December 11th, 2011
As new parents, Christine and I often overlook some of the more mundane aspects of looking after a baby such as making sure the diaper bag is well stocked before leaving the house. Just remembering to bring it with us has proven a challenge: “Did you bring the diaper bag?” “I brought the baby; I thought you were bringing the diaper bag.” “No, I thought you were bringing it because you asked if it was packed before we left.” “I see.” “We’re an hour from home!” “Yes. That’s a problem.” So, we try to not get too worked up over the details and celebrate the small victories and what have you.
Yesterday, we thought we would head out to the farmer’s market to look for a Christmas tree ornament to commemorate Evelyn’s first Christmas. Turns out farmers aren’t big on Christmas ornaments and while regrouping in the car, we thought we would give the other farmer’s market a try. You can never have too many farmer’s markets in close proximity to each other. Christine figured she’d feed Evelyn in the car and then we could drive over. Of course, before she feeds her, we usually change her diaper. Christine was in the back seat where there was no room for changing what with the car seat taking up most of the space. I told her to pass Evelyn over and I’d change her on the passenger’s seat. She handed her over, which was a feat in itself navigating over and around the head rest and car seat. I think in fighter jet training school they call that threading the needle.
Once I had Evelyn safely in the front seat, I put down the changing pad on the passenger’s seat and laid Evelyn on top of it. She immediately slid down the seat toward the seat back. Bucket seats were apparently not designed to be used as a change table. Clearly an oversight. This combined with the encumbrance of the steering wheel and emergency brake hampering my maneuverability was just the sort of challenge I was looking for on a Saturday morning. With one hand I slid her back up to the top of the seat and with the other removed her diaper and cleaned her bum. It was about at this time when Christine, who had been watching my efforts, no doubt with great amusement, said, “She’s peeing!” So she was. I reached with both hands to grab the edge of the changing pad to contain the growing spill before it ran off the edge onto the seat. She’s in the bucket seat, don’t forget. Of course, now that I was no longer holding onto her, she began sliding down the seat, still peeing, bringing along the dirty diaper that I hadn’t quite gotten to disposing yet. Somewhere in there is a joke about BP and the Gulf of Mexico. I leave that as an exercise for the reader.
When the dust settled and I had recollected myself, the situation didn’t look too bad. I had managed to contain the pee to the pad without getting any on the seat and nothing had become of the traveling dirty diaper. Her sleeper was soaked, so that had to go, although the one-button sweater she was wearing was, thankfully, spared. I cleaned her up, dried her up, and put on a new diaper. I opened up the diaper bag to see what I could dress her in. It seems none of the sleepers I washed the day before had made their way into the diaper bag. No receiving blankets either. You become very accusing as a parent. Even if you don’t say it, you’re thinking it. So, we did what we could with what was available at the time. We kept on her sweater and wrapped her mid-section in a burping cloth. Then we went home.
Posted in Moncton life, parenting | No Comments »
December 20th, 2010
A week ago we took a weekend trip to Boston with our friend Amy and her son Julien. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed seeing Boston for the first time. Click on the thumbnail below to see photos from our trip.
Posted in Québec life | No Comments »
December 18th, 2010
We finally put up our Christmas tree. It looks great. Merry Christmas!
Posted in Québec life | No Comments »
November 25th, 2010
I am finally approaching that endearing level or proficiency with a second language where you know just enough to say everything wrong. Recently, in my French class, I was given an assignment to write a love story, une histoire d’amour of 150 words, so more of an abbreviated lettre d’amour.
One of the phrases in my grand tale of daring deeds, unrequited love, a boy and his dog, and so on was a bit about watching seagulls diving which I masterfully translated to:
regardait les muettes qui plongeaient
When my assignment was returned to me, this phrase was underlined with a giant question mark above. It all seemed on the level to me, so I asked my professeure what wasn’t correct about it. She gave me this crazy look, as if to say that she had finally figured out what it is that was wrong about me, and said that she didn’t understand it. I said it means “was watching the seagulls diving”. Well, she started laughing hysterically and in between convulsions explained that I was missing the “o” in mouette. It should have read:
regardait les mouettes qui plongeaient
We had a good laugh and after she left I looked up muette in my dictionary, which of course means a female mute.
Posted in Québec life | 1 Comment »
September 5th, 2010
Alexi Murdoch – Time Without Consequence
Damien Dempsey – Shots
David Gray – White Ladder
Mat Kearney – Nothing Left to Lose
Tegan and Sara – So Jealous
Tegan and Sara – The Con
Jeremy Riddle – Sweetly Broken
The Cars – Greatest Hits
The Cranberries – No Need To Argue
Madeleine Peyroux – Careless Love
The Police – Greatest Hits
Van Morrison – Still On Top (Greatest Hits)
Frank Sinatra – Romance (Compilation)
Counting Crows – August and Everything After
Tracy Chapman – Collection
Christine’s current favourite albums – Christine would like it mentioned that this in not necessarily indicative of her overall music tastes or what you might expect to find on her iPod. She usually buys her music online by the song.
Posted in ponderings | No Comments »
September 5th, 2010
After serious contemplation and careful consideration I have compiled a list of my fifteen current favourite albums.
Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1968)
Bayou Country by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)
Who’s Next by The Who (1971)
Santana III by Santana (1971)
Thriller by Michael Jackson (1982)
Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (1983)
Achtung Baby by U2 (1991)
Unplugged by Eric Clapton (1992)
Bad Habits by Colin James (1995)
Black Sheep by Martin Sexton (1996)
White Ladder by David Gray (2000)
Lift by Audio Adrenaline (2001)
The Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot (2003)
Seize the Day by Damien Dempsey (2004)
Daylight by NEEDTOBREATHE (2006)
Of course, you can find everything you want to know about what I listen to by visiting my last.fm page.
Posted in ponderings | No Comments »
July 17th, 2010
We just got back from seeing K’naan and the Black Eyed Peas at the Festival d’Été. I was fairly disappointed with K’naan and so had low expectations going into the Black Eyed Peas. They were much better than I expected and put on a really good show. The Plains of Abraham were completely packed this time. There were supposedly 100 000 people in attendance. According to the Black Eyed Peas, Canada is “where the love is” and the audience in Québec is the best they’ve ever had anywhere.
I won’t be rushing out to buy an Black Eyed Peas albums anytime soon, but it was definitely worth seeing them live.
Posted in Québec life | No Comments »
July 16th, 2010
We just got back from seeing Rush at the Festival d’Été. I’ve tried a few times to get into Rush, but I just can’t do it. There was no lack of actual Rush fans; however, as the Plains of Abraham were packed with people, many sporting new and old Rush t-shirts. At about 8:30 they took a break “because we’re so old” according to Geddy Lee. That was kind of funny.
Posted in Québec life | No Comments »
July 14th, 2010
I just got back from watching Santana at the Festival d’Été de Québec. It was an outdoor concert on the Plains of Abraham. Definitely in my top ten, it was a great show. Outdoor concerts are always better! Including Carlos, Santana consisted of two drummers, a dude on the congos, trombone, trumpet, bass, guitar, and two singers.
They played a good sampling of the Santana catalogue including ‘Evil Ways’, ‘Jingo’, ‘Singing Winds, Crying Beasts’, ‘Black Magic Woman’, ‘Oye Como Va’, ‘Smooth’, ‘Into the Night’, ‘Maria Maria’. The rest I didn’t recognise or didn’t know the title because it had no lyrics. They also played a great cover of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’.
It also turns out that Carlos Santana is engaged and introduced us to his fiancé who performed a five minute long drum solo. Good times!
Posted in Québec life | No Comments »
July 9th, 2010
Today the Festival d’Été kicked off in Québec. The streets are swarming with people. I imagine it will be like that for the rest of the summer. We walked up to the Parc de la Francaphonie to listen to Bedouin Soundclash. It was so full, we couldn’t get into the park and had to stand in the street along with a few other hundred festival goers to listen. The festival runs for ten days and we’re looking forward to hearing some more great music.
Posted in Québec life | No Comments »
