Wednesday, April 28, 2004

-Neither Wind nor Sleet...-
Yesterday, Tuesday, I biked into work for the first time this year. The weather prediction (that may be an oxy-moron) said it was going to be nice. Well it was not. In the morning, the ride in was a little wet because it had rained over night. So I was a little damp. I made it in 1hour and 14minutes OK for 30.5km. On the way home it was a different story. At 3 I was excited about going home, the route home (same as the route to work but reverse) was almost all downhill, so I should be able to make it home quicker than I came in this morning, theoretically!
Well it was so windy for the first half of the ride home that I felt like I was biking in quick-sand. By the time I got to the bridge (about 2/3 of the way home) it had been raining for 10minutes not strong, but enough to get wet. Rain I can handle. It was still very windy and with about 1km left to home, the skies opened up and the temperature dropped and it started to hail on top of all the rain!
I ended up getting home in 1hour 18mins, not bad considering all the elements I had to face.
Total for the day 61km in 2hour 34mins.
My legs felt fine this morning in the pool, we will see how they do on tonight’s run!
Keir is doing great, a regular chatter box (no words, lots of interesting sounds and noises) and his two chomper teeth are getting bigger and bigger each day.
That is all for now
Take care
Ewan

Thursday, April 22, 2004

-Chomper1 and Chomper2-
Keir has his first two teeth! It started with his chomper1, lower right anterior (that is from Jen), coming through and now chomper2, lower left anterior, is starting to show as well.
There was a couple of rough nights where the teeth coming in were bothering Keir. It supposedly gets easier as more and more teeth come in.
If you put your finger into Keir's mouth you had better watch out because chomper1 or chomper2 will get you!
I have tried to get some photos of Keir's teeth but as you can imagine it is hard to get Keir to stay still long enough to get a good shot.
The quest for Tooth Pictures will go on!
Keir is very loud, he is making all sorts of noise. Lots of babbling, grunting, cooing, and mumbling. I swear I have heard him say several words all ready; you just have to listen really carefully ;-)
That is all for now
Take care
Ewan

Friday, April 16, 2004

-Happy Birthday-
Keir is 5 months old today!
I can't believe that he is that old already. It seems like only a couple of weeks ago we were just bringing him home.
On the other hand it also feels like Keir has been a part of us for a long time now. It is hard to remember life before Keir.
I am not complaining, just observing.
Like Jen says "I wouldn't trade Keir for anything in the world!"
Happy Birthday Keir.
You make your mom and dad smile :-)
Take care
Ewan

Thursday, April 15, 2004

-Go Sens Go-
Last night was a huge game for the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Sens have been eliminated by the Leafs three of the past four years, and there is a preety healthy rivalry between the two teams/cities. They had also been shutout the past two games of the series.
If they lost last night they would have been down 3 games to 1 in the series and been in lots of trouble. The Sens had outplayed the Leafs the first three games of the series but Ed Belfour(the leafs goalie) had played even better and shut them out in game two and three.
Last night they won the game 4-1 and outplayed the Leafs.
Keir did his part wearing his Sens jersey
The series is now tied 2-2, and the next game is Friday evening. Hopefully the Sens bring the same intensity and commitment to the next game as they have for the first four games.
Go Sens Go
Take Care
Ewan

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

-Sweet Potatoes-

Keir has moved on from rice cereal to "purees". He has eaten strained peas, apple sauce, strained pears, and his favorite strained sweet potato.
He really does like the sweet potatoes the most, it is the only one he does not make a face when he first tastes them. Here is a picture of Keir eating:

Jen has done lots of reading about when to start "solid" foods, and Tracy gave us a book, this past weekend, with lots of amazing recipes and many helpful hints.
Speaking of things Tracy and Wally gave us. They gave us two things that they swore by during their kids younger years.

The backpack is amazing, we have used it many times since we have gotten home from Hamilton. It is great for going in public places and walks. Keir likes being high up and see everything that is going on.
The play-centre is great also. Keir will sit in it for an hour or so and play away. It is nice cause it gives mom and dad a break!
Take Care
Ewan

Monday, April 12, 2004

-Stoney Creek-

This past weekend was the Easter long weekend. We took this opportunity to visit out friends Wally and Tracy and the two boys Jake and Rowan in Stoney Creek Ontario (it is a suburb of Hamilton, which is about an hour south west of Toronto).
The Ride Down...
We drove down Friday. We were not sure how Keir would do being in the car for so long, but he was really good. We stopped twice once for lunch and another two hours later just before Toronto. The trip down took just around six hours including stops. The traffic was bad going through Toronto but it usually is so it was not really a big surprise.
The Weekend...
The weekend itself was great. Nice weather and it was great to catch up with Wally and Tarcy. It was sunny all weekend and the vegetation seemed so much greener than back home. We went to the Hamilton Farmers Market. It is all indoors and very impressive. The variety and choice of produce/product available at this market is amazing. I wish there was something like it in Ottawa (I know about the Byward Market but it isn't even close). We also went for a walk on the Bruce Trail which runs around the Niagara Escarpment. It was nice to see the boys, whom we had not seen in about a year. Jake is 3.5 and Rowan is just over 2 and are a handful for Wally and Tracy.
We had a wonderful weekend visiting really good friends.
The Ride Home...
Same as the ride down but a little quicker because we left Sunday Morning and avoided any traffic in Toronto.

Here are some pictures of the trip.

That is all for now
Take care
Ewan


Wednesday, April 07, 2004

-Keir's Girlfreind-
Here is a link to some pictures of our friends Ronny and Tina little bundle Kaylee:


Thats all for now
Take Care
Ewan

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

-We Like Rice-
Big news from the land of the Hardies: Keir is eating SOLID food. Well ok it not really solid food, he is eating rice cereal mixed with mommy's milk. It looks a little like some weird runny pudding. Keir has been watching us eat with great interest for the past couple of weeks and coupled with the fact he has been drinking from his sippy cup for a while now, we figured that he was ready to start on some food.
His reaction to his first spoonful of the rice cereal was priceless. He made this funny face like:What the heck is this!Butt by the third or forth spoonful he was very much into the whole process. He eats twice a day once in the morning and again at suppertime with mommy and dad. I got some pictures of the events but I haven't had the chance to go through them yet.
We had a bit of a rough night last Thursday; Keir didn't want to sleep and told us how he felt about it! He cried for most of the night and really didn't sleep from 10pm till 7:30am the next morning. It was like he didn't want to be in his crib; every time we took him out he would stop but as soon as he went back the crying would start up again. The next night was a little better and a whole lot less crying, he cried a bit when he first put him into his crib but stop and slept in his crib. Hopefully things are back to normal in the sleep department but you never know.

That is all for now

Take care
Ewan

Thursday, April 01, 2004

Little Visitor...
Working at my desk this morning I saw this little fella:

I think I am starting to get a hand of our digital camera. When we first got our digital camera, I thought it would just be point and shoot with excellent results. But as I soon found out not every picture is guarantee to be great. You do have to put some thought it the various factors that make up a photo. Taking a good photo is very rewarding because you can look back at the photo with a great deal of satisfaction.
Keir did not sleep very well last night and was up @ 5:30am but did go back to sleep after 8 am and slept till 10am. But other than that Keir is doing really well and is a joy to watch for his mum and dad!

That is all for now
Take care
Ewan