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!