Father's Day

Reception for the NICU (preemie ward) at BC Children's Hospital.

I had planned to do this for my birthday, but Eliza advised against it as she said traffic was horrendous, so I left it until today. It was most appropriate to do on Father's Day, so it was like a birthday thing for me and a Father's Day thing for Allan. I brought a pot of yellow begonias, a 'Thank You' balloon, and some cinnamon buns to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) of the BC Children's Hospital, where the twins were born on February 3.

Twins, almost 4 weeks
Twins, week 3
I Meet the EdTwins

Photo of the twins for the hospitals.

Megan and Maribeth were born about six weeks premature and Maribeth was less than 3lbs at birth. The babies spent about a month at BC Children's Hospital in incubators before they were moved to Royal Columbian, which is a lot closer to where Allan and Cheryl live, then were discharged around the middle of March or so... I thought it would be nice to take something to BC Children's Hospital for the nurses, so I included the babies' birth photos in their incubators with their delivery stats, and this photo of them at four months old, so the nurses could see how well they're doing. If you compare this with the photos of the twins in their first month, it's quite amazing how much they've grown. Maribeth was so tiny and fragile she didn't even look like a baby.

Michael attacking his plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, two of the older Edwin kidlets were driving their father crazy. It being Father's Day, I decided to take them all out for a meal, so as to leave the kitchen in a temporary state of preservation for the busy day ahead. We drove to New Westminster to try to find our own father, who was attending a BIBAK (Filipino cultural group) picnic, but we couldn't find him, so carried on to The Old Spaghetti Factory to feed the youngin's. While The Old Spaghetti Factory isn't really my flavour, restaurant-wise, it's great to bring kids there as an alternative to fast food chains. Michael took advantage of this, flinging spaghetti everywhere and making a real nuisance of himself. I always tip a little more at these restaurants as extra cleanup is guaranteed after we're through.

Madeleine showing her best table manners.

Miss Madeleine herself was pretty raucous, and, as you can see here, has no sense of decorum when it comes to eating. Out of the three older siblings, Madeleine fairly consistently makes the biggest mess of all, except for today, when Michael's rambunctiousness took over and spattered everything with spaghetti sauce, including me.