Lighting the First Advent Candle

We, as a family, had the privilege of getting to light the first Advent candle at church yesterday.  The kids were definitely themselves!  :)

http://video.fleetwoodcrc.org/archive/2015-11-29.html
*We make our appearance at 17:45
*You need to watch it through Internet Explorer and have Microsoft Silverlight.

P.S.  If you're wondering what the kids are saying, it's "Thank you God, for hope."  :)

Kids' First Ice Skating Experience

Matthew will excitedly tell you that he went "hockey skating, without sticks or nets" last night.  Yes, we took the kids ice skating for their very first time last night.  The hope is that our boys will play hockey in the local Christian league when he's in grade two, so it was time that we start getting Matthew (and Kayla) comfortable on the ice.

I asked my parents to come along too, so that my Dad could skate and my Mom could watch Olivia.  I wanted to go on the ice too, even though I think the last time I skated was before Jon and I even started dating, so over 13 years ago.  Yikes.  Let me tell you that the ice is a lot slipperier than I remember it being!  I didn't fall though :).

I have skates for Matthew and Kayla (one pair from our neighbour and one pair bought off of the facebook swap), so I just had to rent for Nathan.  That was a waste of money!  I think he managed to do one lap of the ice and then he had enough and was content to sit on the 'boards', watching with my Mom.

Matthew and Kayla did great!  Yes, they were really nervous, but by the end, after an hour of doing lap after lap after lap, they were much more confident!  Matthew used the skating trainer the entire time, although he did prove to me a few times that he could skate forward a few inches without holding on.  Kayla did a lap at the end just holding my Dad's hand.  Hopefully we can go semi-regularly so that they can keep improving!

Meeting Santa Claus at Guildford Town Centre

I found out that Guildford Town Centre was giving two free 4x6 photos with Santa Claus today so I made a last-minute decision to do it.  The kids have sat with Santa Claus before, but I'm too cheap to actually buy the pictures.

I'm glad I got some free ones this year, because...well, a picture speaks a thousand words:

Nathan was so scared.  The moment it was our turn he stopped following me, turned around, and started heading the opposite way.  I had to pick him up and put him on Santa's knee and run away.  Priceless.

Matthew and Kayla's Thoughts

My conversation with Matthew and Kayla, while they were hiding in the living room waiting for Jon to come downstairs to find them:

Kayla:  "Mom, are you going to have another baby in your tummy?

Me:  "Why?"

Kayla:  "I'm just wondering if you're going to sell this." (the baby basinette she was hiding beside)

Me:  "Do you want me to have another baby in my tummy?"

Kayla:  "No."

Me:  "Why not?"

Kayla:  "Because when they get big like Nathan they just break all our stuff."

Matthew:  "I want you to have another baby in your tummy."

Me:  "Ya?"

Matthew:  "Ya, because if they call at night then we go to Auntie Melissa's, and if they call during the day then I get to go to Grandma's" (referring to the hospital calling me to say I can go in to be induced).

Olivia is 3 Months Old!

At three months old Olivia weighs 14 lbs 15 oz and is 24 7/8" tall.

Olivia is still our little princess.  She is very smiley and loves her siblings ("Mom!  Olivia smiled to me seven times!" says Kayla) and she is getting close to giggling, but is not quite there yet.  We can get the first sound out of her, but she doesn't continue the giggle.  We will keep on trying!  

As happy as she can be, she can also be very angry.  Long gone is that soft little cry she had when she was born!  If she is unhappy, she lets everyone know.  She will go from perfectly content to extremely angry with the snap of a finger.  

{I think I would be unhappy too if my soother was being shoved in my mouth, upside-down, by my brother.}

When she is awake, she loves to be held (especially by me).  She enjoys her jolly jumper and has also started in the exersaucer now.  She does not enjoy the swing as much as it's too restricting for her.  Her playmat is only useful when she's in a very good mood.  If she's not, she'll get angry as soon as she is put under it.

Olivia has discovered her hands!  She is constantly trying to stick her whole fist in her mouth, and now reaches for toys (if she's in the mood!).  She has also discovered that she can lay on her right side.  I'd be lying if I said I hadn't started practicing with her how to roll over!  She's great at tummy time.

Olivia LOVES being swaddled.  She usually needs to be swaddled in order to fall asleep.  She can be fussing like crazy, and then as soon as she's swaddled, her eyes start getting droopy.  It's fantastic.  So long as I'm actively listening to her cues and swaddle her when I hear that she's whining because she's tired then she falls asleep so peacefully.  She's typically has 3 cat-naps during the day and one longer one.  The longer nap often is whenever she's in the carseat, so if we're out and about in the morning then that's when her longer nap is, or if we're driving home in the afternoon from my parents' then that's when she has her longer nap (which is great because then I can get dinner prepped and cooked without having to worry about her!).

She's been doing great with the Dr. Brown's bottles, probably spitting up 15% of what she used to.  I'm still only giving her 4oz at each feed, so she eats roughly every 2.5 hours.  She has a really sensitive stomach if she has too much to drink, so I'm hesitant to push her oz up until I know that she is absolutely ready for it.  She also can't be 'topped up' at all.  With Matthew and Kayla I used to be able to give them a half-feed just before church, so that they would be content during the whole service.  With Olivia, I can't.  She just pushes the bottle out of her mouth.  Slightly unfortunate, although it makes her Sundays a little more normal and she's thrown less out of routine.

{She still has blue eyes!}

Olivia has her last bottle usually around 8pm, and then is usually asleep by 9:30pm.  She doesn't yet sleep through the night, typically waking up once around 4:30am for a feed.  She falls back asleep quite quickly, and then sleeps until 7am.  If she doesn't fall asleep quickly then I bring her to bed with me.  I just have to be careful that Nathan doesn't climb into our bed when he wakes up in the morning like he so often does!

{Olivia's first time being in the stroller}

3 Months Post-Partum

This has probably been the slowest 'recovery' (in terms of weight loss) for me.  I gained nearly 50 pounds, and still have between 15-20 lbs to lose.  I don't dare stand on the weigh scale anymore because it wasn't showing any change for weeks on end and was getting frustrating for me.  I also don't dare stand on it because I've been enjoying the kids' Halloween candy for the last 1.5 weeks.  I have a huge sweet tooth and zero self-control - not a good mix!

I got my period back when she was 9.5 weeks old, as I predicted since she's solely formula-fed.  With my next period, I started taking the pill for birth control.  Never thought I would have to be on birth control again!  My body doesn't like it as much this time; my left eye gets quite irritated and red if I've worn contacts for the day (that's why you see me wearing glasses so often!).  So hard to wear glasses when I really only like wearing contacts.  Jon wants to take more 'permanent' steps in regards to eliminating the possibility of getting pregnant because he says he 100% doesn't want more children...but I won't allow any permanent decision to be made for a couple years.  I'm torn with the decision - my heart tells me that I want more children but my head tells me not to (for financial reasons).  How am I ever going to decide?  And if I do decide I would like more, how am I going to convince Jon?  I like to tease him that I could 'forget' to take my pill... :).  Anyways, it's a decision that I think about almost daily.  So difficult.  I always struggle with big decisions and this is just another I have to make.

Walk at Tynehead Park

Tynehead Park is our go-to if we want a nice walk that's close by.  We had a Struik family gathering that we left around 1:30pm (Nathan was losing it...he's been fighting a cold and so he definitely needs his afternoon nap) and on our drive home, Nathan fell asleep (he never does that!).  We decided to quickly stop at home to grab our stroller and then head to Tynehead Park to enjoy what was left of our sunny /dry afternoon.

The kids love Tynehead.  They're all great walkers and don't tire easily, which is really nice.  Nathan's 45 minute nap in the car gave him enough energy to keep up with Matthew and Kayla, which was nice so I could put Olivia in the stroller rather than having to carry her.

 

{I love the convenience of being able to give Olivia a bottle no matter where we are or what we're doing.}

{This picture wasn't even posed!  They ran ahead of us and put their arms around each other themselves.  So cute.}

"Olivia, You're Disgusting!"

That expression can frequently be heard coming from my mouth.  You see, Olivia is a spitter.  A disgusting spitter.  An absolutely disgusting spitter.  The amount of spit-up that comes out of her mouth all day long makes me wonder how she can actually be gaining weight.

I've tried different formulas, I've tried feeding her less, but more frequently.  I've tried burping her often during a feed, I've tried not burping her at all.  She's been using Gerber First Essentials bottles (which Matthew and Kayla used, but were also spitters (just not as bad)) so I tried Nuk buttles (which Nathan used and was not a spitter), but she couldn't figure out how to drink from them.

I did a little research (aka. used Google!), and went out to buy a Dr. Brown's bottle today.  They say they're the best for babies who spit up, so we're giving it a shot!  I'm not one to spend money, but after Olivia spit all over me in Costco, and then all over the floor in Costco twice I knew it was time to do something.  Olivia has had four feedings from them and hasn't spit up at all after the last three, so I'm hopeful that this is the answer!

Halloween

Halloween - Part 1

The kids participated in trick-or-treating once again this year.  They were so excited!  Matthew was the least afraid - nothing stopped him from running from door to door!  Kayla did very well though, too.  Nathan held his own, walking the whole way for the first hour, and then was carried between houses for the last fifteen minutes.  We live in a very populated area, but the mass of kids at each door didn't bother him!  Olivia was very content to snuggle and fall asleep in the Bjorn.

{Matthew was originally going to wear his spider costume from last year, but when this Thomas costume came up on my facebook bidding site with no bids, I happily purchased it for $3!  He was over the moon excited to wear it.}

{Kayla went as a "Butterfly Princess Fairy."  Her costume is a princess dress she bought from birthday money when she turned four, the wings are from her butterfly costume last year, and her wand is a planter decoration stick from the greenhouses that we decorated with ribbons and lace.}

{Nathan happily wore Matthew's spider costume from last year.}

 {And last but not least, the cutest little lion I've ever seen :).  Olivia wore Kayla's lion costume from her first Halloween.}

Halloween - Part 2

I grew up in a rural area, and so in order to go trick-or-treating we had to be driven to a neighbourhood.  The combination of that and my Mom's lack of desire/creativity to come up with costumes saw the beginning of the Vander Ende/Vleeming Halloween tradition.  Rather than going trick-or-treating, our moms would create candy bags (my favourite was the bag with the little packs of Chiclets!).  On Halloween, our two families would eat dinner together, and then the two dads would go and hide all of these candy bags in the shipping area of the greenhouses.  When all of the bags were hidden, us kids (the nine of us) and our moms would go to shipping.  Upon our arrival, all of the lights in shipping would be shut off so that it was pitch black.  Armed with only flashlights, we would begin hunting for the candy bags.  Once they were all found, we would head back to our house, and sort and (equally) distribute the bags.  When it was done, we would be left with an ice cream pail full of candy.  It was awesome.

When my brother, David, and his wife, Laura, and their kids moved back here from Ontario last fall, my mom thought it would be fun to start up the tradition again for her grandkids.  Last year, they loved it.  This year, they loved it even more!  Matthew and Kayla went off on their own this year, without either Jon or I to help them.  The darkness didn't bother them at all.  Nathan was quite comfortable too...he just kept forgetting to take his hand off the light of his flashlight so that he could actually look with it!  He was always so excited to run to bring the bags of candy he found to the laundry basket in the middle of shipping.  Olivia contently slept in the Bjorn this time too :)

{The kids put their costumes on for part two of Halloween.  So cute.  Kayla switched costumes to one of the new ones I had bought for 75% off at Wal-Mart that morning.  Yes, I was one of those crazy people who were at the store when it opened hoping to get a good deal.  I also bought Nathan (and Olivia) and new trick-or-treating bucket for $0.25 each because Nathan cracked his this year.  Score!}

{Where's Olivia?}

{There she is!  Seriously, so cute!}

Smarties

After Nathan had finished his afternoon snack (apples, oranges, and goldfish), he was allowed to choose two candies from the Halloween candy bucket.  He came up to me with a box of Smarties, and said, "Oma!"

Jon's Oma and Opa (so, Jon's maternal-grandparents), attend the same church as us.  I'm not sure when the tradition started, but every Sunday (without fail!) after we retrieve Matthew and Kayla from Children's Church and Nathan from the nursery, the kids, without being told, run downstairs to find Oma and Opa (which would be their great-grandparents).  Oma puts her mug of coffee aside and she reaches into her purse to retrieve a little Smarties box (like the boxes you get trick-or-treating).  The box is re-used each week, so it gets held closed with a rubber band.  She opens it up and then evenly passes out it's contents (usually Smarties) to each of my kids.

{ Photo taken on Father's Day 2015 }

It's such a wonderful sight, seeing it happen from week to week.  Most of the times there are no words exchanged, just hands held out in anticipation of Smarties being placed in them, a quick hug, and then the kids run off to run up and down the aisles in the sanctuary.  Once a year or so I try to get Jon to quickly take a picture of it happening because I never want the kids to forget.  I love that Nathan said, "Oma!" to me when he had his Smarties because it proves to me that he is already starting to remember the Sunday-tradition.