What 80's toy are you?

You're an Etch-a-Sketch!! You're the creative,
artsy type who doesn't need to actually utilize
a single muscle group in order to have fun.
Doesn't matter though, you're still cool.


What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
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Kewl, I love Etch-a-sketch, I should buy one to play with at work.

It's all about me, baby!

I came into work this morning to find my office mate had festooned my desk with streamers and balloons, a nice treat on a morning that I turn another day older.

I've been reflecting on birthdays gone by, some have been great, some have been awful, some forgotten entirely.

My earliest birthday memory is the year I turned 6, my parents threw a big party in the yard and hired a magician. It was a wonderful party, full of friends and activities (apple bobbing, eating cookies dangling off the clothes line with no hands, 3 legged races) at a time when birthdays were something to be anticipated.

The year I turned 10 was my first (and only) birthday sleepover party. Two friends, dinner at the local pizzaria (Mother's Pizza), a movie downtown (I think it was the movie version of 'Annie') and lots of talking and giggling. I think that year was when the shift away from my birthday being a family to be about being with my friends happened.

The year I turned 15 was the year that wasn't. My grandmother had lost her battle with cancer just 1 week before and the day was lost in the carousel of funeral, visitation, etc. That's the year I lost my enthusiasm for birthdays.

Fast forward to 2000, my 28th birthday. C told me he was taking me to see Gladiator, and I was pouting about wasting our valuable baby sitting time on a movie I had no desire to see. He pulled up outside the plaza where my favourite restaurant is located "to use the bank machine". I came along for the walk and low and behold there was a huge group of my friends all waiting outside the restaurant! It took far too long for me to figure out it wasn't a coincidence, it was a birthday surprise for me :) What a wonderful party that was (and so many strawberry daquiris!!!)

Last year at this time I was taking it easy, trying not to go into labour before my scheduled c-section only 2 days away.

Now we've come around to the day again. I'm celebrating my 28th birthday for the 4th time, and once again it's become a family celebration with my husband and 3 children surrounding me.

Week's Eats

Monday - unknown meat (pork roast maybe?) in mushroom sauce, mashed carrots and potatoes, broccoli and peas, and blueberry pouding chaumeur (at the MIL's)
Tuesday - beef stew, baguette, Caesar salad
Wednesday - chicken, broccoli and oranges in cream sauce over rice (yay James)
Thursday - Jamaican pork tenderloin
Friday - pork souvlaki, rice, potatoes, greek salad, baklava
Saturday - hamburgers
Sunday - spaghetti with meat sauce

Yup, that's a snoozer of a week.

Acronym

Stolen from Maricar

V	Valiant
A	Adventurous
L	Loving
E	Entertaining
R	Respectable
I	Inspirational
E	Explosive

Name / Username:

Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Hmmm... not quite, but funny.

Girls' night

I had a rare girls night out last night, just 3 of us (two others bailed due to illness), we went to a wonderful Greek restaurant and I ate until my lungs hurt (rather reminded me of this time last year when I was so hugely pregnant that my lungs always hurt). It was so good to sip wine and laugh and laugh and not worry about time constraints or keeping an eye on the babies. Still, I'm geeky mom enough to have come home just after 10, and to have gone up to kiss the babies as soon as I got there. Life is good.

Compliments to the chef

Click for larger image.


James decided he wanted to make dinner for the family tonight, I made sure he had everything he needed and showed him how to use the electric skillet then left him to his own devices. Here's the results, full marks for presentation and it was yummy too!

Cuteness, and not so cuteness

Jonah is becoming an amazing little person. Last night after bath he plucked a shirt out of Kate's drawer, wrapped it around his shoulders, then did a little dance. Which of course knocked the shirt off. So he picked it back up, wrapped himself back in it and danced some more. Repeat about 20 times. It was so darned adorable I nearly fell over!

He was far less adorable at 2am when he was wide awake and full of beans. I tried nursing him down but he was more interested in the nursing than the "down". Finally around 2:45 C took him downstairs so I could sleep. He dozed a bit, but only if he was laying on C's chest. Cute, but now we're all exhausted. Darn, and the sleeping thing was (I thought) starting to get better.

Week's Eats

Yeah, I'm late.

Sunday – spicy Indian food
Monday – dirty bird (K..F..C)
Tuesday – Jamaican pork tenderloin, rice, Caesar salad
Wednesday – submarines
Thursday – cola chicken, rice, mixed vegetables
Friday – salsa burgers, potato chips
Saturday – steak, mashed potatoes, baby carrots
Sunday – leftovers

A bit heavy on the junk food this week but it's tough planning meals I can make after work when I have two needy babies attached to my hips :)

New photo hosting

I'm trying out a new blogger photo hosting service, so bear with me while I work out the kinks. In the meantime, click on any image for a larger view :)

Tulip pics

Click for a bigger view


Beautiful aren't they?

Tulips!

More Tulips!

My kiddies

Click on image for a larger view


Jonah trying cotton candy for the first time


My boys at the Tulip Festival


Tulip Princess

Some of the tulips were a little past their prime 

My parents at the Tulip Festival

Long Weekend

Happy Victoria Day! Happy birthday to my dad as well.

I love a long weekend, the delicious naughtiness of being in my PJs at a quarter past ten on Monday morning (well, OK, I more or less did that for 11 months, but now that I'm working again it's a lovely little sin).

My parents spent part of the weekend with us and we went to see the tulips that are part of Ottawa's annual Tulip Festival. Despite the threat of rain we had a wonderful time (and the forcast kept the crowd to a minimum). My mom is a bit of a garden buff (OK, a huge garden buff) so she always enjoys the tulip festival. It's a bit more boring for the babies but cotton candy kept them entertained for quite a while! We had a great visit all round.

Blessed sleep!!!

I've been meaning to update about the small, but significant changes we've seen in Jonah's sleep habits since starting the No Cry Sleep Solution. However today I have much more wonderful news to report - he slept through the night!!! His first time ever!!! Can you tell how happy I am? Even if it doesn't happen again for awhile it's such a big deal right now, and now I know he can do it. I put him down at 8:15, he woke up briefly at 10:00 and then slept through to 5:30 (and woke up happy, hungry and full of beans!). I, on the other hand, slept fitfully from 3am on wondering what was wrong with the baby and why wasn't he waking up :)

What colour is your name?

Seen at Maricar's: Type: < font color = (your name) >< b >(your name) < / b > < / font > (don't forget to remove the () and the spaces :)

Valerie

Kewl, I'm cyan ;)

Jonah

Katie

James

Darling


Too much fun...

Workin' mama

You know you're a working mama when you've been in the office for more than a half hour before you realize you have both snot and teething biscuit on the shoulder of your blouse.

Meet Ethan

My wee new nephew, Ethan (I love that name). Isn't he precious?

Week's Eats

I think I'm the only one still doing this, oh well, it's fun!

Sunday – steak, peas, corn, Caesar salad
Monday – Lorenzo’s pizza
Tuesday – roast chicken, potatoes and salads (at the MIL’s)
Wednesday – bangers and mash
Thursday – grilled cheese
Friday – hamburgers, vegetable shish, salads, cherry pie
Saturday – chicken, ham and asparagus rolls with amaretto cream sauce, spicy sausage and black olives in tomato sauce, seasoned wild rice and white chocolate cheesecake with raspberry grand marnier coulis (at Heather's house)

Friends

What a joy it is to have good friends. Last night we went to dinner at our friend Heather's house. Unfortunately more than half of her dinner party guests bailed on her (this is a recurring theme isn't it?) so the whole party was Heather, her children, me and DH and our children. It was marvelous. Heather is one of those people who make a welcoming home plus she is a phenomenal cook. So we ate, drank (crantinis!), chatted and laughed, and had a wonderful time.

Jonah is a real walker now, walking (and occasionally running) everywhere. It's so adorable because his little legs are so short and hig big diaper butt so wide that he waddles like a miniature sumo wrestler. It's such an incredible age where everything is new and wonderful. His face is lengthening and slendering and looking more like a little man and less like a baby. He has an incredible range of expressions too.

Getting by

4 days down and just one more to go, well, this week anyway. The kids are getting comfortable with the sitter, there are still some tears (mostly mine) but all in all the transition has been fairly easy so far. However tomorrow I switch to the early shift, working 7am to 3pm, which is fantastic for having more time in the afternoon to play with the kids but I'm not really a morning person and I'm a bit worried about getting the kids up, dressed, fed and out of the house by 6:15. I know there are lots of people who do it but wow it seems like a big deal.

Thoughts for a friend

Today my friend Maricar's mother has surgery for stomach cancer. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts today. They've had a very tough run lately and still Maricar manages to awe and inspire me with her positivity and faith.

New nephew

My sister-in-law welcomed a new baby son this morning just after 1am, 9lbs, 1oz, no name yet.

A bit on my job

To answer Michelle's question: My position is as part of a team of two and, ironically, the person who replaced me will remain and the person I used to be partnered with is being reassigned. I'm spending a week reorienting myself with everything then next Monday it will be me and my replacement as the new team. I couldn't be happier about it, I get along famously with my new partner (though I'll miss working with my old partner). There were some gasps and shocked faces though when the announcement was made, the person being reassigned spent more than 3 years in our position and had nearly a year's seniority on me, and more than 2 years seniority on my new partner (who worked in our office in another capacity before I left).

This week "reorienting" myself though is kind of a crock. Honestly, within an hour I felt comfortable with everything again. Not that it was rocket science to begin with but the changes and updates took very little time to read through and there were no major policy changes in the past year. This morning I have a two-hour "Ergonomics Training Session" (they're going to teach me to sit in my chair).

I can say that thin, snug business blouses were not intended to be worn by breastfeeding women. Not only could you see my breast pads clearly through it but I decided that I wouldn't pump unless I was really unconfortable (I want to get my supply regulated to nursing morning and evening as quickly as possible) so by day's end it was stretched real tight and I resembled Dolly Parton. Plus the cute flippy thing that my hairdresser did with my hair is impossible for me to replicate at home so I look kinda shaggy dog like. And I had totally forgotten the endless flow of fattening food through that office. Yesterday I had my first ever Krispy Kreme doughnut (we don't have them up here but a collegue had flown in from Toronto and brought a box). I guess they're better warm but they weren't too shabby cold either.

I'm still standing

My first day back was OK. Actually, it was rather like I'd never left. I was right back into the swing of things within an hour or so. The kids were fine, Jonah cried a few times for me but was mostly happy and Katie, bless her little soul, sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to Jonah every time he was sad. I'm truly lucky to have such sweet babies.

week's eats

Sunday – lasagne roll ups
Monday – freezer pizza
Tuesday – cola chicken and rice
Wednesday – Leave it to Meatloaf, smashed taties, salad
Thursday – tourtiere, salad, lemon meringue pie
Friday – roast chicken, veggies, salad
Saturday – chicken wings, broccoli, maple sugar pie

It was a week of recipes shamelessly stolen from other people's blogs :) The lasagne roll ups came from Andrea's blog, the cola chicken from Dawn's blog (I should thank her for that some day, a recipe where you throw 3 ingredients into the electric skillet, wait 45 minutes and serve AND the kids adore it, that's my definition of perfection!).

A Melancholy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my fellow mamas. It was a melancholy mother's day here, my last day as a SAHM. Tomorrow bright and early I return to work. I guess I'm ready, I got my hair cut, bought a couple of new blouses (I'm still breastfeeding so none of my old business tops fit well). Sippy cups are packed, Katie and I have talked about what will happen tomorrow (she was quite sad but I think she'll be OK). I have at least a general idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. It feels like a sham though, I keep thinking someone will pop out and say it's all a joke, that my baby's not really almost a year old and that I still have lots more time at home.

Today also brought news that my ex has split with his wife. Unexpectedly I feel really sad for him. He and I have not always had the best relationship over the years but I still feel bad that his family is being ripped apart.

A melancholy day.

All good things must come to an end.

Today is the last day of me being a stay at home mom. First thing Monday morning it's back to my office, back to the working for money world. I really thought I had made peace with it but today I'm barely keeping it together. I took the kids to daycare this morning to play for an hour and a half while I stayed, to make the transition somewhat easier in particular for Jonah who's never been cared for by anyone but me (Katie has been to this daycare before but it's been a year). Jonah took to it like a duck to water, waddling around, playing with the toys, making new friends. I guess that's a really good thing but it just makes me ache.

I honestly, truly know how lucky I am, how blessed I am to live in a country where I can take my baby's first year off, stay home with him, give him all of the benefits of a full time mommy for the first year and get paid for it. But it makes it so much harder to go back when the time comes. Going back when baby is 6 weeks, or 6 months, is hard but going back when baby is 11 months and a real little person just rips me apart. It's almost harder to leave Katie - she's developed into such a charming person, I (mostly) enjoy her company and our conversations immensely. I really feel like I have so much more to give them.

We tried every senario on paper to find a way for me to stay home but it just isn't feasible. The marvelous benefit Canadians are afforded come at a price, a very steep price that sees nearly half of our paycheques lost to various levels of taxation. What's left after the government takes their share isn't enough for most families to make it on one paycheque, no matter how frugally they live. *sigh* I'm rambling now. I'm just so very very sad.

Another milestone

My wee teeny baby boy is walking, really walking. He's been taking the odd couple of steps here and there for awhile but now he's truly mobile.

Click here to see a short avi (I'm only leaving it there a couple of days). My apologies if you can't view it, I don't know diddly about codecs.

Marlin?

What Finding Nemo Character are You?
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It's 'cause I don't like TV, isn't it? I wanted to be Crush :(

Tuckered out

I took the kidlets to playgroup this morning, then we had lunch with my SIL and niece. When we got home I gave the kids some fruit salad, Katie finished hers first and went off to play in her "house" (the dishwasher box that C. has cut a door and windows into). After about 5 minutes I realized it was far too quiet and went to investigate.

This is what I found:



She's sleeping in a laundry basket, in her cardboard house, wrapped up in Papa's coat. I love playgroup!

Week's Eats

Sunday - hamburgers and sausages
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, corn
Wednesday - Paté chinios (shepherd's pie)
Thursday - hamburgers, salad
Friday - steak, mashed potatoes
Saturday - salmon, sausages and salads (at the MILs)

Man we had a lot of burgers and sausage this week (I say we but I'm sort of off burgers laetly since I heard a disturbing book review, more on that later). That's the pitfall of early Spring, you want to be outside as much as possible and nothing feels more like Spring than grilling!

Happy May Day

It's May day, and my MIL's birthday. We had dinner at her house tonight (hosted by one of the SILs) and it was lovely. Of course, the two glasses of cabernet shiraz might have added to the enjoyment.

We also finally got our new dishwasher today. C ordered it a couple of days ago and today it came. C installed it and it's running right now! I'm so pleased! It's a fairly basic model but it has everything we need and it was only $279!

Did I mention that Jonah has started walking? Well, lurching is a better description but he's started stringing together 4-5 steps at a time. I'm not sure if it's quite walking but it's a definite precursor and he'll be really walking within a week or so I think. I also suspect that he's cutting a first molar, I thought it was too early for that but he's been rubbing his gum in the back and drooling like a firehose. Time will tell I guess.