The role of the farmhand will now be played by Max

Max and I just got home from a trip out west, sans Mommy. Fittingly, Max's two years of abusing the heck out of the "free-until-you're 2" rule started and ended with flights out to visit his grandparents in BC. Let's do a quick tally of Max's flight legs:

Ottawa-Toronto (8 times)
Ottawa-Winnipeg (5 times)
Winnipeg-Toronto (3 times)
Toronto-Kelowna (2 times)
Ottawa-Halifax (2 times)
Ottawa-Calgary (2 times)
Toronto-Orlando (2 times)
Calgary-Kelowna (1 time)
Victoria-Calgary (1 time...remember the bong under the bed and middle of the night fire alarm?)
Freddy Beach-Toronto (1 time)
Freddy Beach-Montreal (1 time)
Ottawa-Montreal (1 time)

That makes 29 flight legs (and seven provinces!) in just under 22 months. Yikes. I'm not sure how old I was when I took my 29th flight leg, but I'd bet it was 21 years, not months. With the imminent arrival of #2, Max will be unlikely to break the 30 barrier before his second birthday (or even soon after that, given the price tag). This makes me sad for poor baby #2 - there are a lot of cool things that we got to do in Max's first two years that we are less likely to be able to expose the youngest Stardom to. Hopefully we'll be able to do enough to fill baby's early life with a lot of special experiences.

So about the trip to BC, Max was an expert traveller. I scored him 9.5/10 on the way there and 8.5/10 on the way back (although, being a good statistician, if I adjust the scores to take degree of difficulty into account, he probably gets a 9.5 both ways - starting the day by waking up in BC then getting in a car for 2.5 hours then getting on a plane for 4 hours is no fun). Max made a lot of friends, both of the passenger and flight attendant variety. The Calgary crew of Yvette and Lesley, in particular, were stellar. If you're reading this, Max thanks you. The best part about both travel days was that there were sizable layovers at the Calgary and Toronto airports (calculated bookings on our part - yes!), allowing Max a couple of hours to run all over the place (I sure didn't have to pick him up much at either airport) and gawk at airplanes, cargo carts, fuel trucks and assorted other vehicles. The little guy sure is into heavy equipment...

While I could do the typical 50,000-word essay breaking down the trip a day at a time, I'm just going to provide a list of highlights from the trip interspersed with photos and video. Here goes:

Old friends of my dad's (R&J from Winnipeg) dropped in unexpectedly for a couple of days on their way through to their place on Saltspring Island. Yes, they flew into Grand Forks. In a plane they built. Partially out of shirt fabric. Awesome. On the day that they left, we all went to the GF airport to see them off. Max got to try the flight gear on and sit in the cockpit as the plane got pushed around. That was super.

Max spent a staggering amount of time wandering around the backyard of the property and it was a coin toss as to whether he was more fixated on visiting the horses and birds, or if he wanted to go sit on the tractor. Invariably, we ended up doing both each time, but the order changed. Max fed the ducks and peacocks lamb's quarters (a weed, not animal parts), collected duck eggs (Dad had to keep his hand in the pail to cushion the impact of a Max-thrown egg:), fed the horses hay and even snuck a couple of strawberries out of the garden. He rejected the opportunity to ride the miniature donkeys, though. Maybe next time.

On our third full day in GF, we took a little road trip to Osoyoos to see what was happening over there. While GF was eternally rainy (unseasonally so), Osoyoos was 37 degrees of awesome. We hung out by the lake where we fed Max a picnic while he squealed at passing boats and jet skis. We also gave Max his first ice cream cone - he had no idea how to eat the soft serve so we had to keep telling him to touch his tongue to the ice cream. He'd stick out his tongue and get the cone close before killing himself laughing every time. I repeatedly had to clean up near-drippings and Max gave me huge doses of "MINE!" and "GO!" every time, but he was taking so long laughing... After ice cream, we had a stroll and then had amazing pizzas at the Pizza Factory. Max got a little cranky on the way back to GF, but that was the first day he slept well through the night, so we did something right!

Returning to the theme of vehicles, my stepmother (who works as a paramedic in GF) came by with an ambulance one evening and gave Max the tour. Max was pretty terrified at the beginning - it was probably overwhelming seeing this loud vehicle roll up with lights going and then get ushered inside...either that or, like girls at an NKOTB show, it was just too much - but he warmed up to the ambulance and even got a blown-up glove for his troubles.

Aside from all of the critters living out on the farm, there were three dogs and two cats in the house and Max had adventures with all of them. Bailee the dog (sp?) liked Max a lot, which led her to cross into Max's personal space and lick him, resulting in tears and Max calling Bailee "no dog" for the rest of the trip. He said "no dog go!" a lot. Unrequited!!! Buddy the dog was pretty much a non-factor while Timber, the eldest dog, was slow and wary, just the kind of dog Max likes. Every time he pet Timber though, he wiped his hands on his pants, likely because Timber had recently been shaved and the stubble felt funny. As for the cats, Qi was never anywhere to be found, but Mikey absolutely fell in love with Max. Mikey would search Max out and then rub up against him while Max gave him lots of pats. In fact, their relationship was so close that Max has become very frustrated by Lily's skittishness since coming home. He just wants a cat who will love him back!

Max had a great time being spoiled - the BC folks bought him a fire truck with a shape-sorting feature and three little books that he spent a lot of time with. Also, there were a couple of wooden toys that he played with a lot out there - a rocking horse and a push cart that he would throw stuffed animals in and then push them around the yard.

Finally, a note about me - on the last day, I tried to help my dad get some hay down from the hay barn to feed the horses and, after being told which bale to grab, I reached out to get it and OUCH! That hurt! I had seen my dad throw bales around bare-handed and thought he was pretty studly to handle hay that sharp without gloves. It felt like slivers or glass or something...then I saw the wasp crawl out of the bale where my hand had been. Ah. After a Benadryl run, I was back in action. My dad is now only slightly studly again.

Meta-blogging

Anyone who's ever read my thesis knows that I love things with the word "meta" in them. I think this is an appropriate example. Remember how a few days back, Max's "Cool Auntie K" was awesome enough to take care of him for a night while his parents jet-setted (or bus-setted) across North America? Well, she also has a blog and blogged about the evening. Here are the goods:

Cool Auntie K's blog

Enjoy!

Here chippy chippy

So a few nights ago, I was sitting in the basement (Kirkwood) and heard a squeak. I thought, oh no, mice. Gross. I let it slide though and fretted a bit. The next night, I heard it again. Still gross. Two nights before moving, Holly and I were chilling in the basement, eating nachos, when we saw something dart across the floor. A freaking chipmunk was living in our basement. So that's what the squeaking was. Problem: neither of us knew what to do. Lily tried to insert herself into the mix, but unlike with previous rodent episodes, she was pretty useless against the likes of a chipmunk. Heck, I tried to get it under a colander. Looked like a loser doing it too. I gave up pretty quickly.

The last night at Kirkwood, we were packing everything up downstairs. Just as I was thinking about how to tell the movers "So when you're moving stuff around down here, be warned that a chipmunk may leap out from anywhere at any time", I moved a coil of leftover carpet in the office and there s/he was! Holly shut the door to the office and there we were: two humans, one chipmunk, one room, no clue what was about to happen. Without its go-to hiding place, chippy ran under the wooden chest in the room. After a few rounds of Holly scaring it out and then me attempting to colander it again (I know, I know, lame), it got wise and just camped under the chest. So I tipped the chest up - now it had no hiding spots left. I think we ran a few laps of the office before it got so freaked out that it scaled some cans of cat food and hurled itself into a Rubbermaid bin. Holly and I stood there, stunned that it went vertical, until Holly shouted "PUT THE LID ON IT!". I did.

After a quick victory lap over at the neighbours' place, I walked four blocks and let chippy out in the local park. Here is the evidence:

Adios Kirkwood, bonjour Dovercourt!

I know we owe our small but dedicated group of readers a number of posts, photos and videos but a short text update with one photo will have to do.

Although I'm writing this today, yesterday was our official moving day. I had to work so John supervised the movers and my amazing mum joined John at the new house around noon to commence the unpacking. I was mightily impressed to see Max's room mostly set up and our bed set up and made by the time I got home from work. Many kitchen boxes were also unpacked and a few loads of random stuff had been collected from the old place. Much to Max's delight, his BFF Auntie K came over with a family friend C for some unpacking and dinner. Auntie K kept Max occupied most of the night so we were able to get lots more done. Thanks to C for treating us to our first meal in our new home too! Ho-Lee-Chow 4eva!

Max seemed to really like the new space. We're not sure if he understands that he is not just visiting this new place; time will tell. For now, the onslaught of toys and books he hadn't seen in at least 2 months is keeping him busy. I also don't think he knows what to do in his new monster-sized room. He was running around in circles last night ripping books out of the bookshelf and toys out of the toy chest. He slept well and only got up an hour earlier than normal which was no small miracle considering that there are no window coverings on the giant window in his room!

We were definitely sad to leave our place on Kirkwood but we are excited to start a new adventure in our new place. I think we'll always have a soft spot for our first home but this space is going to work so much better for everyone. Max and John are off on an adventure to visit Grampa Stardom in Grand Forks, BC first thing tomorrow morning so I'll have a few days on my own to get more unpacking and setting up done. Max is going to have so much fun exploring the farm with his grampa!


Here's Max playing amongst the rubble

Last weekend

I'd blog about this weekend, but there really isn't much going on except packing. Although we did have a wonderful time at a friend's place last night. Max stayed up until 11 (!) eating, playing and accidentally drinking someone's non-virgin margarita. Oops.

Last weekend, I got back from Toronto on Friday night and met Max and his temporary caregiver (our friend Renee) at home. Max totally spazzed out and was obviously excited to see me. The last time I had been away that long, Max wasn't really old enough to verbalize that he knew who I was or that he missed me (but he did, of course!). A big thanks to both Renee and Kerry for taking care of Max while we were away - you were both lifesavers!! Kerry apparently had a great time with Max - even when he got up at 4 in the morning and never really settled back down to sleep. Max even called Kerry Mama a few times until he was admonished into just calling her Yooey. Interesting.

Saturday morning, I actually had to go in to work to discuss the team project I was involved in for my course. I took Max in with me and he played with phones, exercise balls and a truck that a classmate had for her own son. I had intended to go to a Doors Open Ottawa event that day, but Max had a great nap after we got home from the office, so that settled that. But late in the afternoon, I decided that we had a car (thanks Grannie!) so we should get out and do something special. We buckled in and headed out to the Aviation Museum. As it turns out, if you show up in the final hour of opening, you get in for free. Max's attention span lasts about an hour anyway, so that worked out perfectly. Max loved all of the planes and vehicles on display. As we'd done at other museums, we also got Max dressed up, this time in pilot gear. He looked awesome, but I didn't have the camera with me (it was in San Francisco with Mom). We hung out after the museum closed on their outdoor play structure and then headed home for the evening. Good times were had by all.

Then, Sunday morning, I woke up at 5 am to a raccoon on the roof of the house. At first, I wasn't sure whether what I heard was in or out - I couldn't get any direct sight lines from the street - but eventually I spotted it while leaning way out the bedroom window. Yikes. I called around, but as it wasn't in our actual living space, I was told that hosing it down or just waiting were the only real options. I headed back to bed and then woke up with Max a couple of hours later. We went out for breakfast at Bramasole, where Auntie Laramie informed us that the restaurant was closing that day. Weird. From there, we headed out to gymnastics, where Max showed me how to hang on the rings again. Plus, we got a dose of the parachute - awesome.

Our morning wasn't even over yet: we then went to Britannia Park for the midwives' collective annual picnic for their clients over the years. It's a pretty cool event. Anyone who has used midwives in Ottawa or Carleton Place is invited to hang out at the public park, so it gives the midwives a really organic advertising campaign while at the same time allowing them to catch up with the babies they delivered (and the parents, I guess). Max's midwives were both there, so we got to say hi and talk about toddler things, recent deliveries and other stuff. Max fell asleep on the way home and then I passed out on the couch. I woke up at 3 and got some neighbours to help me get on the roof and make sure the raccoon was gone, but nobody had a tall enough ladder. I hadn't heard anything in a while, so assumed it left during the day. Eventually, Max got up at 4:30 (4 hour nap - a record!) so we laid low for the evening.

Overall, it was one of the best weekends for Max and I in a loooong time. I'll chalk it up to absence and fond hearts. Hopefully, he and Holly will have a similar reunion when I get back from BC!

Introducing Grace Ella Reid

It is incredibly rare that two of your closest friends welcome their first child into the world so I hope that you will forgive us for taking over the Stardom baby blog to introduce you to another baby in our lives.

Grace Ella Reid was born Friday, June 5, 2009, to parents Jessa and Rob Reid. You'll know Jessa and Rob from appearances on this blog, including our trip to New Brunswick last fall and the epic sugar bush trip with Max earlier this spring.

We had the amazing opportunity to meet (and hold!) Grace last night. Both John and I were saying that we'd forgotten just how little newborns are when we were holding her. Jessa and Rob both look great - neither of them seem to have that brand-new parent "deer in the headlights" look! Max was intrigued by Grace at first but quickly moved on to the awesome toys that Jessa had put out for him.

Here are some photos:


And baby makes three.


Max comes over to see what all the fuss is about.


A preview of late July.
In a strange twist of timing, Jessa and Rob actually travelled to the hospital in my mum's car! They had recently purchased a car but it wasn't ready to be picked up until this past Saturday. I let my mum know that the car was in use for a birth when I met her in San Francisco and she was surprised then delighted.

Grace is part of a mini baby boom in our circle of friends in Ottawa so you can look forward to lots more pictures and stories of new babies. Baby Stardom will have lots of friends to play with in the next year. I am so looking forward to sharing my parental leave with so many friends too.

California Dreamin'

I think this is the first time I have mentioned it on the blog but I was in San Francisco this past weekend (Thursday to Monday) with my mum and my three aunts for an impromptu getaway. We had to keep radio silence because it was a surprise for my mum's birthday. I have so many more stories, photos and videos (Auntie Karen in a "hula chair"!) to post but I thought I would start with this quick photo that I only have on email:


It's a bit grainy because it was taken on my Auntie Melody's Blackberry so it could be emailed right away. You are not dreaming; those are indeed matching t-shirts! My very crafty Auntie Jan made the t-shirts herself. The background is a picture of G-Don's old travelling suitcase and the flags are all the places that my mum and Aunties have travelled together and the years. The tagline is "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Aunts" - courtesy of Auntie Jan's very clever colleague. My cousin Krysta was in Mexico, my sister Laramie was in Greece and I was in San Francisco. They did Tuscany on their own last year with no second-generation Ya-Yas in tow. We've decided that my t-shirt is the honourary second generation t-shirt so we'll get some photos of Laramie and Krysta in it too.

We got tons and tons of compliments on our t-shirts throughout the day. It was a bit of a crazy day of touring (Chinatown, the Golden Gate Bridge and Haight-Ashbury) so plenty of people had the chance to admire our shirts.

More San Fran adventures to follow! John will also be posting shortly about his awesome weekend with Max and we'll link to a blog entry that Kerry wrote about her successful overnight stint with Mr. Max while both John and I were away.

All Through the Night

(Please queue the Cyndi Lauper song in your head as the soundtrack to this post)

Max slept through the night last night! For the first time in the last week, there were not multiple night wakings. I don't know who is happier - me for actually getting some sleep last night or Kerry who is taking care of Max overnight tonight. Fingers crossed that this means he is back to his normal sleep pattern and these crazy nights are over.

The amoxicillin is definitely doing the trick. Max was in a fabulous mood last night. Kerry came over to do some recon on the dinner time routine and Max was full of beans. His appetite is back too. We played downstairs forever and he actually drank some milk before going to bed. Great news all round. He did cry for his dada last night and this morning so I think he will be really excited to see John when he gets home tomorrow night.

We might just have to get Kerry to do a guest blog entry on her solo adventure with Max tonight as it will be the first overnight without one of John or I around.

Please send Kerry some good vibes across the miles! Not that she needs them because I know she is going to rock it but it still nice to know that people are thinking about you.

Faked out again

Monday morning, Max was in a wonderful mood. Had we not already booked an appt. with the pediatrician, we probably wouldn't have taken him in to get checked. And would have therefore missed the roaring ear infection in Max's right ear. So, not teething or a growth spurt or nerves about moving. Both of the ear infections Max has now had have presented themselves very differently, so we're going to have to keep an open mind re: future fevers.

Also, it would help a bit if Max gave us any indication of what was happening. Pretty much everyone I've mentioned the infection to has gone "so he's been tugging his ear a lot lately." No, he hasn't. It's like how Max never lets us know it's time to change his diaper. Nothing bothers this guy. Except going too long without his doof!

Anyway, while talking comes hand in hand with talking back, it also comes with the startling ability to let your parents know what's wrong...I look forward to this greatly:)

Pink Amoxicillin of magic - do your thing!

Update on Mr. Max

We got VERY lucky and our pediatrician had a cancellation yesterday afternoon so John brought Max in to see her. We were considering not taking him in for a brief moment when he seemed back to his normal self (after a particularly bad and very clingy Sunday) yesterday morning. We are so glad we took him in! When she looked in his right ear, it was so infected that she could see white pus. Yuck! The poor child. We never suspected an ear infection because he never tugged at his ears or made any indication that his ear was sore. They suspect that his nasal and chest congestion settled in his ears and caused the ear infection. We got antibiotics and a topical pain reliever ear drop for him so hopefully, he will feel some relief soon. He was happy when I left him at daycare this morning and he slept a little better last night.

Sunday was nuts. Max wanted to be held or be lying down on one of us most of the day. We were lamenting the fact that we had so much to do but as I remarked to John while cuddling Max on the couch, there are certainly worse ways to spend a day. It was really hard to see him so uncomfortable though and not know what was wrong or what we could do to help. He also ate and drank almost nothing all weekend so his energy level was super low.

John is gone to Toronto for the rest of the week so Max and I will be flying solo for the next few days. I'll keep you posted on his recovery.

We have a few photos of sick and schmoopy Max but John has the computer with him in Toronto so you'll have to wait for some pictorial evidence.

NOTE: OK, so John has the computer in Toronto and managed to beat me to the "Max is sick" post but I wrote this one so I am going to post it anyways. I actually started this yesterday too but was waiting to get home to post a few pictures forgetting that John has the computer.