Lily Grace: 8 months

 And I'm sitting here yet again- a month has flown by in the blink of an eye.

The first few days of 8 months has not been mine or Lily's favourite. She's been quite crabby and owly, but there's no sign of teeth yet. Miraculously we were able to sell our house in 12 days, so I'm glad she waited until all the showings (so many showings) were over to be in mood.

Her overnight sleeping has improved and she's back to only waking up once a night, usually not until 3-5 in the morning. While I miss the sleeping all night that seemed to be the norm a few months ago, it's a vast improvement from the 2-4 nighttime wakings that plagued us for a month and a half. She likes to sleep on her side holding onto a fuzzy stuffy. She is all about fleecy softness.

Lily loves her food and loves feeding herself, now that I've got the high chair set up again. She eats pretty much anything, but oranges and scrambled eggs have been a favourite of hers lately.

                                               

When she's excited she curls her toes and points her feet, or she flaps her arms wildly and smacks the tops of her hands together.

She says mama and dada.

She is so close to crawling, and has taken a few "crawling steps". Mostly she just rocks back and forth on her hands and knees. And when she's expended all efforts, she just sprawls out on the floor on her face like she hates her life. She sure gets around though by scooting, rolling, and army crawling. She often gets trapped in a corner.

Most of the time she is happy sitting in the living with a container of toys she can empty. She is curious and loves to discover. If you take the toys out of the container first and give them to her, it loses its appeal.

                                               

She likes having baths in the big tub, being tickled, playing peekaboo, music, and stories.

                                                

Looking forward to this little's first Christmas. Hopefully Granny doesn't decorate the bottom third of her tree...

21?????????????????//,.;.;

Isaac: 9 years old

 Isaac turned 9 at the end of October. We had his birthday party at the beginning of October, because we didn't know what restrictions would be in place at the end of the month, and we figured the weather was still nice enough at the beginning to throw it at the park. We went out to Broadmoor Lake Park with a few friends and they played on the playground basically the entire time. I hate coming up with things for entertainment at kids parties so the entertain-themselves parties are my favourite.

We had a pre birthday celebration with grandparents  that involved pizza (well kids had pizza, adults had donairs), and a cake that Isaac "designed" himself. I had to label the picture so I made sure to remember all the details. A chocolate cake with layers of chocolate ice cream and chocolate mousse, also covered in chocolate mousse, with a blue number nine (which I did in whipped cream), and rainbow sprinkles, and little pearls around the outside, and candles and four sparklers ... He told me it was the best cake he'd ever eaten (I deviated from my normal chocolate cake recipe, so I didn't think it was, although being covered in what I believe to be the best chocolate mousse redeemed it haha). We also went to a haunted house that night, since it was supposed to be a family friendly night. Let's just say when we got out both my parents each had a little girl in their arms, and Isaac slept in our bed that night. On the contrary, Mia begged us to go again.

For his actual birthday I made him crepes for breakfast, we opened presents before school, and then I picked him up from school at lunch. We were lucky enough to have Gordon's parents staying with us for the week, so I was able to spend the afternoon with Isaac. We went to booster juice for lunch, then to the swimming pool for 2.5 hours, finishing with McDonalds for supper, carving pumpkins, and him building his new Lego set. 

Isaac 9 year old interview

Favourite animal: budgie, wolf

Favourite subject: history (social studies??)

Favourite show/movie: he couldn't think of one... he's been watching the Marvel series with his Grampy, likes Pirates of the Caribbean, Teen Titans, Captain Underpants, and any National Geogrpahic documentary he can find on WWI or II, Egypt, the Titanic. He has many diverse interests when it comes to history.

Favourite food: crepes (he also LOVES cucumbers. I literally have to hide cucumbers from him. He just cuts either end off and eats it like a bunny. I have to limit him to one a day or we'd literally go through 12 cucumbers a week. And I'm talking the big long English cucumbers.)

I am scared of: clowns

When I grow up I want to be a: lego engineer

Describe yourself in 3 words: cool, funny, smart

Isaac is a lot of fun as a son. He likes to be goofy and joke around. He walked by the counter one day and said "Look out bananas! You have a one way ticket to tummy town tonight!". He's always coming up with quips that make me laugh, and has taken to talking in a Batman voice all the time. He thinks it makes him less likely to get in trouble over his smart alec comments (of which there are many).

As a big brother, he likes to teach his sisters things, but isn't always the most patient if they don't catch on right away. He likes to lead them in creative endeavours like magic shows, puppet shows, or plays that will turn them into YouTube stars.

He loves one on one time doing pretty much anything, and we are enjoying reading Harry Potter 5  together (picture is us finishing 4), watching the Lord of the Rings movies, and the Great Canadian Baking Challenge together. He likes to play video/computer games with his dad and do things like help mow the lawn or go on dump runs.

He likes a good logic puzzle and figuring out how things work.

He is a big bookworm and plows through books. He's read all the Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Dog Man series. He is steadily working his way through Roald Dahl, and has some other books going on the side. He reads at every meal, and I can usually hear him turning pages way too late when I'm in the living room chilling (aka folding laundry or meal planning) after the kids are in bed.

He doesn't have a ton of patience when people can't figure things out or don't display the same level of knowledge as him (we're working on this...). He doesn't understand why he has to use details in his assignments or expand and explain things, because in his words "well my teacher should know that". I've reminded him many times that he's not doing the assignment to teach his teacher, he's doing it to show his teacher he knows his stuff haha.

We were trying to come up with a new name for our white van. His suggestion was "the Baa van" after his favourite sheep stuffie. We settled on Hedwig.

                                           

He loves a long shower, and confessed to me that he uses every shower product in there so he's extra clean. He said "mum you know your pink stuff in there?" (my shaving cream) "I'm using it on my arms and it's making me so smooth, just like it says on the label." He wasn't actually shaving just lathering himself up with it haha.

He just earned his green stripe belt in Judo. He can't earn full green until he's 10, so he's achieved the highest belt he can at this point, and is working hard on all his throws so he's ready to go for full green next year.

He loves shorts and tshirts and would live in those alone if I let him. But in the winter fleece lined sweats are his go to. He loves to be cozy and comfy. However, he has recently decided to take a little more pride in his appearance and has started wearing collared shirts to church with a tie. I haven't been able to get him to wear any button up shirts without significant bribes since he was like 4, so I almost fell over when he told me he wanted to dress up for picture day as well.

He's interested in finances and is learning how to manage his money. We walked into the Disney store one day and he said after looking at a couple items "Wow, your money sure doesn't go far in this place." One day he told me that he was going to work and save money to buy a house before college. I asked him what kind of job he was planning on getting to make that happen. He said he would work at Grandpa's old dental office. To which I replied some level of post secondary would be required for most of the jobs there. He says "I guess I'll just be a paper boy". So obviously lots to learn still haha. He just saved up all his money and bought a nintendo switch for his bday. 

Isaac feels things deeply and has a big place in his heart for all his extended family. He and I are pretty close and still loves to snuggle with me and makes sure he gets his bedtime hugs and kiss. He often asks what help I need to clean up at the end of the day. Mostly I think he's stalling his bedtime, but I'll take it.

Watching this kid grow up used to terrify me, but I'm actually loving it. He's a much easier 9 year old than toddler, and I'm hoping an even easier teenager (but I'm not that naive).