Our Baby Size Life!

Posts Tagged ‘Spring’

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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Spring is here! Yes! I love it! Winters cold, unfeeling grasp is finally letting go and the land shall live yet again! Yeeesss!  And what do we Canadians do when Spring’s-a-knockin’? Why we go to the sugar shack, or the “cabane à sucre” as it’s also known.  So, last weekend, we decided pack Sam up and to head on out as we were invited to a birthday party in a sugar shack.  It was a beautiful sunny day, about ten degrees celsius and every one was feelin’ good, ready for a fun time… Well let me tells ya, we almost killed each other on the way up there.

You see, this shack is were you’d think would be: way deep in the bush.  And this particular bush was over an hour away.  So onto google maps I go, pump in the address, print out the directions and we’re off.  However, these directions must’ve been written by Ray Charles, cause they didn’t have a clue where they were going, which pretty much means we didn’t either.  We struggled the whole way to figured out if we should go east or west on a highway, or north or south on another. Then when we finally arrive in the area of the shack, the directions end with us sitting in the middle of an intersection. Nice. Very freakin’ nice.

We then started driving up and down this country road that we knew the shack would be on, but after close to thirty minutes, we found nothing.  Melissa and I aren’t the best of friends at this point… ah couples! Luckily Sam was fast asleep in the back seat.  Finally, my brother calls asking where we were. He had forgotten his cell and was using his girlfriends, who’s number we didn’t have. He starts guiding us towards the shack and things are looking good when he suddenly cuts out.  Our cell phone’s battery is dead.

I swore. Loudly.

So Sam wakes up. Hungry.

It’s an hour past his bottle, and we are almost an hour late for the party.  We finally stopped when we found another sugar shack and asked them to point us towards their competition,  they did with a smile.  Following those instruction, we finally made it to this freakin’ hunk of planks in the woods.  Unpacking Sam, who’d by now had his bottle in the car, and headed inside, where we found my brother and had a good laugh.  We then proceeded to stuff our faces with the traditional sugar shack meal: ham, eggs, fried potatoes, beans, triple-cooked bacon, pea soup and a bit of pure maple syrup on top of everything!

Decadent. Delicious. Diabetic.

Now you might’ve noticed the lack of vegetables… Well yeah, you’d be correct… So, movin’ right along, what about dessert? Sugar pie, sugar donuts, sugar crepes… you seeing a pattern? And the “pièce de résistance”: maple toffee, or “la tire” as it’s called around here.  That’s when they boil down the sap from a maple tree until it becomes has thick texture.  Once that’s achieved, you lay strips of it on fresh snow. Wait a couple minutes and roll it up on a popsicle sitck! Quite a sugar kick but nothing’s like it! Funny thing is, Sam was not a fan! He didn’t like the sugar pie either, so we didn’t force him, and finished his dessert for him.

Overall it was a fun day, Sam loved the food, just not the dessert, and the party was a success.  All the fresh air and food had taken its toll on Sammy-boy, who once strapped into his seat, was out like a light for the drive home.  We followed my brother out of the backwoods maze of hell-streets back to civilization and made it back home in good time, Sam sleeping the whole way.

Whew!

Have a great weekend gang! Chat ya soon!

I’ve been home with Sam for the past couple of days because he’s banned, as per our pediatrician, from day care while he recovers from his sinus infection.  Yesterday was a real crap day weather wise, but today was nice and sunny.  Sam and I were eating lunch staring out the patio door with an air of quiet excitement because we were going outside!  Sam has taken to pointing at things in our backyard, like birds and trees.  But yesterday, we had a free-loafer in our backyard a young orange cat.  Sam head his face stuck on the patio door glass and this cat came right up to him , sniffed the glass twice, then licked it once and walked away to hide under my BBQ.  Sam was crushed and started to cry as his new-found friend left him!

While out on our walk today, I tried in vain to find a friendly cat for Sam to pet, but no luck. We did have a nice walk anyways that last about a half an hour. As we passed the local grade school, the smell of dead leaves and mud hit us.  Man that brings back memories of my days in the schoolyard, forced to go outside an play in the muddy yard in that stench.  There was always some dumb kid who would either push you or fall into the mud.  At least Sam has a few years to go before going through that.

We kept on our walk, me talking to Sam, pointing out hings and showing him this or that. I did this for a good 15 minutes, then we got home and I park the carriage and step in front, pull off Sam’s shades and… Zzzzzzzz. Snoring too. Oh well, I guess a grown man talking to himself isn’t too bad if he’s pushing a baby carriage eh? It was another great day with my boy.  While I enjoy working, nothing really beats some quality time with Sam… Well maybe when Melissa is home too

It’s back to work tomorrow, and Sam is shipped back to daycare! (Sigh) At least it’s Friday!

Have a great one everybody!

It’s that time of year again, you crank open the windows letting that fresh spring breeze fill the house, and that’s when you notice dust bunnies bigger than Russell Crowe’s ego sliding across the floor. Yep, it’s time for a little spring cleaning! That meant my lazy Sunday was shot! When you ‘Spring Clean’ a house, you inherently sacrifice 2 days to do the job, in this case the weekend, thus rendering my chances of updating the blog as good as Ron Paul becoming president.

Quick note: This is a dust bunny… not this

Saturday was a very busy day as the cleaning began in earnest with Melissa’s twin sister, Myriam, helping us out. Later in the day, Myriam’s boyfriend Norm showed up… just in time for lunch! What a coincidence! Actually, I had invited him over and he helped pull out the patio furniture, which was appreciated. Inside the house, I got stuck on bathroom duty. Not to say our bathroom was rancid, we aren’t animals that dump on the floor after all, but it took me a good hour of scrubbin’ and wipin’ and sprayin’ and rinsin’ to get the job done.

Sunday was a little quieter, as we went through our closets to sift through our clothes. We take out what we haven’t worn the previous season, and if they are in good condition, we donate them to a local charity. Sam was eager to help us out here. Especially after Saturday’s failed attempt at his assigned task of washing the ceiling…  because he was sleeping on the job (see inset)!

Sammy-boy started off nice and happy on a clean bed, but he soon noticed he was being surrounded! The piles were getting higher and we thought we might lose him in there! But thankfully, Mom and Dad finished going through the piles and freed Sam from his textile prison and the whole family relaxed together knowing it was a job well done!

What a weekend! Whew! Sam was so beat, he put on his joggers and ate chips all afternoon! OK, maybe that was Mom and Dad

Its Sunday! What is supposed to be a lazy day, will actually be pretty busy for me! We’ve just gotten back from two days at the parents house because we had a family party celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of my aunt and uncle… Sam was a big hit at the party, but more on that later in the week!

Even though, you can’t feel it by today’s weather, Spring is here! This week in Montreal, they are announcing 4 or 5 straight days of plus 15 degrees weather! But I’ll be working Anyhoot, Spring is the time for renewal and every time this year, I feel like re-inventing a little bit of myself, to better myself for the coming year. It could be a writing binge, taking up a new sport or just bettering myself as a person. And that’s what today’s post is about! Here are some helpful thoughts to put life into perspective and maybe encourage you to kill that procrastination bug that’s bitten you, and take advantage of the beautiful weather, to do something new and exiting!

Click here to read some of my favorite quotes and (hopefully) be inspired!