Play date

This is Xander.  One of Kieran's classmates and friends from school.

I picked them up in the bike carriage yesterday and brought them home.  Because Tresa wasn't sure about handling the both of them on the bus ride back to our house.

It's Kieran's first official play date.  You know request was made, plans were made, then last minute changes and then more last minute changes - like me picking them up.

Bringing them home was a bit of a challenge.  I've never had to pull two kids in the carriage. On the flats it almost made no difference, except starting off.  The uphills were another story.

It's all good, I consider it as workout.

But they enjoyed it.  I could hear them behind me when I would do a sharp turn - laughing and screaming.

Anyways it was too bad I got caught up in late afternoon - early evening work meetings, I missed the whole thing.

I got them setup with juice and then the sugar took over.

Yahvi lives next door, and they all go to the same school so hung out and played together until supper time.

Play Date

And more photos from his cousin Liam's first communion on the weekend

I need some sleep

I did a sleep test last night (and it was an all nighter) and this is how I went to bed.
Man am I tired.

I had to sleep on my back because sleeping on my side was a little tough. And because sleep apnea normally occurs when you're on your back and your tongue muscle relaxes and blocks your windpipe.

So I did this to check if I was suffering from sleep apnea or something else. So they monitor my body movements, breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and my brainwaves throughout the night.

It takes about 30 mins to get wired up. My appointment for the test was 8pm. I got there early and no one was there so I went to eat at Eastern Legend dumpling house. It was formerly a restaurant makeover place that went under after the make over. Pretty good. I would go back. Place looks smaller than on TV.

So I checked in at 8:20pm with my last Harry Potter book in hand. I didn't get wired up and to bed until 11pm. So you know your tax dollars are working and reducing process times.

This is my bed. They gave me the gurney. Every other room at the clinic I noticed had a double with mattress and box spring.
I wasn't the only one there in the clinic, it was a full house. Figures they gave the asian the friggin hospital bed. Cause they probably assumed I slept on a futon or a benig. Man, I'm westernized.

At least it wasn't that fold out chair I got when we were at Women's College 4 years ago.

This was my air conditioning unit. I think it more like the fan in our convection oven. I was okay to start but later that night, I was sweating and parched. The room was so dry. I thought the heater was on. But it wasn't even on. It was just how it was.
I think that's the test. If you can sleep through these conditions. You have no sleep problems.
It was a good thing I had water beside my bed.


So I went to bed at 11pm.
I woke up with a pasty mouth at 2am. And I was sweating. I buzzed the technician to see if they can turn down the heat. Hmm...heater wasn't even on. I knew I was in for a rough night. I had only 4-1/2 hrs to go.
After adjusting my fan and taking in some water, I woke up again at 5:30am to pee.
I was thinking, my god, I'm so tired and thirsty and I can't even go to the can because I'm wired up. So I buzzed again to get unhooked.
I was given the option to finish the test now if I didn't think I could go back to sleep or keep going. I didn't want to wake up Tresa and Kieran so I opted to try and sleep some more.

I slept until around 7am. He said he didn't wake me up at 6:30am because I was in REM sleep.
Whatever state I was in. It wasn't restful.

And they had to shave my head to put in the electrodes on my forehead.
Oh wait...that's just my receding hairline. I wasn't sure how many leads were monitoring my brain but there's quite a few.
Must be because of my big brain.
And I didn't know if that goop was going to come out of my hair or not. But after shampooing a few times it was all out.

So anyways, the technician said I snored, but didn't have sleep apnea, but I moved every 10 minutes and I didn't remain in state 3 and 4 which is deep sleep very long. Which is the primary reason why I'm suffering from tiredness. Now I'm even more tired from doing this test in a dehydrator.

Oh well...there's a Tim Hortons downstairs. That'll fix it.

I need some sleep - the Eels

TWO Wheels! - There it is.

Whoo hoo...! First time riding without the training wheels.

I had gotten a run-bike (that's those pedal-less bikes) for Kieran last year, but he was still too small. We saw it at the Winners in Whitby, it wasn't that much, so I thought what the heck. It was still way cheaper than those wooden versions. But after we brought it home, I wasn't sure if it was worth it, cause he was still too small and didn't take to it right away. But now I know it was a good thing. We ride the bike almost every day after school, and he's used his run-bike here and there, but lately he was using it and liking it more and more now that he's a bit taller and able to ride it better. When we go outside and ride, we see other kids making their way outside too. It's like the ice cream truck. One kid is outside riding, everyone comes out to ride. It's awesome.

We got him used to the pedaling motion by getting him to ride his tricycle all the time. We rode to the store, to the park, every day we'd do it to strengthen the muscles in his legs. He rode his 2 wheeler + training wheels bike a bit last year, it was a little wobbly, but he rode it a bit. This year he started with the trike, but gradually he rode the 2 wheeler with the trainers more and more. At first we'd walk behind him up and down the street, then he quickly got faster and faster and I could ride my bike with him. He zips up and down the street. It's great our street is a dead end, we get almost zero traffic.

Last week I noticed that he was actually gliding and his feet were off the ground as he was showing our neighbour how to ride his run-bike. It meant he was getting the hang of balancing on the bike. The more he practices the better he gets and the more he likes it.



So yesterday I asked him if we could take the training wheels off his bike to try. He said 'but it will be wobbly.' And I told him I'll be running right beside you to catch you if you fall. Don't worry.

So we tried it.
Check it ooot. Two wheels!

Happy Suka Mamas day

It's mother's day tomorrow.  What should we get her?  The regular tulips? Sure why not. That always is safe.

So Kieran and I headed to the Bloor West Village to get some flowers.  It wasn't his first choice for a stop.  He wanted to get a bagel and hot chocolate at Tim Hortons first.  Mother's day wasn't on his top 10 list either.  But I eventually persuaded him to go to the flower shop first.

Kieran wanted to get the ones that he liked, because they're open already (but will last like 1 day, and aren't mamas favourite, but she wouldn't care since he chose them) and they looked like dandelion weeds.  But I managed to convince him that these purple tulips will open up and last longer so he can see them longer.  So he went with my advice.  But then we got home.  Flowers are nice.

They smell nice.  They make the house feel homey.

It was a rainy day, heavy showers.  I knew we'd be staying in.  So I thought of something else we could do while mama was at work.  I said "you know what Kieran, it would make mama's day if we did all the laundry and put away everything and cleaned up the whole house!  Do you want to help me?"

Kieran said "yes" and as he put away his toys, he'd play with them, and set the ones he wanted to play with later on my desk and the other toys in the baskets.   We watched Iron Giant while we cleaned up.  He kept asking me if we were done, cause he said he was getting tired.  We won't be done until everything is put away.

It took us a while, but we did it.

He's still feeling under the weather.  He's had a cough and stuffed up nose for a few days now and as we put the last of the laundry away up in his room.

We sat down to take a break.  A few minutes of Treehouse and the eyes began to roll back.  

Kieran had worked pretty hard and deserved a rest.

He returned the favour that mama has been doing every day for a while now.

Good job dude.

Happy mother's day.

Strongest and the best

What a coincidence. I just did the post for the model railroad birthday party and the Gordon train that I ordered came in. And I was hesitant to buy a whole other set, but the controller with the Thomas set went kaput today too. So it was a good thing I went ahead and got the whole thing anyways.

In any case.

It's the only thing he asked for. Had to wait a few weeks, but it arrived.
Patience is a virtue, you know.
Good things come to those who wait.

Model Rail

Just wanted to thank all who came to the model railroad club for Kieran's birthday. When Kieran knew his birthday was approaching he asked if we could have it there. It was more for the kids (including the big kids - I like this place too).
Maybe I should become a member.
Well it's open every Wednesday at 8pm to the public. If anyone was interested.
It's an easy venue, they limit the number of kids and parents but it's better this way. Easier to manage. And the time (2hrs) is definitely enough.
Check out this photo. It looks like the after effects of the smoke from a forest fire. But I took the photo as someone else's camera flash was going off.

Everything was going pretty smoothly, until we ordered the pizza and it was 70mins later that we eventually got it. When they took my order they said it would be delivered in 45mins, I think it took them 45 mins to get it ready for delivery, and when I gave them the address they knew it was the model railroad club. But the driver called me a few times asking where this place was.
I spoke to the Pizza Nova customer service a few times and they told me that they needed to speak to the driver once he got there. Once he arrived, I handed him my phone and he said the pizzas were free of charge. I felt kind of bad for him, but the store should have made sure he knew where it was. It's not exactly clear. I didn't want it to be free if he was going to foot the bill.

I didn't get my 200+ photos of every train and fake tree and the kids watching them like I normally do. I was waiting for the pizza delivery guy. When he called for the 3rd time I stood near the road. And I noticed a car backing up towards me. I asked him what car he was driving and sure enough that was him. Last time we did this, the guy arrived in 20mins. We figured it would be the same since they knew the place.

We ordered 3 party sized pizzas - pepperoni, hawaiian and veggie.
The veggie one that we ordered was really good (zucchini, red peppers and sauteed spinach). It wasn't the standard veggie, but a custom order one for some of the vegetarian kids and parents. I could have eaten that all on my own. I didn't even miss the meat. And it was almost all gone.
Next time we'll know to order it shortly after we set up, since we only have a 2hr window. And I'll ask them to make sure that the driver knows exactly where the Model Railroad Club is so he's not driving around aimlessly.

Click me for more train place photos