Family Campout, Birthday, etc.

It's been a busy two weeks since my last post! Two weekends ago, we had our family campout at Camp Kuriakos by Sylvan Lake. It was a great weekend! The weather was fabulous and everyone had a great time:). The kids loved it! Lynsey had a great time bonding with her little cousins, and even attempted a sleepover with Georgia and Julia in Tina and Danny's trailer on Saturday night. She made it until 12:45am and then Tina brought her back - she had woken up crying for me and was not easily comforted. We'll try again another time:). Adam loved being able to wander the grounds and the building we were staying in. It was a bit high maintenance keeping track of him and following him around, but I'm glad he had fun! I just love our family camps - such a great time to reconnect with family that lives far away and share some funny stories:). Margaret and Menno came over after the campout on Sunday and stayed overnight so they could go to the zoo on Monday. It's so nice to have that finished basement so people can stay with us!

My birthday was on Thursday, so on Tuesday, Coraleah and Larissa came over to babysit so Brian and I could celebrate. We went to the Vintage Chophouse for some DELICIOUS steak and went for a walk by the river. It was a great evening! On my actual birthday, I took the kids to the Airdrie spray park in the morning and then we all went central vac shopping in the afternoon. Brian installed it this weekend and I'm loving finally having a proper vacuum:). Adam doesn't love it, but he seems to be a bit more okay with it then our other vacuum, which is nice. Our friends Ryan and Ruthy came on Friday to stay with us for the weekend. We had a full house with lots of friends and family this weekend! Ryan and Ruthy left Sunday morning, and then for supper we had a bunch of the Kroeker clan over for a barbeque because Matt and Kirsten were in town. It was a lot of fun, but I am happy to just sit in my house and do nothing today:).

Nathan has been working hard at his rolling skills over the last few weeks! Last Sunday night (just over a week ago) was the first time we found him rolled onto his back in the crib, and since then he's been doing it more and more. He has not quite managed the roll from his back to his tummy yet - he is SOO close, he just can't quite get over his arm. He fought sleep so much over the campout weekend that it brought back lots of memories of Lynsey as a baby. Too much going on to sleep! He has had a few pretty good stretches over the last few weeks - one 9.5 hour stretch and one 9 hour one. He can go 10 hours without eating pretty regularly, but he still wakes up often most nights. He's had a bit of a cold which isn't helping, but even when he's been healthy he still has lots of wake ups at night just for his soother basically. I know it will come, but I'm impatient for some consistent sleep!

Adam is doing so much better with company at our house these days. He hardly screamed at all this weekend, and we had lots of company all the time! One thing he has done a few times in the last few months is go to sleep when he's feeling overwhelmed by everyone. He did it a while back when my nephews were over, and again last night when we had all the Kroekers over. We hadn't seen him in a while and around 8pm, Lynsey came downstairs to tell us that Adam was asleep in his bed. Poor little guy - I think he has a lot of anxiety about all the people and tends to retreat to soothe himself. I am encouraged that he is at least finding a way to deal with it instead of screaming and throwing things down the stairs. Progress!

Lynsey has got to be one of my greatest teachers right now:). I was annoyed this morning because I couldn't find Nathan's soother, so I pretty much ordered her to help me find it. She refused, but I found it right then anyway, and then she proceeded to tell me that I should go spend some time by myself if I was angry. The Positive Discipline we are practicing tells you that when a problem arises with a child, that you should ask the child if he/she wants to go somewhere (room, etc.) until he/she feels better, and then deal with the problem. Lynsey was suggesting that instead of me taking out my frustration on her (which I was clearly doing!) I should go somewhere else until I felt better. As humbling as it is when your kid points out what you're doing wrong, I was pretty proud that Positive Discipline is really starting to sink in with her!