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Friday, August 18, 2006

Happy 18-Month Birthday, Mika!

I don't blog enough anymore. No time, too tired, just a whole pile of excuses.

Anyway, Mika is now a whopping 18 months old. We have dinner plans tonight with her friend Saoirse's family..Mika will be celebrating her day with french fries for supper. If we order her pasta and she sees others with fries, it'll be a Bad Thing. She does not get her coveted fries often, so whatever. Go nuts, kid. See if you can break that 20th percentile for weight barrier!

Mika has been doing quite well lately. She's been having a blast this summer with swimming lessons and visiting friends and family and all that fun. She hasn't been sick in a few weeks (knock on wood) and I'm rethinking the tubes in the ears thing. We'll see. We went and visited the Arnold family the other night. The way that Mika and Ava play together is cuter than anything ever. EVER. Right down to the two of them leaning forward and sticking their butts out to give each other kisses. Mika is still on her kitty and puppy kick. The first word out of her mouth each morning is 'kitty'. Her eyes are barely open and its already all about the kitties. She still pretends to be a cat and has lengths of time where she will only meow or purr, not speak in 'human'. While her Daddy and I have yet to hear her come close to saying Thank You, the daycare tells us that she is most polite and uses words like 'please' and "thank you" all the time. We do try and enforce the use of please as much as possible. Mika will use it without prompting *sometimes*..especially if she wants a treat, like a cookie or something...if its a treat that she wants, she needs no prompting to say please. If its just some juice or a cracker, we have to remind her to say please. ah well..slowly but surely.

We've been busy. Hella busy. And there's no end in sight. Thankfully tonight's plans are only for dinner out...I can handle that. Tomorrow the mayhem starts again with vet visits (time for shots!) and my Aunt's 50th Birthday party. And some Nana time for Mika in there as well. On Sunday our realtor (thanks Dad!) is taking us to check out what few properties there are on the west end in our price range and then it's off to Grandma's house for dinner with the family. Uncle Lucas and Auntie Jenn are supposed to be there too as well as Great Auntie Diane, 'Uncle' Brian and 'Aunt' Annette, Great Aunt Lorraine and Bill, and hopefully my cousin Alicia and nephew Adriano. It may not sound like much in the way of plans, but our house is a disaster and needs a serious cleaning..and then there's the laundry...and the grocery shopping...and whatever else.

Yes, we are moving...hence why we're looking for houses. This is a crazy market. I really do not want to have to leave the westend, but it may end up that we have to do so anyway. We'll see what the realtor says and see what's available over the next month or two and possibly make a decision then to leave my beloved westend. If I have to. My 'hood has had zero violent crimes reported over the past few years. Not many neighborhoods have that standing. Plus the german bilingual school that we like is not too far from where we are now. and the convenience. and the fact that I have lived NW/W for almost my entire life, save for a few years downtown and feel most at home on the west side.

We had been planning to move to a house with more than 2 bedrooms for awhile now, but there's a small issue that's forcing the move more quickly than we had anticipated: pregnancy. Ack! Somehow, someway (no smart comments now), I became pregnant in April and did not know it until recently. I used to think "How could someone not realize for 3-4 months that they were pregnant?" - and now I know how. According to the Doc, I should have miscarried over the stress of the loss of G, the gall bladder surgery, and/or the mild heat stroke or heat exhaustion that I had. Yes, I had some morning sickness issues...but it started right after the gall bladder removal and they warned me that nausea and vomiting could be an after effect of the surgery and not to worry too much about it unless it persists. It persisted. I worried. Got checked out and here I am. I'm concerned (to put it mildly) about the state of this foetus given the circumstances, but have a sonogram photo showing a seemingly healthy foetus with 4 limbs and a head, so thats a good sign. I haven't actually gone for a prenatal appointment yet or anything...not scheduled until next week. Baby is due January 27. From what I can tell, I have to work up to January 15 at the very least to qualify for parental leave through EI. This baby cannot be too early or we're hooped! Also...I was bound and determined to not have another baby until Mika was at least 3 years old and/or out of diapers. So much for that idea. Mika will be a couple of weeks shy of 2 years when this next one is scheduled to arrive.

Sorry for the scattered post. Did I mention that I am beyond tired lately?

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Mika and Pals


IMG_0546
Originally uploaded by mockdaveford.
Mika checking out Drew (Pickle)'s dawg at Josh and Kira's wedding.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Family


Family
Originally uploaded by Dean+Barb.

look for bugs


look for bugs
Originally uploaded by Dean+Barb.

a better look


a better look
Originally uploaded by Dean+Barb.
A somehow looked over gem from Grandpa's cache.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Catch Up!

So much to report, so few brain cells to recall exactly what it was that I was going to report. Mika's been well, aside from a bit of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease that she's currently over. Nana came to stay with Mika on Wednesday and they had a blast. I took Thursday and Friday off work as we couldn't find anyone to stay with our infectious child. We had to keep her home so that she didn't infect the entire daycare. It was nice being able to stay home with my little Nugget again for a couple of days. I didn't want to come back to work on Monday.
Mika saw a Ear/Nose/Throat specialist last Friday as well. The doc recommends tubes for her ears due to the frequency and severity of her recurring ear infections. The waiting list is a few months long, so we have time to think it over and maybe not go forward with the tubes. The process freaks me out a bit..still unsure as to whether we think it's best for her.

We took Mika to Klondike Days over at the fairgrounds @ Northlands for a few hours in the evening last week. She wasn't overly impressed, except for watching all the puke-inducing adult rides. She squealed with delight and giggled like a maniac watching those. When it came time to go on the carousel with Mama, she somewhat resisted. We ended up sitting on one of the seats instead of the horses. Meh. Kdays. I can live without it. I was really only in it for the corn dogs, as gross as most people think that they are.

Lesse...what else? Mika got to spend some time this past weekend with Kerry and Damon as we were trading jobs again (Damon does my handyman work, I do his computer upgrades/troubleshooting/etc.). This time, Mika warmed up to Kerry enough to dish out hugs - a big step for the wee girl.

The daycare reported that yesterday, while having a late afternoon snack in her highchair, Mika spoke clear as a bell "I want my Daddy". You should have seen the glowing pride on Daddy's face as he was telling me.

Mika is back in swimming lessons again. I don't really care for the instructor this time. I mean, she's a nice enough girl and all, but disorganized and new at the Mom n Tot lessons. Oh well, its still fun. The class is small..there are three boys and Mika. That's it!

On the play front, Mika is still entirely consumed by books, balls, puppies, and kitties. She's been getting into pretend play and seems to enjoy being a cat herself. Charlie Parker Played Be-Bop has been shelved in favour of the books featuring animals. Peek-A-Who is still a fave though. The best is one of her zoo books with gorilla pictures: she sees the gorilla and says 'Daddy!' everytime. No, I didn't teach her this...the kid comes up with the great jokes all on her own. We thought she'd associate the gorillas with me as the page talks about a young gorilla riding on Mommy's back. But no. :)

The other day I went in to Mika's room to wake her. She popped up instantly when I walked in and with half-open eyes said "Kitty?" not even 2 seconds after waking. This kid loves her kitties. I swear that she has kitties on the brain every waking moment. She talks to the cats and her stuffed kitties all day when she's home. She meows and purrs and is loving the FurReal kitty friends that her Great Great Grandma left her.
Oh, and shoes! She seriously loves shoes now too. Everybody's shoes. She wants to know why you're not wearing shoes while in the house and will gladly bring people their shoes. She's often following me around the condo carrying my crocs demanding that I wear them. She does the same thing to her Daddy with his runners and sandals.

This weekend is going to be hella busy - starting with the cats' vet appointment on Saturday at 9AM to hopefully closing the weekend with a good run at Heritage Days. We'll be attending Josh and Kira's carnival themed outdoor wedding reception on Sunday. Maybe Mika will get her face painted like a kitty!

I had more in mind to post about, but am drawing a blank for now.