The St. Albert Farmer's Market Was Hell

Er, no. The market was awesome. The throngs and throngs of people were hell. Pure madness, I tell you! We behaved and didn't shop like mad. Grabbed some cherries. Organic baby potatoes to q up for supper. Organic baby carrots for Mika's first foray into vegetables. She's not 6 months old yet, but she's been eating single grain cereal since 4 months. The way that she stares and grunts when she sees us eating is getting kind of sad. Mika desperately wants our food. So we're going to let her try carrots. Then something dark green...any suggestions?
So yeah. That market is nuts. Plenty of temptations, too many people. Mika slept through pretty much all of it. From where we are staying, it's about a 15 minute walk through the trails to get there. Mika pulled her hat down and passed out just before we crossed the bridge into the mayhem and woke when we were about 3 minutes away from being outta there again. The walk from the house to downtown is awesome. Gonna have to do that one a few more times - especially since the Timothy's on the corner serves fair trade coffee. :P

Happy 23 Week Birthday, Mika!

Mika loves to lunge forward now. She smacks and grabs like mad. Must. Touch. Everything. What on earth am I going to do when she is mobile? Complete strangers tell me that Mika is going to be hella trouble soon..does this happen to everyone? I hope so.

Mommy's Little Monster

Mika hates Barney! We hope. We attended Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party on Saturday. Mika had a meltdown about 5 minutes after arriving. She started looking a little distressed when presented with her cousin Lucas and it quickly turned to a screamfest. Mika's usually really good about other kids. Not overly pleased, but fascinated nonetheless. Daddy figures that Mika was startled by one of Lucas' many sounds and freaked out without a hope of recovery. We fed her, bounced her, tried various other forms of soothing, took her to other areas of the house. She calmed down maybe twice the whole time and that was when she was upstairs away from the party, but as soon as she was brought back to where the action was, the meltdown resumed. Oh, I lied. Daddy had her calm while checking out the playroom in the basement, but Jackson started crying and it set Mika off again. The theme for the party was Barney. We'd like to believe she was protesting the negative messages that Barney dishes out, but it was probably more like overstimulation. She also doesn't like to hear other babies or kids in distress (who does?) and will quickly match another kid's session with one of her own. Yup. We left 2 hours after we arrived. 1 hour and 45 minutes of Mika Meltdown was about all we were prepared to deal with. I'm not sure how long it would have taken for her to acclimatize to the party, but 2 hours of apparent torture was all we were willing to put her through. Mika fell asleep on the way home. She had some more to eat when we got in, playtime, a quick stroll, and she was asleep for the night. Damon and Kerry came by for the evening and Mika didn't wake once! I think she slept from about 8 to 6. She's getting better at that. Mika still sometimes wakes between 12-1AM for a feeding. Then she'll sleep til around 8-9AM. Otherwise she's getting her Daddy up between 5-6AM for his pre-work Mika time. It's kewl because she will hang out with him until he has to get ready for work and then goes back to sleep until 8-9AM. Those are the days, man!

We haven't burnt down the Shermans place yet. For that matter, we haven't destroyed anything! Housesitting is kinda fun. I want to keep their house and yard, but transplant it into Edmonton where the taxes are lower and the city picks up the recycling.
Went for lunch with Auntie Laura today. We went to a new-to-me place called Homefire on the west end. Was a good, but not long enough visit. Laura forgot that she had made other plans as well. She came by anyway as we had arranged for her to drop one of her systems off for an overhaul and pick up some of my G photos for a project that she's doing. Ooh..the restaurant served bannock! Mika was digging the decor. She liked the painted hands with spirals in the palm and, of course, the ceiling fan. Oh, the wonder of the spinning blades.
Mika didn't fuss one bit even though she was overdue for a nap. She slept for most of the afternoon after falling asleep during the ride home. Nice!

Hating the M$

I'm so used to not having to use a Windoze based PC that I had almost forgotten what a pain in the neck it is. Ugh. Windoze Updates are so lame. As is IE. As are virii. As is malware/spyware. Meh.

Wal Mart No More!

Hrm..the stirring has ceased and Mika is still asleep. Now I have time to do a proper post, but am very tired and not thinking well. As such, I have no idea what to blog about. Lesse...
Daddy is big into boycotts. One of his targets is Wal Mart. He hates the Wal Mart for a variety of reasons, most of which I agree with. Seeing as I don't drive and the nearest Wal Mart is located conveniently on the highway, I rely on Daddy to haul my sorry ass if I want a Wal Mart adventure. Against his better judgment, Daddy has taken me to Wal Mart three times since Mika's birth. The first time, I don't even remember WHY we went there. There must have been a reason, but it evades me now. Nonetheless, I came out of the place with a tonne of goods. The second time was more recent and we had a reason: Daddy wanted to try this chemical free clog clearing thing. It was supposedly only available at Wal Mart. They didn't have it. So that was that. Even more recently, we'd been shopping around for an exersaucer for Mika. Hoping to find a great price, I asked ever-so-nicely to be taken to the Wal Mart. Within seconds, my request to go price out exersaucers and nothing more turned into a minimum 5 item list. We didn't get the exersaucer, but I managed to collect an armful of items that I *needed* and we headed for the checkout. Except I couldn't do it. I had some kind of quiet neurotic breakdown and could not make myself purchase anything. I tossed my armload of goods into the discount cart that they always have near the checkouts and made for the exit. We ended up walking to Zellers later and getting the saucer there. Daddy, brave and foolish, actually carried the thing home. The saucer boxes are fairly big, bulky, and a bit heavy..but he was determined.
Anyway, so goes the end of Rollback pricing for this family. Even though Mika's flushable poo-catching liners cost $2 less at Wal Mart than anywhere else that I have seen them. When I stop and consider, though, I'd rather give $7 to Earth's General Store than $5 to Wal Mart. OK, I'd rather that my 5 month old was poo trained, but, well, ya know....

Happy Belated 22 Week Birthday, Mika!

Mika had another laughing fit recently (over a Barney themed party favour - the ones that you blow into and the curl of paper unfolds.) and a 2 hour meltdown at her cousin's bday party. That's about all I have time to post - The best and the worst from the past couple of days.

New Hope

I really hope that Mika will fall asleep easier when the weather turns cool again. This business of having to go for a walk every night, sometimes 2-4 times is fine, but also not fine. It's good that Mika gets us out there and walking, but it would be nice if she would just go to sleep when she gets tired instead of fighting it. Bouncing her used to do the trick, but when its so warm, she does not want to be held. Fair enough. As of Monday, we'll be living in St. Albert for a couple of weeks..in a house, not a condo. A house with a cool basement and AC upstairs. A house with a yard and beautiful garden! A house with a giant plasma display TV and a pool table. Whee! Housesitting for the Shermans while they vacation in Tofino. I'm pretty excited about it, even though it means I will be bussing between the west end and St. Albert daily. I'd bring my cats with me, but well, you know how well cats tend to make friends with other cats. There are two spayed older female cats at the Shermans and I have a feeling that bringing two older neutered males into the home for two weeks would be a recipe for disaster. Daddy has the first week of August booked off work, so that will make going between the Shermans and our place a bit easier. Thank Jeebus for multi purpose baby items. Mika's playyard will serve as a baby jail, change table, and bassinet, thanks to the various attachments. With a canopy to ward off curious cats and sunshine (only one more month before we can use sunscreen!). I think the Shermans have a highchair stashed in their basement.
We finally broke down and got an exersaucer for Mika. I had checked out garage sales and stuff, but either couldn't find an exersaucer or found ones that I wouldn't put my child in even after disinfecting. We grabbed one that can be taken apart and used as a playset once she is too big to exersauce anymore. I wanted to get as much potential usage from this huge hunk of plastic as possible, given the cost of these things. Hopefully, Mika will have an interest in playing with cars as the playset is more or less a figure 8 car track. In any event, she LOVES being in the saucer. I had to put one of the couch cushions at the bottom because her legs are still a bit short to stand properly.
I was going to take Mika to the Klondike Days parade this morning, but chickened out. I'm kind of glad that I didn't take her. It would have been mayhem, I'm sure. We watched a bit of it on TV and saw Mika's Uncle Justin! He's a cheerleader with the EE cheer team.
Ugh...I have bottles, diapers, and clothes to wash..best be getting to it.

Yay! we got it...

Just rec'd an email from my partner in crime that we got the contract to do the network upgrade and server deployment. Project starts at the end of August sometime. Whee!

Mika was up nice and early this morning. She went back to sleep as soon as I had finished downing a coffee. Figures...
At least it was Kicking Horse. It's the only fair-trade coffee that I can find in any major supermarket. I know Earth's General Store carries it too...just not sure if they have any less expensive brands. The BEST coffee is from Oso Negro. Daddy and I discovered this great brew while attending the SCA's 2002 Clinton event. We ended up in Clinton because Daddy's best friend's (Ian) wife's (Irene) brother-in-law (Jeff) was a knight at the time. We had decided to vacation with them that year and the destination was camping in Clinton. We all had lots of fun and the battle was amazing. But the best part was waking up all sore and hung over and smelling what was the best coffee in the world brewing. The guy from Oso Negro had an old hand crank bean grinder and was selling freshly ground brewed coffee for a dollar a cup. I would have paid $5 had he asked. When we returned home, all of the 'mundanes' that we told about the trip thought it sounded like the freakiest thing ever, which it wasn't. I'd guess that there were well over 1000 people in attendance, liquor and children everywhere, and not a single fight or other mishap. I think, too, that because I went to Vic Comp for most of my high school years that I am unfazed by people wandering about in costume. At least there were no mimes in Clinton. :)

Happy 5 Month Birthday, Mika!

Another month gone! And Mika is huge. All the clothes that I never believed would ever fit her are getting small.
She's so bright and attentive. It scares me. I don't even realize how often that she is watching me. She laughed at me this weekend. Not just a giggle, but a full-on laughing fit at my expense. It was late on friday night. Mika wouldn't sleep. We were giving Mika tours of the house and had stopped at the fridge. She loves looking at all the junk on our fridge. I was going through the usual routine of reading her the quotes, pointing out people in photos, and going over her name. We have her name spelled out in brightly painted wooden letters (with magnets on the back, of course). I accidentally knocked the 'M' to the floor and had to bend over to pick it up. Mika found this to be the best thing ever. She laughed and laughed and laughed. Which made us laugh and laugh and laugh. We were happy to see a sign of intelligence such as we hadn't seen in Mika before. I wasn't so sure if I was ready for the kid to be laughing at me. Not with me...this was most certainly at me. Ah well.
Another typical weekend around here. We tidied some, shopped some, cleaned some, visited G. When Mika slept, Daddy played Tiger Woods Golf on the PS2 while I read. Sad as this is, I don't even recall the name of the author or the book that I read. I guess I could go look, but meh. It was about a woman and her internet cafe in Grande Prairie. It was an OK book..for a quick chick read.
We walked Mika a lot this weekend...and this last week. Seems she doesn't want to fall asleep without being strolled now. Sometimes it only takes a few minutes, other times you can walk for an hour. Fates please help us when the snow and cold comes. I hope she's outgrown this phase!

Happy 21 Week Birthday, Mika!

..And a belated Happy Bday to Gramps! I forgot a mailer, so your package is going to be even more late than usual!

Lesse...we had a plumber over to clear a drain clog. *That* was exciting. Doing dishes in the bathtub sucks. It reminded me of an old episode of diff'rent strokes where the kids are talking about their mother. She couldn't afford the water to have both a shower and do the dishes, so she took the dishes into the shower with her. Why I remember these things, I don't know. I am full of useless information.

G has been feeling a bit better, but still not great. The nurses gave her Ensure and that was fine for a day. G was telling me that its good like a milkshake and her fave one is strawberry, etc. The next day she refused to drink it and was yelling about how she HATES that stuff. When I reminded her that she loved it the day before, she said "Yeah, but that's before they started forcing it on me. I hate it now because they force it on me all the time." Ah well. They can't put the IV back in to keep her hydrated because she just rips it right out again. JYSK happened to have the exact same down filled booties that I got for G a couple of years ago, so I got her another pair..that made her happy! Her old ones were disgusting and falling apart, so it was time for new ones in a serious way. I just couldn't believe they still had them!

Mika missed her Daddy something fierce when he was gone to Grande Prairie. Oh, the screaming and fussing. She is most certainly a Daddy's Girl. Next time, he should take her with him!

My bank card is dead. The bank just called to tell me that. Apparently, someone tried to skim it unsuccessfully and now I have to go in and verify the transactions, get a new card and PIN, and all that fun. Joy.

I finally got that proposal out for the network upgrade and server install. Took me forever because I was all out of my head over G and with Daddy going away and the fact that I had never written a proposal and had no clue what I was getting into. Thankfully I had an old proposal that my brother wrote up to use as a template. Now to see if we get the contract!

I am going back to work in October. For 3 weeks. To cover the vacation times for both the office mgr and my friend who is covering my mat leave. (Ant and Lori are finally getting married! The day before my birthday!) I've been looking for a dayhome or daycare for Mika to no avail. I may just have to bring her in to work with me, which would be complete hell, I am sure. Unless she is over the "making strange" phase that she is now in and can just be passed from person to person until the workday is complete. Being the sole IT person can be hellish on a good day. Being the office manager is usually even more mayhem. Covering both roles with a 7-8 month old child slung on your side cannot be a good thing. Or can it?

Weather is grey and dreary. I should really wander down to the bank and get this skimming thing cleared up. Ugh.

Saturday!

The morning started nice and early at 3-something AM. I gave up to Daddy at around 5. He got her to sleep at some point or other..the next thing I knew we all woke at around 10:30. Sad or what? :P After feedings and playtime and showers and all that was in between, there was just enough time before Grandma and Grandpa Ted came over to return some bottles and a DVD. A DVD that we returned the empty case for a day earlier. When you live in such a small crowded space, bottles and juice boxes and the like have to be returned every two to three weeks or else the furnace closet just becomes a hazard.
The visit with Grandma and Grandpa Ted went well because Mika didn't put up her usual freakouts when someone other than Daddy or me interacts with her. She even let Grandma feed her! Mika ate without a fuss..her usual 3 Tbsp + spillage of cereal. Piglet! She had playtime with Grandma too. Of course, Grandma is spoiling Mika rotten...she got another new dress and a tummytime soft book.
We had a fine dinner...the beer can chicken turned out better this time than last. I think the BBQ bananas turned out better than last time too.

Mika went to sleep shortly after Grandma and Grandpa Ted left, but she only stayed asleep for about 20 mins. We then had to stroll her for a few blocks to get her to sleep. She woke again at around 1 and I think was back to sleep by about 2. Teething is Hell.

Happy Belated 20 Week Birthday, Mika!

what ever happened to all the fun in the world?

Ugh. An extremely warm condo and teething make for a Very Fussy baby. Mika has been driving us bonkers. She used to go to bed between 7:30 and 8 and now we're lucky if she is asleep by midnight. And the screaming is beyond anything. I am still waiting for the neighbors to call social services to come and check out the tortured baby.

G has not been feeling well this past week. She's barely eating and is quite dehydrated, so they have her on an IV. G was much better yesterday than the day before, so there's a bit of progress. When you're 103 years old though, the most minor incident turns into a major setback.

Daddy's work is sending him on an overnight trip next week. I am so not looking forward to it. In fact, I'm feeling rather out of sorts about it. Yes, I know it's "just one night", but I am a wuss. I don't want to be left alone with Mika for over 24 hours. She's a Daddy's Girl and it's gonna be hell without him coming home. I'm also getting those trapped and depressed feelings that other SAHM's have described. Not only am I currently jealous that Daddy gets to escape to work daily, but even more so jealous that he gets to actually go somewhere that he hasn't been and meet people and have fun and all that. We're not taking any trips this summer and haven't even gone to the lake once yet with no plans to do so at anytime soon. I'm not sure how well it would go over to have Mika out there when she is too young to wear bug repellent and sunscreen. And the lack of running water is a hindrance too. I was so looking forward to caring for the lake lot this year. Being pregnant last summer meant that I couldn't do my usual 'chores', like cutting out the turf from the shoreline and cleaning it up (and giving bucket upon bucket of the stuff to mine and Danny's Moms for their gardens) and raking, raking, raking the shore and first few feet of water to get rid of the weeds and rocks. It's like having a huge zen garden or something.
Usually, we take a least one trip per summer. Daddy's new job came with a 12 month probation period, so he doesn't get any time off until next year.

And that's my sorry-ass complaining for the day....

Shelter From The Storm

We had a chaotic flash storm this afternoon, complete with hail, high winds, mucho rain, lightening, and LOUD thunder. Mika? She loved it. LOVED it. I held her by the screen and the wind and rain were both coming through. She was thrilled. Loud claps of thunder? Bring it on. I think she thought the trees were making that sound as when it struck, she would look up into the branches.

I think my child is violent by nature. She loves to smash and fling. Loves watching puppies playfight. Loves ripping out hair...and now apparently loves the sound of thunder and the chaos that can be Edmonton's July storms.

Puppy Love

Mika loves puppies. The fluffier and more rambunctious the better. (Mika has taken to not wanting to sleep at night. I think its the heat in this place. So we take her for evening strolls to get her to fall asleep. The last couple of times we've had to do this, we've ended up at the mall. Air conditioned mall.) Mika usually hasn't fallen asleep by the time we've reached the end of the mall where the pet store is, so we've picked her up and shown her the cages full of puppies. I've never seen her so happy and gleeful as when she is watching the puppies play. She cracks a huge smile, squeals with delight, and giggles like mad while her arms and legs flail uncontrollably. Of course, she seems to love the poodle cross breeds the best. I say "of course" because were I to ever get a dog, a poodle or poodle cross would be the last breed that I would select. I'm more of a Heinz 57 rescued from the shelter kind of person. Yet another reason that we need to move to a house with a yard...gotta get Mika a puppy!
Mika's Daddy is not looking forward to the future of pet store trips. It's bad enough that I beg for uber-expensive Himalayan kittens...now he's going to have two weepy eyed girls pleading "But why??"

Not Much

DaddyR and I finally got around to watching "What The Bleep Do We Know?". Its was OK until the barbapapa or boobah or whatever they were things came out and danced. The whole animated "Addicted to Love" video ripoff was a little much for me. I like quantum theories...they make my strange beliefs and 'theories' seem so much more plausible. If only I was smart enough to wrap my head around the mathematics behind it all...

Mika and I are housebound untl the Bissell Centre truck comes to get our futon..."anytime between 8:30Am and 3:30PM"...ugh.

Why???

Mika insists on rolling over onto her tummy everytime I lay her down somewhere. This would be fine, except for the fact that she seemingly hates being on her tummy and has a major freakout over and over. And over...

She also finds a source of chaos instantly. Point being: Daddy was playing a golf game on the PS2. The wires for the controllers were tucked under the edge of Mika's Gymini. I mentioned that she would likely find a way to entangle herself on the controller wire and pull down this little box filled with odds and ends that the cable was on top of. The odds and ends are things like nails and screws that I find here and there on the floor, nail clippers, batteries, cat toys, and a few other things that you don't want a baby to get his or her hands on. Sure enough...Mika's leg was quickly wrapped in controller cable and the box was being pulled across the table on its way to being dumped onto the Gymini.

We need to babyproof in a serious way.

Outlaw Golf 2 is actually kinda fun.

Nowhere To Run

Gah!! There is so much friggin' construction going on in this 'hood that I can't find anywhere to stroll. Most of the perimeter sidewalks are closed or otherwise unusable, so I find myself strolling Mika down the road. I've successfully gone for one walk with Mika in the infantino carrier. Still no success with the sling. Unless you consider a 4.5 month old baby having a major freakout over being contained in a sling a success.
I rather enjoyed carting Mika around in the carrier, but the stroller is just so much more handy. Hrm...

Standing In The Shower Thinking

We took Mika in the shower today. I didn't drop her even once! :P She seemed to enjoy it well enough, except for the inevitable shower spray in the eyes.

Mika was lulled to sleep by Fugazi's Repeater this morning. Good or Bad? I don't know...

So Fine, She Blows My Mind

Mika has been driving us nuts all weekend. Her sleeping patterns have gone to hell. She rolls, rolls, everywhere and gets upset if left on her tummy for too long. Too long is usually about 1 minute. So we roll her back onto her back, she flips immediately to her tummy and starts fussing. Yesterday, I watched her find her way down off the couch. she was sitting in her boppi pillow thing. Mika started with scooting her butt forward a bit, then turned onto her tummy, and pushed her way backwards off the couch. Yikes.

I cleaned up the yard a bit yesterday, we did some shopping, went for a walk or two and that was about it. Whee!

Baby Take Your Teeth Out

Gah! Both of Mika's front bottom teeth have broken through the gums! The time has come...I always maintained that once Mika had teeth, the nursing would end. I'll still nurse her while I can in the late night and early morning this weekend, but I am not so brave to endure the bites of the Mikanator for much more than that. The bleeding and having to use that silicone thing for a few days was enough nipple torture for my lifetime.

Much hell as its been, I'm really rather sad that this part of the Raising Mika challenge is ending. Then again...ever since becoming pregnant, my emotions have gone over the edge and have yet to return. I still can't read Love You Forever by Robert Munsch to Mika without bawling. Sheesh!! Make it stop!!