At some stages of life, we have fallen grossly behind in getting our kids vaccinated. We are pro-vaccination, but we are pretty relaxed about when it happens, as in if its a month later, it doesn’t matter. If I have shots scheduled and my kid comes down with even just a cold, we reschedule shots. Its just how we do it. To each their own.

With Solly, we’ve managed to stay pretty well on schedule! Solly was six months old just over a week ago, and I took him in for his six month shots this morning. I dropped Dekker off at school (its frigid out, by the way. Brrrrr!) and my mom graciously offered to stay home with Laela and Rowan so I could take Solly for some one on one time! This was also great, because if we were 3-1 at that appointment, likely Brady would have come to occupy the two middle kids, and this way, he didn’t have to lose any time out of his work day. It was a really nice set up 🙂 Thanks mom!

Solly and I got to clinic about ten minutes early, and he sat on my lap trying to eat the pen I was trying to fill out his forms with. It was cute, and the mother/daughter pair sitting across from us were quite enamoured. I don’t blame them. He is such a peach.

When we were called in, the nurse started going through the motions. She asked if he had been weighed recently, and I told her he was weighed about two weeks ago. But I asked if he could be weighed anyway. He had been sick at the time (we were right in the beginning of the HFMD debacle) and now, he was well, and has been eating a TON of solid food. So I was eager to see how much he had bulked up.

And he lost weight. He lost 1.5 lbs.

I was really surprised, and I mentioned to the nurse that he had lost weight. She said “well, I don’t have that information in front of me.” I didn’t really think that mattered, so I pressed a little bit.

Yes, he weighed 20 lbs 12 oz just two weeks ago.
He doesn’t look like he’s losing weight.
I see that he’s a chunky guy, too, but doesn’t that seem like a decent loss when he’s in better health than he was?
*clicks keyboard* Well he’s still in the 85th-99th percentile for everything, so I think his size is fine.

At that point, I gave up. I’m annoyed. I don’t think he’s in any kind of trouble, but I thought a weight loss like that warranted a bit more conversation. In the last while, Solly has really taken to solid foods, and while its been great, I wonder if maybe we’ve cut too far back on his milk and are just counting on the solids to carry him over, and its backfiring? (***Yes, I’m aware that people generally are to give their baby all the milk they want, and then just play and let them taste solids along the way. Milk is to be their main source of nutrition. I know this. Its different with reflux babies.***) I wish I could have discussed these things with this nurse, but she dismissed it very quickly, and I didn’t want to be annoying and overbearing.

All of this aside, Solly did great today. He only had to have one needle, and he let go a really high pitched, squealy cry, and then that was it. He was SO quiet while I snuggled him on my shoulder immediately after, I thought he was gearing up for a while wail, but I finally looked at his face, and he cooed at me. So I guess he was just done! He handled it like a champ. I hope he’s always this chill for his needles!

We finally decorated our tree yesterday evening. The kids LOVED it! At one point, Brady made he and I lattes, and we just sat back and watched the kids finish it up. As I’m sure you could guess, I have WAY too many pictures to commemorate the decorating, which is how you’re ending up with pictures and captions and nothing else. Enjoy!

We actually put the tree up a few days ago, and Brady just put the star and lights up a day or two ago. Don’t judge our marquis star! We think its awesome!

My parents get a special ornament for each kid on their first Christmas. This is Dekker hanging his.

And Laela hanging hers.

And Rowan not actually dropping his! He did ok 🙂

I love that I don’t have to worry about Rowan being gentle with Solly. Ro LOVES Solly! He spent a decent amount of time hanging out with the little guy in his jumper.

Rowan’s funny face 🙂

This was about when we let the kids just go ham on the tree. I’ll be the first to say that the front of the tree is HEAVILY decorated!!

But we think its gorgeous 😀 Not only did we all do it together, but it actually looks really bright and happy and like it fits in around here perfectly!

I’ll do a post soon showing you guys the rest of the place and how we’ve decorated, but we are missing one bigger decoration that I want to wait for. Soon enough 😉

I don’t know why, but I feel like we’ve reached a milestone today!

Solly was awake around 4:30 this morning for a drink, and when it quieted down, I heard Dekker, once again, wailing from his room. “GUUUUUYS!! GUUUUUYS! HELP!” So I rushed down to see what was going on, and once again, he complained of ear pain.

He complained of ear pain on Sunday too, but it went away fairly quickly. Then he had no issues yesterday, and now this morning, his ear hurt again. He wasn’t about to just take a drink and go back to bed, so I got out our sickie blanket and snuggled him up on the recliner with me. We talked a little bit, and I tried to confirm that he was actually hurting. I was wondering if he was nervous about school the next day, or something else was maybe giving him anxiety. But he was insistent, and I believed him. But he had no fever or sickness to go with it. Then I saw his scratch his ear by shoving his finger into it, and I wondered if he had just scratched the inside really badly and it was hurting. The mommy in me said to take him in anyway, because I would hate to assume something and have him actually be sick.

We got to the doctors office around 9:30 and waited an hour to get in. Thank goodness, Dekker wasn’t in any pain at the time, and he was SO patient and chill while we waited. When it was finally our turn, he was weighed, and then we were led into an exam room. We didn’t wait too terribly long before a doctor came in. I’ve been to this clinic dozens of times as a walk-in patient, as its our go-to walk-in clinic, but I had never met this doctor. I really liked her, though. She didn’t really address me, but spoke with Dekker and asked lots of questions. Did he have a sore throat? Do you feel sick otherwise? Do you go to swimming lessons? He finally said to her “Just my ear. This one.” He pointed to his right ear. She came around and checked his right ear, and sure enough, he had an infection. She very lightly pulled on his earlobe, and he told her it hurt a little bit. She checked the other ear, and pulled on it, and he just giggled and accused her of tickling him. It was a really good appointment, honestly.

On our way out, she brought him to an office door that had a big hanging advent calendar looking display on it, and invited him to pick a candy out of any pocket he liked. He chose a candy cane, and thanked her on the way out. He was still in great spirits, so we called his prescription through, and I took him to school in time for lunch.

I’m really glad we went in, and I’m SO glad Dekker told us about his ear pain. The doctor said the infection was still in the early stages, which is why there was no fever or other sickness along with it. I guess lots of kids don’t notice them right away, but its not a secret that Dekker is a pretty sensitive little guy. Also, he’s never had an ear infection before, so it was likely a feeling he had never felt before. I’m glad we have the tools to take care of it now.

Its almost time to go get him from school, and we planned together that we’d all decorate the tree (finally) when he gets home. Should be a nice way to finish off the afternoon!

Brady was home today, so we were able to duck into the city once again and get another handful of things done. We took my family ring in to our jeweller to have the piece added to represent Solly. Sadly, its not exactly the ideal season to ask for custom jewelry, and I may not get it back until after Christmas 🙁 Thats a long time to be without a piece of jewelry that I wear every day. I’ve already had a handful of small heart attacks thinking its lost. Eek! I don’t like it!

We did a few other small things, picked up a few more Christmas presents, some new jammies for Solly, and another decorative Christmas tree. Just wait til you guys see our decorations this year! I’m so excited for them to be complete and to be able to show them off!

Since getting home, the two little boys napped, and the older kids had snacks and watched a bit of TV while Brady and I did more decorating and planning the next couple of days. We have music to practice, appointments to get to, and lots to accomplish here at home, too. I hope we can really buckle down this week and gets lots of the things I’m finding ominous DONE with!

Either way, I’m happy with the small handful of errands we’ve managed to run in the last few days, and the progress we’ve made in our decorating! I have a pretty good list that is slowly getting whittled down, and it feels good. Everyone remind me of what we’ve all accomplished when it gets closer to Christmas and I’m scrambling to finish unimportant things. I’d really appreciate it!

Happy Monday to you!

So as is the new trend, we set our alarms to actually get to church, only to have our plans foiled. Brady and I were watching a show on the laptop in bed while the house was still quiet, and out of nowhere, Dekker was wailing. Now Dekker doesn’t do too much of that unless he’s sick or he’s been provoked/bugged/whatevered by a sibling, or something of that sort. So of course, when we heard him, Brady went running, and I threw on a few more clothes, ready to follow. Brady carried him up to our room where he shuddered on our bed and cried, speaking about sore ears and a tummy ache. “I might frow up,” he said shakily. We sat quietly with him and he calmed down slowly. We asked him if he thought he could eat some cereal, and he said he’d try.

We got the kids to the table and poured some cereal. I gave Dekker about a quarter of what he usually eats, and he finished it and wanted to be done. I wanted to try to coax him to eat a bit more, but in observing him, his hands were shaking and he was red in his eyes and cheeks. So I excused him from the table. He got down from the table, and a minute later, he started to cough. That scary, throaty cough with the gag at the end. I looked over at him, and he looked at me with nervous eyes. He and I rushed to the bathroom where we sat and waited for him to throw up, but he didn’t.

So. New plan. I gave Dekker a tub and sent him to the couch. I snuggled him up with the blanket that has sort of become the sickie blanket, his bucket, and his water bottle. I threw a Thomas the Train Christmas special on the tv. And there Dekker sat, unmoving, for a solid 2.5 hours. If you know my kids, you know they don’t just sit and watch tv. They play Lego, or links, or whatever else. But Dekker specifically has to be doing something while he watches tv. Not today, though. So we broke our afternoon plans, and spent the morning watching some Christmas tv and getting our tree up and lit.

The kids had toast and bananas for lunch, and Dekker perked up. He told us “My whole self feels good again!” Unfortunately, I felt awkward trying to go back on our afternoon plans again, potentially bringing our sick kid into another group of kids, so rather, we took our time getting ready, and headed into the city for a couple of errands before we met my parents for supper. We had also broken that plan, but were able to rebuild them when Dekker started to feel better.

We got a handful of things done, and had a really nice supper with my parents at Wendys. One location is so much nicer, but the tables can’t be moved, and thats a pain in the butt for a group of our size. So we went to the older location and had a really fun time. A family or two who sat nearby seemed very enamoured with our kids. I don’t blame them.

Now, we’re home, and our house is all bright and twinkly with Christmas lights 🙂 I’m lucky enough to have Brady home for the next couple of days, so hopefully we’ll get a few more of the bigger things done. I tried so hard to be on the ball this Christmas season and I really don’t feel like I am at all :/ Ah well, can’t do everything, right? What has been done is good, and what needs to still be done can be done. Wish me luck in buying the last of the gifts and decor, mailing out Christmas cards, and finishing up the tree!! Maybe I’ll even get some baking in.

We ventured into the city for a few errands this morning and afternoon, and had a really enjoyable time! Our kids picked names this year, so today, we took them out and helped them pick gifts for the sibling they had chosen. Dekker and Solly picked each other, and Laela and Rowan picked each other. I took Laela and Solly to pick presents, and Brady took Rowan and Dekker. It was fun to prepare them for it and to see what they picked. Obviously some more than others. But Dekker had a really lovely idea for what to get Solly, and Laela came up with an idea kind of out of nowhere for Ro that he’ll really like. Its nice to see how well they know each other.

Once we got home, we fed the kids and put the little ones to bed. Then Brady and I made a plan. I wrote out what we still need to do this month, and what we still need to buy. There’s still a decent amount, but its on a reasonable list now, so it feels less ominous. We did a couple of small things off the list today, and we even brought the tree in and rearranged the living room around it. Its not a perfect setup, but we really hope to have our basement done and our tv area downstairs by next Christmas, so I’m not too concerned with finding the ideal layout this season. We’ll hopefully have many many years to try the tree in lots of places. This will work great for this year. We purged the toys a bit, to make it less messy in general, and shifted couches around to make it the best we could. Hopefully we’ll get to decorating it soon too. I can’t believe we haven’t decorated the place yet!

With the amount of running around we did today, in the city and at home, with all we accomplished and planned and made decisions about, I’m tired, and ready for bed! First, though, SUPPER!! Yikes!!

I was so happy to have Brady home for the day! We did some relaxing, and some accomplishing. It felt pretty balanced and fun. Dekker was at school and the two little boys slept a huge chunk of the afternoon, so it was a quiet afternoon. It would have been the perfect blogportunity actually, but I didn’t think of it, for some reason.

But here I am, posting now, that I’m really happy its Friday. After a nice day home with the fam, Jerilee is now out, supper is in the oven, and we are preparing for a movie night!! We have two movies on the docket, so this post is stay short in hopes that we can actually get to watch both!

I hope you’re all enjoying your Fridays, whether you’re spending them out or in. Happy weekend!!

I haven’t spent a significant amount of time with my mom in weeks. WEEKS! I know lots of people go longer between visits with their mom, but I am blessed to have a fabulous relationship with mine, and we’re accustomed to seeing lots of each other. But between trips and sickness, its been hard to make the time. But today we did!

She came to be at the house while I dropped Dekker off at school, and then stayed through the morning and a little bit into the afternoon. We talked a ton, and time passed very quickly. It was lovely, and while we talked non-stop for about five hours, I still feel like there is just so much ground to cover still. I hope we get another chance soon.

Brady’s day finished up a tad early, so he made it home in time to hang at the house while I picked Dekker up. And I was so pleasantly surprised when I picked Dekker up. He was in really, really good spirits, and said he had an awesome day! He greeted me with a nice big hug, and told me he remembered all of the things we had talked about. I hadn’t been sure this morning, as I sent him to school with a handful of things to remember – to talk to certain people about specific things, to give his teacher a thing or two, etc. But he was proud to list them all off as things that he had remembered. Good work, Dekker!

Now, the gang is all home, having some nice quiet breathing time, building links and having Chuggington on in the background. Its been a lovely, low key day of visiting and rest. Tomorrow is another school day for Dekker, and Brady is home!! So I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a few jobs done around here that aren’t as easy to do on my own with the kids. Should be another great day 🙂

This time last year was MASSIVE! I posted about it the day after it all went down, but today was the day.

Exactly one year ago, on November 30, 2015, we sold our house. While we were more than ready to get out of there, that house was a lovely home for us. It had lots of room, an open concept, a big finished basement, and the price of living there sure didn’t hurt. If it were in another location, we likely would have lasted in that house quite a bit longer.

But when it sold, we were THRILLED! It meant we could move on to the next thing! At the time, we had no idea that the next immediate thing would be quite so stressful – finding a rental, while trying to start our build, and actually moving. Basically, one year ago, the papers were signed, the sold sign went up, and we enjoyed a supper of apricot chicken with our realtors. It was pretty awesome.

Its been a pretty crazy year since then, and while not every part of it was blissful, I couldn’t be happier to be exactly where we are. If you’ve talked to me about our house, I’m positive you’ve heard me say what I’m about to say. I go back and forth between being in complete awe of our house and home and that its ours. This incredible place is ALL OURS. But on another hand, even the moment we officially owned it, it felt very normal, and natural, and comfortable. Because we’ve been here in our hearts for so very long, and it is exactly perfect for us. I am so happy to be living here.

Recently, I saw that our old house was up for sale again. I’ll be honest. My initial reaction was to kind of laugh, and throw a “good luck” in her direction. Houses don’t sell quick out there, and I had a bit of a “good riddance” feeling when it did finally happen. Even though I know how blessed we were to have such a beautiful roof over our heads for those many years.

I am SO thrilled that she bought our house one year ago, and I hope she can find the same relief and joy in someone buying it from her very, very soon. I’m rooting for her to have a cozy Christmas there, and an easy sale shortly thereafter 🙂

Dekker missed school last week because he developed spots on his hands. He was a little too happy to stay home, but I was glad he wasn’t disappointed either. Since he mainly goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, today was his first day back after only missing one day, and he was ok, but a tad hesitant. Just a tad.

We did the morning as normal and he was ready to go. Got out the door fine, walked from the van fine, etc. I took him into the boot room, where we ran into Kim. She had Em, and another little boy from Dekker’s class was there, too. They all dumped off their backpacks, said their goodbyes, and headed to the playground. Dekker was the last of the three, since he likes to make a big fuss over trying to get his backpack on the shelf, and I bent down to give him a big hug and kiss.

While we were face to face, he whispered “I want to stay home today…” and he looked like he was about to tear up. This is very unlike him, because 1. Dekker physically cannot whisper. I have tried. He honestly can’t figure it out. And 2. He is usually pretty loud about how he feels, whether he’s happy or sad. He makes it known. This was a very quiet cry for help. I didn’t want to downplay his feelings, but he did need to stay, so I took his hand and prepared to walk him to the playground and encourage him from there, but no! The two little boys had waited just outside the doors for him! I could point it out to him, and he let go of my hand fairly easily and headed off with them. It does good things for my mama heart to see that.

I guess the biggest thing I want to communicate through this post is how important it is to be nice. All parents do it different, and its very easy to nitpick about other kids behavior and how they’re being raised and how maybe you’d do it differently. At least its easy for me to get lost in that, even though I make a VERY solid point not to be judgemental, EVER, because of how hurtful I find it when I’m wrongfully judged.

Regardless of how other people do their thing, you need to speak for your kids, not theirs. So raise your kids to be nice kids, like the lovely mamas of those two boys who waited for my hesitant boy this morning. It may seem small, but its not. Its huge. Thats what I’m trying to do, anyway.