On Halloween morning as I was dropping off Owen at school, his teacher informed me that they were having their monthly Celebrates assembly and Owen would be receiving an award! I was really thankful my mom could come and watch the kids while I attended the assembly. Owen was surprised to see me and I enjoyed a few minutes witnessing what his little kindergarten life was like at school :) There are often times I wish I could spy on him and see what happens in a day :)

The Celebrates award recognizes a student from each class that displayed certain qualities that month. They are nominated by the teacher and awarded a certificate during the assembly. Owen's award was for being a discerning believer in faith, a good friend, and doing good deeds for others. He was very proud when his name was called and so was I :)



Owen has been talking more about the way people behave and what kind of behaviours make "good friends" I'm hoping these lessons lead him to find good friends and take him far in life! way to go Owen!

3 Months Old

3 Months old already! Grayson has been entertaining us this past month with his sweet baby smiles and the sweetest baby talk! when we talk to him he tries to "talk" back. He has been more playful and interactive lately and Owen and Noah have enjoyed playing with him more. Sometimes I will playfully stick out my tongue at him and he will copy and stick out his tongue, and his newest game is to play "pop the soother" - he gets the biggest smiles when he spits out his soother on purpose It's the simple things in life :) but he sure is becoming more fun. We've tried to capture some of this fun on video but he gets distracted by the camera and just stares at it!

Here he is having some cuddle time with his brothers. Owen likes to hold him when he's "not fussy and not stinky" heh- don't we all ;) Grayson watches the boys play and I'm sure he's taking in all of the big brother trouble and saving it for me!



Grayson is an easy going baby and has never minded tummy time. He doesn't get on his tummy as often as he should, but I've been trying to make an effort to do tummy time more often.


Recently we brought out the baby swing and he loves it! he seems to like the swinging/swaying motion. He definitely likes to be on the move and the swing has given us a few breaks from having to carry him constantly. Still, his favourite spot is either in my arms or in the baby carrier.


I'm not sure how much Grayson weighs now but I've certainly noticed him getting heavier, and he's got some cute chubby thighs! He likes to feed every 2-3 hours during the day and will stay awake for about two hours before needing another nap. Nursing is going well but it has also made for a picky baby - he only likes me to feed him. I've been pumping and freezing milk and have quite a stockpile - all in hopes that Gavin can start to give him some bottles :) we thought he didn't like to feed from bottles because he would always refuse to eat when Gavin tried, but we've learned that he just wants mommy to feed him! he associates feeding with me and will take bottles from me. Gavin tried to give him a bottle once when he was sleepy and it worked for a bit, until Grayson opened his eyes and saw that it wasn't mommy, once again he refused to eat - he sure has a stubborn side to him too!


A few weeks ago Grayson caught a bit of a cold and since then hasn't been sleeping well. He was doing a five hour stretch early in the evening from about 8pm to 1am, and then up every two hours after that. While it wasn't perfect, it at least seemed like he was on his way to longer periods of sleep. The past few weeks have been awful with regards to sleep, (he's only sleeping two hour intervals) and I really am needing to make some changes in our routine to hopefully get things back on track. I keep reminding myself that the sleepless nights are temporary but it really is wearing me out!

Happy 3 months Grayson! you are just too cute and we are loving watching you grow and learn new things!

Halloween!

We started our Halloween fun by having Catherine and Hannah over for dinner. We served our usual halloween meal 'pumpkin spaghetti' the kids love it and it's easy to prepare ahead of time. This year the trick- or -treaters started arriving at the door at 6, and they came in big numbers! I was glad we made the last minute decision to pick up more candy "just in case". We had lots of candy left over, but I have no idea how many kids we got they came too fast to count!



Grayson dressed for the holiday by wearing a borrowed halloween sleeper :) super cute! Grayson and I stayed home to hand out candy, but we enjoyed watching the kids trick-or-treating-from the porch.


Our collection of mostly disney themed pumpkins. Catherine and Hannah carved mickey, and we carved goofy and "a ghost with flames" as per Owen's request.


Trick - or - Treat! Gavin said this year was much easier because the kids could go up to the houses on their own! no carrying any young kids up and down the stairs, next year he will have Grayson to carry around :)


It took Noah a few houses to figure out what was going on, but after he did he was so excited! he would run from house to house saying "candy! candy!" heh- I don't think he realized just how much candy he'd be given.




Thanks to Catherine she caught these videos of the kids :)


This spooky house set Owen off for the rest of the night. He wanted daddy to go up to the houses with him after that. He had wanted to come home but stuck it out for the love of candy :) I'm glad he mustered up enough bravery to finish the night and continue to have fun.





Pirate Owen!


Cutest little strawberry, dragon and pirate around! here they are enjoying a treat.


My three trick- or- treaters


My three cuties!


We checked the boys candy to make sure it was safe and took out the candy we don't like them to have (really hard candy and gumballs) then we helped ourselves to some of our favourites :) Grayson snatched this lollipop as if no one would notice, but I was sure to snatch it back just after I took the picture:)


Happy Halloween!