Happy Father's Day!

Wishing Cal, my Dad, my brother-in-law's, my father-in-law, and my Grandpa a VERY Happy Father's Day!!  I am surrounded by wonderful men ;)  Thank you, thank you, thank you to Cal for being such an amazing father.  I never knew what kind of Dad you'd be Cal, although I knew you'd be great, but you are beyond great!!!  The kids and I are so blessed to have you, we love you so much!  Thank you to my Dad for being there for Cal, the kids and I always and for being such a great Grandpa and Dad!  We are so lucky to have you and love you very, very much.

We had an awesome weekend at Long Lake Provincial Park.  The weather was HOT and we all came home with some color!  The heat sure takes a lot out of you though, and combined with less sleep then usual, we're all a little exhausted!  The kids had a blast at the beach!!  We were a short walk away from the beach and park and scoped out some spots for next year!  It is a very nice campground, with 2 beaches, a nice concession/restaurant, paved walking/biking trails, a clean lake, and a rental shop where you can rent boats and water bikes!  And it's only 1 hr 20 min from our house :)  It would be a great place to spend more then a weekend! 

Have a nice week everyone :)

Tracy

Ultrasound!!

Baby and I had an ultrasound on Wednesday! All is well and NO we don't know the sex!! And we're not lying!! I didn't even see a hint either way ;)  Blake, Cal and Emerson joined me in the room after the medical portion of the ultrasound was over. Blake enjoyed watching the screen and seeing his new sibling, Em wasn't as excited!! I remember taking Blake to see Em's ultrasound when he was around Em's age and he actually pointed to the screen and said baby!!   On Wednesday morning I told Blake and Em that we were going to see the baby that afternoon.  Blake furrowed his brow and looked at me and then continued on playing.  About 5 minutes later he said to me, "Mom, are we going to take the new baby camping?"  I think he thought the baby was going to be born that afternoon!!!  If only it were that easy ... lol!!  I told him that the baby isn't going to be born until November and that we were just going to see a picture of the baby that afternoon!!  He is so into this whole baby thing, it's awesome!  He's always mentioning the new baby and wondering where it will sleep, where it's car seat will go, what car seat it will use, etc, etc!  I love how he's a little planner!!  Wonder where he gets that from?!  We got quite a few pictures of the little one printed, here is the clearest one:

I'm feeling the baby move a lot now, which is really cool!  I can't wait until I feel big pokes and prods :)  This will probably be my last pregnancy, so I'm trying to treasure it!  Other then the puking and nausea, hard to treasure that ... lol!  Although when I was sick with Blake's pregnancy I was still so over the moon and so happy to just be pregnant, I oddly enough enjoyed every minute!!  Every time I was sick, I'd think to myself, "This is great!  Means the baby is growing and doing well!!"  But the 3rd time around, it's not so great.  Ha, ha!!  I think Cal and I might actually have a boys name picked?!  Maybe ... at least were close!  Girls first names ... not so close!  It's so hard the third time!  Actually it's hard the 1st and 2nd too, but even harder the 3rd!!  I have a Dr. appointment Monday, so we'll see what the babies heart beat is!  Next week I'm 20 weeks!!!!

We are excited to get away this weekend!! We're headed to Long Lake Provincial Park, near Boyle, AB. My parents, sister (Jeremy's away on a fly-in fishing trip with co-workers), friends Paul and Mary Scott and Paul's son and daughter-in-law, Gerry and Lorraine will be joining us!  They have 2 younger children, so I'm sure Blake and Em will enjoy having some little playmates :) The forecast is saying the temps will be in the mid 20's, so hopefully we'll be hitting the beach!! Cal hooked the trailer up last night and pulled it to the side of the house. When Blake saw this, this a.m. he was EXTREMELY upset :( He was so sad that he didn't get to help Dad hook up the trailer. Poor guy! We assured him he could help once we got to the campground, when we leave the campground and when we get home again :)  I think that made him feel a little bit better.  He really loves helping Cal! His special job is cranking the jacks down, and he does a pretty good job of it too!!  Poor little guy can be so emotional.  I hate that things like this that seem so "small" seem to break his heart :(

Thanks for all the comments on the "new blog look"!! I love it! Cal and Blake love orange and there's a little pink in there for Em and I ;) Have fun celebrating all the wonderful Dad's in your life this weekend and enjoy the sun :)

xoxo
Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby

We love the SUN!!!

Oh, how we love this weather!! It's so nice to have the sun shining on the weekends :) We had a great week as well. It seemed busy, but we had lots of fun meeting our friends Stacey, Alana and Parker at the Servus Centre indoor playground and visiting Jodi, Kaislyn, Kohen and meeting baby Haiden! Haiden is adorable and holding her got me even more excited to hold my own little baby very soon :) She's 2 months old and only 9 lbs, but she was born 5 weeks premature, so is doing well!! Blake had fun playing with Kohen, they are only a couple of months apart in age. I realized my boy might be a bit of a city boy on the drive to Jodi's acerage near Gibbons ... as we're driving down the highway he asked me, "Who planted all this grass?" lol!!! Too funny!

Friday afternoon my parents came over to babysit the kids, while Cal and I went on a "date." We had a yummy dinner at The Keg, walked around Woody's RV (didn't see a 5th wheel with the floor plan we want eventually!), Cal got a haircut, and we test drove a Dodge Grand Caravan!! And we're sold! It was so nice to drive and the options are so awesome, I can't wait to have one!! I didn't realize Dodge had patented the Stow N' Go option, but they have and we want it!! No rush to buy though, plan is to have one by fall. Saturday afternoon we attended Danielle Gillam's 2nd birthday party at her home in Stony Plain. It was a beautiful day, and the kids enjoyed playing in the kiddie pool! On the way home from the party we drove by a couple of homes in Spruce Grove that we had found on the internet. Both have been crossed of our "list"!! We're going to be very picky this time around, as hopefully the next time we move, we'll be staying there for many years! Sunday afternoon we visted our friend Mike and his daughter. Blake enjoyed riding Elena's quad and playing outside. It was another gorgeous day! Cal is off tomorrow and we are planning to take the kids swimming. Blake's been asking to go swimming for awhile now, so he's excited!

Em's doing great with just 1 nap a day now. She's stretched her afternoon nap to 2 - 2 1/2 hours and is sleeping until 8 or 8:30! I think she's actually getting more sleep now then when she had her morning nap?! I keep waiting for the morning when she'll get up between 6 and 7 again :S She is walking more and more each day and now walks between the couch and coffee table without holding onto anything! She LOVES crawling up the stairs. I usually follow behind her and let her go up and bring her back down quite a few times a day!! Otherwise, we have to have the gates up because she hasn't mastered the going down part yet. She's actually quite the little monkey ... she loves climbing the couch or trying to get onto the back of the couch!! She goes anywhere she wants and is very fast, switching between crawling and pulling herself up and walking along things! I really should take her to the health unit to get her weighed and measured, she has really grown in the past few months. She's stretched out a lot. Maybe we'll try and measure her at home!

Blake's been having an afternoon rest 1 or 2 times a week. We call it a rest now, because he doesn't take naps anymore, just Em ;) Although as soon as his head hits the pillow, he's out like a light! He's adjusted well to no napping, but definately needs to be in bed a lot earlier then when he was napping. I think I've mentioned it before, but Blake is sure a lot more social and brave these days!! For example, he never used to go to the top of the play structure at the YMCA or at the McDonald's play place, but we've noticed in the last few months, he'll go right to the top and down any slide, etc!! And we love watching him play with other kids at the park. He interacts with them and tries to get involved in their games, etc. There's just one thing we're trying to teach him ... to introduce himself and ask them their name! We'll often hear him talking to another boy or girl and calling them "boy" or "girl"!! It's pretty funny to eavesdrop sometimes ... "Hey boy come with me. Let's go down the big slide." lol!

The baby is doing good!! He or she is moving lots and growing too! The latter which has given me an excuse to buy a few new summer outfits :) I have an appointment next week and an ultrasound on the 16th! We're all going to the appointment, so that should be interesting ... ;) Of course, this pregnancy is going even faster then the last two. I added a baby ticker to the blog :) The busier you are the faster time flies! I can't believe I'm almost 1/2 way there ... wow!!

Have a great week everyone!

Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby

*Edit: I forgot to mention that Tuesday was my last day of work at Fort Saskatchewan Health Centre! I had a great day. The ladies at work took me for lunch and gave me a gift certificate to my favorite spa!! It was very unexpected and so thoughtful of them. I will definately enjoy cashing that in :) I've enjoyed my time at FSHC, as short as it has been, and will miss some of my co-workers whom I've became friends with. But hopefully I'll be able to pop in for lunch once in awhile and Facebook is great for keeping in touch!! I'm excited to start this new journey at home with my kids. As one co-worker put it, "Best of luck with your REAL job - Motherhood is much harder and more rewarding!" So true ...

Good Times :)

We had a great weekend! It began with the International Children's Festival in St. Albert on Friday morning. The kids and I had a lot of fun! Blake greatly enjoyed the bus ride (there was a park n' ride available) ... Emerson on the other hand was not so fond of the bus ride :S Blake had a very cute balloon hat made for him, unfortunately it only lasted a few hours!! The kids enjoyed playing with the toys at the Education Station, Blake loved hopping into the driver's seat of a fire truck and touring the back of an ambulance! We caught a few acts on the main stage and Blake jumped his heart out in the bouncy houses!! It was getting pretty busy by the time we left at around 11:30 am, so I was very glad we went early!

Saturday morning we went "browsing" the shops on 137 ave, but came home empty handed! We did have the kids feet measured at the Shoe Company, which is a good thing, because apparently I didn't have their sizes correct!! Blake is a size 11 and Em is between a 3 and 4. Saturday afternoon we headed to the grand opening of a local park. We were really surprised by all the events they had planned! They had 2 bouncy houses, the Edmonton Eskimo cheerleaders dancing, demonstrations by a local martial arts school, a balloon artist, a fire truck, and a bbq earlier in the day! It was awesome and the park is amazing!! Even better then the park Cal, Blake and I refer to as the "good" park! And closer then the "good" park too!! We'll be making a few trips there this summer!! Saturday night Cal and I went through ALL the totes of boys and girls clothes that we have stacked up in our "wine cellar"!! It was a big job, I have sorted through them as I've stored them, but we thinned them out even more. There's a small amount I'll be taking to Once Upon A Child and a few gargabe bags of clothes that we'll take to Goodwill. I love looking through the kids smaller clothes and reminising :) We always hold up the outfits they came home from the hospital in and just can't believe they were big on them at one time!! It will be interesting to see how big this baby is! I wonder if he/she will be over 7 lbs?!

Sunday morning Cal and Blake went to Chapter's (on Blake's request!!) and Em and I went grocery shopping. Blake and Cal brought home 3 Bernstein Bears books (1 about the dentist, 1 called And Baby Makes 5 and 1 about going to school!)! Sunday afternoon we walked over to the Parenteau's for a BBQ. Our friend Dan and his family were in town, so it was a good opportunity to get everyone together. With most of us having kids (most with 2 or 3!) we don't get together as often as we used to!! Although the partying crowd (a.k.a. the kidless crowd!!) often see eachother! Over the course of the afternoon/evening there was a total of 18 adults and 17 kids there!! We had beautiful weather and lots of fun! A big thank you to the Parenteau's for hosting!!

And here we are ... rainy Monday :S Tomorrow is my last day of work at the Fort Saskatchewan Health Centre. I'm very excited to be done!! I think it's drug on so long, that I'm not even feeling sad about leaving! I expected to be done over a month ago. I've been feeling kind of "in limbo" waiting for my last day to arrive and feeling anxious to begin a new chapter in my life! I will miss some of my co-workers, but I'm sure I'll stay in touch! It's odd having my good friend Joelle taking over from me, but good at the same time! I will stay in the gossip loop anyway ;)

Have a great week everyone!

xoxo
Tracy

Nap transitioning ...

Blake dropped his morning nap around 18 months and I don't remember it being too difficult, but I believe that is because Karen was dealing with it 3 or 4 days a week while he was at the dayhome!! A little different when Mom and/or Dad are home 7 out of 7 days a week!! Emerson is definately ready to let go of her morning nap, it's just taking awhile to get there. She still gets tired in the morning, but if we put her down she doesn't take her afternoon nap, which leads to her being ready for bed by 4:30!! I've found that on the mornings we are out and about it is easy to keep her up, but the mornings we are home it's more difficult. She's not getting too cranky though, thankfully! And we've had some really great days where she's waited until 12:30 to nap and has napped for 2 to 2 1/2 hours and it's worked out fantastic.

At this point I am really uncertain as to whether or not Blake is ready to quit napping in the afternoon. If we lay him down to nap at 1 pm he falls asleep almost immediately and sleeps for 2 or 3 hours if we let him. The only problem is, he then takes way too long to fall asleep at night. Vs. when he doesn't have an afternoon nap, he's ready for bed at 7 and takes no time at all to fall asleep! And wakes up between 7 and 7:30. This past week on the days he hasn't napped in the afternoon he's been fine, not grumpy or winey or anything, although you can definately tell he's tired. And he's had more accidents ... Which is no surprise, he gets tired and is not paying as much attention to his body! Argh!! This week he had a nap 1 out of 5 days, so maybe we'll just see how it goes and maybe he'll just nap every few days and then eventually not need it! I hear that's often how it happens!!

Both kids are doing great! They're so much fun! Emerson's little personality is just getting funnier and funnier by the day! She's quite the little character, much like her big brother ;) I love how they play together and make eachother laugh! Em's been struggling with teething the last few days. She often gets a teething cold, as she has now. Those teeth are a lot of work for her! She is going out on a limb these last few days and standing up all by herself with out holding on to anything ... little daredevil at 15 months!!! lol! She's taken a few steps, so she'll be runnin' soon! Our kids sure do things on their own time tables, regardless of what anyone wants them to do/thinks they should do/what the books say, etc. etc.!! And good for them :) I kind of feel like that most of the time too - I'll do what I want to do, when I want to do it and I don't care what you say!

We had a nice, quiet weekend at home. Not much choice with the rain and snow we got! We enjoyed a nice dinner out this evening with my parents to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary (which is tomorrow)! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad :)

The weather forecast is looking up, so here's to a great week!!

Take care everyone,

Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby

Prenatal Appointment and Updates!

Quick update on baby!! I had a prental appointment this morning. I had no idea it was today ... I called at 10:30 to see when my next appt. was and it was today at 11:10!! Good thing I called when I did! So I packed up the kids and off we went. Emerson was not too happy about Mom being examined, poor girl :( Blake was a gem! I told him I was going to try to get ahold of Dad, so Dad could hold Em while Mom was seeing the Dr. So when we got to the clinic, Blake asked if Dad was coming and I said, no I think he's in a meeting. Blake said, that's okay Mom I'll watch Em! So as she's crying in the office, Blake is telling her, it's okay Em, it's okay. What a great big brother :) I saw Dr. Litke today, who is the Dr. that delivered Emerson!! The baby's heartbeat was around 170 bpm. The ultrasound and blood work I had done at the beginning of May came back negative, which is great news! And my due date hasn't changed. Now before the end of the week I have to get more blood taken. This test is for Spina Bifida. I lost 2 lbs in the month, but that was kind of expected seeing as how little I was keeping down! I lost almost 10 lbs early on with Blake's pregnancy, so 2 lbs is pretty minor!! I'll be seeing the Dr. again in 4 weeks!

Here are few conversations with Blake that I thought were cute :)
1) Blake: Where is the baby Mom?
Mom: In my belly!
Blake: Why?
Mom: It has to grow and get bigger and then Mom will go to the hospital and have the baby!
Blake: Dad too?
Mom: Dad will come with Mom to the hospital.
Blake: That's funny Mom!! (said with his eyebrows scrunched up and a half smile on his face!!)
2) Blake: Where will the baby sleep?
Mom: Remember, you are going to move into the big room with Emerson.
Blake: But what about the baby?
Mom: The baby will sleep in your old room.
Blake: No, I want the baby to sleep with us.
Mom: But the baby will cry at night and keep you awake.
Blake: No it won't Mom.
Mom: We'll see Blake ...
3) Mom: Ouch!
Blake: What happened Mom?
Mom: I hit my foot on a toy.
Blake: Oh. Can you still have a baby Mom?
Mom: Yes!?
Blake: Can Em have a baby?
Mom: Em might be able to have a baby when she's a big girl like Mom.
Blake: Yeah (I found it odd that he didn't ask if he could have a baby?!)
4) Blake: Can you help me carry my toys? I don't have enough hands. I should have three hands!!

Emerson is really getting around in the last two weeks. She's finally decided she likes crawling and is moving around crawling, bum scooting, rolling, walking along everything and pulling herself up everywhere, and going in between all the above!! We think the only reason she's not walking is pure stubborness ... she is a total princess who loves to be spoiled:) She is also learning more and more words. She loves to say socks and shoes! It's hilarious!! She really drags the "s" sound out! Ssssssockssssss!!!! I enjoy watching her learn new things and found her trying to put on her own socks the other day! She also knows the difference between dogs, cats and ducks and can point them out in her books. And she loves telling you that a duck says, "Quack!" She also says a few 2 word phrases! She's becoming more and more of a daddy's girl, which I know Cal loves!! Her facial expressions are priceless and say A LOT!! This weekend Julie and I were laughing at her expressions - they give a lot away!

Have a great week everyone :)

Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby!!

1st Camping Trip of 2010!

We had a good trip to Cross Lake Provincial Park for the 2010 May long weekend! We left Friday afternoon and were back home Monday afternoon. The weather left a little to be desired, but that didn't stop the kids from having a blast ... nor the adults :) The guys built a "tarp city" and we huddled around the fire pit every evening!! Blake had a blast playing with the Streadwick boys! We didn't really see much of him! He ate most of his meals on Grandma and Grandpa's quads and played from the time he woke up until the time he went to bed!! Emerson did better then I thought she would. The cool, damp weather didn't seem to bother her at all, and she also enjoyed her time outside and being entertained by everyone!!! She even went to everyone and didn't play strange!! She didn't sleep as well at night as she does at home, but still napped great and did pretty good ... Blake slept great and we actually decided to put him in our room, because we were scared Em might wake him up. Better safe then sorry!! It's nice to have an actual room with walls and a door in our little trailer! Our next camping trip is Father's Day weekend, when we're meeting my sister and Mom and Dad at Long Lake. We're hoping for nice, warm weather ... Blake would like to go swimming!

Have a great week everyone :)

xoxo Tracy