She’s a big girl now!

Today was the big day. The first day of kindergarten. J was a bit excited last night and appeared in our room about 5 times between 4:30 and 5:30. At which point, I decided if any of us were to get any more sleep, the best bet was to let her get in with us. I’m so glad we finally got a queen sized bed.

Despite her middle of the night wakings, J was up on time and ready to go to school. Here is the requisite “at the front door on the first day of school” picture.

She looks pretty rested, doesn’t she??

And then because fall officially arrived yesterday morning with a thunderstorm and today decided to remind us what it’s really like to live in Vancouver, she got her rain gear on. This is a horrible time of year for torrential downpours…it’s too wet to go without a rain coat, but it’s so warm that it’s gross. I’m just glad we didn’t have to take the bus! The bus would have been pretty yucky today.

There she goes, my little WetCoast kindergartener. She is already excited about tomorrow (today was just an hour) and she can’t wait until next week when full days start!

Snow Day!

27. Build a snow man with J

The week before Christmas we got some snow. Well, for Vancouver it was a lot of snow. I had an early morning ultrasound at the hospital and I wasn’t sure if I’d actually get home after it – the street where our garage door opens is quite steep and they often close it when it snows. I don’t know if they closed it, but I know it was still open when I got home even though the three or four streets to the east of us were closed.

We had already decided to keep J home from daycare that day, but as soon as I got home, she was ready to go out and make a snow man. We didn’t venture further than our courtyard – the snow was heavy and wet and it was chilly out. We still managed to make a little snow man though.

Right after we got back inside, it started snow even harder and the flakes were huge – bigger than a twonie for sure. I was glad we didn’t have to go out in the weather – things on the roads were a bit crazy…we saw our fair share of weather related drama from our font windows.

And because it is Vancouver, most of the snow was gone the following morning. The remnants of the snow man lasted a few days.

It's Wednesday

Which means we're a lot closer to the weekend than we were on Monday.

I wrote a very lengthy post to the universe about the gong show that has been my day - you know, barometric pressure migraine, bed sheet laundering, toddler bathing, milk curdling, disappearing bike, and toddler-daycare-meltdowning all before 9:00 am (most of it before 6:45 am) - and then deleted it.

Because, whoa, way too much whining.

Tylenol and a latte with an extra shot calmed the migraine and fixed the caffeine deprivation brought on by the lack of uncurdled milk. The washer and dryer and Alex will ensure the sheets are ready to be put back on the bed before bedtime, the toddler is clean and has, by now, I hope, forgotten her bike was left at home and that I am horrible for leaving her at daycare.

The sun is shining. We've been whining about our extended winter for so long, it's good to have some vitamin D streaming down on us. It means the sun is out when I get up in the morning and J and I can play at the park for hours after dinner. It means summer is coming (I'll try not to whine too much about how hot our place gets) and summer is good.

And it's Hockey Night...I am hoping for a better outcome (on a few levels) than Monday night's game...so GO CANUCKS GO...let's go into Friday's game up 3-1....

Foggy

The day after a migraine, I wander around with a migraine hang over. How bad that fogginess is depends on how bad the migraine was.

So.

Today I'm tired. I want to be in my bed. I need more sleep. I feel a bit foggy, but I'm functioning.

Which means it wasn't that bad.

I wasn't nauseated and didn't vomit yesterday. I could eat this morning. I don't have a lingering headache today. I'm tired but not crabby. I'll likely be tucked into my bed by about 9:00, maybe 9:30 tonight. I don't have the shakes. My eyes don't hurt.

It's all good.

Mother nature, please try not to have any more mood swings for a while...my brain will thank you...

Calm

It's calm right now. There's even blue sky peaking over the top of the building across the street.

But twenty minutes ago there was pelting rain and furious wind.

And the wind could come back at any time. The trees behind the building across the street are huge. And they didn't stand up so well the last time we had a storm.

But it's calm right now. And I'll stay here while it is calm. But if the calm goes, I might go too. I'd rather be at home watching the storm than at work.

Snoozing in a winter wonderland

We had a snow day at our house today. Alex wasn't comfortable with us going up to the university - more because of the crazy, not-so-smart drivers than anything. We have a great vantage point from our apartment to see all the stupid things people do.

Things like

• Driving 20 km above the speed limit, something which is not safe on that road even in the most perfect weather
• Changing lanes and cutting the person in the other lane off
• Pulling U-turns at the intersections (where it's very slippery)
• Honking impatiently at the person in front of you at the stop sign (who isn't going because IT'S NOT SAFE) and then zooming around them once they do go
• Pedestrians j-walking (which I think is stupid to begin with) in front of cars that they'd never walk in front of when the weather is good
• Tailgaters who honk at slow drivers and then fishtail because they're driving too fast

There was also a freezing rain warning tonight (goodbye plans to go to Stanley Park and get a preview of the Christmas train and light display...)

So J and I stayed home. I fully expected we'd go for a walk and play in the snow.

But no.

I'm into the second day of the first phase of the GAPS diet and I'm exhausted. Apparently this is normal, but I'm not enjoying it. I don't know how I would have survived today if I had gone to work. When J had her nap, I had a list of things to do for work...um, yeah, I slept for two hours. And if J hadn't started calling me and telling me she wanted to get up, I probably would have slept longer...

But she also slept for almost 3.5 hours, so by the time she was up and moving, it was dark, cold, and slippery.

So no snow today, but it was nice working at home with a hot cup of tea and toddler telling me all kinds of awesome stories!

The difference an hour makes...

Just over an hour ago I left my office in a grey, cool, drizzle and wandered over to the building where I used to work for my yoga class.

I love yoga. It's twice a week and I love it. Oh, I already said that. It's been three weeks since my last yoga class though - we were away (well, I was at home painting) and then last week was gradual entry daycare week, so what precious time I had at the office, I needed to spend at my desk, not doing yoga.

And my body loves me a little bit more now that class is over. The knot that would not go away in my right shoulder is looser. My legs and abs are going to be painfully sore tomorrow, but that's okay. I can handle that. I got to do yoga.

Oh, and when I left the basement dungeon room where yoga class is held (that sounds bad...it's actually a nice, cool dark room for yoga) it was warm and sunny and all blue sky-y outside.

An hour. That's all it took!

TOOOOOOOO HOT!

The heat and humidity are killing us. No one is sleeping. I have not had bags like this since I was, oh, I can't remember. Maybe right after J was born. We're all shiny all the time.

While I LOVE fall, normally I will take my fill of summer. I like summer too. I just love fall. But right now, I'd just like fall to arrive. And not the nice kind of fall that I like, but the cold wet fall that will make this heat GO AWAY!

It was 19 this morning at 7:00 when I turned the computer on. I'm not sure what the humidity is, but I feel gross.

UGH.

That's all.

Christmas is coming?

Well it is, but not as soon as my brain thought it was this morning.

J has a kid's CD that starts with songs and slowly winds down to classical music.

The weather is nasty and cold again. It feels like February or October. NOT JUNE!

One of the classical pieces is...Greensleeves...aka What Child Is This...

My brain started panicking because I'm not ready for Christmas to be just around the corner.

Took me a minute to realize I'd been tricked by the weather. We still have summer to enjoy before Christmas should even be on my radar!

Earthquakes and Tsunamis

As I was leaving work yesterday, I heard there had been a 7.0 earthquake in Japan - that's all I heard and since I'd turned my computer off, I wasn't even sure where in Japan it was.

And then this morning when I got up I heard about the 8.8 earthquake in Chile. And the tsunami warnings for Hawaii and BC.

Scary stuff. I remember the Kobe earthquake in 1995 when I was going to school in Hawaii. We work up to the tsunami sirens - scary stuff. It was eerily quiet on campus too - no birds singing, no dogs barking. The whole day was heavy and horrible, people were on edge, lots of people didn't make it to school and, completely unrelated, a teacher had a massive heart attack, but when the tsunami hit it was tiny and barely noticeable - even if you knew what to look for.

I hope this earthquake turns out for the better - we also have a tsunami warning on the south coast, but we'll hopefully only see a change in currents.

Fingers crossed for my friends and their families in Japan, Chile and Hawaii. I'm thinking of you all...

EDIT: There's now a report of an earthquake in Argentina too. Oh Mother Nature, please be gentle!

It's coming...

It's almost here!

On Monday morning (we were still in Kelowna) I got up and took some laundry out to hang on the line and I swear it smelled like it did on the first day of school when I was a kid. And then in the middle of the night I woke up to thunder and this morning rain. And it wasn't really light at 6:00 when I got up.

Fall is coming.

Yay!

I'm so excited.

Fall means leaves changing colour and fresh, crunchy apples and chilly air and soup and slow cooker food and darkness at bedtime and cozy beds and tea before bed and I could go on and on and on.

I love the fall. Can you tell??

It's April...and this is not a joke

Dear Mother Nature,

I'm not kidding, it's snowing today. Are you playing some kind of cruel joke on us? Yesterday the sun was out and while the wind meant that it was a bit chilly, it was beautiful. And today, before I even got out of bed and opened the blinds, I KNEW it was a grey day. I didn't think there would be snow on and off. At least, unlike last April when it snowed, it's not sticking...but ugh. I was going to take Baby J for a walk, but that's not likely now. UGH...

That's all...ugh...

Groundhog Day

If I was a groundhog and I lived at my house, well, I'd be predicting an early spring. Let's hope the groundhog got it right this year...I'm tired of winter and would love to see some spring sunshine. Lots of spring sunshine.

Snow...real live snow

It snowed on Friday, but that was big wet snow that didn't last and just made everything wet and was rain by 10:30 in the morning...but last night, last night it snowed for real. And today Baby J has a cold, so no snow for us...sigh...

snow from our balcony

snow from our bedroom

A sign for West 4th Avenue.

As seen from my bedroom window.

Only one problem with this picture: we don't live on West 4th. We don't live on something that intersects with West 4th. Unless that side of the street is West 4th and our side is something else and the streets in between are missing. Prank? Confused city engineers? Or maybe my camera is seeing things!

In the city?

Baby J and I went for our morning walk and wandered down to the pedestrian overpass that leads to a park and the seawall. We have been meaning to go down there since we moved, even before Baby J made her early entrance. I was surprised to see the overpass was park-like and while the traffic was definitely passing below us, I couldn't see it!

the overpass

False Creek/Fairview condos

It was sunny today, so we had to break out the UV protection...so here she is, Baby J in her sun bubble.

It's here!

My favourite season of the year arrived officially at 8:44 this morning (or something very close to it!). I love this time of year. The days aren't too short. The light is nice. The weather is mild and not too rainy (usually, I do live in Vancouver after all!). The summer clothes are gone and the winter clothes aren't here yet. The slow cooker emerges. We get to eat soup. Mmmm...I love it!

It felt like fall last week...on Saturday night Alex and I came home from a walk in the drizzle with Baby J and her plastic bubble stroller and we PUT THE FIREPLACE ON! Yup...we did. I love that we have a fireplace...love it!

Happy Fall (or Autumn if you're so inclined) everyone!

Winter left

Yup it did...and in its place came summer and heat and humidity and fans and lots of water. I'm not complaining. So far it's been tolerable...I've almost doubled my water consumption, hardly eaten anything that's not really just water in disguise (ahem, jello, popsicles, melons, etc), and taken full advantage of the Hawaii dresses that came my way when my Mom and Dad went on their little spring holiday this year. I've taken way more showers every day than I ever thought I would...but it's okay. As long as I keep the fluid coming and my feet up, both of us (me and the cub) are happy and good! And yes, jello is a food group. A very yummy one. Especially if you add canned fruit to it. Yummy. And yes, the baby is getting enough to eat...I've got lots of fuel in reserve ;)

Okay, going home now to soak my feet and take (yet another) shower!

Happy summer everyone!

Once upon a time

...winter stuck around until June.

Then summer came (and we pretty much skipped spring entirely) and it was wonderful!

And then...then winter seemed to come back. It's cold. I got rained on. And I'm allowed to complain again...but I'll try to keep the complaining completely weather related.

Solstice

The sun same out just in time for the summer solstice...maybe summer will stick around. I'd like that. Especially if it was a cool summer, you know, low to mid 20s...nothing too hot to keep my internal furnace at bay. I know that many northern hemisphere countries celebrate midsummer today...but that just confuses me. Why the heck are they celebrating midsummer on the first day of summer...

Sigh...I'm just easily confused these days. Also, easily winded, easily exhausted, easily emotional.

You know it's cold in June when...

• not only are you wearing three layers, but people around you have hats and gloves on.
• you get off the bus at 9:30 in the morning and you can see your breath
• the extra blankets that have been off the bed for weeks/months, suddenly reappear

Summer, or even spring, please come soon!