10 Years!

Today Nick and I are celebrating our tenth anniversary. It hardly seems possible. It has been ten great years and I'm looking forward to many, many more.

As for the wedding itself, in looking back there are a few things I would do differently.

1. I would tell the hairstylist that I was getting pictures taken at home even though they weren't going to be professionally done. That way I might have gotten out of her chair more than 45 minutes before the wedding was due to start (although my hair did look spectacular).

2. I wouldn't hold flowers that were bigger than me and I wouldn't be pressured into getting roses. I only wanted daisies and that's all I should have gotten, instead of letting the florist talk me into something bigger.

3. Two words: Chocolate fountain.

As for the marriage, I wouldn't change a thing!

Hop on the Bus, Gus

We think Darcy is going to take the school bus. She's so excited about it and when I weigh out all the factors I think that the bus seems to work the best for everyone. Besides if we start the bus and don't like it then I can always change my mind. It would not be as easy to change my mind and put her on the bus later. Also, in talking to the neighbours across the street, their little guy is also going in the afternoons so there will be two of them getting on and off at the same spot. That makes me feel better too.

The bus trial day was a lot of fun. They had a Winnie the Pooh movie about bus safety and then a 10-minute bus ride, after which they learned how to safely cross the street in front of the bus. Then there was cookies and juice which makes any event a success in the eyes of a 4-year old.

Darcy was on cloud nine as we left the school. She couldn't stop talking about that bus ride and then getting to ride the bus when she goes to school "for real". I just couldn't burst that bubble and tell her that she couldn't ride the bus because Mommy is too scared. The principal was laughing at some of the parents (not me, believe it or not) who were struggling to put their kids on the bus even for the practice ride. They were trying to drive away and there will still some parents touching the windows (breaking the rules they had just taught the kids). "Time to start letting go!" she called out.

I also found out at the school that there are no school supplies needed for JK, just inside shoes. We got those yesterday (Barbie, self-lacing, light up shoes) and we picked up a first day of school outfit on Monday. I think we're all set.

September 8th, here we come!

Birthday Boy

We had a great weekend celebrating Wesley's birthday. My family arrived on Saturday afternoon and we spent the afternoon in the backyard with the kids in the pool. It was about 39 degrees with the humidex so having the kids in the pool was a great idea.

Wesley got lots of great gifts and he actually sat on my lap and was interested in them while I opened them. He was trying to open his books and pick up his trucks. At Darcy's first birthday she was only interested in the tissue paper.

My only disappointment is that he wasn't at all interested in his cake. He barely ate any at all. It really didn't do a lot for the photo ops.

This morning I took him for his one-year check up. The doctor wants to "conservatively" monitor Wesley's weight. He started life on the 5th percentile for weight but has fallen to the third percentile. The doctor is concerned about that drop. Wesley has been hovering around the 17-pound mark for nearly 6 months now. He really needs to start putting on some weight. So the doctor gave me some tips on how to increase Wes's caloric intake so we can try to get up back up to where he started. He wants to see us again in 3 months and would like Wesley to be around 19 pounds then. He wants us to start putting butter on Wesley's bread, pasta and rice as well as to give him milkshakes instead of plain milk. We just need to find easy ways to increase his calories along with what he's already eating.

Part of the problem is that he hasn't been taking his formula. He's only taking about 3-4 ounces a day. The doctor said that at this stage formula doesn't offer anything more than milk would so he wants us to switch Wes to whole milk right away. Hopefully he'll get more of that in him and that will be a great way to add on the calories quickly.

So hopefully we'll get this boy to be a little chubbier soon. The doctor does say that he knows it's genetic and that he will likely always be thin. He's not concerned and for once he's not sending us for extra tests. That's why we're "conservatively" monitoring things. I'll keep you posted.

On a different note, Darcy and I are heading to her school this afternoon for the school bus info day. I'm sure I'll have a post about that tomorrow!

Birthday Portraits

Here are Wesley's official birthday portraits. We got them done at the same place we've always gotten Darcy's done but I wasn't very impressed with the photographer we had this time. It was like she never worked with a baby before. The package we got included three poses but none of the third one were good enough to buy so I just got these two. I really like the football one. He cut his lip last week at my parents' house and because he drools so much it doesn't seem to be getting better so you can see that in the pictures. At least the bruise on his forehead isn't that obvious!

One Year Old

We can't believe that we are celebrating Wesley's first birthday today. This year has just flown by. It certainly doesn't seem like it was a year ago that I was in the hospital all that time, wondering about if the baby was going to be healthy.

My best memory of this day last year (apart from seeing Wesley for the first time) is the moment when the doctor told me he didn't have to go to the NICU. That's the picture you see at the top of the post. After all our concern, he was just fine. Small, but fine. A few bumps (and unnecessary tests) along the way but here we are, a year later and he's just perfect!

He is a completely different baby than Darcy was. I don't know if it's a boy/girl thing or just their different personalities. He doesn't cry nearly as much as she did but if he doesn't like what's going on he'll let out an ear-piercing shriek instead. Sometimes I'd prefer more crying instead of the shrieking!

Darcy is a wonderful big sister and she loves her brother so much. We really didn't know how she'd handle another member being added to the family but she's been great. She is Wesley's favourite person in the world. Whenever he sees her he just lights right up and she can make him laugh easier than anyone else can. It's amazing to watch them together.

Our neighbour was talking to us tonight and when he looked at the kids he said, "You're very blessed." I couldn't agree more!

To Bus or Not to Bus

This is the decision I've been procrastinating on all summer. Now the school year is nearly here and I still haven't decided how Darcy will be getting to school this year.

She is going to a French immersion school so busing is available for most students and Darcy falls into the area they'd bus. She can either take the bus or I can commit to driving her and picking her up every day. When we registered her they told me to sign up for the bus then because it is easier to sign up and take your child off the bus than it is to try to add your child to the bus in the fall.

The other day we got some mail from the bus company detailing her drop off and pick up spots. I guess this means I need to decide soon.

Darcy has it in her head that she's taking the bus and that's one of the things she's most excited about when she talks about going to school (one of many things) but I'm nervous about it. I've seen too many news stories of kids getting bullied and beaten up on school buses. I'm afraid she'll get on the wrong bus some day and end up in another part of town. In short I think she's just too little to ride the bus.

However, I just don't know about driving her every day either. You can't bus some days and drive others days, it's got to be an all or nothing decision. She needs to be at school to start at 12:45 and that's just when Wesley is eating lunch and getting ready for his nap. If we drive her to school every day he'll fall asleep in the van and never take a proper nap at home. I don't want him to not get his proper rest because he needs to drive her to school. Also, the parking situation around the school is a zoo and we're required to get out of the car and walk her to the school. I hate the thought of fighting for a parking spot twice a day, every day.

So I really don't know which is best for Darcy and the whole family. We have a bus information day at school next Tuesday. I'm hoping that will answer some of my questions about bus safety and the school parking situation which should help me make a decision.

Blah!

Back Home

We are all finally back home in Windsor. We arrived Saturday evening, just around supper time. It was great having some bonus time with my family (even though the circumstances were sad) but it's really good to get the kids home and back into their routines.

If it can be said, Uncle Dale's funeral was wonderful. Everyone had great memories of him and I heard some stories I had never heard before and my cousin sang beautifully (which brought out more than a few tears). You were one of a kind, Uncle Dale and you will be greatly missed.

One really good thing that happened while we were away is that Wesley's separation anxiety improved greatly. He was still having a rough time at the beginning of our week at camp but he got better towards the end and was really good during our week in Cambridge. I'm really happy about that.

Now that we're at home my big project is to get this boy weaned. I nursed Darcy for 13 months but by the time she was a year old I was nursing her a lot less than I'm still nursing him now. I'm still doing three feedings a day for him because he's not taking enough consistently from his cup. Our doctor told me that I might have to be "cruel to be kind" on this one and let him get a little hungry sometime so he'll know he needs to drink from his cup. I think that today I will cut back to two feedings a day and in a couple of weeks I'll only be nursing him before bed. I'll shorten that feeding every night until it goes away. Hopefully by the end of September the nursing will be a thing of the past. That will give him plenty of time to forget about it and develop his routine without nursing before Nick and I go on our cruise in November.

It sounds really easy when I write it down here. We'll see how it works in reality!

In Cambridge

I've now been gone from home for two weeks, we'll end up being gone nearly a week longer than we had planned.

We had an amazing time at camp and a good, but quick visit with family in Montreal before heading back to Cambridge on Sunday. We were getting ready to return to Windsor on Monday morning when the word came that my Uncle Dale had passed away, just two weeks after his wife. We decided that it would be best for the kids and I to stay in Cambridge rather than making them do the drive twice in a week, especially after driving to Montreal and back. So here we are. The memorial service is on Saturday so we'll return to Windsor after that.

Darcy developed a fever and vomited in the car on the way from Montreal to Cambridge. Wesley woke up with a fever this morning. They're both kind of out of sorts from being out of their routine for so long. We'll finally get them used to being here and it will be time to get them back to Windsor. I'm hoping that Wesley's fever is just related to teething and not anything more serious. He's not sleeping well here and seeing as how we're in the same room, neither am I. We're all pretty beat.

So it has been an emotional couple of weeks for our family with the deaths of Aunt Nancy and Uncle Dale so close together. In addition to that my Mom got word this morning that her cousin passed away as well. Just one hit after another. Hopefully everything will be back to routine soon!

Gone for a Week

We`re in Montreal today getting ready to head up to Music Camp for a week. It has been a busy week for us with my Aunt Nancy passing away suddenly and then with us spending time in Cambridge with family and friends at the funeral. Now we`re continuing to worry about my Uncle Dale whose health is fading very quickly as well.

We`re looking forward to the week at camp and I`m sure we`ll have lots of stories and pictures when we get back next week.

See you then!