Category: Uncategorized

Fish and Bus are the words of the summer! We went to the cabin at the end of July (22-30) with Grandma and Grandpa Shivas. Eileen struggled while we were there because she was cutting molars, wasn’t sleeping and there wasn’t anywhere to run (lack of physical activity). But mostly Eileen was in pain from cutting molars. We were there for 8 days and the fishing was great. We came home with 10 salmon. Every time the boat came back to the cabin the twins would climb onto the tall chairs underneath the window and point excitedly yelling gibberish with the recognizable words Fish, Wawa (wawa is water), Boat, Mommy, and Daddy (depending on who was in the boat). The twins very quickly learned the word fish. They would point at the fish in the boat cooler, on the fish cleaning station, and then again at home when Kyle was preparing the fish for the smoker. Fish Fish Fish.

At the cabin we set prawn traps for fun (it is not prawning season in July). We were averaging about 12 prawns a trap. The first time we pulled the trap up, Eileen charged forward and tried to poke the prawn in the eyes while saying “eyes”. Ewan was a little more cautious.

At the end of August we went to Vancouver to visit family (Aunt Heather, Uncle Peter, Oma, brother Loren, sister in law Vicky and cousins Madeline and Bown). During our visit we went to the Vancouver Aquarium with Loren, Vicky, Madeline and Bowen. The twins were entranced with the Aquarium. We bought them two stuffies (sharks) from the gift shop. On the drive back to Port Coquitlam (Loren and Vicky’s house) they were moving the stuffies through the air repeating Fish Fish Wawa. It was so cute! Still at home they move the sharks through the air saying fish fish wawa.

Buses are the new favorite thing! All summer every time a bus drove by, the twins would yell BUS over and over. We did a bit of driving in Vancouver, and there are a lot of buses, so we heard the word bus continuously! We had two toy buses that were handed down from a friend. I give them to the twins mid August…. oh my goodness. They sleep with the buses (and stuffed sharks). They wake up saying ‘where bus?’ Grandpa and Grandma Shivas bought west coast T-shirts for the twins. Ewan’s t-shirt has a picture of a bus on it. He asks to wear the bus shirt every morning. When he is wearing the shirt he walks around pointing at the shirt saying ‘bus’.

We will post more details about the Vancouver Island and Vancouver trips later….hopefully.

The kids are forever changing and growing. They are so adorable.

Ewan’s cast came off on June 9. He was a very good sport throughout the whole experience. He was frustrated from time to time, but he handled it really well.

Eileen is doing funny facial expressions that are hilarious. She stretches her face and makes her eyes wide and then slowly moves her head. She also has funny walks, stomps and lunges. She is having a good time!

We just implemented 2 minute time outs for biting, hair pulling, hitting etc. They have to stay in the corner for 2 minutes and then apologize “say sorry” or hug their sibling. Yesterday Eileen was in a 2 minute time out and afterward we walked over to Ewan, I prompted Eileen to say sorry. Ewan came right over, very eager for his apology or hug. Eileen stared at the ground not saying anything. I kept repeating ‘say sorry”, Eileen continued to stare at the ground, Ewan excited with anticipation. Finally I said “Eileen give your brother a hug to say sorry”. As soon as I said hug Ewan lunged forward and hugged Eileen. He couldn’t wait any longer for his hug! It was soooooo cute.

The whole family went to Freezer Burn Music Festival the weekend of June 21-24. We had a blast! We pulled the kids around in the wagon visiting all the theme camps. The kids danced a little which was really cute.

Eileen and Ewan love watching The Wiggles show. First week of June we noticed that Eileen was imitating the dancers on screen…so cute. She can do the cold spaghetti/hot potato dance. This week Ewan started doing the dance. Double cuteness overload

On Canada day we went for a hike/walk at Lower Kananaskis Lake. The kids walked 4 KM.

Vocabulary is improving. A Speech and Language Pathologist came to the house and provide tips and tricks to jump start their language development. Eileen definitely has more words than Ewan, but Ewan’s imitation skills are really starting to develop.

Breastfeeding has come to a end. We stopped last weekend. The kids weren’t really interested anymore and I wasn’t going to force it (not at this age at least). We missed a couple of days during the last two weeks of June, and then we just stopped all together. It was a good run! Hopefully their immunity is strong!

We bought the kids a used bouncy castle! They love it! Eileen loves jumping. They love the outdoors, playing with bugs, water, climbing, exploring, pulling up plants, and running around.

The key to happy children and successful parenting is food- food they like!

Ewan broke his Tibia. He tripped down the step from the deck to the drive way. I was right beside him, it was an innocent fall, I’ve seen way worse. He cried for a long time and he wouldn’t stand up or put weight on his legs. But his legs weren’t swollen or bruised. We went for a bike ride in the chariot, I took him out to play at the park, and it was the same thing- refused to stand up or put any weight on it and he started crying again. So we went straight home and Kyle took him to the ER. The Doc said the Tibia is a commonly broken bone for toddlers. He is in a cast and it will take 2-3 weeks to heal. This type of break in an adult would take 12 weeks to heal, thank goodness kids heal quickly.

He was very brave and handled the pain like a champ!

The nurse held up all the colours to chose from for a cast and he picked pink!

The twins had a great birthday! Kyle made orange oatmeal cake, and they had soft serve Dairy Queen ice cream for the first time (first time eating ice cream). They also had fruit, tomatoes scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, pesto pasta, and sourdough waffles. All their favourite foods, all day long.

We went for a walk around the neighbourhood and opened lots of presents! They opened presents when they woke up, after breakfast, after nap and after cake and ice cream. Presents and good food all day long- best day ever!

Grandma and Grandpa Shivas were in town for the celebration. They were very helpful all week with the twins, dinners, cleaning and house maintenance. With both sets of Grandparents visiting back to back Kyle and I were kind of lost when they left- we ordered a lot of take out that week ☹️. We are back on routine now!!

Ewan’s hair has been in his eyes for a while now. So today I trimmed his bangs. I cut his hair outside so the birds can use it for a nest ?.

Daycare is going really well. We are super happy with the organization and the twins seem to have a good time. Eileen especially seems to enjoy herself, she doesn’t want to leave when I pick them up. Ewan is ready to go when arrive, he’s had enough for the day. They even stopped crying at drop off this week.

The kids have been very sick since starting daycare. They just got over a respiratory bug and started a stomach flu. ?. Ewan has stopped puking and ate real dinner tonight, so that’s good!! Eileen only got a small touch of the stomach flu.

Ewan slipped and landed on the edge of the cubbyholes and got a double black eye!

Eileen is starting to talk. Tonight she pointed at a circle and said ‘gurcle’. She also says squirrel and square. She has been repeating words for a month or so with her own pronunciation.

The twins first painting, January 18, 2019

This month we went out to a micro brewery twice with the kids. Besides Eileen shrieking for a good minute, it went well!

Eileen is really into dress up and wearing shoes. Ewan is mischievous and curious. Eileen has a great giggle, and Ewan has a million dollar smile!!

The twins turned 20 months old on December 22, 2018. Eileen started patting Ewan on the back when he coughs, it’s so cute!! Ewan really likes throwing toys over his shoulder, he will walk around the room picking up every toy and throwing it over his shoulder, it’s hilarious (but sometimes violent if the toy is wooden). They both still love listening to music and dancing. Eileen wiggles her hips!

They climb on and over everything, they are a handful to keep safe.

We spent Christmas 2018 on Vancouver Island with grandma and grandpa Shivas. On Christmas morning, Eileen was teething or didn’t feel well, she was inconsolable. About an hour after we administered Tylenol she perked up. The twins opened presents on December 19 and 24. So by December 25 they figured out colourful paper meant something fun inside!

On Christmas morning we said ‘let’s open our stockings’ and Ewan came running over and pointed up at the stockings hanging above the fire place, it was adorable and incredible he knew what we were talking about.

We had Christmas dinner at Aunt Liz and Uncle Dave’s house- 18 people! Great food and wine!!

We visited Woodland Gardens while we were there, the ground was saturated from many days of heavy rain. Ewan has a blast running in the lucky grass. Eileen wasn’t in to it!

The Watt, Douglas and Maclean parents got together on December 23 for wine, beer and food. It was great to connect with my cousins and their husbands.

It was a very nice and relaxing visit/holiday. Grandma Shivas took excellent care of us, to make sure we could relax. Unfortunately, Grandpa Shivas had a touch of a stomach bug. We took advantage of WestJet Boxing Day sale and booked flight home for the summer- already looking forward to it! ??

We spent both Saturday and Sunday at the park this weekend. The weather was so warm. The kids climbed up the steps to this big slide, and without hesitation just slid down! Fearless children!

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