Snow very likely

Well, It's pretty obvious that the post have gradually thinned out over the last 10 months, since we arrived. We're settling in, and we're thinking about the future. It's actually pretty good, although I've been working many hours of overtime. That's a big bone of contention, actually.
Mel's really annoyed that I'm not home as often as I'd like to be. She's right to be, as Lewis and Chris both need their Daddy.
But that's the bad news. I'm really here to tell you the good news. It's SNOWING!!!!!

First a little...




Then a lot





We're currently at about 20 cm deep snow, and the sidewalks haven't been cleared yet. Chris got up this morning and made you all this video clip!

Halloween

Here's a quick one about Chris' first Halloween in Canada, and Lewis' first Halloween. I took the two boys out, and they both came home with more sweets than they could eat! Granted, Lewis (with a box of Smarties, some cheesy puffs and a fun size mars bar) had some less than Chris (with a bag full).
Chris went out as Indiana Jones, and Lewis as Winnie the Pooh.
Guy Fawkes night, on which we didn't set off any fireworks or light any bonfires, was a surprise. Beep came in from Newfoundland, bearing gifts of British sweeties! Irn Bru was wheeched. Some pics below.

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Get your own

Our (mechanical) baby

We got a car! We have no licenses and no insurance, but we got a car! It's a Chrysler Intrepid (1996) and it cost us $500.
This (rather dark) photo is of our car. It's pretty nice. This is the view I'll have mostly (or Mel).
Cruise Control!
And here's what Lewis thinks of it!
Maybe I should blog wee short entries like this, they're quick and easy. What do you think?

I'm gonna be a DAD! - but Mel's not pregnant.

Our lawyer got a letter from Chris' natural father. It's the one that means we can proceed with the adoption with his (legal) approval. It's great news, and the next step is to get the social workery people out for a home study.

Lewis' First Two months

When Lewis was born, we had a parade in his honor. It was the biggest parade in PEI, and took over an hour to pass by our street. Here are some of the floats.



Well, I suppose it wasn't really for Lewis, but it sure seemed that way. This was his first full day at home, and there was a parade running past our street!
Now at this time, we still has Jen, Liz and Liona here visiting, and Jen took Chris out to see, while Liona, Liz, Lewis, Mel and I took turns watching from the front porch and making breakfast, and getting ready to go shopping for the essentials that we'd forgotten in the days previous.
As you know, Lewis was born on August 11th. This parade was held on the 15th. So what happened in the 4 days previous? Well, not a heckuva lot, to be totally honest. Mel was trying to nurse, but Lewis wasn't for having it. She pumped milk into bottles usig this medieval looking piece of equipment:-

After a few days, they were allowed to leave, as long as we had a plan. Our plan was to pump milk into bottles using a slightly less archaic device. We stuck to it for a few weeks, supplementing Lewis' feeds with formula. Gradually, however, the formula took over, and now there's no breast milk. Lewis never really took to the breast in any case.

The next few weeks were filled with visits to the park (with the outdoor pool) and, although I'd taken paternity leave, I went back early so that I could spend some time with my Mum and Dad when they came to visit. We were relaxed in our world, our routine beginning to set in again.
Then it happened, suddenly.

There's a global recession, and the price of oil hasn't bee as high since the seventies. It's pushing the price of bread and milk up, and the drivers are feeling the pinch at the pump.
That's as far as it goes for many of us, but it smacked us in the head this time. It closed an airline company called Zoom. This meant that my Mum and Dad were not coming here, but more importantly, Liz, Jen and Liona weren't going home!
Panic ensued at this side of the Atlantic, while Mum and Dad said, "Ach, we'll just get other flights, we'll get our money back on the Zoom ones anyway." Jen and Liz and Liona did eventually get home, but they simply wouldn't relax, they just wanted home at this point, and so they went home early.
On the same day that they left, my Mum and Dad arrived. They did get other flights after all. Dad hired a car in Halifax, and got the Wood Islands ferry to PEI.
Dad's Drive (Click to View Route)
They stayed in the Heritage Harbor House for the first few days, visiting us daily. After that, they moved in here, and slept on the couch.

They started out by doing some sightseeing around Charlottetown.
They took us to Cardigan (where we saw the world's smallest library!) and Montague. We also went looking for seals and buffalos on this trip, we found one of these at Buffalo Provincial Park, but the others were elusive.

Then to Summerside, and Moncton, but we didn't have much time in either place, as we underestimated the time it took to get there.




MORE SOON... Got to go just now, I'll finish this post later.

Lewis' First Pics

Lewis Thomas Farrell

Lewis, our new son, was born 11th August. He was 6lbs 13oz.

I know some of you will want the bare facts to be nice and accessible, so there they are. Now I'll tell the story...

Dateline: Wed Aug 6th
Time: 0700 hours
When I was getting up to go out to work, Mel was telling me about contractions. They were coming, but not too regularly. I'd be safe to go to work, as the contractions needed to be closer together before we needed to worry.
Off I goes to work. Every so often, I check in using Pidgin (an IM client, connected to MSN network). Each time, I get told about the contractions.

Time: 1500 hours
All OK, but at 3 o'clock(ish) Jen told me that the contractions were "5 mins apart, but don't worry, you've got hours yet". I had to send this comment out to the whole staff of Other Ocean Interactive. Mike, who's baby (Violet) was born a couple of weeks ago, asked me if I should even be there any more. "We were told that at 5 minutes apart, you should be at hospital," He says.
I'm OK with this for a half-hour, but I soon lost concentration. I turn to Christian (here's his blog) and say "This has no meaning to me now, I'm going home." It's 4 o'clock.

Time: 1600 hours
My work is really close to my house, like 4 or 5 blocks, or 10 mins to you Scots. This is the route I took.

View Larger Map

I got as far as Queen and Euston, and a Co-op taxi (our usual company) goes past. It flies around a guy waiting to turn into Pownal. I'm thinking "You better not turn into Spring Street," (Spring Street is where our house is). It does.
This is when I break into a run. 2 and a half blocks is about the farthest I've run in a while, but as I got around the corner, the taxi was OUTSIDE MY HOUSE! I kept on going the last 100 yards, and just as I got to my front door, the next door neighbour goes out and jumps into the taxi!!!

Puffing and Panting, I walk into the house. "Hi honey," Mel calmly states. Turns out she's fine, but the contractions are still going.

Time: 1800 hours
Two hours later, Mel's contractions are still 4 minutes apart. We decide that we want to go to the hospital, in case the baby is in distress.
In hospital, we get Mel all connected up to the seismograph, and waited. The nurse comes out soon after. "Oh, that one's gone on for too long to be real," she announces. Sure enough, Mel's contractions subside over the next two hours. It's a false alarm.



Dateline: Mon Aug 11th
Time: 0326 hours (exact, eh?)
Mel's contractions begin for real. They're instantly 5 minutes apart.

Time: 0410 hours
Mel decides to go to the toilet, and the contractions stop for 8 minutes. She lay down again, to wait for more.

Time: 0425 hours
Mel gets a painful contraction. So painful that I felt it from the other side of the bed (I've still got the bruise to prove it, lol). So I decided (who decided - Lewis?) that we should get ready to go to the hospital. The bags were ready, but there were a few things to do (like getting dressed and so on). We woke Chris, told him what was happening, and called the Labour and Delivery dept of the hospital, then a taxi.

Time: 0600 hours
In hospital, we get Mel all connected up to the seismograph, again. This time, however, there's no messing about, she's 7cm dilated. Mel has a particularly large contraction, and the nurses go from Happy-Joy-Flowers-Sunshine to Business-Time-No-Messing in half a second. The baby (Lewis)'s heart rate had dropped during the contraction. During the next 30 seconds, Mel's water got broke, Lewis got a probe on his head, and we got moved to another room.
Mel's now got Nitrous Oxide, and just plain Oxygen too.

Time: 0630 hours
The Nitrous is making her feel ill, so she's asking for something else for the pain. The doctor wont give her any painkillers that might sedate Lewis any more, as his heart rate is still dropping during contractions. She's even considering giving her a c-section.
She calls the anaesthetist to get Mel an epidural, but Mel protests. The doctor explains that this is the only course open to her, as anything else might sedate the baby. She's also getting a theatre readied, and gets us to try to take out Mel's tongue stud. It wont budge, even with pliers. They'll have to cut it out if she needs surgery.
Mel gets her epidural put into place, but before the actual anaesthetic can be put in, she gets to 10cm dilated, and tells the doctor that she needs to push.

Time: 0700 hours
The doctor puts her onto her side and gets me to hold up her leg. She pushes once, and the doctor removes the probe from baby's head. She pushes again, and the head (funny shaped) pokes out a bit more.

Time: 0709 hours
One more push, and Lewis comes right out, and tests his vocal cords for the first time. A beautiful sound.
He had a little bit of chord wrapped around his shoulder. Not his neck, but still close enough to impair his breathing.

Just Blogging

Well, we're all having great fun, but we're not really doing loads of interesting things. I've finished doing overtime, and been paid for it (it paid off the baby's crib, pram, and playpen, which had gone onto the visa). Other Ocean Interactive have released Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone, and it's a great success. This was good, but I've had no part in making it, so I can't take any credit. It's worth mentioning here, because some of you were curious about what the company worked on. And because I want to get my hands on the iPhone Software Development Kit!

The humidity's been getting to us, and we've spent $100 on fans. It's been 20 degrees at night, and 30 degrees during the day sometimes. And then the humidity.

I've started building up the baby stuff, with help from Chris. We got the downstairs crib built up (there's two cribs, a high chair, a changing table (which came built up), a pram, and a playpen), and the prams done.

Chris' bike seized up (the steering wouldn't work) so we had to fix it. New ball bearings, bought them at Smooth Cycle (well, Mel, Liz and Chris did, while I was at work). Chris helped me to fix it today. Then we took it out for a test ride. Mel and Liz went to the bingo (Mel was going to give it a miss, but I had plans with Chris, so she decided to just go). We went for a game of pool at Dooley's. Chris was pleased, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself. We'll do that again, as it's only $5 an hour for the table.

Well, I'm not sure just how many of you really read this, but there's not much news. Mel's feeling OK, except for the heat. Liz is managing to sleep on the hide a bed, and Chris is having a hard time, as there's not many kids around at this time of year (all at camp we think). Baby's due August 10th, and we're all nervous and excited (well, I am!) but we're ready.
Aren't we?

Aye Aye Captain!!!

Mel was writing this post, but it self-destructed. She'll do it again tomorrow.

Trying again, hopefully this will work this time.

I've forgotten half of what i wanted to put down here, so I'll try to wing it.

It was the first day of the school holidays and Chris wanted to do something exciting.
We decided to go to the quay and see the big cruise ship that was in.

Just before we left the house the horse and carriage passed by the house and Chris got a good snap of it.
When we got to the quay the horse tour had just arrived to let the tourists off to go back to the cruise ship. We managed to get a no bad photo of the horse up close.
then Chris got in on one.
There was a few hours till the cruise ship left so we decided to go on a harbour tour, on a little boat. I thought this was quite a feat for my mum as she hates boats.
We left the harbour and headed out towards the Hillsbourgh bridge. Where we just happened to pass the cruise ship so we got a few good snaps, yet again.
Hillsborough bridge
We cruised down the coastline passing the yacht club, very posh, but nice boats. also passed by Victoria park and then out to sea where we saw the coastline of Nova Scotia. At that point we saw one of the light houses which guide all boats and ships into the harbour.

As we were as far out as the island stretched to it was time to turn around and head back, we also picked up a bit of speed.

Chris was asked if he would like a shot of driving the boat, he jumped at the chance.

School, Sausages and Sand

Today was Chris' big day. He's been looking forward to this for weeks, months even. So we all got dressed up to the nines (well, 8.5s). He really does scrub up well, doesn't he? Today was Chris' graduation from St. Jean Elementary (that's Jean the girl). The ceremony was great! It started, as everything does, with the national anthem. Their Principal, Mrs. Mais-Murphy, then read some Dr. Seuss. She's in this picture, on the right. The left is Mrs. Hennessy, Chris' Grade Six teacher.After that, they handed out some awards. Most of these were academic, but there were a couple of others. There was one kid, Hunter Bell, who had not missed a day of elementary school - ever! Then they handed out the certificates. You see Chris receiving his in the above photo, and here's one of him proudly wielding it.A wee sneaky kiss ;)We had a great time, and we're all very proud.

Today was also a day of medical tings for Mel. She was at the doctors for her routine appointment (currently one a fortnight), which is very routine now, to the point where she's telling me what's gonna happen next time... mostly to do with...
This morning's ultrasound. I went along to this, and had to wait for ten more minutes than Mel, while the nurse took measurements and pictures of the bump. She measured his head, and his heart, his bones and his stomach. All of the parts of his body that she could get access to. It was a quick look that I got (but she was nice enough to sneak us a wee picture which should have cost $17).
She said that the baby was currently about 4lbs 8oz according to her measurements, and that the doctor would look over the scan pictures. I should mention that, at this stage in the baby's development, he puts on about 8oz per week.

There are 7 weeks to go.


This has been quite a good week for us. It started out with me in one of my moods, where I decide that I can do anything that anyone else can do.
I decided to make lorne sausages and potato scones. I done quite a good job if I do say so myself, we had a fry up, and it was goooooood :)
I bet you're all skeptical about my abilities. Well, don't be, cos I can accomplish my goals, especially if there's a hot breakfast in it for me! Even Granny Wyllie was impressed (she brought the bacon).

Then, as I was settling in to watch the French Grand Prix, Mick called. Mick's an artist. He got into computer games art on a YTS. He's been in Canada for about 18 months, 12 of which have been spent on PEI. He asked us if we'd like to come out with him and his wife, Lisa, to the beach. We went (what's a Formula One?), and had a great time. Mick's on the right here. He drove us out east, past Georgetown (reputedly run by the bikers), to Panmure Island. Christian, my lead programmer, had told us about the place. It was really nice, and we, being British (I use the term loosely), all got fried by the sun!
We did all of the things you do at the beach (come back, North Sea, all is forgiven), including burying bits of Chris.
We stopped in Montague on the way home for something to drink. It was nice, but the place was a bit weird, the owner didn't like Mick, cos he's English, but she like us Scots. She made a snide remark (looking at Mick) about the locals not getting jobs, then looked to me and said "They just don't want them!" Strange...

Then we went to Peake's Quay. we had ice cream and looked at the boats before coming home. Mel and Liz went to bingo, but they didn't win.

Boats and Bikes

Hey, Everybody, Chris can ride a bike!!! We got one from Cash Converters this week, and he's picked it up in no time! Here's a couple of pics showing him going around in the school playground.
He's still trying to get as much practice as possible. Meanwhile, Granny Wyllie is having a great time on her holiday. She's a big wean.
Well, since it's her holidays, we've tried to make it interesting for her. We've gone out for dinner a couple of times, most notably East Side Mario's. It's a great little New York Italian restaurant. They do nice pizza, pasta, steak and burgers. Her favorite was the fish and chips from Brits (they've moved!). You'd never believe how much nicer than Paisley chippi crew chips.
Mel took her out sightseeing today. They got a couple of pics. Firstly, of the Cruise Ship ms Maasdam, from Rotterdam. It's a huge, carrying over 1200 passengers, and another 600 crew!
A little on the smaller side, they got this pic of an old PEI fire engine. The firemen out here are all volunteers, and there's a big horn that blows when there's a fire. All the firemen have to leave their regular jobs and go fight the fire.

OK, but before I go, I have to show you one last pic. This is the cake I got for Father's Day. Not a bought cake, but one made by loving hands. they're still practicing, but I think they've just about got it!
See you next time!

Granny's Here!

Well, Granny Wyllie arrived last night. She had gotten the bus from Halifax to here. We were a little worried, as there were "Severe Thunderstorm Warnings" in Fredericton, NB and the same was happening in Ontario, but the thunderstorms were becoming tornadoes!
She arrived safe, and awoke this morning to 16 degree heat. Way to go Granny!
She brought the camera (cheers Ian), so I can finally say congratulations to Jason and Langcraigs Under13s, who won the Erskine Cup, defeating league champions Erskine Boys Club.
See you later, got to collect the rent from our new lodger!

Secret Smile

Just a Quickie for now. Made a quick alteration to one of the new 3D scan pics. I might do all of them if I find time. Here's the one I've done. It's wonderful.
A smiling baby. A thumb sucker at that. See you soon, baby!

Bar-B-Q season!

Hi all!

First of all, I want to say that we had another babynus3D scan. It was a quicker scan, but there are about the same number of pictures. Baby was sucking his thumb, and wasn't hiding from the camera.

I've added the pictures to the same collection as the first lot. They're on my public picasa page. You could go there now to see them, or you could just watch this slide show...



If you want to see some video, give me a shout! I'll put it up if I see enough calls, otherwise, I'll just send some out to the most vocal.

However, as suggested by the title of the post, we've officially entered BARBECUE SEASON!!! The rule still stands, the barbecue cook can't go without a beer. But they really know how to barbecue here, I mean they can cook STEAK (Medium-rare please :P) on their barbecues.

First one was at Travis' place. With his dog, Bunker, and wife Calleen, he showed the hospitality that the Maritimers are renowned for. This is also where I got to see GTA IV for the first (and so far, only) time. We've decided that it's too bad for Chris, and it's rated M for Mature, so he's got no argument. We didn't let him play San Andreas for ages. Later that night, Chris sneaked down to see the guys playing GTA IV. Justin turned it off before it got too nasty!
We also got to play Mario Kart Wii and Rock Band, on Super Huge screens! They were great fun. The guitar's pretty easy (if you can play guitar, which I, well... see Red Dwarf). The drums are well 'ard!

The second was at Owen's. We decided we would leave early from it, as Mel and Chris are not well acquainted with the people from the company, and we thought Chris might get bored, I might rupture something (I've strained my inguinal ligament, but I'm feeling better now), and Mel might collapse with the heat. We did have a good laugh, though.

• Gordon said that we should be out climbing trees, then decided that climbing trees was actually quite a good idea.
• Beep made Mojitos.
• Mick told everyone that they were great!
• Mick tried to get Chris to take a drink :)
• Tequila shots!
• Mel was allergic to the boxer dog, Lennox.
• Chris was playing Burnout on a DS.
• "You have the hands of a programmer, sir!"
• There was more food than we could all eat!
• The company paid for it all!
• the food
• the drink
• the taxis home

Just Chillin'

Hi everyone!

It's been about a week since I last posted to the blog, and although not much has happened since, I thought you might like to hear from me! (Ya love me - don't ya!) We're all fine, and Mel's been to the Docs this week.

Mel* : He says everything's going fine, and he reckons the weans quite big. I was telling him about feeling faint, about not being able to get comfy, about feeling tired and about aches and pains. He said "Well, you ARE preganant!".

We've been invited out to Travis' place for a BBQ, and we'll probably go. I don't think there'll be a BBQ tho! it's pouring!

We went to see some baby stuff that Josfez is selling, We are gonna buy a crib and a changing mat on a chest of drawers(changing table).
Just so we have a spare crib and the extra mat for upstairs will come in handy too!!

Well Monday is a holiday here, Victoria Day. I'm off work, Chris is off school and Mel has to put up with us.

Chris went on Friday to see his next school that he will be going to, Birchwood Intermediate School.
He will get the bus to and from school and he is really looking forward to it.

Well thats all for now
David Mel Chris and Bump.

Buying Baby Stuff

OK, so Saturday was a big spending day. We went to Bulk Barn and got some nuts and sweets, and some stuff we actually needed. We went to Superstore and got meat and cheese for Chris' pieces, and some bread and milk. That's $150 on sandwiches and snacks.
That's chump change, however. We also went to Snugglebugs, which is similar to the pram shop in Paisley. We put a deposit (BIG deposit) on the following :-

Graco Stroller System - $264.99
Graco Pack 'n' Play - $149.99
Ariel Stages Crib - $304.99
City Babies Crib Set - $129.99
GST & PST - $90.27

I'd say that it's not too bad. A bit of expense, but cheaper than I expected. I'm really annoyed now that I've gone looking for links to these items. They're like 30% cheaper Stateside!

I put down $500 deposit. They can only hold the items for a month.

another $450 ish over the next month. Gosh.

Bigfoot is Real!

No, not that Bigfoot!
















The monster truck!














We went to the Charlottetown Civic Center on Sunday, for Monster Madness! It was great! Before the event had started, we got Chris a ride in the 3 time world champion "Bear Foot". I got the camera out at the end of it.



Being there early also meant that we got to see the trucks getting readied for the show. I never realized that they arrived at the show with small wheels on them! Hope my shaky camera work is not so bad that it puts you off.



There were 5 monster trucks there.
Bigfoot,













Easyrider,













Maniac (who retires at the end of this tour),













Jurassic Attack (driven by a woman),













and Bear Foot (who was only there to drive kids about).














They each had a couple of runs, and some races. This is Maniac's solo run. For me, it was the best one


They also had Quad-Wars, which was fun. I'd have loved to have a wee shot!
It was New Brunswick versus PEI. The cheaters from New Brunswick got disqualified. Haha.














They had a couple of races,



but when they freestyled, it was better.




And then there were the transformers. They were pretty cool. I got a fright when they started shooting at each other! I took some video of it, but it's very dark. It's not worth uploading. The flamethrower was quite impressive though. One transformed from this.













The event was sponsored by K-Rock and Ocean 100. You'll see that a lot.

They Legalised It!!!

Canned Pop that is!


No one would have believed that fizzy drinks cans (and plastic bottles of) were illegal on PEI. It's true though! This Saturday, P.E.I.'s environment minister, George Webster, opened the first legal can of pop since 1984.

It was a big event! We got free cans of Pepsi! There were bands!
Muddy Buddy were the most memorable, and played some good covers.

Actually, even out here in Hicksville, they've had cans before, and it was all very tongue in cheek (who knew that the Canadians could do sarcasm!). Still, it was a well publicized and busy event.
The event was sponsored by K-Rock and Ocean 100.


Chris got a Tattoo! (upside-down)







Stanley Cup made of Cans!