Happy (1st) Halloween!

It was a cool, crisp night. It was a night where princesses, grim reapers and monkeys & lobsters lurked. It was a night which I've missed "actively" participating for 25 years. It was Halloween.

I was so excited to dress Evann up for Halloween, that I purchased his Halloween costume in early September while visiting my 2nd sister on Vancouver Island. I was over on the Island for a day business trip, but due to flight cancellations, I wasn't able to make it back home so I went with my niece and went shopping for some clothes to wear the following day. While at Old Navy, we noticed that the Halloween costumes were being freshly displayed. Upon seeing the monkey suit, I knew what Evann would be going as this Halloween.

Some may say that Evann is too young to go trick or treating, which is why I recruited my friends S & V to bring their little one (2 days older than Evann) as well. He's the lobster in the picture above. We joked around about how we were exploiting the infants, but really our intentions were strictly altruistic as we wanted to share our kids' cuteness with the world (or at least the neighbourhood).

We did both sides of the street for two blocks and by the end the little ones were quite tired. In fact, by the last few houses, Evann was asleep as I knocked on the doors and yelled out "Trick or Treat!" Holding out my...I mean, Evann's Halloween bag while I held him passed out is when I realized that this was truly exploiting of my child.

Returning back to my sister's home, I once again fell into the frenzy of Halloween. By that I'm referring to the systematic organizing and sorting of the candy by category, name and "deliciousity"...folled by the best part of Halloween...the trading. My nephew had a few friends and my two nieces went together too so there were many with whom to trade. I finally realized what it was like to be on the trading floor when surrounded by 6 kids under the age of 11 looking to score an Aero bar. Even better was the fact that I had two separate trading partners; one with the 11-year old boys upstairs and another with the girls downstairs. Long story short, I got rid of all unwanted candies and left home with just the prime candies. For those of you who are shaking your heads disapprovingly, you'll be happy to know that the kids received volume for quality.

I had to include these pictures of Evann. This was his alternate costume, but we couldn't find any good baby "bling" for him. Actually, this is a wonderful hip-hop outfit which a close friend of ours gave him. It's so cute and really makes him look like a cool dude.

Evann's new vice is his stand-alone jumper. We borrowed it from a friend after Evann tried it out. He fell in love with it and anything which distracts him from us holding him is a blessing. Evann is reaching 20 lbs. after only 5 months (5 of those pounds must be in his large cranium).

He is as dear as ever to Mommy L and I. Every week reveals new discoveries and advancements, it's such a special time for us. This week we're going to attempt to have him sleep on his own! Come back to see how it goes.

Five months...Already?!?

Wow, I can't believe it. I send a public apology to all those parents out there whom I privately shrugged of when they said it would pass by quickly. Okay, he's not quite 5 months, close enough, but it's been a wonderfully fast ride, thus far. Here's what I've learned about the boy in the past 5 months, he likes: jumping, baths, talking, eating, lights/shiny things (what guy doesn't), hockey (seriously, he actually watches me play and sits quietly) and being carried in the baby carrier. He dislikes: the car seat, having his nose wiped, being woken up, going to sleep, and wet/poopy diapers (I too dislike these for a totally different reason).



We're seeing advancements and "firsts" all the time. Let me start with all the firsts: drooling, Thanksgiving dinner, eating rice cereal, roll-over, cold and sleep over at hal-mon-ee's house (grandmother in Korean). I'm sure there are many more firsts, but I don't want to bore you too much. Another upcoming first is Halloween, I'm going to score BIG on that day with Halloween loot! We've got the cutest little costume, stay tuned for more on this topic in a future entry (with pictures)! Oh by the way, the doggy towel is not Evann's Halloween costume, it's a doggie towel.



Little East Van Evann is so incredible. My work takes me away from home often and it's getting more and more difficult to leave my beautiful wife and adorable son. I sit in my hotel rooms and get misty eyed while I look at the video of him on my phone then I think about the undisturbed and uninterrupted sleep and I smile. Yet, Karma wields her head and keeps me from getting my slumbering prize. It's all worth it when I walk in the door to see the boy's full facial smile. What I mean is his WHOLE face lights up when he laughs, it's contagious and not even the worse day can keep me from smiling right back at him.

I know that I've been a little negligent in keeping my blog up-to-date, but there are reasons for this (some believeable, some not) so I'll just say it's due to lack of energy, not creativity. I think about the journaling the day's events and things I observe all the time, but suddenly it's 3 am and I'm changing Evann's diaper while half asleep. Babies are definely labours of love. I don't suspect that it will get easier as he gets older either (for those of you who are already there, don't tell me how it ends, I like finding out for myself). Stay in tune, you don't want to miss the Halloween entry, it'll be as good as a Simpsons Halloween episode.