21 month newsletter

Dearest Trixie;
Yesterday you turned 21 months old and I swear I didn't forget it. I did have some issues remember how many months you are though. I blame being 31 weeks pregnant growing you a little brother.
In the past month you have grown. I tortured myself yesterday by looking at photos of you from a year ago. It nearly made me cry. You've grown so much. I know that it's a cliche that children grow so fast, but you do. When you were 14 months old you had chubby cheeks and were just nearly toddling and we so baby. Now your face has leaned out, you run and you're so much more of a little girl. I still call you a baby though, and you don't argue, so I won't stop. Perhaps that will help me think of you as my baby a little longer.
This month you've continued to not be much of an eater, although we learned tonight that mashed purple cauliflower and carrots coins are good. You ask for berries, apples and bananas every day, and still love to lick jam off of your toast. Your Daddy and I still give you a bottle of formula or goat's milk at night and you seem to be growing fine, so I'm not worried. Oh and whenever we go to a restaurant you always ask the waitress or waiter for rice or noodles, which is "wice, newnos". Pretty dang cute!
With your play you have shown your love for all things with wheels, cars, trucks, trains, planes, buses, etc. You'll drive them all over the furniture making a noise like "weeeoooohhhhh", everything sounds the same. On Mondays you get excited when the garbage truck is outside of the window and you ask me over and over if the noise is the truck, and when he's there we'll look out the window, then you'll play truck for a while, with lots of weeeeooooohhhhs to accompany it. You still play with your babies, mostly pottying them and pushing them around in your toy stroller. And you love to play with your mini pots and pans. So I think Mama and Daddy are going to get you a kitchen for Christmas. I think you will love it! I've really been enjoying watching your imagination grow. It was important for me to see that you did have some creativity in you and you do! Hurray!
Your language continues to grow. This month we've talked a lot about the noises that animals make and you'll meow, woof, moo, oink and roar with joy. We've learned that many animals roar, even sharks, and sometimes rouge ladybugs. Today you told Daddy that "rinosaurs" roar when you were reading us the "Moo Baa La La La" book. Everyday you have a couple new words and you are very adept at getting your point across, and as a result you use your sign language less and less. We have been working on getting you to talk with your hands more, but it's a work in progress.
You've discovered the alphabet this month and you love to hear me sing it over and over, and just randomly you'll throw out letter combos in song, "H-I-J", "C-D-E" etc. It's cute. You've also started counting more and you can count to 6 on your own, but you do like to just count to 2 a lot. 1-2-1-2 over and over. It's funny. We've started to learn to spell your name, so far you can identify T and R, which is plenty for me. It's not something I'm going to push you on, but it's a fun game you like. You've become an expert at your shape sorter which mean I don't step on triangles any more since you used to favour the circles and squares then rectangles, leaving the triangles out 'cause they were harder. When you play with a nesting toy you'll work at it, almost systematically until you solve it, which has amazed some people, and makes me so proud. Your puzzles are a breeze for you and clearly it's time that I get you some more challenging toys.
You're still wearing 18-24 month clothes, and I find that you are built like your Mama. You've got short legs! I'm sorry sweet girl. Your Daddy and I have started to give you choices in the morning as to which shirt you'll wear and you will most often grab for both shirts at once, or simply refuse all shirts, wishing instead to go without.
Potty learning is still a fun game. You'll sit on a potty for an hour, happily reading a book or playing, but you won't pee. Instead you'll demand a "di-der" and then tell me a while later that you need the potty again. We're working on you letting me know before you pee that you need the potty, not right after. Still I won't pressure you, we work on it, but I'll let you decide when you need to make the transition to panties all of the time. I suspect it's soon because you loathe diapers and it can be quite the challenge to put a diaper on you some days.
With your little friends you've gotten really close to your buddy Leland, and your other buddy Leilani. Leland is all boy and you are quite the tomboy around him, digging in the dirt, looking for bugs, playing with trucks, and just being rambunctious. With Leilani you are much more a little lady, playing more quietly, holding hands with her and being more girly. With them both you divide your time, perhaps you'll be a little politician some day, equality for all!
At night you often start sleeping in your own bed, but between 2 and 4 am you'll make your way over to the big bed and crawl in with Daddy and I and ask for a bottle. I am happy to have you there, you're so cuddly and sweet. I'm still shocked that you took to your toddler bed so easily, you've never fought it, although we've never forced it on you either. I wonder what will happen once your little brother will be in the mix. You'll still have your place in the big bed, Baby Brother will just sleep on the other side of me, so that he's safe from your crazy sleep positions.
So it's been a busy month, but it went by too fast.
You're so sweet and cute. I love you so much!
love Mama.

30 weeks!

I forgot to remind the world on Monday that I'm 30 weeks pregnant. Which is a nice milestone, 3/4s there, nice round number. But alas, I have toddler, I am much more occupied with other things.
So we've named this baby Turducken for his project name. The unveiling of his name will be after he's born for a whole myriad of reasons. I chose Turducken 'cause it made me laugh, at the time I needed to laugh. It stuck. People often question the name. They want to know if I'm the turkey and he's the duck or chicken. I say no, he's Turducken, like Cher. I think it suits him, and it still makes me laugh.
Anyhow, he's an active boy, more than Trixie was, and I thought she was busy. She never woke me up at night with her hijinks and he does, nearly every night. He tolerates me semi lying on my stomach as much as she did, which is not at all, but he gets to suck it up, because that's what's comfortable.
Fortunately with all of his wiggling he's not hitting my bladder often, unlike Trixie who danced on it all of the time. I'm grateful about this because it hurt! He does kick or punch the top of my cervix, which is pretty unpleasant. He's also learned to pluck or strum my c-section scar, which is odd. It doesn't hurt, but it feels like he's pulling my uterus in then releasing it.
When he moves he tends to move his whole body, not just an arm and a leg. I can often see his movements, which is also odd for me 'cause Trixie didn't do that so much.
So only 7-12 weeks to see who has been doing all of this.
Should be interesting.

Hope for Anissa

It's pretty amazing how the Internet community works and how fellow bloggers can rally around someone to help.
I read about a woman today who is 35 has 3 children, and just suffered a major stroke.
I am really upset about it all. She's young and has young children, one of whom just battled with cancer and beat it. I would say that this family has been through enough, but apparently the universe doesn't agree.
I can't even imagine what her family is going through. They're living my worst nightmare, or rather she is. The thought of something happening to me and me leaving Trixie scares me so badly. So horrible.....
Please click on the link and donate anything if you can, if not just send lots of good healing vibes out for Anissa.

homelessness

Our neighbourhood is really new, it's an industrial turned residential area, so it's a little low on amenities, and high on town homes. (It's the most densely populated area of the city) I assume, that because we are such a new neighbourhood with nothing but houses we don't have many homeless people around here, until recently. There is this one guy who stands at the intersection where I turn to head home, just off of the free way. I feel so bad for this guy, but I have no idea how to help him. He stands in the middle of the intersection where the light are, balancing on the rocks that are in the cement and he fidgets while holding a sign that says "homeless please help". He looks so ashamed, I can't help but feel so sad every time I see him. I am really bad about carrying cash, so I never have any to give to him, but what would I do, just roll down my window and hand him a $20 bill? Would that really help? Should I make him a bunch of sandwiches? I just don't know.
I would like to think that he's a reasonable guy who's just really down on his luck. He's always clean and wearing clean clothes, his hair isn't a giant matted mess. He looks presentable. Perhaps that's why I'm bothered so much. He doesn't look strung out on something, or like he's been out for a while, he looks new to the homeless game, and it looks like it's wearing on him.
There are times I wish I could just invite him in for dinner and a good night's sleep, but I can't. I have to think of Trixie and her safety.
In the recent months we have donated to a food bank and a homeless shelter for families, so I feel that we've got the donating covered, but seeing one person so sad, I just am at a loss.

Adam says....

Adam says Payton Manning is awesome.
I'm not going to agree or disagree, but being a football player I bet he has a nice ass.

Pregnancy!

In the first trimester you're all happy about the little secret you have. You hold it with you, not ready to tell everyone yet, bubbling with excitement, but still a little wary of the what ifs. You get hit with the nausea, but are grateful because that means that something is working, so this is one of the rare times in life where you are happy to puke your guts out. Then you complain that you are losing weight, while secretly high fiving yourself, considering this the easiest diet ever! You get to have the first ultrasound that shows the wee heartbeat and you breathe a sigh of relief, finally confirming that you do, indeed, have a parasite. You contemplate telling the world, but settling for those closest to you. And you nap, a lot.

In the second trimester you can start with a big ol' sigh of relief, you're out of the woods, although you kinda already knew that when you saw the heartbeat. But through traditional wisdom you know you're safe. You've stopped puking, you feel more energized and you want to eat. So you do. Everything in sight. Cravings are blissful, when else can you get away with peanut butter by the tablespoon full alongside cottage cheese? You walk around with a glow about you, proud of your wee baby bump that you wish would grow faster so that it's more obvious that you're pregnant. You start to lament the weight gain you're having, but remind yourself that you need that peanut butter, it's for the baby. After all you're eating for two now! Sometime soon you'll feel the first little flutters of your precious baby bean. You exalt in them, trying to get your partner to feel them also. Often failing because your belly bean is so tiny.

In the third trimester you curse the second trimester you for being so damn perky. Your back aches, your pelvis aches, your boobs ache, your hips ache, you ache everywhere. You're damn tired and all you want to do is sleep, but you ache too much to sleep. The baby like to jive on your bladder sending you to pee every 10 minutes, you're going through a lot of toilet paper now. Then every now and then the baby will punch your cervix, just to remind you who's boss. You're ravenously hungry, but more than 2 bites of food gives you heartburn from hell. So does water. You've renamed your baby from some cutsey name like "Buttercup" to "Ass burger" or "Devil's Spawn". You remind the baby that feet and ribs should not meet, and "No Devil Spawn you cannot escape though my belly button!" Your feet swell, your hands swell, you swell. You've lost your glow, it's now a fine sheen of sweat, if you're sitting, if you're walking across the room it's much more than a fine sheen. You curse the women who talk about doing full workouts when they're heavily pregnant. You want pants that fit and don't chafe. You think a lot about birth and how wonderful it will be to finally hold your baby, and when you do, it will all be so worth it.

Squashy Love

I mentioned on a facebook update that I was going to try 20 different squashes this season, so I figured I should update at how poorly I am doing.
To date I've had:
1. Kabocha
2. Butternut
3. Delicata
4. Acorn
5. Spaghetti

I have 3 more kinds at home, so I'll be able to add them to my list soon. I'm worried that I might not be able to find 20 different kinds.

Remeberance Day

Every year I write a post about how important today is to me because of my Grandpa.
Today I wondered how many people in my generation use today as a day to remember their grandparents, especially since Canada has not been as involved by war since WW2. However since living in California I've seen the effect of the more recent wars which are more on on the forefront of people's minds. In the past years of living here I wished that there was more focus on the vets of WW1 and 2, I feel that they are being lost, and it's because of them that today is sacred. Then it dawned on me today as I recited In Flanders Fields to myself, the line that says, "the torch be yours to hold it high", could refer to the current veterans, it's their turn to inspire and remind everyone to respect today, and the jobs that all of the young men and woman have done for Canada, the US and so many other countries.
So today I paid homage to all vets, even the youngest ones, who are just as deserving as my Grandpa.

Stuff....

Or stuffing.
For my mom's group's quarter one birthday party Candice and I made a giant cupcake to take a photo of the babies in. However after that party and the quarter two party the cupcake suffered too much damage, so tonight I am making a new giant cupcake for the q. 3 and q. 4 party. It's involving a lot of stuffing.
I'll have picutres soon. But they'll be on my facebook account. I hope you're my friend!

Also I missed yesterday.
Doh!

Persimmons!

It's that time of year again. The time for me to eat my weight in persimmons. Oh how I love those subtly sweet crunchy fruits. (that's the fuyu ones, not the pointy ones)
This year I found them at the grocery store I frequent for *gasp* $2.00 each! And I bought several because I love them so much. Then I found them at a farmer's market for $1 a pound which is a much better price, then a friend told me that she has a whole tree of them and she let me come and pick some. So I did, about 30 or so lbs. I am in persimmon heaven. I've been indulging on them daily. I've also tried a couple of recipes so far. I've made a cooked chutney which turned out amazing and not at all mushy, and today I started a fermented chutney batch, and I'll see in a couple days how that comes out.
Next I'm going to try some persimmon bread and cookies. I'm excited!
Persimmons abound!
Trixie loves them too. If I leave the bag of them on the floor she'll rummage through it until she finds one to her liking and she'll just munch on it, walking around the house holding it taking the occasional bite. It grosses me out a little because I always peel the skin off of them, like I was taught to in Korea, but she's fine, they were grown without pesticides and I wash it for her. She called them pears or apples but when I correct her she says 'simm'n!
Yay it's Persimmon season!

Booky love

I begged Adam to get me a Kindle for mother's day, and you know? He did! And oh mylanta I love it! Now considering I live in a really techy house, where we have a lot of the latest gadgets, and some so new that they have barely been released*, it would be pretty impressive to say that my Kindle is my favourite device in the house. I've even been so inspired to have gotten rid of more than half of my books, which is a large amount. I love that I can find pretty much any book that I search for** and that after I buy the book it only takes 60 seconds to upload to my device. AND if I want, most of the books are speech enabled so I can have books on tape! Then to make it even more wonderful I bought a little cover for it and a light to go with it so I can read at night without disrupting my bedfellows. (Trixie does not like any lights on at night.)
The most recent set of books that I have been reading has been the Anita Blake series. I am a little ashamed to say that I love them! They're pretty well written, although there are some pretty cliche moments, but I think it's more because the author started writing them in the 90s, making the comments about her fanny pack legitimate. Also in the later books, heck most of the books after book three, they start to get rather racy. But for the most part the plot moves along, so it's not just smut for smut's sake.
In some reviews that I've read people claim that they are enamoured with one of the characters Jean Claude, but I find him to be rather trite and over done. But mostly when I think of him I totally see The Count from Sesame Street in my head. It gets really disturbing when Jean Claude and Anita have sex.
One penis euphemism, ah ah ah, two penis euphemism ah ah ah, three penis....

*Adam's had this phone for a while as a tester. The "drrrroid" chime it makes is pretty annoying, but him and the baby love it.
**The Harry Potter series isn't on it. bummer.

Feeding a little Miss.

Feeding Trixie has become an art. As to not be unfair to her, she's not a picky eater, she's just not an eater in general. She's go through phases when she'll eat everything around her, but they're few and far between, and I'm realizing that she's a social eater. She eats well when there are others around her, but when it's just her, me and Adam she's just not much of an eater. I don't get stressed about it because she's healthy and growing so I know she's getting what she needs, I guess from the air around her. I will admit to one little picky thing she has seemed to cultivate and it's her distaste for meat. I don't think it's intentional, I think it's more she doesn't like the texture, but if I know we'll be eating a particular animal that day, I take care to not talk about that animal much. For example if we're going to have chicken, we don't read books with chickens in them, because she has made that connection. (PETA, are you there? Yes she'll come your way soon, I'm sure.)
So the arty part of feeding Trixie is that I am passionate about cultivating her immune system and keeping is working in it's peak form. As I am sure you all know I selectively vaccinate Trixie and refuse to give her any flu shots. I feel since I've made these choices I have to make a huge effort to make sure her immune system is strong to keep her healthy. So every day I aim for a variety of healthy foods for her. If you saw into my cabinets you'd see I don't have convience foods for her, but I have lots of healthy whole grains and such. Snacks are usually fresh fruit and veggies, sometimes we'll have some organic treats like animal crackers or Mum mums.
For her meals I try to be creative, especially since I eat what she does. This means I get to make new and exciting things. I try to incorporate a couple of new recipes a week, especially ones that focus on whole, healthy foods. So far I've found it to be really fun and have had very few busts.
Trixie has her favourties and so far they are:
baby rice (my name for it) soaked brown rice (2 parts) amaranth (1 part) and millet (1 part). Boil until cooked and all of the water is absorbed. I really like this because Trixie loves rice and this has lots of protein from the amaranth and goodness from the other whole grains. It's nice and sticky and I've used it in place of sticky rice in rolls. I've also used it in place of rice in various rice dishes.
Anything noodle. Trixie will eat her weight in noodles, at home I use whole grain noodles for her.
Broccoli, little trees. They will often be torn up into smaller pieces, arranged in size with the big pieces being Mama and Daddy and the small ones being baby. She does this, not me.
Cucumber discs, especially good for dipping in marinara sauce. Totally her creation. Odd.
Hummus, she will drink it given the chance.
Chilled peanut butter sammies, they don't come apart this way.
Soup! I love that Trixie loves soup! I've discovered that she loves borscht, and I always knew that she loves beets.
Any combination of beans and rice. She loves her beans and rice. This makes me happy because it's a complete protein.

To try to incorporate for protein into her diet I've tried some fake meats, but she doesn't like them. I've tried deli meats that are nitrate free and she doesn't like them. I've tried chicken nuggets and she doesn't like them. I made seitan last weekend and she ate a small piece. This might be promising. We'll see.
I'm finding that we eat a lot of vegan stuff, for no particular reason, it just seems to be what I'm drawn to. I try to avoid dairy because cow's milk still bothers her and I don't like the taste of goat's milk. I avoid eggs because of Adam, so that leaves us eating vegan.

Now to be honest we don't eat perfect for every meal, she's had french fries and she loves them. She's tasted burgers and she doesn't like them. All in all she has the same perspective on fast food as her Mama does: it's okay really rarely, but it gets gross fast!

All in all feeding a toddler is fun. I can't wait until my family is bigger and there is more cooking to be done. I love to cook!

pregnancy and birth

I had my 28 week OB appointment today, and as always I left totally irate at the quality of care and the standard of care that I get here.
Last appointment I was given a birth plan form to fill out (and by fill out I mean check the boxes of the things I want) and then we would discuss it today. Ugh ugh ugh. It didn't go well. I want more than what was on the form and it resulted in a long discussion. A lot of it was about me not wanting pitocin, and as a result my OB spent a lot of time telling me why pit. isn't horrible. I explained that my reaction and dislike of it is directly related to the poor outcome I had with it last time. She disregarded that.
So being irate I came home and stewed about it and posted to my facebook about being told the benefits of it. And of course it caused a disccusion on my facebook page. I had all sorts of comments, how it helped some people, how some people agree with me and how I should give up doctors and give birth in a hut in the woods.
After reading all of the comments I was frustrated. I think that interventions are there for a reason and I'm glad they are there. Women did die in childbirth. But I want to be treated like a healthy woman doing a natural thing (carrying a baby) and not treated like I have some terminal disease. I want to rejoice with my doctor about how wonderful this pregnancy is going and how I have such a good chance of a natural, drug free labour. I don't want to talk about potential problems, especially since there is little chance of them*.
Now I totally understand that she sees the worst of the worse, and wants to look for the worst, but I feel that someone who works with pregnant woman should also focus on the labours that go well and advocate and support for that. You know, behave more like a midwife. Not everyone will have problems, in fact I bet that really very few women have issues. But they get created and blown out of proportion and then BAM there's a problem and everyone is stressed.
I'm working hard on positive affirmation, telling myself that this labour will go well and that I will end up with the labour I want, but it's starting to wear on me that there are so many negative caregivers out there. Pooh.
Luckily I do have lots of supportive friends who are proponents of natural labour and birth, and through them I get strength and support for what I want. But I really feel for the women who just don't know and go through their pregnancy dreading the horrible birth because that is all that they are lead to believe there is.
Women do have good labours and births. It shouldn't be so hard to hear about them.

*I know I should know the risks, and I know them. But I think that there is more to having a healthy pregnancy and healthy relationship with a doctor.

Christmas for a Toddler.

Last year for Trixie's first Christmas we were pretty low key. We bought some ornaments to commemorate the day and didn't put too much effort into thinking of gifts for her because she was 10 months old and frankly was more interested in the paper. So we got her a baby doll and a box of tissues. She loved them both, a lot. The tissues have long since been torn up and thrown away, but the baby doll is still in regular rotation.
This year poses a whole new set of issues. She has opinions and likes, no wants yet though. She knows what toys are and loves the toy section of any store. I don't want to go really crazy though and overwhelm her with gifts because we don't have the space and I don't think she needs a lot of stuff. So I'm debating between a little kitchen or a toy train set. Both of which she will ADORE. Also I need to consider a gift that the baby will give her when he's born. So perhaps the kitchen would be a good Christmas gift and the train set a "yay you're world was just turned upside down and you have to love this!" gift.
Along with her big gift I'm also going to get her a little Caillou stuff, since she loves him and begs to have her Caillou time every day.
All in all, I am loving planning out her Christmas presents, it really is better to give than receive!
I'd tell you what I was going to get Adam, but he knows how to read and work a computer, so it would be less of a surprise for him! I'm sure he'd love a Daddy sized Caillou shirt though.

Vote!

Today is voting day for all of the municipalities in the whole country, I believe. I really wish I could vote! Since being a part of the neighbourhood association, I've learned a lot about local politics and have had the misfortune of meeting some of the crazy candidates who should not be given any power whatsoever. So I want to vote, just to help make sure that Loony McLoony Pat and his cronies don't make it in.
Their campaign strategy has been to verbally bash the current council members whenever possible in all medias, their favourite being using the local neighbourhood associations group emails as a forum. So I get to be privy to their shenanigans. It's taken all of my willpower to not reply to the emails about what idiots they are, but I fear that it would just result in a flame war. One of the cronies actually came to one of our neighbourhood meetings and complained about the expansion of Sunnyvale and how industrial areas are being taken over by new housing. All I could do was stare at him, with my mouth agape. Our neighbourhood is new, classified as an I to R, industrial to residential. So by his thinking we shouldn't be here. Instead the empty industrial area should have stayed, adding nothing to the city or the area. Never mind that the state has mandated that all cities have to aim for a 3% increase annually(?). He also went on how the city's funds aren't be distributed properly, implying that we shouldn't have gotten our park. So with that comment, of course, I couldn't keep quiet. I totally let loose and educated him on our park and where the funds came from. He couldn't argue, Adam supported me and we made for a lean mean political machine (at the neighbourhood association level).
Suffice to say that asshat didn't make any friends at that meeting, and yet he still emails our group.
Adam has been able support a council member up for reelection by giving him his endorsement as our neighbourhood association president. Hopefully this man wins and can help balance out the asshats who are trying to get some power.
Hopefully, we'll know more tomorrow, or even later tonight.

It's November!

Which means I get to do this daily! Yay for Nablopomo!

Yesterday was Trixie's second Halloween, and it did not go well. She was a little duck and cute as all heck, but she was a tired little duck and didn't want to march around the neighbourhood demonstrating her cuteness. To be fair she's worn the costume a lot, we had a party on Thursday and Friday, so the $50 duck costume got well worn.
Then to add insult to injury we didn't have any trick or treaters come to our house. So we have quite of stock of candy and mini playdohs. Normally this would be wonderful, but I have no sweet tooth right now, a side effect of being in the third trimester.

Happy November!

end of NaBloPoMo

finally!
It was a long month and I nearly made it. I only missed a couple of days, but in 3 years of doing this, I've never missed before today. Shameful, I know.
YAY it's December, bring on Christmas!

Rugby stuff

If you're tuned into the rugby world you know that there has been some chatter about how the Haka has been received lately.
If you're not tuned into the rugby world, or if you are a total rugby novice, I'll explain.
So first of all, the Haka is a war posturing "dance" traditionally done by the Maoris to get their adrenalin going and to freak out their opponents, and it was adopted by the All Blacks, who preform it before every match.
So as those of you in the know, know, when New Zealand played Wales last week, the Welsh team decided that they were going to take a couple of moments before the game started, after the Kiwis did their Haka, and this caused chatter in the rugby world. Many are wondering if perhaps it's unfair that the Kiwis get the time before the match to do this, and the other teams don't. Then the game today between the All Blacks and England... while the All Blacks were doing the Haka the English spectators sang "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" so loud that you couldn't hear the Haka at all.
So the controversy begins.
Personally I think that the All Blacks should continue to do the Haka and if other teams have issue with it, they can either answer to it with their own response Haka, which would be showing the Kiwis respect by doing it. (the Irish did this in 1989 and it was well received) Or perhaps each team could come up with their own thing to do to pump themselves up. In any case I think that the Haka has become an institution in rugby and I think it needs to stay, and being given the respect it always has been given.

On to other much more important issues:
isn't he yummy?

Whiney!

Yesterday we bought heaps of wine, but in that haul were some bottles of ice wine. So those of you in the know would be all shocked that I bought ice wine in New Zealand, I was. But, young grasshopper, I would reply, it is possible to make ice wine, even in the warm parts of New Zealand. Yes, technology, even the ancient kind, you know the kind where you apply cold to something and it freezes!
So apparently it is possible to make Ice wine in NZ. They just cheat! I asked a few places how they did it, one place picked their ice wine grapes at the same time as all of the other ones, then froze them whole for a couple months to dry them out and concentrate their sugars then pressed and made wine. This results in a more acidic, yet sweet ice wine. It's light like a Canadian Late Harvest, not thick on the palate and really sweet like a traditional ice wine. Also, so cheap! Like $8 US a bottle! I liked it, but it does pale in comparison to Canadian late harvests or ice wines. The acidity that it has is interesting, and it helps to cut the overt sweetness. They can achieve this by picking the grapes earlier.
Another way that it was made (I learned) was to pick them a little later then freeze and crush. Results in a sweet ice wine with less acidity. Still not as good as the Canadian counterparts, and still cheap cheap cheap. The last way I learned was to pick early or late, crush then freeze... I didn't notice much difference in the freeze then crush vs the crush then freeze, still not as good as the Canadian stuff.
I also found a Late Harvest in NZ, which is left on the vines and gets a mould or a fungus (I can't remember which) and the mouldy fungus dehydrates the grapes leaving them sweeter, and makes for a late harvest. I've also had wine from Napa like this, sold as a late harvest. Here's it's also called a Nobel wine, or if you get a cheeky sommolier a rotten wine. It's more expensive than ice wine here, and still not as good as a Canadian Late Harvest.
Now a little confusion, Late Harvest in Canada (as I learned) is when the grapes are harvested late, and thereby frozen, but not as cold as ice wine. So they are harvested at perhaps minus 8 rather than minus 13, which makes them a late harvest. However here it can be the result of the mouldy fungus, and the same in Napa. So it's not a true late harvest, which I understand to be the result of actually harvesting the grapes late, when they are frozen. Perhaps I have issues with it 'cause I am Canadian and proud of our wines, like the French are of their Champagne. So I will call a late harvest a late harvest and the rest are merely rotten wines... unless of course they are Nobel.

On another note, Chardonnay.
Those who know me know I love an oaky Chardonnay, and the oakier the better. But I'm noticing a trend that there are less and less okay Chards being made, with wine makers trending towards a less oaky, less buttery Chard, which is disturbing. So I think I need to start a movement. If you want a fruity, light white wine then drink a Pinot Gris/ Grigio or a Sauv. Blanc, but please don't mess with my oaky Chardonnay, I do love it so!
(That being said, I did have a buttery un oaked chard, which was quite good, but would have been so much better with the oak.) (to make it buttery they add an enzyme, fun with chemistry!)

Finally another wine after my heart, port, or fortified wine to call an apple an apple. We found a lovely one, which was oaky and fruity and so lovely....

Hmm after all this talk of wine, I think I'm off to have a glass or two or three....

Wine-oh!

Okay first of all business....
I've missed a couple of posts, I'm ashamed. So very ashamed. It's hard to keep up with this daily posting thing, while on vacation in a country half of the world away and keep track of what time it is at home, oh also? Sketchy internets.

Okay wine.
I loves the wine, oh yes I do.
So today as we were leaving Napier (in Hawks Bay, big ol' wine country in NZ) we decided that we would hit up a couple wineries. So at 10 am we go to the first one, taste 4 or 5 wines, buy a bottle and go to the next one, expecting the same, 4or 5 and go to the next place. Except... at the second winery there were 10 tastings with a fortified wine at the end, and since Adam isn't much of a port man I finished his too, so that's 11 tastings. It's safe to say I'm tipsy. It's noon. So on to the next winery, I taste 5 more wines and we buy one or two bottles, and I can't remember 'cause I was a little more than tipsy; in my defense, the wine was good!
To combat the tipsyness we stayed there for a very posh and pricey lunch and then head off towards Gisborne, but I manage to convince Adam that we need to stop at a couple more wineries. Heh heh heh. We stopped at one, and I had many more tastes. Then I slept most of the 3 hour drive back to Gisborne.
So our grand total of bottles of wine bought so far this trip is 18. Our luggage is going to be heavy!!
(also lets note how relaxed the US is about bringing booze into the country!)

Wellington

We're in Wellington! It's the capitol of New Zealand. We drove down yesterday with a short stop in Naiper to see the how the city is all art deco-ey. When we got to Wellington there were no hotel rooms anywhere, so we went to the closest town, Lower Hut and there were no rooms there, so we went to Upper Hut and finally were able to find a room.
Today we're at Te Papa which is the museum in Wellington. Some parts of it were really amazing, of course I loved all of the Maori exhibits....
We're off to stay in a posh hotel tonight then back towards Gisborne tomorrow with lots of winery stops. I wonder how many bottles of wine I can take home, so far we have 9! (the tariff in the USA is 10 cents a bottle if you are over limit)
(sorry short, on pay internet with an uber crappy keyboard!)

9 months

Dear Beatrix,
Today, my sweet baby you turn 9 months old! And what a crazy month it's been! You've been very busy, on all aspects of development. You are trying so hard to learn to crawl, and you have certainly mastered moving backwards, and as of today you have crawled forwards a couple of crawls or steps as they may be. I suspect that I will soon have a very mobile and active baby on my hands. Even without the ability to move forwards all that well you are quite good at getting around. Initially you would spin on your tummy, but more recently you have been kind of scooting and pushing yourself around backwards. Not always to an intended place, but where ever you seem to end up is good for you.
In terms of your eating, you've decided that pureed foods aren't at all acceptable, and you much prefer finger foods. And really, my little darling, that is okay with me. I wouldn't want to eat pureed foods all of the time either! Your Daddy and I have exposed you to all sorts of different types of cuisines, and you love them all. The most shocking one that you've had has been Indian, and you ate it up, surprising everyone in the restaurant! Just a couple of days ago we gave you some really watery apple juice and you seemed to be a little confused with it, but you soon learned that it was good stuff... liquid ambrosia, as one of our friends calls it.
You still love bananas and all things banana related the best and I can always get you to eat them. Often for breakfast you and I will sit on the floor and share a couple of waffles and a banana.
We've been travelling again this month. Right now we are in New Zealand visiting your Nana and Papa. You adjusted very well to the time change, much better than your Daddy! And since we've been here you've had lots of fun and lots of kiwis! I think that you might be a little New Zealander at heart!
You have started chatting more, but not using a lot of hard consonants yet; a lot of mamas and dadas, but mostly you love to sing. You sing at everything, at your toys, when we're in the car, if you hear something humming, and along with Mama. Also with the singing, you love it when I sing, even though I am always flat, you seem to love it. If you are fussing I just need to belt you "Twinkle Twinkle" or "The Grand Ol' Duke" and you immediately stop fussing. It's quite adorable, and frankly, makes me feel so special.
Your potty training or potty learning continues to go well. In the 3 months that we have been doing it you have had only a couple of poopy diapers, I would guess less than 5! Everyone is quite amazed that you are so smart and that you are learning so quickly, but we know that you would do better if I was better at noticing when you are peeing! We'll figure it out though, you and I, we will.
We're still working on your signing, and we use several signs, and I know that you know them because you'll get excited when I make a sign, and rather than you signing back, you flap your arms. I am sure that like your pottying, you'll start using your signs more and more. I did notice this month though, that you do use your milk sign often, I just wasn't noticing it. Silly Mama!
You have developed quite a sense of humour and will laugh at so many things. Your favourite thing to laugh at though, is Daddy and his funny faces. I think that perhaps you might be a little comedienne in the making! Chachi also never fails to crack you up, especially when you two are playing tug of war. It's so sweet!
Trixie, my little darling, you are the sweetest baby and I am so happy that you're mine!
Love always,
Mama.

Honey Hive and Meadery

Today we're going to a mead brewery. I've had mead before and didn't much like it, but I do love honey and perhaps this will be yummier mead.
Trixie is 9 months old today here, but not yet in North America... which totally doesn't make sense, I know.
Well, I'm on paid internet, and therefor I have no time. Perhaps I'll have to do another nablowrimo in January so that I can have more time to prattle on and on....
Until we meet again....

Yummy Hangi Dinner

Last night we had our Hangi dinner, and it was so good! The Hangi is the method that the meal is cooked in, like a luau, it's traditionally cooked in a heated pit, however ours was cooked in a geothermal oven since we're in an area that is full of volcanic activity. Anyhow, it was good, not good for a vegetarian though! Our meal had 7 different kinds of meat in it, so kind of a cholesterol fest! (well not really, there was shrimp, mussels, fish, chicken, pork, lamb and venison). We also had Pavlova, rum pudding and bread and butter pudding. So good! After the dinner there was a Maori concert which was pretty amazing. Trixie was mesmerized by the dancing and singing. Then Adam and my dad were called up to learn the Haka, which was a funny, funny sight.
All in all I want to go to another one, not 'cause of the food, which was good, the but concert was so much better!

And so concludes my review of the Hangi.

Pucker Power

Dearest Trixie,
When kissing Mama, could you pucker your sweet little lips? The open mouthed kissed while you're teething and super drooling are cute, but a little impractical.
Love always,
Your drool smeared Mama.

Rotorua

We're in Rotorua, it's the Kiwi equivalent of Banff for tourists. There's a lake and a bunch of hot springs and stuff. Becasue of all of the geothermal activity the whole area smells of sulphur, ick!
Tomorrow we're going to a hangi which is like a luau. Fun!
Anyhow short post 'cause it's $2 for 15 minutes!
Hopefully this will post on CA's time, or I've missed a day! DOH!

Tooth Watch

Day 270...
no teeth. However there have been a lot of drool, buckets and buckets, for about 4 months now.
We're waiting....

Eating in Kiwiland.

So far we haven't had anything quintessentially kiwi (except for kiwis*!), but today we did go to McDonalds to get something to drink and we were looking at the burgers expecting to see a lamb burger or something like that. There were no lamb burgers, but there was a Kiwi Burger, which wan't made of wee little Kiwi birds or the fruit, it was strange though.
Kiwi Burger, a la McDonalds (bottom to top):
bottom bun
egg
cheese
burger patty (it's a big one, like the quarter pounder)
obscene amount of lettuce
onion
tomato slices
pickled beet slices
ketchup
mustard
top bum

Sounds good?
Honestly it was, okay. The egg was a shock, and I didn't like it much, and there were too many onions, but I always think that. The pickled beet? Really good! It just adds that pickled taste to the burger, and I love beets, so why not? I did have to take it all apart since it fell apart, and I ended up not eating the patty 'cause, well together it's okay, but on it's own McDonalds beef isn't that great!

Tonight we're having mussels, YUMM! And I've been promised a roast of mutton! hmmm.....

* I had a yellow kiwi, it's like a green one but not as tangy or acidic. It was nice. Trixie was playing with one and managed to break the skin and eat much of it! Oh yeah, we have pictures!

Babywearing!

I've been wearing Trixie a lot here and it's strange the looks of total amazement I get. A lot of people are commenting about how they are surprised to see that I have a baby "in there", I guess they just think I'm wearing a back pack. I thought that I would see a lot more people wearing babies, but I've seen no one and we've been out and about both days that we have been here.
Hopefully soon.... I don't think I have the energy to convert a whole country!

We've arrived!

We're here! We're in New Zealand! It looks a lot like California, well more than a lot. I don't much feel like I've left, except for the whole driving on the wrong side of the road thing.
I don't feel much jet lag, but I don't think I can say the same for Trixie and Adam. Trixie is a little grumpier than usual and Adam is kinda morose.... It will pass, I'm sure!
Anyhow Regan is going to guest post, so I won't steal her thunder.
Boom away Regan, boom away!

T minus 6 hours

Until we board a plane for 13 hours, with a baby.
hmmmm doesn't Benadryl help babies to sleep?
Heh.

Also on the gall bladder news. I have a surgery date! I've suggested we call it the plop and drop date, as in they will plop it out of me and drop it into some receptacle. Hopefully... unless there is too much scar tissue then I will get a big ol' cut, above the bikini line. Which will ruin any chances I'd ever had to wear a Princess Leia gold bikini and be convincing. Oh well.

Survivor!

I watched Survivor last night and the skinny science guy, Bob, made his own idol. It seems that this has been a trend in past seasons. Ozzy made one last season, and Yao Man another season, and I think someone else did another time, so it's common. I started to think, that I should either create a "make your own idol kit" or just take the fixin's to make my own if I should ever go on the show.
(not that I plan on it, but you know, things happen.)
Also if I ever go on the show, I will swear on Adam or Trixie to get what I want, you know why I can do this with no shame? Because it's a game! Oh and really what does it mean to swear on someone? Is it like no trade-seys? Or no take-sey back-sies? So then kinda by definition Survivor is just a higher stakes playground game?
Interesting.

Oh yeah I go to New Zealand tomorrow! Whoo hoo!

The Gall! (bladder)

Hey did you notice the post from yesterday, kinda lame, eh? I know that Adam wrote it, from his phone in the ER, and I'm totally not judging his writing. In fact I am so happy he posted, helps with the one a day, ya know. Anyhow there's totally a story.

Since I've had Trixie I've had these excruciatingly bad pains in my abdomen and I thought that they were gas pains, so I went with that, gas pains. I took Gas-X like it was candy and complained and moaned that I was going to die, waiting for the pain to pass. At first it did in a couple of hours, and during that time I was still able to function, so it wasn't much of an issue. But each episode would get worse and worse and finally when I would have "the pain" I would be layed up in bed quietly dying... although I'm sure Adam would say I wasn't so quiet. (so painful!) Before I went to Canada the last time I had "the pain" again and it lasted 3 days, which also included me being on a plane with Trixie. Lets say I was less than amused. It sucked. I'm not sure how I survived. While in Canada I had "the pain" two more times, for a shorter time, but so much more intense. Anyhow can you see where this is going?
I keep getting gas pains, they are getting worse and worse and more frequent. I don't see a doctor, eat Gas X like it's candy and it does nothing. I suffer, Adam gets little sleep.
Then I get the mother of all of the episodes last Saturday night and it's so painful that I throw up, several times, which wears my throat raw and makes me have bloody puke. On Monday Adam tells me to call the doctor, and she tries to prescribe me antacids. I refuse because I want to know why this is happening, and not just mask it with drugs, because I would like to get pregnant soon and I don't want to be reliant on scary drugs. My doctor gets exasperated with me and sends me to a allergist who pokes me many times for a skin test which proves I have no allergies (yay I can drink milk again!) I have many blood tests and I am not pregnant, no allergic to wheat and have no issues with any of the organs she tested. (she didn't test my liver....) Then last night "the pains" start again. So I rush to take an over the counter antacid and a handful of tums all washed down with some strong peppermint tea. I wait. There is still a lot of pain. Adam comes home and finds me crying from the pain (seriously as bad as labour pain, but with no breaks) so I call an advise nurse who tells me to go to the hospital NOW! We pack up the baby and go. We fill out forms, have my blood pressure checked and temperature checked (high- duh!, normal) and we wait. While we wait Trixie makes eyes at everyone she sees and they all coo over her, I try not to bite off the heads of random strangers in a hospital who are touching my baby, and I practice the breathing techniques I learned in my birth class. (they worked!) Finally I am called in and placed in a small room. I am asked a lot of questions, over and over. (why don't they read each other's notes?) Finally after a lot of breathing exercises, a couple tears and many doctors and nurses I have more blood drawn and am promised pain killers. The Big Burly Nurse comes in and he prepares an IV, (in my elbow!) and prepares to give me morphine, which I'm allergic to. (seriously, read the notes....) So he bustles off to find some other narcotic to inject me with, and comes back. It goes like this: inject, me freak out because I am immediately dizzy, BBN says it will pass in a minute and to breathe, I have no pain, but still dizzy. (and was until today)
The first doctor who I saw in the hospital comes in again and I can talk normally and not be gasping in pain, she tells me that I have the classic, albeit more intense, symptoms of passing a gall stone. She asks if I've ever been checked for gall stones -no. Ever had an abdominal ultrasound (not baby ultrasound) -no. Ever had blood tests to check for gall stones -no. So apparently my regular doctor who wanted to prescribe antacids is an idiot, and this isn't the first time she's totally screwed up... not the 2nd either. (new doc search commences when I get back from New Zealand) Anyhow the hospital doc says that she'll come back with the blood test results. Then BBN comes in and says I need to pee in a cup, which I hate. I do though, and one would guess I am so dehydrated that my pee would be consistency of syrup. (it wasn't) I later mention this to the doctor and she is convinced it's my gall bladder since dark urine is a classic symptom. The doctor comes back and tells me that my liver is behaving like the liver of someone who is a heavy drinker, except I don't drink, so it's a surefire sign that I have gall bladder issues. I am told that they are keeping me over night and I will get an ultrasound in the morning. If my gall bladder is infected or inflamed they will remove it. Which would mean that I would have to postpone our trip to New Zealand. Adam and Trixie go home since it's 2 in the morning, Adam was dead tired and Trixie was sleeping on me after having charmed the pants off of everyone until 1 am. I am left alone in the small ER room, listening to the chaos that is an ER. Adam and Trixie come back at 8:30 am, Adam's eyes are all red and Trixie launches herself at me, in the cute way that she does. (Trixie woke up several times, so Adam didn't get much sleep.) We sit around and wait and wait and wait. Then I am moved to the part of the ER where they keep people who have to stay over night. "It has a TV!" woo. Finally I am taken for an ultrasound. We come back to my new room. We wait, again, a lot. A new doctor comes in and... wait for it... I have gall stones! My gall bladder isn't inflamed or infected so I will have to make appointments with surgery and book an appointment to have it removed.
So YAY I get to go to New Zealand on time, but it looks like we might have to postpone trying to get pregnant, and hopefully we won't have to postpone it so much that I will have to redo the other surgeries I had earlier this summer.
Oh I was also prescribed vicodine... in case "the pain" returns.
So how was your night?

Ready for vacation

Adam here...

We're getting ready for our trip to Kiwiland. I'm looking forward to it, but it's making work a bit boring. I can't really start anything interesting, so I'm just working on little boring tasks. It makes the anticipation all the more palpable!

International Baby Wearing Week

Did you know?
It's International Baby Wearing Week! And by luck, I will be wearing Trixie, Internationally this week! How fortuitous!
You know I love baby wearing, even now with Trixie being nearly 18 pounds. I've mastered the back carry using the Beco. I also use a New Native Pouch (although since I've lost weight, it's getting large on me and she hangs a little low, but she does love it!) and I use a wrap and do a hip carry. (I use a sliding knot, it's the same knot I used to tie my Brownie tie with when I was wee. I knew it would come in handy!)
So if you have a baby, try to wear them this week!

Remembrance Day.

Normally I talk about my Grannie and Grampa a lot in November since there are so many dates that pertain to them this month:
Nov. 5, my Grannie's birthday and their wedding anniversary
Nov. 11, Remembrance Day, which was always important to my Grandpa, and therefore, me
Nov. 28, the day my grandpa died.

I still want to talk about them, but I've said a lot of it already. So I'll just link to it. But I had to mention them today, I think of my Grandparents a lot today. I told Trixie about Remembrance Day today, and we saw a ceremony (as we were driving by it) and I told her all about it. I'll keep telling her all about it. I'm going to make sure that she understands what today is all about, and why it's important.
She will remember too.

Videos!

These are videos of Trixie laughing at/ with Adam as he pulled his sweater up over half of his face. Apparently that is highly amusing to an 8 month old.

Another day, another post....

It's Sunday, already?
I may not have thought through this posting every day thing... hmmm.
We went to a friend's today to play games and we brought Agricola, which is my new favourite game right now. Normally I like a game either as multi player or two player, but this is equally as fun either way. (it also helps that I seem to be able to kick ass at it!)
There are a lot of pieces in the game, but it's fairly easy to learn, but there is some good strategy, which makes for a great game.
Trixie also appreciates it for all of the colours!

i gots nufin'

It's 11:30 pm, and I am tired and have a totally blank mind. I can't conjure a decent post if I tried. So I will continue to eat my Halloween candy, (screw the diet, but did you know, I'm down 28.5 lbs!!), and I will contemplate posts, that don't require much energy.
Hey wait! Did I tell you the story about how Trixie was poopin' and scootin'? Oh, hmm that was yesterday's brain dead post.
Oh this child and her night time waking for the painful teefs! I swear I am getting less sleep now then when she was brand new. At least when she was new I could nap a lot during the day, and she didn't require much energy, short of feedings and bum changes, but now there is less napping, more moving and shaking. Oh but the cute? Did I mention the cute? I love watching her little personality emerge! But I'll save it for the monthly letter, oh I need to finish last months... tomorrow. (always tomorrow)
Hmm look a post emerged, but it's cut into my Hershey's Mr. Goodbar time. (they're surprisingly good, like a peanut M&M without the candy shell and in bar form, yum!)

I have a baby, her name is Trixie!

Come on, you have to give me a little credit, I've gone 7 days without a Trixie themed post!
So today while Trixie was on the potty I was working away on the computer and I heard this "scritch scritch" and I look down to see that she's pulling herself along with her heels, on the potty, while she's pooping. Funny, funny, funny. I wish I would have had the video camera ready to go, next time, I hope!
(we were in the office on the hardwood, we use her potty in every room, where ever we are in case the need strikes quickly.)

Christmas Capers

Trixie and I went to the mall today to start our Christmas shopping, because I want to get a jump on it and we needed to get out of the house so she didn't drive me crazy.
Mostly we wandered around the mall window shopping and I tried to think of the perfect present for her first Christmas. So I decided that it should be a keepsake, and I thought jewelry, but I'm not sure what beyond that. An ID bracelet? But it won't fit her in a couple of years. A necklace? Same issue. Perhaps a small ring that fits her now, and then she can have it as a necklace charm in the years to come? Or perhaps a lovely pearl, then a new one at birthdays and Christmases until she has enough for a necklace.
So I am officially stumped.
Ideas?

YAY Obama, Boo Prop 8!

Lets start this post on a happy note, shall we?
So first of all, I am so over the moon that Obama won. And how great that it was California that sent him over the top and totally crushed McCain?
Last night we were at a friend's and we all crowded around her TV to watch McCain concede and to watch Obama's speech. It was pretty amazing, and I may have gotten a little teary eyed. I am so happy that I can look forward to the next for years rather than dread what might happen next.
On Jan. 20 I predict that Obama and family will rent a really strong steam cleaner to get the Bush stink out of the White House!

And the not so happy note.
Prop 8 passed, and I am not happy. More than not happy. I am devastated. I would like to be naive and say that I don't understand how a blue state could let this happen. But I guess, blue or red, hate is hate and there is hate, and this proposition was peddlin' the hate.
We were in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago and I saw a Yes on Prop 8 sign in a church window, which upset me. It bothers me that people use religion to perpetuate hate, and really, wouldn't a true Christian be tolerant? I think, too, that fear played a part, but I don't understand it. The Yesers talk about preserving marriage and whatnot, and I think that gay marriage does it's part to preserve it. Marriage is about love and commitment, not about penises and vaginas and the "proper" distribution of them. So for the religious folk who claim that marriage is only for a man and a woman, what about hetero people on their 4th or 5th marriages? I think that those people have destroyed the sanctity of marriage more then a lesbian couple who love each other and have been committed to each other for a long time. Furthermore just because the gay guys in the apartment next to you are married doesn't negate your hetero marriage, only you can negate your own marriage. So why the fear? Why the hate?
Also to add insult to injury one of the provisions of prop 8 is that only a marriage between a man and a woman is "valid or recognized" in California. Therefore anyone who was married is no longer; how horrible is that?
A friend commented yesterday that if you were to read the proposition and replace "gay" with "black" (or Chinese, Indian, white, blue eyed, brown eyed....) that it would be a horribly bigoted proposition. And yet, it passed.

I am sad.

Obama Wins!

And the Nos take prop 8!
Those are my predictions. I hope they come true, because I can't imagine a world where they don't.
I really hate that Adam and I couldn't vote in this election. We did donate though, hopefully that will help. Every little bit, right?

Four

Four things today.

4- number of years since Adam's and my first date.




(This was taken 3 weeks after we met, Adam came to visit me in Vegreville and he wanted a picture to show his mom. Look how short my hair was!)

3- number of parental units (and grandparental units) we have

(My mom's side. l-r, her then boyfriend Mike, Adam, me and my mom. She's back with Mike now though, so I guess he's not her then boyfriend.)

(My dad's side, l-r, my step-mom, Gabrielle (who Trixie is named after) Adam, me, my dad.)

(Adam's side, his mom, Adam, me, his dad.)

2- number of weddings we've had

(During our January ceremony, becoming husband and wife, legally.)

(Kissy, kissy!)

(So happy.)

(Saying our vows during the June ceremony, wherein a lot of money was spent to have 130 people watch us reenact our committing to each other, we did take some poetic licence and make nicer vows and changing our attire.)

1- number of children we have

(The cutest Yoda, ever!)

NaBloPoMo

Hey! Yesterday was November first! I did a blog post! That means it must be NaBloPoMo! And you know I can't resist a whole month of posting about the drivel of my life, except it's less drivel-y now and much more dribbly now! (I have officially used my exclamation point allowance for the day.)

(the early stages of the dribble, she's quite effective at it now, but I have no pictures of it.)

So even though I am going to New Zealand this year I will make a valiant attempt to post everyday. I'm not sure how I will do considering I will lose a day on the way to New Zealand. I think I'll have to employ some kind of technology to help me. I have no idea how to do this, it's a really good thing that I have a geeky husband!

I will not be doing NaNoWriMo this year though. I do not have the time for that.

Also since there is a new Tweedle in the house, we'll need a Tweedle-esque name for her. Suggestions? I'll choose the best suggestion and reveal it at the end of the month. (if they all suck, I'll cry.)

Have a great November!

Poor Houdini

Living in California has left me a little stale on my Canadian news, and especially my Okanagan news.
I just found out today that highway 97 between Peachland (the town I grew up in) and Summerland (the town my dad lived in while I was growing up, which is right next to Peachland) is closed because the mountain is sliding. The problem with this is that this highway is the link between the Central and South Okanagan Valley. To get around you can go north around the lake, but that is a seriously huge detour, you can go through the mountains, which is a less huge detour, or you can take a free water taxi, but you are left without your car at the end, in an area with crappy transit. Luckily this is where the Valley has a natural economic break, because Peachland is associated with Kelowna and Summerland with Penticton.
Let's also say, that I'm glad that I'm not living there right now. There was a time when I had to drive that highway everyday, going from Summerland to Kelowna.
Now Houdini, he is a Mountain Goat that fell in the fissure that was created by the mountain slipping away. He was rescued and some guy with dreads gave him mouth to muzzle, so Houdini lives another day, and Dread Guy is now known as the guy who kissed a goat.

Last day of November...

Horray!
Not that I don't love to blog, but it's tedious to do it everyday.

I promised to tell you my first memory of my Grampa.
We were driving from either Peachland to Edson or vise versa, and I remember it was a long trip, and I refused to pee anywhere.
When we got to home, I jumped out of the car, grabbed my crotch and told my Grampa: "Bring the pot Poppa, bring the pot!"
I must have been about 2 or so since I was still using a potty (my mom confirms I was about 2ish), but I remember running for the door yelling for the pot.

Ahhh fun times.

Today sucks

My grandpa died 13 years ago today. I planned to write a post about my earliest and last memory of him. I don't have it in me to write it.
It's been a no good, very bad day, for a variety of reasons.
pooh, more tomorrow.

Good Luck Sue!

Today my cousin's wife Sue goes in to take her citizenship test. I'm excited for her, and I'm sure that she will do wonderfully.
When I was talking to her last night I asked about some of the questions that would be on the test and they were hard. Questions that not many Canadians would know. I find it funny that a landed immigrant who wants to be a Canadian has to know more than someone who graduated form the public school system in Canada. And for that matter what about if Adam and I decided to get dual citizenships. I'm going to have to learn a lot of stuff that will just clog my brain up.
I do feel lucky though, if I do get my citizenship here I can still be a Canadian citizen, and yet Sue has to give up her Korean citizenship. It's a little sad I think. But I do understand it, Korea is still in a war, albeit a cold war, but it's a war and I guess it's a good way for Korea to keep it's citizens loyal.
When I was in Korea I met a woman who had her son in Hawaii making him a dual citizen (Korea allows that to age 18), but she was going to leave him as an American citizen only so that he could avoid the mandatory draft when he got older. Learning that made me really thankful to be Canadian.
Anyhow, good luck Sue!

28 Weeks

Third trimester! YAY! Which means I'm in the home stretch!
Anyhow I had my OB appointment today and everything is all good and good. The doctor is happy with how much weight I've gained, or haven't depending how you look at it. The baby's heart beat is good and thumpy, she's growing at a good rate and my blood pressure is still lower than what it was while I was trying to get pregnant. SO hooray!
Tomorrow I go and see the midwife, which should be interesting. I'm still going to have a home birth, and still excited. We told the doctor today and she was really supportive, which I was happy about. I really appreciate that she trusts my decision and didn't give me, or Adam any grief or try to scare us out of it.
Tonight we're putting up the Christmas tree and Adam is busy vacuuming up a cactus he knocked over. (it was the one that was growing the best too, it's like plants are doomed in this house!) We're using the same Charlie Brown tree as last year, and I should have pictures which I may post here, but will be on my Facebook.

Epidurals or "You want to screw what into my baby's head?"

In our Bradley class today we talked about epidurals.
I was really impressed with our instructor who is very pro natural birth to condone epidurals. She explained to us that they are tools and that they can be helpful. I can understand this, and I know of some people that used them at the perfect time resulting in a great birth, perhaps if they wouldn't have used them, then they would have had a c-section. That being said I do not want one. I've always known that I don't want one, but after seeing the internal monitor that gets screwed into the scalp of your baby when you have one, pretty much sealed the no epidural deal for me.
To be clear I don't want to screw anything into my baby's scalp.

(Okay, I know it's just a little needle, and I know that hundreds of them are used a day, but what fun would it be if I didn't pull out all of the drama, because really when I looked at the little needle, it was a full sized wood screw, waiting to bore into the skull of my baby. No I'm not hormonal at all....)

Is it December yet?

No really, is it? Posting everyday is getting old, fast!
Tomorrow is the Grey Cup, which is the Super Bowl for the Canadian Football League for my American friends. Adam is thinking about going to a pub to watch it, but I don't know. BC isn't playing, so I have no interest. I am happy that Edmonton's not in it though.
Also for the record, I wouldn't mind if the baby is born during the Super Bowl, just so I don't have to watch it!

For the man who has everything...

including a built in sweater.

The Mangroomer.

Thanksgiving miscellany

So Thanksgiving yesterday was so fun! We went to Regan and Jason's for a good ol' American Thanksgiving and it was gooood, and so different from any Thanksgiving I've had before. We had yummy southern things like sweet potatoe pie, dirty rice, pecan pie, and other southern yummy things that I can't remember the name of. And also so good, which I've mentioned, but it needed to be repeated.
I learned a couple of things too, first it's not pee-can it's puhcahn, and they make good pies! Dirty rice does not have dirt in it, but yummy sausage! (okay I knew it wasn't made with dirt, but I didn't know why it was called dirty) Lily is the tiniest dog ever, just over half of the size of Chachi. And I can't forget that cranberry sauce comes in 3 flavours! (homemade, homemade with orange and cylinder shaped)
Such a good day!

Thanksgiving

Today is the American Thanksgiving, which means Adam gets an extra long weekend and we're going to a friend's for dinner and they're making a lot of distinctly American dishes. Fun!
Being the history/ anthropological geek I am I was thinking about the beginnings of Thanksgiving. We all know the story, the Pilgrims were fools and didn't plan and the local Indians helped them out, they had a great shared meal and they all loved each other. Until the next day when the Pilgrims took the land, by force and justified it by quoting bible verses. The trend continues the Indians and First Nations (depending on which country you're in to determine which term is more correct) are forced off of their lands into small, dismal reservations, forced to give up their languages and forced to practice their culture in secret. The budding governments justify this and more and more genocide happens, either with the killing of masses of non-Europeans or by forcing out their culture. And yet Thanksgiving is still celebrated. Some people hate Thanksgiving, citing some of the reasons I've stated.
I don't hate it. I hate where is came from, but now I see it more as a family holiday, like it's been colloquialized (to make up a word), like Christmas to the non-religious folk. It's a day for us to relax and reflect on our lives. I think it serves a purpose in today's busy lifestyle and I will continue to celebrate today.
But I won't recount the stupid Indian and Pilgrim story, damn puritans with their bible justified killing. sigh.

What weight words carry. *edited*

A couple of days ago a friend sent me a forwarded email joke which I found to be distasteful. (it poked fun at a minority group) So I send her an email saying that I didn't like it. Mostly I was shocked that she would send me something like that, but in retrospect it could be seen as funny, if you're not an overly sensitive twit like I am. She replied and said that she wouldn't send me any more emails like that.
So it made me think of what words can really do and how much weight they actually carry. I think back to the whole kerfuffle with Don Imus earlier this year, and how I felt that it was justified that he lose his job for making a distasteful remark. However after the dust had settled I heard another point of view of a comedian who says that words are words, they don't have to hurt you, and to my shock I agreed with this comedian. Words are words, they're not little floaty things wielding a bat to physically hit you, they don't have to hurt you.
However the uber PC side of me argues that words can carry weight and can foster larger issues, such as hate and bigotry. I remember when I was 10 my mom and I were walking into a store behind a husband and wife of another culture and my mom made a horribly racist comment accompanied by a rude gesture, and as a ten year old I didn't think much of it. I had no idea that what she had done was morally wrong; I remember feeling that I shouldn't laugh, that they are who they are, but I didn't pursue the issue, I was 10. Now when I think back I see that those words were weighted, heavily, I was an impressionable child and at that point I could have learned hate. (now this isn't to say my mother is hate filled, she believes what she does and I'm not going to discuss it now) I also think of my father growing up and some of the racial slurs he would unleash in my and my brother's presence. For some reason none of that bigotry stuck with me, but it did to my brother, and he still uses some of those slurs in his everyday language. He learned it as a child, and now he uses those words without thought, not always in malice but they do have negative connotations. Should they be viewed as hurtful? It's not like my dad taught him to seek out people of a different ethnicity and beat them with a tire iron.
That is my conundrum, if words and slurs are part of your vernacular are they hurtful? Are we as a culture sometimes overly sensitive to words, are we giving too much power to them? Shouldn't we give them no thought like we were taught to do with the school yard bully? To expand on the question, at what point do we stop and let a word be a word? For example the politically correct term is little person, it used to be dwarf, and before that midget, now short stature is becoming more acceptable. When does it end, or really how do we keep up with what is acceptable? What about retarded? That used to be a perfectly acceptable term and now it's not, we must use developmentally challenged.
Now I do understand that context can carry a message, making the words weightier, but still they are not wielding a bat; sticks and stones, right? So here I am, torn, I have always believed that we should always honour what someone or some culture prefers, however sometimes it's a full time job to keep up with what's acceptable and what's not. Personally I will always choose to keep up with what is correct and what isn't, and if I make a mistake I will apologize, and I'll teach my children the same. But to what extent? Where's the line in the sand? Am I short, or am I vertically challenged? Should the line only go as far as to protect ethnicities and cultures? What if I'm truly offended by being called short?
What do you think?


Edited, check this out. It is an example of being overly PC in my books.

Christmas (wish) List, part one.

I'm going to make this part one, because I know there's more. So this isn't so much to say as I want all of these, but more, my wish list. The real reason for it? To help Adam. He needs help. And since I love him so, I will help him

1. The Ex, in chrome. I need a knife block, this is perfect.
2. An enamel dutch oven. I make soup at least once a week, and a sauce just as frequently and I have coveted a dutch oven for so long. Also I adore cooking with cast iron, it distributes heat so beautifully. I would prefer it to be in blue, but frankly I will take any colour.
3. A Kitchenaid mixer. They're so wonderful. I want blue, chrome or pink. They're so wonderful just looking at one makes me happy.
4. Denby tableware. It's the colour that our friends gave us for the wedding and I love it. Imperial blue. I love how they know me so well!

I think this will suffice for what I wish for in the kitchen, there is more, but these top my list, today.

I want to do this!

And then I'll microwave some CDs too!

Apples!

Before I was pregnant I would get the most killer heartburn ever! I would often wake up in agonizing pain, chew/ choke on 4-5 tums to get it under control and go back to sleep. This went on forever. (I think it was related to all of the strange hormones I had in me.) After I got pregnant and my hormones lessened, yes lessened, the heartburn subsided and I was so happy. I was able to sleep for a whole night, with NO PAIN! Joy of joys!
Then I entered the second trimester, and oh the heart burn came back, slowly, then it was all out vicious again. I was back to my multi tums, multi times a night habit. By now I had perfected my tums chewing skills where I would barely taste them and swallow them without too much gagging. Then I learned that apples can help with heartburn. Plain ol' apples. So I tried, I ate one before I went to bed, and I 'slept' through the night without heartburn! (I quote slept because when you pee every hour and can't get comfy, sleeping is a joke.) But no heart burn. I have been heartburnless for nearly 2 weeks, just by eating apples.
I am amazed!
Really and truly. And my heartburn was so bad I would almost throw up from it.
I've never been a fan of apples, I guess growing up in an area where there is an apple orchard every block could do that, but now here I am loving the apple.
It's truly amazing!

Sometimes Facebook creeps me out.

I like Facebook for the ability for me to keep in touch with all of my friends at home in a really easy manner. I like it because I've been able to reconnect with some old friends from high school. Sometimes it's fun to run across your ex's profile and see that's he's not aged so well, then you can gloat a little. And sometimes I get really creeped out when skeletons from childhood friends past emerge and leave me messages, all shocked that I'm married and grown up.
I send back nice messages that, YAY California is wonderful, I have an amazing husband, yadda yadda. But what I really want to say is "Dude I'm 30, so my being married isn't that weird! And also there's a reason I don't have my maiden name on there!" But I don't instead I end up friending them, and they languish on my friend list, and we never converse again.
Sometimes Facebook is so weird.
But it's a great place to put Chachi pictures! AND SCRABBLE! I haven't mentioned the scrabble. I loves the scrabble so!

Chachi vs Ice Cream

Last night Adam brought home pumpkin pie, so we had a yummy treat. We had some ice cream in the freezer and finished it off with the pie, and poor Chachi was giving me such puppy dog eyes that I HAD to.

He pushed the ice cream container all over the kitchen and into the living room. Then when we pulled it off of his head he was so slimy, so he had an impromptu puppy baby wipe bath. Then he was less than amused, but with a belly full of ice cream he allowed it.

Baby Update.

I haven't talked about the baby in a while so I thought I should mention some of the new developments.
This week she's about the length of a cucumber according to Baby Centre. She's close to 2 pounds, starting to gain lots of weight and beginning some serious brain development.
To facilitate all of this I've been eating a lot more protein than I've ever eaten before and taking the cod liver oil to help her little brain grow. I've noticed that since I've really increased my protein intake she's become a lot more active. I've said before that she was very active and she was, then she settled down, still giving me a jab every couple hours, but lately she's been jabbing me every couple minutes.
When asked before I would describe the jabs as feeling like gas bubbles, but lately they feel more like my stomach is rolling, like it does right before you throw up. I guess she's higher up, but I still feel most of the pokes low. I do know that my placenta is high on the front and on the top, so that would be why I can't feel her up there.
I have been having lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. They don't hurt at all, but some are quite intense and it takes my breath away. On the topic of breath, I can feel that my lung capacity is about half. I find it disturbing, like I've become very unfit. It's a little demoralizing, but I know it's temporary.
Physically I look pregnant, but no cute little basketball bellies here. I feel like a weeble, or even a barrel with legs. I can only wear whole panel maternity pants, since the half panel ones cut into me. I am even growing out of all of my yoga style pants, which is really upsetting because that means I have a rotation of 3 pair of pants, which includes one pair of jeans. I'm leery to go and buy a lot of clothes since I'll only need them for a couple more months, but I do need more.
I think I'm lucky that I haven't been plagued by the mask of pregnancy that some woman get. Since I am so fair I don't have enough melanin to make the mask, so hooray! The skin on my face is much the way it's always been, but the skin on my chest and shoulders is that of a teenager, and it's disturbing. I'm hoping that this too shall pass.
I know that there have been requests for pictures, but I just don't feel like taking one. Sorry.
Eating is still a challenge, I haven't gotten my appetite back from the first trimester, although I don't have aversions, I just don't want to eat. Most days I have to force feed myself since thinking about food is revolting. Especially meat and protein stuff, I wish I could live on fruit, since it's all that I generally want. But I would rather choke down protein than get pre-eclampsia.
I still can't get comfortable when I sleep and the maternity pillow doesn't help since I don't use it. Our bed just isn't big enough for me, Adam, a cat and dog and a large person sized pillow. I'm learning how to sleep on my back, and I've noticed that I often wake on my stomach, I guess everything just shifts back.
So that's about it. I officially can't wait for the middle of February, but I think I might enjoy this trimester more since there is more interaction with the baby.

Fun with English Grammar

Today as Adam and I went for a walk we were returning 2 DVDs from Netflix. So I wondered: "Are they Netflixes, or Netfly?"
Adam says Netfly, I say Netflixes on account of Netflix being a proper noun?
What do you think?

Trust

Hi Everyone, it's Tweedledum here...

So as most of you know I just started a new job a Google a few weeks ago. So far it's going great. It's a very different place to work.

My manager has over 60 direct reports. It takes most of his time just to meet each of us once every 3 weeks for 30 minute one on ones. Clearly he's not running the dozen projects his team works on.

Instead it's up to the engineers to determine what's best. My team is in charge of some of the infrastructure in the Search Engine. It's up to me and the other 4 guys in my office to decide which features go in, when we ship, and who will work on what. Other teams come to us with feature requests, and we discuss with them when/if we can help them. There's never any "my-boss-tells-your-boss-to-help-me" crap. If it's really important then we'll agree to do it. If it's not important then no one should be working on it.

It's as if the company trusts the engineers to make the right decision :)

So between that and the free gourmet food, I'm having a great time.

Date a Geek.

A while ago I found Kyle Brandt's blog. So for those of you not in the know, he was on Days as Philip, then he left and now they have this baby faced Philip who isn't nearly as hot. Anyhow that's not why I read his blog, I read it because the man is witty! With good grammar! And he knows good beer! There you have it folks all of the makings of a great website.
I digress.
His recent submission is an addition to his Hate List, which made me wonder if he's been subjected to a bad date recently, since we all know he's single.
So to Mr. Brandt I say, date a geek.
Whenever someone comments to me about the troubles they are having being single, as they longingly look at my diamond, or wonder aloud how I was married before them, I tell them: "date a geek."
Really people, geeks are like an undiscovered gold mine. They try harder, they know when they have something good and they work hard to keep it.
Adam is, by far, the geekiest guy I've ever been with, and yet he was the best boyfriend ever, so much so I married him, and am carrying his child! I am fully convinced that I'm on to something here with my geek talk, I'll expand.... Before Adam I had dated a plethora of guys. A smattering of types, if you will. And while the big burly football guy was all hunka hunka, the guy was an ass, and that really makes the appeal of the hunka hunka diminish. Then I met Adam, and realized that he embodied everything that I value in a significant other, and he's cute, and I became a geek convert. So to all of my single friends and such I say date a geek, you won't be sorry!

YAY A Meme

So Cecily at Uppercase Woman tagged all of her readers in this meme.
List 7 weird or obscure facts about you.
1. I played rugby for a good long time. (I think 11 seasons pretty much back to back). Now most people who know me in person know this, but people that learn it are always shocked. It always amuses me to see the shock.
2. I love grapes, but I hate anything grape flavoured.
3. I've been to Tokyo Disneyland, but I've never been to a Disney amusement park on this continent.
4. I love Vegemite.
5. I generally find black pepper too spicy, and yet I love kimchi and other spicy asian dishes.
6. I didn't get my drivers licence until I was 18. I failed my first learners test and then passed the next 2 with a perfect score.
7. Before I got Chachi I thought chihuahuas were funny looking. Now I think they are adorable, with the most adorable one being Chachi.

So I'll tag anyone who needs blog fodder. Have fun!

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day or Veterans Day for my American pals who are confused when I call it Remembrance Day. As you know I an a little passionate about the importance of today. You know a lot of it can be attributed to my Grampa.
I thought that this year I would discuss another aspect of today that haunts me a little. When I was younger today was so important, almost holy to my family. At a young age I had a full understanding what November 11th meant and it's importance. However my understanding was really based around the veterans from World War 1 and especially World War 2 (where my Grampa was in the army as a medic in the trenches in France). I understand now, especially with the current war, that the focus has been shifted to another generation. While I comprehend this and understand that the current young men need all the support they can get, I implore all of my readers, friends and family to still save a little piece of space in your heart and remember the vets of WW1 and WW2.
Without being overly political I truly believe that the importance of those 2 wars really shaped our countries (Canada and USA) more than any other war. Men like my Grampa fought hard and long to protect us, and I feel that we need to honour them properly.
To be fair we should still remember the other veterans from the other wars, but those vets still number among us and can remind us, but the numbers of them from WW1 and 2 are so small that we have to take it upon ourselves to remember for them, and to teach our children about them too.
So I hope you all took a moment at 11am to remember them, if not, take that moment now.
thank you.