Tuesday, September 25, 2012

the last week and a half...


The past week (and a half) has been crazy busy, and here's why:

- We moved out of our apartment, in leg one of our journey from Gatineau to Beijing. Packing up for a six-month move - and tidying and cleaning our apartment for tenants - always involves more effort and more time and more attention to more detail than you initially think it does. Thankfully, we'd been slowly organizing here and there and this and that for a while, so really, it could have been worse. But still, it was mucho - thinking of how the kidlets will grow and what they will need and what we have space for. Can we travel with just one bag each? How many books can we bring? Will it all fit in the car? Steve packed up three bags, and between me and the little ones we have just two bags, for now. That includes clothes, books, toys, diapers, some food, shoes... and more? Ouf. Our most productive times were when they were both sleeping which was when I needed to sleep and rest and eat and shower, so I personally felt like I was in overdrive, especially on Friday morning - departure day.

- We had to fit errands and appointments and busy-busy things into the packing and organizing that dominated the week. Example of busy-busy: I went to Costco to buy eye patches for Hendrik on Monday (with both kids in tow, Hendrik in the backpack and Alana in the stroller) and it turns out they didn't have enough. Order and return demain, they said, so I did. Tuesday I pick them up and then on Wednesday at Hendrik's eye appointment we got the good news that both eyes are of equal strength and we could .... stop the patching. Sooooo I returned to Costco on Thursday to return said eye patches (eight boxes) and drop off a prescription. They couldn't fill the prescription so told me to come back the following day to pick it up. Ak! That makes four Costco trips in five days... right? Four? Yes. Too many. Anyways, I also had a three-weeks-too-early follow up appointment with my ob/gyn on Wednesday, and they all ogled over Alana and recommended Gravol for Hendrik for the flight to China, and that's about it. The lists lists lists of things to do don't seem to be diminishing now that we're in Bowmanille, but at least we're out of Gatineau and that leaves us with one less set of things to think about.

- Hendrik is slowly recovering from injury, one that I could have blogged about 10 days ago but haven't found the time (read above). Last Saturday he tweaked his ankle/leg going down a steep slide with Steve, and refused to walk on it; he was clearly quite uncomfortable, and after some debate and indecision - hospital or no hospital? - Steve took him in. His x-ray showed no breaks, so the verdict is, since he's still limping and didn't bear weight or walk on it until Thursday, that he has a fractured growth plate. Sounds serious, but since I haven't had time to google it or look into it, I'm trying not to worry too much. I've talked to my dad, Steve took Hendrik to physio a few times, and it seems as though it will just need time to heal. If it's not significantly better by the time we're in Vancouver, we'll take him back in to have things looked at. Until then, advice is to limit jumping and running (which he's not doing anyways) and keep his activitiy levels low; done and done.

- Okay this note has nothing to do with busy-ness but is just a serious irritation: Transport Canada rules state that I cannot fly with two kids under two... ah-nnoying! How am I supposed to get out to Vancouver? Plans there, are, for the moment, foiled. And I was on my way to booking a flight last night - good thing Bob and Marg spotted that rule. Uggghhh....


- We had a busy weekend - good busy - with Erin and Fred in town for Marg's 60th birthday. It was a surprise and there was a surprise dinner and then a surprise get-together at Barb's after and there were TWO CAKES! That's my kind of birthday weekend. Happy belated Grandma B - it was an awesome weekend!

- Over the weekend Steve and I were (sort of) busy organizing his bags, trying to max out on weight and use up all available space in the three 70 pound bags he's allowed with his Air Canada Elite Status. The end of that story is a sad one; he left yesterday at noon, and it was a teary goodbye. I'll miss him, but I know how much he'll miss Hendrik and Alana, and that makes me more sad than missing him  myself. I'm so glad that I can be here with Bob and Marg and get some help with the babes, and that I'll get the same out in Vancouver with my parents. Now I just need to figure out how to get there....


As far as my busy-rant goes, that's about it. Alana is doing really well; she's eating well and sleeping well and is in general, a very very good-natured babe. It looks like she might be getting into a bit of a schedule during the day (eating every 3 - 3 1/2 hours) and was up just once in the night last night, going four hours between feeds (YAY!). This translates into a bit more sleep for me, which is much needed. Hendrik is having a great time with G-ma and G-pa B, and has found new toys - a calculator ("do some cal-cu-lating" he says), binoculars (a gift from Chris and Carla) and Steve and Erin's old Fisher Price farm set. He's still into doing jobs ("more jobs" he says, after dinner) and cleaning up. We're still doing the cloth diaper thing and still loving it, but there have been a few hiccups that still need sorting. It's felt very much like fall here - will Beijing's warm weather hang around much longer? Probably not. Summer is over and fall is upon us, and that's fine; I do like the four seasons, even though summer gets the gold. I'm sure there's more to write about, but I've got to get some pictures up; for now, that's a wrap!


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