Spoke to my brother last night who informed me that he rushed his girlfriend to the hospital Monday and within 23 minutes… Olivia Aragona, their second child and second girl, came into the world, weighing in at 7lbs, 9 ounces 🙂 I’m an uncle and Chantale’s an aunt for the second time! 🙂
It feels like Kyle has been feeding non-stop since yesterday. He practically polishes off 8 ounces before bed and then needs another small round 5 hours later… and then again 4 hours after that! He’s been awake sice 4:30am today and I finally gave up trying to make him sleep at 6:30am. So, I’m using the time to do some online reading and check work. He’s quiet in the dark with me – just doesn’t want to be lying down…
—
I realize I’ve been quiet for some time now. I guess I needed a break. Sometimes you just don’t feel like talking… know what I mean?
later.
Last night, while Chantale and I were snuggled warmly in bed, chatting softly as we often do prior to drifting off to sleep, she told me that she’s still waiting for me to write about Kyle. It’s a strange realization for a writer to know that he actually hasn’t written about his new son as much as he thinks he has! The difference really has to do with the fact that I actually spend quite a lot of time talking about him. No, not to just anyone who would listen, but to friends who are truly interested 🙂 And thus, because I have that outlet, the writing of him on this blog just doesn’t happen. This won’t always be the case, of course, but it stands somewhat.
For the sake of my beautiful wife, however, and some friends whom I don’t get to speak with on a regular basis, I will share the following:
I love being a full-time father again. I love the fact that I can sit on the train going home and think about what my son and my wife have been doing all day and picture their smiling faces. And then, at the end of the ride, I can walk into my house and hold the both of them. I love being able to walk around the house with Kyle in my arms, snuggling him and feeling the warmth of his cheeks on mine. I actually love changing him because I adore talking to him. As he lays on his pad, smiling up at me, and “coo-ing” his replies, the smile on my own face just gets that much bigger 🙂 Oh, how I love sharing smiles with him!
Yes, sure, there have been a handful of times when he’s been so tired and fussy that it was difficult to console him, but those aren’t the moments I spend thinking about. I think about his cute little face, the way he feels as he’s snuggled into me, the way I lay him down in his crib for the night facing one way and he wakes up the next day completely turned around. I think about how nice it is to rock him as I feed him and we both listen to the Muppets. I think about how nice it feels to hold him in my arms while he sleeps. And I think about how James and Melyssa love him and want to be around him all the time as well! How they both come running into his room in the mornings when he wakes up and I go get him. How Melyssa always wants to hold him, and how James will kiss him good-night or good-morning with a “it’s your big brother!” whispered softly to him 🙂
And, finally, I love the fact that this wonderful life I’m living, in this beautiful, warm, and loving home, is the result of how powerfully I love my wife, and, more importantly, how powerfully she loves me.
And life, is definitely, Wonderful 🙂
Well, yesterday my 2 Teams (support and evolution) were informed of the fact that I’ve recently accepted an assignment to another team. The dates are unknown right now, but it was important to let everyone know that I will be moving to the Core Technology division and work on TAD (Tactical Agile Development) initiatives. It’ll be a whole new mindset for me but I’m excited by it. At least I’ll be able to concentrate/ focus my energy to one team on building new systems (as opposed to 2 teams, one supporting and maintaining something like 35+ systems, one supporting and evolving 2 big systems). Best of all, it’ll be a brand new learning experience which begins with a SCRUM Master training in two weeks.
So there you have it. I’ll go from a Team Leader Systems Development, to Team Leader Core Technology. A lateral move, perhaps, but one which brings with it a lot of new challenges 🙂
Just got a call from a buddy of mine I hadn’t spoken with since May 2004! I had tried contacting him a few months back but all his numbers were disconnected/ changed. Anyhow, it was really nice talking to him and catching up, and he then let me know he now owns/runs a restaurant! You can find Ail Y’Ail Y’Ail at 4563 Boul. St-Laurent corner Mont Royale. There are a few links on the web:
Montreal Mirror review (bizarre review, but rates 4 clams out of 5)
Montreal Gazette Another strange review since I know for a fact that dozens of plates were ordered, but the reviewer only wrote about a handful – and only those she didn’t like. Strange.
At any rate, considering Al’s been a friend for way too many years (Comicopians may remember him as the guy who ran El Paso Komix) and I’ll definitely be dropping in one day 🙂
Yes, I’m way early on this, but the idea of the dead frog had me laughing so loud I decided to post it 🙂
| My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul |
|---|
| SavageKnight goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Barbarian. |
| adamofeden tricks you! You get a rock. |
| baronscartop tricks you! You get a scratched CD. |
| callmepavlov gives you 11 dark blue cinnamon-flavoured nuggets. |
| cat68 gives you 10 mauve cinnamon-flavoured jawbreakers. |
| frosa1968 gives you 11 teal passionfruit-flavoured pieces of bubblegum. |
| gothamajp gives you 12 light green strawberry-flavoured wafers. |
| ladyofthe_lake tricks you! You get a dead frog. |
| luvenditti gives you 5 mottled green spearmint-flavoured gumdrops. |
| muadib_ca gives you 17 brown passionfruit-flavoured jawbreakers. |
| owldaughter gives you 1 blue evil-flavoured pieces of bubblegum. |
| SavageKnight ends up with 67 pieces of candy, a rock, a scratched CD, and a dead frog. |
| Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern. |
Have you seen the news from last night?
LOS ANGELES Sep 26, 2005 — Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s television spoof of James Bond movies, “Get Smart,” has died. He was 82. Adams died of a lung infection late Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, his friend and former agent Bruce Tufeld said Monday, adding the actor broke his hip a year ago and had been in ill health since.
A moment of silence under the cone of silence…
Just remembered something I’ve been curious about. With October a short hop away, the NaNoWriMo waiting begins. I’m curious as to who, if any, are planning to actually take the NaNo challenge this year. And, out of those planning, who will actually take it 🙂
Personally, after last year, I was psyched for this year. I even fleshed out the idea that I was interested in working on and that I knew I could turn into a novel. (of course, it turned out different than the book I thought I’d be writing this year 🙂 ).
Now, though, what with my current workload and the time devoted to my family, I find that, realistically, I may not have the time to attempt the challenge. Or the inclination. However, I haven’t made up my mind. How about you?
Very nice weekend. Lots of relaxing, including an 8 hour stretch at Francisco & Line’s house on Saturday for some great lasagna and wine, topped off with an incredible Australian Vin de Vie (from Chantale’s trip) with our creme brule, but still not enough sleep. We did, however, take a moment to treat ourselves and I took my lady-love to brunch at the Gallant Inn on Sunday. Scrumptious, it was. Truly wonderful. It was really nice of Chantale’s mom to watch Kyle for us and it was also really nice to be warmly greeted by Linda Gallant who helped ensure we had such a beautiful wedding back in 2003 🙂 In fact, when we finally left, we were greeted by a fawn that galloped alongside the forest beside us. Wow 🙂
Sunday evening, my cousins came over to visit our home and Kyle, both of which they hadn’t seen yet, and we all had a lovely time. It was really nice to see them as the last time was actually AT our Wedding when the daughter, Francesca, actually read one of the prayers during our ceremony 🙂
As I said, a very nice weekend which just had one bizarre moment when my mother-in-law told me she had spent part of Saturday night reading through my stories – only to realize she’d been reading through my Last Word Articles 🙂 It was just one of those things. I always wondered if any of my family, extended or other, actually read anything of mine that is so readily available online. Most of the times the answer is no. 🙂
