I am a nerd

But the important thing is that I know it. I have to admit that I have always been a nerd. Navigating my nerdiness has been my life's work. It has been particularly hard since I have often had very cool friends. One of my friends always prefaces every story she tells with "You'll get a kick out of this, well I think you will."

Today I had an experience that drove home just how "uncool" I am.

I was driving with the kids out to see Gramma and Pops. I was playing a CD for Gavin. It is a cd that Pops made for him. He found a way to copy an old record that he had onto a cd. It is an old children's record by Roger Whittaker. I found myself almost in tears listening to my son sing along with songs that I remember from my childhood.

Now that story should have shown that I am sappy not nerdy - except did you read it closely - we were listening to Roger Whittaker. I am, I have to admit, a Roger Whittaker fan. I am not proud of it but it is undeniable I have liked his singing and music most of my life.

What chance do I have at being cool!!

Oh, well - one super cool thing that happened this week is that we stopped giving Bronwyn shots twice a day. Now her meds are all oral meds.

So I may not be cool, but so far my kids are. (Not to mention my husband - he is the definition of cool!)

I'm giving this a try

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Several of the blogs that I like to frequent have been posting videos. I haven't had the time to figure out how to do it yet - but I decided the other day I better try it.

So here it goes.

I just remembered

There was one important thing I forgot to mention yesterday when I wrote my post. Bronwyn has cut her first teeth. I say teeth because the two bottom teeth are coming in together. She is very tired and a bit cranky this evening - she had her immunizations today. How come a visit to the health nurse not only makes the babies cranky but mommy too?

I also wanted to include these pictures of Gavin painting. He has been asking to paint and pretending to paint for months now. I just wasn't ready to face the whole thing until today. I think we have discovered our son's passion. He was absolutely thrilled! I have been so reluctant to face the mess that comes with it - and then it hit me - I was being a bit hypocritical since every piece of clothing I owned in high school had paint on it. If my Mom could put up with it - so could I.

So he now paints. It is just an issue of convincing him to only paint on paper.

I don't believe them

This week has been a pretty intense week of tests for Bronwyn. She had a VCUG (a test for her bladder reflux) yesterday, and ultrasound today and she gets her 4 month immunizations tomorrow. The test yesterday they actually strapped her down to a table and then did other horrible things before taking x-rays.

She is always very upset. Often the techs and nurses say things like - She won't remember. I feel like correcting them. She may not have "memories" but she does remember. You can't convince me she doesn't remember. Anyone who has seen the look on her face when she sees someone in a long white coat would agree that she remembers.

The best way of describing what I mean is to tell a little story. For a very long time I hated Waterton National Park. Couldn't tell you why but I just hated it and I never wanted to go back. I grew up near Jasper and I have a real affection for the mountains so it was strange that I felt this way. And even stranger I didn't know why. Then one day a couple of years ago (20 years or so after the incident) I remembered why.

When I was very young (11 ish or so) we went to Waterton for a family reunion (my Grandma's side). Almost all of Great Aunt Annie and Great Aunt Signe families were there as well as all of our crowd. At some point someone decided that we should all go for a bike ride on these funny 2 person bikes they had there. They were side-by-side jobbies and not the usual tandem bikes you see.

Whoever had taken charge also decided it was a good idea to send two of the youngest kids out together. So Angela (2nd cousin on Signe's side), who was younger than me, went out with me in this fairly large metal framed monstrosity of a bike. It was super hard to control and eventually we hit a car. We did what any young offender might do - we looked around to see if anyone saw and we beetled out of there as fast as we could. It was a small dent that we left and in retrospect I am not even sure the car owner would have noticed. But I was CONVINCED that the police were going to come get me. The guilt and shame I felt over this incident had followed me through the years manifesting itself in a fear and hatred of Waterton.

Once I realized this it all seemed quite manageable and I stopped hating the place and would quite happily go there now.

Moral of the story is not that I think Bronwyn will wake up in her twenties and remember repressed memories of her first year and all the horrible things that happened. But I do believe she carries forward some of the fear and baggage of getting poked, prodded and bothered with.

So don't tell me she won't remember - that doesn't help!

Having said that I think one of the tests had a positive result, which I am just waiting to confirm. If it is good then I can stop giving her the needles. That would be great.

And we are after all so very thankful for all the medical care that we have received. We are daily thankful to have our girl.

Plugging along

We are just plugging along. Nothing new to report in fact I have to run and do Bronwyn's meds. I also have to wake the kids up - lazy little so-and-sos. Actually Gavin was awake earlier but I convinced him to go back to sleep as he had a pretty late night last night.

Must go - we hope this note finds everyone we love well and good.

Wow was I mortified

I took the kids over to Mom and Dad's this morning. Gavin loves going to Gamma and Pop's house. He calls it the "big house."

The day started well - Gavin was playing on Dad's laptop at the table and I was chatting with Mom and Dad over coffee. I heard a funny clicking noise but when I looked he seemed to be doing just fine. And yet I kept hearing the funny noise. Finally I got up and checked on him. He was carefully and systematically removing the tops of the keys! You know the part of the key that tells you what you are pressing!

I totally flipped and Dad came and started to figure out how it should go back together. Of course you don't really remember where the "home" & "page up" button" go. Thank heavens he hadn't removed all of the keys yet.

My Dad assured me that he took many things apart when he was a child and that his parents were constantly frustrated with dismantled clocks etc.

Gavin couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about - he was just "fikking it."

Things I miss

I already have some regrets as a parent. I regret that my son is growing up so quickly. I regret that so many of the cute things he does through the day give way to different cute things.

For example - he use to say fick (fix), and goggy (doggy), and naske (snake) - now he says all of them properly. Thankfully he still says bargage (garbage) and halcum (your welcome). So I guess I can't say I regret it as new wonders replace the old ones.

It has been a busy week for us though. The time change stinks!

My Grandpa and my brother Tom had their birthdays today. Also my nephew, Jared, turned 13 since my last post. That is so shocking to me as I remember him so vividly when he was Gavin's age - he was soooo cute.

Wes was working on his husband of the year award on Saturday. I have been so tired lately and on Saturday he took the kids out so that I could sleep for an hour or so. That helped so much I almost felt human again.

We have nothing new to report and nothing to admit (well I should think twice about that one).

We argue all the time

So the latest thing with Gavin is he loves to argue. It doesn't matter over what and how factual the argument happens to be - what a Bailey!

Here is how one of our latest conversations went:
G- Mommy whats this?
M- It is a swimsuit.
G- No, not a swimuit.
M- Yes, it is a swimsuit.
G- No, no swimuit.
M- OK then, it is not a swimsuit - what is it?
G- Soup.
M- Oh, it is soup.
G- No, its a swimuit.
M- Alright then!

So you see it is all about the ability to say No to Mommy. This is part of his endeavour to work his world so it is best for him. At dinner tonight he wasn't eating his food (odd for him). He stood in his chair and said "All done - izcream." I said "No - you haven't even touched your food." He bent down put his hand on his food and said "Touch, touch."

Bronwyn is still doing great - she slept almost 4 1/2 hours in her own bed last night - a record since her surgery! She is getting so chatty and smiley. It is so fun to watch her blossom into a little missy.

Wes and I keep trudging on, hoping for more sleep.

Check up day

Bronwyn had an echo and an appointment with her cardiologist today. They were all completely amazed at how well she had done. Dr. Harder figured that being released 5 days after heart surgery has to be some sort of record. The doctor said at one point, "She just seems to be ignoring her heart condition." If you don't know what her issues are you would never guess. I was just so thrilled that everything looked so good today.

I was also relieved because the Dr. assured me that the sleeping issue was a post surgery thing and it would get better in a couple weeks. IF I MAKE IT! She also said that in a couple weeks we can let her cry like a normal baby! Whoo hoo - did you hear that little girl - you know longer hold us hostage! What am I saying I was lousy at letting Gavin cry. For all my tough talk I am a bit of a push-over.

Bronwyn is eating solids now. She is really aggressive about her food - she just loves eating! Now that's my girl!

One another front - I'd like to welcome our new Spanish readers (I think it's Spanish) - but FYI I don't speak Spanish. In fact I am horrible monolingual. Even after years of our education system and government exposing me to the lovely French language I am ashamed to admit that my French is non-existent. It isn't like riding a bike - you do forget!

I do however have a couple of very useful tactics I can share. When I meet someone who doesn't speak English I have (and trust me this really works) found that if I raise my voice to something slightly softer than a yell and gesture wildly with my arms I am able to get my point across. The other technique I use is for situations where I am speaking to someone who speaks English but with a very heavy accent, making it hard to understand. In this scenario I make an O shape with my mouth, squint my eyes and stare dumbly like they are speaking a different language. This one is particularly effective when talking with customs officers.

However, neither of these very useful tips works when blogging. I could go to the bother of getting a dictionary and translating but I am basically lazy so it is not going to happen.