Category: Kyle

Meeting Great Grandma Eileen & the West Coast Maclean Crew

For labour day weekend Janet and I packed up the babies and hopped on a flight to Vancouver to spend some time with our family there and most importantly, so that the babies could meet their great grandmother, my Oma; Eileen’s namesake.

This was the babies 3rd flight on the way out and 4th on the way home and to date they have been excellent flyers (with a little prep work from mom and dad).

Click on images for a larger version.

Airport Check-in
Airport Check-in

Unsurprisingly, Heather no longer has Wayne’s crib given that he’s now 30-something and we couldn’t exactly take our baby boxes on the plane so some creative thinking was in order. The result: suitcases make for a pretty decent baby bed!

Suitcase Bed
They didn’t actually share a suitcase, that would be silly

Aunt Heather and Uncle Peter graciously hosted us for the weekend and organized a visit at Oma’s place for us all. As always, they also made sure there was lots of excellent food to eat as well.

Oma was so happy to meet the babies and it was really lovely to hear Oma showing off her great grand-babies to her friends. The babies were definitely popular with the other residents and staff there.

Oma with Ewan, Eileen and Madeline
Oma with Ewan, Eileen and Madeline

Everyone took turns holding the babies.

Loren and Vicky with Ewan and Eileen
Loren, Vicky and Madeline with Ewan and Eileen
Wayne and Ewan
Wayne and Ewan
Heather and Peter with Eileen and Ewan
Heather and Peter with Ewan and Eileen
Madeline and Ewan
Madeline and Ewan
Bowen and Eileen
Bowen and Eileen
Vicky, Madeline and Bowen with Ewan and Eileen
Vicky, Madeline and Bowen with Ewan and Eileen

It was so great to have my Oma, my brother Loren and his wife Vicky and their kids Madeline and Bowen, Vicky’s mother Ping, my cousin Wayne, my aunt and uncle Heather and Peter and Janet, Ewan, Eileen and I all together in the same place at the same time.

The Whole Crew
The Whole Crew

The babies had a great time as did the rest of us and we are looking forward to the next time we can all get together.

No consents were obtained for sharing any of the photos above, if you have any concerns, please let me know. Better to ask forgiveness than permission… right?

Island Time!

Kyle, Eileen, Ewan and I just spent 2 weeks on the island visiting family and fishing.

The twins were amazing travelling. They didn’t make a peep of noise on the plane ride there or back (Ewan had a little 30 second cry once we landed in Calgary- but I can relate!!).

My immediate extended family (cousins, aunts/uncles- basically sisters and second parents ??) got to meet and snuggle babies.

It’s been decided these babies are water people! They loved it at the cabin and on the boat. In fact when we were home they seemed to be upset spending time inside. Just like their parents and grandparents they are outdoorsy people.

Eileen started sleeping 4-5 hours in a row at night. Ewan still wakes up frequently though. All the change and travel didn’t effect the babies one bit. They are born travellers ?

The trip was wonderful, I miss the island so much. I really wish we could move there.

Aunt Liz, Eileen, Uncle Dave and EwanHunter, Ewan, Grady and Eileen Uncle Bill and EileenSandy and Eileen Grady and Eileen. Grady told Alli the next day ‘I love the babies’ – Awe!!!
Aunt Liz, Ewan, Eileen and Hunter

on the boat fishing on grandpa’s new boat – named Island Time. They were immediately dubbed good luck charms as Kyle caught a fish in the first 20 mins of their first fishing adventure.

The first fish the twins witnessed being caught


This is Heidi (Katie’s baby girl). Gina, Heather, Katie and I spent the day together. It was absolutely fantastic spending time with my childhood besties. We’ve been friends for a looong time!



Gina pregnant with twins holding twins!!

Babies’ First Camping Trip and Hike

On June 29th to July 2nd when the babies were about 2 months old,

we took the babies out west of Bragg Creek for their first camping trip to what is probably my favourite campsite within an hours drive of the city, Little Elbow Provincial Campground.

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This was the first time we took the twins out of the house for more than a few hours and it couldn’t have gone better. They slept really well in our tent trailer and they absolutely loved being in the great outdoors.

On our second day we took them for a hike up Nihahi Ridge which also went really well. We took a break around 4/5ths of the way up to feed the babies on the side of the mountain.

Our good friends Sarah and Levi joined us on the second day with their 1 year old Piper and Levi and I went for a walk down to the Elbow river so that he could get a little fishing in.

The trip really couldn’t have gone better and gave us an idea of what we could look forward to for the rest of the year as we take these babies on one adventure after another (aside from the 4am epic tandem puking session on the 3rd night but I guess it would have been too much to expect that there wouldn’t be at least one challenge to overcome).

Parents departure

My parents stayed with us for the first couple of weeks and then Kyle’s parents stayed with us for the next couple of weeks.  

It has been such a whirl wind, it’s hard to believe the babes are already 5 weeks old- and we’ve all been home together for 4 and a half weeks!  

Our parents not only helped with the babes, made dinners, walked dogs but also helped with our house chores and Kyle’s lengthy honey do list.  My dad built a work bench, made slats for our bed and stained our picnic table.  Kyle’s parents did a complete overhaul of our garden, trimming, weeding, planting, fertilizing and general care and maintenance.  Without them we wouldn’t have a food garden this year.  Kyle’s dad also refinished and stained Kyle’s childhood toy box his grandfather made.  All the while our moms kept us nourished with delicious homemade meals!! 

All the extra support allowed Kyle to get a bunch of house stuff done: garbage/dump run, cleaning eavestroughs, bottling wine, changing winter/summer tires, house laundry and cleaning and yard work.  Kyle also continued to work his paying job!!

We are so grateful for our parents support!!

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One Month


Today Ewan and Eileen are one month old.  They also just passed their 40 gestational age (May 17).  

The Public Health Nurse came by the house on May 17 to take Ewan’s blood for the metabolic screening test and to weigh both babes.  Eileen weighs 6 pounds 5 ounces (2870 grams) and Ewan is 5 pound 5 ounces (2420 grams).  The nurse was pleased with their weight gain (approximately a pound in 2 weeks).  


Today we went for a walk with the dogs.  This is the furthest I’ve walked since giving birth.  It felt good to be outside ?

Our First Family Outing, 3 weeks Old and Mother’s Day

Kyle, babies and I ran errands together yesterday, making it our first official family outing that didn’t involve a medical appointment ?


The babes also turned 3 weeks old yesterday.  This picture was taken a couple days ago, but I just love it!


Kyle prepared a wonderful Mother’s Day Brunch for his family and my family, 9 people in total, 3 mothers- 2 of which are grandmothers! He made smoked salmon cream cheese cake/spread for bagels, a beautiful multi layered fruit salad, blueberry muffins and homemade bread.  Diana brought Prosecco and juice and chocolate peanut butter banana cake.  It was quite the feast!