Take me out to the ballgame

On Sunday, September 21, we took the kids to the Rogers Centre to see the Blue Jays vs the Red Sox.

The adventure started with a trip downtown by subway -- which for Austin was very exciting because it was his first subway trip (at least since he was a baby and too young to remember). Throughout the 30 minute train ride he repeatedly told us it was dark in the tunnel and that the train was in the tunnel. (Or, that the train was now outside -- depending on the station.)

The game was a lot of fun, and believe it or not, we lasted almost the entire game. Austin stood and watched, danced when music played, sat and ate the hot dog and licorice daddy bought him and cheered at most of the appropriate times. Unfortunately, it wasn't a stellar game for the Jays so there wasn't much to cheer about.
And Alex slept in my arms through pretty much the entire game -- so I guess you could say she enjoyed the fresh air and background crowd noise.

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All about the kids

Alexandra
I forgot to write a post after Alex's four month check up last month, but at the time she weighed in at 13 lbs, 14 oz and she was 25 1/4 inches long. That's a full two pounds lighter than Austin was at that age, but only half an inch shorter.

She's a very happy baby these days and is always laughing and smiling. She's discovered she has toes and is almost always grabbing at them and trying to pull them towards her mouth. She's going to get a rude awakening in a few weeks when I have to start dressing her with socks and shoes every day.

She's become a pretty good sleeper -- both during the day and at night. During the day, she's guaranteed to take at least one 2 to 3 hour nap and several other shorter naps throughout the day. And at night she'll usually sleep anywhere from 5 to 7 hours without needing a feeding. (Although many a nights she's cries out because she's lost her soother or come out from her blankets. All she wants is for me to her help her out and then she'll go right back to sleep.) And, she may be almost five months old, but she still likes to be tightly swaddled to sleep. This means she barely moves around in the crib when she's sleeping (because she can't in the swaddle) and I only have two blankets remaining that are big enough to swaddle her. I'm trying to get her out of the habit, but it's hard when I know that's the easiest and fastest way to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep. Although at least because she doesn't move around, I don't have to worry about her getting her arms or legs stuck between the bars of the crib.

And finally, she is growing some hair! It's light brown, maybe even blonde at the moment, and sticks straight up.

Austin
For Austin right now, life is a running commentary. He can't do anything or go anywhere without giving a long-winded play-by-play of what's going on. And he has a memory like his father -- he remembers everything, even the smallest detail such as the colour of the cup someone drank from three days ago. So one thing's for sure, you can't pull a fast one on him.

He also goes through phases where he repeats everything you say; which makes us watch our language all the time. I know; he copied me one day in the car when I swore under my breath for making a wrong turn!

Some things he says, or does, are very cute so I'll share a few that I can think of right now:

• Instead of saying running or run, Austin says ready set go. Everytime. So if I tell him I'm going out for a run, he'll say "mommy go out eady set go." (And yes, he says eady, not ready)
• We've taught him to say excuse me if he burps. But, what he ends up saying is "scuse me burp". (The same goes for scuse me fart)
• He used to say 'da' when he meant please, so one day we ennuciated the word for him to teach him how to say it. So now, everytime you remind him to say please, he says "pul-lease".
• Ryan will give him piggy backs around the house sometimes and he'll always say to Austin "hold on tight". So now, Austin walks around the house carrying something (a truck, a stuffed animal) and tells it to "hold on tigh".
• Yeehaw means horse. He knows how to say horse, but he still calls horses a yeehaw. And by extension, he thinks his summer hat looks like a cowboy hat, so he calls it his yeehaw hat. Alex has one too, according to Austin, although hers is pink.

If I think of any other cute tidbits I"ll add to this post in the future.

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A week at a cottage

Our week's vacation this year was spent from Aug. 16-23 at a quiet little cottage on Lake Bernard in the town of Sundridge -- the same lake and town we were at last year, but a different cottage. Last year's cottage was really nice, but the lake access was by dock only and this year we wanted a beach so that Austin could play in the sand and wade into the water.

The place we found had a large beach area and the water was shallow enough for Austin to walk out about 100 ft. But the cottage itself, although very cute, was a little more rustic and much smaller than we had anticipated.

It was a two-bedroom with a screened in porch and our plan had been to set up the playpen for Alex in our room. But when we got there, we discovered that both bedrooms were so tiny that they barely fit the double bed and dressers. So Alex, spent her nights sleeping in the kitchen and every morning we'd put the playpen away and she'd take her naps on the double bed in our room. Once we got used to the sleeping arrangements, the cottage didn't seem so small -- especially when we could send Austin out to play on the porch.

Considering the weather this summer, we were really lucky. We had just one rainy afternoon, which we spent playing with playdoh and other new crafts that I had brought along in case of rain. The rest of the days were sunny and beautiful -- although one day was a little too cold for swimming in the morning (it was only about 8C that morning). So, we packed the kids up and drove to North Bay (45 minutes north) for a few hours to ride the carousels and mini train, have some lunch and play in a park.

Alex and mom on the miniature train

On another day, we packed up both kids and went to nearby Mikisew Provincial Park for a hike. I wore Alex in the front pack and Ryan wore Austin in the backpack for a 2.3 km 'moderate' hike. About partway through, it didn't seem to be too challenging so Austin hiked by himself for awhile, before tiring and getting back in the backpack. The hike was a perfect distance with the two kids -- and was really nice except for the fact that some parts were a little flooded from all the rain over the last few weeks.
The four of us on our hike (Alex is all wrapped up in a bug net).

The rest of our days were spent playing in the sand, swimming in the lake -- of which Austin did every day and Alex went two or three times. She was a little unsure about swimming, but she seemed to like it -- she didn't scream anyway. And Austin loved going out in the paddle boat and canoe with Ryan.

Daddy burying Austin in the sand.

This property also housed a family of the world's friendliest ducks. Every day, the eight ducks would waddle right up to the door, asking for food. Austin loved feeding them bread -- as well as chasing them around the beach.

One morning, we also went to the nearby petting farm and fed the goats.

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