3 months of pictures.....

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It hasn't been 3 months has it?!?

I know I know.....I have been seriously slacking over here on blogger land. I have good intentions to get updated, but something always moves up on the important list of things to do, so alas, 3 months have passed since I was last on here. I have thought on numerous occasions "oh I have to post that on my blog" but that is where it ends, and I didn't get on here to post.

2008 has been busy so far. I have been having some long field days and my weeks are just flying by. I don't even know where to begin.....

I guess since it was the beginning of December when I last posted, I should at least mention Christmas. It was nice this year. Not too busy, just us and Grandma. Grandma cooked dinner and Colin, Chrissy and Marley came for dinner. Jake was very excited about Santa this year and I look forward to the next few years as both Lauren and Jake get pumped up on Santa!!

Let's see......Lauren is doing well. She is our firecracker and the littlest thing can set her off in hysterics. Most times it is because she wants to do something herself, that she isn't physically capable to do.....like walk down stairs. She is much better at fine motor skills than Jake was at her age (using utensils, climbing, dancing etc). Where she excels at motor skills, she lacks in vocabulary. She still isn't really talking....at least not in english. At this age Jake had over 50 words that we could understand. Lauren will say uh oh if she drops something or in other situations that it is appropriate. Everything else is some form of da-da or a whiny cry. She will "talk" to us quite seriously in a full sentence, but for the life of us we cannot comprehend a single word. I shouldn't compare, it will come at some point. It is just frustrating that we can't figure out what she is saying.

I took Jake to a pediatrician for his witholding issue and we are on a long term laxative. He was quite distended and the dr. said it can take up to a year for the bowel to heal. Apparently smooth muscle takes a long time to repair itself. So in the meantime he is on PEG (polyethylene Glycol) to keep the bowel empty. Eventually he will be slowly weaned off of it. Because of this, I haven't been pushing potty training. He is starting to go pee on the potty and occasionally will say he has to go, but I am not putting him in underwear yet until we get the poop thing more under control. If he starts saying he has to go and we can get to the potty, then I may consider it, but because he "can't" keep it in, I don't want to deal with that kind of mess just yet......

I am really busy at work and am in a transition of sorts. My boss sold the company, so I am going to be working for a larger company who happens to be owned by one of Tom's friends. It is a larger company (70+ employees in 2 offices versus me and Lynne). We'll see how it goes. I am still trying to become a doula, but still haven't had any births to attend. I am meeting a friend tomorrow who is due in October, so hopefully that will work out.

Tom had his big snowmobile trip in February to Valemount. He had a blast and LOVED the area, so he will definitely go back there next year. He too is busy at work.

Well I think that briefly brings you all up to date in our lives....it was a condensed version and there were lots of humerous things that Jake did or said, but I can't remember now what they were......

I'll try not to leave this for another 3 months....no promises of course!

I'll post some pics in another post.

Snow, Snow and more Snow

Jake's new "bike"

Lauren just asking to fall on her head

the car under 18" of snow

The pretty front yard in the snow pic, notice how bent the branches are from all the snow

This is my 100th post......do I still have a faithful audience? I wouldn't doubt if some of you have left, since my posts are very inconsistent. Thank you to those of you still reading!


We were inundated with snow this weekend. We haven't seen this much in a long time. The temperature was cold enough that the snow was dry and fluffy as opposed to the heavy, sloppy mess that we usually get......and yes it is in a sloppy state right now.


On Saturday we got 18 inches of snow!! Then on Sunday we got a few more, but it warmed up overnight and it is raining right now (has been most of the day). So all the fluffy, pretty snow is now a gross, sloppy mess. I decided to stay off the roads and work from home today. Tom braved the crazy drivers and went to work.


I wonder how many rain on snow events we will get this time. It was only a couple of weeks ago that we had the last storm (no snow for us, but up the hill there was) resulting in numerous slides on the island. I was supposed to go look at one last week to determine the impacts to fish habitat, but we had to cancel because of the snow......and it will be awhile yet before I can get there.

Pig Tails

Need I say more? My little cutie pie is almost ready for pig tails......

Lauren's Party

On Sunday we had Lauren't party. I had Lauren all decked out in a party dress, but forgot to get a picture of her......I will have to re dress her up and "pretend" it is her party! She was well behaved considering she didn't have a morning nap. She had fun eating her cake (that I actually made on my own) and showed all her guests how good of an eater she is and how quickly she freaks out when she thinks she should have more of something (it was grapes and watermelon and hotdog at the party).

She opened her presents....I mean Jake and Mom opened the presents while Lauren did her own thing. She was quite impressed with a stuffed dog that Uncle Brock got her. She immediately hugged it tight with a huge grin on her face. She got some stacking cups from Grandpa that occupied her attention for a long time after the party. She was fascinated with putting them into each other, finding things to drop in them, stacking them and knocking them over.

So after two parties we have a house full of new toys to play with and Christmas is around the corner.......oh boy, we better clear some space!!

the only picture I have of Lauren in her dress...

Jake's Party

For Jake's birthday this year my friend Michelle and I did a joint party for Jake and Caitlin who are two days apart. We would have had Noah there too (he is in the middle), but they are living in Ontario right now. We booked a party at an indoor play place called Let Em Loose. The kids had a blast! It was so much fun this year. Jake is finally GETTING it. He knows what to expect and had fun opening his gifts, blowing out the candles and all the other birthday party stuff.

We had a little adventure on the way home though. We were most of the way home and we were stopped by a fireman saying that the road was closed because of an accident that had knocked down some power lines so we had to wait for the Hydro people to clear the road. We ended up waiting for almost an hour while Tom and Lauren sat at home in the dark.

Birthday Boy and Birthday Girl

Kisses

Forever Friends

Checking out his new wheels!

Stormy Weather

Oyster River

Oyster River

On November 12 we had a wind storm that knocked our power out for 30 hours. Every time the power goes out we are a little more prepared than the last. This time we had the luxery of a generator to keep the fridge and freezer going, as well as a space heater if we needed it. We had Monday night dinner and Tuesday morning breakfast by candlelight.

We took a drive to check out the damage.....a section of the highway was washed out due to the combination of the storm and a really high high tide. We stopped by the beach to throw rocks. We then drove to the river at our local swimming hole to check out the level of the river. As you can see by the pics, it was snorting!!! In the top picture is a rock that is usually almost completely out of the water and is ~6ft high....just to give a hint at how deep the river was that day.

Back to Work, A Birthday Girl and a little this and that

this is how Lauren looked for almost 3 weeks.....cute eh?

Yeah yeah, I/we got lost in life for awhile. Now that I am officially back to work, life got a little more hectic. Less time to spend on the computer. I don't know where to start. Lauren is walking now, she has 4 teeth and eats as much if not more than Jake. She is a happy girl most of the time, but is quite vocal when things don't go her way. The battles between brother and sister are a constant thing these days. I feel I am forever telling Jake to leave his sister alone, don't push her, don't take things away from her or telling Lauren that it wasn't that bad and to chill out.

Since it is fresh in my brain Jake said a funny this morning. Jake said that he wanted "O's" for breakfast and then said he wanted cream of wheat. Tom said that he could only have one or the other. Jake turns to me and says "Mommy I want the other for breakfast, not the front one" I thought that was funny.

We are officially into the rainy season here. Just in time for me to be back to work with some field work lined up. What a way to get back into it.....

I know most of you are more interested in pictures so I will post of bunch......enjoy!

I forgot to mention that we also spent about a three week period with Lauren being sick. She had tonsilitis, pneumonia and a bladder infection. Not fun times......but we got through it.

Next weekend we have both Jake's birthday party and Lauren's. That will be busy. Jake's is on Saturday at a local indoor play gym. It is a combined party with Caitlin who is 2 days older than Jake. Sunday the party for Lauren is here. I haven't really planned anything for it, so I better get my act together since I work Tues-Thurs this week. That doesn't leave me with much preparation time.

Welcome Little One

I would like to take a quick moment to welcome Jake and Lauren's new little cousin into the world.

On Monday October 29, Auntie Chrissy and Uncle Colin had a little girl. They named her Marley Clara Matheson and she weighed in at 6lbs 13oz (exactly what I weighed when I was born!).

We are heading down tomorrow to meet her and I can hardly wait to get my snuggles in!!

Here is a pic of the precious bundle of joy!

I will be back to post some recent pics of the kids and fill you in what has been happening over the last month.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just a quick picture of what Jake made this morning. Now I am off to start the turkey......I haven't done one since 2001, let's hope I remember how.

Have a great day and happy eating!!