Erica was first up, so I took her in and seated her in the big chair. On the LCD monitor, he then projects some clip art of common objects- a horse, a truck, a cake, etc. and asks what they are. I know that Erica know all the objects, but she goes all shy and whispers to me “I want mommy” but eventually comes around to answering. Dr. Wang is pretty soft spoken, but Erica was so shy that her answers were even softer, so I had to restrain myself from blurting out the answers. Anyways, once Dr. Wang was satisfied that she understood the objects, he then shrunk them down, and asked her to repeat the object names while covering one eye.

Next, he played a cartoon and watched her eyes as she focussed on the screen. From the tests he could determine that she’s 20/20 with a bit of far sightedness in the right eye.

I almost wish I got the kid version of the test rather than the regular “is 1 or 2 better?”

Everytime we come in, there seems to be a new gadget or test. There’s a camera which takes a photo of your retina, that was pretty cool to see… and to measure pressure, there used to be a machine that puffed some air on your eye. Now there are these eye drops that kind of sting and is like iodine mixed with glue.  It takes a few hours to blink that stuff out, but I guess it’s a better test.

It then dawns on me that I haven’t written anything since Sam was born, and years from now, he’ll be asking why I didn’t write anything about when he was born?  Oops.

Thinking back over the events since last summer, I cannot remember a time when both Evonne and I have been this busy, given the events leading up to the move, the move itself, having Sam come along, and then Erica entering the Terrible Twos (TT).

I remember watching ‘The March of the Penguins’ and seeing the parent sit there in the worst winter weather anywhere on this planet- with an egg perched on their feet.  They have to go without food for months to take care of that one egg, while their mate travels miles, on foot, through some of the worst terrain to get to open water and while facing predators, feed like crazy to be able to feed their chick upon return to the nesting site. 

The thought crossed my mind- “are they nuts?”  Why would they go through all that?  Why not swim up to Australia and have a nice life there?

So yeah, during the tough times we sort of ask a similar question.  It’s funny how you hear that 2 kids are more than twice the work.  You don’t understand that until you go through it, and then it feels like 100X the work.  Taking care of one kid seems like Club Med, but for whatever reason, the second one changes the dynamics, and if your older one is still in diapers… then Ai Yah!  As one parent put it when asked what having 2 kids is like- “it’s terrible!” 

Everyone also says that it’s tough now, but it will get better.  Maybe they are saying that just so we have hope and won’t flee to Australia… but we can see that once Erica is out of diapers and the TT stage, things have to look up… or will it be like month #2 of an Antartica blizzard with an egg on your foot? 

Anyways, I hope to get a bit more time to write about stuff.  For sure there’s lots going on, and the days/evenings are pretty full.  I found the birth announcement for Sam, which I’ll post here for the record.  Also for the record, Sam is doing very well, and he’s a good baby.  I’d say he’s “Textbook” for those who use the rating system from “Baby Whisperer” book.

This morning we woke up and was running through our plans for the day-  a nice brunch, pick up some end of season sale items from Canadian tire, have a nice afternoon nap, head on over to Caris’ birthday, movie, etc.

Then E tells me that she’s feeling some “cramps” since 7:30am.  Ok… it could be the Pecans and ice-cream we had last night, nothing to worry about.  We’re not due til September 13th.

Then the cramping becomes more regular, maybe a ‘3′ in intensity.  I start packing and rounding up stuff for the hospital real fast, just in case.  Around 11am, E places a call to Burnaby General- moderate cramps, but every 5 or 6 minutes.  She can still talk through them, so Burnaby General advises to wait until they are every 5 minutes and last a minute.  I then head off to McD’s for a breakfast run and when I return, things get a little more intense.  Gulp down food fast, we’re heading in after breakfast.

At this point, we’re very grateful that Elaine and Lauren stayed for one more night instead of going home last night as planned.  After we ate, I packed everything up and we headed out.  Elaine then took Erica to stay at Grandma’s.Finally, a chance to gun the big Merc down the road, but E reminds me that we’re not in “that much of a hurry”    We left the house at noon, and hit construction along the way, but still managed to arrive at 12:20.  I drop E off at admitting and parked the car.I run back to admitting, and find that it’s closed- go to Emergency.  I scanned Emergency for E, couldn’t find her so I assume she was already admitted.  Up to the Birthing suites.  E was already being monitered for the non-stress test, and the nurse tells me to go back to Emergency to check her in.  Run back down, deal with the chaos in Emergency to get the paperwork done, and back up to the suites.  When I go there, E was GONE from the monitoring bed, so I stood there waiting for help.  A nurse tells me to grab our stuff and head to #7, which looked really familiar, and it turns out it was the same room Erica was born in!

They had already broke her water, and she was on the bed with her old friend- laughing gas.  Ok, this is going to happen a lot faster than last time, so… I’ll get the ice chips.  No CDs, no tennis ball, just get down to business.  Lots of 60-70 second contractions about a 90s apart, full dilation, transition phase, pushing about 30 min, and at 1:57pm, Samuel Harry Lau was born Sept 6th, at 7lbs, 1oz!

Again, witnessing the pain of birth left me speechless, and seeing our son being born, and taking his first breath was every bit as special as the first time.  I’m going to grab some ZzzzZzzz, grab some essentials, take care of the cats and back to the hospital tomorrow.  We should be home Monday AM if all goes well.  Mom and baby are doing very well, and attached is a picture!

(Apparently when E arrived that the birthing suite, the nurse (Shirley) said that E looked a bit too comfortable, meaning she may be early… however they would take a look since E was Asian.  Apparently they expect things to move along very quickly if you are Asian, and the second one is supposed to be faster since your body “knows” what’s happening.  At this point, E was 6cm dilated, and they decided to break her water to move things along even faster.  Our Doctor this time wasn’t Carrie, but Dr. Dy who looked liked she just came from a Yoga class and did a great job. 

After we Sam arrived, we hung out for a bit and went downstairs to Maternity.  What a difference!  There was only one other family and we got a room to ourselves!  The other interesting thing was meeting the nursing staff, some of which we recognized from our first time through- and since it was our second time, they left us alone a bit more.  We stayed the one night, and was discharged the following day.  In and out in just over 24 hours.  One final note- how did E respond to the laughing gas?  I would say she was a bit less chatty than last time, but I found her asking questions of a “personal” nature of the staff (Where do you live, are you single, are you seeing anyone, etc.)  Ironically, she does this after a few drinks as well) 

 Well our first long weekend of the year… started off with the yearly visitation to Forest Lawn and Ocean View.  It was certainly a nice day, and great to see everyone come and pay their respects.  For me, it was an opportunity to show Erica the names of her and Great-Grandparents and Great-Great Grandparents!  In the future, I’m looking forward to a time where I can tell her more about family that have passed on.  I can tell her with a lot of fondness about what they did, what they were like, and how a part of them lives on in us.

I find it interesting observing how visits to the cemetary change over time.  The first few years it’s very sad and solemn, but over the years I think it gradually changes to a happier occasion, remembering the good times with other family members and talking about… well life. 

As I look at the dates, it’s hard to comprehend how quickly time has passed.  I like to think that it’s a reminder to focus on the relationships and things that are happening now, and not spend too much time dwelling on the past or future.

That night, e’s nose starts running like a drippy faucet, and yep, she’s got a cold.  Poor thing can’t breathe so she wakes up all cranky. 

 Well e turned 18 months a few days ago, and I think I understand the difference.  With an Infant, you pretty much carry them around, watch them crawl, waddle, take some steps, etc.  They observe things and interact with a lot of curiosity.

 Lately we’ve been adding new phrases to our vocabulary:

 ”Put that down!”  ”Don’t poke yourself with the fork”  “Stop chasing the cats!”  “Why are you squishing your food”  “Hey, where are you going?  Come back here!” ”Who turned off the computer?!” “Don’t open the cupboard and put the Tabasco sauce back!”

Yeah I think we know the difference now.  It’s like with her new found mobility, she’s continuously scanning the counter and table tops for interesting things to grab and experiment with.  She loves to grab a pen, spoon, anything that extends her reach… and uses it to poke, tap, drum, or fetch things.  Now she’s able to act on her curiousity, whereas when she was an Infant, she was pretty curious, but more passively so.  It’s interesting to watch her develop at this stage, but it also means parenting has taken on a very active aspect!

taking a walk with neighbours

Mealtime

Over Christmas as I was pondering what to get for Erica, I came across a kids tent in a flyer.  I remember that I loved to play in enclosed spaces- a big box for example, and I figured this is something she would like that doesn’t need batteries.  And of course, when we go camping for real, she’d be acclimatized to staying in a tent.  So I bought her 2 tents with a connecting tunnel. 

I also forgot another fact- cats like enclosed spaces too…