Sickness Survived

Here we are in the first week of February already.  Time is speeding by – Christmas is long gone, spring break (two weeks!) is next month, then only a few months until the school year is over.  Our greatest accomplishment of late is surviving a round of sickness which spread through our family, felling us one by one.  It seemed to be some sort of rotavirus – apparently one of the strains that aren’t covered by the Rotateq vaccine, as the two little kids were both vaccinated with that and neither was spared.  On the bright side, although it took everyone out for a day (mainly one at a time), it only really lasted for a day (certainly less than two), except for the baby, who was sick for a couple of days. 
There is nothing like a tough round of sickness in the family to make the chaos of regular life seem very manageable!  It also reminds us how lucky we are that we are all generally healthy. 

Trading in Options

I was recently thinking about investing in options. I think it was the news article I came across about persons who were former Nortel employees losing benefits. Nortel was once a great telecommunications company, in fact my husband had a relative working there who did very well and enjoyed it for quite a while. It was sure too bad how it faltered and sought protection from creditors. Anyways, to bring me back to options, somewhere in there when I had a little bit of money to invest (i.e. before I had children) I dabbled a little bit in trading in options. By purchasing an option to buy shares, it was possible to make some money if the price of the underlying share rose. Since Nortel was at that time such a dynamic company, it was possible to purchase options to buy ('call options') and sell them within a few days if the price was on its way up, as it often was. Any slight movement in the share price tended to cause a larger movement in the option price. I did write a bit of a summary of how call and put options work, which I placed on Suite 101 at http://www.suite101.com/content/investing-in-put-options-and-call-options-a322335 . The best I ever did was to make about a thousand dollars, though the options I sold at that time eventually came to be worth tens of thousands of dollars (just happened to be at a time when the price of the underlying share shot upwards!). Overall, I just broke even. If someone had more time and expertise that I did in examining the trend of the price of a particular stock, and keeping on top of exactly what is happening with it, I think there is a good chance of maintaining a positive return over time. Since I have neither at this time, I will leave it to those with deeper pockets!

Baby Carrier

Well, my youngest child is almost one year old, and I am going to have to make myself give up my baby carrier collection pretty soon.  My oldest child is almost seven, and he was the reason for me to immerse myself in baby carriers following his birth - he needed to be carried almost all of the time.  Unfortunately, the one carrier that I had planned to use most - the Baby Bjorn - was the one carrier that he resisted the most intensely.
I had purchased a sling (Maya Wrap sling) in advance of my oldest son's birth, and when it became apparent that he needed constant carrying (and not in the Baby Bjorn!) I started to use that.  It took him a little while to get used to the sling, but once he did it worked great.  He was a big baby (20 pounds by 4 1/2 months) and tended to scream hysterically when he wasn't carried (including when I tried to place him in the stroller), so the sling was truly a life (and back) saver.
As my son became heavier and older, I looked into the various other types of baby carriers available.  I purchased wraps, pouches, soft structured carriers (in particular, a Kozy mei tei and an Ergo) and learned more about baby carriers than I ever knew existed!  There is a wonderful website at http://www.thebabywearer.com/ for those who want more information.  In the end, I always returned to my sling and pouch (primarily the pouch as he got older) since they were the easiest to get him into and out of, though some of the other carriers were more comfortable (especially the wraps, but I just couldn't deal with all of the fabric!).
When my now-three year old was born I purchased another soft structured carrier - a calyx by Mama by Designs (http://www.mamabydesign.com/) and found it the most comfortable carrier I have ever owned for doing extended carries.  Unfortunately, though easier to use than many similar carriers, it is still more awkward than pouches, especially for very short carries or with a fussy baby (who likes to be in front).  So.... in the end I remain mainly a sling/pouch proponent (for newborn / older babies, respectively) but with a very favourable review of the Calyx as well!  I guess I will keep some pouches and the Calyx for now, but it is time to start making some room in the garage and divesting myself of some of the other baby gear!

Momcafe - Fraser Valley

I saw in the paper the other day that there is a new networking group starting up this month in January.  It is part of the 'mom cafe' network, and the inaugural Abbotsford meeting is on January 13 from 9-11 am at the Clayburn Gourmet Gallery coffeeshop.  There is childcare available which is to be provided by the Creative Edge School of the Arts. 
I remember reading about the mom cafe events in Vancouver a year or so ago, and thinking that they sounded interesting.  I am planning to attend, and am looking forward to it!  Hopefully my kids will enjoy it too.  If anyone is interested, more information can be found here:  http://www.facebook.com/momcafefv

Happy New Year!

Well, we have survived a week and a half of sickness in our house, and having four children six and under home from school for almost two weeks.  Love them though I do, I am counting the days until our schedule returns to normal on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, many of the fun activities I had planned to do over the holidays have not happened.  I was willing to drag myself to the Vancouver Aquarium, though sick, on Thursday, but my three year old make clear that she felt awful and just wanted to stay home.  I guess we will do it another day!
We were fortunate to have our general good health this year, and our generally happy and active family.  Hopefully we will have a good 2011 as well.
I have been thinking lately about the last warm vacation I took.  It was to the Moon Palace Resort (http://www.suite101.com/content/moon-palace-golf-and-spa-resort-a327198) in Cancun, Mexico.  We have never taken a trip like that with our kids, but maybe in a few years!

Christmas is OVER

Well, we have survived Christmas!  This year, 'survived' is the operative word.  During the Christmas season so far, all six of us have been sick, and there has been lots of bickering and not a lot of patience.  In general, I think that it will be remembered nonetheless as a good Christmas, but it will be remembered much more fondly a few months from now!

My son and I went to see the Bodyworlds exhibit in Vancouver yesterday.  We both enjoyed it very much.  There is certainly a sense of awe in knowing that the exhibits are actual bodies, though the process that preserves them leaves them looking more like incredibly-accurate sculptures than like actual bodies.  It certainly left me with a sense of thankfulness for our generally good health, especially after seeing the preserved remains of the pregnant woman and unborn children.  My bickering children were appreciated more last night than they otherwise would be.

Christmas (Eve) is Here!

Well, the kids have now made it to Christmas Eve!  Presents are purchased and wrapped, sugar cookies are made, broken mixmaster is fixed with duct tape like Red Green would do (very appropriate to the season, I think!) and we are about ready for the next couple of days of sharing holidays with a few friends.  Although our children do and will (hopefully) have good Christmases, they are sure different than those I had as a child with both set of grandparents and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins around.