Grady's Birthday Celebrations!

Grady's birthday celebrations started first thing Sunday morning when James and I heard the pitter patter of little feet down the hall and the click of our doorhandle slowly opening. It was 6:00am sharp and our newest 4 year old was there with a smile on his face. He knew what day it was!

Before we even got out of bed, Cooper was up to so we all headed downstairs together.  Cooper noticed the 4 helium balloons tied to their chairs first.  Grady noticed the presents.

 

We started a new tradition in our family this year - the birthday hat.  Every person, adults and kids, have to have their picture taken wearing the birthday hat on their birthday.  I think it is a neat idea to ensure everyone gets a picture taken on their birthday.  I wasn't sure how the idea was going to go over with the kids but Grady embraced it fully and wore the hat until his 'head started to sweat'.

Grady and his birthday hat and button taken first thing on this birthday.

I learnt a valuable lesson this year.  Do not bring the presents out until you are ready to open them. We brought the presents out the night before so all the lightning mcqueen bags and wrapping paper were on full display when the birthday boy came downstairs.  From the moment he saw the presents, he wanted to tear into them.  So we let him open one present from Cooper.  He wanted more.  My brother 'face-timed' us about an hour later and Grady opened the present from him.  He still wanted more.  It was a disaster leading to us having to leave the house to put some separation from the him and the presents.  Nana wasn't coming over for birthday lunch and presents until 11am afterall.

We originally planned to open presents after lunch, but G just couldn't wait that long. The moment he heard Nana knock at your door, he was positioning himself by the presents asking if he could start.

Notice Grady's shirt, it will come into play later...

Just as he wanted, McQueen was the big theme. Our family room looked like McQueen vomited all over the place. Red, red and more red! He loved it!

Next up we brought out the cake. If you have been reading the blog for any length of time you'll know our kids cakes are made by Nana with love. Can you guess what kind of cake Grady requested?

Lightning McQueen!

A little story about the cake.....  Nana said this was by far the hardest cake she has ever made.  In case you are interested, I beleive this is the site she used.  She made it about a month in advance with plans to store it in our freezer until the big day knowing that it would be done.  She brought it over and within minutes, the whole back end, including the spoiler fell off.  What to do, what to do??  We put it in the freezer and Nana planned to come back in the next week or so with more cake and try to do a repair job on the cake.  Just like planned she comes over with more cake and read icing and fixes the cake up to look perfect again.  If you look closely, you'll notice that the red icing in the back is a slightly different color than the rest of the cake but no biggie - the cakes looks better than we ever could have hoped for and Grady was beyond thrilled.  He did request once that Nana add the piston cup but we quicly convinced him it wasn't neccesary.

We had a great birthday lunch of hotdogs and cupcakes (needed to save the 'real' cake for the kids party in the afternoon) and took a few pictures.

We even attemped a family shot. Those are few and far between these days but we do our best...

Thankfully, after lunch we had some quiet time. Grady played happily on the floor with his new toys while Cooper slept, James dozed on the couch, and I read my third Hunger Games book (which I plan to finish tonight).  It was really nice.  I asked Grady who he was excited to see at his party and he told me Zachary, a kid from school he didn't even invite.... lol.

I was getting the final preparations ready when I walked by the cake and noticed that the whole back end had fallen off... again.  I called Nana who came over early to assess the situation.  In the end, we removed the entire back of the cake.  In all honestly, you couldn't even tell.  Crisis averted!

Finally it was time for the anticipated party of the day where we gathered 20 kids 4 and under into a room with 20 adults and let the 'fun' begin.  We had Grady's party at Coffee and Scream for the second year in a row and I highly recommmend it.  I hardly saw either of my kids the whole time we were there since they were so busy mingling with their friends and having fun. A parent's dream..... 

Notice his shirt change and notice shirt behind him matches his first shirt of the day

When the pizza arrived it was utter chaos trying to get all the kids seated and food on thier plates. I grabbed pizza for both my kids and dropped a piece off with Cooper who was settled in with Grandma and then carried on to bring Grady his piece. I slap a piece of pizza down in front of a blond haired boy wearing a RED shirt that grady was wearing early today. The boys mom looked at me confused before I realized that I gave my birthday boy's pizza to another kid I thought was him!


I didn't feel so bad when I heard that James rubbed a different blond boys head thinking it was Grady shortly after that. Note to self: Grady has to many blond friends!

This is what a party with 20 kids looks like as they devour the pizza.  The place became eerily silent.

Grady wanted to bring his birthday hat and wear it during cake. Which was great except it does not work well in pictures. I'm pretty sure he has eyes under there some where!

Notice the boy beside him.  That is the kid I gave pizza to.....

If you look at the cake above you can tell that the car is smaller than in the first picture.  Again, you can't even tell....  The boys loved Grady's cake - can you tell?

Finally, the end of the day arrived (a little later than it usually does) and we tucked Grady into his new Cars 2 sheet and comforter set.  As he crawled in to bed he looked at me and said:

Mom, I have everything lightning McQueen now.

 

Perfect ending to an almost perfect day.

Grady's 4th birthday will be a memorable one for me.  It was the first birthday he actually 'got' it.  He remembers his 3rd birthday and he knew there would be cake, and presents, and a party.  The excitement leading up to his birthday was so much fun. I acutally wonder if I was more excited than him.  Birthdays aren't easy on parents - there is a lot of pressure to get it exactly as they want.  I think this year we did pretty good, but there is no guarantee from year to year that you will please your little person.  I am already looking forward to see what he chooses for his birthday next year and whether we can pull it off again.... I sure hope it isn't McQueen themed again - we may even be having another Cars party in November if Cooper continues to like Mator like he does!

I was going to write about how we paid for all the exciement of Grady's birthday with a terrible birthday hangover the next day.  A tired boy who spent a good portion of the day in his room, but I changed my mind and don't want to damper the post.  So let's leave at this, Grady's birthday was a HUGE success!

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate!

Happy 4th Birthday Grady!

Grady,

I look at this pictures and in some ways if feels like just yesterday that you arrived on that (early) rainy Tuesday morning in June. In others, it feels like ages ago. I can't remember what it was like to snuggle with you as a newborn or how your little head smelled.

From this helpless little baby, who didn't sleep and liked to be held all the time, you have grown into this little boy that I am so proud of.  Some days you just blow me away with the things you remember and all that you can do at just 4 years old.

When you look back at this post in 30 years I hope you will appreciate the stories of the little boy you once were and know how much we loved you and your huge personality.

You are obsessed with Cars 2. Lightning Mcqueen in particular. You aren't so much about the movie as you are about the clothing and the cars. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, you only wear Mcqueen shirts right now and it has been like this for months. As much as I would rather see you and your adorable collared shirts, I love seeing you happy more so I tuck my desire for fashion away. Apparently fashion for a 4 year old boy and and his mom are considerably different.

You go to bed after 8pm.  You don't nap.  you are always tired because you still get up in the 6's.  You don't get up as early in the 6's, but we still rarely see the 7's. Who am I kidding, we never see the 7's....

You love bath time, but hate getting your hair washed.  You are better about getting a little water in the face after 4 rounds of swimming lessons, but you still refuse to let me pour water over your head while looking up.  I hate to admit that sometimes you only get your washed once a week because it has become such a challenge.  Good thing you are a boy and have non-oily hair.

 
 

 You have a love/hate relationship with your brother.  You used to mostly fight with him over toys which resulted in hitting, pushing, biting, and time outs.  More and more we are seeing you both get along much much better.  You sometimes even ask Cooper to play with you. I hope that you and him will be best buds someday.  Soon.

 

You love the ipad and can probably navigate it better than I can.  While you are not good at sharing the ipad, you occasionally let Cooper touch it while you use it.  If he goes as far as pushing the button and closing what you are doing it - you lose it.

 

Your favorite thing to watch on the ipad is tractor tipping and water slides.  You are less obsessed with water sliding then you once were, but you still request the videos regularly.  You have yet to actually go down a water slide, but I know once we do, we won't be able to get you off.

 

You love school.  Although it didn't start out that way, you now skip in as if you have been going to school forever.  You are so excited to tell us what crafts you did and what kids you played with.  You often talk about your school friends and insisted on inviting a few to your party.

You can count to 49. I was shocked when I heard you with my own 2 ears!  If it were up to you 100 would come after 49 and you can't understand why it is 50.  I certainly didn't teach you this, so you either learned it at school or from Dora.  We have been watching this Dora episode (because Cooper likes the dog in it) where they count in sections of 10 to 100.  Either way - I am so proud of you!

You can spell your name and Cooper's name.  You have no interest in learning how to write your name though.  You still mostly hold your pen like you are going to punch someone with it, but slowly you have started holding it the proper way. 

You love crafts.  Compared to last year, your interest in painting, cutting, gluing, and coloring has increased 1000 fold.  I love that you are interested, but hate the mess.

Pants are somewhat optional at our house. Often times after you go to the washroom you ask to take your pants off. Sometimes you even do this at your friends house.  You are just more comfy in your undies.

You aren't a big fan of your bike. I would love for you to enjoy bike riding as I have great memories on my bike growing up... but you aren't really interested. You much prefer riding your red car down the driveway (which may give Grandma or Nana a heart attack!).

You love to play outside.  You are most looking forward to setting up the back yard pool this summer. You talk about it constantly. Every time the weather improves slightly you ask if we can set up the pool.  It is going to be a fun summer!

Grady, we love your energy, your personality, your passion.  We really just love everything about you.  We can not imagine our lives without you.

Happy 4th Birthday Grady, I hope it is everything you hope it will be!

Dear Summer

Dear Summer,

I know today is your first full day and all, but could you maybe make every day this summer exactly like today?  The sun is out, there is no wind... it is a perfect summer day.  My only request is that it not be this sunny on a day when I have an eye appointment.  I had my pupils dilated today and I could barely see as I drove home without sunglasses (left in other car).  Other than that, today has been a perfect summer day.

Sincerely,

Christy

Interview with Grady - Age (almost) 4

With Grady's birthday fast approaching I thought I would ask him the same questions I asked him around his 3rd birthday.  The answers were quite similar.

What is your name? Grady

How old are you turning? Four!

What is your favorite color? Blue (Same as last year)

Who is your best friend? Nicholas, Marley, Julia (from school), Thomas the train (not sure where he was going with this one)

What is your favorite animal? Hippo  (When we go to the zoo he couldn't care less about the hippos)

What do you want to be when you grow-up? I want to go to swimming lessons and go to a different school when I am older (James and i had been talking about which school to send him to).

What is your favorite Movie? The old cars movie (not a surprise really).  And Toopy and Binoo.

What is your favorite cars name (he insisted in adding this question)?  Lightening McQueen.

What is your favorite book? Lightning McQueen Books

What makes you happy? When you give me a hug (ahhhh, that's my boy!)

What makes you sad? When you leave.

What is your favorite food to eat? Cereal and Pizza and grated cheese (the pizza is a bit of a surprise as he rarely eats it even though we order in every week.  He must feed of my excitement to eat pizza!)

What is your favorite song to sing? Cars theme song

What games do you like to play? Bingo

It took a few attempts to get him to sit still long enough to answer the questions this year.  Maybe I'll have more success next year.

We are on birthday countdown with 4 sleeps to go.  Today is Nana's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!) and Grady knows his birthday is next.  It is going to be a few long days for our almost 4 year old...

Happy Father's Day

For various reasons, we decided to celebrate Father's Day a week early this year. The kids picked out a very special shirt for their Daddy this year....

This is the best picture I have of James in the Mator shirt.

After we bought it I told Grady it was a secret and that we were going to give it to Dad on Father's day.  That night, I went out and when I came home, James already knew about the shirt.  He laughed as he told me and that he hesitated telling me that Grady told him.  Cooper also got a new Mator shirt and when James saw it he asked Grady if it was Cooper's.  Grady told him yes and that we also bought one for Dad.  I should have known better than to tell my three old that it was a 'surprise'. It means nothing to him!

On Saturday afternoon I pulled the shirt out again to wrap it and get it ready for James the next day.

Grady: Look at the Mator shirt!

Me: Dad is going to love it!  Don't forget that it is a secret!

Grady:  I already told Dad about the shirt lots of sleeps ago.

Mom:  Well let's pretend that he forgot about it and try and keep it a surprise for tomorrow!

I had a pretty good internal laugh while Grady and i talked about the surprise shirt that James already knew about... priceless!

On fake Father's Day, we participated in the annual Gutsy Walk put on by the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada.  We started doing the walk every year in 2006 and only missed one last year when we were in NYC.

If you remember last weekend in Calgary you will remember that it was very very wet.  We thought we may miss this year due to weather but only a few drops fell on us.

We have had some interesting walks over the years...

2008 was the year I was 9 months pregnant.  Grady was born exactly 2 weeks later.  It threatened rain on us the whole time, but again we only got a few drops

2009 was the year that Grady cried through the entire walk and we turned around early.

2010 was the year we finished the entire walk.

2012 will be known as the year that both kids decided they would walk themselves.  Needless to say, it will also be another year that we did NOT finish the walk.

Here is a photo as we arrived at the park.  It is June and the kids have winter jackets and tuques on.  The wind was vicious!

My 3 boys!!

 We started out the morning right by grabbing a bag of cotton candy they were giving out.  Grady wasn't a big fan and Cooper wanted nothing to do with it.

Cooper was all about walking and not going in the stroller.  He was busy chasing his older brother who was more than likely trying to run away from his little brother!

 

How could I not post this next picture.  Grady loved running through the long grass and Cooper loved to follow. 

 

 We really tried to start the race in the stroller and the kids wanted nothing to do with it.  So we let them run free on the grass besides the path.  Grady did so much running that he eventually took his jacket off because he was hot.  Cooper tried his best to keep up.

We managed to get them in the stroller at one point but didn't want to venture to far as it was only a matter of time before they insisted on walking again.  We turned around and started our walk back to the meeting area after walking (very slowly) for about 10 minutes.

There are some advantages to getting back early.  Grady didn't have to wait in line for his balloon car.

 

I am so happy to participate in this walk each year and really hope that it is something the boys will remember doing as a family as they get older.

For supper, we had James' family over for Salmon (James' choice), double stuffed potatoes, asparagus, and homemade banana cream pie (James' favorite) for dessert.  All in all it was a great day celebrating fatherhood.

James - I hope you had a great fake father's day!  We are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Happy Father's Day!

iPhone Disaster

It all started about a month ago.

I was sitting on the loveseat at home and the home button on my iphone wasn’t working. I turn to James, who I expect to solve all my technological issues, and he told me to just reboot the phone and it should be fine. I did that and the button was still sticky. I had to push it 3-5 times to get a response. It lasted about an hour and then went back to full functionality.

A week or two later the same thing happened. This time time I had to push the button more times and it was much longer before the button went back to working properly. This happened on and off through the month. I wasn’t put out too much since it was working – it just took longer. Each time it happened I expected it would be the last time.

This past Sunday the button stopped working completely. Like pushed it 100 times and nothing happened. I waited hoping like the other times that functionality would retrun mometairily. It didn’t. I rebooted over and over and over and pushed that stupid button until my fingers hurt. 4 days later and it still wasn’t working. During this time, I would switch between apps by powering down and restarting. Essentially my phone was useless. I had booked an appointment at the Apple store for last night to have it looked at. Truthfully, I was scared to bring it in. I thought it somehow had to be my fault. Maybe I got water in the button from using it when my hand was not completely dry or maybe the kids got food in it when they periodically use it. I just didn’t want to be stuck with a $700 bill to pay to get a new phone.

Last night I headed to the mall for my Apple appointment and to get my hair cut and colored. I had exactly 30 minutes between the appointments… no problem. On the way to the Apple store I stopped at bath and body works to pick up a few things. As I am waiting in line I pull out my phone. It worked. You’ve got to be kidding me – now the phone is working? After 4 days?

I arrive at the Apple store and the phone is working better than ever. They guy plays around with it and says there is nothing he can do without seeing that the phone wasn’t working. I asked him what he would have done if the button was unresponsive and he tells me they would get me a new one. I tried to be nice to him, but I was fuming inside. My phone hasn’t worked for 4 days and now I have to wait for it to happen again before it can be replaced? I understand from his perspective that I could be lying, but getting to the store without kids wasn’t easy. I actually made a joke that he was going to regret his decision when I come back tomorrow and bring my 2 boys with me…..

I head out nearly in tears with 15 minutes to spare before my second appointment. I stop at shoppers for a few things and decide to grab some milk to save me a trip to the grocery store later. I don’t just buy a little milk. I buy 2 – 4 liter jugs. Keep in mind I also have 10 soaps from Bath and Body Works with me. My load is getting pretty heavy. With a mere 5 minutes to spare I slip into Victoria’s Secret to grab a stagette gift for a friend. While I get ready to stand in line to make my purchase, I notice my phone is no longer working.  Seriously?

What to do, what to do….

With my bags, that are so heavy that I can barely carry them all, I bolt to my hair appointment. Like running. It is now 6:30 and I am officially going to be late. I drop off all my bags and tell them I am going to late and I’ll be back in 10 minutes. They ask me why and I tell them to tell the hairdresser and that she will understand. I have only been going to her for 4 years….

I sprinted to the Apple store. I walked in gasping for air with sweat actually starting to form on my face. One of the workers actually pointed it out and asked me if I wanted a tissue. How embarrassing. All I wanted was for someone to witness my problem and give me a new phone. They were actually really good about it. I got to speak to someone without an appointment. I explained to him that I was already late for my hair appointment and could I come back at 830. He handed me a slip of paper and said as long as I was back before 8:50 he would get me a new phone.

Huge sigh of relief.

I walk fast, but don’t run, back to the salon where I ask my hair dresser if they serve wine because I badly needed one.

It was a bad night. In the end, I walked away with a brand new phone that looks exactly the way my old one did. Use iCloud people - it backs up your stuff daily and can be transferred if something ever happens to your phone. The downside is that the new phone only has 3 month warranty compared to the year that my last one had. Thankfully I had 44 days left under warranty or I would have had to pay $160 for a new phone. As much as I love my iphone. I have temporarily lost faith in the phone and its physical ability to work. I really hope this new phone restores my faith in the iphone and all that I love about it. With that being said, the Apple staff were fantastic and handles a very stressed me very well. Kudos to them!

I went home, had a beer and some chocolate, and watched the bachelorette.  Perfect ending to my awful evening.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Dreams

The other night I had a dream that my teeth fell out. Like I was talking and I felt a tooth in my mouth.  I went to the mirror to check out the situation and the rest of them just started falling out of my mouth. I woke up rattled.  First off, I don't usually remember dreams and second, if I do they generally don't bother me.  This one did for some reason.

This isn't the first time I've had this dream this year. It happened again a few months ago as well.  The weird thing about it is my 'dream self' in the second dream remembered that I had dreamt it before and wondered if the first dream was a premonition.  It is very odd how the mind works....

I thought it was the oddest dream ever.  After talking to a co-worker she told me that she has had the same dream before and it is acutally quite common.

I remember growing up and my grandma having a book about dream analysis. When I visited her I often flipped through it.  So... I quickly googled it.  Google knows everything afterall.  It led me to the this site.

Here is what it told me:

Teeth dreams can be so vivid and real that we actually think it is happening.  Teeth dreams consist of them either missing, pulling, breaking or rotting.  These types of dreams can leave us feeling awful all day just thinking about it.  So why are teeth dreams so common and why are they so terrible?  Studies have shown that teeth dreams are more common with adults or people who feel they might be losing there youth.

The interesting thing is that when I was looking in the mirror in the dream as my teeth were falling out I was thinking about how long it would take to get new ones.  I was only concerned about the cosmetic factors.  So maybe I do feel I am 'losing my youth'.  Who knows really.

What I was surprised to learn was that it is a common dream.  I really hope I don't have it again any time soon.

Firsts

The other night we had a babysitter.


Like a non-family person who came over while we got to go out and enjoy an adult dinner. And wine. James had a dinner with his boss and wife that he really wanted me to go to. There had been one just the week before with his group and I stayed home since we had no one to watch the kids. We decided to call the neighbours and see if their nanny would be interested. She has been with them for almost 4 years and I probably see ‘N’ more than I see my neighbours! We often see her and the kids outside on the driveway or in the backyard and since I was on maternity last summer, I spent a lot of time watching all 4 kids play and chatting with ‘N’. What did we have to lose? Our neighbor said she was fine and asked ‘N’ if she was interested and before I knew it, we had a babysitter lined up for the following night.

I was nervous.

At first I was excited as it was going to be the first time that a non-family member watched the boys and she was or first choice being that the kids already kind of know her and both James and I trust her. Then it quickly turned to dread. Are the kids going to cry when we leave? Will they be bad? Will they go to bed for her? It is actually a good thing we only called her the night before as for the next 24 hours I dreaded actually leaving the kids.

We started telling Grady immediately that ‘N’ would be coming over. He obviously associates her with the kids so he asked if they were coming to. We explained that she was coming over by herself to watch him and Cooper while we went out for dinner. At first he wasn’t thrilled about it, but I think he just needed time to process it. Over the next 24 hours he asked twice when ‘N’ was coming over and even watched for her out the front window for her to arrive. He was super excited for her to get to our house. Then of course when she arrived he became very shy.

We took her on a tour of the house and ended in the basement where we snuck out while the Cooper was distracted. No tears.

To be honest, it was easier than I thought. I was able to push it out of my mind until we were driving home from supper. I started wondering how much Cooper cried and whether ‘N’ figured out how to work the TV if Grady asked for a certain show. I was sure to tell her that Grady was allowed to watch TV. We aren’t a family that really monitors the TV in the house so I didn’t want her to tell him he couldn’t watch – that would have been a disaster. I’m not even sure they watched TV.

We came home to a quiet house.

‘N’ reported that the kids did good. Grady was very quiet most of the night and at 8:30 she asked if he was ready for bed and he said yes and went to bed with no issues. She said Cooper cried for a bit at bedtime, but not for long.

She tried to refuse the money that we offered her but we were adamant that she took it. What a nice night it was for us to get out and enjoy some adult conversation. And wine. It is so convenient that she lives next door and we are hopeful that if we need a sitter again that she will be happy to come back.

This was one first that I wasn’t looking forward to and I am glad to have behind us. Like most things, the anticipation was far worse than the event itself.

From this to that

From this,

to this,

to this,

and then back to this

All the hard work I put into selling my baby gear at the second hand baby sale this weekend and I still came home with half a trunk full of stuff.  I had really hoped to rid of all of it and drive the rest to goodwill, but what was left was still so cute and in such good shape.

This afternoon I spent the afternoon separating what was left and posting multiple ads by size on kijiji.  I reduced everything to $1 an item and gave a discount if you purchased everything in that size category.  Within 5 minutes, one woman bought it all.  She was a foster mom and looking for good deals.  I like that. I like that my boys clothes is going to a foster family.  It makes me sad to think that kids as young as 0-3 months are in foster care.  It reminds me how lucky we are.  

Now to keep my fingers crossed that she comes and picks it up on Thursday.  Then I will breath a sigh of relief that it is all gone and we can start getting our spare room ready to actually be used.  The sigh of relief will be followed by a panic attack that I just sold all my baby stuff and now we for sure aren't having any more kids.  After the minor panic attack I will pour myself a glass of wine and enjoy the fact that both the kids sleep through the night.  If only they would sleep in a little longer...

I think we have turned the corner

I hope this means we will have a healthy weekend!