Mr. Popularity

This weekend, Hayden proved himself to be somewhat of a popular guy amongst the ladies. We were eating brunch this morning with Sara, who was in town this weekend, and Jaime. A waitress stopped to say that she usually doesn't have a thing for babies but that Hayden was just too cute. She also said that he was right in sync with the Victoria Secret lingerie line because he was wearing plaid. I guess she didn't have that much going on upstairs but we'll take a compliment where we can get one.

He was also fawned over at Ray's birthday party by all the ladies. Ray got a little upset that he wasn't getting all the attention at his own party. He took it out on everyone through some excessively violent moves in a Twister game.

Hayden ended the weekend counting the zits on Tiger Woods' forehead on his Grandpa's new HD flatscreen TV. He wouldn't stop begging for one the entire car ride home.

Catching Zs

Lately, Hayden and I have managed to slip into a better sleeping routine than before. I've managed to feed him (usually twice, sometimes three times) before he really wakes himself up too much. In this way, it almost feels like he's sleeping through the night, even though I may not be. It makes for a more peaceful night. Most days, he'll wake up really early but we'll just play in bed and then I can usually get him back to sleep for an hour or so. I've probably cursed myself by putting this in print though. Who knows what will happen tonight.

Hayden is also laughing a lot more these days. I think it's a laugh anyways. He kind of does a croaking-sucking type of sound. It's funny because sometimes it makes him cough so he'll be laughing and coughing at the same time. Check out these new videos which have some samples.

Jaime came over for a visit yesterday. We were talking about how much he's changed lately. He is so much more responsive. He is really starting to become a little person and it's fun to watch his personality develop.

Muscle Man

Hayden is getting so strong. Soon he'll be benching his weight just like his Dad...well, almost anyways.

Fish Fascination

Hayden and I had a pretty quiet day today. I was supposed to go to my Mommy and Me aerobics class but I'm so freakin' sore from that ball class that I couldn't even imagine walking downstairs, nevermind doing a step class.

We went to Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh's house to be taken care of. Hayden got really fascinated in my dad's fish tank and followed the fishies with his eyes.

Weekend Wreckage

Another busy weekend and we're all feeling a bit wrecked. I remember a time when busy meant going to work, going out for dinner, or over to friends' houses. Busy has a whole new meaning now. We can stay home for the majority of the weekend and feel like we've been through a whirlwind of activities. You can read every book out there, visit everyone you know who has a baby, even hunker down at the Ikea ballroom for a good 5 hours, but nothing can really, I mean truly, prepare you for those sleepless nights, poopy diaper changes, or that first projectile vomit. Most days are easy but sometimes, it can all just catch up with you. It's a good thing he's so darned cute!

It doesn't look any easier on his end...

Check ups

Both my babies got check-ups today. Hayden went first. He's in the 25th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference. He may be small but at least he's proportionate! The doctor says he's doing just great. He was a very brave boy.

Jessie went next. The doctor watched her walk and said that she healed really well from her TPLO surgery and looked really strong and stable. Thank goodness. All of Scott's heaving and hoeing was well worth it.

Here is Hayden holding out a flower for his Mama. It's never too early to teach him how to treat a lady.

Out of the Basement

Why is Hayden so happy? Well, it's probably because we finally finished the big basement project. It may not have turned out exactly as I'd hoped but Nai Nai sure did get rid of a lot of stuff. She promises to keep going and purge even more. We're going to hold her to that. Our best find was a pile of old magazines including some Life magazines, House Beautifuls, and a Sears catalog from the 70s.

Busy Weekend, Busy Blogging

Hello and welcome to the new blog. It's not really that new. I had to change the template because the image links were broken for me with the old version. I'm quite proud actually because I was able to change the template without my bossy, and much older sister's help. Yeah for me.

Along with blog changes, we also made some changes around the house. Grandma and Grandpa came over today. Grandma bought us an old Electrolux floor buffer from the Sally Ann a while ago. Daddy and Grandma got their hands on that ol' bugger and buffed the heck out of the dining room and back hallway. The floors look great and now we're excited to do the living room too. Grandma even made us dinner. Thanks Grandma!

Hockey Day in Canada was very exciting as well. Daddy got to go out and play road hockey with some buddies. Hayden had to stick with Mommy and Aunty Jaime and endure girl talk at Maxwell's and some shopping. Poor Hayden. At least he got to watch Daddy play on Sunday morning.

Four Months

In honour of Mr. Poopypants' birthday, I thought it was time for some more comparison pictures. Physically, I'm not sure how drastic the changes are. While taking the pictures, I certainly noticed a lot of behavioural pictures. Hayden was way more wiggly, as you'll see from all the blurs. He was also more vocal. He wouldn't stop the running commentary telling me which was his better side and demanding milk breaks. Anyways, you be the judge...

Where's Hayden?

Sorry for the lack of blogging. The basement clean-up continues and it has completely sucked out my entire will to live. It's been four days now and I'd say we've at least passed the half-way point.

Hayden and I are taking Friday off. We're going to try this new exercise class at Starr Gymnastics. It's an exercise ball class and it's completely free!

Our once perfect and silent baby has disappeared. In his place is a baby sent by the devil to steal away our sanity and precious moments of sleep. For some reason, over the past couple of weeks, Hayden has been really fussy starting in the evenings. To quiet him, I have to feed him or walk around. As soon as he stops feeding and I try to put him down, he'll scream and get really mad. The only thing that will calm him is usually to feed him again or, if I'm lucky, walk around with him. He's also getting up more often at night. He's turing four months tomorrow. I thought he was supposed to be sleeping through the night by now but I guess that's just a pipe dream. It's a good thing he's so darn cute.

Bye Bye Daddy

Today was Scott's first day back at work after his 5 week paternity leave plus his 2 weeks off for the holidays. It's going to be a bit strange without him around flexing his muscles and posing in his underwear after his basement workouts. But seriously, we had a great time together and got a lot done too. We're pretty lucky to have had that opportunity and if you asked him, I'm sure Hayden would want his Dad home forever.

Hayden and I started our time together with another big project at Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh's house. As a Christmas gift, I promised to help my Mom clean out her crawl space. I'm already regretting this decision. All we did was argue all day long about what she was allowed to keep and we only got about an eighth of the whole thing done. Here's another good time for that rewind button.

Hayden also wanted to wish a belated happy birthday to his Uncle David. He's hoping Nico wasn't too bossy on your day and that you were able to celebrate the way you wanted to.

Rock On

What crazy weather! I was listening to the radio and heard that a big oil company hired some "scientists" to prove that Global Warming is not real. Afterwards, I headed outside in my t-shirt with Jessie, Hayden, and Scott for a walk. Kind of scary if you ask me.

Hayden also saw his Daddy play hockey for the first time. He had such confidence in his Daddy's abilities that he fell asleep for the entire second half of the game.

We had a great dinner with Peter, Ellen, Marco, and Tina on Saturday. Somehow, we convinced them that Aylmer isn't on the other side of the world and they came to our end of town to eat at La Casa Grecque. Hayden came along. I was a bit nervous because he's been fussy at night. He was wide awake and quiet just until my dinner arrived. Then we all took turns holding him to keep him quiet.

We did something else this weekend...


Some people might travel, others have expensive gambling habits, some even squander their dough on Nortel stocks. We, on the other hand, buy vintage furniture. I've had my eye on an Eames Rocker for the last ten years. This weekend, I finally took the plunge. These rockers were only produced for commercial sale until 1968. After that, the Herman Miller company made them only as gifts for their employees who became parents. They would put a plaque on the back for the recipient. Mine has a plaque stating that it was a gift for Laura Christine Camenga in 1978. I love it and rocking Hayden in it is my new favourite pasttime. We found it at a great store right here in Ottawa called Found Design. Michael, our new best friend, was really helpful and has one of those jobs that just makes you want to press the rewind button.

VideoHits

Remember Video Hits with Samantha Taylor? Well this is like that but with less hairspray, no Duran Duran, and way cuter.

Today, during tummy-time, Hayden liften his head for so long. He sure is strong. Soon, he'll be flexing his own muscles and admiring them just like his Daddy does.

Go Canada

I guess it was inevitable...

Hayden is a true hockey fan. He loves to watch those skaters zoom across the rink. He especially enjoyed watching the Canadian Juniors beat the Americans in a shootout. There were some tense moments.

Poor Hayden is still pretty congested. It's keeping him up at nights and making sleep for him (and me) kind of unenjoyable. We're going back to the doctor's office tomorrow just in case.

2007

Happy New Year everyone! We hope everyone had a great time celebrating and a decent time recuperating. We had a great New Years. Our friends Ray and Jenny came over to play some games, eat some food, and watch cars struggle with the driving on our street. We played Boggle, Scrabble, and a great new word game called Pick Two. Needless to say, my poor pea-sized-new-mom brain didn't fare too well. Ray also brought over the coolest new invention since the Pogo Ball - Q20. I'm sure everyone's probably already heard of it but, since I've been banished from regular civilization, I'm a bit behind the times. It's this little hand held device that can guess what you are thinking. You pick an item and then proceed to answer a series of 20 questions before the machine guesses what your item is. It wasn't always able to guess right but it was right more often than it was wrong. For me, it guessed tear, boardgame, and even poop! For diaper, it guessed sponge and when Scott picked a beer can, it guessed bang on. It's super cool which is why I'm so happy that Ray and Jenny forgot it here. Ha ha!

In all the excitement, Hayden wasn't able to fall asleep until 11:15. I didn't go to sleep until 3:00 and Scott stayed up playing Scattegories until 4:00. Today, we are all slowly coming back to life.

The more we get together...

On Friday everyone, and I mean everyone, headed off to Laval to have lunch with our favourite 90 year old. Alexis and Dan met us there after celebrating their 2nd anniversary in Ottawa. Grandma and Grandpa were there, of course, as well as Papa's brother Mel and his wife Rose. Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh were also extended a special invitation from the old guy himself. A fun time was had by all at the Greek Restaurant. Hayden especially enjoyed his tzaziki.

Yesterday we went to Smiths Falls for a late Christmas Dinner with Alexis and Dan. We stuffed our faces full of delicious sweet potatoes and all the rest of the fixins. We tried to enjoy a game of cards after dinner but it was kind of hard with all of Uncle Dan's gloating and hissy-fitting. It sounded like the competitiveness continued back at our house. While Hayden and I tried to sleep last night, it sounded like a World War was breaking out over a Monopoly game between Dan, Scott, and Alexis. Hopefully no one got too seriously injured.

Hayden wanted me to wish everyone out there a very happy new year. Be safe and see you in 2007.

sicky bumbo

Poor, poor, Hayden. He's been so congested and yet, he still sports a smile. He's such a good natured kid. He'll have a bad outburst of coughing and then let out this little sigh because the coughing is such hard work. It's pretty darn cute. On Boxing Day, we went to the Szirtes Christmas party. That kid was handled by everyone there including cousin Kyle for a good hour.I hardly even saw him. We'd just cross paths at the spinach dip long enough for him to give me a high five. We've been laying low since then trying to get better. Today, Hayden tried out his Bumbo for the first time. I think it relaxes him. As soon as he sat down in it, he let out a big fart and a burp.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm very sorry for the lack of posts. We've been busy enjoying our first Christmas together as a family.

Heidi, David, Nico, and Georgie came down late last week. We celebrated the Tsao Christmas early because the Birch family were on their way to Vancouver to see Nico's Grandmama and Grandpa. We all slept under one roof because of the nasty weather. Nico has grown so much and is going through a bit of a bossy phase. She loves her Baby and Dodo (two stuffed toys). When we would take one and give it to Hayden, she would promptly say, "Mine!" and go and get it back for herself and then slam her babies down on the ground. It must have been punishment for leaving her for him.

We also celebrated with lots of friends like Jenny, Ray, Chris, Maria, Shawn, and Sara. We even went to Churchill to see the Christmas concert which was rockin'.

Today, all the grandparents came over to our house for brunch. Hayden has come down with a bad cough so he's been sleeping through most of his first Christmas. He must have caught it because of this new trick he's developped: sticking out his tongue. We told him that sticking out his tongue will make him catch germs like a frog catches flys.

Hayden has also found his thumb. He's been sucking on his hands for the past week or so but lately he has developped a much more refined palette preferring his thumb.

Hayden got all sorts of great gifts from Santa including a bookshelf with his name engraved on it. It's a perfect place to put his very own copy of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" which was a gift from Mommy and Daddy.

We hope Hayden feels better soon because he still has so much more Holiday fun ahead of him. Tomorrow, he'll be partying it up with the Szirtes family including all the cousins from Texas. Uncle Dan and Aunty Alexis are coming on the 29th and everyone, including Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh, will be heading to Montreal to see Great Grandpapa. Whew! It's enough to make the little guy pass out. We hope everyone had a great Christmas.

blog neglect

With all the excitement of the holiday season, our poor little blog is suffering from a bit of neglect. I'm sorry if the posts are a bit fewer and farther between these next few days. We're busy with all sort of visiting, shopping, baking, and general merriment. If you truly are suffering, you can check out these much more interesting blogs that I like to peruse:

loobylu.com and weewonderfuls.com

This weekend we went to TJ and Kerry's Christmas party. It was nice to catch up with some of the Smiths Falls gang. Incidentally, if you've ever had corn dip before, Heather gave me a great name for it. She thinks she's heard of it before and that it's called Cowboy Caviar.

We also went to cousin Becky's house and had a nice visit with her and Michael. A big Officer gathering is in the works but I won't ruin the surprise here.

It's going to be a busy week so Hayden is doing his duty by sleeping next to me right now. Let's hope it lasts longer than three hours...

Christmas Tree-Part One

Christmas has taken on a whole new meaning with a little one around. Everything just seems a little more exciting. We even decided to get a Christmas Tree this year. We usually just skip it since we're not usually home for Christmas. We got a really huge one and I was excited to decorate it. Well, after dealing with tangled lights and sappy skin, I started feeling just a bit sleep deprived and frustrated. You can imagine how positive I was feeling when I figured out that we didn't have enough lights to finish. Still, I think it's looking pretty good so far. Hayden definitely enjoys the lights and doesn't even notice that it's only half done.

A note for all you OC fans... On tonight's episode, when Taylor thought she figured out that Marissa was still alive, Hayden uttered his first word: Coop! I swear I heard it. He's obviously still mourning her death. Poor little guy is feeling it worse than Ryan.

Birthday Bash

Last night we had a big birthday party for Hayden. There was a magician who cut Mommy in half and it didn't even hurt. The 75 guests were treated to a fantastic fireworks display. Someone even got a car in their lootbag. He really knows how to throw a good party. I wonder what he'll do for his 6 month birthday party. Happy quarter year birthday Hayden!

Weekend Visits

Hayden had a busy weekend of Holiday partying. He casually made an unplanned visit to Nai Nai's house as she was having a party. What a lucky coincidence! He also visited with his friend Ethan who gave him all sorts of tips on how to grow big and strong like he has.

Hello all blog readers it's the other man of the house, thought I would drop a line. To start, the last three weeks of no working have been a great way to really jump into fatherhood....I've definitely learned ways to calm Hayden in times of distress and enjoy the nice morning walks with the family. Look forward to seeing y'all in the much anticipated upcoming holidays.

Stinky Feet

The other day I was kidding around with Hayden telling him that he had stinky feet. I was tickling them and then went in for a big wiff of his "stinky" feet. The smell nearly knocked me over! Well, it wasn't that bad but they do stink. They have that sour stinky feet smell already. What's going to happen when he starts wearing shoes!

Attention!

Officer Officer is now on duty. I don't know if you can seem him because he is wearing his camo, but Hayden really digs these digs from Aunty Jaime. It is definitely an appropriate outfit as he really is in charge of this house now.

There's also a new video here. It's of Hayden chatting with his Mama. The funny thing about Hayden is that when there is a camera on him, he really can't take his eyes off the lens. When I try to take a picture of his smiling face, he'll just stare into the camera instead of my silly faces. I showed him this video and he stared at the screen. He started talking back to himself and smiling back too. It was pretty funny.

How Many?

How many Officers does it take to install a light fixture? It takes three. Thank goodness two Officers came over to help out our Officer yesterday so we had just enough to install our new dining room light.

You Growns Up

Here are some comparisons for you. These pictures are from 1 week to 7 weeks to 12 weeks. My baby's all growns up!

Weekend Warriors

We had a great weekend despite the stormy beginning. Lots of branches, including a really huge one, fell in our backyard. Thank goodness we got rid of that tree in the front yard. Jaime was home alone this weekend. Hayden told me I better call her Friday night to check in on her. I asked her if she had a plan in case the power went out. Two minutes after we got off the phone, her power did go off! She came over and we had a fun sleepover. She was even treated to Hayden's morning smile routine. Hayden also got to meet Jaime's sister Jessica...finally. He really likes to sleep through any kind of errand running. He falls asleep in the car and then doesn't like to get up until the shopping is all done. Since he went to Bayshore and Ikea on Saturday and slept through it all, it meant that he was still awake at 1:00am! Yikes. Today he came out again to buy a new lamp at EQ3 in the market. The lady told us that the floor sample of our lamp was gone because Debbie Travis had used it and taken it apart. She's filming the new season of her show "From the Ground Up" here in Ottawa. It's the reality show where she looks for a new assistant. They filmed an episode in the store and she used our lamp for something. Can't wait to see it.

There are a couple of new videos of Hayden practicing how to suck his thumb here.

Keeping Busy

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. We've been pretty busy. No, we haven't been Christmas shopping, doing our basement renovation, or getting to the million other things we had planned for Scott's time off. We've been over at Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh's house. Doing what? Well, on Tuesday, we spent nine fun-filled hours peeling, scraping, and prying wallpaper off the walls. Wednesday was spent patching up all of the scratch marks and dents that we made on Tuesday. Today, we finally finished by painting the front hall and living room. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself. We don't have any pictures just yet.

Hayden had a grand old time playing with Nai Nai and Yeh Yeh. He also had fun playing on his own. Scott bought him a great new toy to satisfy his love of lights. He's fascinated with it. The other night he was really fussy. We tried everything to calm him but nothing was working. Finally, Scott put him on the floor underneath his new toy and he quieted down right away and lay under his toy for half an hour with bright eyes and a smiling face. That's his other new pasttime. Hayden can be pretty smiley these days. He's pretty close to a laugh, I can feel it.