Adventures in Calgary

Christmas was different this year because we chose to spend it on our own - just the 4 of us. It was nice to have some down time together thyat wasn't stressful in the least. We took the kids to parties at Turner's place and Corrina's. We caught up with Brent and Melinda. We had a playdate with the MacDonalds. We had dinner with Uncle Dave and Aunt Heather.

Christmas morning was wonderful. Molly was so pleased to see that Santa had cleared his plate of the cookies, carrots (for Rudolf) and beans (for Dasher). Santa brought Molly the Leora dress she asked for but also surprised her with a new sled. When she saw the sled she said "Mom Santa brought me the sled I wanted and I didn't even have to ask for it!"

Molly's favourite Christmas shows this year were Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Annabelle's Wish.

Now, back to present day...

Yesterday Molly kissed a boy at one of her dayhomes!!! She smooched Erik Dave on the cheek. Supposedly he wiped it off. Sadly we have no photo evidence of this momentous event.

It's been way too long since I've written. Jake is growing and changing so fast. I took him for his 4 month shots this Monday. He weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds 9.5 ounces which places him firmly in the 75th percentile. It seems so long ago that I was worried about his weight and eating. This first year is so paradoxically long and short at the same time! So what can Jake do????? He loves his tummy time and can push up off the floor to look around. He has rolled both from front to back and from back to front a couple of times but I think they were all just flukes because he doesn't do any rolling regularly yet. He is getting chattier by the day and his chatting makes him sound a bit like a prehistoric bird. He is ticklish under his arms already. He has found his toes and feet and loves to play with them the minute you try to change his diaper. He is loving grabbing hair and pinching necks (ouchie!!!). He is very drooly and chewy but no sign of those teeth that were popping up months ago. I've been taking him out for more walks in the Chariot (thanks mom) and he seems to enjoy the fresh air. He's also graduated to the exer-saucer and is quite happy to play in that a couple of times a day. It's so funny seeing him using the same baby toys Molly played with or wearing old clothes that she wore. He is just so much bigger than she ever was! There is one outfit that fits him now that Molly wore when she was 10 months old!

Molly is doing really well with preschool. She can write her name without any help now. And she's started drawing pictures of our family or of herself doing things like cooking and you can actually tell what the pictures are of. It's awesome! She's big on telling us what she appreciates lately. And she loves thinking of herself as Jake's teacher. It's so funny hearing my own interaction with Jake played back word for word when Molly is playing with him. We've just booked Gymboree for Molly's 4th birthday party. I'm usually against paying for kids parties but with Mom and Dad visiting there won't be any room to host a party here. And this way she gets to have more of her friends attend.

Noel is doing really well. He's loving his new co-worker and his ERT duties. He's actually out on a call right now.

I'm doing pretty well most days. I met with my depression doctor yesterday and she is awesome. It's so comforting knowing that I have that connection to fall back on when I need it. So far I don't need to go back on Paxil and that is awesome too.