Last night...

...Olivia slept through the night!  She had her last feed around 8:30/9pm, fell asleep downstairs and then was transferred upstairs to her basinette when we went to bed around 11pm.  I woke up at 7am this morning completely shocked that I didn't have to feed her during the night!  The past few evenings she had only been waking up once (around 3am-ish), and then this, so maybe this is the beginning of something good?  I'm hoping she does well again tonight, and that this just wasn't a fluke!

23 Months Old

Nathan is almost two...eek!  He is growing up to be such a big kid, it's crazy.

The past few weeks we have seen (heard?) Nathan's speech/vocabulary grow in leaps and bounds.  He's usually willing to repeat words when asked, and so he is picking up new words all the time.  He is easily stringing two words together at a time, and I've also heard three words on occasion.  His most commonly said words are "Mandma" (Grandma), "Ahn-ie Tandis" (Auntie Candice), and "Geet-Mandma" (Great-Grandma).  After I put him to bed tonight I heard him saying over and over, "Mandma best (Grandma's the best), Ahn-ie Tandis, Geet-Mandma".  Seriously...over and over and over.  He also says, "Dackdin" (Jackson), "Oh-ya" (Olivia), and "Dan-nin" (Shannon - Kayla's doll)...but can't say neither Kayla (he calls her "Ah") nor Matthew.  Silly boy.

(Yes, another boy that LOVES trains!...but he knows that Thomas is Matthew's!)

Nathan loves to eat and drink.  He'll tell me he's hungry or thirsty by pointing inside his mouth.  Of all my kids, he's really the only one that ever asks for food or a drink.  He loves "duice" (juice).  He isn't picky with what he eats at snack time...whether it be fruit ("ah-ole" (apple)) or "tan-nies" (candies).

We have nicknamed Nathan "Banana Boy" because he LOVES eating bananas.  He has a banana practically every morning, and will quickly point out to me if there are no bananas left "Buy nana."

At the end of July we set up a twin bed in Nathan's room, in preparation for him moving to it.  Over the next month and a half he would sometimes choose to sleep in it at night, but he never actually managed to sleep an entire night in it, often waking up during the night asking to put him back in his crib (which we (ahem, I) did).  At the end of August we pushed a little harder for him to always go to bed in his "big boy bed".  At the beginning of September I took all of the bedding off of the crib and explained that it was now "Baby Olivia's crib."  He wasn't necessarily pleased, but he actually transitioned pretty good.  We did have to put a bed rail on his bed because he fell out of bed a few times, but he was totally okay with that.  I was also finding that without the bed rail I was laying him down closer to the wall, so I kept waking up at night because he was kicking our shared bedroom wall.  Now that he has the bed rail I lay him in the centre of the bed so there's less kicking happening.  Our only struggle with him being in a big boy bed is that he has the freedom to climb out whenever he wants.  Every night he gets out at least once or twice.  So frustrating!  Especially when he is out during his nap time!  I babysat Jackson (my nephew) one day last week and still had the playpen set up in my bedroom so when Nathan climbed out of bed during his nap today and refused to stay in, despite my warning, I put him in the playpen.  I let him cry/scream at me for a good 30 minutes before I talked to him about it and then allowed him to nap in his regular bed again, and he fell asleep right away.  Again this evening he climbed out within minutes of being put to bed, so I warned him and put him back in bed.  Not a minute later he was out again so I put him in the playpen.  After a couple minutes of him crying/screaming I warned him again and put him back in his regular bed...and he fell asleep.  Sometimes (all the time?) you just have to be 'the bad guy' in order for kids to learn.

Nathan is quite social, and isn't scared to play with other kids, regardless of their age.

He has also started making it through the entire church service without crying in the nursery!

Unfortunately, as sweet as Nathan usually is, he can be quite a bully.  He doesn't typically pick on kids younger than him, only those older.  Matthew receives the brunt of Nathan's bullying.  We tried putting Nathan in timeout as punishment for picking on Matthew, but that wasn't really workng so now we are encouraging Matthew to fight back, not to physically hurt Nathan but to hurt his feelings.  This is a new approach and so far, in the few times Matthew has fought back, it's worked, with Nathan coming crying to Jon and I because his feelings were hurt.

If Nathan has unintentionally hurt someone which has resulted in that person crying in pain, he himself becomes very emotional.  He also gets very emotional if either Matthew or Kayla are getting in BIG trouble.

Nathan continues to be Jon's little side-kick, always playing hockey with him outside, watching him mow the lawn, or wrestling with him.

Lower Falls Trail

Last week I packed up the kids and headed to Golden Ears to do the Lower Falls Trail.  When we arrived there, we were told there was a bear that had been spotted exiting the trail two hours earlier, but that didn't stop us!

Our first stop 20 minutes in.  We had a snack and threw some rocks into the creek.

The kids were fantastic.  Matthew and Kayla practically ran the entire thing, running ahead of us and hiding behind trees, and Nathan would have walked the whole thing but I put him in the stroller about half of the time just so that I could walk faster.  I carried Olivia in the Baby Bjorn, and she did fantastic.  She fed at home at 7:30, fell asleep in the car and kept sleeping until I woke her up when we were twenty minutes away from being done, just so that I could feed her before the drive home.  After she was fed I put her forward-facing in the Bjorn which she quite enjoyed.

We made it!  After seeing the falls we had some lunch and then headed back down the trail.

One Month Old!

I can't believe that Olivia is already one month old, but at the same time, I can't believe that she's only one month old.  It seems like she's been around forever - we've done so much already!  She definitely hasn't slowed us down at all.

Olivia, you now weigh 11lb even and are 23" tall.  You are starting to get rolls on your thighs :).  You still have very blue eyes and hair on your head, although your hair started to fall out a week and a half ago.  I suspect you'll be bald (at least on the top of your head) within the next couple of weeks - all I have to do is brush your hair and it falls out.  Like your older siblings, I'm sure it will grow back blonde.  A blonde haired, blue eyed girl just like me, maybe?  Ever since your umbilical cord came out prematurely (your hand accidentally grabbed it while I was bathing you in Penticton, and you pulled it out/snapped it in half), your belly button remains a super-outie.  It's actually starting to get a little less 'outie', which I'm sure you'll appreciate once you decide to start wearing two pieces at the beach!  You have a very strong neck.  I don't have to be very cautious about your neck flopping all over because you have very good control over it.  I even wore you forward-facing in the Bjorn today so you could look outwards and enjoy our hike.

You drink roughly 3.5-4oz of formula every 3 hours.  You've had a few evenings where you've had a longer stretch between feeds, but you typically are up every 3 hours.  You were a terrible drinker and a huge spitter up until yesterday, when I switched your bottle nipple to one with faster flow.  What used to take you roughly 40 minutes to drink now only takes you 15, and I think you've been spitting up less.  I'm hoping that continues, because it's gross when you spit up.

{"Mom, take a picture of me holding Olivia!" says Kayla ALL THE TIME}

You are SO LOVED by your siblings - Kayla and Nathan in particular.  Nathan smothers you.  He will come up to you many times a day and give you at least ten kisses on the top of your head.  It's not uncommon for you to have boogers in your hair because of him.  He also likes to lay right beside you or put his face right in front of yours while hovering on top of you.  Kayla loves to hold you.  She often asks me in the morning while I'm hustling around trying to get everyone ready for our day if she can hold you, to which I always say, "yes" because you're usually crying.  As soon as I put you in her arms you settle right down, and often fall asleep.  Kayla loves it, and I love it, too!

You are still sleeping in the bassinet in our room, but I don't think that it will last too much longer.  I find I'm waking up as soon as you stir and start to wake up, which makes me want to feed you right away so that I can get back to sleep.  It's probably best for you (and for me!) if you're fully awake and crying before I'm awake to feed you.  You'll be sleeping in Nathan's bedroom, so hopefully he sleeps through your cries!

You do smile, although it takes some work to get you to.  I probably manage to only get one smile a day out of you.

You are slightly spoiled and are stubborn.  You know exactly when you are being held and when you aren't, and you aren't afraid to complain if you want or don't want to be held.  It's cute :)

Olivia, you are such a blessing to us.  You are loved by everyone, and you definitely hold a special spot in our heart as the youngest child.  Nathan seemed to have grown up so quick that he is definitely closer developmentally to Matthew and Kayla than to you, so it makes having a baby around extra special.  You are a pretty content baby for the most part, so as long as you keep that up you'll keep us happy :) (Kidding!  We'll love you regardless!)

Walk at Serpentine Fen

Jon and I took advantage of the sunny last-day-of-summer-before-school-starts day and headed to Serpentine Fen this morning for a walk with the kids.  I had never even heard of it before, but I'll walk anywhere so long as it's outside in nature!

The kids were hoping to see a lot of birds, but when there weren't any they quickly got tired of seeing the same scenery.  Thank goodness we had brought along the single stroller, so we put Matthew and Nathan in the stroller so that I could push them and Jon gave Kayla a piggy-back.  Nothing like carrying an infant and pushing 65lbs of kids to help work of the extra pounds I'm still sporting.

Jon always 'has' to stop at Tim Horton's before we go on an outing.  The kids enjoy the TimBits that he buys for them :)

Yes, we were all tired at the end of the walk (which took us about 1.5 hours), but it was worth it!  Plus, the kids went to bed without a peep!

22.5 Months Old

- Weighs 30.4 lb and wears size 3T shirts, 2T pants, and size 8 shoes.  His feet have grown so much over the past few months that he skipped wearing size 7 runners and barely can fit his feet in his 3T sleepers.

- Has really started talking, and is often putting two words together.  If you ask him to repeat a word that you've said, he easily does.
     - Names he knows: Mom / Dad / Dandis (Candice) / Mandma (Grandma) / Pandpa (Grandpa)
     - Matthew and Kayla are called "Ah"

- Absolutely adores Olivia.  If she is laying on the floor, he is right there beside her, smothering her in kisses or tickling her tummy.  If she cries, he comes to me and says, "Ba-ble" (bottle).

- Still loves playing hockey.

- Loves jumping on the trampoline or down stairs or off of a coffee table.

- Loves bananas.  He is affectionately called, "Banana Boy" because he always asks to eat bananas and always points out when we are out of bananas.

- Likes to pick on/bully Matthew, even though he knows he'll get in trouble.

- Loves his cousins.  He gets so excited when he gets to see them, even though it's practically every day.

- Loves playing in the sandbox.

- Loves to sit on the counter while I'm preparing a meal, and then he loves to steal pieces of whatever I'm cutting up.

- Loves to get the phone for me when it's ringing, and always assumes that it's "Mandma".

- Is awesome at getting his hair washed.  He totally tolerates me spraying his hair and letting the water pour down his face.

- Has learned how to put his face in the bathtub water and blow bubbles.