Surgery for Galen

This has been the Year of the Teeth for Galen (see here, here, and here). He has had four teeth come out so far, some dramatically, and another three are loose. Of course new teeth are coming in, including his six year old molars. These are a single molar at the back of each side of each jaw and all four of Galen's came in soft. Each were very weak and now several have developed cavities. Apparently a percentage of kids get this with their six year old molars due to a high fever at just the wrong developmental time point when they were younger. We've been waiting for Galen's four new molars to fully come out to see if they can be capped. No joy on that front. The surgeon will be calling this week to schedule the removal of all four teeth. Yes, the surgeon. Galen will be put completely under to have them removed and his life won't be much fun for a few days afterwards. We'll keep you posted.

I doubt many women are surprised by this finding

From slashdot...

Study Shows Males Commonly Mistake Sexual Intent

"Males are apparently clueless when it comes to interpreting sexual intent from females, according to a recent study (PDF) from Indiana University's Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Men were found commonly to perceive more sexual intent in women's behavior than women were intending to convey. (A campus survey showed that 68% of college females had an experience where a male mistook signs of friendliness for affection.) However, the study also shows that men were quite likely to misperceive sexual interest as friendliness. 'Rather than seeing the world through sex-colored glasses, men seemed just to have blurry vision of sorts, overall,' according to the article. If you're a male who ever mistook the meaning of a barista's smile, looks like you're not alone."

Leather 'n' Lace

I never quite envisioned Dave Grohl (of the Foo Fighters) and Will Ferrell together in quite this manner. Not safe for works, kids.

Happy Easter, Y'all

I'm so glad that they "can get ready by themselves" now...

Purim

Today was Purim at Temple Playhouse. The kids were fantastic, particularly Bram as a monkey. Here is Raynham as Queen Ester (or Snow White, you decide):

The Burning Hell - Grave Situtation Pt. 1

This song is too much fun. Courtesy of the IndieFeed: Indie Pop Music podcast.


The Burning Hell - Grave Situation Pt. 1

The case for moms to sleep

Over our years of parenting, sleep has been the one overriding desire (I can hear Heather and Jed and Donnie and Steve yelling "Amen!"). Neither of our children are, by my standards anyways, GOOD sleepers.

Galen took 11 months to sleep more than 4 hours at a time (Sam is proving to be worse, I feel his parent's pain) and was a very early riser - 6 a.m. on the dot- until he was 5 and gave up naps. Naps. Ahhh lovely naps. This was Galen's one strength.

Raynham slept through sooner but is worse than Galen in the morning - she consistently got up between 430 and 530 am until she was 2. Then we installed a light on a timer and said she couldn't get up until the light went on. The light is still on a timer, now set to a "late" 630 am. Every morning we hear a very lusty "MY LIGHT IS OOOOONNNNN! TIME TO GET UP NOW!" the moment that light flips. She is up waiting for it. My hopes of sleeping uninterrupted until 7am are still slim.

Of course, I blame this on Andrew (and his mother). They are NOT good sleepers. They are restless, light, up a couple of times a night, wake up early type of sleepers. My solution? By in large, it is Andrew's responsibility to get up with the kids at 630 am. I get to roll over and go back to sleep for another half hour (or at least not make toast and cereal etc for hungry kids). Sometimes, rarely, it makes me feel guilty. Is it fair that he mostly gets up in the morning? Shouldn't I get up more often?

Turns out the answer is NO. Why? It is a question of my health! (Donnie and Heather - pay attention). According to recent scientific study, bad sleep takes a heavier toll on woman than men! Now in the morning I can be guilt free! "Honey, you get up with the kids. You don't want me to develop heart disease or diabetes or high levels of distress do you? I am the primary breadwinner. I need to be healthy! Our family depends on it" Zzzzzzzzzzzz

our snow in perspective

A mere 17 centimetres (~6.6 inches) of additional snow and our region will have surpassed a 60 year record for snowfall for the season. The record is doomed - we are predicted to get another 111 centimetres (44 inches) before March is over. No wonder my shoulders are sore.

Vanja, Ivan, and Zara welcome their baby!

Yesterday Vanja, Ivan, and Zara welcomed a healthy 9.4 lb baby girl! Congratulations guys!

More Deerhurst Photos

More photos of our trip to Deerhurst can be found here, courtesy of Tom Graham's Facebook page.

Winter fun for kids, not so sure for the parents

Wow, that was quite a storm...

Winter 2008 Photos

Here is our Winter 2008 Photo Set! It has been a very busy few months since Christmas. Galen continues with hockey, Raynham started dance, and both continue swimming. We celebrated Raynham and Joanna's birthdays in January. Hard to believe Raynham is now three years old, but when we see her on her new single blade skates it sinks in. Oink the guinea pig is thriving (maybe too much - he is huge) and has taken to singing to the children most days. Galen has lost two teeth and two more are loose, while Raynham finally got her much requested big girl hair cut. The two big trips of the season have been to the ROM's new Dinosaur Exhibit and a weekend with Tom & Heather at Deerhurst and Hidden Valley. Mom, dad, and kids all tried downhill skiing for the first time and very much enjoyed it. Winter in Ontario continues to confuse. I can't tell you how many cycles of strong storm and big snow piles immediately followed by melting we've gone through. Hard to enjoy snow castle building when they keep melting.

GeekDads everywhere in mourning

Gary Gygax has passed away. Who, you ask? Gary was the father of Dungeons and Dragons, one of my most favourite activities growing up. While my wife may shudder at the extreme geekness of this childhood obsession, the game was good to me. My childhood best friend Dave Strasser introduced me to the first version of the game and I played into high school, until math and science took over. I made many good friends playing the game, not the least Stuart Clark, Tim Neal, Paul Sert, and Greg Mate. I survived the transition to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons which saw Gary leave TSR, but stopped playing shortly therafter. Nonetheless, I am guilty of thinking about the new version that is about to arrive. Like I have time for role playing games or the insane patience required due to their complexity. After two children, there are many days if find Battleship a challenge and get my ass kicked by a six year old. However, I can forsee a day when the game gets introduced to our house. Math, probability, imagination, storytelling, and plain old fun are the hallmarks of the game.

A sad day in Green Bay

It is a sad day in Green Bay. Brett Favre has retired. Being Packer's fans, my children will not be happy. We are thinking of you, Nana & PoppaB.

Rick Mercer Liberal Song

I don't get political on this blog much, but this I couldn't resist. I've voted Liberal most of my life, but the current performance of the Liberals as Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition sucks, frankly. Dion is looking incompetent and out of date. Rick Mercer sums it up best:

Rest in Peace Jeff Healey

Jeff Healey passed away this weekend. It would be hard to find a canadian who does not know of Jeff, but our american cousins might best know him for his part in the movie Roadhouse. Jeff was an incredible musician, bridging blues, rock, and jazz. Uncle Steve got to play with Jeff on more the one occasion and our hearts go out to him for his loss. The CBC has a good tribute and a good pictorial online.

snow bunnies and speed demons

We just got back from a lovely, lovely weekend with Drew's aunt and uncle. We headed north, through snowy weather but the weekend was my idea of perfect winter fun. Between the sunny skies and powdery snow it was beautiful by all accounts (and not super cold!). The kids has such a fabulous time that Raynham was crying as we were leaving, insisting we needed to move up there permanently with Tom and Heather.

On Saturday, the McArthur-Wilson's had their first downhill ski experience. It can be characterized by this:

Raynham going up the tow rope with Tom: "WAHOOO!!"
Raynham going down the bunny slope with Tom: "Faster Tom! FASTER! FASTER!"

Galen's skiing philosophy: "Point the skis straight down the hill. Why would I turn? That would slow me down!"

Even Drew liked it, swallowed his dislike of heights and went into the chair lift repeatedly to ski down the slopes. Go Drew!

Funniest Joanna moment? Being pinned into the chairlift by Drew's ski poles (unfortunately planted between her feet). Everyone except Joanna got off the lift. They had to stop the lift, take off my skis and let me jump down into the snow. Ah yeah - that wasn't my fault. Really. I couldn't get up....

On the ride home, both kids were asleep before we even got out of the driveway. They slept until dinner, ate and fell back asleep in the car. How tired were they? The next morning they SLEPT IN!!