NEW PICTURES

I know, I know...how bad of us as new parents to not post MORE pictures. The truth of the matter is, my digital camera is on the fritz and I just haven't had time to go and buy one. So, we wait for the old fashioned "roll" of film to be finished and develop. (I hate taking random pictures to just use a roll up...so it took me a while to get through it)

I promise, perhaps this weekend I will acquire a new digital camera and the blog will be flooded with new pics week after week.

Or...I could be up to my eyeballs in diapers and a teething baby and not even get out of my pjs.

Sigh

BJORN AGAIN

In the first three weeks or so of Olivia's life, I sported her around in a baby sling feeling so great that she was all snuggled up, womb-like against my body. Within a short time frame she became very agitated having to have her legs and arms all bundled in, not being able to see out.

This is where one of the hand-me-downs we received came in. The Baby Bjorn. What a fabulous invention! Like a back back (except on the front of your body....a front pack? whatever) it allows the baby's legs and arms to flail about. Small babies are supposed to face towards you as their necks aren't strong enough yet. Well, not our little peanut. She is determined to act like a big kid. She faces out, with her chin not far over the edge (a la Kilroy)and lets her head drop to the side when she falls asleep...all while still insisting to face outward.

We have found that this particular baby bjorn is missing the lumbar support so we are off to buy a new one with a lumbar support, knowing it will be put to good use.

As we walk along, Olivia chats away to passers by and kicks her legs "giddy-up" if you stop too long. This weekend Bill, Olivia, Barb and I went on a hike and she was so happy the whole time. Her cheeks nice and rosie. See the great pics Barb took with her camera?

Jennifer

MY BIG, BIG COUSIN

Olivia has a few cousins. One of them is Byron. He lives the closest to us. Bill was the baby in his family by quite a few years, making his nieces and nephews older than most would have.

Olivia's cousin, Byron turns 30 this year and he was quite into the books "Olivia" that a friend of ours gave to us. He towers a good 6 foot 5 or so! He was almost more amused by the Olivia books than Olivia herself!

Check out more about the Olivia books. She's quite precocious:

http://www.oliviathepiglet.com/

NEW PICTURES

Soon to come....audio of Olivia! She is now VERY vocal. She's having regular conversation (in her own language, of course.

REALIZATIONS

OLIVIA LOVE COSTIN'S TRAILER DOOR:

MAIA LOVE & OLIVIA LOVE

ARTIST PARENTS The reality that Bill and I have the perfect lifestyle for raising a child.

Our schedules are so flexible that we are able to spend lots of time together as a family as well as individual time with Olivia. This allows both of us to continue on doing the things we are doing in our careers, that is - for the most part......

Babies take up lots of your time. I do not in any way, say this begrudgingly, it's just a fact that I have realized. (I know, I know...a million people told me ...but you don't know until you're in it) I love every minute I spend with Olivia. She is so cute and full of such possibility. Our friend Susin made a great analogy: She said that babies arrive as who they are but they just peel away layers to expose more and more about themselves. It's wonderful watching in anticipation as she shows us her funny personality. (watch...she'll be a totally serious child and think her parents are nuts).

On Mondays Bill heads to Nanaimo early in the morning to teach at Malaspina (which is now called Vancouver Island University). He teaches all day Monday and Tuesday and comes home on Tuesday night. This leaves Olivia and I without him for two two days. Let me tell you, I salute the women of my mother's generation who's husbands went to work every day leaving them daily to take care of the house and child. When they say being a "housewife" (what is the NOW term for that? Domestic engineer? whatever!) is a full time job, they are right. It's amazing how you learn new time management skills! Juggling the baby, anything that needs to be done around here, along with my own business tasks is wild.

I just have to say how great of a dad Bill is. Olivia taking bottles of expressed milk now and they have spent a few successful mornings hanging out. She has the funniest look on her face when he's feeding her. "YOU have a boob TOO?!!!"

OH GOD, WHY AM I EXPLOITING MY CHILD? (follow up to Show Biz Baby...see the link to the call sheet from the film : http://www.billcostin.com/talent/CD2_D2_Call_Sheet[1].pdf

Well, Olivia's first big "gig" and mom wants to back peddle. After one whole day without Bill here (geez I feel so spoilt whining about that...get over it, Jennifer) and a night alone, just little Olivia and I, we got up and ready for our call time on "Cats & Dogs 2", 12:30.

On the way there I began to feel anxious about saying yes and felt bad thinking about little Olivia and how she had no choice in the matter, her mom just DRAGGING her around. Ugh...I got a little teary thinking about it, realizing that it wasn't really an option to back out at that point. It was a beautiful day and I calmed down, reminding myself how many times I just literally sat around and got paid on various TV/Film sets. That's right, there's a good chance we wouldn't have to do anything.

As I arrived I immediately felt a little better seeing a young couple struggle to lug all of their baby things out of their car. (This was Maia Love, baby # 3, the producer's baby, Zoe was baby #1, of course!) We arrived to sign in with the baby wrangler, (named Jennifer as a matter of fact!) and were ushered to our trailers! Not so bad, we have our own little room to hang out in. Washroom, couch, sink, tv & stereo. We were told just to relax and that everyone would be heading for lunch soon. (how do you like that...we arrive just in time to stuff our faces!)

I made a little nest out of blankets on the couch for Olivia and she immediately went to sleep while the baby next door cried and cried. I fill out our paperwork, leaving "Love" out of her name (didn't want them to confuse her with MAIA Love) and give the info to Jennifer. I was given an extensive package on the rules and rights for children working in TV & Film. They have really gone a long way to protect kids in this business. It was reassuring.

A knock at the door..and we are off to have lunch. I put Olivia in a baby sling and she wakes up a little but quickly goes back to sleep. I have an amazing lunch (zucchini and red pepper cakes, salad with peppered goat's cheese, caramelized pecans and green apples and for dessert, this amazing cake) The young couple with the other baby chow down on short ribs, mashed potatoes of some sort, Coca cola, cake and candy.....(eeeek...later her baby had a very upset stomach....hmmmm?) The lady running the catering truck came out to see Olivia and yells back to the kitchen "Look, a c-section baby!". ?????? She said she knew because of how perfect Olivia's head and face were. She wanted her daughter, working with her to see the baby as she is campaigning for a grandchild herself.

We head back to the trailer and are on a 20 minute call before we will head to set. Jennifer instructs us to feed first and then change the babies. I confidently announce 'Oh no, she won't likely have any accidents" (ba-ha-ha-ha....never think you can predict what your baby will do..another lesson) I feed Olivia and put her into her outfit. Shortly after she has an EXPLOSIVE POO that goes everywhere. I was thinking that I would give her a fresh diaper before we head to set....only to be surprised by the bowl 'o' poo. It even got on her wardrobe...hahhahaha! The wardrobe lady took it away, got the stain out and returned it like nothing happened. (the magic of film!)

A van arrives and takes us to a mobile home just outside the house they are filming in. The long and short of it - we basically spend the rest of the time hanging out, Olivia sleeping. When they finally call for a baby, the young couple with Maia, jump up and volunteer right away. I am relieved and think this is great. I am actually achieving the "do nothing and get paid for it" goal.

They come back after the scene, I guess successful. At this point, it's time for everyone to eat again (the babies) So I feed Olivia and as I'm in the middle of changing her diaper to head back I am told we are wrapped for the day! YIPPPEEE!

So we spent a total of 6 hours there. Olivia stayed so relaxed (as did I) and she was even quite jolly as we left.

A sigh of relief and a little promise to seriously reconsider doing that all again. (I'm sure it was harder on me than her!)

BABYSITTER EXTRAORDINAIRE - The "smother" mother rules!

My dear friend, Betsy always calls herself a "smother mother" implying (I think) that she was overly protective of her daughter, Hannah. Well Betsy, I've said it before and here it is in print: It must be the way, because I think you've raised a pretty super human being!

Betsy has been by my side, so excited through my whole pregnancy and was so disappointed she couldn't be here when Olivia was born. She's so into babies - I'm lucky to have her around!

In an effort to exercise some child care, I asked if she would take care of Olivia for a few hours while I taught yesterday. Most new moms would feel nervous leaving their baby for the first time, but I didn't think twice leaving her at Betsy's house. I knew she would be so taken care of X 100!

I returned to find a very happy Betsy, baby and Hannah hanging out in the living room together. (Thank you Betsy & Hannah!)

SHOW BIZ BABY

Just the other day Bill and I were talking about people who's baby was chosen as a model for a baby clothing store. We talked about show business and babies. I used to work as a casting assistant and I witnessed a fair amount of disfunction between parents and kids at auditions (Think Danny Bonaduce's reality show...ugh) One thing we have on our side is realizing the reality of the business and not getting all googly about our baby being a "star".

Well, yesterday out of the blue we receive a phone call from a talent agent inquiring about Olivia. Turns out a performer friend of ours recommended Olivia to her as they were looking for a baby for a feature film "Cats & Dogs 2". I had to send her "stats"...hahah:

Name: Olivia Love Costin
Parent: Jennifer Bishop & Bill Costin
Age: 9 weeks
Weight: 9lbs
Length: 54.5cm
Hair: brown
Eyes: blue

And I sent these details along with her frog picture...hahahah!

The long and short of it, Olivia is booked for her first film gig.

Here are the details:

- She is booked along with 2 other babies (coincidentally one of the baby's names is Maia Love! They use whatever baby is sleeping at the time for the scene. If a baby is fussing they just let them settle and get what they need and work with one of the other babies.

- They can only use a baby for 15 minutes at a time. (with I think, 20 minutes in between)

- They have to pay us $27/hr for a minimum of 8 hours no matter how long we spend there. (will likely be a short day...one little scene)

- They can only book babies during the day time.

- The category is SAE - Special Ability Extra (used to be Special Skills Extra in the day I did film work!) I guess her special ability is being a cute baby?

- It's close to our house!

So, she and I will spend Tuesday hanging out on a film set, eating great food (there is always ridiculous amounts of great food on set) and doing what we do with little 15 minutes of fame scattered in.

How crazy. My child is only 9 weeks old and is on her way to having more success in film than her mother.

Jennifer

Hanging out with Olivia

Olivia is over 2 months old! We've noticed big changes. August 9th was provoked smiling. She smiles at things instead of just passing gas. That's big. Also, she goes two days without pooing. We also got through a major crying stage. From 4pm to midnight, she was really fussy each night. We are getting over that now. We think it had to do with the no pooing thing. Also, babies just do that at 2 months.

So, here are some clips of hanging out with Olivia (click on link below):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I61v2B_ZUYw

Also, she loves being read to. Check out her bedtime story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-Bi1rCEIE

These videos are great, but take a long time to put on this blog. We'll probably do this monthly.

Cheers, Bill and Jennifer.

Tummy Tub Two!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Kamloops over the weekend (Grandpa's birthday). Here is bathtime with them (click on link):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E3WvOcS3IA

Don't forget to breastfeed at H & M anytime you want ladies!

Baby reunion party

Olivia went to her first party with people her own age. It was our prenatal class postnatal reunion party. She is the one sleeping in the middle. Click on the link. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCpVtmhvYSE

She's Gaining Weight (it's a good thing!)

2185 grams 2409 grams 2566 grams! (SHE IS HUGE!)

Olivia has had the finest diet team in the land

(Jennifer and Bill) force feeding her around the clock!

Here are the results!

SEE SCIENTIFIC GROWTH TABLE AND CHART BELOW!

Most babies gain about 10 grams per day. You do the math! She is gaining over 24 grams per day! That's twice as much as normal! At this rate, she will be over 40lbs by Christmas! Bigger than a turkey! Stay tuned for more updates.

First Bath!

Click on this link to see her first bath at home:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oRhatUjkJMQ

Doctor Doctor, give me the news!

I don't like doctors. It's not because it hurts when I get a shot, or when they stick something in one of my orifices. It's because I don't like doctors.

Let me start again. I like doctors who can fix tangible problems: a broken arm, an artery that has come loose, acne, varicose veins, cataracts, open heart surgery, c-section births, vag births... you know, things that can actually be fixed. (I love saying vag birth because I know it's on the verge of being naughty, yet still a medical term)

Today we went to our second pediatrician. We fired our first pediatrician for bad bedside manner and being ESL. I know that sounds slightly racist, but when it's your kid, and there is a question of whether she's going to be healthy, you want someone explaining things to you in your mother tongue.

I can understand if you travelled pregnant in say, Nepal, and had a baby there. You would accept broken English while hearing your baby's diagnosis (or hearing it through an interpreter). Children's Hospital in Vancouver is a different story. I think it was more a combination of ESL and this doctor talking at us like we weren't really there. I can imagine her in med school learning to talk to parents using neoprene "parent" dolls to explain a baby's ailments to.

This is also the doctor who scooped Olivia from us on her second night, and sent her to the nursery to sleep in an incubator with the other incubator babies. Of course, I'm not complaining about sending her to the nursery. It was in Olivia's best interest, (I think). The explanation went something like this: "Mom and dad must know that baby's blood sugar is low, and the nurses down in the nursery are very good at bottle feeding, yeah? So baby is going to nursery for awhile. Good-bye. Oh, and don't forget to buy Nestle's Good Start Baby Formula". After we figured out it was Jennifer (mom!), and Bill (dad!), and Olivia (baby!), we were crushed to have to walk with our new baby downstairs to the nursery to watch them shove a feeding tube down her nose into her stomache (yes she cried, and so did we), and then leave her there hooked up to monitoring equipment.

The next morning (4 hours later), there was no tube in her nose. "She pulled it out", said one of the nurses. (way to go Olivia!). And they never put it back in because she was feeding well from a bottle. So, Jennifer and I fed her from a bottle for two days in the nursery. Couldn't they have just taught us how to feed her from a bottle and let us keep her? We are still feeding her. Now she's bi: breast and bottle. She is a very talented little girl. Why didn't they just teach us to bottle feed her in the first place? You get long silences from the health establishments when you ask such questions.

Doctors and nurses love machines. It's just like Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life. Even if you don't like Monty Python, just watch the first 15 minutes of this movie. It's hilarious. So Olivia is in the nursery hooked up to a machine that goes "ping" (you'll get this if you watch the movie), and then... the machine goes... PING!

What!? As a parent, your heart drops, and you start looking around. She looks fine, but there are wires hooked up to her feet and chest, and at the other end is a machine that is setting off an alarm. No nurse comes running over, they still keep doing what they are doing in other parts of the nursery looking completely relaxed. I'm looking around, and finally, someone just yells over, "is she pink?" (referring to her skin). "Yes!" I say. "Then just hit the reset button". After this happened a dozen times, I was conditioned to look at Olivia to see if she was pink, then push the reset button to stop the beeping. Couldn't we have just kept her out of the nursery, watched to see if she was pink, and fed her from a bottle?

We have fired other medical professionals during Jennifer's pregnancy with Olivia. We fired the midwife. Actually we fired all the midwives at the midwife clinic. We also fired the prenatal doctors at Women's Hospital. We ended up with one fabulous obstetrician: Debra Millar, instead.

Why all this firing? I believe it's our right to ask for proper care. As parents, we don't know what proper medical care is in the moment, but we can figure out pretty fast if things are making sense. I hate to compare this to how George Bush runs his country (it makes us look bad as parents), but its similar. George really doesn't know how to properly look after those people down there in the U.S.A.: it's too complicated. Experts show him all the options, and he picks the best one. The difference between he and us is that we care about the end result. We don't have just 4 more years of parenting (or six more months as of today - HURRAY!).

Who in the medical community came up with the term "false positive?". False positive was the result of Jennifer's triple screen pregnancy test back in December. From that day forward, we knew we were in trouble.

What if I used that term in my work? If I hit a wrong note, or played a song in a wrong key while accompanying a jazz singer, could I get away with it by saying: "yes, that was a false positive passage of music" - with a straight face?

You get terms like false positive (or just plain silence) when we are in qualitative limbo no man's land of medical explanations. Jennifer was dragged into Women's Hospital for ultra sound after ultra sound, fetal monitoring after fetal monitoring, and blood pressure test after blood pressure test because of the false positive results in December. All tests came back normal.

Only twice were the results abnormal:

1. We went to a private ultra sound clinic. The baby's measurements came back as no growth from the last ultra sound. The moment I heard this, I figured "different machines, different results". You get a blank, silent answer when you bring this up with medical staff. Their answer was, you guessed it, more tests. Why not check the machine?
2. Jennifer's blood pressure scored high as a result of our frustration with a prenatal doctor and her insistence of continuing with the tests. We told her we felt like lab rats. After more heated discussion, she took Jennifer's blood pressure. Surprise! It was high! The result of this test? Even more tests.
   

We finally asked for Debra Millar, obstetrician. It was a great move: everybody out of the pool! And you know what? There were no more tests. Don't forget to ask for the specialist!

Yesterday, pediatrician number two (the one who is still working for us) said, "let's put all the small baby/placenta problems behind us. You have a normal baby".

Thanks. That's what we wanted to hear. We don't want to hear "come in for another test", or "feed the baby more than she wants to eat".

Now Jennifer is breast feeding Olivia when Olivia is hungry. What a concept! No Nestle's anything. No false positives. No more dragging Olivia out of bed to force feed her around the clock. Again, hindsight is 20/20. If there were problems, we would have invested more faith in the medical community. In our case though, we knew they were just covering their own asses.

We've been hearing stories of babies in the prairies decades ago who were two pounds at birth. Mothers would put them in a shoe box with cotton and olive oil by an open fire. Some of those babies grew to strapping 6' tall farmers. Some of them probably died. We are thankful that there are modern machines that tell us how well we are. It tips the odds in our favour. During labour, Olivia's heart rate kept dropping. We knew this thanks to fetal monitoring. It helped us know to have a c-section. It probably saved her life.

If you know us, you know we have chosen a different lifestyle in the arts. I guess the alternative lifestyle is spreading into our biology as well. No problem. We roll with all kinds of strange scenarios daily. And, all three of us now are getting along famously, or if you ask one of those midwives: infamously.

Father's Labour Day

The memories are coming back. It was hard to watch. I think most dads who experience labour leave out a lot of information when they report the incident. You don't want to see someone you love go through the pain of labour, but you want the outcome: a safe, happy family.

The prenatal classes were great, but really, what can a guy do when his significant other is wrything in pain, toning, and basically wanting to go through this on her own? I don't blame her. Would you want someone in your face while you're having a tooth pulled saying "that's great honey, the root is almost loose, just a little longer, keep toning, keep looking around the room, do you want morphine now? How about if I hold your hand?"

Of course the prenatal courses were full of great information, but when it came down to the actual contractions, what could I really do? Just be there I guess. It was about 24 hours of hard labour, and at about 16 hours in, I found myself just sitting beside Jennifer's mom, watching.

It was like sitting ring side at the main event. You don't cheer though, and really, you don't give much sympathy. What's the point? Jennifer was in too deep. She says it felt like she was drunk at a party and people were helping her sober up. She sat in the shower because people told her to. The shower lasted about 5 minutes. Her and I tried the positions we learned in class (one position had her in a deep squat while I held her up). That lasted 5 minutes. One position worked where she leaned on the head of the hospital bed in the up position, (sort of an all fours position). That's when I entered the room and asked if her dad (the baby to be's grandpa) could come in to see her. "NO! I DON'T WANT TO FREAK HIM OUT!", she quickly responded. I told her a friend sent her love. "WHO CARES?" she snapped back.

Earlier that morning, I was sleeping in the delivery room on a chair with a pillow and blanket over me. I think Jenn responded to the morphine she took earlier that night and got sick. It was projectile vomit directed right at me. I couldn't do much except watch it fly. "Missed me", I said. Amanda the doula chuckled. We emptied the room of furniture, and a nurse came in with a bucket and mop, and cleaned it up. Then the labour continued. A few drops of puke hit my blanket, but not enough to give up sleeping in it. Puking is one of the few things Jenn remembers clearly from the ordeal.

It reminded me of The Exorcist. Don't get me wrong, Jennifer looked much more attractive than this as she wrythed in pain. She didn't LOOK like this. I just thought I would use this photo as a symbol of the feeling in the room at times.

I guess I better put in a happy picture to balance this out:

This is how I was imagining the new addition to the family would be like while the events of the previous photo was taking place.

Anyway, it all felt like a bit of a war. Thank God for our two doulas: Amanda and Aleksandra, our unbelievable nurse, Robin, and Debra Millar. Dr. Millar was the cowboy in the white hat at the end of the movie who says "all right round up the wagons, we're heading home". She called the end of the labour, and basically said. "This party is over, time for a C-section".

In minutes after Dr.Millar's call, we had our baby girl. Why 24 hours of hard labour? Who can answer that question? Except that we had no idea of the outcome at the time. Hindsight is 20/20. Jennifer was going for it, and we discussed a "vag birth" as our goal. Looking back, it could only have been done the way we did it. Pain and all.

Is she all right?

Yes, BOTH Jennifer and Olivia are fine. Today we are dealing with moving from bottle feeding (learned in the hospital), to breast feeding. Tonight we managed a text book feed. Left breast 15 minutes, right breast 15 minutes, followed by expressed milk from a bottle (40 mls). Perfection! Even though Olivia is small for full term birth weight (she passed that weight with the community health nurse yesterday), she shakes her head like a dog trying to get the nipple into her mouth (breast or bottle). She has LOTS of energy, and we are happy to point it in the right direction. It's tough having visitors right now. We don't know when she will wake up, and after she eats, she is right back sleeping again. I'm sure this stage will pass soon. Right now, she is glad to be home, and so are we!

We are home!

Yes, that's right. All three of us are under our own roof for the first time. Here are some pictures of Olivia at Women's Hospital on July 3rd (the day after), and in Intermediate Care at Children's Hospital over the weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, and Jennifer.

Now that we're home, we are counting formula and expressed breast milk (in milliliters), and pees and poos (in occurrences). See the chart on the left. It's not rocket science, but it will keep baby fat and healthy!

July 3rd.

I'm just home for a shower, and I'm missing feeding time, but I want to post this blog: Mission accomplished! Our baby girl was born July 2nd at 7:24pm 4 lbs 14 ounces. Small, but beautiful and bright eyed. See for yourself! Everyone is doing fine!

Bill

Da - due, due, due

The infamous DUE DATE. Which, as you find out, is really the middle of your due MONTH. Well, it sure was strange to be at a theatre opening last week telling people I was due in 4 days! hahahahhaha It really alarms most of the population. We also went to see some jazz at David Lam Park on Sunday (our official due date) and I was hoping not to run into anyone I know to be asked "When are you due?" to answer "uh, today".

Well, here we are Canada Day. Bill was supposed to play a gig today and I woke up with mild cramps and contractions. The first father test. He likely could have gone and I would have been fine, but never having been through this before.....we really have no idea how fast we'll zoom down this road now.

My mom and dad are on their way down from Kamloops and we are just lounging around waiting for things to kick into high gear.

The weather is fantastic, so we can sit on our patio and enjoy the relaxing time.

That's all for now folks. Check back....I have no idea how quick we will be to up date this with the news -but I hope we can just post a quick announcement.

Jennifer

Super Doula

When we first found out we were expecting a baby, we had conversations with many different people about how they did things. From the information I gathered, many friends suggested having a midwife. It seemed like the right idea. a)it was covered by medical, b)it seemed like over and above the home/personal care you would get from just having a doctor c)my own doctor (who doesn't deliver babies) seemed gung-ho on the idea.

So the hunt began. (I think there is a post somewhere earlier here perhaps) Well, the long and short of it, I think we ended up with midwife or team of midwives/office that were going through a transition. Something felt almost too relaxed about each visit. For first time parents, I found that not many of the conversations were initiated by them and they felt very disorganized to say the least. I was called by the wrong name several times and a couple of appointments were re-arranged. There was just a general feeling of unsettledness. (I realize there are many great midwives out there - so this is no reflection on the profession) The bottom line - we just didn't feel as though they were really taking care of us. There were three midwives at this particular office and we had only met one up until asking if we should meet the others. The idea is if one isn't available - the others take care of you. We realized that the only other midwife we had met was leaving possible before our baby was due, another had left for a term in Africa, and a young, less experienced midwife showed up on the scene (there was even one midwife that came into our first meeting that I never saw again...I don't even know if she's still a part of that office?) I really wanted some guidance from someone with experience and it just wasn't heading that direction. Something just felt off kilter.

This is were we were in luck. The prenatal classes we signed up for through Lower Mainland Child Birthing Society were taught by two fabulous teachers (both of whom were Doulas) and we ended up asking for some advice from one of them - Aleksandra. We quickly decided that we needed to hire a doula. Now, my perception of what a doula up until this point was that they were more some esoteric, hippy-like cheerleader...haha. (of course this isn't based on any fact!) But I quickly realized that it was the support we were looking for all along. We now have switched care to one of the best obstetricians and we have the support of Aleksandra, who we feel so great about involving in our adventure into parenthood. We knew from taking classes with her that we would feel so comfortable and supported by having her around and she's already done more for us in one meeting and a phone call than we feel like we've experienced the whole way through.

Three cheers for doulas we say! And thank you Aleksandra for being there for us.

Happily heading into the homestretch

Bill & Jennifer

The Shower showdown

On the weekend of May 24/25, I had THREE showers to go to. Well, one of them, unbeknownst to me was a shower - I thought it was just a party for my tap class end of year.

SATURDAY MAY 24th - I went to Centro Grill downstairs of Harbour Dance Centre and had a great dinner with Moe, Pam, Danielle, Teryl, Laura, Miyuki, Sabine and Christine. Moe was the social convener (which she does SO well...you should get into party planning Moe!)It was so nice to hang out with the people I have spent so much time at the studio with. I have known Pam and Danielle for over TWENTY years!!!!!!!!!! Yikes. We had a fabulous time catching up and they got me wonderful gifts.

Thank you so much to all of you for the wonderful gifts and taking the time to share a night with me.




SUNDAY MAY 25th
The Urban Tap Squad shower - hosted by Amy Burns and insanely delicious cake made by her mother Anita. Keri, Miyuki, Amy & I.

It was so fun to catch up with you three as it's been a while since we have tapped together. It really made me miss you all and our fun times.

Amy is the best host. There was incredible food and her place always feels so comfy and home-like. (even though EVERY TIME we go out there - Miyuki and I get COMPLETELY LOST....and we did again this time....what an adventure - thanks for driving Miyuki...I think we wasted a whole 1/4 tank of gas driving in circles..hahahah.

My tap dance buddies - thank you so much. I love you all. (see the photos)



SUNDAY MAY 25th - later that day.....
Bill and I get ready to go to (what I thought was) a tap party at Kim's house. In retrospect, Bill (who is generally comfortable scrambling around late) was anxious to get there on time. (should have clued in) He was driving over curbs and rushing me...it was odd. I didn't notice at the time.

We arrive to Kim's house (which is stunning by the way) There is a note on the door saying "year end tap party" but I can hear them in the back yard. So rather than traipse through the house, I think we should just head around to the back yard. Well, I surprised them as well!!! They were expecting me to go through the house.

The first person I saw was Bill's sister, Faye. I said "what's Faye doing here?" Just as I turn to see several other faces that are not associated particularly with the tap class. I am surprised........and THEN I turn to see MY DAD walking through the back gate.....WHAT THE?????????? and then I realize they are hiding my mother over to the other side. I was so overwhelmed that I started to cry and couldn't really get it together for the rest of the afternoon. Most of my tap students and several of our good friends were all there. It felt like an out of body experience! There was a huge pile of gifts for me to open, tons of food and all of these people I love so much STARING at me! hahahahhahah I didn't know what to do first. But of course, in true Bishop style - CRY. What a big boob. You'll note from most of the photos that I look like I'm crying in almost all of them.

Thank you to you all for being such wonderful people in my life, to my mom and dad for driving all the way down and indulging these nutty people and me. Now you know why you don't have to worry about me....I have all of these people around me that are so kind and caring.

Thanks to Kim for hosting this at your house and Barb for being my personal assistant throughout the gift opening....and again to ALL OF YOU for making such an incredible day for me.

See the photos (thank you to Tomina & Rose for taking so many great pictures!)

WE ARRIVE AND ARE SHOCKED:















Jennifer