A party for my little Princess:)

Yesterday, we celebrated our little Lynsey's 3rd birthday with a few friends! Her actual birthday isn't until Wednesday, but having people over in the middle of the week just doesn't work for us, so we celebrated a bit early. Lynsey was spoiled with some really fun stuff, her favorite so far being the Buzz Lightyear we got her:). She had a fun night, and as expected, crashed and burned after everyone went home - at least it was after everyone left haha! Brian is taking the day off on Wednesday so we can all do something together. The weather has warmed up a bit over the last few days, so maybe we'll go to the zoo or do something else outside. We'll see how it goes!

Adam has been a bit happier lately, thank goodness! I think his teeth are bothering him less these days, because his mobility situation has not changed. He got one of his top teeth and I can't determine whether the other one is through yet because he will not let me check. He gets steadier on his feet all the time, and has been taking 4-6 steps at a time, but they are still a bit unbalanced so I still wouldn't call them "first steps". He is getting closer, though - his confidence needs a bit of a boost a lot of times, but his balance is pretty good. In general, he has just been a happier baby the last few weeks, and that has been a life saver!

I finally did a little decorating in Lynsey's room this week. I wanted to wait until Saturday, but I had accidentally left the vinyl stickers in her room during her quiet time, so she kind of got a little head start on her own. Good thing they come off easily! I still have letters to put up and her baby blanket, but it already looks much more like a little girl's room:).

I know I usually use this blog to talk about my kids, but here and there I feel the need to talk about myself so please excuse this little rabbit trail:). I went on a women's retreat with my church last weekend, and it was amazing. I can't describe how much I needed this break from the kids - time to focus on my own life and my relationship with God, which had really been suffering of late. It was a great weekend to meet other ladies, often in the same boat as me, and to make existing friendships deeper. I feel like it was a little wake-up call for me to "get back in the game" and start reading my Bible again and praying more, and this week has already been better for me. I have had more patience with my kids (the biggest thing I've been praying for lately!) and just more energy in general. As always, I have so far to go, but I feel like I've gotten myself back on track. So to all you women out there - if you get a chance to go on a women's retreat, just go! Don't worry if you don't know a lot of people, because that's what retreats are for - getting to know people!

Family pics taken by Cala Photography

Time to get caught up on the kids again

It's been a little while since I got caught up on where the kids are at, so I thought I would do a summary post.

Adam at 9.5 months - All he wants to do is walk around. He is no closer to crawling now than he was when he was a month old. I still don't think he will crawl at all. He can stand for several seconds at a time under the right conditions - today, Brian counted 7 seconds. He also takes several unbalanced steps at a time when he's walking between Brian and I (we're not counting these as his first steps yet - too unbalanced).

He is almost completely done with baby food, even though he still only has his bottom two teeth (top two teeth are looking very close, but knowing him it could still be months yet!). He is down to three bottles a day, and actually drinks quite well from a sippy cup! Considering how long it took Lynsey to learn to close her mouth around a sippy cup spout, I'm thrilled that he has learned this already! At 10 months, his afternoon bottle is going away so knowing how to drink from a cup will become more important.

He sleeps from 7:30 to around 7:30 pretty much every night, and his naps vary from week to week - he'll do really well one week, and then the next week he'll only nap 45 minutes for his morning nap. He did have a 3 hour nap one day this week which was nice - it had been a while since we'd had one of those! Overall, still a very good sleeper, and becoming much more resilient. He used to have to sleep with us whenever he had a cold or for the first night when we were in Edmonton, but we were just in Edmonton and he slept through the night all three nights. He also has been suffering with a cold for the last week or so, and again, sleeping well. This is a relief!

In summary, he has been very high maintenance lately and I really just want him to learn to walk. He is still happy in his Jolly Jumper and Exersaucer for limited periods of time which is a life saver, but for the most part when he's awake, he needs my attention.

This brings me to Lynsey - I think she is acting out a bit because of the lack of attention I've been able to give her. She has had a few really bad days this last week, blatantly ignoring me when I ask her to do something, and sometimes pointing at me and saying "No" very defiantly. She even hit some kids with toys at Mom's group on Friday, which is quite out of character for her. It's been very frustrating. As usual, she also has her very good days, making me think I must be imagining things:). She's starting saying "like" when she's telling a story (something she has obviously picked up from me!) which is kind of funny - she sounds pretty grown up:). One thing that we have been dealing with for the first time in her short life has been FOOD BATTLES! For the last month or so, she has been very difficult at meal times. She tells us she doesn't want to eat and complains and complains, and then finally she'll agree to eat if I feed her. I don't know if I should indulge her in this or not, but for now, I'm doing it because I just want her to eat her food. I guess I'm lucky that it's taken this long to have to fight this battle - she's always been a really good eater.

Lynsey's turning three in a few weeks! Has it really been that long?? In some ways, it seems like such a short time, and at the same time, it's hard to imagine a time when she wasn't with us.