Thursday, December 30, 2004

December 30, 2004 - Sick day at home...


The second to last day of the year finds the Olson family at home sick with colds.  We must have overdone it during our Christmas break in Ontario, though I don't see how that's possible since we spent the whole time lounging around the house eating great Portuguese food, drinking, sleeping and basically avoiding the cold weather outside as much as possible!

We left Calgary on Dec 17 in time for the surprise appearance at my uncle mike's place for their annual Christmas party in Welland, Ontario.  It was a great party, complete with gourmet food, cases of wine, keg of beer, oyster shucker, live rockabilly band, and AKAVIT!  Now what more could you possibly ask for?

The following week was spent with Ana's folks in Brantford.  They were delighted to have their little grandson with them, and we were delighted to take advantage of their babysitting services and go and see a couple movies.  As usual the time went by much too fast but we did enjoy ourselves, including Magnus who was smiles the whole time, even after he picked up his little cold.

Next stop is Saskatoon this weekend.  At the moment, we're not feeling too up for travel but we need to get Magnus over to see his grandma Olson, who hasn't seen him for two months!

Happy new year!  And for those of you who haven't seen our Christmas letter, click here.


Kris, Ana, Magnus

Sunday, October 31, 2004

October 31, 2004 - Halloween Night


Tonight all the ghosts and goblins will be out and we will be home to help give them rotten teeth.  Magnus isn't quite old enough to enjoy his first Halloween, but we have been enjoying all the festivities for him.  We recently went to Boo at the Zoo at the local Calgary Zoo and it was quite entertaining with all of the little kids dressed up in their coolest costumes.

Magnus is 9 weeks old and is doing fantastic!  He sleeps throughout the night waking up between 5:30 am and 6:00 am and I've even got him going back to sleep until about 9:00 am most mornings.  So needless to say I'm thrilled and likely the least sleep deprived new mom in the history of moms. He's eating about 45 ounces per day of milk and now weigh 16 lbs. - bigger than 100% of the kids his age.  We've been keeping busy going out for lunch with friends and going for walks.  Winter is in full force here, but the odd chinook still allows us out for a stroll now and again.

Kris is thoroughly enjoying his new job at Shell.  He's working with quite a diverse group of guys and they seem to keep him smiling, which is nice.

The next few months will be very busy with Magnus' baptism in Brantford on November 14, a visit to Aunt Carrie and Uncle Curtis' in Victoria, BC the weekend after and then of course Christmas where we hope to be in Brantford, Florida and Saskatoon before the new year.

Busy, busy, busy but things have never been better.

Happy Halloween,


Ana

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

September 14, 2004 - Home


Magnus is now a little over 3 weeks and is doing great!!  Being a parent is fantastic!  Magnus has a lot to do with that.  He is a perfect little baby.  Cries very little and sleeps lots.  I must say that this being a new mom has so far been much less stressful than I had expected.  But the whole experience has been wonderful from the first days of pregnancy right through to labor. 

All the relatives have now left and we are now back to a regular routine.  We had a steady flow of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for the past three weeks and my parents stayed for the first few weeks to help us with Magnus and help finish our basement as well.  With that done, the real relaxing can begin.   Kris is enjoying his new job downtown at Shell and we have already gone to meet him downtown for lunch.  Magnus is surely the most cultured and well traveled baby around.  In his short life he has already been to Heritage Park here in Calgary, Banff to see the mountains, Drumheller to the Tyrell museum,  and he is already an official annual member of the Calgary Zoo with his own picture ID.

Our next big chore is to get his new passport so the real world traveling can begin.  We are hoping to get Magnus on his first plane ride to Saskatoon for Thanksgiving, then Brantford in November for his baptism and then back for Christmas and we are hoping to have him on his first international voyages to San Francisco and the Azores next year.

So life just couldn't get anymore grand!!  More photos and news on Magnus and life in Calgary soon.


Ana

Saturday, August 21, 2004

August 21, 2004 - First day at home with Magnus


Just arrived back from the hospital with our new little baby, Magnus Antonio Olson, born August 20 and entering this world at 8 pounds, 13 ounces.  Our little "Fuzzy" turned out to be a boy, just like Ana was predicting, and we are both so happy to have this little guy in our lives.  It looks as if all the grandparents and great grandparents are arriving tomorrow to meet him so he's sure to have a very busy day absorbing all that love and attention.

All I can say is, what a miracle!  It's hard to describe the birthing experience (as the person saying "push, push!" at least!) but picture his entrance into the world: once the head appeared, the body followed very quickly and in an instant this little baby was lying on the bed with his arms spread wide, head back and eyes wide open looking up at us as if to say "Here I am!!"

The weeks ahead are sure to be a big learning experience for all three of us.


Kris

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

July 27, 2004 -Tuesday night in Inglewood


I thought it was about time that I chip in with the website updates and write a journal entry.  It will also be interesting to read this in a few months and remember how dramatically different life was.

I'm 38 weeks pregnant and still growing.  My official due date is August 13th.  The doctors tell me that they will induce me at 41 weeks, thank God, so the latest I'll have the baby is August 20th.  I must say I have had a wonderful, healthy pregnancy but wonderful or not, 9 months of pregnancy is just about all I can handle.  I'll be very happy to see Fuzzy's beautiful face.

Everything is ready for the exciting arrival.  Our house is now fully transformed into a baby haven -- play pens, swings, change tables and cribs.  It's quite unbelievable how much stuff you need for a new baby.

We are also looking forward to all of the family and friends we'll see with the new baby's arrival.  My mom and dad arrive on August 21 and will stay with us for 3 weeks.  We've decided to keep my dad out of trouble by keeping him occupied finishing our basement.  We figure we'll need all the space we can get with a 3rd busy family member.

We are thrilled with this new era in our lives and we are looking forward to ALL that parenthood has to bring...the sleepless nights, dirty diapers, the little smiles and the unconditional love.


Ana

Friday, April 30, 2004

April 30, 2004 - Friday night in Inglewood


CKUA.  93.7 FM.  Friday night blues party.  Makes me want to grab my harmonica and rip off a few good blues riffs, maybe I should do that.

It's funny, time seems to be moving so slowly.  In fact, time has never moved so slowly for me in my life, except maybe when I was fifteen years old and had ordered my first Columbia House shipment of fifteen cassettes tapes and had to wait six to eight long, long weeks for it to arrive.  What was in that musical selection?  I remember Queensryche, Ratt, GNR, Led Zeppelin, stuff you can easily download today in a matter of minutes.  Imagine that.  I had to wait six to eight weeks for my shipment...now I can download it overnight for free, if I so desire.  Well, you'll be happy to hear that I haven't been downloading much Ratt lately!  The only think I've attempted to download recently is an Arrogant Worms song called "Proud to be a Banker", though I couldn't find it anywhere.

So it seems to me that since the dawn of the internet,  there's only now two guaranteed ways to slow time down in this furious world of ours; commit a felony and get yourself some jail time or get your wife pregnant.  I can vouch for the second, my only experience with the first is a brief stint in the North Battleford cop shop after a Mai Tai drinking contest and a midnight tour in my blue '69 Dodge Dart, though in that state, time becomes a little warped anyway.

But the second, oh yes, I can vouch for the second.  My little baby is busy growing ounce by ounce in my beautiful wife's bountiful buddha belly.  It is taking so long, but I suppose I  should be thankful and trying to enjoy the quiet while it lasts.  I guess I'm just anxious to meet the little person face to face.

I haven't been writing a lot of journals lately, but you can expect the "new parent" effect with plenty of pictures and words after Fuzzy's arrival in August....if I can find time!


Kris

Sunday, February 29, 2004

February 29, 2004 - Sunday morning in Inglewood


Three months into the new year, I'd say things are going very well for us.  Work has been busy but we've also managed to get away for a couple great weekend trips.  We recently went to Montreal and Quebec City to meet up with some friends we made in Argentina.  We also went to visit Marty and Jen in Ottawa for Marty's birthday.  From Ottawa we drove up to Sharbot Lake to stay with my aunt and uncle at their cabin.  It was such a treat to stay at a warm, secluded cabin in the middle of the wilderness.  The roads leading into the cabin were blocked with snow so we had to pack our gear on sleds and hike into the cabin across the lake, which is something we've never done before!

Just a short one for now,


Kris