Blake's 1st Christmas Concert :)

Tomorrow is Blake's preschool Christmas Concert .. a.k.a. "Winter Wonderland Party!"  It starts at 11 am with a pot luck lunch, followed by a few crafts, a visit from Santa and a concert.  The preschoolers are singing 3 songs!  Blake is pretty excited and so are we :)  I will try to video tape the concert portion!

Tomorrow is also Reese's 1 month birthday ;)  I can not believe it's been 1 month since she was born!  I just love her to bits, so, so much!!  Of course, right!  I'm not sure if it's because it's likely our last baby, but I feel as though I'm "babying" her a bit more then Blake and Em?!  Hmmm ... maybe the spoiled youngest theory is true??!  She is very, very cuddly and is happiest when she's snuggled up on us.  I bought a new wrap at the Butterdome craft sale and she seems to really like it.  Reese finally pooped on her own!  Yippee!!  I had to call the Doctor's office to let them know and I have to get her weighed tomorrow and call and let them know her weight so they can chart it and see how's she doing.  I definitely think she's grown, for sure length wise, but she's still very skinny minny!!  She's sleeping quite good and seems to be moving her longer sleep further into the evening/night.

I ran out of time last night and didn't finish this blog post, so here's an update!!

Yesterday afternoon/evening Reese, my Mom and I went shopping.  I got a few gifts bought.  We're pretty much done, there's just a few smaller things I'd like to pick up.  We'd like to buy Reese a Cabbage Patch Doll, but are having trouble finding a normal one!  We've found the baby dolls and a doll with hair extensions, but not just a plain old Cabbage Patch Doll!!  Reese did very well shopping in the wrap on me ;)  She sure likes to be cuddled up and is not such a fan of riding in the car seat!!

Blake's Christmas party went really well!!  Blake and Em had a lot of fun running around with their friends, doing crafts, eating lunch and Blake sat on Santa's lap!  There were so many Preschool kids singing and so many parents trying to get pictures and video that I didn't get close enough to hear Blake singing, but we could all see his mouth moving and he said he was singing!!!!  I took video of it all!  After the party, we took the kids to Northgate Mall for a "real" Santa picture.  Emerson kept saying she was going to sit on Santa's knee, but of course once we got up there she didn't want anything to do with him!!  So we got a family Santa pic this year ;)  And it actually turned out quite nice!  Afterwards Emerson talked to Santa from a distance and he even gave her a teddy bear!!  He's such a great Santa, we've been visiting him for 3 years now!  My Mom went and bought him a Smitty's gift card, because he was so great and he was very grateful.  He said no one ever buys him anything, which in a way is kinda of sad.  I will have to remember that in the years to come and maybe from now on we'll always bring Santa a little gift :) 

After the Santa picture, I took Reese upstairs to the health unit to have her weighed.  Unfortunately she has not gained any weight in 1 week :(  This isn't the greatest news ... Since birth the amount of weight she has gained is what they typically like to see a baby gain in 1 week.  We have a Dr. appointment on Monday, but I'm sure I know one of the reasons she hasn't gained much since birth.  She's a very slow eater and I've been rushing her some what and have felt rushed myself.  It seems like there is always something I need to be doing - making the kids breakfast, getting them a snack, getting them lunch, putting Em for a nap, going to Preschool or an appointment, etc, etc, etc.  But from now on some of these things are going to have to wait.  Reese needs to eat and gain weight!!  I know my milk supply is good, it's just a matter of letting her get what she needs.  And the other unfortunate part is that the fatty, calorie rich milk is the milk that babies get at the end of nursing.  The first bit of milk is mostly just watery and not the milk that packs on the pounds.  So if Reese isn't nursing as long as she wants to or needs to she's missing out on that fatty milk!!  I'll let you know how it goes in the coming weeks, I'll be getting her weighed more often now.

Tomorrow Blake is going to Riverside in St. Albert with Grandma and Grandpa to see Santa (once again!).  My girlfriend took her son there last weekend and I guess it's a little boys heaven!  They get to sit on Santa's knee on a skidoo and Santa even gives them a little present - a motorcycle!  Blake's going to love it!!  Tomorrow morning Emerson has her last swimming lesson for this session.  She's registered to start again in January, but we might cancel and take a break from swimming.  She starts gymnastics in the New Year!  Blake has hockey tomorrow afternoon and then they have the next 2 weekends off due to Christmas Day and New Year's Day.  Blake is taking swimming lessons again in the New Year, which he's really looking forward to :)

Sunday evening we are looking forward to the Candy Cane Lane sleigh ride!!  Hopefully it will not be cancelled due to cold weather :S  We had a lot of fun on the sleigh ride last year and are excited to take Emerson this year!!  And Reese, although she will hopefully be sleeping ;)

I have our photo Christmas cards ready, our Christmas letter and I'm waiting for Reese's birth announcements!  Then I'll be able to mail everything together.  I don't think I'll have it out in time to arrive before Christmas!  We're enjoying recieving everyone else's cards, pictures and letters in the mail!  Everday there's at least 1 new one in the mail!

Have a great weekend everyone!  Stay warm!!

xoxo
Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Reese