Another wonderful Christmas! And my baby boy is 2!

We had another busy but wonderful Christmas:). We did our own little family Christmas the night of the 23rd and morning of the 24th. We took the kids to the Airdrie Festival of Lights on Friday night, and although the wind was pretty cold, they did not complain (Brian and I were wimpier than they were!). We came back home and the kids opened up their new jammies and one other gift (some trains). Saturday morning they got to open the rest of their gifts. Adam was completely indifferent - Brian had to open his presents for him. Lynsey got pretty excited which was fun:). They weren't able to play with their toys for very long before we had to leave for Edmonton, but they didn't seem to mind too much!

Our time in Edmonton was a lot of fun! We had our family Christmas dinner on Saturday night and then just rested for a couple of days until the Penner Christmas on the 27th. It was very relaxing. We left for Calgary on the 28th but stopped in to see Mary and Dave, and then Gert for a bit in Three Hills on the way home. Saturday (New Year's Eve) was our last Christmas gathering day - we went to the church for a lunch potluck with my mom's group friends, and then off we went to Three Hills to have Christmas with my southern Alberta family AND to celebrate Adam's second birthday. Another great day!

Now the gatherings are done and it's time to get back to normal life. Brian has started wiring the basement, and we bought a bed for Lynsey this weekend as well. Adam had a few naps in beds over the holidays so I think he's ready to move on over to her toddler bed. Her bed won't be here for a few weeks so we have some time to figure out how to transition him - here's hoping it's as smooth as Lynsey's transition was!

A lot of family commented over Christmas how much Adam has come out of his shell and become a lot more engaged with the people around him. I knew it was happening as well, but it was nice to hear other people commenting on it, since he is often very withdrawn in crowds. He definitely has turned a bit of a corner in the last month or so, even at home with Lynsey - she plays Ring Around the Rosie with him and he loves it! So cute! I guess her persistence has paid off and she finally has at least a part time play mate:). I'm hoping that this play just continues to increase as baby time draws close - I can't believe I'm 32 weeks tomorrow. Change is coming!

30.5 weeks in and just a few sleeps until Christmas!

It seems like just yesterday I was peeing on a stick, and now we are just two months away from a huge life change. Crazy! I feel pretty pregnant these days - hello back pain, heart burn, constant peeing and more braxton hicks contractions. Why is the third trimester such a drastic change from the second one?? Anyone, it's still not terrible, but I am feeling a bit more fatigued these days. There's a lot going on with Christmas coming, and our contractor just got started on framing the basement today - happy that part will be done before Christmas! Now Brian has some "free" time to get going on the electrical:). I feel pretty overwhelmed a lot of days, feeling like I can never keep my house clean and I never have the right groceries in the house and I just have no motivation to do anything. I see all these facebook statuses about people getting right on top of the cleaning and the Christmas baking and I just can't even remotely get myself there! Oh, well - I know that I always get to doing what I have to do, it's just those things that I usually LIKE to keep on top of that are suffering somewhat.

Lynsey had her preschool concert yesterday - very cute:). She was singing away and completely into the actions to the songs. I love that she just throws herself into these things! She was supposed to be in a Sunday School "concert" as well last Sunday, but we were three minutes late for church and the little kids' part was half over. I'm over it now, but I was pretty disappointed. The preschool one was a lot better anyway (in my opinion) - they actually sang songs that they had learned the words to and got bells to ring for one song, whereas the Sunday School one was just a cd playing a song where some of the kids tried to do some hand gestures to the music. Anyway, it's so great to see her entering this phase of life where she's in organized activities:).

We are heading up to Edmonton Saturday morning to have Christmas with Brian's family. I'm excited to have Friday night and Saturday morning to have our own little Christmas, and I'm hoping to try and start some traditions this year - thinking of going to the Airdrie festival of lights on Friday night (Lynsey loved it last year and has been asking to go back!) and I'm trying to think of some other traditions to start. I think we'll let them open a present or two in the evening.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Busy busy busy!

The last week and a half have been pretty hectic, but a lot of fun! I've managed to finish almost all of my Christmas shopping, which is a huge relief since I don't particularly enjoy it. We had some family over on Saturday night for a turkey dinner which was really fun as well.

Adam continues to talk more and more. One thing I forgot to mention in the last blog post is how he keeps referring himself in the third person: "Ad-o want more milk", or he walks into a room and looks at us and says, "Hi Ad-o" - that one we're working on:). He has become quite the little night owl, getting a second wind around 7:30 or 8 and talking to himself often until 9:30 (Lynsey usually falls asleep long before him). I do like sleeping in until 8, but that also has it's drawbacks when I'm trying to get ready to go somewhere in the morning. He used to be so docile in the evenings, he could barely stay awake until bedtime. That is definitely no longer the case. We have started telling him, "No screaming" when he screams, and while it doesn't stop him completely, he has on some occasions started screaming and then stopped himself saying, "no skeeming". He says that a lot, but unfortunately still screams quite often. He is generally a pretty easy toddler so far so I'm not stressing about this little issue too much.

Growing up . . .

I haven't taken a lot of pictures over the last few weeks since my last post (I go through these dry spells!) but I do feel like there's lots to tell about my little family:).

Adam has been growing up in so many ways! We still don't know a lot about his personality, things he likes etc., but he is adding daily to his vocabulary, and continues to expand his play all the time. There was a time when all he really cared about was his musical toys, but he now gets right involved when Lynsey is playing with blocks, or a game with cards, or her kitchen food (this intrusion, as you can imagine, isn't ALWAYS welcome, but she does try to play with him when possible:)). His pretend play has expanded a lot. He now sometimes pretends to eat the play food, gives dolls a bottle, exclaiming that they're thirsty, and cuddles and talks to his teddy bears. It's so cute to see him break out a bit and express himself a bit more - I know there's lots more where that came from, too! He counts to 10 with no mistakes and is getting much better at listening and following instructions. I can now sort of guide him when we're walking somewhere (although he is still a bit unpredictable) and he understands a lot better when we tell him it's time to eat, or time to go the van, etc. The other day we told him it was time to eat and he says, "Go downstairs, eat some supper" and started on his way down. He definitely has the word "more" down pat as well! He's becoming a bit pickier at meal times, requesting fries and other goodies when he has something completely different in front of him, but I'm hoping this will just be a phase (please be a phase!).

It seems our boy is also becoming more and more aware of his, shall we say, calls of nature! The other day, Brian took him out of the tub and he was running around naked as he often does. He started whining and talking about "pee on potty" and grabbing himself like he was uncomfortable, with a few drips coming out. Brian tried putting him on the potty but he immediately climbed off and continued to whine about "go pee". So Brian asked him if he wanted a diaper, and he takes off for the room with the diapers affirming, "yeah diaper" - so Brian puts one on. Not a minute later, Brian checked and his diaper was wet. Interesting I figure. No, I'm not taking this as a sign that I need to start potty training (I don't even need to refer back to past blog posts - I remember it all too well!) but I just find it interesting that he is becoming more aware of when he needs to go. Who knows - maybe God will have mercy on me and he WILL be easier to train than Lynsey! Oh please let that be the case!:)

Lynsey is still doing fantastic in preschool - such a social butterfly:). She has become very interested in doing activities and sticker books with special instructions, and has practiced her colouring a lot. She loves to take the train tracks apart on her train table and enjoys the challenge of making her own track with no dead ends (this is very difficult to do, but she tries really hard!). She still struggles with knowing her limits with Adam and when to just stop what she's doing, but we're hoping this will start tapering off. Adam has actually started telling her himself a few times to stop, so hopefully as he gets bigger and more communicative (and maybe even stands up for himself once in a while!) this problem will just go away on it's own. She loves to try and negotiate with us, especially at mealtimes (bite sizes, how many bites, how much healthy food she has to eat before she can have a treat, etc.).

I have to start Christmas shopping this week - what to do, what to do. Normally I don't have any trouble buying stuff for the kids, but I don't just want to buy random toys . . . trying to figure out what fits with each of their personalities! Lynsey will be easier than Adam - we have yet to learn much about his personality:). I'm sure I'll come up with something!