Thursday, December 13, 2007

Connor's 4th Month

Time does fly when you are having fun, or is it because I am so tired? This month seems to have gone by in such a blur. I blame it all on ultimate and the late nights that are associated with playing indoor. I think that I have to stop scheduling things for Thursday mornings because it is tough getting out of bed after playing late on Wednesday night (which is not always the case, but I always seem to get to bed later on Wednesdays). It is great fun playing ultimate again even though I feel completely out of shape. My team is now 0-4 and we are just hoping that next week will mark our first win. When I play in the earlier timeslots, Geofford and Connor try and make it out to watch, although they seem to be more interested in chatting with people than with watching me :) Connor and I try and make it out to watch Geofford play on Thursdays, but sometimes it is just nice to stay home when I am still tired from playing on Wednesday. We hope to make it out more in the new year though.

Connor had a busy month as usual. We went to Mike Laporte's 30th birthday party and celebrated his birthday and we were able to congratulate him on the newest addition to the Laporte family who will be making his/her debut in Spring 2008. I guess we are coming to that age when people are getting married and starting families. It's so exciting :)

Connor also got to visit with his paternal grandparents when they came to visit for his Baptism. Connor's Baptism was on November 17th at Good Shepherd Parish. It was an exciting event as Good Shepherd has full immersion baptisms. Connor got dunked three times in the baptismal font and he did not enjoy it one bit. As he was the third baby to get baptised, I think he knew something was up because he started crying even before he got dunked in the water. Poor dude.

After the baptism, we had a small gathering with family to celebrate his baptism. I think that it is funny that everyone is looking at the camera except Connor who is fascinated by the dining room chandelier.


Geofford and I also got a few evenings out without Connor when we went to a couple Sens games. Unfortunately the Sens lost both games that we attended, but I think my parents had a fun time babysitting Connor while we were out.

Connor also had the opportunity to meet another new friend who was also born on Damian's birthday - Lucas Frederick Lai. Lucas and his family were here in Ottawa for a short visit from Halifax. It was nice seeing Fred and Liz and meeting Lucas. Unfortunately we didn't bring our camera to the meeting, but I know that Fred (Lucas' father) did take many pictures. We will add a link to those pictures once we receive it.

The holiday season started with a bang for us. Starting on the 1st of December we were busy with many activities. We celebrated Shay Thibert's 2nd birthday at a party at his house. He was a wonderful host and although he was really good at ripping the paper off his gifts, I think he was a little upset that he couldn't play with all of his new toys right away because there were more gifts to open. I wonder how he is going to handle this Christmas?

We also attended a few cookie exchanges, so now I only a have a bit more Christmas baking to do thanks to the exchanges. Although, we ate most of the cookies from the 1st exchange because I was less organized and didn't freeze them all right away. I learned for the next two though :)

Connor is currently coping through his first cold. He caught it from me, who caught it from someone at ultimate last week when I mistakenly took a drink out of someone else's bottle thinking it was mine. He is quite stuffed up, but we have found the humidifier has been a great help during the night. On top of that, Connor had to endure his second round of immunizations today. I think that he did quite well, but he is definitely getting pampered by me today. At his appointment, he weighed 6.69 kg (14 lbs 12 oz) and measured 64 cm (25.2 in). He is in the 50th percentile for weight and just over 50th percentile in height, so he is one super cute average baby :)

We tried to do a holiday photo shoot for Connor at home so we could have a great holiday picture of him. Anyone who is ever tried to take pictures of babies can attest how difficult this could be. Below is one of the pictures where Connor was more interested in the tree and lights than he was posing for the camera. If you click on the picture, you can see more pictures from the shoot on my flickr site.


We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and for those who don't celebrate Christmas - Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Connor Smiling

Connor has been smiling for a while now, but I finally managed to capture it on video. Enjoy!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Connor's 3rd Month

Wow, it is hard to believe that Connor is already three months. I finally got him weighed today and he weighs 6.1 kg (13 lbs 7 oz), so he has gained just under 3 kg! The last time we measured him, he was approximately 60 cm (approximately because he wouldn't stay still for us to measure him).

This month has been fairly busy with many visits with new friends. John Francis Rootham's christening was this month, so we were able to celebrate with him at his open house. Although John slept for most of the visit, Connor was actually alert and was interacting with people at the open house. Connor also met some of our ultimate friends when we attended Emily Chen's Open House for her m chen wears collection. Geofford and I both bought one of her limited edition first printing t-shirts. We are hoping that Emily will soon put out a baby or kids line so that Connor can also sport some m chen wears.

Connor and I finally got to meet Tristan Xavier Hodgson who was born the same day as Damian. Geofford has yet to meet Tristan, but we are hoping that this will happen soon. This is a picture that Maria (Tristan's mom) took when we went over to their house for a visit.


We also got to meet Kahlea when she and Rachel came to Ottawa for a visit. It was so nice seeing Rachel and it was fun meeting Kahlea. Now we just have to convince them to move back to Ottawa so that we can seem them more often. If you click on the picture of the two of them, you can see the rest of the pictures that I posted on flickr.


Connor also had the opportunity to visit with his grandfather one afternoon when I wrote a test for a competition for a Human Factors Specialist with the government. Hopefully I did well enough on the test to get to the next phase of the competition. This job would be ideal as it matches my skill set to my interests. If I do get a job, Connor and Geofford will get to spend the rest of Connor's 1st year together. I know that Geofford is quite excited about this prospect.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Halloween

Connor was Winnie the Pooh this year. I think that he was pretty cute. We only went to three neighbours homes this year and he managed to get mom and dad some twix bars :)

Friday, October 19, 2007

Connor's 2nd Month

Connor's 2nd month has been a busy one, so it is hard to believe that our little man is already two months old! We are starting to develop a schedule, which is great because now I have a little bit of time to work on chores and also the thank you notes. For those of you who have given Connor gifts over the past two months, thank you! The thank you notes are on their way :) Hopefully I'll have them done before I have to start on our Christmas cards...

Connor attended his first ultimate tournament on September 15th. Although it was a cool day, we went out to Hornet's Nest to watch Geofford, Uncle Damian and the rest of the Bytown Flatball Club compete at Spirit. Although Connor couldn't stay to cheer on the team in the final at the fields, BFC was in the final which was televised on Rogers, so Connor was able to watch BFC win from the comfort of his own bouncer a few weeks later.

Connor also had his first weekend away from home. When Geofford went to Ithaca with the rest of BFC for UPA Mixed NorthEast Upstate NY Sectionals, Connor and I went to stay with his grandparents (my parents) for the weekend. BFC ended up winning the tournament putting them one step closer to competing at the UPA Championships in Sarasota, FL at the end of October. The next step would be to place top 3 at Regionals in Devens, MA Thanksgiving weekend. Geofford would be unable to attend this tournament as he was busy with more important plans - he was a groomsman at Drew and Otia's wedding, but more on that later.

On September 29th, we opened up our house for a Meet Connor Open House. It was nice to visit with people we haven't seen in a while and I think that Connor had a good time as well because that night he didn't have any problems falling back asleep after feedings, which was great for me.

Connor attended his first wedding on October 6th. Our friends Drew and Otia got married at the Rockliffe Pavillion. Geofford was one of the groomsmen, but fortunately for me Torch and Michèle were around, so they could help me out. As it was cold and raining, they took Connor for the outdoor ceremony and then he joined us at e18thteen for the reception. It was a beautiful wedding and a great reception. Click on the picture below to see the pictures that we took during the wedding.


As this was Thanksgiving weekend, we had three dinners to attend. Drew and Otia's wedding was on Saturday morning/early afternoon, so we were able to fit in three dinners. On Saturday evening, we went to Brooke Valley (just outside of Perth) to have dinner with Geofford's extended family. It was a great opportunity for them to meet Connor as most of them haven't met him yet. It was a great dinner, but Geofford was a little tired due to the wedding festivities so he disappeared for most of the evening. The next day, we went to the Smith's house for our annual Thanksgiving dinner with the friends. Amy, Ewan and Ella were fantastic hosts and we tried something a little new this year (this is the first year that I didn't have to cook the dinner!) and Ewan had roasted the turkey on the BBQ. It was delicious and I think I may have to try this out for Christmas dinner. Stephan took the group picture on the right, but you can see the rest of our pictures by clicking on the picture. Our final Thanksgiving dinner was with my family at my parents house. Again, a yummy meal and we were exhausted following this weekend of eating and visiting with friends and family. Good thing we have a month before Connor's baptism so that we can recover ;)

As Geofford was busy here in Ottawa, he couldn't participate in the NorthEast Regionals tournament with the rest of BFC. The results from this tournament would determine who would represent the NorthEast at the UPA Championships. Unfortunately, the team failed to qualify, which put an end to Geofford's outdoor ultimate season for 2007. Now we are going to start training hard so that he will be in tip-top condition for 2008.

Although we had such a wonderful weekend, Thanksgiving weekend also had its low points. Const. Christopher John Worden was killed in the line of duty in Hay River, NWT on October 6th. Chris was a wonderful person and a great RCMP officer. Although I never knew him as a mountie, I did know him in high school where he was a great football player, actor and friend. He always had a smile on his face and could light up a room just by being there. I got to know him a lot better the summer after Gr 12 when we started playing ultimate together on Strange Brew. I also knew his wife, Jodie, as I played powderpuff football with her during the winters at Waterloo. Our deepest condolences to Jodie, her 8-month old daughter Alexis and the rest of the Worden and Lamers families. Geofford, Connor and I attended Chris' funeral on October 15th at Notre Dame Cathedral here in Ottawa to pay our respects and to say good-bye to a wonderful person.

We have also had the opportunity to welcome a new addition to the Thibert family this month. Marin Angèle Thibert was born October 18th at 1:11am to Lisa and Stephan. She weighed 7lbs 7oz and has a ton of hair. I had the opportunity to visit her on her birth day at the hospital, but Geofford and Connor have yet to meet the little girl.

At Connor's two-month check-up on October 18th, we found out that he is still a healthy little boy and growing steadily. He now weighs 11lbs15oz (5.414kg), measures 57.5cm (22.64 inches) long and his head circumference is still 36.0cm. He also had his first immunizations: Pentacel which immunizes against Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio and Heamophilus Influenza, and Prevnar which immunizes against pneumococcal disease. As usual, we do update Geofford's flickr site with many pictures, but I will post one here and you can click on the picture for the rest of the shots of Connor.