Leo's first road trip

By K.J. Cardinal

The insanity that is our lives these days yielded Leo's first road trip last week and without a doubt he proved to be an unbelievably portable baby.

Over the course of six days, we traveled over 1400 miles, visited four states and stayed in four different hotels... and the little guy didn't miss a beat the entire time.

We left Hudson on Friday morning for Rochester, N.Y. A friend of mine, Jeremy Friel, was getting married on Saturday and I was the wedding videographer. Having to stop every three hours or so to feed Leo, we ended up being rather pressed for time for me to make the rehearsal. Thankfully we made it with a few minutes to spare.

The rehearsal was straight forward and didn't take too long, and then we were off to find a little local flavor for dinner. We ended up stumbling across this cool spot right on Lake Ontario, The Pelican's Nest. Anna was in such an awesome mood that she really stole the show at the entire restaurant.

At 9 p.m. a local cover band was set to play, so near the end of dinner they started their sound check. Anna was so into it. All she wanted to do was cover her ears with both hands and stand there and stare at the band. It reminded me of how she is with fireworks... you're not sure if she likes it, but then once they'd stop, she'd beg for more. It was hilarious.

Saturday was pretty much all about the wedding for me, while Angie took the kiddos to the pool at our second hotel of the trip. The wedding was great and it was fun to get to spend time with the entire Friel clan... New Hampshire's finest.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel with the other wedding guests. After a great breakfast, we hit the road without a plan. Those of you who know Angie and I, know that we often have the most fun when we don't have a plan... kind of like on our honeymoon when we ended up staying a night in the guest bedroom at a winemaker's house in the middle of his family vineyard in Sonoma... but I digress. Well, this wasn't quite that good, but it was still a blast.

First up, we were cruising on the highway, about to blow through Buffalo, N.Y., when I said, to Angie, "Google 'the birthplace of buffalo wings' and see what restaurant comes up." Sure enough, the first result was the Anchor Bar... so off we went.

This place was a combination of dive bar and hole in the wall... definitely right up our alley. We obviously ordered wings, which were very good... nothing earth-shattering about the wings, but tasty.

After lunch, it was back on the road again, with our destination this time being Erie, Pa. While we were at lunch, I was searching for things to do in the area and found out that the Erie County (N.Y.) Fair was ending that night.

So, Angie threw Leo in her little baby sling, we woke Anna up from her nap and put her in the stroller and off to the fair we went. Angie was once again a super good girl and was all excited to try out some of the awesome fair rides.

We quickly realized that Anna is probably at the worst age for these fair rides... too short for the rides she wants to go on and too big for the baby rides. Once she laid her eyes on the Super Slide though, that's what she wanted to do. Luckily for us, the attendant of the ride didn't bother checking Anna's height, so we snuck in and up the stairs we went.

Anna was a jabberjaws the whole way up the stairs and was visible ecstatic to go down the slide. We sat next to each other and down we went. We were about half way down, when Anna's momentum got the best of her and she banged her head on the slide pretty hard... Angie got this picture which is actually kind of funny (knowing that Anna is OK) because this is the exact moment when she fell back and smacked her head.

I knew that Anna was more scared than hurt, but she was actually pretty shooken up by the whole incident. So, I diverted her attention by pointing out the huge bouncy house obstacle course ride they had. This seemed like a good idea, but nearly turned into a huge disaster for her.


To make a long story short, she couldn't make it through the obstacle course, so the ride attendant (donning a sick mullet) helped her out of the bouncy house just a minute into going through the five minute course. Anna didn't realize that she missed out on nearly the entire ride and was eager to get in line for another ride, when over her shoulder, I saw the bouncy house attendant hollering for help because the bouncy house lost its air and was collapsing down on kids.

Thank God Anna got off that ride before that happened because she definitely would've been trapped in there. And, while she probably wouldn't have been hurt, she may have been scarred for life by fair rides after her Super Slide incident too.

Anyway, we capped our day at the fair by checking out the Stunt Dogs show. This was BY FAR Anna's favorite thing of the day... I know, shocking it was better than the near concussion or entrapment of the fair rides. But, this was actually really cool.

These dogs were  up on this small stage... probably 30' x 30'... and doing all sorts of tricks. The final trick of the show was a contest between two of the dogs to see who could jump higher. Amazingly, one of the dogs cleared 62"... I was floored to see this and as you can see, Anna was too...

We left the fair around 10 p.m. and headed to Erie. The second half of the trip wasn't nearly as good as the first half.

In a word, Erie, Pennsylvania is depressing. We checked out Presque Isle State Park, which had potential, but it was rainy and windy, so we couldn't take advantage of the dozen or so beaches and ponds. We drove around for two hours trying to find a good spot to eat and ended up settling on a chain restaurant across the street from our hotel. Pretty sad.

On Tuesday, we got up and headed to Moon Township, Pa. for a training session I had scheduled at Robert Morris University. We were able to squeeze in a lunch at this cool cafe in Sewickley and hit up an old-school candy store for Anna.

We capped off the trip by driving til about midnight and crashing at a hotel just outside of Scranton.

As you can see, there was a lot going on and the trip was a blast. Angie proved once again why I married her as she was such a trooper with the kids while I had to work and agreeing to the crazy road trip in the first place. I wasn't looking forward to being away from my family for six days straight, so we turned that potential negative into a huge positive and had a blast.

I can't believe that the new athletic season is here already. The summer went by like a blur, but at least we got to cap it off with a solid road trip.

Best Friends Are We, My Sister and Me

By Katie Lou Cardinal

I know this blog was set up to talk about the adorable little kiddos of the Cardinal family, but I just had to post because I'm SO EXCITED for Sunday. No folks, I'm not spending the day with Keith Urban, but with the amazing, beautiful, intelligent.....TIFFANY GEORGE! On Sunday I got a call from Tiffany asking if I was doing anything this coming Sunday. Fortunately, Sunday is my day off from ALL jobs, so Tiffany and I are spending a day together...AT FOXWOODS! You may ask yourself, could this get any better?!?! YES...We are going to CIRQUE DREAMS JUNGLE FANTASY!!! The plan is to leave New Hampshire at some point on Sunday morning, travel down to the Foxwoods area where we will check into our hotel and take the shuttle to Foxwoods to *hopefully* win some mula and drink our faces off (...well, I will at least). At 7pm we will attend the awesome new Cirque show (that I've been wanting to see for years) and have a wonderful night with just the two of us. I know to a lot of people this seems like just a fun little trip for two sisters, but really it's so much more. Obviously I love my nieces and nephews SO much, but it's always so much fun to just spend time with your sibling. I'm so excited and so grateful that Tiffany asked me to join her on this awesome adventure. I can't wait! LOVE YOU SISTER!

The Cardinal Blog turns three

By K.J. Cardinal

It's hard to believe, but three years ago today, The Cardinal Blog was born.

What started off as a way of keeping my mother up-to-date on all things related to her soon-to-be granddaughter has really evolved into one of the greatest creations of my life... second only to my children, of course... which without whom would make this blog rather boring.

Over the course of three years, I've blogged about pretty much everything from being a work-at-home dad to watching my favorite team capture an NBA title. And, it continually amazes me how many people are paying attention.

Not a week goes by when I don't run into someone that is mentioning the blog. When I decided to do a running diary of Angie's induction day for the birth of Leo, the blog had nearly 1,000 hits for the big event. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or frightened.

Either way, the blog is clearly here to stay. And, even though my posts are more sporadic these days with an increased work-load, I'm proud that I've managed to get up nearly 400 posts over three years.

The two motivating factors that drive me to do the blog are my mom and my children. My mother is so appreciative of the time I put in, that it makes it all worth it. And, my kids someday will look back at the blog and think one of two things... "I'm so lucky my dad stuck with this blog to chronicle my life" or, "Wow, my dad's a total nerd." A combination of the two is probably most likely.

Anyway, thanks for reading and continue to enjoy the show.

Child labor

By K.J. Cardinal

Just over six weeks old and Leo's primed to be the next Pack Network employee... thanks to this awesome onesie that Norm got the little guy.

One thing I can promise, he's going to be an awfully cute nerd... Leo... not Norm.

Leo meets the Lords

By K.J. Cardinal

Yesterday Leo got to meet one of my all-time favorite families... the Lords. Bill, Kathy, Ethan and Kaeleigh were in the area for a hockey equipment sale and we parlayed that into a day of hanging out at our house.

We had a blast as it was really a love-fest all around.

Ethan took to Leo, kind of like how I took to Ethan when he was a little kid. The age difference is about the same, so it's a good comparison. On several occasions Ethan tried to talk Bill and Kathy into having another little one, but I don't think he'll have much luck there :)

It was so great to hang out with Bill and to get to see him with Leo. The males in our family all have a great way with kids where they gravitate to kids and vice versa... so we were all in our glory.

Not only did Leo and Bill get some good time together, but by the end of the night, Anna was sitting on Bill's lap and gave him a big kiss when they left. No disrespect to Bill though, but he wasn't Anna's favorite on the day... that title, without question, goes to Kaeleigh.

Anna shadowed Kaeleigh all day and the two became fast friends. Most girls Kaeleigh's age would probably be annoyed by having such a relentless shadow, but not Kaeleigh...  she seemed to love it.

Anyway, Angie and I had such a great time too. Those of you who know them can attest that Bill and Kathy are two of the easiest going, fun people to hang out with. With a collective six kids between our families, life is so busy, but we are hopeful that we can make a conscious effort to hang out more often... with the love-fest that goes on, it just seems like the right thing to do.

Thanks so much for coming down, guys. Hopefully we'll see you all (and Sam) soon!

Leo's first ballgame

By K.J. Cardinal

Despite being only 40 days old, we took Leo to his first ever baseball game tonight as the Worcester Tornadoes hosted the New Jersey Jackals.

Our swaddled little bundle of joy was as perfect as could be. For most of the night, Angie had him cocooned to her body in this Moby contraption and he was as snug as a bug in a rug.

Seriously, he loves that thing. But then again, what man wouldn't love one of those things... being pressed against a woman's chest with nowhere to go... but I digress.

He will obviously have no recollection of the game, but it's just already evident that with our second child we are letting our guard down a little. I mean, we didn't take Anna to her first baseball game until last year, when she was just over a year-and-a-half.

Speaking of which, Anna absolutely LOVED the entire night. She actually paid attention to the game for the first few innings, which was rather shocking. After that, it was all about the Tornadoes' mascot, Twister.

We bought her this little Twister doll right when we got to the park and her infatuation began. Once she saw the real mascot on the field prior to the game, she had to know where he was at all times.

What was comical though, was when I took her to go up to him to say "hi". She wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with him. She was clinging to my leg (which NEVER happens) and said, "Daddy, hold me." Even with me holding her, she didn't want to say "hi", give him a high five or nothing. I guess she prefers to stalk mascots, not have a real relationship with them.

Well, after the game, they had their Friday fireworks and it was once again a great showing. Like always, Anna plugged her ears and huddled against my chest as if she didn't like them. Then, once they were over, she couldn't stop talking about them.

Right before the fireworks started, I took this picture of Anna where she seriously looks about 20 years old. Such a cutie.

Probably my favorite part of the night though came after the fireworks, when Anna lifted her head off my chest, sat up straight and said, "Thanks for taking me to the ballgame, Daddy." As if the kid doesn't have me wrapped around her little finger already.

Anyway, I swear minor league baseball is one of the greatest family-friendly events that you can do... and it's rather affordable. Anna has already asked to go to another game, so we might make this a more regular occurrence. Who knows.

Buddies

By K.J. Cardinal

Well, the blog was on fire for a while there and then reality had to rear its ugly head as I've had work to do lately. Anyway, I just had to post this photo of these little buddies.

Anna isn't infatuated with Leo 100% of the time, but when she is it's so ridiculous.

Leo is still eating like a champ and sleeping a lot... unfortunately, he seems to sleep best during the day, but it's not like he's terrible at night or anything... just a notch below perfect :)

Again, I know it's jinxing it, but he doesn't seem to fuss like normal babies. Anna was a good baby, but she'd have her moments when she'd fuss for what seemed like no apparent reason. But not Leo.

If he fusses, then you have this brief checklist to go down to solve the problem...

• Milk
• Diaper
• Burp

One of those three things always seems to satisfy him.

Well, Saturday we head off for the annual Cardinal family vacation, so be prepared for some ridiculous posts with all the kiddos together.

Life Lessons: Recycle & Save

By K.J. Cardinal

Here at the Cardinal Blog we are about more than just cute kids and a dorky Dad. We are here to instill in everyone some of life's most important lessons, just as my parents instilled in me.

I feel Angie and I have a rather unique parenting style though, which has yielded a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter that is well behaved 91% of the time and a raging lunatic 9% of the time. So, while our "teaching methods" may not fit your parenting style, the important thing to take away from this running series of "Life Lessons" is really the message moreso than the actions.

With that, let's jump right into Life Lesson #1: Recycle.

From a young age, I can remember my grandfather taking recycling to the Nth degree. Not only would he make a small fortune off recycling his empty Milwaukee's Best cans, but he'd rummage through public trash cans in search of these precious aluminum treasures.

Some people may think, "Gross" or "what was your grandfather, a bum?". While the former may be the true, the latter definitely is not. Papa would take the money from his recycling and set it aside earmarked as lobster money.

That's right, Papa would root through public trash cans to get a taste of that sweet tomalley. He'd save the money so whenever we'd want lobster growing up, that he'd go into the small fortune accumulated through recycling to get us a batch of those beautiful 10-legged creatures. Talk about recycling for all the right reasons.

I mean, sure it's great to save the planet and all that tree-hugging mumbo-jumbo, but the ends have never more justified the means when it comes to recycling. So, I've decided that I'm going to carry the life lesson of recycling on to my children, but put my own spin on it.

Basically, I thought Anna would get a kick out of the recycling machines in the redemption center at the local package store I single-handedly keep afloat. So, we loaded two empty cases of Corona into the Xterra and off we headed to "beer store", as she calls it.



[WATCH VIDEO]

Just as I expected, she loved sliding the bottles into the redemption machine. Sure she felt it was "really loud", but once she learned that the machine would give her a ticket and that the man at the counter would give her money for said ticket, then she was hooked.

Life Lesson #1 also leads us to Life Lesson #2: Save. Anna isn't old enough to determine what she wants to save her recycling money for, but we have a secret hidden stash at home where she's going to keep this savings. I could only be so lucky for her to opt for lobsters someday, but regardless, it's all about learning life's lessons. And, in order to continue recycling and saving, I guess that means that Daddy has to continue drinking. What a shame ; )

Leo: Anna's newest toy

By K.J. Cardinal

Leo continues to be a remarkable baby in all facets, but he's probably an even better toy for Anna.

She seems to be fascinated with him and everything he does. Her biggest fascination has to be his poop. Everytime we change his diaper, she wants to see. She inspects his bum and has to know what color his poop is. It's pretty comical.

I've debated whether or not to get footage of this and post it on the blog and I think I'm going to spare the guy a little dignity and not let the world in on him in such a compromising position. If you really want to witness this, then come on over and change a sh*tty diaper... you're more than welcome :)

Anna has also got some solid seat time feeding Leo. Today she was all fired up to give Leo his bottle, so I set her up with the "boppy" and let her have at it. She's so gentle with him, that I really don't have any concerns. Of course I sit there ready to pounce if she does something she shouldn't, but she is so gentle that I'm not nervous at all.

At that feeding, Leo was polishing off a half-full bottle to start with. So mid-feeding, Anna handed me the empty bottle so I could switch it out for the new one.

Leo was pretty hungry, so he wasn't too happy about the delay and started to do his little whimper. He only did this for a second and then was silent. When I turned back around to hand Anna the new bottle, this is what I saw...

Anna had sacrificed up her own thumb to use as Leo's pacifier. It was so cute. She was so proud of herself and said, "Daddy, he's sucking my thumb!" Such a great moment.

Leo, buddy, you don't know how good you have it. From day one you've had Sammy, one of the best big sisters of all-time, eating out of your hand and now it looks like Anna is headed that direction too. You're a lucky guy.

Water bug

By K.J. Cardinal

Following in the footsteps of her big sister, Anna has turned into quite the water bug.

Today we visited Hopkinton State Park (you may recall we went there last year for a day as well) and we had all we could do to get Anna out of the water.

The "beach" there is rather small, but the water temp was perfect and the slow grade going into the water makes it ideal for little kids.

Immediately Anna showed no fear as once we let her at it, she just walked straight out. If Sammy wasn't there to teach Anna about how the water gets deeper, Anna would've just kept right on walking until she was in serious trouble.

Anna let me throw her up in the air and splash down in the water and thought she was pretty cool. She's still not psyched about submerging her whole head under water, but she did it a few times on her own... twice on purpose and a handful of times on accident.

I felt bad for Angie though because while Anna, Sammy and I were off in the water having fun, Angie and Leo were hanging out in the air conditioned car. We started off with Leo under this SPF 50 beach tent that we bought, but Angie thought it was just too hot for a two-week-old baby, so they hung out in the car.

She's the best mommy though, not only for taking care of Leo, but for hanging out in the car for a few hours with him so Anna could enjoy the beach. Thanks hon!

In case you were wondering, the only way we were able to get Anna out of the truck was to bribe her when the ice cream truck came rolling by. Probably the only time in the history of humanity that a parent was relieved to see an ice cream truck.

The Cardinals

By K.J. Cardinal

I'm so lucky to have this family.

Uh oh...

By K.J. Cardinal

I'm going to be in serious trouble when this gorgeous little thing gets older.

Crazy Eyes Cardinal

By K.J. Cardinal

Leo's got some crazy eyes.


[WATCH VIDEO]

Family visitors

By K.J. Cardinal

This week we were fortunate to get a handful of family visitors that were eager to get their hands on Leo.

On Monday, Angie's sister-in-law, Lisette, paid us a visit along with Jaden and Kassie. It was special for us to have Leo meet Lisette because Leo's middle name (Michael) is after Angie's late brother Mikey.

Needless to say, Lisette loved the little guy, as did Kassie and Jaden. I'm pretty sure Kassie would've taken him home with her if we would have let her.

Then on Wednesday, my Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill made the trek South to see the little guy. Several people told me how anxious Auntie Carol was to meet Leo, so we were psyched for them, as well as Leo, that they could meet.

In typical fashion, they spoiled the kids with gifts while they were here too. Leo got a slew of much-appreciated Red Sox gear, while Anna got a cool remote control car... Daddy, of course, approved of everything.

Also in typical fashion, Anna ended up stealing the show. She took to Uncle Bill in a hurry and before you knew it the two were out on the back deck just chatting it up.

It was so great to get some quality time with Auntie Carol and Uncle Bill and for them to get some QT with the kids too. I know that Auntie Carol was not only glad to meet Leo, but also that we renewed the name Leo Cardinal for another generation.

Thanks so much to everyone for coming down to visit!

A Cardinal Fourth

By K.J. Cardinal

The Fourth of July turned into a nice little Cardinal shindig at our house down in Hudson.

The day started off with us thinking that Aunt Kate and Uncle Matt were going to come down for a quiet afternoon to hang out and see little Leo, but a quick phone call to Meme and Aunt Tiff had the entire family down.

Aunt Kate was probably the MVP of the day if you asked Anna and Leo.

After having Anna help her with her make-up the other day, Aunt Kate brought Anna down a present that consisted of different nail polishes and types of make-up. Anna was in her glory.

She immediately had to have her finger nails and toe nails painted and then proceeded to give everyone in the house a little eye shadow and blush. When I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. Anna is such a girly girl at times.

As for Leo, he continued his string of unbelievably perfect behavior by just hanging out all day, sleeping and eating. He got to take a real solid nap on Aunt Kate and I think she fell even more in love with the little guy... if that's humanly possible.

Uncle Matt came down to finally take a gander at Leo and was kind enough to bring Bauer too... which was another big hit for Anna.

Anna was spoiled by cool Mater gifts from Uncle Matt too, but Leo was the one that really lucked out. Uncle Matt pulled out his bag of tricks and gave Leo a four-DVD set of the complete He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series. Such an awesome gift, given the fact that I was obsessed with He-Man while growing up. I can't wait to knock the dust off all the He-Men that are still up in my parents attic when Leo's old enough and watch the entire series with him. Such a great gift, Matt. Thanks!

After present time from Matt, we had lunch with leftovers from a catering gig that my parents brought down... shrimp, steak and tons of salads. What a great score for all of us!

While we all ate, Anna did a disappearing act under the dining room table with her new best friend, Bauer. She just wanted to lay next to him, patting him and rubbing his feet and tail. It was priceless.

We hung out for a few more hours with Meme and Papa and then the real party started once Andrew and Natalie showed up around 4 o'clock.

The kids are all at such a great age and get along so well. They went on the swing set, played in the kiddie pool and the sand box, but the most fun came when I broke out the hose.

Andrew proceeded to be a "fireman"... basically just spraying everything in site... most notably Natalie and Anna. It was hilarious, as the girls were loving it, almost as much as Andrew.

As if we weren't all already psyched up for the Cardinal vacation at the end of the month, the Fourth was just a nice little preview of the fun to come and we can't wait!

Leo's first tubby (at home)

By K.J. Cardinal

While Leo perfected the art of bathing at the hospital, yesterday marked his first tubby at home.

Just like with Anna, it was all hands on deck... this time the bathroom seemed a little more crowded because Anna was there to lend a helping hand too.

Angie did the bulk of the work, but Anna got to wash Leo's feet and I got to wash his hair... which was really the best part of the job because he loves to have water poured over his hair.

No nursing students or other parents on-hand to watch Leo get bathed this time, but having him in our house and Anna as an assistant made it a first tubby to remember.

Fountain fun

By K.J. Cardinal

I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone, but even though Leo's been here for five days, my world still revolves around Anna.

Yesterday Anna and I had a great afternoon at the public water fountain in town. It took Anna a little coaxing to run directly through the water, but I grabbed her hand and ran through once with her and then it was game on. I swear that she ran through that thing for an hour straight without stopping.

What was particularly hilarious was when she used one of the fountains spraying straight up as her own personal bidet of sorts (pictured at right). She saw one of the other kids do it and apparently just had to give it a spin herself. It was priceless.

It's so cool to see what a difference a year makes for Anna. Last year, we hit up this fountain park a few times and she wasn't as brave as she was yesterday.

I'm already looking forward to the day when Leo can run around with her. I don't want him to grow up too fast, but being able to play with the both of them is going to be a blast.

Adjusting nicely

By K.J. Cardinal

Well, we finally brought Leo home today and the little guy is doing just great. Angie and I were both able to take naps with him on the couch and for some reason, that action is what makes it seem real to me. When you can adjust your normal life with a newborn, that's when it all clicks and reality sets in.

Speaking of adjusting nicely, Anna seems poised to be a great big sister. She had moments where all she wanted to do was to be with Leo and times when she acted like he didn't exist, but for the most part, she was somewhere in the middle of those two all day.

My favorite moment of the day with Anna and Leo came when I asked Anna if she wanted to read him a book. She said her patented Anna line, "Um... Sure" and then spent the next five minutes deciding which book she should read.

She brought over this "Goodnight" book she has and proceeded to read it to him. Of course, she can't really read, but she just made up the words corresponding with the pictures and even let Leo touch the soft fur on one of the pages. It was adorable.

I was a little nervous how Anna would adjust to having a newborn in the house and someone that was sure to garner a lot of our attention, but now that I think about it, I was probably more nervous with how I'd adjust. I mean, Anna is a kid and most kid's adjust to most scenarios rather easily, so I think part of my nervousness for her was a reflection of my own feelings.

I didn't quite know how I'd handle having a new baby with Anna. Let's face it, Anna has been and always will be Daddy's girl, and I NEVER want that to change, so I was probably just a tad concerned that Leo may impact that relationship.

Only one day with Leo at home is in the books, but if today was any indication of what's to come, then Anna will handle the transition to a big sister like a champion and she'll continue to be Daddy's little girl... which is nice, because she doesn't really have a choice in the matter if you ask me.

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On a completely unrelated note, I purchased this new app for my iPhone, called IncrediBooth, and it created the old school photo booth sequence of me and Anna that you see on the right (Jenny and Rob, you guys would love it!). It works particularly well with the new iPhone 4, which has the little built-in iSight type of camera to make lining up the shots a heck of a lot easier because you can see the screen while doing so.

Anyway, you can be sure to expect a slew of photo booth pictures from here on out on The Cardinal Blog.

Hey ladies, call me

By K.J. Cardinal

As a social experiment, I'm considering putting this picture of Leo up on Match.com to see how many ladies nibble at the bait. I mean, is there a woman in the world that wouldn't snatch this little guy up given the opportunity? I doubt it.

White knuckles

By K.J. Cardinal

As was the case with Anna, Angie is breastfeeding Leo... which is actually great news for me. Not just because I don't have to say a word to get my wife to take her top off, but because I get to be involved in the process too.

I get to feed Leo some colostrum through a syringe. In order to do this, he sucks on my pinkie finger and then I sneak the syringe into the corner of his mouth and deposit some liquid gold.

Anyway, I thought it was about the coolest thing to do with Anna and it's equally as amazing with Leo.

This pic is just so great. Leo is obviously adorable, but I particularly love how he's white-knuckling on my finger. He's got the death grip on me... and I love it.

Bath pro

By K.J. Cardinal

Leo was such a pro on Monday night when they gave him a bath that a nurse asked Leo to be the star of the baby bathing demonstration that they did in the nursery this morning.

Six sets of parents and seven nursing students were on hand to witness Leo, as Anna would say, "take a tubby." He did great.

All the nurses were smitten with the little dude and like I mentioned before, he's already a chick magnet. Once he's able to travel, I might have to start a rental service for all my single guy friends because if Leo doesn't attract the ladies for you, then you truly have no hope.

I think we'll keep him

By K.J. Cardinal

After just over 24 hours of Leo, we've decided that we'll keep the little guy. I mean, he's just too damn cute and I have too much footage of him at this point to just give him up. See Exhibit A...

Anyway, day two of Leo's life was filled with lots of introductions to new family members, which was fabulous, but the highlight of the day for me was being able to see Andrew and Natalie meet their new cousin Leo.

I just can't begin to express the overwhelming joy that Andrew and Natalie were filled with when they met Leo. It was impossible not to get wrapped up in the moment.

Here's a video that has a few clips from the exchange, but I was really just living in the moment and not capturing it all because it was just too meaningful to miss behind the lens of a camera for me. So, while this clip is absolutely beautiful, trust me when I say that it doesn't even begin to do the whole scenario justice.


[WATCH VIDEO]

I think Angie put the whole scene into perspective best at the end of it all when she said, "my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much." It was so great... I wish Meme and Papa were still here to witness their grandkids in action, but I know that they'll get a full week of the Leo Lovefest when we go on our family vacation at the end of July.

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A few house-cleaning things to note. We will be in the hospital until Thursday. We originally thought we'd be leaving on Wednesday, but where Leo was born after 8 p.m. on Monday night, they'll keep us that extra night.

We plan to be around all weekend in Hudson just enjoying our new bundle of joy. So, if you're dying to see the little guy and aren't able to make it to the hospital this week, then shoot me an email and let me know when you plan on coming by. If you want to come by the hospital tomorrow, visiting hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Lastly, they just took Leo to get circumcised and I have this knot in my stomach. I know it's a rite of passage of sorts, but it's gotta make every man cringe just a little.

Chillin'

By K.J. Cardinal

Leo is just over 12 hours old and he's just chillin'.


[WATCH VIDEO]

Leo Michael Cardinal

By K.J. Cardinal

Wow. Now that was awesome. After a day of playing the waiting game, Angie got the pitocin, broke her water, got the epidural and out came Leo. It all happened so fast. It was amazing. I even cut the cord this time!

Anyway, I'm wiped out right now, so I'll keep this post short and to the point...
 
Leo Michael Cardinal
Born: 9:13 p.m.
Weight: 8 pounds, 10 ounces (originally got recorded as 9 ounces, but was officially 10)
Length: 21 inches
 

Such a little dude. The kid's a chick magnet already. I mean, seriously. I had to beat the nurses off him with a stick... it was borderline ridiculous.

He hasn't cried much yet (I know this is jinxing it, right?) and just hangs out. Barely flinched when he got shots. Liked the bath and was a champion. I love him.

Anyway, I can't wait for my sisters and company to meet Leo tomorrow. I am particularly psyched to see Andrew and Natalie hold the little guy. I'm sure it'll be such a precious moment.

Angie is getting some much deserved sleep and is doing great. I can't even begin to express how much of an amazing woman my wife is. I'm so proud of her in so many ways. Even after having two amazing kids with her, she's still the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Here's a gratuitous shot of his feet... since I love baby feet... and a video of Anna holding and kissing Leo... talk about a tear-jerker for this guy.

Good night all and thanks to everyone for the well wishes.


[WATCH VIDEO]

Induction day running diary

By K.J. Cardinal

Well, I know I've promised a million people that I would call/email/text them with updates today, but I figure it will be easiest on everyone (mostly Angie and I) if I just keep a running diary. So here goes...

6:35 a.m. Angie just called the hospital to inquire about today's induction and they want us to call back at 10 a.m. The wait continues.

9:02 a.m. The hospital just called and we are on our way.

9:48 a.m. Just arrived at the hospital and got checked into our room.

11:03 a.m. Well, they've given Ang some medicine to try to move this thing along. Sounds like we are going to be here for a while.

1:41 p.m. Just a quick update to say there really isn't any update. Angie has had a few rather strong contractions, but we are just playing the waiting game.

3:55 p.m. Well, Leo didn't have much reaction to the first drug, so they're going to give Ang some pitocin soon. This is the drug that kick-started both labors for Sammy and Anna.

5:25 p.m. Still waiting for the pitocin. At this point, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Leo wasn't born today or late, late tonight at the earliest.

6:06 p.m. Let the pitocin begin!

6:35 p.m. Broken water!

7:21 p.m. Epidurol.

8:15 p.m. Fully dialated. I feel bad for anyone in Northwood trying to use the Internet because I'm sure Aunt Tiff is frantically refreshing :)

9:13 p.m. Leo Michael Cardinal.

Leo Eve

By K.J. Cardinal

The wait has been somewhat unbearable, but Leo Eve has finally arrived. Angie is scheduled to get induced tomorrow!

I can't entirely explain all the thoughts and emotions that have come over me in the last few hours, but I may always refer to June 27 as Leo Eve because it's the night before the most highly anticipated moment of my life. My son will be born tomorrow.

Just typing that brings tears to my eyes. And, while I try to keep things light on this blog, I can't help myself tonight. Let me say that again, my son will be born tomorrow.

Leo. Michael. Cardinal. Three of the most important words that Angie and I have ever uttered. [Pass the Kleenex, please, this is gonna get messy]

Some people have dreamed their entire lives of being rich or traveling the world or winning the lottery. Not me. I have always wanted to have a son. I have always felt this unspoken pressure that I've put upon myself to have a boy. To carry on the Cardinal name. More importantly, to carry on the Leo Cardinal name.

A father-son bond is something that I cherish and take more serious than anyone I know. And now having the chance to have a son, carry on the family name and honor my grandfather in the process is simply amazing.

In the midst of this blog post, I had to call my dad. I was a blubbering mess, but I just had to call him. I can't even get into it now because I'll flood our newly finished basement with my tears, but I just love and respect that guy more than I ever thought was humanly possible.

Anyway, the fact that we KNOW Angie is getting induced tomorrow ratchets up the anticipation about 200 notches too.

The birth of Anna was something I'll never forget. An absolutely beautiful (and shocking) "first" in my life. But, prior to her birth, we had no idea when she was coming. It was a surprise. I never had to try to go to sleep at night knowing the next day that I'd be a Dad.

What a difference in emotions, experiences and feelings. I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve, or in this case, Leo Eve, with the world's greatest present awaiting.

My son will be born tomorrow.

Anna's mash-up

By K.J. Cardinal

While Anna and I were out running errands yesterday, she started singing two different "monkey" songs. All was going swimmingly until she got a little confused, thus creating a little mash-up. Sweet. 



[WATCH VIDEO]

Introducing our newest addition...

By K.J. Cardinal

Well, after months of waiting, the newest addition to the Cardinal family is finally here... my newly finished basement.

OK. OK. I know the world is anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby Leo, but the little sucker is enjoying his time in Hotel Angela a little too much and is currently six days past his due date.

I think Leo was just looking out for his dad though. I mean, months ago I told Angie that I would do my best to have the basement done in time for Leo's arrival. So, he is just over-staying his welcome in the womb to help me avoid the doghouse if I missed my "deadline".

OK Leo, now the basement's done, get the hell out here so we can play with you!