a snowy saturday

At my parent's place on Monday night :)

Two thoughts: 1. Six days is NOT long enough for a Vancouver visit, and 2. Eeeeek, it's MARCH! Madness, madness. Another thought: we may very well be the luckiest parents on the planet; (hopefully I'm not putting my foot in my mouth here, but...) Hendrik traveled dream-come-true well and was awake and as happy as a clam on the way up (to cruising altitude) and on the way down (to Ottawa) - !!! I was surprised, Steve wasn't. Plus, he slept all night last night - no jet lag! (Yet.) Should we say lucky? Yup, I think so. So yeah, six days went by in a flash. We had an awesome time with my parents, but I don't feel like I got enough time in with my friends, and that's because I didn't. I don't really need to elaborate on that point - I have awesome friends and most of them live in Vancouver and I wish I could see them more... and there you go.

Hendrik has a new friend! Thank you Bill and Lolis for Peter Rabbit - our little guy was once again spoiled with gifts...


Of course the only pics from a girls get-together are of the babies, Hendrik and Ellie - future companions? Perhaps....

And that was the blog that I started a few days ago and never got around to finishing - wooops. We woke up to the snowiest March 5th we've seen... ever. The thick clouds of fat flakes have now been replaced with rain and slush, but the blanket is still there - white and fresh and thick. We're a bit housebound for the weekend - or Steve is; he had a scope done on his knee yesterday and is kind of glued to the couch. I have four things on my to-do list that I will get done (I will I will I will) - maybe I should make it five and put get out of pyjamas at the top of the list. I want to blog, workout (haven't done so in days and days, and I feel like a big blob), go to the library (return books - The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and The Miracle at Speedy Motors, and pick up Book Lust; next on the list to read is Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, as recommended by les parents), go to Shoppers and make chili. I think this is all very do-able, but seeing as how it's already almost 1:00 and I'm just now getting going, I might have some work cut out for me.

Puzzling...
Over Christmas we did a few puzzles chez les Brinkmans, and we're now hooked on these Charles Wysocki creations - available at Zellers for $8.99. I'd say that there's a week's worth of fun in these things but since they're just (just) 1000 pieces, you're never that far away from finishing... it's too easy to get addicted. So it looks like that's what Steve is going do all day, and Hendrik will likely either be sleeping or eating or Jolly Jumping or hanging out on his little play mat or ? He's got lots to do. I've got mucho more to write about but for today I think I'll leave it at that - it's time to get out of my pjs. :)

from vancouver!

The pics are from the day before we left (I think) - such a cutie!

This is going to have to be short and sweet - we're still in Vancouver but the tock is clicking and time is winding down... We have had such a great time here so far, and Hendrik has been amazing. Sigh... what a guy. I was a bit nervous about the trip here, with the flying and plane pressure with take-off and landing - not so much for the people that would have to put up with a crying wailing screaming babe, but for the little one being uncomfortable - but (get this!) he slept on the way up and on the way down. Slept! The only time he fussed was after an awkward breastfeeding session that didn't completely satisfy - so we gave him a bottle and that was that, he was happy! Anyways, so the trip was fine. We'll see what happens on the way back - fingers crossed that we will have, once again, a row of three to ourselves. :)

First plane trip!


It has been amazing seeing my mom and dad with Hendrik, and I wish that we lived closer. For that and for my friends; we still don't have a solid group of friends in Gatineau, and I miss having girlfriends just a car ride away. But... I know that they're here and with skype and the phone and even Air Canada, they're never that far away - my family and my friends are always there for me... just not necessarily in the same city. Who knows, maybe we'll move back to Vancouver some day, when volleyball wraps up. Should we start buying lottery tickets? Hm, perhaps. Anyways, I'm sort of digressing - I wanted to write a quick blog about our visit so far and here I am lassoing my runaway thoughts back to my intentions. We've really been taking it easy here, spending lots of time with my mom and dad at home. I made it out to see Linds and Jayme and their kiddies Elsa and Hendrix on Thursday morning (amazing) and spent some time too with Lindsay before she left for Hawaii with Kurtis (jealous!)... The weather has been amazing here - cold but sunny with blue skies; Vancouver is beautiful. (Though I think my mom has it right when she says, When it's good it's really good, and when it's bad it's reallllly bad.) A few people came over for lunch yesterday to meet Hendrik and (maybe?) to see us, and it was great to catch up with friends and to show off our babe; he was more than happy to hang out with the people in attendance. He has been such a good boy - sleeping well and eating well and ? is generally unperturbed (weird word) by the time change. We have a few things planned yet, but topping the agenda of things-to-do is relax and spend time with family and friends. I'm already looking forward to the next visit - maybe in the summer? Life will be much different then, with warm weather and a mobile little dude; every day is bringing changes and development, and we're soaking it all in, or trying. We can't get enough of the little guy, and I have to bite my tongue when I want to say I can't wait until the summer, until the next visit, until the next time we're out here, because it means that he'll be bigger, that time will have passed. I want to make every second count, and not wish the next stage upon ourselves too quickly. And with that, I should go! The computer is always here, but our little babe won't always be so little... :)

robots and jolly jumpers

You can always count on Japan for the wonderfully weird and wacky, and though I could probably rail off a small list (fashion, food, music, social trends - there you go) I'll get to the point; next Thursday five robots are taking place in the world's first ROBO-marathon, in which two-legged battery operated creatures will run 422 laps around a 100m track. UGH. Can robots get bored? Is there music or fanfare? Hm. Will there be spectators? And will any of those spectators be robots? I digress. The tallest - tallest - roborunner is 40cm; "stretch to prevent injuries and aim to run the whole marathon," says one robot. To whom? To his robo-self or his robo-operator? The human counterparts (I assume that means robo-operators) will run the Tokyo marathon, which kicks off when the mechanical runners are supposed to cross the finish line. Yes, we await the results with baited breath.

So! It's been almost, wait, two weeks (?!) since I've blogged? Much has happened since. We had a great weekend with Bob and Marg here (last weekend) AND have booked a trip out west - eeeee!! Excitement fireworks! Steve has a week off and since it just so happens to coincide with reading week here in Ottawa (or ?) flights are ridiculously expensive and it looked like it wasn't going to happen... :( And then - and then! - Steve received a 20% off email from Air Canada, one of those book by midnight tonight and save! deals... and we did! The three of us fly on Tuesday and are there for a week. I'm sooo happy that we can all travel together for Hendrik's first plane trip, and I'm so so so happy that my dad will finally meet him. And I can't wait to see my friends! Eeeeee again! I was also excited to head towards some milder climes but with a high of 12 here today (!!!) and snow in Vancouver, I might just have to let go of any weather expectations.

I made it out to the gym again last night to play against some of the 16U girls that I coached this summer - the women's league team that I played with a few weeks ago agreed to scrimmage and I jumped at the chance to get in on some vball action. I still don't feel up to snuff (will I ever? and when's the last time I used that expression?) but it's not terrible or anything; I'm good enough to not feel horrible about my stale skills, and for now, (I guess) that's good enough. Meh. What else... que mas... Hendrik (2 1/2 months) is in a new sleeper this morning, his first 9 month sleeper - ak! The boy is growing growing growing. He's eating well (five or six times a day) and breastfeeding is going SO much better; man, what an improvement from even a month ago. He still gets a bottle after his last feed or two, but other than that it's au naturel. And the little bean is sleeping well too - sometimes through the night! And when that doesn't happen, he's up around 3 or 4, but he'll eat and go right back to sleep. If we're blessed with the through the night business, he'll sleep from 10:30ish to 7:30ish - !! Amazing. I don't really want to talk about it for fear of jinxing things; I still hear him in the night, but he sqeaks and coos a bit and then it's back to sleep. I'm more than happy to stay in bed, rousing into a half-sleep to monitor the noises and then back to it, back to sleep. And now I should get back to baby - it's lunch time!

photos.... writing to come!

Steve, Hendrik and Bob - three generations of Leafs fans!

Excitement or ??

Steve on BBQ duty with sub-zero temperatures... trooper!

Paying attention and grabbing at toys - something new this week... SO cute!

No words necessary... cutest little dude ever... :)

Happy happy happy!

Ready to brave the elements

winterlude!

The weather this past weekend couldn't have been any more perfect for the first two days of Winterlude, and we took full advantage of the balmy conditions to head into town and check things out. We made our way into Ottawa to Confederation Park where there were ice sculptures galore - some big, some small, and some already sculpted. Man, the people that do this are talented! I'll have to google who won the big block competition - here are a few pics of the contest that had artists working from a single block of ice.




Hendrik was happy (sleeping!) in his seat in the stroller, and we were happy when we discovered that across the street there was a pancake breakfast - hot chocolate and panners for free! Yum. So we picked up our goods and made our way into city hall to eat, warm up a bit and find a place to feed the little guy. The amoeba of dudes behind the information desk told us that we'd find a secluded bench on the second floor, and so we made for the elevators - this was to be my first time nursing in public - eee. Well, long-ish story short, we ran into a City of Ottawa employee who kindly took us up to the second floor in the freight elevator, found us an office (and not just any office but a councillor's office - front and centre city hall) with a full view of the Parliament buildings and Confederation park, and then left us to our own devices. "There's a bottle of wine there help yourself" he said, with a smile. "And just close the door behind you when you leave." So much for nursing in public - !!!
100 years of Parks Canada!

Super impressive snow carvings... love!

Across the river at Jacques-Cartier Park there was much more going on - no free food, but snow and ice slides galore, and a ton of activities for kiddies. It was fun to see so many families and little tykes and tykettes running around with rosy cheeks, all bundled up in snowsuits... another year or two and Hendrik will get to experience Winterlude on a whole new level. Will we be here in two years? Eeeeagh, who knows. Anyways, we had a solid morning of winter fun.

Neal and Janna stopped by for a quick visit :)

Late last week we had a few Brinkman visitors stop by, and a few more are coming this weekend - yay. Yay for visitors! I wish that we too could do the visiting, that we could travel somewhere in the blink of an eye - maybe sort of like Dorothy and her red shoes? That might be easier than blink-travel (heel tap travel), because what if you blinked and found yourself somewhere that you didn't really want to be quite yet... that might be troublesome. Or at the wrong time (a big blink in the shower? Or mid-exercise?) - also a bother. If I could travel instantly, I'd go to Tokyo, to visit, to eat... and I'd go to Vancouver. And South Africa, and hmmm where else would I go... Denver probably, and maybe somewhere warm too - somewhere warm and beachy. The original heel tap traveler said it best though; there's no place like home, and I'm pretty happy to be here - home with my two boys.

but the bear...

... snores on! Hendrik was being SO CUTE last night when I read him this book, a present from someone far away in Vancouver. Love love LOVE!

goodness and more goodness

Is there anything better than a fresh, warm-out-of-the-oven cinnamon bun? I think not. These goodies are doing nothing for my hopes of getting back into my pre-babe jeans (nor is yesterday's decision to forgo the workout in exchange for a mid-morning nap), but who cares... they are - or were - downright delicious. Here's the recipe - Clone of a Cinnabon, from allrecipes.com, one of my go-to sites for dinner and goodie ideas. YUM. Yum yum yum.


And more from the yummy front - homemade bread (Whole Wheat Honey) and chili (a DIY recipe) in the slow cooker... more goodness and just a little less guilt. Hendrik has been completely adorable (see vids below), gooing and gaaing and growing too. He slept like it was his job yesterday, giving me time to read a few articles in the food issue of the New Yorker that my mom brought two months ago. There is some great writing in there - something I feel like I could aspire to, if only I could find the focus. Is it the baby brain or just plain laziness that prevents me from being more hmmm... how do I say... determined (?) in my efforts to exercise and write? Maybe. I don't seem to have any issues with finding the time to make (or eat) cinnamon buns; perhaps I just have to remind myself (by doing) that fired neurons and worked muscles feel every bit as good as butter and sugar and cinnamon rolled over and around and around in wheels of sweet golden dough... right?

two months!

We put Hendrik in some real little-man clothes the other day, and it was just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Or, well, Hendrik wearing anything (or nothing) is the cutest, so I suppose it doesn't really matter; for me, the cuteness factor is always a 10/10. Add function into the mix and denim and a button up shirt don't really make the cut, so for now, while most of his big kid clothes are on the big side, sleepers it will be. And 6-month sleepers it will be - he is growing fast. On Sunday - at 8 weeks old - he weighed in at 14 pounds, fully clothed - eek! I'm pretty sure that's on the big side, but we'll get the full verdict (length, naked weight) when we visit the doc in a few weeks for the UGH first round of immunizations.



And other Hendrik headlines - he's two months old today! Even though I feel like we hear most parents say that in the blink of an eye two months is two years is 22 years, it seems as though Hendrik has been with us for much, much longer than two months. Perhaps because it's still early days? Whatever the reason, it's fabulous. Other happenings - I went to week two of mommy group yesterday at the Ottawa Parent Resource Centre; even though Hendrik is by far the youngest ("I can't believe you're out with him already" says one) I think it's good for him and it's definitely good for me. Going out with him is less for him than for me - I don't know any other moms with kiddies the same age that live closer than Vancouver (errr yup, :( too far away) so am hoping to make some connections and learn a few things along the way. Last week there was a public health nurse in that talked about sleep, and yesterday we sang songs and learned about infant massage; and at the end of a loosely structured class, babes play and moms chat. I got some tips on other playgroups, advice for round one of immunizations, and talked breastfeeding with a few women who were also challenged by the job. Things are definitely better in that department - everything is more comfortable and I'm more confident and relaxed, but he still takes a bottle after every feed... the hungry gaffer. What else what else.... he's smiling more and more, and making the cutest little noises - oohs and goos and little squeaks and squiggles, and I love it. Love love love. We're trying to get on a bit of a schedule (going fairly well) and he's extending his nighttime sleep (hurray), going anywhere between four and seven hours between feeds in the night. My favourite part about that is that I can get up, feed him and put him down while he's still half-awake, and he'll fall asleep on his own. Will this last? I hope so!



So I finally made it into the pool this week - once...!! Getting momma back on a workout schedule is easier said than done, though I take full blame for a short attention span when it comes to working out at home. The yoga video that I took out of the library a few days ago was mega boring and blah, and after 5 minutes of drudgery I signed up for a free Netflix trial and was browsing their ridiculously limited Canadian selection of titles, looking for a more upbeat exercise video. There's a whole whack of vids available for our south o' the border neighbors, but not so much for us Canucks... boo. I ended up watching 10 minutes of an Italian movie before rolling up my mat and hitting the couch with a book. Rolling up the mat? throwing in the towel? Same thing. Bland yoga video be gone - I'll take a mid-morning read and an afternoon walk over a boring workout any day!


Two months old!