Happy 2nd Birthday Blake!

I've blinked and 2 yrs have gone by ... well not exactly, but boy have they passed quickly! Thank goodness I've been posting blogs since before Blake was born. We haven't printed them out yet, but we definitely will. I hope one day Blake and Emerson and our future child(ren) will look back at these posts and smile. I know I'll look back and smile and probably cry a little! I often complain that time passes too quickly, but really I should not complain. I should be, and I am, grateful that my children are healthy and growing and we are also healthy and get to enjoy each day with them.

Blake's birthday festivities are spanning across a few days!! Cal had yesterday off and took today off, so we had some fun family time planned! Yesterday morning we went to the Valley Zoo. Blake enjoyed seeing the animals, most especially Lucy the elephant! He was quite impressed with the "big elephant" (in his words)! He also loved the baby lambs! Not all the animals were out yet, it's still a bit cold I think, so we'll have to go back again this summer. This morning when Blake woke up he opened his gifts from Cal and I and Emerson. He definitely has the whole present and birthday thing figured out! He was saying happy birthday and ripping into the presents! He was very excited when he opened his gift from Emerson and saw Percy from Thomas and Friends! Later in the morning we headed to the library for Blake's last "Fun for Ones" class. After the class we ate lunch at the mall. Blake and I always share EDO after our library class!! This evening we met my parents for dinner and then came back to our house and Blake opened his gifts from them. It was a great day! And Saturday Blake has a birthday party at our house with more friends and family. He'll be thinking his birthday is 5 days long!! We'll let you know how the party goes on Saturday. Have a great rest of your week :)

Luv Tracy

Today I Am 2 Years Old!

Hi everyone!

Today is my 2nd birthday! Mom thought I should write a little email to let everyone know what I'm up to these days!

A lot has changed since my last email 1 year ago. Mom says I'm much more a "little man" now! I understand so much more than 1 year ago. And it's so much easier to let people know what I want and need - I just say it! People are usually quite impressed by my vocabulary. Mom calls me a parrot! But that's how I learn! I surprise Mom and Dad all the time with new words and even sentences. I'm starting to learn colors too. My favourite color is orange and I can point it out all the time! I also know blue really well too! Mom and Dad are very impressed by my memory. There is no fooling me and sometimes I even remember things Mom can't! Some of the other things I enjoy doing are reading books, coloring, building towers with my Mega Blocks, doing puzzles and dancing! I like to point out animals and things in books, around town when we're driving and everywhere we go! I also love to play hockey and pass the ball around with anyone who will play with me. And I like to throw a ball around too! Maybe I'll play hockey and baseball like Dad did when he was little!

Apparently I am 100% boy! My Mom says that's because I'm a little monkey climbing everything and jumping off of things and I want to be outside all the time and love wasting time in the garage! I like helping Grandpa and Dad fix things. Just the other day we fixed Mom's brakes. And then when we went for brunch the next day I checked out some cars in the parking lot to make sure their brakes were okay. Everyone thought that was really funny!!

I can not wait for camping season to begin. Dad brought home our trailer the other day and I already have my bed pulled out! Speaking of beds, I moved to what Mom and Dad call my "big boy bed" a few weeks ago. It's pretty cool! And now I can reach my light switch in my room! Hee, hee, hee ... I can turn my light on whenever I want (even when I should be sleeping)! I can open doors now too, but so far I haven't snuck out of my room!

And the biggest news of all this past year is that I am a Big Brother!! My little sister was born in February. Mom and Dad think I'm a very good big brother. I like to help them and sometimes I even get to help carry and hold Emerson! Emerson loves it when I talk to her - she smiles lots!! I was really glad Mom had a month and a half off with just me and her at home before the baby was born. Mom was glad too! And now Mom's home with us both for who knows how long! We're having fun, that's for sure. Last week I started "My First Preschool" at the YMCA. We do crafts, sing songs, read books and play. I'm also taking swimming lessons again with Dad.

At the end of February I weighed 28 lbs and was 34 1/2" tall. I'm sure at my 2 year check up next week I'll be bigger!! Mom and Dad say all that food has to go somewhere. Apparently they're worried about their grocery bill when I'm a teenager!?

Well, I hope everyone is doing really good. It was good talking to ya' and hopefully I'll see you before I'm 3!

Hugs and Kisses,
Blake

Miss Thumb Sucker!!

Emerson has been sucking on her fingers and fist pretty much since she was born, but this weekend she worked really hard and finally isolated the thumb!! And boy does she put it to good use! She will not take a soother, so I suppose this is the alternate. We're a bit worried about her being a thumb sucker. At least you can take a soother away! I looked up thumb sucking in my What To Expect the First Year book and they say not to worry about it unless is continues past age 6, so hopefully she'll stop before then!! She is getting more and more interactive and talkative each day! It's so cool to watch her change and grow! She's our Miss Smiley :) She continues to sleep really, really well. She goes to bed between 8 and 9 pm and gets up around 6:30 am. Occasionally she will nurse once through out the night. And this week her naps have been getting much better. She's always taking a long morning nap (usually from around 8 - 10 am) and then many more naps throughout the day! Of course she naps best at home, but we are not often home! Although for the most part we don't go out until after 10, so she gets the morning nap in at home. Now Cal and I have to work on our sleep schedule!! We haven't been going to bed until midnight or 12:30 am and it's starting to catch up with us - 6:30 am comes awfully fast! But it's so hard to get to bed any earlier. Guess we'll work on it!

Cal had NAIT this weekend. His second last weekend - YEAH!! He had his first hockey playoff game on Friday night. Unfortunately they lost. Game 2 is Wednesday night. Saturday morning my parents came over. Blake was so excited to see them, he almost fell while running to the door! I'm not sure what he's going to do when they go to Alaska in June!! They were only gone 10 days, but boy did he miss them! Saturday night we had a BBQ and ate outside on our deck. It was a gorgeous day! Sunday morning the kids and I headed to Stony Plain. We washed the car at our favorite car wash (all the way in Stony Plain!!!) and then went to Gerry, Lesley and Colby's house for a visit. It was nice to see them and check out their newly developed basement! There was lots of room for the boys to play!! Then we went to my Mom and Dad's for the rest of the day. Blake pulled on his Carharrts and went to work/play with Grandpa outside! He sure is 100% boy!! Once again, the weather was wonderful.

This week our baby boy turns 2 :( It's so hard to believe! Cal has Monday and Tuesday off, so we have some fun family time planned for Blake's birthday!

Have a great week everyone :)

Luv Tracy

My First Preschool

Today Blake had his first "My First Preschool" class! He had a lot of fun! There are 11 children in the his class, ranging in age from 2 to 3. They started out the class with all the kids sitting on the carpet and doing attendance. When your name was called the teacher asked you to say, "Good Morning." They followed that by reading a book and then doing a craft. Today Blake made a flower on construction paper, with tissue paper and green finger paint. The leaves were his hand prints and there was a hole cut out of the centre for a picture! After the craft there was some free-play time and then it was clean up time and singing a few more songs. Blake really enjoyed the class! I'm pretty sure he'd be okay with me not there, but I think I'll stay at least once more before leaving. It's up to you whether or not you stay the whole time or leave. I was hoping to register him in a summer session, but they take a break over the summer for the day camps and start up again in September. So we'll do it again in September! Tomorrow evening Blake and Cal start their next round of swimming lessons. Em and I are going for the first one!

This morning before preschool we popped into my office for a visit. It was great to see everyone and hear all the gossip! LOL! Apparently I'm greatly missed, which always makes ya feel good :) I do miss it, but love my time with the kids. It's that age old battle a woman fights - home vs. career!

Emerson is "talking" so much these past few days! I LOVE it!! We're carrying on little conversations all the time. The coo's are just too cute! And she is so smiley! It's hilarious! Sometimes I can't even look at her when I'm feeding her because she just keeps grinning and grinning and not swallowing!!

Thank goodness our weather is looking up again! We're going to the zoo on Monday, so hopefully the forecast of +20 will hold true!

Enjoy the remainder of the week (yay it's "hump" day!)!!

Tracy

Almost 2!?

I can't believe my baby boy is almost 2!! It is almost scary how fast time flies ...

We had a busy week this week. On Tuesday Cal's youngest sister Kathy and her daughter Katie were flown to the Stollery Children's Hospital. On Wednesday morning Cal's Mom and Grandma drove down. The kids and I went to visit them at the hospital on Thursday morning and Emerson met her Grandma Bev and Great Grandma Alstad for the first time! They kept the kids busy, while I went up to visit Katie and Kathy. Thankfully, it did not take long once Katie was in the care of the Stollery to find out what was causing her "episodes." She was diagnosed with a mild form of epilepsy and released from the hospital, with medication, on Saturday afternoon. We are very glad little Katie will be okay :)

On Thursday evening we met Cal's cousin Amanda and Gerry, Lesley and Colby for dinner. Amanda is in Edmonton attending the U of A. We had been meaning to get together for months and thought we'd better do it before her first year of University is over! Next year we will try to visit a bit more!

On Saturday we had our first 2nd birthday party with our New Mom's Group. It was a fun time! As the kids get older they have more and more fun together. Although at this age sharing can be a bit of an issue! We also attended a 3rd birthday party on Saturday afternoon/evening. Saturday was a partying kinda day :) Blake had a blast and I'm sure Emerson enjoyed herself too!

This morning my sister stopped by for a visit and other than that we had a quiet day. It's nice to have those once in awhile!

Hope your weekend was grand ;) Talk to ya next week!

Luv Tracy

8 Week Check Up

Today Emerson had her 8 week check up - although she was 9 weeks old today!! She weighed in at 11 lbs (50th percentile), measured 21.5" (25th percentile) and her head circumference was in the 10th percentile. The pediatrician was a bit concerned with her head circumference. It dropped from the 25th to the 10th percentile. He said we will see how how much it changes in 2 months and hopefully it won't be a problem. Her 2 month immunizations are on Wednesday morning. Can't wait to have those over and done with. She is still coughing up mucus, but the Dr. wasn't too concerned. He said it could be a combination of still getting over her cold and clearing out all the mucus and amniotic fluid from birth. When babies are born really fast they don't have a chance to clear all that mucus, etc. out as the fly down the birth canal vs. being slowly squeezed out! Hopefully it will all clear out soon though. She is very, very congested in the morning when she wakes up. She's sleeping extremely well though. And she's gaining weight, so that's great! Hopefully her sleeping patterns continue! (I'm knocking on wood right now!) She continues to be very smiley! She loves it when Blake talks to her! It's very cute!!

Blake continues to be busy, busy, busy!! He's absolutely loving the outdoors. He doesn't want to be inside much at all. We moved his house from my parents basement to our back yard, which makes being outside all the better!! He also loves watching the kids in our neighbourhood play hockey and drive their motorized jeeps, etc. around. Especially our neighbour Jesse. He always wants to go outside and see Jesse's car and Jesse's house and Jesse's quad, etc, etc, etc ... Jesse gave Blake a drawing and a little bouncy ball when Emerson was born and since then Blake's adored him! Jesse is a bit of a terror, so hopefully he won't be too bad of an influence ;) I'm looking for a good playset for our back yard for Blake to climb on. He loves climbing at the playgym and on our furniture, tables, windows, etc. so we'd like to get him something for outside that's actually meant for climbing!!

Em's baby announcements are being delivered tomorrow, so watch for them in your mailbox!

Take care everyone,

Tracy

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a very Happy Easter!! We certainly did! It's been a great weekend. Busy once again, but that's every day in our household!!

We have also had a good week. On Tuesday we started Fun for Ones at the Londonderry Library. Blake and I attended, while my Mom and Em shopped the mall! This week the 3 of us will be all attending! Emerson will likely sleep through it though ;)

Our weekend started out on Friday with a trip west - not too far though, just to Spruce Grove and Stony Plain! Cal dropped Blake, Em and I off at the Tri-Leisure Centre in Spruce Grove where we met Lesley and Colby for a play date at the play gym. The boys had fun running, climbing, sliding and playing. My Mom came by and took Emerson for a walk around the track! She usually sleeps most of the morning, so the walk helped her stay asleep! Cal continued on to my Dad's garage in Stony Plain. The front brakes on our car needed replacing, so they tackled that fun task!! After the play gym my Mom took the 4 of us home. Blake pulled on his new Carharrts and rubber boots and played outside for awhile. After his nap he went back outside and played with Grandma and Grandpa. We stayed for supper and headed home for bed time!

On Sunday we woke up to treats from the Easter bunny! Blake was very excited about his hockey nets. He's been focusing on goalies lately, so was thrilled to see the "goalie nets and goalie sticks!" After playing hockey for awhile we went to church. Blake was getting antsy at church so Cal took him outside. Blake was playing with his puck and did a nose dive off the curb and came up with some road rash on his face! Now he really looks like a hockey player! LOL! After church we came home and waited for my Mom, Dad, Lindsay and Jeremy to come over for Easter dinner. We ate an early dinner and played outside some more!!

Blake has been busier than usual the past few days. We're not sure why?! Perhaps Spring fever? It's been very difficult to keep him inside. We're not letting him play in the backyard by himself quite yet. We have to clean up from the winter a bit more! But it will be good when he can go out there whenever he wants.

Emerson will be 8 weeks old tomorrow! She is doing good! Still a bit stuffed up, but much better. She is sleeping so good at night, it's almost embarrassing!! LOL! I don't know if you know what I mean, but sometimes you're almost scared to tell people if your child is sleeping good! Her naps are pretty sporadic still, but that will come hopefully. She's not as easy as Blake was to put to sleep because she's not taking a soother, so we're trying to help her learn to fall asleep on her on. And once she does she's been sleeping from 7-9 hours before her 1st feeding. And then she eats and sleeps for another couple of hours. She has her 2 month check up next week, so as long as she's gaining weight I will continue to NOT wake her up to eat!! Emerson is getting more and more interactive and I love going into her room when she wakes up, because as soon as she sees me she starts grinning!! She has the cutest dimple on her right cheek. So sweet :) Every time I look at her I can't help but think she looks a lot like my Mom's side of the family! She reminds me of my Grandpa Kelley! When I told my Mom that, she said she used to think the same thing about my sister and I when we were babies! Next week Em also has her 2 month immunizations :( I'll be glad when those are over.

On Saturday evening Cal changed Blake's crib into a toddler bed. When he went to bed that night he was pretty hyper and it took him awhile to fall asleep, but he didn't climb out or get really upset so we were impressed! I was beginning to question why we decided to put him in a bed, when he was having no problems with the crib, but then I remembered that we wanted him to get used to the bed before we started potty training. Anyways, so far so good!! We really "talked it up" so I think that helped! And he had Grandma and Grandpa here to ooo and awe over the "big boy bed", so that probably helped as well :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! Our weather has been absolutely fantastic !! Enjoy ;)

Love Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson