I have 4 siblings - 3 brothers and a sister. My sister, DD, is a year older than me. We are quite close - I was her Maid of Honour and she was my Matron of Honour. My parents raised us to be responsible, hard-working people. We, all my siblings, were fortunate enough to go through university and earn our respective degrees - my sister has her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and I have my Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Chemical Engineering. All very similar, I think.
If I look back 11 years ago, to 1995 - I had just graduated from university and decided to accept a job with a mining company in Vancouver as the start of my career. At the same time, DD was pregnant with her first child and she decided to put her career on hold indefinitely to raise a family. Our paths have been completely opposite since!
Now, 11 years later, on the eve of having our first child, I find myself putting my career on hold for the first time to start a family. At the same time, DD has just accepted a job as the start of her career. What a strange reversal of fortune that takes my sister and I to the exact same place, but opposite!
Really, in the last 11 years, our lives have been similar in many ways - my career has moved me from Toronto to Vancouver, to Elko, Nevada to Bellingham, Washington and back to Vancouver. DD's family has moved her from Toronto to Peterborough, to Austin, Texas and finally to Schnectady, New York. We've both had our fair share of moving in 11 years!
Both of us have been back to school in the last 11 years - me to change careers from engineering to computers and her to be able to start her career as a medical transcriptionist. She has 4 wonderful children to be very proud of - L (11), N (9), DB (7) and C (2) and I have a successful career as an IT professional that I can be proud of!
It's so ironic that we find ourselves asking each other advice now - me asking about pregnancy, labour and motherhood and her about writing cover letters and resumes!
I'm so proud of my sister. It must be difficult decision to return to the workforce after 11 years. I'm finding it hard to leave it for just a year! What is most exciting to me is to see where my sister and I will come full circle. I don't doubt that we will and I think when that time comes, we will be able to sit down, compare stories and feel closer to each other than ever.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
ebay - reloaded
I've recently rediscovered ebay. I started using it in 2001. I was addicted for a couple of months. I searched and searched for stuff to buy and I ended up only buying 2 things - a Paul Frank T-shirt (as my own little initiation) and a camera. It was WAY too easy and my transactions turned out well. But, I eventually lost interest because I didn't really have anything to buy!
A few weeks ago, one of my co-workers said I should look on ebay because she noticed that in the lots of clothes that people sell, there were actually lots of maternity clothes. What a great idea! Unfortunately, at 31 weeks, I think I'm over the hump of acquiring maternity clothes, but I wish I had gotten online a few months earlier - I would have been all over buying lots of used maternity clothes!
I decided to re-visit ebay again anyway. What am I looking for, you ask? Lots of baby clothes, of course! And any other baby stuff I can find! I can remember all over again why I was addicted to ebay for a couple of months because I find myself checking it out constantly! There are SO many lots of baby clothes - I'm wishing now that we were having a girl because the girl stuff is SO cute and there is SO much stuff! On second thought, maybe it's good we're having a boy! Hehehe...boy's clothes aren't quite as cute, but I am watching a few things and I may find myself putting in a bid or 2 soon...
A few weeks ago, one of my co-workers said I should look on ebay because she noticed that in the lots of clothes that people sell, there were actually lots of maternity clothes. What a great idea! Unfortunately, at 31 weeks, I think I'm over the hump of acquiring maternity clothes, but I wish I had gotten online a few months earlier - I would have been all over buying lots of used maternity clothes!
I decided to re-visit ebay again anyway. What am I looking for, you ask? Lots of baby clothes, of course! And any other baby stuff I can find! I can remember all over again why I was addicted to ebay for a couple of months because I find myself checking it out constantly! There are SO many lots of baby clothes - I'm wishing now that we were having a girl because the girl stuff is SO cute and there is SO much stuff! On second thought, maybe it's good we're having a boy! Hehehe...boy's clothes aren't quite as cute, but I am watching a few things and I may find myself putting in a bid or 2 soon...
Friday, September 8, 2006
you can do it, dop can help!
Funny story surrounding the Home Depot commercial we saw last night. It went something like this:
In the commercial, a little boy, around 6-years-old, walks into the kitchen and sees his dad under the kitchen sink. He is fixing/installing plumbing or something. The kid says, "Dad, can I help you?". The dad says, "No, this is adult stuff.". The kid says "OK." and with a forlorn look, he starts to walk away. His dad sees him walking away, looking sad, shoulders down. So the dad says, "Well, maybe you can hold the flashlight.". The kid turns around, immediately brightens up and says, "OK!". The Home Depot music starts to play and the camera pans out to the dad and the son under the kitchen sink, the kid is holding the flashlight and asking questions and the dad is explaining the plumbing stuff. It was all very cute!
So, of course, I turned to Brian and I asked him, "Is that going to be you and little Dop?!". It really WAS cute! Brian replied, "Are you kidding?! At that age, Dop will be able to install the kitchen sink all by himself!". Ai-yah...just like my husband...
In the commercial, a little boy, around 6-years-old, walks into the kitchen and sees his dad under the kitchen sink. He is fixing/installing plumbing or something. The kid says, "Dad, can I help you?". The dad says, "No, this is adult stuff.". The kid says "OK." and with a forlorn look, he starts to walk away. His dad sees him walking away, looking sad, shoulders down. So the dad says, "Well, maybe you can hold the flashlight.". The kid turns around, immediately brightens up and says, "OK!". The Home Depot music starts to play and the camera pans out to the dad and the son under the kitchen sink, the kid is holding the flashlight and asking questions and the dad is explaining the plumbing stuff. It was all very cute!
So, of course, I turned to Brian and I asked him, "Is that going to be you and little Dop?!". It really WAS cute! Brian replied, "Are you kidding?! At that age, Dop will be able to install the kitchen sink all by himself!". Ai-yah...just like my husband...
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
ringing in the holiday season
It seems that in late November/early December many people really DO celebrate the coming of the holiday season! There are SO many birthday's towards the second half of August that it's hard for me to keep up! Happy Birthday to all of you - hope you all had fun birthdays!
enlightenment
OK, I know that a blog may not be the best place to discuss bodily functions, but I find my recent enlightenment to my bodily functions during pregnancy so freakin' hilarious, that I had to post:
1. Heartburn sucks. I've learned that little Dop is pushing my stomach up to make room for himself down below, so my stomach acid is going up my esophagus. I've never had heartburn before. I empathize with all who have it normally.
2. Last week, Dop must have been laying on my urethra. Everytime I had to pee, I found it would trickle out. No matter how badly I had to go, it would all just trickle out and I would have to sit on the toilet for 10 minutes to empty my bladder.
3. This week, Dop must be laying on my bladder. My flow of urine is back to normal, but I'm going every 10 minutes! Last night, we went to a friend's house for a couple of hours and I went to the bathroom 4 times.
4. I won't go into details about the number 2's, but I can tell you that I think that Dop was also laying on my intestines last week and he has now moved off this week!
On a more positive note, I can't believe I'm almost at 30 weeks! Sometimes it feels like FOREVER, but most times I feel like it's flown by. Liezel asked me if I'm at the point yet where I'm thinking, "Just get this baby out of me!". I told her that my fear of labour and pushing Dop out still outweighs my discomfort of keeping Dop inside me!
1. Heartburn sucks. I've learned that little Dop is pushing my stomach up to make room for himself down below, so my stomach acid is going up my esophagus. I've never had heartburn before. I empathize with all who have it normally.
2. Last week, Dop must have been laying on my urethra. Everytime I had to pee, I found it would trickle out. No matter how badly I had to go, it would all just trickle out and I would have to sit on the toilet for 10 minutes to empty my bladder.
3. This week, Dop must be laying on my bladder. My flow of urine is back to normal, but I'm going every 10 minutes! Last night, we went to a friend's house for a couple of hours and I went to the bathroom 4 times.
4. I won't go into details about the number 2's, but I can tell you that I think that Dop was also laying on my intestines last week and he has now moved off this week!
On a more positive note, I can't believe I'm almost at 30 weeks! Sometimes it feels like FOREVER, but most times I feel like it's flown by. Liezel asked me if I'm at the point yet where I'm thinking, "Just get this baby out of me!". I told her that my fear of labour and pushing Dop out still outweighs my discomfort of keeping Dop inside me!
Monday, August 14, 2006
doggie tales
This is quite literally a dog's tail. We went camping this past weekend at Manning Park. Check out all the photos (note that I think you need a Flickr account to view). As you can see, Nikita had a blast! She swam in the lake both days and LOVED it!
Unfortunately, when we got home, we noticed that she seemed a bit out of sorts. We realized that she wasn't wagging her tail at all and she wasn't walking and sitting properly on her hind quarters. We gave her hind legs a good doggie massage and she didn't seem to be in pain, but she was still acting really weird.
Finally, I decided to get online and google it. We discovered that Nikita has a broken wag! I kid you not - her tail is broken! It seems to happen to sport dogs after an active day of swimming or hunting. It can actually happen even just from a cold bath. The tail is attached directly to the spinal cord and I guess all the tail exercise from swimming just tired it out! Who would have thought?!
Anyway, it's really sad right now for me to see my dog with a broken wag - Nikita ALWAYS wags her tail. But the article says she will be back to normal in a few days, so we'll just wait and see. Man...just when I thought I had heard it all, now we have to deal with limber tail syndrome!
Unfortunately, when we got home, we noticed that she seemed a bit out of sorts. We realized that she wasn't wagging her tail at all and she wasn't walking and sitting properly on her hind quarters. We gave her hind legs a good doggie massage and she didn't seem to be in pain, but she was still acting really weird.
Finally, I decided to get online and google it. We discovered that Nikita has a broken wag! I kid you not - her tail is broken! It seems to happen to sport dogs after an active day of swimming or hunting. It can actually happen even just from a cold bath. The tail is attached directly to the spinal cord and I guess all the tail exercise from swimming just tired it out! Who would have thought?!
Anyway, it's really sad right now for me to see my dog with a broken wag - Nikita ALWAYS wags her tail. But the article says she will be back to normal in a few days, so we'll just wait and see. Man...just when I thought I had heard it all, now we have to deal with limber tail syndrome!
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