Budge On The Move

Uh oh … Shari and are in trouble … the budgie boy is start to get mobile all on his own … he’s doing this little pseudo crawl thing where he’s using his phenomenal arm strength to pull himself along.  Once he figures out what to do with his legs, that boy will be MOVING.

And just to try and show off, he’s also pulling himself into a standing position using the couches.  He can also march his way up and down the length of them.  So the question is will he walk or crawl first?

Time For Some Thoughts From May … I Guess?

Hey there in Timbit land!  I guess it’s about high time that I posted SOMETHING out here.  Do I say that a lot?  I think maybe I do … maybe I should just post more often?  Hunh …

So the weather is turning REALLY nice as of this past weekend.  Which meant that the family got to spend a LOT of time outside this weekend.  Shari and I had decided to pick up a season’s pass to the zoo this year, and we’ve already made the most of that investment.  Brie loves going, if not for the animals then at least to just see a whole bunch of stuff that she thinks is neat.  She’s such a little explorer and is always asking “What dat?” or asking you to “Come!  Daddy come!”  Logan?  He’s just happy period so I guess it doesn’t matter to him where he is …

TV Season is wrapping up for the year with most series having their finales in the past couple of weeks.  I wish that Shari and I could say that we’re not addicted to TV … but really?  The way the kids run us ragged by the end of the day all we want to do is collapse onto the couch and veg.  I’m sure we could try and emulate some motivational posters and “Seize Life TODAY” or something … but really?  The people who wrote those posters didn’t have small children.  Anyway … Shari and I have really enjoyed a number of standout shows this past year and I think we’re already DYING for the next season to start … Modern Family and Community stand out among the new crop …

There are just so many random thoughts which I have to deal with these days.  Ignoring the stuff I have to focus on at work, once I get home … trying to soak up as much Brie & Logan time as I can … and then have some time with my wife … and then try to get stuff down around the house … and MAYBE then do something fun … I can barely remember a time when this wasn’t commonplace.  I know that simpler times should be ahead, but at the same time I want to capture every moment I can while these two kids are the ages they are.  Because there’s going to come a time where I’m going to wonder where these two wonderful children disappeared to and these annoying teenagers came from.

Our Little Girl Is TWO

Holy crap … so Shari and I bring the family back from our first BIG vacation only to have to launch into our daughter’s SECOND birthday … I’ll let that soak in for a second. Little Brie Carder has been breathing the air on this planet for over 700 days. I’d say she’s been walking around but really? She only started that shtick about a year ago …

Shari and I were actually going through some old photos and videos last night, which lead to a ton of memories flooding back for both of us. What was amazing for me watching the videos of our one year old was despite the outward changes how little she had actually changed in personality. What’s even more shocking is just how much her little brother is just like her. There is no doubt that these two kids are related, and there’s even smaller doubt that these kids came from Shari and me.

I got to show Brie two bits of media which I’ve been DYING to show her for at least two years now. She watched Toy Story … and she watched some Looney Tunes. Shari and I had decided no TV for her until she was two. And now that she’s there, I’m going to start opening up the floodgates and show her some really cool stuff. She was mesmerized by Toy Story and that couldn’t have made her father any happier. Now all she needs to do is declare that Buzz is her favourtie … not that wimpy cowboy doll …

Black Box 5.0 – Muy Bueno

Hey there everyone in Timbit land! So I’ve been slaving away at a new design for the site, mostly so that I could do some proper twitter integration. A good chunk of me decided that it was high time I overhauled the site anyway, so this here represents Black Box 5.0 …

I owe some stories and some pics … after all my daughter turned two this past weekend and I didn’t say a darn thing! so now that I’ve got the major design changes out of the way, I can focus on getting some more content up and running. So stay tuned!

Trying Some New Twitter Integration

Hey there followers of mine! In case you hadn’t noticed a few changes on the site, I’m currently trying out a new plugin for my blog … one which has a bit of tighter integration between the blog, Twitter and Facebook. So there may be some weirdness occurring on any one of those three sites and I apologize for that … but if I can get this running smoothly things will be just great … for me … not for you … you’ll still be bombarded by extra info … oh well …

TV Shows And Product Placement

Hey there everybody … all three of you … I think there was a blue moon out last night so I guess it’s time for me to post once again …

So Shari and I have a new favorite TV show … Modern Family. The jokes are surprisingly fresh and as new parents a lot of the humor resonates REALLY close to home. Personally, I love the show because I can totally relate to the character of Phil Dunphy. To describe it in the easiest way possible, the guy is ME. He likes to smack talk about his wife, but only after making sure she’s not in earshot. He lives in a bit of a fantasy world where his self evaluation may be a little more inflated than it deserves to be. And most importantly, he’s a tech toy FANATIC!!!

I knew this when in a previous episode he was trying to teach his wife and daughter the correct sequence of remote control button pushes to turn on the entertainment system PROPERLY. I myself have struggled with this and indeed sovled the issue by picking up a kick-ass all in one remote. However last night’s episode took Phil’s love of tech to a whole new level. He was geeked because it was his birthday. And why was he geeked about his birthday? Because it was on the same day as the release of the new Apple iPad.

Normally when a show hits viewers with a product placement I just roll my eyes and start mumbling under my breath. Reality shows like Biggest Loser, Survivor and Amazing Race aren’t even subtle about it with “challenges” being brought to you by various products. 30 Rock is normally the only show who handles placements perfectly, by delivering a scathing satire in the same breath as the actual product placement. Just think of the whole Jack Donaghy – Elisa – McFlurry love traingle and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

So it was amazing to me that last night it took me almost a good ten, fifteen minutes to clue in that the whole iPad angle COULD have been a placement! So believable and in line with his character was Phil’s desire for the iPad that I just took it, hook line and sinker. It wasn’t until the second commercial break that I realized not only that the iPad WAS coming out this weekend, but also did I remember about the fact that this was an ABC television show … ABC is owned by Disney … and Disney and Apple are the BEST of buds aren’t they?

I was right there with Phil, sharing his excitement about the new toy which was launching THAT very weekend. And when he uttered the line, “Next week! That’s like the worst thing you can say to an early adopter!” I was RIGHT there with him in that sentiment.

If you haven’t seen the show, you need to. The fact that they’ve created enjoyable realistic RELATABLE characters is only one facet of this fantastic show. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go line up for my iPad.

Brie Has A Touch Of OCD

Brie’s mom and I have been noticing a trend with our little girl of late … she’s been getting REALLY obsessive about certain things. For instance, whenever she grabs a book to read she always makes it a point to back to her bookshelf and get a book for EVERYONE who’s in the room. Sometimes yes that includes her little brother who is lying on the floor … drooling.

Now this could just be dismissed as very cute toddler behaviour but we’re starting to see events which lead us to the above mentioned assumption. For instance, on Logan’s change table we had an incident where one of the shelves dropped out of it’s mount. This of course resulted in all of the items on said shelf being spread across the floor. This happened in the morning when I was still getting ready to head into work.

Brie walked into the room, saw the mess, came back out and found me in the bathroom, grabbed my hand, lead me into her brother’s room, pointed at the mess and said something like ‘broken’ or ‘fix’. She REALLY wanted it fixed, REAL BAD. Clearly I was headed to work and didn’t have the time to do that. Once I got home that night, the shelf was fixed but we didn’t have time to reload the shelf. Well the next day after I had gone to work, Shari stepped into the room to find Brie putting all of the items back on the shelf.

I sure do hope this trend lasts because I’ll really like it when she starts helping out cleaning around the house.

About Five Years Ago …

It was five years ago this week when I was first introduced to my lovely Shari … she was downtown visiting Morgan in the hospital … I was living downtown with Kate … we had talked on the phone a little bit to get to know each other, but this was the week where we first met face to face …

The place was Fran’s, down by the Eaton Centre across from old Massey Hall. Shari was there with her girls and I showed up with a shaved head and a trenchcoat. Not the best of first impressions to say the least. We talked, or as she would put it I talked and she just wondered if I could get a word in edgewise. I’ve told my darling many a time how I felt that night, but here five years later I’ll say it again …

I walked into Fran’s wondering if she would be good enough for me … I walked out wondering if I would be good enough for her.

Clearly things worked out from that first meeting. I went to a Survivor event at her house in Oakville. I almost ruined everything by poking her too damned much. Clearly I was over enthusiastic. We had our ‘first date’ a couple days later at a glow in the dark miniputt.

Looking back some of these details are starting to get a little bit fuzzy. Having two kids running and screaming around the house does tend to dull one’s mind. Those two kids though are just a part of all that Shari and I have accomplished together in the past five years. Truly I consider myself a blessed and lucky man to have her in my life. I’m just glad she was able to get over a poor haircut and bad wardrobe and give me a chance.

Love yah babe. Looking forward to the next five years!