May 2009

1. Oldest One really enjoyed camp, came home safe, and will likely sleep REALLY well tonight.
2. In between the usual Sunday ‘chores’, I’ve been able to relax with a heat pack on my shoulder today which is definitely helping.
3. Chocolate cake!
4. Library books.
5. My husband.

For a while, you’ve seen me post book reviews through Mother Talk whichis part of Mom Central. My experience with them has been awesome, so I recently signed up to be one of the Canadian Mom Central Testing Panel members.

The way it works is that Mom Central will email me when they have a campaign coming up. If I’m interested – legitimately – I’ll sign up for the campaign and try out a service or product. Then I’ll tell you about it.

I do not have to give a positive review if I’m not feeling postively.

Since I’m just getting started, I don’t have a lot of personal experience with the Canadian testing panel. I can’t review it, so to speak! If it’s conducted in the same way that the book tours have been, I’ll be impressed.

So. If you’re a Canadian Mom and you’re also a blogger and you think you’d like to be a part of this, you can sign up too. Even better, if you sign up before June 30th, 2009, you’ll be entered into the draw for a chance to win 1 of 5 Canon PowerShot cameras.

In their own words:

Why Should Moms Sign-up?

• They’ll get to try out new products before they hit the shelves and their feedback will help make products better for Moms
• Their opinion will be heard by leading brands who care about what Canadian Moms have to say
• They’ll have the opportunity to share what they learn with other Moms and pass along coupons and other promotions to their Mom networks
• They’ll find out about other great opportunities from Mom Central including giveaways, surveys and research studies that help brands make important product decisions

Canadian Moms can sign-up here.

If you’d like to look at Jenn’s Flickr set, for the baby bunnies, you can see them here.

And yes, they are exactly as warm and soft as you think they are.

1. I spent most of today lying down with a hot pack on my shoulder and, finally, I am starting to feel a tiny bit less pained.
2. We got the test results for Middle One and there are some amazing bits and pieces that may fall into place for him soon.
3. Jenn took some unbelievably gorgeous photos of the baby bunnies that I can’t wait to share!
4. That Zooey got some new meds today to help clear up her pain (she fell and twisted her back/leg/knee/something yesterday).
5. My husband. Always.

Today we met with the psychologist who gave us a rundown of Middle One’s test results. In about a week’s time we’ll have the full paperwork in our hands.

The results were pretty much as we expected in most areas – no surprises. He is a very smart kid with a very serious learning disability.

Also, as expected, his results ranged from high up on the scale in a positive way, to as low as the “2nd percentile” in the negative. He’s doing better than many peers in some areas to so dismal as to be almost not on the map at all in other areas.

We’ll be setting up a meeting for an IPRC. We have to start looking into assistive technologies and we have to start considering special education classrooms and all the things, honestly, that should have been done for him a few years ago.

I keep reminding myself that it’s not too late to get him on the right track. Everyone who knows him is aware that he’s enthusiastic about learning – so it’s not too late in that regard, either. He’s frustrated but he’s still trying hard.

I’ll have more to say later, of course, once we absorb the info and talk and investigate more.

If you are male, and you’re my friend on Facebook, the very second your partner / wife / girlfriend / significant other requests to be “my friend” on the site, I’ll be clicking that “ACCEPT” button immediately even if I’ve never met them.

I’ve done it a few times now. I will continue to do so.

In my world, transparency is a pretty good idea. While I do flirt with my male friends (and some female!) I do it with absolutely no agenda. I am not some saucy minx gunning for an affair and I am not some hot co-ed with a pornographic web cam (that you’re aware of, anyway. Heh.) I don’t want your partner to think otherwise.

I am very happy in my relationship with Coffee, even if he doesn’t want to be on Facebook, and I don’t panic if he looks over my shoulder to see what I’m writing on my Wall or how well I’m doing on a Bejeweled game. But your partner doesn’t know that, right?

I don’t want to be responsible for your relationship – good or bad. And if your partner is nervous about you interacting with me, particularly since my profile picture isn’t even a picture of me, I’d prefer to quell that immediately.

I cannot promise I won’t flirt with her, though. :)

On my last post about Michelle and her JDR fundraising, some people couldn’t see the link. My internet had a blip while I was posting the blog entry, and I’ve fixed it, but just in case you missed it – - click here to help Michelle! She’s only $60 away from her goal!

My friend Michelle is a totally awesome Mom – and she’s an amazing caregiver for many other kids in our community. (She’s also a really nice person.)

Recently, her son was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes and, rather than bemoan the situation, she has totally kicked some ass in researching her son’s needs, monitoring him, educating the school about the situation, and generally kicking ass.

This doesn’t mean she’s happy about the situation. It certainly doesn’t mean she’s resigned to it, either.

This weekend, Michelle and her family are doing the TELUS Walk to Cure Diabetes-Waterloo, specifically for Juvenile Diabetes Research. And Michelle is raising money to help as many kids as she possibly can – which is exactly the sort of person Michelle is.

It’s not enough that she’s 100% there for her son – she wants to help others, too.

If you can spare a few dollars, please help Michelle – and her son, and all the other kids with Diabetes. I donated a while ago, offline, and it didn’t even occur to me to ask her for a link until today (duh) or I’d have asked y’all sooner.

Please help, if you can.

1. The bunnies appear to be growing and thriving.. and kicking. See video below!
2. My migraine is gone. I’m still feeling “hungover” and a bit wobbly, but I can handle that!
3. Tomorrow we get Middle One’s testing results AND Coffee and I are going to discuss them over sushi.
4. I am so very, very loved.
5. My friends are truly amazing people.

(Note that they DO make sound and note Coffee’s finger, again, for scale!)

This morning Coffee and I both went out to try to get a picture (or two) of the bunnies.

Yesterday when I visited them, they were squirming and kicking each other – doing little bunny-like hopping motions with their eyes closed.

This morning they have some bunny-fur growing (reddish-brown coloured) and their claws are visible and they are getting fatter and bigger. We figure it’ll be another 3-4 days before they’re old enough to leave the nest.

Taking pictures is difficult because they’re literally hopping up around at lightning-speed. As soon as one stops moving, I hit the shutter on the camera and SHAZAM they’re flailing and the picture comes out blurry.

So, here’s the best of the still photos! Note the little ears, the colour of their fur, and the fact that Coffee’s finger is in the picture (which will give you an idea of the size of the little ones!)