My little boy is 3 years old!!

I'm not sure how the past 3 years have gotten by me so quickly. I remember the day we found out I was pregnant with Ty like it was yesterday and now here he is, a little boy who is getting bigger and smarter and more independant by the minute. I have truly enjoyed every moment of being a first time mom to him- he put me on my toes from day one and I haven't been able to blink since. Here is his birthstory , and some pictures of him the day he was born followed by his "3 year old" picture that was taken on his birthday this year. Ty's birthday celebrations lasted 3 days this year. Thursday night we had a family party for him and he had his spider man cake (a homemade cake with a spiderman toy on top).

(Playing his new Leapster game with Nolan & Carter)

Friday Ty's Papa Kelly and Aunt Sharleen (Iain's dad & sister) came by with more gifts...

(Ty is all about being "the goalie")

(Iain has a punching bag set up in the basement so Ty insisted his be hung right beside it)

Saturday morning we had a small party in the backyard which unfortuntely got rained out but the kids still had a good time. Ty was so excited to be with his friends. (Pictures from the party are posted below)

Finally that brings me to today- we had another apointment at "The Kids Clinic" today to discuss the results of all the testing Ty has gone through. Iain took the afternoon off work to come for this one. The Doctor basically told us we have a very hyper child - who is just 3 years old and could very well grow out of that but for now that seems to be all it is. He said he is very bright and that we will need to keep him stimulated. The Doctor again mentioned that Montesorri school would be a great option for Ty - so I'm so happy that he starts that in September. He said he really thinks Ty will excel in that type of a learning program. Of course we have to keep our eye on his behaviour and hopefully we will not see any increased signs of ADHD as he gets older. I'm sure his teachers will let us know if they see any. I am pretty relieved but also know that Ty is and probably always will be a handful - the doctor actually suggested we read a book called "The Difficult Child" which I kind of took offense to and replied with "I don't find that he is difficult- he's a good kid". The dr. assured me that is not what he meant- it is simply a good book to read for suggestions on ways to get your child to listen to you and different disciplining techniques. I may take a look at it. In the meantime I'm just enjoying my busy little boy and so thankful for the excitement, happiness and love that he has brought into my life over the last 3 years.

Ty's party pictures

(A water balloon toss - notice how dark it is outside and it was 12pm)
(The party got moved inside for awhile so the kids decorated their sandpails in our family room)
(Happy birthday to Ty!!)

(Ty got some awesome presents- time to pack up some of the older toys)

(Ty could barely keep his head up to say goodbye to his friends- what a great morning!)

A birthday filled week- and it's not over yet

I'm flying by the seat of my pants here from day to day. The weeks just seem to get busier. Saturday night Iain and I had a great night out without the kids. We were at a Jack & Jill for Iain's friends that are getting married in August then moved on to a 30th birthday bash that lasted until 3am!! I think I got approx. 3 hours of sleep Saturday night before the kids decided they wanted to get up and play. Sunday morning after breakfast we headed over to Chuck E. Cheese for my girlfriend Dana's 3rd sons birthday. There I got to hang out with most of the girls that I chat online with everyday. It was so nice to see them and their families after 2 years of seeing pictures and chatting. Here we all are...(thanks for the picture Nicole)

(Nicole, Jake, Nathan & Caden- Carol, Brayden & Parker-Dana, Jake, Josh, Gabe & Talia-Suzie & Sydney- Me, Ty & Vanessa)

I believe a "girls weekend away" is now in the works...

Monday my girlfriend (my matron of honour) Sheryl and I met at my parents pool to swim. The kids had a great time (as they always do in the pool) and we got to cool off and catch up.

(Myself, Vanessa & Ty - Sheryl, Braydon & Cody)

Tuesday was Mikaela (our little neighbour)'s birthday party. Ty got his face painted, we did a craft & had cake and goodies then all the mom's and kids headed out to the circus.

(All the kids waiting patiently to go to the circus)

Wednesday Iain and I had a "date night". We finally got a teenager in our area to come babysit the kids and we went out for a nice dinner and some adult conversation. It was really nice for us and the kids really liked the babysitter so we hope to do this once a month now.

Thursday was my baby boy's 3rd birthday!! Another post about this is coming but we celebrated with our families that night. Unfortunately we got some sad news that night. Iain's Nana Kelly from Scotland left us a message saying "Happy birthday to Ty - and Papa passed tonight". It wasn't unexpected but still very sad. I'm happy that I was able to meet his twice - once at our wedding and the second time, Iain and I took Ty to Scotland when he was 10 mths old to meet his family out there.

Friday night Iain's dad and Sister came over to give Ty more presents. His birthday really stretched out this year...

Saturday Ty had invited a few little friends over for a small birthday party. The kids had a great time in spite of the terrible rain storm we had - and still have right now. I'll post pictures of his party when I blog about his birthday.

Finally tomorrow the kids are off to the 4th birthday party this week!! Iain and I are going to a wedding in Niagara on the lake so our wonderful neighbours have offered to watch the kids for the day and take them to the party.

What an exausting week - I'm actually looking forward to Monday!!

Another busy week

Where to begin?? This week has been another crazy one. Tuesday the kids were invited to Ty's friend Evan's 3rd b-day party at Planet Gymnastics. They had a great time but they always do when it comes to running around like madmen!!
Wednesday I finally got an appointment for Ty at a Children's clinic to talk about his hyper behaviour. After 2 hours of talking and testing the initial reaction from the doctors were that he was a classic case of ADHD. They said he is very bright but bright children are a handful. This is NOT an official diagnosis and he does go for more testing so until I know for sure I am trying not to get too upset about it. I was a pretty shocked and upset at first at how quickly they gave me that answer but the more forms I'm filling out and the more I'm reading about ADHD I'm still not convinced. In the meantime they have recommended that I keep him physically busy - which I know about my child anyway- and they suggested that he would benefit from a Montessorri School program - which I have him enrolled in starting in September. For now I will continue with the testing and just wait and see what the end result is with an open mind.
Thursday morning I was in desperate need of some cheering up so my awesome SIL took me shopping. Check out all of my loot!! Next step is to empty out my closet of all things unacceptable to wear.

(I got 3 pair of jeans, 2 long shorts, 1 skirt, 5 tops, 1 necklace, 3 hair scarves and 1 pair of shoes- I felt great after that!!)

Thursday Afternoon I FINALLY met with a babysitter in our area. She's 15- going into grade ten- she teaches guitar lessons to little kids on her street... needless to say I really like her and Iain and I are going to book our first monthly date night next week. I can not wait!!

This morning Ty's summer camp was having a "circus show" so after the gym I took Vanessa over to check it out. The kids were so cute all sitting in a circle singing their songs. One song was about a little fish swimming in the water and each kid had to come up with something that was swimming along trying to eat the fish. The older (4-5 year olds) came up with Killer whale, Octopus, Shark... The younger ones (Ty's age) were saying Garbage Pail, Slipper, Onion... Ty's turn came up and his answer was "A huge Musky". The camp counselor looked at him very confused and he said "They have teeth you know". He has obviously been fishing before. LOL! Before the show was over each kid got a star for something they did well. Ty got his star for "Circus Bravery" as he was the only kid willing to let the camp counselor flip him in the air. (Why am I not surprise??) After a bit of a stressful and crazy week I am really looking forward to going out tonight. The girls on the street and I are going for dinner tonight leaving the daddy's and kids to fend for themselves. This weekend is going to be very hectic as well but all fun stuff. Saturday Iain is golfing in a tournament with his dad & sister. Sat. night we are heading to a Jack & Jill then over to a 30th b-day party. Sunday morning we are hoping to not be too hung over as we have Gabe's b-day party at Chuck E. Cheese!! I can't wait to see everyone there.

**Blogger is not letting me download anymore pictures so I'm going to set up another post with the pictures from this one**

Pictures from the week

(Vanessa running away from someone- as usual- running away is a favourite game of hers)

(Ty, Evan- the birthday boy, and Nolan jumping in the ball pit)

(Enjoying some pizza after a couple hours of play)

(Ty's summer camp show this morning -he's the only kid that is following the instructions to put his hands on his lap - a proud mommy moment. LOL!)

(Performing his amazing circus stunt that won him the award for "circus bravery" this week)

(Vanessa tries to get in on the action by running around with a plastic banana)

A Very HOT weekend

What a scorching hot weekend this was. We could barely enjoy being outside - unless of course we were sitting in the pool- which is where we did spend most of the weekend. Saturday morning I invited the neighbours over to my parents pool to cool off. The guys had gotten up at 6am to go salmon fishing that morning so the moms & kids enjoyed the morning at the pool and the men joined us later for a BBQ lunch. Saturday evening I headed off to my cousins Stag & Doe while Iain stayed home with the kids (we are still looking for a babysitter!!) My parents, my brother Ryan, my SIL Melanie and I all showed up at the Stag & Doe not really knowing anyone else there but after a few drinks we where jumping in to play all the ridiculous games.

(For this game we had a grapefruit in a pair of nylons tied around our waist while we tried to roll a second grapefruit across the room by thrusting forward- obviously you need a few drinks to play this one)
Sunday morning I took the kids on some errands- just to get out of the house but to stay in air conditioning. We had lunch with the neighbours then Iain went golfing with his dad & sister so I took the kids back to the pool. Ty is officially swimming on his own now. He is such a fish. He jumps off the diving board and swims to the side now with no problem.

Of course Vanessa enjoys the water as well but she loves to run around the pool causing me to chase her panicking that she is going to jump in. She is laughing the whole time (at me) of course.

Tomorrow Ty is back to summer camp (but only 1/2 days). I have plans to stain more of the fence, go for my yearly physical and get to the usual laundry and cleaning that needs to be done. I'm actually looking forward to it.

A rainy week

Ty started his ALL DAY (9am-4:30pm)summer camp this week. So far the latest I've left him is 3:30pm though. What a crummy week to be outside. So far it has rained 2 of the 3 days. The long days are really catching up to Ty. Yesterday he passed out on the couch right after camp. Even with Vanessa running around him screeching and yelling. (she loves being loud right now) At one point she decided to redecorate the place (she does that often) and Ty didn't even flinch.
Today once again I dropped my little man off in the rain. It looked like he was having a good time before I left but I can't help but feel guilty about leaving him there. The plan is to go and pick him up after lunch and hopefully get him down for a much needed nap. That just might help him get through the rest of the week - which is supposed to be sunny. (knock on wood)
I have to throw in a picture of Vanessa in her rain coat this morning. The one good thing about the rain today was getting to dress her up in her new little rain outfit. She loved running around the backyard in the wet grass.

First week of summer camp...

and he loved it!! What a great week - Ty was so happy to get up every morning to head off to summer camp. Vanessa and I had some very productive mornings getting in some shopping, getting to the gym and running errands. A great first week of summer! Wednesday night we celebrated my dad's birthday. Ty got to blow out the candles so he was happy.

We ended the week off right with a dip in the pool with the neighbours this afternoon and then after dinner, a great night playing in the backyard with everyone.(Ty is finally making some headway with Mikaela- she usually doesn't like boys but Ty is slowly changing her mind) (Vanessa loves to play peek-a-boo in the clubhouse)

(Relaxing with some milk after a busy week)

In very exciting news this week we booked our trip to Punta Cana with the neighbours. We leave November 9th and return on the 16th. I'm so excited to go even though November is still so far away. Tonight we sat around talking about the great shape we are all going to get into before our trip. We have time so there is no excuse. We'll see how long that lasts though.

Canada Day Weekend

Happy Belated Canada Day!! We didn't have too many plans this weekend except to relax and enjoy some time with friends. Friday we had a playdate across the street with Mikaela and her new baby sister Rilynn. Ty was surrounded by girls- I have a feeling that is going to be the story of his life though. LOL!!

On Saturday we took the kids down to the lake where there was a Canada Day celebration going on. Unfortunately my camera battery was dead so I didn't get any pictures but there were jumping castles and little games for the kids to play. They had a great time. We discovered that Ty has a bit of a competitive edge in him though. There was a basketball toss game that was too big for him but he insisted in trying it. After taking 14 shots and not making a single basket he finally broke down crying, "Mama I can't win that game". I wasn't really sure what to do. I told him the game was for bigger kids and he could try some of the smaller kid games but he kept saying "but I want to win that game Mama". I guess it was a good lesson that he's not going to win at everything he does. I told him we would practice at home and try that game again next year. He was still pretty upset but seemed to accept that answer.

Sunday we headed in to Milton to visit my girlfriend from University and her family. They just had a new baby boy Sean. It was so nice to finally meet him and get to hold and cuddle him a bit. (All the kids- Sydney (26 mths), Ty(35 mths), Sean(3 weeks) and Vanessa( 12 mths))

(Ty doesn't like to limit himself to the neighbourhood girls )

Cont'

Sunday night Iain had promised Ty that he was going to camp in the tent in our backyard with him. We really didn't think he would last, especially given how much he seems to need me when he wakes up in the middle of the night but he surprised us both. He was asleep before 9pm and didn't wake up until after 7am. I'm thinking of making the tent his permanent room - I don't know how Iain will feel about sleeping out there every night though. LOL!
Today Ty started his first day of summer camp. We dropped him off at 9am and picked him up full of smiles at 12pm. He loved it!! Phewff!! I'm so happy since I've signed him up for 5 weeks this summer. Right now, since Iain had the day off, he took Ty to see the movie "Cars" so Vanessa and I are enjoying some free time to ourselves. I think I will put my baby girl down for a nap and put my feet up to relax!! What a great weekend this has been.