Cripes!

Wink, wink!

Can you guess where this is going??


Probably not...brace yourselves!

CRIPES! 2 mosquito bites and this is what Karin looked like on Sunday. She got the mosquito bites on Friday at 5 PM, somewhere between the daycare and the Green Park, which is a 7 block bike ride. When I took her out of the Chariot, she had two bites on her right cheekbone, and I thought "Oh this is going to swell up"...but I had no idea! She is much improved now (Benadryl, Benadryl, Benadryl) - but her birthmark appears quite dark and dry...I'm thinking from the swelling/stretching of her skin. We'll see what happens with time.

This is Saturday morning....bad enough, but Sunday morning was the worst. New nicknames: Hugo, Lumpy, Taz (this one fits more because of the language she's been spouting lately...she sounds like the Tazmanian Devil from Bugs Bunny).

Home Sweet Home 3

I forgot my right arm in Moosomin, Saskatchewan. At least that's how I feel, because I left my camera at my sister's house! She will bring it to us on Friday, she is sleeping overnight before her honeymoon in Mexico.

We arrived home from our Saskatchewan trip yesterday at 12:30. We had a family lunch of vegetable soup and toast, then Chance played while we unpacked. By the time 2 PM had rolled around both Chance and I needed a nap. We slept until 4 PM, then I went to get some groceries and Cam and Chance stayed home.

Even though there is no time difference between Alberta and Saskatchewan right now, I felt jet lagged after our trip. Maybe it was just a busy 2 weeks, who knows. I didn't feel "normal" until supper time. We pulled one of our freezer meals out for dinner, easy-peasy.

Chance's diarrhea is better, it lasted about a week. Not sure if it was Regina tap water in his formula that did it, or maybe just a bug, or teething (not really sure of this one, as there are no new teeth). Anyways, we tried switching him to bottled water and gave him the BRATY diet: lots of bananas, rice, applesauce, toast, and probiotics (yogurt with acidophilus bacteria). I read on-line that temporarily switching to soy based formula can reduce the number of days when babies get the runs, so we did that too. It didn't make the diarrhea worse....

Cameron had a run-in with an edge on the dryer door somehow and ripped about 50% of his pinky fingernail off. He says it doesn't hurt but it sure looks painful! We steri-stripped the nail in place (it is still hanging on by a thread), and then covered it with a band aid. We'll be putting on lots of polysporin to help with infection. :( I bought him 100 latex gloves today for showering. Hopefully his nail grows back quickly, we'll have to up his calcium and feed him lots of jello.

Chance and I went to the passport office twice today, trying to get our passports reissued (they expire at the end of October). Chance wore his brand new green Roughriders sweatshirt over his T-shirt. The first time we went to the passport office was at 9 AM, and there was a line wrapped around the building. So we just continued on to the grocery store, I thought maybe there was a back log of people lined up early in the morning. We went again at 12:30. The line was shorter, but still there. I asked the people at the front of the line how long they had been waiting. They said an hour and a half. Jeepers! Maybe we will try going at 8 AM tomorrow...I'll bring Chance's breakfast in a brown bag and feed him while we're in line!

Chance has been sleeping for a while now, supper is on the go (stuffed peppers bubbling away on the stove). Cam's coming home at 5 and I'm going to the YMCA for a spin class, it will be the last one I go to at this location as I will be going to the downtown Y during my lunch breaks while I am working.

Don't Panic

Cartoons and cheerios work really well to keep an active baby sitting still on your lap while you apply pressure to a scratched finger.

And shampoo takes out bloodstains.

Don't ask me how I know. I just know.

Rhubarb

*sniff*

I decided to hack down the rhubarb and freeze a bunch for the winter today while Chance napped.

I ended up chopping off the tip of my thumb. I went to the walk in clinic and they steri-stripped it for me (the same stuff they used to close my c-section).

Thank goodness Cam came home from his golf game when he did, I was contemplating leaving Chance with the neighbour.

The doctor said it would be 5 or 6 days before the steri-strips can come off. Have to keep it clean & watch for infection.

*sniff*

Back from Vacation

We arrived back from our vacation in Northern Saskatchewan yesterday afternoon after 7.5 hours in the truck traveling from Grandma and Grandpa Demmans' farm in Meadow Lake.

The trip up went exceedingly smooth, Chance went to sleep right away in his car seat and we clocked 285 km he woke up. We drove a bit further while he played with his toys and then stopped in the park in Viking, Alberta, which is right next to the railway tracks and Chance got to see his first freight train up close and personal! He just stared at the train cars rushing by and hung on tight while I held him.

After all the crawling around in the park and a big lunch, Chance soon went back to sleep and we drove another 280 km before stopping at the North Saskatchewan river.

The last leg of the trip was a bit harder, everyone was tired of being in the truck but we arrived around 4 PM and soon we all happier with Grandma and Grandpa. Chance was so happy crawling around on their big lawn.

We stayed at the farm on Saturday night too and were off for Missinipe on Sunday. We left early in the morning and took a gravel road to La Ronge, where we stopped for a short visit with Cam's grandma and Auntie Juanita and cousin Tanika. Chance and Dani stayed at the house while Cam picked up some groceries and then we continued north for about an hour to Missinipe, arriving around 4 PM.

The cabin had a hot tub which wasn't very hot so Chance could take a dip in the evening. He really enjoyed the warm water.

Fishing from the dock proved successful and Dani landed a pickeral (about 1.5-2 lbs) and a 1-lb perch, delicious for supper the next night! We had some rain, but went into La Ronge for a better visit with family and were treated to a fish supper. We also visited Robertson's Trading Post, the very same that Chance is named for. Chance came away from La Ronge with a new toy from his cousin Tanika, a rider-car (which is actually a zamboni, Tanika told me). It has a horn that beeps and he loves it, along with the other attachments.

On Wednesday Cam told me that I needed to get down to the plane launch as soon as possible as he had arranged for me to hitch a ride on a flight to pick up 2 fly-in fishermen with Osprey Wings, the local float plane carrier. He had said that he wanted to make sure that I had some alone-time while we were on vacation, but I didn't expect this!

On Thursday we went for a hike along one of the prospector trails that had been cut by Cam's ex-employer, Golden Band Resources. We stopped halfway for a fire and lunch.

Chance didn't have one incident while we were at the cabin until the last night. Cam was cooking dinner and Dani was packing, and Chance pulled a small night table on top of himself. It was light, so it scared him more than hurt him, but still he had a little bruise on the bridge of his nose to show for it. At Grandma's there was a tussle with a kitchen chair that Chance got the worse end of. Poor baby has really toughened up though as he did not cry much once in Mama's arms.

We started back home on Friday and stayed for the weekend at Meadow Lake. Our trip to Calgary was smooth until about 100 km away from home. Then Chance had had enough of the truck and no amount of cheerios could placate him. The cheerio container spilled and we had to stop to dump out the car seat. There were tears and screams for the last 45 minutes of the trip. Chance was soooo happy to be home, and he clearly was excited to see Scarlet. I'm not sure how happy Scarlet was that we had brought Chance home.

All in all, it was a great vacation. The carpet is a little scratched up...kitty was not too happy all by herself, it appears. The garden is doing not bad, the darn spinach isn't growing though. A bit of junk mail to sort through and 50 emails to read, but everything else was pretty much in order. We are glad to be home.

The Big Bang

Tonight just before bed Chance was jamming to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on his aquarium, hanging on to the crib bars and jumping up and down in the crib. Then he slipped and hit his mouth on the crib bars. It happened so fast! His little sharp teeth must have pinched his lip because there are two hairline cuts on his lower lip - like a quotation (") mark. There was a bit of blood but I dabbed it with a washcloth and then got him nursing, I figured the suction/pressure would stop the bleeding, seemed to work. His lip is slightly swollen, I hope it is better tomorrow.

Mother of the Year

Crawling after the cat. Face plant. Hard plastic toy. Black eye.