Happy Birthday Desiree

Happy 18th Desiree!

Happy Birthday Bonnie

Happy Birthday to my sister Bonnie. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone else not as lucky as her. Sorry no new pic today but this one's pretty cute.

It's fixed!

Our tv suddenly started looking funny last week. Don opened the back and cleaned it all out (very dusty) but that didn't fix it. We moved the old tv up from the basement and started considering our options - pay for the repair, buy a new tv or make do with the old one. We did some research and found out that it's a common problem with hdtv's like ours. Most people said it was about a $400 repair or you could buy the parts and do it yourself. This weekend Don and his Dad spent $16 on new converters. Yesterday we were a bit worried that it wouldn't work but today they have it up and running even better then it was before. Hmmm....we just saved about $380 thanks to their hard work. I think that they had fun too. Calum has spent the afternoon watching his cartoons. Don and I have been hoping to watch a movie but Calum's just too happy to have his tv working again.

Next week will be busy for us. We are hosting a research workshop at work so it will be a very busy week for me. Don's going to have to get Calum off to the Old DC in the mornings. Calum's not to pleased about leaving in the mornings. He would rather stay and watch cartoons some times.

Baby Beluga is not looking well this weekend. I'm off to change his water and hope for the best. His colour is off and he's burrowing into the bottom of his bowl. Maybe I'll give him a frozen pea to snack on. Hope you all had a restful weekend.

Calum and Don in the Snow

New Generation

Calum is really a boy of his generation. He knows his birthday is coming up and do you know what he asked for? An iPod. And not just any iPod, but a video iPod. Just like Dad's. Only new. And for him, not for dad. It should come loaded with Ben10, Spidey, Kim Possible and other cartoons and with really big headphones.

He's also picked out his cake. It's going to be Ben 10, with the grandpa, Ben and one of the aliens on it.

His birthday is not till March. He will be three. Yes, that's THREE. What's he going to ask for when he's four?

Note for the grandparents - don't fear. No, of course we aren't going to get him an iPod for his birthday. I think I'm going to have to sign him up for swimming lessons again. Anything to get him out and about.

Speaking of birthdays - we missed wishing a happy birthday to Nicola, Clint and Tabitha. Hope you all had good birthdays.

Back to work now.....I'm hoping the snow doesn't come this weekend.

Oh - one last thing - our nephew Coy is walking. Go Coy! Now Grant and Jen can experience the true nature of the toddler, and if he's anything like Calum he won't sit still for a minute.

More Christmas Pics - Merrit Visit

Calum's Firsts!

Just going through his baby book and am remembering his firsts:

First came home - March 14, 2005
First smile - April 2005
First trip - Kamloops and Merritt, April 2005
First belly laugh, May 2005
First sat up - October 2005
Started daycare - October 2005
First stood and crawled - December 2005
Walking - April 2006
First words - uncle, eww, dad
Favorite saying - September 2006 - no, no, no

Funny how that favorite saying hasn't changed much.

Dakota is coming home from Kamloops today. She's been up for a visit. Dez is out, Calum and Don are watching hockey and I'm enjoying the last couple of days off. I go back to work on Monday, up to Merritt on Monday night till Tuesday night, then back for a meeting on Monday. Calum starts back at the Old DC but our time there will soon be up (March). Yikes, time to really start looking into other options. We are really going to miss the Old DC!

Not much planned for the day, we are going to do some chores, maybe bake some cookies, recycle the Christmas tree....and read. I'm making my way through my Christmas books, finished 2.5, and want to get through the third before we go back.

Calum welcomes 2008!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas!

An interesting start

So we've had an interesting start to the Christmas break. Calum got sick just after Don finished taking his couple of days off. He's never had the flu before so it was tough on him. It was a quick one though and in a couple of days he was better. It went through the daycare though so they closed it a day early. Then, as fortune would have it, I got it. Mine wasn't bad, it lasted less than a day and I feel better now. Don also had a touch. We are staying in for a day or so longer though. We don't want to spread it to our family and friends. I already did a thorough wipe down of the house but will have to do another just to be sure.

Not much new for us. Calum has taken to wrapping presents for himself, putting them under the tree, then unwrapping them when he can no longer resist the temptation. It's pretty cute but we already have bits of wrapping paper all over the house. Just wait till Santa comes.

Calum and I will be finishing his Christmas projects soon. He's making treats for the stockings this year and has been a busy boy planning it all out. We were hoping to make a trip to Merritt before Christmas but the roads are terrible this weekend and the girls are both working. We'll be up soon though, Nanny and Papa. Calum is already getting his sled ready.

Getting ready for Christmas

Santa's a good guy

Calum is already having fun and Christmas isn't here yet. He was very sad to see me wrapping presents and kept asking where his present was. I had to give him one of his stocking stuffers. We wrapped it together and he unwrapped it. We kept doing this till we ran out of his favorite wrapping paper. He left it wrapped and now proudly will show us all his present.

Today Don said Santa left Calum an early gift and had him choose a hand. In one hand was a diaper, in the other the new Simpson movie. Calum picked the diaper and was so happy that Santa brought him one. He proceed to pull down his pants to show me as soon as I got home from work.

When I asked if he liked Santa now he said "Santa's a good guy".

Funny boy.

It's Spiderman and Superman!

Calum had his Christmas party at the Old DC. They had face painting so this is how he looked when he greated us as we came home. Apparently he also has a lightsaber balloon too. Why not have the best of everything - Starwars, Superman, Spidey. What a funny boy.

Not much to report. We've just started to get ready for Christmas. We will be doing some shopping this weekend, putting up the tree and getting ready for the last week of work/school/daycare before Christmas.

Look for some more pictures in a couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday Rob

Happy Birthday Uncle Rob. Hope you have a good weekend.

We've got plans to go out and do a little shopping tomorrow. Calum is growing out of his size 2's (and even his 3's) so it's time to clear our his closet again. Yesh. He has requested a Luke shirt but I told him it will likely be a transformer shirt. Looks like we may have a fun day of negotiating with a 2 year old tomorrow.

We all still have a touch of a cold. Sniffles, coughs and looking like we just woke up. We are on our last box of kleenex so we move it from place to place. Guess we better pick up some more tomorrow too.

Not much new to report. Work's great, kids are doing fine (though driving us crazy), nothing exciting really. Calum has been getting little treats from Carole at work. I bring them home for him at night He now thinks he gets mail at our office and Don makes a big deal about how he wants him to get it sent to our house instead. He loves playing on my computer so don't be surprised to see a blog post from him. He'll figure it out soon. He's learned to page on my cell and I can't even do that.

Well he likely be up in about 4 hours so it's off to bed. Stay warm and have a germ-free weekend.

Happy Birthday to Nanny

Happy birthday Nanny. We love you and hope you are having a good day.

A kiss?

Desiree told me that when she picked up Calum he offered a kiss (though separated by the window) to a little girl as he was leaving. No, no, no. Those are my kisses. Enough said.

Calum has learned to say "Hey Baby" and has been saying it to the daycare staff. We can thank the girls for that one I think. He also likes "Hi girlfriend" but luckily he has save that one for home.

The girls are in Kamloops this weekend, Calum wanted to go too but we had to convince him that he was needed at home. I expect it will be a pretty quiet weekend for us. It was a pretty busy week so it will be nice to relax. Now all I need is a good book, something other than X-Men, Backyardigans, etc.

Have a good weekend all.

Cognitive Development

Calum is growing and changing so much these days. He's very aware of everything we say. I was telling Don about a guy I saw lying on the street in front of the office and Calum was listening. He was very concerned - and asked if he was OK, if he needed a doctor, if he went to the hospital. We saw a homeless person outside of the library with a shopping cart and he asked me why he had a cart and why he was outside.

I miss knowing more about what goes on at the Old DC. Calum tells me stories - "X was bad today. We had a fight." but I rarely see some of the kids now. Calum really enjoys himself though. Dakota and Desiree have been picking him up before we get home from work and he seems to have a lot of fun with them. Every day he asks "Dakota picking me up today?"

We haven't made plans yet for the weekend. We may watch our new DVDs or take a drive. Calum and Dakota want to get out and about so we'll see where we end up. Last weekend they went to the aquarium and had a lot of fun. Calum still pretends he's a Beluga.

Well Saturday morning cartoons are on and Calum wants me to watch with him. Have a good weekend!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Grandma Bain!

Hope you are all enjoying the long weekend. Calum and I have plans to return some library books and to go out and feed the birds. With all the wind and the rain, it promises to be a very quick trip!

November already?

I can't believe how fast October went by. Things are going entirely too quick this year. I missed posting a wish for Dad's birthday (Oct 19th) and wishing everyone a happy Halloween. We had fun. Calum went as Spidey, of course, and looked very cute. He got lots of candy and enjoyed meeting the other trick-or-treaters and people in the neighborhood. I came back from Victoria for the night and had fun. Unfortunately, he was getting a cold so we had a restless night and I was up by 4am to make the 7am ferry.

Calum (and dad) made it through his first night away from me ever. I think it was harder on me. I was staying at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, had a nice comfy bed, was dead tired, but woke every hour reaching for him. Don told me he slept through the night. I was going to take him back with me on Nov. 1st but he had a bad cough and no sleep so Don stayed home with him.

This weekend we are all resting trying to get over the cold. It looks to be a busy week ahead so hopefully we are all healthy again tomorrow.