Gramps and Nana come to town

Looking for a way to help out friends or family who are in the midst of a move? Forget helping them pack, loading/unloading the truck, or even bringing them food. No, my friends, if you really want to help out, do what Gramps and Nana did and take the toddler out of the house for a couple of days. Made moving day so much easier!

Yes, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Gramps and Nana on the first days we were in our house. It was a jam-packed, whirlwind of a visit, but we somehow managed to show off the town, do a little roadtrip, celebrate our anniversary, AND unpack all of our boxes in those six fun-filled days.

Opening some gifts from G & N and the rest of the family.

After moving day and an entire day of unpacking in peace, we did let Gramps and Nana off the hook a bit and show them around town and enjoy a regular holiday in sunny Regina.

First BBQ in the backyard. Yes, the entire backyard is paved. Don't ever do this to a backyard.

We even took them on a roadtrip to see Findlater, where TDSH's grandfather first settled when he arrived in Canada.

Three generations at Findlater.

That same trip, we also went to Regina Beach, which is a little community about 30 minutes out of town where Reginians go when they want to get away from it all. A lovely little spot for a day out in the sun!

Did I mention that there's been some flooding here?

Chilling on a bench in front of the vintage diner where we had lunch. Miranda & Steve, you'd love it!

Wicked cute ice cream shop on the main drag in Regina Beach!

The Queen City Exhibition was also on during their visit, so, of course, we HAD to go. Abner had never been to a carnival before and oh my word, did she ever love it. This was one milestone, I am so glad I was able to be a part of.

View from the ferris wheel...Mosaic Stadium in the distance.

Not surprisingly, you could see for miles from the top of the ferris wheel.

We took a pass on all the carny games.

First time on a coaster and she squealed with delight the whole time.

Abner insisted everyone rest for a minute.

Coaster #2 of the day...this time with Gramps.

TDSH took her on a rather sedate bee ride.

Her first ride sans parents. Don't know who the girl is, but I would love to know what Abner said to her during the ride.

It was a great time to visit Regina. Not only was the Ex on, but the Folk Festival was also on. We spent the better part of a day there with Gramps and Nana and then headed back the next day after they'd left town. I've never been to a Folk Festival before, but this one was awesome. It's held in Victoria Park which is right downtown and the daytime shows are free! We saw Dan Mangan, Hawksley Workman, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, The Sojourners and many others all without spending a dime. Talk about a fantastic way to expose people to great music.

Adventures in babysitting

Remember that movie? No? Well, perhaps some things are best left in the 80s.

Cheeseball movies aside, this past weekend, I got just a taste of life with two kids when I babysat my niece, Maryn...solo. I gotta tell you, there's nothing cuter than seeing two cousins go absolutely nuts-o at the sight of each other. Seriously, if you could somehow capture all that excitement, the world's energy crisis would be resolved.

Abner was eager to show her little cousin (by five weeks) how to draw the letter A. Daycare Lady taught her a few weeks ago and now we have As on every piece of paper in the house!

A reasonable attempt was made at putting the girls down for a nap. To no one's surprise, the attempt failed miserably. On the bright side, Abner was asleep by 6:30 that night! Woohoo!

Drawing seemed to be the activity of choice that day - more for me than them though, as they had me drawing items on demand including: a house, a building, rainbows, a choo-choo train, and my personal fave...a dancing chair with a seat belt (!?!?!??)

There was even a bit of dress up involved when they decided to put on each others winter hats and mitts. Pretty damn adorable, if you ask me.

With a pair of girls as sweet as this, I'm up for babysitting anytime!

30 minutes of screaming and totally worth it!

What on earth could be worth 30 minutes of screaming? An entire night baby-free, that's what.

At just shy of two parenting years, TDSH and I got to spend our first baby-free night together thanks to Grandma and Grandpa. It was lovely.

The night was penned into the calendar weeks ago, but it wasn't until just last week that we settled on booking ourselves into a hotel downtown and spending as much time as possible doing non-baby-related activities.

Upon checking into the hotel yesterday afternoon, the first thing I did was sleep for 45 minutes (it was oh so awesome). We then went for coffee a took a walk through a section of town we hadn't visited in years. Of course we wound up at a pub for some beers (haven't been to a proper pub in two years...they keep kicking us out at the door...something about no admission for minors) and after much debate, we agreed upon dinner and a movie to round out the evening (Ghost Writer in case you're wondering...I'd say it's worth a rental, but be ready for the lamest ending ever).

This morning, we were awoken by the sound of room service delivering our steaming pot of fresh coffee to the room. Nothing beats lounging around a hotel room in a bathrobe and drinking coffee (for the record, my recent obsession with coffee has come to an end...I now remember why I never drink the stuff in the first place...caffeine is not my friend).

So where does the screaming fit into all of this?

Thankfully, it wasn't Abner screaming her way through her stay at Grandma and Grandpas! No, she saved it all up for mommy and daddy this afternoon after her nap (which took over an hour and a half to get her down for!!!!). Seems she was a little upset with us for abandoning her for the night. As soon as she woke up, the tantrum to end all tantrums kicked off with a vengance (it even involved rolling around on the floor kicking and screaming). She absolutely would not let either one of us out of her sight. At one point, I had to go get a load of laundry out of the drier so all three of us went up in the elevator and crowded into the tiny laundry room together with Abner screaming her way through it all.

The good news is that she finally settled down after we put a bowl of cheerios in front of her, but I did have to put her in the sling to make dinner (she's rather big for the sling these days!). All in all, there doesn't seem to be any lingering resentment towards us, so I guess we're all good to do a baby-free night again soon! Who wants to babysit?

A little magic trick

We had no idea Abner could put her own coat on until the morning I shot this video. Clearly Daycare Lady has been teaching her a few tricks!

Putting on her coat isn't the only thing she's learned lately at daycare...can you imagine our surprise when she started yelling out the days of the week in French from the back seat of the car the other day!

Unceremoniously kicked out of daycare.

Ever want to throw a family into turmoil? Tell them their child is being kicked out of daycare. That's what my daycare lady did to us on Friday morning. No, I'm not kidding. Not one little bit. I wish I were.

Was she hitting the other kids? No.

Was she biting the other kids? No.

Was she pretending to be a Mexican wrestler [like one of the other little girls we know]? Nope.

Was she just generally being a difficult kid who was just so frustrating you couldn't stand to be with her anymore? Not in the least.

Nope, it wasn't any of those things. Daycare lady was simply kicking Abner out to make room for the younger sibling of one of the little boys who was already at the daycare.

Oh. Phew! That's all? Well, that's no big...what the crap?!?! You're kicking my kid out just to make room for another kid? I don't think so lady.

So here's what happened: When we joined the daycare in April, there was also a family who already had a 4-year-old son part time at the daycare. He now had a baby sister who would be joining the daycare in the summer. Thankfully, they would only be attending part time so the new little baby, combined with another part time baby already at the daycare would add up to one full-time infant daycare spot. Since daycare lady could only have three infants at a time, everything would work out just fine.

Everything would have worked out fine if the mother of the new baby was able to go back to work full time. Unfortunately for her (and me as it turns out) her employer wouldn't hire her back unless she came back full time (those bastards!). This would mean she'd need to have both of her kids in daycare full time. No big deal for her son...very big deal for her little baby girl.

So, with the dilemma put to the daycare lady, she opted to kick Abner out so she could keep the siblings together and bring in two full-time cheques each month instead of one.

To say I was a little upset is a bit of an understatement. I dropped Abner off and got the news at 8 am and cried until about noon. Sorry to anyone who had to try to work with me on Friday - I was a bit of a write off.

The real kicker of the situation? I'd just turned down two daycare spots earlier that week. Not one -- TWO! Turns out both spots were still available, but both daycares cost significantly more than what we'd been paying. Not that we could really afford the higher rates, but just the thought of looking for daycare again made my stomach turn. It took me two months the last time - and I wasn't even working full-time back then. How the hell is anyone supposed to look for daycares when they have a job too?

Thankfully, it all worked out in the end. I don't think daycare lady had quite expected the reaction she got from me (I can be a little bit daunting when I'm upset, but I promise - I didn't swear or call her names even once). It prompted her to get on the phone with the other mother and talk to her about making other arrangements.

Turns out the mother's position was being relocated closer to her home, so coming to our daycare would actually be out of the way now and she had another daycare option lined up all along. I'm going to assume she didn't realize her request to our daycare lady would result in another kid being kicked out - no mother could be that heartless.

Long and short of it all...I got a call at the office at around 3 pm and Abner gets to stay. All is right with the world again.

How I spent my last day of freedom

Dear milkybeer readers,

It is with exceedingly saddened heart that I inform you that after 374 days of maternity leave, I am returning to work tomorrow morning. Condolences may be sent via the comments section located at the bottom of the page.

In exactly 12 hours and 45 minutes, my my ass-numbing office chair will once again be moulding itself to my rather doughy-than-before-baby bottom. Sigh.

So how did I spend my last day of freedom?

TDSH kindly took over most of the early morning preparations and got Abner ready for daycare, allowing me to stay in bed just a wee bit longer [I don't call him The Dear Sweet Husband for nothing!] Continuing to earn his title, he even handled the hand-off at daycare. Watching this transaction from the car is just as heartbreaking as it is in-person. When The Daycare Lady took Abner from TDSH's arms it looked a bit like those scenes in horror movies where a monster reaches out and drags a victim into the depths of its lair - you can't really see the monster, just the victim's arms and legs reaching out as they are dragged off screaming. Poor girl probably thought she was off to do something fun this morning because both mommy and daddy were in the car...little did she know.

After dropping TDSH back at home to take part in the family's annual play-off hockey pool, I ran a few errands before meeting back up with him to do a little pre-birthday celebrating in the form of brunch at De Dutch Pannekoek House. I love that place, mostly because pancakes the size of serving platters are just awesome, but also because they always seem to be situated in random, obscure locations. The one in our neighbourhood is hidden away under a bike shop and is accessible only from a back alley facing a golf course.

Our carefree day also took us to Main Street where we attempted to get a few things for Abner's upcoming birthday. Toy shopping isn't as fun as you'd think - especially when two parents can't seem to agree on what to get. We wound up selecting a tub of wooden blocks (things that can be stacked up and knocked over generally go over well in this house) and a bouncy ball (the fact that it is sparkly and purple was all my doing, not TDSH's). I'm still hoping to get a few more things before the big day, but this was a good start.

Next up on our day of reckless abandon was a stop at Burgoo for some beer and cheese fondue - two items I am VERY fond of. We had been looking for a pub to go to...you know, to take advantage of our baby-free status [seriously...I have been kicked out of more pubs this year than me and all my friends way back in first year university ever did]...but I insisted on hitting Burgoo when I remembered they have fondue on the menu. Despite TDSH's protests that fondue was the last thing he wanted, he managed to put a sizable dent in it with me.

From there we headed back to our neck of the woods where we picked up Abner a bit early, TDSH took her to the park and I snuck in one last nap [for posterity's sake]. All in all, it was a very nice day.

I'm not sure how these first few days back at work are going to go, so I may not be able to post for a little while. With that in mind, I will leave you with a few pics from our Easter adventures this weekend. Hopefully these will tide you over for a while.

Playing a little house with a friend at Good Friday brunch. This was before we were all treated to a hilarious puppet show rendition of The Three Little Pigs - in French! Too fun!

Looking for a flat, straight, noisy walk that smells of sewage? Have I got a walk for you! Iona Beach park - 4 km of walkable sewage pipeline straight into the ocean. Conveniently located right next to the airport so you can take your mind off the sewage smell by watching planes take off and land.

Abner did not seem to be bothered by the sewage smell. She napped the whole way out and was happy as a clam when she woke up. Parents should note that it is a bit difficult to tell if your child needs a diaper change while in the vacinity of this park.

The warmer weather lately has finally brought out the cherry blossoms. Abner was quite tickled by the flowers when TDSH lifted her up to smell them - she also got unceremoniously drenched in water lingering on the branches!

The cousins in their Easter finery. This was also Abner's first time in 'big girl' shoes. They really are a bit big for her still, but will be so, so, so cute once she grows into them.

All ready for her first Easter egg hunt. Note that the dress and big girl shoes didn't last too long! We neglected to pick up an Easter basket for her, so she had to make due with one of Grandma's bread baskets.

This concludes today's post. Wish me luck tomorrow! I'll need it.

Daycare: Day one

The day that none of us have been looking forward to finally arrived: the first day of daycare.

Since I am not actually returning to work until the 14th, my plan is to ease Abner into the whole being-cared-for-by-someone-who-is-not-mommy concept very slowly. Today we started with only two hours; we'll add an hour each day until we hit full time late next week.

First off, let me tell you...daycare requires a tonne of crap. Regulations require you provide a number of items for emergency purposes, plus the usual accoutrements and "just in case" items for the day. So, as I headed down to the car this morning, I was toting:

• 1 20 lb baby girl
• 1 sack of diapers
• 1 box of wipes
• 1 tin of bum cream
• 1 winter outfit (for emergency kit)
• 1 summer outfit (for emergency kit)
• 1 pair extra socks (for emergency kit)
• 1 bottle sun screen (certainly not for today - it snowed for Pete's sake)
• 1 family picture (for emergency kit)
• 2 blankets (one for emergency kit, the other for nap time)
• 1 pile of paper work
• 1 spare outfit for the day
• snacks for the day
• 1 water bottle
• 1 spoon
• 1 rain suit
• 1 winter hat
• 1 toy (for emergency kit)

...and I still forgot a few items (like a bib and food for the emergency kit).

Within moments of arriving, Abner settled in to play with all the new toys that greeted her. One of the things I really like about this daycare is that The Daycare Lady only takes a few kids at a time (rather than the seven she's legally allowed to have). Today's group included her grandson Jabir (age 2), a cutie pie named Mandalay (almost 2) and a 4-year-old girl with the same name as Abner (we call them Big and Little Abner). I stuck around for 10-15 minutes to go through the paperwork and ask a few questions, but managed to tear myself away just after 9 am.

So what did I do with my two hours of freedom? I went for a run. Yes, you heard me right. I went for a 45 minute run - in the snow...and it felt pretty good. I also had time to run through the mall to buy a new toaster oven (our old one mysteriously melted this morning).

To my disappointment, the kids were watching TV when I returned to pick Abner up. The Daycare Lady did tell me she turned the TV on for lunch and after 5 pm, but since the movie ended while I was waiting for Abner to wake up from her nap, it had definitely been on for quite a while. I guess there's not much I can do about it.

I also couldn't believe that The Daycare Lady put Abner to sleep on a big bed - not in a crib or playpen. She insists that normally she wouldn't put her in bed, but she needed to lay down with her to get her to sleep, so she couldn't go in the crib. Admittedly, the bed wasn't very high, but when I went in to pick her up once she finally woke up, she was standing up and could have toppled over at any moment. Perhaps I'm just being paranoid, but Abner's head has taken a few bumps lately (can of beans, falling off a couch at a friend's house, and taking a header down two stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's) so I am a little leery of risking further bumps. I'll have to have a talk with The Daycare Lady tomorrow morning. She might not have needed to lay down with her if she'd just used the soother I'd brought.

All things considered...there were no tears shed by either party and Abner seemed happy the rest of the day, so I think the first day was a success.

All quiet on the blogging front

You may have noticed a lack of new posts to this here blog lately. I've been busy trying to soak up my last few weeks at home with Abner. Actually, I'm down to my last few days - she starts daycare in a week and I am back to work in three. [gulp] Needless to say, we've been hanging out together as much as possible.

It just seems like she's growing so fast. She's mastered the art of finger walking (much to my back's chagrin) and loves to toddle and crawl around our building's lobby. Yesterday she spent half an hour (!) cruisin' around on the tile floor, licking the windows, playing on the entry mat, and her favorite activity...trying to reach in the slot where everyone recycles their junk mail. I swear, if that slot were any bigger, she'd have fallen right in several times already (just like she's already done in her toy basket).

Having only three weeks left of mat leave has prompted me to get moving on my TO DO WHILE ON MAT LEAVE list. (Better late than never - right?) Today's challenge was getting passport photos done. Abner did just fine and sat there mouth closed, eyes open, staring straight ahead just like she was supposed to, but the photog kept taking so long to take each shot. Seriously...Abner'd be sitting perfectly for 10 seconds at a time, but she'd move just as the photo was being taken every single time. We wound up getting a photo with Abner's mouth open and my arm in the shot. I have my doubts that it will be accepted, but the ladies at London Drugs assured me that since Abner didn't look like she had "terrorist tendencies" it would probably be okay.

I have really grand plans for the days that Abner is at daycare before I go back to work. In addition to getting my hair cut for the first time since mid-December, and shaving my legs for the first time since, well, since I can't remember that far back, I am getting started on the launch of my very own Etsy shop: OneLittleOwl.

I've been thinking of doing this for a long time now, but got a final burst of inspiration last weekend when I joined my friend Miranda at her first craft sale. I just went along so that she'd have someone to watch the booth when she needed to go to the washroom, but wound up signing up for my own Etsy account and sketching crafty ideas until the wee hours of the morning after the sale.

What I will actually sell in the end is still a mystery, but I am relishing the process of putting pencil to paper, surfing the net for ideas and sourcing out supplies. I'm joining some friends for a Crafternoon this weekend, so I hope to have a few samples to post soon...and perhaps a few items ready to send of to my giveaway winners too!

All good sagas must come to an end

Yes, that's right people...I found a daycare!

All told, I visited seven daycares and eventually wound up going with the first daycare I contacted way back in the fall. Actually, she wound up calling me as she happens to have a space opening up in April.

In addition to the four I told you about previously I also visited:

1. A stay-at-home-mom who actually said she was just trying this out so she could pay her bills. Now, I acknowledge that times are tough and most daycare operators would say that the money is at least part of the reason they do what they do, but it should not be the first answer you come up with when a parent asks why you started your daycare.


2. A lovely Tibetan Buddhist who was looking to take in kids around the same age of her kids so they could play together. She even offered to potty train Abner for me as soon as she started with her. She speaks five languages and had one of the most well-kept two-children homes I've ever seen. To make it even sweeter...she's only a three minute drive away on my way to work.


3. An experienced daycare operator who is conveniently located halfway between my home and work. During the visit, one of the parents offered unprompted praise of the daycare -- in fact, they don't even need daycare anymore, but they keep sending their son -- it's that good. She's licenced to take up to seven kids but believes they should all have one-on-one time so she only takes five (and some are just part time).

So which one did we choose?

The Tibetan Buddhist was my first pick, but she wanted someone to start right away so we went for the last one (who is Catholic for anyone keeping score in this little saga). I've met with her three times and I like her more and more each and every time.

Now I can rest and enjoy my last two months at home with Abner.

The continuing saga

I took The Dear Sweet Husband to meet "the Christian lady" (as we have dubbed her - sounds like a character on SNL) yesterday morning. Thinking she was the best option of the four I'd seen, I brought along my chequebook just in case.

Within the first five minutes, I knew the chequebook wouldn't be coming out of my bag...

Unlike the first visit, the kids were awake so we had a chance to meet them. Three very nice little boys sitting 'round the kitchen table quietly playing with some playdough. We sang a few rounds of "The A says Ah, the B says Buh," etc. and they were very eager to make playdough things for us.

One of the little boys (the only one not belonging to the owner) proudly held up a purple heart that he'd made for me and loudly pronounced, "What's in my heart?"

I naively said, "I don't know."

To which this adorable little three-year-old insisted, "yes you do. It's Jesus!"

I may as well have been having a conversation with Rod Flanders. That's a Simpsons joke in case you missed it.

Well that pretty much clinched it for us. Back to the drawing board.

Which would you choose?

So I've now seen a total of four daycares. Some near. Some far. Some clean. Some not-so-clean. Which would you go for:

1) The semi-tidy ground-level daycare with carpets stuck down with duct tape and more locks on the doors than Fort Knox...even the inside doors. Due to the owner's beliefs, Abner would not be allowed to dress up for Halloween (something I had been really looking forward to after seeing this fantastic idea for a costume).

2) The less-than-tidy, bordering on downright dirty home adorned with fake plants (even outside!). I know this is not a comment on her ability to care for children, but clearly she has no taste. Not to mention the fact that she had the largest TV I've ever seen and all the kid's chairs and swings were lined up theatre-style in front of it.

3) The spectacularly tidy home of a family where even Martha Stewart herself could learn a thing or two about homemaking and organization with heaps of toys, books, puzzles, games, activities, crafts, etc. to play with between morning devotionals and afternoon prayer. Sounds lovely, but we're not practicing Christians, so this may be a bit odd to explain to Abner as she gets older. "Mommy, mommy, you just took the Lord's name in vain."

or...

4) The just-moved-in-on-the-weekend-and-don't-know-where-anything-is daycare where the owner dropped Abner on her head. Seriously.

I think we'll go with the Christian woman. It seems I'll have to work on cleaning up my language.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

Find a daycare accepting 11-month-old babies...this April. That's right. Only two and a half months from now.

Yes, yes, yes, I can hear you all now - "You just started looking for daycare? Isn't it a bit late?" The answer is a resounding "yes" to both of those questions.

In my defense, I did get a list of local daycares from the YMCA referral service way back when I was only six months pregnant. Unfortunately, that little burst of initiative sat untouched on my desk for the next 11 months.

I've have called a handful of random daycares over the last few months asking to be added to their waiting lists, but several of my friends said that it was better to wait until just a few months before going back to work, so I wasn't really that concerned about it. I figured if I was on a few waitlists, somebody would get back to me.

As I say, I wasn't worried about it until one of those random daycares I called actually laughed at me. Here's a bit of that conversation the way I remember it:

Me: "Hi. I'm looking for daycare for my daughter in April. Do you have any space available?"
Daycare lady: "Okay. How old will she be?"
Me: "She'll be 11 months old."
Daycare lady: "Buh-wah ha ha ha ha ha ha..."
Me: "Um...could you add me to your waitlist at least?"
Daycare lady: "Sure thing. You're family number 140 on the list."
Me: "So not very likely then."

That was two months ago. And I still didn't kick my search into high gear.

This morning, in a rare fit of productivity, I sat down with my referral list and started calling around again. After about 20 calls, I finally found one daycare with space - that's it folks...ONE daycare. Of all the daycares within 5km of our home, only one has space.

We ventured out in the fog this afternoon to inspect this anomaly. All things considered, it wasn't that bad. It's a little farther than I'd like, but the owner seemed quite nice and Abner didn't freak out when she picked her up and such. Even so, my first instinct is that it's not quite right for us.

It's the first place I've looked at though, so how am I supposed to judge a place when I have nothing to compare it to? What should I be looking for? Are my expectations too high? What are typical in-home daycares like? Please help!