Our Baby Size Life!

Archive for April, 2009

What a crazy weekend we just had! We kicked in about 1200 km in just over 12 hours of driving to head on down to see my sis in Toronto.  You see, it was an important occasion, as my nephew was being confirmed.  Now, Melissa and I were both born and raised into Catholic families and you could say we were practising Catholics until… well until we reached the age of reason Folks, folks! Settle down. I like to joke around remember? Lets not get off track here eh? Ahem! So, my sis was throwing a party after the ceremony on Saturday and had invited us to go along.

We, of course, said No.

We were too busy, Sam was sick and I left a camel in the oven… Whatever excuse I came up with, my sis bought it.  So the stage was set for a nice little surprise.  We packed up Thursday night and left mid-afternoon on Friday, finally getting to her house at around 10 pm.  We were a little cautious about having Sam stuffed in his car seat for six hours, as he had been a little under the weather the last couple days, but he was a trooper! He cried a little when he was hungry midway into our trip and again a little at the very end because he could not get into his normal sleeping position while strapped into his chair. We got there and snuck up to the house…

Looks like our lying worked! She was happy we came down, and so were we!  It was a very fun filled, if short weekend, but we had loads of laughs, some great food and an epic street hockey game, as is custom when our families meet.  As per every year, my brother and I take on my nephews and their friends to a Montreal Vs. Toronto street hockey game. The prize: Unquestionable Domination… And bragging rights. We’ve never lost a game as my bro and I really put it to them… no crosschecks or anything like that, just good hockey. We clean ‘em out… because, well, they deserved it! The trash talking these kids do is legendary.  Whenever we talk on the phone, there’s always a comment like:

“I gonna beat you down when we play man! Your goin’ down!” or the old “I’m gonna kick your butt dude!”

So my bro and I take it upon ourselves to… what’s the word? Teach. Or impart our wisdom of life upon them… and totally crush them! Our last game ended 52-23 in our favor. This time, however, we modified some rules to make it a fairer game… and it was.  We ended up playing to a 9 – 9 tie because it was past 10 pm and we lost the ball in a yard. Visibility was close to none, so we called it there.  Close, I know. They almost pulled off a victory after what, 7, 8 years?!?  Hehe, nice try boys, but you’ll have to do better next time!

My sis really oudid herself on this one. Food galore! Her famous canellonis and lasagna were great once again (and we even got some to take home!).  Everything was just perfect.  My nephew is now one rich kid… With all those confirmation cards exploding with money, he got excited before opening each one to see what color bill was inside. Pink. Pink. Brown! Hey hey hey!

We headed back early on Sunday morning and got in, after a side stop at an uncles house for lunch, around 5 pm.  We were as pooped as, well poop!  We ate, then slept. End of story. But here a re a few pics that I took of the weekend… I HOPE MY BROTHER AND BROTHER-IN-LAW WILL SEND ME SOME OF THEIRS… AHEM! HINT HINT!!!

Wow… We haven’t received this much chocolate in years!  Seriously, if I was to eat it all, I would need an insulin shot to keep me alive.  Sammy-boy is 14 months old, and we don’t give him any chocolate, so what do our families do?  They buy him chocolate! Too bad for Sam, Mom and Dad took ownership of the coco goodies until… well until we eat them. Yeah I know, sounds cruel doesn’t it? But as I am sure I’ve mentioned here before: Sam doesn’t like sweets.  Back when we went to the sugar shack, he turned his nose up at the sugar pie and maple toffee.  Regardless, we gave Samuel a sliver, a shaving, a hairline fracture of a piece of chocolate.  He took it in, his eyes lit up and he smile as it melted on his tongue.

He loved it!

What’s the harm in a little chocolate eh? So, I carve another wisp of chocolate for Sam and I gently place the quivering, thin piece on my finger tip and move towards his mouth. He looks at it and then looks at me smiles…

…and turns his head! No more chocolate for me! This kid changes his mind like Mom changes clothes!

Looks like Dads famous sweet tooth was not passed onto his son, yet.   But other than the chocolate set back, we had a fun long Easter weekend.  It all started Friday night when we went to Melissa’s sister for a big turkey dinner.  I know, turkey on Easter? Well let me tell you, I love turkey and I hate having to wait all year until Thanksgiving or Christmas to have some good turkey!  So, it was a very welcome surprise when she told us what we were eating.  It’s was good too, we ate like pigs, including Sam! Little oinker loves the turkey!

On Saturday evening, we headed up to my parents as they were nice enough (I’m sure we twisted their arms ) to babysit Sam while Mom and Dad went out on a date.  We had a good meal and took in a flick, it was fun and we’d didn’t realize how long it had been since we’d gone out together.  Then on Sunday, my bro and his girlfriend came over to join us along with a couple of my parents close friends for supper.  This time around, we had a delicious Ham roast.  Sam loved it, gobbling up the ham chunks with a fervor. And the mashed potatoes! Man alive he dug those like there was no tomorrow!

We had, as we always do, a great time with our families. Check out some pics of the day!

More on this great Christmas gift later, but for now, enjoy!

Seems like every day, our little stinker Sam comes up with something new, just to keep us on our toes.  This time, as Melissa and I were making supper one evening, Sam decided he wasn’t content just sitting around playin ‘ an poopin’.  So, he crawls away. Melissa and I think he’s just getting a toy somewhere in the living room, but when he doesn’t come back after a couple minutes, we decide to check the situation out. And this is what we saw:

Sam had pushed the curtain aside and was looking out the window.  Watching. Waiting… Actually he was watching so intently, he fogged up the glass with his breath. He loves checking out what’s going on outside.  Whether it’s the birds, or cats or neighbors (like his mom!), Sam is intrigued.  He kind of reminds me of a lonely house cat, watching the world go by, right outside his window. As long as he was spending so much time looking out, I decided to give him a job.  Our neighborhoods being terrorized by one, or several skunks that are tearing up our lawn in search of these tasty buggers. Yeah, doesn’t that make you want to puke in your soup? And to get those little pus filled sacks, they tear up your lawn inch by inch… We need them stopped but the city says that it’s our problem, so… This is a job for Sam the Watchmen!

The next day, we went to the gun shop to get Sam… Kidding of course. Sam has always preferred knives!

Of course I won’t be arming Sammy, and I don’t think he’ll have any luck with the skunks either as they like to kill your lawn in the late hours of the evening.  Which is when our Watchmen is sleeping nice and comfy in his crib. Sigh.Damn day shifts! Freakin’ unions!

Anyways, our lawn is, as of today, untouched.  But the neighbors have all been hit and we expect Peppy La Pew to make his rounds on Sammy’s turf any night now. Who watches the Watchman? We do.

And while we do it, that damn skunk will kill my grass…

Be good gang, cause Sam is watching!

It’s been a busy week in our household: spring cleaning, family events, new computer shopping, and oh yeah Easter!  But now that we’re back to our routine, I can happily say that I will now have more time to write, not just in this blog, but other projects as well.  One thing I’ve never compromised, regardless of whether or not I have the time, is playing with Sam!

March wasn’t a good month for us.  Sam started daycare which means he caught everything he could… and promptly gave it to us. But thems the breaks, and now Sam is feeling better, a lot better.  When Sammy’s feeling a little under the weather, he doesn’t eat much.  As do we when we are sick.  Easy to say when written like that on black and white. Logical. Sounds obvious.  But when you little guy stops eating for a couple days and only has a nibble here and there, you forget that obvious fact.  Not to say panic, but worried thoughts kind of creep into our heads.  During that month of march, Samuel lost just over 200 grams, not much to you and me, but something to watch on a growing baby.

Then one day, Sam eats like a pig. I mean all out, buttons snapping, cheeks smeared, food in the hair pig-out. Even with all the cleanup that was necessary after that crazy lunch marathon, we were happy. Cause a baby’s health can be read through his appetite… Again, just like us.  Since the beginning of April, Sam’s been chomping like a champ!

A freakin’ piglet folks.

He eats so much, that after each meal, his belly seems to have grown to its breaking point.  This thing just sticks out, stressing any fabric unlucky enough to be wrapped around it; so one day, I just took his shirt off and… BAM!

Gutzilla!

The day-caring adventures continue! Ever since Sam started daycare over a month ago, I’ve always pictured something like this happening and wondered how I would react.  Well, now I can tell you: I’m gonna kick that kids ASS! I’m gonna LOSE IT! I’m gonna SNAP!

Yep, I’m taking the law into my own hands, just until I can teach Sam to give out some knuckle sandwiches.  His little baby slaps are clearly ineffective against this larger, more experienced foe.  I mean COME ON! How old is this kid?!? 17? 18… months old!?! That’s almost twice the quarter of Sam’s age!  So I’m stepping in on my sons behalf to make it a fairer fight. 

What did the kid do to Sam? Check it out!

See that scratch there? Around the eye? That kid meant business… that kid wanted to send a message to the ‘new kid in the pen’.  Well in the immortal words of Bugs Bunny: “Of course you know.” *smack* *smack* *smack* “This means war!”

On the serious side, Sam’s doing alright.  Nothing serious.  He was playing with his widdle friends, and has things often do when kiddies get together: it turned into a bloody slaughter.  Our reaction was, at first, making sure Sammy-boy was OK, then we found the kid who did this to him and kicked him in the pampers! Right between the two little mickey mouse characters printed on the front of it!

Kidding… No really. Put down the phone… I’d be gone before the cops got here anyways MUAHAHA!

But accidents do happen, and Melissa and I were pretty cool about it, because we know that one day, Sam will be the guy doin’ the cutting. As bad as that sounds (or reads), it is bound to happen. Kids are kids and while we will do our best, we can’t watch them all the time! But just in case, maybe I’ll stop watching those slasher marathons with Sam…

You know… just in case…

Yes folks, this morning at approximately 10 AM, Sam did something he hasn’t done in over 7 months… He PEED ON MELISSA! Yes! I cherish this because I was the guy getting pee-ed on almost every second day when Sammy was a freshly squeezed baby. Now that he’s older, we’ve learnt the tricks of the diaper trade and have avoided getting soaked, until this morning!

I was in the kitchen an heard a yelp from upstairs where I knew Melissa had gone to change Sam. I smiled.

After almost fourteen months, it was time. We could no longer hold back on getting the little guy a haircut.  He was growing the mullet pretty good, and we just decided that look wasn’t good for him.  It just wasn’t. Not that there’s anything wrong with a mullet hairdo… Really, nuthin’ wrong about it at all. While you wipe your eyes after reading all of all that heavily, dripping sarcasm, let me tell you that while getting a haircut may not seem like a big deal, consider these two points of argument I got for you:

Firstly, have you ever seen first haircut videos on YouTube or where ever else you watch your vids? These kids freak the frak out! Crying, screaming, swatting, convulsing, coughing, gagging and spitting are all common place. And that’s before the scissors even come out.t’s a dangerous time to be wielding any kind of sharpened metal near your kids melon.

Secondly, well…ummm, don’t judge me on this but… IT HIS WITTLE BABY HAIR! He was born with it! Don’t cut that off! It’s the original hairdo! Those hairs were most likely the first thing you saw of him as he was “coming out”, if you get my drift! That’s stuffs been on him since, well close to the beginning and you just want to cut it off and throw it away! Well, fine! Do it, but I’m keeping a little itty bitty piece of as a souvenir.  Call me a sucker for sentimentality, I don’t care. Blaaah!

Last weekend, I headed out with Sam to hollowed ground: the family barbershop.  Yep.  I took Sam to the same barbershop that my Dad took me too when I was but a short little, nose picking, freckled, red headed kid.  My Dad, brother and I kept going to this place for years, developing a good relationship with the owner and a couple of the employees there.  My Dad still goes today, even if he lives about an hour away.  I went until my early twenty’s, when I still had enough hair to justify a $15 cut.  I hadn’t been for about 10 years, but on Saturday morning, when I walked in and saw their familiar faces and they, in turn, saw mine, it was like I had walked back into 1985.  With sincere smiles we exchanged warm greetings and family news.  The owner, still cutting his patrons hair after almost 35 years in the biz, was thrilled that I had thought to bring Sam to them for his first cut, and making Sam the third generation from our family to get their hair cut there.

It was a great morning reliving the past and catching up with old acquaintances, all the while seeing the future in Sam starting his tradition with those same people.  All this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it was an oddly touching moment.  It was one of those instances in life, although small and maybe eventually to be forgotten, that serves to illustrate how we all move in turn.  Each one of us having our own time to shine, only to then create a light that will one day outshine our own.  It’s bittersweet really, but that’s the reality of life. I make myself remember these little moments, no matter how absurd they seem to those not living them, as those good memories warm me up on the coldest winters’ day and keep me company on the loneliest and darkest of nights.

Whew, that’s pretty deep for a post about haircuts eh? I betch’ya weren’t expecting that! Neither was I. It’s funny where your finger’s will take you sometimes.

Remember those screaming, tantrum throwing kids in the videos?  Sam will not be counted among them.  He was his usual unflappable self.  Staring with curiosity, but acting with a calm beyond his months, as you’ve seen in the pics scattered throughout this post.  Little bugger. Wouldn’t even ham it up for the camera!

Oh well, there’s always his first tattoo!

Take care folks!

(Yes I’m kidding about the tattoos!)