Q: Pink or Blue?

19 weeks 5 days

We're at 19 weeks and 5 days. Almost 5 months now. With each passing week Tresa is getting slightly bigger. It's still hard to tell but when I put my arm around her belly, there's more to put my arm around.

Well today is another appointment with the Ultrasound machine. Between weeks 18 and 20, you should be able to tell the sex of the baby. But I've heard stories that some people couldn't tell until their 7th month. That's probably what we'll tell Teen - that we couldn't tell yet. If she's reading this, hey Teen, even if we do know what the sex is, we're not telling you so don't bother to ask.

Well we had the appointment a few hours back. Do we know? Or don't we? Tresa didn't want to know. But I did. It's not that it mattered to me whether it was a boy or a girl. I would be equally happy with either.

They did a very long and detailed ultrasound test today. About 45 minutes long. They took a ton of measurements of our baby. At first I couldn't tell what he was looking at or what he was scanning. It just looked like black and grey blobs like those 70's style lava lamps. I asked him what it was, because I didn't know. He said we was scanning the surrounding area first before he started scanning our baby.

He scanned and took snapshots of the spine. The feet, the kid was crosslegged so it was tough to get both feet, then the baby started moving. Whoa...it's alive. So neat. The hands were around the eyes sort of hiding it's face. He took measurements of the legs and arms and parts of the brain. Even the lips, nose and eyes. I'm not sure but the nose might have been big and pointy. Definitely not a filipino nose. It was kinda hot in the room and for a long time the ultrasound guy was just doing his job and not saying anything and I was only there to find out the sex and so I was starting to get drowsy and fall asleep, but these hospitals don't exactly like to purchase comfortable chairs.

I then began asking him what's this and what's that. Because it was the only way to stay awake. The Ultrasound Tech then began uttering words instead of operating like a robot.

He then asked the magic question. "Do you want to know the sex?"
Tresa said that she didn't want to, but I did. To which he said. I can only tell you - the mother. That's not entirely fair, I thought. That kid is half me. Without my boys, there'd be no baby there in the first place. And the sperm dictate what sex the baby is. Tresa looked at me to see if her veto power would crush me. It wouldn't crush me, but I would be constantly thinking. Boy or Girl? Blue or Pink.

So the ultrasound tech guy went out of the room to get the report from all the measurements. Tresa said, it's okay if he knows, I'll just turn my head. So then I stood up to get a closer look at the screen. He was moving the device and images were being displayed. Okay, what am I looking at? I didn't want to ask any questions he just keep scanning and looking for the tell tale clue that would identify the gender? I looked at the screen blankly. I guess he could tell I was not the radiologist of the family. Plus I was sleepy. Then he typed something on the screen and looked at me.

That was it. The answer to my question. Is it Pink or Blue.

He then started scanning again in order to get a profile of our baby. The kid's mouth was moving like a fish. Like it was breathing. One of Tresa's friends called their kid - Nemo - because throughout the ultrasound that's what their kid was doing. Hmm...named after a clownfish. Nice!

As we were walking back to my office building to get the car and head to this Christmas bazaar at a children's school near our house, Tresa asked me why I wanted to know. I said it didn't matter what it was. I just wanted to know. When I have questions in my head, I need to have them answered. It's just curiosity.

I am satisfied, I can now go about my day unfettered with this one lingering question.

Maddi: I Feel Like a Woman!

So who is that I see in the photo? Maddi! It's you. So where's the southern drawl nanny? And I'm not talking aboot Shania, cuz she's Canadian, I'm talking aboot the American mamma. Is that what you were looking back at?

So after looking for about an hour online for the photo, I found it. Just when I was about to give up and head upstairs.

So this is really cool. She made it on the front page of the National Post. Without being in handcuffs or something. Just for being in the right place at the right time. Way to go Maddi. Your family is proud (that you didn't make a face).

And a movie review on DVD rentals: Johnny English. So bad I can't even give it any thumbs down. Don't even rent this. Don't waste your coupons on it. Just borrow it from Ninie, her and Ray bought it.

Look who's had and having a BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Camryn

Not the one on the left, but the one with the bigger head on the right.
Yep this is Timmins. The wonderful world of white and I'm not just talking snow. And sub-zero temperatures in Farenheit. This is where the Day after Tomorrow was filmed.

Camryn is turning 5, I think. Not sure through all those layers of clothing.


Happy Birthday Jade!

Doesn't she look happy! She's turning 10 and look at her brother helping her be as happy as a fly in a breeze, just before hitting the windshield.

Sweet 16

So we're at 16 weeks and 5 days to be exact, as of today.
It was a cold and rainy day. No this wasn't a Pizzaville Pizza commercial. We were on our way to see our OB Gynie doctor.

It was sort of misting when I left the office. Which turned into larger drops once I got to TGH. Tresa had called me earlier to remind me of our appointment at 3pm. I planned to leave at 2:30pm to give myself enough time to get there. I ended up leaving at about 2:48pm. I was going to be a few minutes late. When I got to TGH just before college on Elizabeth St, I noticed Tresa walking just ahead of me. Right on schedule...late as usual. I had to make a pitstop at my sister's work in order to drop off Ryan's b-day present. Which I found out was too small. Kids grow too fast man. So I'm off to dig something else out of my closet that I don't use anymore. HEH. :-) DOH...I gave my secret away. Ah it doesn't matter none of the kids read this blog anyways.

We were prepared to be waiting at the doctor's office for at least 45 minutes. So I was prepared. I had my book, and water and an apple. Which by the way I've managed to work down to 2-1/2 bags. I've slowed down a bit from the 5 apples a day to about 2 apples a day. But figure I should get it back up to about 3 apples a day to finish it off before they go bad. You know when you pick your own apples, they last a lot longer than the ones you buy in the supermarket.

When I finally got to the doctor's office I noticed that there was one lady in the waiting room, and no Tresa. I asked if she'd already gone in. They informed me that she'd just gone to check her sugar level. So I wasn't late. We waited about 5 mins before we went in.

We checked the baby's heartbeat and checked the mama's blood pressure. Everything looks really good. We asked our questions. Dr. Herer was extremely positive about the test results and everything, and as usual - was her funny and dry self.
She was asking me questions and looking at Tresa. Like "how far along are you, Ray?", which at first I thought I heard "how are you, Ray". I mumbled "fine", while I sat there, sucking on my lollipop which were sugar free and Dr. Herer keeps them in the front waiting room. I guess she didn't hear me because the resident med-student was tearing up the tissue paper on the examination bed with the stirrups and oven mitts, so all you hear was paper crunching. Then I heard Dr. Herer repeat it again - "how far along are you, Ray". Thinking. My wife's name is Tresa. So I kept on working the sucker and kept quiet. Then Tresa spoke up and said 16 weeks. Dr. Herer said she was asking me to see if I was paying attention.

We like her a lot. When we had to go do our FTS, we had Dr. Livingston at Mt. Sinai who was also great and had a funny disposition. I think too many people, in general, have no sense of humour. Make work fun people. You're there all day, might as well have a good time.

Here's the final Jeopardy question for today:
Q: They rub your back and help you breath while you are giving birth.



A: What is a Doula?
It's the same as a midwife.

We were thinking about getting a midwife, but they're only good if you have a natural birth at home. Which, for us, would be out of the question. Because I don't know what's going on as it is. So having the services of an entire hospital right there, is important to me. In case I pass out or something, knock on wood.

Happy Birthday To Our Favourite Sons

Happy birthday from Ninong going out to Tyler

He's actually a few years older, 4 to be exact, but I couldn't find a recent picture. I only have the wonderful memories in my mind. Of Tyler pulling the fire alarm. Yes...way to go kid.
Anyways, this is probably the best picture I have. Cause you don't see the eczema on his face. He looks much better now and can talk your ear off. As well as show you many games on his Gameboy, but he's as happy now as he is in the picture. And that's all that matters. Hey where's that gold superman symbol and chain I got him for his christening?


Look how Happy I am. Thanks UNCLE for everything, you are the best!

This photo is a couple of years old too, but I thought I'd share it with everyone.
At least he's smiling, not like the one below where he's holding a blackfly. That's not a gift from me, it bit him on the back, but the bug died because it couldn't find blood, it only hit bone.


Our Favourite Son, Nephew, Brother, whatever...

Happy Birthday to Ryan!
He's now 12 years old. I think. Yes now that I think of it. That's right he's twelve.

No band-aids this year.

Boo! did I scare you?

Happy Halloween.

Well thank god the weather held up. Wasn't too cold, and it wasn't raining. So that meant lots of kids. And they liked my pumpkin. I was trying to carve out Gandalf. well just his face. I sketched it on a piece of paper. When I carved it I used the stem as it's hooked nose, so the top is actually the middle of it's face and this was the final result.


Gandalf the pumpkin head

It fell over twice. So I repaired it with skewers and I punctured my finger in the process. Now it's the bionic pumpkin.

We also got lots of highschool kids. But we gave the big kids the crappy candies and the little ones the good stuff.

Oh and I think we got a couple of adults. Not really sure. Kids are so big these days.

Anyways. The highschool kids kind of take away from the novelty of Halloween. Maybe I'm just getting older. I don't even know where it started.
Oh Tresa just said it started in Ireland. So how come we don't give out beer?

We went to a halloween party the day before at some friends house and it was great! Our friend Alicia and Eric are so gung ho about halloween and costumes were mandatory at this party. And she even raised money for Unicef. Pretty admirable, huh? We got the invite to this party, a few weeks back. So we dropped by the goodwill store on our way from the St. Lawrence market. Not really expecting anything we went in. Tresa got this cardigan for 57 cents or something. I am not sure, but it was cheap. She was following some old asian lady that picked it up first. She shadowed her like she was a spy. Like when people in their cars follow people walking from the mall in order to get their spot.

So I was just looking around and found this costume of a lion, however, it was only the body, but it had a tail! I wondered how much it was and it was 8 bucks. I'm sure I could've got it cheaper, but it was for a good cause. So I shelled out the big bucks.

I went by there again the next weekend and saw a big stuffed bear. And thought I could take the thing apart and use the paws and feet for my costume. Then I remembered I got a lion and not a bear outfit.

Which takes us to Oct 30th and still no further additions to my costume. And Tresa didn't even have one, but I think she was going to wear her cat costume, but the tights are a little too tight now. We're at almost 16 weeks now. And she's barely showing but the belly is slightly bigger. The only thing is that she says her tailbone is sore. Apparently what's happening to her body is that there are hormones getting sent to her joints and loosening them in preparation for the birth. So she's wearing my old Rasta Man costume.




So we headed to my favourite store, Wal-Mart for supplies. We had bought some candy at No-Frills, but figured we needed more candy to dish out. We ended up getting more candy and then Tresa suggested we go check out the costumes section for a lion mask or something. And that's when we say Spiderman, the Hulk and Superman walk by.
Well there was nothing in the costume section that I could use. I figure I'll just cut out some cardboard or something and make some ears and attach it to my head somehow. Wasn't sure how though. Then Tresa saw a big stuff toy lion.




Hmmm....9.94. Price was right. Only thing was, it was brand new. I wasn't too crazy about disassembling a 'new' toy for the sake of a costume, but time was running out and for less than 10 bucks this was a pretty good price. We bought it. This was a stuffed toy, but I felt like I was putting a pet to sleep.




Ya, I felt bad. And I ended up waiting till just before we were going to the party to take the lion apart and make it a part of the costume. I attached the paws to my costume and then attached the head to a piece of ribbon that Tresa brought home, but it kept falling over. I then pinned the head to my hat and that seemed to work pretty good. I left the price tag on just in case we decided to return it. Think they'll notice the stitching? Like the Borg, it was about to become part of the collective. Resistence was futile.




So with my lion costume complete, I was ready for trick or treating. Or at least drinking and looking humiliated.


Roar! Did I scare you?