a mini-vacation!

earlier this year, we started discussing our family vacation with my parents, and decided to re-visit disneyland to coincide with the CDN thanksgiving holiday (just like we did 2 years ago). but due to the ongoing teachers dispute and the uncertainty of when school will actually begin, we opted instead for a road trip down to the oregon coast.

so we loaded up our minivan, picked up my parents, and hit the highway to seaside, oregon.  it took us 8 hours to get to seaside, including a 30 minute border wait, 2 rest breaks, and opting for the more "scenic" route along highway 101 from olympia. i had originally tried to find accommodations in cannon beach since we had all heard of it, but after researching hotels to meet our criteria (connecting rooms, air conditioning, swimming pool, complimentary breakfast, walking distance to everything), prices and availability in seaside just made more sense.

after reading reviews on tripadvisor, we booked the newly completed river inn at seaside. it was 3 blocks to the beach, 1 block to broadway street where all the restaurants and touristy shops are, and our connecting suite overlooked the Necanicum River; our room in particular also happened to overlook the children's play area and the fire pit. the room set-up was great - the 2 queen bed suite had a separate kitchen/living space, so we could put the kids to sleep and then hang out until our bedtime. and my parents connecting room had a king bed and sofabed, so gabe chose to sleep in their room!  the continental breakfast was pretty good - waffle maker, bagels, variety of breads, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, coffee, juice, and tea. the cookies at check-in, the bowls of salt water taffy, and the water cooler to fill our bottles were added bonuses.

we basically had 2 full days on the coast, so we did everything possible:  the oregon coast scenic railroad, tillamook cheese factory, tillamook air museum, cannon beach, seaside beach, wheel fun bike ride and pedal boat, and swim at the hotel.  and as one does on vacation, we ATE!  i think all of my meals included a bowl of clam chowder followed by something deep fried :P  we have great seafood in vancouver, but somehow i still couldn't get enough of it in oregon! the coast was great, and i've already made a few notes for future trips:

• stay more than 3 nights on the coast so there's more beach time!
• go in July to avoid the foggy August mornings (and early afternoons)
• build a bonfire and make smores!

after the coast, we drove to the woodburn outlets for some retail therapy :-)  unfortunately it was a let-down - there were no sales when we went, and i found that the seattle outlets had better (and bigger) retailers. it probably didn't help that it was over 30 degrees outside, and we were still dressed for the 18 degree coast we left behind :(

when we planned the trip to oregon, we were doing some meal planning and my parents said they had never been to the red lobster - they've seen the commercials all the time though.  so after a disappointing shopping trip, we went to red's for dinner.  after 3 nights, chris finally got to work for his dinner and ordered the pound of crab legs.  our first night in seaside, he ordered crab legs cooked with cajun seasoning, but the crab meat had already been shelled for him (this was the restaurant's way of having quick turn-around on their dinner tables).  aw shame :(

we stayed one night in portland at the inn at northrup station.  definitely a colourful hotel - again, it met all our requirements...i probably wouldn't stay there again.  but one added perk that we discovered in the morning was that we were only a 3 minute drive to trader joe's! my family and i are TJ virgins, so we were extremely excited for the experience, and even happier to not be hated canadians emptying their shelves :)  we must've been in the store for at least an hour ooh-ing and aah-ing over everything.  my dad was super excited to buy cheap wine and he got to use our quota as well.  i am looking forward to shopping at TJ's again...i've already got my shopping list ready :)

after a quick stop for lunch along the I5, we had one more fun stop planned for gabe - imagine children's museum in everett.  after getting stalled at the train play area, we had to keep prodding him to check out the other centres.  the outdoor play area was another big hit!  definitely another place to re-visit...perhaps if the strike continues, another road trip is in order!

and last but not least, we went to tulalip for dinner @ the olive garden and more shopping :-)  i hadn't been since they opened the new promenade stores and my dad was in tommy bahama heaven!  while we were at the outlets, we even ran into one of gabe's classmates doing some shopping as well.

and finally, our roadtrip came to an exhausting end with a 1 hour border line-up...who knew that 10 p.m. on a wednesday night would be so busy?!?!  since the trip, jeremy passed his nexus interview (he was a tricky bugger trying to get his picture taken :P) and has received his card...no more border line-ups again :)

the long hot summer

whoops, this has been in draft status for a couple weeks!

i realize summer vacation is only 1/2 over...or is it?!  with school ending early, and the uncertainty of the return to school after labour day, it's been a long, long, long, slightly hot summer.

baby J is getting screwed.  trying to keep gabriel entertained is a full-time job, so J ends up getting dragged along with no routine in sight.  sometimes he'll nap in the car, sometimes he'll nap in the stroller, and other days he won't nap at all...leaving us with a very very cranky baby.  part of the situation now is that he's very mobile and likes his freedom. he's crawling and scooting around the condo and getting into some mischief.  he's even grabbing furniture so he can stand up!

i realize that i'm very lucky to have very helpful parents. when i had strep throat, they kept gabriel for 4 nights while i recovered.  since then, they've been keeping gabriel for 2 nights a week for the past couple weeks.  it's nice for them because they get 1:1 time with him, it's good for gabe because he's practicing his piano, journalling, etc. etc., and it's good for me and J because we can stay home and have decent naps :-)

now that J is getting better about eating solids, i'm hoping to leave him for a few hours with my parents so i can have some 1:1 time w/gabriel - there's a few things that i'd like to do without dragging the baby along (i.e., playland, bowling (now that it's raining)).

in the meantime, we're having fun with our friends and our school friends at the local parks.  gotta love the free activities at the wading pools!

7 months! and a general update

baby J caught his second cold :(  we had a few rough days listening to J cough, cough, cough, gag, and throw-up.  i have to say that only babies would be turning bright red and gasping for breath, vomit up their milk, and then give momma a great big smile and bounce around as if nothing had happened :P  fortunately our 6 month check-up coincided with the early onset of his cold, and the dr. confirmed it was "just a cold". our (very) solid 19.3 lb baby is just fine :)

i was looking back at gabe's development at 7 months, and i was just recovering from strep throat. seems like history repeats itself, as i just had strep throat again :P  ironic.

baby J's got a toothy smile :-)  his bottom 2 teeth popped out, and he's a biter :P not so nice times ahead for me.  shortly after he turned 6 months, i decided to sit him on the playmat, and much to my surprise, he sat there.  but not for long.  about a week later, he realized he could fall over onto his tummy, roll around, and now he's been rolling and sliding around the condo. now i'm constantly rescuing him from under ottomans, table chairs, and removing computer cables from his little fists.  being confined to a bouncy chair or exersaucer isn't much of an option anymore...baby J is on the move!

as for food...we're still not in the groove yet.  he still likes his rice cereal, and i mix that with all of his fruits and veggies.  he's also not into texture, so everything is still mashed up really well.  i tried rice and well-cooked broccoli florets, and he spat it out at me.  congee went ok, but definitely needs to be combined with something sweeter for his liking :P i've had a few nights out recently, and left chris with frozen milk and a bottle, and J refuses to drink it.  fortunately i'm not out terribly late, and can still nurse J to sleep. 

it's been another busy month in our household.  with the early start of summer break and the cancellation of summer session, i've been trying to decide what to do with G this summer.  he has swim lessons 2x/week for july, and i'll sign him up for one more set before he turns 6.  i also wanted him to go to a camp program for a week, but after giving it some thought and picking my battles, i'm going to withdraw from it.  so to maintain his educational skillz, G will be sleeping over once (maybe twice depending on everyone's schedules) a week at my parents house and spending some quality time (printing/journaling, reading, piano, etc.), and fun time with them. 

the biggest commitment we made is to start G in Kumon.  i had inquired about the math program last fall when he started kindergarten, but making the commitment with a newborn was too tricky for our schedule.  so he started math a month ago, and by math i mean printing numbers to 100.  the focus of kumon is repetition, efficiency and gaining confidence.  the first few weeks was tough...G had trouble sitting down to focus on his numbers and found the repetition boring, and would take up to 45 minutes to do his 10 worksheets.  but one day at class, he walked out after only 25 minutes.  that day my eyes popped out of my head and i was a proud momma!  cue confident G!  after that our homework at home shortened and became a test of how quickly AND correctly he could do his worksheets. after a few short weeks, he has already progressed to the addition portion of his learning.  when he came out of class and told me he could ADD, the smile on his face was Ri-Di-Cu-Lous!  we celebrated with a McHappy meal :-)  we seem to be on a rollercoaster ride with kumon...he's now back to 40-45 minutes to accomplish homework that he can totally do in less than 30 minutes.  grrr.

i've been having some little issues with gabriel, some sibling jealousy is starting to pop-up.  so to nip some of our issues in the bud, i downloaded a chore app for him. for accomplished task, he gets a checkmark and each checkmark is worth 10 minutes on the ipad.  our list of tasks isn't too extensive, especially since some "chores" have been bundled together, so he ultimately ends up with about an hour of gadget time.  one of the "tasks" is to put his comfort towel away from morning to night, which actually got us the side bonus of no thumbsucking since those went hand-in-hand (or mouth).  another task is to read aloud at least 2 books (for 1 checkmark), and then i told him if he read more books, he would get bonus points...so now he's a reading machine :-)  and with his chores keeping him busy, and updating the ipad with checkmarks, we have a bit more peace in the house :-)

Grad Class 2014

i think i used to be one of those people who skoffed at things like preschool and kindergarten graduations (like really, what have kids accomplished at 4 and 5 years of age???).  but now i'm a mom of a kindergarten graduate, and there is a lot to celebrate!  like being brave and trying new things, making connections with kids (gabe had his first marriage proposal a few weeks ago...he turned her down), learning actions & consequences, having compassion for other kids, getting to sit in the bean-bag chair on your special helper day, and just overall, HAVE FUN at school!

because of the rocky end to the school year, everything just felt incomplete.  for me and for gabe.  a week before the full strike the kids had just brought home their graduation invitations for us and were planning activities for the celebration. i had just borrowed 18 books from the library for the kids to read in class since their library field trip had been cancelled. and then all of a sudden there was only 2 days of school left and everything was over. gabe reminds me daily that he misses his friends.  he missed them on the saturday after school ended...i was like, you just saw them yesterday!

it wasn't just us having this empty feeling...it was felt by most of the class.  so, since then, we have had several class playdates at the park as well as a couple birthday parties. a couple moms even planned kindergarten graduation for the class.  we had a potluck/pizza party in one of the family's common rooms, and the ENTIRE class attended, including the teacher (whose son happens to be in the class). the teacher started it like a normal school day, starting with attendance, and then talked to the kids about their successes in kindergarten and that they were all ready to move onto grade 1.  after that, they lined up to receive their graduation certificates and shook the teacher's hand. it was ADORABLE! i was definitely a proud mama, taking video and pictures simultaneously, and not wanting to miss a single second of anything.

fortunately the rain held off and the kids were able to run around outside and have fun, one last time as division 12.  in late spring, they lost a couple of classmates who moved onto other cities with their families, and we already know a couple more who won't be returning in the fall.  i think it's hard on us parents knowing that our kids won't necessarily be in the same class in september...not only do our kids get along great, but we've made our own adult connections and have our chit-chats in the parking lot or at the playground after school.  i think the fact that we organized our own grad is a testament to that connection, as the other kindergarten class didn't have a celebration planned :(

i also realize that next year will be very different for me as well.  i'll be back at work and won't have the flexibility i have now.  fortunately my hours will still allow me to be home mid-afternoon, and be available for after-school playdates/activities.  but i'll definitely miss the summer freedom i'm currently enjoying :(

6 months!

i started J on solid food about 3 weeks ago. i keep comparing this time to last time, and again...so different.  gabriel was a good eater...mouth open, food in, swallow food, repeat. jeremy isn't quite as neat...there's a variety of fist-shoving, sleeve-eating, bib-playing, and floor-admiring with open mouth while eating. it could be because i started food earlier than with gabe, or he's just going to be a messier eater.  i find myself very lazy this time...scrounging around for a new food item to start.  however, (so far) i have been pretty diligent with my note-taking so i remember how many times he's eaten a new food item before starting something new.  so far we've done rice cereal, mixed grains, bananas, apples and yams. i just visited the market today, so i've got sweet potatoes, avocado, and pears lined up. also, i will be trying a congee recipe in my slow cooker tomorrow.

we have a roller.  and by roller, i mean he will roll everywhere. even leaving him on gabe's bed while i throw out diapers and wash my hands...i've caught him with his feet dangling over the edge giggling away.  and on the floor, he will roll and wiggle himself all over the mats.  thank goodness for the exersaucer...there's no escaping that one!

sleeping habits have deteriorated.  i've been really tired at night, so jeremy usually ends up in my bed for his night-feed and then we both fall asleep together. but his morning naps at home have been pretty consistent at 2 hours. i fear everything is about to fall apart now that summer break has arrived 2 weeks early (and summer session is in limbo). we were also planning on transitioning J to gabriel's room this summer...we'll see how that goes :P

J's first 2 teeth should arrive any day now.  we've been feeling around for awhile, and the bottom ones are definitely trying to emerge...the outline of the teeth is visible, just not quite through the gums yet.  i think his top 2 teeth will follow shortly after that.  so quick!

and i completely forgot to mention our new car in last month's post! after some deliberation, we bit the bullet and bought a minivan!  at the car show this year, the frontrunner (because of rising gas prices) we were thinking of buying a diesel VW.  and then as we were leaving the carshow, we looked at the dodge caravan, and then visions of automatic power sliding doors, dvd players, and being a volunteer driver for field trips kind of took over, and the minivan trumped everything.  we were going to wait until the fall and buy the 30th anniversary dodge caravan (with some extra modifications), but then we were told about the chrysler town & country - basically the same as the dodge but it has more standard features and a nicer console (with a higher starting price tag).  so chris started scoping 2013 T & C's, and we ended up finding one that met our criteria (including super-low mileage!) at coquitlam chrysler.  we've had it for a couple months now, and while it does require a lot of gas, i do love it. it also marked the turning point for gabe - he's out of his convertible britax, and in his clek booster.

MMA - Kindergarten-style

back in april, the kindergarten class did a session on mixed martial arts. sensei scott came to class twice a week for gym-time, and taught the kids some karate and jiu jitsu. anytime gabe learns something at school i always ask him if he wants to continue doing it. so this time it actually stuck to him, so i signed him up at scott's dojo. for $49, the 1 month trial was a no-brainer since it included the "gi". it also helped that 3 of his peers are also in the classes.  after watching him attend a karate class and a jiu jitsu class, i figured that karate would be more his speed, since it's no-contact. but i was wrong. he's really into the "wrestling" aspect of jiu jitsu.  such a boy :-) 


we're halfway through the trial, and i already think we'll take the summer off.  we've got summer session (fingers crossed!), kamp kaleidoscope, and swim lessons coming up, and i want to keep time for him to spend at the waterpark/playground/grandma & grandpa's house.  so we'll re-visit martial arts in the fall and determine if we'll stick with this big commitment.

5 months!

at his 4 month check-up, baby J weighed 16 lbs, 12 oz.  definitely a big boy in the 90th percentile ;-)

the past few weeks have been interesting.  baby J isn't sleeping nearly as well as he used to.  he's still in my room and he's in the pack & play, but with his ability to roll around (since we don't wrap him up anymore), he just doesn't settle down.  sometimes i have to nurse him to sleep in my bed and then transfer him when he's fast asleep. he's also been happier sleeping on his stomach, which i don't remember gabe doing when he this age. once i find our old sleep sacks, maybe he'll be a back sleeper again.

i also wondered if baby J was getting hungrier (he will stare at us when we eat at the table - it's very uncomfortable) or if my milk supply was decreasing.  so we started him on rice cereal.  he's still very awkward in the high chair since he can't sit on his own yet, but he seemed interested in the food. since he's still pretty young, we'll do it once or twice a day and slowly add to his menu over the next 3 weeks.

J has graduated out of the bumbo seat and happily bounces around in the exersaucer...one of the upsides of him being in the 90th percentile :-) it's so funny how baby gear is used differently the 2nd time around.  the bouncy chair was used for the first couple months, and now we use it as a "shelf" for toys; the playmat once had toys hanging on it for J to stare at, but now he rips them off and the toys are on the bouncy chair "shelf"; the bumbo chair - see bouncy chair use.  i think it's time to de-clutter :P

4 months!

unofficially, baby J weighs 16 lbs (fully dressed). we'll get his official measurements next week when he gets his immunizations.

the past month has been pretty fun.  baby J is now sitting in the bumbo chair, and we'll put toys on the tray and he'll bash them around.  when he's lying on the playmat, he can roll onto his side.  he hasn't quite made it all the way over since his lower arm gets stuck. just like his big brother, baby J is becoming a thumb sucker :P  he's not as accomplished as gabe was at this age, but he's working on it.

sleeping at night is getting better.  6 out of 7 nights, i can get him in his crib right after a feed and he's out until 3 or 3:30 a.m.  then after his 3 a.m. feed, he's asleep until 7 or 8 a.m.  on that 7th night, sometimes i'll take him to bed with me for another feed, and then transfer him back to his crib. or else, chris will cuddle him again and then put him down. napping is all over the place depending on what's happening during the day, but he's a great car-napper so if all else fails, we hit the road :-)

on the topic of feeding, we're trying to cut out the formula at night, since it's doing nasty things to his bowel movements, and also he's a very healthy weight so my milk should suffice.  the only time it's going to be a problem is when i leave the kids at home with chris...i don't have a frozen milk supply like last time, so it's good to have some formula available.

i've been taking a stroller fitness class in coquitlam for the past 3 weeks, and i've enjoyed it so much that i've signed up for the may session. i'll have to take a hiatus over the summer, but will probably resume in the fall.  gotta lose all that baby fat...and more hopefully!

and speaking of the summer, i'm very excited that gabe is enrolled in summer session for july.  i spread the word to other parents, and about half his Kindergarten class will be with him.  hopefully with only a month away from school, we won't have any anxious moments in September and the transition to Grade 1 will be smooth!

3 months, and a return to big white!

it's been 7 years, but we finally made it back to big white!

at 11 weeks old, this actually worked out to be a good age for baby J to travel on a road trip. i fed him right before we left home, and he slept all the way to merritt.  once there, we grabbed a snack and i fed baby J again, and he fell asleep as soon as we hit the highway. after such a dodgy winter, we actually hit some good weather on the coquihalla.  the connector was another story...as darkness was setting in, we ran into some heavy winds and snow. fortunately for us, we ended up behind an 18-wheeler and followed safely behind.  phew!

the road trip for gabriel was a different story.  he did nap for a bit but woke up before we got to hope.  with 5+ hours ahead of us, he had a hard time just sitting in his seat.  i was so focused on baby J's travel needs, i didn't even think of any car-ride activities for gabe.  so he just sat there, sucking his thumb, asking how much longer till we would see trevor :P

once we arrived at big white, the kids had a blast. they converted the downstairs bedroom into the kids club, and trevor was determined to sleep in the bunk-bed with gabe.  well, it started out that way, but when i checked on them 20 minutes later, gabe was standing at the bottom of the stairs. so he ended up in my room for the trip :P  baby j actually slept really well on our getaway.  he would be asleep at his usual time, between 10-10:30, and then he would wake up at 4 a.m. for his next feed. and miraculously he would sleep until it was time to get up (7 a.m.)...or sometimes even later!

the skiing was great!  gabe and trevor had 2 full day lessons, while brendan was in 1/2 day lessons.  it worked out great that chris, geoff, and sunny would ski half days, and then at lunch, the boys would stay home with brendan and baby J while sunny and i hit the slopes. on our last day of skiing, we had a family day and gabe and trevor skied all day.  they even did a bit of night skiing with their daddies! it's pretty crazy to see the kids ski in the trees, go over jumps, and plow through the moguls!  they'll be out-skiing me pretty soon :P

our road trip back home was much less eventful - we had sunny weather all the way.  we had originally planned on driving to hope for a lunch break, but given the measles outbreak in the area, there was no way i wanted jeremy exposed to any potential illness.  so we had an early break in merritt and then drove all the way home.

as for baby j's development at 3 months, he's definitely more chatty with us, and is flashing his smiles at everyone he sees.  we've had a few rough nights of sleep since our big white trip, and i've had to feed him every 1.5 hours from 1:30 onwards. since we've taken a step backwards, my plan of setting up the crib in gabe's bedroom has been kiboshed.  so, it looks like baby j will be my roommate for awhile longer, and we'll have to upgrade him to a pack & play.

2 months old!

my little munchkin is growing up!  he's a whopping 12 pounds now, which probably explains the better sleep routine we've fallen into.  by better, i mean his first stretch of sleep is usually 4 hours long, and 90% of the time i can get him to sleep in the bassinet.  the rest of the night is a bit dodgy...sometimes his 2nd feed is short and he'll go back to his bassinet and sometimes he's more alert, so a diaper change might be required and then he usually ends up sleeping in bed with me (unless i give him another bottle in his bassinet).  by 8 a.m. i'm up and making my first caffeinated beverage.  once baby J is up, the rest of the day is unpredictable :-)

we've been fortunate to have 2 cars for the past month so chris has still been doing school drop-off, and i'm doing pick-up. but soon we'll be back to one car, so i'll have to be up earlier to get gabe to school in the mornings.  what's worse is that chris' dad is on vacation in april, so chris will be working 12 hour days and i'll be "single-parenting" for 3 weeks :P

in terms of baby J's development, he's been very vocal and loves to coo and screech at us. he's also been giving us little smiles which melt my heart :-)  we've been doing a bit of tummy time, and he really enjoys lying on the playmat and flailing his arms at the toys.  instead of taking a pacifier, baby J has started to suck on his fists.

as for gabriel, the worry dragon has reared its ugly head. ski lessons have been great, and he really enjoys it. floor hockey has been a disaster. chris has reported that gabe spends half the class in tears and not participating, and then we had 2 weeks in a row where gabe burst into tears and refused to leave the house. one night he actually fell asleep after dinner, and when i woke him up, he asked if hockey was over yet.  so just like soccer, we are quitting hockey.

at school they are doing a session of 6 tennis lessons.  all kids are encouraged (expected?) to participate even thought it's an additional cost for it. when i sent the payment to school, gabe indicated he didn't want to participate. well, he's had one lesson, and it sounds like it went ok.  i will have to check with his teacher this week :P

as for the rest of his kindergarten experience, he's doing really well.  by that i mean the teacher hasn't finger-pointed at me for an after school discussion...phew! with the decent weather we've been having, gabriel gets to play with his friends after school at the playground.  it's nice to see that he's already got 3 best friends, and as one of the boys tells his dad, "we're not friends, we're like brothers!"