This and That

Okay, so I was thinking, I haven't said much about what is happening in Justin's and my lives lately... I keep talking about Rebecca! So, I'm going to try to give some information about what's happening with Justin and me... as well as Rebecca. Sorry, you can't read a blog entry from me that doesn't include Rebecca... just think, when we have two or more children, the entries will be lengthened accordingly! Maybe you'll eventually have to set aside 15 minutes or more to read an entry!

So... Justin first.

Justin has been working on a number of programs that I had no idea he was working on, but he was apparently working on them for things he thought would be helpful at Canon. It turns out, not only are they helpful, but when he sent them to their tech team, the leader of the team proceeded to send them out to each supervisor with the instructions to have each team member under them load it onto their computer so they would be able to make use of it! Justin also got an email thanking him for taking initiative, being creative, and doing something that helps Canon stay in their highly competitive position with other companies. :-) He also has made what is called "A-Player" for a consecutive 6+ months, and for making it the 6 months he gets a monetary bonus, plus he gets taken out to dinner by his company! Very exciting... especially the extra bit of money, lol. :-) Too bad it isn't going to also mean an increase in wages. I don't know if I mentioned it, but Canon had to give everyone a pay cut a couple of months ago. Thankfully, Justin had just been given a raise of 6.5%, and the cut was 5% in his tier level, so he actually ended up still making more than he was, but most people did not get that much of a raise if they even got one, and the higher tiers lost 15%, 25%, 35%, and 50%! Kinda makes one thankful to be at the bottom of the pyramid!

Justin has also been looking at other job possibilities. He's somewhat qualified to take a position as a Linux systems administrator, because places will hire on experience and knowledge rather than requiring a piece of paper for that one. He's got plenty of both (it's his favourite hobby!), and we discovered that jobs with Linux range in pay from double what he earns up to 4x the amount! Whoa!! He applied for at least one position, though he never heard back, so I guess that was probably a no go. However, there are many that come up in the area on a regular basis... so while we are quite happy with Canon and their benefits and such, we are also keeping our eyes and ears open for positions that would get us similar (or better!) benefits, and a MUCH better pay range! Another thing we would like is a 40ish hour work week somewhere closer to where we live, so the commute doesn't add an extra 1.5-2 hours each day! However, as a systems admin, he would also be on call through the night and on weekends, which would be a real pain, but hey, when overtime will get you at least time and a half around here, if not more... it's not too bad! I told him that I wouldn't want him working Sunday mornings though, and if he got a job that called him in on a Sunday they would have to wait for him until at least afternoon, if not evening. Hey, we only get so many family days! :-)

Me... well...

I'm teaching piano to my niece and nephew starting this Saturday, and trying to recruit more students. We'll see, perhaps this year it will only be the two of them, but maybe next year I'll find more!

I finally seem to have conquered the mildew staining issue we've been having, though it did result in a bit of lightening in some places on some of the garments. At least they're usable again!! We also thoroughly cleaned the washer. I took the soap dispenser apart, washed it, washed inside that area, and we poured 4 cups of bleach into the washer, ran an empty hot load, and then poured in a gallon of vinegar and ran another empty hot load! It was rather cheap, I guess, when you think about it, but the instructions I found for keeping mould out of a washing machine say that you should do that every 3-4 months, and every 6-8 weeks you should run an empty hot vinegar load. I guess a gallon of vinegar at about $2.50 every couple of months is worth it if we're going to get consistently clean clothing out of it! The clothing and diapers are coming so much cleaner since I got that done, it's been nice!

I've been really working hard at getting the house organized, because I don't want to child proof, per se (it's pretty much impossible to do in our house) but I would like *most* things that are within Rebecca's reach to be at least somewhat safe for her to get at. All I have left is my dining room table, and kitchen counter... and then my horrible mudroom/bathroom area, which will always be last on my agenda, hehe! I'm currently trying to figure out a storrage solution for all our tupperware/gladware/other containers! I'm starting to think one of those plastic tote containers under the sink might do the trick... just have to get Justin to clean out all his mouse traps so I can do it! Maybe one of the plastic drawers would be a better idea. Regardless, I think it's a potential solution. I also need to come up with some organizational strategies for our purchased cupboard, because the top shelf, wonderful as it is, needs to be split in half, and each of those spaces need to be split in half again. So, I'm thinking a wire rack organizer, and a set or two of plastic drawers might do the trick in there as well. If only those things weren't going to cost money, I'd be all set! :-)

I guess, finally, on my part, I made a new header for our blog (in case you didn't notice!). Seeing as it is rather oriented around the past year of our lives, I'll probably have to make a new one next year! I guess that's incentive to take lots of good pictures over the next year as well. :-)

Rebecca is walking somewhat well now, but is still preferring to crawl to get places. She looks at what she wants, crawls close to the place, stands up, and walks the last 3-5 steps to get close to the item!

She is not sleeping overly well through the night, though we are really working to teach her to sleep through the night at least somewhat. We're back to 1-2 wakings in a night (normally just one with a very early waking), which is so much better than it was most of the summer! She does not, however, believe that I need more sleep than I get. Often times she is up from 7:30am until 10:30 or 11pm, with maybe a 1 hour nap once or twice in the day. She actually just finished napping on me (I was holding her and typing this post at the same time), and now she's sitting beside me on the floor insisting that the frog in the picture book says "sss" even though I keep telling her it says "ribbit" not "ssss"! We're not doing so well on animal sounds, as you may have guessed, LOL!

Our big thing right now, is teaching her not to leave the house without an adult. We're trying to establish that she may not put her hand on the door except to look out. Both our screen doors do not latch properly, and with the cooler weather, we like having the breezes that come through all the screens. She makes it very difficult to get anything done, however, because every time I get occupied doing something, she heads for the nearest door (usually the back door)! So, I've been setting up training sessions for the past couple of days, in the hopes she will clue in... eventually! Any ideas on how to teach a baby not to cross the threshold of a door to the outdoors would be very appreciated!

Oh, yes, and my victory celebration of last night... we got home from sign language class and choir practise, and she was fussing at me for who knew what reason, and suddenly she just quieted right down, looked sweetly at me, and signed "milk" very clearly! She actually has been using the sign on occasion for the last couple of weeks, but it was more something we had to guess at than something she clearly knew what she was saying! She's also started telling us "finished" when she's done eating! If only we could convince her to just tell us, and not tell us and then put all the food on the floor!! :-)

Unpleasant Wake-up Call

This morning... Rebecca woke up at about 5:15 to eat, ate, fell asleep again around 5:45, and proceeded to spit up less than fifteen minutes later... projectile style, a quantity that no child should ever give back after their mother provides such a good meal for them. I had almost fallen asleep... and ended up entirely covered from neck nearly to waist by her! To make matters worse, she got our bed with a patch nearly the same size, plus her receiving blanket as well!

Anyway, after such a pleasant start to our morning, things only could get better, right? Ummmm... sure. By two o'clock we had gone through another four receiving blankets because she did the same thing over, and over, and over again. Oh, and, she didn't bother with any more than about 45 minutes of sleep all day, and none of that was consecutive. She did finally stop giving back in large quantities around three thirty. Now all I'm hoping is that tomorrow isn't a repeat of today's experience.

This evening, the second pair of baby birds left. An older couple took them, and they're wanting a little flock, apparently, so we can allow our little birds to have as many babies as they like, and this couple would take on a few more at least, hehe. They don't know what they're getting into, I don't think! Anyway, now that the birds are down to only two again, we may consider throwing that nest in again next month. I need to make a run to the vet clinic soon to see if I can convince them that my dog needs a particular food that is completely controlled by the clinics, and if we were to order it online it would cost as much again as the food itself just for shipping, so we really need to get it locally if possible. Anyway, I guess that may be tomorrow's activity/battle.

On the development front, Rebecca is starting to babble in the spaces left in "conversations" we have, and there are a few sounds she makes that she seems to think actually mean something, which I find quite amusing. It's not so amusing when she gets mad that we don't respond though! She's also starting to reach out her arms when she's wanting you to pick her up... definitely a method of communicating her desire, which is really kind of cute. Anyway, when I realized she was so interested in these things called communication and conversation, I started looking for information on baby signing... so now, though she probably won't make use of it at all for a while, we're learning to sign. I discovered they have illustrated nursery rhyme books that have signs in them, so right now I have Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and a first signs book thing aimed at toddlers, and then I have a "communicating with your baby" book on request, so hopefully I'll have that in the next few days as well, and can actually research it. However, we read, re-read, and re-re-read the Twinkle, Twinkle book probably about ten times this evening, because she was just so fascinated by the fact my hands were moving... so maybe she'll learn to say "stars" sometime soon? :) I should see if I can teach her to say "eat" as well... maybe that would solve some of our problems with fussiness in the evenings!

Our Christmas was quite nice. I think Rebecca was given way too much stuff, considering she was only six weeks old! She got clothing, some books, a few toys blankets, and a number of other things... and she's not even big enough to play with much yet. I can't even imagine what her birthday and Christmas are going to be like next year, as I will only have six weeks to find places for her birthday stuff before I have to find places for Christmas stuff as well. Well, I guess that will be interesting, to say the least! I'll have pictures up sometime soon, just haven't had the time to get to that just yet.

I put out word today that I'm looking for piano students. I'm hoping that perhaps I'll get somewhere between 5 and 10 students so I can make a little extra money around here. Perhaps if I can start with that many, in the fall I can increase by a few and have even a little more extra. I think Amelia and Jacob might be my first potential candidates, so all I really have to do is find another three or four students and I've hit my five to ten students. :) All the other students are to be on weekdays in the late morning/early afternoon for now, so basically I'm really hoping for homeschool students. Anyway... I guess we'll see what happens.

And, next month (January) seems to be birthday month. My mum, Justin's mom, Justin's dad, Jacob, Justin... they're all having birthdays next month!! I'm very glad Rebecca isn't sharing that month of birthdays. It seems the birthdays get very overshadowed in January on Justin's side, and I don't really want that to happen. Anyway, that's what the Happy Birthday background thing is all about.