Supercooking and the Outdoors

To my dismay, Caleb had been getting bored hanging out at home. I imagined the kids would have a blast with me this summer but it turns out it's tiring having a newborn and six year olds demand a lot of attention and energy. Caleb showed no interest in summer camps this year but agreed to go this week because he'd be in a camp with his cousin Eddie. So Caleb's playing it up at a local Super Hero camp. This morning when we went outside to leave the air smelled funny, like farm funny, and Caleb said "It smells like cows. Maybe someone has a stuffed toy of a cow that smells like a real cow." Haha, don't think that would go over very well on Dragon's Den. I also had to turn back when driving him to camp because Caleb reminded me he needed a pillowcase and a picture of himself for camp craft today. I told him he has a good memory and he replied "yeah, I have good memories." Funny kid.


Liana and I have dedicated this boyfree time to watching copious amounts of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (halfway through the series) and making kitchen messes. We didn't photograph all our meals but here's a snapshot. No links as we were using hardcopy recipes.

Breakfast "Pink Lady" (colour is from beets)

Breakfast blueberry almond shake

Breakfast "Power Packed Green Smoothie"

Snack chocolate orange smoothie

Our first attempt at making sushi for lunch! "Quinoa Vegetable Maki Sushi Rolls"

After a little practice!

Miso soup

Vegan Buster Parfait (on left) - didn't get a picture of this one but it was delicious and really did look that cute

I've been trying to be more active and to get the kids to be more active. Liana and I both joined My Fitness Pal so together we're tracking our food and exercise (also a great way to track Liana's nutritional intake as a vegan). Getting Caleb or Liana to go outdoors is like pulling teeth but once we're out they're usually glad for it. Liana and I even went for a lovely 5k walk/run last Sunday in preparation for the Colour Run.

Still afraid of the monkey bars

 

Trying out her new roller skates

 

Windy evenings call for a bonnet!

Caleb flying his kite with a little girl he met at the park

Picture Liana took of a cloud that has a heart in it

My favourite place to go for long walks (about a 20 min walk from home)

Waiting for Liana while she takes 2,745,654 pictures at the bike path

 

Dexter's loving this being more active thing

Dinner in the backyard

Evelyn's second time in the pool

 

Darcy was just helping Caleb out of the pool but this picture's hilarious

Love her face

Darcy has mad diving skills

Caleb wading through the Darcy made waves

 

Evelyn loves long sleeps during the day. This is unfortunate as far as nights go but allows for oh so sweet cuddle moments.

Sisterly bonding

We call this Evelyn's giving up or surrendering to sleep position - usually means it'll be a long nap!

And a random thing: We bought and adhered the City's $2 no junk mail sticker yesterday and woke up to this:

Fail!

Month 1 Milestones

Well that went by quickly. Decided to jump on the bandwagon of taking monthly milestone pictures: taking a photo of the baby at roughly the same spot with the same setup including milestone marker. The sixth photo down is my favourite.

Evelyn's first month developmental milestones include the following:
-babbles, coos and grunts
-turns towards familiar sounds
-lifts head briefly
-wiggles arms and legs
-sleeps up to 5.5 hours at night
-holds eye contact
-makes funny surprised face

Photobomb dog strikes again!

Weight update + summer by the pool

On Tuesday Evelyn had a midwife appointment to check up on her weight. It seems the pills, pumping and extra feedings successfully fattened her up! She was a healthy 9.12 pounds. Milk supply's now high on its own. Tuesday afternoon was also the first afternoon that each kid had an appointment. Evelyn's appointment was at 2pm, then I dropped off Caleb at his guitar lesson at 4pm, dropped off Liana at her 4:20pm dentist appointment, picked up Caleb at 4:30pm and then went back for Liana. Going to make a point of spreading out appointments from now on!

Evelyn has a bit of a sleeping pattern now. She wakes up every 2-5 hours during the night, and during the day she sleeps about an hour after being awake for about two. Okay that isn't much of a pattern at all but I seek routine and that's all I'm able to figure out so far. One of the best feelings of my life are the few times Evie falls asleep on my chest on the couch and I nap with her - so special to snuggle her tiny body and feel her breathing against me.

I joined a moms group called Moms and Dads with Monkeys. I was part of the group and a few similar ones while on maternity leave with Caleb and had some good times, even met some of my now close friends through the groups. Will try to make it out to one of their park playdates in the next few weeks with Caleb.

House ownership responsibilities have been creeping up. Had a plumber and a furnace guy over yesterday to fix a few things, and went to Home Depot to purchase a new washing machine (will be delivered Monday).

Other than that it's been excessively hot lately with temperatures hitting 40 degrees. No walks or visits to the park. We hibernate indoors with occasional swims in the backyard.

Testing out a new Liana smoothie creation

Good look at Evelyn's hair

Vanilla raspberry smoothie

Liana watering her kale garden and little brother

Caleb names his jumps - this one may have been "the pickle"

Dex enjoying the AC but also wishing he were outdoors

On her swing

Evelyn on the change table

Four weeks

Four weeks