ten minutes to myself

free to a good home

What to name our second child was a source of many arguments great debate in our household. We could not manage to compromise until the night before Sadie was born. Needles, to say, I have this small list of fabulous names that we didn't use:

• Lucy
• Simone
• Leo
• Walter

They're free for the taking, if anyone is in the market for a great name. I also heartily recommend "Sadie" of course ...

time

One of the things that I thought a lot about during my last pregnancy was time zones. Bangkok is 13-14 hours ahead of my old home in Alberta, depending on whether North America is enjoying daylight savings time or not. So, it was completely possible that Kid 2.0 would have a different birthday in North America than he/she would here in Thailand.  I'm not sure that a child would really care much about that detail, but I would! Once back in North America, I have a feeling that every year on the anniversary of the birth, I would be mentally calculating how many extra hours old my child was. And eventually, how many extra days old, too ...

But Sadie arrived at 1:14 on the afternoon of October 15, thoughtfully waiting until nearly a quarter past midnight on October 15 in Alberta, too. 

She's good, in terms of her birthday, unless we end up living on the west coast ...

two-ness

Yesterday, on the 15th, the baby turned one month old and I made my first trip to a department store in a month. I had both kids with me, which wasn't as intimidating as I feared it might me, though there was still a certain learning curve to overcome. Teaching Madeline that squeezing past the stroller in tight spaces isn't cool comes to mind, as does not walking in front of it and coming to a quick stop! Sadie slept in the Bjorn pretty much the entire time, and Madeline and I picked up some basics that the baby needed and a fairy colouring book that she figured *she needed*.  It actually felt really good to get out somewhere besides the grocery store down the road, and it also felt like I was getting some one-on-one time with Madeline, too.

One month out, things are going okay. Everyone is getting some sleep, everyone is well-fed, Madeline hasn't regressed in any way we've noticed and hasn't really acted out since the first couple of days at home, and sometimes we get a smile out of the new little person. So far, I'm quite relieved. And hopefully I haven't jinxed our family by writing that ...

could be a long year

I am grumbly. Did you know that if you have a child outside of Canada, it takes something like 7-10 months to receive their citizenship documentation? Crazy, huh? It is possible to obtain a Canadian passport for infants even without the citizenship certificate, but it's only valid for one year, and since it's not recommended to travel on a Canadian passport with six months or less to it's expiration date, really, the document is only good for six months. Which does not cover the amount of time that one waits for the citizenship documents so that one can apply for the standard children's passport, valid for three years. Does that really make sense to anyone?

Either way, we're stuck in Thailand for awhile. Either now, or next summer, depending on when we apply for that passport. Luckily, I have good company.

sweet dreams

Madeline's new bed
Originally uploaded by goingdomestic.

Madeline's six months of sleeping on a mattress and box spring on the floor of her bedroom came to a close this past Thursday, when her new bed frame and chest of drawers were delivered.

This project was a little tricky. Her mattress and box spring are the double size, and that's not sold here in Thailand, so it wasn't like I could just hop over to Index (the fake-Ikea) and buy a new bed frame. We had to find a company that could make a bed frame to fit her mattress, instead.

We received quotes from three companies, and ended up going with Mother Goose. They make lovely nursery furniture, as well as having some nice gifts for babies and small children in their store. I merely went to the store with mattress and boxspring measurements and this photo of the Morigeau Lepine bed that we really liked. About eight weeks later, two pieces of incredibly solid furniture were installed in Madeline's bedroom.

Chris and I are thrilled with the results of this project - it's kind of nerve-wracking to be waiting on furniture that is going to recreated from a photograph - and Madeline seems to be, too. We've decorated her bed with bows and a string of colourful dragonflies in the tradition of Fancy Nancy, and she's reserved one of the drawers in her new bureau for her "secret treasures".