Update

While I sit here at home, fresh from the shower and two whole hours of sleep, Ali is at the hospital right now with our little Bean....

Bear with us people, I want Ali to handle the introductions. Think of this as a final "teaser" until you get all the details tomorrow when we return as a family!!!


I hope you can handle the suspense!

(And sorry for leading everyone on, but you had to wait this long, what's one more day?)

Now, try to get some sleep before the grand announcement. I didn't.

I guess I'm not as patient as I thought

Yesterday consisted of getting an early morning call to the hospital, only to wait, wait, and wait some more.
After almost 7 hours of monitoring, walking, and more monitoring, they sent us home to hopefully have contractions and maybe even some labor symptoms....

It's easy to see that nothing has happened so far, and I can only imagine the stress that our parents and friends (and fellow bloggers) are experiencing. Every time the phone rings, we're hoping it's that call back to the hospital. I've done this trip so many times already, I think I can set the cruise control on our car and it can find it's own way there. I hate waiting by the phone.

To add to my impatience, daytime television is full of programs such as Bringing Home Baby or Baby Story. We're surrounded by babies, just not the one that matters to me the most.

So here we sit, bags packed, list of phone numbers I have to dial after the bean's arrival, MP3 player to listen to music, magazines to read, and snacks to enjoy.

All we need now is for that phone to ring.....and some comfy seats for support people in the hospital rooms.

Hug a nurse

This week in the U.S., and next week here, it's National Nurse's week.
I've been nursing for almost 4 years now, and I can honestly say that this is the best career choice that I have ever made.
With nursing, some people think that we just hand out pills. I can assure you, in my workplace alone, we do way more than that.

The one thing that people may not consider about nursing, is that there is plenty of patient teaching, and counselling that goes unnoticed. We explain the patient's medical condition, common treatments for the same, possible options and expectations for their hospital stay.
We also advocate for our patients. Many people are afraid to ask a doctor to repeat him/herself, and say "yes, I understand" only to have more questions than when the doctor first arrived.

I think I enjoy the patient teaching the most. In a previous post, I mentioned that I would love to be a nursing instructor one day, and my everyday work experience will help me along the way.

I watched Martha Stewart today while waiting in the hospital lounge. I had to laugh when she appeared on camera wearing nursing scrubs. If only she knew what kinds of debris hits those pink scrubs, she would not think that "was a good thing...".

So this week (or next) hug a nurse. Tell them you appreciate them, and that they are doing an excellent job. And then buy them cookies.

So, that's the name you picked...

A while back, Alison ordered a necklace with our baby-to-be's name on it.
Seeing it for the first time printed on something really made me happy. Even as we make lists now, and write down the name, it gives me goosebumps. This is the necklace to the right, and don't worry, the name has been blurred out.

We keep telling everyone that the name we have selected is uncommon, but hardly weird.
Probably the weirdest name I've heard from a friend was a co-worker naming her daughter Zuzu. Yes, Zuzu. That's not a nickname, as it was in "It's a Wonderful Life", but her actual first name. I hope for her sake, they call her by her middle name - Kaleigh.

When we were first selecting names, we had a laugh at the author when it was obvious that she had exhausted her baby name bank. After a while, it was like she wasn't even trying with names such as Post, Den, and Hall.

So far, the pool at work is about 50/50 with guessing if it's a boy or girl. My colleagues have suggested some pretty interesting names, but I am trying to listen to their parenting tips.

I have 13 shifts left until some much needed holidays. This is the first year I was able to get a 2 week stretch off together, and with my regular days off, it works out to be almost 3 weeks off.
We're planning on having lots of family/friends time (Hello Mike/Irene) and even a trip out West to visit my favorite cousin.

Bring on the warm weather, sandals, and of course, the diaper bag....

The click that changed my life...

Today we installed the car seat. Actually, it's now called a "carrier system" which includes the base, car seat, and the stroller. The colour won't give anything away either, it's called "green tea".

After I heard the clicking sound to say that the seat was firmly locked in place, it was official.
I had to drive down Portage Avenue to drop off our income tax, and I noticed that I had already modified my driving. I was more cautious, and was noticing all of the bad drivers.

I'm already dreading the first drive home after the baby is born. Alison and I joke that I'll be driving in the slow lane with my four way flashers on, cursing every driver that comes too close for comfort.

We've also installed a web cam, so if we can show our parents how to access the camera from their computers, they can see us and the bean, and capture how quickly he/she will change...

As Canadian as...

There are a few stereotypes that Canadians cannot shake.
One is our apparent love of maple syrup. Granted, we love syrup, but no more that our American friends on the East coast that produce a similar sweet treat.

Another stereotype, which I cannot believe, is that we live in igloos. Seriously? It's 2008.

I've been asked by a Texan once if Canada had electricity. Ouch.

As Canadians, we say "eh". Not every second word, but we say it. It's very comparable to an American "huh" after every sentence.

The idea to this post hit me tonight, while I was watching hockey. (A true Canadian passion)
I thought of certain hockey fans booing certain hockey teams. I'd love to remind them that half of the roster for any NHL team calls Canada their homeland, but they wouldn't want to hear it.

On a side note, the riots that occurred in Montreal following their first round victory was deemed to be a well thought out plan by a small group of hooligans, who used the final victory as an excuse to burn police cars, and loot a few stores. It would have been considered a little more well thought out if the idiots didn't videotape this with their cell phones and DVD recorders. The police simply are searching Youtube/Facebook, and arresting these tools one by one.
I've been pretty excited about my teams in the past, but have never considered throwing a brick through a window or setting fire to a car to say "Wooo!!!". Maybe I'm not so hardcore after all....

The big 3-7

Today marks week 37 of the Bean's gestation.
Technically, it can happen any day now, and I think Ali and I are both ready.
I booked Ali an appointment to see my massage therapist. She went in to see him for 1/2 hour, and felt great. I complain when I'm a little bloated and gassy, I can't imagine how she feels lugging a 6.5 pound human around every single minute of the day. I give her full credit though, she gets through every day, and is still able to laugh and make me laugh at the end of the day.

In general, I want to thank all women for being strong. You know if it were up to men, most would stop after one kid if they even wanted to have one at all. We don't do well with pain, and we complain as if we're still 3 year olds...

Aside from that, my beloved Montreal Canadiens advanced to the next round of the NHL playoffs.
As we were sitting in our prenatal class last week, one of the other dads-to-be (who happens to be a Habs fan) was leaning over, looking across Ali, and whispering quick updates from the hockey game. Apparently he had a friend watching the game, and she was text messaging him the score.
Every time the nurse has separated the men from the women for different exercises, the men would undoubtedly start talking sports. I used this as a way for the guys to open up, get comfortable around each other, and ultimately, this would help us finish our task at hand.
I guess this furthers my thirst to one day become an instructor at a nursing school somewhere.
I love to teach, and to explain things to people.


Imagine that, professor Chris.

The last friday

Today marks Ali's official "last day" of work. Actually, her last day was yesterday, but I digress.
In a few weeks I'll be able to join her around the house. We're looking forward to spending lots of time in Ontario with our parents. We'll have lots of BBQ's and fish fry's, and be able to visit a lot of old friends that we haven't seen in a while.

It's tax time, and I haven't done ours yet. We tried to do them ourselves last year, but I think we'll take it in to somebody this year. They always know the ins and outs, and hopefully will get us a bigger return.

As we were resting tonight after our delicious steak dinner, we watched Butterbean press their little ass straight up in the center of Ali's belly. It's amazing how much they are still able to squirm around, and sometimes it's noticeable from across the room.

As the weather turns nicer, it's beginning to signal the start of baseball season. I'm excited, but disappointed that nobody wants to sponsor us. We've approached numerous businesses and sports bars, and all they're offering is 15% off the total bill. I'm sorry, but if I bring in 12-15 people on a Monday night, which typically is slow anyway, they should be a little more excited to host us. It's good money for them, and a tax write off too, so I don't know what their problem is....

That's all I've got for now. Time to tend to my wife and baby.

30 years (young)

I had a pretty good birthday.
A few days before, I had a small get together with some friends, went went bowling, had some beers, and had a good time.
On my actual birthday, I had to work. Ali picked up some awesome take out, and we had a nice late supper together. I opened a few gifts (even one from Butterbean), and then we relaxed.

Today, we began our spring cleaning. We cleaned up the patio, washed down the BBQ and the windows, scrubbed the horizontal bird poo splashes off the screen, and threw out the random garbage that got stuck in the bushes. I always wondered how birds manage to swoop down under our roof, and poop on an angle against our screen. I think they hate us.

One month until our lives officially change forever. The room is finished, the diapers are stacked, the crib has fresh crib sheets, so let's begin!
It's hard to describe the feeling. The last few months have been going by so slowly, yet, it seems like it's still sneaking up on us.

I have a busy work week ahead of me, so I'm going to bed early. Goodnight moon.

Interviews

I just got back from an interview with a personal care home. I applied because it's a 2 minute walk from my house.
This was kind of a different interview, because I actually met the Director of patient care a few weeks earlier. She was in visiting another patient, so I had the chance to talk with her before the actual "official" interview.

When I entered her office, the first thing she asked me was "Why do you want to work in a care home?".
I told her I enjoy talking with the residents, especially the old war vets. She must have been happy with that answer, because she then proceeded to skip the entire page.

I think the secret to my success is my "gift of gab". When you can talk to people, and find that one thing that you have in common, it goes a long way in establishing a good rapport with them.
I have never been at a loss for words with anyone, and I think it helps others relax when there's no awkward silence.

After a quick tour of the place, she then asked me if this place was somewhere I'd like to work. I said that everything looked good, and will be starting there probably next month. It will be just casual work, so I can pick up a 4 hour shift if I'm bored.

Have you ever had a bad experience during an interview?

I remember this one interview I had. I sat in front of a panel of 3 people, and as I was answering a question, the one man took a drink of water and started sputtering. He was choking and coughing, but pretending to listen to me. After a few seconds of fighting for air, he got up and went into the back room. We could hear him coughing again, and once I knew he was alright said "That must have been a good answer." The other 2 ladies laughed, and when the man finally returned, he thought we were laughing at him....

I dig music

(Title taken from a Rheostatics' song)

I was sitting here watching the Colbert Report today, and he had REM as a guest.
That's one band I've always really liked, even though I haven't bought many of their albums.
This got me to thinking of some other bands that I really like and know, and although I don't have many (or any) of their albums, here are still some of my "other favorites".

The list would be as follows :

Neil Young - A legendary Canadian singer whose lyrics are like no other.

U2 - One of the world's biggest bands, I had the pleasure of seeing these guys play in Calgary years ago.

The Dead Kennedys - A classic punk band. It's interesting to think what would have happened if Jello Biafra actually won his political seat....

Nirvana - They have too many good songs to list.

The Pixies - Another band whose reunion tour was too short.

Rush - Finally making another appearance after 25 years here in Winnipeg. They were mad that their last show only attracted 6000 people, and vowed to never return. On second thought - do we want them here?!?

The Sex Pistols - A must have for any "mad at your parents & I wanna be a rebel" teenager.

Tom Petty - Classic easy listening American rocker

This post really made my day. The more I think about music, the happier I get. Who are some of your "other favorites"?

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...