Nursery Rhymes Schmursrey Rhymes

I'm not a big fan of the kiddie tunes. Pattycakes holds no thrills for me and I don't give a damn what the wheels on the bus are doing. M and I prefer to rock out to Jack FM with a few lyric swaps for good measure. For instance, Wintersleep's "Weighty Ghost" becomes "weighty toast" at breakfast time. This has the additional advantage of somewhat downplaying my horrid horrid singing voice.

So when Auntie Mare announced recently during one of our walks that she had learned a new tune called "A is for Apple" my enthusiasm did not know no bounds. Besides falling short of the Jack FM criteria, Makeda strikes me so far as a pretty big smartiepants, and songs about fruit or letters of the alphabet did not seem a sufficient nod to her intelligence. It was a long walk and there were three of us, so we put our heads together to come up with something that would please everyone. Before long we had a lively new tune called the "Cuss Song" and A now stands for A**hole. I'll leave the rest of the alphabet to your respective imaginations, but rest assured, we covered it all. 'nuf said.

Our Melting Pot Family

Now, I think we all know that I'm the pastiest white girl around. But that's not true of all of the family. Today, cousin Michiko dropped by for a playdate with her 14 month old daughter Gemma. Michiko is one-half japanese, and Gemma is one-quarter japanese. And Makeda - well, we all know Makeda. So here is my beautiful melting pot family...

Oh c'mon, you didn't really think I'd leave my boys out did you???

Clear Skies Ahead

Shower #3 has come and gone and I think a good time was had by all (including both dogs who not only ate all the kids meals when they weren't looking but had to be hosed down afterwards to get the ice cream cake out of their fur). Thanks to the lovely and talented aunties leslie, suze and judy for hosting (including the set up and clean up) and to everyone for the amazing food and wonderful gifts. The pictures are stored on several different cameras, so I know I'm missing some good shots, but here's what I had on mine:

The guest of honour (fab shot courtesy of Judy B)


Jessica, George, Einat, Aleks

Kristen and Auntie Leslie

Doug and the adorable Lily

With Auntie SuzeCyndi

Auntie Suze, John and his boys

Ice cream cake - yummy - in the colours of the Ethiopian flag

me me me

Thanks everyone again for joining me in the wonderful celebration that is Makeda!

This Week in Pictures

With cousin SonyaBoozing with Grampa

In her little red dress, all the way from France. Thanks Marine!

Looking cool in Grampa's hat.

First time at the waterpark.

Lovin' Auntie Mare.

Duc'n it out

Remember this?

Well, I barely do. Today, however, we got reacquainted, when Auntie Mare came over to do a little baby duty while I took my other baby out on the town. Well, out to the University Endowment Lands anyway. It was a glorious sunny day and I managed to briefly get it up to 150 on Southwest Marine Dr. before the (almost rush hour) traffic dragged me down. Then I -wait a minute - my mom reads this blog and she knows the speed limit on Southwest Marine Drive - let me try that again. It was a glorious sunny day and I cautiously manoeuvered my small not very powerful motorcycle onto Southwest Marine Drive, looking both ways at all the intersections, and momentarily hit 81 before regaining control of my senses and slowing to no more than 50, tops.

MMMMMMMMMMmmmmm good. Thanks Auntie Mare.

Judgement Day

Yesterday was the social worker visit which will serve as the basis for writing a report on my worthiness as a parent, and sent back to the Ethiopian Ministry of Women's Affairs. Now, I actually like my social worker. After all, she recommended me as a suitable parent - this, notwithstanding that on our first visit during my homestudy last year, in response to her question "What would you like to teach your daughter", I responded quickly with "how to make a good margarita". In hindsight, I suppose that answer could have ended my adoption journey rather quickly, but I was counting on her to have a good sense of humour, and she did not disappoint.

Our meeting yesterday did not quite get started as planned - the ever amenable Miss M of course had a sick day and was rather whiney for the entire hour, recovering, of course, fairly promptly after the meeting ended. But, I didn't drop her while I was under observation, so I suppose that counted for something.

Here is a picture of the lovely Miss M whilst feeling a little perkier, a few days ago.

And here she is, looking cool in her first sunglasses, courtesy of Nancy and Bob.

Still Showerin' in Vancouver

Well, last Friday was shower #2, aka "the office". And what a show it was. We have 4 offices across the country, so it was video-conferenced. There was an agenda. I've never attended a shower that had an actual agenda before. There were kind words delivered by a few friends and colleagues in each office, a "celebrity adoption" powerpoint (you just know that every work shower is going to feature a powerpoint), a quiz on Ethiopia and - wait for it - a song from the Toronto office. Sadly, I don't have a recording (although that may be a blessing - hee hee - ok, ok, I'm sure y'all sounded great and it was just the quality of the video-conferencing equipment that brought you down). But, I do have the lyrics. I was going to include just a few verses, but frankly, the whole song was so awesome I just couldn't edit any of the verses out. So here it is, sung to John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (and, just as an aside, I am a wee bit alarmed that when matching me to a song, you chose country...)

"Life in Lotus land is kinda laid back
Ain't much a suave lawyer like me can't hack
But gettin' bored shoppin' for Prada slingbacks
Thank God I'm a mama now

A simple kind of life was never for me
Now raisin' me a family and workin' at "V"
Days are now filled with diapers n' doggies
Thank God I'm a mama now

When I got me a daughter I got me my dream
When she smiles at me, she's my little sunbeam
Don't ever ever want my old regime
Thank God I'm a mama now

Well I got me a house and got a baby
By the time the suns up she's in dress number three
Life ain't nothin' but loads of laundry
Thank God I'm a mama now

In just a few months I'll be back full tilt
For now by eight I start to wilt
Amazin' how much milk a child can spill
Thank God I'm a mama now

When I got me a daughter I got me my dream
When she smiles at me, she's my little sunbeam
Don't ever ever want my old regimeeeee
Thank God I'm a mama now

Miss drivin' my Mer-ce-des rag top
And ridin' my bike to Whistler nonstop
But I found a lot of cute kid shops
Thank God I'm a mama now

When the works all done and I've thrown in the towel
I pull out my bottle of Burrowing Owl
Makeda's asleep and I'm prayin' for no howls
Thank God I'm a mama now"

Thank-you all so much for the great party. I did my best to suss out the main culprits, but I'm sure I've missed some. Thanks El, Jim, Ungad, Joseph, Deanna and everyone else who wrote the fantastic lyrics, Delilah for the celeb powerpoint, Kev, Ungad, Joanne, Mani and Sylvain for the kind words and Jen and Erin for generally organizing and doing invites. If I've missed anyone, please help me do a shout-out to them.

Last but not least, this was a "no gift" shower as the Vancouver office had already showered me with 5 duffel bags of goodies for Makeda's orphanage. I couldn't canvas any of the other offices for contributions 'cause I knew I'd never be able to carry it. BUT, the Montreal office got ahold of the orphanage "wishlist" and did another big shop for me. The spoils were all piled on their boardroom table and they're even taking care of delivery. Merci Montreal - you rock!!

Love you guys (I'd say I miss you but let's face it, I'm either on a call or email with most of you most weeks anyway, and plus it's really hard to miss anyone when I'm out under the sun in 25 degree weather at a park with my baybee.) See you all way, way, way too soon.