Copycat, Hopscotch & Thanksgiving

Lochlan continues to be a champion! He is so incredible. Sometimes I just look at him and smile. Quite a normal thing to do when you look at your children. But with him, I find it sums up so many emotions and blessings in that smile. I am in awe of him. He has quite the personality. He is mister copycat these days. You say "caw" or "quack" or whatever, and he does it right back! It's hilarious! And the best thing is, he finds it hilarious too! He's like, oh yeah, look at me!!!

He will point to some of his body parts now too when you ask him. Such as his nose, ears, mouth, head. He's also doing the finger over the lips sound. So funny!



And he's quite chatty. I'm sure he's trying to carry on a conversation. Oh, soooo cute: Lochlan said "Poppa" last Thursday. (Oct 6th)



And God bless him, he's finally sleeping consistently through the night! I tell ya, we are blessed! I feel like my days are less tiring and I am more focused and patient! So for all the moms and dads out there that are in sleep deprivation mode - I feel you!!! Hang in! It gets easier.

Abby still occasionally wakes up at some point in the night and comes crawling into our bed. Most nights that happens, we move her right back after a few minutes of snuggle time. But lately, it's been early morning like 5am, so we're okay with her staying snuggled up in our bed for the last hour. This morning I slid out of bed to get ready for work and Abby and Rob were still sleeping and I took a moment to just watch them sleeping. Just a moment - nothing creepy!! I didn't stare at them for 5 minutes or anything!! Just a quick glance and then a smile. Then I heard Lochlan stirring and chatting away probably saying something like, "mommy, I'm awake - come and get me!!"

My family. *sigh*

He loves his giraffe.

Cheese!

Trying to feed himself!

Lochlan popped two more teeth in the past few days. The lower stomach teeth. So he now has a total of 8 teeth! And believe me, he knows how to use them!
*Note: Do not put your fingers in his mouth or they will get bitten!*

I really need to get him a toothbrush because when I try to brush his teeth, he just bites me!!!! (I just use a wet face cloth) I remember being way more proactive and consistent with Abby's teeth when she was 1. I really need to take care of Lochlan's!

Waiting for mommy with Granny.
He looked so big sitting on Granny's knee! Nice lip buddy!

Her new favourite activity: hopscotch!
Thanks Max & Ruby!

Lochlan probably watching 4 Square.
He loves climbing in and out of the chair.

Up, up and away!

He briefly let go the other day and was standing all by himself!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. The weather was incredible. So warm and sunshiney. Really made me crave summer again! But I love the fall colours and cooler weather and wearing comfy sweaters and pants. The only downside for the weekend is that it went by too fast! I feel like you visit with your family, but there's never enough time to truly get in a good visit.

The other day, between teaching and going to work at Costco, I had a few hours and met up with my best friend, Danielle and  her two boys, as well as with Abby and Lochlan at one of the parks. The kids had a blast! Running around, playing in the sand, the slides, swings, hide and seek. It was so nice. I love seeing the kids running around with huge smiles on their faces. Makes me happy too. I managed to get a few pictures. Abby was a bit reluctant to get her picture taken but I managed to get a smile out of her by telling her not to smile!!

Don't smile! Don't you do it!

Ta da! Love this pic of her!

Love this pic too! Handsome boy!

Abby keeps talking about Halloween. She wanted to be a princess for the past few months and now she's saying she wants to be a duck! What? A duck? Where did this come from? Hopefully the princess idea will fly because I already have the costume. (Not that she wouldn't get use out of it since she can use it for dressup) Lochlan is going to be a monkey. And I can't wait to show you pictures!!! They are adorable! In the meantime, I'll show you the pic of Abby trying on Lochlan's costume! ha ha

Cheeky monkey!

100th post!

Thank you for following along on our journey. This marks my 100th blog post. Not bad for starting it not quite a year and a half ago. Although I really do blog in my mind on a daily basis.

Life has been pretty busy lately. Although who I am kidding - it's always been busy. Isn't that just the way it goes.  It's a different kind of busy these days. Juggling family life, supply teaching, and my new job. I love being at home with Abby and Lochlan but it's been nice to get out there. I feel like I'm sort of finding myself again. Not that I ever lost myself but you get in a zone and it's nice to realize that I'm more than just mom.  And believe me I love being a mom.

Thanks to both my parents and Rob's parents for looking after Abby and Lochlan while we are working. We are very fortunate and very, VERY thankful.


Lochlan has been growing, growing, growing, and then growing some more! I swear he's had such a big growth spurt that he skipped a size! I dug out some clothes over the weekend that have been sitting in his closet for a very very long time. (12 months and even some 12-18 months) Well, some of the 12-18 month onesies are not fitting! They are too short in the torso!!!! What???? Come again?  I just bought 9 months jammies and even they are getting close to not fitting. Crazy. So he's busy catching up with growing which I'm totally okay with! But wowzers!!!!

He's been cruising along the furniture quite a bit. In fact, he pretty much doesn't stop! He's learning to crawl down the stairs - let me rephrase that, he's learning to slide down on his belly down the stairs. Which is a bit comforting to know we are slowly on our way to not having to be too on edge when he gets too close to the stairs. He definitely keeps us on our toes though.

Lochlan's also showing off more of his personality. He's starting to flirt and do the squinty eye thing and smile. (where he scrunches up his face and laughs) He loves to laugh.  And he loves to climb!
                                 

In fact the other day, he climbed of of his highchair. Yes, good times! Thankfully, he was okay. But his straps were definitely tightened and I refuse to leave him for one minute. (Abby had needed some help in the bathroom)

Speaking of Abby, she is a wonderful three year old. In all the ways that means. She has definitely been challenging and competing for her independence at times. She can go from a full out temper tantrum, to the most loving, hilarious, intelligent, hug-able little girl. She is amazing -tantrums and all. The best part is, she has the ability to recognize her wrongs sometimes and apologize for them. Sometimes without prompting even.  We are blessed.

She actually took a big bite (or three) out of this watermelon!

Cute? I believe so.

This is actually a pillowcase - part of her new sheet set.

And the best blessing of all is how much Abby and Lochlan love each other. So cute. Abby was away for the weekend and she told my mom "Nana, I want to see my buddy, Lochlan."  And when I mentioned to Lochlan, "Ready to go get Abby?" He got so excited and with a big smile and kicking of the feet in his car seat said "yeah!"

Out for our morning stroll.

Abby's newest thing is putting on Lochlan's clothes! And they fit! (Minus the length!)

Abby loves to make silly faces at Lochlan and he loves it too!

I really believe that they will have a very close relationship over the years. (sending a prayer they do too!)

Bliss.

One month later...

Whoah! Has it really been a month since I blogged last? That's crazy! And I'm sorry to those of you that try to follow on a regular basis. This past month has been busy. We had Lochlan's home-iversary which I'll get to and then I started a new job at Costco. Mat leave is officially over! : (  So sad, yet exciting at the same time. I'm really looking forward to the many great things that are to come in our lives. This time next year, Abby will be starting school. She keeps talking about school and how right now she's only three and that when she's four, she's going to school. So cute! Hope that enthusiasm keeps up! She even likes to do her "homework." I have some pre-k workbooks that we do together. It's a start anyway.

I've been working full time hours but was only hired for 0 hours! Not sure how I'm going to juggle it all with supply teaching, but I'm confident it will all work out.  Rob's back to school now too with the start of the new school year yesterday. It was so nice to have him home for the summer. We really enjoyed a lovely summer together as a family. (already can't wait for next summer!)

Oh dear, I just realized all my pictures are downstairs on the other computer. I will post new pics tomorrow! Promise!

Right now, I'm trying to remember what happened in the last month.

Lochlan had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Moore, his pediatrician early last week. He is 16lbs, 4 1/4 ounces and is 28 1/2 inches long! He is now moved into the next size of jammies! I found that out in the middle of the night last week! He woke up, and was dressed in shorts style jammies and wouldn't settle so I decided to change him into full on jammies. I put on one pair, and they didn't fit. By a long shot actually. So yes, we are now into 9-12 month sizes for pajamas!  Still wearing 3-6 months shorts and pants mostly, but is slowly moving into the 6-9 sizes as well. So strange to think that at 16 months, he's still wearing those sizes!!!

Slowly catching up though. At this rate, he should be 24 pounds by the time he's two!

Dr. Moore is very pleased with his progress. Weight gain included. And developmentally, he's amazing! He's cruising furniture and still crawling around at lightning speed. He's pointing and signing "more" and waving bye bye, and even saying a few words! I think his favourite is Dada, although he's been saying "daddy' lately too. More like dad-dee. And he says "yes" or "yeah", and tank tu (thank you) or tanks (thanks) He's said "mama" before too but I haven't heard it in a very long time.    : ( 

I've been trying to write down some of the cute things that Abby says. I started a blog about it if you're interested in a chuckle of two. It's www.abbyrosemcdonald.blogspot.com

Anyway, Lochlan's Home-ivesary was great. It was nice to have both sides of our family here. We did it potluck style which worked out perfectly.  I really wish that I'd written it down way before now because I know that I had much more to say about it. Right now, I'm tired and can't seem to put all that I had wanted to say into words. I'll get some pics posted tomorrow and perhaps backblog a bit too!

Thanks for following along.
Jenn