Seven Quick Takes - Waiting for the inlaws edition

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Teddy's napping and I am awaiting the arrival of my in-laws from Georgetown. My family will arrive tomorrow; we are expecting 26 people (and 3 babies) for the baptismal celebration. It should be a great time! And a full house. I am not sure where I am sleeping tonight - on the couch? On a futon mattress on the floor of Teddy's room? Oh, the intrigue...

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The thank you gift for my Aunt Pat and Fred (the godparents) got in just under the wire. Actually, I ordered it and it hadn't arrived by yesterday so I contacted customer service. They fedexed another one and they BOTH arrived today. Too funny. Sorry to be cryptic, but I don't want to blow the surprise in case they read this (hi Aunt Pat!).

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I went in to sign my letter of offer for my new job this week; my future manager was not in the office as it was his daughter's first day of maternelle. I thought that I'd be in a blah building on a boring block. It turns out that the office is moving in October...to a different floor on the building I've worked in since January 2006. I just cannot get away!

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Only one month until our trip! One month from today, we'll be sailing away from Vancouver after having visited with Aunt Beth (and Tod) and others (hey Beth - I spoke to Deepa this week. We're getting together and she'd love to see you too). I mentioned this last week, too, so I'll stop talking about it.

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Teddy was just crying while sleeping; he'd rolled over and felt stuck. Do other people's children do this? I assume that it's related to his burgeoning crawling ability, but the poor little button. These cries are invariably after one sleep cycle (45 minutes) and he can get back to sleep but I am sure it's no fun for him.

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Speaking of sleeping, he has some hilarious snoozing habits. He spins around like a top in his crib. You'll lay him down, and when you gaze at him later he'll have turned 90 degrees and be touching the crib bars with his feet. It's a wide crib, but still. Also totally adorable is how he sleeps with his lovey. It's a bear/small fleecy blanket combo, and it was a gift from Aunt Leanne (Leanne - please try to remember where you bought it so I can pick up a spare!). The child likes to rub it on his cheek when he sleeps and it invariably ends up covering his face. It's about the size of an unfolded handkerchief, but it looks like the bear is trying the smother him. He loves to rub the softness on his skin.

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What was your lovey as a child? I had two (of which I only remember adoring one). The first was Lolly, a striped doll that rattled. According to my parents, it was my favourite when I was 1 or so. The lovey I do remember was Amy. The character was a friend of Holly Hobby, so she had a green, Laura-Ingalls-Wilder-style dress and yarn hair and a bonnet. She was a stuffed rag doll and I took her EVERYWHERE. Amy #1 was so well-loved that parts of her face wore down to the stuffing. We did have a replacement, but I think my parents ran into problems procuring others. Hey Mom - did you have to write to the company to get another one? And did they send you a big and a small one because they no longer made the desired size? Feel free to tell the tale in the comments section.

More Seven Quick Takes can be found here.

7 Quick Takes - Take One

This is my first Seven Quick Takes post - be gentle with me!

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Teddy turned 7 months old yesterday! We celebrated my visiting some brand new friends -- Isaac and Adeleine - as well as their big brother Elliott. Mom is my friend Sarah (Dad is my friend Dave -- another Sarah and Dave -- who works in the same building as my Dave). The twins are one month old and so.freaking.cute. Sarah is amazing, too, juggling three with such patience and love.

We're so lucky - so many of our Ottawa friends have just had/are about to have babies. I am thinking of starting a Mom's group since I think all the mothers would get along. They're all friends with me, so they've that in common, and all these kids will be in the same grade in school. It'll be my first one, though - any tips?

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So - 7 months. And I swear - each one is better than the last. He is such a happy little boy -- he rarely cries, and laughs all the time. He is eating solids now -- a blend of feeding himself and our spoon-feeding -- and he's such an enthusiastic eater. He loves vegetables; he inhales squash and corn and sweet potatoes and he adores roasted red peppers and zucchini. He loves being read to and bouncing in his Jumperoo, and loves to try to walk (with help, natch). He just loves people. If given a choice between toys or people, he'll choose people every time. He is one of those kids who smiles at strangers in church, on the street, in restaurants, anywhere. I love this. I'm a person who loves to interact with random kids, so I'm thrilled to have a child who will play along. We are so very lucky.

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Teddy's baptism is next Saturday night. My Aunt Pat and (uncle) Fred will be his godparents and the families will be converging to witness the sacrament and to eat yummy Italian food (my Nonna is making her lasagna). My Mom found an outfit for him and he looks adorable in it. Not that he'll be in it for the actual baptism, though - it's full immersion. We have our fingers crossed that he doesn't defile the holy water...

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Teddy will be able to wear his baptism outfit again (as well as another suit I found him - complete with bow tie) when we travel next month. We're off to the left coast for a cruise going from Vancouver to Los Angeles. Yes - Teddy will see the Pacific before the Atlantic! We'll get to spend time with Aunt Beth (and other friends) in Vancouver, with Katie in SF and we're going to meet up with one of my favourite bloggers - Mighty Maggie in Seattle. I cannot wait! We'll be celebrating my birthday and our 5th wedding anniversary while on board. Crazily - it's the same ship that Dave and I sailed on for our honeymoon cruise (though that was in the Med). My parents are coming, too, and we'll be celebrating my Mom's -0th a few weeks early. Any tips on helping children deal with jet lag?

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I cannot believe that the summer is already nearly over. We've had a heat wave here over the past few weeks, and in my head I think it's early July. Nope - it's nearly Labour Day. Why did the weather have to be so crappy the summer that I am off? Oh well. Falls around here are usually glorious, so there's that to look forward to!


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My work situation took an amazing turn for the better this week. I can't go into specifics here -- fear of getting Dooced -- and the general situation deserves its own post. But on Monday, I went from thinking "I have no idea what I'll have to do come January" to "I have a brand new and interesting job, come January". It's a relief, and now I don't have to spend the rest of my parental leave worrying about it. Positively providential. Now - on to figuring out child care.

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I did watch the Mad Men season opener, which I really enjoyed. I am excited to see how the season unfolds. I am also getting excited for the new seasons of favourite shows - like Gossip Girl and Law & Order (original flavour). I have gotten sucked in to L&O again - the cast is amazing right now. I could not watch during the Elizabeth Rohm era -- she was such a bad actress - so I fell away from it. But I am loving it again. It's reminiscent of my addiction while in University, when A&E would show it twice a day. I still miss you, Jerry Orbach.

Countdown to Mad Men...

Thanks, everyone, for the condolences. My grandfather's funeral was on Friday, and the priest actually read my blog for info on Jack (whom he knew, but whose life story he didn't). He outed me for having a blog in front of my entire extended family on my Dad's side, so if any of you are reading -- hello!

We're back in Ottawa, after a stay with my Nonna in Kingston. She had a wonderful time with Teddy, and we had a blast eating her food. We also had a girl's night at the movies -- I took Nonna and my Mom to see "Julie and Julia" while Dave hung out with Teddy. WE LOVED IT! I mean, Meryl Streep is amazing and she just owned this movie. It was just so great. Check it out!

Teddy has been a little bit off, but we found out the culprit -- teeth! Last Sunday, his first bottom tooth started to break through (the one on the right). It's now through and the left one appears to be up, too. They're not fully in yet, but hopefully it'll be less painful for him now.

I have a bunch of posts brewing, so hopefully I'll be able to post some this week. Lots of stuff coming up, too - visits to see friends with new babies, planning for Teddy's baptism celebration on the 29th, general planning... good times.

And - MAD MEN!! I cannot wait for the new season, and the first episode starts in only a few hours. I don't love it as much as I loved Veronica Mars, but I do love it. (Speaking of VM - two more of my friends borrowing the S1 DVDs and are now addicted. That makes 7 of my friends who've fallen under her spell while watching my S1 DVD. Man, I miss that show!)

This year has been odd, but there have been innumerable good times alongside the sad moments. I hope that your good moments have been as numerous as ours.

Perhaps a break from loss, soon - mmmk?

So - my Grandpa died today. That's three loved ones (Greg included) since March. I actually expected my Grandma to go first, since she's really starting to go downhill, but there you have it. It's almost surreal, since we had almost no warning.

My Grandfather's name was Reginald Jack Selby; everyone called him Jack. He was born in England on May 20, 1923. His mother died when he was young and he was raised by his oldest sister, Nelly. He had two older brothers, one of whom died in WWII. Jack himself served in WWII; he lost his high-pitched hearing operating guns on the Dover coast, then was stationed in Burma. After the war, he moved to Kingston with his surviving brother and worked at RMC for years. It was during his bachelor days in Kingston that he met my Grandma.

Grandma was a widow; she'd lost my Grandpa MacDonald in 1963 and had two kids - my Dad and Aunt Linda. She and Grandpa married in November 1968 (they just celebrated their 40th...6 months before my inlaws did. How funny, no?).

Grandpa was just about the jolliest guy you could ever hope to meet. He liked chips (fries) with EVERYTHING, especially pizza. He ate a cheese sandwich for lunch every.single.day - Grandma lamented that his colleagues must have thought she was the most boring cook on earth, sending him that in his lunch each day! He loved to have a couple pints at the Legion, and was an avowed Liberal and CPAC watcher (the two had to exchange a TV because they couldn't get CPAC on their 2nd TV!). He brought joy to everything he did.

And for a guy who'd never had kids of his own, who inherited teenagers -- did he every love his granddaughters. We shared so many Napanee adventures - trips to Sandbanks and Picton (for FnC), to Bon Echo and (snore) Lake on the Mountain, to the court house, shopping and picnicing -- summer visits with my granparents were the best. And did he ever love Dave! Seriously - he was surrounded by women, especially after they moved into a retirement community. Dave was a favourite, and asking about Dave was the very first thing he did whenever we spoke.

Grandpa loved Teddy, too. We sent pictures, which he proudly showed to everyone in the residence. He was THRILLED that we'd visited with the baby, and was so happy to hug him and bounce him. He joked that Teddy and he had the same hair (ahh - the comeover).

Grandpa had been having some breathing issues for a couple of months, but it appeared to be nothing (or so he said). It turns out that it was lung cancer - a shock for someone who hadn't smoked in at least 50 years (if ever). He was taken to the hospital last night; we first heard the diagnosis this morning. It turns out that he'd found out 2 weeks ago and hadn't wanted to worry anyone. He was comfortable and didn't regain consciousness; he died around 5 p.m.

Man - I loved him. I am so thankful to have had nearly 32 years with him. He was a wonderful man. I named my son after the grandfather I never knew, a man who'd have loved him very much. And I will be sure to teach Teddy all about the Grandpa that I did know, whose presence I am so blessed to have had in my life, the Great Grandpa who loved him to pieces.

Grandpa - Godspeed. Have a pint with Greg, and make sure you give Flo (your favourite...you always loved my aunts) a big hug; she and Nonno will be glad to have your company. I love you so very much.

Another Georgetown Dispatch...

Hello there!

Things have been a bit crazy, but I wanted to do a quick post to check in. I am once again on my inlaws' computer in Georgetown and I have a feeling that Teddy's nap will be winding down soon, so this will be fast.

• We are back here until Sunday. Friday (tomorrow) is my mother-in-law's birthday, so there will be a bbq/celebration. It should be fun.
• We arrived, by way of Kingston, on Saturday. It was great to see Nonna, though we were only there for an hour. We'll stop back in on Sunday en route home.
• On Sunday, we hopped into the car and drove up to Formosa to Greg and Jayne's place for the McLean reunion. Lots of fun -- Teddy enjoyed the tepid hot tub (the pool was FREEZING) and was his usual charming self.
• Later on Sunday, we headed over to Wasaga Beach to visit Jen and the Wood clan. We had a lovely visit and were so happy to spend time with Jen, who is so strong. For someone who just lost a spouse, she is doing amazingly well. I am so sad for but so proud of her.
• On Tuesday, we drove back to Georgetown, stopping in Creemore for some fresh beer (mmm...Creemore Springs). En route back, through Orangeville and Caledon, we hit AWFUL weather. Tornado weather. Dave is a trooper, though, and we drove through with nary an incident.
• Tuesday night, I went to Bingo with my MIL and the Aunts-in-law. They go twice a week; I'd never been, though I tried last time we were visiting and was thwarted by Teddy's tears. This time - I made it. And we won! Everyone pools all the winnings, and the five of us ended up with $130 each. Not too shabby.
• We're spending the days hanging with the grandparents and others around the area. Once again, there are WAAAY too many people to see in too little time. We'll be back again in the fall (after our trip) and I'll have to try to cram in more visits then.

In Teddy-related news:

• He's eating (and LOVING) solids. We're doing some 'baby-lead weaning', so he's working on feeding himself things like plum, nectarine and sticks of steamed vegetables. We're also giving him some pureed stuff/oatmeal (the stuff we generally eat pureed, like squash). The kid can put away a jar (plus a piece of fruit) in one sitting, then have milk. Bottomless pit. But super cute -- he just LOVES it.

We are all well. I'd better go - the nieces are over and I want to spend some time with them. I will try to throw another post up in the near future - I have a Greg tribute and an interview in the works. I'll do my best to add some content - I swear.

And how are you?