Home Sweet Home

Maggie and I are so glad to be back home with our boys!! The drive home this trip was not as smooth as last...more traffic and whining from Maggie, usually a great traveler. At any rate, we're back now and super glad. Watching Maggie work with Natan and learning how to bring those movements home to implement into her daily life is great, but going two weeks without our boys is not! And for me at least, I was a over the weather, traffic and place we stayed. The fire alarm went off several times, one of which was at 4:45 am; they were false alarms, which is good, but I wondered if the fire department was tired of being called out.

Anyway, it was a happy reunion and the weather was beautiful, so we spent a lot of time outside:

those 3 little heads...so cute

Little Mama

Maggie has always loved dolls and princesses, but she really has baby on the mind lately. I guess she wants to be like mommy :). Sometimes during Maggie's therapy schedule, we have a short break- like 30 minutes or an hour- not enough time to justify going "home." So we hang out in a room down the hall from massage. Maggie, for some reason, has dubbed this the "baby room."

During massage, Maggie rarely if ever rests. She always wants me to read books or play with Mr. Potato Head or a couple of the other toys. This week, and maybe some of last, she has really enjoyed playing with a red, spiky football before the reading marathon begins. She's mostly been kicking it but the last couple days she's called it her baby. Sadly, she still sometimes drops or throws it. Today I told her social services came and took the baby away, hahaha! Seriously, though, she's really sweet with it. And she usually drops it on accident. She calls the purple ball baby too. :)

Maggie's baby, covered in her blankie, about to take a nap after she's
been fed oatmeal, broccoli and carrots :)

To see more of Maggie's therapy, visit here: http://maggieinmotion.lotekness.net

Jake is 18 months old!

Our first official day in Toronto, Jake turned 18 months! (March 17th) I can't believe that sweet baby boy is officially a toddler! Whew, and his temper can show it at times, for sure. He's pretty easy going most of the time, but when he gets mad, he lets you know it! This could be something he outgrows, but it could also be the Irish in him. :)

He's also so smart. Not in a "my child is a genius" sort of way, but he is very observant and picks up on things quickly. Jake has been the biggest "parrot" of all our kids, just following right along with what we say and do and soaking things up as a result. He loves cars, trucks, stuffed animals and music and is definitely at the age where he's just not comfortable sharing most the time. Unfortunately, with two siblings and another on the way, he's not going to be able to work that angle very long. Like most 18-month-olds, he's very active and curious. He is quite the explorer and will dump dirt out of the plant in ninja-like fashion. Jake climbs almost everything- still reminding us of Will at this age- but has not yet climbed on the counter, which I'm pretty sure Will was already doing. And for whatever reason, the family room couch is the one thing he struggles with, so he'll climb on the stool, then jump to the couch, ha! It's not a far jump, practically a step, but we're enjoying it for now, he'll soon be at the age where we have to teach him that he's too big for climbing furniture.

Jake is still so sweet and cuddly. He loves to snuggle with stuffed animals, particularly dogs and his blankie. A couple months ago he gave a stuffed puppy a kiss so I promptly asked for one and got my first kiss from him! Ah, it was so sweet. I just love that little sweetums. Daniel says he's in super kissy mode right now, a trend I hope continues after I get home. He and Maggie have more sibling rivalry than he and Will or Will and Maggie but they're also very lovey with each other. They'll fight over a toy or mommy's lap but will soon after give each other hugs and kisses. They seriously hug each other all the time. Jake also claps for Maggie, it's very sweet-- more parroting, but still. His biggest problem with Will is when Will tries to carry him around but for the most part Will takes good care of him and in some ways dotes on him. There's still some rivalry between all of them- they're humans and siblings, but for the most part they love each other very much and enjoy being together.

All in all, he's still the same sweet baby boy he's always been who's now on the go, talking and using his imagination. His car sounds are just the cutest! Enjoy some pics:

serious business...

 spinning doggy in the chair

See what I mean? He's just adorable, love him!!

A Toronto weekend

Last weekend (Mar 22-23) was our only weekend here as a family. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and the boys left Thursday the 27th. Sadly, we didn't end up doing much sightseeing. It was too cold to do the zoo or Niagara, but we did explore downtown a little. Daniel wanted to do more of this last trip, but we ran out of time because we spent the whole day at the CN Tower basically.
We were fortunate to be here and sightseeing during Canada's Thanksgiving weekend because downtown was SO much more crowded this time and traffic was crazy. We ended up just driving around because the kids fell asleep and it was in the 20's, maybe 30's, which doesn't lend much to outdoor adventures. At least not to Nashvillians with little kids. :) Here's a few of the pics we took:

We also found the pool which made Will very happy. I took him almost every day for the rest of his trip.

Daddy and Jake went for a stroll. Daniel didn't bring trunks and I couldn't
hold both Maggie and Jake. There wasn't a shallow end in this pool,
especially for kids. 

No pics of Maggie in the water because I was with her. But look how great
she has that bottom up while crawling! One leg at a time :)

Odds n Ends

Just some cute pictures of everyone during our Toronto adventure.Of course, Jake is at the age where (almost) everything he does is so cute, so there's plenty of him. :)

Maggie sitting in the daddy chair

Jake jumped up in daddy's spot and got to work

watching daddy do push ups

Jake loved playing with trucks, esp on that windowsill

Canada: the 2nd installment

Here we go again on our second trip to Health in Motion in Toronto, Canada. This time, the boys came the first two weeks for Spring break so we all rode up together. We were packed in tight, for sure.

Lake Huron, frozen

We arrived at the apartment- our "home for now" as Maggie calls it- around 4pm Sunday the 16th. We unloaded and settled it. I didn't get around to taking pictures until the following morning.

sweet snuggle boy

The boys hung out here alot while Maggie and I went back and forth to therapy. The weather was so cold and windy, we didn't get a chance to go out a whole lot. Plus Daniel had to work while he was here and given an additional project to an already very busy workload, so he couldn't take the boys anywhere. For information and pictures from therapy visit here: http://maggieinmotion.lotekness.net/