Summer Back East

We have just over 1 week left of our time back East. Have been here with Callum and Lucas since July 7th. We have been busy with activities.

First we were in Ottawa. We celebrated Grandma's birthday on the 9th and then went to Sandbanks to meet up with Natalie and her children, Matthew and Jordan. The boys did great in the car thanks to Grandma's help. Then on our way home from there, we found out that Ruby, the boys cousin, was born. Charlie is now a big brother. My birthday came and went as well. We attended Holly Magar's 1st birthday party and got to visit with the Magar and Conboy family. They then all came over to swim for an afternoon. We visited the Central Experimental Farm and Valleyview Farm a couple of times. We spent time with Mairi and Daniel Thomson, Charlie, Ma'ayan, Chris and Ruby. Rachel, Matthew, Dylan and Owen from Vancouver were back in town as they live in Ottawa now so we got to visit with them too. Got to see Katie and her family for a short visit as they were in Ottawa from San Diego. We spent lots of time at the 4 parks that surround my parents house. There was a big toy Mater tow truck at one of the parks so Callum would call it the Mater park and hide Mater in the tunnel so no kids would get him.

Lucas decided to not take a bottle so it was hard for me to go out in the evening. Finally had a break through this week and he is accepting a bottle again. He also decided to start waking up 3 times per night. My fault as I didn't want to disturb the whole house with his crying. Had to put a stop to that and as of now he is only waking up once in the night around 3-4 am. Thanks Mum and Dad for suffering through the crying.

We started feeding Lucas food at about 4 1/2 mths. He loves food. We started with banana (his favourite), and then tried rice and oatmeal cereals, avocado, apple sauce, and just recently green beans. He hasn't refused any of it and usually cries when I think he has had enough. He is eating about 4 tbsp's which I think is too much for him being so young still. Baby steps!!

Lucas has been in both grandparents swimming pools now. Don't think is too fond of it yet.

Callum on the other hand loves it. He has been swimming almost everyday since we arrived and can swim under water on his own, jump off the diving board confidently, slide down the slide feet and head first, hold onto the edge of the pool, push himself down to the bottom using the ladder steps. He is still having trouble getting his arms working at the same time as his legs while swimming solo but I can imagine that might come this week. It's amazing to see how much his swimming has improved.

My Mum and I tried to toilet train Callum in July. He was doing pretty well when naked. He would volunteer to go but the second you put undies on him he thinks he's protected. Think it was a little too stressful for him as late afternoon and evenings were quite challenging. Think he was having issues seeing me have to deal with Lucas all the time. We decided to give up. Once we get home and he is settled will attempt again.

Colin arrived in Ottawa on the 9th of August. We hung out for the week in Ottawa. Lindsay and Joel now live in Ottawa too so we got to see their new apartment in the Glebe. Treena arrived a couple of hours before we left for Bedford. It was great to see her.

We headed to Bedford on the 13th. The whole Jones family was at the farm. We have a had a great visit so far. It's nice having Colin here to help me out. Callum is loving all the farm vehicles! He had his first ice cream cone at Barrie's chip and ice cream shop, we went to the Bedford Fair and also went to the Hot Air Balloon Festival in St. Jean. It was amazing. We chose the perfect night to go. The pics Colin took are amazing. Callum helped pull out the ski boat and clean it with Daddy and Mimi.

The Jones's for Ottawa are coming back on Tuesday to hang out again and then we will head back to Ottawa on the evening of the 29th and fly home on the 31st.