HAPPY 65th BIRTHDAY DAD / GRANDPA

Today we celebrated my dad's 65th birthday. We gathered for brunch and some family fun in the backyard (minus Jal because she is away - we missed you Jal). 

Kieran and Quinn thought it would be great to have a pinata at "Grandpa's" party. They decided that it had to be a Justin Bieber one and it must be stuffed full of Halloween candy. We all took turns bashing the pinata - but in the end "Grandpa" finally broke through and released the candy! We enjoyed celebrating this milestone and can't wait for many more to come! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 

Dad / Grandpa getting ready to bash the pinata

Kieran's turn

Quinn's turn 

Jacob's turn (with a little help from Mommy)

Charlotte's turn (with a little help from Mommy)

Kelley's turn

Jacob and Charlotte waiting for their "brunch"

Cousins!!

The cousins hanging out on the floor

I love Charlotte and Jacob's faces in this picture! 

Grandpa and his grandchildren (not the best pic I've ever taken)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 

TWINS...TWINS AND MORE TWINS.....

Today we met Lindsay (and her twins Andrew and Teagan) and Shaun (and her twins Kai and Kaz) for a picnic at the Beach. It was great to see everyone and so amazing to watch all the kids interact with each other. Four of the six kids are "on the move" so keeping them confined to the blankets and not eating leaves and dirt was a challenge. 


Andrew, Teagan, Kai, Kaz, Charlotte and Jacob "met" at the St. Mike's NICU. They have all come a long way since our time there. It has been great fun getting to know Andrew, Teagan, Kai and Kaz (as well as their parents) over the past nine months and we look forward to sharing lots of milestones with them over the years to come. 

Teagan all smiles on the play mat

Charlotte and Kai hanging on the mat

Kaz was the fastest mover of them all

Andrew enjoying a moment with "Sophie" (I just love his bald head)

Kai, Kaz (11.5 months), Charlotte, Jacob (Almost 9 months), Teagan and Andrew (11.5 months)

A PLAY IN THE PARK....

Today I took Charlotte and Jacob to the park for the first time. We met my friend Kristie and her little girl Katie there for a "play date". I decided to try Charlotte and Jacob in the swing to see if they liked it and as you can imagine they loved it. Jacob was so relaxed during his "swing time" that he actually fell asleep! 

A swing built for sharing

Charlotte not too sure what to think...but she loved it! 

Swinging is so much fun...why did we wait so long to try it?! 

It's also exhausting...zzzz

AND THEN THERE WERE...TWO

Jacob may have taken the 1st tooth "award"...but Charlotte has decided she can do one better....this past weekend she cut two teeth on the bottom. The first popped through on Friday and the second made its appearance sometime between last night and this morning. Both are small and like Jacob too hard to capture by picture but they are sharp! So far teething hasn't really been a lot of fun to go through...lots of tears have been shed. Charlotte seems to be struggling with it more than Jacob but he has had his moments too. I'm hoping that with each new tooth the pain becomes more tolerable for the kids - it sure isn't a lot of fun to see them (or hear them) in pain. 

LET THE BRUSHING BEGIN...JACOB HAS A TOOTH :)

It's pretty tiny and you can't really see it yet (hence the reason there is no picture) but you can certainly feel it when you touch his front bottom gums. Despite its size it is sharp! He has been making funny sucking sounds with his lips the past few days so we think he must know something is different. He will either open and close his mouth biting down on his gums (kind of like an old man who forgot to put his dentures in) or suck like he's got a hard candy in his mouth.  Both are quite cute. We look forward to more teeth arriving over the coming weeks - as long as they don't cause pain and an upset baby - luckily this first one wasn't too bad. So after months of blaming things / moods on "teething" we can legitimately do so now! 

Charlotte is close to getting her first tooth but none have cut through her gums yet....with twins it is always interesting to see who does what first and up until now it has been Charlotte leading the way - - but J-man decided he wasn't going to stand for that anymore and took this "milestone"! 

HAPPY EIGHTH MONTH "BIRTHDAY" CHARLOTTE AND JACOB

It is funny how true the expression "time flies when you're having fun" is. We certainly are having fun here. It is extremely hard to believe that it is August 30th today and that a week from now kids will be heading back to school and we will have marked the "unofficial" end of summer with the passing of Labour Day weekend...but most of all it is hard to believe that Charlotte and Jacob are 8 months old today. A lot has happened from August 1st - August 30th including:


Gaining more weight: Charlotte weighs 15 lbs 12 oz and Jacob weighs an impressive 15 lbs 6 oz. 


Sleeping through the night: Doyle and I continue to enjoy our consecutive stretches of sleep thanks to the fact that both kids continue to sleep through the night. We are trying to stretch their bedtime to 7pm in preparation for my return to work (so we'll get some good play time with them when we get home ) and in the hope they'll sleep a bit longer in the morning. They have been waking between 5:30 and 6am for their morning feed but we'd love to hear from them around 6:30 or 7am - or even later if they felt so inclined ;)


Rolling over: We officially have two "rollers" in the house. They can now roll completely (back to front and front to back). They even prefer to play on their tummy vs their back when we put them down on their play mat. 


"Words": Both Charlotte and Jacob started saying "da da da" this month. It is often the first thing they say when they wake up in the morning. Doyle thinks this is a very fun way to start the day and is often the first in their room to get them from their crib. Last night Charlotte discovered the "t" sound and was saying it over and over again - Doyle said she's practising for our adventure to the CNE on Friday when she'll ask us for "Tiny Tom" donuts! 


Sitting up: I decided to test Charlotte and Jacob today to see if they could sit for a short period of time on their own...both were successful and seemed quite proud of themselves. We still have a bit of work to do before they are sitting alone for long periods of time but it's exciting to see they are developing the core strength to keep them upright. 


Solid food: We continue to experiment with solid foods. This month they have tried actual pieces of food along with their "baby mush in the jar". They enjoyed turkey deli meat, cheese, yoghurt, bread, and beans in tomatoe sauce. 


Favourite things: I have started to notice that the kids have some favourite things. These include...

• Bath time (they love kicking and splashing in the big tub) 
• Their blankets in their beds (they love to suck the satin edge when they go to sleep)
• Sophie the giraffe (both love to chew on Sophie on the play mat)
• Fingers (Charlotte loves her fingers - she has started to grab her pinky finger with one hand and wave her fingers around like she's making a bird - we can't help but laugh every time she does it)
• Exersaucer (We now have two because the kids loved the one we had so much - so now they spend time playing beside each other upright in their exersaucer) 

Activities outside the house: Walks in the stroller, More Stars and Strollers movies (Friends with Benefits, The Help, and 30 Minutes or Less), We completed our 8 week session at Rainbow Songs music class last Friday

Tomorrow we have our NICU follow-up at Sunnybrook. They will be observing the kids at their "six month corrected age". Stay tuned for that update...

HAPPY SEVEN MONTH "BIRTHDAY" CHARLOTTE AND JACOB...

Charlotte and Jacob turned seven months on July 30th. We were up north hence the delay to this post. 


It is hard to believe they are seven months already. The time is flying by and before we know it we will officially be singing "Happy 1st Birthday" to them. A lot has happened from July 1 - July 30 including:

• Gaining more weight: Charlotte weighs 14 pounds 2 ounces and Jacob weighs 13 pounds 10 ounces
• Eating more solid food: In addition to the many fruits and veggies Charlotte and Jacob have been eating this month we introduced more meats into their diet. They have been eating chicken, beef and turkey. They aren't quite sure of these new additions but we continue to provide them to them so they can get used to the new tastes and textures
• Continuing to sleep through the night: Jacob still has an edge over Charlotte in this department. He is the more consistent and deeper sleeper. Charlotte still tends to wake up at least once over the course of a night but we go in turn her from her stomach to her back (she hasn't quite mastered this move yet) and head back to sleep ourselves. 
• Rolling over: This has been the biggest accomplishment this month for Charlotte and Jacob, although he still prefers to lie on his back. Charlotte loves to roll from her back to her front but struggles to get from her front to her back. She has done it a few times but still needs some more practice. When she is on her stomach she loves being able to see the world from this new vantage point! 
• Playtime in the exersaucer: Our friends Andrew and Bonnie bought the kids an "Old Macdonald had a farm" exersaucer and Charlotte loves spending time in this new toy. We affectionately call it the circle of neglect because we can put her in it and do stuff while she happily plays away. Jacob has only tried it twice he's still a bit small for it and spends more time wobbling around it in than actually playing! 
• Celebrating Grandma Pam's 65th birthday: We celebrated my mom's 65th on July 10th. 
• Meeting Uncle Mike and Uncle Andrew for the first time: We flew my brothers Michael and Andrew up from California as a surprise for my mom's 65th birthday. The surprise couldn't have gone better and it was great to introduce the boys to their niece and nephew
• First swim in a lake: Charlotte and Jacob enjoyed their first "swim" in a Lake on July 16th at Paul and Judy's cottage on Lake Muskoka. The water was quite warm and the kids enjoyed splashing / wading around in the water
• First time at Sandy Lake: We spent the last week of July (23-29) at my dad and Sandy's cottage on Sandy Lake in Buckhorn. It was a fun week away from the City and we are looking forward to visiting again soon
• Activities outside of the house: Walks in the stroller, porch time, and Rainbow Songs music class at St. Cuthbert's Church on Friday's