Family Life – Page 29 – a hippie with a minivan

He's 7!!!

Man, time flies by… but then again, it feels like we have had him around for an eternity.

7 years ago yesterday I gave birth to my first son. A long labour, a transfer, a lot of fighting against the “professionals” and he was born quickly when he decided that he was ready…

Pretty much sums up our life with him now 🙂

Here he is at 22 hours old…

Xavier was born awake and alert he has always looked a bit older than he was. He was not a napper from day one and resisted sleep in the day but slept very well at night and hasn’t changed.

He was fast at physical things like sitting and crawling and was walking at 9 months but he was slow when it came to talking though he had no problem communicating. He has always been a bit different from other kids… he wouldn’t let us read stories to him and would cry when we sang songs…

~9 months~

At just over 2 he became a big brother for the first time and the first thing he did when we all got home was hit Colin over the head with a toy car… It was a foundation for their relationship 😉

Then, just over 2 years later, he became a big brother again…

It is amazing to see how much Xavier has grown and who he is becoming.

He has so much spirit and can be exhausting at times and the most amazing help at others. He is funny and is becoming a real joker and loves making his brothers laugh. He is a perfectionist and needs to know that he can do something before showing us that he can so there are many things that he can do that we are only discovering.

Xavier has an amazing memory for names and details, it surprises us each day the things he can remember. He remembers things from years ago and talks about them like they were yesterday, details and names of characters from movies and games etc.

He loves Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons and has been really into computer games and starting to role play D&D games with Colin and Simon. At the moment he also loves to swim and is now starting to swim under the water and getting things on the floor of the pool. His abilities have progressed so quickly over a few weeks… at the beginning of the summer he didn’t even want to put his head under and now he is diving and swimming all the way down!

Xavier and Colin came back from the cabin on Wednesday evening and we had supper and then did his cake…

chocolate… his favourite!

Then yesterday we woke up early and went out for breakfast and then went on a shopping spree for a few toys… Star wars toys were the main choice along with a floating toy for the pool… Then we grabbed some lunch and headed home where we gave him the “big gift”… Actually, both Colin and Xavier got one because of the great deal I got on the a few months back….

Both of them were really happy 🙂

Wow…. 7 years old… Happy Birthday Kid!!!

been quiet….

I haven’t been writing lately…It is summer and that seems to happen on my blog…

we have been sick and making the most of the days that we can… The boys got sick about 3 weeks ago and it seems to have made its rounds a few times now… fevers, runny noses, coughs and headaches. Just the run of the mill cold that won’t go away…we have had car trouble and pool problems and things seem to be breaking all at the same time but we have been able to keep up and get things done…

We have been to the cabin to see my mom…. the boys love going there, especially the ferry ride over…

It is not a long ride on the ferry, but we go across the St-Laurent River and the view is nice…

and the cabin is beautiful….

the boys have so much fun exploring and walking around and going for rides on the four wheeler with my mom…

One thing that I love about our home is the fact that we have a pool… Quebec weather is so extreme, in the winter we get very cold temps and lots of snow and in the summer we get very hot weather and humidity that makes it unbearable at times…So on nice days we mostly stay at home and we hang out in the pool…

Colin loves to swim underwater and since having taken this pic he can swim without the aide of the balloon… he is such a little fish!

Xavier is a little more conservative in the water but just recently (after seeing his little brother can do it) he has been putting his head underwater… but he still hasn’t figured out how to keep the water out of his nose… he is really trying though!

Khéna loves being in the water… when we are not in the pool he hangs out on the stairs and watches his brothers…. When we are in the pool though he is always in our arms and loves to swim with us… he is just starting to wear his balloon and has been getting more comfortable letting us show his how to move in the water..

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The last two weeks have also felt a bit shorter because we had the Quebec “national” holiday last week on Wednesday so Simon was off in the middle of the week and the same thing is going to happen tomorrow for Canada day… I really wish it was like that more often! Now only two weeks left until he is on vacation for 2 weeks! I can’t wait!

I’ll try to update a little more often… 🙂

Garden…

Last weekend I made my garden. Last year I didn’t have a garden because I was gone for 6 weeks and it didn’t make sense to have a garden that could not be tended and that could not be harvested when needed… I just hope that everything grows well this year because for now the weather has been a bit on the cool side for June…

My garden is not big but I think it is just a good size for our family for some of the basics…

This year I only put a few things in the main garden and the rest are in containers and I like the idea and the look that it give the yard also…. I might get a few more things but for now I am quite happy with the selection…

Here is the main garden…

Jalapeños

Lettuce and Shallots

Strawberries and mint

Various herbs….

More strawberries (another variety)

Blueberries…

I will be transplanting a few of these in the fall so that they will grow again next year… like the blueberries, the strawberries and the mint… we already have a raspberry bush in the back of the yard that grows more each year. It will be great to be able to get a few fresh berries during the summer for breakfast and desserts….

sleep talking…

Colin talks all the time, I really mean all the time… he doesn’t stop, he even talks in his sleep.

During the night I was awoken by his voice…

“Mama… mama?”

I was able to get a sound of recognition out…. “hmmm?”

“Mama… why did you tackle that bear?”

now I was awake… “um.. what?”

“Why did you tackle that bear?”

“Because it was annoying me”

“Oh… OK… thanks mama, it was annoying me too…”

He went right back to snoring… I had to stop myself from waking anyone else by laughing.

What a day….

Last night Simon was called into work… he wasn’t even on call but on Saturday morning there was an electrical problem and an electrician died and there was a small fire in his building…They had to transfer the system and the people that were on call were called in and needed to sleep so Simon had to go….

This morning he arrived at 9:20 and we left soon after for a friends birthday party at an indoor play area… we got there at about 11:15 and the boys disappeared in the tunnels and slides… Khéna didn’t want to go so Simon watched over him as he went around the arcade games… I was talking to another mom and I turned around to see Simon with Khéna in his arms and full of blood… I tool him and headed to the reception desk and asked for help… his face and shirt and hands were really covered in blood and looked for what was bleeding and found a long and deep gash on his forehead… Simon explained that he was just running along and feel and hit his head on one of the arcade games…

The girls at the reception desk called 911 for an ambulance… we applied pressure and cleaned up most of the blood and the gash stopped bleeding… the police arrived before the ambulance with a small emergency kit and stayed until the ambulance arrived, and as we thought, a trip to the emergency room was needed…

Khéna cried and screamed not wanting to go on the gurney… but the minute we got in the ambulance he was OK… looking out the back window and naming the things that he saw… trucks, cars, trees… it felt good to see him a bit more calmed…

We got to the emergency room and went right into Triage… the nurse asked a few questions and then came to the dreaded question… “are his vaccines up to date?” To which I responded that we don’t vaccinate… she said “OK” and then whispered… “I don’t vaccinate either”… and then she warned me that they might push the tetanus vaccine but that it was my choice…She said that the wait would be a few hours and they put a wet compress on his forehead so that the wound would stay soft and clean…

I got Khéna into a Wheelchair because he was heavy and a bit groggy… and went downstairs to get something to drink and get him a stuffed animal at the gift shop… he was happy and choose a stuffed cat that he has almost not let go of since…

I was able to keep him in the wheelchair for about 2 hours until he decided he had energy again and was wanting to walk… and then we walked and walked all over the small portion of the emergency room while we waited… about 2 1/2 hours later he finally sat down and nursed a bit…a few minutes later he was asleep… and they called… we went and waited in the suture room until the doctor came… when he got the he again asked the same questions.. what happened? how old is he? are his Vaccines up to date? I answered that we don’t vaccinate and he just said Ok… and left it at that… he looked at the gash and decided that glue was the best thing for it.. a nurse came in to help hold him while the doctor glues his wound and within a minute it was done and though he cried a bit because he was scared, he let them do what they had to do and the minute it was done he was OK…

I got him ready and headed outside with my little Khéna back to normal besides the wound on his forehead… I called Simon who had since gone to the house of the friends who were having the birthday with the boys. and they came and picked us up… we were at the hospital for more that 5 hours…

We just got home and he is asleep on me…and now we all are heading to bed… What a long day…