sometimes you just go with the flow

Some days have a theme. Tomorrow might be "Pen Running Out Of Ink Day," or "Finding Pennies Day," or something like that. Usually the cut-off is three -- if something happens three times, then that's the day's theme. Sometimes the theme is narrowly defined, like "Offer To Get Me A Coffee From Tim's Day," and sometimes it is much more broad, like "Can't Remember Where I Left Things Day."

Today was "Random Answer Day." This theme was particularly strong today; this happened a lot more than just three times. This is a somewhat frustrating theme, because it tends to double or triple the time it takes for me to do what I need to do (thus allowing me to move on to see the next person so that they can not answer my questions), but it had its upside. The funniest conversation I had today went like this:

Me: So what can I do for you today, ma'am?

Very Sweet Little Old Lady Who Has No Idea Why She's There: Well, last night they served spaghetti for supper, and I usually don't like the spaghetti sauce, but my neighbour told me they're using a different sauce, so I decided to give it a whirl, but I didn't think it was any different from the old sauce, and so I had a couple of bites but then decided to just stick with the garlic bread, because they make good garlic bread. But I think my neighbour might have meant that they changed the garlic bread, because it certainly was different -- I don't think it had any garlic at all! I used to make garlic bread for my daughter because she liked to have us over for dinner, but she has four kids and she doesn't usually have time to make garlic bread --

Me: Ma'am, I'm sorry to interrupt but I was just wondering what brought you here today.

VSLOLWHNIWST: Oh! [Looks at me like I'm completely daft.] The ambulance!

At this point, I decided that whatever the lady was there for, it was obviously not as important to her as the spaghetti sauce, so we discussed the pros and cons of various brands as well as the merits of making one's own sauce from scratch (a noble effort, we concluded, but not always possible and sometimes not as good as some of the really good brands).

why didn't i hear about this before?!

I have joined the cult of babywearing, which is using one of a variety of different carriers to tie your baby to you. Umm, it's more comfortable than I just made it sound. There are a lot more options for this than just the Snugli, as it turns out.

Andy's favourite is the Ergo, which is sort is a backpack with a spot for baby to sit in. My favourite is the mei tai, which is basically a square of fabric with four long straps: two to go around your waist and two for your shoulders. Both can be used on your front or back; the front method is very handy for nursing, while the back is getting more comfortable now that Robin is a whopping 17 pounds.

Lately I've been playing with a wrap, which is a long wide strip of fabric that you can tie in many different ways - front, back or hip. It's been a bit challenging; fortunately the internet is there to guide us. I've never really appreciated YouTube before. I can do a front cross carry, a front wrap cross carry, a pocket wrap cross carry, a hip cross carry, a coolest hip cross carry and am getting better at the mother of all carries: the back wrap cross carry. I plan to try the wiggleproof cross carry and the ruck soon.

Robin is a big fan of being carried (she has excellent naps in there) but she's starting to get tired of getting in and out of the wrap. I can see it in her eyes: "Pick a stupid carry and stick with it already!"

This is a cult, though. A lot of babywearing proponents are dyed-in-the-wool granola types -- and some are very "crunchy." They take their babywearing very seriously; when Motrin ran an ad campaign last fall that could have been taken as critical of people "trying to look like official moms" (thus developing aches and pains from carrying their babies all the time -- Motrin to the rescue!) the babywearing community was up in arms, writing letters to McNeill and boycotting their products. The company promptly pulled the ad campaign.

andy's invading the blogosphere

So Andy's starting a blog to document Robin's achievements. Like gaining head control, sitting unassisted, and successfully mastering baby-talk. (She said "ga ga" the other day! Oops, I gave it away.)

viruses, viruses, everywhere

Robin is sick. I am sick. This is one happy household! Ironically, Andy, who is usually the one who gets hit with every bug that comes along, seems to be okay so far. However I'm sure he'll be infected soon.

Actually neither one of us is THAT bad (knock on wood). Sniffly, coughing a bit, nothing too major. Robin sure has cute little sneezes! She had a fever a few days ago but not right now, which is a good thing because infant Tylenol is on the (very short) list of things she does not want in her mouth.

they kill me

Me: Knock knock.
You: Who's there?
Me: Miss.
You: Miss who?
Me: Mosquito!

Me: Knock knock.
You: Who's there?
Me: Andy.
You: Andy who?
Me: And he bit me again!
You: HA HA HA HA HA HA!

all my gadgets together at last

I like gadgets. Mostly electronic ones. I have a cell phone, an iPod and a Palm (although it's so old that it's becoming somewhat less useful, as nobody makes software for it anymore and it's got a very clunky operating system that Palm apparently abandoned five years ago). I also find the Kindle interesting, although it's not available in Canada, and won't be in the foreseeable future.

I was thinking about what I'd want in my pocket -- the ideal device that would eliminate the need to carry more than one piece of hardware, and would eliminate the need for more than one charger. It should:

• play music, especially mp3s
• display photos
• play movies (full length!)
• have both a headphones port and a small speaker (high sound quality not required)
• have WiFi
• have Bluetooth
• be a phone and text-messaging device
• if possible, have a physical keyboard -- nice but I can live with a good touchscreen keyboard, like the iPod's
• have internet access without necessarily having WiFi, like a smartphone
• have as much memory as possible -- minimum 80 GB of storage
• have a large screen
• have a reliable battery with a long life
  

Software-wise, I need:

• a good internet browser, not the POS browser on most mobile devices
  
• a good email program
• a calendar that syncs with iCal for the Mac, and a contacts program that syncs with Address Book
• UpToDate, a program I use for work (it's available on the internet but would be more reliable as a stand-alone program)
• a quick, easy way to find and load new programs on it
• a good way to read e-books, and an easy-to-download way to get them
• an easy-to-use interface and operating system

Sounds like I'm looking for an iPhone that's a bit bigger than the current model but smaller than a Kindle, with easily accessible e-books, with a less heavy-handed attitude towards what third-party developers can provide, and for UpToDate to get their act together and make a stand-alone program for it.

Not asking for much, am I?

the lesser of two evils

Robin is a messy eater. Very, very messy. If she doesn't get food above her eyebrows, we consider her practically sterile. Cleaning up after she eats is a two-person job: one of us takes the baby, the other the high chair.

I'm not sure who's getting the short end of the stick. If you get the high chair, there are a lot of nooks and crannies and the baby food tends to get crusted on within seconds, so it's a lot of scrubbing. On the other hand, the high chair also freaks out less about having it's face washed.