My first father's day...

Well my first father's day has come and gone.

I realize that Natasha has changed my life, and more specifically changed me more than I ever could have dreamed before she was born.

Sure, some people think I'm over protective and neurotic - but that's MY LITTLE GIRL there. She depends on Sarah and I to take care of her. I'd rather fail on the side of caution right now.

Not that I'm totally uptight, but I have been hearing some of the things coming out of my mouth and wondering who said them.

I would literally do anything for you Natasha. I love you so much. You've made this the best father's day ever.

The sickness from hell

Some of you heard this story first hand.... I wasn't going to blog it, but since my buddy Darkside gave his own account on his site, I figured i'd entertain you with my misfortune.

Go to Chronicology to read the story of how I got everybody sicker than a dog at the start of the month.

Video: How big is Natasha?

Sarah has been playing this game with Tasha for months and now she is responding. "How big is Natasha?" (The correct answer is hands in the air accompanied by "Soooooo Big!"). Well, Tasha now responds on her own - and she seems to think it's hilarious!

Video: Tasha playing catch with Mommy

Introducing Coca-Cola's newest spokesmodel

So Tasha has this new thing... anything Mommy or Daddy are drinking is the coolest thing in the world, and she MUST have it. Glass of milk, Gatorade, water ... whatever. On this occassion, it was my 2L bottle of Coke Zero. I put the bottle down and watched Tash crawl across the room, laughin her butt off and giggling when she finally got her hands on it. Don't worry grandmoms, I capped that top so hard, you'd need the Jaws Of Life to get it off.

There are also a ton of new pics on the Shutterfly gallery. Check the May 2006 folder for updates and the new June 2006 section.

Happy Birthday Di

So today is my little sister's birthday. 28 years old. Close to 30..... very close. 30 Diane. Thirty! Sure, I already hit 30, but men age more gracefully than women. I'm sure you'll be fine though. Better enjoy the next two years just in case though.

Ok, so even though you can annoy the hell out of me - and even though we can piss each other off better than anyone else, I have still appreciate having you around for 28 years. Thanks for being a great aunt and a supporting member of my new family.

Just quit acting like you know it all - booger face.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Happy birthday to the love of my life. It's my wonderful wife's birthday today! Everyone who reads this should call the house and say HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!

I love you so much. We've had quite a ride together over the last eight years. We've both grown, learned, and matured (well I did anyway - you were already mature. Hmm, maybe I haven't matured all that much! A little anyway...).

I'm thrilled to have you as my partner and the mother of my beautiful baby girl. Thank you for giving meaning and purpose to everythind I do.

Love Donnie

What's that in your mouth Tasha?

It's a tooth!

My baby girl has a tooth! No i don't have any pics of the pearly white nub yet, because she barely lets us see it at all. It's on the bottom, near the front. Sarah seems to think there may actually be two, but I haven't seen two - so consider this an uncomfirmed report.

New pics posted!

Ok Baba Lex... get off my back! New pics have been posted on shutterfly. Just click on the May 2006 album. There are some great shots of Tasha in Salem, hanging out with cousin Andre. Also pics of her with her best bud Kaylen, and a couple snaps I grabbed tonight of her playing with a toy that Charlie and Alex gave her for her baptism.
She's been crawling, rolling and working to stand a lot lately. This toy is great! It gives her something to hold onto, and lets her pull herself up, then plays music and flashes lights when she succeeds. She loves it.

Another Tasha video! In the car...

Just a cute little video of Tasha in the backseat of the car playing with her teether. Sarah picked up the camera because at one point, Tasha was just staring out the window and casually twirling the spinner on her toy with one finger. It looked pretty grown up. Of course, once the cam comes out all natural behaviour stops and she hams it up. Just like her daddy.

Happy Birthday Mom

Just a quick note to say Happy Birthday to that fine human being that brought me into the world. My mommy.

I love you mom.

Happy 94th!

Mmmmm Cheerios!

Apparently, while she was in Salem, Natasha developed a taste for whole grain Cheerios! Now she's going nuts for the things! Sarah shot a video for me of my little angel enjoyin' those little o's.

My girls are gone!

This morning, at about 6:30 my girls left for Salem, Mass.

Sarah and Natasha (along with Carolynn and Baba Lex) have gone down (by car) to spend some time with the Loretta, Randy, Andre and Khira. This will be Sarah's last and Tasha's only chance to see the house on Salem, before the whole clam moves to Kingston this summer. I know Sarah was looking forward to the trip and I really want them to have a good time. They're going to be gone until the 7th of May. Eight days.

Eight days.

Eight days?

EIGHT DAYS!


I've never been apart from Tasha more than twelve hours. This is going to be very, very challenging.

Before they left this morning, Sarah put Tasha in bed with me. She immediately snuggled up and stared at me with a very calm face. She took her hand and started gently stroking my forehead and cheeks, in a very soothing fashion. "Don't worry Daddy", is what I imagine she was saying.

So my eight month old princess and my queen are off on an adventure. Have fun girls. I'll be thinking about you - constantly.

Video of Talkin' Tasha

Here is some video that Sarah shot this month during one of her trips to the Zoo with Natasha. You can see and hear that she just loves to babble.

For those of you trying to keep track, Natasha did in fact turn EIGHT MONTHS OLD on Tuesday April 25th. Unbelievable how fast the past eight months have just flown by.

Not a day goes by that Sarah and I don't ask "How did we get so lucky?"

Marsden dead at 69

Earlier today, one of my former colleagues at the FAN 590, and a Canadian broadcasting legend Pat Marsden lost his long battle with cancer.

Marsden, best known on the national scale for being the voice of the CFL for so many years was a guy who could tell a terrible story and make it compelling.

I interacted with Pat a lot during my days at The Fan when I was working overnights and Pat was co-hosting the morning show with John Davidson.

He'd look at me and say in his snarly voice, "You still work here? I thought I told Millman [program director] to fire your ass". The first time he said that I panicked a little. 'What did I do to piss off Marsden?'

When he used that same line for the next couple months in lieu of "hello" I realized that this man was all about getting in a good rib.

One story I'll never forget.... in the early 80's, Marsden was out in Edmonton for a CFL game. Pat was never one for political correctness, and got himself thrown in jail for comments he made on the air. This was on a Friday night. He was bailed out by Ron Lancaster. Three days later he was working an Ottawa Roughrider game, and got thrown in jail again! This time he was bailed out by Brian Mulroney.

He was a one of a kind, and a true original in an industry that fosters so many imitators. Thank you Pat.

Marsden was 69. He is survived by his wife T.A., daughter Taylor, Connor, and children Mike, Patti-Lee, and Ruth Mary, from his first marriage.

School's done!

I did it - I wrote my English Lit exam tonight, ending my first year back at school. I was terrified going into the exam, but I think I did pretty damn well.

I got my essays back that I handed in and got A- on all of them.

I told Sarah tonight how grateful I am to her for basically forcing me to go back to school. I knew I wanted to, but didn't have the confidence to think I could succeed. I feel so much better about myself and my future plans in education.

Thank you sweetheart.

Ding Dong Quinn is Gone!

What a great day! I wake up this morning and tune into the radio to hear that Pat Quinn has finally been fired. The highest paid coach in the NHL who has never won a damn thing (other than that gold at the Olympics four years ago) has finally been let go. Unfortunately, the man who canned him, Leaf GM John Ferguson Jr, still has a gig - but one step at a time.

I've heard fans defend Quinn for years - and never understood it. Tell me, what sort of systems do Quinn teams employ? What young player has he ever developed into a star? Do you know that Quinn's practices NEVER consist of special teams work, power play options or anything else that most teams have had success doing?


Quinn is a 63 year old dinosaur. He's one of the good ol' boys of the NHL who refuses to adapt and grow with the game. The game changed this year. Quinn did not.

Did you know Matts Sundin, one of the top players on Earth, has been saddled with the same amount of ice time as many 3rd and 4th line players on other decent teams. WHY? Quinn believes in rolling four lines and playing everyone equally. How the hell would that have worked 13 years ago if Pat Burns had played Gilmour the same amount he was playing Eastwood. I'll tell you one thing, we wouldn't have gone to the final four twice.

This now opens the door for Paul Maurice, who has been coaching the Toronto Marlies this season. Maurice took the Hurricanes to the Cup Finals a few seasons ago and has a great eye for the new NHL. He understands how to develop talent, he's media friendly and a tactitican in the mold of a Scotty Bowman or Ken Hitchcock.

See ya Patty, it's been real and it's been fun, but it ain't been real fun!

Talkin up a storm...

So apparently Natasha's new favourite things to do are to show off her lungs and yelling out insightful bits of baby musings like, "baa baa", "bla bla", "da da" or just "yaaaaaaaah!".

I won't lie, i'm partial to "Da Da". I have a video on the computer that Sarah shot last week. I'll upload it in the next day or so for you all to enjoy.

She's growing up so fast. She tried pulling herself up the other day in her crib by hanging onto the side.

I updated the April 2006 folder on Shutterfly, so go check out the new pictures!

Thanks to everyone who gave Tasha an Easter gift. It REALLY wasn't necessary but it is appreciated.

Well, I should get back to studying...

Tasha's first Jays Game

On Saturday, Natasha got to see her favourite baseball team up close in personal. My dad, Humberto, Serene and Lucas and came with Sarah, Natasha and myself to the Rogers Centre to take in the fun.

We got great seats too. Fourth row, section 114 on the first base side. Awesome seats. How close were we? I heard parts of the conversation between the guys standing at first base!

How close were we? Kids at my school came up to me today saying they saw me on TV holding my baby.

We had an awesome time... The only down sides were when the Jays were scored on after a misplayed ball, and when Zaun knocked a homerun out of the park ... At those points the park got a little too loud all at once and Tasha yelled right back. Not a 'i'm chipping in' yell - but more of a "everyone shutup now" noise.

I think it'll be a while before she heads back down to the dome... but in the meantime, she has her little Jays cap that matches daddy's, and she can park right next to me on the couch and take in as many games as she likes.

It's baseball season...

With my best Jerry Howarth voice, "The Blue Jays are in flight" having opened their season on Tuesday and taking two out of three from the Twins.

Natasha is getting into the spirit of baseball season, as you can see here rockin' her pink Blue Jays merchandise that was a gift from her Uncle Dan-e-o when she was just a couple weeks old!

Upon donning the pink pin stripes, my future athlete grabbed the nearest pink hardball and showed daddy her split-finger and circle-change grips. I was pretty impressed but told her to stick to fastballs until she's a little older to avoid injury.

You'll also be happy to know that there are more pics of Tasha in her baseball gear, and pics of her with Uncle Dan-e-o on the ShutterFly site.