Family Day Weekend & Valentines Day

This weekend was packed with adventures! On Saturday, we arranged for babysitting for Logan way in advance because we had plans to go to an escape room downtown. It was a Christmas gift from Chelsea and Warren so it was a group date with the Browns and Chels and Warren. It was Logan's Grandma's first time babysitting! Because of the crazy blizzard, Aleksy picked up my Mom and drove her to our place and then we headed downtown. Because we don't always have baby-free time, we took advantage of every minute and since we were half hour early, we trekked through the blizzard to the pub, the Morrisey House down the street for a beer before the escape room! It was cold... and snowy...

When Chelsea was booking the escape room she asked if we wanted to do the room with a 40% or 60% success rate and because we are friends with a lot of confident people, we chose the 40%. And because we are awesome, we were able to escape the room with 9 minutes to spare!

This is the champion picture after we escaped. Aleksy and Paul found the room very cozy.

I was surprised that I was really good at problem solving the clues in the room and figured out lots of the clues to get us out of the room! We had to unlock several clues so we could get the treasures in the room then escape within a 45 minute period.

After we escaped, we had some supper afterward back at the Morrisey house... again! It was the perfect supper spot for the blizzard day: I sat next to the fireplace.

And Logan did well with Grandma that night too... minimal crying reported.

<---- this cuteness happened on the Thursday before Valentines day. At Mom group, we dressed our little people in their finest (checkered shirts, sweaters..) and did a baby photoshoot. Logan was prepared and had valentines cards for all his friends!

This was my amazing Valentines morning!! Aleksy brought this little guy downstairs holding my Valentine gift just like this! That face is edible!!

I couldn't make those chocolates last and downed them all by Monday morning...

After Logan's morning nap, we headed to the Covent Garden Market to pick out our Valentines day supper! After we picked out our appetizers, pasta and meat and dessert, we stopped and had some lunch. Logan had one of us hold him while we had our chicken/beef and tabbouleh.. we took turns so we could eat. That high maintenance Logan...

Adult Valentines appetizers... with a hint of Logan.

The puppy's placement is all Aleksy...

Logan had a special day on Valentines day: His first time having pablum! He was all over it... knew what to do after one bite and whined between spoonfuls wanting more!

I had this brilliant idea since snowmaggedon hit: that I would buy a sled off kijiji and on family day we could take him out. So I had kijiji success and got the baby sled and on family day we got him all bundled up to go.

<---- then this happened. Sledding is actually a terrible time and a tad bit traumatic (according to Logan). It lasted a total of 2 minutes. So we went inside and made pina colodas instead. Family daying.

The soother stopped the crying briefly and we got a couple loops around our backyard....

That soother.. don't know whether to hate it or love it...

Food & Wine Show

I was able to enjoy this years food and wine show more than last years!

LAST YEAR: This is the picture I took of Steph last year with her wine glass... and mine. Last year in January I wasn't yet sure if I was pregnant so I had to come up with a "masterplan" so that my Mom and Lynn (who went with us last year) didn't know we were trying to have a baby!When people know you're trying, they continuously will ask so we didn't want to tell everyone in case it took a while.

My plan was that I got wine at each booth with everyone else but then I would pour it into my sisters glass and not drink it! So Steph had to have double last yar and no one noticed at all!

This year! We went this year right at opening at noon because the crowds get bigger and bigger every year. Our mission when we first got there was to get tickets to the cheese tasting and wine tasting. We immediately signed up for the cheese tasting at 1:30pm but when we went to get tickets to the wine tasting, they were for 1pm and it interfered! So we had to go later to sign up for the wine tasting.

This is from the cheese tasting.. the cheese is so much tastier when paired with wine!

After several more glasses of wine, it was time for some food. Actually, this year we were so distracted by the delicious wine that food was forgotten about. But we should have eaten so much more to keep up with the drinks! This is the only thing we ate... and it was delicious... a jalapeno taco from true taco. We found this year that there were very limited food stands. There seem to be less and less each ear. There were a couple mexican stands and Aroma and that was about all we found.

Naturally as the day went by, things got a little more scattered and we were more distracted. I asked a lady to take our picture but with our state... this is the best we were able to get. Ha! Perhaps it was also a reflection of the picture takers state! Damn wine!

The photo booth is the best. We have a picture from every year just like this one!

First of Many Park Visits!

We are lucky enough to have a pretty awesome park just 5 houses down the street from our house. In the near future I know I will have a little toddler who will constantly bug us to go to said park.

But today... was his very first time going to the park!

OK. .. not the best picture but it's really hard to take a selfie when the baby is in the baby bjorn but the top doesn't do up because of his massive winter suit.

We have gone for walks before with Logan around the park, but today because he was in the carrier, we went on the equipment! I like 4 degree mild winter weather!

Apparently it was a tiring 30 minutes because he went straight for a nap when we got home...

Logan's First Boat Show

On Saturday January 9th, Logan took his first road trip to downtown Toronto! We went for the boat show for the 3rd (or 4th?) year in a row. It ended up working well with Logan's nap schedule and he slept the whole way both ways!

We got there about 1130/12 ish and had some sushi and salad provided by my mom and Paul for lunch before heading into the boat show. Logan had his bottle for lunch. Theven day went by so much quicker with a baby!

Logan's first time on a sailboat. Logan must have been pretty overwhelmed by the whole boat show because he slept so much of the day. He slept while we looked in the sailboats on display!

And every year Aleksy and I like to watch the wake board show but since it isn't Pauls cup of tea, this is the time we separate and usually Mom and Paul go to a seminar and we go to the wake board show (way cooler). I guess they read their time worng for the presentation so they ended up going shopping instead and got Logan a couple of boat themed books!

This year we didn't go to any seminars! We usually hit up at least 2 of the presentations (about sailing the world etc) but the day flew by this year and we did more shopping than usual. Aleksy and Mom got some new kicks and we also had a long beer/bottle break mid day around 3! Mr. Logan did pretty well at the full day boat show for a 3 month old!

Logan's Very First Swim!

The day after New Years, we took Logan to the Stoney Creek Y for his first swim! They had an all day family swim that day so we headed over just after lunch for a swim. We asked about what admission would be like if we were to go regularly to the pool and they had suggested $20... but this time was free. We were thinking we would have to scope out a different pool until our friends told us about swim passes... only $35 for Logan to go 10 times! 

Logan wasn't too sure about the swimming. He didn't cry at all but we didn't get much smiles out of him either. He just wide-eyed stared at his surroundings... doing it Logan style and observing from a safe distance. He lasted about 15-20 min in the pool, which was pretty good for his 3 1/2 month old attention span!

We have been one more time since that as well and he is still adapting to the swimming environment with all the noise and action and getting cold. The first time we were able to go to the library after and read some stories but this last time we was ready to go home after getting dressed!

Christmas 2015

I know... it's been a month since my last blog entry. Let me explain. A few weeks ago I planned to write my Christmas blog entry as I do every year and I left my computer open on the end table in the living room. The cord is plugged in across the room on the other wall and I tripped on the cord causing the 2009 computer to crash closed and fall to the ground. Now it won't start. So now, I need to take my laptop to a computer place and have the pictures saved because all pictures from the past 7 years or so are on there. Seriously crossing my fingers they can be saved!

When that happened, we then decided that since we just bought a laptop in September that was hooked up to the tv, I should use that one instead of buying a new one. We ordered an android box for the tv and now I write on the laptop that was once not so accessible being hoked up to the tv. So here I am a month later!

So Christmas....

Our Christmas tree on Christmas eve! I always get this picture before we leave for my Mom's Christmas eve supper because that's when we take most of the gifts from under the tree! Christmas Eve was busy as always with first visiting Aleksy's Babcia and Uncle in the early afternoon then heading home to prepare baked good tins, a vegetable dish and gather all the presents. We thought it was busy in previous years, but that was nothing! Add a 3 month old to the mix and that's a lot more work!

The baked good line up: Christmas sugar cookies, ginger snaps, chocolate peanut butter squares, shortbread squares, rice krispie peanut butter balls, brownies, cranberry walnut tea biscuits, and butterscotch peanut butter marshmallow bars. It was a little trickier this year finding time to do all the Christmas baking but I did manage to squeeze it in. I took a couple of Sundays in December to bake while Aleksy took care of Logan!

We got to my Moms for Christmas Eve supper around 4pm. We had lots of hang out/time for drinks before supper so there was lots of picture opportunities: all the kids with Aleksy and Frosty! We also opened some presents before supper (the Bran man had to work Christmas eve!).

And when supper was ready Aleksy took on his position as the turkey carver as usual. The girls were ready for supper (so they could finally open their Christmas presents!!).

And present time! Mr. Logan was getting a bit on the cranky pants side toward the end of the night. He had a pretty long day for a 3 month old... So he spent present opening time wrapped in his comfort blanket with his pacifier. First Christmas family photo!

By the time we wrapped up at my Moms after supper and presents, it was pretty late. We had aimed to be home for around 9pm but with Christmas Eve being crazy as usual, we got home later than expected around 10:30pm! So Logan's picture with his cookies and egg nog for Santa and carrots for the reindeer is a very very sleepy Logan. Look at that glossy eyed little man... all prepared for Santa!

Because of Logan's late night, Christmas morning was a bit later than a usual Logan morning... around 8:30am. I was so excited for Christmas morning with Logan I woke up a bunch of times! When we all first woke up, we all opened up our stockings (Kate included). Santa brought Logan some bath toys, socks, a book, and toy in his stocking!

We also did our best to take a picture of Logan in front of the Christmas tree with our stockings. This is the best we got!

The thing about Christmas morning with a 3 month old is that he doesn't understand what's happening, so after a morning bottle, opening stockings, and taking pictures it was time for a nap! So Christmas happened in shifts... after Logan's morning nap we then got to presents around 11! Christmas is going to be so different in years to come!

Logan got some pretty sweet Santa presents including a jolly jumper which he tried out for the first time on Christmas day! He had the standing and a slight wiggle down right away! The jumping comes later...

After presents, it was time to vigorously prep food for Christmas supper, which we hosted and clean the house. The stuffing, turkey, carrots were our responsibility! We had lots of help from Aleksys Mom with sides and help with mashed potatoes from my sister! Aleksys brother watched Logan for a while and we still were rushing until 3:30 when Aleksy's parents arrived!

Christmas day supper! So delicious, I just wish I could eat more! After supper, my grandparents and uncle Scott, aunt Cindy and cousin also joined us for dessert and some gifts. It was an early night with everyone leaving for about 10pm... then Aleksy's brother stayed behind and his girlfriend Nicole also joined and we stayed up until 3:30am playing cards against humanity with drinks!! That was the first night ever that Logan slept the entire night... his gift to us after staying up so late!

Christmas day family photo! This family picture makes me so happy!

Logan in his "my first Christmas" onesie!

For Christmas, my Grandma was busy knitting all 6 of us striped hats! So on Christmas I suggested we all bring our hats to my Grandma's the next day (boxing day) where we celebrated my Grandma's birthday! And we got this shot! Yup... Logan and I have matching black and white striped hats!

Christmas festivities continued on after Boxing day on the 27th when Zac, Sam and Scarlett joined us for some Christmas supper leftovers and kiddie present exchange! I love Logan's face in this picture as he opens his present form Scarlett! He's the best. He loves staring at bigger kids like Scarlett.

And on Tuesday the 28th, Logan took his first road trip since Kitchener when we went to visit Nikki and Jon Jon in Burlington. I'm not going to lie... Logan and me both cried on the car ride. For different reasons... Logan was frustrated in his constraining car seat and I had immense guilt for bringing him on a 1.5 hour each way car ride. I'm better now that he's made 2 trips to Hamilton + this trip to Burlington AND a Toronto trip! Logan's a champ! And I don't cry anymore...

On this day at Nikki and Jon Jon's, Logan got a fantastic ninja turtle onesie for Christmas (our 5th ninja turtle!!) and he rolled over for the first time! We even got it on camera...

Here's the boys with their babies....

We celebrated Christmas with Chels, Warren, Andzelika and Paul on New Years. We went down to Hamilton for Logan's first overnight and he did really well... slept from 9:45 to 4:45am for his bottle! He also did well with the car ride.. it was nice that the round trip was separated by a day...

We had some supper, opened some Christmas presents, put all 4 kiddos to sleep upstairs then played some pictionary and all of us made it to midnight! We missed the count down though because we were confused about the exact time... And because we have a baby and Chels is preggers we only stayed up until about 12:30-1am... not too bad for us though!

New Years day we had a big breakfast (like we always do at the Browns..) and headed back to London afterward!

November and December Festivities

Logan's kind of a popular guy and was invited to not only his friend Chase's birthday in November, but also his friend Scarlett's 2nd birthday party.

Scarlett's birthday was at the little gym on the day of her actual birthday: the 21st. This is now also Logan's friend Levi's birthday!

When we got to the little gym, we thought that Logan was going to sleep the birthday party away since he hadn't slept much that day but then he was so excited by the environment and the little kids that instead he just stared at the colours and energetic kids! Luckily he wasn't a cranky pants... just looking around. We have quickly learned that Logan's the "observer" baby who likes to observe all the action but not get too close... This is especially the case when around other babies and kids!

Logan was awake until we wanted to take pictures of course... this is the end of the party after the activities, pizza presents and cake!

Having some Sam time! It was a quick birthday party and life is busy with Mr. Logan so we have plans over the holidays to catch up more!

Sometimes Aleksy and I think when Logan's a bit older, life will become less demanding of our time and energy. Nothing like a good toddlers birthday party to put the busyness of a toddler into perspective!

Every year we go to Rachel's Christmas concert in December and this year it was on December 9th. Rachel was so cute as always singing her Christmas carol... she's second from the right end. And also as tradition we left right after Rachel's performance. She's in gr. 2 now so every year we stay a bit later! It is fun to see the little kids with their antlers and santa hats!

Just Logan hanging out with his buddies... With my group of Moms and babies who get together once a week, we made arrangements for our babes to wear their Christmas attire and get some pictures! We got some good gems from these 3 little guys: the L boys! Logan, Levi and Landon!

Logan and I also make weekly visits with Logan's friends Colton and Chase and the last visit we had Logan did his first craft! Steph prepared these snowflakes and put them in ziplocs then added drops of paint. I helped Logan a bit to spread it around... not that i'm taking credit or anything..
Logan's friends Colton and Chase also did crafts with him!

My Mom's work Christmas party was on December 12th! Logan was there with his cousins Rachel and Emma. Here's Rachel and Emma decorating Christmas cookies and Logan getting a little auntie time in. The Chistmas party had lots of activities stations for the kids: ornament decorating, cookie decorating, and a colouring station.

Plus, Santa came and brought Emma, Rachel and Logan gifts! Logan's first picture with Santa and his first Santa gift!

Logan did great at the party... awake for almost the whole time with a little nap in my arms before seeing Santa... he was a bit groggy from just waking up!

And to start the tradition of Santa pictures every year, Logan saw Santa at Masonville the next day: the 13th!

The line up was wrapped around Santa which was daunting because Logan will cry when he's not moved around in his stroller but it worked out fine because he was good with us holding him while waiting in line and the line moved fast and we made it to the front in about 20-30 min! As you can see, Logan hardly noticed he was sitting with Santa and he's looking right a me and Aleksy. Aleksy's Mom joined us to see Logan too since she was working in the mall when we were there!

This was taken at this years Big Brothers Big Sisters Christmas party! It was on December 15th and was at the Windermere Manor again: pretty fancy if I don't say so myself. Howveer, we made it not so fancy by making it a pj party... we wore our Christmas pjs!

We know another match and we spent the night with Annette and Rayne. I used to work with Annette and Rayne went to Brooklyn's school so we've got together for double match dates before! The party was good as usual with delicious pasta dinner then stocking and cookie decorating. My little sister may be getting older (17!) but you're never too old for Christmas festivities!

And just this past weekend, we celebrated our Christmas with Al, Steph, Colton and Chase! We went over for a brunch on Sunday and they made us an amazing spread! An apple bacon egg bake, sausages, raisin toast and cinnamon muffin dessert with cream cheese filling. All we had to do was bring a dessert tray... a completely fair trade (I didn't even make the fruit tray...).

After a fun brunch of Logan crying and being passed between Aleksy and I, Chase screaming and moose eating from under the table, it was present time!

Chase (and Colton) love the mr. potato head we got him and Colton started using his Thomas the train walkie talkies with his daddy immediately!

By the time presents rolled around, Logan was fully tired! As you can see easily here...

Contrary to what it looks like, Logan really likes his new toy and he got the most adorable puppy onesie!

And the rest of our Christmas celebrations are just around the corner!