Caleb's Photoshoot

So, as with all of my children, I booked a "newborn" photoshoot for Caleb... My photographer, Kim, does amazing work, but I must admit I'm disappointed that I never seem to get all the shots in I want and I tend to be left wishing we had more time to try a few more poses on my list. That, and it's incredibly difficult, it seems, to schedule a session with her. Not her fault entirely, by any means, as Greg works long hours in addition to commuting, and her weekends are booked up, on top of the fact that each of our families have other commitments in our schedules. And so with her wanting to have natural light to work with, our timing is limited.

We did manage to squeeze in a few hours one evening this past week (we're getting an additional hour next weekend to try a few more, especially since Braylon refused to cooperate whatsoever so we've absolutely none of him alone). I'm excited to see what she did capture, but she's planning to wait until we finish the session to do up our cd. She did send me a "teaser" that I couldn't resist sharing, though, so I'm thankful for that (and that it turned out so well). However, I'm not certain she captured our typical "angel wing" pose - which I really want because we've the other two boys in that pose hanging on the wall up the stairs and I'd wanted to add Caleb to the mix. So I'm hoping we can redo that pose when we meet again. However, Caleb's infantile acne has worsened dreadfully, so although she was able to photoshop my arms out from underneath him in the above cocoon picture, I doubt she'd be able to photoshop his face! And, as he's now almost 6 weeks and therefore awake far more often than asleep in the day, I'm not sure we'll be able to get him sleeping for that one hour to be able to do the poses I wanted to in our original session (when he didn't sleep at all, and so some of the poses wouldn't work).

I suppose I should just let happen what will happen, but for some reason I just can't give up complete control! It's just like the other day - when she originally sent me the photo, actually - when I realized that somehow in the process of switching Blackberry phones and uploading data to redownload on the new phone, my phone pictures got lost. I seriously got upset. Just as I would if my house caught fire. I would be absolutely devastated to lose the pictures in my house. They serve as captured memories of moments, many pivotal, that are already faded, some lost, in my aging mind. It helps now to have digital, yes, but there are situations (like with the phone) that you still manage to lose them. Or forget which ones are backed up.

Anyhow, I'd meant simply to share a stunning photo, so I think it best I leave this post at that. I think my sons are truly beautiful babies, and I am blessed to have such amazing kids. I need to be thankful (and cognizant of that gratefulness) more often!

Third Time's a...

...I'd really love to say charm, honestly. And although my labour was far quicker this go around, I can't say it was any easier the third time. In fact, Caleb had to be coerced into the world, as he was comfy and snug in the womb with no sign of vacating the premises (despite many attempts to evict him...).

So I'll spare the gory details - we women all have our labour/delivery stories - but I had to be induced in order to deliver Caleb, which was an altogether different, and might I add intense, experience. I was rather overdue by that point, though I'm not entirely certain of how many days since the doctors never really agreed on a "due date" per se. And so after only 5.5 hours of labour, including the time I was induced and the drug took effect, Caleb Cameron Rebelo finally entered this world!

Caleb weighed in at 8 lbs. 7 oz., 20 inches in length - the middle weight and length of my three boys. He was close to being born on 09/09/09, but neither of us were willing to wait another day at that point! He's been home now for 10 days, and this morning I took him to the Well Baby Clinic to weigh him and he's up to 8 lbs. 12.5 oz., which is great because he left on the 10th at 7 lbs. 13 oz. So as far as feeding, he's doing well. He's not the greatest nurser - mostly in terms of latching - but we're making progress, and he's the most content of the three, going usually 3.5-4 hours between feedings. His nights are getting slightly better, though we've a long way to go before I see solid sleep again, that I know! (What is the trick, Juliana?!)

The older two absolutely adore him - they're constantly wanting to kiss him and hold him. They love to lie down beside him, and are the first to inform me when he's awake, as they're desperate for another playmate. So far they haven't been too possessive of mommy, and in fact they've been incredibly understanding of mommy's need to attend to Caleb's needs first. KNOCK ON WOOD! They seem, so far, to be proud big brothers.

As for handling three, so far it hasn't been that bad. We've not had to adjust our routine too much, since Caleb mostly eats and sleeps during the day, save for a few moments of wakefulness spread throughout the day. He's been a fantastic baby so far, and though I know it will be harder as he grows older, particularly in a few months' time, I'm very blessed to have such wonderful children. I know I said I'd be disappointed if I never had a little girl, but I wouldn't trade my three boys for anything - they are the most precious things in the world.

Looking forward to sharing the next steps of our lives with three children under three (for awhile, at least...). Hope you enjoy reading the snippets of our adventures!

Backyardigans Story

On the long weekend of September we decided to take the boys to Storybook Gardens (which Isaiah called Backyardigans Story all day - likely confused because he's already pretty excited to attend the Backyardigans concert in October). We'd been meaning to go all summer, but many of our plans never materialized - we always seem to get busy doing nothing really. Anyhow, we ended up going with Stacey and her boys, Mateo and Sebastian, and our cousins: Janice and Shorty and their daughter Jasmine, too, which made for a better experience for the boys, I think!

Storybook hasn't really changed much over the years, as I haven't been there since my own childhood. The play equipment is much advanced, and the kids took advantage of the great day to play on three different sets. Both of them are fairly skilled at climbing and sliding, but it was a full time job trying to follow them around and make sure they were safe, particularly as the park was rather busy. Braylon and Isaiah both loved the slides, and climbing the different levels.

As for the animals, the boys were pretty excited to see the different "attractions" - though I'd say the variety and numbers aren't by any means impressive, even for a toddler. Braylon has a fascination for ducks right now, so he was the first to notice them all wading in the mucky water. The peacocks were a hit too, as were the three seals (even though they never did surface on the rocks for a good picture).

The new feature - the splash pad - was of far greater interest, especially as it was a hot day. Well, that is for all the kids except Braylon. He's very cautious by nature, so he was reluctant to be convinced of its advantages. Daddy tried to coax him in, and got pretty wet in the process, but Braylon wanted none of the unexpected sprays. Eventually he was entertained in a "limited spray" area, but Isaiah and his cousins were running around through the water all afternoon!

The boys are, thankfully, relatively easy to please as well. Even though Braylon wanted nothing to do with the water, he was easily entertained in the stroller. He finds the smallest things hilarious, and his laugh is something I wish I could bottle and store for years. It is the most adorable sound. I kept him busy in the shade (since I was 11 days overdue at that point), tickling him and whatnot. He is such a ham!

Isaiah was thankfully easily coerced out of his wet clothes since he has a genuine affection for his cousin Jasmine, and wanted to dote on her for awhile. So that allowed us to get ready to finish the route through the park...

...which we finished off with the typical picture with Humpty Dumpty.

Afterward we took them over for a train ride, which of course was a favourite too. The boys were first in line, watching intently as the train made its way round the course, anxious for it to return and pick them up. Both of them were happy to ride 'round the park, except of course when Braylon caught sight of the geese (which he still calls ducks too, since we go to the conservation area on a regular basis to feed the ducks here, where there are both ducks and geese). At that point, he wanted off that train to chase the geese (which always makes me incredibly nervous because I don't trust geese at all...).

This is Braylon exclaiming repeatedly, "Duckies, duckies, duckies!" and then chasing after them!

All in all it was a great day, and the boys were happy to get out of our normal every day routine. Hopefully now that Caleb has arrived (which I'll blog about soon, I promise) we can still get out and do things, as the boys really enjoy new adventures!

Swimming Lessons

For two weeks during the month of August the boys, along with their cousins Mateo and Jasmine, were in swimming lessons for 1/2 an hour each day. They really enjoyed the time in the pool, save for having to do things on their backs or with a life jacket, and I didn't even mind having to sport a maternity bathing suit for 2 weeks straight since by that time summer had finally arrived (though it has long since vanished). And although by the end it had become somewhat repetitive by nature (singing the same songs in a circle, rocketship glides, starfish floats, etc.), that's what practicing skills is like (so they'd best get used to it since daddy expects all three to be professional hockey players!). Anyhow, just thought I'd post a few pictures of their time in the pool (hopefully we'll have our own one day, but for now we've signed them up for lessons again next summer).

Here they are on day one, "painting" their bodies with water in order to ease them into the pool (which most days was refreshing since we lucked out with warm weather):

Of course we couldn't help but capture some back work (Braylon nearly ripped my earrings out each time, he dreaded back starfish float):

Isaiah didn't mind the life jacket so much, though by the second week he wasn't fond of having to swim with the instructor as he'd long since learned mommy was in the pool with Braylon and he should have a chance with mommy too:

Both boys loved jumping in off the side, quite possibly Braylon's favourite thing to do. He would leap like nothing and if you didn't help him back up quickly to jump in again, you'd better watch out! Here are a few pics of them jumping:

And we played a few familiar games, such as drip-drip-drop:

Overall it was worth the money we paid for them to just get in and used to the pool, beginning to learn the basics. It will be hard to practice in our inflatable pool with 1' of water, but hopefully by next year we'll notice a difference when we get them in swimming!

Play equipment

This summer, the boys have been obsessed with play equipment. It's been nice to get them outside to enjoy the equipment we (and many of our family and friends helped) purchased for them in our backyard, but they've also been able to use some town equipment sets too - here in Strathroy as well as in Grand Bend.

Braylon favours swinging, though he quickly mastered climbing the stairs so as to go down the slide. Isaiah learned quickly from the neighbour girls how to do things the "big kids" do, like climb up the slide barefoot. He's a master of the rock wall and has little fear of steep slides. We'll have to keep an eye on him! Both of them thoroughly enjoy spending time in the sandbox too, though I can't say I prefer when the majority of the time is spent there simply because they're very dirty boys when they're done playing, and if you know me you know I'm a neat freak. Anyhow, I thought I'd post a few pictures of them sliding and swinging - they had a playdate with their cousins yesterday on our equipment but I haven't loaded the pictures we took.

Here's Braylon ready for take-off down the slide at Strathroy's new equipment:



And big brother Isaiah is starting to show interest in the "activities" on the equipment there:


Isaiah is launching off down the slide on our equipment:


As Braylon follows suit:

Playing together in the sandbox:

Isaiah is quick to pick up what the big kids are doing:

Teeter-tottering together:

Going down the twirly slide: