Fair is Fair

Karen here.

So I've recently done 2 posts about Magnus, so it's Pearl's turn. Fair is fair.

Our little girl is almost a whopping 4 months old, and I haven't posted any recent pictures or videos. Even though many people have asked for them, I have to admit that I've been a tad busy. When you throw getting ready for Christmas onto an already overflowing to do list while you take care of a rambunctious 2 year old and a new 3 month old... well you get the picture.

But anyway. Excuses aside, let's talk about Pearl.

She really is the apple of my eye. But she's a total chub monster. She weighs over 16 pounds already and she looks it. She's all cheeks and Buddha-belly and thunder thighs. Not only that but she wears 9 month clothes. She's a Rasmussen alright.

She doesn't do a heck of a lot yet except hang out. She'll strike up a conversation when it suits her fancy, and on those occasions when she IS in the mood, it melts your heart.

And apparently, she's a girl after her daddy's own heart. :)

Another thing she loves, which is a new activity, is to hang out on the swing while her older brother burns off some energy on the playground.

She's been able to roll over for a while now, at least one direction. And she recently surprised us the other day by rolling on her other side! She's a quick one so it was hard to get a video of her doing it, but success!

And we've been working on sitting up. It'll be a while yet before she can sit up on her own, but she's doing well!

Pretty darn cute. ;)

Magnus Turned Two!

Karen here.

Our dear sweet Magnus turned two years old on November 1st. So now we have a two year old. Somebody save us!

Living with a toddler is so very different than living with a baby. Some nights, instead of reading a book in bed, I peruse the videos on my phone. I love to watch the videos of Magnus when he was a babe. Oh how he has changed! If you have a minute, go back through this blog to like March 2014 through October 2014 where you'll find many examples of Mags being Mags. And you'll see just how different he is. At a minimum, he looks a heck of a lot different. In his first year of life, he was a red head and he's now grown into a curly top blonde.

And he certainly looks an awful lot like his father when he was about the same age, wouldn't you say (showing is a scanned copy hence why it looks a bit weird)? :)

So now that Magnus is two, he has turned from our once sweet and ever-cooing babe to a rambunctious monkey who never stops running or whining or screaming. He certainly is a true toddler having his fair share of fits like the following. And btw, this video only captures a glimpse of the tantrum which lasted a full 20 minutes.

But he listens pretty well and likes to help Mummy and Daddy. For instance, one of his favourite things to do is to help us empty the dishwasher. Here he is sorting the silverware.

Lately, Magnus has two loves: watching shows on the ipad and playing with cars. I'm not going to bore you with videos of him not eating his lunch because he's engrossed with a new 2 minute concrete mixer video on youtube. But I do want to share with you how excited he gets playing with cars, especially when there are "many, many cars".

But he has inherited, be it fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, my OCD. See, he has a thing with lining the cars up in a row. Doesn't matter where he is... our house, Oma's house, Nan's house, daycare or the park. The cars are always lined up as you saw in the video above. I asked Matt if that kind of issue is something he deals with, and he said no, but he thinks Magnus's need to bang on everything comes from him though. :)

Magnus spends his time continuing to explore our complex world. He's a pretty smart cookie, but sometimes we just shake our heads.

But he really does seem to be a smart cookie. He knows his colours and his shapes, and he can name every construction vehicle (yes, a stereotype but it's true). But surprisingly he knows his ABC's (although admittedly he confuses a few still: E and F, X and K). Here he is reciting his ABCs, but I only caught from 'O' on.

And, of course, he knows his numbers. Here he is counting a row of trucks he set up at the park. You better turn the volume up so you can hear him.

Yup, that was "ten-teen" he said after nineteen. Like I said. Smart cookie. And even if that's not the case, gotta love him and those curls!

Magnus Went Trick-or-Treating!

Karen here.

We had one heck of a Halloween! It was Magnus's first time trick-or-treating. We debated whether he should go out at a day shy of 2 years, or if we should wait until next year. But when his daycare lady (now my friend, Amanda) who lives down the street invited us to go with her and her 2 kids, I couldn't resist the opportunity to see Mags in action. What would be do? Would the costumes scare him? Would he be shy?

Well, how did I ever doubt my fearless son? Not only did he have a blast, but he ran and ran and ran! Towards the end of the night he was dragging his bag behind him. Now, before we even began the night, we somehow lost the bag I had bought Magnus, a jack o'lantern bag. Mags had to make due with some old plastic shopping bag. He didn't care and he certainly didn't know any better! Amanda's son Tyler went to almost all the doors with Magnus while Amanda and I hung back with our coffee mugs full of wine :) Matt and Pearl started out with us but Pearl was tired so Matt took her home to bed while I stayed out with Mags. We stopped once to fill up our wine-filled coffee mugs and once more for the kids to get water.

So here is my man before we headed out. He just had to try some candy!

 And here he is in action.

Isn't he cute? He said 'trick or treat' to everyone and most of the time there was a 'thank you'. Sometimes there was even a 'please' or a 'happy halloween'. :) But what the heck are people doing holding a huge bowl of candy out instead of handing the kids one or two candies!? The guy in this video did it right, but most people just offered Mags the whole bowl. And even though I stood right beside him and had him count out 'two', he would inevitably shout out 'more' and grab another handful. And what did all the home owners do? They laughed. Some gave him even more because he was so cute! And they laughed all the harder when Mags invited himself into their homes and ran around looking for more candy. That happened a bunch of times! Thank goodness he's cute because there is no way he'd get away with that any other way.

We ended up at the house of the other girl who goes to Amanda's daycare, Niya. We hung out there for a bit until I dragged (or rather carried) my wired but drained son home at about 9 o'clock. Here he is at the end of the night.

Matt put him to bed as I got the babysitter settled (Amanda's daughter). Then Matt and I headed back out to Niya's house to party with her parents and Amanda and her husband. I was thrilled to have the night off bed duty and had a great time. Can't wait for next year!

Introducing Baby Pearl

Karen here.

If you read this blog, then you are well aware that we have a new addition to our little family: Sweet P or Baby Pearl.

She came into the world with blood, sweat and tears, weighing a hefty 9 lb 1 oz. She was born on her father's 40th birthday, August 3, 2015. Matt is thrilled that they share the same birthday. But I'm not. I just hope we can make their birthdays special for each of them. It's one thing to share a birthday with an Aunt; it's another thing to share your birthday with your father! But anyway, she was a big, healthy girl. Just look at those cheeks!

8 days after she was born we went for a family photo shoot. Here are our favourites.

So in love. My cup floweth over, as they say.

Hoof and Mouth Disease (AKA "Mad Magnus Disease")

Matt, here.  

It has been an interesting 7 days around here in the universe known as Magnus.  Last Tuesday, I noticed that he was quite hot when he woke up.  The concerned parent that I am, I of course did nothing (I don't even recall if I told Karen).  We just went about our normal routine and I busied myself getting him up and out for daycare.  That afternoon, when Karen picked him up, she was informed that a rash had developed on his bum and that one of the other kids at daycare had come down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease four days earlier.  It looks like the kid had passed it onto Mags.  Damn you Hudson, or Hunter, or Hayden, or whatever your name is! 

Getting some good old Vitamin D on that rash!

So, from Wednesday last week to this past Monday, Karen and I mixed it up between working and care giving, as Mags could not go back to daycare until it had cleared up.  With the exception of a trip into the Burlington office on Thursday for me and Karen going in Monday, we worked from home and we split the time between getting work done and keeping Mags comfortable.  Until his fever broke on Friday and the sores in his mouth got better, it seemed that Mags' comfort level was directly related to the proximity of a parent and the TV.  

You can knock him down, but not out!

Buying toys also seemed to improve his mood.

He loves his trucks

Because Mags' fever had broken, we stuck with Karen's scheduled plan to have a "Me" weekend, staying in a hotel and getting some alone downtime pre #2 while Mags and I stuck it out together at home and in the backyard.  

When Karen returned, I learned a little bit more of what she thinks of me... On Sunday afternoon we threw on Madagascar 2 to keep Mags entertained for a little bit.  Now, in the past I've been compared to cartoon characters.  Specifically, 15 years ago when I was 25-35 lbs bigger and drove a small Mazda, my brother-in-law compared me to Mr. Incredible based on this scene:

 Well, then we saw this on Sunday, and a new comparison from Karen was born:

  I can't get no respect.

Dad's Day 2015

Matt, here.

In the Rasmussen clan, it seems as though we do not always live by the rules of the Gregorian Calendar.  For most people, Father's Day 2015 will fall on June 21st.  For the Raz boys, we decided that it should instead fall last weekend.  So, for the 2nd year in a row, I joined my brothers and dad in Prince Edward County for a Father's Day Weekend of biking and wine.  

Last year we stayed in Wellington, which was closer to a number of wineries.  This year we chose Picton, with a better airbnb house and more culinary options (thankfully, as there turned out to be an unscheduled need for a Friday night pizza after the failed bbq sausages).

Saturday was bike / wine day.  Due to some creative map reading, we ended up cycling 30 kms before hitting our first winery.  These 30 kms included some very beautiful countryside, as well as quite a few hills.  In fact, while biking up one hill, a local drove by and yelled out his window, "I'd walk it if I were you!".  It also seemed that, regardless of whether we were cycling to the south, east, or north, we were always cycling into the wind.  I'm just glad that I had the newest bike (and the newest legs!).

This creative map reading did have its benefits, as it led us past the old CFB Picton from WWII.   

Tower at CFB Picton

The route also took us past a great lookout.  We could even see the windmills on Wolfe Island across the lake towards K-Town.  As "they" say, it is the journey, not the destination.

Raz men taking break from the hills and wind at the lookout

 

With a bit of a view

"They", of course, have not been to the Waupoos Winery, which was our destination after 30 kms on the bike.  Once we arrived we all grabbed some gelato and took a load off, then toured the grounds.  After the rest, I took my brother Karl up on his suggestion to sample some of the wine.  While sampling, we asked the wine barista (?) about the best route back into Picton.  She advised taking the longer route  (of course), due to the scenic opportunities.  So, after my dad and brother Jud took off with a head start, Karl and I finished our samples and then loaded up his saddle bags with wine, chocolate, and licorice (again, Waupoos was a great destination!).

The next 20 kms took us along the Loyalist Parkway with great views of the water on our right and the "Lake on the Mountain" (who knew?).  There were quite a few places for sale, if anyone wants to buy and invite me!

Lake on the Mountain in Glenora, beside the Adolphus Reach

So, after a morning with 50 kms of biking, we parked the bikes and used Jud's van to check out some other wineries in the area.  Not as fancy as the ladies we ran into being driven around in the white stretch limo, but it did the job!

All in all, another successful Dad's Day in Prince Edward County.  Now if only one of us would get a boat, next time we could just dock and stay in the harbour!

Picton Harbour

Hosting Sherrai's Baby Shower

Karen here.

On Sunday I had the honour of hosting the baby shower for one of my best friends, Sherrai (pronounced 'Sher-ray'). Well, officially it was her Sip and See. Her water broke the week before I was supposed to host her baby shower, and she ended up having her son, Levi, a few weeks early. So we threw her a party this past weekend where she could revel in the ooh-ing and ahh-ing of her best friends over her new love. :)

I should point out here that when I say we, I mean myself and Sherrai's bestie, Tracie. It was wonderful being able to share responsibilities with someone else, not having to be responsible for EVERYTHING! Seriously, have you ever hosted a party like this by yourself? So much work. Thank goodness I had Matt to help with the tidying up, and I had Tracie who owned more than her share of tasks! Thanks again, Tracie! 

Regardless of the work, it was worth it. And I have to be honest. I had soooooooooooo much fun researching themed goodies, games and garland! The theme for the original shower was a woodland creatures theme, and we maintained this for her Sip and See. There are an incredible number of ideas floating around on the internet... so many creative people. I totally stole a few ideas and am so happy I did so. Here's a glance at the table setting.

I am very proud of the goodies I made. I made cookies...

This was the easiest 'mushroom cookie' recipe I could find and it still took some effort. They were good though!

I am also proud of my birdies...

Truth be told, however, they were supposed to be hedgehogs, but they just looked like owls to me. Here's what they were supposed to be.

Oh well. Birdies still fit, and they were even more of a hit. Lots of people took some home for their kids. :)

But my crowning achievement was dear sweet Porkie...

Tracie also ordered a beautiful and delicious cake. Here is the lady of the hour doing the honours.

Sherrai's friend Sarah put together some games, one of which our friend Kristopher invented - The Poop Shoot.

The object of the game is for each attendee to try to throw as many brown balls as possible into one of the hung diapers. Sounds easy, but trust me, it wasn't. I managed to capture one friend in action.

Obviously everyone had a great time, especially Sherrai. How could you not with your best friends fighting over who gets to hold your baby next?