Go, go, go

It seems like lately all I'm doing is getting ready, packing up the kids and going from one event or activity to the next. Being unable to sit-still for long periods of time (and going stir-crazy REALLY quickly!) this should be right up my alley. However, I'm starting to feel a little drained... and I feel like that's taking a toll on my kids :(

Anyway, last week Adelyn had dance camp and it was pretty good. She seemed to enjoy it (all the while doing her classic Ady "freeze" dancing [which is simply not moving]) and looked forward to seeing her friends and doing the crafts everyday. It was also nice for her to get a good hour of play time that wasn't with the darned TV in the background! I'm sooo trying to get away from having the TV on all-day (whether it's being watched or not) but it's hard when it's in reach and can be easily turned on whenever they want it to be.
Adelyn's also shown a REAL interest in wearing big-girl underwear. She has been fighting the pull-ups at every turn and really wants to wear her princess underwear. This is fabulous and I should be embracing this whole-heartedly. However, she still pees right through to the floor, sometimes not even reacting to it. And sadly, I go from 0 to 60 on the frustration scale INSTANTLY and I can't handle all the accidents and so she always ends up back in pull-ups. And to be fair, if we were staying home all day, she would be in underwear so that hopefully we'll finally get the hang of this potty-training thing, but again (refer to the title) we're always on the move. Sigh. One day soon, hopefully. Now it's all me, I have to commit to doing it, I just don't want to have an unhappy home again.

On my last post I completely forgot to mention that Lolo cut two teeth! She got her first on July 30th and the second two days later! It was a very promising time for me as I hoped it'd mean she'd start eating some food... but it didn't! She has been on a diet of ONLY vanilla yogurt and breast milk for a really long time and I was starting to worry about how I was going to go back to work with a baby who won't take a bottle and doesn't eat ANYTHING! So we went to the doctor on Wednesday and she said (since she's only gained a pound since May) that I needed to start "starving her out" so she has no choice but to eat. So it started that night... instead of her waking every couple hours through the night and me feeding her I was supposed to do nothing and let her cry. GULP... could I do that??? Well, I did, and it was painful! The poor little girl went to bed at 6:30 and then woke up around 9:00 p.m. She cried until about 11:00 and then fell asleep. She then woke again at 2:00 am, and while I did drift in and out, I don't think she stopped crying at all until I finally went into her room at 5:15 a.m. and fed her. I felt awful (and my boobs were HUGE!) but I knew it needed to be done.

That morning she had some yogurt for breakfast, some rice cereal for lunch and even a few tiny pieces of goldfish crackers for a snack. She was EATING!!! It was a miracle!!!

So, that night I put her to bed preparing for the worst again, but happy we saw results pretty quickly. Well, since that night she's been sleeping from 6:30ish until 5:30 a.m. the next morning, without waking!!!! WOW! I'm over-joyed!!! I've been getting up to feed her and then she'll sleep again until 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. Lucky me!!! I'm so proud and happy! She's also now quite fond of muffins made from Presidents Choice muffin mix and so I think I'll be buying those by the caseload!
Lauren's still cruising around the furniture like crazy, and is a fast little crawler and can even "sign" a couple things too (her own versions of "up" and "all done") and LOVES to clap and is very excited when she does!
She did have her first real accident the other night. Adelyn has discovered how to open the gate to the stairs and did so and then walked away and speedy little Lauren bolted for the opening and fell down the stairs!!! Luckily, Andrew was on the computer and got some weird feeling telling him to look over, so he was already looking at the stairs before Lauren started to fall and when she did, he was already jumping up to get her. So she only fell down a few stairs (before being rescued by Daddy the hero) and wasn't hurt at all, but it was still VERY scary!

And as for me, my lovely sister surprised me with a dinner out with some girlfriends on Saturday night for my birthday! I know my birthday's still over a week away, but we're so busy with weddings that there wasn't any time closer to the actual day. So she showed up at the house and took me up to the falls where Holli, Brittny, Jalene, Kendra and Sara were all waiting. We had a great dinner and a great time! It was the first time in YEARS I've done something for my birthday and I'm so happy it happened and I've been blessed with some great friends and an awesome sister!

Anyway, that's it for now!

Cheers,

A, M, a & l

Ah... Holidays!

We just concluded (well, a week ago) another week (plus a day) of our annual Island holiday and it was the best one yet! Again we found ourselves in a cabin (newly updated with new carpets and furniture!) at Pacific Playgrounds at Oyster River (Black Creek) on Vancouver island for some summer fun away from home.
We had some really rough weather last year (leading to a really grouchy me!) and I was dreading we'd encounter the same this year, but was pretty hopeful as we got closer to leaving home as it had been hot and sunny for the past couple weeks. WELL, it was an average of 36 degrees (on the water!!!) every single day there! Lucky for us our cabin's "yard" had some pretty decent shade, with only about 2 hours or so without a lot of good shade to hide in.
Both Adelyn and Lauren had a blast as we took full advantage of the "tot pool" (2 ft deep) to keep cool. Andrew's parents and siblings (sans Janice), Auntie Marge and Uncle Merv were there camping as per usual and then the Van Winkles came for the last 5 days to keep us company. So between our cabin, Jean and Joan's campsite, the pool, the field, the playground and the beach there was A LOT to do/see to keep us busy!

Ady's favorite part seems to have been the morning we spent at Saratoga Beach as she keeps mentioning the "ocean" and how she got to play there. Although I'm sure jumping into the pool (by herself!), playing on the playground, riding her run bike and chasing Andrew Van Winkle around would be close seconds.
Lolo is DEFINITELY a water baby! She also really enjoyed floating around in the tot pool (and in our blow up pool we brought for our "yard."), but more than that she just LOVED the beach! I let her kick her feet in the ocean and she quite enjoy it, so then I sat her down in it, thinking she'd splash a bit and then be done and just watch the other kids play. But no, she took off crawling around the beach and had the time of her life. She'd crawl into the water and sit and splash, then out of the water on to the beach. Then down the water/sand line towards the action of the other kids and then start all over again. She was truly in her glory! She did eat a bit of sand and wasn't too pleased about it, but didn't fuss at all, just made a funny face and kept going!

The girls shared a room in the cabin and that actually went pretty well. There were two times that we had to move Ady into our room at night and it wasn't because one's crying woke the other, it was because they were playing and laughing too much and weren't going to bed! It was SO cute!
It was also so stinkin' hot in the cabin at night that even with a fan, it was pretty uncomfortable to sleep. Poor Lolo wet her bed nearly every other night too, so that didn't add to the comfort level.

Lauren was also on Reactin during the trip after a recent ear infection led to antibiotics then Rosiola and then possibly Fifth Disease (and a pretty awful rash!) and so I had to try and shove Reactin down her throat every night to help keep the rash at bay. Thankfully that's over because it's hard enough trying to get a baby to take a syringe full of medicine, never mind one that doesn't like to eat ANYTHING!

Andrew seemed to have a good time on the trip too... he read a couple books, went golfing a couple times (once with me! Yay for finally using my golf clubs!), sat in the river drinking beer, beat his dad quite handily in Crib and enjoyed soaking up the sun.
I had a great time as well... I loved the beach with my girlies, loved "swimming" in the tot pool with them, enjoyed my daily walks, enjoyed the company and, of course, the sun! I got a pretty wicked leg burn/tan too that made me look completely ridiculous in a bathing suit, but that's not important...

Anyway, although we had a fantastic trip, it's always good to be home and back into a more regular routine. We now start gearing up for part 2 of our wedding season (with one or more of our family members involved in Janice's, Jarad's and Danielle's weddings) and then (sniff, sniff) before I know it my maternity leave's over and it's back to work I go!

Man, time flies... I'd better stop to smell the roses before I run out of time!

Cheers,

A, M, a & l

PS- I'll post pics from the trip soon... Ady's on my lap right now and is impatient, so I definitely don't have time to post them now.