Morning Walk

We spent a quiet day at home today, but did venture out this morning for a walk to enjoy this gorgeous weather we've been having. The ducks were grateful, I'm sure, as we used up lots of stale bread on them!

My boy with his "fishing rod"

My girl, with her Baba

Sweet babies in their matching sweaters :)

Jack so enjoyed showing Baba all of his favorite haunts round about

Thanksgiving Weekend

This year we are thankful for so much. Our dear family, the ones we get to see often, and not so often. Our faithful friends...again those near and far. And our darling children, who are such gifts. Thank you Lord, for blessing us with so  many special relationships!

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving seeing friends, eating a yummy dinner and anticipating a weekend with family. On Friday, I went shopping with my sister and got some Christmas presents and Sophie's party stuff sorted out. On Saturday Andre's mom and grandfather finally arrived (after their first attempt at getting here last Monday was thwarted by the flu). And Saturday evening everyone came over to our house for supper.

Trying to get a Christmas card photo

Reading with their beloved Ms. Donna. The Morgans joined us for lunch on Thanksgiving Day.
 They are about to move to another state and we are so sad to see them go!

And Andre's Mom and Grandfather arrived yesterday! Hooray for Baba and Deada! 

Last night we had supper with everyone at our house...here's my brother, Steve with Rachel and Baby Wyn

And Ness with Sean and their little ladies

And all the grandkids from our side of the family (What is Jack doing??!!!)

Double Trouble (my best friend Kirsty sent them these hoodies from Australia last year and they can finally fit into them)

Me and Sophie with Mama

Our babies

Happy Thanksgiving...

From our house to yours! 

In everything, give thanks

For this is the will of God 

In Christ Jesus, concerning you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Birthday Boy

Bit late to post about Hubby's birthday since it was a week ago...oops. It was a big birthday and one he was not looking forward to celebrating, but we made a really fun family day of it: birthday breakfast at home, lunch at Provinos, a family favorite, home for naps, birthday cake for tea and then a special date in after the kiddos went to bed.

These two sure do love each other!

Miss Sophie thoroughly enjoyed the Italian food but did not look this clean when she was finished her meal!!

Hanging with Daddy

Birthday cake for tea

Happy birthday Babe!!

Sophie's "Room"

So I must preface this post with a little disclaimer:

We live in a very small, two bedroom apartment.
We love our very small daughter.
She does sleep in our very small bathroom.

Yes, so there, I've said it.

She slept in our room for the first 6 weeks of her life, but then got too noisy for us. And definitely too noisy to sleep with her big brother. And then there's also the fact that I still wake her up at 10 pm to dream feed her. So no, she is NOT ready to share with Jack yet. So we put her pac and play in our bathroom and now just use the guest bathroom. It's worked out fine so far and she doesn't know the difference. 

With all the purging and reorganizing we've been doing at our house (a huge THANK YOU to Ness and Sean for storing some of our stuff in their basement), I have unearthed some sweet little things I always wanted to use in Sophie's nursery. So I decided to decorate her "room" (aka our bathroom). I had fun and she even noticed, pointing and smiling when I took her in there after it was all done!

Keeping them contained while I decorated

All done: the quilt hanging on that towel rack was one my Mum made for her

Some of her special things (above the toilet!)

So much better!

So there you have it. Sophie's "nursery" :)

The Yuckies

That's what we've had around here. And it was quite yucky. Sophie came down with the bug on Wednesday and was pretty puny there for a while, with a high fever and the throw ups.

We woke up on Friday morning to Sophie doing much better but Jack burning up. I made a bed in the living room and he pretty much napped or watched TV all day, in between stories and lots of fluids. He got progressively worse throughout the day, poor guy!

Morning: still pretty alert and enjoying cartoons

Afternoon: didn't want to sit up at all and wouldn't eat

Evening: fell asleep watching the evening news (!) and was in bed by 7 pm

I must admit, it was a very peaceful and QUIET day around here. He didn't have the energy or inclination to argue with me or put up a fight about anything! Andre and I looked at each other in wonder after bedtime only took us all of five minutes, instead of the usual 30-40 minute routine!

Today both kiddos are recovering well, although both of them are not quite back to their usual selves. However, we did venture outside for a brief walk this afternoon and all enjoyed the beautiful Fall air. Now to finish organizing this house so I can deep clean and disinfect it!

11 Months Old

Ok, so I'm having a HARD TIME with Sophie's 11 month post. I find I'm digging my heels in and trying to slow time down, as the countdown is on to her first birthday. Jack was not a happy baby and each milestone was so exciting for him, that although I had a bit of nostalgia as each stage passed, I didn't mind him getting older. But my little Sophie has been such a delightful baby and I've loved (almost) every minute of her babyhood, that it's hard to see her getting older and more independent!

Big girl. She has gained a little weight in the last month and now weighs 14.10 lbs. She wears mostly 9 month clothes still. She has quite a bit of blond hair at the back, but not much in the front still. Eight teeth are in (four on top and four on bottom) and she is pulling up on furniture and trying to cruise. She is a pretty fast crawler too!

Her two favorite spots in the house are by the windows (she will look out for ages) and standing by the bath (one of her favorite times of day is bath time, just like her brother). She is not so interested in her toys and much prefers stealing Jack's or playing with things she's not supposed to. She is proving quite mischievous and definitely has a keen sense of fun, we've noticed.

She says "da da" when she sees Andre and says "Ja" for Jack. She has just started saying "da" for when I tell her to say "Ta" which is what we teach for please and thank you. She can wave, splash and "wipe" her tray with a wipe on command. So cute! She still loves her table food and will eat anything I give her, thankfully! Formula, not so much; still working on that.

She is on oxygen 24/7 now and handles it very well. She does seem to love it when I take off the tube to bath her, but doesn't pull on it very much. She has had an ear infection and a mild stomach bug over the last 10 days but seems to be on the mend now, and we are thankful that she was able to have her RSV shot (first in a series of 5 during the winter months) on Monday, approved by insurance. We continue to pray that she stays healthy as much as possible this season.

Happy 11 months Sophie Joy!

Little Pumpkins

One little Pumpkin at our house has been DYING to choose a pumpkin for himself. We've been promising to go for ages and haven't got around to it. So last weekend we took a family day and browsed a nearby farmer's market, to no avail. No pumpkins.

 Then we popped on over to our local Fresh Market, purveyors of all things wonderful and hard to find. Alas, they too, apparently believe that pumpkins expire after Halloween.

Poor Jack. We finally found two little gourds and a tiny but perfect pumpkin tucked into a clearance box at Publix. The day was saved!

Hooray for pumpkins

So happy!

Our little pumpkin's first Fall!

One happy boy

The girls

Daddy was laughing because Little Miss stole the last piece of shortbread right out of the pan!

A Quick Visit

Last week my Mum and Dad were flying through our airport on their way home from a conference they attended. They had a three hour layover so we all took the kiddos down to spend a bit of time with them. We had a great time  and the kids loved it, as they hadn't seen them since August. Can't wait until we see them again at Christmas!

These two had the best time together playing in the stroller

Nana and Grampa with all the grandbabies...impossible to get everyone looking!

These two are crazy together!

Park Day

When checking the old blog this morning, I suddenly realized it's been a couple of weeks since I posted anything. We've been keeping busy with the usual day to day and dealing with pink eye, ear infections, and trying to get our condo de-cluttered. More on that later. Yuck.

In between all that, we've had a few adventures outside of home. Yes, we do venture out occasionally! Ha!

Several weeks ago now, we met the cousins at a WONDERFUL park nearby (fake grass so no bugs or dirt...bliss!) and had a picnic lunch. One of the last beautiful, warm days of Fall...

Alexis and Michaela

Our little 7 month olds swinging, Wyn and Emma

And the two year olds, Axie and Jack, being pushed by a very enthusiastic and kind Michaela!

And our little midget, Miss Sophie, who, despite appearances, loves to swing!