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.