Ross is 5!

We celebrated Ross's 5th birthday in January, and he was very excited to have Grammie and Grandpa come visit. He is going to start kindergarten in August and is really looking forward to it. These days he really loves building Lego, baseball, soccer, riding his bike and scooter, helping me cook, working in the garage with Daddy, and playing with Henry. He is full of goofy songs, dances and noises and Henry thinks he is hilarious. Ross is always full of questions - about weather, the world, how things work, outer space, and heaven.

The day before Ross's birthday was Martin Luther King Day here, and since Madeleine didn't have school, they went mini-golfing. Ross has been wanting to go for a long time, so he was pretty excited. 

Henry helped celebrate in style, and didn't seem to mind sharing his half-birthday.

The day after Ross's birthday, I started feeling unwell, and suspected I might have appendicitis. By the next day I was feeling worse, and went to see a doctor, who said that although I didn't look sick enough to have appendicitis, I could have a CT scan to check if I wanted. I said I did, since I was pretty sure that's what it was! A few hours later I was in surgery to have my inflamed appendix removed, and I was home later that evening. I was incredibly thankful that my parents were here to help, especially since Steve was just getting over the flu. I was not supposed to lift anything (including Henry) for a week, so the extra sets of arms were very helpful. Here I am recovering the day after surgery, cozy with Henry.

After my parents left and I started feeling back to normal, I finally got around to taking some 6 month pictures of Henry.

He is sitting quite well on his own now, and although he's not yet rolling over, he does manage to scoot around a bit when he's lying on the floor. He weighed in at nearly 21 pounds last week, and is longer than either of the other two at this age. He has started eating with us at dinner, and has tried a variety of fruits and vegetables, although most of it ends up smeared all over rather than in his mouth.  Lately he has been waking up 1-2 times a night, but is also getting a second tooth and fighting a cold, so I am somewhat sympathetic. He naps morning and afternoon, and often has a short third nap too in the late afternoon. He has gotten quite vocal lately, and loves watching Ross and Madeleine.

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.