Tomorrow is a Beginning...

Tomorrow, Matthew and Kayla's first day of Kindergarten, is the beginning of a new "season" in my life.  For the next seventeen years, until June 2033, I will be parenting school-aged kids.  I don't feel old enough!

I'm excited for Matthew and Kayla.  They are more than ready for school, and Jon and I are excited for all of their imaginary friends to be exchanged for real ones.  (Side note:  Kayla told me that one of her friends is 81 and is going to die soon!).  They are lucky to have each other as they start this new season in their lives, too.  Everything is always easier when you have your best friend with you.

I'm not-so-excited for me.  Luckily, I am blessed to also have Nathan and Olivia, because I don't know what I would do if I had to send my only two children to school and be left with a quiet house.  It's time for Nathan and Olivia to forge a unique bond as they only have each other for a few days of the week.

Now, to make sure that I don't sleep in tomorrow!  

P.S.  I graduated high school in 2003...and Olivia will graduate thirty years later, in 2033.  That's kinda neat :)

Nathan is 34 months old!

There's nothing new to report on Nathan, except:

HE IS FINALLY POTTY TRAINED!

I'm not even sure how it all happened!  At the end of July and beginning of August I was starting to get really frustrated over his lack of remorse when he had an accident, so...I started "punishing" him.  Rather than just talking to him about what he did while I cleaned him up, I started showering him off with cold water to clean him up.  He did not like that!  I think it worked though, because just before we left for Penticton on August 13th he started telling us when he had to go to the bathroom and started going to the washroom himself.  SO AMAZING!  I was not looking forward to dealing with potty training while camping, but in the end, I didn't have to worry about it.  He had one accident in the entire two weeks we were camping.  Just one!  And since then, he's been perfect.  So exciting.  After every successful trip to the washroom he would say, "I'm getting big like Matthew and Kayla!  You don't have to call me baby Nathan anymore!"

Olivia is ONE!

Oh Olivia...you may be one year old now, but you will forever be my baby.  I can't believe one year has passed since you were born.  It's so unreal how big you have gotten and how much you have learned in just one year.

You weigh 21.8 lb and are xx" tall (gotta measure you still!).  You are very comfortably wearing 12-18 month clothes and are starting to outgrow your size 4 shoes.  You just got your sixth tooth on your birthday.

You do not like strangers.  You struggle being in the church nursery, often crying before I have even left the room!  You usually do manage to settle down now, which is nice for me.  Even though Nathan is there with you, you just want me.

I probably am your overall favourite, but you are always excited to see your Dad in the mornings or after work.

You have started to follow directions.  "Give Mommy a bite."  "Give Mommy your soother."  "Come here."  "Don't put that in your mouth."

You are really learning to walk quickly, although you are still bow-legged.

Your favourite thing to do is swim!  You are a fish.  You love it so much that I scoured the internet for hours, trying to figure out what swimming aids there are for one year olds of your weight.  There are not many!  I really wanted you to have a little bit of freedom while we are camping in Penticton and Gallagher Lake this summer, so I knew I had to find something quickly.  Believe it or not, Bed Bath and Beyond had the most selection, so I ordered four different aids for the 20-33lb range.  When they came, two looked far to big, so they were ruled out instantly.  We went swimming on your birthday as a family after your siblings' practice swim lessons and tested out the one I thought would work the best and it was fantastic.  You totally have independence, yet a ton of mobility.  Obviously we can't leave you on your own, but you now have freedom to swim where you want to go (and you do!  You actually kick and move your arms and swim places.  You're a natural!).

You are very communicative when it comes to letting me know when you are done eating.  For the most part, I let you take the lead in telling me when you don't want more to eat.  When you shake your head, "no" and purse your lips, it's very clear that you do not want to eat any more.  You are also really starting to communicate when you want something, grunting or squealing to make yourself heard.

You LOVE Kayla.  Kayla is always helping you out, especially when you want something.  Today alone she gave you a ride on her scooter and on the tricycle.  You were all smiles!

Olivia, it's so hard to believe that a year has gone by.  I can't believe that it was a year ago that you were brought into this world and we got to enjoy you while we busied ourselves getting ready for your very first camping trip at six days old, to Penticton.  And here we go again, busying ourselves in camping preparations and this time you're one.  It's going to be a whole lot different this year!

Nathan's Pretty Funny

Nathan (while I was ignoring him):  "Mom.  Mom.  Mom.  Mom.  Mom."

Jon:  "What buddy?"

Nathan:  "No, I want Mom.  Are you a girl?!?!?!"




Oh burn, Jon!

How We Spent BC Day

We started off the day by Jon running a couple errands early in the morning, and then when he came home I left with my Mom to go grocery shopping at Superstore.  Jon packed up the kids and headed to my parents' house and we met him there when we were done.

The kids had lunch of buns with hagelslaac (chocolate sprinkles) and fresh tomatoes from my parents' garden.  Nathan can easily eat 20 of them in one sitting!

The kids and Jon went swimming in the pool a couple times.  I joined them once, although am not nearly as fun as Jon is for them.

{Olivia LOVES the water.  When everyone else struggles to adjust to the water temperature, she doesn't care.  She just gets in with a smile on her face and plays instantly.}

After swimming the first time the kids came inside to do cutting/gluing (Matthew and Kayla) and play Barbies (Nathan) while Olivia napped.

When Olivia woke up she had a drink and snack, but then was left on her own for one minute too long...

...somebody opened the liquor cupboard even though they knew they weren't allowed to and started dropping bottles on the ground!  Thank goodness most were plastic!

...and somebody got angry when she got told "no" and everything was cleaned up.

The kids spent a lot of time on the tractor!

They drove it around until the battery died :)

Olivia figured out how to squeeze the horn.  Very annoying!

I had a turkey in the freezer that I wanted to get out and cooked up (to make room for harvesting the vegetables out of my parents' vegetable garden), so Jon cooked a "Christmas in August" dinner for us: turkey, twice-baked potatoes, coleslaw, and corn on the cob straight from the garden.  Matthew said that it was the "best meal ever."  The kids were helping themselves to turkey before they ran to the playground, stuffing it in their mouths.

Jumping on the trampoline after dinner, waiting for Grandpa to drive by on the lawn mower and give high fives.

On our way home we stopped to do a 'pick up'.  I bought these (used) for Kayla for $2.  She was pretty happy about it.  Nathan was a little jealous!  He loves princesses.

And just before bed Jon taught the kids how to play heads and tails.  

Jon:  "When it's in the air, say heads or tails."

Matthew & Kayla, as the coin is in the air:  "Heads or tails!"

Smart Girl

Olivia LOVES to be outside.  She gets angry when I quickly go outside to throw something in the recycling or to get something from the garage, without letting her outside to play.  Yesterday was no exception.  I had put a bucket outside and closed the door before she could even get close to it.  I then grabbed some breakfast and sat at the table to eat.  It had only been a couple minutes when I see Olivia walking to me with her crocs.  She had gone through her basket of shoes and brought me a matching pair, which was quite impressive.  I picked her up and sat her on my lap, and put her crocs on because I wanted to see what she would do.  When they were on, I put her back on the ground.  She immediately walked all the way to the back door and stood there looking at me!  What a smart little girl!  I did let her outside :)

Olivia is 11 Months Old!

Olivia, you have finally done it!  A day after you turned 11 months old you finally realized that walking is a quicker way to get around than crawling.  It's exciting!  On the rare occasion that you do crawl, all you need to be told is to "stand up and walk" and you do!  It's still exciting for Nathan to see you walking, "Mom!  Olivia's walking by herself!"

You have quickly become my little daredevil child.  You are a climber.  None of your siblings were climbers, so this is new territory for me.  Your favourite thing to climb is the ladder of the bunk beds.  Yes, the bunk bed ladder.  And you do it with ease!  Your smile when you get to the top is just priceless!  You are so proud to be up there, and you love laying on Kayla's blankets and touching her stuffed animals.  Thankfully, Kayla enjoys following behind you as you ascend the ladder and doesn't get mad when you touch her stuff.  I have to try to remember to keep the bedroom door closed so that you don't have access to the ladder.  You also enjoy standing on top of the kids picnic table, standing in your high chair at Grandma's, and standing on the couch while bouncing up and down.  You are such a daredevil!  You will likely be our first child to break a bone...

You also are SO dramatic.  When you are having a meltdown you allow your body to go completely limp in my arms so that I have to lay you on the ground.

At eleven months old you weigh 22 lbs.  I love that you weigh more than Kayla did at this age because it's allowed your clothing seasons to align perfectly, even though you were born five months later in the year.

You are becoming really good at following directions.  You 100% understand when I tell you to, "spit that out of your mouth.  Yucky!"  Your favourite things to put in your mouth are rocks and magnets from our magnetic boards.

You are a great eater and are great at drinking from your sippy cup.  You LOVE fruit...especially blueberries!  I have to make sure you eat your meal before you even see your fruit because otherwise you will stick your tongue between your lips and refuse to eat more.  You only get one bottle of formula a day, right before bed.  All of your other bottles are homo milk.

You have begun to sleep through the night...it's probably about 50% of the time right now.  So nice!  I was actually sick in December from exhaustion, and then I noticed the symptoms this past week so I managed (with the help of your Grandma and Dad) to take two naps that day and so that prevented me from actually getting sick again.  A whole year of not sleeping through the night takes a toll on everybody eventually!

Your favourite thing to do is SWIM.  You don't care what the temperature of the water is...you just love to swim!

Olivia, I can't believe that you're almost one!  You're my little baby girl!  You're so determined to grow up that time is going by extra quick.  Time to start making some birthday party plans... :)