Tag: Milestones

Christmas 2013

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Wow, Christmas week was busy for us this year! Despite all my best efforts to be overly prepared. Kids just make it chaotic. I love Christmas though. Chaos and all. It is a beautiful time of year. I prepared early this year and tried not to be so uptight about the little things. I’m learning to let go. It is hard, but worth it. So very worth it.

In the last days of school for the girls I got to volunteer in Sofie’s classroom for their Christmas party. It was a lot of fun and I think Sofie really enjoyed having me. I was in charge of the gingerbread man station so I did have the best table 🙂 I stopped in on Livi’s party when Sofie’s was done and she was having a blast. I had helped in her Halloween party so I’m trying my best to keep it fair!

Our first Christmas was with Jon’s immediate family. It was a delicious ham dinner and presents under the Christmas tree. It was Evelyn’s first Christmas celebration which made it extra special. I had hoped she would have come out by Christmas last year but at least she was out by the new year!
Checking out the tree with Gramma.

Crazy grandkids!
Reading with Uncle Jeremy.
I think I have started a new Christmas eve tradition, via Pinterest. I put together a gift bag filled with matching pajama’s, hot chocolate, popcorn and a movie that they got to open on Christmas Eve afternoon. Plans changed a bit though and the older two put on their matching pj’s and we headed out to the big theatre to see Sofie’s first big theatre movie. We had gone to the little theatre a few months ago but I thought she was ready for the big one this time. She did amazing by the way. about half way through she spent about 15 minutes facing me on my lap but then she was recharged and finished the film in her own seat! I was so proud of her!

After a much to late church service, Livi was very careful to leave out cookies and milk for Santa and not forget apples and carrots for the reindeer.

The girls were all so engaged and excited on Christmas morning. Sofie understood that Santa had brought some presents and Evie was happy through most of it too. 9 am is her nap time and Sofie didn’t wake up until after 8 so she was pushed a little bit.

I was so proud of my big girls. They did not immediately look for and ask for their presents. They first made sure that Evie got to open her present before them. They enjoyed helping her of course. The amazing thing is that it was completely Livi’s idea. We had not mentioned anything about letting other’s go first. She wanted to make sure Evie opened the first gift all on her own. She makes me proud every day. 

I loved seeing Sofie so engaged in Christmas this year. 

Ready for her nap!
Adoring sister.
My matching Christmas angels. I love being that mom that gets them matching pjs!
Our final Christmas celebration was this past weekend. Every two years Jon’s extended family has a big three day get together somewhere. It is a lot of family all at once but it works… usually. This year was the hardest year for us by far. Three kids between 1 and 5 years old don’t make anything easy, generally. There were 43 people in two great rooms together most of the weekend. The two great rooms in the lodge where bright and echoey. It was a sensory nightmare for me, let alone Sofie. I nearly crumpled the second day watching Sofie’s entire body nearly collapse from sensory overload… and no one understood or “got it”. Evie had a cold. Livi was fighting it. Evie has also never slept in another bed other than at home except for once when she was 6 months old. The family was also not used to little kids running around. Cords and electronics where left in their reach numerous times and unsuitable activities were planned at times that were NOT at all kid and nap time friendly. 

Although we did leave one night early, spending time with a family like this is priceless. My extended family would never do something like this. It makes for some amazing memories and relationships that would not form otherwise. 

Us grandkids also got to be educated on some of the family business this year. We were also given the opportunity to decide where to give a large some of money for charitable donations. This was a pretty amazing experience for me. From 25 people we had about 20 suggestions of where to give them money. Lots of great recommendations, all of which had a special meaning to the person suggesting it. We each had less than a minute to let the group know about our charity and why they should get them money before we cast some votes to see which charities could be eliminated. I was one of the last to make my suggestion. Mine was a little different since no tax receipt would be included for the company. I didn’t suggest a registered charity but instead a person for her adoption of a little boy with DS from Bulgaria. She is also going in to this with no kids of her own yet and no partner. 
(A little back story on this soon to be mom, Heather. She is the oldest daughter of the Keno family. The Keno’s are the family that introduced Jon to people with special needs and have adopted 5 children with  special needs themselves. 4 from the Ministry, 3 with Down Syndrome, and 1 of those with DS was an international adoption from Bulgaria just before us. They prepared Jon for my world and influenced our decision and ability to adopt greatly! Now Heather is on the same journey and we get to be a part of it!)
I was SO humbled by what happened next. With only my short explanation of why I thought Heather should get some money, it was unanimous that she would be getting some of it! I LOVED watching all Jon’s cousins cast their votes. The only question was how much. We unanimously agreed in a short 30ish minutes that Heather would be getting 50% of our donation and the other 50% was divided between 5 other charities, some very big well known ones and some smaller ones that the cousins have personally volunteered at. I had tears in my eyes. I was so honoured to have been able to let them know about this adoption and see them all jump on board whole heartedly to support something that is so dear to my heart. It was VERY cool to see and be a part of. Something I’ll never forget. 
All in all this was a fabulous Christmas! I look forward to it being a little easier next year and learning to let more go in future years. It is happening and I’m loving it. I’m so much more relaxed! Merry Christmas to all and we hope you have a beautiful, joy filled, imperfect new year. 

11 Months!

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My baby is 11 months old! I don’t know how we got here. Where did this last year go? I remember being so done with pregnancy this time last year… now I’m feeling a little nostalgic. Parts of me are very done with this baby stage. I’m not a major baby person. Another big part of me is not ready for my last baby to grow up.

Evie’s had another big month. She now has 8 teeth, the top and bottom four. She always gets them in pairs which makes her teething super annoying! She is 22.5 lbs which is down from last month but I’m not sure lasts month’s weigh in was completely accurate.

We’ve started noticing some curls in her hair when it is wet. It is not as pronounced as Livi’s was by this age but it has potential. Maybe they’ll both have curls!

Nov 9th Evie took her first step! Now she can take a bunch in a row without falling but still moves fastest when she crawls. She did this about 3 weeks earlier than Livi did as a baby.

This month had Evie having a really hard time with sleep again but these last few days she seems to have figured it out a bit. She is attaching to her blankie and falling asleep after being laid down in her crib awake. I hoping that this continues to improve.

She finally seems to be enjoying bath time. She still screams when we have to rinse her hair but she is enjoying the rest of it.

She still doesn’t talk much, besides uh oh, dada, and all done. She can say momma but would rather just whine for me. She has the whine down pat. She is very much my clingiest child. She has made strange a few times already too. Not loving that part at all. I already feel guilty enough leaving my kids every once in a while. I hate having her cry or whine on top of it.

Evie had her first halloween this month and happily say in the stroller, watching her sisters. Not sure if that’s going to cut it next year. She also was part of her first tree decorating for Christmas, but wasn’t really allowed to help 🙂 She has stayed away from the tree since yesterday when we set it up but we will see what the next month holds.

She also had her first visit with Santa! I wasn’t sure how she’d do but I think her sister’s helped. No smile but she looks happy 🙂

I’m excited for her 1 year pictures because I got the cutest little outfit for her, but I’m not loving the idea of her turning one. I’m not sure I’m ready for her to grow up yet!

10 Months

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Evie is 10 months old. It’s been a big month for her! She has developed so much.

She is finally sleeping better. No more feeding her every 2-3 hours through the night! I probably should have tried to put her back to sleep with out nursing her but it was easier to just feed her back to sleep. I was probably just perpetuating the cycle and over compensating for not being able to nurse Livi as long as I wanted. She seemed to have grown out of it, mostly by herself. I’ve been getting 5-6 hour stretches of sleep from her and she only woke up once last night! Hopefully this lasts.

Evie had her first Thanksgiving. It was mostly uneventful for her. She was still in her terrible sleeping pattern then. But, despite my sleep deprivation, I was still and always will be thankful for my baby!

Evie learned how to drink from a straw this month, stand from the ground up with out holding on to anything and climb stairs! She is also starting to say a few words a little more often. I’ve heard Mama a handful of times. She tries to say All Done and Up a lot.

Evie has got quite the personality. While she is pretty easy going, she has got some serious temper going on! She screams bloody murder when you take something away from her. If I tell her No for something she thinks the world is ending and breaks in to big tears. I hadn’t started with the “no’s” yet because she is a baby. I didn’t really think she understood. Livi was talking at this age so I knew she understood. I forgot that non-verbal DOES NOT mean not-understanding!

As far as stats go, she is thinning out and growing taller. 23.5 lbs now! Taller though. Her chubby thighs are disappearing. I’m going to miss them. She is still in 12-18 month clothes but filling out the length much better.

We all adore our baby and I can see how easy it is to spoil the youngest. We are all just so enamoured with her. Sisters and parents alike! Wishing she could stay little but excited to see what her future will bring!