amazing...

This could be my all time favourite shot of our little man - is it not amazing? Look at his little hands and his cute little nose, and the light and the lines... nice work camera man Steve, nice work. Here's a question before I start into things: why is it that you sometimes feel more tired after a longer, deeper sleep? I had an amazing sleep last night - close to 9 hours - but this morning, even after a solid cuppa joe, I am tired. Sure, nursing mother, blah blah blah, but really - waking up and feeling rested is the best... not to happen aujourd'hui. I feel like getting back into (or onto) bed and foregoing the workout and blog and finishing my book, Alan Bradley's A Red Herring Without Mustard. I think I liked the first Flavia story better, but this one is pretty good too. There's nothing like a good book in bed on a cloudy day. :)

I learned a thing or two about robins this weekend, after this, at the Brinkman's:


There are two nests perched on the front and side of their garage, and over the weekend, the small blue eggs went from A to B, and we saw it happen - !! Well, okay, we didn't see it all, but I did actually see a body pressing up and a beak pressing through the shell... amazing. I felt a little invasive (sorry mama bird!), but we climbed up the ladder for a few peaks before leaving the nest in peace. It was very neat to see such teeny babies and their complete dependence on mom - for food, protection, warmth - and love? Hmmm, I wonder. I wondered too, where was poppa bird? Did he hang around to do anything? There was some speculation that he might stick around to find food, but we had to look things up for confirmation; it appears that papa-robins do hang out and provide protection to the brood, swooping and dive bombing if predators or threatening human ladder climbers get too close. We experienced nothing of the sort (thankfully), but maybe poppa-bird saw us with our baby bird and decided that we were just coming on over for a visit. (Sure, fine - unlikely.) Some other robin facts: female robins have just one ovary, and normally lay three to five eggs, two to three times per breeding season (April-June); eggs hatch after 14 (ish) days, and chicks leave the nest 14 days (or so) later. A new nest is built for each brood, and momma bird sleeps there with her babes while poppa stays away - apparently predators keep a closer eye on him. Mom only leaves to gather food (worms, berries and insects), and so spends most of her time feeding and keeping the little ones warm at home - sounds familiar!

My baby bird and his dad ;)

We spent the weekend in Bowmanville - and how I wish we could just drive to visit my parents too! But they're coming to visit next month, and I'm trying to figure out when we can make the trip out west... hopefully soon-ish, and for a good chunk of time. Anyways, we had a great time visiting with family and, as usual, spent most of our time eating eating eating. There was such good food, and a few delish family dinners and fun get-togethers. On Friday night we went over to Pam and Bob's and hung out with a good gang of people, including Paul and Steph who were down from Iqaluit, just weeks (4?) before they're due to have a baby bird of their own - exciting! There were cake balls (AMAZING) and goodies galore, and I managed to have not one but two drinks (waaaatch out!) before I had to cut myself off... I am in no shape for booze-drinks, and felt the effects the next day. It was nothing major, but two drinks over four or five hours - really?! But then again, the last time I had more than one alcoholic beverage was over a year ago, in the land of the rising sun. It just makes me realize how toxic alcohol can be... yuk. And before our little one wakes from his morning nap, I'm going to try to get some Flavia in; here are a few more pics from the weekend... :)