Sam

Quite unbelievably, the boy's name has yet to be resolved. We are close, sort of. Can it be this difficult? On one hand you really want to pay tribute to the great family members that got you to this point in your life. On the other hand, you don't need your kid being beat up at school. I would have loved to named our son after my father, he is a great man, but that's my name, and that doesn't work. Tara has some strong ideas. We are not on the same page. We had found it so easy with Jack Gordon and Emma Rose. The crazy thing is that we were really ill prepared in every way for the early arrival those kids. We anticipated Sam to be early!! We had the bag packed!! This last week Sam has changed so much. He has suddenly started to look around trying to figure out what is going on...he has BIG eyes, I would love to know what colour that they are going to be. He certainly knows what/who he doesn't like! Tara and Sam have been working on "tummy time" and laying in the sun. Tara says that it is practice for our vacations?! Opa and Gran are on their way home from 6 months in Texas. Imagine, they haven't seen their latest grandson. They are returning to a different world. Emma runs and yells, enough said.

Emma

Emma is getting heavy to carry around. She is getting to be a girl, no longer a baby. She has grown so much and has become so much faster, walking and talking. Tara stays beautiful, and rolls with what comes her way. Me? I am getting grey through my facial hair. Emma often wonders off and can be heard singing and laughing happily her own. For the uninitiated, we have a cat that isn't friendly, at all. Ask most people and they will tell you about a confrontation that they have had at some point with Oreo. However, cat and daughter seem to have struck some strange balance in our home. At times she is found banging out instructions at the cat or chasing him yelling"rat cat". Imagine the disbelief when Tara discovered her the other day playing dress up with him. Emma's enthusiasm seems to have extended to being outside lately. It used to be that she wanted to be in someones car, that was her version of being outside. Now, she is often at the front door asking if it is time to go for a walk. At these times it gets so hard to not drop everything and head out the door. We live in the middle of Newmarket. We are surrounded by walking paths that take you to parks and along the river, and through the woods. The other day Tara and I decided to take Sam and Emma on a family walk, to the Ford dealer. This is what my perfect family would do on a Saturday afternoon. Emma had the time of her life running in the beds of the pick ups and trying to get into all of the cars. Sam spent the time in his baby byorn his face mashed into my chest. Tara said that he was hiding his face in shame. His road to life-long embarrassment by his family members has only just started.

Where did the time go?

Wow, so we had figured that once we were settled in the blog we could manage to do this weekly. So much for that...Things are busy around here. The spring is typically really busy around here, the property maintenance company does the switch from snow to grass. It is almost as though you would be setting up a new company every spring. Of course with the construction company, people emerge from their homes, look around and realize they will need help. Tara stays on the move with Sam(still with no full name), and I get to spend a lot of time with Emma Rose. Having a healthy girl around is wonderful.

Her words and sentences are coming in at a startling pace. We continue to welcome guests of all kinds. We had Rui and his wonderful kids come in a bring us brunch. Uncle John, Carol and Sabrina brought curry for dinner. We are surrounded by beautiful people. For the record we anticipate this to continue. Even after the kids are grown and left the house.

The first wave

Saturday arrived with a flurry of phone calls. It seems that everyone has figured out that we are at home and could use a visit. First auntie Julie and her boy, Lucas, came out from Peterborough for a visit. A lesson to anyone who is thinking of coming to visit: Julie came with a lasagna and salad. Jeff, if you are paying attention, that is how a great house guest arrives! Shortly after lunch some of Emma's favourite people drifted in: the Hollefriends. Grammy and Poppa, Devin(dragging girlfriend Emma), Keigan, Rachel and Maggie. Rachel and Maggie took Emma for a walk. She was in heaven, telling the girls stories and showing them all of here favourite spots. Finally our wonderful neighbours, Alex, Connie, Steph(dragging best friend Sam) made their way over. We are very lucky to have such great neighbours. Steph, got her introduction to Sam. As our official babysitter, it was important to get her feet wet with him.

Uncle Dug

If you know Emma at all you know that she is something of a gear head. She loves everything mechanical. When we go for a drive, she is more than happy to point out every car that we pass. If we see a blue Dodge minivan, its uncle Jeff's, a silver one, its auntie buddy's, and so on. If there is a bus ANYWHERE in sight, you will know about it. Well, on Friday Tara took Emma to the King City firehall see her uncle Dug at work. Typical Dug style, he held nothing back. Not only did he dress up in the full bunker gear, but she got to get behind the wheel of every truck and "drive". At one point they ran the siren and the lights, and they actually took a truck around the parking lot. Dad should have gone to partake in the fun...Also in Dug style he made sure that the other uncles knew the score by teaching her "uncle Dug rocks".

Thursday - catching up

Wow, suddenly keeping up with the posts has become a much harder task. Around here we are finding our "sea legs". It is times like this week that I feel really fortunate that I have flexibility in my work schedule, and a great team that are likely more comfortable without me getting in the way. Of course, that dream hits the wall when I realize that source deductions need to be submitted to "the man" today...dream over.

Along with her improved health, Emma's appetite has made a welcome return. Emma's eating has been off for months. I can't speak for what it is like in other households, but in our family food is always a big priority. Its really hard trying to come to terms with the feeling that I can't feed my daughter. It drives me to distraction. Now, I may have created a completely different problem, she has taken on dad's worst habit, the need to constantly graze. When we get in the van together and the first thing that she says is "bagel?". I begin to realize that I need to change my ways. The weather this week has been great so we have been able to get outside as a family, which has been nice. Yesterday Emma asked to hold Sam for the first time. It went better than expected. You just need to make sure that you are ready when she announces that she has had enough. Since then, she has held him a number of times after asking mom. This weekend is our last opportunity to assemble Sam's full name. Neither of us can believe that this saga continues. I can only imagine what he will think when he is older and realizes that his parents couldn't find a name for him for the first 3 weeks of his life. Sam is an interesting baby. I have discussed his grumpiness. That is certainly something that has stuck with him. The constant grumbling makes me wonder if he will ever grow out of it. Its not like he has been subjected to the Liberal party dark years yet in his life time, of course I hadn't thought of Dalton...The other unique thing that he does is flash his hands around. It constantly makes someone comment that he looks like he is practicing his marshal arts. This has got my wonderfully creative wife to believe that we should call him Samurai...

the first weekend

Well, the first weekend was an exercise in sleep depravation. Sam is fine, like a clock, every 4 hrs he needs the boob. Emma, as it turns out, didn't want to sleep through a night. Since Thursday, Tara and I seemed to be up at the same times with each kid. The sun coming through the morning window has been harder to take as the days move on. Emma seems to be back on track now and life should run a little smoother. I keep getting told that I now have a millionaires family... is that because you need to be a millionaire to reclothe the 2nd kid? I look around our house and everything is frilly and pink. As uncle Dug always says, frilly and pink is fine in your own home, but not cool when you walk into the fire hall. The closest thing that I can find to an explanation is this: "rich man's family" or "choix du roi" One son--to inherit and rule the estate...no brothers are needed to work the fields or run the business (because you're rich) so best deal is not to have second and third sons who will not receive a birthright and will skulk around, envious, making trouble One daughter--to marry a powerful ally's son and spread your power and influence

No pressure on the kids there.

Sam seems to have settled in well. He seems equally grumbly here as he did at the hospital. He has the amazing ability to sleep at any point, in any position. His patented move is to expend all of his energy showing you how much he hates getting his bum changed that can't stay awake for the feeding. Sam and I finally got to spend some time together. I find myself asking Tara questions about his behaviour since I am not familiar with him at all. With Emma, Tara and I shared time at the hospital looking in on her, and when the time came we shared feeding responsibilities. Emma at first seemed rather indifferent, now however, she wants to check on Sam, make sure he has a blanket and a hat on. We were visited by all of Emma's favourite people: uncle Jeff, Grandma, auntie Erin and Jen and of

course Mo Jo. Mary, with all of her free time made a little

something for Emma. She now spends almost every waking minute with her hat and purse. She is in great spirits these days, back to being a wonderful, funny, curious girl who loves to sing. On Saturday uncle Jeff and I took Emma truck shopping. She was over the moon to be jumping in and out of the backs of trucks with Jeff. While I took hours in the sales office, the two of them ran all over the parking lot. Everyone needs a little more uncle Jeff in their life.