Pandora's Box

A while ago, I posted a comment about a site that suggests music for you based on what you tell it you like. I've found Something Better! Pandora [http://www.pandora.com/] is an online streaming radio station that plays music based on what you tell it you like. Very Cool.

Oliver at 2 Months

Thanks to everyone who made Oliver's first Christmas so special.

We spent Christmas Eve at Gm. Mary's with Aunt Jacqui and Aunt Victoria; Christmas Morning we went to Gp. Rob's; and Christmas Dinner was at Gp. Don and Gm. Joan's with the Arnetts - all 16 of us had a fabulous time!

Hopefully we'll see more friends and family this week.

Happy Holidays, everyone!
Tim, Holly, and Oli. 

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and a healthy, safe, and fantastic New Year. Oliver, Holly, and I surely will.

This is an older picture... hopefully one of our photographer friends can help us with an update! 

Florida, Day 3

I'm in Orlando for Autodesk University 2005 right now. 3 days in, and my brain is fried fried fried. It's been an adventure.

 

When I got to my hotel, I wanted to put my passport in the room safe. Only problem; I couldn't find my passport. I determined that it had most likely fallen out of my bag on the airplane, so I spent the next two days on the phone with Air Canada and United to see if they found it. As of yesterday, they hadn't, so I decided to give up and report it lost. I called the canadian passport office, and after realizing I would be on hold for at least half and hour, bailed and decided to try again later. Good thing, because at about 2:00 am last night, my room phone rang. I was only semi-conscious, but it was the shuttle driver that brought us from the airport to the hotel. Turns out my passport fell out in his van. Luckily he remembered our conversation (which centred around Alberta, and our upcoming money from the gov't), and remembered that he had driven us to a hotel on the resort. It seemed like he'd already checked at a couple of other hotels before getting the right one. Long story short: I have my passport back!!! What a relief!

 

The conference has been fantastic so far. Every class overloads my brain, but I can't wait for the next one to start. I'm learning tons.

 

 

Four Week Photograph

It's actually a couple of days old, but it's too good not to share...

Four Weeks

We've been busy busy busy!

I've been back at work since last Monday. It took some adjusting, and I still would rather be at home than at work. I feel like I'm missing so much by not being there during the days. Oliver changes so fast right now that I almost feel like he's a new person every time I get home. I'll put a new photo up soon.

Last Sunday, we sat and watch football all day. I had him on the couch with me, and was explaing why CFL is so much better than NFL. Luckily there was a Raiders game on in the morning, so we started at 11:00 with 4-down sissy ball, then moved on to Montreal-TO and Edmonton-BC in the afternoon. He seemed to enjoy watching the TV, and he farted once when BC scored, so I think he gets it. ;)

Holly's dad was in town for a few days over the past week, and got to spend some quality time with his grandson. I'm looking forward to BC fishing trips in the future, and Norm can teach O and me (it's been a while) which end of the fishing rod points to the water.

I'm off to Florida for a few days on Sunday, and am a bit anxious about leaving O and Holly. At least there are plenty of people willing to help out while I'm gone.

PS. That project I was working on before Oliver was born went to the other team. It's official now, and they have broken ground on the Robbins Health Learning Centre at Grant MacEwan. I'm pretty dissapointed, since we put a lot of effort into what we still feel is an incredible building. I can't wait to see what the other team designed; I'm sure it'll be impressive.

Three weeks plus a day

I went back to work this week. I'd much rather be at home, to be honest. O seems to change every day, even if just a little bit. His Grandpa Norm came into town last night, so we'll be visiting a bit with him over the next few days.

Otherwise, not much else is going on... especially not sleep! I seem to have caught a cold at the office as well, which is making me even more tired. And Holly's up a couple of times a night to feed the little guy, so, yeah, not much energy to do much else at the moment. It's a good thing parenting is so awesome!

Oliver at 2 weeks

Oliver was two weeks old yesterday. I didn't have a chance to post it until now, but here's a picture from late last night.

Oliver with Ggm. Shirley

 

Oliver Neil with Ggp. Neil

We went to visit Holly's grandparents yesterday. This is Oliver with his namesake, Great Grandpa Neil.

2 weeks old

Oliver is two weeks old today, and I have newfatheritis. I'm constantly awed by the way he changes from day to day. He's started to look around, and it seems like he's doing it on purpose. When we go to get him from the crib, he'll look towards us. When he's awake in the living room, he moves his eyes around, and keeps his eyes focused when his head turns. His arms have started to move with a little more control lately; he'll push the soother from his mouth if he isn't interested, and he pulls towards his mouth when he wants to. His legs are still flopping around on their own schedule, though.

Holly and I are doing pretty good as well. I went to the glass studio last night since O was born, and will soon be working my own shifts. I also went to work this morning to try to get a head start for next week, and to give Holly a chance to adjust to not having me around all the time. We've been out and about a fair amount lately, either for walks or grocery trips or visiting.

I think I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing. right.

Like father like son?

The other day, my mom and dad brought this picture by. At first, I thought it was Oliver, but no! it's my baby picture from 1975.

Oi. And vey.

Last night was the hardest night so far. I think O had a bad case of gas, and as a result he would NOT sleep. I tried, Holly tried, I tried again, we changed him, Holly fed him, we rocked him, we held him... no luck. He finally fell asleep at about 2 am, after about 5 hours or trying. The good news is that he slept until 6 or 7, and is sleeping again now, so at least Holly can catch up a bit.

On the bright side, I finished a book last night! Into Thin Air is a true story about a group of expeditions to the summit of Everest in 1996. It's a fantastic read, and I highly recommend it.

First doctor's appointment

We took O for his first doctor's appointment this morning. Everything is good. He's still a bit jaundice, but is getting pinker by the day, and weighs in at 7 lb 2 oz. That's 2.5 oz down from his birth weight, but 5 ounces up from when he left the hospital (all babies lose weight right after birth).

Last night he slept for arond 4-5 hours, twice! Very nice. I think it's the sheapskin blanket a very dear friend brought over.

We're starting to settle into a routine of sorts. Hopefully we'll start exploring in the next day or two. Holly's healing very well from the section, and we actually walked to the clininc this morning for the checkup. There is a lot of people we want to see soon, and our apartment isn't very conducive to big gatherings, so we'll probably have to start heading out instead of staying in.

What's in a name?

Oliver Neil Gibson. Where does this name come from?

Oliver is a name that Holly and I both love, and it has been at the top of our list since before Holly was pregnant. We happen to live in the Oliver neighborhood at the moment, but that's purely coincidental.

Oliver is of French origin, and signifies the olive tree. The biblical olive tree symbolizes fruitfulness and beauty and dignity. Extending an olive branch signifies an offer of peace.

Neil is Holly's grandpa's name. We wanted a namesake that would be special for both of us. Neil is a wonderful man who we both love dearly, and who has made me feel especially welcome in Holly's family. We are looking forward to spending lots of time at their home with Oliver.

Neil is Celtic, and means champion.

A few non-linear thinkers (which I can non longer claim to be) have pointed out that Oliver Niel shortens quite conveniently to O.Neil. Holly and I work for O'Neill O'Neill Procinsky Architects. O.Neil is not intentional; in fact we didn't notice it until somebody else pointed it out. However, since we met at the office, it seems very appropriate.

We haven't settled on a nickname yet. Candidates include O, Oli, and Ollie right now. There's already an O in the family (Hi Owen!!), so we might be moving towards a Big-O and Little-O. Time will tell.

We're home!

We're home, and everyone is healthy. I'll post a report once we're settled.

Visitors must bring food.

Day One Summary

Oliver is awesome. I could leave it at that, but here're some details. We tried to get him breastfeeding. He's latching (sort of) sometimes, and we're working on the sucking part. He's still feeling the effects of the epidural and general anaesthetic that Holly had yesterday, so he slept through most of the day. We should be so lucky. We had a few visitors, and hopefully we'll have some more. Ollie's sleeping in the nursery again tonight, and I'm at home to try to get a good night's rest. We won't be able to use the nursery after tonight, so I'll be at the hospital for the rest of the week. I'll try to get another update through the week though.

Holly will be in the hospital until Saturday, so there's plenty of time for anyone that wants to drop by. There's no way to get ahold of us at the moment, but I should have my cell on me by later tomorrow. Please phone before you come (unless I've already spoken to you), since the room is small and Holly needs all the rest she can get. If you drop by unannounced, you might have to wait a while for someone else to leave or for the new family to finish napping, feeding, or just being alone.

Birth Story

Holly's water broke monday morning. She had light contractions all day monday, and we went to the hospital at about 10:00 monday night. They admitted Holly, but since there were no private rooms available they put her in the induction suite for the night.

They were planning to induce Holly on tuesday morning, but she went into labour on her own at about 5:30 am. Rebecca (our doula) and I had gone home to get a good night's rest, so we both arrived back at the hospital between 6:30 and 7:00 am. Holly was having pretty good contractions, and they got much stronger throughout the morning.

Early in the afternoon she decided that she wanted an epidural, and that helped her manage the pain and get some rest. By about 7:00 (I think), she was dialated, but the baby was pretty high up, and he was facing front insteaad of backwards. We tried to get Holly to push him to see if that would help him turn over, but his great big head got jammed up on Holly's pelvic bone. The doc didn't think that she would be able to safely get him through, and since Holly's temp was rising along with O's heartbeat, we decided it was time for a C-Section.

Holly went into the OR at about 12:15, and Oliver came out at about 1:00. Holly was recovered by abot 2:00, so we hung out in the room for a while and got Oliver to latch. He spent the night in the nursery, Holly spent the night sleeping (I hope), and I came home to prepare for the coming week.

I'm off to the hospital now. If anyone that I haven't already spoken to  wishes to visit, please give us a day or two first. Thanks!

Another pic

Here's another pic before I crash.

Also, some spammers have found this site. Spammers suck, and unfortunately this is a PITA for everyone else. If you want to comment now, you'll need to type some letters in to verify that you are a person and not a computer (or at least that you're a smart enough computer to be my friend). If that' wasn't funny, too bad. I'm tired. Goodnight.

It's a boy!

Oliver Neil Gibson
October 26, 2005 at 00:43 hrs
7 lb 4.5 oz
20 "

More to follow.

I'm back home

We took Holly to the hospital at about 10:00 this evening. She's 1 cm dialated, posterior (station 2, whatever that means), and had no contractions after we got into the assesment room. She's been admitted, but since there're no open beds, she's sharing a suite. That means that I sleep in our bed tonight and go back in the morning -- unless I get a phone call sooner. I need to sleep.

We're leaving!!!

We're on our way to the hosptial now... not much is happening. The contractions are 9-15 minutes apart still, but we've been sitting around for about 8 hour and need a change of scenery. Hopefully the next post will have a name and weight attached to it!

Hurry up and wait...

OK, so here's the deal. Holly called me at work at about 10:30 to say her water broke (it actualy broke before I left for work, but she wasn't sure). I was in a meeting, so I finished that up, and took care of some paperwork that had to be dealt with while I was away, then left. Now we're both home, and Rebecca wil be on her way over soon, so we're just waiting for the contractions to pick up. We'll probably sit back, relax, watch a movie, and hang out for a few hours. I'll post again before we leave for the hospital!

It's coming!!!

Holly's water broke. I'm taking off from work now, and will be busy for the next 18 years. Keep checking back here for updates!

I have my life back...

... for now.

The proposal for MacEwan went in on the 23rd. I wish I could say more (and I will when we get it), but for now just believe that we worked our assets off for this building. If the college decides to go with our proposal, Edmonton will get a world-class piece of Architecture that we can all be proud of.

In other news, Holly and I have finished our pre-natal classes, so now we're just waiting. It's funny. The first 8 months flew by so fast that I have a hard time remembering everthing that has happened (no doubt, partly because I was so engrossed at work). This past couple of weeks has really dragged, though. We're both anxious to meet our son, and can't wait for those first few days of learning how to care for him.

I'm heading to Orlando, Florida at the end of November for an Autodesk conference. I'm a little nervous about leaving Holly and the baby so soon, but this is an opportunity that I can't pass up.

That's about it.

I'll bite...

I've been tagged by Dan and Carmen. What the hell is tagged?

Here is the deal:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post. (I only have 14!!!)
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same. (I'm skipping this step, since I don't know 5 other people with blogs!)

I only have 14 posts, but that's OK, since the 5th sentence is this: "(AVERAGE!!???!!)"

Quick Baby Update

We had another ultrasound this morning. The baby is 5 lb. 1 oz. plus or minus 12 oz. This puts him in the 50th percentile, which (if I remember those traumatic stats classes) means he's about average. I think this means that he could grow to about 9 or 10 pounds, give or take. (AVERAGE!!???!!)

He's head-down and ready to rock it out, too!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday I was (mostly) surprised by my wife and friends. You see, I turn 30 on September 13. We went out to Lion's Park in St. Albert for a "picnic" which turned into an awesome time with most of my friends. Then those of us without kids (yet) we went to the Druid for a few hours and beers. Finally, thanks to JoJo, we saw The Exorcism or Emily Rose(cheesy, cliche, but decent).

I'm incredibly lucky! Thanks to everyone who contributed to my Glass Blowing Fund; that was truly the most appropriate gift. For those who don't know, I've taken a liking to the hot art of Glass Blowing (go to www.chihuly.com/ for an idea of what it's all about), but it is an incredibly expensive pastime. Hopefully one day soon I'll be good enough to pay for studio time by selling my work, but I don't think anyone's going to pay for the misshapen tumblers that I'm turning out so far.

Since it's been a month since my last entry, here's an update:

Holly is HUGE! The little guy is kicking and spinning and generally making Holls uncomfortable, but it's nearly over. We have another ultrasound this week, and we'll have a better idea of his size then. It sounds like the doctors are eager for early induction or a C-section if the baby's big, but we're pretty resistant to that. Our doula is very supportive, and has been helping us work through all the little details of our birth plan.

The proposal for MacEwan goes in on September 23. My life will be mostly back to normal after that. It boggles my mind when I think about what we've been pulling off for this proposal. So I try not to think about it. But if anyone ever says "we've got a real cool project that will cost you your life for the next three months", I think I'll crawl under a rock. A big rock.

That's not to say that I'm not proud of what we're accomplishing. If we win the job, Edmonton will have another fantastic piece of Capital-A Architecture downtown, instead of yet another piece-of-stucco shyte condo a-la Railtown.

That's about it.

Baby's getting BIG

Holly and I went for another doctor's appointment today. Surprise,surprise, Holly is showing about a month ahead of schedule. The doctor wasn't concerned about her weight, since from the last appointment to this one, she's gained the right amount. Apparently baby had a bit of a growth spurt before the previous appointment, though. We may need to go for another ultrasound in a few weeks, just to check the size and get a better estimate of the due date.

Otherwise, everything is going according to plan. We picked up a nice crib last week, and have the baby's room pretty much organized now. Plus, our downstairs neighbor gave us a bag full of newborn clothes, so we should be set for the first week or so. ;) Holly and I have only bought 3 m.o. clothes, with the expectation that the little bugger will be not so little (my family has a history, shall we say).

Since it's been so long since I last posted, here's an update of some
other stuff.

I've been working on a proposal for a new building at Grant MacEwan. That's meant working long hours, but if we win it'll be worth it. I can't wait to share some of the stuff we're planning, but not until after the submission.

Before that started, we went to the San Juan Islands and Seattle for alittle break before we can't do that alone for a while. We stayed with Sarah (THANKS) in Vancouver, and hit The Locus for dinner (surprise). We had breakfast at a great place called Aurora Bistro. Nice vibe and fantastic food, even by Vancouver standards.

Next, we stayed on San Juan Island for three days, and LOVED IT. It's so
peaceful, and there's lots to see and do. We can't wait to go back. Seattle was a little less nice. To be fair, we were incredibly rushed, and didn't have time to do everything we wanted. We went to the Glass Museum in Tacoma, which was amazing -- especially the hot shop. Oddly, my favorite display was in the hallway to the washrooms, but whatever. We did the underground tour in Seattle, and that was really cool. Otherwise, all I can say about Seattle is that is smells like pee.
Probably not fair, but that was our experience. I still haven't put any pictures up online. When I do, I'll put a link here.

Deep thought for the day

Some people are like slinkies - Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.

On another note, we've been home from our trip to the Broken States of
America for a little while. I'll post a better report when I have some
spare time.

Ultrasound

Holls and I went for the first ultrasound yesterday. I though the heartbeat was cool! The tech had Holly in the room for about half an hour before I was allowed in. Once I joined them, I saw my baby for the first time! The little bugger wouldn't stop moving, and it was hard to get a good image, but I saw hands, feet, head, spine, and... something else! If you want to know the sex, you'll have to ask me or Holly. If you want to know the name, too bad -- we aren't telling!

The image above is the ultrasound on the left, and an "enhanced" version on the right for anyone who can't quite make it out.



It's pretty amazing seeing your child like this. I didn't think it would affect me all that much, but it sure has. It's hard to think about other things now, and I can't wait for The Birthday. This is now "The Coolest Experience of My Life."

Camping 2005 Part 2

What an amazing weekend! Pembina River Campground is still the best
place around Edmonton to camp. We had the group campsite booked last
weekend, and were lucky enough to share it with a bunch of friends. The
weather was fantastic, so we spent half of Saturday lounging in the
river. The rest of the time, we lounged around the campfire, played
poker all night, and relaxed.

Pictures to follow, once I figure it out.

Camping 2005 Part 1

We had our first camping trip of the year this weekend. There we 13 of
us in two sites at Wild Willie's Something or Other, just outside of
Drayton Valley, AB. We were supposed to go to Pembina, but (big suprise)
it was full by Thursday night. Willie's was pretty nice, and cheaper
than most other developed campgrounds - $16 per night, includes
firewood. It's right on the North Saskatchewan River, so the scenery is
pretty good -- not quite breathtaking, but pretty good, just the same.

The 13 people included Holly and me, My parents, James and Jen, and
friend of the family (including a 3 month old). That's a lot of people
to pack into two sites, and it showed when my patience wore thin towards
the end of Sunday. Otherwise, it was a fantastic trip, with plenty of
good red wine, tons of food, and lot of time to relax.

Since today's Victoria day, I might as weel add this little story: There
was a bunch of canoists heading to Edmonton on the river to commemorate
the queen's visit. There were two groups: some of the paddlers were from
St. Johns School for Boys, and the rest were from some other group.
There must have been around 100 people watching them start out, and some
of them were in voyageur outfits.

When I get the photos off my camera, I'll post them.

Happy Birthday Eddie!

We celebrated my friend Eddie Z's 25th birthday last night. Thanks to
his parents for putting up with all of us, for dinner, and for the use
of the house to make the suprise work. A good time was had by all, right
down to the high-stakes poker games!

Saw It!

We went to see The Hitchhiker's Guider to the Galaxy last night. I'm
still undeceided about it. Overal, it was a pretty good show, but I was
a bit disapointed with some of the effects and a lot of the acting. I
laughed my ass off a few times though, and that was all I really wanted.

I give it a 7/10.

Bubbles

I don't want to say highway robbery, but WOW! I took the car to Bubbles
today for a spring cleaning. 40 bucks for a basic in and out clean with
wax. Not too bad, but the salesman tried to push the full shampoo "deal"
on me, for a mere 120 bucks. I DON'T THINK SO! That's just silly.

It Lives!

This week I had the most amazing experience of my life (so far, at
least). Holls and I went to the doctor to hear our baby's heartbeat for
the first time.

It blew me away. Holly's just into the second trimester now, and the
baby is about as big as a lime. The doctor put the microphone on Holly's
belly, and the heartbeat was so loud that I was initially amazed that we
could hear Holly's heartbeat all the way down there!

Heh, I'm a guy. It's not my fault!

Anyhow, obviously, it was the baby's heartbeat. 150 bpm, according to
the doc, which means it's a girl if you believe old wives' tales.

Next appointment in a month, and an ultrasound right after that. I can't
wait!

Map your music

This is something that I stumbled onto a while back. If you're into music, it's the best thing since sliced bread -- even better than American Idol!

Time flies like a brick

This week...

Hub Cigar Store on Whyte Ave burned down last night. The building was
built in the 1890's, so in that respect alone it's a pretty big loss.
Never mind that the store held memories for so many people.

Revit 8 was released, and was available for download to subscription
customers (like me!) today. I can't wait to get people using it!

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will be released Friday. I'll be there.

Another try

This blogging idea is neat, but it's tough to keep on top of things. So
I'm trying again, and this time I'll do it properly. Promise.

And Yumnuska? It's a mountain in the Canadian Rockies. I like it. So there.