Happy New Year - Hello 2008!

Wow what a year it has been. People tell you that parenting is up and down, but what they don't tell you is that it's up and down and around and around and pretty soon you're regretting the double cheeseburger and milkshake you ate before you got on, haha.

All jokes aside, this year has been great. We've seen such a change in Chance, it is hard to believe that he is the same kid. We've changed too. I think we're more creative and have adjusted more to our new lifestyle. I think we celebrate the small things more. Tonight we feasted on pizza and carrots. We played for a good chunk of time with a pillow - taking turns stealing it from each other. After Cam and I tucked Chance in for the night we high-fived each other in the living room. I know, it sounds wild, but it was a great way to ring in the new year, with our little guy's peals of laughter echoing throughout the house and the cat just trying to stay out of reach.

Happy New Year everyone. May your 2008 bring you health, wealth, and happiness!

Caption Contest

Post Christmas Recap

Christmas holidays are nearing to an end. Here's a recap:

One: number of weeks Scarlet spent at home by herself. She did a pretty impressive shredding job on the carpet on the stairs.

Two: evenings sans Chance thanks to Gramma Jo and Grampa Phil. We ate dinner with friends one night and watched a movie on the other night.

Three: pounds gained. Mom's cooking is too good.

Four: pairs of jammies given to Chance. Perfect, as he is growing out of his current pairs (they are getting too short).

On Christmas Eve the whole family (including Chance) went for a nice dinner at a restaurant. I ordered liver, I rarely get it and it was very good. Auntie Jen shared salmon with Chance and he ate like a little champ, once he figured out that the long fancy things on his plate were actually vegetables and not toys. There was not too much of a mess left behind, but the table cloth was absolutely soaked in oil (probably off the vegetables, he kept mashing them on the the table).



Christmas morning was a flurry of coffee cups being shifted out of Chance's reach, smiling for pictures, opening presents, eating too many smoked oysters and stuffed olives, wearing reindeer hats and playing cards.

Chance received, among other things: pyjamas, a baby nativity set, lots of books, a toy bus, an electric guitar, a musical toy, some ornaments for his tree, a set of grown-up big-boy underwear and a wooden puzzle.....there must have been other things but my fried mommy brain can't think right now. When we returned home to Calgary there were some gifts from Santa - some crayons and a farm set, along with his Grandma and Grandpa Demmans' gifts, which was a shiny red Radio Flyer wagon, plus a wooden puzzle spelling his name. Also, Grandma and Grandpa brought some gifts from family out West, a musical trumpet and a towel set. Whoooeee Chance must have been a good boy this year!

On Boxing Day we all went to Peking House, our favorite restaurant in Regina. Chance "ate" his Chinese food.....or rather he smeared it all over his head. His face and hair were pure oil by the time he was done. This time, there WAS a big mess left behind. Oh well, we tried to clean it up as best as we could.

Well, our supper is cooked and I hear my little boy clammoring, so it must mean that he is hungry. Best wishes to all for 2008!

Look!

"OOK" has changed into "LOOK"!

"Look!" - at the light above the kitchen table
"Look!" - at the car next to us at the stop light
"Look!" - at the people walking on the sidewalk
"Look!" - at the bus parked in front of the grocery store

I'm pretty sure Chance's first word is LOOK!

Good Things

1) I got my P. Geol!!
2) All done work for 2007!
3) Everyone's healthy! No colds, sniffles, fevers!
4) Chance is starting to speak (??) we think!

"ook" = book or look
"lahhht" = light

Commenting...

I have changed my comments settings on this blog so now anyone is supposed to be able to leave a comment. So go ahead, keep in touch!

Fairmont Lake Louise Christmas Weekend

In one word: "greatbutexhausting!"

We arrived at noon on Saturday and had our packed lunch in the lobby as our room was not available yet. Check in was 4 PM, but we were able to get into our room around 1 PM, which was very nice. We got changed and went out for a walk and some toboggan rides down the hill. Chance saw his first horse-drawn sleigh ride!

After our walk we returned back to the hotel and had hot chocolate and asked if they had any cookies. They said no, but they got someone to find some from somewhere in the hotel and then refused to let us pay for them. It's all part and parcel when you have the cutest baby in the world, or at least that's what it seemed like! Everyone was oooohing and aaaahing over Chance's red hair and little curls and how he loved to toddle around the lobby and yank on the Christmas tree decorations, etc.

We attended the dinner and dance in the evening, while Chance stayed with a babysitter. We returned around midnight and we fell asleep by 12:15.

****

1:22 AM: Chance started to cry and would not settle down. We tried cuddling him into our bed. No. We tried singing. No. We tried walking and rocking. No. Water? No! Finally, after about an hour and a half, I gave him a shot of tylenol and tried the water again. He drank half the sippy cup and then belched. I put him in his crib and put a pillow over my head. 5 minutes later he was out like a light. Some other parents were having waking-baby issues too, we could hear them walking up and down the hallway with their little bundle.

7:20 AM: Time to get up, Chance said! After I served Chance a breakfast parfait of banana bread and banana slices (forgot to bring a food dish, silly Mommy!), I took him to the pool and swam for 45 minutes while Cam got a few more winks.

10:00 AM: We were all packed up and ready to go and had a buffet breakfast in the beautiful dining room overlooking Lake Louise. We shared an omelette and Chance had grapes and cheese too.

11:00 AM: We departed Lake Louise and were home by 1:30.


After unpacking Cam took care of Chance while I napped for 40 mins, then we switched off and Cam took his turn grabbing an afternoon nap. I put Chance down for his nap and then woke up Cam. We were pretty lazy today, just watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on television and ate a light supper as we are all feeling a bit bloated after two large meals.

*so* excited!!

Tomorrow we are going to Lake Louise for an overnight stay at the Chateau with Cam's company. I am really looking forward to playing with Chance in the snow and showing him all the cool sights, like the ice carvings, and the mountains, and the horse-drawn sleigh rides, and the giant Christmas tree, and the decorations! We have a babysitter staying with him in the evening while we go to dinner and the dance. Then we will creep into our hotel room and try not to wake him. Hopefully he sleeps well and then in the morning we will go for a family swim at the pool and then have breakfast together before heading home. I hope to get some good family photos!

Here are the videos I took of Chance recently.

1) Chance "cooking" supper with me. He is dressed up in a black t-shirt of mine, he saw me folding laundry and had to have something to dress up in, I guess. He pointed and squealed until I gave him the shirt and then he nearly flipped out trying to put it on. I think he looks like Harry Potter. Or at least Ron Weasley, with the red hair and all!



2) The 2 latest toddlerisms....shaking his head "NO" and having a "conversation".

Starting to feel better...

...but my nose is still running and I often have "popped" ears. Tomorrow I am home with Chance because Mrs. G is going to the dentist, so I might go visit the doctor.

So what will Chance and Mommy do on their Thursday together?? We don't have any plans, really. The weather has been nice so I will be sure to take him out for a pull on his toboggan out to the park. We did that a few times on the weekend and he really seemed to enjoy himself.

Cam's company weekend at Lake Louise is coming up this weekend. It should be fun, it is always so beautiful up there. We are looking forward to showing Chance the horses they have rigged up there to give sleigh rides. Hopefully the ice castle is built on the lake, that is always so pretty.

Tonight's supper went pretty slick. We soaked a cedar plank during the day in the kitchen sink and thawed a salmon filet in the fridge. 20 minutes on the BBQ and it was suppertime! The only thing was that there was a fair bit of snow on the deck, so I had to wear my snow boots to get to the BBQ. Chance thought it was hilarious that I was outside and he was inside. He stood banging on the patio door like a crazed monkey while I got the BBQ lit, etc. Then he had fun picking at the snow that came in on my boots.



My friend Lynne and her husband stopped in tonight to have a short visit. We were over at their house a few weeks ago and took this photo. Lynne brought me a birthday gift of several bottles of bath gel, soap, etc., all in lavender scent. There is something I find so calming about lavender, perfect for some of the hectic days a working Mom faces! I made a chocolate pudding in the oven, so we all enjoyed that along with a cup of coffee. Yesterday as Lynne was leaving work she took a spill in the lobby, while carrying several packages (she had been Xmas shopping at lunch time). She bruised her knees badly, poor gal can barely bend her legs! All of you, be careful out there, it is slippery with all the ice and snow!

Hoping to be healthy for Christmas...

Whoooo baby, Momma is a sick duckie!

I have been blowing my nose so often that I am starting to wonder about ear damage. Sometimes I hear high pitched squealing noises when I try to blow my nose. And I still can't breathe through my nose.

So here I sit, nose slathered in Vicks, panting like a dog. It's a pretty picture, isn't it??

Cam is gone curling tonight, as most Thursday nights have been lately. Chance and I played together and before I knew it, it was time to plunk him in the bath. We were having fun roaming about the house with a flashlight. Very entertaining. I have some video but need to upload it, so check back if you have a high-speed connection & want to watch the video.

I am going to boil some water for some NeoCitron and hopefully get some sleep. I had 2 nights of good sleep on Monday and Tuesday night, but last night was a bit of the usual, with me up 3 or 4 times, to check on Chance, to get a drink, etc.

This weekend is the company Christmas party, I sure hope that I can make it. I phoned the babysitter to confirm that she is still available and let her know that there is a slim possibility that I will have to pull out at the last minute due to being sick. Who knows, maybe Chance will come down with this (I really hope not!). If he is not feeling well I definitely won't go as it is not fair to either the babysitter or Chance to leave when he is not feeling well).

This last week has just flown by. A week ago I boarded a charter plane at 6 in the morning and flew to our gas field for a field trip with a bunch of folks from work. We had a good visit to the field, with several stops during the day. We overnighted at the Jasper Park Lodge, very swanky. The next day we had a workshop and in the early evening flew home and arrived around supper time. What a whirlwind trip that was!

One of the coolest things about the hotel was that the swimming pool is outdoors. That sounded like a life experience that I didn't want to pass up! Bad luck though, I forgot to pack my swim suit, but I was told that they sold disposable (yes, disposable) bathing suits at the pool for $12. The pool was fantastic, all steamy because it was so cold out doors (-20°C), with the mountains and trees surrounding us and clear stars above. The disposable swim suit, however, was not a great experience. I was very careful to keep my towel near the edge of the pool and actually pulled the towel in the water with me so that no one could see that God-awful suit!

Here is a shot of me and my team all decked out in field safety gear during the field trip. We were all dressed for cold weather as it was -27°C that morning!!

Better off in bed!

We had a crummy day today!

1) Broken computer monitor. $$. Bought new one today, and 4-year warranty.
2) Truck stuck in 2-wheel drive. Funny noises. $$$?? Find out Monday.
3) Had to turn around and go home when we realized that we were about an hour early for a craft show.
4) Tantrum in the afternoon. Denied Christmas decorations in mouth.
5) Lots of sneezing and coughing all day long (Chance). Cam has a sore throat (again). I have itchy eyes (pink eye again??).
6) Visited friends for supper tonight. Chance barely ate more than a few crumbs of bread and egg nog. Toast and bananas eaten in the bath tub.

Here's to hoping for a better day tomorrow!!

House of Blues

I've got the blues....

...the baby blues...

...the baby had a cold then got pink eye then got an ear infection BLUES!

Cam and I haven't put in a solid week of work in weeks. Chance feels like crap and isn't sleeping through the night and is only eating occasionally. Cam and I have been sick for a little more than a month.

I'm staying home with him in the morning to see how he does.

Cutting teeth every which way!

Chance got 2 molars in 1 week!

The bottom left one cropped up last week, but we didn't discover it until we were at Meadow Lake. You could tell that it had been there for a few days at least by how much it was poking out of the gums.

Apparently the bottom right molar is there too, but I still haven't seen it. Cameron swears it's there though. No matter how much I tickle Chance or make goofy faces to make him smile wide, his little tongue is always tucked back in that cheek pocket, hiding the new molar. Maybe that's just as good evidence as actually seeing it...he's busy playing with his new tooth all the time!

Tomorrow I am getting together with the Rockyview Moms after work, we are going for dinner sans bebes! I will just stay late at work. I have a ton of work to do but I am in a training course all day tomorrow, so a few hours in the evening to get cracking will be a good thing.

Well, the house is quiet and I have a hot tub waiting for me, along with a cup of tea and a good book. Ciao for now!

p.s. Here is a funny photo from the weekend at Meadow Lake. On Sunday night we discovered a dirty diaper lying on the kitchen floor! We thought that maybe whoever had changed Chance last (Cam) had forgotten to put away the dirty diaper and that Chance had dragged it over a few feet from his changing area. Instead, Chance had ripped his diaper off but managed to keep his jeans ON. Like a little Houdini. Grandma Lillian thought it was so funny!

Road Reviews

Here are the food reviews from this week's travel to Meadow Lake:

The Stop Spot - Killam, Alberta (negative 3 out of 5 stars)
Possibly the dirtiest place I have ever eaten ever. Neither the men's nor the women's bathrooms had soap. A pancake breakfast was served by a surly waitress/chef under fluorescent lighting on a high chair that had never seen a clean washcloth. Mom and Dad reported that the coffee was cold. Mom claimed that her pancakes were poorly mixed and tasted like onions and was unable to finish. After eating 1 pancake and a sausage, there was enough time to stretch my legs in the otherwise deserted restaurant. Mom wonders if they will be closing soon (3 old guys and us were the clientele at 10 AM coffee row).

The Farm House Family Restaurant - St. Walburg, Saskatchewan (4 of 5 stars)
Warm and cozy restaurant-hotel nestled into the forest town of St. Walburg. We missed the lunch rush due to the time change at the border, but the place had several tables lingering over lunch. Clean washrooms. Mom washed her hands 3 times, while I amused myself with a silk flower arrangement. Excellent grilled cheese and french fries. Mom supplied the broccoli and pears. Mom and Dad claimed their curry-chicken soup was very good and finished off my meal for me.

Glenna's Kitchen @ the Petro Can - Innisfree, Alberta (3 of 5 stars)
Spectacular view of Birch Lake from the top of a hill. Mom and Dad frequently stopped here before I was born, apparently, however never ate breakfast. Dad ordered the "trucker's special" French toast platter, again with sausage which was served butterflied. Very tasty. I even used a fork. Bonus points for staff friendliness and overhead fans. Negative points for the terribly dirty carpet, which I was not allowed to explore on hands and knees. Instead, Mom "showed" me the snow out the window. As we left, a rig crew came in off their shift, indicating that either this is the only place in town to eat or that it's their favorite place to fuel up for the next 24.

Boston Pizza - Drumheller, Alberta (3 of 5 stars)
Unable to stomach another trucker meal, Mom and Dad erred on the safe side for lunch. We all ordered the spaghetti lunch special, except Mom wanted a chunky pasta so that I could pick it up myself. They brought spaghetti. The waitress was gracious and returned with the correct pasta in a few minutes. Meanwhile I strained like horses to tear into Dad's meal. My parents tried to placate me with garlic toast. It was at this meal that I first experienced crayons. My favorite was red and blue. The green failed to impress. Dad finished my activity puzzles for me.



















"Every meal is worth critiquing, who knows, it may be your last" - Chance R. Demmans

Much better already!

Chance must have gotten a good batch of penicillin, because he is doing great today. He woke up in a happy mood both this morning and after his nap (& no eye crust!). He ate all his lunch and was patient enough to eat dessert and entertain himself in his high chair while I hemmed, then ripped out, then re-hemmed a pair of jeans.

Still a bit of a cough, but I am so happy that he is feeling perky and running around like normal.

It is warm out this afternoon, so we might take a 20 minute walk to pick up a carton of milk. Maybe we'll stop at the park on the way home.

Pink Eye

Chance came down with an eye infection on Tuesday evening. We took him to the walk-in clinic but was told that it would be an hour wait at least. It was 7 PM. We decided to just go home and take him to the doctor, as by the time we saw the doctor it would be past his bed time and te best for him was rest. Cam took him to Dr. W the next morning, and then I returned home just before lunch time and Cam went to work in the afternoon. Chance is taking eye drops and penicillin that tastes like pineapples.

When Cam took Chance to see the doctor he produced a print-off of an email I had sent from work with some questions about Chance on it. The doctor's response was "Of course she would do this."

Cam said it sounded like the doctor regarded me as an equal but duly hated nemesis. So it's not all in my head.

I am staying home with Chance today, I sure hope he is feeling better. I'm not feeling all that great myself, so perhaps I've caught his eye infection. Yesterday after the first dose of medication his eyes looked much better, so I'm hoping that overnight he is fixed up even more. Upon waking up from his morning and afternoon naps, Chance was very upset, and nothing short of a soother and a warm lap to cuddle into would settle him.

He did, however, have several good hours during the day where he felt pretty normal, I think. Or so I gather, as some new tricks seem to have developed:

1) Food Goes On The Floor (performed immediately after sitting down in high chair).
2) K-I-T-T-Y spells "I'm gonna chase her and tackle her".
3) Bedtime? We don't need no stinkin' Bedtime!

We are hoping to travel to Meadow Lake this weekend but if Chance isn't feeling better it probably isn't a good idea. We'll see how things develop today. Just the same I'm packing suitcases. Better to prepare during the day and unpack than try to pack at 8 PM tonight.

Crazy Dreams

This is all in one night:

I went for a walk outside in the winter. The snow got progressively deeper and deeper, until it was about chest high. I fell down and I was drowning in the snow bank. Someone came out and pulled me out.

The Pawseys came to visit. We were trying to get out for a picnic or walk or something, but we had to wait for Chance to wake up from a nap. When Chance woke up, we found out that their oldest little guy had fallen asleep. And then when he woke up, their littlest daughter fell asleep. We were waiting for hours!

I built a tree house in my parents' backyard in Broadview. It was actually a house built on stilts set in among the caragana bushes. It was very sturdily built. My father said I spent too much on the lumber.

After such an active night of sleeping, I'm wiped out! Whew!

String Bean

A year ago today...

At Chance's 1 year appointment at the Public Health Office, he was termed "disproportionate" based on his height for weight curve. Then the nurse took 1 look at Cam and said, "looks like he takes after his Daddy".

Chance has had some huge growth chances over the last month or two, and is now 31.5" tall (officially taller than half his Mommy's height!) and weighs in at 22 lbs.

He got his Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) shot, a chicken pox vaccine and a first flu shot. He needs to get a flu booster in another month.

All is well!

Current news headlines:

Toddler just wants to be naked.
At bath time, Chance can't wait to help peel off his clothes. It is really cute watching him struggle to take his shirt off over his head.

Back-to-work-mom finds work-life balance.
Three and a half weeks into going back to work at Shell, and I'm finally getting it. I am excited to be doing geology again, and looking forward to some new learning opportunities. I'm exercising, eating well, sleeping more or less through the night, and getting to socialize with friends and spend time with Chance by taking occasional Fridays/Mondays off.

Parents gear up for road trip.
We will be zipping away to Meadow Lake in a few weeks. We have been brainstorming as to how to cover the most distance with the least amount of complaining (screaming). We have ditched the midnight drive option on Thursday night in favour of leaving well before the crack of dawn Friday morning instead, banking on hopes that Chance sleeps a lot.

New technology begets new technology.
My new camera is awesome. I love it. There are, however, some limitations to having a higher megapixel camera....like hard drive capacity. A 30 second video runs at 60 megabytes. Ouch. Definitely need to use the lower resolution when taking movies.

Weekend Summary

My mom and dad were here for the weekend. We had a great time and Chance really enjoyed having his Gramma and Grampa to play with.




















Cameron purchased a new camera for my birthday/Christmas gift for me this weekend. It's a long way off from my birthday, but Future Shop had some good prices on and he wanted my input as to what kind of camera I wanted, so there wasn't really a good way of surprising me. Last time he just bought a random camera and he did buy a good one, but they are a lot more complex now.




















"Hey everyone, check out my fourth bottom tooth! Now I'm symmetrical!"


Chance got his shots on the weekend, and so far no severe reactions, although he was really tired and slept for 14.5 hours instead of his usual 11-12 at night. Today he apparently had some diarrhea at Mrs. G's, but we have not seen any strange looking diapers tonight. Poor Mrs. G, she has been changing Chance a million times a day over the last few weeks. His fourth bottom tooth finally arrived, and it was a real pain coming in as it seemed to cause diarrhea and diaper rash for almost a full week. As soon as the tooth came through, the problems seemed to disappear...

Chance has a runny nose too. I have had a cold for almost the last 2 weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if he finally caught it. He was in good spirits tonight though, and happily played on the "computer" with Cameron and hassled the cat as usual.

Halloween and Chance's Birthday!

Well, it's official, our little boy is one year old!


Cam and I sang Happy Birthday to Chance in the morning, I think he was wondering if he would get cake after we were done singing. At the day home, Mrs. G and the kids sang to him again, and they did a Halloween project making spider cookies, which I'm sure Chance enjoyed tasting. After supper we let him have another spider cookie, which Mrs. G sent home with Chance, along with a Caillou book and stuffed doll for him as a birthday present, how nice!


After supper, Chance and I went trick-or-treating. We stopped by only at our neighbour's house and at our friends' house in the next square. We saw tons of kids and 2 scared deer running around in the park. They must have been confused!


Chance's costume was a hockey player. He was wearing so many sweaters under his jersey he looked like he had proper equipment on. On our walk around the neighbourhood we saw a kid dressed up as the Stanley Cup, that would have been a funny photo! Too bad, I left my camera at home.
























Also here is a picture of Chance's pumpkin from Meadow Lake, all carved up.

Birthday Party

We had a small birthday party for Chance on Sunday afternoon. We only had 3 guests, Chance's Auntie Jen and Auntie Lynne and Uncle Drover. It was a pretty simple party...once the helium balloons arrived, we opened gifts. We should have opened the gifts before the balloons, as Chance was in love with the balloons and the gift opening got lost somewhere in his attention span. So we ended up "helping" with the gift bags. After the gifts were opened, we sat down together and sang Happy Birthday to Chance and ate cake. Well, some of us ate cake. Others, who shall remain nameless, because they are only one year old, shamelessly wolfed their cake. He wanted more cake too...but we offered him yogurt, which was not the same as cake. After cake, it was time for a bath, which served two purposes...one: Chance was sticky, two: it helped him calm right down for a nap afterwards.

We kind of had a funny day too because we thought it was Daylight Savings Time, so we spent the day turning the clocks back an hour and trying to acclimatize Chance...stretching out his nap time, giving him lunch a bit later, etc. No wonder he wolfed that cake down, he was just starving!

Birthday Preparations

1. Make carrot cake and chocolate cup cakes on Friday afternoon.
2. Keep Daddy out of cup cakes all night long.
3. Go toy shopping Saturday morning.
4. Wrap presents while Chance sleeps (take toys out of boxes, put them in easy to open bags).
5. Make orange icing for cup cakes while Daddy snoozes.
6. Send Chance and Daddy to grocery store for more icing sugar.
7. Make cream cheese icing while Chance eats his afternoon snack.
8. Dress Chance up in orange clothes to go to pumpkin party after he wakes up.
9. Take cup cakes to party. Allow Daddy to sneak one. Send Daddy to airport to pick up Auntie Jen and Uncle Paul.
9. Return home from pumpkin party and have supper with Auntie Jen and Uncle Paul

Laundry

Snow Day

It snowed overnight and the snow ended up sticking around more or less all day. Our neighbour's kid scraped up every bit of snow from their half of the front lawn to make a snow man.

When we picked up Chance from the day home we noticed chalk drawings all over the sidewalk. Mrs. G took the kids outside for a bit today but not to run around in the park like usual as some kids didn't have appropriate clothes. As in, they didn't have shoes.

So instead of the park the kids drew on her sidewalk and she loaded Chance up in the stroller and they all went for a walk.

She lamented that some parents often forget to dress their kids for the weather and as a result everyone stays indoors for days until the entire group gets winter clothes, boots, hats and toques. She said that if we wanted we could leave his snow suit with her during the week days. We actually have two snow suits (one hand-me-down and one brand new from my sister, she brought it when Chance was a week old). So we will have a day home snow suit (probably the one-piecer, it fits Chance better right now), and the two-piecer we'll keep at the house. Instead of walks to the park in the evenings we'll be taking Chance for toboggan rides soon!

Dinner Date with Ayla

We had a fun weekend after a week of taking Chance to the day home. Saturday was spent wrestling around in the living room and playing "trucks". A breakfast of French toast started the day off right and Chance was an angel and went to sleep without a fuss for his cousin Kristi, who babysitted for us while we went to our monthly potluck dinner with friends. It was an Italian theme and we made a caprese salad with fresh bufala mozzerella and basil from the Farmer's Market (Cam went while Chance and I puttered about the house).
















On Sunday Chance and I got up and had a breakfast of warm porridge and yogurt and fruit. The porridge was a hit. Huge. We also found that it was a great way to practice using a spoon, as it was sticky and stuck to the spoon as Chance swirled the spoon around in his bowl. We will probably only have porridge on weekends though, as it is quite a messy breakfast! Good thing it was laundry day!














In the afternoon Ayla and Greg and Courtney came over for supper. We had apple-stuffed chicken breasts (I did this a few months ago with pork chops, we just adjusted the recipe a bit). They turned out really well, and we ate them with wild rice casserole and green peas. Chance and Ayla ate toast instead of the wild rice. Dessert was hazelnut esspresso and chocolates and chocolate-mint Girl Guide cookies.

The kids got along so well all afternoon and they both ate like champions. The photos are harder to snap now because they are moving around so much. It was really fun to see how much they had changed since the end of August!

The house is quiet...

We laid Chance down for a nap at 2:30...he played in his crib instead. Cam and I laid down too, Cam was snoring instantaneously, I read. Chance settled down at 3:05. I went to sleep then, and woke up at 4. Cam is still sleeping.

First Few Days at Work

Well I am now 2 full days into being a working Mom. I am sharing an office with a geophysicist, but it is only temporary as the office circuitry doesn't allow for adequate power to run a PC and a UNIX machine, so I will be moved in a few weeks to another office. The new office doesn't have a window, and comes along with two room mates. Colour me unimpressed.

The work, however, seems exciting and there is a lot to learn. There will be lots of opportunities for on the job training and perhaps even the possibility of a field trip or two. We will be sure to get established with Chance's morning routine before tackling any challenges though.

So far our mornings are like this: At 6:10 we wake up as a family. Cam showers and I change Chance's diaper and get him dressed, and start breakfast preparations (toaster set up, bananas chopped and cups of milk poured). By this time Cam is done dressing and we switch off, I go take my shower and Cam eats breakfast with Chance. While they are eating and cleaning up, I get myself ready and then wolf down a slice of toast and drink my milk just before heading out the door. We pack Chance's lunch and snacks and formula the night before, so it is as simple as pulling the lunch sack from the fridge. We leave the house at 7:00 and within 3 minutes we are at the day home door, a quick drop off and then we are parked and walking to the C-train platform within an additional 5 minutes. We arrive downtown around 7:35-7:45, depending on speed of train, and Cam has about a 5 minute walk to work and then Dani has another 5 minutes before she arrives at work. We both leave at 4:30 PM and head directly for our respective nearest C-train platforms and take the first train available. This means that sometimes we are on separate trains, but it is a much more efficient way of getting home because we don't have to worry about cramming 2 people onto the same train, it is easier to slip onto the packed trains if you are alone. Also this way if the train breaks down, hopefully at least one person will make it to the parking lot to pick up Chance from the day home. So far it has worked well and we both enjoy being there together to drop off and pick up Chance.

Well it is bed time again, already. The evenings really slip by quickly, with only 2 hours between Chance's bedtime and ours. Tonight he went to sleep a little later than usual, he seemed upset. I think the fact that he is at the day home and not together with me is sinking in, as he seemed quite clingy tonight, and wanted lots of holding and back rubbing before going to bed. We did not over indulge him, though, as we don't want him to get hooked on these methods for going to sleep. He cried for about 10 minutes, the whole time I felt a lot of guilt guilt guilt guilt. I am trying not to dwell on it too much. When Chance was born I felt guilty and over time I came to understand that guilt is not a productive emotion, it is destructive and sucks up energy faster than anything. Right now I need all the energy I've got, so guilt is not an option.

3 hours until showtime...

I'm up in the middle of the night. Again.

6:00 AM will come around soon enough. Time to wake Chance up, feed him breakfast, and drop him off at Mrs. G's. The New Routine.

It will be hard not being there to rub his back when he's sleepy and kiss his owwies when he falls down. I will miss sunny afternoons chasing him around the house, playing hide and go seek. And I think I will miss my naps, cups of tea when I feel like it, curling up with the kitty when Chance is asleep. It will be easy letting someone else change the diapers. I worry that Chance will feel hurt that I am gone from him for 85% of his day.

We are officially done with breastfeeding as of 3 days ago or so. There were no tears for either of us, it was just something that neither one of us wanted to continue doing. After cutting out the morning feedings, it felt strange doing it every 24 hours at bedtime. I can't even remember the last time I nursed him properly, maybe in Regina before we travelled home.

Chance received a parcel on the Greyhound Bus this weekend. It was a pumpkin grown in Meadow Lake, just for him. He was very impressed and tried to pick it up, but I think the pumpkin is heavier than he is! He was satisfied with just rolling it around for a while, until he got distracted and then we sequestered the pumpkin into the basement where it is cool and it will keep until Halloween. Thanks Grampa and Grandma Demmans.
























For supper we ate a ham with scalloped potatoes and glazed carrots. We invited a friend over for dinner, he is a bachelor so a big Sunday meal is always a treat. We were supposed to have Ayla and her parents over, but with Chance and I being sick, we didn't want to risk passing it on to another baby. We postponed to next Sunday. After Cam and I got the kitchen cleaned up, we put a couple of containers of the ham stock to cool on the counter. We put Chance to bed and I started putting his lunch bag together. I reached into the cupboard and BLAMMO! his sippy cup bombed off the shelf and right into the container of stock on the cupboard below. The cupboard doors, the backsplash, the crockpot waiting for tomorrow's meal, the floor, the wall, ME, everything was covered in warm, greasy, gelatinous ham stock. GROSS. The floor is still oily feeling. Cam washed it twice, I mopped with hot water and then with lemon juice. What a dramatic close to the evening.

The festivities side tracked me from checking whether our timer is set correctly, so I have now set it to go off at 6 AM, so will check in the morning whether I remember how to use it to get our slow cooker to go off or not. We have an insane slow cooker. Recipes that say cook for 5 hours on high of 10 hours on low mean cook on low for 4 hours unless you want a hockey puck for dinner . When I was at my sister's house she made the most amazing tender beef (chuck!) roast for dinner in her slow cooker. I got a tougher fattier roast this time. If it turns out the same as it has in the past I might try begging, borrowing or stealing another slow cooker, to see if that makes a difference. Jen pointed out that she used farm beef, not store beef, which is leaner these days. The roasts I have produced from that slow cooker are perfectly fine...it's just the one that Jen served me last week opened my eyes to what we have been missing.

Well, I've killed 20 minutes. I should probably go back to bed.

Healthy Eating with Uncle Paul

In this video, Chance's Uncle Paul is feeding him BBQ potato chips, much to Chance's delight! We decided that Chance would have to wait a while before he could try the Pepsi, though.



Auntie Jen and Uncle Paul stopped overnight (briefly) before heading off on their honeymoon in Mexico, and they brought my camera back to Calgary with them. So there will be a few videos and photos to upload from our trip to Saskatchewan, but for now, I am going to bed.

Filling Out

When I saw Cam changing Chance's diaper the other day, I thought to myself, "he doesn't look so skinny anymore...". After stepping on the doctor's scale to check his weight, now I believe it. Chance has had a huge growth spurt in the last few months!

Along with packing on the pounds, Chance has been busy honing some new skills over the last few weeks:

* Clapping hands on command. Clapping hands spontaneously. Clapping hands when he hears applause on the television or radio.
* Waving bye-bye and hello. He will wave when he hears these words, even if no one is leaving or arriving.
* Giving low-fives. We're working on the high-fives.
* Trying to "wear" grown-up shoes, even if they're backwards.
* Blowing bubbles in the bath water.
* Dunking cookies, potatoes, meat, whatever, into his formula before eating.
* Pulling things behind him. Right now his favorite is the belt from my bath robe. Sometimes he wears it around his shoulders like a boa.
* Playing "I'm gonna get you!".
* "Catching" you by belly flopping on top of you when you are lying on the floor.

Chance got me!

OK, now we're both sick. Somehow, Chance managed to pass on his nasty little parainfluenza virus to me. Maybe it was when he sneezed for the 40th time right in my face? I am going to sleep now, Chance is napping too.