Milestone in life

... to pick up from my last post. Yes, they did win! It was pretty stressful... having to leave with 10 minutes left in the 3rd period and then refreshing my Blackberry browser every minute to get news... only to have it go to OT and then rushing up Main St. USA to make our dinner reservation (Crystal Palace) and having an off-duty waiter tell me "Hey, congrats!".

Yeah we did!!

It was colder than normal in Florida that trip... good for visiting Disney and the bugs had a ball. The 2nd week, in Palm Coast, was still cool and weather not great so having to come up with stuff to do was challenging.

Since then, Aly's 1st birthday was a smash... nicely cooperating and smearing her first cake all over her face. Zach's 3rd birthday in August had its moments... having it in the park was nice but setting up nearly gave me a nervous breakdown. We'd bought a talking Lightening McQueen big inflatable balloon in Florida. When tying it to the picnic table, it was pretty windy and it kept flying in my face. So I tied it to the bench and another gust of wind got it and before I could blink it was up up and away. Noooooooooooooo the helium-filled balloon was gone like a rocket and in minutes was in Gatineau airspace.

All this, not the purpose of this post!

Today was my last day at the department I've been with for the last 11 years and altogether the last 16 years. Natural Resources Canada has been a great place which really gave me my first shot but it's time for a change. Monday I start at Public Safety Canada! New adventures, new staff... intimidating but exciting!

Now, if only Aly and Zach would stop taking turns getting various illnesses, viruses and coughs... a good nights sleep seems like such a great thing now!

Off to Disney and Gold 2010

It's 11:21pm right now... we are all packed and ready to fly to Florida early tomorrow morning. It means getting up at 4:30am but the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are on and Team Canada is in the semi-final game against Slovakia. The winner goes to the gold medal game, which would be Sunday (February 28, 2010).

Once again, I am leaving Canada the day before the Olympic Gold Medal hockey game.

This has happened once before.

In 2002. I went to Guatemala.

That turned out pretty good for Canada.

I'm just sayin'.

This will be Alyssa's first plane trip and, shockingly, Zach's 3rd (and he's only 2.5 years old). 5 days at Disney World before we meet up with Grandma and Grampa to stay at Orange Lake and then Palm Coast.

Here's hoping it's the happiest place on earth... Sunday especially.

I must get better at this

Ok... I knew it had been a while since my last posting. It has always been something I mean to get to every day but then, by the end of the day, am too tired to write it. I knew it had been a while, but last August??? Sheesh..

That isn't to say I haven't been thinking about it or thinking of topics, phrasings etc.. to use. But by the time we get both munchkins to bed and have some relaxation time, well, I'm pretty zonked!

Rituals

One of the topics floating in my mind is/are the rituals that evolve with Zach. A couple of months ago, he got a 'big boy' bed which really consisted of removing the drop-rail... but I'll get to that later. Until then, we had a very predictable bedtime routine that I always smile about. We'd get upstairs, brush his teeth "I want to do it!" and then sit in the armchair in his room and he'd pick out a story for me to read while he drank his milk and held Joey. Then, the conversation would go like this:

Daddy: Are you ready for bed?

Zach: Yeah (small voice)

Daddy: Should we get into the bed?

Zach: Yeah (small voice)

(Get into bed)

Daddy: Hug?

Daddy: Hug for Joey?

Daddy: Another hug for daddy?

Daddy: Ok, time for bed. I love you

Zach: I love you daddy

Daddy: Good night Zach

Zach: G'night daddy

Now that he (as of December 2009) is in the big-boy bed, the ritual has changed a bit as he now insists on getting into the bed without assistance.

When we modified his bed... he got a pillow and blankets. He did his afternoon nap that day no problem. We patted ourselves on the back for being good parents. Then we put him down for bed at night... all went well.. until about 10:30pm when I, downstairs watching tv but about to come upstairs, suddenly heard a loud bang followed by crying. Sprinting up the stairs, I discovered that he had indeed fallen out of bed. We had focussed so much on him potentially voluntarily getting out of bed that it never occurred to us that he might in-voluntarily get out.

Come to think of it... I'm not sure why I don't fall out of bed regularly. I mean, how do we/our body just know not to fall out of bed??

We bought a bed rail...

Siblings

Zach and Alyssa are starting to interact.... we can count on Zach to make his sister laugh but still need to work on how to be gentle with a baby. She went from no crawling to full-on tear across the floor literally overnight in December. He got a ride-in police car from his Nana & Grampy for Christmas (2009) and needed to be stopped a few times from running over his sister... or stepping on his sister... or stop banging her head against the refrigerator... or dragging her around by her leg... this is all new territory for me, this sibling thing.

Eating

Alyssa has progressed quickly to solids and is up to the pureed mush stage, cheerios and wafers. Zach has turned into one of the pickiest eaters I've ever seen. Pretty much every meal we need to cajole, plead, threaten, bargain, negotiate to get him to eat his dinner. I, in fact, hate the war we call dinner right now because it's very very trying on the patience. That and trying to stop him from bringing his foot up onto the table...

Being Cute

Saves them often.

Fifteen years before I was a parent, the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series for the first time... the first time a Canadian team had won the world championship. A year later, they did it again.

As Blue Jay fans in the early 90's, we got used to winning. The SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) was sold out every single night. The joke used to be that the easiest job in town was being a ticket-seller for the Jays because you were done in April.

Tonight, August 7, 2009, the Jays are having a reunion of those two World Series teams. It's really hard to believe it's been 14 years since the last time they won. The memories are so clear in my mind. These were my heroes, the guys that excited not only a city but an entire country. I still remember the lineups, the thrill when Joe Carter or Robbie Alomar stepped up to the plate. White, Alomar, Carter, Winfield, Olerud, Maldonado, Gruber, Borders, Lee in 1992.... WAMCO of 1993 (White, Alomar, Molitor, Carter, Olerud).

I still get chills... remembering exactly where I was for each. In 1992, with my friend Anne-Marie and her roommate (who's name I'm blanking on) at their apartment on Uplands Drive, way past midnight and slamming my hand on the ground when Winfield hit his double down the left-field line and yelling "run! go go!" and then, because closer Tom Henke had already been used, Timlin coming in to pitch the 11th inning and the play-by-play which is burned into me.

"Nixon bunts... Timlin up with it... tosses to first... and for the first time the world series banner will fly NORTH of the border!"

Flash forward to 1993. WAMCO led the way... Olerud, Molitor and Alomar went 1-2-3 in batting average in the league. The World Series, this time against the Phillies, followed almost the same script, losing game 1 but winning 2 & 3. Game 4 in Philadelphia which became the highest scoring game in world series history with the Jays coming back to win 15-14 and then watching game 6 in Toronto... Glen and I eating and watching the game at JJ Mugs on Yonge Street and then the play-by-play yet again...

"The 2-2, well hit down the left field line... way back and.... GONE! Joe Carter with a 3-run homers... the winners and still world champion, the Toronto Blue Jays". I have to add here that the radio commentary by the late and legendary Tom Cheek had the best line "Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run"

I still get misty watching it...

Those were my heroes... I looked up to these guys, I followed all their games, their stats, got the Carter jersey. The world needs heroes to look up to and be inspired.

It was good to see them again tonight... and Winfield still wants noise.

All this girly stuff

I have to confess... I don't get all these little girly clothing things. Sleepers, ok... onesies, yup can do... but there are many of Alyssa's outfits that I am changing out of that I never would've figured out how to put her into let alone understood that those things should go together.

So, as long as I'm getting her ready for bed, we're fine.

Since my last post, I've travelled across the country to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory. It was magnificent countryside and I learned a tremendous amount. Still though, it was really hard being away from both Zach and Alyssa... let alone Mommy. Good to be away but not a good time to be away.

Alyssa is a good little sleeper and even more so a good little eater. Our division of duties has me doing the evening/night bottle feeding and try to have her asleep by midnight or so. Mommy then gets up with Aly (I'm trying out short nicknames) at around 2 or 3am. A lot like when Zach was born. The difference, of course, is that Zach is here this time around and has taken to getting up closer to 6am then later. This is wearing Daddy out a tad because he then has to go to work all day. I'm fervently hoping that after the famous 'first six weeks', that Alyssa becomes more like her big brother and sleeps longer during the night.

Zach seems to really like his new little sister. "Hi sister" is heard all the time and always either wants to go into her room to greet her... even when he's not fully attired... say, oh, I dunno, after a bath...

He loves to "help" with his sister.. putting the soother back in her mouth when she cries, or even when she isn't. When she's sleeping, that's a bit of a problem.

All in all... so far so good with two children. Tiring for sure... not a lot of quiet time to just relax. Less blogging time but I'm always trying to work on that.

I probably won't bother trying to figure out the clothing...

On the day you were born Alyssa

It's Alyssa's birth-day!

What a beautiful little bundle... Everything went smoothly and, given it's 10:30p in our semi-private room and daddy is folded into a hard chair, I thought I'd recount the day of your birth.

Little Zach got up early again today... 6:10am. I think Ubu nosed his door open early... I waited until he started to cry and then it was time to get up... Fortunately Grampa was up waiting with the obligatory apple juice... So daddy could lie down for a while longer.

Your mom and I got up (separately, mommy's a morning person) and while she showered, I had a bagel... Mommy still annoyed that she wasn't allowed to eat after midnight. Zach left for daycare just before 8am with Grandma & Grampa

In the news today... A Tamil protest continues in downtown Ottawa... The weather has turned warmer and forecast for today was sunny and 16c. Mom and I left for the hospital just after 11am... This whole scheduled birth making it feel like an odd day... Like we were just going out for lunch...

We checked in at 11:30... Came up to the 8th floor and were taken to a prep/recovery room where they got mom ready... By 1:00, mom was prepped... Had quizzed the anethesiologist about the eating issue, and wheeled off to the operating room. They dressed daddy up in funny clothes and told him to wait outside the room for 20 mins. At 1:30p they started... Daddy waiting with mommy's head while the doctors did their thing.

And at 1:52p, Alyssa Anne May Robertson came screaming into the world!

10 fingers, 10 toes... and completely beautiful.

Nice to have you with us now Alyssa...

So here we are... Sharing a hospital room with other people... You're sleeping, Mommy is trying to sleep (with next door baby screaming)... and Daddy in an armchair thinking about tomorrow's back problem.

-Steve-

-- This message was Blackberry'd --

The day before

It's the day before the arrival of Smidgette... the day before life changes yet again.

Smidgette - you're coming into our lives tomorrow... another new experience for me. Daddy is an only child... this whole sibling thing that you're coming into with your brother Zach... completely foreign to me. Fortunately your mom has two so there's plenty of experience there. But still... I've had 20 months to get used to your brother and (most of the time) he's a joy to be around and brightens our days. Please be like him ;-)

On the day before you're set to arrive... your grandparents (Grandma and Grampa) have been here for 2 days to help out with your brother. The weather has been sunny, in the mid-teens temperature We had stuffed salmon for dinner and daddy went to play volleyball for the last time of the season. For the record, his team won all 3 of its games.

Mommy is understandably a bit nervous for your arrival as she's having what's called a 'c-section' which means we're coming into get you before you come out on your own. Why? Well, it's a bit hard to explain... Daddy is in this training/development program to teach him how to be a good leader. To say it's just a training course would be dramatically understating it. It focusses a lot on personal reflection, introspection, and learning about yourself and how you behave in the variety of situations that will face you. Here's the thing... it's a 6 week program that daddy's work has invested a lot in. There were two weeks last October (2008) and the next two weeks are next week and the week after. The week after next, 10 days from now, daddy is supposed to be in Whitehorse.

Mommy is being really understanding about this... but daddy still feels horrible at the prospect of being an entire country-length away from you, your brother and your mommy so soon after your arrival.

The good news is that, after reading what I wrote after your brother was born, you're just going to be sleeping a lot and eating. Mom will have Nana to help out and daddy will be away for only 5 days.

Can't wait to meet you tomorrow... can't wait to sleep in a chair-bed again... and really happy we won all the volleyball games tonight.