The key to a good Dr’s appt. is to get the 1st appt. of the day, or close to it. We used to try for the last appt. of the day but towards the end of my pregnancy that wasn’t working out; we found the back log from earlier in the day had us at the office until 7 at night.

Sophie’s Dr’s appts. have all been in the AM and I intend to keep them that way. In fact, I snagged the first appt. of the day for her upcoming 6 month appt. Woo hoo…that means no wait which is great since she HATES the doctor’s office. Do you blame her? She has to get naked in this cold, sterile room. I said to Rick, we should really donate some mobiles and some colourful posters for the peds rooms. They have a few things but it is still pretty blah. My normally happy, cooperative baby was not so happy and cooperative.

But, she is healthy and we dodged the vaccine bullet yet again. Perle just gave us this all-knowing “okaaay….” She thinks we will drive ourselves nuts with worry if we don’t go ahead and vaccinate her right away. On the contrary, she was really groggy/sleepy when we got home today and if she had of gotten a booster shot I would have been poking her awake making sure she wasn’t going into some reaction-based coma. No, she is very healthy, resilient and strong. Hard pressed to convince me to make her sick with several viruses at once to her tiny body. And if the only reason not to wait and do it is because we will become worry worts, well, that’s just not a good enough reason. If the plague was sweeping through Montréal, that would be a different story.

Still, we have an appt. with our Naturopathic Dr. next week. I assume we will start her on the constitutional hydrotherapy to boost her immune system, plus I need to pick up my holistic “drug store” for when shit happens. I already have belladonna here for when she gets a fever, but I need to get camomilla (the wonder homeopathic Rivka gave me when I was in labour when I started to FREAK out…) as I know she has started teething. She is drooling all over and biting her toys, and at times is fussy when being nursed or just because. When you have a non-fussy baby, you really notice when she is fussy, something is definitely going on. Plus anything else Anne-Hélène recommends to have on hand. I know I want her to show me the hot cloth/cold cloth technique for fever. I don’t believe in suppressing a fever, it’s there for a reason (of course if it gets out of control, we will go to the ER. Duh.). Anyway, that is one Dr’s appt. we look forward to.

My little peanut ain’t so little anymore. ;) She weights 6kilos…that’s a little more than 13lbs! Zubeita (nurse) was impressed! That puts her in the 50th percentile rather than the lower percentile, a HUGE jump. Just two months ago she weighed 8-9 lbs, just a 2 lb jump from birth. She is solid and very strong. Yep, powered by breast milk, as I say. Perle thought that was hilarious.

I was so nice to see Dr. Feldman again, she is like my Jewish mama. I gave her a hug and she gave me a kiss on the cheek, she is just so hugable and so nurturing.

So, it’s time to retire the 0-3 month clothing. I got an extra month out of them, so I can’t complain. I can’t help but feel very proud and a little sad about it though. She’s not a newborn anymore, and if this is any indication about how fast time flies, she will be independent before I know it!

Here’s some soy tealights I made tonight, in various stages of cooling:

Happy New Year, everyone! Rick & I had a very cultured NYE. Our friend Bridget is performing in the Sound of Music at Neptune Theatre here in Halifax, so we got the gang together for a great night. The cast did a great job, and it was hard not to sing along to the songs (doe, a deer, a female deer…hee hee!). After, the theatre had champagne and hor d’ourves waiting to ring in the New Year with. It was absolutely our favourite New Year by far! We have the best friends!! What a great time. Next year we hope to be celebrating in another country…that will be awesome! :)

Did anyone make any New Years resolutions? I don’t make resolutions, only themes. Obviously, 2006 is our year since we are getting married. But we also have a theme and a theme song – the theme is to Live a true, meaningful life and the theme song is George Michael’s Freedom 90! Here’s the words, perhaps it will inspire you too to live an honest life, free of any and all BS…LOL!

Artist: GEORGE MICHAEL

Album: Listen Without Prejudice

I won’t let you down
I will not give you up
Gotta have some faith in the sound
It’s the one good thing that I’ve got
I won’t let you down
So please don’t give me up
Because I would really, really love to stick around

Heaven knows I was just a young boy
Didn’t know what I wanted to be
I was every little hungry school girls’ pride and joy
And I guess it was enough for me
To win the race? A prettier face!
Brand new clothes and a big fat place
On your rock and roll tv
But today the way I play the game is not the same
No way
Think I’m gonna get me some happy
I think there’s something you should know
I think it’s time I told you so
There’s something deep inside of me
There’s someone else I’ve got to be
Take back your picture in a frame
Take back your singing in the rain
I just hope you understand
Sometimes the clothes do not make the man

All we have to do now
Is take these lies and make them true somehow
All we have to see
Is that I don’t belong to you
And you don’t belong to me
Freedom
You’ve gotta give for what you take
Freedom
You’ve gotta give for what you take

Heaven knows we sure had some fun boy
What a kick just a buddy and me
We had every big-shot goodtime band on the run boy
We were living in a fantasy
We won the race
Got out of the place
I went back home got a brand new face
For the boys on MTV
But today the way I play the game has got to change
Oh yeah
Now i’m gonna get myself happy…

Isn’t it great?? I feel like dancing!! :) We’ll have to play that one at the wedding dance!

2006 is my dad’s year too…yes folks, Jerry retired! He is so excited and looking forward to it! It is also cute to see how excited he is getting for the wedding, it is getting close now!! Very excited! ;)

I hope your lived large in 2005 and live even larger in 2006! See you all very soon!

I am feeling very sad tonight. My mom told me earlier tonight that my grandmother passed away in the Philippines. I officially have no living grandparents. She died the latter part of March, but they live in such a rural area, they could not reach my mom by phone or e-mail. When that failed, they sent her a letter, and that takes 3 weeks to get here.

Even still, I attended my ACTRA union meeting tonight, which was actually a good idea, it took my mind off it.

It’s weird…I am sad and I never even knew her. I sent her money, but always through my mom since she did not speak English. But when mom told me today the tears were streaming down my face. As some of you know, when she was diagnosed with Parkinsons last summer I was trying to get a trip together for my mom and I to go to the Philippines and see her before she passed away. My mother hasn’t seen her in 15 years.

I take solice in the fact that she died peacefully at home. According to my mother’s sister, she cried out for my grandfather, who passed away about 12 years ago, then called out for all of her children (my mom included) and closed her eyes, and was gone. My mother is glad she died with dignity. Crispina Gador was 84 years old. I am sad that it will be a long time now until I can actually meet her…that I will never meet her in this life.