my life

This is a snapshot of what my life revolves around.  Luke, changing diapers, feeding, cleaning and trying to stay awake!!  That being said I love this life!

1 Month Old!!

Luke is one month old and he is getting chunky.  His fingers and toes are no longer skinny, his thighs are getting thicker, he is loosing his newborn skinniness.  Luke is staying awake longer and his vision is getting better, he can see you at a close distance and will actual look at you for a few seconds.  His eyes will go cross eyed occasionally as he tries to focus on things.  The kids still enjoy holding Luke. Luke, however is getting less tolerant of the constant passing around and the flopping about they put him through.  Luke is getting too big for Maddie to hold and walk him around, which is sad as she LOVES her little brother and wants to hold him the most!  I have noticed her struggling to hold him as he slips out of her arms, he has not been dropped, but it is getting more difficult for her. 

Luke LOVES to "look" at his lions

Picking Blueberries

Today we went on a hike to pick wild blueberries.  It was a lot of picking for not lot of blueberries, plus a couple buckets tipped over and dumped out on the ground which slowed the picking process.  The kids enjoyed eating the berries and I think more were eaten than were put in the buckets. 

Puffins!!!

Today we took a boat tour to see puffins and hopefully whales, but we saw no whales as they have moved on.  It was about a 15-20 minute (rough) boat ride out to the island that the puffins have made their dens in.  The island is uninhabited by people.  The only people that are allowed to go on the island are the biologists that study them.  There were thousands of puffins on the island along with sea gulls, the Common Murre, and the Black-Backed gull (a predator of the puffin).  The Common Murre is a cousin to the puffin and looks similar to a penguin.  The Puffins live at sea about 8 months of the year and only come to land to breed.  Once the chick is big enough, the parents will leave the nest and the chick will stay in it's den until runs out of food and then it will fly from the den to the ocean.  Puffin chicks will follow the moon to head out to sea, and are often confused by lights from the cities around the island and will end up in the city and the puffin patrol will go looking for lost puffin chicks and return them to the ocean.  A young puffin will stay at sea for the first 4 years of it's life before returning to land to find it's mate and breed, puffins will mate for life.  There were 2 puffin chicks on the boat that had been rescued the night before and they were being returned to the ocean.  The boat crew took them out of their crate and placed them on the floor of the boat with the idea that they would go to the water.  One had to be helped into the water and the other one found it's way to the water after a slight hesitation.  It was a good experience and none of us got sick.  There were people around us that had plastic bags, but we took our Dramamine and managed to keep our cookies untossed! 

LOTS of puffins

LOTS of Common Murre

Common Murre

Puffin Chick

puffin chick

Visit with Gram

We had a great visit with Gram and are so happy she was able to spend 2 weeks with us!!  The kids are going to miss her cooking and playing hide and seek, I am going to miss her cooking and helping around the house.  While gram was here she went to the Fluvarium, The 196th Royal Regata, Blueberry festival in Brigus, Signal Hill, Mini Aquarium in Petty Harbour and a tour of the Basilica.  We tried to go out on a whale watching boat and see puffins, but due to bad weather, the boat captain canceled the tour, I guess Gram will have to come back!!  I am so glad she made the trip and we were able to share this time with her!  THANK YOU!!

with the Veiled Virgin

making whoopee pies!!



at the Mini Aquarium

4 days old...

Since coming home on Wednesday we have put a rotation in place for who gets to hold Luke.  The kids were fighting about who gets to hold Luke and for how long so we decided to draw numbers in the morning and that put the kids in order of who gets to hold Luke and they get 15 minutes.   When it their turn the timer is set and they get their turn.  Reagan is the only one that does not take advantage of her turn and the time.  She is happy to hold him once for a few minutes.  She would rather be playing!  It is a great problem to have, I love that the kids want to hold their baby brother and love him.  Luke is very tolerant of all the passing around.