Oct. 31 - a.m (from Mom) Happy Halloween. I'm going as a zombie this year because of my lack of sleep (hehe). I suit the picture precisely. John slept somewhat last night, but was up every couple of hours. He's still quite gassy ( like his dad - (am NOT)), however has to learn how to get rid of it more effectively! I'm getting to know what shows are on late at night. I can watch reruns of "Good Times" with J.J. Evans - yes I am old enough to have actually watched the originals. John is asleep in his cradle right now. He likes to rock in it, however, I have to stand there and push it! I have to invent something to rock it automatically (hehe). We're not going trick or treating this year. Mommy didn't even carve a pumpkin (I'm too tired and would probably cut something off)! I do have a plastic light up one that we'll put in the window anyhow. Maybe I should start a comic novel about the joys of motherhood and go on Oprah to promote it? It could be something like "Bridget Jones' Diary". Too bad I don't have time! It's amazing how I can handle a class full of 30 hormone-ridden adolescents with no problem whatsoever, yet one little baby just refuses to listen to logic! I tell him the benefits of sleep and how much better he'll feel if he'd just do so, but the little guy just doesn't get it! I even use Dr. Phil's quote "How's that working for you?" however, I do think the crying is working for him because he gets attention! Anyways...that's it for my entry for today! October 30th pm. I'm typing 'really' quite, as John is sleeping at the moment. He had quite a rough night lastnight, he was up from 12:30 am to about 5:30 am this morning, slept for only 3 hours, then he was up again until around 11:30 am. Hopefully he will do better tonight! He got a couple of gifts today - one from Wilson, a Pooh Bear clock with Johns name printed on the face of the clock - I'm sure John will watch it closely to time how long he has been awake during the night! The other was some padding for the cradle that Val had brought over for him to use. Dad had to go to work today, but he got to show everyone a couple of pictures of John. Mom is understandable tired today. She has never been a 'napper', so she finds it hard to sleep during the days when John is sleeping. I think she better learn quick! Grandma and Wilson came by today to give us a small break so that we could go to Wal Mart - and then to Tim Hortons for a few minutes of relaxed bliss. As blissful as a coffee and a donut can be anyway. Price of gas today at Extra Foods was 36.4 cents a liter! Can you believe that!?! Drydens gas stations have been bouncing the price of gas around for about two months now. Normal price at this moment is actually around 76.9 cents a liter, but they keep messing around with the prices. Up and down, up and down - PICK A PRICE AND LEAVE IT ALONE!!!! Of course I filled up when it was 59.9, thinking it wouldn't go too much lower. Even filled up the small jerry can. Now, when I really will NEED the gas, the price will be back up in the 70's again...I think a lot of people feel the same as I do on the gas prices issue. John doesn't seem to really care tho. I didn't get any new shots of John in today. Being at work and then out shopping, and now he is sleeping - I'm not going to wake him for that! Not to worry, I will be taking a lot more shots of him as time goes by. October 28th am. I was surprised lastnight with John, he didn't have a collick fit at all. Sure, he fussed a little bit, but didn't cry for 2-3 hours straight! This morning I ended up taking several photos of John has he layed down on the love seat - all photos where lit by the light comming in from the big window. Check out the the photo on the upper left corner of the site, I change that photo on occasion - usually when I have a new one to put up. I ended up posting 14 new photos, which caused a lot of work to creat a new page 1, and changing all the older pages to reflect their new position! You'd think it would be easy, but I always find a way to mess things up - the easier they are, the easier for me to mess things up. We are expecting a visit from Jackie and Lhea today. Jackie needed a 'baby' break - Lhea is 8 months old now. And I needed a Lhea break! We don't get to see the Fenez's enough! October 27th am. John was very collicky again lastnight - he was crying for a good 3 hours before he would settle for the night. I hope this isn't going to be a nightly thing - Dad has to start going back to work soon! John had to suffer indignity a little bit this morning while Dad tried to get some shots of him while he was having a bath, but of course he would move just before the shutter when off. I was trying to use the light from the window too,so that made the shutter speed a little slower than I would have wanted. The one with John looking over Wendys should was lit by a window too, but he wouldn't stay still long enough with a decent expression for me to get a good shot, so that's why the two new photos aren't the greatest. The photos where dropped in the mail yesterday, so you should be getting them soon - hopefully the mail people don't bend the large mailers and ruin the 8x10s! October 26th pm. John had a pretty rough night lastnight. He was quite collicky. He screamed/cried for about 2 hours straight. If your baby has this problem - Dad recommends wearing earplugs or your kid will scream you stupid AND deaf! After his screaming/crying fit lastnight, he did finally get to sleep for about 3 1/2 - 4 hours.John seems to be eating better now. Instead of just 1 oz at a time, he will average about 3 oz a sitting. Val came by tonight, with a cradle for John to use. I believe Val's parents had it made by some menonites 'years' ago. It's quite nice. Maybe if John slept, he may get to use it! October 25th pm. John is being a little difficult today. He doesn't want to sleep today some reason, he would rather cry than sleep. Huegette came over today for a little visit, and of course John was quiet as can be at that time! Dad is trying to figure out how to add a download link to the site somewhere so that maybe he can have a small video of John for everyone to see. 'IF' he figures things out, and he may have already, he will use his digital camera to capture soundless videos of John for D/L. The video that this camera captures is not very good. The screen size is small, no sound, and it looks like it's playing back faster than in real life, so don't expect much when you see it! (assuming that I get this set up soon, and actually get some video clips filmed) Do you have any thoughts on the site? Any ideas for improvements? Let me know. No new photos today. Soon. October 24th - p.m. Mommy's notes - Today we took John out for lunch at the pizza hut. He was a good little baby and mom is getting pretty good at eating with one hand! He didn't howl too much when we stuffed him into his car seat! We paid a visit to the school as well to show our baby to the teachers. Of course, Diane had to be the first to cuddle him. Once again he was pretty well-behaved. Everyone says he's a very handsome little man. Of course I think so too, but perhaps I'm a bit biased as I am his mother and all! (note from Dad: after all,the kid looks like his dad!) John didn't really want to sleep much last night. He was up quite a bit. Daddy got to get up at 7:00 cuz mommy gave him a tap and said.."It's your turn! I was up too much last night" (note from Dad: tap? More like a few thumps and a shove!). I'm working at sending out the birth announcements and pictures. Please be patient with me, as I don't get too much time to work on it. We're pleased with the quality of the birth announcement cards. I can't believe how much his looks have changed even since then. He has these few tuffs of hair on top that are longer than the rest. Mommy might have to get her scissors out and give him a trim! October 22nd pm. From mommie: Well...John had his first stay with a babysitter who was not a family member. Last night the family went out to the Riverview Lodge for Grandma's 65th birthday. John stayed with Cyndi and was a pretty good little baby. He had some fussing. We enjoyed our dinner (which I got to eat hot!) We're trying a new baby formula today..Carnation Good start. Trying to see if we can reduce the gas pains somewhat. He seems to take it fine, but we'll see what it does for the gas. John's having a calmer day today and has had a good nap for a change. Still some diaper rash stuff, but we're working on that! I think John's going to have a cowlick in his hair. He has one little section in the front which doesn't want to sit down! Oh well, at least he has hair! (unlike Uncle Wade hehe) I wonder if he'll change my hair from brown to grey?? October 22nd am. We are getting some photos ready today for mailing, we just have to wait for some from the Camera Corner here in Dryden, and some others that should be comming in from the states soon (I order some prints from www.dotphoto.com, a site where you can upload digital files to get photographs printed in several sizes, and also photos printed on gifts - if you go there and do a search for djkennedy, they will show you all the photos I happen to have there, and you can order prints from that site as well if you wanted to - at the moment I have only one shot of John there. It will also inform you of the largest photo it recommends to be printed from any given file). As soon as those photos are here, we will be sending off some pronto. October 21st Dad had to go to work to cover a shift (the morning shift at that!), he didn't sleep much the night before - frm 8pm to 9:40 pm, then xe was up ALL night long! Work didn't help much iether as it was a slow work day. When he came home,0he went down for a two hour nap as we where all going out for dinner for Wendys0moms 65th Birthday. We (Wendy a~d Derek, Wade Cindy and Marla, the birthday girl and Wilson) all went to the lotge for an excellent dinner, then was back to our place for carrot cake that Wenty had made - when she had the time to do so I will never know! John decided to stay home with a babysitter while we all went for dinner. October 20th John is two weeks old today, and to celibrate he decided he didn't want to sleep all day!?! He didn't exactly cry all day, but he did fuss all day. He is definately tired as he is yawning but, he just doesn't want to sleep! He is definately changing - the stump from his cord fell off yesterday. Maybe that's why he won't sleep - he misses it? October 18th afternoon. John has his own bank account now! I'm sure pretty soon he will have more money than mom n dad have - but dad has FULL access to his account! I wonder if the bank will nickel and dime him to death like everyone else that have accounts...there are fees for everything you can possible think of, and fees for things you haven't even thought of yet. October 18th am. Here is mom's first entry into the baby diary. She has literally little time ...as I type John is fussing upstairs. Last night John didn't sleep until 3 a.m. He wasn't really very fussy, just wide awake. He had an enjoyable carriage ride uptown while mom ran errands and went to the toy library. We registered for 3 free months. They have very good items there ranging from toys to books to videos..whatever you want. Mom signed up for a baby CPR course. John had his first visit at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He was crying on arrival, but soon quieted when we fed him. John certainly likes music, even when mommy sings to him. It's funny, but in the middle of the night, it's hard to think of things to sing. I've resorted to sometimes singing church songs, or Christmas carols. He likes the music that his fisher-price aquarium plays, or at least I think he likes it! I think his umbilical stump will fall off soon..seems to look that way. Daddy says the cats might find it and drag it around the house. Well, off to heat up a bottle before the demon really awakes screamin. October 17th pm. John actually slept well lastnight. Normally he would be up crying from around 9:30 pm to about 2:30 am, but lastnight he slept from 10pm to 2am! Of course I am used to him crying around 9-10, so I laid there in bed waiting for him to start crying, so I STILL didn't sleep then! I just hope that this sleeping at night is a trend! Lorna came by tonight to see John and bring a gift, a really nice hand made blanket, it's quite nice - and big too! Callie seems to like it too. I haven't taken any new photos lately, but I will have to get on that soon before he graduates. October 16th pm. John and Wendy had to go to the doctors today. John just for a general checkup, but Wendy had to get her staples taken out - and one was in crooked so the nurse had to pry it out! (ouch) She also decided to get a shot, so I may have to punch her in the arm tomorow. John weighed 9 lbs 7 oz today. He didn't really fuss all that much when he was being man handled by the doctor which really surprised me. After the doctors office we had to go get a perscription filled for Wendy, and we just had to bring in John so that the pharmacist could see him. Then it was off to see Jackie, Lhea and Guy who was a big wus and took the day off cus he felt 'sickie poo'. John seems to have problems from around 9:30 - 10:00 pm to about 1 - 2 am everynight. Gas maybe. As I started to type that last line, he started to cry - right on cue! We are going to try some Ovol I believe it's called to see if that helps some. I hope so, cus this is getting old happening everynight! Wendy decided the hell with breast feeding. When she has time, she pumps but after 30-40 minutes she only gets maybe 1/2 oz of milk. It just isn't worth it. Formula is going to cost us money, but in overall time it will be better. He eats well from the bottle so there is no worry that he isn't getting food. Huegette came in to see John yesterday - no nazi nurses to keep her from seeing him here! Wendys cousine(?) Jackie called tonight, so that Wendy could give her all the gory details of the birth and such. She had to cut the call shorter than she would have liked as John started to fuss up a storm. Dad couldn't get him to settle so back to mom he went. October 14th pm. Just got back from Uncle Wades and Auntie Cindys house for Thanksgiving dinner. John was really good today, slept most of the day. Or, just didn't fuss while we where at the Petraniks. Marla took a turn at trying to feed John, but had a bit of a hard time. She even got a lesson in how to change a diaper. Well, she watched from a distance anyway. We are hoping that he sleeps better tonight. He seems to stay up from around 9-10pm to about 2 am. The larger diapers are working good. October 13th am. John had a rough night last night, he was up for like 4 hours. For some reason he couldn't settle down. We tried a different size of diaper as during the nights he would pee a lot and it would leak out and wet everything! The larger sized diaper seemed to do the job. John had two visitors so far this morning, two new girlfriends for John. Little John is 1 week old today! Ocotber 11th pm. We had a few visitors today, Grandma and Grandpa Wilson, Helen and her daughter Melissa. Cori and a friend of hers also made it for a short visit, bringing the 'most annoying toy she could find' as a gift for John..or was it for dad..not sure really. Mom tried out the new Snuggly so she could pack John around with her. Dad finally got of his fat lazy butt and raked the front yard - again. Hopefully John has a better night tonight. Time will tell tho. October 11th. am. John didn't do too badly during the night, mom figured she got about four hours sleep. Daddy did a little better - but he always sleeps with earplugs in... Wendy and I will be going to Wally World soon, John seems to like a certain nipple for his bottles, and we have to get some more. The little poop machine likes the oddly shaped nipples for his bottles, where as dad just drinks straight from his bottle. No new photos yet, but dad is expecting a visit from a friend of his who used to work at the airport, so maybe a photo or two with her (I think John is taller than she is). October 10th pm. The family decided to go out for dinner tonight, we ended up going to Pizza Hut. people we knew that where in the restaurant came over to see John. Wendy had to get some real food into her, the food at the hospital was apparently quite disgusting. John did well, he slept the whole time. He didn't care for any pizza at the time to dads delight. October 10th 2 pm Wendy and baby came home today! Mom and son (and dad) arrived at home at 11:30 this morning. Now maybe mom can actaully get some sleep. It took us a while to get John into the car seat, we couldn't adjust the straps before because we needed him in there so we knew how tight to get the straps. It took us several minutes to get it, but we got him in there nice and snug. While I'm typing this, Little John is in his swing, sleeping and a swinging, what a talented kid! He ate a lot during the night. So far, he is quiet, he didn't even fuss too much while dad tried to fiddle around with the car seat straps. Moms milk seems to be comming in now, so he shouldn't worry about starving. October 9th. pm. Wendy and I decided today that John will be bottle fed for now. He just has too much problems with breast feeding at the moment. It's just too frustrating for him to try and latch on. This of course causes mom to get frustrated, and in turn dad gets frustrated. It's been quite stressful for all of us. We figure it's just not worth all the fuss. For now, we will bottle feed him either breast milk, and or Enfalac. We will continue to try to breast feed in the hopes he will catch on, but for now it will be bottles. Daddy is getting stressed out, plans on having a few beers when he gets home tonight in the hopes of relaxing a bit - he is feeling the stress and frustration of Little John trying hard to learn to breast feed. So, for the sanity, and stress level of the three of us, we have decided to go with the bottles of breast milk and supliment with Enfalac. Wendy was kind of stressed out today too, so I had mom smuggle in a beer along with a home made dinner - if you don't believe me, go look at the photo! Elaine and Joanne from St. Jo's came in for a short but nice visit today, they were unable to stay too long as they had to get to a meeting. Jackie and Lhea came for a visit too. Cousin Marla came in for a little visit when dinner and beer was been smuggled in. When ever Lhea has been here for a visit, she always eyed up the teddy bear I baught John, so today I bought Lhea one for her very own. In gratitude for Jackies help during the labour/C-section, I took her for lunch today and presented her with some flowers. Actually, the lunch was just a ruse to get the chance to give her the flowers, and Lhea her teddy bear. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch, and our waitress in hearing that Wendy was in the hospital from giving birth, gave me two pieces of chocolate cake (one for her, one for dad) - for free! I could get used to this, I wonder what would happen if I go to the beer store, or the bank with the same news...worth a try isn't it? October 8th. pm Wendy is feeling a little better now, still a little sore around the middle. John slept a lot again - I hope this is a trend! (we can always hope) Again, we had lots of visitors today: Auntie Jackie brought her baby Lhea in, her husband (uncle) Guy also made an appearance. Auntie Jane and Uncle Dennis where able to make it tonight, Jane brought some nice presents for mom and Little John. I had to bring a sleeper from home for John as he is just too dang big already for the new borne sleeper the hospital provided. He started to suck his thumb today - dad thinks he better save his pennies for braces in about 10 years. John is still not able to breast feed, but we think he will get it down pat soon, he seems to want to and he does try, but he gets quite frusterated. One problem is that darn small mouth of his. Auntie Judy and Uncle Ed were able to come in too tonight. I also couldn't believe that Auntie Pat was able to tear herself from the school to come in for a visit! Two students came in too - they waited in the lobby for an hour before visiting hours started until the nurse would allow them in. We are still uncertain as to the exact day when Mom and Little John will be home, but we think Thursday the 10th, or Friday the 11th at the latest. I don't want her to rush herself. Little John is quite strong - he almost flipped himself over today while sleeping. He's going to be a bruiser when he gets older that's for sure. It's fun to watch him sleep, he tends to twich a lot and wakes himself up but just for a moment then back to sleep. Nurse Jennifer gave John his first bath today. He did NOT like that at all! You can see a photo of that inthe photos page, in the picture you can see Mom watching intently. Grandma finally had the chance to hold John so that Dad could finally get a picture of her holding John. Oct. 7th 10:00 pm. 'Little' John had several visitors today, Uncle Wade, Auntie Cindy, Cousin Marla. Jackie came in with Lhea, who was only really interested in watching Derek (Lhea, not Jackie!), or the stuffed bear Derek bought John. Friends of ours, Cindy and Serge also came in today. And, Kristie came in to coo over John. Wendy seemed to be doing quite well today. It was also nice for her to have so many visitors in to hold the baby so that Mom could have a little rest. John pretty much just slept today - it must be nice! I hope he sleeps lots when he comes home! Mom and Wilson also were able to come in today - Wilson wouldn't get too close to the baby tho! I think Wade didn't want to get too close iether, well, he seemed to want to badly pick up the baby but wouldn't until he came back in the evening, and then he was able to hold John. Of course he had a big grin on his face then. Oct. 7th. 1:30 pm. Wendy is doing well, everything concerned, a little doped up still but that is to be expected. Little John is also doing well. His Grandma, and Great Grandma visited today, and he was excellent, didn't really cry any. Great Grandma didn't want to let go! I'm sure he will have lots of visiters today, when school is out, when his future teachers come by. I tried to get 'Uncle Wade' paged at the hospital, because I knew he would be very embarrassed by what all the staff would say to him. I don't think anyone has the guts to actually page him in that way tho. Oct. 6th. - Wendy finally had the baby, it was a very long tiring and painful day. Wendy actually went to the hospital on October 5th, just before midnight. We were not expecting anything until at least 5 am, so I went home to bed. When I woke at 5, with still no phonecall from the hosipital, I showered up and headed down. She had contractions for pretty much most of the day. The doctor decided to break the water for Wendy to speed things up, and did it ever! Only problem was, that the baby was (as it turns out) just too dang big to be born! After LOTS of pushing, screaming and crying by all present, unfortunately, an emergency C-section had to be performed. It was pretty scary, when they wheeled her off to the operating room - Quite frankly, I didn't know if I was going to see her again. I wasn't allowed in the room with her because it was an emergency C-section. But fortunately, the baby was finally born soon after. A 9 lbs, 3 oz baby boy was finally brought into the world at the Dryden Hospital. We had concerns that the baby may have had blood suger problems, but after the birth when they checked, his blood suger was good. I never did get the exact time, but it was 'around' 10:15 PM or so. I will get the exact time on the 7th when I go back to see Wendy and our new son. I know everyone at St. Jo's will need the exact time for the pool! I almost forgot...the name of our new son is John Edward Kennedy. John for Wendy's father who passed away about 8 years ago, and Edward for my father. Don't worry Daren, the pressure is off of you! The woman with Wendy in one of the new photos is Jackie, a good friend of ours. Who we both owe a huge debt of gratitude to for everything she did for us while Wendy was in labour. Thanks Jackie - you where a tremendous help to both of us, especially after they wheeled Wendy off to the o.r., I'm glad you where there for us, and me. It was a very scary time for me. New photos will be posted as I bring them home. I sent an e-mail to everyone we happen to have e-mail addys to, so - please pass the word! If you didn't get an e-mail directly from me, it was because I didn't have your addy! (It was just one line telling everyone, that the baby was here and to go to the web page to see the pictures and get the information on the baby, I didn't even say wether the baby was a boy or girl in the e-mail! © 2002 Derek Kennedy

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