After Thought

One more pic I wanted to share with you..... before Momma, Dada and Munchkin arrived on Christmas Eve, Poppa and Squeegie went out to run a couple of last minute errands. It was quite cold out and they both bundled up before they headed out. It is hard to believe that was only a few days ago, and today we were swimming!

Happy New Year!

Here are Taffy and Squeegie in their new Christmas outfits all ready to leave for Florida. I just realized that I didn't publish a Christmas post. We had a nice - busy - Christmas. Momma, Dada and Munchkin arrived on Christmas Eve, and we all went to bed fairly early. The next morning we opened presents, and began preparing for the big event. Poppa went into town and picked up Grandma Grace and Aunt Peggy. Everyone seemed to enjoy the turkey and accoutrements.

Among the many presents under the tree for me was a new laptop computer to take along on the journey to Florida, so I could keep you all up-to-date while we are on vacation. There was so much stuff, I couldn't begin to type it all in here! Munchkin was kind of oblivous to it all, but got lots of presents too! He seemed quite happy and smiled gleefully.

The next day Dada took Momma and Munchkin to visit Great-Grandma Mayhew in Bracebridge. I took that opportunity to start getting organized for our trip to Florida. Of course, by the time we conveyed the agenda to Kevin and visited with Gramma Robert and Aunt Peggy...I didn't really get much done. So the following day was a tad hectic. But it all got done eventually, and the rest is history.

We spent today in or around the ocean at South Beach, Miami, FL. The weather was .. well... hot at about 84F, the water was great and we had a wonderful relaxing day. I didn't get any pictures since we were in bathing suits and there was no place to put the camera...but the plan is to sneak out tomorrow morning and snap a few shots before we check out and head for the Gulf Coast for a couple of days. In the meantime - HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Ashburn, GA

Here is Squeegie last night in Fort Mitchell, KY. We were all quite tired and spen a few minutes watching TV before we crashed for the night. You can see him lolling about taking it easy.

Tonight we are in Ashburn, GA - quite close to Florida and we are all anxious to get there. The temperature tonight is about 54F at 8pm....wonderful to us Canadians.

I am using my new laptop that Poppa got me for Christmas.........and it is absolutely loverly! I'm madly in love with it already and can't imagine being without it! I am still learning about all it's tricks and that will probably take up some of my time in Florida while Poppa is golfing.

Right now, I'm off to check and see what the weather is like in Canada, and then we'll all be off to bed. And............of course, here is today's picture of our little Munchkin.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Hey - guess who Munchkin was visiting with last week! He got dressed up in his best togs and went off to a Christmas party at Momma's work and sure enough, there was Santa Claus at the party. Munchkin handled it pretty well considering how apprehensive he was about going to the party in the first place.... as you can see in the photo above....
But once he got there he had a good time and everybody was very pleased to see him.

Poppa got another prescription to take and is starting to feel more like himself now. He spent all day today wandering around doing last minute Christmas errands, while I spent the day working diligently. Now he is taking it easy in front of the TV while I check e-mail and compose a new post for my blog. I think we just have a couple of meal components to pick up and we will be done as much Christmas as we are going to do. Then it will be time to pack our bags and head off down the road in a southerly direction until we get to Florida. It sure will be nice to get away from all this snow! We got dumped on again today - about another 6 inches, and they are saying we'll get another 6 inches overnight - sigh!

I sent off the stripey longies to TN this afternoon - and I forgot to take a picture of them....oh Dear! Maybe someone there will send me a pic so I can post one???

Hangin' Around and Snow

Here's our favourite Canadian Male Munchkin Model. He was just hanging around today...as you can see. He was feeling ducky and looking dapper.........and taking things seriously.

Poppa went to the doctor today who decreed him fit to go to Florida. Having said that - he did some more tests and said that if Poppa didn't hear from him before it was time to go to Florida that we could go. He changed his prescription slightly and told him not to go about things like a mad maniac, but rather take things a little more slowly than Poppa is accustomed to doing. He pointed out that since approximately four days went by before he got treatment for the tachycardia that his whole body was out of whack, and it would take at least a month before Poppa got feeling quite like himself again. So, he's got a couple more weeks to go of being tired and slightly "off" as he puts it. It's actually kind of nice, since he doesn't feel like doing the manic madman thing....life is a little more relaxed.

We got whomped with a large snow storm today.... it was worse south of us, but bad enough here. Just what we didn't need - more of the white stuff. But, I got a lot done at work today, and I don't think I need to go in over the weekend - so I will concentrate on getting the house ready for Christmas day.

Poppa's Visit

Poppa stopped in for a visit with Munchkin yesterday after the "shot" to see how he had made out. Momma said he didn't even flinch when he got his "shot" just sat there and stared at the nurse wielding the sharp instrument...or maybe that was glared at the nurse..........Hee! Anyway, it didn't seem to bother our little Munchkin at all....except he seemed kinda tired. Momma caught the two of them snoozing and captured the moment. Wait a minute.................I wonder if Poppa is really snoozing..........I think I see the hint of a smile?

It's Been a While

The latest fashion modelled delightfully by the newest Canadian Male Model features one of our all-time favourite motifs - Winnie the Pooh! Looking absolutely adorable little Munchkin shows off the great colours and relaxed-fit style of this one-piece suit, especially designed for the young set! He is on his way to visit the doctor for his first "shot", and seemed to think that perhaps they would be extra specially careful with that needle if he looked exceptionally cute!

Poppa is on his way to the city today to visit his cousin and deliver Christmas presents there. When he is done with that errand, he plans to stop in to see the Munchkin, and determine how well the "shot" business went, and how our little Munchkin is feeling about all that.

Poppa is still not feeling "up to par", but we think perhaps that is because of the medication he is on..........so we're kinda hoping that the doctor will change it when Poppa is there on Friday and get things back to normal. I'll update after he has been to visit the doctor with the latest info on that.

I have the stripey longies ready for shipment - except for the elastic in the waist and some nice blocking to make them look pretty for the princess in TN. I have started a pair of blue leggings for Taffy, since she is so fond of the yellow ones I did previously. I'll try to get pics on the weekend. I haven't got much done lately, in the knitting department, since I am preparing for three months away from work and I need to get all my ducks in a row there. In addition to that, one of the staff is away until after Christmas so I am doing her job as well. Ergo, in order to do the work of two people, I must work extra hours, so have been coming back into the office after I visit the old Aunt and grab a bite to eat at a fast-food restaurant. Then I work until about 9:30pm or so, and hurry home for a glass of champagne and some relaxation before bed-time. Hopefully on the weekend, I will find time to finish up the Christmas stuff and clean the house in preparation for the big event! Our first Christmas with Munchkin, I hope he enjoys it! :o) And here is a final picture of our CMM trying to disguise himself as a reindeer so Santa will let him help deliver presents on Christmas Eve. Let's hope Santa has lots of milk with him during the overnight trip!

Just Ducky

Today our little model looks just..............well.................Ducky! He also looks very happy! I'm looking at this picture and thinking that maybe his little legs aren't quite long enough for that outfit yet, but he looks darn cute none the less!

A quick update regarding Poppa. He went yesterday afternoon and got his Holter Monitor put on. It is a small box about the size of a stud-finder which he clips on his belt. There are five wires going from it to various points on his chest - some quite far from his heart. I wondered how he would sleep last night, but he says he didn't even notice it - and it was still attached this morning. As soon as he got home from the hospital (having it attached to him) yesterday, he shovelled and blew snow to see what reaction that would cause on the little monitor. Of course, we have no way of knowing that information since we do not get to see any of the info it is recording.

He seems to be feeling fine and hasn't experienced any of the symptoms that we now associate with a heart arrythmia - so hopefully that episode is over for a while. He has to go back this afternoon to drop off the monitor. Thankfully for two whole days now - it has not snowed! And, indeed I am thankful for small mercies.

Poppa Update

It just amazes me - the outfits they come up with for babies! Look at this. Our newest Canadian Male Model is proud to present - the Elephant! This simply looks like a cute grey and white bodysuit - until you add the bib and presto........our young model becomes Elmer the Elephant. Adorable!

Now - about Poppa. He was feeling even worse by Sunday at supper time and decided he should go to Emergency and see if they could help him. We arrived - triage - registration - take a seat over there sir. Okay. Zipper (the car) is sitting outside the ER doors on the "ramp" as they call it, and he can't stay there. So I go out to move him. I park him just down the street a little distance and head back to the ER. When I get there Poppa is nowhere in sight...but the people there ahead of us are still waiting. That can't be good - right? Anyway, I have brought some knitting with me, so I take a seat and get out some nice sock yarn and start knitting. Along comes an orderlie who inquires about the knitting, so I inquire about Poppa. He goes away comes back, and says the doctor and nurse are with Poppa and I should keep knitting. About 1/2 an hour later a nurse sticks her head out from behind a door and calls me and says I can come in now. Poppa is lying prone, with an IV and little electrodes all stuck to him and a monitor saying his heart rate is 104 - oops - not good at all. Turns out he has been suffering from a heart arrythmia for the last four days - not the flu at all. Needless to say, this is much more serious. They have some drug going into him from the IV line and are waiting for it to take effect. So, we wait for just over an hour, while I chat and knit and watch the monitor. His heart rate is varying between 98 and 167...........not good! Twice, a nurse comes in and connects to his electrodes and does an ECG and goes away. Then the evening shift nurse comes in to introduce herself and observes that his HR is still too high - she'll tell the doctor. Shortly thereafter, the doctor comes in and decides that another medicine is needed..but first they will do a chest x-ray. Off he goes. When he gets back, the nurse comes in with two medications...an oral one and an IV one. She gives him the pill and then hooks him back up to the monitor.............which says he is perfect! Pulse steady at 78, oxygen saturation at 100%, respirations at 15-20...........perfect! So, she takes away the new IV meds, and the doctor comes back in and says we will wait a while to make sure the oral meds don't slow down his HR too much. Another hour plus goes by.........he's still perfect...........so they say he can go home. But, before we leave they schedule appointments for an echo-cardiogram and a 24-hour heart monitor - and give him a prescription for a drug which regulates his heart rate........kinda scare-ey! Poppa asked them why this happens (I should point out that about 9 years ago he had an episode of this which they deemed to be "not serious"). They said usually stress on his heart, which gets out of control and the heart doesn't know enough to slow back down. They told him it was like "faulty wiring" and the wrong signals were being sent to the node that tells his heart when and how to beat. This was traumatic for him, since he had to admit that he was less than perfect! Yikes - hard for an obsessive/compulsive perfectionist! (That is my own non-professional description of his personality - Hee!) In view of all the heavy, wet snow he had shovelled prior to this event, I can certainly understand that his heart was under a lot of stress.

So the bottom line is, he should be fine if he doesn't over-do - and he has to learn to slow down and not push himself beyond reasonable limits - and let the snow pile up a little or just do it in small doses............which is incredibly hard for my dear work-a-holic perfectionist. I have been trying to help with the snow. I can shovel - but the snowblower is a bit much for me. Hopefully, the results of all the tests do not show permanent damage - and the drug prevents another episode like this one! And - hopefully it will quit snowing for a couple of weeks until we leave for Florida?????

Sunday

Well - Poppa is still sick. So I went out to shovel the driveway....so I can get the car out tomorrow is he is not feeling well enough to keep the car, like he usually does. He came out part way through and did the hard part where the plow went by with the snowblower - against my advice and better judgement. Now he has gone back to bed for a nother nap - I sure wish he would get up feeling better, but it looks like a trip to the walk-in clinic tomorrow - or maybe emergency department - though if I were choosing I would wait for the walk-in clinic! Meantime, when I'm not sitting here writing this blog, then I am sitting here doing some knitting - which as I mentioned yesterday is a nice quiet thing when someone is sleeping. At least it has been bright and sunny today even though the temperature is about -14C which is chilly if you're standing around, but I found out it is quite warm when you are shovelling!

The bears were feeling worried about Poppa and I found them looking like this.

Saturday

TaDa! Here is Taffy in her new yellow outfit. She really likes it and feels quite cozy in this Canadian winter now that she has a nice woollie outfit to wear. She was trying to point her toe like a ballerina because Momma was teaching her how to dance. (Did I ever mention that my daughter is a dance teacher?) And, Taffy insisted that I take a few shots including one to show how nicely her tail tucks inside at the back.

Poppa apparently waited too long to get his flu shot, since he appears to be down for the count today. He says he is better than yesterday, but he's still not very well. So....I did one load of laundry and then I did not much of anything..trying to keep quiet so he can sleep. What a great excuse hey? Hee!

This gave me some time to knit and here are pictures of the new longies to be shipped off to Tennessee for my little friend there (who has just turned two!). Her Mom wanted funky stripes - I'm hoping this is close. The texture doesn't show up as well in the picture as I hoped it would.... but they are quite zany. They are made with 100% wool worsted weight yarn in colours that I hope are complimentary to each other - burgundy, bright pink, pale pink, ivory and chocolate brown.

Ford

There is lots of talk these days about the big three auto-makers. My Dad drove Fords most of my life.....and............so did I. Consequently my darling daughters also tend to be Ford fans. I do believe this may get passed on to one more generation....we'll have to wait and see. I should point out that my Dad later switched to Nissan...which I also did...and Munchkin's Dada also drives a Nissan. They are good cars. But - Momma drives a Ford still and I also loved my Fords - you put fuel in and the exhaust came out....

Finally....

Here we go! Here is a picture of Taffy in her pretty dress (showing off the matching pantaloons underneath). Her big brother Squeegie was good enough to sit in with her to make the picture interesting. She is hoping you all like it - she waited so patiently for such a long time to get a dress. I have also finished her little yellow overalls and little striped t-shirt...we'll get a picture of that soon too! I have started another pair of longies for my little friend in Tennessee - this time some funky stripes in shades of burgundy and pink. I haven't got any pictures yet - I'll try for that by the weekend.

And.......here is a picture of the Munchkin conversing with Poppa - he had much bigger smiles for hilarious Poppa, but it was hard to catch them with the camera. They had so much fun on the weekend that it wore Christopher out, so he curled up and caught some zzzzz's with Nanna.

Meantime Momma and Dada headed out to the hot tub. It was kinda steamy out there, but they appear to be enjoying it.

The weekend flew by and soon it was time for Dada to put on Munchkin's hat and get the car warmed up for the ride back home.

Darn!

Before I left the house this morning I uploaded a couple of pictures I wanted in my blog today...........and when I arrived at work, discovered that they had disappeared from the blog-site...I don't know where they went.........so I will retrieve them later from home. In the meantime, for your viewing enjoyment - here is today's pic of our little smiling Munchkin, (watch for that left hook).....and don't stare! Hee!

New Software

OK - I bought some new software to make address labels (and all sorts of other labels too!) and spent all last evening playing around with it. Which means - I didn't get any pictures downloaded.....and not very much knitting done either. But, I have to get some Christmas cards out...so I need labels...and I got tired of trying to line up all the addresses perfectly in Filemaker, so that they would fit on the Avery labels I have - which are out-dated and intended for typewriters (gasp - yes typewriters! - I still use one at work, believe it or not). But, I do have today's picture of the Munchkin which was sent early this morning by Momma. It is a tad fuzzy, but adorable none the less. This is Munchkin when he is smiling so big that his eyes disappear (not unlike Poppa's big smile!). He is especially happy early in the morning and it is getting easier to catch that moment.

It is snowing outside - again - but it is colder, so the snow is more fluffy - hopefully not so heavy for shovelling. Florida is starting to look good.

December

Here it is - December already! Soon our Munchkin will be 2 whole months old...and already he is practicing for the Canadian Male Model contest...just look at him flexing those muscles! We had a wonderful visit on the weekend. Chris discovered Poppa and found him to be absolutely hilarious. He went to the restaurant for breakfast both mornings, and conducted himself like the little gentleman that he is. Dada and Poppa babysat while Momma & I dashed into town to do some errands. I didn't get very many pictures - time seemed to fly by. Momma did get into the hot tub a couple of times, and I believe Poppa got some pictures of that, while I served as Christopher's daybed. Unfortunately I haven't downloaded any pics from the weekend yet....I will do that this evening - if time allows - I seem to be awfully busy! We got some more of that incredibly heavy, wet snow overnight - but I see a couple of small blue patches in the sky right now.

And so on......

So...........as a follow up to yesterday's pic of our next Canadian Male Model, and keeping my love of bears and Munchkins in mind..........here is today's picture. Christopher is coming for a visit this weekend. The plan is that Momma can have a soak in the hot tub. You see, while Christopher was in residence - she couldn't go in there. However, now that he has emerged into our world, she is looking forward to her opportunity to see why we all like it so much. Then, if there is any time left, she and I will do some Christmas shopping.

On another note, and in keeping with the snow reports - here is a beautiful picture of Auntie Colleen's back yard............yep, that is her house away up there at the end. She and Uncle Shaun have the most beautiful backyard in the summer - and apparently it is also beautiful in the winter (if you like snow that is!).

Nudity

OK - I know - it's been a while. There just hasn't been that much to report. Life has been plodding along as usual, which can be kinda boring to write about. We've had a ton of snow, so Poppa has been busy and is feeling kinda tired and sore by now - and they are still predicting snow every day for at least another week. I have been going to work and going home and working on a pretty little yellow outfit for Taffy since she is tired of wearing Squeegie's sweat suit which is too big for her (picture later). But, then today happened. I got this picture of an almost nude guy in my e-mail this morning...and felt the necessity to share it with all the girls out there reading this blog! So here, without further ado - is our next Canadian Top Male Model!

Long Trip

Christopher went on a long trip on the weekend. He drove, and drove, and drove.....down the highway, through a snow storm...further down the highway. Eventually he arrived at Gramma's house in Windsor. It was a terrible drive though...........partway there he realized he was starving! About this time Momma realized that the bottle for feeding on the road was packed in the trunk. Oh Dear! In her words "he wailed like I've never heard him wail". Oh Dear! Both of them were feeling bad by the time they reached a place to pull off the road and fetch that bottle. However, after some nourishment for Chris they both recovered. Once they got through the snow storm the rest of the journey was uneventful. Momma had her birthday while they were there, and she had a good day.........and got some nice presents..........and an Oreo cake. After a nice visit, Dada, Momma and the Munchkin packed their stuff back into the car and headed home. This time Chris reminded Momma and Dada not to pack his sustenance in the trunk, so a lovely peaceful trip home ensued.

Poppa & I had an easy weekend, though we did get most of our Christmas shopping done...which left Poppa worn out - he finds shopping stressful. I got a lot of the wrapping done too!

The cupcake longies I sent out over a week ago, still haven't arrived at their destination. I am worrying about them. Holding off on the new ones, until I see how they fit - and their new owner is wanting to wear them for her birthday party on Wednesday......so I'm praying they arrive today! Meanwhile I have finished a pair of overalls for Taffy and am working on a matching tee. She really needs winter clothes. She was born in Florida and has lots of summer clothes, but only a few that are suitable for a Canadian winter.

Added a couple of pics of Munchkin - just because I like them! This last one was taken this morning!

Munchkin and Snow

Heavens! We went down on Thursday to Christopher's house and stayed over until Friday evening after supper. Momma went to the Doctor where she was declared fit and ready to slowly resume doing all the things she did before - and she began immediately by going for a walk with Poppa and Christopher (and Nanna) to the mall up the street. Then later she took some laundry down and came back up the stairs..........nothing like hurrying things......but she says she is all right. Nanna stayed with Christopher while Momma was at the doctor and Poppa went off to visit his cousin. Needless to say the Munchkin was an excellent child and behaved to perfection! After supper he fell asleep quite early, so Momma decided to go to bed early. We carefully prepared to make formula since the milk tap was retired for the day. Dada and Nanna were going to do duty, making formula and feeding Chris when he woke up. He kept on sleeping, so I sent Dada to bed - still expecting Chris to wake up shortly. Well............here is what Christopher's living room looked like at 1am Saturday morning........! He finally woke up at 2am and then Nanna fed him...........only to have Momma wake up anyway and come wandering out to see what was going on. She sent Poppa and Nanna to bed, settled Christopher back down again and went back to bed for a nap until morning.

We would have stayed longer, but the weather forecasters were calling for snow in our area on Saturday, so we thought we should head home. Saturday turned out to be a rainy but mild day with no snow..........or so we thought..........until Poppa headed out to the hot tub about 11pm and discovered he would have to shovel a path to get there. He wasn't too impressed. He was less impressed the next morning when he woke up to find about six inches of the white stuff all over the place and had to blow snow to get Zipper out.

It looked like so much fun to sit in the hot tub in the snow, that he shovelled it out again and we both climbed in for a soak. It was fun........snow falling on my face while the rest of me was immersed in hot, bubbly water.

Back to work today..........still lots of snow on the ground. A large portion of the area surrounding us is without power due to snow-laden trees snapping large branches and knocking out the power lines. We were without power for about three hours on Sunday morning, but have had no problems since. I understand there are still about 36,000 homes without power - which they hope to have repaired later this evening. I don't envy all those people!

A few more....

Here are some more pics of the shower at Granny's place. Great-great Aunt Peggy looked peachy, Auntie Colleen looked quite picturesque, Great-Grandma Grace looked quite regal , as usual! It was so good of them all to attend the gala!

Also there was Gramma Linda and Aunt Karen. Gramma Linda was quite brave since she was walking into a room-full of people she had never met. She handled it graciously and everyone was very pleased to meet her. She came toting a huge toy box which she had decorated herself (she's an artist) and it turned out to contain a huge mountain of wonderful toys for Christopher. As you can see Auntie Cecile toured around serving goodies...and in the background you can see Granny Maureen with her youngest grand-daughter - that would be Trinity - who has just learned to walk and demonstrated for us so winsomely!

Here is Trinity's Mom, Lori who travelled from Belleville with her three little ones to honour us with her presence.

And of course, there was Aunt Bonnie, Auntie Tricia, little Cousin Ian and Aunt Linda . Also, I can't leave out Auntie Jean who also contributed a lovely box of butter tarts for snack time - which we all enjoyed immensely. I understand that Great-Gramma Eileen was in on that too - even though she could not be there. Speaking of people who could not be there - another special mention to Aunt Christine who sent a parcel too. And of course, we must remember Aunt Marcia from Toronto - we missed her, but she remembered us and sent a lovely package as well. You can imagine how long it took for Momma to open all of Christopher's presents with so many wonderful people contributing to the huge pile.

As for the guest of honour, he was so worn out from all the excitement visiting all those ladies and opening all those presents that he took a nap in Squeegie's swing and had wonderful dreams. Sleep tight little Munchkin!