Kids only!!

It's been awhile since I've wrote an update on the kids, and I thought today would be a good day :)

BLAKE
Blake is enjoying being 3 :) He's busy as ever, and loving the freedom of playing outside! Rain, snow or sun he'd be outside if we let him! It's nice that this year, he's enjoying playing in the backyard by himself (well usually with Heidi by his side :) If we can't go out with him, he'll often play out there by himself! Driving his car, playing soccer, hockey, playing on his slide, in his little house, learning to ride his bike, towing various things around, etc, etc, he keeps busy! His sand box is a bit muddy right now, so he's keeping out of it for the time being although that is one of his favorite outside activities. Only trouble is, it's hard to get him inside when it's time to come in. Usually getting him inside involves a small bribe, such as a "treat" or promise of more time outside after supper!! I worry that Blake is becoming some what of a "tv junkie" in my words, but hopefully not :S He enjoys watching what he calls "his shows" during Em's morning nap. These include Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Special Agent Oso, and The Backyardigans to name his faves! We haven't gotten too into movies yet and will hold off on those for as long as possible ... I'm not sure when Blake learned to identify numbers, but he sure can! We don't specifically work on them with him, but I think after repeating ourselves over the years, he's caught on. He can also count well, knows all his shapes, even a pentagon and of course his colors, which he's known for a long time. His latest interest is time. He always wants to know what time it is and what time we're doing certain things and even tells us, "I'll get dressed at quarter to." or "I'll go potty in 15 mintues." or "No, at 7:30 we'll go out!" We bought him a clock toy at Chapter's but haven't done much with it yet! I finally broke down and let Blake buy some playdough ... so far so good ... it stays on his little play table in the kitchen and he loves it!! He also enjoys coloring and we're working on staying in the lines. Blake loves music and now knows a lot of the popular country songs on the radio!! They are what he requests at bed time :) He also has memorized numerous books and enjoys reading to us! Blake still takes an afternoon nap with no troubles! Although we've learned he can not sleep past 3 pm, because if he does he takes forever to fall asleep at night. 2 hr max. nap for him in the afternoon! I'm sure within the next year he'll start getting out of his afternoon nap. Some of Blake's favorite sayings these days are "Of course!" and "Ta-da!" Blake's an all around fun, smart, and cute little guy!!!

EMERSON
Miss Em! Emerson is growing fast! We haven't had her weighed or measured lately, but we know she's growing because she's quickly growing out of her clothes!! And she's eating a lot ... and some days sleeping more then usual! Which we won't complain about! She is such a good sleeper! Although I really think a good sleeper is "formed" not born!!! We were wondering if she wasn't growing out of her morning naps, but after a few attempts at cutting them out, we've realized she still needs them. If she doesn't get her morning nap, she seems to have a shorter afternoon nap and is far more grumpy at what I call "the witching hour - 4ish to 6ish pm!!!" So maybe in a few months she'll be ready to go to 1 nap a day. Blake dropped his morning nap around 18 months. Em is still getting around by bum scooting, but mostly she walks around every piece of furniture, every toy, and every person she can get a hold of! She's also started crawling the "normal" way, not doing the worm, although she doesn't choose to get around that way. And Em can now climb stairs - she had her first fall last week, when unbeknownst to me she had crawled up 2 stairs and then fell down :( Poor girl has a little purple bruise on her cheek. Many times through out the day Emerson stands on her own, but once she realizes she's not holding on to anything she either quickly grabs for something or sits on her bum and gets upset!! My Dad even seen her take a few steps this weekend, but once she realized what she'd done she got rather upset!!! lol! What a girl! One thing we're experiencing with Em, which just started a few weeks ago, are temper tantrums ... not pleasant. I feel sorry for her, but there really doesn't seem to be much to do to help her. She wants me to hold her, but she continues to melt down and flap her arms around, which sometimes hurts! It's like she's so upset and can't control her emotions!! I told her today, "It's okay. You're just female!!" I know I feel like having temper tantrums numerous times through out the day, thankfully as we get older we learn to deal with those moments!!! They don't happen every day thank goodness :) She enjoys playing with all her and Blake toys and plays very well by herself. Em loves driving Blakes trucks and saying, "Vroom, vroom!!" She also loves reading books, especially books that have pictures of animals. She turns the pages and talks away in an excited little voice! Every night we read her Goodnight Moon and I swear she knows what pages the kittens are on, because she flips the pages so fast until we get to that page and then she points to them and says in a squeaky little voice, "Kitties, kitties!!" and looks up at us and smiles :) It is so adorable! Her smile is so cute, with her one dimple ;) And when we get to the last page, she closes the book and says, "All done!" Em loves playing with anything soft and cuddly and is often found snuggling into blankets and teddy bears. She's so sweet!

BABY
Today I had my 2nd ultrasound with this pregnancy. The 1st was at approx. 7 weeks, and was to determine my due date. Cal came with me to this appointment. Thank you SO much to my Mom who came over and watched the kids for us. It was awesome to see the baby!! He (we don't know, I'll just use he for now!) was moving around so much. His little legs and arms were just a going! It was so amazing. Especially when you hear that the baby is only 7.14 cm from top of its head to its bottom, not counting the legs, because their legs are not often stretched out so it's hard to get them in the measurement!! It is so, so amazing that something so small has a fully functioning heart, arms, legs, eye sockets, etc, etc. SO amazing! It truly is a miracle :) The baby's heart rate was 161 bpm, which is in the normal range. Today I was 13 weeks, 3 days along according to this ultrasound. I think that's a couple of days less then what my 1st ultrasound said, so maybe my due date will change. I'll find out at my next Dr. appointment in a few weeks. This ultrasound was accompanied by a blood test. Together the 2 give you an idea if your baby has a chance of having Down's Syndrome or 2 other chromosomal abnormalities. Like I said, it tells you if there is a chance - a positive result does not mean your baby will have one of these problems, just that there is a greater chance. If you get a positive result, you have the option of requesting further testing. Cal and I decided we'd like to know if there is a greater chance, just to be more prepared come babies arrival. I don't think I'd do any further testting. The odds are 95 in 100 come back with a negative result (so no chance). We have our routine 18 week ultrasound in a few weeks, which the whole family will be in attendance for!! This baby continues to make its Mom ill ... but I suppose it's a small reasurrance in that I know it is growing and doing well!!

Love Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby

Wonderful Weekend!!

We've had a great weekend!! Friday morning we left Edmonton. We took Emerson and Heidi to Stony Plain for a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa D's. Cal, Blake and I left for Okotoks around 11:30 am. We made a pit stop at the Cross Iron Mills Mall in Balzac. It's a great mall, we had fun looking around and Blake enjoyed the kids play centre! I imagine all my shopping friends and relatives would go nuts in that mall!! Definately suggest all you shop-a-holics check it out ;) From the mall, we continued on to the Hrdlicka's in Okotoks! I was so excited to see Candace and her family! It didn't take Blake and Nicholas long to get re-aquainted and have some fun. They play so well together. Not sure why, but they get a long very well! Could be because they're only 5 weeks apart in age? We had a nice time visiting and catching up. Saturday afternoon we all headed into Heritage Park in Calgary for "A Day Out With Thomas." Blake saw Thomas puffing down the track and got SO excited!! It was awesome! He had an awesome time running around, checking out the various activites and tents. It was worth every penny! I'm so glad we took him! After our train ride, we said goodbye and left for home. We stopped in Red Deer for dinner and arrived home around 9:30 pm. Thank you again to Candace and Brandon for their hospitality!!! Emerson had a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa! Thankfully, she was very good for them! They enjoyed spending one-on-one, or two-on-one I guess, time with her. We sure missed her though. It was a bit odd not having her with us, although much more relaxing with just Blake!!

This morning (after I got to sleep in!! YAY! Love sleeping in, especially these days!!) we met my Mom, Dad, Emerson and Heidi (who stayed in the car!) at Moxie's for brunch. Brunch was delicious!! After brunch my Mom came over. We hung out outside for awhile and when the kids were napping we went to the mall for pedicures. I love a good pedicure ;) We browsed around a bit and she dropped me off at home! We had a delicious steak dinner! Thanks Mom, Dad, Blake, Emerson and Cal for a wonderful day :) ~ To my Mom, you are an amazing mother and grandmother and an inspiration. I only hope I can one day be the Mom you are to Lindsay and I. I know I'm learning from the best :) ~ Blake and Emerson, words can not describe the love I feel for you. A Mother's job has to be one of the hardest, but certainly the most rewarding jobs in the world. And I would not trade it for anything. I am so glad I get to spend as much time as I do with you. I love experiencing everything through your eyes and learing along side you. You bring so much joy to my life, my heart literally bursts with love for you two!! Blake it was so sweet today, how you asked me numerous times if I like my new slippers. So, so cute :) Your genuine concern and desire for me to love my slippers is amazing to me!! Such a simple thing, but it shows your love for me, which has made my Mother's Day that much more special :) ~ Thank you Cal for the sacrifices and little things you do day in and day out, not just today, to make me feel special, appreciated, loved and happy. ~ And a very Happy Mother's Day to all the other special Mom's in my life - My Mother-in-law, my Grandma's, my Aunts, Cousins, Sister-in-laws, friends and all other Moms out there!!!

xoxo Tracy

Our Mr. Blake :)

Today is Blake's 3rd birthday!! In fact, and this might be too much information ... but 3 years ago he was minutes from entering this world!!! It's 9:55 p.m. and he was born at 10:11 p.m. Little did we know how our lives would change with the birth of our first child. I sensed all throughout my pregnancy that I was having a boy, so when it was announced, "It's a boy!" I wasn't too surprised! And relieved because we didn't have a girls name picked out!

Blake had a great time partying at our house on Saturday afternoon! He enjoyed playing outside and inside and loved his hot dog supper and Tow Mater cake!! Saturday morning when Cal was dressing Blake, Blake asked Cal where his party hat was. Cal told him he didn't think he had a party hat, but what does it look like? Blake went on to explain that it looks like a cone, like an icecream cone, but without the icecream in it!!! So Aunty and Grandma came to the rescue and picked up some party hats at the dollar store!! He was so excited when he saw them! Another cute point in the party, was when everyone was singing happy birthday to Blake. Blake sang right along with everyone and even clapped for himself at the end ;) I'm so glad Lindsay caught that on video!

Today I asked Blake if he'd like to do something special for his birthday, I was thinking of going to the Telus World of Science. He decided he wanted to stay in his pj's and stay home!! Which isn't too much different then our usual ... so I suggested going to the playgym or maybe going to Toys R Us to see if there was anything he'd like to buy with his birthday money. He opted for Toys R Us and found a really cool Handy Manny toy! After work, my Mom and Dad came over for supper and gave Blake his birthday gift - a very cute little bike! Blake sat on the bike and pushed it a short distance!! I'm sure in a few weeks he'll be cruisin' on it! Dinner was delicious (ahem!) and Blake enjoyed blowing out his #3 candle again!! Thanks to everyone for all the messages and phone calls! I think Blake felt pretty special today :)

Blake, you are such an amazing little boy. Words can not describe how much joy you bring to our lives. You keep us laughing, smiling, dancing, and playing!! You make us so proud and at times I can say I have a hard time believing I had a hand in "creating" you! There are times when you make us look like such good parents and I have to say you make the job easy little guy!! Of course you have challenged us, don't get me wrong :) We love you so much buddy and can't wait to experience your 3rd year with you!

xoxox Mom and Dad

PS: I know if Emerson could talk she'd say Happy Birthday to her big brother!! But, the hugs she gave you today say it all, you're an awesome big brother :)

Exciting News!!

Below is an email sent to family and friends on April 23, 2010:

Hello,

How are you all doing? I'm borrowing Mom's email to write you a note ... again! We are all very excited!!

Mom and Dad told us a few weeks ago that I am going to be a big brother again and Emerson is going to be a big sister!!! Can you believe it!? Mom and Dad were quite surprised too:) Apparently, even more surprised then when I passed on Em's news to you all!! Our new baby is due on November 11 and Mom turns 30 on November 14! There's 21 months between all of us, and that wasn't even planned!!!

Mom's not feeling good at all. We all hope she's feeling better soon.

Mom and Dad think I will be a big help! I love to help with Emerson and I am very excited about a new baby. I told Mom I'm hoping for another baby sister, because I like baby sisters!!

I just wanted to share this exciting news with you all! Hopefully we will see you soon!

Lots of love,

Blake and Emerson

Family of 5 :)

That's right!! Blake is going to be a big brother for the second time and Emerson is going to be a big sister!!! And Cal and I will be parents of 3! Initially we were quite surprised, but we are very excited!!! I am 11 weeks, 5 days pregnant and my official due date is November 11, 2010. I always said I wanted to be done having kids at 30, so I guess it shall be! (My 30th is November 14th) We found out we were expecting at the end of March. We weren't "trying" but apparently we weren't being too cautious either ... our orginal plan was to get pregnant this summer, so we're just a little ahead of schedule! LOL! Of course, Emerson is too young right now to understand that she is going to be a big sister, but I'm hoping as my belly grows she might understand there's a baby in there! Blake on the other hand totally knows what's going on and is so cute to talk to about the baby. I asked him if he wanted a new brother or sister and after a few moments consideration, he frowned and looked at me and said, "No, I want to keep Emerson." How cute is that?! I said, "Of course we'll keep Emerson buddy, we'll just have another baby!! Would you like another baby sister or a baby brother?" To which he replied, "I'd like a baby sister, I like baby sisters!!" We try to tell him he might have a baby brother, hoping he won't be dissapointed if it's a boy! He's not so great with girl names (some of you know the story ... !) but he's came up with some classic boy names, i.e. Thomas, Gordon, Henry, Percy!!! So funny ;) We measured his bed and Emerson's bed and decided that they will probably share the room Em is in right now. It's hard to decide what to do with only 3 rooms upstairs! Some other thoughts we've had are Blake sharing a room with the baby, because he's older and sleeps through more noise. Or if it's a boy the 2 boys sharing a room, if it's a girl the 2 girls sharing a room?! For sure in a few years, the boys or the girls will share, but for now we're thinking Blake and Em will share for a few years. Blake's actually excited about sharing a room with Em, so that's good!! We'll do a little decorating and make their "space" special. We've been casually looking for a new house, nothing serious yet, but we hope to move before Blake starts Kindergarten. Somewhere closer to my parents and hopefully within a few blocks of an elementary school. I had an ultrasound about 5 weeks ago and saw the little one (really, really, really little one - 7 weeks, 1 day at that time) and heard it's heart beat! It was exciting, but I will be truthful and say I was glad to hear and see only ONE heart beat!!! lol!! We aren't going to find out the sex of the baby. We enjoyed the surprise of Blake and Emerson and since we have 1 of each sex there's no urge to find out!! Although I could be convinced ... Cal not so much :S So, needless to say we will be very busy come November!! 3 children, 3 and under! Yikes!! I have "morning" sickness again, and I say "morning" sickness, because it is more like "all day" sickness!! I'm on Diclectin again, so that's keeping me out of the hospital basically!!! With Blake I was sick pretty much all the way through, but it did ease up during my 5th month. With Emerson I wasn't as sick and felt better around the 12th or 13th week. I am really hoping that it eases up this time after the 12th week (which is this Wednesday). Of course there's all the tiredness as well, which is even harder this time around with 2 toddlers! I am already showing a little bit, and in fact that was my first hint that I might be pregnant! I've always heard with each pregnancy you show sooner and that has held true with both Emerson and now this one! We will keep everyone up to date on our blog!

Lots of love,

Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Baby
XOXOX

Life is great!!

We are all doing good!! LOVING this warm weather! Not really enjoying some of the windy days, but it still beats the snow and below zero temperatures!! It's so nice to be able to have the windows open in the house and enjoy being outside without being bundled up. Both the kids love being outside and we often have an "argument" with Blake when it's time to come in!! It will be nice when Emerson is walking independantly, because right now when we're outside we spend a lot of time helping her steer the little car she likes to push around outside. She'd bum scoot all over the place if we let her, but I hate the bottom of her pants getting so dirty!! Maybe we'll have to pull out Blake's baby Carhartt's?! I think we'll bring them camping for sure! Blake's been having fun helping Cal with the yard work - raking leaves, using the leaf blower, picking up twigs, getting the ground ready for our new shed! We're so glad we don't have the huge task of painting our fence this year, but we do need to paint the deck! Thankfully that should be a one day, two person job ;)

We had a great weekend. My Mom and Dad returned from vacation on Saturday afternoon and came over Saturday night for supper. The kids were really excited to see them and Em had lots of cuddles for Grandma!!! It was cute! Sunday morning we went to Stony after Em's morning nap. We dropped off our taxes to our friend who does them for us every year, picked up our photo CD from Rose's Mom and spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's! Both kids had great naps there and Cal and my Dad built a base for our shed. We had a delicious BBQ, the kids had a bath and we headed home! Monday, Cal and I were both off work. We took Blake for a hair cut, he loves going to Beaner's, then went to Walmart and put a hole in our wallet! lol! This morning I awoke bright and early to go register Blake for preschool. I was ready at 6:30 am and was the 3rd person in line! As I was leaving, it was getting busier so I'm glad I went early! He will be attending Fun Factory at the YMCA starting in September on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:15 to 11:15 a.m. I've heard really good things about this program and I hope Blake enjoys it! Hopefully Emerson and I will find a program to attend while Blake is at preschool! After registration, I went to work early to get a few things done, because I was back home at 10:30! Cal had an important meeting, so I only went to work for a few hours and then came home so he could attend it. They are interviewing for my position tomorrow, so I suspect I will be done work in a few weeks. I'll be glad to be done, but it will be hard to turn over " the controls" to someone else!! Hopefully the new person does a good job!! I started a new class on Monday evening, called Naughty Hottie! It was lots of fun!! Two of my friends from my New Mom's Group attend as well. I sweated up a storm and had fun dancing! That's my kind of exercise - I love to dance and love music so what could be better?!

Have a great week everyone! We have a very busy weekend coming up with swimming lessons Saturday morning and two birthday parties Saturday afternoon!! Hope we make it through with no afternoon naps ... wish us luck :)

Tracy

Blake and Em!

Our Emerson is getting braver by the day!! She walks all over the house by keeping a hand on various pieces of furniture!! We're sure she could let go and walk on her own, but she hasn't quite figured that out yet ;) She's such a little munchkin! She plays so well by herself and with Blake. It's fantastic and really lets us get things done around the house when we need to! As long as she has a cup of water where she can get it, she bum scoots or walks around and plays and stops for a drink of water and plays some more! She loves emptying baskets, boxes, etc and then putting everything back in again! She's also started stacking items, which is really cool! As always, she still enjoys watching Blake play and really loves to laugh with him!! He can really get her going!! She loves music and has the cutest little dance moves, which I hope to catch on video!! She squats and sways side to side! Emerson is a little parrot and still tries to copy a lot of what we say! She can now say Grandma and we're working on Grandpa!! And Easter long weekend she said Aunty a few times!

I think Blake is really changing fast too! He's so much fun, and as I've said a zillion times I just love the things he comes up with. His imagination is so awesome and I swear his memory is way better then mine, it's crazy!! Blake also loves playing with Emerson and by himself. He often "talks" to himself (gets that from his Dad ... right Cal?!) and is great at entertaining himself!! We've been accident free for quite awhile now ... knock on wood! He is wearing a pull up to sleep, so we should work on that soon. One of Blake's favorite things to do is puzzles. He is really, really good at puzzles. We have to start buying him some more complicated ones, because he's masters all the 3+ puzzles after doing them once or twice (definately gets that talent from his Dad)! I think we'll have to try some 50 or more piece puzzles next! Blake's really slowed down in the weight gain department, but continues to sprout up!! He's outgrowing a lot of his size 3 clothes and I'm now buying him size 4 pants (he's not even 3 until May 5!!). And his feet are growing just as fast!! He's a bigger boy that's for sure, although by looking at him he doesn't look overweight at all. His shoulders are quite broad, as compared to a lot of kids his age, but I'd say he gets that from his Dad and Grandpa D! Sturdy is a good way to describe him ;)

My position was finally posted today ... it's taken longer then we expected. I believe it will be posted for 2 weeks, then I'm sure it will take another 2 weeks for interviews and a decision to be made and then the successful canidate may have to give 2 weeks notice to their current job, SO I'm thinking I'll be working 2 days a week for at least another 4-6 weeks. Which so far is okay. As long as Cal doesn't get too far behind at work, we should be good! If not, I could always go down to 1 day a week. It's so much less stressful for both of us, to not have to worry about the kids in someone else's care. Last week my manager asked me if I would like to stay on the casual list, which I hadn't even thought of, but I told her for sure! That would mean covering a day here and there or perhaps a vacation leave.

This weekend we're back to our regular events (last week, due to Spring Break and Easter long weekend we didn't have gymnastics or swimming). Cal was hoping to put his new leaf blower/vacuum to use, but all the leaves in our yard are covered with that yucky "S" word ... let's hope it melts asap and we get back to the higher temp's we had earlier in the week!!!

Have a great weekend everyone,

Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson