boy3
you make me smile everyday
you can talk like a pro! and mimic every last word we say.
like your brother, boy2, you have troubles with the beginning 's' sounds though. i often wonder if you will replace those with a 'f' or 'th' sound, it's hard to tell right now.
you are a PRO at the puzzle auntie and uncle got you for Christmas. but when i try to record you putting it together like a pro, you get easily distracted by the camera. you didn't try to say cheese this time, you just wanted to see what was on the screen.
you came into 2009 giving us quite the run for our money, even second [and third, fourth] guessing our roles as parents, and if we were doing any of it right. you cried and cried. then we figured it was partially dairy that bugged you, so i tried my best to keep it out of my diet so the milk you drank was not working against you...
so grouchy crying colicky baby, turned into happiest baby i have EVER seen.
you act shy and reserved and pretend you don't want to smile. then you crack and show off your pearly whites. although in Olive Garden last week, all you did was walk up to the young lady at the next table, back and forth, smiling, and completely won her over. what charm you have!
don't change a thing. i love your character right now and it's got boy3 written all over it.
'ma' was once 'milk' 'mom' and 'more' but now can clearly be understood as mom, or when you copy someone, i actually hear you call me 'mom' but are hard pressed to say 'mamma' when i try to get you to!! 'milk' is 'mik' and you still remember the more symbol in sign language. can't forget your manners: 'peeeeeeeeease'...
if we are sitting on the couch, you will smile at us then RUN! and run around the living room likes it's your race track. then as you pass by us, you will slow down and smile then GO again. it makes us laugh when you are at a stand still and we can say 'RUN' and you will go :)
you are a climber and have no fear. you can now climb on the couch without assistance and jump and fall on it like it's your own personal trampoline... one day you will tumble and have come close but then again you aren't near as clumsy as your brother boy2 was...
you have the cutest round belly and are always willing to lift your shirt up to share and get a kiss on it. it helps you keep your pants up when you aren't wearing a cloth diaper. and you long to be big like your bro's and will even sit on the potty before bath time like they do...
you like to read with us and on your own too, esp pointing out parts that you know.
you like trucks and wheeled toys like boy1.
you like hockey and balls like boy2.
you like to push the toy baby walker around the whole floor, or if in the basement you like to take apart then push the rolling toys basket around [much to mommy's chagrin!]
you love hugging your bear pillow when you sleep.
and you like to press baby tad's buttons after we close your door for bed [after we set it to nighttime songs for a few minutes]. 
you put your hands together and bow your head down low to pray at meal times and at bed time you lay on your back to pray?!?
you give out the 'you've just changed by diaper and lifted me up to pull my pants up so i'll hug you while you do that' hug. it is now expected everytime :)
we know you get upset when you haven't hugged everyone good night, and will tell us about it at the top of your lungs after we try to get away with putting you to bed not doing so...
you have now decided that your spot is at the table with us, not at your high chair, so we have reserved a spot for you and can hide the high chair for another year until baby4 needs it...
so boy3 we love you, we love learning more and more about you as the days go by. please don't change a thing. you're awesome and sweet the way you are...

well well well...

well... what is this? all but 932pm on a Tuesday evening and I am contemplating bedtime! I need to kick this cold & sinus thing to the curb and perhaps rest is one way there? 

In the works - a DREAM -- for our kids. Just that I will always make an effort to PUT them to bed instead of send them to bed... I remember a time as a kid when we were 'too old' for our parents to put us to bed. I still would have liked that bonding time with them though... especially as some issues got hard to talk about.  So I want this for my kids, is to have us put them to bed, whether they like it or not!!  This is an ongoing goal :)

Also in the works - a post about my boy's characters. I love watching each one differently and should really take time to write about them, so that is what I will do before the New Year is out!

Ok, now to get some rest for these tired, sore eyes....

highlights

Just a few highlights in point form from the last week:

We unintentionally gave the kids a no battery Christmas... There was not one toy under the tree that required batteries! Of course the few movies and wii games do not count :)

Made an announcement yesterday!! Felt good to share it with everyone. See more below for more hints... On another, yet the same note - some people just don't seem to surprise me with their character traits and actions/words! Sometimes it is a wonder why I call them my friend?!? Moving on...

We had some visitors last week, my brother and his girlfriend. This was a first time meeting her and she left a good impression [esp on the kids!]  They spoiled my kids rotten with the toys they got [again NO batteries!!] boy1 was thrilled to open the GT racer, Uncle even put it together for him that night! boy1 has already been using it outside on what little snow hills we have. He has also been doing a great job at sharing it with boy2 and pulling him around on it a bit! Today we are hoping to trek out to the snow hill to test it out if the wind calms down.

boy2 was thrilled to see his Uncle got him goalie pads with a blocker and catcher. This boy has one HUGE heart for hockey and Uncle sure knew it. He is a tad short for the pads but uses the glove and blocker for his ' hockey games' he has each day.

Sometime ago, my brother had told me that they had gotten boy3 a MASSIVE Mr. Potato Head set. Man on man, they were not kidding! It comes in a nice bigger Potato Head, so a good place for storing them. This is right up boy3's alley as well since he has been playing with the various potato heads we have, and pointing out to us the 'no' [nose] 'mow' [mouth] 'earrrr' 'eye' among other things... His vocabulary continues to amaze me each day!!

Amongst the excitement sickness, yet chaos of Christmas, boy1 and I came down with fevers on his 2nd last day of school. His lasted two days, mine three. Including, all over achiness, coughing and now has turned into a nice head/chest cold which the husband now has too. What's a pregnant girl to do? I wasn't sure what sort of meds are safe to take, but quickly found out what worked and haven't been this sick and medicated in years it feels like!   We were on the up on Friday [Christmas Eve] with my parents arriving, but then after an exhausting Christmas morning, with both sets of parents over for brunch [hashbrown casserole, waffles, AND eggs benedict yummmmm], we were just wiped and decided to fore go the turkey dinner on my Mom's side of the family that evening. Made me sad once I realized all the good food and company we were going to miss out on. Especially an Uncle of mine I hadn't seen in two or three years from the west coast!

Continuing with more Christmas - boy3 was putting his organization skills to use with a wooden kitchen set he received [LOVE taking advantage of deals companies offer, even better if they are LOCAL], along with the four food groups wooden set. That set comes with four crates for the food to go in and he would take one crate out, put it back in... and so on. boy2 [boy1&3 will also make use of this I'm sure...] got a metal mini hockey net with an optional goalie in front with the appropriate spaces for scoring [corners and five hole]... And last but not least boy1 now has his first composite shaft hockey stick, so if the blade breaks, we just replace that, instead of the whole stick [which up until now have usually been wooden ones!] He also got a Sydney Crosby jersey he can wear for hockey practices.

I will not talk about what the darling husband and I exchanged as that is a touchy subject in case my last few posts didn't enlighten you ;) but I WILL say that I did get some yummy Lindt Chocolates out of it. mmmmm...

We were also blessed with the game of QUELF!!  And SO excited that we could play it for the first time that day with Rick's side of the family. It was a very fun game and I can't wait to play it again!!

So amongst the sickness, and busy-ness that Christmas brings, we were still able to remember WHY we were celebrating&giving&receiving. I read to boy2 for the Christmas Eve's bedtime book about Jesus's birth and he was instantly addicted and asked if we could read it again tomorrow. Why OF COURSE darling! It's just amazing to see that he gets it this year. There was a CBC movie on this season called the Nativity which beautifully displays the story of Mary & Joseph and their journey to the stable... Made me cry :')

Well, now it seems as though boy2 is taking his turn with fevers so it's time to go look after that boy...

Wishing you all well and that you stay healthy :)

Merry Christmas to all!!
Wishing you lots of love this season :)

darling husband...

I know you have had a cough now for at least two weeks and have refused to see a doctor about it. Second time in as many months. For that [fear of dr's] I have no pity... I, on the other hand, have had a fever ranging between 38C and 39C the last two days. Yesterday was me attempting to take care of all three children whilst the fevers, chills, hot flashes, all over achy-ness and three sporadic naps [four if you count the evening one too], unsure of what medications to take safely as to not knock me out enough so I can still be a caregiver... I appreciate the taquito and burrito supper that was made.  I also appreciate the dishes being put in the dishwasher, toys being picked up and kids put to bed. I always appreciate you waking up with the wee ones since it is you they want to see in the morning before you head off to work for the day... However, I do NOT appreciate the phone call at three thirty this afternoon asking me what I want for Christmas as you headed out to quickly shop before boy1's hockey practice/Christmas party... *sigh* there are no excuses in the book to justify that question! I am unsure as to why I answered it in the first place!!

pretzel twist...

the lovely Lisa Leonard [thanks Mel for reminding me of her!] recently posted about the pretzel twist knot she learned for scarf wearing. if anyone knows me, they know how i LOVE to wear scarves in the winter...

that's my mini post for the day! i am thinking about bringing back the 31 posts in 31 days for January :) anyone else up for the challenge?!?

gift it part 2...

oh darling husband, how can it be that you do not know nor remember ANYTHING on my list? here are a few things to add and the link to the other gift it posts...
I HEART games:

Scotland Yard

Quelf

and Wii Fit Plus Software

To keep the toesies warm...
from Mark's Work Warehouse something like these boot slippers...

no pom poms required really ;)

oh yeah & we are not buying gift wrap this year. just sayin...

i have a few handmade items left to finish up and i am done done done! just need to bake a bit more because everything i made a few weeks ago are GONE.

Digital Nativity

A modern take on the nativity.

more...

after a frustrating moment just five minutes before dad and boy1 were to head to his hockey game [and some sort of an uncomfortable feeling with parts of the hockey equipment] this is what boy2 said to boy1 'boy1 your team needs you!'

and dad noted to him how encouraging he was being to his big bro!

needless to say, we have been working on our encouragements this weekend...

i am looking forward to naps, movies, outside time [which is COLD today btw but everyone did SO good sticking it out esp with the help to build our snow dome... pics to come] tidying, cleaning and games with the family today. doesn't get much better than that!

Encouragements...

A friend said this of me the other day -

'You are an inspiration to all mothers. You balance family life, business life and a social life and don't seem to lose your mind while doing it. You are extremely blessed, God loves you.'

Encouragements like these make my heart smile.
Have you encouraged someone lately?  That is my mission for the day!

Shutterfly - cards and more to share with friends and family!

Lately, I have been sharing  few great websites with you because I like sharing the LOVE and the good stuff. ;)

Today, I bring you Shutterfly.com. About four years ago, I first started using Shutterfly for printing photos and making Christmas cards. Have you seen their vast holiday & Christmas card collection? I love the colors they use and the styles! How do you choose?  They have great tools to narrow it down for you. Select by price [the more you buy the more you save!], number of photos you want on the card, format, paper type, card size, colour and designer!

Here is a few of my top faves:

Pretty Package Holiday Card

Initially Yours Cocoa Christmas Card

Family Letter Blue Christmas Card

Since there are babies popping up a lot lately I will add a few of my favorite baby announcement too!

Introducing Flourish Birth Announcement

and since I like to be eco-friendly this one is super cute!

100 Percent Organic Birth Announcement

Don't forget the great gifts they have too - there are photo books, wall calendars, and home decor [a personal fave is the canvas wall art, I want to get two big ones in different sizes to put up!]

Shutterfly has a great promo going on right now for all bloggers to sign up to get 50 free holidays cards! It ends tomorrow so don't delay, go sign up!

early

it's another day. an early morning which leads to necessary blogging :)

boy3 felt the need to wake us up an hour before i should even think about getting out of bed. he just wanted to hang out with his da-. after getting his 5 minutes of da time in, he went to the basement where boy1 was snoozing and proceeded to play and wake him up... 

now they are all [peacefully] eating there breakfast at the table...

wonderful!

i have chvn on in the background and am listening to the husband's friend from many many moons ago... it's nice to hear a familiar voice on the radio! tune in to the morning show to hear :)

Blurb

Blurb.com - it's a GREAT book making site. It has great software to help you put one together and many templates to choose from! I just got my Blog-into-book in the mail. LOVE it! I am brain storming other things to put into print and really like the idea of turning this ole' blog into a book every year or so... That's what I did to the first three years of this blog. Turned the rest off for you to make it a fresh start.

I'll try and have more content for you than just the writing workshops ;)