September Catch-Up Post

The month of September is rapidly coming to a close so I thought I'd share some random pictures from the past month that have been sitting on my computer and longing to be posted!

I feel guilty that we spent a lot of our summer indoors - partly because of the insane heat we had here, and partly because I felt overwhelmed by taking all 3 kids outside. We have a TINY backyard and the kids prefer playing in the lane in the front of our townhouse - but that means that I need to be out there with them since there are always cars coming and going. This past month the temperature has been more tolerable and Silas has been more content to watch the kids play from his stroller so we've made outside time a more regular part of our routine.

There is a small grassy area to the side of our house and the kids love playing with their trucks and cars in the dirt there.


Sidewalk chalk:


Can't remember why she was crying here but this is pretty normal for Keziah :)


Chasing the neighbourhood cat that we've named "Fluffy":


It's all fun and games until somebody gets scratched.


Double-dating with Taeya & Elijah at Ezra's birthday party:




Bottle time for the babies:


And a video to end off:

Baby Faces

Just Because He's Cute

This kid is almost 6 months already!


I tried feeding Silas rice cereal for the first time a few weeks ago and he wasn't too impressed.


What is this stuff, Mom?!?


Silas is pretty immobile still - not really rolling and not sitting either. Maybe because he spends so much time strapped in - to the bouncy chair, to the swing, in the stroller, in the high chair... I should probably let him have some more floor time but it is WAY too hazardous to leave him lying around :)


Silas has begun to express himself - unfortunately it is in the form of wild, insistent shrieking. Not really crying, but not really happy either. It makes things feel a little chaotic sometimes...


One of our next attempts at rice cereal - still not a big fan...


In the last few days he is finally starting to enjoy his cereal. I'm glad to have an option of something to give him when he's fussy/bored, but I'm a little overwhelmed at the prospect of starting solids for child #3. It can be a messy and time-consuming phase. And now when we go out, baby food is one more thing that I have to remember not to forget!


It's a busy life these days but we love our little Siley-Bear. He is full of smiles and giggles and it's just as enjoyable watching him learn new things as it was with our first baby :)

Growing Up

My little boy is off to preschool!


Monday was Micah's first real preschool day. Him and I went together last Friday for parent orientation and an informal playtime for the kids. I think I was more nervous than he was. As a kid I never would've thought that parents would feel insecure and the need to fit in. But it's like our first day at school too. You smile shyly at all the other moms and hope that they like you :)


On Monday I dropped him off for his regular 2 and a half hour class and he did great. He had absolutely no problem with me leaving. I'm sure it wouldn't have been this easy a year ago! When I picked him up I bombarded him with questions but didn't get too much out of him. I did find out that he went pee twice, put up his hand to ask a question in circle time, and that 2 of the other kids brought yogurt tubes for snack.


Unfortunately Micah came down with something yesterday and still wasn't feeling well enough to go to school this morning. I wondered if part of it was nervousness about going, but when I asked him he said he wished he could go to school, but his tummy just hurt. So hopefully he'll be back to himself on Friday.

The other excitement in Micah's life these days is a new friend. We met a boy who lives down the street in our townhouse complex. His name is Julian and he's 5. And he is outside riding his bike every waking moment (when he's not in school). Micah and him have started having races - Julian on his bike (no training wheels) and Micah on his tricycle. Julian beats him every time of course but Micah doesn't seem to mind. I'm sure Micah would love to be outside with him all day but I don't feel totally confident letting him play out there without me supervising. From inside the house I don't have a good view of the area where they like to play. And I'm not sure I trust Julian to be super careful after I've observed him whipping around the complex. So, I've been heading outside with the kids in the later afternoon when Julian's sure to be home from school.


Anyway, Micah doesn't know yet but we've ordered him an early birthday present with our airmiles - a spiderman bike with training wheels. He's getting too big for the trike and Keziah is ready to inherit it. I'm sure he'll be pretty excited once he realizes he can keep up with his new friend.


Even though other kids Micah's age are in kindergarten already (and riding bikes without training wheels), it feels to me like it's all happening so fast! When did this kid grow up??

It's A Zoo Here Today...

Come To Me

Are you tired?

Worn out?

Burned out on religion?

Come to me.

Get away with me

and you'll recover your life.

I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Walk with me and work with me—

watch how I do it.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.

Keep company with me

and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

Matthew 11:28-30

(The Message)

Keziah-Bear

Keziah decided to sleep with her doll's pacifier for a few days...

Keziah makes our house interesting with her her little oddities. I don't think she resembles me much in looks (other than the white-blonde hair), but sometimes I see my own little girl-ness in her. Like her constant singing, or her extreme shyness in public, or her carelessness :P I don't recall having such a stubborn temper and strong will (did I, Mom?) but thankfully I think we may be out of the worst of the "terrible twos"...

I can hope, right?

Even though Keziah's vocabulary is well established, she still makes some funny mix-ups. Like yesterday for example... We often get farm-type smells around here, especially in the fall. Yesterday there was a particularly strong cow odour and Keziah kept sniffing at the air and announcing, "I hear cow's moo. I hear cow's moo!" When I asked her if she meant 'I smell cow poo' then she decided that, yes, that is exactly what she meant :)

I love you Keziah-bear...

In Case You Need a Good Laugh...

On the weekend Rosanna introduced us to Rhett & Link's website and their wonderfully funny web videos. Let's just say, here are 2 very creative guys with a whole lot of spare time on their hands! Please enjoy :)

Summer Days

Another week (or more) has gone by since I blogged last and there are several pictures needing to be posted!



It's hard to believe that August is almost over. I found out that Micah's preschool doesn't start until towards the middle of September. I wish it was coming a little sooner than that. Micah might be thankful for the extra weeks but I think that once he starts he'll realize what he's been missing all this time!

Last week we had a few hot days and one late afternoon we took the kids to the park before meeting the rest of the family for supper. It was pretty warm, but not like the heat that we've had. I had forgotten to put hats on the kids and they were running pretty hard, chasing a frisbee that Erik was throwing. Over the next 24 hours Micah's skin broke into a pretty intense heat rash - mostly his face and arms. Surprisingly, he didn't really notice it and wasn't bothered by any itchiness.

(It's already faded quite a bit here.)

Keziah also got her first haircut this week - though not a planned one! Erik managed to get a comb twisted up in her hair so bad that we had to cut it out. (You'll have to ask him how that happened!) I expected it to look much worse, but you actually can't even really tell. I saved the inch-long chunk for her baby book as this was her very first haircut!


Silas is back to sleeping in our bedroom these days. He's actually sleeping through the night; going from about 10 pm to 7 am without feeding. He sometimes has other brief wakings in between but what bothers me is that he wakes up at about 6 am and wants to be up for the day. I know I shouldn't complain about this one measly hour when he's already sleeping so well, but I know that he's able to make it until 7. With him and Micah in the same room I risk Micah waking up at 6 am also if he hears Silas fussing. And the chances of Micah going back to sleep aren't likely - and I do NOT want to deal with an over-tired 4-year-old who doesn't nap. So, Silas will be in our room until things are a little more consistent. It would be so wonderful if we had just one more bedroom!


I started showing Silas one of our Baby Einstein DVDs about a month ago and he LOVES it. Baby Mozart has become such a life-saver for me these days. Micah also loved those videos from a young age, though Keziah never cared much for them. Perhaps boys just have a greater love for TV!


Silas is able to hold onto toys quite a bit now - which is also nice for me! One of his favourites is this razz-berry teether:


The kids are really excited about praying these days. They take turns praying at meal time and at bedtime and though some of their prayers are humourous (i.e. Keziah thanks Jesus every day that we got to go to Castle Fun Park even though we haven't been there for weeks), some of their prayers have surprised us (like when Micah thanks God for the Holy Spirit!).

Anyway, this morning one of our neighbours lost their dog. They were planning to catch a flight to Montreal today and somehow their dog got out during the night and they were a little panicked this morning as they tried to find him. Erik came in to tell us about it and then him and Micah prayed that they could find the dog. Within 10 minutes, we saw one of the kids walk past with the dog, calling loudly that he was found. It was neat for the kids to see this answered prayer (though we realize God doesn't answer ALL prayers this fast!). Later this morning I heard Keziah talking to herself and when I stopped to listen I realized she was praying and thanking God that our neighbours found their puppy :) So cute!


Singing a song together and then laughing:


Yesterday morning we skipped our church service and took a family trip to White Rock instead:


I'm still breastfeeding Silas the majority of the time, but he's getting at least 1 bottle a day. I started this as a way to keep him used to the bottle, but now I'm finding that my milk supply has depleted to the point where I need to give him a bottle once a day. I'm a little worried about losing my supply entirely (or that Silas will prefer the bottle to me which is what happened with Keziah). I'm really hoping to nurse him until the 1 year mark and I am SO not ready to start paying the big bucks for formula!


The big white rock:



"WHITE ROCK!!"


We walked down the pier which took a LONG time. Keziah alternated between wanting to walk, but then being weird-ed out by being able to see the water between the slats of wood beneath her feet.

Here she is watching the crabs swimming in the water below:


A nice couple offered to take our picture. They probably didn't even realize we had a whole other child (who was sleeping soundly in his stroller off to the side):


By the time we walked back, the sun had warmed up and we enjoyed a picnic on the sand:


Silas is very smiley and quick to giggle. And I think he may be quite ticklish too. I usually notice it when he's a little overtired, but sometimes when I touch his neck or ears (without the intent to tickle) he just cracks right up! Yesterday at the beach I peeked in the side of his diaper by his leg to check if it was dirty and he broke into a fit of giggles :)


Micah had the job of scaring away the seagulls while we ate our picnic lunch. According to him, he was our "pre-tector".




And this is a scene from this morning. I found these shiny black shoes for Keziah at Value Village yesterday and she wore them from breakfast until lunch.


And here's a picture of our kitchen. This past week Erik put on the new cabinet door handles and also custom-built this potlight fixture to replace our huge flourescent light:


The only thing we might do in here yet is a backsplash but we'll have to decide what kind of tile to use.

Here's a reminder of what the kitchen looked like when we moved in (too bad we didn't get a shot that showed off the nasty flourescent glow!):

Oh and I shouldn't forget to mention that Erik and I have started a workout program this past week called P90X. Erik is doing the full program which requires an hour of working out 6 days a week for 90 days. He follows a schedule that alternates between several different DVDs. So far I've done 4 of the workouts. I'm interested in the cardio-related ones and not so much all the muscle building ones. There's a diet that goes along with the program, but instead of following it religiously we're just making an effort to eat more protein and fresh vegetables and eliminate the treats! We have been pretty sore (and extra hungry!) but we also feel great. I was especially glad to see that a couple more pregnancy pounds were gone by the end of the week!