Happy Belated Birthday, Canada

It was a very busy weekend. Saturday we prepped for our party then headed to Tottenham to visit with Kim, Pete, Regan, Bailey & Brooke. Sydney had fun playing with her cousins & I think was a little sad that she wasn't staying for the sleepover. She got over it. She fell asleep in the van on the way home. Both kids were carried straight from the van to their beds.

On Sunday we had our annual Canada Day barbeque & I believe it was a success. There were 18 adults & 18 kids in our backyard, so I say believe because I honestly did not get a chance to talk to even half the people for more than a few minutes. Thankfully the kids were on good behaviour & when Jason was having issues he was willing to let my friends assist him with his woes. Nothing like being in the kitchen hearing your child cry in the backyard & hope that someone can help him. It was a very late night for Sydney, but she did pretty good. Tears were starting to come quite easily by the end though.

Today we laid low & had Brad's parents over to help us eat some leftovers. This was not originally planned, but a last minute thing. So I did not have enough in the fridge to make a salad so had to ask Dale to bring one. Nothing like having people over for leftovers & then asking them to bring something. I am sure I would get a gold star for that.

Now, I am just going to chill for the rest of the night because tomorrow is my third last day of having Sydney & Jason home together before I go back to work. So, we are going to Riverside Park in Guelph to meet up with some friends.

Not too many pictures from the weekend (too busy tending to other things), but here are a few.

The girls
Bailey, Sydney, Regan, & Brooke

It was cold, but the girls still went in. After getting out, Sydney didn't want to get dressed & walked around in her bathrobe. I should have gotten a picture of that to show our little Hugh Hefner of the party.

Yes, the picture is staged.

Thankfully Jason had a great nap before the party, so he was quite content to move about on his own & I just had to ask people to keep an eye on him. He hardly noticed that Brad & I were not around at his immediate beck & call.

Eleven Months Old

This month you have managed to learn some new tricks. You decided that crawling just wasn't for you & choose to scoot around. You will crawl when you are in a tight spot, but once you are through you plunk down on your bum & scoot away. You manage to travel very quickly & get into all sorts of stuff. You do not to spend too much time with one activity, so there is quite often a path of destruction in your wake. I have chosen to live with the mess rather than constantly following you to clear a path. Your Daddy & sister who are self-proclaimed neat freaks seem to have learned how to tolerate your destruction.

You now have eight teeth. This past month has not been the most restful one. You were quite restless at night and during your naps. The cause of this was never quite clear, but I think your teeth coming in really bothered you. However, you did also have a bad cold & there were so many things you were trying to master. You have mastered pulling yourself to a stand & you did climb the steps once. We don't think you enjoyed the experience because you screamed the whole way & have not repeated the attempt since. I am quite alright with you not being able to climb the steps, it is just one more avenue for you to get into trouble. In the past few days you have also started to try to stand up in the middle of the floor. You are still a long way from getting up, but it is great to see you try.

You are continuing to become a more social being. You have abandoned your wave as your neatest accomplishment & have moved onto clapping. Unfortunately this came after we have been trying to teach you to sign "more" for us. So, in your highchair we are not always sure if you are clapping to say 'look at me!' or if you are trying to tell us 'more'. You will always eat more, so we don't want to assume you are saying that if you are not. It is amazing the change in you when it comes to mealtimes. I cannot believe that you are the same kid who a few months ago was driving me crazy with your eating habits. Now, you will eat readily & pretty much anything that we put in front of you. Hopefully your willingness continues!

Pointing is also one of your new favourites. When we get you out of your crib you automatically point at the window & you want to look out. In your highchair you point at the food that you want. At Grandma & Papa's you are always pointing at their glass birds that move & they of course rush to please you & make the birds move. The rest of the time you are pointing at something & making your little grunting noise & it is up to us to figure out what you are trying to get us to see. When reading stories you will point to the moon when asked to & you will point to the animals for us to name.

There are many, many things that you do each day that bring us joy, however as seems to be the pattern with you there is always one thing that crops up each month that makes us want to pull our hair out. This month, it is diaper changes. Preparing to change your diaper is like planning your next move in chess. This process involves trying to find something for you to hold that will distract you long enough that you will lie still to be cleaned up. If the distraction doesn't work you are flipping over onto your stomach & trying to crawl away. Many changes become a bit of a wrestling match with you screaming while I try to pin you down. You see, you can be quite dirty & I don't really want you smearing that mess across the carpet & we had to abandon the change table a long time ago. Once you are clean I am willing to work with you & have learned to put your diaper on you while you are in a crawl position or a standing position.

I have added a video that we took today that demonstrates 5 of your current abilities or traits:

1. your love of music (although you can't hear it in the video) & ability to dance
2. your scooting method
3. your chase after me when you notice the camera
   
4. your tendency to not stay with any activity for much longer than 15-30 sec
5. and of course your big, happy smile

As you will notice, Sydney ended our video session.

Every girl loves a man who is good in the kitchen, so he is practicing early

He finally learned

Jason seemed determined to figure out how to get under the coffee table & get back out. Sydney has demonstrated the form to him many times & it seems that he finally has it 'mastered'.

When things seem bad

When you have a bad day it is always nice to hear or see something that reminds you of how much you do actually love and enjoy your children. Last night after blogging I finished taking some pictures off the camera & got my reminder.

Aside from the snotty nose, this picture melts my heart.

A few things make me love this picture.

1. Sydney's fashion 'sense'.
2. Her love of books & reading, although she currently is too interested in reading A Friend for Dragon- which is a horrible story, but her cousin Tyler gave it to her & she will not part with it.

Today was a long day

Today was a day that did not make me feel sad about going back to work in three weeks. Instead it was a day that has me looking forward to that day saying, "Reign freedom, reign!". Here is a summary of the events.

Jason didn't have a morning nap, so I thought we would go to Costco to get the things we needed. While there Sydney got into a pout because I wouldn't buy her a book (which I actually had gotten one for her to save for a 'special' occasion, but don't want her expecting to get something every time we are out), then she cried because she hurt herself on the cart & wanted to be carried. Yeah, like you can carry a child and steer one of those massive carts at Costco. Jason did great until I realized I forgot to get the propane tank which was the main reason we went, then he started to SCREAM! So I was one of those people pushing my cart as fast as I could in the store with one child screaming & the other with a sad look on her face. So needless to say, I have the propane tank but need to go back to get it filled.

Sydney's behaviour in the morning clearly demonstrated to me that she needed a nap, but she thought otherwise. When I caught her playing in her room and told her to go to sleep I was treated to the phase, "I don't like you Mommy!". Yes, I am already being treated to that retort from her. I am sure it is not the first time nor the last time that I will hear it. I left her in her room for awhile & could hear her chanting, "I don't like my Mommy, I want my Daddy". So, I finally went in & told her that she could either nap now or get up, but it would be early bed tonight & no stories before bed. She opted to get up, but she was a sad girl tonight when I did not read her any stories.

Jason did nap this afternoon, but clearly not as long as he needed to. So, they were both up at 2pm & the afternoon was filled with either clingy or crying children. Supper was a disaster & to make it worse Brad was going out for drinks with his boss after work- so he didn't get home until Sydney was in bed. While I was reiterating my day to him he thought I was whispering, but I told him that is all the voice I have because my throat is so sore. He clearly felt bad that I had such a crappy day with the kids & asked if there was any highlight & the only one was that both kids went to bed very easily.

Now I am off to get myself to ready for bed because, tomorrow is another day!

Flurry of Accomplishments

In the past few days Jason has (1) learned how to clap, (2) adjusted to no longer getting a morning bottle, and (3) climbed the stairs. In typical Jason fashion, none of these accomplishments have come easily. I feel like I have been trying to get him to clap for weeks & all of a sudden he finally did it last Wednesday. Now of course it is hard to tell the difference between when his is clapping & when he is signing 'more'. Thankfully more often than not he is happy to have you just clap back, so I think we are usually interpreting him correctly.

Last Monday I stopped giving him a bottle when he gets up in the morning. Monday morning was tough. He was pretty whiny before he went down for a nap & then didn't really nap at all. Actually, he never really had a morning nap all week- coincidence??? By Wednesday morning he seemed to have adjusted to this missing bottle. He is quite happy to be plunked in his highchair with some Cheerios & his milk while I get his real breakfast ready. Gerber makes a soft straw sippy cup & Jason is a master at drinking with it. I don't think Sydney mastered using a straw until about a year ago, but Jason can drink from a straw but still doesn't understand how to use a cup.

Now the stairs accomplishment seems to have come about quicker than any other of Jason's accomplishments. On Thursday, Sydney & Jason were playing & Sydney ran upstairs to get something from her room. Next thing I know I hear 'bonk' and then Jason is crying. I assumed that he had been standing at the base of the stairs & then fell & bonked his head on the wall when he tipped over. This happened again on Saturday & because I saw it at a different moment what I now believe happened was that he crawled up one step & then sat back down which of course had him toppling over on the floor. So, I encouraged him to crawl up the stairs & he seemed able to do it but was not wanting to do it so I stopped after a couple of stairs. Well, on Sunday morning when I was still in bed he attempted them again. Brad went up the stairs behind him & encouraged him the whole way, but Jason was having a FIT! I had gotten out of bed to see what was going on because I assumed that he had really hurt himself.

It seems that he must have some residual memory of tipping backwards off the step, because he sure seems afraid of crawling up the stairs now. It's a double edged sword really. Would love to see him achieve this 'milestone', but it just means more places he can get to & create more chaos. The other thing is that we can't really put a gate at the bottom of our stairs that go up to the bedroom. Because of the placement of the moulding & railing, there is no good way to secure a gate. This was never an issue with Sydney because if you said 'no Sydney' a few times, she didn't do it. Not Jason. He will try & try & try. I swear his goal is to wear us down. So, what did I do to prevent a major injury? I put foam pads at the base of the stairs. Luckily there is only about 6 steps to the next level so the risk of a bad fall is not great. I know that I will see Jason before he gets to the top (or hope I will), but know that if I am trying to get things done that I can't keep him from going to the steps completely.

I said to Brad that I am not sure what kind of mother that makes me when I am trying to minimize the injury rather than prevent it. I may not win the mother of the year award, but at least I am realistic about my child's impulses and my ability to harness them.

Springridge Farms

Springridge is just near the top of the escarpment,
so the view from the farm is quite picturesque.

This morning I took Sydney & Jason to Springridge Farms. They have a few animals (Sydney was disappointed that there were no horses), a corn maze (really just a corn path that kids won't get lost in), hay bales, and of course STRAWBERRIES. I did not venture out into the field to pick our own, not a task I am willing to take on right now with Jason & Sydney together.

Jason didn't nap again this morning (fourth morning in a row- could he be dropping this nap already?) & I knew I wanted to get them out. I also knew I wanted some fresh strawberries since the season around here is almost over- very short this year. So off to Springridge we went. It took much longer to get there than I remember & the way home was a little tricky trying to keep Jason awake. But Sydney enjoyed her time there looking at the animals & jumping on the hay. I am not sure if Jason's expression of "I am not impressed" was due to (1) being tired, (2) being hot, or (3) watching his sister have all the fun while he was stuck in the stroller. He did get a kiss from some little boy, for a reason that I am not sure. I was helping Sydney up onto the hay bale & turn around to see this little boy giving Jason a kiss. I wish I had a picture of the expression on Jason's face after that happened. He looked like he thought the kid was nuts.

Sydney did pretty good jumping on the bales, but when other kids were coming close to her to pass- she would cover her eyes. Not sure what that was all about. Just before we left I did take Jason out of the stroller so that he could sit with his sister for a photo op, but of course that resulted in me pulling hay out of his mouth. I so cannot wait for the everything in the mouth phase to be over.

Next year Jason, I promise you can join in the fun.

Watching the Storm

I hope very much to have children who are not afraid of storms. So, when one is coming in I try to make a big deal about listening for the thunder & watching for lightning (at a safe distance, of course). Sydney, really couldn't care less about my game. Which is good because it means that she isn't afraid of the storm, but it doesn't give me someone to sit & watch with either. So the other day when we were getting some good rain, I tried to encourage Jason to watch with me. He at least showed signs of wanting to watch out the window which of course then got Sydney interested too.

Maybe kids learn to play one parent off of the other from us using one kid to play off the other kid. Hmmm.

First missed moment because of work

Today I worked half a day and met with Jen who has been covering my job during my absence. She will be leaving on her mat leave a week before I return, so we are covering the details now.

It was Sydney's day at day care & Grandma & Papa kept Jason. Since Jason didn't make a sound when Dale put him down for a nap, she went in & checked on him (any other time she has put him down- he has cried before he went to sleep). When she peeked into the room she could not see him in the crib so she had to go right over. Apparently he was sitting facing the corner of the crib with his knees drawn up to his chest & his head was resting on the bumper pads. He was fast asleep. She could not believe he had fallen asleep sitting up, but that is where he was. She waited a few moments and went back in to lay him out because she was worried about how he would feel when he woke up.

She said he looked so funny, like a little budda baby. Unfortunately she didn't take a picture, so I will have to use my imagination to satisfy myself with what he looked like.

Brad's worried

We have noticed that Jason has found a new thing to play with...the phone. He picks up the phone that goes with his little kitchen & tries to hold it to his ear & sounds like he is saying "hi ya!". Jason has been much more of a babbler than we remember Sydney being, so it looks like Brad may be the only "strong silent type" in this household.

We will see if either of my children will have report cards similar to their mom's when she was in school. Two thirds of my elementary school report cards had a comment similar to..."Kelly would do much better in class if she did not chat so much".

She does listen

On the weekend we had our first incident of Sydney biting Jason. When I asked her if she bit him, she said "no". I knew she had & asked her again, also telling her that if she wasn't telling the truth that meant she was lying and that was a bad thing to do. She still denied biting him but when I showed her the teeth marks on Jason's finger, she immediately fessed up to her crime. Apparently Jason wouldn't kiss her, so she bit him. I don't think she was trying to be mean to him, I think she just was testing for a reaction- well she got one.

I am not sure if this incident will be the end to her lying. But I do know that she did hear my lesson about telling the truth because this is a phrase she has used a few times in the last couple of days. Yesterday when we were at Grandma & Papa's she was telling her Grandma something & I heard her tell Dale, "that's the truth Grandma!".

Boys of Summer

Today Jason had another play date with Graham. Thankfully these are starting to go much better.

Drying off after their swim.

Common theme these days when trying to take a picture of Jason. Better hope the first one is a good one, because once he sees me with the camera- he after me to get it.
This is a picture of him mid-scoot.

'Happy' Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day & a main goal of the day should be to do things that make the Dad in your life happy. I am not sure that we completely succeeded at reaching that goal for Brad. Two things that Brad hates most are: (1) planning too much in a day & rushing around & (2) eating outside. Yesterday was a busy day with Jason's baptism, having the grandparents back for brunch, & going to Robb & Michele's for dinner. On their own they do not sound like terribly complicated events that involve a lot of rushing, but when you are trying to coordinate two kids schedules into it- it often becomes a completely different experience.

First off, Jason started the day off for us with a wake-up call at 5:15am. Which in retrospect actually turned out to be a good thing because he actually had a short nap before church. He did very well during the service & didn't freak out when Pastor George took him. The water on his head turned out to be a good thing because it distracted him from the fact that a stranger was holding him & he then was squirming to find out where the water came from- in hopes that he could have a play. I think Jason would have been in support in a full immersion baptism.

Dale, my mother-in-law, works nights on the weekends and essentially went home to change her clothes & came straight to the church. It's lucky the service was over at 10am because she was starting to sway during the last prayer- I could have had her sleeping on my shoulder if it had been any later. After church we had a brunch & since the oven had been on while we were out I figured it would be cooler to eat outside- boy was I wrong. So, not only did we make Brad eat outside on Father's Day- it was VERY hot!


We were supposed to host the supper, but due to bbq issues we moved the festivities to Robb & Michele's. Although this meant we had to get ready to leave the house with the kids, we did not have as much clean-up afterwards- so that should have taken away some of the "busy-ness". I am not sure that Brad felt that way though.


So at the end of the day, we were both very tired due to our VERY early start & were looking forward to a good night's sleep. It seems that Father's Day was destined to end as poorly as it started. At 2am Brad & I are awoken (thankfully not the kids though) by an alarm. We at first thought it was the smoke detector, but then learned that it was the Carbon Monoxide detector. At 2am in the morning I couldn't even think what you were supposed to do when there is Carbon Monoxide in the air. First we went into the kids rooms to be sure they were alright & thankfully they were still sleeping peacefully. We reset the detector & plugged it back in to see what happened & 20 minutes later it went off again. Since we really don't have anything in the house that would emit Carbon Monoxide we figured that it had to be something faulty with the detector, but you don't want to take chances. So, Brad took it outside & plugged it in out there to see what happened. After about 10 minutes it went off again, so we could at least be confident that there wasn't anything in the house it was just the detector.

By this time it is about 3am & we head back to bed. After a bit I could get back to sleep, but I am not too sure that Brad slept too much after that. Hopefully tonight will be much more peaceful for him (& me too, of course).

Houdini Logan

If you read last weekend's post you learned that Logan made a leap out of the basement while we were away. Yesterday when I went out with the kids I put a kitchen chair & Jason's highchair in front of the gate & she somehow cleared it!!!!!

I will be seeing my in-laws this weekend & plan on asking to borrow their video camera. This is a 5-6 foot leap that she must be taking & I just don't get how she is doing it.

I am not concerned that she would wreck anything in the house if we didn't put her downstairs, but I am worried that she would plant herself at the front window & bark at whoever goes by. There are two big dogs across the street who are very easily set off to bark & they are LOUD. I do now want Logan to start the chorus of barking in while we are away. Thankfully the two big dogs next door moved out yesterday. Liked the owners, not the dogs.

Pretend Play

This morning before Sydney left for daycare she was 'feeding Jason some chocolate'. Of course this was just pretend, but Jason was sitting there like a little bird opening his mouth for the spoon. It was so cute I had to run & get the camera.

However, by the time I returned Jason was starting to tire of Sydney's little game. I think he had finally realized that there wasn't anything coming on the spoon that she was offering.

Sun, sun, sun

Today was one of those days where I did many things with the kids that Brad says he would not dream of doing alone. By the end of the day, I almost agreed with his approach but decided that I was tired because I did it all in one day instead of spreading the activity out over a few days. But when the weather is so beautiful, how can you not embrace it?

This morning we went out to Christie Conservation & met some friends for a swim, lunch & play at the park. Then the drive home involved actively talking to both Sydney & Jason to be sure they did not fall asleep in the van and ruin my chance of peace while they napped. Thankfully they both napped because needed the time to tidy up the disaster we left behind in the morning (I foolishly also did a craft with Sydney this morning during Jason's nap) & getting things ready for supper.

Barbequing and being outside is great, but trying to manage both kids playing outside & going back & forth for things for supper...not a fun task. So, to make things easier I try very hard to get as much supper prep done during naps so that the official supper preparation is not too stressful.

When the kids got up from their naps we went next door & Lindsey took Sydney for a swim. I didn't have the energy to take Jason in because he was being a little testy. So, once Sydney got out we came back home & they played in a much tinier pool. It is pretty cool because it has a sun shade on it, so it is perfect for Jason. Pretty much the whole pool was shaded & he could move around as much as he liked. The pool is pretty small for Sydney, but she still loved playing in the water. Thankfully Jason didn't freak out when I had to pull him out for a few minutes so that I could go inside to get the stuff for the barbeque.

So, all in all it was a very busy day- but a great one. Well there is one exception. I lubed the kids up well with sunblock, but missed my back & I am really paying for it now.

Sydney & the girls

Jason loving the water
(and the stones that he kept putting in his mouth)

Exhausted...

Last night after supper, I was absolutely exhausted from the weekend. Between gardening, anniversary party, birthday party, spending so much time outside, & constantly getting Jason out of things- I was beat. I attempted to post some pictures from the weekend, but our Internet was acting up & I did not have the patience to deal with it. What I should have done was gone straight to bed because I was so tired. Instead I watched 'Sweet Home Alabama' for probably the third time & read my book (Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince). By the time the movie was over I had gotten a second wind & then couldn't put my book down. Thankfully Jason did not choose last night to be up through the night.

Here are some pictures as a snapshot of our weekend.

Saturday Morning

We finished up our gardening with Sydney's help.
Do you like her Dora gardening gloves?

Saturday Afternoon

We headed up to Listowel for Uncle Jack & Aunt Susan's 30th anniversary party.

Jason was entertained for the first half hour by Nana's beer bottle.

Once the beer bottle lost his interest he started to scoot around & eventually got himself pulled up on the lawn chair. He is not a master at getting himself up yet, but he is expanding his use of levels to figure it out. The one he seems to like best is the bath tub. As much as I want him to be able to pull himself up, the bath tub is not a place I want him to master.

Sydney on the other hand, was content to play with Hayleigh & Emily for the afternoon.

Saturday Evening
After supper we put the kids in their p.j.'s & headed home. It took about 20 minutes to get them to settle & quit fooling around in the back. It is cute to hear them playing in the back together now, but now when we really want Jason to sleep. Sydney was repeatedly asked to leave her brother alone so that he would go to sleep. Thankfully he did fall asleep about halfway home, but as expected Sydney was up for the whole drive. Thankfully she went to bed pretty good once we got home & Jason transferred to his crib with little problem.

Sunday Morning

Went to a belated birthday party for Sydney's friend Emma. Kate's Cinderella cake was much more professional than the Cinderella cake that Brad & I made for Sydney on her birthday.

After cake, Sydney, Emma & Alina were all ready to go swimming.

Jason too had to get into the action. Looks like another water baby.

Sunday Afternoon

We arrived home from the party with two overtired children to find Logan in the living room. When we go out we put Logan in the basement & put the gate up. This week she had jumped the gate a couple of times this week, so Brad had put the chair in front. However, she still managed to get upstairs. I am so afraid that one of these days we are going to come home & find her lying at the bottom of the stairs with a broken leg (or worse).

How do you break-up with your hair stylist?

Today I went to a new hair stylist & I really liked her & what she did to my hair. I have been going to my previous stylist, Tahra, for about 8 years & in the last year I have probably gotten 3 or 4 cuts that I just wasn't happy about. I do however love how she highlights my hair. I wanted a new cut & didn't think I would get what I wanted from Tahra because she knows me too well & knows that I am resistant to change & may not force me over that edge. So I tried someone new that a friend recommended.

After today, I am pretty confident that I will not likely return to Tahra. I know that I should send her a note to tell her, but I am not really sure what to say. How do you break-up with a hair stylist???

Below is a picture of my new do- not a great pic due to the light so I will try again another day. The test will be to see if I can style it. Sydney & Jason stayed at Grandma & Papa's when I went to my appointment. When I was bringing them home I asked Sydney if she liked my hair. Her words were, and I quote, "Not really Mommy, it looks awful". I am still trying to decide if she meant it or if she was trying to be funny. Kids are honest, so really it could go either way.

Like the huge zit on my forehead?
Honestly, I get more now than I did in high school!

Happy Birthday Nana

Jason apparently couldn't wait to wish Nana a 'Happy Birthday" this morning. He started moaning, chatting, and crying in his crib intermittently at 3:30am. I went in at 4:30am to see if I could get him to sleep & at 5am brought him down to the rocking chair. He did fall asleep, but woke when I went to move him & now...well we are up. You may be up too & we would call to say Happy Birthday, but don't want to risk starting your day any earlier than you want.

We are supposed to be going out for dinner tonight to celebrate Aunt Michele's birthday. Don't know how well that is going to go. One thing I do know is that Jason & I will be leaving the restaurant early.

I think I can see some teeth starting under the gums, so I think that is the cause of the restlessness. I am sure hoping that exhaustion takes over & he has some lengthy naps today.