Hey there, remember me?

I Know, I know... It's been a while.

But much has happened in Victor-land.  Since the addition of crawling to Jason's repertoire of skills I have been busy.  Ensuring Jason stays out of trouble has been difficult to keep up with.  We now know that he enjoys the taste of cat food, can climb stairs in a single bound and hates anything to do with "containing" him, ie: we have now put away the excersaucer and the jolly jumper.  For those who know us the absence of the jolly jumper in our living room may come as a shock.  In place we know have a very easy to move baby gate to keep Jason from taking a tumble down the stairs.

In other news, we have successfully survived our first family vacation which including the daunting task of taking a mobile 7 month old on a 4 hour flight and a 5 hour train ride.  All in all we all made it in one piece. I think the hardest part about the whole vacation was staying at our friends house (which wasn't very baby proof).  My biceps look great from lugging 23lbs of baby around to keep little mister out of the cat dishes, electronic equipment, blinds, off the stairs etc.  Once we got to the hotel in Chicago, we could unleash the beast with out worry of too much damage occurring.  The only down side was keeping quiet and busy in the wee hours of morning, as to not wake the sleeping daddy exhausted from a busy week at work prior to our vacation.  So Jason and I developed a morning routine of breakfast in the atrium followed by a dip in the pool.  I was able to strap Jason to me using a pool noodle and swim some laps on my back.  He seemed to enjoy our time together and was oblivious to the strange looks we were getting from the other lap swimmers.  Little did they know that I used to be a lifeguard and am quite proficient in the pool.  

Once we got the hang of taking Jason and all his "stuff" out for the day the trip home did not seem so daunting.  I think sometimes throwing your self in to a situation with out too much "what ifs" is the way to go.  My husband has a new found confidence and now feels like a seasoned parent thanks to our little trip.

More news... I am going back to work sooner than expected.  August 6th to be exact.  I was offered a job I couldn't refuse and thus the frantic search for a daycare ensued.  We found a pretty decent one, surprise surprise.  As where we live the waiting lists for day cares are all at least 2 years long.  I'm pretty sad to have to leave Jason and trying not to think about it.  But in this economy there was just no other way.  And apparently " I just have to suck it up sweetheart"  yes, that was an actual quote from an insensitive co-worker of mine.  Which is a whole other post as soon as my blood stops boiling long enough for me to get the story down.

So there you have it... It's been a pretty busy month.  I'm trying to slow down and enjoy the last few weeks of home alone time with my son... I'm going to miss it.

Wow, when I signed into blogger today the words "last published June 3" was looming on my start page. I have been neglecting my blog... I guess I've had writers block for the last little bit, or maybe it is because now that Jason is a crawling machine he is burning up his fuel and has required a bottle in the middle of the night again. This makes for one very cranky mommy the next day. I have always been a person who has required a lot of sleep or I turn into the green-eyed monster. So I tried another one of my mommy tricks. We have now added another feeding of cereal with his bed time bottle and presto... we have successful slumber through the night. It really gives me instant gratification when my baby is sleeping.

In other news, I am continuing to make my own baby food with rave reviews by the little one. Thanks to my trusty recipe book "Easy Gourmet Baby Food" I've made delightful concoctions such as; roasted sweet potato puree, pureed sweet peas, oven roasted banana (yum my fav) and today it is caramelized parsnips. We'll see if JR can digest it. He did inherit daddy's weak digestive tract. I highly recommend making your own food. I know exactly how it is cooked and what is in it. Jason seems to like it too. I'm hoping exposing him to many different yummy foods I'll be rid of the pickiness that comes naturally to young children. In my case, till my mid 20s. I'm really enjoying trying new foods, but my weight-loss quest really limits the variety of food I can eat. I guess once I reach my goal I can partake in some different foods once in a while. Short term sacrifice for long term gain I guess. But I've really been craving a chocolate dipped soft serve cone from Dairy Queen lately. I wonder what's up with that? mmmm ice cream...

Look who's crawling!

Or a reasonable facsimile there of.

I was at work last night. Just for four hours, that's all we are allowed to work when we are on Mat-leave. You must be thinking, why on earth would she be working while on Mat-leave? Well the answer to that is simple, EXTRA CASH! Yes we Canadians are lucky in that we get a whole year off, but it is a whole year off making next to nothing. When I started looking into the whole maternity leave thing I was under the understanding that you would make 60% of you wage. WRONG! If you make over a certain amount you make the max which is 40% of my wage. If you make 50,000 a year or if you make 500,000 a year we all get the same amount. I really believe this is not fair. Don't get me started... I think I may start a letter writing campagin. Watch for that coming soon. I'll have to enlist my hubby as he is a fantastic writer.

So here I was at work last night, I guess I really can't complain. It allows me to get out and use my brain for a little while. But I sure am rusty, I was asked to grab some morphine for a patient and couldn't remember if I use a 3cc syringe or a 1cc syringe to draw it up. I'm sure if I did more than 4 hours every few weeks it would all come back to me, nursing is like riding a bike.

We had a GSW come in (that's Emerg speak for Gun Shot Wound). This man was shot in the face. So out of morbid curiosity I trodded down to the OR where they were getting ready to work on him. Not pretty... that's for sure. But while I was peeking over the surgeon's shoulder I was thinking, Man... I do have a pretty cool job. I get to see stuff like this. I won't describe what I saw In case some of you are squeemish. Being a nurse I have forgotten where the line is when describing some of the things I have been involved in and grossed out a few friends to say the least. But I will say this, this guy will never look the same.

Who is this person?

So after hitting a major plateau this last month and not losing a pound.  I was starting to get pretty frustrated and was thinking, what am I doing this for?  The hours of cardio and sweating it out in the gym weren't doing a thing.  Like I said before, I had never really considered my self a thin person but didn't think I was overly over weight as well.   Then Paul and I found this picture.  At first we chuckled, wow we look pretty dorky.  Nice sideburns  and "bar star" highlights Paul.  Then Paul said, I don't even recognize you, you look like you are wearing a fat suit.  Quite frankly I feel as though I was.  This picture was taken our first summer vacation together.  Kudos to Paul for looking beyond the fat suit to the person who was underneath.  Some one who desperately wanted to be fit and consider them self an athlete.  Some one who wanted to go to the mountains on vacation and not come up with a million excuses as to why they can't keep up when we go for a light jog.  I believe I thought it was the altitude that was making me so winded when we were there, not the 45 extra pounds I was lugging around.   We brought our bikes on this trip too, which went just as well as the running.  We are going back there this summer with our son, and I am so excited to go running and biking in the mountains and feel fit and athletic.  Definitely worth the hours in the gym.  I feel better already.

All in the family...

Can you see the resemblance?  Paul was wondering if the next one could look like him just a little.  Like I have control over anything.  Like I spent the nine months incubating Jason sending telepathic messages to the little genes... pick mine! pick mine! I have visions of the gene pool picking members like kids pick teams in the school yard.  Poor Paul's genes all shuffling their feet and staring at the ground just hoping to be picked for the big show.  Maybe next time Paul's genes, maybe next time...

Gentle reminders.

I know a million, well ok several people having babies this year.  And you just kind of take it for granted that every one is going to have happy, healthy babies.  Well my cousin had a baby who was born with trisomy 18.  A fairly common genetic abnormality actually, but you don't hear of many because these babies don't usually survive to be born none the less make the first year.  So I was really thrown for a loop on this one.  Especially since I have my own little guy.  I guess that's why I haven't really had much to write about here.  Everything else seems to seem so trivial in comparison.   I couldn't imagine if it happened to me, and my heart just ached for my cousin and her family.  I really couldn't get them out of my mind.  

Now the funeral has passed, it was really lovely and we have all had a chance to make peace with the situation.  I was thinking during the service that maybe this all happened for a reason.  A reminder of how precious life is and how precious everything is that we have been given.  I couldn't help but feel that this has touched everyone around my cousin,  kind of like a trickle effect with it's own gentle lesson for every individual.  It reminded me how my cousin and I aren't as close as we used to be and how this has brought us closer again.  How I haven't seen much of my dad's side of the family since his passing and was given the opportunity to reconnect.  How I appreciate Jason even in moments when I am frustrated and can't figure out what is wrong or what he needs.  A reminder to give him a kiss every morning and every night.  To see what an amazing job Paul is doing, and how great he is for a guy who had never held a baby before his own.  So many things to be grateful for.. 

Have you counted your blessings lately?