For giggles & squeaks

Last night we celebrated Vivian's 4th with cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles and lots of cake!! Wish you all could have been there!!
Happy Birthday Viv!

Still no arrival - but lot's of dancing...

Caught this video of Sandra doing the baby dance to loosen the hips or as I think the kids call it "loosening the bedonk-a-donk"... Don't tell her I posted it :-)

Happy 4th Birthday Vivian !!

... while we wait for little DelPasqua, I just wanted to Shout Out a big Happy 4th Birthday !! to Vivian Fontecedro.
I hear Ms Jolie - Pitt was so in awe of our two beautiful Vivians that the couldn't resist naming her newborn Vivienne... She obviously had to add the little french twist.
Love to all, and a big Kiss to VIVI.
Kama, Fabio, Lukas and Noah

Today is not the day

As some of you may know this is Sandra's due date. Her mid-wife thinks the baby will actually not come until July 17th. I told Sandra she sounds far too comfortable for this to be the due date. Her parents are in Portland and going with her on mammoth walks though so we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

On another front, David Fransen was appointed Canadian Consul General and he and Barb will be moving to Los Angeles in September! They'll be there for four years. He'll be the senior Canadian diplomat and will be responsible for Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and I think Nevada. He's such a wonderful person and will be fantastic--and close to Kieran and Sandra and little bump.

Welcome Vivian

Well, it doesn't surprise me, but Vivian is simply gorgeous. She is so tranquil and adorable after her first meal. Good omen! Welcome to the land of copious cousins. Every time I call Vivian or hear her name, it has a pleasant ring, kind of an ecco of memories behind the sound.
I would love to see the 3rd generation Cousins party in 2027. Congratulations Brian and Tara, and a big wet kiss.

First Day

Yesterday went surprisingly well, and Vivian had a crowd of family and friends to welcome her to the world. I'm off to the hospital now. Tara is doing well.

Here's some more photos.

Vivian Margaret Murphy

Vivian Margaret was born today at 2:22 p.m. She's beautiful! She weighed in at 7 lbs, 7 ozs and is 19 1/2 inches long. Both she and Tara are doing well.

I'm sure that many more pictures will follow...

Drumroll, please...

My crew and I will be going to Methodist Hospital this afternoon to meet my little niece. Mimi and Pop are already there. The big news is coming soon!

Merry Canada Day everyone

I found this quote from John Stewart that sums up the Canadian/American ex-pat experience fairly well :-)

So this woman asks me, "What do Americans think of us Canadians?"

"Um, we don't. And until we run out natural resources, you guys are pretty safe. *KNOCK KNOCK* Canada, hey, how's it goin'? Um, we're out of wood. Get out."

But just to be fair it is always fun to get the Canadian perspective as well:


Finally if you are looking to brush up on your French check out this video.

Video embedding tutorial

This is a good explanation of how to post Youtube videos (it also works for other video sources).

This is also probably a good time to talk about uploading videos to Youtube. Its free. You just need to create an account. They are associated with (or owned by) google, so your gmail account may work best here.

Once you set up an account, uploading video is pretty easy. They accept most file formats, though there are limitations on size (no bigger than 100mb, no longer than 10 minutes? i'm guessing). And there's plenty of help pages.