ring around the rosie

last days of summer

2009-09-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

three weeks have come and gone and little sylvie has, i think, grown so much. it's hard to tell since i see her everyday. i wish so much for sylvie to just stay small...just stay a little baby. my little baby, because my other little baby isn't so little anymore. he's talking so much now. no sentences yet but his first three syllable word is chewbacca. impressive, huh? and he just loves his little sister. we haven't run into too many problems with conrad since bringing her home but i suspect he just gets a little fed up with her from time to time. even so, i think he is adjusting very well and the girl is adjusting pretty well too. for a 3 week old baby she still sleeps a lot of the time so much so i think it's the calm before the storm. i don't think conrad slept as much as she does but i'm not complaining at all. i'm sure she'll let us know once she's caught up on her sleep.

as for me, i've been coping well because jay's been home and that has been such a big help. i can't imagine how it'd be like if it were just me, but soon he will have to return to work, sigh. i'm sure i'll be calling on my newly retired mother for some help for she's just a phone call away!

the last days of summer have snuck up on us but luckily the days have still been beautiful. it's been a little more difficult to spend the time outside with sylvie but when we do it's been so much fun just hanging out and horsing around with conrad. i hope the days stay like this for a bit longer before the dark and gloomy vancouver days become the norm...

...though you can always find the beauty in nature no matter which season.

i can still remember when we had to catch him at the bottom of the slide. not anymore!

the boy's getting heavy but you wouldn't be able to tell in this photo.

this really is the best way to spend the time.

oh, my boy...

and my sleepy girl

still sleepy.

a gentle morning nuzzle

not so sleepy here

i love it when conrad hams it up for the cam.

our friends, alice, johnny, marcus and their newest not so little edition, kyle, were back in town for a visit. marcus is still very tall, just like johnny and kyle is not light weight either. the boys warmed up ratherly quickly despite not having seen each other for almost a year ago! kara's still has her eye on conrad but there weren't too many sparks between kyle and sylvie because they both enjoy sleeping more. alice and family braved the 10+ hour flight from hong kong...they lived to tell about it...i wonder when we can do that same, unfortunately whenever that will be conrad will have to pay full fare. oh, well, at least sylvie will still get to fly for free!

photo evidence that kara thinks conrad's a stud muffin

awww...

buddy picture on the couch!

when there is an alice there is always a sherri nearby.

(2+1) +1 = 4

2009-09-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

the gestation period for humans is generally 280 days plus/minus 10-14 days. for myself this period had come and gone already and this is a really, really long overdue post. we never intended to keep this pregnancy on the downlow so i'm sure some of you folks are surely in for a shock but things just seemed to happen that way when you have a rambunctious little boy to run after on top of the serious fatigue factor when you carry a little human being inside of you. sorry folks.

anyway, back to gestation periods, did you know that the gestation period for an elephant is 645 days and a giraffe is 420-450 days?!? so for all you pregnant ladies still out there, i know you probably feel like an elephant but aren't you glad you aren't an elephant?

we now have a new roommate and she is all of nine days old. her name is sylvie claire and we love her to pieces! not to be outdone by her big brother, she too decided to come 11 days early. today is my due day actually but she sure didn't stay inside and came flying out in half the time that conrad did but don't get too jealous ladies. half the time means double the pain and it was (insert censor here) painful. i've had women tell me that once they hand baby over to you that you instantly forget about the pain. not so. i still remember it, yes, very clearly in fact.

we didn't really have any hunches whether sylvie was going to be a boy or a girl this time. for simplicity's sake i was hoping for another little boy but i sure wouldn't have it any other way now. she is so lovely and she completes our little family of four. welcome home, my sweet lovely girl.

but enough of my babble, i'm sure you all want to see photos of our new baby girl.

fresh out of the oven

thanks for keeping me warm, papa!

hello, world!

big bro's missing. he's at popo's watching (too much) tv.

i love my new baby sister!

proud popo and baba with baby sylvie

our new little family (sorry conrad, it's not your best face, i know)

how cute is this?

2009-03-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

so cute.

happy st. paddy's day!

2009-03-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

two monsters + st. paddy's day crowns = FUN! (yep, she's having fun, really)

puh-leez, mom! NO MORE photos!

happy FIRST birthday, max

2009-03-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

i can't believe that it was a year today that our little buddy max was born. how time flies! i think most of conrad's pals now are over a year in age and he's now got a couple of pals still baking in the oven. max had a kick ass birthday party over the weekend and as always the food was delish but poor little conrad was feeling under the weather but despite that he still had a good time giving high fives all around and blowing kisses to the ladies.

oh, max, how you've changed and grown over the last year...can i hold you like a baby?

fresh from the womb

i love sleeping babies

fergus, please don't eat my face

max: conrad why do you have a dish rag on your head?

conrad: because my dad is ukrainian.

mmm...sophie

mom and dad, thanks for protecting my ears

did someone say fish and chips?

happy valentine schalentine's day

2009-02-14T23:10:00.000-08:00

super sauve ladies man, pierre lafontaine, graces ring around the rosie to help us celebrate valentine's day. smooches to all the ladies!

almost famous

2009-01-29T22:45:00.000-08:00

check it out, yo! conrad's on the robeez website! just click on the link. here are some other proofs from the photoshoot. this is soooo (con)RAD! I can't believe he made the cut! too bad his cross dressing bloomer shots didn't make it though! oh, well! enjoy!

inauguration day

2009-01-19T20:32:00.000-08:00

there's no denying that even here in canada there is an excitement about barack obama's inauguration tomorrow. i'm in no way a politic hound but we are witnessing an historic event. never in my lifetime did i think there would be an african-american man taking the oval office. not because i think there was not a capable, intelligent enough african-american individual to hold this position but because i just did not think the united states of america would be ready for one. i mean, the american civil rights movement was just a mere 50ish years ago when blacks couldn't go to the same schools as whites, had to sit at the back of the bus, had designated water fountains to drink from and other countless forms of racial segregation all of which seems like such a foreign concept that these things even took place but frankly, i'm sure these types of events still happen in today's world but starting with the beginning of tomorrow's events i feel that there is a renewed sense of hope. this is not just a step forward but a tremendous leap forward for humanity. i feel very fortunate to witness a black american president take power in my lifetime because this gives me hope that in conrad's lifetime there will be less hate and less war. change we can believe in.

working 5 to 9

2009-01-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

some of you may know i've started working again. it has been a few months now but i still don't feel like it's a good fit but the reality of it is i need 600 hours to qualify for EI. i just got paid last week and i officially have 218 hours under my belt. sigh, only 382 hours to go - insert picture of me blowing on a party horn. so on my name tag i am a "sales advisor" i mean being a "mom on one", which is also on my name tag, you'd think it would help me advise people but i feel like a big portion of the merchandise is just a lot of "not necessary but nice to have stuff"...most definately you'll be needing that wipes warmer and the $400 organic crib bedding. jason and i were most fortunate as we were given a lot of baby stuff so we only researched on a need to research basis and needless to say i am still traumatized by the adult diaper fetish sites i came across when i was researching cloth diapers but had i known the amount of baby stuff you can buy and stuff that people actually do buy, i would have thought twice about working there but beggers cannot be choosers...until they win the lottery.
i would have believed you if you told me there was a recession before christmas. there were many night shifts where i was just twiddling my thumbs, dusting and re-dusting the same display case but if you asked me this weekend i would have retorted, "what recession?" the clientele i serve is mostly of all walks of life but we carry some higher end merch so i do have the luck of "advising" snooty ass preggo ladies who think they are the only ones who are with child, grumble, grumble. when i first started i was just flabbergasted how people would spend their money but i'm jaded now, apparently it's the norm to spend upwards of $1000 on a crib, guess i've been living under a rock all this time.

but enough of this "woe is me" crap. our hard work is starting to finally pay off. just a few weeks ago conrad went to the potty all by himself. he didn't tell me or indicate to me he needed to go he just went to the potty all by himself! i'm even taking him out on walks sans diaper. he even peed on the snow for the first time last week. we don't have too many accidents on the carpet anymore but sometimes i'll miss him going to the potty and he'll end up going to the potty with his pants on, thank goodness it's only been number 1 but the good thing i think he's starting to understand the concept of pulling his pants off and on when he needs to go, just needs a little more practice. exciting isn't it?

the snow is just about gone now much to conrad's dismay, can't you tell he's having a ball?

check out his new kicks, courtesy of auntie wendy and tucker.

and his oh so chic bathrobe also courtesy of auntie wendy

happy birthday, tong tong! i love your tutu!

i'm glad you like your black apple doll! here she is with her proud popo.

happy 2009.

2009-01-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

i resolve. i don't usually resolve much because i know i'll never stick to it but i resolve to not procrastinate --- please don't laugh. i know, i know, it's probably much more that i can chew but i'm tired of playing catch up! it was a good start to the end of the year because we got our christmas cards drawn, coloured, written up and stamped all ready for the merry elves at the post office on december 18th. how about them apples? positive reinforcement is much appreciated.

christmas this year was pretty low-key. the snow wreaked havoc on rita's flight out from calgary but we were all happy she was able to make it back despite all that silly white stuff falling from the sky. when i was little someone once told me that white stuff was god's dandruff. ick, but anyways, i digress. as always we had christmas dinner at the usual, so "christmas story" but so nice and easy! my MIL hopped on the big grey dog and we celebrated post christmas day which meant we didn't have turkey and cranberries until the 28th! mmm-mmm but is was all worth it. all three of us were spoiled again this year, especially the little monster. the monster is still a monster who runs around like a wild banshee and pulling all the books and dvds off the shelves and climbs on to the rocking chair and coffee table but that why we love him so.

ooh, snow!

ooh! more snow!

whoa. snow.

i like snow.

not this much.

my first backpack, MEC of course!

bring it on rain! i'm newt-ified!

goofing with the cuz and aunt

hmm, not so sure about this roughriders t-shirt! thanks garth and donna!

classic toque hair

2008-12-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

here's to a wacky but wonderfully snowy christmas and a fantastic new year!

love, the horchies

blue steel

2008-11-25T20:52:00.000-08:00

we got the email on last thursday. conrad had been chosen to participate in robeez's spring/summer photoshoot and since he's been practicing his blue steel, please see below.

i couldn't believe my eyes when i read the email, i had to log out and log back in to make sure i wasn't going nuts as my baby brain is still not functioning properly and sadly i have suspicions that it may never recover but that's a whole other post.

anyways, they didn't give too much notice as we received the email on thursday and the shoot was the following tuesday, which meant i had to book conrad in for a mani, pedi, facial and a massage on really short notice, afterall this could be our, i mean his big break.

i was really uncertain about how conrad was going to react once we got there, you know, the arrogant photographer, snooty personal assistants and other catty showbiz moms but he was as cool as a cucumber. he was like, "mama, you gotta keep your cool." before long he was running amuck in the green room, going through all the shoe samples, flirting with the older ladies and keeping it real with the other baby models. i didn't have to worry none, all i had to do was keep him from pulling down the set because that boy is sure fast on his feet now.

and he totally rocked it. it was totally like america's next top model with the art director going through the shots as they were being taken and the stylists were adjusting and re-adjusting conrad's wardrobe. like, totally. he was so much of a star that that they asked if it was alright if conrad could don a pair of bloomers and mary-janes to do some crawling shots. well, conrad wasn't about to be one of those girls who want to get into modelling so badly but not do nude shots, like c'mon. the only problem was he was not a crawler anymore so those shots might not make the cut. the photographer was even like, "you can stop being so easy going." totally rocked it.

after three wardrobe changes his work was done. i wish i was able to take a few more behind the scenes photos but conrad really kept me on my toes. so be on the look out for conrad's mug on the robeez website as well as any posters at your local baby store. hopefully i'll hear from robeez people once they launch the new spring/summer line.

mon nom est...

2008-10-31T23:17:00.000-07:00

pour l'halloween mon nom est pierre laFontaine. j'aime mon beret, les biscuits et les baguettes (yum-yum) et les bananes aussi. joyeux halloween, mes amis!

birthday bonanza

2008-08-27T23:06:00.001-07:00

even though the face painter didn't show up and the deal with the ponies fell through i think a good time was had by all. before we knew it the townhouse was busting at the seams with lots of birthday and baby action. conrad was so lucky to have so many peeps come to help celebrate his first birthday. though the day was hectic for us and we didn't get a chance to catch up with all our guests as we should've we hope that you all had a great time and hopefully the mini hamburgers and mini tacos were tasty enough for you to come back again next year! conrad wants to thank everyone for a super duper party, especially those who came from out of town! and thank you for all your lovely presents! let the baby parties begin!

poor little conrad wasn't totally himself as his teeth had been bothering him lately and he was a little more glum on the day of his party. it's my party and i'll cry if i want to...

cry if i want to!

but it's nothing presents can't fix! check out my haul (and my ugg booties)!

more presents! way to make good use of your sign language, conrad!

conrad has been so highly trained to eat good healthy food that he just didn't know what to do with his birthday cake!

peeps,

and more peeps! (sorry all those who were missed!)

hooray for conrad!

what's a party without cupcakes! wanna make them yourself? click here.

birthday baby bonanza! hey, who brought the crybaby?

the best wrapping award goes to auntie amy!

thanks to my baba and auntie wendy and rita who came for my birthday!

and a very special thanks to lukas, the tiniest party-goer for making conrad's birthday extra special.

sweet success

2008-07-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

the mommies on main show was a huge success for me. thank you to all my friends and family who came to lend some moral support because i sure needed it! i couldn't have done it without my two biggest supporters, jason and conrad, thank you! and thank you, thank you, thank you to my mom, MIL, SIL, bronwen for rescuing me from my panic attack, josh, naomi and max for being my first customers!, nancy and gerald for lunch, the mah's, flaura and claudiu, ginny and jayden! the weekend is kind of a blur to me now so i hope i haven't forgotten anybody.

wow! what a learning experience! it sure is different being on the other side of the table. it was very intimidating for me once i got to the hall. all the vendors looked very pro which made me feel very mickey mouse so i hid behind my table for most of saturday but i was glad to have some very nice people stationed around me but once i finally did venture from behind my table i quickly realized everyone was very friendly. phew! i am so glad (in hindsight of course!) i did this show. i received so many nice compliments and that made this whole experience worth it and just gives me a sense of validation and that feels good. i have a few more ideas i'd like to do but all i need now is time! i've opened an etsy store but i haven't had the time to stock it yet...i'm sorry! hopefully in a couple days because i'm just trying to complete a custom order for a mobile that i received after the show! can you believe it??? so hang tight and i'll be sure to update you when i have items up for sale!

and i can't post an entry without an update on my little monster. since my last post he really has grown up almost into a little boy. he's started crawling and pulling himself up against the bookshelf, kitchen cabinets and stereo. and he's got lots of hair now. he's still pretty serious but he has little giggle fits. and he's got this little smirk, you know, the one where you know he wants to smile but he doesn't because he doesn't want to give you the satifaction. what a brat but there is too much to tell. you will have to come over to see it for yourself otherwise you'll only have pictures to look at.

so long for tonight.

vote for your favorite hair-do!

carfree days on commercial

at the playground being cute

just being cute

everybody! just wait and stop crying! we just need one good picture!

hanging out with fraser at grizzley

hanging out with max. don't eat me, fergus!

hungry, max?

heads up, seven up!

2008-07-12T09:23:00.000-07:00

you know that "first day of school" feeling when you are feeling like you are walking into a lion's den and you know they are going to rip you into shreds? yes, that day has come folks, it's finally the weekend for the mommies on main show so come down and save me from the lions! the show runs on saturday, 11am-6pm, and sunday, 11am-5pm. you can find us at the heritage hall on 3102 main street. there is a $2 admission but $1 dollar will be donated to the YMCA for programs aimed towards single moms.

also, super business mommy, ashley ramsay, of milklush will be at the show on sunday only! check out her cute quilts and indispensible MyPad! they are awesome!

hope to see you there!

belated shout outs

2008-05-29T20:55:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-27T22:36:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-05-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

watch out, here we come!

how is your poo today?

2008-05-18T05:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-07T00:27:00.000-07:00

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.

your help is needed

2008-04-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

to all our loyal blog readers, friends, family and neighbours, please keep you eyes peeled for our beloved sophie. see the missing poster below for details on her disappearance.

clap clap!

2008-04-15T14:36:00.001-07:00

i am so lucky to have this little boy in my life. over the weekend he showed us how to clap. our baby is clapping! he's growing up too quickly and there is no pause button. it seems so long ago that he starting grabbing and holding things. clapping seems so wild. and this little monster has an appetite to match. i'm so delighted when he enjoys that foods that we give him...yams and squash and carrots, bananas, apples and broccoli...and that's only the tip of the iceberg. i can't wait when we can feed him off our plates. introducing new foods for allergies is so tedious. and it won't be very long now until my plump prince starts crawling, then we'll be in trouble but for now, we're in the clear.

enjoy the clapping.

on your marks!

what a week and a half

2008-04-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

i can't believe it's already been a week since calgary...and boy, it was a real close call with the bear at the zoo. since we've been home we've had a very yummy birthday dinner (thank you, DLF), a super babies play date, a pampered chef party, found a prospective buyer for our dear old penelope, flea marketing in west van and some good z's inbetween.

what do you call roast beef, yorkshire pudding, mashed yams, corn on the cob, broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce and roast potatoes? a kick ass dinner is what you call it. we would have been happy with kraft dinner jazzed up with wieners and broccoli but roast beef with with all the fixin's! you guys are too good to us!

and what a play date this one was, four girls, three boys and twins! all the babies were so good, no crying or fussing. and it was finally nice to meet you little fallon. i say this everytime but i just can't believe how small newborns are because our little monster must be closing in on 20lbs. conrad had an extra long morning nap so we arrived for the festivites a bit late and because we were having such a great time we skipped our first music class! oh, well, it was worth it! check out some the of the baby action.

wee little angels...

uh oh, baby mayhem

phew, good thing fallon was on the other side or else she could've been crushed by the little rabble-rousers!

deighton and addie get my vote for prom king and queen!

nice to meet you, fallon!

marley, you're such a cutie!

and fraser too!

ella: stop being the exersaucer hog, conrad!

conrad: sorry, dollface, i don't have one at home so you're gonna have to wait your turn!

a flea market find

a visit from the mepham's, max you are so big!

bear attacks infant at calgary zoo

2008-03-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

during a visit to the calgary zoo, a super, adorable baby boy from burnaby, BC suddenly found his chubby little leg wedged in between the ferocious jaws of a brown bear. his aunt, a resident of the oil rich province, was with the boy at the time of attack. she tried to pry the young infant from the wild beast as his mother took the time to take a picture for the family photo album. after the the photo was taken, the bear happily released his grip and the trio finished their tour of the the zoo without further altercations.

hello, calgary

2008-03-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

conrad passed his first ever plane ride with flying colours. didn't even phase him one bit. i was concerned with his ears popping but i fed him during take off and landing and it must've worked because it didn't seem to bother him at all. he really took to the lady sitting beside us as he kept on pulling at her sleeve...must be a grandma thing. he slept through most of the flight and behaved like a wee little angel when he was awake. the lady sitting behind us said she didn't even realize there was a baby sitting in front of her! pretty awesome, huh?

just chilling on aunty rita's couch, taking a break from watching ellen.

the aftermath of being fed by his aunt

catching up with dad. i love free long distance calling.

i think traveling with young babies would be easier if there were baby suitcases.

the forecast was looking pretty cold before we left for calgary but luckily it really hasn't been that bad so we took a walk down to chinatown. these people really know how to celebrate easter.

i didn't think calgary could be this modern. this house is just down that street from rita's apartment building. it'll probably go for about a cool mill, as in $1,000,000.

oh, conrad, can you look a little more interested when partaking in goofy tourist photos with your mother?

so rita and i decided to go for a little afternoon snack at the famed (not really) ABC hong kong style cafe. we both ordered the HK style french toast with condensed milk which included an HK style tea. i need to remember that i'm not in vancouver but rather calgary so i shouldn't be so critical on the chinese food here. overall, it wasn't too bad.

conrad often satisfies his curiousity by handling things and this piece of french toast sure intrigued him. he went right for it, digging his little fingers into it. little did he know that it was still hot. so, there are two lessons to be learned here:

1. don't touch hot things. (conrad)

2. remember to be faster on the draw. (rita)

yeah, he really had a good hold of it.

all the sights have just tuckered this little guy out. the weather quickly turned sour a few short hours after this photo was taken. it started snowing. what's with all the snow in march? bizarre.

backlog blogging on location from calgary

2008-03-26T20:23:00.001-07:00

it has been an all birthday month this march as i can only get things done a little at a time so that's why jay's birthday has lasted 2 weeks long as all birthdays should last. everyone should make this cake for someone special especially if they love chocolate cake. i opted for a chocolate whipped cream icing instead (thanks, naomi!) which was equally delicious.

i could've have eaten both cakes!

mmm....

conrad got his dad a hand crank flashlight which is exactly what we need to get started on our earthquake kit. it goes perfectly with our hand crank/solar panel radio. and he also got the new wilco album on vinyl from his one true love (that's me).

i was spoiled with take out sushi from favorite burnaby sushi joint, bentei sushi and i got flowers! i can't remember the last time i got flowers, it was a very nice surprise. no cake for me but you know what is just a good as cake? a heavenly chocolate babka bun from solly's, that's what. thank you, jason.

easter

2008-03-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

ever tried travelling with a baby? the ratio of baby luggage to adult luggage is 3:1...and that's a minimum. but i guess you can't leave them at home, could you? but easter is always fun up in keremeos because easter = turkey. turkey = a good night's sleep, until it's time for a late night snack for the monster. but he did sleep incredibly well. must've been baba's house because it was back to the norm when we got home on monday.

a good start to the drive.

good morning!

easter baby bunny! thank you, mr + mrs K for the easter bunny! he tastes real good. (a bit cannibalistic?)

the easter bunny set up a very pleasant surprise for the horychun kids. jay's god parents came for a surprise visit and stayed for dinner. i must say that i was very surprised! conrad took to elizabeth instantly!

a good time was had by all but there must come a time to say farewall for now. playing with baba before heading back home.

not so jolly...jumper

2008-03-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

my moo stickers finally arrived. they are so rad! only thing is they came out a bit darker than the original images so the nice folks at moo gave me an additional stickerbook for free! thank you! so for those who are interested just brighten up your images a tad before submission. next order...mini cards!

we've had trouble finding the studs in our ceiling (oops, several holes later!) in the living room so we haven't been able to move the jolly jumper from our bedroom doorway. conrad is totally pissed.

so i tried hanging the jolly jumper on the deck for some new scenery and fresh air but he still wasn't impressed...

my feet can't even touch the deck, mom! gaad!

but check out his cool threads in his pissed off photo. we got it at the japanese flea market at nikkei place for a buck. ONE BUCK! what a deal. we also got a couple more pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes for my little buddy as well as some tupperware! we got a killer deal because the lady selling it used to do parties but got out of the business. we got 6 modular mate pieces with cobalt blue lids for $32! it was so meant to be. thank you tupperware lady, you made my day!

we planted so garlic last fall and look how well it's doing! we aren't doing the community garden this year which is a bummer because the Parker's are getting a plot right beside our old one! but dave and linds are clearing out little dog's pen for a backyard garden so we'll be taking part in that. fun!

my cousin jacky was on a 22 day vacation and decided to cruise into vancouver for a few days. the last time he was in town was about 7-8 years ago when he was just a young punk...still is. he absolutely loved conrad but who doesn't? jacky also gotten into modeling since the last time i saw him...i know, big time. check him out, he's apparently with HK's largest talent agency.

oh, conrad, you are a heartbreaker!

welcome, max

2008-03-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

this little bit of info deserves a post of it's very own. josh and naomi welcomed their beautiful little boy, max, yesterday afternoon. he too was early like conrad, and he was raring to come out as labour was less than 12 hours with only a half hour of pushing! (phew! i still retain the pushing title!) both mom and dad are doing and looking great.

boy, i thought conrad was pretty darn cute when he was born but that was a very biased opinion, but this little fella is keee-YOOT. it helps when you have very good looking parents. he didn't have any of those newborn traits like the conehead or the wrinkly, old man face. he was nice and 'rosie' with plump little fingers and hands. and he has the littlest baby cry, he is just precious. we are so happy for you, guys, congratulations!

here's melissa and i fawning over little max(ie).

lordy, lordy, looks who's 37

2008-03-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

happy birthday, horchie! i know, he doesn't look his age, it must be because he's got such a youthful wife! since he's got curling playoffs tonight, we celebrated last night with a feast from vij's rangoli.

oh, my. oh, my my my. it was simply delicious. vikram vij is indeed a genius because those who have babies who don't take the bottle can't wait 3 hours just to get a table at vij's so we brought vij's to burnaby. it was too easy. ready made dinners, all you need to do is dunk those little bags into boiling water for 20 minutes and voila! but apparently it was too easy because i forgot to make the rice (doh!), good thing i picked up some naan.

here's what was on the menu:

punjabi lamb curry
saag and paneer
garnet yams and green chili dumplings
tamarind and date chutney and naan

and don't forget dessert: vij's rice pudding. Y-U-M!

look's like he enjoyed it as much as i did. poor little monster only had rice cereal for dinner, but i don't think it bothered him much. maybe next year buddy!

happy birthday, my love xxxx

the tables are turning...slowly

2008-02-29T21:18:00.000-08:00

we are starting to see some progression with the little monster's sleep habits. i can't remember when we started our bedtime routine anymore but i think he is starting to get that after storytime it's bedtime. it's been awhile since my last post but i'm a tired mommy. i thought blogging would be easier than it is. words don't come easy to me so as much as i love sharing my going-ons sometimes it just seems like work. my english sucks and my chinese sucks but the upside is i'm pretty good as baby talk. who said the glass is half empty?

conrad is definately not a "cry it out" baby nor could i let him cry it out, it's just too heart wrenching. he would just cry all night if we tried that method. so the latest book i've read about infant sleep is the lull-a-baby sleep plan. of everything i've read i think this is most suitable for our little sleep monster. it's a middle of the road plan that allows parents to lull their babies into sleepy bliss. naps are getting a little better and nodding off to bed isn't that much of a fight anymore but long stretches of sleep are still random occurances but keep your fingers crossed, so far so good. the author is canadian so there are some links to some helpful websites that have canadian content so that's a bonus.

two weeks in review:

naomi at her shower, she is so cute pregnant!

rounded this photo of me as a babe, me and conrad share the same hairstyle, don't you think?

mmm, eggs benny. thanks, martha, for the breakfast show!

the first time we got to use the backpack (what a steal, thanks, colleen)! trekking around the backwoods of north burnaby.

"hello to baba! i'm so glad to see you!" singing the hello song in music class, thanks for coming, baba!

oh, my sweet boy! don't be so serious!

finally fitting into jade's overalls. thank you, jade! we miss your dinners!

first time on a swing! weee!

happy valentine's day

2008-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

to the ladies. 'nough said.

nominated

2008-02-13T22:46:00.000-08:00

horchie is up for an elan this year again. the details i got from him were vague and the nominees list on their website has not been updated, but he's up for an elan in the best storyboarding category. check out their website but be forewarned that it's very no frills, here's a comprehensive list of nominees. i really hope he wins this year because i want him to win of course, but because the trophies are so bad they're good and because we can put it alongside my most honest golfer trophy. yes, that's an illustration of it on the left.

also up for awards are josh mephie and j falconer for best direction in an animated series, josh pong for best art direction and our favoritest italian, chris mizzoni for best animated short for clancy with the puck. pick up this one at your local bookstore, folks, because it's a keeper. every little boy and girl should have this on their bookshelf. there's even a bonus DVD of the animated short that's narrated by bob cole. that's right, folks, CBC colour commentator for HNIC. (horchie storyboarded that too!) good luck to all you guys!

radical's been nominated in a few of the gaming categories...so good luck to you, gerald, if you've been nominated too!

here are some pix from last year's awards ceremony:

the entire studio gang before heading out to the awards by limo. fancy.

william shatner hosted last year.

horchie and joshy with elan and beers in tow.

me and kenny park. jason who?

sleep

2008-02-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

the lack of it. we were so naive to think the monster wouldn't have any sleep problems and that things were going to stay the way they were. it was so great for the first 4 months. he was just waking once a night to feed so we were getting blocks of 3-5 hours of sleep each night, but now he's been waking up much more frequently, about 2-3 times more often. so i've borrowed just about every book on the topic of sleep from the BPL. i know i was walking a very fine line with sleep associations, especially the one they claim is the most powerful one of all: nursing to sleep. it happens more often at night than in the day but he isn't the best at naps either so i definately have my work cut out for me. i am, however, able to catch his morning nap. when i spot his first yawn i'll plop him down into his crib. that's probably the only piece of advice i've read from book that has actually worked. i was skeptical at first because he just didn't seem like he was tired but sure enough, he'd doze off all by himself, sans soothing. i thought i was on top of the world, sigh.

our bedtime routine, tonight it's "hop on pop"

we also thought that he wasn't getting enough from breastfeeding, for monster babies need lots of food to grow, so we started him on rice cereal. we weren't sure how he'd do with spoonfeeding but he did just fine, but i'm not all that surprised since he's been quite fixated with our food as we ate it at dinnertime. he's had a couple of rice cereal meals now and it hasn't helped with the sleep sitch.

but otherwise, he's my perfect little monster. so what if i'm a little bit tired? i just need to remind myself that these times are fleeting and i'll never have them again.

we just very recently put up the jolly jumper. monster just loves it but he just didn't know what to make of it when i first put him in it but he got the hang of it pretty quickly. i can't believe it's taken us so long to put it up. little fraser's been in his for several weeks now thanks to his daddy's handy dandy blanket rig. it was this brilliant contraption that kept a wee little horchie out of toruble on family camping trips. i can't wait to use it up at grizzley cause he'll probably be in a world of trouble by the summertime.

fraser and his specially rigged up jumper

some of you might know that chinese people wear jade because it's supposed to improve your health or some kind of mumble jumble like that so the one that conrad's sporting here is one that my sister, brother as well as myself wore when we were babies. it was given to us from our maternal grandmother. i thought that's pretty neat.

conrad's been rolling around in his crib and one day i found him sleeping on his front, guess i can't do much about that.

**to all our far away friends, we've signed up with skype so give us a ring-a-ling when you have free time!

beautiful day catch up post

2008-01-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

last monday turned out to be a beautiful day so conrad and i set out for a mommy and baby snowshoeing adventure. boy, i thought we'd never get out of the house. it was a whirlwind start to the day of gathering extra clothes, extra warm clothes, toys, diapers, boots, gloves, ski pants, etc. by the time i had finished packing it looked like we were going away for days but really, it was only a 1.5 hour excursion! but like the boy scout motto says, be prepared!

it was our first time snowshoeing and i was kind of nervous as this was the first-ish time for serious physical activity...aside from the time i had to bike to lougheed mall but let's not talk about that because i get nauseous just thinking about it. we had been looking forward to it for ages because our friend, janey, is the leader of the pack, plus it was cancelled the previous week due to poor weather, but not last monday. it was glorious. the day couldn't have been more perfect and i wasn't foaming at the mouth at the end of the hike.

view of mount baker on a clear, sunny day. breath-taking.

me, conrad, ash and addison hamming it up before the big trek

how fun is it having pals on mat leave together? linds, frase, ash, adds, christina, deighton, me and con. super fun!

our fearless leader, janey. check out all the gear she needs to pack plus 20+lbs quinn!

celebrate with snow buddies

2008-01-28T23:09:00.000-08:00

5ive months. yes, folks, it has been five months since the wee monster first entered this world kicking and screaming. the day started yesterday with a slight sprinkling of snow which then progressed to cotton balls and in mere hours centimeters became inches. once the snow lightened up we braved the elements for a birthday stroll in the snow. what the stroller needed was ski attachments. i wonder if that exists...a possible business venture? probably not. but anyway, back to the monster. he was lucky enough to celebrate this one with some snow buddies. what a lucky little boy. i know i've said this before, but where has the time gone? my little baby is just growing up too quickly. parents tell me all time just how quickly it passes by but this is unreal. he will be 6 months in just a few weeks. that's half a year! he's still a pretty serious little boy but he starting to get more giggly and smiley. in the past week he's starting to roll over from back to front. he was pretty elusive about it at first, we'd just find him on his belly but we've caught him doing it a couple of times now.

rrowrr! nice snow lions.

yay for snow buddies!

it is astounding just watching how much my little monster's gross and fine motor skills develop. he's been grasping things for awhile and now he's rolling over and grabbing hold of his little feets. he can't sit up on his own yet but i'm sure that's just around the corner. oh my sweet boy.

music class! conrad and i have been going to music class at the eileen daily community center. it is so much fun! we moms just sing-a-long and dance with our babies. we even have a daddy in our class. i think that is so great! i wish horchie was so lucky but it's definately better for him work-wise with less distractions. soon it'll be time to sign up for water babies! i cannot wait for the summer to roll around, we'll be living in that pool of ours.

so what's up with the weather? there has been so much snowfall in the last two years that it seems like something fishy is going on. the last time i remember this much snowfall was when i was in highschool and class was cancelled for a whole week. yes. definately makes you wonder what's mother earth has in store for us.

hanging out as central park. don't get your feets stuck in the pond, silly gulls!

hanging out at deep cove. don't forget to stop in for a donut at honey's. mmm, to die for.

ever so serious

here's half a roll for you

BFF

2008-01-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

two boys. too cute.

baby girl(friend)

2008-01-15T18:49:00.001-08:00

dripping wet and cold. that's how i answered the phone yesterday morning to the fantastic news, good thing i got out of the shower for that one. loong and shuh have welcomed their new baby girl! she sized up to conrad almost identically upon her arrival. oh, she is precious. looks like she's a good mix of mom and dad. so far i think she has loong's eyes and shuh's lips. we can't be happier for this little new family. no name yet, but we're anxiously waiting. congratulations, chan clan!

oops, wrong baby!

baby girl

conrad met his little girlfriend and even got to see her naked as the nurse bathed her. how's that for a first date! (you snooze, you lose, jayden!) good thing both sets of parents were there to chaperone. just look at them!

papas hanging out with their babes

(and clearly my baby brain still plagues me as i don't have a picture of shuh to post. how could i forget to take a family pic?!? so duh.)

perohy dinner

2008-01-15T00:44:00.000-08:00

finally, i will not have to make another perogy until next year. don't get me wrong, i LOVE perogies, but only making the first 50, after that it gets tedious but then you get all these great compliments and it's all worth it. so i think our annual perogy dinner went off without a hitch. every year horchie and fret that we don't have enough food so i hope everyone just wasn't being nice when they said they had enough to eat. the menu was the usual, for us anyway:

mushroom and onion perogies
sauerkraut perogies
potato and cheddar perogies (of course!)
lazyman cabbage rolls
borscht
kolbasa (all the way from manitoba!)
maybe next year i'll tackle babka for dessert and host a pysanky workshop in the afternoon...hmmm, but maybe i should just stick to perogies for the time being.

the townhouse was jammed packed. i can't believe how many kids there were running around! i think the final count was at 10 and that's not including the little ones that are still on the way! the best part about throwing parties is the free babysitting. by the end of the night i was missing my little monster. he had gone down for a nap earlier on the evening and missed some of the action. poor amy su held him in her arms until he fell asleep. her little stick arms were jello for the rest of the evening. conrad returned in good spirits after nap sporting a "heartbreaker" onesie. watch out girls.

we were hoping to squeeze in some wii action but our new tv didn't get shipped in time for the festivities and i was hoping we could play with joshy's new guitar hero that he got for christmas. darn! and poor little maddy had to watch franklin on the crapbox. like mel said, "it's like watching tv star wars style all the time."

so there was much eating, drinking and merriment that night. thanks, folks, for the great turn out and ukie prezzies. until next ukrainian christmas.

merry ukrainian wii-istmas

2008-01-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

oh, yeah. i've been good this year. ukie santa gots me a wii!!! let the games begin!!

lights out

2008-01-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

the winds turned up a bit on thursday night but it was no where near the winds of the windstorm that lashed throughout the city last year, but nevertheless wind warnings were issued. i had put conrad down for a nap and waiting for jay to come home from work when...btzzz...the lights go out...but came back on again....phew...but then go out again, dammit. so i fumble in total darkness, trying hard not to stub my toe on countless baby items strewn on the floor, to light some candles. the first thing i do is check on the monster. funny that i checked on him, it was only the lights that went out. called linds and they still had their power. hmph.

luckily we had plans to go out for dinner to sushi garden (yum!) but by the time we came home the power was still out, so monster slept with us for the first time so he wouldn't be too cold in his little crib. it was fun, like we were camping. i can't wait until for summertime. for a little person, he's a big bed hog. he'll shimmy right close to you until you're just on the edge. silly boy.

MMVIII

2008-01-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

christmas and new year's has come and gone and leaving in it's wake is one unfinished storyboard, one booty that's gotten bigger (not my booty), one big zit and one sleepy baby. the winner of the biggest christmas haul this year has got to be conrad, from books to cd's to toys to coins, the kid's got it made. i must say i was pretty excited when i helped him open his very first tupperware toy (thanks donna and blaine!).

he, on the other hand was pretty unimpressed by this whole scene called christmas. an honourable mention goes to the transformer edition of mr. potato head. it really does "more than meets the fry"! thanks, millie!

the two cousins

it really was a wonderful first christmas together. once again the turkey we ordered from 3P was DELICIOUS. i will never buy a frozen turkey again! i'm not usually a white meat person but you'll never know the difference with these non-medicated, free run turkeys. here's a virtual sampling of our christmas dinner menu:

14lbs of turkey goodness + stuffing
wild rice and cranberry stuffing
baked squash slices
garlic mashed potatoes
steamed carrots + brussel sprouts

doh. amidst all the cooking and prepping fury we did not take any photos of this scrumptious meal but for the record, it was damn good. you know there is this thing about brussel sprouts. now i don't know know what it is but there is this thing that you need brussel sprouts to make christmas and thanksgiving dinner complete. i can't say it's a nostalgic thing because i probably had brussel sprouts for the first time about 6 six years ago. maybe it is because they look like cute little martian brains, i wonder if this is attributed from my chinese heritage, but anyhow, i do like the little green martian brains, but once a year is enough for me.

and of course this year, like every year, the kwan's went out for dinner on christmas day. but we tired something new this year, and for those who know anything about my dad, that is a big deal. we went for shanghai-nese food as opposed to cantonese. crazy, huh? shanghai-nese instead of cantonese. talk about living on the edge! the joint was in richmond and for those who know me, know that richmond is strictly on a need-to-go basis. oh, what a headache. right off the bat we got lost and it was snowing and the rav line construction was a big pain in the butt. like i said before, on a need-to-go basis. thank goodness there is an ikea in coquitlam. the food was pretty good but it was nothing to rave about. i was looking forward to the more homestyle foodstuffs such as dumplings, fried noodles and bread but it was more fancy shanghai-nese food, i would say more cantonese-style shanghai-nese food.

for several years now, jay and i have been celebrating ukrainian christmas. this was a result of the inability for both of us to buy and wrap christmas gifts on time (overcrowded malls were also a big turn-off). so, being the procrastinators that we are, we decided that ukrainian christmas was more our style, plus there's the added bonus of buying cheap gifts! this year will even be simpler as we'll be purchasing a new tv as our ukrainian christmas presents to each other. this is after being swindled by my mother for our tv that we had bought from girl when she decided to move to victoria. what a great little tv. it lives in my mom and dad's room now. grr. the tv we swapped for is an absolute shitbox. the picture is stretched to shit, and because we're still doing zip.ca we've been watching movies where the characters are midgets with humungous foreheads. anyone really desparate for a tv? we've got a winner for you.

christmas break is anything but relaxing. so much running around and visiting and such. my sister came back from cowtown as did my mother-in-law (MIL) and anita. i'm glad anita dropped in for a visit because we missed out on dinner at la bodega to meet her elusive BF, who apparently has glimpses of loong, aka conrad hog #1, in him. how can that be?!? loong is but one in a million! alas, we'll have to wait until we meet again.

we rang in the new year again with dave and linds....with fondue again! just like last year but with two new babies and minus the sauna, mandingo's and a dude passed out on lac de roche. ah, good times. dev, christina and their little one, dayton, were also on hand to celebrate. wow, who would've thunk that all six of us would be celebrating new year's eve with our babies. insane in the membrane. conrad, being the little monster that he is, refused to go down like his little pals, so the mad little partier counted down with the adults and stole some kisses from the gals. what a flirt!

the 3 pals hanging out on the couch, with conrad in his regular spot, "the crease"

so here's to a healthy and happy 2008, everyone!

merry christmas

2007-12-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

to all our friends and family, near and far, have a fuzzy and warm christmas this year and may all your dreams come true in the new year!

love,

jason, rosie and conrad!

baby bottle blues

2007-12-05T19:36:00.000-08:00

for the last few weeks we have tried to give conrad the bottle but with very little success. we introduced it to him awhile ago now and he took it with out any fuss so we didn't think it was an issue but i guess we weren't giving it to him regularly enough. wah! i now totally feel like i've sort of failed as a mother in this area and i know that it sounds very silly but doesn't every parent want to raise the perfect-ist little child? we're going to try and try but it's just sooooooo (multipled by infinity)sad to see little conrad cry so hard.

i don't get it, the milk inside the bottle is the same stuff from my boob but he just won't have any of it and it makes me so sad. we tried using a couple of different nipples and "transitional" cup which is a basically a sippy cup but with a soft nipple like mouth piece. horchie had to resort to using an eyedropper to feed once while i was away. we bought another more traditional sippy cup but we haven't tried it yet so wish us luck. so all you new moms out there, introduce your little one the bottle once you've established breastfeeding. one of the new mom's i've met used the bottle every three days and now her little girl lets anyone feed her by the bottle. sigh. if anyone has anymore advice for me about introducing the bottle to the little monster, please, please send it my way! i need all the help i can get.

here's an arty one for you folks!

babies everywhere!

2007-11-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

it sure has been a long time since my last post. with horchie busy meeting his deadlines it seemed like he was tethered to the computer but now since he's on paper boards now the computer has been freed up and now it's just finding the time to post. i thought i'd be posting every couple of days but the reality of it is, babies are a lot of work. there's lots to catch up on but first let's tackle all the baby announcements.

finally! i think all the november babies have finally popped. the first to come out of the flood gates was little fraser wallace. and boy, did this little guy come out in a hurry considering he was one whole week late! by then linds was super ripe and ready and luckily she didn't have to wait until the entire 10 days. i've forgotten how delicate and light newborns are. with all the talk of big heads, i was prepared for little fraser to be conrad-sized but luckily for linds he was 8lbs, 2oz. conrad's just about 14lbs now but little fraser seems just that, little, by comparison. he's so sweet. you guys have done good, congratulations!! happy 2 week birthday, fraser, and welcome to this world.

(photo above courtesy of cindy o....great pic!)

and my, oh, my. just as shuh and i were enjoying our tea and cookies at the ballet, amy called with the exciting news that ginny and jason had a precious little baby boy! i was POSITIVE that ginny was going to have a little girl! i thought ginny and i looked the complete opposite while we were preggers so this is why i was convinced that a little girl was on the way for them, so convinced that i wagered a friendly bet with nancy. now i owe her lunch. hmph. nonetheless, i am excited for you guys! i didn't think babies could come smaller than conrad did. jaden (another boy!) weighed in at 6lbs, 6oz. he was so tiny and so much hair! can't tell who he looks like, though i think more like jason than ginny for now. congratulations!! you guys done good too (and look good too)! and little jaden is even waving for the camera. what a ham!

it's so amazing how fast conrad has grown in a mere 3 month period. (by the way, he celebrated his 3 month birthday on tuesday!) everything about him just seems so non-newborn. i'm straining to remember if he had little newborn cries like fraser and jaden. hearing those cries just melt my heart. conrad was so wrinkly when he was first born. those wrinkles under his eyes and forehead especially made him look like a little old man, now he's a plump little monster. no more elephant knees, sigh...but enough about conrad (for now) and on with new babies!

and the only girl in the pack, addison rae. she was 6lbs, 15oz and with parents like todd and ashley, of course she is cutie.

my dear friend jamie and his wife also added another little boy to the boy explosion, kaian. not too many details but they are on the way! don't blink. not even once or else those precious little babes will be 3 months before you know. congratulations to all the new parents!

here's a couple of conrad but that's all for now cause if i don't publish is post now it'll be another month before i do...catch-up will just have to wait!

conrad's newest fascination is with his fist as seen here. thank goodness for cheap entertainment.

all hallow's eve

2007-11-01T18:22:00.000-07:00

the days leading up to halloween felt more like christmas and i was one of santa's little elves madly sewing the little monster's halloween costume. i couldn't let halloween go by without dressing him up! so what did we dress him up as? take a peek below:

all i could talk about while being pregnant was hotdogs so of course conrad was going to be a hotdog! and what a cute little hotdog he was! we went to the parent tot drop in session and almost all the other babies were dressed up too but to our dismay there were 2 other hotdogs there already! it was like going to the prom in your best ballgown only to find that there are 2 other girls with the same ballgown. there were pumpkins, turtles bugs and bears. conrad wasn't a very happy wiener during this photo op, he cried the whole way through. oh, conrad!

we helped dave and linds hand out candy to the kiddies as we feasted on chili. it was delish. linds is getting close now and her belly is big. we can't wait to meet you little waltsie, everybody's anxiously waiting your arrival!

conrad also got to meet our transplanted west coast fashionista, anita! even though her nieces and nephew are all grown up she's still got that baby charm or dare i say conrad's got the lady charm.

it's a short entry this time, sorry folks, that's all for now. signing off with a photo of conrad hog #1 and another of conrad because he is just so darn cute.

rain...

2007-10-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

...rain, go away. come again another day.

holy recap, ro-girl!

2007-10-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

feels like it's been more than just a few weeks since my last post. between nursing, diaper changes and sleeping there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do other things like proper dental hygiene. forget about sexy, i'm bringing fuzzy teeth back.

jay's been working from home which has been awesome but he now hogs the computer but i guess i can't complain too much since he's bringing home the bacon (finally!) so by the time he's finished up it's way too late to even comtemplate a blog entry.

so what have the horychun's been up to? well, i've gone a bike ride to the doctor's up at lougheed mall when the car was in the shop. just a quick little jaunt right? can't be that bad. well. it was bad. but the time i got home from the 10km ride i was basically foaming at the mouth. my head was hurting and i was close to convulsions. can you believe i thought by throwing on a pair of cycling tights that it was going to be a breeze? i mean, i did only have to push for 15 minutes,right? easy peasy, right? well, if i was going to foam at the mouth i was going to look damn good doing it. (sorry, no photo verification for the previous statement.) it was funny in hindsight though. isn't everything?

i also took my first real break from motherhood. i pumped and pumped. i was ready, but i was also very anxious. i was outside of the the 5 kilometer radius that i was comfortable with, plus i didn't want to be that schmuck who leaves their cell phone on during the performance. so not only was i going to be all the way downtown but also out of celluar range. me and my ballet buddy, bronnie, attended the ballet BC's season opener at the ford centre for performing arts with the national ballet's giselle. my first real classic. it was beautifully performed with the goh academy's chan hon goh as giselle. there was also a performance before giselle, polyphonia, which i was equally impressed with. i did really enjoy this time for myself but i also called home at every intermission. i'm a mom now, i'm allowed.

thanksiving was turkey-less but conrad did meet his auntie rita who came out from cowtown for the weekend. she came over to watch the hockey game and make dinner for us. we had macaroni and cheese! she used a recipe from the best of bridge cookbooks. basically, it's a series of recipes that are shared among ladies who play bridge together. these ladies must love their cheese because it called for three kinds! best of all it called for velveeta! i was very excited because in my 30 years of living i have not had velveeta. processed cheese slices, sure, but not a whole brick of it! now, i've had this conversation with my friend, munsie, and correct me if i'm wrong but velveeta used to be on the shelf with the lard in the grocery store. apparently it's now found in the refridgerated aisle with other cheeses so it must be good for you now. but anyway, it was mm-mmm good. (munsie, if you come over i'll make you a velveeta grilled cheese sandwich.) for those who for haven't had velveeta before or have the hankering for some processed goodness check out this recipe: gourmet macaroni and cheese.

there has also been an improvement with the television sitch. still no cable but we signed up with zip.ca. movies sent to your doorstep...now we really don't need to leave the house! we did the 2 week free trial and the DVDs were flying into our mailbox but now since the trial period is over the service has slowed down considerably. i guess that's how they reel (heh heh) you in but i'm not complaining, we can hardly sit down to watch a movie in its entirety and the no due dates works for us just perfectly.

bored on a sunday night? i highly recommend cbc's new reality TV show, triple sensation. i had some harsh words about reality television in one of my earlier entries but this one is good. it's not a slag-fest (horchie's words) like the others, we don't need another clay aiken. if you like broadway you'll like this. so, to be a triple sensation you need to able to sing, dance and act and these contestants all have chops. i'll say no more, you can tune in at 8pm.

conrad is now a whopping 11.5 pounds! his flakey face is almost all better but his cradle cap has migrated to where it's supposed to be, the top of his head...the whole area! my poor little buddy! he's been having lots of fun though. we've started going to a parent/infant drop in at eileen daily pool. it's nice to get out and meet other moms and babies and guess who i ran into there...teresa and little olivia chang! it's been so nice to have other new moms to share this experience with and i CANNOT wait until to meet all the november monsters. congrats to teresa and jason, olivia is too cute!

last night the 3 of us also went to the ricky, titans, george wrap party. it was conrad's first time in a pub, he's such a bad-ass. no drinks this time, little buddy! it was a whirlwind visiting session. conrad and i didn't make it too far past the entrance but it was great those we did and sorry to those who we missed. we'll see you all very soon!

we've been reading lots and conrad's faves that make him smile the most are two old school classics: where the wild things are and the very hungry caterpillar (thanks anita!) and how to catch a star by oliver jeffers. a big thanks to ty, terilynn and the girls for sending this great little book. check out oliver's website, he's a super talented artist.

take a look at how the monster's growing (sigh): don't you just love the conrad sized carrot and the invisible cell phone?

holy, baby model! work it, conrad.

aww, what a great dad.

happy one month

2007-09-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

doesn't feel like a month, does it? conrad's one month birthday has descended upon us. he's already over 9lbs after our doctor's visit at the beginning of the week so there's no doubt that he's put on a couple more ounces since then. they sure seem to grow up in a jiffy...sigh, if they could just stay small. there are times i think he's grown even just after a nap. his jowels make him look like a little bulldog. he's just so cute! the rash on his forehead is actually seborrheic dermatitis aka cradle cap and unfortunately it's not pretty and it lasts from 4-6 weeks. so just a note to future moms: get your announcement photos before the 20 or more rashes appear or else you'll have flaky baby pictures, which will still be cute but just flaky. conrad's weight is about average on his growth chart but his length is just a little below the 50th percentile which is no surprise since his parents aren't freakish giants.

he looks way bigger in his car seat. did you know that a baby's head is roughly 2/3's their body weight? fun fact, huh?

everyday i find new things about little conrad. for example, i was smelling his wee little hands and was surprised that instead of sweet smelling baby hands they were kinda stinky sour hands. i was shattered! our angel (really he is!) has stinky sour hands! even so we still have him wear his silly mitts to prevent him from gauging his precious little eyeballs out which probably contributes to his stinky hands as well as the fact that he has his fists clenched all day.

a crying baby beckons...until next time. happy one month birthday, monster.

telly scramble

2007-09-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

so the new telly season has just started...not that it means much to me because we don't have cable but thank goodness for our rabbit ears we get the CBC (of course), cityTV and, albeit crappy, chek 6 island and KVOS. however, we do get an exclusive station here, conradTV. the only downside is this channel doesn't work with our remote control.

we take what we get so it's usually CBC and that comprises of the national, the hour (love strombo) and other quality programs that our beloved national broadcasting corporation produces. little changes on the CBC but a pleasant surprise this season is the martha stewart show in the 11am timeslot. hallelujah! my savour to daytime telly! as sad as this may sound, there is absolutely nothing on daytime television and it's not because we only have 4 channels.

cityTV, however, has made copious changes to their lineup. they have replaced star daily with wheel of fortune and re-runs of friends with jeopardy! how am i supposed to get my daily dose of entertainment news!?! i can live with jeopardy but wheel of fortune?!? now i'm forced to watch eTalk daily on chek 6 which i have previously mentioned comes in pretty crappy but your eyes gradually gets used to the snowiness. this channel makes everything else look like high def!

as a self-professed ANTM junkie, i was not too impressed with this season's premiere. it was very lacklustre. the girls were blah and the future theme sounds lame. i was not even interested in visiting the website and tyra looked fat. very disappointing, enough said. when is reality TV going to be over? the saving grace? the fifth estate...thank god for investigative reporting.

my tv woes aside, my little milk monster is growing before my eyes. he's starting to get sausage fingers, chubby cheeks and a double chin. the last time he was weighed, conrad was at 7lbs15oz and we're visiting the doc's next week for his one month check up so we'll get a new update. i can't believe it will be one whole month already. the days go by so quickly i wish i had a rewind button. the poor little fella has a bit of a rash on his face. at one point it got so bad it looked like he had a little red mask on. so off to the doctor's we went, as anxious parents that we were, and all was good. apparently there are about 20 different newborn rashes...who knew, because they only list about 4 of them in the books.

his tear ducts are starting to produce teeny weeny tears and it makes it even more sad for me when he cries now...and the boy can cry. i think he is coming out of his sleepy newborn stage (sigh) and is coming to terms that he won't be able to crawl back into the womb where it was basically perfect and i can't blame him especially when there are chinese ladies talking in high pitch gibberish, constantly fawning over him when my mom had a little viewing of our little guy last week. it was a hoot if you liked pickled eggs and pig trotters, ginger soup and chinese ladies.

other than that he eats well (very well), cries well and poops and pees well. life is good if you are a baby, specifically, life is good if you are conrad but life is also very good if you are me. he makes me laugh daily. i really didn't think that i would enjoy motherhood as much as i do. i mean, i was very apprehensive about it but it's been so great that i can hardly remember what it was like before him. cheesy, i know but i know you'll keep coming back for more.

and look who came for a visit! the travers pack but minus the pooch. sorry you had to miss out, ribsy! we'll have to visit you out in the hammer. it was great seeing you guys!

finally, our dear friends, josh and naomi, broke the news to us...well, me really because horchie knew already (he's a really good secret keeper) that they are expecting! i couldn't be more happy for them. congratulations, guys! we can't wait to meet your little, big bundle of joy. yay for another little buddy for conrad!

and another round of congrats to corrina, the girl who likes to fill out forms, who is also expecting! i can't believe the number of people who are having babies...watch out or you might catch it.

farty mcGee

2007-09-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

thanks for comments, guys! things have somewhat settled down around this neck of the woods. the first couple of nights were pretty rough. l'il conrad had extended lung exercise sessions into the most ungodly hours of the night. he certainly does have a very good set of pipes. but we are now very relieved that he is sleeping well between feeds although we still need to wake for scheduled feedings. he has also unknowingly made diaper changes bit of a game for jay and i. he, so far, has farted in both of our faces and displayed a very impressive fountain show, one would even compare it to those seen in las vegas minus the lights display. it's a pretty fun game so i'm throwing this invitation to those interested in taking part.

we've have two outings already, both times to the doctor's office. why is that there are so many GPs who are lazy? i have countless horror stories (my own as well as others) of doctor's who show the utmost disregard for the very reason for our visits, healthcare. my family doc weighed conrad at our request only because "we wanted him to". so he pulls out his scale that probably hasn't seen the light of day since i don't know when. i was very unimpressed, but i have been for awhile but now that we have a little family this healthcare business is a bit of a priority. so if any of you guys would like to recommend your GPs to us please, please give us a shout!

this is conrad's second car ride since coming home from the hospital and as you can tell he's not too impressed and a few more other pics as well. i really like the sleepy time ones.

so, as i was dressing conrad after one of his feeding sessions i noticed that is umbilical cord stump had fallen out. it wasn't in his diaper. it wasn't on the bed. it wasn't anywhere. i don't know what we would do with it but i was a little disappointed that we had lost this little piece of him. this little piece was the one piece of evidence that we were once attached to each other. but there was a pleasant turn of events in this seemingly sad story. the little stump was stuck to my robe. phew. so here it is in all it's glory.

2 + 1 = 3

2007-08-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

i can hardly believe all the events that have happened in a mere matter of days. jason and i are honest-to-god parents to our new baby boy. we have a baby...a baby boy! it is still so surreal. being at the hospital was like living in a little bubble, i was getting too used to hospital gowns that left my backside exposed and people in hairnets delivering my food...but of course in a good way. after 2 days at the hospital it felt a bit bizarre when it was finally time to leave and actually make our journey back home which seemed so far away, but we were ready, armed with our newest little wee pet, breast pump and what very little we knew about being parents. the only thing we didn't have was my pants. i'm blaming this on jason, in transition somewhere along the way he lost my pants. thank goodness that he packed his shorts in our bag because i would have been going home sans pantalons. our schedule is a little on the hairy side so here's the coles notes version on how the events unfolded and of course pictures of our new bundle of joy:

1. water broke on sunday, august 26. went to the hospital. false alarm. got sent home. no changes to the due date, still september 8th. had fish and chips for dinner.

2. gone to bed. jay's working on his board. contractions start at 2am, august 27. jay: still working on board. got no sleep. contractions continue and are really starting to hurt. (REALLY hurt.)

3. go to the hospital at 1pm. get assessed. 4-5cm dialated. contractions ongoing. moaning starts.

4. moaning continues.

5. tried laughing gas to take the edge off the pain. contrary to the name, this gas does not make you laugh.

6. 8cm dialated, water not broken. must manually break water.

7. doctor breaks the water. i dialate to 10cm in no time flat - "OK! push!"

8. 15 minutes of pushing and baby comes sliding down the birth canal as if it was a water slide. (OK, maybe not that easy or painless.) i'm also the new golden girl in the delivery ward. (OK, maybe not the entire delivery ward and maybe just in Delivery Room 5. i'm not known to brag but...eat your heart out girls.)

i guess many, if not all, of my posts will be about Baby so i'm sure a few of you folks out there reading this will get a little squirmy about poops, breasts and placentas and all the many things that the Chinese like to do with them...kidding. i'll be in my own little bubble for awhile but please don't forget to leave comments for me as this will probably be my only link to the outside world.

this has been a truly amazing experience for me, from the entire duration of the pregnancy to labour and delivery, and now i get to start a new life with my new little family. i couldn't have asked for anything more, except for a japadog around week 25. thank you, from the very bottom of my heart, to all our family and friends for all the gifts, love and support.

and now, what everyone's been waiting for...introducing our newest, littlest family member, Conrad Hudson, born on august 27th at 20:35, weighing in at 6.6lbs:

conrad says, "thanks, nicola for the super, cool, awesome, wicked toque!"

we did end up finding my pants. they were in the laptop bag. (and no, they didn't leave a second baby in my belly.)

summary: week one of a beautiful thing

2007-08-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

you know that saying, "time flies when you're having fun"? it sure is true! SO much fun! the best feeling is when you don't even know what day it is, that's when you know you are having fun. i must say it was a busy week. my sister as well as friends from australia came into town so there was a lot of lunching and dim summing, needless to say, i think i've had my dim sum quota for the remainder of the year.

monday was a very productive day. my sister offered to do the baby announcements for horchie and i so i went over to my M&D's to help her out, but not before lunch, so nurse amy came out with us and also helped out with the announcements, it was a typical first day of school. i want to post a photo of the final product but i'll keep it a surprise, just like baby. thanks, rita, they look fabulous.

and the nesting begins, i've been organizing around the house and made this shelf for a shelf, it was starting to get a bit unruly. much better!

did a bit of shopping on west broadway. there is this great little shop called stepback and it carries the cutest merch. check out my loot:

i know it's going to be awhile until baby goes to school but the illustration on the cover of this keepsake book was too irresistable. i can actually collect baby's school artifacts from kindergarten to grade twelve! i think grade twelve is pushing it just a little but you never know! i've been in a bird phase as of late so i also picked up a few vintage postcards of birds to decorate baby's room. i love the baby blocks. there weren't too many letters left, lucky for baby! i don't think you'd find very many baby blocks nowadays with swiss army knives on them.

and aside from buying fun things for baby we've finally got some of the big things out of the way. we finally put the crib together and moved both the that and the change table into our bedroom. it was a bit peculiar to actually do this, but we are having a baby afterall. sometimes it is still very surreal that all i'm doing now is waiting for a baby to be born...and it's inside of me. i don't feel anything too different yet, there have been a few people who have said i've dropped but i don't feel like baby's dropped. i thought i might have been having braxton-hicks contractions, which are basically fake contractions but both my doc and i agree that it's most likely gas. pffft!! and we got the car seat. it's temporarily in hondaleeza right now but we'll move it out once we get our hands on andelica.

and the weekend wouldn't be a weekend if we didn't drop by the garden. we've eaten all the spinach and lettuce now so all that's left is swiss chard, beets, carrots, beans, broccoli and potatoes. we're kind of disappointed that the beets aren't doing that great. they are on the small side, very small side, but on the upside we have gotten some really big carrots. And the beans are going off the hizzle! we'll need to go back soon and start harvesting them perhaps for pickling purposes. the aphids are really annoying, first it was the chard, now it's the broccoli. i'll need to spray them down with soapy water next time were there.

and burnaby blackberries rock! we finally made jam with last year's harvest. horchie and i have gone out a couple of times already and the haul was very fruitful indeed. the official running total is 2lbs 15oz. living off the fat of the land, that's what i like.

the long awaited second entry

2007-08-13T22:43:00.000-07:00

finally, i didn't think i would ever get to this second entry. much has happened so let's start with the last camping trip before baby decides to pop. ahh, it's aug long and time to head up to grizzley. for the last two years horchie and i have missed out on the grizzley action due to wedding action instead so we were really looking forward to this trip after this hiatus. YAY for the aug long spaghetti dinner! after everything was packed and ready to go it was 8pm when we finally hit the road...almost forgot our sleeping bags...can you imagine?!?!? despite the late start we arrived at camp C at about 3:20am...good driving, horch! we didn't make it out to the interlakes rodeo this year but instead everyone was in attendance for the 1st annual grizzley frisbee golf tournament! random team pairing resulted in me and grizzley bob as the first team to throw our frisbees. check out this impossible shot that grizzley bob totally made possible with the help of long limbs, something that i definately lack, plus i think i would've been way off centre if i tried to lie on my belly.

Here's some more good times had by all: davie-cakes down the straightaway.

the duchess of lindsor caught in the moment of contemplation at grizzley flats.

aside from all the frisbee fun there was much fun had on the lake, check me out in this gratuitous swimsuit photo, look out for in me the next sports illustrated.

we also got a chance to drive up to timothy lake and check out scott and colleen's pad...DUH!! why didn't we bring swim suits??? this is what we missed out on:

it kicked ass that davie-cakes, the duchess of lindsor, horchie and i were able to take the tuesday off. the day slowly clouded over but it's always sad to leave grizzley. the ride home as slow as usual (not in a bad way, penelope!) but was extra nice since we didn't need to deal with the long weekend traffic jam. so long for now, grizzley, i don't think we'll make it back for labour day weekend, heh heh. until next summer.

ring around the rosie?

2007-08-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

after much talk, and there was much talk about blogging, i am finally online. i didn't really have ideas for a name so after being stumped i thought "ring around the rosie" would be kinda cute...until munsie pointed out what the ring really was. his thoughts: "Gross." what seemingly sounded like an innocent nursery rhyme was not at all. i blame this on my ESLism. it still plagues me everyday. no pun intended. but let's not take things so literal. i thought about changing the name but nothing clever has come to mind so it will have to do for now.

so where do i start? i'll start by congratulating my chums, mel and drew, who finally decided to tie the knot. Here are some pix of one of the most beautiful weddings we have ever attended. thanks for letting us celebrate it with you.

want more? follow this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10821997@N08/

more mundane things to come. please stayed tuned.