I love Belle, and she looks beautiful, but I was gushing over this Moana cosplay! Doesn’t she look amazing??
Immortality
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
If I could limit the degradation of my body and mind, I would want to live forever. (Immortality with dementia or complete paralysis is quite possibly the most terrifying thing I can think of.)
A lot of people talk about living forever (again if you could stay healthy) as something that would be terrible or horrifying. It may be the idea of watching everyone you care for grow old and die and I agree that idea is sad. I love my family and by the age of 26, I’d lost both my parents, three of my grandparents, a few cousins, my childhood best friend, and almost all my great-aunts and uncles. Death sucks for the people who care about you.
My family has a very low life expectancy; my mother didn’t make it into her sixties and my father didn’t make it into his fifties. Those ages are closer then I’d like them to be and it scares me. I have so many novels to write, so many memories to make with my daughter, so many things I haven’t tried, and so many places I want to visit. I don’t want to shuffle, deal, or fold, this mortal coil any time soon.
So yes, if I could live forever. I would. I’d want to offer the same to my wife and daughter, in-laws, friends, and you (my imaginary friends/fans).
My goal and hope is to make it to 2068, that way I’ll see the 100th anniversary of Doctor Who (2063) Star Trek (2066), and the bi-centennial of Canada (2067). My daughter will be 50 at that point and I hope to see her doing something she loves as a career. Maybe grandchildren, if she wants. I also hope that I’ll get to see a more open and tolerant world by then.
I have so much left to do…
Would you live forever if you could stay physically and mentally healthy?
To many later days,
Éric
Attractions Ontario
Do you live in or near Ontario, Canada? Do you want to see some of the amazing attractions that it has to offer? Don’t pay full price! There are tons of discounts available, and here’s a link to a whole bunch!
There are a few that I will be taking advantage of this summer, and while most of the coupons are for attractions in Toronto, there are a couple of hidden gems!
Are you interested in travelling in Ontario? I can book your car rental, train tickets, and accommodations!Jen has retired from working as a travel agent. Hope you’ve enjoyed Fandom Travel.
Dear Dragon – Conventions and Sleep
Dear Baby Dragon,
You’re almost nine months old. I’ve gone back to work and I’m missing you terribly.
Over the past nine months, you’ve been to a lot of activities and conventions. Throughout those events you’ve been absolutely wonderful. During the events, you make all the other parents jealous with how cute, easy going, and friendly you are.
The only downside to bringing you to conventions and other events is how it seems to really drain you. So many people and so many things to look at has you completely overstimulated for a few days after. You get ridiculously clingy and a little grumpy. It’s like having people around you all the time for a few days and then not having anyone, makes you worry that you’re alone.
It makes me really happy that we can share all these things with you. I’m excited and envious of you growing up in the Ottawa geek and writer’s communities. I hope you continue to enjoy them as you grow older.
On a different subject, GO TO SLEEP! Sigh. You used to hate going to sleep but once you were asleep you were good. Now, you seem to have issues with staying asleep. I’m hoping its only because of your teeth. You’re teething pretty hard right now and I know it hurts.
Please go back to sleeping easily soon.
Love you lots,
Your tired Papa
Rat Queens
Hannah and Braga of the comic Rat Queens gracefully posed for a picture with the TARDIS, cosplayed by Cait Gordon (@CaitGAuthor, Facebook, website) and Caro Frechette (@CaroFrechette1, Facebook, website), authors with Renaissance Press. You can meet some of the Renaissance authors tomorrow, at CON Creative Ottawa Nerds!
I am so impressed by these costumes! I am personally not familiar with Rat Queens, so I didn’t know the character names. Due to the quality of the costumes, I was EASILY able to figure it out. Also – Hannah’s staff is Cait’s cane. Fantastic use of prop!
You both look bad-ass!
Creative Ottawa Nerds Spring Craft Fair – June 10, 2017
June 10th from 10am to 5pm
At 9 Rossland Ave, Nepean, ON K2G 2K2, Canada (Julian of Norwich Anglican Church)
Hello,
JenEric Designs, JenEric Coffee, and Eric Desmarais (Author) will be at CON Creative Ottawa Nerds Craft Show this Saturday.
We will have an over abundance of free coffee samples and some ridiculously awesome new crotchet products.
Come by and see us at our favourite event of the year.
Later Days,
Éric
Blush: Nursing
Please note: This post is not meant to shame those who formula feed, stop nursing “early”, or continue nursing “late”. This is about my own personal nursing journey, and how I will be choosing to interpret the research I have done. I respect and rejoice in everyone’s decision on how best to feed their own babies. Any comments that shame anyone will be deleted. This is a safe space.
Nursing was very easy for me, minus a little hiccup overnight the first night. Dragon enjoyed chewing even back then, so I thought I was doing something wrong because it hurt. However, in the morning, things looked brighter (literally and figuratively) and we were able to progress quite well. Lanolin helped immensely.
At this point, Dragon is 8.5ish months. We feed her solids at every meal. She hates purees, so we give her tiny pieces of whatever we’re eating. And I’m nursing in between the meals. I’m also nursing before bed and when she wakes in the night.
Last week, my mother asked when I was going to stop nursing.
I had no idea. It certainly doesn’t feel right to stop at this time.
So I decided to do some research. And why not write a blog post about it?
The World Health Organization recommends nursing exclusively up to 6 months (we’re past that, so that’s good) and weaning around age 2 years. Personally, I currently feel like that’s a little old, but who knows how I’ll feel when she gets there? I think it feels old because I’m hung up on the number. But I can easily see how the comfort of nursing, and that bond felt with the child would push past any weirdness I feel. I really think that I’ll nurse until Dragon gives me an indication of wanting to stop.
If Dragon wants to stop before 1 year old, I would have to feed her formula until her birthday. At that time, I would be able to switch her to whole cow’s milk. Whole milk is important for babies because they need the extra fat content.
As for feeding solids, Dragon started showing an interest in our food at 2 months. She would track the food we put in our mouths, and open her mouth too. We held off feeding her anything until we got the go-ahead from her doctor just after 4 months, which is earlier than WHO recommends, but she was so enthusiastic about eating! So we fed her a little bit at each mealtime, and we didn’t cut down on nursing. When she had her first cold at 5 months, we cut out food and exclusively nursed so that she’d get more antibodies. I think that this plan worked okay for us. I would not recommend feeding solids earlier than 6 months without the approval of the baby’s doctor.
A note about extended nursing: It is not unusual for a child up to 4 years old to nurse. The health benefits are numerous, and it’s a shame that society pressures families to stop nursing because of their discomfort.
I found a number of really good sources for how to stop nursing. Oddly enough, two are from Australia. Please note; these references refer to “breastfeeding” as opposed to “nursing”.
References
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/breastfeeding-deciding-when-to-stop
http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/feedbaby.htm
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/lactation-suppression
If you’re enjoying the Blush blogs, consider learning more with Blush: The Card Game from Renaissance Press.
Back to Work
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
Today is my second day back at work after a wonderful eight and a half months on parental leave.
I expected it to be weird (like visiting your old high school or a previous job) but it wasn’t, it was depressingly familiar. It almost felt like I hadn’t left.
Some things had changed but mostly it was the same old job. That’s both a good and a bad thing. I mean I’m glad I don’t have to learn an entire new job but I was hoping something would have changed a little.
Thanks to my freelance work, I haven’t slowed down or lost much of my ability, which is really nice considering I was thrown into a project right away.
The hardest part is being away from Dragon and Jen. I really enjoyed doing my freelance work and taking breaks to snuggle, change diapers, or play. It’s going to be really hard not seeing them all day.
Not being there for first words or first steps will really hurt but until I win the lottery or sell the movie rights to my books, I’m stuck here.
Back to work,
Éric
