Alyssa's Pool

Alyssa's mom invited us over again for a pool party. This time the weather co-operated well. Bobs really enjoyed playing in the elaborate pool and the sandbox.

Alyssa is a really sweet girl, and she doesn't mind when Bobs doesn't share. Of course I try to encourage him to be nice to her anyways, even if she doesn't want it.

Alyssa's mom has an open invite to a bunch of other kids too, and it is all day. We usually go from 10am until noon. Other kids come in the afternoon.

Bobs is adding a few more words to his sentences. Instead of just "come!", he will say "Alyssa, come here!"

If you look closely, Mads and I are in the left corner of the photo below.

Visiting Edmonton

We decided on a last minute trip to Edmonton this weekend. My friend Shawn has had leukemia for nearly three years and has been in and out of the hospital for chemotherapy. This time he is in really bad shape and not doing well. We don't think there is much time left. I was friends with him through youth politics and when I lived in Edmonton in 2002. We have remained in touch and we hang out together with Andrea and Anand in the photo above every time we come to Edmonton. I was able to hug him and hold his hand and talk to him, and he is able to understand me, but he wasn't able to speak since he had a ventilator on.

We stayed at the Westin downtown because they had a great rate and a pool for Bobs. We all slept in in a room with double beds. We took the mattress off the bed for Bobs so he could sleep on the floor safely. It worked well, but he woke up at 4:30am and walked around talked to us. We pretended to be sleeping so he went back to bed.

We went swimming three times. Mads had one go at it but didn't seem to think much of it, so we hung out by the side of the pool for the other times. Lots of other dads with their kids were in the pool.

Twice we drove to the hospital and once we took the LRT. Bobs enjoyed taking the Choo Choo train as we thought he would.

Summer is Here

Summer is here finally. We have been playing every day in the backyard with the inflatable pool. It already has a hole in it, but I am sure duct tape will fix that.

Mads had a nice bath outside yesterday and really enjoyed the warmth of it. It was like a spa for him.

When I ask Bobs if he wants to draw, he thinks about the crayons for the windows. He really likes suns. A lot of our neighbours put ceramic looking suns on the back wall of their house. Bobs likes to point them out when we are out for our walks. I had never noticed them before until Bobs did. Kids are cool that way.

This weekend we are headed to Edmonton to visit a friend of mine in the hospital. He is at the end of his days with leukemia, which he has had for three years. I wish I had visited him more often. We think Bobs will enjoy swimming in the hotel pool with Daddy while Mommy and Mattias visit.

Summer Solstice

Summer is finally here. Bobs is enjoying his backyard pool and the lilacs.

We all had a Dr. appointment today. Bobs is 50% in height and weight, and Mads is 75% in weight, and 50% in height.

We finally got our new coffee table and we enjoy it very much. So does Bobs.

We haven't been able to convince Bobs to try getting on his push bike. He doesn't mind walking with it thought. Soon enough when he is ready.

Kitchen Ideas

We decided to start planning and saving for a new kitchen. I downloaded some free and basic softward to help Jamie with this. We have added a corner pantry as I found this is something I really am missing out on.

The photos are small but I thought it would be cool to show what we have come up with so far.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Jamie and Morfar .We went for brunch at the Danish Canadian Club. After while, Bobs got restless. Fortunately there was a small toy area around the corner from our table and a 3 year old was already at play there. Mads stayed carried by myself for most of the brunch. Afterwards, we watched the soccer game - Denmark against Cameroon, from home. Denmark won.

In the afternoon, we did some lawn mowing and garden maintenance as the weather has finally brightened up. We still have leftover food from Bobs' birthday so we might fire up the BBQ for the leftovers.

Happy Birthday Bobs Part 1

I had been telling Bobs that his birthday was coming up and that Jansen and Kristin and GoKum and Casey and Mormor and Morfar were all coming. When I set the table and wrote everyone's names on the cups, Bobs was very excited and sat at the head of the table in his chair for an hour and a half before everyone came. He refused to get out.

We had hot dogs and salads and cupcakes and ice cream.

He got a bicycle for his birthday from Mormor and Morfar, just like the one Jansen has. It doesn't have pedals or training wheels... it is a balancing bike that you push with your feet.

I made sure to tell Kristin to bring Jansen's bike so they could play together.

Happy 2nd Birthday Bobs Part 2

Bobs had helped me ice the cupcakes earlier and he was eager to get his own full cupcake to devour. We put little "2's" on all the cupcakes.

Last year I was so worried about giving him sugar so I made a sugarless cake. This year, I didn't bother.

The grandmothers shop alike. The sleepers in the photo below both come from his grandmothers from Sears. The small one is for Mads and the bigger one for Bobs, but Bobs can't fit the bigger one so Mads now has two in different sizes.

Every night before bed, Bobs likes to sit in the chair in Mads' room and drink his milk. Tonight he said to me "good bye.... go to sleep!"

Looming

We had a playdate at Alyssa's house this morning. Bobs found some drum sticks and pounded away on a big ball. Alyssa thought that was fun and joined along. I like how they can now make up their own games to play.

Bobs is becoming a sweeter big brother with Mads. I think he realizes that Mads is a little person with facial expressions and his own noises.

Tomorrow is Bobs' 2nd birthday. We are having Mormor and Morfar and the Kuzel's over for a BBQ and short celebration after work. I have been telling Bobs that it is his birthday. I am sure he has no idea yet what that means.

Vaccination Day

Mads was vaccinated today and so was I. I had the Tetanus/Diptheria shot so I knew what kind of pain Mads felt when he had his three shot into his thighs. He did cry in a high pitched scream. I am not sure he had felt pain before in his life. He is doing fine now.

He weighs 12 pounds and 10 ounces. That is in the 75th percentile compared with boys his own age. He was cooing and chatting with me while the nurse got the needles ready.

Bobs stayed at home and Mormor was here to watch him while we were gone.

Mads' first road trip

Mads came with us to Lethbridge to attend our dear friend James' wedding. Bobs stayed at Mormor and Morfar's house for a sleepover. Bobs went to the Zoo and to the park and had corn on the cob.

James had a beautiful wedding at the Galt Museum overlooking the coulee and the magnificent bridge.

We were able to stay out with Mads until 11:30 before walking back to the hotel for bed.

I was able to "wear" Mads in different ways and he was pretty content with this.

The bride was from Lethbridge and the Groom from Calgary. The deal was to have the wedding in Lethbridge for the bride, and then she had to move up to Calgary to live with the groom.

Bobs really missed his daddy while we were away, even though he had a great time at Mormor and Morfar's.

The gang - many of these friends went to university with me.

Hanging Out

Giorgio and the rest of his gang of brothers came to visit on wednesday. He has 5 older brothers and sisters, but only the brothers came since the sisters are visiting their grandparents in another city.

Giorgio is about a month younger than Mads.

Mads has received some nice new clothes from friends and family, so he doesn't have to wear all of Bobs's hand me downs ( a lot were already hand me downs from coworkers and friends). This outfit is from his great aunt and uncle in Denmark. Bobs also really benefitted from having a little brother. He got all kinds of toys to keep himself busy.

Bum Drops

The party is over and AMK has gone home. Mads is really cooing and smiling and almost laughing a lot. He seems like a really happy guy. He also slept 6 hours straight last night for the first time. Thank you Mads!

Bobs enjoys doing bum drops on the couch. We usually discourage it, but on the long list of things we tell him "no" to, we don't bother too much with this one. Yesterday, Bobs had a tantrum for 40 minutes because I wouldn't let him take the indoor watering can outside.

Lastly, we have decided to start seriously thinking about renovating our kitchen. We were going to wait to do it all with a hardwood floor and other renovations later when they boys are older. We have since realized we wish to enjoy the kitchen now... and not later. We expect to be in this house a long while, but you never know.