Easter at Ethan's


Despite the crazy weather, we still managed to make it to the Baltussen's for Easter. Kirk and Laurie did a great job of hosting, including the best Easter Egg hunt Dylan has ever been on! Although she had fierce competition from Ethan and Kiley, Dylan still managed to track down more than her fair share of the eggs and now has an overflowing basket to keep her sugar-high going for at least the next month. Dinner was great and we got to bring home left overs which means one less meal to cook here - Nardine is very happy.


The other big event over the weekend was of course the snow. In the end we got just around 30 cm of the white stuff, which has thankfully already started to melt. Dylan and myself built a quinzhee in the backyard (or snow fort for those of you who didn't grow up winter camping in the mountains with your dad) but try as I might I couldn't convince Dylan to sleep overnight in it with me - smart girl.

The Morning After...


or Sure Hope The Easter Bunny Has A Coat!

Gotta Love That East Coast Weather!

Well it's April 7th, SPRING 2007 and what do we have here in wonderful old Halifax - snow and I'm talking 25 to 30 cm of snow! While this may have Nardine and I packing our bags for the dream of warmer weather, Dylan is loving it! We spent the better part of the afternoon outside building Steve the Snowman, having snowball fights, rolling in the snow and getting soaking wet! Overall not a bad way to spend an afternoon and although Dylan is a little worried that the Easter Bunny's flight may be delayed due to inclement weather, she agrees that such a risk is acceptable given how much fun she had!

Dylan's First Sleep Over!


Kirk and Laurie had tickets to see Rick Mercer tonight so Nardine and I offered to take care of Ethan for them. Dylan of course thought this was a fantastic idea and was off her head most of the day waiting for Ethan to arrive. The evening is going very well so far - no major fights or spills, lots of games down in the basement and they both even seemed eager to go to sleep (I think that they figured that sleep is a big part of a sleep over, I guess they still have a lot to learn!) Anyways Dylan and Ethan are up in bed right now, reading books by themselves and hopefully getting tired - if you see me post something else in a couple of hours you'll know that our sleeping arrangements didn't work out like we'd hoped!

Nardine has recovered 100% from her problems of late and is back to her old self - good to have her back! With only 20 days to go Nardine is still feeling and looking great, even managing to sleep through the night. She can feel the baby drop throughout the day, which is something that never happened with Dylan, so hopefully this is a positive indication of her chances for a natural birth.

I've added so more photos to our Picasa site under a folder called "2007 Photos" - I'll periodically put some photos in that I think you all might enjoy see keep checking it out. We're off to Ethan's house for Easter this year for a home cooked turkey dinner and a little bit of egg hunting - will put up some photos and video once I have it.

Some words of wisdom for us married men...

Super-sized Cruise Ship Proposal

Think the latest round of cruise ships are out of control? Check out this proposal for a 320,000T, 500m long giant (that's over twice as large as the current world's largest cruise ship Freedom of the Seas).



read more | digg story

30 Days Until The Newest Kwasny Arrives

As the spinning baby on the right says it is only 30 days until the birth of Jack (according to me) or Addison (according to Nardine) so I thought I'd give you an update on where we stand with respect to being ready for kid #2.

First off, Nardine is feeling a lot better. The antibiotics seem to have finally kicked in and the pain from her ribs has lessened significantly, to the point where today she was able to take regular Tylenol Extra Strength instead of the hydromorphone. Every doctor we've seen lately (and there has been a few of them) has given the baby the 100% o.k. diagnosis which is great considering the terrible bug that Nardine has had to fight off. The positive side of all this for Nardine is that instead of gaining weight over the last two weeks she has actually lost a couple of pounds (again, nothing to worry about according to the professionals). Nardine's obstetrician gives her about a 60% chance of having a natural birth before her scheduled C-section date of 23 April. While that would be great, we've already got some experience with the C-section so either way is fine with us.

Baby's room - for all of you that don't already know this, Dylan has moved out of her old room and taken over what used to be our guest room. Therefore the baby's room is pretty much done. We've put the crib back together, restocked the change table and are waiting on the final outcome before we make any major style changes (mom, I'm going to need those G.I. Joe toys soon). Since we never really believed in the 'baby-proofing' your house idea (probably because it involved to much work), the rest of the house is pretty much good to go. I'm sure that John and Cas will be happy to hear that we have acquired bottles and formula ahead of time so there will be no frantic dashes to the store with this kid! We've borrowed an infant car seat from a friend of mine at work so once again we managed to avoid buying our own - what a frugal family!

So what's left to do? Not much. We need to pack an overnight bag for the hospital, find someplace for Dylan to stay in case the baby comes before John and Cas get here (please don't come early baby!) and most importantly enjoy our last month together as a family of three. Dylan is still very excited about the new baby coming and is also thrilled that both grandmas and grandpas will be visiting soon. She's already assigned Nardine and myself the task of watching the baby while she takes grandma and grandpa shopping to buy a new high chair for the baby, apparently she's not ready to give her old one up yet.

PS - in keeping in line with my previous post, I thought you all might find this video funny, I laughed my butt off!

OK - This might be a bit political....



Here's an interesting video I found from the CBC program the Fifth Estate called "The Lies That Led to War". It gives an interesting perspective on why the war on Iraq was started and the very suspect evidence that was used to justify it. I'll warn you now it's long, about 45 minutes, but is very well put together and definitely gives you something to think about. Here's a bit of the lead in to the show -

" Since the US-led invasion four years ago, the fifth estate has covered Iraq and the war on terror from virtually every angle--the military, media, intelligence, politics--revealing aspects of the story that you didn't find anywhere else. Now, as the White House warns about the latest threat in the region, this time from Iran, it's worthwhile looking back to examine the deception, suspect intelligence, even lies, that convinced the world of the rightness of targeting Saddam Hussein."

SPRING 2007 IS HERE!


Well it's sunny, -4C and there's no snow so I guess things could be a lot worse! Spring also heralded in a new arrival - Dylan's first report card! Yep, Dylan received her first report card from preschool yesterday and of course being the genius that we all know she is, it was pretty much straight A's - although the grading scale may be a bit easier than what Jason's students are used to! Needless to say Nardine is the very proud mother right now, may be a long time before the report card gets taken off the fridge!

THANK YOU!





















Nardine, Dylan and I would like to pass on a big thanks to everyone who's called to check in on us or offered to help out over the last couple of days. It's great knowing we have so many family and friends that care a lot about us. Nardine would like to note however that no one has yet to step up with any get well gifts of jewelery or expensive shoes...just a thought.