Posted by Jen | Under Daily, Jen, pictures
Sunday Jun 14, 2009
This past week I have spent almost every moment of non-Kale-interactive time working on the market, and I am so excited that it’s all coming together as well as I had hoped. I feel like I can breathe a tiny sigh of relief, as if the market were to start tomorrow, things are in place enough that it will go off without a hitch. All I’m doing now is fine-tuning, chasing payments, and making confirmations with various parties.
I’m scheduled to go back to work for my former employer as of tomorrow night – I’m working 3 hours each evening Mondays and Tuesdays after Kale is in bed – and it’s this item that I feel the least excited about in my life these days. I won’t say I’m dreading it, but I can say with absolute clarity that I am not looking forward to it the way I look forward to working on the market or caring for Shauna’s little girl and Kale’s best buddy Bonnie come September. Working for my former employer (I guess “former” is actually not the right word but my brain has ceased its thesaural duties for the day) is not the job I want, however, it will be regular, dependable income, and so I feel it’s in our best interest for me to do it. After my market contract is over, it will be a long winter financially speaking, until the market starts up again next year and I will be able to apply for the job again, and so I sigh, get over myself, and prepare for the familiar smells and sights of an office I spent the past 11 years in.
It’s not without challenges – I’ll have a new supervisor, and new duties, and as I have figured out watching Kale grow and develop, learning is tiring work. I’m thankful that we’ve been able to negotiate short shifts. I’m also sad as this week marks the beginning of more time away from home, less time in Kale’s presence, and while I think it’s important to get out of the house and enjoy being an adult woman with a social life and adult interaction, working by myself with a music player and headphones in front of a screen working spreadsheets is certainly not going to accomplish that. But, like I said, it will bring in some steady, reliable income.
A picture from yesterday:
Posted by Jen | Under Daily, Family Outing, Jen, Kale, Mooki, Ross, pictures
Tuesday May 19, 2009
A week ago, I made the comment to Mom that I was trying to blog three times a week. Gone are the days when I could post long diatribes on a daily basis, and quite honestly, I do miss those days. Now, I’m lucky if I can get my three entries for the week sorted out. You may have noticed my last entry was six days ago, so by the power of Math, I think we can safely say that I was unsuccessful in three entries a week. Boo hiss. Also, my friend Melanie recently posted about the idea of Mommy Blogging versus Blogging. Because, well, now that’s what I do – I’m a mom, and I blog, and my life more or less revolves around my kid, so uh.. it makes sense. I knew that I would be a Mommy Blogger when I was pregnant, and when Kale was born, we registered this new domain name and I closed and deleted my old haunts and while there are a few moments of nostalgia here and there (usually for the days when I swore freely on the old blog because I am trying to teach myself not to swear so much), I can’t say I miss those parts of my past.
I find it’s a little bit feast or famine – some days I can sit down at the computer and churn out tonnes of content for both this and the other blog I write at, so much content that I can schedule it’s posting throughout the week and then forget all about it. Other days, I’m lucky if the thought crosses my mind “ooh this would make a good blog entry.”
So what has been goin’ on here at Chez Arbo?
I guess the biggest news is that Kale is standing all by himself. When he is focussed on something (like, for example, holding as many pieces of food in his hands as possible) he forgets that he is supposed to hold onto something and can free-stand! Then he realizes he is supposed to be holding on and onto his butt he falls. But he’s standing!
Today I booked our flights to Calgary for Christmas to visit my brother Jim and his wife Loralie. It’s a good time for us to go – at 18 months, Kale will still be free to fly, and it’s a short enough flight that we deal with whatever his reaction is. Plus, the weather will be awesome – dry and cold and snowy, hopefully, instead of typical Vancouver rainy blah yucky. Jim and Loralie and I talked about booking a night at a rustic cabin (maybe Christmas Eve?) at a nearby ranch for a real “country Christmas”. I’m also going to be able to visit Melanie and meet her A. Door. A. Bull. daughter, Moira, and Ross and I can see our friends Mike and Helen, who were the couple whose wedding we all attended last month. I’d also like to try and see my friend Jennifer and her daughter Jade, as well as a visit up to Carstairs to see Pam, a friend from high school. For 7 days, we will likely be busy with many friends and lots of visiting and I am really looking forward to it.
This past May long weekend, we went to the Island for a planned surprise 60th birthday party for my stepdad, Rick. He was genuinely surprised, and it’s a testament to both my mom and my mother in law that this party happened hitch free. I started planning in back in September, people, but without the Moms, it never would have happened. They were the hostesses with the mostesses and it was all their effort that made me look good. The weather co-operated nicely, Kale was a superstar traveller (which we paid for tenfold last night when there was the TWO DANG HOURS OF SCREECHING AT 1AM – Ugh!), Mooki got a respite weekend at my folks’ place away from Kale, and I got a sunburn. Some pictures:
Mooki “guarding” the picnic table at Mom and Rick’s:
Mooki is not dead, nor is she hunting. She was asleep in the grass with no leash on – a novelty for her since we only have a paved patio for her to sleep on.
My stepdad’s birthday cake, with photos from 6 months, 6 years, and 16 years:
Kale with his Gran and Grandpa at Qualicum Beach:
Kale in lerve with his reflection:
Kale checking out the bird bath:
All the happy party goers:
Rick genuinely shocked at the surprise party. His hat says “Don’t forget my senior’s discount”:
Kale helping wash his Grandpa’s truck:
Does this Oatio make my butt look big?
It was a brilliant weekend. I was so glad to be back home last night, though. Being away sure makes you realize how awesome home can be.
Posted by Jen | Under Daily, Jen, Kale, pictures
Sunday May 10, 2009
Kale’s latest obsession is grinding his teeth. This noise gives me the heebies to the point where I have found myself stuffing a piece of fabric in his mouth and asking him to chew on that instead. I can’t stand this noise. I am really hoping this obsession is over soon. Seriously. Gah. With his increased mobility, Kale has bailed a few more times than normal, and his face is now a lovely roadmap of bumps, bruises, and scabs. Awesome. I swear we are not beating our child. He does this to himself.
In any event, today is Mother’s Day. I sent “the grandmas” cards earlier this week and enclosed these photos, which I have been dying to post but haven’t been able to for fear of spoiling the surprise, but now I finally can!
This morning, the guys in my life presented me with a card and a box of the fanciest-fancy pants chocolate I have ever had. I almost don’t want to eat them. But don’t worry, I will. We’re going to go for a walk after Kale wakes up and has his lunch, and I’m looking forward to a relaxed afternoon.
I’m so grateful to have both Ross and Kale. I feel so humbled. Having a son with Ross makes everything in my life make sense. I love being a mama.
Posted by Jen | Under Daily, Family Outing, Jen, Kale, Ross, pictures
Monday Jan 26, 2009
How to blow your baby’s mind: Put him in front of the mirror, a la Infinite Cat Project.
We went for a walk. I have a TIm Horton’s tea in my hand, which reminds me of those ads that make me kinda misty where Tim Horton’s is in all our lives. How Canadian.
Crazy rat maze in frozen grass at Burnaby’s Fraser Foreshore Park:
What did you do?
Posted by Jen | Under Daily, Jen, Kale, Mooki, Ross
Monday Aug 25, 2008
As most of you know, I sewed about 3 dozen cloth diapers for Kale before he was born. 8 of them were immediately placed on the “no” pile because I used a fabric that was a bit too rubbery and they didn’t stay done up well. The remaining ones were used for about two and a half to three weeks before Mr. I’m-So-Damn-Long grew out of them. I don’t have time to sew another batch, so instead I went looking for a buy-able brand that was the approximate same style.
Ross’ cousin Nicole was kind enough to pass on the diapers she uses on her youngest – they are a terry cloth diaper that you use a waterproof cover with. I find them ridiculously bulky and when I put them on Kale he wasn’t able to move his legs well. I think they will be better once he’s bigger but right now they just don’t cut it for me. One of Ross’ co-workers loaned us two different brands of pocket diaper to try out.
Sidenote: a pocket diaper is a diaper you stuff with the absorber in a pocket in between a soft layer and a waterproof layer. An All in One (or all in two depending on the design) is a diaper that has a soaker pad that is either attached or snaps or velcros in and it is all one piece (hence the name). The “classic” style of diaper is called a prefold and most people use something called Snappis to do them up or use them under a waterproof cover that velcros or snaps shut. Ross and I have decided to use a pocket or all in one (or two) as our preferred style of diaper. End sidenote.
So, Ross’ co-worker loaned us two of each Fuzzi Buns and Bum Genius. The Fuzzi Buns is a sized pocket diaper with snap closures. It leaked quite badly for us – most likely because it was too big for Kale. The Bum Genius is a one-size pocket diaper with adjustable rise that velcros closed. Of the two, I prefer the Bum Genius, but I hate the velcro and I found the fabric inside wasn’t absorbent and that Kale’s clothing got very wet out from the top of the diaper. Again, this could be a fit issue. Either way, I am on the look out for used Bum Genius diapers (I think if I stripped the diapers and used another insert, they could work) and had some lined up on craigslist but she sold them to someone else.
I’m getting tired of searching for our diaper solution and of using disposables and decided this weekend to take matters into my own hands and I’ve placed an order with the lovely ladies up at Cloth Diapers Eh for three diapers to confirm the size and if they are the right size, I will order the other 9 to make a dozen. They are about the same price as Bum Genius and the advantage is that I am supporting a pair of Work At Home Moms here in BC. Plus they are made with high quality fabrics and they use snaps instead of velcro and I get to pick what colour of coordinating thread. If I am going to spend $20 ish per diaper, I feel better buying the diapers from WAHMs in BC than some big company that gets their diapers from China.
I will report on their useability in a future post, especially for those of you in the market for diapers.
PIctures from this weekend, because really what is a blog entry without pictures of a) my son or b) my dog:
Kale is definitely suspicious of the camera. I cannot for the life of me capture his smile (which comes almost constantly these days. Okay, well , maybe not constantly, but a lot!). He is on to me and every day I sneak the camera into his peripheral and I get this look: (oh and look, bonus booger shot):
We also went to the Vancouver Shiba Meetup again. Mooki is a grade A, class 1 bee-yotch, so we had to leave after she picked not one, not two, but three fights and either bit herself or was bitten on the tongue. Then Ross took her to get her nails done. The strain of the day took its toll on her, so she let her guard down and was seen being “nice” to Kale. And by “nice”, I mean, was within 4 feet of him.
Is it bad if we leave Kale on his change table for 10-15 minutes at a time because he is hypnotized by the black and white patterns we have put on the underside of the shelf above him? I mean, I realize that as soon as he can roll over that’s going to stop, but for now, he becomes entranced by the patterns (which I refer to as “his best friends”) and I figure if he is happy there, he can stay there for a few minutes, right? Its developing his mind, not neglect. Really. Just because I take the opportunity to make a cup of tea and maybe even brush my teeth while he is entranced, doesn’t mean I am a bad mommy.
And because Ross and I lead a true cosmopolitan life, we really partied it up this weekend and watched the animated movie about animals from the Central Park Zoo, Madagascar this weekend, and I gotta say, holy cow that was FUNNY. I don’t know why I missed that one when it was originally released because I generally make a point of watching all of the Pixar movies, but somehow I did. And holy schmoly it was a good one.
Where is August going? My God, having a kid is like some sort of science fiction time accelerator machine. Bring on the non-Stupid Hot weather!
Dear Autumn, how I missed you. Welcome back.
Love,
Jen
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