I Love Fall!!

We had a great week last week - despite the chilly temp's and snow on the ground :( We didn't venture very far on Tuesday and Wednesday, but on Thursday we met our friends Stacey, Alana, and Parker at the YMCA playgym and then had lunch afterwards. Blake and Alana had fun, while Stacey and I visited!! The little ones were good too. It was Emerson's first time eating out! It sure is a lot more work packing a diaper bag and preparing for a play date and lunch out for a 2 year old and a child who has just starting eating solids ;)

I am very excited about our current weather!! My favorite season seems to be back!! It was +8 today, but it felt like +14 after the taste of winter we had last week!!

We've had a fabulous weekend! Friday afternoon we took our trailer to our storage lot near Spruce Grove. Afterwards, we went to my Mom and Dad's for supper. After supper Cal went to the Oiler's game with my Dad, Dion and Eric. The kids and I stayed and played for awhile. My Mom and I gave the kids a bath (together for the first time!), put them in their p.j.'s and I headed home with them. Blake talked the whole way and Emerson slept!

Saturday morning we cleaned up our yard and put out our Halloween decorations. Blake loves the big blow up ghost we have in our front yard!! Gerry, Lesley, Colby and Jenna came over for supper Saturday night. It was great to see them all! Jenna is growing so fast and is so adorable! Blake and Colby had fun together and played well.

My parents came over for brunch this morning and this afternoon Eric, Christa and Berlyn came over. It was great to see Berlyn again! She has changed a lot since we last saw her, but is still so, so cute!! She's starting to look quite a bit like Christa! We took some great pictures of our 3 kids together and then took some pictures of just Emerson and Berlyn. We joke that they're going to be BFF's! After the Parenteau's left, we went for a walk. I took Emerson in her Snuggli and Blake walked holding onto our hands. He started out walking Heidi, but soon got tired of that!! It was very nice to walk holding his hand though :) Cal, Blake and Heidi continued onto the park and Em and I went home because it was Emerson's supper time!! Apparently Blake met a new best friend at the park!! Cal said their was another family there and the little girl, who was 3 1/2, claimed Blake as her best friend! Her Mom was telling her to come and play with her little brother and she said, "No, I'm playing with my new best friend!!" Cal said she talked a mile a minute and non-stop too!! LOL!

We had a very nice weekend, but it really isn't quite over yet because Cal has tomorrow off too! Blake and I will be going to preschool tomorrow morning, while Cal and Em have some father/daughter time!

Emerson was 8 months old on Friday. She's doing great! Changing more and more each week. She grabs and reaches for EVERYTHING!! Blake thinks it's pretty funny when she reaches for him! She loves playing with a variety of toys and still really loves jumping!! She's now eating 3 times a day and quite a variety of foods - all cereal (her fave), squash, sweet potato, carrots, peas, green beans, prunes, applesauce, pears, peaches, avocado, potato's, and today she tried some toast! She's starting to put things in her mouth. Today my Mom and Dad were helping her feed herself toast! Some days she eats quite a bit and others not too much. She's growing fast though, so she's obviously getting enough! I make quite a bit of her food, but buy a few things that aren't so easy to make! She's very talkative and quite loud - I think she's just trying to be heard over her older brother!! Thankfully, she's still an awesome sleeper!! Her "typical" day goes something like this: Up between 7 and 8, breakfast, nap between 8:30 and 9:30 for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, lunch between 11:30 and 12:30, followed by another 1 - 1 1/2 hour nap, snack (just milk right now!), supper around 5, bath and bed between 6 and 7. Needless to say, she's well rested!! And we should be too, but we tend to, who am I kidding, we ALWAYS stay up way to late! Oh well, we can't blame it on the kids sleeping patterns!!

Blake continues to keep us laughing every day! Today he was saying, "Bust my buffers!" and "Thomas is cross!" all day long ... it was hilarious!!! Last night Gerry and Cal were joking about the language in Thomas and Friends and apparently Blake was listening closely!! Of course he knew we thought it was funny, which made him say it even more ;) He is such a good little boy, but as good and funny as he can be, he can also get into trouble!! Of course, being 2 it is expected. He does pretty good with time outs though. Sometimes he cries through the whole time out, but at least he stays where he's supposed to be! We also starting taking toys away as punishment. I don't think that's as effective as time out though. He has so many toys, it doesn't seem to bother him if one is gone!! He's still calling Emerson Miss Muffet or Miss Muffin sometimes! He also uses those nicknames for Heidi and Jazz and even his toys at times!! He'll pick up a truck and say, "What are you doing Miss Muffet! Driving or something?" LOL!! And speaking of Heidi, he is into giving Heidi trouble! If she starts barking he tells her, "Stop it Heidi!!" His newest thing is feeding Emerson. We've let him feed her a few spoonfuls of her food and help her drink her water. He's very proud of himself for helping her eat! He's such a great brother, but at times I think he's also trying to toughen her up a little!? He likes to pull her back and forth and "help" her jump in her Jolly Jumper! He's not intentionally trying to hurt her, but she is a bit sensitive. Tends to be a bit on the dramatic side ... Maybe it's a female thing?!

We hope everyone has had a great week! Lets keep our fingers crossed that this fall(ish) weather continues for at least a few more weeks ...

Take care,

Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson

Busy Weekend!

We have had an extremely busy Thanksgiving long weekend.

Friday October 9th, was our 5 year anniversary!! I can't believe it has been 5 years since our wedding day! I love thinking back to our wedding day - it was such a fabulous day!!! Words can't even describe it! The whole 24 hours were amazing! Well, actually the whole 72 hours were amazing! A lot has happened in 5 years and I wonder what the next 5 years will bring?! Friday night we went out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. It was nice to be by ourselves for awhile (outside of the house) :) Thanks to Lindsay for babysitting!! I understand it wasn't too tough of a job as Blake and Em were both sleeping!!

Friday morning Cal and I took the kids swimming. We had lots of fun!! Blake has a blast at the pool and Emerson enjoys herself too. She kicks and splashes like crazy! It was nice to go swimming as a family!

Saturday Cal went hunting with my Dad and Dion. He left the house around 5:30 am and got home around 9 pm. I'm not a big fan of wild meat, but do enjoy the jerky!! I wasn't quite sure how to explain hunting to Blake, but thankfully when he asked where Dad was and I told him Dad went hunting with Grandpa and Dion, he didn't ask too many questions!! Not sure I wanted to get into the whole gun/shooting thing with him quite yet! My Mom and Lindsay came over Saturday morning, and took Blake to the mall. The mall near us, Londonderry Mall, has a Thomas the Train ride and a bus ride that Blake loves going on!

Saturday evening Cal's parents, his sister Kathy and niece Katie came to stay for a few nights. Cal's Uncle Glen passed away suddenly last week and his funeral was on Sunday. We haven't seen Uncle Glen in a few years. He was living in the middle east with his wife Madelyn, instructing telecommunications at a University there. We were very surprised to hear of his passing. He was a great man and always reminded me of a giant teddy bear! There was a funeral and reception on Sunday and the burial was today, followed by a Thanksgiving dinner. We took Emerson to the funeral and then my Mom brought Blake to the reception. Cal attended the burial and dinner today. All of Glen's nephews were pall bearers. It was great to see many of Cal's relatives from the Cameron side yesterday. We missed the last family wedding last summer, so it has been awhile since we've seen his extended family. It is unfortunate that it takes a funeral to bring everyone together.

This afternoon my family came over for Thanksgiving dinner. Lindsay and Jeremy headed back to Fort Mac afterwards, so we ate around 4:30. The dinner was great and even Emerson enjoyed it!! She tried mashed potatoes, dressing, and turkey and seemed to love it all!! I was thinking that if she had an allergic reaction I wouldn't know what it was to! But she didn't ... so it's all good!! Blake was quite funny. I was saying grace and right in the middle of it he said, "All done!" Apparently he was hungry and ready to dig in?!? It was very funny!!! Then he loaded his plate up and wanted gravy on everything. Looked kinda yucky, but he ate quite a bit. Must be taking after his Grandpa Bruce, who puts odd condiments on pretty much everything he eats!!!!

The snow has been falling off and on for a few days now. We normally take a few fall pictures on Thanksgiving long weekend, but not this year :( And I didn't really want to venture out for pictures in the snow! It is apparently going to warm up, so hopefully this snow is not here to stay.

Happy thanksgiving everyone! Have a great week - glad it's a short one :)

xoxox Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson

1st Tooth!

Emerson's 1st tooth broke through her gums on Thursday, October 1st!! It went down again and re-appeared on Saturday. And now it is definitely through and popping up more and more each day. At first I thought 2 teeth had came through, but today she finally let me in her mouth and there's just 1!!

Things seem to be back to normal in our house (knock on wood ...)! Emerson had 5 "bad" nights. It was taking her around 2 hours to fall asleep, but once she fell asleep she was fine and slept for her usual 12-13 hours. It was just really hard for us, because we are used to putting her to bed and then not hearing from her again until morning! And it was also confusing, because we didn't know what was bothering her. We thought it was her #2 problems, but then thought maybe it was teething that was bothering her and then I started thinking perhaps she was just going through some separation anxiety!! She definitely wasn't hungry. Such a guessing game, but regardless it was rough and now it's better and we hope we have our amazing little sleeper back :) Our colds are all pretty much gone and Cal has not caught them!!! (once again, knock on wood!!)

I had a great time on Saturday at my sister's bridal shower and stagette! The stagette was tons of fun!! It was great to tear up the dance floor again!!! Lindsay had lots of fun, she was so funny!! She was the high five and hugging queen :0) It was great to see some family from Saskatchewan too!! So nice of them to drive all that way :) Sunday morning everyone came over for coffee before heading home. It's nice that Blake now remembers everyone, even though he only sees them a few times (if that) a year. When he saw my Uncle Ken he asked where his motor home was!! Ken had a motor home at the family reunion we were at in July! Now the countdown to Vegas is really on!! I can't wait!!! The wedding is going to be so beautiful! We're looking forward to seeing some sights as a family too. I've found quite a few websites that discuss family friendly activities in Las Vegas. And the shopping ... I can't WAIT for the outlet malls!!! Cal too ... he actually enjoys shopping in Vegas :)

Emerson had a follow-up appointment with her pediatrician today. He gave us another prescription for Lactulose, told us to continue trying new fruits and vegetables and to fill the prescription if we need to. If things don't improve in a month of so, he will have to do further testing (x-rays, contrast something or another, etc!). But he said he'd rather give it a few more weeks before having to do any kind of invasive tests. He said that there is a possibility that she has a narrowing of her bowels, which explains why when she was just nursing she was fine, but as soon as she started solids she got backed up! So we're praying that things will straighten out and we won't have to put her through any sort of invasive "testing!"

Tomorrow morning we are going to visit Lesley, Colby and Jenna! We haven't seen Jenna since she was less than 24 hours old, so I am very excited to see her again!!! Hopefully Colby and Blake will have fun playing together ;)

It's going to be a great weekend! Friday is our 5th wedding anniversary! Hard to believe it's been 5 years since our wedding day! One of the best days of my life!! We are going out for dinner Friday night, which I'm REALLY looking forward to! Cal and I do spend quite a bit of time together each evening, but it will be nice to be out of the house together, by ourselves :) Saturday Cal is going hunting with my Dad and Dion. I'm not sure what the kids and I are going to do? We'll see! Sunday we are going to Church and Monday we are having Thanksgiving dinner at our house. I LOVE Thanksgiving weekend!! Thanksgiving is such a great holiday! No stress of shopping (and spending too much!!) for gifts and you get to enjoy time with your family and a yummy meal :) I think I also love it because our anniversary usually falls on the long weekend :) Cal switched his Monday off from this Monday to Friday (our anniversary) and we hope to do something fun with the kids Friday morning!

Have a great weekend everyone. Hopefully our weather smartens up a bit! Fall is my favorite season, but I do prefer a bit warmer fall :)

xoxo Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson

Poor Girl :(

Last night I took Emerson into the E.R. at 1 am. She had not been a happy girl since approx. 8 pm. The night before (Wednesday) she woke up a few times after going to bed too. I thought it was probably due to teething and her cold, but found out last night it was more likely due to her bowel problems :( Her behaviour last 2 nights was totally out of the ordinary, so we knew something was up. She'd scream for about a 1/2 an hour and then be quiet for a little bit and then scream again, etc, etc. And whenever I touched her stomach she'd cringe and cry. So I called health link and they said to take her in right away. The Dr. in the E.R. said with her history, she was most likely in pain due to needing to have a bowel movement. I had given her a glycerin supp. at home, with no results. So they gave her an enema and it worked (unlike in Jasper!). Thank goodness! As soon as it worked she dozed off on my shoulder. Poor girl, we feel so bad for her. The Dr. last night said she just has "lazy bowels" and that she should grow out of it. Here's hoping ... So I've made her an appointment with her pediatrician to talk about it again and see what we should do next. Can't wait for this to be over ... Needless to say we are extremely tired in our house today (we got home from the hospital at 4:30 am).

But we are looking forward to Saturday's events!! I hope Emerson is back to her normal, happy self tomorrow. It is my sister Lindsay's bridal shower tomorrow afternoon and stagette tomorrow night!! Emerson and I will be attending the shower, while Cal and Blake attend a hockey draft at the Gable's house!! Cal is staying home with the kids Saturday night, while I party it up with Linds and friends!!! LOL! I pray Emerson is a good little girl :) Sunday, we have family visiting from Saskatchewan and they are all coming over for coffee before heading home. It will be great to see everyone, and I'm sure my Grandma Marg is looking forward to seeing 2 of her great grandchildren! Have a great weekend everyone :)

Tracy

Fall is upon us ...

Brrr!!! It is chilly outside! We finally broke down and turned the furnace on :( The wind has been brutal the last few days. We have one of those really tall, skinny trees (not sure what it's called!) in our backyard, right outside our bedroom window and I keep thinking it's going to snap in half!

Blake, Emerson and I all have colds :( Hopefully Cal won't catch it, but the odds aren't in his favor! Blake and I are doing pretty good, I noticed that it is a lot easier to deal with Blake and his cold now that he is older! He can actually blow his nose and understands what is going on!! Emerson on the other hand, isn't so easy to help! She hates us wiping her nose and of course can't blow it, so she's stuffed right up. Poor girl :( It's been about 3 days, so hopefully it will clear up asap!! Thankfully they're both sleeping really good at night still. Emerson had one rough day with naps, but other than that she's napped good, which I think will help fight it off faster?!

Other than the cold, Emerson is also teething. One corner of a tooth on the bottom is just through! It seems to come up and go down daily, which I'm sure is causing some discomfort!! I remember with Blake, once the first tooth came through the rest were quick to follow and I can feel 4 more in Emerson's mouth that are right there, so maybe they'll all pop out together! She is definitely not quite as eager of an eater as Blake was. He would vibrate with excitement when we first started feeding him!! She's a bit slower and doesn't eat as much. So far her favorites are the cereals, squash, prunes and applesauce! She doesn't mind peas, but isn't crazy for carrots or sweet potato! She loves drinking water from her sippy cup, but hasn't quite mastered using it herself yet!! She's still taking Lactulose, but her prescription will be running out soon. Not sure what we're going to do if she's not regular yet at the end of the prescription! I guess visit the Dr. again. We pulled out some more toys for Emerson. She enjoys standing up at the couch, so we brought up a few more standing toys!

Blake is also enjoying the toys we brought up from the basement!! It's pretty funny to see him hunched over pushing the walker around!!! He's had a few hard days with this cold. Just overtired and a bit cranky :( He didn't have much fun at preschool yesterday. We were debating taking him, but he already missed one when we were on vacation, so we took him. Hopefully next week he'll be feeling better and back to having fun!! He's cracking us up lately with his use of the word something. For example, he says, "What's this Mom? A tractor or something?" So if he doesn't know exactly what an object is he'll say, "or something?" LOL!! Or if someone is upset he might say, "Emerson not happy or something?" But something sounds like sometin!! This morning he put a toy in the trunk of his ride on car so the seat was tipped up, climbed on and said, "I riding my motorbike Mom!" And then he said, "I need a helmet" and went and put on his hockey helmet!!! I laughed SO hard, it was so funny!!! The only way I could get a picture was to tell him that Dad and Grandpa would want to see!! He's just too cute :)

I had an ultrasound appointment yesterday. My Dr. thinks I might have gull stones (or is it gallstones?!), so hopefully the ultrasound will confirm/deny that. I should hear in a few days. Cal worked from home yesterday so I didn't have to take the kids with me to the appointment. It's nice to have him home! But when he goes back to work Blake's not too happy!! This morning he wanted Dad to get him up and changed and dressed and then he said he wanted Dad to read the Daddy book!! He always wants Cal to read the Mercer Mayer, Just Me and My Dad book to him! Followed by the New Baby book and Grandma and Grandpa Love Their RV! Such a man of routine, Blake is!!!

We hope everyone is having a good week and keeping warm! Take care :)

Luv Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson

Bye, bye summer! Time to slow down ...

And what a great summer it was!! Today Cal headed back to work :( He was off for 18 days!!! And with his return to work, also comes the end of our summer! Officially, fall begins at 3:18 pm. All of our camping trips are over for the '09 season and our calendar is looking a bit clearer. Which is a good thing ... I guess!! We still have lots of exciting events coming up, we just won't be quite as busy as the past few months!

We would like to send a great big congratulations out to Cal's brother Gerry and his wife Lesley and son Colby!!! They welcomed a baby girl, Jenna Ann, to their family on September 21 at 9:39 am. Jenna was 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 3/4 " long! We were lucky enough to meet her yesterday afternoon! She is adorable and looks quite a bit like her big brother!! We could not believe that Blake and Emerson were once that small :( Crazy how fast you forget. We can't wait to visit again and cuddle Jenna :0) We wish Lesley a speedy recovery from her c-section and I am personally sending all my patience vibes her way!!!! I don't have much to share, but know how many you need with a newborn and 22 month old at home!

So as I mentioned earlier, we are slowing down quite a bit from previous months! Blake is still attending My First Preschool at the YMCA on Monday mornings and other than that we have no scheduled programs. Blake starts swimming lessons again at the end of October and we are going to start swimming with Emerson soon too! I still might register for Sing, Sign, Laugh and Learn at the library, but I'm not so sure the time will work for us. It starts at 10:15 and Em is usually getting up from her morning nap around that time. It will be nice when she's down to one nap a day - that way we'll have the morning free at least!!

Today is the first day in many weeks that we've been home without something going on and I think Blake is enjoying it!! He's having fun playing with his trucks and trains and having a "lazy" day! He plays so great by himself and with Emerson. I love watching them "play" together! He's so great with her and really tries to include her! I sit her in the toy area and he gets the nursing pillow and puts it behind her and piles up her toys in front of her!! After awhile, he usually gives her one of his trucks as well - but not at first!!! Emerson is getting more and more fun as the days pass. She's enjoying playing with toys more now and loves jumping in her Jumperoo! She can stand at the couch for a few seconds by herself and enjoys it quite a bit! She still doesn't like being on her tummy. I wonder if maybe she won't crawl? We'll see!! She's eating more and more each day, but is still having #2 issues! Hoping that clears up really soon. I don't want her to be on Lactulose forever. No teeth yet, but there is one very, very near the surface.

Cal had a golf tournament Thursday afternoon/evening, so my Dad babysat the kids for a few hours while my Mom, Lindsay, Kelly and I were at the Tim McGraw concert and he was golfing. Blake thought it was pretty funny that Grandpa had to change his poopy diaper!!! Poor Grandpa doesn't care too much for diaper changes! But he's a great Grandpa and he toughed it out - Thanks Dad :) (and not just for changing the poopy diaper! lol!) The concert was SO GOOD!! Much better than the last time we saw him at Commonwealth. And Cal won an IPOD Touch at the golf tourney!! Tonight I'm going to Keith Urban with my friend Renee ... CAN'T WAIT!!!

I hope everyone had a fabulous summer and here's to an even better fall!

xoxo Tracy

Emerson's Baptism

Today (September 20th) Emerson was baptised at Pilgrim United Church in Edmonton. It was a very nice service and a wonderful day. Church began at 11 am and the Baptism was at the end of the service. We got a little bit nervous towards the end of the service because Emerson was starting to get tired, but thankfully it was time to go up for the Baptism and she was a little angel! We were given the Baptismal Candle and everyone who attended church today signed an "I witnessed your Baptism" sheet for us to have as a keepsake. After church everyone came back to our house for lunch. Em did pretty good all day, although the effects of missing an afternoon nap began to show for Emerson and Blake! We had a great day with friends and family!

XOXOX
Tracy