Blessed.

Jack Dryden Wright

6 pounds, 14 ounces

October 9, 2008, 1:10pm

He is perfect.  Nothing more needs to be said.

I have officially changed my due date.

Okay, maybe not so "official", but in my head, I have changed the due date from October 4 (yes, that was THREE days AGO!) to October 14 (the day that my doctor is planning on inducing me).

Why would I do this you ask?  'Cause I am going crazy with the waiting!

Each and every day for the past two weeks I have woken up in the morning with a big sigh and no baby.  Not that I expect to find a baby under the covers (wouldn't that be ideal, hey?), but I kind of hoped to be awoken - not too early of course - to  some baby action.  But nooooo.  Nothing.

So, now my due date has come and gone.  And, for the past three days, I have continued to cling to my ideal morning vision described above, resulting in some pretty crappy sleeps, by the way.  To add insult to injury, my conversations with my pregnant friends go like this,  "I have to cancel our brunch tomorrow, Shirley, because my water just broke." or "I went to the doctor today, Shirley, and despite being two weeks away from my due date, I am already one centimeter dilated."   Oh, just shut-up. 

So, with nothing else to do now and in an effort to preserve my sanity, I have reframed and reset the date.  It is now October 14.  Done.

(BTW - the pregnant ladies I referred to above (you know who you are!), of course I am just kidding!  I am sooooo pleased for you guys and anxiously wait to hear your great news!

Can $7 make a difference? It sure can!

I am sure many of you have been impacted in some way by breast cancer.  Whether you or someone in your family has been afflicted with this disease, or a friend, or a friend of a friend, one, unfortunately, does not have to look very far.   The statistics are staggering and more and more women (younger women, in fact!) are being diagnosed every year.

Yesterday I received an email from an inspiring woman and friend, Sarah O'Regan.  It was an email that asked for help - from me and from others - to put a stop to breast cancer.   Oh yeah, easy stuff...right!  How many millions and billions of dollars will it take to put a stop to this horrible disease?  And how can my measly little contribution possibly change anything at all?  It seems discouraging.   Then, I read further...it's as easy as 1,2,3, 7!  Yup, that's right, 7!

I encourage you to click on the following link, Boobyball B-day, and find out how just $7 dollars CAN make a difference.  

7 is not just a lucky number, it is a powerful number.  Find out for yourself.  Boobyball B-day.  And please share this link or forward this blog post to your friends and family.  You'll soon find out why 7 can be so powerful.

Thanks for your support!

 

So, now we wait...

It's like watching a pot boil.  Honestly!  

Two weeks away from the "official" due date, and so far nothing.  And worse, I have nothing to do.

We have spent weeks and months getting ready for the baby.  We did all the things that the books (and friends and family) said, warning that babies can come at any time...so be prepared...

1. order your furniture early (it can take up to 12 weeks in some cases), 

2. make sure your baby shower happens well in advance of the due date (not the week before...sorry Sandy!)

3. wash all the baby clothes and gear and get everything hung and put away (yes, we have tons of bibs...thanks Ves!)

4. install the car seat in the car (been in there for 2 weeks now!)

5. go out for dinner with your spouse, go see movies, do all the things that you won't be able to do when the baby comes (check!)

6. etc, etc....

But, no baby yet.  

And, Shane, doesn't seem to be helping so much.  He frequently says in an slightly exasperated voice, "I just want the baby to come!  I just want it to be here now!".  Yeah, you and me both, babe!

In order to deal with the boredom, I find myself making up random chores, errands and tasks these days just to keep busy.   I have exhausted most of my friend pool for lunch and coffee "dates".  My house has never been so clean, and my husband has never eaten so well with all the baking I am doing  (we have dessert every night...peach cobbler, cupcakes, chocolate cake...all made from scratch).  It is a good thing that I have taken to walking with Shane to work every day with all the dessert we have been having!

But, what can you do?  I suppose we are back to....so, now we wait.  :-)

Listeriosis continues. What you can do to inform yourself.

It didn't just end with Maple Leaf Foods.  A couple of weeks ago, after the listeria bacteria was discovered at MLF, another suspected listeria contamination was discovered at the Ivanhoe Cheese plant in Quebec, and several products produced in that facility were recalled.   

To add to these outbreaks, on September 12th a food advisory was issued identifying a toxic substance has been detected in infant formula which may have been exported illegally from China.  This has resulted in several illness in infants in China and at least one death.

Are we being properly informed and in a timely fashion of all these alerts and advisories?  Most importantly however, what can we as consumers do to stay abreast of ALL these important bulletins?

If you are not already aware, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is a government body accountable to Canadians and reports to Parliament.  Their mission is to safeguard food, animals and plants, enhancing the health and well-being of Canadians, the environment and the economy.  The CFIA is responsible for the administration and enforcement of many Acts, including the Canada Agricultural Products Act , the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and the Meat Inspection Act.  A full list of the Acts that they administer and enforce can be found here.  

Now, what can you do?  The CFIA has made their alerts and advisories available to consumers.  You can sign up to receive alerts via a daily email or via an RSS feed.   It's up to you.  You can customize your selections to include just the health hazards, or expand to include the allergy alerts as well.

Here is where you need to go: (note, you should choose which method you wish to receive your information.  This first link is the email notification, the second is the RSS feed to your RSS reader)

CFIA email notification service - Food Recalls and Allergy Alerts.

CFIA RSS feeds - Food Recalls and Allergy Alerts, News Releases/Information Bulletins, Prosecution Bulletins, etc

I hope you find this information helpful in keeping yourself and your family healthy. 

Good luck and good reading.

Photo Books: Product Review - MyPublisher

Over the past several months, I have become quite knowledgeable on a variety of topics.  Before you jump to a conclusion that I am being conceited, keep in mind that I haven't worked one day in 2008 (wicked!) so I have a fair bit of free time to read and surf the web.

While most of my newly found knowledge deals with baby products given my current "knocked up" state, I have been known to venture outside this category.   In many cases, I have become the "go to" person for my friends and family if they are in need of information or if they need to source a product or service.   

So, I figured that I would pass along the latest "gems" that I come across in this blog.  A great one to start with is Photo Books.

I just had a fantastic experience with MyPublisher.  MyPublisher is an online provider of custom photo book software, manufacturing and fulfillment.   What sets these guys apart from folks like Blacks, Shutterfly and KodakGallery is the software that they have to create the photo books.  It is called BookMaker.  These guys have a book publishing background, not a photofinishing background, and it is evident in their software.  Now that I have created an album using BookMaker, I don't think that I will ever go back to the others.  It was as simple as dragging my photos from iPhoto to a landing area.  From there, I could rearrange and manipulate my photos using BookMaker's tools and dozens of their pre-designed layouts.  Simple!

BookMaker software is designed to work with my Mac computer.  And for those of you that have Macs I know that you are very sensitive to working with suppliers that support the greatest computer operating system ever!  There are other providers out there that have a great deal of promise - Picaboo, as an example - but, the fact that Picaboo's software only runs on Windows XP, is a deal breaker for me.  Sorry!

Anyhow, I just completed a vacation photo book that tells the story of our recent trip to Australia and New Zealand using BookMaker and MyPublisher.  It is a 29 page book, double sided, contains 116 photos of varying shapes and sizes, uses various page layouts, has a linen hardcover and is personalized throughout with captions that I created and included.  All this for $40!  Super!

When you consider the cost of printing 116 photos from your local film developer, along with purchasing an album to house all those 4x6's, you are in the $25-$30 range anyway.  Plus, I will argue that this album tells a far better story than some simple stock album where the photos are all the same size.  In my mind, this is well worth the additional $10-$15.

Another positive is that they have tons of promotions going on at any one time.  Before you purchase, make sure you are aware of what their current offers are and take advantage of them.  This is particularly important if you are creating a photobook and making multiple copies of it.  Often they have 2 for 1 promos.

If there is one negative, it would have to be MyPublisher's shipping charges.  They are not cheap.  The book comes from the US and to get it here will cost me $17.  This is a tough thing to consider when folks like KodakGallery ship their books for about $5, and offer customers the alternative to pick them up free of charge from either FutureShop or BestBuy.  So, you need to consider that in the equation.  

So now I wait for my book, which will be here next week.  And, while I am waiting, I am deciding what the theme for my next photobook will be.  Honeymoon in France?  Wedding?  My niece's first year?  The possibilities are endless...

Finally...after 8 days...a medal!

Lots of discussion happening this past week around Canada's medal count - or more accurately, the lack thereof - at the Beijing Olympics this summer.

The real question in my mind is "Do we really care about medal counts and rankings"?

I mean, like most other Canadians, I felt a disappointment when Mike Brown came in 4th in his swimming event.  (poor guy...he was soooo close!).  Or when so many other Canadian athletes were "just shy" of making the podium.  Or a pang of jealousy when seeing other nations - many with much smaller populations, or less developed infrastructures and programs like Cuba, Georgia, or Azerbijan - ahead of us in the medal rankings.  

That said, if given the option of putting your money where your mouth is and contributing more to the Canadian Olympic and sport programs with the goal of securing more Olympic medals in future games, I would most definitely decline.

It's not that I don't care, I just don't care about most of the events at the games.  Honestly, some are so obscure and niche that in my mind adding dollars doesn't benefit the greater population.  Really, how many people care about shotput, or speed walking, or archery?  Not me.  If I was to contribute additional tax dollars, I would hope and  expect that my family could benefit directly from this injection of cash.  For instance, build more hockey areas and offer more and better ice times to youth hockey.  Or more pools.  Or better recreation facilities so that my kids can play team sports like basketball and softball and learn how to "play well with others".  So, am I favouring certain sports and suggesting that more funding go to some sports and less to others?  You betcha!