Congratulations Becky and Dave!

My kindergarten class is getting married off one by one. Today was Becky's turn. She and her husband Dave tied the knot in a medieval-style ceremony at Webster's Falls. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding. Nothing but sunshine, and no sticky humidity.

Here's a shot of the happy couple with Becky's Mom:



And here's a shot of the whole wedding party:



And finally, here's a shot of Becky blowing out the candles on her wedding cake:


Okay, you got me. That last shot wasn't taken today. That was Becky's tenthish birthday party. (Guess who that is on the left?)

Every once in a while it hits me: Hey, I've known these people since kindergarten and now we're getting married and having babies! I didn't have a lot of friends in elementary school, but most of them are still my friends today. Craziness.

William's first trip to the library

Yesterday William sat up on his own. Adam and I were hanging out with him on the couch when we both suddenly realized that neither of us were holding him up and he wasn't falling over.

So now that he's all grown up, I figured it was time he got his own library card. Finally the weather is neither too hot, nor too rainy for a nice long walk. Long, but nice, we strolled through Central Park, past the Labyrinth, around a playground, and across a soccer field.

I've been going to this same library since I was six years old, long enough to know many of the librarians. Today we saw Marnie, who went gah gah over William. She complained that when people she'd known as kids came in with their babies it made her feel like she belonged in an old folks' home. I complained that since the library was renovated, I can't find anything. The children's department is now upstairs, and the elevator makes a scary noise.

William's BM schedule today allowed us to test the change tables in both the upstairs and downstairs washrooms. When that was done, we got William his own library card and he took out his first books. What an exhausting day!

Best friends

William and I went down to St. Catharines today to hang out with Aedan and his Mom, Becca. Look at them being all chummy. Totally not posed. Really they just climbed up on the couch and put their arms around each other.

Anyway, going to St. Cath meant I had to drive Adam to work all the way in Mississauga then drive back the way I came and past Burlington to the end of the world. Then miss my exit and get lost in the worst city to get lost in in the universe (the streets are laid out in a diamond grid pattern). Then drive through torrential downpour and rush hour traffic at the end of the day to pick Adam up again. I have no concept of time whatsoever, but I would estimate that I did roughly 350 years of driving today.

But I had fun. Becca: move to Burlington!

Rabbit Season

All of a sudden there are rabbits everywhere!

Here's a picture Adam took of the rabbits nest at my in-laws' yesterday:




And just now Adam and William and I went for a walk and we saw this baby rabbit in the mall parking lot:




And this huge Mommy rabbit nursing her babies by my building (honestly, this thing was larger than my parents' dog):




Back in the day, you only saw a rabbit around here once in a blue moon. Now they're multiplying like, well, like rabbits!

Father's Day

I bought Adam and William matching outfits for Father's Day, enhancing their cuteness for the Father's Day events at my in-law's house. My mom-in-law invited a whole bunch of cousins who have never met William over for barbecue and baby. Everyone praised William for being so ultra-cute and well-behaved.

After Babcia and Dziazio's it was off to Omi and Opa's (my parents) for some Father's Day lobster. William was a bit cranky by this point because it was evening and he was tired from all the baby-passing. Hunter, my six-year-old nephew, wheeled him around the living room in the stroller to keep him quiet enough for me to eat my dinner. Even cranky, William is better behaved than most other babies, seeing as he is (in my unbiased opinion) the greatest baby in the world.

As tired as he was, the bedtime ritual went painlessly tonight, freeing me up to write this entry and post photos on my international tag blog.

Sound of Music Day 1: Philosopher Kings

Woohoo, thought I, a band I've heard of is playing at the Sound of Music Festival. So I left William with my favourite babysitters (my Mom, Dad, and nephew) and headed out with my good friend Amy to enjoy the show (we met Dayna there). I do love a free concert, especially when I get close enough to take some decent photos. Yeah, and the music was okay too.

Some of my favourite points about the festival in general:

Every year musicians who are used to singing to adoring fans try to get the audience to sing their lyrics back to them, only to find that noone there knows the words. Tonight was no exception, but the Kings were unphased.

You always see people you haven't seen in a hundred years. It's like facebook live. In addition to Amy and Dayna, I saw a girl from my high school german class, one of my sister's old friends, and an old pal from high school.

It's Alive! To jest Żywe!

Every day, Adam calls from work to tell me he's on his way home. Yesterday the call came from the Canadian Tire across the street. Our '99 Subaru Forester was overheating (no kidding, so was I!) and he had taken it in to be checked out. An hour and a half later the boys (and girls) at Canuck T told us that our jalopy needed a new (insert name of engine part here). Apparently, this widget is buried so deeply in the engine that, while the part isn't too costly, the labour is super duper expensive. Might as well get a new engine, so says the Canucks.

Cost of an engine and labour at Canadian Tire: approximately $7000
Total cost of the car when we bought it: approximately $7000

So you can see why we don't find this scenario cost effective. Luckily there's the Filipowicz garage (my in-laws' house). We've already saved a tonne of money using Adam's Dad as slave labour. Now he might be able to use his Subaru Frankenstein tricks to resurrect our monster for a more reasonable price.

Despite our Polish mafia connections, we will still need a new car one day. Or at least another old one.

Baby news

Yesterday we switched William from the highly convenient, very portable infant carrier, to the big cushy, stays-in-the-car-forever, big boy seat. He reached the max height for the carrier. William is going to be tall like his Daddy. *tear* My baby is growing up.

In other highly fascinating baby news: this morning, rather than be woken up to crying, I awoke to an electronic version of Itsy Bitsy Spider, courtesy of William's Pooh Bear. When I went to investigate, William was playing on his tummy. He's been able to roll to his tummy for awhile ( since about June 2) but normally he just freaks himself out and screams for Mommy. This was a pleasant change.

Jen and Carol's International Photo Tag

I started a new blog with my Scottish friend Carol that everyone should check out. (www.internationaltag.blogspot.com) Here's the description:

"Canadian Jen posts a picture, then Scottish Carol posts a picture of the same thing (only Scottish). Then Carol posts a pic of something else, then Jen posts a pic of the same thing (only Canadian). And one day, with luck, we'll have a photo blog that compares Burlington, Ontario, Canada with Glasgow, Scotland in some interesting way."

Okay, so the description's lame. But I felt the best thing to do was to tell it like it is. If you go there right now you can compare Canadian and Scottish squirrels.

On a completely different topic: It's hot. And I got suckered into Morty-sitting again today. And Monday. And it's hot. Did I mention it's hot?

Morty the Jackapoo, Becca and Drew, Aedan, William and Hunter too.

I don't have much energy for brilliance (read the title). Here is a list of things we did (in no particular order):

• played Wii Sports
• played Wii Play
• played Donkey Kong
• built a two-headed alien monster car out of lego
• went to McDonald's
• watched Quantum Leap
• watched Terminator 3
• went to the park
• played tv tag
• played Star Wars Monopoly
• played the Nightmare Before Christmas Game
• played Simpson's Jeopardy
• went to the grocery store to buy a cake and pick out a birthday card for Omi
• visited Omi at the old folks' home (ate cake)
• attempted to put William to sleep (in progress)

Almost 9pm, and no dinner here yet. Adam's gone to pick something up.

Morty the Jackapoo, once again

It is now 11 o'clock. Morty has been here since 8:30 and he's already puked on the carpet. I was nursing my cranky teething baby and thus confined to a rocking chair when Morty trotted in and began heaving. For those of you who have seen a dog throw-up, you'll know they do it in slow motion.

First the heaving, like every muscle their body is working together to dislodge this hunk of ... whatever. And you're thinking: "He's about to puke! Oh no! I should do something. But what? I'll look for something to catch the puke in. Oh, too late." Or in my case: "If only I wasn't confined to this rocking chair."

Now, to a human, the sight and smell of ones own vomit is so repulsive, it has been known to make one vomit again. But a dog will eat anything. Anything. Most likely the reason Morty tossed his cookies in the first place. You'd think they'd learn. But then again, if hurling meant I got a tasty snack, instead of a gross puddle of disgusting barf, I might want to do it more often. Normally I would make some attempt to prevent the re-eating of previously evacuated stomach contents. However, as I was concentrating on my cranky teething baby, and thus confined to a rocking chair, I could only utter a half-hearted "No Morty" while the Jackapoo devoured a hunk of up-chuck about the size of his head.

Now both baby and puppy are asleep (baby in his crib and Morty at my feet) and the day is getting better already. Oh here's a fun quiz to see if you were paying attention: How many different words/phrases meaning "puke" did I use in this blog entry? List them all in the comments session if you are so inclined, and let me know if I missed any.

And if you're still looking to waste time, try this random movie quote generator:

Lions and tigers and Morty, oh my!

Morty "the Jackapoo" McNicoll vs. the Filipowicz Family

Yesterday William and I were dog-sitting. My parents are in BC and Morty the Jackapoo came over so he didn't have to stay in the crate all day while my brother was at work.

Morty (4lbs) vs. Lokai (2lbs)

About 3 seconds after my husband left for work, leaving me alone with baby and puppy, Morty found our smallest, often forgotten family member. Yes, that's right, Lokai the Guinea Pig. I yelled "down!" at him enough times that Morty understood that he wasn't supposed to look at the pig, bark at the pig, or jump on the pig's cage. So he only did those things when I was out of the room. Lokai was pretty laid back about the whole issue. He gave more squeaks of protest when I put the lid on his cage (something I haven't needed to do in about a year), than squeaks of fear at the attacking pooch. Of course even if Morty had been able to get in the cage, I think Lokai could probably take him in a fair fight. In any case, no family members were eaten.

Morty (4lbs) vs. William (16lbs)

But some were tasted. Everytime William got anywhere near the floor, Morty would run from wherever he was and lick the baby's face. William wasn't sure if he like this at first, but eventually decided he didn't and made pouty faces when Morty came near. William likes to stand on the floor while I hold his hands, and he didn't get to do a whole lot of that yesterday. Funny thing, next to William, Morty looks like a full-sized dog.

A Test of Baby Proofing.

One good part of having Morty here is that the little guy finds and chews on things that maybe William will find and chew on when he becomes more mobile. Most of our baby proofing will involve cleaning up and vacuuming more often.

Willam's Talents

I was going to post a video I took of William in his exersaucer, but I am having technical difficulties. Instead, here is a list of William's current abilities:

• Rolling over front to back
• Reaching for things, grabbing them, and putting them in his mouth. "Things" include (but aren't limited to) blankets, toys, t-shirts, hair, hands (his and those of others), stuffed animals, necklaces, nipples.
• Playing with the toys dangling from his crib gym. This skill is related to the grabbing skill. It's not unusual to see him with one toy in each hand, holding another with his feet, and trying to get all three in his mouth.
• Turning around in the exersaucer. He can now play with all the toys around the side properly too.
• Getting out of his carseat. Not while it's buckled though, thankfully.
• Cooing and gurgling and making a whole vocabulary of noises.
• Smiling.
• Laughing.
• Standing while someone holds his arms.
• Sitting while someone holds his arms.
• Turning around in his crib. Note, not rolling around. He simply manoevres his legs in such a way that he ends up with his feet pointed in a completely different direction.
• Sleeping all the way through the night.

Now he just has to learn to post a video on youtube so he can teach me!