Gardening

Christine and I have planted a vegetable garden this year. The house we bought had a garden already set up in the back of the property, complete with a somewhat decrepit fence (but it does keep the rabbit out). It was all set, basically just had to pull all the weeds out, mix up the soil a bit and seed. So we bought a some seeds for fast growing and fast producing vegetables so that we would actually get some production this year. We were only able to plant the first week of July versus the end of May or early June that would be more typical for NB...

For record keeping measure more than anything, here's what we've planted: snow peas and regular peas (at the back of the garden) and left to right: beats and radishes, carrots and mescalin lettuce, yellow beans, green beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. The latter two were plants that we transplanted. I may need to put tomatoes in a different spot next summer as I'm not sure how much sun they get where they are. We haven't had enough sun for me to know where it is at what time of day... what a crummy summer!

We'll see how it goes. The peas, radishes, beans and lettuce are starting to come up. I hope we get to eat lots of great vegetables later this summer!

That's it for the garden. I'll post pictures when there's something other than mounds of dirt to see.

J

House updates

Many of you are probably wondering... or have stopped looking at the site for lack of new posts lately...

We closed on our house with no issues last Wednesday. That night, I met with a painter who came in and painted Christine and Nicholas' rooms on Thursday and Friday. Trev also started moving some boxes on Wednesday night. Thursday, Trevor, my dad and his dad moved pretty much everything out of the apartment and into the house. A ton of work! By the end of the day, the beds were put back together, the kitchen table was back together and there were boxes and toys EVERYWHERE! We spent the night at my parents', obviously!

Friday, my mom and I spent the entire day unpacking and organizing. By that night, the main floor was basically done and we started actually living there already. I said it 7 months, but I'll say it again and this time I mean it: we're not moving again for a long time! I figure we can stay here until the kids put us into a home... :)

Where we're at now: the garage is almost at the point where we could park in it. Still some things to move out of there and clean up/organize, but yesterday, we made a lot of progress there. The basement: one of the bedrooms has the bed set up and ready for guests, while we need to put the bed together in the other room and make it up. We could definitely host on a moment's notice. The downstairs play area though is currently being used as storage depo for all the boxes not yet unpacked (the boxes labelled miscellaneous of items we haven't missed for 7 months... perhaps they will end up in a yard sale!) and things for storage. We laid everything there so that we can put things in our storage area in a more organized fashion. That will come.

Other than that, Trev mowed the lawn over a couple of evenings - big job with all the rain we've had and with pushing a mower around the acre... I've been working at weeding the gardens and still have a lot of work to do. If it could stop raining for a day or two, I may be able to plant a bit of a vegetable garden too... it's getting quite late already...

Hmmm... that's it for now. Better get to work.

Oh and the other thing: we haven't got our internet working at home yet. Stupid Aliant. We had a tough time setting it up at the apartment and this should have been simple. BUT, for some reason, they actually disconnected our phone for a few days and reconnected so everything was all screwed up. We haven't got it going again. So I apologize for lack of communication over the last week! I'll have a lot of catching up to do when we get on line again!

Updates and News

It's been a while, I realize, so I have a bit of catching up to do. I'll try to be brief.

Nicholas:
- is completely recovered from his surgery - everything looks great and he seems to be fine
- always seems to have a bit of a cold and cough, but all in all is doing great.
- continues to walk and climb on everything and is LOVING spending time outside

Christine:
- seems to be growing at a ridiculous rate - I'll have to measure her, but all her size 3 pants are about 2-3 inches too short. Guess I have some shopping to do :)
- she got her haircut a few weeks ago (Easter weekend) and it's so much cuter and easier to care for! We all love it and should have done it a long time ago. But this way, a donation for making a wig is possible, so it all evens out in the end
- she makes me laugh on a daily basis with things she says and how grown-up she's getting
- she makes me mad on a daily basis for being more stubborn them me! Man, she can be a challenge!

Trevor:
- don't know what's new with him - he seems happy enough at work, same routine at home as always.

me:
- have an interview on Tuesday for the job I'm in (but term position vs. casual) - wish me luck.
- enjoying work more and more. It's getting busier (a good thing for me!) and I'm really enjoying getting out at lunch time, either for a run or aerobics class in the basement a few times a week. The work is getting more and more interesting and the people I work with are great.

The biggest news (I guess it's not news yet, but hopefully will be before long): we found a house and we're putting in an offer this afternoon. Hopefully with a quick closing so that all of you who want to come visit this summer will have your own "suite"!! Check it out. We'll let you know how that works out. http://www.propertyguys.com/properties/29543-hanwell-new-brunswick-single-family

That's it for now.

The big day

I woke up around 5am this morning when Nicholas made a little sound, so I got up and had some breakfast, got cleaned up, etc. I went back to see him around 5:30 and managed to get dressed before he woke up. I changed his diaper and we got in the car and headed to CHEO.

Once we got here, we knew exactly where to go and everyone has been super nice and helpful. It’s a really great hospital. Nicholas got to play in the waiting room and climb over every chair and bench and make pretty eyes to all the other patients and nurses. He flirted constantly. One of the nurses checked him over and we were back in the playroom. Eventually, she came to get us and Nicholas got some pre-medication (slow-down drugs) and some Tylenol and we made some bubbles for a while. His eyes started to close a bit, but he fought with all his might to stay active. At least he was ok in my arms – without the drugs, he would have been running around all the hallways. We hung out for a little while longer and his anesthetists came to see him, check him over and explain things again. His surgeon/urologist also came by to check things out and put his initials near the location of the incision. He found the teste very easily by palpating, so didn’t believe he would need to do a laparoscopy and it should be a simple surgery.

Once everyone saw him and were satisfied and they were ready, they dressed me up and we went to the operating room. We laid him on the stretcher and I sang to him as they held a mask on his face to put him to sleep. He fought it a fair bit, but did quite well. Once he was asleep, I had to leave him, but I think he was in good hands. Once asleep, they put in an intravenous and give him the meds that way.

I then went down to the café to get a coffee and came back to the waiting room so they can find me when things are over (it was 8:15 when I was sitting down again). From there, I don’t have any details of how things went. Dr. Guerra, the urologist who performed the surgery came to see me after the surgery (9:30). He said everything went well, no issues. I’ll spare the details.

Shortly after, the nurse came to get me so I could be with Nicholas. She said he was really hungry! He woke up crying, but settled very very quickly after they gave him a bottle of sugar water. I guess if he’s really desperate, he’ll take a bottle!! He also drank a ton of apple juice, so he was much happier after that. He was very groggy from the morphine and other drugs in his system, so he slept on my shoulder on and off for the next couple of hours. We hung out with a nurse coming to check every now and again. Around 11 or so, she felt good that everything was ok, so I got him changed back into his pj’s and left the hospital around 11:30. We stopped by Shoppers to fill the prescription (codeine) and pick up some polysporin and headed back to the Herages. He ate well, had a massive pee and poop (it was everywhere! – probably from all the AJ) and is now sleeping in the pack’n’play. I’ll have a nice shower.

He was full of it (piss and vinegar!) after lunch, so doesn’t seem to be in pain. For now, we’ll stick to just Tylenol, but if he’s looking like he’s in pain, we’ll give him the codeine (or if he’s uncontrollable and jumping on the couches :) ). Hopefully everything heals well and he continues on the road to recovery!

Green light

Nicholas' and my travels to Ottawa were pretty uneventful. The plane was almost empty, so we had two seats which was really fantastic. Nicholas got to roll around and climb up and down the seat next to me for 2 hours. He was a happy baby/toddler.

When we got to Ottawa, Ed was already there waiting for me (thank you!). We drove down to Brockville and Nicholas slept the entire day. He's adjusting a bit (aka not sleeping all that great), but overall not doing too bad. Hopefully he'll go to sleep early tonight and be in full swing tomorrow.

We met with the anesthesiologist today and everything looks good. Nicholas has developed a bit of a runny nose and cough over the last couple of days, but I truly believe it's teeth related and not a cold. As long as he doesn't pick up something before 8am tomorrow, in all likelihood, he's going into surgery.

So, tonight and tomorrow night for sure, we're at the Herages (thank you!). We'll get up super early tomorrow morning to be at CHEO for 6:30am. They'll give him some premedication to help him relax (ok, so for those who know Nicholas, you'll know why! they need him to be a little slower...) and get him ready for surgery to start around 8am. It should last less than 1.5 hours, depending on where things are, etc. He'll wake up very shortly after that and depending on how he's doing, I'll either be with him from then on or he'll be recovering on his own for a little bit. He'll likely be under observation for about 4-6 hours, depending on his drinking, eating and peeing. And then we'll be headed back to the Herages. I'll try to write sometime tomorrow to give an update of how things went.

Speaking of peeing - he won't have a catheter for the procedure!! So guess where the pee is going if he has the urge during surgery!! :) Not sure sure how sanitary that is, but that's what they do!

Until then, positive thoughts and prayers!

She makes me laugh...

The things that children say that make you laugh... We had four such moments this morning that really brought a smile to my face that I want to record for her and share with you.

Watch the ice:
As we came down the stairs to our parking area at the house, she noticed that under the deck was quite icy. She already determined with absolute resolution last week that "ice is slippery and snow is not". This morning, she saw the ice and looked back at me full of concern and said "fais attention là, c'est glissant - moi suis la maman là" (be careful there, it's slippery - I'm the mom there).

Look the other way:
Some background: I lost my sunglasses a little while ago. I have since ordered new ones, but the frames are on backorder, so it may be a little while before I get my prescription sunglasses.

In the car on the way to daycare this morning, the sun was shining strongly and hit us in the face when we turned onto the highway. Christine said she needed her sunglasses. I explained to her that she had brought them into the house last night and we didn't have any others in the car, so she should look the other way. She seemed happy with that. I then commented that I also needed my sunglasses and was looking forward to getting them when they came in. She responded calmly "C'est pas grâve - regarde dans l'autre direction" (it's ok, look the other way).

Little bit of gas:
So it turns out we talk a lot when in the car... The gas light came on this morning while driving to Christine's daycare, so I said that it looked like I'd have to go put gas in the car possibly later today. Christine asked why (her top favorite word for sure these days!). I explained to her that it takes a lot of gas to drive her to school and to go to work every day and to visit Mamie and Papi a couple of times in a week. She then asked (because let's face it, Trev is often the one putting gas in the vehicles) if Papa had only put a little little bit of gas in last time.

Car is a unit of measure for time:
This actually started a couple of days ago and not sure why and how. Every morning, when we get into the parking lot of her school, she says that she wants me to stay just a little little bit (and she pushes her index to her thumb to show how little the window of time is she wants me to stay). The last couple of mornings, she adds that she wants me to stay just a little bit of time, just like a car. I asked her about it, and she's quite determined that it is a unit of measure for time...

I need to remember more of these things that she does cause they are things I really want to share with her later.

The End of an Era - remembering a special friend

It was exactly 7 years ago last week when I moved to Brockville, Ontario. Seven years ago, a friend of mine gave me my first pet, Tigger, as a companion in my first apartment on my own. And it was 7 years ago today that I started working at P&G.

Well... I believe I'll remember the details of my first week at this job more completely than I remember the details of that week... It has been quite a roller coaster of winter storms, unexpected trips, and a visit from Norwalk (or other gastroenteritis issue).

On Tuesday night, after getting in late, having a late dinner with my parents, finally putting the kids to bed and relaxing a little bit, we realized, just before going to bed, that we hadn't seen Tigger all night. Our last real recollection of seeing him was from early in the morning. So we start looking everywhere for him - even disturbing the kids' sleep to go check in their rooms and closets. Trev went to look outside, thinking he may have gotten out when he got in with the kids or when my parents left after dinner. We looked everywhere twice. Finally, on a third trip to the basement, Trev found him laying in the middle of the floor "breathing funny" (his words, not mine). He was panting, short shallow quick breaths and seemed quite miserable. We had noticed that he hadn't been himself over the previous few days - laying and sleeping most of the day and night. He was acting like most other cats, but definitely not like our lively (albeit sometimes annoying) Tigger. So we called a local vet and they had an after hours answering service which paged a vet that was on call for the area. I spoke with the vet briefly and decided to take Tigger in to see her, not wanting to wait until the morning. So at 11pm, Tigger and I got into the car and drove across town to meet her at the animal hospital where she worked.

Tigger was in respiratory distress. He was foaming at the mouth and just couldn't seem to take a good breath. The vet was terrific, really trying to figure out what was going on as quickly as possible and she seemed really genuinely concerned for Tigger. She did a couple of x-rays of his chest and did an ECG. Looking at the results and through much more thinking and listening to his heart, etc. determined that it was one of two things: a large tumor was growing near his heart and causing it to not function properly or he was having rapid heart failure which would cause fluid to flow into the lungs, both causing the respiratory distress. Either of these prognoses were not good for our poor, loveable companion. So just like that, within a few short hours of finding him on the floor, I had to say goodbye. It was the hardest thing I've had to do and I don't want to do it again for a long long time.

We miss him and think about him all the time. He will always have a very special place in our hearts.

First Real Day

Well, it's nice to be here sitting (ok - lounging very lazily) on the couch! I hope today won't be a start to a trend! Don't get me wrong - the day wasn't all that bad, but it was LONG!

So I got up at 5:30 and started getting ready. Trev had to go out and clear snow again this morning, so he was a little later with his shower, so I also got both kids up. We were all dressed and having breakfast by a little before 7 and Christine and I were on the road by about 7:20. The traffic was a little slow, but not bad. After dropping her off and hanging out for a couple of minutes, I got back on the road, crossed the river and headed on to Marysville. I got there right on time - 8:15am. I met with my boss and went over a bunch of things with her and meeting a few people. I got my office and my computer is set up. And then we find out that the guy who's project I'm getting has a meeting in Moncton today with the architect and client department. Since it's the kick off meeting for the project I'm taking over, it would make a lot of sense for me to go - of course. So all of a sudden, I'm headed to Moncton. Sounds great - good training. If the meeting goes on schedule, we'll still be back by 5pm, so I can still get home to make the pancakes and bacon (it is Shrove Tuesday after all) for when Trev and the kids get home. Well... the meeting went really long... and it was after 6:30 before I got home...

Luckily, we were having my parents over for dinner so Trev wasn't on his own with the kids and making dinner. Unfortunately though, I didn't get to spend much time with them and they got here about 45 minutes before Trev did... We'll see how tomorrow goes!

First Day

Today was my first official day as a provincial government employee. Because of the forecast, we had set our alarm to ring at 4:30 so that Trev could get going on clearing out the driveway. I got up around 5:30 and started to listen to all the cancellations... Nicholas' daycare closed - I guess Trev will have to stay home...

The roads are buried, it's crazy. I've never seen so much snow in all my life and the winds! Wow! Anyway, the snowfall turned into a blizzard. It was insane.

So how was work? Should I get to the point? Well, it was a breeze of a first day... The offices were all closed for the day. So I got to stay home and play with the kids. It's a good thing as both of them were up quite a bit during the night, so I really needed the nap I got this afternoon!!

So more news tomorrow...

Tearless visit to daycare!

Well, almost. Nicholas has not been adjusting as easily as we'd hoped at daycare. He went a couple of times with me (Julie) last week and he cried like crazy if I just moved an inch on the floor. Anyway, we decided later in the week that if it wasn't going to go too easily, that we should do exactly as the routine would be in the morning when I start working. So Trev's been taking him and dropping him off. The first day was for 1/2 hr (Wednesday, I think). Then we did that again on Thursday as it wasn't so successful... On Friday, they kept him until 9am (one whole hour!).

Unfortunately, with all the sickness at home, he didn't go on Monday - we wanted him to be fever free for 24 hrs and feeling better before going. Antibiotics for his tonsillitis made a huge difference and he's recovering really really well from it. Tuesday (yesterday), Trev brought him and he wailed as soon as he saw where he was. He cried like crazy for the first 1/2 hour and off an on until I picked him at the dedicated time - 10am. I was starting to worry that he really wouldn't be happy there and maybe I should be looking to put him in a home daycare after all. But we don't have time to start "practicing" elsewhere... We'll keep trying. I feel terrible for the ladies who have to look after him and the other babies - they must be exhausted.

Today, I went to pick him up at 11:30 - they wanted to take him through lunch. I get there and I don't hear him crying. That's odd... I open the door and no ones crying. That's odd... And I say "hmmm - I don't hear any crying today" to which they respond that "it's because there wasn't any today!". He cried when he was dropped off, but stopped before Trev got to the bottom of the stairs, supposedly. And he didn't cry at all the rest of the morning. He played well and ate well. I'm so thrilled! It might work out well after all!! Tomorrow is until 2:30 or 3pm and Friday will be a full day. Next will be full days every day... :(

And he started wailing when he heard my voice... ;)

It's all in who you know

And it turns out I know some great people!

As you know from a few posts ago, I had to start a real job search in the last couple of weeks. I had been looking about once a week on Career Beacon, Monster, Workopolis as well as on the career pages for NBPower, the NB Government and UNB. I had applied to a couple of jobs here and there, but only ones that I was really really interested in. When I found out I had no job, I started applying for anything that seemed remotetly interesting and that I thought I was at least almost qualified for.

At the same time, a friend from WAY back (University days) saw my post through Facebook and asked what type of work I had been doing and offered to pass my resume on to people in the government. Sure! Doesn't hurt to try that way too! This was Friday the 30th, I think. We also got a hold of another friend of ours who's dad works at another consulting firm in town (AMEC) and got his info Wednesday the 4th. Between those two contacts, I had an "interview" on Thursday night on the phone with AMEC and an "interview" with Supply and Services (Buildings - Planning and Project Development) on Friday afternoon last week (5th and 6th). By Friday afternoon I had one written offer and one verbal offer. Crazy fast.

Anyway, I thought long and hard about it over the weekend and yesterday. I spoke to a couple of friends that work for the government and decided to go that way. The job is a casual position for 6 months (can get extended up to 1 year) and it has no vacation or benefits, but there's going to be a term position that will be posted shortly that they want me to put in for and it will have some benefits. Still no pension, but it seems to be the path taken for getting in permanently with the provincial government. After 6 months of being there, I can start putting in for any internal jobs as well, so that will be key. Once I get on permanent (I'm not daring use the word "if"), I can buy back the years in pension, I guess.

The job looks really interesting to me - planning and managing building projects for the government (ie: new construction, renovations or extensions for schools, colleges, prisons, offices, etc.). Basically leading a team of architects and engineers from conception to awarding the bids. I'm taking a pretty big risk (the other job was permanent and had good benefits), but hoping that it will all pay off in the end.

The greatest thing: it's a 36.25 hour work week! Crazy! 8:15 to 4:30 with an hour lunch! Who has an hour for lunch?! Oh yeah! Me!! Perhaps there will be more running and exercise in my future... Time will tell... It looks like I'll be starting on the 23rd, so I have a little bit of time to get Nicholas settled into his daycare and aquire a bit of a government wardrobe!

Am I hearing things?

With Christine being so late with her language development, I totally wasn't thinking that Nicholas would be talking anytime soon, but I think he's starting! Perhaps I just have a better tuned ear to hear those first "words", perhaps he is actually saying things sooner than Christine, we will never know. I think he's definitely hearing more of a single language compared to what Christine had when she was a baby (we spoke French to her, but typically would speak English to each other while the language at home now is French pretty much all the time now) so maybe that helps. If it's the latter, then we can probably expect some slow downs when he starts daycare... alas...

Some of his first words:
- Mama (often said as mamamamama when he wakes up)
- Baba = Papa
- Bah = balle (balls are his absolute favorite things)
- Auto (car) - this was new tonight: he stood at the little ride along car and said it very very clearly. This car is definitely a close second to balls.
- Iggy = Tiggy (the cat). Another favorite.

He sometimes also has a conversation with Tigger. He'll make pretty good cat noises when Tigger starts. It's pretty funny. He also clicks his tongue and sometimes does it when we ask him what the horse says.

He definitely likes to play with sounds and loves to hear himself. He doesn't always get much opportunity (eg: Christine had a Dr's appointment today - when the Dr came in, she said "well aren't you a little chatterbox?!" from listening to her from the time we walked in the door...). When Christine is at daycare though, his vocal cords must ache as he doesn't stop!

Daycares

After visiting countless home daycares and a couple of Centers, we finally reserved a spot for Nicholas. I can't believe how hard it was compared to what I had gone through for Christine! I guess there were 2 major contributing factors for that:
1 - we had a better network of friends with young children in Brockville so knew our options better than in Fredericton (and thus had many references to find out what the daycare providers are really like)
2 - daycare is more readily available in Brockville compared to Fredericton

Basically for Christine, we knew that there were 2 home daycares and one Center that were French in Brockville and 2 of the 3 had spaces available. So that was easy. We also knew many kids that had gone to the place where Christine ended up going, so it was really a no-brainer. Basically, it was "do you have a spot? great, we'll take it. I guess I should interview you too...".

For Nicholas, well, it was different. Thank goodness for kijiji - that's the only way I was really able to find available home daycares! I called many, visited and interviewed many. I had finally narrowed down to 2 places that I liked, but with the news of having no job, I didn't call them right back. And I lost the spots that were available now... So it was either waiting until April 27th to start working (if-when I find a job!) or look for something else and sign up even with the job. So I went back on the search. I found a couple more home daycares and interviewed them. I also called the Centers and despite the fact that they typically have a waiting list that are miles long, I happened to call just at the right time and got a spot at the Regent Daycare Center.

I totally thought that Nicholas would be going to a home daycare for a little while (until he gets in at the same daycare Christine is in) for a couple of reasons:
1 - my feeling had been that home daycares would be more personal and that he'd adapt more easily
2 - I didn't think I'd get in to a Center anywhere so didn't think it was really an option

What I've found:
- there isn't really much of a standard for home daycares unless they are licensed (which you don't have to be if you have less than 6 kids!!) - 6 kids, can you imagine?!
- I was surprised by how terrible some places were. I'm not sure if this is a F'ton thing or if I would have found the same thing if I had actually interviewed in Brockville
- it dawned on me that 6 babies for 2 adults would be much much more reasonable and they would get their needs met more easily than 4-6 kids including toddlers for 1 adult! I totally think I could handle Nicholas and another couple of babies, but don't give me Christine, Nicholas and too many more... :)

Anyway, I found a place that I'm quite comfortable with. The ladies in the baby room looked so nice and everything seemed to peacefull (wait 'til they meet Nicholas!!). I think he will fit in quite well there. It's fairly close to where Christine goes and the hours are quite good, so it should all work out fairly well. Also, I think that starting at a Center may help him in the transition of going to the daycare Christine goes to when we get an opening. We'll see how it all goes.

I can't believe my baby's going to start daycare though... we'll be starting trials next week...

Now onto the weaning... today was nap # 1 without the boob. Went alright. We had started weaning a few weeks ago through the rest of the day, so only morning and night from this point on. We'll see how long that lasts...

My 30th Birthday...

It was a great one. That's pretty much all there is to say. It was exactly as I'd hoped it would be.

It started off with a couple of hours at the spa (I got a facial and a haircut). I then came home and had lunch mostly by myself until Trev and the kids came home (from birthday shopping, of course! leaving it to the last minute as always!! :)

Christine and I tried to go to Kingswood to do gymnastics, but we got there too late and the class was full. Oh well... another time... So we came home and had a very pleasant afternoon together while Nicholas napped. When he got up, we headed to my parents house and played for a while. The Masons also came over and we had a nice dinner all together. After putting the kids to bed (at my parents house - yay!), we sat around for a bit and headed to The Rogue for a couple of beers and finger foods. It was just Trev, Kevin and I, but that was just fine by me - a nice quiet evening with some of my favorite people.

I was supposed to sleep in on Sunday, but despite not having the kids here, I still woke up when they normally do and started thinking about them... I couldn't get them out of my head - did they sleep through the night? Did my parents wake up when they got up this morning? How are they doing now? I still took advantage of the empty house to read in bed for a little bit. Then I got up and we had breakfast and headed to my parents to pick up the kids. They had a blast with their grandparents and I think my parents didn't mind it too much either.

Next time (because they said there could be a next time - hurray!), we will bring the monitors so that my mom doesn't sleep on the couch in fear of not hearing them in the night...

Last day

Yup, it's my last day in my 20s... and Trev will tell you that it's the last day that I'm younger than him. He claims that he never got a 30th birthday and hasn't had a birthday since (though I very distinctly remember wishing him a happy birthday between contractions 3 years ago).

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the whole thing. I guess you're the age you feel - some days, I feel like I'm still 25 and other days I feel like I'm 60! Yesterday was the latter. But I don't think it's because my birthday's around the corner and I'm feeling crummy about it, I think it's because I'm fighting the start of a cold and it seems to be more determined then me. I'm also not liking the "fine lines", but whatever. I can deal with that.

I guess my real downer with getting older isn't that I'm getting older. I've been thinking about that a lot over the last few days. It's not me that's getting older that makes turning 30 hard on me. It's knowing that as I get older, those around me get older too. Don't you wish you could freeze your parents' age and health and keep them exactly as they are forever? I know I do. I want them to be able to be every part of my kids' lives that they can be and more. I want them to see their great-grandkids and see them grow up too. They may very well, but the uncertainty and them getting older too is really bugging me...

Lesson learned

Never ask an ultra conservative consulting firm to make a decision that involves risk. The answer will be no. Come back later if and when we get busy.

So as such, I must get busy looking for work! Know anyone looking for a Mechanical Engineer and or Manager in the Fredericton area?! Let me know...

The good news: I get to hang out with Nicholas longer!

Jobs, daycares, homes and more

I have been pretty delinquent on the blogging lately, I know. I'm not sure what the excuse is, but there are many possibilities:
- since being in NB, I have to share the MacBook again (and Trev likes it very much!)
- until Saturday night when Randy fixed it, we couldn't get the wireless router to work, so we were tied to a specific spot on the couch to tie into the modem - and let's face it: kids don't let you sit there for long... :)
- my computer time has been more focused on looking at houses on mls, looking for jobs on several sites and watching kijiji like a hawk for a daycare for Nicholas

Anyway, a short update on what's going on at the Mason home.

We had a nice and busy Christmas. It was perfectly crazy. But come the 29th or somewhere around there, we were very happy to find ourselves alone - just the 4 of us - to have a bit of a quiet day. Great to see everyone and be with family as much as we were, but also nice to find ourselves on our own in our new home.

Trev has been back to work since Jan 2nd, so we're basically back to normal life. A lot of people ask us how it is to be here and we both answer basically the same way: it's pretty much the same as before! Our days are basically the same as if we were still in Brockville, but we're in a different house and Trev's in a different job. The rest is basically the same at this point. The weekends are a little different, I suppose, as we do see our family more, but basically it's the same routine for us. One thing I need to do a better job at is finding Christine some friends her age. Even at daycare, she seems to be prefering to spend time with adults vs. kids her age, so I really would like to find her some buddies to have her engage in play with kids her age. She really misses her friends (Nicole, Jacob, Katelyn, Samantha, Maya, Tash, to name a few).

So now that the house is officially sold, we have all kinds of money in the bank and have zero debt! Wow! Kind of nice! But I look forward to not being in this house, mainly to not have to hear people living underneath us. The house we're in is ok and I quite like the location - woods all around us, etc. But the family living below is always fighting and screaming at each other. When they're not doing that, the idiot is playing video games very very loudly or playing his stupid electric guitar. Lucky for us, they haven't been paying their rent and are being evicted (effective the 22nd). It may be a nice quiet place later this week - crossing my fingers. We haven't gone to visit any houses yet, but I'm starting to itch. I want to go see in person the houses we've been looking at online. There are a couple that may be right for us, and we may look at buying and doing some pretty major renovations (ie: new kitchen) before moving into it. We have until June 1st in here, so lots of time unless we do get into those renos, then I think we should be getting onto that planning! We'll see what happens there.

On the daycare front...Nicholas is still 17th on the list at the daycare we really want (where Christine is going), and there's no movement planned that they know of. Because of this, I had contacted someone out in the boonies that was opening a daycare in French. Unfortunately, I didn't call quite early enough...I had a spot there until June when another child was supposed to start, but the mother ended up deciding to take the spot as of now, so I lost my spot. So I now had to start looking for real. I wish I'd known earlier! Oh well...turns out daycare in Fredericton is pretty hard to get, so daycare providers are basically able to say "I have a spot open now, so I want to fill it now". Unless you're willing to start paying right away, the spots are easily filled. So I've interviewed 2 places and have 2 more to interview this week. The first place was horrible! I wanted to cry as I left, thinking of the poor kids who actually go there. And then I wanted to shower and scrub all the scum off me - I felt so dirty from being in such a gross and dingy place. Anyway, if that was the only place for Nicholas to go to daycare, we were going to go in debt as I would be staying home. Man that was horrible! The second place is pretty good. Close to here too so that was good. I still want to see what the options are so we'll visit the two places this week and make a decision at that point. Hopefully someone else won't have snatched the place I want before I get back to them again!

Christine is settling in fairly well at her daycare. She's not always eager to get there, but seems to have a great time when she is there. She's been coming home singing all kinds of new songs and is generally pretty happy. We had a few days of horrible behaviour, but I think she's back to normal now. Hopefully she'll make some good friends at daycare and maybe going every day (vs. every second day or so) when I start working will look like a more set routine and she'll more happily go and stay. We'll see. She's only been half-a-dozen times so far.

On the job front: who really knows what's going to happen there. I'm getting the run around from the consulting firm I'm supposed to start with regarding a start date. They're being more non-commital than ever and really pissing me off. They've also been doing a bit of song and dance around paying for the move (Trev hasn't gotten the money back yet) so not too impressed. Anyway, that has definitely given me more energy to find another job. I had an interview last week and should have a follow-up day of interviews this week or next for that. We'll see. I'm looking more broadly than I had been before, so if you know of anyone looking for someone in Fredericton (or area), let me know!! Based on that though, it looks like I'll be home 'til very close to Nicholas birthday! Not financially good, but I'm not complaining too much! :)

Nicholas is continuing to do quite well. He walks around holding on to whatever he can and really does get around quite a bit. He loves the bath (the excitement on his face when it's bath time is hilarious) and has discovered, much to my dismay, that there's also water in the toilet...so the lid is always closed and the door to the bathroom now has to be too! Frig. He's been pretty whiney lately, but not sure if it's teeth, his ears, or his wanting to be more independently mobile that's his problem. Hopefully a short phase. The male readers in the group will be happy to hear that more often then not, his right teste is back in the scrotum. Still need the other one taken down, but at least the one that was down before seems to be rectifying itself. No news yet on the operation - another reason I'm happy to not be working yet as I'll have to take several days to go to Ottawa for that when the time comes.

Well, I better get back to the job search. Hopefully I'll get around to writing a little more often so that they get back to 2-minutes vs a long winded novel. Until next time...