5 months and Christmas in Canada

Henry turned 5 months old a few days after we flew to Toronto to spend Christmas with Steve's family in Listowel, Ontario. He did really well on the flights, and despite all the traveling he stayed healthy the whole time we were away.

He has lots of chubby rolls, but isn't in any rush to roll himself! He is pretty content being on the floor, either on front or back. He loved having lots of cuddles with everyone.

We were all happy to have lots of snow while visiting - the kids are starting to think it snows every Christmas! We played outside every day - making snowmen, sledding down the back deck, and shoveling.

Henry and I drove a couple of hours to spend a few days with my friend Henrietta, while Steve, Julie, and the kids took advantage of the free skate sessions in Listowel.

Another skating day at the local rink - we were happy to see Chris and his family a lot over the holidays.

We are glad that living in California hasn't made them soft when it comes to spending time in the cold outdoors!

Henry with his stocking, and hanging out with cousin Theodore, who is 6 months older than him. This visit was our first time meeting Theodore in person!

The neighbours built a rink in their front yard again this year, so the kids got to use it a few times.

Henry got to try out the jolly jumper, which he thought was lots of fun.

We visited with Great Grandma Doris, who is 99 now. Henry tried to eat her fingers.

We visited with Kristin twice - once in London when we got to hear her community orchestra perform, and another day in Listowel when she drove out to see us.

Steve got to re-live his youth on the family's old snowmobile, and took the kids for rides around John and Julie's new house.

It was a wonderful trip, and lots of fun for the whole family to meet Henry. We are so thankful that the kids all travelled so well, and enjoyed the snow so much.

4 months

Henry is 4 months old now, and is making more noises, and wriggling around more while on the ground. He is starting to hold toys and is always chewing and sucking on his hands. He always has huge smiles for his big brother and sister. We set up his crib in the kids room, so during the week he can sleep in there. On weekends, when both kids are home and they sometimes want to be in their room, he still has some naps in the pack n play in our room. He is a pretty good sleeper - usually just waking once a night, and not taking too long to go down for naps. He doesn't often nap for very long at a time, but a lot of that is also because so many of his naps are on the go for school pick up or drop off, or errands.  At his latest doctor's check up, he weighed 16 lb 6 oz, and was 26.5 inches long.

His eyes are still very blue!

Ross took this picture of us but Henry had had enough of pictures by then.

My parents came to visit again while Steve was very busy preparing for his big work review. They helped a lot - my dad set up some new bunk beds for the kids, and Henry's crib. My mom helped me in the garden, and with a lot of the meals.

And she knit this adorable sweater for Henry!

Lots of brother time on weekdays... Ross is so sweet and attentive to Henry.

Now that Steve's big review is over (which they passed with flying colours and oodles of praise), he is back to garage fun with the kids. Ross designed a crane which they built together.

Henry in some of his summer wear at the end of October, before the weather turned cooler here in November.

Madeleine loved scooping out the pumpkin innards with her hands... Ross stuck to the spoon.

Here is Madeleine's 1st grade class on Halloween. She is in the purple dress, third from the right in the back.

Not the best picture, but Ross was a hockey player - a last minute change from the cozy and cute hamburger costume we had originally bought for him. He was worried he would be too hot!

And here was Henry the Duck...

November has turned slightly cooler and Ross is actually wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts for the first time in nearly a year. This is good practice for him since we are heading to Ontario for Christmas again this year!

3 months

Little Henry is 3 months old now! Here are a some of the pictures from last week when he got all dressed up and Ross helped get him to pose. They were too cute for me to pick just one...

... and then I realized I had the light setting on the camera all wrong, so I had to take more...

Henry is getting very smiley and loves watching the world around him. He is sometimes sleeping 8-9 hours at night, but some nights still wakes in 4 hour increments. Many days his naps are interrupted with school drop off and pick up, or errands and adventures with Ross, but when he is home, he has had some nice long naps. He loves kicking, bath time, and cuddles with his siblings.

Ross is, for the most part, a wonderful helper with Henry during the days. He lavishes him with attention and loves being right up close with Henry.

Ross decided that since Henry was wearing a fancy button-up shirt, he should also try on some of his button-up shirts. He really doesn't like wearing anything other than short sleeve t-shirts (with NO collars OR buttons), but he decided to try on all seven of his button ups and wanted to pose for pictures. He decided he liked this one best, but of course he still hasn't worn it for longer than 10 minutes.

Ross is great at keeping busy during the day - we have time doing stuff together too, but when I'm busy in the kitchen or with Henry, he comes up with lots of good ideas.

Here is a picture of Henry and me! There aren't many of us together, and of course whichever of the kids was taking this didn't bother to get my face, but still... it's me!

And here is one of my 6-going-on-16 year old... she decided that she wanted her hair cut, but was too shy for a salon, so I cut a whopping 10" off. Thankfully, I did a pretty decent job, and of course, she looks absolutely adorable. She is really happy with it and it is so much easier for her to take care of it now. In this picture, she decided to take these prongs to the nearby school park to pick up garbage.

2 months!

Henry is now over two months old, and weighed in at 13lb 12oz - which happens to be exactly what Ross weighed at the same age. He is getting chubbier and cuter by the day and continues to be much fairer than the other two, with very little blonde fuzz on his head, blue eyes, and pale eyebrows and lashes. He is starting to smile more and laugh, and is also getting better at being awake and happy even if he's not being held. He's waking 1-2 times a night, doesn't mind the car (as long as it's moving quickly!), and loves bath time. Here are some of his many faces...

We wanted to get one of all three kids, but I'll be honest, this peaceful one only came after a few minutes of fighting over where Henry would sit. As you can see, Madeleine wanted him on HER lap.

A few days later, in a different outfit, and lying on the ground instead of propped on the couch...

Ross helped with these pictures, and even put on his jeans so that he and Henry matched. Ross really only likes "short pants" (aka shorts) so choosing to wear his long pants was quite something. I did get pictures of it, but they didn't turn out as cute as this one.

With Grandpa Don and Grandma Georgia here, we have done a few day trips. One day we drove up to Point Reyes Lighthouse and walked the 308 steps down and back to see it. Unfortunately, it was one of the hottest days of the year (in fact, the hottest it has been at the lighthouse in nearly 100 years), so it was very crowded as everyone tried to escape to the shorelines. 

After the lighthouse we cooled off at Drakes Bay and the kids loved playing in the water.

Steve and the kids built a sand castle, and just as Grandpa and Grandma came to inspect it,

a wave crashed over and swept it away!

Another day trip was to Fisherman's Wharf, to stock up on salt water taffy.

Steve also took them up to Napa Valley for a day to visit Sterling Winery, while I stayed home with Henry. Those pictures, and more from their visit, including Grandma riding the cable cars, will have to come later when I get more pictures downloaded. We had so much fun with them visiting. It has been so helpful to have them here, and to have Georgia stay on a couple of more weeks. Henry has changed so much in the last month and it's been so fun to share it with them.