Our Baby Size Life!

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Seems like we’ve discovered a long lost aunt in the family, but she’s a little weird.  She has these bizarre obsessions with children, animals and soup, which normally might be OK, but she combines her hobbies.  She also loves cleaning, which explains her keeping a broom nearby at all times.  Even stranger, she only comes by to visit us once a year, which is in the month of October because of some kind of convention at the end of the month.  She says her allergies constantly bug her, which is why her eyes are always red and irritated, not to mention her dry crackled skin… Poor old girl!

Now, mind you, she’s a pretty shy lady that quite hates bright lights and camera flashes, which means I had to snap this pic of her in the dark…

Continue reading to see Sam’s long lost aunt!

On a beautiful Saturday morning, around 6:30 A.M., Sam begins to stir in his play pen.  You see, we’re at my folks house and when we sleep over, Sammy-boy gets the couch.  Well, he gets the toddler equivalent anyways: the folding playpen.  He’s not crazy about it, but after an exciting night with his Nanny and Grandpa, Sam is pooped out and sleeps pretty well regardless of his sleeping quarters.  So the sun has barely crested the watery horizon when he decides that we should all wake up and start the day.  He doesn’t just start crying and yelling like any other kid. No, our Sam stands up gripping the side of the pen, which lines up to about his nose, and with a hopeful voice blurts out: “Papa?!?”  Yep, he asks for me.  A house full of people, but he asks for me. Groggy Dad, who went to bed late watching movies, has to now get up and entertain, feed and change the alarmingly full diaper of his excited, wide-awake son.  Now hearing him call my name in his clear, little voice as it cuts through the early morning quiet of the house is quite a heart warming thing to hear, it really is.  The pamper-packer just woke up and he’s asking for me.  I love it.

But I’d love it more around 7:30 or 8 o’clock!

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Regardless of how you spend time in your life, every now and then something makes you stop and reflect.  It could be a song playing on the radio, a bit of news on the television or the sound of a familiar, yet long-forgotten voice.  It may be the smell of banana bread cooking in the oven, watching kids splash in a puddle of summer rain or just hearing the wind rustle the leaves of the trees in your backyard.  Anything can trigger a memory that makes you realize just how much time has past.  How much of your life you’ve lived.  Living my life in this hi-tech, fast paced time, I cherish these moments.  I sometimes even close my eyes and concentrate to keep them alive with me a little longer.  I can almost taste Mom’s piping hot, devilishly buttered banana bread on my tongue. But not all memories are brought to the surface of my jumbled, hurried thoughts by pleasant occurrences.

This past week, a particular wisp of remembrance stuck with me. The vividness of it astounds me and the amount of detail I can remember is far greater than most of my other lifelong recollections.  Memories tend to change a bit over time as certain facts are lost, but the purpose of the moment will live on even if you are not quite sure what that purpose is… You may not remember exactly what she was wearing, but you know she looked beautiful…

So,  here now I’d like to share a memory with you…

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It’s been a little while since my last post but I’ve been having some trouble with my hosting service which, thankfully, seems to be over! So let the posting begin anew!

Time flies as we are already well into the month of May! It made me realize that summer is right around the corner and having some great weather these last couple days sure makes one day dream. But before we completely give ourselves into the fine times of Spring, here’s a little glance back at some pictures taken from the month of April. Now I’m not just rehasing stuff you’ve seen.  Most of these are just pics taken here and there that don’t necessarily add up or inspire a post. Take a look:

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

Hey folks! Between colds and flus, I have finally found some time to ‘keep on keepin’ on’ about Sam’s first birthday party. What a day it was! As I previously wrote, by 2 o’clock, Melissa and I were already pooped out and Sam was on his way. So, just before most of the guests arrived, I dipped upstairs with the birthday boy to put him down for a quick nap. He needed it, he was out like a light within a couple minutes… And knowing what I know now, in my sickly state, I should have followed Sam’s example, but I just couldn’t leave Melissa alone with the last minute preparations… Well yes I could, I was just to hopped up on cold meds to get any shut-eye!

Shortly after Sam’s put down, the guest started arriving. They all looked for Sam, but we kept telling them that he was sleeping but that he’d be up soon. Imagine, the guest of honor is sleeping when everyone is gathered to see him! Sheesh. A king’s life I tells ya! But, sure enough, like the little man of honor he was on that day, Sam waited until the moment was right. Until the fever was at it’s pitch and the anticipation could no longer be held, just then when tense was at it breaking point…

Sam yells: “Dadada!”

The general din of the party becomes an instant chatter of excitement as Sam makes his appearance! And thus began the parade of kisses and well wishes for the little guy. Around and round he went, from arm to arm and gettin’ kisses from everybody. If anybody was sick in the following week, they surely caught it here! But to Sam’s credit, even after just waking up, he’s all smiles and he takes the love beating in stride. He never cries or frowns, just willingly gets handed around until his final stop: the high chair. The Mecca. Sam didn’t know it yet, but his artificial sugar free life was about to change. Would a massive sugar rush ensue? We were all about to find out as it was time to unveil the cake and let Sam take his first steps into glucose induced hyperactivity. I now give you, in photos action, Sam cake tasting trip-out:

Family shot before the carnage	After too long a hesitation, Mom gets things started!	Elmo watches all!
Sam just stared like this for a good five minutes... the sugar trip kicking in.	Looking off into the distance... He's watching the pink elephants	Then he just started randomly lifting his arms... as if waving to those very same pink elephants
Mom comes in for the clean up, that cupcake will never be the same!

WP is having fits, so I’m stopping here, we’ll pick this up when I’m in a better mood.

Sam loves water and he especially loves his bath!  We keep things mixed up for Sam. It keeps things interesting for him… and for us by varying our routine on a nightly basis. And that is an important tip folks: vary the routine, don’t break it.  Babies love their routines and it keeps life manageable for the parents.  Fighting it will just make things worse, I know, I tried. So, find ways of varying the steps you go through enough to keep you sane, and your kid won’t be lost in his daily habits. Preaching done, on with the post.

So, some nights we give him his shower and others it’s a full-on bath, complete with bubbles! Now, babies are curious by nature and tend to discover things by looking, touching and then tasting.  The first time we put bubbles in his bath, he went right to the tasting! Down went his hand in a big scooping motion, and up it came with his fingers full of the sticky little bubbles.  A moments hesitation on my part in wiping the suds away and it was too late, they were gone!  Swallowed by the sparsely toothed maw, they never had a chance. Sam made a face and never tried to intentionally eat them again.

We’ve given him a bunch of baths with bubbles since then and I just don’t know why I hadn’t thought of doing something like this to Sammy before.  Bubble hair! Let the games begin! Man it’s fun to being goofy parents!  We can have this kind of fun and he’s too young to know any better! I think he liked having his head soaked in suds.  Check it out in the gallery below.  It starts off with a little dab of suds… then the bubble monster strikes! Is there a baby under there?!?!

Chat’ya soon folks!

One day, I almost broke my back hauling big Sammy out of our bathtub.  It’s one of those extra deep, extra long suckers that requires a step to get into… for shorter people anyways. Me, being the giraffe of the family, I have no problems stepping in and out of the thing,  but when we give Sam a bath (as written about here and here), it’s a tough gut-wrench to get him out!  I am usually sitting on the bath step washing him, and then while sitting, I get him under the arms and pull straight up to get him out of his bath chair, then over and around into a waiting towel.  He likes the ride, but Mom can’t do it anymore, and Dad is finding it ’s getting tougher to pull off… Well Sam’s over 20 lbs now! He’s a good sack of potatoes! Plus he’s wet! So that’s gotta count for something! I know, I’m getting old!

So, one night, I was feeling a little lazy and decided to give him his own shower.  Now while I was feeling lazy, I didn’t just open the shower door, turn on the water, throw him in and shut the door! Come on folks… I turned the light on first! Kidding aside, I was actually pretty pumped to see his reaction to the shower head and whether or not he’d like it.  Back in July, in Wildwood, I had brought him into the shower with me, and the shower head scared him something good!  So, this time, I was a little weary.  I didn’t want to stress the little guy out… or clean a bunch of poop out of the shower drain.

Sliding Sam into his seat, his interest in the spewing shower head was immediate… and he loved it! He just wanted to swing the dangling shower head back and forth.  He even tried to get a couple sprays on Dad, but I was too quick to him… this time.  Next, he kept trying to drink from it.  The water temperature was a nice warm/hot and was approved by his temperature telling rubber ducky!  Which Sam promptly stuck in his mouth when I wouldn’t let him drink any of the water.  The shower was a success!  Sam loved being gently sprayed with the water while chewing on his toys.  I foamed up his loofah and got to work scrubbing the little guy down, which he also found interesting.  Of course, as soon as he saw bubbles on his skin, he just had to taste them!

Having Sam on the bottom of the shower just makes sense.  He’s easy to ship in or out and we don’t have to worry about accidental drowning or other creepy stuff like that.  He’s certainly not crying about it, so we won’t either! One thing we;ve noticed , however, is when Sam’s in his towel for the drying off phase, he just has to have something in his hands.  If you don’t give him something, he will make your life a living hell!  He’ll kick, squirm, punch, slap, twist, jiggle, bend, sit up, roll over, yanks, pick, reach and eventually crawl away… naked over the cold tile!  He simply doesn’t care!  We’ve got a little libertine baby on our hands here folks!  As long as he doesn’t “pull it out on the playground” I think we’ll be OK.

Winter stinks… and thanks for reading!

I know this post is long over due, but I figured I’d tell you about our Thanksgiving anyways, because we ended up in the hospital again!  Man, when it rains it pours!  I hadn’t been in a hospital in years, almost decades, and now it happens three times in a two month period!  So, with the American Thanksgiving right around the corner, I figured I’d sneak this post in now, while it’s got some relevance. My bro has some nice pics from that great Thanksgiving day, but I don’t have them with me now. It’s a bummer, but I’ll try and post ‘em later on.  We had some great family fun as my sis and her family made the drive up from Toronto.  My bro was there with his daughter and his new girlfriend and , of course, my parents were there… well we were all in their house.  So, yeah, it makes sense they be there…

Saturday was a busy day, we all had some fun on my Wii (Rock Band and Boom Blox), we played some street hockey in which my nephews once again felt the unforgiving wrath of their Uncle John as he totally and systematically destroyed their defense and piled on the goals without mercy.  I won (again) 53 to 38, and they were two on one! Yeah, I know I’m good, but what can I say… I’m a natural…  What? How old? Why they are 13 and 11… but that doesn’t mean anything! Have you seen kids nowadays?!?  They’re HUGE. My oldest nephew wears bigger sized shoes than I do! And you know what they say about a man with big feet… They wear BIG shoes! Let’s keep it clean folks!

So everything was going typically well, it was around 11 pm when things went south. My sis and brother-in-law were packing up the minivan to head back early the next day while everyone else was playing some cards and winding down after another great meal. Kudos to Mom and Dad who outdid themselves again! Check out some of the yummy food they laid out:

Mmmm... Look at that turkey. It was as good as it looks!	My plate...or I should say, one of my plates!
Apple, Cherry and Pumpkin pies!	Rollie-Pollies, a decadent recipe made of pie crust and brown sugar!

Colby, their dog, was out with my bro-in-law while he packed the car, when suddenly Colby bolts out towards the street after a couple strangers that were out taking a walk.  My bro-in-law reacted and spun to chase after the dog… but didn’t see the traveling bag he had placed on the ground.  He ended up landing hard on his left shoulder.  We walks into the kitchen, clutching his arm saying he can’t feel his fingers and arm, but his shoulder is in intense pain.

Luckily, my bro’s new girlfriend used to be a nurse and checked him out.  She thought we should get to a hospital to make sure everything was OK as she thought that his arm or shoulder could be broken!  So off we go, my Dad, my bro-in-law and me to the local hospital on Thanksgiving night, it being close to midnight.  We arrived at the hospital around 15 past midnight, and after a series of quick examinations followed by a couple hours waiting time, they recommended he get X-rays.  So we had to wait for the X-ray technician.  It was now 3 am. He got his X-rays and hobbled back to his waiting room for the doctor to give his diagnosis on the X-rays taken.  That took another 2 hours.  It was now 5 am.

Finally, the doctor came back and explained the situation to my bro-in-law:  his shoulder was broken… in two places!  No wonder he was in pain!  The doctor then advised him to go home and relax until they got into contact with a surgeon to evaluate how to proceed.  The problem was my bro-in-law had one clean fracture and another fracture that had detached a tendon.  They weren’t sure if the fracture would mend and the tendon would fuse back to the bone properly and needed the surgeons opinion.  My bro-in-law explained that he was leaving for Toronto in one hour and would have to pursue the matter when he got home.

And that’s what he did.  We drove home from the hospital and got back to my parents house around 6:30 am on the Sunday.  What an exhausting night.  My Dad and I were completely pooped out.  My bro-in-law, with his arm in a sling, climbed into his packed car with my sis and their two kids, and they left for Toronto.

Mind you, all this happened about a month ago now, so I can update you on his situation.  He was re-evaluated that Sunday afternoon in a Toronto area hospital and they ruled against surgery.  He was, and still is, under observation on a weekly basis.  Both fractures, and the tendon, seem to be healing OK, which is welcome news.  One thing I haven’t told you about my bro-in-law is that his job requires him to be on the road a large amount of the time.  And , yes folks, the day after they got home from the Thanksgiving trip, my crazy, yet dedicated, bro-in-law went on a road trip for his job!  He didn’t drive of course, but still, the guys got guts right?  Snaps his shoulder in two places and he’s out cutting deals with clients less than 48 hours later!

What a guy!  Hats off to you Mr. Bro-in-Law!  And that was our Thanksgiving 2008!

Thanks for reading.

It’s been a crazy busy week and I’ve been neglecting this blog!  I haven’t had much free time since Halloween, so I’m putting in a late night to post about one of the best Halloweens we’ve had here at our house!  What a night!  I took the afternoon off of work to get home early so I could set everything up and not be too rushed, which I seem to be every year! It was a simply gorgeous afternoon, a nice mild day with some sunshine.  Hardly a precursor to the death and carnage that would soon happen. By sundown, everything was set up, I had eaten supper and was in costume.  Melissa’s family soon arrived and not long after that, around 6 pm, the little kiddies started roaming the streets for some free candy.  And I was ready!

I do, however, give the little ones a scare free walk up the driveway.  I just can’t bring myself to scare the little lions, hippos, tigers that walk warily into my domain of death clutching their parents hand, saying they don’t want to go further.  As a haunter, that’s what I want to hear, but I won’t scare them out of pure malice.  When they leave their parents and head up to the door, and they are a good 20 feet away staring at my ghost in the window, THAT’S when I let the parents have it!  I jump towards them, scythe waving, eyes flashing red and screaming a ghastly yell!  They jump.  They scream! Oh yes they do!  Some parents even remembered me from last year and would not come up the driveway.  R.E.S.P.E.C.T.  I like it.  They do however, send their kids up all the while reassuring them “it’ll be OK, he’s not real”.  Then they get out the camera and wait for the pounce. Parents after my own heart!

I didn’t add much to the display this year as I focused more on atmospheric effects.  I bought a blue flood light and some orange lights I wrapped up in the cornstalks.  I also picked up a few more tombstones for the graveyard and got my fog machine working.  A nice little addition was this little ghoul that would fly from the house to a tree in my front yard.  He was sound activated and made noise as he flew.  So when I scared people, they screamed and set off the ghoul, which made them jump again!  Then my neighbor would pop out of the graveyard an give them another scare! Three good scares at one house. Nice.

We had all kinds of people taking video and pictures.  Lots of compliments on the decorations and the scares.  Especially my spider victim prop, whose hand moved when you got close.  Next year, I will have to set up a camera with night vision to capture some of the scares. The trick or treating lasted close to 9 pm, with me eventually grabbing a bowl of candy and walking the streets, giving out the last of our candy.  I would estimate we had well over 100 kids, maybe even 120.  It was a good year which just makes me even more eager for next year! Planning has started already. Oh what to do, what to do!

After the decorations were put away, I headed in for a little horror movie fest and ended up watching The Grudge, Halloween (the original) and Halloween 2 all back to back.  It’s my little Halloween tradition after a successful night of haunting and scaring other people: time to scare myself!

What a great Halloween!  I didn’t see the great pumpkin flying around this year, maybe next time!

Here are some pics of the evening: