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
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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 :-)