Happy Birthday Black Dragon!

My oldest son turned FOUR on Monday! It still shocks me that he is that old already. I still remember the day he was born so clearly. What a joyous day that was! And although not every day since then has been equally as joyous, I love him to pieces and he has brought so much life and energy to our family. We had a small party for him on Saturday with a few family members. Not everyone could make it, so we didn't have a full house, but we still had lots of fun!

 Just waiting for the hot dogs...

The dragon toy that inspired the cake.

 Opening gifts....

He had lots of helpers!!!

The cake! I had planned on having the dragon standing up and breathing fire - I had high hopes! Unfortunately, the Rice Krispy cake that he's made of wasn't cooperating, so he ended up laying down. Xavier was still impressed, though!

Last Day of Gymnastics

Last Wednesday was Xavier's last day of gymnastics. We've been going every Wednesday morning for the last six months and it's been a lot of fun to watch him learn new things. We're looking forward to the summer break, but I'm pretty sure he'll be doing them again in the fall - he LOVED it!

Two Month Update

Saturday marked the two month point for our newest little bundle of joy. I can't believe he's that old already - time definitely goes by a LOT quicker with the third one. I suppose because we are so busy with the other two. It has been an awesome two months though and I can honestly say that we are loving life with three children.

So far, Cohen has been a wonderful baby. He is super content and basically only cries when he's hungry. He is VERY smiley! He started giving us regular smiles around 5 weeks of age - which is crazy early! But we love it. Most days he wakes up around 9:30 am, eats and goes back down for a nice long nap until lunch. Then he eats again and naps for the majority of the afternoon. He awake for a little bit around supper and then usually sleeps for most of the evening. Then once the older two kids are in bed, he's usually awake for a couple hours until he goes back down for the night. Most nights he sleeps for a good five to six hours before I'm up to feed him again. Then he goes back down and is sometimes up once more before his 9:30-10:00 am feeding. It's a great schedule that is working very well for us so far!

The other two kids are very good with him as well. Shaela loves to lay beside him on the couch and sing to him. It's the sweetest thing in the world! And he loves it - he gives her great big smiles every time she sings. Xavier also really likes him and will often come over and give him a little snuggle or a rub on the head before he's off to play again. 

As for how big he is, we don't go for his 2 month check up until the 23rd, so we'll find out then as well as get his shots. I did step on the scale with him a few weeks ago and he was about 12 and a half pounds, so I'm guessing he's somewhere around the 13-14 pound mark by now. He's in 3-6 month clothes right now but I don't think he'll be in them much longer.

All in all, I have no complaints! Aside from those first two days when he had his days and nights mixed up, he is by far our easiest baby yet. He's been a great addition to our family and we love him to pieces!!

He is normally super smiley - but he wouldn't crack a single one for me while I had the camera out! :P

One Big Giant Headache

Our bathtub is currently leaking. It has been for a while. Our temporary fix has been to shove a bath towel underneath it while we shower....and we've been hoping and praying it would magically fix itself. :P 

However, we finally realized a few weeks ago that something must be done. We've been phoning around to find out about grants and loans we can apply for to help cover the costs. So far, we haven't had much luck. Unfortunately it's going to be a very big job. There is a teeny tiny clawfoot tub in there right now and we've basically been told that it's SUPREMELY hard to get in underneath it to fix the leaking pipes. The tub needs to be taken out and if we're taking the tub out anyway, we'd like to go ahead and move the plumbing into the wall and put in an ACTUAL bathtub. Possible snag in this plan: The space between the walls right now is only 57 inches. A standard bathtub is 60. Do you know how much extra it costs to order in a 54 inch tub? A LOT! And it takes 6-8 weeks. Which means we'd have to take the kids to Jared's mom's to bathe them and for us to shower. Not fun. We have been told that we might be able to fit a 60" tub if we take down the walls - it's an old house with lath (sp??) and plaster, so by the time that's all gone, we should be able to gain and extra 3 inches. But what if we can't?!?!

We'll also have to take out the toilet so that the tub can be removed. And the floor needs to be replaced as well. It's going to be one BIG job with a BIG price tag that I am not looking forward to paying for!!! We have one last plumber coming on Saturday morning to give us an estimate and we are hoping to have it all finished in the next week or so. I really hope it goes quickly....and smoothly! I would love to be able to soak in a normal sized tub for a change!

Pink Dragon

 

I have a new nickname.

 

Way back in March during the week of Spring Break, my mother in law and youngest brother in law took Xavier on a 'date' to see the movie "How to Train Your Dragon". Since that day, he has been a boy obsessed. He talks about dragons, pretends he's a dragon, and he now has to take his toy dragon to bed with him each night. I find it rather adorable, especially when he starts talking to me about himself as a dragon. A few weeks ago, we were having one such conversation and he was telling me about how he was a black dragon.

He had black wings, and a black tail, and he breathed fire. And then he looked at me and asked, ever so innocently, "Mom....are you a dragon too?" 

 

"Why yes, Xavier," I replied. "I'm a PINK dragon! With purple spots and a blue tail!" 

 

He found this rather amusing and after a few minutes we stopped talking about dragons and he went back to playing in his room. Later that afternoon, while Shaela and Cohen napped, he was watching a movie while I did some work on the computer in the basement. About half an hour into the kids' nap, he came half way down the basement stairs, turned to face me and said, "Pink Dragon - I need a snack! Please come upstairs with me, Pink Dragon."

 

I just about died I laughed so hard. I love that boy and his wild imagination!

 

Adventures in Cloth

A few months ago, Jared and I decided to put a ban on disposable diapers in our house and switch to cloth. We have talked about doing it for a very long time. Jared for environmental reasons. Me for cost effectiveness. However, with Jared being a student, we weren't able to afford the initial start up cost of doing cloth with Xavier and Shaela - it was just easier for us at the time to spend $30-$40 a month on disposables. However, at the Baby and Kids show in February, there was a cloth diapering store that had a booth there. And so, we ventured over to talk to one of the sales reps and get our million and one questions answered.

You see, cloth diapering is no longer the flannel pre-folds with pins and wet pants that our parents used back in the day. You can still get those kinds of cloth - although they have improved the fastening methods since then, so for those who are worried about poking their babies, you don't have to use pins anymore. But it seems there are a hundred and one OTHER kinds of cloth diapers available now as well - All in Ones, All in Two's, Pocket Diapers, Pre-Folds. And then there are the various kinds of inserts - microfibre, hemp, cotton. Which ones are best? What brand should you try? It can be VERY overwhelming for anyone who wants to try out cloth diapers these days to know where to start.

After a very long conversation with the girls at the booth and a little convo on the side between the two of us about which kind we thought would be best, we took the plunge and scored a deal on a 'start up' package at the show. We came home only to realize that we had forgotten one of the bags at the show! So I had to wait a few days for the store to be open to pick up the forgotten items....and when I came home I went straight to the basement to start washing the diapers in preparation for their first use!

We are now about three months in with Shaela and loving it! Cohen was in disposables for the first two weeks of his life until his cord fell off (and to avoid getting meconium stains on our pretty cloth diapers) but for the past month, he has also been in cloth. His little legs were so tiny at first that we ended up with a few blowouts those first two weeks. But now that he's chubbed out a bit, they are working GREAT to contain even the biggest of poos! 

All in all, it has been a very wise decision on our part. We are saving a ton of money on disposables and I'm loving the variety of colours with the covers we have - I can mix and match to coordinate with the kids' outfits! It's loads of fun! 

*To learn more about cloth diapering, and to see which ones we use (the All-in-2's), check out: www.ampdiaperstore.com*

Just Call Me "Soccer Mom"!

Soccer is pretty much going to be a given in our household, whether our children like it or not. Jared comes from a long line of soccer players and even played on our university team for a year (it would have been two had he not rolled his ankle two days before try-outs in our first year! But that's a whole other story....). So, now that Xavier is finally of soccer playing age, there was no question that we would enroll him in a spring session. Jared visited our local community center about a month and a half ago and we finally heard back two weeks ago that the season started on the 3rd! We were very excited for this milestone in our son's life - and he couldn't stop talking about his first game all weekend!

That night we ate a quick supper and got dressed and ready to go before piling in the van with lawnchairs and the stroller. We were one of the first ones to arrive and unfortunately, our coach was nowhere to be seen. The field that we were at was huge (two full sized fields back to back, which meant enough room for 4 games for kids this age). There ended up being six teams there altogether, and thankfully our coach finally showed up! After introductions and handing out the snack schedule, they got started! Jared got roped into helping the kids practice for a few minutes at the start (which he loved!). And then they played! Our team is pretty large, so Xavier only got a couple turns out on the field, but he had an absolute blast chasing the ball around! He doesn't quite get the concept of the game yet, but I'm sure after a few more nights, he'll be getting in there and going for the ball with gusto.

As for me, I am now officially a soccer mom and expcept for the fact that it's prime woodtick season and I HATE those things! - I am really looking forward to heading to the soccer field twice a week for the next two months.