Spring comes early (sorta)

Winter be damned, we're going outside! Cram the kids into the Chariot...



Ahhh... a nice springtime walk....



...through some snow...



... to the park??...



... on the swings???....



.... And we weren't the only crazy ones out there!....

Eating solids

As soon as Isaac turned 4 months old, we started him on solids. This is about 2 months before the current recommendation, but I was hopeful that eating would get him to sleep more than his current one and a half to two hour stretches. Look at how happy and hopeful I am...



Isaac isn't the natural eater that Gabrielle was. He's all fists and fingers in my way, but he seems to enjoy the process well enough - I'm just not sure that he's quite grasped the concept. So far, the eating has had no effect on his sleep. And now I have to puree food for him! What was I thinking....

Lunch with the Macdonalds and housing woes

Isaac and I met Erin and Meaghan at the Pantry for lunch, a vegetarian restaurant frequented by all the Macdonald clan. It was my first time there, but it seemed familiar, as I had seen many pictures of Gabrielle eating lunches there when she was under Meaghan's care.



Meaghan always says the same thing when she first sees Isaac: "c'mere boyfriend."



Matt Macdonald getting in on the Isaac action - he being the one who previously had accompanied Gabrielle's dance routine on his guitar.

It's nice that Isaac's still at an age where I can pass him around. At a real estate open house the other day, I left him with the sales agent while I ran around, looking at the house. He was all smiles when I returned but not because of me - there was a crowd of house-hunters all gathered around him, cooing and clucking at him. I wish I could say it had any softening effect on the sale price of the house because it didn't - the house still sold for $80,000 over asking. We are really facing a challenge in the current Ottawa housing market (i.e. we are screwed).

;-)

Valentine's Day rivalry

Gabrielle's card to Mark: "Happy Valentine's Day from your favorite kid." (note: Isaac can't sit up on his own, nevermind shop for a clever card)



And pointing out where she kissed it. (note: Isaac can't pucker yet, nevermind apply lipstick to kiss a card)

Meanwhile Isaac almost falls off Mark's lap in all the card-opening brouhaha.

Counting six cones

But how does she end up with eight??

Logan is thwee!

Hard to believe Logan is already three, but there you go, apparently he is. Gabrielle pronounces it "thwee" and I'm sure all 2-year olds do the same. Angie had the excellent idea to arrange a tour of a local fire station as part of the birthday party festivities (but don't go out and ask your local fire station to host a birthday party because they won't do it if you tell them it's for a birthday party. So you can have your party there as long as you don't tell them, see?) Logan is your classic truck-crazy boy, and can easily differentiate the many different types of fire trucks that exist. He was pretty ecstatic about the whole thing, right down to the truck shaped birthday cake. Ten out of ten Angie!



Gabrielle was less enthralled with the whole fire truck theme, but put on a pretty good show, once she got used to the whole thing.



The babies were not left out: below are Isaac and Sawyer enjoying the view of the front of the trucks.





The kids were pretty cute sitting at their little tables, just eating on their own. Look how excited Logan looks about something Naya has just said. He's like, "Omigod, are you serious?". And she's like, "totally."

The two photos below were taken by our friend Sacha - beautiful candid portraits of Mark gazing upon his offspring, other than the chocolate and whatnot smeared all over G's dress.