Recent Likes

Because I am coming down with something and feel like 10 lbs of poop in a 5 lb sack, you get this entry I started last week on Recent Things I Like:

1. My roomba. Its almost as good as having a cleaning service (which I used to have and miss terribly). Now if only it would dust and clean the bathrooms.

2. The Epicurious app for iPhone/iPod Touch. I’ve always grappled with how to get my electronic recipes into the kitchen. I didn’t want to take the laptop because it might get wet/damaged/etc. We were messing around with installing a laptop under the cabinets and programming it to invert the picture but I don’t really have a spot for it because of my lack of counter space. Now I can just take my iPod into the kitchen and look at it there. It will even create shopping lists for you, which enable better meal planning.

Yes, I know I could print them out but that seems wasteful somehow. And I end up with paper everywhere because I’m kind of bad about filing paper away.

3. The Poptart’s new noises. Specifically the fact that she plays on the floor going “ba ba ba ba”. Which is a lot closer to “Mama” than “Dada”, linguistically speaking (I know this because I took a linguistics course once twice. I failed it the first time).

4. A full night’s sleep for the first time in 5 days because of a combination of 6 month growth spurt plus teething.

5. Dooce’s book. Yes, I’m a bit behind but I got it from the library and there was only copy so it was a long waiting list.

What do you like lately?

A bit of seriousness about H1N1

Last year, when I was pregnant, I signed up for a flu shot through my employer. I put a note on the form saying I was pregnant and could you make sure to provide the shot for pregnant women instead of the standard shot, please. I got to my appointment with the Public Health Nurse and she didn’t have it. So I didn’t get the shot.

I’m fairly certain I got the flu. It was miserable. Darren was about 10 minutes away from hauling me to emerg when my fever broke. I missed over a week of work.

Last week, Darren had some sort of illness and didn’t go to work. He had all the symptoms of the H1N1 flu. The Poptart and I seem to have escaped it.

So on Monday, I go to the doctor to get my H1N1 and seasonal flu shots. I fall into one of those priority categories at the moment – a caregiver of a child under 6 months of age. The Poptart will be 6 months old on November 17.  On November 24, she gets her 6 month needles.

And therein lies the issue. The original thought was that I would get the flu vaccines, produce antibodies (hopefully) and pass them on to the Poptart by breastfeeding.

Well, it seems the antibodies don’t transfer well through breastfeeding. And its only 80% effective; I may be part of the 20% of the population that doesn’t react to the vaccine.

So we’re leaning towards delaying the 6 month vaccines and getting her an H1N1 vaccine instead, and possibly a seasonal flu vaccine as well.

Leaning. Not 100% convinced yet. Mainly because we don’t understand what happens at the 6 month mark that suddenly makes this vaccine okay for babies.

So questions for the doctor on Monday:

• should she get the H1N1 vaccine? should she get the seasonal flu vaccine?
• should we postpone the 6 month needles to give her the flu vaccine(s)?
• What happens at 6 months that makes the vaccine okay?

On the one hand, I’m kind of leery of giving her more needles than what she needs. On the other hand, I’d feel really terrible and guilty if she got sick and I didn’t do everything I could to protect her.

Flames, Heat and Pigs

This was originally going to be about the Calgary Flames and the Abbotsford Heat jumping the queue for the swine flu vaccine, but this conversation is much more entertaining:

Darren (glancing over at the title to this post): Don’t include the Icehogs in that.

Me (blank look): Who?

Darren: The Icehogs. They’re Chicago’s farm team.

Me: [raises eyebrows]

Darren: Yeah, they’re getting new jerseys. They’re going to have a picture of a hog with a surgical mask.

(Image shamelessly taken from the Blackhawks chat boards)

 

MTT: How I compute

I was looking for a topic to write about today for NaBloPoMo and getting slightly panicky that I have nothing to write about when a topic fell through my reader into my lap(top). Its Mediocre Topic Tuesday and the topic is “How do you compute?”

We have a lot of computers. A LOT. Anyone who has been to my house and has seen “the office” knows that it is a scary, scary place. I have one little corner and the rest is Darren’s Stuff.

I have two computers. Three if you want to get technical. My desktop, which Darren built and works better than any desktop I’ve ever had. For real. It never crashes. It doesn’t like windows vista so much, but really, who does?

I have a laptop from which I do my surfing, writing, etc. etc. these days. It sits in the living room for now which is where the Poptart and I spend much of our days. Its actually a tablet: the screen rotates and folds down flat so I can write on the screen if necessary. Its lightweight (3 lbs) and I can easily haul it around if I need to. Its not super powerful and is a bit of a battery suck, but that’s typical for tablets. It also isn’t a big fan of Vista, but I hope to upgrade it to Windows 7 soon.

I have a second tablet that runs a bare-bones Windows 7 with Microsoft Office on it so that I can use my powerpoint presentations when I teach. Its the sicker of the two tablets.

I also have an iPod Touch which, with all the new apps? is da bomb. I pooh-poohed the iPhone when it came out, but I can see why people want them now.

(don’t be scared of the jargon up there. That’s the extent of what I know. I’m a computer tech’s wet dream or worst nightmare: I know just enough to cause extensive amounts of damage. This either keeps the techs in work or gets them too much work)

So, how do you compute?

Addled Monday

I know I was going to write about something important, but for the life of me, I can’t remember. Of if not important, than at least relevant. This is likely because the Poptart woke up bright and early at 2:50am and went back to sleep at 4:30. Then Darren’s alarm went off. Which leaves me with about 3 hours of straight sleep.

So you get a list of the random stuff in my head:

• H1N1. Get your damn vaccine when its your turn and allow others to do the same. Queue jumpers suck. Where possible, make an appointment so you don’t have to stand in line rather than bitching about having to stand in line.
• I could write about why I think everyone should get vaccinated, eventually, but she says everything I want to say, and probably in a better way.
• Although I am tired today, I am not panicky about it and I actually managed to get out of the house to go to library story time. I point to the zoloft because before? I would have been a blubbering mess.
• The Poptart now sits by herself and is about 3 seconds away from crawling. We are in so much trouble when that happens. Once she figures out how to get her hands and knees under her at the same time THAT’S IT FOLKS. SEND REINFORCEMENTS. and wine.

That’s it. That’s all that’s in my brain today. Lack of sleep + fear of imminent crawling = addled Monday.

NaBloPoMo: And Thus, it begins

And it begins with the following question:

Is it cheating if I pre-program posts to post?

Unfortunately, Twitter didn’t answer.

Moving on!

I signed up for NaBloPoMo. I’ve been wanting to do it every year it comes about, but never signed up because I was too busy and the thought that I’d have to post every. single. day. was overwhelming.

Of course, now I have a baby so I should have lots of time to post, right?

*crickets*

Like Carrie said, it’ll be fun. And it might get me back into the posting groove.

I have a November Project already, but I plan on consolidating those into one post per week.

And if you’d like to know anything (except for work-related questions), ask!

And just to start your brain working: the Poptart woke up at 4:20, which is really 3:30 because we fell back last night, went back to sleep at 5:30 which is really 4:30 and got up for the day at 7:45 which is really 6:45. If she stays up for 2 hours before going down for a nap, what time does she fall asleep?

And more importantly, at what time can I open a bottle of wine?

 

I’d give her my soul…

After all, she already has my heart

All your souls are belong to us

Open Letters: H1N1 Vaccine and People Who Suck

To all the people who are not:

• pregnant
• having a chronic health condition

And starting next week:

• immunocompromised
• healthcare workers
• caregivers of children under 6 months of age or people with compromised immune systems
• children aged 6 months to 5 years

And are sneaking in line and lying about one of the above to get an H1N1 shot early.

You suck. You taking that vaccine means that someone who has a greater chance of getting seriously sick or dying from H1N1 goes without. That’s pretty sucky of you. Instead, I offer the following suggestions: wash your hands, carry hand sanitizer, take your vitamins and be patient.

That is all.

Halloween post to come later. I just had to get this off my chest.

Edited to add: As of this evening, Alberta has shut down its flu clinics, except for target groups. If you queue jump in that case, you’ve escalated from being merely sucky to douchebaggery.

My November Project

Amber just made her first post on 5 Minutes for Going Green. She makes a good point:

Pretty much all of us are familiar with the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mantra. What we don’t always remember, though, is that those actions are listed in order of priority. The most sustainable choice is always to reduce our consumption. If that fails, reusing something that we already have, or that someone else already has, is an excellent second choice. And only then, if an item is not reusable, recycling is a good way to reduce our waste and our consumption of raw materials.

(Emphasis added)

A lot of people I know have already reduced their consumption. They also recycle, for one reason or another. But I’m curious: how much do we actually reuse stuff beyond the usual reusing shopping bags, ziplocs, wrapping paper/gift bags etc? Or, dare I say it, repurpose it?

And let’s face it: November on the Wet Coast is dreary, dark and generally unpleasant. I need a project other than finding new ways to wear the Poptart in the Babyhawk or the Beco and washing diapers.

So for November I’m going to figure out ways to repurpose and reuse things beyond the shopping bags, the cloth diapers, etc. at least 3 times a week. Nothing complex, just a little outside-the-box thinking.

Want to join in?

Overheard: Parenting Tactics

The Scene: watching the Poptart laying on the floor playing with the frame of her bouncy chair (the cover was being washed)

Darren: She’s just absolutely fascinated with that. Who knew?
Me: Well, it’ll be like toys she’ll get: she’ll be more interested in the box than the toy.
Darren: You know what that means? We can take toys she already has and make them disappear a couple of weeks in advance, rewrap them and give them to her. It’ll be like all brand new toys.
Me: She won’t always have the memory of a goldfish. Eventually she’ll be too smart for that kind of thing.
Darren: Yeah, but until then, any toy is fair game! Regifting at its finest!