I think everyone who reads this blog has heard by now--whether it was via word of mouth or Facebook--but in case you haven't, I wanted to quickly update what has happened in the past week and a half. Basically, we found out that our baby had severe developmental issues, and we would need to terminate the pregnancy, which we did this past weekend. It's been an extremely hard time for all of us, but we have received a massive amount of support from friends and family so for that we are thankful.
At the moment, I don't really have the words to talk about the experience further. Maybe later I'll be able to do it justice, but for now, I just don't want to think about it. The blog will continue, but I just need some time before I'm ready to come back. Thanks for your understanding.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Baby Bump
By popular demand (i.e., my mom has asked a couple of times), I'm going to provide weekly updates of Marilu's profile so you can see our new addition as he/she grows. I've been pretty good at getting pictures of her once a week since the ultrasound with the only missing one being the weekend she went to Syracuse with the girls.
April 21, 2012: 13 Weeks Pregnant
April 30, 2012: 14 Weeks Pregnant
May 13, 2012: 16 Weeks Pregnant
My intention is to take a picture of Marilu's belly every Sunday night from here on out, and I'll post it by Monday. Feel free to chastise me if I slacken in my endeavors.
April 21, 2012: 13 Weeks Pregnant
April 30, 2012: 14 Weeks Pregnant
May 13, 2012: 16 Weeks Pregnant
My intention is to take a picture of Marilu's belly every Sunday night from here on out, and I'll post it by Monday. Feel free to chastise me if I slacken in my endeavors.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Ottawa Comiccon 2012
Earlier today, Lucas and I went to the Ottawa Comiccon, Ottawa's first comic and sci-fi convention ever...or at least since I've lived here. I figured he'd get a kick out of it since there would be plenty of people dressed up as characters from shows/movies he likes, and it definitely didn't disappoint.
Right after we got there, they had a Star Wars Kids Hour which was essentially an arts and crafts session with Star Wars characters. They broke the kids into four groups, and Lucas picked the most evil one, the Sith. As you can see in the pictures below, his "mentor" for the hour was the Sith Lord Darth Maul. (Considering Lucas was wearing a Sith hat, I guess this was kind of a given.)
Once that wrapped up, we walked around the convention. There were quite a few Star Wars-themed characters walking around so photo ops were pretty easy.
I thought this was a pretty good idea. Life size Star Wars action figure packaging. Not exactly sure which character Lucas is pretending to be since I don't recall the devil horns in any of the Star Wars movies.
Lucas had no idea what this car was, but for those of you older than 30, you'll likely recognize the DeLorean from Back to the Future.
Before we left, one more picture with a Stormtrooper for good measure.
Right after we got there, they had a Star Wars Kids Hour which was essentially an arts and crafts session with Star Wars characters. They broke the kids into four groups, and Lucas picked the most evil one, the Sith. As you can see in the pictures below, his "mentor" for the hour was the Sith Lord Darth Maul. (Considering Lucas was wearing a Sith hat, I guess this was kind of a given.)
Once that wrapped up, we walked around the convention. There were quite a few Star Wars-themed characters walking around so photo ops were pretty easy.
I thought this was a pretty good idea. Life size Star Wars action figure packaging. Not exactly sure which character Lucas is pretending to be since I don't recall the devil horns in any of the Star Wars movies.
Lucas had no idea what this car was, but for those of you older than 30, you'll likely recognize the DeLorean from Back to the Future.
Before we left, one more picture with a Stormtrooper for good measure.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Blast Ball
As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Lucas had his first Blast Ball session last week. After locating his coach, we found out that he was on the dark blue team. That works out well since his favorite color is blue. The coaches let the kids name the team, and I think a couple of the older kids (it's 4-5) came up with the stunningly uncreative Blue Jays. Compare this to Lucas's daycare buddy who is on a team named the Green Goblins.
Here he models his new hat and t-shirt.
This is the only shot I got of Lucas's team on defense. If you look closely, you can see a white blur on the left side of the photo. That's the ball, and Lucas is the leftmost player so I think he's the one who fielded it.
This was Lucas's third or fourth time up to bat.
I had the foresight to videotape Lucas's very first time at bat. So on the off-chance he's one day the starting shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he can look back and see where it all began. It wasn't the best start, but he finally did figure out the tee. Also, once he realized he needed to run, he *was* pretty quick, even if he completely blew off the coach trying to give him his hat back.
One other thing I'd like to point out is that Lucas exhibited almost no shyness whatsoever. He stood with all the other boys, did what he was told, and never came running over to me crying. His mind did wander, and he didn't always pay attention to the game at hand, but I can live with that!
The way Blast Ball works is that during the first half of the session, the coaches work with their own team, teaching them basic fundamentals like batting, throwing, and fielding a ball. At this point, no gloves are involved though it's expected they'll start using them by the end of the season. In the second half of each session, two teams actually play a game of Blast Ball against one another.
The rules for BB are pretty simple. Each inning, every player on a team gets one at-bat. They hit the ball off the tee and then need to reach the base--located approximately where first base would be--before the other team gets them out. To get an out, the other team must pick up the hit ball and yell, "Blast ball!" Keep in mind that no score is actually kept so it's all for fun at this stage. Also, the base honks when you step on it so the kids get a kick out of that.
I got a few pictures and videos from Lucas's first day at Blast Ball. They aren't the greatest quality. but it's a long season--until the end of June--so hopefully I'll have a chance to get plenty more.
Before we started playing, Lucas wanted to test out the honking base. About 20 times.
Before we started playing, Lucas wanted to test out the honking base. About 20 times.
Here he models his new hat and t-shirt.
This is the only shot I got of Lucas's team on defense. If you look closely, you can see a white blur on the left side of the photo. That's the ball, and Lucas is the leftmost player so I think he's the one who fielded it.
This was Lucas's third or fourth time up to bat.
I had the foresight to videotape Lucas's very first time at bat. So on the off-chance he's one day the starting shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, he can look back and see where it all began. It wasn't the best start, but he finally did figure out the tee. Also, once he realized he needed to run, he *was* pretty quick, even if he completely blew off the coach trying to give him his hat back.
One other thing I'd like to point out is that Lucas exhibited almost no shyness whatsoever. He stood with all the other boys, did what he was told, and never came running over to me crying. His mind did wander, and he didn't always pay attention to the game at hand, but I can live with that!
Update
New pictures are coming very soon! I've been sick for the last week and a half (fever at first and then strep throat, which I'm still suffering through) so I haven't been terribly motivated. However, I'm on the mend and plan to have pictures from Lucas's first Blast Ball practice/game up within 24 hours so keep an eye out!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
What's Happening?
I can't believe no one commented on that last post! I thought it was hilarious. Oh well, different strokes for different folks, I guess. You may notice that I fixed the column width issue so that video shouldn't cover the right side of the blog anymore. If you are still having problems viewing it, let me know.
Tonight is Lucas's first game of Blast Ball. From the description I read as well as a couple of YouTube videos I found, it's sort of like T-ball. As with most sports at this age, it looks like it is fairly non-competitive, but it is intended to teach kids the basics of baseball so that they are prepared to play that in a year or two. Although I am not a fan of baseball--hate it, actually--it's such a quintessential game that you play in your childhood that I felt I would be doing Lucas a disservice if I didn't let him try it out. If he wants to keep playing after this season, great. If not, that's his decision. I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures and videos in the coming weeks of Lucas's Blast Ball adventures so keep an eye out for that.
One other thing I wanted to mention before I post a few pictures from the archives is at Marilu's request. Last night, about a half hour before Lucas's bedtime, all three of us went upstairs and sat on our bed and played some games. We started with rock, paper, scissors, which eventually morphed into webs, bombs, shield since Lucas wanted flashier hand gestures, I guess.
After that, Lucas wanted to pretend we were in a restaurant so one of us would be the waiter and the other two would be the customers. Once the customers ordered, the waiter would go make the meals and then serve them. It may sound simplistic, but what really stood out to both of us was how creative Lucas has become. It used to be that if you asked him to name something, he would name it almost literally (case in point, Fishy Fishy) or just name it Lucas. But now, you can see the wheels turning when he is asked a question. Sometimes, he'll even be the one to prompt his own creativity. For instance, for a couple of items I ordered, he informed me they were out of it or that they didn't carry it ("there's no beer at McDonald's!"). If the restaurant was out of a selection, he would then tell us what they did have. I know this probably doesn't translate well, and I wish we could have recorded it, but I gotta say, we were really impressed and proud of him last night.
Now that you've read through that wall of text, here's the last of the pictures from October. I can't recall why Lucas was dressed up in these first two pictures since that was a week before Halloween. My best guess is that it was a daycare craft.
Sometimes, the only qualification for a photo to get posted is the cuteness factor. I think this one manages that quite well.
This is one of Marilu's favorite photos from around Halloween. While we were decorating the house for our party, Lucas decided to do his impression of the skeleton.
I think he actually came up with this on his own, which is pretty impressive. It's damned funny looking to boot!
Tonight is Lucas's first game of Blast Ball. From the description I read as well as a couple of YouTube videos I found, it's sort of like T-ball. As with most sports at this age, it looks like it is fairly non-competitive, but it is intended to teach kids the basics of baseball so that they are prepared to play that in a year or two. Although I am not a fan of baseball--hate it, actually--it's such a quintessential game that you play in your childhood that I felt I would be doing Lucas a disservice if I didn't let him try it out. If he wants to keep playing after this season, great. If not, that's his decision. I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures and videos in the coming weeks of Lucas's Blast Ball adventures so keep an eye out for that.
One other thing I wanted to mention before I post a few pictures from the archives is at Marilu's request. Last night, about a half hour before Lucas's bedtime, all three of us went upstairs and sat on our bed and played some games. We started with rock, paper, scissors, which eventually morphed into webs, bombs, shield since Lucas wanted flashier hand gestures, I guess.
After that, Lucas wanted to pretend we were in a restaurant so one of us would be the waiter and the other two would be the customers. Once the customers ordered, the waiter would go make the meals and then serve them. It may sound simplistic, but what really stood out to both of us was how creative Lucas has become. It used to be that if you asked him to name something, he would name it almost literally (case in point, Fishy Fishy) or just name it Lucas. But now, you can see the wheels turning when he is asked a question. Sometimes, he'll even be the one to prompt his own creativity. For instance, for a couple of items I ordered, he informed me they were out of it or that they didn't carry it ("there's no beer at McDonald's!"). If the restaurant was out of a selection, he would then tell us what they did have. I know this probably doesn't translate well, and I wish we could have recorded it, but I gotta say, we were really impressed and proud of him last night.
Now that you've read through that wall of text, here's the last of the pictures from October. I can't recall why Lucas was dressed up in these first two pictures since that was a week before Halloween. My best guess is that it was a daycare craft.
Sometimes, the only qualification for a photo to get posted is the cuteness factor. I think this one manages that quite well.
This is one of Marilu's favorite photos from around Halloween. While we were decorating the house for our party, Lucas decided to do his impression of the skeleton.
I think he actually came up with this on his own, which is pretty impressive. It's damned funny looking to boot!
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