Is That A Real Baby?

The boys had swimming lessons tonight so Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa Stajniak headed out to lessons with them. I stayed at home with the girls and hung out with them. Grace went for a ride on her horse and then took her new dolly for a stroll. Here is a video of her strolling her new baby around? In other, related news, Fiona has an incredibly strong neck.



Also, if anyone is looking for a good laugh, check out Mark and Laura's blog. There is an awesomely funny post call "Oh Miss Miah", which highlights joys of having an active toddler.

The Middle Child

Before Fiona came, Brodie was the middle child. I have always hated the thought of the middle child sydrome and swore that I would not let my middle child be exposed to the syndrome even though he was the middle. Well, when decorating for Christmas, Clay and I shifted some furniture around and put out some new 8 x 10 pictures of the kids...except not all of them had an 8 x 10. Guess which one? Of course, being a hormonal pregnant woman, I was devestated because Brodie was exposed to the middle child syndrome and had never been taken to a professional photographer for photos. So, that's how this adorable photo of Brodie came about. Clay did not want to mess with my hormones so we went to the studio that I wanted to go to. We were both very happy with the results.

In other news, my parents arrived safely yesterday and will be staying for two weeks. Grandpa is already playing mechanno with Riley and Brodie and Grandma has been great with the girls, especially Fiona when she is fussy and needs to be burped. Once again, I am pretty much on holidays and finally can take some time to update the blog. I don't have photos with them yet, but here are some photos prior to their arrival.

The kids continue to love their baby sister and she is quite entertained and amused by them. She likes to watch them run around. Riley has even taken the opportunity to read a book to all of them. The boys are becoming more and more independent as they realize that Mommy needs help. No, I don't do it all on my own as everyone pitches in around here to get things done...even Grace loves to set the table for every meal.



As for Clay, he is doing really well on his masters. He has completed the writing portion of his rough draft and is getting it reviewed by his advisors. I think he plans on defending his thesis by the end of March. After that, he wants to take a parttime French course and get back up to speed on his second language profile. That will take him to mid-May when he convocates and then goes on parental leave just in time for our trip to England. By the way, what a pain in the butt to get all those passpart completed, but it will be worth it.

Fiona and Preston: 1 Month Photo

Hi Everyone, In keeping with the tradition I have set with Riley, Brodie and Grace, I will be providing monthly updates and a few photos of Fiona and her bear, Preston. Preston arrived on our doorstep about 1 1/2 weeks ago. He is a gift to Fiona from Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer. He will probably not change much in the next year but Fiona will and this is the first of her updates.

Fiona is doing really well. She is every bit as tough and strong as her brothers and sister. She is already holding her head up really well. She is a pretty good baby and generally is an angel when we need her to be. We went out for supper on Friday evening and she pretty much slept through the whole ordeal. She was in her car seat where she loves to thunder in and rack out for hours. So, she has had some huge naps during the day, up to five hours, which has caused some heart ache for mommy at night. But we're all surviving. As I said, she is generally pretty good, but she tends to be quite fussy at times. Her last appointment was two weeks ago. I estimate that she is somewhere between 9 1/2 to 10 lbs. Fiona has definitely grown as she is already outgrowing some of her clothes. Many people have noticed and commented on her lack of hair compared to her older siblings. What she lack in hair, she makes up in beautiful long eyelashes. She was born with kick @$$ lashes and they have even grown since birth.

As for the rest of us, we are so excited because we just bought our tickets to England to visit Mark, Laura and family. We will be visiting them from 16 May to 1 June. Riley has already started packing.

I have to get going as Clay needs to get work. He tries to get lots of extra writing done in the evenings, as he would like to be done his thesis before the end of March. Later, Ev

A Great Day to Build A Snow Fort

Wow, what a beautiful day we had yesterday!! It was five degrees...above zero. The snow was melting and very sticky, so Brodie, Grace and I ventured outside to build a snow fort. This is our creation pictured below. It was a very misty, foggy day and I really hoped that it wouldn't rain and melt our fort before Riley saw it. He was at school and missed out on all the building. When he got home, he got to play in the fort too.




Fiona is 4 weeks old today. Here is a picture of her smiling in her sleep this morning. She is doing great; however, she can be quite fussy at times. She is suffering from baby acne right now and scratches a lot. I have put socks on her hands because she has made some pretty bad scratches.



This picture was taken by our friend Cinia, who babysat the kids for Clay and I before I went on leave. She took a lot of photos of the kids while they were with her and was so sweet to give us a disc of all the photos and videos.



Finally, Clay and I are making out alright on our own. I pretty much don't have time to stop and sit around doing nothing. The first big challenge I took on Monday was a shopping trip to Loblaws, with all four kids. The grocery list wasn't short either. We succeeded quite well as the three big kids behaved awesome and Fiona slept the entire time. Tuesday was the snow fort morning and today, we shovelled, yet again, another tonne of snow off the driveway (which Grandpa did the entire time he was here) before heading out to Cinia's house for playtime with Jacob and coffee.

Well, that's about it. Since this is my prime time to get chores done, I had better get off the computer. Til' next time, Evelyn

Somebody Had A Birthday

Somebody had a birthday yesterday. That person will remain anonymous. So, we headed out for brunch at a restaurant in town. It was super yummy and hit the spot. We took it easy the rest of the day, once the snow was cleared from our driveway and the neighbours driveway. Then, Grandma and Grandpa treated us all by making a wonderful steak supper with Garlic Shrimp for appetizers. It was awesome. Grace, who doesn't like steak or shrimp or much else, decided to grab a little appetizer of her own and stole the whole block of cheese off of the table and start chomping in to it. It made for a cute picture. So, the Birthday celebration went well and everyone enjoyed cake, ice cream and strawberries. Anonymous.

Another New Arrival

Hi Everyone, Well, I have a few things to tell since my last post. Fiona had a doctor appointment this past Monday. She was 9 lbs and 21 1/2 inches. She is doing great, looking around a lot, following things with her eyes and very alert. Fiona received a very special delivery this week. She is now the proud owner of bear that is bigger than she is. In keeping with tradition, Grandma and Grandpa Kotzer bought her a bear too. His name is Preston. Also, Fiona made her first trip to the park to meet all the park gang. Everyone was anxious to see her.

Grace had her doctor appointment at the same time a Fiona. Boy, that was fun. She was like a super bug and resistant to everything Doctor H tried to do to her. He really got a good taste of how strong our Grace is. The shots did not go over well and as a result, when she was walking into the secretary's office to get a sticker, she turned around and ran the other way when she saw the doc again. She didn't want to have anything to do with him. All in all, she is really healthy, even though she is so selective (read fussiest kids ever) when it comes to eating. She surprized us by weighing 27 1/2 lbs. Clay and I figured that she weighed about 26 lbs. It must be all the carbo loading she does on pasta because she hates meat.

As for Grandma and Grandpa, today is their last day here in Kingston. It has been quite a treat having them around. They have helped us so much. So, tomorrow morning will be very sad for us. Hopefully we can survive without them.


So here are a few pics from the week. Enjoy. Evelyn