Hmmm. I suspect I may be fighting off a bug.  All I’ve done today is sleep, pretty much.  Got woken up at 7:30am, asleep by 10:30am.  Woke up at 1pm, asleep by 4pm.  Woke up tonight and it was nearly 8:30pm.  Now, I’ve always loved my sleep, but even that is out of hand.  Still, it is the weekend, and if I don’t do much I suppose it’s not a crime, especially if I do fight off getting sick.  It would be great to know that my poor little immune system is making a comeback.

I had another appt with my pdoc, Dr W, this week.  As usual he was lovely.  He asked how the buspirone was going, and I told him I’m taking about 5×10mg tablets a week at the moment.  However the new reporting arrangements starting next week will put my anxiety to the test.  At this point he said he fully expects me to be taking 3×10mg tablets a day (aka the maximum dosage).  I laughed, then realised he wasn’t joking.  Sigh.

Pucon is an artificial feeling, touristy town, but we all liked it immensely compared to Valdivia. Every building is reminiscent of a log cabin, including our hostel to an extraordinary degree, and the views all around are of forested mountains or snowy volcanoes. The weather was warm, too, and welcomed after weeks of chill, snow, and rain. I enjoyed it there quite a bit, actually.

There is nothing to do in Pucon, though. Literally. The town exists solely as a base to do outdoorsy sports things. The biggest draw is the active volcano Villarrica which we hiked on our first full day. Here’s how it goes:

First you wake up at 5 am and put on the same bright yellow pants and jacket everyone on the tour is given. You leave in the van at 5:30 because your tour operator is good and likes to start early while there are no crowds and the snow is still stiff. You take a nap in the van.

At 6:30 you start to walk up the volcano in the snow. After an hour or so you take a break to put on crampons. The valley is still shrouded in fog. It looks like this

there's a town in there somewhere

After another hour you take a break to eat some food. Now things look like this

my feet could totally kill you right now

One more hour and you’ve reached the last and hardest part. I was pretty tired at this point and lagging behind the rest of the group. Trudging up a steep, icy, windy volcano with minimum strength didn’t seem the prudent course, so I waited with another girl for everyone else*. I really wanted to make it to the summit, but I wanted even more not to somersault down 3000 meters of ice and die. Instead I ate a banana. Everyone else looked like this

that's volcano spew, not clouds

*Yeas, I quit like a wimp. Well, not like a wimp, like a seasoned adventurer with the wisdom to know when the risks outweigh the rewards. Yeah, not like a wimp at all!

It takes another hour to climb the short bit to the top, which I’m told is smelly. Finally, you walk back down a little past where I had stopped and get ready for the best part. After removing your crampons you strap a canvas mat protector thingy to your butt and slide all the way down the mountain. How AWESOME is that?!!?! The guides call it “culo skiing,” you guys, which is a most excellent name for something.

The next day we went to a national park with an English/Australian couple to climb another mountain, this one covered in lots of mud as well as snow. It was pretty difficult, having scaled a volcano the day before, but the scenery was worth it. It looked like this

my feet weren't nearly as deadly for this one. Bummer

You may have noticed, alert reader, that from Ushuaia onward seems like a lot of trekking for me. Trekking is essentially the center of Chile’s tourist industry so I made some allowances. Plus it’s much more enjoyable with more company than just a non-English speaking guide and mountains not already starting at an absurd altitude. Don’t expect me to become a mountain guide any time soon, but it’s growing on me. That and my Zen-Bus-Calm is extendable to other things.

Mark 11:28-33
“By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’…” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

For a man who was going to be betrayed, the kind of things Jesus did at the end seemed insane. Entering on a donkey and getting praise from the lips of common folk certainly did not sit well with those in authority there. Adding insult to injury was when Jesus entered the temple courts and threw all the sellers out and overturned the tables of the money changers. These were people who managed to work their way into the temple courts through befriending the Pharisees and they charged exorbitant rates for sacrifices and money changing because they had exclusive dominion in that place and worshippers had no choice but to buy from them. Worse than all of this was that Jesus sat and taught the people who came into the temple courts about what God wanted for their lives and this shook the very foundation of the faith at that time.

It is clear from the passage above that Jesus was not going to be ‘Shooed’ away and if these temple priests wanted him out, they would have to come up with something more than accusations. The only option they had then was to make falsified charges and take his life which was certainly what Jesus came for. He came to die for sinners and to give us hope of eternity with him through his resurrection. Are you willing to put your trust in Jesus who fought the world to clarify the truth to save us? Are you willing to stand up against the powers of this world and evil to proclaim his name above every other name? Lets not be caught sleeping when he come again. Lets rise us and share the gospel with the lost sheep and help them find their shepherd, Jesus Christ.

In His Loving Service,
Vineet

Fields of Harvest

ehh….what do you guys think?  If you are ever wondering…all those..things are actually leeks. LOL or maybe, they are all just very funnily shaped “Y”-s  ^^;

This is just the starting of my little experiment. Let’s see what I can churn out for the next similar piece(hopefully I can pull it off ^ 0 ^)

Sleep on Pickup

Location: Dhaka.
Camera: Sony Ericsson Cyber Shot k810i
Photographer: Rakib

Laughs&Love

The last 3 nights have been really good! She has slept from about 7:30 to 5:30 each night, when she wakes at 5:30 I fed her and then she went back to sleep until sometime between 8:00 and 8:30. I have come to realize that I can’t really ask for much more at this point I have decided to just keep the 5:30 am feeding and let her eliminate it on her own as I am sure that she will; over the last few days she has creeped closer and closer to 6:00 anyway. Honestly, I have to admit too that I would rather get up at 5:30 to feed her and go back to sleep until 8:00, than get up for the day at 6:30 or 7:00, selfish mommy decision. Well I guess it wasn’t fully my decision, this is what is working for her and we decided to go with it- don’t they call that a babyled schedule, lol! Whatever, it works, we are sleeping and we are all pretty happy (excuse me while I go to knock on some wood).

Happy indeed!

We are at day 36 for anyone who was curious. 36 days! All the information you read on infant sleep training says it takes about 2 weeks, what planet are those people on- the planet where they still give their babies rum to help them sleep through the night (do not try that at home!). Honestly, I think that all of these programs need to give us the gory details because it is debilitating to only hear about the “winning successes” of some assholes that you don’t even know. Yes, I called those people assholes, that’s how angry it makes me, lol. I want to hear a story about how hard it was on one family and that it took them 8 weeks, because maybe that will make me feel better when we hit day 36. I think that they are setting you up to quit if they don’t paint a realistic picture. You are going to think oh well this isn’t working… the thing I found interesting about the sleepsense program’s follow along manual (where you chart your progress), was that there were 30 pages for charting 30 days of “progress.” So why is there space for 30 days if it takes 2 weeks. Yes they tell you in all of the programs that every baby is different and that two weeks is an average- well tell us the worst case scenario too, not just the two week situations.

I think I have finally (knock again on wood) solved the protesting at bedtime thing. A few weeks ago we were not letting Everly have a third nap, we just would let her stay up until it was time for the bedtime routine. Some nights this meant that she was already up for 3.5 hours before she went to bed. She is usually ready to sleep after 2 hours during the day, so that kind of gives you an idea about how tired she might be! I thought that her being more tired would make her fall asleep faster, yeah no, did not work that way. What I have found is that starting bedtime routine 1.5 hours after she has been away is the hot ticket. She is just tired enough at bedtime, not so overtired that she is wound up and can’t relax into a deep sleep. We stumbled upon this haphazardly when we went out for dinner and noticed she went to bed better, so the third nap is back and in full effect!

Speaking of naps, they are going great also (make this the third knock on wood!). We put her down and she falls asleep quickly. It’s all about timing for Everly, not so much about sticking to the same schedule. I wait until that 2 hour mark hits and just feed her and put her down and she sleeps. Usually it’s a 30 minute power nap, but these past 2 days she has had a couple 1 hour naps. It amazes me how little recharging she needs in order to be ready to go again!

Happy wake ups!

She is so close to being mobile! She does the commando Mowgli crawl (elbows on the floor, toes on the floor and legs and tummy in the air) and will push herself backwards. She gets on her knees and on her hands, but not always together in one coordinated movement, lol! I am not encouraging it right now, but her dad is and you can’t stop development, so it’s just going to happen.

Getting ready to take off!!!

We have also noticed that she has become a music lover. We bought her a little piano and xylaphone and maracas and she just plays with them all day long. As soon as she hears music her face lights up and she just gives ‘er, it’s too funny to watch (which you could HERE and HERE). We have been told that she will be a musician, I think it might be a tad early to plan our retirement on her rock star paychecks, but who knows, I did play a lot of RockBand and SingStar when I was pregnant, lol!

Linus

We had her 6 month well baby check up today! She was in the 90th percentile for her height and the 75th percentile for her weight, not to shabby baby! When she was born she was in the 25th percentile for her height and the 50th percentile for her weight, so she has done A LOT of growing. The doctor was very happy with her health and development so far, she was impressed by her skills thus far- every mother wants to hear that! So right now I am feeling pretty good about my job as a mom so far and I am so proud of Everly! To check your baby’s growth click here, that calculator is American though, am not sure if that makes a difference but it might, I think it’s handy regardless

Chubby monkey!

happy thanksgiving!

wow, i can’t believe it’s already thanksgiving, and christmas is only a few weeks away.  there’s so much i’m thankful that i could never list them all.  i’m most thankful for my family and friends and health.  i know that everyone typically says they’re thankful for their family and friends but i’m truly thankful that i’m surrounded by people who love and care for me.  i think that i forget to tell people how thankful i am for them so i should do that more. oh and i’m thankful for you for reading my blog hahaha

i’m pretty excited for today and the holiday season because i get to spend time with family and eat lots of good food.  i think i’m going to anaheim a little bit later in the afternoon and then to riverside in the evening.  i can’t wait for all the good food, games and good laughs with cousins, and shopping tomorrow.

my thanksgiving break has been alright so far.  i’ve spent over like 12 hours so far digging and moving dirt in my backyard so we can get part of the backyard looking nice.  it’s so tiring and i get so sore after but it’s getting easier and i get paid for doing it. although it’s tough when i’m actually doing the work, it’s a pretty good feeling knowing that i’m working hard to earn money instead of just receiving it for doing nothing.  i’ve been procrastinating a lot on my homework like usual so no surprise there. :p i’ve also been going to sleep really late but it’s been worth it <0.3  i didn’t go to six flags with cousins but i did get to hang out with my aunt from florida.  claim jumper’s – yummy.  i also had my last driving lesson finally and i’m feeling pretty good about getting my license soon.

i can’t wait to eat pumpkin pie tonight ;P

I just realized that I had a few minutes to update, since both kids are sleeping.  Sort of.  Ivan keeps saying, “It’s not nighttime!”  He has a point, but still.  He needs a nap.  Hopefully he’ll just get bored and fall asleep.  He’s in his new tent from Aunt Shannon, which he LOVES, so hopefully being in there will help.

We’re going to Diana’s later for Thanksgiving dinner, which is great.  Dave is making a special creation involving green beans, asparagus, mushroom soup and choux pastry.  You’ll have to get him to explain it to you. 

MARLOWE
She’s awesome and happy, but it’s been a rough month with her, sleeping-wise.  She’s waking more than she ever did as a newborn and taking longer to get back to sleep.  It’s common enough to have a name– four month sleep-regression– so at least we know there’s nothing to worry about.  I’m just really tired.  She likes to talk to us in the middle of the night, which  is a lot cuter when she does it in the daytime.  She’s napping pretty well.  Last night she seemed to be in a lot of pain, and I can’t figure out why…  I’ve stopped eating straight milk, ice cream, oranges, all beans, and broccoli, all of which seem to give her gas.  I’m not sure what else I can give up. 

She is a cuddle monkey and smiles at everyone.  She has a fantastic giggle.   And she still has red hair, but I think it’s starting to fall out. 

Oh, and she’s teething.  Ivan got his first tooth at four and a half months, and she’ll be four months on Monday, so the early teething isn’t very suprising. 

IVAN
He is mostly a sweet boy, but he’s been  more aggressive lately, mostly verbally.  His newest thing is to say to me or Dave (usually me), “I’m not your friend!  I’m DADDY’S friend!”  He’ll also call me “penis” and then claim to have said “Venus.”  Hmm.  Or he’ll call me “fake.”  He must have gotten that at preschool.

In general, though, he’s s pretty interesting conversationalist.  I tell him stories (Three Pigs, Cinderella, etc.) on the way to preschool and it’s pretty fun to hear him tell them to Dave later.  My favorite is when I tell him to do something he doesn’t want to do and he says, “My dear, I don’t want to fight about this.”  HA!  Also, Dave was disciplining him for something the other day and Ivan said, “Daddy, you made me cy! On PURPOSE!”  He is certainly learning what buttons to push.

“Disciplining,” for the record, usually means sitting him on the stairs, talk about whatever the infraction was, and re-read the house rules. If he’s really out of control, we’ll carry him down to his room to cool off and let him know he’s welcome back upstairs as soon as he’s done screaming.  If he’s acting crazy because he’s tired, I’ll usually just hold him while he cries and that often helps.  We don’t really do time-outs, per se, though putting him in his room is basically the same thing.  I guess the difference is that we don’t tell him that he has to stay in his room for a particular length of time; he can come out once he’s calmed down enough to talk.  The amazing thing is, he’ll actually do this. 

We’ve shown him a couple of full-length movies, like Toy Story and a few of the Christmas classics, since he now has the attention span to sit and watch and the understanding to follow about the storyline.  But we have to be careful because we never know what will upset him.  The “monsters” in A Year Without a Santa Claus made him cry, but when the Abominable Snowman in Rudolph went over the cliff, he said, “I want the monster back!”  ???  He also cried at the scary parts in Horton Hears a Who, but has no problem watching the dinosaur stuff, usually, and that can actually be pretty violent.  He does yell at the dinosaurs when they eat each other, though.  He roots for the prey, not the predator, which is interesting.

Both Marlowe and Ivan are big and healthy and funny and sweet.  Dave and I got very lucky and are thankful for our beautiful children every day.

It’s the indecision.

The indecision about how best to live today.

It takes SO much thinking. It’s easier to fall asleep again.

So I’ve tried to do the thinking at night Pill, when I’m lying awake, so that there’s none of this waking-up-indecision-pressure-to-live-today-absolutely nonsense that makes me want to sleep more in the morning. But that hasn’t really been helping so much.

Any suggestions?

Pill: (murmur)

Me: Oh good.

To all my American friends, I wish you a Happy and Peaceful Thanksgiving.

‘A few Zzzzzs’

I think I’ve got it all down; I hope. It seems that learning to sleep with a mask on is easy when compared to the things the body needs to relearn. After having been sleep deprived and oxygen starved for years, there might have to be some retraining. I started sleeping thru the night for the most part, but there was still one thing waking me up; the need to “GO”. Yes I said, “GO.” When I first started to learn about the symptoms of sleep apnea the one that seemed like it had an obvious reason was “GO-ing several time during the night.”

I figured it was because I was wakening so many times during the night that the “super-hold-it” response during sleep was not being activated. I never thought I had hurt my body this badly by not getting my sleep apnea treated. Here is what the American Sleep Apnea Association says about “GO”-ing:

Nocturia, or nocturnal urination, is sometimes a symptom of sleep apnea. In fact, nocturia among younger individuals–who are less likely to have other medical causes of nocturia–is a strong indicator of sleep apnea. While the precise relationship has not been thoroughly studied, it appears that the most likely reason patients with untreated sleep apnea have more frequent urination at night is related to the increased pressure in the right side of the heart. This increased pressure is usually the result of low oxygen levels in the bloodstream caused by the apnea events: when oxygen levels fall, the heart works harder to get oxygen to the brain.

An increased pressure in the heart is a sign that there is too much liquid in the body: when the heart receives the stimulus of the increased pressure, higher levels of a hormone called atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) are secreted. ANP is a diuretic that is associated with the increased need to urinate.

When sleep apnea is effectively treated, nighttime urination is also reduced. Studies have shown that ANP levels in patients with untreated sleep apnea are increased and levels reduced in patients using CPAP effectively. Remember, not all causes of frequent urination are related to untreated sleep apnea; prostrate problems, for example, may cause increased need for urination. Discuss any concerns you may have with your doctor.

To much pressure on the right side of my heart?! Good grief, that’s a little more serious than just not sleeping well! That blows my idea of just being “to awake to hold it” right out the window! I wonder if this also wasn’t the reason for my excessive sweating. How badly could this have screwed up my body?

It has taken me a full 2 weeks on CPAP for this to go away! After the first 7 days my body learned I wasn’t going to die in the night, but it took another 7 days for my heart to learn I wasn’t drowning and I could stop trying to “GO” my way to better sleep.

I have been sleeping thru the night! No waking up to GO! Just sleep from 10:30PM-5:45AM, yahoo.

I have always viewed myself as a westerner. Even though I have spent the past 17 years living in the east, my B.C. roots and my 12 years in Alberta taught me to think with the time zones in mind.

I can’t help but think hockey fans in the eastern part of the continent are missing something. By the time the news is coming on, most people in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa (and New York for that matter) are setting their alarm clocks for tomorrow morning. They are missing the buzzer at the end of the first or second period for some of the most entertaining games in the NHL.

And they are missing some of the great stars in the league too.

In California alone, there are at least six great players who have electrified hockey fans on the West Coast. The Kings have Anze Kopitar leading the league in scoring (going into Wednesday’s games.) Kopitar has two strikes against him, as far as recognition. Not only do his games start at 10:30 pm ET, but he is from that hockey-hot-bed, Slovenia. His puck sense is sensational, and his knack to be in the right place at the right time has fans in L.A. talking about a comparison to two other Kings scorers, Marcel Dionne and Wayne Gretzky.

On the Kings’ blue line is Drew Doughty, who is actually 19 and plays like he’s 29. His leadership and on-ice composure have many saying that he will have a chance to play for Canada in the Winter Games in Vancouver.

Down Interstate 5, Corey Perry is playing for a Ducks’ team still trying to find itself. But Perry’s play is entertaining, aggressive and very smart. He isn’t afraid to go to the net, with or without the puck. Perry’s play has overshadowed linemates Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan. And as a threesome, they are the Ducks’ offence. Which if you are a fan is very entertaining, but if you are coach Randy Carlyle, it is a frustration because you can’t play the trio for 60 minutes.

In San Jose, the names Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley are well known, even to those in the east. That’s probably because Joe and Dany had great success for teams in Boston and Ottawa, respectively. But I do suspect that many east of the Mississippi have never stayed up late to watch the boys work their magic in the Shark Tank. They just might be the best one-two punch in hockey since Brett Hull and Adam Oates. Thornton to Heatley has become lethal, and after a slow start the duo has the Sharks at the top of the conference standings, where they belong.

In Calgary, Jarome Iginla has to be my early-season Hart Trophy nominee because of his recent play. A hat-trick in L.A. and both goals in Anaheim left me absolutely in awe of the Flames captains’ athletic ability and his will to win. Against the Ducks, it felt like he never the left the ice in the third period, and that he willed his team to come-from-behind to force a tie (only to lose in a shootout).

I could probably go on and on here because players like Roberto Luongo, Dustin Penner and Mikka Kipprusoff have been great for their teams with great notice locally, but little acknowledgement from the hockey world on the other side of the continent. Even team success, like that of the Avalanche, only gets noticed when most people check out the standings the next day, and they wonder in amazement how Colorado can do anything right without Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg! Just remember the names Craig Anderson, Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly.

So, if you live in the west, know how lucky you really are to be watching these players all the time.

And if you live in the east, check your TV schedule, take an afternoon nap, and stay up late one night.

Enjoy some of the games’ great names live, and enjoy the whole league.

Ronaldo making good progressDucks give up on Sbisa for season

Peaceful now, but screamed when I left him with Grandad

This post is back-dated. I did take the photo on the 25th though, but there was a power failure when I got home from the fashion show.

Top 10 most stupid questions people usually ask in obvious situations

1. At the Movies:

When you meet acquaintances/ friends.. .
Stupid Question:- Hey, what are you doing here?

Answer:- Don’t u know, I sell tickets in black over here…

2. In the bus:

A heavy lady wearing pointed high-heeled shoes steps on your feet…
Stupid Question:- Sorry, did that hurt?

Answer:- No, not at all, I’m on local anesthesia.. …
why don’t you try again.

3. At a funeral:

One of the teary-eyed people ask…
Stupid Question:- Why, why him, of all people.

Answer:- Why? Would it rather have been you?

4. At a restaurant:

When you ask the waiter Stupid Question:-
Is the “Chicken Noodles” good??

Answer:- No, its terrible and made of adulterated cement.
We occasionally also spit in it.

5. At a family get-together:

When some distant aunt meets you after years
Stupid Question:-Munna, Chickoo, you’ve become so big.

Answer:- Well you haven’t particularly shrunk yourself.

6. When a friend announces her wedding, and you ask…
Stupid Question:- Is the guy you’re marrying good?

Answer:- No,he’s a miserable wife-beating ,insensitive lout…it’s just
the
money.

7. When you get woken up at midnight by a phone call…
Stupid Question:- Sorry. were you sleeping?

Answer:- No. I was doing research on whether the Zulu tribes in
Africa marry or not. You thought I was sleeping…. you dumb witted
moron.

8. When you see a friend/colleague with evidently shorter hair…
Stupid Question:- Hey have you had a haircut?

Answer:- No, its autumn and I’m shedding…. ..

9. At the dentist when he’s sticking pointed objects in your mouth…
Stupid Question:- Tell me if it hurts?

Answer:- No it wont. It will just bleed.

10. You are smoking a cigarette and a cute woman in your office asks…
Stupid Question:- Oh, so you smoke.

Answer:- Gosh, it’s a miracle ………..it was a piece of chalk and
now   it’s in flames!!!

It is highly unusual for me to be coming to this part of the year without having a clear vision of what is store for me in the new year to come.  However since my decision to resign in July, uncertainty has been my constant companion and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It has made me think deeply about my vocation of teaching and I truly believe it is a vocation. I have also had to think about balancing the different roles I have in my life and all of that is productive.  I remember a saying “let go and let God” and that is what I have been doing for the last six months.  That isn’t easy when I’m used to having all my ducks in a row and knowing exactly what the next step will be.

As of this moment I know these things:

• My true passion is teaching.  I will teach in any primary year level.  I used to think that Prep would be too hard. Now I think it would be great fun.
• I am open to new and different experiences in teaching.  They will all be part of life’s rich tapestry.
• While I can be a competent homemaker, I’m not cut out to make it my full time occupation.
• When I am feeling contented and on top of things that feeling spreads to the rest of my family.

I’ve been doing an number of things to deal with the uncertainty around next year.  These include sticking to a regular daily and weekly routine, slowly getting the house more organised so that a return to work is made easier and training my boys in taking on more household responsibilities instead of being “waited on”.  I’ve made sure that I have regular social contact through my knitting groups and book club. I’m also being open to suggestions about what I might do.  I’ve applied for a number of positions in a range of different schools and in many different year levels for anything from six months to 12 months.  I’m willing to try new things but I feel that I need more than casual relief work to truly utilize my talents and to make a viable financial contribution to my family.  Four days out of 10 weeks is certainly not enough for us to live on!

I’m also looking after my health.  Weight Watchers and Contours are a big part of my life.  Our menu planning at home is improving and we are cooking more regularly.  I stay in touch with my doctors on a regular basis and follow their advice.  I’m still not the best sleeper but I think part of that is natural when I’m faced with not knowing what the new year will bring.

My weight goes up 5 kilograms last 2 weeks.

I stopped to stop eating.