4 Months

Trevor is getting big faster than I can keep track of! This post is a little late because he turned four months old in the middle of our move to Canada, but he is growing a doing well. Trevor has finally started to roll over occasionally, but mostly prefers to be in an upright position anyway. He is a happy little guy that loves to socialize. He is content to sit by himself for awhile, but if it goes too long he will start fussing until I come pick him up or his siblings come over to entertain him. Here are the photos Austin got of him:

The big move to Canada

We made it to Canada! The plane ride was a bit of an adventure with a two hour delay and an extra hour in the air due to only one runway being open at the Toronto airport (construction and weather closed the others), but it went better than it could have. The kids, especially Asher and Leif, we thrilled by almost everything they saw at the airport. They especially loved the escalators, the moving walkways, and being able to look out the window and see airplanes all the time. They also loved eating at the airport. Trevor did better on this plane ride than he did a couple months ago and all the other kids were pretty good too. Austin's company rented a car for us for a week and a hotel for the two days before we could get into our house, but had to complete some tasks. I was very thankful when we got to the hotel and saw that it had a living/kitchen area and two separate bedrooms each with a bathroom. The boys slept in one room, Austin and I slept with Trevor in the other room, and Heidi slept in a crib in the living room. Everyone was still sleep deprived for days, but it was a little better than all being in the same room. The first night at the hotel, we woke up to find that Heidi had thrown up in her crib and Leif had diarrhea all over the white bed! I took all the bedding off and had to call housekeeping to take it away and wash it. I felt terrible, but the maid was very kind and professional (we left her a tip when we checked out). We had to drive to another city to pick up my car and tried to get Canadian cell phones, but found that we need to get our drivers licenses or a Canadian credit card first, so that isn't going to happen right away. We met the owners of the house we are renting the night before we moved in to get the keys and I really liked them! They are a couple a little older than us and were very nice. When Asher and Leif started acting crazy and climbing all over everything, they said "it's their home now, don't worry about it". Austin met the movers at our house on Saturday morning while I stayed with the kids at the hotel and packed everything up. Then he came back for us and I followed him back to our house since I didn't have GPS to guide me(I'm trying not to use my phone unless I have wifi so that I don't rack up a huge international bill). Moving in was easy since all we really had to do was tell the movers where to put everything. I also took awhile to explore the house more since Austin picked it out by himself while I was in Colorado and I think he did a great job! The house is very spacious and comfortable for our family. It even has a few bonuses that I wasn't aware of like a mudroom/laundry room (I haven't had either in our previous homes and they are so convenient), a school room in the basement with tons of shelves for books and supplies (I plan to homeschool while we are in Canada), central vac (I especially love being able to sweep in the kitchen and mud room and just sweep it all into the little hole that sucks it all away) and a spare bedroom/bathroom/kitchenette and family room in the basement which is perfect for visitors (hint, hint to anyone that would like to come visit- you are more than welcome!). It also has a few drawbacks like a small backyard that is pretty muddy and no garbage disposal, but those are things we can work around. We went to our new ward on Sunday and everyone was very welcoming. Two of the ladies gave me their phone numbers and told me to call them if I had any questions or needed help- but I don't have a phone! (of course I could just use my US phone if it was an emergency). Heidi spent most of Relief Society with me since she started fussing in nursery and she loved all the attention she got. One woman let her sit on her lap (since I was holding Trevor) and played with her and another woman gave her a little container of goldfish which she walked around handing out to all the other women near me. Austin had to go back to work on Monday so its just me and the kids settling in to our new home. So far I'm really happy with our house, neighborhood, and ward. There are a few annoying hoops to jump through in order to get our drivers licenses, get phones, get a new van, and get everything squared away with taxes and government stuff, but we are working toward it. We are also still working on getting everything unpacked, but the essentials are out. There are boxes and packing material all over the house and pictures need to be hung up and the things we don't use every day are still in boxes (lots of Austin's stuff is still in boxes since he isn't home most of the time and I don't want to sort through all of his junk ;) I've been slightly distracted from unpacking by Heidi being sick and throwing up several times, but she seems to be on the mend now.
We are beginning to adjust to life in another country. We are trying to start thinking in Canadian dollars instead of US dollars and in the metric system rather than the standard system and figuring out the best places to shop. So far we have used Costco to restock our house with food and cleaning supplies. I've also made several trips to the grocery store closest to our house to get things we needed- it probably isn't the cheapest, but it's convenient. Here are a few things we have found different about Canada: Milk is sold in bags rather than cartons and is pretty expensive; they don't have pennies, but just round to the nearest nickel or dime; people really do say "eh" at the end of many of their sentences; a big percentage of the population is made up of people from all over the world, more so than in Colorado; everything is written in English and French because those are the two national languages, but Chinese is a very big language here too; their harmonized sales tax is crazy high: 13%, but luckily it doesn't apply to food, unless it is already prepared food like at a restaurant or deli.

Finally getting on the plane was very exciting.

Heidi rode with Austin and Trevor rode with me.

The boys wanted to ride together, but they had to sit with an adult.


Our new landlords left us a welcoming present and left little courtesies like a sponge and soap in the kitchen and soap and toilet paper in all the bathrooms.

We bought some cookies from "Girl Guides" at the grocery store. They only had one choice though- chocolate and vanilla. They are pretty good and only cost 5 Canadian dollars which is about 4 US dollars, so that's cheaper than Girl Scout cookies :)

The kids had a lunch of bread, cheese, and strawberries on a bedside table in the kitchen while the movers unloaded everything.

Afterward, Heidi was deliriously tired from three days of skipped naps, not enough sleep at night, and too much excitement. She fell asleep in Austin's arms and slept for several hours when he put her down on the love sack in the living room.

23 Months

Heidi turned 23 months old the day before we flew out for Canada. With all the hustle and bustle, I didn't take formal pictures, but I do have some adorable pictures of her when she painted her own toe nails. We had gone over to Austin's sister's house to say goodbye to her family before we left. She and I were sitting in the backyard talking while the kids played in the backyard when we noticed Heidi taking her shoes off on the patio. We told her to put them back on, but left her to herself for awhile more. When she finally came over to us, it was to show us that she had found some nail polish (probably left outside by her cousin) and painted her toe nails. I was impressed with how well she did. While she did get some on the cement and didn't quite stay on just her toe nails, she didn't get any on her clothes. She was proud for days afterward and kept pointing out her toes whenever she saw them. Oh Heidi- you are such a doll!

22 Months

Heidi is 22 months old and still full of spice! Heidi is a social butterfly and loves to have people's attention. I always feel bad for whoever is behind us at church because they are sure to be entertaining her the whole time. Most people don't seem to mind it, but I'm sure its distracting. She likes to make people fix her bow, feed her Cheerios, or play silly games with her. She also loves to talk to them, although I don't think they understand most of it. My sister and I painted Heidi's toes for St. Patrick's day and she has been so thrilled with her pretty toe nail polish. She often points it out to me while I'm changing her diaper or putting her shoes on. Not much has changed with Heidi since the last update- she still talks and sings all the time, loves to draw/scribble, likes to try to dress herself, eats like a teenage boy (A LOT!), loves strawberries, snuggles any stuffed animal she can get in her arms, and is trying to keep up with her big brothers. Something I love to hear her say lately is "Boys!" or "Guys!" when she is trying to get her brothers' attention. She says it in exactly the same way I say it when I'm calling them :) Austin took these pictures of Little Miss after church today:

THREE MONTHS

Our sweet little baby is 3 months old already. His personality is coming out more and more and he sure is a sweet guy! He has started cooing a lot and loves to smile. Sometimes I'll catch him in his swing just smiling at nothing. He loves to be with me one-on-one having little "conversations" and smiling at me. He still gets a bit overwhelmed by all his siblings, but he does enjoy their company as well. Since I carry him around in the baby carrier tied to my chest a lot, he is at the level of adults and has charmed quite a few people (particularly women) who have started talking to him by giving them sweet little smiles and coos.
Trevor has already become an international traveler- joining Austin and I in Canada a few weeks ago as we looked for a house (without any luck). He did pretty well on his flights and really enjoyed the time with just mom and dad.

Trevor also enjoyed some time with his grandpa after we got back from Canada and Austin was still there working and looking for a house. Grandpa made him do lots of exercises and played with him a bunch.

Here are some photos documenting Trevor at 3 months.

21 months

Heidi is growing and growing. Her verbal skills often make her seem older than she really is and sometimes I get frustrated with her because she won't be reasoned with, then I remember she's still a baby. Heidi's newest funny thing is to tell people "Bye, bye-bye, bye . . ." in a sweet little voice when she wants them to go away so she can do something she wouldn't otherwise be able to. She started by saying "Bye mom, bye-bye, bye mommy" to me when I was trying to get her dressed in the morning because she wanted to be left to dress herself. Then she started saying it to me when we got home and she wanted me to leave her in the car to crawl all around and explore everyone else's seats. She said it to her aunt when she wanted to be left alone to sneak some candy and has said it to Austin in the car too. Its really hilarious to hear her sweet little way of saying "Go Away!"
This is nothing new, but I don't think I've ever written about it on one of her blogs: Heidi loves stuffed animals- anything she can get her hands on! She loves to snuggle and hug them and has to have at least 4 in her crib. She especially loves her pink bunny and two matching puppies, but any stuffed animal or doll will do for a good snuggle.
Heidi loves to sing and hum and picks up on the words to songs really quickly. She often doesn't get all of the words, but she gets enough of them that its clear which song she is trying to sing. She goes around the house singing primary songs that I sing to her for bedtime or that I sing to Trevor to keep him happy.
Here are some photos I got of her while she was outside playing and wasn't interested in being bothered much. The first is a pretty characteristic Heidi face- she is very expressive especially with her eyes and eye brows. She is also holding and eating a mushroom in some of these because she stole it from me while I was cutting up veggies for my omelet just before we went outside :)

TWO MONTHS

Our little Trevor is now two months old- time is flying! I keep thinking of him as a newborn, but he's not anymore! He's growing so quickly and putting on weight very well.

His personality is starting to come out a bit, but I'm still can't really tell what  he's going to be like. Trevor has started smiling and cooing, but he isn't big on making eye contact, although he will occasionally. Sometimes I wonder if he's just overwhelmed with so many people constantly around him, talking to him, or trying to get in his face. One of his favorite things though, is when I put him on the ground and lie next to him with my arm over him and my face really close to him and sing or talk to him. This is how I've gotten the most smiles out of him. But when all of his siblings try to get in on the socialization, I've noticed that he tends to start looking away from everyone. Trevor has started to discover his hands and bats them around a lot. Unfortunately, he has also started scratching his face sometimes too- every baby goes through it, but it so sad to see the little scratches. Trevor has begun to be a pretty good sleeper at night, only waking up once or twice a night to eat. We still have him sleeping in his car seat though and really need to transition him to his crib. We started putting him in his car seat because he was so fussy starting at about 3 weeks old and was spitting up so much. We thought having him in an upright position would help and it did a little. I also stopped eating dairy and gluten for about a month and started having him more upright when he nurses. He has stopped spitting up so much, but since we tried everything all at once we weren't sure what it was that helped him. I slowly introduced dairy and gluten back into my diet over the last week or so and he seems to be doing fine. Having him sleep in his crib is the next step- I'm just not quite ready for it yet since I'm afraid he might not sleep as well and I really need my sleep with 3 other busy kids. Trevor is not very good at sleeping during the day unless I have him in the baby carrier- he prefers to have all his naps snuggled up close to mom, which isn't too bad for me either since I'm trying to get as much snuggle time in as I can with my last baby (the only down side is when I get a chance to take a nap, it can be tricky to get him to nap somewhere other than tied to me).
We just love this chubby little baby!