Wow, do we ever love where we live!

Well, spring is here and the whole family is happy about it! We are spending loads of time outside and Ken and Adrian have even been out on the boat already:)
Ken's been very busy in the backyard and it's looking great. The kids are loving their new playground and ask every day to go outside. I'll include pictures soon, my iphoto is on the fritz and we are trying desperately to fix it!
I also want to post some pics from our gorgeous mother's day weekend! We had such a great time as a family.
Here are a couple of pics of Adrian and Kara out for a hike with dad last night on the trail right behind our house. I am constantly awed at how beautiful Port Moody is and how much we love where we live. We are very lucky!

The big little man

Reid is growing like a weed! Poor guy got his 2 month immunizations last night and weighed in at 13 lbs 13oz! I also measured him at 23" long. He's already grown out of his 0-3 months sleepers. I've been having a lot of fun with him over the last week or two. He's started smiling which is so cool! I have to work pretty hard to get him to crack a smile but it's easy to see that he loves his mommy (daddy's words) so I get the most smiles right now. He also coos at me now which I love. We relax and have little conversations together. The kids really love him. Adrian likes to stroke his hair and Kara is a big fan of helping out with the diaper changes which is cute and annoying all at the same time!
I must admit that life as a mom of 3 is very challenging. It is not for the faint of heart!
We have a lot of laughs during the day and I also want to scream sometimes. I am living in toddler world which is challenging at the best of times. One day at a time is my motto. Thankfully I've returned to working out which is keeping me sane and helping me shed the pounds! This week Reid and I did mom and baby boot camp! I was so proud of myself even though I was punished after! Ken says I'm looking great which is a huge motivator!
Check out the new pics of Reid. He is such a handsome little big man!

Whistler - March 2009

The McCarty clan just got back from our first weekend away up in Whistler as a family of 5! It was both fun and challenging all at once. Luckily the weather was really nice. Lots of sunshine and some flurries mixed in for that real ski town experience. Ken was lucky to get a day of snowboarding up on Blackcomb with Darin and Tyler. Tyler and Patricia were here from Toronto for the weekend which was nice. We had a good visit with them and got to meet their 5 month old cutie pie Miller. Him and Reid will hang out when they get a bit bigger:)
Darin, Anthea and Alene were up as well and we had a great time celebrating Anthea's birthday. Her and I swailed back a couple of non-alcoholic beers and ciders. Whew - party on!
We had fun with all of our friends but I think we'll be staying close to home for a while now. It's just easier to be home with 2 toddlers and a newborn!

Is it really Spring already???

Wow, it's been quite a long time since I've written on this blog. A lot has happened since Christmas! Reid Greyson McCarty came into our lives on January 25th, 2009! He shares a birthday with my dad - his maternal Grandpa. I ended up having another C-Section after 37 hours of labour. I guess I'm just not built to have a baby the good old fashioned way. I'm now almost 7 weeks post partum and feeling much better. I've dropped 25 lbs already and have started working out - thank God! I feel so much better when I work out. Reid is now weighing in at 12 lbs 4 oz. He's a big boy!
We are so thrilled that he's now here with us but I must admit that life with 3 is very hectic! I'm trying to take it one day at a time and enjoy the kids as much as I can. They certainly present me with challenges every day though. Adrian had his 3rd birthday on February 23rd. He had a blast with 10 of his best friends at his music and movement party. He got lots of cool toys from his friends and a new bike with training wheels from mom and dad.
We've also been busy with birthday party season. All of Adrian's friends have January, Feb and March birthdays so it's one party after another. They are fun, but we're looking forward to a break until Kara's birthday at the end of May. I can't believe that she is going to be 2 already! She is growing up to be such a lovely girl. She makes me smile every day. She loves to go shopping with her mommy! That's my girl:)
Both Adrian and Kara love their new baby brother. They light up when they see him and I think they look forward to him growing a bit bigger so mom stops saying "be careful around the baby!"
The last bit of exciting news is that we hired our nanny! She will be here around October which will be such a huge help for us. Her name is Trina and she's a lovely Phillipino lady. She is going to be fabulous for the kids and for our family as a whole.
I will try to write more often now that I'm emerging from the newborn fog of the first 6 weeks!

More Holiday Pics 2008

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's Boxing Day today and we've all made it safely through another wonderful Christmas. It was so nice to be home this year in our new house for Christmas. And we've been lucky enough to have our first White Christmas in Vancouver Ever! (In the 10 years we've been here anyway!) It's gorgeous but I think we're all looking forward to the rain coming back. It's been dumping for over a week and this city just does not function well in the snow. I know our friends and family back east are laughing but seriously - they don't plow enough, the transit system goes down and we are all stuck within walking distance of our house! Thankfully for us that means loads of snowy trails and a couple great toboganing hills!

The kids had a great time this Christmas. They were happy to see Santa had come and are enjoying all of their amazing gifts. Thanks so much to the Grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, cousins and dear friends for all of their generous gifts! The kids were also very lucky to have Grandpa McCarty here for Christmas this year. What a treat! Our first Christmas visitor in 10 years! It's a pleasure having family around. Maybe some of you will think of spending Christmas on the west coast one year!
We hope everyone dear to us also had a great Christmas and continues to enjoy what's left of the holidays!

Ken is in vacation, Bill is here visiting, the kids are home for 2 weeks because school is closed and I have only to work on Friday January 2nd and then I"m officially on Maternity leave for the 3rd time! Wild! Now that Christmas is behind us, we put all of our attention into looking forward to baby #3 arriving safely in the next few weeks!

Merry Christmas everyone and now that I'm basically done working, I hope to keep this blog up to date!

Cam & Krista's Wedding - Gibsons, BC

The McCarty clan has just returned from a wonderful thanksgiving weekend up at Camp Elphinstone in Gibson's, BC. We all went up for our good friend's Cam and  Krista's wedding. The kids had a blast because let's face it what kid doesn't like a YMCA camp! They had loads of room to roam around and just be kids. They were also a hit with all the adults and I think they both loved all the attention. The wedding itself was gorgeous! It was totally my speed - west coast simplicity! It reminded me a lot of our wedding actually. Can't believe that was already almost 5 1/2 years ago and almost 3 kids ago! The weather was fantastically sunny for October in BC - how  lucky.

Thanks to Cam and Krista for having our clan join you for your beautiful nuptuals! 

It was so great to have some of our Toronto friends out west for a visit. We miss you already guys!