Moving, but not at a snail's pace

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon packing up the guest bedroom, and converting it into the baby's room.
We ventured from store to store, picking up the necessary items, then returned home and made our place a bigger disaster than before. As Ali says though, "it has to get worse before it gets better...."

That motto can actually hold a lot of bearing to many things. Take for example my first (of soon to be many) visits to my massage therapist. It was rough going for the first day, but then I was actually able to walk comfortably the entire following day.

As I was driving home today after dropping the wife off at work, I saw one thing that made me want to pull this lady out of her car, "and give her a good talking to".
She was driving, one hand holding a coffee, the other holding a cigarette. Usually not a big deal right? The kicker was noticing the baby carrier in the back seat. She was kind enough to have the cover over the baby's face though....

In Manitoba, they are trying to make it illegal to smoke in a car while carrying children. This has already become a law in the East coast, and hopefully we will follow suit soon. I would love to be in charge of writing those tickets. I'd cut in front of the car, get out, and slap the ticket square on their foreheads. I'd be that guy that Ali complained about. Call it a stupidity tax.

As mentioned before in Ali's blog, I was surprised to see the hostility shown towards us while we were in North Dakota. I know it was only two Emo kids who probably aren't hugged enough by their parents, but it got me to thinking about growing up in a small border town.
We used to be chased out of Minnesota as kids, sworn at as teens, and given the finger and told to "go back to Canada" more times than I can remember.
I felt like telling those two jagoffs in Grand Forks that if it was not for the fact that Canadians are carrying the local economy right now, they would not have a mall to hang out at. They wouldn't have understood what those big words meant though.
As I said earlier, I have only really experienced this in smaller towns across the U.S.
When I was younger, we took a trip down to Kentucky with nothing but good memories. We spent one Christmas in Arizona treated like royalty. I talked to many interesting people in Las Vegas.

Do me a favour, my American friends - tell small town people to be nice to us. We're harmless. We're Canadian.

Is it April yet?

And just when I thought things were looking up.... We got a small dump of snow the other day, just enough to cover the ground, then melt and make everything all sloppy. The sloppiness of the streets, and the gallons of windshield washer fluid signal spring to me. The snow just doesn't mix into my spring plans.

I'm excited for April to get here, not for the obvious reasons (ahem, birthdays) but because I think April is my favorite month overall. Of course I love June/July,but I enjoy writing the word "April" more than any other months.
This is the month that officially kick starts Spring. The robins and squirrels return, the air has that certain moist-dirty-wet grass smell, and the buds on the hedges start to bloom.

I was watching a dad take his young son for a walk this afternoon. The little boy stopped at every puddle, bent down to touch it with a single finger, then proceed to splash and frolic through the puddles with no holds barred. It looked fun, but the dad was a total killjoy.
He scorned the boy for splashing his khaki pants. If that were me, I'd splash right along with my child too. It's only water, and plus, I'd look cool to all passers-by.

I can't wait until our Butterbean is here. More so, I can't wait until they toddle around, constantly looking and exploring the neighborhood. Bad back or not, I'm following....

Right now, life is good. When I was 18 and thought "where will I be when I'm 30?", this is pretty much what I had in mind. I have an amazing wife, a good job, and soon I'll be that dad playing in the puddles.

Massage by the Mafia

Yesterday, I took myself to a sports injury clinic. The doctor came in, did a quick interview, then gave me some of the smallest shorts I have ever squeezed in to .

After a thorough exam, he told me that I have a very irritated back muscle (name is too hard to pronounce) and that I would greatly benefit from deep tissue massage. That sounds good, but I'm the worlds biggest suck when it comes to a massage.

I've booked an appointment with a guy named Igor. He's an old Russian man who was a physiotherapist years ago, and now does massage. When the doctor calls this man who he's referred to as "old, crazy, but very good" what can I expect? I quickly get visions of him having ties to the Russian mafia....

I quickly tell myself that's not the case. Then I made the call. He answered the phone with a thick accent, and had old classical music playing in the background. I'm convinced.

I want him to be gentle, but I understand the idea of deep tissue massage is to work out the kinks and knots which have formed and became quite comfortable in my back within the last 6 months. I wonder if he has a gag-ball for me to use? I hope it's not that kind of massage place.

In other news, my best friend is venturing to the city for the night. One last chance to play video games late into the night, and annoy Ali with some more high fives (after we score a goal while playing Playstation).

I'm also hoping to take my dad out fishing this weekend. He has a rare couple of days off, so I'm really going to bug him to get out. It will be good to have some father/son time. We usually only get this during football season, which happens to start in 2 months.

Last Thursday, we saw our little baby in 3D. This little person looked so real and perfect, and it looked as though they could be handed to us right that day. Alison quickly reminded me that they were still only about 3.5 lbs. and had a bunch more weeks to finish growing, but I'm starting to get impatient. I want them here - now.

Most people tell me to enjoy the quiet now, because it'll get louder when they arrive, but I say bring the noise.....

I say that Butterbean features my nose, and Alison's lips. I'm hoping they get Alison's bluish eyes and eyelashes, and my chubby cheeks, which, so far doesn't appear to be too difficult. See Ali's blog for photo evidence.

We've just finished assembling the"bouncy chair". I think we have all the big ticket items purchased, so now it's just hurry up and wait.

For the next day or so, I'll hang out with my parents. They've ventured to the big city for a quick shopping/Dr's. office trip. As usual, I'll probably get annoyed with them about five minutes after getting into the car. I'll keep you posted...

Feelin' good makes me feel good!!!

Today I was thinking of things that make me feel good, or happy.

1. Reading books to my unborn baby.

2. Resting my head and hand on Ali's belly, and feeling Butterbean kick.

3. A good slobbery kiss with my wife. (Mushy, I know)

4. Friday night in the Summer, especially during Blue Bomber games.

5. Visiting our parents in Ontario.

6. Road trips to anywhere. I heard a little rumour that the Broncos are playing in NC this year....

7. Eating fresh seafood, especially when it's somewhere in the Caribbean.

8. Hanging out with my best friend Mike, just playing video games.

9. Puppies.

10. Going to concerts.

11. Fishing with friends.

12. Drinking a big cold glass of water when I'm reeeaaaalllly thirsty.

13. Thinking of being not only a dad, but a great dad.

14. Buying my baby's first Bomber jersey. I got # 00, just like my first jersey....

15. Swimming and snorkeling in the Ocean.

16. Flying in a plane.

17. Enjoying a cold beer when it's hot outside.

18. Laughing at Ali's stupid jokes, or adding to a comment I just made about somebody.

19. Hanging out with my dad.

20. Talking about nursing stuff with my two moms.

21. Finding old baby pictures of me and my family.

22. Adding to our baby book.

23. Hearing my favorite band on the radio, and screaming the lyrics as loud as possible. (When I'm by myself)


I think most of these can happen, just by Summer coming around this year. 2008 will be the best year yet.

ROAD TRIP!!!

Yesterday we ventured South, to a little place called Grand Forks, ND.
This town is the perfect size, and the streets are laid out in a way that you can go exactly where you want to go with little trouble.

On a side note, I don't know what our American neighbours are taught, but in Canada when an intersection is out, and there are no lights, we treat this as a four way stop.....
As we approached the very first light, they were out due to a huge power outage, and it was an absolute free-for-all for everyone in the area. Nobody was even hitting the brakes, cars were cutting in front of others, and there I was.....waiting patiently, until the van ahead of me sat there. And sat there. And sat there. I finally honked the horn, yelling every curse word that I could muster in one breath, while my beautiful 8 months pregnant wife did the exact same.....two peas in a pod I tell ya.

As we were driving back home, we received a phone call from a family member. They were in the hospital, but were medically stable. I have never felt so helpless, being two hours away from Winnipeg, and being stranded on a quiet highway. It felt as if I was standing still, even though I was going 110 KM/H.
This family member is now at home resting, and doing okay, but it sure did bring back some ugly memories for Ali and myself. Sometimes I think my family was cursed.

To end this blog, I will let you know that our Manitoba Government has come to their senses, and avoiding the Nurse's strike. As with any other strike, wages/benefits/pension were the main sticking points. Now we can all breathe easy.

Have a good work week everyone.

Coming of age

They say you're only as old as you feel. My best friend celebrates his 30th birthday today, and soon I will join him in the 30 + club.

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I feel like an "adult". I don't know why, maybe it's just a thing that "grown-ups" usually do. When I look around the store, there's mostly 40-50 year olds there. I see lots of parents pushing their kids in the cart. Maybe that's why I feel older when I shop.

Of course all of this is a moot point, when they look in my cart and I have granola bars, pudding, sweetened cereal, juice, and chocolate milk. My cart is the unofficial wish list for any kid.

I quickly jump back into my "adult" role when I load up the minivan to go home....

I feel that I am where I am supposed to be at this point of my life. Parenthood, and all of the things that come with it are all that I could have hoped for. I can't wait.

On a side note, I believe that I'm over the shock (see last post) and am coming to terms with it.

I'm.....speechless.

Have you ever heard some news from somebody, and you honestly did not know what to say?

I had the pleasure of being blind-sided by some shocking news yesterday, and for the first time in my life, I honestly was speechless. I think back as far as I can remember, and I have always managed to make up my mind that instant - whether I liked it or not.

I'm having difficulty right now, because I am truly flustered.....
Maybe I'll share this info with you at a later date, but right now I don't know how I feel about it.

Not to worry though, we'll get through this, and no, it's not related to Ali or Butterbean.
I know that I can count on Ali to talk me through everything, and reason out all of the good along with the bad. That's one of the things that makes her so perfect for me.

Has anyone else ever had this feeling of being so indecisive?
If so, how did you cope?

Maybe I'll call Dr. Phil.