Adam at 2 years old

Here are a few pictures of Adam from the last year. The 2nd year of a child's life sees so many changes; developmentally, emotionally and socially. Adam has grown so much this year.

Adam playing peek-a-boo in a tunnel at an indoor play park during our Melanchuk family vacation in June 2009.

Adam feels the Canadian love on Canada Day 2009.

Adam moved from a rear facing car seat to a forward facing car seat in the fall.

Adam as Tigger for Halloween 2009.

Adam playing in the Christmas tree lights, November 2009.

Adam sporting a Christmas gift from Gran-Gran; Labrador flag hat and sweater

Adam eating a cupcake at Uriah's arena birthday - January 2010

Adam enjoys some trains at the Family Day festivities -February 2010

Adam takes Ryan for a spin on the merry-go-round at Wysuk Park- April 2010

Adam becomes a big brother- March 2010

At 2, Adam can now run, jump, and talk almost as well as his older brother. He is now an older brother himself, and it is very easy to forget that he is only 2 and a toddler, not 4 and a pre-schooler like Ryan. Adam is almost as tall as Ryan and weighs almost the same also. Adam had his first haircut in the fall, but we didn't cut his hair very much, just trimmed a couple of stray hairsat the back and around his face and ears.

In addition to moving to a forward facing car seat, Adam now sleeps in a big boy bed in the room he shares with Ryan. He is begining to show signs of possibly wanting to potty train and I am hoping to tackle that this summer. Adam has most of his teeth now and brushes them everynight with a Thomas the train toothbrush just like Ryan.

Here are some pictures from Adam's 2nd birthday festivities. My mom was able to be here with us- which was very nice.

One of our guests- Alexis

Another guest- Janie

And another guest- this time Maddison

A whole brood of guests- (clockwise from top)- Ethan, Xander, Ryan, Ann, Janie in her mom's arms, David and Abi.

Adam opening his present from the Hayter kids.

Adam enjoys his birthday cupcake at his party

Adam's family party cake.

Adam and Ryan play with some of the toys Adam recieved for his birthday

Ryan and Daddy pose with the birthday boy

Ryan and Gran-Gran pose with the birthday boy at Clarks for a birthday dinner

Adam and Ryan enjoy the Little Tykes Cozy Coupe we bought (2nd hand) for Adam for his birthday while we wait for his bike to arrive.

It was a great celebration for a wonderful little boy full of energy and love.

Catch up post

Ok, it's been a while, a long while actually. Here is what we've been up to (in no particular order).

Ryan is potty trained. And it happened before the baby came. Actually it happened pretty easy once Ryan got into it. I would say Ryan was trained by mid -February. I had been putting him in diapers at night and for naps. Most nap times he was waking up dry so I stopped using diapers at nap time. Then we told him were were going to try to go without diapers at night and he was very excited to keep his underwear on. And he didn't have a single night time accident. Still hasn't. He will even get up in the middle of the night to go potty if he has to. Amazing.

Adam is out of our bed and in the room with Ryan. The key was switching beds. We moved Ryan over to the toddler bed which he was happy about since it is Winnie the Pooh and put Adam in the big boy bed. Some nights we'll find Adam snuggled up to Ryan in the toddler bed. He was still waking up during the night but now he is getting closer to sleeping through...except for his bed wetting...which I'll get to.

In February during the Family Day Activities at the JJ Parr, I took Ryan and Adam to a wooden Thomas the Train exhibit. The boys were given a train set for Christmas (I think it was Ryan's but Adam loves trains as much and plays with it now as much as Ryan) and so I thought this would be a good thing to do. The exhibit is amazing and maybe next spring/summer we can take a trip to Big Sky with either my parents or maybe the Seattle Melanchuks. There is also a small air museum that I know the"older" boys would enjoy.

The final trimester of my pregnancy went quickly and without any problems. And before I knew it we were hitting spring like weather and my mom was set to arrive any day. As a typical spring here, the temps were like a yo-yo as it snowed and melted, snowed and melted; Mother Nature couldn't seem to make up her mind. Then we were off to the city to pick up my mom. The boys were very happy and excited to see her again. We moved Ryan to the back of the van and he really seems to like being there.

Then of course there was the birth of our final little man, Anthony. I'll dedicate a separate entry to the birth and recovery from c-section number three. My mom was here for the full 6 weeks of my recovery and that was awesome. We are so glad that she and Jim are posted back to Cold Lake this summer. So while she was here we started looking at possible houses for them. We are expecting them back the first week of July for a proper house hunting trip and then hopefully they will be moved back by early August.
One of the last things my mom was here for was Adam's 2nd birthday. We invited some of our friends and had a great little party. I had wanted to have it outside in the back yard but the two days before it rained pretty steady, cooled down and made everything wet. So we moved everything inside and it went pretty well. It is easy to forget that Adam is only 2. He is very independent, he speaks very well, he is very strong physically and able to do things physically and is almost as tall and weighs almost as much as Ryan. I'll share more about the party and 2 year old Adam in a later post. Adam's newest issue is bedwetting. We haven't been potty training (although he did go a couple of times while I was in the hospital having Anthony) he is just obsessed with playing with his diaper. He often manages to get it pulled off at least partially and then wets the bed. It is very frustrating. We've tried many different things and just when we think we've found a solution, he figures a way out and wets the bed again.

Since my mom has left, we've all been adjusting into our new life as a "party of five" (a shout out to a favorite show from days at the UofA). There have been renovations at two parks near our house which have been big hits the boys. There will be lots of new park pictures over the summer I am sure. We've also been spending some time at our friends CSA garden. While my mom was here for the first 6 weeks of Anthony's life, it is hard to believe he is already 3 months old!! Again, these are topics that I anticipate blogging about in the near future with more details.

Stay tuned folks!