Cousins

Zoë and Jayden have lots of fun when they get together, even if they fight often over toys. These pictures are from a playdate earlier this week.



Zoë, Jayden, and Dreyton dancing. I really need to get Dreyton some boy dress-up stuff.


Playing with bendaroos

Playing a matching game with the cards they got from trick or treating.
Playing playdough


Zoë and Dreyton had a check-up this morning, Zoë is 39.4 lbs and 99cm (3'3"), Dreyton is 31 lbs and 89 cm (2'11").

My Big Boy!

We took the crib down and replaced it with a toddler bed. We decided to switch him while I have Lee for the week before he starts his job. It takes Dreyton alot longer to fall asleep now but he hasn't really fussed at all which has been nice.

Of course half the time he falls asleep in a weird position. I should have taken a picture of the other day because he was kneeling on the bed sleeping. (Notice all his pants he took out of the drawers before he fell asleep).

In other news Dreyton went pee on the potty for the first time today. It will still be awhile till we start to potty train him but it is nice that he has an older sibling to understand the potty more.

Zoë started a playschool class today which she loves. It's 2 hours once a week and it's a variety class with a little bit of everything. We also have both of them signed up for a swim class which starts in a couple of weeks. Zoë is in an unparented class while either Lee or I will be with Dreyton in his class.

Miss Stubborn the 2nd

Lately, when I go check on Zoë as i'm going to bed something is a little off from when I saw her a couple hours earlier when I put her to bed. For example, I was putting a pull-up on her tonight and telling her she still has to wear them at nights just for a little longer and she fussed for a minute and then was fine. Then she wanted to wear a long sleeved nightie to bed and I refused to let her as it was too warm in her room. She finally relented and let me put on pjs I wanted to put on her and she went to bed. I come check on her tonight and she has ripped off her pullup and put on Dora panties, and taken her clothes off I put on her and put on the nightie she wanted (backwards) and fell asleep. I think she knows how stubborn I am and knows she'll be in a huge fight and won't win so she takes the easy route and waits till I leave and does it herself.


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Zoë's New Bike

Pampa and Grandma Sefcik brought Jayden and Zoë to Toys R Us and treated them to a new bike. Zoë had a tricycle before hand so she knows how to use the bicycle, just needs some practice once the weather decides to get nice.

It is crazy to see her on a big bike, time flies. She is now fully potty trained except for at night time, we're slowly working on that. It is nice we just have one kid in diapers now.

Zoë is now really getting into pretend play, she loves to have tea parties and take her bunny Flopsy to the park around the house in her play stroller.

She also loves going on play dates with family that come pick her up once in awhile. It is nice for her to get closer to other family members and Dreyton can have one on one time with me as well.

Kids names

This is a post I put on my Uncle Jeff's blog as a guest post awhile back, I thought I should have it on my blog as well.


How we chose our kids names. The first name we wanted them to be different and unique. The second name is a family name with first boy and girl being named after there parents.

Zoë Michelle:

Zoë: I chose the name Zoë, it was a name I have loved for many years. I first heard it when my sisters friend was trying to name her baby and she was thinking Zoe and I said that sounded so funny and for some reason she had to keep repeating that name to me cause i kept thinking it was Ziggy. She never named that baby Zoe and after awhile I started liking it more and more. Lee also took quite a bit of convincing to get the name I wanted. We never found out what the baby's sex was until the day she was born so we had to figure out boy and girl names. After my whole pregnancy of saying the name Zoë for a girl Lee started liking it more each day as well. What made him give in was that he got to spell it the way he wanted which was having the french diaeresis ë. Lee served his mission in Quebec so was happy to bring some french influence into the name.

Michelle: This one is easy to explain, it's my middle name. I wanted my baby to be named after me but not my first name which I hear all the time.

Dreyton Leland:

Dreyton: this name was another name I chose, it took awhile to figure out a name for Dreyton. Lee and I had a hard time with choosing a name as the ones we wanted seemed to be very popular right now. Jacob, Ethan, and Preston were our top names at the beginning but they were too popular for our liking. One day I was just thinking about all the little boys I knew from daycare, and Dreyton popped in my head. Dreyton was a VERY cute boy, a little bit of a trouble maker but was such a cuddler too. I instantly loved that name for my baby as soon as I remembered it but again it took a bit of convincing for Lee to agree with the name. It wasn't because he didn't like it but because he wanted to name our first boy. An xbox360 (nintendo system) later the name was chosen.

Leland: well I hope everybody knows where this name came from, Lee's first name. Lee actually has two middle names James and Haines, Haines is Lee's mom's maiden name. After picking the first name Dreyton, Leland was a better sounding name to have as a middle name and I really liked that name more then the other two names.

If we had the ideal situation a boy and a girl next we already have the middle names picked out. I am not going to say what they will be until they're here but they are names from our grandparents.

Potty Training

Lee took the van to Edmonton this week because of the snow, so I decided it was the perfect time to get Zoë off the diapers during the day altogether. Yesterday was the first day she went without diapers and there was no accidents at all, and today the same. It's SO exciting to know that I won't be using diapers for her for too much longer, she still wears them at night and probably will for awhile.

We took away her toddler bed a few weeks ago and replaced it with a really nice single bedroom set we bought off kijiji, and now with her night time soother gone and her getting potty trained she is growing quickly out of the toddler stage. It's fun now that I can converse and we can have conversations with each other now too, her vocabulary improves so much every day.

No More Soothers

Zoë was getting to a point where she would wake us up about 3 or 4 times in the night asking where her soother was and so we decided to get rid of them. She only had them when she went to sleep but Dreyton had his 24/7 so she would always steal his and hide. We made it a big deal saying we were giving them to cousin Drew since he's a baby. She packed them all up (minus 2 that are hidden in Dreytons bed which he still gets when he goes to sleep) and gave them to Drew. Afterwards we went and got a special present at toysrus because she gave them all away, she picked a puppy that acts like a real one. The first night was hard for her, she cried for about 3 hours until finally falling asleep. After that one night it's been great, she doesn't wake up in the night and she goes to sleep really good. It's a little harder for her to fall asleep at nap time so she doesn't have a nap often which was the case before the soothers anyways.

New Haircuts

Zoë and Dreyton finally got much needed haircuts. Zoë's hair got cut more then I wanted it too but I really like it and I know it grows quick.

Update

So we have finally moved to Calgary and unpacked most of our stuff. It's so nice to be back with close friends and family, and to have a dishwasher and 3rd bedroom, and a bathroom on the main floor. I haven't taken any pictures lately as we have been so busy, so that is my next thing on the to do list. Now that we are settled down for a little while we are going to work on getting Zoë potty trained, and Dreyton off a bottle which has pretty much disappeared already.

Zoë's Swimming Certificate

Zonked Out

Zoë decided she was too big to have a nap today. I had her in her room for 1 1/2 hours in which she decided to play, read, and jump around until eventually I came and got her. After awhile of her playing and watching some cartoons I found her like this..

...luckily for me her naps are not over yet

Dreyton on the other hand will fall asleep anywhere, we didn't want him to sleep after our car ride one day so we had him sleep in the living room while his sister ran around him trying to wake him up and we were shuffling around. Apparently he can sleep through anything as he never woke up until after awhile.

Zoë's 1st Haircut

Zoë had her 1st haircut today and was really good, she got a certificate and a lock of hair. Afterwards they curled her hair too.

Miss Independence

Zoë has been trying to grow up too quick lately. The other night Zoë decided she didn't want to wear a diaper to bed and took it off at some point before she fell asleep. I went and checked on her like I usually do just before heading to bed and noticed her diaper was off and she had drenched her sheets really bad, and was shivering while she slept. So Lee and I did the routine of changing everything and putting her in a warm bath and got her all dressed again and put her back to bed.

The next morning Lee was heading downstairs with Dreyton and noticed Zoë's door was open. He went in to see if she was still in her room, but she wasn't. We went downstairs to find her and she was sitting on the sofa chair hoping the TV would just turn on magically. For all we know she could have came down at 2am, we just don't know. I have started putting a baby gate up on the top of the stairs at night as I think she is too little to wander around alone.

She is growing up so quick, talks a mile a minute and can tell us exactly what she wants. Last week the UPS guy came to our door and Zoë was saying bye to him and said LOVE YOU, and I think he just ignored her and kept going so she said it about 6 times louder and louder until he finally said love you too.

I REALLY hope this isn't Zoë trying to imitate me with my glasses typing away on the computer.

Fall Cleaning

I just realized I have barely touched my camera in the past week. I have been very busy doing my "Fall" cleaning. Yes, I know its usually Spring cleaning but I would rather do it in Fall as that's when its getting colder to go outside with kids and happy to be home after a busy Summer. I have organized under my bathroom sink, changed the Living room around, organized my whole basement, and going to be doing my pantry in a couple of days. Zoë is growing like crazy, she is no baby anymore, she can talk and put quite a few words together and understands pretty much everything you say. She is just getting her 2 year old molars in right now as well. Dreyton is VERY active and loves to bug his sister and take everything she's playing with.

My now uncluttered living room, this picture is a few days old as I have now retired the intellitainer as Dreyton is getting to big for it.

Update

Lee's parents have been here visiting Zoë since Tuesday night. Lee and I have learned to accept that the grandparents really just come to see there grandkids. It has been nice for Lee and I as we get to go out in the evenings while they're watching Zoë. We got Zoë weighed and she weighs 23.5 lbs right now. getting so big as she gets close to her one year birthday.

Lee and I went to this gameworks place yesterday as its unlimited games for $10 from 7pm-2am. I need to start playing arcades more often because it is a GOOD workout. lol. There's boat paddling games, soccer, a game where you have to pedal on your bike to places, and lots of car racing games etc.