Five!

H: Good Morning Mummy.

M: Good Morning. Happy Birthday Hunter!

H: It's my birthday!! Does this mean I'm five now?

M: Yep.

H: Wow!!! I'm really five now!!! Can I open my presents now?

Work, Work, Work

I know, I know you shouldn't post about work on your blog. But it's hard not to seeing as it is taking up 10.5 hours of my day five days a week.

Mostly, I've been surprised at how easily I've transitioned back into work mode. On my first day I found myself editing the Briefing Notes my new boss had given me to bring me up to speed on my files. Not because she was asking that they be edited but because I'm a jerk who can't read anything (not published) without editing it (or at least really wanting to edit it you know, because I write so well - snort-).

By day two, I was working through an evaluation, writing some Briefing Notes, and asking for more work. Which reminds me of an old saying - think before you speak. Because you may not like the work you get, you may even have a serious problem with the direction that makes you feel a bit queasy. Or maybe you should think before you speak because you're just lazy. I kid, I kid. Actually, I figure if you're going to be chained to a desk for a good part of your day you might as well work your ass off and accomplish something.

By week two I found myself struggling through the file that was making me queasy. Who knew that a meeting of all things would save me? Those who know me know how I generally feel about meetings - I'm the one that often will be pretending to stab a pen into my neck as people drone on about how important their work is and how busy they are (because it isn't obvious that people are busy and important if they don't) . But this particular meeting, this meeting was good because as I was sitting there wondering when I should reveal myself as the obnoxious resister I am someone else spoke up first and raised many of the same concerns I had! Then there was dialogue and I went back to my office with determination and finished a draft of the document. A draft I could live with.

But the best part of my day? The best part of my everyday sounds a bit like this "Mommy!!!" or "Mommy's home!!!" and of course the sound of the fastest crawl you can imagine accompanied by a squeal and a giggle (Julia's version of "mommy!!!"). Ah, life is good.

One Year (and a bit)

Dear Julia:

A year really has gone by since you were moving around inside my tummy, or more accurately, kicking, punching and wanting out. You'd had enough. Kind of like you'd had enough of that not moving around stuff and rushed to roll and then crawl. Now you're into everything you can get your hands on. You have a particular fondness for shoes, wallets, phones, and remotes. I imagine I could infer something about what kind of a woman you'll be from that but it's much more fun to watch it unfold rather than speculate.

Instead of talking about all the wonderful things you do, though, I'm going to attempt to capture Hunter and your relationship. But first, I do have to tell you that one of my favourite things you are doing right now is arm farts. If there's someone in the vicinity wearing a short-sleeved shirt, you like to lean over like you're doing something sweet like giving a kiss and then surprise them with the loudest fart sound you can muster. Then you come up with a giant grin on your face. This will go on for as long as your victim is willing to take it. I'm not sure where you learned this little gem but it is definitely among your favourite games.

As for you and Hunter, I love watching the two of you in the mornings. It's kind of like your special time together to play. Usually you guys are fairly in sync with when you wake up but occasionally you're up first, and when you are you can't stand it if Hunter's not up. Instead of taking advantage of some just parents and you time, you like to get as close to Hunter as possible and whap him a few times to see if he'll wake up. You like to look right into his face and say "hi, hi, hi Huntah." If that doesn't work and you're able to stand next to him (like if he's crawled into our bed in the morning and you've managed to sucker us into letting you in as well) you jump, right next to him to shake him out of his slumber. Lucky for you he always wakes up in a good mood in the mornings.

I was thinking I should probably take you right out of the room so that Hunter can get that extra bit of sleep those mornings, but the other day when he was the first one up (which is more usual) I watched him pacing around trying to get you to wake up. I asked him to let you sleep and he said he would but I noticed he kept coming up with excuses to go into the room and when he thought I wasn't looking he put his face next to yours and whispered "Julia, it's time to get up and play." I chased him out again only to find him in there a few minutes later holding your hand and talking to you as you slept. That didn't work either and Hunter was devastated because he was worried he was going to have to go to school without having gotten his Julia playing time in. That's about the only morning I can think of in recent memory where you guys haven't had your bit of playing time together.

What exactly do you guys do together? Well, it seems you like to play dinosaurs, zoo, cars, trains, dolls, castle, and store. Pretty much everything (except for puzzles, which you eat and games, which you tend to destroy). I like when Hunter is playing something by himself and you crawl (or furniture walk) over and instead of getting mad when you inevitably knock over something he's playing with he just factors you in to his play - "ah the giant baby is attacking!!" Other than that, you guys mostly like to chase each other. He likes to read to you, or at least tell you about the pictures (especially since he saw on PBS that you should be read to at least 15 minutes a day). Sometimes I think it's like you have three parents because Hunter is so protective of you. You're one lucky girl. And we couldn't be luckier to have you in our lives - I can't imagine the world without you.

Love you my Mungry,

Love Mum

Best Email Ever

From: Jason
Sent: February 15, 2008 3:00 PM
To: Me
Subject: House/Kids/Cleaning

Hi Honey,

I hope you're having a good Friday and after work you can enjoy a 3 day long weekend, even though we'll be busy with Julia's Party and getting it ready.

I have a question? How do you do it??? The house is looking okay, but how do you manage the time and such? I think we might sit down Sunday or Monday and try to figure out a plan. I might be overthinking this, I don't know.

See you when you get home,

Love you,

Jason

One Year Old Vitals

What you find out when you take your baby for four needles on her first birthday, she's:
16 pounds
71 centimetres
3rd Percentile
One tough but achy birthday girl

Letter to come.

Work, Work, Work

Observations on my return to work:

Things change a lot but not that much.

Odds and Ends

My January to do list was accomplished (for the most part) by the end of January! Completed without a self-congratulatory post (well, until now, that is). I haven't thought of anything for February so probably more of the same.

I'm not going to post ughs or about wagoneering (wagoning?) anymore but I'm still plugging away and doing okay. In hindsight I would have spent less of this past year worrying about it but that is much easier said than done.

Besides that, I wouldn't change this last year at all. I'm so greatful that I had this time home with my babies. I think I took just the right amount of time because I'm ready to go back and I definitely wasn't a month ago. Hunter cried when I tucked him in tonight because he "likes it better when I'm home" but he'll be just fine, he's going to have lots of time to get his Dad on a routine (and I'm sure he'll enjoy the lack of crazy).

When she's not chasing Hunter around, Julia crawls around after me and yanks on my pants to pull herself up or uses the back of my knees for support as she walks behind me. It's going to be tough leaving my little shadow tomorrow but Jason tells me that her tears always cease the minute I'm out the door (usually as he's trying to rush me out the door).

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going back to but I do know I've got great colleagues and can guarantee that within a week I'll be writing briefing notes (I just hope most of them aren't for speeches). Some day I will attempt to capture what exactly it is I do half as brilliantly as Palinode captured what he does.

Self Analysis ala Facebook

According to some application on facebook, my Beatles song is Hey Jude. This means the following:

You are a little hesitant and insecure when it comes to taking action, but the truth is you are extremely capable and full of life and hope, and are a natural leader. You are an idealist and you often wish that there was something you could do to make society a little better. Although you can be overdramatic when faced with obstacles, you have a strong support group of people who love you who will be there to set you back on your feet. Sometimes you have difficulty opening your heart and expressing your feelings because you are worried that people won't accept you, so you act nonchalant and cool. However, you are slowly learning to let people into your heart and let go of your fears.

I'm sure any of the Beatles songs that I could have been would have been among my favourites since most of them are but I like that I'm Hey Jude because Hey Jude influenced our decision to name Julia Julia much like Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (the first book Jason and I read together way back when) informed our decision to name Hunter Hunter. I like that it's Hey Jude because I often sing Hey Jules (terribly off-key) to Julia. As far as the analysis goes, I'm totally a natural born leader but I am not overdramatic I mean come on, me? Dramatic? Nooo.

1996 is Astonished

Facebook compelled me to dig up some photos from the 90s. When I was digging through my scraps of poems, pictures, and ticket stubs I came across a letter my Dad sent me in 1996:

"What do you think of the letter with the pictures on it? I got a couple more toys for the computer - a digital camera that hooks up to the computer and a colour Epson printer. The quality of these pictures isn't great because I don't have any photograph paper but when I get some they say it will be as good as a photograph or almost anyway."

It's hard to imagine that 11 and a half short years ago we were astonished with digital cameras and our ability to print pictures. Hunter's generation won't even be able to imagine a world without digital cameras, cell phones, personal computers, laptops, etc. Even now when I take a picture with a regular camera, Hunter can't understand why he can't immediately see the picture.