Happy Easter!

After a busy week of being on vacation (and the kids being spoiled at Grandma and Granddad's house), Easter weekend has been on the low-key side for us.

On Friday evening, my sister and brother-in-law came from Ottawa to spend the night. They arrived just in time to help us sing happy birthday to Alex and to eat cake!

On Saturday night, we headed out to my parents house for a family Easter dinner -- a fun evening with lots of yummy food. And instead of making an Easter-type dessert, my mom decided to make a chocolate birthday cake for Alex; so once again, we all sang to her and she got to eat cake! She's going to be a pro at this birthday thing by the time her party rolls around next weekend!

This morning, the Easter Bunny came! It took Austin a few mintues to understand the fact that after he found a few Easter eggs that there were likely still more. And that, yes, they were for him. After every find, he'd ask us if the egg was for him.

Alexandra, on the other hand, didn't quite get the concept of looking for eggs, but she enjoyed following Austin around the room with her basket in hand. And she did actually find a couple -- and when she did she stood, pointed and yelled until someone helped her get it and put it in her basket.
With such a busy week of Ryan's and my Vegas vacation, Alexandra's first birthday and other news, stay tuned for a slew of new posts and pictures in the coming hours and days!

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Alexandra is definitely a walker now

I finally managed to catch my walking monster on video. She's gotten really good at it in the last few days -- so good in fact, that she often just walks around the house, just because she can, not because she's trying to go anywhere.

Here are two videos of her. Enjoy.



(I have no idea why Austin felt the need to throw blankets at her while she walked by, but she thought it was pretty funny.)

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A busy few weeks

Amendment: Since I wrote this this morning, it's official -- Alex is walking. She spent today walking all over the house. When she fell, she'd simply get back up and keep walking. She rarely bothered to crawl anywhere. I'll try to get a video of her soon.

March seems to have flown by. Here's a quick update on what we've been doing and what the kids are up to:

The first week and a half of March were a bit of a write off because I had a weird infection in my left arm (called cellulitis). This infection was in the tissue of my arm and caused my whole arm to swell to the point that I couldn't use it. I had a steady stream of friends and family coming in every day to help me with the kids because I couldn't take care of them by myself.

The infection is healed now, although I still have some pain in my arm (thanks to bursitis -- which is how the infection likely got in). But I've quickly learned to do a lot of one-armed work and can manage on my own now.

Last weekend, we went to Guelph to visit (auntie) Jamie for the day and to go to College Royal (basically the University of Guelph's open house). Being an agricultural university, their barns and vet school were open so we could visit the animals -- which both kids loved. We also visited the science department where you could touch marine life (like starfish) as well as everything else kid-friendly we could find. It was a fun afternoon.

This past Friday (March 27) I took the kids to a nearby Maple Syrup Festival. And although there wasn't as many activities on weekday as on the weekends, it was still fun -- and it was a beautiful day so it was just nice to spend a few hours walking around outside. And, of course, Austin told me the best part was tasting the maple syrup!
At least by spending so much time walking outside at the festival, Austin actually napped that afternoon. Because lately he's become Mr. I-Don't-Want-To-Nap. It's not that he's not tired -- because I do really try to tire him out every morning (I even took the kids to the zoo one day and he still wouldn't nap when we got home) -- it's just that he doesn't want to nap. So he goes into his room every afternoon, gets tucked into bed and then, within minutes, starts singing at the top of his lungs. He'll usually stay in his room for 45 minutes to an hour, so at least it's some quiet time for him, even if singing is a rather loud activity!

His swimming lessons have once again come to an end and he once again loved it. And he did really well. So, we've signed him up for the spring session, but this time, he'll be in a class with three other kids instead of in a private lesson.

On another note, Austin has been completely potty trained for a couple of months now. He still has the occasional accident -- but even then, they're only partial accidents; he still manages to make it to the bathroom before his pants get too wet.

Alexandra, believe it or not, turns one in a couple of weeks. And I'm pretty sure she'll be walking by then. Already, in just two weeks, she has progressed to "walking but falling a lot". She's taken as many as 20 steps at a time before she falls and can now get herself up unassisted and start walking across the room. So it's only a matter of time before she stops bothering to crawl at all.

The great news about Alex, is she has finally started consistently sleeping through the night. She's been on and off for months, some nights sleeping through until 5 a.m. or so, having a snack and going back to sleep and other nights waking up screaming at 2 a.m. (and screaming for 2 hours or so). But about three weeks ago, just like that, she started sleeping straight through until 7 a.m.-ish. Hopefully it'll last for awhile.

The only other news around here is I have a little less than four weeks left of maternity leave and then I'm back at work and the kids are at daycare. I'm planning on enjoying my last few weeks with the kids. Although, before I head back to reality, the kids are taking a four-night vacation at my parents house and Ryan and I are taking a vacation in Vegas!

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My little girl took her first steps

Yesterday, Alexandra took her first steps.

For a few days now, she been standing unassisted. Just standing a few inches from anything -- playing with a toy or clapping her hands and smiling. But any time she'd think of moving her feet, she'd just fall to her bum and crawl instead.

But yesterday evening, she was standing with Ryan and took two steps towards me. Then stopped as she started to lose her balance; caught herself again and took two more steps into my arms!

We were all so excited, even she was clapping.

And then she did it again. And again.

Here's the video. Enjoy!

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Austin and daddy at the Raptors game

On Sunday, Ryan took Austin to his first Raptors game. (Well, technically, the first game he's likely to remember. We did take him to a game when he was five weeks old, but that doesn't count.)

The boys had a great time and Austin had no trouble sitting through the whole game. It does of course help that daddy bought him popcorn for lunch and there are plenty of opportunities at a basketball game to get up and dance.

He cheered Let's Go Raptors during the game (actually, Let's Go Rappers, is how he says it); he loved watching the Raptor mascot running around and the dancing girls (as he told me they were called when he got home) were a highlight.

While the boys were at the game, Alex was at home with a babysitter and I was at a baby shower enjoying a little child-free time with adults.

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Happy 3rd Birthday Austin!

It's hard to believe that Austin is now 3 years old! I don't know where the time has gone, but somehow, my little boy has turned 3.

On Sunday, we had a party for him -- inviting 5 of his friends, their parents and siblings. In total, we were 10 adults and 9 kids for lunch and cake.

The kids spent the about three hours running around the basement, stopping only long enough to eat.

Since Austin is big into Mickey Mouse right now (it's his favourite TV show), I made him a Mickey Mouse cake for the party. It took me the better part of Saturday to decorate, since it's the first time I've ever decorated a cake, but it was fun to do -- and Austin loved it, which was the most important part.

Here are some pictures from the party, enjoy. More pictures are in the slideshow in the right-hand sidebar.

Blowing out the candles

Patiently waiting for daddy to cut the cake

Present time!

Austin and his friends Lilo (under the table), Aaliyah, Alejandro and Izzy.

Alexandra enjoying her very first piece of cake. The advantage to being the second child means she gets cake before Austin did...Austin didn't get cake until his first birthday.

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Family Day fun

For the most part, we spent the long weekend at home just getting stuff done around the house. But on Monday we decided to go off and do something as a family.

So we went to the zoo. Actually, we had planned to go to the Science Centre (because they have a really cool kids zone) but when we got there, the lineup to get into the parking lot was all the way down the street. So, we made a u-turn and headed for the zoo.

Well it crowded there too -- so crowded that we had to wait 20 minutes just to park in the overflow parking lot. But since we're members, the crowds didn't bother us too much -- because you don't feel like you have to get your money's worth by seeing as much as you can.

It was a beautiful day, about -1C and sunny, and we wandered through some of the indoor pavillions where we saw the gorillas, pygmy hippos, orangatans and more. We also stopped to see the elephants, which were putting on quite a show for a bit -- flapping their ears and trumpeting, and the tigers, where one was pacing back and forth while growling. We packed a lunch, but when it came time to eat, the only tables we could find were outside. So we figured, why not. It took a little bit to convince Austin that he wouldn't get cold while eating but after that we had a fun little picnic on Feb. 16. Not something you get to do too often!

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Playing in the snow

We've had a ton of snow here this year. Not quite as much as last year, I don't think, but still a lot of snow -- at least in my opinion of Toronto snow.

If nothing else, there's a lot of snow for Alex's first winter compared to for Austin's first winter in 2007 (I'm not counting the fact that he was born in the winter).

Here's Austin on Jan. 26, 2007. Notice in this picture, that there's barely enough snow to cover the grass.And here's Austin and Alex, sitting in almost the same spot on the front lawn, on Jan. 28, 2009:

Austin loves going out and playing in the snow -- his latest game is to climb up the mountain he's sitting on in the picture and then creating a slide onto the driveway. And of course, he insists that Alex slides down too!

We try to get out and do nothing but play in the snow once or twice a week, but it's hard because we've had quite a few very cold days. And even when it's not too cold to play, we don't get out often because Alex gets bored being unable to move much in a snowsuit and Austin doesn't like playing outside by himself for very long. But we still manage -- often when Alex is sleeping in the mornings.

Hope everyone's staying warm.

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9 month check up and other news

Alexandra had her nine month check up today. She weighed in at 18 lbs 4.5 oz and is 28.5 inches long.

And although we think she's tiny (compared to Austin at the same age as well as compared to two other babies her age we know), she actually sits in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height.

But she is half an inch short of being too big for the infant carrier car seat. So, I guess that means that we'll very soon (maybe this weekend?) have to switch her to a rear-facing installed car seat (because she's still two pounds shy of being able to sit forward-facing).

In other news, Alex is crawling all over the house now, pulling herself up on anything she can and getting into everything she can -- especially if it's something that Austin has. Austin is the centre of her universe right now and she absolutely loves being around him and playing with whatever he's playing with. Most of the time, this works out fine as Austin loves playing with her and wants her to be involved in almost everything he's doing. Almost everything. One minute he's telling me he wants to play with Alex and the next minute he's yelling at her to stop grabbing his train set or his car.

This video of Austin pulling Alex on the sled was his idea, not mine. Sorry the quality's not great, I didn't know there were two types of video settings on our camera. But I thought it was cute, so I've posted it anyway.

Austin is now home with me full time until the end of my maternity leave (on April 27) and so far we are having a lot of fun. I've once again signed him up for swimming lessons -- which he loves. We spend the rest of the days of the week going to play groups, meeting friends, running errands or staying in and having dance-a-thons in his bedrooom. In all, it's going well and I'm enjoying my time with the two kids. And, touch wood, I've even managed to get them to both nap at the same time, for at least part of the nap, every afternoon.

The above picture was taken on my birthday. Since it was on a weekday, we just did a nice dinner at home as a family -- which was really nice. Funny how, as you get older, you just want to spend your birthday with the people closest to you. All day, Austin was super excited that it was my birthday, because, as he kept reminding me, he would get to eat cake! (As for having a non-kid evening, Ryan did take me out on the Saturday night to the Keg and a movie, so in all it was a very nice birthday.)

We're still working on the potty training with Austin and he's doing very well. Since the holidays ended, he now only wears a diaper to sleep and if we're going out.

Finally, here's a fun video of Austin taken in October that I found on our old camera. It was taken right before the camera died and was forgotten about until recently. Over the summer, my sister-in-laws taught him how to do the Chicken Dance.

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Christmas in three and a half parts

Christmas and New Year's (and the days in between) were a very busy time for us this year. So grab a coffee and get comfy, because this is a long one.

First, on Christmas Eve, we packed up the car and drove to London where we spent the night with Ryan's mom and Graham. That night, we hung the stockings by the fireplace and left milk and cookies out for Santa because he knew we were sleeping there instead of at home. I'm not sure Austin really understood why he was doing all of this, but he seemed to think it was fun.

Although Austin knew that Santa was coming to bring him presents, he (thankfully) didn't realize that this meant he should wake up at the crack of dawn. In fact, we were all standing around in the kitchen waiting for Austin to wake up on Christmas morning -- and he finally did at 8:45 a.m.!

Christmas morning was exciting for everyone and Santa spoiled us all. In fact, with so many people (we were 8), it took all morning and some of the afternoon to open all the presents. By the time we were done, Austin needed somewhere to run and burn some energy so Ryan, Jamie and I took the kids tobagganing. Austin had a blast and even Alex was laughing as she went down the hill with Ryan.

That night, after dinner, we packed up and went to Ryan's dad's house to spend the night with him and do Christmas morning Part II. Once again, everyone was spoiled with gifts. Both days, Alex was more interested in eating wrapping paper than opening her gifts but Austin had no problem fulfilling his big brother duties by helping her open them!

After another yummy dinner, we packed up again and drove back to Ryan's mom's house to spend the night because early the next morning, before the kids woke up, Ryan and I left the kids with nana and gramps, drove to Buffalo and caught a flight to Raleigh, North Carolina for my cousin's wedding.

We had a bit of an ordeal getting to Raleigh. First we drove three hours through the worst fog I've ever seen; then we were only issued one boarding pass because the plane was overbooked. We waited a nerve-wracking one hour to find out if we'd be able to get another one -- which we did and it was the very last seat on the plane. We made it there by about 2:30 -- giving us plenty of time to check into our hotel, have a bite to eat and get ready for the 6 p.m. wedding.

It was a nice wedding at a nearby country club and everyone danced the night away -- including my 94 year old grandmother who barely wanted to get off the dance floor!

The next day, there was a lunch at my aunt and uncle's house, and we spent the day hanging out there. It was nice to be able to visit with my family because I don't see them very often these days. We used to spend a lot of time with my cousins growing up, including every Christmas but then we moved to Toronto and they moved to North Carolina. And now, my one cousin lives in Chicago and my other cousin (and his new wife) live in California. So, for the first time in five years, we were all together to open Christmas gifts from each other that Sunday -- and we did so on the back deck because it was 74F that day! Talk about a nice break from the winter!

Ryan and I flew home on Monday morning; flying from Raleigh to Buffalo, then driving back to London, packing up all the stuff and the kids and then driving back to Toronto -- arriving home some 12 hours after we left Raleigh.

Christmas Part III was on Jan. 2 at my parents house, where we once again were spoiled with gifts. We spent the day relaxing at my parents house and feasting on a turkey dinner.

In the days between arriving home from Raleigh and Christmas Part III, we went to an appetizer dinner party for New Year's Eve at a friends' house. Everyone had to make and serve one appetizer to the group. It was a lot of fun, and we ate some very yummy foods. We were 10 adults and 5 kids and although none of the kids made it until midnight, Austin was the last to pass out around 10:30.

Now that all the festivities are over, it's time to get back into a regular routine, relax a little bit and maybe buy some new shelving units just to find homes for all the new toys the kids got this year!

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Austin's message from Santa

Austin is really getting into the whole Santa thing -- so much so that even when we're at the mall across the street picking up a few groceries, he wants to go see Santa. Needless to say we've visited him a few times.

A friend tuned me on to this website where kids can receive a personal message from Santa, thanks to Sympatico/MSN. I thought it was cute so I'm sharing it with you. (I wanted to do one for Alex too, but it wouldn't let me input information for kids younger than one.) Austin was just mesmorized while watching it -- so much so that he responded to Santa when he was talking.

Enjoy. And Merry Christmas!

Message from Santa

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Alexandra on the move

As promised, here's a video of Alex in action. In the last day or so, she's actually gotten quite good at this crawling thing. After watching Austin do the army crawl (on his toes and elbows), followed by the monkey crawl (pulling himself around on his butt), it's weird to see a baby crawling 'normally'.



As you can see in this video, she's also learned how to get herself back into a sitting postion from her tummy. This is great when she's playing on the floor, but the novelty of this new skill means when she's lying in her bed, she's rolling over and sitting up rather than sleeping.

So, last night, she called out at 1 a.m. and when I went in, she was just sitting there. I laid her back down and she went right back to sleep. It's almost as if she gets up and then forgets how to get back down (probably because she's not very awake) so she calls out for help. It's a faze that'll pass, I'm sure. We went through the same thing when she first learned how to roll onto her tummy. If she did so in her sleep and woke up on her tummy, she'd forget how to roll back over and call us to come help her.

Stay tuned for more videos in the coming weeks and months -- now that I have a camera with video again.

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a week away! I'm almost done my shopping and then there's just a mountain of wrapping to do. Every night I say I'm going to do some, but then I never seem to get the motivation to start. Why do I have a feeling that it's going to be a Christmas-eve wrapping marathon?


With Christmas almost here, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at home. Last Friday morning, while Alexandra took her morning nap, Austin and I decorated a Gingerbread house. We had a lot of fun, and surprisingly more candy ended up on the house than in his mouth. Now, he's constantly asking to eat the cookie house (as he calls it) which is fine by me if he likes it, because I think it tastes like cardboard.

On Saturday morning, we put up our Christmas tree. Again, Austin had a blast and was so excited to have his very own Christmas tree. He'd only be asking me for one for about three weeks! So much so, that some days I would take the kids across the street to the mall so that he could look at the mall tree.

Both kids got involved in decorating, although Alex spent more time trying to eat the ornaments than put them on the tree. Austin, on the other hand, decorated a small patch on the front of the tree really well.The lights are on almost full time because every morning, when Austin wakes up, the first thing he asks for is the lights. It's a good thing we bought LEDs this year (after starting to put the old lights on the tree only to discover that many strings no longer worked and there wasn't enough to cover the tree).

On Sunday, we went to the PCL Family Christmas Party where the kids got to do crafts, go on a sleigh ride (well wagon ride due to the lack of snow), and of course, meet Santa.

When we met Santa at the mall last month, both looked a little like deers caught in headlights. But this time, both were more relaxed and willing to smile. Although when Austin got off Santa's knee and we tried to get a picture of just Alexandra, she just screamed.

That's all the news for now. We have a busy for weeks ahead of us with Christmas in London, then a trip for Ryan and me to North Carolina for my cousin's wedding (without the kids!) and then a Christmas in Brampton on Jan. 2 with my family.

So there'll be plenty more pictures soon. And we finally bought a new camera to replace our broken point-and-shoot, which means I can once again take videos. So stay tuned for videos of Alex crawling -- or trying to anyway.

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Let me rephrase that

Less than two hours after I wrote the last post, I figured out why Alex has been so cranky today. There, on her lower gumline is her first tooth poking out.

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All about the kids again

Once again, I've been mainly writing about what we've been doing lately and not about the kids -- so here's a quick update on what they're up to.

The two kids get along really well right now. Austin loves his little sister and likes to sit and play with her -- although he doesn't always know to be gentle. And Alex thinks that her big brother is the funniest person in the world. She's always giggling at him as he runs circles around her. It's pretty funny to watch.

Alexandra

Alex has mastered the art of crawling...backwards. And it's quite frustrating for her. She'll start off by sitting and playing, and then, in an effort to grab something out of her reach, she'll fall over onto her tummy. Then, as she continues to try to reach that something, she'll end up pushing herself backwards -- further and further away from whatever it is she wants. On occasion, I've even looked over and found her stuck halfway under the couch!

She may not be crawling, but what she really wants to do is stand. At every opportunity, she's grabbing on to something and trying to pull herself up. She can easily do so by grabbing my hands, but has not yet figured out how to use things like the couch or a chair to get herself standing.

She still has no teeth. A couple of weeks ago, she was definitely going through teething pain and you can still see the two little bumps on her lower gumline, but as of yet, she still hasn't popped a tooth. So, for now, her meals consist of completely pureed food and mum mum crackers (which disolve in her mouth). Although, to be a little selfish, I have to admit, I don't mind the no teeth, because I'm still breastfeeding her.

And lastly, she has finally started sleeping well at night. After about two months of waking up several times at night -- and not necessarily because she was hungry, but just because she'd wake up (and sometimes even to play in her bed for an hour or two) -- she finally started sleeping through the night. Before I left for Ottawa, I decided I'd had enough of these poor sleeping habits and, as soon as we got home, she was going to be sleep-trained (in other words, we were going to let her cry it out). In Ottawa, she started sleeping through the night (from 8ish to between 5 and 6). She now does so pretty consistently -- although the last few nights she's been up a couple of times and I wonder if it's because these teeth are trying to pop through.

Austin

In the last couple of months, Austin's language abilities have greatly improved and he's now speaking in full sentences and in such a way that almost anyone can understand him (instead of just mom and dad). Almost every day, he's trying out new words, or surprising me by knowing something he didn't know yesterday. We definitely have to spell around him now when we don't want him to know what we're talking about.


His swimming lessons have finished for the fall and he greatly improved over the course of the session and really enjoyed them. So much so that I'm going to be signing him up again in the winter.

We're also working on potty training and after about two and a half months of sitting on the potty every day for anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes with no success he finally started going in it about two weeks ago. He gets so excited now when he sees how happy we get -- which I think is motivating him to go. He only manages to go in the potty once or twice a day, so we still have a long way to go, but it's a start and we're very happy.

The big news is, is that as of Christmas, Austin will no longer be going to the sitter's part-time. I decided that I wanted to keep him at home with me for the rest of my maternity leave. And although they both may drive me crazy some days, I'm really looking forward to it. I talked to the agency, and they've assured me that they will give him his full-time place back, and have one for Alex, when I go back to work at the end of April.

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Ouch!

So, Austin has now made his first trip to emergency.

Yesterday morning, I took the kids over to McDonald's playplace so that Austin could burn off a little energy. He had a great time running around on the climbing structure and playing with the other kids.

Then, about 10 minutes before we were to leave, he took a tumble (that I couldn't really see) and started screaming. I ran up the stairs to find him bleeding (a lot) from the mouth. Once I got him cleaned up and calmed down, I was able to get a good look in his mouth -- and discovered that he had tried to put his tooth through his tongue and now a pretty deep hole in it.

We headed home and Ryan and I quickly decided that it needed to be looked at by a doctor. So, Austin and I went off to the hospital (because I called the Children's after-hours clinic first, but the receptionist said that if he needed stitches, that their doctors don't do that).

After almost three hours of waiting quite patiently (for a two-year-old) we were seen by a doctor and given the all clear to go home. I've now learned that unless the tongue is actually hanging off, they don't stitch it. But, I was warned that it'll likely still be painful for a few days as it heals.

So, to help take the pain away, his diet and largely consisted of ice cream, freezies and popsicles. Although I have managed to get a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a slice of pizza in him as well -- although he complained that it hurt with almost every bite.

Poor kid.

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Trip to Ottawa

This past weekend, I took the kids, by car, to Ottawa to visit my sister, Alison and brother-in-law, Billy. It was just me and the kids.

We left Toronto Thursday afternoon (at nap time) and arrived there five hours later without suffering any two-year-old temper tantrums, baby bawling-athons or mommy meltdowns. In fact, the drive down went surprisingly well with both kids being very well-behaved. I had the passenger seat laid out with toys and snacks and from time to time I had to pass something back to one of them, but other than that we did ok. Nothing a few sing-a-longs, a soother for Alex, toys and treats couldn't solve. Oh yeah, and an TV show for Austin on the ipod when he declared that he wanted to walk the rest of the way there (we still had 60 km to go).

On Friday, Ali and Billy had to work, so me and the kids did what we normally do on a weekday -- found something to do. In this case, I found an indoor playground nearby and we hung out there for a few hours; then headed back for naps and a little playtime outside before it got dark.

That night, my cousin Mindy and her partner Kevin came over for dinner. We had a nice visit and it was nice for her to get a chance to meet the kids. I was pregnant with Austin the last time I saw them.

On Saturday morning, Ali, Billy and I took the kids to the Children's museum where Austin had a blast. It was a great, hands-on place and definitely the kind of thing I would get a membership for if we lived there.

Although there wasn't much for Alex to do, she seemed to love watching the action from her perch in the snugli. That is, when she wasn't sleeping in the stroller.
I had planned to leave Saturday night at bedtime and drive straight through to home while the kids slept in the backseat, but the weather forecast for Toronto wasn't looking good so I opted to stay one more night. We left first thing Sunday morning, and again the kids were both really good in the car and we made it home in five hours.

Thanks Auntie Ali and Uncle Billy for letting us crash with you guys for a few days!

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"Austin, go get daddy a beer"

These days, Austin is our little helper. He LOVES to help with everything. And I mean everything.

When I'm cooking dinner, he has to be up on a stool by the counter with a plastic spoon mimicing every move I make. When I'm giving Alex a bath, he has to be up on a stool helping to wash her (or play with her toys for her). When I'm trying to give Alex her dinner, he jumps in and proceeds to feed her. If I'm sorting, putting on or folding laundry -- you guessed it, he has to help too. Some days I can't walk into a room without him yelling that he has to help by turning on the light for me.

So, the other day, Ryan decided to test this new 'helper' phase. Austin was helping me make dinner and Ryan said to him "Austin, can you go downstairs and get daddy a beer". Austin proceeded to get down from his stool, walk downstairs, turn on the light, open the bar fridge, take out a beer and come running back upstairs with a beer in hand.

Needless to say, he was very proud of himself. And I think he's earned his keep for life!

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Happy Halloween

Love Mickey and Minnie Mouse

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A fun week

We had a busy week last week as Ryan was on vacation so that he could spend some time with the kids and so that we could take a mini vacation ourselves.

So rather than just carting the kids around and 'getting things done' we did fun things almost every day.

On Monday, we went to a nearby farm for their pumpkinfest. And although it was a little cold, Austin had a great time running through the pumpkin patch, getting lost in the corn maze, riding the wagon, climbing on the hay stacks and playing in the treehouse. And Alex, well, she just enjoyed be outside and watching her brother.

Then, on Tuesday, we took the kids to Fantasy Fair at Woodbine Mall. Fantasy Fair claims to be the largest indoor amusement park in Ontario and it didn't disappoint. Austin loved all the rides and playing in the play structure. And even Alex was able to go on the train and carousel (with one of us of course). The nice thing about going on a Tuesday afternoon, is that it wasn't crowded and we never had to wait to go on any of the rides.

More photos from both days, as well as other October photos, can be found in the new slideshow posted on the right.

On Wednesday, we took the kids to my parents house where they spent two days with grandma and granddad. From what I've been told, they had a great time playing outside, walking through the nearby forest and going to another nearby pumpkinfest. My parents must have done a really good job at tiring them out, because I was told they both slept like logs that night -- even Alex, who won't sleep more than three to four hours at a stretch for us right now, slept for NINE hours for my parents. I'm convinced her bottle must have been spiked! (Just kidding!)

While the kids were at my parents house, Ryan and I went to Niagara Falls. First, we headed over the border for a few hours to do some shopping -- where even though the dollar is pretty poor right now, the deals we found made the shopping worth while. Then we headed back to the Canadian side where we checked into a hotel, had a nice, long, uninterupted dinner at the Keg, did some gambling at the casino and slept in late the next morning. Before heading back to Toronto, we stopped at a winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake for a tour. In all, a very nice and very relaxing time.

Finally, on Friday, we took a short trip to the zoo after Austin's swimming lesson.

In all, a relaxing and fun week.

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Alexandra's 6-month checkup

Last week, I took Alexandra for her six-month checkup and she weighed in at 15 lbs, 15 oz and is 26 inches long. This only partially confirmed my thoughts that she's smaller than Austin was at the same age.

At Austin's six-month appointment, he weighed in at a hefty 18 lbs 6 oz, but was just 26.5 inches long. So, Alex is pretty much just as long as he was, but two and a half pounds lighter! I forgot to ask the doctor what percentile she's in, but the doctor did say she's growing well.

Unlike the way Austin grew however, she still fits into many of her 3 to 6 months clothes today (whereas Austin had upgraded to the 6 to 12 month size by the time he was 5 months old). Thank goodness a friend has been loaning me the clothes her daughter has already outgrown; because all of my 3 to 6 months clothes for Alex were summer clothes. And it just doesn't feel right to buy that size in fall/winter clothes when she's bound to outgrow them very soon.

Other than that, Alex has moved on from eating just cereal to also eating sweet potato and carrots. So far she loves them both, and can't get enough of them. She opens her mouth wide when anyone brings the spoon towards her -- even Austin, who loves feeding her! Right now, she's only eating two meals a day (lunch and dinner) but after a few more vegetables, we'll probably get her started on breakfast as well.

One thing's for sure, she sure is growing up fast.

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Austin's taking swimming lessons

I signed Austin up for swimming lessons this fall and so far they're going really well. It's a city-run program designed for toddlers. They're private lessons and each lesson is only 15-minutes long -- which is great, because that's about his attention span some days!

At the first class, I walked him out onto the pool deck and the instructor asked me if he'd ever been swimming before. I said yes, but only with mom or dad. She said, ok, and asked Austin if he wanted to jump in. He immediately said 'yes' and jumped in to her waiting arms without ever looking back at me. He then spent the lesson learning to float and to kick his feet while holding on to a flutter board.

The second lesson was much of the same, except this time, he was really excited to be going and talked about swimming in the pool non-stop during the car ride over.

If the classes continue to go well, I think I'll sign him up for a double-lesson class (30 minutes long) in the winter.

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More milestones...sitting up and eating cereal

These pictures say it all:
In the last three weeks, Alex has mastered the art of sitting up to play. It started with her proping herself up on her arms and looking around. And within days she was sitting on her own and grabbing at toys. She does still fall over from time to time -- usually when she's trying to grab something out of her reach -- so I still tend to sit behind her or pack pillows around her.

She loves playing in this new position -- especially since she hates lying on her back or stomach to play. Because of this, she's been spending a lot of time in her excersaucer and jolly jumper -- anything that allows her to be in an upright position to play. But now that she can sit, it's a whole new world for her.

The other milestone Alex reached last week was she started eating cereal. So far, it's just been a small amount at lunch time, but she loves it. She took just one bite and she immediately opened her mouth wide like a baby bird asking for more. She was definitely ready for it too, because in the last few weeks she had been grabbing at any food I may have near me while I was holding her.

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