Christmas is almost here and this is the first year Kaiden is truly excited about Santa Claus. Aside from being a new threat I can use to make him behave, it's been really fun playing the Santa is real thing. My sister and I didn't get much of the whole Santa thing when we were little, but we sure understood that we got a whole lot of toys when Christmas came around.

Nate is now 5 weeks old and is a tough cookie to figure out. He's been sleeping 2-4 hour stretches but last night was unprecedented. He slept 6 hours all at once. It was so much sleep that Monica and I felt like we just woke up from 150 years in cryogenic statis compared to how it's been the past month. He's also turning into a spitting image of his Daddy, or so everybody says. It's kind of cool cause they say how cute he is and how he looks like me in the same breath. I guess by default I'm cute too?

Kaiden's first Christmas concert was last night and grandma and grandpa were both there to see it. It was really neat to see Kaiden actually behave for his teacher, who only needed to ask once to get him to respond. The effort by Mommy or Daddy to acheive the same result would be about 50 times that of Ms. Vicki. No respect for the parents.

I think the songs were too complicated for the kids to learn in such a short time. While Kaiden and the rest of the 3 year olds knew the popular songs, there were some song they sang that I never even heard of. It was super-cute though and I'm so proud of my son.

I think that's it until after Xmas so Merry Christmas. I'll let ya know how it goes!

Well having a second newborn is an enlightening thing. It's a whole different peanut that we're trying to crack here. But here's a few things that we're doing differently this time:

• sterilizing baby bottles with hot tap water - Gee, it sure feels hot enough to kill all those nasty germs.
• keeping unused formula in the fridge for more than a day - the stuff smells so bad when it's fresh, how do you tell it's gone bad?
• not using a changing mat to change diapers - this one is going to bite us back soon.
• letting baby cry for a bit before picking him up - before we were always thinking there was something seriously wrong when he screams bloody murder. So how come he can stop crying as soon as you pick him up?
• wiping the baby's soother off on my shirt - well, the thing drops on the floor so many times, how can you expect to sterilize it every time that happens?

The family has been doing fine. Monica has been doing remarkably well. She's got tons more balls than I do when it comes to the kids. I thought she was brave when she ws prego with Nate - going to the park and doing her regular routine with Kaiden while being a week overdue!

She's such a great mother to her boys - including me. Right now she's out with Nate and K at gymnastics. Her labor wounds haven't even healed yet. She's a pillar of strength and she'd sacrifice anything for her family.

I loved her so much when I met her and now that she's my wife and a mother to our sons I love her even more than words can say. She's all I could ever want in a woman and she loves me back just as much. I'm the luckiest man in the world - I could have never imagined 5 years ago I'd be where I am now. I love my family and I've never been happier.

I've got a few minutes here at work during a compile so I thought I'd write something. Last night was BaaBaa Gog's birthday so the immediate family all headed over to the House of Yes for some b-day eating - cuz that's what you do on special occasions....you eat.

It's definitely a bigger operation now that there's 4 grandkids in the mix. Mon and my sister are dividing their time between feeding themselves and breastfeeding the babies. The daddies are trying to get the older ones to eat and stay in their seats. Kind of like a game of musical chairs - Dining Edition. It's all good. Having 4 kids around is pretty cool. I look forward to the future when the kids are all 5 years old and above and will have a great time playing together on their own.

I must note Little Oviva did a really cute thing last night that kind of touched my heart. K was crying because we were all warning him the the Tobiko sushi roll probably wouldn't be to his liking. I looked over at O and noticed she was frowning, her lower lip quivering, eventually turning into a full on cry. Hell, he she even seemed more upset than Kaiden! It was just kind of a moment that showed me even though it seems that K and O kind of have this wishy-washy "love\hate" relationship that she really does care about her "mean" cousin Kaiden. Or maybe that's not what it meant at all - anyhow let me have my moment.

Nate is officially 3 weeks old now. He's got a voracious appetite and is gaining weight like a retired hockey player - FAST! Don't know what he weighs right now but at his last checkup with the doctor last week he was one and a half pounds heavier than when he left the hospital. He's always hungry!

Anyhow, Monica's mom is leaving for home today and I'm back at work. This will be the first day Mon has to tough it out with both kids alone. Good luck honey....you'll need it!

The day has arrived! Kaiden is now a big brother to Nathan. 7lbs 10oz on November 13th the newest member of our family arrived. We're at home now adjusting.

Kaiden has adjusted very well to having his brother around but I'm not getting too complacent with the way things are going. I have been a father too long to think that things can't made a 180 all of sudden. Kaiden even needed to talk to mommy while out at the grocery store with Daddy.

"I just wanted to see if Nathan was ok", he told me while I was on the phone with Mom. Pretty cute I must say. I'll remember that when he's "bamming" the crap out of Nate in a few months.

The whole newborn thing kind of came back, but seems much more numb this time. Maybe it's because Daddy is more on Kaiden duty than Nate duty. I'm definitely less stressed and it just feels kind of different so far. I don't spend as much time as Mommy with the new one - of course because I'm not a milk factory, and that's fine with me.

I finally found some time 3 days after the birth of my second son to announce this on the blog. This is account of Mommy, Nate, and K all having their afternoon siesta and I've made a nice fire downstairs, clicking away at the 'puter. What a treat. That should end in about 5 minutes.

Well, here I am still waiting for the arrival of yet another boy in my life. I'm not quite at my due date. Another 3 weeks to go. But, I am so ready. It feels like I have been pregnant forever. I know I haven't been, but this time it's a lot tougher. I have my good and bad days. I'm just getting old! And having one already to deal with.
Not holding my breath for an early arrival. Kaiden was 8 days over due, so if I tell myself that this one will be too, I won't be too disappointed when the dreaded "D day" comes and goes! I know, such positive thinking. Anyway, wer'e all just getting anxious and want to meet the little guy.
We'll see how it goes. I'm feeling the pressure from down under, but can't be sure when the big day will arrive. We'll keep everyone posted. Kaiden is doing well. As active as always. It's hard to keep up to a three year old some days. We took him to the pumpkin patch the other day. Here is a picture of me and my little man.

On it goes...

Last night was kind of the worst night in quite a while. K got up about 7 times in the span of an hour. The first time it was to go pee, which was totally cool cause he actually went pee on the potty. The next 6 times, however he claimed he wanted to go to the potty but just stood in front of the toilet trying to go. C'mon K! I know you don't need to go but you're going through the paces just to get out of bed. What kind of fun is that?

He promised he wouldn't do it tonight so I guess we'll see how it goes. You know, cause he ALWAYS keeps his promises. Maybe the threat of not going to preschool tomorrow will put the fear of the devil in him!!!!!

Some days it just seems like you're going backwards. With the impending arrival of "boy #2" in a couple of months we wanted to make sure that Kaiden is on the right track. You know, things like going to the potty and sleeping for the whole night. Well, both seem to have taken a step back in the past couple of weeks.

K's great on the potty. He's been at it since 2 1/2 years old so we're happy about that. The problem is, now going to the potty is low on his priority list. If he's doing anything fun, he'll hold it until he bursts. We've been good about asking him if he needs to go but he always refuses to give in. It's not until he can't possibly hold it that he'll go to the toilet. Problem is, the toilets aren't always right there when you need them. So either he's got to hold it, or pee in the bush. Well, the bush seems to be the easiest and safest route to go so we've been doing that. In fact, he's so comfortable with it he'll just whip it out wherever, whenever he's got to go. Anyhow, we're back to getting him to pee on demand, which is proving to be a tough sell.

The sleep thing is getting a bit worse. While he's been ok about going to sleep at a decent hour, the excuses keep rolling in. First it was going to the potty. He knew we were always happy to let him do that. It worked for while, but was too short of a delay tactic, and can only be used once. He then moved onto saying he needs to go poop. That turned out to be not so good because there's only so much you can do while sitting on the potty.

So now he comes out and says, "I have to ask you a question...", hums and hahs for a minute and then can't think of anything. I have no idea why he wants to keep doing it when all I do is keep putting him back into his bed. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Well it was the little mans big debut today. Kaiden's first day at preschool. He was totally fine, and couldn't wait until we got there. Right away he sat down in the circle and gave me a little wave good bye. A lot of the other kids were pretty traumatized, but not Kaiden. Couldn't wait until I left. Ok, maybe he missed me a little. I on the other hand, cried as soon as I sat in the car. I held it together enough to not let any one see me! I think I was a little emotional due to the surge of hormones going through my body right now. We'll just say that's the reason!

Oh My Gog!

Here's recent pic of the almighty pregnant one! Little Nate is hiding inside mommy's belly. Mon's doing well, just a little heartburn-probably from making all of that hair. Same thing happened with K and he's got a full head of it! So she's in week 31 and only 9 more to go!

We've finally started a blog to amuse one and all. Monica and I will be updating this thing whenver we can so check back whenever you have a spare moment!