Baby Before You- Chantal Krevaizuk

In my life before Lucas I was quite ambitious. I was a "career" woman. One of the goals I had for myself before children was to move from a general technologist position into some sort of teaching position. While working towards that I went on lots of interviews. Plus I have interviewed lots of students to get into the MRT program. In the comments Mo asked about some interview stories, I don't have lots of stories but I certainly some advice if you are ever going for an interview.

1. Dress the part. Atleast dress up. I was once told to dress IBM. Which is a navy suit with a white shirt underneath. I also always wear my glasses to interviews. I'm hoping it makes me look smarter.

2. Before you go into your interview re-read your resume and the job description of the job you've applied for. Use words from the job description in your answers. For example if they are look for someone who is accurate, be sure to use the word "accurate " in your interview. Many compaines use a marking scheme to grade each applicant. They get there marking scheme from the job description.

3. Never not give an answer. The classic is describe a conflict you've been in. Many people say I don't get into conflicts. That question might be worth 5-10 points, and you've just lost them all. Plus everyone gets into conflicts.

Anyway that's all for now. Just a couple of things to keep in mind. I'm am certianly no expert, but at 26 I feel like I've done lots, probably more then some do in a lifetime.

Onto the daily update. Lucas just fed once last night. Darryl went in at 3am and put his sucky back in and he fell asleep. We went to Costco this morning and he loved looking around. Still working on perfecting his speech, da da da all the time. We called Grammie and let listen this morning. Oh yeah and in the bath this morning he learn how to splash. He was quite amused with himself and loved hitting the water. It's cool that his surroundings are becoming more fun.

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Candy Man, Salty Dog- Sharon Lois and Bram

So far today I'm ready for Darryl to come home. Just in the fact that it will be nice to not talk in a high sing song voice. Today we are watching (and when I say we, I mean myself and Emma, becuase she provides most of the entertainment)the Geniers new puppy, Tails. We have exhausted him. Emma and he played all morning in the yard. Then we went to the offleash to play. Now he is konked out at my feet while I type (although Tigger just came in the room, so things might change)

So last night we had to let Lucas cry again. It's too bad becuase he hasn't been crying that much. But he was getting up really frequently. I guess it's like the Paula Abdul song, two steps forward, two steps back. He slept through till morning again, so hopefully we may have to go through one more night of it and then things will be back to normal.

He is learning to make a racket. (By racket I mean alot of noise, not tennis). He is starting to enjoy banging things together and see how much noise he can make. This is still cute and interesting to me, but I'm sure that will change in a couple of weeks.



Last night I went to a marketing focus group. It was quite interesting, South Centre is thinking of putting in a "children's play area". One where you could pay for babysitting of your child. I thought it was an interesting idea and there was much debate about the "fee". Anyway it was interesting to see others point of view and in the end I got a gift card to spend at Southcentre.

Well I should go check on the dogs.....

Till tommorrow

Jenn

Brand New Beau- Amanda Marshall

One other new thing that happened this afternoon, that I might not remember tommorrow, but Lucas is learning anticipation. When something happens over and over again, he is starting to realize it will come again and laugh in anticipation. It's great!

Till Tommorrow (for real this time)

Jenn

Who Need Sleep- Barenaked Ladies.

Well just got back from baby and you Yoga. It was.... interesting. I found it hard to focus on exercising with Lucas there. But I'm sure that any exercise is good. One of my neighboors was taking it as well, so it was good to see her there and her little daughter is so cute. It's so fortunate that Lucas will be able to grow up with kids the same age around. Basically you are doing yoga with your kid there. I was hoping to incorporate him more. Oh well I guess next time I'll just bring more toys.

Well he was up again at 5am. I don't know what's going on. Then we had to wake him at 7:30. He can put himself to sleep, he does so everytime. It just takes him time to go to sleep at that hour. And usually I am feeding him then too. It's hard to know if it is a growth spurt or if he's getting back into bad habits. I guess we'll see what tonight brings and maybe if it continues I'll try the "dream feed". Hopefully becuase I woke him this morning he won't continue.

Heard from my old teacher yesterday. He is thinking of moving out west and working at SAIT. It would be great to have him there. He would be so knowledgeable.

Lucas is still being a chatterbox. He can say da da da da, over and over again. I'm in the process of try to teach him ma ma ma =)

Also, Darryl took a funny video of Lucas laughing. If you'd like to see it you can e-mail us or leave in comments.


Till Tommorrow

Jenn

What's New Pussycat? Tom Jones

Last night went to my AAMRT meeting, there was a very interesting talk about STARS air amubulance. I am amazed at the dedication of the people who work for STARS. Alberta is an amazing province we live in and seeing that presentation last night was great. Here is the website if anyone is interested in learning more

www.stars.ca

It was good to put a professional hat on. Although everyone asked about Lucas, I got to be Jenn the x-ray technologist for an hour, rather then Jenn the mom. Not that Jenn the mom isn't great, but it was a nice change. Plus it was nice to talk to adults and smooze a little.

So Lucas awoke at 5am this morning. I do not get up at 5am (unless I'm going to catch a flight somewhere). Anyway I tried feeding him and then putting him back to bed. It took him a long time to get back to sleep. Which was a pain, cause he either kept talking or crying. The good news is that he ended up sleeping until 9am!! Wow incredible! Execpt that has seem to totally screw up our day. I have some trouble reading him when it not by "the clock". Or he already has lots of sleep..... Anyway. All is good now. He's been sleeping for an hour and a bit, so we'll see what he's like when he wakes up. It funny how something that would seem so great, can be a pain.

Today on "The View" the ladies discussed American Idol and the phenomenon it's becoming. The question they were asking is what kind of values are we teaching our children, when we all sit down as a family and watch people be mean to each other. I thought it was kind of interesting..... I am not a loyal watcher of the show, but it gave me something to ponder.

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

My Darling Child- Sinead O'Connor

Babies are the most amazing things. One of the things lots of people told me about and Lucas is just starting to do is learning about new things. Yesterday it was so beautiful that we sat out in the grass for a while and played fetch with Emma. Lucas was touching the grass, and you could tell he had never felt it before. He was so amazed by it's texture and temperature. He is starting to do that with all kinds of things. He'll look at an object and study it and then put it in his mouth. It's amazing because you can almost see his learning. See the little connections being made in his brain.


Everyday he is becoming more and more fun. He's starting to realize that people can be funny, it doesn't always have to be tickling. I can make funny noises and he'll laugh. Plus he's start to learn more sylables. No words yet, but any minute he'll be saying da da da da over and over again. He can say da, just hasn't done it over and over again. There are times in the day when he is taking so much in, like on the grass or at the off leash park with Emma. There are other times when he is learning by doing, like talking. It's just so amazing, and I'm lucky I don't have to miss any of it.

Well the Conservatives won the election. Stephen Harper is going on about change in Canada, but honestly I like it the way it is. I hope things don't change too much. I mean I wouldn't mind a tax break, but don't do it in expense of other things we do have. We'll have to wait and see......

Mom and Dad were over last night. They are moving into there new house today. Yeah, it'll be nice to have them so much closer. I made a cake for Dad's birthday, but it was no name and no good. It's amazing how much Mom and Dad love Lucas, it must be fun to be grandparents.

Tonight I'm headed to an AAMRT meeting. It will be fun to put on my career hat and take off my mommy hat.

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Welcome to the Jungle- Guns and Roses

Well today is election day here is Canada. I'm hoping that everyone goes out to vote. I don't care who you vote for, but everyone should exercise there right. We are fortunate to live in a country where we get to elect our leaders. We should have a say in that. I think a lot of people are apathetic to voting, but I think it's important that we do it and that we appriciate the fact that we live in the greatest country in the world. A country that believes in democracy. It wasn't that long ago that women were not able to vote, so I will vote this afternoon, and I hope everyone does as well.

Well it's been an exciting 24 hours. Yesterday we had a great time going upto the mountains. It's so nice to get out of the city for a bit and breathe some fresh mountian air. Besides hotdogs taste so much better when they are cooked on a fire. =). Tammy, Pat, Matthew and Shaun joined us up at Elbow Falls and we enjoyed the fresh air. I think Lucas enjoyed the fresh air as well. I know Emma did.

A couple hours after we got home Tammy called and they decided on a dog. She was going to pick it up that evening, so I offered to come with her. It's interesting to go into a home that fosters aniimals. I myself am an animal lover and wonder if that's something I'd like to do, but I'd just have such a hard time saying goodbye. The interesting thing about this foster home was they had children, and I could only imagine how hard that would be.

Anyway, so welcome Tails to the Genier family. I'm sure we will all be spending lots of time together. Matthew is in heaven. The dog is a shepard mix. He seems to be quite settled and not too high strung, which I'm hoping will make him easy to train. They were over this morning and Emma and Tails had fun wrestling in the backyard. At first when the dog came in Emma was a little protective of her territory and her family. She showed her teeth a couple times. Then once she knew we were all okay with the dog and went outside everything was good with Emma too.

Lucas slept well last night, only waking once. Had a short nap this morning, but put himself to sleep while I typed this in the afternoon. Yeah!!! Good for you little man. He's been talking alot today. Of course I take out the camera to try and tape it, but then he's quiet and just staring at the camera. =)

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Eight Days a Week- The Beatles

Wll he's sleeping again. Yipee! He had a super short nap this morning and was up by 9am. So he's gone back down again, although it took lots of fussing. During his fussing, he did find his thumb, which I am happy about, atleast he is learning that he can soothe himself. Although it didn't work completly, it helped, which is a good sign. Here is a picture of him in the bumbo, I was talking about the other day.

The dog shopping yesterday was quite successful. Puppies are so adorable! Emma is such a good dog, but it was fun to look at other dogs. When we got home I took Emma out in the backyard and she was playing around with a ball like she was a puppy. There is still some snow in the backyard, which makes the ball slide around, and she likes to pounce on it.

Lucas was very good while we were out, which he usually is. It is one great thing about him, that he is quite transportable. He loves to look at new things, even if it's just dog toys.

Watched the hockey game last night, both games were not so great. One of the teams totally dominated.

Oh I hear him stirring, better go

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

Alcohol-Barenaked Ladies

Well an early post today as Tammy and I (and the kids) are going dog shopping this afternoon. It will be fun to go look at puppies and see if there is a dog that will suit the Geniers. We of course have a great dog, Emma. So it will be good for her to have another friend. =)

Yesterday on Oprah there was a very interesting debate. These parents got a stripper for there sons 16th birthday party. There reasoning was if he was going to do it anyway they would rather there son do it in the there house and under their control. I thought it was a very interesting show. It certainly made me think about parenting teenagers. If they are going to do it anyway, should you allow them to do it under your control, or if you allow them to do it under your roof are you condoning illegal behavior? What about when it comes to drinking or drugs? As most of you know Darryl and I enjoy wine and I plan on letting Lucas try it when he gets old enough to be curious. But then where do you draw the line. We let you do illegal things.. does that mean it's okay to run a red light? steal? I know many of these things are in different "categories" but if you condone one illegal thing where does it stop. At the same time I believe it is a cultural thing, in our cultural we have hang ups about sexuality and drinking. Something to think about......

Lucas did not sleep through the night last night. Although only up once for a quick feed. Then a short nap again this morning. But I think that is partly because Darryl is home and there is extra noise in the house. Anyway, hopefully the rest of the day will go well. Took some pictures of him in the bumbo, I'll put them up tommorrow.

Also one other question, got take out yesterday and when I was entering my pin number the machine asked if I wanted to tip. Are you now suppose to tip for takeout???

Till Tommorrow.

Jenn

32 Flavors- Ani DiFranco

Groceries are my favorite chore. Although they are work, and technically a chore, since you couldn't go for more then a month without getting them, they are defintly my favorite. I guess because it's like shopping, which I also love. I enjoy planning the meals for the week and picking out treats for the week. I try to be health concious as well. Treats for this week were raspberries and cookies. Some healthy, some not so healthy. I mention this becuase today was grocery day. Usually on Fridays we do groceries. It's great becuase the superstore is not as busy as it is on the weekends. That is one of my favorite things about being home. Even Christmas shopping didn't seem so bad this year.

Lucas slept through the night again, which was great! I'm wondering if this will start to become a habit, atleast until he starts teething. As I am learning, and as everyone has told me, just when you think you get things figured out with your children, they change. Yesterday we went out and bought the "bumbo" which I think is the craziest name for something. http://www.bumbobabyseat.com/ I'm not sure if Lucas enjoys it though. It may be like most new things for him, takes him a while to get use to it. I'm hoping we'll be able to take it with us on vacations and use it as a highchair.

I bought him his first "real" food today. Although I guess rice ceral is a real food. But it's pureed green beans. We'll probably try it sometime next week. It's funny when you are there trying to decide what to give them, becuase there are so many options. So I just picked one of my favorite things.

Tammy came over last night and we got some more scrapbooking done. Yipee! I'm almost done all my Lucas pictures, so soon I'm going to have to go back and do, pre Lucas pictures. Plus she brought the best recipie for martinis. Lexie you should try this one, it's better then the martini recipie I made at Christmas

1 ounce of grapefruit juice
1 ounce of chambord (raspberry liquor)
1 ounce of vodka

It tasted like cotton candy but not so sweet.

Just wanted to thank Lori for the nice comment. It's so great to hear from people who read the blog. I am glad you enjoy reading it Lori, you are one of the reasons I started. I certainly enjoy writing it, but I think it's important for you and the rest of Darryl's family to know what's going on with Lucas.

Till Tommorrow

Jenn