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A few nights ago Gwen was changing Evelyn after a big poo and once the diaper was off, according to the eyewitnesses at the scene, there was some “projectile pooing” which shot out and all over Gwen! It somehow managed to miss most everything else, including the couch (thank goodness) but Gwen definitely had to wash her clothing. Which leads me to an important piece of advice: the best way we have found to get baby poo stains out is to spray with a wonderful product called Oxyclean (the liquid, not the powder), let sit 5 minutes and wash in cold water, spray again and wash in warm or hot water. If it isn’t possible to wash right away, then it’s best to soak the article in question in cold water with some detergent.

I have also learned another wonderful thing this week - the best way to clean the windows is … to hire someone else to clean them. If you live in Montreal you have probably seen the ads posted on lightposts for window cleaning (with a happy sun shining on The Mountain). I knew it wouldn’t be possible for us to get them clean ourselves and they were filthy from the pollution on Sherbrooke street. I expected that it would be really expensive but it turns out it’s ridiculously cheap - he came to our place, brought tarps to cover our stuff, cloths and non-toxic cleaning supplies, and cleaned the inner & outer, upper & lower windows and the screen (which constitutes one “set”) for $8 a set. Seriously. They are so clean now you almost can’t see them. The only question that comes to my mind is “why ever bother trying to clean them yourself again?”. I would recommend this service to everyone. If you want his phone number just email me and I will send it to you.

Evie had her first doctor’s appointment yesterday and I am happy to say she has regained her birth weight and a bit more. I am really pleased about this since we had another bad week last week - it seemed like she wasn’t getting enough food again and was very upset. I had to supplement with some formula a few nights. Out of desperation I called a lactation consultant (from the West Island Breastfeeding Clinic) on Monday and she came over for 2 hours. She had some very good advice. I knew most of it already “in theory” but it really helped having someone there to put it in practice. She strongly advocated co-sleeping to make the nighttime feedings easier so I have been trying it since Monday night. I had thought about it before but was too afraid to try it.

Oh. My. What a difference! I think part of the problem was that Evie seems able to sense when she is alone and when she is near someone. If she is left alone she usually wakes up very soon after being put down (which is why I would end up nursing for over an hour since I would try to put her to sleep 2-3 times), but if she is near someone she can sleep for hours. Since we have been co-sleeping she has woken up to eat 2-3 times between midnight and 6 and doesn’t eat for nearly as long as when I was feeding her on the couch. I think she gets a lot of comfort from being right near us and doesn’t cry at all unless I take her out to change her. The only drawbacks are 1) that I am super-paranoid that she will get too close to me and 2) that when she poos I have to get her changed right away. Her cloth diapers are a bit large around her legs still and depending on the volume and force of the poo, it sometimes comes out the sides. Fortunately it’s hard to miss since it is a very “explosive” event and even if I am asleep I wake up to hear it.

Another amazing thing happened when the lactation consultant was here - she encouraged us to let Evie sleep on her side a bit and after she had fallen asleep we put her on her side and she rolled over on her tummy by herself. The really crazy thing was that she was already making some pushing movements with her legs which is at least foreshadowing of crawling. We sat with her on her side again today and she rolled over and was able to wiggle around quite a bit in her sleep but wasn’t awake enough to try and lift up her head. I really need to try this with her when she is awake and see what happens.

Well this wraps up my first week off on maternity leave. It was interesting and rather productive. In lieu of working, here is what I did:

• Worked on a document about qPCR, responded to emails re same
• Fought with computer to access network drives at work
• Several grocery shopping trips
• Unsuccessful search for wooden baby brush with natural bristles
• Made will
• Filed taxes
• Uploaded photos from a Sunday afternoon at the Botanical Gardens (from February).
• Doctor’s appointment
• Went swimming (good), stretched my swim suit (bad)
• Worked on estate docs and am currently trying to choose a suitable memorial
• Cleaned mouse cage
• Laundry
• Diaper service lady came to our place and explained how it worked
• Cooking
• Updated cookbook
• Naps!
• And now I can also say … blog

Dan’s mom arrived today and we picked her up from the airport. We had the worst taxi ride ever coming back. The guy was a real smart Aleck, charged us the flat rate for central Montreal ($10 more than if he used the meter) and smoked in the van. Yes, he saw I was pregnant. I did not tip. Anyway, not sure what the plan will be for today.

At my last check up everything was still the same (except I have gained another pound). The doctor said that it’s time to convince her she should come out, but so far everything I have tried hasn’t worked. I’m really hoping not to be induced.

I can’t believe it … I just discovered a brand new washer and dryer in our building!!

Sunday:
Grey Cup party at Martine’s with a spectacular victory by the Edmonton Eskimos. What an incdedible game! Half the people cheered for Edmonton and half the people cheered for Montreal, so every time one team took the lead the interaction between the two sides was very funny. Dave was totally tense about the game and said he liked the overtime rules (he is American so it was the first time he saw CFL overtime). Go Esks go! In other news: Paul Martin was booed by the crowd during the coin toss and the half time show sucked (more on that below).

Monday:
Long day, Dan got home at 7 and we ate at 7:30. Tired.

Tuesday:
Laundry at Dave and Sanan’s with yummy squash soup and a good move (A Day Without a Mexican).

Wednesday:
Supper from Pushap, Dan had a masterclass at school (where the voice students sing in front of the voice teacher and the other students), then everyone went out to the nearby Lebanese restro for supper (Dan and I just had something to drink as we were still full from curry goodness).

Thursday:
Finally a night off, time to slow down. I decided to cook a roast chicken and get some groceries. Kitchen is a diaster zone due to not being home for two days but I got it under control while the chicken was cooking. Dan studied for a test on Friday which he later found out is postponed. Dan was also sick with the flu and had a fever.

Friday:
We’re so tired we ate ramen noodles for supper! Dan worked on OpenMusic and made a chord randomizer.

Saturday:
Dan is studying for crazy week full of exams next week. I’m procrastinating on finishing the Christmas presents and doing the ironing. We went out to get groceries and found Dan’s mysteriously missing mittens frozen to the ground in front of our apartment! I hate having to go to malls, and malls on a Saturday before Christmas are even worse. Groups of slowly and aimlessly wantering people get in the way and blather about nothing either to themselves or their cohort, while someone plays fricking Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on the flute, live. For goodness sakes! Its enough to trigger a psychotic episode!

So, about the grey cup halftime show…
A jorb not well done.
I have heard some of the songs by the Black Eyed Peas (BEP) on the radio and I haven’t really liked any of them. The “Don’t phuck with my heart” song was just annoying, but the “Lady lumps” one is in another category altogether. The worst part was that I didn’t quite get the context of the “lumps” before seeing the halftime show, during which a very clear and graphic demonstration of exactly what they are was done over, over and over again. BEP girl, I don’t want to see you shake any of your humps or lumps! O my virgin eyes!

If that wasn’t bad enough, it became very clear that these people have no talent. They can’t dance, they can’t sing, (no, they can’t walk either, those who remember Genesis) and they have no stage presence. I have seen high school choirs and garage punk bands who are more talented and less clumsy than these people. And the lyrics for that hump song are absolutely inane. Whoever wrote that song should be forcibly exiled to Nunavut to clear out his or her brain from all that “junk in his trunk”. Wretched.

So my question is, when did we lose the whole female empowerment thing in popular music? I remember being in high school and listening to Lisa Loeb (and yes, I admit it, Alanis Morisette) and the Lillith Fair album was out. Now its all about sex and bling and I have to wonder why the whole “objectifying women” thing is back. Have we actually regressed culturally in 10 years?

My guess is that it is due to a combination of so-called “urban” youth culture and the stupid marketing people in record comapnies. Urban kids want cool music with a good beat and recording companies find people like BEP who have just enough talent and so few standards that they can be put in a sound studio with a crew of sound engineers who bust their asses mixing the music to make them sound good. The group comes up with “edgy” lyrics that are supposed to be all about “urban” culture and then the kids are like “I wanna be a gangsta” and “gimme yo’ bling” and buy the album. The whole thing is artificial! So somewhere along the line, the idea that women are only sex objects gets re-introduced (maybe it was always there; I don’t claim to be very aware of popular music). I guess people like BEP would say they are just telling it like it is, but they are also contributing to the way it is because all those 13 year old girls and boys are hearing this message. I’m sure at least half the kids in Montreal would like the BEP, and I have to say this worries me a bit. What kind of culture will the children of my generation be facing when they grow up? Wait, who am I kidding, people from my generation are not having kids.

Its very strange to be my age. There are various demographic theories and groupings you may or may not subscribe to, but here’s my take on it. I was born just after or on the trailing end of genX during a time when fewer people where having children (some call it “Generation Y” which is so lame I just can’t use it). In the mid to late 1990’s however, lots of so-called baby boomers were having children, leading to a large cohort of children with lots of purchasing power (the so-called echos or perhaps the iGeneration). As is always the case, these children grow up in a different environment and have different values from their parents and precdeeding generations. The end result of all this is I can’t for the life of me understand what is so funny about Spongebob and I can’t tolerate bands like the BEP. When I’m on the bus I feel like an grumpy old fart compared to the kids who wear Juicy or Sean John and are constantly yapping on their cellphones, and who almost never are even aware of the people around them, partly because they’re all listening to BEP on their MP3 players.

So, my grouchy old-person response is to listen to MagnaTune and sometimes Club977 and to not own a TV.

Well after the dryer broke again, Dave and Sanan invited us to their place to do our laundry on Monday. Sanan made couscous and yummy lentils and a salad and we sat around chatting with everyone who happened to be at their place that night. Tyler brought Phantom Ship from the library and we watched that. It was super-corny. My favourite part was when the people from the other ship went onto the abandoned Mary Celeste and tried (and failed) to act horrified. “Chicken cookin’!” Indeed.

I checked the dryer today and apparently it is working again. The bad news is that it is still the same one. Consider me skeptical.

This week my husband Dan went to see the third star wars movie. I declined to come because a) he went to an early evening show that was too early for me since I was just leaving work when it started and b) I’m not all that interested in seeing it, at least not in the theatres. I have watched all the star wars movies to date, although I was too young to see the first 3 in theatres when I was a kid, they were on TV and at least one or two people I knew owned one of the various versions of the box set which would be watched at christmas or on long weekends. I saw the other two in theatres from what I can remember and they were ok, but just not my cup of tea.

However, on Monday we will be gong to see the Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy and although the reviews have been lukewarm, I think it will still be very enjoyable. Now there is something I have read since I was a child (thanks for lending me the books, Dad…) that I want to see in a theatre.

My laundry room still sucks and I have been taking my laundry to the laudromat a few blocks away lately.

Haven’t heard any more about whether Carla Homolka is moving to NDG or not.

We walked up to Monkland last night and went by the Benny Farm site where (hopefully) our condo will be in a year from now. There are quite a number of buildings being renovated on that site now and it is looking really good. I am still waiting to get official approval from the bank… Anyway we also visited our west-coast friend Janice who works at the Ten Thousand Villages there and we also bought a plant at the best store on Monkland: “Provisions Snowdon”. It’s the only store I know of that sells exclusively plants, plant pots and beer. Speaking of the west coast and alcohol, Janice’s sister lives in BC and we are in the process of asking her to ship us a case of of Gray Monk Pinot Gris that we can split … mmm Okanogan white wine …

Dan just left to go to a music festival somewhere outside the city and I am sure he will have a blog entry about it soon.

Dan is just finishing school now - only 3 tests left. He had a music theory test yesterday which I am certain he did extremely well on.

Thank goodness for long weekends!

Satuday April 2 it rained. It was the first rainy day we have had this spring. Dan went off to his French class at 8:00 and I slept off my sugar hangover from Friday’s Caban à Sucre. Later on I had to do the laundry so I started my first load, with two others to do. When I came down to put the first load in the dryer, I felt like I was walking into a mysertious crime scene. The washer and dryer were both akimbo, there was a broken piece of wood on the ground, and the change receptacle from the washer had actually come out! Obviously, the washer was out of commission. I guess there must have been some major imbalance although why the washer did not automatically cut out I don’t know. I was in desperate need to do the rest of the laundry, so I put the one load of washing in the dryer (which was still functional) and packed up the rest of my laundry and headed off to the laundrymat two blocks away on Fielding. Earlier that day I had went out to get groceries and my jacket was wet so I had washed it in the first load and I had managed to leave my umbrella at work on Friday. Therefore, I had no choice but to go out into the rain with just a sweater! Fortunately it wasn’t too cold or windy and the rain was not too strong.

I found the landrymat ok and there were many washers free so I put in two loads and went to the depanneur next door to get a snack while I was waiting. After while some creepy guy came in and started reading the newspaper while drinking a beer but there were so many people coming and going that I didn’t feel too worried. Soon, Dan came. He had came home from his french lessons just after I had left and he had found my note. Fortunately he brought our other umbrella! We put the washing in the dryer, which dried an entire load in about 20 minutes for a dollar, and then packed everything up and went home. When we arrived I checked the load of drying I had put in out dryer (which cost $1.50) and after a hour of drying the clothing was still damp! From the ones washed and dried at the laundrymat, our clothes were in the best shape they had been in since we arrived here, which I guess is a plus to all this. The washer is not fixed as of yet, so I may have to go to the laundrymat again, but that may not be a bad thing after all!

I frelling hate doing the laundry.

This is not an overstatement. I think it is the worst thing I have to do on a regular basis.

When we lived in Vanier House in Edmonton, we had a proper laundry room on the top floor of the building. There were 42 units in the building and 5 washing machines and 4 dryers. It got busy on saturdays, but you could get all your loads washed at once by using several washing machines. The dryers were large and could do 2 loads at once. We had a table where we could fold our clothing if we wanted. Best of all it cost 75 cents to wash and 50 cents to dry.

When we lived in our house in Edmonton, we had a washer and dryer in the basement which we could access any time we wanted and it was great.

Here in our Montreal apartment, thngs are a bit different. The price for 1 load of washing or drying is $1.25. There is one washer and 1 dryer for all 15 apartments and they are always busy. They are in a nastly little room in the basement with a dirty floor (it probably gets cleaned once a year) and very poor lighting. The dryer sucks and it takes 2 turns (1 hour each time) to dry one load of washing.

Every 2 weeks I force myself to go into this horrible little room and try to get stain remover on our clothes without letting them touch the ground but without the use of a table (or anything, for that matter) to put them on and very poor lighting too. It takes about 3 and a half hours to get all the laundry done and I have to go down every half an hour to take loads of washing out or put more money in the dryer.

As if all of this were not enough, the cost of a load of laundry is so high and the use of the machines so limited that I usually do two loads, one “darks” and one with light colours, cleaning cloths, whites and linty things. I do this because if I put anything linty (e.g. Dan’s socks) in with the darks then everything is covered with grey lint. Of course this is not good for the whites, but I don’t have much of a choice. Nvertheless, there are still white detergent stains and lint all over my darks which are very difficult to get out.

Next apartment, I am going to be a little more selective when it comes to the laundry facilities.