Day One Montage

As the Smudge photos begin slow down somewhat, I found time to put together this montage or composite of Smudge's first day. It's the way that I have done our photo albums for the past few years, but I am extremely behind right now — about a year as a matter of fact. That scares me a lot because we'll be going away for three weeks in June, so there will probably be another few thousand to process. Sigh.

In case you were wondering, today was not a good day for the little Smudge. Her tummy was upset. It's hard to understand how that happens on straight body milk, but it surely does. It's tough both on the little one and on Mom. However, these days shall pass and fade a little: just not entirely. Impossible.

The Virtue of Wool Gathering

I was so pleased to finally be able to help Thesha out a little. Last night I fell sound asleep at eight o'clock or so, but when I came to around 1:30, I decided to head over to rock the baby if need be. Poor Smudge had not had a great time the previous night, and, of course, that means that Thesha didn't either. In the event, I got over there just after two o'clock, just in time for rocking duty because Smudge was just finishing up a post-midnight snack.

She was a bit fussy for a while, but the old fella was able to keep her pretty calm through those spells, and then she rested quite well for the next few hours. Mom stumbled out of bed around six o'clock to find Smudge and Grampa still rocking and enjoying ourselves. It really pleased me to help Mom get a good night's rest. Frequently, due to silly sleep patterns, I am available at night, but lately I've been tired and crashing early and deeply — just when poor Mom could use a wee bit of assistance. However, it worked out well last night, especially since Theboy had taken the early shift. As a result, Thesha pretty well got the traditional eight hours, as did I because when I got home, I tumbled for almost another four hours.

The odd thing is that, at least to some extent, I can do that sort of thing (rock for hours) without getting too bored. My mind wanders about the universe as it will, and the time goes fairly quickly or at least more quickly than many would imagine ... although keeping the aches and pains at bay from being relatively immobile can make it stretch out a bit. It makes me think of going to high school where the administrators determined that the best punishment was to enforce forty minutes of strict silence after school. Not that I got all that many detentions, but I had my share, and, when I did, they didn't bother me too much. In fact, they were usually over before I knew it.

So, my propensity to wool gather does work for me on occasion, and, should we ever meet, kindly overlook the faraway gaze that overcomes me from time to time. It's just the way it is and not to be taken personally.

Little Miss Bright Eyes

... or Here's Looking at You, Gramps

We're slowing down on the photos but managed to take a few for her weekiversary yesterday. She didn't have the greatest night or day but by late afternoon, she had mostly settled. This was taken in the evening as we watched the Sens get by the Devils in what turned out to be close game.

One reason that we have taken so many pictures, aside from the fact that we are completely smitten, is that we know that babies change so very quickly in these early days. She sure couldn't open her eyes and focus like this a week ago and probably not even one day ago.

Scandalous Doings

I was driving home from picking up a new printer last night when a word on a commercial truck caused a memory flashback.

But first, let me tell you one little thing about the printer. I knew what printer I wanted, and it was on sale (which probably means that it's to be discontinued). And since they only had the floor model left, they also threw in an extended warranty for free. The only caveat was that they no longer had the box, but they had all of the parts and even showed me some printer cartridges. The operative word here is some.

Yes indeedy: this is a six cartridge printer, but when I examined the contents this morning, there were only four cartridges. So, in order to get this printer set up, it will be necessary for me to expend more carbon-based fuel to drive back into town today. Sigh. Maybe I should buy more offsets — which would offset the good deal on the printer. Just kidding about buying offsets, eh?

So, back to the main plot. The word on the truck caused me to start singing — an old song, a song from elementary school, a song that I doubt if I've heard since. It doesn't matter what the song was or is; it's just that I started to sing it, and I'm not sure why because I've seen that same sign any number of times without reverting to music. The point, however, is that in the odd functioning of my tiny little mind, the singing triggered yet another memory — a memory of the time my class was entered in a music festival.

Our class took a commuter train into downtown Montreal. We sang our piece and scattered. Yes, we scattered to find our own ways home. Maybe the rest of the group stuck together, I don't know; but, I do know that I and my friends went off to do our own thing. We were in grade eight — only grade eight, mind you (but we felt ever so grown up) — and yet we children scattered to the winds in the heart of a big city.

When I apply today's standards, I am almost appalled, for children being permitted to roam the city on their own simply wouldn't happen now and would be considered scandalous if it did. There would be an investigation, and teachers' heads would roll — off the chopping block!. But nobody batted an eye back then. It seemed normal and acceptable, and we managed.

I sometimes wonder if the pendulum has swung a little too wildly. Maybe we coddle the kids a little too much? Maybe we're over-protective? But now that I have a granddaughter (you just knew that I would mention her, didn't you?), I guess I will join the throngs of over-indulgent, over-protective adults. Times have changed after all.

Day 7 or Not?

I guess it's up to me to post the latest Smudge Update because Cuppa is already over there rocking the little one. She went over at six o'clock because when we got there several hours later than that yesterday, Thesha was at the end of her tether. You see, like many babies, Smudge's issues seem to come to the fore at night. Thesha had been up with Smudge for most of the night, and was just about beside herself by nine o'clock or whatever the exact time that we got there.

On the way over, I had mentioned to Cuppa that I wanted to give rocking a real try to see if I was still up to it. When our own kids were babies, I did a fair amount of rocking and quite enjoyed it. It was a great bonding time. I know it's not all that common in men, but I really enjoy babies, perhaps because we're on similar intellectual wavelengths. Anyway, I rocked the kid for about an hour and a half with good success yesterday.



But there is a difference between rocking my grandchild now and rocking my own children back then. Then, I could rock at length without getting stiff and sore in multiple locations. Then, I could rock at length without my bladder screaming for relief. Now? Well, I guess I've given it away, eh?



Meanwhile, I am experiencing other grandpa problems. For example: I was at great pains to figure out how I was dating my pictures. When I contemplated things in a fog last night, it seemed like I was a day out. In the method that I had been using, yesterday was day 7 and today would be day 8. But she's a week old today, so she's seven days old. It took me a while to sort it: yesterday was the seventh day of her life, but she is seven days old today. I can explain, but I won't bother because you're probably a lot brighter than I am and such concepts don't muddle your brains like they do mine.

Update: Cuppa just called, and it was another long, hard night for Thesha. Even now, the kid is awake and restless, but they're trying to hold her at bay and let Mom get a little bit or rest.

Belated Earth Day Acknowledgment

Somehow, I missed Earth Day this past weekend. Oh, I read some posts about it but thought it would be next Sunday not last Sunday. Colour me distracted for some strange Smudge of a reason.

Anyway, in an effort to redeem my little oversight, I bought Mother Earth a very small present today. Yes, I did. I went to Offsetters and purchased just that — carbon offsets for our impending trip to Vancouver. Apparently, thirty dollars will purchase enough offsets to pay back the carbon that will be used by Cuppa and me when we fly out west in June. The idea of carbon offsets is to support projects that will help to save a similar amount of carbon usage elsewhere so that one's flight becomes carbon neutral. Of course, if you wish, you could purchase enough offsets to make your whole life carbon neutral — theoretically, at least. I don't think I'm ready to go that far, but it feels right to me to spend a trifle more on top of the bundle that I'll be spending on our rather major vacation, it being, by definition, frivolous and discretionary after all

Offsetters has a flight calculator to tell you how much carbon your trip will consume and how much money it would cost to purchase the appropriate amount of offsets to supposedly render your trip carbon neutral. Whether the calculator or the whole concept for that matter is right or wrong, I don't know for sure, but the program is supported by Westjet, the airline with which we will fly, so I have some faith. Sometimes, you have to have a little faith. Sometimes, you have to make an effort to do something, no matter how insignificant it seems. Air travel expends an awful lot of carbon, and since, to repeat myself, it's mostly frivolous or discretionary spending, it feels right and good to me to make an effort.

This whole discussion about Climate Change is not new to me. Although it may seem faddish to some, environmental issues became part of our topics of examination twenty years ago when geography teachers introduced a course called World Issues. The thrust of the course was to examine certain current topics of concern and not just environmental issues. We would study concerns, such as Population Growth, for example, from various points of view and from there try to determine where we stood, whether there was a problem or not.

Most issues, such as population growth, were multi-faceted, but I could never find too much to suggest that climate change wasn't occurring or that it was a good thing. Even twenty years ago, a scientific consensus was emerging. The evidence was and is that, overall, the climate is warming and that it is the result of human activities. Graphs and statistics depict a commensurate rise in temperatures and carbon emissions in the past several hundred years.

Oh yes, on an unseasonably cold day, silly people will shake their heads giggle about global warming. But, of course, warming is only a part of it, and that's why we are now tending to refer to the phenomenon as climate change rather than global warming. As the atmosphere continues to change, there will be erratic weather and climatic surprises and not just constant heat. Even twenty years ago, scientists were predicting more climatic disasters such as hurricanes and famines and so on. The evidence since then informs us that they were spot on.

It's sad that it's taken twenty years for the issue to take hold, but I find it even sadder that there are those who still refuse to take it seriously. A few of the devout (not all or even most, let be hasten to add), for example, seem to think that if God is in control we really shouldn't fuss and worry. Probably these same people don't leave other problems with the divine while they do nothing, however. They give to the poor, for example, and seek medical intervention when they're sick. Well, our beautiful planet is feeling a little queasy these days, and it's up to all of us to do just a little bit to help her out. I don't suppose that the buying of carbon offsets will ever be a huge part of the solution, but, although I'm a few days late, at least I've done something for Earth Day, and it's not such a terrible feeling.

No Prints of the Princess

Get it: prints, princess?

Sometimes the little things in life really bite. Yes, there's all the joy of Smudge, but when I tried to print some pics, I found that my printer had taken a turn for the worse. It did this once before, but much finagling got it working (more or less) up until now, but now I'm done with with it, I tell ya. Done.

It would be somewhat cheaper to order a new head (for the printer, silly, not for me), but an extra hundred bucks or so would buy me a new machine with newer technology, so that's probably what I'll do. Reluctantly.

Meanwhile, remind me to stop kicking the wall. Not only does it smart more than a tad, but I'm also not being a good role model for my young granddaughter. I've got to start watching myself. Eh?