On route to Orlando!

An early early morning wake up to go to the airport. I think I was getting Henry out of bed at 3:50.  Unfortunately Rose woke up just after 1:00 for water or something and I never fell back to sleep.  Sleeping when excited is pretty much not possible for me. I decided to keep that piece of information to myself and try to be in the most cheerful mood possible.  It actually worked and I only started to feel really tired after dinner. 

Blankets and spring jackets

No problems wheeling their own suitcases. 

This year we had less luggage and 1 extra person.  The girls brought fewer books and toys and packed all of their clothes in their suitcases.

As per usual, we had no time to get breakfast or coffee before getting on the plane.  Really though, who wants to get up even earlier to have time to sit around in the airport.

I sat with all 3 kids.  Easier to feed Henry and let him sleep on me when not sitting beside a stranger. 

Paige has been on the plane more than 20 times.

It was great arriving in Orlando before 10am! By the time we got the rental car etc. and got on our way it was before lunch.  Unfortunately the plans of swimming and basking in the sun were thwarted by the rainy day, but we stopped at McDonalds for a lunch (I had a craving after that early wake up and lack of food on the plane!), and then went to the hotel and were able to check in early, which was a life saver! Being able to unpack and relax as well as grocery shop was fantastic.  I remember being insanely elated to be there.

Backyard friend

Florida bound

In 6 days we leave for our 4th annual Orlando trip! This time we have Grandma Val, Auntie Booze, Uncle James, Uncle Tyson, Lizzy, and Lewis coming along for the first week! This is sure to be a vacation to remember.  We will be staying an additional week--Paige will really miss a lot of school this time. 

We're staying at the usual place, so there's no stress in terms of worrying about what to expect, but of course it is a bit stressful to pack up a family of 5.  Mike worries about himself of course, but I take charge of the rest of us and hope not to forget anything. 

All 5 of us have Nexus passes now too which will make for a speedy bypass of customs, and Mike's Air Canada status allows us to go straight up to the business class line to check our bags.  Even though things should be quick at the airport we'll still have to wake up at 3:30am in order to get there on time for our 6:30 am flight. Nice.  

At any rate, we are over the top excited, which will make for a long week of waiting.  I will attempt to blog on the road...

Rose's french

On Tuesday afternoons Rose learns french at preschool.  She came home one afternoon and said "my name is pink, because my favourite color is pink".  It took me a minute to understand and then I said, "ohhh like the word for pink in french is rose!".  "Français", she says.

random fun

troublemaker

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Henry's Nexus Pass!

bear in the house

Paige's craft

Random readin

Trying to escape

Eating cheese

Henry 8 months

The cuteness factor is through the roof and I can hardly stand it. Someone said to me recently that "there is nothing cuter than a baby in overalls".  One could also argue that "no one is cute in overalls except a baby", but I digress.

In Henry's 8th month so far he has really started to motor.  He is just so fast at his crawling now, and constantly pulls himself up on things. If I'm standing up he'll pull himself up on my leg.  If I'm crouching down to help Rose with something he'll even pull himself up on my back.  I can still let him play in the bathroom if I have a shower, but he gets into trouble quick and I have to be speedy.  He'll pull himself up right by the shower door and get his arms wet, or push the glass door open.  A favourite spot is the small space between the toilet and the wall where the toilet seat is plugged in--yes the toilet seat is plugged in.  Nothing says toasty warm like a heated bum on the toilet seat.

I love the noises he is beginning to make. A lot of consonant sounds...GA!  KA!! I swear he is even saying his first word.  He claps his hands and says "Ka ka!"It really seems like he is trying to say Clap clap.  Paige started to talk at 8 months, so it could be!

He is now eating 3 meals a day.  Cereal and some sort of fruit for breakfast, a veggie and fruit for lunch, and cereal and something else for dinner.  He also sometimes has yogurt and a few pieces of finger food.  To keep him occupied he also snacks on cheerios and baby puffs.  I can't really remember how much Paige ate at this age but it seems like he has a bigger appetite.  Rose had barely started solids at this age, so he definitely has a bigger appetite than she did.

As for the sleep, he has been sleeping though the night for the past 2 weeks.  With the exception of last night when I had to go into his room briefly at 9:45, he hasn't needed me to go into his room at all in the night for the past 2 weeks ish.

The temperature outside has been so cold though that the poor little guy is constantly getting bundled up.  I can't wait for him to be able to explore and swim in Florida.

Christmas Break Family fun

Mike took the entire 2 weeks off work.  It was so so so so so nice.  Especially since he had travelled quite a bit lately.  It was really awesome to have a lot of family time.

We did a few family activities over the break:

Sledding:

Leaving to go sledding.  He was asleep as I got him dressed and put him in his car seat. 

Family swimming!!  

At first Henry was shivering, but he eventually warmed up and had a great time. We swam for quite a while as we were waiting for the hot tub to re open.  We really didn't want to miss the hot tub!

Baby's first swim! He was too little to swim in our pool in the summer

After swimming we went out to a restaurant for lunch.  Henry had a nice nap in his car seat the entire time.  So nice as I was really craving restaurant food!!

New years Eve!

We went to the Craigey's for New Year's Eve with Christy, Clara, and Carey as well.  Super fun time. 

Champagne on ice

Little Monkey's!

On New Years day, an indoor playground was actually open.  It wasn't too buy either, oddly enough.  

nap time

 We also had a day of shopping at the mall, and lunch at another restaurant.  The rest of the time we just did regular things around the house, but it felt very relaxed.  No one needed to be dropped off at school, there were 2 parents around at all times, we didn't have to get ready first thing in the morning, and we could walk Scout whenever we wanted rather than super early morning and late at night. I was sad when Mike went back to work, and I'm not sure Paige was super enthusiastic to go back to school. BUT....1 month till Florida and then we'll be on vacation again!

Christmas 2013

 Christmas was so awesome this year.  Rose was old enough to really enjoy it.  And Henry just crawled around getting into everything which was cute.  And Paige was just beyond excited.  She's at the perfect age this year.  Because of our GroClock though, the girls stayed in bed till 7:00 when the sun went on.  Mike and I were still in bed and I heard someone say "It's Christmas!!".  I thought it was Rose, but apparently it was Paige.  They got super excited after that and came straight out.  Mike went downstairs to let out Scout and turn on the lights so they could see everything when they went into the family room.

Paige's santa gift

Rose's santa gift

After gifts we had our usual Christmas breakfast of french toast, fruit and bacon.  And coffee of course....

In the following pictures you can see the girls have multicoloured hair...a result of Paige's gift of "hair chalk"

Around 3:00 we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner

All dressed up

Everyone did great, and Henry was even hyper at 8:30.  I think we got home at 9:30 or so.  Of course Rose was asleep in the car, and of course Paige wasn't.  A really great day. So happy for good health and safe travelling on Christmas.