What's-his-name?

I lay here hoping that the guy cutting the grass across the street stops and that any jerk who honks on the street nearby thinks that maybe, just maybe, a baby might be trying to nap somewhere. But no beans. It's a sunny day and people forget that baby's are trying to sleep the world around. That's probably the last thing you're thinking when you reach for that horn.

It was a funny sort of day today. A day where we went to get coffee at our usual place (however we haven't been in eons), and Bill, the barista says "what's the babies name again?" and I replied "Bella" and he said "oh Stella! A beautiful name". And I corrected him..."no, it's Bella". And he continued to call her Stella. And then called me Lydia.

Then we went and picked up the newest addition to our family. We decided to get a cat. Yes. Me...a dog person. With a cat. She's a kitten actually and I have to say, she's pretty darned cute. We named her Lola as it's probably the easiest name for Bella to say. Right now, she's napping despite the grass cutting and honking and general douchebag-type noise outside. She ignores the sounds of the hour while Bella hears them and thinks it's time to play or jump up and down in her crib while she yells "mamamamamamamama" over and over. It's going to be one of those days where her second nap is tried and tested but not completed.

Back to the kitten. It seems that I'm going to have to be super vigilant around these two when they're together. Bella has already taken to picking the cat up by the ear, or leg or tail and I have to rush over and say "NO" to a baby who is still learning the concept. It's going to be fun times all around.

you've been skunked!

Last night, as Victor and I played our trillionth game of Uno (Victor's newest obsession), the stankiest stink wafted, no...thundered into our apartment. It went from skunk?, to SKUNK in no seconds flat. And it just kept getting worse. We didn't know the protocol...close the windows and hotbox? Or keep the windows open and use fans to ventilate? We tried the close windows option and almost died of skunkification. So an hour later, I thought all was safe and tried the ventilation trick.

You want to know what I woke up to this morning? A huge mouthful of SKUNK. That means the smell stayed in our apartment overnight (OR I had really bad breath that even I could smell). So I wonder, even if we're two stories up, could the skunk have climbed up the building and aimed his butt directly at our apartment? Could it be? And if so, will I, unbeknownst to me, smell like skunk to the outside world today? We'll soon find out as I have to run some errands. If I notice scrunched up faces and dirty looks, I'll know the answer.

These are the days of our lives

I don't think there has ever been a time in my life where time has slipped through my fingers as quickly as it is now. I ache for the day to feel long, to feel as though it's never going to end. It's a funny thing to wish for as I know if I was feeling it, I'd be wishing I wasn't.

My days spent with the ladybug are full of ROFL (rolling on floor laughing...I can't believe I just acronymed that). Days at the park on the swing, waiting for the loud "YAY" scream that comes every few minutes from the little bundle in my arms. The days at home where Bella will sneak up on me and bite me in the knee and laugh hysterically (while I think, "I should be mad" but rather laugh instead because it's pretty funny). Answering the phone to hear a "haaaallla?" really loudly somewhere in the room (with hand to ear, pretending to be on the phone as well). The quiet time spent looking at pictures of family and friends. The early mornings where we lay in bed together, sometimes quietly cuddling or practicing new words like this mornings "doggy"...or "doddy" according to the queen B.

These moments are like sands through an hourglass (another little soapopera reference there for ya). I know soon I'll wake up and Bella will be 15 and wanting to spend weekends with friends instead of us. So I enjoy it and try my best to make the day long. To live in the moment instead of worrying about the soon to be 10 hours away from home each and every day of the week. It makes me tear up as I write this but it's a damn fact of life. I'm gonna miss seeing this face for those 10 hours a day.

Well, that was sad. Pretty gloomy for a sunny day like today. So in short, I'll make the best out of our last month together. And absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? I'll spend my days lost in work and come home shouldering off stress to a warm hug from my little banana bean.

Beyonce bootay!

I'm on a mission to get slim and trim...stop the lazy couch potato madness! I've been feeling less and less motivated to get out and exercise and have instead been spending a lot of time indoors cooking, eating, playing and being lazy. It's been a blast but it's time to get back to my old self. I think I've probably said this before on this blog but this time...this time I'm 1000% serious. And hey, I need to shape up so I can wear my old work clothes and feel comfortable. Right now, I feel more or less like a stuffed sausage in them.

To kick-off this mission, I enrolled in a stroller fit class. That way, Bella (yes, Bella again...I gave up the Felicia battle) can mingle with some little babes and I can work off this jiggle in the jungle and defy gravity on some of my favourite body parts (ahem...my ass).

I'm also going to walk down to Commercial Drive today to meet a couple of old friends for lunch. So that's enough of being homebound sisters!

Baby talk and halloween dilemmas

This little banana boat bellini is now saying new words left right and centre. She's at a rate of two words per day. Yesterday, she pointed at a picture of a baby and said "BayBee!"...then, while I was cleaning her little bum and explaining to her what I was doing, she said "diaper"...more like "DiePa" but close enough. And today "duck" and "hola!".

And so we've been scoping out halloween costumes lately. We trekked over to Value Village yesterday as they have a massive halloween section (unused costumes thank you very much)...and I decided I wanted to be a banana for Halloween. And Victor said "that's fitting".

Then we realized we should stay within a theme. We started out looking for Flintstone costumes (bam-bam...too cute!). Yet the Flintstones doesn't go with our haunted house theme...but it's wrong to dress your baby up in a scary costume isn't it? Like bride of Chucky? A witch? The button is a halloween baby so we have to be original here. And she has to be spectacularly cute. Maybe we should all be killer bumblebees?

We'll figure it out after checking out Dressew, the ultimate in Halloween (and nasty cashiers...am I right?). Although, I'm stilling dreaming about that darn banana costume.

Change is a good thing

No, by change I don't mean I went and cut my hair (I'm still mulling)...

I decided the blog needed a facelift...I had seen this "New Template Designer" icon peeking out at me for a while now but just bypassed it thinking it would be cooler to wait a bit...cause I'm cool like that :)

bad hair day #2000

It's decided. My hair is bipolar. It's a mash-up of curly roots and straight ends...the opposite of what is normal as most people's hair curls at the bottom but is straight at the roots. Here's a pic of the offending hair:


Excuse the rookie PhotoShop skills but mat leave is my excuse.

So anyways, I think I might cut my hair. I spent almost four hours cleaning our place yesterday and guess what I found this morning after all that cleaning? My hair EVERYWHERE. No joke, I had cleaned to the point where our floor was spotless...then an hour later, a ton of my hair found itself back on the floor. So I need to chop this shag off.

I found this when I googled "short curly hairstyles 2010":


This chica does not have curly hair. It's curled. I like it (a lot) but I need to focus and find a hair do for natural curly hair. The hairstyle above would require ironing and curling and teasing and let's face it, crying because I'd be so annoyed with all the work involved. I need to just face the facts that this is what my hair looks like short:


And maybe, just maybe I can tame and texturize it to look a bit more like this (minus the supermodelness about it):

Let's see if I take the plunge in the next few days...it's a scary thought...

stuck on a feeling

Isn't it hard to get motivated when it's raining...and you're lazy? I want to clean our place yet I sit here talking about it instead of doing it.

I spent my night holding Felicia in my arms because she has a runny nose and can't breathe when she's laying down. It was a bit much but it was the only thing that got her to sleep...so I have good reason to be lazy today. Especially with this kink in my neck.

Has anybody else noticed how this blog is starting to sound like a "Dear Diary"? I have. I hope you don't mind.

So in one of my last posts, I mentioned that I plan on changing careers...and I've got the ball rolling on that. It feels good, to have a goal to work towards. But I'm still torn...do I want to spend truckloads of money on school and growing my business, or buy a bigger place of our own in 5 years? Do I want to be my own boss or have a nice home to come to? I think I just answered my own question. Being my own boss and waiting a few more years for a home of our own is much more appealing than continuing to work on someone else's inflexible schedule.

On a related note, I just found out that my dad applied to do his M.Sc. at UBC. At 65! I beamed with pride and thought to myself, if he can do it, so can I! Then I was crushed to find out that he wasn't accepted. He spoke to the admitting prof and was told that they couldn't rightfully give a Master's spot to someone his age...when a younger person who would like to begin their career would lose out. And then he was told that he could sit in in classes if he likes. Big bummer. It really made me think that I better get my education over and done with before it's too late.

10 months of Bellita Felicita Chiquita Being Crazy Adorable

It just seems that I can't get it together to post regularly. Yet I constantly commit to myself to make a commitment to post. Whew, that's a lot of commitment in one sentence.

So, from now on, I will commit(!) to post everyday no matter what, even if all I've done is picked my nose*. Therefore, brace yourself for some pretty boring posts in the near future...

And now for an update on the miniature supermodel:


She is only 10 months and has developed the most awesomest personality that I have ever encountered (ofcourse, I'm biased). If I were to guess what she'll be when she grows up, I would have to say she'll be an entertainer.

She loves to make people laugh with these ridiculous funny faces and just looooves attention from strangers. Whenever I'm waiting in a line-up, no matter where I am, she'll sing out really loudly so the person in front of me will turn around...then she'll wave hello with a big smile on her face, like "look at me, I'm cute". She's also onto her first words other than mama/dada. She now says "pepe" for bottle and "agua" for water. Yep that's spanish...smart cookie is she not?

And now onto not so great, really candid, news. I've been taking the pill for the first time ever and have been up and down like a rodeo clown**...like emotionally I mean. So the pill is no longer and onto a search for birth control that leaves me as me with no hormonal imbalances that make me want to punch my husband in the face***.

* yes, that's a metaphor...I don't actually pick my nose.
** yes, that's a hyperbole. Score two for figurative language and grade 8 English.
*** Figuratively ofcourse! And can you tell I'm hormonal? I don't normally say such things!