First up- Jennie and Raymond had their first Dec 19th I believe- a baby GIRL named Allison.

Next, Robin and Jen had TWIN girls- Emma and Avery on Dec 29th- to go along with big sisters Caitlyn and Adria. Excellent job filling up all the seats in the mini-van.

And on Jan 1st, after 3 days of labour and a false start or two, weighing in at a solid 9lbs, 4oz- Jen and Alex Jago welcomed their BIG boy Patrick Jago into the family.

Congrats everyone! Time to update GENI

For this shot of Sammo, I messed up on the AWB, but I kinda like the off tint… and this was the start of his bath so the rest of the shots would have been water spraying on the lens.

Our friend Tony and his daugher Isabelle have been going to the local rink near our house so we decided to give it a try… for real.

Well the day we chose was the “Skate with Santa”- translation- the place is a zoo.  We managed to get E a rental (boy’s hockey skates) and got them on without too much drama.  The skates seem to fit, and standing the first time was like watching a newborn deer find its legs for the first time…

The ice opens, and we waddle on up to the rink.  When we got to the ice, E wouldn’t step on, and had to be encouraged.  I’m wondering, ok, how am I going to do this… and trying to think back to when I first learned to skate.

I bent over, took a wide stance, and held her under her armpits.  With her big helmet on, I couldn’t really see what her feet were doing, but we took it slow and tried to make our way over to the kid end of the ice.  As we make our way over,  I’m thinking ’she’s kinda heavy’ and I looked down at her feet… which were lifted off the ice and tucked under like a bird in flight. 

“Stand UP!” 

She makes a feeble attempt at standing… and at that point I knew I had to basically carry her, bent over double, to the other end of the ice… at a snails pace.

Once we got to the other end, my back was ready for shiatsu, and as we couldn’t get a metal stand to help her learn, it basically meant holding her up and trying to help her get her balance.  At that point, we’re told to get off as they needed to clean the ice. 

After a wait, we do the whole thing again, but this time someone saw that she was a total beginner and offered up their metal stand (yes there were kids who could skate just fine, but were using the stands for whatever reason). 

From that point on, it wasn’t bad.  She could stand and with Isabelle’s encouragement, get some forward progress.  It was funny to watch her try to “run” with skates on rather than angle the toe out and push off… and she fell down every 20 seconds… and for me it was like picking up a 30lb sack of potatoes every 20 seconds. 

Still, I think she had fun, and even got a helium balloon and candy cane from Santa out of the experience.

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.

The yard was in ok shape, but it did have a few annoyances- first was a volkswagen sized rock in the middle of the yard, second were 5 trees in the 40-50 ft height range.

The trees definitely gave the yard privacy and a park-like feel, but at the same time they took up a lot of room, blocked a lot of sunlight, and continuously rained needles and pinecones onto the deck and grass.  Here’s a few pics showing what it looked like last fall.

Backyard Oct 08

Backyard Oct 08

Backyard Oct 08

backyard Oct 2008

We decided to bring in a landscaper to see what they would recommend.  Maybe take down a tree and see if we can level out the yard and bring the grass back to the point where I could practice putting on it.

The landscaper takes a look and recommends we take down the 2 trees to the east, and the one big tree on the NW corner.  When they took down 1 tree, it showed signs of inner rot…  and if 1 tree shows signs of rot, then there is a chance that the other trees could also be sick, yet show no outward signs of being so.  Down came the trees and 2 out of 3 show signs of rot.  They then recommed we take down the 2 trees by the deck. 

At this point, the cost of taking down all these trees were a lot more than we had anticipated when we bought the place.  The inspector said they looked ok, but it’s hard to tell without bringing in an expert.  The danger is if the trees are not balanced (leaning to one side) and if they are sick, then it just takes a wind or snowstorm to knock them down… into the house.

So we decide to take them all down.

tree stump

goodbye trees

Then came winter, and the worst snowstorm in 10 years.  Our yard looked like this.

snow!

In hindsight, it was a good call to take down the trees given the heavy snowfall. 

When spring finally came, we had to decide what to do with the yard.  Basically it was cleared out, but it was also a mess and not safe to play in. 

A winter with a hyper toddler also gave us incentive to create a safe yard to boot the kids outside and burn off some energy, and save our sanity.  Therefore we decided to dig up all the stumps and try to do something about that rock.  We hired a backhoe to come in and do the work, and our yard ended up looking like this-

Mighty machines!

504 paving stones removed

Mass destruction

The backhoe trampled over everything, and ripped out all the stumps, but could not turn over the big rock.  In the process, what little grass we had was pretty much destroyed.  We then had to bring in dirt to level out the yard and lay sod.

laying sod

Laying sod

After the sod went in, they said to water it like crazy for about 3 weeks straight.  When they said water it like crazy, they weren’t kidding!  If you see seams opening up between the rolls, it means that the sod is shrinking from lack of water.  Luckily we had a few good days of rain, and that plus some fertilizer really helped.  We probably should have added another inch or two of dirt to help level things out, but that can be done later.

Tomorrow the grass needs to be cut, and I’ll post pictures of how the yard looks after whacking down all the trees, digging up all the rocks/stumps/concrete/paving stones, and laying down new sod, which has been in for about 3 weeks now.

A lot of work, but we figure that everyone can get enjoyment from the yard.  Next up- a “slip and slide”, hammock, and wading pool!

IMG_0670.JPG

IMG_0711

test

I thought, instead of playing Lady Gaga or Katy Perry, why not something with less pop and a bit more sophistication… so I poked around for something by Feist (which I’m a huge fan of)… and came across this video she did for… Sesame street. Anyways, I think it’s very cool that an artist would take one of their songs and change it so that kids can relate to it and learn something.

It was also cool to see how captivated Erica was, and how hard she was concentrating to learn the melody and words. I couldn’t stop smiling.

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) 

We’re now a couple of days from our move, and our place is filled with boxes, labels, and things are just a bit chaotic right now.  Erica and the cats have been noticing the escalating change, and the past few mornings e has woken up and not been happy.  All her familiar things are now in boxes.  Her room is filled with boxes and garbage bags.  The cats are also needing extra attention and reassurance.  I’m guessing the move will be hard on them as well- I read that cats get attached to places whereas dogs are fine as long as their humans are around.

As for the move itself, we severly underestimated the number of boxes.  In the end, E went online, at Jennifer’s suggestion to Frogbox.  They are a company that drops off these green, stackable, sturdy plastic boxes (similar to ones we used to move at the office) and pick them up again when you are done.  No need to go out and buy cardboard boxes (they are expensive!), tape them together, collapse, or recycle them.  I imagine they are a lot more environmentally friendly.  We very much recommend them.

I think back to when we moved here almost 8 years ago, and how much has changed since then.  We weren’t married, we had hand-me-down furniture including a used futon and sawed off love seat for the living room.  We had E’s double bed on an ikea frame… and a foosball table with a cover and 4 bar stools for a dining room table.  We were one of the original owners here at Madison, I think 4th or 5th to move in.  We’ve seen neighbors come and go, and neighbors turn into really good friends.  As with any strata, we’ve also seen our share of drama, but also a strong sense of community.

Tomorrow is Erica’s last day at Cecelia’s daycare, and if we’re emotional about missing daycare, then I’m sure the same goes for Erica and all of her friends (Fay-fay, Cah-is, Di-da, Annabelle, etc).  We know she likes going there and playing with her friends.  It’s definitely one of the reasons why she’s so well socialized. 

For us, the location has been great.  E works nearby, and for a few years I worked about a mile away from Madison.  Family lives nearby, good restaurants and grocery stores, Brentwood’s an ok mall, Metrotown is close by, the Heights is a 10 min walk, my local fishstore is on Hastings, Making Memories (the place where E should work!) is by Safeway, lots of nice parks nearby, Eileen Daily pool, Burnaby mountain golf course, 8 rinks, skytrain, North Van, etc. 

Don’t get me wrong, we’re looking forward to the new place, finding new amenties and friends… and I think we’ve found a good place for our kids to grow up.  Many milestones in our lives happened while we lived at Madison… a lot of really good memories.  But in a few days, we’ll be starting out in a new environment, and part of the fun will be discovering all the things that will turn into more good memories in time.  

 Yeah, tomorrow’s going to be a tough day.

Recently, she learned the word “Dan-cing” and does this hillbilly stomp/flying seagull move whenever music is played. At home, pretty amusing. At the wedding reception, hours past her bedtime, this is what she was doing for most of the night… with

everyone.

We tried taking her home at 10pm, but as soon as the music came back on, she pointed at the dance floor and said “Dan-cing!”

Anyways, congrats to Alex and Jen. I’ll post whatever pics I have, but it was a very genuine, funny, moving, and all-round memorable day.