Thursday, September 28, 2006

Church Geek in Training

Well, Sophia attended her first Presbytery meeting today. For those of you who are not connected to the church: presbytery is a gathering of clergy and lay people from United Churches in a larger region. There are seven presbyteries in all of Saskatchewan. My presbytery met in Wolseley today, so I thought it would be a good chance for all those people to meet Sophia. And heck, I didn't need to stay for the whole thing. Actually, I think I missed all the potentially painful pieces! :) Sophia was adored by all and truly behaved her self quite well. I can't imagine what she thinks of all these people who come in very close and talk very strangely to her. She kind of gives them a quizzical look and then looks to me to make sure that all is okay. Sigh. To be three months old and so darn cute.

On Tuesday Sophia had her first set of shots. Poor little thing had to have two shots, one in each leg. She took it like a trooper, crying a little with the second shot -supposedly it stings a little more but I figure it was the indignity of having to have another poke in the leg. One was fine but two was pushing it. Thirty seconds later Sophie was smiling again. She was in a fairly decent mood until about 4:30 (the shots were at 2:20ish) when her legs started to hurt. One of them was fairly swollen and warm, so I can only imagine what she was feeling. She wouldn't feed and she tried to sleep but every time she or I moved she started to cry. After a dose of Infant Tylenol, a bath, and a couple hours of crying, she settled down. Her only side affect was sleepiness, so she fed, slept, fed and then was down for the night.

While at the clinic for the shots, the health nurse checked out her weight and height. Currently, she weighs a healthy 12 pounds 10 ounces (gained a pound in a month, which is perfect) and is 23 and 1/2 inches. The nurse gave me a bit of a shock. First time measuring Sophia, the nurse told me that she was 23 inches. She shrunk? is that possible? The last doctor's appointment she measured 23 1/4 inches. So we remeasured and got her to 23.5. Whew! All in all, Sophia is just over the 50th percentile in weight and height. So we are happy.

Hopefully tomorrow we will put some updated pictures of the girl. Oh, last time I wrote, I mentioned that Tanya was due at the end of the month. As I write, she is in Vancouver getting ready to deliver her little one. Her contractions have been happening slowly all day. Anyway, keep her in your thoughts.

Will blog again soon! Take care.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Home again!

Well, David is no longer bach'ing (his spelling, not mine) in Regina. Sophia and I have returned from our travels. Actually we have been home for a little while, but it seems to be that every time I sit down to write, someone wants a clean diaper, or some food, or is just plain bored with the room I am in. So, while Sophia is napping beside me, I thought I would take the chance and actually write!

Just a quick update from the last doctor's visit. Sophie is a whopping 11 pounds 10 ounces (actually, I am pretty sure that she is 12 pounds by now) and is 23 1/4 inches. All is going well for her. She's growing at an incredible rate. I was looking at pictures taken right after her birth, and was so amazed to see how much change has taken place in just 10 weeks! It seems like such a short time and yet I can't imagine life before her. Strange how that happens.

Anyway, Sophia and I traveled to BC at the beginning of the month. I have to say that Sophia did very well on both flights, it was Air Canada that caused problems. We got caught in that crazy Jazz debacle... Who knew that an entire national airline division could be closed down due to a computer glitch. This took place on the last day. I might have more to say about it. Sophia didn't complain on either flight, and I think I have finally worked out how to travel with her, especially when traveling alone. It was quite a treat. Especially when flying out I had no one beside us, and the stewardess brought our car seat so that Sophie could sit in it for the flight. It was nice.


We arrived in Vancouver on Thursday, and Jacquie finally got the chance to meet Sophie. I think Sophie likes her, as she fell asleep in Jacquie's arms. Nicole and Jen joined us and we all went for ice cream. It was great fun.

Friday, Mom and I drove up to Kamloops so that we could make it in time for Angela and Ken's wedding. After all that was what we there for. We made it in time to be late for the rehearsal, but that's okay. The rehearsal was, well, interesting! Okay, it was totally chaotic, but I think everyone had fun. I even instilled a bit of fear in one of the groomsmen. Sophia did very well, being passed from person to person. There was a line up to hold her at one point! The cutest thing was watching all these big manly groomsmen fawn over this little baby girl. They were really great with her, and I know they will make fabulous fathers in the future, the far future!

Saturday held some lazing in the morning, and a visit from the bridesmaids and bride so that we could talk about the MCing that I was supposed to be doing! Fun! Then it was off to a wine and cheese where the bridal party was acting as servers. Then I went off to decorate the hall with everyone and Sophie and Mom hung out at the Hannis house. She was great with Mom and even demonstrated her amazing ability to let everyone know that she was filling her diapers! Lady like, not quite.


(Ciara in her stunning serving ensemble)

Finally we arrived at the day of the wedding. One of the stipulations of my license in BC to perform the wedding was that I had the marriage register of the nearest United Church. Thankfully the church was up the block from the hotel, so on Sunday morning, we all went to church. It was a great service. My one church-baby nightmare almost came true. In the middle of the service, Sophia decided to fill her diaper. Now for those of you who have heard her do such a thing, you know that she can be quite loud. Thankfully, she toned it down for church! But I was almost embarrassed. It's a good thing she's so darn cute!

The wedding went off without a hitch. The groomsmen and bridesmaids were perfectly behaved. Angela looked stunning and Ken was pretty darn good looking as well. Sophia decided to cry a little so Mom watched from inside. But all was good. Mom and I got to go back to our room while the photos were being done, and then we just had to take the elevator down to the reception. Perfect for us!

The reception was wonderful. I think I did a good job of the MCing. There was only one little glitch. Sophia would not take the bottle from Mom and went into full melt down mode. Mom did great, took her upstairs and tried everything in her bag of tricks. Only when she couldn't do anything else that she sent the flower girl in to get me so that I could feed her. The poor little thing had herself right worked up. I think there were even tears. After that she hung out at the reception with me and Mom. Lots of people were keen to hold her seeing that she was sleeping. I decided to be selfish and keep her to myself. Although Ken's (the groom) middle brother did have her earlier in the evening and was very good with her. I didn't feel the need to take her back until he started handing her over to someone I really didn't know.

All in all, the three of us had a good time. After working through the airplane troubles and ending up spending another day in Vancouver due to the computer glitch, I was glad to be home. We are now in the process of spending most of our time in the Regina house and the weekends in Wolseley. We have the moving company coming on Monday morning to move our furniture and remaining boxes to Regina. I am looking forward to having all of our stuff here, finally. It will feel more like home.

I know that this is getting long... But I figured I should say that Tanya is down to the last weeks of her pregnancy. She is looking great and looked fabulous as a bridesmaid at Angela's wedding. As I countdown to the birth of her little one, I get more excited. Another new baby to join Sophia as the next generation of the foursome (that would be Angela, Tanya, Ciara and myself). Keep her in your thoughts! Good luck pal!


(the group of four, with the start of the next generation)


Anyway, that is it for now. Wish us the best for the move. Could be interesting with the little one!

Here are a couple of newer pictures of Sophie.


(This is Sophia listening to David's voice over the phone! Nothing like a little Daddy time!)


(Too cool for words...)

Friday, September 01, 2006

Bach'ing it, and Technology

Just a quick post today - after more than a week of silence it's not much, I know, but there will be photos soon.  Promises, promises.  

Tricia is in Vancouver for the long weekend, presiding over a friend's wedding, so I am a Bachelor for a few days.  Actually, she's MCing the party afterward as well - long story.  So I am in Regina with the dog, watching as a couple of leftover technology installations are done in the new house.  

First, we had the plumber come in and install a water line to the frige so we have magically appearing ice.  I've been watching ice pop out of the machine and pile up in the little basket all day!  Ooooh. Magic. 

Second, the Sasktel guy came to install television today.  Ooooh again.  Turns out all the new tv-capable routers are also wireless routers, so now we have super-strong wireless all over the house (probably all over the neighbourhood, too)

These are the things that amuse Dad while Mom and Daughter are away.  Also, I got a GPS a couple days ago and have been geeking-out over that as well.  Finding the exact location of that weed in the lawn, so I can calculate the environmental impact of its removal.

Hmmm.  That title for this posting is strange now that I see it again ... I guess I should have spelled it "batch'ing" instead, or perhaps I should go listen to some Brandenburg Concertos...