Emerson's Baptism

Today (September 20th) Emerson was baptised at Pilgrim United Church in Edmonton. It was a very nice service and a wonderful day. Church began at 11 am and the Baptism was at the end of the service. We got a little bit nervous towards the end of the service because Emerson was starting to get tired, but thankfully it was time to go up for the Baptism and she was a little angel! We were given the Baptismal Candle and everyone who attended church today signed an "I witnessed your Baptism" sheet for us to have as a keepsake. After church everyone came back to our house for lunch. Em did pretty good all day, although the effects of missing an afternoon nap began to show for Emerson and Blake! We had a great day with friends and family!

XOXOX
Tracy

7 Months Old!

Just a quick update on Emerson's 7 month pediatrician check-up. She weighs 16 lbs and is 24.8" long. She is in the 25th percentile for weight, 10th percentile for height and her head circumference is in the 5th percentile! Quite a little girl :) I'm hoping she might gain a bit of height in the years to come!! I'm sure she won't be tall by any means, but I hope she's at least as tall as her Mommy!!! The appointment went really well. I had a whole two page document written out about her #2 problems!, as well as some other concerns we had. Dr. Radisic was so great, took a lot of time to answer all my questions and then some! He wrote us a prescription for more lactulose and increased her dose. That combined with some prune juice will hopefully get things moving again and her body will adjust to the solid foods and all will be well! I had heard that the baby cereals have a lot of iron in them and can sometimes cause constipation, but Dr. Radisic said they don't have enough iron in them to cause constipation, so don't cut back on the cereal! Which I had done - I started giving her cereal once a day instead of twice a day. So I was happy with what we were told and hopefully everything will straighten out within the next few months. We will wean her off of the lactulose slowly, if everything goes well. I also talked to the Dr. about her lack of rolling and not enjoying her stomach, so he did a few different strength tests and muscle tests and said everything is fine, she's actually very strong! Get this ... she's just stubborn!! Surprise, surprise ... wonder where she gets that from?! She's been stubborn since before she was even born! Dr. Radisic is happy with how she's sitting up and reaching for things and transferring objects from hand to hand, so hopefully when she decides she wants to move she'll figure out she has to be on her stomach to crawl!!! Happy hump day :) Enjoy this above average September weather!!

Tracy

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home this afternoon :) It is nice to be home and we're all glad to be sleeping in our "house beds" tonight! Overall we had a fabulous vacation!

From Salmon Arm, we drove to Banff for a one night stay at the Tunnel Mountain campground just outside town. We arrived pretty early in the day on Saturday. Emerson, my Mom and I headed into town to do some shopping, while the boys stayed back at the campsite. The shopping in Banff is fantastic! There are a lot of very nice stores. It was a very, very hot day in Banff and we were thankful it wasn't that hot the entire vacation!

Sunday morning we packed up bright and early and left the campsite for the Calgary zoo. At this point in time we also said good bye to my Mom and Dad. It was a bit sad to part ways!! We had so much fun with them and look forward to vacationing together again! As we were driving into Calgary my friend Candace called to say they were home from their camping trip, so we detoured to their house in Okotoks. We were going to be heading to their place after the zoo, but instead got there around 10 am and had a full day visiting with Candace, Brandon, Nicholas, Lindsey and Parker! I was very excited to see everyone and meet baby Parker :) We parked our trailer behind Candace's house and stayed for 2 nights. It was so, so, SO nice to spend some time with Candace and Lindsey and their families!! We rarely get to see each other and often when we do it's only for a couple of hours. Nicholas and Blake were best of buds in no time and had lots of fun playing and goofing around!! They were so cute together! I wish we lived closer to each other :( One day hopefully!!

On Monday we went to the Calgary zoo with the Hrdlicka's. The weather was great and the zoo wasn't too crowded. Blake took a few minutes to warm up to the animals, but when he did he had a great time! He seemed at bit worried at first that they were going to get him!! Such a cautious little guy! We almost covered the whole zoo - we were there for 5 hours!! It was lots of fun watching the boys run around and have a great time. I was hoping Candace would go into labour with all that walking, but no such luck! LOL!

We left Okotoks early this morning and here we are home again! Cal is off for another week, so we're going to enjoy our time around home as well! And we're already planning our next camping vacation for the summer of '10! Can't wait! In the mean time, we are getting excited for our next vacation - Lindsay and Jeremy's wedding in Las Vegas! YAY!! Just over two months away!!!

Tomorrow Emerson has her 6 month pediatrician appointment, yes it's at 7 months! Hopefully Dr. Radisic will offer some help with her bowel issues. The Lactulose doesn't seem to be working very well anymore. Thursday Cal has a golf tournament and Lindsay is coming over. She is bringing Heidi home and we are going to the Tim McGraw concert with my Mom and a friend hers. I can not wait for Tim McGraw!! Then on Friday, Lindsay and I are going to pick up the bridesmaid dresses! I'm so excited to see them!! Sunday we have Emerson's baptism, so Saturday we'll likely be doing a lot of cleaning and preparing. Monday Blake has preschool in the morning and we will be anxiously awaiting the details of the arrival of our new niece!!! Gerry, Lesley and Colby will be welcoming a new addition to their family on Monday via planned c-section! We can't wait to hear all the details and meet the little princess :)

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys this wonderful weather! Talk to you soon ;)

Love Tracy

Beautiful!!!

Wow! We have the most gorgeous view we've ever had camping!! We are at a campground, just outside of Salmon Arm, B.C. on the Shuswap Lake. The campground is very quiet, which is what we were hoping for!! We're 1 row back from the lake, with no one in front of us. The lake, mountains, hills, etc. surrounding us are so pretty. Absolutely gorgeous :) Only downfall is the train tracks behind the campground! Well, I should say only downfall for the adults, Blake is absolutely thrilled with all the choo-choo's he's seeing! Today he saw 5 engines!! We've had a nice time here in Salmon Arm. We arrived Tuesday morning, it was a short 1 hour drive from Kamloops. The weather has been nice overall, it rained off and on on Wednesday and it's been between +15 and +24 during the day. Nice for a group of people who don't really enjoy extreme heat! We visited an amazing indoor jungle gym on Wednesday and of course we had to hit up a fruit stand - SO yummy!! We checked out the local mall as well and spent lots of time digging in the sand! Blake loves playing on the beech and splashing on the shore. Today he had jeans and running shoes on and decided to go wading in the water! What a mess ... but he was having a blast! Emerson was feeling a lot better, but this evening I think she seems to be getting uncomfortable again. I hope tomorrow she'll have a big diaper full!!! Tomorrow morning we're leaving the Shuswaps for an overnight stay in Banff. From Banff we're heading to Candace and Brandon's house for Sunday and Monday night. We're visiting Lindsey, Andrew and baby Parker, going to the zoo and hopefully stopping at the new outlet mall north of Calgary! Home on Tuesday. It will be sad to be done our vacation, but nice to be home on the other hand. The kids have been awesome. Everyone seems to think I'm a bit hard on them, and I admit I am, but hey, what can I say?! I am, who I am!! Camping with just Blake was a piece of cake, camping with a 2 yr old and a 6 month old is not as easy, but they make it pretty darn good :) Thankfully Emerson is not waking up at 4 and 5 am, like she did in Saskatchewan! They're both sleeping in, phew! It has been so nice having my parents with us. I think Blake is going to go through Bampa and Bamma with drawl come Sunday when we go our separate ways!!! He enjoys riding in their truck with them and doing all sorts of fun things! We are so blessed to have such wonderful parents :)

We hope everyone is having a great week, have a good weekend and we'll "talk" to you when we're back home!

xoxo Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson

Interesting Beginning :)

Hi everyone!! I am writing to you from Kamloops, B.C.! We arrived here this afternoon. We began our holiday in Jasper. We left Friday morning around 9:30, stopped in Niton Junction for gas and Edson for lunch. We got to Whistlers Campground just outside of Jasper right in time to check in at 2 pm! Erica, Dion, Danielle, Mom, Dad and Jeremy and Lindsay were not far behind us. Unfortunately Emerson was not feeling very good. Ever since she started solids she has been a bit "backed up" and I think it finally caught up with her! She was very uncomfortable and straining quite hard, so we decided to take her into the E.R. We figured we might as well get the problem dealt with right away, rather than hoping it would resolve itself. I was kicking myself for not bringing her into her pediatrician before we left home. So we took her to the hospital and she was given a glycerin suppository and we went back to the trailer. The glycerin suppository didn't produce much and she continued to be out of sorts and not herself, so after a visit to the Miette Hot Springs, we put Blake to bed and took her back to the E.R. I felt this Dr. was a bit more attentive. She manually removed some of the blockage and used another glycerin suppository to try and extract more, but not much happened. At this point in time, Em was pretty upset! The Dr. also found fissures, which were causing Em to withhold everything. The Dr. wasn't sure what else to do, so she called a pediatrician at the Stollery to consult with him. He suggested an enema and a prescription laxative. So the Dr. administered the enema and wrote us a prescription. We have to give her the laxative (laculose) for at least 2 weeks, until the fissures have healed and she sees her pediatrician back home. The enema did not work, so we were back to the E.R. Sunday morning! But the Dr. who was on call this time said try the laculose and if that doesn't work then come back again! So we filled the prescription and it worked!!! Thank goodness! It didn't take long and she was back to her smiley self :) Now we hope her sleep routine will return ;)

So that was the interesting beginning to our vacation. Heidi headed back with Lindsay and Jeremy for a vacation in Fort Mac! We're leaving for Salmon Arm tomorrow morning. The weather looks like it will be in the 20's, which is great for digging in the sand!!! We'll be in touch! We have Wi-Fi there as well! Hope everyone is doing great!

Luv Tracy

Fantastic Weekend!

Thursday night my sister and Jeremy stayed over night and Friday morning my sister, the kids and I met my Mom at WEM Build a Bear. Blake built a ring bearing bear!! I thought he might be a bit young to really enjoy the whole experience, but he had a lot of fun! So he left the mall with a new friend, named Sam! Sam has two outfits, one casual, every day outfit and a tuxedo for the wedding (complete with big boy underwear, dress socks and dress shoes!!)!

And the weekend has been fabulous :) The weather was absolutely gorgeous! Saturday we went for a walk to the park. Cal and Blake visit the park quite often, but most times Emerson and I are at home making supper!! So Blake was excited to show Em and I all the exciting new things he can do!! I was very surprised at how well he could climb the climbing wall! A bit scary to see your 2 year old scale the climbing wall with no help, but he did it repeatedly!!! And of course, we had to see the BIIIIGGG hill! LOL! We came home for lunch and a nap, and then headed to the spray park. It was crazy busy, but lots of fun! And a perfect way to spend a few hours on a hot summer day! There's a dragon that "spits" water. Cal and Blake were playing around it, while Em and I were off somewhere else. Blake wanted me to come see it, so Cal took Em and I walked over there with Blake. When we were walking over I asked him if we were going to see the dragon and he said, "Dinosaur actually." Kinda like, "Duh Mom!?" It was so funny!! He's also using the work "kinda" a lot these days! "I kinda want to play trucks." "I kinda want Dad to sit there." etc, etc, etc! So funny! We lazed around the house this morning and then met my parents at Costco, went to Applebee's for supper and then they came over afterwards for a visit and to plan our groceries for our upcoming vacation! Cal and I cleaned the trailer this evening and started packing up! There's a lot to pack!!! But at least we've started ...

This week is going to go by fast. Monday Blake starts another semester of My First Preschool at the YMCA. Monday evening a lady who has a pet sitting service is coming over to meet us and Jazz - she will be visiting with Jazz while we're gone this time and while we're in Vegas! Tuesday we are going to the zoo with Lesley, Colby, Renee, Kaeden and Cohen. Cal is going to the farm Wednesday after work to help his Dad and brother with some things around there and at some point Blake and I need hair cuts!! And of course we need to finish shopping and packing for holidays! We're leaving for Jasper Friday morning. I can't wait!!!! I'm (we're) going to have a great time! So long as I can let go and relax and realize that some days the kids won't have their regular naps!!!! LOL!

Have a great week everyone! Stay cool, looks like it's going to be a HOT week!! And if you're looking forward to the kids going back to school - enjoy ;)

Luv Tracy

Fun times!

Thursday afternoon the kids and I drove to Stony for a visit. We stopped in at my Dad's office, before going to my parents house. Blake enjoyed his visit! He scored some good loot! LOL! I think the coolest thing he got, was a badge from the regional director of the commercial vehicle inspection department! But his favorite thing was a tin can!! It makes "noise" which is a big deal! He likes toys that make "noise!" Friday morning Blake went to work with my Mom and Emerson and I went to visit about an hour later. When we got there, Blake had taken over 1/2 of my Mom's desk, but they weren't at the desk, they were out visiting!! After our visit at Mom's office we headed over to Colby's house. We had a great visit and Emerson even had a little nap! We met my Mom for lunch and drove back home. I set my cruise control at 100 to drag the trip out a little bit and let Blake sleep longer!

Saturday was the Canadian Derby at Northland's park. Our friends Sam and Jen picked Cal up around lunch time and the kids and I joined them after their naps. Blake loved watching the water trucks and tractors drive around the track, as well as the horses! He had a great time! Em hung out in the stroller and kicked and smiled and seemed to enjoy herself :) It was so busy there. We've never seen it so busy! Apparently there was just over 10,000 people! But it was a gorgeous day to be outside! After the big race we took Blake over to the kiddie area, where he had fun checking out the petting zoo and playing in the bouncy castles! Then we went to Sam and Jen's for supper. Blake had fun playing with the dogs and cat!! Sam and Jen don't have kids, but do have nieces and nephews, so they also had some fun toys and coloring books for Blake to play with!!

This morning my parents came over for coffee and Cal had the NFL draft at Eric's. I took Blake to Sobey's this morning, which is always an exciting trip for Blake, thanks to the race car shopping cart!! Although driving anywhere is an adventure for Blake. He points out trucks, cars, dump trucks, cement trucks, water trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, choo-choo's, vehicles with hitches (that's his latest observation - hitches), the YMCA (which he calls the ICA), the grocery store, Tim Horton's (yes we visit Tim Horton's VERY frequently, hence he recognizes it!), Toys R Us (another frequent stop for us!)!! He also loves driving through an under pass, which he calls a tunnel!

Last week we finally got off our butt's and cleaned out our basement. We were pretty much using it as a storage room! It was finished before we moved in, and is a nice space, so it really needed to be put to better use! I put away all my scrap booking and card making supplies, which I rarely ever use and Cal packed up most of his sports memorabilia. We moved Blake's train table down there and plan to use the space a bit more in the winter when we won't be able to run around outside as much!! Blake's enjoying playing down there, which is great! We enjoy playing with him, but we are also glad he plays so well by himself. Today I overheard him saying that his toys were going on holidays!! It was hilarious!!! I went downstairs and asked him what he was doing. He said, "Playing with fire trucks and choo-choo's." I asked what they were doing and he said, "Fire truck go on holidays." I asked where it was going on holidays and he drove it across the room and said, "Over there!" He then went about driving his trains over there and saying, "Percy go on holidays too! Gordon go on holidays too!" etc, etc! It's so much fun to hear what he comes up with! Something new all the time. He has discovered another stalling technique ... the words "little bit!" For example, I will say after supper it's time for a bath and he'll say, "I go play downstairs a little bit." It's actually pretty funny!!!! (and it works for him most times!!) Today he started playing with Buddy again. He fed Buddy juice, wrapped him up in his blankie, layed him down for a nap, etc, etc. It's so cute! He also enjoys laying his choo-choo's down for a nap! He tips them on their sides!! I'm glad he got Buddy before Emerson was born, I think it has really helped him with Emerson. And she has definitely brought out the little "Daddy" in him!! He loves to give her hugs and kisses and is always asking about her when she's napping, making sure she has her blankie (although at this point in time she's not attached to her blankie like he is!), wiping up her spit, and trying to help with pretty much everything!! I know my parents said I was very motherly towards Lindsay, and I see that same characteristic in Blake. Emerson will always have her big brother watching over her! Which I'm sure she'll appreciate ... one day!!! Perhaps not in her teenage years :)

Emerson and I have our last Aquababies class tomorrow morning. We've had so much fun! Hopefully we'll take another swimming class soon!! We finally set up the Jolly Jumper this weekend. Emerson absolutely loves it! She's already doing more jumping then Blake ever did!! We started feeding Emerson 2 times a day. She's tried rice and oat cereal so far. I'm going to buys some barley and mixed cereal this week and try those. Today I was making carrots for her and forgot. The water boiled out of the pot - I was so mad at myself!! So tomorrow I'll try again!

I've noticed my blogs are quite long lately! I'd be surprised if anyone makes it to the end :) Have a great week everyone!

Luv Tracy