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Here’s a recording of last year’s spectacle.

Spring is here!  Then it leaves.  Then it comes back again.  Then it leaves.

Everyone feels a little nostalgic when a birthday arrives and it’s no different when you start looking back at pictures of your kid over the past year.  Sierra has really grown up in the past year, both physically (of course!) and mentally.  It’s weird to think that she has been at the new daycare for the past seven months because it feels like forever.  She has new skills that she has learned at the daycare that I didn’t even think of teaching her.  You can count to ten in French AND English?  Wow!  You can button up your own shirt?  Where did you learn that?  You can beat Contra without the Konami code?  Incroyable!

Unfortunately we all know that this is the end of the good years.  She will become more self-aware and then lose a little magic each year.  I witnessed this when she walked downstairs to see her third birthday party set up.  She marvelled at the balloons, the banners…EVERYTHING.  When’s the last time I stared in wonder at the balloons someone hung up for me?  Probably 37 years ago!

But as we lose a little bit of the magic we gain a small human being who is able to speak in sentences and express her thoughts to us.  The questions about the world are starting.  It makes us look at the world differently.  I listen for the birds chirping now so I can point it out to Sierra.  If I hear the train in the distance I will make mention of it (if she doesn’t beat me to it!).  I realize that Sierra is still at an age that playing with the bird bath in the front yard is as fun as going to an organized activity.  Life is wonderful to her (except for when she doesn’t get her way which can happen quite fast.  Oh wait, you wanted the blue spoon and not the yellow one?) and in turn it reminds me of how wonderful it is as well.

Sierra has had a great run of three years with us all alone.  Now she’ll have to witness life with a new sibling coming in soon enough!

I figured I should write about a typical day in the life of Sierra for historical purposes while I’m sitting here thinking of what to write about.

6am – I get out of bed, roll up the blind and Sierra usually has her face still buried in her pillow but she sticks out her hand so I can grab it.  She then pulls herself out of bed using my helping hand.  I ask what she wants for breakfast.  Lately it’s a combination oatmeal and cheerios.  She always asks for hummus and ‘acquelins’ (crackers) which is generally reserved for the weekends.  Her and I sit and eat while I read the news.

6:20 – 6:40 – I generally leave Sierra eating on her own as she takes her sweet time.  While I hop in the shower Vero is handling trying to get Sierra to go to the bathroom and change her clothes.  This generally has a 30% chance of happening before 6:50.  That kid is slloooowwwww.

7am – Get into the car, go to the daycare, go inside and chat with the folks in there and leave Sierra in good company and friends.

The general schedule of a daycare day involves some snacks, some outdoor activities, a long nap after lunch and then some more activities until Vero and I show up between 4:45 and 5:30 to pick up Sierra.  Six months ago it was IMPOSSIBLE to get her to leave!  Now I would say some days it’s easy and others is kind of a pain.  We can’t complain if she loves the place so much!

5:30 – 6:00 – Play time and then supper time.

6PM – Currently, if it’s Monday through Wednesday, we will put Passe-Partout on for Sierra to watch.  It’s interesting to see a new version of this show many years after the original.  Vero even knows one of the actresses in the show.  Sierra really loves that show.  She doesn’t really care for the old one though which is a shame since I got those from Maureen and I can play them at any time.

6:15-6:45 – Bathtime which is always a pain to get into, but then she never wants to leave!  We then brush our teeth and get some pyjamas.  Sierra is really good at putting on her own pyjamas these days…she can even handle putting the buttons on!

6:45 – 7:15 – Dora the Explorer has been on heavy rotation for the past few months.  In fact she loves it so much that we are starting to use it as a bargaining chip.  “Oh, you didn’t go to the bathroom in the potty like you should?  No Dora tonight.”  “You didn’t come to supper when we asked you to?  No Dora tonight.”  She’s starting to understand her actions have consequences.  Am I evil?  Nah, I still let her watch another tv show, just not Dora.

7:15-7:30 – Bedtime!  This generally involves reading a book, a glass of water and hitting the sack.

Now onto the photos which every one loves.

I don’t think this is what you’re supposed to do with bubbles!

Hanging out with Jenna and Janice.

I saw this on the kitchen counter at work.  No joke!

If it wasn’t for the smile on her face, I could see this as a scene from a horror movie.

Sierra and I get spoiled by Maman when she picks us up some olives.

Sierra helping me make a cake from scratch for Trish.  I found out later that not even Trish makes her cakes from scratch!  

While I was tending to the fire, Ethan handled pushing Sierra on the swing.

The cake turned out pretty decent even though I forgot to add a cup of water!  It was almost like a brownie without it.  Also note the obligatory Star Wars shirt on May the 4th!

I had a laugh when Ethan asked me to take a photo of this stick on the couch.

Trish’s birthday was a hit!  She was pretty lucky this year…I think she went to a dozen different parties in her honour.

Vero and I spent Saturday and Sunday evening hanging up these new lights across the deck.  This photo has a few more strands than we ended up with.  It was WAY too bright.  But this photo gives you a sense of what it looks like.

I love how Sierra insisted on wearing her elf hat to the park.  I think this might have been the first time I saw her go down the big slide.

Having a good bbq with some friends.

Sierra was having the greatest time on the trampoline!

One day I’ll win the caption contest!  But not today.

Someone was VERY excited for supper.

Showing off her chalk-artwork.

Vero was gone to the spa one morning so Sierra and I decided to drop by some friends (aka we wanted a free lunch).  We played outside for a bit and I also played guitar for a few tunes.  Thanks for the food and company!

Pretty amazing that I caught this moment on video!  The first time she managed to get the top of a box put on correctly!

Picking up some new furniture for Sierra’s room.

Sierra sure loves her new raincoat.

I was dying of laughter when I realized that the farting noises from the other side of the room was Sierra making noises with her mouth.  I thought she may have snuck of plate of beans to bed!

The May long weekend used to be held at Matt’s cottage where copious amounts of beers were drank amongst college pals.  Now it’s spent drinking copious amounts of beers but with family!  We rented a house in Haileybury, ON to meet up with Vero’s family.  They brought the family tricycle down for Sierra (this thing has literally been everyone’s tricycle when they were growing up!) and here is a shot of Andreane helping Sierra before she fell over.  Luckily she is a trooper and got right back up!

This photo doesn’t even do justice to the moon that was out during our campfire on Friday night.

We headed out for a hike to Devil’s Rock.  I was struggling to figure out a way to make an hour long hike up a mountain a fun affair for Sierra as well as for myself (aka, I don’t feel like carrying her up all the way).  Awhile ago on Facebook I spied this fantastic device called the piggyback rider.  I was a little scared of spending a lot of money on something that I didn’t know if Sierra would enjoy but she did!  I would say she rode half way up the mountain with me and a quarter of the way on the way back down.

As you can see in the photo, Sierra can hop onto my back by putting her feet across a bar and then she holds onto a few straps on my shoulders.  Don’t worry, there is also a safety harness on her that clips in so if she jumps off, she’s not going too far.  I give this device two thumbs up.  I can see us using this in a variety of spots…going downtown, going grocery shopping.  It makes travelling around fun.  It’s also quite lightweight…nothing much to it so it folds up quite nicely.

View from up top!  I had a good laugh when I was taking in all this scenery and I felt my phone vibrate.  My friend was texting to let me know that we won $40 on a lotto ticket!  I wrote back saying it would have been a better interruption if she texted to say we won $40 million!

Out of nowhere we hear this helicopter come over the mountain and it was hauling a piece of equipment that I cannot identify.  Does anyone know what the heck this is?  It was pretty incredible to see.

The hike down consisted of many breaks and playing with sticks.

I’ve been trying to convince Andreane that this should be her dating profile picture.

We had some fun at the park right next to our house.  1-2-3 Go!

Evan showing Sierra how to swing.

Having fun at the park before the rain came back.  It rained Saturday evening, and then poured Sunday afternoon and all day when driving home.

Vero will kill me once she sees that I put a video of her practising the fiddle up for the world to see.

Sunday afternoon we decided to celebrate Sierra’s birthday a few weeks early.

She received a dog which eats and poops.  I don’t know if I think this idea is marvelous or hideous!

She winked at the camera without being asked!

When Maman asked why kind of cake she wanted she replied “Blanc et ‘ocolat!”

She was pretty excited to get a slice of birthday cake and have everyone sing for her!

Why do we even bother trying to get a good photo?  Kids photos are hilarious.

I can’t believe I didn’t record this night!  I had the equipment and everything.  Was it my best night ever?  No, but there was some good moments.  I had to start the night off with more rocking tunes for the kids and then mellowed out with the older stuff.

Setlist: Happy, Spider-Man, Hail to the King, Crazy Train, Another Brick in the Wall (Gaetan requested this out of nowhere!  I had never even tried to play it before.  It didn’t come out to bad!), Money (another hard one to pull out without practice!) Copperhead Road,  Bongo Bongo, Island in the Sun (first time I attempted this one and I think it went quite well!), Hash Pipe (I abandoned this one as it was too hard to do without practice), Back to the Sea, The Gambler, Sylvia’s Mother, Sweet Caroline, Midnight Special.

Here’s Gaetan playing some accordion the morning before we headed back to Ottawa.  It rained most of the way but cleared up around Deep River.  Quite amazing how the entire weekend hovered around six degrees and we found ourselves back in Ottawa with 20 degrees!  But we had a lot of fun.  We hiked, we played in the park, we had way too much food and drink, we had a hot tub in the rain, and we managed to sneak in a night of guitar playing.  All in all, a success!

Sierra couldn’t wait to eat the corn after she husked it!

Abracadabra!

The Great Glebe Garage Sale was a major success.  Vero found some doll clothing at the second house we visited and shortly after Sierra found this Dora The Explorer lunch box…brand new!

Dance time!

We only spent a few hours at the garage sale but hauling around a wagon slows us down these days anyhow.  It was a beautiful morning and we filled the wagon up which is what counts.  Vero and my first date was at the garage sale so I’m glad to see that she is still by my side after fourteen years and hasn’t found some hot Australian firefighter who likes garage sales.

Mom and Dad were touring Canada and the United States of America during the month of May and I had a good laugh when I saw this picture of Mom riding a jakalope!

Yum yum!

Nine years later we finally got air conditioning installed into the bedrooms.  Since we don’t have ducts in the house we had to install ductless ones.  The savings account took a hit of $7,000!  But the world is warming up so we may well stay cool when we can.

 

 

 

 

 

Uhm…we only have three months to go?  That’s a little alarming!  We need to get stuff ready!

Sure, we had my parents paint Sierra’s bedroom but it still doesn’t have any furniture in it at all.  Kijiji and Facebook marketplace has so far been a bust on kids furniture.  Maybe people just throw it to the curb after their kids have destroyed it?

The main issue we have been having at the moment is finding clothing to fit Vero!  She is constantly on the hunt for things that will fit her, buying things online, returning things online.  I tell you, it’s pretty exhausting watching her go through all of that!

We’ve bandied some baby names around a few times but haven’t hit about a top three selection yet.  Maybe we have an old list somewhere but I feel that’s kind of strange…shouldn’t we start from scratch much like the Sequel has started from scratch?

We have felt the Sequel kick a few times which is neat.  I guess Vero probably feels it a lot more but I have noticed it once or twice.  Sierra is cognizant of the baby in the sense that she will include it in conversation like “Maman et Dad et Sierra et le baby mange le souper!”

No pictures to show off this month of the Sequel.  We are going for a doctor’s appointment next week so perhaps there will be a third ultrasound picture to share, perhaps not.

At the moment I’m trying to figure out if I should start putting myself through my old training regimen of staying up later than usual so I can get my body accustomed to lack of sleep!  Trish volunteered to phone me at odd times of the night since she works the night shift at her job.  She’s a great pal.

Who can speak in full sentences (pretty much) these days?  It’s like I’m having an actual conversation with Sierra!  Granted the conversations are things like:

“Maman et Dad va voir le train!”

“Sierra et bebe et Dad et Maman sont dans l’auto!”

“Cachez!  Daddy le dinosaur vient!  Non, ok maintenant c’est Maman qui est le dinosaur!”

I always heard about the terrible twos but I have to say that Sierra is quite the stubborn person at nearly three years old!  Man, when she doesn’t get her way, it’s meltdown city around these parts!

Sierra was lucky enough (and we were equally lucky!) to have some friends to play with on a Saturday where Maman and Dad went to see Muse in Montreal.

Rice krispie square time!

She even planted some sunflowers!

Obstacle course!

Early one morning Sierra awoke to find out that Maman brought home this item from the KISS concert!  I’m still not sure how that thing fit inside the car!

Etienne had a hard time drinking through this weird straw.

I had a good laugh when I saw this greeting card.

Costco is always a fun time when you make it a fun time.  Sierra got to cross off items on the list.

Finally spring time is arriving!

I forget where I saw this but I thought it was hilarious that they called this hand dryer the ‘Canadian dryer’.  Is this a Canadian invention?

Taking care of the sunflowers.

Rubber boots for everyone.

She’s starting to get the hang of it but I think she prefers to forget about the pedals sometimes.

Some friends came over for a campfire one Sunday morning.

I love how a chair blew over during the winter and was frozen solid into the snow around the fire pit.

Having fun with the baby.

Two out of three kids looking at the camera isn’t bad!

We are starting to get photos sent to us from the daycare via some new app they have set up where we get updates.  I’ll try and post some photos of Sierra as long as they aren’t showing the identities of other kids.  Not sure if I’m pushing the boundaries of what not to post but I figure the backs of kids heads are fair game.  Parents!  If you ever see a photo that you want removed, just let me know!

The tough thing about these caption contests is to figure out which angle to take.

Sierra quite enjoyed the Lion King upon the first viewing one Saturday morning.  Sometimes we have to shake it up and change it from Dora the Explorer.

Our first car wash!

When there is shovelling to be done, my helper is always there for at least 30 seconds.

Pretty nice day for some bubbles and a beer!  Sierra and I visited Dominion City Brewing which was a nice spot.  We picked up a few brews to try out and I found out I can order a keg from their store.  I may just do that!

First BBQ of the year!  On the top rack I had this giant beef rib from a few years back when Mike and I split a cow.  I have to say that was a tasty rib and I would like to make a habit of having one to open the bbq season up every year.  Mike saw this photo and said “I hope you invited more people than just yourselves for that amount of meat!”  Yes, I went a little overboard!

BBQ success!

Caveman style!

Tante Vero fixing my mistakes when putting in lulu’s.

Sunday mornings are for good visits with good friends!

The neighbourhood association set up a fantastic Easter egg hunt.  Sierra was very excited to meet the Easter bunny.

The hunt was set up like a bingo card.  A bunch of items were hidden in the park (kites in trees, a boat hidden behind a play structure, a deck of cards under a table).  When you found the item, you got one of the volunteers to mark it off on your paper and once it was all marked off you got to pick up your Easter gift.  Pretty great event!

Sierra’s latest masterpiece.

Vero warned me that my piece of lasagna fell apart.  I’m not even sure if you can call this lasagna!

Sierra welcoming Grand-Maman.

Grandpapa feeding Sierra some yummy dessert.

Helping with breakfast.

Easter egg hunt!

It was really interesting to be the guy on the outside of this jam session.  I had to teach them a few things about musical theory and then I had to transpose some notes for them.  I felt so smart afterwards!  They probably felt quite frustrated with the experience.  The issue we encountered is that an accordion and a violin are tuned to a different musical key so you have to make some adjustments.

Something came up at work so I had to work over the Easter weekend.  Vero, Sierra, Gaetan and Danielle headed down to visit family and stopped at Madrid 2.0 along the way!  DINOSAURS!

Roar!

Swinging with the cousins.

On the hunt for even more eggs!

I’m not sure what happened in this exact moment in time but I’m assuming they were trying to get the perfect photo considering I see 30 others similar to this one!

A springtime tradition!

While I had to work during the weekend, they weren’t full days of work so I realized I had the house to myself for the weekend in the first time in three years.  What should I do with my time?  I recorded a song.  I feel I’m slowly getting the hang of recording to the point where things are just getting a little bit faster and I’m getting a little bit less frustrated.  This was my studio for the weekend.  You can’t see it but off to the side are the pounds and pounds of chicken wing bones.

While the Easter weekend was a little dreary at the beginning, it turned out to be really nice on Sunday and Monday.  I had stayed inside like Gollum on Sunday but Monday I decided to start cleaning up the yard.  The family returned home and we had a great afternoon in the sun and we finished it off with the second bbq of the season.

Hanging out under Maman

 

 

Earlier in the year we sat and slept for eight hours next to the sump pit to see when our secondary pump would go on.  Turns out that it never did, but the third pump (a battery backup) did.

Fast forward a month and on a Sunday in April we had a storm which basically was too much for our primary pump to handle and so the battery backup had to kick in to handle the rest.  Luckily Vero had woken up at 2am to go to the bathroom (thanks to the Sequel!) and heard the alarms going off downstairs.

We watched until 5am as the water just kept coming in and and in and in at a fast clip.  The second pump would never turn on unless we manually lifted the float.  I could never get the float into a good position to turn on because it was positioned higher than the primary.

Well.  I suppose we needed to fix this situation.  I ended up ordering a neat sensor from Ebay called a Levelguard.

 

Instead of depending on a float type sensor, it just triggers on when the water hit a certain point.  We luckily received this on a Tuesday before we were destined to leave town to visit some family on Easter weekend.

Now my system is quite great.  The primary pump kicks on.  If the primary pump doesn’t kick on, the water will hit a Wi-fi sensor which will trigger an alarm and send me an email.  Not the greatest in the middle of the night though since a) the alarm doesn’t wake me up and b) even my phone next to me didn’t wake me up when I received an email.  Next up in our line of defence is the secondary pump that now works great with the Levelguard sensor.  So if the primary is broken, or if overcome by too much water coming in, it will pick up the slack.

After that point, we have another pump which is attached to a battery which is good for power outages.  Case in point, I was stuck working this Easter weekend so I had to stay home while Vero, her parents and Sierra went to Saint-Jacques-des-Leeds.  But in the back of my head I was scared to the leave the home as they were calling for flood conditions all over the Ottawa region and all I could think about was “What if there is a power outage?”

Sure enough, 3:30pm rolls around while I’m laying down some tracks to a new song and the lights flicker, then everything shuts off.  Time to test out the system!

I hauled my generator out of the garage over to the window nearest the pumps and made sure that was up and running.  I plugged the primary in around 4PM and emptied the entire sump pit.  After that I decided it was best to see how long my backup battery could last in full springtime conditions as I had not tested that scenario yet.

6:15PM rolled around and the water level was very close to triggering the battery backup, but it hadn’t yet.  I was quite surprised.  I suppose emptying the pit out around 4PM helped things out.  But it’s incredible to think that two hours went by and the water hadn’t even reached the battery backup yet.  Sometimes I wonder if I should adjust the primary pump sensor a little higher since it’s going off every 4 minutes.  There are two schools of thought.  1) If it’s going to take two hours to hit the battery backup, then what’s the harm in adjusting it so it gets high enough to empty every 30 minutes?  2) The other school of thought is if you end up with a flash flood of rain, those 30 minutes are precious if something else goes wrong.

I also now have a battery power sensor that will trigger around the time as the battery backup with a ear shattering 120db sound!  That’s a little ridiculous but that’s all they were selling on Amazon.  This will be good if the power goes out in the middle of the night and we are not hearing the battery backup come on.

No plan is foolproof, but I would like to think that we are getting close.

Vero and I headed to Montfort Hospital for our second ultrasound which confirmed that we are not expecting twins which in my opinion, is great news!  Everything is looking pretty good. 

 

The Sequel went to a KISS concert!

We were teaching Sierra how to talk to The Sequel by making noises.  The Sequel did not move during this time but has been moving once in awhile.

Nothing much else to report.  Vero is doing well, the family is doing well.  We are just trying to figure out if I’m going to take some time off when the baby comes and we are also on the hunt for an armoire for all the clothes we have to move out of the closet!