The best weekend...

Our family had an amazing weekend. On Friday my parents came over for dinner, along with my brother. It was nice. And then, Saturday morning, we drove out to Banff because I had a 10km race. And I ran my race in under an hour. That's the first time I was ever under an hour. We went out to Banff with Cindy and her family and it was just a great weekend. Spaghetti dinner, stinky cave, hot tub, hiking, picnic lunch and even made it home in time to get the dog!!

Here's a few pictures from the weekend...

They're brothers...

So, now that Sullivan is crawling around all the time, I knew it was only a matter of time until he discovered the dog's water dish, and I knew he'd love it. And he did. So, rather than just pull him away right away, I went and grabbed the camera. And took a few pictures. Sebastian thought it was sooooo cool that I was taking pictures of Sullivan playing in the water, so he wanted to play too and show Sullivan just how much fun it could be. Needless to say, they had a blast, and I was reminded of when Sebastian was just little and playing with the dog's water for the first time. So here's some pictures of then, and now...

Sebastian aged 13 months (well, almost anyhow)

Sullivan aged 8 months (and a bit)

My favourite shot of Sebastian with the water

And Sullivan having fun with the water

Big brother showing little brother what to do (not that he needed help, but so sweet of him)

And Sebastian beyond thrilled that he was actually allowed to play in puppy's water, if only for a few minutes!!


So, now begins the game of cat and mouse trying to keep Sullivan out of the dog's water and him slowly learning the word "no". Why is it that has to be one of the first words kids understand?? Oh well, it was cute and it showed me just how similar they are (if not in size, then at least in areas of interest!!)

My baby is eight months old... two days ago!!

I can't believe how fast the time is going. Sullivan is already eight months old. He is so curious about everything and crawls in his army style crawl all over the place. He loves watching Sebastian do pretty much anything and will often try and be close to him (not always appreciated by his brother of course!!). He is making a few different noises now and is interesting to listen to that way. And he's a large child. He's wearing 18 month old clothes even though he's just 8 months. And he eats, and wow, does he eat. He'll polish off a whole bowl of baby cereal or a jar of baby food without a second thought. It's incredible really. And he will feed himself too. He does excellent with the baby mum mum cookies and even the puffs. If it can go in his mouth, he's willing to put it there. This is so completely the opposite of Sebastian who continues to struggle some days with eating. I'm amazed at how different they are. Sullivan is a happy guy and seldom does anything upset him. It's fantastic!! And his smile. He just has a great smile and a fantastic laugh too!!

The first day of preschool...

So yesterday, Sebastian started preschool. He was great. As I was dropping him off, his lip quivered and he asked if he could have another kiss and hug, and I gave him both, then he was inside and having fun. It was a short day of only 45 minutes, just to give him a taste of what it was like. And, only half the class was there so things weren't too intimidating. He did great though, and later, when I was picking him up, he had his backpack on again and was so excited to see me and tell me that they sang songs and that his teacher was MsSusan. He even said goodbye to her. I thought that was so sweet!! I think he's going to really enjoy preschool and I look forward to hearing him tell me about his days!!

Life is good...

Every day, I feel so blessed to have the family I do. I truly do have an amazing husband and I'm so lucky for that. He is a fantastic father to his boys and it's so cool to see him with them. And then there are my boys. Sebastian of course had a really rough ride at the beginning of his life, but now he's just this incredible little toddler about to start preschool. He's fun to chat with, has the cutest smile and can say the sweetest things. I try and remind him every day that I sure did win the kid lottery when I was chosen to be his mom!! And then there is Sullivan. He's this happy, content, always smiling little baby who is curious about everything. He sticks pretty much anything in his mouth and is motoring all over the house now with his army crawl. It's so cute. It amazes me how different Sebastian and Sullivan are. It's been so much fun parenting a full term child just because of the things that were different with Sebastian. I love them both more than anything, and I'm so proud to parent such a cute pair of boys. And I love that Sebastian looks out for his little brother sometimes, taking away things he shouldn't be chewing on (like the remote or my wallet for example). Or how he can be protective of him when we're out "don't touch my brother, he's not yours". And sometimes he will give him hugs or get a toy for him and it's just so cute. I love my family and I hope I tell them that often enough because I really am lucky!! Thanks guys!! Thanks Jeremy, Sebastian, Sullivan (and Cronos the super dog)... you make me smile and have fun every day!!

The August Instalment of the Daring Bakers

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

This was a fun challenge. Cindy and I chose to make it while visiting family in Medicine Hat. We were very lucky that my mom let us take over her kitchen to make the Torte. Since we were baking it for two different families, when it came time to assemble it, we made two half cakes. It was definitely a lot of work, but in a super tasty good sort of way!! We followed the recipe as written, except that we chose to add cherry syrup between the layers brushed on with a pastry brush. However, I never really tasted it, so next time I think I would go straight for the cherry liqueur and maybe get the desired taste that way. All in all it was a great challenge that got us to do a few different things, like play with sugar, make a multi layer cake and have fun with assembly. I loved making it and eating it!! And, as you can see from the pictures, my favourite taste tester enjoyed it too!!

Long time no post!!

Wow, I haven't really posted much about the family in awhile now. I blame part of this on the iphone. My husband got me an iphone at the end of June and as a result, I am hardly ever on the main computer anymore!!

Life has been busy. Sullivan is crawling now. It's that army style crawl but he can get where he wants to go and faster than we realize too!! He's eating real food now too. All sorts of stuff, and does amazing with the baby mum mums and cookies and such. It's so completely the opposite experience than what we had with Sebastian, where food was (and sometimes still is) a struggle.

And Sebastian is doing amazing. He's starting preschool in a couple weeks and is just so much fun to hang out with. He can pedal his tricycle now and is doing very well with that. I can actually play some games with him now and he sort of actually does what he is supposed to.

Anyhow, here's a few pictures from lately.


At the top of Sulphur Mountain, 6.12km with 700 meter altitude gain, that we did as a family (and Sebastian walked most of it by himself!!)


Sebastian with the Canada flag at the top of Sulphur Mountain


Happy boy Sullivan enjoying the beautiful weather


Sebastian in one of his new outfits


Sullivan being the happy baby that he is