ANNOUNCING THE ARRIVAL OF NEW BABY PEPA

This photo was taken Sunday evening and he was about 32 hours old. He had had his newborn bath by then and was cleaned up all nicely. Great Gramma enjoyed meeting him for the first time Sunday night. These photos were taken at their home.

A very tired Dakotah at the hospital Saturday morning and meeting her new baby brother. She took this picture to school this morning and the teacher posted it for all the kids to see.

This is Baby Three about an hour after he was born. He finally had the fist he had been sucking for an hour out of his mouth!

He was a little less than an hour old in this photo and has the fist in his mouth...

We had an exciting night on Friday. At 1 am James called and Nicci's water had broken. He ran the kids across town to us and they headed to the hospital around 2 am. The labor was fast and hard. The doctor was called but apparently didn't quite make it in time. Luckily a very competent nursing team was able to deliver Baby Three but not without incident as his arm delivered first and had to be put back and when his head presented the cord was wrapped around his neck and had to be removed. James states he wasn't breathing at that point but once they cut the cord he gasped, let out a small cry and then encouraged by the staff finally filled his lungs and let out a proper cry. James called us at 5:56 to say he was here. Dakotah and I dressed and took off across town to meet the new baby Pepa. What a cutie. When we arrived Gramma Donna was sitting and holding him in the chair while the nursing staff took care of Mommy Nicci. Of course at he is ours, he is the cutest baby ever!! haha. He is darling though. His coloring was very good but he was battered from his quick arrival and the complications involved with his delivery. After registering in my head how small he is, the next thing I noticed was his hair. He has oodles of thick black long hair. Neither of the first two had so much hair. Jaime still doesn't have this much hair at almost three. And this little fellow has hair that is jet black. Jaime was very fair and you couldn't even see the hair in his first photos...he looked a lot like Caillou on the children's TV shows and Dakotah had wispy brown hair if I remember correctly. So here are baby three's stats to the best of my knowledge, he was born at 5:55 am January 9, 2010. I wonder if they will have something commemorative to give to babies born in the year of the 2010 Olympics here in town? He weighed in at a healthy 7.12 pounds which is much smaller than his siblings and much smaller than he was guesstimated to be. The figure bouncing around prior to birth was in excess of 10 pounds as each baby is normally larger than the one before and Jaime was 9.3. He measures out at 19 3/4 inches to the best of my knowledge. It was so funny to hold him...he weighs nothing and it is like holding a blanket of air, he is so light. So far I haven't had a good look at his eyes which is normal after they put the drops in. Nicci thinks they are brown like the first two. This little guy looks like he may have that strong Polynesian gene running through him. His nose looks Polynesian to us and his hair is defiantly Polynesian. Dakotah was thrilled to think and imagine he might one day have Polynesian skin like hers...not that she is dark but she isn't milk white either. Nicci and Baby Three stayed over night in hospital on Saturday night but were anxious to leave for the comforts of home early Sunday morning. All in all everything is great. So far he is a great baby despite the household noise and chaos having two siblings brings. He slept 7 hours straight on Sunday night. So far Baby Pepa is unnamed although Dakotah calls him "Three" and Jaime calls him "baby Papa"...i guess he thinks he resembles his Grandpa. I will edit with name when it is decided!

32 DAYS UNTIL THE 2010 OLYMPICS

32 days until the 2010 Olympics starts here in Vancouver. I suspect in their rush for the bid, our normal weather patterns were not taken into account as we are having an "El Nino" weather pattern in these parts and the weather is downright balmy compared to the east and even areas such as Florida where it dipped to 13 degrees F in some areas last night. In sharp contrast, we are in the the 50 degree and even a bit higher range and the El Nino typical rain is falling. Not great weather for snow! The Olympic committee is quickly pointing out they are busy "making" snow for the mountains but I would think rain is not a good thing for them. In fact for the first time tonight, I heard the bits or worry creep into the voices of the people reporting on the long range forecast and the rain expected. The souvenir people are wondering if they should bring in tons of Olympic umbrellas as they are likely going to be the biggest seller during the games if the weather doesn't change (and no changes are in site). Meanwhile...I am enjoying the warm weather here. I heard on the news tonight that there are a lot of jobs out there and a ton of incentives being offered if anyone is looking for short duration employment. The photos above are a few of the Olympic freebies I have picked up lately. I won two of the Olympic toques in a contest...they really are cute. I have been getting tons of the Olympic tattoos in another contest and I got the pin at a movie I recently went to. The sponsor for the pin is Coca Cola...one of the official Olympic sponsors.

MERRY CHRISTMAS....YOU'RE ALL FIRED - NEWS FROM DISNEY STORE METROTOWN CENTER

Christmas wasn't very Merry for the employees of The Disney Store at Metrotown Centre in Burnaby BC. They were advised negotiations with the mall were over, their store is closing and they are all out of work. Despite the fact their sales are always very brisk and the location is always jam packed with buyers, and their bottom line is good despite the recession, Disney has made the decision to close them down. Apparently The Children's Place had been running the store and Disney took it back themselves early last year. The mood was very different then, the employees were all very excited to be back with Disney as their boss but the excitement wasn't going to last long as the decision to close was made Christmas of 2009 and their last day of business will be January 23, 2010. No more stock will be arriving at the store and once what they have on hand is gone, the doors will close. The employees have been advised that if they should reopen in another location within a year, they will have their jobs back but no word on that is currently available. Needless to say the mood among staff is poor, many of them teary and sad. One lady has been with the store for 16 years, another 12 years. I was told that if you are so moved to do so, letters can be sent via http://www.disneystore.com/ to protest this closure.

On a more personal note, the Disney Store has been a staple in our lives for as long as I can remember. First with my children and now with my grandkids, this is a must see when we go to the mall. Many a fussy and irritated child has been coaxed into shopping a little longer in the other stores with the promise of the Disney Store visit before we leave the mall. The adults seem to love the store as much as the kids and Disney's promise of never having to grow up when on a Disney property holds true even in the stores...everyone is a kid again and a kid at heart. Our kids wear Disney clothes, sleep in Disney jammies and cuddle up with Disney stuffed toys and dolls, and eat on Disney dishes using Disney forks and spoons. They go off to school wearing Disney t-shirts carrying their Disney backbacks with their Disney lunch kit inside it. They cover up at home in the evening with their Disney blankets and watch their Disney movies or color in their Disney coloring books. Play is fun with their Disney crowns, gowns and princess shoes. Is was indeed a sad day for me to learn this tradition for our family is coming to an end. No longer will I be able to let the kids peruse the new stock while I chat with the wonderful group of employees I have been chatting with for so many years and who recognize me on sight and always come to talk and see how things are going. I believe The Grinch is licenced to Universal but it seems this year Disney chose that theme to ruin Christmas for their store employees. How very sad for them and also sad for us as I see a lot less trips to that mall in the future as they are taking away the store we most often go to see. So many will be affected who are used to getting their park tickets from this location, people who preorder the new movies, and are in line when the Halloween costumes come out....it is a big loss for Metrotown Centre...I wonder why they don't see that?

The opinions expressed here are my own, the information gathered was from employees of the store and the accuracy of the information may be subjective from their perspective. If you have anything to offer that disputes this information, please feel free to add it to the comment section of the blog.

Welcome to the New Year and 2010

What a difference a year makes!! Last year at this time we were in the middle of our "45 days of

snow on the ground" and our record breaking storms!! This year we are back to our "west coast" normal weather pattern (so far)... we had a small snow fall in December that was quickly washed away by the rain within a couple of days...the way it SHOULD be here!!! Since then we have had a mix of a few rainy days followed by cold, crisp days with blue sky. My lilac bush out front is starting to get green buds on it so I am hoping our winter is going to be short and sweet followed by a lovely spring!

This is just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may you and yours all enjoy good health, lots of happiness and maybe even some wealth in the coming year! I hope 2010 is the best year ever!