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-
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Thursday, April 16, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Soon to become the Smidget(te) Chronicles!
Here's the thing about having a 18+ month old... you're often too tired to blog on any sort of regular basis. Sorry about that. Smidgette is set to arrive next Thursday, April 16th so we'll have many many new adventures to recount.
Little Z is growing by leaps and bounds... he's got a vocabulary that increases seemingly every day... I'm now clearly "Dada", "Mama" is also a popular figure in the house... he can count to fifteen (often missing twelve but what can you do?)... he doesn't walk anywhere, he sprints... often asks for toast, pancakes, cookies (thanks to some grandparents), crackers, peppers... he's got quite the grocery list.
February 2009 also brought another trip to the magical land of Florida and Disney World with Grandma and Grampa. Those swimming lessons last fall/winter paid off as you couldn't get him out of the kiddie pool if you wanted. A really nice timeshare near SeaWorld... although we didn't venture into SeaWorld... maybe later in life. We even survived a dinner at the Olive Garden with very little mishap.
And... I'm happy to report... Winnie the Pooh and I have mended fences. As you might recall from last year, we had an incident. This year... while strolling through Disney's Animal Kingdom, we went by a faux boat landing and a helpful attendant told us about a character greeting spot with little or no lineup. We got down there and who do we see but Pooh, Tigger, and Eyore. We're literally next in line... and off goes Pooh for a break. My jaw hit the ground... no-way could this be happening two years in a row... but fortunately he returned this time... much to the delight of little Z.
Other highlights this time around included the Lion King show which was spellbinding and Z falling asleep while I was carrying him into the Finding Nemo show.
The Magic Kingdom this year was not the happiest place on earth. I think we're going to chalk this up to teething... but it was a challenging day with a periodically completely grumpy and miserable little bug.
Smidgette's arrival is now pending... less than a week to go. The whole scheduling of a birth is very civilized... we're set for April 16th at 1pm. Makes you wonder what to do with the rest of the day...
I'm going to try and remember how to email to this blog as I'll be (of course) with Julie during the nights with Smidgette (when yes, her name will be revealed).
Little Z is growing by leaps and bounds... he's got a vocabulary that increases seemingly every day... I'm now clearly "Dada", "Mama" is also a popular figure in the house... he can count to fifteen (often missing twelve but what can you do?)... he doesn't walk anywhere, he sprints... often asks for toast, pancakes, cookies (thanks to some grandparents), crackers, peppers... he's got quite the grocery list.
February 2009 also brought another trip to the magical land of Florida and Disney World with Grandma and Grampa. Those swimming lessons last fall/winter paid off as you couldn't get him out of the kiddie pool if you wanted. A really nice timeshare near SeaWorld... although we didn't venture into SeaWorld... maybe later in life. We even survived a dinner at the Olive Garden with very little mishap.
And... I'm happy to report... Winnie the Pooh and I have mended fences. As you might recall from last year, we had an incident. This year... while strolling through Disney's Animal Kingdom, we went by a faux boat landing and a helpful attendant told us about a character greeting spot with little or no lineup. We got down there and who do we see but Pooh, Tigger, and Eyore. We're literally next in line... and off goes Pooh for a break. My jaw hit the ground... no-way could this be happening two years in a row... but fortunately he returned this time... much to the delight of little Z.
Other highlights this time around included the Lion King show which was spellbinding and Z falling asleep while I was carrying him into the Finding Nemo show.
The Magic Kingdom this year was not the happiest place on earth. I think we're going to chalk this up to teething... but it was a challenging day with a periodically completely grumpy and miserable little bug.
Smidgette's arrival is now pending... less than a week to go. The whole scheduling of a birth is very civilized... we're set for April 16th at 1pm. Makes you wonder what to do with the rest of the day...
I'm going to try and remember how to email to this blog as I'll be (of course) with Julie during the nights with Smidgette (when yes, her name will be revealed).
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