you've been replaced

This very adorable fuzzy bear hat was the former record holder for cutest hat ever.  

But it has recently been replaced by L's belated Christmas gift from Auntie N.  

Yes, it's handmade.  Yes, it's lovely.  Yes, she leaves it on her head.  And we got it just in time as it is snowing this very minute and the bear hat is a bit too tight now.
The pattern is called Miss Dashwood, I think, is that right Auntie?  And I am so excited about it!

happy belated Valentine's

I know these are a bit late, ok a lot late. I meant to put them up right away, but didn't. So here they are now.
The boys enjoying their ValenTIMES treats from preschool and daycare. They also had a little party at daycare and Lainey and I went and joined in the fun. Since it was sunny that Friday we had the party outside, the kids loved it, but it was chilly!
Before I forget, R nicely shared all his Preschool treats with K, and I thought that was very loving!

Morning Conversation

This morning I found myself sleeping next to a 3 year old wearing only a diaper.  I wonder what happened to the nice warm footy PJ's I put him in last night.... so I ask:

Mummy: K, what happened to your clothes?

K: I don't need clothes.  I am warm in your bed.

Ahh, I see.  Little Man you have it all figured out.

Who was here?

Here is some evidence of three different monkeys at work.
I know who did what. Can you figure it out?

Exhibit A: the kitchen floor

Exhibit B: left in a laundry basket.

Exhibit C: playroom floor

K got ahold of the camera

Not bad for a just-turned-three year old, eh?

Weary and Blessed

I have been recently thinking about being weary.

the boys Christmas '07

Galations 6:9
Let us not become weary in doing good,
for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

There is a lot going on here, and a lot going on in my entire life (especially emotionally). So I am feeling weary. Not quite sure how to turn that corner. I have struggled on and off with depression/anxiety, especially associated with the whole pregnancy experience, times 3. That makes almost 5 years of struggling on and off to get out of bed, to get out of the shower and to get out of the house.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I love my kids, but often feel like I am not doing my best for them and this makes me sad. I want to have energy and patience and all that is not springing out of me joyfully on a daily basis. This is not a rant or complaint, just a reminder to myself that I am not sufficient. I must get my strength from God. Time to switch gears.
I have read in a few different places recently the phrase "do you really believe it?". I think that is the main issue here, I know things but I don't live like I really believe them. That is my new charge for myself, memorize and live out those things I am reading.

Armful of kids

Psalm 127:4-5
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

Basketful of kids

I guess this is for me. I memorized this when I was expecting R, it came to mind, and boy do I feel like we have a house (or a quiver) full of kids.
So I plan to refresh my memory on this one, and live like I am blessed.

I have a theory...

Ok I have a theory about many things... but this particular theory goes something like this: no matter what you do with a baby, they are going to reach their milestones when they reach their milestones. A lot of this baby stuff is really up to them. Of course it does depend on personality, the environment and all that too. But really they are the little bosses.

My current example: SLEEP. That's right, little L slept through the whole night last night. 7pm to 5:30 am. I think she woke up because I made A go and check on her at 5:15 when I woke up and realized she wasn't with me. It went something like this...

Me:Go check on L, make sure she is ok.

A gets up, walks down the hall, walks back, lays down.

Me: Well is she there?

A: yep

Me: Is she breathing?

A:yep, and I know breathing.

Me silently planning my celebratory blog post and unable to return to sleep because of it.

(Just for the record she fed from 5:30 to 6:30 and then went back in her bed until a very respectable 7:30. It was lovely. I got up at 6:30 and made the kids valentines for daycare.)

She has a runny nose. She is teething. I haven't been great at keeping her nap schedule overly regular. In short there was no reason for her to sleep this particular night, but she did.

Rewind to baby one, R. He was on a schedule almost immediately. We worked hard on routines. He slept through the night at about 10 months.

Baby two, K. He had almost no routine. His day was always different. He was driving me crazy so I did the "No Cry Sleep Solution" book with him and he slept through the night in a week. At about 10 months.

Baby three, L. She has been on a loose schedule. We often held her till she was asleep then put her to bed. By "we" here I mean her Daddy, I usually put her down drowsy. And with no concerted effort she slept through the night at almost 10 months.

Do you see the pattern here?

I think my kids were going to sleep when they were going to sleep, and all the effort on my part had some effect, but not a ton.

Of course they have different personalities and we have more parenting skills and we know what to worry about and what to leave be. I have more confidence that whatever the current problems (within reason) they will change weather we work at them or not, because change is the nature of childhood.

I also was quite convinced with my first babe that there was a way to do things that would be right for him, if everyone shushed and patted exactly the same then he would peacefully drift off. Now I know that everyone cannot possibly do things the same way, so I relax and let the grandparents get them to sleep anyway they can. What a special treat to fall asleep cuddling with Grandma. That is part of what makes their relationship special.

All this to say, I wasn't trying or worrying, but really, I liked the sleep. Hope she can do it again tomorrow night!!!

Mii too!

Nana and Grandad have a Wii.  A and I discussed getting one this past Christmas, but decided the kids aren't quite big enough yet and there will be plenty of time to buy that sort of thing later.  Well, I still think they are a bit young, especially K and L, but it is really fun to play on that thing! Above L is engaging in non electronic past times, namely destroying the boys puzzles.
R favorite is boxing and baseball, and he is really good at bowling too!  He doesn't really know that any of these games exist in real life and laughs when we tell him that.  Here he is bowling a "home run", no honey it's a strike. Whatever.
K doesn't really have a clue what to do, and to top it off he is (likely) left handed so it is hard to help him even.
Here R is helping his little brother, too cute.
And here are the prize fighters in action.  The video of this is really hilarious!

Anyway, this is how we passed some time this week.  Cause we are cool like that.

He's 3!

Today, officially, K turned 3! Yippee! He is so adorable, here are some of my favorite things about him RIGHT NOW:
He has a halo of curls, Daddy won't let me cut his hair at the moment and really it suits him!
He has the most lovely eyes, just like his Papa K.
He is obsessed with trains, but Thomas isn't nearly as important as James. It used to be Percy but now it's James. He often sleeps with James. He told everyone he was having a James party not a Thomas the Tank Engine party.
He has a flair for the dramatic. He often enters a room with a jump saying "Ta da, here I am!". He cries terribly when he gets bumped by his brother but always says "dats ok" even as he still has tears running down his cheeks.
He has his own ideas about everything, he will only follow his brothers leading if he wants to, and only for a time then he will make his own thing up and go a different way. This makes R crazy, haha.
He talks himself to sleep. Chats away at full volume, or sings to himself. Good thing R is a sound sleeper.
The only thing he wanted for his birthday was to go swimming as we went in a pool at the hotel a few weeks ago and he thought that was the best thing ever! So today we played trains, went to MickeyD's and went swimming at the new pool near us, he loved it! So easy to please.
His favorite gift was, hands down the Thomas and Friends "bolder set" as this used to be his favorite Thomas movie. He also liked his music set (particularly the drum sticks), his Thomas puzzle, his Thomas videos, his Hockey jersey, his Diego submarine, his Buzz Lightyear, his Diego poncho, his bike horn and his new shirt.
I am including some pics of his party and of the actual birthday. Cousin A is the one in the red dress! The baby didn't get much partying in (she had a nap, whistles and all), so she isn't pictured. And a lot nicer pics than mine were taken thanks to uncle G and Auntie L and their fancy digital SLR's. We seem to have a lot of family members with fancy cameras, now I just need to figure out how to get the pics from them!
For the James party we coloured pictures, had lunch (sandwiches, fruit and veggies), played ring toss into top hats, made fruitloop necklaces with whistles on them (I knew it was crazy, but this should have been the last thing we did then it wouldn't have been so bad!), made train shaped cookies with red sprinkles (James cookies), and had the fabulous cake made by G, then opened presents.

And now he is 3!

Overtime Day

Although I never complain when the overtime cheque gets deposited... I usually always find a reason to complain about Daddy working an extra shift and therefore depriving me of a "day off".

Well we want the new iLife upgrade (the cool one with facial recognition software) and have big reno bills coming, so off to work Daddy went. 

The day had a bit of a rocky start, R refusing to go to school, L not napping and I may have muttered under my breath "this was a bad day for Daddy to go to work".  

But all in all we had fun, took a few pictures, played with 

"Boulder" and the trains.  L got into trouble and 

looked cute doing it.

R read Where is Waldo for the 

millionth time, and we had waffles for dinner.   

Then when Daddy came home, I got a quick trip to the scrapbook store in to take advantage of the last day of their sale!

All in all, no complaints, thank you very much!