Totally frantic and unshowered

We are leaving tomorrow for about 10 days. We're driving to New Brunswick and back with a short stop in Quebec City and New Brunswick's armpit (aka Edmonston, although in its favour is the best Best Western ever... kid's pool with waterslide and cereal dispensers. Assume it will be the highlight of their trip). John has a conference out there so we've rented a cottage with our pseudo-family, Pam/Jim and kids.

So all you would be thieves out there.... you've been told! Of course, we do have eagle-eye neighbours and ruthless hooligans living nearby so you may want to think twice before approaching our well-guarded house.

I'm very excited and so are the kids. But, being a large trip with lots of planning and organizing to do not to mention a very long car ride with three kids, I am totally short on time and cleanliness. The garden has needed serious attention the last few days to get the veggies in on time and it seems my organizational prowess let me down yet again when I booked Henry's one-year check-up and the girls' dentist appointments all for today. Oh, and I left our three sweaters at the doctor's office across town. There's something I relish adding to my to-do list: drive across town due to incompetence.

I also have to do one last shop at Loblaws, go to the Post Office, vacuum the car (might be sent to the bottom of the list), fill out dental forms, shower. (Who am I kidding? The shower is totally at the bottom of the list.) Am I missing something? Oh, right... PACK.

I want to be very selective about what comes with us. We have a Mazda 5, a baby and two other kids. Space can be tight even with our box on top of the car and I don't want it to be tight. I'd rather hand-wash clothes than over-pack. I plan to be ruthless. There are stores in New Brunswick if I am really desperate.

Pam and I have pre-planned the meals so that we only buy or bring the ingredients we need. In looking over a couple of the recipes I'll be making, I came up with a brilliant plan: I'm going to pre-mix a sauce and a marinade ahead of time and take them in jars. Bob's your Uncle. Done.

Time for those dental forms.

A New York State of Mind (this is a long one, friends)

It seems that if I wait for this cold to be gone, I'll be post-birth by then so I'm sucking it up, promise not to complain (much) and I'm going to give you the play-by-play of our time in New York City.

First off, New York is an amazing city to be in with kids.... if you've been there before on your own. Not to say you can't go for the first time with your kids, I just think there would be less stress and less figuring out where you are and where you're going if you've been before sans enfants. Don't let that scare you off though if you have never been and really want to see New York and have kids in tow. One thing we learned very quickly by taking the kids with us this time is that New Yorkers LOVE kids. I was really suprised by that. I assumed we would get some nasty looks as we hauled our kids onto the subway at rush hour or jostled our way up sidewalks but what we got instead was lots of smiles, offers of seats on the subway (every single time) and lots of great conversations with locals. This was one of my favourite parts of having the kids with us (aside from showing them one of the most amazing cities in the world); we had way more conversations with locals than we've had before because of the kids. It was great and we'll be going back as soon as we can.

Here are a few tips that I discovered about going to New York with kids (there aren't too many):

• if you can avoid it, don't bring a stroller; use a chest carrier or just rely on the kids' feet. We walked everywhere and took the subway. Hope rode on John's shoulders a few times but less than I expected. We only heard complaints about walking twice: the first night when they had their first long walk up to Times Square and after we got home and Hope said she was glad she didn't have to walk so far for a while. That's pretty good, I'd say! (Just make sure the kids have really good walking shoes.)
• Don't bother going out for breakfast. We made this mistake every day but the last. By the time we had food in front of us it was often 1.5 to 2 hours after we got up. The kids were starving and grumpy making the adults a bit grumpy (particularly the male one). Breakfast out in New York is an adult enjoyment. Save your money, go to one of the many, many breakfast carts and take it back to the hotel room before heading out on your daily adventures. Save restaurants for lunch and supper. Of course, if your hotel includes continental breakfast as many do (but not ours) all the better.
• Spend the money to do some of the things you may not do on your own: go up the Empire State Building, buy the tickets for the ferry to the Statue of Liberty, ride the ferris wheel at Toys R Us. We only spent the money on the latter but I wish we'd bought tickets for the Statue instead of taking the free Statten Island Ferry past her. Emily riddled me with questions about the big lady and I couldn't answer them without an internet connection. I wished we'd just gone right to the island. Lesson learned for next time. This could be kid-specific. Emily loves to learn as much as she can when she is visiting landmarks and new places and I should have kept this in mind.
• Spend a full day in Central Park if you can and include the zoo. It's a great but easy day for everyone and lots of fun.

We rode the train from Buffalo to New York. Amtrak is by far the most affordable way to get to New York from this part of Ontario. Our total fare return for all four of us was $340. It seems that this is no secret. The train was full most of the way there. The girls were amazing on the train given it is an 8.5 hour ride. I brought a TON of food and I'm glad I did. When they were getting bored, we snacked on fruit and sandwiches and veggies and pretzels. I also brought activity books, colouring, some travel games and videos on the iPhone. That was sufficient. Hope slept for the last two hours and Emily chatted with us. For me, it was the only way to get there this time. We couldn't afford to fly all four of us there and driving would mean I would be sitting for way too long (and making too many bathroom stops). The train was the perfect choice.


After checking into our hotel, we headed out for supper. We went to Little Korea (our hotel was in Murray Hill, an area in central Manhattan and very close to Little Korea) and ate at a dumpling place that was recommended in my guidebook (when in New York, I find a guidebook essential). The kids loved it as did we adults. The green dumplings were really crazy but Emily declared them the best.

(I love the look on Hope's face here.)

From the restaurant we walked up to Times Square, the first big walk of the weekend. On the way, we found these guys performing. That's something I love about New York, you never know what public performance you'll find just around the corner.


After watching them for a bit, we went arrived in Times Square and headed to the gigantic Toys R Us. Hope and I rode the big indoor ferris wheel while Emily and John got nauseated watching us. After that, it was time to head back to the hotel for bed.

The next morning we headed towards Central Park to find the diner that John and I ate at several years ago. It took us a while but we did finally find it (this was the time that we realized that breakfast out was more for us than them). After breakfast we went into Central Park. First, we spent time at the playgrounds. After that, we went to the zoo. The Central Park Zoo is really good for a small zoo. Our kids loved the penguins and puffins and the red panda (also John's favourite). After having lunch there we found a shady spot and just laid around for a rest. This was the point that I confirmed my opinion about the lack of nearby public toilets in New York. Hope didn't make it and was pretty upset (have to admit, I was a bit upset too although not at her). Just keep that in mind if you go. After cleaning up we went to the Children's Zoo - much smaller, mainly farm animals - and fed and petted the animals.

It's this kind of view that makes me return to New York again and again... and love Central Park as much as I do.

We left Central Park and hung out around a piece of public art, watching the world go by. I treated the girls to a soft serve from Mr. Softee and then John headed to Borders while I took the girls to FAO Schwarz. If you go to New York with kids, this is a must-stop, even if you don't buy anything. This is a high-end toy store with areas devoted to Barbie, Charlie and Lola, Harry Potter, Lego, I could go on and on. After that I promised the girls we'd go to the Disney Store on 5th Avenue. This is where the day started to fall apart. We arrived at 711 5th Avenue to find that the Disney Store was closed. This is where Hope started to fall apart. We had to meet John an hour later in front of the Disney Store address so there wasn't time to head to the Times Square location. Instead I found a Starbucks (can you say shooting fish in a barrel? that's how hard it is to find a Starbucks in New York) and we chilled.... until Hope spilled her drink on her sandal and the meltdown started again. Luckily it was time to meet John.

The day was great but we did push how much we could fit in with a three-year-old. I wouldn't do it differently, I would just be more prepared for some tears near the end of the day. We made a smart decision and ate take-out in our room for supper and had an early night.

The next morning we again tried breakfast, this time in NoLiTa at Bubby's. Great breakfast, made better by the fact that an actor from The West Wing was having breakfast there at the same time (I've IMDBd and Wikied West Wing and cannot find mention of her anywhere but I'm SURE she was played a character that had to do with defence. It's driving me crazy). Still, it wasn't worth the money for the amount the kids ate.

Our next goal was to ride the free Statten Island Ferry past the Statue of Liberty. The girls did love getting on a big boat and going past the statue but as I said before, Emily (and I probably) would have preferred to go to the actual island.) Although it was around this time that I started having A LOT of Braxton Hicks contractions and back ache that lasted until I went to bed that night so being on a ferry with lots of seats was better than walking around an island. I'm glad Day 2 wasn't as ambitious as Day 1 (which is probably what caused so many contractions on Day 2). After we'd done our ferry tour and bought a few souvenirs we walked through a lovely area of the financial district - cobblestone streets and small pubs and restaurants - and sat at Starbucks for a while. From there we headed to our favourite New York Book Store, The Strand on Broadway. I sat again while reading to the girls. We bought some great books. The two best are two pop-up books that put all other pop-up books to shame; these are works of art.

After The Strand we rode many subways to get to a New York landmark for supper, Katz's Deli. If you ever in New York, you must go. You'll remember it from the famous deli scene in When Harry Met Sally. The scene was filmed at Katz's. Their pastrami on rye is to die for. It was a real Old New York experience. It was probably my favourite meal we had there and the kids loved it too.

There was a lovely old couple sitting behind us who were totally enraptured with our kids and took a photo for us. I also tried the famous New York Egg Cream with my dinner. It's a drink, invented in Brooklyn, that is made of milk, chocolate syrup, vanilla and, wait for it, seltzer water. It is weird and I'll never likely order it again but it was worth a try. The other great thing about the meal is you start with a plate of pickles, all made at Katz's. They must have known a pregnant woman was coming. So good.

My favourite were the long, dark green ones.

Salami, anyone?

Look closely and you'll see the round sign pointing out the table where Harry and Sally sat.

Ready to eat! (And you can see the lovely lady just behind John who declared our kids the most beautiful in the world. She's got taste, that lady.)

Best sandwich ever.

The next morning, we packed up and rode the train home. The kids were great again, the train wasn't as full except for one special passenger on our car: Parker Posy! Oh, yes...she was on our Amtrak car. No, I didn't talk to her or ask her for an autograph. I just started at her as she was on her way to the bathroom.

And that was the trip. We had an amazing time. I can't wait to go back with the kids again. And now, time for some nasal spray.

Flights, delays, arrival and Day 1

We're here. It took almost 10 hours, instead of 5, but we're here. We got through security and customs easily this time, unlike last time, although Emily was freaked out by walking through the metal detector on her own. After that it was just big adventure for her. Hope was put out, to put it mildly, that she didn't get her own seat like Emily did. She got over it when she discovered the in-flight magazine. She loved that thing.

When we got on board we sat on the runway for a long time. When we finally took off, Hope had a full tantrum in my arms. She had fallen asleep for only a few minutes but woke up with a start. That sent her over the edge. She was scratching me, hitting me, throwing my glasses. She hated that I was holding her through her rage. She wanted down; unfortunately we were going up so I had to hang on to her. When we finally were done the initial take-off, I put her on the floor between my legs and within two minutes or so she was done and watching a DVD. She was asleep in another five. She slept on me for the next three hours. My ass was so sore and numb that I was biting my lip to divert the pain. My arm was killing me from propping up her head. Having a 20-month old on your lap for a 3-hour flight sucks. On the way home, I'll be looking for an empty seat and carrying that extra car seat wherever I have to go to get that seat. It will be so worth it. Yeah, and then we all slept like crap last night because I accidentally turned off the ceiling fan and it is damn humid here.

And now the complaining will end because today was great. Really great. Really, really great. After a leisurely start to the day, we headed to Zilker Park and rode the Zilker Zephyr, a little train that runs through the park. The kids, but mostly the adults loved it. Emily even brought her own train whistle with her which completely tickled the train driver guy. I hesitate to call him an engineer. He steered.

From there we shared the biggest snow cone I have ever laid a spoon on. After that sugar break, the kids played on the expansive playground and then we walked down to the Creek (Barton, to be exact) to see the turtles. After scaring them into the water, the kids stripped naked and splashed around for a long time. It was amazing to watch them and their white little bums frolicking in the water.

After that it was lunch at home, naps (although Hope refused that) and then off to Beth's local park for more play before supper. Everyone is quiet now; Beth and I are knitting and I may have a glass of wine at some point before heading to bed to catch up on the sleep I missed last night.

I did take a bunch of pictures but my card reader is in the suitcase in the bedroom where the girls are sleeping so I'll post them tomorrow instead as an edit to this post.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so we'll probably go to the Children's Museum and then to the Farmer's Market at the end of the day for a picnic. All is well in Texas. And hot. Beth says this isn't hot but coming from Ottawa, this is damn hot. My hair is all frizzy, Hope's is adorably curly (more than usual), Emily's curls are back, I'm always sweaty, the air smells like blossoms and barbecue. Life is good.

You may all go to Hell and I will go to Texas

Davy Crockett knew what he was on about. I have similar feelings saying goodbye to Ottawa for a week and hello to Austin. Beth, best sister in the world, is flying me and the girls to Texas. We leave on May 12 and I am so so so excited! Beth has many adventures planned for us. I'd be satisfied if we never left the porch, the teapot and the pecan cracker. But I'll be even more delirious if we do half the things Beth has lined up for us. Now I just have to figure out how to get two kids, two car seats and carry-on through the airport on my own.

Austin: Final thoughts

The last few days have been a bit of a blur since I've been home, so much so that (you may have noticed) I've barely spent any time here but I have a few posts that I really need to get out: my last day in Austin and things I want to remember from the 10 days there, the weekend at the cottage with the Walsh family just before I left for Texas, Hope's first year and Emily's 3rd year. Three of those posts are getting long in the tooth but I'll get them up anyway, hopefully this week. For now, I'll just reflect on the last day in Austin, my atrocious trip home (actually worse than the trip there) and things I'll remember from my time with Beth, Graeme and Kate.

I did manage to do a good amount of cooking on Wednesday. At the end of the afternoon we met Graeme at the Austin Farmer's Market at The Triangle, very close to Beth and Graeme's house. It was a very cool mix of vendors, decidedly part of the Keep Austin Weird movement. We had some amazing hibiscus iced tea, I bought a few gifts and had a chicken taco - supper was on its way but it was my last chance for a proper taco before returning to The Land That Cannot Produce a Taco to Save Its Life.

That night Beth's friends, Marlene and Will, joined us for our meatball and linguine supper. Hope was in bed early again - she was routinely going to bed between 7 and 7:30.

The next day, after Westley's walk, I started packing and cleaning. Hope had a nap and then it was time to get to the airport with a quick stop at HEB for fresh tortillas to take home with me. I put 60 tortillas in my suitcase. We made pretty good work of one pack already. Can someone please explain to me why no store makes fresh tortillas here? There just isn't a sufficient explanation.

Everything started off well for my trip home. The flight leaving Austin was on time and to top it off I had a Salt Lick brisket sandwich while I was waiting to get on the plane. Everything was going according to plan. Then we approached Chicago and due to bad weather were in a holding pattern for almost an hour before the pilot felt it was dangerous to continue to do so and flew us to Peoria, Illinois to refuel. I have a feeling the Peroira airport doesn't get a lot of action (aside from some military flights). We were the only plane there. The pilot lightened the mood by announcing "we were first for take off." At least it got him a few laughs. We were back in the air and were supposed to have a landing slot. Turns out O'Hare changed its mind again so we circled Peoria for another 40 minutes. Beautiful area, very agricultural, got to know it well.

Finally we started back to Chicago. When we got in landing vicinity we were again put in another holding patter, for another 40 minutes. It was at this point that Hope started to get agitated. She started her intermittent screaming that is her way of entertaining herself when she is annoyed or bored. By this point in the never-ending flight from hell, I had fed her twice, read her every book I had brought - twice, breastfed her, sang her every song she liked - twice, and taken her to the bathroom - twice. So, when the woman in front of me turned around and asked me if there was anything I could do to keep Hope quiet, I was pretty damn close to committing air rage and in fact would have been happy to have been escorted from the aircraft at that point had I not been 20,000 feet or so in the air. My response was controlled but I told the woman with the horrendous hair squishy to shove it in pretty polite terms.

I later heard her ask the attendant for a Tylenol. I stewed and steamed about Hair Squishy the rest of the flight. I couldn't believe she had the nerve to tell me that Hope was screaming in her ear and that it was annoying when she was completely oblivious to the fact that I'd been keeping her from screaming for the previous two hours. Hope did extremely well considering we were in the air a full two and a half hours longer than we should have been, pointed out by a really friendly, non-hair squishy group of Texans deboarding after the whole debacle was over.

When we did finally land at O'Hare it was 7:15. My flight for Ottawa left at 6:00. I got on the next flight for Ottawa which was supposed to leave at 8:55. It was delayed as was everything leaving or coming into The Airport Which Shall Not Be Named. Hope climbed up and down her carseat while I ate really brutal pizza and chatted with a group of Canadians who had flown down to be on The Oprah Show. My flight finally left at 9:55. We landed at 1:00. Again I got flack for not having a letter saying I was allowed to leave the country with Hope on my own. The Canadian Customs Guy was really nice about it, a much different approach than his American counterpart, but he had to go out into the arrivals area and ask John if he had permitted me to leave Canada with Hope. John said Customs Guy seemed embarrassed that he had to do it, like he thought the whole system was ridiculous. You know what? It is. Why would I need a letter to bring Hope back home? Completely fubar.

From now on I'm going to have a letter saying I can accompany Hope just when I leave the house, just in case I run into someone who asks.

I was in bed at 2:00. Emily was in our room around 7:00 and it was an awesome reunion. I snuck up behind her. I'd been feeding Hope. Hope was crying and I heard Emily saying to John: What's that noise? I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped into my arms. We snuggled in bed and have pretty much replayed that every morning since.

It was a great 10 days in Texas. There are lots of things I'll want to remember when I think back to my time there, in absolutely nonsensical order:

• walking through Beth's humid neighbourhood every morning while Westley explored everyone's yards
• picking up groceries at FreshPlus almost everyday
• jumping off the bed to catch the on-off switch on the ceiling fan/light in my room
• the morning wake-up: Hope would come into bed with me to breastfeed then she would explore the bedroom while I tried to sleep a little longer
• iChatting with Emily and John every night while Hope ate her supper
• Hope beelining it to anyone using a laptop and banging the keyboard
• Hope putting all the laptop cables over her head like clothes and being so proud of herself while she did it
• helping to get Kate to sleep using the Chinese Bum Pat
• Kate swaddled and asleep on the Boppie
• Hope always stealing Kate's blanket
• Hope constantly poking, kissing or touching Kate if Kate was in the vicinity
• how Hope and Westley got really comfortable with each other as the week went on
• Westley finally kissing Hope's nose every time he walked by her
  
• Losing my wallet off the top of the car at REI and the very nice woman, Laura, who returned it
• Hanging out at the Austin Farmers Market, drinking ice tea and watching Hope pour the ice on Kate's head.
• Beth and Hope dancing together at the Austin Farmers Market
• getting really good dark chocolate almost every day
• tea with Beth
• helping Kate have her first bath at home
• Hope's jealousy while I would hold Kate
• watching the Up Series with Graeme at night
• being a mummy with Beth. That's just very cool.
  
• buying a suit with Graeme at Neiman-Marcus that cost more than my first car
• eating granola and yogurt for breakfast every morning
• getting wicked blisters from my new shoes
• Hope emptying Beth's Tupperware drawer daily, sometimes a few times daily
• cleaning out Beth's fridge
• Graeme yelling "HELP" while Kate's poop sprayed all over the diaper change pad
• the possum. Enough said.
• Hope turning Westley into a dog who looked for people food after she fed him yogurt off her spoon
• watching the turtles swim behind The County Line BBQ
• the rain and rain and more rain.
  

It was a great 10 days. I'll think about it often for a very long time.

Having said all that, it's good to be home.

Austin Day 4

I took Westley and Hope for a good walk this morning. I decided to put Hope in Beth's Chariot and reduce my sweat a little this morning. I walked over to HEB, a big grocery store here. I picked up a couple of things for Hope and some potatoes for supper.

The rest of the morning was relaxed. I cleaned out Beth and Graeme's fridge, meanwhile Rose has cleaned mine out at home (thanks, Rose!). It's all even steven. After lunch we went to a huge electronics store - Fry's. The place is enormous. I bought two DVDs for Emily - Find Nemo and a Veggie Tales DVD - and The Sound of Music, which I've wanted for a while. With the great exchange rate and the lower prices I definitely came out ahead. I also (finally) replaced my crappy card reader. I'll try it out later.

After Fry's we went to Costco, ate cheap hot dogs and pizza for lunch and then shopped. Graeme got some amazing lamb chops for supper. They were superb.

Hope is now crying in her crib - she is having a really hard time going to sleep tonight, likely because she had a late afternoon nap and also because she is damn stubborn. This is my second attempt to get her to bed. After the first try, we sat down together to talk to John via video through iChat. I've said it before, but Macs just rock. I've talked to him the last 3 nights via iChat and last night I even got to talk to and see Emily. That was so important to me. She's having a hard time right now. Me being away is really having an affect the last two days. I feel terrible for her as well as for John and Rose who are on the receiving end of her anger and saddness. I wouldn't do this differently, I just feel so sad for my girl. I want to hold her and not let go. For a long, long time. I miss her to the depths of my soul. At the same time, I'm so glad I'm here and I'm glad I'm here for a while I just wish it was easier on Emily.

Hope is finally asleep - she cried herself there but it wasn't bad. I'm going to head there soon too. Tomorrow morning I'm going to take Westley and Hope on a walk to a coffee destination. We really don't have any plans after that until evening when we're probably going to go out for barbecue. Serious Texas barbecue. There's nothing like it. I'll probably clean the bathrooms and that will be the extent of our day. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Kate is doing great. She is filling in now around the jaw bone and her arms are starting to look pudgy. She sleeps really well for a newborn. She is lovely to hold and makes all the usual grumpy old man faces while she sleeps in your arms. I love to watch her. Hope loves to poke her. She does it very gently, actually. I'm really surprised how quickly Hope has learned to be gentle with her.

Well, I don't think I have much more energy to type. Looks like I'll try the card reader tomorrow instead. Maybe I'll have some photos to put up too.

'Night all.

Austin Day 3

I started the day off yesterday by taking Westley for a walk. Westley is Beth's dog. He is a cute, flop-eared, skittish fellow. He loves walks. Beth told me that walking Westley in the mornings would help her more than washing her baseboards, which was my original plan. So, Hope and I took Westley on a tour of the neighbourhood. The high humidity here means that a short walk is still a good workout because I sweat so much. When we were just about home I walked by the little park (Shipe Park in the Hyde Park area) that John and I took Emily to a lot two Christmases ago. It made me smile and think about my biggest girl. I really miss her. Hope had a ride on the swings while I commisserated with another mum about the weather and our frizzy hair.

Yesterday afternoon I traded flowers and a vase for my wallet. Yay again to Laura! She was super and I hope the flowers on her desk remind her of what a good person she is. We were then going to walk to Central Market in the late afternoon but Beth needed a rest. That was fine with me too since Hope has been sleeping badly (normally, really) and I was tired.

We had a great meal of fajitas last night. Austin fajitas rule. You actually buy the meat already marinated. The beef looks like crap raw - very grissely and fibrous but when it is barbecued it is lucious and tender and full of flavour. Add to that the freshly made tortilla shells that are sold at pretty much every corner store here. Just awesome.

Our nightly routine, after Hope is asleep, is to watch cool documentaries off the iMac. I tend to watch an episode of Planet Earth in the late afternoon and then we all watch something together after supper. Right now we're watching Seven Up. It is a British documentary that follows a group of children from all backgrounds and interviews them all every seven years starting at age 7. We're loving it so far but we all hate Suzie. She's nasty and racist and just evil.

Hope woke up around 10:00 last night crying and then again every 15 minutes. I reached my limit and told her I was just going to lay there in my bed while she figured it out. You know what? I think she got it because she didn't wake up again until 5:30. Oh sweet sleep, I've missed you so much. You know, when you haven't slept well in almost 4 months, you appreciate 7 uninterupted hours so much more when you finally get them. It's like tasting a fine wine that you might not have again for a long time and really relishing every sip.

This morning I walked to The Upper Crust, Beth and Graeme's favourite bakery to buy cinnamon buns for breakfast. Being that UT has just started up fall classes, they were sold out so I had to settle for pains au chocolats. Not exactly a hardship. Hope rode in the backpack. It is another wickedly humid day - 70%. I sweated on my walk. A LOT. At one point, I touched my arm and figured I had walked under a tree that had been dripping from last night's rainfall. Turns out it was a layer of sweat or moisture from the air or a mixture of both that was all over my skin. It is just so different from Ottawa humidity. I always thought Ottawa was pretty humid. It really doesn't compare to this. Texas is really quite tropical - there are palm trees and cactus growing in all the lawns and gardens. The rainstorms are downpours for 20 minutes. There are two colonies of parrots living here. It is so different and that makes it extra special. Also, it isn't Republican, which makes it extra extra special.

Hope is now sleeping as is Kate. Beth is working on her birth announcement and I'm going to tackle another job shortly. Later we'll walk to Central Market and maybe tonight we'll go see the Austin bats. I'm really looking forward to that.

Here is Kate in all her glory:


And Hope giving Beth a hand in changing Kate's diaper:

Day 1 and 2 in Austin

Yesterday I spent doing just a few little things around Beth's house - I swept up the leaves on the back deck, dug up (more like chipped out) a few of the tiniest potatoes I've ever seen, made some food for Hope, went for a walk with Beth, Kate, Westley and Hope, got Hope used to being here (she was a little out of sorts yesterday). Last night I got to meet Beth's friend and ex-employer Howard and his wife Laura Sue. That was nice.

The mornings are nice and mellow so far. We ease into the day with feeding the kids, email, food, sitting around in our pj's for a while. This morning I took Westley for a walk to the grocery store while Hope slept. You know what? Texas is stinking hot and Austin? Stinking humid. Beth laughed when I said that and told me this wasn't hot or humid. I guess it's like tourists complaining about the cold weather in Ottawa in November.

After lunch we loaded up the wee ones and headed to REI for a bit of shopping. Beth needed to pick up the Chariot stroller attachment and I needed to get some travel mugs for John. Seems odd but he loves the clip handle that just isn't available on Canadian versions. And his last installment was run over after he left it on the roof of our car. This will be a theme you will soon see. Anyway, I bought him two.

We were on our way to our next stop, Beth's chiropractor, when I realized I had left my wallet on the roof of the car. This after totally making fun of John for leaving the keys on the roof of our car last week (the full saga of that mishap will follow in the next few days) and the aforementioned REI mug. We retraced our route back to REI/Book People. I searched around our parking spot and the route we took out of the parking lot. I asked in Book People, REI and Whole Foods. No luck. I felt sick to my stomach. I had $250 in there, birth certificates, health cards, Emily's SIN card, not to even mention my Bridgehead coffee card and my Fabricland stamp card.

I called VISA and put a block on my card. I called TD Bank and asked what I should do. I called and emailed John so he could start dealing with the birth certificates and health cards.

John called me back right at the end of the day to tell me there was a message on our home phone from a woman from Texas who got my phone number from the Ottawa Early Years Centre. She had my wallet. I was to call her. I left a message and will likely see her tomorrow with gifts in hand.

Laura, you rule.

Why airline travel sucks

Yesterday - August 27, 2007 - a day which will live in infamy. Karen and Hope endured a day of travel which was suddenly and undeliberately of the suck-ass variety.

I arrived at the Ottawa airport to find out that my flight was delayed by two hours. Oh well, we would just do a bit of shopping, eat our little dinner and I would let Hope crawl around.

Baggage check. The woman saw something suspiciously like a knife on the scanner when my bag went through. She unpacked part of the bag. Sent the bag through again. Still a knife, or to quote her: "there is definitely a knife in your bag." She was starting to sound agitated. Not as agitated as me, who very well knew there was no knife in my bag. Turns out that Burt's Bees Diaper Ointment looks suspiciously like a knife to this woman. Look for it to be banned fairly soon.

U.S. Customs (which you clear in Ottawa). Did I have a letter notarized by my husband allowing me to travel alone with this child? Um, no. Do I need that? Angry customs agent then decided to let me go through. Apparently the fact that my last name is different from Hope's sends these people into a right state. Never mind the fact that my last name is her second middle name and right there on her damn passport. I suppose his small pea-sized brain wasn't able to process the fact that having the same last name as your child still doesn't preclude you from trying to kidnap them. Just ask that woman in South Carolina. Oh well, at least he was able to unleash his venom on my socialist homeland by suggesting that "maybe you should take your husband's name instead. Gee, what a novel idea!" Seriously. He said that. Seriously, I wanted to beat him with my socialist passport.

Gate. I couldn't find my boarding pass. I had Hope's only. It wasn't an e-ticket so not having my pass was a SERIOUS problem. I looked everywhere. Either it was never issued or it was left behind at the site of the great de-bagging of 2007. And yet somehow Mr. Pickle Up His Ass Customs Agent somehow let me through without it. I guess he was too blinded by my feminist ideals. Woman at gate let me go through anyway because she didn't know what else to do and oh, because I was starting to cry. Just a little. Thought it might sway things my way.

Arrive Chicago with an hour to spare before my connection. Oh, actually 3 hours because the flight to Austin has been delayed until 10:30. I make my way to the gate with all my crap. I set it all down at one point to put Hope in the sling because I'm feeling like an overburdened camel. She squawks a bit causing Mr. Big Fat Cell Phone dude to shoot me a look that could kill. He's lucky my hands were full because otherwise his cellphone would be elbow distance up his ever expanding ass. What's with the low tolerance in the U.S. of babies crying once in a while? And I won't even begin to talk about breastfeeding in public....

Arrive at gate. Turns out flight is delayed to 11:30. This means I have 4 hours to sit in what has to be the crappiest departure gate in O'Hare. You'd think Hope would have lost it. I seriously didn't pull one toy out in 4 hours. She was captivated by the following: a water bottle, the planes landing and filling and luggage moving etc, the people around us, my marble cake from Starbucks, the gate attendants shoes, the pillar with the peeling paint, the chairs, the carpet, herself. She was nothing short of astounding.

Finally get on a plane at 11:20ish. Arrive Austin 1:45 local time.

Damn I'm tired.

Kate is so beautiful though and I'm totally thrilled to be here.

Texas bound

I'm off to Texas in a few hours. I have so much to pull together before I leave the house. I hate feeling rushed and yet, here I am again.

I'll post from Texas to give you the updates. Until I'm back though, have a great 10 days everyone.