belated shout outs

shout outs to my popo and auntie nancy who celebrated their birthdays on sunday!

popo, sang yut fai lok!

happy birthday, auntie pantz!

viva las vegas

so we didn't come home with any benjamins if you were wondering. i knew i should've cashed out when i was up 14 cents on the slots but you live and learn, right?!? jay and i didn't actually gamble much, not even in the way of slots. it was a long first day and we didn't get into sin city until the evening and it was still h-h-h-hot. lucky for us there were predictions for weather breaking records that week and sure enough the very next day was a scorcher, a record breaking 108 degrees. does anyone know what that is in celsius? no? well, you're in luck because i do. 108 fahrenheit = 42.22 celsius. i am not kidding. i must've been expecting the very worst because it it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be as did wendy. it was probably because of the humidity factor. gaad, humidity is just unbearable. we were worried little monster might kick up a fuss with the heat but he was a-okay with it, just a bit dopey but that might be because he poor little nose was stuffed up still.

who doesn't love a snot bubble?

and how awesome was it that the wong's were in the vegas the same time as us?!? we got to hang out with mrs. wong at their palacial digs at the palazzo until garret finished up at his conference. the room was crazy fancy and the view was incredible. we had all our swimming gear with us but the pool had to be closed that day due to high winds. unlucky for us. we went to the burger joint called stripburger across at the fashion mall. it was pretty good but not nearly as good as the burger brasserie at paris. if you want to taste the most AMAZING fries EVER, you need to go to the burger brasserie and try the petite frites. best. frites. EVER. but stripburger did have pickle fries. what are pickle fries, you ask. well, you're in luck again because i know. basically there just battered dill pickles. they were served with a ranch dipping sauce. seriously, anything is good deep fried.

nice view, huh?

i'm staying here tonight, uncle garret. i hope you don't mind sleeping in the other bed.

who is this strange woman feeding me?

wendy, amy and i spent a day shopping at the outlet malls. wendy's eyes glazed over when she saw the banana republic signage and power shopping mode kicked in. i was happy to get a pair of birks that i've had my eye on for some time now...for half the price! woo-hoo! but other than that there weren't too many good steals. amy stocked up on shirts for garret and baby stuff. (not trying to start any rumours, people! baby shower gifts! jeesh.) and wendy came away with a pair of kate spade sunnies that she had been coveting. and after the shopping fun was over we had to hop back on the bus to get home and boy it was an interesting journey. it all started when we missed the 108 so we waited and waited. a couple of buses had gone by, but no 108. then were was a lady with a gold capped tooth that came running up to the bus stop disappointed to that we let the bus go. "y'all do know that each and every bus that's passed get you back to the strip, right? i was runnin' cuz i thought y'alls gonna hold the bus!" and the adventure begins. we get on the next bus with this lady telling the entire bus that we've let multiple buses by without getting on thinking that only the 108 took us back to the strip. don't get me wrong she was funny and we probably owed it to her otherwise we'd probably still be waiting at that bus stop. and unlucky for us the driver of this particular bus was loud and quite unhelpful, yelling at the passengers whether we needed the next stop or not...hmmm...isn't that what the bell is for but anyway, no one was really answering her and so she got all pissy (probably because she had an undercut too, like how 80's) and started berating us tourists. then that got the gold capped tooth lady started again so we had it coming to us from both sides. i wish i had it on video because it was one of those things you try to tell people how funny it was but comes out sounding not so funny, so reading about it is perhaps worse than hearing it. sorry, y'alls, i tried.

my birks

jay and i got to go out and have dinner all by ourselves while my MIL watched over the monster. it felt really good to get out on our own. no serious conrad withdrawls. and we had some really good mexican grub that was really affordable seeing that it was situated in the venetian alongside the canal. so we wined (mmm, sangria) and dined as we watched the gondolas go by. how romantic.

actually, conrad was with us as we finished our dessert. tee-hee.

and after having paid her babysitting dues, my MIL had the lovely chance to see cher at ceasar's palace. so a good time was had by all in vegas until a baby gets locked in a hotel room and the front door has been deadbolted and the door from the adjoining room slams shut after the baby's aunt and mother return from a junk food run. yes. being the extra cautious dad, jay had locked our door from the inside while he watched the boob tube in wendy's side of the room as conrad slept in ours. upon our return, we triggered an air vacuum and the adjoining door slammed shut and our keys couldn't unlock the door so we had to call the front desk. pandemonium ensued (not really but i like to make things more dramatic for storytelling purposes.) the key guy came and unlocked the door but he also had to call security to verify that we were indeed the registered guests. poor little monster must've known something was up because he started crying but luckily drifted back to bed after a few minutes. phew. another lesson learned.

good times. good times.

i wish it was really paris. the tour eiffel and the l'arc de triumphe!

give me my beer, mama!

much better.

give me the diet coke, auntie wendy, not water!

photo op with baba at the flamingo

these two bananas cost us $2. can you believe that? bloody robbery. also that was the view from our balcony. not quite as good as amy and garret's.

vegas baby!

watch out, here we come!

how is your poo today?

never did i think that i would be so curious and concerned about poo, hence this early morning post. conrad didn't poo yesterday so after his middle of the night feed i was worried that he'd poo his pants so i stood outside his bedroom listening for grunts at 4:20am in the morning because i love catching his poo in the pottie. no, i am dead serious. you really get this satisfaction of knowing you saved yourself from cleaning some nasty s***. pun intended. but i also do feel bad when i do miss a poo, i mean, i don't think anyone enjoys crapping themselves and so i don't think babies like to either, which is basically the theory behind the diaper-free method. babies, apparently are born to communicate with us when they need to eliminate but because we lack this knowledge we miss the signals. so babies learn to to poo and pee themselves thinking that's what they're supposed to do and when it's time for potty training they're like, "whaaat?!? i thought i was supposed to poop and pee myself. what 'cha talkin about, mama?" some might see this as some hippie gibberish but based on the results that we've had so far i highly recommend at least trying this because it's doesn't require as much patience as you might think and it means one less diaper to wash and/or toss which the environment will love you for. our friend, janey, practiced it with her son and for awhile she said that he was going diaper-free at nights! we haven't had that kind of success with conrad but i am very pleased that he had caught to what the potty is used for...no, conrad, that is not a hat.

but anyways, back to the poo itself. what am i concerned and curious about? i'm curious and concerned about the firmness, the colour, the consistency, the frequency, what it looks like, is it smelling the same, etcetera, etcetera. and i'm sure there are many other things that one could look for in infant poop for example naomi was telling me that stringy-ness in breastmilk poo may mean an intolerance to something mom's eating. how would one test for stringy-ness? well, you rub the poo together (in the diaper but i guess you can use your hands if you were a tactile type of person) and peel apart. how's that for a conversation starter?

breastmilk poo rules. solid food poo sucks. breastmilk poo never bothered me, that's probably because his poo's now are basically like mini man turds. for short-while he was quite regular and i was catching close to 90% of his poo in the pottie. his poops of late, though, are getting a bit more sporadic with a lack of rhyme or reason. he went from twice a day to once a day to once every day and a half then all of a sudden 3 a day then back to once a day. i was a wee bit thrown and missed a couple here and there. ugh...but i will not this discourage me! i will not be satisfied until i catch all his poo's! plus, just look at how much conrad enjoys his time on the pottie (like every guy!).

hooray! thumbs up for the pottie!

sorry to disappoint but there will not be any poo photos to complement this entry. so how was your poo today?

happy mother's day

to all the moms, new and not so new, grandmom's, dog moms, cat moms and all the other moms i've missed, "happy mother's day". it started like any other sunday, that being lazy, just the way i like it. it was quietly celebrated with flowers, eggs benny and my two favourite boys.

thank you, conrad, you make my job so easy.

mmm...eggs benny. most delectable.

it's shameful really, but i licked the plate clean. that's one of the perks about dining at chez horchy's. it is not frowned upon here, in fact, it's encouraged.

my wee little boy seems to have caught his first stuffy nose. his poor nose is a bit chapped but he is otherwise in good spirits. it was only a matter of time before he'd catch something but we've been very lucky that this is his first and it really doesn't seem to bother him. the timing could have been a bit better as well because we're leaving for las vegas on sunday (ka-ching! mama needs a new pair of shoes!) so hopefully - everybody cross your fingers - he'll be better by then.

so i'm signing off this special mother's day post with my little ham. i hope your day was as special as mine.

hiatus

sorry, folks. it indeed has been awhile since my last post and trust me, i've been meaning to post but you know how goes but after some razzing, here it is, the much needed post.

for the last month or two there has been some talk about the 'mommies on main' show, a fair that showcases items made by moms for moms and babies. so there were a few of us that had a serious interest about renting a table to show our wares but. there is always a but. but, this is a juried show meaning our wares would have to get selected in order for us to actually show them. that put the fear right into me; the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, so i did what i do best, procrastinate (hence the lack of blogs entries as well) but thanks to some level-headed people in my life i put my rear into gear, made a prototype for my mobile idea and submitted our application, with two days to spare from the april 30th deadline. the decision was bittersweet, of the three items we submitted only my mobiles was selected for the show. i am saddened that i will not be able to share this triumphant moment with my pals and really, it should be a great moment but now i feel failure and rejection is a real possibility as i get ready to display my ideas of creativity to the public to openly critique, good or bad. nonetheless, this is a chance that i am grateful for so you can find me and my mobiles at the 'mommies on main' show on july 12 and 13 at the heritage hall on main street.

one of my mobile ideas. more to come.

well, enough about me. my baby, my baby conrad. he is so close to crawling and when he does i'll be in trouble. he is able to push himself backwards when he's on his tummy on the laminate flooring but the little monster gets frustrated when he's on the carpet because it's a little harder to get around. and when he's backed himself into a corner he'll just continue pushing until he tires himself out and cries out for help.

he is so damn cute and i can hardly stand it. he melts my heart when he giggles and when he rests his head on my shoulder when he's tired and when he pulls my glasses all the way down my nose. his hair is growing lots but i don't see any curls yet except once with i think it was more of a cowlick. his weight is slowing down now since being on the move, you can see his neck now and soon, i'm told, his rolls will disappear and he will become a little boy instead of my baby. it's true when they say 'time flies when you're having fun' because i'm having the time of my life.

one of our favourite places.

they don't make them like they used to. this little whale is made of all metal, brings me back, way back.

see his little cowlick? keep your fingers crossed, maybe he'll be like his mom.

this one is for fun. the silly boy slept on his hand.

it's so nice that it's finally getting warm around here. there will be many more days hanging on deck.

thanks, linds, for holding yet another mama/baby day. good treats, good friends, good babies and good fun.

peek-a-boo!

glad you're feeling better, dayton*.

2 boys, 1 gal. you lucky thing.

*sorry, dayton, for the previous mis-spellings of your name! don't worry, i get it all the time too.