Wednesday 24 August 2011

There are better gifts then surprise flowers

Current Book: Freedom's landing Current Baking: Does it look like a weekend? No.

So, I was standing in a co-workers office today envious that he had bought his wife surprise flowers. Of course, he bought them Friday, then forgot to bring them to her, and they were still moldering in his office today- but it's the thought that counts, right?

Fast forward to my arrival home, when I got pissed at the lemon piece of crap we call a desktop computer once again having a meltdown and needing to be reset. After much research and eyelash batting, \i walked away from Best Buy with a fantastic laptop, complete with warrenty, for less then 500 bucks. J decided it was time for me to have something of my own so he could play more games with less 'I need the computer' type interruptions.
Take that, co-worker's wife. I have a shiny BLUE laptop. AND I brought it home.

Monday 15 August 2011

Milkpocalypse 2011

Current Book: Same as below, I don't read THAT fast! Current Baking: Ditto.

So, knowing that today was a Monday, J and I decided to be all responsible and adult like and went to bed soon after Sprog. The fact we were both completely bagged had almost nothing to do with our new-found maturity- honest!

 Sprog decided that since we were being so obliging, he would request a meal at 2:00 am. One bottle and an hour of cuddles later, he's tucked back in his own bed.

 5:30- J's alarm goes off, I hit a random button looking for the snooze, and we surface at 5:45. J gets ready, I get up and make sure Sprog's lunch and J's coffee are good to go.
J's hauling the 300 lbs of baby gear out the door when he gets to ask the age old question... 'why is this lunchkit leaking?' Let me just say, an 8 oz bottle? That's A LOT of milk. Enough, for example, to make most of a lunch look like little icebergs floating in a sea of milk.

Sprog took a lulu lunch bag to the sitter today and we were so crazy I didn't have time to get crazy about him going. Worked out for everyone! Except, of course, for J, who gets to deal with his feet smelling like milk.

Sunday 14 August 2011

Mama Guilt, 2.0

Current Book: Dolphins of Pern Current Baking:Peanut Butter cookies and Apple Strusel Muffins\

  I spent a good part of today trying to just embrace the time I get with Sprog. He's so full of energy and life, and everything is just sooooo interesting to him it makes it fun (and frustrating!) to watch.
Tomorrow, he starts at my friend's fabulous new dayhome, and I know he'll love it there. What I'm having a problem with is the 11 hours a day he'll be spending away from me. I'll have just enough time to bring him home, feed him, and put him to bed during the week.

My question is, at what point does a caregiver become just as vital to a child as their parent? When does mommy take a back seat to babysitter? I know I'm being paranoid. I know I don't have much of an option right now, as I HAVE to work and Sprog needs some time with other kids. I just feel as though my small one isn't going to be mama's little guy anymore.

I packed his lunch, I'll get him ready tomorrow morning, and I'll send him off with his daddy (who drops him off) with a snuggle and a smile. I just hope the first day of school isn't as hard as the first day of dayhome!

Wednesday 10 August 2011

The Guilt, the guilt

Current Book: One of the Dragon one by Anne and Todd McCaffery. Current Baking:Saskatoon Muffins

  Sprog has slept through the night again two nights running. Both nights we've rewarded him by pulling him out of bed, wrapping his still-three-quarters unconcious little body in a blanket, and hauling him up to Auntie's to be babysat for the day.

  He loves it there and he has an absolute blast, but I still feel horrible waking the poor kid up! He used to wake us up right around this time every morning, but he's apparently grown out of it. So, mama guilt in full measure this morning.

Monday 4 July 2011

Current Book: Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse #2)
Current Baking: Peanut Butter Cookies AND Blueberry Muffins... go me!

Today I discovered many interesting things. Firstly... it's always a good idea to double check if member swimming at the YMCA is still on BEFORE you soak your infant down, and two, if there are large amounts of small people surrounding several people in white shirts labelled 'instructor', chances are swimming lessons on Monday evenings have been reinstated.

I also discovered that if you decide that you really don't care if people are mad at the company you work at. and are directing that anger at you, it is much easier to stay calm. I'm finally learning the zen of 'leave it at work'.  Other interesting note- I also learned at work today that a man can hit a moose while driving a motorcycle at night and walk away. I know, I was amazed too, and was so startled I promptly logged off my phone to get some water and take a break.

As well, it is far easier to eat too much icecream straight out of the carton when it is slightly melted. Mmmmm, Chocolate chip cookie dough icecream.

Saturday 2 July 2011

Current Book: Assasin's Quest  Current Baking:None!

Well, this Urban Mommy returned to her day job almost a month ago, and boy oh boy has it been hectic!
I've been extremely lucky in that relatives and my Hubby have been able to stay with Sprog so I don't have to worry too much about daycare, etc.

We have signed him up for a fantastic dayhome run by a friend of mine, and she's flexible enough to let us wait to actually start him until DH gets his first job as a certified Journeyman electrician!!!
 June was an insanely eventful month, with my mom here to look after Sprog, Hubby finishing his apprenticeship, a trip to Calgary to celebrate my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary, followed immediately by my return to work.

For all you moms about to return, or looking at going back to work in the future, let me say it's both better and worse then you're thinking it will. Better because no matter how much you love and appreciate your baby, adult interaction is heavenly, not changing three diapers over the course of the 9 hours you're gone seems like a treat, and you actually get to pee with the door closed. Worse, because you'll worry like crazy and be absolutely sure that no one can take care of your baby as well as you can and there's vitally important information their new caregiver is missing. You'll miss them horribly. and if you're still nursing-do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT wear button up shirts without a tank underneath. Trust me.  When you get home, you melt, and that little face is once again the most precious greeting you can get!

I'm on a money saving kick right now, because with Sprog's first birthday 17 days away (as the bump so helpfully informed me :P) I'm realizing more and more how crowded my fantastic little condo has become. The more I can save on electricity, groceries, and bills, the more i can put into a down payment on a house. I've started simultaneously stalking mls listings and coupon sites, and pull my cart over and peruse the entire flyer before I'll grocery shop. I'm not quite at the point my dad was, where I have seperate lists for each store and specific foods that I will only purchase there, but I'm getting close. I still draw the line at Superstore.... I find that no matter which one I go to in this city it smells funny! It's hard to balance price with quality, but we're slowly managing it.

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Childcare insanity, trip insanity, and life insanity :P

Current Book: Happily Ever After, Nora Roberts
Current Baking: Chocolate cupcakes

Spent the last week sorting out the childcare situation for when I go back to work. I really, really don't want to leave Sprog for eight hours a day, but lifestyle choices require sacrifices. This is one of them. I'll be returning to work full time as of June 13th. My mom, who was going to be looking after him the entire summer, realized that she no longer has the stamina to keep up with a very active one year old (and how scary is that!) for three straight months. About that time, a good friend let me know she was still looking for kids to start a dayhome... and voila! Sprog will have full time care in a very loving home starting July 1st, my mom gets her baby fix for the first week I'm back, and the Aunt-in-law will be babysitting for the rest of June.  It's going to be considerably less expensive then anything else, too, so all I can say is SCORE!

My mother and I also took a trip to Prince George to visit the family and some close friends. We managed to leave my suitcase behind, so we also got to visit the costco clothing department :P.  My brother, his live-in, their daughter, and their roomate all came down with a raging case of stomach flu while we were there, and before we left we all had experienced the joys- including my first frantic trip to the ER with a pukey baby. We got a really great visit in with my friends, infected them the day before we left, and then came home to rest, recuperate, and infect the husband. This thing was insanely contagious- the day before you had any symptoms.

I'm currently attempting to assemble a photo album for my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary. It's difficult as I have pictures from my family, but very few from the rest of the relatives and I KNOW people will get pissy at their absence from the album. I'm going to order a photobook. This means I should have had this done three weeks ago, but I've found a place where I can design it online, order it, and I should have it in four days. Once I'm done scanning all the pictures in, I'll be able to plug them into pretty spots on pages and have a keepsake that doesn't involve decimating my grandfather's much beloved albums.

Other then all of that, life is ticking along. Husband will be done school in about three weeks, then he writes his exams and we can start making some long term decisions. I've discussed going somewhat part time for a while, which my new boss and I will attempt to implement when I get back.

Seeing as Sprog is napping, I'm going to make a sandwich and get back to scanning pictures. Any suggestions to speed it along?

Thursday 28 April 2011

I heart photoshop

Current Book:Origin in Death (I'm reading my way through the series, and it's a long one!)
Current Baking: Still eating the Bran Raisin Muffins. Apple Muffins and Chocolate chippers on menu.

I should first point out that I still have absolutely no idea how to use photoshop. I'm an internet-email-word-itunes computer user, who has enough basic knowledge to mostly maintain a system but not enough for complicated programming. I got the bright idea to look on the internet for a free photo editor so I could remove all the redeye from my pictures.

Apparently, using open source free editing equipment is bad, as it came with 7 other programs, and when I took them off, J's Starcraft ceased to work. Oops.

Yesterday, we were in Costco. I have a love hate relationship with Costco because I love all the pretty things and large volumes of tea, but hate the bill at the end. This bill was augmented by a copy of Photoshop Elements, specifially designed to touch up pictures and without the $700 USD price tag.
J decided that I needed it for my scrapbooking, so I could touch up the pictures before I printed them.
Have I mentioned lately how much I heart my husband?

Anyway, we got home, I started putting groceries away, and he got to installing it. By the end of the evening... I'd logged 10 minutes fiddling around, and he had logged three hours.
I now have a desktop that shows me 41 weeks pregnant next to me 4 days post baby.
I heart photoshop. I'm also banning J from playing with it for a while.

Friday 22 April 2011

Shoes, glorious shoes!

Current Book:Imitation in Death
Current Baking:Planned pumpkin tarts for easter brunch

So, today I dragged my friend K shoe shopping. As neither of us have a lot of money for said shoes, and payless has been extremely disappointing lately when it comes to stylish yet affordable shoes, we headed for the mecca of consumerism. The place that swallows all other places. No, sadly, not West Edmonton Mall. We went to Wal-Mart.

I have a friend or five who refuse to shop at this temple of less expensive goods, citing the poor working conditions of employees, poor working conditions for the people who manufacture their items, poor quality items, etc. I however feel that if it saves me money that I need, I will embrace it since it isn't going anywhere.

The Walmart shoe department has more shoes in my size then Payless. It has many beautiful pairs that are crying for someone to come and love them. It also has some butt ugly pairs that only a blind, three toed elephant could love. I found about five pairs that should be mine, but I narrowed it down to three.
I now possess a pair of casual tan and red leather slides, a pair of black strappy sandals with a two inch wedge heel, and a pair of brown strappy sandals with a one inch wide heel. They are wonderful and mine.

Of course, this also means I need to throw out all the shoes I don't wear or have worn out. The point was to purchase three multipurpose pairs of summer shoes in order to make more room in the closet. The time has come to part with the much loved but worn out sandals of last year (and the last five years, come to think of it) as I realized the last shoes I bought were for my wedding.

Thursday 21 April 2011

Frustrations of Condo Living

Current Book: Purity in Death Current Baking: Banana Bread Muffins

Sometimes I can go for months without being annoyed at living in a condo. Yes, we are crowded, and yes, I wish we were happily settled in a house in suburbia with room for a garden and a swingset. At the moment, that's not happening.
Then, you have weeks like this week. My condo manager is useless. I know this already, from her complete ineffectiveness in solving the vandalism problems and the amount of time it took to have the locks fixed so the homeless would stop sleeping in the laundry room. Then, I get a letter, addressing us unprofessionally and using the tone a principal would use on a teen caught skipping class, informing us that 'an excessive amount of mud was tracked into the premises by you or someone in your suite' and that it would 'not be tolerated' along with suggestions of 'common courtesy'. I saw red, and I'm still trying to calm down enough to send a scathing reply.

Now, I'm in the middle of doing laundry. I set timers so I can get as much done as possible. 5 minutes after my timer went off, I went to move my laundry over.... and discovered someone else already had, putting their own in the washer, moving mine into the dryer, and moving the laundry I have in the dryer into the basket I had waiting for it. I keep telling myself at least they had the courtesy to move everything over and not just dump the wet laundry on top of the dryer (which has happened) ... but call me weird, I really prefer other people not touch my underwear.

With the Sproglet in cling mode, it's going to be even more difficult to get the rest of my laundry done. But, I'm trying to remind myself that the sun is shining, it's a long weekend, and everything comes around in the end.

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Accidental overload...

Current Book: Seduction in Death, JD Robb
Current Baking:Peanut Butter Confetti squares, in the fridge.

Signed up for boot camp classes today. Ok, not completely accurate. Purchased vouchers towards bootcamp classes today. Husband, Brother in Law, and I are probably going to end up going together and husbands Mom is salivating at the thought of babysitting three times a week for a couple months. We are so lucky to have such a dependable babysitter when we want to do stuff!

Probably won't end up going until J finishes this term of school, but that's OK. It's an outdoor bootcamp, and with the weather being as whacky as it is, I'd rather wait until it's guaranteed nice out. I might also attempt to start training for it a little bit. As in, actually get out and walk with the Sprog everyday. Smell some flowers (well, mud, at this point, but whatever).  I'll be stuck back in my pod soon enough, wishing for the chance to be outdoors, might as well take advantage of the time I have left.

Monday 18 April 2011

First posts...

It occured to me that while I love to write, and am generally talented at telling everyone everything that is going on at any one time, I don't really share what I'm actually thinking. I very rarely, for example, will comment on something I see that amuses or offends me, and don't generally comment on other people's parenting, decisions, or general idiocy.

So, this is my spot to call 'em as I see 'em, comment on our daily lives, and generally address all those things I have run through my head on a daily basis and get other takes and visions on them. 
Some posts will be completely unrelated to the others, some will be researched, some will not. I will not be posting every day, but it's a personal challenge to have something posted at least three times a week