Solly finally found his way from his back to his tummy today! And he was SO impressed with himself! Probably because my mom and I were super enthusiastic about it…

He is SO CUTE! XD

He’s been working at it for a while now, but as anyone who has ever watched a baby try to roll over knows, he kept getting hung up on his arms. Well today he finally did it!

Solly is about 4.5 months, and while I know lots and lots of babies roll earlier, ours never do. They’re always 5+ months by the time they find their way onto their tummies. Especially in Sollys case, our kids always bring him toys, including the one that hangs over him, so he never has a real need to go anywhere. But this excites me 🙂 Don’t bother with the “Now you’re in for it” comments, I’m more than familiar with what comes next. I personally LOVE the stage when they start moving! My single roadblock with that this time around is that our front stairs don’t really accommodate a baby gate, so we’ll have to figure something out in the next couple of months. But I’m not worried. I love milestones! Great work, Solly man!

 

*** As an aside, I really want to thank everyone that was excited with me about receiving the first round of books in the mail. I really wish you could actually hold them in your hands and feel the excitement too. They just feel so real, and so good! Eek!! Thanks for the support <3

I have been saving posts for quite some time now, and putting them into a book format on a site that is centred around printing books at a reasonable price for people who want to be authors and sell their works. I don’t specifically have that desire, but I do love an affordable option that I can make work for myself. I ordered the first four books back in September and have been waiting on pins and needles for their arrival.

And then they didn’t come! Customer service had reassured me halfway through when I learned my order couldn’t be tracked that they would arrived on or before October 13th. On October 18th, I finally emailed customer service. Within the hour, they had refunded our shipping costs, which was a lovely and welcomed surprise. The customer service representative wrote me an email and said to notify him if I haven’t received my books by November 1st. While I wasn’t thrilled about waiting another two weeks, I had read in the FAQs that, if the books just never showed up and got lost in the mail, they’d be reprinted free of charge. So I took a breath and decided I was fine to wait.

AND THEY CAME THE NEXT DAY!

I am TOTALLY smitten with these books! I don’t want to be super self involved or anything, but it feels incredible to have them in my hands 🙂 I know I don’t have “I wrote a book, or four” status, but years of work and memories went into these books, and now, having them tangible and in front of me, its all worth it. The quality isn’t half bad either!

This has definitely added to my motivation to keep saving posts. Not that I had stopped! I have another book completed and ready, and I’m partway through another. I’ve just been taking my sweet time. While taking my time is completely within my rights, I pretty much blitzed through these ones that I now have, and I’m very eager for the rest!

So YAY!!!!! You guys should seriously come see these. They’re just incredible. And they’re HUGE. The box of four weighed over 11 lbs!! Thank goodness we didn’t have to pay shipping, hahaha! Win!

It has been SO nice to have such large laundry machines in our new house! Our past set was fine, but this is WAY better. Obviously, we can fit more into each load, and with six people in one house, we go through a LOT of laundry. Today, I will give you my laundry list (see what I did there?) of first world problems pertaining to having humungous laundry machines.

To offer some perspective, I’ll tell you about a specific load I did today. I washed all of the kids clothes today, and it was a good full load. It included 26 shirts, 10 sweaters/hoodies, 15 pairs of pants, 29 pairs of jammies, 22 pairs of socks (and two that don’t match) and 8 pairs of underwear. That all fit in one load! Pretty impressive, am I right?

The washer takes forever! I probably put two heaping hampers worth of clothing into the machine, so I can’t really blame it, but it washes for over an hour. The dryer takes EVEN LONGER! Like a SOLID hour and half, often more. I think the dryer bugs me more than the washer does. Firstly, the digital timer thing will tell me there are ten minutes left to dry, and when I go to check it ten minutes later, it say there are thirty minutes left. It can’t make up its mind! I think part of that is that, with so much clothing, the lint trap fills up halfway through the dryer cycle, and it doesn’t dry as efficiently. Another pet peeve is that, my two hampers of laundry are all fluffed to perfection, and I cannot come even remotely close to fitting them back into those two hampers. This is a VERY small problem, but it annoys me, nonetheless. You know when you overfill the dryer and even when something is dry and freshly removed from the dryer, its still wrinkled? Ya, thats all of my kids pants. For some reason, they’re back for that. Sigh.

I know, I know. “Hailey, do smaller loads.” I think I shall.

So I’ve decided! I’m going to break up the kids laundry by rooms. A load for Rowan and Dekker, and a load for Laela and Solly. That should eliminate some annoyances. Don’t lump is all together just because I can.

What better way to celebrate getting home safe than getting up to date on vaccines??

Solomon had his four month shots this morning, and then a regular check up to follow. I was anticipating the appointments for a few reasons. I love knowing his stats. I love not being super far behind on vaccinations. (We are still catching Rowan up) And I love the reassurance that he’s doing great. I also wanted to talk to Dr. Guselle about the appointment I had a couple months back, where I came in for reflux medication and came out feeling foolish and minimized. I obviously was not looking forward to the pain that comes from needles, but the rest, I was chomping at the bit for.

Solly is still a big little boy! He weighs 18 lbs 2 oz, in the 85%. He is 2′ 2.5″ tall, right on the 97%, and I didn’t catch his actual head circumference, but it was off the charts. I’m not surprised by any of that, honestly. He is doing all of the things he’s supposed to be doing – smiling, babbling, reaching and batting, grabbing, etc. He doesn’t roll yet but he sure tries! Plus, I haven’t really been thinking about it, and he lays on the floor and plays with hanging toys a lot, so he has no need to roll! Now that I’ve figured that out, he’ll be rolling in no time, I’m sure. He took his shots well. Cried, and was comforted nice and quickly. Laela and Rowan were very well behaved the whole time, and each got to pick a new toothbrush.

There was a longer time between shots and his appointment with his doctor than we expected, so Brady took Laela and Rowan out to the van, and I waited with Solly. He was getting a bit loud, so I walked him around a bit and he cashed out. I lay him down in his seat and we waited quietly together.

We got called in eventually, and they opted to weigh and measure him again. Cue my eye roll. I had all of the numbers in my head, but she didn’t want to convert pounds to kilos, so I had to undress Solly, wake him up, and lay him on a hard scale, which he did NOT appreciate. It was too bad. But the nurse was quite smitten with him, and he was nice and smiley back to her, so he perked up. Once everything had been done, he just lay out on the bed in the exam room and kicked and played while we waited for Dr. Guselle.

It was refreshing to see her on her own today. Solly stood on my lap and flapped and drooled while we visited. She commented on how much he looks like Dekker, which I LOVED. I know she sees a lot of people, but when it already would have been nice to hear that he looks like the crew, she knows that he looks MUCH more like Dekker did at this age! Really, really nice.

She asked lots of questions, and checked him all out. He didn’t fuss or fight with any of it. He even smiled when she had to check his throat, which almost never ever happens, but is so much better than using a tongue depressor and having him end up gagging.

When his reflux came up in conversation, she seemed really disappointed to hear that the appointment had gone so badly. She looked up who I had spoken to and was really surprised. But when I told her all that had been said, she said “You must have felt belittled, and discounted,” which are both words I used to describe it all when it had happened! She clearly understood how I felt, and said she would speak to the resident about it, and just remind her that the way she speaks can really send the wrong message. All is smoothed over, and I’m glad I got to speak to her about it. No weird feelings. After all, Solly is on the medication I knew he needed, and he is more than thriving.

Now, we’re all home. Well, except Brady at work and Dekker at school. Solly and Rowan are napping, and Laela is taking some downtime watching tv. And I’m doing this. I ordered my first four blog books a really long time ago and they are still not here 🙁 So I’m doing some research and trying to figure out some tracking info that is eluding me. Wish me luck!

I don’t know about you guys but we always end up getting home later than we originally planned. But today, somehow, we made it home in great time!! We got a really early start, for us anyway, and just clipped along. We stopped only for short spans of time, only as absolutely needed, and since our kids travel surprisingly well, the stops were few and far between!

I was nervous about the weather. It was beautiful in Winnipeg, and we had left a town filled with snow and ice and wind behind. We knew we were coming back to it. But surprise, surprise! Most of the snow seems to have melted off! The temperature was above zero, and the roads were clear. Praise the Lord for the weather clearing up in time for our arrival. I know winter is still upon us, but this was a nice, gentle “Welcome home, Born family!”

Thanks to our quick drive home, we were able to feed the kids some leftovers and keep the evening relaxed. And thanks to daylight savings, our children are an hour more tired, so we were able to put them down a little bit earlier! This is actually a life saver, because we have a bit of a fuller day tomorrow. Dekker heads to school nice and early, as usual, and then I need to head into the city with the other kids for some appointments for them. Everyone is going to be adequately exhausted, myself included, hahaha!

It is more than time for Brady and I to get a soak in the tub and go to bed early. Goodnight, everyone!

These visits to Winnipeg are always SO lovely, but they are always FAR TOO SHORT! I feel like we need to make our way out here for a week or something along those lines, so we can actually fit in seeing all of the many people we dearly love who live around here. This visit, however, revolved around us catching up with my sister and her husband, and as per usual, it was a lovely time together! They are some of the most loving people we know, and they are fabulous hosts. We are always so comfortable in their home.

We spent today at home, playing and eating and visiting and just being together. In the afternoon, we all came outside and walked around the yard a little bit. It started to rain a little bit, so we decided to go with our earlier plan to make a fire. We hauled branches and grass clippings and some boxes and all kinds of “fuel” to start a good, hot, whistly fire. Dekker worked tirelessly to rake up some more grass or to drag branches over to the fire to help. He was very concerned that animals would come and be hurt by the fire. I love how he thinks of all of that. He’s so very sweet. It didn’t take too terribly long for the wind to get the better of us, though. Caity and Stef are tougher than we are, but Brady and I hauled ourselves and our kids inside a bit earlier. Dekker asked for jammies but we couldn’t talk Laela or Rowan isn’t changing into anything warm or dry. Solly just slept in the ergo for a little while until I sat down (of course), when he woke up ready to play.

Everyone was nice and tired after being outside, and we skipped Rowan’s nap, so he was especially tired. But not in a disaster kind of way. Just a snuggly, zoned, tipsy kind of way. He fell down a lot, haha! But he also learned how to say “Chuggington,” which I’d say is an accomplishment, especially on a tired day.

We had mashed potatoes and barbecued chicken for supper, and some sugar cookies for dessert. We let the kids stay up a bit later, and when bedtime came, they were nice and ready for it.

The rest of us played video games for a couple of hours, and ate far too many snacks. It was awesome. And now, we’re tucking in and calling it a day. We drive home tomorrow! Real life begins again on Tuesday, with Brady back at work, Dekker at school, and Solly getting shots and his four month check up. Busy busy!

My sister and I went shopping this afternoon while the boys watched the kids. Thanks, boys! While shopping was a TOTAL blast, and I brought a few nice purchases, I’ll leave the pictures of the boys and kids here 🙂 They went to play outside and made a little fire while Rowan and Solly napped, and then went back out for round two once they woke up.

Have a great night!

Today is Brady’s 28th birthday! I had a super choppy night and felt really sick throughout it, so I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t the most fun partier this morning, when we woke up at 6:50am. I think I choked out a “happy birthday” a couple of hours into the day, when I remembered. Luckily, Brady had also forgotten it was his birthday. Oy. Not our best kick off.

However, on another level, it was an exceptional kick off, because we road tripped our way to Winnipeg today! The kids had been requesting to come visit Auntie Caity and Uncle Stefan all summer, but timing jut hadn’t worked out for either of us. We made a plan for this one small break in Brady’s schedule, and we’ve been anticipating it for a while. So this morning, we fed Solly, dressed the big kids, and headed for Winnipeg! We grabbed some Tims breakfast on the way out, turned on the music, and enjoyed the drive.

I can honestly say that the kids did awesome! We haven’t driven to Winnipeg since Rowan was itty bitty, so we weren’t completely sure what to expect. Plus, with Ro right at the stage of wanting badly to communicate, but not having too much language just yet, he screams SO MUCH. As fun as it sounds, being locked in a van with that for nine-ish hours isn’t exactly relaxing. But the littles surprised me by keeping the bickering to a very reasonable minimum, having positive attitudes, taking a short nap all at the same time, and not requesting too many impossible things.

The last hour of the drive, Solly cried. But thats often how the end of our trips play out, Brady reminded me. The kids hit the point of eight or so hours in a vehicle, and then they’re finished. We can’t blame them.

Once we got to Caity and Stefs, the kids dug into their toys instantly and we visited for a little while before putting the finishing touches on supper and having something yummy to eat. We had birthday ice cream cake after the littles went down 😉 The kids then went to bed (but talked forever) and we’re only going to bed ourselves now! Thus begins our weekend away 🙂 I’m so happy we made the trip, and am so anticipating the days to come <3

Brady and I were broken into school fully today, as we attended our first parent/teacher meeting! And I say “meeting” in the loosest sense of the word, but “interview” and “conference” weren’t right either. It wasn’t a stiff, sit-down, setting. Instead, there were a few stations set up throughout the two rooms, and we were given loose directions at each one that would help us witness what our kids have been doing so far this year. Since Dekker tells us virtually nothing about school, I’ve been really anticipating today’s meeting.

My mom came to the house to play with Rowan and Laela (Solly napped the entire time) and Brady came along with Dekker and I! We arrived on time and were sort of pointed in a handful of directions, told to mosey and enjoy. So we did!

We started at the “motor skills” table, where Dekker cut out a picture of a teddy bear, wrote his name on it, and glued it to a sheet of paper. Dekker has pretty much refused to use scissors when school started, but we hear that now he’s a very focused, determined scissor-user 🙂

We made our way to the “math” station, which was all about shapes, sorting, and patterns. I was actually really surprised at how well Dekker did! Not that basic patterns are hard to figure out, but we handed him a box of shapes and he just went for it, and made patterns! I feel like I would find that more intimidating than he did. He was able to see patterns that Brady and I made, and complete them himself. Win!

Station three was about reading, and he kind of clammed up on us there. They’ve only really cracked down on learning a small handful of letters, but he didn’t want to share about them. He wouldn’t recite any of their usual poems, and wouldn’t identify any letters. I found myself getting a bit frustrated, but I knew that he had excelled at the other stations, and this one just wasn’t his strongest point yet. He still liked being in the reading area, but I could tell he felt pressured. It was good to learn what we should be focusing more on.

The last station was actually sitting down with his teacher and discussing how he’s been doing, and what we’ve witnessed about him. For example, does he like to come to school? Who are his friends? How does he do once he’s home from school? Things like that. She and I have spoken about these things previously, so she knows that Dekker likes coming to school. I said to her that he wouldn’t tell us anything about their poems or letters, and she teased him and started saying a poem, which he giggled through with her, knowing all of the words. I mentioned to her that he has really big feelings, and that while his sad is VERY sad, his happy is also VERY happy. She was able to look me in the eye and say that the vast majority of the time, he is VERY happy. I was so thrilled to hear that. She said he is incredibly polite, and that he is very aware of right and wrong, and likes to follow directions and rules. I truly couldn’t be happier with her “review” of his personality, because I love how much she seems to love him. She asked him who his friends are, and then told him that other kids had been saying that he was one of their favorite people to play with, too. My mama heart weeps, in the best way.

Dekker was disappointed to leave. Not in a big, sad, making a scene kind of way. In the way that his face fell, and said “but there’s lots more to see!” It was adorable, and I just told him I was so happy he likes school so much.

Best Dekker update ever!!!

I almost named this post “Physio: Final Round,” but I figured I wouldn’t count my chickens, since a person can never know when they’ll need treatment and/or help along the way. And I would be happy to see my physiotherapist again, because she is lovely, and wildly knowledgable in her field. Whether I find myself in “trouble” down the road or not, I’m sure I’ll stick my nose in there another time or two, just to maintain what I’ve already got going on.

The reason I almost called this round “final” is that I have officially graduated out of the program, so to speak. I’ve done all that I’ve been asked to do, I understand everything I’ve been told, and I accept what I’m supposed to continue to do. Things are strong and always improving, and best of all, my physiotherapist is very optimistic in whats to come for me, healing and health-wise. Win!

I suppose I don’t have too terribly much more to say on the subject, but I’m feeling positive, optimistic, hopeful, and ready to accept the challenge that is continuing to improve my health, even without a looming appointment date where I know I’ll have to answer to someone on the subject. I will answer to ME, which I think is actually more important.

So I’m happy. I hope you’re happy too.