The Summer of Jimmy

The Summer of Jimmy has only a few weeks left before the leaves start changing colour and the air a bit cooler. Speaking of change – Ellis is developing wonderfully and man is he one happy kid. What other human wakes up from both naps and a evening sleep and is happy – seriously and genuinely happy. Most days when Jimmy awakes he is happy to coo and smile before someone picks him up.

Quite a while since we last checked in and since then we have been to Calgary – way to go Mommy for a great defense and congratulations on your PHD. We were in Banff /Lake Louis when we watched in shock the Mighty Fed lost a two-set lead to JWS in the Wimby quarter-finals, but we tried to put that disappointment behind us and enjoyed the mountains anyway. Great thanks to the Kid for his hospitality and great fun to play “pass the Jimmy” with all of our Calgary friends.

The summer of Jimmy has also been about standing up (assisted) rolling over, tummy time, grabbing toys and yes sleeping through the night. The past couple of weeks Mom and Ellis have been at the cottage to enjoy lake and the outdoors and we look forward to spending labour day with the cousins at the cottage.

Enjoy a few pictures of Ellis
Ellis is Out!

Bobble-Head Jimmy

Cooing, smiling assisted standing, a few giggles and an all round happy Jimmy. He is one long dude and is at his happiest when sitting grabs holds of your hands and stands up. So proud of himself.

Most impressive is his graduation from bobble head Jimmy to oooh look at me “I can hold my head still” Nice development Ellis.

Happy father’s day to all and on this first father’s day it is business as usual around this joint and a nice excuse to watch some golf. Oh Rory don’t be a wank and close this out – plus we are hosting a few families for a BBQ this evening.
Big week ahead as we depart for Calgary Wed and stay until the 30th, Sarah is defending her thesis Friday 9:30 local time and we are all pretty jazzed for this epic event. I do hope that she does not take my advice of the best defense is better offense – when they start asking questions you gotta topsy turvy and start asking them questions” nice tactic although not quite sure it is the right venue or audience. Would be fun though!!

Enjoy some pictures of Jimmy being Jimmy
PS. Wimbledon Starts Monday morning at 7:00 on TSN – GO RF!

Ellis is OUT!

Jimmy in full flight

Well folks it’s been a while since the latest Jimmy Files update – 7 plus weeks for old Jimmy and boy is he progressing quite well. Seems to be a bit of a morning person – cooing, talkin, smiling and at times all limbs in full frantic motion; next up for Jimmy is to make us coffee so we can sit back relax and watch Live Roland Garros on the TV.

Day 5 and final day in Thunder Bay today – great to introduce Ellis to his cousins, Uncle Pat, grandpa, and friends. Lots of good visits with friends and family where we get to play our favorite game “pass the Jimmy” the rules are simple – watch his neck, you can hold him, cuddle him, and pass him off to the next participant as long as mommy is nearby. There are no winners or losers in “pass the jimmy” just a few spit up on shirts, pants and furniture.

Jimmy’s first flight was uneventful and he passed with flying colours (pun intended) at one moment Ellis was screaming his face off in dads arms on an aisle seat and he dad on his Bose noise cancelling headphones, there was an empty seat between he and mom, mom was also enjoying the sweet sound of iPhone plugged into Bose headphones - I am sure a sight for other travelers to see dad chilling, mom chilling and number one screaming his face off – their impression I sure was that we either had it under control or were preparing for screaming baby combat – good to keep them guessing and to always be prepared for the worst . We all survivied without a Westjet lifetime ban but still need to find our way home.

p.s. enjoy the picture of Ellis at his first baseball game - jays beat red-sox - dad drinks beer, mom enjoys being out of the house.

pps also mastering the iPad

Ellis is out!

The Royal Jimmy

Greetings to the Jimmy Nation - friends, family, family friends, onlookers, bloggers, and hobbyist.

Sorry for the delay life just moves too fast with the new one around; well not really fast and at times barely moving – does the move Ground Hog day ring a bell – especially for Sarah who delivers a minimum 7 meals a day.

Since the last update we have been on a world tour with Jimmy, his grandma Pam was here, now grandma Sheri is in town, we went to Gregor and Shelagh's for a BBQ, met the chief, road trip to Skinny’s in P-Town (thanks for the afternoon Heinekens – dad is forever grateful) pre-Easter dinner at Megan’s, Easter dinner at Dave’s aunt and uncle Jim n Judy –see photo of a very proud great Aunt Judy, and dinner at Swatow with Dave’s cousin Dave and gal Pam.

The Jimmy update – the little pork chop is over 12 lbs – duh! Who wouldn’t put weight on eating 7 plus meals a day! He sleeps, he cries, he eats and he couldn’t be more fun to be around. Let the record show that young Ellis was up and watched the royal wedding, he and Prince Philip defied the British bookies and stayed awake through the entire ceremony. Let the record also show that at 29 days Ellis has a better head of hair than the future King.

Enjoy the photos and video and we will see many of you at the Jimmy Event next week.

Fortnight

Two weeks today Ellis join us and while he is a gem, packing on the weight, sleeping, alert and very advanced. (we think he is 21 days in his development) our life in two weeks has simplified to one key component – SLEEP.

All we hear and have heard for 9 months is “are you getting any sleep” sleeping much” “oh you are going to be sleep deprived” “ready for the 90 days of hell” “you have no idea what is about to happen” “you look terrible” etc….

No more how are you, no more small talk, no weather conversations it is just all about the sleep. For the record we are doing fine and some in the house are getting more sleep than others. Guess who the sleep king is?

Big weekend ahead as we are off to Pickering for a visit with Skinny and his family – Ellis’ first road trip.

Ellis is OUT!

Masters Sunday

Dim Sum, done Son – Jimmy slept though the dumpling clinic (see previous post), then we went grocery shopping still sleeping, we watched the Masters he slept through most if it – including the Tiger Woods post round interview – what a grade A jerk – I wouldn’t even let him tie Roger Federer’s shoes – at the end of the interview Tiger says “I gotta go eat something” what……. you never played a round of golf before and forgot to pack a banana, a sandwich or a snickers bar? – hey Tiger go eat some humble pie!!!!– I am pretty convinced that in the life and times of Ellis he will never see you win a Masters. Sucka.

Hope you enjoy the picture of our cool cat Ellis and just so you know Sarah and I decided to keep him! Our 10 day trial was up and we thought WHY NOT! Wish us luck.

Ellis is OUT!

Week One

One week ago today old Ellis was brought into the world. Well done son.

Quite a week for Ellis, his first taste of baseball on TV with the late night voice of dodger great Vin Scully, his first and second dinner parties, visits with the cousins, Grandma (Sarah’s mom) in town, and of course his very own RF gear.

Ellis is the proud owner of several Roger Federer monogrammed “onesies”

The only real drama this week was his first visit to see the doctor of which the good doctors response is exactly how I called it and the same response Sam Malone told the bar at cheers when asked how was his physical and what did the Dr. say Sammy --- WOW!!! (Tried to find the youtube clip to embed in the blog for comedic reference but just got stuck watching “Charlie bit my finger”)

Certainly pleased to have a healthy - happy baby and appreciate all the good wishes – cheers

The big weekend activity for us to hit Dim Sum and to hit Dim Sum Hard– never too early to introduce young Jimmy to a dumpling clinic - his folks about throw down. Ellis is OUT!

Its a NEW day - Its his FIRST day

Welcome to the new blog about the life, the arrival, and the impact of one Ellis Carnegie St. James or “Jimmy” as he has been know throughout the wonderful and seamless pregnancy.

Now I love the name Jimmy and love the flow and ease of Jimmy St James - I just feel that is a kid you want to sit beside on a school bus, take a class trip with, be your college roommate, and who is a confident and accomplished businessman, musician, artist, athlete, teacher or whatever the fine Jimmy finds himself doing passionately in life.

But Sarah is not fond of Jimmy for a child, young man or adult and is likely correct in her belief that jimmy is a better name for the family dog (in our future) so we settled on Ellis; we liked it as a boy or girl – once we heard the name we loved it and I have now connected it to Ellis Valentine of the 1970 Expos who’s number 17 jersey I wore as a little leaguer for the Port Arthur Continentals and also the patriarch to the Marsalis family of jazz greats – Ellis Marsalis. Jimmy arrive at 1:36 March 31st after an 8 hour labour of courage and determination from Sarah; she is the Bjorn Borg of birthing – endurance, grace, class and a champions heart. Quite an overwhelming experience to have a great team of mid-wives, Shelagh, a student nurse and a few doctors for good measure to assist Sarah in welcoming Jimmy to “the big big world” as our friend Wyatt Guy eloquently stated yesterday.

Ellis is a fine cool cat that has all the strong vitals at this early stage – good colour, good plumbing and has taken to mothers milk (although not quite milk yet) like dad to a Heineken at the Australian Open – so natural.

Ellis says OUT!