Bag O'Tricks

Isabel had a grand time at the library today. We were at circle, singing songs and reading books and she was, as she always is when there are othere wee ones around, much more interested in them than anything else going on. She striked up conversations, even tried winning over some of the moms with smiles. At one point she was so fascinated with the book that was being read she absolutly had to crawl across the room and sit down directly in front of the book to watch. Then when the story was over she crawled right back to me. Too cute. Then she started to pay a bit more attention to the action that was going on in the circle. When everyone clapped she did too. When the mommies were singing she decided to join in (still needs to distinguish between outside/inside voice). Oh and she "danced" along with the songs also (jumping). I can't believe how far she has come in the past 9 months.Just in this past month alone she figured out how to clap, raise her arms to play "How big is Isabel?", wave bye-bye and say it, said her first word (duck), pulled herself up to stand, walking with help and is even starting to cruise (walk along the furniture). Amazing. I think this past month I learned about a new computer program and that's it. Izzy is grooving away and I think that by Christmas she'll be walking all onher own.

Mind your Belief System

Tonight Jordy, Izzy and I (I feel like my name should end in a y too) went over to Jordy's friend's (well okay I guess they're mine too, well 50% because when you're married that's what you get from your partner) house to visit and reintroduce them to Isabel because they are lovely enough to babysit this saturday when no one else is available. The last time Isabel saw them was when she was 3 months old and she'll be 9 months tomorrow. So that's a long time. Anyway, we're all chatting and stuff and the conversation leads this way and that way and I'm discovering that something has changed here. Right here in this room at this very moment. Hmm, what is it? I can't put my finger on it, then it hits me. What these friends are saying is offending me, well maybe not offending, that's too strong of a word. They're finding something funny about children that I see no humour in what-so-ever. And my response is indicative to that. Huh. What happened? I'm a pretty intuitive person and my gut is telling me that I'm sounding like "those people", you know, the ones who have children and turn into assholes who no longer have friends who are childless. But I can't help it. It's a gut reaction. They think having your child fetch you beer is funny and actually know people who do this with their children and do not see the harm to the child in this situation. What has changed here? Is it because I have a child? Would I have found this funny a year ago or even two years ago? Is it because I'm a CYC worker and have seen the end result to these so called humourous parenting styles? Have they just become stupid in the past 6 months? WHAT?! WHAT?! I became very mindful in that moment of how my beliefs and theirs ended up on the opposite sides of the room. I hope that this isn't a trend.

Breaking the Ice

I plan on doing this in two different situations. #1-Tomorrow night at Step class (my body is still sore-is that possible?) and #2 With my grade 2 class next Friday when I start my practicum. In class tonight we all received our final placements and luckily I have mine in the school where I worked last year with a teacher who is amazing. I'm looking forward to learning lots from her. My teacher tonight mentioned that we may want to start thinking of a way to introduce ourselves to the students. It may help them with the transition of having a "second" teacher and help build relaitionships. I honestly never gave any thought to it before, I was so busy focusing on lesson plans and the such. I am stumped. I am thinking of reading a book. A fun book, that is light and hopefully funny. I kinda want to focus on reading. I've always loved it and would like to pass that enthusiasm onto kids. I was thinking of doing an activity with them around the book, something oral and light also. ASk questions about it and tie it into my intro. I dunno. Anyone have any good suggestions for books or otherwise?

Stepping Into A Stalker

Thursday night was my first step class. For some reason there are tonnes of drop in step classes at the rec centre and when I tried to take a beginner drop in, I fumbled so horribly I never returned. So I decided to sign up for a beginners class. Oddly enough, I was the most co-ordinated out of our group. I had to stop myself from looking at some people or else I'D loose track of where we were suppose to be. So anyway, it's just a quickie type class, there's only four, and it was SUPER super cheap. I'm also taking another beginners spinning class (masochist yes) and a badminton class in November with Jordy. I'm really looking forward to it (except for spinning-YUCK!).

While we were warming up at our first step class, one of the participants showed up late. She looked so familiar, then I realized it was a lady who also had signed up for the same spinning class as me in the summer but was cancelled. We had gotten to talking and had found out that she also had a baby a month after me. I was very excited about this and it was all I could do to stop myself from pouncing on her and demanding that she become my friend! Anyways, she seemed friendly, blah blah and for the entire step class I was trying to remember her name. Jeanie? Joan? Jeanette! Then while I should of paid attention to the names of the moves we were learning I was divising a plan in my head on how I should talk to her. Should I just go up to her after class and re-introduce myself? Would that be weird? Would she even remember me? How do I NOT come across as a stalker? At the end of sweating (and thanks to childbirth a lot of farting) my butt of in class, I went up to her and said, "Jeanette, right?" and she responded with "You look familiar". This was a good sign. I proceeded. We chatted out to our cars. That was about it. I asked how her daughter was, she asked how mine was. Ended with a "see ya next class" and that was it. I AM SO PITIFUL. And really kinda feeling desperate also. I'm not sure where to go from here. Keep up with the small talk? Try to be chatty? But where do I draw the line? I don't want to be on her like a moth to a flame and freak her out. I suck at this so bad. I know I'm putting WAY too much thought into this but I have to be careful that I don't reek too much like desparation and scare her off. I need to devise another plan. Back to my lair.

Turn, Turn, Turn

I cannot believe Izzy will be 8 months on Wednesday. Holy crap! I can see the "child" in her, if that makes any sense. She's starting to go from looking like a baby to looking like a real person. I always wonder, what will your favourite colour be? What will you like to eat for breakfast? Will you be a morning person? What games will you enjoy playing? She already has a sense of humour, hamming it up with funny faces. She's a card. She's standing now, but not on her own yet. She can hold onto the coffee table but her tummy is wobbley and she moves back and forth a bit, trying to keep her balance. I love that she tries. Even if she falls, she'll get right back up and try again. She makes me so proud. I've noticed now that I've returned to school, she gets clingy either the day after my night class or for the rest of the afternoon on Saturdays. It's understandable. It's good to know that she at least likes me. It kills me though, everytime I leave for school, she cries. But she stops five minutes later (which is good because it tells me that she's securely attached and that's what you want) and I have to keep reminding myself. I tell you next Mat leave, I'm not doing a gosh darn thing. I'm just going to go to the park and play all day long. No school, no work, no nothing. Just fun!

Mama was a Cornflake Girl

How super excited am I that Tori is on tour and will be in Vancouver in December? How super sad am I that I can't afford to go? At least I've seen her in concert, luckily twice. I think I can let this one go....I think....
It'll just have to be Tori day in my house and I'll have to put on a rotation of her cds. And B sides. It'll be a looooong day for Jordy.

Class on Saturday was good. It was a 5km hike (what's that 3 miles?) around Burnaby Lake Park (burnaby has a lake? What?!) and I really enjoyed myself. Along the walk I tried to walk beside different people from my class to get to know them. I must admit everyone seems really nice. There's even one lady who's a bit of a know-it-all and can get on my nerves, but at least she's nice and tries to make conversation with you. I would have to say that the average age in my class is late 30's early 40's. So I'm not too sure if I'm going to be making any super close friends, but you never know, I will not judge.

We also had met up with the Burnaby module (the one I was suppose to be in) and there are 43 people in that class. There are 17 in mine. Such a difference. In the Burnaby module is a girl I worked with at a different elementary school 2 years ago, a girl I graduated from CYC with 3 years ago and another lady who looks like someone I should know. I hate that when someone looks so familiar to you but you don't know why. The really eeries part? Halfway through our walk she came up to me and said that I look really familiar also. SPOOKY! We tried to figure it out but NOTHING. I said maybe it's from a past life and she agrees. Funny that.

But after walking and talking with my peeps, I started to hear some of their fears and concerns and found out that I am not alone, which makes me feel so normal (a feeling I rarely have.)I never really realized how being rejected really affected me, I think I'm scarred. I'm afraid that maybe all those people are right and I won't be a good teacher or someone will stand up in class, point their finger at me and tell me I'm a fraud. But I have to beyond everything BELIEVE in myself, in what my teaching goals are. Maybe I scare them; I'm that good. I'll put other teachers to shame. I just keep repeating in my head the lyrics from 'Swan dive', "You can call me crazy if I fail/ all that chance that I need/ is one in a million you can call me brilliant if I succeed/ Gravity means nothing to me/ moving at the speed of sound/ Just going to get my feet wet/ until I drown."

Madness

This has not been a good past couple of days for me. I am beyond exhaustion. Even my bones are wiped. I am probably not a good person to talk to right now, nor am I really in the mood for conversations, which is probably for the best anyhow. Sorry, Urs, I won't be calling you tonight on your cell, because it wouldn't be fair to you to do that. We'll see how things are on Sunday. Maybe bitching here will get rid of some of my negative enegery.

I'm kinda at the "I've had it!" place. I'm REALLY hoping not to take the next train to "Explosive outburst" town, instead to "I need some quiet reflection time" place. I realize it's a choice, don't need to tell me, I just need a moment. I didn't get a single solitary moment at all yesterday. I was at home with Isabel ALL DAY, from dawn till dusk. Jordy was at work at a "thing" and wasn't able to come home until 7:35, which at that point, Isabel was bathed, changed and feeding. My house was clean. My house was organized. I had clean sheets to sleep on that night. Not like the night before when I came home from my first day of class (which I'll get into in a bit), where I had babyfood all over my kitchen table, counters and sink, along with bibs, a taken apart high chair and just other useless crap strewn about. Not the same scene I had left 4 hours prior and am still unsure of how it got like that. I made my husband take a note of how clean my house was, when he got home last night and made a point of adding the fact that I was all alone. Bitchy, yes I know, but I felt justified. I know that most of the time the task of cleaning my house is somewhat redundant, but I feel it still needs to get done. Other people in my home clearly don't feel the same way. Anyway, not even an hour after I put Isabel down she woke up and SCREAMED bloody murder. And nothing would stop her crying and she did this twice. So Yes, no moments yesterday. Which just added more grr-ness to my pile.

The night before last I had my first class. All I am going to say about it is, despite the fact that there are some very nice people in my program, I do not feel like I fit in. I tried calling some friends and talking to my husband about it, but either no one was home or in the mood. That made me a bit sad. I also have to say about my class that even though I am a Child and Youth Care Worker, it was even too touchy feely for me. At the end, we all held hands and gave each other blessings. Too much warm fuzziness for me. But anyway, BEFORE class I found out our text books were FINALLY in at the bookstore. Only to get an email from my prof 5 days prior stating that they were not going to be in on time and was recommended we purchase them online. Which I did, and found out that one will be two weeks late. I am so annoyed with this university.

I am also struggling with customer service at The Province. Jordy loves his papers and I signed us up last year to receive them in the morning and in June my visa expired so I phoned and gave them all the new info. Then suddenly last week we were no longer receiving our papers so I emailed them. I was told that my credit card info needed to be updated. I replied saying it was back in June and this makes me uneasy giving out credit card info and then having it misplaced and if there was a miscommunication perhaps I should've received a phone call or letter asking for the updated info instead of just stopping delivery. Then I received the oddest email back, which I still don't understand. "Actually your credit information was updated last June but was not turn on for automatic payment. I email you notifying to update your credit card assuming you have a new one that is why the one we have on file that was indeed updated was never put back to automatic payment. I apologize for the inconvenience this may have cause you but I just like to make sure that you did give us permission to continue taking payment from your credit card. " Grammatically that makes no sense, right? Anyway, wouldn't the updated info be from a NEW credit card to begin with? How can I update info with an old card? That is so odd. And if I update my info and give you my new number I am automatically giving you permission to use it for payment. Why would I give you my number and say no you can't use it? So I'm going to try to call someone today to straighten this out.
Anway, I'm just annoyed and stressed. Hopefully my second class tomorrow will change things around.

All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth

Isabel has teeth. Two to be exact. On the bottom. And I think that they are fangs because they are sharp as razors. Ask my nipple. Or where my nipple used to be...ouch! Well it feels like she's going to rip it off. 5 more months of this, I dunno. Is breastfeeding REALLY that much better? hmmm....

Right now the two teeth are just poking out of her gums and they are hurting her so much. Two night now she's woken up, screaming in pain. I gave her a bit of tylenol last night and that seemed to help. It was so sad, I was up with her for about an hour, had fed her twice and she still wasn't happy. At this point I definately knew it was the teeth causing this normally happy, fun loving little girl into my sad, weepy, screaming ball of sweat. I gave her to Jordy to hold as I was going to go downstairs and get the tylenol and she reached out her arms towards me and screamed louder and harder. It broke my heart. She wanted her mommy and nobody else. I will admit, it did feel nice to know that she wanted me and was choosing me to comfort her but I felt helpless. Sure I could hold her and rock her and sing to her but I couldn't make the pain go away. It really does kill you when your child is hurting and you can't do anything. Now,I know if this was happening to anyone else, I would be saying "but holding her DOES help and it DOES make her feel better" and blah blah blah but when it is actually happening to you it's hard to see that. You just feel. And we both felt sad together.

Success!

I made my first meal tonight. You're probably thinking "big whoop", but it was to me. I made a chicken bruschetta bake and asparagus with a cheese sauce. It was my first time eating asparagus and it wasn't that bad. Even Jordy ate it all up. Actually it was all quite filling and not that bad in weight watchers points. So I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, in my start to eating healthier. I was also going to puree up some asparagus for Izzy, but read that I should wait until she's a wee bit older as it's a harder veggie for her tummy to digest. But my mom gave me some cucumber fresh from her garden and I'm going to remove the seeds from them and mash it up for Izzy. It'll probably be refreshing for her on a hot day. My dad is also giving me some beets out of the garden to for her. Beets are a vegetable however that I simply cannot eat. I've been forced many times, as my parents LOVE it, but it is utterly disgusting to my palette. So instead I'll force it upon Isabel. Well, I'll let her try it and if she doesn't like it than she doesn't have to eat it. Next on the list is green and yellow beans and cheesy mashed potatoes. YUM!

eat your veggies!

Isabel has successfully made her way through all of the approved first try veggies. These would be peas, beans, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. She has now made her way to fruit, starting with, of course, apples. She seems to be accepting the apples, but still loves her veggies, especially carrots. This, as a mother makes me happy for two reasons 1) That she's not a fussy eater making meal time a non-stressor and 2)That she will have healthy eating habits. I really started to think about this last one. Sure she eats her bowl clean now, but what about when she comes off the baby food and starts eating "real" food. I don't eat any of those above mentioned veggies (except carrots) and really I try to have a veggie at dinner time but it's the same three that keep getting rotated; frozen mixed veggies, corn and cauliflower. I have crappy eating habits. I know this. I love fruit, but they're high in sugar and I hardly eat any veggies at all. I'd say of my 7 seven servings of fruit and veggies, maybe 2 are veggies. This is not good. For me, or for role modeling for my child. I want to do better, to eat better, for her sake as well as mine. This lead me to my second problem. I don't cook. There is a big misconception about my cooking abilities that really, I am to blame. I have everyone believing that I am a horrible cook, that I can burn water. Not true. I am by no means a fabulous cook, but I can make yummy meals...when I want to. And that's just it. I ....hate....cooking. I hate the mess, the production that goes into it, trying to time everyting so it's all ready together. And I never know what goes with what when it comes to ingredients, which is why a lot of the stuff that I know how to make are pasta dishes because the one dish is the meal. Anyways, blah blah blah, the point I'm trying to make it cooking is not a fun task so to avoid it I make up lies about my deficiencies in this area. So then no one ever asks me to cook or if I do, everyone has lowered expecatations. Well today I've made a decision. No more. I want Isabel to grow up eating healthy meals so that her body can grow the way it's suppose to, have tonnes of energy (dear god) and be healthy and happy. I don't want her to become accustomed to boxed dinners as a staple. Having worked in the school system for the past three years, I see the correlation between food and a student's success. It's no surprise that every single one of my kids in my program eat sugar packed meals. They have those lunchables, or if they do have something healthy like a sandwhich or soup, they never eat it. Just the cookies and junk. It's no wonder they can't concentrate, have behavioural problems and are falling behind in their grade level. There was even a study that linked proccessed foods to behavioural problems in kids. I'm not surprised. So starting tomorrow, I am going to start making some of the dinnertime meals and I will be adding foods such as squash, green beans, asparagus and turnips to the menu. I have found some recipes that look promising, but if anyone has any others they would like to share, by all means let me know!

World Traveller

Okay, okay, I guess you couldn't call Isabel a world traveller (yet) but going to Machete and East Barriere is pretty good thus far. Last month Jordy, Izzy, myself and my parents went up to the cabin at East Barriere Lake. This was Izzy's first vacation and she really enjoyed herself. So much so, she refused to sleep. She felt it was necessary to stay up and see EVERYTHING! I'm surprised she didn't strain her neck looking around so much. I think she's going to be an outdoorsy person. She loves it when we go for walks and especially when we stop in the park to play on the swings and chillax under the trees. She was the same at the cabin. I think her favourite part was going in the lake and trying to catch all of her rubber duckies with dad. Her least favourite part was putting on the life jacket. Her body went stiff as a board and she howled.

This past weekend our family went up to Machete Lake. Lots of mosquitos but oddly enough they weren't pestering me as much as they usually do. They were loving mom and Jordy. We did lots of fun things like go for a walk in the forest and look at wild flowers and trees, went for a barge ride along the lake and we saw a doe and eagles. We also had a baby chipmunk come visit us from time to time and we kept feeding it peanuts. Max wanted to prove his worthiness by barking at it and chasing it all around the woodpile. Later on the chipmunk came back and gave Max a piece of its mind. I think Isabel's favourite part of this trip was sitting with grandpa on the porch and watching the whiskeyjacks swoop down and pick up the pieces of bread we left out on the balcony. Her least favourite part was the same as last trip. Except this time she didn't scream the entire time she had it on. She just sat on mom's lap, stiff as a board. I think she thought she couldn't move her body. Her arms and legs were sticking straight out and she only moved her eyes back and forth, it was as if she was paralyzed. Whenever she saw myself or Jordy she let out a scream to let us know how she felt about being in that life jacket.

I have to say, I really enjoyed spending time with my family and had a good time but travelling with a 6 and a half month old is very tiring. It's also a long way to go for her too, which isn't easy. In two and a half weeks we are going to Penticton and back up to East Barriere, so maybe by then I'll be better organized or something. All I hope is that Izzy has a good time.

**Editor's Note: Pictures are still waiting development due to finacial issues. They will be posted on facebook shortly**

Mickey Mouse

I am so fed up with SFU I must vent or I will burst. The students in my program have been divided into two campuses. One is Burnaby, one is Surrey. I work for Burnaby but live in Surrey. I was really hoping that I would go to the Surrey campus because being on mat leave, it is closer for me and because I am still breastfeeding this will be easier for my daughter as well. At the orientation in June it was revealed who would be at which campus. I found out I was to be at Burnaby. The teachers said that if where we were placed was a problem they would do their best to switch us. I was the first to ask and gave my reason why. They said they would do their best. That's fine. If I'm at Burnaby so be it, if I'm at Surrey, super! I've made my preference and it's out of my hands.

Fast forward to a month later. I am suppose to register for my classes at the end of July. There is a diferent registration number for the two campuses. I am a bit worried because I have not heard yet from my teacher whether my request was granted or not. So I email and explain my situation again. I'm thinking this will be better for all those involved if this is taken care of BEFORE I register, so things don't become confusing and messy. A week later I receive an email from the Admissions office saying that she has gone ahead and registered everyone into their class. I double check this and my account says Surrey campus. So I'm thinking my teacher gave the okay for the campus switch. Nothing more to worry about.

WRONG.

I received an email back yesterday from the teacher I emailed a month prior to say that I am not on her list for the Surrey campus, I should double check with the other teacher. I emailed her back saying I will and explained the email that I received from Admissions. I then emailed the other teacher, whom I heard from today stating that he is away at the moment but when he returns will be contacting me to discuss the situation and then informed me that EVERYONE in the program was registered for the Surrey campus.

WHAT-THE-FUCK?!

I am so fed up with this disorganization. What if I never emailed anyone in the first place. I would've gone to the wrong campus for the first class and looked like a total dork! Not only that why haven't they made a decision yet about me changing campuses? How hard is it to look and see, "Oh yes there's room" or "Oh sorry, we can't". Seriously! I kind of would like to know where my class is when I go to school in the next 4 weeks. This seems to be the theme for SFU:disorganized. Nobody seems to know what the hell is going on, everyone you talk to has a different answer and I feel like they just don't give a rat's ass. I paid my $100 deposit April 30 and it still says that I owe $100 on my account. I phoned twice about it in May and June and was told it takes awhile for the computer to adjust. 3 months? Come on. I know I should be grateful and thankful and blah blah blah that I'm getting to go to school for my so-called dream job but at the cost of my sanity? It had better not be 16 months of this crap!

To Be PC or Not To Be PC...

That is the question. Thursday on The View (my only morning show), there was a fellow on by the name of Michael Smerconish who wrote a book called Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism – True Stories that Should be Fiction, discussing how politically correct our society has become to a fault. It was a very interesting discussion. Some of it agreed with and some of it I did not. He does think there should be racial profiling, which honestly, I'm not completly sold on, as some of the terrorists that are out there are not Muslim, and really, not all Muslim people "look" Middle Eastern. There are people from many different cultures that are Muslim and would not fit the profile that the government is trying to screen for. However he did mention an interesting story that did make me think, that there were some passengers either getting ready to board a plane or they were already on it waiting to take off (I don't remember which one) and one of the passengers was acting peculiar. It was not described what acting peculiar encompassed but because this passenger "looked" Middle Eastern, the other passengers were wary to report his behaviour to the crew because they did not want to be called racist, and they themselves questioned whether they were in fact being rasict in that situation. I guess the odd behaviour continued and they trusted their gut feeling, reported the passenger and he was in fact planning on hijacking that plane. So maybe there is something to this racial profiling, but then again, they didn't catch that guy so really is there a no-fail method of protecting civilians?

One point that Michael Smerconish raised that I completly agree with is how rewarding we've become with children, especially in schools and the removal of competetion. I don't know how many of you have been to a sports day recently in elementary schools but they are a joke. There are no sports and everyone receives a prize just for showing up. When I was growing up there were running races, long jumps, shot put, obstacle courses and a lot of team races. It was about getting your team to wim but it was still about having fun and doing your best. I hardly ever won, I am not an athletic person, but I still loved sports day because it was so much fun (and you didn't go school work for the whole day). Nowadays there's a bubble blowing station, a jump rope until the music ends station and obstacle courses that are not timed or raced against and at the completion of each station you got some candy. Big whoopdidoo. There is nothing wrong with (healthy) competetion. There is nothing wrong with having winners and having losers. It is imparative that children learn you are not always the best at everything. That you need to learn how to work hard, that you learn to work towards a goal and that sometimes you're just not the best. It may sound harsh but how overwhelming is it going to be for them when they grow up and get out there in the real world and have their first job?! There is competetion for promotions, you have to learn how to work hard to get what you want like saving money to buy a house or a car. If they have a hissy fit in their office because they're not getting hat they want, guarenteed they will be looking for a new job pretty quickly. Disappointment teaches true happiness. If a child doesn't do well in math and receives a bad mark and learns how to study and work hard to understand the concepts, when they receive that better mark, they will feel so much pride in themselves and guarenteed will want to try to have that feeling much more often. But if we just tell all of our kids that they're doing great what will they really have learned? Nothing will ever be good enough and they will never feel satisfaction? And I think that's the real disservice.

Soul Cleansing

Tonight I had enough of my messy, unorganized kitchen, so I decided to take everything out of the cupboards and clean and junk and organize. I quickly was in over my head. In two years I accumilated so much useless stuff, mainly by the way, have been given to me by both my mother-in-law and my mom. I say NO MORE! I am boycotting the hand me downs of useless junk! If you don't have a place for it the liklihood of me having a place for it is nil! Actually my mother-in-law is quite good at being sneaky about dropping things off. All of a sudden there'll be a stack of styrofoam plates on my counter or an entire angel food cake in my fridge and I don't even remember inviting her over....FREAKY! So I need to be on the lookout.

Because of this sudden de-junking, I have also decided we are going to have a garage sale. Last year our complex had an "everyone participate" garage sale and I loved that idea. The only reason why we didn't participate was because it fell on the same day as a friend's wedding. So I was really hoping they'd do it again this year. Looks like a no. So I'm taking it upon myself to do one. And making some cash is also nice. Even if we only make $50, I'll be happy. We can go out for dinner or buy Izzy some more toys (that she can either ignore or stick in her mouth). I have to say though, even though my kitchen table is a mess with piles of stuff we're planning on selling, it feels good to have extra space and a very CLEAN kitchen.

Things that piss me off

Anyone who TRULY knows me knows that this is a long list. But I will start with what is irking me at the moment because it happened twice today.

One of the things that piss me off is someone getting Isabel's name incorrect. Okay fine, no one's perfect I get that. People mishear and forget, I totally understand but once you've been corrected, or better yet, have the name spelled IN FRONT OF YOU, and you still get it wrong, I think you are a moron. Case 1, we had someone from the bank come and assess our home today for a loan and he called Isabel Isabella and I corrected him (polietly) ("Oh it's Isabel"). He then calls her Isabella again not more than three minutes later. Thanks for listening. Case 2, My cousin, hello, FAMILY, writes on my wall in facebook, which right beside it has an album clearly marked "Isabel" and proceeds to write about "Isabella". Reading is a gift people!!!! Don't abuse it. Like whatever, I totally get that this will be a life long thing for her, like Daniella is for me ( I still don't understand the idiot that asked me if Danielle was short for Daniella) but when it's right there in front of you there just are no excuses.

Spinning is Evil

Yesterday was my second spinning class and I am so happy that I didn't feel like I was going to barf!!! My legs still felt as though they were going to give out though. But whatever, I just had a baby. It's a great excuse. I wonder if I can use it all the time to get away with whatever I want. Did I eat from the bulk food without paying? Oh sorry, I just had a baby. I didn't stop at the stop sign? Oh sorry officer, I had a baby. Sorry for robbing your bank but I just had a baby. Hmmm....
But at the end of my class as I was walking back to my car I noticed what the Guilford Rec Centre does that is evil. Well two things really; 1) They put the class WAY in the back so I have to walk through all of the cardio equipment and the eight equipment to look at all the skinny people working out and make me feel bad about myself. It's like the walk of shame. Yes look at my flabby bits, I just had a baby (see it does work!) 2) The class is upstairs. When you are finished your legs are complete jello and numb I honestly don't know how I manage to put one foot in front of the other and you expect me to control my legs well enough to climb down stairs? Are you mad?! Thank god for railings that's all I can say.

Cutie Patootie!

Last week a photographer came into our home and took some pictures of Isabel. I think they did a great job and I love the props, just enough cheese for me! The only problem is they only sell their pictures in packages and they were ridiculously expensive. So I just got a few.

I think the hat in this picture looks like a pirate's hat.



I love the bathcap! Too bloody cute!

My little Hawaiian princess!

This one is my Favourite!

Pictures

Here are some pictures of Isabel and Bryn at the Mother's Day brunch at Grandma's.

Death to Spinning

I love trying new classes at the Rec Centre. It gets me out of the house, it's fun and overall it's good for you. I had a $10 credit on my account because my last photography class was cancelled in the fall, and I saw a course that was $10. It was intro to spinning and for my money I receive 4 half hour classes. I figured, why not?! Holy Hannah, I found muscles on my legs that I never knew existed before. There was sweat pouring out of every part of me. I honestly thought I was going to barf, I had to mentally control my esphogas. Half way through the class I honestly thought, you are too out of shape for this, girlie, quit!!!! But when I was done, I had such a feeling of accomplishment! Despit how I felt during the class I actually finished alive! So I think I'll keep going. It's probably good to get out of my safe zone and challenge my body to something different. That is if I don't actually barf during the class, cause then I'd have to drop out due to embarrassment.

Yummy in the Tummy

On Thursday Isabel ate rice cereal for the first time. This is a huge step that she has been ready for quite some time. She watches so intently as you eat, like a dog begging for scraps, hoping some will fall to the floor to be scooped up. She even makes chewing motions with her mouth, too cute. It went well, although at certain times more got on her chin than in her mouth but that is to be expected. I'm so proud of her, sitting like a big girl in her high chair eating runny cereal. I can't believe we've made it this far already. I still have moments where I think I'm pregnant. I can't believe she's 4 and a half months. Where does the time go?

Banned From Oprah

I am no longer allowing myself to watch Oprah. Well, at least not for the sad, sobby shows. The part of parenting that I would have to say that sucks the most is when you hear about horrible things that have happened to children, you ball your eyes out, putting yourself in that situation, and you increase your worry (which you have no control over by the way) about ten fold. Yesterday's show was about a little girl who got decapetated by her seat belt in a head on collision that was caused by drunk driving. The mother walked out of the vehicle with her daughter's head in her hands. Can you imagine that? How unbelievably horrifying is that?! How traumatized would you be, having this memory, this moment burned into your soul for the rest of your life. Ot's already painful enough to have your child pass before you but to have it happen in that way? I never cried so hard during Oprah. That show truly did traumatize me to the point where this is the second night I can't sleep because I'm thinking about this horrible thing. Jordy thinks I'm nuts checking in on Izzy when she sleeps longer than usual. But it's obbessive how worried you become for your child. All you want to do is protect this helpless little person. I don't care what people think of me, but I will always be that parent checking to make sure my child is still breathing. I would go insane if I didn't allow myself to.

The Greatest Gift

Today was my first Mother's Day. It was spent with family at my Grandmother's in Chilliwack and at Jordy's parents in Surrey. It was a nice, relaxing day, eating yummy homecooked meals and enjoying one another's company. I couldn't think of another way to spend the day. Jordy, Izzy and I got home late and I think Izzy was a bit bored being at other people's homes sans toys so we played with her in her floor gym as soon as we walked in the door. She's been rolling over onto her tummy since last Tuesday, but the only problem is she gets her arm stuck under herself when she does roll over and then she becomes upset. Tonight she rolled over and just as Jordy was about to help her unstick herself, she whipped out that arm and was completley on her tummy!!!! I was so proud of my baby girl! I am just so amazed at how quickly she's learning how to do all of these difficult things! I am a proud mommy!

The Dark Side

As I was packing my four door sedan up for an overnight stay in Hope with Grandma and Grandpa I came to the realization as I was shoving in Izzy's jungle gym and bouncy chair that more space in a vehicle would be nice. How could I get more space?, I asked myself, to which myself replied...."A minivan". NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!! Although at that moment for the briefest, tiniest nanosecond I understood why people purchase minivans. Then I ducktaped that idea shut, put it in a box, tied chains around the box and then threw the idea into the ocean, never to be heard from again. Scary moment, that.

My Favourite Girls

Here is Isabel and Bryn at their very first Easter Dinner. Neither one of them was aware of the other. I hope they grow up to be great friends.

WWJD

To the guy in the car with the bumper sticker "WWJD", he would use a turning signal when changing lanes and drive with a constant speed. Dork.

No pressure

People Are Strange, When You're A Stranger

Yesterday, Izzy and I were on a mission to find wedding wrapping paper. We went to the Hallmark store by my house and finally found some. I can't believe how expensive the stuff is. The woman working there came and helped me with the door. She ooed and ahhed over Isabel and normally Isabel smiles and stares at people when this happens, but this time her face contorted into the biggest frown and cried! Then she looked at me and stopped. I have to say it was kind of funny. I don't know what could've created that response but she just did not like that lady at all. Then today we went to CIBC to visit Jordy at work and she was all smiles to the hordes of people who came up to her. Funny girl.

Look what I can do!

Isabel is slowly learning to not only sit up, but to sit up on her own, which according to my interpretation of the developmental book I'm reading means she's a genius being able to do this at her age. But I could also be reading too much into it. Anywho, she's got a way to go but for like a nano second she can sit up on her own. As you can see in the picture below, she needed some assistance. I still stick to the genius theory.

I'll be in my trailer

My little diva. She's so like mommy. Even though Isabel is only 3 months old, she's got a lot of personality already and one thing I've noticed so far is the 'tude. If she doesn't like something she will let you know, with grunts and snarls and it won't stop until you've corrected the situation. I am scared for her teenage years...

A Thousand Words

So I've been getting a lot of crap for not blogging. Excuse me for being a mommy. My life, as much as I hate to admit it, belongs to the cutest little 3 month old you could ever find, my daughter, Isabel Roseanna. And one thing I do alot of is take pictures of my cutie pie. When she's older she'll be able to do an autobiography just with the pictures I've taken. So this blog will mainly be a photo blog of Izzy. Enjoy...