Nine Months

The kids turned 9 months old on Wednesday, meaning they've been longer on the outside than they were on the inside. Their latest party trick is "assisted standing". Jacob can pull himself up to standing if you hold his hands. Then he beams with pride and wants to do it over and over. Molly is a little more cautious, although she looks pretty excited about it in this picture.

- Molly standing

- Jacob standing

- New outfits. Someone (Sara, I think) was smart enough to get us 9 month outfits for Kate's shower. At the time, we couldn't believe they would ever fit. The photo is deceptive - Jacob's not actually half the size of Molly.

- Jacob reaching lovingly for Kate's zipper

Another movie review

We saw Dan In Real Life a couple of nights ago - very light, watchable, romantic comedy. Steve Carell is surprisingly endearing and Juliette Binoche is her usual, beautiful self. It's not going onto anyone's top ten of the year list though, mainly because it sells out its character for likeability. Making sure that the main character has a million excuses for why he does something bad. It would be much better if the character just did something bad without any excuses, and then we could think about why.

Here's what Judd Apatow said about one of his favourite movies, along the same lines:
"I can never get enough of Terms of Endearment. I find myself watching it over and over again. It does everything that I want a movie to do. I fall in love with the characters. I care about their journeys. It never does anything easy to make me like the characters. It doesn't sell out the characters for likeability. They all do things that are awful to each other. The relationships are very complicated. Yet, you root for all of them when you watch the movie."

Speaking of Judd Apatow, my recent beard was getting so bad that I finally had to shave it off on Saturday. I was looking a lot like Seth Rogen, except with a much sadder, patchier beard. And I'm not funny enough to look like a worse version of Seth Rogen.

Feeding Time Video

This one may only be of interest to grandparents. It shows the quiet, intense focus of mealtime. Okay, it's not always this quiet but it's always this intense.

Only The Perch Are Smiling

Minus 15 for my walk this morning and another dusting of snow last night. The Perch Festival is scheduled to kick off in 4 weeks - I can't see anyone getting out on a boat in a month's time. The lake is frozen solid with tons of snow on top. The perch must be feeling very safe, if a little chilly.

Here's a photo of Tiff and Molly (sporting another Helen-knitted sweater). We met up with the whole Lee clan for dim sum on Saturday. The kids tried all of the various doughy, bready, batter-like casings that the food arrived in. And they sat through the meal with barely a squawk. Definitely one of the best things about being back in Ontario is that we're able to see a bit more of our old friends.

And here's one of Tiff, Mercy, Kate and the kids. Kate in her hot, new haircut; Jacob in his new, Julia-knitted sweater; and, Mercy showing off her good side. I thought Mercy was a bit blase during the visit, but her brother was very jolly.

And here are two of the ubiquitous food-on-the-face shots. As always, Jacob is messier than his sister:

What We're Watching

We've caught up on a few of the big 2007 movies in the past week, in addition to plowing through most of the Planet Earth series (The Birds of Paradise are fantastically over-the-top and apparently they got that way because the females are very picky about selecting a mate, so the males keep evolving ever-wilder plumage. Maybe Kate's pickiness explains why I'm growing an absolutely horrendous-looking beard right now?), a few more episodes of The Wire (Jimmy McNulty is single-handedly saving the season), plus the first few episodes of Gossip Girl (Don't ask. No, really, please don't ask). And now, I've started with the basketball.

We saw Into the Wild, which some critics claimed was jobbed out of a best picture nomination. Ha! A completely self-involved, borderline crazy, spoiled brat who spouts naive pop psychology sound bites (which the filmmakers pass off as Walden-esque) finally comes to a conclusion that everyone in the story had been trying to point out to him for the duration of his trip. We're supposed to root for this guy, or feel empathy for him? Totally weak.

No Country For Old Men was really well done. It was no Fargo (which I saw again a few weeks ago - what a perfect film), and it won't go down as one of the great Oscar winners, but for all its darkness and nihilism, it was a well-acted, well-told story.

March Madness

And I'm not referring to the basketball. We awoke to another blizzard this morning, and it's still snowing 4 hours later. Remember in L.A. Story when Steve Martin's weatherman character takes the day off and just submits a videotaped weather report because it's always 25C and sunny in southern Cal? Well, it would be a pretty safe bet to say that tomorrow's weather will consist of snow and more snow. Below I've pasted a photo taken out our ground floor bathroom window - the snow runoff from the roof gathers there and the pile is about 6 feet deep despite the recent melts.

This afternoon we'll see if Molly's love of sports extends to college hoops. She was transfixed by Tom Brady's run through the playoffs (and maybe if I'd watched the Super Bowl with her on my knee there would have been a better result), but bored to tears by Tiger and the rest of the country club set. Not sure if there's enough contact on the basketball court to satisfy her.

I Got Twinned

Usually I think that twins don't require much more effort than a singleton, and quite often they entertain each other so much that my life is easy. Last night wasn't quite like that. Kate was on call at the hospital all night, bringing some other twins into the world. From 11:15pm until 2am Jacob and Molly were awake. I sat between them on the same bed and each time I got close to getting one of them to sleep, the other one would yelp and it would be back to square one. Finally, they fell asleep, but Jacob was up again at 4am and then both were up for good at 6am. Thankfully they're in the middle of a long nap right now (and if I had an ounce of smarts I would be too).

And it's snowing again!!

More St Paddy's

They may not have been born on the Emerald Isle like I was, but they're still flying their Irish colours today. With the amount they're eating though, they're definitely not characters out of Angela's Ashes.

Drinking on St. Patty's Day

Here's a video of Jacob doing shots to wash down his St Patrick's Day breakfast. A true chip off the old block.

- Molly showing a toothy grin

- Rosy-cheeked boy with a ball

- The twins with their new farm

Thinking Inside The Box

The kids seem to be back to full strength (except for some phlegminess in Molly's chest) and they've slept pretty well the past two nights, meaning that I'm getting back to full strength too. Unfortunately, their grandmother seems to have picked up the cold, so she's gone home with an unintended souvenir.

The grandparents looked after the kids for a few hours on Wednesday while I worked out on the newly rebuilt gym, went for a run on the treadmill, and did some errands around town. Upon my return, I was informed that the kids could now: stand up, kick a ball, clap their hands, and possibly juggle and run a 4 minute mile. None of these things were repeated in my view, but people don't ever lie or exaggerate about their grandchildren's exploits, do they?

I was also asked, "the kids have never been in a box?", with some incredulity. So, now they've been in a box. And their chances at a healthy, normal life have risen in accordance with this experience.

Cold and Colds

As we wait out the last throes of Old Man Winter (please, let them be the last throes), our two little ones have come down with nasty coughs and congestion. As a result there is not much sleeping going on at night, so Kate and I are kind of limping along (she was on call all weekend too). Kate's parents are here which offers some much needed respite.

Courtesy of Lisa, here's a picture of Molly warding off the advances of young Myles.

Intrepid Explorers

Here we are heading out into the snow yesterday to go visit little Nicholas and the new parents.

Not much sleep last night and now we think we know why - Molly popped a top tooth. So she now has three to Jacob's none.

Snowed In Again

Couldn't make it out for my morning coffee walk this morning as the streets and sidewalks are knee-deep. And it's March! Kate's parents were supposed to arrive today but flight was canceled so they'll come a few days later instead.

Here's a great photo of Kate and Molly, taken in the hospital while we were visiting Julia and Scott, prior to little Nicholas's arrival.


We've started watching the BBC Planet Earth series. Fantastic.
We also saw the first episode of Season Five of The Wire, and I'm a little concerned that it may be losing a little lustre. But, we'll see.

The Brother-In-Law Competition

One of the good things about my three brothers-in-law (Dan, Ben and Don) is that my weaknesses tend to be their strengths. In other words they're good at things that are practical, useful, technical and common sense. While I'm good at things that are, well, perhaps my strengths are harder to pin down.

Anyway, Ben laid claim to the title of best brother-in-law this weekend. He built and installed our new Home Entertainment PC. So now all our music, tv shows and movies are stored on a PC in our living room and can be played on the tv, which also has new, improved speakers. He also quietened our main PC, making it much more enjoyable to work on. And then he rebuilt our home gym (which I've been procrastinating about since we moved here ten months ago). Not bad for a weekend's work.

But don't worry, Don and Dan, I'm sure there's plenty of other things to do around this old house if you want a shot at getting the title back.

- Here's a shot of Ben and Jacob

- And a bonus shot of the kids enjoying each other

Another Baby Arrival

Julia and Scott had their baby boy, Nicholas, on the weekend. Kate assisted in the C-Section, just as Julia did for hers eight months ago. Everyone's healthy and Nick has more hair than our guys will at age four.

Here are some more photos from a few weekends ago at Parry Sound.

- Julia in the last throes of pregnancy - all appear enthralled with the plot twists in the classic Doggies book.

- Jacob's big smile

- Jacob and Kate enjoying a story

- Me feeding Molly

- Jacob loving his cup