Happy Father's Blog!

Happy Father's Day to all those fathers out there!

What a nice weekend we've had, weather-wise. Not that it wasn't a nice weekend all around, but considering the state of our weather in my last post, it's a HUGE improvement! I think it got to 30 degrees here, even higher. It sure felt like it!

What happened today? Ben and I wrote in our cards (Ben colored in his - he's so creative!) and wrapped our gift for Gord. Then after Daddy finally woke up, we made him open the present so that we could go outside and play - Daddy's sleeping in really puts a cramp in our day! Benjamin played with his sand and water table while I hosed down the kiddie pool and filled it up. Ben was very excited at the prospect of jumping in the big doggie dish (which is, I'm sure, how he saw it!), but I made him come in and cool off a bit and eat a spot of lunch. Then it happened to be naptime, which was good 'cause the water in the pool was very cold. While he napped, Grandma and Grandpa Potter showed up and were eagerly waiting to see him - after all, it's been two weeks! Once he woke up, I changed him into his swim trunks and lathered him in sunscreen and out we went. He LOVES his pool. Daddy even jumped in there with him to cool off, clothes and all! Ben happily splashed in the water for a long time and we took some cute pictures and video.

He ate a good supper, had some ice cream for dessert, and he went to sleep without putting up a fight (not that he usually does, but he'd had a busy day!). Now I'm doing some work that I brought home this weekend (why did I leave public practice again?!?) and Gord is relaxing in the living room.

I've got a busy week ahead of me (hence the need to bring work home with me!) while Gord is bored spitless at school. His last exam is on Tuesday, and after that his marks are due, but he only has this last class to worry about. And then it's on to playing lots and lots of Warcraft until June 30th, when school is officially done.

After that, he and Ben can sit in the pool all day every day!

Wow...it's been a blog.

Well, it's been raining here. Every day, for two weeks. Easily. I'm not exaggerating. It sucks, especially when your son wants to play outside all day. Grrrrrrr.

We bought Ben a sand and water table - it is very cool! It has an umbrella to give the kiddos some shade (or protection from the rain, if necessary). Ben really likes it, even though he's only played with it once (see weather conditions above). I finally bought some OFF for Kids too - to keep those giant Winnipeg mosquitos at bay! He ended up with 4 bites on his forehead during the 30 minutes he was playing at the table!

Benjamin also likes Mommy's flowers! And by "likes" I mean that he "likes" to pull the blossoms off. So they just look like green plants in pots. I'm trying to teach him to smell the flowers, but he licks them instead. What can you expect from a 16-month-old?

I have been struck several times over the last couple of days as to how big Ben has gotten. He was sitting beside me on the couch the other day, eating a slice of watermelon. When did he start to look 15? Man oh man, I'm in trouble! And he was trying to put his own shoes on yesterday after swimming. Sigh. (I'm doing a lot of sighing lately!)

Speaking of swimming, Ben just finished his second round of Aquatots yesterday - and he passed with flying colors! He loves to jump off (well, step off) the side of the pool into my arms. He did this about 25 times yesterday alone! I also completely dunked him under the water and he didn't freak out at all.

What else is he doing now?
Refusing all meat
Insisting on feeding himself everything
He's down to one bottle a day, at bedtime
He knocks on closed doors
Loves to say "hi"
Gets Charlie all riled up by kicking her in the ribs and sitting on her head (????)
Charges at you from across the room
Ben is obsessed by his penis (as are all men!)
He LOVES to dance!

That's it for us! Take care everyone!

Carrie

Looking for a fun blog activity? And have a good laugh?

Here's a fun link that I got from another blogger (thanks Erin!):

Go to google images and search for the following things and link to either the first picture or your favorite. It is hilarious what comes up!

Town where I grew up...

Town where I live now... I've lived here for 10 years and I can honestly say I have never seen these things!

My first name...

Grandma’s first name

My favorite food...

My favorite drink My favorite non-alcholic drink is this...how boring!

Favorite song Any song from this album...do you see a John Travolta theme? (if not, see "my first name")

My favorite smell Nothing beats this!

Not much else new. I'm planning to call IKEA to get the ball rolling on our new kitchen so that it'll be here in time for Gord to assemble and install once July rolls around and he's on holidays! Two months should be enough time, right?

later skaters...

Happy Birthday Mommy! 

Happy Blogday!

Well, today is my 28th birthday! I ended up throwing together a bit of a party for myself - I invited Mom & Dad, Mom Martins, Chris & Sheri, Marla & Mike and Michelle & Eric and the boyz over for a barbecue. Of course, it rained, so we ate barbecued food sitting in the house. And we had a great variety of desserts to pig out on! Yum yum - all of my favorites - homemade ice cream sandwiches, angel food cake with whipped cream and fruit, chunks of fruit with mint whipped cream dip...mmmmmmmmmmm it was tasty (if I do say so myself)!

I scored some good prezzies too - I'm such a lucky girl! The best gifts (notwithstanding my son and my hubby of course!) would be "Footloose" and "Dirty Dancing". These are classics in my opinion. Gord thinks I'm nuts. But he's never even seen "Footloose", so what the heck does he know?

I posted a picture below of Ben a couple of weeks ago, sunnier and mosquito-free, playing in the backyard. And the picture above this post is from tonight, just before bedtime when Ben was snuggly. God I love this kid...

Take care everyone!
Carrie

Smell this! 

Logan James Monachan 

It's a......

boy! Logan James was born at 2:00 this afternoon - 8lbs 6oz with a full head of curly blond hair (comes from both Liz and James, apparently)! Nurses from all over the hospital are coming to check out the hair!

Congratulations new little family! Can't wait to see some pictures!

Baby M comes today! Can't blogging wait!

Liz is going to be induced today! Baby M is almost here! I think I'm as excited as I was with Ben - whoda thunk it?

So just a quick blog to send some positive vibes out east! Here's to a quick and easy labour and delivery Liz and James!

My blog titles suck.

I'm hopeless with these blog titles. I am so not creative. I guess that's why I'm an accountant!

I am so sore and achy. Playing ball all day yesterday really took it out of me. I have sore muscles everywhere - even where I didn't know I had muscles! All in all, though, it was a really fun day! We played 3 games and won 2 - 10-0 and 17-0. The third game was all tied up into their last bat, and well, I won't get into it. We lost. That's that. And the sun even came out - I got a little sunburned!

We had Garth and Jill over last night - it sure was good to see them again! Ben tried his hardest to charm the pants off of them, as he usually does to any guests! So we chit-chatted the night away and had a really good visit. Charlie was a pain-in-the-butt, but they both like dogs, so they were very forgiving of her incessant pestering!

Today, I planted some flowers in the flowerbeds at the front of the house. Ben came out to help me and he really liked playing in the dirt! I might have to snag him some little garden tools of his own so he stops stealing mine and leaving them all over the yard! He did eat some dirt and put a couple of rocks in his mouth - what else is new? (I just don't get the rock thing - does he need iron or some other mineral?) He and I had a little spat about the fact that he kept climbing in the flowerbed and stepping all over the freshly-planted snapdragons, but after a hug or two, he wasn't mad at me anymore. Then he and I came in for a bath - I was dirtier than he was!

So that was our weekend. I'll sign off now and go to bed! Sweet dreams everyone!

Does Ben have special powers? ("Blog" - this is so not funny.)

For the past couple days, Gord's back has been really iffy. Spasm-y, tight, etc. etc. etc. So does Benjamin decide to take it easy on his daddy in the mornings? NO WAY JOSE! He doesn't want to get dressed, he doesn't want to have his shoes put on, nothin' doin'.

He can be pretty cranky in the mornings...remind you of anyone? (No, not me! Gord!)

On another note, this ball tournament I'm in tomorrow - it's supposed to rain. And the games happen, rain or shine. Unless it's like a torrential downpour, thunder, lightning, hail, etc. I'm prepared to get wet though...for the love of the game!

Carrie

I bloggin' give up!

Sorry for the lack of blogs this past week! I could say that we've been terribly busy, but it would be a lie.

What's been happening? Let's see...

I went to a Goldeyes game last Wednesday - man was it boring. No scoring. At all. And since it was an exhibition game, if it's tied (even 0-0) at the end of 9 innings, we all go home. However, not to sound like a grump, it was a beautiful day out and there were some nice hits and good plays. And a free lunch. See, it was a work function - to "celebrate our success" - so it was all free. I'm not going to bite the hand that feeds me!

Ben stayed overnight at Grandma Susan's last Friday night. The whole night! The first time Ben has not spent a night with at least one of his parents there. This is a big step folks! He had a really good time destroying his grandma's apartment - pulling out books, chasing Sid (the cat), smearing banana on her TV screen - you know, the usual. We think Grandma was exhausted!

While Gord and I were "Ben-free", we painted our living room and part of the hallway. We chose a dark taupe and a chocolate brown. It is amazing what a coat of paint can do! The house looks so much warmer and lived in (I know, I know, how can it not look lived in when there are $300 worth of toys sitting all over the place. But now it looks homey!) I'll see about posting some pics tonight...

Sunday we drove out to Morden. Gord dragged Dad and I to see the new Star Wars movie. It was actually really good. Darth Vader good. Well, he's evil, but it's cool to see him transform.

Ben's sleeping this weekend left a lot to be desired. It was either short naps, naps at weird hours, or not enough sleep at night. Thankfully, Tuesday rolled around and things are back to normal. Mommy sure doesn't think she could go on 4 hours of sleep day after day!

Last night, Chris and his friend Barry came over to make a video of Chris acting like an idiot. They almost burned my house down and, more importantly, interrupted "Rob and Amber Get Married" by turning off every breaker in the house! The nerve! The TV box takes like 15 minutes to reboot itself when the power is interrupted. Who knew the world could be so cruel?

What's up for the rest of this week? Garth and Jill are coming in from Ottawa this Friday 'cause they are coming to see their new (and first) niece. Hopefully we'll be able to hook up with them at some point! Saturday, I'm playing in a MTS slo-pitch tournament, so that will be very interesting - I haven't played in almost two years! Bah, it's like riding a bike, right? (See pictures below!)

Liz is just days away from her due date. We talked to her last night, and she's doing great! Now that she's off work, she has lots of time to wait!

I was talking to my friend Michelle, whose son Bailey (5) is a Harry Potter fan (who isn't?). Well, Michelle was saying that she told him that my last name used to be Potter, and he finally caught on (we'd told him this before, but he didn't get it). He was apparently awestruck by this fact. Carrie Potter. Maybe I should have kept that name?

Take care everyone! Until next time...

c-pot

Looking for Charlie 

Out Bikin' 

That woman doesn't know what she's blogging about.

Hello again! Thanks for the comments Garth and Liz (as just the most recent examples). We love reading them. (And Garth, as you can see I have not given up the blog just yet).

Well, what has happened since Thursday?

FRIDAY: We forgot already. (We may have had 'marital relations'. It's just not that memorable! :) )

SATURDAY: We were planning to go to Minneapolis next weekend to check out our potential new kitchen at IKEA. We decided, however, that it was a little extravagant to travel that far to just look at a kitchen that we could look at in Carrie's cousin's house in Fort Garry. SO, as a bit of a comprimise we went to Grand Forks for the day today.

We had a nice day, just shopping and wandering around. I got three computer games on the cheap (one for $5, and 2 for $1 each). We also got our hands on the Saturday Night Live Trivial Pursuit DVD edition for only $10! SCORE! (Now if we only knew anything about SNL...) We picked up some cute clothes for Ben, and a blanket that has a picture of a dog named 'Charlie' on it. I also bought some neproxin (sp? Is there a doctor in the blog?) for my back, but that was promptly confiscated at the border. Oh well. Speaking of the border, it was the first time that either Carrie or I had to pay tax in a long time! I didn't know you paid PST AND GST on the items you are bringing in. (I thought it was just GST). And, of course, all of Ben's clothes were made by children in some poor Asian country, so we had to pay duty on those too! We didn't mind too much though, it was a fun day anyway. Thanks to Grandma Susan for watching the dog so we could go!

SUNDAY: The highlight on Sunday was Ben's first bike ride! We went all the way to Canadian Tire and back. That is what the pictures above show. Mommy rode back home directly while I took a longer route so that she could grab a camera and catch a couple of pics. It was a big TV night last night with the season finale of the Simpsons (VERY funny), and the finale of Survivor 10. Big veg-out night. In other Sunday news, I tried Jambalaya for the first time and...actually...liked...it. A little hot, tho.

TODAY: Well, work. Then Ben's swimming lesson where he got all excited playing 'Motorboats'. This is something worth a video, but as I mentioned in a previous blog, videos aint allowed.

Well, I'll sign off. Continual good luck and love to Liz - you're in for the time of your life! (And I DO mean that in a good way!) Keep us all posted!

Gordo (and the wonder-family)

That's it!

I'm making an executive decision as co-owner of this blog - no more "blog"s in the titles anymore! I'm not creative enough to keep this up for much longer! Soooooo...

It's been a while since we posted an entry here, hasn't it? Reason #1 - we're lazy. You all know it's true. Reason #2 - Ben got sick (fever, runny nose, vicious cough, etc.) and now we're sick. But instead of going to bed, I'm doing this.

Yeah, so Ben spiked a fever just over a week ago - kinda scary since he has never really had a fever like that before. It lasted almost two days and then tapered off, but it was the start of a cold. He has a very bad cough almost a week now. Poor little guy has coughing spasms...as a parent, your heart just breaks!

Other than a couple of days where he was very fussy and moody, he's doing fine. Here's a list of what Ben is up to these days:
- Dancing - it is so comical! He loves to dance to "Old MacDonald had a farm", and is now changing up his dance steps. Ben dances better than Gord does!
- Sign language - he knows to ask for "milk", "more" (usually he wants food), and "all done". This is helping a lot because his vocabulary is not the greatest yet!
- Hisses like a snake - we have a book which has a picture of a snake in it - when you ask him what the snake sounds like, he hisses!
- Train noises - after what seems like 2 weeks of saying, "Choo-choo" a million times, he's finally getting it!
- Cutting more molars - the first one popped through about 3 weeks ago. He has to be getting about 2 more (he was just up, crying inconsolably until I finally broke out the Anbesol - I've only ever used it once before).

Anyways, I should sign off. Sorry for the lame post. I'm tired and I want to go to bed. But "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is on. I'm a sucker for John Corbett (even with the long hair!).

Blah, blah, blah. Hope that you're all doing really well! Oh and Liz, good luck with impending labour and birth and all the good stuff that comes after it!

Carrie

Whew! What a weekend! What a blog!

As you may (or may not) know, it was Chris and Sheri's social on the weekend. We headed to Brandon on Friday after work so that we could get the most out of our weekend. When we arrived at Uncle Rick's and Aunt Simone's house that night, Dayna and Emma were there (Dayna is my cousin and Emma is her 16 month old daughter). So Ben and Emma sized each other up, showed each other a few tricks and stayed up until 11 or so.

Saturday, we met Chris, Sheri, Jason (best man), Heather (maid of honor) and one of Heather's friends for breakfast. Then we dropped Ben off with Aunt Simone (we put him down for a nap) and went to the hall to help decorate. Heather was very well organized and it all went down without a hitch.

There was also an unexpected visitor - Berkley, Sheri's brother, arrived all the way from Calgary. Just when she was about to start waxing my eyebrows. What timing he had! Sheri was very happy to see him, and it was nice to actually meet him before the wedding rolls around!

Ben and Emma were tucked away in bed by the time we left for the social, with the neighbor's daughter staying at the house to keep an ear out for them. But both babes slept and had no idea that we weren't there!

There is only one way to describe the social - awesome! There were tons of people, great prizes, great music - it was really, really fun! Although, it sure doesn't take much to entertain Gord and I these days (envision a baby with an ice-cream pail on his head!). The music man brought with him a "marriage simulator" - a wooden jail cell that you put people in - i.e. $10 to put someone in jail, but someone else has to pay $10 to get that person out. All proceeds to the bride and groom. Chris and Sheri made a killing on that alone - something like $600. It was very funny to see a bunch of people crammed in there. Jason's bail (at one point) was up to $135 - wow, eh?

The prizes were amazing - among them a DVD player, a $500 make-up basket from Holt Renfrew and a poker table (built by Dad) and a set of poker chips. Uncle Dennis made out like a bandit, winning three prizes - some t-shirts and glasses, the DVD player and the poker prize. Holy moly!

Gord's dream job for the night was to work behind the bar - and it came true! The bar was sooo busy that they needed the extra help! I worked the door for a while, selling tickets (entry, drink and prize) with Kristen, Jason's girlfriend. Even though we could dance or sip on a drink, we made our own fun!

Sunday, we had a nice breakfast and a good visit with Aunt Nancy, Uncle Doug and Grandma. Ben had two kisses for his g.g. We then went to Chris and Sheri's house to check out the renovations they'd done since we had seen it last. The house sure is coming together now - just a closet door to install and a bit of work in the bathroom, and the house will be ready to live in. We're sure looking forward to staying there when we visit Brandon!

Ben had swimming lessons today - we put life jackets on the kids. He looked so cute - like he was ready to go waterskiing or something! He didn't really like floating with it though, but that's fairly normal, his instructor said. They're a little bulky.

I think that's all folks! Take care!

Carrie and the Sheppard boyz

I like big blogs

Well, another week has whizzed by without any blogging by these bloggers. Not much to tell! Let's see - what can we talk about?

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes out this weekend. After seeing the ads (and being a BIG fan of the books) I am afraid that I'm going to be dissapointed. I'll go see it anyway though!

Speaking of movies, Star Wars Episode III comes out May 19th. Let's hope it's better than episode II.

Speaking of OTHER movies, we finally put video of Ben that was on the computer on a DVD. We needed room to put more of our videos on the computer and clear off some tapes. It took just over 3 hours to compile and burn a 62 minute DVD (in high resolution though). We'll make some copies and send them along ASAP.

Ben's signing is coming along nicely. This morning he gave me the sign for 'All Done' when I said "All Done" when his toy stopped playing it's song. Ben was also trying to dance AND clap today - without much success. He was successul at being really cute though!

We are off to Brandon this weekend for Chris' social. Should be a good time - I'm hoping to win the poker table that Bill made for the occasion. (I've tried convincing people not to go so I have a better chance).

Not much more to tell. I have the sniffles - probably since I was wiping Ben's nose with my finger and then sharing his Cheerios. (This stuff really doesn't bother you when it's your own kid!) Hope I get better for the social!

Talk to you all later!

Gordo

Bloggedy bloggedy blog blog

Sorry folks...it's been a little dry around the blog lately! Where shall I start? Let's see...

Ben is getting to be such a little boy! It is really fun to be around him right now. He is starting to imitate things we do, which can be really funny sometimes (but mostly adorable). Ben absolutely loves to go outside. We have to watch him pretty close though - he tends to stick rocks in his mouth. Gord is more concerned about the choking hazard than the germ/dirt thing, whereas I feel equally concerned on both counts. Ben likes to play pat-a-cake and even tries "rolling the dough"; however, I've decided that Grandma Joan can't play these games/songs with him - she doesn't remember them very well and I don't want her to be teaching him the crazy stuff she was doing! Our little bug also has learned to blow kisses (it's still in the early stages, but sweet nonetheless) and he loves to feed himself with a fork. Mommy/Daddy/whoever sits beside him at the table may have to jab the food with the fork sometimes, but he readily eats off of it. In fact, he tends to eat more of his supper if he can use a fork or a spoon. So independent... And he dances, which involves him stomping his feet, like he's running in place. God it makes your heart melt!

I've also started reading a book called "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers" - it's the first parenting book I've read. There's a quiz in it to determine what your toddler's personality is. So I did the quiz and I decided that Ben was an "angel baby" (wishful thinking?!). Gord and I redid the quiz today, and it turns out that Ben is more of a mix of "angel baby" and "textbook baby". It'll be interesting what else comes out of this reading material! I'm sure that it'll determine that Ben is a genius! Dontcha think?

Ben has finally cut his first molar. Oy-yoy-yoy. There's a lot of snot involved with this, in case you were wondering/forgot. Only three and half to go (only a bit of the first one has cut through). And he's got a cold too (we think - it's hard to tell between teething snot and cold snot). And my allergies are flaring up. Yuck.

Gord and I shipped the kiddo off to Grandma Susan's yesterday so that we could get some yardwork/housework done without interruption. We got a lot accomplished (as our garbagemen will see tomorrow!) and Ben had a fun day at Grandma's house. Then today, we took a drive to Morden to see Grandma & Grandpa Potter. Their house looks really good - paint, tiling - Dad's been really busy!

That's all I've really got to say for now. Hope this finds everyone well!

Carrie

A Blog from Ben Part II

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