um holy crap!

Just found this above photo in iphoto. It is 5 days before Juni was born. The photo was really dark so I adjusted the lighting and bam! There I am. HUGE! At this point I had been on bed rest for about a month

I remember thinking my body would never be the same again. But here I am, 15 months after the round photo and I am a rectangle again. Yup, that is me. A selfie. How silly and embarrassing. I propped the photo on the stairrail and it is lopsided. There is hope, ladies. Go forth and multiply without fear. 

Okay so how embarrassing and shallow is that really? It's the truth for me okay.

Juniper grows

last winter

last week

last winter

last week

a day at home

1. wake to baby crying
2. nurse baby
3. put baby back in crib
4. repeat a few times (kinda like hitting the snooze button except the button is a person)
5. eventually get up and turn on kettle and radio
6. put baby in highchair
7. give baby cheerios whilst making oatmeal or something else (this is important, baby is hungry, baby will complain loudly aka cry or scream if not given cheerios to eat and/or throw at floor aka dog while baby waits for real breakfast)
8. drink tea and smoothie while feeding baby breakfast, eat gluten free cereal myself mmm
9. surf internets and become angry at ridonkulous house prices in yukon
10. listen to Jian Gomeshie cooing through the radio
11. get baby and me dressed
12. curse at the front door which is nearly impossible to open without a crowbar
13. let dog out
14. yell as dog runs away with neighbour's dog
15. do dishes
16. play / deposit every toy and every book on the floor
17. pick up all of the toys and books
18. make lunch
19. feed / eat lunch
20. let dog in feed him water him
21. do dishes
22. change baby
23. play upstairs in loft with baby
24. read story to baby
25. sing song to baby
26. nurse baby
27. let baby turn light switch on and off a few times
28. deposit baby in crib
29. nap and or diddle on the computer while baby sleeps or doesn't sleep in crib
30. wake up and play outside or inside
31.  think about making dinner
32. make dinner
33. welcome dada home for the evening!
34. eat dinner
35. do dishes or bathe baby (we trade of on this)
36. play
37. read stories
38. put baby to sleep
39. collapse on chesterfield
40. eat something like popcorn/giglet/or chips while watching something on net flicks (or sometimes we just ignore each other and he diddles on computer while i read or vice versa.
41. SLEEP 
42. wake up to baby crying and feed or ignore her  x 3

kids today, lots of kids

I'm subbing a kindergarten/grade one class all morning today, then helping out with outdoor ed all afternoon. This will be my first assignment as the times I was called in the past I was busy with my other jobs (mom, barista, housecleaner).

How will I keep Arnold out of my head?

I will purge all of the quotes from the movie right now:

It's not a tumor

I'm a cop you idiot

Who is your daddy and what does he do?

Shhhhhhhhhuuuuuuutttttt uuuuuupppp

Got anymore guys?

I'm fairly certain...

... the amount of cows saved, plus the amount of flatulence inducing foods eaten by me since becoming vegetarian, results in  way more methane gas eating up the atmosphere than before...

Cloud Atlas concept drawing by George Hall
(The fabricant slaughterhouse / recycling plant scene that erased my desire to eat flesh.)

And now I fart. A lot.

In case you were wondering

I could probably count how many times I've thought to myself:  "dang self, I love winter" on the unicorn or narwhal like bony protrusion on my forehead. 

Zero times.

This was on the inside of our rental cabin window at -30ish

Dear every single lip balm i've ever owned:

Where were you when I needed you?

YUKON QUEST START! dogs dogs dogs!

This is going to be a quick one but I want to pound it out or else I won't get it done.

The 1,000 Mile Yukon Quest sled dog race started in Whitehorse today. (I did a summer placement with the Quest when I was pregnant with Juni. Having just moved to the north I was new to all of this mushing stuff and had to learn fast so I could inform tourists who popped by the office and research and write a few issues of the newsletter. Scroll down through the newsletter link and look for the little piece I wrote about how Brent Sass trains in the summer and another piece about one of my favorite mushers Normand Casavant and how a few of his retired dogs are livin' the dream.

 Ok...here we go...the family...

A dog truck. Lots of barking and excitement. A few of Casavant's dogs are getting a back rub from his handler/ladyfriend Karin up by the fence.

Musher Brent Sass gets a kiss from all of his dogs before he takes off. Pretty much the more adorablah (rtm) thing ever. 

Some of my favorite dogs are in Dave Dalton's team. They are a gang of blue eyed beauts who spend the summer getting jacked by pulling fat toursits around on a glacier up in Alaska.

3 people have to hold the sled at the start because the dogs are rearing to go. These are more of Brent's dogs. The one on the far side looks like one of the "Silver's" puppies. The mushers start in 3 min intervals.

And here is team Wild and Free in action at the bridge where the convergence of the two rivers are just north of Whitehorse. 2 seconds after this I pocketed the cam and gave Brent a high-five and a dorky "you're awesome man." 


I have a bunch more photos and some vids but who knows if I will ever get around to posting them. I still have the photos I took of Marcelle and the Russian at the finish line last year. The race goes back and forth between Whitehorse and Fairbanks every year. Oh man this is pretty much the coolest sport ever. So much adventure and history and excitement. So many dogs! And it is my birthday today so oh my dog it was a good one! I hope they all stay safe on the trail, it can get sloppy out there climbing a bunch of mountains and crossing icy rivers and