Our Christmas Celebrations.

As with all families, we choose to celebrate Christmas multiple times so that we can maximize on family time and eating time.

Now that we have our own family, we celebrate with the boys Christmas morning before church by opening our stockings.

After church, we have brunch and then gather around the tree and start opening presents.

But before the boys can open presents, they must pose for the obligatory photos with the grandparents.

After our family celebrated (with grandparents), we then have a relaxing afternoon so that we can prepare for the first of the Christmas dinners.  This year, we continued the tradition of heading to the Seaborns at the Sycamore House to enjoy the annual Seaborn feast.  The feast starts out with appetizers and the obligatory whiskey sour.

And no Seaborn family dinner is complete with not 1 but 2 plum puddings.  This is a photo of the 2nd plum pudding.  Needless to say after this fabulous feast prepared by Geofford's Aunt Carol, we were not hungry for a few days.

Unfortunately for our waistlines, we hosted some of my high school friends at our annual post-Christmas potluck at our new house.  As usual, there was a lot of wonderful food prepared.  After the dinner, we had a Chinese gift exchange (I think that I prefer the terms Gift Grab or Yankee Swap, but that's just me).  You can see in the foreground some of the gifts from the gift exchange (Keating actually stole the gift that he brought, I think that we may have to change the rules for next year).

We had one more big dinner party, with the Chinese Church friends, but Geofford wasn't able to make it so I didn't get to take any photos, but it was a fabulous dinner with a lot of wonderful food at the Chan's new house just next to the canal.

Our last big Christmas celebration was with the Kwoks.  Historically we have spent some Christmases apart (as our in-laws don't live in town) and well we see each other quite frequently, so we decided to celebrate a couple weeks after Christmas Day to be able to spread out our holidays and to take advantage of Boxing Day sales :D, but really is was so that we can celebrate Christmas together without having to rush around to do so.  This was the first year that the celebration was not celebrated in Manotick (this was also only the 3rd year that we celebrated late).  As you can see below, the boys are thrilled to have to dress up for a second family Christmas celebration.

We started off the festivities in Russell where we had brunch.  We also tried to take pictures of the family, but decided that the kids really are the most interesting ones to photograph.  As it was almost nap time, it was difficult to get a serious picture of all of them, but it was very easy to get a picture of them making funny faces.

After the kids naps (I don't think that any of the adults were able to adults napped, and I know for certain that Jaclyn gave up her nap to make Connor's Toy Story 3 cake), we returned to my parents' house for another fabulous Christmas dinner (although I still have yet to roast a chicken properly - I can do turkey, but not chicken...go figure), we were able to enjoy Connor's Toy Story 3 cake, which was the culmination of months of hard work on his part.  We promised him that he could get a Toy Story 3 (emphasis on the 3 because that is what all of the commercials are for right now, and he is 3) cake when he no longer needed diapers.  Unfortunately (but fortunately), this coincided with Christmas (so it was a wonderful Christmas present for Geofford and I) so we decided to delay giving him the cake so that we could have a proper celebration for this momentous occasion.  Congratulations to my little man for achieving this important milestone!

We hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas (or holiday if you aren't Christian) season!

Love, the Seaborns

Back from a year and a bit Hiatus

So my New Year's Resolution last year was to keep this blog better up to date, obviously I failed because there was not a single post from 2010.  Maybe 2011 will be better. :D

Here are some highlights from 2010:

• Wyatt turned 1 in February.  He learned how to walk this year and uttered his first words as well (Dada - same as Connor).
• Connor turned 3 in August.  He also became potty trained which probably more exciting for us than him.
• Geofford made the decision to play Master's Ultimate with GLUM after playing with them Fall 2009.  With GLUM he attended the World Ultimate Club Championships in Prague in July, the Canadian Ultimate Championships in Sherbrooke in August where GLUM repeated as Champions for the 3rd year in a row, the North-east Regionals tournament for the UPA Club Series in Boston in October where they placed 1st to win a spot to go the UPA Championships and finally the UPA Club Championships in Florida at the end of October where GLUM won bronze after losing the semi-final on Universe point.
• Julie got a promotion at work so now is half-way through the development program.
• And the biggest news for 2010 is that Geofford and I bought our first home and moved from Manotick (his childhood home and the home where our kids were born into) to Orleans.

Here are some photo highlights of the year:

This slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

As always, we try and keep our flickr site up to date:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaborns/

November!

So I am going to try and take a new approach to our blog.  I have taken this inspiration from my friend Laura's blog.  She is a lot wittier than me, but I have cute kids to distract you from my prose.

When Geofford was away at UPA Nationals in Sarasota at the end of October, the boys and I stayed home.  Connor helped me rake the leaves.  I think next year it may be more useful to get him a rake that is more proportional to his size.

Wyatt tried to help as well, but unfortunately he cannot stand up by himself yet.

It wasn't all work though, Connor also got to play on the new play structure donated to us by Geoff's wonderful ex-neighbours at Georgian Bay (thanks to Ken, Mags, Matt and Jason!).  I think he will be very disappointed next summer when he has to share it with Wyatt.  Right now, he is the only one that is allowed to play on the structure, but that will change when Wyatt can start running around.

Wyatt does not enjoy being outside as much as he is a lot more limited to what he can do right now.  I guess sitting still is not as fun as jumping him his jolly jumper.  I think that once he is more mobile, he will also enjoy being outside like the rest of the family.

The boys got into the Remembrance Day spirit by each wearing poppies.  I can't wait until they are old enough to understand a little more so that we will be able to take them downtown to the Remembrance Day ceremony at the War Memorial.

 Wyatt has also developed a funny new skill.  He can blink.  I think it may be a signal to us that he is tired of getting his picture taken, but we think it is pretty cute.  He demonstrated this skill on his 9-month-aversary.  Whenever my father tried to take a picture of him and the pre-flash would go off, Wyatt would blink.  At his 9-month check-up Wyatt weighed 20lbs 2oz and measured 73.5cm long.  It's hard to believe that my baby boy is already 9-months!

As the Christmas season is almost here (although the stores will have you believe that the Christmas season begins immediately following Halloween), I have been trying out different cookie recipes in preparation for my cookie exchanges.

The first recipe I tried was for Chocolate Sugar Cookies, which didn't turn out as well as I would have hoped.  They had an interesting texture, but I wasn't sure if these were the ones that I wanted to share.

So then I tried a different recipe for just regular Chocolate Cookies and they were a hit.  So pictured below are the cookies that I will be bringing to my neighbourhood cookie exchange.  I'm still trying to decide what to bring to the 2nd cookie exchange.  The 3rd one, we pre-decided what each participant would bring, so that's an easy decision.

As always, we have tons of pictures up at our flickr site, so please keep checking that site and we'll try and update this one a little more often.

We are in the terrible twos....

I think that we have officially entered the terrible twos (or as our daycare provider calls it the testing threes).  Geofford says that Connor has been developing opinions that we haven't given him.  I think part of the change in temperament has been due to the change in our routine.  Since I have been back to work at CCG, the whole family had to get up a lot earlier than the old usual.  Now after about a month, we are finally settling into our routine and the morning routine is a little easier to get through.  There are times though that the cereal that Connor wanted five minutes ago, isn't the cereal that he wants now.

Wyatt is being a great little guy though which really helps.  He is spitting up a lot less now that I am no longer eating/drinking any dairy (who knew that would be so hard) and he is also drinking the lactose free formula at daycare.  We have also started him on solids (so far rice, oatmeal, apples, pears, butternut squash, prunes, peas and carrots), which he really enjoys.  Like his brother he likes the sweeter foods.  I am hoping to be able to go to Millers' this weekend so that I can buy some apples and squash to make some more food for him.

Geofford will be heading to Devens (just outside Boston) this up-coming weekend to compete at the UPA NE Master's Regional Tournament.  (Damian and the rest of the BFC team will be competing at the same time at the NE Mixed Regional tournament.)  If they qualify top-2, then the team (and him) will be heading to Sarasota, FL for the UPA National Championships at the end of October.

Today is my last day of work here at CCG and I am quite excited about my new adventure at Sport Canada.  I have started a new personal blog, but will still be rambling about the family here.   Also, we haven't updated flickr, but here are some of the pictures that I have uploaded to facebook for Alexa and CK's wedding and the 2nd annual Kwok family photoshoot.

Too long

It has been too long since we have posted. Now Connor is two years and one month old and Wyatt is almost seven months old. Geofford and Julie are also older, but it is not polite to post our ages ;)

We have been up to a lot since our last post. Connor and Wyatt have a new cousin (Simon Peter Wei-Ming Kwok), a few new second cousins (Zoe Tompsett, Charles Ernest Allard, Kristen Woodward) and a ton of new friends. We have travelled to Georgian Bay a couple of times, endured an entire ultimate season of Geofford playing and captaining (including travelling to a couple of tournaments - Toronto, Waterloo with the kids, and Julie organized an ultimate tournament in Ottawa - Mixed Up).

Wyatt is now in daycare as Julie is back to work. So far he seems to be enjoying his time (as far as we can tell). He is a very happy baby, only fussy when he is tired, hungry or soiled. He is almost sitting up and is frustrated that he isn't moving when he is on his tummy. He also loves jumping in the jolly jumper. When he is in the mood, Wyatt will also turn over, but most of the time he is happy kicking at the toys on his playmat. He also loves putting everything in his mouth. We will have to be careful to watch if Connor shares any small toys with his younger brother. At Wyatt's 6-month appointment (on Aug 17th), he weighed 8.22kg (18lbs 2oz) and measured 70.5cm (27.8") tall.

Connor seems to be enjoying having his younger brother at daycare with him. Our daycare provider Lynne reports that Connor is a "great little helper". Connor is quite the little man now, he is quite verbose, but gets frustrated when we don't understand what he is saying. Most of the time we don't understand because he is not using words but little grunts to try and get us to do something for us. As the NFL season is now upon us, Geofford has taught Connor a few calls including touchdown, safety (Connor can even be prompted to describe the safety - that it is two points and the ball), and offside. Connor also is learning to jump. It has been fun watching the progression of just bending his knees for a jump to actual jumping. At Connor's 2-year appointment (on Sept 8th), he weighed 11.11kg (24lbs 8oz) and measured 89cm (35") tall. I think that the scales at the doctor's office (now that they have moved offices) are a little off because I weighed him at the doctor's office in July when he was sick and he weighed that much.

Julie is now back to work at the Canadian Coast Guard, which has presented some new challenges including everyone in the family being awake at 6:30am. Connor has had the toughest time adjusting because that little man loves his sleep, but he also loves to play.

Geofford also has a few new challeges this fall, he has additional responsibility at work and he will be playing ultimate with the Master's team GLUM (that may give you a hint regarding his age, there is a minimum age to play Master's).

As always, we have been trying to visually document our time with our flickr photostream. Hopefully we will keep up with the blogging as much as we are posting photos.

Our family at Wyatt's baptism on June 21, 2009

Introducing Wyatt Seaborn

Wyatt Seaborn was born February 15, 2009 at 10:00am at the Ottawa Hospital - Civic Campus. He weighed 3677 g (8lbs 2oz) and measured 50cm (19.7 inches) long. Although he was scheduled to arrive tomorrow (Feb 23rd) at 10am, he decided to come a little early.

After a short unexpected labour, Julie gave birth via c-section to Wyatt. Connor seems to be adjusting well and is very interested in the baby. Everyone is doing fantastic, although we had to stay an extra night at the hospital to monitor Wyatt's weight.

We have been taking pictures and have been posting them on our flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaborns/ or for Wyatt specific pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seaborns/sets/72157607040176456/

January and then some :)

I am going to try my best to keep this more up to date with our news. I have a little bit of stream of consciousness going, so hopefully this all makes sense. Here goes:

We celebrated Christmas with the Kwoks on January 11th, which is just outside of the Christmas season, but it was the best time for all of us. We made a whole day of it starting with a brunch, followed by playing in the snow and ending with a dinner. I managed to undercook the turkey, so that was disappointing, but I think overall we still had a fantastic time.

January was a tough month for me as it was final one at work. Trying to tie up all of the loose ends before the baby is born. The bus strike only aggravated things as I had to get up quite early (5:30am) to avoid terrible traffic. So weekends were nice when I got to sleep in until 7:30. I think it was also quite difficult on Geofford because I was so tired all of the time, so he really had to take care of both Connor and I, as I wasn't the biggest help. Now that I am off work, things are much nicer - although I think I may be getting less sleep but that is due to my ballooning belly. I am torn because I really want to meet this new baby but at the same time I know that life will be a lot more hectic with a baby and a toddler in the house, but it should be fun.

I was thrown two baby showers by my friend Stephanie. The first was a pseudo-baby shower where we just had a wonderful ladies' night in/appetizer potluck. It was a lot of fun and great to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a while. The second was a work baby shower which was attended by a ton of my co-workers which was very surprising. It was also a lot of fun and really helped to make me appreciate my co-workers. It was funny though because a lot of people thought that that was my last day of work, but I still had another week, so it was a running joke that everything was my "last". I think that I had 3 or 4 "last" lunches, and in the end I worked one extra day, so I came back from one more "last" day. Too funny. I am hoping to be able to find something back at Coast Guard when I am ready to go back to work because they are a wonderful group of people.

Connor has been making such great progress over the past couple of months. Torch and Michèle saw him at Christmas and then stopped by for a night on their way to Montreal/Rawdon and noticed many changes that we may not notice because we see him everyday. I started making a list of how many words he can say and as of February 1st, he had about 35, but I suspect that he may have more because his daycare provider Lynne keeps telling us about more words that he has. It is very exciting that we can start understanding what he is saying and start communicating with him a little easier. We just hope that the transition with the new baby will be quite smooth. So far, he has changed rooms and we have started adding in the baby's things - swings, bouncy chairs, etc around the house. We took one of my old cabbage patch kids and he is holding the baby properly - although there are some times that he likes to carry the "baby" around and then sees something that interests him a little more, so he just puts the baby down on the floor. We'll see what happens with the new baby, but I know that he won't be carrying him/her around.

Geofford has been coping with work, dealing with a cranky toddler (at times) and dealing with an exhausted wife. I think he has been doing quite well, and I am very thankful to his boss that he did not have to spend two weeks in Kingston like he did last January. He did manage to have some fun - on the coldest day of January (when there was a windchill warning), he had planned with some friends and co-workers to do a canal pub crawl. In the end, some people bailed due to the cold, but he had a great time on the canal, skating from bar to bar and imbibing at each establishment. I think that next time, he will try and plan it for a day that we have plans for dinner (we were celebrating an early Chinese New Year - fortunately for him it was at my parents' house so he was able to relax a little more than if we were going out to a restaurant).

We have maximum 10 days now until the new baby is born and we'll see if we last that long. Right now I am just nesting and trying to make sure that everything is ready for the new baby's arrival. I can't wait to sleep on my back again!