Gizmo?

Young Daniel's started making some noises which are not really human. My friend Gene's kid Sasha sounds like a pterodactyl, nothing that loud for Dan, he's more of an 80's film buff.
A couple of times I've said hello to him and he has definitely responded in light-side gremlin, or mogwai as it's also known. The internet has many examples of this, but let's just say it is very cute and endearing.

I know that I mostly compare Dan using pop culture references, but that's what I know :)

6 Weeks old, and he's not even talking yet

Quick weekly-ish update. This week we have been to the the doctors for Daniel for a general checkup, Jacqui went to the obstetrician for her checkup and the parents have both been here and been to Jasper.

Last first, my parents are just finishing their time with us and we'll be taking them to the airport this afternoon to catch their flight back. They squeezed in a trip to Jasper earlier this week and thoroughly enjoyed it and they have been loads of help to us both all the time they've been here.

Jacqui's 6-week checkup went well and she will be out there clearing snow any time now:)

And the little man himself, hmm changes this week:
Making more noises.
Kicking a load more
Seems to be settling down a bit to a feeding schedule.
Chucking out some monster poos, several leak alerts this week!
Getting more aware day by day

He was also weighed at the doctor's and he's 9 pounds 6 ounces, and the doc was happy with this and every thing about him. He also complimented Jacqui on managing to get this far only on breast milk.

Oh yes and we got him baptised, I'll let Jacqui pick up that post and the plethora of pics associated.

The Abominal Snowman

Errr...I think the snow suit I bought Dan may be a bit big...

Hey 5 weeks already ...

Time flying ...... losing touch ....... losing adult speech capability .... whooosa a wodja wodja wodge then? Whooosa wodja den?

Things are moving apace here little munchkin is growing physically and mentally. Not huge steps from last week but little differences we notice. He has started kicking a lot more, this will make holding more a bit more of a challenge.

His eating habits are unpredictable at best but he does give us reasonable amounts of time at night. One thing that we are trying to change is our expectations. Babies are challenging and very changeable, we need to adapt to meet their needs much more than they can change to meet ours, at least initially, hard lesson right there.

My parents are helping out as much as they can, lots of washing up and baby holding and it is much appreciated.

Oh yeah a bit of a milestone this week, Jacqui managed to get the ole breast pump working this week and Dan was more than keen to guzzle it down when she was occupied elsewhere. This is a good thing and opens up some freedom possibilities for Mrs Miller.

Week 4 Baby Update

Apologies for the lack of updates for the past couple of weeks. To be honest we did not reallise it had been so long, the days are flying by and blurring into each other.

We're all doing as well as can be expected, Nibbler is munching, sleeping and pooping for all he's worth and over the past few weeks, some days are better than others depending upon how fussy he's feeling but things are improving definitely.

My parents turned up yesterday for a visit so we have spare babysitters / cleaners / janitors for a couple of weeks which is nice. They and Daniel seem to be very happy with each other.

Here's a short list of how the little monkey's changed since I last posted:
* He's definitely smiling at us now, the nurse said 6 weeks at the earliest but I believe my own eyes :)
* Definitely getting more co-ordinated with his movements. Before he would just grab what you put in his hands, now he will grab things himself randomly and tightly He has tried to remove some of my chest hair on more than one occasion.
* Making more noises, in addition to whimper and cry we now have gurble, burble and other general exclamations.
*Jacqui's getting some use out of the sling that our friends lent us, he reminds me of the resistance leader from total recall, but that's probably not fair on one of them.

I'm sure there are more updates than that and i'll add them later when i remember.

And now it's time for the gallery:









See what i mean? Total Recall Mars resistance bloke!

So how is young Daniel doing?

He's doing great really. He's regained his birth weight and then some, and he's getting his feeding schedule sorted out. He's giving us more sleep than before, obviously not enough but more nonetheless. Generally all forward progress.

One thing that does make us laugh (well it makes us laugh now, as new parents it made us concerned to begin with :), is th way the approaches meal times. Jacqui gets comfortable and brings him close to feed and he turns into a snuffling, growling feeding dervish. The poor little mite goes into a frenzy trying to get at the milk, Jacqui's got all this under control now but to start with it was like some kind of metaphor involving nipples and fast moving babies mouths.

He reminded Jacqui of Nibbler from Futurama, and I think that's so accurate, noises and everything. Pity it's not a video suitable for this blog :)

Nearly 11 days old, doesn't the time fly by

I am honestly shocked at how the time has flown by and all the days have blurred into one. It has been a truly exhausting week, firstly for Jacqui and not a walk in the park for me either. Sheesh breastfeeding is a tough thing to get right and when it seems okay the little blighter changes the rules for all kinds of reasons.

That's probably been the toughest part of the week for us, a real test of patience and endurance, and by some accounts we've had it easy! Through all of this Jacqui's been a star and kept it together really well, I hope Daniel appreciates the effort.

And how is the focus of all this work and attention, well he's fine. He had got back to his birth weight after a week and gained a whole ounce and the doctor pronounced himself happy after the one week check up. Last night was a good one for feeding and sleeping, he fed well and let us sleep for longer than before, what more could you want.

More pics soon, I'm building up a selection of unposed shots that have made me smile, that probably means I have slipped over into the role of obsessed parent already, meh whatever :)

First Bathtime

Wet

dry

and relax

Doom I name thee squidgy farts

More later it's 2am here ;)

New Tech Addition to the family

Last Monday our washing machine broke, yes just before baby landing. So we went straight out and ordered one, babies make washing you see. I chose three models online and we ended up going for this one. It's a LG WM2150 and as well as being pretty it cleans all bodily fluids and solids off clothes, THANKYOU SANITARY CYCLE.

It turns out the old one breaking was a real blessing in disguise, although we could have done without the cost. The new one is more efficient, cleans better and is easier on the clothes. And did I mention the Sanitary cycle? It removes poop from clothes!

Day 4 in the Big Miller Household

Wow, do you know something, babies change your life in every way possible, and sleep deprivation is a strange and worrying thing.

We have been home now since Saturday morning and I can honestly say I'm not sure where most of that time has gone. Yesterday from very early in the morning until 6 pm was the worst time soo far. He wasn't feeding properly and therefore needed feeding every hour, or permanently as it felt. Obviously this affected Jacqui much more than me and by the afternoon we were both quite stressed. Then we called in the cavalry in the form of Judy, one of Jacqui's friends from church. Judy's an ex nurse with several children and grandchildren and a practical approach to the whole thing.

She held the baby for us while we had our first proper meal since Friday, then gave Jacqui some tips for feeding and sleeping. She was with us for six hours and it was soo helpful, we both felt much better after her visit.

This then led on to our best night so far, regular feeds with 2-3 hours between when we got some proper sleep. This morning we're all doing better, still knackered of course, but more human.

Lastly thanks for all of the good wishes we have recieved, we do wish you were here but this internet thing is at least making it easier to keep you updated.

More Pics with added Jacqueline

Honest apologies for not adding these in the previous post but the blogging site we use does not have a great interface for adding lots of pics and moving them around.

These are the ones showing a glowing wife & mother :)

Simple really don't know why more people don't do it :)

Before:

After:

Job Done !

Here are some more of the bit in the middle.

And then there were three, meet Monkey Dan!

Quick note to say we're home now and baby and mum are both fine. We have named the little blighter Daniel, James, Miller. 6 lb 14 oz, 18 inches.

Water's broken heading to hospital

Wish us luck

Greased Lightning

We have obtained a new(ish) vehicle. Actually it's a 15 year old GMC van in tasteful green, inside and out. It belonged to our now repatriated friends Ian and Lorna. It has a few things to get sorted which should be done today and then we have a bear proof camping haven. We're aiming to use it a lot over the summer which should be fun.

We especially like the velor interior and motorised bed!

Ian and Lorn were lucky enough to get a number plate with the letters EVE thus naming it. We have BBV which will translate to Big Baby Van so we're happy too.

Snow when there's leaves on the trees, wrong wrong wrong!

This seems wrong to me, trees should be naked when the snow gets here so they can wear it like a fluffy white coat. Now we're pretty sure this lot will leave us in the near future and then we just wait for the 'proper' stuff.

***************** Baby Update *********************

Jacqueline has just had her obs appointment and the doctor reckons it'll be another week or so. I think she's wrong based on nothing more than gut feeling :)

WARNING ICKY ALERT

For those of you who want to know and understand these things she is about 4cm dilated but the cervix is still quite deep.

Nerd! Gigantic NERD!

This weekend I shall be doing one of the most nerdy things I have ever attempted. I have paid for an online ticket to Blizzcon 2010. For those of you not in the know, this is a virtual ticket to a real conference run by a company which creates games. In essence I will be watching discussion panels, videos and competitions held somewhere down south in the lands of the US.

So far the video is a bit flaky, I'll have to try wandering round the house with the laptop to see if it improves.

And what is Jacqui doing while I geek-out? 'Whatever the hell she likes, I'm busy' is definitely not the case:) She's off on a woman's retreat with her church up north somewhere, not too far away though. She's getting a lift with her Duola Jenny, who is like a professional birth partner, there for support and non-medical stuff during the birth. This makes things much less stressful for the trip and birth both :)

FYI all non-baby posts will have a small note about baby status in them to keep people informed without flooding you with posts :)

Jacqui is doing well, very pregnant, the doctors say everything is progressing well. The signs are that the baby could be any time between now and two weeks away, so no news there really.

More baby work and he's not even here yet....

Damn you Monkey Dave give me a break will you! This weekend we've been getting all kinds of baby stuff ready, this includes but is not limited to:

Building baby toys, they do not seem to come assembled.
Pickup cot (still requires building, moving it upstairs amost put my back out)
Rearranging furniture to make space for baby stuff.
Construct and unpack rockers, baby bath and other stuff.
Wash and go ahhh over baby clothes. Soo many clothes.
Pack baby clothes into new storage units.


We also had a nice going away party for our friends Ian and Lorna, hosted by our other friends Tony and Angie, they're German but they haven't annexed my lawn as of yet.
It was a nice meal, especially as it was Canadian thanksgiving so much Turkey was enjoyed. They also held a mini baby shower for us and they got us some really cute baby clothes, toys and a little Oilers uniform for Monket Dave. Very generous of them.

I have become slightly more valuable

This week was gold tooth week. I've had a temporary crown on one of my teeth for the last week and a half and I must say i"m very glad that it's gone. I had premanent fear of knocking it off and suffering some nasty nerve pain. As it was I survived the temporary period without too much pain, nothing paracetamol / tylonol couldn't handle. And now I am the owner of a big shiny gold tooth, not in the smile area, that would not me 'me' at all :)

I came, I saw I built an infant travel system

Now the common or lay man would no doubt identify my latest creation as a pram or stroller, and I'm afraid said commoner would be so wrong. What we have here is an Eddie Bauer* Endeavour Travel System. More than a pram, more than a car seat, actually some kind of mutant hybrid of them both with additional bells and whistles.
I mean it has 4 four cup holders for Pete's sake. Anyway here is a picture, be impressed.

* (Jack's uncle)

Don't mean to bring this up but Jacqui has really let herself go....

Now I'm not a shallow man, in fact in terms of cubic metres I'm quite deep, but Jacqui has not been keeping in shape over the past eight or nine months. I understand she's pregnant but we all know that the stork brings the baby or there's a manger involved or somesuch. So there's no real excuse for her increase in volume, don't believe me? Check out the picture.

Baby Changing Table stolen from Church

Today we picked up our first piece of baby furniture. And I christen it the table of filth, others call it a changing table.

We got it from Jacqui's church who needed to replace it to get one of those wall mounted jobs. It's quite heavy and I have carefully placed it in the room that my parents will be using when they come over. I hope they'll take the hint and the nappies.

Grrr, vent vent vent + baby note right at the end.....

Today was not a fun or interesting day, it has been painful and frustrating. It started pretty well with a trip into Edmonton for breakfast with friends from Focus. I had a dentist's appointment booked for 10:10 and plenty of time to get there.

Next I travelled to the bus stop where things went down hill. I got there at 8:55, which is eight minutes early according to my schedule. And the waiting began, it got to 9:20 and a drop off only bus arrived and told me my bus should be along soon. Apparently 30 minutes is soon. My schedule also mentioned another bus that would turn up on the other side of the road around 9:22, this did not happen. So at 9:50 ish the bus turned up, I got on and asked what was going on, mentioned how long I was waiting and recieved a comment from the bus driver that all was well. This did not assuage my anger.

Then I noticed the new bus schedule sitting at the front of the bus and I felt the potential embarassment assailing me. And how apt it was, the bus company had the affront to change the schedule for my bus and the one that should have been across the road. The change was only 10 mins so I must have missed the 'new' bus by a smidgen. On leaving the bus I apologised to the driver for my attitude and made my way to the dentist some 30 minsute late. Got in, got settled and then was attacked by a smiling madman with a drill and suction. The process went pretty well and I got my walk in for the day on the way home (roughly 5 k).

Had some lunch and then the pain started to come through. My jaw started aching and I decided sleep was the way to go. I had a very disturbed nap and awoke in some pain, looked up some things on the web and had a couple of paracetamol then some ibuprofen. These kicked in and the pain magically went away. And that's it really for me.

More interesting to everyone including me, Jacqui had a trip to the doctor today and he reckons that the baby is not looking imminent at the moment for whatever that's worth!

What's the most fun you can have at 11 pm?

Whatever you think, you're wrong. The most fun you can have is suspect that your heavily pregnant wife's waters have broken and reallise how unprepared you actually are.



What you do next is very calmly ascertain that this is not the case, spend a while getting the bags packed for labour. Next spend a sleepless night going through every thought possible and many that are impossible.

Needless to say, we are much more prepared now than we were before.

Motoraunt Closed

One place which we felt was very cool and uniques to Edmonton has just closed. We only went once with friends and my sister but it definitely stayed in the memory.


And this is the actual size of the burgers there. We had two between six of us :)

Incoming Baby Scan Pics!

If you need explanation after that title I shake my head at you.........



P.S. Jacqui scanned them on the huh, blame her :)

What is the blog coming to..... ?

See what happens when I give Jacqui access to the blog and some free will. She posts interesting things in a structured and well written manner. I will have to remove one of the aforementioned abilities from her forthwith.

So what have I been up to while she's been gardening and stuff. Fillums, that's what.

First and foremost The Expendables. All the 80's action heroes minus van Damme attacking some South American dictator along with nefarious US interference. Good film, loads of action, probably not one for the more delicate amongst you. Anyone who remembers Rambo or Predator with affection should give it a look.



Next is Kick Ass, a human hero film about a normal teenager who decides to dress up as a super hero and do some good. Another good film, based on a cool comic, suprisingly violent. The source of the violence was the biggest surprise for me. Once again the violence is quite bloody and should be avoided if that bothers you but Jacqui managed to sit through it with me, she did not fall asleep and even confessed to enjoying it.

I'll probably add some more soonish, back to baby stuff now.

Bountiful(ish) harvest

This year, our company turned a plot of grass behind the office into approximately 20 small allotments for employees.

I was lucky enough to get a plot, and had a go at growing some vegetables. It was a bit of a pilot for everyone as there is quite a significant population of gophers and snowshoe hares in the neighbourhood which while very cute, seemed to have a penchant for certain vegetables, especially my beans.
















However, despite a few teething problems I got a reasonable harvest of potatoes, carrots, courgettes and a couple of tomatoes before the frosts hit last week, so I was quite pleased.

Room decorated, just add baby...

...and a cot, and a changing table, and a chest of drawers...

We are slowly getting ready for forthcoming events, and even managed to decorate the room next to our bedroom as a nursery, with a very cute farmyard border I found in B&Q. We now just have to get some furniture.

Nuptials in England

Sorry, I've been a bit slow in updating the blog. Congratulations to my sister Carolyn and her fiance Alun who tied the knot, back in August. It was a wonderful day in Ealing and I'm so pleased I was able to make it.

Sickness and Generosity in St. Albert

Well this week has been an interesting mixture of good and annoying. Let's start with the bad, I've had an evil monkey of a cold since last Friday and today's the first day that I feel back to normal. It's been sitting on my chest like a dirty euphemism and although I haven't been coughing much, when I do it hurts. I've even been missing my daily walks, although the temperature has taken a hit, -3 this morning.


And now the good, and it was a nice lump of good. On Wednesday Jacqui was thrown a baby shower at work. Mostly a north American thing but it's normally work colleagues & friends giving presents in preparation for the new baby. What we weren't ready for was the amount of stuff and the generosity of the people. Jacqui works at a small company of around 200 people and she came home with four huge bags of stuff and a bunch of gift vouchers. This will help us with the necessary purchases no doubt.
Which reminds me. We have to also thank all the other people who have given and lent us baby stuff, we have a lot of toys, clothes and equipment now, all of which we would have had to buy.

In balance, a good week, the generosity and helpfulness has far outweighed one cold :)