Today is the home opener for the Blue Bombers. Not only do I enjoy going to the games, it's the whole ritual of what my dad and I do.
We get to the stadium early, watch the pre-game warm up, enjoy a smokie or two, drink a cold beer, and just take in the smells and sounds of the game.
Again, I picture myself a few years down the road. My dad actually mentioned that once Ellery is old enough, we will have to buy a third season ticket so she can come out with us.

The best part about today is that I finally have a distraction away form the fact that I'm home alone for the entire week. It's wierd seeing an empty crib, or not hearing the usual baby sounds coming form the other room. After work each day, I come home and make myself supper, and then it's bedtime by 10:00. I feel like an old man....
I can't wait to see my girls again on Sunday night.

P.S. Thumbs up this week to Ali/Ellery, Theresa(thanks for the card) John, Reggie, and Zig.
Oh, and Phoung Nam Restaurant....

Lonely

Ali and Ellery are still in Ontario. I have been back in Winnipeg since Sunday, as my holidays are now done, and I have the work week from hell ahead of me. Friday is my only day off (Bomber home opener!!) then back for the weekend.

I don't know what to do. Ali hasn't been feeling that great lately, and at least I know she has her mom to help out, and do some baby sitting. If she were here, she'd be all alone during the day.

Work is as hectic as always. After almost 3 weeks off, you would think that the pace would slow down a little. Wrong. I guess car accidents and workplace mishaps didn't get the memo to take the summer off.

I think I'll curl up on the couch, watch a movie, then go to bed early tonight. Wait, I did that last night too...

Hurry up Friday!!!

I'm snoozing, in more ways than one

My apologies for not blogging lately.
It has been steady around here, and we're all trying to establish some sort of rhythm to our daily lives.
Ellery is sleeping pretty well, but is WIDE awake form midnight to 5 a.m. like clockwork....

My mother in law was in the city for the last few days, and we appreciated the help while I was at work. It's now my mom's turn to offer a hand for the next couple of days.
I got to thinking about all of the single mothers out there, or just any of the moms who do not have the supports that most people take for granted. I have a new found respect for motherhood, not that I ever thought it was easy, but it truly is a 24 hour per day job.

Our baseball season is now in full "swing" (pardon the bad pun) and luckily, I've made it out for our first week, but have missed the last few. I'm a little leery to play as often as I'd like, because I don't know how my back will hold out. Lately it's been feeling ok, but I think I'm due for another visit to Igor my Russian mafia masseuse...

After six long cold months, Blue Bomber training camp officially starts new week. This, as my readers may know, is my favorite summer past-time. I look forward to taking my daughter to games when she's older. This will be "our thing" until she begins hanging out with her girlfriends at the mall, or dating. I'll be sure to keep my shotgun close. Alright, change of subject, I just panicked a little.

I just thought of one of my bad habits that Ali truly hates. You know when you have "something" in your nose and a good hard blow just doesn't get rid of it? When this happens to me, I twist up a tissue and use my patented corkscrew technique which is 1.) highly effective and 2.) a better alternative than my finger.
Ali hates this, and I think she even gags once in a while. That remind me, I saw another lady picking her nose and then eating it in her car yesterday. I'm going to start keeping a count of how many disgusting people drive to work each day. Blech!

For my next few blogs, I'm going to give a special "thumbs up" to a person/people who I am thinking about or noticing a lot of lately.

Today's blog will include my best friend Mike, Ellen Degeneres, the Mallard ducks living in our pool, and our moms.

Stay tuned to see if you make the next list...

I've got a staring problem

Since the first day we brought Ellery home, I find myself unable to peel my eyes away from her.
If we're watching TV, Ali and I both jump up a commercials to check on the baby as she sleeps.

It is such an awesome feeling to have her right in front of us, after many years and countless heart breaking nights, thinking of the prospect of never having kids.
I now know what all fathers feel when they talk about their kids, and how they want to nourish them and protect them for the rest of their lives.
The funny thing about this whole experience is that I'm the one who tears up when I hold her, or say anything related to my little girl. I have never been so emotional. It's so bad I bawl when I see a certain commercial, or hear a certain song. I'm such a girl....

One of the thing that I enjoy most is watching our parents hold Ellery. I remember my mom running into the hospital room for her first visit. She immediately started crying, and kept repeating "Oh my God, she's beautiful." At one point, she actually stomped her feet and flailed her arms a little. I think she might have a bit excited to finally become a grandma. Again, I cried, but so did everyone else in the room.
Our parents now look for any excuse to come into the city, or give us a call to see how she's doing.

I am so thankful to finally have this little miracle baby here in our lives. Now our family is complete.

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"?