California - not dreaming - on a winter's day

I'm down in California for a week long trial run at our company's Laguna office in the Biomechanics group. It's looking like a move is in our future. After over a year of uncertainty and being in limbo, it's nice to actually start to put a plan together. If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you've arrived?

As part of this visit, through fate and putting a good vibe out there, I have ended up staying in a beachfront condo in South Laguna Beach for 8 nights.  I will let the view off the deck showing the sunset over Catalina Island do the rest of the talking.

Dad and Amber

That last post was missing any indication that Dad is actually a Dad, so here is some proof.  On this particular day, Amber and I spent a few hours out in the park playing in the leaves. I love the responsibility of being loved this much and making her know that she is loved.  It's a bit unfair but simply because I am at work while Mom is home, Dad is a "treat" and I often get better behaviour than Mom does, simply because I don't have to discipline her as much, and she gets me in regular but shorter intervals.

Quick Photo Blitz

I've managed to have a moment of quiet time to myself - both kids asleep :) I almost don't know what to do with myself....too bad the mountain of "to do list" items has been piling up for weeks!

I thought I would take a few moments to post some updated photos of the kids since it's been so long since our last post.

Playing peek-a-boo at Papa's house

Giant bubble!

Walking to the store with Papa

This photo of Riley makes me smile because the Sophie is a gift from my mom. No spooky business here - when Amber was little mom gave me two Sophies and said either Amber could have two or I could hold onto one for the next baby. Im sure glad I held onto it :)

One of the few photos I'm in these days :)

Team green!

Little man

Teeny tiny flag girl

Cheese!

Kids are awake again, back to parenting!

Amber in the Tree House

I have been very delinquent with this blog.  Here's a great video of Amber and I having fun in the Tree house that Grandpa Steve built.

This is an amazing tree house.  The stump is about 6 feet high.  It was built on the ground and lifted onto the stump with one of Steve's excavators.  It was actually quite an operation of precision chain saw work from Uncle Hugh to get it level too.

Amber is the only immediate grand kid of Grandpa Steve (Papa) who's got to play in it but Georgia and Oakley also loved it.  Actually Amber always needed help getting into it until Oakley showed her how it was done.

If you notice the air mattress inside I will have to admit I slept in it about 4 glorious summer nights in a row.

Yearly Riding Photos - best ride of the season.

 It was a lush but cool day in West Sechelt.  As per usual the trails were empty with tacky traction galore.  Amir took some iphone photos which turned out surprisingly well.

I never know which gps data to believe but it was around 37 kms, with 1300 meters of climbing over about 6 hours with some breaks along the way.  Over the 9 years of riding in this area it was my turn to guide a couple of guys and we hit almost every trail in this little area in one day. It's good to go with people more fit than yourself at the risk of making them wait too much, but anyways they pushed me to go way further in a day than I normally do and that made it a ride that stands out.

There was a big old Alberta "yeeeeeeaaaaah!!!!" being screamed during this high-effort 29er uphill wheelie. 

One handed blog

It's a classic maneuver for me these days. I'm becoming a pro at doing almost everything with just one hand. Even though Riley has become a great sleeper at night (fingers crossed that he keeps this up), he doesn't really let me put him down very often for daytime naps. His sister might have something to do with that as well - every time I place him in his bassinet for a nap she will inevitably go into the room to say hi. I guess I should just be happy that she loves him so much :)

One of our many park picnics to escape the heat of our house

Since it is taking a painfully long time to compose this blog with one hand, I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

She fell in the lake here, but thought it was hilarious

She adopted Riley's towel. She's saying "Roarrrr!!" here :)

It's quite common to see me lugging both kids around

The boys

Riley enjoying the park picnic

Here's a collection of memorable moments captured by "Papa McCourt" 

 

 

 

Amber also got a new race car toy and had to make sure we played it properly......start your engines!

 

And to end on a musical note....Amber likes to sing a lot lately, here is a two part sequence of her singing a favorite song from Toopy & Binoo (Hiccup Hunters):

Welcome Home Little Man!

As can be expected I've been a little busy since we brought Riley Alexander Nelson home on July 5th.

2 hours old and already out and about

Once again we were lucky to be able to say that we had a "boring" birth experience: ~2hrs of labour and 3hrs in the hospital. No complications and I was even able to tuck Amber into her own bed that night :)

So far Riley has proved to be quite a mellow little guy, but I am waiting for that all to change! Fingers crossed that he stays this way though :)

Amber checking out her little brother

Amber is not quite sure what to think of her brother (known to her as Wow-wee) yet. She goes from wanting to cover him with blankets and telling him "It's ok Wow-wee don't cry" to "No mommy! Put brother on the floor!!" We're working through some tough times at the moment in this transition phase, but I'm confident that it'll be short lived.....or maybe it's hopeful that it'll be short lived!

Classic photo - Amber is looking at the iPad instead of the camera

I had completely forgotten how small Amber once was. Riley just seemed too small to be real when we first met him. He is not wasting any time, however, packing on the pounds. He was back to birth weight 3 days after he arrived and yesterday he was already weighing in at 7lbs 9oz.!

We were also lucky enough to have Grandma Marg stay with us last week. She went above and beyond the call of "grandma duty" and really helped us as we started to get used to our routines with two kids. I am extra thankful as I was feeling a little anxious/sad about not having my mom around this time. I know she would have been on the first boat out of Sechelt to meet little Riley.

Tim has also been a huge help, not only with the kids, but he takes care of me as well. As is expected I'm a little more forgetful these days and one morning I ended up leaving without taking my travel mug of coffee (a much needed item to keep me going). When I drove out of the parkade with the kids Tim was waiting on the sidewalk with my mug in hand :)

This week is my first going solo with the kids.....well, not entirely. Amber is still in daycare until the end of the month. However, trying to get the crew rolling out the door in the morning is proving to be much more difficult than before!