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!

Thanksgiving monday turned out to be the perfect day for our annual trip to the pumpkin farm! just mentioning the word farm sends my kids into excitement mode:) The weather on monday was great and we were sure that everyone would have the same idea and the place would be packed. We went early to avoid most of the crowd and much to our surprise it wasn't really that busy!




























Again no photos of Grayson :( that boy slept the entire time we were there and I wasn't interested in waking him just for a photo op. Obviously sleep is very important to me these days :) The big boys had a great time and enjoyed the wagon ride, tractors, farm animals and searching for the biggest pumpkin in the field.

Maegan and Bill's Wedding

We were thrilled to be asked to be in Maegan and Bill's wedding party! Owen remembered the last wedding he was in and was so excited about this one! he picked out the song he wanted to dance to and all year would mention dancing at Maegan's wedding whenever he heard the song :)

The weather threatened to be cold and rainy all week but when the day came the weather was perfect. It was actually hot and sunny all day!

I was a little stressed trying to figure out how we would manage getting us all ready for the wedding and having a 6 week old baby, but it all worked out! Luckily we have great family members that helped - Jeff and Theresa babysat Grayson for the evening and came back later to pick the boys up after they enjoyed some of the dance. Thanks so much for your help!

I had Grayson with me while I joined the other bridesmaids getting ready and for photos. Gavin had the other boys back at Jeff's getting ready. Here they are fooling around before leaving for the ceremony.


Uncle Bill waiting anxiously for Maegan to walk down the aisle. The wedding ceremony and reception took place at Bill's parents farm and they did such a great job getting everything ready for the wedding. They transformed a barn into a beautiful reception hall and the decorations were fantastic!


Here are my two handsome ring bearers! They did an awesome job and even Noah was brave enough to go down the aisle. This picture makes me laugh it shows their personalities perfectly :) Owen holding the pillow perfectly and doing things exactly as he should and Noah holding his pillow by the string and swinging it around like he could care less about the wedding :) so funny these two are!


Maegan and Dad- Gavin wasn't able to get many photos because Grayson started fussing as the ceremony began.


Owen looking handsome in his tuxedo


Noah looking handsome in his tuxedo - he looks so much older to me in this picture.


My sweet little neice! look at how adorable she is :)



Isn't this how everyone eats cheesecake?


Noah being silly :)


There was an awesome fireworks show- everyone loved it especially the kids. Such a great idea and not something that you see at every wedding:)


Handsome daddy and Noah


I really need to make an effort to take more family photos - sadly, this is the only photo of the five of us :(


Maegan and Bill's first dance.


No pictures of Grayson all dressed up, we were in such a rush to get to the ceremony on time :(

2 Months Old

We've been a family of five for two months and I can barely remember what life was like before Grayson arrived. Well, I'm sure things were 'easier' but I think we are adjusting to being outnumbered or at least we are getting used to the craziness. Owen and Noah have been fantastic with their baby brother and have stepped up to being the best big brothers ever! they are so loving and gentle with Grayson it is really sweet to see them kissing him and helping me out when they can.

Grayson goes for his two month wellness visit tomorrow and I can't wait to see how much he weighs. I'm guessing he's about 12 pounds now - he's grown a couple of extra chins and he's grown out of all his newborn and some of his 0-3 month clothes, he eats often during the day every 2-3 hours. Just this week he has spaced his feedings out a little which has been so nice for me. Also, this week he has started to have a four hour stretch of sleep at night, usually starting around 10pm and then wakes every two hours after that until he is up for the day at 7:00am.

He definitely knows who mommy is and wants to be held most of the time. He has been spending many hours a day in the Ergo carrier just so I can get things done, and it's a bonus that he loves being cuddled up in there. He's a very smiley and happy baby! I just love when he gives me a big gummy smile when he sees me :)

update: Grayson weighs 10lbs15oz (between 5th and 10th percentile) his height is 61.5cm (between 50th and 75th percentile) and his head circumference is 37cm (less than 5th percentile)

I'm loving that Owen is still enjoying school and comes home happy and telling me about his day. His favourite activities seem to be the house center, and riding the new bikes at recess. His least favourite time of the day is quiet time :) I'm guessing from what he tells me that quiet time is at the end of the day and I'm assuming at that point he is tired and wanting to come home. All day kindergarten is exhausting for him and he is asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Every morning we play a little game where I tell him I'm going to imagine him playing and having fun, or going to the library etc. just to let him know I'll be thinking of him. he usually responds with "I'm going to imagine when you come and pick me up". Luckily when I do pick him up he only has positive things to say about the day and tells me that he had fun.

Some control behaviours have surfaced since the start of school which we expected, as controlling things seems to be his way of dealing with new transitions and stress. Luckily we know what to look for and are quick to deal with things so it hasn't gotten out of hand. He has also been dealing with stress in a much more positive way by asking us for extra cuddle time, which I think has helped a tremendous amount with his transition to school. Owen has always turned to us for comfort, but it is nice that he can express his needs - it makes it easier on everyone.

We are so pleased with his teacher and how school is going! below is a video of Owen singing some of the new songs he's learned. He starts off a little slow and distracted by being on video - but things pick up in the end :)

Last week I went in to wake Noah from his nap (we had to pick Owen up from school) and this is how I found him :) Just one of the perks of working from home. Such a silly boy he is.

Mid Autumn Moon Festival

I was reminded of the Mid Autumn moon festival after seeing a t.v commercial - oops! luckily we didn't miss it and planned a very last minute get together with some friends that have children from China and Vietnam. We are so glad to have friends that are up for anything last minute and we enjoyed a great evening together celebrating the holiday!

Our fun began early evening with some lantern decorating. Trying to take photos while keeping the glittery mess contained was no easy task, but we managed. Some little kids preferred minimal glitter and placed each decorative spot carefully, while others preferred their lantern to be covered in glitter (Owen and Hannah).


We ordered Asian from a local restaurant and Catherine made some delicious cookies for dessert that represented the moon.


Catherine ended up holding both of the new babies while we got the kids ready for the lantern parade outside.


Owen with his lantern during the parade - he kept calling it the "Automatic Moon Festival". It was cute so we didn't bother correcting him :)


Noah with his lantern


Check out that beautiful moon!