Thursday, February 23

Friday's Feast - again!

Appetizer
Choose one: moving to another state, having triplets, or never being able to eat chocolate again.


Holy cow! Those are all so perfect for me. I have no idea. I'll have to say the chocolate. I really don't want to move and if I had 3 more kids, we'd have to move.

Soup
Name a news story that truly shocked you.


Canada doesn't make the medal round in men's hockey.

Salad
What was your very first job?


Painting parking blocks at my dad's car dealership when I was 12.

Main Course
If you had the chance to read the diary of someone you're really close to, would you? Why or why not?


I read blogs as often as I can. I love to know what people are thinking.

Dessert
What's something you're looking forward to?


Finding out what's going on with my job. :|

Sunday, February 19

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
If you were a color, which color would you be, and why?


Red. But like those dresses that were popular about 5 years ago where you could only see the colours at certain angles. I am full of passion, rage, love, emotion, etc. but it can only be seen at certain times.

Soup
When was the last time you went to the doctor, and what was your reason for going?


I went to the doctor with Andrew last week to get his boy-operation. For myself, I last saw the doctor just before we left Nakusp to confirm that my breathing problems were all better once I avoided cedar dust.

Salad
What do you collect?


Movies, I guess. But not just any movies - I like sets. Like all of the Lord of the Rings movies, I also just bought the complete Star Trek movie series on DVD. I like having all of something.

Main Course
What were you like in high school? Name one thing you miss and one thing you don't miss about those days.


I was cocky, arrogant, and pretty much a jerk in high school - standard lead trumpet syndrome. I miss band. I wish I could play more often - maybe now that things seem to be slowing down, I can look into a community band. I don't miss exams.

Dessert
Pretend you're standing in front of your home, with your back towards your home. Describe the view - what can you see? Trees? Cars? A zoo? Wal-Mart?


I see a large green hill leading up to a couple of baseball diamonds and a community centre. And a bus stop.

Friday, February 10

Friday's Feast

Appetizer
What was a class or course you took while in school that you realize now was a total waste of time?


Just one? I don't think any of them were a TOTAL waste of time. They helped me get where I am today, but I use close to zero percent of the school knowledge I gained from grade 9 through university in my daily life.

Soup
Who is the tallest person you know?


Hmmm. Uncle Dukie? My family is pretty short.

Salad
What's your favorite midnight snack?


Nachos and cheese.

Main Course
Have you ever found money somewhere? If so, where did you find it, and how much was it?


I just found a five dollar bill in my pants when I was doing laundry last week.

Andrew's story


Amber has done up a Birth Story for Andrew in her pregnancy journal. If you want to know all the medical details of what went on, click here. The pictures from that first week can be found here.

Thursday, February 9

Andrew speaks

It is so cute. Andrew can talk. People talk about recognizing their baby's specific cries as hungry or wet or cuddly. Andrew has made it easy for us by telling us what he wants since the first day.

His "I want food" cry sounds almost exactly like he's saying, "Hung-Gee". It is so cute. It's almost without fail that he does this. The first time he did it in the hospital, I turned to Amber and she said, "Did he just say, 'Hungry' ?"

The other thing he says is yawnk. Well, he doesn't say it but I still think it's cute and hilarious. Daniel and Josh did it too. After a big yawn, he will close with a KKKKH sound. A yawn with a K is a yawnk and it makes me smile.

Maybe I'm just sleep deprived, but it seems cute to me. ;)

Wednesday, February 8

Gentle Josh

We were worried that Josh was going to be jealous and rough with the new baby. He started getting clingy and a little bit regressive in the last months of Amber's pregnancy. We had this feeling that he would be so difficult. He had always been far more emotional, verbal, and needy than Daniel.

But once Baby Andrew came home, Josh was great. He has been so gentle and good. He goes to bed well on his own. He gives Andrew gentle kisses and brings him toys. He colored pictures for him.

It has been great.

Daniel, on the other hand is in a stage of rebellion and independence. He doesn't listen or obey anymore and makes things more difficult. He is still very much in love with his little brothers and gentle with Andrew, but he's pushing against us pretty hard. Hopefully he'll get through this stage quickly and turn back into the sweet little angel we've always had.

Tuesday, February 7

Not alone

It's good to remember that we are not alone. People are always watching us - kids especially, but others as well. I had two interesting incidents yesterday that reminded me of that.

1) When I was riding the bus to work, I noticed a young woman sitting in her seat reading a book. Not unusual at all, but her book was a Bible. It made me remember that I'm not the only Christian working in this downtown corporate jungle.

2) While I was having lunch, a group of new hires came and sat down at the table by me. They were talking about their day and about how their first week was going. I encouraged them and told them that I was pretty new myself and it gets easier. One person looked at me and said, "Do you go to Bow Valley?" When I said I did, she replied, "I thought I recognized you," and went on talking with her new friends.

I don't remember seeing her at church before but she saw me and remembered. After observing two weeks of political bashing and piracy discussions, it was nice to know I am not the only person in my building who is trying to live life as a Christ-follower.

Saturday, February 4

Things I've called Andrew this week

I just can't get his name straight. It's been almost a week and I have called him Austin, Alexander, Peanut, Pumpkin, and sometimes Andrew.

Still about a quarter to a third of the time I call him, or refer to him as, Joshie.

Nights Two and Three

Andrew is still only waking up once between midnight and 9am. He gets a clean diaper and has a snack from mom and goes right back to sleep. How am I supposed to watch my middle-of-the-night movies with him if he's such a good sleeper?

Daniel the Bear

I just heard Daniel go into the bathroom and turn on the water. This is never a good sign. I went in and asked, "Daniel, what are you doing?"

"Washing my hands. Washing my hands cause they were all messy from the applesauce."

I got him a bowl of applesauce a few hours ago for breakfast but he ate it all.

"Did you get some more applesauce?"

"Yup"

"By yourself?"

"Yup, with my hands. They got messy."

"You got applesauce by yourself with your hands."

"Yes, I ate it out of the jar with my hands. And now I am washing them."

"Umm..."

I love my boys.

Friday, February 3

February's First Friday Feast

Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10=highest), how sociable are you?


Ouch! Maybe like a 3. I like my wife and kids and those friends that are closest to me, but I'm not much of a "party guy". I have to force myself to go to social events - but I usually end up really enjoying myself once I get there.

Soup
Name 3 DVDs you currently own.

I just got the Survivor All-Stars set for my birthday. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Lord of the Beans.

Salad
If you were to win a superlative award now (such as most talented, class clown, most likely to succeed), what would it be?

Most likely to keep the McInnis "boys-only" streak alive.

Main Course
What is your favorite radio station?


Depends. If I'm in the mood for music, 88.9 ShineFM - Contemporary Christian, otherwise usually in the car, QR77 - News, Talk, Traffic.

Dessert
Complete this sentence: I believe __________ because __________.


I believe that Jesus is coming soon because I see the labour pains of the earth, and because He tells me so.

Do the right thing

I want to teach my boys to do the right thing.

The world is getting bad. In the last week at my work I have heard coworkers and managers talking publicly about:

* Downloading movies and TV shows
* Burning CDs and DVDs
* Burning video games
* Hacking/cracking software
* Sharing paid software
* Cracking user names and passwords
* Buying drugs
* Doing drugs
* Adjusting scheduling program to give free time off
* Coming back and "blowing this place up"

Now, the last two might have been jokes, but still, it's so sad when I hear people talking about things like this with absolutely no sign of guilt or wrongdoing. I'm going to have to fill the boys up with morals and ethics because by the time they get older it's only gonna be way harder to resist the relativism and situational ethics.

What a job.

Thursday, February 2

Delurker Update

It looks like we had 8 unique delurkers before Baby Andrew arrived. That's a fairly good rate of return. Once my Ralph cheque arrives, I'll pick a worthy cause and send the $40 off and I'll let you know what I did with it.

Thanks for making this Delurking Day a success.

First Night

Yesterday Amber and Andrew came home and spent their first night in our bedroom. Grandma and Grandpa had taken the older boys for the night, so this was to be an easier test.

Andrew had a rough time sleeping at the hospital. He's a cuddler and loves to be touched. The hospital has a big problem with babies and mommies sleeping in the same bed. We do not have the same problem. Both Daniel and Josh slept between us for several months. It makes it so much easier to feed at night.

Anyway, we went to bed around 10:00 and Andrew didn't settle until about 11:30. Amber finally convinced him that eating would be a good thing. He had a big meal and then slept. The next time I heard him was at 4:15 when he woke up for another feast. Then I slept through my 6:00am alarm and when I raced out of the house at 7:40, he was still sleeping soundly - back in his bassinette.

I'm not crazy enough to think that this will last, but waking up once our first night was a very nice treat.