Because Jackie asked, I thought I would share with all of you my new secret weapon when it comes to weeknight sanity savers:

A recipe book called Fix, Freeze, Feast.  It is da bomb!  Literally.  I. Love. It.

Technically it was my present to Dale for Christmas.  Which now makes me feel more than a little guilty, since he got me two of the best presents ever (a Digi Photo Frame which I have been lusting over for ages AND a West Jet Gift Certificate with specific instructions to use it when I need a Gill and/or Mom fix or want to escape from Cold Lake for any number of weather/toddler/work related reasons).  Where was I? Right. Guilty.  So I feel a little guilty because I obviously love the book way more than Dale does.  But then again, I am stuck here in Cold Lake working full time and attempting to feed myself and a toddler for 3 weeks while he is gallavanting working hard on the west coast for 3 weeks with his buddies unit.

Anyway, the whole book is full of recipes designed to make multiple entrees of an item specifically to freeze.  For example, in my freezer right now I have the following:

2 family size garlic mashed potatoes

4 small pan lasagnas

4 chicken curry meals

4 cashew chicken stir fry meals (just add fresh veg to repare)

3 meals for 2 of French Onion Soup (just add hot water and broil for 5 mins)

2 loaves of banana bread

2 meals balsamic marinated pork chops

and Lots of Individual sized tomato basil soups for lunches.

This method takes some preparation, and toddler-free time to make the meals, but I think it’s well worth the effort to be able to come home at the end of the day and be able to prepare a healthy meal in less than 30 mins for the most part. A warehouse club membership is also handy so that you can buy some ingediants in bulk (especially meat).  I would have to say it’s a little heavy on the meat and light on the veggies, but it’s not tough to make a salad or steam some veg while your entree is cooking, expecially since there is little to no other prep required.

I have also tried freezing a few of my other fav recipes, like Mozza Sticks from the recipe book Deceptively Delicious (another fabulous addition to any kitchen with kids!), which I won way-back-when from Megan and these fabulous Yam and Black Bean Burritos, which also freeze really well and Nate can’t get enough of!

But now for what you really want to know – what firsts did Nate have today?

1) He climbed into his highchair by himself (and then onto the table to get his milk…but I’m attempting to forget that part)!

2) He walked around the house wearing one of my crocs and one of Dale’s crocs (and then tried to walk up the stairs in them – which I am also trying to forget!)

How cute and slightly terrifying is all of that?

I know, I know.  More than 2 months I have kept you waiting for a new post from me!  I’m sure you are all anxious to see new Nate pics and find out what we’ve been up to around here over the last little while.  And because I like you all so much I am going to indulge you to the fullest.

So here are the top ten things you didn’t know were going on at the Campbell household:

10.  We’ve been busy busy busy stocking the freezer with healthy meals that are ready to pop in the oven when we get home from work.  This has made my evenings oh-so-much-more enjoyable!

9.  I signed up with Gill and Laurel for a great class at Big Picture Scrapbooking called Library of Memories by Stacey Julian, and I’ve been organizing my iPhoto gallery in preparation.  I can’t wait for class to start on Feb 12th!

8.  I have finished work at 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron and am moving on to a new job at Wing Administration.  I’m kinda sad to be leaving all my fighter pilot friends!

7.  Dale is now a qualified Air Weapons Controller!

6.  We spent an absolutely wonderful week in Comox over Christmas with family and friends…and had a horribly long drawn out trip back home due to mechanical difficulties and weather delays.  Oh well…it was a service flight so the waiting was at least free!

5.  Nate has learned to drink from a cup, eat cereal with a spoon, climb onto chairs, walk down stairs and say the words mama, bye-bye, ok and thank you!

4.  He also decided that diaper changes are no longer fun and putting clothes on is highly over-rated.  I guess it was an inevitable development in the life of a toddler!

3.  Dale and I booked a vacation for 2 to sunny Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and will be leaving the munchkin with his adoring Auntie Gill and somewhat-skeptical Uncle Brandon for a week in March.

2.  We have survived half of a Cold Lake winter complete with mountains of snow, endless weeks of -40 degree temps and all the sunshine you could ever wish for!

1.  I completed my 365 + 1 Photo challenge for 2008 and you can check out all the pics on my Flickr page! (Ther’s a link in my sidebar)

So tha’s what I’ve been up to.  Of course since I haven’t stopped reading bogs – just writing them – I know what most of you have been up to, but feel free to fill me in if you’re not of the blogging persuassion!  I am hoping to get back into the blogging habit over the next few weeks while Dale is away for work and I am working semi-part time (it’s a long story) and then taking a month off to head back to Comox for a visit and some serious girl-time.

Once again, my sincere apologies for deserting you, and I hope you’ll accept these pics of Nate as a peace offering!

I initially thought that one post in honour of International Babywearing Week was enough, but events over the weekend, that I just found out about today have urged me to post again.

Thankfully Megan is a more informed babywearing mama than I am and her post from yesterday informed me of the ongoing uproar over this Motrin add that ran on the US Motrin website until earlier this week when it was removed after babywearing Moms worldwide had their say on the issue!

There are lots of great posts all over the place about it: some of the ones I have enjoyed are at Adventures in Babywearing and Crunchy Domestic Goddess and the official letter to Motrin from Babywearing International. Definitely an interesting story about how fast information travels online and how quickly a  large group of moms can affect a change.  Motrin very quickly removed the ad and issued apologies.  I even sent them an e-mail at their site motrin.ca and received a response within hours.  I think they got the message loud. and. clear.

As for my personal opinion on the matter, I think it was a poorly researched, ill-timed ad that rightly offended a lot of people.  Will I boycott Motrin or Tylenol (also owned by Motrin)?  Probably not.  But what really bothers me is that there are likely still lots of people out there who honestly hold those uninformed opinions about babywearing – and not because they saw the ad, but because in so many communities alternative parenting methods are still so foreign.

Case in point…an acquaintance on mine who is expecting her first baby shortly was over at my house for dinner.  Knowing that she is fairly forward thinking on a number of issues, but not wanting to alienate a potential “new” friend I cautiously broached the subject of cloth diapers.  Her equally cautious response what that her and her partner were planning to try EC (if you don’t know what it is, I posted about it here and Jackie recently posted about it here).  She told me in the same hesitant tone that Dale and I told people about it when we were planning on trying it and she was relieved but a little shocked that I a) had heard about it before; and b) was totally suportive of it!

In Comox – not shockingly – I found many people to be extremely receptive of alternative, more natural parenting methods.  Not so in Cold Lake, Alberta!  And although I am not shocked by that fact, and I am not sure how to proceed  in the face of it.

Again, Megan got me to thinking in her wrap up post at the end when she talks about advocacy.  I am in total agreement with her that the best way to advocate is by setting a great example.  But I am at a bit of a loss sometimes as to how to do that.  And not just when it comes to parenting issues, but also in the general realm of living more naturally.

When is it appropriate to tell people that I work with that I chose to wipe my bum with cloth as an environment saving measure?  Ok – so probably never.  But what about my use of cloth handkerchiefs or the lack of paper towels in my house?  How about the fact that I try to buy Nate’s clothes used (difficult in Cold Lake thanks to the lack of consignment stores!) or that I have started making my own cleaning products?

How do I increase my sphere of influence without seeming like a self-righteous, pompous Officer/person?   I know I have this blog, and I feel that over the past year and a bit I have managed to contribute at least a little bit to the environmental momvement that has been spreading like wildfire in certain online communities, but I truly feel like I should be able to contribute more positively in my own community.  And I don’t feel very capable in that endeavour at the moment.  Of the 8-10 prenant women who I know personally right now in Cold Lake, only one of them is considering using cloth diapers.  None of them have seen a baby carrier that isnt a baby bjorn or a snuggly (not that those don’t count – because they totally do – but by their very nature they won’t be of much use for very long).

So aside from feeling like Dale and I are the odd couple in this town, I am totally unsure how I should attempt to change that fact!  I would love to know if any of you have struggled with this issue and whether you have had much success.  I don’t believe there is an overnight solution and perhaps the best way to affect change is for me to be a little more bold and open about the chioces I make and why they work for my family.  Does that make sense?

I hope so!

P.S.  Thanks for all the welcome advice on the bum-rash situation!  It is looking much better today and we’ll both me back at work tomorrow.  Allison – I think we will try a different brand of wipes! And Jackie -  I will e-mail Jenn to see what they tried!  You guys all rock!

Of the diaper rash variety.

So…after espousing the virtues of cloth diapers for the better part of a year – including the fact that my baby’s beautiful bottom has never been marred by diaper rash – I am now encasing that precious tooshie in a disposable (oh horror of horrors!!!) in a last ditch effort to rid it of a lingering diaper rash.  This think just. won’t. quit.

We’re talking a month of ooozing open sores here people.  Sores that today for the second time caused me to take a day off work so that I could let my otherwise perfectly happy and healthy child parade around naked which the babysitter cannot do (totally understandably!)

We have been to the doctor.  We have anti-fungal cream.  It is doing nothing.  And, to be quite honest, the disposables don’t seem to be making a difference other making me feel incredibly guilty for filling the landfill with hoards of contaminated plastic when my perfectly good cloth diapers languish on a shelf.

Nate doesn’t seem very bothered by the sores at this point.  And they respond well to naked-fresh-air time by scabbing over.  But the problem is, every time we get them semi-healed over a weekend at home, once we take him back to our sitter’s the sores inevitably open up again to the point that on Thursday and Friday they were bleeding at almost every diaper change.  I know that our sitter changes him frequently (because I can count the dirty cloth diapers she sends home!) and she uses the same (disposable) wipes that we do when we’re out of the house (Kirkland brand – which Nate has never had a problem with, unlike Huggies and Pampers which seem to make his bottom raw).  I can only imagine that she is gentle with him because he adores her and she is obviously very concerned about his sores since she updates us regularly and even called Dale at work last Thursday to tell him about the bleeding.

But here were are at the end of another “unintentional” long weekend and we are debating whether to keep Nate home again tomorrow in hopes that we can totally clear up the sores before we send him back to daycare.  But we can’t stay home from work forever…and I am at my wits end.

We lather on the bum cream (Bare Organics – which we have always used and which helps make wiping very easy).  The sitter does the same.  We give him tons of naked time, change him immediately after poops and check for pees frequently.  But these 3 spots will not go away!

So Mamas – dig out your best kept secret solutions to diaper rashes and please tell me whether I should go to work tomorrow or not??  Will one more day make that critical difference or am I just wasting leave for nothing? I’ll owe you big time!

So Karen over at Pediascribe (who you really should be reading if you aren’t already, because her blog is always amusing!) posted this today and since I am attempting to post more frequently but am decidedly lacking in the idea department, I am “borrowing” it.  Much nicer than “stealing”, don’t you think?  It’s supposed to be 44 Odd Things About Me:

1. Do you like blue cheese? Love it!  the stinkier the better.  My host Mom, Elke, in Germany had this crazy stuff that would stink up the entire house within moment of the package being opened.  Man was it good!

2. Have you ever smoked? Nope!  At the ripe old age of 5 I promised my babysitter Anna that I never would.  She didn’t really believe me, but I have never so much as tried it to this day!

3. Do you own a gun? Definitely not.  Btu I am trained how to shoot a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle.  I’m not very good – but don’t tell the enemy, ok?

4. What flavor of Kool Aid was your favorite? I honestly can’t remember.  Did they have an orange flavour?  I like orange drinks.

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Sometimes.  Depends why I’m there.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? Roasted over a fire I can’t resist and sometime on the BBQ they lure me in as well!  I try not to think what they are made of!

7. Favorite Christmas movie? It’s a Wonderful Life.  I have watched it every Christmas Eve without fail since I was in highschool.  Love it!

8. Favorite thing to drink in the morning? It changes.  Lately coffee.  Definitely coffee.  But I used relish my morning Chai….actually I miss my daily Chai from Never Bean Better in Comox.  Sigh.

9. Can you do push ups? Yes.  But I hate to.  I have to for my military PT tests and it freaks me out every time.  Push ups just suck!

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? Aside from my wedding band and engagement ring, which I obviously adore, I love my pearl earrings that I wear every day.

11. Favorite hobby? Scrapbooking, duh!  Need you even ask??

12. Do you have A.D.D? I don’t think so…

13. What’s one trait you hate about yourself? I have a very short temper.  I don’t think I have always had one..it seemed to appear in adulthood.  Or maybe I just didn’t recognize it until then!

14. Middle name? Margaret, the name of my Dad’s mom who passed away a few weeks before I was born.

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.
1) I wish Dale hadn’t turned the dishwasher on.

2) Can’t believe my legs are still cold from our walk – I need long johns!

3) When did Nate get tall enough to reach the top of the kitchen table??

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Coffee, water, milk

17. Current worry? Money.  It’s probably just all the additional moving expenses…but I have been uber stressing about finances lately.

18. Current hate right now? The stupid grocery stores in this town where you can NEVER get everything on your fairly simple list in one stop.  It drives me up the wall!

19. Favorite place to be? Somewhere hot and sunny.

20. How did you bring in the new year? I’m pretty sure Dale and I went to bed on the pull out in his parents basement shortly after Nate did…so around 9pm.

21. Where would you like to go? Comox is high on my list…but I’m actually trying to convince Dale to go on a trip south in February.

22. Name three people who might complete this: Laurel, Rae-Lynn, Eva.

23. Do you own slippers? Blue ones.

24. What shirt are you wearing? a teal tank top and my lime green MEC fleece over top.  Pretty standard Sunday attire!

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? I never have but I doubt it.  I like to feel cozy in bed…not be sliding all over the place.

26. Can you whistle? No and I actually really hate whistling.  Just ask my sister how much!

27. Favorite color? It’s always a toss up between red and yellow.  When I was little it was definitely red – I always wanted the red cup at dinner.  In highschool it shifted to yellow…and now I don’t really now.  I think I like them both equally for different things!

28. Would you be a pirate? I wouldn’t make a very good one I don’t think.

29. What songs do you sing in the AM? I rarely sing…but I hum a lot!

30. Favorite Girl’s Name: Hmmm…I’m not sure.  We were going to name a baby girl MacKenzie…does that count?

31. Favorite boy’s name: I’m pretty sure there isn’t one.  Deciding on a name for a baby boy was a real struggle.  It even took my weeks, if not months, to decide I really liked Nate’s name.

32. What’s in your pocket right now? A handkerchief from grassrootsstore.com, have I told you how much I love them?  The organic cotton is sooooo soft on your nose and it only gets better with washing!

33. Last thing that made you laugh? Nate climbing all over is on the couch trying to get us to tickle him.  It was some fabulous after-dinner family bonding.  We all laughed till our bellies hurt!

34. What vehicle do you drive? Honda Element and Honda Civic

35. Worst injury you’ve ever had? Hmmm… haven’t had too many serious injuries.  The one that bugged me the most though has been my knee.  Hasn’t bothered me in a while though…knock on wood!

36. Do you love where you live? I think we all know the answer to that question.

37. How many TVs do you have in your house?  Two, but neither are hooked up to cable.

38. Who is your loudest friend? Probably Rae-Lynn.  Although Jaclyn (who I have recently gotten to know again after a long time out of touch) was always pretty loud when we were growing up.

39. Do you have any pets? Of course!  Turner the labradoodle!

40. Does someone have a crush on you? I like to think so.

41. Your favorite book(s): Oooh, oooh!  I’m re-reading one of my all-time favourites – a historical romance called Wild Swan by Celeste De Blasis.  It’s the first in a trilogy.  Love it!

42. Do you collect anything? Not really.  I never was much of a collector.

43. Favorite Sports Team? The Cleveland Browns.

44. What song do you want played at your funeral? I have never thought about that one.  And I don’t really want to, so I’ll take a pass.

Well.  Those didn’t seem very odd at all.  Other than the stinky cheese fetish of course.  But you’ll forgive me for that one won’t you?

Hello! How are you all?  I have missed you.  I know, I know.  I am the one who hasn’t been around much lately, but I’ve missed you nonetheless!  However this week I just had to post after Megan (who is also returning from a move-related hiatus – which I am very happy about – the return, not the hiatus…right, back to the blog)…so Megan told me her readers that this is International Babywearing Week and challenged all her readers to some good ol’ fashioned advocacy.  And although I am not usually a very strong advocate, I am all about promoting babywearing to other moms (and Dads too!) – especially of the “new” variety!  So even if you’re a parental type reading this, but already past the babywearing stage, make sure you pass on the info or link to friends and family who might find it useful.

Anyway, I’m sure there are going to be a million posts out there about how babywearing was a godsend for someone with a collicky/fussy/high needs baby and I don’t dispute those facts one iota.  I know that being able to wear your baby in those cases must be not only comforting for baby but I lifesaving skill for mama.  But to be brutally honest, I rarely had to wear Nate because he was fussy.  Ok – there were few times. But mostly I wore him because it was convenient for me.

That’s right.  It was less about him, and more about me.

So I want to show people another perspective on babywearing.  The active side of babywearing. Not the babywearing that keeps your hands free to clean your house and do your laundry.  But the babywearing that keeps your hands free to control your giant dog and throw his ball.  The babywearing that lets you walk on trails that are not even jogging-stroller friendly.  The babywearing that meant I didn’t have to lug a stroller through airports but still had my hands free for luggage and documents.  The babywearing that means you don’t have to lug around a cumbersome infant carseat that wrenches your back and the babywearing that means you don’t have to balance a toddler awkwardly on your hip while you pick up a parcel or some milk on the way home from work.  That’s the kind of babywearing I am thankful for.

Even now, when I wear Nate less frequently than when I was on maternity leave, it is odd for more than a day or two to go by when I don’t strap him to me at some point so that I can do something that would be more of a pain if I had to carry him in arms or lug a stroller with me.  And Dale is the same.  He has worn Nate right from the get go, and hasn’t stopped since despite.  He even managed to navigate the learning curve of back carries without assistance!

So if you think babywearing is only for people with fussy babies, think again.  Babywearing is also for active people with perfectly happy babies.  Like Eva and Jackie.  The only other advice I would impart is this:  if you want your baby to be comfortable in a carrier you need to use the carrier regularly.  I find whenever I have gone for an extended period without wearing Nate, it takes a few carries for him to get used to being on my back again.  So we take it slowly, limit the length of carries till he decides it’s comfy again, and voila!  As Megan said, happy mama, happy baby toddler!  Seriously – how do they grow up so fast???

As well, and post by me on babywearing wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t mention my favourite babywearing accessory.  If you’re really in to being active while babywearing this is a must really, really nice-to-have item – a babywearing jacket from Suses Kinder.  I love, love, love my red and white version.  You can read more about it here, and rest assured I am just as much in love with it now as I was right after I bought it.  In fact Nate and I were out and about it our jacket during the first Cold Lake snowfall of the season just the other day.  We were both toasty warm and completely dry and very, very content.  And the new deluxe version by Suses Kinder even allows for a hip carry (in addition to the front and back carries!) in the jacket – which would be awesome for those quick trips into a store or down to the mail box!

Anyway you look at it – fussy baby or not.  Babywearing is great.  Google “benefits + babywearing” and you’ll surely come up with a million pages listing all the health and wellness that inevitably comes from mama (or Daddy) and baby being close.  And they are all true.  But there is also just the sheer joy of having your adorable baby/toddler peeking out over your shoulder or resting their head on your chest while you carry on with things that made you happy even before the arrival of your new tag-along!

So – did I advocate enough?  If not, here are a few more pics to prove how much all three four of us, love babywearing!

A final note on the carriers pictured above:

-the wrap we used when Nate was a baby (the pictures where you can’t even see him!) is a Cuddly Wrap borrowed from my pal Kelly;

- the other green wrap in the hip cary pic is a 5M Gypsy Mama Bali Breeze;

- the carrier in the pic of Dale in the snow and by the river is a borrowed Kelty Kids carrier, which we didn’t love and didn’t use for long before we replaced it with the BECO baby carrier which is the bluish carrier you see in most of the pics;

- the brown pouch is a peanut shell which Nate didn’t love, so I sold;

- and finally, our hiking carrier is a Deuter which is fabulous for long hikes thanks to the vantage point and extra storage space.

I think I was meant to see this today:  ”Pisces: You may not think so, but life is exactly as it should be.  Stop complaining and start seeing all of the good things you have going.”

So here is the list I conjured up while attempting to avoid any real work today

1.  I have a kick ass new house (which I promise I will post pics of soon!)

2.  Said house has a lovely fireplace in the basement which makes everything seem very cosy.

3.  I live in a place where there is a spectacular sunrise and sunset almost every day.  

4.  Someone invented Skype, so even though they are far away I can still see my family whenever I want!

5.  My BFF is also in the military so I can call her for free from work to wish her happy birthday and because we talked about the WCF thingy it totally counts as a work-related call!

6.  My sister also works on a base, and despite the lack of a WCF thingy in her job I can call her sometimes too!

7.  Someone invented Facebook and Blogger so I get to see what all my pals are up too all. the. time.

8.  Even though Dale is away and the nights get really cold here, I have a giant beast of a dog who keeps the other side of the bed warm for me.

9.  My adorable kid will pretty much eat any mediocre meal I put in front of him…even a bowl of peas.

10.  He also goes to sleep without the least bit of fuss at night and wakes up full of smiles and giggles in the morning.  Usually at an acceptable hour.

11.  He doesn’t mind diaper changes, tubbies, getting dressed, being put into his carseatstroller/baby carrier/highchair.  In fact he usually like it.  How lucky am I???

12.  I have my own office at work and get to look out my window at super fast jets every day.  Very cool!

13.  I also have my own parking spot right up by the building.  It may not seem so special now, but I’m betting I’ll be more appreciative when it’s minus 40!  Brrrr.

14.  The CBC Edmonton station has a hilarious show called radioactive that I get to listen to on the way home from work every day.  Always makes me laugh.

15.  Everywhere I go people tell me how cute my kid is.  Then he proves it by flashing them huge grins and giggling.

17.  My fabulous hubby sent me a little sumpin’ sumpin’ in the mail for when he gets home next week.  Nothing like a little anticipation to to make up leaving me to fend for myself shortly after moving me to the end of the earth

18.  Timmies is now on the way to work and at 7:15 there is a lull in the drive thru line-up just in time for me to arrive!

19.  My family and friends are safe and healthy.

20.  We have eachother – despite the ups and downs that may come.

As Corey always says: Life is good! (Even in Alberta!)

So…the big question is:   What in the world have I been doing if I haven’t been religiously updating my blog??

That’s a very good question.  I feel like I have been running around in circles like a chicken with my head cut off.  But in reality I think I have just been doing very normal, borderline boring, everyday things.  Going to work, coming home, playing with Nate, walking the dog, doing laundry, Skyping with the fam in Ontario and in BC, washing dishes, reading stories, changing diapers, packing lunches, buying groceries, talking on the phone with Dale, etc, etc, etc.

You woudn’t think that all of those things would take in excess of 16 hours a day, but apparently they do.  I know, I know.  It surprised me too!  But once you factor in 8-10 hours out of the house for work…the other 6-8 hours seem to fly by.

My good friend Barb pointed out the other day when we were chatting that my Facebook posts sounded like I was unhappy.  I don’t know about unhappy…because how can you really be unhapy when you live in a lovely home with your wonderful family, with plenty of fod to eat (not to mention lots of Timmies coffee) and when you are safe and sheltered and loved?  So am I unhappy – no, no really.  But I am definitely still adjusting to this new place and to the new routines.

I most certainly am still really missing Comox – mostly for the people, not the place (although I would kill for a trip to Starbucks and walk on the beach!)  I am so thankful for the fact that technology allows us to feel much closer than we really are.  Twice now I have scrapbooked with Gill (once with Laurel) over Skype.  It’s just way too cool to be able to chat and even see eachother across such a distance…for free even!  If you haven’t tried Skype with your distant loved ones, you need to soon!

I am starting to meet people here, too.  In fact I was out for dinner with Nate at a friend’s house last night and it was lovely!  Good food, great company, lots of conversation and thankfully, baby-friendly!  I a m having another acquaintance over for dinner on Tuesday night in hopes of making another friend.

But the time it takes to really settle in is no where near past.  I’m sure I have at least another few months of feeling like I don’t quite belong before this place will begin to really feel like home.  Before it will feel effortless to hangout with people here as opposed to feeling borderline awkward as you get to know them.

And in case you’re wondering why there is so much  “I” and not much “We” in this post, that would be because Dale has hardly been here since we moved between an 11 day trip to Quebec for a course and now an exercise in Central Alberta for 2 1/2 weeks.  He is feeling terrible about being gone so much, so I am trying to downplay my loneliness, but I’m not a very good actor!  I can’t wait until he is home and we can spend some time as a family here, to get involved in the community  little bit.

Thankfully Nate is thriving and seems blissfully unaware of the the angst around him.  He loves his new sitter Kim and all the kids there.  He loves the space in the new house.  He is still changing almost daily.  Some of the latest developments include:

- he loves to sit with his books and flip through the pages

- before bed he is happy to sit through 2-3 books while we snuggle on the couch

- he knows where his shoes/socks/slippers go and like to hold his feet out for you

- he has learned that he needs to sit on his bum in order to get his after-nap snack and as soon as he sees the sippy cup and cheerio box immediately plops himself down on the ground!

- he likes to help me feed Turner and gets really excited when I give Turner the “OK” to eat

- he knows how to go down the stairs backwards really well

- he is drinking cows milk from a sippy cup – no more bottle!

- he likes to groove and dance along with me when I play music on the iPod

- he has learned how to play peek-a-boo by putting his hands over his face, and laughs hysterically every time

- and I think he is finally saying something approximating “mom” (it sounds like “umm” – but I’ll take it!)

See – just typing all those things makes me insanely happy.  So I can’t say I’m unhappy.  Perhaps just still feeling a little unsettled.  Missing my friends, feeling confined to this house (no babysitter here yet!) and definitely not lovin’ the oil-driven economy of “stuff” here that is so vastly different from my beloved, environmentally conscious and people friendly Island.  Yes, that’s it:  happily unsettled in Cold Lake, Alberta.

Hives.

Which compared to chicken pox, or worse – measles – sounds pretty good.  But believe me – hives are not a good thing in a 1 year old.  He cried so hard when I applied the cortisone cream that I cried too.  It just breaks my heart to see him hurting and unhappy.

The better news is that the benadryl and steroids make him sleepy and he is out like a light. Hopefully he can sleep comfortably and will feel better in the morning once the medicine really kicks in.

Warning to those with feeble stomachs or soft hearts…the following pictures are graphic.  But I feel a desperate need so share, especially since I’m parenting on my own and have no friends to speak of in Cold Lake to share with!  So please forgive me, and skip the pics if you wish!

And specially for those of you who weathered the awful pictures, here is a happier Nate earlier in the day (before the hives got really, really bad, and just after a nap and bottle!)  This should cheer you up – Nate chillin’ at his new Ikea table and adorable red chairs!