Swing Time

How long will m'baby think something as simple as a swing ride is the Best. Thing. Ever.?

I hope it's a long, long time.

Off and Running

Okay, people. You are all very sweet. I appreciated all the nice comments right after Talia was born - "You look great!","You look exactly like you did before you got pregnant!","You must not have gained anything besides the baby!" But it's time to face facts. I do not, in fact, look like I did before I got pregnant. I did, in fact, gain more than 7lbs 3 oz. And things are looking far from great on many a morning here in S.A. So when I recently got the community leisure guide in the mail (a piece of legal paper, 1-sided, totally awesome!!) and saw that someone was starting a running clinic, I looked at my not-so-tiny baby in the jogging stroller (which has so far been used for brisk walking at best,) and thought it's time.

Tomorrow I am officially back in the swing of things. Hard to believe I ran 3 half-marathons the year before I got pregnant. These days I mostly run from the couch to the fridge! When I used to be an avid runner, my running club made all the difference. I hope the runners in my new club appreciate funny and/or sarcastic comments gasped out at random intervals. I wonder if I'll have to be funny completely en francais?

Check out Talia's tiny shoes, lined up at the front door. Looks like she's ready to be off and running, too. At least she's neat.

Trying Not to Sweat the Small Stuff - Even if it Kills Me.....

I bought a box of tea that I like at Costco. So that means I will have tea for the next 12 years, or I will be well prepared if a crowd of 500 of my closest tea-drinking friends show up at my place. Awesome! Except, so far everytime I have a cup, the little paper tab falls off, and the weight of the tea bag pulls down the string into my hot, delicious beverage.

I realize there are a lot of big things wrong in the world right now. Wars, economies, illness, loss. But honest to God, the tabs falling off my tea bags are enough to give me a nervous breakdown. How am I going to escape from the real problems in life if my tea lets me down? What am I expected to do, USE A SPOON?!?! Unacceptable. I will have to follow Talia's lead and let it all go to have sweet dreams like she's having in this picture.

In other news, Talia is learning from her fur brothers. Following in the footsteps of Ernie, she has started scratching the snack tray on her exersaucer when it is empty. I hope she doesn't also pick up licking herself in front of company and barking furiously at cars.

ps - Shout outs to Shan for finding the Gemini sale and Sandra for reminding me about it! Great deals, and I loves me a bargain.

Easter-rific!

Well, a good time was had by all this weekend. Talia caught on to Easter right away. Here are a few pics of her getting along like a house on fire with her Easter treats. Grandma & Grandpa came up for supper and a good visit. Talia packed away ham faster than I could chop it up for her, which reminded me of The Great Ham Incident of 2007:

We'd had our 2 tiny pups, Bert & Ernie, for about 2 months by the time Easter rolled around. We had faithfully only given the boys dog food and dog treats, reserving the people food for the people, when we hosted Raine Family Easter. I bought the biggest ham ever sold at Sobey's (that fact has yet to be confirmed by Sobey's, by the way) and our supper was a raging success. Since I was feeding a crowd of Raines, even though it was a giant ham, we made short work of it. My darling husband carved up the leftover ham and we were left with a nice ham bone. Thinking that pups need Easter treats, too, we tossed the boys and the ham bone outside.

10 minutes later I went to check on the progress. I was horrified to see that the nice sized ham bone had actually been about 80% meat & fat (or in other words, STUFF THE DOGS COULD EAT), and the dogs were reeling from "the ham sweats." I picked up the tiny sliver of bone that remained and called the boys inside. Bert managed to waddle in, while Ernie got hung up on the 2 inch threshold. His little tummy was so full of ham, he literally got stuck and his little paws couldn't reach the floor. The Great Ham Incident of 2007 ended with a long night, 2 sick little puppies, and a disgusting kennel to clean out in the morning.

Funny, the boys weren't nearly as interested in the ham this year.

PS - for any of you planning a drop-in any time soon, 2 of 3 routes into our community are officially blocked off as the ring dike has been partially closed. While this keeps us nice & dry, it makes me crazy when I just want to go to the mall, yo.