Gramps & Gran

This blog has been sadly neglected in recent weeks... But that usually means one thing.

I'm busy doing other things!

We hosted my parents from Manitoba here on the farm for about 2 weeks and we had a really great time. I was a little apprehensive about sharing our 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom, half-a-house with guests, but it went much better than I expected. We gave the parents our "master" bedroom, while Erik and I slept on a couple of mattresses on the floor in the kids room (thankfully their room is so big!)

It was fun to show our parents the acreage for the first time. It's a pretty significant upgrade from the townhouse...

Erik happened to be doing renovations in our shop, so my dad pitched in and helped. He was also found helping Erik's dad put in fence posts around the yard. We had to maximize on the free labour I guess.

Meanwhile, my mom and I went shopping and made soups and pies at home - with a little help from Silas here and there. The weather was even decent enough to enjoy a weiner roast and s'mores for supper one evening.

On the weekend my parents treated us to a hotel stay in Bellingham. We shopped and ate and swam.

(backwards swim trunks...)

My mom enjoyed her new ipad.

When the rest of us weren't hogging it.


And some of us rested...

(I tried to take the "deedee" out of his mouth while he slept but his teeth were clamped right down on it.)


While we were down there we decided to drive to Deception Pass.

Dad and Erik contemplating the tall, tall trees...


Thankfully the wind and the rain held off long enough for us to enjoy a walk along the beach.


We got our fill of stone-throwing and rock-climbing...

And when we were done playing, the kids (Erik included) hiked back to the car with pockets full of colourful "one-of-a-kind" beach rocks.

Thanks Mom & Dad for a great visit!

This Pretty Much Sums it Up

I ended my last post with high hopes of having a less eventful week that didn't involve a lot of pyjama wearing. But it was not meant to be. Keziah came down with the flu on Monday morning and Silas got sick the next day. It was the kind of flu that kept me guessing - just when they seemed to be doing well (as in jumping on the trampoline, running around the house), somebody would get hit with another fever, or randomly start throwing up...

Saturday came and everyone seemed to be finally feeling better. So, we met with some friends to go skating for the afternoon and then a Timmy's date afterwards. But apparently Silas was still feeling the effects of the week. He ate his chocolate chip cookie and then promptly put his head down on his chair and fell asleep.

For real.

I know how he feels.

Just hours later I started getting the dreaded aches and chills and ended up spending all of yesterday in bed. But I'm feeling a bit better today thanks to a couple little friends by the name of advil and tylenol...

Moses

The new kitten has been a great source of entertainment over the past week. Taking away "kitty time" proves to be an effective punishment (especially for Keziah).

But I do have to monitor the handling, especially for Silas who thinks it's hilarious to hear Moses meow while he repeatedly pulls his tail.

But I'm pretty sure Moses is a glutton for punishment...

Or just really forgiving...

He's been put to sleep in doll beds and zipped up in princess snack bags...

And he takes it all in stride.

And when it comes to "cat"-napping, he really is the best snuggler around.

Notorious Napper Strikes Again

For as long as Keziah has been sleeping in a "big girl" bed, I've been posting pictures of her quirky sleeping positions. (See examples here and here)

And she just keeps the photo opps coming.

Case in point: today at 4:00 pm, I found her on the staircase like this.

And in case you haven't already seen this on my facebook page, this priceless photo was taken last week...

Can someone say future wedding slideshow??

December in a Nutshell

Wow. So many pictures from December to post. Here are some highlights of the end of 2009 in no particular order...

I find it funny that my youngest was the easiest to photograph in these shots while the older 2 had trouble obeying the instructions.


We have a new carpet that we have been thoroughly enjoying. Silas finally honed his sitting skills in December and our new carpet created a soft safe place for him to spend his time. He really enjoyed his newfound point of view!


Having a carpet gives our house a much more cozy feel. I love this picture of my boys (Erik is getting a little bit shaggy in the face here!):


But I think Keziah loves the carpet most of all:


10 points if you can guess what's happening in this picture:



Now for a wider shot...


Erik and I left Silas in his exersaucer while we were getting ready for Micah's birthday party. We've discovered that he can move slowly around the room if he jumps long and hard enough in this thing. There have been days when he is suddenly at the Christmas tree pulling down all sorts of ornaments. On this particular day he had discovered the curtains. Thankfully they are quite sheer (and not suffocating)... And of course I had to run and get the camera before I could rescue him :)

We went to Vancouver Island and stayed in the Hamm's new house which is right on the ocean. Here are a few pictures from that weekend:




Micah & Rosanna celebrated their birthdays while we were there:


We took a few family photos:






Keziah's usually pretty willing to pose for the camera:




One part of my December that was stressful was Silas' milk drinking. At the end of November we were having some nursing issues. Silas was becoming disinterested in drinking as he was eating more and more solids. And let's just say his teeth are... um... sharp. At feedings he would alternate between drinking and teething... ouch. I managed to hang onto the late night feedings for a few extra nights as he was sleepy and didn't seem to bite, but after he bit me 2 nights in a row I decided we'd had enough. I was a little disappointed as I had hoped to nurse at least part-time until he was a year. And it made me a little sad when I thought that this could be my last baby, but at the same time I felt thankful that we had made it to 8 months.

But after I weaned him, it was a struggle to get him to drink anything. He's always been fine with the bottle, but there were some days when he wouldn't drink more than 4-6 oz all day. The boy would just way rather EAT! A lot! I tried to limit his solids so that we didn't lose out on the milk intake, but it's a tricky balance. I also didn't want to cram a bottle into his mouth every hour because I know that wouldn't help either. So, I just chose to make it a non-issue and now we are on a good routine of 3 bottles a day and he's drinking about 10-12 oz total. The kid is definitely not a lightweight so I think we're doing just fine :)


December held other things like gingerbread-house-making with Granny:


A preschool Christmas concert:


Lots of fun new toys:


Some new craft supplies:


And even a little bit of snow!
(Though Micah wishes for more and keeps asking me when it will snow again...)


One afternoon we told the kids that they were going to have a half-hour of roomtime. We used to do this quite regularly but then got out of the habit. So, here was the reaction when we put them in their room: (make sure to turn your speakers extra loud for this one!!!)




And about 15 minutes later...


:)