Isaac

Poor little Isaac is sick again.  We were at the ER on Saturday afternoon (in and out in 45 minutes....it's a record!).  His last bout of broncheolitis never really resoved, and he's coughing/wheezing again.  We saw the pediatrician on Tuesday, and he said that there's not really much we can do for him (in terms of meds, inhalers, etc) - he needs to outgrow this.  We are hoping that after a summer of growing and not being sick, he will be much healthier next winter.

You can see him  in these videos coughing a bit, and hear him wheezing.  But he can be very happy while sounding so very sick!  He has learned to do a bit of an army crawl, (you can see it a bit in the second video).  He leans way over to one side (almost rolling over) then throws his other arm across and kicks his legs.  Very un-graceful, but it gets him where he needs to go!

Baptism of Hendrik Brian VanOosten

Little Hendrik was baptized in Hamilton on Sunday.  It was great to see everyone, and the cousins had a good time playing together. 

 It was a wonderful day with family and friends! Hendrik behaved beautifully.

 Little Hendrik and his cousin Isaac hung out for a while.

Darren...

He was sitting down, working very hard at doing up a button, but getting very frusterated.  He looked at me and said, "Can you help me?  The button's not listening to me!"

Cousins

So Isaac and I were able to go down to meet his cousin Hendrik last week.

 Hendrik wasn't as interested as Isaac was.

 Poor Hendrik kept getting grabbed. Isaac just wanted to play!

 We ventured out with the two babies, and they were very well-behaved.  It was nice to go out for lunch with Jenn and do some shopping.

 Here is Jenn and Hendrik (4 weeks old).

 Check out the cute outfit with those stylin' rainboots!!

Isaac was fairly happy while we were there (although he slept worse than his newborn cousin).  He kept busy by playing with Hendrik's Sopie La Girafe, and got himself stuck once or twice...(takes after his brothers!!).

Look - alikes

So as I was posting the previous posts, I was struck by how much little Isaac resembles Darren as a baby!  Take a look...

What a cutie!

Busy Boys

So Evan has been doing a lot of reading lately, and can read simple books by himself!  We've been learning about the ocean animals, and he drew these pictures and labelled them by himself.  At the top is "dulfin" - dolphin, then there's "wel" - whale, then "shuk" - shark.  I think he did a great job sounding these out on his own!

Isaac has been relatively healthy.  He is almost 16 lbs and has started some solid foods. He's not a big fan of baby foods, but likes these little crackers.  He can get across the room by rolling, and has started making more sounds.  We're going to have a noisy house once he starts talking.   He had a follow-up head ultrasound a few weeks ago to check on the brain bleed.  It has completely resolved, and there is no sign of any problems.  We also took him to a pediatric opthamologist in Toronto for follow-up on his retinas.  Again, there is no sign of any issues, and things look great.  We love good news!

Liam has been talking up a storm lately. He's also really enjoyed singing, ever since his birthday.   Here he is singing "ABCs"

Now of course, when one brother gets videoed singing, all the others want to join in.  Here's Darren singing, "God our Father."  A little improvised choreography there, too.

And another brother joins in, singing, "Don't you know" (and copying his brother's choreography..._



A visit to Oma & Opa's

We spent the Family Day long weekend with Oma & Opa.  Lots of fun playing with cell phones, playing with Rusty, playing in the barn, going for tractor rides...


Darren picked up this old camera to play with, put it around his neck, and said,

 "Look at me!  I'm Aunt Colleen!"

(She has a camera like this and takes lots of pictures!)

We also spent an afternoon with Uncle Steve & Tante Sarah and all the cousins. 

Fun was had by all!

Keeping busy...

We recently went to the Science Centre.  The boys had a great time.  We also saw the Imax movie "Under the Sea."  Evan loved it, Isaac slept through it, and Darren & Liam alternated between being scared and enthralled.

The balls were a hit...

 The boys could build their own track for the balls.

 Darren's favourite part was this car, "Because it's like Uncle Brian's car!"

We've also been looking forward to spring and getting outside.  Our indoor activities lately have included a lot of drawing. I love watching Liam draw.  He can sit for a half an hour, (holding his pen pretty well), drawing and scribbling very precisely and carefully. None of the older boys were this interested at this age.

 The finished product:

Isaac has also kept us busy, getting sick every 3 weeks or so - usually broncheolitis.  We're really looking forward to this cold season to be done!  When he is not sick, he moves around quite well, rolling and squirming.  He has started solid foods, but isn't very interested (yet). 

We are also very excited to welcome our newest nephew, Hendrik Brian VanOosten, born to Auntie Jenn & Uncle Brian.  Congratulations! We can't wait to meet him!