Cute But Crabby

Jackie's Bowling Birthday

Every year, for my sister Jackie's birthday, we have dinner together and all go bowling. We always try to make her birthday extra special because it is the day before we all celebrate Christmas together (Christmas Eve). This year, we had everyone at our house.

Koen was pretty interested in Izzy and she even hugged him which he loved.

We had a super yummy dinner and Jackie was about to blow out her candles...

When Kai blew them out for her. Check out Maria and Tyler's face. We had to re-light them and try again....

This totally shows Kai and Ani's personalities. Ani being very concerned that Jackie be able to blow out her own candles. Kai wondering how he can blow them out AGAIN with Jackie's arm in the way.

Kai loved bowling. I'd say that for about 7 of the frames he purposely got gutter balls because he thought that was really fun and I think he just liked yelling, `Gutter ball!'.

Knocking down his first pins.

Koen was a monkey. Seriously, the is about 5x busier than Kai. We are, and are going to continue to be, VERY busy with this boy. He did fall off a step and get a fat, bloody lip. He was okay a few minutes later. He does this almost every day.

Trish and Steve (Nut and McSteamy)....to be married on March 6th. You need a nickname in this family. I am `Weezer'.

Jackie and Tyler hanging out with Koen while he is sitting still! Tyler won highest score...followed by McSteamy (Steve) followed by me:)

Well, we are off to the beach (it's sunny on Christmas Eve!) and then off to the Dekens' celebration at my sisters.

Amazing Food

Check out this website, Foodgawker.com, which includes a variety of food photography with links to food bloggers. We made a white hot chocolate from it last night and it was fabulous. There are healthy and not-so-healthy options, but boy, it is so good! It changes daily so there are always new recipes:) Gary and I love making and eating good food.

Almost One

I cannot believe it. I totally forget about the pain of recovery, the reflux, the crying, and living in a sleepless daze for months and months. All my memories are of feeding him, snuggling, watching him learn to sit, crawl and walk, giggles, playing, chasing, and just getting to know this super sweet and mischievous boy. So thankful for my boys. Their boy-ness, sweetness and how they changed my life. I'm talking about all three:)

Gary and I are making white hot chocolates now. Looks sooooo yummy:)

Teeth, Hands, and A Belly

Kai and Koen had a bonding brother moment. They would hold hands and then jump from the bench to the couch. Gary obviously helped Koen, but boy, they were having fun AND they were holding hands!!

Kai and Koen have been playing nicely together. Well, not really together, but they haven't been fighting the past couple of days. So nice to have a break from refereeing. Kai also hasn't visited time out for 2 days! Woohoo!

Koen is a super teething machine. They are coming in fast and furiously. This is his face all day long...

Things that keep his mind off of teething are; milk, food, walks, being out in public and running around outside. He has been successfully sleeping through the night, for 13-14 hours, for the whole week. He either has 2 short 1 hour naps or one long 2-3 hour one during the day.

Just showing his 3 upper teeth...one more on it's way.

And the two on the bottom.

Koen LOVES Blue. I think he will be getting Blue#2 for his birthday, just to be safe:)

And, as for the belly...here is a shot I took of my sister Jantina and her 28 week belly. I get to hold a little baby in a few more months. Woohoo!

Gary and I watched the movie `Star Trek' on Friday and I really liked it. Maybe an 8.5/10 and I'm def. not a trekkie! We watched `Julie & Julia' last night and it was okay, maybe a 7/10. Her voice just drives me bonkers. Gary enjoyed watching it too because he's the chef in our home. I guess it was good to learn a bit about Julia Child. Any recommendations for movie rentals for over the holidays?

Gary has taken the kids grocery shopping. I'm taking a few minutes to unwind. With one whiny, teething 1 year old (oh man, he's almost one!!!) and a non stop question asking 3 year old, I'm mentally exhausted. I can't wait until March when Gary and I are getting away without the kids for 3 nights!!! I know I will miss them like crazy but I think that it is important for our marriage and for our own well being.

Bon nuit.

Santa

Before I forget....I was never told that Santa was real and so I hadn't brought it up with Kai either. I don't know how big of a deal I will ever make of it and I won't get into all the reasons of it now:) Anyway, I decided to tell Kai that Santa sometimes brings kids gifts. The reason I told him is so that he wouldn't ruin it for any of his friends in case they believe that Santa is real. I asked Kai what he would like from Santa. Kai's response? A sprinkled donut. I think that Santa might just visit to give him this wallet friendly gift:)

George

Just a prayer request. My best friend Lynette, has a younger brother George. He has cystic fibrosis and has been on the lung transplant list for 1 year now. He is currently in St. Paul's hospital for a lung infection that is not being cleared up by the IV antibiotics. He really, really needs a double lung transplant. It is a difficult prayer, because someone will need to die to provide him with life, but maybe if someone does pass away over the holidays, pray that they are an organ donor and a match. George is just 27 years old and has been married for less than 2 years. I can't imagine spending the holidays, in the hospital, praying for lungs to come.

I think you can still watch 65 red roses online at http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/passionateeyeshowcase/2009/65redroses/

Nickels

Kai likes to lift Koen up onto the couch and then they look out of the window and giggle away. Koen usually tries to dive off the couch head first. I let him one time to `learn' that it hurt, but he did not learn.

Kai had his Christmas party at preschool yesterday and it was a lot of fun. Well, I was really falling apart and feeling like I was about to pass out (fever, chills, fever, chills, repeat, repeat). So, I made it through but cut out as soon as the performance and craft time were over. No socializing for me!

Kai LOVES performing. He loves actions, singing, running around, everything. He is not shy at all. Here he is saying `Shhhh' which is cute because you can see that he has a lisp in this picture so it comes out like `Sssssss':)

Kai was a shepherd in the play. There were no lines or anything which is kind of too bad because I think he would've loved that. Here they are telling the kids to give their best smiles (Melissa, does that remind you of Ayden's smile a way back?).

In this part of the song they were singing about a `humble stable'. His buddy Ethan is on the left side of him in the picture. After each song, Kai would put his arm around him and say `Good job, Ethan!'. He really likes Ethan.

This has got to be the strangest teacher gift ever, a jar full of

nickels. That's what happens when Gary is your teacher. Obviously there is a story behind this...something about Vegas, the 5 cent slot machines and a $20 IOU?

I have my husband home for 2 weeks now!!!!

Nanny

I just need to respond to the latest poll where I asked, `If you could have any of the following, for free, at any time, what would it be?'

a. nanny (7%)

b. chef (33%)

c. housekeeper (56%)

d. IT person (0%)

e. landscaper (2%)

I chose nanny. I actually love cooking, baking and cleaning, BUT, not when the kids are around me whining, complaining, beating eachother up etc. I would love to have a nanny that could take the kids to the park, so that they could get their energy out while I cleaned or cooked. Also, I would say that because we need to go out a lot for photo shoots and weddings etc, finding a babysitter is a little frustrating. I don't trust a lot of people with my most precious little boys! I think a lot of people who do not have a mom nearby or willing or alive would understand how it's sometimes just a little bit more difficult.

Also, Gary was like `You put IT person?'. Well, ya, computers drive some people CRAZY. I should've added massage therapist. I think I would've picked that one, I would love a daily massage!

Which one did you choose? Why?

Everybody Dance Now

Monday was such a good day. I just felt good. Like, almost normal!! The kids were pumped about the snow. We played outside, Kai and Koen went sledding down a hill, we drank hot chocolate...you know, the perfect wintery day. Kai was so well behaved, I even took both of them to get my blood test done. Kai, loose in a BC Biomedical building, full of needles and vials, while I'm stuck in a chair with a needle in my arm. He did fabulously!! He just asked a ton of really good questions. Koen was in the stroller, I'm not that crazy:) Afterwards Kai said, `Mommy, I had really good behaviour! Yahoo!'. By the way, if you live in the Langley/Surrey area, the Willowbrook BC Biomedical is the best one...I've never had to wait more than a minute!

(I asked Kai to sit next to his brother. This picture looks so unnatural to me because Kai is sitting and not doing anything.)

Had our care group Christmas social last night. Gary had a bball game (they won!) so I went alone. Lots of good food and fellowshipping. Thanks to my sis Maria for babysitting! I've had a sore throat all week but last night it really starting kicking my butt and today I feel knocked out. Had to cancel today's plans and I just feel gross. So ready to be healthy one day....

(Kai is loving the snow this year!)

Koen (dare I say it) has slept 14 hours straight for the last 3 nights. Yippee!! He has another bottom tooth coming through but it only seems to make him a little monster like during the day. Phew. His mouth is very jack-o-lantern-ish:)

Kai has gone to bed at 6:15pm the last three nights for giving Koen naughty things. It always happens around 6pm-ish. I wonder if it's because he's getting tired? I wonder if he does it because he hopes that Koen will get in trouble for being bad? Regardless, these kids need to be constantly supervised when together....especially if Kai is tired.

(Maybe I should leave Koen in this snowsuit all the time...greater protection from big brother Kai)

Tuesday was a snow day for Gary! This made my day much easier as I had to head down to Vancouver to the Eye Care Center and that way Gary could do the preschool pick up for Kai.

The Eye Care Center was truly remarkable and there is more about it on my thyroid blog. My eyes are paying for it today though, sore, sore, sore. Basically my eyes seem to be improving overall and we'll check back in a few months to see where they are at. He was a wonderful ophthalmologist who was validating, knowledgeable and easy to talk to.

I made these `Amazing Veggie Burgers' the other day. I forgot how much I loved them! This is a different recipe, from the `Today's Parent' magazine, so I just tried it out. I used a bean medley instead of black beans. I also love a little cumin in my veggie burgers and omit the bbq sauce on the kids ones to reduce the sugar. Koen loves them too...so easy for a baby to eat as it is soft (yet they can feed themselves) and nutritious. I think everyone should make a veggie burger once in their life...just to try it out:)

Finally, I am working on a dance routine with Koen, Kai and myself. It is hilarious....to me. We dance to `Everybody Dance Now' which Kai LOVES. Okay, I use the words `dance' and `routine' loosely. Koen starts off with his arms waving in the air and then Kai does his routine dancing on a bench and then he likes me too spin him and finish dancing on the ground. Basically, it's a good way to get the sillies out. May have to capture it on the video camera one day:)

Oh yes, if you are interested in newborns at all, check out this post by Melissa's mom about the benefits of skin to skin contact.

Have a great day everyone!