Black Cats, Broken Mirrors, Walking Under Ladders, Opening Umbrellas Indoors, etc...

Obi, originally uploaded by obiwanhavanese.It's been quite a week for the family. Monday morning started with a big crash. Malcolm managed to pull Roger's camera onto the tile floor smashing the lens and giving a good bump to the body. Roger has taken the camera and lens to Nikon and hopefully it will all be repairable. Next, for no apparent reason Roger's watch strap spontaneously disintegrated before his eyes. The beautiful wedding present from Tracey (now also at the repair shop) has been sent to Ontario. I guess the scariest bit of bad news we got was about the development of the baby at Friday's doctor's appointment. Tracey's doctor even scheduled an emergency ultra-sound to confirm. I'm happy to report that all is well with the baby and everything is progressing nicely, all a false alarm. Oh and lastly, Roger has been fighting the stomach flu for the past week, so he's been on a diet of clear consume. What happened this week? Riddled with bad luck, we're hoping that things are now turning around, Roger is on the mend and getting the relieving news from the ultra-sound was the best news yet.

Happy Birthday Roger!

Roger's favorite dessert, Strawberry slice... here's Roger and Malcolm blowing out the candles. Hey, I think there are some candles missing? Special thanks to Grandma for preparing the wonderful treat. From what I've heard, everything was delicious.

It was Roger's birthday last week. He took the day off of work to go golfing with his friends. Ryan was in town so really it was nice for him to spend the day with his buddies. They went to Roger's favorite course, Furry Creek. It's such a picturesque setting with the Howe Sound in the background. They really couldn't complain about the weather either, it's been so warm and sunny for the past several weeks.

Grandpa Harry took the family out for a birthday dinner as well.
Malcolm relaxing at his new favorite playground at Central Park in Burnaby. It has one of the best features, a roller slide.

Thomas The Tank Engine

Roger, Tracey and Malcolm went to go see Thomas the Tank Engine in Squamish today. Malcolm has been looking forward to riding on Thomas for several weeks now. Although the ride was a bit anti-climactic a fun time was had by all. Malcolm came back with some souvenirs of the event. The train really did look exactly like Thomas.

New Brighton Park

We've been able to convince Malcolm to wear sunglasses in the beautiful and bright Vancouver sunshine we've been having. So far, he's been very good at keeping them on. Yesterday at the mall he took them off and said: "Daddy, I take them off because it's dark in here". Here's our recent outing at New Brighton Park.

Sleep issues...

Wow, we've been having quite a time with Malcolm's sleep schedule as of late. He's been fighting the nap and bedtime for several days now. Tracey and Roger have been doing their best to try and get Malcolm to sleep, but the little guy pulls out every stalling technique in the book. His best line: "I want something" to which we answer "What would you like?" To which he answers.... (silence.....) He's a crafty one. The frustrating thing is that we offer him everything under the sun which he rejects quite vehemently. If anyone out there can figure out what that "something" is, let us know. For a kid that has been so exemplary with regards to sleep issues, it's shocking to see this change.

Marching on

Marching on, originally uploaded by obiwanhavanese.

We had a visit from Auntie Sue and the kids today. Here's Malcolm marching around with Adrianna.

Time goes on...

Malcolm is still a bit sick. His cough has been so bad that he wakes himself up in the middle of the night. He's been on a steroid inhaler for about a week now, but we haven't seen any real improvement in his cough. It's been pretty tough cause we're not used to him waking up in the middle of the night for any reason. Now we've been having episodes of coughing that lead to some real intense crying. The craziest thing out of all of this is that he's totally fine during the day, as normal as could be with regard to behaviour, demeanor, energy and appetite. We're hoping that this coming week will lead to the elimination of this darn cough.

In other news, Tracey went for another ultrasound and it looks like all is normal. Here are some pictures from the session.
Oh, I'd also like to mention that some old friends from Vienna are in town. We're expecting Ryan next Thursday, but in the meantime Sue and the kids have arrived safe and sound. It's pretty amazing how much the kids have grown.
Lastly, just wanted to mention that our Rhododendrons are now in full bloom, aren't they beautiful? The blooms should last a few more weeks.

@ the beach...

Roger just edited a video of the family at the Beach. Malcolm sure enjoyed himself. Here's the latest...

@ the beach... from Obiwanhavanese on Vimeo.

Welcome, Aaden.

Last week our friends Chad and Wendy had their first child, Aaden. I'd like to send on congratulations from our family to theirs. Isn't he cute? I sure it's a shock to the system having a new baby in the house. I remember how it was, let's just hope they're getting some sleep.

#2 on the way...

It's been a very difficult decision for Roger and Tracey to make regarding having a second child, but basically 3 months ago they gave themselves a small window to give it one last shot. And as the saying goes, if it was meant to be, it was meant to be. Really, it was the relationship that Tracey has with her older brother Glen that put things over the top. Tracey wants Malcolm to have the same chance to have such a great brother or sister to grow up with, as she did. We all know what sort of upheaval a new baby brings, but in the end it will all be worth it.
It's funny how a little bit of pee and a stick can indicate such a huge change in one's life, make that lives. So come November Malcolm and I will have a little brother or sister to play with. Roger is going to try and document Tracey's belly development week by week, so stay tuned for updates.
Here's one of Malcolm's favorite things, a mighty machine (Backhoe).

Happy Mother's Day!

Malcolm asked me to put in a blog submission for him, so here it goes:

Thank you Mommy for all that you do. Although I may not be able to articulate it very well, you are the very best. I know you do all that you can do, just for me. You want me to be safe, warm and always happy. Let me tell you I am always happy knowing that you're my Mommy. I love you very much and want to give you big hugs everyday. Too bad about those Canucks, we'll win the next one, on to game 6.

Happy Mother's Day, from me, Obi and Daddy too.

Poor guy...

I don't know where it happened, but Malcolm managed to pick up a cold from somewhere. I think it may have been the gym, but we're not exactly sure. Nevertheless, he's been sick for the past week or so. Basically he's had a fever and a stuffy nose for the past several days. He's finally been feeling better and is now hopefully on the mend. We had a few nights where he woke up (something he hasn't done in many months) crying. It's pretty difficult to console him when he's like that. Roger and Tracey have been able to give him some Tylenol to try and make him feel better and for the most part it's been helping. The only problem is that every time Malcolm feels a bit sick he cries for his "medicine". It's tough being a 2.5 year old sometimes.

Malcolm has been wearing his Vancouver Canucks gear every game day. Unfortunately, the support didn't help their cause on Saturday night. Next game is Tuesday, despite Sammy Salo's injury we'll hopefully be able to come out with a win. Go Canucks Go!

Go Canucks Go. from Obiwanhavanese on Vimeo.

Roger's new camera has been awesome... here are some action shots of me running around at the elementary school.

Milestones...

In exactly one week and one day Malcolm will be 30 months old, (that's two and a half for the people who don't use months to count). We have sure come a long way since first bringing him home from the hospital. Tracey and Roger both agree that Malcolm has been such a good boy when it has come to transition issues. As first time parents they've come to worry or expect the worst when it came to many things, but have been pleasantly surprised every time (I think it was their experience in Hawaii that contaminated their outlook). Here are some of the worries that ended up working out quite smoothly:

• Dropping the dream feed (the 11pm bottle feed). The biggest worry was that Malcolm would then stop sleeping through the night.
  
• Weaning Malcolm off the bottle (piece of cake Malcolm says, "Who needed that bottle anyway, I love my sippy cup... bottles are for babies").
• Sleeping without being swaddled, first one arm out then the other.
• Transitioning from two naps to one (we're now at the stage where some days he doesn't even nap at all anyway, but plays quietly in his crib for up to two hours). We're very lucky.
  
• Sleeping in a new place (our current house). We were worried that the new environment would affect his sleep, but again such a great transition. In fact, the first night he slept at the new house he slept in until almost 9am, unheard of.
• Sleeping with a blanket. In retrospect, Tracey and Roger feel silly they worried about that one at all. He loves his blankie.
• The latest break-through has been finally weaning Malcolm off his soother. He hasn't been one of those kids that has needed his soother everywhere he went. For well over a year now he has only wanted his soother in his crib for naps and night-time sleep, now no more. He's becoming a big boy.
  

Now some of the ones that are coming up:

• Potty training, we'll take more of an active role this summer.
  
• Transition to the big boy bed, again something we'll tackle in the summer.
  
• Preschool

Some other pictures from this past week (with the new camera I might add).

Malcolm enjoying a mouth full of fruit bar, crumbs still on his face.
Malcolm has showed a very keen interest in flowers, here he is checking out the Daffodils and Dandelions.
Hamming it up in front of the camera.

Taking pictures.

Over the last two years Roger has really come to enjoy taking pictures. He says that it's because the family subject matter is so compelling, sweet guy huh. Anyway, after almost two years with the Nikon D40, he's upgraded to the next level and decided on the Nikon D90. The new camera has a lot more features and is a significant upgrade in performance. Although the D40 has been a workhorse with exceptional results Roger has outgrown its capabilities. Over the past two years can you believe that Roger has taken over 13,000 photos (mostly of Malcolm, Tracey and me). As you can expect with that many photos snapped Malcolm has shown an interest in how the camera works. Roger decided to let Malcolm use the old point and shoot to get his feet wet. Here are a few of the better shots he's taken over the last several days.

I like this one of my side and Malcolm's shoes.
Here's a partial of Tracey's smiling face during the Canuck playoffs.
Little bit blurry, but pretty good for a two year old to keep the subject in frame.
This one wasn't shaky at all. Here's me looking out the window as always.
Malcolm's first train set.

Go Canucks Go.

With the onset of spring comes the Stanley Cup Playoffs and this year it really does look like the Canucks have a veritable chance to go deep. A 3-0 lead in the series, who would have thought it. We can finish off the St. Louis Blues when we win one more game.

Tracey, Roger and Malcolm were able to go over to Chris and Jennine's house to watch game 3 last night, appropriately dubbed Hockey Night in Burnaby. Malcolm had such a good time playing with the other kids and expressing his artistic talents by grabbing the mic and belting out some toddler tunes. Hopefully we'll be able to watch some more of the games together with the gang.

Bo Obama.

The White House has its First Dog, Bo Obama. Just wanted to welcome another non-shedding relative. Here's a picture of the president with the new pup. You can click the link to the Portugese Water Dog Club of Canada. Wow, the dog can dive under-water! Here's more information about the breed from the site:

As the name denotes, the Portuguese Water Dog developed in Portugal and is known there as Cao de Aqua (pronounced Kownd’ ahgwa), “dog of the water”.

The breed developed many centuries ago as a seafaring working dog and predates the Poodle. The Portuguese fishermen kept these dogs as a working part of their crew and paid them wages just as their human crew mates were paid. The Water Dogs would act as couriers, carrying messages between ships and from ship to shore, and would dive into the sea to retrieve broken fishing nets and equipment that had fallen overboard. Often they would have to dive under water to retrieve submerged articles.

Trains and Spring.

Yes, Spring has finally sprung in Vancouver. After a long and snowy winter there are signs that warmer weather is just around the corner. Easter weekend has also meant the reopening of the Burnaby Central Railway, Malcolm's favorite place. We managed to get there before it closed just in time to squeeze in two rides. He was definitely excited to hop aboard the trains again. I'm not sure what it is with his train fascination, but Roger and Tracey embrace it all. In fact, they are taking Malcolm to visit Thomas the Tank Engine in the summer. I'm sure that will be quite the experience for the whole family.

Happy Easter!

Whoo hoo, a four day weekend. Easter is usually filled with chocolate eggs and bunnies, but to date the only chocolate item Malcolm has consumed is chocolate milk. ( I once ate a whole box of Pocky, but that's another story, boy was Roger upset at me). Roger and Tracey have been limiting how much sugar he consumes, afterall he is only two years old. For the most part Malcolm is very compliant, but we all know that the flood gates are going to open soon.

I'm happy to report that Malcolm has gone back to napping in the afternoons (although we have had some days where he just plays in his crib for the two hour duration). His schedule has changed a bit, but not too much since he was a small baby.

• Bed time around 7:30pm-8:00pm
  
• Wakes up at 8:00am, has breakfast
• Morning activity (gym, playschool, grocery shopping)
  
• Lunch at 12:00pm
• Nap at 1:00pm/1:30pm - 3:30pm/4:00pm, we're all glad the long nap is back!
  
• Dinner at 5:00/5:30
• Evening activity, playing, walk with me
• Bath, brush teeth, read stories and to bed all over again

The day sure goes by fast, considering more that half of it is spent sleeping.

Stanley Park and the seawall.

It's been a while since we've been back at Stanley Park. We sure hope that warmer temperatures are back soon. By the looks of things people are just itching to get outside. The park was pretty busy this morning. Malcolm enjoyed his trip to the park. After all, what's not to like, sunshine, fresh air, time at the playground and a french fry snack to boot. Here are some pics from today.Pretty sly smile after enjoying "french fries, with ketchup."
Malcolm working the controls on the digger, such concentration.
Beautiful view of the north shore, especially after a dusting of snow on the mountains.

Dog food choices...

It's been difficult for Roger for the past several weeks cause I've been more finicky with my food. He's resorted to all sorts of measures to try and get me on a food that was more nutritious and overall better in digestion. With my long fur, things can sometimes get messy on the back end if you know what I mean. So although there was some initial success with the Orijen, then Innova Evo, we're now on the Solid Gold small bites. We'll see how that goes.

In other news, Papa Mel has been home for a week now and things are almost back to normal. He's feeling much better now and is settling back into a good routine. We all missed him very much.

Malcolm is talking up a storm now, and he says some pretty funny things. He his now able to read many letters and numbers to the astonishment of all. Malcolm sure is lucky look what Roger and Tracey recently got for him and it's wasn't even his birthday or anything! His very own bouncy house. Roger set it up in the playroom for Malcolm to enjoy.

Hurray, grandpa is finally home again.

Wow, after almost 3 weeks in the hospital Grandpa is finally home again. He had so many procedures that we last lost count. Visiting Grandpa at the hospital with Malcolm almost became routine. We're all glad that he's finally home. He'll need some rest and recovery before he's back to 100% again.

In other news, Roger is also back from Montreal. He had a short business trip Sunday to Monday evening. Luckily the weather was a lot better than last year (where he almost didn't make it home because of a snowstorm). Malcolm and I were sure glad to see him. Here's Malcolm's latest video for your viewing pleasure:


ABC's from Obiwanhavanese on Vimeo.