runlindsayrun

The One Where I Totally Give Up

I've pretty much given up hope of ever catching up here, so here's a collection of randoms from the last week or so for your reading enjoyment (or more accurately, for my own documentation of our life).

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Geoff's parents have a baby bunny in their backyard. Like a TINY baby bunny. Like a tiny baby bunny that would totally fit in the palm of your hand. Briony has been on Baby Bunny Watch all week, and we spot it a couple of times a day. ('Baby bunny! Baby bunny! Where did it go?')

Our child is *slightly* obsessed with Miga - the black and white Olympic mascot from Vancouver. We resisted buying one for her, but got a tip from friends out here that there is an Olympic clearance warehouse open on weekends and basically impossible to find unless you know people who have been there. Even with very specific directions - and a street address - it was kind of crazy to find, but we were not disappointed. We scored a large Miga stuffed toy for Briony for $6. Awesomeness. Even better was the look on her face when we handed Miga to her. They've been almost inseparable ever since. Briony calls her 'Mugga' and is constantly hugging her and telling us how much she loves her. I think there's a Visa 'priceless' commercial in there somewhere (and not just because of the whole Olympic sponsorship thing). In any case, it's been $6 very well spent.

I'm a little concerned that I've gained weight on this trip, but I'm not checking until we get home. We've been active, but we've also been eating... UGH. Time to get responsible again when we get home. Better have LOTS of fun in the next two days! hehe

I got my first major assignment from this course back with a mark of 78% and a comment of 'fantastic work, Lindsay!' Um, what?! Clearly, we have different definitions and standards. And apparently, I won't be finishing this program with an A+ (or anything remotely close). Ah, well.

Briony has been encountering a series of weird and socially awkward older kids in playgrounds here lately. My guess is that they aren't capable of making friends their own age, and maybe babies and adults seem like easier target. They're inappropriately friendly and just ODD. Today, one of these girls was trying to hold Briony's hand as she navigated some very uneven ground covered in woodchips. I could see that she was throwing Briony off balance - by her proximity and by the fact that Briony was rather forcefully trying to avoid holding the weird girl's hand - and so I asked her not to. Then I told her not to. Then I kind of yelled at her not to. She did it anyway, and ended up falling on top of Briony on the woodchips. I demanded she apologize, and of course she just shrugged and wandered away - and her parents were too busy to notice or care. If my own child hadn't been so hysterical, I would have tracked down her parents just to yell at them for being so careless and raising such a careless child. SERIOUSLY. (Okay, I'm climbing off my soapbox now...)

I'm physically attached to my BlackBerry at all times - second only to Starbucks, and then to my MacBook. If you know me in real life, this is the farthest thing from news. It's partially because I'm admittedly a tad bit obsessive about work, but it's mostly sheer force of habit because when I'm really flared up I need to have a phone within reach at all times, just in case. But I experienced a first today: I accidentally brought my laptop into the bathroom with me instead of my BlackBerry. I'm still trying to figure out what this means. But I've discovered that there is no good place to put a laptop inside of a bathroom. I realized what I'd done just seconds after locking the door and I stood there for a minute like an idiot, trying to figure out what to do with it. (The answer, if you're curious, was to place it on the mat in front of the sink. Not sure what the *correct* answer is, but that's what I came up with at 10.30 at night.)

I started off today with a 07.30 am conference call. It was kind of my idea so that we had the rest of the day unscheduled, but it was NOT one of my better ideas. What a ridiculously depressing way to begin a week (even though I'm happy and excited about the project). Memo to Self: DON'T DO THAT AGAIN.

Lots of people have been asking about how I'm feeling, because I talked so much about being sick at the beginning of our trip. The truth is that I've improved, but I've never really found my balance here - which is freaking me out because if I can't balance here with all this support, I'm not sure how I'm going to do it at home. I'm crossing my fingers that it was just the weather and atmospheric changes here, but we'll see for sure over the next week or two. In the meantime, we've been SO BLESSED to be surrounded by friends and family who pitch in and help out with Briony without us ever needing to ask. Between Geoff's mom and Cait and Hannah and Vicky and everyone else who has given my daughter some extra love at one point of this trip or another, it's been very manageable. I've said it before, but it's as true now as ever: what a lucky little girl to be so very loved.

Two days left before Travel Day. How is it possible that three weeks can fly by so quickly? I blame it on having so many people here who we love. We're sad about leaving but excited to come home again, which means that it was all perfectly timed again.

Labels: Back to School, Back to Work, Briony, Caitlin, Family, Going Coastal, Going Rogue, Mommy Stuff, My Friends, Rob and Vicky

posted by Lindsay @ 12:03 AM