Pictures from Sunday

... continued from here from Charlotte's baptism:




Didn't I say she's adorable? But I have to say, she looks much bigger in pictures than in real life. Especially the last one :)

Two sick babies at home

Wade has a flu and Princess was sick. I wonder if Princess was sick out of stress because Wade's sick? She was sick when I was sick a few weeks ago, too.

Beautiful Baby

I was honoured to attend the baptism of Charlotte (I introduced you when she was born in November, whose Mummy (Jane) and Daddy (Matt) I have known for a long time: 17 and 15 years, respectively. Wow does that make me feel old! (Click here to see Jane on her wedding day. She's the second picture at Fort Frontenac Officers' Mess. Isn't she gorgeous?)

I didn't bring my camera, and I haven't seen anyone tag pictures on facebook yet, but once they do I'll download a picture of the beautiful girl and put it on here!

The service was beautiful. Jane and Matt's church is a very youthful church, filled to the brim with young families, with hymns transposed to be more like rock ballads. It's a fun church where people talk and laugh. The minister also baptized their first child, but unfortunately Noah left us just days after he arrived, a full-term and beautiful baby. I was not one of the few who met Noah, but I feel like I did. Obviously, this most wonderful (for having Noah arrive) and awful (for having Noah leave) part of their life is important to Jane and Matt. The minister talked about Noah during Charlotte's baptism to let everyone know that Charlotte had a big brother.

Charlotte was wearing a beautiful christening gown that Jane's mother made years earlier, and apparently many members of Jane's family have worn over the years. I can't wait to post a picture on here to show you what a beautiful baby Charlotte is!

The church is almost a 4 hour drive, so I went up the day before. I stayed the night with bridesmaid Emily, and we went out for dinner with bridesmaid Kristy. It was nice to see them! I haven't seen either since Kristy's Hallowe'en wedding.

Even though I did a fair bit of driving, it was a great week-end. And Princess seemed to have a good time at her sleepover at Yogi's (aka my parent's) house. I can't tell you how honoured I was to be invited to attend Charlotte's baptism.

P.S. Jane, if you're reading this, please email me a pic of Charlotte's baptism so I can print it! :)

Principesa!

An update on Princess: she had what we suspect was a seizure last Tuesdy night. I wasn't home, but according to Wade, she flopped down and went stiff for about a minute. When he said her name, she didn't look at him, and she wasn't focussing on anything. After about a minute, she started to return to normal, but she was quiet and dazed for about 5 minutes. She didn't vomit, defecate or urinate, nor did it last long (apparently those are common symptoms in bad seizures).

We went to the vet last week, who agreed that it sounded like a seizure. The vet said seizures in dogs isn't uncommon, and that if there's no apparent cause, we'll only medicate her if the seizures become more frequent or start to last longer. The vet also said that - otherwise - Princess looks very healthy.

Princess had some her bloodwork done, to check for metabolic disorders or other causes. The blood work indicates that there is nothing metabolic causing the seizure. That means we just watch her, and if the seizures increase in length of time, or become frequent, we'll consider medication

The vet said some dogs may only seize every few months or even less. Sometimes it's even a one-time thing. We'll just watch her and go back if they become frequent or get worse.

Other than this seizure, Princess is her regular self. She has developed an interest in birds, particularly "chasing them" from the ground while they're flying overhead. It's quite funny to watch her, because she really thinks she's scaring them away.

She has also developed a tighter bond with Wade since I was away for work the entire week of February 22-26! I'm actually kinda jealous because my little cuddle bug sometimes prefers cuddling with him now!

"Catch you on the flipside"

I'd like the memory of me / to be a happy one.
I'd like to leave an afterglow / of smiles whien life is done ....
I'd like the tears of those who / grieve to dry before the sun / of happy memories that I leave / when life is done."
(exerpt from Afterglow by Helen Lowrie Marshall)

I went to a small elementary school (K to grade 6). There were about 22-25 kids in each grade. I can name most if not all my classmates off the top of my head, including the one person who was after me alphabetically: Bianca Tong. Bianca and I continued to go to school together in middle school and high school. While we were not close friends, we were friends, and we had many classes and extracurricular activities together over the years (skating lessons, concert band, music class, arts council, plays, and so on).

Bianca played and taught piano (completing the highest level in the Royal Conservatory), played flute with the local youth orchestra as well as my high school concert band, tutored younger students, and volunteered with a local youth council. All while in her teenage years.

After high school, I kept in touch with Bianca through the internet mostly. While we weren't close, I certainly counted her among my friends and enjoyed hearing from her.

Bianca went to Waterloo to do a prestigious math degree. After trying out a career in business, she decided it wasn't for her. She pursued a masters in biomedical engineering in Australia. As part of her research, she developed a pharmaceutical dilution system that, coincidentally, was presented at an international symposium in the United States the day after she died. In fact, if you google her name (after you scroll through a few on-line tributes and a clinical psychologist), you'll find numerous websites citing her biomedical research and/or thanking her for her tireless work in some great cause for which she was volunteering.

After completing her masters, Bianca started working and volunteering for Engineers Without Borders (in Australia), tutoring students in math and English, fitting low-income amputees with new prosthetics, and volunteering in Cambodia. To read more about what Bianca did with EWB, please click here. It really is incredible.

As you have no doubt guessed from the tone of my writing, Bianca passed away. On February 27th, Bianca died in a car accident. She was 28. Just 28.

Please don't offer me your condolences. I am sad, but I am more worried about her family. Please send her family and closest friends any prayers and/or positive thoughts you can offer.

Here are some other on-line tributes to her:
An article in the local newspaper
A tribute from her cousin, Lisa (who I've never met, but who's vibrant nature and friendly personality reminds me of Bianca)
A tribute from a mutual friend, Steve (who definitely struck me as a kindred spirit of Bianca's)
Local newspaper's obituary
(Picture swiped from facebook of Bianca with a good mutual friend, Jen Choi (left), one of Bianca's pallbearers and who gave one of the two eulogies.)

Ever thought about purchasing a ghost? Now you can!

Sometimes I wonder about some people buying anything. Case-in-point: click here to learn about buying "bottled ghosts". Seriously, someone PAID for this!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I think my mom kinda likes it when most people forget her birthday. She doesn't like being the centre of attention, nor does she like being reminded of her age.

But my mom likes it when I remember her birthday ... so I'm going to embarass her and say "Happy Birthday" in a rather public way. Ha!

Truth be told, I don't think she reads my blog much (if at all). But other family members do!

Here's us from last June!
(Source: Unveiled Photography)

My new job ...

I've talked (or rather, typed) about the fact that I have a new job. I've been there about 2 months doing a very specific realm of occupational health and safety. To be honest, I'm not "learning" new skills, but rather expanding on existing skills. I enjoy the job, but I get a lot of pressures - some from head office (to take on as much work as possible, regardless of if I can handle it) and some from myself (to meet and exceed client's deadlines).

My company has occ-health in other offices, but I'm the first occ-health person in my office, so I'm also expanding a new service within my office. Expanding a new business is exciting, but it means the jobs can ebb-and-flow: I've been very busy the fact 3 weeks. (Remember how I said I've only been there 2 months!) I have two worries: that this rush is permanent (which will BURN ME OUT) and that this rush is temporary (and I'll have nothing to do in 2 weeks). Neither's an enticing situation. Also, I'm already taking on the role of project manager, something I didn't expect for a little while. I thought a senior person in the head office would be official project manager of my local projects. That was what I was told when interviewing for the job. Now I'm thinking I didn't negotiate my salary properly: if I'm doing project management this early, I am being underpaid. Yeah, sure, the economy's not great, and yeah, I'm was unemployed when I was hired ... But if I'm doing project management (a more senior role), I am definitely underpaid. So I'm partially ticked off with my employer (for offering me such a low salary and then giving me very big responsibilities) and I'm very ticked off with myself (for only negotiating for more vacation and not attempting to ask for more money, too). My thoughts in negotiation was that, while this job was a slight paycut compared to my last job, an extra week's vacation is nice. Now I'm thinking that was a mistake: I should have been super-aggressive and just waited to see what their counter-offer was.

Anyway, I'm just rambling now.

Any opinions or comments?