7 months old!

.23 lbs

.sleeps thru the night, 14 hrs is his record

.sitting up on his own

.mastered his rolling

.joined his big sisters, eating his cereal and solids

         favorites being: wheat and mixed fruit (he could eat it all day... and I mean all day!)

                                 sweet potatoes

                                 squash

                                 brown rice and green beans

                                 apples and blueberries

.the amount of drool that comes out of  his mouth a day can fill up the kids mini pool. seriously so much!

.did I mention, he sits up on his own? growing so fast *sad/happy face*

.caught him on his hands and knees/(sometimes feet) the other day and that's all he does now

          (i see crawling in the near future) *another sad/happy face*

.i'm not sure who talks more, him or his oldest sister

          (Sadie still wears the crown for being miss chatty kathy, but Declan is right behind her, 

           but I do love hearing his "bah bah bahs" and "da da ah ahs")

.spitting. it's his thing

.his laugh, it melts my heart

.he smiles all day, up until he wants something, then he makes it known with big cries

.so curious

.he loves his daddy, can't stop staring at daddy once he has walked in the room

.no more random cuddles for mommy, he is always moving and on the go

            mommy sneaks in cuddles before his naps and bedtime tho

.water baby

.loves fart noises, such a boy

.holds his own bottle, my independent boy

.hates shoes, they get in the way of playing with his toes

.refuses to drink water from his sippy cup, just another chew toy for him

.always knows how to put a smile on his mommy's face, blessed

A little girl in our house turned two a few weeks ago. May 21st to be exact. 

 

We do the whole balloon thing every other birthday. It's so funny and exciting seeing their faces light up when they walk into a room full of balloons. Mike and I had fun blowing the balloons up the night before. When we finally ran out of balloons we had a bit of helium left so of course, Mike decides to suck up whatever was left out of the tank and goof off. I have never laughed so hard in my life. Probably the funniest thing I've seen in my life. I wish I had taped him so I could put it up but then again, he'd probably shoot me ha ha.

She loved the balloons. It's the one word she can say that you can understand "balloooooons". That and the word "two". If you ask her how old she is she'll hold up all four fingers (she's really trying to just hold up her two, but she can't) and says "twoooo". Cute enough!

Her birthday cake. I'm happy how it turned out. The last birthday cake I made was for Sadie's 3rd birthday and it was such a disaster! I also made her cake at 2 in the morning (the day of her party, not a good idea). This time I was prepared. Made it the day before and started early afternoon. Even tho I had 3 screaming kids who refused to nap, I was still able to make all the treats. I baked a chocolate cake for the bottom and vanilla cake on top with a vanilla butter cream frosting. I also made fondant for the first time. Thanks to a great friend who came over and helped me finish off the cake with mini paint easels saying "happy birthday Mckenzie". Mike mastered icing the cake. He was watching me try to make the icing on the cake look nice when he said, "that looks just like how I would smooth out cement. Do you want me to do it for you?". Sure enough, he smoothed it all out and made the cake even. I ended up putting finger prints and marks on the cake while I layed the fondant pieces on but it still turned out great.

 

 Mike made a display paint easel for the chocolate cupcakes I baked. So grateful for a handy man with tools. I also made rainbow colored cake pops, rice crispy "paint brushes" and red blue yellow and green chocolate chip cookies.

 Once all the painters arrived, we made our way onto the deck and started making our masterpieces. 

It's been raining here for 2 weeks so I was worried that it would rain on the day of her party. Everyday leading up to her party, I would check the weather. It rained Thursday and Friday. Then Saturday came and it was beautiful!!! I was so happy!! Sun was out, and the weather was warm. You would have never guessed that it was raining the past week or so. The rain came back Sunday and it has been raining on and off all day today. So we were blessed to have such beautiful weather Saturday.

Cake time. She was so excited. The looks on her face were priceless. 

 It took her a few huffs and puffs before blowing her candles out.

We had family from Edmonton drive down for the party. One of my many fave little guys in the batman shirt (Theo). Seriously so cute. 

 Mckenzie had such an amazing time. Thank you to family and friends for sharing this special day with us.

Bigger and better is what they say...

In this case, we are talking about a house. This is probably the quickest decision we've made by far. We never ever talked about moving, building or living in a smaller town unless it was moving to Newfoundland. I always thought we'd stay in the house until we did move there. Change of plans, I got a phone call from Mike two months ago talking about the area in Okotoks (20 minutes outside of Calgary) he was working in and how much he really liked it. He loved the fact that there were a lot of families with younger kids. He would always tell me about the park being filled with kids playing on the nice days we had. After that, everything just happened so quick. Looking at different show homes, buying a lot, going over plans and what we want in the house. And just like that, the decision to move was made. I don't even think Mike and I even sat down and really talked about whether or not we should do this. The decision was pretty much made (by Mike, of course).

Last night we finally received our plans for the house. We pretty much spent all night looking over every little detail and switching up a few things, adding a foot in rooms, adding stone where ever we thought would look good (we have about 4 or 5 walls plus a fireplace that will be covered with stone. good thing this is Mike's thing.), and so much more. I'm actually a little excited for our blue print review coming up this week. Once our review is done, everything will be finalized and they will start breaking ground. It's all happening fast... excited and kind of looking forward to the house being done. But there are still a lot of things to do around this house that I am not looking forward to do. Oh joy. Let the packing, de-cluttering, cleaning and replacing begin (not my thing).

She's ours!!!

 

One of the many places Mike plans on putting stone.

Our floor plans for the main and second floor.

I'm so glad Mike will have an actual office for his stuff. The kids have way too much fun going thru his files, plans and pressing buttons on the printer.

Looking forward to more space in the kitchen. Not exactly my dream kitchen (fingers crossed I get it in Newfoundland) but I love the amount of cupboards we will have and the prep space for me! Another thing I am looking forward to is the deck Mike will be building. By the way, have I mentioned that I LOOOOVE having a handy man. I am so grateful for everything Mike does for me and the kids. Blessed in so many ways!

The reason why I agreed to move on the spot. Bedrooms for each kid. The girls share a room and at first we thought it was such a great idea. The girls are so close, they just love each other so much. Pretty much inseparable, Mckenzie gets so upset seeing Sadie leave her. And after being separated for a certain amount of time (even for 20 minutes); when they are together again, they will run to each other with open arms yelling each others names until they've reached one another to finally give each other big hugs and big kisses. Sweet, right? But bedtime is such a nightmare. The week Mike was gone on his sledding trip, the girls would be up till midnight playing and tearing their room apart. I have never been so exhausted in my life, that week was full of A LOT of crying, late late.. late nights, banging on doors, banging on walls, boo boos and more. So after that experience we now have Sadie sleeping in our bed and Mckenzie in the girls bed. Then when Mike and I are ready to sleep, we move Sadie back in her room. We've been doing it for a couple months now and it works like a charm but it would be nice to not have to move Sadie into her room on her own bed every night. So I am looking forward to the kids having their own room and decorating their rooms that fit their personality. Also, a bonus... their rooms are on the other side of the house. A bonus room, kids bathroom and laundry room separates their rooms from ours. Happy parents we will be!

And the rest of the house. I love that the laundry room is on the second floor and the fact that I have more space to store MORE laundry to sit in for a week or so. ha ha! Mike knows how much I love doing laundry (insert sarcastic laugh here).

And there we have it folks, a 2445 sq ft. house that will be ready to be lived in by next year March. Looking forward to the new house. Not looking forward to everything leading up to it. Our "to-do list" is VERY long. Where do I even start??? Help!

5 months old. Can he get any cuter than this? Yea, I think he can ;)

I am a day late posting his 5 months. Yesterday was just crazy! Back to having 4 kids Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. I'm lucky the little guy I have those days is so easy going and just loves playing with the girls!

Back to the topic, my little guy turned 5 months old. Amazing! I always tell people that after having your third and last child, you'd think time would go slower so you'd actually be able to take in the cute little moments for more than just a second or two. I was wrong. He started eating baby cereal last week and is loving it! He still prefers the bottle but definitely doesn't mind being able to sit with his sisters around the table (in his pink high chair, may I add) and eat with them. Last month he rolled over from his back to his tummy. Such a bitter sweet move he was able to do. Yes, he can roll onto his tummy but he would start freaking out from frustration because he was stuck. Now he is a rolling machine. Rolling over from back to tummy and then tummy to back. I honestly don't even know when he started doing this but he has and is enjoying the fact that he doesn't get stuck on his belly anymore. He'll roll from one end of the blanket to the other end. Sometimes even off the huge blanket I have laid out for him. Such a roller. Now, what I'm about to say next... I don't even know if I should say it... but... he has been sleeping 12 hours straight this whole week!!! Every morning this week, Mike and I ask each other if one of us fed Declan in the evening and we both shake our heads no.

For example, our conversation as per this morning:

Mike: "Did you feed Declan during the night?"

Me: "No, did you hear him cry at all?"

Mike: "No."

We then both look at each other and smile...

Me: "I don't even know if I should say what I want to say right now, I might jinx this whole thing"

Mike: "No, don't say it... I'm sure we're both thinking it... don't say it"

We are so unbelievably happy that he is being an amazing sleeper. Mckenzie was 2 months when she started sleeping a whole 12 hours, never had a problem with her. So you can see from that, I wasn't exactly used to waking up in the middle of the night for feeds. You are probably thinking, "well, he's 5 months now, aren't you used to waking up in the middle of the night to feed him?". My answer is, no. I don't think I will ever get used to waking up in the middle of the night. As much as you think my body will train itself to get used to being up... It won't, because what this body (my body) loves most is rest and sleep. I love resting and sleeping and  I'll take as much of both as I can (which, by the way, doesn't happen too often). If you know me, you know how thrilled I am about all this ha ha.

Declan is a growing machine and I only wish he would stop growing. Literally! I just finished shopping for him because he grew out of all his clothes 6-12 month clothes and only had a few shirts in 12-18 months. I hope he lasts in this size a lot longer. Other than all the amazing things he's been doing, he is doing what any other cute little babe would be doing at his age : a lot of baby talk, drooling (and lots of it!), a lot of excited screams, laughing, smiling, staring contests, pooping, farting (the smelliest I have smelled too), peeing, trying to sit on his own... the usual :).

Here is a little clip from yesterday of Declan laughing at Sadie. It's an everyday occurrence here in this house but Sadie always seems to find something new to spruce her performance up a bit for her baby brother.

Enjoy :)

 What we were up to while daddy was gone for a week.

Play dates, fun at Ikea, Trains, Ice cream, walks and welcomed a new addition to our crew Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The little cutie's name is Jarrett and although having a fourth keeps me busy and on my feet all day. It is fun seeing how the girls play with him.

Just a few videos for your entertainment. Enjoy!

 

1. Mckenzie eating some ice cream and shaking her bum to some Ikea tunes.

2. Fun with daddy as he spins the girls around. Their absolute favorite!

3. Miss Mckenzie hogging the "stage". She sort-of has a sharing problem? As you can see, Sadie is not impressed.

4. A little happy birthday video for the kids' great grandma in Winnipeg. We love you Nanay!

5. A late catch of the girls doing "head and shoulders knees and toes".

the sweetest thing...

With Declan nearing his four month mark (yes, he will be turning four months and no, I can't believe it) his personality has been starting to come out more and more. He can be one of two things: 1. he can be THE saddest baby. His cries are so sad, it literally sounds like he is in so much pain, when all he wants is a bottle or to be held/have someone around him. OR 2. he can be THE happiest baby ever. Which has been most of the time lately. He loves to smile and laugh. Whether it be during his early morning feeds or changing his diaper or putting him to sleep. He will smile and laugh like you are the funniest person in the world. I fall in love with him again and again just seeing his smile.

That being said, he has shown a liking to his big sister Sadie. Sadie is so good with Declan. She loves him unconditionally and you can tell. She always wants to hold him, feed him and just be around him. Whenever she hears Declan make one little cry, she quickly runs to me and says "mommy, my baby is crying, I need to make him happy o.k?". Then she runs off in his room or to where ever he is and I hear her trying to to calm him down (usually by just making loud noises haha). She has been doing that since the day we brought him home and I think he is noticing her a lot more, now that he is older. He is being more interactive with Sadie. Either talking to her, laughing at/with her or just giving her that sweet smile of his. It is the sweetest thing to see and it melts my heart every time.

She could care less about being around her baby brother when he first came home. Now she can't stay away from him. Wanting to feed him, hold him, play with him and comfort him. It melts my heart and makes me the happiest mommy seeing her like this.