Birthday Shots....

the loot.

there is nothing more upsetting than watching kids rip through gifts with no attention to who bought and selected them... they motor on through with no time to play with them or appreciate them. Both Matt and I agree that this is something we would like to somehow avoid during Birthday parties. Who knows... maybe we will come up with a system to slow the process down. This year we tried to make her give the giver a hug before moving onto the next... it wasn't pretty nor was it perfect- but we will figure it out. Maybe we will move back to our system of no gifts... but that is extreme- any suggestions?


vegan blueberry cake and cupcakes

she asked for a Blueberry birthday cake for months... then it turned into a request for a cake AND cupcakes... blueberry of course. So, here you see the finished product- Vegan Vanilla and Blueberry Cake with Butter'milk' frosting. Both were delicious and were adapted from a recipe for vanilla cupcakes from The Joy of Vegan Baking, an excellent resource for baking recipes of all types.

Autumn turns 3

Do you know what that means? This blog is three.

Wow.

Anyway, she got lots of good stuff, had a nice day. Ran around in circles and then crashed. She slept in until 7:00AM! We'll update in good time.

This is her on the day before her birthday with her little cousin Turner. He's uncle Simon and Aunt Christina's son.

Uncle John

One of the coolest things Autumn gets is childhood books from Uncle John. We have some old looking books that Autumn just loves. We can't control when she'll fall in love with a book, but when she does, she wants to every night. So when, in early May, she discovered "the Twelve Days of Christmas", we went with it.

And so did she. Here's the YouTube link.

She loves singing the last part fast. Loves it.

Gavin Turns One

On Saturday, with little fanfare, Gavin turned one. We think he had a good day. It began with pancakes at one of our favorite places, Amy's Place on Main Street. He mowed some pancakes, then mommy pulled out a cupcake. Which he enjoyed. (Note the full body bib)

Next, nanny and granddad took Autumn and Gavin to the Buffalo Zoo. They looked at animals, watched Autumn go on the train by herself, and then played in the little toddler room. I think this image sums up how Gavin is one. in it, he looks like a little boy, not a baby.

Nanny and Granddad had to go after to zoo, but grandma and grandpa came over and more festivities ensued. Autumn had gone to the toy store to buy Gavin a present, and now she wanted him to open it.



So we did that.

Next, it was time for the cupcakes for Gavin's birthday dinner.

He's one.

It's strange to even write that. And while I'll deny that it went fast, these round number birthday's are so interesting. He's getting bigger. On his first birthday, he actually went poopy on the potty.

I know.

He was struggling a little to push one out, so we gave him this little thing you stick up his bum in order to loosen some stuff out. Normally, you would just hold him on the changing table and let the stuff push it out. But I figured, he's one. I'll stick him on the potty.

He laughed, and then pooped. And peed! I was yelling for Rhona to come and have a look, but she was busy with Autumn. So we high-fived, and went on with the night.

Now, I realize this isn't something to get worked up over. We had stuck a thing up his bum that makes him poop, so there's nothing to see here, right?

Wrong.

The next day, he did it again. I had just fed him a strawberry carrot delight that I'd made, and i figured, what the heck, I'll sit him on the potty. Like the day before, he laughed, and laughed. And then, pooped. And peed.

Will we have a kid who's potty trained before he walks?

No. I doubt it too. But that's two diapers I didn't have to change. And both were substantial poops (I got a picture of the second one, his first unassisted potty poop).

It was a good weekend.

Happy birthday little buddy.

Gavin, on the eve of bing one

OMG, people say. He's almost one? And she's almost three?

Wow, that happened fast.

They repeat it a few times, shaking their head and pondering how time has just flown by over the last year. Well, here's a counter point.

Nu-uh.

Time didn't fly for us. In the last year, we didn't sleep a lot. Here's a list of the reasons we didn't sleep:

Gavin needs food. The lack of sleep comes with a new baby. We knew this. It wasn't news. Like all little babies, he woke up every night looking for food for about the first three months. Then, just when he started sleeping a bit, along came potty training.

Autumn learning to be potty trained. this sounds wonderful, right? No more diapers, no more smelly bums. But wait. Autumn was still in her crib, so she couldn't go potty on her onesie. She needed help. "Maaaaaaaaam, I gotttttttta goooooooo potttttttyyyyyy!". Which would inevitable wake up Gavin and remind him that his belly wasn't filled to the absolute maximum and it required food.

Gavin needing to be held. It should be noted here, for the record, that two is way more than one. With Autumn, we were good about not bringing her to our bed. We held firm, and it didn't take Autumn long to be a good sleeper. but with Gavin, we weren't as good. That's because for the most part, we were dead tired. So he slept in our bed a lot. Snuggling. So it's no surprise really that he quite liked snuggling in our bed, and if we moved him into his crib, he would let us know that rather liked the other better. And since the manner he would let us know is crying, he did that.

A lot.

Throughout this last year, Rhona and I have held that we just needed to make it through it. By Gavin's first birthday, Autumn would be in a bed, and getting up to pee whenever the heck she wanted (she is).

Gavin would be a better sleeper, having learned to get himself back to sleep and no longer nervous if his belly wasn't overflowing (he is).

But the suggestion that this has all happened so fast, as if we're sitting around wondering where did the time go, is a load of hooey.

Thank heavens we friggin made it.

(All of this should not be read to think last year was complete hell. We had many, many fun times. It's just that none of them came between the hours of midnight and 5:00AM.)

Our long weekend in photos

Griffith Sculpture Park.... exploring, wearing out the dog... enjoying the sunshine on Sunday.

Stopping for a moment to look at horses.... the white one was her favorite.

LLamas!!!!

AHHHHHHHHH..... a tired, wet and happy dog!!!

Look at the length of that tongue.... Lucy chilling out.

Mom chilling out on the chairlift... peaceful.

We seem to be in the 'pee' outside phase. An important part of childhood I think...


Climbing the chair poles.... strong daddy!

Exploring Gavin. Picking anything he can get his hands on...


Mom, Gavin and Lucy.

An inchworm... We are super into bugs- this is great for her but often not so much for the poor helpless, crushable bugs... note the DORA tattoo... yikes.

What a fantastic weekend.... the beginning of a summer full of fun, memories and trips.

Let him cry it out

It seems so obvious, right. Baby cries, parent's ignore it, baby falls asleep, never cries again.

Parent's of older kids talk about it like it's that easy. "We let little Billy cry it out." They say it with a hint of all-knowing bias that ignores the fact that they are currently not letting little Billy cry it out now.

We are.

And it blows.

The first night was Sunday. And it didn't go well. Gavin began crying at around 2:00AM (somewhat on schedule). At around 2:15AM, Rhona went in. She couldn't take it anymore. She fed him. Put him back down when he fell asleep, and we attempted to re-fall asleep. This isn't easy. We're worked up because we've spent the last half an hour listening the anguish in the little boy. We don't want him to anguish. We want to go to him, hold him, and make it all better.

But we're letting him cry it out.

Back to Sunday. 5 minutes after he seemed to be asleep, he woke up. And puked all over the place. He spent the remainder of the night in our bed.

Monday. With ear plugs in, Rhona seemed a little more prepared for the whole thing. And when he cried at around 3:00AM, we let it go for 20 minutes, then Rhona went in.

But she didn't lift him up. She rubbed his shoulders and back, and stayed near. That was enough to get him to sleep.

Which brings us to Tuesday night. This is when it's beginning to come together. Because on this night, when the cries came, we stayed strong. They only lasted about 10 minutes, and he got homself back to sleep.

This is it. We're winning.

Dear Rhona

Dear Rhona,

At the beginning of this year, you announced that this year, 2009, was to be the year of Rhona.

This meant you were going to do things for herself, like run, exercise, etc. Things that would make you feel better, look better, and be better. A part of that was listening to your voice and becoming Vegan. You never did like to think about where your meat came from, and didn't like to think that to make milk, cows had to be perpetually postpartum.

We, the family, rallied around you and threw full support.

Then, in no particular order, things started to happen. Grandma had major complications from minor surgery. Romeo had major complications. Gavin decided to spend the first 5 months of the year not sleeping, and Autumn decided to join in. We had ear infections, a dog that won't go for a walk, a friend that won't answer her calls, and kids that constantly need attention.

In other words, life.

But through it all, I think this has still been the year of Rhona. You've rallied and settled things for your mom, and continue to do the little things that make her life better (like fixing the heat yesterday). You plan road-trips with the kids, to the Zoo, even though you don't like Zoos. The family picnic you threw together was excellent and memorable. You organize play-dates, major playground visits, and still have time to do the laundry, throw together some kick-ass meals, and laugh and play with the kids.

In short, you're a great mom, and a great wife. And I just want to say how happy I am that I'm part of the year of Rhona. Because whatever life throws at you, you wrap it up in a nice little bow, and throw it back.

And you look beautiful doing it.

Thanks Babes.

love, Matt.

For Gord's Sake

At this point in time, Autumn's favorite movie is My Fair Lady. Her favorite song is "The Rain in Spain". She'll sing it over and over if you want.



And one of her favorite things to do is change the lyrics to made up silly songs.

Thus:

"The rain in Spain stays mainly on the Gabby's head".

"The rain in Spain stays mainly on the spoon".

It's actually I spy, for she'll look around the room as she sings the beginning part, with a sly grin, until she happens upon the thing that is getting rained on. It's fun make-believe, inspired by My Fair Lady.

As the title of this post alludes, another favorite song is the original Show Stopper performance of "I'm gettin' Married in the Morning".



In it, the character sings: "For Godsake get me to the Church on Time" in a pretty heavy cockney accent. So, the lyric actually sounds more like, "For Gord's Sake", when sung, in accent, by Autumn.

That leads me to ask Autumn, "Who's Gord?"

Which, as you can imagine, confuses her.

Family picnic

This is the first thing we saw when we got to the place where we planned the family picnic. A big, slow-moving, large-clawed dinosaur.

The picnic was at Buffalo's Forest Lawn Cemetery, a totally cool place with incredible amounts of history. The 13th President of the US is buried here, and as I pointed out to Rhona, with 38 dead Presidents, having one is dead cool.

But back to the cute things that aren't crusty old or dead creatures. We also saw some baby geese, called goslings. Autumn was thrilled to see the little babies. And so was Rhona. She took a bunch of pictures of the little geese.

The actual picnic was great. Rhona threw together food for us all. We dropped a blanket on the grass, and dug in. Some dug in a little more than others. Especially Gavin.


But across the board, this gave us the chance to be outside as a family. To run around, laugh, see fun things, and take great pictures. Gavin liked being outside, but Autumn loved it. Maybe because she's becoming such a little girl.

My daughter

LoveBug

Now come on... you tell me. Is he the best looking kid you have seen today- or what? You should all know that he climbs stairs now, he chats non-stop, he eats everything and he is un-officially known as DESTRUCTOR. He grabs onto things and doesn't let go... this is not so bad except for the fact that we often don't realize he has grabbed something until we hear the crash. For example, yesterday he grabbed the Ficus plant as we were walking by and all the sudden BOOM! the plant and pot and dirt were all over the ground.... the boy has strength and a hellofa grib.

But look at that mug. love him.

Autumn bowling

Autumn went bowling. Part of me can't beleive that she went bowling before she went curling, but I'll live.

Anyway, here's the link to all the shots.

Next winter, curling.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

We're designed to run

If you've ever seen my wife run, you could have guessed this.

Missing in Curling

I was once sparing in a club game, and yes, I recall it this vividly. They accidentally threw their first through, so we called a corner guard. It slipped in the rings, and they thoughtfully flashed it. So, we’re sitting one on the wing, and throwing. The skip called to split the rings.

I let it be, it was after all, a club game, but this is an example of getting silly because of misses. A better call in this situation is to throw a guard on your own rock. Some people will play that. Most though, will split the rings and play the rest of the end for a deuce.

I bring all of this up because it occurred to me that if Peter Smith makes either one of his draws in the tenth end of the World Curling Final, Kevin Martin might win.

Peter missed just enough though. He chapped off on his first, and tickled a guard on his second. One might score both shots a 3, maybe even a two on his first. But in hindsight, I would give them both a 5. They took the double peel out of Marc Kennedy’s hands. Marc Kennedy, the guy throwing 93%, who makes double peels leaving the driveway in the morning just because he can, throws two hack weight hit and rolls in the tenth end of the World Championship with the score tied.

If that’s not the perfect example of a miss making you lost your mind, I’m not sure what is.

This is how you play the tenth end. They throw a center guard. You try the tick (or go top eight). They throw another center guard, you try the tick, or go top eight depending on what happened on leads first (ie, make the tick, and you tick again. Miss it, and you go top eight).

Regardless, they come around. And you double peel, since your second happens to be Marc Kennedy, a decent thrower of the rock who rarely if ever misses.

That’s how it’s drawn up. It changes because Peter Smith misses tantalizingly enough. He doesn’t miss so bad that peeling the guards is the only shot. And he doesn’t make it well enough so that peeling the guards is the only shot. Think about it: if he locks the rock on his first one, the double peel is the only call.

He missed just enough to get KMart thinking about, what? About going for the win on second’s rocks? No, he misses just enough to throw the script out the window. To generate a new, entirely baffling script that sees Martin toss a rock away, lest he lost the game right there, on his first rock.

Funny how a miss turns an end.

Dear Gavin

We don't talk about you nearly enough.

Your smile, your laugh, the way you look away when mom is holding you, and I walk up and say hello, the way you stand up, the way you dance to Meri Mac, and other songs...

I'm still a little bemused by the way you have to grab your kibbles and bit every time I change your diaper, but you've only peed on me once, and I had the over under pegged at 5.

I admit it, there's still a chance for the over, but at ten months, I think you're getting some control over your Willie, and that bodes well for the under.

And a dry dad.

Here's the thing Gavin. Adding you was literally doubling the amount of kids, but it more than doubles the amount of work. Ask other parents. 1 + 1 doesn't equal 2. It might be 5, but we're not sure. The point is, there's no time.

And your dad (me) has another blog these days, and that takes time.

It's not like there isn't things to talk about. Like how you have yet to spit anything out that we've fed. Scratch that, you spit out an onion badji, but that was far too spicy. You've eaten everything that we've put in front of you. This is a big deal. At this point in Autumn's life, we knew her favorite foods.

With you, your favorite food is food. And we thank you for that.

We're also starting to tell that you love your big sister. Outside of your mum, she's the greatest person in the world. When she comes in the room, you watch. If you can't see her from your high chair, you'll crane your neck until you can see her.

Even though we don't blog a lot about you, we love you. We'll do better.

Love, Mom and Dad.

Autumn on the new couch

IMG_5724
Originally uploaded by rdcaden

no, she really does know where she's supposed to sit. But she likes to prove that she's a big girl by sitting on the top.

What we did this weekend

A lot of dancing.