Picture Day!

Yesterday was spent shopping, sleeping, and visiting the Gard-Imbert house (where Justen took his first steps!) Today we are heading downtown to stroll around the market in the beautiful sunshine and may stop for lunch.

Starting yesterday, Carson has decided to suck his thumb. He LOVES it. We normally offer a soother at night or when he is in his car seat (nowhere else though) so I'm somewhat surprised that he started with his thumb. Last night when I got home I when to peek in on him (like I always do) and there was his thumb, in his mouth and he was just givin' it. I was going to take a picture, but I didn't want to run the risk of waking him up.

We also tried him for the first time in his new Jumperoo and he loves it. He only lasts about 15 minutes in it, and he'll bounce a few times and play with the little tray toys. It's one more "station" for him.

A few pictures in his bumbo:



In his new jumperoo!

Out for a walk in his big boy stroller:

Yipee it's Friday

Not much has been going on the past few days. Carson and I have gone out for many walks in the gorgeus sunshine - I like having a destination for my walks - so we walk to the grocery store almost every day to pick up dinner. It's about 2km each way, so it makes for a pretty good walk. I've been going back to the gym to do some Body Pump classes, and I've started running again (approximately 7 km every second day).

On my 'be positive' venture, I've posted my skinny pictures on the fridge to keep me eating well as opposed to posting my fat pictures on the fridge (which is supposed to discourage me from eating but only gets me depressed and eat more). Some of these pictures are posted below. I've lost the weight before, and I know I can do it again!

I'm feeling good. Carson is doing really well - he's a really happy baby. Always smiling and very rarely cries. We definitely hit the jack pot with him. I think I thrive off of his energy and he does the same for me.

I'm just waiting for Carson to wake up, then him and I are going to walk over to Kaethe's house and enjoy an afternoon glass of wine (don't judge me, it's the weekend) - I hope everyone has a good one!

Mommy's first night out

Last minute I was invited to the hockey game last night, Jeff convinced me to go and so off I went with Kaethe, Peter, Kate and LJ to dinner and then the game. The whole time I was thinking about Carson and wondering how the night was going back at home. Not that I doubt Jeff's abilities as a father, but I just kept thinking about them and missing them. Sometimes I joke about wanting to have a night out, without being a mom. But, it can't be done. Out of sight but definitely not out of mind.

Today I was looking at him, sprawled out on our bed (we usually hang out on our bed while jeff gets ready for work in the morning) and I just couldn't get over how big he is. He was stretched out and reaching for a book and I can't believe how long he is.

We are at home taking it easy today, he's down for his first afternoon nap and I'm doing some laundry, playing around on facebook and making roasted red peppers. As I joke with Jeff (constantly) am I the most efficient I've ever been!

Just pictures

Sonya - I know I told you before he doesn't really use his Bumbo that much. But now he does and he quite enjoys it..... here he is with the bumbo tray on the chair too.



Carson at the beginning of our walk today:

Ethan, Isabelle with Carson and I (taking a break from feeding the ducks):


Grandma and Carson:

Carson and I:

Ethan and Isabelle:

Carson loves being outside, he just stares at everything with his big blue eyes. He also sleeps like a baby after he's been outside.

Rain rain go away!

After an extremely busy weekend, I'm looking forward to a laid back week. Carson has gone on somewhat of a nap strike. He doesn't enjoy his 4 hour afternoon nap anymore. If we are lucky, he goes down for an hour or two. It doesn't make him grumpy, fussy or cranky, but he just doesn't want to sleep. That's OK, we just play more and go out walking - he loves being in his stroller in the fresh air.

It's raining today, so I either a) go to the grocery store and no walk or b) go to MEC to buy a rainjacket, go walking and ask Daddy to go to the grocery store.

I vote for b but we'll see what Carson says.

Oh! And I'm re-organizing the house. I get bored when everything has been in the same spot for too long. And I'm trying to make it a bit more kid-friendly. The first floor now has a playpen, an exercauser and a bouncy chair and soon to be jumperoo (I won it on ebay! free shipping!) so I've had to move things around and make it more fun to be upstairs.

Oh! I smell like spit up. The life of a mom. I went out with friends on Saturday morning and found I didn't have much to add to the conversation besides talking about Carson - so I've decided I need to get out and socialize a bit more. My first and foremost priority is Carson, of course, but I need to remember what it's like to be ME.

He's exhausted!

He slept from 7:30pm - 6:00 am straight

There could be several explanations:

1/ We went out walking in the fresh air for almost 3 hours yesterday
2/ He slept on and off in the stroller, so his afternoon nap was only 1/2 hour (the car ride home from Grandma's)
3/ I put the Benylin plug-in in his room for 1/2 hour before bedtime and took it out 20 minutes after he fell asleep

We had a fantastic day yesterday, I splurged at The Papery (I LOVE this store), went and looked at diamond rings (I LOVE diamonds), went to visit Great Grandma Millie, stopped in at a few other stores and then came home.

Carson was flirting constantly with all the women in every store we went into (especially the jewellery store, where I whispered in his ear to tell Daddy which ring I want for our 10th anniversary... that's more than 8 years away, so he has lots of time to save) and he only started to get a little fussy about 5 minutes from home cause he was hungry.

I went into Glebe Side Kids which has the most incredibly baby/children's clothes but at a hefty price (good thing I didn't bring in my wallet) looking specifically for a baptism outfit for Carson. We don't have one in the family (the one my sister and I wore wasn't kept, same with the one Jeff wore) so I must find a new one. I don't particularly like the little white satin suits and I dont' really want to put him in a dress, so I'm stuck. I'm trying to look around on the web for ideas but they are all basically the same. I guess I'll just have to find one not to suity and not too dressy :) I LOVE having a shopping mission so that will keep me busy for the next couple of months.

Grandma, Great Grandma Millie and Carson:

Carson :

Now? When he wakes up we are off to the mall to do a few returns and then for a long walk to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner.

Yay spring!

Welcome! How I have missed you!

My son will be meeting you for the first time and I know he's excited (he just doesn't know it yet)

Update: And I'm celebrating by walking downtown tomorrow and stopping at all the shops along the way! And, I know, I know I'm a picture whore :)

One year ago today...

He WAS just a spark in his daddy's eyes :)





In other news, I'm trying to get through to the doctor's office because there was blood in Carson's spit up last night. I called Telehealth and they advised me to go to see my doctor within 24 hours. I don't think it's anything big, it was just a bit of blood but I'm obviously still taking him to the doctor's.

Edit: I finally got through to my doctor's (makes me regret for not keeping Carson with my doctor, a heck of a lot easier to get through to!) and the nurse said that it's probably just a ruptured membrane from coughing so much. If it keeps up, definitely call back but he should be OK. We have the humidifier on in his room and hopefully that will help relieve the cough. Poor little munchkadoodle.

How could you

NOT love this face?

Ok, that's it, I promise I am done for the day :)

Sofia and Carson

Sleep/Eat logs (at about 7 weeks old)

By request, I'm posting a few days journal from January:

Jan 18:
9:30pm-bed
2:10am - wake and feed
3:30 - bed
6:00 - wake and feed
7:00 -bed
8:00 - wake and feed
9:00 - sleep (car seat)
12:00pm - wake and feed
2:30 - sleep
2:45 - feed (fussy)
3:15 - sleep
3:30 - feed (fussy)
4:00 - sleep
6:00 - wake and feed
7:30 - feed
8:30 - sleep

Jan 19:

1:50am - feed
2:40 - sleep
5:20 - wake and feed
5:40 - sleep
6:20 - wake and feed
7:15 - feed
8:30 - sleep (turtle mat)
9:30 - wake and feed
10:30 - sleep
12:00pm - wake and feed
2:00 - sleep
5:00 - wake
7-8 up/asleep/up/asleep
8:30 - feed
8:45 - sleep

Pretty much the same for a few days and slowly but surely he started sleeping longer and staying awake for longer periods of time. I think at this point he was going through a growth spurt and that's why I was writing down the times because I was going insane. I honeslty don't remember those days though..... I think the first 2-3 months are pretty much a blur and go by so quickly (though at the time, it doesn't seem to go by so quickly)

What a weekend!

Even Carson is recovering, he's going on hour 14 of sleeping :) With a quick nurse at 5am he's been sleeping since 7:30 last night and it's currently 8:30. Last night I found a notepad where I kept his sleep/eating schedule for about his first month. It's amazing how quickly we forget things. This one night he was up every hour to eat. I can't honestly remember those nights, it seems like he's been sleeping through the night for so long now. They say you forget those times but I remember at the time thinking "there is no way I'm going to forget this". Well I did.

This weekend consisted of:

Friday: a long cold walk in his Baby Bjorn, dinner out at Kaethe and Peter's Friday




Saturday: Julie and Tim's for dinner



Sunday: breakfast with the whole family, 8 adults and 4 kids, minus Dino and Alexis, Grant and Maya because they are in Florida, church with Nad, Sean and Sofia and then Julie, Tim, Kaethe, Peter, Kate, and 5 kids for yummy steak dinner last night.




When everyone left last night, Jeff and I, we were exhuasted. I think we ALL slept great last night. We kept commenting last night on how are nights together are going to get so much crazier, as all the kids grow up, more are added to the bunch. It was pretty loud here last night. As Kaethe was leaving (and kids were crying because they didn't want to leave, didn't want to get dressed up, didn't want to leave each other etc... etc...) "And you think alot of wine was consumed tonight... just wait until a few years from now".

Good news from church, but we have to wait until things are finalized before I blab on here (this is the church where Jeff and I were married).

May 5th - Kate and LJ's stag. Which means, I have about 6 weeks to lose as much weight as I can. My BIG goal is June 30th, but this is just a mini one :) This past week I lost 2 pounds, so I'm getting there....

A few quotes

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts.
Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me....
Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.
-Shel Silverstein

At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.
-Golda Meir

Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make children do better, first we have to make them feel worse? Think of the last time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly. Did you feel like cooperating or doing better?
-Jane Nelson

Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.
-Rabbinical saying

The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant -- and let the air out of the tires.
-Dorothy Parker

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.
-Elizabeth Stone

Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. They seem not to notice us, hovering, averting our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.
-Garrison Keillor

Too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.
-Roger Lewin

Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them.
-Richard L. Evans

We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk and the next twelve telling them to sit down and shut up.
-Phyllis Diller

Before you were conceived I wanted you
Before you were born I loved you
Before you were here an hour I would die for you
This is the miracle of life.
-Maureen Hawkins

How cute is he?

At night, I take a bath with Carson. It works out well because I go to the gym when Jeff gets home from work, we have dinner and then I take a quick shower and then fill up the bath to bathe with Carson (life is SO routine these days). Jeff gets Carson undressed and then brings him to me in the tub. Last night I was still showering by the time Jeff had him undressed, so they were just hanging out in the bathroom waiting for me. All of a sudden I hear Jeff say "Uh oh" "Carson, my shirt is hot and wet" "I think you just peed on Daddy"

I couldn't stop laughing.

Question for mom's....

Further on my spring cleaning, I went through Carson's closet early this afternoon to filter out the stuff he doesn't wear, is too small etc... to make room for more clothes. So, as I'm pilfering through the laundry baskets full of clothes I realize there is barely any 9 month clothing. I know sizing is different for different stores, but if it just says 12 months, does that really mean it's 9-12 months? That's probably a hard question to answer but I think once their growth tapers off they fit in clothing for longer so really it's maybe like 9-15 months?

I just KNOW I'm going to forget certain clothes when they will fit him and as I'm packing them away cause they are too small I'll be sad that he never got to wear them.

I'm torn. Part of me wants to him to stay the size he is because I love all his clothes. But the other part of me can't wait till he wears 6-12 months cause there is 6 drawers full of the cutest things for him to wear.

The part of me that wants him to stay the same size wins though. I keep getting glimpses of how fast he's growing. This morning he was in his exercauser and he was playing with one of the little rolly-noise making things on the tray and then he would giggle when it made the noise. I can't believe he's making the connection that what he's doing is making him laugh.

Spring cleaning

Wow. I just went through every single one of my drawers, closets, box of clothes and have 6 garbage bags of stuff to give away or to go to the second hand store. It's insane how many sizes and seasons are contained in those bags!

I figure if I haven't worn it in the past two years, it's gone. And if I don't remember when I bought it, it was too long ago, and it's now gone.

It feels SO good.

Next... shoes.

Bring on the spring

This weather is making me giddy. We've been going for walks and getting out lots in the fresh air. I think it's done all of us a world of good. Carson and I just got back from an hour long walk and we are tuckered out! Until the next cold spell hits (looks like it's going to be next week) we will be taking lonnnggg walks each day, it's good for our health :)

Right now, he's taking a nap and I'm drinking some green tea and about to do the prep work for dinner.

Most nights, I've been getting the salad and veggies ready then when Jeff gets home I take off to the gym, and when I get home we make dinner together. It's working out quite well, it allows me to go to the gym but we still eat dinner on time (before Carson's bed time).

Dressed like a big boy


Chillin' with Daddy on the couch


Here's Carson helping me do some laundry


He loves his playpen, he bats the toys around like crazy now - can't wait to enroll him in little league


We got an exercauser last night and put him in it this morning and he loved it! His toes just miss the ground, but he was even playing with some of the toys on the tray. I almost started to cry when I saw him in it (instead I took 20+ pictures) because he just looks so big - I can't believe how quickly he's growing





In two weeks we are taking an infant massage class, I'm really looking forward to it. This weekend I think we'll take him swimming, I have the cutest pair of swimming shorts for him!

Children's book of the month club?

I just got my monthly Today's Parent magazine and it had a pamphlet in it for Children's Book of the Month Club (www.cbomc.ca). It has a deal where you choose 5 books for 50 cents and commit to buying 4 books over the next two years. It sounds great. I'm a book lover. I see all the Shel Silverstein books (my fave as a kid), Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and tons more that I love. I'm trying to read some reviews to see if it's worth it, but it's probably all the hidden costs (**plus shipping and handling and applicable costs**) that would make it most likely cheaper to just pick up at amazon.

I just love books and seeing all of them made me giddy to sign up. But I'm trying my best to be frugal which is a big joke because I am probably the opposite of frugal (when I asked Jeff what the opposite of frugal was, he said expensive) and glared at me. Sigh, men. They just don't get it. Don't worry Carson, I'll teach you to enjoy spending money!

I know I've posted about this before...

But Saturday nights are definitely not what they used to be like. It's 7:30. Carson is in bed (since 7), Jeff is heading out with Peter to go golfing, and I'm in bed. I have a glass of white wine, a Cadbury's Thin, a bottle of water and the laptop. I have a book for when I'm done on here, and between you and I, I'll most likely be asleep by 9. I'm never eat in bed, but I didn't want to be downstairs on my own, I wanted to be upstairs, close to Carson, cozy, warm and where sleep is easily accessible.

Life is good. Not what it used to be, but I'm definitely happy. I had 31 years to go out and play on Saturday nights and now it's time to stay in an be a mom. I keep checking in on Carson, not because I'm worried about him but because he's so freaking cute when he's sleeping. His little bum is in the air and his hand is near his mouth (he's LOVING chewing on his hand these days) and he looks so beautiful. Don't tell his dad I called him beautiful, it's not very manly.

P.S. I bought a new scale today. It measures body fat as well which has always been good for me to keep track of, especially with all the running I had done in the past few years. I've started running again now so if I keep it up I'll be concentrating on my body fat decreasing more than the weight. Anyways, to make a long story long, right before our bath,I got on the scale, recorded my weight and then got on with Carson. Apparently the gaffer is 14.2 lbs (that's with him nakers, right before our bath). That's 1 lb in the past 2 weeks. I love his chubby little legs and all his creases.

argh!

I can't sign up for Parents and Tots with Carson because he won't be 4 months by the time it starts!

I've talked to a few of my friends and they say it's relatively worthless anyways because as all the other classes are going on, the smallest babes are in a corner making room for all the other kids swimming around. So I'm just going to start bringing him to Open Swim. That way we can all go together anyways.

I just want him to start getting used to being a pool so by the time grandma's pool open he will be happy to go in! And when we go out East this summer he better love the ocean. I bought him a pretty darn cute little T-shirt and bathing suit shorts with lobsters on them - perfect for PEI.

Whoever said

That shopping for boy clothes is not as fun as girl clothes obviously hasn't been shopping lately.



So, I've been supplementing with formula lately. When my ducts were blocked, I would still nurse Carson (even though it hurt like (&@#) but he would still be so frusterated and angry when I was done nursing (grabbing at me and kicking his legs) that I needed to give him formula.

Since we've introduced formula, I've been reading up on how to continue nursing with supplementing at the same time. And I'm getting angry. Angry when reading comments or articles from women who exclusively breastfeed making us women who supplement feel like losers. Feel like we are taking the easy way out or we are not doing what's best for our children. Screw them. I'm doing the absolute best I can for Carson. Kudos to them, seriously. That's wonderful. But it's not what I am doing anymore. So don't look down on me and think that my son is worse off then your child.

I exclusively breastfed for the first three months and he is still being nursed 6 or 7 times a day. He gets anywhere between 2 and 4 ounces of formula a day. And honestly? I enjoy watching Jeff give him the bottle, or his grandma, grammie, cousins etc. I know he's getting the necessities from the breastmilk, so if he needs or wants formula, who's to tell me I'm doing something wrong?

He's happy and he's healthy! And that's what it's all about, isn't it?