The Royal Wedding... where were you?

I kinda think all of the hype of the Royal Wedding was worth it. I mean... yes, the lead up to it seem like FOREVER from a media perspective, but at the same time I got chills watching Kate step out of the limo, her marathon walk down the aisle, when they said their vows, their carriage ride as husband and wife, and of course the first PDA on the balcony. I thought it was all very 'royal'... but yet romantic too. I was especially thrilled to see just how happy Kate looked... she looked beau.ti.ful. and very deserving of a Prince!

It's one of those things that will be talked about for years and years to come... and I am so happy that I got to watch it live.  I had actually planned to PVR it and watch it while feeding H that morning, but instead E must have wanted to see it LIVE, as he woke me up at 5:45 am (unheard of for him)... and we tuned it just in time to see Kate arriving.

E original was asking to put Dora on... but when the music started for processional he was glued to the tv, and then post-ceremony, the horses sucked him and kept his attention for another half hour! It was fantastic!

By the time my morning coffee kicked in... I thought to snap a few pics of E watching it. H on the other hand slept right through the whole thing and didn't wake up until he heard intro music for Ellen! What a boy!

Where were you when the Royal couple was saying 'I do'... ?

This is E saluting like Prince William did in the carriage a bizillion times... although he looks like he's ready for a nap - either that or his interview with the Queen isn't going as planned!

AKON Baby Mama Drama!

I had to chuckle at this... a colleague of mine Google'd my name and sent me the link to the top hit of search results! Apparently Sara Coleman caused some major Baby Mama Drama for singer AKON back in 2009. A year later, its still a top hit! The sad part is E was born around the same time at the baby in this story!

Wonder if I am entitled to the royalties from his hit song!

I just imagine how the conversation would go at home.

Me: We just hit the jackpot.
PC: Really? Whadda mean?
Me: E's real dad is AKON, and we're entitled to 50% of his earnings.
PC: Sweet - let's go to Vegas baby!

Okay... some maybe I'd have some 'splain'n to do, but you know in the end it would be happily ever after for The Coleman's living on AKON's money!

Don't threaten me with a wooden paddle!

The whole new cell phone/ipod law really, REALLY erks me. Perhaps its because I frequently listen to my ipod and drive... and on occasional (more times than not) text and drive, and talk on my phone and drive.

This new legislation in Ontario, is being put in place to ban all of that from happening... I feel as though the Ontario government is a big meanie parent, slapping their misbehaved children in the ass with a wooden paddle.

At 16 to 21 or even 25 years of age... perhaps the wooden paddle is necessary. New drivers, whether they be teens or new immigrants, they should be concentrating on one thing and one thing only, learning the rules of the road, etc. But at (almost) 30 years of age, and someone who has been driving for close to 15 years, I think I know when its safe to drive and talk, text and talk, and use my ipod or GPS. Wooden paddle is not necessary ... and frankly the threat of it, makes me want to do it even more - to see how in fact they are going 'to catch' me breaking the law.

I feel this law is a bit silly because you can't text and drive, but you can still eat a peanut butter and honey bagel, drip it on your good work pants, and then frantically serve all over the road looking for a napkin to wipe it up. $500 fine for one, $12 dry-cleaning bill for the other.

You can't change songs on your ipod, but you can search for one of 50 burned CDs on the backseat of your car, throw it in the CD player in the dash, and look for a song that way.

You can't talk and drive, but there is no law against reading a 100 page document while in morning traffic. You can't enter an address on your GPS while driving, but feel free to shuffle through 6 pages of print-out directions from Google Maps, while swerving all over the road.

You can't change songs on your ipod, send a text, or make a phone call, but feel free to drive around with a screaming infant in your backseat, while you intently try to shove a soother in his mouth from the front seat, or grab a bottle out his hand before he dumps it all over himself for the 60th time. Nope... no law against that.

Yes... to me this law is petty, when applied to experienced drivers. While new drivers these days, have been born with a cell-phone and ipods attached to their hip, perhaps they don't know better - but for myself, and someone twice my age ... I think personal judgment is still working fine, and can be applied without the threat of the wooden paddle.

Bigger does not always mean better!

As a blogger, you really have to love your bloggy friends. Bex over at Brown Eyed Girl Bex sent me a 'personal' email (bonus marks for that!), with a link to a story about how infants who gain weight rapidily from birth to six months are more likely to be obese toddlers by the age of 3.

Whether this is true or not, is besides the point, but she's been reading along about E's weigh gain journey and saw the story and thought it would make me feel better! And it definitely did... finally some reserach to back up what I have been thinking for the last 6 months - thanks Bex!

I love when there is some good medical evidence (from one of my fave schools, Harvard), that basically throws a shoe in the face of the medical professionals who believe that bigger babies are healthier babies... when I personally think this is not always the case.

The research study followed 559 babies ... and measured length and weight at birth, six months, and three years. They looked beyond how much weight babies gained, and focused on how quickly they gained it. Results of their study concluded that babies who gained weight more rapidly from 0-6 months were more likely (by 40%) to be obese by his/her third birthday (and the results were no different for boys or girls).

Now obviously this will not be the case for all babies... but the underlying message of the story was that 'bigger' babies, are not neccessarily 'healthier' babies... and obesity aside, I like what this story is saying.

As a new mom to a 'smaller' baby (who was not premature), I get a lot of remarks about just how 'small' E is, and after a while you start to wonder if you've done something wrong in the size department. Its sometimes to the point that I wonder if our society expectations of a baby is to be that chubby, rolly-polly, baby that's fat jiggles when he/she smiles and laughs, and if he/she isn't ... then people start to ask questions of concern.

This leads me to the question... what is wrong with slender babies?

I realize that mothers of 'big' babies probably get sick of hearing 'oh she's sooooo big' the same way I get sick of hearing 'oh he's sooooooo small', but I think bigger babies are more accepted in our society than the small/petit babies who take a bit long to gain that baby fat everyone is looking for.

My hope is that no matter what weight a baby is that it is healthy ... whether he/she is a door stopper or a feather in the wind. What's your take on the story... and society's idea of a healthy looking baby?

What a Croc!

Someone tweeted about this story last night week (I've been busy ok!), and I found it rather interesting, as I am actually a big fan of Crocs, and was eagerly awaiting E's feet to get a little bigger so I could buy him his first pair.

But apparently... according to the article, Crocs are very dangerous for kids, when they wear them near the side of a moving escalators. I would have never thought this... but apparently the Croc gets suctioned to the side of the escalator and chews up the foot pretty good before it decides to spit it out.

As the story details, there has been more than one incident where a child's foot has been damaged because he/she was wearing a pair of Crocs while riding an escalator.

Check out this image of the chewed up toddler foot and the chewed up Croc after an escalator incident....
WOWSERS! I am pretty sure it's not something to take lightly by the looks of these photos!

This story hasn't turned me off of Crocs altogether, but has made me think twice taking E on an escalator with Crocs on or any other form of rubber shoe for that matter.

How could someone do this?

I woke up to the radio news this AM, and they reported on a story from LA where a family was found dead in there home after the husband/father shot and killed the entire family including himself. This family consisted of a mother, a husband, and five kids - including two sets of twins.

The radio reported that this murder-suicide was as a result of the couple losing their jobs during this economic crisis, and the father feeling that he had 'no other choice' but to end their misery.

I did some research on the story and found it here in the LA Times. There is much more to the story than the radio reports, the father and mother were let go because of misconduct not because of the economic situation, but nonetheless, it just makes me sick to think that a parent, any parent could rationalize killing his own children, 5 children - making it the best option for everyone.

I think what gets me even more is that he shot each child in the head... and that at some point during these horrific actions, some of the other children probably witnessed these events as a part of their last hours/minutes in this life.

I have no idea who this man is or what his life was like, but I think that what he did was such a selfish thing... if he wanted to take his own life because he couldn't deal with the stress of life - I guess he's entitled to decide that, but he has no right to make a life-ending decision on behalf of his wife and especially his 5 children.

I think this is in part my motherly rage now coming to light... but I really couldn't get back to sleep this AM after hearing this story. What is your take on it?

Flirting in the Workplace

I came across an article in the Ottawa Citizen this morning called Flirt Away, which details some helpful tips for ladies who are interested in 'getting the guy' in the workplace.

I thought this article was particularly interesting because PC and I met at work... and eventually pursued a relationship outside of work, and a few years down the road, we were married, yida yida yada.

As cheesy at it sounds, when I first laid eyes on PC, I was hooked... and although I didn't know if he was 18 or 30, of if he was single, married, divorced, or had kids, that didn't stop me from pursuing him, just a bit!

The article offers a bit of a game plan for ladies who want to give into their workplace attraction... but it makes me laugh because I didn't exactly think about my game plan for pursuing PC, I think it just happened.

Nevertheless, I thought it might fun to see if I did follow the tips... and whether or not I think they are true to some extent.

The first tip given in the article is:
Flirt Verbally Rather than Non-verbally

I guess to some extent this is probably true, the article states that men are clueless when it comes nonverbal cues... and that is probably pretty accurate. However, I don't think I used any nonverbal cues on PC, other than a smile or two... he was actually king of the workplace wink at the time. I think most of our so-called flirting was verbal... either in person or over email, so its safe to say I agree with tip number one!

The second tip is:
If You Know He's Interested, Play Hard to Get

Ahhh... I can't say that really applied to me... when your attracted to someone I think you just go for it, or risk being mis-read by the other person as not interested. In PC's case... he was not single at the time we met, so playing hard to get would have not served me well as I think he may have just stayed with his girlfriend at the time, and our relationship may have never went anywhere (although doubtful, because as if he could resist this - LOL!). I think to sum it up, if the other person is attracted you, whether its the workplace or not, you should just be upfront about your feelings... and see where it goes from there!

The last tip in the article is:
Don't Make the First Move if You Are Not the Same Age

I don't know what being the same age has to do with making the first move. For PC and I, he was a bit older than me, and he did end up making the first move... so perhaps there is some truth to this tip, as I don't know if I would have ever had the nerve to be that forward with him. However, as our relationship progressed I think I made a few moves on him after that to keep the relationship going, and then as more time past and we officially became 'a couple' we both kept making the so-called moves one another, which eventually led to us getting married a few years later.

All of these tips are quite interesting... I find it humorous to think that someone - Helaine Olen - actually wrote an entire book on this (called Office Mate). For me, I think all meetings happen by chance... fate is always mixed into the equation, whether its at work, at a bar, or just a causal stroll in the neighbourhood park.

What do you think about relationships in the workplace? Have you dated someone from work before? Have you used any of these tips to pursue someone in the workplace? Do you think relationships in the workplace are even appropriate?