properbathtub

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Little Miss Smartypants


Today Chloe and I, but mostly Chloe, participated in a speech recognition study at the University of British Columbia's Psych department. I'm not entirely sure what happened because I was wearing headphones to block out the noises. They showed her two images, a swirly fractally thing and a waterwheel that was colourful and turning and they videotaped her reactions.

They gave her a certificate and a t-shirt. Because she is almost six months old we get to go back next week for another study.

Holy Smokes Batman, Chloe is going to be six (6) months old in six (6) days!

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Baby sleeps it off

Chloe is working on beating this cold. She is much improved over Saturday/Sunday. But her nose is still a bit boogery.


Burned

Friday night I went to the video store to return a movie and then went on a bit of a photowalk just around the block a couple times. For some reason I have become obsessed with neon signs.... Any way Chloe was in a good mood and Rick was having fun hanging out with her.

He asked me to pick up some form of carbonated beverage on the way home. So I stopped at Mac's Milk and grabbed some Cherry soda. As change I received a five dollar bill.

Yesterday I went to Donald's Market to procure some food items, and attempted to use the five to pay for said items. The very nice cash lady asked me for another bill as the one I had given her was obviously a fake.

So I have been burned for five dollars. Please see below and watch out for the serial number.



Monday, March 27, 2006

My baby the booger nosed wonder




Well now that the first official cold is over we can move into the second cold. This one involves lots more runny nose, screaming and a wonderful deep bass cough. Why is it that she can wipe her face across my chest to get rid of boogers but the second I try to wipe her nose she starts screaming? I love this second picture. She is constantly making this face but I have never managed to catch it. I was trying to get a shot of the snot bubble, but she moved so its blurry.

I know I'm disgusting. But I have nothing else to be fascinated with but the developments in her. Just be thankful I'm not more interested in her poops!

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Silence is a Bliss.

I guess the old saying is that silence is golden. I don't know about that, golden suggest that the value of silence is based on exchange. Silence would have to then come at some kind of expense. Its never quiet in our house, last summer was the closest its ever come to being peaceful. When the street out front was shut down for construction. The construction noise actually came as a relief. At least it was over by six o'clock every night. The traffic might stop for an hour or two around four am.

The constant background noise of the traffic has been supplemented in recent days by my new downstairs neighbour who cannot play guitar. I believe strongly that his condition is terminal. He will never be a guitar player in a band, although that appears to be his dearest wish. He also believes in the adage "Practice makes perfect."

That there is no sound barrier or insulation of any kind between our apartments is merely the icing on the cake.

I never thought that I would fantasize about Lion's Head. My entire childhood was spent dreaming of ways to escape from that hamlet. Now I imagine what it would be like to bring Chloe there, to put her to bed in a room not lit by the street light outside. To have her wake in the morning to the sound of that incredibly annoying seagull that used to scream on our roof instead of a rooster. And then I think about how much snow they got this winter, how insanely cold it was. Not having power for days. Usually though the memories of the cold are balanced by the memory of how warm the house is. At least in Ontario they build houses with insulation.

And then I think about the fact that there would be no job for me there, not to mention Mister. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have to pay rent, but how would we put food on the table? I can't see a niche for me in Lion's Head. I tried to burn that bridge when I left for university. I might have succeeded too well. I can't see my new family being comfortable anywhere on the Peninsula. Not for any length of time anyway. Maybe in one of the bigger small cities Kitchner with Toad or maybe London. It all seems like a pipe dream though. We have almost no savings, how would we ever manage to get together enough money to move back east, pay first and last on an apartment or better yet a house and find decent jobs? I'm not going to win the lottery because I don't play. I guess I have to keep my fingers crossed that Dad might eventually win and feel generous!

The house is as quiet as its going to get so I guess I ought to try and get some sleep.

Long lost memories




I was digging through a photo album yesterday to find a picture of myself as a teen. When I stumbled across this gem. I don't think I ever really looked at it before. I remember taking it, I wanted a picture of Jimmy. Who was the only one I knew at the time. I'm not sure who the person in the tan hat is, I think it might be Shannon. (An evil daemon Shannon judging by the red eye) The funny thing is the guy in the green shirt is someone I know relatively well now, but at the time had no clue who he was. I haven't got any other pictures of him.

I'm not sure if I entirely miss that time. I had a blast, and made a fair few friends. I guess the sadness comes from losing touch with many of them. It makes me that much more determined to hang on to the ones that I still have!



p.s. I think I have enabled comments from non-blogspot members, so hopefully if your reading this and remember the good old days you will be able to reminisce with me!

Friday, March 24, 2006

Oh you pretty things...

Don't you know that your driving your Mamas and Papas insane! (David Bowie)


I've had this lyric floating round and round in my head for the last couple days. Ever since Chloe had her cold our sleep pattern has been completely FUBAR'ed. She has been waking up two or three times during the night, and staying awake for a half hour. For a couple days right after the cold was over I thought we were going to go back to normal, but she seems to have started teething and or her six month growth spurt.

Most non-parents I know put everything down to teething. I am not sure if she is actually starting to get teeth or if she is just in a strange development phase. She is chewing on just about everything, which is actually pretty typical, but she is making a lot of noise while she is chewing. She has started taking out her frustrations on my nipples, both with her gums and with her fingernails. I can't seem to keep her nails trimmed enough to prevent damage to myself and her face.

She is 24 weeks and 2 days old today. So she is technically six months old, but for some reason all the developmental stuff is measured in calendar months instead of in "actual" age.

We need to get a high chair ASAP, so that we can start feeding her solid foods. In one sense I am scared witless of introducing solids, and in another I can't wait for Mister to be able to help with feedings. I am desperate for a nap!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

You are beautiful

just in case you are having trouble remembering


And I love you!

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The wonders of the Internet


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I hope that it doesn't come up with the same name for all the Heathers out there. That would be boring. But I like it none the less.

The good news is that I am now 63% of the way through "The Five Books" I might actually make it to the end before Thursday.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Reading... Its not just for dinner anymore

current reading I joined the afternoon book club at the Vancouver Public Library. I have had this book for ages, but still haven't finished it. This is partially because "The People of Paper" came while I was trying to read this one. And it took precedence because I had to return it sooner. Now I am down to the wire. Book club is on Thursday and I am only 223/491 or 45% of the way through the book. I think I will have to stay up late tonight reading. Which ought to actually be fun if I'm not exhausted.

Saying goodbye to some dear friends


I haven't written about this because I haven't been really sure how I felt about it. A couple weeks ago our cat Achilles passed away. He was approximately 15 years old, so he definitely had a good run of it. His kidneys failed, which is a problem with older cats. He had been having some problems with hair balls, but by the time I figured out something was wrong it was too late.

This has actually been suprizingly difficult on Edward. He came from a no kill pet shelter/crazy cat lady house, and only lived with me for about six months before we got another cat. Since Achilles passed on he has been sleeping a lot, and hiding in boxes and drawers. He was fairly obviously depressed, and lonely. With the baby I can't give him the kind of attention that he was seeking, and Mister is hardly ever home.

Also because of the baby it did not make sense to get another cat to keep Ed company. I can just picture Chloe's first crawling adventure into the litter box.




I'm not sure if it was the right decision, but I have sent Ed to live with Dru. He is a good friend of ours. I am sure that I will miss Ed, but Dru has another cat. Hopefully they will get along alright and Ed will be happier. Hopefully Mister will be happier as well without the cats his allergies will hopefully improve.

Dru is going to call tonight and let me know how the drive up to his place went. As well as initial reactions from Tessa (their girl cat). I hope Ed plays nicely as Tessa still has her front claws!

Saturday, March 18, 2006

That is just mean

I am totally addicted to Battlestar Galatica. It is my friend Leigh Anne's fault. In any case I have watched the first season on DVD from the local video store, I have also watched the first ten episodes of the second season. That is all the video store has, apparently the whole of season two comes out on DVD in April. I realize that April is only two weeks away, but I am already suffering from withdrawal. I want to see what happens next. Being the law-abiding young lady that I am I went to the istore in the hopes of spending $1.99 per episode to feed my addiction. This is not however to be, as the Canadian istore does not provide t.v. shows. I cannot even download the free content without an American credit card billing address. I believe this is unfair... Why should the Americans get to watch a show that was filmed in my city? Its most likely for the best, I shouldn't spend money on this sort of thing anyway.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Lunacy... I think so!

I got a package several weeks ago from my aunt who lives in the states. It cost me 36.04 dollars in import duty. Cash at the door, paid to UPS. This is because the American-Canadian gift limit is 60 dollars. What you ask is the value of my gift? 63.09 dollars. So I paid nearly half of the value of the gift in import duty. I think this is crazy. But I guess that is bureaucracy for you.

I can only hope that in the future my family will send me cheap gifts!

Which reminds me I need to get thank-you cards.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

The lighter side of things

last night after we got home it started to pour. The sky in the west was clear and the sun was setting, so we were treated to this. I could not get a shot of the whole rainbow from the balcony, but it was a full arc on the brighter one and 3/4's on the light one. Today is dull and dreary, I'm not sure if we will venture out unless it stops raining. Story time is tempting but so far away.

Its getting brighter out in the mornings, and Chloe is waking up earlier and earlier. We need to get some blackout curtains for the bedroom. Its only 11:19am and I have already been awake for 5 hours. This is not a good thing.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A conflict

Something happened today that caused me to think, pushed me over the edge really, into a place I am not really sure I want to be. Firstly I should explain; I live on the Eastside of Vancouver, not the Downtown Eastside (DTES). We in the Eastside have a lot of homeless and a growing problem with substance abuse. The shear variety of things that people will ingest to get high/dull the pain is staggering. I can't give money to the people on the street because I know they will use it to buy Listerene. And this is not for improving their breath.

My neighbourhood has a relatively stable population of homeless. So I know who they are and what their vices are. Most of them are harmless if slightly annoying. Last year at Christmas time one of them asked me for ten dollars as I was getting out of a cab, I got a ten in change from the cabbie and she asked me for it for her "shelter". I asked her if the shelter was charging her ten bucks, and she said she needed it to pay her share of the rent on a room so she could continue to get welfare. She told me this as if I was an extremely stupid child. I do not want to be one of those people who begrudges welfare recipients their money, I know that there are people out there who are honestly trying to survive and need the money to make ends meet because for legitimate reasons they cannot hold a job. But this woman was obviously not one of those people. I want to be supportive of my fellow man, because I am too close to the brink of poverty. I have a roof over my head but I am in no way financially secure. This whole baby thing is expensive.

Today some of my mommy friends and I were in Cafe Deux Soliel. And a guy came in selling those cards with American Sign Language on them. The Cafe is a hang out for hippies and progressives, so I guess the solicitors figure its a soft target. Every other time I am in there someone comes in trying to get change, once a guy was asking for left-overs. The staff are super vigilant and strict about removing these people soonest. The girl working the cash saw him and went over and asked him to leave. And he made a motion to say "one second" and then crossed the room to another patron and handed him the card. The counter girl (CG) grabbed it off the table and told him to leave again. Instead the guy goes over to another customer and repeats the same thing. CG is officially pissed by this and gets between him and the customer and is pointing at the door. Homeless guy starts demanding that CG give back the card that she swiped off the table, but she has already thrown it out. By this time two of the guys who were sitting in the back and the kitchen staff are intervening to try and get this guy out of the cafe. CG is screaming and homeless dude is yelling vaguely incoherently (since he is deaf) someone finally fished the card out of the garbage and threw it at him and he left. But not before cursing a couple more times, and saying something fairly nasty in sign to CG.

Meanwhile Chloe is completely fascinated by all the yelling, and the mammas and I are clutching our babies and trying to stay out of the way.

The whole scene made me even more cynical than the incident last year. Firstly I am not certain that I believe he is deaf. Second even if he is deaf that does not give him the right to be belligerent to anyone. And even if he is deaf that should not stop him from getting a "real job" granted that any job he would get would have to be specialized either in location or in requirements (I cant really see him working in a call centre or in construction but there are plenty of other kinds of jobs) which might require extra skills or training. I like to believe that Canada has programs and resources for people with disabilities so that they can find work.

This line of thought makes me cringe a little bit, I don't want to be the kind of person who just blindly responds "Get a job" when someone asks me for change. I want to be caring and compassionate, because I know that not everyone had it nearly as easy as I did growing up. I know that shit happens to people that pushes them farther and farther away from the mainstream, and that the longer you spend on the edges the harder it is to get back on your feet. I want to believe that we have a safety net which will guard us against the accidents and misfortunes. That the system is failing the people and not that the people are failing to properly make use of the system.

this is the first time I have lived in a real big city, and its the first time I have had to deal with these issues first hand. I hope that I can maintain my compassion and idealistic viewpoint.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Occasionally I have time to read


The Georgia Straight had a review of this book before Chloe was born, so I decided to borrow it from the library. They only had one copy and there were several other holds on it, so I finally got a copy at the end of February. It seems as though the library has gotten a second copy, but there are still 7 requests for it.

I must say though it was well worth the wait. The library has it listed as fantasy, with themes of psychological loss and Mexican folklore. I'm not sure that it should be listed as fantasy, it certainly does not have any dragons or witches; just mechanical tortoises and a Baby Nostradamus. And the planet Saturn as peeping tom/narrator/lovelorn mope. I was reminded of Kurt Vonnegut because the author becomes part of the story, he is involved not merely on the level of narrator. Saturn is directing the fate of the players in the book. Its not really fair to call them characters, because they are people to themselves, they struggle for their own fate. But Saturn is always watching. The other characters are aware of him and interact with him, indeed they wage a war against him, make love to him and call him a bastard. Not necessarily in that order or even by the same person.

I enjoyed it very much, I am not sure if I "got" it completely. Sometimes when you read something you can feel that their might be something beneath the surface of the story, some deeper truth. However, I think that if you enjoy the book, if you read it and it touches you to laugh or cry then that is often enough. If there is a deeper truth it might not be as important to find it as it is to enjoy the book.

So if you come across a copy of this book I recommend you pick it up and read it, if your library has it I recommend you borrow it, even if you have to wait in line I promise you won't be disappointed.

Friday, March 10, 2006

I know its still Canada

the view out the back window this morning. brrr
The street in front of the house.
But honestly, I did not expect to see snow when I looked out my window this morning. Its March for pete's sakes!

But by the time Chloe and I managed to get out there were only a few clumps of snow in the backyard where the sun had not managed to melt it yet. So Chloe hasn't had an official introduction to snow yet.

Hopefully it has not damaged the fruit trees, last year we had a late frost and we only got two pears. I require fruit this year.

Skin on hot chocolate

Is the GROSSEST thing EVER!

Thursday, March 09, 2006

baby got sniffles


And so it begins... Chloe has had her first official cold. Which I believe to be finished. *knock on wood* Please let it be finished! Its only been two nights, but I am fracking exhausted. I need to sleep tonight or I'm going to go a bit squirlly. I should be sleeping right now, but I am so far beyond the typical tired that I cant even close my eyes. I am hoping that we can get through the bath and the last feed and into bed before 10pm. And that we stay in bed and asleep until at least 3am. This may be hoping for too much, but a girl has got to dream!

Monday, March 06, 2006

A mysterious mystery


I think it must happen pretty often, you are walking along and you stumble across something that should not be where it is. And you think, now why is that like that? How did such a thing come into being?

Sunday, March 05, 2006

A very merry unbirthday

I almost forgot, today is the fifth month anniversary of Chloe's birth. As its not a year marker I believe it qualifies as an unbirthday. She has been in good form all day and enjoyed story time with Mister this afternoon, although she apparently had a meltdown with only ten minutes remaining which necessitated a diaper change and removal from group to go and find a mammary gland.

As soon as Mister finishes publishing today's photo's to web format there will be an unbirthday update on flickr. The shots below of her and the bottle were taken this morning.

Baby got bottle

For the last couple of weeks Chloe has been watching us eat with increasing fascination. She was bound and determined to intercept my chopsticks while I was eating sushi. My morning cup of hot chocolate is not safe from her tiny grasp. In an effort to induldge her interest in food i have started giving her a bottle with water in it. She loves it. Saying that she merely loves it is an understatement, she can see the bottle from across the room and she reaches for it. I'm not a hundred percent sure why though as she doesn't seem to be getting that much actual water into her system. She isnt spilling it, but she is not sucking on it either. I think she might be using it as a soothing teething toy.

Nonetheless she has managed to grasp the bottle and get the nipple in her mouth. here she demonstrates her unstopable technique.

Friday, March 03, 2006

tired of waiting

Today Chloe was being extra cute, and i was torn between using my crappy camera phone and getting a really terrible photo; or grabbing Mister's film camera and possibly also getting a terrible photo but not knowing it until we get the film back. Naturally I was frustrated by these non-options, so i went to future shop and bought a digital camera!




tada!

this was taken in the elevator as we were leaving future shop. no more grainy cameraphone pics for us... no sir! I procedded to take 13 pictures in less than two hours. Some of which can be found on my flickr stream. Mister is not really impressed but i could care less, its MINE!!

so expect many more photos once the battery charges.