I'm a pirate

So it seems that Jed is going through a phase of pretending to be someone else. Sometimes it's a firefighter, a painter or a toilet cleaner (as evident from this post). Right now he is fascinated by pirates, and so here is a short video of him pretending to be a pirate. He's talking quite fast so it's difficult to make out what he is saying. He, however, says  something about a big pirate ship and a cannonball that goes onto the wall, goes down the stairs onto the carpet. Watch out, for "Pirate Jed" and flying cannonballs !!!

I'm a pirate from Heather Hansen on Vimeo.

Books, books, books !!

After yesterdays post I realized that books form a big part of Darryl's and my life. We are always reading something. Even when we are utterly exhausted at night we still pick up a book and read a page. So I wondered whether our love for reading will influence Jed and Joshua too. I know that Jed loves reading and this love started when he was very small. Jed will choose a book over a toy most of the time. He loves new words and learning the names for things and I think that this was borne when we sat on winter afternoons reading book after book. At times, 3 hours would go by before we realized it. Joshua is also enjoying books and will sit and "read" certain books over and over again. When you say the word "book", he will smile and look at the stash of books. So, yes, I do think that our boys will also have a love of reading when they grow older.

Here are a few pictures that I found of the boys with books.

What is on your night-stand ?

I was recently noticing that my night-stand was quite full of things and so I took an inventory. These are the things that are on it:

• lamp
• big glass for water to drink at night
• small bowl of cat food for Moses (our cat) to eat at night
• 5 books

1. HELP activity guide for infants (Birth to 36 months) - great resource in terms of ideas for stimulation activities for infants and toddlers
2. Lore of running by Tim Noakes - this is known as a Runner's Bible. Just sucks that I am ordered to stay off my feet indefinitely until my metatarsalgia is resolved. But I suppose I can read about running instead of actually doing it.
3. The Garden of Vegan - an absolutely awesome recipe book 
4. The China Study by T. Colin Campbell - interesting read regarding nutrition and its affect on health. Really making me think about my nutrition choices
5. Raising kids for true greatness by Tim Kimmel. Haven't started this book yet but if it is anything like Grace Based parenting - it should be great.

• Physiotherapy exercise sheet - I have 8 exercises that I must do 3 times a day.

These are the things that were on Darryl's night-stand

• i-Touch docking station
• i-Touch
• Telephone
• 3 Books

1. The Bible
2. Bathroom remodelling - we're not remodelling our bathroom so I don't quite know why he took this particular book out from the library
3. The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian - Darryl reads a chapter of this book each night.
4. Just as I am by Billy Graham - This is an autobiography. It's been on Darryl's night-stand for months.

I wonder whether the contents of our night-stands tell anything about us. What's on your night-stand ?

Making a mess

Cleaning up a mess is an everyday occurrence in a household with children. So here is a mess that I made and I don't even need to clean it up. Go to the web-site watch my masterpiece being created and then have a turn yourself. It's quite liberating to splash ketchup, cheerios, fries, pomegranate and all types of foodstuff onto a canvas and not need to clean it up. Give it a go ...

Life is great - or not ?

Joshua really enjoys life. He is generally a very happy and content baby. He thinks that life is great.  Here are some recent pictures of him ...

His mom on the other hand is not so happy at the moment. Since Spring 2006, I have suffered with metatarsalgia and have not really been able to do much serious running.

 Now everyone who knows me, knows that running is one of my great passions. So obviously I have been very frustrated but have dealt with it as most professionals have been saying that it will go away, eventually. Well it's been three years and it hasn't !!!!. So I have just been managing it by wearing the right shoes, the right orthotics and by choosing the right types of surfaces to walk and run on. So I have really just been trying to "baby" my left foot and try and make life work as best as possible around it. So recently I have been increasing my weekly running mileage and have been feeling some side effects. My left hip, back and knee have all been acting up and have not been happy. So last week I decided to make a Physiotherapy appointment as the first step in getting to the bottom of my "foot problem" and the other problems that result from it. So Tuesday morning was my first session with this great physio and she really has been the first person who is attempting to fix the problem instead of just put a Bandaid on it. She diagnosed that the metatarsalgia is in the 3rd metatarsal and it is resulting in me compensate my gait and standing position. I generally weight bear on my right leg and don't place much weight on my left leg. This has resulted in some muscle atrophy on the medial leg muscle on my left leg. Hence the lateral knee pain and also the hip/back pain. So the treatment is as follows:

• topical anti-inflammatory on the metatarsals
• laser treatment
• ultra-sound
• exercises - to strengthen and stretch
• soft tissue massage

She is of the opinion that if the metatarsalgia is not sorted out then the other problems will persist and also worsen. So far she is the first professional that has said that something can be done about the metatarsalgia rather than adopting the wait- and- see approach. So I am stoked. I do my exercises, slap on the anti-inflammatory gel and follow her instructions to the word. Going back for a follow-up appointment this afternoon. Can't wait. Life is great after all !!!!