Left Coast Floyds

So long, Blogger

2006-10-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

We're done! No more. Left Coast Floyds will no longer update at this address.

Instead, we've moved to a new site, with a new address. Change your bookmarks and blog-readers to www.leftcoastfloyds.net.

Check it out, it's almost complete -- but have some patience while we sand off the rough edges.

A>

Love Thursday from Nova Scotia

2006-10-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

Every Thursday, Karen hosts a Love Thursday post. It's sappy, but after seeing this photo, I knew it was destined for Love Thursday.

Here's a shot of Aidan and Grampa John, mutually enjoying their vacation in the way that all vacations should be enjoyed.

A>

On vacation, flood of posts to come

2006-10-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the paucity of posting. We're on vacation. Blogger has swallowed two whole posts so far, and I'm more than a little annoyed about it. We're switching over to a hosted WordPress blog in the near future (watch this space) so that we can get away from these Blogger irritations.

A>

Pink Socks, They always Look Girly, Unless They Just Look Cute

2006-09-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know you now have "Black Socks" going around in your head. So do I, but in my head I am rewriting the lyrics to describe something Aidan did this morning.

Ok, here goes:

Pink Socks,
They always look Girly
The longer you wear they the warmer you get.
Sometimes they look kinda cozy,
but, Aidan keeps saying "I won't steal them yet."

Pink Socks,
They always look girly,
The longer you wear them the warmer you get.
Sometimes they look kinda cozy,
Now, Aidan's decided "I'll take what I can get."

Pink Socks,
They always look girly,
The longer you wear them the warmer you get.
Sometimes they look kinda cozy,
Now Aidan's stole them, I'll be cold in a bit.

Pink Socks,
They used to look girly,
The longer he'll wear them the warmer he'll get.
Sometimes they look kinda cozy,
I know he is practicing, he'll pull them on yet.

Pink Socks,
They used to look girly,
The longer he wears them the warmer he gets.
Sometimes they look kinda cozy,
I know he is thinking, "Yes, I did it."

ALL BY MYSELF!!

New Shoes and Socks

2006-09-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

New shoes and socks and he is a walking fiend.

On Saturday we tried again to find glasses and a few items (like a dress for the wedding) for all of us. We struck out for me but managed to get Anthony a nice fall jacket and a new pair of sneakers/hikers for Aidan. He seems to really like them and has been walking much more since he has been wearing them. We still haven't been able to get anymore than a couple of steps on video but we figure by the time we are in Nova Scotia Aidan will be running.

Aidan still is climbing more and more and really wants the telephone. We also have to be really careful to push in all the chairs or in two seconds he will be on top of the table.

What's up with dog owners?

2006-09-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

First, let me preface with the established fact that I am not a dog person. People who know me nod and smile when I make this proclaimation, but it's true. I'm not a dog person. I tolerate friends' and family's dogs but never, ever will I be a person who owns one. Although, I'm not a dog hater, either.

However, at the risk of alienating ... well, what seems to be our total readership (what's up with you people!?!? :>) ) I need to vent.

This evening, Aidan was pretty antsy, and indicated he wanted to go out. Kinda like a dog I guess. He took my hand, walked to the upstairs gate, and clearly wanted it opened. We went downstairs where he took my hand again and went to the front door. He hadn't been for a walk today, and Gwen declared that she could use a walk, so we fixed everybody up and headed outside. Aidan walked holding our hands out to the curb and halfway down the street. This took almost 10 minutes mind you, but I figure that encouraging him to walk in any manner is a Good Thing.

So, we swung by that paragon of Fine Dining (Wendy's) and took our meal down to Charleson Park on the seawall. Charleson park is a large park, divided into *two* areas that allow dogs to run off-leash, and the rest of the park, including the children's playground area is just like the rest of Vancouver (excepting some specified off-leash areas) ... your dog is required to be leashed at all times.

We set ourselves up on a nice grassed hill overlooking False Creek, well away from the dog parks. In fact, on the far west side of the area noted as "Playground ... no dogs". We sat on the ground, let Aidan walk around (Yes, walk. Unaided. No, we didn't have the camera. No, he wouldn't do it again at home. Yes, bummer.) We were eating our supper, and I had commented to Gwen about the several dogs that were running around *amid* the playground equipment. Irritating, but since they weren't bothering me, a minor annoyance.

What I really objected to, however, was when a loose dog came up to us and started scarfing down my french fries. I grabbed the dog by the collar, walked to the edge of the hill and used my outside voice. In another life, I'm sure I was a drill sergeant. I sure grabbed the attention of the two or three dozen people in the vicinity. And maybe some of those across False Creek too. Eventually the owner of the dog came wandering over to retrieve her beast. She was an older woman (50-ish?) and had two more off-leash dogs trailing her. I don't know what kind of dogs they were ... I'm not a dog person, remember? Anyhow, I was a little worked up, and pointed out to her that her dog was off-leash in an on-leash area, and that I was having dinner with my wife and child, and expected to be able to do that without sharing it with her mangy mutt eating my supper. I also pointed out that even were we in an off-leash area, her dog certainly wasn't under control as required, was it? The fact that I was having this discussion with her at thirty paces in my outside voice added some emphasis to my points. As she came closer, she did agree that her dog was in fact off-leash in an on-leash area, and no, it wasn't under control, and she was very sorry that it had eaten my dinner. She walked up and clipped a leash on the dog and beat a retreat back to the seawall, trailing one of the other off-leash dogs behind her. Yes, one. The other one stayed with us, eyeing the rest of my fries hungrily. And, so, I had to use my outside voice again.

For what it's worth, every single dog within sight -- except this woman's third (and best behaved) dog -- was leashed by the time I sat back down.

Seriously people! Show some common courtesy would you? It's not my fault you've chosen to live in a shoe box in a densely populated area with an animal that requires more space than you have to offer. The fact that over 2/3 of this park is designated as "off-leash" should be a boon for you! But in the rest of the g-d city, especially in those areas specifically designated as "no dogs" keep your g-d dogs on their g-d leashes. Don't let them run around. People in these areas do not want to be bothered by your quivering mass of furry mindlessness. I wish I could threaten something suitably nasty, but it's not the dogs' fault and it makes no sense to do anything to them. And it's pretty much illegal to do anything to the owners. And just like traffic enforcement, there's no by-law enforcement in Vancouver (other than the meter maids). I can't count the number of times that a loose dog has either darted out in front of me on my bike, or decided that it's going to "play" with a child who is not so interested (yet to happen to my child, but that owner will rue the day).

I can only come to the conclusion that some small yet terribly visible minority of dog owners suffers from a peculiar form of mental illness.

All was not lost though. We finished the rest of our meal in peace, and both Aidan and Gwen were much better off for the time outside. A woman, who obviously had not been in the area 15 minutes earlier, even came over with her leashed little dog. She claimed her dog liked small children and Aidan was thrilled to be able to pet and scratch this little dog. He's so good with animals now. He literally quivers with excitement and restraint. Off-leash proponents, note the big difference between this encounter and the previous. First, the little dog was on a leash. Second, the little dog was under control. Third, the little dog's owner came and essentially asked permission to bother us. And it was fine. Keep your frackin' dogs on their leashes!

Warning: Contents may explode

2006-09-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

Sooooooo......

File this in the "Doh! Should have thought about that!" folder.

You know how those disposable diapers get pretty bulky as whatever chemical inside of them swells as it absorbs moisture? Guess what happens when a toddler (who will not be named) sits his butt down in a pool of water with a fresh diaper?

It explodes!

Well, pretty much. It swells so quickly that water-absorbed crystals erupt from the lining of the diaper. Man, the stuff was everywhere. Hopefully we got it all cleaned up ... I can't imagine that it's particularly healthy to eat.

Here's some pictures of the boy recreating the incident, but with a swim diaper on.

No, I don't know why he was trying to lie in the water.

He's not drinking the water -- he's blowing bubbles. No, really.

The Amazing Climbing Boy will climb anything!

Weekend Outings

2006-09-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend past was Labour Day weekend. The weather was gorgeous, so we took advantage of it. Need to get outside before the rainy season starts!

On Sunday we took Aidan to the water park (Yes, I'm aware of the irony of going to the water park during the sunny, dry season before the rain comes). He sure likes holding the hose. And, he sure doesn't like sharing it.

In fact, he gets right pissed when someone else wants to use the hose! You should have heard the growling!

Today (Monday) we picked Lorraine up from the Guide camp in the far reaches of Maple Ridge and brought along a picnic basket (thanks CMT!) to have lunch at Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park. After lunch, we went for a bit of a hike, with predictable results.

Nana was in town

2006-09-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

Did we mention that Nana Lorraine was in town for a quick visit (and a Girl Guide conference)? That's this week's excuse for a lack of postings (which I'm in the middle of rectifying). She's gone tomorrow, so posting should only be limited by Gwen babysitting T. :)

Nana and Aidan

Nana at the Museum of Anthropology

Post-grad dinner

2006-09-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

So, last Wednesday (Nana was in town, and that was the night she could babysit) a bunch of us went out to dinner. We played it up classy, with the excuse that it was a "post-graduation" dinner (Tomer and Ali had graduated within the past few months, Carla within the past year-and-a-bit, and I graduated two years ago). We headed up to Horizon's Restaurant on Burnaby Mountain. A little expensive, but a good time was had by all.

Carla and Tomer

Tomer and Ali

Parisa, Anthony, Gwen, Carla, Tomer, and Ali

Lighthouse Park

2006-09-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

Since Saturday was taken up by looking for and failing to find glasses, Sunday morning we went to Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver. Aidan slept very well the night before so we figured we could get a bit of a hike in before he needed his nap. So 10:30 ish we set out for West Vancouver.

The entrance to the park is off Marine Drive about halfway between Ambelside and Horseshoe Bay. The drive is very scenic and the houses you can see along the road are beautiful. I can only assume that the ones on the water side are gorgeous since you can't see many of them. By the time we got there and parked Aidan was raring to get going.

We walked through the lovely park down the Valley Trail to Starboat Cove, took some pictures, and continued to the Light Station and the Lighthouse viewpoint. Again we played with my camera and took some pretty decent pictures. We had a snack and Aidan had some running time by the Nature house and Sk'iwitsut buildings. We then set out to the West Beach trail to another viewpoint. Just before the viewpoint on a nicely groomed trail but for one rock that caught my left foot and I twisted my ankle and scraped my knee and leg for the first time in years. (I'd say at least 15 :p) After trying to clean it up as best I could with baby wipes we kept walking and about 15 minutes later Aidan was asleep in the backpack. It is amazing how cute he looks when he is asleep. Anyway, I guess the pictures will tell the whole story.

(Which I will add to the post as soon as Aidan naps.)

Aidan and Anthony at Starboat Cove, Lighthouse Park, West Vancouver 27 August 2006

Lookout over looking Starboat Cove (City of Vancouver in the distance)

Light Station over looking the Lighthouse

Aidan and Anthony (Anthony thought this looked like he had a beer belly but it is just his shirt puffing a bit because of the backpack.)

Snack time for Aidan and a chance for him to run around in the dirt a bit. (He was filthy in about a minute.)

Me, looking westish towards Howe Sound on the West Beach lookout.

Shore Pine Point

Look at that Road Rash

Aidan asleep on the Shore Pine Trail

Aidan still asleep at the car. Unfortunatly he woke up when we put him in the carseat and didn't nap anymore that afternoon. He did go to bed early though.

Cheers to the New Bi-Ped

2006-08-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

Aidan has taken more than two steps on his own. FINALLY!!

I can now say to anyone who asks "Is he walking on his own yet?" "Yes, as a matter of fact he is." I don't have to tell anyone that it was only at the beach and he wouldn't repeat it at home. It is ok. He can do it. Well I have known for months that he could do it. He just wouldn't walk on his own.

His first step he fell but then he got back up and started motoring to the hibachi on the ground just getting ready to be lit. Ah, you say it was the danger factor that we hadn't counted on. Aidan will walk towards the things he really wants, and the things he wants are dangerous. Hmm I might have to sneak a couple of sharp knives to my Mom at the airport to entice Aidan to walk to her. That wouldn't get me into trouble, eh?

I will try to get some of this fabulous walking on the web as soon as Aidan will walk in front of the video camera. The cool thing though is that Aidan walked in front of both Anthony and I. You never know when a real first is going to happen, and I am very glad that both of us got to see it.

Penaten, Penaten Everywhere, and Not a Drop of Rash

2006-08-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

This morning after Aidan had a short nap and T. was down for the count I decided to read my scrapbooking book. Aidan was happily watching Veggie Tales or baby crack as we like to call it here, and I thought I was safe. Aidan was moving around a bit but his attention was still on the songs so I really thought I could read. He then found the tin of diaper cream, you know the really thick zinc oxide. I thought (stupid me) that it was ok, because he was engrossed in the Veggie Tales and he couldn't open the tin anyway.

Now to be fair (to me) he is always quiet when he watches these songs and usually he doesn't even move, so it really wasn't any quieter than usual to get my mommy radar going. When I looked up Aidan, the coffee table and all of the clothes he was wearing were covered in diaper cream. Silly me I went down to get my camera and started a video conversation with Anthony at work before I cleaned him up. Well, I guess that it was the parent in me. I couldn't be angry at him as it was totally my fault for under-estimating his ability to open things.

So, check out the pictures and laugh with me. I think the shirt and the pants are done for.

After a lot of work, baby wipes, dish soap, soaking, baking powder, Spray n' Wash, detergent and a super hot Super wash most of the Penaten came out except for a little stain on the shirt. Wow. I thought they were done for. Now if only the Spray n' Wash didn't have such a bad smell. I have had a migraine since spraying the clothes.

Love Thursday

2006-08-24T14:27:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks and Irene Nam of Momster started Love Thursday. I really liked the idea but didn't get around to getting the picture and links up last Thursday, so today I am doing a double.

The first picture is of my husband Anthony and my son Aidan in the first 48 hours of Aidan's life. I love the picture and it really reminds me of the love I have for both of my boys and the love my husband has for our son.

This second picture shows my grandmother's love for her first great grandson. I love all that you see is Aidan and his grandnana's hands. The love that radiates from this picture is almost tangible.

Happy Love Thursday!

For the hat trick!

2006-08-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

A hat-trick of posts tonight. Here's Tomer, Aidan, and I kicking back playing ESPN NHL Hockey 2K4 on the XBox after a hard day in the hot summer sun. Aidan sure loves playing on the XBox!

Flugtag!

2006-08-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Flugtag: n. German for "Flying Day".

On Saturday afternoon, Carla & Tomer and the three of us joined some 50,000 people down by Science World for a Red Bull sponsored Flugtag event.

The event consisted of many teams of people, from right across the country, driving various shapes and sizes of human-powered vehicles off the end of a pier into False Creek (ewwwww). The "goal" was to fly the longest distance. From the several entries that we saw, "flying" was a generous term. Here's a one picture from the day ... I've uploaded a bunch of other pictures to Flickr as a way to evaluate Flickr.

Breakfast with Aidan

2006-08-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ugh, Aidan has a cold again. By extension, *I* have a cold too. I never get colds, but for each one that he has had, I have become sick too. Ugh.

Satuday was Grandma Kathy's birthday, and she had breakfast with Aidan. Well, sort-of. She got the commentary over the phone anyway.

Here's the video for the same.

New Camera, My Favourite Subjects

2006-08-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Something we hear a lot at our house: Anthony says, "Aidan, where's Mommy?"

Aidan and Anthony, False Creek Elementary School

We went walking and stumbled upon a small playground one day. I brought Aidan and Anthony back here to play. I am not sure that Aidan liked his first time on a tire swing. It was funny seeing Anthony try to maneouvre in and out of it though.

Aidan did however love the slide. It was on a slight hill and he could, with our help, climb up the slide and then go down on his own.

Aidan went down a couple of times on his bum, but he preferred to go both up and down on his tummy.

Wow this looks steep. It is amazing what you can do with camera angles.

Too bad you can't see all the dirt. He had a blast though. "Catch you later Grandparents."

Teething Again

2006-08-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

Aidan never does anything half assed. He is teething again. This time it is two molars and an eye-tooth. All. At. The same time! This doesn't make for a restful weekend.

Friday night I was sure that Aidan would be asleep in no time because he was tired, a little bit frantic and he got up before 7 that morning. This usually means that he goes down really easily. Not this night. I am pretty sure that he woke himself at least three times before midnight. This was when we decided that tylenol, and some dimetap for the stuffy nose might be in order. While it may be really easy to give Aidan medicine when he is awake, when he is tired and has woken himself up a few time it is a disaster in the making. Aidan still had a hard time sleeping. It was about this time that we figured out how many teeth he was trying to get out at once. He woke another few times during the night and we were all exhausted on Saturday morning. About 10 am we refound the oragel. Aidan was quiet for a full hour. Sigh, why didn't we remember it the night before?

Saturday we spent mostly looking for glasses for me. It is always difficult and the pair that I like best is $529 just for the frames. Most of the hip glasses are not for my face at all. They make it look rounder than it should and really much older than I want to look. I think I have a couple that might work but we couldn't keep going with Aidan because he was very quickly becoming "Tantrum Boy."

On Sunday we got up later than the day before and didn't do too much. Well Anthony cleaned out the filing cabinet, shredded three garbage bags full of paper and file all the bills and other paper that was hanging around the front table and computer desk. Oh we also got our new camera. Anthony found a nice camera very much on sale and got it to replace our small digital camera that was lost/stolen from our luggage at Christmas-time. So I had a chance to play with it a little bit. I will be posting some pictures a little later. I am also planning to take some pictures of me in some frames. Maybe I can get some comments on which pair to get.

Anyway, after playing at the park, eating supper and a bath Aidan was very tired and went to sleep without a fuss. Keep you fingers crossed for a good night.

10 things

2006-08-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Since when does Canada Post deliver on Sundays? (Wait for Mama's post)
Are two naps possible? Is it a good sign or a bad sign?
Oralgel is not a bad thing, and in fact, when remembered can be a very good thing.
3 hour naps in the middle of the day put a crimp in weekend activities.
When the toddler is hungry, do something about it. Now.
Schedules are good things. Don't disrupt the schedule. Really. Don't even think about it.
The "light duty" shredders are, in fact, only meant for light-duty.
Electrical motors are somewhat like computers with respect to the "magic smoke".
Bubbles are excellent. Gazillion bubbles are way excellent.
The bunny may not be so evil after all.

It's always better to share

2006-08-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

Aidan loves sharing.

Look how he shares Mommy's nectarine:

It's not that bad

2006-08-06T18:43:00.000-07:00

Who knew Gwen was such a good actress too?

(I love this photo)

She cleans up nice too

2006-08-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, Gwen got her hair cut. Not her first one since having Aidan, but the first significant cut.

Her hair was getting pretty long, but it was getting in her face, and she was to the point where she was getting annoyed by it. Tammy had given her a gift certificate to a nice salon, so down we all walked down to "Rain" down by Granville Island. Aidan and I continued on to do various chores while Gwen went through what I can only imagine was a very "West Coast" experience.

One thing that she wanted to avoid was Mom Hair, the short hair style that well ... read the article.

As you can see from the photos below, it's shorter than it was, but isn't the classic "Mom Hair" either. When she came home from the salon, it was incredibly curly. Apparently your hair goes through changes during and after pregnancy. Making straight hair curly seems to be one of those changes. The curls have calmed down somewhat, but it's certainly not the straight fine hair that she used to have a few years ago.

The boy had a few double-takes on seeing Mama's new 'do, but didn't cry, and seems to be pretty used to it now.

Fireworks

2006-08-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

Last night we took Aidan to the fireworks.

I know, I know. I know what you're thinking. It was only last weekend that we tried taking him to the drive-in, and didn't we learn about keeping him up well beyond his bed-time?

In short, no.

Vancouver has this fireworks festival that runs every year. Three or four countries compete over four nights spaced through the end of July and early August. The fireworks (this year, they're called the "Celebration of Light" but it's gone through different names as the sponsors have changed) are a BIG DEAL here. Estimates are somewhere in the neighbourhood of 300000 - 500000 people watching them on any given night. We're fortunate enough to be able to see them (almost completely) from our dining room windows, which has the benefit of being able to hear the music simulcast and see the fireworks without having to deal with the crowds. But on the other hand, it's pretty interesting to be in such a large sea of humanity. Gwen and I, pre-baby, have gone down to English Bay and sat with several hundred thousand people on a beach, a scant few hundred feet from the fireworks barge. The five or six hour wait, followed by the several hour trip home is a bit hard to handle now, post-baby.

Aidan was pretty well prepared yesterday. A nice, long walk in the morning, a three hour nap in the afternoon, and reasonable meals all pointed to an after-hours outing that wasn't going to be a disaster.

So, after supper, we packed up and walked down to Vanier Park. It's not too far away ... about twice the distance from our place to Granville Island (maybe 3 km total). Vanier Park faces English Bay, on the south side of False Creek. From there, we had a clear view of the fireworks barge, and the several hundred thousand people crowding the beach there. Vanier Park was crowded, but not oppressively so. There were probably a few dozen thousand people in the park.

Around 8 pm, we found a spot of parched grass and waited for the two hours we had until the fireworks were to begin. Aidan crawled around, played with the stroller, and we went for several walks with him. All in all, he behaved himself quite well.

Then, after the sun had set, we bought him his first ever glow-sticks. Actually, they were glow-bracelets, but they were perfect. He loved waving them around in the darkness. I think Gwen loved waving them around as much as Aidan did. These kept him busy and occupied up until the fireworks started.

Which they did, promptly at 10 pm. Aidan liked watching them, but wasn't as mesmerized as we thought he might be. He watched the first little bit while sitting with Gwen, and the majority of them while sitting in his stroller. While sitting in his stroller, though, he alternated between playing with the stroller, watching people around him, and watching the fireworks. The flashes and colours seemed interesting to him, but didn't captivate him. The explosions didn't bother him in the least. He didn't jump, start, or even think about crying when they went off. Gwen and I remarked to each other that he's such a city boy. The spectacle lasted for about 40 minutes, and by the end, he had pretty much had enough.

We packed our things up and walked home. As you can imagine, the Seawall was pretty crowded, and we didn't get home until 11:30 pm. Aidan, although flagging, was still awake. It didn't take him too long to get down though.

For your edification, a video showing Aidan and Gwen with the glow-sticks, and a little bit of the fireworks is below:

(Google video is still reviewing the movie. I uploaded it to YouTube ... and here it is now! I'll post a link to the Google Video version later, since you'll be able to download it to play locally from there)

Google Video link

Spreading the Love

2006-08-05T18:48:00.000-07:00

PajamaMama has christened the next few days:
The Bloggin' Good Blogger Days.

Your mission, shall you choose to accept it (and you will), is to go to as many blogs as you can and point out at least one good thing about the author of that blog. Do your best to give them a warm fuzzy feeling. Show your appreciation, admiration or plain old joy.
Tell them why something they did touched you, why a choice they made shows the true fabric of their moral being. Just go BE NICE to every blogger who's blog you read today. And don't be shy, either!!
Plus, post an entry similar to this one on YOUR blog and ask people to leave warm fuzzies in your comments. Spread the love, people!

Maybe if we take a week to engage in warm fuzzies, they will become a more permanent part of our daily lives, both on and off the computer.
In review:
1. Leave me a warm fuzzy in my comments.
2. Post a similar entry (or copy and paste this one, giving credit) on your own blog.
3. Leave a warm fuzzy on every blog you visit today.
4. Sit back, read your own warm fuzzies and feel, well, warm and fuzzy!
Enjoy!

All credit to her, esp for the body of this post. I love the idea, and liked how she phrased it, so I pretty much copied the instructions.

While you are at it visit a few of my favourite blogs from the blogroll. You will not regret it! Pass the good Karma along.

Post 3: am I Stupid?

2006-08-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

Well, ok, it started well. Then I realized that Tristan is a sleep moaner. A loud sleep moaner. Aidan did well and I made sure the music was on. Unfortunately the sleep timer kicked in at about 45-50 minutes of his sleep. Which for those of you who don't know Aidan's sleep patterns is about the time he will wake up if something disturbs his cycle. So I only go about 40 minutes to myself.

Oh well, tomorrow I will have the music playing the whole time!!!

Things they should tell you

2006-08-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

This post on Blogging Baby was full of things that people/baby books/paediatricians should tell you, but for some unknown reason, don't.

Things that seem like universal truths to me.

A tired baby will not sleep

A favourite food may only be a temporary favourite

true

Diaper changes are bad

Baby will no longer prefer his Mom

Baby will change his mind often

"Your dimpled little one, who has always loved animals, will develop a sudden aversion to squirrels."

the bunnies

When it comes to parenthood, there are no rules

The Rules

Post 2: am I Stupid?

2006-08-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

The answer is "NO!" They are both asleep. They talked (well Aidan did) for about 5 minutes, and when I peeked in just after the last post they were both quiet and lying down. Five minutes later both, asleep. Wow. Time to myself. Yeah!

Post 1: am I Stupid?

2006-08-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

I need a few minutes to myself. Both Aidan and Tristan need a nap. Both are fighting them. They both need to sleep in the same room. Am I being ridiculous trying to put them down at the same time? I will give them both 10 minutes and check on them. Keep you posted.

Over and out.

My Little Pirate

2006-08-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today my baby boy got his first black(ish) eye. Sigh, he is such a boy!

Aidan loves to climb, and he loves books. Not just his books, but Mommy's books. The ones that are on the shelf that he shouldn't be able to reach. So, what did Aidan decide top do today? Well, he decided it would be fun to lure Mommy into a false sense of security. He decided that it would be a good time to climb up on the bottom shelf and reach as far as he could on tiptoes. He decided it would be a good idea to pull as many books as he could down to the floor. What he didn't anticipate was that he would fall on his butt and that the books would fall on top of him. He didn't understand that if that happens you should look down, not up. And then the small hardcover that he knocked down wouldn't poke you under they eye with the sharp corner.

When I heard the crash I turned around and Aidan had already closed his eyes and was in the silent part of the scream. I comforted him as best I could and he stopped crying fairly quickly. It was as I was sitting down with him that I noticed what had really happened. Until then I just thought some of the books had fallen on his head. Ouch! Corners of books can hurt. Thank goodness it was a small one and his black eye is only a small bruise. On the up side, 5 minutes of breastfeeding later and he was asleep for a three hour nap.

I hope he has learned his lesson. Hmm, not counting on it though. :)

"Arrrrrrrrrr"-gh

2006-07-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

We tried to see a movie last night.

Actually, we tried to see it on Friday too, but it didn't work out. On Friday, our anniversary, we were going to go our for dinner and a movie. Tammy and Chris came over to babysit for us around 7:30, and by ten past eight, we had the boy down in his crib and on the way to slumberland. We walked to Granville Street and hopped a bus downtown to find somewhere to eat. The plan was to find something near the new theatre near Robson and Burrard. There are lots of restaurants downtown, and Robson is one of the areas of concentration. However, every place we went had substantial line ups. Estimates of how long we had to wait varied, but were typically in the neighbourhood of 30 minutes. Now, I realize that this is partly our fault -- reservations would have been a good idea -- but with The Boy, we planned to expect the unexpected. At any rate, we didn't have reservations, and I absolutely (perhaps pig-headedly) refuse to wait for any substantial amount of time outside a restaurant, basically *begging* to give them money. It doesn't seem right.

So, we wandered up and down Robson. By quarter past nine, we decided it was unlikely that we were going to eat dinner and see the movie (which started around 10:30). However, we knew that it (Pirates of the Carribean II) and Cars were playing at the Aldergrove drive-in this weekend, so we decided that we'd go to the drive in on Saturday and just have dinner on Friday. Having given up on the movie, then, we headed down to Gastown where we had an OK, if expensive, dinner at Steamworks.

So, last night, we tried to see the movie, again.

The idea was sound. Pack up The Boy and all his accoutrements, clear out the trunk to make it babyproof, grab some fast-food dinner, and hit the drive-in. The Boy could crawl around the trunk (before you get too upset, recall that we have an SUV, so the "trunk" is open to the passenger cabin) to play, and sit in his car seat to see Cars if he wished. We brought along the play-pen pad to put down in the trunk, and put a sheet over it so that when he got tired, he could sleep back there. That, at least, was the idea.

The movie started at 9:30-ish. Aidan's typical bed time is 8-ish, so we knew we were messing with the schedule, but for the prize of being able to see a movie (or two!), we were willing to do it. We arrived as planned, with all our gear and food, around 8:45 and pulled into a spot at the already reasonably full drive-in.

We released Aidan from his car seat, put the "40" in the 60/40 seatback down, and let him go. Actually, Gwen crawled back there to keep an eye on him, and to feed him a bit more supper since he had eaten quite sparsely before we left. Aidan thought this was great fun -- he got to explore around the trunk, stand up and bang on the windows, and watch all the other cars and the ton of kids that were around. It was all quite new and very exciting.

Right. So, it got dark, and the movie started. We put Aidan into his car seat, and he sat, transfixed, while we watched the traditional short film that preludes all Pixar's movies. This one was "One Man Band", and I'd give it about 3 stars. The short ended and the feature started, and Aidan was still watching.

Sooner or later, he lost interest in Cars, and wanted out of his car seat. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but what followed was an exercise in frustration. I mean, Aidan has historically been difficult to get to sleep. But, we figured that it was going to be late enough that he would collapse and we could leave him sleeping blissfully in the trunk while we settled into our Hollywood-induced escapism. We figured wrong.

For the duration of Cars, he alternately cried, screamed, played with his car seat, drank from a bottle, breastfed, cried and screamed somemore, and generally fought going to sleep with every gram of his little body. Gwen spent most of the movie in the back trying to convince him that sleep was a good thing.

The movie ended around quarter to midnight, and he was still going. Not one minute of sleep; he didn't give any ground. We made the decision then to cede the loss, and packed up and left. I made the prediction that he'd be asleep by the time we hit the highway (about a 5 minute drive) and sure enough, he was. Strapped into a moving car is sleep inducing. Being loose (or strapped) in a parked car is not.

So, we didn't see the movie again. We've used up our baby-sitting card for a few weeks, and the drive-in option doesn't seem like much of an option. I guess we're not meant to see this movie at this point in time.

The only saving grace is that he didn't wake up during the thunderstorm last night, and it's ten to ten right now and he's still not awake. If he had woken at his usual time this morning -- I might have been cranky.

Our boy cleans up well

2006-07-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today, Aidan had his first real haircut.

We weren't thinking the clearest, so we don't have a good "before" picture, but as a reminder, here's what he looked like a week ago:

We brought him to the same barber I've been going to since I've lived in Vancouver. I needed a hair cut, and Aidan needed a hair cut, so it seemed like a good idea.

We brought Aidan into the barber's, which looked busy, but it turns out there were a number of people waiting for others getting their hair cut, and those in the chairs were soon finished too. So, in short order, we had Aidan sitting on a booster seat in the chair. Not how I thought it was going to go down ... I though I would have to hold him in my lap, and I wasn't too sure as to how that was going to work for cutting the back of his head.

Aidan, of course, likes his new vantage point, since there are tons of mirrors, and there's almost nothing Aidan likes doing more than looking in mirrors. I'm not saying he's vain, I'm sure he just appreciates the physics of light.

Anyway, Aidan's happiness starts to wane when the biggest bib he's ever seen is placed over him. Then, with the boy clutching Daddy's hand, and with Mommy trying to capture his attention, the barber goes to work.

We've had several discussions about how to get his hair cut, and so when asked by the barber, we meekly say, "Well, you know, it has to be out of his eyes, and those wings over the ears have to go, and it *is* too long in the back ...". He looks appraisingly at us, and sets out, doing some cutting and trimming with his scissors.

After a short while (Aidan hasn't minded this, so far, despite his proximity to a man he doesn't know ... usually a recipe for the biggest case of shyness you've ever seen) the barber stops, looks at us, and asks if it's short enough. We look at each other and murmur that well, perhaps it should be shorter.

At which point, the barber pulls out his electric clippers and really sets to work. He wets Aidan's hair down by spraying his own hand with a water bottle and then rubbing it through Aidan's hair. The scissors are going, the clippers are going, and slowly, Aidan is becoming less thrilled with the whole procedure. It's not panic stations yet, but there are some tentative cries of discomfort. It helps to have Mommy taking most of the boy's attention, and the boy even lets her manipulate his head so that the barber can get at his neck. It took longer than I expected, but in the end, it went much better than I expected. Both Mommy and Boy made it through without too many tears.

And, well. I dare say he cleans up pretty good.

100th post come and gone

2006-07-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

I knew that we were getting close, but then I look and it is already gone. So without further ado.

WOOO-HOOO, 100!!! Yeah!!

The physics of cats

2006-07-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

More cat humour from creation robot:

Laws applying to Cats

1 - Law of Cat Inertia
A cat at rest will tend to remain at rest, unless acted upon by some outside force - such as the opening of cat food, or a nearby mouse.

2 - Law of Cat Motion
A cat will move in a straight line, unless there is a really, really, really good reason to change direction.

3 - Law of Cat Magnetism
All blue blazers and black sweaters attract cat hair in direct proportion to the darkness of the fabric.

4 - Law of Cat Thermodynamics
Heat flows from a warmer to a cooler body, except in the case of a cat. All heat flows to a cat.

5 - Law of Cat Stretching
A cat will stretch to a distance proportional to the length of the nap just taken. This could be up to half a mile.

6 - Law of Cat Sleeping
All cats must sleep with people whenever possible, in a position as uncomfortable for the people involved as possible.

7 - Law of Cat Jumping
A cat can make her body springy enough to reach just about any counter top that has anything remotely interesting on it.

8 - Law of Cat Acceleration
A cat will accelerate at a constant rate, until he gets good and ready to stop dead instantly.

9 - Law of Dinner Table Attendance
Cats must attend all meals when anything good is served.

10 - Law of Rug Configuration
No rug may remain in its naturally flat state, for very long.

11 - Law of Obedience Resistance
A cat’s resistance varies in proportion to a human’s desire for her to do something.

12 - First Law of Energy Conservation
Cats know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed and will, therefore, use as little energy as possible.

13 - Second Law of Energy Conservation
Cats also know that energy can only be stored by a lot of napping.

14 - Law of Refrigerator Observation
If a cat watches a refrigerator long enough, someone will come along and take out something good to eat.

15 - Law of Electric Blanket Attraction
Turn on an electric blanket and a cat will jump into bed at the speed of light, or even faster at the speed of cat.

16 - Law of Random Comfort Seeking
A cat will always seek, find and take over the most comfortable spot in any given room.

17 - Law of Bag / Box Occupancy
All bags and boxes in a given room must contain a cat within the earliest possible nanosecond or catosecond.

18 - Law of Cat Embarrassment
A cat’s irritation rises in direct proportion to her embarrassment times the amount of human laughter. A cat does not forgive you laughing at it.

19 - Law of Milk Consumption
A cat will drink his weight in milk, squared, just to show you he can.

20 - Law of Furniture Replacement
A cat’s desire to scratch furniture is directly proportional to the cost of the furniture.

21 - Law of Cat Landing
A cat will always land in the softest place possible. Human stomaches are ideal for this.

22 - Law of Fluid Displacement
A cat immersed in milk will displace her own volume, minus the amount of milk consumed.

23 - Law of Cat Disinterest
A cats interest level will vary in inverse proportion to the amount of effort a human expends in trying to interest him.

24 - Law of Pill Rejection
Any pill given to a cat has the potential energy to reach escape velocity.

25 - Law of Cat Composition
A cat is composed of Matter + Anti-Matter + It Doesn’t Matter.

26 - Law of Selective Listening
Although a cat can hear a can of tuna being opened a mile away, she can’t hear a simple command three feet away.

27 - Law of Equidistant Separation
All cats in a given room will locate at points equidistant from each other, and equidistant from the center of the room.

28 - Law of Cat Invisibility
Cats think that if they can’t see you, then you can’t see them.

29 - Law of Space-Time Continuum
Given enough time, a cat will land in just about any space.

30 - Law of Concentration of Mass
A cat’s mass increases in direct proportion to the comfort of the lap she occupies or the need to lift them up.

31 - Law of Cat Probability, a Cat’s Uncertainty Principle
It is not possible to predict where a cat actually is, only the probability of where she “might” be.

32 - Law of Cat Obedience
As yet undiscovered

There was something to remember today...

2006-07-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm, there was something I was supposed to remember today.

Oh yes, right.

Happy Anniversary, dear!

6 years, woo-hoo. Seems like longer. More like 15, huh? :)

Love ya!

A>

PC terms for Cat Lovers

2006-07-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Found this on Creation Robot (via bloglines):

Politically Correct Terms For Cat Owners

My cat does not barf hairballs he is a floor/rug redecorator
My cat does not break things she helps gravity do its job
My cat does not fear dogs they are merely sprint practice tools
My cat does not gobble she eats with alacrity
My cat does not scratch he is a furniture/rug/skin ventilator
My cat does not yowl he is singing off-key
My cat is not a “shedding machine” she is a hair relocation stylist
My cat is not a “treat-seeking missile” she enjoys the proximity of food
My cat is not a bed hog he is a mattress appreciator
My cat is not a chatterbox she is advising me on what to do next
My cat is not a dope addict she is catnip appreciative
My cat is not a lap fungus he is bed selective
My cat is not a pest she is attention deprived
My cat is not a ruthless hunter she is a wildlife control expert
My cat is not evil she is badness enhanced
My cat is not fat he is mass enhanced
My cat is not hydrophobic she has an inability to appreciate moisture
My cat is not lazy he is motivationally challenged
My cat is not underfoot she is leading me to my next destination (the food dish!)

A>

Brand New Cousin

2006-07-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Aidan welcomes his new cousin Petranella Marie. She was born yesterday at 1 am eastern time. She weighed 8lbs 10 oz and is 21 inches long. We can't wait to get more details and pictures.

Congratulations Andreanna and Sean!

Baby Crack

2006-07-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

No, not that kind of crack. The kind that keeps them glued to one spot. The kind that lets you strap a mask on the poor child and get through a half hour of medication into a struggling infant. The kind that lets you take the child you are taking care of downstairs for a nap and knowing that you son will not have moved at all. You know that he is safe and not showing you how small he can make himself by going under the baby gate and into the always fun bathroom. (Or going down the stairs by himself in a tumbling scare your mother to death kind of way.)

Yes boys and girls I am talking about the Veggie Tales Sing Along Videos. They are better than any other tv show. Aidan has always liked them. In fact when he was very small I used to feel guilty about letting him watch tv at all. But I soon got over it when I realized that I could actually get something to eat or, god forbid, go to the bathroom.

Now that I am taking care of my friend's son, it is the most valuable piece of toddler equipment that I own. I am so glad that I discovered the effects of Veggie Tales.

What about you? What are your best forms of baby distraction?

Hey, that's not potatoes!

2006-07-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

(A true-life Calvin & Hobbes moment...)

Hey, what's that sound in the kitchen? It sounds like potatoes ...

Mommy! Daddy! I've rescued the garbage bags!

See?!?

Daddy, what are you doing?!?

Well, OK, but I think they look better on the floor! That does it, I'm outta here!

I simply cannot be seen with you!

That's Two Small Steps for Kid, One Giant Leap for Kidkind...

2006-07-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

OK. We have our first observed sighting of Aidan taking independent, free-standing steps. Two of them, left-foot, right-foot. I bet he didn't notice.

I sure did. Sadly Momma didn't but I'm sure this is the beginning of the end.

Not much to say. It happened yesterday, after I got home from work. He wanted to get from the couch to the entertainment system, and instead of plopping down and crawling the short distance, he let go of the couch, *walked* the two steps, and then held on to the glass door of the entertainment system. I doubt he thought about it.

Clearly this is an indication, though, that he *can* walk, when he choses to do so.

It hasn't happened again, but we're keeping the video camera charged just in case.

A>

Pool for Babies

2006-07-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know there is not a lot of yard space in Vancouver. In fact most people do not have any yard and just have a balcony. This means that there are not a lot of pools in which to dunk your toddler in the blazing heat. Well, I guess that I spent the best five dollars of my life. (Except maybe the cat basket I bought for a buck, but that is another story.) I bought a blow up wading pool.

Now usually a blow up anything will take forever to inflate and leave you breathless. This one took only five minutes and that was while taking care of a 16 month old and a 12 month old. The boys have enjoyed the wading pool in my living room for a few days (dry of course) and I wasn't sure if it was going to be very good with water. Until today.

I put the wading pool on our tiny balcony, put less than an inch of water in it and Aidan crawled into it right away. I think that he has spent an hour and a half out of the last two in it. It is small enough that he can crawl over the sides and with the small amount of water he was very happy to splash and play without any worry. He was also cool.

Now, how do I get the water out?

Two Boys, A Cold and a Nap

2006-07-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

This week I started to sit for Gen as she went back to work. Tristan has been very good and there haven't been too many tears. Both he and Aidan have been napping but just not at the same time. They have been playing together quite well with not too many fights. I even think that Tristan will stop stalking the cats soon. The only thing that I have been worried about for a long time is the naps.

Naps are my down time. The time I get to do the really decadent things in my life. You know those things that make you life much more comfortable. Yes, I am talking about getting something to eat, a decent cup of tea, and the most decadent of all . . . I get to go to the bathroom . . . BY MYSELF!!!!!! So you must be guessing that the last two days might have been a little, . . . well (sigh) tiring. Yes I must admit that I was incredibly tired last night. So tired that I told Anthony the choice for dinner was either he or I go and get Wendy's. (He didn't complain.)

Of course all this was made much more difficult because Aidan had to go and get himself a head cold. This meant that Monday night he was up every hour wanting to be breastfed to clear his nose. Last night we gave in and I also bought a warm humidifier and Dimetap infant drops for stuffy nose. And guess what, Aidan slept till 4:00 am. (Good thing Anthony and I went to bed at 9:00 pm.) It took us a while to get him back to sleep and I was all to happy to dose him again.

This morning when Tristan came he had decided to also get the cold and kept his parents up all last night as well. At least it made both the boys tired. I took them out to play in the playground and brought them back for lunch. Gen came and put Tristan down for his nap and when she left I fed Aidan to sleep.

So, now they are both in the same room and asleep at the same time. And what do I do? Do I get the time to do the decadent thing as mentioned above. No I blog. :) Excuse me while I go to the bathroom. Alone. (Woo Hoo!!!!!!)

Last bunnies post (for now)

2006-07-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here's what Gwen was referring to (from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling"):

The setup: The town of Sunnydale has been stricken with song. Everyone breaks into show tunes, for the simplest of things. The Scooby Gang is sitting around the Magic Box trying to come up with reasons why this is happening (in song, of course). Anya, with a well documented dislike of bunnies comes up with the following....

The Joys of Parenting

2006-07-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

One of the things that books don't tell you about is just how much you will enjoy certain moments. The first time they sit on their own. The first time they stand. The first word.

The abject terror they feel when confronted with electronic bunnies.

So, there we were last Wednesday night at a friend of Lynn's. Lynn was back in town from Depot (ever so briefly) before shipping out to the Creston detatchment to report for duty. Lynn, of course, is Aidan's Godmother and had bought him what she thought was a cute little bunny rabbit. Aidan has lots of bunnies (of the stuffed variety), which is a reflection of his mother's predilection for them. None of the existing bunnies, however, move independently.

This particular bunny (which, like all of his stuffed toys, remains unnamed) moves. Its ears quiver, its nose wiggles, its nose squeaks, and it takes a few hops forward every once and a while.

So, Lynn, Aidan and Gwen were in the living room of Lynn's friend (Dina). Hardwood floors and lots of space. Anyway, Lynn put the bunny down on the floor some distance from Aidan, who was on his stomach, crawling towards it.

Then she turned it on.

It did its little dance, hopping, and quivering, and squeaking.

Aidan looked at it and slowly backed up. I've never seen him do this, crawl backwards as if that was the natural direction to be crawling. The bunny went through its cycle again, and this time Aidan .... um .... hauled ass. He scooted backward absolutely shrieking in terror, shaking with fear.

The poor guy. This is clearly a pivotal and traumatizing moment in life.

And we laughed. Well, not for too long, because someone had to comfort the boy (and Lynn, who couldn't believe that such an innocent looking gift had gone so wrong). But, it was funny. America's Home Video sort of funny.

Subsequent exposure to the bunny has not improved the situation any. He definitely doesn't like it in all its glory, turned on and quivering and squeaking, etc., but he even doesn't like it when it's just sitting there looking cute.

He was crawling on the floor, came around the corner of the coffee table, saw the bunny there and broke down into almost hysterical tears.

It still seems funny ... but we need to get him over this.

And I can't believe that we need to get him over a fear of ... bunnies...

*These* are the moments we remember. :>)

A>

'ware the BUNNIES

2006-07-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

In Aidan's world, there is nothing more terrifying than this:

Seriously.

Milk, mmm . . . Do you want some?

2006-07-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

Aidan: "Yumm I Love Milk!"
Dianthe: "I am very uncomfortable with this situation."

Dianthe: "Well, at least he isn't moving."

Dianthe: "OK, I guess I can relax."

Aidan: "Oh, Dianthe is right beside me."

Aidan: "Do you want some milk?"

Aidan: "How about a pat?"

Aidan: "I guess not."

Aidan: "How about you Daddy?"

Melt my Heart

2006-07-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

I was just putting Aidan to bed and I swear when I said "I love you," he said it back "I wuv wue." He then smiled and went to play in his crib. (He isn't ready to sleep yet but happy to be in his crib.)

I just thought I would share.

Weekend Update

2006-07-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

So guess I will start with Thursday. Andromeda was home and she didn't seem any the worse for wear. She was quite hungry and seemed to think that being away gave her the right to do whatever she wanted because she "came home." So, I chased her off the table several times and gave in and gave her some more sandwich meat. Aidan and Dianthe were happy to see her and I think that she was glad to see them. In fact Andromeda let Dianthe cuddle with her on the couch.

Aidan and I went at a much faster pace to take down all the posters we had put up around the neighbourhood . It was interesting to get so many people asking us if we had found our cat and asking how she was. Vancouver is pretty friendly I guess, but not many people spontaneously talk to you on the street. I almost felt like I was back in NS.

On Friday Aidan and I went to pay my loans but I realized that with the week before having the stroller go the way of garbage I didn't have the slip with me. I am getting the new stroller back to being my purse but it will take a bit to make sure I have all that I had in the evenflo. It was still hot so we weren't too unhappy to get back home. Tammy came over a little later and we put the microchip in the cats. Andromeda now has two as Tammy was not used to this brand and didn't think the first one went in. Andromeda was really good and she didn't even hiss. She did however give me the dirtiest look I have seen in a long time. She seemed to say "if I knew you would do this to me I wouldn't have come home." Dianthe was a different story. She moved and tried to bite me. Unfortunately she also took the needle out with out putting the chip in and dulled the needle. The next try we wrapped her up and it must have hurt a bit. We felt bad but it was necessary. Now both the cats are microchipped and we don't have as much worry if they get out.

Saturday, Canada Day, we took it easy and had a relaxing morning and Aidan had a good nap before we went down to Granville Island for some Canada Day Celebrations. You can tell from the pictures that Aidan had a good time. It was also Jazz Festival time so we got to hear some Jazz and let Aidan dance in the sun.

On Sunday we also took the morning easy and made plans to go to Boundary Bay in Tsawassen to play o the beach and have a BBQ. (Oh and Anthony washed and cleaned the car because it really needed it. Oh and we needed to get some stuff from the grocery store and I bought a pair of sandals. Hmm, maybe not so easy.) We got going after Aidan's nap which ended a little early. So at three o'clock we left and made it almost to King Edward when Anthony y realized that if we were going to have a BBQ at the beach that we should probably bring the BBQ. So we turned around and didn't realize that this was only the beginning of our woes with the BBQ. After stowing the BBQ and two half used propane canisters in the trunk we were off again and this time we didn't turn around.

It was about 4 o'clock when we reached the beach and started to get all the junk we need and headed to from the parking lot to the beach itself. Now this being the Sunday of a long hot weekend the beach was very crowded but we managed to finds a spot and set Aidan down in the sand. Poor little guy, we didn't realize how hot the sand was, but he was quickly moved and the only screams came when I was trying to change him in to the swim diaper and his sun suit. (He wanted to be in the sand with the stick he had already managed to get.)

Then we moved down to the water. The tide was out and the lovely (albeit somewhat full of plant life) tide pools were very warm and shallow. Aidan had the time of his life. It combined tow of his favourite things, sand , mud and warm water. It was like a bath in dirt. How cool is that?? We must have been in the water for more than an hour, and it was hard to get the boy to come out. He wanted to stay in the water as long as he could.

When we did finally get back to the tent (thanks mom!) Aidan quite happily played in the sand. Anthony started the BBQ and that is when I remembered what I forgot. Hmm, do you think it is a good idea to flip burgers with a fork? Unfortunately that wasn't the only problem. The propane canister that we were using wasn't flowing properly so the burger were only slowly melting. Of course that was when Aidan chose to melt-down and had a transformation into Tantrum Boy. Anthony went back to the car to get the other propane canister and that one did work well only to have two of the burgers make a dive fore the sand. Lets just say that after a few bites of the very crunchy burgers Anthony and I packed everything up and we headed home. A bath and a change into PJ's later Aidan was having a bottle and being put to bed where he then went straight to sleep. (Well he should have anyway as it was 9 o'clock.)

By Monday all Anthony or I wanted to do was take it really easy and just clean up a bit. So that is all we did.

What will this week bring? Not too much I hope, but maybe some swimming and trips to the water park. Well we will see.

Gwen, over and out.

Aidan at the Beach

2006-07-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

More video of Aidan ... this time, at the beach!
(Warning, 6 minutes)

Canada Day

2006-07-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Just some quick pictures from Canada Day, this past Saturday. There's a few more on the Photo Barn.

The Cat Came Back

2006-06-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

~~the very next day~~ the day after.

My what a rollercoaster few days this has been. Tammy and Chris came over on Monday night, and we had fish & chips with them. It was Tammy's first day at the Granville Island clinic and she was happy about not working at the Langley Emerg clinic any more ... there are quite a number of stories there, but they're not mine to tell. Anyway, while they were here, we were talking about animals, and how some owners care for their animals, and how people who get animals from the SPCA (like Andromeda and Dianthe) should expect bad things since they are usually not well. Some, (like Andromeda) are quite unwell. We talked quite a bit about Andromeda, and as Tammy, Chris and Angus (woof!) were leaving, Andromeda was glaring at them as she was poking her head out of our bedroom.

The next morning she was gone.

Gone. Evaporated. No sign whatsoever. I figure she got out through one of the living room windows (the one that has our neighbour's small flower-box containing balcony beside her stairs) which was open a bit more than normal owing to the 32 degrees C @ 7pm temperatures that we had been having.

We had gone to bed somewhere around midnight, and it was about quarter past 6am when I noticed she was gone, so she had up to a 6 hour lead on us. Aidan was already up so I brought him down to Gwen and I headed out to do a quick look around the complex. Gwen got dressed and stuffed Aidan into the backpack and came out and joined me. And we found nothing.

Back to the apartment, and I printed up some flyers. I put them in the complex noticeboard and on some telephone pole near our complex, and down towards Choklit park. Still looking. Under cars, in the bushes, everywhere.

Eventually, I went back home and had to get some breakfast and head to work. Gwen printed up a ton more flyers and she and the boy papered the neighbourhood. Before that, she called the SPCA, Tammy, and a few local vets. Late in the morning, after the boy fell asleep in the stroller and Gwen brought him home to nap, Gwen got a call about a possible sighting in Choklit park. She roused the boy and sped down to the park, but she didn't see any cats at all. She brought Aidan back home, and put him back to bed. Later that afternoon, she made at least one more sweep of the neighbourhood and surrounding blocks. When I got home from work, I did another sweep, Gwen did one again after the dog-walkers had disappeared and I did one after the sun went down.

Nothing.

And, it's hard. First, there are *millions* of hiding places in a few square blocks. So many bushes, trees, courtyards, cars, garbage bins, and so on. There are streets. Alleys. Almost all the housing around here is condos, with those funky courtyards (including our own) which just adds to the number of hiding places. And every block that you expand your search, the number just gets higher and higher.

Then, there's the wildlife. While out looking for a missing cat, people tell you stories. About the raccoons that are terrorizing the neighbourhood, killing crows and small animals. (I've seen them ... probably 50 - 70 lbs ... huge!) About the coyotes (I've seen them too ... they seem less well fed than the raccoons, though).

Of course, there's the cars (with high-traffic Broadway and Oak so near, a cat would have a tough time playing "Frogger"). And the drugged-up transients. And the fact that for all the hours I've spent out looking, I've seen a total of two cats, neither of which were Andromeda.

Anyhow, it's tough.

So, we left the window wide-open that night, and locked Dianthe in our bedroom with us. She didn't seem to mind and cuddled happily all night long.

I didn't sleep well at all, waking up a number of times after vivid dreams about Andromeda coming back. Then, around 3:30am, Dianthe growls at the window: there's another cat out there. Gwen gets excited and I shine a flashlight out the window, startling the cat. I rush outside, and there's the cat ... only it's not Andromeda.

Sleep didn't come back too easily.

In the morning, no Andromeda. I got up, did a look around the neighbourhood and headed off to work. Gwen and Aidan did a few more sweeps, ranging further, to no avail. She called more vets, the SPCA, the Vancouver emerg hospital, and the city pound, where um ... remains ... get sent. Apparently there was a grey tabby found at 40th and Slocan, but that's so far away that we dismissed that entirely. I got home from work, we prepared the boy (fed, changed) and headed out with the stroller to do some further ranging searching (south of Broadway, further west, east of Oak, etc). We spent a few hours out, and came back at 9pm, having seen a total of one cat. Not ours. Dianthe had been locked in our bedroom again, and the windows had been left open ... but nothing.

We put the boy to bed (no protests from him) and ate Wendy's. We spent some time trying to deal with the realization that we hadn't seen her for 36 hours, and trying to be realistic about expected outcomes. Bed at 11:30pm, again locking Dianthe in the bedroom with us.

At 2:30am, Gwen wakes up, sitting bolt-upright saying "Cat.....cat.....". I figured she was waking up from a dream, but she kept getting more excited, and bolted out of the room. By the time I made it to the hall, she had Andromeda in her arms, right as rain. Apparently she had heard Andromeda announcing her presence (I had heard nothing, and Dianthe who was cuddling with me didn't perk up).

So, we closed all the windows, and checked her over. As far as we can tell, there's no indication that she was anywhere but on a nice soft pillow somewhere in the house. Gwen put some ham in her dinner dish, and boy did she wolf that down. We put down more food, watched her for a little bit to convince ourselves she was alright, and then went back to bed.

It was tough to get back to sleep last night too.

Of course, it didn't help that Aidan woke up quite unhappy at 4am, and took quite a bit to get settled down.

But here it is, 7:30am, and Andromeda is on the couch, laying on her back, enjoying a tummy rub. I'm pretty sure this isn't a dream ... I don't have enough imagination to make up all those articles on the radio. Gwen and Aidan will take her to Tammy this morning for a full check-up, and probably a feline leukemiaa shot. While both Dianthe and Andromeda have ID collars, only Dianthe has an ear tattoo, and neither has a microchip. That will change today too.

Anyhow, I'm running late again for the third day in a row and need to get to work.

It's been a tough few days, but as far as I can tell, we're all safe and sound.

I hope the same can be said about Blaze.

A>

And the Yawn Goes On

2006-06-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

Aidan fell asleep last night.

Apparently he was reading (we didn't hear him).

We found him asleep on the book titled "And The Yawn Goes On". Not wanting to wake him with the camera, we took some video....

Happy National Aboriginal Day!

2006-06-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today on a whim (well not quite, I did want to go the year before last and remembered today when I heard it on the radio) Aidan and Nana and I went downtown to the National Aboriginal Day celebrations at the Art Gallery. Funnily enough the Federal government website didn't have the downtown celebrations listed, but they seem to be the biggest out here and according to the local website the largest in the country. Oh well, I did figure out where and when the celebrations were being held and how we were going to get Aidan my Mom and the stroller downtown without having to fold the stroller on the bus or walk the whole way or take the car. The 98 is an express bus and it has spaces for wheelchairs and strollers. (The ride there was ok, but there was an old bat who made things much more difficult than they needed to be.)

When we got to the Art Gallery it wasn't quite set up yet and we got to see some people put up a tee-pee (sp?) and we also had a chance to be some of the first people to have a look at some of the art and jewelry that was being sold there. I wish I had some extra money because they were selling some beautiful masks for a fraction of the cost for one in a gallery only a 10 minute walk away. Sigh.

Aidan had at least 10 people stop and admire him and he was almost accosted by some Asian esl students who thought he was way too cute for words. He also played peek-a-boo with a couple of Asian boys who decided that they needed to sit next to us to get a better look at Aidan and ask some questions.

Anyway, Aidan and Mom and I had a good time and Aidan loved the music and the dancing. The master of ceremonies was Chief Ian Campbell, and he was an excellent speaker. We are thinking about going down tomorrow (the celebrations are going on till the end of the weekend) in the afternoon after Aidan's nap. I hope that I will have some more pictures of Him and Mom and the large trees they have for benches.

If anyone wants a really cool mask or drum, give me a call with your visa number and I can send them home with Mom. Anyway, ciao for now.

We like to boogie

2006-06-16T22:48:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, so we bought a stroller tonight.

A "Zooper Boogie 2005". It's a little distressing that strollers have model years. Of course, buying "last year's" model means that it was a bit cheaper, but "cheap" is not exactly the right word to use. It's a mid-range stroller, not a "cheap" one, but certainly not one of the stupid-expensive $1000 strollers either.

It's a "jogger". I'm not convinced we need a "jogger" since neither of us "jog", but with the 12" pneumatic tires, curbs, tree roots, gravel, and other bumps and obstructions become less of an issue, and so we can go for walks in places like the UEL, or the Richmond dikes, or any of the provincial parks too. So that's good. Of course, the jogger has less storage than the Evenflo, plus no "parental console", and neither a "child console" so I'm not sure where things are going to go exactly (back packs for mommy, I guess) and I'm not sure how we're going to feed him snacks on the go ... but I'm sure it'll work out. Other "cons" are that it doesn't fold very small, and it's a bit heavy. Pros: It comes with a very versatile canopy, a rain cover, a "sun"/UV cover, a pump, the air-filled tires, hand brake, "remote" lockable front wheel, height-adjustable push-bar, easy adjustable child seat, reversible (!) child seat, and it drives like a dream.

We'll try it out tomorrow on a hike on Bowen Island and see how it fares.

The sales lady at TJ's (where we bought the stroller) was warning another customer about Evenflo's as being unreliable and prone to failure, and then hard to find replacement parts for, so our experience may not have been unusual. Of course, the old stroller as effectively been used every day for 15 months, so it had a good run.

Anyhow, we'll try this one out and see how it goes. They have a 10 day return policy -- hopefully we won't need to use it.

Sand in my diaper

2006-06-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

Snips, snails, and puppy dog snails? I don't think so. Sand seems to be a pretty major ingredient...

Broken Stroller, Boo Hoo :(

2006-06-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Last night as I was taking the stroller out of the trunk and I unfolded it I noticed that something was wrong. The stroller just didn't seem right and it was very wobbly from side to side. I looked at the wheels and that is when I noticed what had happened. The stabilizer bar at the back of the stroller had sheared off and was now only attached to one side of the stroller. Needless to say I was very dissappointed. That stroller is a lifeline, how can you live with a kid and no stroller?

So we are now in the process of looking for a new stroller. I am borrowing one from a friend while we look. It is is now making the decision, do we want to get another city stroller or do we get a modified jogger? How much do we spend? Do we get a modofied jogger that can be converted to a two child stroller just in case? Oh well, such is life I guess. Wish us luck in the ever seductive world of stroller buying.

Pictures of the broken Stabilizer bar.

So Sweet!

2006-06-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

Our boy was well rested for music class today. Aidan woke up at 4:00 am and I was able to get him back to sleep about 4:30 am. He then slept 'till 9:00. (It was a bit of a hurry to get him dressed and fed and down to music, but we made it.) As a result Aidan was happy and well rested and a little less frantic than usual in class.

There were only 6 babies there today with Aidan and Tristan being the oldest. Aidan was very interested in the other babies and went to see each of them in turn. He was so gentle and let the other babies touch him. The look on his face was sooo sweet and gentle. I guess that letting him touch other babies and making sure each time to demonstrate what is "gentle" has worked. Even the moms with the three month olds were not at all worried about Aidan being near their babies. In fact he was so gentle and patient that all the babies smiled and tried to touch him.

I am constantly amazed at our boy and I am so proud to be him mom. (I just wish I had my camera there to capture his gentleness.)

Reifel revisited

2006-06-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

Today (Sunday) we took Lorraine to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. This is turning into one of the marquee places we take visitors now, especially the outdoorzy birder types. The weather was reasonable, but showers and thunderstorms were threatening so we were constantly on the lookout for wet weather. Aidan doesn't look too impressed, but he really enjoyed the ducks this time. He was quite interested in them, and got a real kick out of them eating birdseed right off his stroller.

We saw lots of different birds. Ducks, and Canada Geese of course. The Sandhill Cranes were out today, as were three or four Great Blue Herons. We saw tons of swallows and red-winged blackbirds. Crows. And, some treats for Lorraine. Two Great Horned Owls, and a bald eagle. Oh, and a rooster, a hen, and a few poults.

Sandhill Crane...

Great Horned Owl...

Bald Eagle...

GBH...

Ducks!

Rooster...

Unidentified wildlife...

Life is a Cabaret

2006-06-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm not quite sure exactly what that means.

We saw Cabaret on Saturday night. It had received pretty mixed reviews, but that's pretty much all that was playing while Lorraine is here, so you take what you can get.

Neither Gwen nor I knew much about it going in. I was aware that it was supposed to be a little risque, and Gwen knew the lead song (referenced in the title) but that was pretty much it.

All in all, I think we both enjoyed it. It wasn't particularly risque. The singers and dancers were pretty good. The story was a little rambly ... bits of Chicago (written by the same people) and bits of Moulin Rouge (yes, I'm aware that Cabaret pre-dates Moulin Rouge). I don't know what the deal is with Germany lately; between Cabaret, The Sound of Music, and The Producers, we've been a little Nazi'd out I think.

John Mann played the Emcee. John Mann is the lead singer/songwriter for Spirit of The West -- a band I'm not particularly fond of -- but I didn't hold that against him. Actually, he was the best part of the show. His facial expressions were perfect for the part, and his singing was great.

The other actors were only so-so. The actress who played the female lead Sally Bowles (the actress was Sara-Jeanne Hosie) was a little too much in the Liza Minelli style (who, apparently was a big part of the original production -- a fact I didn't know until after the first act) and frankly, didn't measure up to what I imagined Liza Minelli would have done. The Kit Kat Girls were okay, but nothing spectacular, and the older couple were also okay but not stellar.

Still we enjoyed the show and our "date night".

Ewww

2006-06-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

OK, he got me.

And I was so secretly happy that it hadn't happened to me that I had convinced myself that it wasn't going to happen.

Yes, last night I got barfed on. It hasn't evened the score (mommy's been the target a couple of times), but it's no longer an exclusive club. I was just about to put the over-tired boy into bed after having fed him 10 oz of formula (which was preceded by supper and a bath) when he erupted. Ewww.

No, really. Ewww.

I don't think he's sick ... rather I think was a combination of being overtired and the incredible volume of bath water that he consumed a half-hour earlier. I'm not sure how to keep him from drinking the bath water, but I think that we'll keep the plastic cups out of the bath for the next little while.

On a complete different matter, posting here will be sporadic again, since Grandma Lorraine is with us now, and for the next three weeks. As such, blogging has been pushed down Gwen's priority list a little bit.

And speaking of Grandma, she bought The Boy a cell phone yesterday. A cute, plastic faux-phone, but still. It has a full key pad, and speaks numbers and "hello" in English, français, and espanol. You can also record little voice clips and play them back.

Aidan, being the uber techno-geek that he is (he fits in, right?) loves this thing.

I'm just a little sad at seeing my little boy ~~walking~~ cruising around with a phone glued to his ear. He's generous with it -- he loves to give it to you and actually holds it to your ear while you talk into it -- but, still.

Baby loves Sushi!

2006-05-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note, Aidan seems to love sushi. I guess it is because of the "My first book of Sushi" board book we read when he was small. I thought it was the cutest little book. Aidan has had some vegetarian sushi before, but today for lunch he had 3 pieces of Kappa Maki (cucumber roll) and 1 piece of Avacado Roll.

I opened the package and Aidan cried when he didn't get the cucumber roll right away. I cut the pieces up into smaller pieces and he gobbled it down. In a few months I think I will try him on some fish sushi, maybe a BC or California Roll.

Rain, and why Aidan is like a dog.

2006-05-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Anthony, Aidan and I went out for a walk today to get supper and get out of the house. It had been threatening rain the whole weekend but it didn't start until we went out the door. I don't think that Aidan has been under the rain canopy for his stroller since Kathy and John left to go back home.

Aidan likes the rain, and he used to like just watching it from underneath the canaopy. Not anymore. We spent the whole walk back home trying to keep Aidan from poking his head out the side of the canopy to get in the rain. In fact he looked like a dog hanging its head out the window of a car. So much so that he even had his tounge hanging out to catch the rain. We finally gave up and had the canopy only partially covering the stroller.

So, when we got home all of us were wet. Aidan from head to almost toe, and Anthony and I with wet jeans. All we could say was that Aidan is so very much a little boy.

We will see what tomorow brings.

Sand Castles and Muddy Moats

2006-05-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

"See Mom, I can dig the water too!"

"Sand or water, I just don't know what I like better."

"Oh, Mommy has the camera. Mommy take my picture please, my public wants to know."

"Look Mommy, lots of sand in the boat makes it sink!"

Mother's Day Sand Castles

2006-05-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

So, for Mother's Day, we went for a drive. It was a nice day, and a wonderful day for a drive. A nice, relaxing sort of day. Plus, we wanted to see how Aidan handled long-ish drives. We filled up the car and off we went to Harrison Hot Springs (shown below).

We went the "long way", along the north side of the river. Aidan started getting hungry and cranky around Pitt Meadows so we stopped in at the public park at the base of Golden Ears. After a top-up with a bottle, and some furious swinging on the cool swing set that they had there (high seats, but quite convincing in its good construction) we hit the road again. I don't know the distance, and we were in heavy traffic until well past Pitt Meadows, but we left Vancouver around 2pm and didn't get to Harrison Hot Springs until 5ish.

At Harrison, we hit the beach. The beach was full but not crowded. We made our way over to the sand sculpture competition (which was the reason we went to Harrison Hot Springs!) and marvelled at the sculptures. Some of the more interesting ones are below...

After spending a few hours in Harrison, we headed back home. This time we took the TCH. We stopped for a quick bite to eat in Chilliwack and were home by 9pm. After putting the boy to bed (he eventually called it quits around 9:30) we settled in to see Terry lose Survivor :(.

More photos can be found in the Picture Barn.

Signs

2006-05-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

Sign #2134 that Aidan is ready for bed:

He gets himself sufficiently stuck in the cat tree hiding-hole that he requires *both* parents to extract him.

Shopping and Swimming and Dogs, OH MY!

2006-05-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a jam packed day for both Aidan and I (and I am assuming Anthony.) It started out with Aidan sleeping a full night and getting up very cheerfully at 7 with Anthony. Aidan ate a nice big breakfast and we all got ready to go out and take Anthony to work, and to pick up Gen and Tristan to go shopping and swimming.

Aidan was happy on the ride to the university but when I took him out of the seat to move it (we needed the room for Tristan's car seat) he decided that he didn't want to go back in and he was making sure that I knew it. That is when I did the only thing I could when the bottle he had didn't work . . . I gave him my cell phone to play with. Don't worry I had the key guard on and of course he cant put in the combination to get it to open. When we got to Gen and Tristan's I had to use the cell to call them and wow that made Aidan mad. I did give him back the phone but I thought that I should turn it off to made it harder for Aidan to use. Hmm, I guess that this wasn't the best idea because Aidan has a knack for finding the 1 button that can get him into trouble and within seconds he had flipped the phone open and turned it on. I immediately put the key guard back on and took the phone away. This time it was ok because Tristan was there to keep Aidan occupied.

We then went to the Fashion something or other for a children's sample sale. Unfortunately we found out that the sample sale was a week from today. Oh well, at least we know that we were in the right place. It wasn't a total loss because we went to the Home Depot that was next door and I got some hinges so I can figure out what I need to do to get doors on the bookshelves.

Then we went to the Vancouver Aquatic center that has a small warm toddler pool. It has lots of toys and is nice and shallow. By this time Aidan was tired and a little apprehensive. He was mostly clinging to me in the water, that to him, was deep. He didn't splash very much until about 20 minutes later when we went to the very shallow end. He then decide he could splash and crawl. Lol, he was then getting his face in the water and being very relaxed. Next time we will start out there for a while and get Aidan more used to the water and move to the deeper water a little later.

We got back home a little after 12 and Aidan was asleep by 12:15 pm. He then slept until almost 4 pm. He slept that long even though there was work going on and Tammy and Angus were here since 1:30 pm. Tammy and I had a nice visit and when Aidan got up he had a ball with Angus. He was more excited to see the dog than either Tammy or I. He was very gentle with the dog and even shared his cheerios with Angus. He then open his present from Tammy. Three very cute short and top outfits. He will be the best dressed boy in town.

Supper was a treat from Tammy and for Tammy. She was very impressed with his eating skills and the way that he eats his (vegetarian) sushi. Tammy left about six and Aidan gave her one of his very special hugs. He really knows how to get on somebody's good side.

Aidan some time before bed so he played quietly while I made him a bottle. Since he slept so long and so late I thought I would let him play as long as he wanted. I was very surprised to find him displaying signs of wanting to go to bed about 7. We went downstairs, got him ready for bed, had a bottle and by 7:30 he was in his crib asleep. What a weird day.

Month in Review: Grandma Kathy and Grandpa John's Visit

2006-05-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Anthony's parents were scheduled to arrive on the 12th of April in the late afternoon. It was a cloudy day and apparently they couldn't see the mountains when they were flying over the city. As we were waiting for their plane to come in we let Aidan crawl around the arrivals are a little bit. He went right for the three children that were also waiting for their grandparents to get in. The were 4, 2 and 1. Aidan's toy was a big hit with the two boys. We waited about 15 minutes and then the grandparents arrived. Aidan was a little shy but didn't cry. We got the luggage (it all arrived) and all got settled in the car. It was a little squishy but not too bad.

We dropped John and Kathy at their hotel and went back home to wait for them to come over for some supper. After supper Aidan was a little hard to get to sleep since his routine had been changed and new people were around. The next day Anthony went to work and the rest of us went out for breakfast since the power was off at our place. We have no idea why but it was off for at least three hours. After breakfast we went downtown for some music and shopping. Unfortunately the pacific center mall was under reconstruction and the trip was cut short. It was also really raining so I don't think anyone was really upset that the trip was cut short. This was also Anthony's birthday so we got a cake for after dinner and waited for him to come home. We had a nice dinner and again Aidan was a little hard to get to sleep.

On good Friday Anthony and John went to take advantage of the break in

the rain to take some pictures in Queen Elizabeth Park. They went to the conservatory and took some nice pictures of the birds and flowers. Kathy, Aidan and I went for a bit of a walk.

Saturday was our lazy day. Anthony and John played some video games, and later on we all watched a movie. Aidan took a real nap for the first time since the grandparents came and it was a very nice day. Unfortunately we had to change our plans for Easter Sunday because Colin was still sick and Maureen was coming down with it too. We went to church and Aidan was very well behaved for the long service. When we came home I put the turkey in and we had another fairly uneventful day. I think everybody liked the turkey and Aidan ate well.

On Monday we had the first sunshine of the week and we went to shopping and to the bird sanctuary. At the end it was a bit much for Kathy, but I think that she enjoyed the scenery. Anthony and John tried to get some nice pictures of the red-winged black birds that were flying around everywhere.

On Tuesday, the last day of their trip Aidan had his music class and we all went together. I think that Grandma and grandpa had a good time and it seemed to very quickly. I will try to put up the pictures later. I can't deal with the raw pictures in picassa and Anthony hasn't had time yet.

It was a lovely visit and we can't wait until next time.

Aidan in the grass

2006-05-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

So, we had Aidan in the grass today. His first time, if you can believe it.

After some initial trepidation, he seems to like it!

In fact, it seems like there's nothing better than an endless field of grass!

(more from Momma soon)

A>

Month in review part 1

2006-05-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, I get the picture, you guys would like me to blog a little more regularly. I will try a little harder to make that a reality. Though I am not sure if I will be able to do this on the laptop again because whatever is under the "Y" key is making writing a lot harder. So the last post was about my birthday I guess and not too much has happened. Well, John and Kathy were out here, and Anthony and I continue to try to make the wires, books, and everything else toddler proof. Aidan is very good at finding anything that we don't want him to touch, or might be dangerous for him to touch. So, ok here goes, the last month in review.

The weekend after my birthday Anthony and I tried to make the dining room more childproof and to make it easier for the cats to get away and for Kathy to get into the livingroom without having to climb over chairs. (Yes Kathy I know that it didn't work, but we did try.) This also coincided with Aidan deciding that the best way to touch all the things he wanted outside when we were stopped in the stroller was to stand up and lean over. Unfortunately our stroller doesn't have a five point harness system and Aidan has figured out how to wiggle himself out of the three point harness whenever he wants. So I was trying to get Anthony to agree to getting a new stroller and if we were going to do that, we might as well look into a jogging stroller for Aidan and I to go further and faster on our walks. We looked all over the place and except for the one online that I really like we didn't find one that I wanted enough to bug Anthony enough to get. We were also looking for a wide baby gate to block off the fireplace, give the cats a place to eat in peace, and make room for the bottle recycling where Aidan can't get at it. Hmm, easier said than done. It was very difficult to fine a pressure gate that was that wide. We finally found one at TJ's the expensive baby store.

The baby gate up we decided to try Aidan's freedom out and decided that the chairs still needed to block off the other portion of the livingroom. Aidan has a fascination with wires and books, so we needed to figure out a way to keep the wires from the computer and DVD system out of his reach. However we still hadn't figured out how to do that and John and Kathy were comming in a couple of days so the chairs went back up until we could figure out how to make the wires safe from the baby who will pull any wire he possibly could.

Next installment: John and Kathy's Visit

Birthday and a Haircut

2006-04-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

So Gwen's birthday was yesterday. She celebrated with a hair cut! And cake.

First Haircut

2006-04-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as I was trying to get Aidan to sleep we went for a walk. I decided that since I want to have my hair cut and I have been waitnig for my hairdresser to finally open her new salon we would go by the storefront and see if she was finally open.

Judith's is now open for business. Aidan and I went into her shop to make an appointment for me and we talked for a few minutes. I was absently playing with Aidan's bangs and Judith offered to trim them. Since I have been getting comments from you guys at home and the center of the hair seems to land right down the middle of his nose I said "yes, thankyou."

It only took about 10 seconds and now I have a small piece of Aidan's hair. It looks good and now there is no hair in his eyes. I will save a big haircut for when he has lots more hair. If Aidan is anything like me, that won't be until he is 2.

Messy, Messy, Messy!

2006-04-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

This afternoon when I had an email to send Aidan found the Minigo that I had forgotten on the coffee table just minutes earlier. After saying "No!" and having Aidan throw the minigo on the carpet I decided that I would have to give up a bit of control and go with the flow. Well within reason. So I put Aidan in his high chair, put on his big plastic cover all bib and let him go at it. Here are the pictures to prove that Mommy will sometimes give up control of the sticky stuff. (Aidan was scheduled for a bath tonight anyway.)

Dr. Visit update

2006-04-03T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today Aidan was finally healthy enough to get his 1 year check-up and shots. Of course there was a mix up at the doctor's office and the appointment I had made two weeks earlier to get his check-up was mistakenly cancelled. I think that the mix up must have been that the appointment I got for him on the 29th of March cancelled the one in April, though he still needed to be check from the illness and get his full 1 year check. This meant that they did fit me in, but we had to wait another 20-30 minutes. Aidan crawled all around the office, played with the bead and wire contraption, tried to eat some books and tried to get some of the open files off a shelf.

When we got into the appointment Aidan was pretty tired since he has been taking a nap mid morning for about two to three hours. He was very good though and we were able to measure him (74 cm, that is 4 cm more than last check-up, 25th percentile), weigh him, on the big scale this time, (a little less than 22 pounds, 50th percentile) and check his lungs (no wiggling on the table).

After weighing him Dr. Izen went to get the needles for his vaccinations (measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus and chicken pox) and I got Aidan ready to get stabbed in the legs. Dr. Izen is really good and fairly quick so Aidan didn't mind too much, but he did cry a little bit. He stopped immediately though when Mommy got her blood-pressure taken. Aidan was very interested to see what the doctor was doing to Mommy.

Aidan had a bottle and a nap when we got home and the vaccinations only affected him a little. I did give him a dose of Ibprophen this afternoon as he got some very red cheeks, but his legs don't seem to be sore. He is now in bed after falling asleep on Daddy's lap.

Back to normal

2006-04-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Alright then. Sorry for keeping you all hanging (both of you).

So, the ER on the 21st. After that, we had a few days of masks and antibiotics. His fever went away eventually, and he started sounding better.

Gwen and I continued to be miserable.

By Saturday (his birthday), he was doing pretty well, except ... when we changed his diaper Saturday morning, he had a rash. On his trunk, in front and in back. And quite a bit in back. Enough that we were concerned that they might be an allergic reaction to the antibiotics (which *did* have an awful effect on his ... output ...). So, we hoofed it down to the walk-in clinic, and saw a kindly doctor there. He took a look at the rash and told us that it was probably the tail-end of the virus and not to worry too much, unless his fever came back up, and/or the rash got puffier and itchy. Back home to prepare for the "birthday party", which had been scaled back considerably due to the illnesses.

We had a number of "virtual" visits with the grandparents, and some cake later in the day. We took quite a bit of video on Saturday, mostly with the video camera, and some with the web cam. In juggling the video camera, the web camera and trying to be involved in everything, I ... uh ... didn't get many actual photographs. We might resort to pulling some captures from the DV. Anyway, here's one I did get:

He sort-of liked the cake. He was pretty tired by cake time, so his appreciation was somewhat muted. :>)

Thank you all for the presents! He's enjoying playing with all the toys (quiet and not so quiet) and we've worn some of the clothes that fit him now and put the others away until he grows a bit more.

On the seventh day we rested.

In the intervening week, we've all been recouperating. By now, we're all feeling much better. Aidan had another doctor's visit on Wednesday, a check-up with our family doctor, who was brought up to speed with the ER visit and drop-in clinic visit. Dr. Izen told us to continue with the antibiotics (which ended Friday night) and that we could taper off the ventolin on the weekend, but to keep up with the pulmacort. Still keeping score? He has *another* doctor's appointment in the week to come, this one his scheduled Year One visit where he'll get his shots, etc. Hopefully he'll get a clean bill of health too.

So, I've missed the cherry blossoms blooming and some other good photo ops in the past few weeks. I toyed with the idea of taking pictures of The Boy while he was sick, but that seemed a little cruel, and frankly, required more energy than I had.

But, the weather's turning, Grandma Kathy and Grampa John are coming out to visit in two weeks, and we're all healthy again, so the cute quota will be met (hopefully) in the weeks to come.

I might a few more short video clips posted in the next few days. Any feedback on the video? It's pretty boring I realize (no music, shaky camera, etc) but at the moment we really don't have a lot of time to make things pretty. I can throw it quite easily to DVD if anyone wants a higher-quality version.

Cheers,
A>

A Birthday Video

2006-04-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the spacing between updates. I promise that tomorrow there'll be photos and a "news" update (not that there's any news). But for tonight, here's a link to a rather dry video shot on Aidan's birthday. Warning: For family only ... it's pretty dry!

The file's DIVX encoded, and large (~100 MB). Be patient. If you don't know how to play the file, try to use the VLC media player, it'll play almost anything. If you don't have this program, get it free here: http://www.videolan.org

Here's the link to the video: http://www.anthonyfloyd.homedns.org:9100/Aidan_birthday_march_2006.avi. Enjoy!

ER Update 1

2006-03-21T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well ... this morning I guess ... we made our first trip to the ER at BC Children's.

Aidan woke around 1:15 this morning, and Gwen went and got him. He was quite warm, and when we took his temperature, it was about 101.5. This was surprising since he'd been fever-free for the past four or five days. We dosed him with the infant Advil, but by 1:45, his temperature hadn't budged, and his breathing seemed rapid and shallow. Since these were the symptoms we were told to watch out for, we packed up and headed to the emerg.

And arrived around 2am.

And, although we were shown into a room immediately, and the triage nurse bustled in and around, took his temperature and hooked him up to the monitor, it was quite a while before we saw a doctor. In fact, it was pretty close to 4:30 before the resident mosied in and took a look at him. She ordered a chest xray and a ventolin mask. We made it to radiology just as the xray tech was packing up, but she squeezed us in.

The sight of your infant son, literally strapped to a chair, with his arms strapped above his head, bawling his eyes out, and you forced to wait behind the radiation shield is not a pleasant one.

Back to the exam room, and wait for the paediatrician to visit. He took the mask reasonably well, but of course he was exhausted from the continuing ordeal.

We saw the paediatrician by about 5:45 where she told us that we were to increase his ventolin masks, she was adding pulmacort to the mix too. The pulmacort is supposed to continue for the next month, and the ventolin for the next two weeks. The chest xrays didn't look too bad, but there were sufficient dark spots that he was also prescribed amoxil. After receiving the verdict, we had to wait for the scripts and for the new nurse to give him the first amoxil dose.

We were back home around 6:30.

Gwen and Aidan went to bed, and at 8, I headed to work.

Right now, his fever's still up, and we're all tired. The antibiotic is 3 times a day, the venolin 4 times a day, and the pulmacort, twice daily. Why can't they change the size of the doses so that the drugging schedules mesh nicely?

And, oh, Gwen & I are still being knocked around by our own colds.

Pray for sleep.

Dr's Office Update 2

2006-03-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

So, the afternoon check-in with the doctor has meant that he's still on the Ventolin mask for the next few days. Apparently Dr. Izen isn't too concerned about his breathing, but given the little bit of wheezing still going on, it will help him out. Other than the wheezing, the rest seems to be just your typical spring cold.

Don't I wish. This typical spring cold still has me pumping the cold meds and sucking back ~~liquid vitamin C~~ apple juice like it was going out of fashion.

Gwen got a quick check-up at the Dr's office too, and came away with something to treat her sinus infection, which is compounding the allergies, which is compounding the cold. Oh, and the asthma. Sounds absolutely horrible, but I think she's doing quite well. Her energy's up, she hasn't needed a mask herself, and her eye's aren't at all puffy. But, still.

Let's hope we all clear up in time for the weekend!

Dr's Office Update 1

2006-03-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

OK, so Gwen's back from the doctor's office. She thinks it's just viral, but in order to help Aidan breathe, we have a ventilator, and some Ventolin.

Fun, fun, fun trying to keep the mask on The Boy. The hands are working overtime, the head whips around, the whole body arches and strains to get away, and for the whole time, he's bawling his eyes out. I'm sure he got at least 1/4 of the dose he was supposed to get.

2:45 appointment on Monday for follow-up with our family doctor, Dr. Izen.

Apparently not

2006-03-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

So, Gwen was hoping that we weren't going to get whatever Aidan has.

Ah, well, hope only gets you so far.

This is now day 2 of sick leave for me, and Gwen's been pretty miserable too. Aidan's cold has moved into his chest, but his fever has disappeared. He's been pretty good, maybe a bit less energetic, and coughing of course, but doesn't seem too bad. He slept well last night and had an over three hour nap this morning.

Gwen's not doing too bad either. It's in her chest too, and her sinuses are bothering her, but she's been pushing through.

I'm doing better today. Yesterday was a different story. I don't handle fevers well, and was pretty much useless yesterday. Between not sleeping the night before, the fever, and all the other symptoms (not the least of which was my voice passing through the deep, sexy stage straight to "gone") I was pretty miserable. But today's better, I've been able to read and work on the computer a little bit. Plus I actually had some solid food.

In the end, Gwen's taken Aidan to the clinic now, just to get someone to listen to his lungs. They're going to tell her that his lungs are congested, but I'm not sure how they (the Dr's) make the decision on when it's time to do something about it versus just letting it ride.

Oh look, another sunny weekend predicted. We spent last weekend inside tending to a sick boy. This weekend we'll spend inside trying to tend to sick us.

Happy St. Paddy's Day. Have a beer for me, 'cause I'm not having any today!

Finally Sleeping

2006-03-14T21:24:00.000-08:00

Aidan got sick on Saturday and let us know about it on Saturday night. He got up every hour on the hour and was feeling pretty bad. He nursed like crazy since it was about the only thing that kept his nose clear. Sunday was about the same and it was then that we started giving him some pain and fever medication. I decided to give him the infant ibuprophen because if he had any teething pain as well it should be more helpful for both things. I guess that this was "Mommy intuition" because in the middle of that night when he was very feverish and totally miserable I noticed that he had some white points on either side of his bottom teeth. So my baby boy is the proud new owner of two new teeth.

I had been joking earlier that week that Aidan was waking up at 4 because it was time for the trip to Nova Scotia time. It had been three months and that was how long it was between the last two visits. It seems to me that he got multiple teeth on those occasions as well. Our Aidan never does anything the easy way.

Monday Aidan was still sick with a head cold and we now had the fight of wiping the nose. We can't find the nasal aspirator and we don't think that it would be anything like easy to get that in Aidan's nose without hurting him or us. You would think we were trying to kill him just with the kleenex. He went from the not being able to breath through his nose at all, and consequently not eating or drinking very much at all to the chest cold. He could breath a bit through his nose on Monday night and this made it mostly easier for him to sleep. (However the three times he did wake up coughing he went straight to sitting up. Anthony was reaching for him in the dark, the power went out last night too, and couldn't find him. He was very surprised to find Aidan sitting up leaning against the crib not really awake.) Aidan had a few hours like this before getting up with me nursing like crazy, having medication stuffed in him while mostly asleep and going back into his crib for the rest of the night.

Today wasn't too bad and he is getting better. Aidan is still got the chest cold, and his voice is lower and rough but he had a real nap this morning. He has been a little on the cranky side but the supper,vapor bath, and bed seem to be working. Now we just need to keep the temp down like it was today and we will be set.

Anthony and I haven't totally succumbed to the cold yet and we are valiantly hoping that we will be spared but Aidan's hands and nose have been everywhere. But we can do it --- right?

Naked Chinese food in the snow, except in reverse

2006-03-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

What an odd day.

First, we woke up to snow on the ground, and falling from the sky. A few centimetres here in Fairview Slopes, trace amounts in Kits, and 5+ cm up at the University. It cleared up by about 10am, and was bright and sunny (no trace of snow at all) by the afternoon.

Chinese food for supper tonight, and shared with The Boy. Still doesn't like rice. Seemed to like a few bits of Lemon Chicken, but didn't have too much of it. Also seemed to like tepid green tea. Go figure. Definitely didn't like the fortune cookies, though.

On our way back from the restaurant (which we made a quick exit from, since The Boy was on his second mini-tantrum) we stopped in to London Drugs to pick up some magic (sinus) pills. We're pretty sure we saw Vancouver-based alt-rocker-chick Bif Naked in there. Despite all the "celebrities" that live in Vancouver, we don't see too many. Gwen saw Kelsey Grammer last year during the CBC Food Bank events, but I think that was the first "celebrity" sighting either of us have had (oh ... wait ... actually, we were on the same train as Vicki Gabereau when we took the Dinner Train to Squamish -- but I don't think current or former CBC TV/radio employees count as celebs, though).

Cheers!

Happy Birthday Nana!

2006-03-09T10:56:00.000-08:00

Mom, Aidan and Anthoony and I wish you the very happiest of birthdays. In fine tradition it has been snowing here in Vancouver for your birthday. I hope the weather isn't too bad there. (The snow didn't stay here.)

Love Gwen

Blue gone.

2006-03-07T12:47:00.000-08:00

I am just coming off the remnants of getting the blue streaks in my hair.

Sigh. I was just reading a blog by a mom who wants to get pink streaks in her hair and it makes me sad that I just got rid of the blue streaks in my hair. I loved seeing the blue in my hair when I was brushing it out at night. Unfortunately with Mary across the country I really don't have anyone to dye the streaks back for me. They were getting a sickly green-gray colour and that made me feel old.

Oh well, I dyed it dark brown/black and I think I might try to go get it cut. I am not sure though, it has taken me almost two years to get it this long. I will keep you posted.

Mothers wise, give some advice.

2006-03-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

Aidan has been eating solid foods for a while now without any problems. He is now almost a year old and he should be getting ready to eat more table food and leave the baby puree in his dust. However, Aidan still spits out almost all "table foods" except for cereals. He loves cheerios, puffed wheat, crackers, bread, even pizza crust. As long as it is crunches he seems to like it, but anytime he eats our food, eg. pasta, cubes of meat, potatoes, cut up fruit, he chews it and then spits it out or just throws it on the floor. We are starting to get a little worried and we need some advice on how to get him to start eating our food.

Help!

Music Time!

2006-03-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry this has been so long in coming. I know that I promised them at least a week ago and I did try a couple of times but Aidan is just so darn tiring now that I have been napping when he finally goes down. The one day I suppose I really could have blogged was the day last week that Anthony stayed home, but that was because I had a migraine and I was drugged and slept all day. (You know that wouldn't have happened with only myself and Aidan at home.)

So with out further ado:

This is my music class. Aidan and I have gotten to know some really cool babies and parents.

This is Aidan, Tristan and Genvieve. (Who happens to be a childhood friend of Andreanna's, as we found out on Wednesday.)

This is Aidan and a shaker. He really likes to shake and drum.

Anthony was at the last class and Aidan really seemed to like having his Daddy there to play and sing with. We need to find a good class for Anthony and Aidan on a weekend. I am sure this would be good for both of them.

Three things

2006-03-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, we're still here. I know we haven't updated much recently. No, I'm not sure why, and I don't know where those photos are that Gwen promised, but I'm sure they're coming soon.

In the meantime, I present three things I find cute this week:

Aidan will now crawl over to you and lift his arms to be picked up ... when you call his name and ask him to "Come to Daddy"
Aidan will offer you things now. His remote control for the mobile (which is no longer attached to the crib for its own sake) is willingly offered to an outstretched hand, and will also willingly take it back after Daddy has had some play time of his own with it. Mind you, he also offers me Cheerios, but just as he's about to put it in my mouth, he pulls it back, giggling with excitement and eats it himself.
Aidan is becoming a little more cuddly. When he's tired now, and especially at night in the dark in his room just before putting him into his crib, he will put his head down on your shoulder. Mind you he's equally as likely to throw himself back in your arms, beat his fists on your chest, pull your ears, pull your chest hair (um, well, my chest hair), and so on ... but really he's never been cuddly, so I see this as a positive step!

Well, that's it for now. Until next time Faithful Reader.

Happy boy, up early.

2006-02-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

Aidan is doing fine since the bug the other day but he decided last night to go back to waking up really early. 3:30 am to be exact. It took me two hours to get him back to sleep. Sigh.

Guess who didn't go to exercise class today. Hmm, well at least we got to see the curling final.

Now that it's out of his system (so to speak)

2006-02-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

Well, just an update on the boy. He went to bed easily around 7:15pm last night, and slept through until half-past 12 or so. He fed for a while then (no surprise) and slept through (as far as I can remember) until about 5:30am. At which time (after another brief feed) he was up. Up and ready to go. It's quarter to seven now, and he's still up. Still going. Not showing any signs whatsoever of being ill. He's chattering, climbing, cruising, and doing all the normal "I'm-Aidan-and-have-limitless-energy" things. If it weren't for the "Watch out! Vomit everywhere!" sign that had been on the door, I'd not have known there was a problem.

Happy Birthday Grampa

2006-02-22T22:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Grampa John!

The Beautiful Baby Contest

2006-02-22T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hmmm, they should have called it the "Ugliest Baby Contest"!

Did you see the faces that even a mother could have trouble loving that appeared on Monday's Live with Regis and Kelly? (Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a few days late in commenting on this ... sorry) OK, there *were* a few cute kids there. But there were definitely quite a number of kids that got hit with the ugly stick. What were they doing? Stacking the deck in favour of the truly cute?

Needless to say, we didn't see Aidan's picture on the show. We figured as much ... I'm sure the "finalists" were contacted by a PA in advance of the show. Didn't bother me much, although with a trip to New York I'm sure we could have somehow arranged to see The Producers and/or Spamalot on Broadway. Somehow. I'm not sure where we would have found a baby sitter ... but somehow. But I digress.

I hope that the mirror supply is high in the States, 'cause if *that's* the creme de la creme of the babies, there's bound to be a lot of broken mirrors!

Oh well. We all know who's the cutest kid in our hearts.

Vomit, Vomit Everywhere!

2006-02-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well you guessed it, Aidan has finally succumbed to a sickness. It has started out as a really stuffy nose and a little irritability. Now it has blossomed into a stuffy nose, irritability, tiredness and a sneeze followed by projectile vomiting. Luckily (and unluckily) he was in my arms and not in his bed when it happened.

I was just putting Aidan to be after supper (he ate well and was falling asleep in my arms) and I put him in his crib while I got everything ready. He was changed, the music was on and I just picked him up to turn on the outside light for Anthony. Then it happened. He mewed (a little like Andromeda does) sneezed and threw up. You should have seen his poor face, he didn't understand why this was happening. At least he threw up on the tile . . . and on my hair, my shirt, his suit.

I took off his suit, my stuff threw some towels in the front hall and left a note on the door for Anthony. We then took a shower and Aidan just cuddled with me. Anthony came home just as we got out of the shower and took care of Aidan while I got the floor cleaned up. (I guess it is only fair since Anthony takes care of the cat box and cat vomit.)

Aidan seems to be feeling much better but very tired so he is already in bed and asleep. Hmm, I don't think this is the way I want to get him in bed by 7:30 pm.

I will keep you posted on his recovery and I had planed to post some pictures from his music class. I will probably get to it tomorrow. Love to all.

Nap going too well?

2006-02-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

Well, today Andromeda and Dianthe went to the vet to get their shots so Anthony had the cat treats out. He put some in their cages when we were going home and only Andromeda was calm enough to eat them. So when we got home, I took out the leftover treats and put them on the shelf ion Aidan's room for Anthony to give to Dianthe. Unfortunately they didn't get fed to the cat and I didn't pick them up. Silly me.

Aidan was in his room and even though I knew he wasn't asleep I wasn't worried because he was not crying and his crib is safe. Anthony went to look in on him and guess why he was quiet. Yup, you guessed it. Aidan was eating the cat treats. Of course Aidan didn't get more than one but I think that Anthony was a little miffed with me. It might just be that Anthony is really tired though. (Aidan woke up several time last night after going to bed really well at the beginning of the night.)

On the bright side maybe this is a way we can get more protein into Aidan. They have to be ok, right?

Like pork in manure

2006-02-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

Gwen has cleared off two shelves in our living room, the bottom now has (had!) a bunch of Aidan's toys and the second had a bunch of his books. This morning, he (of course) took everything off the shelves, but then sat and played quietly for almost a half hour ... flipping through his books "reading". Hopefully we can keep the interest in book up for ... oh the next 20 years!

Baby Bootcamp Update

2006-02-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

I did recover enough to go back to class on Friday. Aidan was more comfortable with everybody and decided that he needed to visit all the babies since they couldn't come and visit him. It is interesting to note that all the other babies seemed to love him and were rolling over (those that could) to see him better. Aidan also got a few fingers in the face, but he was really gentle with the others. We also had aerobic steps around a set of gymnastic mats and Aidan decided that he would also visit the mommies as well. He can push himself up with anything now and is also starting to climb.

I am not sure how much of the proper exercises I got to do but I did get to chase after Aidan quite a bit in between them. We will see how it goes next week.

Live's Cutest Baby!

2006-02-08T22:39:00.000-08:00

Well, who knows, but this is the picture that was sent off to Live's Cutest Baby contest.

Mommy is sore!

2006-02-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

Aidan and I went to "Baby Bootcamp" this morning on the recommendation of a couple of Moms I have been hanging out with. I met Gen and Julia at Music class and we have been going out for coffee after class. They talked about their fitness classes on Wednesdays and Fridays and I asked about them. They both liked them so I decided to go and check it out.

Me being me, I decided that since there was only two weeks left of the class for this session and since it would be cheaper than dropping in each time I signed up before I changed my mind. That being said I now have three more classes that Aidan and I have to go to. It was really good and if I don't die from the sore muscles I think I will sign up for the next session. It definitely gets me out and Aidan seemed to have a good time. If I can keep up doing the baby crunches, push ups, bicep curls and squats, and tri-cep curls with Aidan I will be one of the strongest women alive! :) (The walk to and from the community centre with the stroller and the hills helps as well!)

The only problem that I have encountered is that after the nap Aidan and had this afternoon (2 hrs) I am very stiff and sore. I guess I have not used those muscles as much in awhile. But I am getting more limber as the nap wears off so I guess Friday shouldn't be as bad. Wish me luck!

Swings, Part II

2006-02-07T22:08:00.000-08:00

So, we went to the park on the weekend ... because it was ... ... sunny! (don't tell anyone)

Anyway, we happened to have the camera along, and we happened to be by the swings.

Don't worry, we won't post pictures everytime he sits in swings, but here's a few more gratuitous photos of him on the swings:

He clearly enjoys the swings...

But also mugs for the camera...

Somehow, this doesn't look comfortable, though.

On a side note, Gwen's been playing around with the blog settings, so if things get funky over the next few days, ~~blame Gwen~~ bear with us.

How early is too early?

2006-02-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

How early is too early to buy Aidan his own video game system? Not that I am saying we will buy him one soon, it is just he has a fascination with anything with buttons and he particularly likes the video game controller that his father plays with.

We have tried giving him his "own" controller (one of the PS1 controller we still have) but he still prefers the one his dad is using at the time. Anthony has tried to "play" with Aidan's controller to give Aidan more interest but it doesn't seem to be working too well. Aidan keeps looking at the paused screen and back at the controller. I think he understands that it is not plugged in and therefore not doing what he wants it to.

Aidan will play with his own controller when the video games are not on, but not when Anthony or I are playing games. It is funny to see Mommy try to dance around Aidan on the DDR mat. It will be interesting to see him when watching us sing and dance together. (I hope they have a freestyle mode for "Karoke revolution" as well.

Anyway, maybe we will be getting Aidan the V-tech "laptop" for his birthday. I know that they are geared toward the 3-4 year olds but if Anthony was reading by 3 I don't see Aidan being far behind. We will keep you posted.

Peek-a- Boo!

2006-02-01T19:56:00.000-08:00

I have started to take Aidan into his room to play for a while each day. We have mostly baby-proofed it and we would like it to be a good place for Aidan to play. He likes it and has had great fun pulling things off the shelves and playing around the freezer and diaper pails.

Today Aidan discovered that with the crib railing up he can crawl under his bed. This he did, and like the ostrich with its head in the sand I don't think he thought I could see him. With him like this I ran for the camera.

He didn't seem to notice while I took some pictures of him this way and I didn't need to turn him around until I heard the dial tone. Aidan had found the phone that we still need to move and pressed the speaker phone button. Anyway when I turned him around and called to him I was able to get some very cute pictures. I swear If I wasn't his mother I would still think so. :)

Can you see me?

Swing, Swing, Laugh!

2006-01-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

Aidan and I took advantage of the rare sunshine and went to the playground near the seawall. Tell me do you think he liked his first time on the swings?