Double Hair Whorl

Just curious if anyone out there has heard about the Double Hair Whorl... What you ask? I have learned that people either have a single whorl (clockwise or counter clockwise) or a double whorl (both clockwise or one in each direction). We just noticed that Sophie has the double, one in each direction. I thought nothing about it (and still don't think much of it), but if you google this, there is lots of loose correlations of the double hair whorl to all kinds of things including left-handedness, smart, stubborn, just about everything actually.

Anyway, thought it was pretty funny and now I look at the back of the head of any child I see.

Anyone out there have one of these as well?

Thanks for reading

John

Birth class reunion

During our pregnancy Angie and I attended a birth and delivery class (I guess Sophie attended as well, haha). We took the class mostly for me so that I know what to expect during the big day. The class was actually pretty good, something like 5 weeks in a row, 3 hours at a time. In the class were other couples just like us going through this for the first time. Every couple was having a baby around the same time (late fall) and everyone had their babies safely which was great.

The instructor suggested that we should all get together a few months after the last baby is born. I didn't really think that this would happen, but everyone got together earlier this year. We missed it since Sophie was sick with RSV, but the group decided to do it again a few weeks ago and everyone was able to attend. It was actually pretty great to see everyone. Angie and I are sometimes a little shy of these types of events, but we went and had a great time. So the 6 babies, 3 boys and 3 girls all had a great time and it was also nice to see all the parents doing well. Here are some pictures that will make you smile from the event.

Sophie in the middle of the action (in white dress)

looking a little sleepy on this one

Thanks for reading everyone

John

Baptism Part 2

So after the church part of the baptism was over, we all worked our way back to Natalia's house. Some walked, most drove. Since it was just around the corner angle, Sophie, Angie and I walked back from the church, baby needed to sleep anyway and she loves to sleep on the walks. I also had some additional responsibilities that day apart from being the godfather. Barbara needed help getting into the house because of her disability so I was going to help setup the ramp for her to get into the house with. (by the way if you don't know about her story you can read about it here ). I had doubts whether Barbara was going to be able to get into the house and unfortunately the entrance was just not accessible for Barbara to join us. I felt bad about it, but I know Barbara wouldn't want to hear it.

So inside the house the party was in full swing, hard to tell how many people came out, but quite a number, like 50 or so, I would say at the peak. Natalia knows how to throw a good party so there was plenty of food and the wine was flowing too. It was a great atmosphere. There were people that know Natalia, Martin, some of my friends, my parents friends, literally from all sides. Here is one of my favorite moments of the whole party. As I mentioned in the previous post, we had some special guests including the 3 daughters of the woman that donated her lungs and as a result of which Natalia got a second chance..... So during the party my father who is charming, loves to talk to everyone and who didn't know about our special guests asks one of the daughters how she knows Natalia. Just making conversation. Natalia quickly explained and there was a bit of crying all around. Simply incredible in my opinion.

Ladies, if you are reading, I just can't express how sorry I am for your mother's passing, but I am so happy that you were able to come and see what your mother's gift did. I have been thinking about it a lot lately and if others could see what has happened here, the whole Organ Donation thing would look a whole lot different. Thank you from the entire family. Thank you for coming to Scarlett's baptism and we hope to see you at future events.

John

No time to write.... Let's start with baptism part 1

But I have lots to write about, just really busy lately, Sophie, family, work, enjoying the summer weather. Where to start, I guess I will start with Scarlett's baptism. That was almost two weeks ago. Ok, so as always, Natalia knows how to throw a good party and the baptism was one of those for sure. Since i am scarlett's godfather, i had a serious role to play that day and was a bit worried about holding scarlettcfor the actual procedure. (Scarlett doesn't care for me holding her right now, so I had a vision of a complete breakdown in church, but Scarlett was perfect). The church part was well attended with lots of family friends and a few special guest including Barbara Turnbull and her great friend Dini Petty (yes, that Dini Petty) and the three daughters of the woman that saved Natalia's life by donating her lungs (more on this in a second). Ever since the newspaper coverage of Natalia's journey, I have got to know Barbara a bit and she has quickly become one of my favorite people. You can just tell that she gets IT, and her continuing coverage of other transplant stories is going to save many many lives in the future and hopefully one day stories like Natalia's are just that, stories, and people just won't believe that in 2010 you could die waiting for a transplant. Anyway, i am so glad that you were able to attend and see how much things have changed in just 7 months. Simply incredible and I still really don't believe it.

Here is a few pictures from the baptism.

The whole team including scarlett, the parents and godparents

one of my favorite Angie pictures ever. love it, she might disagree.

Part 2 is next (the party at the house)

Thanks for reading.

John

Exciting new discoveries

I try to keep up on recent discoveries in the areas of organ transplantation. I think the future of it is fixing organs before they are transplanted and also the creation of artificial organs such as lungs or hearts. I thought this link was pretty cool, the idea that you can grow an organ or implant a bio-mechanical device in someone is amazing to me.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65N5AF20100624

But these ideas are needed since there just doesn't seem to be enough organs to go around.

John

Gagging

Hello all, something funny that we have noticed with sophie and the foods she likes and dislikes. Overall she really likes the foods we mash up using the Magic Bullet (awesome little blender by the way). We have been introducing the foods one by one, banana, apple, pear, sweet potato, carrots, etc, etc. Each of them was about the same, a few funny faces at the beginning and soon after you can actually see that she likes them. The only exceptions to this have been the green veggies, peas and green beans. Not only will our little sophie not eat them, she gags on them. It is quite funny to be honest, her reaction is so serious. I am not sure that I don't feel the same way about mashed peas or pea soup so maybe she gets this from me.

Also, we had Scarlett's baptism last weekend where I was the godfather (gulp). It went well, will provide full report and some great pictures from the event and the party at Natalia's house afterwards.

As always, thanks for reading.

John

Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Waving

A few days ago I thought I spotted Sophie waving, but it seemed a little early or maybe not a full wave. But we spotted it again this morning and she waved at a lady at walmart. Wow, are things changing fast. I am on daily tooth patrol, they are there, just waiting to make an appearance one of these mornings. She is really feeling them we think, she is biting anything you give her and going nuts on it. She must be in some discomfort for sure and we really hope that the teeth come in quickly.

Here is a recent picture, little pumpkin is growing up fast. Pretty cool time to be Sophie right now.

Things I love about My daughter

1) the giggles. I love coming home from work grabbing her and kissing her belly as she giggles like crazy. She can't stop laughing. She now can see it coming and start smiling when I come near.

2) that people keep asking how old HE is. She is pretty much always wearing pink but it makes me laugh every time.

3) bath time. We have been doing bath time in the big tub since Sophie has been just over a month old. Every day except two (or maybe three nights) we play together in the big tub. We splash, play with toys and it keeps getting better and better. We are also starting our "swimming lessons" in a few weeks which will be awesome

4) that she got my eating and sleeping genes. Meaning she loves to sleep and eat like her daddy :). Maybe I should move that up higher in the list

5) Regularly pooping during the dinnner feed. She now works very for each poo. It is quite an event each time. I feed her cereal around 6:30 and soon after the show begins

6) general cuteness. She is pretty darn cute and smiles quite a bit

And overall that she likes her daddy. It is very cool to come home each nite with my two girls waiting for me. Life really is pretty flawless right now.

Thanks for reading

Teeth have been spotted...

Still in the gums, but you can see the two top ones. Just waiting to pop out and I am sure create all kinds of havoc that we are not ready for. I noticed them when I pulled back her upper lip, because I can kind of feel them when feeding her with the spoon. Angie didn't believe me but I think she is now. I just can't believe it, stuff is coming up pretty quickly now. I am sure we will wake up one of these mornings and there will be a tooth. Haha.

Apart from that exciting news, all is well here. We had a nice weaken again and completely wore ourselves out. We go on these marathon walks multiple times a day that leave me broken. Angie tells me she does it every day and laughs at my inability to keep up. Haha, I need to up my walking mileage :)

John

Date Night

A little bit late writing about this, but better late than never. So on the saturday of the may long weekend Angie and I had our first date nite since Sophie was born. Hard to believe, but we haven't had a nite on our own in over 6 months (not complaining). One of my university friends had his wedding at the university of Toronto (hart house). It was a really great venue for a wedding, but we forgot our camera so really I can't share with you how great we looked :) Mario and Amanda looked great too, and I am so glad that we got invited. But back to our first nite away from Sophie. We are lucky that we could have angie's mom help out that nite. Everything went great, Sophie ate and let grandma put her to bed without too much trouble so we were able to enjoy the evening and not worry too much. We did get periodic blackberry messages letting us know that all was under control (very proud of grandma for using the blackberry too).

Also these days we are trying to do more stuff out there in the real world with our pumpkin and a few days ago we took Sophie with us for dinner out. It went great, she had a good time looking around at all the action in the resturant. So all is well here and thanks for reading.

John

Nice day at TGH

Not that i don't think nicely of the Toronto General Hospital (TGH), but today was a really nice day there. A while back, i said that i would feel "normal" when i haven't been at TGH for 6 months. Well, today felt like that day. I was there not too long ago, but it felt like a lifetime ago to be honest. This morning I helped Natalia with her bronchoscopy (6 month appointments). We met nice and early in the am and the day went vary smoothly. Actually nothing to write about. We waited, Nat had the bronch, we waited a bit more and we left. Natalia wasn't nervous at all (and neither was I).

Normal, it really felt that way today. I also ran into a great friend of mine Paula at TGH (who i will write about in the near future since she really is responsible for everything - will explain) and she even said that it must feel like a lifetime ago. It sure did feel that way today.

Go sis Go.

John

Hatley baby clothes

Natalia has shown me the way in a bunch of things in life. The latest is a line of very very cute baby clothes from a company called Hatley. For any of my American readers, this is very Canadian. I must explain here. I live in Toronto, which is a huge city that can be compared with any huge city in North America. So no igloos, polar bears or mounties here. BUT, i am very much a Canadian and love my Canadian nature and wildlife. I think this Hatley company knows that many Canadians feel this way so they have designed a bunch of clothes for adults and babies. Here is some pictures of the cutest baby outfits that we got for Sophie and they have become some of our favorites.

Duck.... first word.... unlikely

Funny little story, so tonite during Sophie's bathtime, I was signing to her (believe me it isn't good, she is the only one that would smile at me singing). I was singing 6 little ducks that i once knew.... She is following along, i say duck and she repeats it. duck. Haha, angie didn't hear it, but it was pretty clear to me. Duck. Could that be the first word, if so i bet you that is kind of strange. I will keep a lookout for the next "first word". I am going with mama.

John

Sleeping changed overnight

People say that at Sophie's age, 6 months, things change literally overnight. And it really is true. Sophie has always been a good sleeper, and she still is (knock on wood), but ever since she learned how to roll over consistently (and likes to do it), sleeping has been a bit more of a challenge. She no longer can be succesfully swadled since she just unwraps herself and when she is unwrapped she just goes side to side or end up on her stomach. she hasn't slept on her tummy yet, but I am guessing we will find her that way one of these mornings. I find all this uneasy, it was nice and simple before, we swaddled her, she slept on her back. Now she trashes around wants to pull everything into the crib with her. Any advice out there? What types of blankets should we use?

I haven't worried about her sleeping like this since she was about 2 weeks old. I used to think that I will never be able to go to sleep (due to worrying), but that passed and I guess this will too.

Anyway, thanks for reading, but any advice is always appreciated.

John
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Sitting up and rolling over

Once in a while angie makes a comment about my blog. I know she reads it, but usually doesn't comment about it a lot. A few days ago she said, how come you haven't blogged about the sitting up and rolling over, she has been doing those for a long time now. So, yes, little Sophie can now sit on her own while playing with an occasional fall if she gets distracted. She can also roll over but is not very eager to do so. She likes hanging out in the almost rolled over postion, but rarely completes the move (from her back to front). She has to be really motivated when reaching for something. Like a toy. So basically now, when we put her on the ground she rolls from side to side, depending on what viewing angle she wants.

Anyway all is good here. We are enjoying the crazy hot weather in southern ontario after our winter hibernation.

Thanks for reading
John
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Fishing Trip

At the end of last week I went on my annual fishing trip. I love my fishing and i basically now go fishing one day a month every month, but the annual fishing trip has been going on for basically 10 years. My fishing group consists of a good group of guys, who love to get away and spend a few days trying to catch a fish or two. In the past, these trips were way more elaborate (and longer), involved flying in to remote locations, but now since everyone has a newborn or two, the trips are shorter. Trust me though, when i say that we are not complaining. The trips are a tradition and we are trying to keep them going in any capacity we can. It has been about 10 years and i look forward to going for many years to come. This year's trip took us back up to the French River area since we had such a great time last year. The trip was perfect, i was only able to go on thursday and friday, but it was so great to spend a few days just casting and chatting with great friends. It is important to keep things going in my opinion, but as life and priorities change things like fishing trips need to adjust.

So instead of talking about how great the fishing was and all the "monsters" we cought, I would like to thank our significant others for letting us go. Thanks Angie, I love that you let me go and continue this tradition. Thanks, it really means a lot honey. Love you.

John

Natalia, 6 months post tx

Wow, time certainly flies for sure. I really can't believe that it has been 6 months since Natalia had her transplant and Sophie was born (within a week). To me it seems like a lifetime ago, and in reality Natalia was in the hospital still in early january so it has only been about 5 months. So I would like to write a quick note about all this and celebrate this milestone.

I am very proud of you sis, you battled all of last year to get to the transplant and you certainly battled after you had it (this part i was not ready for) and to see you these days taking care of Scarlett and leading a normal life is really cool to see. I really don't have that much to say except again that I am very very proud and love you very much. Many years of good health sis.

Here is some pictures that Natalia posted on facebook.

4 weeks post

5 weeks post (at Toronto General Hospital)

7 weeks post

2 months post

9 weeks post

9 weeks post

5 months post

6 months post (and i can't do that)

Long Weekend with great weather

Hello all, we had a fantastic long weekend here in southern ontario. The weather was incredible, perfect actually, sunny, no wind, not a cloud in the sky. I took a few days off thursday and friday and went fishing with my fishing friends and came home friday nite ready to spend the long weekend with my girls. We spent a huge part of the weekend outside, walked and walked and walked. Actually on sunday we walked about 15k+ (you can tell we are runners). But the weather was so nice, that we just couldn't be inside. The big highlight of one of the walks is that we put Sophie in a swing for the first time. Nothing crazy, just put her in there and swung a little, she liked it, little tentative at first, but we got a few good laughs out of it. Here is a nice pic or two that captures the moment.

The next day, we took both the girls swimming. We wanted to get Sophie and Scarlett in the pool and this was the first chance we got. We went to the club that Natalia and Martin belong to and tested out the waters. Overall, it went well, there were lots of kids splashing around and both the girls handled it well. Here are some pics from a really great day. Can't wait to see them grow up together starting with some cottage time this summer. Can't wait.

Hope you all had a great long weekend and as always, thanks for reading.

John

Projectile vomit

It finally happened. I for one believed that babies and kids throw up, but projectile vomit seemed like a myth to me. How could a little baby vomit across a room, cover someone completely... Thought it was one of those stories that mothers tell us all. Well I have seen the light. On wednesday nite a few of my friends came over and were there as we were putting Sophie down at 8pm. All seemed normal, until Angie picked Sophie up and our little pumpkin began to vomit all over her. She covered Angie and a good portion of the floor. I couldn't believe how much there was and easily it just came out. Sophie didn't seem to mind too much and went back to sleep minutes after. We were a little stunned since it was our first. How often does this happen?

Oh well, I now believe.

John
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6 months today

So princess is now 6 months old (just catching up on my blogging after a busy week). 6 months, half way through the first year. It has gone by very fast i must say. Everything is going well, we really can't complain. Just today Angie said that she is now like a little person, no longer just a baby at all. The doctor was very happy with everything and we are now working out the new food schedule and starting to introduce new foods. All pretty exciting. Here is some pictures of the half birthday girl.

Sitting with daddy. (who is looking scruffy and tired)

tummy time

all smiles for the camera

i love this one, Angie keeps taking pictures of her next to her first outfit, that outfit was huge on her , we had to roll up the sleeves. I guess they do grow :)

Thanks for reading.

John