We’ve finally put the polish on our 2009 holiday letter. It’s a brief look into our lives in 2009, and the wonderful things we know are coming in 2010 (not including the Olympics). It also includes a final unveiling of a family secret, if you needed a good reason to go read it.
Happy Holidays to everyone from the Bridgers at Goggs Avenue!
A pro-marriage article. Rare, oft-derided, entirely accurate.
There’s something to be said for that whole genetics thing …

No, that’s not a picture of Cohen. Striking resemblance though isn’t it?
Click the image to see a larger version.
Happy Holidays from Goggs Avenue to wherever you are. A slightly more verbose and informative letter can be read by clicking here.
Well, my vacation is officially over – I’m back to work as of this past Tuesday. I don’t know where the 3 weeks went frankly. I wish I could stay home forever – this family stuff is pretty darned neat, to coin a nerdy phrase.
Alisa’s put up a photo collection of Cohen’s first bit of time with us if you’re looking for more pictures. It also documents the birth experience, which was much, much different this time around.
Marley’s best friend (BFF) Kendall gave her the neatest gift when Cohen arrived – her very own digital camera. She has taken to it enormously, and is constantly taking pictures of pretty much anything that interests her. What interests her? Well, I’ve put together a little page of all the pictures she’s taken to date, so have a look.
Note that she had a little help with a few of them, but a few of her own solo compositions really stand out as really interesting … such as
Poppa catching a snooze at the hospital
Her very first self portrait
Some of them give us a glimpse into what it is like to be her height
Steep stairs
Under the table
A new talent has been revealed here – I’m really looking forward to seeing what her next 400 pictures look like!
Oh Look, Daddy smiling with teeth!
P.S. She’s been given absolute access to everything, and now that she’s taking pictures of these things we’re going to have to keep an eye on the appropriateness of some of her subject matter. In the meantime, if you happen to see an inappropriate picture please notify me. You can give me the picture ID by hovering your mouse over the thumbnail, it will be something like “IMG_0059.JPG”, for example. Thanks for your diligence citizens!
Well, the timer has timed out, the family has grown, and Cohen has come into our lives.
Everything went well (enough) and we’re now back home resting up (when we can). Here’s a quick picture of Cohen a few hours old.

Marley’s thrilled to finally meet her little brother.

His specifics are:
Cohen William Douglas Bridger
8lbs 12 oz
37.5 cm head circumference (nurses and doctors were astonished) and 53.5 cm long (again, astonished).
He has little feet that look big enough already to fit my old shoes and he’s a long, long little boy.
We’re thrilled he’s finally here, and are enjoying every moment we have together as a family of 4 (+2 pets).
So the last month and a half has been an interesting month at Goggs Avenue. You may have noticed that my post frequency dropped, and we had a couple of days of complete blackout for theBside this last week. OK, you may not have noticed it – I won’t hold it against you.
We’ve claimed ownership of our entire house!
Our tenant officially moved out July 31st, and since then we’ve been busy giving the downstairs a mini-makeover. We’ve moved the den downstairs, including the electronics (which was why theBside dropped off the Internet for 3 days or so). We’ve just tonight applied the first coat of paint to the old den, which will soon become Marley’s new room. We’ve started making the large room downstairs into a playroom … the list goes on (and on and on).
In the meantime we’ve secured a coveted place at Peace Arch Hospital’s maternity ward for September 8th, so that will be our new baby’s birthday (unless the baby decides to come earlier than that). The countdown begins!
So forgive my relative silence (if you felt you needed an apology). There are many more things “to-do” before the baby arrives and I assure you there will be pictures to follow.
P.S. If you are ever in need of help understanding the tenancy rules and how to forcibly remove a tenant, I can now say that I might be able to give you some advice, unfortuntely, or at the very least some insight into the formal processes that can take place around it all.