The big loss

Busy boy

Much too soon

Yesterday at daycare Calum and another boy were trying to steal kisses from Latoya - a toddler visiting from the other room because she wouldn't listen and wasn't allowed to go on a walk with the others. We had to tell them that they had to keep their kisses to themselves. I told Calum he could give all his to his Mama but he didn't seem that interested.

Luckily today the only girl I saw on the infant side was Audrey who came in at the end of the day. Calum was still sleeping and when he woke up he only wanted his milkies. Desiree said he gave her a lot of kisses at lunch today. I guess we have on affectionate little boy.

Early start

Just can't sleep today so I'm up and blogging. I expect Calum will notice soon though so I'll have to go back up to feed him. The little guy is taking up more than his fair share of the bed and I was getting cramped up against the wall. I decided I may as well get up and try to do something.

Spring break is finally over. It was a long one for us because we were all busy. Don had meetings all week and I've been trying to juggle pressing deadlines at work with having Calum at home because daycare has been closed. The girls were great - helping out in the mornings and keeping him entertained. It sure made for long days though and I think that we are all glad to be back to our routines today. I'm going to have to make up some time over the next couple of weeks though. It's not easy to do anymore as I spend all of my time either working or with Calum as is. It sure would be a lot easier if I could wean him once and for all. Will I be glad when this month is over with!

We had a busy weekend. As you can see from the photos we took our kite out on Saturday and spent a couple of hours flying it. Calum really enjoyed it and even took a turn flying it with me. On Sunday we had a visit from my Mom and Dad and nieces Jen and Nicola. They brought Calum more presents and he was playing with them all day. He tired himself out, playing then napping, only to get up to play again. It was hard to get him to sleep last night because he was so excited.

I'm going to start my work day and see if I can't get caught up a bit this morning. Hope you all have a good week.

Calum Listens to his CD

Nicola and Jen

Presents!

A visit from Nanny and Papa

More kite pics

Flying our kite

Another new look

Well, Don made the point that it's hard to read light text on a dark background so I am trying something else. This template is simplier and allows me to add some pics of Calum on the top to make it more like a regular website. The downside is that I had to stick the birthday ticker on the bottom of the page but at least it still works. I'm going to stick with this template for awhile to see if we like it.

An early video clip

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New look, new title

We've renamed a:e:b to "Calum's News", much more appropriate now. The address will stay that same so you don't have to change bookmarks. We are trying out a new look. Let us know what you think. We still have a few changes to make but will get to them when we have a bit more time.

I can stand! Your applause please!

Spring Break

More Spring Break

More Birthday Pics (Thanks Grandpa!)

A year already

Don and I really can't believe that a whole year has gone by already. All day yesterday we were remembering where we were a year ago. Calum has really changed our lives. Our house is in a constant state of chaos, I can't remember the last time Don and I had a kid-free day, we know all the words to "Elmo's World!" and buy kid-themed DVDs and, well, we love it.

It has been a year of little worries over every little sniffle, bump or cough. I now know why parents blame kids for greying hair and am unappologetic about turning into one of those people whose first priority in life is their kids. Everything else pales in comparison. We've marveled at everything from the first yawn to the first tentative steps. When Calum was just the "baby on the way" I had so many ideas about what he would be like - caring, warm, cuddly, smart, gentle......But now I'm so much happier with what he is. He's stubborn, determined, curious, willful and so much more than I had imagined. It's been a great year. I can't wait to see what the next one will bring.

It's OK. I'm One. I can feed myself.

Reading my birthday greeting from Grandma

Happy Birthday Calum!

Calum helped himself to a birthday cookie

I got a lot of nice things

I love presents

Buddy! Presents!

Birthday Cake for Desiree and Calum - 1 and 16!

Dad, want me to PIN someone on your Blackberry?

Calum has a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Yeah, so it's a pink car. What's it to ya?

Busy month

Well, as we reach the end of the fiscal year Don and I look to have a very, very busy month ahead. I'm wrapping up a project this month - one that we have been working on for about 3 years! I've got a lot to do before the end of the month and every moment not working makes me even more anxious about it. It will be nice to be finished but with spring break (and daycare off for the same week), archival staff vacation leaves, office renovations, other work issues, daily visits to the daycare to feed Calum, etc. I'll be lucky if I'm still standing at the end of it all. Wish us luck and we'll see you all when we get through.

There may be fewer posts over the next few weeks but once I'm done the project I'll probably have a bit of time off while I either look for more work on another project or just look for different work entirely. Contract work has been great this year, allowing me to work from home and spend time with Calum everyday but I really miss getting out of the house, working on a day-to-day basis with other people and taking on more challenging projects. Whatever I decide to do, it will likely mean that Calum won't have his mom come to visit him at lunch everyday. I guess we'll just worry about that when/if it becomes an issue.

Well, we hope you are all well. We are all mostly over our colds (still some sniffles and coughing but nothing serious).