October - My Favourite Month

September is the death of summer's freedoms and boasts of forcing children (and teachers) back to school. November is shortened days filled with dreary skies.

October stands between these dreadful months and offers hope to the about to become depressed! Sunlight illuminates trees filled with gold and amber. Crisp days hint of winter, but still recall better days. Harvest time reveals its bounty, most importantly the pumpkin. And as if that was not enough, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and my birthday are jammed into it!

For the Bonnar family, October meant first of all a trip to Aldor Acres farm. Tiernan and Zéphyrine both loved the chance to take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where we were able to pick up several pumpkins. Here you can see that Zéphyrine is actually more interested in eating hay than having her picture taken. Right now, she is in the "stick everything in your mouth" mode - not the best thing at a farm!

Tiernan got the chance to pet a number of the animals including goats, sheep, cows, and rabbits. He especially enjoyed the goats, because they needed chasing before you could pet them! Zéphyrine also pet a rabbit, though she really couldn't figure out what the heck was happening. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were able to spend several hours at the farm. You can check out more photos in the Fall 2009 album.




In the middle of October, Deb and the kids took a trip to Shawville, Quebec, which is quite near Ottawa. They all had the chance to visit with a large number of members of the Duncan clan, many of whom the kids don't get to see enough - Grandma & Grandpa, Great-Grandma, Uncle Graham, Uncle Dave & Aunt Danielle, and Great-Uncle John and Great-Aunt Priscilla.

Grandma & Grandpa have a large backyard filled with tall trees. Here you can see the kids (yes, they're both there) enjoying the chance to play in the leaf piles. We've got a few more photos of this trip in the album, but not that many, because Deb's not as much of a shutterbug as I am. Hopefully some of the relatives will be able to provide some additional photos.

Not long after the rest of the family got back from the trip out east, it was time for Halloween. Needless to say, Tiernan was extremely excited about this event this year. Here you can see the pumpkins that our family carved. The one Tiernan and I did is on the left. Andy and Anthony (our homestays) did the one on the right.

Tiernan dressed as a cowboy for Halloween. Zéphyrine said she wanted to dress as Amelia Earhart because Amelia is a real role model for her. You can see more pictures in the Fall 2009 album.

It's November now, a month that doesn't have much to offer. Cold, rainy days. Longer and longer nights. A long wait until Christmas. Well, at least there's still all that leftover Halloween candy. Speaking of which, I think it's time to sign off....

And it looks like the Summer is over

To your left, you can see a picture of my happy family enjoying the summer. If you're here for the photos, you can check out several new albums linked on the right hand side. If you'd like to read an update on our family, please proceed.

September is almost over and life is busy again, which feels like an oddly comforting thing. Perhaps it's our need for routine. The past year and a half have been anything but routine. It will be nice if things settle into "normal" again.

Summer went by too quickly again. We didn't really do very much, just the ever so trendy "staycation". Deb was off work on maternity leave, but I was teaching summer school and we had an exchange student stay with us for a couple of weeks. So, we really didn't have much time to take a vacation anyways. Even if we had the time, we'd have had to stay in Canada because we don't have passports. In July though I received my Canadian Citizenship card after an 9 month wait. Now, I am Canadian again, after apparently unwittingly living in limbo for several years when rules changed for Canadians born overseas. So, we can actually apply for passports and be ready to travel, except perhaps for the time and the money issues!

Staying at home gave both Deb and me plenty of time with the kids. This is both a good and a bad thing :) We love them dearly, but there are admittedly times when you can have too much of a good thing. Tiernan is back at daycare now three days a week which gives him the opportunity to get out his energy playing with friends and gives us a chance to refuel.

Here's how we've spent the last few months.

Tim - It was strange going back to work in April after three months off on sick leave. The end of the school year was somewhat of a blur. A lot of the time it felt like my brain was stuck in molasses. I wasn't especially eager to work summer school, but my mortgage seemed to think it was a good idea. I don't know if the kids actually were worse this summer or if it just seemed that way. I was happy when it came to an end. As stated above, we didn't really do much this summer, but I did enjoy my weeks at home with the kids. I did do a few things around the house, though nothing as major as adding a room like I did last summer. There was wiring that needed fixing, a leaking toilet to repair, new screens to be made for some windows, and a whole bunch of other little things. It's funny really, our international homestays (Andy and Anthony) who live with us find it so strange for a "professional" to be doing "manual labour", but in our culture we encourage people to tinker in the trades and I enjoy doing it. Knowing when to call the professional tradesman is very important though and I try not to bite off more than I can chew.

School started up again in early September and I'm finally feeling somewhat on top of things (except for the marking that has already begun to pile up!). My jobs as International Student Coordinator and Social Studies Department Head take up a lot of my time and involve a lot of paper work. It's actually nice when I have the chance to teach! This year it's going to be fun to learn how to use the SMARTBoard that is going to be installed in my room courtesy of funds from the Langley Foundation.

Tiernan - Tiernan missed going to daycare over the summer and seeing his friends there. He kept busy though in a variety of ways. He went to a whole bunch of summer camps which meant a commitment of about an hour a day. These camps included soccer, baseball, gymnastics, cooking, and drama. He found the ones for team sports quite difficult - he's easily frustrated when he can't do something right that others are doing around him. So, we'll have to wait a while longer on things like soccer and baseball. However, he had a lot of fun at the rest of the camps and learned some new skills along the way.

Tiernan also spent a lot of time going swimming with Dad. We especially liked going to the outdoor pool in Fort Langley. He progressed a lot during the summer. At the beginning he spent a lot of time swimming in a life jacket. By the end, he could swim in the deep end by himself with the life jacket or in the shallow end without a life jacket doing a sort of hop/push/swim combination. He also loved sticking his head underwater diving for rings.

Tiernan enjoys spending time riding his scooter that he got from Grandpa and Grandma Duncan. He also spent a fair bit of time of his tricycle. (There's video of him on the scooter and the tricycle in Tiernan's Video Album). Just about a week ago we bought him a new bike because he had really outgrown the tricycle. He's had a lot of fun on the Tonka truck themed bicycle (with training wheels still attached).

Tiernan's big challenge this summer has been toilet training. It would have been great if he learned earlier, but since Deb had such a lousy pregnancy and then I got extremely ill, it's understandable that he hadn't learned. It was somewhat frustrating at times, but the use of stickers (and sadly candy and prizes) has finally succeeded. There are occasional accidents, like today when we waited too long in between toilet visits. But, for the most part he is now succeeding. Currently, he's working to accumulate enough stickers for a Little Tikes Camera. He's very excited that he's going to have a camera of his own and I'm excited that he's going to stop using mine!

Zéphyrine - Our beautiful daughter has spent the last few months growing like a weed (or perhaps a less noxious, but still fast growing plant like bamboo). Looking back at her baby pictures, I'm amazed by how much bigger she looks. She's doing a lot more now too. She is constantly moving it seems. One of her favorite places to be is in the Jolly Jumper - she just loves to bounce. She also enjoys standing and can now pull herself up to a standing position on her own. She also seems to be very close to crawling, so it's going to be even crazier here soon.

Zéphyrine loves to talk, often quite loudly making her point. She and I like to play a game where we both talk/growl at each other at the same time. She loves one-on-one attention. When I am trying to use the computer while I hold her on my lap she reaches up and grabs my face and turns it so I'm looking at her. She loves to giggle as well. Zéphyrine is a Mommy's girl, but her giggles are usually reserved for playtime with her brother. However, but just this weekend I discovered that she is now very ticklish. I had tried earlier without much success, but this time I put her in a giggle fit. Her laugh is very similar to Tiernan's. Is that genetics?

Deb - My wonderful wife had a pretty crazy last year with a pregnancy that involved a lot of sickness and then a husband getting very ill just before she gave birth. She's enjoyed having a more normal last few months. She's been keeping busy recently looking after Tiernan and Zéphyrine and a lot of things around the house. She's also been enjoying being able to go to regular Mom & Tot workout classes.

That's about all for now. I'll be trying to post more regularly this fall, but no guarantees. Enjoy the photos in the albums listed on the side.

Brand New Baby - Zéphyrine Elizabeth

We are delighted to announce the birth of our second child, a beautiful daughter. Zéphyrine Elizabeth Bonnar was born at 3:49 a.m. on Thursday, March 19th, at Langley Memorial Hospital. At birth, she weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and was 20 inches long. She is a healthy, beautiful baby and we are very blessed to have her.

Deb began labour at 1:15 a.m. on Thursday, the 19th. We had both stayed up late reading and were just getting ready to go to sleep - suddenly we realized it was going to be a very tiring night. The contractions were already about 3 1/2 minutes apart, so we called the midwife after 3 contractions. Carolyn, the same midwife who had delivered Tiernan, had predicted that this would be a fast delivery, so now she told us to go straight to the hospital.

We drove straight to LMH, checked in, and got to our room at around 2 a.m. The midwife arrived not long after us. For just over an hour the contractions continued at about 3 1/2 minutes apart. Then all of a sudden things got exciting. Deb had 3 strong contractions about a minute a part. She asked me to help her kneel back on the bed and then abruptly yelled out that she had to push. The midwife was still doing paperwork as I saw the baby crown on the first push!

I called Carolyn over, and we all got ready - except for Deb, who had somehow stopped her pushing and now needed to be convinced to push again. Not such an easy thing to do, convincing her of that. After about 10 - 15 minutes, Deb decided she was ready. Four strong pushes later and the baby was out.

Unfortunately it wasn't quite over for Deb. The placenta didn't come out for over an hour and there was a fair bit of bleeding because of that. Overall though, she came through the experience better than with Tiernan's birth: less exhausted, and more able to interact with baby.

Now that we knew the baby was a girl, we gave her the name we'd chosen: Zéphyrine Elizabeth. Zéphyrine is a French name and comes from the Greek Zephyr, which means west wind or gentle breeze. It's pronounced Zeff-REEN. Two syllables, rhyming with Christine. We chose it because we liked the name and it was unique. (We couldn't give her a common name after we named our first Tiernan could we?) Elizabeth means God's promise. Elisabeth in the Bible was the mother of John the Baptist - a woman who honoured God. We hope and pray that our daughter will be both her own unique self and a woman who honours God.

Zéphyrine was very healthy at birth. We've had quite a few people ask if she was a C-Section baby because her head was perfectly round after birth. She spent most of her first day on our planet either sleeping or learning how to eat. Teaching her to breast feed wasn't easy, but it wasn't nearly as difficult as it was with Tiernan. Some extra help, prior knowledge and a more alert baby really helped. Tiernan didn't learn to breast feed for almost a week. Zéphyrine figured it out for the most part in the first day while still in hospital. We stayed in hospital for two nights and came home during the day on March 21st.

Thank goodness Zéphyrine has figured out the basics of eating well and sleeping reasonably well, because I don't know how we would have coped if was as much work as Tiernan was. Most of you know that I had been in hospital because of a liver abscess (more on that in another post). I'm recovering at home now, but both Deb and I were both worn out from that ordeal. Having a new baby is tiring enough, without going into it so fatigued in the first place.

We've had so much help from family and friends and we really appreciate all of you for the prayers and the practical support. Many friends from church and from work have visited, looked after Tiernan and provided meals. My parents have put in many, many hours coming over to help. Deb's Mom came out from Quebec to live with us for a few weeks and provided invaluable contributions taking care of us and the house.

It's now April 15th and I'm finally finishing the first blog entry about Zéphyrine. The last few weeks have been exhausting, but we still feel blessed. Being parents is a weighty responsibility and sometimes it wears us out. It is also a fantastic opportunity. Tiernan has become such a wonderful part of our lives. And now, amazingly, Zéphyrine is as well. Just like that we have a daughter we love with all of our hearts.

Liver Abscess = Not so much fun!

This year from the middle of January to the middle of April, I went through the fun of having a liver abscess. Many of you will have heard a fair bit about my illness, but some might not have heard as many details, so I thought I'd provide a brief summary/timeline. Following the summary, I've written a few final thoughts, so skip to the end if the details start to overwhelm you!

Jan. 19th - Regular gastroenterologist appointment - I saw my doctor and had a blood test. All seemed well.

Jan. 20th - I started to feel feverish and thought I had caught a flu virus. I took the next few days off work because of fevers and chills. I spent these days lying on the couch trying not to vomit while surviving on cup-of-noodles and Gatorade.

Jan. 25th - I went to a clinic because I still felt so lousy. He told me to get some bloodwork.

Jan. 27th - the clinic doctor called me in and told me I should go to the ER. Deb drove me up to the ER at Langley Memorial. I guess I must have looked pretty bad, because they rushed me right in and started doing tests right away. Four hours later I had given blood several times, had an X-Ray, an ECG, an ultrasound and a CT scan. They started me on an IV and antibiotics. Then they told me I had liver abscess that was 16cm x 14 cm x 9 cm. I.E. there was a giant mass of bacteria in the middle of my liver, making it so large it was pushing up on my lungs making it hard to breathe properly. It had probably been growing for weeks or months without my body even noticing until the fevers suddenly started.

Jan. 28th - the radiologist put a drain into my liver just below my ribs on my right side. In the first couple of days, over 2 litres of fluid drained out from the abscess. Over the next few days fluid continued to exit, but at a much slower rate. I was now on 2 antibiotics, but still getting fevers.

Feb. 2nd - a 2nd CT scan showed that the abscess wasn't much diminished in size.

Feb. 4th - transfer to Vancouver General was ordered, so I could see a liver (hepatobiliary) specialist. A long wait for transfer ensued. The worst part about the wait was the accommodations. I was staying in a very small room that I shared with 3 other people. During the time I was there I had several room-mates come and go. Somehow, it seemed to me that I had a lot of bad luck with room-mates. One elderly lady spent hours complaining to visitors or on her cell phone about having to be at Langley instead of Royal Columbian. Meanwhile, she was apparently exposing us all to a superbug she had picked up at Royal Columbian - fortunately I didn't get it. Another man had some mental issues and spent hours talking loudly to himself in Spanglish. When he did fall asleep, he snored louder than almost anyone I've ever heard! Several times he suddenly became violent with the nursing staff. Fun times with the roomies!

Feb. 9th - blood transfusion of 2 litres because my hemoglobin levels were very low. I had to wait until late in the day for the transfusion because the phlebotomist forgot to come take blood. Then the next day, I had to ask for blood work again to see if the transfusion had worked, because the doctor had forgot to request it.

Feb. 12th - I was finally transferred to VGH, getting my first ride in an ambulance - a long slow, bumpy, cold ride. I arrived at the hospital and found Deb was already there waiting for me, because the ambulance had taken a very slow route through a lot of traffic. I was extremely happy to see that I now had a single room all to myself. It seemed more like a hotel room than a hospital room, especially compared to the shared accommodation at Langley. At VGH I went a couple of days not eating for long stretches as I took more tests.

Feb. 14th - a new drain was inserted during an ultrasound. The new drain was placed so that it reached a different compartment of the abscess. Slow draining continued for the next few weeks.

Feb 20th - I was discharged from the hospital. By this time I had lost about 30 pounds. I was feeling somewhat better, but was still very tired and experiencing some pain. Once I got home, I discovered that life in hospital was a lot easier - comfortable bed, meals brought to the bed, bathroom ten feet away, etc. Although Deb did her best to look after me, she was also still nauseous from pregnancy and was also still looking after Tiernan. So, she was very tired as well.

While at home I now had to take care of my drain. Each day I flushed it with saline solution three times - pushing in saline with a syringe and then drawing out the infected fluid. At the end of each day I emptied the hemovac container the drain led to.

March 2nd - My drain stopped working properly. Fluid started coming out around the drain instead of just through it. The process of flushing the drain began to become more painful. We went back to VGH where I was admitted into the ER. There were no proper spots available upstairs, but I was moved into a shared room as the third occupant, spending the next two nights in a very uncomfortable stretcher bed. On the 3rd of March, they did another CT scan and decided after a long discussion that nothing major was wrong and that it was okay infected fluid was exiting through a tract around the tube, as long as it was exiting. Not very comforting.

March 4th - Discharged from hospital again. My Mom and Dad came and picked me up. I was in a lot of pain that day. Getting into the car was agonizing. I almost wanted to just get out of the car and walk back to the ER to say I needed to be admitted again because of the pain!

March 8th - Flushing the drain became very painful. Now I was basically unable to draw out any fluid at all and when I tried it hurt. For the next week, almost everything I did hurt. I called the doctor's office to ask what to do and never heard back.

March 13th - I went back downtown for another CT scan. It was very weird doing it as an outpatient. I actually had to walk everywhere and carry my own stuff instead of having a porter wheel me around on a stretcher.

March 17th - I went to an appointment with the specialist. He told me that the CT scan looked good and that I could have my drain removed. Then he proceeded to pull it out, right there in the office. It hurt like the dickens, but then suddenly all the pain I'd been experiencing for the last few weeks was gone. I had a major adrenaline rush that day just because I was pain free.

March 19th - I was fortunately feeling well enough to be there to help Deb through the birth of our new daughter, Zéphyrine. I spent the next few weeks trying to get rest while also helping Deb with Zéphyrine and Tiernan.

April 13th - tomorrow I go back to work for the first time in almost three months. I can't believe I've actually been gone that long. It's the longest I've been off work since I started teaching in 1996. Yes, I know, some of you think I should be used to long breaks because I'm a teacher. Ha, ha, ha. I don't really know how I'm going to do going back. I'm definitely feeling better, but I'm still easily tired and my brain feels a little foggy at times. I will do my best to "take it easy", but realistically that's more than a little hard to do in my job and with two young kids at home. Oh well, there's always that long teacher's summer to recuperate, right?


Final thoughts

1. I am very grateful to be a Canadian. Our health care system is indeed quite amazing. The care I was given was both fantastic and free. We are so glad of that, because I think if we had to pay for the care I received we would now be looking at a second mortgage.

2. We have fantastic friends (from church, work, and the neighbourhood) and family members. So many people helped us in so many ways - including providing meals, childcare, help around the house, visits to the hospital and moral support. This difficult circumstance reminded us how important our relationships are and that we are truly blessed in this regard.

3. I have a wonderful wife! I still can't really believe that Deb managed to look after the house, our two international students, Tiernan, and a sick husband while in the last months of a difficult pregnancy. Or that she continued to do so after Zéphyrine was born. Best of all - she still loves me! Seriously, she's been fantastic and I'm lucky to have her.

4. Finally, God is good. It is quite amazing how he has taken care of our family during this time. Through everything that happened we have seen God's hand at work. Often he worked through others. But he also ministered directly to us - providing the love and encouragement we needed. And he blessed us in the end, not just with my health, but with our brand new baby!

First Swim!

Just a quick blog here, because we're leaving on vacation today! We're going to be spending a week each in New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec, visiting family and friends. I'll probably update the blog from the road, though Tiernan's grandparents, who are the most eager readers, will actually be spending real live time with him and probably won't need to be checking the net!

On Friday (July 21st), Tiernan went swimming for the first time. He really enjoyed paddling around in Uncle Jon and Auntie Michele's pool. I was actually surprised by how much he enjoyed it. The only time he got upset at all was when I put him on his back. As long as he could see where he was going, he was fine. He's a very inquisitive baby. New experiences fascinate him. That makes for a lot of fun exploration of the world!

It's been a long time!

If you're someone who reads this blog at all, I'm sure you've noticed that it's been a very long time since I updated it (or added pictures to the flickr account). Apologies to everyone for that. The last few months have been a little crazy between looking after Tiernan, catching up at work and continuing to deal with a flare-up of my Crohn's disease. My health is still not great right now, but school is done for another year, so I've got more time for things like a blog.

Needless to say, Tiernan has changed a lot in the last three months. He is now almost five months old (eight days shy) and is starting to become more and more grown up all of the time. I'm not going to try to summarize the last three months. I think that would take so much time I'd never actually get it done! Instead, I'll just try to describe to you what Tiernan is like right now.

1. Physical Description
Tiernan now weighs 16lbs 12oz, and is 26 inches long according to the public health clinic. When we took him to the doctor recently his weight was quite a bit lower, which didn't make a lot of sense to us, because he doesn't look as underfed as the doctor said he must be. He is quite slim, but is safely at the 50th percentile. He's got some rolls, but not a lot of them. He's a lot like his cousin Pieter was in that way. He's very active, so he's not likely to get pudgy.
He didn't have a lot of hair at birth, mostly a bit at the back of his head. Almost all of that hair is gone and he looks quite bald as you can see in the picture above. New hair is just starting to grow in, a light dusting of ruddy brown coloured strands. I don't think his hair will remain red, but it's interesting to see his Irish heritage. He has super long eyelashes that show off his extremely dark eyes. Sometimes, it's hard to distinguish between the iris and the pupil. Nevertheless, he somehow manages to get red eye on almost every photo! That keeps Daddy busy with the computer photo software.
Tiernan's a very pale baby. Everyone comments on how white he looks, especially now that many people are getting summertime tans. He of course is not allowed to go tanning; we've strictly forbidden it. He has very sensitive skin too, with a couple of patches of eczema and red spots where his clothes tags have rubbed against him. Despite, or perhaps because of, his pale skin, he looks best in strong colours like dark blues or greens or in bright colours like red.

2. Temperament
Tiernan is what is called "spirited" by the Baby Whisperer (someone whose books on parenting we are reading). He's got tons of energy; his body parts are always moving when he's awake and often when he's asleep. He has definite opinions about where he wants to be and what he wants to be doing. And he does his best to make those opinions known, often with a yell to get Mommy or Daddy's attention. Notice I said a yell, not a cry. He does cry, though usually only when he's overtired. When he's hungry or has just woken up or wants to switch activities, he yells.
He loves spending time with people. Mom and Dad are his favourite options, but anyone will do. He's extremely personable and smiles brightly for people who talk to him. He's very comfortable being picked up by different people, which I'm sure the grandparents will be happy to hear! Most of the time, he is a very happy baby. He seems to enjoy living life and learning new things, and it's all the better for him if other people are there to do it with him. He especially loves kids, including his cousins and the kids at his babysitter's (a friend from church who looks after him occasionally so Deb can have some time to run errands or have a workout).

3. Developmental Description (Including activities he likes to do)
Tiernan began to play with toys several weeks ago. He's got a really strong grip and loves to pick things up. He usually then tries to eat them. He also loves eating his hands. Unfortunately all this chewing has led to a lot of drooling, so we often make him wear a bib!
He has started to enjoy looking at himself in the mirror over the past few weeks. He loves to look at the pictures that are on the walls and also at pictures in books. He enjoys listening to books in English, French, and Spanish. Might as well see if we can make him trilingual, eh? He loves to talk as well, vocalizing all sorts of things. We love having conversations with him.
He loves to explore, especially going outside to the backyard to look at everything there. New environments thrill him (and the house is starting to bore him). As a result, he is now happy to get into his car seat as he knows it means that he is going out. That's quite a change!
He enjoys watching his Baby Einstein videos and anyone singing on t.v. In fact he'll watch pretty much anything on t.v. He's got the potential to be a real couch potato if we're not careful! We have to remember to turn the t.v. off and play with him even when we're tired.
Fortunately, he's a very active boy, so we're not too worried. He loves to stand up and to bounce around. He enjoys spending time in his exersaucer and recently in his Jolly Jumper as well.
Finally, he is starting to enjoy sleep a bit more and we hope that continues! Because we need more ourselves. He's starting to do a better job of going to sleep when we put him in his crib. We're thankful he is willing to accept his stuffed puppy as a surrogate for Mom and Dad. He hangs on to it tightly as he goes to sleep and sometimes we find him lying in his crib wrestling with his puppy after his wakes.


I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading! I hope you've now got a better idea of how Tiernan's doing. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, emails and phone calls. They're all greatly appreciated!

Tim (with credit to Deb for a lot of the details)

P.S. Don't forget to check out Tiernan's new photos. Follow the link on the side!

Ready for his crib? No, not so much!

In this photo that I took a week ago, Tiernan looks like he is enjoying life in his crib. Don't be deceived! This visit to his crib lasted about 20 minutes before he started crying to Dad to take him out. Good news: he did seem to enjoy himself for those 20 minutes. The mobile that we had bought at the Swap Meet was definitely a hit. He also had fun with his stuffed puppy dog and the pillow that was sent all the way from New Zealand.

The crib is located in his nursery, which doubles as my office. For now, he sleeps in the bassinet in the playpen that we keep in our bedroom. Or, when he's fussy, he sleeps in the bed with us. A friend recently loaned us a mini-bed that sits in our bed between us so he sleep with us without us needing to worry about crushing him! It doesn't leave us with much room, but it's great for peace-of-mind.

Tiernan is starting to spend more time alert during the day. When he's happy this is producing some quality play time. He's smiling a lot more now, which makes playtime much more fun. Today, he did some jumping. I held his head up and supported his bum and he bounced up and down on the floor. When his neck becomes stronger, he's going to love the jolly jumper.

Unfortunately, part of the alertness seems to be a bit more trouble falling asleep. Once he's asleep, he has been having longer and deeper sleeps, but he has trouble getting to sleep in the first place. Lots of rocking is starting to build up my forearms!

Last Friday he had his final visit to the midwives. He passed "final inspection" with flying colours! He now weighs 11 lbs and is very healthy. That's great news, but comes with the sad addendum that we don't need to see the midwives anymore. We are very thankful to Carolyn, Lindsey, and Heather for all of the care that they provided for Deb and Tiernan. Great job, ladies. Thanks so much!

The New Normal

My cousin Julie, who became a new mom just a few months ago, asked in a recent email whether Deb and I had adjusted to the new normal. I thought the question was a good one and the phrase quite apt. Nothing is the same as it was before, nothing is really back to what we would have once called normal. So, what exactly is the new normal like? And have we adjusted to it?

1. The new normal involves the adaptation of almost every single activity. For example, Dad's time reading the sports on the internet is now also often time spent holding Tiernan to keep him occupied. He's been reading along with me and is convinced the Blue Jays are going to do really well this year!

2. Bed times are earlier and sleep is never for long periods of time. I miss sleeping in on Saturday mornings, as I usually get up and look after Tiernan for a few hours since I don't have to go to work. Deb misses just getting more than three or four hours of sleep at a time!

3. Conversations with other people begin and end with discussion of Tiernan. Usually the middle is pretty focused on him, too. We have crossed over into parenthood and now we find ourselves further differentiated from our friends without babies, both single and married. Having now gone through the life-changing process of having a baby, it's hard for me not to think that everyone should notice how much the world has changed now that my son is in it. However, I'm well aware that I probably didn't pay much attention to the births of children of our friends and family. I've resolved to do better in the future, though that resolve might be forgotten because of fatigue!

4. Garbage now outpaces recycling. We can no longer claim to recycle more than we throw out and I'm afraid that the dirty diapers are to blame. We've considered cloth diapers, honestly we have, but there seems so much to do in a day right now that we can't really imagine adding more. So, sorry to all you environmentalists and to the environment itself.

5. Normal now actually involves a lot of good quality couple time. Mostly because Deb's not at work anymore and balancing a shift-work schedule. We actually sit down for supper at the kitchen table at around 6 p.m. every night. And we talk. I don't miss eating supper alone on the couch in front of the t.v. while my wife is at work. We also spend a lot of time doing things as a family, like bathing Tiernan, or playing with him, or trying to get him through a fussy evening (which this week was every evening).

6. Normal also now involves many brand new activities. We are being initiated into the activities of parenthood's secret society. Like today, when we went to a Kid's Swap Meet. Previously, I avoided such things like the plague. Today, Deb and I plunged in. Well, okay, maybe we waded in more than plunged in. Admittedly, there was some trepidation, but we knew we'd survived bazaars in Africa, so we'd probably be okay. It was a somewhat chaotic experience, but we were able to get a few things that we needed at very reasonable prices. We'll go again to the next one in the fall, I imagine, and soon it will be old hat. Just part of the routine of parenthood.

There's a lot more to say and a lot more to discover about the new normal, but I think I need to go get some sleep. So, are we adjusting to the new normal? Yes, I believe we are. In some ways this is hard, but overall we really do prefer things the way they are now. Which I guess is a good thing, because there's nothing we can do about it now, is there?

Bath Time and a Weigh-In

We bought a new tub at Toys R Us last weekend. We thought it would be easier to work with a tub that sits in the sink and to a degree we were right. This is a picture of Tiernan taking his first bath in the new tub (with a carefully positioned wash cloth!). He's really beginning to enjoy his baths, which definitely makes the whole bathtime experience easier.

The second bath in the new tub took place on Tuesday and it didn't go so smoothly. We discovered that we have to start baby-proofing already! As you can see, there's a spider plant sitting right beside the sink. As we were starting his bath off, I was holding him in my arms and Deb was washing his hair. He started swinging his arms around and I joked that we'd better be careful or he'd grab the plant and pull it over. No sooner had I finished saying it than Tiernan did it!! Dirt from the plant filled his tub and the surrounding area and he just sat there in my arms, still holding a frond of the spider plant! He's already making mischief, little monkey.

Yesterday, Deb and I took him to the midwife for his five week check-up. It was actually supposed to be a four week check-up, but they didn't have a spot open last week. So, off we went to get him checked out. The main question we both had was how much he would weigh. He hadn't been weighed since he was two weeks old. At that time he was 7lbs 10oz. We had no idea how much he weighed now, but Deb had been somewhat worried that he wasn't eating enough. Boy was she wrong! As of yesterday, he weighed 10lbs! He gained over 2lbs in three weeks. Apparently, he is eating plenty. Expect to see the rolls of fat beginning to accumulate!

Of course, just after I wrote the previous paragraph this afternoon, he started fussing and has been fussing for about six hours. He seems to be hungry, but he doesn't want to eat. We finally got him to eat a little bit from a bottle. Hopefully, he'll fall asleep some time soon. Sometimes, this new job of ours can be very tiring! And it sure interferes with the old job. I was supposed to get a lot of marking done today and did none! Ah, well, there's always tomorrow.

Tim

Welcome and Thanks

First of all, I want to thank you for the love and support that so many of you have offered. We have appreciated all of the visits, meals, phone calls, emails, and gifts. We will be sending out some thank-you notes soon, but I thought I'd let you know how much Deb, Tiernan and I appreciate you.

This is just a quick entry to welcome you to the site. If you are viewing this entry, it's probably because I sent you an email telling you about it. I hope that you enjoy your visit. Feel free to read as much or as little as you like. Some of you are maybe not as familiar with blogs (weblogs), so let me point out a couple of things.

1. The entries appear in reverse chronological order, with the newest at the top.
2. You can leave comments by clicking on the word "comments" at the bottom of an entry.
3. There aren't many entries yet, but I will be trying to write an entry every week or two. Check back! As the blog grows, use the archives to return to older entries if you need to.
4. There is a link to a Flickr Photo page on the right hand side of the blog.

Flickr Instructions:
This page contains a selection of photos of Tiernan arranged in both a photo stream (in reverse chronological order from newest uploads to oldest uploads) and in three topical sets (in chronological order). You can click on a set to view it. Both the photo stream and the sets can also be viewed as slide shows (look for the link on the right hand side of a page).

These photos can be copied or saved to your own computer. They can then be printed on a home printer or at a store. Some stores will print them for you if you save them on a CD or upload them to the store online. I've done that at Walmart and will be making a gallery available soon that you can prints from at any Walmart. There is an option on Flickr, when you click on a photo, that says "order prints". Unfortunately this option only works in the U.S., not in Canada yet.

I hope these instructions are helpful. Feel free to email, comment or call if you have any questions.

Tim