Computers are great, until...

Until they experience catastrophic failures for no reason whatsoever! Grrr. My Saturday was spent busily trying to make sure my backups were safe in the, oh, about one hour of computer time I had before it blew up again. I've just turned it on today for the first time since the weekend, so you never know if I'm even going to get through this post. However, like the postal service, I always deliver. Plus, I have to get rid of this massive picture backlog I have. I was going to make today the "Classic Mark" post, but in the interest of actually getting it done, I think I'll just post some pictures, and skip the commentary entirely for today.

By the way, can I just put in a public service announcement here: BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER! This weekend I faced the horrible possibility that my hard drive would crash with all 1300-odd pictures on it. Back up your stuff, kids.

Enjoy the photos, and I'll see you again soon.

More Photos...

Me again. If you're just joining us, this is post #3 for this week, so if you haven't read the last two, get on that, would you? Sheesh.

Here are some more great photos from the last couple of weeks. This one is a photo shoot that we did when Steph put a cute hoodie on him. Things just went downhill from there, as you'll see. Not much to say about these ones, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Enjoy!

"Oh mom, you and that stupid silver thing in my face again."

I think he's still not sure whether he wants to be a part of this or not. "Hey, did you clear this up with my agent?"

"Okay, I suppose I could give you a hint of a smile." Hey, doesn't it look like he's trying to push the bear out of the spotlight and hog it all for himself? "Out of the way, bear; there's only room for one cute thing in this picture!"

But alas, even the bear gets his day in the sun. Or in this case, the flash of the camera. Whatever.

I love this one. "It's the mothership!"

Yep, definitely still not sure about this whole picture-taking thing.

But at last, a couple of great looks. I call this his thinking expression. It's like he's composing a doctoral dissertation in there. If only he could type.

And finally, the look of contentment. Ahh. So nice to be a baby.

Still one more photo post to come this week (likely on Saturday), and then the full-fledged "Classic Mark" post this Sunday. Ooh, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up in anticipation! See you all then.

One of Many?

Hi again. I came up with an amazing plan yesterday that I tried to put into motion. However, halfway through my post, my computer decided now would be a good time to just shut down and lose the entire thing. Thanks, PC. Speaking of that, have you seen these commercials? I'm sure you have, but hey, they're funny stuff.

What I was trying to say yesterday is that I just downloaded 151 photos off the digital camera, and you know, it would just be a crying shame if I had to only show 10 of them. So here they are, all 151 photos! Just kidding. But I do have a plan (*theme music goes here*).

Here's the plan--I'm going to do several posts over the course of this week (hopefully) so that you can get more pictures. And hey, that's what everyone really wants, am I right? You'll have to go with a cut-down version of the witty running commentary, however, because I don't have the necessary time to write the commentary and upload the pictures for all four posts I have planned. Don't worry, one of them will be what I'm going to call a "Classic Mark" post (full director's commentary included), but the rest will have mostly pictures. Each of these sets of photos is from a different "photo shoot" that we did with Theo over the past couple of weeks. We're not professional photographers, but there are some pretty good shots.

So without further ado, here is the first set of photos--I call them "the Blanket sessions." Enjoy!

I call this "the five moods of Theo." Ready? Here's happy Theo...

Pensive Theo...

Contemplative Theo...

Overjoyed Theo...

Coy Theo...

One of his favourite activities is giving kisses to daddy and mommy...

And of course, chewing the fist is always a crowd-pleaser...

See you next time.

A Father's Day Reflection

Those of you who are only here for the pictures can skip this post--it has none. But for those of you who stop by for both the pictures and the writing, well, I feel particularly reflective today, so I figured I'd get my thoughts out there. Read on....

Yesterday was my first Father's Day. It's an interesting experience, that's for sure. I guess I knew growing up that I'd one day be in that hallowed category of father, but to be honest I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself now that I was. I suspect that the only reason I wanted to be a dad when I was growing up was because I saw the chocolate bars that dads got on Father's Day in church, and I wanted a piece of that action! What was my first church giveaway Father's Day gift? Dad's root beer. All that waiting and still no chocolate *sigh*.

I have to be honest with you here: I haven't felt like the greatest dad in the world in the days and weeks leading up to Father's Day. I certainly haven't felt like the kind of dad that should be honoured with his own special day. But the funny thing is that you don't get to choose whether or not to take part in Father's Day. It's kind of like your birthday--it is what it is no matter what you think about it. Yes, yes, I know that Father's Day is probably just an invention of the card companies (don't even get me started on Valentine's Day), but bear with me for a bit here as I develop this analogy to its incredibly obscure point.

The fact of the matter is that I chose to get into this parenting business. Has it been a cakewalk? No. Have I had enough sleep? No. Would I trade it for anything in the world? No. This is a job with low pay, occasionally bad hours, and literally crappy working conditions. But the validation of seeing my son smile at me, knowing that he knows who I am, is amazing. In fact, no adjective could possibly do it justice--it's a feeling that's completely other-worldly.

No matter how good or bad a job I think I'm doing, I'm still a dad. There are no mulligans. That's a scary thought, to be honest, and I have to admit to feeling more than a little bit overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task at various times over the past four months, as I think many new fathers are. But a thought occurred to me over the last day or two that has helped me make sense of it all. (Here's where I tie up the analogy--watch and learn!).

The bottom line is that my son makes me want to be a better person. I can't stop the flow of time, nor can I reverse it. And I can't take back things that I say or do because I know that once I've said and done them, Theo has seen or heard them, and he's been affected. I'm his dad, and that's the end of it. And that drives me to be better. I know that Theo will see me at my worst (just ask Steph--my worst is pretty bad), and knowing that makes me want to make my worst all that much better. You know what I'm saying here? Are you picking up what I'm putting down? I thought so.

What kind of man is Theo going to grow up to be? What kinds of decisions will he make? Where will he end up? I don't know. But I know that I have a role to play in shaping him into who he is going to be. And seeing him grow makes me want to grow too.

That's really what's so cool about being a dad. Yeah, the root beer is a good perk too, I'll admit it. But what really drives me is knowing that the better I become, the better my boy is going to be. I want to give him the best home, the most love, the best examples a little boy could know. But to do that I need to be the best role model I can be--I need to constantly get better. Sure, I'll show him how to hold a hockey stick and throw a football, but I'll also be responsible for teaching him what it means to be a man. It's an awesome task.

Okay, I'll admit that wasn't the best of my analogies. But it worked, didn't it? I hope I've made some sense, and I hope that I've maybe made some of you think a little. Thanks for stopping by today, and sticking with me. See you again later this week.

The fun...er...Craziness, continues

Hello again, all. No Jon, I haven't forgotten about you. We're back from our weekend away, not really refreshed or renewed, but hey, we got away from home, so that's good. Memory refresher: we took a trip up to the Shuswap for a weekend of houseboating fun and excitement (Mara Lake, actually, just south of Shuswap Lake). The trip was good in and of itself, it's just a little bit of a gong-show when you take an infant on vacation. Usually Theo's a pretty noisy sleeper, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night just to whine and then go back to sleep. But when you're on a boat with a bunch of people who maybe don't appreciate being woken up at 3:30 in the morning (which seems totally unreasonable to me), it's tough. Plus there was the fact that there was no room for his playpen in our cabin, so he had to sleep in our bed again. Yikes. Now I remember why we stopped doing that. Let's just say that not much sleep was had over the course of the three nights, and it took several days to recover from our vacation when we got home. This was added to the fact that I managed to wound myself the day before we left in a skydiving accident. Okay, no, it wasn't that glamorous (but I had you going, didn't I? No wait, you know me too well to think that I'd actually jump out of a perfectly good airplane)--just a kitchen knife accident. Note to self: when you're opening a new set of knives that say "WARNING: SHARP" it probably is, and it's best to keep your fingers out of the way. I ended up with stitches in my middle and ring fingers of my left hand, but at least I didn't do any permanent damage that would preclude me from playing guitar. Even the doctor commented on what a good, sharp set of knives we had.

If this all sounds like a bunch of belly-aching to you all, my apologies. It really was a fun trip. Saw some amazing sights, including an up-close-and-personal encounter with a huge bald eagle (no, he didn't try to carry Theo away as dinner, which was good), and a really interesting nature channel-style look at a mother duck and her chicks, swimming through the water with the babies on her back. They'd fall off at various times and scramble to get back on. Cute, but you sort of had to be there. Theo had a weekend of firsts as well, including his first trip outside the Lower Mainland, his first ride on a speedboat, and his first night away from home with mommy and daddy (no, I don't count the nursery in that category). And yes, I do have a couple of pictures to show you...

Here's our accommodations for the week, seen from the beach that we, well, beached at. The boat may look small in this shot, but it slept 11 of us quite comfortably and had a full kitchen, fireplace, and living room-type area:

And the aforementioned bald eagle. Not as impressive in photos, but really cool in real life:

Yes, we did get some great shots of Theo as well. Here are some of my favourites...

First off, this one reminds me of Sunday School pageants when I was a kid. You know how all the shepherds dress up in bathrobes and stuff? Here's Theo's version:

He also particularly liked rides in the ski boat, although the look on his face in this one may indicate otherwise:

And of course, what's a vacation without a good nap now and then (especially if you're not sleeping through the night)?

The place we beached the houseboat had some train tracks running alongside it (no trains the whole time, though. For those of you who are familiar with my childhood, I was a train fanatic, and still am, and I was hoping to school Theo in the art of flattening pennies, but alas, no luck). Train tracks are particularly good places for photos; even I look decent in this one:

You know, for not getting much sleep, Theo sure was at his photogenic best. Here are my three favourite shots from the weekend.

Whoever came up with putting little fabric ears on sleepers is a genius:

And a couple in the Snugli:

And finally, no trip back from the interior would be complete without a stop at the travel plaza at Whatcom Road in Abbotsford, am I right? We went to the Tim Horton's there, and I figured that since I'd given Starbucks a shout out in one of these postings I might as well give Timmy's a chance. I think he likes the Tim's better for some reason:

That's all for now, folks. I promise I'll make up for lost time and give you another post sometime soon--I've got stories to tell! And hey, keep up the comments, would you? It still makes me happy to know that you're out there reading this blog. See you all soon.