Our Baby Size Life!

Archive for March, 2008

Yesterday Sunday March 30th, was my last day off on paternal leave . So we won’t talk about that! Instead we’ll talk about how yesterday was also a beautiful Spring-like day here in Montreal! Melissa was taking care of Sam and I had some time for myself, so I took a cue from my bud JugglingMike and took a walk, as right down my street, there are ski paths that go through nice little wooded areas. I felt inspired, grabbed my camera, and headed out the door.

I’ve been taking all the pics for this blog with my Nikon P5100 digital camera. Big thanks to Master Twit and Juggling Mike for their recommendations as to what camera to buy. I am still playing around with settings and stuff, but I got some nice snaps to remind me of that quiet, spring time walk in nature. It was great!

The sky was a perfect blue, the air was crisp and refreshing and it was quiet… so quiet that I took some pics and a video of a little bird building his nest in a tree. I didn’t even see him, I heard him! Its rare to have such an isolated wilderness so close to a big, noisy city.

As you can see in these many pics, I was looking for signs of Spring. Green leaves and foliage was a little too much to hope for this early in the season, but melting snow, tree buds and little sprouting mushrooms were enough to convince me Spring is here to stay! Next time, I want

to get some deer on film as we’ve seen some around our neighborhood before!

To finish the walk off, I stopped at my neighbors house, she was outside with her Irish Wheaton, Kelly.. so I snapped a couple pics of the cute pooch.

Its Sunday and that means I can be lazy today! Well, with a kid, lazy is a figurative term, but here on the blog I wanted to show you a site that I’ve been going to for about 5 months now, and its something all of us can learn from. Its a blog called LifeHack and it describes itself as a “Daily digest and pointers on productivity, getting things done and life-hacks”.

Major topics include productivity, communication, lifestyle, money, technology and management, so there’s something for everyone and their posts cover many facets of life that can always be improved upon. They also have a very active forum on which members share tips, tricks and expand on the posted articles information as to how it worked for them. Its quite inspirational, especially the ‘How to beat procrastination” articles.

Go check it out, and you’ll be bookmarking the site before long. I know I have and I haven’t regretted it.

Well that’s it for today, a quick and dirty post . Its back to work for me tomorrow, so I’m gonna go spent some time with Sammy-boy, who’s being a little lazy himself!

Take care all!

Little Sam has his first cold! Poor little guy looks like he’s suffering something terrible! Or maybe that’s Mom and Dad worrying a little too much about their little munchkin! Its been a couple rough nights as Sam fight this first cold off. His little coughs fill the night air as Mom and Dad listen from their beds to be sure no chocking ensues. It tough because other than clearing out his nose with a little Salinex and nose aspirator and elevating his mattress a little bit, there isn’t much more we can do. We have to let it ride its course. We check his temperature every feeding and if it hits over 37.3 Celsius, that’s when we take action.

Is it wrong to say that even when he coughs its cute? When he sneezes its adorable? I guess Dads getting too gaga over his kid huh? Well that will change a little next week as Dad goes back to work That mean a whole new routine must be worked out to let me sleep during the week, but allow Mommy all the rest she needs to take care of the squirt, do the washing, dust, fold the clothes, scrub the shower, clean the toilets, prepare dinner, cook dinner, keep herself looking good, shovel any snow, wash the windows, pass the vacuum and wash the floors and walls! I know it’ll be tough, but I’ll manage

All kidding aside, it will be nice to see my co-workers again and have those daily interactions that make working where I work so fun, but I can’t help feeling a little sadness in missing out on my little guys upcoming days. I know Melissa will do a great job, that’s not the point, its more the missing out on those little first moments, like his first cooing or genuine smile, his first time sitting up or grabbing one of his toys… you know, things that make a “Kodak Kid” like myself fill his hard drive with hundreds of baby photos

At least when 4h30 rolls around at work, I know I’m only 20 minutes away from being with my family again and my first time saying “Daddy’s home!”.

For today’s post, I wanted to let you all know about a cool store in LaPrairie (a city about 5 minutes from Montreal). Its called Chez Bon-Bon and its and old fashioned candy store! This place is amazing, I’m almost 30 years old but I go at least once a week, and since I’ve been on paternity leave, I think its more like twice a week! This place sells candy, chocolate, fudge, ice cream in the summer and even antiques all year round. They make gift packs and gift certificates, well they have so much stuff you have to see it to really take everything in. This place is basically heaven for me

Just take a look at that picture above! How can you not like this place and its only 5 minutes from my house too! We’ve brought all our nieces and nephews, even the neighbors two boys, there and its fun to see their eyes light up as they step through the front door. What is so very cool about this place is that you pick and choose whatever candy you like, with prices starting as low as 25 cents for 9 pieces of candy… how can you go wrong! With over 100 types of candy and chocolate products, this place has everything you might want. It has all the candy from when we were kids like ‘chocolate tools/babies’, Fun Dip, Popeye shredded bubble gum, black liquorice pipes and even home made ‘lune de miel’s!!!

Below is a sampling of what was left of a FULL bag of candies after Melissa and I got through it. So if you want to fall back into your childhood for a little while, we recommend stopping by Chez Bon-Bon in LaPrairie just for the experience, even if you’re not a sugar hound like me Click here to see how to get there!

We have this book called “What to Expect the First Year” that was given to us by Anna Maria, and its a pretty handy book! I’d go so far as to recommend it as a great gift to any new parents you may know… Once again, Anna Maria seems to always have great gift ideas (along with her ‘Food for a Week’ gift), so thanks a whole bunch for the book Anna Maria!

Every month, the book details some ‘milestones’ that a baby may do. They are separated in the following categories: ’should be able to’, ‘will probably be able to’, ‘may even be able to’ and ‘may possibly be able to’. The book stresses that all babies reach milestones on their own developmental time line, which means if your little poop machine doesn’t achieve all the current months milestones, he’s not necessarily an ounce shy of a full bottle, he’s just taking more time on certain things!

So to recap Sam’s second month so far, here are his new stats starting at month 2 (March 20th):

• Length: 21.25 inches
• Weight: 10.4 lbs

Things should get a little more interesting on the interactivity front, as Sam will start to genuinely smile and not just do so when passing gas! I can’t tell you how many times we worked so hard to coax a smile out of Sam only to feel those dreaded butt bubbles in the diaper a few moments later! Looking it up in “What to Expect…” confirmed it:Smiles = Gas !

This post is getting long, so Click here to check out those milestones!

When you don’t have kids, baby clothes are a cute gift you buy for a baby, and the only real criteria you consider is the look and color. Generally blue for boys and pink for the girlie’s. Now having been through late night poop explosions and the unexpected gushes of a sniping sausage, there are key facts about baby clothes that everyone should know…them being:

Just zip it! Zippers are bad. Zippers are evil. On baby clothes, they are just major pains in the arse. Why? Because they are smaller than adult clothes zippers and always get caught in the fabric. Considering the fact that taking the pyjama off a crying new born who’s screaming hunger while being pasted in his own home-made mustard sauce at 2 am, with a groggy head and tired hands is really really fun, having that stupid zipper get caught fifty times over five inches of fabric is enough to make anybody lose it

Big snaps. So zippers are out which leaves us with button snaps. However, not just any buttons snaps will do. Make sure they are the big ones, as for some reason, there are baby get-ups out there with teeny tiny pixie like snaps you have to handle with tweezers. Again, these are no good for when the little bottle bandit is squirming more than Roger Clemens on the witness stand. The bigger the snaps the better. And check the layout of the snaps as well and be sure they are easy to follow. When you get around the crotch area, sometimes the snap layout is tougher than an Indiana Jones temple trap. One false move and you’re pooped short round!

Even leg holes. Seems like an odd point to make, but having the leg holes both at the same height and with the same amount of loose fabric helps a lot. Some pyjamas have the snaps run down the center only to veer off to one side and down one leg, not both. This is bad! Babies are flexible but they aren’t Nadia Comaneci. Having to score perfect 10s just to fit into baby pyjamas is a hassle, and when a baby is fussy, its legs get stiffer than Michael Jackson at an amusement park. So good luck fitting him into those deformed PJs.

Back snaps. Again with the snaps! Yep! This one is a quickie, just make sure all the snaps are on the front! It comes down to easy access. Rolling a baby onto the side and struggling to snap up the buttons one handed while the other is holding the little pink pamper packer is a challenge. Which, of course, is not really welcome as the little angels seem to provide enough challenges for Mom and Dad already.

Leave the polyester in the 70s. Another easy one! While some baby’s are not inconvenienced by 100% polyester clothing, our little Sam breaks out in little pimples when he wears it . The reason being that polyester doesn’t breathe and traps the heat and humidity inside the on the baby’s skin, which makes the baby hotter and wetter then a Polynesian cat house So think cotton! Its nice and light and its breathes!

So there you have it! Next time you’re shopping for a baby, keep these simple tips in mind and the parents will appreciate it, as they will have a happy baby, which is all we really want now isn’t it???

My sister Cindy, her husband Bill and their two sons, Matthew and Kevin (both BIG BIG BIG Maple Leaf fans) made their way down from Toronto for Easter weekend…and to finally meet Samuel! And meet him she did! This chick was a one woman baby sitting, lunch making machine! She even sacrificed two nights worth of nice, precious sleep, to take care of Sam’s late night/early morning feedings for us. That alone was a great gift as Melissa and I cherished not one, but two good nights sleep! I had almost forgotten what that was like

We slept well, but we also ate well too!

Friday night saw us dining on some nice salmon with dried tomato sauce topping, which is usually done on a plank of cedar on the BBQ, but the BBQ was still buried in snow… but it turned out great in the oven anyways. This is a great summer recipe that’s easy to do… so look for it here soon The pic on the left is what it looks like fresh off the BBQ. This is one of my brother-in-law Bill’s recipe, he couldn’t be there on Friday so my sister took over and cooked it up good. Bill also has killer chip dip and beer can chicken recipes, and during the summer months, he even smokes his own salmon, pork and beef jerky. So anytime we visit them, we know we’re eatin’ good!

On Saturday night, my brother Mike made us his famous cheese and spinach stuffed pork loin, which was, as usual, outstanding. Everyone gobbled it down without complaint…including my two nephews who can sometimes be fussy eaters Too bad Mike’s Guitar Hero skills aren’t  has good as his cooking, as I seem to remember him butchering ‘Cliffs of Dover’ as he realized that Guitar Hero playing skills can wane over time His daughter, Meghan, also helped out by holding Samuel and helping out on some diaper changes. My two nephews (those big Maple Leafs fans) also helped us out by givin’ Sam the bottle!

We had such a fun time and we want to thank everyone for a great time! We just can’t wait for this summers family vacation! Fingers crossed, lets hope it all works out!

Check out some pics of the weekend here!

Hope everyone is having a nice loooong Easter weekend! Man I hope that’s not the Easter Bunny!!!! Did you get your chocolate? If not, you might be waiting a while

We are, with my brother and sister’s families, in an mini family reunion. Its fun times all around as my sister, living in Brampton Ontario, has now finally seen Samuel after a month long wait!

My nephews and I are rocking the Wii with some fierce Wii sports competition and the card games (31 and Frustration) are coming fast and furious! All in all, we are having a blast even though our parents are out of town. We feel no pity for them however, as they are basking in that beautiful Miami sunshine for a couple of weeks.

So its Easter, go out and help the economy: buy some chocolate. Spoil any kids you know…because its fun and they get a big kick out of it! Besides, if they get sick, its not your kid, you don’t have to clean up squat

This is Sam’s first Easter but we haven’t bought any cute little bunny outfits or anything like that …but we did for Saint-Patrick’s Day!

Check out those pics here!

Heya gang, its Friday! The weekend is upon us! Since Sunday is Easter, I’ve decided to make today’s “good Friday” post a lazy one

Here are the answers to my second Lazy Sunday Puzzle Post (to catch up, you can read it here). Thanks to all who tried them out, and I’ll see about posting some more in the future

Take care and we’ll blog to ya Sunday!

Click here to make the Professor spill his guts!

I hope people enjoy these posts, cause there’s a whole lot of these waiting in the wings. Its pretty funny, just when I think I’m out of ideas for ‘Baby Observances’, a whole bunch of them suddenly creep up on me like those milky regurgitation surprises Sam seems so fond of at 2 in the morning. Here we go…

Neat freaks need not apply: If you love a clean house, take a picture before your kid is born cause that’s the last you’ll see of it. An infants’ schedule is a hectic one and you’ll burn yourself out if you think you can keep your house in its former antiseptic, magazine spread like state, and answer all your baby’s needs. We tried and we lasted a week. Now mind you our house doesn’t look little a Calcutta marketplace just yet, but its a daily struggle to beat back the messy invasion So pick your battles, get what you can done and leave the rest.

Peanut butter and jelly diet: Its surprising how hungry you can get on those late night feedings. So what do you reach for after the little diaper demon has been put to sleep? Something quick and easy… and great tasting too: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! They’ve got all the proteins, carbs and fiber a parenting body needs to stave off the effects of sleep deprivation and overly long sessions in a rocking chair. Plus the peanut butter soothes overworked vocal chords so you’re ready to butcher more lullabies after the next feeding.

Little old ladies and their itty bitty buggies: Going out in public with your kids is fun thing, but look out for the old bags! Babies seems to attract more of these touchy-feely old bats more than an all-you-can-play bingo marathon! But I digress, family and friends are fine, its the strangers that want to touch my kid I have a problem with. Do I know you? No. Then why are you laying your lotto scratching, depends fastening, moth ball smelling hands on my child??? Don’t get me wrong here, I like old people…well the older generation, just not when they’re attached to my kids face.

Proper package placement: This is one concerns baby boys as only they have the required equipment These tips concern a diaper change… when parents are most vulnerable to a baby’s malcontent. When taking the diaper of your little sniper, quickly place a wash cloth over his twig and berries as to stem any flow that may be forthcoming. A full baby will pee like Seabiscuit (see photo), so if it starts, pile those sandbags and head for the roof. Once the clean diaper is in place, before sealing it up, make sure his fire hose is pointing down towards his feet, into the diaper pad. Leaving his third leg pointing up means pee through the waist of the diaper which leads to… well not only a diaper and pyjama change, but a sheet and mattress cover change as well.

Rant over! I’m off to feed Sammy boy…this kid is ALWAYS hungry. Reminds me of me Hmmm… I wonder what kind of jelly we have…