An update from Bismarck

So, I’m sitting in Bismarck, North Dakota because of curling, so I thought I would update the family situation. I’ll have some time.

Anyway. Autumn is turning into a wonderful little girl. She’s still a little peanut, a tiny little girl. Last week at the doctors, we found out that she’s only bigger than 3% of the kids her age. She weighs almost 24 pounds, whereas Gavin weighs almost 20. At this rate, he’ll pass her by Christmas.

A little while ago, I was trying to get her to put on some pants. There’s really only one way to do it, and that’s give her a choice between two pairs. So I had two pairs of pants, neither one apparently up to her standards, which often mean Pink.

She looked at me, and channeling mommy, said: “Dad, you’re killing me”.

Apparently my pants choices were killing her. In my defense, one of the pairs was pink. In her defense, I have the fashion sense of a Florida retiree.

Eventually, she won, and I threw up two new pairs of pants that didn’t “kill her”, so we able to get dressed. But each day, she says or does something that is absolutely hilarious. She’ll just start telling us a story. It’ll go something like this:
Autumn:

“Daddy. Mommy. Me and my friends are going to get some cars. They are going to be pink, blue, white and pink.”

Mommy: “Two pink cars?”

Autumn: (helpfully) “No. A white and pink car.”
(In other words, it’s only three cars, not a total of four cars with two pink ones)

Autumn: (Continuing) “And my friends, benny, and boots the monkey, and Azario, and Dora, and, and…we’re all going to go to the airport and fly on a big plane.”

It’s often hard to keep up, but she’ll retell if you get confused. She’s awesome, and at times she knows it. Like when we go and visit grandma, she’ll walk down the middle of the hall, almost strutting past some of the people in the hall to get their reactions. When they smile to her, or say how pretty she is, she gives them a smile back and says thank you.

At this point in her life, she likes a full room. We’ll see how that goes when Gavin starts talking.

Now Gavin.

The little gavster is a smiling machine.

At this point in his life, he would dearly love to skip the whole crawling thing and progress right to walking. His most favorite thing in the world is to stand up, with help. Try to sit him down, and he locks his legs, refusing to bend them until you give him a little stand. He hasn’t yet mastered the art of flipping over, but he has flipped a couple of times. So it’s coming soon. Meaning, even though he’d rather be walking, he’ll be crawling before Valentines’ day.

One interesting thing about a boy as compared to a girl is in the diaper change. As soon as the diaper comes off, he grabs his package. If there is a nasty poopy, I have to position myself in such a way that I block access to his down under area or he’ll get poop on his hands. I had some poopy moments with Autumn, but I never had to block her from sticking her hand in it.

And now mom. Mom is looking great these days. We’ve been eating really healthy for the last couple of months, and the baby weight is flying off her. She’s in pre-Autumn clothes, and feeling good about life. And she’s an awesome mom and wife. How many wives are not only good with their husband flying off to curl for glory, but fully encouraging?

When the Gavster was born, we thought the first year would be tough. He’s up a lot, and she’s up in the middle of the night with a request to go potty, so it has been tough. But she’s been the glue that’s help us all together.

She’s a champion mom, wife, and best friend.

My little buddy

Rhona calls him Mr. Man, Autumn calls him Gabby Gab, and I call him little buddy. Either way, he's gonna be the little dude for years I think. He's the youngest brother, and since I get fixed on Friday, he'll presumably always be the younger brother.

He's smiley, happy, and chatty these days. He also flipped over on his own on the weekend (that's a milestone moment.) That means he should be crawling before the month is out.

Anyway, I took this picture today. I like the look on his face.

Curling in Boston

Here is where we're playing.


This is the Men's Locker Room at the Brookline Golf and Country Club. The curling facility is a little smaller. But this was a cool room to walk through.

I miss the wife and kids, a lot. But luckily, I have a lot of pictures of them on this computer. I can laugh and them laughing at the camera.

Skating with Autumn

Took Autumn skating for the first time. Here's a shot.

Weird fun with Photobooth

Photo 247
Originally uploaded by rdcaden

Look at the size of this boy's head! And many people think Autumn has big eyes, so...

Gavin Created

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Potty Trained

Driving home from Brampton the other day, mom and Autumn had a discussion about the potty. Autumn needed to go peepee. Mommy was on the QEW, and needed to get home.

Autumn was wearing a diaper, so she could have just gone peepee in the diaper.

Nope. not gonna do it, she said. And pleaded with mom to stop on the side of the QEW so she could pee in a bush.

She's potty trained.

The Stairs index

Approximate age of the house: 98 years
1: estimated number of coats added to stairs every 20 years.
2: number of people who took said paint off stairs.
3: days to finish
7: estimated # of days it should take
17: tools used
1: tools (a power drill) borrowed from next door
3: meals we got out of the Chinese Food we ordered.
6: new tools purchased
1: tools taken back after being used and returned for a brand new one (shhh)
2: tools broken
1: bandages needed to repair injuries

total:
16 stairs with almost 100 years worth of paint on them, finished. They aren't stained yet, but they are now wood. if there was iron in the paint, then it's gone. Why people painted these is a question I'll wonder for a long time, but it's nice to know it's all done.

Thanks Granddad. I couldn't have done it without you. Note, look at the paint behind Autumn. that's all gone. :)

Top six gifts people buy to send a message

Does your dad have too much nose hair? Want Aunt Sally to stop dressing like the cast of Designing Women? You’re not alone. According to a new survey by Remington Products, more than two-thirds of Americans think people use gifts to send a message. 46% all women admit to buying a “message gift” for a friend or loved one. Check them out.

read more | digg story

Ban Left Handed Marriage

Image via WikipediaVoters in California banned gay marriage on the same day that they elected the first Black President.

Well, marriage isn't saved yet. There's another group that could destroy marriage.

Lefties.

"I know there are some who say that being left-handed is not a choice…
That people are “born” that way.
That’s ridiculous.
We all know we choose which hand to write with and feed ourselves.
And this disgusting abnormal perversion of this radical minority cannot be the will of God.
Right is “right”! It says so in every language. Left is sinister, evil, gauche, maladroit.

Right is “droit”, right, correct, the Law!"

Don't let these Sinister people destroy marriage. Well, except me, a lefty. Let me stay married.

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Gavin has a penis

Says Autumn.

"And I don't have a penis."

She continues.

"And mommmy doesn't have a penis, but daddy does."

She fumbles a little on whether Romeo has one (unsure), or Lucy has one ("Yes"0, but overall, she gets the whole boy/girl thing.

And it's not like we walk around every day going "Dad's have a penis, and you don't". This is one of those things that she picked up since we've been giving them baths together.

And part of us wonders if we shouldn't have gone with another word. Like Johnson, Little Gavin, wee-wee. It's somewhat jarring to hear a two-year old say "You have a penis daddy."

On the other hand, it's called a penis. Not a wee-wee, or a knob, so it seems better that it should be called a penis.

It's really just a little jarring to hear the little princess say it.

On gavin

We've been remiss about updating Gavin. The second born, and all that.

What can we say about the little dude? He's bigger than Autumn ever was, but he's still little. He loves to be tickled, and he loves, more than most things, to be in his jolly jumper. He's got a good grip, a heart-melting smile, and a sensitive side.

If you're holding him, and he's relaxed, don't start a conversation with someone in the next room. He'll freak out.

All of this is normal baby stuff. He'll cry a little, but if we pick him up, he'll stop. He's not currently sleeping thought the night in any meaningful way, but that will change. Autumn's a champion sleeper.

We'll try to do better. Sorry Gavin.

Autumn and Gavin

PB304562, originally uploaded by MRHames.

Click on the image, and then look at some pictures on Flickr.

Fun with Photobooth

Photo 234, originally uploaded by MRHames.

it's a little dark. But you get the point. With the amount her eats, it's like there's two of him.

rain

rain, originally uploaded by rdcaden.

This is one of my favorite images.

You have to Excuse me

Image by Graham Ballantyne via FlickrAutumn's favorite song is "Home for a Rest" by Spirit of the West. Normally, during the slow part at the beginning, she used to say:

"Wait for it."

Meaning, wait for the jumpy part. So when she didn't say "Wait for it", I asked her what she says. And, for the first time ever, she sang the tune.


Watch.

I love him

I love him, originally uploaded by MRHames.

It's fun to watch them together

I love him

I love him, originally uploaded by MRHames.

Autumn loves little Gavin. She's an awesome big sister.

Who is the new President?

That was the question posed to Autumn. She answered, then things got a little silly.

Yes we can

From this:



To yes we can. More to come.