My little peanut

No more talk of dead animals. These pics are all recent shots of my beautiful boy at 14 months.

The Absurdity

I went to a slaughterhouse/meatpacker today. It was part of my work. It's the second one that I've been to, but this was pigs (previous was chickens) and it was H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E.

I almost vomitted when they took us on the "kill floor". I did NOT watch the pigs die, I would probably have tried to free them if they took me to that section.

I saw:
1. penises removed
2. animals cut into parts
3. entrails falling out
4. kidneys, lungs and hearts dangling in the air
5. and plenty more.

I came home and immeditately took a shower, but I can't get the smell out of my nostrils. I can taste dead pig, and I don't eat meat. Really, if I wasn't a vegetarian before I would be now. It reaffirmed my belief that if you couldn't watch it get to your plate then you shouldn't consume it.

Like I said-H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E

Ice cream, whipping cream, chocolate, strawberries, pineapple, banana, and a cherry on top.

Let me start with NO, I'm not pregnant...

I have a massive MASSIVE craving for a DQ banana spilt. It's so bad that I can't think of anything else. I'm also so tired that I am not getting off my ass to go get one. Tyler is in THE.EXACT.SAME frame of mind as me.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the famed banana split:

A banana split is an ice cream-based dessert. In its classic form it is served in a long dish called a "boat". A banana is cut in two lengthwise (hence the split) and laid in the dish. Variations abound, but the classic banana split is made with scoops of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream served in a row between the split banana. Pineapple topping is spooned over the vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup over the chocolate, and strawberry topping over the strawberry. It is garnished with crushed nuts, whipped cream and maraschino cherries. In South America, some of the ice cream flavors might be replaced with dulce de leche. In Australia banana splits often do not contain ice cream, but are made with lemon juice, icing sugar and multi-coloured sprinkles known as "hundreds and thousands".

I need to find an ice cream delivery service. Wanna bring me some ice cream?

Lazy drinker

Cade! I did not say you could take a break...and....why are you drinking and driving?

Today, I suck

If Cade could really speak he would have asked for a new mom today, cause his mommy sucks ass.

The day started great, me-cleaning, him-playing and being nearly self-sufficient. Then 9:35am happened. He was on his bouncy zebra and fell off. Blood dripping from his mouth, screaming. I stuffed a towel in his mouth to see what was cut but if filled up quickly again. Off we hurried to the local Medi-Centre. There were 4 people ahead of us when I rushed in. I told them that my baby's mouth would not stop bleeding and he need to see a doctor NOW. I was told to sit down, the wait was short, by the most nonchalant apathetic nurse IN.THE.WORLD. I said something about them obviously no longer having a triage policy as I would think a 14 month old with a bleeding mouth (you know bleeding, airway, circulation) would COME FIRST! But nope, the coughing man, the man who looked like he hadn't bathed in six weeks and the Prada bag woman all got in before us.

We waited, waited and waited more. Cade stopped bleeding, I contemplated leaving, then we got in. The doctor said it would be ok, umm yeah-it stopped bleeding! We left after 60 seconds. Got home, provided Tylenol and put my poor babe to bed for a nap.

He napped for 1.5 hours and woke up at noon, happy. Mommy felt better.

I gave him lunch, he didn't like much of it. Most of it is now in the garbage can.

I played with him, he pulled my hair, chewed on my right big toe, and scratched my face.

I danced with him. Good, but after about 20 minutes 27 pounds of love was killing my back.

I put him down, ALL.HELL.BROKE.LOOSE.

He opened the oven door. Thankfully it was cool. A stern NO followed that action. He cried.

5 minutes later. He did it again. Another stern no. More crying.

I tried to put him down for another nap at 3pm. Since he was all tired, clingy and whiny.

Nope.

I lost my patience and went downstairs to calm down. This occured after he ran between my legs and grabbed my pant leg, causing me to smack my head in a sideways fall. I yelled in the basement for about 3 seconds. Felt guilty and came back up. He looked at me and cried. Then I felt REALLY guilty. So I hugged him as long as he would let me.

I put him back to bed again. When I began the post he was crying, now he sleeps. 4 minutes of cry-it-out. Great, more guilt.

BAD PLASTIC

So Health Canada is investigating bisphenol A and it's effects on humans. There is a 60 day public consultation in effect. Apparently this chemical is used in a lot of hard plastic items, included bottles. It releases an estrogen-like chemical, and is particularly bad when heated. I guess the world has used this forEVER so plastic manufacturers delcare it to be safe. The recent science supports that it increases cancer, particularly prostate, breast and ovarian. It's carcinogenic! You know, like cigarettes? Maybe we could all just shove a smoke in the baby's mouth and carry on with the day? I'm sure we could get the assholes that make smokes to add some pretty colours.

So, my response to the plastic companies is something like this-while it's been used to 50 years, cancer rates have gone UP over the past 50 years, perhaps, just maybe, plastics can be linked to this???

So we went and bought some Born Free bottles yesterday. With nipples the glass ones are $20 each for 9oz servings, but I'll pay that for peace of mind. Here are our pretty new bottles.

Note 1: Health Canada never does ANYTHING first. American mommas-check it out, you might want to consider some research if the FDA is dragging their asses.

Note 2: A lot of water bottles have been recalled as well. Don't heat anyone's food in plastic. Buy a few extra plates. Great excuse to shop, off I go to IKEA.

Tasty Tasty

Want something tasty for breakfast? Seriously, you can't pass it up. If you do, then I suppose your on a diet, suffering from an eatin disorder, or incapable of reading this post. Or maybe you don't like cheese? Whatever, that would make you nuts. Check out http://www.mommyscupboard.blogspot.com/. Mmmmmm, breakfast.

I swear it wasn't me!

Man, I annoy myself.

Completely unrealted to motherhood...

Don't avoid uploading pics off your camera until you hit 748 files. It inevitably takes a VERY.LONG.TIME to finish.

Tom's Diner has made me crazy for 17 years.

Damn you Suzanne Vega, the same song has been playing in my head for the last 17 YEARS! Not even the full song. It's that "da da da da, da da da da, da da da da da da da da, I am sitting in the morning at the diner on the corner" and the rest of it is lost to me. I honeslty have had this song playing in my head for this long. Sometimes it's so bad I sing it all day. Sometimes I conjure it up myself. I could just punch myself in the face when I do this. Grrr.

However, there is room in my head for one other song. It makes my husband INSANE. I'm allowed to sing it for one month of the year. He particularly enjoys when I sing it in the middle of summer. Whistling is moderately acceptable, as apparently I am the WORLD's WORST WHISTLER. This is my title. Wanna know the song? LET IT SNOW.

"OH the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since there's no place to go, LET IS SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!"

Tag, you're it!

Hubby Tag-from Kristi. More useless info for your reading pleasure.


His name: Tyler
How long have you been married? 4 yrs next month, together 9.5 yrs
How old is he? 40
Who eats more? In one sitting...him. I snack more throughout the day though. Ditto-Kristi
Who said "I love you" first? Him, because I wouldn't have said it first.
Who sings better? Him
Who is smarter? He would tell you that I am.
Whose temper is worse? That's a tie.
Who does the laundry? Both
Who does the dishes? Our dishwasher and me.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does.
Who pays the bills? Both
Who mows the lawn? He does.
Who cooks dinner? Me
Who drives when we are together? Him.
Who is more stubborn? Definetly me.
Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Definetly him, I'm TOO stubborn.
Whose parents do you see the most? Mine.
Who proposed? He did, with the assistance of Luxy.
Who has more friends? Me.
Who has more siblings? We each have one of the opposite sex.
Who wears the pants? again-ME.

Feel free to tag yourself!

A meme from Kristi...

4 Jobs I have had
McDonald's fry girl, I lasted approximately 2 minutes
Ikea children's department
Unidentified case manager
Momma

4 Movies I could watch again
Something About Mary
American Beauty
House of Sand and Fog
The Upside of Anger
(yes, I have a dark sense of humour)

4 Places I have lived
Penticton
Kelowna
Vancouver
My current crappy city, which I shall not disclose

4 Guilty Pleasures
Big Brother
Vi's
Shopping
The Real Housewives of Orange County

4 Vacations I have been on
Oooo, not exciting for me...
2x California
Montreal
Seattle
Mexico (Mayan and PV)

4 Favorite Foods
Indian food, cannot be said with more gusto
Greek food
Cheesecake
Fruit

4 Websites I visit
http://www.kristismommyisms.blogspot.com/
http://www.experiencelifewisely.blogspot.com/
http://www.mymommysplace.com/
http://www.dooce.com/
and of course Facebook

4 Places I would rather be
At a CANUCKS playoff game (hmpf)
Cafe Flora in Seattle
Stanley Park with my guys
Sound alseep in bed

4 books I love
The Kite Runner
Eat, Pray, Love
Night
I Know This Much is True

4 things I would like to know how to do
Sew-I'm with ya' Kristi
Drive a race car
Get my child to sleep through the night with no tears
Get my husband to do whatever I want

4 things I worry about
Cade
Tyler
The rest of my family and friends
Failure

4 of my happiest moments
Seeing Cade's first real smile
Driving with Ty through an orchard
Biking all by myself
Time with just the three of us

4 things I want in the near future
An easy move into a new house
To go camping with my whole family
An MDX
To lose weight

Hey, hey you! I got my voice back. Can you hear me yelling this? I can SPEAK! I still sound a bit manly but I'm no longer whispering and whimpering like a baby. Let's all YELL!

The sleeper and my little pony

You know what ALWAYS happens in my house? ALWAYS?
When it's Ty's turn to attend to Cade if he wakes up, and mine to get up when he is up for the day, Cade never gets up during the night. NEVER. What a rip off huh? Ty thinks this is quite entertaining, like Cade is playing tricks on me. Thanks Cade!

Side note: I woke up Friday morning and decided I didn't like my hair anymore. I made an appt with a complete over-priced stranger, since I am back to looking for a stylist, and got it cut yesterday-about 9 inches, into a bob. I thought Ty would hate it, since he is a typical guy who loves long hair. But I think he likes it more than I do. It's a bit shorter than I anticipated (chin length, like the bottom of the chin) but I got what I wanted. I look like someone else! My pony tail went from this huge, mane-like thing (yes it's thick, which contrary to popular belief, is NOT always good), to 2 inches with hair out of the bottom. I didn't tell anyone I was doing this, so I'm sure people will be shocked. I haven't had my hair this short in almost 14 years. Wow, my side note is longer than my actual blog note.

Stinky

Here I am, at work. Bored as shit, I'm done my stuff for the day and have a meeting in a few minutes but before I go, I thought you should know....

Last night, 10 minutes before bath time-diaper removed, due to rash, air exposure=rash resolution. Baby in kitchen. Baby squats. Baby POOPS on white kitchen floor. Mommy feeling ill, cleans POOP.

3 minutes later. Mommy fetches baby to take to bath. Baby pees on mommy. Baby laughs. Mommy looks at pee, only a dribble, gets on with her day.

30 minutes later, baby in bed. Mommy smells like pee.

Wanna give me a smooch?

Cause if you do I'll be happy to return the favour with an infection. Yes a stinkin' infection! WTF is wrong with me? I'm going on three weeks of sickness! So I went to the doctor, some medicentre quack (my GP wasn't available) and I have some nasty little infection that has spread to my vocal cords and nodules. Apparently I am not vibrating enough. Yep, that's what the quack said. So now I have penicillin for 10 days and a decongestant. I am to avoid speaking too much, to prevent damage to my nodules. Now thats a SCARY thought, especially since I'm not really sure what said nodules do. So wish my nodules luck in their recovery.

I'm speechless

Only because I have NO voice. I mean none. It began on Wednesday, but it was manageable. Yesterday it was on it's way out. Today it's gone. I can whisper though, but no one else can hear me! I can't talk on the phone, oh darn-since we know how fond I am of the phone. I am STILL coughing from this illness Cade and I have been battling for two weeks.

We took Cade to get his vaccines this morning. Did you know that you can get measels and chicken pox symptoms from the vaccine ? And a fever up to 42 days later? WTH, why would it take THAT long? So I let some strange woman inject my child with living measles, mumps and chicken pox....

I'm really struggling to get my little store running. There are not enough hours in a day, especially when you've felt like death for two weeks. I originally hoped for March but now, ahhhh-I need one week of free time!

A new place to eat

Or at least a new place to gather practical, hopefully not too laboursome, recepies. Some fellow bloggers and I got together and started up mommyscupboard. Come visit, bring a snack, chow down and unbutton your pants.

My favourite poem

This is my favourite quote (it's actually a portion of Residence on Earth by Neruda, a fantastic surrealist Chilean poet). Apparently it was written during a dark period of Neruda's lifetime, while serving as an ambassador, during the Holocaust. When I see it makes me happy though, I see it as freeing. I love it, and I hope you do too.

While the rain of your fingertips falls,
while the rain of your bones falls,
and your laughter and marrow fall down,
you come flying.

-Pablo Neruda

Don't you just hate when...

Your name is constantly mis-pronounced. It's not exactly accurate that my name is mis-pronounced since it is spelled like "Christian", the boys name, or the religiously identified individual. My parents, THANK YOU SO MUCH, decided to make it interesting. My mom was busy bucking my paternal grandmother's request to name me Christina, which was apparently some family tradition-although I don't know any predecessors named Christina. So they named me Shantelle (yeah, they spelled it that way) Kristian (pronounced Kristen/Kristin). I have another middle name but it's spelled normally and it's not exciting (sorry grandma!) and that's too much info for my blog anyway. So I guess this is my long drawn out request for you to ignore the "a" in my name. Pretend not to see it. That's what my boss does, she refuses to use the "a" when she emails me or puts me on any form of list., and yep she does know how to spell it. It's actually quite funny, just call me Kristin- cause you prefer it.