Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-08

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Gwen
  • bleagh, A cold on a November sunny day is the pits. #
  • RT @AnthonyFloyd: Greater Vancouver Twitter Parents Meetup I: http://bit.ly/3IJQb4 Vancouver Aquarium, Saturday 10am. #GVTPM1 #
  • Just got dressed for the first time in days. All to move the car for street sweeping. Luckily we weren't towed & the St. cleaner finished #
  • Oh and the fever I thought was gone? Back. #
  • Wow, the smell of the pot-roast in the slow-cooker is making me so hungry. I guess that means I am on the mend. 🙂 #
  • RT @AnthonyFloyd: Vancouver (and area) parents! Want to join some other Tweeps at the aquarium this weekend? http://bit.ly/3IJQb4 #GVTPM #
  • RT @urbanreserve: Amazing UR member swag for all wine lovers who attend tom YVR, won't you join us? #theharvest http://bit.ly/3m1xgy #
  • Just finished another post. I think I like this getting back into writing everyday. Now if I could be healthy as well it would be fabulous. #
  • Kitchen is clean(ish) for the first time in a week. SIckness really takes the energy needed to clean away. 🙂 #
  • who ever designed the vanoc ticketing site must have been high to think it would be a good system. It kicked me out while buying tickets. #
  • VANOC epic fail for tix. Glad i gave up an went out for a while. #
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments Off on Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-08

Blog Layout Changes: Good or Bad?

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Gwen

I have been thinking about a blog makeover for a while.  I know that it is essential been the same forever but there are a few things I would like to change.    I will be changing my header for sure.  I am not sure if I will ever have the time to get Anthony to take a similar picture, so it will need to be something different.  I want to be able to do more with comments.  I think I would like to reply to comments on the posts.  I am pretty sure that it would be more interactive to reply to comment threads and give others a chance to comment on other comments as well.

I want the layout to be simple, with a black and white header, well maybe a little colour.  I want dark text on light back ground, again I think I do.  I think I will get rid of some of the stuff in the columns like the blogroll that is so outdated.  I need an about page, maybe a manifesto type page.

What should I keep?  What should I change? Are there any more things I should dump?

Posted in blogging | 2 Comments

Getting Ready for Christmas

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Gwen

I know it is only the 6th of November and we have barely passed Halloween but I have been thinking about Christmas for a while.  This will be the first year that Aidan is really excited about Christmas and we will be celebrating here in Vancouver.  That is not to say that we haven’t celebrated Christmas in Vancouver, just that last year we were in Nova Scotia, and that was the first year Aidan was anticipating Christmas and all the fun and pageantry that goes with it.

Last year we wrote a letter to Santa and went to visit him at the mall here in Vancouver.  We also put together a box for Operation Christmas Child and bought some food for the food bank.  I wanted the giving not to be all about the getting.  I wanted Aidan to understand that we can help people who don’t have as much as we do.

This year we have a few things I want us to do in the way of charity.  We (in the next week) will put together a box for Operation Christmas Child.  I fully plan to go to the CBC Food Bank Day and make a donation.  I also hope to be a part of helping a local family have a great Christmas.  I think that it would be really good for Aidan to be a part of making someone else’s Christmas special.

I know that one of the things I really appreciated as a child was being able to give back to another family the way our family was taken care of.  It is hard to write, but I don’t know if people realize how happy they can make some children.  The wonder of opening the door and having a box on the doorstep with no one around is wondrous for both the child, and I daresay the parent.  I know that even without the generous people who helped us that Christmas, my parents would have made it wondrous for us still.  I still thank those anonymous people for making us all believe that Santa Claus was alive and well.

I also fully plan to make Advent more of a reality in this house this year.  Aidan is old enough to know that Christmas is about more than getting presents and Santa Claus for us.  With the help of books, and Advent wreath and the creches we have I hope to make this season both fun and spiritual.

Anthony and I have some traditions that I want to keep.  We like to go to see the lights at Stanley Park and VanDusen.  I love singing at Midnight Mass.  Putting way to many lights on my Christmas tree to make it the most beautiful (and shiny) thing in the living room.  Going to Maplewood Farms on Christmas Eve.  Having the friends, who have become family, over for dinner on Christmas Day.  These are all keepers.

There are other things that I want so much to stay as part of our traditions, but I am not sure that they will this year.  This is something I can’t write about here, and I have been a bit cowardly about trying to make it better if I can.  I am still unsure about how to proceed without making things worse from what was a big misunderstanding.  Unfortunately I cannot control how other people can hold grudges.  I can only hope that things will get better and that forgiveness is found.

So before I put my foot further in my mouth and make things worse I will sign off.

Posted in Advent, Aidan, Anthony, Christmas, Family Time, Gwen, Holidays, Quinlan, Santa Claus, Vancouver | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Getting Ready for Christmas

Of Blood and Babies

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Gwen

I was going to post this a couple of weeks ago, but I got busy and didn’t finish it.  Now with a little editing and some finishing words I think it is ready to go.  I am interested in the questions I pose and I would love some feedback from other parents.  Where is it ok to bring your kids?  What if you have no choice in where you need to bring them?

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I had a great post in my head and on some small pieces of paper in my car today while I was waiting for Aidan to finish preschool and Quinlan to finish his nap.  It was started with the thought that  I was going to take the boys to the blood donor clinic. I then started to think about where I take the boys and what they, especially Aidan, have seen and done.  Where do people take their kids when they have no other choice?

When I was pregnant with Quinlan, Aidan was at all my doctors appointments.  In fact because of the timing of the appointments, Aidan was at the appointments much more often than Anthony was.  He heard Quinlan’s heartbeat at every appointment and if it looked like we were going to forget he was really quick to remind Dr. I.  He bonded with Quinlan before he saw him.  He was present and involved, and I wonder if this helped us avoid most of the sibling pitfalls you hear about.

I was not worried about how Aidan would react to the blood coming out of my body into the tubes and through to the bags.  I knew that he would be ok.  I knew he would ask lots of questions and be incredibly interested in what was happening.  He was interested and wanted to know exactly how the blood was going to come out of me and go into someone else.  I guess something got a little lost in the translation because he drew a picture of the blood coming out of me through tubes and into someone else via an elevator.  Who knew that was the way of it?

On more mundane chores, both the boys go grocery shopping and on other errands with me.  If I didn’t take them we would never have any free time on the weekends to do any fun family things.  I don’t have a family support system out here in Vancouver, so I can’t leave the boys with their grandparents while I run out to go shopping.  There is only so often Anthony can miss part of work for doctors and dentist appointments.  The main reason I haven’t been to the dentist in a long time is that I draw the line at bringing the boys while I get my teeth cleaned or a cavity filled.

With Advent and Christmas coming up soon the boys will be on more and more errands.  I will be the one trying to buy something for one or the other of them and not let them see at the same time. They will also be going to choir practices and other fun things.  Plus I am looking forward to all the other holiday favourites like taking the Stanley Park Christmas Train, and going to see Santa Claus or making the holidays brighter for a family who is less fortunate.  There are some things that are more fun with the boys and I am looking forward to every one of them.

Posted in Aidan, child care, Education, family, Quinlan | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments