Caden at 2 weeks

Yesterday I visited Ali and got to visit Caden too...well, he had a feeding and diaper change:) It's amazing how fast they grow up! Talking about growing up, today when I got Koen from his nap, he was standing in his crib. He is a little monkey!

Exercise

Kai opening and closing the kitchen cupboards repeatedly at 7:30am....
Me: Kai, please stop making all the racket with those doors.
Kai: But mommy, I need to get my exercise.

Off to shoot a wedding. Thankfully pictures are early this morning before the rain is predicted to come!

Cloth Diapers and Mr. Climber

Well, we are back from holidays and back into cloth diapers. We only use them during the day so he actually only goes through about 3 or 4 a day at this point. I have to say that it is very easy to use cloth diapers when they are on solids...a little Flushie insert and all the `dirty stuff' is flushed down the drain. We throw our diapers into a pail in the basement and just wash them every other day. We'll see how long we stick with it:)

I have given away all of the newborn cloth diapers but will keep my all in ones and one size fits all ones as I could see myself using them again if we have another child. I'd say that the biggest drawback of cloth diapers are the large, large bums. I don't want to stretch out all his 12 month pants so he is pretty much going without pants or shorts while wearing them. Good thing it's summer! I've been LOVING this cooler weather and was more than happy to put on jeans today.

In about 2 minutes, he went from the middle of the carpet to standing holding onto the wagon. I even saw him reach down with one hand and pick up a toy while standing up. He can even do it with socks on the slippery laminate floor. Craziness! He has a random rash that looks like eczema on his face, I think it must be due to the dry weather up in Osoyoos. I hope that's it. There are 3 dry patches which you can see on the left side of his face. Anybody know if that's what it probably is?

We have a busy couple weeks. I know I've blogged a lot but I think the blogging will slow down as we have 4 shoots in one week and then Kai's bday party. So, if you don't hear from me, that's why. Be sure to check out our GC Photography blog though as there will be lots of new pictures in the upcoming weeks!

I can't believe I haven't done Koen's 7 months old post...I'm never behind on those. I will do it, um, soon.

Manners

Kai wanting an apple...
Me: Kai, you need to use your manners
Kai: Can I please have an apple sir?

Kai not wanting to go to bed...
Kai: But mommy, I'm too tired to sleep.

Kai after running into the wall by accident...
Kai: But mommy, why are walls so hard?

Kai not wanting to clean up his toys...
Kai: But I don't have time for this.

Kai wanting to watch Diego instead of Treehouse...
Kai: I have no time for Treehouse

Kai wanting the gophers to come out of their holes so he could feed them...
Kai: Hi gophers, anyone home? It's just me, Kai Chapman.

Osoyoos Wrap Up

Okay, so there's no way I'm going to update each day. In no particular order, here are some happenings from the last 4 days. We had a fabulous time. It really warmed my heart that Kai has started to bond with the other mini nerds and that the second `batch' of kids are already giggling and reaching for each other:) Gary and I are utterly exhausted as our two boys kept us going non stop, especially throughout the night. Kai was sick with a cold and that meant that his coughing and complaining kept Koen up. Not a fan of sharing a room. I shouldn't complain, just being honest! Here we go...and oops, I don't think I have many pictures of the adults. Hopefully other people got them!

Feeding the gophers again at Lightning Lake. We also saw a bear while we were in our van and we watched it for a while. Gary told me to get outside the van to take a picture and he wasn't kidding.


We went with Jen and Andrey up the hill (maybe a 5 min drive) and went for an early morning hike/walk/stroll. It was so hot there so I loved getting out there early. One day it was 41C. Seriously folks, not my favourite:) We spent tons of time at the beach each day. Kai did fabulously in the water, I was so impressed with how brave he was. The men spent time racing rubber animals down a sand and water race track. Quite the engineering feat...or so they thought. We ate a lot of good food and hung out a lot. We shared a condo with 2 other families which allows you to get to know eachother a whole lot better in a short amount of time.


We did some geocaching and for some people it was their first time. I think the kids really enjoyed it. Who doesn't love a little treasure hunt?


`Falling down the drain' is where they lay down on top of the drain and then Gary would pick them up and throw them in the air in a blast off. I know, doesn't sound too fun but they wanted to play every night. We are having Kai's `real' birthday party in a week from now.



Two of the families couldn't make it so were were missing some serious girl representation.
Next year...next year. Last night, Ayden (mohawk) spent some quality time with Kai doing a workbook where they had to circle certain letters etc and Kai loved it.


Just wanted a picture to show I was there too. All the other ones were on the beach and a little less...um....ya. Kai was a bit of a gongshow. He would wake up repeatedly throughout the night begging to go play with the other kids and toys. His persistence would wake up Koen. There was nowhere to put him and punishment was not easy as there were 2 other families in the condo fast asleep:) My favourite moment was seeing Kai participate in a group hug with 3 of the other big boys. So cute.

Kai is Three!!

I feel like no matter what I write, I can't do justice to my baby turning three. I barely remember him as a little (okay, 9lb 11oz) baby. I do remember `some' crying but I also remember Gary and I celebrating every single little thing he did. I remember the first time he scratched his nose and there was a little blood, it made me teary eyed. Times have changed:)

Kai is such an amazing little (now 37lb) boy. Yesterday while watching him play in the lake, I thought he looked like Gary. He def. looks like his daddy but has a wonderful mix of Gary and my personalities. He gives goofy answers like Gary and he likes schedules and playing outside like me. He is laid back, outgoing, energetic and a pretty sweet boy.

(Notice he's eating in the first two pictures, this guy loves his food!)
I can't imagine how different our lives would be if he wasn't in it. He has filled my life up with so much joy, I am so thankful.

He loves all different kinds of cars and is starting to learn the various brands and parts to them. He still loves Diego and his Bubi (blanket). His favourite activity with us is `Jumps and Spins' where we just spin him around or jump over him. He loves other kids and plays quite nicely. His favourite thing to do with Koen is to play chase. He has tons of nicknames but I always call him Kai Bear. Gary has been calling him `snicklefritz' lately. He has become a little more strong willed lately but I think that's all part of trying to be independent.

He has started riding his tricycle more but wants a big boy bike. He has been completely toilet trained for months. He loves helping out with the garden and mowing the lawn. Okay, I could go on forever but I'm on holidays and should probably get off the computer:) Kai bear, I hope you always know, through our actions and words, that you are sooooooooooooooooooooo loved. Love, mommy, daddy and Koen.

Nerdy Day 3

We hit the beach again early this morning. The kids (and possibly the adult males) were LOVING the water race between all the plastic animals.
Matthew kept bombing down the hill and belly flopping on the kickboard. That guy is a fish!

Tonight we will be getting some pictures of Kai's 3rd birthday. We've got an icecream cake and he is pumped. Kids are napping...woohoo!

O So Nerdy Day 2

Today we spent hours at the beach. The kids built a river in the sand and raced plastic animals down it. The adults cooled off in the water. Good times.

We finished off the evening by watching a video of Jen's upper endoscopy, what...is that weird? It was cool. Love that there are other anatomy and physiology lovers here:)

Riley, the oldest of the babies, will be one in 2 weeks. He can move so fast, he keeps up with the big kids!

Hard to tell which kid is yours when they are in all of their sun gear:)

Koen with Addi...these two just sit there and giggle at eachother but I'll need to get a better picture of that.

Koen actually did not hate the water, he just missed all his naps. Well, he did sleep for 30 minutes today. Not adequate.

Yes, Gary truly is that white. I think it's great, it means he isn't getting too much sun exposure.

Kai got a bucket full of catfish and had fun releasing them. He was in the water/beach area for 3 hours straight.
I'm actually writing this Monday morning as the kids were up at 5am, well, let's be honest, Kai didn't sleep last night. He has a cold that included a fever last night. All he did was moan and groan and complain all night. We are way too exhausted. I hope he has a good birthday today. I was a little emotional last night thinking about his arrival into the world. Somehow 3 seems like a bigger deal than being 2. Happy Monday.

My Boys

I will have two separate posts once I get home but:
KOEN IS 7 MONTHS OLD and is making crazy physical advancements daily. Today he pushed a box across the room and then pulled himself up on a chair.
KAI IS 3 (OKAY...ALMOST). At this time 3 years ago, I was 10 cm dilated and they said he would be born by midnight. He didn't make an appearance until 8:02am. My baby is 3!!

O So Nerdy Day 1

For our travel day to Osoyoos, we stopped at Lightning Lakes at Manning Park. I don't know if those animals were gophers but Kai was sooooo entertained. He just kept running from hole to hole, much to the frustration of the tourists trying to get pictures with slow shutter speeds:) We also did a geocache but boy, it was toasty warm out there. I think we will def. do some camping in Manning one day, there is just so much hiking to be done!