Disney, randomness and no, I’m not pregnant!

Blogger and iPhone – 99% of the time I spend online is over my iPhone. It’s my tiny window to the WWW. Lately I’ve been have a hard time with Blogger’s private blogs and receiving the message that my “cookies are disabled”. I get this message consistently when trying to comment and therefore I’ve stopped trying. Is anyone else that is using an iPhone having this issue? It’s driving me crazy!!

Disney – We’ve booked our Disney vacation! We normally go in May but this year we’ve decided to go in September after finding a ridiculously cheap “room only” rate. We’re staying on property (11 nights) but we’re going to be doing off property parks for the first 4 days. D is really excited to go to Harry Potter World! Logistically this trip works well all around. Sadie will be 20 months old (2 and under are free) and it’s before we TTC #2 so I will not have any pregnancy anxiety. The next time we go will likely be when Sadie is 5 and baby #2 (if we are so blessed) is around the same age as she is now (18 months – 2 years).

Oh yeah, and I’m not pregnant (but wouldn’t that be nice) – My cousin has spread a rumour that I’m pregnant. It got back to my dad which resulted in facebook messages to “call immediately”. I was a bit freaked out because I thought something bad had happened. I honestly have no idea why my cousin would even think I was pregnant. He’s on my facebook but we never talk. Ever. I even went back and looked at several pages of my wall to see if I’d written anything that made it sound like I was pregnant and there was nothing. Not even an unflattering picture showing off my big belly. I guess that once you have a baby people are on high alert for you to do it again? If only it were that easy and didn’t involve months of planning!

Huge Hydro-Electric bill – My mother got a $1000 hydro bill in the mail (final bill). She was on an equal billing plan as well which means her hydro for September through mid-January cost $1600. That was to heat her 900 sq ft, electrically heated bungalow house. Wow. The price of Hydro has gotten out of control to the point where I’m sure many people are suffering to save money. It’s sad, really. She would have lost the house had we not invited her to live with us.

Sick again – We have pretty much been sick the entire month of February. It’s gone from bad, to worse, to better and back to worse. We’ve had colds, sinus infections, strep and now the stomach flu. Is the month over yet? On Wednesday night I woke up to Sadie throwing up beside me in bed (co-sleeping is awesome) and by Thursday I was sick too. The weekend was spent changing poopy diapers and now Sadie has a cough. W. T. F. I’m exhausted and I just want all of us to feel better!

Cozy Coupe – I broke down and bought Sadie a Cozy Coupe. I wasn’t going to but then we had a bit of an issue on the weekend. We bought Sadie the Cozy Coupe shopping cart last year.


It was supposed to be a Christmas present but we determined at the time that Santa had spent too much money and it would wait until Easter. Well, much like buying the Cozy Coupe 2 weeks after declaring we wouldn’t, I wasn’t able to wait for Easter. I put it together this weekend and excitedly brought it out to Sadie expecting her to love it. Well, she didn’t. She couldn’t open the door and then she stuck her foot through the window and fell trying to get inside the tiny car. She cried and whined and we eventually had to distract her and make the darn thing disappear. Great parenting: Here’s a toy that looks just like the one you want but is too small for you and doesn’t work. I felt so bad I ran out and bought the real thing at the first opportunity. Is Sadie still too young to know she is spoiled?

Donor Sibling Registry - Almost 7 months after my e-mail to our DSR match and I've received a response. Like I had suspected back then, it was a listing to unload an extra vial. I'm still not sure how I feel about donor siblings at this time but I am totally bummed that we don't have any options to connect.


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A bit about Sadie

I am 100% unable to sleep tonight so I thought I'd take the time to share some stuff about Sadie!
Her development seems to be on a fast track right now. I'm amazed by the what she can do and the new things she's learning.
Sadie can:
* Do the laundry! My mom taught her how to put clothes in the washer after quite a bit of frustration with her taking stuff out! Sadie can load the washer, close the door and press "start". The downside to this is that Sadie LOVES to press "start" and sometimes there are no clothes to wash. Our stackables are in our Kitchen. We're not keeping Sadie in the basement as a laundry slave.

*Take her footie PJ's off and has pulled at her diaper. We're very afraid!!

*Help getting dressed by lifting her feet in the air for socks and putting her arms through the arm holes.

* Shake her had no and nod yes in the most adorable way. When we tell her not to do something she nods her head and says "yeh". Evil.

*Play independantly with toys in ways that does not always involve her chewing on them. She can stack blocks (just 2), put Lego together and plays endlessly with her "Little People". Yesterday we caught her with Mr. monkey using his paws to press buttons on one of her toys. She also tries to feed her dolls from her sippy cup and will offer them her soothie.

*Walk sideways and backwards in a cute little shuffle.

*Go to the bedroom and get a diaper when we ask her if her bum needs changed.

*Find specific toys when we ask her. For example a Mickey figurine or Mr. Monkey.

*Follow instructions to take something to Momma or Mommy and goes to the right person.

*Make kissy noises and says MWAH! She also loves to hug other babies and kids.

We're also amazed by how much she imitates what we do. She mimics EVERYTHING which is both cute and a warning that she is taking everything in and we need to be careful!

She's turning into such a sweet and happy KID. We just love her to pieces!









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Co-Parents.Net

I somehow ended up at this site tonight and had "fun" reading through some profiles. We have IRL friends who found their sperm donor over a website. They went to his place to do the insemination. Gag. Trying not to judge but I couldn't use an "I don't really know you" donor. I do not see this as the same thing as a KNOWN donor. I could never trust that the donor was "clean" or that his intentions were purely to help a woman conceive. My thoughts would always wander back to him getting off in some way. I mean, why would some random dude really want to help a lesbian with no financial compensation? I'm sure there are some truely remarkable and generous men out there but let's face it, sperm donors get paid money and I have no problem believing that is their motivation to donate.
The site states that it is a dating site for co-parenting and sperm donors (I didn't think dating and sperm donors were related?).
I hope that the women and men using this service understand what co-parenting means. It's kind of inclusively written co-parenting and sperm donation but those are two different things.

My search results (seeking man in Canada) included..

This guy will be your sperm donor but wants to have sex with you:
I am clean, disease free, no drugs and in great health. I prefer natural with total respect.

This guy doesn't have any defects:
I do not believe I have any defects. I do not have a Child; therefore Looking for a that special someone to offer my donation.

This guy is:
sperm donner well hung clean and dd free health sperm

And this guy? I don't even know what to say:
I am an East Indian Professional in Canada looking to co-parent with a Mexican woman who can read & write some English. Other terms can be discussed.

All joking aside, there were some sincere sounding profiles for CO-PARENTING and I'm sure this site works for some people. Our friends have had 2 children with their internet donor. They refer to him as the "dad" and their children know them as that. Totally NOT my thing!!

What do you think?

The Weekend

We survived the weekend and my first Monday at work since 2009! Yep, I’ve decided to work 5 days/week and use my excess 2010 vacation days in the summer. This winter has been hard and dreaming of warm summer days off work will get me through the rest of it.

Our busy weekend –

On Friday night I took D to see Billy Elliot. It was excellent and the performances (specifically by the children) were incredibly good. It’s crazy to see an 8 year old lead a monologue/singing/dancing number. Talk about a triple threat!

Now, I’m going to be a bit controversial here – maybe others will agree – I’m not a huge fan of non-traditional casting. I think it can be done right with certain shows but I don’t think it worked for Billy Elliot. The show prides itself on their colorblind casting and essentially said that it was talent that counts and nothing else – for Billy. While I agree talent does count, as it should, the only non-Caucasian member of the entire cast (from what I could tell) was Billy (Chinese). This was, perhaps, the whitest Broadway show I have ever seen. I’m not holding it against the kid because I think he deserved the part, he was very talented Billy, I just think that there could have been a bit more diversity for the REST of the company if that is the direction they were taking. KWIM?

D and I really need to see more shows in Toronto because whenever we do we have an amazing time. Also, running down to NY whenever we want is no longer an option now that we have Sadie. I just get agitated spending $200+ on a touring company when you could see the show in NY with proper staging/sets for less. Seriously though, “Back in the Day” the best seat in the house was $90 and finding cheap tickets (under $30) was as easy as a line-up. Now the best seat in the house is $200 and we're sitting in the balcony. Toronto is so expensive!

On Saturday we went to Amy and Melissa’s son Jackson’s 1st Birthday party at an indoor playground in East Toronto. Sadie had a lot of fun and when she saw Jackson she gave him a big goobery hug. Sadie had a blast running on the play structure (I was surprised that she did this), going down the slide, driving her cozy coup car, trying to join Jackson in his cozy coup and/or trying to steal it from him. The cozy coup is clearly a favourite toy and we’re not getting her one. I think it would drive us crazy needing to deal with it everyday!

Cozy Coup for 2

Warning!! Graphic image Below! Booooooooogggggieees!

This is what we've been dealing with for over a week. Sadie is a snot monster!!

Help?

For lunch we had pizza and cupcakes and luckily Sadie didn’t eat her cupcake so I had two (they were from our favourite cupcake shop). It was cute to see Jackson open his presents because the kids all sat and watched intently or helped. Clearly they learn that presents are fun from a very early age!
Another cool thing was seeing the age gap closing a bit between Sadie and Blogger Shannon’s youngest son. They’re both ’09 babies but 4 months different in age and although they’ve met a couple of times already, there wasn’t much there because at the time her son seemed so much older. It’s balancing out a bit.

The ride home from the party took about an hour and Sadie napped the entire way. By this time it was getting late in the afternoon and we knew that bedtime and dinner were going to be an issue if she slept too long. We decided that we’d go out to dinner instead of cooking at home. Sometimes that seems so much easier!

Our first attempt was at Jack Astors but the restaurant was currently showing a YELLOW rating by the health department which means a conditional pass of a restaurant inspection. No thank-you! Sadie was in a bad mood at this point so I sent D walking with her across the street (while I drove) to go to another road house style restaurant called Montana’s Cookhouse. We ordered Chicken Fajitas and split them 3 ways, we also had an appetiser and dessert. D and I have really gotten into sharing meals by either ordering two different or one larger. It’s nice to taste more than one option or have room for appetisers and dessert.

By the time we got home I was absolutely zonked. Sadie and I both went to bed at 7:00 pm and slept for 14 hours! Wow!

Sunday was equally busy with Sadie’s first gymnastics class. I love the Little Gym program because they allow your child to wander around on the equipment and only ask the parent to stay on the main mat and participate in an effort to draw the child back into the warm up and circle time. Both D and I participated which several other couples did as well. It’s nice to have a program where we can both be there at the same time.

After gymnastics we went home to quickly nap Sadie before we had to get ready to go to our friend’s “adoption party”. We also had to buy a present before we left so we ended up being late. Buying for a teenage girl was not easy and all my friend offered was "a gift card to a cool store".. Right, because I know what that means!

The goodbye/adoption party was for my friend's 14 yo foster daughter who had recently been adopted by a new family. It was kind of strange because she’d been with them for several years (7) and had grown up so much in their home. It was sad to see her leave but good at the same time that she has a forever home. I think that my friend was shocked by it all as she had said that the system is trying to adopt out all of the children in care.

My friend's home supports 4 kids but currently all 4 beds are empty which means they have no income! They're struggling a bit because they foster fulltime and have no other income. Fostering pays per kid not a salary and I’ve often wondered how much they get paid. Your mortgage is paid as well as many other expenses but I've always had a hard time believing it was enough to support the size of their family (5 bio kids). One couple we know is doing it so that one of the moms can be SAH. It's an interesting option.

Anyway, by the end of the weekend I was feeling a bit stressed that I hadn't spent much time with Sadie. Even though we're running around with her and doing stuff for her it's nice to just sit on the floor and play. We didn't get much of that at all. Fortunately I get home early enough for some quality time before dinner, bath and bed so I guess that makes up for our hectic weekends!

Weekend madness

I'm laying in bed while Sadie naps peacefully and I'm happy to say we've made it past the mid-point of an extremely busy weekend with a trip to the theatre, a birthday party and a gymastics class already under our belt.
We're exhausted!!
It seems our weekends are now falling into one of the following categories: 1. Busy, 2. Sick, 3. Busy and Sick (most of the Xmas season) or 4. Busy and unknowingly Sick (last weekend). Because we've been running around so much, I've withdrawn Sadie from one of her two weekend classes. I felt bad doing it but it's hard enough to balance one class! What on earth was I thinking registering her for two?
The next few weekends are going to be equally busy with a valentines party, 2 different potluck dinners, my brother's birthday, a family day event and Sadie's gymnastics on top of it all. What I'd really like is a nice relaxing weekend with 2 naps and a trip to family swim. Not gonna happen. ):
Details from this weekend to follow in my next entry!

Pics from TLG this morning:











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Sick House

We're sick. The whole family and it freaking sucks!
We just got back from the Dr with prescriptions for amoxicillin and clavulanic acid (D and I) and instructions to watch Sadie for
the next couple of days to make sure she's getting better. I'm glad they didn't put her on meds.
This is the third time I've been sick since mid-December and it's becoming very old. Sadie seems to get the lesser of whatever I have which is always good. I panic each time thinking that she feels as horrible as I do because I've been feeling really shitty. For the most part she just gets a snotty nose. This time she definately has the worst cold she's had to date. Her poor little nose has alien life forms errupting from it. ):






Napping on the couch. My poor baby!
We feel pretty guilty about hpw this played out because we went out on Saturday to meet up with a new Queer moms group. We honestly thought Sadie was just teething and had warned them on Thursday that she had a runny nose. I guess we couldn't have known it was going to get much worse for all of us!
As for the actual meet up, it went fantastic! All of the moms are in the West end (further west from Toronto than where we live) and oddly we had a connection to each of them - including a bloggy connection with Laurie and Heather from creating a miracle! The kids that were there were 3 yo,18 months, 10 months and 2x 13 months - and ALL girls! Sadie was the only walker (aside from the 3 yo) so we had a bit more running to do than the others but it was still a nice social outing. We already have another meet-up planned for Valentines day!
(North York/Durham moms who want in on the group, I'll send you the info via FB. It's a distance for you but they are young families like us. Not older kids.)
Anyway.. My silver lining at the end of this craptastic weekend is that we've made more IRL connections and that we're happy this whole illness is happening NOW and not next weekend when we're booked solid Friday, Saturday and Sunday!!

Tomorrow is my appointment with my GP so I'll post an update to my previous post once I speak with her. I hope we can get this sorted once and for all!

Hypnosis

Does Hypnosis sound totally crazy?
I've been thinking about trying it out to see if it can help with my anxiety and depression issues. There is a place in Toronto that offers a free 30 min consultation and a money back guarantee if you are not happy after 3 sessions.
I'm honestlu getting a bit desperate to find something that will make me feel better. I haven't been writing it but I feel terrible most of the time. When I drive home from work I'm a zombie/ on the verge of tears. I don't know how I manage to even get to work let alone survive the day to schlep back home.
It's THAT bad.
Maybe something totally different will work?




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