Tag: family

Ottawa 2010: The Last Few Days

I thought I’d blog more often while we were here, but I haven’t really felt like it. Too much time spent playing in the snow, eating and drinking wine.

On Tuesday we went to the Children’s Museum. Elliot and I went there when we were here in October, and he enjoyed it even more this time around with Hugh as his tour guide. Amy also had a good time — her favourites being climbing in the Pakistani bus and an Austin mini, accompanied by many orders of “Mama, zsit!” (that’s not a typo).

On Wednesday Jan, Hugh, Amy and I went swimming. Elliot and Greg stayed at home as Elliot didn’t feel like going out. There was a small slide in the toddler pool and it didn’t take long for Amy to get the hang of it.

Wednesday afternoon the Verges arrived and we had a wild 24 hours with five kids in the house. On Thursday we visited the ice slides in Gatineau but as Greg mentioned in his post, it was a bit of a let down. Too many people, most of them misbehaving kids. I managed to go down one slide and it was fun, but not worth the wait.

This morning Greg, Amy and I had a short skate (and nap) on the canal, and we’ve had a pretty quiet day apart from that. I think we’re going to bundle up the kids and take them tobogganing this afternoon.

Amy needs some love…gotta go.

Ottawa 2010: The Canal

Yesterday afternoon we headed out to the Rideau Canal for a skate. Earlier in the day Greg and I went out to either rent skates or buy a secondhand pair. Greg walked out of the store with nothing and I walked out with a brand new pair of figure skates. Not exactly what I’d intended but they were on sale and cheaper to buy than rent for a week. And they are the most comfortable pair of skates I’ve ever put on.

It was a beautiful skate — it was sunny and about -5, so perfectly reasonable winter weather. We took Amy in the stroller and Elliot on the toboggan and despite a few tears, I think everyone had fun. Greg borrowed my brother-in-laws skate’s and will likely rent a pair later in the week.

I appreciated the fact that there were no crowds, as I’m pretty shaky on skates these days. It’s been a long time.

Ottawa 2010: The Plane

Years from now when Greg and I are traveling the world, I hope we never forget to appreciate how easy it is to travel without young children. Traveling with an almost four-year-old is okay. Traveling with an almost two-year-old is a lot of work. We left for Ottawa on Sunday at about 10 am Victoria time and arrived approximately 12 hours later. Amy woke up at about 7 am that morning and didn’t sleep until we arrived. She was awake for fifteen hours straight — her longest stretch ever. And then she slept for all of six hours that first night. Needless to say, everyone was a little tired yesterday.

The trip really wasn’t that bad, it’s just hard to entertain a little person who has the attention span of (surprisingly enough) a two-year-old when you’re in a confined space. The biggest hit were the iPod ear buds and the package of wipes. I’m glad I didn’t pack any toys for her. I knew they’d go ignored. We were blessed with no one sitting in front of me, so we didn’t have to worry when she played with the tray and whacked the touch screen on the seat ahead of me. Going home might be different. I was surprised that she didn’t sleep, though. Our flight home leaves a lot later and I’m hoping she’ll sleep a bit.

Elliot watched TV almost the whole time and was pretty low maintenance. And the three hour stopover in Vancouver went by fairly quickly. So like I said it really wasn’t bad…just tiring and we had to be “on” the whole time.

We appear to have adjusted to the time zone quickly, as is usual for the Fox family. Amy had a huge sleep last night and caught up on some of her deficit. I napped yesterday and was still able to fall asleep last night so I must have needed it.

We’re here for a week, and more posts will follow.

cousins

When I was younger I wanted four kids. Things didn’t turn out quite as I planned (not to mention I hadn’t yet experienced motherhood when I wanted four), and Greg and I are stopping at two. I’m a bit sad that Elliot and Amy won’t have more siblings, but what they do have is cousins. Both my parents are only children, so I don’t have any cousins or aunts and uncles. And while I loved (and still love) having two brothers and a sister, there are times when I’ve missed having an “extended” family.

Our kids have four cousins — three boys and one girl. One of my nephews is in his teens, but the other three range in age from two months to five years. Elliot has spent the most time with Hugh, my sister’s son, who is fifteen months older than Elliot. Over the last six months I have noticed a real relationship developing between them, even though they only see each other three or four times a year. Elliot takes a while to warm up to other kids, even kids he knows, but as soon as he and Hugh see each other, they connect. I’m not sure where this comes from — do they sense the connection between my sister and I? Or did we just get lucky and they are, at least for now, compatible?

Then this weekend we met up with my brother, sister-in-law and their two kids, Rosie and Oliver. Rosie and Elliot are nine days apart in age, and up until this past weekend they haven’t really interacted a whole lot. They see each other about once a year, and I think up until now they’ve just been too young to really play together. But this visit was totally different. They were running around the house, giggling with each other, having conversations and generally having a great time.

I am thoroughly loving this. Family is so important to me, and to see these cousins together is heartwarming. Not to mention the relationships I’m building with my niece and nephews. It’s like icing on the cake. And I look forward to seeing how the youngest cousins, Amy and Oliver, will fit into the mix.

because i haven’t complained enough on twitter

We now have enough prescription and non-prescription drugs in this house to open our own pharmacy.

Let me see…it started in late June with all of us getting colds. Elliot bounced back pretty quickly, Amy got an eye infection that they thought was pink eye, and Greg and I coughed up a few lungs.

Amy’s eye infection turned out to be H. flu. It went away and came back the following week. Greg and I continued to hack and Elliot remained healthy. Amy went on different antibiotic drops for her eye and started to get a recurring fever. Enter the Ear Infection.

Amy got treated with some oral antibiotics and seemed to get better. Both children healthy for a bit, Greg’s sinuses got wacky and I continued to cough. A lot. Then I picked up the eye infection. More drops.

Last week we went to Nelson, and all four of us seemed healthy, finally. I realized on the second night there that I was hardly coughing at all. It only took a month.

The last night we were in Nelson I started to feel a cold coming on again. I thought maybe I was just overtired, but no such luck. Felt like crap for three days, and then the cough returned. At least it’s not as bad as the first one.

Then Amy woke up yesterday with a high fever and she was very lethargic. I took her to the clinic last night, and sure enough another ear infection. And Elliot’s daycare called today to inform us that he had an eye issue. I took him to the clinic and the doctor there didn’t even bother swabbing his eye, she just gave me some antibiotic drops and sent us on our way.

Elliot was also complaining of a sore throat all day today.

I’m done. No more, please. At least not until the winter.

saying goodbye

I dropped my sister and her family off at the airport this afternoon, after a 24-hour visit with them. They are on their way to New Zealand for six months. Thankfully we’ll be seeing them again in three months, in NZ, but I always find it hard to say goodbye to her. I really wish she lived in the same city as me. There’s been many a day where I’ve wanted to just drop by and say hi.

Elliot and his cousin Hugh got along well, as usual. They seem to really enjoy each other’s company. I hope they continue to have a strong connection as they get older.

So I’m feeling a bit blue right now. Greg is on his way back to the island and I’m staying over on the mainland one more night so I can visit with some friends tomorrow morning. The kids and I will head back to the island tomorrow afternoon. It’s been nice to be away, but it’ll also be good to get back home.

can’t beat the weather

Amy and I are just finishing up day three in Ottawa, and we’re having a great time. Yesterday we went up to Meech Lake and spent some time hanging out in the shade and eating while the other members of our party played in the sand and swam. I managed a quick swim at the end of the visit. The wind was a bit cool so it took a bit of cajoling from my sister to get in, but I did it. Once in, the water was fine.

Today we went to the park in the morning, were home for lunch, went to the tennis club for a swim in the afternoon, followed by another visit to a different park, and then to DQ for a blizzard…about an hour before we ate dinner. It was hot today, but not humid at all. The pool felt lovely, and I got Amy into her pink bikini and into the pool for the first time. It was pretty cold, so she just went in up to the top of her legs, but she didn’t cry. It was mostly just a photo op for the bikini, one she likely won’t wear again as it provides little sun coverage.

We had some lamb burgers for dinner, the kids are now asleep, and I’m just enjoying some down time. The heat makes me tired so I’ll probably head to bed early. Tomorrow I’m going into Ottawa to the market and to the National Gallery.

I’ll be posting pictures on the kids’ site when I get home, seeing as the pictures are mostly of Amy.

makes me re-think the 14 hour trip to NZ

Amy and I are now in Ottawa visiting my sister for a few days. The plane trip out was a bit harder than expected, but we made it in one piece.

I’ve travelled with Elliot several times, but always with Greg. This was my first time travelling on my own with a child.

The first hurdle was the security check in Victoria. I knew that Amy would have to be out of the stroller, what I didn’t remember is the stroller had to be collapsed. The security guard offered to help me, but I stupidly tried to collapse the stroller while holding on to Amy. Yes, she has head control, but she doesn’t have full torso control yet. I had to lower my arm on her back a bit, and I leaned over a bit too far. She fell backwards and narrowly missed crashing her head on the conveyer belt. She wasn’t hurt, but it sure scared her, and she started crying. Of course there were dozens of people milling about, and they all witnessed me almost drop my child.

The next hurdle was getting settled in my seat and getting the stuff I needed out of my backpack. It wasn’t too bad, but I had to sit Amy in the seat next to me and keep one hand on her to make sure she didn’t fall.

The Victoria-Toronto leg was four and a half hours, and it passed relatively uneventfully. Amy had a couple of short naps, cried a bit at times, cried a lot when we landed, and then was all smiles when we stopped.

The next (and biggest) hurdle was getting to my Ottawa connection once we landed in Toronto. I’m used to making the connection in Calgary, where you literally walk fifty feet to the next gate. The walk in Toronto airport was a LOT longer. And I didn’t have the stroller with me because I was assured I wouldn’t need it for such a short time. Okay, it’s not about how long you’re there. It’s about how far you have to walk. I know that now, and I’ll argue the point next time.

So I hoofed it across the entire airport, or so it seemed. Carrying my tired, hot, full-diapered child, my backpack and my pillow. All with a full bladder. Oh, and did I mention the flight from Victoria left late? We got off the plane the same time I was supposed to be boarding the next one.

I went as fast as I could, and as I neared the gate I realized I’d have to pee before I got on the next plane, and I’d also have to change Amy’s diaper. So I did the fastest diaper change in the world, and then moved on to peeing. With a child who doesn’t stand. Without a stroller. The peeing part was okay, it was the doing up the pants part that was difficult. And I happened to pick pants that had a fly. And a button. And velcro. As I’m struggling with the fly, I hear over the PA, “This is the final boarding call for flight 706 to Ottawa”. CRAP.

I left the bathroom with two out of three fasteners done up (I didn’t get the button), and ran to the gate. I was the last person on the plane. Thankfully I was flying West Jet and they were very helpful and patient.

The next leg was going to be easy — a 40 minute flight to Ottawa. However, I had a very tired child who screamed about half of the flight. She also pooped. Which meant I had to change a diaper on the plane. Now, I am not a comfortable flyer, and I will avoid going to the bathroom at all costs. But I had to change her. Sure enough, as I’m in the teeny tiny bathroom changing her on the teeny tiny hard-as-a-rock stainless steel change table, we hit some turbulence. I freaked. I think I put my finger in poo. I got out of there as quick as I could, screaming child in tow. It was awful.

She cried the whole time we descended, poor girl. But again, the West Jet staff were amazing. They actually told me it was good for her to scream, because then she’d swallow and her ears would stop popping.

We arrived safe and sound, though, and like her brother, Amy seems to have adjusted to the time change with little effort. We went to bed at 11:00 local time and were up at 7:30. She had three naps today, and she fell asleep at 7:00 pm. Hopefully she’ll (we’ll) have a good night.

We spent the day today at Saunders Farm, which is a bit like Galey Farm but soooo much better. More attractive, bigger, more to do…I’d definitely like to go again the next time I’m here with Elliot. It made me miss the little guy, going to a place that he would have loved.

Tomorrow we’re spending the day at Meech Lake. The weather’s supposed to be beautiful.

epilogue

So after my bad day yesterday, we had a terrible bedtime that ended up with me in tears, asking my mum (who was visiting) how to deal with the screaming boy who woke up the girl who subsequently started screaming as well.

When they were finally asleep I sank into a hot bath, only to hear “Mama” repeated over and over while I was in the bath. It was softly repeated, but needless to say it was impossible to relax in the tub. Sigh.

Tonight Greg was on deck. I suggested that he not say anything to Elliot about having to be quiet for Amy, since that just revs him up. Greg also did the songs outside of the bedroom. We also lunged Elliot before books (i.e. he ran wildly around the house for 15 minutes).

Amy went to sleep pretty easily. Elliot had his bath, etc. I was downstairs. Elliot came to say good night to me. And I’ll swear, less than five minutes later, Greg walked out of that bedroom. No screaming, no tears, no noise. It was a dream.

Greg’s putting him to bed every night from now on.