little chicken little

No, the sky is not falling, even though we had our own chicken little running around. Josh celebrated his first Hallowe'en in comfort and style! Man, I remember the plastic costumes we used to wear OVER our snowsuits and then the awful plastic masks which would get all wet on the inside from your breath. How did we ever survive?!

Well, even on the coldest day, I don't think Josh would need any additional layers in this costume. It's from Old Navy and it is definitely nicer than any costume that I ever remember wearing! We had a couple of Hallowe'en parties this year, in addition to tonight, so Josh got alot of use from his costume. I'm contemplating making the top part his winter jacket! Hahaha...

Josh's impression of a chicken ninja at the DWW Wrap-up/Hallowe'en Party...

Chicken Little and the rest of the kooky farm at Susanne and Chris' house...

The chicken carries around the cow...

neti veti

I watched an episode of Oprah where an audience member demonstrated the use of a neti pot to help clear nasal passages. It looked kind of odd, but anyone who knows me knows how much I suffer from allergies. So, in my most recent episode of allergy hell, I decided to try out the neti pot.

It felt very weird. I had to do some fine tuning on the tilt of my head so that the saltwater came out my other nostril and not the back of my mouth (as with post-nasal drip). But once I got it, there was water free flowing into one nostril and out the other - REALLY weird! Also, when I finished and tilted my head back upright, my ears started popping. So, I guess something was indeed being flushed out!

My nasal passages feel pretty cleared up right now. But, I've only done it once and the instructions say you have to use it daily as a preventative measure. So, I reserve judgement at this point. I'm not sure if I can commit to doing it daily, but I'll try to do it for at least a few days in a row so I can have a bit of allergy relief this time around...

walking on sunshine

Josh took his first steps on the Labour Day long weekend. He first connected his steps in a way that qualified as "walking" on September 13th - 2 days before he was 10 months old. It's so amazing to watch him get around. First, he was so fascinated by walking that he didn't care where he went. He just went. Now, he walks to get somewhere - and quickly! The lag time between me getting to something before Josh does is becoming less and less.

It has been alot of fun (and work!) the past month while he gets his balance right and learns new skills like turning around and walking over things. I'm sure if Josh could talk, he'd tell you that it's a bit painful too! Lots of bumps and bruises for him in this whole walking process. He still hasn't fully mastered the concepts of looking where you are going and looking up before standing up! But he just loves the walking part. Once he started, he never looked back - crawling is a thing of the past.

Anyway, here is a cute video of Josh and Nikita. Since Josh has started walking, they are finally learning to play together. I think Josh gets a kick out of it, but Nikita seems to just tolerate it because it's something to do! Make sure you watch it until the very end - it's a perfect example of Josh not looking where he's going...

it's leather, baby

Brian and I were married on 10-10-2004. It's been 3 years and time has FLOWN by. I can't believe that it's already been 3 years! If you had asked me 3 1/2 years ago whether I thought that in 3 1/2 years, I would have a house, a dog, a toddler, a mini-van and sold my motorcycle, I would have told you that you were nuts. But I truly believe that when the time is right and you find the right person, everything falls into place. Brian has been a part of my life for just over 5 years and I've grown more in the past 5 years than in the previous 30 before it. I love my life and I love him in it.

Now, you probably couldn't tell from our exchange of wedding gifts that we have only been married a short 3 years. It is our leather anniversary and I couldn't think of anything leather to get him (I did the wallet for Father's Day and he already has too many belts!), so I added money to a fund that he started to eventually buy himself a digital SLR. I don't think that Brian realized the anniversary was leather, but I'm not complaining because I got an iPod Classic.

So, it was not the most romantic gift exchange, but I was organizing songs, photos and videos for my iPod when I came across this video from the day after our wedding. It reminded me of all the wonderful moments of the day and it brought tears to my eyes. It was the perfect anniversary gift. Thanks so much, baby - I love you. Happy Anniversary.


video courtesy of BCTV News Hour

iliad or odyssey?

A year and a half ago, I posted this entry about selling my motorcycle. Today, I'm posting an entry about our new mini-van, a Honda Odyssey. I can't believe how much life has changed in the last couple of years. In fact, I think I'm still in shock.

I said to Brian last night that I think I finally feel like an "adult". I'm not sure what it means to be an adult (is it quite simply when you reach 18 years old?! or is it when you buy your first mini-van?! Hahaha.). But this is the first time in my life where every single decision I make, I have to consider if it's best for my family first. Gone are the days where I did things solely because I wanted to do them! It may sound selfish of me, but that is the honest truth - and to make that change at 35-years-old is...monumental.

In any case, our Odyssey rocks. I'm sure Josh will look back at this posting when he's a teenager and die of embarrassment that his mom said a mini-van rocks! But seriously, it is far more luxurious than my 1997 Honda Civic and it actually still feels like I'm driving a Civic (i.e. driving a car) - except when I'm parking, of course.

We researched all the mini-vans before we bought and we test drove our shortlist. Honda definitely outshines the pack. There is something to be said about the thought that Honda engineers put into each feature. They all seem to make sense and they also push the top level of their mini-van almost into the luxury vehicle market! Yes, you do pay quite a steep price for a Honda, but after the research (and driving our mini-van for a day!), we think that it's worth it!

So, welcome to our family for the next 10 or so years, Odyssey. You will hopefully be the only mini-van that we own. I wonder what car I will want to buy in 10 years...

bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do...

The first half of this article in the Province describes a police chase that ended in front of our house at almost 2am this morning. It was a bit of a surreal experience!

Brian and I were awoken by an unrelated noise inside our house just before 2am. As we were drifting back to sleep, I muttered to Brian that I heard a helicopter and both of us had this weird feeling that something was going on. Moments later, we were fully awoken again by the sound of screeching tires, many police sirens, dogs barking and men yelling down our street.

Brian peeked out the window and he could see police cars on either end of our block, blue and red lights flashing. There were people running around with flashlights and we could hear people yelling and dogs barking. To top it all off, there was a helicopter overhead with a searchlight glaring down at the houses across the street from us.

It was a shocking sight to take in at the best of times, never mind that it was 2am and we were still groggy from sleep. My first reaction was to go upstairs and check on Josh. Brian, Nikita and I all went upstairs and Josh was sound asleep in his crib. I didn't feel comfortable leaving his alone after that.

We went back downstairs and things were calming down after about 10 minutes or so. We couldn't hear the helicopter anymore and some of the police cruisers left. The ironic thing is that Nikita didn't make a noise during the whole incident - not even with the dogs barking outside. However, when a police car pulled up in front of our house and a policeman got out to go across the street, Nikita started that low, throaty growl. It made me feel safe to know that Nikita would warn us if someone came remotely close to our house.

As we settled back into to bed and tried to fall back asleep, I couldn't help but wonder, "Where the heck are we living?!". It felt so ghetto - that helicopter with the searchlight was liking something out of a movie! At that point, Brian started humming the theme from the TV show COPS. Bad boys, bad boys, watcha gonna do...

90210 revival

Shortly after I went on maternity leave this past November, I discovered Beverly Hills 90210 had been syndicated by a cable channel called TVTropolis. I remember watching the show in its early run (while Brenda was still there!) when we were in school - it was part of our university life to drink while we watched 90210 before heading out to the bar. This show, Melrose Place and Friends were our staples in the early 90's.

In the weeks after Josh was born, all I seemed to do was feed him, change his diapers and sleep. Along with that, I found that I was watching 90210 when it came on in the afternoon.

I remembered many of the episodes as I watched them again and I couldn't believe that I used to watch this show so religiously! So much drama - and did we really want to dress like that some 15 years ago?!

Well, I'm 9 months into maternity leave and I can't believe that I'm still watching it. Ugh. And the worst part is that I am actually recording it on the PVR so I can watch them when I have time during Josh's naps! Someone please explain to me what psychosis is causing me to continue to watch?! I feel like I've fallen off some wagon or something - I want to stop watching it, but I can't...