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!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
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...
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...
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
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... ;)
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... ;)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, February 2, 2009
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...
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...
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...
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