Cheryl and the M's: Remembrance Day update

Yesterday was Remembrance Day here in Canada. It is our national holiday to honour those who died for our country. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month we stop for a minute of silence to remember our dead from two world wars, the Korean war, and other conflicts. It is a solemn day to remind us of the price of peace. It is a day I hope you don't take for granted.

Thank-you everyone for the comments and feedback we have received about our site. I enjoy writing these BC Updates as much as you like reading them because I am looking forward someday to reading them again and remembering this very special time in our lives.

Cheryl is sitting on the couch with Michael. She has divested him of his clothes (save his diaper) in order to keep him awake. We are trying this strategy because his normal attire of warm fuzzy sleepers keeps him, well, ASLEEP! And if he sleeps all evening, he wakes up around midnight and stays awake to about 3am. This kind of routine has been somewhat draining to Cheryl, hence this course of action.

I am racking my brain carefully, so as not to avalanche the accumulated mountain of mental post-it notes I have made over the last week of items I wanted to include in this update. You will forgive me then if this posting seems a bit meandering and disjointed.

Michael's checkup at the doctor was quite successful. The boy is now a healthy and chubby 14 lbs. He is still lanky in frame, but he now has rolls of fat on his legs and I have found myself comparing him to a sharpei or chow chow. (You know, those wrinkly chinese dogs.) The boy also took his shot without undue screeching. He did bleed a bit when the needle came out -- surprising both the Doctor and myself, who was holding him. Reassuringly the bleeding stopped almost immediately.

I got my 'flu shot on Thursday. Our office arranged a few weeks ago to have the public health nurse come in and give the 'flu shot to anyone who wished to get one. This is a notable event for several reasons. (1) I have never had a 'flu shot before. My father-in-law advised that I get one this time last year. I didn't and then regretted it all winter and well into the spring. I went through several bouts of illness, as did everyone else, due to the new 'flu strains that went around. (2) The ministry of health in Ontario has bought up pretty much all of Canada's supply of 'flu vaccine because they are offering flu shots to everyone for free this year. Both BC and Nova Scotia are limiting the number of 'flu shots they give out this year due to the shortage. If you are planning to get a 'flu shot this year, you should get it soon before (1) the virus starts making its rounds and (2) supplies of the vaccine run out.

Telus finally made their appearance last Wednesday and we now have a phone number (and INET access) again. Hooray! (Our new phone number and address are available to friends and family. Please email us and we will update you ASAP.) We stayed somewhat connected over the last few weeks since we moved by using our cellular phone. I shudder to think of what our bill is going to be...

Melissa's list of spoken words is slowly increasing. Cheryl told me that the other day Melissa was in the bathroom investigating her potty. She flipped the lid up, sat down on it with her pants still on, then turned to Cheryl and waved her out of the bathroom with an insistent, "go way!"

I apologize if we sometimes devolve into juvenile potty humour here on the Update (have you seen the VILE POO yet?), but it seems to be the topic du jour with our kids.

No (American) president has been declared yet. This is something I think is wonderful in a way. There are places in the world right now where this situation of uncertain national leadership would have deteriorated into civil war. Had this happened here in Canada the political pundits would have laughed us all to death by now. As I said before, this is history in the making.

Cheryl made cinnamon bread today. In spite of my 'help' it all turned out very well. "What kind of help?" you ask. Well, I forgot to add the eggs to the dough, and I put the rising dough overtop the element on the stove that vents the oven and 'baked' the bottom of the dough.

I also helped with the laundry today. Don't worry, I didn't put the forgotten eggs into the washing machine. I did get through 5 loads of regular wash plus diaper pail #1 and diaper pail #2 (you can guess what the #1 and #2 are for). Cheryl had to run an extra load for one of our sleeping bags too.

Some pictures for the GMP