Bathroom Buddies

Malcolm tends to get kind of fussy in the evenings, and Dobby has found that the one thing that never fails to console him is being in the bathroom. He loves to listen to the water running, or the fan, and look at the bright lights. He'll lay on the counter for a long time just looking around, but as soon as you pick him up to leave the room, he starts to cry again. So, this has become a nightly ritual - Mommy feeds Malcolm, we hang out for a bit, he gets cranky, Daddy takes him to the bathroom. Dobby's getting a lot of reading done, since there's not much else to do in the bathroom (you can see his book on the counter beside Malcolm). I suggested that he could always clean it while he's in there....no luck yet! We had Mac's 4 week visit with the midwife yesterday. He has gained more than a pound in the past two weeks (1/2 an ounce to an ounce a day is what's expected, so he well exceeded that). He's now 9lb 13oz, and the midwife says he gets a gold star. I think so too, since he's only waking me up once a night, and getting more alert and social every day. He's very interested in what his sisters are doing, and he's content to lie on the floor beside them for a long time, just taking it all in. They're both very good to him, very attentive and gentle, very concerned when he cries. Sabrina has taken to advising me on what I should do for him when he cries. Her advice is either "poop" (which means I should change him), "num, num, num"(which means I should feed him), or "burp" (self-explanatory!). She's usually right!
 

Hangin'

Just a lazy Saturday afternoon, hanging out with the siblings. Malcolm looks like a little boy already (as opposed to a baby). 

Ribit

We had a lot of fun celebrating Sabrina this week. Dobby likes to point out how birthdays last an entire week in my family, not just one day. What can I say, we like to party! And really, if we tried to cram all the excitement into one day, it would just be overwhelming! 

Birthday Party Part 3: The Finale

On Wednesday came the final installment of Sabrina's birthday party. Wednesday is Family Night, when Greg, Becky, and Noah come to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and we all have dinner together, so that was party night. When it's your birthday, you get choose what we have for dinner, and Sabrina chose waffles with blueberries and strawberries. Actually, she chose grapes, but I told her she should maybe have something else, since grapes aren't typically considered a meal by themselves! So, waffles were the next best thing, as long as they involved fruit ( I have to say, my girls love fruit and veggies - we have at times found ourselves asking them if they wouldn't rather have a cookie than more fruit, because we were afraid they'd get upset stomachs if they consumed more fruit...a strange thing to ask a child!). Any ways after dinner she opened her last round of gifts... ...some ponies from Grandpa and Grandma (now she has almost as many as Liv, and they love to play ponies together)....
...a t-ball set from Uncle Greg and Auntie Becky (also a gardening set from them - tools, pots, gloves, etc.)...
...and a Lucky Ducks game, also from G & G. The cousins got right down to a serious game of Ducks.
Then it was cake time. A frog cake was requested by the birthday girl, so I did my best to oblige. She was satisfied! 

Birthday Party Part 2

Sabrina's second birthday party (you can read that two ways - she turned two, and also had two parties) was with just our immediate family. She ordered noodles for supper, adn opened a couple more presents. She got some plastic fruit from Olivia, which she loved. Here she displays her new pear and grapes.
She got a keyboard from Daddy and Mommy. She actually found this in Toys R Us last weekend, and couldn't tear herself away from the shelf it was on, so we figured it was a good gift to get her!
After one evening of practising, Olivia announced to Grandma that they were ready to join the worchip team at church. She can play the piano, and Sabrina can sing. It doesn't seem to concern her that Sabrina doesn't know the words to any songs. Olivia's only worry was that she didn't have a bench that was the right size for her to sit on to play this keyboard at church. 

Easter Sunday

All dressed up and nowhere to go.... actually, we did have places to go, and we were late for those places because we wanted to take this picture. But it was all worth it! Malcolm was done with photo shoots, but the sisters wanted to hold their brother for one more shot!
 

Swingin'

Malcolm borrowed this swing from his buddy Aiden, who turned one yesterday. He also got two rubbermaid bins full of Aiden's outgrown clothes, so he is set for quite a while. He's also got a supply of clothes just down the street at his cousin Noah's house, so he won't be hurting for clothes! 

Party Time!

We had part one of Sabrina's birthday party yesterday. She's turning two on Tuesday, so yesterday we had some friends over to celebrate, on Tuesday we'll have a celebration with just our family, and on Wednesday we'll have a party with Grandpa and Grandma, and Uncle Greg, Auntie Becky, and Noah. Here the kids play with Sabrina's new cars and car mat.
She'll have her real cake on Wednesday, but she requested these assorted zoo animal cupcakes for this party.
Two candles already...she's so big now. Especially since we brought that tiny new baby home, she seems to have grown up overnight. I remember that feeling with Olivia when Sabrina was born - "who is this monstrous child I have all of the sudden. Just yesterday (literally) she was my baby." I guess they have to grow up.

 

Thank-you, Everyone

These are the gifts Sabrina got with the money that her aunties sent from Saskatchewan. A Dora umbrella...
....a magnet farm set....
....and a new spring hat from Auntie Kim,
and a Dora suitcase from Auntie Shelley. That will come in handy in a month when we come to visit! Thank-you family!

 

Toddler Fashion

Sabrina thought this would be a good outfit for her snack. She took off her shirt, I assume so she wouldn't get peach juice on it, but then she figured she still needed a bib. All this while reading the classifieds... she's an original! 

Baby Brother

Olivia loves to hold Malcolm - today she even held him while he was crying, which previously had freaked her out. Sabrina likes to hold him too - usually for about three seconds, after which she says "Mama," as in, "Mama, take this baby now, I'm done." But I love that she tries. ( This picture is the result of me telling her to open her eyes and smile at the camera. To her, smiling equals squinting, so it was a difficult concept for her.)
I told the girls to give him a kiss, which they are always eager to do. He's a lucky boy to have such loving sisters. There doesn't seem to be any signs of sibling jealousy...it probably helps that the girls love to play with each other, so that while I'm busy with Malcolm nobody feels totally left out.
It appears that at least one of my children will have my eye color. It's hard to tell from this picture, but they're bright blue. The girls' eyes were very dark right from the beginning. Malcolm's may still darken, but I'm holding out hope that my recessive gene will stand strong! This picture was taken just after his bath, which he loves. That is, he loves being in the water, and being wrapped up in the towel - the few seconds in between seem to be torturous, no matter how warm the bathroom is!