First Day as a Hockey Mom...

Neil's mom had the idea that we take Iain skating this morning, so we were up at the crack of dawn (okay, it was 9 am) and woke the kids up to get to the arena in time. I feel this may be indicative of our future! You should have seen Iain when we told him that we were going to the ice rink to go skating AND we could take his hockey stick! SO excited! And once we got there...he LOVED it! He's a true Canadian I think! He wasn't too sure about the skates, so Mom just carried him around for a while until he got used to it. And after the initial fear of getting his skates on, he thought they were pretty cool, and he had a great time going out on the ice with Grandma and Unkey Graeme! Thanks for the good idea Mom! We'll be back for sure! Even Liam had a good time...I think the Arctic air of the arena agreed with Little Bear. Sorry about the sub-par pictures...they are from Neil's phone since I forgot the camera. Guess this hockey Mom needs some practice.

We've Hit a Milestone Folks...

See the big one on the left? He did a pee-pee on the potty last night! Actually, he technically did SIX, but it was all kind of one go, he just liked the potty dance, the cheering, the dumping and flushing, so he dragged it out a little. We think this is a pretty big deal, because although Iain has been showing some signs of "readiness" since not long after he turned one (telling us when he has to go, when he's wet or stinky, and hating to wear a wet diaper) the biggest sign has been TOTALLY absent. Up until last night, he was TERRIFIED of the potty! He wouldn't even sit on it, or go near it, let alone use it! Every time we asked him, it was "No tank-you...why NOT!" (which in Iain-speak means a vehement NO) But last night, he turned a corner! He was streakin' around naked before his bath, and seemed like he needed to go, so we gave it a try, and lo and behold...a tinkle! Or six. And he was quite excited, and didn't want to stop the potty routine to go in the bath and bed. Who knows what today will hold-maybe he'll be back to having potty-phobia, but for last night at least, we were excited. So everybody...any tips on how to start now?

In other big news for Iain, we are attempting "the first haircut" tonight! Before and after pictures to come!

As for the little bear on the right, not much is new with him, but he's on the very verge of laughing. I think he's still trying to figure out if we're funny or not!

Birthday Weekend 2011

I may have mentioned on here before that Neil's birthdays always turn into an extended affair, and this year was no exception. Although there were no guests waiting to surprise him, and no fun weekend away in the cards this year, we still had a great time together, of the "cozy family weekend" variety! Even though our trip to Canada was our "big event" for February, and we celebrated Neil's birthday on the day while we were there, I still wanted to plan some fun things that I knew he'd like to make him feel loved and appreciated. So we strung up the good ol' birthday banner on Friday evening, and didn't take it down until the weekend was over! (Honestly, it's still not down, but that could be because I've been spending my free time blogging, instead of doing housework ;) Or we could say that I've intentionally been leaving it up, because Iain loves to shout "BURFDAY BANNNNER!" all day long, so it would be a shame to deprive him of that! Let's go with that one...!)

Iain painted Daddy a card on behalf of himself and Liam. He was loath to touch the finger paint initially, but after he got into it, he had a great time, and now points to the card and says "FUN!"

We spent Friday evening eating snackies (fresh shrimp sauteed in the cast iron skillet, Buffalo chicken nachos and potato skins) and having a family movie night...however, when your kid never watches movies, when you eventually try to have a family movie night, they're not really into watching the movie! Iain and I also made Daddy a mile-high chocolate ganache cake! Or was that a leaning tower of ganache?!

We stayed up late together, praying that the boys would cooperate and sleep in, and wonder of wonders...they did! We got to stay in bed until after 9:30 am, and then (Liam and) I made a pancake breakfast while Neil played with Iain.

Then...of all things...we headed to the mall! I never thought I'd see the day that we'd go to the mall to celebrate Neil's birthday, but we decided it would be nice for Iain to get out and play, so we went to Borders and looked at books, and then took him to the play place, while we sipped our coffees and chatted, and Liam slept. Afterward, we ALL took a two hour nap! HALLELUJAH! The boys MUST have known it was a special occasion! Here we all are...Neil and me in our Saturday morning glory, Iain giving Mommy his "best smile" (seriously, this is what he came up with?!) and Liam doing what he does best in celebration of Daddy's birthday!

Saturday night, Mom and Dad were gracious enough to take BOTH (!!) boys for a few hours so we could enjoy a nice dinner together! (Seriously, once you have babies, the best gift ANYONE can give is to take your kids off your hands every now and then!) We (Neil helped, but I gave him the chance to opt out, and he didn't want to!) made steak au poive (of course!) and all the trimmings, and enjoyed dinner in peace and quiet with nice music and candles. What a treat!

Sunday, both boys behaved themselves well at church as a birthday treat for Daddy, and then we headed over the the Pitman house for a yummy birthday lunch!

Neil's parents got him a "Daddy chair" to replace our disgusting old green model, and he took a trial run by feeding Liam in the splendor and glory of the new recliner! YAY!

Sunday afternoon we got ANOTHER nap, and we planned on finishing up the weekend by making something delcious, complicated and Asian to try out Neil's new birthday wok. However, the boys must have decided to make us pay for their good behavior all weekend, because we had a house with two grouchy little bears. So we decided that trying to make a yummy dinner would be pointless, and ended up putting everyone to bed early, and (ironically) eating Ramen as we watched "Good Eats" season one-Thanks Graeme and Ashlee! Incidentally, we think we might have to cut back on our steak consumption, as Alton's fun fact in the first episode was that the average American eats 11 steaks per year. Um, I think we may already have exceeded our quota for this year! Oh well...we're Canadian, right?! Maybe their consumption is higher! Neil, we are all thankful for you! You're a great husband, a wonderful Daddy, and an amazing man! Happy birthday-can't wait to see what the next year holds...and I'm sure it will include lots of yummy steak!

Ontari-ari-ari-o

It seems we can't go more than a couple of months without getting the itch to take a trip to Canada. Even when those months include busy times, like Christmas and New Years, and busy things like having a baby, our hearts just seem to point north. We knew that there were lots of friends and family in the motherland waiting (not so patiently) to meet Baby Liam, we knew Iain was missing his Canadian family as much as we were, Dad was turning 60, and we had nothing going on in February. So we decided to go.

Here was our plan: leave on Friday morning and spend a long weekend together in Canada, after which Neil would fly back and work for the week. (Ever wonder who those travelers are that can fly with nothing but the shirt on their backs and the book they're reading? It's the awesome guys who are leaving their families to have fun while they return to work...thanks Neil!) Then he'd come back Thursday night, spend another long weekend and we'd all drive back together. However, just as we get the itch to go, we always get the itch to stay. So by the time Neil was coming back to join us, he'd already decided we'd stay another day, which made it a long-long weekend! Then we got a big snow storm, which delayed us one more day. Then it was Neil's birthday, so we couldn't drive for 12 hours on his birthday, now could we? So we stayed one more day! It turned into a nice long holiday, just enough to beat the mid-winter blues. Here's what we did!

Did I mention we left our house at 2am? This is what we looked like!

Thankfully, the boys did a lot of THIS on both trips! We were quite worried about what a 12 hour car ride would be like with a toddler and a newborn, but we were pleasantly surprised!

We celebrated Dad's 60 birthday in style, with the "kids" making a bang-up dinner of steak au poivre and lobster. He didn't want a big shin-dig, and clearly specified NO SURPRISE PARTIES, but we couldn't let him get away without any embarrassment, so we did have to break out the birthday button! Breha was in charge of veggies (as you can see from the photo below!), Brett did the lobsters in, I was photographer and girl-of-all-trades, and Neil manned the steak. Contrary to how the photo appears, we did NOT burn the kitchen down! Mum also contributed Dad's favorite...cherry cheesecake! Hopefully Dad enjoyed it, and felt very appreciated and loved!

We spent Valentine's Day wearing red and missing Neil (as evidenced by Liam below!) and were sorry that our poor planning led to us spending our FIRST VALENTINE'S DAY apart, since our first date.

We spent lots of time at the Reed's sweet new pad, and Iain had lots of play dates with Gavin, who is his best buddy. Or is that Shane?

We threw a surprise shower for THIS friend, who is soon to be the mother of TWINS! And we actually pulled off the surprise, against ALL ODDS!

We tried our hand at baby cake pops for the centerpieces, with mixed reviews. Iain alternately called them "piggies" and "masks", and we never could decide whether they were cute or scary! But they sure tasted good!

Iain learned the "putting your finger on your nose means you don't have to pray" trick...

Liam learned that getting out of the bath isn't so bad, if the house you're in is warm!

We celebrated Neil's birthday with a delicious prime rib dinner made by Mum, hockey, and (to Iain's excitement!) his "own stoonas"! We even got a coffee date that afternoon!

Best of all, we (and especially our boys!) got to spend lots and LOTS of time with people who love us and are too far away! Neil and I really enjoyed having so many sets of helping hands to take care of our little men: it sure made bath time, bedtime, dinner time, heck...ANY time a lot easier! I'm all for this commune living business! For Liam, it meant getting the constant holding and cuddling that he usually misses out on by dint of being the second baby, being fed on time, and with mama's undivided attention, instead of on the go, or while big brother is being fed lunch, reading a book or playing, and-wonder of wonders! actually getting a bath (almost) every day! For Iain it was getting to play hockey and golf to his hearts content, and always having someone free to take him "doon", learning how to "ding it good" on the dinner bell with Uncle Brett, doing twinkle-toes with Auntie Be-yoo, and getting kisses and hugs day and night from Grandma and Grampy. As always, it was so fun to see how lucky we are, and what great family and friends we have! And NOTHING is better than that!

Kay, SERIOUSLY....

...could somebody please get this boy a haircut!? It's getting a little ridiculous!

You're TWO Months Old Little Bear!

Oh little Liam! You are getting so big! I feel like the two month mark turns a corner of sorts, and once you're there, you're not really the "little tiny baby" that you used to be. Although, to be honest, you weren't really too tiny to begin with, my hungry little goat! Even less so now...you are growing like a weed! You're about 13lbs, and you've long outgrown your newborn clothes, and are well on your way to outgrowing your 0-3month items. You must be at least 25 inches long! Today we put you in your FuzziBunz cloth diapers for the first time, (which your brother just outgrew a couple of months ago!) and they already had to fasten on the second leg snaps! You have chubby little thighs Mister! Here you are on your two-month "birthday", the first of March (which came in like a lamb, so will it go out like a lion? Let's hope not!).

So, what's been going on with you in the last month besides getting SO big? Well, you're still a good baby! You are mostly happy all the time, as long as you're well fed, changed, burped and warm. You also love to be held, but you are happy enough to be in the swing, baby bouncer, or even your bed. You are very cuddly, and love to be close to us; you love to be held upright and tight. You still love to be swaddled, and lately you really like to watch your mobile. You are even MORE alert this month, and love to look around and take everything in. You have two stuffed giraffes that you LOVE to look at. You coo at them, smile at them, reach out for them...they are your best buddies and it's super cute!

That brings us to two of your new things! Da-dada-da! You are smiling and cooing! You've been smiling since just after you turned one month old, but we were never sure if they were real or not. You're still not super generous with your smiles, but they are definitely real. You've always been a noisy little grunter, but just in the last couple of weeks, your sounds are more purposeful and "coo-ish". We can certainly tell whether you're happy or sad by the noises you make. And you still have the best little pout when you are unhappy. Just like your big brother, you sneeze an awful lot! And just like him, you say "oooh" after you do! It's so cute! You still like tummy time (for the first few minutes anyway), and you are getting so strong!

You took your first big road trip this month, (1 500 miles, round trip) when we went to Canada to visit the Patterson crew (more details on that in a later post!) and you were a fantastic traveler, just as we'd hoped! You really seem to be a "motion baby" and love the moving car. (Let's hope you don't outgrow that!) We celebrated your first Valentine's Day (you were unimpressed), and Daddy's birthday this month too. You got baby-sat TWO times (by each set of Grandparents!) and did well both times.

You still sleep in the pack'n'play in Mom and Dad's room, but we are getting ready to move you into your own room, and your big crib, because you are sleeping like a champ! You go to bed without any trouble between 9 and 10 every night, (after your bath, which you still love!) and usually fall right asleep (although one night we came up about an hour later, and there you were, just looking all around, quiet as a mouse!). You wake up to eat usually only once in the night, and it's almost always between 3am and 5am. A few times you've made it past five (yay!) and once in a while it's a little earlier. You go right back to sleep with no trouble, and then wake up about four hours later to eat again. You're usually up for the day at about 8:30, and once in a while we're lucky enough for it to be 9 or 9:30. You take a couple of pretty good naps during the day, and doze in the swing or chair in the evenings, and you eat every three hours in the day-or sooner if you can get it! You're still a bit fussy in the evenings, but we think it's because you know that Daddy's home, so if there are two parents, and only two kids....one of those parents should be holding you! You have rediscovered the pacifier (or soozer, as your big bro calls it!) and usually want it, but it's not something you can't live without.

Your eyes are still dark blue, and your hair is still dark, but it's getting more of a reddish-gold tint every day. Your eye lashes are getting longer, your eye brows are getting darker, your baby acne has cleared up, and you are quite a handsome young man! We sure love you, and are thankful for you every day! Congratulations on all the growing and learning you've done this month little boy-you are wonderful!