Nathaniel's 4th Month

Okay okay okay... I know I haven't been writing any blogs lately. Fatherhood seems to be really sucking my time away from other things in life like ... oh ... blog writing. But, we're now on the fourth month of Nathaniel's wonderful life and although I can't say things are getting any easier, I will say they are getting more familiar to handle. I'm confident, within time, I'll be back on the blog writing scene. But for now, please enjoy this fourth month photo of Nathaniel!

Happy 4th Monthiversary Little Buddy!

My Pinoy Shop

Apparently I have a chain of gift shops here in the Philippines. I'm honored the Philippine people love me so much to open these Ken-branded gift shops but don't they know my name is trademarked? Well, I suppose I'll let this pass. No need to call in the lawyers especially considering they left out the extra N (IE: Kenn).

There's a fleet of taxi cabs here called KenKen.

Like the Ken Gift Express I think these taxis are swimming in dangerous legal waters. In both cases if either of these businesses were to slap on that additional N I'd sue their pants off. I don't want money, I just think that if you're naming a business after me you should represent me in some way. The best way to do this? I think adding a life-sized cardboard cutout of me in front of each store or in the passenger seat of every taxi should suffice. It's all about fairness!

If you look at the top right of this blog you will see a photo of a jeepney called the Kenspanker. I think, legally, I should own that too. My sales pitch would be, 'free spanking with every ride.'. Now, wouldn't that be something for the tourists to talk to their friends and family about! 'Those Filipinos are really friendly, I got a free spanking from some white Canadian guy!'

Two Monthiversary

Nathaniel turned two months old on September 5th! To celebrate this amazing day he rewarded us with one of his first smiles!


Happy second monthiversary 'Lil Buddy!

Baby's First...

Baby's first Starbucks? I guess Aimee and I are brainwashing him early about corporate greed. Drink your frappé my son, it's more nutritious than breast milk!

Obsession

I seem to have developed a minor obsession.  No, it’s nothing that requires counselling or treatment.  I’m not a danger to myself or the people around me; It’s not an addiction, just an innocent obsession.  My obsession occurred the moment I put socks onto my newborn’s feet for the first time.  I am obsessed with baby socks.  It’s an interesting obsession considering I never think twice about adult socks.  I find them rather boring.  I own black ones and I own white ones.  Nothing fancy, nothing interesting, just plain ordinary everyday socks.  Baby socks on the other hand go well beyond the world of ordinary.  Baby socks are, well to put it simply: cool.  They come in a range of awesome designs and colours.  My son Nathaniel is only two weeks old and he already owns a better socks collection than what I’ve acquired during the last five years.  I think I might be slightly jealous of the little guy and it makes me wonder why we live in a world where adults are forced to wear bland black socks to business meetings.  Even casual Fridays in offices only allow us a certain amount of flexibility when it comes to our sock choices.  The closest thing I could have to having cool socks like my son is to wear one of his socks on each of my toes.  It’s not the same as owning cool adult baby socks but I suppose it’s close enough.  Anyway, enough with this rant, here’s some photos of my son’s wild socks!

My son is cute and cuddly.  I’m being objective here.  His outfit says so therefore it’s a fact.  Never question the written word, that’s what I always say,  Even if the said written word is printed on a baby’s onesie (baby bodysuit).  You can see here his awesome socks with a happy sheep motif printed on top.  If this isn’t enough to make you feel jealous the next socks will drive you crazy…

Imagine going to a job interview wearing these monkey-inspired socks.  I bet you could royally screw up the interview and still get the job.  Giant multinational corporations love employees with good hygiene, good fashion sense, and hip monkey socks. 

Ever wake up in the morning and find yourself really confused about whether you should be wearing socks, shoes or both?  Funky Feet has solved this daily dilemma for babies by created an ingenious ‘sock’ that’s part sock, part shoe, and all fabulous.   My son is a touch too small to fit into these sock-shoes at the moment but I can tell every time he’s crying that he’s not wanting a diaper change, a feeding, or a cuddle, what he really wants are these socks.  I can’t blame you son, I want a pair of these socks too!

Fresh From the Womb

Welcome to our big, bright and exciting world Nathaniel!   Our charming little boy was born here in Manila on July 5th, 2009 @ 16:15 in the afternoon.  He entered the world screaming (as most babies do) but seemed quite happy to be free on the confines of his tiny bachelor apartment womb. 

The question people always tend to ask is, ‘who does he look like?’.  An odd question I think considering a freshly born baby looks exactly like that, a freshly born baby.  Nathaniel was wrinkled, pale white, and covered in an unappetising gloop.  His inhumanly huge testicles were a surreal neon blue colour (which thankfully turned a normal   red soon after birth).  He has lots of hair even though the gloop made him look like a Greaser from that movie Grease.  Speaking of movies, when you watch movies or television commercials and they show newborn babies THEY ARE LYING.  Newborns aren’t that pretty.  But you know, honestly, and objectively, Nathaniel from the first minute I saw him is, and always will be, the sweetest and most beautiful baby in the world.

Welcome to our lives my little prince.  I’m very excited to see what adventures our future holds together

I’m posting two pictures here:  straight after birth, and his first close up.

So, who does he look like??

The Nursery

Yeah yeah yeah, I know lately this blog has become less about the Kenniverse being Pinoy and more about our future son’s approaching birth but I promise you this blog is forever dedicated to the wacky world of the Philippines.   Just think of the baby blogs as a pleasing commercial break between the regular scheduled Pinoy programming.  This blog today is no different:  a pleasing commercial break about our baby’s nursery.  The nursery is 100% up and running!  All we need now – something that’s pretty darn important for a nursery – is a baby!  Aimee is officially full term so the baby can come at any second.  Maybe … even … NOW!  Nope, not then, false alarm … but soon I promise you.  While you’re waiting for the birth of our first child ever, please enjoy the world premier broadcast of his nursery:

 

Our son’s toybox!  If you look closely you will see Quatchi, one of the mascots of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.  I’m trying to bombard my son with as many Canadian influences as possible.  You won’t see this from these photos but there are two small Canadian flags in his room as well as a moose wearing a Canadian hockey jersey.  Whether I’m bombarding him with Canadian stereotypes or not is unimportant, all that matters is that he’s fully aware of Canada’s existence.  I’m still debating if Canada’s Nation Anthem, ‘O Canada’ will be repeated constantly in the room.  It would probably drive me nuts after a while so probably not.

 

My son’s brave and gallant steed: the Bugaboo Cameleon!  A beast of a stroller that could put most Ford 4x4 trucks to shame.  What you see here in the bassinette attachment.  It also comes with a seat attachment for when the kid gets older.  This stroller is becoming a family tradition since my niece also uses one.  Maybe when my son is old enough him and his cousin can race them!

A kid-friendly bean bag cube.  I’m sure it has thousands of uses but sitting on, kicking around, throwing, and pooping on are the only things that come to mind.  My son officially owns it now so he can do whatever he wishes with it.  If he’s anything like Daddy he will probably just end up secretly selling it off on eBay.

 

The lamp is from Italy.  The weird lizard on the left and the hot air ballooned animals on the right are from Ikea.  It must be the German blood in me that’s subconsciously brainwashing him with European products.  Since he’s also part Chinese, Aimee and I really need to throw more Chinese-related products into the nursery… Oh, wait a minute… I bet most or all of this stuff was made in China anyhow … okay, moving on…

 

Hat rack.  It came with the set.  An odd thing to add to a nursery.  Do babies wear enough hats to justify owning a hat rack?  Currently we’re using it for hanging the odd piece of clothing.  Since I took the pictures I also took the liberty of displaying the ‘Daddy Loves Me’ shirt in the front.  Because, well, it’s true:  I love my little poop machine.  I can’t wait for him to come out!

Buck & Co. was a comic strip I was developing about 15 years ago about a group of British Columbian forest creatures who run a dam building business in the forest.  Although I stopped drawing these guys when I got into the film and video industry they’re still close to my heart.  I thought it would be a nice touch to add them to the nursery.  From the left to right let me introduce Ricardo, Babberwally, Jacque (yes, he’s a French Canadian squirrel) and Buckley, the beaver who owns and operates the dam building business.  You can’t get anymore Canadian than a beaver living in British Columbia can you? 

    

 

Cute dog on the left, laundry hamper for diaper stink fun on the right.

     

Various shots of his crib and Quatchi making another appearance(Damn Quatchi always stealing the limelight). 

Bowling pin animals.  I … er, ugh, I mean our son can’t wait to play with these.

So there you have it:  our son’s room!  Hip, happening, awesome and fun!  Aimee and I can’t wait for him to arrive and share our world.  The countdown continues…

Happy Father’s Day

There are many Fathers in the world!

There’s my dad, then there’s Aimee’s dad.  The dads don’t stop there though, there’s several other dads in our collective families as well as many of our friends are dads.  Those dads are all fine and dandy but there’s one important addition to the world of dads: Mainly, ME!

I’ve never been on the receiving end of the Father’s Day celebrations.  I’ve always given the love but never gotten the love.  I couldn’t complain back then because, quite simply, I wasn’t a dad.  Only dads get treated like kings on Father’s Day.  But as of today, and every other day in the upcoming future I too, am worthy of the Daddy Day party!  I have a son.  Sure, he’s not born yet but in his tiny little womb condo he’s currently designing me an awesome little Father’s Day card.  I can see he’s a optimistic thinker because he always paints the sky blue and draws happy faces on the clouds.  I’m not quite sure how he managed to get crayons into the womb but I think it’s better if we don’t ask.  Thank you for the card son (he requested I don’t post it here.  He’s still embarrassed by his artistic abilities.  He’s overly modest, just like his Daddy).  Your daddy loves you and is looking forward to meeting you for the first time.

Here’s the latest ultrasound.  Our son at 37 weeks!

Messy Birthday

I sit here on June 1st, 2009 celebrating my 38th year on this wild and crazy planet Earth. Yes, today is my birthday. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...and how does this great land of the Philippines help me celebrate this wonderful day? By giving me food poisoning no less. Why, of all days, do I have to get food poisoning on my birthday?  I don't really ask for much on birthdays. I don't expect gifts but when gifts do happen I prefer them to be pleasurable and not something that keeps me sitting on a toilet all night.  A nice happy gift, is that too much to ask?

Dear sweet and compassionate Philippines, why do you treat me so badly?  We used to be such great friends but what happened in our friendship?   Is it something I said?   Is it something I did?   Is it something I ate... well, yeah, it's definitely something I ate; perhaps sashimi is the most likely villain here but who knows, I ate in three different places that day.

Thankfully, I'm feeling a little bit better now but we shall see what evils the Philippines has in store for me next birthday ... dropping a coconut on my head is a likely possibility.  Or maybe a salamander will bite me.  Those little creatures are constantly hanging off walls secretly spying on me.  I don't trust them, nor the coconuts!  I'm watching you coconuts, YOU HEAR ME!!  BEWARE!

(hmmm, I appear to be getting a touch insane in my old age...)

Guangzhou Safety

Subway safety is an important matter to think about and the subway system in Guangzhou, China is no different.  It’s pretty common to find the subway systems of the world plastering warning and rules signs all over the place telling you what is and what is not allowed.  The sign below from Guangzhou is pretty firm with its rules:

 

NO SMOKING

NO POISONOUS OR FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS.

NO PETS…

NO BALLOON…

…

???

Huh?  And it’s not just any balloons, it’s apparently Mickey Mouse balloons that are the real dangerous threat!  How is it possible that something as pure, happy, and exciting as a balloon can get such a bad reputation?   How did this happen?  I know from my own experience I’ve always had an issue with balloon animals but it’s not the balloons that were the issue but the clown mutating those poor balloons that frightened me.  Maybe this is Guangzhou’s reasoning: if you keep the balloons away then you keep the creepy clowns away.  Clowns are frightening; there is something unnatural about anyone forcing you to be happy.  Keep those freaky clowns off the subway, that’s what I say!  Well done Guangzhou!

God Books

What I love about traveling to other countries are those small little differences that you may not notice unless you pay close attention. A good example of this is concerning books about religion. Most hotel rooms I've stayed in only have one religion book: the Christian bible. Our first hotel room in Japan, on the other hand, had not only the New Testament bible but also The Teaching of Buddha.

So many bedtime reading choices!

After debating which one I should read I opted to read a science fiction novel. Sorry God, no offence, but I really like robots!

Little Boy Spooky

Aimee has been getting ultrasounds once every month and each of these never seem to produce a picture that actually looks like a baby.  Sure, you may see an arm here, a leg there, the top of the head, but collectively, never a whole complete image of our baby.  The ultrasound image below is no different; it's still bits and pieces of our baby but at least it's the most complete, and clear, image we've have of our baby's face so far. 

You can see his head, face and his hand/arm raising beside his cheek.  It's really hard to get a true sense of what he's actually going to look like with this image but it's still really awesome to see nonetheless.  I see he's inherited my fat baby cheeks.  If you think my cheeks at pronounced now you should have seen me as a baby. 

Ultrasounds are pretty spooky aren't they?  I've read enough science fiction to automatically think of images of babies floating in cloning tanks with I see this picture.  Ignoring my creepy imagination I guess you could say he really is floating in a cloning tank.  Instead of a tank there's a womb, and instead of being a copy of either Aimee and I he's a beautiful potpourri of both our DNA.

As the time gets closer (two more months!) I can't believe how excited I am about the whole thing.  I mean, obviously I'm excited but I'm so excited I want him out now!  Waiting two more months to see his little face seems like an eternity away.  I'm sure Aimee can add a slightly different viewpoint of the 'waiting time' since she's the one currently carrying the baby and not me.

His nursery is coming together nicely.  The crib is built as well as other secondary furniture.  The crib set came with a hat rack which still confuses me even now.  Do babies actually own enough hats and justify owning a hat rack?  I assume we can hang other clothing off of it if he ends up lacking in the hat department.  Maybe it can become a diaper rack?  I'm designing artwork for the room.  I figure with my graphic arts experience - something I've stopped developing sadly - I'm sure I can paint something a baby will appreciate.  He is, after all, my biggest fan/critic.  Once the nursery is 100% together Aimee and I will post pictures here on the blog.

Time is a ticking ... I'm totally psyched!

Where’s Johnnie?

The Walk In Kyoto, Talk In English tour been privately operated since 1996 by Mr. Hajime Hirooka, better known as Johnnie Hillwalker. He is considered one of the best tour guides in Japan, with 48 years of tour guide experience. His walk has been acclaimed worldwide as one of the most unique tours in the world. With all this positive publicity surrounding the Johnnie Hillwalker tour, Aimee and I thought taking one his tours would be the best way to start our holiday in Kyoto, Japan. Once we arrived at the meeting place we knew we were in the correct location when we saw a horde of non-Japanese people standing around looking confused. Johnnie showed up and the tour began:

If you’re thinking, ‘Wow, Johnnie looks pretty young for someone with 48 years of touring experience. What’s his secret?’ Well, the secret is simply this: this man isn’t Johnnie. We arrived on the day, the only day, that Johnnie decided to take a day off. Talk about bad timing. I mean, Johnnie has been doing this particular tour for 13 years and of all the days he decided to take off it happens to be the day, the only day, that Aimee and I are able to take the tour. Talk about the unfairness of life! After I got used to the idea of taking a Johnnie Hillwalker tour with a non-Johnnie I found the tour to be quite interesting and educational.

The tour visits:

Higashi-Honganji, the biggest Buddhist temple.

3 Shinto shrines, Ayako Tenman-gu, Ichihime shrine and Toyokuni shrine.

Shinto shrines are places of worship and the dwellings of the kami, the Shinto gods. Sacred objects of worship that represent the kami are stored in the innermost chamber of the shrine where they cannot be seen by anybody.

People visit shrines in order to pay respect to the kami or to pray for good fortune. New born babies are traditionally brought to a shrine a few days after birth, and many couples hold their wedding ceremonies there.

The purification trough is found near the entrance, the water of these fountains is used for purification (I assume you guessed that already given the name…). You are supposed to clean your hands and mouth before approaching the main hall.

Shrine visitors write their wishes on these wooden plates and then leave them at the shrine in the hope that their wishes come true. Most people wish for good health, success in business, passing entrance exams, love or wealth.

Different shrines offer ‘good fortune’ for different things in life. This particular shrine specialized in good luck charms for school kids who want to do well in their classes. If you spend 500 yen on one of these good luck charms you’re guaranteed to ace your final exams in school – well, at least that’s the theory. Aimee and I bought two good luck charms: one for the safe delivery of our baby, and another for the long and happy life for our baby. We don’t necessarily believe in good luck charms but it can’t hurt right?

Johnnie, the real Johnnie and not our replacement Johnnie, donated money to this shrine so he was given a lantern out front in his honor.

We also visited a former geisha area, Gojo rakuen which Replacement Johnnie told us, in a whisper, is now a prostitution area. REAL geisha’s still exist in Japan. Aimee and I saw a few but they’re incredibly difficult to take a picture of. Ever since that movie/book Memoirs of a Geisha Japan has had an increase of foreigners camping outside geisha houses trying to get a photograph. Because of this, all geisha now have bodyguards and personal chauffeurs who quickly pick them up and race them away before any pictures can be taken. There was even an article in the local newspaper pleading foreigners to leave the geisha alone. Man, it really makes me hate those damn tourists … but, of course, I became one those annoying tourists when I saw my first geisha. I pulled out my camera but she was super fast. She zipped passed me using her magical geisha powers and I missed out on getting a shot of her. Anyway, enough about geisha.

We visited graveyards in Renkoji and Chokodo Temples. Those long slender boards you see in the photos are, in a way, a guestbook signing of who visited the grave and when they came. Many of these boards were old suggesting no one has visited most of the graves recently. Monks visits the graveyards almost everyday but they don’t leave the boards.

The tour was good because it took us into areas normal guide books never tell you about. We went to four workshops in private homes and along back alleys where such things as Buddhist prayer beads, paper fans, tofu, paper lanterns, rope decorations, green tea containers, Japanese pastries and pottery are made.

We spent ten minutes watching these two make paper fans by hand.

It was a great tour and an awesome way to start off our Kyoto holiday. I often wonder though how different an actual Johnnie Hillwalker tour would have been. Replacement Johnnie was great but you’re always left wondering what you missed right? Below are some additional pictures I took during the tour: