03 Jul 08 …And Baby Makes Five!

Dave and I are proud to announce that we are expecting our third baby girl in December. Merry Christmas!

Marley and Nicole are looking forward to having a baby sister and we’re thrilled our family is growing.

The thought of being outnumbered by kids is a little daunting for me and Dave, though. Once we started thinking about it (yes, I know, it’s too late for thinking now…), we realized that becoming a family of five sure changes a lot of things.

Here are a couple of examples:

Travel – with three kids in car seats, we will now have to use two cabs to get us to and from the airport, unless we’re lucky enough to find one of the elusive NYC yellowcab minivans.

This brings me to a car of our own. When we move back to Toronto, we’ll need to buy a car. When I was twentysomething and carefree, I swore I’d never own a “dad car” or minivan. Those days are over, my friends. All I can say is that I’m glad we’ve done our part for the environment these past couple of years by not owning a car, because we’re heading down the road to gas-guzzling, carbon footprint town. We are looking at all hybrid options and hope the car companies will be offering more choices soon.

Another reality with having three girls is the need for washroom space. We’re planning to renovate our Toronto house and my first words to Dave when we found out we’re having a girl were “Now we definitely need a master bath.” My mom will tell you stories of how she grew up near the Danforth with her sister and 4 brothers and they only had one tiny washroom. I believe her it works, but I’m not up for finding out for myself. My mom didn’t live with a clothes-horse husband or a four-year-old who’s already obsessed with dresses, ponytails and lip balm. One or two extra washrooms will add years to my life.

Of course, these are all minor, logistical issues that I’m sure we’ll tackle effectively. A growing family is a wonderful thing. We can’t wait!

15 Jun 08 A haircut can change it all

One thing that’s really struck me lately is how quickly kids learn. As I was having a full-length, adult-like conversation with Marley today, I suddenly realized (with awe) that she’s learned how to talk so well just from listening to others. She can write her name. She’s phoneticizing words. She’s “reading” books. All in just under 4 years. Everyone says that your kids grow up quickly and they’re right.

As Nicole’s grown, I’ve learned to not take the speed of growth for granted. At almost two, Nicole is finally crawling on all fours. She is also just pulling herself up to standing. What I’ve taught myself is to be patient and have faith that she will achieve everything she needs to, eventually.

Then we got her haircut.

In a matter of minutes, her face, and the way I perceive her, transformed. She no longer looks like a baby. And then I realized that while things take a little longer with her, she’s growing up at a crazy speed, too. She’s mastered many sign language words, she says “I got” when she picks something up, she can point to trees, noses, babies and other things when asked. Tonight, while using her hands to say “all done” at dinner, she actually said it out loud. Several times. Like any two-year-old, we may be the only ones who understand her, but for now, that’s all that matters.

07 May 08 Funny face

We have a comedian on our hands. Marley’s Aunt Angela was visiting last weekend and we took her out for a birthday dinner. Marley’s gift? A funny face.

Tags: funny face, Marley, silly, Video

06 May 08 So many bloggable moments

Considering what Dave does for a living, we don’t update our blog as often as we should. I have to confess that this is mostly my problem. While I’m the one with more spare time, I have a strange neurosis when it comes to sharing my thoughts in written form. I’ve always loved writing, but even when I did it as a career, I hoarded my pieces until the last possible minute, unable to let them be read by others for fear that they weren’t perfect enough, or witty enough, or grammatically correct. Due to this craziness, so many bloggable moments pass us by without being shared with you. So, I thought I’d share a few of our most recent adventures with you today.

• Dave and I recently spent an evening at a star-studded fundraiser for the New York City Food Bank. It was tons of fun. There were too many stars there to mention, but the highlights for me were meeting Michael Stipe from REM, seeing several celebrity chefs, meeting Gwyneth Paltrow’s mom, Blythe Danner, and taking a photo with Tom Colicchio of Bravo tv’s Top Chef. We’ll post photos soon.

• Speaking of celebrity, the New York lifestyle must be rubbing off on us. The other day, as Nicole and I were walking in our neighbourhood, Nicole was stalked by the paparazzi. OK, it was just one guy with a wide-lens camera, but he snapped several photos of her, even as we continued moving, until he looked up and saw me. I guess one of the local celebrity moms must have been shopping in a store nearby. Once he realized who we were (or weren’t), he stepped back into his hiding spot and continued talking to his friend.

• Last week, while attending a Verve concert in a theatre inside Madison Square Garden, we were able to sneak into one of the Rangers’ last playoff games. We only saw the first few minutes of the second period, but it was pretty fun to be there. As we all know, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a live playoff game. Maybe next year.

• With the demise of the last standing Canadian hockey team in this year’s playoffs, I’ve been reminiscing about what it means to be a Canadian hockey fan. We saw a handful of Devils and Rangers games this season and at the most recent Devils game, I spent much of my time observing a pre-teen girl sitting in front of us. She was proudly wearing her Jersey colours and had a contagious passion for the game. She reminded me of my younger self, who was lucky enough to attend Maple Leaf games almost every Saturday. This girl’s passion and knowledge of the game made me realize that being a Maple Leaf fan is a part of who I am, as crazy as that sounds. And I’m not the only one. There are millions of Maple Leaf fans out there whose passion alone should be enough to catapult the team to the top. Alas, we must dig deep to find the patience to match the passion. Someone, please, please tell me, when will it happen?

Ciao for now.

22 Apr 08 The Bradfields are getting greener

As if we don’t have enough on our plates, we’ve added more.

Today, Earth Day 2008, we have launched the start of a new blog called greener. We’re definitely conscious of our impact on the environment. Our kids deserve a livable planet. So what spurred this new blog. Well, there were several things, but the biggest is some improvements we want to make to our house in Toronto. We have time. We’re in the research stage. Greener is a platform for us to share our thoughts and experiences in trying to make our home a bit more efficient and ecologically responsible. We’ll also use the blog to explore and explain different environmental issues that matter to us.

Stay tuned and subscribe to our updates. It should be fun.