las vegas 2010

chris received a complimentary stay from aria @ citycenter, the newest hotel on the strip, so we packed our bags and met up with the lowe's for a 4-day getaway!

the preparation
i can't believe how much we had to pack for 4 days. travelling was so much easier when gabe was 5 months old & nursing...just pack lots of clothes, diapers and the hooter-hider. this time we needed activities, treats/food supplies, and comfort items. it was our first time on a plane since last march, and it took a lot of planning. anyways, 2 suitcases and 2 carry-ons later, we were ready for anything!

the flight
now that we have nexus passes, we got to use them for the first time to fly out of bellingham. love it! unfortunately our flight was delayed by almost an hour, so gabe was in FINE shape by the time we boarded :P at least there was another toddler on our flight so they got to play together for a bit. gabe was excellent on the flight to vegas...we had new leap frog books for him, new dvds (too bad our dvd player crapped out after 30 minutes), we had lots of treats, and he even took a 30 minute nap! it would've lasted longer except the descent bothered his ears so he screamed for a while :(

the hotel
aria did not disappoint...it was clean and modern, the staff were friendly, the restaurants were fabulous, and the rooms were amazing! our standard room seemed super-spacious with lots of room for gabe to run around, it overlooked the back entrance with a view of vdara's pool (the palms and rio were in the distance, and the bellagio beside us), and we had twice daily housekeeping (i really like turndown service!). and to add to the luxury of the room, everything was controlled by a touch screen panel (not ideal with a toddler...gabe managed to hit the "turndown" setting, which turned on the tv to the music channel, dimmed the lights and closed the sheers - and then 10 minutes later it closed the blackout blinds and turned off all the lights :P).

thanks to great weather in las vegas, we managed to take gabe to the pool twice. we haven't been swimming since his lessons last summer, so he wasn't a fan at first. but once he saw trevor having a good time, he warmed up to the idea and on the 2nd day, he was kicking his legs in the water!


the food
a trip to vegas wouldn't be complete without excellent dining options! we ate most of our meals at aria...buffets (sunday brunch, breakfast), 2 dinners - julian serrano (spanish) and sirio ristorante (italian). and of course we ventured off the strip for dinner at nobu!












the kids
there's nothing more unpredictable than kids. trevor took a while to warm up to gabe, and gabe didn't know what to think of trevor. there was hugging, bowing, pushing, sharing, crying, screeching, laughing, and everything else under the sun. by the end of the trip the boys were best buds and chasing after each other.












the lessons learned
#1 - gabe hates new things...whether it's new clothes, new shoes, new environment...he just has a hard time adjusting.

#2 - gabe hates the potette potty...we used it for alaska when he was 11 months and he took to it immediately! in hindsight we should've practiced before vegas, but he's obviously outgrown the floor potties and only likes to sit on the big toilet (he wouldn't sit on the potette on the toilet...it's obviously not comfortable for him). so i spent 4 days chasing him with the potette and cleaning up accidents from the floor :P i'll be buying ANOTHER portable toilet seat for our trip to toronto :P

#3 - gabe's growing up...over the weekend, i made the big leap and let gabe feed himself at the table. i hate the mess, but at some point, my boy's gotta grow up and do things for himself!


#4 - go with the flow...as much as i would've liked gabe to keep with his nap & bedtime routines, he would fall asleep at the most inopportune times. to make it worse, since we would be out-and-about, he would only sleep for 30 minutes. so by dinnertime, he wasn't the most cooperative toddler. bottom line, we made the best of our situation and did what we could :)

all-in-all, it was a great mini-getaway and the boys have already received an invitation from aria for a return visit! gee, i wonder why... :-)

it's all about the FREE

who doesn't love free things? it can be a big thing or a small thing, but regardless of the item...we all love FREE (especially when there's no strings attached)!

everyone knows i'm not a morning person...i shouldn't be approached until i've had my starbucks (or other caffeine of choice), and even though i get to work 15-30 minutes before i'm officially "on duty", i don't like to talk shop until 8 a.m. but some mornings actually start off better. like today!

depending on where my coffee comes from, i take 3 different routes from the burrard skytrain. today i was off to timmies, so i hit the burrard exit. i should AWAYS take that exit...every time i go there they have free stuff. today i got complimentary copies of the vancouver sun AND the province (in the past it's only been the sun), as well as a stick of the new trident layers gum. it was pretty chaotic because the metro and 24 hours people are always hawking their papers, too. but those are free dailies, and i wanted the good stuff :-)

last night shaw was in our building trying to sell their gear. the only free stuff they had were drinks and fortune cookies. i avoided their freebies...it comes with strings attached - listen to our spiel as we try to sell you an expensive box and subscriptions. pass!

not much else going on these days...just getting ready for our "free" hotel in vegas next weekend. giddy'up!

2010 Olympics

i admit it...i wasn't in favour of the 2010 olympics when we won them back in 2003 (?). leading up to the olympics, all i could think about was the dreaded 1-2 hour waits at skytrain stations. turns out i didn't need to hate the olympics after all. granted, skytrain was crowded no matter what time of day travelled, but it just added to the olympic buzz. at the end of a workday i put on my best irritated-to-hell face, but tourists obviously knew i was a local and sympathized for the commuters. then they'd strike up a conversation with me and i'd give in to their excitement about being in vancouver and loving our great city :-)

and as an original pessimist, i'm not sure how anyone couldn't get lost in the spirit and just embrace what was happening to our city. and once the gold medals started pouring in, and the men's hockey team defied the odds against russia...it was magic. chris and i even managed to get out on 2 saturday nights with our friends to take in the downtown chaos. the first night we had no plan and just wandered around...but the 2nd saturday we had a plan and managed to check out the (gold!) olympic rings, the cauldren and we spent some time at germany house.

when olympic tickets went on sale in 2008, chris got in on the action and bought men's hockey (quarterfinal & semifinal) and men's & women's curling (both bronze medal games). unfortunately none of our hockey tickets were for canada, both times we saw the united states (vs. switzerland - "hop suisse!" and vs. finland). he had to sell the women's curling bronze medal game due a conflict with the hockey game (conveniently enough i know a lot of curling fans), and i managed to get out of the men's curling game and geoff went instead :-) we had hoped to take gabe to an olympic event, but the hassle of a stroller, going thru a "carry-me-everywhere" phase, security, and working around naptime, it just was too much to fathom.

a week after the olympics have ended, the blue volunteer jackets, the "canada" sweatshirts, the flags, the neighbourhood houses, the foot traffic outside my office on thurlow street...it's all becoming a distant memory. i definitely feel sad that the buzz has worn off already, but we're hoping to get out this weekend and do some paralympic activities. one more hoorah in our red hoodies :-)

17 months old!

i can't believe in another month, gabe will be 1.5 years old! chris and i were just discussing today how fast time has flown by. some days travel at a snails pace, especially the last week with everyone in our family (including the grandparents!) being wiped out by the cold and/or flu blug.

gabe's developing at his own pace, slower than i would've thought compared to other kids (i've even factored in the boy vs. girl growth). on the other hand, he's mastered one of the most important skills that some 3 & 4 year olds can't grasp...potty-training! he's a super-star at signing "poo", but recently he's gotten it mixed up with "pee" (which we don't actually sign), so we've been spending A LOT of time back-and-forth in the bathroom. with the stomach flu, i've been so fortunate that gabe's been able to do his business in the potty...no diarrhea diapers in our household!

gabe's speech has been the slowest development...at 17 months old, he only says "mama" (which still doesn't always mean me) and "no". on the other hand, he knows what he wants and the "no" has come in handy for that. instead of saying "yes", he claps his hands together (we're not sure how that came about). he's developed a new sign for himself that we can't quite decipher. he usually only does it when he's sitting on the potty, but he's quite insistent that we follow through on something (it's related to the door, but it has nothing to do with opening or closing it). even though gabe doesn't talk, we've been really emphasizing his manners (through sign language). whenever he wants a treat, we always ask him to say "please". and before he's excused from the kitchen table, he always says "thank you for food". when he's at my parents house, my mom will sometimes use japanese expressions. i don't expect gabe to learn japanese (my knowledge is non-existent), but i like the fact that he hears the occasional word.

gabe loves to colour. he knows exactly where his drawing accessories are kept at home (and at my parents house), and he'll go over, point, and clap his hands. we're trying to encourage the use of his right hand, but he still favours his left. we'll see how that turns out :-)

music class has always been a big hit! he sits in class and taps his legs, claps his hands, and loves to play instruments. after the "hello" song, we always "drum" on the mats, and gabe's the only child who yells out w/excitement when it's over. it's pretty funny and everyone gets a kick out it :-) since the winter session started in january, gabe's shown his first fear...he is terrified of the parachute! as soon as it's out and the kids get under it for the rippling and waving, gabe makes a bee-line for the wall, paces back and forth, and starts signing "all done, all done!".

thanks in part to music class, gabe's learned to put things away. he used to throw a fit when it was "shakers away" or "instruments away", but now he'll go to the baskets and put them away. he sometimes tries to take them back again but we'll have a little chat and go back to our seats. at home he likes to go into our bathroom and empty my basket of various bottles and place them on the windowsill. afterwards, i'll ask him to put everything away and close the cupboard. it always puts a smile on my face watching him do this simple task.

gabe's a tv junkie. as soon as we turn it on, he points, claps his hands and wants to watch ni-hao kai-lan. we try to save that for when i'm cooking and can't have him hanging around the kitchen, but because of the sickness and gabe needing cuddles with me, we've been putting the tv on more regularly. gabe's also become very proficient with the iphone...he knows how to turn it on and slide the arrow across the screen and will try to enter chris' password, he also enjoys "the wheels on the bus" and can do all the actions that go along with it.

gabe's a climbing monkey! he loves to sit on the couch, and then crawl onto the couch arms and then he leans back a bit too far and falls off :P i usually hold onto his feet to prevent the fall, but sometimes i'm just not fast enough. he's also climbed onto our ottoman many times and of course fallen off that too. we turned it around so he can't climb it, but he's figured out how to maneuver it around.

our strong boy is hilarious. we have a lot of pull-along or walking type toys. when he was learning to walk, he never used them. then for the longest time he refused to use them properly...instead he would actually lift everything off the ground and then walk around with them. he's only just gotten interested in his walker and uses it the proper way. ironic. nowadays he's more interested in moving the kitchen chairs around or carrying his elmo chair.

3 more weeks till we go to vegas, and then my boy'll be 1.5 years old! he's definitely not a little baby anymore :(

again?!

i'm still sick. i cannot shake this damn cold...my nose is still snotty, and today i woke up and had no voice. but it could have something to do with all the yelling and singing @ deutsche haus the previous night (more on my olympic experience another time).

on a happier note, my head has finally cleared up and i can hear out of both ears! as i'm finally recovering, chris and gabe have both been hit with a wicked stomach flu. i've spent the entire day cleaning up gabe's vomit - from the carpet, the playmat, and after 2 outfit changes (for BOTH of us), i finally left him in his diaper to minimize the damage. thank god he's potty-trained...i don't know what i would've done if i had to clean up the diarrhea from his cloth diapers :P

so now i'm spending a day or two "working from home". not only have gabe and chris been suffering, but my mom's caught it as well so we've lost our babysitter. it's just as well i'm staying home...gabe's gotten really attached to me the past few days and won't let me out of his sight.


i can't wait for life to be back to normal again. it feels like we've been sick since the beginning of the year :P

no more snot

blast man...gabe's been suffering from a cold since last monday. it started out pretty slowly...just a hint that something wasn't right at night. but then he'd recover by morning. then he would cough during the day and then nothing at night. after a few days, he was a dripping faucet and a complete mess. we've gone through 2 boxes of kleenex and my back is in pain again. gabe's been uber-clingy to me and demands to be carried...by me...standing up, not sitting down. even during potty time, he sent chris out of the bathroom in favour of me :P

after cancelling several plans over the past 9 days, gabe's finally recovering. his nose has stopped leaking, and he's not coughing as much. sadly though my parents have caught his germs, and chris and i are popping pills like crazy in an effort to stay healthy for our olympic events next week...curling & hockey, baby! go canada go!

wanted: felony cuteness

olympic buzz

ok, i've gotten caught up in the olympic buzz. well, until friday at least when i see how my commute to/from work goes :P then i might be singing another tune!

on this dreary (typical) vancouver day, we headed downtown to check out the activities since chances of us taking gabe during the olympics are pretty slim. we started at the olympic store and bought our canadian sweatshirts to wear to the curling & hockey events (hopefully we'll be cheering on canada at some point!). then we checked out the action on granville mall (which wasn`t much). and lastly we headed over to robson square to check out the ice rink, where we saw elizabeth manley on the ice and talking with reporters. and while we were at robson square, we were interviewed for cbc radio!

to finish off our downtown jaunt, we enjoyed our first japadog! delish! i can`t wait to try the other ones next :-)

24 hours ago...

...gabe was bitten by a dog. a pomeranian to be precise.

initially we weren't too concerned...the dog had clamped down on gabe's wrist, but doug (my sister-in-law's bf) seemed to receive the brunt of the bite (he was bleeding) when we separated the 2 of them. gabe wasn't bleeding (he had bite imprints) and he recovered after a quick hug and kiss from me (moms CAN fix anything!). so we carried on with the evening and headed home for gabe's bedtime.

that's when we discovered the blood :(

in the panicked moment of the incident, no one thought to check for bite marks from the dog's bottom teeth. seriously, we were 4 adults in that kitchen and no one thought of it. right after discovering the cm long wound i called the bc nurses line for advice, especially since the initial bite imprints were looking more like pin-prick puncture wounds. the nurse and i both agreed that none of the wounds were emergency-warranted especially since gabe wasn't displaying any negative side effects, plus we thought the dog's vaccinations were up-to-date. the nurse did suggest seeing a doctor in the morning just to get the all-clear. chris and i concurred. then i had to call my parents and break the news they wouldn't be babysitting in the a.m. since gabe and i would be heading to the doctors office. seriously, as if i didn't feel bad enough for gabe, my mom freaked out over the phone.

at the nurse's suggestion i checked on gabe before i went to bed and he was sleeping soundly. but at 12:30 a.m. gabe's sleep-shattering cry woke me up and i went running to him. i've never seen him so upset before...he was standing in the middle of his crib, arms extended and shaking, and his little face was all covered in tears. on a normal night, i would've let him cry-it-out but i truly believe he had a nightmare and relived the bite incident :(

this a.m. my parents came over and we went to the walk-in clinic to get gabe's wrist looked at. i can't believe how much guilt i was getting from my mom - she was barely speaking to me! it was an accident that happened before anyone could react. her big issue was we weren't 100% sure the dog`s vaccines were current...the 6 year old dog had been adopted by my sis-in-law from a family friend. that was just adding fuel to the fire my mom was building. not once did i trivialize what had happened to my son, and i was getting upset at my mom for trying to make me feel worse. at that point, we just stopped talking to each other.

the doctor looked at the wound and said because it was a superficial wound and we thought the dog`s vaccines were current, he didn't want to put gabe on antibiotics. he sent me off with warning to keep an eye on it and make sure it wasn't bruising or starting to look infected. heck by this morning, everything was almost healed up! so off we went with a semi-clean bill of health :) my parents dropped me off at the skytrain and they went home with gabe.

then it got worse.

15 minutes later i got a call from my mom...gabe threw up. that was the final straw...i was starting to lose it, and 2 tears welled up in my eyes. i called chris and yelled that he needed to find out about this dog's medical history. i told my mom to call our family doctor and see if he would see gabe right away and i'd meet them there. i didn't know this but if you see a doctor during the day, you cannot see another doctor the same day. msp won't pay for the 2nd doctor's services. so i had to call the drop-in clinic we had just visited and the receptionist directed me to the bc nurses line. the nurse reassured me that the vomit could be a completely separate issue from the dog bite. phew, what a relief (even thought i wasn't pleased it could be a virus)!

our doctor's office also called and agreed that it was probably not related to the dog bite and just keep an eye on gabe. after lunch i finally got the last piece of news that the dog's vaccines are all current and he's a healthy boy. thank goodness! i was able to relax and breathe a sigh of relief. it's still strange that gabe vomitted, but he's been fine the entire day. so it's just a one-off incident.

me and my mom however...we still weren't exactly on talking terms by the end of the day. we don't have that kiss-and-make-up relationship, rather we just stew for awhile and eventually get over it. i do see why my mom was so upset, it's a terrible thing to have happen and it was somewhat preventable (gabe and bobo won't be playing together again!). but on the other hand, it was an accident...just like when gabe rolled off the change table; just like when he dove off the couch and bruised his cheek; just like when he fell and bruised his eye on the coffee table; and just like all the other injuries he'll sustain in the future!

but for now, gabe's acting like his normal self, i've stopped blaming myself for the incident, i'm letting my moms comments roll off my back (because damnit, I AM A GOOD MOM!), and we're ready for life's next lesson, whatever that may be and whatever form it comes in!

BRING.
IT.
ON.

jinxed!

i definitely jinxed myself w/my last post re: gabe's stellar behaviour at cru. we took him to earl's for dinner and it was horrific! i packed snacks and water for him, but i forgot his book and stacking cups. oh lordy lordy...gabe was miserable! nothing was keeping him happy...he didn't want to sit at the table, he didn't want to eat, he didn't want to walk, he didn't want to watch the hockey game, on and on. he was wailing his head off!

and then my food arrived. cheeky monkey helped himself to my french fries! and then he stopped crying. he sat nicely at the table. he remembered his manners. he smiled.

we never intended to allow gabe to eat junk food once he started solids. but sometimes you just do what you have to do to get through a meal. and so we could actually have a moment to chat with our friends, chris was a genius and found "ni-hao kai-lan" on you-tube! thank goodness for ipods!

@ cru