QUEENB » baby

Gearing up

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:52:28 +0000

Yes, I’m gearing up for the end of the year (school year) madness. Even though I’m not back at work yet, I still have a bunch of stuff to do. Like tomorrow night is my school’s grad. Even though I haven’t been there for over a year, I promised the students that I would be back to announce the grads as they walk across the stage. This has always been my thing, and I really enjoy doing it. Besides they always seem to have a problem finding someone who can say some of the names. For instance Sathananthalingam is just the last name of one of our students. Her first name is still 12 characters long. I don’t seem to have much difficulty in saying these names so I’m always called upon when there’s a long name like that to pronounce. Then on Thursday is our end of the year staff breakfast. Even though I went last year, I think I’m going to beg off this year. I don’t really want to sit through all the goodbyes of staff I don’t really care about or know. Besides I anticipate it being difficult keeping a little guy who is *almost* walking still for like 4 hours. It’ll probably be more trouble than it’s worth and frankly I don’t care that much.
My mum was down for a couple of days and we had a really nice visit. This was the first time she stayed for more than one night. We decided the last time she was here that it didn’t make much sense to just stay for one night because it was all so rushed. We really didn’t do much. We managed to get out for a long walk and admire other people’s front gardens. It gave me all sorts of ideas for mine. And we had my brother and his wife over for dinner Saturday night. They left around 21:00 and my mum, dad, hubby and I stayed up till 23:00 talking about baby D and his birth. Even though it wasn’t that long ago (14 months) there were a couple things I had actually forgotten. I love reminiscing! Yesterday we went to church together and then came home and finally hung up some pictures I’ve been meaning to get on my walls. I will still have to get some more pictures as I have a humongous wall in my family room that could use some lovin’.
This time next Monday I will be at work. I am trying desperately not to think about it for fear that I will lose my mind. It’s only for 2 weeks; 9 days in fact so I’m sure I can do that. The worst will be when baby D goes into daycare and it’s a full time arrangement. If hubby was staying home with baby D the whole time as we had planned I probably wouldn’t be as nervous, but my Dad will be watching him for 3 days. I’m sure it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but he’s old-school German and tends to have his own way of doing things and criticizing mine. I guess I’m just afraid that he’ll be letting baby D scream himself to sleep or feeding him large chunks of stuff that he might choke on or possibly being too rough on him. I’ll just have to keep thinking happy thoughts that everything will go fine or I’m going to make myself sick thinking about it.

Back in the saddle

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:49:20 +0000

I’ve been away a lot longer than I ever expected. As previously mentioned my computer has been extremely sluggish and I’ve sort of been avoiding it altogether lately. Strangely enough, without doing anything to it, it appears to be acting much better today.
Not a whole lot going on in my life at the moment. GM turned 14 months yesterday and has 2½ teeth on the bottom and almost a full tooth up top. He’s still not quite walking on his own, but he’s certainly trying. I’m starting to get a bit worried about his communication skills – or lack thereof. Besides babbling ‘dada’ he really doesn’t communicate. I’m really not sure that this is normal, but he’ll be getting his next set of shots in the second week of July so I’ll be sure to talk to the doctor about it.

Saturday 9: Happy Father’s Day Eve

1. How long since you have been with your dad? He lives in the basement, so … yesterday.
2. How many siblings share your dad? one younger brother
3. Will you see your dad tomorrow? definitely, we’re going to my brother’s for a BBQ
4. Do you give him gifts on Fatherâ€™s Day? usually, but he never really wants anything
5. Have you ever had a tough time in your relationship with your father? absolutely. we’ve been through a lot of tough roads, but are finally starting to see more eye to eye
6. What was the last thing that you did with your dad? we went out for dinner Tuesday night
7. Growing up, was your dad tough on you? yup, he was the disciplinarian
8. Are you close to your father? yes, I would say so
9. How long since you have spoke to him? a couple of hours

Playstationed

Wed, 07 May 2008 15:45:12 +0000

Hubbyâ€™s birthday isnâ€™t until June 5, but since I always try to get him something really great I tend to start early on the gift. Heâ€™s been going on and on about getting a PS3, but frankly we just canâ€™t afford it. I mean, first of all we used to have a Super Nintendo and the original Playstation. Where are they now? Exactly. We eventually got sick of them and they (I believe) are currently sitting out in the garage waiting for a yard sale. Then looking at the cost of the system and then the games on top of thatâ€¦not bloody likely. I figured the only reason he even wants a system is to play Gran Turismo again. Youâ€™d think that when he drives for a living that he wouldnâ€™t want to play games that involve driving. Like I donâ€™t think it would be much fun to play a game that involved answering phones or typing. Just me though.

So I checked out ebay and found an auction that had 23 games, 3 controllers, 2 guitars plus the PS2 with a high bid of $280.00. I tried to see if it was a good deal by checking the cost of the new system with the important games that hubby wouldâ€™ve wanted from the 23: Gran Turismo 4, Grand Theft Auto (x4), Guitar Hero II, III and Encore: Rocks the 80â€™s. I couldnâ€™t even find all the games for sale, but suffice to say that the system, GT4, GHIII plus 2 guitars was already over $300.00. So I put in a big of $300.00 max and won the auction for $290.00.

Since the guy listed that shipping would be from Toronto I asked if I could pick it up instead of paying the $30.00 for shipping. Unfortunately Toronto is a big city and he was clear on the other side of it from me. He offered to take $10.00 off if Iâ€™d still make the trip, which I did. That was Monday. When I got home I hinted that I had a really great gift for him and maybe he wanted it early. After all it was exactly 1 month to the day before his actual birthday. (Iâ€™m so horrible) I just couldnâ€™t wait to give it to him. Besides he has Mondays off and we werenâ€™t doing anything that afternoon. I couldnâ€™t seem to convince him to totally give in, but he heâ€™d think about it and maybe the following day I could give it to him. He was started complaining that he was feeling dizzy by dinnertime and ended up staying home from work yesterday.

Laying it on thick at lunch, I asked him if he wanted a piece of cake for dessert. He said he did, so I asked if he wanted â€œbirthday cakeâ€. He laughed and said â€˜fineâ€™. So I got the candle in the piece of cake and sang Happy Birthday for effect. When I got home on Monday with all the stuff I had it stashed downstairs at my Dadâ€™s since heâ€™s out of the country at the moment, so we agreed that he would change GM and Iâ€™d get the gift ready. I made him close his eyes when he got downstairs and I had the games fanned out across the floor and was holding the guitar. When he opened his eyes it took him a minute to figure out what he was looking at and then he asked â€˜you got me a PS3?â€™. â€œNope sorry, just a PS2â€³. At which point he realized how many games there were and he was shocked.

So we played Guitar Hero III a bit downstairs while trying to keep one eye on GM who was loving crawling around new surroundings. Then we managed to get the very heavy tv (which my Dad gave us since he bought an HDTV, but hadnâ€™t bothered to move yet) up 2 levels to our bedroom, where I got everything rearranged and hooked up. Weâ€™ve managed to spend an exorbitant amount of time playing games over the last 2 days (yes he called in â€™sickâ€™ again today).

On the mend

Sat, 03 May 2008 02:15:09 +0000

It was a horribly yucky grey, cold, rainy day today. I don’t know where my brain’s been at lately, but my days are all messed up. I was sitting down to breakfast this morning looking out at the nasty weather thinking “at least I don’t have to go outside today…”. Of course today is Friday, so I have to get the recycling to the curb. DOH! Plus I had to get some yard waste out too. When we moved into the house we inherited a huge mess of branches dumped on the other side of the fence. I think we’re probably better off renting a chipper or something to get rid of them instead of following the city rule of only putting out 3 bundles per week. Especially since after all the lugging from the backyard, they weren’t even picked up! grrr
Finally baby D’s conjunctivitis has almost cleared up. The day after his birthday (April 13th) when I took him into the doctor for his yearly check-up I noticed that he was getting a cold. Hubby was really worried because my Mum had been at baby D’s birthday with serious laryngitis which she got while on a trip to Egypt. He was afraid that she’d maybe given him something exotic. We did mention it to the doctor and he thought it was probably just coincidental. After a week of a fairly bad cough, he started to get a goopy eye. I swabbed at it with a warm, wet facecloth and hoped that it would clear itself up since the eye drops I had from the last time had expired. I had finally had enough and made him a quick appointment on Friday the 25th. Unfortunately his usual doctor wasn’t in, so I had to see his colleague. She seems nice enough, but said that she wouldn’t prescribe drops. I ended up getting oral antibiotics, which the pharmacist was surprised to see I was supposed to administer 4 times a day. She thought that was pretty taxing for an infant and I soon began to agree with her. Luckily baby D liked the medication, but I found his eye getting worse instead of better. It was starting to look like he got punched in the face. The skin under his eye was red and raw. By Monday I called the office again and explained that on Sunday when he woke up he couldn’t even open his eye – poor baby! I asked to have the same drops I had had before re-prescribed. I was very happy to hear that I didn’t have to come back in to be seen or get the script as I live about 20-30 minutes from the office. They called in the prescription and I managed to get the drops after my family dinner Monday night. At the dinner my brother callously asked if I had rubbed my son’s eye in raw chicken. So tactful. But his eye did look terrible. So happily now it’s almost gone, which is great since it’s a serious struggle getting the drops into his eyes. I’ve been trying to sneak them in while he’s nursing, but he’s on to me now.

Diaper Duty

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:39:19 +0000

You know you’re a real mum when…
If I didn’t feel like a real mum before I certainly do now. In the last month GM has decided that he doesn’t want to lie still when being changed. At first I have to admit it drove me nuts and made me very frustrated. Since there seems to be no end in sight to this new behaviour I’ve had to find a way to live with it. I have now become an expert at changing diapers with baby on his tummy. Of course with that said, over the last couple of days he is now also attempting to stand instead of lie on his tummy. Going with the flow, I have also gotten pretty good at changing his diaper while he’s on his knees. Go me!

Happy Easter

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 02:15:09 +0000

I hope next year I’m more into the holidays. I haven’t been for some time now maybe because my husband doesn’t like them due to his job. He delivers pastries for a high end pastry company and is extremely busy around the holidays. Now that GM is almost a year old I really have to get more in the spirit for his benefit.
Sunday I will be entertaining the in-laws. ~~I’m~~ We’re really not into entertaining. Or at least not used to it. Even though it’s not that much we have told our families that we won’t be traveling for a while to visit because we can’t afford to spend our money on gas. Once I go back to work we’ll have more money to spend of stuff like that, but for the next little while we’re going to be really strapped. So with that said his family is coming to us for Easter this year. His mom is still cooking the turkey (thank goodness), but we’ll be responsible for everything else. It should work out better anyways because this way I don’t have to lug all GM’s stuff with us and he might actually nap since he’ll be in familiar surroundings.

Spring is in the air

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 01:35:09 +0000

What an absolutely glorious day it was today. I’m so glad I decided to get myself out of the house or I would never have known just how beautiful it was out. I’m not exactly sure of the temperature, but I think it was like 5 or 6°C with the sun shining brightly. Hubby called from the road (as he does numerous times a day) and we discussed how nice it was outside. He said he heard on the radio that we’ve had so much snow this year that the giant snowbergs that have accumulated in mall parking lots won’t even have melted by the end of the summer. Wow, wouldn’t that be sight in July? A big pile of leftover snow. So anyway, I had mentioned to hubby that there was an outfit for baby D at Wal-Mart that I was lusting after (yes, you can lust after baby clothes), but that the price was keeping me from buying it. He didn’t think it was too much to pay, so that was the go ahead I needed. Since we are going to London tomorrow for my Mum’s birthday celebration (it should have been last weekend but was postponed due to weather) I thought that would be a great reason to have a new outfit for baby D. Never being one to manage just going to Wal-Mart for the one thing I wanted to buy I ended up also getting him a 2-pack of pjs for when the weather gets a bit warmer and a striped t-shirt and pants.

Fisher Price Rainforest Swing Review

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:53:36 +0000

Being a first time parent though exhilarating is pretty tough. Besides the learning curve one experiences it can be just as hard deciding what gear to get. I know for me I’m constantly wondering if ‘this is a good toy’ or ‘will my son actually use this product’. When I had my baby shower at work my girlfriend asked me to make a list of stuff that I needed. To be honest I simply told her that I didn’t have a clue what I needed or what would be a good purchase versus just more ’stuff’. So I suggested that she make up my list for me seeing as she already had kids and would know better than I what gear was necessary and what was just more fluff. During my pregnancy I felt this pressure to buy all kinds of high end equipment and lots of it. I mean what did my child actually need? I was looking at strollers, bouncy chairs, non-bouncy chairs, exersaucers, jolly jumpers, high chairs, booster seats, bumbo chairs… My head was totally spinning. I have since decided (after almost 11 months) that whatever you get will suffice. I didn’t need to get that change table, I mean what do you do with a change table after you’re not changing diapers anymore? Instead we opted for a child’s desk with a change pad on top.
I will say though that what I consider my smartest purchase was the Fisher Price Rainforest Swing. My son was getting to the stage where I couldn’t put him down because he’d cry. He wasn’t sitting yet, so that wasn’t an option. I thought maybe a swing would be a good idea so I did some research. Goodness knows there are enough of them out there. There are the portable swings, cradle swings, full size swings and then of course there are all the different options available to each one. I chose the Fisher Price Rainforest Swing for a few reasons. 1. I could plug it into the wall. That’s right, besides using batteries I also had the option of using the accompanying AC adapter. 2. I could alter which way it swung. I could turn the cradle seat to swing forwards and backwards or from side to side. 3. The attached mobile lifted up and out of the way. This is great feature when trying to get the little guy in and out of the swing, I never had to worry about banging his head. There were other less (in my opinion) important features such as variable speeds, different music, volume controls and reclining seat.

I don’t wanna go back to work!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:22:40 +0000

After what appears to be a very long time I have returned. In fact I have been around since I moved, I just decided to get a different domain name. I missed this old domain though, and am going to attempt to blog on 2 different domains. I am interested in PayPerPost and thought this might be a good place to start.
In my absence I have managed to move (though it was horrible and I’d prefer not to relive it) and carry on with my dread of returning to work. In fact I have managed to extend my maternity leave. So instead of returning to work on April 16th, hubby and I have decided that I will go back for the last 2 weeks of the school year while he takes 2 weeks off to stay home with GM. Of course this extension will be without pay so we’ll be hurting for money for a while. It’s certainly better (for my sanity for sure) than paying to put GM in daycare when I’m not ready for him to go. Besides I’ve come across a very strange dilemma. In searching for daycare I’ve noticed a trend to only take infants 16-18 months old. If you only get 12 months maternity leave what the hell are mothers doing with their babies in the interim?! I think this will be the best thing for everyone … except my Dad. He will absolutely flip when he finds out that I’m going to be off with no money coming in. I suppose I should tell him sooner or later, but I’m so not looking forward to that conversation!
So while i am off work I am hoping to make a little extra cash via PayPerPost and maybe selling Regal Catalogue items.

Sick…of packing

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:12:27 +0000

So I’m probably reading into this, but… The first time I put GM into childcare during my parenting group and he comes home and develops a cold, which he promptly shares with Mummy. *sigh* He’s got strings coming out of his nose and goop filling up his left eye. So it begins. After a little over a week we are just starting to pull out from under it. Hopefully we stay healthy through the move.
Getting closer. We’ve decided a few things about the move. Like who our Internet provider will be and our cable company. We just need to get our phones set up and arrange to get our security system guy in to check the place out. I don’t remember my last move being so huge. Of course it was just apartment to apartment and this time it’s into a house, but my Dad is doing most of the work still since he’s going to be the “landlord”. So we get the keys on the 26th, and the carpet cleaner will be in that same day. That will be a big load off. That was the one thing we HAD to do before we moved in. I’d still like to get the place painted first, but am settling for what’s easiest. Without the painting, that gives us 5 days to officially move in which at least sounds way less stressful to me.
Just to give me one more thing to pack and move, I ended up buying Seasons (The Sims2) off ebay. It’s not a bad little game so far. The plantsims are a wee bit strange to say the least. They are green people that only have three needs instead of eight like the normal sims do. All they need are: sun, water and love. But they only have three life stages too which is a drag. They go from toddler, to adult, to elder. No in-between stages.
Yeah, I know just something else to keep me from packing. I’m such a slack! Back to the boxes…