Our Holiday Prep.

Just wanted to add a little holidays update while I have the chance.

All parents find it hard to squeeze in everything they want to do during the holidays while juggling work, home, Christmas parties and shopping. And I think for most single parents it must be even more overwhelming to try to get the kids out for fun family time without that ever-important second pair of hands. Plus sometimes it can be pretty lonely to see all the other families when you're alone with your child, but Babe and I have been having a really great time making the most of Christmas activities this year.

I gotta say thank heavens I nannied for so long because it really helped me with the planning and implementation of family activities as a single parent so we don't end up overwhelmed, crazy-rushed or having a major meltdown halfway through.

Like most parents I've been trying to start holiday traditions with Babe, mainly because I want her to enjoy the same things I loved as a kid but also because I want to emphasize the activities and family fun of the holidays and downplay the gift mania of Christmas morning.

Of course, Babe's grandmother will thwart my attempts to reign in the volume of gifts she gets despite my ongoing protestations and tantrums (urgh, story for another day). But I think in order to keep the storage of toys to a manageable level I'm going to start following what I have heard a lot of other parents say they do and have Babe donate one of her old toys for each new toy she brings home. That sounds like a great way to give back and keep her room from looking like the children's section of Walmart on a December shopping weekend.

Also last year and this year I was/will be away from Babe on the actual day of Christmas so I'm trying to maximize all the other holiday fun we can have.

So last year my tradition attempts were interrupted because we had moved to Smithers and then we didn't stay long enough to have multiple Christmases there so we didn't establish anything we liked doing. I did make the effort to ensure we still donated to the local food bank and stuff but that was about it for Babe.

Now that we're back in the city we have picked up where we left off and this is the first year that Babe (now three years old) is really "getting" the whole deal.

SANTA VISITS:

So far Babe has met Santa three times this year. I didn't really plan it that way but there it is anyway. Our new apartment complex has a Christmas party every year and Santa showed up on the roof of the building and then came down to hand out candy canes. They also hosted a big bonfire and free hot drinks and a choir. It was really nice to have that sense of community within the complex.

Then I took Babe to Bright Nights Christmas Train at Stanley Park and Santa was there as well.

But because the other two Santa encounters were unexpected I still wanted her to have her dress-up photo taken with Santa so we had to make a special trip to the mall just for that.

Annnd...I believe she is going to see him again with her preschool class.

That's a lot of Santa.

However despite all these opportunities Babe has only barely managed to squeak out the word 'Barbie' one time because she gets completely star struck when she sees Santa. She can't wait to see him, she has tons of stuff she wants to tell him, she promises me this time she'll be her usual talkative self and let it all out but nope. Every time she just stands there with a big grin on her face, nodding like an idiot. It's actually pretty cute. And secretly I'm pleased because I'm hoping to really downplay the desire for a Barbie and if I have Santa promising her one every time they meet it's going to make my life more difficult.


CHRISTMAS LIGHTS:

I love them. Babe loves them.

As I mentioned above I took her last Friday night to the Christmas Train at Stanley Park. Of course it was me and every other family in the Lower Mainland. I had wanted to take her during the week when it would be less crowded but the weather didn't co-operate. So we went on the first dry day we got which happened to be a Friday evening and it was bussssy.

But the place is amazing. Everyone does an incredible job with the lights and I thought this year the displays inside the train grounds were the best ever. Of course we missed last year. But I've been going for years with kids I nannied or my little cousins and this year really did seem extra amazing.

Of course because it was a spur of the moment weather-induced decision I didn't pre-buy tickets (which I highly recommend). So when I arrived at 7pm with my three-year-old in tow we had to wait until 9:30 pm to actually ride the train. But we passed the time easily with that second visit to Santa, seeing all the lights, snacking on hot chocolate and popcorn and getting Babe's face painted (her most favorite thing).

In case this is your first year going be prepared, it's expensive, I think just Babe and my tickets for the train was almost $20 and with food, firefighter donations and her Santa photo it rounded the evening up to probably $40 for just the two of us. But it's mostly for charity and the kids love it.

I also took Babe to Canyon Lights at the Suspension Bridge. Another fantastic light display. We got in for free because we live right nearby in the same postal code but I think it's a pretty pricey deal otherwise.

I thought Babe would be terrified of the actual bridge but she loved it and we had to cross it again and again. It was a touching moment for me because I have a photo of my mom and I standing on the same bridge when I was teeny tiny.

Babe was a little fussy the evening we went but she did love walking through the treetop (Ewok-village-style) adventure and they had a live band playing Christmas music which Babe must've danced to for half an hour.

We also found a snail which was probably the highlight for Babe.

This week I'm hoping to take her for a drive to see some of the private home displays around the area.

DONATIONS:

Every year when I was growing up my mom would take my brother and I to the toy store to pick out a toy each to donate to the toy drive. And I've been doing it ever since. Sometimes I would take the kids I was nannying at the time and other years I just did it with a boyfriend or on my own.

So it is really important to me that I do it with Babe.

When it was just me I would usually try to pick out a teenager gift because they seem to be the least donated items at toy drives. But this year I know Babe will relate more to a toy and will likely get more out of choosing something she really wants for herself and then giving it away to someone else.


So we haven't actually done it yet this year because I've been mulling over the present-age thing, but hopefully we will check that job off the list this week.

But we talk about it lots and I've been trying to get her thinking about what she would like to give and preparing her for the concept of not getting to keep the toy she picks out. I'll let you know if any of my preparations manage to stave off a meltdown when it comes time to drop off the gift.

Another family tradition is stuffing stocking for the homeless. Again we missed last year because we were in Smithers but I shopped for a bunch of stuff for the stockings last week on my lunch breaks and on the weekend Babe and I met everyone else who was donating/helping and together our little group of family and friends stuffed 120/60 pairs of wooly socks with everything from toiletries and snacks to gift cards and warm toques. It's definitely my favorite part of the holidays and hopefully will be Babe's as she grows up. Although it's probably overly optimistic to expect her to like it more than getting gifts on Christmas Day. At least until she is a teenager.

And of course Babe has been completely into other little holiday things like her advent calendar, decorating the tree, mailing her letter to Santa and stringing lights up on the balcony. Doing all this stuff with her is a lot more fun now that she is old enough to start to understand it all but little enough to still find so much magic in it.

In the past I have done holiday baking with my mom and given out treats to family and friends but that completely stalled once Babe was born. I have the utmost respect for all the parents who manage to pull that off with kids running around. So far I haven't even considered trying.

Damn You, Sexy Nurse!

Babe just before her first Halloween. The day of she actually went out dressed as an owl.

Been looking for a Halloween costume for Babe.

I know this has been in the news around Vancouver lately but I'm getting so frustrated that of course I want to weigh in as well.

So,

To pretty much every Halloween store in the Lower Mainland:

Are you fucking kidding me with the options for little girl costumes this year?

Why are the only choices for my three-year-old daughter either a Disney princess or a sexy version of anything else?

When she was smaller I could get her the cute, warm, fluffy costumes from places like Old Navy. But now that she is bigger we have been looking at other ideas. And I am so disappointed.

Why is it that in order for my not even three-year-old daughter to dress up for Halloween she has to look sexy. Why can't we find a regular nurse costume? Why does it need to be Stripper-Nurse? For a fucking toddler.

Babe wanted to be a lady bug. I've been to a bunch of stores. But do you think I could find a regular chubby, round ladybug costume? Nope, not this year. (And I'm kicking myself because I actually do have exactly that in storage and can't find it.)

Every single one was ladybug wings with a short little dress attached. And when Babe's second choice was a cat I thought that would be easy peasy. But nope. Same shit. Every cat costume was cat ears, a tail and a tight-fitting leopard-print number usually reserved for the only clothed scene of a porno movie.

But one isle over, in the boy section - lots of realistic, warm and practical lion and tiger costumes.

I got so sick of seeing the same damn Disney Princess costumes and tight, short-skirted everything else costumes that I finally took her over to the boy section of the store. And I shouldn't have to do that. If she wants to be a doctor there should be an appropriate doctor costume in the girl section.

Because that is the whole point of a uniform isn't it? It's basically the same for everyone. Real firefighters, policemen, doctors and soldiers dress almost exactly the same, regardless of gender.

But not for Halloween. The boys can be regular doctors, the girls are limited to hooker-doctor. Like the only way a woman should perform surgery is if she still manages to look beautiful doing it and remembers to carve out time to perform blow-jobs in the evening.

At the last store we went to, the boy section had; dinosaurs, zoo animals, firemen, policemen, zombies and construction worker costumes. Perfectly age-appropriate and fairly close to realistic for $30. But the whole girl section was pink, sparkly and slutty. And the only costume that wasn't pink and slutty was an offensive First Nations costume...which was brown and slutty. And remember...I'm looking at costumes for THREE to FIVE year old girls.

Even the days of the ever-faithful, big round pumpkin costumes are gone. Or at least they're gone for the girls. The girls get Pretty Candy Corn Princess (which is just marketing for a striped orange miniskirt). Of course, in the boy section - regular fat pumpkin costumes.

And the sick thing is I can't even blame the stores because it's the consumer that's buying this crap. We continually overly sexualize women at younger and younger ages, hold them up to impossible standards of beauty, convince them early on that no matter how hard they work they'll have to look good doing it too and now a little girl can't even trick or treat on Halloween without freezing her buns off in some sick, booty-shorted version of a policeman costume.

And then we turn around and over-protect the same daughters because there's so many perverts out there who sexualize kids. Well, gee...I wonder why?

Over my cold, dead corpse is my daughter dressing up in anything even remotely sexy before high school, and definitely not before she enters kindergarten. For now, she can get something from the boy isle and I'll take another twenty minutes out of my busy day to talk her out of a panic because the costume is for boys and not girls.

And really? Like I said before, why is there even separate boy and girl sections for little kids costumes anyway. A doctor is a doctor, a dinosaur is a dinosaur and a pumpkin is a gourd for crying out loud!

Can't the kids isle just be for kids? Isn't Halloween supposed to be for kids?

It's supposed to be laughter and staying up late and ghost stories and candy - not JELL-O shooters and hooking up in a crotchless Catwoman suit behind your current elementary school.

Babe last year on Halloween in Smithers.

Puff's New House.

Our bunny's new digs.
We thought about building our own and I had ideas about what I wanted but it wasn't happening.
So in the end we ordered this one online and it finally arrived yesterday. 

Puff is stoked!

Amazing Art Project Showcases Gender-Coloured Toys.

Check out artist JeongMee Yoon's "The Pink and Blue Project" here.

I found this really interesting. When I was pregnant I made such an effort to avoid buying "girl-coloured" clothing that I realized later that my baby daughter had more boyish clothing than girly clothing.

Now, I don't try so hard. I buy what I think is cute. But I do try to avoid amassing a ton of pink and purple crap and so far I am desperately avoiding commercial stuff - such as Disney Princess everything.

I know that as Babe gets older she is going to have her own preferences and I fear they may lean towards the sparkly and pastel. But if that's the case I'll remind myself that it's just a faze and I'll suck it up.

My Mom was so wary of commercial brand toys that I rarely got anything I really wanted. It wasn't that I wasn't spoiled. I was. But I didn't have Barbies and Cabbage Patch Dolls, she wanted to avoid buying toys like that, which were so heavily marketed towards children regardless of their actual educational or entertainment value.

Now I totally get why she did it, but at the time I was dying to have the same things my friends had. And she must've told my friend's parents about her beliefs because while the other kids got hoards of My Little Ponies at their birthday parties, I always got art kits. I would think my birthday party would be my only opportunity to get a "commercial toy" because surely my friends would get me one...but it never happened. But now I'm glad I was different.

Speaking of hoarding toys, I don't know if this was the artist's intention at all, but equally as interesting as the colour of the toys is the sheer amount of them. It's pretty gross to see the excess of possessions a child has. And my kid is no better.

Her next series should be comparing the treasures of one Western child with those of a third world child.

Baby/Toddler App Reviews.

I'm still on the fence about letting Babe play with my phone. Some people say it's better to start them learning about technology early since they will inevitably need to use it. While others think that children need to first develop their creative thinking and imaginations without relying on gadgets. Then there's the health concerns, some founded, some not so much. But since I haven't decided NO yet and because I need a break here and there I decided to download some fun apps to keep Babe busy. Here are some of our favorites. Enjoy...or don't if you're on the no side of the fence.

photo: HappiTaps

HappiTaps by Infantino

Christmas came just a few days before Babe and I left for New Zealand and as a present for Babe (or maybe more for me) my brother gave her a HappiTaps bear for the plane trip. I don't know if this is technically an app since I'm still somewhat new to apps in general. The website calls it a virtual teddy bear. But for the sake of this post, it's an app. An awesome app.

You purchase the stuffed animal iPhone cover and then download the free app. Somehow I screwed up and we ended up with a bear face (app) and a dog body (phone cover) but whatever, Babe doesn't know. And actually, she doesn't like the stuffed cover so she plays with it just as a regular iPhone app.  I guess you could just download the app and not buy the bear and save your money but Babe is probably in the minority by hating the bear - your kid will probably like it better with the cover.

Positives:

• Hold's Babe's interest longer than any other app on my phone.
• Great for plane rides, car trips and restaurants.
• Cute. Really cute.
• A lot of game variety for a baby app. 
• Easy to learn, easy for Babe to maneuver and somewhat educational (ABC's, colours, counting).
• Babe is much more iPhone-savvy since using this app - although I'm not sure if that's a positive.

Negatives:

• The app is free but games are limited. To expand the options costs and, as apps go, it really costs. Ninety-nine cents for two little songs. Another .99 for one extra bubble-popping game. 

Price: Almost $20.00 online or at Toys R Us.

Baby Flash Cards by Xian Chen

If you want flash cards for your baby/toddler there are a ton to choose from. I downloaded a few to try over six months ago and Babe still enjoys playing with them. The one I ultimately ended up using was Baby Flash Cards - Encyclopedia 300+. There's a free version as well which we tried first.

Positives:

• Lots of cards to choose from. Animals, Colours, Food, Instruments...
• Pictures on the cards are photographs and not illustrations which I prefer.
• Animals, vehicles and instruments play sounds.

Negatives:

• The app comes from Chinese developer Xian Chen and the translations could be better. Most of it is fine but there are a few mistakes and inconsistancies and they bug me. Sometimes the words are singular, sometimes they are plural. I realize this doesn't sound like a big deal but when you are using the flash cards as one of your tools for teaching early language you want the language to be correct. They use the word cock for rooster, which I realize is the right word but no one in Canada calls a rooster a cock and I don't want Babe to start either. The worst mistake is the seahorse card which doesn't read "seahorse" but "hippocampus" (the part of the brain in charge of memory - ironically).
• The sounds are great but inconsistant. Some are fine and others far too short. Especially on the instrument cards.
• There are number cards but no letter cards which I really wanted.
• When you get to the end of swiping through the cards you have to change directions and go back, the cards aren't on a loop. This isn't a big deal but in the early days when Babe was just figuring out how to swipe her finger across the screen it frustrated her when she got to the end and suddenly her swiping movements weren't working. 

Price: Free or upgrade for $1.99

Peek-A-Boo, I See You by BabyFirstTV

A simple peek-a-boo game for babies. The little alien (I think) hides behind three Earthy items and Babe has to figure out which one. Pretty simple once Babe figured out that the little guy waves from behind his hiding spot. But she's been playing it for months now so I guess it's a hit.

Positives:

• Easy to learn. Only requires tapping.

Negatives:

• Has annoying music which we turn off.
• Could get boring really fast.

Price: $0.99

Piano infinity: Jam by Better Day Wireless.

The damn title has an infinity symbol in it and Blogger won't let me insert it, so pretend the infinity word is a stupid little horizontal figure eight then put a colon beside it. Geez.

Anyway. It's actually for adults I think, or probably at least not toddlers but whatever works. You can play a game kinda similar to Guitar Hero, record your own music or learn to play songs using a couple different methods. But for Babe I just put on the piano and let her pound on it. She likes it.

Positives:

• Fun for me too.
• She's learning about music...right?

Negatives:

• Just the obvious logistical problems with putting a keyboard on an iPhone. 

Price: $2.99

DooDoo Pad by Bejoy Mobile

It's not an app about poo, sorry. It's just a drawing app for kids. I wanted one for Babe and this one seemed cool. So far she hasn't played with it much but I like it.

Positives:

• Dark papers and cool neon pens.
• Actually, a variety of pens, all of them cool.

Negatives:

• The ads at the top of the screen. Typical of a free app, but still annoying. 
• No other complaints yet. It's just a simple drawing app. I'm sure if you're some pro artist you'd find some flaws but then why are you using a kids drawing app? Probably because you think neon pens are cool too.

Price: Free

BubbleFREE by Orsome Entertainment

I was curious to see if Babe would enjoy popping bubble wrap as much as I do. And the app version makes it less likely that she will smother herself in a sheet of plastic. So far my research indicates that toddlers like popping bubble wrap too. Who knew?

Perfect for all ages. Although you may tire of the game pretty quickly I bet you will keep coming back to it. Bubble wrap apps are classic.

Positives:

• You get to pop bubble wrap - well, virtually anyway.
• You can pop bubble wrap anywhere.
• No ads.

Negatives:

• Not as satisfying as popping real bubble wrap.
• It's a timed game so it will quit on Babe just when she is getting into it. But whatever. Then it's my turn!

Price: Free

Review: The Mom Spa.

Hanging out waiting for our appointment.

Yesterday I was in South Surrey killing time before a doctor appointment and I found something wonderful!

It's no secret that I loooove going to the spa. Massages, pedicures, manicures, facials...I love it all. I have been a few times since Babe was born - three times to be exact. But each time I had to arrange for my parents to meet me at the spa to take care of Babe while I was getting a treatment. I've had to keep my cell on in case they called and I've had to be prepared to walk out halfway through my appointment in case she really needed to nurse.

But The Mom Spa is great. I was so intrigued by the name when I drove past it that I had to pull over and check it out. And once I checked it out I had to book a quickie pedicure to test it out.

It's beautifully decorated and perfectly peaceful inside. An oversized crystal chandelier greets you in the lobby and everything is pretty, fresh and calming. But there is something special about The Mom Spa that really does make it perfect for moms.

On site they have this amazing playroom for kids. There's a table and chairs, a TV and DVD player, lots of toys and books, foamy floor mats, a great big train table and more. The kids have their own bathroom with pint-sized fixtures and there is a special gated off area for little babies to nap in a playpen or sit in a baby swing. There is also a place to heat bottles and a comfy chair for nursing. And best of all, the playroom comes equipped with free child minders!

This was only the second time I have ever left Babe with someone other than my parents and probably the only time I would entrust her to a stranger. But the kids there seemed so happy and the child-minder so nice that it was easy to leave Babe for a half hour foot pampering.

In truth I was so excited about the concept of free childcare while at the spa that I realized halfway through my appointment I had never bothered to ask about her qualifications. I just left Babe there and headed off to the elegant nail lounge. F.Y.I. if anyone wants to kidnap my child they need only distract me with a spa treatment.

I did talk to the babysitter afterwards but more importantly when I went to retrieve my daughter she was happily curled up in the woman's lap. And before I left her I was assured that if she got too upset they would bring her to me while I had my pedicure.

Not only is the playroom great but they have a children's hair salon on site as well. Complete with the cute little car and airplane seats. And the spa swag in the lobby includes adorable baby items.

If you're in the mood for some pampering but unable to arrange chid care, or you just want to stop in for a little upkeep while running errands and have the kids with you this is the perfect place. Or if you want to get a bunch of your mommy friends together for a private party they do that too. They take kids and babies of all ages and the spa prices are comparable to other places in Vancouver.

I love my sparkly toes!

Because it's a spa I didn't take many pics but you can check out the website here. Or: 

The Mom Spa on Facebook.

The kid's hair salon. Whimsicuts.

Flowers, Bows and Pom Poms!

It's no secret that I like DIY projects, arts and crafts. I'm always making something. I haven't had as much time to be creative since Babe came along (I did get three Christmas eggs made this year) but I have had enough time to make the odd thing.

I was seeing adorable baby headbands everywhere but I never came across any. I found a couple of cute ones at Target in the states but I wanted more, more, MORE! But when I got home I couldn't find them here and I'm too impatient to wait for orders from Etsy - but FYI there are adorable baby headbands on Etsy - so I did what I usually do when I want something that I can't find or afford. I make it. If it's makable. By me. That's how I ended up with my kitchen table, cat scratching post, sock monkeys, wall art etc...

So here are some pics of what I have so far. I'm not going to include how-to's here because there are a million places online that you can go to if you want to make these yourself. There are tutorials on YouTube, blogs and websites. I just googled "how to make..." and whatever I was looking for and then scrolled through everything until I saw something I liked.

Anyway, here are some of the highlights:

I started with these pom pom headbands.

I made two different kinds. One kind with fabric and one kind with felt.

Then I moved on to these rolled fabric flowers (top black and white and lower peach).

Then I tried this weird fabric flower which involves twisting and pinning (top multi-coloured) but it took a realllly long time. So I only made the one.

Next I moved onto felt roses. You can see a few others in above pics.

Then I decided that I wanted to make bows. So I started with fabric because I really liked the anchor material above.

But then I found a tutorial on these felt bows and I've been addicted to making them ever since.  

Cream.

White, blue, black. I can't stop.

 Bows without bands yet.

Babe and her pretty little roses.

Every night after Babe goes to bed I have been sitting on the floor in front of the TV with a glass of wine and my sewing kit.

Every baby girl I know is getting one.

The Almost Bomb Scare.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

A couple of weeks ago I had taken Babe out for the afternoon so that J could have a quiet house in which to write a story for the local paper. On my way home I called him to see how much progress he had made and like usual with J the answer was not much. So I decided to stop by Richmond's brand new IKEA to check it out and give J a little more time without the baby around.

I was already pushing my luck with Babe as she had been out all morning visiting my grandmother but I was hoping she could make it one more hour without a complete meltdown.

I drove into the new IKEA parking lot - the kind that looks like an underground but is actually above ground, and started looking for a space. Surprisingly finding a spot was easier than usual - see this post re: the difficulties of parking at IKEA.

I was talking to Babe as I looked for a spot and didn't think much of the object that was sitting in an empty spot until after I had parked and was getting Babe out of the car. As I was grabbing my things to head inside it occurred to me that the mundane object I had hardly raised an eyebrow at was indeed odd and deserved a second look. So still happily chatting with my baby I pushed her through the lot back to the empty spot I had passed.

Yup. There it was. A big black suitcase calmly sitting in the shadows at the edge of a parking stall. I looked around to see if someone was nearby, maybe taking back a cart or loading their trunk with unassembled goods but no one seemed to belong to the bag.

At first I thought that someone had forgotten it but I'm embarrassed to admit that my second thought was more morbid. What if it's a bomb?

As a mommy maybe I shouldn't have stood there thinking over my options, maybe I should have ran. But since I'm new to motherhood I haven't yet fully abandoned rationality for my fight or flight instinct so I was compelled to stand there and decide if I was indeed worried about the bag.

Was it really creepy or was I just paranoid? Would I have thought twice about it in my carefree single days? Yes. It would have occurred to me a year ago that maybe there could, possibly, be a bomb in there but I wouldn't have worried about my own safety enough to do anything about it.

I hated to admit to myself that maybe all the terrorist hype had made its way into my psyche. That maybe I was buying into the fear. That I could actually be afraid of a suitcase in a parking lot on a Canadian Monday afternoon bugged me. It bugged me almost enough to ignore it all together and get on with my shopping. Almost enough.

Now I have a baby. It's not just me. My go-to method of dealing with fear is to pretend I'm not afraid and force myself to do what scares me. Claustrophobic? Take scuba diving lessons. Afraid of heights? Get your ass on the chairlift. Don't much care for big sharks? Strap on a snorkel and dive into the cage. But with Babe to protect it's different. I have to assess danger differently. I can't play the, "how likely is it really?" game anymore. I have to take any threat seriously.

I figured it's not out of the realm of possibility. It wouldn't be my choice target but a large commercial shopping centre, brand new and full of people could be on some sicko's list. I decided that now that I had seen the damn thing I couldn't as a responsible mommy just ignore it.

So I walked back to the entrance where I found a sullen employee begrudgingly stacking shopping carts. I told him that there was a suitcase left by itself at the back of the parkade.

I suppose I thought that he would react to this news in the same fashion that security at the airport would upon hearing this. Clear the area, halt all traffic in a three block radius, call in a bomb squad and detonate the thing.

But he really didn't seem to care. He mumbled something about "dealing with it later" and went back to his carts. Clearly he's not a mother.

Again I just stood there. What if there is no later? I looked around at the unsuspecting shoppers and down at my precious baby and felt...icky. I thought, "If I really think there might be a bomb why am I just standing here like a dumb ass?"

Just then a man came up to the cart guy and told him about the abandoned bag. And again the guy brushed it off. So I got mad and said, "You don't just ignore this. That bag needs to be dealt with now!" In all fairness I don't think the B-word even occurred to the poor guy. I think he just thought what most people would think - someone forgot their suitcase. But when the other customer said he thought it was scary too I felt a little validated and less paranoid.

However with that validation came the realization that I did believe it was dangerous and therefore I had to go. Now I felt too nervous to walk back through the parkade for the car...so I left it. Which was possibly stupid because once outside I realized I had a baby and nowhere to go. And if you've ever been to the IKEA in Richmond you know there's jack around it.

So I walked over to the old, now abandoned IKEA about half a block away (I felt this was a safe distance). Outside the building was a security guard who was keeping an eye on a man who was salvaging metal from the old store.

Considering the bad attitude of the cart guy I was concerned that he would forget about the bag, which meant I couldn't return to get my car. So I wanted to make sure it was being dealt with. I asked the security guard if he worked for IKEA and he said yes. I told him about the scary black suitcase. He looked bemused and said he didn't work for IKEA. "What the?" I told him he should report it. He told me he had no radio and to go screw myself. OK, he didn't tell me to go screw myself with his words...but he did say it with his eyes!

Dammit people!!! I'm trying to save IKEA and all it's ply board furniture wonderfulness!

It wasn't lost on me that just the mention of the word bomb can send Americans into a frenzy but here in Canada I couldn't get anyone to give it a second thought. I guess that's a good thing really.

It occurred to me that I could phone the store and report it but I quickly ruled that out. I once made the very stupid mistake of saying the B-word (in conversation, not as a joke or as a threat) in an American airport and was almost cavity searched by the feds (seriously - they really do freak out about that word). So I wasn't about to be the person who phoned in a bomb threat to the new IKEA. I think a small part of me still believes my name is flagged on a list somewhere. I decided I had done my part and screw them all if they ignored the suitcase.

But now my paranoia...or vigilant guardianship, whichever you prefer, had gotten me into an inconvenient predicament. I couldn't in good conscience go back for the car with Babe and we were too hot, tired and weighed down with stuff to find our way home. And I have no friends in Richmond that I can call on for a perceived bomb threat emergency.

So as ridiculous as this is I felt I really had no other option. I called my mom and asked her to drive into Richmond (about a 45 minute drive in traffic) to hold the baby while I went back into the parkade and retrieved the car. Hey. It was either that or hide Babe behind a dumpster while I went back. I certainly wasn't going to leave her with the useless security guard - he hadn't even been trusted with a walkie-talkie.

She agreed to the madness partly because she's my mom and partly because she's more paranoid than I am. Fifty bucks says she had a burn kit in the car with her just in case we were struck by shrapnel before she arrived.

Now came the shitty part. The nearby Starbucks had nowhere left to sit so I had to sit in the parking lot on a hot day with a cranky baby for 45 minutes while I waited for my mom to arrive. It really did suck and for that I fully believe in my heart that IKEA owes me a sofa.

When my mom arrived we argued over who was going to risk life and limb and go back for the car. I won. When I went back to get the car I saw that the scary suitcase wasn't there anymore. Someone had taken care of it. Guess it was just a forgotten bag after all.

So I went back for my mom and since we were already there and had wasted so much time already...we went shopping in the new IKEA.

I'm still embarrassed that I went through all of that over a suitcase, J certainly thought I was an idiot and you probably do too. But whatever, that's just motherhood.

The Trip To The Tulips.

So I decided to head south of the border with my parents to go and see the tulip fields in La Conner, Washington. We planned to go on the Easter long weekend because my mom had extra days off of work and the weather was finally supposed to be nice. The plan was to see the flowers, shop at the outlets for a bit and maybe pick up a jogging stroller.

Here are some photos of our overnight in Washington state.

The drive down was pretty good. Babe was a little fussy off and on but she did fairly well considering she was in the car for over an hour. It was a lot of extra work for me to sit in the back and entertain her the whole time but again, it wasn't a really long drive.

I was really excited to see the tulip fields but alas, when we got to our destination there were no tulips to be seen. Boo. I remember asking my dad to call ahead and make sure they were blooming before we came...but I guess that didn't happen. I could have sworn he said he had checked - hmmmmmm. Anyway it was disappointing since it was the main reason we came.

There were however a few daffodil fields in bloom which were very pretty. But I got bored of yellow after awhile. I was really hoping that the tulips would bloom overnight but they didn't.

My dad had reserved us a two-bedroom suite in a local hotel, the La Conner Channel Lodge so that we wouldn't have to do all the driving with Babe in one day. It was great to be able to stay over because after a few hours in town Babe was getting pretty fussy and turning around and driving home would have sucked.

The hotel was really cute. Built right on the channel you can watch boats pass all day and hear frogs and crickets at night. This was the view from our room:

Unfortunately the two-bedroom suite wasn't exactly what we had in mind. The main room had a beautiful king-sized bed in it - perfect for my parents. But...the second bedroom didn't exactly suit Babe and I. I had decided against bringing her bassinet all the way there for one night and I planned on just letting her sleep in the big hotel bed with me. But when I walked into the second bedroom it was clear that wasn't going to work so well. The second bedroom with its pint-sized ship bunks was clearly intended for children.

Thank goodness I'm fairly short because I was still able to fit. Babe couldn't sleep in the other bunk because I wouldn't be able to roll over and feed her in the night. So we pulled the comforter off the other bed and grabbed a bunch of extra towels and Babe's blankets and made a padded area for Babe on the wooden edge of my bed against the wall. Don't worry - no part of my child touched the questionably clean hotel bedspread, it was only used for padding. I don't trust those things.

The rest of the room was perfect though, nice big bathroom, jacuzzi tub, cute porch and a fireplace.

We did a little shopping around La Conner that day. I bought one of these cool light bulbs at an antique lighting store (the bulbs aren't antiques) and we took photos of Babe in funny places. We finished the day with a great dinner at the La Conner Seafood and Prime Rib House. I had the macadamia nut encrusted halibut and vanilla creme brulee for desert. It was yummy.

The next morning I had a massage that my dad had generously booked for me. I think it was just his sneaky way of getting more time alone with the baby but it was super relaxing anyway, and since it was in house all I had to do was walk downstairs.

We then headed to the tulip gardens nearby just so we could say we had seen some of the elusive flowers. Here's the little outdoor field that was planted outside Tulip Town. It wasn't the same as the real thing but it gave me an idea of how the area would look once the fields bloomed. There was still a lot of green - even at the gardens.

After Tulip Town we stopped at the RoozenGaarde so my dad could order bulbs for the fall and we could have lunch. It was so sunny and warm that my little winter baby finally had a chance to take off her socks and explore the grass, another first.

After that we raced to the outlets so us girls could shop for an hour while my dad napped in the car and then raced back across the border before traffic got too backed up.

Just a quick little overnighter with Babe. Hopefully the next time Babe and I cross the border it'll be to visit my friend K in Washington, D.C. or to take Babe for a sleepover at my friend R's summer getaway.