Roadtrip!

John, Mike and I went for a drive in the country, to help Mike cheer up about not getting the job he applied for. John wasn't having any fun at all, so we decided to face his seat forward partway through the trip. Bare feet was John's idea - he started out with socks, but pulled them off. Just as well - it was really warm.

Taking a food, change and wiggle break in a farmer's field.  

The home stretch.

Well, I can't say country drives are a fun with a baby. There were many breaks in farmer's fields.

It didn't help that it was hot. Well, hot for John and I. They said it was about 20, which is hot enough. The tail end of my pregnancy was an eternal hot flash. I remember those last couple of weeks at work, nearly passing out from the heat, even though I worked in an air conditioned office. For some reasons, those hormones haven't fully snapped back to normal, so I'm still always warm. It's been awesome for the winter - we've saved a bundle in gas costs. I'm dreading summer though - especially the hot, muggy summers we have down here. John prefers the cold as well.

To beat the heat, we opened all the windows, which John loved. Whenever we peeked back, he had the wind blowing though his hair and a big smile on his face. He loves it when we blow on his face, so this was just a big version of that game to him.

He did get grumpy now and then - especially once he started to get tired. I didn't bring nearly enough toys to rotate. By the end I was passing back water bottles and pens for him to play with. But I guess all in all, driving with John was tolerable.

The trip was meant to cheer Mike up, which it did, but it morphed into a dress rehearsal of sorts. It looks like we're coming home after all! The plan is to leave Thursday, and be home by the end of the month, as long as all the relations are OK with us bunking in. The union bosses have given their blessing. I still want to fly, but the driving seems to be a deal breaker for Mike. Once we're back at work, there won't be another chance, probably until next winter, so I caved. Hopefully, it won't be as big a nightmare as I think it's going to be. Travelling 2,000 KM with a baby - each way. Why does he want to do this?!

Anyway. Now I just need to plan the logistics of this. Do you guys still have lots of snow? If so I'll just leave the stroller at home. We have a portable crib, and my parents have a high chair, so all that's taken care of. Not sure how baby food will work on the road. I guess I'll get some of the jarred stuff? Maybe we can get a little cooler for it. Who knows. At least I don't have to worry about bottles! The house and cats will be fine - Adrian will still be here to keep the kibble flowing.

Holy moly. This is going to be a challenge! Though it will be nice to come home for a visit. We'll give you all a call to plan out the details.

John is doing great. He's been figuring stuff out lately, which is fun to watch. He can open and close doors now - probably from watching the cats do it, becuse he uses the same technique as them. It has brought a whole new dimension to peek-a-boo. I'll be cooking dinner, and he'll sit in the kitchen doorway. If I look down at him, he'll close the door really quick, with him on the other side. He giggles away on the other side, then slowly opens it and peeks around. If I'm still watching, he'll squeal and hide behind the door again. It's pretty funny. He plays peek-a-boo with Mike a lot, too. We'll be in bed and he'll pull a blanket over Mike's face, then pull it back down, then back up, and down, giggling the whole time. He's a master of the light switch - he's figured that one out. He's working on the bathroom taps - they're lever style. He's watched me use them a million times and now he's trying to turn the water on and off himself. Hasn't managed it yet, but he's a real hundfull while I brush my teeth now, because he's constantly lunging for the faucet. That and flushing the toilet. If I need to use the washroom, I'll often take him with me and let him play in the tub, rather than let him roam unsupervised, or abandon him in his crib. When I'm done, he always tries to flush for me, but he's not strong enough to do it yet. He likes to watch the water swirl around. Totally mesmerized by that. He wants to help me cook too, but I don't know how to help him feel a part of that. The ECE teacher at the Early Years Centre said to give him a plastic tub and spoon and let him mimic, but he knows it's not real - he wants to help with the real thing.

In other news, the strike lives on...and on...and on... The guys just rejected the company's "final offer." It was actually the first offer, but they claim they won't budge. The union thinks it's trash and won't budge either. So, it's going to be a looooong strike. One of the key reasons why Mike wants to head up - there's no chance of going back to work anytime soon. He thinks the strike is the reason he lost the job, as well. At least that's what he hopes - the plan is to apply again for future openings, so if he didn't get the job because of him, not the fact that he's on strike, then it could make the plan impossible.

In the meantime, the drywall has been abandoned. Typical. It will stay half finished until the next job opening, when he slips into panic mode to get it all done. I'm determined not to have it that way. The only stressor was the house. It was a wake-up call that we need to start now, so that doesn't happen when the time to sell comes - which might come sooner than we think, if this strike goes too long. There's lots we can do that costs little, or nothing, but will make a huge difference. My first pet project is the upstairs bathroom. We discovered that the wainscotting on the bottom is real wood, but has been painted so many times, it looks like cheap panelling and there are huge patches where it's chipping and flaking. The paint is so thick, there's no covering that up with new paint - you can see very clearly where the paint chipped away. There's about 15 layers of paint, at least, so I'm scraping it all down to get the grooves back. It looks so much better! Once it's re-painted, it'll look brand new. Wainscotting is such a trendy look for bathrooms right now, it's worth the effort to fix it. It's neat to see all the different colours. A lot of beige, tan, sage, dusty rose. Every room in this house hs been pink at one time or another - I really hope not all at the same time! I had a peek under the floor as well. Those of you who've seen it know we have two different types of flooring down. One half of the room is lino - the other is peel 'n stick tile. I can't get under the lino yet, but the other side has four layers of lino, all installed one on top of another! That's just what I can see from peeling back a corner - there may be even more, each one uglier than the last. It's such a small room, it won't be that much to replace the floor when the time comes - we worked out we'd need 56 12-by-12 tiles, if we went with tiles. We don't now how to get flooring around the tub and radiator feet, though. I guess they have to come out while it goes down, but Mike isn't keen on anything that requires a lot of lifting.

Anyway, I had better go. I have lots of laundry and packing and stuff to do.

The loooong wait continues

We're still waiting to hear about that job. With every hour, it's looking more and more bleak.

Mike is still holding out some hope, though. Every other time he's been offered a job by these guys, it's been a Thursday or Friday call, to report to work on Monday morning. But there was supposed to be a whole other step - the reference check. We think, either he's lost the job and they're notifying the losers last, just in case the winners decline, or they just pulled up his employee file and called his managers as references. Depending on who they talked to, that could be a very bad thing.

He thinks the strike might compliate things - that they might be worried about the union reaction to hiring a picketer.

Sigh. And I was just starting to get excited about this. But hey, if he doesn't get it, he can always try again later - jobs do come up now and then, I'm sure. Until then, we'll just return to life like normal. And hey - we have drywall, so we're ending up ahead either way!

The long wait...

Fast asleep in his portable crib, while Mike hangs drywall upstairs.

Haven't heard anything more about the job. However, it does start next Monday, so we're expecting a call today or tomorrow. He had the interview, which he felt didn't go terribly well. It was one of those horrible "Tell me a specific example of....how you boosted the team...improved your company...etc."It caught him a little off guard. The second round is a reference check, so we're just waiting for them to call for his references. We've decided if he gets it, he's going to take it.

Drywall is going up in the back room upstairs. It looks really nice - even considering the fact that Mike doesn't seem to know what he's doing. They say you marry a man who reminds you of your Dad, but that's certainly not the case with Mike's handyman skills. I've lost count of the number of times in the last couple days I've said "my Dad does it this way..." He doesn't seem to appreciate the help, though.

John's OK. The drywall was hard on him. He had to sleep in a different bed, in a different room, away from the noise. For such a creature of habit, it was hard. Not to mention the many times I couldn't respond to his cries right away, because I was in the middle of carrying drywall, or something.

The doc appointment went well. John's growing perfectly. He's 76 cm long and roughly 22 pounds, buck naked. Still on the top end of the spectrum, so all is well.

He checked John's ears for me, but they're fine. He figured he's just got a touch of a cold - no big deal.

He gave him a shot. Health Canada just made it free. I think he said it was for pneumonia. (No idea if I spelled that right - this program has no spell-check - I'm sure you've noticed.) He goes back for a booster in two months. Doc West said he probably didn't need it, because he's nearly out of the danger period when illnesses can kill him, but he gave it to him anyway, just because he can.

John is such a character. Doc West was running really late - very unlike him. His is the only clinic I know that runs on time. I had to amuse John in the examination room, so I let him explore the floor. He kept crawling up to the door, peering around the edge to look at all the people in the waiting room down the hall. Eventually they noticed him and started chucking. He pulled back and snickered, then did it again - slowly peering around the corner, until they laughed. After a few times, he got really brave. He flashed me a look, then scooted full throttle across the hall to the nurse's station, to the delight of his fans. (He has such a thing for nurses. In a room full of women, where only one is a nurse, he goes for the nurse every time - even nurses he's never met before. It's kind of creepy.) His fans were all very disappointed every time I pulled him back into the room, but he's so small and the docs really fly down that hall - I had visions of him getting kicked or stepped on. I imagine it would have been pretty funny to see from the waiting room - a baby's eyes peering around the corner, then him streaking across the hall, wearing nothing but a diaper, to the nurse's station. Then, the whole place got to see him buck naked, as I scooted from the scale back to the room. I was holding him out at arms length, hoping he wouldn't pee on me. The waiting room got a real kick out of that too. He was quite the little celebrity by the time we left.

I've been taking John out to the yard bit by bit. I discovered why he didn't crawl in the grass last time - he doesn't like how it feels on his hands. He'd put his hands down, then recoil as soon as he touched the blades. I was so cute! He eventually got over it, though, and started booting around the yard, to the horror of the cats. Until now, the yard has been their domain. Crawling on the grass brings a whole new set of perils. I looked away from him for a second to pet one of the cats; when I looked back, he had a huge clump of grass sticking out of his mouth. I pulled it out and washed him up as much as possible, but he still drooled mud for the next hour. That isn't the worst thing I've found in his mouth. Yesterday, he was sitting on the floor, with this really strange expression on his face. Then he opened his mouth and this huge glob of plaster fell out - probably tracked down from upstairs.

On the strike front, the strike lives on. The guys were advised to vote no on the last offer, so that's probably what they did. Supposedly there's a new offer out now, which they should be voting on soon.

For all you curling fans - what the heck was with the worlds this year! They squeaked into the finals, only because of some fluke misses by the other teams, then creamed Scotland in the final. I don't get it - but at least it wasn't boring!

Happy birthday to Mike!

Mike is another year older today, though the run of sleepless nights he's had lately has aged him much more than that.

As some of you know, he applied for a new job on a bit of a whim. Getting it and accepting it would be a fairly momentous change, but we're unsure if it would be for the better or the worse. We've been endlessly debating the pros and cons, but it's an agonizing decision, because it's so balanced either way.

He has a job interview this afternoon. He had a short pre-interview on Tuesday, which he felt went very well. Now, if he gets the job, we're not sure if it would be a good idea to take it. It's so hard to tell the difference between cold feet and a genuinely bad decision. He's thinking it may come up again next year, giving him more time to emotionally prepare for the shift, but he's worried turning it down right now will hurt his chances of being accepted in the future. Or, he could just as easily be rejected and we're here agonizing over nothing, which, knowing us, is exactly how it will play out.

Sigh.

On the strike front, a new contract has been drawn up. They're voting on it this afternoon. It's not good for guys like Mike. Not only will he get no pay raise at all - only the guys at the very top of the pay grid will get a raise, and a nice one at that - but they've closed the loophole which allowed Mike to work overtime through the slow winter season, while permenant guys were capped at 20 hours a week. That means the part-timers will be scheduled for full-time before the temps are even offered work, which probably means lots of temps being laid off in the fall. That would probably include Mike. Gotta love the union - screw over the young guys to get a settlement. I just have to note, most of the guys who will benefit from this contract didn't even turn up on the picket line. Mike, who will probably lose his job over it, has been there nearly every day. So much for "solidarity." We'll know in a few days how everyone voted.

Either way, the new piece rate company is up, running, and taking away work Mike and his co-workers would normally do. They cost the company less in labour, so there's no reason to think they'll vanish after the strike, which just raises the chances for layoffs. In the long run, that new company may cost the company more; those guys have to buy their own tools and wire, and are paid per job, so I can't see how they wouldn't skimp on materials and quality, unless mistakes are taken off their pay, which would just be cruel. It's all very scary. Maybe even scary enough to be a point in the new job's favour, if he gets it.

Adulthood blows. Too many big decisions, with big consequences. Does he stay with the status quo and hope for the best, or take a huge leap of faith not knowing if it'll end up better or worse? It's hard to know.

John is doing OK. I don't think he's feeling well. He had a runny nose yesterday and he's been clawing at his ears; one of them does look a little red inside. It's hard to tell - he doesn't have a fever, but he has been grumpy the last couple days. I assumed it was teething - he's been biting a lot lately. He bit my hand so hard the other day he broke skin, and when he's got a teether, he bites down really hard with the gums just beside his teeth. He's loving this pink rubber octopus Mike's parents sent, because the legs are the perfect shape for reaching those gums. Rubber-grip, retractable pens are even better, but people look at me like I'm a terrible mom when he's chomping on one of those. In private, they're a life-saver - just never try to take one away from him. He flies into a full blown tantrum.

Thankfully, he already has a check-up scheduled for tomorrow morning (his nine-month birthday - yay!) I'm going to ask the Doc to take a peek in those ears, just in case. Not a very good time for an appointment otherwise - John is looking a little rough. He has a cut on his ear, from some fall or other. It got a little infected, so it's all red and bruised. Polysporin has been helping, but he keeps wiping it off with all his clawing of ears. His knees are bruised from crawling and he's got a rash, probably caused by the runs, which is probably caused by the cold he seems to have. All in all, with all his cuts, bruises and the rash, he looks almost abused. Obviously, he's not. I just hope the doc doesn't think anything is up. Bruised knees are OK for a crawling baby, right?

He spent a couple of hours with sitters last night - "auntie" Laura and "grandma" Joan, whom he hadn't seen since Christmas. I was nervous, because he is a little strange around people now. Some days he's fine with people - other days he burries his face in my chest to escape them. We haven't actually left him alone with anybody since my parents were here, and they were hardly strangers by then, so we had no idea how he'd react. But he was fine! They said he fussed a bit for the first few minutes, but they took him to the park to play on the swings, and he settled right down and had lots of fun. When we went to pick him up, he was laughing and having a great time! That makes me feel a lot better about going back to work - he'll be OK without me. He can drink from a sippy cup now too! It only took him about two weeks of regular daily use to piece it together. I started by just sticking it in his mouth and pouring in water. After a couple of days, he started opening up for it. Then asking for it (with grunts and gestures - he's so much like Mike.) Then he started helping me hold it. Then one fine day he grabbed it from me and chugged back all by himself! When he put it down, he had a huge smile on his face! Now he won't let me help him - he's a big boy now, he doesn't want my help!

I hear him waking up - gotta go! Wish Mike luck with, well, everything. Votes, interviews, sound sleep; you name it, he needs luck for it.

Spring has come...and gone

The first snowsuit-free day of the year! John and I headed off to the park after strike duty. I was going to let him go nuts on the open field, or see if he's big enough for a baby swing yet. Sorry about the missing top of head - camera slipped.

Awwww...

He didn't even make it to the park. Along the way, we had to stop for a train passing through town (John's first train!) I guess he found the rhythm soothing. By the time the last car passed, he was out. (That's the jacket you sent, mom and dad - it's so cute!)

So, that was our spring. Today, the sky is black, the air is cold and there's thunder, lightening and snow. I'm glad I got him out for a long walk on the first day warm and sunny enough for just a jacket - no thick snowsuit or piles of blankets - even if he did sleep through most of it. He had a good time. He's been OK with the stroller facing forward for a while now - he knows where I am, and peers around frequently to make sure I'm still there. A few months ago he would have screamed his head off to be facing away from me. But now he looooves facing forward - he sits right up and looks all around. He loves to watch people who are walking dogs.

I let him sit in the yard while I did some yard work the other day. He had a blast! He thought the rake moving around was hilarious. He ran his fingers through the grass and ate a leaf - it didn't taste very good. I tried to convince him to crawl, but he wasn't interested - he just wanted to sit and watch me work.

Mike took a break from the strike yesterday and today. He may take tomorrow off too. World curling is on, after all. Curling is the only time Mike yells at the TV. He's a little irritated at Ferby right now - they actually lost to Germany.

On the strike front, negotiations will be resuming tomorrow with a provincially appointed mediator. It's always good news when negotiations are underway - I really hope he or she can help.