May 2, 2010 - On Being a Big Brother

After 3 and a half months, it's safe to say that Justice has been an amazing big brother to baby Jackson.  He spends time with him first thing in the morning as part of his daily routine, he plays and entertains him on our couch, "cottage room", or basement, which allows Mommy and Daddy to get their daily workouts done, he kisses and hugs him every day when he comes back from daycare, and just recently, he started reading to him (the I love Mommy/Daddy/you book), which was the sweetest thing.

Amelia said it best: "I wish I had a big brother like Justice when I was a little girl."

Some family events we enjoyed this week included celebrating the festival of Ridvan, attending the Nation's Capital Cup Taekwon-Do tournament in Kanata, hanging out with Tyler, and Pirates' Week at Deb's.

To view photos of this week's events, click here

Enjoying a local friendship Taekwon-Do tournament as a family.

April 25, 2010 - Fun, Fitness, and Flatulence

It's fun to have great spring weather where kids can play on swings, slides, and with sand.

On the fitness front, Mommy and Daddy are back at it with weight training, cardio, yoga, and martial arts cross training program, which feels great.

A funny story about flatulence; we were grocery shopping at our local Superstore and then Amelia smelled something rather raunchy.  She asked, "Did you fart?!", to which I bluntly replied "No".   "Are you sure?!", to which I replied "No" again, growing ever more indignant.  "Maybe it's that lady", pointing to some random mom with a big smile on her face.  'See how smug she is.'  And as we continued shopping, this farting lady seemed to keep on following us, with that ever raunchy smell lingering about, and that great big smile on her face.  Then I finally smelled it and took a deeper whiff around our shopping cart to 'get to the bottom of this' (pardon the pun) and finally realized, "I think Jackson pooped!"  So we laughed our heads off at ourselves for falsely accusing that random happy lady shopper when it was our own son's poopy diaper after all, ha! When we changed him, it was a green and pasty substance which has somewhat damaged our psyche.  But hey, we now have a great poopy diary log.  Way to go Jackson!

Other highlights of the week were Jacob's baptism, family brunch at Tucker's Marketplace in the Byward Market (it only took us 5 hours to get out of the house) and Mattea's 1st birthday party, making for a super busy but super fun weekend.

To view photos of this week's events, click here

A rare family outing in public, all dressed up and everything.

April 18, 2010 - From No Mercy to Victory

At age 3 months, Jackson is showing no signs of mercy.  It does not matter to him if we are sleeping, sleep deprived, or in the middle of something (like being in the bathroom), if he wants to cry, he cries.  And the longer he has to wait for us to get out of our state of exhaustion or whatever it is we are doing, the more frantic and hysterical he cries.  Gosh we miss his birth day when he didn't even utter a peep in the hospital (while the new baby beside us in the room cried all night).

Although I've been posting cutesie photos of Jackson,
 this is what he really looks like most of the time...

Nevertheless, we did end up with a major victory later on in the week - Jackson slept through the night!  From 11:30pm until 6:00am, that is.  We simply could not believe it and thanked Heaven above for this awesome milestone.  He repeated this feat three days in a row.  Woohoo!

This is more like it!

Other news on the home front:

• We are enjoying the warm and sunny spring weather so far
• Supporting the Ottawa Senators who are back in the playoffs this year against the defending Stanley Cup Champions Pittsburgh Penguins, and
• Getting back into park hopping for Justice, who also performed service by helping with the Spring Cleaning the Capital in Kanata.

To view photos of this week's events, click here

Justice and friends spring cleaning the capital.

April 11, 2010 - Struck by Lightning

It's true, we were struck by lightning.  On Thursday evening, April 8, during a thunderstorm, lightning struck our neighbourhood.  One of our neighbours saw it - white flashing light.  One of our neighbours felt it in their irregular heart beats.  We heard it - sounded like a loud and frightening bomb.  Picture frames fell off the walls and smashed to the floor, our Internet connection was fried, our microwave was fried, our fax machine was fried, our alarm system was fried, and our satellite connection was fried, but thank God we were all safe.

Other than that, this week's highlights included:

• Jackson continuing his great trend of waking up early still, but not crying and clamouring for attention and staying quiet in his bed for upwards of an hour (allowing us to catch some more zzz's)
• Jackson sleeping in until 8:50am one morning, instead of his usual 6:00am-6:30am

Another cute bunny shot with bargain bin post-Easter bunny ears.

• Justice enjoying play dates with his good buddy Tyler as well as Simon playing with bubbles and the sand box, enjoying a Princess and Knight day, and jumping in our "muddles" during this cold and rainy week
• Justice showing his sensitive side by asking "Are you happy with me?"

Behold, King Justice!

To view photos of this week's events, click here

April 4, 2010 - Eggsellent Easter Week

It was an excellent week featuring spectacular record-breaking weather and a long weekend.  This allowed us to do some landscaping work, spring cleaning, and just being in the great outdoors with family, friends, and neighbours.

For 10-week old Jackson, we've come to realize that he is "Parent Powered".  That is the only way to soothe him these days involves a major physical activity on our part.  We have to get on the treadmill, vacuum, go on stroller walks, bounce up and down, side to side, or else.  Even after long periods of period of soothing, as soon as we stop motion and sit down to rest, he'll start crying again.  Very annoying! (but great exercise for us!)

Baby Jackson cute as a bunny!

Four-year old Justice on the other hand, is becoming a bit of a chatter box.  His mind is racing, his body always has to be moving, and he has to constantly be partying and living life to the fullest.  It's definitely not easy to keep up with him and keep him intellectually, physically, and socially stimulated, but we're doing our best.  Some developmental milestones this week include zipping up his own zippers, and "reading" French books with Daddy.

Justice and Jackson enjoying the Easter week.

Other Justice highlights include play dates with Darian, Hayden, and Easter egg hunting with Daddy and his cousins, and watching his cousins play Band Hero on their Nintendo Wii.

To view photos of this week's events, click here

Band heroes rock on to Taylor Swift!

March 28, 2010 - The Sleep Over

This week's main event was the much anticipated sleep over of Justice and Jackson's dear cousins.

As such, we were able to use "The Sleep Over" on the weekend as a great reward / threat / bribe for positive behaviour. :-) i.e. Well, if you want to have a sleep over, then you better...eat your supper without whining, brush your teeth, clean up your toys, etc.

Other fun moments included Jackson starting to smile, taking our bicycles out for a spring ride to "the bridge", observing "Earth Hour", and watching the snow melt away and getting ready for warmer weather.

Sleepovers are fun - we get to party until late and wake up and
start partying first thing in the morning!

Justice and Jackson posing like poster boys!

To view photos of this week's events, click here

March 21, 2010 - The Mads, Sads, and Glads of Parenting this Week

Let's cut straight to the chase with this week's Daddy Diary blog.

What made us Mad (or frustrated, confused, annoyed, irritated, delirious - just being honest here)

• Jackson breaking a record for sleeplessness and associated crying non-stop for up to 8 hours, once on Wednesday and then again on Sunday.

Jackson won’t stop crying to fall asleep.
 And when he realizes he is asleep, he wakes up to cry!

What makes us Sad

• Cradle cap! (so gross, we had to get a special comb)

Hard to stay mad at this cute face (fingernail cuts and all)

What made us and continues to make us Glad (happy, proud, jumping for joy)

• Jackson, on the other hand, has also broken records for sleeping without waking up for a feed, even, upwards of 10-11 hours, at least 3-4 times this week! (Hello, sleep!)
• Jackson being put to bed while still awake but without crying (cried for 20 minutes the first night, 13 minutes the 2nd night, 8 minutes the third night, and has stopped crying since)
• Jackson not crying frantically when pooping in his diapers, but quietly going about his way (although it was a good sounding alarm for us)
• Jackson turning 2 months old on Saturday, March 20.
• Justice continues to say "I love you Mommy/Daddy/Jackson!"
• Getting back on track with our fitness and exercise regimes.
• Celebrating St. Patrick's Day on the Wednesday, Justice going to the Sugar Bush during March Break, Justice having a sleep-over with his dear cousins Gabriel and Zoe-Anh on Saturday (a nice and quiet evening for us watching a DVD movie, score!), and our family celebrating Naw Ruz on March 21.

To view photos of this week's events, click here

March 14, 2010 - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of Raising Two Sons

An incredible week of highs and lows this week, to be sure.

Justice holding baby Jackson, moments before Dad took the time to snap the shot
and then shout frantically,  "Put the baby down, son!".
 Note the sequence of events: take photo first, then remind children of safety. :-)

Let's start with the Good:

Major milestone this week for Justice, where without being solicited, said the following:

"I love Mommy's cooking, it's the best!" (as opposed to "I don't like broccoli, I don't like celery, I don't like this, I don't like that, etc.)

"Mommy is my best buddy!" (as opposed to Daddy)

"I love Mommy more than I love TV!" (as opposed to Mickey Mouse, Special Agent Oso, Strawberry Shortcake, etc.)

"I love, you Daddy!" (it's one thing to feel the love, it's quite another thing to hear your child say it randomly, without any sweet treats or bribery involved).

Really, the above were more than good, they are totally awesome!

Justice is definitely taking amazing developmental strides and becoming so much more affectionate towards others, but especially towards his baby brother Jackson with acts of kindness, loving words, and a general feeling of love and glee.  Justice also got to graduate to wearing a seat belt this week (as opposed to the car seat straps), which made him feel very proud and happy.  He was very pumped to have so many sweet treats this week, ranging from learning how to make a banana split, to eating his favourite Tim Horton's Gingerbread man, Easter chocolate, and Persian treats at Naw Ruz celebrations.

Party time!  Excel-lent!

Jackson himself had a major milestone this week and smiled (well, it was a facial expression that looked like a smile) and cooed (at least it sounded like it to us), much to his brother, father, and mother's delight, on a lazy Sunday morning in bed.  Daddy didn't quite capture this moment on digital camera this time around, but certainly we all captured this moment in our hearts.  It's impossible at this point to capture every moment for my Daddy blog, but we are sure enjoying every precious moment with our boys and I'm doing my best to share it so we can one day look back on these Daddy Diaries and early days of our sons' lives.

A sleeping baby, a most beautiful thing.  "Quick, let's eat supper, baby is sleeping!"

Also, with Daylight Savings Time, we did spring forward our clocks and now have more sunshine in the day and we are experiencing the March Madness of spring cleaning and people going on March Break with temperatures rising and the winter snow melting (we're already seeing bugs though - yikes!).  With Baby Jackson, we will be staying grounded this year, but we hope to do resume travelling next year.  We did enjoy visiting Ba-Noi, Ethan and Layla's, and celebrating Naw-Ruz and playing soccer with Vahid and Naim.

Celebrating Naw Ruz, or Persian New Year, with music, sweet treats, and friends!

The Bad

This week, we had some rough patches, with somewhat erratic sleep cycles, and fussiness but thank God for Mommy and Daddy teamwork as we take turns at taking care of baby Jackson and taking time to sleep for a bit here and there.  Sleep deprivation sucks!

The Ugly

Projectile vomiting at 5:00am (we won't say who).  Enough said!

To view photos of this week's events, click here

March 7, 2010 - Spring is in the Air

People were pumped this week; sunny and above zero degree temperatures, getting your car wash, driving with windows rolled down, blasting the music.  It was only the first week of March but spring was certainly in the air.

After 6 weeks, Jackson is either showing signs of fussiness or has lots of gas, but the crying sure ain't fun.  So, as a reminder of how lucky we are to have our two boys, Justice and Jackson, here are some more well wishes from friends.

Congratulations on the new baby boy!!! That is so exciting. Justice must be so excited to have a new brother – and with a J name, too. All the best! - Deanne, John and the family

Going from one to two children can be a big adjustment.  But something tells me you will be great at it--just as you are great with your "Taekwon Do" family!! ;o) All the best to you all. Taekwon! -Heather

Congrats Amelia, Phil and Justice!!!  I'm so happy for you.  I'm expecting baby Jackson to do the moon walk in a few months :) Love you guys, Arash.

Otherwise, this week we enjoyed celebrating Vargha's 39th birthday, reconnecting with friends, and Justice doing some wild partying, way past his bedtime.

We capped off the week with a nice family spring walk in the neighbourhood - very refreshing.

Justice "getting jiggy" with his cousins, Vahid and Naim

To view photos of this week's events, click here

Justice and Jackson in their weekly sofa pose.

February 28, 2010 - Back to Being a Great Week

After a rough week, Justice's birthday week celebrations continued, in a big way on an historic weekend of Olympic proportions.

It culminated with a party at his daycare on the Friday, hybrid Soccer/Taekwon-Do birthday at our academy and a private celebration with Banoi on Saturday and then we celebrated Ayyam-i-Ha and Roya's 1st Birthday on the Sunday.  Plus, Amelia did an amazing job with the soccer cupcakes, by invidiually squirting each of the icing grass blades while Justice did all the decorating himself.

Happy Birthday to big boy Justice who' s turned 4!!! yeah!!! Wishing you a wonderful day and a blessed year. Big hugs from Auntie Dominique, Uncle Dave, Gabriel, Zoé-Anh & Jacob xoxo

To view photos of the Soccer/Taekwon-Do birthday party, click here

Daddy maintaining the tradition of "Uncle Phil" push-ups for a new generation.

Justice celebrating his World Cup soccer party @ BBX!

To view photos of the birthday at Banoi's, click here

Oh yes, and Canada triumphed on the world stage at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics winning a record-breaking 14 gold medals (for a total of 26 medals), climaxing with the Men's Hockey Team beating Team USA in overtime by a score of 3-2 with Sidney Crosby scoring the golden goal.  Whew, it doesn't get any better than this.

And hey, we got through the winter months of January and February with March Madness on the way.

To use an Olympic analogy, Mommy and Daddy definitely had to pass on the torch to each other back and forth in order to successfully fulfill our parenting duties, household chores, and work responsibilities (Phil took had his turn with that nasty 12-hour stomach virus, while at work).

Hard to believe 4 years have passed
– swift, like the twinkling of an eye. - Amelia N.

To view photos of Ayyam-i-Ha and Roya's 1st birthday, click here

Justice partying like it's 1999!

Good weeks are great!

February 21, 2010 - A Rough Week

Puking, pooping, crying, and tantrums...and that was just the parents!

It was a rough week, with the crazy-busyness of hosting our first major family event since baby Jackson's birth, which was Justice's 4th Birthday party and Jackson's 1-month anniversary at our home, and then followed by Justice and then Amelia contracting some sort of stomach virus afterwards, but as a family, we got through it.  Thank God!

Even on the day of his birthday party, Justice wasn't 100%, and had a bit of nap before our guests arrived, only to be woken up by his good buddy Tyler.

Justice I hope you have a great day today turning 4.
I am ready to have fun with you "my friend".
Happy Birthday from Me (Tyler), Mattea, and mommy & Daddy too!

All in all, Justice finally got to celebrate his 4th Birthday surrounded by loved ones, a moment he had been planning since last year.  Also, everyone got the chance to meet baby Jackson on his 1-month anniversary.  A double-milestone indeed.

Happy Birthday, son, we are so proud of you!

To view photos of this week's events, click here

The Nguyen family growing by leaps and bounds in the past 4 years!

February 15, 2010 - Jam-Packed February Fun Weekend

It was a much anticipated and popular weekend for many Canadian families who could enjoy a Family Day holiday to celebrate a number of February Fun events.

For our family, we:

• commemorated Grand-Papa's 2-year anniversary of when he passed away on February 10, 2006
• witnessed on TV the Grand Opening of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics as well as winning our first ever gold medal on Canadian soil (Go Canada!)
• expressed our love for each other on St-Valentine's Day, the first one for baby Jackson
• celebrated Chinese/Vietnamese New Year of the Tiger
• kicking back and relaxing on Family Day, staying at home and watching movies
• appreciated a fun visit from our great neighbours (thanks Paul, Lynn, Tyler, and Mattea!)

So far, Jackson is following a decent routine of Eat, Activity, Sleep, while Justice has stepped it up a notch with his very good behaviour of morning and evening routines, which makes it a pleasure to be the parents of these two wonderful boys.  Thank you Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty for this much appreciated provincial holiday that allowed us this quality family time!

Justice and Jackson going head to head

Our warmest congratulations on your second bundle of joy.  When I saw your announcement it brought tears to my eyes as your mom was in front of my eyes and I know how much she would have rejoiced at this wonderful news and loved her little grandson, but we know that she is there with you and your children every step of the way.  Miss her sooooo much.   Hope your children will make you proud of them and be a constant source of joy and happiness. Much love and big hugs to you all, Pari

Congratulations! It'll be hard the first few months and then it'll get harder... =) It's wonderful to have another kid as you'll see. Wishing you and the baby all the best.
Warmest regards, Joubin/Roxanna/Ariana/Artin

Justice and our Sens Snowman looking forward to a
successful Senators playoff drive after the Olympics

 Congratulations to Justice, Mommy & Daddy on Jackson's arrival!!!  
Sleep deprivation isn't so bad....good thinking timing the delivery with the Winter Olympics just about to start. Lots of opportunity for late night/early morning TV watching reruns of the days sporting events. ;)
Steve, Lisa, Mikayla, Halyna & Zoriana

Congratulations to the new and improved 'Quadraphonic' Nguyens!!!  (I'm showing my age). Jackson is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!!  Now - get some rest, because you know what's coming. Love to you all, Mary

To view photos of this week's events, click here

An exclusive photo of Justice watching the Olympic torch go by in Kanata back in December

 February 7, 2010 - Life as a Family of Four

It occurred to me that while I have been blogging my thoughts on fatherhood with the arrival of baby Jackson, who will be turning 3 weeks on Wednesday, that I should actually be blogging my thoughts on enjoying life as a family of four.

So although I will continue to update you you Jackson's growth and milestones, I will now be sharing family highlights as well.

Congratulations Phil, Amelia and Justice!!! Wonderful news - Jackson is ball of cuteness!! Looking forward to meeting him. Much love, Naysan and Hoda (and Nura)

Congratulations!! Jackson is a great name. Can't wait to meet the little guy.
-  The McFarlands

Hey Jackson, nice faux-hawk!

Welcome Jackson! I am so glad that he is here safe and sound. - Jody Mc.C

You must be so excited! We wish you all the best with your new baby boy Jackson! Jackson - welcome to the world. We can't wait to meet you. We can see how sweet you are already from the photo your parents sent us. Sending much love to all 4 of you, Sarah & Shameem xoxoxoxo

Wow guys! Congratulations!!!  I'm so happy for your family. - Vafa

This week, we enjoyed:

• some more paternity leave which allowed us to have more family quality time (every minute counts, as it's hard to say goodbye when going back to work)
• the Sens streak making it to 11 straight wins
• registering Justice for la maternelle at a local French school (OMG!) for September
• reinforcing a French environment for Justice (signed up for TFO and continuing to read and speak French to him)
• having all 5 cousins meet Ba-Noi all together at the same time, as well as introducing Jackson to Tante Cecile and Oncle Jean from Montreal (it was total chaos and madness trying to get Justice to wear his Vietnamese tunice for a family photo)
• play date with Justice's cousins, Vahid, Naim, Kalid (thanks May and Nabil!)
• Winterlude fun for Justice and Jackson along with their Tante Dominique and cousin Gabriel on a cool and sunny winter day (we found a secret parking spot - sweet!)

"In the cold of winter, some people freeze to death while others go skiing."

I remember reading this quote once and I surmise that it's all about making the most of the winter.  So since I don't want my sons to be "winter wusses", or uncomfortable with the cold, we bundled up with our long johns and winter pants and ventured out to Jacques Cartier park to see the Justice and Gabriel enjoy slipping and sliding on the snow and ice, climbing trees, skidoos, and ATV's, followed by the ultimate reward of hot chocolate and Beaver tails.

At the end of the Sunday afternoon, everybody was ready for a hot bath and sleep.

Ahh yes, all is well in babyville and the world's coldest capital.

To view photos of this week's events, click here

A beautiful sight - two brothers at the end of a winter fun weekend.

Gotta love Jackson's beautiful puckered lips!