Our Baby Size Life!

Archive for October, 2008

Happy Halloween!  That’s right folks, Halloween is finally here!  Time to let out those inner ghouls and demons so they can frolic and play!  Get dressed up! Scare people! Have fun!  I’ve got a very busy day and haunting night ahead of me as I’ll be disguised at work and will hopefully scare a couple people, then I head home and prepare the house for my victims tonight! So here’s a quick post of some of our costumes from the past… I’ve got some family in there as well.  Some are from the 80’s and some are more recent.  Also, we reveal Sam’s first Halloween Costume! So here’s to having fun on Halloween!  Enjoy!

It’s been a few days since my last post, but life’s been kicking up the busy recently.  I don’t know why, but Melissa and I just get stuck in these weird periods when we suddenly have a crazy influx of appointments and meetings and family events that just keep us constantly on the go for a few days.  Then, nothing.  Which is nice, cause now I can catch up on some posts!  Hence, the events in this post happened over 2 weeks ago, back when Fall was still nice and the bitter cold of winters’ creeping hands couldn’t be felt. It’s ironic too, that as I’m writing this, we are getting hit with our first dump of snow.  So, I guess this will be my farewell to Fall, even though Halloween has yet to pass!

About three weeks ago, I wrote about a walk in the woods near my place, and I said at the time that I might have been a little premature in expecting a vibrant display of Mother Natures Fall colors.  Well, after a busy Thanksgiving weekend, which I’ll be telling you about soon, we decided to head out for another walk, and this time we hoped Sam would stay awake and see some colors!  Well, he stayed awake and as you can see from the pic on the left, we got some serious color action!  We then found a quiet part of the forested area to sit down in some leaves and just let Sam explore.  We, of course took some pics, way to many to post here and way to many to be healthy.  The weather was nice and the sun kept poking through some shoddy clouds that didn’t offer much resistance.  It was quiet too.  No car noise or other people around being annoying.  Just us and a pile of leaves, and a few curious squirrels.

Sammy and Dad enjoying the leaves

Sam and Mom taking a seat

A good Samaritan squirrel took a family pic for us. He was nice, if a little nuts.

We spent a good lazy hour tossing leaves around, playing peek-a-boo and spinning Sam around and through the air a bit, then headed for home as somebody was getting a little cranky because he was a little hungry!  Yeah well, I only had a quick sandwich for lunch alright! I was starved!  Frolicking and merry making family style takes it’s burden on a man!  Should have brought some crackers and cheese… Mmmmmm… Cheese.   When we got home, we decided that five gigs of photos wasn’t enough.  So we propped Sam up on our decorative hay stack and pumpkin outdoor deco and took a few terabytes more pictures… You know, just in case the other thousand come out bad.  Ah to be trigger happy, gone gaga parents in the digital age.  Sam’s only 8 months old and he’s got more documented about his life than Jesus!   And yes folks, Sammy-boy does look pretty kick-ass in his bomber jacket huh?  Before you say it, or think it, or comment it below, we didn’t buy it for him, his Aunt did.  So we are not that gaga.  Close.  But not yet!  OK, gotta run as I’ve got a few Halloween things to prepare and with only 2 days left… time is tight!  Take care!

Halloween is right around the corner and this year, Melissa and I have a little munchkin to dress up.  That’s right, we couldn’t resist.  I love Halloween and I look forward to it all year round!  Melissa and I decorate the house more than your average North-American (watch for pics soon), so it’s not a big surprise to friends and family that we just had to get Sam in on the act!  We saw a great little costume for him back in August, yeah I know, freaking August!  But it looked great on him then and, come to think of it, we haven’t tried it on him since, which could mean he doesn’t fit in the thing anymore… With Halloween a mere 10 days away, we’d better get him to try it on again else we might get a scary surprise come fright night!

For those of you who might be wondering, no I am not going to be taking Sam out trick-or-treating.  He’s only eight months old!  The candy would serve him no purpose… Melissa and I, on the other hand, could greatly benefit from the generous candy offerings people tend to give cute little kids in their cute little costumes… Hmmm, think about the possibilities!  We could clean house! Candy! Chocolate! Chips! Mine! All Mine! MUHAHAHAHAA!

Nah! That wouldn’t be right.  Besides, we always buy a little bit extra candy to ensure we have some left over at the end of the night.   A little “Hershey Insurance” for the candy givers. Actually, I don’t give out the candy, Melissa does.  I am usually disguised in my front yard, making kiddies stain their costumes and their parents swear like sailors. Don’t worry folks, I let the very little ones get by without any scares.  But those eight to fifteen year-olds are legal victims baby!  I love spooking the parents too as they get quite a kick of our Halloween setup.  Here’s a quick pick of last years “haunt” if you will.  That’s me as the Grim Reaper.  The eyes in the mask light up at the touch of a switch concealed in my hand. I let people get halfway up my driveway before turning the eyes on causing most people freeze in their tracks, unsure of how to proceed.  Then I usually jump at people either when they pass me to go get the candy or on their way down after they have the candy and they think they are safe.

I do so much enjoy myself on Halloween!

Today I thought I’d tell you about Sam’s favorite toy.  Like most babies, Sam has a bunch of toys that were either given to him as gifts from family and friends, hand-me-downs or bought by Melissa and I.  We do, however, try to control the amount of toys he plays with as not to spoil him.  So we have little batches of three or four toys on each floor of the house, so that no matter where he is, Sam’s entertainment is covered.  I recently purchased this little jewel: The Fisher Price Roll-a-Rounds Swirlin Surprise Gumballs!  It’s probably his best toy so far.  He loves it.  He sees it and he boots right over to give it a whack.

The great thing about this toy is it interactive.  It plays some funky music and flashes a nice little light show when Sammy smacks the lever on the side, which also causes those little balls to come spiraling down and out the bottom.  When we need a couple minutes, we plop him down in front of it and he sits there for a good twenty minutes before deciding to wander off and get himself into trouble. It comes with about a dozen different “gumballs” that are all decorated in various ways and textures.  Which is probably also the biggest problem!

These freakin gumballs roll everywhere! Thus the “Ankle Breakers” in the title of this post.  We are definitely more careful when Sam is playing with it, cause we know he’s sent a ball or two across the room… or through the kitchen… or at the bottom of the stairs… or just behind the chair your sitting on. You get the idea.  In order to keep things sane, and keep our butts off crutches, we’ve hidden most of the gumballs and have left him with five.  That way there easy to count quickly and we don’t spend too long looking for them around the house!

It is, however, really funny watching him go at this thing.  He grabs those gumballs and tries to fit them in his mouth, which is, of course, impossible, they are way to big.  But it hilarious to see him try! At first he had a little trouble figuring out how to put the balls into the open top of the toy.  He would smack the ball against the top edge, and end up losing his grip on the ball.  Now, he just grabs the top rim and pulls the whole thing down!  Smart kid eh? He doesn’t go to the hole… It comes to him!  That pic on the right, were Sam looks a little less than happy, was taken when I tried to show him how to put the balls in the top and not to topple the toy over.  Didn’t go well.  He’s started to do it the right way now, but he still likes tugging on the top… Which spills all the balls onto the floor at once.  Which is probably his plan… Hmmm… Does he know about our life insurance policy?

Well that’s it for today.  I thought I’d share about what Sam’s favorite toy is.  If you need a great baby gift for someone, I’d recommend it.  Just warn them about those killer ankle breaker balls!

Thanks for reading!

Hey folks! Let me tell you, it’s been a busy weekend! We had quite the Thanksgiving! I’ll be posting on that later in the week, because I just can’t let another good hospital story go unheard! That’s right, my long weekend was interrupted by another long wait at a hospital. Fear not, we are doing well, but that isn’t the case for everybody… But as I said, check back later in the week for that story.

So, to switch to a brighter note, here’s something I’ve wanted to talk about for a while now: the bath. One of Sam’s favorite activities has got to be taking a bath. Thinking back, asking Sam if he “wants to take a bath and go splish splash” has to be one of the earliest triggers for getting an excited reaction from Sam. Around 3 months old, just as he was getting out of that “lump on a log, I eat and poop” baby phase, I would say that magic catch phrase and Sam would start wiggling his arms and kicking both his legs. Now when I say it, he kicks and twists and squeals and giggles and smiles and… well you get the picture. This kid loves water! Well, except for the ocean, he thought that was freaking cold.

Bath time is now my little routine, and alone time, with Sammy. Melissa takes good care of the squirt all day, so Mom takes a well deserved break and Dad shifts into Mr. Mom mode. I won’t lie, I love it. It’s our father-son time where we can kick back, talk about chicks and have a coupe beers… yeah yeah…. you know I’m kidding. I don’t let Sam drink beer… from the can. I pour a little in his bottle, strap on a nipple and presto! Instant baby-sleep-o potion! Actually, after a big day of fun with Mom, a good bath and bottle are all he needs to send him off to La-La-Land, which I have the pleasure of doing.

Of course, bath time isn’t just all business. Sam has some friends to chew on. We have, of course, the staple of bath time toys in the rubber ducky. As an added bonus, not only does this rubber ducky provide immeasurable quacking fun for Sam, but he also tells the temperature of the water! Amazing I know… If the rubber ducky should be fortunate enough to escape the clutches of Sam’s ever searching fingers, there are a bevy of sea creature that will surely fall pray to his gaping, gum lined maw. He’s like the Sarlacc in the Great Pit of Carkoon! As you can see in the pic, Mr. Crab has fallen on hard times. Now I’ll have to find a little wheelchair for that legless crab! Sam rains down his “bath time martial law” upon the little sea creatures from his sturdy throne. It’s suction-cupped to the bath so it can withstand all of King Sam’s jerks, wiggles and leans. That chair is great, it makes handling a wet, slick baby a breeze. I just pull the suction release tab and lift the whole thing out onto dry ground. It’s a neat little thing that we’ve started using since Sam outgrew his infant bath. Plus, Sam’s a sitter now, he only lies down when he wants to sleep! The infant bath had a sloping bed that’s great for newborns, but not so much for curious, mobile babies.

Before Sam starts to prune up, I whisk him out of the warm water into his doggy towel. This thing has got ears, paws and a tail… which are totally there for the enjoyment of the parents. Ain’t he cute? Yeah well, I’m allowed to go ga-ga a bit alright!?! By this time, he’s getting a little tired and hungry. He lets me know by grabbing his belly and rubbing his eyes as I dry him off. To be honest, those are the least of my concerns. I’m busy watching down below. You see, Daddy has managed to stay dry this entire time, getting hosed now would not be a good thing. But I have to say, Sam’s been kind to me lately. I can’t remember the last time I got zinged during bath time. I must be doing something right!

After Sam’s been dried, creamed, diapered and dressed, we head downstairs for a nice warm bottle. Half the time, he’s falling asleep at the nipple. I don’t know where he gets it, I’ve never done that! It’s kind of funny watching him fall asleep in my arms, he likes to rest his hands on something, like my cheek or chin. Then, every thirty seconds, he keeps peeking out the corner of his eye to make sure I’m still there.

That’s when I whisper to him “Don’t worry Sammy, Daddy’s here. Daddy’s here…” and he nods off to sleep. I then bring him upstairs and gently lay him in his crib and tuck him in. By this time, it’s close to 10 P.M. and having a baby fall asleep on you is contagious. Melissa and I would love to get some Zs as well, but now that Sam is finally down for the night… It’s time to clean the house!

As always, thanks for reading!

A quick note to let you all know I’ve been in a professional training program for the past three days.  That, combined with the little squirt on the left, has reduced my posting time to … well this little post in the last three days! It’s just past midnight on Friday morning as I write this.  I had planned a nice post about Sam’s bath time fun, but that will have to wait for the weekend!

It’s also Thanksgiving weekend here! Turkey and stuffing here I come!  We’re having a nice family weekend over at the house, which means plenty of high-jinx and merrymaking with so many people around… with alcohol… and pies… and Sam now crawling a dangerous speeds!

So where ever you are, have a great weekend!  Check back in soon, and I’ll have a good old fashioned post for ya! As for now, follow Sam’s example, and take it easy!!!

It’s Fall over here in Canada, and I couldn’t be happier!  If you don’t live around here, you wouldn’t know that we just had one of the worst, crappiest, rainy, blah summers ever.  We could hardly get a weeks worth of sunshine and we were constantly peed on by some mean looking cumuli. So, bring on Fall!  If we’re going to sit through crappy weather like that, we might as well have some perks to go along with it right?  Yummy apples made for some great, crunchy apple crisp and the chilly weather made from some nice Fall colors.  We decided to take a walk and check things out, as we both love walking in the forest paths that are right at the end of our street.  This may sound familiar as I’ve posted about this before, this past March, while I was looking for signs of Spring.  you can check out that post here.  That post and this one, kind of make nice bookends to a sub par summer.  I would ask for a refund if I could folks, but all sales are final with Mother Nature.

Sunday was your typical Fall day: overcast with a stiff, cold breeze.  Melissa and I packed Sam up with a few layers of clothing, poor kid couldn’t move his arms. He was wearing his new Fall coat and he seemed to be totally… unaware that it was his new Fall coat.  Which, in retrospect, is perfectly normal.  It’s the parents expecting their 7 month old to notice that it’s his new Fall coat that’s the problem. We then “crow-barred” him into his super wheeled, off-road, full suspension, 4 wheel drive stroller that Sam’s Uncle Mike gave him, and set off on our merry little way.  He seemed to enjoy the chilly air on his cheeks, cause that’s all of him that was exposed, and soon fell asleep!  He always does this.  Whenever we bring him somewhere… he’s gone.  This summer, we went to the ocean, which is as you know one of the grandest of natures beauties, limitless in its expanse and inspiring wonder.  But Sam fell asleep right when we hit the beach. You can read that adventure series here, some here, a little here and lastly here.

As with every time I take a walk through this little forest trail, I spot little things that make me take pictures.  Curious things like the white berries on the left, or the known but no-less-beautiful things like a bee getting some nectar in his belly before the big chill of winter.  I even caught that “huge” dragonfly on the wall of my house, just sitting there starting at me.  He scared the crap out of me as I stepped out of the house.  Think that’s funny? Well it was H-U-G-E I tells ya! Just look at that pic! I was a little disappointed, however, that the leaves hadn’t changed colors as much as I had hoped.  Here are a few shots of what we saw.  I’ll try and get back out there this upcoming weekend and get a few more nice shots of the rainbow foliage… maybe even a few with Sam sitting in some leaves.  If he’s awake. :/

Melissa waiting for me to hurry up and take the shot	Some wild Fall flowers	A couple big trees turned red
Zoom on a leaf	A trail to...?	A bee getting some of the Fall flower

Overall, it was a nice afternoon to be together as a family.  Sam woke up after we had gotten home, which was about an hour after we had left.  The way the fresh air had affected Sam now hit us full force. Melissa and I were yawing and thinking about laying down for a quick nap when Sam woke up, full of vim and ready for an intense crawling and playing session.  So on the floor we went, playing with the little guy until supper.  We had great fun together, as always.  He’s just a giggle-puss that kid.  Melissa and I got creative and stuck him in his toy bin to give us a little break (and get a funny picture). Joke was on us as he loved it in there!  He had all his toys and buddies in there with him and he never complained.  And as you can see, he’s got no way out which let us get supper ready.

Whew, what a day! We were all pooped when bedtime rolled around.  We had nothing planned as of that morning, but it’s funny how things just seem to Fall into your lap during those lazy Sundays.

That’s it for now, thanks for reading!

Hey gang!  Welcome to my new(moved) blog continuing the adventures of our newly extended family! Consider this my welcome mat post!

I formerly had my blog hosted on Word Press, but I’ve decided after six months that I wanted to have greater freedom creatively and technologically.  I will be working on it constantly to get it just right and that means a nice learning curve in the form of all that are hosting, domains, databases, plug-ins, themes, CSS, HTML, and the freaking kitchen sink! 

So look for many changes to happen in the near future and as always, some posting goodness!

Why Baby Size Life?  Well, I had trouble naming my former blog and eventually settled on “Adventures in Parenting”.  But to me, that didn’t quite click as the title was missing something in describing the way Melissa and I have had our lives totally changed since the arrival of Sam back in February.

So, after brainstorming for a bit, I came up with Baby Size Life!  Because, however big, busy, crazy, costly, funny, happy, stressful, freaky and funky we thought our lives were before Sam arrived, they now have an extra dimension to them.  Sam.  Our baby.  Yes a baby is, well, relatively small when speaking in physical terms.  Football-like really… a shoebox sized poop machine.  But to its parents, and by extension, their families (that’s them in the header!), babies are a HUGE deal!  They change every aspect of ones life, which is what I’ve been writing about for close to a hundred posts now.

They change they way you live, sleep, eat, talk, work, love, pick, scratch, sniff, toot, etc.  This is the impact of a “small” baby.  This is what makes our lives Baby Sized.  The irony that something so small has an impact so large… it’s absolutely crazy.  Crazy-good of course!

So that’s it folks.  Baby Size Life.  Did I get my point across?  Tell me what you think! Like it?  Love it? Hate it? Meh?

Hit me back in a comment if you dare!

Thanks for reading… and don’t forget to update your bookmarks and such!

A little note today on my series of posts entitled “Sam’s Big Gift” (check out all of Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4).  It’s been a full four weeks since that adventurous day, and Melissa and I have thankfully not suffered any relapses.  We have also, to my great sadness , haven’t had any stripper nurses come around either .  So, life goes on.  Day by day we live our little routine, and as each day passes our fears of a repeat incident are subsided.  As each meal stayed the course and refused to ascend our digestive systems, we grew more and more confident in our recovery.

We are feeling fine and doing great, but my wallet isn’t.  Yesterday in the mail, we got our ambulance transportation fee.  It was for $216.00.  :shock:  For a 10 minute ride?!!?  They didn’t even put on the freaking siren!!! Hello! Remember us?!? The Jack and Jill medics? We’ll here’s our little way of saying “Thanks for riding along!!”.  So that clears one thing up folks: they didn’t do any prostate exams while I was in the hospital anymore, because it is now clear to me that they wait a few weeks, and stick it to you at home through the mail. Is it the gas? How much does it cost to gas up an ambulance?  Are they running on freaking caviar and Cristal?  Jack and Jill we’re a little hefty… Am I paying their lunch bill as well?  So 62 tacos is an ideal lunch for a portly pair of paramedics? Did I pass out and miss the buffet stop during the ride?!?

Mind you, the fee is a combined amount for both Melissa and I, but for a hundred bucks they could have at least managed to let me lie down in the damn ambulance.  If you remember the situation, I was fighting back a puke attack due to me bouncing up and down on the ambulance’s trampoline/chair!  My vital fluids are everywhere but where they should be, and they give me a seat in the Cirque du Soleil!  I guess it’s that attention to detail that drove the price up folks.

I’m just ranting here folks, but I feel better now!  I might rant off again in a few days, because if the ambulance wasn’t free, then the hospital stay sure as heck won’t be!  Stripper nurses don’t come cheap you know! Right guys?!? Huh?!?! Guys?!?! Right?!?! Hmm… yeah…

Sam’s Big Gift is turning out to be one of those gifts that keeps on giving!