T-Minus One Month...

Well...the day is almost upon us. It has been a few weeks since I left you a message, so I will try to make it a good one. You are almost here, so I want you to know a bit about what you are putting your mother through right now. She can use it for guilt leverage when you want to go to that party in high school.

First of all: you are BIG. Shanna and I were fairly large babies. I am told that your Uncle Joep had an abnormally large head and had to be encouraged from Nana's womb with suction cups. Size matters in our family and it would appear, at this point, that you are no exception to this rule. What's more is that your mother is intending to bring you forth without a single drop of pain-killing medicine. However, after watching the baby-birthing video I saw this week, I think I'd like to order a batch for myself.

Second: you are WIGGLY. By all signs, it appears that you will be a night-owl (like me!) Around 9-10 PM each night, you start hiccuping and wiggling like mad. Either you are in dire need of a sobering coffee or you are going to be a wild one. If this is any indication of what you will be like on the outside, I solemnly swear to wake you up at 6 o'clock every Saturday morning of your teenage years.

Third: You cheer for CANADA. During the Olympics, while your mother and I were glued to the television, it was clear that you have a preference for the home team. When they sang O Canada you wiggled more; when Sidney scored the winning goal you were nearly born on the spot (though, to be fair, that might have been due to the commotion and carrying-on in the basement). You delighted in the pairs figure skating and, I think, might have had a crush on John Montgomery's rapier wit (stay away...he's a sledder AND an auctioneer!) Don't worry, since your birth year was Canada's coming-out party to the world, we will have lots of 2010 inukshuk stuff for you to play with and wear for years to come.

Fourth: I'm READY. Everyone is asking me if I'm "ready." Am I ready for the big change? The new arrival? The bundle of joy. Well I'll tell you and everyone...I'M READY. No, I haven't read as many books as your Mom. No, I haven't gone to any classes. No, I haven't ever changed a diaper. No, I haven't done this before. But in spite of all of that stuff, I just know. I know I am ready to meet you. I know I am ready to do things, say things, feel things, and be things that I am supposed to. I know.

And I want you to know it too. I'm ready to meet you and I can't wait.

See you soon.

Dad

Go World, Go Baby 2010!!

Your birth year is a special one for your birth country of Canada, baby. I am going to tell you more about Canada in a later entry, but this year is the second time that Canada has hosted the Olympic Winter Games. This is where the best athletes in the world all get together to see who is the best of the best. Time around because it's being held in Vancouver, where auntie Shanna lives.

It's extra fun for your Mommy and I, though, because she is from a different country than I am. We are having lots of fun cheering for our own countries for different events or, whenever possible, cheering against the United States of America because everybody likes to beat them in sports.

What's the most fun is how your Mommy and I understand all the sports differently from one another. Most of our conversations about the sports we watch really show how we are from different cultures. Below are some examples of how this works for us:

Hockey

Hockey is Canada's Sport. By the time you read this, you will likely know what I mean but Hockey is to Canada like sand is to your shorts: it gets into every part of you whether you want it to or not.

I never played hockey officially or anything, but if I wanted other kids to talk to me when I was younger, I had to learn to skate and shoot a puck. Your mother didn't have this experience growing up, so she is always surprised by how big it is here.

Me: Canada is going to measure its success at these games by whether or not we win gold in the Men's hockey.

Your Mom: That's ridiculous. I can't believe that it's even in the Olympics. It's a team sport...

Me: You're so Dutch.

Curling

This one is a stretch for your Mother. Whereas hockey can reasonably be defended as an athletic competition, curling is one of the only Olympic sports where alcohol could be considered a "performance-enhancing drug."

Your Mom: Look! (After seeing Kevin Martin's face on the screen) Old men can do it! It's not a sport!

Me: It's totally a sport! Do you know how hard it is to get those rocks down there?

Your Mom: It's just a lot of rubbing the ice to me.

Biathlon

Biathlon makes sense to me in principle, so I am surprised we disagreed on this one. It is the one winter sport that seems tied to the original spirit of the Olympics because it is actually a competition in some useful skills. Cross-country skiing and then accurately firing a weapon could have had some very practical uses in northern countries.

Your Mom: What the heck is this sport about?

Me: It's biathlon. You ski and shoot targets. It's really hard to shoot if you are huffing and puffing.

Your Mom: It looks so silly.

Me: Animals don't care what you look like when you are hunting them.

Speed Skating

This is a big one for your Mom. The Dutch didn't send a big team to these Olympics, but the ones they did send can skate.

Me: Why are you guys taking all of the speed skating medals?

Your Mom: Well...that's what we have...there are no mountains to ski on in the Netherlands. It literally means "Low Land."

Me: Are there lots of rinks to skate in?

Your Mom: No, but in the winter, if it gets cold enough, you can skate on the canals between eleven different towns.

Me: Wow. You guys are hard-core.

There are lots more sports that we watched, but these are the ones that gave us the most fun talking. You will be interested to know that you really like the I Believe song and lots of the music at the figure skating. You actually kicked when Sven Kramer (the speed skater in the picture above) won his record-setting gold medal for the Netherlands. And you really kick when Canada scores goals in hockey. You are the best parts of both of us.

Thanks for watching these games with us.

Hey Baby! Happy Valentine's Day!

I brought you a flower tonight. Your very own. It's for your first Valentine's Day. Your flower is a pink rose and it's your very first flower. I will bring you one every Valentine's Day. Only a few months until you can enjoy them!

:)

Fun in Jasper!

We took you to Jasper this week. Sorry you had such a crappy view, but I guarantee that when we go next time, it will be much more vivid for you.

Here's a picture of you and your Mommy:

That's her jumping around on partially frozen ice with you in her belly. It was pretty thick, but I guess they don't watch Ice Road Truckers in Holland*.

We had a great time. As the lift operators at Marmot Basin tend to frown on gravid snowboarders, we went on lots of walks and ate lots of good food. On the first day, we walked almost 20 kms up and back down the side of Maligne Canyon. There, we saw things like this:

and this:

Your Mommy was so excited that we walked all the way up that we realized that we were almost too pooped to walk back down again but we made it back (even though I got a bit grouchy when it seemed like we got lost.)

The coolest picture we got, though, is of this awesome train engine:

* Just on a note of sensitivity, this is NOT meant to equate your mother with a tractor-trailer that has fallen through the ice. It is merely to represent the dangers inherent in taking ice safety lightly.

We can't wait to take you when you are out and about. It's going to be one of our favorite places.

Your Mom is going to put up more pictures from our trip on our website, so take a look!

We're going to Jasper tomorrow!

Hey Baby! We are taking you to Jasper tomorrow.

I agree...you don't have the best view at this moment, but your mommy and I wanted to go before the winter was over, so I just wanted to show you what you will have to wait until next year to see.

Yes. It's bad. I know. But you laughed, didn't you?

Hehe.

Dad

This is your Grandma Daphne

Whew! So many birthdays!

Grandma Daphne is married to my Dad and they live in a gorgeous house on a lake in Saskatchewan. I haven't known her as long as I've known Grandpa Brian, but we are no less lucky that she is part of our family. In fact, if writing these posts has done anything for me, it has helped me reflect on just how lucky our little (or not so little) family is*.

We are lucky for Daphne because she is the perfect companion for my father. She is definitely the Yin to his Yang and she offers grace and emotion in a land previously inhabited by single-branch Christmas trees.

Before Daphne came into our lives, Dad's decor consisted of various trophy golf balls and a clay cow sculpture whose eyes freaked Shanna out as a kid. Now, there has been the delightful development of tasteful neutral tones and a mostly new bathroom.

We aren't, however, just lucky for Daphne's design sense. We are lucky because in her we can always find a partner-in-crime when we need to have a laugh at the expense of Dad's quirky family. We are lucky because she helped take care of Auntie Shanna when she was really sick. We are lucky because she she will make us Lefse when we are peckish.

The most important thing that Daphne brings to our lives is her care and love for my Dad. She so obviously complements his own nature that we have a hard time believing better partners were made anywhere else for each other.

With that, we wish her a very Happy Birthday!!

Love,

Dad!

* It has also helped me see that out that our family can be a bit confusing to other people...but you aren't other people so I have decided no diagram is necessary.

You said "Goodnight."

Last night, after your Mom had fallen asleep, you were up past our bedtime.

I didn't mind, though. Instead, I just put my hand on your Mom's belly and felt you kicking around in there. You were moving so much I couldn't believe it! It was like you were giving me a bunch of "high fives" over and over again. I like to think you were saying "Good Night" to me just so I could hear since I am not usually the one who gets to feel you move.

I love you and I love your goodnight high fives.

Stay strong.

Love,

Dad.