Sunday, October 17, 2004

-Pictures!-
Everybody loves picutres, and have I got some for you.
I had mentioned a couple of post back that Keir was just starting to take some steps on his own. He is getting real good at walking and I managed to capture his walking with the camera....
Walking
Walking and Pointing
Walking and Falling
Walking and Smiling
Walking and Standing
He is actually walking here but the table is hiding it
I know this will sound like bragging but he really is getting good, he started of by only being able to go half way out on the carpet. By the end he was walking all the way to the end!
Here is one of Jen's all time favorite pics:
Bath Time
Keir has started to eat Adult food. We made some Chili for him(minus the spices!) which he really liked. He also had some panakes last weekend, here are some pictures of him enjoying those...
Belly Breakfast
Belly Breakfast2
Belly Breakfast3
Yes they were Blueberry panacakes and yes it was messy!
I had also mentioned that Keir loves to play in the Pots and Pans drawer, here he is caught in the act!
Pots and Pans
Pots and Pans2
More from the Kitchen, I am cooking Keir in the pots and pans...
Kitchen
More pics...
Gran and Keir outside
Gran and Keir outside2
Keir's litlle pointer finger
That is all for now
Take care
Ewan

Thursday, October 14, 2004

-Busy, Busy, Busy-
Things have been realy crazy for me the past two weeks. Work is extremley busy, getting ready for Thanksgiving Weekend, and prepareing for the marathon, all made things a little hectic. Two of those issues have now passed, but I am still very busy at work.
We had a really nice Thanksgiving weekend, Jen's parents came up and stay with us for Sunday and Monday. Jen and I decided that we would like to host the Thanksgiving dinner at our place on Sunday. That meant that my mom and dad and Neal(home from Montreal) along with Jen's mom and dad, Keir, Jen and I were all going to be at our place on Sunday afternoon/night.
Everything went really well, the food was very good (everyone brought something for the meal) and with the exception of the chicken (my responsability) taking double the time that it was supposed to cook everything went off without a hitch. Did I mention I couldn't walk while I was preparing the meal? That's because I ran in a marathon in the morning!

The marathon went well, and I was pleased with my time 3:27:54 (my goal was to go under 3hrs 30mins). I learned a LOT from the whole expireince.
The course was very hilly which I wasn't expecting(Lesson Learned #1: examine the terrain you will be running on BEFORE you get to the race course) but throughout the first lap, 21.1km, I felt really good. I had a goal pace time and was actually running a little to fast and had to slow myself down a couple of times, but didn't do that good of a job beacuse I did the first lap 5 mins faster than I had planned.(Lesson Learned #2: stick to your plan!) I had planned to try and run the 2nd lap a little faster than the first, but it didn't work out that way. The two main factors in preventing me from accomplishing that was the temperature/wind (it was really cold that day with a strong wind) and the second half of the hills took a lot out of me. By the 33km mark I couldn't keep my leg turnover at a quick enough pace. The most important lesson I learned was how much of a mental game a marathon is. I really struggled mentally from the 35-40km portion of the race. With the adrenaline of the finish line in sight I was able to finish strong.
Here is the proof that I did finish the Marathon:
Official Results
Photograhic Proof
I guess I pretty well, I finished 21st out of 99 people and 2nd in my age group. I didn't stick around afterwards because I had to get home to start the chicken for supper later on that day.
I really did learn a lot, and can't wait to do another!
I will let Jen update you on Keir, but he is still as amazing as ever!
That is all for now
Take Care
Ewan

Thursday, October 07, 2004

-That's small step for Keir, and two giant stunned parents-
OK, so that was a bad play on Neil Armstrongs famous quote, but it was an appropriate description for Jen and I's reaction last night to Keir's first two STEPS!!!!!!
Yes Keir walked on his own for the very first itme last night. He are the details: he was standing with the help of a samll table in his room. He turned and saw a soccer ball a couple of feet away and instead of sitting down and crawling over like he normally would do, he just turned towards the ball and took two steps over to it and sat down next to it. Jen looked at me, and I looked at her and said "Did he just do what I think he did?". After that we both clapped and cheered for Keir, he too seemed very proud of his accomplishment!
Of course we tried to recreate the feat a couple of times after that but with no success, Keir seemed to thing that once was enough for the night, maybe tomorrow night!
This weekend is Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada, so it is a long weekend. We are having my parents, Jen's parents and my brother over for a big dinner on Sunday. It should be lots of fun.
Speaking of fun, i am running in a Marathon on Sunday Morning. I am very excited as it will be my first. More details to follow next week.
That's all for now
Take care
Ewan