that everyone runs to when there's a problem, or the one who always stays late to get the job done. I want to do my work and go home and get the big smile and squeal when I walk in my front door and sit on the floor and play with toys and hear all about how my little guy napped and pooped and babbled. That's the important stuff, everything else is just not.

Happy birthday to me!

Yay! It's days like these that I remember that I'm not getting older, no wait, I am. Um, so, I'm only as old as I feel, no, that would be 82 some days. I have to stop reading greeting cards :-)

Enjoy the shoe

I'm registered with Monster.com, so every week I get a list of jobs that are supposed to be related to my career. Generally, they aren't very close, computer technician, programmers, managers, etc. Today, I got five links for "shoe specialists". Shoe specialists? Am I qualified to be a shoe specialist? Do I have what it takes? Is this an opening that they send to all the women on the list to tease them, or did my husband tell Monster how qualified I am for this position? Perhaps I should consider a career change...

Three days with Grammie

My mom-in-law came in from Ontario to take care of Ben this week while Steve finished up at his company. They have taken walks to the store and the park, and played lots all over the house. She's even mastered how to fold and unfold the stroller. Yesterday, she and Ben met me out on the front lawn after work. As soon as he saw me, he started bouncing, his face lit up in a huge smile, and he squealed. My heart absolutely melted, I'm so in love with my son!
Steve's dad is coming in today, he hasn't seen Ben since he was born, so it should be an interesting meeting. Ben is very good with new people, so I doubt there will be a problem.
In other news, I've lost eight pounds! I was very surprised when I stepped on the scale this morning. Of course, when you have a lot to lose, the first pounds come off easy. I log all my food at Fitday.com, I put all the chocolate in the freezer, and I've made a couple of weight watchers casserole recipes for my lunches. If I manage to throw in some exercise, I should have a plan that I can market and sell a book :-)

Weekend!

Ah, the long weekend, made sweeter by the fact that I worked part of last week so it mattered, and I'm not at work today. On Saturday we did some errands, on Sunday we went up and worked at my folks', and Monday was spent organizing, grocery shopping, and a brief tea visit at Maggie's. My dad wasn't feeling very well when we arrived, but he soon perked up after he got outside and pushed Ben around in the stroller for a while and talked us through a few tasks from his chair. I only had to tell him to drop the screwdriver and go and sit down once, which isn't bad at all.
I am enjoying a day with Ben, although I wish that it was a sunny warm day and not this cold, damp, and rainy day. Last night was the first he slept in his crib all night, and Steve and I are exhausted because we kept waking up to check on him. He was fine, but we missed him terribly and Steve sprang out of bed as soon as he heard him stirring to bring him in to cuddle and play with us on our bed. Why does he have to grow up?

Concern for personal safety

Seen on my way to work today:
40ish guy on a bicycle wearing a helmet and a big gas mask (the kind you use when you're painting a car or under terrorist attack). He passed me and went right through a red light without even slowing down. Is this so his lungs would be clean in case he gets hit by a bus?

Arghhhh

I miss Ben!!! Steve's having a great time at home with him and I'm very jealous. It took all morning to get a computer and a phone, but I have these things finally and now I must get to work. I'm looking at all the stuff, and it seems vaguely familiar, and everyone's still very nice.
It feels so surreal to be here, almost as though nothing's really changed. Actually, looking at my old projects, not much has actually changed. Driving to work was weird, what is this thing called traffic? I'd forgotten all about that. I can't wait to leave here and get home and kiss my Boo. The only things I brought with me this morning were a coffee mug and two pictures of Ben for my desk. The coffee is still really awful, shouldn't have bothered with the mug.

Comments

I'm not sure that I'm all that happy with the new Blogger comments. It seems like you have to either sign up for an account or post as anonymous. I tried to put my old system back, but I've forgotten the password, so I had to set up a new one. I've left blogger comments on, but put the old ones back as well. We'll have a race and see who wins :-)

Last day

I had a post half-written yesterday, but it got deleted. The weekend was a combination or lazing, errands, and working at the folks'. We also watched Big Fish, which I quite enjoyed. Yesterday, Ben and I went out for a long walk and went to the park where we met up with Maggie, Colin, and Robert. It was a beautiful day yesterday, warm and sunny. The apple blossoms are out, and the trees are exploding in pinks and whites. The smell is intoxicating. Today, it is grey and rainy and my poor Ben isn't settling in for his morning nap. Steve lowered his crib last night, and it seems too strange for our little man. We are going to attempt to let him sleep there, all by himself, one night this week. He already takes his naps in his crib. Today is also my last day at home with Ben. I had hoped for a nice one, but it seems not in the cards. I'm very anxious about returning to work and not seeing him all day. The longest I've been away from him since he was born is about four hours. I do not know how I'm going to feel at noon tomorrow, but I'm sure that if I have an internet connection, you'll be able to read it here.

I'm not big-boned

Last night was a bit of a bust. I fell asleep singing Ben to sleep. I was planning on getting a bit more done. I've come to the realisation that none of my pre-maternity clothes really fit properly yet. This means that I will be wearing my not-pregnant-looking maternity clothes to the office next week, because I refuse to buy bigger clothes. I figure that if I get truly comfortable, then I'll never lose the weight. I'm thinking about doing weightwatchers. When I was about 20, I did weightwatchers with three other friends and it was fun and I lost about ten pounds. Back in those days, the plan was based on the food guide, so it was broken down into so many proteins, breads, veggies, fruits, dairy, fats and I think some extras for blowing on ice cream sundaes once a week. Now, they have 'points'. As far as I can tell, this means that you could blow all of your points eating chocolate cake and then starve for the rest of the day. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I checked out some of the sample recipes on the ww site, and they don't seem to have the old system calculations, but the recipes look very tasty, mushroom and wild rice stew, potato-wrapped salmon, and key lime pie! Maybe I'll get the cookbook and have a go!

An Eeyore moment

It's a beautiful day and I'm trying not to get too stressed out about returning to my stinky job. I know that once I'm back, it will be fine and it's not like I'll be working as hard as before I left. I promise that I will stop being bitter and negative about the whole thing soon, because it's tiresome and no one needs to hear about it, but right now I'm just so mad and disappointed and hurt, really.
Ben and I will go out for a walk when he wakes up and I'll feel better.

Me, Ben, Mirella, and Vincent at the park 

Oof

If you've heard a dull thumping this afternoon, somewhat akin to the clubbing of a baby seal, that would be me getting totally screwed over by the company that I work for. I start back to work next Wednesday, with zero benefits and security and absolutely no loyalty whatsoever. I am currently open to any offers to make an honest tech writer of me. That's right, I'm a mercenary now, I'm only in it for the money and camaraderie of my equally screwed over colleagues. European companies suck just as much as North American :-)

In the hopes of getting back into the mindset of a tech writer, I found this.
I have just finished several hours (interspersed with naps, playtime, feeding, and other such Ben activities) of peeling and cutting up carrots, leeks, parsnips, rutabagas, and squash for Ben's food. Making your own babyfood is easy, and certainly cheaper, but the prep is somewhat tedious. I made lentils with carrots, leek, and squash earlier today that he loved. I'm hoping that tomorrow I can get some other meals done and in the freezer, and that he likes to eat them. Last week I tried macaroni and cheese, but he didn't like it, so I ate it. He seems to have a problem with textures. He's hated bananas from day one, and I can tell it's because they're slimey. He doesn't like avocado for the same reason. I'm trying to switch him over to foods in chunks that he can pick up, but so far he's refused cooked carrots, zucchini, squash (his favorite puree), and potato. He loves all of these when smooth. Maybe he just needs a few more teeth. On the other hand, he loves cheerios and toast. I guess that he'll get the hang of it eventually, I can't see him at 20 carrying around a blender everywhere so that he can suck all his meals through a straw.

My Dad is finally home! We went to see him yesterday, and he's looking so much happier already. It is also much more comfortable to visit, especially with Ben. We just hung out in the livingroom playing on the floor. Steve's mom and brother came for a visit this past week. It was too short, but we loved having them here and Ben enjoyed all the extra attention.
Looks like I may have my job back after all. A few of my colleagues are leaving, which leaves a few spaces open. I've also heard that since the company posted a profit, they're probably not going to start layoffs - yay! Steve is starting to get excited again about staying home with Ben. They want me to come back part-time this month-ugh! I'm trying to work starting again around the 17 or so. Steve's mom said that she would come back and stay while we're transitioning between my part-time and full-time and Steve staying home which is a huge help! All we need to do is get her to master unfolding the stroller:-) I'm a bit freaked out about going back to work. I like my job, but if someone handed me a winning lottery ticket I'd be out of there pretty quick. It's going to be so weird not being near Ben all the time. I'm wondering if I'll be able to concentrate on my job, or even remember what I was doing before I left! I think that I created sentences out of engineer mumblings, but I'm not sure....

New update
Dad's doing ok. He's been up on the ward for almost a week and he's been walking a bit almost every day. He's had a bit of an infection, which we're concerned about, but if the doctors manage to get that fixed, he'll be able to go home in another week or so. I've been driving out almost everyday - that's 325km round trip. I know every pothole and dead animal on the highway now. Ben's been a very good sport about the whole thing and has slept in the car and entertained his Poppy and kept up his spirits. Today we are at home because I'm pooped and there's a ton of stuff to get done around here. Ben is also kinda out of sorts today, I think he's cutting a new tooth. We are also weaning because he's just losing interest in the boobs and since he's bitten me three times now, I'm starting to think that it's not so bad. At the same time, my heart breaks a little each time he refuses to breastfeed, sigh.....sniff, sniff.

Update
After seven hours of surgery, my Dad is in ICU and recovering. It's still too early to predict anything, but the surgical team said that it went pretty well. We are very lucky, the aortic aneurysm could have burst at anytime and would have meant almost certain death. I can't thank the radiologist who caught the problem while reviewing the x-rays, and the surgical team at the CHU in Sherbrooke for moving so quickly. He's awake this morning, but just in and out. It's going to be a long recovery. Thank you to everyone for your positive mental vibes :-)

I love taking my son out and about. Yesterday, we went down to Old Montreal to pick up Steve from work, and then downtown to a bookstore. Because we weren't going on a long expedition, Steve carried him around. Ben starts rocking excitedly when you walk with him outside. He loves looking at the people, and the buildings, and just everything. He likes it when Steve carries him even more because he has a higher perspective. So, he rocks, he smiles and he laughs, but what I really get a kick out of is all the attention he receives. He seems to know just who will make a big fuss over him. He loves women, but he'll also single out the men who will make funny faces and stick out their tongues. I guess that it's hard to turn down a face as cute as this:

Sometimes he chooses the most unlikely people, biker guys, rigid businessmen, or teenage boys. He almost always gets a positive response for his troubles. I know that at some point I am going to have to teach Ben about strangers, but it breaks my heart to think that one day he's going to have to know that there are bad people and dangers in this world. Every parent in the world must feel this way.

Happy Easter!

from Ozzy the Easter Bunny

Congrats!
A big WOOHOO to Lisa and her incredible proposing fiancé!

The day of no naps
Ben decided not to have naps today, and I've discovered how much I need his naps to get anything done. He wasn't in a bad mood, just not tired, at all, no matter what I did or fed him. I did finally give up and let him play on his mat while I got a few chores done. I also made a marvelous banana bread with pecans that filled the house with the most glorious smell! Ben conked out after supper and some nursing around 7:00, and I fully expect him to stay that way until 6:30am.
Ben's bottom teeth are coming in, you can just see them peaking through the gums. So far, he hasn't bitten me while he's nursing, let's keep our fingers crossed! The weekend was great, except for the snow on Sunday. We did a lot around the house, got Ben's new car seat, had a short visit to a park (Ben's first), and had dinner with our friends Dan and Libby who we haven't seen for a bit.

The car seat was a bit of a pain. Last weekend our friends with a slightly younger son mentioned they had to change car seats, and sure enough, when we returned home and I looked at the manual, I realised that we were overdue for a larger seat. Oops! So, I get on the internet and start researching convertible car seats (ones that are rear-facing until 1 year and then forward-facing until 40lbs), because you can't get help at the big toy store or department stores. I narrow it down to two seats. One is made in the UK and REALLY expensive, the other is made in the states and reasonably priced and just as safe. There is a third choice which seems to be widely available and used by many friends, but I was more interested in the second seat. I went looking for the second seat and couldn't find it anywhere. After phoning the company's head office in Ohio, I learn that they don't import it to Canada. Ah! So that leaves me with the third choice, which seems to be the only game in town. We couldn't afford the UK seat, and I couldn't find anyone that even sold it in Montreal. I found a decent, smaller store where the saleslady really knew a lot about car seats and was exceedingly helpful. We paid about twenty dollars more for the seat, but I prefer to keep a smaller store in business where you can get service over that cold mega toy store.

Oh, piss ant
I just returned from my visit to my office where I learned that I probably don't have a job to return to, sigh....
Anybody need a senior tech writer?

Ah Spring! This is what we are saying today because the temperature is shooting up to an unnatural 16C! It's also supposed to rain, but who cares? 16C! People will be out in their shorts and shedding coats and boots. Ben and I have errands to run today. I finally got around to mounting the chalkboard in the kitchen, so I even have a few things written down where I can see them. I feel so much more organized! I may even stop by my office to see my coworkers and enjoy the fact that I don't have to be back there for a couple of months. It seems hard to believe that I have to go back and not be with Ben all day. Steve and I decided that we would try to have one of us home for as long as we could manage, so Steve will be taking his turn at home when I go back. It's a shame that his company won't allow him to work part-time, but he'll probably be able to do some small contracts so we won't be a total single income household.
The funeral service for my grandmother was very nice. The minister knew her well and so it was very personal, and the eulogy given by my cousin was wonderful. All the grandkids got up and said something, mine was short and sobby - I've never been good at composure when it comes to stuff like this. I took Ben up with me though, which I hope distracted people from my shortcomings as a public speaker. I don't think that it's quite sunk in. I'm sure that when Easter comes, I'll buy her some lillies and daffodils like I always do.

My grandmother died this morning. She was an amazing lady. She spoke more than eight languages, she never complained about having two bum hips that caused her to walk with two canes and later a walker, or her gradual loss of hearing and eyesight, or even the bone cancer that was slowly eating away at her body. She loved her garden, animals, books, and the birds that came to her feeders. She was a very patient and extremely kind woman and she loved life. She made the best pickles I've ever tasted and was a pretty shrewd business woman.
I was her first grandchild, the one who received her name. She made tapes of her telling stories so that I would know her even though we lived far away. When I was older and lived closer, she told me stories of how she came to Canada and met my grandfather, toured Europe on a motorcycle, made it through the depression and the war, and eventually learned how to be a country wife.
I wish that she could have lived forever.

I have many things to do, but Ben's decided to take many naps today, so I have some time to blog. This weekend we got quite a bit done and even managed to relax a bit here and there. On Monday we drove out to the townships to see my grandmother who is in the hospital with double pneumonia. We spent the day there and visited in between her naps. I'm glad that we went because her condition has worsened and now she's not very coherent and essentially shutting down. I feel so sad for her, because I know that she was not ready for this. I'm glad that Ben got to hold his great-grandma's fingers and that she knew he was there. So sad.

Magister Mundi sum!
"I am the Master of the Universe!"
You are full of yourself, but you're so cool you
probably deserve to be. Rock on.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
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Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and sunny, so Ben and I wandered out for a nice, long stroll. After a couple of frigid months, it was nice to be able to walk without bundling up everything and worrying about windchill. We were out for about two hours and Ben hardly slept the entire time. When we got back home, he managed to stay awake as well, but finally passed out for the evening around 7:30 so that Steve and I could watch Matchstick Men. I must agree with Steve that Nicolas Cage is at his best when he plays twitchy characters, the movie was very good. This weekend we got Ben an exersaucer thingie because he likes to stand now and my arms need a rest. It's got lots of toys on it which he's very interested in, and it's perfect for the late afternoon when he's getting tired of playing on the floor and just a bit cranky waiting for Steve to come home. I also tend to get a bit cranky waiting for Steve to come home, but I was unable to find an exersaucer for adults.

Last night turned out to be very productive. Bill came over and between the three of us, and foreman Ben, we got quite a bit of the kitchen unpacked and some shelves put up. Yesterday afternoon was a time for napping. Ben went down for a nap, so I decided to try to get some sleep as well. I was just drifting off when he woke up, so I took him out of his crib (where he sleeps during the day) and brought him to bed with me. He sat up and played for a while, but he couldn't resist the sleepy mommy vibes and the warm sunbeam coming in the window and we had a lovely hour-long nap all snuggled up together - sigh!

I managed to wash the curtains, make some babyfood, and shower yesterday and that was about it aside from taking care of Ben. It's funny how when you become a mom and are staying at home, showering and brushing your teeth become these monumental tasks worthy of trumpets and applause when before they were merely a daily routine. I know you don't want to hear this, but I have gone days without showering because I don't get a chance during the day, and in the evening I'm too tired to move. Steve had his STC presentation last night. We took Ben with us because he likes going out and is generally very good. There wasn't much of a crowd and Ben was in good form, but he was a bit too enthusiastic about daddy talking, so I had to take him out into the hall about two minutes into the presentation. The first two minutes sounded pretty good to me though. We got home around 9:30 and Ben was sound asleep until we took him out of the carseat and out him into bed. He stayed up and watched two episodes of The Office with us, then we all passed out. I love The Office! I wish that there were more than six episodes in the first series. My favorite character is Gareth Keeler, he's so sad that I can't figure out how the actor manages to keep a straight face during the scenes. Bill told me that the second season is out on DVD in England, so I'm hoping that it's available here soon - can't wait!

Ben's asleep, so it's time for an update. Well, we're moved over into the new place. It's been a crazy two weeks trying to get everything done. Actually, it's been a crazy three months full of projects that were more expensive and longer than we thought, tears, exhaustion, laughter, further exhaustion, and more trips to the hardware store than seem humanly possible. I am now sitting in our new office, crammed with boxes in our new place, also crammed with boxes. The predominant problem seems to be that we already had too much stuff for our old place, so moving into a place exactly the same size with the same amount of stuff was a disaster waiting to happen. There have also been some minor problems, such as discovering that the washing machine drain was a very small rubber pipe coming out of the wall which we had to replace with something much larger, and having no heat on one side of the house for a day because you have to practically hit the breaker with a hammer to get it to turn on. My mother-in-law stayed for an extra two weeks to help us through all this chaos, she left today and I miss her already. My folks came in almost every week for two months to help us out. They may recover by spring, but without their help, we wouldn't even be close to finished. So, my place is a mess, there are boxes everywhere that need to be opened and either unpacked, or edited and stored, and there's still stuff to do at the old place, like clean and patch the walls. Of course there's also putting up shelving, curtains, cleaning, organizing, hold on, why am I sitting here writing? Bye!

Some of you may find this funny
My son discovered that he can give me a raspberry while he's breastfeeding.

What else is new?
Well, we're getting a few more things accomplished over at the new place, but it's very slow going. My folks have been coming in and helping where they can, and Steve's mom is coming in next week which should help if we're ready to paint. Ben and I went out to the mall yesterday and just wheeled around and looked at stuff. He loves getting out, and with the frigid weather that is continuing to plague us, it's one of the few things that we can do without freezing. On Monday we went to a big grocery store and went up and down every aisle. As soon as this cold snap ends (May?) I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time outside. There's a park across the street, so there's no end to the trouble we could get into over there.

Oh
One of my favorite books, One Hundred Years of Solitude, is now an Oprah pick. I'm not sure whether to be happy about this or not.

Jobs

As part of Blork and Martine’s 12 Monkeys project, here’s my list of most of the jobs I've had. I'm sure there are a few that I've blocked from my memory
I was supposed to do this January 14, I'm not usually this late for work...
Farm work - Hay, hay, hay
Senior camp counsellor - In New Hampshire the summer I graduated. Much hijinks and no parental supervision
Ski technician, instructor, patroller - They don't pay much, but you do get free skiing and listen to all the lurid gossip of fellow employees
Filing - I've had so many jobs as a file clerk, it's surprising that I have fingers left. One of the most memorable was a contract for a car dealership garage. Me and a dozen garbage bags full of invoices working nights after they closed - and yes, we do get ripped off - a lot!
Pizza delivery - You get bigger tips when you're a girl, but it's a scary job sometimes
Department clerk/girl friday - Taking care of a load of guys who liked to cheat on their wives while on business trips - I hope all your penises fell off!
Book editor/layout person - No money, but so much fun :-)
Microfilm clerk - Evening shift, which completely rocked because I was young and could get off work at midnight and go and meet my friends at the bar, party til whenever and sleep in all morning-sweet!
Assistant to VP - my first job managing people, the power, the power! They totally screwed me over
Call centre manager - For a telemarketing firm. Although the people I managed were just openers, my conscience made me leave eventually.
Tech writer - First as a contractor, and now something bordering on permanent, it's a career that I really enjoy, for now.
Mommy - The newest addition to my c.v. that has been one delightful moment after another since it started 6 months ago

There's finally a little time to write while Ben has a morning nap. Despite the cold weather yesterday, we bundled up and went to Walmart just to get out of the house and wander around. Our mission was to buy some kid's hangers for his clothes (they were on sale). I didn't realise that you need kid-size hangers until I tried hanging up his little jackets and overalls. I also realised that I never included any of the hangers for baby clothes that I gave as gifts over the years - sorry everyone!
I warmed up and cleaned off the car and packed up Ben for the trip. He gets excited when you put on his snowsuit now because he knows that we're going outside. Large, open Walmart parking lots are about the coldest places ever on high windchill days, but we rushed in and then spent a bunch of time just wandering the aisles and looking at things. I found one of those aquarium things on sale, so I picked it up to replace the mobile. Sadly, the days of the mobile are gone. We've been moving it farther away from him every day, but yesterday morning I walked into his room to discover that he'd managed to get a hold of it and was laying there with the thing bent over while he happily chewed on the giraffe. I moved it to the foot of the crib so he can still look at it from the changing table. He seemed very taken with the aquarium, I've wanted one for ages!

How cold is it?
It's so cold out my mailman is delivering mail in his car. Brrrrrrr!

I don't normally do this, but...

you are the cute but psycho happy bunny. You are
adorable, but a little out there.


which happy bunny are you?
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Merry Christmas, Love, and Joys of the Season to All!

Chaos update
Well, it's past the middle of the month and almost nothing is accomplished at the new place. The biggest problem is that I can't work over there during the day because of Ben, and after Steve gets home, we're both too tired. That leaves the weekends, when we've also had to do all of our regular errands - ack! My downstairs neighbour is helping me knock down a wall in the nursery that had about two feet of space behind it that I can use for storage. Of course there were big old heating ducts there and when we took them out, part of the hallway wall came with it - oops! Now we have to fix that as well, and have an electrician in to take down a register. She's also going to add some plugs for us in January some time. If she's going to do that, we have to remove some baseboards to make her job easier, which means that we're going to have some wall issues which will make painting impossible until she finishes. We should be able to start with the kitchen and bathroom though because we're not doing anything in there until we buy the the place. We've had huge piles of snow falling on us recently which makes wandering around with Ben a bit more difficult. On the up side, the snow is beautiful and Christmassy and Ben looks very Maggie Simpsonesque in his snowsuit. I've almost finished the shopping too. We went downtown on Tuesday and got most of it completed. I pushed the stroller and Steve carried Ben around from store to store, which is easy when you live in a city with such a great underground network. Ben, of course, got a lot of attention. Part of being carried around by someone who's 6'4, is that you get a great view. He looked like a figurehead on a ship, all wide-eyed and smiling at everyone. He's really becoming an atrocious flirt!

Let the chaos begin!
We are now renting two places until Feb 1. Yup, the lady moved the last of her stuff from next door and hopefully cleaned up a bit. This means a month of cleaning, painting, sanding, and organizing for the big move sometime in January. Steve's mom arrives for a visit tomorrow, so I should be able to start getting stuff done over there Wednesday. It will be great to paint in a place without furniture! I've almost decided on paint colours, but I have to take the colour chips over and stick them up on the wall and have a look.
Yesterday officially ended something called black powder hunting season. First it's bow season, then two weeks of rifle, then black powder.I can only assume that this means hunting with muskets. I suppose that the deer have more of a chance this way, as you only get one shot, and then you have to reload, but it just seems silly to me. Do you also dress up in period costumes? To me, hunting is fine for food, but I've never appreciated people heading into the woods with their new red hats shooting at anything that moves for sport. My grandmother puts orange coats on the dogs for a month, because you hear all kinds of stories of city folk coming up with their rifles and shooting cows, and horses, and dogs, mistaking them for deer. My dad used to hunt when we lived in Alaska. He and a group of friends would get flown up north into the middle of nowhere for a week and hunt moose and bear. They normally came back with a couple of moose (mooses?) that they would split between them and we would have meat for half a year. When we moved back here, my dad retired his rifles. He didn't think that it was fair to shoot something that couldn't defend itself. My dad's opinion is that if you're hunting a moose or a bear and you miss, that animal has a pretty good chance to kill you (of course, not as good as if it had a rifle with a site and opposable thumbs), but what's a deer going to do? Blink you to death?

Ack!
Ben's been feverish since Friday night - probably because of his latest round of shots. Must not panic. Tempra's great!

It's a beautiful sunny day and with any luck Ben and I will be going out for a walk when he gets up from his nap. We celebrated our friend Terences' 40 birthday on Saturday and Ben was an excellent party guest, although he did conk out on his daddy, at least he wasn't wearing the lampshade this time. On Sunday, Guislaine came over for a belated birthday supper. Normally, we join her and other friends for a delicious meal at a French restaurant,but this year we couldn't make it. Steve made beef bourginon and I made a chocolate layer cake that was very yummy.
I'm starting to really think about paint colours for the new place. I have to decide soon, we must start painting at the beginning of December. I'm not sure if I'll be using the same colours as I have now, it's probably time for a change. Maybe I'll use some of the colours, but in different rooms. I keep having dreams that I'm walking through the place and it's huge, wishful thinking! It's going to be a whirlwind this Christmas with so much going on. There's a transit strike going on here, so Steve drove himself to work today. It kinda sucks because he bought his bus pass and now has to shell out for gas and parking. Ben's going to the doctor for his next set of shots on Thursday. The first time we went I was so anxious for him - I hate needles. He took it like a champ and only cried for a few seconds, then slept for most of the day. I almost forgot! He tried cereal for the first time on Sunday and seemed delighted with the texture and taste. It must be bland as cardboard, but I'm sure that just to try eating something off a spoon is fun. Most of it gets pushed back out and then shoved back in with his hands. We videotaped the event for posterity. Sigh, he's so super!

Another weekend has zoomed by! On Saturday we drove out to the townies and changed my tires and picked up a spare car. My folks bought a used Oldsmobile stationwagon because their older car gave out on them. After they bought it, they found out that the other car was fixable, so they offered the old Ford to Steve so he can get some practice driving around. Because of complications, he drove the Oldsmobile home. It was cold on Saturday, there was some snow and a really biting wind - hello winter!
Sunday we had many visitors and we watched Finding Nemo. We went to see it in the theatre when I was still pregnant, and I cried a lot. This time I only cried a little, but there was a lot of blinking. Why do animators always kill off the mother?
Ben's been in a very good mood lately, he seems to be smiling at everything and everyone. This morning he woke up in his co-sleeper and babbled for quite a while, he's generally very happy in the morning, but not so talkative. Eventually he's going to have to sleep in his crib in his room and I'll miss watching him wake up and stretch and squeak.
I have a lot of errands to run today, so naturally Ben has decided to have a long nap instead of his short little catnaps. Maybe I'll go have a nap too.....

Gone Fishing
Steve discovered that Ben loves watching fish. The Finding Nemo DVD has a virtual aquarium. The fish from the movie aquarium swim by and every now and then do something cute. He was entranced for at least 15 minutes!

Say Cheese
When you have a baby, you get on all sorts of new mailing lists. So far, I've received samples of and coupons for diapers, baby wipes, baby soap, lotion, formula, baby magazines, books, toys, you name it. The most recent was a free photo session. They called, and when I said I wasn't that interested, the lady on the phone said "It's free, the photographer will be at your home between 10 and 11 on Monday". Yesterday, the photographer showed up on time with all his photography stuff. He turned out to be a very nice young guy, two years out of photography school and great with babies. He managed to set up in the livingroom and we began. Ben was a real pro, of course he's had a camera in his face since he was born. First he took shots of Ben on his tummy in clothes, which went much better than I thought it would. After this, I stripped him to his diaper and the cheese began. Within the blink of an eye, the photographer whipped out a tarzan getup, complete with a stuffed monkey. I have to admit that I thought it was pretty funny. After this came the basket of fruit which Ben was added to with a lettuce leaf on his head. Seems that there's no escape from the dreaded Anne Geddes. The last photos were taken of Ben in his diaper posing again on his tummy. The sitting up shots were exciting, mostly because after the photographer got him into position, he let go of Ben for a split second while he took the photos. For this reason, I think that it was better to have a young guy, I'm sure his reflexes are much better than some middle-aged guy. We should get the proofs in a few weeks, so we'll see what we get. The really great part was that about five minutes after the photographer left, Ben was fast asleep. Apparently being beautiful takes a lot out of him :-)

Spongebob's pants are on fire
Note to self: when disinfecting sponges in the microwave, do not accidently hit ten minutes instead of ten seconds and then walk to the other end of the house. Burning sponge in the microwave is about the nastiest smell ever - but at least we know that the smoke detectors work.

Wow, it's the end of October already! I keep looking at the blog and wanting to post, but somebody's been taking up a lot more of my time than I previously anticipated. It's funny, you have an idea of what it's going to be like to have a baby and stay home with him, but you never really know what you're getting yourself into. For the most part, I've really been digging the mom thing, Ben's an amazing baby. He's sleeping about 6 hours a night now, which is pretty good. People tell you that you learn to live with less sleep, and they're right! Steve can fall asleep in seconds now to take advantage of any quiet moment. I tend to be more alert to Ben's fussing, so it takes me a while to get back to sleep after night time feedings and cuddling. Did I mention that Ben's a cuddler? He's about the cutest thing ever when he falls asleep in your arms.
I'm also getting pretty good transporting baby in the car seat and stroller to run errands. When I started, I had no clue. I'm sure that more than one mom has rolled her eyes at me and muttered "rookie" under her breath as I've tried to attach the infant seat to a grocery cart or tried to get him into his stroller in the parking lot of the mall. A few tips:

• At the grocery store, park near where you return the carts, that way you can get a cart and attach the infant seat and then roll across the parking lot to the store (this becomes important when your baby starts packing on the pounds), and you can put the baby in the car and return the cart without taking your eyes of him. I was sprinting across the parking lot a few times before I figured this out.
  
• Keep your stoller in the trunk of the car, you never know when you'll need it, and if you live upstairs, like me, you don't have to drag it up and down.
  
• Get yourself a nice, light, small-ish stroller. You can't get those SUV strollers up and down stairs easily if there are no ramps, and let's not talk about narrow aisles! I have a small stroller, and I can barely manage some store aisles.

Stepping Into the Void...

Thought I'd put something up here. I'd almost forgotten that this is a group blog, actually.

Well, Dina is fully into the baby-bliss, and it makes me all weepy (happy-weepy)just to think about it. People keep asking me whether I want another child and all I can say is "Yes! But when?" With the husband back in University it doesn't seem like the time will be right 'til at least next summer. And we don't even need contraceptives, cuz we never see each other...

Actually we do manage to spend time together. We just went up to my sister's in the Laurentians this past weekend. What a treat that was. My sister and her husband are the caretakers of the Molson family's estate up there. They live in a beautiful house with a guest apartment attached (just right for li'l ol' us), and the estate is 1500 acres on pristine lakes (3) and forest. It's like going to a resort, particularly because my sister loves to make beautiful meals that we linger over for hours in between swimming, boating, fishing and walking adventures. And her two boys take care of my kids all day. The good life.

This has been the best summer in recent memory for me. It was full of fun and yet it was very peaceful and relaxed at the same time. I feel refreshed and invigorated after it. I didn't get married and go to Paris (like Elizabeth), but I think I will remember this summer. My kids are at a good age to enjoy it, I guess (6 and 4), so we enjoy it as well.

I don't have anything particularly scintillating to say, here, in case you haven't already made that assessment. But I will mention one more thing: My cat has cancer. She has a tumour in her face that has eaten away some of her bone and is starting to eat away her sinuses. She is behaving pretty normally, so it is very difficult to make the decision to euthanize her. We only found out it was cancer on thursday, and we're watching her closely to see if it is interfering with her breathing. I figure when she can't breathe comfortably is when we'll do it. But so far her behaviour is normal. I'm so sad, because we got her 2 years ago, when she was already 10 years old, and I don't think she'd had a very happy life until she came to us. I am glad, however, that she has been happy with us. She cuddles with my daughter in bed, and she appears to be in the throes of ecstasy every time. My daughter squishes her like a teddy bear, and she couldn't be happier. I will be very sad to see her go, but I don't want her to suffer. I've explained things to the kids, but it's hard. What a weird thing to have to make the decision when another living creature will die. It seems wrong, but I guess humans have had to take that responsibility since we started domesticating animals. It's a responsibility I'd rather not have, but I accept it as the inevitable end of our animal/human relationship.

So, anyone else up for blogging? Tell us how your summer was. Let's not let Dina down!

I'm back!
Well, I'm kinda back. Ben is a wonderful baby, but he has this problem with sleeping alone, so all too often I am under a baby which makes typing a bit impossible. I will try to post whenever I have two free hands! Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, I will get those thank you cards out soon. Someone just started squawking- gotta go!

As promised, shower pics and the baby's room here. A million thanks again to Maggie for throwing a great shower!!!

Showered and ready to go
Saturday was the baby shower and it was a blast! Friday night, we went out and my mother-in-law got a mess of fruit. On Saturday morning, we chopped and washed and peeled and then threw it all in a box and headed over to Maggie's place. We decorated a bit and set up the food table and then people started to arrive. People carrying gifts and food! I decided that Saturday was going to be a black-out day for the gestational diabetes thing-I didn't check my sugar, and I didn't care. We all hit the food table and there was much chatting and laughing, nobody told me any birth horror stories which was appreciated. The gifts were piled high atop the table-people were very generous and there was much oooing and awwing at all the little clothes and stuffed creatures. Thank you everyone! I have pictures and they will be posted soon! We managed to get the loot home and Steve and I got to assemble and play with it. Steve and dad got the carpeting installed, after encountering many problems. By Sunday night, we had the crib up with the bedding and suddenly it's starting to look like a room!
On Monday morning, Steve's mom left and we went off to the hospital for the attempted baby turning. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. The doctor strongly advised against it because the chances of the baby turning were about the same as it turning on its own and the risk of having an emergency cesarean were looming. The baby appears to be moving well and seems very healthy despite the fact that it's small, that's good news. There's always the chance that it will flip over before the 28th, so I'm trying to stay positive. It's getting harder and harder to work, my brain's having a difficult time focusing on anything. Today, I'm pretty happy to be in an air conditioned office though, because it's going up to 31C + high humidity.

What else?
We finished painting the squares in the baby's room on Monday, it looks really neat! We also finally got around to taking the stroller out of the box. It took us 30 minutes to figure out how to unfold it! It looked easy enough when the guy was doing it in the store. I think that I even did it myself at the store. Good thing that we decided to try it out before actually needing to put a baby in it and go somewhere, two idiots and a baby out on the sidewalk manhandling a folded stroller. The instructions were really more diagrams without much detail which didn't help. The baby shower is this weekend and my mother-in-law is arriving today, with more presents. The doctor is going to try to turn the baby around on the 14. I've been told that this hurts quite a bit by the doctor, and generally when doctors tell you that something hurts, they're not making it up. Until Monday, I'm still going to try all of the stuff I've heard about to get it to turn by itself. Perhaps when we get to the hospital, the doctor will have a look and discover that we're heads down and feeling fine!

thhhhhppppttttlllll
Last Thursday we received a call from the hospital confirming my scheduled c-section on July 28. This scared the hell out of us because we didn't schedule anything with the hospital. Turns out that my doctor decided to book it because he's 99.9% sure that I'm having a c-section. You have to love a doctor who gives you so little hope of avoiding having your midsection sliced open. He logically explained why he thought this, but that's not what I wanted to hear. I wanted some compassion from him, perhaps any sign that he actually realised how big a disappointment this was to me and how scared I am of the surgery. I didn't get it, which of course just made me mad, and stubborn. I talked him into trying to turn the baby, which will be attempted either the 14 or the 24. I got some advice from an experienced midwife, she made me feel hopeful. I talked to a female doctor and a nurse at the hospital who sympathised and told me there's still a good chance that the baby will turn of its own. The nurse did tell me that my doctor is one of the best at the hospital, even if he's not the most compassionate. This made me feel better, because I was starting to worry that I had chosen a c-section crazy man.
Needless to say that I'm still very down in the dumps about the whole thing, I'm trying to stay positive and relaxed, but it's difficult.

Busy weekend!
So, as of Thursday I have to check my blood at least three times per day and watch what I eat and worry about the fact that baby continues to enjoy hanging around the uterus with its head up, instead of down which should be its preferred orientation. We also discovered that it's something called a "frank breech", which means that its feet are up by the head. Essentially, we have a Cirque de Soleil baby. We had our birthing courses this weekend. The Saturday session was very good, the teacher was animated and organized and taught us many breathing and relaxation exercises. The teacher on Sunday was not very good and was more of a natural childbirth/breastfeeding nazi. She did take us on a tour of the birthing centre and recovery floor though, so it wasn't a complete waste. The funniest bits were the videos we had to watch, most of which were filmed in the late 70s. The hair was great! Of course, none of the mothers screamed, or cursed at their husbands, or took the drugs, so you had to assume they were insane. We also enjoyed bbq with Terence and Irene Saturday night, and Ramsay and Mirella Sunday, so today I'm a bit loopy. I'm looking forward to the holiday tomorrow to rest up.
I got the new Harry Potter last week and have been reading it in short intervals, don't want it to end too fast. It's quite different from the first four, there's a complete change in tone which I was disappointed with, but it really was inevitable considering that the character is growing up and the plot is getting progressively darker.

I was going to talk about the weekend, but it was pretty uneventful. We put Scott on the train Saturday morning which was sad, and Kathy came over Sunday, which was a perfect way to spend an afternoon. After weeks of eating everything that moves (doctor's orders), I am now 6 pounds heavier than before I got pregnant, which should make my doctor very happy. Of course, now I fear that when I go in at the end of March he's going to say, "hey, whoa there tubby", but the butter really was worth it :-)
I think that I can kinda feel something moving around down there, and I definitely have started to look pregnant, at least to me. One day last week I looked down and there it was, not just my regular belly, but a rounder, harder belly. Freaky! My next ultrasound is March 17 (should I paint a shamrock on my tummy?). They should be able to tell us the sex of the baby, but we don't want to know. My friend Kuan wants to know what she's having, but her baby is apparently being very shy about the whole thing. I want a surprise at the end, we know so much more than our mothers did when they were having kids; I know how healthy the baby is, I can hear the heartbeat and see what it looks like, why wreck the ultimate surprise? Besides, this way if I'm having a girl I don't get pink stuff, not really crazy about pink.

Woo hoo! Sofa!
The sofa and chair arrive sometime this afternoon! Yay! I'm in training today, so Steve will be heading home to wait for sofa men. In other news, it looks like I'm heading back to NY next week for business... oh joy, that's about a week of x-mas shopping time wasted.

The Latest James Bond Movie

Yes, I confess, I saw "Another Day to Die" and frankly it's too violent, long and seemingly pointless car chases that somehow make for a very flat and tired forumla. However Brosnan makes a good Bond and the Bond girl in the movie, Halle isn't bad either. The song, by Madonna is okay too and if you catch the music video by the same name as the movie, it's also good (and in my opinion better than the movie, it's not as long). As you would expect, Madonna does make a cameo appearance in the movie and if you have seen the video, you'll recognize the setting.

As you probably heard the movie does a shameless job of product promotion. I felt that this was one of it's strengths, it gave me something else to think about while someone else was being brutally beaten and killed.

The special effects ranged from okay to absolutely terrible. The worst scene is one that allegedly takes place in Iceland where Bond is driving across some ice that is being cracked by a device from outer space and as you would expect he drives over any icy precipice and drops a 100 feet or so straight into the ocean. What makes the whole thing totally unbelievable is a) the way the setting looked, totally fake, something out of a 1950s el cheapo Sci-fi movie, b) you can't suspend you disbelief when he somehow manages to yank a piece of the car off and turn it into a surfboard and ride the surf to safety. (I think he managed to grab the car's parachute too before the car fell straight into the ocean.)

I am glad I saw this at Guzzo cinema as a Sunday matinee as opposed to lining up for it on a Friday or Saturday night and paying full fare for it. Don't bother with the video when it comes out unless you really want to see the scene where Halle comes out of the water in her spectacular orange bikini and her equally spectacular body...


I rarely go to movies, especially ones my husband wants to see and this is one he had been champing at the bit to see. (I didn't know he liked orange bikinis). I think the next time he goes to a movie, I will stay home and rent The Shipping News or The End of the Affair. I am bound to see some plot, drama, and some good acting.

Quiet Monday
Many people have taken today off because tomorrow's a holiday here, so it's vewy quiet. I like days like these because there's no traffic and almost no one bugs me so I can get some work done. This weekend we didn't get as much done as we'd hoped. The heat wave has started, so we were a bit dazed by the return of summer heat. We did get out to a friend's housewarming which was lots of fun. Everybody feels obliged to talk about baby stuff when I'm around. I guess it's an obvious conversation choice, and I do love to hear everyone's cute baby stories and how happy they are about being moms and dads, but I'd like some variety. Tell me something horribly embarassing about your first parenting experience that makes me feel completely normal about feeling so totally unprepared for this. I'm serious, I'm freakin' out here people!

Dang!
Fixed my blogback and lost some of my comments. Sorry!

This sucks
Doctor made a mistake, I have gestational diabetes after all, which means that now I have to go the the hospital from 7:30-3:30 next week. The hospital doesn't seem to care that I have to make that time up somewhere.... I'll probably end up waiting for hours in uncomfortable chairs. Oh! and just to make my day a bit brighter, my doctor has completely freaked me out by telling me that the baby hasn't turned yet, so I should be mentally preparing myself for the possibility of a cesarean. I've been frantically searching the internet for exercises that I can do at home. So far I have found lots of advice involving tilting yourself up on an ironing board and using frozen peas, music, and flashlights to coax the head down. I'm thinking a full sound and lights show between my legs ought to do the trick. I'm very unhappy at the moment.

Drat!
Yesterday I checked the weather and it said that it was going to be sunny and low 20s all weekend. Today, it's rainy and high teens. The gods are thwarting by birthday BBQ...... everyone bring a sweater and an umbrella.
I had a lovely birthday, went out to lunch and Steve took me out for a great mexican dinner. He gave me a Shaun figurine from A Close Shave, so cute!

Happy Birthday to Me!

You've got the cutest little ...

Can't see it? Try this and squint a bit:

The camera loves ya baby!
Had another ultrasound today, and blood tests, and an appointment with a dietician. It was a very busy morning of running up and down stairs. The baby looks pretty good to me. It decided to position itself so that we got a very good look at its face, posing for the camera already! I'll have a photo up tomorrow, with the appropriate arrows, etc. It was moving its mouth too, which means a good appetite, or it's already working on a welcome speech. The doctor said that the waist looks a bit small, so I have to go back in at the end of the month. The dietician told me a whole bunch of stuff that I already knew. I suppose many people do not know how to eat well, but I am not one of these people. Of course, seeing as how my birthday is this week, I doubt that I will be choosing not to eat cake and ice cream either. I think that the hospital policy errs on the side of the overly cautious.
Saturday was spent at a sad family function. My aunt died last Monday, and we had a small memorial service in the townships. My grandmother is holding up well, despite her own illness. It was very draining to say the least. Sunday we were going to go out and shop for a dresser and look at more strollers, but instead we worked around the house and did some groceries. Yesterday gave us a little reminder of the warm weather to come, it was hot and humid. Steve set up the air conditioner in the bedroom, perfect timing! We were watching the season finale of Six Feet Under last night, my wonderful brother-in-law tapes it for me, when the tape suddenly went fuzzy grey screen in the last minutes! Luckily, we have an alternate supplier so we can find out what happened.

Baby report
It's been a while. Let's see, as you know my belly exploded a few weeks ago, which was hard to get used to, but I seem to have finally adapted. I have discovered that bean burritos are not the best thing to eat right now. Spicy food is so far still a-ok. The ever-generous mother-in-law insists on getting us the stroller, and with the help of her sister, is sending us about a million receiving blankets, so I'll have plenty left over to wax the car. I'm still stripping the closet door of the nursery and we haven't started painting the squares on the walls yet, but maybe we'll get a few taped off this weekend. The baby is moving around, although now it seems more like gentle rolling than kicking. According to the books, the baby is now about 18 inches long and 3 and a half pounds, which really doesn't explain why I have now gained over 25 pounds, but my doctor says that I'm normal.
In other news
I have had better weeks. Had some very bad news on Monday (not baby-related), so I'm rather blue.

We registered this weekend for babystuff at the big chain toystore. It wasn't so bad, although I'm not completely convinced about the stroller, and I'm still looking for a nice crib set that isn't stupidly expensive. I think that we have all the basics covered. Anybody have anything that they couldn't live without when they had a baby? A friend is coming over with a crib tonight, so we're going to put it together and have a look and decide if it's a good fit. After we registered, we went out for lunch and then on to Club Price, where we stocked up on cleaning supplies and priced diapers just for fun, man those things are expensive! Sunday morning I just lolled around and then I went over to Maggie's to see the newly painted facade-very nice! Last night we went with Guislaine to see the new Matrix movie - which was action packed and all the things that you'd expect from a Matrix movie. We knew that there was a trailer for the next movie after the credits, so we stuck around to see it. The only problem was that the music that went with the credits was incredibly loud and the credits were really long. I had my hands over my ears, and it was still deafening. I came out kind of cranky about the whole thing. I'm going to call the cinema today and complain.
This week is going to be another super busy one, I have another release which always creates havoc and late nights while things compile and crash.
It is also the start of my birthday month, truly the most amazing time of the year! Let the games begin!

What else is new?
Well, for starters, last Sunday my tummy went from being merely round, to pregnant! Somewhere between 9am and 1pm, I exploded, and the truly weird part is that I didn't notice, despite being awake and alert the entire time. I had been carrying low, but now my belly has expanded up, just below my rib cage. I've also discovered that moving around is getting a bit harder. At my last doctor's appointment, I found out that one of my glucose readings was slightly abnormal, which means that I have to see a dietician, but it's not gestational diabetes. The doctor doesn't seem too concerned, everything else is going perfectly. It's so hard to believe that I'm only two months and a bit away from meeting the little person moving around in my body. The doctor showed my how to figure out how the baby is positioned, of course it's much easier for him to tell the head from the bum.
Steve painted the baby's room the base coat over the long weekend. It's a purply blue, very soft and calming. Now that that's done, we are going to tape off some random squares and paint them in different shades of yellow, purple, green, etc., it's going to look great. We went to Fly last weekend and picked up a couple of hippo lamps, and I found some really cute hippo posters online today. We're going to try not to overdo the hippo theme. On Saturday we're going to go to that chain toy store to register for baby stuff. Knowing how bad I am registering for things (the wedding registry was so hard for me to do), we're bringing Maggie along so she and Steve can run around putting stuff on the list.

New York trip
It's been two weeks since I went, and Steve blogged about it already, but we had a blast. After a pretty good drive, we arrived and found some illegal parking (luckily we didn't get a ticket) and went to see Kuan. Not only did I get a new purse, but she also gave us a tour of her company. We had a nice dinner with her, compared bellies and got caught up. It's so cool being pregnant at the same time as a close friend. I really wish that we lived closer together, but at least we have someone else to compare notes with as we go along. After we said goodbye to Kuan, we made our way to the village to Dan and Libby's place. We had a lot of trouble finding the parking lot and the apartment building, but eventually we found everything. They live in a great place. One of the neatest things is that they are just down the street from the Magnolia bakery, so I got to try a piece of the chocolate bundt cake that I made from their cookbook! It was almost as good as mine :-) The village is kind of like the Plateau, full of tons of bookstores, restaurants, and people with babies and dogs. On Saturday we wandered all over and took in a movie at the Tribeca film festival. On Sunday, we headed off with Libby via subway. We first went to Old Navy, so I could pick up some maternity wear, then on to Central Park and the Museum of Natural History where we took in the Einstein exhibit and the dinosaur section of the museum. The exhibit was fantastic and full of very ingenius visual examples of many of Einstein's most important theories. You can read an explanation of a theory, but I got much more from seeing it in practise. For the evening, we got some Indian takeout and played some games. It was sad to say goodbye, but we made our way back home with occasional bouts of heavy rain.

It's like a blogging wasteland here lately. Is there anybody out there?
I've been super busy, I have a bunch of stuff to get out by the end of next week, and people are just starting to give me information. I made some kickass peanutbutter cookies Wednesday night, perfect not too crisp, browned to perfection. The funniest thing that I've seen lately was in a movie called The Price of Milk. It's set in the New Zealand countryside. A farmer is out in his field talking to his friend, and a medium sized box runs up to them and barks. The farmer scratches the box, and the friend asks, "How's his agoraphobia then?". The farmer replies, "Coming along". The box then runs away, barking.

Happy Birthday becca!!
Yeah, I know it was Sunday, but haven't touched the computer all long weekend!

Back!
We returned from New York Monday after a long and rainy drive. We had a great time and I promise that I'll write about it as soon as I get a chance. Right now, I'm swamped with work! Until then, here are pictures.

The sun is back!
It's been a dreary couple of days, but it looks like we might have a few days of rejuvinating sunshine to look forward to. My bananas are finally ready for making banana bread tonight. I saw a new recipe and have been craving it since then. I love homemade banana bread, it smells divine and nothing can beat it with a cold glass of milk. I have a ton of stuff to finish before I leave for my long weekend tomorrow, and everytime I start working on something, I get interrupted with a problem or a question. I'm also trying to decide what to pack, a small crisis for me. There's always something that you have to leave behind that you need, and a bunch of useless stuff that you end up taking with you. I should also leave a little bit of space in my luggage in case I happen to pass by the Old Navy that sells maternity clothes in New York:-)
Any requests for things to see, photograph, or purchase while I'm there?

Rainy days are for snoozing
It's one of those days. I slept in this morning and I could still use a nap. The glucose test yesterday was pretty ugh. They took blood, made me drink an entire bottle and a half of that sweet drink, then took my blood an hour after, an hour after that, and an hour after that. Luckily, the technician switched arms halfway through. When you drink that much sugar on a very empty stomach, you not only feel really naseous, but you also feel incredibly tired. I was the second person there, so I got one of the two "good chairs", which are ancient pink vinyl recliners. They're not the greatest, but compared to the hard-backed jobbies, they're a huge improvement. Steve stayed with the chair while I was having my blood taken to prevent poaching. I managed to nap for an hour, which was nice. After the test, Steve got me a chocolate pastry and got my carrots out of the trunk for my drive to work. After I dropped him off, I started to feel really shaky. They don't tell you not to drive, but perhaps they should, I managed to get to work alright, but I doubt it was very smart.
We're taking Friday and Monday off and heading down to the Big Apple to visit Kuan Friday night, and Dan and Libby over the weekend. I've heard plans of a puppet show :-) I'm looking forward to seeing everyone!

Countdown
Yesterday was our 20th month of wedded whatchmacallit. It sunk in yesterday that there are only three more months of being able to enjoy just being a couple, after that we'll be a family for the rest of our lives. In honour of this, we will be going to see X-men 2 tonight!

You know, we can see you....
Middle-aged guy in a suit in a Mercedes parked right outside the main entrance of a grocery store with his finger buried in his nose. I'm sure he meets his clients like that.

Drat
I have to go in for the long glucose test next Monday. I have to follow a diet, but it's a diet of more food than I think that I can eat. Then I have to fast, then I do the test again, but this time it's longer and I have to drink more sweet stuff and give more blood. Ugh....
Besides that, everything's fine with the baby, it's nice and healthy and moving all the time.

Life in SARS City

Here I am in Toronnah where SARS rules or at least the media has deemed that it does along with the WHO. Anyway, this is my farewell tour before leaving CDS next Wednesday. (This time next week I plan to be out in the back yard, weather permitting reading a good book and soaking up the rays.)

So far this week I have had 3 great lunches and a dinner. Today I lunched with my boss, two colleagues and our CEO (surprise guest) who told some really good stories. I also found out that he is as much of a dog nut as I am so you can imagine the dog talk over lunch.

Tomorrow is the grand finale lunch at a wine bar (it's like letting me loose in a toy shop) with a bunch of other people and then when that's over, it will be the goodbyes and heading off to the train station to head for home. It is a "bit" bizarre having this much of a send off, but then this has been a strange year all round. I will at least leave with no regrets or anger. I feel that I will have closed this chapter in my life well and will remember both the good and the bad as lessons learned.

In about an hour I have to go for my exit interview in which I get to say whatever about the company, then off to troubleshoot some Intranet issues and then hopefully go back to the hotel and relax.

As for SARS, I have seen some people wearing masks and the washrooms here in our building all have hand washing instructions (in a large font) taped on all the bathroom mirrors. So far I haven't witnessed much the approved handwashing procedure...but I have witnessed handwashing.

Famished
I'm back from my glucose test and I'm starved! Someone, pass me that pile of sandwiches and easter bunnies and stand back!
It went alright, I thought that they were going to suck way more blood out of me, and the stuff that they make you drink isn't so bad, just not very appetizing. As usual, there's a study going on for this test. Apparently, there's a long test (3 hrs), and a short test (1hr). Normally, you go in for the 1 hour test, and if you get a normal reading, then you're ok, but if you test high, then you have to go back for the 3 hour test. The problem is, about 75% of the positive results end up being false after the second test is administered. The new idea is to do one 2 hour test that's more accurate, thereby preventing a lot of women from having to return, pay for expensive parking, and lose time at work. As a part of the study, they have you pick an envelope that has either the 1 and 3 hour test, or the 2 hour test and I assume that they will eventually decide which method is the most cost and time efficient for the staff and patients. I picked the old method (1,3), so I hope that my blood studied up last night and I don't have to go back!

Happy Bunny Weekend!
I'm at work today so I can take Monday off. I wish everyday could be like today, no real distractions, no traffic, a parking space close to the door, and indian food with Maggie. Watched Road to Perdition last night, which was much better than I thought it would be. Tom Hanks is amazingly quiet in this film, which proves that the man can actually act. I'm really looking forward to the long weekend. We're hanging out and going to a BBQ tomorrow, Sunday we're up at my folks where we will also be putting on my summer tires and hooking my parents up to the internet (our house is about to become tech support central), and Monday is all to ourselves. I hope that the sun comes out so we can go for a nice walk.

The Lion, the *itch, and the Wardrobe
Seeing as how it was going up to 21C today, I decided to wear a skirt to work, the first of the year. I only have one skirt now, a black stretchy, mid-length number, but what to wear with it? The short story is that it took me way more time getting dressed than normal and I've discovered that I don't have nearly enough shirts to wear with skirts-ugh! I'm kind of in-between at this point and mostly I just look overweight instead of pregnant. At least I'm wearing clothes and didn't decide in a hormone-raging fit of disgust to just go naked.
Hey! we have a new governing party! Really, it seems only fair that another party gets a turn at screwing up our province for a few years, the other had been playing with it long enough - you have to share.

Leadfoot
I got my very first speeding ticket this weekend, in the townships, where police car sitings are so rare that people talk about them years later. What are the odds? I was driving a bit too fast through a town, coasting really, but seeing as how the town consists of a depanneur, a church that is closed, and a guy who sells used furniture out of his garage, nobody ever really slows down. He had taken the lights off his car so that you couldn't recognize it as a cop car, sneaky bastard. As I said to my folks when we saw them, I was due to get one sooner or later, to which my dad added, "especially the way you drive". Sigh, if only I looked a bit more pregnant, I might have gotten away with it. I guess my baby's just gonna have to live with the fact that its got a leadfoot felon for a momma.

What's beautiful weather like you doing in a Friday like this? Why can't you wait for the weekend when I can go out and play?

The sun is out and it's supposed to get up to a balmy 11C today. I think that I should go outside at lunch and catch some very needed light therapy. Yesterday I spent most of my energy just trying to stay awake. Let's hope that this nice weather stays!
I'm in charge of the weekly lottery pool this week because the guy that normally does it is in Colorado (we see the world, we do!). It hasn't been so bad, a lot of people gave me money right away without any nagging, but there's always a few that you have to chase after...if I did this every week, I think I'd get a pointy stick.

I've been feeling very unmotivated the past couple of days. Perhaps it's the weather and the fact that we haven't had a long weekend yet this year, but I'm not feeling very diligent or guilty for not feeling diligent. Thankfully, Easter weekend's coming up! The day after the Easter weekend, I'm going in for the dreaded glucose test. They make you fast, then take blood, make you drink something disgustingly sweet, and then take blood from you a few more times. It takes about 2 hours I've been told. What this boils down to is that I can't pig out on Easter candy just in case that gives a false gestational diabetic reading and they force me to follow a strict low everything diet. Guess I'll be hording most of my candy for later!
I'm picking up my Dad's birthday gift tomorrow. He's 80 tomorrow, but we're celebrating on the weekend. I think that he's going to like it :-)

Ok, so the snow wasn't as bad as we all thought, but it's still all over the ground which means I still have to wear boots. Yesterday was beautiful and sunny. I was going to stay in all day, but a friend threw out his back, so I found myself driving downtown with extra pillows and blankets so he could sleep on the floor. I should explain that my husband is the reincarnation of Florence Nightingale. He called from a cafe where he was gaming to say that our friend had just called and was lying on the floor of his apartment, unable to move. The ambulance technicians said that it was severe spasms, and going to the hospital would just be time-consuming and uncomfortable, so Steve stayed with him all day, kept him company, got him drugs and lunch, and then moved his tv and stuff so the poor guy would have something to do. Did I mention that he also brought him breakfast this morning and is going to bring him dinner tonight on his way home? All I did was bring supplies, visit and get him an ice pack and cookies. I also bought him some smokes at a magazine shop, and bought myself a pregnancy magazine. If you ever want to get a nasty look from a cashier, just take those two items up to the cash...

Loud sigh
15-20 cm of snow tomorrow with high winds...

Table for one
I was dying for Indian food and no one was available, so I went out and ate by myself. I don't really like eating alone when I don't have a book or something to read, but I was desperate for chickpeas and chai tea. It made me think about the restaurants that have attractions/distractions. The one that I always remember is an A&W my parents used to take me to in Anchorage when I was very young. They had car service, and all the spots faced a large cage containing a real lion. I remember that it was on wheels, so he was probably rented, which is good because the thought of that poor lion living in the A&W parking lot is too depressing. Actually, when I look back it seems pretty cruel anyway, having to watch us all chewing away and watching him, but as a kid it was about the most exciting thing ever.

Woo woo April!
The doctor's appointment went great, not too long a wait and I'm a textbook pregnancy, everything's perfect! I bid a happy good riddance to the month of March as I flipped the calendar this morning. Sure, we're supposed to get snow for the next couple of days, but it's April now so we know it's almost over, right?
Too many people at the office are sick. My office mate has been sick for a week and refused to stay home through the hacking and phlegm no matter how much I threatened him. Today I am tired and wondering if it's going to strike me down. Perhaps I will take off a bit early this afternoon and go home and nap. Being sick and not being able to take drugs really sucks....