the belle of the ball

tomorrow is my niece reidun's fifth birthday. i can't believe that it has been so long. i remember the day she was born, my brother in a panic on the phone, me working my retail job. i left work early that day and traveled over to north vancouver. i was so excited, the first baby! i also had to retrieve my cats. you see, my brother had agreed to go and pick them up from the airport for me that day, but in the moment he was too fraught to deal with them and so they were sitting in his car (after having already traveled from toronto!). not even at the hospital but halfway up the lonsdale hill where his car had broken down on the way. so the day could have started a little smoother, but the labour wasn't long and the baby was a girl. her name comes from my grandma. many people through the years had used rae in naming their children but none my grandma's full norwegian name, reidun. she was an amazing woman, my grandma, just as reidun is an amazing little girl. i can't wait to see where life takes her.

so happy birthday to you!

my mom, cohen, and i went out to visit her today and we brought some cake with us (never one to refuse the opportunity to indulge). here are a few pictures from our day.




in other, less happy news, it would appear that i have lost my wedding ring. i have lost quite a bit of weight lately and as a result my ring had been growing looser and looser. a couple of days ago i noted that it was possibly too loose to be wearing, but kept it on anyway. today, sometime mid afternoon, i noticed it was no longer on my finger. i don't remember it coming off, nor can i fathom when it might have happened. i know it is just a thing, but a pretty important thing none the less. i hope i find it soon.

from my front porch i can see the sea

tonight, after a long day of rain, the sun finally came out, bringing with it warm shades of orange and red and yellow. i hope he is here to stay (assuming the sun is male), but something tells me he only showed up for the hockey score.

i wonder which team he is rooting for?

rubber ducky you're the one

cohen has graduated to the big tub now. it isn't the best tub for little people, it is much too deep and the edges too rounded and slippery, but he seems to have figured it out. much like the baths he would take in the double sink in the kitchen, or the swims in the pool, he loves to hang out in there splashing and singing. i have started putting him in sometime in the afternoon. i bring my laptop and a stool into the bathroom, usually opting to start a movie or tv show to occupy me while i keep an eye on him as he plays. some days it is only 20 minutes and sometimes closer to an hour. it doesn't matter how long though, he always pitches a fit when it is time to get out. he has mastered the trick of sticking your arms straight in the air so that when he is wet and slippery it is almost impossible to get a good enough grip to get him out. this means that i have to resort to a a variation of a full nelson with his head tilted slightly down towards the floor, my arm between his legs. he flails and screams and then, when we get into the bedroom and i swing him up and he lands with a bounce on the bed, a fit of laughter. i am going to miss all this. this endless amount of time that opens up for us each day. just him and me and whatever we choose; long baths and sunny day walks, watching cartoons while eating crackers and playing peek a boo on the floor. i wish it didn't have to change.