...and then there were three

9 month Charlie

2009-06-18T21:59:00.004-05:00

I've started writing this post who knows how many times and I always seem to get interrupted. Then, during said interruption my computer is taken hostage by a little urchin who thinks that playing games is much more important than whatever Mom was working on. In any case...

At this point we are actually getting to be closer to 10 months, but better late than never! The newest news is Charlie finally has teeth! I'm glad - I was beginning to think I was going to have to buy the little guy some dentures! The teeth did cause a little dip in Charlie's normally cheery disposition, but once they broke through our little man was back to being all smiles!

Just in the past 2 weeks, Charlie has finally started eating a good amount of solid foods. He will now eat anywhere between 1/2 to a jar of food at each meal plus snacks of Cheerios and Goldfish in between. Along with this has come some better night sleeping (Can I get a hallelujah!). One night waking is now the norm - it feels so good to get some solid stretches of sleep!

Charlie is taking his time in the area of movement. He rolls quite well and can get himself into tons of trouble that way, but has made no progress in moving forward in any way, shape, or form. The closest he gets is he occasionally pushes himself backwards with his hands while attempting to lift his bum off the ground. (Notice I say attempt - he's lucky if his hips even leave the floor!) He was however right on time with sitting - he mastered that at 7.5 months. :) He actually is getting close to being able to push himself into a sitting position from his belly - he is going to love being able to sit with his big brother and sister whenever he chooses!

Now for the tricks! Charlie loves to play pat-a-cake and clap his hands. He occasionally will cover his eyes with his hands to play peek-a-boo - but he usually only removes one hand to peek - it is so cute! He says Mom and Dad (just like Lily, DAD - clear as day), and has just started waving. He's a smart little guy!

Last but not least, the stats. I still have the sheet from public health in the van, so I will double check and make sure I am right. At 9 months - 24lbs 11oz, and 27 3/4 inches long.

Pics will follow soon - I need to download from the camera!

He finally has teeth!

2009-06-14T23:05:00.001-05:00

Charlie finally cut his first tooth last Sunday, then number two broke through on Friday! Wow, that was a long time with no teeth!

Wiener roast at the lake

2009-06-06T15:38:00.005-05:00

We got out for our first wiener roast of the year a few weeks ago. The beach was deserted so the kids had lots of fun chasing sea-gulls and looking for treasures. Derek, of course, had fun playing with the fire and I enjoyed the marshmallows. :) Poor Charlie only got some bun, maybe next year he can have the hot dogs too! LOL!

Baseball Boy!

2009-06-06T15:33:00.003-05:00

Liam has been playing tee-ball this spring, and he loves it! It's even better because his daddy is coaching his team!

Trip to the city

2009-06-06T14:36:00.005-05:00

Two weeks ago, we decided on the spur of the moment that we needed a little getaway. A few hours later, we were on our way to the city! We had a great time visiting museums and other points of interest. The kids were awesome, and had a blast. Liam had such a great time that he now wants to move to Winnipeg!!

Here are some pics!

Charlie's 6 month update

2009-03-03T20:59:00.003-06:00

Today my baby boy is 6 months old! How can he be that old already????? The time has just flown by!

Charlie is a super sweet baby. He rarely fusses and is content to just hang out and watch his brother and sister. He is full of smiles for his family - especially Liam and Lily. He needs a bit of time to warm up to strangers, but in no time he is working his charm on them too!

Charlie's favourite passtimes are jumping in the Jumperoo and playing with toys on the floor. He has recently discovered that his pacifier makes a really cool noise if you shake it (from the handle hitting against the shield) so it has become one of his favourite toys. Just one week ago, Charlie finally mastered rolling front to back. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of back to front yet, but he has all the skills and just needs to put them together. I think half the battle is he has no desire to roll over, he is just so content wherever he is!!

In the past few weeks, Charlie has finally started eating baby food. He has tried rice and oatmeal cereal as well as pears and sweet potatoes. So far he hasn't really been thrilled with any of it!

He hasn't had his 6 month appointment yet, but as of 3 weeks ago Charlie was weighing in at 21lbs 14.5 oz and was 26.25 inches long. He is a big, round boy!! He has got the cutest little chubby cheeks and is the cuddliest little roly poly thing ever!

Here are some more pics of our littlest man taken today:

Christmas Pics

2009-01-17T22:17:00.004-06:00

Okay, it is a little late, but here are our pics from Christmas....

Oh, wait. I don't have any.

Well, I do, but let's just say one of my children has an issue with keeping clothes on...'nuff said.

I can however leave you with our Christmas card pic. It is the closest you are going to get.

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-15T17:34:00.006-06:00

Santa Claus is comin' to town

2008-12-15T17:29:00.006-06:00

A Lily post

2008-12-15T17:25:00.003-06:00

If the bikini bottom fits...

Bed head baby!!

Sleepy boys...

2008-12-15T14:30:00.002-06:00

I was cleaning in the kitchen, and thought Liam was in the living room watching cartoons. After a while it was a little too quiet, so I went to check on him. Liam had decided he was sleepy, and thought that a cuddle with Charlie in Charlie's crib was just what he needed...

Happy Birthday Lily!

2008-12-15T14:18:00.006-06:00

Well, our baby girl is now a big two years old!! She is our little sweetie who loves to talk, sing, and dance. Lately she has been getting into playing dolls - such a girly thing to do! She is still our petite princess - just 25 lbs and 32.5 inches tall!

Here are some pics from her actual birthday and her birthday party:

Happy Halloween

2008-11-02T13:16:00.002-06:00

We had a great time on Halloween on Friday. The kids had a blast trick or treating, although at the beginning neither of them quite got it. At the first house, Liam tried to give his treats to the person at the door (we threw a few in for him to get started), and Lily threw a fit because she wanted to eat everything as she was given it!! After a few stops, the kids got the hang of it and really enjoyed visiting the rest of the street. Everyone loved their costumes, and people got a kick out of the pot Liam carried to collect his treats. The best part though came when we arrived back home - both kids loved handing out treats to the kids at our door! We will have to remember that for next year...

Here are the best I could do, considering that Liam did not want his picture taken!

Family Visits

2008-11-02T13:11:00.001-06:00

Charlie and Grandpa J at Thanksgiving.

Lily and her favourtie Robyn.

Charlie and Grandma D.

Fun at the park

2008-11-02T13:06:00.001-06:00

Not too many pictures to share from our trip to the park - the kids move so fast most of the pics are blurry!

Fright night

2008-11-02T13:03:00.000-06:00

Don't you just love our little skeletons??

Our Thanksgiving entertainment...

2008-11-02T13:00:00.002-06:00

Can you believe that after Thanksgiving dinner it snowed enough to build a snowman??

One Month with Charlie

2008-10-04T13:47:00.006-05:00

Well, Charlie has been with us for one month already and we are starting to settle into a bit of a routine. :) He's been doing well adapting to the noise and busyness of Liam and Lily, and so far is doing really well being schlepped to playgroup, playgrounds, or preschool every day. He is starting to sleep better at night. He still doesn't have very long sleep periods, but at least now he doesn't stay awake for long periods in the middle of the night. We had a doctor's appointment last week and the little guy was already 11lbs 2oz (at 3 weeks) - I'm sure he is over 12 lbs at this point!!

Here are some pics:

And as an added bonus, a pic of Lily on her first night in her big girl bed (which is currently just her crib matress on the floor - LOL!)

Welcome Charlie!!

2008-09-07T09:55:00.004-05:00

It's a boy!!!

Welcome Charles (Charlie) Linden!

Born: September 3, 2008 10:48am

9lbs 1oz, 21.5 inches

The final countdown

2008-08-13T10:00:00.001-05:00

My c-section date has been set! Baby will be arriving on September 3, unless he/she has other ideas and decides to come earlier. That is only 3 weeks away - YIKES!!!

Tutu cute!

2008-08-13T09:54:00.004-05:00

Long story short, I was feeling crafty and made Lily a tutu! She loves it - and so does Liam. He wants me to make him a green one. LOL!!

Happy Canada Day

2008-07-01T20:22:00.011-05:00

We spent Canada Day at the park today and had a great time! The weather was really nice - it was a bit windy, and a bit smoky, but still beautiful. The kids loved playing in the sand, and weren't at all afraid of getting in the cold water!

And here is Lily in the Canada Day dress I made for her:

Baby J

2008-05-31T22:40:00.003-05:00

Okay, so the pics are small - you'll have to wait for me to hook up the scanner again to get some better ones! :)

And now for the external view. This was already a few weeks ago, so believe it or not, I am even bigger!

Liam goes fishing

2008-05-31T22:36:00.004-05:00

Grandpa gave Liam a fishing rod last time we were up to visit, so when Grandpa came down here all the boys went to the creek to see what they could catch. They did manage to catch one fish which Liam was quite disgusted by - Grandpa was lucky enough to get that pic! The rest of you will have to make do with these:

Lily's first haircut

2008-05-31T22:28:00.005-05:00

Well, we didn't have too much to cut, but Lily's hair was getting pretty fuzzy in the back so we decided it was time! She sat quite well for the haircut, and got quite a kick out of being sprayed with the spray bottle!

Spring is here!

2008-05-31T22:13:00.011-05:00

Have you ever seen such cuties???

More of Lily plays dress-up...

Playing in the sandbox...

Some Easter pics and a bonus

2008-04-09T22:00:00.008-05:00

What goes with Three??

2008-04-09T21:54:00.004-05:00

This blog started off as Life with Liam, then it changed to Time for Two - now I need something that will go with Three...any suggestions? :D

Estimated date of arrival for baby #3: September 16, 2008!

What can I say? The boy loves his books!

2008-01-26T21:54:00.000-06:00

Some Random Pics

2008-01-26T21:45:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

2008-01-26T21:23:00.000-06:00

Okay, so it is a little late, but better late than never right?

All in all, we had a pretty good Christmas. Liam was bound and determined that Santa was not coming to see him, but apparently Santa was perfectly welcome to visit Lily and bring her a toolbench. Gotta love that logic! On Christmas morning all the ill feelings fell by the wayside as Liam dove into all his loot. It was so much fun since Liam was actually into opening the presents and was excited about what was inside. Lily, well she just wanted to play with anything her brother had!!

After having Christmas morning here, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa J's to visit and spend the night. The kids did not sleep too well, but we still had a good time!

I have not dropped off the face of the Earth...

2008-01-26T21:22:00.000-06:00

I am so sorry everyone! Each time I promise I'll be better, and we all know how that has turned out. :) Please, just stick with me!

Can you tell which one is afraid of Santa?

2007-12-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

Bubble Fun

2007-12-03T21:39:00.000-06:00

Don't these two look thrilled to be in a tub full of bubbles...

Fun in the snow!

2007-12-03T21:21:00.000-06:00

I LOVE these pics of Lily from yesterday - she just had to taste that snow!!

And of course, Liam just wanted to shovel!

Lily's One Year Stats

2007-11-13T13:37:00.001-06:00

Lily had her one year doctor's appointment this morning, and of course she is doing great! The doctor was impressed with how much Lily talks - he said the amount of words Lily uses is "really good - really, really good." Of course every Mama loves to hear something like that!

As for the official stats: our peanut is 19 lbs 8oz and 28.5 inches tall. According to the clinic charts, that is 20th percentile for weight, and 45th percentile for height. A big girl she is not!

Lily's Birthday Part 2

2007-11-12T13:45:00.000-06:00

It is not even 2pm and we have already had such a busy day!!

Liam gave his present to Lily this morning. He picked her out a baby doll almost 2 months ago. Seriously, he saw it in Walmart and told me we needed to buy it for Lily's birthday - so we did! It was so funny to watch Liam try to explain to her that the bottle was for the baby, not her!

Then we headed over to the indoor playground for Lily's birthday party. We invited Liam and Lily's friends and they all had a great time playing. Then Lily had lots of "help" opening her presents. Any clothes that she got, Lily had to try on - too cute! Then we had a snack, and finally Lily had her first taste of cake!! She LOVED it and ate it all up! We finally knew she was done when the plate ended up as a hat on her head.

Finally we all came home for a nap. Well, only the kids napped, but Mommy and Daddy were glad for a chance to rest!

Happy Birthday Lily!!!

2007-11-12T13:06:00.000-06:00

As of 12:56pm, our baby girl is officially one!! Where has the time gone? It is amazing how much she has learned and accomplished in such a short period of time.

Lily is just a whirlwind of activity! She crawls everywhere, climbs anything, and gets into everything she can get her hands on. She gets into much more trouble than her brother did at this age. Her favourite toy is her (or Liam's) flip couch - she just loves to climb all over it!

She is starting to walk and is really quite steady, but just doesn't have the desire to do it on her own just yet. If you fool her into thinking you have a hold of her she will easily walk at least half the length of the hallway, but as soon as she knows you have let go she plops back down on her bum. She will take short trips from the coffee table to the couch on her own, so I'm sure she will be walking all over in no time!

I think Lily is going to be a chatterbox just like her Mommy and her brother. She has quite a few words already: Dad, Mom, shoes, souce, hat, ball, baby, milk, poop, and of course nnnnnnNA! (no) She also makes a blech! noise for things that taste yucky, says Mmmm when she eats, makes kissing noises, and knows how to sing along to the kids show Poko! (For those of you that don't know, the opening credits go Puh-puh-puh-Poko! Lily goes Puh -puh-puh-papa! She will even start saying it if she just sees a picture of Poko - it is too cute!) She also says "Knock-knock!" as a result of Liam's recent obsession with knock-knock jokes!

Lily is a champion eater - again, just like her big brother. She is completely on table foods now as she has wanted nothing to do with baby foods for quite some time. Her favourite foods are corn, cheese, and noodles with tomato sauce. She is a little mooch too - she wants anything that someone else has!

Our little princess sure has come a long way, and I can't wait to see what the next year brings. Happy birthday baby girl!!

Halloween!

2007-11-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

We all had a great Halloween day! We started off by going to the costume parade at my school in the morning. Liam surprisingly enough was not afraid of the costumes, and he was thrilled when he got to have a turn to tour the gym himself! He was telling me "Mom, I'm in a farade!"

In the afternoon we carved the pumpkin that Liam and Lily got from Auntie Teresa and Uncle Peter. Liam helped us scrape out the insides and he was so excited to watch Mommy carve the face!!

And just to show you all how much of a daredevil climber Lily is - no one put her on that table! It was all we could do to keep her down while we were carving the pumpkin!

After carving our pumpkin, we went to Liam's friend Cody's house for supper and then we went trick or treating with their friend Melina. The older kids had a blast collecting candy and would have liked to have stayed out forever! However, the three babies all decided that they had enough after about an hour and a half and sent the Mommies running home!

And here are our two trick or treaters! Doctor Liam and bear Lily. I'm surprised that Lily even fit into that bear costume. If you don't remember I made it for Liam's first Halloween and Liam was almost twice the size of Lily!!

Fun with Lily

2007-11-02T21:47:00.001-05:00

Lily's new dance

2007-10-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

Fall Pictures

2007-10-08T22:41:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I took the kids outside for some fall pictures in the front yard. It's a good thing I did, because it started to snow tonight!!

Liam was less than cooperative for pictures as he was too busy running and jumping and throwing leaves around. Lily on the other hand, was quite content to sit and EAT the leaves! LOL!

Puddin Head

2007-10-08T22:39:00.000-05:00

Don't you wish you could eat your pudding like this?

Backyard fun!

2007-10-08T22:34:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we had a great time playing outside in our newly fenced in backyard! Liam had tons of fun taking Lily for rides on his bike and pushing her in the swing - and I think Lily enjoyed it even more than he did! Excuse the kids' runny noses, we've all been battling colds here!

We like vests!

2007-10-08T22:30:00.000-05:00

Cutie Pie

2007-10-08T22:23:00.000-05:00

Kids rooms

2007-10-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

And here are some pics of Liam and Lily's rooms - guess which is which! LOL!

Liam painted these pictures all by himself!!

The new house - before and after!

2007-10-04T20:46:00.000-05:00

Here are some long overdue before and after pics of the new house. We are not quite done (we still have most of the kitchen to do) but we are happy with it!

We have not finished painting here yet, the far wall and the kitchen will be a brick red colour.

10 Month Lily

2007-09-13T20:52:00.001-05:00

It seems like just a few days ago I was posting about Lily being 9 months...oh wait...

Yesterday Lily turned 10 months old! It hasn't been too long since the last update but we've had some big changes - Lily can now pull herself up and cruise around the furniture. She is not great at the cruising just yet, but it's coming! She's also finally figured out how to get herself into a sitting position, which is so much more comfortable for playing. In addition to all of this, I'm pretty sure she has one more word: teeth!

Moose Hug

2007-09-13T20:47:00.001-05:00

The other day I was giving Liam a bath and he asked for a "Moose Hug". I had no idea what he was talking about! After a few minutes of talking to him about it, I still had no clue. Then, he filled me in: "You know, when you make my hair up with the shampoo??" Ah, a mohawk!! LOL!!

So here's Liam and his "moose hug":

We have pictures!!

2007-09-13T20:12:00.000-05:00

Okay settle in! I finally got a new USB cord for the camera and was able to download some pictures. They go from recent to older!!

9 month Lily!!

2007-08-26T20:57:00.000-05:00

Okay, so by this point we are getting closer to 9 1/2 months, but who's counting??

Lily had her well baby check last Thursday. She is 18 lbs and 28 inches (although I don't think this is right - Lily is pretty short!). She's our little girlie, that's for sure!

Just a week before she turned 9 months, Lily got her first two teeth - one right after the other. They are starting to show through now when she smiles, and it looks so cute!

Lily has recently decided that she wants little to do with baby food anymore. It can be a challenge to feed her anything out of a jar. If she doesn't want what we are trying to feed her, she just blows a big ol' raspberry and sends food flying! However, she is happy as a clam if she can feed herself - so we have been racking our brains for things we can give her as finger food. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

All signs are pointing to Lily being a great talker like her big brother. At nine months Lily says "DAD" (clear as day - no Dada for her!) and "Mum". I often think that she uses the Mum sound for Liam as well, and it makes sense! She also says "mmmm" when we are feeding her, and she mimics all sorts of noises! She makes buzzing noises when she hears the electric saw, will give fake coughs if she hears someone clearing their throat, and will whisper back if you whisper to her. She has even blown raspberries after hearing herself fart, and then laughs about it!

One of Lily's favourite things is playing Pat-a-cake. She claps her hands and her face breaks out into the hugest smile! It is the one thing we can count on to always put her in a good mood. In fact, we have spent the latter part of more than a few car trips singing Pat-a-cake just to keep her from screaming!

Lily loves to be on the go all day long. She does not crawl, per se, but she has a little scooch/commando crawl thing going on. She pushes with her toes and pulls with her elbows. It sounds so awkward, but boy can that girl go fast! I don't know if she will ever crawl properly because she gets around so well. Besides, she rarely pushes up onto her knees. The only time she does is when she is trying to climb over something - and boy does this girl love to climb! Piles of pillows or Liam's flip couch are some of her favourite playthings because she can climb all over them. Lily is also starting to want to stand up at the table to play. She does quite well and is getting quite steady. The only thing is, she can't pull herself up to the table because she won't push herself to her knees. It'll come though!!

Again, I can't find my camera cord or I would post a ton of pictures! I'll get it soon though and I promise you will get bombarded with pics of both the kids and of the new house!

We've been busy!!

2007-08-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

I know that when anyone has an absence from blogging the first thing they say is "We've been busy!!", but we really have been!!

At the end of June we sold our house and went on the hunt for a new, slightly bigger one. We were very lucky and found one that would suit our needs within a week. The house was empty and the buyers of our old house were ready so we moved quickly! We took posession on July 7 and we got to work doing renovations! Now, we didn't do the renovations - I'll admit that we hired someone! We got new floors (laminate and tile), completely remodelled the bathroom (new everything!), took out a few walls, updated light fixtures, updated all the plumbing and painted, among lots of other things! It was a lot of work, and we were really afraid it wouldn't be done in time.

We moved in on July 21 to a partially finished house. The kids adjusted really well, and we are loving having three bedrooms instead of two! Now the kids actually sleep!

We still have quite a lot of work to do, and it seems our jack-of-all trades handyman has flaked on us. So I guess it will be up to us to finish the work! We still need to paint and put new hardware on the kitchen cupboards, and paint the kitchen. There is also small paint touch-ups to do upstairs. We are putting a fence up outside (in fact, Derek and Liam are working on it as I type) and we will eventually be finishing the entire basement. PHEW!

We also sustained some damage in one of the biggest hailstorms to ever hit Manitoba. We lost two windows, and the siding on the north side of the house is full of baseball sized holes. We need a new screen door, a new garage door, new eaves, and repairs to our roof - which was just replaced only a few days prior to the storm!! Luckily we were in Winnipeg at the time, so our van didn't get damaged. However, Derek's truck is a complete write off with huge dents and a broken windshield.

So in a nutshell, that is what we've been up to! No pictures for now, because the cord for my camera is currently buried in a box in the garage! I'm going to look for it later today, so hopefully I'll get some pics up soon. Also check back later for an update on the kids!!

First swim of the year!!

2007-07-02T21:56:00.001-05:00

After many, many cool days we finally had a hot, sunny day today!! After afternoon naps, we took the kids to the wading pool at a local park. Lily loved her very first swim!! The water was cool, but she started smiling and giggling the moment her feet touched the water!

Fair 2007

2007-07-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

Saturday we spent the afternoon at the fair. We had tons of fun - especially Liam! He LOVED riding on all the rides. He even went on the Ferris Wheel with his Mommy! The whole time he repeated "WOW! I see everything Mommy!" Mommy wasn't super thrilled (I hate heights) but I went anyway. Don't ever say I don't to anything for you, kid!!

Congrats Colby!

2007-07-02T21:01:00.000-05:00

Last weekend my second youngest brother graduated from high school - congratulations Colby!! We drove down for the ceremony and stayed to visit for the weekend. We had a great time seeing everybody - it had been way too long since our last visit. Liam loved spending time with his uncles, and Lily thought they were pretty neat too. Lily also got to meet her Grandpa Terry for the very first time!

First Lake Trip of the Season

2007-06-04T22:07:00.001-05:00

It was a beautiful weekend this past weekend so we decided to take a trip to the lake. We went with some friends of ours and had a great time! We just spent the afternoon, but the kids got to play on the beach and us Moms got to do a bit of shipping while the Dads watched the kids. We finished the day with some supper at a restaurant and a play in the park - that is until the mosquitos forced us to make a mad dash for the vans!

The Boys (pic looks familiar hmmm...last year)

The Girls

Sand Monkey

Beach Babe

Playing in the backyard

2007-06-04T21:54:00.000-05:00

Thick as thieves

2007-06-04T21:52:00.000-05:00

She sits!

2007-06-04T13:46:00.001-05:00

Less than a week after her six month post, Lily started sitting! She is very steady now and is even able to stay seated while watching her whirlwind brother run around!

Lily's First Cookie

2007-06-04T13:35:00.000-05:00

Lily can't get enough of her Farley's Biscuits! She will eat a whole one and then scream for more. At least they are good for her - they are basically just hardened baby cereal.

Six Months Already!!

2007-05-15T13:07:00.000-05:00

I can not believe that Lily has been in our lives for 6 months already! Where has the time gone??

Lily is our little sweetheart. She is so much quieter than her brother, and much more cuddly! She loves to give us all hugs and kisses!

At six months Lily is quite adept at moving around by rolling, rolling, rolling. She is a very grabby baby and will take and eat everything in her reach! Now that she is mobile, the floor is her favourite place to be - even better if her brother is there with her! She is working on sitting, but isn't too close just yet. She will balance for a few seconds, but that is about it. She LOVES to stand, and will actually stay standing for more than a minute by herself if she is holding onto the table or couch. Who knows, maybe she will be walking in just a few months!

Unlike her brother, Lily is not keen on any kind of baby food. She did well for the first few days and then wanted nothing to do with it. We have started giving her Farley's cookies and she seems to like them - I think she is stubborn and just wants to be able to feed herself!

Lily is a pretty good sleeper. Most nights she only wakes up once to eat - that is if her brother doesn't wake her first! Her naps are starting to get nice and long and on a good schedule so I'm glad about that!

I don't have any stats for you all just yet - Lily's 6 month appointment is on May 23. I'll update then!

Lily's first day in shorts!!

2007-05-15T12:49:00.000-05:00

I posted about Liam's first day in shorts - click here - so it is only fair I do the same for Lily!

My new favourite picture

2007-05-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

I just can't get enough of this picture!! My two kiddos getting into mischief together!

Ready for summer!!

2007-05-15T12:39:00.000-05:00

We have been so lucky in that there have been quite a few nice days over the past few weeks. I've been able to break out the summer clothes!

Promises, promises

2007-04-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

I know I promised to write more, and now it has been a month since my last post!Things have been quite busy around here. I was recently in Theatre Amisk's (a local theatre group) production of Anything Goes and that took up a ton of my time. Now that that is done, we've taken on the task of putting our house up for sale! We are staying in the same town, but we are looking for a bigger place. Liam and Lily are currently sharing a room and it is not ideal, and we are just busting at the seams everywhere else. The market is quite hot right now, so that is good news for us selling, and not such good news for us buying! If we have to we can rent a townhouse to get us through until we find a place that we both like and can afford!

The kids are doing really well. Growing like weeds of course! Well okay, maybe not getting much taller but they definately are getting bigger! Liam amazes me everyday. He is such a little boy now - not a baby at all - and he is the biggest chatterbox! The words and concepts that he understands just blow my mind. We can actually have real conversations together!

Lily is as sweet as ever. She can now roll over both ways and is beginning to put her pacifier back in her own mouth. She grabs for everything in reach - she is so curious!

Well, I leave you with some pics (in order from newest to oldest) and my determination to try to post more often!

Lily about 5 minutes ago!

Liam and his friend Emily!

4 month appointment and Lily's first cereal!

2007-03-22T12:59:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday afternoon Lily had her 4 month appointment. She is growing very well - our "little" girl is 15lbs 8oz! The doctor gave us the go-ahead to start a bit of cereal, so after her nap we gave it a try. She seemed to really like it - she was actually lunging after the spoon!

Pretty Girl

2007-03-22T12:55:00.000-05:00

Leapin' Lily!

2007-03-22T12:44:00.000-05:00

The boys, a broom, and a bear

2007-03-22T12:37:00.000-05:00

Catch-up

2007-03-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

These two keep me so busy, I have a hard time remembering to update the blog. I know I've promised this before, but I really will post more!

So, let's do a bit of catch-up. No particular order - just a bunch of things that we have been doing lately!

Finally it has gotten warm enough for Lily to be outside! When we were in Winnipeg, we bought a double stroller so I can take them both for a walk. Of course, Liam is perfectly capable of walking by himself. However, he is so curious I can't trust him to stay by my side and not run off into other people's yards to see what they have going on! Lily really seems to enjoy it, and boy do both of them ever sleep well after all the fresh air!

Every Monday and Thursday morning I take both kids to playgroup. It is a wonderful set up at the rec centre where they have games, crafts, and snack for the kids. They have lots of cool toys and a big area where the kids can run. Liam LOVES it! Lily seems to like it too - she sits and watches all the big kids, and gets passed around to the other Mommies who need a baby fix. The other day, one of the activities was blowing bubbles. Liam kept on putting his lips right on the stick to blow. It didn't seem like he was going to have much success until the bubbles started coming out of his mouth! It was hilarious!

With the warmer weather, I have started to put Lily into some of her dresses and skirts. It's not a great pic, but here is Lily in her first-ever skirt!

Last but not least, I'll leave you with a pic of the two kiddos. Can you tell they adore eachother?

Is my guy a cutie or what?

2007-02-21T13:54:00.000-06:00

Lily and the exersaucer

2007-02-21T13:42:00.000-06:00

Snapshots

2007-02-21T13:12:00.000-06:00

Well, I can't catch you up on everything that has happened over the past few weeks, but I can share some pictures!

Our Trip to the City

2007-02-20T14:57:00.000-06:00

Let's just start by saying I don't know if Derek will ever go to the city with us again. That is how great the trip was.

As some of you know, we took a trip into the city last weekend to visit with my Grandma. We left on Saturday and things started out really well. Both kids were awesome in the van, and we made great time. We had a wonderful visit with Grandma. Liam loved playing on her piano - I think he has the makings of a musician! We stayed with Grandma for a few hours and then headed back to the hotel for supper and bed. Day one went without a hitch.

Sunday morning we went to the Kids and Baby Show at the convention centre so that Liam could see the Backyardigans. He LOVED it!! He was singing and clapping the whole time. In hindsight, taking Liam to a venue full of children during cold and flu season may not have been such a good idea. Nevertheless, we had a good time, went shopping for the afternoon, and returned to the hotel for what we thought would be a good night's sleep.

At the hotel, we had Liam sleeping with me in one of the beds. Liam is still very used to sleeping in his crib and he was moving and rolling all over the place. I tried, but I just couldn't keep him in the bed. At about 1am he fell right out, hitting his head on the wall on the way down. He seemed to be fine - he cried for a minute or two, then went right back to sleep. Two hours later, Liam woke up screaming. Within a few minutes he started to vomit uncontrollably. So we packed everyone up and headed over to the Children's Hospital, worried that Liam had a concussion or worse.

Luckily, the hospital wasn't very busy at 5am, so we got in relatively quickly. (By this I mean within an hour)Basically we were told that they didn't really know what was wrong with Liam - it could be a head injury, or a stomach bug that just happened to manifest itself right after a fall. We were planning on leaving the city later that day, but we were asked to stick around so that they could check Liam out again later that day.

So we added another night to our hotel stay and spent the day in our room with a sick toddler. Let me just say that it was not fun at all! Liam couldn't hold anything down and was sick dozens of times. Luckily, with some vigilance we were able to catch everything in a pail or a towel. Around suppertime, we packed everybody back up and returned to see the doctor. (Let's just say this time our van wasn't as fortunate as the hotel room)After waiting around for a good 2 hours, we finally were told that it was definately a stomach bug and we would just have to ride it out.

So on Tuesday, we finally headed for home. But things weren't done yet - oh no, because that would be too simple! By the time we arrived home, Derek was feeling awful and had the shakes. By bedtime, he was as sick as Liam. Needless to say, he stayed home from work on Wednesday - and it was a good thing too, because by lunchtime, it was my turn. We must have been such a sorry sight!

All in all the whole thing somewhat traumatized Derek. He says he doesn't want to go back to the city until the kids are "older". How much "older"? "Oh, maybe when Lily is five..."

Birthday Fun!

2007-01-28T09:27:00.000-06:00

Liam had a great birthday! We got him a Thomas train set and a Cozy Coupe car. He was thrilled with both of them! In the evening we of course had birthday cake - notice how Derek couldn't wait and already cut into the cake! LOL!

Happy Birthday Liam!!

2007-01-22T13:37:00.000-06:00

In just two short days, our little man will be turning two. Where has the time gone? It seems like it was only yesterday that he was just beginning to take his first steps and now he runs, jumps, and climbs like an old pro. He went from being our roly poly baby to being a true little boy. Looking back, it really is amazing how much and how quickly he has changed.

Liam has turned into quite the little chatterbox. He knows a ton of words and isn't afraid to use them! We rarely have to wonder what he wants or what he is thinking and we can have real conversations with him. He knows and uses please, thank you, and you're welcome - which makes his Mommy very proud! Some of his favourite phrases are "More!", "I want it!", and ironically, "I don't want it!" He'll repeat and use anything he hears, so we have to be really careful!

Sometimes it seems like this little boy of ours does not know how to slow down. He is just go, go, go all day long! He loves to play trucks and cook us "lunch" in his kitchen. He loves music and can often be caught singing some of his favourite Doodlebops tunes. Of course, every great singer can dance, too - and dance he does! He loves turning on his "chicken" that plays The Bird Dance and be-bopping around the room yelling "C'mon guys!" and "I dancing Mommy!" Liam also enjoys watching Thomas the Tank Engine and Tractor Tom, which have recently replaced Dora The Explorer and The Backyardigans as his favourite shows. He also has an odd fascination with the vacuum - he loves it and will purposely make messes so we have to get it out. However, as soon as we turn it on our boy is hiding safely on the couch! But, the thing Liam likes to do the most is help. Help make dinner, help sweep, help with the laundry, help shovel snow, help change the baby... He really wants to be a part of everything his Mommy and Daddy do!

Liam has also had a big change this year in becoming a big brother. He has his moments, to be sure, but for the most part he loves his little sister. He always wants to help her and is constantly saying "Hi Lilybean!" to her in a super high pitched voice. It is so cute!! He is also super protective - if anyone gets too close he starts telling them "Don't touch it!" At least we know she'll have someone looking out for her when she starts dating!

It has been such an awesome year. As I said before, I can hardly believe that Liam was once the baby he was back when he turned one. He is our Munkarunk, and the sweetest one you'll ever meet, at that. Along with his sister, he is our everything. I can't wait to see what he brings us next. Happy Birthday, Runk!

Check out the video to see how much Liam has grown this past year!

Make an online slideshow at onetruemedia.com

The "2" stats

2007-01-17T13:19:00.000-06:00

Both Liam and Lily had doctor's appointments today - Liam had his 2 year check and Lily had her 2 month check. Both kids are doing great! Liam is now 31 lbs and 34 inches long - 85th percentile for weight and 52nd percentile for length. Lily was 13 lbs and 21 inches - 90th percentile for weight, and just 9th percentile for length! We've got a short little chunky monkey here!!

Little Lily-bean

2007-01-06T22:02:00.000-06:00

Lily will be 8 weeks old tomorrow and I can't believe how much she has grown and changed! She is our little sweetheart! Here are some pics - check out the video to see her smile and coo!

We have smiles!!

2006-12-29T12:05:00.000-06:00

(Pretend I didn't cut the top of her head off in this pic...)

Merry Christmas!!

2006-12-29T11:48:00.000-06:00

I hope all of you out there had a great holiday! We had a wonderful Christmas here. It was very exciting because Liam actually understood the whole present thing - he was thrilled with each thing he opened! Among his favourites are his kitchen set from Santa(he loves to cook us "runCH") and his FP Ramps around Garage from Grandma and Grandpa J. Lily, well she slept through most of Christmas morning but she was quite happy to spend so much time with her Grandparents!

Christmas Eve (and yes, my son is wearing an oven mitt)

Liam and his kitchen set

Lily not too thrilled about posing with one of her toys

Two Peas in a Pod

2006-12-13T14:16:00.000-06:00

Lily is one month old!!

2006-12-13T14:09:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I am a day late! Lily is doing wonderfully. She is starting to sleep longer stretches at night and has lots of awake time during the day. She is quite laid-back and is content to just gaze around most of the time. Cuddles with Mommy or Daddy are her favourite things, along with being held by her big brother. She is starting to coo a bit and we are anxiously awaiting that first smile!

At her check-up yesterday, the doctor said she is doing great! She now weighs 10lbs 12 oz so she is growing like a weed. She's gone from the 57th percentile at birth, to the 72nd percentile at 2 weeks (9lbs 2oz), to the 90th percentile at one month!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2006-12-13T14:06:00.000-06:00

We just couldn't get Liam to pose with Santa - but Lily had no problem!

More of Liam and Lily

2006-12-01T12:35:00.000-06:00

Some new pics

2006-11-30T21:07:00.000-06:00

Lily's first "real" clothes

2006-11-26T20:45:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, Derek's Grandpa passed away this week. For the funeral, Lily was dressed in "real" clothes for the first time. The dress is one of the only things we have besides sleepers that fits her - she is still too tiny for anything other than newborn!

Suckie babes

2006-11-26T20:41:00.000-06:00

It's only been two weeks and Lily's already picking up Liam's bad habits...

Liam and Lily

2006-11-26T20:40:00.000-06:00

Introducing Lily Grace!

2006-11-16T10:07:00.000-06:00

Here she is, our brand new baby girl!

Lily arrived on November 12, 2006 at 12:56 pm. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. Her early appearance was a bit of a surprise - I guess she just couldn't wait until the 22nd!

We are home now and doing well - so far Lily is a very easy going baby! Liam seems to like his new baby sister and he's always giving her kisses or rubbing her head. Derek starts his holidays tomorrow, so we will have 4 weeks to spend together getting used to our new family.

I'll update again when I can!

Happy Halloween!

2006-11-05T20:35:00.000-06:00

Liam had a great time trick or treating on Halloween. You should have seen the look of amazement on his face when we went to the first house and they put a treat in his bucket! "Mommy,treat!!!" he kept on saying while staring into his pumpkin. After that, there was no stopping him. He was running from house to house and refused to let me or his Daddy even touch his bucket, even though it was getting full and heavy. After he had his turn outside, Liam still had lots of fun chatting with the kids that visited our house. It was quite a challenge getting the little man to bed when there was so much activity going on!

Overall, the whole experience left quite an impression. The next day we came home after work/daycare and he went running to the neighbours front door yelling "trick or treat!" He was quite upset when I explained that "trick or treat" was all done!

What a little turkey!

2006-10-28T15:08:00.000-05:00

Our sick little boy has made it so we have had quite a few near-sleepless nights. His latest trick is waking up very early - as in around 4 am. The other night we brought him into bed with us as we were desperate for some rest. Liam was quite good and was content cuddling with his Mommy. Unfortunately for Mommy, cuddling for Liam generally entails laying entirely on top of Mommy or putting his face so close that Mommy can barely breathe. Finally, after what seemed (and in reality was)hours, Liam finally fell asleep. Mommy moved Liam over and got comfy...just in time to turn the alarm off and get ready for work. So as Derek and I dragged our butts around trying to get ready for the day, King Liam enjoyed a peaceful sleep in our bed. Must have been nice...

An overdue update

2006-10-28T14:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, Kate, I am still here! :D

The past two weeks have been pretty crazy. Derek and I have been in overdrive making sure that things are ready for this new little one to arrive. Besides all the baby gear, clothes, and accessories, we have also been trying to get all our Christmas shopping done, organise and clean out the house, and today Derek is building new side steps for the house. Slowly but surely we are making progress. At this rate there actually is a chance we may be ready before the end of November!

The amazing thing is we have been doing all of this with a sick toddler. Liam has been either battling one superbug or a battillion of smaller bugs. It started with a cold that turned into chest/sinus infection. He went on a round of antibiotics and it started to clear up, but as soon as the medicine was done he was sick again. This time, not only did it include a barking cough, boatloads of snot, and goopy, runny eyes, but also major vomiting. (And being that Liam has never been a big puker, this sick-till-there-is-absolutely-nothing-left has left him quite traumatized) Poor guy, he has never been sick like he has the past few days. I did get him into the clinic today where I also found out that he has a raging ear infection to boot. (Isn't it funny that the doctor I took him to on Wednesday said absolutely nothing was wrong? Grrrr...)

Smelling fresh

2006-10-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

So it took me a while to realize why every time Liam got a hold of one of our sticks of deodorant he would hold it above his head. Then it clicked - what does he see us do when we put it on? Lift our arm above our head!

Let's go fly a kite

2006-10-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Grandma and Grandpa J brought Liam a kite. We had a chance to go out with it this afternoon and Liam had a blast! He was too funny to watch running around watching the kite dart back and forth. When the kite got too high he hard a hard time watching it and would usually end up losing his balance and falling back on his bum. If it weren't for the fact that Liam was ready for supper, I don't think we would have ever have gotten him home!

Smart boy!

2006-09-26T20:41:00.000-05:00

So tonight we were reading Liam his bedtime books. We were reading one of his favourites, Cookie's Week. It is all about a cat named Cookie who gets into all sorts of trouble through the week. For instance, "On Monday Cookie fell in the toilet. There was water everywhere!" - get the picture? Well we get to Tuesday "On Tuesday, Cookie knocked over a plant on the windowsill. There was dirt everywhere!" and Liam turns to me and says in a very knowing voice "vacuum". It kind of took us by surprise as there is no mention of any kind of cleaning up in this book. It absolutely amazes me the connections that Liam is able to make now. That's our smart boy!

We are still here, I swear!

2006-09-21T21:59:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth! Things have been unbelievably busy with the start of school - I've barely had time to stop and think, never mind blog or take pictures to post.

I'll leave you with a promise to blog more this weekend...and let you know that a date has been scheduled for my c-section. Baby J will be arriving on November 22, if he/she doesn't decide to come earlier!

Dancing Baby

2006-08-26T22:42:00.000-05:00

Remember that annoying dancing animated baby that was so popular during the Ally McBeal days? Well, we have our very own live version - much cuter and not annoying at all! If you listen carefully you can even hear him "singing", too!

Baby Bump

2006-08-14T21:26:00.000-05:00

I have had a few requests to see how "big" I am getting with this pregnancy. Here I am (or my belly at least) at 25 weeks.

The downside of pudding cups

2006-08-14T21:25:00.000-05:00