Sam

Sam is almost 6 months old. Crazy! Here's an update about Mr. Sammer-pants:

Sleeping/Eating
I've been way more patient and relaxed about Sam's sleeping/eating schedules. With Hadley I tried to do the whole "Baby Whisperer" routine, with Brian and Elijah.......I just tried to survive - but did try the "Baby Whisperer" stuff to get Brian to go to sleep on his own.....didn't work out very well until they were about 14 months old though. So with Sam, I kind of just go with the flow. It much less stressful for me. He eats when I think he's hungry, and sleeps when I think he's tired. His sleep is somewhat structured at least. He usually has 2 "bigger" naps - which range from 1-2hours each, and then has a little nap around 5pm for about 30min - 1 hour. He goes to sleep for the night anywhere from 7-8:30, depending on when he is tired, or when I can put him to sleep. I nurse him to sleep, or I nurse him, then put him in the bouncy chair and bounce him to sleep. I still swaddle him, cause I think he sleeps better that way - although I haven't done any experiments with it really. I usually leave one arm out of the swaddle so that he doesn't fight it as much. I don't keep track of his night wakings really. Sometimes he only wakes up once around 4, but usually he wakes up multiple times. When I'm really tired, I nurse him in bed, but after about an hour he wakes up - not because he's hungry, but because he just doesn't like sleeping next to me I guess, so I actually get more sleep if I nurse him in his room in the rocking chair - but that bed is just so tempting at 3am!

Moving
Sam has been rolling over for about a month and now rolls all over. He doesn't go forwards at all, but sometimes scoots backwards somehow. Here he is rolling over from tummy to back to tummy. Time to start baby-proofing!

Temperament
Sam is a pretty happy baby. He's only sad when he's hungry, tired, or poopy - or if he has an ear infection.....or 2.....He doesn't like to sleep anywhere that is exciting - which is basically anywhere but home, so that makes trips to the Parent Link Centre, or shopping a little more crazy - but he's pretty easily distracted by the excitement. He reminds me a lot of Hadley when she was a baby. He is very smiley and loves looking at John. If John is in the same room, Sam is usually staring at him waiting for John to look back - and once contact is made, Sam gives a big smile.

We sure love our Sammers!

Easter happenings

 1. Town Easter Egg hunt

 John showing Hadley wear the prize-winning plastic eggs were and telling her to run and get one first

 she got distracted by the millions of chocolate eggs in the grass

2. Dyeing eggs

3. Easter morning - the Easter bunny hid everyone's "baskets" and the eggs

 Hadley was very excited for her "cowgirl" magazine - she has decided that she is going to be a cowgirl.

4. Easter egg hunt after church.

 yes that is a weight bench......it's gone now.....it was our landlord's

5. Egg wars - this is the first year we've done this. We always did this when I was a kid and I finally made it happen with our family. The kids were a little unsure about it...

 The results - Brian's "Sally" egg won!

 Brian with "Sally"

 Elijah with "Lightening"

 Hadley with "The Smashesest Egg", and "The Green Egg"

Happy Easter!

more craft stuff

Some new craft kits are available. If you want any of them, let me know. If you live in the US and want some, I can get them shipped to you instead, you may need to pay a little for shipping though.

 this one's my new favourite!

I just posted a photo album on my facebook profile if you want to see all of the available kits, or just look at http://makiacreations.com/shop - although there are 3 new kits that aren't on there yet (like the chalkboard one pictured)

Here's the link to my album if you aren't on facebook....hopefully this link works

I'll be placing an order on Monday - so let me know asap!

crafting blah blah blah

I really don't like sounding like a salesperson. So I'm not going to.

I used to be a Craft Group Leader for Makia Creations. Craft Group Leaders got 20% off and then made a 20% commission. I thought it would be a fun way to make a little extra money. The only problem is that it costs a TON to ship to Canada, but since they had free shipping, I figured I could ship to Sweetgrass and pick it up and still make some money.

A couple weeks ago they changed everything. They no longer have craft group leaders, they just allow people to buy kits at wholesale and then resell them. Since I signed up with them before the change, I don't have to order the minimum of $50 to get the wholesale rate. They also lowered there prices and got rid of free shipping. So, I was a little let down and thought I might just quit it altogether. But I actually like doing crafts (at least I think I do....I haven't done much of anything), so I decided I'd just keep doing my own craft group and not try to make money at it. The price of the kits will cover my time and gas and duty and gst and shipping. It's just for fun now! I'm actually glad about that because I hate feeling like I'm annoying people, and I felt annoying with all my updates and stuff about buying craft kits from me. Anyway, I will still update about stuff on facebook, but I won't feel annoying, because I don't have some alterior motive.....makes sense to me at least.

SO, if you'd like to join my craft group, or just order stuff from Makia, let me know! If more people are interested than can fit in my house, then other people could start their own groups or just do the kits on their own. I will be picking up kits for my group anyway, so I don't have a problem picking up more for others.

This month, we will be doing it on Thursday the 28th at 8:30pm. Then, my kids will be in bed (hopefully), and we can have a fun time chatting and crafting. I realize that is Easter holidays, but I just don't want to put it off any longer. We will be doing the "few of my favorite things" sign, but you can order and do whatever you want. Or just bring your own craft or project you are working in and come socialize.....or just come socialize. Orders need to be paid for by the 18th by paypal, cash or cheque.

Just comment here if you want more info, or check out my facebook event that I made for it today.

That is all.

Hadley sings

Hadley was in the Kiwanis Festival this year. She's been taking musical theatre with Tekarra Roach and loves it. Tekarra suggested that Hadley should sing in the festival, so she picked a couple songs and away we went. Hadley loves to perform for people. Here are the videos of her performances:

First, she sang "Bluddle-um-dum" from Snow White, for the musical theatre category. She tied for 2nd.

A few days later she sang "The Teddy Bear Picnic", for the girls under 6 solo category. She got first. with a mark of 86. All the other girls did so great, I was actually surprised that Hadley was picked for 1st. I think the adjudicator just had a hard time choosing one. Everyone else tied for 2nd and got a mark of 85. Pretty fun.:

Then she got asked to sing "Bluddle-um-dum" for the Musical Theatre Showcase on Saturday night. She had a mike so you can hear her better, but she skipped the first verse. I don't think she noticed, so we didn't tell her. She had so much fun performing. I was super nervous for this one because it was a big audience, but she did great. I was worried it would be too stressful for her too, but she seemed happy and fine with it all. Must not have gotten my performing genes!