And now for July

Back again; hello there. It's been a busy week-and-a-half at the Carroll household. Do you want to hear about it? Ah, too bad if you don't, just skip down to the pictures.

Right off the top, congratulations to my cousin Scott and his wife Nancy on the birth of their brand new son Brady Scott Carroll, born July 20 in Calgary. Welcome to the life, guys, it's quite a ride.

As you might have seen in one of the two comments we've received since our last posting (come on, let's pick up the pace a little bit), it was our anniversary on the 20th. Four years. You know, I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting out of marriage when I went in, to be honest. How can you possibly know what it's going to be like when you've never done it before? No, we just went in knowing that we loved each other, and sure that would be enough to carry us. And you know what? Four years later I still contend that's the best decision I ever made. I never expected that life would be so good. And the great thing is that there's only many more years to come of this, and it can only get better. Lucky me.

To celebrate our anniversary, we did the "dinner and a movie" thing--otherwise known to those who don't have infants as "going on a date." Saw Superman Returns, in Imax 3-D. Okay, the whole movie wasn't 3-D, only four scenes. The 3-D was okay; when things got moving a little bit too fast, the images seemed to split into two, but hey, it's not perfect technology. Remember when 3-D was new? People always used to reach out trying to grab objects as they passed by, struck by the sheer wonder of it all. Now we're just as complacent about the marvel of 3-D technology as we are about everything else--"ho hum." I wondered what Theo would think of it if he saw it, and for a moment allowed myself to be totally free of "adult" thinking and be captivated by the wonder of it all. Yes, I did reach out to grab an object floating by, and, although I did feel a little bit stupid about it at first, it was rather freeing. I knew I'd never get it, but that's just the point, isn't it?

Anyway, another thing the 3-D did was enable me to get a very up-close look at Brandon Routh's perfect face. Every gorgeous pore available for my up-close and personal inspection. Makes me sick. Can I just speak for all average guys in the world and say that it's really unfair that some guys look like that. I think we all felt a little bit insecure, especially when our wives were trying to hide their swooning in the seats next to us. Yes, we noticed. Yes, we care. Yet our manliness (read "insecurity") makes it so that we wouldn't dare mention it because then we'd have to talk about how good looking another guy is. I seem to have no problem with that. Hmm.

I have one more comment, but for those of you who haven't seen the movie and still want to, I've put it in white text. To read it, just highlight it with your cursor. Ready? Okay, so the kid is really Superman's son, eh? Let me just put myself in the position of poor Lois Lane's husband (who's not too shabby-looking himself, while I'm on the topic of how good-looking these other guys are). I'm of conflicting emotions, if I'm him. I mean sure, I'd be pretty upset if I found out five years down the road that Theo was someone else's son--who wouldn't be? But at the same time, come on, it's Superman. Can you blame the lady? I told Steph that if I found out that she'd had an affair with a superhero (I'm not even restricting it to Superman, really, just any guy with chiseled good looks and super powers--as long as he has a cape. And tights. At least he has to wear stupid-looking tights) I'd be upset, but I wouldn't really hold it against her. Come on, he's Superman, for the love of puppies, and I'm clearly not. As long as Theo had some residual superpowers that I could take credit for. Like pushing a piano into a guy--that'd really be something!

Glad I got all that off my chest. Time to see some pictures!

*Off-colour joke warning* Okay, I know that it's French and English, but seriously, this baby food is giving me a bad vibe...

Next up, a shout-out to Uncle Dale and Aunt Bern for this gift--thanks guys! That's a quarter, by the way...

Hey, what's up? This here's my new hangout...

I love this photo shoot, so here are a couple of pictures from it...

Of course, Pekoe had to get in on the action too...

This is a good one here. Steph was just sitting in Theo's room as he was in his crib, when she suddenly got the feeling that she was being watched. Turns out she was right...

His tummy is one of his favourite places to be right now. Well, for a couple minutes anyway. Then he just decides it's too much.

Finally, the favourite delicacy of babies everywhere--their fingers! These ones are especially cute, aren't they?

Well, I'm getting sick of sitting at this computer, so that's it for today. Many more photos to come, but you'll have to wait until I have the requisite energy to post them. For now, enjoy your weekend, and we'll see you back here soon.

Finishing up June

I realized that the backlog of photos on my computer is quickly nearing the point of insanity. If I take any more blogging vacations, I'll be really hooped.

Yes, yes, I'm sorry for not posting and blah, blah, blah. It's summer. Sue me. Actually, I've been working very hard to get some school backlog addressed (which is seemingly more important than blogging backlog, I'm afraid, since you don't pay a fine if you're late blogging), and I'm happy to say that I'm almost done the three courses I was working on over the past couple months. Excellent. Now I'm only 27 credits away from a degree. And it only took me 10 years! Well, I guess I wasn't really trying for close to five of those, so it technically only took me five. That's what I tell myself, at least.

And dang it, I pinched a nerve in my neck this morning. Man, does that ever suck. It's not so much the pain that bothers me as much as it is the lack of mobility. I tried to go for a motorcycle ride this afternoon, and I had to cut it short because I couldn't hold my head up properly. Sick. Makes me pretty mad, let me tell you. And try holding a 17-lb infant with a pinched nerve. Not fun.

Enough complaining. What else is happening? Hey, I'm glad you asked. Nothing. Oh, except for the aforementioned schooling. I also got some new fish for the tank. And I figured out the reason why three of my fish died--apparently they need salt. Stupid fish. But hey, at least there's a reason--they weren't just dying because of some weird magnetic aura that emanates from my body. You know, as long as there's a cause, I'm okay with it. Unexplained fish death just doesn't go over very well with me.

So as I said at the beginning of this post, I have a bit of a photo backlog to clear up. Today's focus will be to finish off the month of June in photos. Admittedly, I'm pretty far behind, but that's alright; he's still the cutest baby around. Here's some proof.

I have to take credit for this one, not because I took the picture, but because I bought that shirt. That's one of the only pieces of clothing I can lay claim to, so I do it.

A while back, we went out to Derby Reach park here in Langley. Man, Langley has some nice parks. Anyway, since it's on the Fraser, many boats pass by, including this tugboat. This has to be one of my favourite pictures...

And of course, the toes got dipped in the river, just for fun.

Sweet hat, eh? Here's a better shot of it:

See, I told you he was still cute. Okay, here's a look at Theo's new favourite hobby: grabbing his toes! Ah, to be a baby again and have one's toes be the highlight of one's day.

"Mommy, you know how I feel about you putting that silver thing in my face. Don't make me get upset..."

"Too late!"

Two more shots, and then we're done. Theo's other favourite thing to do now is play in his exersaucer (that looks like such a stupid word when you write it out. Wait, it sounds stupid to say it, too. Man, you're screwed both ways with that one). As you can see, the enjoyment level is quite high:

And finally, the close-up. This one really makes 'em melt.

Now I feel better because at least my blog photos are up to the current month. I must sign off now, however. Theo's having quite a cranky day today, and as much as I'd like to just sit in here and blog to have an excuse for not having to go near him, that's not really fair. See you all again soon.

So far, so good

I'm back with a brand-new hard drive. Doesn't that sound like the first line to some weird sort of nerd hip-hop song? Can you picture it? Speaking of being able to picture it, Steph and I went to see a movie the other day for the first time in a year. For those of you who didn't follow that jarring transition, I was trying to be clever in tying in how a movie is actually moving pictures. It worked in my mind. Anyway, saw MI:3, and I really liked it. Like I said to Trevor, I'm not one to insist on a whole lot of plot in an action movie, as long as it's got lots of explosions. And this one had it, let me tell you.

But here's something else I noticed: going to a movie sucks. The studio execs are busy wringing their hands and considering committing ritual suicide with their gold-plated ballpoint pens because movie attendance keeps declining. They then proceed to villify file-sharers, saying that illegal downloading is dropping revenue. They even make PSA's with stunt men telling us how illegal downloading hurts their feelings in a very masculine, I-can-roll-a-car-six-times-and-walk-out-without-a-scratch kind of way. What a big fat load of hooey. I'll tell you why revenues are going down: the movie-going experience is really bad. After paying over $10 for the privilege of getting in to actually see the film, I have to shell out another $10 for a hot dog and a drink. So despite the warning signs about the risk of grievous bodily injury should you dare bring outside food in, I sneak bags of 7-11 candy past the ever-vigilant minimum-wage-earning ticket-takers. Like they care. I probably don't even have to conceal my bag of Glosettes; me taking them in is no skin off the ticket-taker's nose. But you never know when you're going to get one who just wants to have a power trip, you know? Anyway, like any man does, I simply stick my snacks in my wife's purse and deny that I know her if she gets hauled into the secret holding cell where all illegal-snack detainees are held and questioned at a length that comes perilously close to violating their Charter rights.

Anyway, once we actually get into the theatre, now we have to sit through mind-numbing slides full of advertising. What ever happened to not being visually stimulated every second of the day? And have you noticed recently as well that now even the innocuous before-the-previews ads have sound? Grr. Finally, the lights go down and the movie starts. Oh wait, first there's the previews. Oh no, wait, first there's the commercials. Oy vey. After sitting through nine, yes that's right, nine commercials without being able to change the channel (I was twitching like a crack addict, let me tell you), we finally got to the previews. I'm still a bit of a sucker for previews, and this time we got treated to Miami Vice and Spiderman 3. Anyway, the movie finally started, we had a good time, and we left. And the best part of the night was that since we left Theo at home (don't worry, the cat looked after him just fine), we got to ride the motorcycle together. We'd never done that before, so it was pretty cool. After we figured out how to not bash our helmets together, that is. Good times were had by all.

Note to aforementioned studio execs: make my experience more enjoyable, and I'll be happy to go to more movies. May I first suggest handing out Tazers at the door so that I can zap anyone near me who talks throughout the movie or who answers a cell phone call. Just a suggestion.

So, now that I've got that out of my system, on with the post. I have some good ones here for you today, so I promise it will have been worth the wait. As usual, I'm behind in getting these photos up--trust me, he's grown in the two weeks since these were taken. But they're still great photos. On with it, then.

The new recommendation for infants is that you don't start them on solid food until six months. We say pish posh to that--our little guy keeps trying to eat our food at the table, so let's see how he does with his own formula. Of course, going from bottle to spoon had predictable results with regard to how much of it actually stayed in his mouth. Here's the gory evidence...

Okay, so we figured out step 1: spoon goes in mouth. How about step 2: swallow said food?

Nope. Well, it was worth a try, wasn't it?

He looks like one of the competitors in a competitive eating competition (whoa, did you see how many times I used words based on the root word "compete" in a short time?) after the bell rings and he realizes he's just eaten 25 hot dogs and they've got to go somewhere. By the way, the annual hot dog eating competition did go on yesterday, and the winner consumed 53.75 hot dogs in 12 minutes. And he weighs 130 pounds.

So, I got a new toy a couple weeks ago: my new guitar. Yes, the Telecaster I've been waiting quite some time for finally made its appearance in our house thanks to the generous support of Revenue Canada. I figured that it's never too early to get Theo started (sorry for the red eye in the first one--my editing software couldn't get it out)...

The kid's going to be a prodigy, I can feel it. A couple of random cute ones that I include only to prove my hypothesis: sweater-vests are cute on infants, but they should not be worn by anyone else. Thank you.

Ah yes, the obligatory bath shot. Fortunately, it's not embarrasing. It's quite cute, actually.

And here's one from tummy time. He's getting really good at flailing around while sticking all four limbs up in the air, but he hasn't quite gotten the hang of propelling himself around yet. Oh well, when he actually does start to crawl, we'll be wishing he didn't.

What else? Ah yes, the Jolly Jumper. These things are pretty cool, really. It's the convincing the kid that they're cool that's the trick. As you can see by the following photo, he wasn't too sure what this was all about at first. However, I'm happy to report that he's since figured out jumping, and is quite pleased with himself when he does it.

Here's his "I'm going to issue a fatwah" pose.

To end today, I thought I'd put in a nature shot. I just couldn't resist this photo when it presented itself to me outside our house the other day.

So that concludes today's presentation--I hope you enjoyed it. Come back again soon and I'll have some more photos. For those of you with Italian heritage: go Italy, go! And for those with French heritage: go France, go! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, well, I hope your cave is comfy. Talk to you all soon.