Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Words

Got the idea here.

One hundred Words.
One hundred nouns. No adverbs, no adjectives. Describing oneself.

Here are mine. For today. I could obsess about it but chose not to. One sitting. No editing. No second-guessing. No explanations. Just words.

Glasses
Corn
Companion
Music
Grass

Daisies
Kitchen
Theatre
Laughter
Paper

Bathtub
Lists
Pens
Toes
Daytimer

Adventure
Experience
Home
Hope
Dill

Dragonfly
Coffee
Blanket
Cards
Sentences


Lyrics
Questions
Camera
Patterns
Socks

Teapot
Family
Watch
Opinion
Movies

Rainstorm
Sarcasm
Garden
Quotes
Rice

Mug
Ballad
Intellect
Colour
Epicurean

Secret
Dictionary
Scent
Seeds
Concerts

Christian
Lotion
Anticipation
Fire
Recipes

Airplane
Water
Curry
Spring
Candy

Conversation
Thursday
Farm
Memories
Journey

Integrity
Problems
Sleep
Spice
Passion

Markets
Calendar
Freckles
Whimsy
Cranberry

Dresses
Grammar
Lilacs
Lemonade
Herbs

Organization
Silver
Bulbs
Variety
Pickles

Soup
Community
Toast
Trees
Bridges

Photograph
Puzzle
Linen
Solitude
Desk

Tent
Stationery
Salsa
Nickname
Wanderer

Any advice?

How am I supposed to be able to soothe a slightly cranky baby when all I feel like doing is crying myself?

Don't you have to have an m in order to have pms?

Monday, February 27, 2006

12:25 am

I'm lonely. It's 12:25 a.m.; I've been with people ALL day (up until about 10 minutes ago) and yet now I'm lonely. I want my boy to come home. He only left for his work conference this morning and yet I miss him already.

Kind of sad (pathetic) and sweet at the same time, no?

Makes me feel kind of bad for storming off to the couch due to the coughing; sniffling and wheezing last night.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

nos·tal·gi·a: 1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past. 2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.

In point form:
1. My father and I argued/discussed/debated my way through high school.
2. We didn't have a television in my youth.
3. During the Olympics (at least in 1984 and 1988) we would borrow a television from friends.
4. My father and I would bond during these times.
5. My father loved my spunk and would often say things to get me started.
6. And so, even during the Olympics the bickering would continue.
7. He would cheer for any country. Mostly Canada but others as the mood struck him.
8. I would cheer for Canada and only Canada.
9. I'm fairly sure that #7 occurred because of #5 and #8.
10. At the beginning of these Olympics Canada had a goal of getting 25 medals.
11. Dad would have snickered about that and suggested they had high hopes.
12. Canada got 24 medals this time around.
13. That's 96%.
14. That's impressive in ANYONE'S books.
15. In your face, Dad! :-)

And that, my friends, is the last word.

Finally, I won one.

Of course, it's a bit easier to "win" when the "opponent" is silent.

Friday, February 24, 2006

What is this, 4 posts today?!

Something shocking happened to me yesterday. I actually said to someone that I didn't know if there was any point in trying to lose the pregnancy weight if I'm just going to get pregnant again in a year or so.

This fits the "What am I THINKING?" bill in two ways:

(A) Like I really need to get pregnant at THIS weight. That just means that much more weight to lose after the second child.
(B) I'm actually letting the thought of getting pregnant and going through THAT again drift across my brain?!

Oh Canada! also known as how do you say "heavy hard" in Finnish?

Finland 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
Canada 0 2 1 1 0 6 0 0

Hurray! Sorry, Finland, but at least you're still in hockey.

Men's Curling.

So, the question I have is: Will I be singing/humming this song during the entire game?

Finland, Finland, Finland.
The country where I quite want to be,
Your mountains so lofty,
Your treetops so tall.
Finland, Finland, Finland,Finland has it all.*

* Except, hopefully, the men's curling gold medal.

Baby girl.

I wonder if she wonders why I always automatically put my hand under her chin when she burps?

I wonder if she were magically grown up right at this moment if she would think she needed to do that for others?

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

1500 metres!

Yay Cindy!*
Yay Kristina!

A one-two punch! Hurray!

* Nice added touch of seeing MBCI cheering for her. I'm thinking at 4 medals she's a shoe-in for carrying the flag in the closing ceremonies. Making me proud of my "home"town.

So much for being spoiled.

It's a good thing I had such a good time on my trip or I would be regretting it now. It may just be coincidence but ever since we went Abby has decided to stop sleeping through the night.

Commence opening chords for 2 a.m. Blues.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Survey.

I recognize that my tastes may vary from a lot of people. I know each person is different and that I have a more defined gag reflex regarding cheesiness than some. That being said, am I the only one who finds these certificates appalling?
birth
birth
birth
wedding
wedding
Abby got her birth certificate this week and the option to buy these special "treasured" certificates was included in the mailing.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Note to self:

Maybe next time you decide to decorate your 10 year-old niece's birthday cake you should check with your 3 month-old to see if she's in the mood to be ignored.

Argh!

I don't think cake decorating is something that can be done with a snugli.

The Olympics.

It's amazing and more than just a little embarrassing how tired I can get just watching the cross-country skiing while lounging (a la potato) on my couch.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Chinese proverb.

"There is only one beautiful child in the world, and every mother has it."

What a fun morning looks like to a 3 year-old, a 2 month old and a 36 year-old.

Step 1: A little bit of baking.













Step 2: A little bit of visiting.














Step 3: And a little bit of playing.



Tuesday, February 14, 2006

What made me laugh today.

My girl just tried sucking on her thumb while her mouth was still firmly attached to my breast.

Tricky.

Joy

I had a positively lovely trip out to Alberta. I'm still basking in the glow of the memories:

1. Watching my bbb carry his sleeping children up to bed. Memories of his dad (and mine) doing the same so many years ago.
2. Falling in love with two little Korean girls and watching them fall in love with my little girl.
3. Sharing meals in community.
4. Sleeping with my girl even though she refused to sleep through the night.
5. Hearing my nephew (C) scold my brother for running with Abby's stroller.
6. Watching my nephew (B) play hockey.
7. Watching the Olympic opening ceremonies with my family. Did you SEE that cool "ski-jumper"?
8. Going to a movie with my bbb.
9. Getting together with an old friend. How much our lives have changed since we got to know each other back in '91.
10. Feeling loved by my bbd as he chose being with me over studying.
11. Sleeping in the luxurious guest room.
12. The absolutely stunning Curious George quilt I came home with.
13. Playing games (Ping Pong and Sequence) with my nephew (N).
14. WHERE did that goose come from?
15. My niece (A) doing the cousin dance and singing silly songs to keep Abby happy. Believe me, it worked!
16. Sharing a leisurely breakfast with DLCN.
17. A vulnerable, gentle conversation with my sil (L) while watching her boys skate on the river.
18. Seeing my daughter being passed from person to person. Knowing that she is just as lucky as I am to be born into this family.
19. Hanging with my sil (S). She makes me want to be a poet too.
20. The elevator doors opening to a man happily grinning that his girls are home.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

We're leaving on a jet plane.

My babe and I are heading off on a plane shortly to visit some of our family. I wanted to post one more time before we go. And yet, as I'm sure you can imagine, my thoughts are a bit frenzied as I'm still madly making lists in my head of things I want to get done before we go or things that I still need to pack. And so, some completely random thoughts.

- This Sunday we had our birthing class reunion. We attended a private birthing class with only 3 other couples that was run by a doula. Due to the size and the length of time spent together we got to know these people a little and decided on reuniting once all the babies were born. It was a fun time. Better than I expected. I was silently pleased at how well Abigail behaved. In fact, one of the other fathers mentioned during the afternoon that Abby should get The Most Contented Baby prize. Smug smile. Oh yeah, she's also the only one who sleeps through the night AND the only one that has willingly taken the bottle from the very start.

- The reunion was in a house I should never be in if I want to avoid coveting. Old and romantic. Also, $300,000. Gulp. And yet, the couple who owned it used generic baby wipes and generic plastic wrap. I just found that interesting. If you can afford a $300,000 home do you really NEED to save on wipes and plastic wrap?

- Peanut has not pooed in several days. I'm actually not even sure how long it's been. I am more than just a little nervous that she'll have the world's biggest blowout on the planeride. Do you think it's the first time God's heard the prayer "please don't let my daughter explode with poo on the airplane"?


- Two Mondays in a month I have gotten together with two of my closests friends for coffee at the same coffee shop and we have lost some sense of time. It is a delight and I do believe I am one of the luckiest people alive.

- I may as well get a little sappy for a moment. I am going to miss my boy. We have not been apart this long since we started dating. I am looking forward to the trip but I am also looking forward to coming home. Did I mention that I'm one of the luckiest people alive?

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Perhaps she will be an only child.

Okay, I GET it. My second child will be a horror!

Seriously, what is with people's need to be negative? When I was pregnant people used to tell me that I should enjoy sleep because once the baby came along I wouldn't get any sleep whatsoever. In fact, I would be a walking zombie for the first few months. Know what? Abby slept through the night at about a month old. But, apparently people (no, not everyone but lots) don't just want to be happy for me/us. NOOOO. Now I get "just you wait" until your second one. Yeesh! Why can't I just enjoy this? Why does there always have to be something sucky waiting for me around the corner? If it's not my second one than it's the terrible twos or the preteen attitude. I'm not saying there WON'T be negative stuff ahead but if every next step is so horrid why do people even HAVE kids?

And since I'm firmly planted on my attitude soapbox I may as well add this:

Same thing goes for marriage a lot of times. When I was a newlywed and blissfully happy all the time people would often comment that it was due to being in the honeymoon stage. The "just you wait"ers came out in full force. Well, apparently J-L and I are having an extended honeymoon. 'Cause you know what? We're still delightfully happy and I don't think it's due to being naïve or newlyweds 'cause we've faced some tough challenges too (death of a parent, prenatal depression).

So, what is it all about exactly? Do we just not want others to be happy? Do we just want to bring others down if we're down in the dumps about our lives? Any ideas/theories or am I the only one that hears the "just you wait"s?