I'm Moving Up in the World

You may recall back around Christmas time I got some very special hate mail from Amy. I'm all for purposeful writing for children in the primary grades, but a picture of a grumpy mommy with a big X over it was a little tough to take.


Turns out I've jumped a few notches in the opinion of my esteemed offspring. Check it out:

When she read it back to me she realized she forgot the word "favourite," so I added it in for her. Can you dig it? I'm the second favourite, baby!!

I didn't ask her who is her first favourite.

(Dave, obviously).

12 step program for baby carrier addiction

Do you know of one? Because I need one. First I spent all the money I made on Craigslist (a whole $35) on a Hug of Joy carrier that I found on....Craigslist! It's beautiful and simple, and is essentially the same as my Hotsling, but a bit stretchier. Did I need it? No. But I just had to have it.
Then I got a note on my FB news feed that the Babyhawk page now has a blog, which took me to see their new fabrics, which took me to trying out different colour combinations with the straps, and the next thing I knew, my memorized-credit-card-number was flying into the order section and I will soon be the owner of ANOTHER Babyhawk. Did I need it? No. But it's soooooo gorgeous. And I love my other Babyhawk.
I hope Dave isn't reading this.

Wherein I Get Chills

I feel like I just got a phone call from a long-lost friend and we picked up almost right where we left off.

I shudder to think of how abominably I've cared for this piano. We got it when I was 12 and it was my go-to friend, my confidante, my punching bag through the perils of adolescence. Having said that, I think we only got it tuned once as it sat in our chilly basement in my parents' old house. Then I took it with me when I moved out, and moved again, only getting it tuned one more time. That's twice in about 25 years. Somehow setting aside $100 for a tuning just never figured in as a priority.

The kids have started piano lessons; Trevor last year and Amy this past fall. And it was becoming downright painful to listen to, especially when Trevor started practicing chords. CRINGE! I finally called a piano tuner and he worked his magic for a couple of hours. He told us things I never knew about our piano, such as it was manufactured in the mid-70's in Quebec, and was later sold in a store in Manitoba (we got it second-hand from another family when we lived in Portage la Prairie). I started feeling like it was a neglected and misunderstood old dog or something; I had started to take it for granted as a heap of wood and strings in the corner of our living room. I hardly ever get to play since we had kids. When I did play it just didn't sound so great...but it wasn't the piano's fault, and I wasn't THAT rusty, we were just out of sync.

Once he finished tuning it, I thought I'd try it out to hear the difference. I picked out something easy and tonal: Imagine by John Lennon. Just the first few bars. It was warm and delicious and was ringing around in my ceiling and my head long after I finished playing it. I can bring up the sensation just thinking about it. It made me resolve to get my old friend tuned up annually and to sit down and practice a little bit more regularly so she never gets so run-down again.

p.s. Did you know not everyone gets chills from listening to music? I was SHOCKED to learn this from my husband while we were dating. He looked at me like I had sprouted an antenna when I showed him my goosebumps from listening to a particular passage or chord. His family is all the same.

More's the pity for them.

Magic for Little Bums

During the entire three-and-a-half years that I dealt with my first two kids being in diapers I can only recall one instance of diaper rash. Poor Trevor. I had my m-i-l watching him while I played nine holes of golf. He had Raisin Bran for breakfast. She had an aversion to poopy diapers. The result: a bleeding, raw diaper rash that made both of us cry. It was easily resolved in a couple of days with lots of bare bum in the fresh air (it was summertime so that was pretty easy) and some Vaseline at night.

Fast forward to January 2010...upon our return from Mexico where I had bought some disposable Huggies and Huggies wipes (with the slightest bit of fragrance in them). After two days in these diapers, Gavin had a horrendous red rash. It looked like blistering little pimples and they were rapidly getting worse. In the past, I've used Vaseline for sore-looking baby bums, or zinc oxide if it looked really on the verge of getting rashy...but my usual arse-nal (groan) didn't even make a dent in this rash.

I remembered hearing someone raving about Bum Bum Balm, made by Dimpleskins Naturals and resolved to give it a try. There is a company store down in Sapperton where the owner/founder, Jen Casey, first started out in 2001. I sent Dave out to try there first, but he must have caught them on a coffee break...this rash would not wait! He then hit Choices at the Crest where I can only imagine Dave asking a clerk for "Bum Bum Balm," (lmao!). He gulped at the $12 price tag for the 30 gram tin, but dutifully bought it and brought it home.

Let me tell you this stuff is MAGIC! Within a day I noticed a marked improvement and in two days the rash was pretty much gone. The product is 100% natural and smells great. Also, I tried putting some on a nasty little patch of irritated skin in the folds of his neck and it cleared that up, too.

Buy some for your little one's bum. It works like a hot damn and you'll be supporting a local business. :-)

Indulge a Proud Mommy

On Friday night, Trevor got to go to GM Place to participate in Canucks First Strides. There were REAL Canucks there: Kyle Wellwood,

Andrew Raycroft, Tanner Glass and Fin. Trevor's in the third row in the middle of the gray jerseys.

Hard to believe he did Preschool IcePuppy (or whatever that level is) three times before he finally passed.


That's Andrew Raycroft and Trevor's at the front of the line for a passing/shooting drill (he got the pass from Fin!).

I was super impressed by the whole evening and the education component they offered for the parents - GO CANUCKS GO!

Butt-Kicker

I hired myself a butt-kicker.

Like many people, I struggle with my weight and (lack of) fitness. There are gazillion excuses too numerous to list here. Over the years I've joined gyms, bought exercise dvd's, joined Weight Watchers, etc. etc. I start out great for the first two or three weeks, but I have never been able to make it an integral part of my life.

So I hired my friend, Patti, to kick my butt. Not literally, but it sure feels like she did when I'm done with my squats. Also, she wants to see a food log from me every couple of days. This is a cornerstone of the Weight Watchers program, but I always gave up because no-one cared if I actually tracked or not. It's amazing, though, how much more inclined I am to write down what I eat when I know someone else cares if I've done so. And believe me, I'd better have a damn good reason if it's not done!

I've been at it for a few days and am feeling more energetic and just generally better than I have in a long while. Sore butt and all.

As Heard from the Back of my Minivan

Amy: Mommy, do you know what we're made of?

Me: Ummm, are you asking me or do you already know?

Amy: I already know! Bones, and dreams, and blood.

Me: not sure I heard correctly...Bones and what?

Amy: Dreams! Like in your head.

Me: Oh yeah...how did you figure that out.

Amy: I just know.