: ( and : ) at the same time

It's been such a busy and sad time in our family, and I haven't really known what to say until now, I still don't, but will write it out anyways, and apologize if it doesn't make any sense. While Kevin was away for work(the day after he left, in fact), we got word that his grandmother had passed away. Kevin came home via bus from the Gaspe on the Wednesday(a day early), then we hit the road Thursday afternoon(much later than intended due to gas leaking from a fuel line). We didn't make it for the visitation, and didn't get in to the farm until well past 9pm. When we arrived at the funeral the following morning, we were told that Kevin's grandfather wasn't well and couldn't attend the funeral. After the funeral, Kevin was told that he should go visit with his grandfather, so he spent about an hour with him. It became his last visit with him, as we received a call at the farm from Kevin's father telling us that Donal had passed away.

This weekend will be Brynna's baptism, and so we have a third big weekend in a row, but fortunately this is a happy occasion instead of a sad one.

No, Not Yet!

It looks as though I may have to break out the amber necklace that I purchased a couple of months back in anticipation of the big time. Brynna has been chewing her fingers and knuckles for a little while now, but just last night she started gumming on me too, owie. It's so soon :(

Don't Want to Jinx it

But Aidan is wearing underwear!! With no training pants over them!! He started out with training pants over top of his underwear, then he had a successful pee, then a poop, in the toilet. After that he decided to not put his training pants back on afterwards, and so we are in experiment mode here. Hoping we don't have too many accidents. He does know that for naps and overnight he has to wear his training pants.

One Day Down(almost)

and so far so good. Except for this morning. We were at the bus stop 5 minutes before the scheduled pick up because we were told that the driver planned on being early, so when 9 came and went, Caleigh wanted to head home for the car. We got just around the corner onto Cline, and I thought I heard the bus, sure enough, it was coming, and fast. I started waving my arms up in the air trying to flag the driver down so they would stop and pick her up. Didn't even slow down. So I guess that someone waving their arms and hurrying in your direction doesn't warrant slowing down to see what's up.

Otherwise we've had an uneventful day, which is coming to a close with a treat meal from McD's to try to give Caleigh a bit of a cheer-up(kiddo was heartbroken this morning). We also had a visit from our neighbour to buy a calender from the school. Since we sold the last 2, we'll have to request an extra from the school tomorrow morning.

I hope Kevin's drive through Quebec was as uneventful as our day was.

What a Pain, and Something Nice to Hear

We knew there was going to be a replacement driver this morning. So we knew it was likely that the bus would be later than normal. Didn't expect them to totally miss our bus stop(which we heard from the older girls on the bus, which was at the school by the time we got there), on top of being 40 minutes late. I gave up waiting at 9:30 and brought the kids back to the house, got them in the car and drove Caleigh to the school, bringing everyone in b/c I had to park on Garfield this morning. I called the Transportation Authority this morning to let them know of what had happened so that they can hopefully rectify the problem. I've also put in an email request to have the bus stops changed over, hopefully they accept it.

On a positive note, we got a call from Caleigh's teacher in the afternoon letting us know that while things were going really well(she's been helping the younger kids with their snack, and was doing really well until the younger kids got there and the # of students got much bigger than she's used to), there are a few problem times when she resists doing as she's asked by stomping her feet, crossing her arms and saying no, or hiding in the closet. Caleigh has a sticker chart(as do all the other kids) and they get stickers for a job well done. We just need to encourage Caleigh to work at her co-operation so she can fill her sticker chart every month.

Counting Down the Days

Until Kevin is gone for work. He's going to be leaving early Thursday morning and won't be back until sometime late in the day the following Thursday. It's going to be interesting, to say the least. I rely on him to provide me a bit of relief/back up in the evenings and on weekends. I really am not sure what I'm going to do without him here. I've stocked up on a few things(incl some disposable diapers for Brynna jic I don't have the energy in me to wash diapers on top of everything else), and told the kids that so long as they co-operate with me, I'll treat them to McD's once while Kevin is away. I know that's bribery, but I'm gonna go with it and hope to heck it works.

I'm hoping that things will go smoothly and that the kids and I will have fun. Maybe one night of the weekend that he's away, I might let the kids stay up way too late watching videos and eating snacks(it might get me out of cooking an actual dinner ;) ). Of course, I'm not going to tell them this just yet, let it be a total surprise. I'll probably regret it the next morning b/c Brynna will probably decide that she wants to get up early.

3 Months

It's kind of difficult to believe that 3 months have already passed since Brynna was born. It has just flown by in a complete blur. Brynna is constantly smiling, squealing and making all kinds of different sounds. She's also chewing on her fingers/hands like crazy. We went to the doctor for her check up this morning(after making a super rushed, and tear/scream filled, drive to the school to drop Caleigh off b/c the bus was over a half-hour late and just showed up at the school as I was going back out to the car) and she's 13lbs, 13oz, 24 inches long and her head is 16 inches around, putting her in the 75th percentile. This makes her a bit smaller than her older siblings, but I think that's to be expected since she started out smaller, and has been sleeping through the night since so much earlier than them as well.

We have to prepare for Kevin's trip starting next week. He'll be somewhere in the middle of nowheres-ville on the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec for a week. I still haven't gotten around to calling and changing Caleigh's dental appointment for the morning of the day he'll be back, so I'd better get on that first thing tomorrow. I'm not concerned about taking all 3 of them out in public, it's just that it's right about when Brynna likes to have her second feeding. Hmmm, maybe I could see if she'll wait until 7 or slightly later that morning to feed her and then she might wait until we get home, or back to the car at least, to nurse again.