Scary Family Selfie 2016!

I don’t know about you, but I think I woke up with a sugar hangover on November 1st! Headache or not, we celebrated October 31st in grand style this year.

With Halloween falling on a Monday this year, we had lots of time on the weekend before to prep, which included taking photos of the kids in their costumes. Seriously, the weather in Toronto was 18 degrees, feeling like summer. This year Ro dressed up as Owletter from the cartoon, “PJ Masks”, a favourite in our house right now. Besides the orange bandana that I bought at the dollar store, we dressed Sam up as a farmer from items in his closet. What can I say, I love a good homemade costume.

We tried to make the day special for the kids. Aaron walked Rowan to school in her costume and I attended the school parade at 1 pm. I think Ro smiled the entire day. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Halloween is Rowan’s jam!

Besides putting pumpkins in his mouth, Sam was content to follow Ro around the entire evening.

Given that Sam goes to bed at 7 pm, we raced through dinner and had both kiddos knocking at our neighbour’s door at 5:45 pm. Yes we were one of “those people”. But it worked for us and thank goodness we live in an awesome kid friendly neighourhood.

In total Rowan brought home 68 pieces of candy. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that Rowan doesn’t like chocolate. Anywho, hope you and yours had a great night!

Ah, my two favourite little people! Here they are in the only snowstorm we experienced in February. I wanted to be a “fun mama” so I decided to take them to school by sled. Rowan’s smile says it all – she loved riding with her brother and still asks if we can go by sleigh. Although Sam looks shocked, he “talked” all the whole ride. Here is a glimpse of some of the kiddos favourite things / experiences from last month.

She wears a purple cat hat while he wears a blue puppy toque. Both were Christmas gifts from Nanny & Bobba.

She has a purple gallery wall filled with favourite family photos & arts prints from the stylish Penny Paper Co. He has a blue gallery wall filled with various nautical themed art. Both walls include their birth dates.

After a fun filled weekend with cousins. I love how they are slumped over in similar positions their carseats.

His & Hers is a monthly year long photo project that showcases glimpses of my children’s lives through the lens of my camera. Currently, I am learning to shoot in manual mode of my Nikon D5000. I occasionally use my iPhone 5s from time to time. 

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you know that I will sometimes post funny anecdotes I overhear Rowan saying. Typically I am hanging out with little man Sam, feeding him or putting him to bed. This has been a really fun way to get to know Rowan, especially over this past year, as she has made so much progress with her speech. It is so fun/awesome/amazing (that’s a word right?) to hear her personality shine through. Below are some of my favourite things I overheard this last month:

Overheard in the kitchen
Snack time

Rowan: “Can I have some juice?”
Aaron: “Is that a nice way to ask?”
Rowan: “Yes!”
Aaron: “You forgot the magic word…”
Rowan: “Fine. Abracadabra, can I have some juice?”

Overheard at story/bedtime:
Explaining Star Wars to a 4 year old

Rowan: “So he’s a good guy?”
Aaron: “Yes, Han Solo is a good guy. And here is his best friend Chewbacca.”
Rowan: “Who is Chewbacca?”
Aaron: “Chewbacca is a big furry puppy…”
Rowan: “Like our Charlie*!”

*Charlie is our 8 year old mini golden doodle.

Overheard at bath time:
Talking about Stars Wars (again!) and I find out where my place is in the family

Aaron: “Hey Rowan, next year for Halloween, you could dress up as a character from Star Wars!”
Rowan: “Yes! I like that idea! I could Princess Leia, you could be Luke Skywalker; Sammy could be Han Solo; Charlie could be Chewbacca and Mommy could be Darth Varder…”

Overheard in the car:
Coming home from an appointment

Rowan: “Mommy, I got you that bag with Daddy?”
Me: “I know honey, I LOVE my bag and I LOVE you!”
Rowan: “and I LOVE Daddy!”
Me: “Who else do you love?”
Rowan: “I LOVE Sammy!”

Sigh.

Overheard in the kitchen:
Planning our day

Aaron: “Rowan, do you want to learn how to skate like Ana and Elsa?”
Rowan: “I want to learn how to drive the car.”

Yikes! Go big or go home girlie!

***

What do you overhear your kiddos say?

Happy Tuesday!

(Pardon me – I am doing a little blogging catch up! Currently Sam is 5 months old, soon to be 6. Cray, cray, I know. This entry was written at the end of October 2015. )

Oh Mr. Sam, you have the best expressions! It’s like your eyes are saying: “Mama, again with the camera?”

More than ever Sam, you are bigger and stronger. From holding your head up consistently, to physically feeling heavier, I had to order 3-6 month clothes the first week of October for fear it would snow soon! lol! Yes, although we are experiencing summer like weather here in Toronto, I have been worried that winter would come and that I wouldn’t didn’t have any long pants or jackets to fit you in. Good thing Grandma and Nanny visited us and brought you sweaters and a snowsuit!

If last month was all about smiles then this month is all about babbling. One afternoon in October, after changing your diaper in the bassinet, you responded when I said, “Ah goo”. With your eyebrows raise, you ooh’ed and aaw’ed back. Suddenly our interactions matured from just feeding to something more. Heart Swoon! I have spent many an afternoon, just sitting on the couch,  face to face with you just “talking” back and forth.  At this point, Mr. Sam, you have great eye contact and seems to  be “plugged in” to what’s happening around you.

Sammy, you are alert that’s for sure! For the most part you are a pretty good sleeper – especially at night. Currently you sleep in the bassinet in Mama and Daddy’s room. Right now you go to bed at 7 pm and get up at 1 or 2 am for a feed. I’d love to tell you that we are on a schedule through out the day but that is simply not the case. After dropping big sister Rowan off at school, you sleep either in the stroller, my arms or the swing. In fact, when it comes to school drop off as well as big sister’s appointments, we wing it and you sleep on the go. To be honest, I am not sure how to schedule your naps. Life is a bit chaotic right now. For the most part you are super happy and content. You even tolerate bath and tummy time, showing us your smiles. For right now we will go with it.

Although big sister loves to play with you and always wants to help with your diaper changes, she has said to me: “Mommy, Sammy is your best friend & Daddy is my best friend.” In those moments, I remind big sister that in our family we are all best friends together. Minus a few hiccups here and there, we are feeling like a family of four.

Three months in, it is hard to imagine life with you – especially when you give us these “Blue Steel” looks. I promise to tell you where that reference came from when you are older. *Cough, cough* Zoolander *cough*.

Oh Sam – your second month of life was a lot less stressful than the first. Thank goodness for that! For me, the two most notable parts of your second month were that you started to smile and you started sleeping 4-5 hours at at times through the night. Hooray! On September 4th, while changing your diaper in the bassinet, with your tongue slightly sticking out of your lips, you cracked a faint smile when I called your name. Instantly my heart melted and I texted Daddy right away. It was a sweet little moment that I am not soon to forget. A few weeks later, on September 19th,  you started to sleep for longer periods at night….just in time, because this mama was about to lose her mind!

This month you ate and grew, ate and grew. Breastfeeding is going really well because you are more than 12 pounds! That’s up 3 pounds from last month – what!?! Although it is time consuming, especially when you are cluster feeding three times a night, I keep reminding myself that this stage isn’t going to last forever and that breastfeeding allows us to have special time together.

We continue to try to find our rhythm as a family of four. Most days Daddy takes care of big sister Rowan while Mama takes care of you. Big sister Rowan loves you so much. She is always asking to hold you or to help me change your diapers. Since she started school we haven’t seen many movies. Thats okay because we had a good run at the end of the summer. Yes, we watched Mission Impossible 5: Rogue Nation, American Ultra and Straight Outta Comptom during the last two weeks of August. Not bad for a two month old!

Notably, you also attended your first fall fair in Fergus. When you were awake,  you watched Rowan intently as she rode, snowflake, the pony, 8 times! Although we tried to introduce you to the farm animals, you decided that sleeping was better. Mama also thought this was a good idea and wish she could have curled up for a nap too! Ha!

In addition to all these different experiences, you also went through many physical changes. Besides the weight gain, you have kissable chub cheeks, eye lashes for days and are starting to put weight on your feet. Your relaxed, go with the flow personality continues to entertain us. We can’t wait to see how you develop over the next month!

Love, Mama

Thanks to Meghann Andrew for the awesome onsies!

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