Hanging with Beej and Dyl

Lola's two best buddies are Beej and Dylan, when you get the three of them together you are always guarantee that there will be some silliness, a few juice boxes and a movie. And on some rare occasions you can get all three of those things at the same time.
I'm not sure what was happening in 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' but clearly the movie was intriguing for all three of them to look away from the magic talking box for a photo. This was the best I could do and was basically told to be happy that I even got that and to go back to the adults party in the other room.

Bang Trims and T-Shirts

Lola's regular hair dresser is in Florida for the winter, so Tanta Ness was willing to step in ad help us out. Tanta Ness is just finishing up at beauty school and for the time being is offering mobile bang trims.
They both looked amazing in their matching leopard print capes.
Tanta Ness does really good work! Thanks for coming all this way on a busy snowy afternoon Tanta Ness!A nice shot of the trim. Lola is still growing her hair out; she plans on having the longest hair in the family, a sort of Rapunzel kind of thing.
Quinn has no hair to be trimmed, but he does have this awesome onesie. He is officially branded; I wonder if we need pay someone royalties for this? I'll look into it, but in the meantime thanks for the shirt Sarah!

Hold on Quinn

When we put Quinn down we have to make sure to always strap him in tight. Not because he is moving around or anything (he can barely hold up his own head), but because big sister Lola is always close by to give a push, or a hug, or a snuggle.
He is going to be a tough and well loved little man.

You can dress them up...

Mom - Five Years Later

I wasn't going to write anything this year, but then I talked to my older brother and he revealed some recent douchbaggery and I felt that I needed to put something out there. Something about Mom that no one else could alter, or colour, or take credit for; something that is ours.

I only have a few photos of my Mom and us kids and that makes me so sad. I've looked at all of them countless times and of the photos that I do have these are my favourites.
I love this photo, my mom looks beautiful and happy, Jeff looks annoyed, Jeremy couldn't care less and I am amazingly cute.
In this one I see Lola, Joseph and Shaymus. Seriously it is freaky. I love that we made kids that look so much like us and in this one photo they are all with their grandmother.

This photo makes me smile; an equal number of lives to be remembered and lives still being lived. This is my favourite photo of us. My hair and tan look great and I wish that I wasn't slouching, but what I really love is how proud and full of love my Mom is. She was so happy the day that Joseph was born; we were all so happy. I like to look at this photo and remember that one perfect moment when we were all together and happy. I wish that I had a photo like this to pass on to Lola and Quinn; I wish that hadn't been stolen from me, from them, from all of us.

Tonight at dinner Lola asked if I was sad because my Mom was dead. I find that my sadness is increasing as the years pass and more life events take place without her. There have been many times over the past five years when I really could have used her. She would have been driving my crazy, but it would have been nice to have her here. I miss you mom.

The Crib

We recently got the crib in Quinn's room set up. This crib has had a long history of comforting babies while they sleep. It started in 2002 with Zen, its previous occupant was Lola and now Quinn has taken to it like a champ.
Back in 2008 when we first put Lola in it she looked lost, but Quinn at the same age is bigger and seems to fill out the crib a bit more.

(the baby above is 2week old Lola)

Quinn and Lola are doing great and Lola is adjusting to the life of a big sister swimmingly!She is excited that the crib is up and really wants to get in the crib with her little brother. Maybe they will both want to sleep in there and Darcy and I can reclaim our bed! Fingers crossed!

Two Weeks Old

Quinn's first photo shoot in the big green chair. I might have to prop him up better next time!

Forty Two Months Old

Bath Time

When Lola was born it took us awhile to get around to giving her 'the first bath'. We were nervous. This time we were still nervous, but managed to get Quinn's first bath in before being scolded by our midwives for not listening to their instructions on cleaning our child.
He didn't seem to mind it at all. In fact I don't even know if he noticed that anything was happening at all.
Quinn is a pretty relaxed little man and seems to take everything in stride. Unless that something is happening around milking time and then he isn't relaxed at all!

Big Sister Lola

Lola is loving being a big sister. She is so excited about her new little brother that she is sending out e-mails and photos to all of her friends.
Singing and playing songs about him (and just generally jamming out with Grandma.)
She has also learned how about Face Time on the iPad and has been keeping Dylan and Grandpa and Oma up to date on Quinn. She likes to set the iPad up beside Dad's at home work station so that he isn't lonely while he works.
And she has also been consistently and honestly beating us at our version of Bingo. It is a sneaky way of getting her to work on her counting and number recoginition, but don't tell Lola that. She likes this game because she it is just playing not learning.
Regardless, this kid is a hot roller; I think that we should take her and my EI cheque to Vegas.
More updates to come as time and little people allow!

Quinn has visitors

Quinn has not been short on visitors since he arrived. Darcy joked about putting in a revolving door to accommodate all the well wishers.










It has been great to see everyone and for Quinn to meet all the wonderful people that surround. Thanks for all your love and support.