Better luck next year Hong & Dick! We WON!

What a shellacking! Antonio and I lost the first game. I could tell from Antonio's voice that he was scared.
But I wasn't.
During the first intermission, I took him aside and told him he's no longer a rookie and to get his act together and play like a winner, not a weiner.
We then put it together to win the next four games.
It was gut check time and all lines were firing.
So now we just have to figure out what to name the cup.
Anyone got any suggestions?

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Let there be light

After 3+ years of being in the dark, we finally have light in our dining room. Of course I had to move a light from our hallway since we got a new light fixture. You know all those brass coloured dome fixture that were on sale at crappy tire. That's what we have all over our house. There must have been a sale.
So after years of our hallway light dangling from it's wires, because we always were intending on replacing it. This is what we got. Or Tresa got.

So one down and many more to go. Only thing is that it's halogen. I replaced all of our other lights with the compact florescent bulbs that save electricity.
One thing I noticed while I was installing the lights is that the wiring is setup up all screwy in our house. There's one breaker just for the washer and another for the dryer. Then there's another breaker for the backside of the house for both 1st and 2nd floor.
So the only thing left to figure out is how to get our patio furniture back out on the patio.

Ho

Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day shopping for those that want to venture out with their elbow pads.

It was a crappy drive home from Oshawa today, people driving too close and slamming on the brakes. What's the matter you people? There were phat snow flakes coming down and making the 401 really slushy. We got home okay. Phew.

And to Conner who's at Sick Kids. We're rooting for you buddy.

Poster child

I got this in the mail today and was ready to pull out my wallet and give to the "Foster Kids of America Foundation". The photo is pleading "Please give so this child can have a merry Christmas."

Then I read the card and realized it was from Teen and Chris.
Gee Teen why couldn't you have picked a card when Liam is happy? Like when he's with Chris? Way to go.

Merry Christmas!

Down the rabbit hole

This way down the rabbit hole.
Welcome to the real world.

A few months back I was chatting with our receptionist at work about how to get Kieran in commercials or whatever. Basically I was hoping to put him to work so he can earn some money to put towards his education. I opened up an RESP account for him and bascially any gifts or extra money we had was going in there for him. So the sooner he starts putting money towards it the better for him. So he's already got more money than when I started university.

Anywho, I was talking with Antoinette and she mentioned she had a friend that did this with her son and he's been in commercials and ads. So I thought, "why not?" She got me the agency's contact info and I sent an email request to the agency asking if they would take infants? They replied indicating that there was not much work for children so young, but asked me to send in a photo and they would consider it. I sent them a few photos indicating his name, age and mine and Tresa's ethnic background. I got a quick response from them indicating that they would be happy to represent him. I also got a response saying it would cost 50 bucks. Nothing comes for free you know. But even still just because you have an agent doesn't guarantee anything and that's what they kept telling me - that there isn't a lot of work for babies.

Then, within a few days of the agency indicating they would represent him, I got an email indicating a casting call for Babys-R-Us. So we went. There wasn't a line up when we got there, but that's because I think we were one of the last people trickling in with thier kiddies. It was over quick. One camera flash and that was it. And then it was quiet for at least a month.

We kind of forgot about it, thinking that he wasn't selected. But then a phone call about 2 weeks ago said that Kieran had an appointment with Babys-R-Us photo shoot in Newmarket. I thought. Newmarket? Why so far? So that was on Dec 8th. It was an hour trek up there and about an hour and 45 min trek home. Our appointment was at 2:45pm. So that was right about when he takes a nap. So he'd be nice and fresh for the shoot.

So this is how it typically works with photo shoots with babies or kids. They sign up 2 babies and whoever isn't crying their lungs out or whoever has the better photos, they select to go into the catalog. Kieran was first to go. Our agency had called us the week before indicating that we needed to bring an ivory or red shirt and khaki pants or jeans. No logos or patterns. Great. Everything he has, has logos and patterns. Everything. So off Tresa went to find something. I think it took her 2 days of shopping to find something. They told us not to buy anything, but to bring what we had. But to increase his chances of making it into the catalog we bought it anyways. Then when we got there, they ended up providing us the clothing anyways. WTF! Shoulda left the tags on. But I think Tresa kept them anyways and returned them. She's a pro when it comes to handling returns. 5 years at the Gap and however many years Winners has been in Canada and umpteen+ years of just flat out shopping.

So he got paid for the shoot, I ended up taking a day off to be there. Never been to a photo shoot before. And I didn't want them to get lost. Plus I was the one that had been interacting with the agency. And we both didn't know what to expect. So it was Solidarity time. It wasn't really that much money considering the effort and time. But we did get travel time - 1/2 rate of course. It would just be cool if he got into the catalog as a keep sake.

They took pics of him for over half an hour before Kieran finally had enough. He was pretty happy for most of the shoot, thanks to the Peek-A-Boo lady with the squeaky puppet toy. She was a pro. They had him in a Baby-Bjorn. Which was perfect, because he loves that thing. We always brought him around in it. They took pics of him facing out and then in. When they had him facing in, his face was smushed up against the model's body. So it wasn't so much fun anymore. But they still managed to take quite a few shots.

So we won't know if he made the catalog until mid-march when it comes out.
So that was kind of neat. I'm sure the novelty of it wears off after a while. At least he made the 50 bucks I paid for the registration back.

Then the next day, we got another call. And they had requested Kieran for another photo shoot the following thursday. This time in Toronto. Back where we initially went for the casting call. But it was a morning shoot. Right when he takes a nap. Lately he'd been waking up a few times at night so at 10:45am he's usually asleep. Oh well. What can you do? Gotta go with what they give you.

So off we went again.

So as they took the pics, I got an idea of what they want to get. They wanted a range of facial expressions so laughing, smiling...no crying. And the client is always there to ensure that she gets her clothing in the shot. So this one was a little tougher because Kieran can crawl around, but they took a lot of shots. So we'll see what comes out of this one.

The next day I get to work and see my voicemail indicator light on. Okay great, more work. I listen to it. It's from the agency again! They were calling to indicate that Kieran had an audition for a commercial at 11:55am Friday. So I'm calling home to let Tresa know to get ready. I basically gave her 3 hours of lead time. So she was scrambling.

I don't get it. I thought they said there'd be very little work? But you don't get paid for auditions. But at least this one was a few minutes from the office.

We get there, and there were tons of Latino babies. And Latinas and Latinos. It was called "project JJ". Whatever that meant. We got called in with two other babies, one was another boy about 10-1/2 months old, but I think Kieran was about the same size. Then this latina baby that made Kieran look small. I think she was the same age as Kieran but much bigger - all over. Wished I had my camera for this one. The mother wasn't big, but the kid was certainly "healthy". If you guys think Kieran's legs are nice and thick. You should have seen this one. If Kieran's hamhocks could feed a family, this one could supply food to a cafeteria for a day.

So this is what we had to do. They filmed the kids crawling. I thought Tresa should be here instead of me. Kieran would follow his food dispenser to the four corners of the globe. But I had my keys in my pocket, and anything he should have he'll crawl to anyways. So that was cool. We were second, so I didn't get to see the healthy kid go. Not sure if she had enough strength to go mobile and do the task.

It was over in 30 mins. So we'll see where this one goes.

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Hot Potato

It really makes it easier to handle the holidays, by having our family get together a few weeks early. Holidays are supposed to be relaxing and chillaxing but with so many places to be it gets a little tiring. It's not like we don't get enough sleep. Well we don't. But we got our main one out of the way and it makes the Christmas rush a piece of cake. It gives us a chance to ease up a bit and just spend time with friends and family. Which is the real reason for this season.
This was Kieran's first christmas get together outside of mama's tummy. I think he'd wished he were back in, cause he was mauled and tackled by Emerson. He cried for a bit. Good thing they were on the area rug and not the hardwood.
Hey we even had our first hot potato gift. And the weener is: Madi! She's the one with the Homer Pez dispenser. Look how happy she looks!
Tresa and I even got to have dinner without Kieran for the first time. It was a little odd. Since we're so used to him being around. When we came home, sure enough he was still awake. Our good friend Ana Paula baby sat for us. She was impressed at how much he could eat.

So here's our early bird Christmas photos:
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It's beginning to look

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

This is the beauty of "Working From Home". I'm officially "Home Assigned" so I've been getting set up at home more and more. It's on days like today where I'm glad we have what's called the iWork program. It's got it's advantages and disadvantages, but it does come in handy when I need it. Like today.
Wake up. Shovel. Go back indoors, eat and go to work.

See my neighbour's tree across the street. That's actually one big tree. Two apical buds. I think that tree is almost 20ft tall.

So I'm just wondering when the big shovels are coming by to pile up the snow in front of my driveway. I think they do that on purpose.
We got our Christmas tree last night. Good thing too. Considering the snow and all. When we had gotten home from doing some errands, although it was dark, it was still relatively early. Kieran was still asleep in the back seat so we got my Thule roof rack from the garage and mounted it to the roof. It takes only a few minutes. About 15 minutes to lock everything down. Besides without the roof carrier there'd be no place to put the tree. Can't squeeze it in with Kieran in the backseat. We took last year's tree home in Tresa's car in the backseat.
So we headed off to Tresa's friend Lou. This is his family's garden center off of Scarlet Rd, just south of Eglington. We go here for our plants, trees, nematodes. Garden stuff. And he's got great trees. Last year our tree lasted for more than 6 weeks and there was hardly any needles falling on the floor. But we got a Fraser fir tree. To me all of them look the same. Christmas tree is a christmas tree. But this one has soft needles. You know so you don't get pricked like a porcupine carrying the thing. Tresa's pretty picky. I just wanted a small one. Cuz our place isn't all that big. But we got a nice full one. After we bought it and got it trimmed a bit, my only concern was whether it would fit in the cargo box. And it just squeezed in. Woo Hoo! So right now it's sitting in our garage in the stand. Cuz that's where we celebrate. In the garage. Like a manger. Just kidding. You have to do this to let the branches relax, because they're tied up during shipping. So in a few days I'll bring it in and it'll be good to go.

Tis the Season

Tis the season to be jolly...and sick with the flu or a cold.
Fa la la la lah, la lah lah lah.
It's been chilly eh? I think I'm coming down with an illness. Just started really feeling it today.

We went to visit our friend Amanda the other day, who's so ready for Christmas. She's even got her tree up, she's got decorations going on outside.
Man, we don't even have a tree. Bah hum flu bug.
She even has all the presents wrapped. She had cookies and candies, and Coronas! So Kieran was nice enough to leave a few presents of his own. Hope the garbage didn't stink too much with the diapers we left behind.

We're almost done our shopping, thank God. As soon as Halloween was over, it was christmas season. And the Canadian Tire couple were in our faces all the time. Motomaster this, mastercraft that. Buy this, spend on that. Crazy.

Eventhough it's not supposed to be. It's a really stressful time of year, you get bombarded with ads, gotta wrap presents. After you wrap them and forget to label them, so you gotta open them to see who it was for. If you were smart you'd just buy everyone Fruit of the Loom - XL, and XXL so you know it'll fit. They can always do what my mother used to do with our clothes. Shrink them in the wash.

I think the whole idea behind Christmas actually gets lost in the marketing machines. Seeing friends, and family. Hanging out, having fun, destressing, relaxing, passing the baby around. Eating. Can't forget the food. Talking about life, life with the kid, catching up. Just no shop-talk. Leave that at the door.

The Pearly Gates

A serious face for a serious blog.

It wasn't a good start to the holidays. We had to say good-bye to someone that Tresa had known all her life. This post is in memory of Stefan Zadravec. Tresa's godfather.

Nice guy. Super nice guy with a big heart. His health was ailing since over a year ago. It's too bad that he had to go so soon. Not really getting the chance to get know our son. Or rather our son didn't get the opportunity to really know him. At least where he is now, he's no longer suffering.

It was a beautiful day, the snow covered the grounds like a soft white fleece blanket. The big fluffy flakes seemed to put a quiet hush over the property. When we got to Holy Cross Cemetary at Yonge and #7, the hearse stopped at the farthest corner of the cemetary. I was looking for the mound of dirt indicating the plot. At first I couldn't find it. Then I spotted this small little mound in the tucked away in the farthest corner of the entire cemetary. It must have been almost 100 yds away from where the hearse was parked. Should be no problem I thought for 5 really big strong Euros and 1 skinny filipino. I was counting on them to carry the bulk of the weight. Plus from what I remembered at the funeral parlor and the church, that although Stefan was a big man, it didn't seem too heavy.

After walking halfway to the plot on the uneven ground and stepping on several burial name plaques, my gloves were starting to slip. It was heavy. My brother asked us once when our father past away if we noticed if the casket got heavier. Legend has it that when the spirit or soul leaves for the pearly gates, the body and the casket get heavier. It certainly did feel heavier. But I wasn't going to be the one to cause it to drop.

We eventually got it to it's final resting place and the struggle to get it there was quickly forgotten and the reality of dealing with the loss of a friend, brother, uncle, godfather and loving husband soon set in.

May he rest in peace.

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