Month: July 2016

I am falling back into my old ways of not updating the chronicles of my life and I need to get back on that train!

Maureen, John and Abigail visited for a week to help out Vero and Sierra while I hung out in an air conditioned office.  Heyo!  I’m acclimatized at this point with the hot weather but it’s definitely a struggle for anyone coming in from up North!  Heat wave city baby!

I was working all week long while everyone hung out at the house.  So I have a bunch of photos that were downloaded off the camera that I have no recollection of because I wasn’t there.  So for those pictures, I will just make up events surrounding the picture.  I also love that Maureen made a little booklet of these photos and sent it up with Mom and Dad.  Thanks Maureen!

Here is the first meeting of the two cousins.  They were figuring out how to hotwire the strollers to a battery pack so they could zoom away from their parents.

Here is Abigail teaching Sierra the importance of having an escape route from the house in case of alien invasion.  Sierra promptly asked her Dad to install a slide from her bedroom window when he got home from work.

Véro was teaching Abigail about the Olympics and how racing works.  Clearly she picked it up quick as you can see that was going to beat Véro!

This year I finally got around to perfecting the ‘cool tub’ for the summer months.  I checked a few websites and they said that around 89-90 is a good temperature for babies to go into the water so that’s what it’s set at.  It’s a great tub for these sweltering days we have been having!  Unfortunately the bearings went on the jet pump so we have the leave it off and on top of that, shortly after this photo was taken, I had to dump the entire hot tub of water because the cut off valves for the jet pump didn’t stop the flow of water!  Man, I was pissed.  Anyhow, Dad changed the bearing when he went home and I ended up picking up a new impeller as I have a tendency to crack them when I take them off.  Mom and Dad also gave me some new tools to help me with that in the future!  Hot tub maintenance is kind of a pain in the ass but it is necessary.  Anyhow, for the couple of times we tried out the cool tub, I would say it’s a success!

Also, the shirtless photo of me is courtesy of my friend Clive who specifically said “Dude!  I love seeing shirtless photos of you!  Put up more!”

I love how photos generally show the serene, nice events in your life…aww..hanging out with the niece…

But the reality is more like “What the heck kid, come back with that burp cloth!!”

I have to say it was pretty cool when I was hanging out with Sierra and Abigail sauntered over and climbed up to hang out with the both of us.

Mom and Dad told me that Abigail sometimes didn’t pay attention when photos of her were being taken.  I showed her how she can see herself in the iPhone when taking a photo and she was thinking that feature was pretty intriguing!

John and I had really high hopes of jamming a little, recording some tunes and doing all the things we have always wanted to do since we don’t get a lot of time together.  It ended up being a week of taking care of the kids, watching Rick and Morty and having a night of old school gaming.  So what if our plans get derailed?  We still had a great time together.

I can’t really figure out if Abigail was rubbing the Buddha belly for good luck or was trying to see what comes out if she pushes downward!

My girl already has eyes for a nice Italian boy seen in our living room.

Abigail was trying to figure out how to trap moquitoes with bubbles.

It was pretty awesome that Abigail liked playing ball in our backyard.  It was a glimpse into our future.

John and Maureen’s friend dropped by and someone snapped the greatest photo of Abigail ever.

Fredo decided to join the Pope Clan.

Aunt Maureen getting one last hug in.

It was great having Maureen, John and Abigail spend a week with us.  We are very grateful to all the family and friends who have dropped by and given us a hand for the past two months!  Now onto the next chapter…taking care of the baby ourselves!

How awesome is this find at Costco in Gatineau?!  Mike and I need to build a spit.  I was wondering about the logistics of picking this thing up…would I need to purchase it on a Thursday and let it defrost for a few days and then cook it up on a Saturday?  Who knows?  So excited to see this next to the yogurt at Costco.

So on Saturday, we witnessed an interesting phenomenon with Sierra in that she had zero sleep all day long which is abnormal as she generally takes a few naps.  Of course, because of this, she was quite cranky.

Then Sunday shows up and she proceeds to sleep from 10am when I took her for a walk until around 8PM!  She did wake up for feedings, but would go back to sleep right away.  While this gave us an excellent Sunday afternoon around the house to do things that weren’t baby related, it also set us up for a night where she didn’t really sleep all that much.

ANYHOW, when she was waking up around 8PM, I figured I would swoop in and change her diaper before another feeding started.  I peeled back the diaper and no poop was to be seen…bonus!  It’s like I won the diaper lottery!

While I was checking for fecal matter, Sierra let one rip right in my face!  Whew, the stench hit me like a gale force wind and knocked me back a few feet.

I thought “Well, at least nothing else came out the rear end while I was down there!”

Like a Professor X-like telepathic signal, I must have triggered something inside of her and the bowels of Hell (literally!) unleashed a fury that no man should have to witness.  I luckily had the old diaper still laying there and I grabbed it like a hero would dive in front of a kid to save them from a bullet.  Using it as a shield I was afraid that the fabric of this diaper was no match for the sheer force of what I was hearing come out of this 9 lb body.  I managed to nab another diaper and add it to the collection.  I felt like it was just one more sandbag to stop the flood but it just wasn’t going to be enough.

Meanwhile, Vero is wondering what all my yelling is about and comes into the room and proceeds to laugh her ass off.  She’s lying there cramped in the middle of the room while I’m trying to stop this kid’s mess.  I’m pretty sure Vero peed her pants a little from all the laughter.

Sierra finally calmed down enough for me to attempt to cleanup the scene of the crime and I realized I will never, ever try and change her before she has fully awakened.  Because when she is waking up she generally passes some furious gas and now I really know up close and personal what really happens down there when she awakens.

Sierra enjoying the quilt that Grandma made for her.  It even has her name stitched into it!

As my good friend Benoit pointed out, I have become lax in updating this blog!  Considering this is a chronicle of my life, perhaps I should get around to putting some words down!

This is currently my favourite photo of Sierra.

Yesterday Sierra turned eight weeks old.  Which is somehow different than 2 months old.  I always thought it was strange how parents referred to their kids by number of weeks old instead of months but now I somewhat understand it from a developmental point of view

Today we hit another milestone in our lives as we tried out the breast pump this morning.  Vero’s comment on the experience: “I feel like a cow.”  Cow or not, we are both excited about the prospect of giving Vero a little more freedom.  Milk in bottles = less Vero needed for feeding!  Yay!  We have been very lucky throughout the entire pregnancy and birth of the baby and now parenting and we do not just assume that all will work according to plan.  It is nice, however, when things do work out.  For reference later on, we started her out at 4 oz of milk.  Afterwards, she fell asleep while on a walk with Dad and hasn’t woken up in 2 hours.  Update: Actually, she abnormally slept most of the day.  Strange!

It was an interesting experience giving Sierra her first bottle.  She took it right away without any fuss.  I figured she would considering it holds the nectar of the Gods!  Vero also was quite happy that this signalled a little more freedom.

Sierra is an interesting creature.  When she had visitors for the past few weeks, we felt that she didn’t cry as much.  As soon as the visitors leave the building, she becomes quite fussy.  I think that maybe she needs a lot of stimulation and after a long day, her parents may not give her enough?  We’re not too sure.  Saturday was a good example.  In the morning she was having a grand old time after feeding.  We went for a walk, she hung out in her bassinet where she was smiling and making noises and acting like a happy baby.  Then the afternoon hits and she is cranky and the entire evening was made up of screaming fits.  It’s not the end of the world but it’s definitely a hard time for us when we look at the kid and think “Alright kid, what’s up?” Every parent/babysitter/relative has gone through this as well so it’s the human experience!

Not all is bad however at eight weeks old.  She is putting on the pounds and today will be her last day in newborn diapers.  Some people must find it funny that she is still in newborn diapers considering some babies are born and don’t even fit into them!  Anyhow, for future reference to Sierra when she is reading this and needs some advice…when a baby poops and it shoots up their back, it might be time for a larger diaper!

Mom and Dad dropped off some interesting books for us to read: some old baby books chronicling the lives of Mom and myself when we were babies.  It’s really interesting to read similar things that are happening with our baby.  I had a good laugh when it was mentioned that I loved bananas the first time I tried them.  I hate bananas now so I’m not sure how that changed!

Sierra enjoying her first Star Wars viewing.  She was actually quite enthralled by it.  It was the French version which was an interesting experience to watch.

We’re pretty excited that she seems very interactive now.  She really enjoys her little play yard and sometimes she smiles when she sees us come near.

The next week will be interesting as we will have two year old Abigail with us so we will see how the cousin’s get along!  I finally got the hot tub heat pump back up and running thanks to Dad’s help and it is now ready to have the two of them jump in and cool off during the summer!  Unfortunately the jet pump seems to be making quite the noise so I’ll have to check on that.

A video of Sierra at eight weeks old.

I’ll stop this entry here as I have a few weeks of catching up to do! (Aka, post the pictures of the people who have visited so they can say “Hey look, I’m on the web!”)

On Sunday we had a slew of visitors pop in for a visit.  I felt like I was at the cottage down in Gaspe!

First off, Mom and Dad stopped by on their way to visit to Gaspe.  They were heading down there later this year but they managed (read: Sierra convinced them) to drop in for a day to check in on things.

Sierra cried for seven days and seven nights after her grandparents left.  Clearly she misses them!  I am kidding of course.

Oncle Michel, Melissa and Felix dropped by shortly after to check in on Sierra.  I heard Felix cry at one point and I think Sierra might have scared him?  Not sure what happened but it was an interesting scene with both of them crying at one point!

Oncle Michel having some fun with Sierra.

Then Lynn and Sue dropped by for a quick visit!

“Yes, I am that awesome.  Soak it in.”  – Sierra

Perfect weather to hang out on the deck.  No flies and not excruciatingly hot!

Lynn, here is the beer you liked.  I picked it up in a mixer pack in Quebec back in the spring.  I also love how Crazy Jerry’s Boot Scootin’ Garlic Mushrooms makes an appearance in this photo!

Sierra is very lucky to have so many visitors and it’s not over yet.  My sister is coming up this coming week and after that we’ll get around to booking some other people who have been asking to meet her!

 

Tante Ginette and Jean-Michel dropped by for a visit.  They also piqued my interest in a game called Ticket to Ride!

I can’t tell if Evan is playing along with Sierra or setting up a trap.

Andreane the nutritionist whispering advice of switching to vegetables instead of breast milk.

Gaetan and Danielle loved spending the week with Sierra!

General Shenanigans, reporting for duty.

Grand-papa inspecting the play structure.

No word of a lie, that kid sat up like that while watching Star Wars. She was super into it!

Gaetan and Danielle showed up on Friday and the entire Cantin Clan descended into the house for a few days this past weekend.  It’s great to have everyone around.

On Saturday when it was raining, we surprised Gaetan with a trip to Escape Manor which is a pretty cool event to try out.  They lock you in a themed room and you have 45 minutes to try and figure out the clues to escape.  This time around, we were cat burglars on one last mission and I accidentally tripped the laser alarm system so we had 45 minutes to get the necklace and get out of the room.  We almost made it out and if we had one more minute we may have made it out.  I did cheat a little with 2 minutes left and just tried random combinations on the combination lock and it actually worked and opened up!  But it was still too late in the game to get out in time.  But Escape Manor is a fantastic event to do with a group and I highly recommend you try it out!  Everyone definitely enjoyed their time.

I ended up heading over to the Comic Book Shoppe and picking up the Ticket to Ride – Europe board game with a gift card that my old team mates had given me awhile ago when I left the team.  Evan, Andréane and I tried it out that afternoon and it was pretty fun.  We didn’t end up finishing it but perhaps another day we will.

This was Andréane after I had her taste horseradish for the first time.  She was NOT impressed.

Saturday evening we all headed out to a Chinese buffet place called Mandarin which had just opened in Orleans.  I never knew these places were so popular but we showed up for reservations for 7PM and we didn’t get our table until 8PM.  I did personally make best use of the buffet and filled a good five plates.  I have to say that I don’t generally enjoy buffets anymore these days as I just don’t have a large appetite but everything there was great tasting so I was fine to put more and more on my plate.  Thanks to Grand-maman Payeur for paying for the meal!  She always sends some money at Christmas for the family so each year we decide to go out together and have supper.

Note Evan with his cantaloupe.  He had approximately 63 pieces of that stuff at the buffet!

Because Sierra had been sleeping for most of the afternoon, she didn’t want to go to sleep that night so I unfortunately got whammed with a baby who didn’t fall asleep until 2:30am.  Even at that, I think I just passed her to Vero and told her I think she was hungry and I don’t remember much of what happened after that!  When we both got some energy later that morning, I helped Gaetan start to put a backslash up in the kitchen while Danielle made some shepard’s pies.

Italian Spider-Man stare down.  If you haven’t seen Italian Spider-Man…what are you waiting for?

I would like to thank Princess Auto for having awesome prices on awesome tools.  I picked up a ceramic tile saw for a cool $60.  Gaetan couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw that.

Where the Sapporo bottle come from?!

Gaetan had to recruit some help when I went back to work for the day.

Not too shabby.  Note: yummy shepard’s pies on the counter!

We installed a new backsplash as Vero didn’t really like my idea of just leaving some drywall with holes in it.  I suppose she had a point.

A few months ago we had the new kitchen counters installed in and that was quite the job to take them out.  I am glad to see that the kitchen is finally coming together.

Vero was definitely the expert during the installation as she had grouting of tiles in the bathroom along with my Mom a few years back.  Gaetan and I had an idea of what to do but Vero came in with the expert touch on what we should and shouldn’t do.

If the backsplash falls apart in three months from now, we can blame it on these three people!

All in all, with four people helping out, the job wasn’t too painful at all.  My main job was cutting the tiles and getting rid of the dirty water while Vero and Gaetan applied the grout.  Danielle was taking care of the baby and preparing some food for us which is arguably the most important job of us all!  There were a few bulges in the drywall which make some tiles stick out, but there’s no way we can avoid that at this point!

Sierra helped out Grand-papa when Dad was at work for the day.  He said she was a better helper than Dad was!

We did also put a new range hood fan in as well.  It was kind of a pain as the air vent did not line up exactly so we had to trim some of the metal back.  I also found out that LED bulbs are not useful in all situations, especially this one where when you turn the lights off, they still glow a little!  I ended up buying halogen PAR20 bulbs instead and they are supposed to absorb heat a lot better as well.  I have to say that the bonus of having a new range hood fan is to have a lot more light on the stove.

All that’s left to do is to put the electrical plates back up and touch up some paint.  Mental note for future: Always keep your paint colours written down!  Otherwise years later you are scratching you’re head trying to figure out what kind of yellow you used!

It’s been a great week with Anne-Marie and Evan up for a visit to help out.  We all have a good routine going…I go to work, Véro wakes up and takes care of the baby for a bit, and Anne-Marie swoops in during the mornings when Véro needs a nap and helps out with supper and cleaning up around the house.  Once the afternoon hits, she and Evan can run off to Calypso or go shopping for the afternoon.  It’s a good system considering Véro doesn’t feel top shape some days until around noon.  It’s been great having them up for a long visit and I get a glimpse of how awesome it will be to have a seven year old run around the house.  My highlights so far of my visit with Evan are:

• His persistent questions of “Have I ever seen Poltergeist?” and then when I download it, he gets scared to watch it as Mom told him he couldn’t.  Was he trying to use me to get to the ultimate prize?  Probably not!  He’s a good kid….right?
• Seeing the couch being used as a personal gymnasium.
• His frequent requests for me to steamroll over him.
• His love of board games…we’ve played Zombie Dice and Wide World for most of the week.  We tried out Ticket to Ride Europe edition the other day as well but never ended up finishing it.
• His chaotic love of superheroes.  Years ago his favourite was Spider-Man, then Hulk.  Now they are lame and Wolverine is what the cool kids love.  Hey, I felt the same way at one point.

We call this her Supergirl pose.  She does this constantly with her arm!

Onto Sierra…at six weeks old she is turning into an interesting character.  A few weeks ago when Véro went to the doctor, they figured she had colic and they would also schedule an appointment at CHEO to see a specialist about her reflux.  Two weeks later, she is pretty calm most evenings!  I’m pretty sure she was just getting bored with seeing my face every evening and started crying a lot because of it!  But as soon as new visitors came into the house for a week….she calms right down!  What a sneaky devil.

https://goo.gl/photos/3adcZGoXwFZQMDmv8

This may or may not be a farting face.  Hard to tell.

 

Either way, she is turning into what people probably refer to as ‘a baby’.  As in, she’s got hambones for legbones, she grunts a lot (I wouldn’t say she coos) and she smells like a baby after a bath.  All telltale signs of being a real baby instead of an ET look-alike!

She’s starting to interact a lot during my playtime with her.  I’ll put her on her back in the play structure and introduce her hands to her feet so she can figure out the connection between the two. I also have her touch different things so she can see how different things feel.  She also finds stretching her arms over her head to be interesting.

Look at the Buddha belly!

She definitely likes hopping around and we have called her Louie le grenouille.  I hop her from one spot to the other with a ‘boinggggg’ sound.  She seems intrigued by this.  When I say intrigued, I mean that she hasn’t started laughing or smiling much yet so I can only assume that if she doesn’t cry, she must be enjoying something!

This is how we stay in touch with family for the most part when they aren’t visiting.

We are starting to see little smiles creep out of her face and we think it’s not gas related at this point.  We like to try and capture these smiles on camera but they are hard to come by but I’m sure that will change in the weeks to come.

Honestly, six weeks in, Véro and I feel pretty lucky for all the help we are getting from family and friends and we are lucky to have Louie le grenouille in our life.

Sierra out!

This is something I don’t see every day!

On my way to a meeting the other day, I figured I should walk across the bridge instead of taking a taxi.  I also decided to try out the BierMarkt as I had not been there yet.  Lo and behold, there was a lot of foot traffic on Sparks Street and I found out why…yoga was happening over three blocks on Sparks Street!  Yoga Wednesdays generally happens on Parliament Hill from what I know of but maybe they were doing something else up there.

By the way, the Bier Markt was quite fantastic and they had a sausage platter I give two thumbs up to.  I also enjoyed their beer bible as it explained the origins of different types of beer.  This prompted me to buy some Radler beers from Rickards’ the next time I was in a beer store.