Changes

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Mary and I are moving to Regina, never to return (at least not till after the baby is born anyways). It's pretty stressful and exciting all at once. I love Edmonton so much, I really hate to leave. If there was any way we could make it here without being constantly in debt, there's no way you could drag me out of this place, but unfortunately, that's not the case.

Last night was my last Paradise Lost game, and it was quite fantastic. I got my character killed after killing one of the bad guys that had been stringing me along for over a year. I was pleased with the way things went, and I can't imagine my character being happier than she was when they finally decided to kill her. She's been trying to die for an awfully long time now.

After the game I didn't go out, as much as I wanted too. I'm exhausted right now, and all three of us are dealing with a brutal cold. I have to say that I find it a wee bit ridiculous that while I was in the hospital they were able to pump me full of Demerol every 3 hours, but now that I have a bad chest/sinus cold, I can't even take Neo-Citrin. Anyways, I got to say goodbye to a good number of my friends this weekend, and amazingly, I've not broken down in tears yet, though last night was awfully close. I'm not sure when I am going to cry, though I'm sure I will. I suspect it won't really happen till tomorrow night, things still don't feel real.

With the sickness in the house, we haven't gotten a lot of packing accomplished. Poor Ian has a whole lot to do in the next week. I hope he manages to get things done. I'm certain he will, but I imagine it will be an awfully miserable week for him. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day for him too. No one trusts me to do the drive on my own...well, to be fair, no one trusts my body which seems to be going out of its way to betray me on a regular basis. Anyways, no one wants me to drive on my own, so the plan is for Ian to drive Mary and me to Saskatoon and hop on a bus home. My dad is taking a bus to S'toon and will drive the rest of the way to Regina with us. It really seems kind of silly to me, but then I remember how the pain of my idiotic pancreas, and I'm awfully glad that I won't be all by my self.

So, as of tomorrow I don't know how often I'll be able to post here, at least till we get settled in the apartment in a week or two. Dad has a computer, but his internet connection is spotty at best, and he lives with two of Michael's kids right now, but I'll try to get on at least once or twice. Take care of yourselves, and wish us luck, life is changing at a pace that's awfully hard to keep up with right now!

Bland

Hello again.

Well, I'm doing better every day, just so you know. I am however getting sick of my guts rebelling every time I eat something other than rice, white toast or chicken noodle soup. After a week of only being allowed to eat clear liquids, my stomach has decided to be lazy. Slowly but surely though, things are getting better. I went to the doctor on Monday, and he told me that he thinks I will be fine. His nurse was alarmed that I had lost 10 lbs in less than a week, but that's what being in the hospital will do to you. Pancreatitis is not a diet I would recommend. I did ask the doctor if there was anything I could do to avoid another attack, and he laughed and told me no, no there wasn't. They have no idea why it happened in the first place, I'm not an alcoholic, not a drug addict, and my gall bladder looks fine, so they call it "idiopathic" and shrug their shoulders. I live in fear of being in pain like that again though.

Mary managed to get sick while I was in the hospital. Ian took wonderful care of her, but her routine was all messed up and she didn't sleep too well, and now we are paying for it. ugh.

Only a few days left till I leave Edmonton for good. The thought makes my already sensitive stomach roll like crazy. All of a sudden we have so much stuff to do and so many people that I want to see and say goodbye too, and we just don't have the time. The week in the hospital really messed up our timeframe, those days just disappeared. I keep thinking that I still have over a week, and then I realize that it's this coming monday that I leave. I hope we get a chance to see everyone that I want to see before leaving, but I'm starting to think that I won't. We are going to a combo farewell us/happy birthday someone else party on Friday, and I'm already working on not bawling when it's time to go.

Oh, last night I had a messed up dream. I dreamed that a big group of my friends and I were at this place, in this city...I don't know which city it was, and we were role-playing. But the lines between real life and our characters were very blurred. I was a robot, and our friend, Rico, had fallen in love with me/my character. Rico had also gotten one of our other friends, D, the girlfriend of another frequent star in my dirty dreams, pregnant. Everyone was all pounded out of shape about it, and any time they mentioned it to Rico he would laugh and say "my character isn't here right now" and just ignore them. It was very odd, and unfortunately not at all naughty.

What Next?

Really, I probably shouldn't utter those words.

It's been a while, would you like to know how my week went?

On Monday I had an appointment with my obstetrician, just a regular check-up. I mentioned my incredibly painful tailbone, he laughed, told me that perhaps I should stay off stairs, and gave me a prescription for Tylenol-3's. Then I went and hung out with Nadine and the babies, before watching her kids while she went out for a little while. When she got back I started to get a bit of a stomach ache, so I took Mary and headed home. At first I thought I was hungry, but by time I got home I knew it was something else. I got Mary set up in front of the TV, and curled up on the bed. The pain got worse and worse until I was in tears. I called Ian, begged him to come home right away, and crawled to the bathroom, where I curled up on the floor and howled (quite literally) in pain. Mary came over to me from time to time looking very worried and said "Mumma? okay Mumma?" I couldn't even reassure her, I just begged for help. Thats how Ian found me when he got home.

Ian managed to get me up off the floor and into the van, and we made a quick dash to the hospital, me yelling the whole way and begging for my mother. You know it's bad when a thirty year old woman is crying for her Mummy. When we got to the hospital Ian got me on a stretcher and we made our way to the Labour and Delivery ward. I remember sobbing to him that I was dying, and him saying that I would be fine. I also remember telling him that I wished I was dying...It was pretty bad.

I don't remember much else, the doctor talked to me, I remember being very rude and yelling at her, I remember writing in pain, and I remember getting a shot of sweet, sweet demerol. About 20 minutes after the drugs, I fell asleep. When I woke up, the Dr. was back, and I apologized to her profusely for being so rude. She said that all my test results were back, and that they were all normal, but she was going to admit me anyways, because she thought that the tests must be wrong. About 30 minutes later she came and told me that all the tests weren't back because they had run one of them over. My lipase, a pancreatic enzyme, was coming back as being at 23,000. Normal is up to 100, high is 300. So, needless to say, there was something wrong.

The first night at the hospital was awful, the pain medications didn't work very well, I ended up begging the nurses on a regular basis for more, and once got stuck on the toilet and had to have people help me get dressed and back into bed. All in all, it was plain misery.

I just got home from the hospital this afternoon, and while I'm not 100%, I feel much, much better. I also want to let you all know that Pancreatitis, it is the most horrible thing in the world. It was more painful than anything, even giving birth, even my sore tailbone. One of the surgeons who came to see me said that pancreatic pain is the worst pain of any organ pain, and pancreatitis is the most painful thing he's ever had to treat. Nice.

Anyways, that's pretty much how my week went. How was your week?

Ouch

On Friday evening, in a fit of crutch envy, I decided to fling myself down the stairs. Unfortunately, I was unable to recreate Liz's glamorous ankle injury, and instead landed with all my considerable weight directly on the edge of a step, right on my tailbone. I sat there on the steps at Raven's house, fighting 1. the urge to vomit, 2. the urge to weep and 3. the urge to stop breathing (that's how I cope with pain you see...I just don't breathe). Instead I forced myself to smile at my concerned friends and claim that I was just fine (puff puff, remember to breathe) and I just needed a moment to collect myself. After a minute or two of sitting on the steps and thinking "in, out, in, out...breathe" I got up, managed not to shriek at the pain, and stumbled over to a chair. I was really hoping that the pain would get better, but unfortunately it did not. About 20 minutes later I could not sit without intense pain in my poor bum, and I was incapable of bending over to pick up the diaper bag from the floor. I phoned Ian at work and asked him to please come straight to Ravens place to help me get Mary into the van, I hurt myself and needed to go home. He came, gathered Mary and I up, and we set off home. I wept the whole way, every time I drove over a bump it felt like someone was driving a spike through my tailbone and into my spine. I spent pretty much all day yesterday laying on my side on the couch, unable to sit at all. I did have to get up once or twice to feed and change Mary, but she was remarkably well behaved and easy to care for. Today I am a little better, it still hurts like a son of a gun, but not quite as badly as yesterday. I am actually able to sit, so long as I lean forward and don't try to get comfortable. I still can't pick things up from the floor, pick Mary up, or put on my own socks, but hopefully by tomorrow that will resolve. If not, I have a Dr's appointment tomorrow anyways. I really hope this resolves soon, I only have 2 weeks left till Mary and I head off to Regina, and there's a lot of packing I need to do before we go.

Canada's Next Top Model?

It has been snowing all day long. Snowing. Two days ago it was 16 degrees and we were raking the lawn. What is with this weather anyways? I am done with winter, so very done.

But here! Look! Mary was helping us rake (really Ian was doing all the work, I just helped by supervising the job) and at one point she decided to be a super model. These are three of her poses, she kept changing poses and shouting "Cheese!" at the top of her lungs. Ian says it's the influence of too much "America's Next Top Model," but I swear it's on after she goes to bed...






I also hate packing, so very very much. Today I got quite a bit done, or what felt like quite a bit....but I didn't make a dent in the stuff, so much stuff.

Anyways, I haven't much more to say, so here, look at another cute picture, okay?

Trucking Along

Wow, has it been almost a week already? Where has the time gone?

Hmm. Well, in spite of my actual birthday being a bit of a bust, the rest of the week has turned out quite well. Friday Ian, Mary and I went to Chili's for supper. Mary was incredibly well behaved and the food was good enough. After that we went for a spin through Costco to pick up some more of Marys juice boxes, and then we headed over to Ravens place. By time we got to Ravens though, I was freaky exhausted. I had intended to stay for Ladies of Hack, but by 8:30 or so I was dozing on the couch. I had enough energy in me to either stay up for a little while longer, or socialize, but not both, so we went home.

Saturday was a good day. We went to a wake for a friend of ours who passed away on the Easter weekend to go to, so we dropped Mary off at Ians aunt and uncles. It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon remembering our friend, and it was surprisingly upbeat. I've never really attended a "wake" before and it was a new experience for me. After the wake Ian and I went out for supper to Moxies and had a wonderful adult time. We ate steak and lots of garlic, and I pretended that I was able to drink a nice glass of red wine. We picked Mary up after supper, headed home, and then I went off to a cocktail party.

The party was wonderful, though strangely difficult. I was given a cake, chocolates, flowers and a gift certificate to the spa, but the best part was just hanging out with a fantastic group of people. I suppose it's not so strange that I had a hard time with it all, considering that it was one of the last chances I will have to spend with them before leaving for Regina. On the drive home I kept thinking that I really shouldn't go out with them anymore, after hanging out with them the last thing I want to do is move away from Edmonton.

Speaking of moving, things are pretty much finished. The people buying the house have had their financing confirmed, all the conditions have been removed from the contract, so now all we have to do is wait for Land Titles to do their thing and switch everything over. The other day we got a call from the rental company in Regina, and we officially have an address out there for May 1st, the big move is planned for the 14th, though Mary and I are going to Regina on the 7th. My father is going to rent a u-haul for us and help Ian drive it home, but we'll have to start working on recruiting our friends for help emptying the house.

Holy crap! So, the TV just made a huge bang, like a gunshot, and the screen went black. I think that's a bad thing, eh? It smells kind of burny in here now, I looked and I can't find anything actually burning or smoking though, and I can't reach the plug in to unplug the stupid thing. Huh. One less thing to move, I guess. I have been telling Ian that I want a new TV for a while now. Mary is going to be awfully miserable when she realizes that we don't have a working TV in the house though, I'm not looking forward to dealing with that. Of course, without the TV distracting us, I bet Ian and I will get a whole lot more work done around here...

Feeling Better

Hey! I feel much better this afternoon! It's surprising what getting out of the house and visiting people will do for you when you're feeling sorry for yourself, don't you think?

Mary and I headed off to visit our invalid friend Liz this morning. We made her tea and tried to make sure she didn't do anything she oughtn't while her ankle is all sore and swollen. It was tough though, she's a formidable woman at the best of times, and now she has crutches....those are weapons in the wrong hands, people. Just ask Mary. Anyways, it was very nice of her to invite us out, and it really did the trick. I was planning on spending the day naked and miserable, and instead both Mary and I got dressed and out. After our visit with Liz we went off to the capitalist Mecca, also known as WalMart to buy much needed kitty litter and milk. I also grabbed a balloon on a stick for Miss Mary because she was so awesomely behaved all day long. We just got home, and Mary has happily gone down for a nap (a nap! she's actually napping!!) and I'm listening to Jesus Christ Superstar and belting along when the mood strikes me. I may even do some of the housework that I've neglected the last couple of days while down in the dumps.

Oh, and I got a fantastic homemade birthday card in the mail today too. Thanks Goody, I still have your birthday card from February sitting here waiting for a stamp. I'm such a poor tool...

Feel Sorry For Me

Really, this may come across as a desperate bid for pity, but it isn't. What it really is is me wallowing in enough self pity to drown a large horse.

My 30th birthday has to have been one of the worst in memory. Now, I'm not looking for expensive gifts or wild parties (though either would have been appreciated), but a little recognition from family would have been nice. I did get several emails from friends, including a cute e-birthday card (thanks Emmett!). My father had cookies from Cookies by George delivered to me, Ians Mum sent a birthday card with Mary's easter stuff last week, and we did order in pizza from Panago as a treat. That is all. Nothing from Ian at all, not even a card, he didn't once even say "Happy Birthday Jennifer." My Dad called, but my Mum and brother did not bother. I honestly don't expect a whole lot on my birthday, I would have been thrilled with a card from Ian and Mary, a phone call from my mother....oh well. So, my day was spent with a sore throat and a headache, and ended in a fight between Ian and I that sent me to bed in tears. I suppose this means that future birthdays will have very little to top in comparison to this one.

We got our lease application faxed off to the apartment building in Regina that we will be renting when we move there next month. Now we just wait for a phone call to us, and a phone call to Dad so that he can pay. We weren't going to do it quite this way, but Dad convinced us just to rent a place starting May 1st, and then we won't have to worry about a place to live when we move on the 15th, and really, he has a point. So, once again, he is forking over the cash for us. I suppose first months rent and the damage deposit is significantly less than the deposit he was prepared to pay for us on the house in Indian Head. I think that I will end up leaving Edmonton on May 8th with Mary and the van full of boxes, and Ian will follow the week later once he gets everything packed up. I have a doctors appointment in Regina on the 9th of May, and after all the effort I had to put into getting it, I don't want to mess it up by having to change it around.

Maybe today I will dress and get out of the house to enjoy the sunshine. It might make me feel better...

Rhymes With Dirty

It's my birthday, and I am now officially thirty. All I've gotten so far is a headache, a terribly sore throat and a new, husky, possibly sexy voice to go with it. Blech. I am trying very hard not to expect anything, I'm a grown up, and grown ups don't generally need anything special for their birthdays...but I'll be awfully cheesed if I don't even get a card from my husband. Right now the only surprise I've gotten from him is the discovery that he didn't replace the toilet paper when I got up at 4 am to do my pregnant lady thing.

Hmm, looking at the computer monitor is making my head ache worse, so I think I'll stop for now. Bye bye!

Roller Coaster

I am an emotional mess right now. Seriously. Between the excitement of finding a home we loved in Saskatchewan, the exhaustion involved in finding said house, the disappointment of the deal falling through....and now the fact that we have in fact sold our house in Edmonton with signed contracts and everything getting to the lawyer today, well, I'm not dealing with life very well. I weep at the drop of a hat, and let me tell you, hats are dropping everywhere. I can't watch anything on tv other than Mary's shows, and even those cause the occasional tear to slip free. Yeesh.

So, here's the latest news. As I mentioned above, the contract has been signed by all parties on the sale of our house, and it is at the lawyers place right now. Ian spent most of the day running around getting things done at the lawyer, bank, and with the people who are buying the house. I stayed at home with my crabby toddler, my leaking boobs, my sore throat, and trying not to bawl. Anyways, that means that we are very close to having our house officially sold. The current plan is to rent something in Regina for the beginning of May, even though the house deal will not go through till mid may. That way we have somewhere to live in Regina for a few months so we can find somewhere to live. We have to sign a 4 month lease, which is not a terrible thing. That also means that we will have somewhere to live and if we find a house we like we can take August posession, and have plenty of time to move in at our own pace. I am not excited though, I haven't the energy to get excited. I certainly haven't got it in me to deal with the disappointment if I do get excited and this deal falls through too. So, I will be excited when we get the money for the house from the lawyer and I see our bank account balance shoot up like we won the lottery.

In other, non house related news, have I mentioned how cute my daughter is? Yesterday I had an appointment with my Doctor, and I had to take her with me. She was a bit of a wild woman in the waiting room, but thankfully we only had a 10 minute wait, and that's cause I was early. She was very good when the Dr came in, and charmed him by saying hello about seven hundred times and just looking cute. That all changed when he got me up on the table to poke at my belly. Mary got very upset and started crying when I lay down on the bed, and came to my side weeping. I tried to comfort her and talk to her, but she was having none of it. As far as she was concerned the man in the white coat was doing something horrible to her Mummy, and she needed to do something about it. So when the Doctor got the doppler out to listen to the baby's heartbeat, Mary hit him! I shouldn't laugh, and I at the time I was pretty mortified, but it was awfully sweet that she was so worried about me. And this from the child who couldn't have cared less when I fell down and wacked my poor head.

Disappointment Squared

I am incredibly upset right now, and wobbling on the edge of tears. We won't be moving any time soon it would seem, at least not until July most likely. I won't go into reasons here, but we ended up having to call off the offer on the house in Indian Head.

Anyways, we'll be in Edmonton for a few more months now, which isn't really a terrible thing. More time with our friends, more time to get things arranged, and I'll be able to continue going to my Obstatritian here which is a really fantastic thing. I'm much more comfortable being with the doctor who delivered Mary and has helped me through the difficulties I've been having with this pregnancy.

Our New Home (we hope)

Here it is!

http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d20%26mp%3d0-0-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d3-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26aid%3d3274%26MapURL%3d%253fAreaID%253d1651&Mode=0&PropertyID=5597138

We placed an offer on this place yesterday before the long drive back to Edmonton, received a counter offer this morning, and are likely to accept the counter. That means that if all goes well with the house inspection, this little place will be ours as of May 4th (May the fourth be with you)! I'm a little excited. We weren't sure about this house at first, it's quite a bit smaller than what we had hoped for, and Ian didn't like it quite as much as I do (I love it), but all the other houses we saw over the weekend (except the one in Vibank) were real duds and this one really is beautiful. It's older, but there has been a tonne of work done on it. It's small, but it has a huge kitchen, nice sized bedrooms and is on a giant lot in a town that I have loved all my life. The town is a little far away from Regina, it'll be a 45 minute commute, but there is lots there, including the possibility of Ian finding work in town.

Today Mary and I are both sick, we picked up a bad cold from the step-family, so we aren't going to do much. We do have to pick up the contract for the sale of our Edmonton house, and tomorrow Ian is taking the morning off so we can go to visit the people who are buying our house and fill out the paperwork, go to the bank and chat with them, and lastly go to the lawyers and get the ball rolling. I'm awfully excited about the whole thing...I really hope that everything comes together the way it should without much dificulty.

Disappointment

We looked at many houses today. Several were ass. One, we fell in love with. It's the one in Vibank, and it was perfect, everything about it was perfect. We placed a generous offer on it. It was rejected with no counter offer. Damn.

Happy Easter everyone.

Thursday

Wow, is it Thursday already? I guess it must be. This weekend is Easter weekend, and next week I turn 30. I really can't believe how quickly time is zipping by. Sometimes I look at Mary and wonder when she turned from a chubby, toothlessly grinning baby to this energetic, beautiful, bossy little girl that is sitting on my couch.

Thanks for the advice on finding a doctor in Regina. For those of you who suggested my Dr's office do the footwork, it's a good idea, but not one that worked. Dr. Browns office had already sent out 3 referrals to the Doctors that he knew of in the city, and was rejected by them all. I did mention to all of the ones that turned me down personally that I could get a referral from my OB/GYN here, and the general response was a sort of "good for you, won't change a thing though." Luckily, the tenth, and last Obstatritian in Regina, was cheerfully happy to accept a referral from my doctor here and book an appointment for me in May. Yay! Unfortunately, it looks like this one is a Lady Doctor. I have no problem with women being doctors, and I will see a woman doctor if I must, but I really would rather see a male. I have no idea why, and I acknowledge that it's kinda odd, but that's just the way of it. By my 6th rejection, I realized that I couldn't be picky any longer and would have to suck it up though.

So, our house here in Edmonton is basically sold. Isn't that exciting? That means that we can go to Regina this weekend, look at houses, and actually comfortably make an offer. Then next week we will go to see the lawyer with our friends who are buying the house, arrange everything, talk to the bank, and....well....that's that. We will hopefully be in the Regina area by May 1st settling into our new home. It was iffy for a while because of the neighborhood that we live in though. The people buying from us want to rent, and very few rental management companies will handle houses in this area because the minute you put a place up for rent the Capital health authority comes in and does an inspection. It's not necessarily a bad thing, this neighborhood is rife with crack houses, cat houses and slum landlords. This house needs quite a bit of work, but I think that it can be done without breaking the bank (for some people, not us though) and it will pass any inspection with little effort.

I had my monthly ultrasound yesterday morning, and it went very well. The ultrasound was mostly performed by a student, and the actual tech was watching over her shoulder. My favourite quote from him was "This is how it would look if there were something abnormal (blah blah blah, insert random medical terms here) but this baby couldn't be more normal if it tried." That made me awfully happy. The baby is growing well, looking healthy, keeping busy kicking the crap out of my ribs, and my uterus is functioning within normal paramaters. The only small concern is that she is still breach, but she has about 5 weeks left to turn around into the right position before they start to get really concerned about things.

So, there it is. Lots of excitement around here, and I've even packed 6 boxes which we will bring to Regina this trip and store in my fathers basement. (by the way, if any of you in Edmonton have moving boxes cluttering up your space that you would be willing to donate, please let me know!). The cats and Mary still have no idea of the upheaval that is coming, I suspect Mary will deal with it much better than the boys though.

Troubles

Guess what I've been doing this morning? I have been phoning EVERY single obstatritian in Regina trying to find someone who will be my doctor. So far I have called nine of them and been told nope nine times. What am I going to do? There are only 2 more left on my list, I've phoned womens health in Regina and they gave me all the names they have. What happens if I can't find a doctor? I can hardly drive back to Edmonton every 2 weeks for my appointments, and 8 hours is an awfully long drive to deliver a baby when the time comes. There are a couple of GP's in Regina that deliver babies, but because this pregnancy has been a little higher risk than most, and because Mary's delivery was such a gong show, my Dr here wants me to see an obstatritian. Ugh. I may end up doing this all by myself like they used too in the olden days!

Cheese!

More pictures of Mary. She's just being so darned cute I can hardly resist, and I need to share the cuteness with everyone else too! She wandered into my bedroom and was very quiet, which is never a good thing....when she came out this was what she was wearing....




Here's a video I took shortly after the first shot, once she realized I had the camera out. Every time she spots the camera she goes into a frenzy of "Cheese!"ing, and once a picture is taken, she shouts "Again! Cheeeeeeese!" (this is my first attempt at posting a video, let me know how it works!) (If you're looking at this now and it doesn't work, look again in a bit, apparently it takes a while for the video to actually show up on You Tube. who knew?)

Tuesday

Good day to you all!

Well, I am still reeling slightly from the news about the house. All I can think is that it's a good thing I decided to be lawful and not burn the bloody place down when it was really annoying me!

Other than thinking about the house, talking to a friend who may buy the house, looking at new houses in Saskatchewan, and talking to our real estate agent in Regina, life has been awfully quiet. I spent most of yesterday morning in bed after fainting. I managed to hit the couch this time rather than the floor, so my head didn't hurt quite as badly, but I sure felt yucky for several hours afterwards. In the afternoon Mary and I packed ourselves into the van and went to WalMart for catfood and a few crappy plastic trinkets to put in Marys easter basket. It was nice to get out of the house in spite of the horrible weather and even worse roads. When we were all done and I was loading my purchases into the car, a fellow with an incredibly thick Newfoundland accent approached me and asked for spare change. Even before I could say anything he went on, saying "I know, most people tell me to get a job, but I have one. I just got here from Newfoundland a couple of weeks ago, I haven't got my first paycheque, and even when I do, I just can't find anywhere to live." I tend to be an incredibly soft touch most of the time, I would never, ever tell someone who is asking for spare change to get a job, and I am usually happy to give over a dollar or two if I have money in my pocket. This guy, though, well, I really felt for him. His story is just so plausible right now. There are tonnes of people coming to Edmonton from all over the place because of the promise of high wages, and then when they get here housing and rental costs are so high that they can't find anywhere to live, and end up sleeping in the river valley. Anyways, I handed over about 7 dollars, for which he was immensely thankful, and told me that I had gotten him halfway to sleeping at the Salvation Army shelter and getting a hot meal, rather than spending the night in the snow beside Walmart. I really hope he got the other 8 bucks he needed, it was miserable and cold last night.

Mary has been exceptionally cute this morning....she picked up a piece of garbage that was on the floor, and I commented that it was garbage. So she wandered to the kitchen, picking up scraps of her paper that she found on the floor, and put everything in the garbage! Then she went to my little vanity thing, and picked up all the stuff that the cats had knocked off in the night and carefully put them back where they belonged! I only wish she would do those things more often, most of the time she's making the messes and then commenting on them ("oh no! A Mess!") rather than cleaning them up.

Seasons

Well, that was the quickest spring I've ever seen. Last week was stunningly beautiful around here, almost all the snow melted, the sun shone (except for a bit of spring rain), and I even heard a robin chirping away on Saturday morning. I was sure that spring was here for good. Unfortunately this morning things are white again, it snowed, and the high for the day is only -5 or so. Sigh. Not that spring is a nice time of year around here, everything is so brown and filthy when the snow goes away, and it stays like that for a long time.

So, anyone wanna buy a house? We had 3 real estate agents through to look at the place yesterday, and I'm still stunned by what they said. The first guy walked through, looked around, talked to us about what else is for sale in the neighbourhood, and then recommended that we list the house anywhere from $215,000 - 230,000. I was stunned and to be honest I thought he was crazy. When he left I told Ian that the next guy would never tell us that much. But he did, and the third guy, who was by far the best and most thorough, told us even more, 224,000 - 245,000. I just couldn't believe it, I still can't. All three of them are pretty sure that if we list the house at the right price, we could sell it in a week and get more than we ask. This house needs a whole lot of work, and it just blows me away that in this market it is worth over 200 thousand dollars. I don't even want to think about what it would be worth if we had been able to put more work into it over the last couple of years.

Ugh. I just fainted again, though this time I managed to get to the couch before passing out. I think I'm going to go lay down for while, hopefully Mary will be content to watch tv and organize her books.

Artwork

Can you tell who did which piece of art? One is the cross stitch that I've been working on for what seems like ages. Jonah's baby brother was born last week, and I just finished it today. The other one is Mary's work, and is the drawback of having crayons, chalk and an easel in your 2 year olds bedroom.

Crazy

I am officially in my third trimester. Less than 12 weeks to go until there should be another member of our growing family, and I really hope they pass quickly. My centre of balance is off, I have a hard time getting up from sitting down, my back aches, my boobs leak, I waddle when I walk, and I can't sleep at night. When I do manage to sleep I have bizarre dreams, usually about kittens. Occasionally I find kittens and bring them home, sometimes I give birth to kittens, it's all very strange.

I'm also getting more and more frightened about, well, everything. I worry about the move to Saskatchewan (though my worries are a little less thanks to Ryans comment on my last post), yes, but I worry more about what comes after. I'm terrified of giving birth, which is strange, but I know what I'm getting in too now, and it is much more frightening with that knowledge. My biggest fear is probably the most irrational though. I love Mary so much, more than anything or anyone I've ever loved before. Every once in a while it amazes me, I never thought I was capable of feeling this way before. How on earth will I be able to love this next baby as much? What if I don't love it as much, will I be able to be a good mother? Will I resent the new baby for ruining my relationship with Mary? I have so much fun spending time with her, and I won't be able to do it as much with a new baby. Everything is going to change so much, and I worry that none of it will be for the better. I'm sure that I'm being crazy and obsessive, I have friends who have more than one child and they seem to love them all....but I just can't help it.

So, yesterday we spent another $250 on the piece of crap Taurus that we just spend $700 on last week. Urg. Hopefully this will be the last money we need to sink into it for a good long time, I'm getting awfully sick of throwing all our money at it. Unfortunately, because of Ians work situation over the last couple of weeks (which has resolved, thankfully), we are very short of cash and had to ask my dad for a loan. It would have been okay, but the $250 we just spent was set for groceries, and now we are back in the exact same position as we were before Dad sent us the money. Selling this house will be fantastic, especially if we get what we think we will get for it...we can pay off our debts and actually get on top of things for once.

Oh, I took Mary to the doctor yesterday, just one of the walk in medicentres in town. My timing was perfect, when we got there the place was empty, so we only waited about 15 minutes to see the doctor, but in those 15 minutes the place filled up like crazy. Mary's had a bad cough for about 2 weeks now, and while she seems okay otherwise, it was starting to worry me a little bit, and it gets bad enough at night that she can't sleep and sometimes coughs till she throws up all over herself (and us on Saturday night). I quite liked the doctor she saw, she was a non nonsense sort of lady, and while I don't usually like female doctors I'm glad we got to see her. She poked in Marys ears, looked in her mouth and throat, listened to her chest, and pronounced that there was no infection, it was probably just the viral cold that is going around, and we should expect it to continue for another week or two before it gets better. What I liked most was that she didn't toss antibiotics at us like many doctors would do. I don't know if they do it because they think that parents expect to be given some sort of prescription, but it drives me crazy. I don't want to give Mary (or take myself, for that matter) medicine that isn't necessary and isn't going to do anything to solve the problem.

Houses

For those of you who care, or are curious, here are links to the MLS listings for the two houses.

Gray : http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d20%26mp%3d100000-150000-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d3-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26aid%3d1671%26MapURL%3d%253fAreaID%253d1585&Mode=0&PropertyID=5332042

Vibank: http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d20%26mp%3d100000-150000-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d3-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26aid%3d1671%26MapURL%3d%253fAreaID%253d1585&Mode=0&PropertyID=5526972

I really wish I knew how to make links nicely here, but all my magic helper buttons have disappeared (if anyone can tell me why, and how to get them back, I'd appreciate it).

I'm really quite excited and anxious, I want to get this done as soon as possible now that things are moving along. A week to wait for the agents to tell us how much our house is worth seems like an unbearably long time. I want to know now! What if by time we find out how much the house is worth and arrange to sell it, both the houses we like are sold? What if we end up having to move without somewhere to move too? What if I have to stay behind with Mary while Ian goes off to work? I certainly can't pack and move on my own (or really even with help, according to the doctors...). I just can't wait to be in a house that is big enough for our little family to grow in, and the idea of being relatively debt free except for a smallish mortgage is incredibly exciting.

The hardest thing about moving will be leaving all our fantastic friends behind. The idea of that kind of makes me sick in a bad way as opposed to an excited way. I'm sure we will survive, and we will come back to Edmonton for visits, but still. I mean, I moved to Edmonton 7 years ago without knowing anyone, and now I have a huge network of friends, surely I can do it again, right? The problem is that Regina is...well, it just isn't Edmonton. I'm thinking of putting an ad in the local paper there to find people to play D&D with. How does this sound? "Thirty something couple new to the area in search of a group of like minded people to engage in weekly role playing adventures." Tee hee. I'm sure we would get some colourful responses to that one.

Choices

So, for those of you who haven't guessed it, we are moving to Saskatchewan. We considered looking inside the city, but the house prices there are so crazy because of all the albertans moving there that we just can't afford what we want. This time we are not willing to comprimise and move into a house that we hate because we can't afford any better. I've been looking online at the MLS service, and found several three bedroom houses just outside Regina, the farthest being about 30 minutes away. Yesterday Dad and Michael (his wife) spent the day with our real estate agent looking at the houses that I picked. They quickly whittled down the choice from 7 to 2 houses that they liked the best.

House # 1:

This house is in a town called Vibank. which is about 30 minutes south east of Regina on a secondary highway. Vibank has a corner store, gas station, post office, butcher and a K-12 school. The house itself is on a huge lot, but the lot is unfenced. It's been well taken care of, but it does need some work. Michael didn't like some of the colours in the house and the shower in the basement needs to be ripped out and redone. The baseent is fully finished with a rec room and basmement. There is a man floor laundry, a double attached garage, an en suite bath in the master bedroom and a covered deck off the kitchen. They said it is a very nice house in spite of needing some work, they both quite liked it. Oh, and it is 1341 sq feet. They are asking $139,900.

House # 2:

This house is in Gray, a hamlet about 20 minutes straight south of Regina. Gray has nothing....just a post office and a school, which is right next to the property that we are looking at. The house and yard are not as big as the one in Vibank, but the yard is fully fenced, and like I said, it is right next door to the school. Dad says that you walk across a gravel access road and are in the school yard. They liked this house better than the one in Vibank, they said it needs no work at all. The bedrooms are bigger, it has a fully finished basement as well, the floors have been taken care of. There is a neat little sun room connecting the house to the double garage, and it has a new furnace, windows, dish washer, central air and central vac. Michael called it immaculate. Their only concern is whether or not we would want to live in a town with absolutely no amenities, though it really is very close to Regina. This house is 960 sq feet, and they are asking $109,000 for it. The taxes in Gray are also over $1000 less a year than the taxes in Vibank.

Dad is going to check into the status of the two schools on monday for us, and then we will go from there, but I suspect we will be making an offer on one of these houses in a week or so, once we decide which one to go with, and once we hear from a couple of real estate agents here and find out how much this little dump is worth. It's all quite exciting and a little bit scary....things are moving much more quickly than we were planning when we went to Regina last weekend.

As for the rest of our lives...Mary is sick again (still). I ended up bringing her to bed with us last night because she was coughing and crying in her own room. She came and snuggled with us, and ended up coughing so hard that she puked all over the bed and herself. Poor baby girl. She eventually fell asleep with us, but she was coughing and restless all night long. She's had this cough for over a week now, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better, so I guess it's time to get her to the doctor yet again. blah.

Fainting Fun and Hospital Hijinks

What a fantastic day. I wish there was some way to show dripping sarcasm through typing.

I woke up this morning with the best intentions. We have a couple of real estate agents coming over on Sunday to tell us how much they think we can sell our wee dump for (Ian says 210 thou, I'm more conservative at 180) and we want to get the house presentable for them. I made up a "to do" list for both Ian and I, things to do every day.

Shortly before nine as I was reading my blogs and eating my breakfast, I got that feeling. I knew I was going to faint. So I stood up (cause that makes sense, right?) to get to the couch. I didn't make it, and woke up on my back, hands and feet tingling, head pounding, four cats staring at me in concern and Mary ignoring me. It took some coaxing, but I managed to convince my heartless child to bring me the phone, and I phoned Ian and my Dr's office. When I was able to get up, I made my way to bed, and dozed there off and on all morning while Mary watched TV and occasionally came to cuddle with me and tell me what she was watching (Bear! roar. Duck. Quack quack! Chicken. Snake. Owl!! hoot hoot). My Dr finally called me back around noon, and told me to get in to the hospital, so I called Ian, and he came to take me there.

We got to the hospital shortly after 1. I sat there waiting, and was finally acknowledged and spoken too by a nurse at 2:30. At 3 I was given a room and hooked up to the fetal monitor. The Doctor came to see me at 5. I got home at 9. The good news is that the baby is fantastically healthy as far as they can tell. The bad news is that I wasted 8 hours of my life and dragged Ian home from work so that once again he was not making any money, and they have no idea what's going on. Not to mention that I sucked up a room in the very busy labour and delivery ward completely unnecessarily.

It sounds like Ian and Mary had a nice time together though, which is nice. They went for a long walk, well, about 6 blocks or so. Mary told him all sorts of things (Car! Bus! Truck! Owl, hoot hoot). They visited some good friends of ours who Mary did not trust, though by that point she was awfully tired. They watched her Little Bear DVD 3 times in a row, each time it ended Ian tells me she would demand "Bear again! Please." He also tells me that a little later in the day she started demanding to see me, which makes me feel awfully good, though I suspect he's making that part up.

Anyways, tomorrow I have a great deal of work around the house to do, in spite of being told to take it easy by the Doctor. I can't take it easy right now, I don't have the time, and even if I didn't have stuff to do, there is very little easy about spending my day with a wonderful and energetic 2 year old. So...wish me luck, and wish us luck with our home assessments on Sunday!

Home Again

Yikes, what a weekend. We woke up on Friday morning, and of course Mary was sick. She was pretty stuffed up and coughing quite a bit, but other than that she seemed to be in good spirits. We bundled everything into the car and headed off to Saskatchewan, and surprisingly, the trip went very well in spite of the sniffles and coughing in the back seat.

The weekend was busy, looking at houses, talking to real estate agents, looking for a job for Ian. There is news on that front, but I'm not going to get into it just yet....things are still pretty tentative at this point. Needless to say, we made some BIG decisions this weekend that are going to change our lives quite a bit.

Mary was pretty crabby at times over the weekend, I think that while she loves being spoiled by her Grandma, she still gets tired of it and she misses her own bedroom. She was awfully happy tonight when we got home, and far more affectionate to Ian and I than she had been all weekend. It was nice to get hugs and kisses from her again.

Last night Mary was having a hard time sleeping, so I went in to cuddle with her and help her settle down. She snuggled up to me, and every time I sang her a lullaby, she would sing along....no words, but she was definitely singing. Then, every time it looked like I was trying to get up to leave, she would shove me back onto the bed and say "Sleep!" Some days she is just so adorable it hurts.

So, I will keep you all posted as things develop in our lives. It's pretty exciting, and plenty scary.

Wednesday

Hello everyone!

Today is a bit better, though I'm still feeling pretty glum. Still no ironworker work for Ian today, he's back at the lube place. Tomorrow he is taking the day off from both places to help clean up the house some before we head off to Regina on Friday morning.

Yesterday didn't get much better after my last update. I went to pick Ian up from work, and Mary and I decided that the best thing to do when strapped for cash is to spend more money going out for supper. So, we decided to head off to a chain restaurant that we have a great deal of experience eating at, and is tied in to my family via my fathers brother. It was one of the worst dining experiences I've had in a while. It took a long time to get our drinks, we ordered, and waited forever for our food. Ian and mine came with Mary's nowhere in sight. I looked at mine and realized that instead of the no green peppers that I had requested, they had given me double green peppers. I finally managed to get ahold of our waiter and he apologized and said he would get it replaced right away. I also asked after Mary's meal, and he stammered that he forgot to put it in, but would get it rushed out right away. Mary's meal showed up about 10 minutes later, mine did not. Ian finished his supper, Mary finished hers and started getting grumpy and bored. The waiter showed up to let me know that they had just put in my meal, and it would be another ten minutes or so. We ended up leaving before Mary had a complete melt down, and before I had a chance to eat anything at all. I was incredibly unhappy, and while it wasn't a big thing, after the day I'd had, it sure felt like it.

D&D last night was great fun though, for which I was thankful. Our friend T, with the kewlest character eh-VAR! kept me in stitches all night long, and when he wasn't making me giggle, Rico took over.

Mary was sick in the car again on the way home last night, so I think we need to alter our lifestyle. Up too this point she has been very portable, and if we want to do stuff, we just pack her up and get her settled in her playpen at bedtime. Waking her up to go home was never really a problem before, but it seems to be getting harder and harder on her, and really, it just isn't fair to do to her anymore. This is the 3rd time she has reacted to the late night wake-up this way in just over a week, and I don't want to do it too her anymore. So, we are going to cut out the majority of our late night outings pretty shortly, and we are likely going to have our next Tuesday game here in our teeny tiny house.

For those of you who have sent best wishes after yesterday, thank you very much. There really isn't much need to start a fundraising drive for the crappy taurus just yet though. We are heading to Regina on Friday, and we were planning on begging a few thousand dollars off my dad to fix up the house so as to make it more saleable anyways....so, we will just beg for a little bit more to fix the piece of crap. Ian spoke with his boss over at the lube place, and he is okay with the car staying there for a week or so till we can get things organized.

Oh, and I just peeked in on Mary having a nap, she's fast asleep on her bed and stark naked once again. It's time to start duct-taping the diapers on, I think.

Updatish

It seems that the Ford Taurus is well known for the exact problem we had with ours this morning. In fact, there is a recall because of this problem on several Taurus models, 2001 models and older to be exact. We are completely and utterly out of luck, as our car is a 2002 model. I looked online and was amazed by the number of people complaining of this problem in their 2002 models. I phoned Taurus, and spoke to a friendly fellow named Joe, who after a lot of typing in his computer and a phone call to our dealership (which Ian had already called) told me that there is nothing at all to be done, we are stuck to fix the problem without any help. I called Transport Canada to lodge a complaint, but they're closed right now because of time differences. I'll call again tomorrow. Even if we don't get any assistance fixing our car, I want to make sure that a lot of people know that I'm very unhappy.

Mary stripped during her "nap time" today. Shirt, pants, socks and diaper. Then she pissed all over her bedroom floor, chair, stuffed animals and bed. Yippee. Good thing she's so cute.

When It Rains, It Pours.

We were getting ahead, really, we were. We had cut down on the majority of our frivolous spending, we hardly eat out anymore (compared to how we used to eat). We were careful to keep up on our bills and we still managed to buy groceries. Yes, it was tight, but we were doing it. Then Ian froze his fingers and missed a bit of work. Then the guys he works for discovered that although they had lots of work to do, for some reason they couldn't get the bits and pieces they needed to do the work, in spite of having ordered those bits and pieces weeks ago. A couple of short days last week, one day not worked at all, yesterday Ian was told that if we wanted, we could leave for Regina today, as there was likely no work for him for the rest of the week. We can't afford this. To make matters worse, on his way to the Lube place to put in some (all be it lower paid) hours, something happened to the Taurus. It started driving funny halfway there, and when he got there he realized that the front suspension had broken, and sent a spring shooting through the brand new front tire. He phoned around, of course our expensive warranty doesn't cover suspension work, and it looks to be around $1000. He spoke to a guy at the Ford dealer where we bought the car, and he said that this is a very common problem in older Tauruses. Um. Well gee, guy, thanks for telling us that now, and older?? The car is only 5 years old, for crying out loud. We still owe around fifteen thousand on it, last I checked. Thankfully we still have the van, but that leaves us with a fifteen thousand dollar heap of metal that we simply cannot afford to fix, and me without a vehicle yet again. The weather is getting nicer, but taking Mary on the bus is a chore at the best of times. I have to walk for about 30 minutes after or before a 2 hour bus ride just to get to my Dr.'s office, which is a drive that takes about 10 minutes if the traffic is bad. Going anywhere south of the river is just a nightmare, even getting to the closest mall takes about an hour on the bus.

The move to Regina is looking likelier and likelier, and looks to be happening sooner and sooner, if things keep up like this. I'm thinking that instead of the somewhat major work we had been thinking of doing to make the house more sellable, we will do some minor touch ups, scrub the place down (and boy does it need a scrub) and hope for the best. My dad told me yesterday that he would happily help with moving expenses and a down payment on a place in Saskatchewan, and we just recently found some new 3 bedroom townhouses that are being built in the city for relatively cheap. I just don't know, it seems like every time I/we manage to dig ourselves out, be it financially or emotionally, the world winds up and gives us a good hard kick in the junk to keep us down.

A Morning Conversation (and some rambling)

Mary: Hello! Hello Mummy! Hello! Hi! (Incredibly cheerfully, in spite of having been up till 3 AM jumping on her bed)

Me: Good morning Mary. (Incredibly grumpy. Sleep did not come easily last night due to a multitude of reasons, Mary's late night shenanigans being the least of them)

Mary: Morning! Hi Mummy! Where Daddy?

Me: Daddy's at work.

Mary: Oh. Daddy work. Bum? Bum! (at this point she charges to the diapers and selects one to hand to me)

Me: Yes, let's change your diaper.

Mary, upon being lifted up to have her diaper changed: Bum. Yucky bum. Whee! Diaper! Mummy glasses? Where glasses? Yucky bum. Pants! Up Pants! Breakfast?

Me: Yes, that's a dirty diaper, now you have a nice clean one on your bum. I'm not wearing my glasses yet.

Mary: Oh. eyes. Yoghurt?

Me: Okay, let's get you breakfast.

Mary: Yay! Yoghurt! Breakfast! Fridge! Highchair! Yoghurt! Spoon! UP highchair!

Me: (quietly following her orders, I get her breakfast and get her into her highchair.)

Mary: All Done! Down! Mummy? Down! Glasses! TV. TV. TV OFF! (gets increasingly whiney) OOOOOFFFFF. TV OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFF!

Me: The TV is off. Do you want it on now?

Mary: TV on now. ON. Blanket please.



So, I turned it on, and other than the occasional comment on what pops up on the screen she's been pretty quiet. Anyways...can you believe that I was concerned about her speech development only 2 weeks ago? I certainly cannot.

I think it's been a long while since I posted here last, mostly just because I've been bored. Not a lot is going on lately other than the usual, and both Mary and I have been feeling just a wee bit under the weather. I'll be glad when this very long cold season is finally over, hopefully it will end.

The weather has been wonderful lately, all the snow is melting which Mary just LOVES. We've gone out the last couple of days just to walk around the block and stomp in as many puddles as we can. Pretty soon we can take out the trike that her Nana Cookie gave her for her birthday, I'm certain she'll be thrilled.

Yesterday I had yet another ultrasound. It was just a follow up from the last time I was bleeding, and things are looking good. It seems that this baby will be a giant too (really, it already is) unless it decides to come early. Even if it does come quite early though, I suspect it will be as big as most average sized babies out there. Sigh. Anyways, it was nice to see the baby again, it's growing like crazy and currently in a breech position, with its feet up by its head. The U/S tech actually watched her kick her own face for a while before moving on. Oh, and he also confirmed that this baby is definately a girl, so it looks like I am following the family tradition. All my cousins who have had children have had the first two girls, and then a boy after that. Only 14 weeks left of this miserable pregnancy! Yay!

Perfectly Average

Mary had her speech and language assessment this morning, and it went very well. It was a one on one with a S&L pathologist, and Mary was incredibly cute and charming, and used just about every word in her vocabulary. She even strung a couple words together once or twice! After talking to me, obeserving and playing with Mary, our SLP declared Mary to be mostly average. She is a tad bit above average for her receptive language (understanding) and a bit below average for her expressive language. It's pretty much exactly what I expeted her to say, and I'm quite glad with how things went. She gave me some suggestions on how to help Marys language, but everything she suggested I have already been doing. Raven gave me the same suggestions a while back, and they seem to be working quite well. The only thing I haven't been doing enough of is waiting long enough for Mary to repeat what I say. She was a little concerned when I mentioned how much Mary hates other children her own age and smaller, so she is going to talk to some other people about that issue and get back to me. I'm mostly concerned about it because of the baby coming in June. Mary is terrified of babies right now, and I really would like to deal with that issue before she becomes a big sister.

Not much else going on since yesterday. Oh, and for those of you who have asked, yes, I was dead serious when I mentioned news shows discussing grief councelling about the trade of Ryan Smyth to the New York Islanders. I couldn't make that up.

She Said She Didn't Give a F**k About Hockey

Oh, the good old hockey game!
it's the best game you can name!
And the best game you can name,
is the good old hockey game!

I am so very sick of Hockey. I cannot express how tired of hearing about Mark Messier and what a wonderful thing hockey is. Seriously. Hopefully the whole thing will be finished now. Anyways, Mark Messier was in town to be celebrated for playing hockey and making way too much money doing it. Don't get me wrong, of all the hockey players out there Mr. Messier is my favourite. I've always found him incredibly sexy in a big, brutish, dangerous and ugly sort of way, he was the centre of many or my most heated teenaged fantasies. So, all anyone could talk about for the last couple of weeks was Mark, which street name to change, how fantabulous he was for the city of Edmonton, blah blah blah. I thought that things would finish with the big ceremony that went on last night and that I wouldn't have to hear any more about hockey other than the regular reports that the Oilers had lost yet again. The news today was all about Mark Messier, how wonderful he is, and how super cool hockey and people who love hockey are. I was impressed to see that Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip were in town today, though when they interviewed him about writing a song about Mark, Gord mentioned that it's hard to find a rhyme for Messier.

The other big hockey news is about the Ugliest Man Ever, Ryan Smyth. He has played in Edmonton for years and yesterday he was traded to the New York Islanders. There were people literally bawling about it on the news (one woman kept goiing on about how she has a 6 year old son, and how will she explain this too him? *sob* she's just so very angry, how could they do this? *sob*), and they actually had a very serious bit about how to seek out grief councelling in this dificult time. WTF?? Grief councelling? Recognizing stress in your children? Because an overpaid oaf is moving to New York? Please. There are so many more important things that we should be worrying about, that we ought to be grieving about...it really makes me quite ill.

In other news, Mary, Jonah, Jonah's mum and I all went off to the water park in The Big Mall yesterday afternoon. Every tuesday and thursday afternoons they shut down the waterslides and only charge 5 dollars admission. The wave pool is still on, as are the various kiddie areas, and it is wonderfully uncrowded. We had a tonne of fun, Mary LOVED the waves, and when I finally dragged her out of there her lips were blue and she was shivering like crazy, but she was desperate to stay just a little bit longer. Also, she actually slept at naptime yesterday, I guess the trick is 2 hours in the pool.

Toddler Blogging

This is why she is still alive. Good lord is she ever cute.






Yesterday we finally had enough junk taken out of the house that we could actually put together the easel that we bought Mary for her birthday. She was giddy with delight, and wanted to share the whole experience with us. If either Ian or I left the room, she would run out and drag us back, babbling excitedly as she handed us a carefully selected crayon. She'd scribble on the paper for a while, and then get so excited that she had to jump up and down and stomp her feet before continueing. She's also learned to say "Cheese!" somewhere whenever she spots the camera, and strike a pose. In both the pictures I posted here she was striking her favourite pose, elbow in the air and head tilted to one side. Have I mentioned how damned cute she is.

Yesterday wasn't all colouring and cuteness, mind you. We went grocery shopping, and I decided to take her for a walk through the mall while Ian found a parking spot. She was great, and happy, and then I tried to get her away from those stupid cars and she Flipped Out. Some old lady came and made sympathetic noises to Mary as she was alternately flinging herself to the floor to scream and lick it, and trying to kick and hit me. It took every ounce of my willpower to remain polite and not to tell the old broad to F-off, yes we are fine, no, she's not a sweet little angel, as you can bloody well see, and yes, I see that she must be a little bit tired. Once I got her into Safeway, Ian was waiting with a fancy truck shaped cart for Mary to ride in. She cheered right up when she spotted that, but it took me a few minutes to get over the urge to leave her in the mall.

Saturday was a fantastic day, not one temper tantrum all day long. She was cute and cuddly and friendly. I wish every day was like that. I was freaky exhausted though, and ended up not going to the birthday party like I planned. By time Ian got home from work, I was fast asleep on the couch surrounded by cats and a sleepy toddler. I suspect it had something to do with not getting home till after 2 am the night before.

Ians fingers are doing okay. At least, the majority of them are. His middle finger on his right hand is definately still the worsst, the whole tip has turned quite black and icky. Yesterday he decided to be nice and do some dishes for me which I appreciated greately, but it did disgusting things to that finger, now it's peeling and big chunks of black skin are starting to come off. barf. On the positive side, beneath one of the big black chunks I spotted some pink skin, which means that there is still circulation to the tip of his finger! While most of it will slough off, it looks like he won't lose the whole tip of the finger and it will eventually heal.

Sucking Happily

This week got progressively better since my last post. I think it helped just to type out how I was feeling and share it with the world at large, though I do feel bad. I can't help but feel selfish and self absorbed....but then again, what is a blog if not an exercise in self absorbtion?

So, Wednesday night, around 3 AM, I woke up feeling strange, I remember thinking that if I wasn't pregnant and I felt that way, I would expect my period to start the next day. I also remember thinking that if I woke up in the morning bleeding I'd be awfully angry. Of course, I woke up Thursday morning and was bleeding. I phoned my Dr's office, and after some effort managed to talk to his nurse. She reccomended that I head in to the hospital to get things checked out. So, after some panicking about what to do with Mary and an almost tearful phone call to Ian in Camrose via his bosses cell phone, I headed off to Labour and Delivery. I hung around, was poked and prodded, had my patchikaka peered at, discussed the merits of the new HPV vaccine with the young lady doctor and was told that yes, I was in fact bleeding from my uterus again, but the baby's heartbeat was strong and normal. I should get an ultrasound within the next week, and if the bleeding got worse, came with contractions or I stopped feeling the baby move I should boot it back to the hospital. I was then escorted to the outpatient ultrasound clinic to book an appointment. As I was booking the appointment with a lady whose grasp on english was iffy at best, one of the techs wandered by and said "I can get you in right away!" So, I had an ultrasound right then and there. They found a small separation in the membranes (whatever that means) that is the source/left over from the last bleed I had, but no clots. Then we watched as the baby booted the crap out of that one spot, likely being the reason for the most recent bleeding. Other than that everything looked normal, the baby was very healthy and according to their measurements, it is already very large (2lbs already, and I'm only 23 weeks along!). I did learn one disturbing piece of information though....In about 15 years I will have two teenaged girls in my home. The thought terrifies me. Actually, I'm thrilled to be having another girl, I was kind of hoping that it would be a girl anyways, I'm just not looking forward to the teen years.

Ians work took the day off on Friday due to a forecast winter storm that never actually showed up, so we had a nice day together. We took Mary to meet Raven and her youngest at an indoor playground in Sherwood Park. The first time Mary went there she wouldn't release the death grip she had on my finger, but yesterday she started to play after about 10 minutes of finger clinging and shyness. She had a blast, and my favourite part was when she would do something fun, then run and grab Ian and I to share it with us. She's becomming such a neat little person (when she's not having a rage fit), I'm really enjoying watching her grow up. After we left the playground, we all drove off to The Big Mall to have a bite to eat and to find a new bathing suit for Mary. I have bought her last couple of suits at Old Navy, but when we went there yesterday the only ones they had were absurdly sexy bakini's. I guess I must be alone in this, but I really think that sexualizing little girls is gross, not cute. We eventually found a nice red one peice with no sexy parts at all (I actually found a one piece at old navy that had these bizarre triangles outlining where the boobs would be if a 2 year old was a full grown woman. Ick). We also ended up getting ourselves cell phones. Another thing I don't really like, but I've been stressing out more and more lately about what will happen if I go into labour and can't get ahold of Ian, so now that isn't an issue. We got a halfway decent deal on the two phones and our plan is more designed for people who want to phone eachother rather than do a lot of phoning to many different places. Also, my phone is a very pretty pink colour.

The Purgatory game was last night. It went well, with some excitement, though I mostly sat by myself. I'm having a hard time playing a character that is almost universally disliked and whose boyfriend tends to forget that she is a real person and not a figment of his imagination. I enjoy the evil shenanigans that I can get up too in the downtime, as long as I'm careful I can do just about anything without worrying about there being any meaningful punishment (what do you take from a person who has no friends, no status, and no real power or posessions?), but it gets lonely sometimes. I am looking forward to regularly breaking the newest law that was passed.

Anyways, today will be a quiet day, I think. Mary and I are going to watch too much tv and lounge around the house in our pj's. When Ian gets home from work, I'm going to escape the house again to go to a birthday gathering, though I'm awfully tired, so I doubt I'll stay long.

Have a good weekend, and thank you for the nice emails I got after my last post! I don't believe I have responded to any of them yet, but it was nice to hear from you.

Rambling

I haven't really got much to say right now, though I'll try, and I'll likely end up posting more than I intended.

I'm not doing very well emotionally lately, I'm not certain why. I am absolutely certain that if I were to go to a doctor and describe how I've been acting he would happily give me an rx for all sorts of mind altering chemicals regardless of the safety of my baby. I'm not even sure when it started, though I think it might have been with Ians fingers. Last week was rough and I worried a lot about Ian, before realizing that with these fingers of his he cannot do anything to help me around the house. No dishes, no laundry, no changing cat boxes (which I also am not supposed to do), no nothing. Then friday rolled around. A couple of friends were having a birthday celebration which I had been seriously looking forward too all week. Mary ended up being miserable, sick, and unfit for human company, so at the lastish minute, I decided not to go out. Ian had plans for that night too, and he decided that there was no reason for him not to go out. Really there wasn't, but when I started weeping on the couch for no good reason as he was getting ready to go....well, I had hoped he would have decided to keep me company. Instead I spent friday night alone, stuffing myself with granola bars. Thank goodness that was the only sweet/snack food we had in the house at the time.

Saturday wasn't much better. It was a long lonely day as Ian was at work. Crown of Thorns had been cancelled, which was a little sad, but other friends were having their 10th anniversary celebration at the Hotel MacDonald, and we were invited. Ian called me around 2 in the afternoon to tell me that our planned babysitter had called to tell him that they were all sick, and we shouldn't bring Mary over. So. No party or getting out that night either. We did go out for supper to a buffet, but again, Mary was so wild that we were only out of the house for an hour. I went to bed at 8 that night.

Sunday was another miserable day. Mary threw one of her mind bogglingly sudden and uncalled for tantrums first thing in the morning when we were trying to get her dressed so we could go out and do something, and after fighting with her for 30 minutes, we gave up on the idea of getting out of the house. I went back to bed and spent much of the day there, alternately moping, brooding, weeping and sleeping. At one point Ian came to check on me and I said "I think I might be depressed or something." He very quickly agreed.

Monday was a "holiday." Ian worked. I sat at home alone with Mary. Again. The walls of baby jail are closing in. I don't know why. It's possible that it has something to do with the fact that I am in near constant pain with this pregnancy. My pelvis, hips, back, neck, shoulders, knees....every joint in my body aches all the time which makes it hard for me to get up and get out unless I absolutely have too. This baby feels monstrously big, and is very strong. I remember the 2nd trimester being the best part of my last pregnancy, and it terrifies me that things are going to get worse before this baby is born. And then the baby will be born. And I will have a very busy 2 year old and a new born infant. Ian will be working, and I will be alone with them both 6 days a week. If I'm having problems dealing with life right now, how on earth will I handle that?

Mary has also become more challenging lately. The temper tantrums are sudden, unexpected, inexplicable and often violent. Most of the time she's a beautiful, sweet and funny little creature to be around, but she can turn from laughter to screaming rage in literally less than a second. I am absolutely positive that it could be a lot worse, but it's still hard to deal with. Top that with her refusal to speak english unless she is repeating what I say and it's a rough way to live. She's also decided that diaper changes and getting dressed are both torture beyond endurance. My large pregnant belly makes an excellent target for her thrashing feet when she's fighting me on both those points. Mary's also become much more aggressive with Jonah, the little boy that I babysit. Yesterday he did something that made her mad and she threw a rod. He was a little puzzled so he went into another room to play by himself, and she actually chased him down to attempt to beat the crap out of him. I ended up locking her in the bedroom for some calm down time by herself. After a couple of minutes she had chilled out enough that I let her out, and after about 10 minutes of cuddling they had both forgotten the fight, and were playing happily together once again.

In other news, I have learned a lesson in the last couple of days. When you are already emotionally fragile, watching season 3 of Battlestar Galactica (the new ones, of course) is not a wise course of action. Mind you, it does get me bawling, which feels pretty good right now.

Oh, as for good news, I was on the MLS real estate website online the other day just checking things out, and there are only 3 houses listed there in all of Edmonton that are less than 200 thousand dollars, and all three of them have been condemned for one reason or another. That means that we could reasonably ask for 200 thou, and expect to get close to that. We owe just under a hundred thousand on this house now, so we may walk away with close to 100G in our pocket. Theoretically, we could take that money, pay off our debts, move to Saskatchewan and buy a house outright and not have a mortgage to worry about at all. Or we could invest some of that money for university for the kids, and suck up a smallish mortgage in Sask. It's awfully tempting, let me tell you. It would be really nice to be closer to my dad, and even my step-mum. I miss them, and, well, it's a whole lot easier to impose on your parents than on your friends.

Anyways, I did type a whole lot more than I intended, and I do feel better putting all that stuff down. If anyone has any suggesstions on how to drag myself out of this slump that I haven't thought of (yes, I know, healthy eating, getting out of the house, exercise are all good options, except for the fact the most days I can barely walk because of my hips/pelvis). I have absolutely no intention of taking happy pills, so I need to think of something else.

Update

Ian did go to the doctor on Monday night, and was told that he shouldn't work for the next few days. Ian of course argued with him, and the doctor finally folded and said to take Tuesday off and to go to our family doctor.

The first thing that our family Dr. said was "Wow, I'm surprised you didn't loose this finger." Then proceded to get a book to read up on severe frostbite. Ian is now not allowed to work at the lube place at all (too dirty), not allowed to work outside when the temperature is below -10, and he is not allowed to remove his gloves at all while outside. A claim with Workers Comp has been started, and we are waiting to hear from the Dr. on a referral to a Vascular Surgeon. The fingers on his left hand are looking almost normal now save for the giant blisters, but his right hand is a different story, particularly the middle finger. They're still pretty badly discoloured and swollen, and I'm quite worried about them. I imagine he will go back to work tomorrow, the temperature is supposed to get up above freezing, hopefully he won't make things worse.

Not much else is going on around here. Mary's doing well, the cats are good, I'm okay but worried. February has always been a bad month for us, Ians dad died in Feb, my boss and friend died in Feb, last year Ian was out of town for the whole month....this February seems to be following the theme.

In Search of Mutton

I was going to go out tonight. I had everything figured out, I was even planning on taking a very tired Mary along with me and putting her down in Raven's playpen. Then I saw Ian pull up and park out front, so I figured, yay! Ian can watch Mary, and I don't need to bring her. So, I told the softly sobbing child that yes, she could go to bed, which she did, and promptly fell asleep. Ian came in looking sheepish, and proceded to tell me that his fingers got a little cold at work today. I said "How cold, darling husband of mine?" He went into a lengthy tale of coldness at work, and finished up by showing me his fingers. His black tipped fingers. I said "Oh, you poor poor thing, what a terrible thing to happen to an intelligent man like you! Perhaps you ought to go to the doctor, though I shall of course leave it to your discression, darling husband." Then I phoned Raven, and explained the situation to her, suggesting that as a nurse, she may have some idea of whether or not black fingertips are something to be concerned about. She suggested that Ian go to the doctor, perhaps this morning when he first froze his fingers. By this point, my darling wee napless child was fast asleep, so I had to beg off going out tonight, which is too bad, but life with a child and husband.

So, I really want to make Scotch Broth. I enjoy making and eating soup, it is one of the few things that I am good at cooking. Unfortunately though, Scotch Broth requires mutton. Good luck finding that in this bloody city! I phone several butchers, and the most helpful thing I was told was that "we don't have mutton, but we have smoked mackeral." Um. Okay. Am I crazy in thinking that mutton is something that a person working in/as a butcher should know about? I mean, even if you don't carry it, you really ought to know that mutton is sheep, not fish. Sigh. I think I will try some of the Halal butchers next, if they don't carry mutton, perhaps I can try making my soup with goat. It's really too bad, I love the strong and gamey flavour that mutton has, but I suspect I'll have to go without.

My weekend went quite well. Friday Raven introduced Mary and I to the wonders of the indoor playground at Milennium place. Mary didn't stray far from my side or actually play on anything much, but we were there for an hour and a half and she seemed to have lots of fun dragging me around to look at all the other kids. Friday night Ian and I stayed in, cuddled on the couch and watched comedy shows on CBC. Saturday night some of my fabulous friends put on a Burlesque show. A few of the girls in our crowd discovered pole dancing a while back, and they are all good enough at it now that they were able to put together a fantastic routine. It was great fun, the food was fantastic, and I was reminded of all the reasons that I don't want to move back to Saskatchewan. I took a few pole dancing classes myself before I got pregnant, and I'm quite determined that if we are still in Edmonton come fall, I'm going to start up again. I really need to loose weight and get healthy, which is quite a chore when you despise excercise. Pole dancing is hard work and tonnes of fun, and it may even teach me to be a bit sexier (or at least feel sexier) too!

Not Surprised

Didja hear? Anna Nicole Smith died today. She was pronounced dead at the hospital after being found unconscious in her hotel room. For some reason, this news does not surprise me, I think she has been trying to die for an awfully long time now.

Google is my midnight lover.

Wow, is it already Thursday? Where has the week gone? Between the screaming tantrums and the adorableness, time has flown by.

Let's see if I can remember highlites of the week. Hmm. Saturday was T's Kingdom Come game, which was lovely and angsty as usual. My characters evil lover had shown up for the first time in a long time, so I spent a lot of time alternately joyful that he was there and despising myself for loving such an evil evil man. After the game we all went to BP's to hang out, and I got to go too (I really do have an excellent husband). My favourite moment was when we were sitting at a table waiting for our meals, and T and I got to talking about the lack of women in our group of friends who are willing to get pregnant. T carried on the conversation by saying, and I quote, "The problem with the world is that only the really stupid people are breeding, all the smart women don't get pregnant." As soon as the words popped out of his mouth he turned red, and looked, well, defeated. I just sat there smirking and rubbing my very pregnant belly. It's a good thing I'm not sensitive...

Sunday was the Superbowl, which we watched over at G & K's place. It was an intensely boring football game, but the halftime show was pretty great. Prince! He sang, and danced, and talked, and played his oh so phallic guitar. There was one point where he was playing a guitar shaped like his symbol from behind a sheet that was all backlit and stuff, and I couldn't help snorting with laughter at the image. I was really quite surprised that the American puritans didn't make more of a fuss about it. Of course, I could just have a dirty mind.

Hmm. Monday was a Very Bad Day. Mary's language issues are becomming more and more dificult and frustrating for the both of us. She spent a couple of hours in the afternoon alternately screaming with rage and sobbing pathetically. She wanted something from me, but I couldn't figure out what it was. By time Ian got home, I was empathizing with women who shake their babies and was close to tears myself. The Raven rescued me by taking me out for tea at Timmies.

Tuesday was D&D. Yay! It was the first session in a new campaign that Ian is running, and it looks to be quite fun. We didn't do much because T was unable to attend, but so far so good. We have two very dour boys, a dwarf and an ugly elf, and K and I are playing a pair of much more joyful girls, a gnome (K's character) and a beautiful elf. It will be interesting to see how T's human fits into the mix.

Wednesday was yesterday, right? Let me think. Another day full of communication issues and temper tantrums (really the tantrums arent that bad, and she really makes up for it by the adorableness that comes before and after the fits). Ian is working in Camrose now, so I had no idea when he would be home, but was geared up not to see him till quite late. I ended up taking Mary to Ravens place, as it was my night to babysit her kids, but instead her husband watched Mary so that R and I could go meet Guy Gavriel Kay! Yay! It was very exciting for me, I've read all of his books except for the newest one many many times....so many times that they are all falling apart. I was really quite impressed by him. Kay is just a little man, kinda geeky looking and he talks like the priest from "The Princess Bride." It must take a whole lot of nerve for him to get up and talk to crowds of people and read from his books, but he did admirably, was very friendly when I met him to sign my book, and seemed like a generally neat kinda guy who can write a fantastic book. Also, I got my first good look at Simon of Simian Farmer fame (I link to his blog on the side). I was standing right behind him in line to get my book signed, and I knew that I recognized him from somewhere, though I didn't realize who he was till he was talking to Guy Kay. I nearly said hello, but was overcome with such a crippling wave of shyness I had to go hide as far away as I could. I mean, Simon is so cool, one of the big kids really, I knew that I would just stammer and blush, possibly giggle like a teenager and generally make an ass of mysellf.

And that brings us to today. This morning has so far been very pleasant. Mary and I got up early (at 9, aren't I lucky to have a child who likes to sleep in?), ate our breakfast and headed out to Sherwood Park to meet up with Raven and her brood. We went to an indoor playground. It was extremely crowded, but lots of fun, and we lasted about an hour before we needed to go. Mary didn't really play, she just dragged me around and looked at all the kids. She's terribly shy around other children, but I think that next time she may wander a little farther from my side. On the way home we stopped at Starbucks for a Chai latte and a snack, and now she is "napping" in her bedroom with all her stuffed animals. I shall sit quietly and start my new book while thinking about how I ought to be doing laundry or dishes.

An opinion piece

I really don't know why I read/watch the news and other sources of information. I find that I am constantly disappointed by humanity in general these days. It would be much easier if I could just sit in my bedroom and continue believing the best of people without exposing myself to proof that I'm wrong.

Take the town of Hérouxville in Quebec. The city council just passed a "Code of Conduct for Immigrants." Among the, ahem, guidelines for immigrants are a law forbidding women from veiling their faces in schools, a ban on female circumcision (perhaps not such a bad thing, but really, is it that common a problem in Quebec?), and an in depth explaination of the Christmas tree. Several other towns in the Trois-Rivières region of Quebec want to introduce similar guides. What really gets me is they are claiming that this code is a way of accomodating immigrants. You can read a short article on the matter here -http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/02/02/qc-reasonableaccommodation20070202.html (sorry, for some reason Blogger isn't giving me the link option today, and I can't remember the HTML for doing it myself right now).

I've been trying to avoid the issue of the sextuplets in B.C. that were born a couple of months ago to a Jehovas Witness family. The babies were born at 25 weeks gestation, which for those of you who don't know, is incredibly premature, right on the line of survive/don't survive. Two of the babies have already died, and this week the B.C. government seized 3 of the living babies from the family to administer blood transfusions, something that J.W.'s are very much against. The storm of controversy about this move is really quite dizzying. I have a hard time with it, on one hand, I do think that the government did what was right to save those babies, but then again, where does it stop? If the government can seize children and force medical treatment that their parents refuse, well, I can't help but think that sets a relatively dangerous precident for all sorts of things. Anyways, the issue has all sorts crawling out of the woodwork to voice their opinioins, from the anti-abortion folk to the pro-abortion, anti-religion, anti-IVF people, people who pretend to know what theyre talking about, people who think that the family should be left alone, people who think the babies should be taken away from the family for good, people who have no idea what's really going on (but of course have very strong opinions anyways). Not one person that I've read have had anything nice to say about anyone else, or the ability to see other points of view than their own.

Then there is the issue that is going on here in Edmonton, with the foster mother who has been charged with the murder of a three year old foster child. It just happened last weekend, and the moment the news broke, it was like the poor woman was already tried and convicted in the mind of the media and the public. I don't know the whole story, and I doubt I ever will, but I can't help but feel for this woman. Who knows what really happened? One story is that the seriously disturbed child threw a fit, and smashed his own head against the floor with the force of his rage, thus doing the damage himself. I don't know how likely this is, but it seems a possibility to me. Of course, because of this, other foster parents in Alberta, and the entire system itself are being ripped to shreds daily in the media. I've seen the hard work that foster parents do for these kids, most of whom are damaged in some way, either physically or emotionally, and it takes a special kind of person to deal with the issues that go on with it. Even the best parent in my experience has a hard time dealing with the best of babies (I had fantasies of putting Mary in a snowbank when she was a newborn), I can't imagine how much that must be amplified after spending a long day with a child (or more than one) who has severe fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. If the woman did kill that little boy, well, it doesn't excuse what she did, but I really do think that at the very least people could try to feel for her a little bit. I don't believe she's a monster, and I'm not prepared to condemn her, or any other foster parent. What drives me craziest is that the boys biological father has issued a long statement about how the system failed his child and blah blah blah, and oh yeah, and he intends to sue the government. I just have to say that children don't often end up in the foster care system for no reason, so maybe people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, eh?

Anyways, Mary is begging for a nap (she slept through the night last night! YAY!), so I had better go deal with that.

We are not impressed

So, since Sunday night (monday morning, really) Mary has started waking up at the wee hours of the morning and partying for a while. This can happen anywhere between midnight and 2 am, and will last from 1 to 3 hours. Um. What the hell? She did this before when she was sick, but she seems to be fine these days, if a little sniffly. It's not like she wakes up and cries, oh no, she gets up, chats to herself for a while, jumps out of the bed onto the hardwood floor, shrieks in joy, jumps harder on the floor, shrieks again, lays on her back and pounds her heels on the wall....I can't take much more of it. I'm having a hard time sleeping these days, what with all the complaints that go along with being 5 months pregnant, and this is just ridiculous.

We had to take away one of the toys that was in Marys room yesterday. She was given a beautiful old doll crib that belonged to a friend of ours when she was a child. This friend was thrilled when we had a girl, she has only boys in her family and was delighted to have someone to give all her old dolls and girlie toys too. Anyways, we had it in Marys room, and yesterday at naptime Mary decided to dismantle it and then beat the crap out of herself with it. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but all was quiet, when suddenly there was a "thump, crash, WAIL" from Marys room. Ian and I both ran in (he was home from work due to weather) and Mary was on the floor, surrounded by pokey wooden things, and bleeding from her cheek and nose. She has a cut on the bridge of her nose, and a big scrape on her cheek, it looks like we beat her on a regular basis.

Poor Ian has to work today, outside. The high (with windchill) is forcast at -29, and they are working out in a place called Nisku, in the middle of an empty field. Nice. I'm not thrilled with him either though. This morning I asked him to put a brush in the van before going to work, because it dumped a tonne of snow on us yesterday and last night. He took my keys to do it because his were already in the car warming it up. No biggie, right? Except as soon as he tossed the brush in the van, he hopped into the car and buggered off to Nisku. With my keys. I'm supposed to be babysitting so that N can go to a prenatal Dr.'s appt in, oh, 30 minutes. I of course burst into hysterical tears (bloody hormones and lack of sleep do not make for a rational Jennifer), calmed myself, and called Ian's boss on his cell. The boss was nice enough, though he did laugh at me, and he promised to get Ian to call as soon as he saw him. Of course they're working in freaking Nisku, and it snowed a tonne last night, so I have my doubts Ian'll be there any time soon. I called N, and thankfully she is feeling like hell due to a bad cold, and doesn't have a problem rescheduling her appointment. I still feel horrible for cancelling on her at the last minute though, not to mention the fact that I'm awake, and have been since 6:30 this morning. Mary is of course fast asleep on the couch, damn her. She needs her rest, she partied all night long.