Our Littlest Monkey is 1 so Let's have a Party!

A year ago Trevor and I were at the Pirates of the Caribbean movie when I felt the first pang of labour pains. Today we had her first birthday party. Her love to climb on, in, under and over things lead us to pick a Monkey theme for the party. Unfortunately she was still not feeling well so she didn't swing about in her usual smiley manner. She had a few moments here and there where she was happy (likely when the drugs where in full force) but for much of the day she just needed to be cuddled and carried. On any other day this would have been fine but getting a party ready is made more difficult when you only get to use one hand!

Alas the party did come together and fun was had by all. Many friends and family stopped by for monkey cake, banana splits and some fun (but windy) times in the back yard. I bought the older kids some balloons that shoot about like rockets. They appeared to be a hit with everyone except Megan as one dove directly at her and scared the crap out of her! Poor kid -- just what she needed when she was already feeling bad enough - a wayward flying balloon rocket chasing her around the yard.

Regardless of the throat infection, wild balloons and windy weather it was a great day. Although I hate that time goes by so fast I can't wait for the years and years of birthday parties that lie ahead. ( I know those words will likely come back to haunt me but really - I love birthday parties right now!)

Here are some pictures of the party. There are few of other people as Megan didn't want to be put down so I didn't get much of a chance to snap any pics of those who were there. Just pretend there are pictures of the following people: Tim, Marnel, Presley, Drew, Kim, Evan, Andrew,Dave, Karen, Quinton,Lily, Regan, Kale, Peggy, Neil, Ian, Catherine, Aaron, Connor, Christian, Mattea, Tomas, Kerri, Nevin, Annika, Josh, Uncle Trevor and Auntie Stephanie!

One? What's so hot about One? So far it hasn't been so great!

Monkey in the Middle

Why are all these people looking at me and where is that cake I was promised?

" Hi- yeah I'll have to call you back I just got my cake and they are all waiting for me to dig in, make a mess, have fun and generally make a fool of myself- little do they know that I am going to eat it daintily like a little princess"

Whoever gave me this pink tissue paper knew what they were doing ! It rocks! And this tutu is just my size - perfect. (thanks to everyone for the presents -I've used them all and love them)

All About Megan

How does it happen? One day you are giving birth to a little bundle of joy and then in the blink of an eye she is turning one, climbing slides, saying momma, and laughing at herself like she is the funniest thing in the world. Time has a funny way of passing by too quickly when you least want it too. Yet when your kid is throwing a temper tantrum in Walmart time all but stops. Somethings not quite right there!

Regardless today Megan is 1. I can hardly believe it. A year ago we were at the hospital trying to pick out a name for her ( Megan seems to suit her perfect - good choice Trev.) 9 months ago she was sick with bronchitis and a terrible cold. All we could do for her was cuddle her and pray for her to get better quickly. 6 months ago her personality was emerging - she was all smiles and giggles. 3 months ago she was standing in the middle of the room doing squats and picking up things from the floor. Today she is on the move, into everything and one of the three delights of our lives!!

For keepsake purposes here is a list of things about Megan we want to remember. Feel free to add your own comments in the comment section if you have a thought or memory that Megan might like to know about when she is older.

Megan Johanna Black

Weight at Birth: 7lbs 14 ounces

Weight at One: 18 lbs 11 ounces

Eye color: Blue

Hair Colour: dark at birth, lightening up each day. This summer it has taken on a strawberry blonde look.

Number of Teeth: 6 although from some of the nights we've been up with you teething one would think you should have a mouth full by now!

Sleep Schedule: You usually fall asleep around 9pm and on a good night sleep til 7. On a less than good night you will be up once or twice. This pattern only started within the last week because I am weaning you. Today will be the last day for nursing.

Shoe size - well I bought all size three shoes for the summer but your long monkey feet kinda hang over the end of most of the sandals. So I guess size 4 is more accurate!

Clothing size: 9 months for the waist 12 months for length. Lucky for you hand me downs aren't working and you have had many new items bought for you. When I put you in Sarah's old pants we find you naked a few minutes later-- the pants left wherever you crawled right out of them!

Nick Names: Meg, Maggie, Miss Maggie, Mega Muffin, Maggie Doodle or Doodle. Of late Scrappy has been added to the list. This one was chosen after you showed your strong determination to hold onto toys that kids are trying to take from you. You scream and tighten your hold until they back away. If they happen to get it from you you chase them to take it back. Definitely can tell you are a third child - have to fight for what you want I guess!

Personality: You are always smiling. You love to watch the other kids and are very laid back. You find Ethan hilarious and sometimes belly laugh when you are watching him play. While you love to hang out with mom, you do go fairly easily to other people (especially if I'm not around). You love to cuddle and give hugs. Most recently you learned to give kisses. When we say kiss you smack your lips and proceed to go to everyone in the room to give them a kiss.

Favorite foods: You are a great eater. You like to feed yourself so don't take much from the spoon anymore. You like avocado, bananas, blueberries, chicken, carrots, peas, corn, potatoes and chili. You would drink a hundred bottles of milk a day if we let you (sorry but we don't). So far there aren't many foods you won't eat.

Favorite things to do: We have a little red car in the back yard for kids to ride in. No matter where it is stored (under the tree or behind something) you always find it and climb in. For a moment you pretend to drive it but then you like to turn around stand up and hang on the bar that is along the back for others to push the car around with. There are many pictures of you in and around and on the car for you to see.

You like anything you can climb. You stand on the picnic table at Grandma and Papa's, climb up to the piano at Grandma and Gramps' and climb into the dishwasher when I am emptying it. And your favorite is of course the stairs. You can climb up and come down all on your own. You have fallen down a few steps before but haven't had any major injuries. You love to stand at the top of the stairs and throw toys down them but we don't let you do this often for safety reasons of course (and for the mess that is left at the bottom!)

You have started to like dolls although are just as happy to push around the empty doll stroller. This way if Sarah is around you might get lucky and get a ride in it yourself.

One thing you don't really care for is TV. It is rare that you would sit and watch anything with Sarah and Ethan. On occasion you have watched Baby Einstein but it doesn't enthrall you like it did Sarah. Except for a few times when it would have been nice for you to sit while we did something - we are fine that you don't like TV. You have started to like books so we will just read to you instead.

You like swimming and splashing in the pool or tub if the water is warm. Anything cooler than warm and you scream at a ear-piercing level! We will be taking swimming lessons in September so hope all goes well- fingers crossed.

What we love most about you though is that you are part of our family. You are absolutely loved and adored by all of us and I am sure you have many years of being spoiled ahead of you!

Birthday Suit

Funny how it happens that we follow in the steps of our parents without even realizing it. Well actually this time I knew what I was doing and did it anyway. As a I remember past birthdays of mine I have a vivid memory of my Grade Two party. For some reason all the kids were looking at photo albums of mine and too my HORROR Josh Shaw, the cutest boy in grade 2 at the time, saw a picture of me as a 1 year old NAKED. My mom had labelled the picture " Birthday Suit". I couldn't believe he saw this and ran to my room crying, forever mad at my mom for taking such a picture. I thought I might have to cancel the rest of the party, switch schools and change my name.

Hmmmm. Apparently the trauma didn't scar me for life as today as Megan was running around before her party naked I felt a strong impulse to take the same picture. She was too cute and what can one little picture hurt right?

In all fairness to Megan I decided to post both of them so that hopefully she doesn't suffer the same emotional trauma that I did when she is finally old enough to read this and realize that I didn't just stick this pic in an album but actually posted it on the blog!

The Party before the Party

Tomorrow is Megan's Birthday but as it happens Grandma and Papa as well as Gramps and Grandma were all in the city so we couldn't not have a little party with them since none of them can come tomorrow night. With beer can chicken, potatoes and veggies prepared and Saskatoon cobbler warming in the oven we all sat down for a great meal. Our minister Kathy who lives near by and who was it all week also came by. Sarah made her feel welcome by fighting to sit by her and then monopolizing her time with non-stop conversation! Unfortunately Megan was still sick with a throat infection that started on the weekend so she wasn't interested in her meal (or her party for that matter). Trevor soon took her down stairs and rocked with her til she was fast asleep. So much for any pictures of her opening presents or playing in cobbler. All I got were a couple of pictures of her playing on the counter while I got supper prepared. Regardless of spilt milk, apparent mass chaos with Sarah and Ethan and no birthday girl in sight, the meal was great and a good time was had by all. Can't wait for round 2 tomorrow.

A Trip to Ipsco

This morning we decided to pack a picnic lunch and head out to Ipsco with Marnel, Presely and Drew. It was a beautiful day out and except for the pesky geese that kept trying to eat our lunch we had a great time. The kids tried out the big slide and Sarah was brave enough to go down beside me on her own. ( well okay she was grabbing onto my arm for dear life but technically she was on her own track of the slide!). The train was running every half hour for a few minutes and since there were few kids they convinced the girl running it to take them for some extra rides! Sarah practiced the monkey bars about 25 times as she is quickly becoming addicted to them as she gets more successful in climbing all the way across. Ethan and Drew liked seeing the sheep and the peacocks. Megan as usual was her happy self just coming along for the ride.

Presley and Drew

Sisterly Love ( or is that the start of a head lock?)

Best buddies (aka - The Troublemaking Twosome!- they look so innocent)

Hmmm- what is so fascinating about that fat woolly animal - nothing that I can see

Finally a swing built for all of them - we need this in our park behind our house!

Weekend at the Lake

Many uses for a hammock

This weekend we were able to get out to the lake to visit mom and dad which was nice since mom has been on holidays the whole month and dad lives out there for the summer. The kids had a great weekend playing at the beach (despite the green yucky water), going for a boat ride, building a tent in the yard, having "brekas" as Trevor Jones used to call it at the breakfast counter and playing on the lush new lawn. Saturday night Megan came down with a fever and so she was pretty sad looking all day Sunday. The only good thing about her being sick was that everyone got to cuddle with her because she was too hot and tired to do much else.

Who needs a drum anyway?

Tonight we babysat Kiedis while his mommy and daddy enjoyed a nice lobster dinner at the keg to celebrate selling off their rental property ! Yeah Derek and Lisa - next time we are getting a sitter for all the kids and dinner is on you guys!! Anyway, although Megan thought she deserved all the toys and screamed at Kiedis til she made him cry if he tried to take anything from her, I finally found something they both could have - Drum Sticks. Happily they sat with their own stick and played. Although we didn't have any actual drums they managed to find a use for them anyway. Who needs a drum when you can just chew on the darn things!

You just gotta love those eyes!

The Little Jumpathon that Could

Here is the story of the Little Jumpathon that could. It all started out as a simple idea. Sarah and I were having contests jumping on the trampoline. For some reason I got this idea that we should have a little Jumpathon with all the kids in the neighbourhood. I thought this might be a good way to teach the kids to give to others since we are fortunate to have so much. I mentioned my idea to Sarah and she loved it. I said we could get all the kids from around here to raise a couple dollars each and we could donate it to someplace that needed $. Then as I said that I remembered that Trevor and I were invited to a housewarming in a few weeks were they would be collecting money for friends of ours Brad and Tracy. Brad was Trevor's boss when he worked at Brown Advertising Group. He was diagnosed in March with cancer and was to be having a second surgery in Edmonton any day. Finalizing our plans I sent out a quick email to the parents of our neighbourhood gang throwing out my idea. After some positive responses I decided to invite a few more people. One of those people was a lady that lives in the neighbourhood and also worked with Trevor and Brad at Brown. No sooner had I emailed Dallas she replied with enthusiasm for the idea and said she was going to forward the email on to a few other "browners' as employees were affectionately called there. Well all of a sudden I had emails from people wanting to donate, wanting to come, wanting to help in any way. Brown employees even got the powers that be to agree to match what they raised. At this point I realized I better get started on some baking as I had promised cookies to all jumpers and I wasn't sure how many people were going to attend.

July 5th, finally arrived and it was a beautiful night. The weather couldn't have been better! The cookies were baked, the juice was chillin', the trampoline was cleaned off and at 7 o'clock the jumping began. The event was attended by 30 people who were all very generous in their donation and their time. Sometime around 8 it turned into a wet and wild Jumpathon as the hose was added to the trampoline and more fun followed. In the end with a huge portion of the donations coming from Brown employees and Brown itself, we raised .... $1625.00 !!! Wow. That was awesome.

On a sad note, after the Jumpathon Brad's cancer was determined to be terminal. We are deeply saddened by this news but continue to pray for him, Tracy, Josh, Jake and Jeremy as they face the end to this horrible journey. Our hope is that the money raised at the Jumpathon and the housewarming will at least alleviate some of the financial stress that was adding to an already unbearable time. Thank you to all who donated and participated. Your generosity did not go unnoticed and was truly appreciated by Trevor and I as well as Brad and Tracy.

To blog or to sleep, that is the question

I have much more to add to get caught up to when I am actually posting these stories but at some point I have got to sleep. I will continue to add more in the next few days before we leave for holidays so that I won't be too far behind when I get back! Still to come is a trip to Ipsco, a weekend at the lake, Monkey Maggie's first Birthday, camping with friends and some cute pics of Megan and her beau Keidis.

Hope you are enjoying it - leave comments when you can - I love to read what people think of us and our crazy life!!

Take Care

Susan

Potty Training Update

Tonight Ethan and I were giving Megan a bath and I asked him to go and get her a diaper. He brought it back and said " When I was a baby I used to wear diapers with bears on it". I asked him what he wears now. He said " A life jacket".


And that sums up how well potty training is going for us! (it's not)

Grandma Judy would be proud

At this moment Sarah is having a shower and this is what I hear being sung:



" I'm cleaning the shower, I'm cleaning the shower, I'm cleeanning the shooowwwerrr"

"I'm cleaning the seashell (soap holder), I'm cleaning the seashell because cleeeaniinng is GOOODDD!"



I quietly peeked in and sure enough she was dancing and scrubbing down the bathtub wall with a loofah sponge!

Grandma Judy would be proud!

A Mouse Encounter Unlike No Other

Tonight as Sarah, Ethan and I were hanging out with Lisa and the girls, Lisa happened upon three baby mice running along side her house. You would have thought they were giant mice by the scream she let out when she saw them. You would have thought that they were man eating by the way I followed suit, screamed and jumped onto the patio lounger. Sadly I hadn't even seen them - she had just yelled out MICE! Sorry Val & Dale - can't get much more city girl than that can ya?


In a panic Lisa frantically began calling her dad, her father-in-law and eventually the neighbour telling them there was a @#$* load of mice in her yard. I'm not sure if 3 actually qualifies as a @#$*load but whose to argue with a desperate woman. Richard and Trevor were in Winnipeg enjoying the White Stripes so they were no help. On the advice of the neighbour she grabbed the nearest object (a rake in this case) in hopes that she might shoo them into the field. She quickly changed her plan to a more PERMANENT one as she decided she didn't want them back. With adrenalin taking over and a yell of "die mouse die" she was able to "send the1st mouse to a better place! ". I advised that we had a mouse at the lake once that jumped out of the Triscuit box when my mom and I opened it. After setting a trap and walking around on the furniture for awhile, my mom paid me $20.00 to dispose of the body. Not wanting to touch the mouse I threw it away trap and all. I told Lisa that I would do the same for her but her mouse rage allowed her to face her fears and do it herself.


At this point Sarah and Bryn wanted to see the other mice so they ran up to take a peek. I gotta admit that even though I don't like mice these guys were kinda cute. With two mice to go the neighbour arrived and pointed out that Lisa's odds would be increased significantly if she smacked the mouse on the head with a shovel as opposed to trying to get it with a rake. Hmm - good point - not one she had thought of in her state of panic.


For all those mouse lovers out there, in the end one mouse got away. They set a trap and I never heard if he got caught. Perhaps he is out in the field right now looking for his siblings and wondering why they never came back from their evening stroll. Poor mice. Poor Lisa!

Canada Day Fun

This year for Canada day we celebrated with my cousin Lisa, her husband Richard and about 30 of their close friends! The day was fantastic. The weather was perfect, the kids played great all day, the food - ribs and crab- was delicious and the fireworks were awesome. Except for the Dollarama glow necklaces that didn't work and the major meltdown our kids had at 11 when it was time to go home (and who could blame them -they were soooo exhausted) we had a fabulous time! Too bad July 1st only comes around once a year!

Sarah had a great time playing in the pool but the most fun was had following Halynne around and playing games with her.

Megan was getting some teeth today so celebrating was the last thing on her mind. Even though we tried to get her into the spirit with a Made In Canada tattoo and a Canada t-shirt, the teething got the best of her and she was pretty sad all day. She did perk up for a moment, long enough to climb onto the activity table, which I promptly took her off of and ruined the one ounce of fun she was going to have that day!

Ethan really wanted me to take our picture but after three tries where one or the other of us looks funny we finally got Trevor to take one of us that turned out great. It will definitely be one for my desk this fall.