Kelly's Weblog

I just had some wonderful news from my friend Carrie in Hungary. She and her significant other, Istvan, are getting married at the end of June in Godollo (which is in Hungary)! I'm so happy for her...and I'm hoping to go to the wedding. We'll have to see if we can pull it off. It's the weekend after Tom and Anne's ceremony in Toronto!

Music planning for Ian and Joyce's wedding on May Day is in good shape, judging from an email I had from Ian this morning; we've a good roster of singers for the service, and they've chosen some fine music.

Almost time to start thinking about wedding presents and what on earth I'm going to wear (more of a challenge at some times than at others!)...I do love weddings!!

The microwave died yesterday evening. It heated Jamie's bedtime bottle, just as always, but when I turned to it with our own pasta sauce in hand, the little LED panel had gone dark. Prodded at it a bit, but suspect something has shorted out. And a microwave is one of the really, absolutely necessary appliances to the modern parent. Probably the problem with ours could be fixed in relatively short order by someone qualified. Problems: we don't know of any such person/shop at all, let alone within walking distance; having located one, we'd somehow have to get the microwave to such a person/shop without a car (taxi? $$); and it's likely that there would be a $50ish charge just for having a look taken at the appliance, regardless of whether it proved to be reparable or not.

We're going out to pick up a new microwave later today, well in advance of bedtime. We've already had two want-the-warm-milk-NOW meltdowns this morning.

I think I have officially learned my lesson regarding big bottles of juice after bathtime. Jamie wet through his diaper, PJs and bedding at 4:45 this morning, woke completely, and never fell soundly asleep again until early nap caught him unawares at 9:15. He was bagged. I'd foolishly stayed up past midnight finishing off a video we had from Netflix, so I was really bagged. Paul sent me back to bed at 7:30 and took over while I slept until Jamie went down. We've written off church at St. Bart's this morning; it didn't seem worth waking Jamie and scrambling to get ready for a 10am departure. That's the only problem with St. Bart's: the hour-long commute.

Anyway, it's a bright, windy day and supposed to be about 7 degrees; we'll be able to take Jamie by the park again after lunch and run him until he's wiped right out.

I've been getting my paperwork ready for tax time; my return has to be done in advance of the US filing deadline, so I don' t have as long as I might. Taxes, urgh!

Have I mentioned lately that having laundry in the apartment is faaaaaaabulous?

Paul and I went out for dinner on Friday night, a belated birthday celebration and an anticipation of Valentine's Day combined. Our church, St. Bart's, offers dozens of programs and services, and one of them is a once-a-month childcare evening called Parents' Night Out. Jamie went and played there from 6pm to 9pm, and had the best time; when we got there to pick him up, he was having a story read him, and was as smiley as he comes. Meanwhile, we went to Tabla and had a lovely meal - really the first dinner out for the two of us alone since Jamie was born, if it can be believed!

It's Presidents' Day (or is that President's Day?) in the US today, so Paul's off work, though he may go in for a while. It's a cold enough day that Jamie and I will be looking for indoor activities. And tonight we're receiving offers on our house in Toronto. Saturday's open house was apparently very busy; we haven't heard yet how yesterday's open house went. Our fingers are crossed though!

After a suggestion from my parents, which was reinforced yesterday when we were visiting cousin Jessica and baby Ian, we've decided to shop for a webcam so others with the right equipment can see Jamie live from time to time. Grandpa and Grandma have one, and so does Uncle Bill. Colin and Jessica do, of course, and my aunt Kit in Michigan. And there may be others. I guess it's time I started to play with VoIP a bit...if it works well enough with a low-budget setup now, we could have a lot of fun with it, and in that case Mama Jane in Exeter will have to be encouraged to get hooked up too!

I see I've fallen behind a fair bit now. Jamie and I were in Toronto for over a week, a very busy time during which Grandma saved my bacon by coming to play with the boy while I got grant applications done, met with real estate agents, and scoured the house in preparation for the showings that are happening this week. I've been back in New York for some time now, but not feeling very well; I've pretty much been going to bed as soon as Jamie does. It's a bit of a waste, really; we've had a fire in the fireplace every evening...but it can't be helped.

I've done a set of updates to Jamie's photo pages and video galleries; included in the updates are a number of photos Paul took of the new apartment. It doesn't hold a candle to the video tour of our Toronto house, but it's better than nothing...

I'll see if I can't be a bit more regular in my posting for a while.