Gramma Lay (December 8, 1917 - January 19, 2010)

LAY, Geraldine Mary Peacefully at Granite Ridge on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at the age of 92. Beloved wife of the late Jack Lay. Loving mother of Geoffrey (Brenda) Lay of Maple Ridge, BC, and Jacquelyn (Bill Fuller) of Kanata. Proud grandmother of Kim Statham, Justin Lay (Danielle), Jared Lay (Jennifer), Bill Fuller (Tara Nabi), and Matthew Fuller (Vanessa), and great-grandmother of Brianna, Chelsea, and Grayson Statham, Ella, Logan, and Brody Lay, and Simon and Miles Fuller. "Muggs" will be sadly missed by Canon Stanley Hanes of Lindsay, ON. Friends may call at the Westboro Chapel of Tubman Funeral Homes, 403 Richmond Road (at Roosevelt), on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 from 7 to 9p.m. Funeral service will be held at McPhail Memorial Baptist Church, 249 Bronson Ave. on Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 11:30a.m. Interment at Capital Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers donations to the Canadian Baptist Ministries Haitian Relief Fund ( www.cbmin.org ) would be appreciated. Condolences, tributes or donations may be made at www.tubmanfuneralhomes.com

Simon Says, The Latest

Simon had joined Matt at work on Christmas Eve for a party. Matt was surface listening as usual so when Simon said, "now don't say ouch Daddy", Matt didn't flinch. That is until Simon took the staple remover to his finger and took a chunk out.
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Simon was practicing his counting skills in the car a few nights ago and this is what it came out as 22, 23, 24, 25, stay on the stairs Simon, 26... can you tell he hears this frequently during time outs :)
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Simon is also picking up a lot of our sayings and using them against us. We're now hearing these ones quite a bit.

"Does that sound like a deal"
"You're not the boss"
"Daddy pooped on the potty, I'm going to go get him a special treat"

Miles @ 6 Months

How can some days feel endlessly long yet as a whole, time passes so fast? Our baby is 6 months old already! We have been blessed with such a happy baby who at 6 months:

-weighs in at lbs. oz., inches long
-stills naps after being awake for 1-2 hours, if we're lucky we get a 2.5-3 hour nap in the afternoon, if we're really lucky Simon's nap overlaps Miles'
-goes to bed between 6:00pm and 7:30pm, wakes once to feed most nights and is up for the day between 7:00am and 9:00am
-is nicknamed sMiles (I know super original)but he is very generous with them
-has started to eat fruits and vegetables and so far loves carrots and pears
-refuses to sit and flings himself back into a reclined position
-rolls from back to front and front to back
-wears size 3 diapers
-wears size 6-12 month clothing
-is a thumb sucker like his brother
-loves to squack and screech and spit and babble
-loves to hang out in the exersaucer which generally results in a change in outfit (be it from poop or drool or spit-up)
-loves to chew on "Sophie" the giraffe which also requires a change in outfit (can you tell that I just did 6 loads of laundry and it's fresh in my mind!)
-loves to hang out in the Moby facing outwards






Edited to add - apparently we need to add a few more stripes to Miles' wardrobe!

First Day of Preschool

Today marked Simon's first day of preschool! With all of the other little ones at daycare going to preschool/regular school, Simon was feeling a little left out so we enrolled him mid-year in one of the local preschools. He has been talking about going non-stop and wearing his new backpack since he got it at Christmas. Even my crabby mood today didn't phase Simon - lesson to me, prepare the night before. I spent the morning racing about looking for a pair of mitts, writing Simon's name on everything and getting Miles ready to go. Total chaos but well worth it because Simon had a great day. He started painting 2 minutes after arriving, played outside (with his mismatched mitts), and came home smiling and asking about his next preschool day. I meant to get pictures of this milestone but I barely made it out of the door sane without adding a camera to my worries!

Edited to Add a Picture and a synopsis of the day sent by the preschool!

We were all happy to be back at school. We played and danced with the scarves. We enjoyed the different toys. We played outside in the snow.

Christmas Letter 2009

What happened to November 2009? The end of this year has passed so quickly. I bought Christmas cards in early October hoping to get a head start and here we are in the second week of December and I am wishing I had bought Valentine’s Day cards instead. Needless to say 2009 has been a busy year for the Fuller clan. Here are some of the highlights of this year.

We started off 2009 announcing the upcoming birth of our second child. In March we found out we were expecting a second boy and on July 7th, we welcomed Miles Xavier Fuller into our family. Miles was a peanut at 7lbs. 9oz. compared to his big brother and came into the world at a lighting fast speed. He has fit into our family so well and it’s hard to imagine life before him. July is now a busy month for birthdays with three of the Barker grandchildren celebrating. Miles has the honour of sharing his birthday with his cousin Braedon.

Simon has changed so much in the past year. We started off the year with a toddler of few words and now we have a never-ending stream of chatter and full conversations, always at full volume! He went from being dependent on us for everything to wanting to do it, “all by myself”. Every task is now a balancing act between letting Simon do things himself, doing it for him or having him help. Time and mess are usually the determining factors. We have lucked out so far, the two’s have been trying but not totally terrible.

Miles has also changed so much since July. We went from a sleeps all-day newborn, to an alert and active baby who loves to be along for the ride on our family adventures. He has turned into quite the little chub with round cheeks so big that he still looks a little like a bobble head. It’s hard to believe that he’s almost 3 lbs. less than Simon at this age, no wonder I always have a sore back. He is such a joy and it helps that he is a decent sleeper.

I have captured all of our comings and goings over the past year in our blog: www.weinerwonderland.blogspot.com so I’ll save you the details here. Check out our Christmas festivities over the next few weeks. We can’t wait to see the excited faces of our two boys as we celebrate our first Christmas as a family of four.

Sincerely,
Vanessa, Matthew, Simon and Miles

Granddad's Christmas Party

This year's Christmas party was held at the local bowling alley. I had no idea what to expect ... first problem was that it coincided with Simon's naptime and the second problem was that a 2 year old and a heavy bowling ball seemed like a bad combination. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. We only had a minor meltdown getting shoes but once Simon started bowling, there was no turning back. He must have thrown 300 balls in the hour we were there. 6 balls going down the lane at a time seemed to be the norm. Here's a video of Simon towards the end when he had mastered his technique.

Miles @ 5 months

This boy is growing up so fast. When I was off with Simon, the first 6 months were so hard as I was recovering from a difficult birth and dealing with an undiagnosed thyroid problem which made the days feel endless. With Miles, I have had a pretty easy go of it. I can count on one hand the bad days and as a result, time is just flying by. This month saw an explosion in his skills. At 5 months, Miles:

-is on the last few days of 3-6 month clothing
-has starting waking twice in his night to feed. Thankfully, it's still only once in mine!
-is still sleeping in the vibrating chair - we are total suckers
-goes to bed between 6:00pm and 8:00pm most nights, depending on when his last nap happens
-is happy to be along for the ride, which is good because Simon definitely demands to be the centre of attention
-has a thick head of hair which is still on the darker side
-still has blue/gray/green eyes - I can't wait to see how they end up
-loves to watch his big brother and Brutus
-has just started going in the exersaucer. He loves it as it gives him a better view of the action.
-loves to be facing out, particularly in the Moby where he can kick his legs and check out the action
-is starting to be weaned from the swaddle one arm at a time
-is wearing size 3 diapers
-is rolling both back to tummy and tummy to back
-doesn't sit independently yet - could be because we can never put him down in Simon's war path
-naps after being awake 1-2 hours
-hasn't tried solid foods yet .... we'll probably break out the green beans for Christmas
-is such a wonderful addition to our family

A Letter to Santa

Simon is totally into the whole Santa thing, probably because we've been talking him up and using the whole Santa's coming thing as a bribe for good behaviour. Tonight we decided to sit down and write Simon's first letter to Santa. Obviously I prompted some of the text so that Simon wouldn't be disappointed come Christmas.




Simon's letter to Santa spawned an obsession with making handprints so we spent the rest of the evening making cards for Lynsey, Nanna, Shawn and Philippe who all have December birthdays and another one for Lynsey as a get well wish as she spent her birthday in the hospital today getting her appendix removed.

Gymnastics Open House

Simon has been enrolled in gymnastics since he was about 10 months old. It's a great way for him to burn his non-stop toddler energy, particularly in the cold snaps of winter. At the end of each session, parents are invited in for an open house to check out his progress and take pictures. Here's some of the highlights of our little monkey showing off for his Mum and Dad.

As heard tonight....

Simon: Daddy, look at my picture
Matt: What is it Simon?
Simon: Mumble, mumble, mumble
Me: I think he said it's an engine
Matt: It's an engine
Simon: Nope, it's a little S&M

I am seriously rethinking my kids initials :)