Where Does the Time Go?

Well besides having my dad here for a week, an awful cold, a baby who suffers from upset tummy most the night, and Rawley's swimming and curling each week....I don't know where all my time goes. It has been almost 2 weeks since I blogged and it feels like I just did it.

Well since my last post we had my dad here for a week

It was such a nice visit. Both Thursday and Saturday we had all of Ryan's family over for dinner to visit and play games. On Saturday we went out to the Reptile Gardens just east of Brandon. There was everything from Crocodiles to frogs and fish. It was pretty cool.

On Sunday we carved pumpkins with my dad. It seems we are starting a tradition. It was still a little early to carve though so I am not sure they are going to last till Halloween. Ryan's is already starting to deform a bit. We had a lot of fun though.

~Rawley, Papa, Ryan, Me~

Monday I left Everett with Grandma and my dad and I went to visit Ryan's uncle. He works out in the oil fields and he gave us a bit of a tour and taught us a lot about the process of pumping oil. I have always found it interesting so I thought it would be neat to take my dad out there to see it all. He enjoyed himself too. Then we finished the afternoon with a few drinks at the bar.

Also within the week Rawley started curling. He has only had two practices but is really getting the hang of it. He really enjoys himself too which is even more important. So far they have only practiced what to do so Rawley is really looking forward to their first game.

Last Wednesday I had to take my dad back to Winnipeg to fly home. The day was bittersweet. It was sad saying good-bye to him knowing I will not see him till we go home in March, but the trip to Winnipeg gave me another chance to visit Janie and her girls.

Annika had already grown since I saw her 2 weeks prior. Her and Everett tried to have some play time on the floor but Everett could not control his flailing arms. Once he can stop accidentally hitting her or trying to suck on her hands I am sure they will be great friends.

And that is what I have been doing...up until Last Friday.

MIlestones

Everett has been a little bit behind in a lot of the baby milestones. This is totally normal given the fact that he was 5 weeks premature. All the doctors told me to go by his corrected age instead of his real age. It was hard to do though because people ask how old he is and I tell them the real age then they ask, "so is he doing this yet?" or "does he do that yet?".

Last week we met another baby and she was 3 weeks younger than Everett. I was talking with the mom and we were comparing stories. She was tilling me how her daughter grabs everything and puts it right into her mouth. She asked if Everett does the same and I replied, "Well he is actually not holding anything in his hands yet, and has not reached out for anything either. He pretty much just chews his hands."

I didn't' feel bad, but wondered when he was going to start doing those things. Then the next day as if to say, "Mom, I can so do those things", Everett reached out for a toy and put it right in his mouth. After that he has been holding toys in his hand and reaching for his toys as well. He also plays with his froggy toy on his car seat, and reaches out to touch the baby in the mirror.

Not only that but all in the same week Everett hit a few more milestones.
He:
Started pushing himself up when on his tummy.
Started holding his head at 90 degrees while on his tummy.
Then the next day he rolled over from his tummy.
He started rubbing his eyes when he got tired.
And he starting standing on his legs. He can bear his own weight for a few minutes now before he gets tired.

So, I pulled out the baby book again and read all the 'your baby should be able to', 'your baby may be able to' and 'you baby might even be able to'. There are only 2 things out of all that Everett cannot do yet. So really he is not behind at all in the development area.

He is still smaller that most 4 (almost 5) month olds and he still only eats 3-4 ounces every three hours, but that will change soon too I am sure.

"Look everyone, I can stand up"

These are a couple pictures I was taking of him pushing himself up. I was so proud that he was holding his head up, then all of a sudden he rolled over. At first I thought Ryan had pushed him over because I was just so shocked. Everett has rolled over several times since then. I have been trying to take video of it and finally yesterday I caught him. I can't upload videos to my blog for some reason, but will put them up on facebook for those of you on there.

Videos..

If anyone out there in blog land knows how to up load videos to blog ...HELP!
I have tried 6 or 7 times, but it always tells me an error has occured.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday before Turkey dinner we went out to the Meander Creek Pumpkin Patch. It was a beautiful day for it and we arrived right when they opened and missed most of the big crowds. During the time we were there the longest line we had to stand in was about 3 people, by the time we left there was a line of about 30 people just waiting to get in. Everett was also in a wonderful mood the whole time we were there. Now, he did cry a lot of the way out there and most of the way home, but while we were there he was super.

We started the day of with hot dogs. The decided which stuff we were going to buy tickets to do.

I love how angry Everett looks in this picture.

Rawley being an awesome big brother and cuddling Everett.


Rawley sucked up against the board to make himself bigger.

Everett liked the slide, until they fell off at the bottom.

Being cute.

The Corn Cannon

I accidentally bonked Everett's head on the wood this time. Opps

Rawley got a duck for the races and was happy to find out they had a hockey duck.

Waiting for the Hay Ride to start.

The cost to get in is very reasonable. It was $8 with a coupon for the three of us to get in (Everett was free). Your admission included the hay bale maze/tunnels, miking a fake cow, riding trikes in a circle, and looking at the animals. But you had to buy tickets for everything else. Of course Rawley wanted to do it all too.

The Pumpkin sling shot $1.50 (and you didn't even get to sling a pumpkin, it was 3 tennis balls)

The Corn Cannon $1.50 to shoot 2 pieces of corn

The Zip Line $1.50 to ride a 25 foot zip line twice.

Then I wanted to go on the hay ride and it was $3.00 per person.

The only thing that was a good deal was the duck races. You paid $1.50 for a duck, raced it as many times as you wanted all day long, then got to take the duck home.

So, over all I had a wonderful day with my family, Everett was great and up to taking lots of pictures, Rawley had a blast and the weather was unbelievable....however, with food the day cost us over $40. That's a little steep for my pocket book.

It's Official

Good Bye BC plates, Hello Manitoba Plates.

On Wednesday I went and got my Manitoba drivers licence and my Manitoba insurance. My Beautiful British Columbia plates are in the mail to ICBC Cancellations. I was kind of hoping I could keep them, but I cannot cancel my insurance without sending them back and I thought $150/month was a little steep just to hang on to my plates.

Good Bye '628-Love Cute Puppies'. Hello 'Feel Tired Always-111'
That is a lame way to remember. Anyone got anything better for 'FTA'?

A Friendship to Last a Lifetime.

Janie has been my best friend for many years. We met 22 years ago on the school playground in Matsqui Village. Although we have grown apart and back a couple times she has been the only true best friend I have had.

Janie moved to Manitoba right after High school to go to college. After meeting and marrying her husband Dave she never moved back to BC. What a strange and wonderful way life works to now bring me to Manitoba so we can be close again.

Janie is the one friend I can spend months or years apart from but still talk as though there has not been anytime away at all. I am so excited that we live only a few hours away and that I can visit her and her family often. Not only that but she has two beautiful little girls I can enjoy when my boys are driving me crazy! Corrina is 4 and baby Annika is only 2 weeks old.

Monday I left Everett with Grandma and went to Winnipeg to see them. It was a wonderful day. I was there for over 5 hours and I have no idea where the time went but we had such a great visit. I got to hang out with Corrina and talk with her a bit, I got to hold in my arms a beautiful little tiny newborn baby girl and I got to visit with my best friend.

The old odd part of the visit was that I did not take a ton of pictures. Most of you that know me I'm sure will be shocked. I'm sorry but we were just so busy talking that I kind of forgot.

These are the pictures I did get though


Annika starring at me wondering, 'who are you and why are you trying to make me take this sucky thing?'
Annika sleeping so peacefully in her care seat after we went shopping.
And the drive home.

Sorry those are all the pictures I have.

Thank you so much Janie for having me over. Can't wait to see you again.

Keeping Promises.

Rawley has become a huge fan of golf. We usually just take him to the driving range, but earlier this summer Gary & Ryan took him golfing and he loved it. Rawley has wanted to go again for a while so we promised that before the summer was over we would take him.

It was a really nice afternoon. Rawley has not gotten a whole lot of attention lately with Everett being early, sick, home, fussy... All the energy and attention seems to go to the baby so this was a special day for Rawley and us.

We played 9 holes and Rawley did pretty good. Par on the course is 30. Ryan got 38, I got 55 and Rawley got 68. I think that is pretty good for a small guy that has only golfed twice before. We rented clubs for him. He got a driver, an iron and a putter.

By the 8th whole we could tell that he was starting to get tired but over all he was so positive and patient with himself. It was really enjoyable. Not to mention we had about the best weather ever to golf in. It was sunny and about 20 degrees with a nice breeze.

Rawley liked to wash his ball a lot.


I just love this picture. He looks so professional and stylish in it.

After golf we went and had pizza and ice-cream. I think all in all it was a great afternoon.

Well Hello Blog...

...nice to have time to see you again.

What have we been up to lately? A lot. On top of hospital visit, catching mice in our house and me locking myself out of the house we have been busy.

Everett had 2 good nights sleep in a row. Last night was not one of them however, but before that was good. He went down at about 9, ate at 2 then again at 5 and then slept till 6:30. Now I wish he would sleep a little bit later than 6:30, but I certainly am not going to complain about that. Last night he fussed a lot and was in bed with me at 5:20 this morning. Here's to hoping tonight is another good night.

Rawley is having some trouble at swimming lessons. He needs a little bit more self confidence and a instructor that is a little bit more understanding but other than that it is going well. He is shorter than everyone else in his group by at least 6 inches and where they are in the pool he cannot touch. This scares him a lot and he believes he can't do it. I know he can but the fear sometimes stops him from going in . We are working on that.

Next Thursday is Rawley's first night of curling. He is joining a curling group this winter and will curl right through till March I believe. I am so excited for this. I can't wait to take him. One of the problems with sports here is everything for kids seems to start so early that Ryan is missing out on seeing it. Rawley's swimming is at 4:30 and curling will start at 4:15. Ryan does not usually get home till 6ish.

Saturday night I fell asleep on the couch and Ryan kindly told me I could go to bed. (is was only 9:30) Then at about 10:30 he came in and told me, "Tammy there is a mouse in our kitchen". I acknowledged him but then rolled over and went back to bed. Now I do care that there is a mouse, but I was too tired to do anything about it at that time. Then he came and woke me up again, "please come out here so I can talk to you". Ryan is usually a very brave guy. He is my bug catcher, my spider killer and back in BC he was my raccoon warder offer. Obviously he is not fond of mice though because I have never seen him so worked up over an animal. He was panicked and didn't know what to do. He had all the lights in the house on, the doors wide open, his shoes on and his hockey stick in hand. After worrying about it for a few minutes he decided to call his dad for help. Gary came over with a trap and set it for us while I went back to bed. At 2 am when I got up to feed Everett I heard, 'snap...crash...bang...' Ryan checked in the morning and we had caught our mouse. Only problem is....now we have another one. bugger.

Rawley has made quite a few friends at school that also live in our complex. Most days I will find them outside playing hockey. This is Rawley dressed up in his friend's pads. I think he looks super cute.

Everett is in love with the ceiling fan at Grandma & Grandpa's house so sometimes I just lay him on the floor to watch it. Rawley loves his brother so much and takes an opportunity to hang with him so here they are laying on the floor together.
This is Everett's bulging head. It doesn't' look as bad as it felt but you get the idea. It was gross.

Everett was a really good boy at the hospital. The doctors had bad timing though because every time Everett fell asleep was when they wanted to come in and check him out. The first doctor thought he was so adorable. She told me, "We see a lot of cute babies here in the ER but I think this little one is one of the cutest I have ever seen". I was so proud.

After spending 3 hours in the ER the doctor had thought that maybe there were going to do a lumbar puncture to test for meningitis. After much conversation and seeing how happy he was and laughing they decided not to. He was just way to healthy and happy to be that sick. They decided it was a viral infection and that as he got better his head would return to normal. I am happy to announce that it has. And we are blaming daddy for bringing home that nasty cold that we all caught from him. Still love you though Ryan!