YAY!
Armondo came home today after being gone for three + weeks.
These last few weeks have been the hardest of my life! Between having crazy colds, sore hips, nasty rain, water boiling, isolating snow, and being more than eight months pregnant, things have been tough.
But my knight in shining armor has returned!
No more hauling heavy baskets of wood from the shed to the wood stove! Cooking duties being shared! Dish duties being shared! I won't have to get up every single time in the middle of the night with Cherry!
I tried not to complain about him not being home while he was actually away, 'cause I have to admit I was feeling a little vulnerable. I did mention some things that would indicate that he wasn't here, but I tried not to make it too obvious.
He'll be home now probably straight through most of February!
So, that's it for tonight, but now that he's home, I'm going to go back and find a draft post I started writing the night Cherry locked me out of the house and finish and post it soon!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Tired of Hearing about the Weather Yet?
I call it "The Lonely Apple"
She calls it "Appooo?"
"Forgotten Berries"
"Dancing Water, Frozen in Time"*
Snow.
Snow.
Mmm.. icicle!
Snow.
Yup. That's it. That's our life right now. It has snowed non-stop for the last 24 hours or so. Just a little, light dusting for 24 hours, but it has accumulated up to a few more inches.
We are trapped. Even if I WANTED to drive in this crazy white stuff, there'd be no way I'd get out of the driveway.
Here on the southern west coast of British Columbia, we don't know the meaning of "winter tires". Therefore, we hang out in our house for days on end.
I might decorate tonight. There's no good TV on tonight (I know, I know, "House" is supposed to be good, but I have yet to watch it, and really, I NEED to have a night off of the TV at least once or twice a week, 'cause I watch MUCH TOO MUCH TV.) I'm thinking I'm sending Armondo out on the ladder in the next couple of days to hang the outside lights. This will be the first year we've ever hung outside lights, and the first Christmas spent at home! I'm going to go a little crazy on the decorations, I think. I'm buying a fake tree soon (you know, if I'm ever able to get out of the house) and I'm going to cover it with blue and silver decorations. That's the plan anyway. I've got lots of other decorations to put out though in the meantime.
Now, sorry, back to the weather. What the heck is WITH THIS WEATHER? Two weeks ago we were being pelted with rain and wind, forcing us to boil our water for several days on end, and now we're being buried in the white stuff, two whole months earlier than usual! And, according to Erin, who left a comment in my last post, said we have more snow here than she does in ALASKA! We were lucky here to have not get flooded out with the rain, but I'm sure when this snow melts, we're going to float away! Anyway, wish us good luck!
*isn't it cute how I named some of the photos?
Monday, November 27, 2006
Saturday, November 25, 2006
SNOW! *updated* *updated again*
Ok, so it's totally snowing! AWESOME. I know I said I didn't want it to snow. But we have all the groceries we need, and we don't have to go anywhere, so we're all good to enjoy it! It's coming down like CRAZY! It won't stay long, but I'm hoping it'll snow enough to go throw Cherry into it. That is in our square metre part of our yard that's not covered in tree or dog poo.
*update* So, I bundled the kid up and we went outside to play!
Do I have to tell you that she loved it???
Oh yeah, we're rocking to Christmas music right now too.
*Update #2* Click here to see a video of her playing in the snow!
Friday, November 24, 2006
Going Postal.
I am NEVER sending anything to the States again that is bigger than a greeting card.
I sent off two presents today.
Both of them cost about 2/3rds of the price of the actual items to ship.
I had to WRITE ON THE PACKAGES what was in them, and how much they cost! How tacky is that? I mean, I took the time to take the price tags off of most of the items, but hey, there, right on the outside of the box, it tells you how much the whole present is. YAY!
I hadn't covered one box enough, so the postal clerk had to track down some paper for me and tape it all over all the parts where the box was showing through. With the other present, which was just in envelopes, the postal clerk had to tape them more than I had, 'cause apparently I just don't have taping skills.
Lucky I went to a pharmacy with a postal outlet instead of an actual post office, 'cause I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have helped me out as much as the nice woman at the Rexall did.
I didn't stand in line, but still the whole experience took about half an hour! And about $38! (combined for both packages). And that was for SLOW shipping. Yeah. You guys get cards next year. MAYBE.
I sent off two presents today.
Both of them cost about 2/3rds of the price of the actual items to ship.
I had to WRITE ON THE PACKAGES what was in them, and how much they cost! How tacky is that? I mean, I took the time to take the price tags off of most of the items, but hey, there, right on the outside of the box, it tells you how much the whole present is. YAY!
I hadn't covered one box enough, so the postal clerk had to track down some paper for me and tape it all over all the parts where the box was showing through. With the other present, which was just in envelopes, the postal clerk had to tape them more than I had, 'cause apparently I just don't have taping skills.
Lucky I went to a pharmacy with a postal outlet instead of an actual post office, 'cause I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have helped me out as much as the nice woman at the Rexall did.
I didn't stand in line, but still the whole experience took about half an hour! And about $38! (combined for both packages). And that was for SLOW shipping. Yeah. You guys get cards next year. MAYBE.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving You Yanks!
Have a great turkey day, and remember to be thankful!
*I* am thankful that it didn't snow last night like it was supposed to. Not because I don't like snow (I love it) but because I can't drive in snow and Armondo's driving freaks me out in the snow. And our yard is filled with tree chunks, so umm... that means no playing. SO! No snow is making CeCe happy today.
*I* am thankful that it didn't snow last night like it was supposed to. Not because I don't like snow (I love it) but because I can't drive in snow and Armondo's driving freaks me out in the snow. And our yard is filled with tree chunks, so umm... that means no playing. SO! No snow is making CeCe happy today.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
My Kid is Freakin' Hilarious!
No, seriously.
~So, she's learning all of her animal sounds, like most kids her age, and this has brought on some great moments! Her favourite is the wolf/dog sound. Her dog sound used to be sort of an "arf arf", but because my dogs are whiners, the wolf and dog sounds are interchangeable. And it sounds a little like this:
"Arrrr ooooh!"
She likes making this sound SO much, that every time a dog or wolf comes on TV she'll start howling. She sees a dog or wolf in a book, she starts howling. If she's in the car, and is bored, she'll start howling. And she LOVES it when I howl with her. When the two of us stand in front of the mirror together and howl, she gets so overly giddy with delight that you can't help but want to do it over and over, just to see that smile one more time.
~Cherry has this little pink cat that meows when you squeeze it. Today, she picked it up and gave it a squeeze, and right after I asked her "What sound does a kitty cat make?"
Her answer?
"Hiiisssssss!"
Which is freakin' hilarious for TWO reasons! 1) We have NEVER taught her that "kitties hiss" and 2) She's soooo right! Sabre has been in the pissiest mood these past couple of weeks, and can't seem to walk past Ozzy or the dogs without letting out a little swat and a hiss! And my uber smart 16 month old totally picked up on that!
~Cherry now likes to climb up onto her change table when it's time to change her diaper. She just runs up to it, and in a blink of an eye, she's up and on it. The first couple of times she did this, it sort of caught me by surprise (which, really, it shouldn't have, 'cause she's a crazy climber). And on the third or forth time she did it, I asked "What are you? A monkey?"
To which she replied: "Oooh ooh!" (monkey sound, in case you didn't figure it out)
~Since she's got over her cold, Cherry has become quite the little delight. She had seemed to remain quite active while she was sick, but I hadn't noticed how much her "spark" or energy had faded as the weeks dragged on. But she's back now! Today, she hopped on her horse and was so energetically enthusiastic about riding it that I thought she'd fly off of it!
Later, at some point in the evening, she was watching the kids' show "Big Comfy Couch" while I was on the computer and she just started giggling away. I turned to look at her, and she was rolling around on the floor imitating the character on the TV doing her "clock stretches". It was quite the sight to see my little one hysterically laughing as she rolled around doing her "exercises".
~Oh, and a couple of updates regarding this post:
~So, she's learning all of her animal sounds, like most kids her age, and this has brought on some great moments! Her favourite is the wolf/dog sound. Her dog sound used to be sort of an "arf arf", but because my dogs are whiners, the wolf and dog sounds are interchangeable. And it sounds a little like this:
"Arrrr ooooh!"
She likes making this sound SO much, that every time a dog or wolf comes on TV she'll start howling. She sees a dog or wolf in a book, she starts howling. If she's in the car, and is bored, she'll start howling. And she LOVES it when I howl with her. When the two of us stand in front of the mirror together and howl, she gets so overly giddy with delight that you can't help but want to do it over and over, just to see that smile one more time.
~Cherry has this little pink cat that meows when you squeeze it. Today, she picked it up and gave it a squeeze, and right after I asked her "What sound does a kitty cat make?"
Her answer?
"Hiiisssssss!"
Which is freakin' hilarious for TWO reasons! 1) We have NEVER taught her that "kitties hiss" and 2) She's soooo right! Sabre has been in the pissiest mood these past couple of weeks, and can't seem to walk past Ozzy or the dogs without letting out a little swat and a hiss! And my uber smart 16 month old totally picked up on that!
~Cherry now likes to climb up onto her change table when it's time to change her diaper. She just runs up to it, and in a blink of an eye, she's up and on it. The first couple of times she did this, it sort of caught me by surprise (which, really, it shouldn't have, 'cause she's a crazy climber). And on the third or forth time she did it, I asked "What are you? A monkey?"
To which she replied: "Oooh ooh!" (monkey sound, in case you didn't figure it out)
~Since she's got over her cold, Cherry has become quite the little delight. She had seemed to remain quite active while she was sick, but I hadn't noticed how much her "spark" or energy had faded as the weeks dragged on. But she's back now! Today, she hopped on her horse and was so energetically enthusiastic about riding it that I thought she'd fly off of it!
Yes, I know her shirt's open, and that's sort of creepy, but the point of the picture is, JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE!
Later, at some point in the evening, she was watching the kids' show "Big Comfy Couch" while I was on the computer and she just started giggling away. I turned to look at her, and she was rolling around on the floor imitating the character on the TV doing her "clock stretches". It was quite the sight to see my little one hysterically laughing as she rolled around doing her "exercises".
~Oh, and a couple of updates regarding this post:
This is what it looks like when a 16 month old has figured out how to move her mattress at nap time.
And I got that pan clean. Just soaking it overnight worked. Thanks for the tips! (But I sort of wanted an excuse to buy a new one.)
And SOMEONE, (you know who you are) requested a belly shot... so here goes:
And SOMEONE, (you know who you are) requested a belly shot... so here goes:
I tried to get one that didn't have any b00bs in it, 'cause you guys always bug me about that! Hee hee. But here's a shot, it's not so great, but I'll have some nice ones up in a couple of weeks. (Armondo and I are trying to take some sort of "artistic" shots.) Oh, and the stretch marks? They're from last time. I don't have any new ones on my belly yet. They're all on my thighs. And um, we're talking inner thighs, THREE INCHES ABOVE MY KNEE! How sick is that? (The majority of the stretch marks from last time are on my back, butt and thighs too. My belly sort of lucked out.)
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Car Seat Safety.
A friend emailed me telling me about this video. It's a tear jerker. If you have children 80lbs or lighter, you should probably take a peek at this video.
The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ
The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ
More Random Notes.
~We got our first Christmas card today! Already! I better get a move on and get mine started! I bought them weeks ago, but haven't gotten to writing them out yet. I might have to start tonight. Cherry loves the card we got with the goofy polar bears on it. It was very tough to pry it out of her hands!
~So, awhile ago, we started going to playgroups. Right off the bat, I was able to make a couple of friends using the "I'm new, wanna be my friend?" technique. But then, I got shy again. The last few weeks, I've been having trouble talking to people, but today, I broke out of my shell again, and opened up and chatted with some women. I felt so... liberated. I'm so weird that way. You wouldn't think I was shy, but I'm so scared of doing or saying something stupid, that I just sort of creep in the corners instead of opening up and making connections. Part of the problem is once I get over being "new" it's hard to come up with an "excuse" to talk to people. But today I sucked up my insecurities and talked to a couple of women. I actually talked to women who have GIRLS too! I was starting to see a pattern that all of the acquaintances I have been making lately and the friends I've re-connected with lately all have boys, which is fine, but if I'm doing play dates, I'd like Cherry to have some "girl time" as well sometimes!
~My brain is starting to get better again. I'm not really sick anymore (except for a runny nose and DANG bad heartburn) so we've been able to get out of the house more, which has improved my mental wellness incredibly. It's amazing how a crazy assed stormy week and a cold can really mess with your psyche!
~At playgroup today, the nutritionist who comes by every few weeks was there again. The last time she talked with us, it was nice to figure out exactly how much milk we should be giving to Cherry, as opposed to her drinking a litre a day, which she would totally do if it was up to her!
Today though, I was sort of watching the nutritionist give advice to various parents about how to feed their kids, as well as listen to her tell me, as a pregnant woman how I should be eating, and it occurred to me that she didn't really seem like all that credible of a source.
Now, I might just be being a b!tch when I say this. I'm not sure. Maybe my view has some merit, but...
If someone who claims to be an expert on nutrition is a good 70-90 lbs overweight, doesn't that sort of take some of her credibility away?
~Ok, off to do some chores (like trying to clean that pan!) and then, MAYBE I'll write some Christmas cards and get some pressies into boxes to send off!
~So, awhile ago, we started going to playgroups. Right off the bat, I was able to make a couple of friends using the "I'm new, wanna be my friend?" technique. But then, I got shy again. The last few weeks, I've been having trouble talking to people, but today, I broke out of my shell again, and opened up and chatted with some women. I felt so... liberated. I'm so weird that way. You wouldn't think I was shy, but I'm so scared of doing or saying something stupid, that I just sort of creep in the corners instead of opening up and making connections. Part of the problem is once I get over being "new" it's hard to come up with an "excuse" to talk to people. But today I sucked up my insecurities and talked to a couple of women. I actually talked to women who have GIRLS too! I was starting to see a pattern that all of the acquaintances I have been making lately and the friends I've re-connected with lately all have boys, which is fine, but if I'm doing play dates, I'd like Cherry to have some "girl time" as well sometimes!
~My brain is starting to get better again. I'm not really sick anymore (except for a runny nose and DANG bad heartburn) so we've been able to get out of the house more, which has improved my mental wellness incredibly. It's amazing how a crazy assed stormy week and a cold can really mess with your psyche!
~At playgroup today, the nutritionist who comes by every few weeks was there again. The last time she talked with us, it was nice to figure out exactly how much milk we should be giving to Cherry, as opposed to her drinking a litre a day, which she would totally do if it was up to her!
Today though, I was sort of watching the nutritionist give advice to various parents about how to feed their kids, as well as listen to her tell me, as a pregnant woman how I should be eating, and it occurred to me that she didn't really seem like all that credible of a source.
Now, I might just be being a b!tch when I say this. I'm not sure. Maybe my view has some merit, but...
If someone who claims to be an expert on nutrition is a good 70-90 lbs overweight, doesn't that sort of take some of her credibility away?
~Ok, off to do some chores (like trying to clean that pan!) and then, MAYBE I'll write some Christmas cards and get some pressies into boxes to send off!
Monday, November 20, 2006
Oh, the insanity.
~Seems like every time I get entered in a contest, or get on some sort of new blog roll, I draw blanks and can't write very well anymore. I guess it's sort of like stage fright! Oh well.
~Something in or around my fridge smells bad. At least I think it does. I'm still sort of stuffed up from this stupid head cold thing I've got, so I can't totally tell if there's a bad smell or not. I've gone through the fridge and thrown everything that's old out, but I can still sort of catch a whiff of the smell every once in awhile. I'm starting to think maybe there's something dead UNDER the fridge. Until I figure it out, I am having a ban on house guests.
~I hate whiney dogs. Annie is driving me nuts. And she's digging holes again. This seems to happen every time the ground gets a little soggy. And boy, is it soggy these days! These rain storms that keep on pelting us here on the we(s)t coast really suck!
~I'm so tired of boiling my drinking water! With these storms, there's a water boil advisory for many parts of the province. I can't seem to figure out if MY area is under advisory still or not, but being pregnant, I decided not to take the risk. The water is almost yellow, and even with boiling it, it tastes awful. Nothing like a little "crunch" to add flavour to your favourite beverage!
~I've burned food to the bottom of yet another pan. This time it's so bad that I might just have to toss the pan instead of cleaning it. Dinner itself didn't end up burned, just a nice layer on the bottom of the pan. I'll *try* to soak it and clean it tomorrow, but I sort of think it's dead.
~Want a parenting tip? Don't change your toddler's bed sheets in front of her. And ESPECIALLY don't show her how easy it is to lift her bed mattress. 'Cause every time you go into her room, her mattress will be off the bed frame and the sheet will be thrown to the other side of the room. And she will find it highly amusing to do this over and over!
~Something in or around my fridge smells bad. At least I think it does. I'm still sort of stuffed up from this stupid head cold thing I've got, so I can't totally tell if there's a bad smell or not. I've gone through the fridge and thrown everything that's old out, but I can still sort of catch a whiff of the smell every once in awhile. I'm starting to think maybe there's something dead UNDER the fridge. Until I figure it out, I am having a ban on house guests.
~I hate whiney dogs. Annie is driving me nuts. And she's digging holes again. This seems to happen every time the ground gets a little soggy. And boy, is it soggy these days! These rain storms that keep on pelting us here on the we(s)t coast really suck!
~I'm so tired of boiling my drinking water! With these storms, there's a water boil advisory for many parts of the province. I can't seem to figure out if MY area is under advisory still or not, but being pregnant, I decided not to take the risk. The water is almost yellow, and even with boiling it, it tastes awful. Nothing like a little "crunch" to add flavour to your favourite beverage!
~I've burned food to the bottom of yet another pan. This time it's so bad that I might just have to toss the pan instead of cleaning it. Dinner itself didn't end up burned, just a nice layer on the bottom of the pan. I'll *try* to soak it and clean it tomorrow, but I sort of think it's dead.
~Want a parenting tip? Don't change your toddler's bed sheets in front of her. And ESPECIALLY don't show her how easy it is to lift her bed mattress. 'Cause every time you go into her room, her mattress will be off the bed frame and the sheet will be thrown to the other side of the room. And she will find it highly amusing to do this over and over!
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Grey Cup
Canada's second most important gaming event is currently taking place, with BC in the lead.
But I'm here to talk about the cheerleaders.
Last night, while listening to sports talk radio, one of the callers said that the Grey Cup was boring compared to the SuperBowl because.... The Cheerleaders in the Grey Cup aren't as good.
Now, I need to just take a minute to stand up for them.
How can you expect the cheerleaders to be as good when they're working in -6C (21.2F) degree weather and have to practically wear PARKAS as they're dancing?!? Come ON people. It's tough to shake your a$$ in weather that cold!
But I'm here to talk about the cheerleaders.
Last night, while listening to sports talk radio, one of the callers said that the Grey Cup was boring compared to the SuperBowl because.... The Cheerleaders in the Grey Cup aren't as good.
Now, I need to just take a minute to stand up for them.
How can you expect the cheerleaders to be as good when they're working in -6C (21.2F) degree weather and have to practically wear PARKAS as they're dancing?!? Come ON people. It's tough to shake your a$$ in weather that cold!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Deep Thoughts With CeCe: Ladies vs. Lady
Why is it that calling a singular woman a "lady" is rude, (such as "Hello Lady" or "Excuse me, Lady, may I take your drink order now?")
BUT
Calling several women "ladies" is ok? (Such as, "Hello Ladies" or "Excuse me, Ladies, may I take your drink order now?")
BUT
Calling several women "ladies" is ok? (Such as, "Hello Ladies" or "Excuse me, Ladies, may I take your drink order now?")
Friday, November 17, 2006
HEEEEYYYYY! Who. Made. this. Big. Mess?!?!?
Every toy pulled off the shelves. Dirty laundry hamper emptied, drawers emptied, bed un-made and blankets EVERYWHERE, etc. etc.
Was it YOU!??!Some times Cherry won't go to sleep as soon as I put her down for a nap. This is when she decides to destroy her room. Even though it gives me a little more work each day, it's actually a bit of a blessing. Especially yesterday! (when this particular mess was made). I put her down to nap at 11am, at which time I went to bed too. She (somewhat) quietly played with her toys, just muttering and giggling to herself, while I was able to catch a few winks. THEN, after an hour of play she passed out. FOR THREE HOURS. Which means, I pretty much had a four hour nap! How's that for awesome! ( I know, I know, FOUR HOURS?!? What am I? Some sort of lazy sloth!?!? YUP!)
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Baby Contest.
The Baby Contest closes tonight at midnight!
Details in the sidebar.
Maidink, you made some corrections to your entry via IM, but that's not "official" enough. I need you to email me or leave a comment on the contest page in order to accept the changes.
Details in the sidebar.
Maidink, you made some corrections to your entry via IM, but that's not "official" enough. I need you to email me or leave a comment on the contest page in order to accept the changes.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
A Baby Story-Cherry's Birth Story. (Series part IX)
To read the rest of the story, find the "Love Series" on the sidebar.
The "Honeymoon period" was bliss, and pretty un-eventful, which is good, 'cause I need to skip this part of the story so I can get the birth story done before the baby contest closes!
We decided it was time to have a baby, 'cause I wasn't really going anywhere with any sort of career ideas, so it would make more sense to have the kid(s) now, and work on a career later, as opposed to waste more years working dead-end jobs with no end in sight. We also felt pretty tied down with all of our pets (around 18 at this time, including chickens) and our house, so we weren't going to be traveling anytime soon, so it seemed like having the kid(s) young would be a better choice so that we'd still be somewhat young when they moved out.
The pregnancy was much like this one, though I was sick for 5 months straight instead of just three. I had switched from working at the hardware store working with chemicals to working at a steak house a few nights a week instead. My hips were really sore during that pregnancy as well, and I was just as exhausted. But, it was easier, 'cause I only had myself to look after really, and could sleep in to all hours of the day, only getting up to eat and take lazy swims in the river. I had pretty much quit working in my seventh month of pregnancy, only taking the odd shift here and there after that point.
Me at 40 weeks pregnant. Cherry arrived at 41 weeks.
I went into labour the evening of July 06, 05. I have no idea how far apart the contractions were, I might have the details in Cherry's baby book, but she's sleeping right now and the book is in her room. Anyway, the contractions were regular, and probably like 10-15 minutes apart. They made my bum hurt. I was able to sleep between the contractions, but would wake up for each one. I would lightly moan with each one, and Armondo would make fun of me, saying it sounded like I was make s3x noises. These contractions continued on through the next day, which Armondo took off work, and again through that night and into the next day. Armondo had just started a new job where he was the manager, so he had to return to work that next day, since not much new was happening. My midwife was a total sweet heart and came to my house and hung out with me all day, just reading while I moaned and tried to sleep in the next room. She didn't want to leave me alone, and was there to check how dilated my cervix was every hour or so.
I remember asking her what we were waiting for, why weren't we going to the hospital yet, and she responded telling me that the contractions still had to get worse, that I was only going through "soft labour" and that I had a ways to go. I was totally baffled that she'd call this "soft labour" considering how much pain I was in, and how long I had been feeling it, but when 4pm came around that day, on July 8th, I understood what she had meant.
All of a sudden, the contractions came faster and harder. One after the other, with barely any time to breath or talk in between. She checked my cervix, and I still had some ways to go, but by 6pm, after the most painful car ride I've ever experienced, we were in the hospital room. Armondo arrived around the same time, and one of my friends, C.D. was there to help me out as well. Luckily, we were the only ones in the maternity ward that Friday evening, so I got the "good" room that had its own bath and shower.
In Labour, in pain. Sweating like a mo' fo!
It was dinner time, and I was starving at this point, so we ordered pizza, which C.D. went and picked up. The darling also brought Oreos (my favourite) and some other snacks to tie me over. I ate my piece of pizza in the bathtub, as I was trying to get some relief from the contraction pain. I had taken a shower at home which had felt good, so my midwife suggested the bath. The bath didn't do much, and I just felt stupid being naked and exposed, so I got out pretty quickly and moved to the bed. I couldn't eat more than that one piece of pizza, 'cause the pain was too distracting.
I don't think I ever got mean or anything, but the pain was intense. I asked for drugs almost as soon as we got there, and the anesthesiologist was called. I was told he was an hour away, which upset me greatly, but they tried to tie me over by giving me some laughing gas, which was totally nasty and didn't work at all, and some other drug, which also didn't work.
Because the anesthesiologist was involved, this automatically meant that there needed to be an O.B. present, and that my midwife couldn't deliver the baby. It also meant that I had to wait for him to show up as well before the epidural could be done. The anesthesiologist started to get me ready for the epi, but it wasn't until two hours after the original call that I got the actual procedure.
I remember before they would let me have the epi. that I had to read and sign the release form that basically said I could become paralyzed for life and that I couldn't sue them for it. I couldn't read it myself, so C.D. read it out loud for me. She would read a bit, then stop while I had a contraction. Then read, then stop. Then read, then stop. I was getting so pissed off! I wanted her to just read the damn thing so I could sign it and get the procedure! Of course, her taking a little longer to read it wasn't actually making it take any longer to happen, but at the time, I wasn't thinking overly rationally!
They also hooked me up to a catheter, which, I'm telling you was pretty darn neat. Just sayin.
When the epidural finally happened, I was so happy! I felt really good. I could still feel the contractions, but they didn't hurt, they felt more like mild gas. My bliss didn't last for long though, as I was hungry, and dang, I wanted an Oreo! C.D. was just about to hand me one when one of the nurses started freaking out. "You can't eat once you've had an epidural!"
"WHAT?!?" I was pissed off! I was starving! I had been in all sorts of pain before and couldn't eat, and now I had relief, and they wouldn't feed me! "I don't remember ANYTHING about that in the form I had to sign!" It was around 9 pm.
They told me to try to get some sleep for the next little while while we waited for the baby's head to drop, and perhaps, for my water to break. I wasn't able to sleep, as I was too excited, or wound up, or whatever, but Armondo went out into the hall and caught some winks. C.D. stayed and chatted with me.
They had to manually break my water, and when they did, there was mechonium present. (In layman's terms, it meant the baby had pooped inside.) This is not a good thing, and it usually means that the baby has ingested some of the mech. and needs to have her lungs and/or stomach pumped. So, as soon as the mechonium was detected, the pediatrician had to be called in so she could prepare to clean the baby out.
Hours passed and her head wouldn't drop. Finally, around midnight, it was time to start to think about pushing. At this point, they lowered the dose on the epidural and the pain started to come back. I was getting upset about this, but they assured me that the dose had to be lowered for two reasons 1)you don't want to over-drug the baby, and 2) you need to feel the contractions to know when to push.
Then the pushing started around 1am.
I had been told that I would probably poop myself during delivery, and I wasn't looking forward to that. I had actually tried to poop earlier in the evening so that I would be empty before delivery, and hadn't had any luck. I expressed my concerns, and was told that it was completely normal to poop yourself, and that it was sort of like rabbit pellets, and to not worry about it. So, I sort of got used to the idea. That is, until the O.B. started to tell me to "Push like you're the most consitpated you've ever been in your life." He was telling me, basically to poop myself. Not like the pooping part was an accident, but it was a DELIBERATE thing. They were right though, it was just like rabbit pellets, and the nurses would clean me up quickly after every little bit. I was taking a long time, so the O.B. left to go do something or other and left me in the care of the nurses and my midwife. I was trying all sorts of positions to push in. Her head just wouldn't drop, and I was in a LOT of pain again. I would go on my side, I would go on my back. At one point, I got up and sat on the little portable potty to try to see if gravity would help. I was so much more comfortable in that position than any other, and said I wanted to stay there, and push my baby out in there. (They took the bucket thing underneath out, I was basically just sitting on the ring.) One of the nurses told me "I don't know of any doctors out there that would deliver a baby on a toilet! Get yourself back on the bed!"
These nurses seemed really mean at this point! I wasn't even allowed a hot water bottle on my lower back 'cause "Once you have an epidural, you can't have a hot water bottle." I sure as heck didn't read THAT in the form either.
Finally, the kid started to move down. Apparently the reason why I was in so much pain was because I was fully dilated (for hours) but her head hadn't dropped into the cervix, which is supposed to provide some sort of relief.
So, I pushed and pushed some more. I felt my cervix rip open as a huge head passed through, and was totally shocked when, much later, the O.B. told me that the head had come through the vagina. Basically, you can feel two pains. One, as your cervix is being ripped open, and another as your vagina is being ripped open. At one point, the O.B. asked me if I wanted to reach down and touch her crowning head, to which I replied with a loud "NO" (I just wanted the baby out, no time spent messing around touching her head!) and at 2:55 am after two hours of pushing, on July 9th, I gave birth to a 7lb, 15 oz, 21 inch long baby girl, with a cord wrapped around her neck. (The possible reason why she didn't drop easily.) She was a week "late".
One of her first moments. Not really responding well.
I didn't get to see her right away, as she was swept away to the pediatrician who sucked all the mechonium out of all of her airways. I had been warned this would happen, and took it in stride.
The nurses were all helping the ped. and the O.B. was still focused on me. "Ok, now I need you to push one more time to push the placenta out."
"I can't push again!" I cried.
"Yes you can, I need you to push just one more time!"
"I can't do it!" I whimpered. I was so exhausted and so overwhelmed that I just couldn't imagine pushing one last time. But I did. And it was easy. "Ploop" the placenta popped out. I had been worried over nothing, and the O.B. knew it and sort of laughed at me.
They placed the large, slimy, looking like a cow liver thing on a table at the end of the bed and the O.B. poked at it and showed me the various parts of it in an attempt to distract me from the drama that was happening over on the heating table.
The O.B. told me to not worry that I wasn't hearing any crying. It wasn't until that point that I even realized that there was anything odd about not hearing crying. My support team was great at keeping poker faces as the baby's first Apgar score came in at a 1/10. Basically, she was barely breathing, was blue, wasn't moving or responding, and was in a lot of trouble. Later, C.D. would tell me that she thought that Cherry was dead. I didn't find this out until months later.
Daddy's little girl!
After a lifetime passed, she started crying. Armondo was able to cut the cord more (they had cut it long right as she was born in order to get her on that table fast, and Armondo cut it to the stump), and then we were able to hold our new baby girl.
Armondo held her first, carrying her over to me, and I held her for a bit before passing her back to her Daddy. I think the nurses were a little shocked that I handed her over so quickly, but I had read somewhere that it was important for new fathers to handle their babies for at least 10 minutes of their first hour of life in order to really get the bond happening. As the mother who had been carrying her for over 9 months, I knew I'd already bonded, and that I'd have plenty of time to do some more bonding.
My precious little girl!
C.D. then left, and Armondo, my midwife, my new baby and I were left alone in the room. My midwife told me that I had to stay in the birthing room until I could get up and pee by myself before I would be moved to a real room. It wasn't until an hour or so later that I was complaining that I still couldn't move really, and my midwife figured out that the epidural hadn't been turned off, and was still supplying me with a small amount of drugs. It was enough that I couldn't really sit up, but not enough that it was completely obvious that I was still hooked up. So, the midwife had to track down a nurse to turn it off, and 15 minutes later one came in and did so.
I then had the most painful pee I had ever had in my life. I was dirty, and bloody, and not wanting to sit down on a toilet, so the midwife suggested I take a shower and try to pee while in the shower. I cried it hurt so much! I hadn't really "torn" when Cherry came through, but I did have what the O.B. called a "scuff", which didn't require stitches. Peeing on it hurt. That, and I had had a catheter, so there was that bonus pain.
Around 5 am I was moved to the other room, where I was instructed how to breast feed, and Armondo crashed on a cot. Cherry slept on my chest for a couple of hours and then fed again. Armondo left early in the morning in order to get some sleep at home before his work shift (it really sucked, but it was a new job, and they really needed him to be there) and to phone all the relatives. I had told Armondo to just stay home if he was too tired, and that work would understand, and to phone me later.
I slept through most of the morning, waking up to attempt to go tot he bathroom and clean myself up once in awhile, and also to eat. At one point a nurse came in to take Cherry to have a bath, and again, I surprised the nurse when I said I didn't want to join her and would rather take the time to have a good amount of time in the bathroom to clean up. I guess I wasn't giving off the whole "protective, loving mother" vibe.
Cherry was feeding well and often, and I was ready to go home. At one point I asked the nurse when I'd be able to go, and she told me that the midwife had been in while I was sleeping and had said that I needed to stay there for the day. "*A* day?" I asked, or "THE day?"
"A day" she replied. Once again, I got pissed off.
By 3pm, Armondo still hadn't called or shown up or anything, so I called him to find out if he had gone to work or stayed home. Turns out he had stayed home and that there were all sorts of relatives of his over at the house, and that he was waiting for ME to call. (I guess he didn't get enough sleep, 'cause that totally wasn't what we agreed upon!) It was during that phone call that I told him that I had to stay the night. He told me he was on his way, and asked if I was up to having visitors, to which, I said "yes".
After the phone call, and before Armondo arrived, my midwife came in to see me. Turns out she had actually said I should stay there for THE day to get some rest, and not for A day. I could go home!
When Armondo arrived with his hoard of relatives, I told him the news. Turns out that they had all car-pooled and he had left our car, with the car seat at home. He didn't think that I was going home, so he didn't think to bring the car seat! So, his step-father drove him back to our house to get the car and left me with his crazy mother and aunt who insisted on dressing Cherry up and posing her with silly bows on her head for photos. (Of which I never got a copy.) At the time I thought it was crazy what they were doing, and was more inclined to take pictures of her bow-less. But, really, the bow pictures turned out really cute, and I wish I had a copy!
Then, I got changed and ready to go, and at around 5pm I was headed home. It was July, and hot and my MIL was trying to get us to put multiple layers of clothing on Cherry before taking her out into the "elements" and then wrap her up in blankets in the car seat, to which I refused and did much eye rolling. As we were walking to our cars, Armondo and the in-laws were all discussing which RESTAURANT we should go to for dinner. Now, I wasn't one of those germ-freak mothers right off the bat, but I couldn't bring myself to take my less-than-one-day-old-newborn out to a public place like a RESTAURANT. That, and I was bleeding like crazy and bloated from all the IV fluid I had pumped in me for hours the night before. (In fact, I had so much fluid in me, that when I got home and weighed myself, I hadn't actually lost ANY weight!)
So, I refused to go out for dinner, and felt like a party pooper, and everyone else left and went to dinner without us.
And we took our new baby girl home!
The "Honeymoon period" was bliss, and pretty un-eventful, which is good, 'cause I need to skip this part of the story so I can get the birth story done before the baby contest closes!
We decided it was time to have a baby, 'cause I wasn't really going anywhere with any sort of career ideas, so it would make more sense to have the kid(s) now, and work on a career later, as opposed to waste more years working dead-end jobs with no end in sight. We also felt pretty tied down with all of our pets (around 18 at this time, including chickens) and our house, so we weren't going to be traveling anytime soon, so it seemed like having the kid(s) young would be a better choice so that we'd still be somewhat young when they moved out.
The pregnancy was much like this one, though I was sick for 5 months straight instead of just three. I had switched from working at the hardware store working with chemicals to working at a steak house a few nights a week instead. My hips were really sore during that pregnancy as well, and I was just as exhausted. But, it was easier, 'cause I only had myself to look after really, and could sleep in to all hours of the day, only getting up to eat and take lazy swims in the river. I had pretty much quit working in my seventh month of pregnancy, only taking the odd shift here and there after that point.
Me at 40 weeks pregnant. Cherry arrived at 41 weeks.
I went into labour the evening of July 06, 05. I have no idea how far apart the contractions were, I might have the details in Cherry's baby book, but she's sleeping right now and the book is in her room. Anyway, the contractions were regular, and probably like 10-15 minutes apart. They made my bum hurt. I was able to sleep between the contractions, but would wake up for each one. I would lightly moan with each one, and Armondo would make fun of me, saying it sounded like I was make s3x noises. These contractions continued on through the next day, which Armondo took off work, and again through that night and into the next day. Armondo had just started a new job where he was the manager, so he had to return to work that next day, since not much new was happening. My midwife was a total sweet heart and came to my house and hung out with me all day, just reading while I moaned and tried to sleep in the next room. She didn't want to leave me alone, and was there to check how dilated my cervix was every hour or so.
I remember asking her what we were waiting for, why weren't we going to the hospital yet, and she responded telling me that the contractions still had to get worse, that I was only going through "soft labour" and that I had a ways to go. I was totally baffled that she'd call this "soft labour" considering how much pain I was in, and how long I had been feeling it, but when 4pm came around that day, on July 8th, I understood what she had meant.
All of a sudden, the contractions came faster and harder. One after the other, with barely any time to breath or talk in between. She checked my cervix, and I still had some ways to go, but by 6pm, after the most painful car ride I've ever experienced, we were in the hospital room. Armondo arrived around the same time, and one of my friends, C.D. was there to help me out as well. Luckily, we were the only ones in the maternity ward that Friday evening, so I got the "good" room that had its own bath and shower.
In Labour, in pain. Sweating like a mo' fo!
I don't think I ever got mean or anything, but the pain was intense. I asked for drugs almost as soon as we got there, and the anesthesiologist was called. I was told he was an hour away, which upset me greatly, but they tried to tie me over by giving me some laughing gas, which was totally nasty and didn't work at all, and some other drug, which also didn't work.
Because the anesthesiologist was involved, this automatically meant that there needed to be an O.B. present, and that my midwife couldn't deliver the baby. It also meant that I had to wait for him to show up as well before the epidural could be done. The anesthesiologist started to get me ready for the epi, but it wasn't until two hours after the original call that I got the actual procedure.
I remember before they would let me have the epi. that I had to read and sign the release form that basically said I could become paralyzed for life and that I couldn't sue them for it. I couldn't read it myself, so C.D. read it out loud for me. She would read a bit, then stop while I had a contraction. Then read, then stop. Then read, then stop. I was getting so pissed off! I wanted her to just read the damn thing so I could sign it and get the procedure! Of course, her taking a little longer to read it wasn't actually making it take any longer to happen, but at the time, I wasn't thinking overly rationally!
They also hooked me up to a catheter, which, I'm telling you was pretty darn neat. Just sayin.
When the epidural finally happened, I was so happy! I felt really good. I could still feel the contractions, but they didn't hurt, they felt more like mild gas. My bliss didn't last for long though, as I was hungry, and dang, I wanted an Oreo! C.D. was just about to hand me one when one of the nurses started freaking out. "You can't eat once you've had an epidural!"
"WHAT?!?" I was pissed off! I was starving! I had been in all sorts of pain before and couldn't eat, and now I had relief, and they wouldn't feed me! "I don't remember ANYTHING about that in the form I had to sign!" It was around 9 pm.
They told me to try to get some sleep for the next little while while we waited for the baby's head to drop, and perhaps, for my water to break. I wasn't able to sleep, as I was too excited, or wound up, or whatever, but Armondo went out into the hall and caught some winks. C.D. stayed and chatted with me.
They had to manually break my water, and when they did, there was mechonium present. (In layman's terms, it meant the baby had pooped inside.) This is not a good thing, and it usually means that the baby has ingested some of the mech. and needs to have her lungs and/or stomach pumped. So, as soon as the mechonium was detected, the pediatrician had to be called in so she could prepare to clean the baby out.
Hours passed and her head wouldn't drop. Finally, around midnight, it was time to start to think about pushing. At this point, they lowered the dose on the epidural and the pain started to come back. I was getting upset about this, but they assured me that the dose had to be lowered for two reasons 1)you don't want to over-drug the baby, and 2) you need to feel the contractions to know when to push.
Then the pushing started around 1am.
I had been told that I would probably poop myself during delivery, and I wasn't looking forward to that. I had actually tried to poop earlier in the evening so that I would be empty before delivery, and hadn't had any luck. I expressed my concerns, and was told that it was completely normal to poop yourself, and that it was sort of like rabbit pellets, and to not worry about it. So, I sort of got used to the idea. That is, until the O.B. started to tell me to "Push like you're the most consitpated you've ever been in your life." He was telling me, basically to poop myself. Not like the pooping part was an accident, but it was a DELIBERATE thing. They were right though, it was just like rabbit pellets, and the nurses would clean me up quickly after every little bit. I was taking a long time, so the O.B. left to go do something or other and left me in the care of the nurses and my midwife. I was trying all sorts of positions to push in. Her head just wouldn't drop, and I was in a LOT of pain again. I would go on my side, I would go on my back. At one point, I got up and sat on the little portable potty to try to see if gravity would help. I was so much more comfortable in that position than any other, and said I wanted to stay there, and push my baby out in there. (They took the bucket thing underneath out, I was basically just sitting on the ring.) One of the nurses told me "I don't know of any doctors out there that would deliver a baby on a toilet! Get yourself back on the bed!"
These nurses seemed really mean at this point! I wasn't even allowed a hot water bottle on my lower back 'cause "Once you have an epidural, you can't have a hot water bottle." I sure as heck didn't read THAT in the form either.
Finally, the kid started to move down. Apparently the reason why I was in so much pain was because I was fully dilated (for hours) but her head hadn't dropped into the cervix, which is supposed to provide some sort of relief.
So, I pushed and pushed some more. I felt my cervix rip open as a huge head passed through, and was totally shocked when, much later, the O.B. told me that the head had come through the vagina. Basically, you can feel two pains. One, as your cervix is being ripped open, and another as your vagina is being ripped open. At one point, the O.B. asked me if I wanted to reach down and touch her crowning head, to which I replied with a loud "NO" (I just wanted the baby out, no time spent messing around touching her head!) and at 2:55 am after two hours of pushing, on July 9th, I gave birth to a 7lb, 15 oz, 21 inch long baby girl, with a cord wrapped around her neck. (The possible reason why she didn't drop easily.) She was a week "late".
One of her first moments. Not really responding well.
I didn't get to see her right away, as she was swept away to the pediatrician who sucked all the mechonium out of all of her airways. I had been warned this would happen, and took it in stride.
The nurses were all helping the ped. and the O.B. was still focused on me. "Ok, now I need you to push one more time to push the placenta out."
"I can't push again!" I cried.
"Yes you can, I need you to push just one more time!"
"I can't do it!" I whimpered. I was so exhausted and so overwhelmed that I just couldn't imagine pushing one last time. But I did. And it was easy. "Ploop" the placenta popped out. I had been worried over nothing, and the O.B. knew it and sort of laughed at me.
They placed the large, slimy, looking like a cow liver thing on a table at the end of the bed and the O.B. poked at it and showed me the various parts of it in an attempt to distract me from the drama that was happening over on the heating table.
The O.B. told me to not worry that I wasn't hearing any crying. It wasn't until that point that I even realized that there was anything odd about not hearing crying. My support team was great at keeping poker faces as the baby's first Apgar score came in at a 1/10. Basically, she was barely breathing, was blue, wasn't moving or responding, and was in a lot of trouble. Later, C.D. would tell me that she thought that Cherry was dead. I didn't find this out until months later.
Daddy's little girl!
Armondo held her first, carrying her over to me, and I held her for a bit before passing her back to her Daddy. I think the nurses were a little shocked that I handed her over so quickly, but I had read somewhere that it was important for new fathers to handle their babies for at least 10 minutes of their first hour of life in order to really get the bond happening. As the mother who had been carrying her for over 9 months, I knew I'd already bonded, and that I'd have plenty of time to do some more bonding.
My precious little girl!
"Stop with that flashy thing already!"
Then another woman came into the maternity ward in labour, and all of the nurses started to file out, and Cherry was fine, so the O.B. and Pediatrician all left.C.D. then left, and Armondo, my midwife, my new baby and I were left alone in the room. My midwife told me that I had to stay in the birthing room until I could get up and pee by myself before I would be moved to a real room. It wasn't until an hour or so later that I was complaining that I still couldn't move really, and my midwife figured out that the epidural hadn't been turned off, and was still supplying me with a small amount of drugs. It was enough that I couldn't really sit up, but not enough that it was completely obvious that I was still hooked up. So, the midwife had to track down a nurse to turn it off, and 15 minutes later one came in and did so.
I then had the most painful pee I had ever had in my life. I was dirty, and bloody, and not wanting to sit down on a toilet, so the midwife suggested I take a shower and try to pee while in the shower. I cried it hurt so much! I hadn't really "torn" when Cherry came through, but I did have what the O.B. called a "scuff", which didn't require stitches. Peeing on it hurt. That, and I had had a catheter, so there was that bonus pain.
Around 5 am I was moved to the other room, where I was instructed how to breast feed, and Armondo crashed on a cot. Cherry slept on my chest for a couple of hours and then fed again. Armondo left early in the morning in order to get some sleep at home before his work shift (it really sucked, but it was a new job, and they really needed him to be there) and to phone all the relatives. I had told Armondo to just stay home if he was too tired, and that work would understand, and to phone me later.
I slept through most of the morning, waking up to attempt to go tot he bathroom and clean myself up once in awhile, and also to eat. At one point a nurse came in to take Cherry to have a bath, and again, I surprised the nurse when I said I didn't want to join her and would rather take the time to have a good amount of time in the bathroom to clean up. I guess I wasn't giving off the whole "protective, loving mother" vibe.
Cherry was feeding well and often, and I was ready to go home. At one point I asked the nurse when I'd be able to go, and she told me that the midwife had been in while I was sleeping and had said that I needed to stay there for the day. "*A* day?" I asked, or "THE day?"
"A day" she replied. Once again, I got pissed off.
By 3pm, Armondo still hadn't called or shown up or anything, so I called him to find out if he had gone to work or stayed home. Turns out he had stayed home and that there were all sorts of relatives of his over at the house, and that he was waiting for ME to call. (I guess he didn't get enough sleep, 'cause that totally wasn't what we agreed upon!) It was during that phone call that I told him that I had to stay the night. He told me he was on his way, and asked if I was up to having visitors, to which, I said "yes".
After the phone call, and before Armondo arrived, my midwife came in to see me. Turns out she had actually said I should stay there for THE day to get some rest, and not for A day. I could go home!
When Armondo arrived with his hoard of relatives, I told him the news. Turns out that they had all car-pooled and he had left our car, with the car seat at home. He didn't think that I was going home, so he didn't think to bring the car seat! So, his step-father drove him back to our house to get the car and left me with his crazy mother and aunt who insisted on dressing Cherry up and posing her with silly bows on her head for photos. (Of which I never got a copy.) At the time I thought it was crazy what they were doing, and was more inclined to take pictures of her bow-less. But, really, the bow pictures turned out really cute, and I wish I had a copy!
Then, I got changed and ready to go, and at around 5pm I was headed home. It was July, and hot and my MIL was trying to get us to put multiple layers of clothing on Cherry before taking her out into the "elements" and then wrap her up in blankets in the car seat, to which I refused and did much eye rolling. As we were walking to our cars, Armondo and the in-laws were all discussing which RESTAURANT we should go to for dinner. Now, I wasn't one of those germ-freak mothers right off the bat, but I couldn't bring myself to take my less-than-one-day-old-newborn out to a public place like a RESTAURANT. That, and I was bleeding like crazy and bloated from all the IV fluid I had pumped in me for hours the night before. (In fact, I had so much fluid in me, that when I got home and weighed myself, I hadn't actually lost ANY weight!)
So, I refused to go out for dinner, and felt like a party pooper, and everyone else left and went to dinner without us.
And we took our new baby girl home!
Baby is home and welcomed into the "pack" right away! (She's two days old here.)
The Truth.
I has been brought to my attention that it might seem like I sugarcoat my life here on this blog.
I have no problem with people thinking that! It means that I'm not coming across as a big ole drag! I swear I don't sugarcoat though. Life is generally good around here.
But it's not right now. Things are REALLY tough right now. I can't go into detail at the moment, due to some privacy issues, but when it blows over, or if someone reminds me about it in a month or so, I might go into detail.
Just know everyone is ok physically besides the nasty colds and teething and hips, and the baby in the belly is doing well, but emotionally, this place (me) is falling apart!
Cherry's Baby story will probably be posted tonight.
I have no problem with people thinking that! It means that I'm not coming across as a big ole drag! I swear I don't sugarcoat though. Life is generally good around here.
But it's not right now. Things are REALLY tough right now. I can't go into detail at the moment, due to some privacy issues, but when it blows over, or if someone reminds me about it in a month or so, I might go into detail.
Just know everyone is ok physically besides the nasty colds and teething and hips, and the baby in the belly is doing well, but emotionally, this place (me) is falling apart!
Cherry's Baby story will probably be posted tonight.
Monday, November 13, 2006
I'm Such a Wuss.
I'm sick. The darlin' daughter passed her cold or whatever on to me. And I'm miserable. I mean, like I'm way more miserable than she acted when she was at her worse. When Armondo gets sick, he barely flinches, but here I am, feeling like I'm on death's door.
And, being pregnant, I can't take anything! Someone, please feel sorry for me. And maybe send me a maid.
And, being pregnant, I can't take anything! Someone, please feel sorry for me. And maybe send me a maid.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Honeymoon. (Series Part VIII)
To read the rest of the stories in the series, click on the "Love Series" in the sidebar.
After a long wait in the airport, we finally set off for our honeymoon. We had an eight hour flight from Vancouver to the Dominican Republic. The flight didn't really seem all that long to me, 'cause I had already taken the bus to Saskatchewan and back twice, at 24 hours each way and had also taken the bus to Montreal and back, which was a 72 hour ride each way. Armondo, on the other hand was not used to sitting for such a long stretch in such a confined area and swore that the next tropical trip we were going on was going to be to the much closer location of Mexico!
It was interesting passing over most of the United States though. The sky was clear all night so we were able to see all the tiny little towns and huge cities diagonally across the country. We were both surprised to see just how populated America really was, as there wasn't really much dark space between the lights of all the cities. In Canada, there really are only maybe three to six large cities per province (if you don't count the sub-burbs), with lots of empty space between.
When we arrived in the Dom. the humidity and heat hit us like a wave as we stepped off the plane! Neither one of us had ever experienced anything like that before. We walked straight off of the plane onto the tarmac, and were amused by all the locals (airport employees) who were running around wearing plastic ponchos and trying to duck the rain which to us, seemed almost non-existent, and was almost like a mist as opposed to real rain.
The airport was quite neat. It was open on all sides, and pretty much just consisted of a palm-leaf thatched roof held by large wooden poles. We were all greeted by locals in traditional dress and they took each couple's picture as we walked through. (Like you see on TV when people arrive in Hawaii, but we didn't get Leis.)
Then there was the bus ride! Ha! We all got onto the bus and waited about 45 minutes before even leaving for our hotel. Then our "20 minute" ride to the resort became two and a half hours as the driver and energetic "tour guide" dragged the trip out by stopping a couple of times for road-side bathroom breaks and beer runs. Armondo and I were instantly annoyed, and not overly enthusiastic about the "party bus" atmosphere. We just wanted to get to the resort and relax. I can say that we were both glad that it was dark on the drive there though, 'cause we could tell that the roads were very crazy and dangerous!
The actual resort was pretty nice. There was a large common area that consisted of an open air lobby and restaurant and theatre. There was also a casino, which was open to the public, and a small night club and pizza place. There were a few a la carte restaurants as well, and a gym. The pool was very nice, though all the "rules" sort of annoyed me as you couldn't swim when it was raining (which was most of the trip) or after 7pm. There were open bars everywhere, too, but because Armondo doesn't drink, and it was OUR honeymoon, I kept my drinking to a minimum. (Which I'm SOO not going to do the next time we do a trip like that ;) )
Our days pretty much consisted of hanging out the beach and doing little bits of snorkeling. We spent the hottest hours of the days in our air conditioned room, and the evenings walking around, eating pizza and dancing in the little club. I spent way too much time chasing lizards, frogs and stray cats around as well. I'm such a little kid that way! I love animals!
We had fun beach combing as well, and poked at the sea urchins and such. The swimming was really nice too. The water was so blue-green and beautiful. It was way saltier than the ocean here, so it was easy to float, and the water was always nice and warm, even in the middle of the night. On one of the days, Armondo and I decided that because it was so easy to float that we'd take a long swim across the bay to a man-made island/barrier thing that we had visited the day before by row boat.
Once we got on the barrier thing, we admitted our panic to each other and were able to laugh about it, as the walk back to shore (not our starting point) was all chest depth or less. On our way down the island, we ran into a local who was lobster fishing and we were entertained for a bit as we saw him scoop a long tube (like a plumbing ABS tube thing) out of the water, then bang on it to get the lobsters all out of it. And that's all he had to do. He just replaced the tube in the water, and every day he'd go back to gather any lobsters he had caught and threw the crabs back in the water. Armondo has sworn that he'd use that trick to catch crawfish in our river here at home, but has never seemed to get around to it.
The ATV trip we took was really fun. There were probably four couples, a singleton and the guide. Each couple shared an ATV. Out of all of the couples, I was the only female who ever drove! None of the other women got turns on their ATVs. I don't know if the guys were playing macho, or if the women just weren't interested, but I had a BLAST as we went back-roading through the country and driving through mud pits and such. (And, I have to admit that I was a MUCH better driver than Armondo, but that rings true for driving cars too. We just won't talk about my parking abilities!)
During the ATV trip, we went to a few little shanty towns where all the kids gathered around and begged for candy. Somehow, everyone we were with knew that they'd be asking for candy, and had some on hand, but us naive travelers had no idea. In one town, we stopped for awhile, where I spent time chasing more animals around (this time baby goats and funny looking ducks). It was in that town that I made friends with an old guy who told me (through someone translating) that I was welcome there any time. I'm not sure what made him warm up to me, 'cause I was acting like a dork chasing their livestock around, and I didn't give them any gifts, but I felt pretty honoured to be welcomed like that!
At another stop, some guys were taking coconuts down from a tree and we got to watch as they sort of "shucked" them with their machetes and then cut them open to drink and eat from. 
Armondo in the tree the coconuts came from.
I really wanted to try to cut open one myself, and the guide told me if I gave the guys some money, that they'd pick a coconut for me and they'd teach me how to do it. Again, not knowing what we were supposed to do, we didn't bring money with us! I guess they took pity on me, or thought I was cute, or something, 'cause they decided to show me how anyway. It was pretty fun trying, but I could not, for the life of me, chop open that coconut! All in all, the ATV trip was pretty awesome, and I almost wanted to pay to go on the trip a second time!
Me posing during one of the stops on the ATV tour. I don't think I'll ever be able to fit that shirt again!
I couldn't leave the Caribbean without getting my hair done in little braids, so I paid a few dollars a braid and got my really short hair done in about eight tiny braids. It was during my chat with the hair girl that I started to figure out how poorly the people were treated at the resort. This girl, when she did a full head, charged about $50 US, and the hotel would get $45 of it! So, after paying for my hair, I went back to the hotel room, got some more money and tried to secretly give her a tip. I really hope she was able to keep the money! Later, we found out that the entertainers worked 12 hours a day and got paid a miniscule amount of money at the end of the month (can't remember exactly anymore, but it was completely shocking), and they didn't really get breaks during the day, except for one meal break. And these people were actually getting paid and treated WELL compared to the majority of the population! And they were happy! In fact, all the people everywhere were happy. In the little villages we saw when we went on the ATV tour, and the people on the beaches, the people we saw dancing in the street in the middle of the night on the way to the resort... everyone seemed happy! It really put "wealth" into perspective for me!
That didn't stop me from getting huffy over a money issue just the next day though. We had attempted to take a trip to the local market to get ripped off buy some local knick knacks, but we were mis-informed about the time of the trip to town, missed the bus, and it was our last day there, so we decided to take the money we had already converted to pesos and go to the casino that night instead. We had fun playing the slots (a first for me) and Armondo actually won the jackpot! This is where things got pretty messed up!
We were both excited that he won the money! I mean, we really could use the extra money! The problem? We had played using pesos, so the prize money had to be paid out in pesos. And he won a LOT of pesos! It was, in fact around 19,ooo pesos! The casino people assured us that the hotel front desk would be able to exchange the money for us, so we took our winnings to them and asked them to help us out. It was already around 10pm, and they told us that they didn't have that much money on them at the time, but that in the morning, they'd have it after the money truck arrived, so come back in the morning. We woke up early the next morning, which was the day we were to leave, and we went to the desk to get our money. "Come back around 11am." At 11am, we're told "Come back in a couple of hours." Well, our bus was leaving soon to get back to the airport, so we told them we couldn't come back in a couple of hours, which was when they finally told us the truth that they would never actually carry that much money at a given time, and that we'd have to go to a bank. They suggested we take a taxi to town to go to a bank. RIGHT. We now had a pocket load of useless cash that we were sure we were going to get stuck with, until someone told us there would be an exchange place at the airport. (We were also told that it would be next to impossible to exchange the money once we got home. And us, having never really traveled before, had no clue.) So, we all file onto the bus, which took even longer to get BACK to the airport than it did to come from the airport, and arrived at the airport fifteen minutes after the "Banco" closed.
All this hassle was frustrating us to no end, and we were having troubles seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We were both pissed off at being lied to so many times, and being jacked around by people trying to get us to spend our money by stopping the bus at overpriced tourist traps on the way home. (I tried to buy a bag of chips 'cause I was starving, and they tried to get $5 U.S. from me for it. I refused and tried to haggle, but they just took the bag of chips out of my hand and rolled their eyes.)
So, we flew home, with no idea what we were going to do with the money, and were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to see that there was a currency exchange booth right in the airport. (Like I said, we were told that it would be next to impossible to exchange it when we got home, so we weren't very optimistic!) The problem was that we arrived at the airport at 1 am, and the booth didn't open until 6am. We had the option of finding a hotel to sleep in that night, then coming back to get our money, or crashing on the benches there until 6 am. We chose to try to sleep there. A few hours later, Armondo got restless and decided to take a walk. It was then (around 4am) that he discovered that on another floor of the airport, there was a currency exchange booth that was open 24 hours! So, I was needlessly sleeping on a bench at the airport! It turns out that the bills we were given were ridiculously small, and that the total turned out to be around $650 Cdn, which was a VERY welcome surprise! The money more than covered the cost of our extras, like the ATV trip, and the un-salvageable muddy shoes I had to throw out. (From driving through the mud pits.)
When I developed this picture, I couldn't stand how "chubby" I thought I looked. At that time, Armondo warned me that one day, I'd look back at this photo and wish I looked that good still, and he's more than right! Man, I wish I could get that body back!
After a long wait in the airport, we finally set off for our honeymoon. We had an eight hour flight from Vancouver to the Dominican Republic. The flight didn't really seem all that long to me, 'cause I had already taken the bus to Saskatchewan and back twice, at 24 hours each way and had also taken the bus to Montreal and back, which was a 72 hour ride each way. Armondo, on the other hand was not used to sitting for such a long stretch in such a confined area and swore that the next tropical trip we were going on was going to be to the much closer location of Mexico!
It was interesting passing over most of the United States though. The sky was clear all night so we were able to see all the tiny little towns and huge cities diagonally across the country. We were both surprised to see just how populated America really was, as there wasn't really much dark space between the lights of all the cities. In Canada, there really are only maybe three to six large cities per province (if you don't count the sub-burbs), with lots of empty space between.
When we arrived in the Dom. the humidity and heat hit us like a wave as we stepped off the plane! Neither one of us had ever experienced anything like that before. We walked straight off of the plane onto the tarmac, and were amused by all the locals (airport employees) who were running around wearing plastic ponchos and trying to duck the rain which to us, seemed almost non-existent, and was almost like a mist as opposed to real rain.
The airport was quite neat. It was open on all sides, and pretty much just consisted of a palm-leaf thatched roof held by large wooden poles. We were all greeted by locals in traditional dress and they took each couple's picture as we walked through. (Like you see on TV when people arrive in Hawaii, but we didn't get Leis.)
Then there was the bus ride! Ha! We all got onto the bus and waited about 45 minutes before even leaving for our hotel. Then our "20 minute" ride to the resort became two and a half hours as the driver and energetic "tour guide" dragged the trip out by stopping a couple of times for road-side bathroom breaks and beer runs. Armondo and I were instantly annoyed, and not overly enthusiastic about the "party bus" atmosphere. We just wanted to get to the resort and relax. I can say that we were both glad that it was dark on the drive there though, 'cause we could tell that the roads were very crazy and dangerous!
The actual resort was pretty nice. There was a large common area that consisted of an open air lobby and restaurant and theatre. There was also a casino, which was open to the public, and a small night club and pizza place. There were a few a la carte restaurants as well, and a gym. The pool was very nice, though all the "rules" sort of annoyed me as you couldn't swim when it was raining (which was most of the trip) or after 7pm. There were open bars everywhere, too, but because Armondo doesn't drink, and it was OUR honeymoon, I kept my drinking to a minimum. (Which I'm SOO not going to do the next time we do a trip like that ;) )
Our days pretty much consisted of hanging out the beach and doing little bits of snorkeling. We spent the hottest hours of the days in our air conditioned room, and the evenings walking around, eating pizza and dancing in the little club. I spent way too much time chasing lizards, frogs and stray cats around as well. I'm such a little kid that way! I love animals!
We had fun beach combing as well, and poked at the sea urchins and such. The swimming was really nice too. The water was so blue-green and beautiful. It was way saltier than the ocean here, so it was easy to float, and the water was always nice and warm, even in the middle of the night. On one of the days, Armondo and I decided that because it was so easy to float that we'd take a long swim across the bay to a man-made island/barrier thing that we had visited the day before by row boat.
Well, we started out fine, but by half-way across, panic started to set in for both of us, as we were both getting extremely tired and with us not being strong swimmers, we were finding it hard to swim against the current that started to pick up. We had snorkels, flippers, and goggles, so that made it easier to do the swim, but it was watching the ocean floor disappear below me that made me really start to panic! I did my best to hide my fear from Armondo, and he did a good job of hiding his, and we just kept on swimming our hardest until we got to the island, which for some reason, turned out to be way further than we thought it was!
Armondo, just minutes before panic set in! (I'm having trouble formatting the font, so I can't center the captions for the pictures! Grr!)
Armondo, just minutes before panic set in! (I'm having trouble formatting the font, so I can't center the captions for the pictures! Grr!)The ATV trip we took was really fun. There were probably four couples, a singleton and the guide. Each couple shared an ATV. Out of all of the couples, I was the only female who ever drove! None of the other women got turns on their ATVs. I don't know if the guys were playing macho, or if the women just weren't interested, but I had a BLAST as we went back-roading through the country and driving through mud pits and such. (And, I have to admit that I was a MUCH better driver than Armondo, but that rings true for driving cars too. We just won't talk about my parking abilities!)
During the ATV trip, we went to a few little shanty towns where all the kids gathered around and begged for candy. Somehow, everyone we were with knew that they'd be asking for candy, and had some on hand, but us naive travelers had no idea. In one town, we stopped for awhile, where I spent time chasing more animals around (this time baby goats and funny looking ducks). It was in that town that I made friends with an old guy who told me (through someone translating) that I was welcome there any time. I'm not sure what made him warm up to me, 'cause I was acting like a dork chasing their livestock around, and I didn't give them any gifts, but I felt pretty honoured to be welcomed like that!
Armondo in the tree the coconuts came from.I really wanted to try to cut open one myself, and the guide told me if I gave the guys some money, that they'd pick a coconut for me and they'd teach me how to do it. Again, not knowing what we were supposed to do, we didn't bring money with us! I guess they took pity on me, or thought I was cute, or something, 'cause they decided to show me how anyway. It was pretty fun trying, but I could not, for the life of me, chop open that coconut! All in all, the ATV trip was pretty awesome, and I almost wanted to pay to go on the trip a second time!
Me posing during one of the stops on the ATV tour. I don't think I'll ever be able to fit that shirt again!I couldn't leave the Caribbean without getting my hair done in little braids, so I paid a few dollars a braid and got my really short hair done in about eight tiny braids. It was during my chat with the hair girl that I started to figure out how poorly the people were treated at the resort. This girl, when she did a full head, charged about $50 US, and the hotel would get $45 of it! So, after paying for my hair, I went back to the hotel room, got some more money and tried to secretly give her a tip. I really hope she was able to keep the money! Later, we found out that the entertainers worked 12 hours a day and got paid a miniscule amount of money at the end of the month (can't remember exactly anymore, but it was completely shocking), and they didn't really get breaks during the day, except for one meal break. And these people were actually getting paid and treated WELL compared to the majority of the population! And they were happy! In fact, all the people everywhere were happy. In the little villages we saw when we went on the ATV tour, and the people on the beaches, the people we saw dancing in the street in the middle of the night on the way to the resort... everyone seemed happy! It really put "wealth" into perspective for me!
Cooking With CeCe: Play Dough Edition
Oh my goodness! Look at those eyelashes!I used the baking soda/baking powder substitute for the expensive cream of tartar, and it worked great! I've never actually played with home-made play dough that felt like the "real thing" but this stuff is as good as it can get! It smells different though. Which is fine, 'cause the real stuff kind of smells funny.
Things I will do different next time:
~Use WHITE flour instead of unbleached. The unbleached sort of made the colours funny, and there's little specks in it.
~Mix the food colouring or kool-aid into the mixture WHILE it's cooking and not afterwards. I knew the batch was going to be large, so I wanted to try different colours instead of just one, so I mixed in the food colouring after it was all cooked. Let's just say that it's a good thing I didn't get my nails done already, 'cause I would have to cry with the damage I've done to my hands!
~Start making the stuff earlier in the night. It actually takes a long time to cook, 'cause you have to cook it on a pretty low heat, 'cause you don't want it to burn, and if you're taking a long time to cook it, and you finish at 11:30pm, there's no way that the dishes are getting done that night!
Cherry hasn't quite grasped the idea of playing with it yet. She was much more interested in playing with the utensils I gave her, and trying to eat the dough. We had about 15 mins. of fun that sounded like this:
"No, don't eat it. It's like a TOY, not food!"
"I said... don't eat it!"
"Pleah! Gross! Yucky! Blah!"
"Spit it out!"
"Annie!!! Don't eat it!"
"Annie! Stop!"
"Stop trying to feed it to the dogs!"
We were giggling and it was a positive experience, and I'm pretty sure she didn't actually ingest any of it, but I think it'll take a while before she truly "gets" the whole play dough thing!
Oh, and I need to get some cookie cutters. 'Cause play dough just isn't as fun if you don't have cookie cutters!
Saturday, November 11, 2006
The Ailments.
Cherry has had a runny nose for over a month straight now. It started to get better for a couple of days, then it came back, but with a nasty sounding croupy cough. She's still as active as ever, but sounds horrible, so we've pretty much stayed at home all week. No fever or anything either, so there doesn't seem a need to go to the doctor's.
She also just got over a bout of nasty poop that lasted a good two weeks. Two days ago, that finally ended and she's back to solid poops, and her diaper rash has started to subside.
Oh, and she's teething too. Two molars are poking through. Besides the cough part (which I believe is some sort of post-nasal-drip sort of thing) I have a feeling that the other ailments are directly connected to the teething.
Then there's me. My hips. Oh, my aching hips! It hurts to walk, stand, sit, lay down, whatever. My hips are bad any time, but this extra weight is just killing them. I can't wait to have this baby! Yesterday wasn't too bad, but today is making up for it!
Sabre got into a fight a week or so ago. She came home with a big gash on her jaw and half her face was all puffy. I was dreading another abscess, as she seems to get those every time she gets into a fight. She seemed to heal up fine, and was ready to pull another all-nighter outside a couple of nights later. That just happened to be a night where the wind and rain was so bad that I was worried sick about her. I called and called her, but I think the weather was just too loud to hear over. She came home in the morning soaked, and now has a sneazy cold. Ever had a cat sneeze on you? How 'bout when your mouth is open as you're laying in bed half asleep? You should try it sometime. It's pretty cool.
And, not an ailment, but something that I've been wanting to mention for a long time now. Not because any of you would particularly care, but because I'd like to be able to look back at this and say "Oh yeah, I remember that!" Anyway. Cherry has a zit on her chin. She has had that same zit for well over 4 months, if not longer. I know she had it on her birthday, and I'm sure it was there longer than that. It just won't go away! I've squeezed it a few times (I usually get to it about once a month, just to see if it'll work) and it hasn't gone away. I'm curious as to why a zit would stay for so long!
Now I'm off to shower, then I may attempt to make some play dough for Cherry (of course Armondo will probably end up playing with it more often though) and if I still have energy after that, I'm going to attempt to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
She also just got over a bout of nasty poop that lasted a good two weeks. Two days ago, that finally ended and she's back to solid poops, and her diaper rash has started to subside.
Oh, and she's teething too. Two molars are poking through. Besides the cough part (which I believe is some sort of post-nasal-drip sort of thing) I have a feeling that the other ailments are directly connected to the teething.
Then there's me. My hips. Oh, my aching hips! It hurts to walk, stand, sit, lay down, whatever. My hips are bad any time, but this extra weight is just killing them. I can't wait to have this baby! Yesterday wasn't too bad, but today is making up for it!
Sabre got into a fight a week or so ago. She came home with a big gash on her jaw and half her face was all puffy. I was dreading another abscess, as she seems to get those every time she gets into a fight. She seemed to heal up fine, and was ready to pull another all-nighter outside a couple of nights later. That just happened to be a night where the wind and rain was so bad that I was worried sick about her. I called and called her, but I think the weather was just too loud to hear over. She came home in the morning soaked, and now has a sneazy cold. Ever had a cat sneeze on you? How 'bout when your mouth is open as you're laying in bed half asleep? You should try it sometime. It's pretty cool.
And, not an ailment, but something that I've been wanting to mention for a long time now. Not because any of you would particularly care, but because I'd like to be able to look back at this and say "Oh yeah, I remember that!" Anyway. Cherry has a zit on her chin. She has had that same zit for well over 4 months, if not longer. I know she had it on her birthday, and I'm sure it was there longer than that. It just won't go away! I've squeezed it a few times (I usually get to it about once a month, just to see if it'll work) and it hasn't gone away. I'm curious as to why a zit would stay for so long!
Now I'm off to shower, then I may attempt to make some play dough for Cherry (of course Armondo will probably end up playing with it more often though) and if I still have energy after that, I'm going to attempt to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Don't forget about the baby contest!
The baby contest closes Midnight Nov 15th. Some people are waiting for me to finish my "series" before they make their big guesses.
Next in the series is the honeymoon, then I'll skip to Cherry's birth story, which is what some of you are waiting for in order to make your predictions.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a little click over there on the top of the sidebar.
I know Nov 15th seems a little early to end the contest since I'm not due until January, but I thought I'd end it a little early in case anyone wanted to predict an early birth.
Good luck!
Next in the series is the honeymoon, then I'll skip to Cherry's birth story, which is what some of you are waiting for in order to make your predictions.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a little click over there on the top of the sidebar.
I know Nov 15th seems a little early to end the contest since I'm not due until January, but I thought I'd end it a little early in case anyone wanted to predict an early birth.
Good luck!
Thursday, November 09, 2006
After the Wedding, Before the Honeymoon. (Series Part VII)
To read the rest of the series, find the "Love Series" links on the sidebar.
So, after we left the house where the wedding was, Armondo and I split up into different cars. Armondo went in his father's car to his father's hotel room to gather his stuff, while I took my mother and grandmother straight back to my place. My mother asked several times to go with my FIL, but Armondo and I were NOT going to let our two disfunctional parents be alone together in a hotel room! So, right after our wedding, Armondo and I were already split up!
We live really close to the ferry, so my ma and grandma were just coming over for a little while before they caught the ferry, and on the way home, my mother fell asleep in the car. (This is, of course, after she had already fallen asleep at my WEDDING!)
When we got to the house, my grandmother and I announced loudly that we were there, and both forcefully slammed our car doors to try to get my mother to wake up. She didn't. So for the next little while, my grandmother and I relaxed and chatted a bit while we waited for the time for the ferry to arrive. When it was time to drive them to the ferry, Armondo and his dad were just arriving. My mother woke up as we got into the car, and was upset that we hadn't woken her up, 'cause she wanted to check out my house and wanted to visit with everyone (ie, Armondo's father). Then, apparently, she didn't have money to pay for the ferry, and my grandmother paid, and then she cried on the way home 'cause we didn't wake her up!
After most people had filed out of Armondo's aunt's house after the wedding, I changed into some comfy sweats for the up coming plane ride. I was still wearing them when Armondo and his father decided that we should go out for dinner. They opted for a very casual family restaurant, so I wasn't overly embarrassed, or worried about looking like a slob for dinner.
That is, until Armondo's father told our server that we had just gotten married, and the whole wait staff came out and announced it and yelled and hollered and put ANTLERS on both of our heads and took a Polaroid of the occasion. It was at that point that I felt like a total loser. Not because of the antlers on my head, but because I was wearing SWEATS on my WEDDING DAY! (you know, I might have even been wearing PJ bottoms, and not actually sweats too. How's THAT for class?)
After dinner, we were in a rush to catch the ferry, so Armondo's dad started racing down the freeway in his old BMW at speeds that were all too unnecessary, and all too scary for me. I was, at this point, more scared of the drive to the ferry, then to the airport than the actual PLANE ride. We were half way to the ferry, when we noticed a car make this massive swerve in front of us at the same point as another car was pulled over. My FIL didn't react as quickly as the car in front of us and ran over the thing the other car was trying to avoid. It was half a dead deer carcass. A very LARGE deer carcass. And he ran right over it. And started to freak out.
The car that was pulled over was obviously the car that had hit and killed it, and we were the third or fourth car to come afterwards. As my FIL is freaking out (but not pulling over), I'm trying to assure him that it was, indeed, just a deer, and not a MAN as he seemed so insistent on trying to convince us it was.
"But, did you see that thing?!?"
"Yes, it was the back end of a deer! The front end was on the side of the road."
"That wasn't a deer! That was a MAN. I just ran over a MAN."
"No, no you didn't. It was a deer. I promise you it was a deer!"
"But, it was all bloody and the skin was all ripped off!"
"Yes, because it had been RUN OVER!"
"I think we just hit a MAN!"
Me, getting out my cell phone: "I'm going to call for help, maybe the people pulled over need help, and no one has called yet."
"OH NO YOU'RE NOT! " He shouted! "If I just ran over a man, you're not calling the cops on us! We're going to get arrested! PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY!"
Realizing that I was probably in more danger than the people on the side of the road, I decided to listen to my new, beloved FIL, and I put the phone away. I then got to listen to him repeat over and over again how he ran over a man and how his car must be ruined underneath, and sat seething in the back seat.
Then we arrived at the ferry. Turns out we were in the line up right behind the guy who was ahead of us and who had actually swerved and MISSED the deer carcass, and it started the whole Man/Deer argument up again. Embarrassingly, it was someone I knew from high school (Steve Iyer, for those of you who care) but luckily, this third opinion was able to convince my FIL that the blood and guts on the bottom of his broken spoiler thing were that of an animal, and not of a man. It was at this point, standing in the dark, in the cold, staring at deer guts that I was glad for the first time that I was in SWEATS and not in something nicer.
The ferry ride itself was uneventful, as Armondo and I went up to the passenger decks while FIL stayed in the car. It was up on the decks that Armondo took a couple of minutes to lecture me on how I should have just "let (it) go" and let my FIL think he ran over a man instead of arguing with him, but then also admitted that he was sure that his father was drunk (this was the first time I had met him, so I had nothing to compare his behaviour to) and had figured that his dad had been normal all day because he had been sipping vodka in his coffee cup, but now that he had gone a couple of hours without his maintenance drinking, that he had gone loopy. We decided then that we would tempt fate and accept the ride to the airport still, but that we would skip out on the late night visit that we had planned with his dad to kill time before our flight arrived.
Next installment: The Honeymoon.
So, after we left the house where the wedding was, Armondo and I split up into different cars. Armondo went in his father's car to his father's hotel room to gather his stuff, while I took my mother and grandmother straight back to my place. My mother asked several times to go with my FIL, but Armondo and I were NOT going to let our two disfunctional parents be alone together in a hotel room! So, right after our wedding, Armondo and I were already split up!
We live really close to the ferry, so my ma and grandma were just coming over for a little while before they caught the ferry, and on the way home, my mother fell asleep in the car. (This is, of course, after she had already fallen asleep at my WEDDING!)
When we got to the house, my grandmother and I announced loudly that we were there, and both forcefully slammed our car doors to try to get my mother to wake up. She didn't. So for the next little while, my grandmother and I relaxed and chatted a bit while we waited for the time for the ferry to arrive. When it was time to drive them to the ferry, Armondo and his dad were just arriving. My mother woke up as we got into the car, and was upset that we hadn't woken her up, 'cause she wanted to check out my house and wanted to visit with everyone (ie, Armondo's father). Then, apparently, she didn't have money to pay for the ferry, and my grandmother paid, and then she cried on the way home 'cause we didn't wake her up!
After most people had filed out of Armondo's aunt's house after the wedding, I changed into some comfy sweats for the up coming plane ride. I was still wearing them when Armondo and his father decided that we should go out for dinner. They opted for a very casual family restaurant, so I wasn't overly embarrassed, or worried about looking like a slob for dinner.
That is, until Armondo's father told our server that we had just gotten married, and the whole wait staff came out and announced it and yelled and hollered and put ANTLERS on both of our heads and took a Polaroid of the occasion. It was at that point that I felt like a total loser. Not because of the antlers on my head, but because I was wearing SWEATS on my WEDDING DAY! (you know, I might have even been wearing PJ bottoms, and not actually sweats too. How's THAT for class?)
After dinner, we were in a rush to catch the ferry, so Armondo's dad started racing down the freeway in his old BMW at speeds that were all too unnecessary, and all too scary for me. I was, at this point, more scared of the drive to the ferry, then to the airport than the actual PLANE ride. We were half way to the ferry, when we noticed a car make this massive swerve in front of us at the same point as another car was pulled over. My FIL didn't react as quickly as the car in front of us and ran over the thing the other car was trying to avoid. It was half a dead deer carcass. A very LARGE deer carcass. And he ran right over it. And started to freak out.
The car that was pulled over was obviously the car that had hit and killed it, and we were the third or fourth car to come afterwards. As my FIL is freaking out (but not pulling over), I'm trying to assure him that it was, indeed, just a deer, and not a MAN as he seemed so insistent on trying to convince us it was.
"But, did you see that thing?!?"
"Yes, it was the back end of a deer! The front end was on the side of the road."
"That wasn't a deer! That was a MAN. I just ran over a MAN."
"No, no you didn't. It was a deer. I promise you it was a deer!"
"But, it was all bloody and the skin was all ripped off!"
"Yes, because it had been RUN OVER!"
"I think we just hit a MAN!"
Me, getting out my cell phone: "I'm going to call for help, maybe the people pulled over need help, and no one has called yet."
"OH NO YOU'RE NOT! " He shouted! "If I just ran over a man, you're not calling the cops on us! We're going to get arrested! PUT YOUR PHONE AWAY!"
Realizing that I was probably in more danger than the people on the side of the road, I decided to listen to my new, beloved FIL, and I put the phone away. I then got to listen to him repeat over and over again how he ran over a man and how his car must be ruined underneath, and sat seething in the back seat.
Then we arrived at the ferry. Turns out we were in the line up right behind the guy who was ahead of us and who had actually swerved and MISSED the deer carcass, and it started the whole Man/Deer argument up again. Embarrassingly, it was someone I knew from high school (Steve Iyer, for those of you who care) but luckily, this third opinion was able to convince my FIL that the blood and guts on the bottom of his broken spoiler thing were that of an animal, and not of a man. It was at this point, standing in the dark, in the cold, staring at deer guts that I was glad for the first time that I was in SWEATS and not in something nicer.
The ferry ride itself was uneventful, as Armondo and I went up to the passenger decks while FIL stayed in the car. It was up on the decks that Armondo took a couple of minutes to lecture me on how I should have just "let (it) go" and let my FIL think he ran over a man instead of arguing with him, but then also admitted that he was sure that his father was drunk (this was the first time I had met him, so I had nothing to compare his behaviour to) and had figured that his dad had been normal all day because he had been sipping vodka in his coffee cup, but now that he had gone a couple of hours without his maintenance drinking, that he had gone loopy. We decided then that we would tempt fate and accept the ride to the airport still, but that we would skip out on the late night visit that we had planned with his dad to kill time before our flight arrived.
Next installment: The Honeymoon.
Deep Thoughts with CeCe
I think this might become a regular thing with me. I always seem to have these completely random thoughts. Here's my first one:
Why is it that Mr. Potato Head is brown, but his ears are pink?
Why is it that Mr. Potato Head is brown, but his ears are pink?
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Tiiiimberrrrr.
My beautiful tree is no more. Last week we got it chopped. It started off like this (it was over 100 ft high):
Then, some dude climbed it (he's near the top, on the left side of the middle part) and cut it down bit by bit.
And then THIS dude chopped up the big pieces...
And, THIS is what my yard looks like now. Notice the huge HOLES in the middle of the chunks. That was the rotten hollow core. Scary!
And, our yard will probably stay this way for at least another month. Sorry neighbours! Good thing we're not strata!!
The guys actually broke the railing on our front steps (now replaced, but not yet primed or painted) and broke our retaining wall too. (Not fixed yet, but apparently will be some day)
Then, some dude climbed it (he's near the top, on the left side of the middle part) and cut it down bit by bit.
And then THIS dude chopped up the big pieces...
And, THIS is what my yard looks like now. Notice the huge HOLES in the middle of the chunks. That was the rotten hollow core. Scary!
And, our yard will probably stay this way for at least another month. Sorry neighbours! Good thing we're not strata!!The guys actually broke the railing on our front steps (now replaced, but not yet primed or painted) and broke our retaining wall too. (Not fixed yet, but apparently will be some day)
Klass.
I almost feel sorry for K-fed!
He found out in a TEXT MESSAGE that Britney was dumping his ass!
http://thesuperficial.com/2006/11/kevin_federline_was_told_over.html
I mean, seriously, no matter how much of a loser he is, he probably deserves a little more respect than that.
Yesterday I was almost happy for Britney for getting rid of him, but today, I just feel like she's a grand ol' b!tch.
He found out in a TEXT MESSAGE that Britney was dumping his ass!
http://thesuperficial.com/2006/11/kevin_federline_was_told_over.html
I mean, seriously, no matter how much of a loser he is, he probably deserves a little more respect than that.
Yesterday I was almost happy for Britney for getting rid of him, but today, I just feel like she's a grand ol' b!tch.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The Vancouver Aquarium.
Here are some more pictures of our trip to the Aquarium, like I promised.
Daddy and little bed head watching the Beluga Whales.
Me and bed head watching the whales. Try having the song "Baby Beluga" going through your head for a couple of weeks. It's awesome!
Makes me realize that my cellulite isn't really all that bad!
The dolphins during their "show". We were watching them from below, where it was dry! Maybe not as interesting, but a whole lot less soggy!
Star fish.
Coolest critter in the joint. Some sort of blue eel thing.
She's got her head up and in a bubble thing in the middle of an aquarium, cool eh?
That's one Mutha Freakin' huge snake! (An anaconda)
The sharks and the sea turtle were room mates. The turtle was so funny, totally hamming it up for the camera!
Some sea horses. Sea horses are freakin' awesome! The male seahorse fertilizes the eggs, then the female hands them over to the male to carry in a tummy pouch until they hatch. I wish I was a sea horse!!
She had such a good time watching all the fish!
All in all, it was a great trip, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Sorry Andrea for not getting in touch with you to have you join us.. it just ended up being a large family outing with two of Armondo's sisters coming with us!
Daddy and little bed head watching the Beluga Whales.
Me and bed head watching the whales. Try having the song "Baby Beluga" going through your head for a couple of weeks. It's awesome!
Makes me realize that my cellulite isn't really all that bad!
The dolphins during their "show". We were watching them from below, where it was dry! Maybe not as interesting, but a whole lot less soggy!
Star fish.
Coolest critter in the joint. Some sort of blue eel thing.
She's got her head up and in a bubble thing in the middle of an aquarium, cool eh?
That's one Mutha Freakin' huge snake! (An anaconda)
The sharks and the sea turtle were room mates. The turtle was so funny, totally hamming it up for the camera!
Some sea horses. Sea horses are freakin' awesome! The male seahorse fertilizes the eggs, then the female hands them over to the male to carry in a tummy pouch until they hatch. I wish I was a sea horse!!
She had such a good time watching all the fish!All in all, it was a great trip, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Sorry Andrea for not getting in touch with you to have you join us.. it just ended up being a large family outing with two of Armondo's sisters coming with us!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
