So proud

Riley is very excited to learn. She loves to print words and is now in the beginning stages of learning to read (I have video of this that I will post later). At her Montessori school she has been following the JK program and has been coming home with a lot of what she calls work.
Some the books she has been working on....


I would say my girl is ready for JK.

In training

We started to give Cooper a sippy cup in order to try to teach him how to drink from something that is not me. We started Riley and Simon at the same age and it went really well...it goes with my parenting philosophy of do everything early before they are too old to object.

Growth

Today we had Coop's four month doctors appointment. He is growing like a weed. He went from 12 lbs, 12 oz to 15 lbs, 13 oz and in height he was 23 3/4 inches and is now 27 inches long. 27 inches means that he sadly no longer fits into the infant car seat, gone are my glory days of carrying him around in the seat while he sleeps...sniff, sniff.

He is also teething...still. Those two teeth on the bottom have been just about to break through for a couple weeks now. They are really bothering him, he hands his hands jammed in his mouth every waking moment. Speaking of waking moments he is getting up 6-8 times a night to feed, we assume it is because of the discomfort of his teeth and know that this too shall pass.

Sweet Photos of my sweet boy

Tummy Time With Brobie

Cooper is not a huge fan of tummy time but we make him have some daily. Brobie makes his time a little more enjoyable.


"Go Brobie, Go Brobie, Go, Go, Go Brobie"

Let's try again....

Here is my confession....I can not keep fish alive....but don't tell Riley. I told her that her fish went to see their friends and that we can go and pick them up. Today we went to pick them up. Riley chose two fish and she named them Sara and Emily. Simon also chose two named Blue and Simon.

On the way home from picking the fish up at their friends Riley and I had a little conversation:

Riley: Mommy how do fish walk?
Mommy: Fish don't walk honey.
Riley: Then how did they get to their friends?
Mommy: I drove them.

OK, I know not good to lie to your kids but I just can't explain death to her yet.

Happy to have fish again....for now.

Hand Washing - A Contact Sport

Would you cry if this happened to you?




The red mark not the big tummy.....

I would have cried....a lot. Simon did not. Sometimes we wonder about this kid.

Just because they are cute

More soccer photos of Riley and Simon with their friends Devyn and Laurel. This week Simon was right in there running with the pack. Yeah Simon! We knew you could keep up with the big kids.

Look who can roll over...

He can go from his tummy to his back.

Four Months Old

Our baby boy turned four months old today.

All three of our children have brought something special and unique to our family. When I think about Cooper I can't help to think that he was one of the best decisions we have ever made. We had two healthy children. We had a girl and a boy. Should we have the third? Most people thought and still think we were crazy for having three children. You truly do enter a whole new world when a third child enters your life. Jason and I talked a lot about having a third child and honestly we changed our minds often. I did not feel that our family was complete, I do know, Cooper has completed our family.

He is a joy to be around. He smiles all the time. He is laughing more and more out loud as each day passes, he finds the word beaver particularly funny right now. It is amazing to watch Riley hug him, kiss him and pretend that she is the princess and he is her prince. It is so cute to hear her call him Coopy Doop - I'm sure he will not be so fond of this name as he gets older. It melts our hearts when Simon talks with him and Cooper coos back at Simon exclaims "mommy, he likes me." When Simon asks if Coopy could sleep with him. It is wonderful to see them all together. We truly are blessed with three amazing children. It was a long, long hard road to get hear but worth every penny, tear and heartache.

Our little man.

Blisters

Using the Weedhound on this many dandelions causes many blisters on my hands. A house on a 40 foot lot in Barrie looks really good every spring.



And the job is not done yet.

Sunday

After a long Friday night and a busy Saturday for Simon on Sunday when he woke at his normal 5:00a.m. he was exhausted. Jason took him into the washroom to try to let the rest of us sleep. While Jason was in the shower he had a little nap, my poor boy.


In order to keep Riley and Simon quiet while Cooper had his morning nap we set up a clubhouse. They had snacks, toys, colouring and a movie to watch.


Once Coop woke up we headed down to the pool. When Jason was finished his morning session he came and swam with Riley and Simon. We have not put Coop in the pool yet, we will probably try it soon but we wanted him to be a little older.

Saturday With Moria

Saturday afternoon after washing six loads of bedsheets and comforters I packed the kids up and drove down to Toronto to meet Jason at the Holiday Inn. Our firend Moria came to hang out and have dinner with us. Riley and Simon are head over heels over Moira. They asked her repeatedly to sleep over, she had to read them their bedtime stories and give them hugs and kisses and then their were tears when she left. We are all looking forward to seeing Moira agian soon.

Mango: The Forbidden Fruit

Friday night at our house was interesting....no, it was hell. Jason cut a mango up for Simon before he left for the weekend, one would think that was a good snack...WRONG! At 11:00p.m. Simon appeared in my room just in time to throw up all over me and our bed. I changed the sheets, got him a bowl and kept him in my bed so I could watch him. He threw up 3 more times all over the place. After changing my bed sheets 4 times I decided just to move into his bed, it was dark and I crawled into another pile of vomit. Let me remind you that Jason was sleeping on his own in a hotel room. Simon's vomiting ended at 3:00a.m. which is precisely the same time Riley started into a coughing fit and....you guessed it, vomited all over her bed. I changed her bed, settled her back to sleep just in time for Cooper to wake for a feed. Now, Cooper never throws up so no worries right -WRONG!!!! He was gulping and he threw up all over himself, me and the chair. Did I tell you that Jason was sound asleep at the Holiday Inn? I was reduced to tears, it was now 4:30 in the morning and I had one hour sleep all night. I crawled into my bed hoping that because Simon was up half the night he would sleep past his normal 5:00a.m., right - WRONG AGAIN!

The good news is Simon was just fine after his little episode. The only thing we can think of is the mango as he has never eaten one before and everything else he ate so did the rest of us. I am sure of one thing - there will be no mango in Simon's near future.

Soccer

Last night was Riley and Simon's first night of soccer. Riley was right in there with the pack running after the ball....with a few side moments of playing chase with her friend Devyn. Simon tried to get in there too but had a meltdown when "he stole my ball." He was happy playing along side of daddy.

Devyn, Riley and Simon


Some action shots





The girls

Did it again...

We went to have dinner with G.G. and G.G. 2 on Wednesday and like last time I had the kids all dressed up but took pictures once we changed them into their P.J.'s for the ride home. Some people never learn.

Guess who got the first black fly bite of the season?

Helping Dad

The first grass cut of the season is complete. The boys on the riding lawnmower....

JUMP!!!!

Cooper LOVES to get the jumperoo rocking.

Running with Robert

Well, I did it. I have registered for my first 5km run. Race date is July 1st. Jason and kids made sure I was all decked out for running with my Mother's Day gifts. I am following the Couch potato to 5km in 9 weeks program...although I only have seven.... I run with my ipod listening to a man named Robert on a podcast telling me when to run and when to walk. Today was day one and I ran for 60 seconds, walked for 90 seconds over a 20 minute period. It felt really good to be out in the fresh air getting exercise.

Now to the why - heart disease runs in my family. Every single person on my mom's side of the family has died of a heart attack... or a stroke. Most of them have been affected by this at a young age. My Uncle Dave (mom's brother) passed two years ago of a heart attack in his 40's. My Uncle Fred (mom's brother) also had a heart attack in his 40's and survived. Both of my great grandparents passed of heart attacks and my grandma has recently be diagnosed with chronic heart failure. Recently, another member of my family had a mini-stroke...this one really hit home.....BADLY. So, to make a long story...longer, I am going to attempt this running thing. Wish me luck, I will need it.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was ironically one of my most trying days as a mommy of three. We were at the Holiday Inn all weekend and Jason was busy coaching all weekend, that left me a single parent in a hotel with three children. Saturday was great...besides the fact that we were just about to step foot out the door and golf ball sized hail started to fall. By Sunday, we were all a little tired and Simon was giving me a run for my money.
Back on topic....I woke up to a wonderful little movie that Jason and the kids made for me. I will try to link it to this blog later. I was spoiled with new running shoes, water bottle, running shorts, running bra ( yes, I will explain these purchases). I also got a beautiful t-shirt that Riley and Simon made for me at school, I wore it all day on Sunday.



Thank you Ri, Si, Coop and daddy for all of the wonderful gifts.

Cuddles

We had a great weekend together at the Holiday Inn...it was exhusting and trying at times but was still a lot of fun. I did manage to have all three kids napping at the same time in the room....I did a little happy dance then passed out myself.

We logged some serious cuddle time together this weekend.

Fish

With their life jackets on both Riley and Simon can swim like fish. They go all over the pool on their own, including jumping in from the edge.....and when I say on their own, I mean on their own....Jason was working all weekend and I didn't go into the pool because of Cooper. We are so proud of how well they can both swim and how much they love to swim....maybe they will follow in their daddy's footsteps and become competitive swimmers.