Preaching and Ikea

A couple days ago, Lucas woke up at 5:30am, fell back asleep until... 6:30am. Needless to say, I didn't get the best sleep that night. On top of that he didn't really nap during the day. So frustrating!!!! After unsuccesfully putting him down for a nap at 9am, we headed out to Ikea. Before driving off to Ikea, I was approached by two young mormon guys, trying to share their "word." Now, let's talk door-to-door religious preaching....

I am not a religious person. I never have been. I have absolutely nothing against religion or the people who believe in God or whomever it may be. In fact, I admire people who have such faith. Sometimes I wish that I believed in something. Don't get me wrong, I am not an atheist- I'm just not sure what I believe. I think that I have taken way too many religion classes in University that make me think way too much about whether or not God exists or is "good."

Anyway, so as I'm trying to load the stroller into my trunk and these two guys shared their bit and literally put the pamphlet in my face- I kept saying, "No thank you," but they were relentless. They kept asking me why I wasn't interested. I honestly don't think this is any of their business. If anything, it gives religion, including people who go around door-to-door to preach, a really bad name. I mean, why would someone want to hear what you have to say if you're going to be so aggressive about it? It was borderline harrassment. Actually, NO, i did feel like I was being harrassed!

I realize that religion is a very touchy subject and I do believe to each's own, but there's so much about it that I just don't get. For example, people who go on missions and do so because they feel that God pushed them to do it. Why can't you do these missions without this supposed push from God? Why can't you just go to these places, help out these people in need for the sake of being a good person? Why does it always have to be tied to God? Can't you go to Africa and build a school or houses because you want to just be a good person and help people out? I just find it irritating when people don't do things because they say God didn't tell them to. Sounds like a cop out to me.

Having said all of this, I don't know if I will ever be religious or fully believe in God. Again, I am in between- I am not all for one side. All I know is that if I want to learn about a certain religion, I want it to be by my own will. I don't appreciate someone invading my own private space and insisting that I listen to something I just don't want to be a part of. I want to go to church and learn about God when or if I am ready, not because someone convinced me to.

Sheesh, all I wanted to do was go to Ikea and get out of the house and all I got was a pamphlet shoved in my face and a blog entry ranting too much about religion. Sorry if I offended anyone.

The Sardine Tent

The camping trip was a success!! Our friend Laura (the most organized of the group!) drove up early from Calgary to try and snag a first come first serve site at Red Lodge. She managed to get a group site, but ended up waiting a little long for us Edmonton girls to get there. And by a "little" long, I actually mean, a really long time. As in almost 4 hours!!! I think Laura got there around 5pm and we didn't get there until about 9pm. On the car ride over we were expecting (and understandably so!) Laura to gouge our eyes out and call friendship off when we got there, but she's a trooper and was just glad to see us (right, Laura?). We also wrote her a really sweet poem on a paper plate in the car just to show our appreciation. It had lines like, "Your skin makes me thirsty" (courtesy of Kristen) and "You are the sun..." You can tell it was a really deep poem ha ha!

Anyway, the trip was great! We got to catch up with our Calgary friends, Laura and Amy (who drove up at 11pm on Friday after a nursing evening shift!) who we hadn't seen in a while. We did a whole lot of nothing, a lot of roasting in the sun, but it was just what I needed! Oh, also due to a lack of communication, we sort of only brought one tent- there were six of us! We were under the impression that Laura would be bringing her tent and Jill would bring hers too. I ended up bringing our friends' that I had borrowed that just so happened to be a 6 person tent. When we got to the site, we realized I was the only one who brought a tent. SO, all six of us packed in and slept like sardines. Good thing we love each other so much!

Needless to say I missed Lucas terribly and that was the hardest and worse part of the trip! Good thing the girls like Lucas so much and don't mind hearing me talk about him!

Our friends Kristen and Mark are staying with us for a few days while they wait to move into their new house. It has been so awesome having them around and they are great with Lucas! It kind of gives Dan and I a chance to have a quick break to get something done! They're both really playful and silly with Lucas and I love that about them. I can't wait until they have their own kids.

Spoiled, Nothin'

Today Lucas and I met up with our friends Charlie and Tamiko and went to the Mill Creek outdoor pool. It was great, besides the brute children who were taking over the pool! Anyway, it was flippin hot out this afternoon and as I'm driving Lucas home in our car with broken A/C, I began to feel a little princess-like, thinking about how much I hated roasting in the car and why we can't just get the A/C fixed, blah blah. Then it occurred to me- I can't be like this and I think that it's these little luxuries that I don't want Lucas to get used to. Not livin' the high life, if you will. We are too fortunate and lucky to complain about such small details in life. I know it's just A/C, but it's so much more than that.

Dan's friend once told him a story about how when he was little, he used to live near a family with horses and complained to his dad saying that he hated being poor and that he wished they had horses. The result... his dad took him to the most grim and poor parts of Calgary to make him realize that THIS is poor and they are really, very fortunate.

This whole A/C situation began as something so small and made me think about so many other things. For example, Dan always says that he doesn't want Lucas to grow up not knowing about people who are less fortunate or about people from different economic backgrounds or other cultures. I completely agree and it makes me think about how spoiled and ignorant kids (and their PARENTS, even worse!) are today. Life has become all about stuff, the latest trend or who has the fastest gadget. While I don't want Lucas to live in the dark ages, I don't want to raise him thinking that these material things are a normal part of everyday life. Sorry, this is quite the rant! I guess things have changed so much since I was younger and it's kind of scary thinking about what Lucas will have to go through when he's a teenager or University, or tradeschool-whatever he chooses.

Now, back to this whole issue of exposing Lucas to other people and situations... living in Alberta has allowed me to learn a few things. For the most part, living in Edmonton has been great and does not meet up to the stereotype of hick Alberta. But the other parts of me have also met quite a few YOUNG and EDUCATED people who are as ignorant and dare I say, racist as Ma and Pa living in the back shed. This makes me sad. It makes me sad to think of Lucas being around people who are not accepting of other people because of their ethnicity or the clothes they wear or the language they speak. Need I remind you that Lucas is not entirely ONE thing. He is Filipino, Ukrainian AND Italian and for that, Dan and I are very proud. He is made up of all these great backgrounds and culture and heritage and sometimes I feel like people forget that.

I don't even know where I'm going with all of this! But, I guess I just had time to reflect in the blistering hot car about simple things in life and one thing led to another. At times I feel that I am disappointed in people's actions, but don't know how to react or what to say. I just think that people need to think a little more before they say things or at least question why they might feel a certain way. Nothing is set in stone and there is always time to change.

Marriage, Blarriage

Tonight Dan and I had a great night chatting on our porch while watching crazy lightning and, not gonna lie, creeping on our neighbors across the street through their windows (well, geez, you leave your windows wide open with all of your lights on, what do you expect?!). Then it occured to me- this is what marriage is supposed to be like- sitting around with your love, talking about important and not-so-important things.

I think that in this day in age so many people are so scared to get married or to have any sort of monogamy because they think it will fail; that it will just be a waste of time- that they will just get divorced and end up hating whoever it is that they married. It just seems so simple to me... marry your best friend, someone who makes you feel good about yourself everyday, makes you feel secure and kisses you like they mean it. Sorry if this is awkward for family members, but it's true! I guess maybe I'm just lucky, but it seems like it was so easy to figure out why I wanted to married Dan.

Now, onto less sappy things, this business about Dan sharing too much information.... man, I've finally made it through the night without coughing like a friggin 80 year old smoker. Woo hoo!! Sweet relief. The past two nights I was able to sleep for more than an hour at a time! HUGE accomplishment, I'm telling you!

Today Lucas and I went to his friend Charlie's birthday party and had a great time! We went with a bunch of other babes and mom's that we met through a mom's group. I love these mom's- we all connect in so many other ways that the fact that we all have kids. They are hilarious, open-minded, gracious and so comfortable to be around. This is what is making me feel more at home in Edmonton.

This weekend I am off to go camping with my girlfriends- half of us are in Edmonton and the other half are in Calgary. We are going to meet somewhere in the middle. Where that is, I don't know because we planned this a million years ago and none of us were organized enough to get on finding a site! But it's going to be great- I'm sure we'll find somewhere to camp, even if it's in the middle of nowhere! It's going to be weird not seeing Lucas for a day and a half, but I'm glad that Dan is a good papa and I don't have to worry about him! I will miss Lucas terribly, but it's nice to know that he will be in good hands! Now, this doesn't mean I won't call multiple times a day while I'm gone, but I'm feeling good about taking this little, much needed vacation!

Off to bed soon... I'm crossing my fingers hoping we won't end up in a field, but at least it will make for a good story?

More on the Weekend

I think Lucas must have been reading this blog because after that post on Saturday about his sleep, he's had two normal nights in a row. He slept until 8:30 on Sunday which was a fantastic father's day present (wait, does that make me sound cold and unloving?). Too bad Dad was sleeping in the spare room - it's not what you think, Coughy McCoughinstein was coughing up a storm all night (poor girl!) so it's just what made sense. Wait is talking about our sleeping arrangements on the internet one of those things that falls under "embarrassing"? (Speaking of embarrassing I just had to Google how to spell that very word...) Anyway, I'll check with Marion and let you know. Maybe it'll be like that time on the Simpsons when Homer is teaching some kind of marriage course that no one is interested in until he starts telling everyone intimate details of his marriage with Marge and the class loves it, but Marge doesn't. I'm sure Marion will love that reference, being the avid Simpson's fan that she is (note to Marion- Homer is the Dad of the yellow family with four fingers per hand and Marge is the mom. Oh, and no Darth Vader is not the King of Space. Actually, he kind of is. You know what? That was a really good question.) Wait, is anyone even reading this? I find it so interesting to be typing something to "the internet" and not knowing who will be reading it. Long story short, we'll see see how much detail I can get away with in here. Back to Father's Day, following Lucas' stellar sleep performance we went for brunch (as indicated below), but just to try and beef up the blog a bit, let me describe to you everything I ate. Plate # 1 contained eggs benedict, bacon, cheese (blue cheese!), perogies, roast beef, teriyaki salmon, smoked salmon, and a croissant. Of course, this was followed by a more modest plate # 2 which contained more cheese, cold cuts, olive bread, and fruit. It was sometime around plate #2 that Lucas decided to launch a piece of watermelon about 12 feet away. Now, of course, this wasn't the first piece of food he fired off his tray, but it probably covered the most distance. Following plate two was dessert, which was ridiculously good as well. Really the long and the short of it is I really appreciate my family taking me out for brunch! It was nice to go to a sort of fancier restaurant with the family instead of just Red Robin. Prior to breakfast Marion and Lucas gave me some father's day presents including the nicest belt I've ever owned (it has bicycles on it!), the most thoughtful collection of pictures and captions I have every received, and the cutest mug you could imagine with a picture of Lucas (seen at the start here) and a caption saying "World's Greatest Dad". Very thoughtful and very much appreciated! Then after some bumming around (don't get ahead of yourselves, that just means sitting around doing nothing) I headed out to the World Extreme Cagefighting event at Rexall Place. Following the event I went to Earl's (doesn't that seem a natural choice following a cagefighting event?)for something to eat and sitting and the table next to us was none other than Kenny Florian who was in town to do the TV commentating for the event.

I hope your brain hasn't gone numb with boredom after this, Dad's first post. I'll work on my brevity next time!

The Weekend

Last night I got a chance to go out with my girlfriends and it was great! We went out for sushi, caught up, talked a lot about nothing and headed out to Whyte Ave. Ever since I had Lucas I realized that there are a lot of things I don't miss... like all the drunks stumbling on Whyte. Or the awkward drunken arguments between couples, really short skirts (way too short) and meat heads wearing Ed Hardy shirts. I'm not going to lie though, it still makes me laugh! It's even more funny when you're sober and all you want to do is pee, but the drunk girl in the stall is talking on her cell phone to her mom.

I am glad that Dan and I were able to get out do the "party" thing when we were younger so we can say that we didn't miss out on anything. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to get out, relax and have a drink or two, but I'm happy I got all of that stuff out of my system. I'm perfectly happy to be the DD, out with my friends, drinking a club soda (never thought I'd ever say that!)- especially if there's a drunk chick wearing a lace dress who can't even walk straight, standing in front of us.

Onto other things- today is Father's Day! Lucas and I took Dan out for brunch at the Sutton Hotel where we spent last year's Father's Day. Lucas couldn't even eat real food then, so it was great to share all of the delicious food with him! To cap this special day off, Dan is going to some cage fighting event with his friend Mark. I think it's hilarious! At least I don't have to watch sweaty men in short shorts beating each other. It's been a great day!

Sheesh- content with being the DD, drinking club soda on a Saturday night and encouraging my husband to watch cage fighting on Father's Day? HIGH-larious.

Too Good To Be True

Lucas has always been a good sleeper... until the past couple weeks or so. He has been for the most part, sleeping throughout the night, but has been waking up at 6-6:30am. Boy, were mom and dad spoiled with those 9:30am wake ups! Dan and I have never been morning people, but when we had Lucas it forced us to appreciate being up in the morning. But not THIS early! It's a good thing that Dan is such a great dad because he still helps out if Lucas wakes up.

Everytime we would tell people what time Lucas went to bed and woke up, they would be so jealous and we knew we were lucky. This is why we never boasted about our perfectly sleeping baby because we knew that it could all end one day. And end, it has. But even when Lucas wakes me up at 6am, I can't look at that face and ever be mad at him! He's much too cute for that.

As a sidenote, this reminds me of a pet peeve of mine. I don't have patience for people who aren't humble about the things they have or who they have become. I truly believe in karma and for the sake of sounding religious-ish, which I am not, we should all count our blessings and thankful!

Finally!

For a little while now, Dan and I have been thinking about the best way to keep in touch with all of our friends and family all over the world. So, finally we decided to start a blog! Our son, Lucas is about 13 months now and we thought it would neat to reflect on our first year as parents, what it's been like living in a new city, with no family and all those everyday funny encounters (or not so funny) we have.

This past year has zoomed by and has been crazy and hectic, BUT it has been the best year of our lives.