Rantastic - Life

The new computer

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:49:37 -0400

My beloved iBook has well and truly kicked the bucket. It's barely even booting... I grabbed a couple important files off there (like the iCal files with all the kids' firsts and whatnot written down), and it's been put away. I can't bear to recycle it yet. :(

Since the iBook started to have problems last spring, we were looking at alternatives. New MacBooks are pricey, but awesome; on the other hand, it's more computer than I really need. We were also looking at netbooks, and realistically, I knew that's what had to happen, though I was in denial for a long time. I really did not want to go back to Windows, but the netbooks were pretty much all I needed, really, and they were 1/3 the price of a new MacBook.

Fortunately I have a wicked husband that understands the Mac cult, and he found a brand of netbook that other people have successfully put Mac OS X on. A Hackintosh, hooray!

So now I have a little HP Mini. It's alright. The screen size doesn't really bother me, and I'm getting used to the keyboard... it's slightly smaller than my old iBook, so there were a LOT of typos the first few days. It can be a little slow sometimes, but really, most of the time I don't even notice any lagging. The one biggest problem is that Wil thought it was really, definitely his computer since it was Wil-sized. That was not a fun fight getting it back from him.

Anyway, it's approximately a thousand times better than surfing on the Wii, which is what I did for a week and a half while waiting for the new computer to arrive. Gah!

Quiet morning

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 08:32:00 -0400

Some time to myself - it's a miracle!

Wil has gone to Grandma & Grandpa's for the rest of the weekend, and James is sleeping in with Matt. I woke up a bit after 6 and just could not get back to sleep, so I decided to get up and try to get some things done. Not any useful things, but I did get a little done.

We've been pretty busy lately; since the plague finally left us, and the weather got nicer, we've been out of the house a lot more. We've been to see the koalas at the zoo twice; they're not terribly exciting (but they are pretty cute).

Wil has started just letting himself out of the house at random. It's incredibly nerve-wracking as we still don't have a fence across the back of the yard. The other day he wanted to be out so badly, but James was sleeping (so we couldn't go to the park or anything, and I couldn't go out into the yard with him). I ended up letting him play in the yard while I watched from the back door to make sure he didn't take off into the alley, and then begging him to come in when James started waking up so I could go pick him up without Wil totally disappearing. Then I bribed him with popcorn and Yo Gabba Gabba! so I could go to the bathroom without him leaving.

Cannot. Wait. to get a fence.

James is getting a little more mobile; he spins himself around a bit (on both his back and his front). He is pretty strong; the doctor couldn't do the hip check at his four-month visit because he was kicking his legs so much and she couldn't hold him still enough. He is so cute when he gets so excited and just kicks and kicks and kicks.

They are incredibly cute together; Wil is always hugging and kissing his little brother. We've started doing bedtime routine for both of them at the same time (even though James doesn't usually go to bed when we want him to). Anyways, after Wil's bath, they both get into their jammies and cuddle up in Wil's bed together for stories. I have to get a picture, it is just so sweet. Wil usually puts an arm around his brother and holds him close. It makes me all melty inside. :)

In non-kid related events, Matt and I had a date (of sorts) yesterday... we took a cooking lesson together! A friend's husband has started doing private cooking lessons, so we got him to come and teach us how to do something we've never done before... rack of lamb! It was so delicious. We actually learned quite a bit of handy stuff (how to blanch vegetables and re-heat so there's less to do right before dinner, for one thing... and how to crack eggs faster!). And my knife technique is getting a bit better! Here are some pictures:

It was so awesome. The food was so good and I had a lot of fun. (His website is Your Plates or Mine if anyone is interested... I totally would recommend him!)

James is up so that's it for now...

I think the plague is almost over...

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:34:18 -0500

After Wil got sick, that bug went through almost the entire family. That Saturday night, I passed out on the couch at like 6 p.m. Felt queasy all night. Went to bed early. Woke up freezing and shivering. I called Matt and got him to bring me an extra blanket and a bucket. Good thing, because I woke up at 11 p.m. and promptly threw up everything I'd eaten that night. Woke the baby too, poor little thing.

Matt was so great; he took James downstairs to sleep so we weren't keeping each other up. He brought him up for a feeding later that night, and took him right back down when I was done.

I slept most of Sunday (after passing Wil off to my mom since I was sick and Matt had been up a lot of the night), finally eating some gummi bears around 2 in the afternoon and sipping on Gatorade most of the day.

And then, the baby threw up Monday morning.

*sigh*

I started feeling normal again Monday night, and the baby didn't get it too bad. Matt doesn't seem to have gotten it (at least, not to the point he was throwing up) but I think he's got bronchitis again... people should not cough in technicolour. Wil had a random unexplained fever on Thursday night (gone, of course, by the time we got him to the doctor on Friday).

So that's what's up at our house. It's been a pretty mellow week... lots of movies and bottles and taking it easy. We still haven't potty trained Wil... we were going to over the weekend when everyone was sick, but he was still a bit sick from when he was throwing up and we didn't think diarrhea and brand new underwear sounded like the best combination ever. And then we didn't last weekend because we were going out several times for my birthday. Right now we're planning for the long weekend coming up... hopefully it goes well!

In other news, I turned 29 last Friday... 362 days left of my 20s! I feel like I should be out partying or something...

What the hell

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 02:53:39 -0500

My power just flicked off and on. No bad weather, I can't figure out why it would have cut out?

George is thoroughly freaked out (staring towards the answering machine and one of the computers was beeping when the power came back). It's making me kinda freaked out.

Eeeee!

Happy Hallowe'en!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:49:56 -0400

I am having a serious blogging FAIL these days, so the long story short is: Wil is becoming a two-year-old (complete with tantrums!), and I am still pregnant. Blah. Going to try to get back to this blogging thing while Wil sleeps (as his naps have gotten a lot better lately, touch wood).

For now though, I am off to try to do some Hallowe'en-y stuff, like trying to get my pumpkins carved before the first trick-or-treaters show up tonight.

Hello from Hill Spring

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:03:33 -0400

On vacation with the family... we're staying at the Great Canadian Barn Dance which has become the best destination EVER! as it has high-speed wifi (in the middle of nowhere!) they let us use for free.

We're mostly driving around the area as there's not a lot really close by... but so far we've hit Waterton Park, Fort MacLeod, and have done a bunch of geocaching. The family went to the Remington Carriage Museum too but we thought Wil wouldn't really enjoy it too much and went to the playground and geocaching instead. The country is beautiful and there seems to be some kind of price war going on in the ice cream business as it's easily half as cheap as Calgary (best we've found: single cones for a dollar fifty in Glenwood).

More later, once we're home.

Rough Week

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 09:34:40 -0400

As I'm sure many of our friends out in the world don't follow Acceleware news that closely, I feel the need to put this out there so if I seem bitchy or distant in the next while, you'll know why at least.

This press release came out last Friday. Then this one on Wednesday. Basically they say: we didn't get enough investment in the last while and have to downsize. So many people got laid off... really awesome people who are going to be hugely missed. Matt still has his job, but lost three fifths of his team.

We had found out about this all last Wednesday, but couldn't say or do anything about it. I really thought Matt's team was going to be safe, so I'm still a little shell-shocked when I go to his office and there's a bunch of empty desks by his.

Apparently some of the more experienced people knew what was coming from the first press release, but most people seemed to have no idea. For a lot of the employees (the technical ones at least), this was their first job out of school. I certainly wouldn't have understood the first press release if I didn't already know what it was talking about.

Anyways, that's what's up with us. Matt's not been sleeping well (along with pretty much all the long-term employees), and I've not been sleeping well either. I know that me worrying about things won't do anything, but I worry anyway. That's just me.

More to say (as always with me), but I should probably just leave it there.

If I'm grumpy at you, please don't take it personally.

Long Weekend Recap

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:48:00 -0400

So, finally, I have time to sit down and write this out. Hooray for Grandmas putting little boys to bed!

We had a great Canada Day long weekend up at Highwood group camp in Kananaskis country.

We went camping with The Mantracker (among others).

Wil learned how to keep cool.

Saw some flowers...

... and some wildlife.

Did some geocaching.

Wil slept in a tent for the first time (at least the first time we slept there all night).

Took time to smell the wild roses.

Also... we learned that there are raccoons in K-Country.

I was woken up one night and something was climbing on the tent. We were sleeping in my parents' 70's tent - heavy canvas walls, good floor, heavier screen on the windows than you'd see these days. Not a backpacking tent, for sure.

The initial thought, as previously mentioned, was monkey. Then I woke up some more and came to the conclusion it was definitely not a monkey, and started second-guessing myself as to whether something was there at all. I stared at the shadowy shape on the tent window, in the darkness, with no glasses on. When I finally woke up enough to decide there was indeed something there, I reached for my glasses and flashlight, which of course made a big clatter and scared it off. I wasn't quite coherent enough to realize there was no point in turning the flashlight on though, and did it anyway. That woke up Matt.

"What? What is it?" he said.

"There was something climbing on the window."

"You're imagining things. There's nothing there... go back to sleep."

"There was something there!"

"No, there wasn't."

*sigh*

I couldn't sleep at that point, as every animal it could possibly be was running through my head. I had gotten a good look, since my glasses weren't on, so I was going on a shadowy shape of some approximate size, which could climb and would be stupid and/or curious enough to climb a tent. Porcupines climb, but it seemed a little small for a porcupine. The canvas tent seemed pretty poor protection against a pissed-off porcupine though, so it kept me worried nonetheless. It was about the right size for a skunk... did skunks climb? I couldn't remember. At one point I thought I heard whatever it was trying to get into the cooler, and I had a fleeting thought - raccoon? That was quickly dismissed... we don't have raccoons around here.

At one point it jumped up against the tent right beside my head, and I gasped and let a few words fly. Matt taunted me for being jumpy and once again didn't believe there was anything there.

I laid awake until I heard other people moving around the campground, figuring whatever is was wouldn't bother us then. Got a little bit of sleep. Once Wil woke up I went to the trailer my parents were sleeping in to ask what it could have been.

My stepdad figured it was probably a pine marten, and that sounded less threatening or troublesome than a porcupine or a skunk, so I relaxed a bit.

A little while later, I was in the trailer brushing my teeth, and my mom called, "Tamara, come here!" in the light-hearted tone that usually signifies baby birds or my kiddo doing something cute.

Instead I got a heck of surprise when I tried to leave the trailer, only to find a raccoon waiting for me on the trailer steps.

It was indeed cute, but my first thought was, "That thing better not have rabies."

Unfortunately we never got a picture; we were mostly concerned with chasing it off so it would stop eating things from our coolers. Poor thing finally got pepper sprayed; I didn't see it again after that. (For those about to tell us we're cruel to animals, the options at that point, as it was into our camp at every opportunity, were: pepper spray, big stick to the head, or shotgun.)

It was kind of fun to watch the little guy (someone guessed he was probably a yearling); I'd never seen a real live raccoon before, except maybe in the zoo. And it sure made for some interesting conversations. And we got to learn something new. But the best part of the whole thing was Matt was finally forced to admit that maybe I might have better hearing than him (as we totally slept through the raccoon climbing right by his head, and I was about as far away in the tent as I could get).

Canada Day Long Weekend: A Preview

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:27:51 -0400

Immediate thought upon waking (at 4 a.m. or so): "Is there a monkey on my tent?"

More later!

Stuff

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:46:02 -0400

So, yes, I am still alive. Been busy. I started taking care of some of the other kids in our baby group in September or October, and it got tough to blog. Both lack of time, and the fact I didn't want to write about other people's kids here, and so much of our everyday life now involved other kids.

Trying to get back to it though... I've decided to try to write while Wil naps. We'll see how that goes, he is perhaps the world's worst sleeper, worse even than his father. We're really going to have to do something... what though, I don't yet know.

In other related news, I'm not going to get used to too much sleep, as we have another little one on the way! I think most people already figured it out, from this picture on facebook:

I've been asked for details, so here they are. I'm due November 2nd, so I'm predicting a birthday of November 17th for this baby. We still don't know if it's a girl or boy, though I have a feeling it's a girl. We should find out in a month or so when we have our ultrasound. That's all we really know right now.

I am going to try to avoid another c-section unless absolutely necessary, as I have no desire to go through months of nightmares afterwards again (my spinal was too high and I had trouble breathing and it really messed with my head). To this end, we've decided to use a team of midwives instead of going to a maternity group. I believe their philosophies would be much better suited to a hopeful VBAC momma, because I think if a lot of the same stuff happened this time around, I'd be getting sliced open again. Recovering from major surgery with one was tough, it would be even worse with two, I think.

That's all the news for now, and I think Wil is waking... later gators!

A Vewii Mewii Christmas

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 21:12:15 -0500

We got a WIIIIIIIIIIII!

Yeah, I'm a little excited. My mom is the BEST. MOM. EVER! She stood in line at 3 a.m. in the freezing cold a few weeks back to make sure she got one. My brother and I went and joined her at 3:15 and 5 a.m., respectively (though I brought fresh home-baked muffins so I deserve credit for at least 4 a.m.).

We've been having lots of fun with the Wii so far. Wil is even getting in the act... he knows to wave the white thing at the TV to make stuff happen. He's, um, not very good yet. But I'm still happy that my 1-year-old is showing geek tendencies already, hah.

Speaking of my 1-year-old... yeah, it's been a heck of a long time since I updated this site. He started getting to be a bit of a handful and he's taking a lot of my energy. Suddenly he got tall enough to pull things off the table, and then I needed to start the babyproofing all over again. Life is pretty much: run after kid all day, make dinner, kid to bed, do a bit of housework, then me to bed. Blah. Plus I signed up for an extra 1-year-old about half the time - a friend was having troubles with her dayhome - so that really drains my energy. It does (usually) force me to keep up with the housework a bit better than I otherwise would though.

Wil is doing well though... walking pretty well, just about running, and getting into absolutely everything. The temper tantrums have started already, too, when he's removed from whatever mess he's currently making that he's not supposed to be. I really want to record one so I can play it at his wedding or something, 'cause DAMN, are they ever funny. At just over a year old, he started the full-on, rolling on the floor, kicking and screaming temper tantrums. And you can't do anything but watch and try to laugh about it. I know this because I tried to hug and comfort him through it earlier on and got head-butted for my troubles. So now he gets set down gently on the floor and allowed to scream his frustration out. Good times, good times.

He's off to Grandma's house tonight because Matt and I are going skiing tomorrow, so I actually have time to sit down and write (now that all the laundry's in, our winter gear is all located and tried on, and the skis & board are in the car). It's strange that, although I really kinda needed a break, I started to miss him the minute my mom's car pulled away with him in the back. Damn you, biology!

Can't wait to see that little grin tomorrow night...

I'm insane

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 22:58:21 -0400

Tomorrow I'm taking two cats (weighing about 20 pounds each), and a wiggly baby (another 20 pounds) to the vet. The vet doesn't have to see the baby, but I can't exactly leave him at home.

I'm trying to figure out the logistics of transporting 60 pounds of dependents from the car to the vet's office, and I am reminded of one of those problems from grade school where you hypothetically need to cross the river with so much stuff, and you have to minimize the trips across, except I have the added complication that I may not be able to leave any of the objects (cat A, cat B, baby) alone at any time (if the girls in the office are too busy to watch one cat or if it's too hot to leave anyone in the car). So it's got to be done in one go. I think the plan right now is to put the baby in the sling and put one cat carrier in the stroller basket, and one in the stroller seat. Except the carriers might not fit. And if the baby is asleep I would usually take the carseat. Gah. Maybe the big giant behemoth of a stroller? Hmm.

Why did I put this on a weekday again?

Well, that was exciting

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:20:25 -0400

A friend and her baby stopped by yesterday to drop off my wrap (she wanted to see how her baby liked it before buying/making one), and I invited her in for a snack and a visit.

She probably regrets not just throwing the wrap at me and leaving.

Shortly after we settle in for a visit, I notice someone standing outside my window. Someone with a red stripe down their pants.

Hey, that looks like cop pants, I think. I tell my friend I'm just going to go see what's going on.

So I step outside, infant son in arms, to see a cop facing my neighbours' place with his gun drawn, who immediately tells me to go wait inside.

HOLY CRAP! I think. As I'm going straight back inside.

It's actually kind of a good thing for me someone else was here with an infinitely cooler head than mine, because had I been alone it would have been a total meltdown situation. Especially because this is the first time in months Matt took the car to work (they were moving offices yesterday) and I had no way to escape. Luckily, he decided to come home in the middle of the day while all the stuff was in transit and not go to a movie like some of his co-workers. Soooo lucky for me, because he didn't have our cell phone, and the office phones were packed in transit and so I couldn't reach him at either end of the move.

Anyways, eventually everyone just left without a word and my friend was able to get back to her car (which was out where the cop told us not to go). I went with Matt to his new office so I could skip any further drama at my house. What the hell was going on, I don't know. I talked to my aunt a minute ago and she said the SWAT team was here, with their helmets and facemasks and stuff. A friend of my mom's says that means it was likely a grow-op. I guess I know now that it was probably all finished after the first incident and not likely to flare up again.

Unfortunately I didn't know that and I was still a bit freaked out so I went with Matt to his new office. Where we watched someone getting arrested in their parking lot. It was like my own personal Cops episode all day long!

How's that for a day's excitement? :P

Snow!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Mon, 21 May 2007 07:17:38 -0400

It is snowing! May long weekend! Gotta love that crazy Alberta weather.

Now with more drugs!

nospam@example.com (Tamara) — Sun, 20 May 2007 22:12:11 -0400

Waited for four hours to see a doc at the walk-in clinic tonight. At least the clinic was honest about the wait times and let us wait at home and just phone in to check our spot in the queue (I think the receptionist didn't want what we have).

I have tonsilitis, possibly strep (they took a swab and I'll know around Thursday). I got an inhaler for the cough, nasal spray for the congestion, and antibiotics to hopefully clear up those ear tubes. At least that's what I think they're all for, I was exceedingly dopey at the doctor's office.

And my mom took the baby again tonight, so hopefully I can get some sleep.