What a year!

 Emily is one. She started out as this innocent, dependent baby and has grown into an independent little girl. She's walking, chatting and playing on her own. She feeds herself, plays with her toys and is the joy of our lives.

 We love you Emily Meredith and we're glad that you are here.

Thanksgiving, Rain and an Eleven Month Old

Since I returned to work in September, updating posts have been difficult to fit in. This one encompasses the past month in the King household. Here goes:

We hosted Thanksgiving supper this year before my parents jetted off to Maui for three weeks....oh, the life of retirees....My brother, his wife and son came along with my parents and our family. Its funny how holiday suppers have changed since children came into the picture. I remember the first holiday supper that Blair and I had at our "little" house. It was just the two of us, I was expecting Nicholas and we had a 13lb turkey......we ate turkey for a month :).

Emily is continually growing and changing daily. She's almost walking unassisted and is as loud as her brother and sister. She's adapted well to daycare and is turning into a little girl and less a baby. She's my last baby and she's growing so fast.

Nicholas loves Kindergarten and is thriving. He's been working on memorizing and learning sight words and reading small books. It's amazing to me to sit with my little boy and listen to him read to me. He's less my "little" boy and more my big boy at 4 feet tall. Where did the time go? He's such his own person and the way his mind works still amazes me. Thankfully his teacher loves his enthusiasm and his channeling that energy into his learning.

Our big girl, Claire, is three. She wants to do everything her brother does and loves her sister like a little mommy. I am constantly asking her to put down Emily and not to carry her around and to give her some space. I hope that this "love affair" with her sister will last through their lives, however, I suspect at some point, they will have a "love/hate" relationship.

After all the sunshine and summer weather that we had, I knew that the rain would eventually come and come it has. It's rained on and off for two weeks but the fall colours are all around us and they are beautiful. Now I wish for a few cool, dry days so we can explore the fall foliage.

Until next time....

After

Growing Babies, Holidays and New Beginnings

I just realized that I haven't posted since July and so much has happened....which is why I haven't posted. Here we go:

After our July camping trip, we went up to Whistler for a week and spent some time with Blair's mom, brother and sister in law (who was expecting their first baby). We had a great time, playing at Alta Lake, where Nicholas tried paddle boarding with his Uncle Ian and Auntie Ali, spending mornings at the Family Fun Zone and the kids playground in the Village. I really hope to go back soon....perhaps without the kids......

 After Whistler, we spent time at the Zoo and Aquarium and riding bikes.......

We ended the summer with our nine month baby starting to crawl and furniture walk, Nicholas starting Kindergarten, Emily starting daycare and me returning to work at a new school with a new staff and a new group of students.

That's all for now.

Perry Family Weekend and Emily is Eight Months

 On Saturday, July 7th, Emily turned eight months old. As you can see from the pictures, she is sitting up on her own and loves to sit on the blanket at the park and play with her toys. Emily has also started eating the very, very messy biscuits and gets so messy (or enjoys them so much) that she gets them in her hair, ears, eyebrows, nose and, of course caught between her clutched fingers. She is growing so fast.....sigh.

On July 6th, we travelled to Evergreen Fishing
Resort for the annual Perry family weekend. This originated on Fathers Day about eight years ago as a way to get my sister (in Penticton), my brother and I together with my parents. Four years ago, we switched resorts and months. The way it works, is my parents rent a cottage (that sleeps six), Blair and I rent a two bedroom cabin and my brother and his family camp in their trailer, my sister comes down with her family and my aunt and cousin come from the Island to stay with my parents. We each take a night's meal and then we potluck breakfast and lunches.
The weather was hot, but the lake water was cold
and refreshing.

In there Costco track suits

All the cousins

In their fire shirts and in order of age

With Papa

The whole family (Sue's taking the picture)

Emily is Seven Months old / Kindergarten Orientation

Yesterday, Emily turned seven months old and Nicholas and I went to his Kindergarten orientation.

 It was strange for me to be taking my oldest to school and watching him go off with his teacher (the tallest in the group of five boys in the K/1 split) and then listening to the Principal tell me what Nicholas can expect in September. He was so excited, until he came back with a sheet to do for homework. He is not keen on colouring, drawing or writing, so when I saw the sheet, I knew that we'd need to do some convincing before September. Nicholas is a great little boy and likes to do well. He does not like to fail or try anything that he doesn't know that he can succeed at. I do not like split grade classes (from many, many years of personal experience) and I worry that it won't be a good fit for Nicholas, but I am keeping an open mind and will discuss it with the teacher in September at our interview. While I left the orientation with some concerns, Nicholas left, excited and wanting to go back to school soon. Try and explain that he has to wait until September to a five year old. Then there is Claire, who's three and wants to go to school, but, in her words, "I'm not five enough". I know before I know it, I'll be taking her to Kindergarten orientation. Time is going by so fast.

My little, dependent baby girl is growing, thriving and getting bigger every day. It makes me a bit sad because now (as you can see by the picture), she's started on solid food and she doesn't depend on me for everything. I find it so hard to believe that she has been here for seven months, when I can still remember waiting for her to be born.

Emily is talking, okay, babbling more. She now can say "MaMa". She can also roll over from back to front, front to back and when she's on her tummy, she will go up on her knees, rock and move backwards. The one thing that evades her is sitting up on her own. We will put her into the nursing pillow and she'll sit for a bit and then she arches her back and slides down and then she's on her tummy. Emily has started food and so far, likes rice cereal, rice/oat cereal and peas. Finally, this past month, Emily has started bathing with Claire in the big tub. This is a two parent job because she is not sitting on her own, so Blair holds her, bathes her and then passes her to me to dry off.

To my little boy, I can't believe that you're ready to go to school and I hope that I can give you the best start to your school career possible.
To my baby girl, I wish you wouldn't grow up so fast, Mommy needs her baby a bit longer.

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom and I on my wedding day

 Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful Mom, who showed me everyday, unconditional love and encouragement. I hope that I can be the mom to my children that my mom is to me. I Love you, Mom.

Nicholas and I

Claire and I the day we came home from the hospital

Emily (4 days old) and I

Nicholas is Five

 My little boy is five years old. Nicholas was born on Friday, May 11, 2007 and we brought him home on Mother's Day. He was this tiny, little person, completely dependent on Blair and I for everything. He taught me about unconditional love, when I wasn't sure I could give it and he's the little bit of sunshine in my world, even on a cloudy day. I can't believe that Nicholas has been in our lives for five years.

 Nicholas is growing into a strong, confident, curious, independent little boy, who shows me everyday the wonder in the world. I love seeing the world through his eyes.

Happy Birthday, my dear little boy. Thank you for showing me the world through your eyes. I love you.

XOXO,
Mommy

Emily at Six Months

 Emily has reached the milestone birthday of six months. In these past months, I've watched her grow bigger and stronger and reach developmental milestones. Now, she can roll from back to front, but gets stuck on the way back. She chats and I swear that she says "Da-Da, or maybe it's "Na-Na", so either she's calling her Daddy, or she's singing the song "Good-bye" (Na-Na-Na-Na, Na-Na-Na-Na, hey, hey, hey, good-bye).
Emily can smile, but uses her discretion and smiles only when and to whom she wants to. Most of those smiles go to her brother and sister, who love her to bits and compete for her attention, and her Daddy. She has been a breast-fed baby from day 1, but this week will experience baby's first cereal. I anticipate many funny faces as she navigates the world of solid food. I will post more about that later....

Until then, I'll leave you with these pictures of my beauty, my baby girl, who fills my heart with love each time I look at her. I love you, Emmy, my sweet baby girl. XOXO

Easter Sunday 2012

Our Little Easter Bunny chewing on her fingers

Love Bunny

All the Perry cousins eating lunch after the hunt

Racing on bikes

My sister and her son, Noah surprised my parents by coming down for an Easter weekend visit. It was a great opportunity to have all five Perry cousins together on Easter Sunday for an egg hunt and hot dog lunch at Grandma and Papa's house. It was a great day!