How to get Telemarketers to take You off Their List...

Tell them that the decision maker of the house it deployed to Afghanistan. They get really quiet and uncomfortable and say "Oh..." I had such an experience this afternoon. It's white lie as the "decision maker" will be in Afghanistan; but not for 7 months.

Calling all Mom's.

It's gone it's gone it's GONE! - Aaron's ear infection that is. The poor guy had an ear infection for a month! He was on 3 different types of anti-biotics. He's got an appointment with and ENT in a few weeks. He may need tubes in his ears. Although I', not crazy about this, it may need to be done. I am going to look into a more holistic approach before I let anyone put tubes in his ears. One mom at a playgroup we went to suggested that I dry his ear out with a hair dryer after his baths... I can see that going over well with him! He has a fear of dryers. Maybe if I out it on low and make a game of it it can work. Any advice out there for the ear infections???

In other news Eric has been gone for the last week. He won't be back for another 2 weeks. It has been just Aaron and I and I kinda like it. I miss Eric, but we get to do more as we have the car. Hence the playgroup we've been to 2X in the last week. It's only a few blocks away and I know that i can walk but 9am is early for me if Aaron had a rough night. I still catch a nap when he does sometimes. Yesterday was long. I was up at 6am as I had a test to write for a job so I had to have Aaron up at 6:30 and drop him off at my friends. He did well and didn't cry once. being up so early sure makes me see my day in a different light. By 4:30 I was done.

Aaron was/is rather cranky today... I think he is cutting a tooth. He is also so close to walking... it's only a matter of when. Well I think that I am going to catch a snooze while he's down even though I have 4 loads of laundry to fold and put away and a bathroom to clean... it can wait.

Where have I been?

I've been here, life has just gotten in the way. I've been busy, busy, busy. I have my final exam on Saturday for my MT course. I am much less freaked out about it than I was my midterm as I got 81% ON it not too bad seeing how I 'crammed' a few days prior to it. And of course I am following suit to that this time around today. I need to haul ass as I need a minimum of 75% to get into the program I plan on enrolling in for this September. Speaking of which, I went to an info session for it abnd I have hope that I will get in. I need to increase my typing speed to 50 net WPM; which it is no where near! I have no idea what my WPM is. I am going to be enrolling in a keyboarding course very soon.

We had Aaron's birthday party over Easter weekend which was a success! That damn dinosaur cake will be the death of me! I don't know what posessed me to do something so invloved? Aaron isn't even at the age where he is asking me for a theme cake/party. I am setting the bar high for myself... Next year the cake will be on a much smaller scale. By then I hope to have banged off some cake decorating courses that I need to find time for.

Last week i got a lot of gym time in. I am proud of myself. If I want to see results I need to get on it. I went to the gym 3 days in row, did a Bikrams Yoga class (that is endurance training OMG) and a 10K walk around a lake. This was int he course of 5 days. I haven't had time to dedicate to working out this week with the studying. But I managed to get a jog/walk in with the jogging stroller. I have been adhearing to a good meal plan. and I have lost 3 lbs. Not much, but i am starting to notice a difference.

I've been trying different recipes and i found a raw vegan carrot soup recipe and OMG is it good! I halfed it as I only made it for myself, omitted the cummin as I didn't have any and subsituted lime for lemon as that's all I had. When i first tasted it, it left me wanting more and I realized that I forgot salt and pepper. Did the salt ever make a difference! That's what it needed. The pepper not so much as as there is cayenne pepper in it. It left me wanting more and hungry! It was so good I wanted to scrape down the side of the blender with a spatula! I still can't bring myself to rinse the blender out. I'll be making this again very soon. I have been making a few different vegan soups. I am not vegan, but I love the food none the less. Vegan food is so healthy and tasty. Which is good for my healthier life style. I lik this Potato and Leak soup recipe that I found on Emily's blog

I can't wait to try more recipes on http://goneraw.com

Something new

Aaron has learned something new. No he isn't walking yet - that will be In the weeks to come. He has learned how to bite, not only has he learned how to bite but he likes to bite me. How does one handle this? He has bit me before while nursing but I don't think it was intentional. He has also come up to me while I am preparing stuff at the counter and bit my leg, and I yelped out in pain and he cried because i scared him and he fell to his bum. Today he bit my arms twice while I was holding him. Both times I said "Ouch" loudly as if I was in pain (it did hurt) and said "Don't bite it hurts mommy." Both times his little lips puckered up and he cried. Oh the tears! I think I scared him when I say ouch/ow which I am trying to teach him that it hurts me so he doesn't do it. He tried to do it a third time, and I said "Don't bite mommy" and he stopped.

I am not sure if this behavior is intentional or not. He likes to chew on things as he is teething but my arm isn't an appropriate object to gnaw on. He is starting to test Eric and I when we say no. He'll look at us, and the object that he isn't suppose to touch then go for it. I am a firm believer in positive reinforcement, but I don't believe it is good to ignore the bad behavior. It needs to be addressed 100% of the time... My way of dealing with it now is to pick him up and take away from said object over and over and try to distract him. Lights have been a fascination of his for as long as I can remember. Now to get him to stop going for the lamps...

Seriously Annoyed

I am in Vancouver for the weekend for Aaron's birthday party. While here I thought I would take advantage of the fact that I have many willing people to watch Aaron and I thought I'd get my hair cut as I haven't been able to find a good stylist I like on the Island. So I made an appointment and ask a girlfriend 4 days ago to watch him at the mall while I got my hair cut. She agreed. Lets call her Sarah. Sarah just loves Aaron to bits and always wants to see him when were over. She was quite excited to push him around the mall for an hour and play with him while I got my hair cut.

At 12:50am this morning I get a text message saying she can't watch him as she has an job interview! WTF? It's a Good Friday (A stat holiday here in Canada) Who has a job interview on a stat? I called her and she said "remember that job I told you about?" Um no I don't. She said she go an email for it with no phone contact and she tried to re-arrange it but they never got back to her. I am a mother which means I have to arrange child care in advance. I may like to fly by the seat of my pants and be spontaneous but NOT WITH CHILD CARE! I plan these things very carefully. Needless to say I am annoyed to shit. Thankfully, an old neighbour agreed to watch him for an hour while I get my hair cut. Which is great but not for Aaron as he doesn't know her and he will freak out the entire time. My dad is working which is why he can't watch Aaronm and most of my childless friends are probably sleeping off hangovers being a stat. This just reinforces that you can't rely on anybody but yourself. This is why i keep an anonymous blog. So I can vent about such things! BAH!

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung here on the West Coast and I thought I'd get into the swing of spring by entering my photo into Lori's Blue Ribbon Photos, Photography Contest over at A Cowboy's Wife.

"Scarlet"



This is a picture of one of the lovely flowers that one of my mom friend's brought to me at Aaron's birthday party over the weekend. She is Romanian and it is their tradition to give the mother flowers on her child's birthday to signify the mother's "birthday" too.

Sick and Tired

*Advice needed*

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired! Last week around my birthday Aaron was teething and had a pretty high fever. Yet no teeth popped through and he never had an ear infection. We had 2 1/2 nights of hell and as a result I got worn down and got a sore throat, aches and pains and a snotty head cold which isn't unusual pour moi. I thought some R&R and plenty of fluids would cure me. Nope. So I caved after and after a week and a half of nonsense I went to the doctor. Antibiotics it is. The dr. said I had a red throat (WTF does that mean) and he didn't swab it until I made him. I know I have a sinus infection but if I have strep I want to know. For all I know Aaron has it too.

Onto Aaron now. On his birthday I had to cart him to the local walk-in clinic as I noticed a pussy eye. He has cunjuntivitis aka pink eye. I have no idea where he got it. We haven't been around other kids with the exception of the play area on the ferry. This blows. I can't have him around other kids. We have 2 birthday party's this weekend. A friend's and his own! *Calling all parents or care givers to small children* Does anyone know how to put eye oinment in a baby's eye? The dr. said to pull down his lower lid and put it in. Easier said than done. As in not.freakin.possible. I have to put it on my finger and sorta rub it thru his eyes lashes as he closes his eye and starts to cry. I wonder how long this wll last for?

Aaron also had a cold to boot. A runny snotty nose and coughinhg. I guess it back to the doctor's. He knows when we go there now he will be poked and proded and cries. he will scream when the doctor comes into the examing room. Sorry bud!