the cat's journal

I found this video online, it is the most accurate description of cat ownership I have ever seen.

Yes I am aware that I have no posted anything in a long while.  I'm having a hard time finding ways of writing about our day to day life when nothing much happens other then the ordinary.

Birthday Pictures part 1

As promised, here are some pictures from Ollie's birthday party a couple weekends ago.  These are the ones that my parents took.

last days of 2

I realized this morning that today is Ollie's last day of being a 2 year old, chronologically that is.  That 3 month difference is still noticeable in him.  That whole preemies catch up by the age of 2 is a bunch of bull, it might be true for babies born a couple of weeks early but mostly a huge lie for ones born earlier then that.  His size is still a bit of a struggle for some gross motor skills, stairs are still done on all fours for up and down, he has finally started jumping without holding onto things and is extremely proud of that fact.  Follow up appointments are coming up in March to see how things are progressing.

We had his birthday party over the weekend and he had a blast.  Our parents came over and so did Louis' grandmother.  We ate snacks and opened presents, he took the time to play with each of them individually before moving on to the next.  We had tacos for supper and I had baked a cake for the occasion.  Like usual we were to busy to take pictures ourselves and I forgot to take them before my mom left.....oops..... so I have no pictures to share right now, but I'll be getting them soon, I hope.

I know it's cliché but they really do grow up so fast.

Space Music

First musical collaboration between earth and space.

Amazing the stuff we can do now.

Playing Unplugged

Having an interest in board games when you are an only child is pretty interesting(boring).  I remember going to my grandmother's house when none of my cousins where there and playing monopoly in the basement all by myself.  As I got older we always had a few games in the house but very rarely played them for lack of time or just doing other things instead, it wasn't something we jumped to doing.  When I moved out of my parents house and in with Louis we bought a few games during the holidays when there are more options and they are usually less expensive.  The issue with this is that they are usually games for more then 2 players.  I remember we played a game of Monopoly Pixar edition during a blackout after a huge snow storm.  We never did finish that game.

Stuff Since The Holidays

I have been trying to write a post about our holidays and the stuff that we have been doing since.  Apparently my brain has decided to fight me on that idea though.  I have a few drafts sitting in my dashboard but nothing has gone further then a few sentences.  I would probably have to blame the January Blahs.  I haven't taken many pictures either but if I did I would have a hell of a time sharing them with you, our computer is full and I have been backing everything up to remove some from the computer so I can add some new pictures and share them with you.

Ready for Launch

We start tonight.  Wish us luck.

Time to start growing little man.

Other things going on:

Frustrated!

My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration: set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes, cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell, simmer down and go about business as usual.   -Phyllis Diller 

Read more at Brainy Quotes

I actually took Phyllis Diller’s advise this morning, it worked pretty well.

Our liaison called this morning to let us know that we won’t be starting Ollie’s treatment until the new year.  Their reasoning behind it is that they are closed for a week and a half so they can’t help if we have any issues.  I just wish they would of made up their minds at the start of all of this and not gone back and forth on their decision.  This could of all been avoided if they would of done the proper paperwork to begin with a month ago instead of waiting 3 weeks to send papers to people who don’t need them.  All it took was a quick phone call by me to the insurance company to confirm that they cover the product.  

I hate it when peoples disorganization affects others.  

We are still going this Friday to get trained how to use the device and to fill out some paperwork.  Once they decide when we will actually start, the company that makes the device will send a nurse to the house to re-train us because then we will be able to give Ollie an actual shot instead of just practicing with a skin analog.

Scanned

Let me just start out by saying that the nurses and doctors in the MRI department of CHEO are amazing and kind.  You can really tell that they love their jobs.  

We showed up at 9am just like they asked us to, they took us back and asked us some questions to make sure that Ollie wouldn't stick to the machine or have anything rip out of him, they checked his pulse and gave us a gown.  Afterwards we had the MRI tech stop by and explain how it worked and how long it would take.  

The anesthesiology team was so sweet, everything was explained in detail, our questions answered and they let both of us be there for when they knocked Ollie out, the usual rules are 1 parent only.  After he was out Louis and I went down to the cafeteria to wait out the 45 minutes, we we're not very hungry but took something to drink.  We chatted while playing games on our digital devices, trying not to think of our little guy laying there in a big noisy tube.  

When the 45 minutes were up we headed back up to the MRI department to wait for the nurse to come and get us after they made sure he was stable and breathing properly on his own.  Oh my was he ever cranky when he woke up and his breath was horrid(thanks to the fact that he hadn't eaten in 24hrs), he wasn't calming down at all being rocked so we walked the hallways to entertain him and the nurse was coming to check on us every now and then.  

He was refusing to drink the apple juice they gave him, apparently he didn't like the cup it was in, I transfered it to my juice bottle from earlier and he drank it all pretty quickly.  That was the only requirement they had to let him leave since his vitals were fine.  

The nurse discharged us, Ollie was still groggy so we stopped by the endocrinology department to ask about the status of our GH request.  The info is back, we are just waiting for our liaison to finish up her part, then we can have the training day.

Amazingly he was pretty much his usual self when we got him, you saw that he was not quite back physically though, he was super clumsy for the most part of the day.

Our endocrinologist will call to let us know what they saw on the scan.

Postponed

Just got a call saying that something came up so they need to move the date of Ollie's MRI.  It was supposed to be Tuesday at 7:30am.  They switched it to Thursday at 10am, they want us there at 9 to get everything ready.  Ollie can't eat anything past midnight and can only drink water or apple juice until 4 hours before.  This is going to be loads of fun, he is super pissy when he doesn't eat right when he wakes up.  I think we'll put him to bed later then usual the night before so he won't wake up too early and get extra mad at us for not feeding him.  

We still haven't heard anything back from the insurance company, if there is nothing new by tomorrow our nurse case worker will start looking into it.  I was looking forward to starting his injection way before christmas to get into the routine of doing it so it would be set in during all the craziness that the holidays bring.  That way we would also be experts at giving them and would be able to teach my family to do it for when they watch him in the future.

Waiting for things to move forwards is rather frustrating.  

I must learn to be more patient.

Mission Complete

3rd year in a row of Nablopomo = DONE.

Some days were really easy writes and others came in just under the wire because they were hard to pull out of my head.  We've had a lot going on this month in terms of doctor stuff for Ollie so my brain was busy dealing and sorting through other things.  I am happy I did it again this year, I find that it helps get the wheels greased.  There seems to be a rut that I fall into around September every year.  Maybe it's the whole "holy crap the year is almost over, Christmas it coming!".
This challenge shows up at just the right time to keep me going into the new year.

All Systems Go

After waking Ollie up this morning we drove over to CHEO for the umpteenth time this year to have an MRI pre-assesment.  Our appointment was at 9:45, we weren't seen at 9:45 though.  An hour of waiting around and playing a really annoying game of musical waiting rooms we where finally greeted by some doctor that we will probably never see again.  She asked a couple of questions, listened to Ollie heart and lungs then cleared him for the light sedation required for the MRI on Tuesday morning. I will be with him when they put the mask on before he goes in and it should take about 30 minutes to wear off once the mask is removed.  I think they will want him to eat and drink before they let us leave but she didn't really mention that part of it.  The sedation is just enough so that he doesn't move around while they are getting the images needed.  I've tried explaining it to Ollie but I'm not too sure how much he actually understands.  Maybe it's better that way, he probably won't remember any of this.

Progress

Last night we painted the basement, it is amazingly pretty and retro looking.  The stair area is a happy semi-soft yellow and the rest of the room is a soft blue with a touch of green in it.  No clue what the name of the blue is, it was one of the oops cans the day we got lucky at Home Depot and I can't find the card for the yellow anymore so it will remain nameless for now.  I did the rolling of the blue and ended up with a blister on one of my fingers, I went down to see what it looked like today and I missed a few spots, will have to fix that on Thursday.  I have been looking for a red clock and some retro wall art to decorate with, i'm positive that with my owl obsession there will be a few that will find their way down there.  I am really happy that I will have a place of my own where I can get away for a few hours at a time.  It will be the art area of the house, all crafty thing will happen there.

Do you have a place to run off to when you need time to yourself?

Sickies

The past week has been full of snots and cuddles.  Ollie has had a "cold", it's more just a stuffy runny nose with a bit of coughing when his nose is too stuffed.  He still runs around like usual, he just stops by for a cuddle every now and then.  I'm hoping that this issue will not affect his ability to have his MRI done in a week, we've been looking forward to it, in a weird way, wondering if his pituitary gland is normal looking or not.  We are still waiting to get the approval from the insurance company on the growth hormone stuff, they are more then likely going to approve it we just have to wait for the paper work to go through before we can get all of our injection stuff and start with implementing a new routine.  Our fridge has been re-arranged to make room for all of our new things, the hormone has to stay cold so we gave up a shelf in our door.  I talk to Ollie about how his bed time routine will change a little, 

Bath - Brush teeth - Books - Injection - Bed

This will become our new normal, just like taking a pill in the morning has for his 1 alpha hydroxylase deficiency.

Sniff

Really been missing her lately.  This will be our 2nd christmas without her.

5 more

5 more days to go.  Holy crap this month has gone by quickly.  I really have to get in gear and finish up with the presents, the ones to be bought have been but we have a few that need to be made.  I have been having a really hard time picking things that I want for christmas this year.  There is nothing that I desperately want and I don't really need anything either.  I am apparently the hard one to buy for this year.

Movie Date Night

A lot of our time recently has been focused on the basement, we finally got to the point where we filled in all the holes and patched up the ones we cut to run wires.  The drywall compound we chose is the low dust version, when you sand it it all just falls to the ground instead of flying around and getting into your nose. The issue is with it is that it takes a long time to dry, up to 24 hrs.  Since we came to a standstill with our renovations we did what everyone else would do and decided to go to the movies.  I'm pretty antisocial, I don't like huge groups and I really don't like people up in my personal bubble.  So why go to the movies on a Saturday night then?  Because we haven't been in a while and I really wanted to see the new Bond movie.  We got there an hour before the show and it was already sold out, holy crap.  Looking up at the board to survey our other choices we landed on Wreck It Ralph 3D.  It was seeing that or going home and I didn't go all the way to the theatre to just turn back around.  We settled into our seat with our big bag of popcorn and our massive pop, put on our glasses and crossed our fingers that it wouldn't be too busy.  We really enjoyed the movie, i'm glad that we didn't decide to bring Ollie to see it, he wouldn't of kept the glasses on and parts of it would of probably freaked him out.  It was great to see all of the bad guys from our youth all pilled into one movie.  Oh how I missed qbert.  

I'm a big fan of Mario.  What's your favourite video game?

Date Night

We just got back from Louis' company christmas party, my god was it ever entertaining.  My ears are currently angry with me that I put them through that loud of music.  I would have to say that I am a chair dancer, If i'm sitting I will dance around but once standing I have no clue what to do with my feet and I just get mixed up from over thinking.  They actually played 2 slow songs, we danced to those, spinning around in a slow circle is easy enough that I can manage.  Lot's of them will probably be taking cabs home tonight, they rang up a big tab in booze.  The food was alright, a cocktail type buffet because they have too many employees this year.

I think that I'll go to bed now since I am starting to get a headache.

Good night and no I am not drunk.

super soft

Another late night post

I've noticed this year that my hands started to crack much earlier in the season than usual.  I've tried a few products that work for a short while but nothing that I would write home about.  Petroleum Jelly ended up being my go to cure, it works but you can't do or touch anything after putting it on, sleeping with your hands up int he air not to get it on the sheets.  I had a pair of those white gloves before but I kept waking up with them no longer on my hands, apparently I'm pretty busy while I sleep.  On a recent visit to Home Depot for paint I was intrigued by a little green jar, as I got closer I noticed it was hand cream.  O'Keeffes working hands, not too expensive either, around $7-$9 a jar depending where you get it.  I figured that no harm could be done by giving it a whirl.  I tossed it into the cart then chased Ollie around the paint department while our cans were being mixed.  The girl called out our colours to let us know it was ready and as I was collecting them to put in the cart I noticed that the staff had the little green jar on their desk.  I asked what she though about it and she went on and on about how much she loves it.  With this new knowledge I was even more excited to try it out.  It's been about 2 weeks now and my hands are always super soft.  I put it on twice a day usually, in the morning and before bed, it's not greasy and doesn't smell like anything either.  Working in clothing retail really dries out your hands and with this product I no longer have issues.  

No more bleeding knuckles.

Digital vs. Analog

Our meeting today went great.  Questions were answered and we got to have a quick visit with our Growth Hormone Nurse.  She set up a get to know your options session.  There are 2 devices that we are considering.  One is an analog click to get your dose pen, the other is a digital all you need to do is put the needle in and push a button.  We are leaning towards the digital version, at least that way when everything is set up Ollie can push the button to help give his injections.  Our plan is to have him as involved as he can be with his treatments.  He finds great joy in doing things himself, he loves to hang up his coat and get water out of the dispenser.  With us letting him do thing on his own he has a lot less fits and less fits means that everyone is happier.  We will let our GH Nurse know tomorrow what our choice is and she will follow through with the paperwork needed for the insurance and all of that stuff, she will even deal with our pharmacy for us.  Once everything is approved we will meet with her again and get the full 3 hour lesson of how to give the injections and everything else we need to know.

This is a lot less worry then I thought it would be.

thoughts of the future

My brain has been busy today.  I have been going through all of the different possible scenarios for Ollie's life for the next 13-15 years.  Will he want to play sports semi-professionaly? Will he have restrictions in his day to day life? What happens if you want to travel?  We have our appointment with our endocrinologist tomorrow morning.  About 30 minutes of new information, some decisions and lots of questions.  We will be deciding what course of treatment we will use, dosing and schedules will also be figured out.  It's actually pretty hard to think of questions to ask in advance, I think that with the information she will give us tomorrow we will come up with them as we go.  We will probably also schedule our appointment for our lesson with the growth hormone nurse to learn how to give the injections.  You never think you will ever have to have a sharps box in your house.

I keep telling myself that it isn't anything that I did or didn't do, this issue is more then likely not genetic either, it's just something that happens. It's not life threatening and we will not let it affect his full life potential.

#300

Look at that, i'm at 300 posts already.  I never though of hitting this milestone before Ollie's 3rd birthday.  We are still busy around here, repurposing rooms takes a lot of work.  We are taking what use to be my workshop upstairs and turning it into a guest bedroom, guests use to sleep in the basement.  The basement will then become my new workshop, where I hope to actually get some work done.  Currently everything is sitting in our kitchen/dinning room and I am getting frustrated that we have no more room.  The painting and flooring are pretty much done upstairs.  Just a few touch ups left to do.  Bringing up the futon will be interesting, I guess we will take it apart before trying to lug it up two flights of stairs.  A dresser and a wooden chest will make there way into the room too.  There is so much dust covering most of the other rooms up there so we will have to do a deep cleaning soon.  I am still not sure exactly how we will organize everything in the basement, don't know how to place the workstations for it to be useful and efficient. 

If you have any sewing/craft room ideas let me know.

to the right

Hey everyone, look over there, way over there, to the right, there's a new button.  I found out that some people don't re-visit sites if they can't get them in their readers, I wasn't too sure what that was so I looked it up, thank you internet.  I now have a button to facilitate everyones reading adventures.  Is there anything else that could be added to the site to make lives easier?

This has really been a learn as I go along type of deal.  So let me know and I'll look it up and learn how to do it.

A-Z 2012

At a loss for what to blog about today.  Noticed I haven't done one of these in over a year so I figured I would see if anything has changed.

A. Age: 27
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: Folding laundry
D. Dogs: still don't have one
E. Essential start to your day: hugs from the kiddo
F. Favorite color: green
G. Gold or Silver: Silver or white gold
H. Height: 5’3"ish, hasn't changed
I. Instruments you play(ed): Saxophone, took guitar lessons
J. Job title: Part-time sales associate and #1 cashier (according to my assistant manager)
K. Kids: 1 son, Olivier
L. Live: Gatineau
M. Mother’s name: Danielle
N. Nicknames: Chrissy
O. Overnight hospital stays: 3 nights - C-section nothing since then
P. Pet peeves: clients at my work
Q. Quote from a movie: do or do not there is no try - Yoda

R. Right or left handed: right
S. Siblings: no biological, 1 sister-in-law and a best friend who is pretty much my sister
T. Time you wake up: anywhere from 7-9
U. Underwear: lots of them
V. Vegetable you hate: most of them
W. What makes you run late: I rarely run late, I hate being late
X. X-Rays you’ve had: teeth, wrist(broke), abdomen(kidney stone)
Y. Yummy food that you make: Cakes and cookies
Z. Zoo animal:Still the hippos

growth updates

Remember last week when we had to spend 6 hours at the children's hospital to have Ollie tested for his growth hormone levels?
I was ready to wait a while to get the results since the paper that they gave us said that it would take up to 5 weeks to get them.  We didn't have to wait that long for them though.  The results are in, we got a phone call from his endocrinologist this afternoon.  It looks like his levels are very low.  This means that his pituitary gland is malfunctioning for some unknown reason.  It has nothing to do with his prematurity.  It's not anything we did or didn't do, it just happens.  I just find it odd that he has no after affects of his prematurity but has 2 separate problems that are not an every day occurrence.  Our endocrinologist will be squeezing us in to talk about the situation and answer our questions then we will meet with the growth hormone nurse to learn how to give Ollie his injections.  They would like him to start the treatment before christmas, the earlier the better seems to be their motto.  Now we will have sharp boxes, syringes and vials in our house, something most parents never think of having to deal with.
We are trying to see the bright side of this.  We know why he is small now, it is no longer a mystery.  It is something that is relatively easy to fix/treat.  An injection a day, 6 days a week until he's about 18.
We just hope that we don't find anything else wrong with him.

Movember 2012

I thought I would do a roundup of people I know doing Movember this year in a way to help support all of them.

Mathew R.

Steven P.

Aaron L.

Tony C.

As of now these are the 3 that I know of.  If you know someone else that I can add to the list just let me know.

Movie Marathon Over

This post is coming later then usual.  We had decided since Louis hurt his back and has to rest that we would watch the whole Harry Potter series in 2 days.  We watched 4 on the first day and the last 4 we finished today.  I had completely forgotten how the series ended.  Going to be honest here and say that I read 6 books out of the series, I never finished the last one.  I have an issue with that it seems.  I have to force myself to finish books when they are part of a series, in a way it feels like I am loosing a friend or something sentimental and corny like that.  I have yet to finish the Inkheart series, the julia child life in france book and a host of others.

Back to the subject of the movies.  Holy crap they are long.

Off to go tidy up the house now, looks like a tornado went through it thanks to the toddler.

HP

no not the sauce.

Currently sitting through a Harry Potter marathon.  We started at 8:30 this morning and it is now 6pm.  Apparently this will be a 2 day affair since we are only on the 4th movie.  I had forgotten how crazy and messed up his aunt, uncle and cousin are.  Also, how great would it be to have an owl, so much cheaper then having to use canada post and you would never have mice.

A magic wand with a spell to clean the house would be amazing too.  Who should I speak to about this?

poking and prodding

Yesterday we spent the day at CHEO.  We went in nice and early to have Ollie tested for growth hormone deficiency.  It required him to take a pill that had a side effect of making him sleepy.  For 2 hours after the pill dose he got blood work done every 30 minutes.  At the end of that test they injected him with a glucose solution to stimulate his pituitary gland to see if he is making enough growth hormone.  After that injection he gets blood work done every 30 minutes again for 3 hours.  He had to have an empty stomach for this test so he didn't get anything to eat until the test was done.

a quick one

This is going to just be a quick post to let you guys know that we are at CHEO today to have Ollie's human GH levels tested.  It takes about 6 hours so we will be there from 8am till about 2 or 3.

If I get a chance you might even get a 2nd post today, all depending on how everything goes.

A new look

The blog looks a little different now.  I had gotten bored with the old look and find that the new colors are easier on the eyes.  I also have some new buttons over there on the right, quick links to my Facebook, Pinterest and even one if you feel the need to send me an email.  I have decided to figure some stuff out and teach myself different online and blogging things.  You never know when these skills will come in handy.

baby we're going down

Got a call from CHEO last week, more precisely from the Bone Clinic liaison.  She was calling about the results of the blood work we had done the previous Friday.  Things seem to be heading in the right direction, we are cutting his pill dose in half, we are now down to 1 pill a day instead of 2.  Ollie is great at taking his pills, he actually reminds us about them sometimes.
From what I understand it looks like his body has caught up to his previous lack of vitamin D and now we are just controlling the fact that his liver can't break down the vitamin to it's final form to be absorbed.

A very important post. Summer Safety

On the heals of the 41st drowning of a child this summer in Quebec I have decided to share some links about water safety and what drowning looks like.

Ollie is super stoked to be able to swim at his grandparents house this summer, it's great practice for our trip this summer and to keep him motivated and learning new skills for when he returns to his swimming lessons in the fall.  It was very important for us to sign him up for lessons when he was younger, starting lessons when you are older always sucks, plus there is always more fear and apprehension.  We do not expect him to be a competitive swimmer or to participate in the Olympics, we signed him up to make sure that he would be comfortable in the water, to learn water safety and swimming skills.  Ollie's classes are not always full of fun, he has his moments where he doesn't want to participate with the rest of the group, we still have issues with pool noodles.
We are always extremely vigilant when we are in the pool, taking in account his limited swimming skills.  We hover around always with a hand on him.  As he gets older and better at swimming we will always be in the pool with him, we will be those annoying parents that hang out in and around the pool when the teens are over, water accidents happen in the blink of an eye.
Locked fences around pools should be a must, parents in the pool with the children too.
Just because your kid took swimming lessons doesn't mean he is immune to drowning.
We must remember that children do not understand the dangers of water.

Here is what drowning actually looks like and some pretty scary facts about accidental drownings.

The Men

I was finally able to shoot a very specific picture that I have been wanting to get since Ollie was born.

Great Grandpa, Grandpa, Dad and Kiddo

Still alive, just busy.

Yes everyone, I am still alive.

Where the heck have I been?  Let me tell you.

I've been busy crossing some stuff off of my 53 in 3 list.

I got a new sewing machine for mother's day(the weekend before to be exact) so I was able to finish up some projects that I had the fabric to do.  I am waiting for pictures of them, I was too excited and mailed them off before taking a few pictures, oops.  I have already created a mental list consisting of a whole slew of new projects I want to sew, it would probably be best if I wrote them down somewhere.  

I have also been busy filling out paperwork, we now all have our passports, it took a while because of a little hiccup with Ollie's application and supporting paperwork.  I have read a couple of books and have cleaned out the junk from our computer.  I have researched information on blood donation, found out that I have one of the rarer blood types in Canada, I can only receive the same as mine or O-, a huge reason for me to donate.  We are also signed up to be on the waiting list to find a family doctor, it is a weird system in Quebec, well mostly in Gatineau, too many people with no enough doctors working on this side of the river, they get more money on the other side.

Owning a house keeps you pretty darn busy also, we found a used central vacuum on Kijiji and managed to install it in a weekend without making gaping holes in the walls.  We have also been researching prices for our windows, after 25 years they aren't the most effective things anymore.  We have decided to purchase thermal glass panes and change them ourselves, we will change the seals and while the windows are out we will paint up the frames and change out the pieces of wood that are no longer good.  On top of that we have some landscaping on our to-do list, we have lawn issues.  The previous owners had an above ground pool with a sand base and had managed to kill off most of the rest of the lawn.  We have been trying to grow some new lawn since last spring with less than stellar results.  We have raspberry bushes to plant in our claw foot tub and need to purchase some plants for the front of the house and a few for the back containers.

This past week the city has been replacing our curb and fixing the slope of the road, sending the water in the proper direction instead of pooling in front of our driveway.  I'm ecstatic that it wasn't a project that we had to do and that the city got to it pretty quickly.  All that is left is for them to do is fill in the whole in our lawn and add some sod.

I will be happy when the bigger projects are done and we can relax in the backyard with a cold drink with a good book.

What are your summer projects?

Geekiness

Star Wars in less then 2 and a half minutes.

May The 4th Be With You

he speaks

Scratching another one off the list

Yesterday I finished up the 2nd book of the Hunger games trilogy.  If you don't know about this series I strongly suggest going out and getting the first one, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  I first started reading them when I was in the hospital after Ollie was born, 3 days practically alone in a hospital room with a hard time getting out of bed to go see your little one across the hall feels like a really long time to just lay there and do nothing.  The 2nd book is just as captivating as the first, you don't want to put it down, the kind of book that you stay up way too late reading because you must know what happens next.

Oh and the movie based on the first book comes out in March.

Couldn't of typed it any better.

Look at me all up to date with stuff.  I just found out today that the NICU that Ollie spent the first 5 weeks of his life at has a blog.  Great posts written by parents of NICU patients, graduates and people on their parent boards.  This is one that I found mirrored our thoughts exactly.  The debate of what to tell people when they ask for your kids age.

Inside the Sunnybrook NICU: So, how old is he?:

crossing things off

I finally crossed off a few things from my 53 in 3 list.  I got a haircut last week, it had been a little over 6 months since my last one.  Drove out to my hairdressers house, she had her baby 5 months ago and isn't planning on returning to the salon she was at before.  Her daughter Molly was born with Prader-Willi syndrome so it is just simpler if she opens her own business at home.  The only downside is that she live about 1.5hrs from us.  Ollie had a great time playing with new toys and interacting with Molly.

The other thing I crossed off is keeping my e-mail accounts clean and tidy.  It has been a month and everything that I am keeping is in folders and everything else is trashed.  I decided to cross this one off and if I stray from it I will uncross it.

It feels nice to scratch things off.

What's on your to-do list?

x-mas prep

The presents are purchased, the stocking stuffers are almost done.  A few things left to wrap, mostly the oddly shaped ones.  I got most of the presents online this year, I have discovered the joy that is shopping on amazon.ca.  I place an order, it ships the next day and shows up the day after.  No need to fight to get through the malls, no driving around and around the parking lots to find a space, it's amazing how badly some people park.  We did get a few things in store, but we go in November, in the middle of the week, when no one else is there.  

This year we are helping Louis' parents with some projects in their new house that they would like done for christmas.  They are still in the precess of renovating it.  Like a lot of renovations things take longer then expected, especially when you are out in the country, everything takes longer to get, store close earlier and aren't open on Sundays.....

I am going to be making some cookies next week and other recipes a few days before christmas.  I am going for a stress free couple of days this year, nothing left to the last minute.  We even already have our turkey.

Decorating of the tree will be happening tonight and tomorrow night.

Micro Journal Monday

Currently

Weather. Raining, again

Wearing. My betty boop pj pants and a top

Listening. to Ollie and the cat playing

Watching. myself type

Reading. Catching Fire (still on the same book)

Drinking. Apple Juice

Eating. had french toast for breakfast

Wishing. that the cat becomes less dumb

Thinking. that I will have nothing to do at work tonight

Loving. that most of the presents are wrapped already.

The end

The end of NaBloPoMo is here.

My brain is thankful.

We finished christmas shopping yesterday.

We visited Santa.

Pictures were taken.

No smiles were flashed.

No tears were shed either.

Today is your last day to donate for Movember, give a little love to men's health.

I get it

A super funny story from the Bloggess.  I can totally relate to this one.  Great idea for a tattoo also.

Someone find me a tattoo parlor

NOVEMBER 27, 2011

in BLOGGING ABOUT BLOGGING AGAIN,I AM TOTALLY OVERRATED,NO ONE THINKS THIS IS FUNNY BUT ME,RANDOM CRAP,WILLIAM SHATNER: IT'S COMPLICATED

Every time I tell Victor to scratch the super-itchy part of my shoulder-blade that I can’t reach he never gets the right spot, and I get more and more frustrated and I scream “NOT THERE.  SCRATCH WHERE IT FEELS LIKE SPIDER EGGS ARE HATCHING UNDER MY SKIN”, and then he yells “You’re not pointing at anything specific” and  I explain that that’s because I can’t even reach that part of my back well enough to scratch it, much less point at it and then he inexplicably starts scratching the top of my arm for some reason and I’m like “REALLY?  Why would you think I couldn’t reach my own arm?” and he huffs and walks away and I end up having to go outside to rub my itchy shoulder-blade on the brick siding and then Victor yells at me for being semi-topless outside and for looking like I’m “giving the house a lap dance”, and then I tell him that I’ve finally decided to get a tattoo that says “What are you doing?  Here.  SCRATCH IT RIGHT HERE” since apparently he doesn’t understand shoulder-blade directions, and then he pointed out that since I’m so bad at describing things that the tattoo artist would probably put the tattoo in the wrong place as well, but that’s not true at all because I would just tell him to put the tattoo where all the bloody scratch marks are from where I had to ask a brick-wall to give me a back-rub.

Thus ends the longest, most confusing run-on sentence in the world.  I win the internet.  And so do you if you actually followed it.  Someone get us a small trophy and money for a tattoo.

Now you know

When I was little I use to think that Allspice was just all the different spices for sauces and the like mixed into one jar. 

 I then learnt that it is actually it's own spice, and it comes in little seeds almost like peppercorn.

Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

NaBloPoMo update

23 days and still going.

I found that some days I had a really hard time thinking of stuff to post this go around.

Ollie keeps me really busy during the day that there were a few times that I posted close to the end of the day.

Sniffles

Everyone in this house is sick now.  Louis is starting to feel a bit better, Ollie is still full of snot and now I have a sore throat, a stuffed up nose and a cough.  I am thinking of putting up a contaminated area sign on our doors and windows.

Ollie has been playing independently, a good thing since I don't want to get him more sick then he already is.  He have a humidifier set up in his room, I try and aspirate his nose but he despises it, he makes it sound like we are trying to kill him but he's o.k. with the nose spray.

Do you have any tips or tricks for dealing with a snotty baby?

Micro Journal Mondays

Currently

Weather. getting cold

Wearing. P.J.'s it's still early

Listening. to Ollie coughing :(

Watching. Live with Kelly, weird that she is alone

Reading. Catching Fire (still on the same book)

Drinking. warm water with honey

Eating. toast

Wishing. that we all get better soon

Thinking. that I need to feed the animals

Loving. the quick cuddles that I get now

The Parade

Ottawa had their annual Christmas parade on Saturday.  The route was different this year and we didn't get the greatest of spots, I saw the top of floats over everyones heads.  We didn't get any pictures but Ollie looked like he enjoyed himself on Louis' shoulders.  After the parade, to not have to deal with all the massive crowds we decided to pop into Chapters, out of curiosity I checked their inventory computer to see if they had the Mr. Dressup DVDs, they had 4 sets.  We went to the kids dvd section, there were none on the shelf, we made sad faces, then we asked a girl and she went to the storage area and they had them hidden there.  So we got them....glad Ollie has no clue what we were doing at the store.  Guess we will be  online shopping a lot for christmas and his birthday in the future so he won't know what we got him.

Mr. Dressup

So I was planing of buying the Mr. Dressup collection for Ollie this christmas.  Looks like I won't be able to get it, Chapters can't get it anymore and Amazon.ca says it will take 2-4 months.  I'm actually pretty disappointed in the fact that it is not readily available, even the cbc.ca shop doesn't even have it listed.  It was a show that I loved watching when I was little.

Guess we will just have to be happy with watching it online.

Excited doesn't begin to explain it.

Since Ollie was a surprise arrival I didn't have anything packed to keep me occupied in the hospital for 3 days.  So I had to send Louis to the nearest Chapters with a list of books I have enjoyed reading, I want to thank the girl, who ever she is, for her great suggestion, I started reading the book and fell in love with it almost immediately.  Set in a post apocalyptic semi futuristic time, the country of Panem (Formerly the U.S.A) is split into districts and every year the head folks over at The Capitol hold The Hunger Games, they pick a boy and a girl (12-18) from each district to battle to the death, all on live t.v.. 

The movie comes out in March and I am overly excited.  This will certainly be a date night, see in theatres type of movie.

Marcel...

...the shell with shoes on

Ollie loves Marcel, we watch it when he's cranky.  Marcel and his people just came out with a 2nd video, equally as funny and cute.

http://youtu.be/Ta9K22D0o5Q

Jelly Beans

Saw this on Ellen today.  A very creative music video, stop motion jelly beans.

Micro Journal Mondays

Currently

Weather. It rained over night but it's really sunny right now

Wearing. Jeans and a t-shirt

Listening. Ollie is playing with one of the cat's toys

Watching. the computer screen

Reading. Catching Fire (still on the same book)

Drinking. Apple Juice

Eating. nothing

Wishing. That I get a chance to do a bit more x-mas shopping today

Thinking. That Ollie is going to have a nap soon

Loving. independent play, so cute

uninspired

I am at a loss of what to post today.  I officially believe that my brain has gone to mush.  So you will just get a resume of yesterday.

We spent yesterday evening in Montreal celebrating Louis' paternal grandfather, he turned 85.  We visited his maternal grandmother while we were there too.  I was hoping to get a 4 generation picture at the supper but Louis' mother wasn't feeling well so they didn't attend the gathering, will have to make sure we get them all together soon.  We stopped by a store in the city that we hadn't been to in a long time, they have 2 store fronts, one for the clothing and the other for their shoe selection, they are the converse holy land, all styles are available in all sizes, dr. seuss, batman, a rainbow of colours, men's, women's, junior's, toddler's and even little itty bitty infant ones.  I couldn't resist, I bought a pair of lime green low cut all stars for Ollie.  Super cute, pictures to come.  I should just hit publish on this post now because I think I rambled enough and so I actually get it in before the end of the day.

53 in 3

I've been inspired to write a list, put down on "paper" what I want to accomplish.  I have given myself 3 years to do it because there are some pretty big goals on it, some that would require us to save money for.
so here are 53 things I want to do in 3 years, 31 December 2014.

Visit a Province that I haven’t been to yet.(NS, PEI, MB, SK, AB, NWT, YK)
Actually get our passports done
get a tattoo (Ollie’s footprint at birth)
get up to date pictures printed and put into albums
Take more pictures of Ollie and us
have an ETSY christmas
donate blood
do a home photo tour on the blog
take photos of everything in the house for insurance
Invite people over for dinner
buy a pair of toms shoes
take a class
Walk some of the many Ottawa trails
Go back to Marineland
read more books. 
Finish reading catching fire
drink more water in a day
take a cooking class
Visit Japan
set foot on all of the 7 continents as a family. 

(North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctic)
do a fundraising walk
Hang up more pictures of us 
clean out my e-mail inboxes
figure out how to knit so I can make Ollie a scarf
attempt to crochet a amigurumi
eat supper at home at least 6 times a week
make more muffins for snacks and lunches
Cook something from the Julia Child cookbooks
Make a habit of folding the laundry after it’s washed
Finish our MCC (movie cabinet challenge)
make a timecapsule and hide/bury it somewhere
Pick a wedding date
plan our wedding
write a letter to Ollie for him to open when he leaves the house
write a letter to Louis, have him open it when he turns 50
Find at least 4 geocaches per month
wear makeup more often
clean out the junk on the computer

dump out files from the time capsule
do up our wills 
get recipes from my grandmother and mother
write a 5 year plan
Make more cakes, cupcakes & cookies for occasions
Take a CPR-First Aid class
learn new cake icing techniques
Get into the routine of doing the dishes after we eat
get my haircut
Finish the sewing projects that I bought the supplies to do
Go to the Highland Games (in Ontario)
weekly meal plan

plan our family's escape route in case of fire

Make an emergency preparedness kit

have family portraits taken

Remember...

National War Memorial Ottawa, a photo by ppolgar on Flickr.

Who are you thinking of or remembering today?

Micro Journal Mondays-on a Tuesday

I got mixed up in my days so this one is coming up on a Tuesday.

Currently

Weather. It's frosty but should be gorgeous this afternoon

Wearing. flannel pj pants and a t-shirt(must stop writing this in the A.M.)

Listening. to the cat having a psycho moment with a toy

Watching. Canada's Worst Driver

Reading. Catching Fire and an article about Eric Lamaze and Hickstead

Drinking. Nothing

Eating. Toast

Wishing. That I never meet these bad drivers on the road

Thinking. That the Kobo pouch I made looks pretty cute

Loving. That Ollie's toys are still in their bins

Birthday

Happy Birthday Ma Tante Joanie!

You're speaking my language

So I'm bilingual, english and french.  I have always understood both languages but when I was younger I would only answer in english.  My poor grandmother, she would ask me something in french and would get the answer in english, I am not sure if she actually understood most of what I said to her.

We speak to Ollie in french and english, he actually seems to understand us pretty well in both.  The words that he uses are mostly in english.  He seems to be a bit slower on the language-speaking milestones but we have been told by many bilingual families that their kids started slower but when they get going the speak both languages, pretty well.

When I was in high school I took a spanish class, it came in useful on our trips to mexico and spain, I was able to ask for directions, find the bathroom, order food and drinks... the usual stuff when you have a really limited grasp of a language.

I have always wanted to learn other languages too, I got a dummies book for Japanese, I memorized a couple words but I would love to actually be able to visit the country and get around without too much difficulty.  

Do you speak any other languages?  Did you learn it out of necessity or because you wanted a challenge?

NaBloPoMo

It's Back!

I have decided to try my hand at this posting for a whole month thing again this year because I have been a horrible blogger lately.

Micro Journal Mondays

I have decided to start a new weekly thing based on a style of journalling-scrapbooking I started hearing about in the past weeks.  They call it micro journalling, a quick to the point no nonsense way to get your thoughts and ideas out.  Here is the first instalment of it.

Currently

Weather. Cold but the sun is out

Wearing. flannel pj pants and a t-shirt

Listening. Ollie playing with his piano

Watching. Halloween episode of Regis and Kelly

Reading. Catching Fire

Drinking. Water

Eating. Nothing

Wishing. That Ollie's appointment goes well today

Thinking. That I didn't feed the cat yet this morning

Loving. The chaps that I made for Ollie last night

Neighbourhood discoveries

My friend Joanie came over this weekend and brought her mom (my 2nd mom) with her.  On Saturday Ollie decided that he didn't want to nap, he just wanted to scream and wail.  We decided to go for a walk to see if he would fall asleep in his stroller.  We knew that they were building a path system near our house but had no clue how far along they were with the project so we decided to go check it out.  Turns out we can almost get the the other side of town if we really wanted to.  It is a nice gravel path that follows a river/creek most of the way, it goes up and down in tons of places so it makes it a bit more of a challenge then just a flat trail.  The tail was covered in colourful leaves, we had tons of wind the day before.  Because we were scrambling to get out the door for our walk we didn't bring a camera with us, oops.  The walk was exactly what Ollie needed, 15min into the walk he was out like a light.

On a side note Ollie got a special surprise this weekend.  Joanie's mom, an avid sewer and quilter made him a beautiful christmas stocking. I was going to take a picture of it but there isn't enough light right now.

A-Z

I've seen this around the internets a lot lately so I decided to jump on the band wagon.
A. Age: 26
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: Most of them
D. Dogs: eventually will have one.
E. Essential start to your day: Toast and blog reading
F. Favorite color: green
G. Gold or Silver: Silver or white gold
H. Height: 5’3"ish
I. Instruments you play(ed): Saxophone, took guitar lessons
J. Job title: Part Time stay at home mom - part time clothing sales
K. Kids: 1 son, Olivier
L. Live: Gatineau
M. Mother’s name: Danielle
N. Nicknames: Chrissy
O. Overnight hospital stays: 3 nights - C-section
P. Pet peeves: When people at work complain about the schedule all the time then call in sick on weekends, I know your not sick.
Q. Quote from a movie: "Mad Hatter: Have I gone mad?    Alice: I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.  (alice in wonderland)
R. Right or left handed: right
S. Siblings: no biological, 1 sister-in-law and a best friend who is pretty much my sister
T. Time you wake up: around 7 or 8 depends on the kid
U. Underwear: everyday
V. Vegetable you hate: easier to name the ones I like
W. What makes you run late: a last minute diaper change
X. X-Rays you’ve had: teeth, wrist(broke), abdomen(kidney stone)
Y. Yummy food that you make: Cakes and cookies
Z. Zoo animal: Love the Elephants and the Hippos