Christmas Activities Begin . . .

DECORATING

On the last weekend of November, we started decorating the house for Christmas. Andrea volunteered to help Daddy put up the outside decorations and lights while Kevin had his nap. She had to come in a few times to warm up, but she enjoyed being a helper.



The kids are enjoying the seasonal specials that are constantly on TV. Here, you can see them sitting nicely together (with some of our Christmas decorations in the background) watching a Christmas cartoon.


The lights always look so much better at night. :))



CHRISTMAS PHOTO SESSION

In the first week of December, we went to the portrait studio and got the kids' annual Christmas photos. It went surprisingly well! Kevin only fussed a little bit, and we got some really cute pictures. The problem this time was the opposite of other times: the kids were having such a good time that we couldn't get them to settle down and look at the camera together at the same time. The photographer was tossing these fuzzy snowball props at the kids, and they thought it was a great joke!


ANDREA'S CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Andrea's daycare Christmas concert took place on the night of December 3. It was a little crazy because between the morning and afternoon kindergarten classes there were about 30 kids, and they never really had a chance to practice together. Still, all that mattered was that Andrea was SO excited, and of course, it's fun seeing her and her little friends up on stage. Here are a few videos from their performance:

KEVIN'S CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Kevin's daycare Christmas concert took place on the night of December 8. He and his toddler friends were too funny to watch on stage. We were curious to see how Kevin would react this year, as last year, he cried through the whole thing. However, this year, he was great! He was singing a bit, and doing some of the actions. The audience didn't bother him at all. His speech and physiotherapist both had seen him during practice, and had reported he was the one toddler who was really focused during practice, and knew all the words and actions! Well, he got a bit distracted on stage, but we were just happy that he was having fun up there this year. Here are a few videos from Kevin's performance:

After the show, the kids' favourite part (both nights) was the juice and cookies in the community room.
ANDREA'S JK SING-A-LONG AND CRAFT DAY

On Friday, December 11, Andrea had a special afternoon with her JK class at school. Gram and Papa Gagnon got to go to school with her for a special Christmas sing-a-long and craft day! The kids performed some Christmas carols for their visitors, and then they got to make a craft featuring the Three Wise Men with their visitors. Andrea's teacher told Gram and Papa that Andrea is her best singer, and leads the class when they sing! [Gram and Papa agreed that yes, Andrea's voice carries over the others. ;-)]

For her special day, Andrea wanted to wear Christmas colours, and her teacher requested a Christmas-themed hat. Well, Mommy just happened to have an elf hat from the dollar store on hand, and put together with a red and white outfit, it was quite festive!

(Andrea is into taking funny pictures right now. It's impossible to get a nice smile.)

(She also loves being on video.)

***

Here is the finished project she brought home from her craft day with Gram and Papa. Andrea wanted the Wise Men to be girls, so she could make them pretty! She also told me that only one is a Wise Man, and the others are Joseph and Mary. ;-)

"ELF YOURSELF"

Gram made a video on a website that takes pictures of her four grandchildren and makes them into break dancing elves. The kids LOVE it. We have to watch it a few times each day. Their reaction is so funny! I had to get a video of that, too.

COMING SOON . . .

Our "official" holiday season starts on Saturday, with our first family get-together here. I don't have the time to list the many activities we have coming up in the next two and a half weeks . . . I'll probably be on maternity leave before I get a chance to blog about it all!

Halloween 2009

Even though Halloween was on a Saturday this year, we didn't get to do all the visiting and activities we had hoped to. Between Daddy being busy with work, and Mommy being sick in bed, we didn't even get to carve a pumpkin this year! Still, we managed to get the kids out trick-or-treating, and despite the ridiculously cold evening, they had a lot of fun.

Andrea was a princess for the third year in a row. She was SO in love with her new Barbie Peacock Princess outfit that she refused to wear a coat, despite the 40-degree temperature! She wanted everyone to see her beautiful costume!

I had originally bought Kevin a Thomas the Train costume, but he wasn't too keen on wearing it. Then, I remembered his Superman PJ's! He likes them, and doesn't wear them too often, so they made a great costume. They have the cape, too, of course!

I tried to get a nice picture of my children before they left for trick-or-treating. Ha! They were WAY too excited to take a NICE picture!

Kevin's pose is cute in the next one, but Daddy was making Andrea scream with laughter!
As usual, Kevin got fed up with the picture-taking; Andrea tried to cheer him up. (Even Superman needs a hug once in a while!)
Finally, they were out the door, and off to visit Gram and Papa's. Usually, they visit there for a half-hour or so, and then trick-or-treat up the street back to our house.

However, this year, Papa joined them, and they went right back past our house, down the block, around the bend . . . and reappeared over an hour later, with full candy bags! From what I hear, Kevin was going right up to doors and knocking, and saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" when reminded. I was expecting him to be shy! :)) Andrea, of course, was various shades of blue and purple when she came home--she was frozen solid, but completely content! :))

"The Wiggles"

On Wednesday, October 21, we'll be taking the kids to see "The Wiggles: Go Bananas" concert at the WFCU. It's the first concert we'll have taken them to, but we couldn't resist when we saw The Wiggles were coming to Windsor. The kids have really gotten addicted to The Wiggles' shows and DVDs this past year. I don't mind them; they have cute songs and dances that both Andrea and Kevin enjoy watching and doing. Izzy loves The Wiggles, too, so she and her parents are also coming to the concert with us.

***

Thanks to our friends Mark and Sara, who have season tickets for hockey at WFCU, the kids also got a special pre-concert treat on Friday, October 16. They got to meet, and get their picture taken with Dorothy the Dinosaur, one of The Wiggles' show's characters! It was special because only a few people got to be a part of this, and Dorothy was wearing a Spitfires (local hockey team) jersey, which was kind of cute.

Kevin wasn't too sure about the big dinosaur, even though she was really friendly . . .

Andrea was a little shy at first, too.

It was Kevin who decided he wasn't ready to get close to Dorothy, though.

Andrea realized that Dorothy was a nice dinosaur, and gave her several hugs before we left.


Here's Andrea and Izzy, posing together with Dorothy. They were so excited to meet her!

***

Now, if you really want proof of how much my kids love The Wiggles, see the videos below. They both know all the words and dance moves to their favourite songs. Kevin's just starting to get into singing/following the actions, but Andrea's a pro! (and she loves being on video)

Another Hurdle Cleared :))

I just got back from Baby's fetal echocardiogram. The tech said everything looks good to her.

My goodness, it was a LONG ultrasound! Between the tech and the cardiac radiologist, the ultrasound took almost an hour and a half. At least the tech warned me ahead of time (and let me empty my bladder!).

I was a little disappointed because I know they have 3-D ultrasound at Met Hospital now, and was kind of hoping for a 3-D peek at Baby as my reward for lying so patiently on that exam table for so long. Well, I give the tech credit: she really did try to get me some 3-D images. However, I think Ryan was fed up by this point. He was in perfect position (and stayed pretty still) the whole time they were doing his heart scans, and only right at the end did he get fed up and flip onto his belly.

The tech put on the 3-D, but Ryan was now lying face-down, curled up into a ball, with his face buried in the side of my uterus! She even tried rolling me on my side to get him to move, but he wouldn't budge. So, all I got to see in 3-D was the back of his head and one ear! Even in regular ultrasound, he kept hiding, so we only got pictures of his spine.

Oh, well. At least the stubborn little guy is healthy! :))

Andrea's Thanksgiving Art

I had to keep Andrea's Thanksgiving art this year--if only in digital form--because it was so cute. Even though the first two things are the traditional Thanksgiving hand-turkey pictures that all kids make, I've always been partial to anything that's made with the kids' hand prints or footprints. It's just a little piece that's uniquely them, even when the teacher helps.



The picture above was the inside page to a scrapbook Andrea made in her JK class. It had several pages about things they (their "turkey hands") are thankful for. The page below was my absolute favourite:

"Andrea's hand gives thanks for Jesus and her Mom"

First, you can already see the effects of her new Catholic school training (she makes me laugh--how irreverent). Second, and best of all, is her artistic interpretation of what "Jesus" and "Mommy" look like. Jesus is a guy with spiky hair, and Mommy is a blond with lots of makeup and/or bad acne. I want to laugh out loud every time I look at this. It's priceless!

***

One of Andrea's teachers laminated a picture of the pilgrims she had coloured (Aside: um, aren't pilgrims specific to the American Thanksgiving tradition?). When she showed it to Daddy today, he noticed that is had dotted lines, so it could be cut into puzzle pieces! I thought that was a pretty neat idea, and Andrea enjoyed putting her Thanksgiving puzzle together. :))

The puzzle says "Be Thankful!": I am: for my good job, good friends, and beautiful (and growing) family!

Ultrasound at 18.5 Weeks

As you can see, I went for my ultrasound at 18.5 weeks today, and our little BOY was extremely cooperative! The ultrasound tech said he is a very photogenic baby. He is definitely the first of my three kids to cooperate so well on the mid-pregnancy anatomy ultrasound. Everything looks just like it should for this stage, and we got some nice pictures of our baby boy. I even saw him trying to suck his fingers, and trying to grab at his feet! Right now he is lying sideways, with his head on my right side, and his legs stretched out to my left side.

side view, with hand by face

view from opposite side, with hand by forehead

close-up of hands/wrists/fingers

bony legs and bum, with umbilical cord (and boy parts) between

close-up side view of face

We told the kids about the baby tonight, and Andrea is VERY excited. (Kevin doesn't really understand yet.) Andrea knows that there is a baby boy in my belly, and she will have another brother, but we still have to wait a long time before he's ready to come out. Oh, and she knows his name . . . RYAN. :))

Ob.Gyn. Appointment: 4 Months

Today I went to Dr. P. for my monthly pregnancy appointment. Actually, I will be 17 weeks pregnant tomorrow. She said everything looks and sounds good. My blood pressure and weight are holding steady, and we got to hear baby's heartbeat. Baby's heart rate was about 143 bpm--right on target. It took her a few minutes to find the heartbeat, because Baby was wiggling around so much! I am starting to feel some of that movement. :))

Last night, I did my traditional juggling act at 16 weeks, where I use my home doppler, find Baby, and get a video of the first time we hear Baby's heartbeat. It took me about 40 minutes to get Baby to cooperate (I kept getting "wooshes" as he or she swam away!), but I finally captured Baby's heartbeat for about 15 seconds. :))

Kevin's New Pediatrician

We went to visit Kevin's new pediatrician today. The one he had before left the country on a two-year exchange with this new doctor.

Anyway, the new doctor took a look at Kevin's numerous tests results, and asked us a bunch of questions, and examined Kevin. He sounded pretty positive about Kevin's progress. He brushed off the MRI diagnosis of chronic sinusitis as if it wasn't important. He said Kevin is socially and physically at the appropriate stage now, and his speech delay is probably an isolated thing he'll grow out of.

Oh, and Kevin's latest measurements: 29.5 pounds and 35 inches tall!

This doctor is going to send us for another hearing test (I'm still not convinced everything's clear there) and also some more detailed blood work, but he's pretty sure nothing will come up.

He did notice that Kevin has missed his 15-month immunizations (?). My doctor never mentioned them for either child, so now I have to find a day to take both of them to the family doctor and get those done. Once again, my family doctor's office has messed something up. Argh.

Of course, everything is bothering me extra right now due to lack of sleep and miserable cold symptoms (for which I can't take anything!). Kevin has been up every night since Saturday with the croup, I have a rotten head cold, and Daddy has been doing late nights at work--as if we aren't all worn out enough, already! ;p

Andrea's First Day of School

Today was officially Andrea's first day of elementary school. She went for an hour-long visit last week, and has been driving us crazy every day since, wanting to know when she could go back! Well, today was the big day!

Kevin: "Where you going? Can I come, too?"

Andrea: "I'm going to BIG KID school!"

Andrea is in afternoon junior kindergarten, so she goes to daycare in the morning. After lunch, one of her daycare teachers walks her and the other kindergartners a few blocks down to the school. Daddy and I were sad that we couldn't be there to walk with her, especially on her first day, but we knew she would be fine.

One funny thing happened this morning: when we got to daycare, another little girl in Andrea's class had the exact same dress on--and she was going to H.J. Lassaline for afternoon JK, too!

***

Gram and Papa picked Andrea up from Lassaline after school. Andrea's teacher said Andrea had a great day! She said Andrea is working on "waiting patiently for her turn," and is doing a very good job at that! Andrea told me that she had a hard time closing her juice container, but besides that, she had a good day. :))

Andrea was really excited because her teacher sent her home with a school t-shirt. She wanted to model it for me.

I hope she continues to love school this much for the next 12 years or so!

Kevin's MRI Results

We finally got our follow-up appointment with the neurologist this week. The good news is, Kevin's MRI shows there are no brain anomalies, and everything looks intact. So, there are no serious problems or neurological problems at this point. Basically, she said she wanted to see him in a year, just to follow up on his development, and for us to call if anything came up in the meantime.

What they did find, which surprised me, is chronic sinusitis! I guess the signs of this show up on MRIs. The doctor said to notify the pediatrician of this result, and he'll decide if we need to see another specialist from there.

As for me, I'm now curious to know if this can be linked to his frequent ear infections, the frequent fluid in his ears, and his "muffled" speech. Guess we have to wait and see!

Papa's Birthday

On Friday, September 4, we two reasons to celebrate: we got to see the Stanley Cup, and it was Papa's birthday! Papa and Gram, Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Tony, and their kids were all at the Stanley Cup party, too. We went from the Stanley Cup party to Gram and Papa's for Papa's birthday party!

Papa encouraging the grandkids to dig into the icing

He even made sure Hannah got her share!

Hannah's had enough, but look at Kevin shovelling it in! (and see dedicated Gram rushing in with the bib . . . too late; his beige pants got chocolate-ified). :))

Andrea was so excited to give Papa his presents from us. She picked out this rock n' roll music card herself.

"Grandpa's Taxi Service": kind of a joke gift, but then again, if you knew how often he drives the kids and I home from school, and to appointments, etc. . . . Well, he deserves an honourary taxi plate. :))

***

It was really nice out, so we took the kids outside to play in the pool.

Izzy's special birthday gift from her to Papa was a bar of soap, because he baths the kids so often, that she knows they use up all his soap! On Friday, Papa decided to bath the kids out in the pool, so that soap was immediately put to good (and fun!) use. Kevin especially enjoyed getting his underarms washed (it tickled)!

Party with the Stanley Cup!

Friday, September 4, 2009, was one of the best days in Daddy's life.

His close friend, Scott Adams, is the Assistant Trainer for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Because the Pens were the NHL winners this year, Scott got his day with the Stanley Cup! Daddy, who is a long-time, die-hard Red Wings fan, had a tough time in the playoffs this year, since the Wings played the Pens. He didn't know who to cheer for--his beloved Wings, or the Pens--because he knew if the Pens won, Scott would have a Stanley Cup party, and we'd all get to see the real cup in person.

Yes, the Pens were victorious, but Daddy was happy; he knew he'd get to lay his hands on that Cup!

So, Friday was the day. Scott kindly brought the Cup home to his family and friends in Windsor, and his parents generously hosted the party in their backyard. It was a beautiful afternoon, and we had a great time!

Scott Adams, The Man of the Hour :))

Scott and The Guys celebrating the Cup

***

Daddy and Kevin with Phil Pritchard, the Keeper of the Cup (a.k.a. "The White Gloves Guy")

***

Kevin touches a piece of History

***

Andrea is happy to finally see the "Big Trophy" Daddy's been telling her about.

***

Family Photo with the Stanley Cup

***

Daddy's "True Love"

***

Would you look at this guy? After Scott hoisted the Cup, Daddy said, "Let me have it, let me have it!" He practically grabbed it from Scott's hands. Scott said, "You can't lift it over your head; Phil will get mad!" but did that stop Daddy? Of course not!
***

Getting to see the real Cup in person was surreal. I say "real Cup" because most of us have seen the copy that they keep in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. It was amazing how beat up the cup is, when you see it close up--lots of nicks and dents and smudges, which just makes it that much more historical and awesome! It was funny because someone had added Scott's name, written on hockey tape, onto the Cup, because it hasn't been inscribed for this year yet. But he will definitely be there! Thanks for sharing an amazing event with us, Scott. :))