On Monday night we stayed over at the Travel Lodge. Jesson had a specialist appointment Monday afternoon and Daddy and Grandpa wanted to attend the Princess Auto grand opening on Tuesday morning. Jesson had a blast on the water slides and loved the pool. Without an ounce of fear he would jump into the pool from the side and he's quite good at dog paddling. Conor had fun floating too. The pools were quite warm and he kicked a little but mostly relaxed because he couldn't move much in his lifejacket. Grandpa stayed accross the hall from us and we visited with him quite a bit too. Jesson wondered where Grandma was because he usually sees them together, but she had to work and couldn't come. We all had a lot of fun, it was a nice little get-away. 

Conor has finally started foods other than rice cereal. His first was squash and he's tried peas too. He LOVES food with flavour. I think if given the chance he'd eat the whole jar. Since switching from BF to formula a while ago he's much more content and is sleeping a bit better now too. He still hasn't made any strides to roll, but he sure wants to get up on his knees and crawl. Tummy time is quite amusing because the closest toy isn't challenging enough for him, he has to go for the ones that require a struggle. He had his 6 month checkup yesterday (a little early) and he's big for his age, big surprise, at 27" tall and 19lb 4.5oz. He's a happy little guy and a joy to have around. 

Jesson saw the ENT specialist on Monday who said that for now we don't have to put tubes in his ears to relieve the recurring infections as they seem to be getting better on their own. That was welcome news. Jesson seems to be getting better with his brother too. First thing in the morning, he wants to hold him and has on occasion given him a toy nicely. Conor is ever-so-slowly growing on him I guess. Jesson's latest obsession is stacking and arranging things as you can tell from a couple of the photos. He's a great helper, especially in the kitchen. He's also started pretending. Lately there have been tree frogs everywhere in the house that he "rescues". No he's not nuts, he saw it on "Go, Diego, Go" on Treehouse TV a while back and we've been saving frogs ever since. There's never a dull moment with Jesson around.  

Conor - JJ Wanna-Be

Conor is still growing at a blistering pace. He's wearing jammies that Jesson wore at 8 months and they are fitting about the same. The chiropractor thinks he's gained 3 pounds since last week's visit (not really). He enjoys tummy time and had started to try getting his knees under him to crawl, which I think is WAY too early, but who am I. He loves to stand and is getting really good at sitting up by himself. He enjoys watching Jesson and you can tell he wants to join in the fast-paced play but just can't yet. He concentrates really hard when he wants something and purses his lips to help with his concentration, kind of like Grampa Gary with his tongue out doing woodworking. When he's had it, he screeches at the top of his lungs so everyone knows it. He's a joy to have around because he's usually quite happy.

JJ - Bossy Boy!

Jesson has become the boss of the house...or so he thinks. No matter what we say, he answers us with "don't say that" or "no it's not" which generally lands him in time-out. I guess he's just "terribly two" but Daddy and I are getting frustrated with his attitude toward the world. Let's hope this is just a stage and he'll get over it soon. Aside from that he's busy as ever, loves to play trucks, can run faster than me, enjoys craft time, loves to be outside in the snow, and keeps us on our toes with his imagination. Potty training is still going very slowly but we'll get there eventually, we had out first #2 on the potty recently so that's a big step in the right direction.

Well...I don't know who had more fun with tonight's tub time, the boys or me? Jesson got a couple of shaving kits for Christmas and we tried one out tonight. Jesson took the job of shaving quite seriously at first, I couldn't even get him to crack a smile. Once he figured he was good and shaved, he smiled for the camera. When he was done, it was MY turn to play with the cream! I had fun too! 

Conor is quite a guy! He's a ham, loves to smile and laugh for anyone who will watch him. He's a people person (not a Mommy suck) he just doesn't want to be alone. He's a smart little cookie and very good with his hands. Tonight he started to play peek-a-boo with his bath towel all by himself and he's only 5 months old! He's not great with his legs yet but loves to "scoot" across the floor on the back of his head like his brother used to, especially when he's naked...men! 

We took Jesson for his first ever sledding experience on New Year's day on a small hill a few blocks from home. I bought a long crazy carpet and we both went up and down over and over and over and over. It was a lot of fun and Jesson cried when we had to leave, but we'll go again soon.

Here's a shot of the quilt I made for Mom's Christmas present. It took a long time, I learned a lot (including, never that big again!) and Mom was pleased with it. 

Christmas at the Lake was a very quick one, but lots of fun and too much to eat as usual. Cari's husband Darrell had to travel to work for the 28th and we only got together on the 26th so we opened presents on the evening of the 26th, had a big meal for lunch on the 27th, then Cari and her family had to head home. It was awesome spending time all together, we sure do fill the cabin! Thanks again for the excellent food Grandma! 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Santa spoiled us all again this year and we had a blast with the boys on Christmas morning. Jesson ripped through his presents and helped with everyone else's like he'd been doing it all year, and Conor managed to drool through a couple of packages too. This is a train set that Santa brought to Jesson along with a tonne of other toys and games. We took quite a bit of video on Christmas morning but forgot to take still photos so this is one of the only shots of Christmas morning at our house. Our living room looked like Toys-R-Us after a tornado but it was a lot of fun.

After we finished at home, we got ready and headed to the farm for Christmas with McNally's. Unfortunately we didn't take any still photos there either. There was a tonne of amazing food, and the whole family to enjoy it with. The Graham's came from Kindersley and Pat and DeAnn drove all the way from Edmonton. We all ate lots, played krokonol, and chatted about life. Scott, Pat, and the boys got into a heated game of Thunderhift, a race track from when they were kids, it got quite loud downstairs for a while. All in all we had a great time. Conor fell asleep watching all of the present opening action after lunch, and Jesson went so hard all day without a nap that he fell asleep in the truck by the end of the farmyard on the way home and didn't wake up until the next morning. It was an exhausting few days but we wouldn't have missed them for the world!