Happy New Years!

Love from the Doodle Bug

Things have been great. Things have been rough. Life has been crazy busy & there's not been much time for posting so first New Year's Resolution is to post something everyday - at least a picture to keep ya'll happy.

Here's a slideshow of the past almost 8 weeks to keep you going until tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!

Good morning all!

She's already crawling!!!

Daddy is so proud.


Greetings from the 11th annual Ottawa Santa Claus Pub Crawl

Despite the lack of planning, the lateness & pretty lame turnout, it was still a ton of fun as always. Actually it's not quite as much fun when you aren't totally hammered but still hillarious all the same. I did manage to down one beer & look what happened then...


Smoochy hoochy Santa started flirting with he who was once Mardi Gras Santa. Where are your damn beads buddy?! Turns out I had to show off my boobs anyway because even though I thoroughly prepared for the evening by pumping almost 6 ounces of milk, I forgot to bring the nipple to go on the bottle.

Loser.

All the drunk Santas enjoyed the show & Freyja daya doodle was pleased as punch about the whole thing. The only part she didn't like about the evening was the Santa hat we kept trying to put on her head. Because it was made of acid - at least you'd think so anyway with the demonic howling protests she made about it.


Santa Baby sans hat


The whole gang

Seriously that was just about all that showed up. I think by the end of the night there were maybe 15 Santas. This compared to years where we've had about 200 red drunk devils (& assorted elves, etc.) careening down Elgin Street singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" at the top of their lungs. Oh well, better luck & planning next year. It was actually a nice number because we could do a proper "Cheers!" & get to know our fellow Santas. Joviality & rounds for all.

Until I cut Calvin off. He was carrying the baby until that damn martini. We both then realized that he was in no way capable of being responsible for her let alone walking unassisited. So it was off home for me & the little one who then had a complete meltdown in the car. I blame her father. Because I can.

Not too much else new around here besides the very wonderful smiling & preparing for Christmas. Of course our preparations are lacking from any actual prepardness. Like those Happy Holiday cards with a cute picture of the bun I was going to make & send out to everyone? Not done. Christmas tree? Nope. Presents to family going to get anywhere on time? No way. Present shopping done? Are you kidding? I have however, managed to eat about 15 chocolate chip cookies today. I blame the father again. Because he should know better than to make such delicious treats & leave them on the counter where they sit beckoning & taunting me with their chipity charms. Bastard.

Oooo. Freyja & I went to see Narnia with Roopa & Uma last week at the Famous Babies thing. It was quite fantastic & I was very surprised with how good the CGI effects were because they looked pretty cheesy in the television shots I'd seen. The children were perfect from what I remember of the books & they looked eerily related. The White Witch was fantastically wicked & very reminiscent of the Borg Queen from Star Trek NG - so much so I had to google it. Turns out that it's Tilda Swinton not Alice Krieg but weirdly similar. Ditto for the "dwarf sidekick" who I thought was the same guy as the Oompa Loompas from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Turns out not. Damn you artistic makeup! Speaking of movies, last night we watched March of the Penguins. Best documentary I've seen since Mad Hot Ballroom (which is excellent) & the scenery is absolutely stunning. There's something about ice formations that just takes my breath away. Plus the penguins are cute.

Oh ya, check this out: Ninja Training Camp. How freaking cool would it be to be able to do this?

Look what I got yesterday morning

Smiles

Chipmunk cheeks

Laughter

Will post later.....

'Tis the Season

Well the holidays are looming & I need to finish my xmas shopping stat so I can send it all off across the country in time. I believe I've maybe managed to get gifts to my family on time once & it was probably a fluke of postal service luck if I really think about it. So it's off to the mall I go today for the last little bits which I am so not looking forward to. My mall dread most likely has something to due with having worked so many holiday seasons in retail. Every so often I think it might be nice to make some extra cash by working in a store again, but then Christmas shopping starts & I remember the pain of dealing with stupid, impatient people who look down upon you beacause you are just a dumb salesperson. Of course I'm now one of those evil bitches & worse, I'm armed with a stroller. So ya, today will be great!

This weekend was spent actually doing the bulk of our shopping on line so as to decrease mall dread so we aren't doing too bad. Or I should say, Calvin's stuff is all bought but mine is not. It's hard to shop with only one free hand while eating or feeding baby with the other. Ooops! Just to clarify - did not eat baby. Saturday night we went to Geoff & Katherine's for the annual stealing of gifts party. Of course the most popular prezzies were the booze related ones. I had a case of Keith's & a Maxim magazine for quite a while, but then some evil person stole it so I got to steal a gigantic stuffed crab, which was then stolen away again promptly. This left me with the choice of stealing someone else's beer or opening the last present - there was more to steal but this was all I really wanted. The last unopened gift was very heavy so curiosity got the better of me & I ended the game by opening up a 9 pack of cards. What the hell am I going to do with all these decks of cards?! Start my own gaming casino in my basement? Serves me right for ending the fun. Anyway it was a great party & damn those meatballs are good! Freyja had a fun time sleeping with her new boyfriend Owen, doing a Vulcan mind meld with Uma & hamming it up until the fussiness began round 7:30 when daddy snugged her up in the Bjorn & did the bouncy walk fueled by a couple glasses of wine. She of course regained her spirits in time for a quick photo shoot & then cried all the way home.


Santa gal

In other holiday news the annual Santa Claus Pub Crawl is on for this Saturday night folks so if you enjoy drinking steadily all night whilst garbed as Santa come on downtown for some fun. Calvin's got a website going with all the info so go here for the details. It almost wasn't a go because the gal who last year was put in charge of organizing stuff for this year apparently did nothing. Way to keep tradition going there silly. So in part due to my nagging Calvin & 3 other dudes from Nortel, we now have the 11th!! annual crawl starting at Cafe Paradiso on Bank St at 5:00 Saturday night & ending some time in the wee hours at Griffins on Elgin. It is always a ton of fun so if you can get out your red suits & hats & come join us in some boozy revelry. Even the baby is going so ya'll gotta come see her in the cute little Santa suit we found for her. Of course we probably won't make it to Griffin's but we'll do the early bars for sure & top off the evening at Sugar Mountain. mmmmmm

Hillarity

In the spirit of getting ready for the holidays I give you the best light show ever.

Ta Da! (via Birch & Maple)

If you are wondering what to get me for xmas don't knit me any of this.

tee hee

Sugar pie slept for 4 hours solid last night - it was awesome! Now she's asleep in my arms again looking so freaking cute & making kitten noises. What a difference a day makes.

Can I be any lamer?

I am sucking at the posting. Big time.

My days have all blurred into one. One big ass day where I wake up, attach baby to chest, wince in pain, doze off when baby dozes off, wake up, take ibuprofen & slather nipples in ointment, burp baby, change baby, make silly faces & noises at baby, attempt to get cup of coffee & bowl of cereal, cajole baby into swing while eating, feed baby while reading e-mail, don't reply to any e-mails, listen to phone ring in other room while feeding baby, burp baby, listen to screaming farting baby, change diapers again, take more ibuprofen, slather nipples again, give baby medicine, watch baby writhe in discomfort, feed baby again to comfort, try to ignore pain in shoulder blades, watch baby sleep in lap, change baby, add more clothes to baby, strap baby in bjorn, attach dog to leash, walk outside, pick up dog poop, swear at dog, try to get lunch while baby dozes in bjorn, feed baby while feeding self in front of computer, leave dishes in a mess because don't want to wake sleeping baby in lap, listen to baby farting, change baby, baby pees while changing, get another diaper, go through process again, give baby more medicine, give baby gripe water to counteract effects of medicine, snuggle baby to comfort, listen to phone messages, think about getting back to people, attempt to format photos for very late e-mail announcement, feed screeching baby, let baby nap in lap again because if moved will wake up thus thwart attempts at photo formatting, feed baby again, burp baby, walk around with baby & attempt to placate with swing / mirror / art / bouncy chair, feed rooting baby again, take more ibuprofen, take metamucil to counteract constipating effects of ibuprofen, take acidophilus to counteract yeast, eat granola bar snack, jiggle baby to calm down, swaddle baby in attempt to calm, change baby to see if reason for crying, baby farts / poops while changing so put on new diaper, feed baby again, wonder if this is growth spurt, burp baby, cry with baby, attempt to swaddle baby again as has managed to pry arms loose, turn on cd of hair dryer noise & attempt putting baby in bassinet for much needed nap, try pacifier as boobs are screaming now too, do double swaddle, cuddle baby, baby falls asleep in arms, attempt transfer to bassinet, bassinet transfer complete on 3rd try, baby naps for 1 hour of peace, do load of laundry, attempt to catch up on e-mail, finish formatting 5 more photos, think about what to o for dinner, realize haven't blogged in a week, start typing, baby wakes up, feed baby & type with one hand, baby cat naps in lap again for 10 minutes, dog starts barking at passing world, swear at dog again, dog wakes baby who starts looking very cute by making poo face, starts to sqirm & fuss, naps again for 5 minutes, looks around at world & smiles while passing gas.

This is my day. Everyday. Don't get me started on her fussy evening time & the 3 feeds a night.


She's gonna getcha - my task master.

Then she makes up for all of this by looking this gosh darn cute.

zonked out

I do love her so.
Freyja is now 4 weeks old & weighs 9 lbs 1 oz as of last Friday. She feels bigger & looks longer. I can see some of the clothes getting tighter on her chubby little body. She's having more awake periods & I swear she's starting to smile at us rather than just having gas all the time. She also managed to turn over from her belly to her back last night according to Calvin. She now loves the bath & going outside for walks & has also managed to find her cute long little fingers to stick in her mouth which is good news for my boobs, plus it cuts down on the volume of her screams. Because we torture her. Well not really, but you'd think we were with all the crying. Poor baby.

I really think she's just uncomfortable with this thrush crap. Some days her diaper rash seems cleared up, other days she crys when she farts. There's been an increase in gas output from both ends & she seems to be in pain sometimes when she scrunches up her little body during a poop. There's not much we can do besides take all our medicine like good little girls & feed her to comfort her when she gets upset. It's just heartbreaking to see her upset & I wish I could do more besides wait for this freaking Fluconazole to start working. In the grand scheme of things I know we don't have it too bad & we're damn lucky to have a healthy & relatively happy baby, but damn this parenting thing is tough. Here come the all-knowing looks & I told you so's right? I was never under the impression that it would be a slice of cake or the illusion that I would have free time to myself - I'm just acknowledging the hard parts. Which are of course coupled with the beautiful parts that are just as soul wrenching in the all-encompassing love one feels for this tiny little soul.


Bzzzzz