Cousins

"Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends."

When I was younger I assumed that everyone had a superclose relationship with their cousins in the same way that I did with mine. As I got older I realized how special and unique my family is. I think a large part of the success of our relationships is the role modelling we have from our parents. They are not just siblings but friends. Good friends. The kind of friends that go on 2 week vacations together (every year for 35 years). The kind of friends who get together to hang out, just because it's fun. The kind of friends who give and receive advice to each other. This is the environment that we as cousins grew up in. It's no wonder we like each other.

White Water Rafting Hard Core Cousins' Weekend

For the past 11 years we have had an Annual Hard Core Cousins' Camping weekend. It really did start out as a pretty hard core camping to trip to Algonquin Park. The first year it poured (poured as in the heavens opened up and let out every drop of moisture imaginable) rain on the first day. On that day I thought we were going to have to remove the word Annual from the name of the weekend but once again someone was looking out for us, the remainder of the weekend was beautiful and sunny. Since that time some of our weekends have become less hard core ( Cousins take T.O. weekend in the condo, watching movies in the inhouse movie theatre) some have been more hard core (White water rafting) but we still have an Annual cousins Bonding weekend where we can just hang out and catch up.

Bearss Cousins

I have some pretty amazing cousins: one is raising two kids under 2 and living to tell the story while inspiring the next generation to really THINK through his work as a high school English teacher. One speaks FOUR languages. One is a farmer. (Lauren, you live on a farm, you have animals and a tractor. You're a farmer :) One lost both her parents but didn't let it kill her spirit. One is a nurse who left the enclave of our family for nearly a year to travel the Australian outback. One is a recording artist on Perez Hilton's record label (check her out! http://www.darrellelondon.com/). With this kind of inspiration (read: peer pressure) surrounding me how can I not strive to do bigger and better things with my life?

The Toscano/Carvalho Cousins

Given that we have such great relationships with our cousins I was hopeful that my kids would have the same opportunities. As time went on I was getting a little worried about the prospects for Ian and Alexa but Auntie Britt and Uncle Luke pulled through and now Ian & Lex have a beautiful and delicious baby cousin, Ciel Maple Bearss. For now we have to keep Lexi, aka Trouble, arms length away but I think the big Brother role helped prepare Ian for the big Cousin role - "Mommy, now I have two little girls to take care of, Lexi AND Ciel" (is he my kid or what?). And so the cycle continues.....

We're working on educating Lexi that Ciel's face isn't a bowling ball.

Is he a proud big cousin or what?

The newest Nolan (& Bearss) Cousin

Sky Tree Bear :)

This next generation has a hard act to follow but with the love and support of their cousins (and second cousins) I'm convinced that they too will succeed.

Trouble

When I was pregnant with BB2 neither Cam nor I had any gut feeling as to whether it was a boy or a girl. Ian, on the other hand, started telling people he was going to have a little sister as soon as he found out that there was a baby in my tummy. At the beginning of the pregnancy I thought that I would prefer another boy. I knew how to do boys. I’m not really a girlie girl, I don’t really like pink, I don’t have to worry which way to wipe with boys. After a trip to Jamaica with our friends Anne and Greg and their son, Ben, who is a year older than Ian I started to think that perhaps two boys would not be ideal for me.

When Cam said “it’s a girl!!” after 4 short hours of labour (my entire labour was shorter than the time it took me just to push Ian out) we were both a bit shocked. I think we kind of just expected that it would be another boy because that’s what happened the first time around. For days we kept saying to each other “I can’t believe we have a little girl!”.

It didn’t take long for us to fall completely in love with our pink little ball of happiness we named Alexa Melanie. When I was pregnant with Lexi I often worried that I wouldn’t love her as much as I loved Ian in much the same way that I worried during my first pregnancy that I wouldn’t love the baby as much as I loved Cam. That worry is long gone. I love my little girl. I love the pink, the dresses, the hair barrettes I place every morning in an attempt to tame her wispy curls. I love that she can already give kisses when asked. I love that she has a pink hockey jersey. I love that she LOVES her big brother. I love the way she reaches up with both arms to be picked up and held.

Crazy Hair

Lex is a very happy affectionate little girl. On our recent trip to Vancouver, Cam was walking up the aisle in the airplane to give her a change of scenery. As they passed a woman waiting to use the washroom Lexi leaned over to her and nuzzled her cheek into the woman’s chest. Cam said the woman had tears in her eyes as she told the woman behind her to go ahead because she was going to enjoy the snuggle a few moments longer. Lexi does that to you.

Open Arms for Huggles!

Lexi is also Trouble, with a great big capital T. She is ridiculously mischievous. She’s the kind of kid for whom all that child safety gear was designed. Right now some of her favourite activities are pulling all the kleenix out of the box, jumping up and down in her crib with her eyes peeking over the railing at the apex of every jump and spinning the toilet paper roll until all the toilet paper is sitting in a heap on the floor at which point she either tries to eat it or tear it into little pieces. She also has taken a liking to the toilet, just last week she thought Ian’s Sidney Crosby figure might like to go for a swim in her toilet so, splash! In he went. (Don’t tell Ian, I didn’t know how to break the news to him so I just gave Sid a quick bath and sent him on his way). At 11 months she is already taking a few wobbly steps on her own so now she’s trying to master the stairs which unfortunately she’s quite good at. Anytime she is caught in the act Lex gives you a huge smile with eyes wise beyond her year and continues on with the activity at breakneck speed hoping cause as much destruction as possible before she can be stopped.

Like Ian, Lex loves hockey and by loves hockey I mean loves eating the hockey pucks from Ian’s table hockey game. One day I handed her a soother and as she opened her mouth to put it in not one but two table hockey pucks dropped from her mouth.
Isn't she gorgeous???
Sometimes Alexa wakes up in the middle of the night so I’ll pick her up and rock her back to sleep. When I try to put her back in her crib however, she wakes immediately and not just cries but sobs. If I pick her up she smiles at me, laughs “heh heh” as I walk up the stairs to our room then instantly falls asleep as soon as her head hits my pillow. If Cam tries to then take her back to her crib the whole cycle starts again until she is laid back down on my pillow. I love that.