Today I babysat a 2 yr. old for 4.5 hours. I thought this would be a good opportunity to see what it was like having a toddler and a baby to take care of! And it wasn't too bad! If Blake is as good as this little girl was I think we could handle it! LOL! One thing I realized was that my house would be a disaster and there would be no point in cleaning up until the kids went to bed, because as I put things away, she'd turn around and pull them out again!! We missed Strollerobics this a.m. so we are going to go on Wednesday. Actually, I am going to try and go every Wednesday now. Our last official New Mom's Network was on Wednesday, but we are going to continue meeting at each other's houses or go to the park or mall or Stars and Strollers or whatever else we find to do! Blake is doing great! We bought the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child last Tuesday and loosely started doing a sleep routine with Blake and it seems to be working. He's routinely sleeping 7 hours a night and Friday night he slept 8 hours. We're working on daytime naps now and he's currently having one! He is getting more and more interested in his surroundings. It's quite cute! His vision is better too and he can see further away now. When I pick him up out of his crib he looks around his room and loves to be nosey!! Ha, ha, ha! On Thursday we are going to my Grandma Kelley's house in North Battleford and then to Tisdale to visit Grandma Marg and Grandma Art on Friday and home on Sunday. This will be Blake's first time meeting his Great Grandparents on my side! We have my godfather's 50th birthday party to go to on Saturday night and hopefully we'll be able to take a drive down to the cabin on Friday or Saturday. I miss that place! I used to spend a lot of time there in the summer, but not so much anymore. It will be fun to take Blake there when he's a little bit older. But, he will be waking up soon so I should go! Take care!

Luv Tracy

Changing!

Feeling hot, hot, hot! Yikes! This weather is not good for us! Hopefully it will cool down sooner than later ... On Thursday July 12th Blake noticed his hand for the 1st time! It was hilarious! He was laying in his crib after I changed him and his left arm has extended in front of his face and his eyes were huge and he was staring at his hand! The expression on his face was priceless. It looked like he was thinking what the *&$#@) is that! Then the next day, Friday, my sister was visiting and we were sitting on the couch flipping through magazines and talking and Blake was sitting in his bouncy chair by us and he laughed!! Lindsay and I looked at each other and I said, "Did he laugh?" I couldn't believe it! He must have thought our conversation was funny or he had a good one going in his head! It was soo... cute! And he is growing so much. Everyday seems to bring something new! Hope everyone is staying cool and we'll talk to ya again soon!!

Luv Tracy

9 Weeks!

Hello! Blake had his 8 week immunizations today. We both did fine! I really felt bad for him, but he was okay. Just cried when the needles went in. He had two in his left thigh and one in his right thigh. The hardest part for me was having to hold him down, but it was over pretty fast and then he went to sleep a few minutes after. Phew! So we'll see how he is the next few days. Last night he slept for 7 hours! I was surprised and woke up about 5.5 hours into it and kept waiting for him to wake up! So I hope this is a new nightly thing! Cross your fingers for me! LOL! Blake is changing every day. He is really grabbing on to things now and interested in his surroundings. He still LOVES to watch his mobile! This weekend we headed up to Grande Prairie for a family reunion. Blake met his cousins - Kourtney, Dylan, Kailey and Kerri. It was fun! We took family pictures on Saturday and are excited to see how they turned out! The reunion was very interesting. There was a group of relatives who came from Norway. It was neat to hear the family history and see pictures of where the Alstad family was from in Norway. We would love to visit Norway one day and see for ourselves! On Monday we started our Strollerobics class. It was a fantastic workout and felt really good to exercise again! I am going to go on Wednesdays too when our New Mom's Network is over. After Blake's appointment this afternoon we went to Stars and Strollers at Cineplex Odeon. It was fun and nice to go to a movie again!! We watched License to Wed. It was good, but not great!! Tonight we're going to watch Cal's ball hockey. Blake's learning some moves! LOL! So that's what's new with us! We're doing great and loving the summer weather! Hope everyone is well!! Take care!

Love Tracy

Happy Canada Day!!

Happy Canada Day everyone! We're heading to Slave Lake tonight after Cal gets back from his Running Room clinic and won't be home until Monday! We're looking forward to our little holiday! This week has been nice because Cal was off on Monday and now he's off until Monday again, so we've had lots of family time! This weekend we're staying with my Mom and Dad in their house - I mean 5th wheel!! LOL! It really doesn't feel like camping! Cal will be doing a lot of fishing with Dad and Dion in Dion's SWEET new boat! Hopefully they'll bring dinner home at least one night! We had our New Mom's Network yesterday and learned all about baby nutrition and when/how to start introducing solids. It should be interesting! I plan on making Blake's baby food. But, we have a few more months to wait of course! Oh, and Blake weighed in at 12 lbs 3 oz yesterday. Next week we have his 8 week check up with the Pediatrician and I changed his immunization appointment to the following week, because we are going to Grande Prairie for a family reunion the day his original appointment was scheduled. Blake is so smiley this week! I love it! He's been pretty smiley since week 1, but now you can really get him going and he even squeals sometimes!! He is also very interested in all of his surroundings. His little head turns every direction checking out everything around him! It's amazing how he's changing and maturing! I think today for the first time he noticed Jazz! He was sitting in his bouncy chair just staring at him!! Every day brings something new. But, I better go get some housework done before he wakes up from his nap. Have a fantastic long weekend and we'll talk to ya again!

Luv Tracy

Growing, Meeting Aunty Carmen, Reunion and Baby Shower - BUSY!!

Well, from the title you can see we've been busy! On Wednesday Blake weighed in at almost 12 lbs! In the evening we met Cal's sister Carmen for supper before she headed to the Tim/Faith concert. Blake is Carmen's first nephew! Then on Thursday evening Blake and I headed to the YMCA for a prenatal aquafit reunion!! It was so much fun to see everyone and their little ones or their growing bellies! Not everyone has had their baby yet. On Friday my Dad babysat while I went and got my hair done and then Cal took over while I went and got a pedicure!! It was nice to have some me time!!! Saturday was Blake's baby shower in Stony Plain. It was a great time!! My Mom and sister did a fabulous job along with help from Lesley and Carmen. My sister put together these cute favour boxes with jelly beans, candy worms and little rubber duckies!! They were so cute! Blake was supremely spoiled!! He has clothes to last him forever! LOL! So we are all doing great and next weekend we are heading to Slave Lake to camp. Blake has his 8 week checkup and his first shots after the long weekend. Hopefully that will all go good! Take care and we'll talk to ya again soon!!

Love Tracy

CONGRATULATIONS HRDLICKA'S!

My bff and her husband welcomed a little boy into the world on Monday! They are all doing great and we're so happy for them and Blake is excited to have a little buddy to raise hell with!! LOL! Lets just hope he's better than his Mom and I were! J.K.! We were and still are angels - right Candace?!

Tracy

New Mom's Network

Yesterday we had our first New Mom's Network meeting. It was really fun! There are 13 Mom's in our group and only 3 babies are girls! We were all laughing saying that the boys will be in fierce competition for the girls attention! The oldest baby was born in February and Blake is the youngest in the group. We will be discussing various topics each week, such as infant massage, nutrition, dental health, post-partum strengthening exercises, sleeping and crying, etc. So we should learn some new stuff! I'm excited for the infant massage. I'm hoping I might learn some new tips to help Blake go to the bathroom! LOL! His poor stomach gets hard as a rock sometimes. I also registered for Strollerobics at the YMCA. It starts in July. And I've been looking into Mom and Baby yoga and Salsa Babies. I'll probably start one of those once the New Mom's Network is over. Two groups a week is enough, because between that, housework and all the visiting the week is full!! Plus I'm beginning to think that it's a good idea to have a few days at home to help Blake establish somewhat of a routine. He's done a lot of napping in his car seat so far!! But he is doing really good! You wouldn't believe what he weighed in at this week!!! Take a guess - nope not 10 lbs ... 11 lbs 2 oz! So his little gain last week was more than made up for this week! Sure is a healthy boy! He's starting to grow out of the newborn clothes and into the 0-3 months, but I'm still finding the 0-3 months a little bit too big. He is changing every day! Just a few days ago I got a huge full face grin! He's been smiling and grinning for awhile now, but this was a huge grin! It was so cute! And last night I was reading him a book and when I said a certain sentence about the boy's Mom wanting to send him to a zoo he gave me that huge grin again!!! So I said the sentence again and again and again!!! He's also found his thumb! From a few days old he's been trying to stick his whole hand in his mouth and now he is a little bit better at it! He is "talking" a lot more now too! It is soooo... cute! Cal is doing good too! He is extremely busy at work and is busy with ball hockey and his running clinic as well. Blake and I will be cheering him on in August when he runs his first 10K race! I had my 6 week check up today and all is good. Doc said I could get pregnant again if I wanted!!! It is tempting ... but I think I'll wait a few months and let my body recoup a little more! LOL! Anyways, I should get going and make supper!! Take care!



Love Tracy, Cal and Blake