She's smart!

Joan's neurology appointment was today. They hooked her up to a computer with a bunch of electrodes, then flashed a strobe light at her, one eye at a time, and then blasted a very annoying beeping sound in each ear, one at a time. Everything's fine! Yay! We figured it would be, but it's nice to hear for sure. The doctor said even before the tests started that the test wasn't needed - when it was over, she said she could tell nothing was wrong the second we walked in the room. Joan looked right at her, tracked her around the room, and gave lots of smiles and giggles whenever she was smiled at and talked to.

The doc said all babies are a little different, and she obviously just needed a bit more time to develop on the social end of things, but she's caught up and is perfectly fine. I guess that's what happens when the first is a social butterfly - anything short of what John was doing seemed wrong. We were at our friend Jim and Joan's house last night, and Jim said they went through the same thing with their kids - their son learned to read at 3, so when their daughter couldn't do the same, they were worried, but in reality, SHE was the normal one.

Anyway, just wanted to post that up here quick. I have to go make supper now. We've been out all day, and are running late. I don't get the car that often, so when I do, I tend to put WAY too much on my plate.

fun in the sun!

It was 15 degrees and sunny yesterday, so the kids and I said to heck with housework, and spent the day in the back yard. We had lots of fun! This is a self-portrait by John.

John on his slide. Always going against the flow.

John and his Tonka dump truck. It was used to tote leaves for most of the afternoon.

John snapped this photo of Joan. I think he did a good job.

Who's a happy baby-waby...

I'm a happy baby-waby!

Not sure what this look means, but it's still cute!

What good is spring without a giant pile of soggy, semi-composted leaves to roll around in?

And to cap off the day, we came in to a package from my parents waiting on the doorstep.Thank you! The clothes are great, and John LOVES the trucks! He even took them to bed with him last night. They got to sleep on the pillow.

It was a fun day. Even John agrees. When I put him to bed last night, he stroked my cheek and whispered "I had good day, mommy. I had fun leaves."

I have a rare few minutes for more or less just me, so I'm going to go enjoy it. Jer went to Ikea to buy blinds, Mike's working on math at school, John was so pooped from the excitement of moving day that he's asleep on the dining room floor, so it's just Joan and I, and she's happy to just snuggle in on my lap. Hope you all enjoy the pictures. Yay spring!

Joan smiling

Well, I only managed to get one cruddy, washed-out photo of Joan smiling, before John saw the flash and zoomed to the scene. But a smile's a smile! I'll try to get a better one soon. I'll have to find a distraction for John. Not even cartoons can keep him from a camera, so I'll have to find something really good. She's going to look at her baby pictures one day and wonder why John is in every one.

Kids are doing well. Joan's neurology appointment is on Tuesday, so keep those fingers crossed.

A HUGE thanks to Mike's grandma for the clothes! She was down to two things that sorta fit, so it's nice to have a few extra sleepers when she's having a particularly poopy day. I had to dress her in her snowsuit one day, so she wouldn't get cold waiting for the laundry to dry. John won't put on the slippers yet, but he likes to look at them. They have an honoured place in his dump truck.

Jer moves in tomorrow. He'll be here any minute to get stuff in his room ready. Place is a major disaster area right now, because I've been busy with association stuff the last two days. But I should be able to have it more or less clean before his friends get here tomorrow morning. It's amazing how fast the house degrades into chaos, without constant tidying.

I guess the big news this week is with Mike. He's playing with the idea of going back to school full-time in September. He had a look at what yet needs to be done, and he had a whack of courses that must be done in the first term, when his work is busiest, so part-time would be prett impossible. I suggested he look into his company policy of leaves of absence, and take a term off work. That option is still on the table. We also went to the OSAP site, and plugged in our info to the calculator. He can get I think $12,000-$14,000 per year, and all but $7,000 is in the form of grants, because of the kids. It's less to live on than a paycheque, but we think it's doable. Going full-time also opens doors to other funding possibilities, because we'll be classed as low-income. We may be able to get a subsidized daycare spot from the city, which would make our daycare virtually free, but we won't know until we have a bunch of forms together. He actually has to get the ball rolling, and apply to school and OSAP before we can find out if we'd qualify. If he can keep his marks up, he may also qualify for a bursary from his school. It has tax implications, too. Our child tax credit will become bigger, and we'll probably qualify for the GST rebate. I think we could muddle through. It would be two lean years, but then it would be done. The alternative is two years of part-time, including a one term leave of absence either this september or next, and one final year of full-time, to get his degree. He's torn on which way to go. I favour the just-get-it-done scenario, but we need to really look at the numbers before we jump in. We've talked about different ways to use the house to our advantage. We have to renew in June, and I think our broker can do something to help.Maybe stretch the term out. Mike hates that idea, though. He wants as much going on principle as possible, to get as big a lump as possible when we sell, likely in 3-4 years. We also talked about renting it out as a house, for the price of our mortgage, then renting some hole in the wall near school to cut our living costs, while still hanging on to the house. Obviosly not an option for this year. But I may even be able to get a job at one of our niagara papers. It could work out well, if we chose the right tenants, though it would count as income, which would mess up OSAP. It's hard to know what to do. It's going to take a big leap of faith, no matter what we do. But he really, really needs to get his degree. There's no future in Bell. One of the other contracting companies was just dissolved, because the union voted against a massive pay cut. All those guys are losing their good-paying jobs, and frankly, that's the future for Mike's company, too. The telecommunications industry is changing from copper to fibre optics. He said it will require a college diploma to do his job after things switch over. It will be done by new companies, and his will be phased out and shut down. It's not a stable future. He'll be in his late 30's or early 40's, out of a job, and trained in an obsolete technology. Either way he's looking at retraining, so why not retrain for what he actually wants to do?

Anyway, we have a bit of time to decide what to do. But in the meantime, he's still planning to take one summer course, investigate a leave of absence, and also get the ball rolling on full-time and OSAP, to keep his options open come September.

What do you guys think?

Anyway - better go clean!

truck stop

I stumble across strange scenes like this more and more these days. This is picture of John's trucks, snacking on granola bars in the den.

Two peas in a pod

Joan and John, hangin' on the couch. It was meant to be a Joan photo-shoot, but as soon as John saw the camera appear, he was stuck to her like glue. As I recall, he was explaining to her that she had to say "cheese". He's with his new favourite toy - dad's hammer - much to the horror of our walls.


This is a portrait of Joan, chillin' on the couch. John took this picture (with a little aiming help from Dad)

Things here are good. Mike's parents were just for a visit, and took John out every day, including to the aviary at Niagara Falls. I've been treated to many excited, arm-waving ramblings about birds and "big fishies". There's some talk of John summering in the north, but no details as of yet.

One exciting thing - Joan rolled over this morning! Yay! Only half way, from her back to her side, but still pretty exciting. As I recall from John, the other half is tough, because that pesky arm gets in the way. But it was neat to watch - it took her a couple minutes, but she had a big grin on her face the whole time, and looked so pleased when she finally got herself up. It's a new era, though. I can't leave her on the couch to grab a diaper anymore. Time to set up the playpen downstairs I think! It has a basinet, so it's a safe place to leave her, now that she's trying to get some mobility.

And now, a message from John:

gt6tttppppp[o,,,,,,,,,,,,,nn5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555 5555555555555555555555555555555555555555555111111111111111jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjk
,,

Just a cool aside - just tested something that Mike's parents said. Partway through, I asked John to press the 5 button. Neat, eh? Though, I asked him to press the 7, and he pressed 1, but still. He went straight for the 5.

new weight

I had to delay Joan's well-baby to yesterday - Mike needed the car for school last Thursday.

Updated weight is 16 pounds, 3 ounces, at two months and a week old. Sorry - didn't get the updated length, but I'm sure she's longer too. She's pretty much doubled her weight - something that typically happens by four months, so she's growing very fast. Doc says she's "growing beautifully," so it's all good. Not sure what we're going to do about car seats. Looks like we might have to buy a second one - John can't move to a booster until he's 40 pounds, but she needs a bigger seat once she hits 20-22 pounds. I was hoping he'd hit 40 when she hit 20, but I have a feeling she'll beat him.

She got shots this time, poor kid. She just looked shocked with the first one, but she really howled with the second, and was out of sorts for the rest of the day.

She wouldn't look into his little light this time. I mentioned what happened at the specialist, and all the tests she has coming up. He asked if we're getting eye contact, and I said yes. She's much better now. She even tries to initiate eye contact from us, and if we smile, she smiles too, without much effort or even funny voices. She seems to giggle at nothing at all though - she'll just be staring off and start to giggle - but I think I remember John doing that, too, so I'm sure it's nothing. And I'm pretty sure her ears are fine - if she's crying in her cradle, she calms down when she hears me talking to her, even before I'm anywhere near her.

He told me the actual name of the type of murmur she has, but it was an awfully long name. It had a couple of P words in it, but that's all I can remember. He said basically, it means it's one she should be able to outgrow, which is what the pediatrician said, too. I'm sure everything will work out fine. Her pregnancy got off to a rocky start, too, but it all worked out in the end.