Alexis Madeleine aka Lexie

Ah....my little Lexie is 3. This post is dedicated to her 3 years in our lives. Lexie is a very sweet little girl. She's kind, caring and has a great sense of humour. She's had these traits for as long as I can remember. She thanks us for things without being asked, she tells us she loves us randomly and she is sensitive to our feelings. She's really attached to Olivia and loves her no matter what Olivia says or does to her. She absolutely adores Cassidy and loves being around her too. I can't wait to see how their friendship develops! Lexie has been going to summer preschool with Olivia and has been loving it! She's a very attentive student and enjoys doing art projects and reading books. Lexie is pretty strong willed too! She has never let Olivia boss her around and stands up for herself pretty well! Of course that usually involves digging her finger nails into Olivia's arm. We somehow managed to miss the terrible two's with her. (We totally deserve that though b/c Olivia is still going through the terrible two's at the age of 5!) She has monumental meltdowns but that's always when she's tired. Like yesterday- oh boy! She screamed and screamed all b/c she didn't want to have a nap. Well guess who napped? Yup, Lexie. Mommy was right- I knew she needed a nap. Since Lexie doesn't really have her own friends yet Dan took the girls to Playland for Lexie's birthday. (Details will follow in another post) Happy birthday Lexie! Love from mom, dad, Olivia and Cassidy.

Woo hoo! I got a nap out of Cassidy two days in a row! Yes, I won! Minor victory b/c for the 3rd day in a row Cassidy has been getting up at night. Just hoping it's another growth spurt.

Here's another picture from Whistler. I love the view but I love the little faces more.

Olivia's perspective on age:

Me to Olivia: do you know how old Grampa Knox is?

Olivia: yes. 62. Grampa is close to 100.

Lexie's sweetness: I love you mom. Mommy is the best.

Lexie all excited: We have a baby and a dog!!!! (Teddy is over)

Grampa's birthday was this week. Happy birthday Grampa! We're almost finished our belated birthday package....

Whistler

We had a fantastic little trip up to Whistler. Thanks to Aunt Laurie and Uncle Tom to letting us stay in the fabulous chalet! Pa and Avo joined us on Saturday- thanks for giving us some extra help! Our trip up was perfect- and by perfect I mean Cassidy slept the whole way up! The weather was awesome too. It was nice and warm with a breeze. We got into the village on Friday. The girls just loved it! There was just so much for them to see and do. So picture Dan and I: he's pushing the green double stroller with the big girls and I'm pushing the blue stroller with Cassidy. It felt like stroller overkill but we do what we have to do to make life easier.

So that night things started out well. I got Cassidy down in her playpen earlier than usual. Then we got Olivia and Lexie ready for bed and we all attempted to sleep in the same room. But soon after we had all gotten into bed, Cassidy wakes up. It went downhill from there. Olivia and Lexie couldn't relax, and Cassidy was wide awake. Olivia and Lexie moved upstairs and finally fell asleep around 10pm. Cassidy took even longer. She finally fell asleep around 11:20pm. It was so exhausting! I couldn't sleep b/c I kept thinking Cassidy would wake up. She actually didn't do too badly and slept until about 5:30am. Olivia and Lexie woke up at 6am all ready to go. We spent Saturday morning at the Whistler Children's Festival. It was okay. It was $5 per child and by donation for adults. So we gave $20 for the 2 kids and 4 adults. There was supposed to be a lot of free activities. The girls went to a balloon creature booth first. As they are looking through a book picking which creature they want Dan and I notice the box that says "by donation/ $4 minimum donation" That was irritating. Why are we paying an entrance fee if things cost money??? And the balloons didn't last at all. Olivia got a butterfly and Lexie chose the crab. We did manage to find a free face painting booth for the girls. After we had done all we could at the festival we went back into the village.

Other updates:

the sleep situation with Cassidy has gotten worse! now she's not sleeping through the night anymore and it's gotten difficult to put her down at night too.

I'll feed her once but when she wakes up after only sleeping like an hour or less I don't feed her. I'm trying to get her to learn to fall asleep on her own but it's hard b/c I don't want her to cry for long. Yesterday she got her 4 month shots and had a reaction to them. She woke up with a fever and today I noticed that the injection sight was red and very sore looking. I got a total of 2 hours sleep last night. That's a total- not all in a row. Surprisingly I did pretty well today. I think moms are just built for very little sleep.

Update on Cassidy

Little Miss Cassidy has been sick but is much better. We had a really brutal night where she just wanted to be in my arms. I finally (after 6-7 hours of trying to get her to sleep in her crib) slept on the couch with her in my arms. Oh my poor neck and arms! She's been sleeping through the night most nights but she's still not consistent. Yesterday was a big day for her. She rolled from her back to her tummy! Big milestone for her but what a pain in the butt at bedtime! She couldn't sleep because she kept trying to roll on her tummy! And then when she'd get to her tummy she'd cry. I've got an awesome video of her rolling and smiling but it's too big to upload.

Naptimes are kinda a nightmare right now. She gets really tired after being awake for an hour an a half or so but getting her to sleep is so tricky!!! Morning nap I'll usually nurse (mostly comfort nursing) for an hour or longer so she can sleep like 20 mins in her crib. She's so tired for her afternoon nap and she'll comfort nurse for about an hour and a half but she'll only sleep in her crib at the most 40-50 mins at a time. Then at bedtime she's taking that long or longer to just hang out on me. And if I try to put her down before she's ready she immediately wakes up crying. I'm really enjoying this time with her but I'm looking forward to the time when naptimes and sleep are consistent. That came at about 9 months with both girls. (I am determined to get her on a consistent nap routine before 9 months though!)

Summer Camp!

Olivia and Lexie have been going to summer camp together. We were a little worried that they may fight but so far so good. Or what happens at summer camp stays at summer camp? Oh well, as much as I love my girls they have way more energy than me so it's been really nice to keep them busy. Last week they went to Kitsilano Community Centre. It's got a great fenced in playground plus a water park. This week they're going to Sunset CC. It's only Tues & Thurs where Kits is Mon-Fri. They come back all excited about what they've done and proudly displaying their art work.

3 little sickies

I feel like it's been awhile since I've updated here. Cassidy has been giving me trouble with naps- as in she refuses to nap in her crib. So I used to be able to update when she napped but alas no more. I'm still trying though and I won't give in. I think she's pretty stubborn though. Also, all 3 girls are sick. First Olivia got sick. We knew she was getting sick when she became quiet. Huh? Olivia quiet? What's up with that. She was also napping. I don't want to say I enjoy her sick but....let's just say it was a nice change of pace. She's pretty much back to normal with a little runny nose and slight cough. Lexie got sick next with a cough that sounds like a barking dog. She's much better now too but still has a nagging cough. But sadly, poor little Cassidy got the germs. I'm sure it was from one of the times the girls touched her on the head. One of the many, many times they touched her head while I said "Don't touch her head!!! You're sick!!!" The poor thing also has Lexie's barking dog cough. I took her to the doc and for now it's not serious but I have to keep an eye on her breathing. Which should be easy since she doesn't want to leave my arms. I tried for 6 hours last night to get her to sleep in her crib. I had one brief spell of an hour. Finally at 2:25 I took her downstairs to the couch and slept with her in my arms. And by sleep I mean I had my eyes open as much as I had them closed, my arms were in an awkward position with Cassidy in them and my head kept rolling around and forcing me awake. So not fun. I did get her into her crib from 4-6am though. 2 whole hours of sleep. Well, not really b/c somewhere in the middle Cassidy cried out and I woke up. My mantra to myself as I stumble through this sleep deprived stage is "Cassidy is my last. Cassidy is my last. I will never go through this new born phase again. I will never go through this again." Over and over.

Cassidy's Baptism

First off I just have to mention that I am so tired. Like really really tired. Not just "I'm a little tired because I haven't slept well in a few days" but "holy crap- I haven't slept well since before I was pregnant (and that was a year ago) and I can't even think straight". EXHAUSTED, fuzzy headed, lethargic and sleepy. I crave sleep. I would pay money if I could sleep for 7-8 hours straight. But enough about my lack of sleep....Cassidy was baptized! Like both her sisters she had to cry at some point but I think we'd all cry if we had cold water poured over our faces. Twice. She was pretty good considering she really needed to nap. Father Michael performed her baptism. He is about to retire from the priesthood so it was nice that he could do it. It was also really nice just spending time with family and friends afterwards. (You can tell I'm tired by the number of times I'm using the word nice- too tired to think of more interesting words)