What we've all been up to lately

It's been a busy few weeks.

At the beginning of the month, I travelled to Ottawa by myself for the weekend -- leaving Ryan with the kids -- to see my sister who, in her 24th week of pregnancy was put on strict hospital bed rest. I stayed for three days and when things started to look up, I came home on Monday night. She's doing ok for now, and, thankfully, still pregnant. But she's still hospitalized and will be for the remainder of her pregnancy (however long that may be).

While I was off in Ottawa -- Ryan took the kids to a nearby fun fair where the kids apparently had a blast.

The next weekend, we all hung out close to home -- getting stuff done around the house. And this weekend, Ryan has been playing in a baseball tournament all weekend. It rained yesterday, so I kept the kids at home, but today, I brought the kids out to watch two of the three games.

Austin is done spring swimming lessons and he passed the level! He did amazing, and can now (among other things) swim with a lifejacket, unassisted across the width of the pool. I have signed him up for a summer swimming session in July. And, I managed to find a pool not too far away that has a guardian swim class (mom and tot in the water together) at the same time as Austin's swim level, so Alexandra will be taking her first swimming lessons this summer too. She loves the bath, so I'm hopeful that she'll love being in the pool too.

The swim classes are every morning for a two-week period in mid-July. It should be fun, and it'll give us something to do every morning.

Austin is also 'playing' soccer again this summer. We signed him up in the same league as last summer -- a session only for two and three year olds -- and he is really enjoying it again. This time, he has a far better attention span and is really getting into it. It also helps that the league limited the registration to about 20 kids this year -- instead of the 60 to 70 they had last year.

A few things about Alexandra:

• She still doesn't really speak, and although she has a few words, she rarely even uses them. However, I'm amazed at how well she can communicate with us without needing words. When she's hungry, she shakes her high chair; when she wants to go outside, she gets her shoes and tries to put them on; when she's tired she often points to her bed or asks for her blanket (her very special blanket that she can't sleep without).
• Her understanding of language is also very good. If you tell her that it's bath time, she'll drop everything and walks to the bathroom, if you ask her to give her what she's holding, she'll bring it to you. The only thing she doesn't listen to is the word 'no'.
• She's the sweetest girl, but has one heck of a temper -- already. I have a feeling she's going to be trouble!
• She has a shoe fettish right now. She is constantly going to the front door, picking up shoes (anyone's shoes) and carrying them around the house until she finds their owner. Or, she'll throw them in her shopping cart and push them around. The downside to this, is everytime we want to go out, we spend 5 to 1o minutes looking for shoes!
• She's a klutz and at any given time has no less than three bruises or scratches on her face. But almost every time she falls, she gets right back up and keeps going and so, I often don't even know when the newest bruise came from.

I guess that's about it for now.