Can't Take My Eyes Off of You- Frank Sinatra

People say that you never realize how much you will love your children until you have your own. That is so so true. I have never loved anyone or anything the way I love Lucas. I had a realization of that last night. I rarely bottle feed Lucas, usually if there is someone else here they do it. We orginally started that becuase it is recommend as to not confuse the baby so they won't expect bottle when breast is offered and vica versa. But Darryl was a volleyball and there was no one else here so I did it. The was no TV or music just me, Lucas and the bottle. The whole time we are just staring at each other. He has those big beautiful blue eyes. Tears start rolling down my face, not sad tears but the happiest tears ever. I love this person more then I ever thought I would. I would do anything for those big beautiful eyes staring at me.

Of couse because I was staring at him he didn't fall asleep. But it didn't take him long once I put him in bed. He then ate once in the night and we had no crying. We've also had a great time with naps today. Not too much fussing to go down. I think I have him figured out for the moment, but it will change again soon.

Yesterday ended up being way more fun then I expected. Auntie Karen showed up at around 2:30ish. So I got to spend the afternoon with her. She just got back from an all inclusive in Cuba. If you have never been on an all inclusive I highly recommend it. It is the most relaxing vacation ever. Darryl and I have been fortunate to go on two, once to Mexico and once to Jamaica. I hope to do many many more. Like I said so relaxing, you come back ready to face the world. The first time I ever went on one I thought I'd be bored. But there was enough to do at the resort and then part of it is doing nothing. I had never really been on a vacation like that before. But it's the best.

Then we went to Mom and Dad's new place and Mom made us a great pasta fagoli soup. Lucas enjoyed seeing his grandparents and Auntie Karen. He loved Auntie Karen's laugh. Her laugh is so animated and he would look for her everytime she did it.

Lucas is becoming a mommy's boy. While we are out he seems to be happiest when with me. Which I'm sure is normal to an extent, but it may be part of his personality coming through. Not the mommy's boy aspect as much as the shyness. Maybe he will grow to be like Darryl, quiet till he warms up to people.

Lucas's new thing this week, along with the da-da-da is sucking on his toes. I will post a picture later this week. It is amazing how flexible he is.

Till Tommorrow ( and the fun new game we are going to play)

Jenn

Come Fly With Me- Frank Sinatra

Well the dogs (Tails and Emma) and the baby are sleeping. Yeah! It's amazing how as an adult you love sleep, but as a child or dog, you'd much rather be playing. Lucas has gone down well for both naps today so I'm really happy about that. Hopefully this one will be a longer one and he won't need a third nap. Although he was up at 3am crying and talking on and off for about 40 minutes. I ended up sleeping in the spare room so that Darryl could get enough sleep, as he has to go to work an hour earlier these days, so that I can go to work as well.

The soft spot on the top of Lucas's head is gone. Another sign he is growing up. I also gave him some green beans today. He had the same reaction as he did the banana, likes the first few mouthfuls and then starts to spit it out. Maybe it's a delayed reaction once he realizes things have flavor. Guess we'll try it again tommorrow. He also loves flying through the air. We had a video conference yesterday with Grammie and Grandad in Ontario and he was very good, but very busy.

Well the rest of our weekend was quite good. It's always so nice to have Darryl home and he did some good cleaning yesterday which is always nice. We are a good team in the cleaning department. He is very through but it takes him a longer time to do things and I can do alot in a short period, but it's all just surface cleaning.

Today is my bestfriend birthday from when I was a kid. Melinda, Happy Birthday. I hope whereever you are you are happy and healthy.

I think that's all for today. Although in two days something fun is going to happen...... stay tuned.....

Till tommorrow

Jenn

Fight for Your Right to Party- Beastie Boys

We just got back from a meeting with the families from our prenatal group. It's interesting becuase when we first met we all had big bellies and no babies, now we all have babies and small bellies =). IT's always intersting to see how much babies are simialar and yet very different as well. They are starting to develop little personalities. The only problem was it wasn't at the best time for us, so we didn't stay long as Lucas was getting fussy from hunger and sleepiness.

Last night we went to Tammy and Pat's and had a blast! Lucas slept in the playpen at their house so we were able to stay out past 7pm. We played poker which is always lots of fun. I laughed till I cried. Plus Pat made us dinner, which was great. It's funny with poker because we don't play with real money, but in the beginning we are very conservative. One dollar here, two dollars there, by the end were betting 20's and 30's. Anyway it was very fun.

We did have a bad night with Lucas though. He woke at 3amish and didn't want to go back to sleep, after 45 m inutes of crying I finally fed him. Which sounds cruel, but as a parent it's so hard to know what to do, and too much crying feels like torture, even if you are trying to teach them something.

Till Tommorrow

Jenn

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