Charlie's summer

I'm actually ahead on my project, Charlie is down for nap without fuss, and the house is clean. Ahhhhhhhhh. Time to blog!

And speaking of Charlie, can I just say holy cra-yup he has changed so much over the summer. Or maybe it was me, I don't know. But once we were at my MIL's I decided enough is enough, let's get off this merry-go-round of veggie burgers/quesadillas/mac and cheese for dinner. I'm sick of making something extra for Charlie. Let's see what happens if we just give him what we eat with no other options! (And yes, yes I know I should have been doing this from the start, but Charlie had some, shall we say, texture issues? Issues that prevented him from consuming fresh fruit, vegetables, and any type of meat without gagging and spitting or vomiting! You'd avoid it too!) And it was HS's job to deal with the fall-out because the whole eating thing is an issue for me, and dammit, Charlie knows it. And do you know what? The boy eats! I almost sobbed with happiness last night when he slurped up his diced tomato and chowed down on a hamburger. But that's not all! He'll eat salmon! chicken! steak! tomato sauce! And, with some encouragement, apple slices! grapes! raspberries! Oddly enought though, no blueberries. But who cares! He will eat. Almost anything as it turns out. Even, ahem, peanut butter, thanks to my dad. Apparently I hadn't briefed him on the finer points of children's allergies and the holding off until three for peanuts when you have food allergies in the family thing. But that's what happens grandpa looks after your baby while you catch some extra shut-eye. Anarchy! Luckily Charlie is just fine with nuts (thank god, because I have a friend with a severe nut allergy and it really sucks). Don't you hate it when you get all worked up and worried about something that turns out fine and you really should have tried it sooner? Yeah, me too.

So eating, good. Sleeping, not so good. Charlie has decided that he'd rather not nap, thank you. He'd much prefer to bake a cake, truth be known (that has been his reason for not sleeping for the past few days. I have no idea why his culinary aspirations must be fulfilled just before naptime, but there you go). And now that he's in a big-boy bed, I can't just leave him to pound the wall and shake the bars until he falls asleep. So I've been singing my heart out and lying beside him until he drops off, which he does, because he is actually tired and there's no way I'm ready for him to drop his nap yet. But the worst part is we can no longer transfer him from the car to his bed if he falls asleep. Dammit, that was a sweet ride while it lasted. It seems that now a 15-20 minute catnap in the car can make up for what is usually (once he's wrestled to sleep) two hours at home. At least now that we're at home he's not getting up in the middle of the night, which was a horrid reminder of all that sleep deprivation of babyhood. I think that three weeks away was a little much for him, and the twice-nightly wake-up calls were just a way of saying "let's go home. Grandma's house is nice 'n' all, but I want my own bed, not this toddler aerobed you're trying to pass off as my futon." But for the first two weeks, the toddler aerobed worked just fine, so I highly recommend one. It's just a smaller blow-up mattress, but it has raised edges to prevent the little guys from falling out. Although Charlie landed on the floor one night anyway, for the most part it kept him in place.

Oh and he's reading. He can recognize quite a few words now, and I'm so f*cking proud, but I really don't feel like we should talk about it, because that would be bragging, but really, isn't a blog the perfect place to say this stuff? So there you go. Charlie's summer in a nutshell: He eats! He doesn't sleep! But he reads! And he's nowhere near potty-trained!

Four negatives don't equal one positive

Blogging secrecy + dropped naps + new freelance project = no time for blogging. Ugh.

But here's a quick post to tell you, four negative pregnancy tests don't lie! Surprise! I'm not knocked up, and I'm ok with that. A little disappointed though. I just want to get pregnant right away so 1. I'm not denying myself caffeine for nothing 2. I'm not denying myself my precious, precious meds for no reason. Because dropping my last pill, even though I weaned myself slowly, even though I did it in summer, surrounded by friends and family, was really f*cking hard. Although I feel better, and I can handle the lower moments much better, dammit, I sure as hell don't want them. I liked not having those bad, low days. And while they are nowhere near as severe as they used to be, I'd rather not feel that way at all thank you very much.

But it's sunny today, and we're off to the Governor General's residence for a picnic! You can't feel sad on a picnic, right?

I really want to write something about the past three weeks, but here's what's really going on inside my head

I'm late.

Two days, but still. I never go past 28 days on any cycle (I guess ten years of the pill will do that to you). So you think Hurrah! Break out the pregnancy tests! Um, no. Because, as I am well aware of my cycle, I have already wasted four (yes, four!) of those early response tests, and they all came back negatory. And I have great faith on those tests because one of those sticks announced Charlie with the faintest second line you ever did see. It was so faint that when I went to my doctor to get checked out she was ready to dismiss me with a "Nope, your test is negative." Then she squinted, held it up to the light and said "No wait, hold on a minute. Hmmmmm. Let's send you for some blood work." And voila! Charlie's presence confirmed.

So I'm waiting patiently and ignoring the cramps (not pregnant!) and nausea (pregnant!) that are alternating throughout the day. Because I don't want to cough up another $13.99 for a fifth test that will practically shout out "WHAT ARE YOU DUMB OR SOMETHING?! GIVE UP ALREADY! WE SAID "NEGATIVE" FOUR TIMES!"

Must. Stay. Away. From. Shoppers.

Summer 2006

The infamous swan boats in the Boston Public Garden.


The train ride at Santa's Village.


Grandpa and Charlie in the boat on Georgian Bay.


Henry's Fish Restaurant, Sans Souci. Awesome fish and chips, make sure to get the batter-fried pickerel -- you can get pan-fried, but why bother? But here's the secret: Henry's buttertarts will blow you out of the water, they are that f*cking good. Get extras to take home.


Me and Charlie. Sunset on Georgian Bay.

From ice cream in Vermont to the ditch outside of Barry's Bay

I have many, many posts to come about the last three weeks, but needless to say that our summer holiday was awesome, although it ended in a maelstrom of weirdly not great luck capped off with a slide into a ditch for HS on the ride back to Ottawa. Luckily he is fine. The car is not so fine and sits in Eganville awaiting an insurance appraiser. More to come on that. I still can't believe that it's mid-August already. I have vowed to eat fresh tomatoes, corn and peaches every day. You should too!

Here are the duckling statues from Boston's Public Garden. Charlie loved them.

Pssssssst.......I'm over here!

Yikes! This has to be quick. I'm posting from my parents' computer via dial-up on an island in Georgian Bay.

So how are you? How is your summer? Mine has been just lovely. I've been well taken care of at my MIL's place, despite the fact that her modem is fried, so I have no way to post in privacy. I'm stealing a few minutes here while everyone is either napping or swimming. So what have I been up to? Eating the BEST fish at chips at Henry's Fish Restaurant, going to Santa's Village a lot (thanks to a season's pass from my MIL), eating a ton (because I'm not cooking and my MIL has a sweet tooth), and swimming whenever it isn't raining. Oh and we pulled our back-up goalie a few weeks ago, so I'm already convinced I'm knocked up. But then again, I was convinced I was preggers every month during the year we tried for Charlie, so my "instincts" really can't be trusted.

Gotta go! I think someone is waking up!