Kira had her first trip to the dentist this week. They counted all of her teeth (she has 20, so all of her teeth are in now) and even managed to polish 2 of her teeth before she rolled herself off of the seat - she was not a fan of the toothpaste. She did enjoy all of her stickers and toys that she got to take home after her appointment, especially her new toothbrush and toothpaste.

Her words are improving dramatically. She talks a lot, but for some words it is challenging to understand what she is saying. She has started working on pronouncing words correctly all of a sudden, it's wonderful. She has difficulty with S, F, V, and X; now she can do the "S" sound and her favourite word to say is "Yes", which she pronounces "Yesssssssssssssss". It's a nice change from "No".

She has turned into a 3 year old though, her time outs have been increasing and we can count on at least 1 temper tantrum per day. When she's not having a meltdown or whining about not getting her way, she is a very happy kid and continues to help us out with little household chores like laundry and grocery shopping. Grocery shopping is one of the only activities that Kira and I always do together and she loves it. I look forward to it too as it is a great bonding time for us, and it's nice to have some company along for the ride.

Kai's cold seems to have gone away. The runny nose and cough are lingering, but he has returned to being a happy and playful little boy. I feel bad because we got him healthy again just in time to give him is 4 month vaccinations, so now he's going to be feeling crappy again for the next couple of days. Poor kid can't buy a break.

At his appointment today, the doctor noted that his weight gain seems to have slowed quite drastically. He has dropped from the 75 - 90 percentile to the 25 - 50 percentile in just 2 months. After a lengthy discussion about his feeding, the doctor concluded that he seems to be self-weaning and advised that I stop nursing and we feed him exclusively from a bottle going forward. I am kind of bummed about this as this is the same thing that Kira did, however, Kira was only 4 weeks old, so at least we were able to get a few more months out of Kai. His health and growth are far more important than my pride...hopefully he'll start to put on some weight quickly.

With everyone being so sick the last few weeks, we haven't really taken any new pictures....I'll see what we can dig up and put some pictures in the next post.

Sicky Sick family

The last week or so the family has been struggling with a nasty cold. Kira brought it home from daycare, shared with Jon, which resulted in him taking 2 sick days this week. I can't remember the last time that he actually took a sick day, but it's been over a year for sure. Despite our best attempts to keep her from sharing the cold with Kai, she accidently sneezed on him, and sure enough, he got sick. He woke up Wednesday morning with a very congested sounding cough, but was otherwise fine. By the end of the day on Thursday he had a fever, was coughing up mucus (yummy) and was just miserable and clingy. After a lot of nagging by my mom, I reluctantly took Kai to Children's Hospital to be seen. My mom was worried because when I was a baby I had similar symptoms and it turned out to be pneumonia. Naturally, I figured she was worried for nothing and assumed that I'd be sent home from the hospital immediately...boy, was I ever wrong.

Apparently, if a baby under 6 months old has that kind of congestion in combination with a fever (Kai was 37.6 degrees), then they immediately undergo all sorts of wonderful tests and x-rays to rule out infections and other stuff. I was surprised that he would need tests, but was grateful that they were concerned and that he'd be taken care of right away. At the time, I had no idea what kind of tests he'd be getting done and it didn't even cross my mind that it'd be more than a simple x-ray or maybe a little needle for blood work; but when the nurse returned to our room he had his arms full with stuff. I guess my face must have shown the concern, so he said that I was welcome to leave the room during the tests (what he meant was that they didn't want me in there) as it is harder for the parents than the baby. Kai had to get a catheter, IV, blood work, and a nasal saline cleanse as well as his chest x-ray. Poor little guy! I gave him lots of kisses and cuddles, fought back the tears, handed him over to the nurses and then got the heck out of that room as fast as I could.

Unfortunately, as it was so late in the evening (11:45 by this point), 99% of the hospital was closed, and I hadn't brought a coat so I couldn't go outside...there was no where to hide where I couldn't hear my little baby boy screaming and crying his lungs out. So I stood in the waiting room blankly staring at the movie that was playing and pretending not to hear Kai. I knew that he was in good hands and that he'd forget about everything quickly, but it was hard. In hindsight, I am grateful to not have seen him getting all those needles (especially the catheter, I remember Kira getting this once and it was horrific to see her in such discomfort). When they were done, they brought my exhausted and quivering little man out to me; he looked up at me with eyes that said "I'm so tired, why is this happening to me?", then he fell asleep. He was a trooper during the x-ray, barely even cried - likely because he was all cried out from the tests that had just happened. He slept on me while we waited the 2 hours for the test results.

Just before 3am the doctor came in and said that all of Kai's tests were good, he had Bronchiolitis and would be congested for the next week or so and have a cough for about 3 weeks. We were told to keep an eye on his breathing and bring him back should his condition worsen. Kai woke up when the doctor came into the room and he greeted him with smiles and giggles, gotta love short-term memory.

Phew. What a relief to know that he was fine, poor kid was just beat after all those tests.

This morning his fever was still there, but it dropped after he had some tylenol (unlike his sister he doesn't mind taking medicine, I sure hope this doesn't change!). Tonight his fever seems to have come down and he's sleeping soundly. We are hoping that the worst is over and that he starts to get better soon. It's so hard when your kids are sick.

Rolling, Soccer, and Happy Birthday

He's rolling. Oh boy.

Kai first figured out how to roll from his belly to his back about a month ago, mainly because he hates tummy time. A couple of weeks ago he rolled from his back to his belly, but neither of us witnessed it and he hadn't done it again, despite trying every hour that he was awake and when he was supposed to be sleeping. Well, this weekend, he figured it out, and boy was he ever excited about it! He now rolls over all the time and when he gets to his belly he squeals and yells with delight. I'm worried because he's already making the correct motions for crawling too; obviously he's not moving, but a couple more months and then he'll be off. Yikes.

This is his new favourite sleeping position as well

Kira continues to be an amazing big sister, she constantly hugs and kisses Kai and loves to chat with him. Kai always focuses his attention on Kira when she is around. They are sharing their room now, it seems to be a success. Occasionally Kira will come into our room in the middle of the night, but she usually will return to her room within a few minutes without complaint.

This weekend Kira started soccer. It is just a little class that teaches you how to dribble ("drive") the ball, and other

basic skills. There are about 50 kids from 3 - 5 in this class, and I'd estimate about 5 of them are actually 3 years old. The class was a success to begin with, but I think the cold weather and her cold may have affected her somewhat. She was hesitant to participate in things that are normally her favourites, like running in circles and jumping. We'll keep going each week though and hopefully by the end of the month she'll be having more fun. It doesn't help that there is a big playground adjacent to the soccer pitch, she is constantly asking me to go play on the swings. Sigh. Here are a couple of pictures of her, hopefully she'll participate in the games soon, those would be fun pictures.

She's asking me to go play on the swings here, note the abandoned soccer ball in the background

"driving" the ball in a circle

Finally, here is an adorable video of Kira singing her version of happy birthday to me. She is holding her play-doh birthday cake that she got as a birthday gift this year.

3 Years Already?

Monday, March 28 will mark Kira's 3rd birthday. I can't believe how quickly these 3 years have gone by. This year we decided to keep things quiet and just having small family parties instead of a larger birthday party with her friends. Tonight we had an early birthday party with my side of the family. Kira was very excited to have her Aunties and Uncles over, as well as Grandma and Grandpa and her cousin, Sophia.

We dressed her up in her special birthday dress (a Dora dress, naturally) and she showed it off to everyone. We weren't too sure if she fully understood the whole concept of birthday quite yet, but we know now that she definitely does. When it was time to do the birthday cake, she sat at the table and waited for the "number 3 candle" to be lit; when it was lit she sat, smiled, and then counted "1, 2, 3!". We all kind of looked at each other wondering if she was expecting us to sing to her, because if there is one thing my family does not do, it's sing. Of course, that is exactly what Kira was expecting, and when no one started to sing she looked a little confused. So Jon told her to count again and we all sang happy birthday. Well, let me tell you, I have never, ever, seen her smile so big in all my life! She loved having us sing for her and then after she blew the candle out she giggled and clapped, still beaming. Jon and I now regret not throwing a bigger party for her because she obviously knows what her birthday is and loves every second of it.

"Cheese!"

Her HUGE smile while we were singing Happy Birthday to her

Blowing out the candle

It was a fun evening, Kira had a blast and crashed not long after everyone went home. Tomorrow she will get to re-live the experience as it will be her actual birthday and there will be a little party for her at daycare. Happy birthday Kira!

***The cake was actually made by me, it was supposed to be a lego "castle house" (one of her favourite things to build); but the "lego blocks" design was thrown out the window after a key part of the decoration failed. I didn't want to redo everything (that is, I didn't have time to redo everything), so I just went with 3 of Kira's favourite things as cake decorations - money, hersey kisses, and numbers. Note to all pseudo-bakers out there, you CANNOT frost the bottom of a cupcake!***

This week Kira and Kai went to their cousin Marcus' 4th birthday party. It was held out in a community centre in New Westminster. Kira was so excited to go to the birthday party that she didn't nap (she was awake in her bed for 2 hours singing and playing with her toys), so when we arrived at the party, she was sound asleep, naturally. We let her sleep for a bit and then attempted to wake her up...unsuccessfully. That girl is a sound sleeper, and when she's out, she's out. Fortunately, she did wake up just in time for birthday cake (which we ate for her since she STILL doesn't eat cake) and playing with the other kids. We went back to Jo and Yuet-chi's place after the party and Kira played with the kids until it was her bedtime. It was a good day for her, she was exhausted.

This week Jon found out that he got a promotion at work. He has been promoted from Associate Producer to Producer. We are very proud of his success at work, especially in such a volatile industry. Nice work, Husband!

My good friend Liz came to town this week and I was able to sneak out for a breakfast with her. It was nice to catch up with her, I sure miss having her around since she moved back to Ontario last summer. We are already planning our next Pearl Jam road trip, hopefully for later this summer/fall before I go back to work.

Yesterday, I found out that I am getting my braces off in 4 short weeks. I'm so excited to have my teeth back to normal again, braces the second time around are just as bad as they were the first time. Hopefully I'll be able to get my tooth implant before the summer starts, then I'll be able to get on with life and not have to worry about my fake tooth falling out when I eat apples.

Here are some pictures of the kids

Kira took this picture of Kai and Daddy

Kai's first time in his Jolly Jumper. He quite enjoyed it, but wasn't so sure about it to begin with.

Kai's first time in the exer-saucer. He's got it figured out now, so we don't need to put the blanket behind him to keep him from slamming around in the seat.

Tomorrow is Kai's 3 month "birthday"; so I weighed him today. He has put on 1 pound this month and grown 1.5 cm, he is now 13 pounds and 63.5cm.

Here are some pictures from the last few days...

Kai is holding his own bottle already!! (ok, sort of holding)

Kira's pretty headband, I wish she wore this more often

The tutu that Auntie Robynn got her

Kira took this picture of Kai, she loves to take pictures

The week that was...

Boy, what a week we just had - I'm so happy that it's finally Saturday and Jon has returned from his work trip. He doesn't have any more lined up (yet), so life should return to a somewhat normal state for a little while. The week started off with Kira's cold turning into a flu. She was running a little fever, so I tried slipping some tylenol into her drink, knowing that he hates to try/taste anything new, it was a long shot that it would work. Yeah, it was a fail of epic proportions. After a few vomits, I had to call my Mom and Charlie to come and help with Kai so that I could take care of Kira. Her fever spiked at close to 39 degrees before it finally fell down to 38.

On Wednesday we went to visit with Mom and Charlie for dinner. Upon returning home, we discovered that the power was out, and had been for some time. It was about 8:30 when we got home, and the power was not to come back on until about 12:30am. Goody. There was no heat in the house, so we all curled up in my bed. Thankfully Kira was still tired and crashed immediately. I guess the darkness made Kai sleepy too, he crashed around 9:00 and didn't wake up until the power came back on just after midnight.

Friday, Kira returned home from Grandma Rose's house still not feeling 100%, but showing signs of improvement. A short while after Grandma and Grandpa left, Kira's face started breaking out into hives or something like that. Grandma and Grandpa returned quickly, and then we were off to the hospital to get her checked out. After a brief wait (she got priority treatment due to her rash getting much worse while we were in the waiting room), she was diagnosed with a post-viral rash, nothing serious or contagious. They brought in some liquid benedryl to give to Kira. I laughed and asked if they had it ina shot, apparently that was neither funny nor available (awkward moment!). After the nurse put a little bit into Kira's mouth, Kira forced it back out again - just like the tylenol. So, I had to hold Kira's arms down while she screamed "no!!!!" and the nurse forced the stuff into her throat, it was horrible and hilarious at the same time. She got about half the dose in before Kira forced it out again. We left without trying again as Kira was hysterical by then.

Today, she woke up without the rash and seemed much happier and back to normal. The rash returned after her nap, but she was happy and eating again a couple of hours later. I think that we are on the road to recovery, finally. Phew.

Kai is doing well. He seems to have avoided getting Kira's cold (thank goodness). This past week he has learned how to roll onto his side and halfway over onto his belly; he just has to figure out to move his arms and then he'll be in business. The naps are continuing to improve, although still a work in progress. At night, he still wake about every 3 - 4 hours...no change there. Only a few more weeks and then we'll do the sleep training. I really hope that it works!

Here are some pictures of the kids, hope that everyone is doing well.

Daddy and Kai naptime

Kira loves to play with Kai

Cheese!

Kira teaching Kai how to make the music start

The snowman that Kira and Daddy built, it fell down about an hour later and was melted away by the end of the day

Kai loves his musical sun and will smile and chat with it, very cute.

"Hi Daddy!"

Tummy time! Love the old man wrinkles in his forehead.