Feeling guilty

I went to bed last night feeling like complete and utter poo, tossed and turned all night with a maximum of 3.5 hours sleep. My head is pounding, my nose is running, my body aches and I have a slight fever. I know, I know, it's just a cold but still. I'm completely wiped. So why do I feel guilty?

The only thing Carson and I have done today is go to the park for about 30 minutes this morning and then sat on the porch another 20 minutes this afternoon. The rest of the time I am just sitting down, barely awake and he's crawling on me like a jungle gym. I'm barely interacting.

I need Jeff to get home and I need to go to bed. Hopefully for a few days.

Just as I suspected...

I hate to say "I was right", but I was. Carson was never a great eater, he would get upset as soon as we would put him in the highchair. Not every time, but I would have to distract him with a toy to get him into the highchair with a smile. It wasn't that he didn't like the taste of the food, he just didn't like the whole experience. He's a very independent little boy so I thought that he'd start to like it better once he started to eat on his own.

Tonight I gave him pureed carrots and peas, with some of the roast chicken that Jeff picked up from Costco today. I gave him half of an english muffin and some steamed peas, carrots and beans. I had to feed him his carrot/pea/concoction but the rest of it he fed himself. He loved it. From beginning to end.

Right now I'm listening to him squealing as Jeff "roughs" around with him. It's hilarious.

Quite a handful!

Carson is definitely a handful these days. He constantly wants me to be walking him everywhere. He's not happy sitting anymore, he has to be crawling on things, up things, over things, lifting himself up to a standing position, WALKING along the coffee table with his hands, into everything and just busy busy busy.

He was great on the plane yesterday, he was entertaining everyone around him. He'd stand on my legs, facing towards me and grab the back of my chair, pull himself up and smile and laugh at the people behind me. He made friends with the girl beside me (the seat in between us was vacant) and was just a complete and total ham. He slept for about half the flight, and the rest of the time was smiles and giggles. It was wonderful.

Jeff was so happy to see us, I of course, cried. Carson was ecstatic to see his Daddy. Then he would grab for me, I'd take him and he'd look at Jeff and grab for Jeff. It's his new game. I decided it was way too long for me to leave, living out of a suitcase, with a baby is definitely not easy. And it was too long to be away from home, to be away from Jeff. So here we are, home and happy.

Here's Carson with Auntie Sam's discarded animals

Even more pictures

We went for a long walk this morning up to Planet Beach to visit Sam and stop for a Starbucks (but decided in the end I didn't want one after all).


Carson has started to definitely let me know what he does and doesn't want. For example, in this picture he does NOT want his hood on!!

Oh, I forgot.

He dances now. When I make one of his toys play music, a huge smile comes out and he starts bouncing up and down. He started doing it in the car and I didn't really realize what it was until yesterday when I took out the turtle rattle he has that plays a tune. I pressed the belly and Carson did it. So I've tried on different occasions with different types of music, and sure enough he breaks into dance when he hears the music. Just like his mom. I can't help it!

A few pictures for Daddy

With cousin Jessica and Auntie Sam (Jessica is holding him). He's been super good with everyone, today he didn't sleep much and was a little cranky, but he has a special spot for Grampie, so they spend lots of time together.

I found the kitty! Gosh he loves the kitties. Once he finds one, he laughs. Then he looks up at me as if to say - are you seeing what I'm seeing?

Eating toast (wearing Auntie Sam's bib from when she was a baby - vintage). He's never really been the best eater. He whines when I put him in the high chair, so now I just have to have something for him to play with to bribe him into the chair. Tonight I shredded some chicken to serve with his veggies and the first few bites he wasn't too impressed with the chunks, but then he finished the whole bowl.

I told you, he's into EVERYTHING. He was pulling himself up on this, trying to stand but not realizing his hands need to be up higher to get up. He's scaring me with all the things he's doing now, it's even MORE of a full time job watching him. Gone are the days you can turn your eyes for a second.

Edmonton

The flight here was uneventful - I must say it was much easier travelling with Carson a few months ago, as opposed to now when he's just into EVERYTHING. He sits on my lap and doesn't know what to do first: look out the window, play with the food tray, stand on me and look at the people in the seats behind me (he always finds a friend that way), play with the person beside him or just chew on my hood strings. He's just moving all.the.time now. He fell asleep about halfway through and slept till we landed.

We have lots of space here. The house is huge, so we have the whole basement to ourselves. Which includes two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living room. So I don't have to worry about Carson waking up the whole house when we are up and playing, and when Carson goes to bed, there's nothing that really wakes him up. It's great.

So far the consensus is what a happy baby he is. And cute. Everyone loves playing with him, feeding him and taking him to look at the cats. Yes, the cats. There are two here: Frankie and Abby. And he's absolutely taken by them. If you ask where the kitties are, he looks down and around for them. They are super gentle cats and he pets them. He doesn't yank them, or pull on their tails, he pets them. And then looks at me with the biggest smile and goes right for them again.

And, he's saying bye bye. If I say "Say bye bye" immediately he says bah bah. He sometimes even waves, but not consistently.

We are having a great vacation. REALLY missing Daddy, having him see all his new tricks, but we'll be home on Tuesday and we are looking forward to it.

Last night in Vancouver

Hanging with the ladies at Earl's in Vancouver - eating celery! Tomorrow we are headed to Edmonton to vist Nana, Grampie, Auntie Sam and cousin Jessica. He'll also be meeting Auntie Sandra and David on the weekend... busy days ahead.

Vancouver Aquarium

In case you were wondering, I promised Jeff I would post pictures every day of Carson and I - he is missing us like crazy. Carson misses his Daddy too :)




Carson had a great day at the aquarium, we stayed extra long to watch the Beluga show. Carson's favourite song is Baby Beluga, it calms him down in every situation imaginable. At the end of the show when the trainer made the beluga "wave" and splash the crowd, everyone screamed and laughed and Carson cried. Then everyone laughed, at Carson crying.

Horseshoe Bay

Seawall in West Vancouver....

Me and my little boy

Full of peas!

He's just so cute I could gobble him up. He was so tired tonight, he was falling asleep when he was eating. I missed a picture of him with his head leaning against the side of the high chair, seconds from sleeping - but these are pretty darn cute too.

We're in Vancouver

And having a wonderful time!

Carson has now seen both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans... lucky little boy :)

He's been a dream baby - on the plane there were a few episodes just when he couldn't get comfortable and it was his nap time. The flight was delayed an hour and a half on the ground, so we were on the plane for almost 8 hours, which was rough. So a few minutes of crying was to be expected. As soon as he found his comfy spot, he went to sleep. Until Grandma sneezed and woke him up. On the plane, he went to bed at his regular bed time, then woke up when we got to the airport and was awake the whole ride home, so only ended up going to bed around 8pm Vancouver time (11pm his time, the latest he's ever been up!). He woke up at 3am which I KNEW was going to happen, but just played on the bed with me for about an hour and went back to bed at 4am till 7. Which was fantastic. And now, he's on West Coast time.

We're having a really good time and Carson just looks at everything, smiles at everyone, sits in his stroller (we did lots of walking) and just loves being out and about. Just like his mom :)

Bye Daddy, we will miss you!

Carson and I leave today at 2 and we will be back in Ottawa on the 28th of August. Carson is going to miss his Daddy so much and Jeff already knows just how much he will miss us.

He's a few pictures from this morning.

Standing in his crib! No, he can't get there by himself, he was strategically placed :)


On the move!




His new favourite toy!

Bye for now!

Minutes before bedtime

Yet another NEW trick

Yesterday afternoon I put him down for his late nap. He still hasn't dropped that late afternoon nap around 4pm yet. He just can't make it for longer then 3 hours without sleeping.

Anyways, for the first ten minutes he was just talking and playing, which is completely normal. Then he started to kind of whine/cry but again, that's normal - he's just realizing he wants to sleep and needs to find a comfortable spot (don't we all?). Then he started to cry some more, and then to REALLY cry. So I went upstairs to cuddle him. I walk into his room and get this...

He's sitting up in his crib. Crying. Just looking at me.

He's never gone from lying down to sitting up without our help. I was excited - but sad cause he was crying. He must have sat up and then not been able to lie down again. Of course he totally missed that nap - but wow. I used to think when he was younger that every day brought something new, but now he's learning crazy new tricks all the time!

I bought one of those wooden stands with colourful wires all loopy with beads on them - the ones that you can move the wooden beads along the wire? And he LOVES it. He pushes the beads along and if they make it over a hump and then fall down the slide he looks at me and laughs. So proud of what he's done.

I'm headed to Vancouver on Thursday (yippeee!) for a week and then to Edmonton for 5 days. I definitely won't be posting from Vancouver, but most likely will give a quick update in Edmonton. I'm a tad worried about the time change, but we will make the best of it.

So very excited.

This is a quick picture of him from last night. I was supposed to walk over to Lisa's with him so Aidan and Liz could see him - but it was not going to be possible to keep him up past 7, so I waited until he went to bed and the boys got home so I could skip out and go visit. Anyways, because they wouldn't get to see him, I thought I'd bring a picture. The second picture is of him playing with his new toy (thanks Kaethe!) which he loves and can't get enough of. See him standing up?!?!

Little monkey

Last night the baptism after party was at my mom and Ricky's, so we were planning on staying past Carson's bedtime so we put him down to bed there. It was the first time since we were in PEI the FIRST time that we put him down to bed in one place and then were going to transfer him home.

You know how I always say that kids are resiliant? Well - they are. We never want to do it, we always want to get him home for his bedtime and for the most part, we will always do that. But when we woke him up around 9:30, he was all smiles. He was reaching for us, giving out his fishy-faced kisses and laughing. He stayed awake the whole way home, he clamoured to get out of his car seat like he always does and he went right into his crib and played for a bit, then drifted off to sleep.

He woke up briefly at 5:30, but minutes later he was back asleep until 7. What a sweetheart.

He was flirting with all the ladies in church during the baptism and took a brief cat nap on my shoulder (which he never does, so I loved every minute of it). He was smiling and kicking in the pool and made friends with everyone at the party. He's such a charmer.

And I would post pictures, except... I forgot my camera. I know, it's hard to believe that I forgot my camera but I did. It would have been so nice to have gotten a picture of Sofia and Carson together... ah well, I'm sure there will be many more opportunities to do that.

He's back!

Our happy baby that is. He woke up all smiles, giggles and babbles this morning. He's happy, he's moving, he's eating, he doesn't have a fever anymore and he's all snuggles. Thanks to everyone for their kind words and wishes!

So happy that it's over. Well, until the next set that is. I thought we were going to have smooth sailing after his bottom two came in and you wouldn't have known by the way he was acting. See, they make us think that we know them and then they throw in a curve ball to keep us on our toes.

I'm off to go shopping after his nap, we have to pick up a present for Sofia who is getting baptized tomorrow! I hope C's adorable (err, handsome) little outfit he wore to his own baptism still fits so he can wear it tomorrow.

Still hurting.

Poor guy - only the one top tooth has broken through completely, I can see bits and pieces of the remaining three. But he's still in pain. He goes through spells of happy and sad. Most of the day today he was happy. I fed him his lunch, put him down and after about 5 minutes he started to cry. I went upstairs and found he had thrown up in his crib. I cleaned him off (he was screaming while I cleaned him up) and put him on my shoulder and he was asleep in about 30 seconds. Then when he woke up he was pretty sad, and again - totally lethargic and just lying in my arms. I took him for a nice long walk in the fresh air (it's not super hot today, it's about 24 with a nice breeze) and he slept for about half an hour. An hour later, he's back in bed.

I hope these fricking teeth break through soon. They say the painful part of teething is before the teeth break through the gums. Poor little munchkin. But he has me wrapped around his finger these days so I'm giving him whatever it is he needs.

:(

My little guy is not happy. Yesterday was all cotton candy and gum drops. But today? Another story.

He woke up around 5am crying. I didn't hear him (oops) and Jeff waited it out until he fell back asleep. This happened a few more times. Finally at 6 - Jeff went and got him and he stayed with his head on Daddy's shoulder for about 20 minutes, whimpering.

The next hour and a half, he would just stay on my shoulder, with intermittent bouts of crying. I gave him some Advil and just kept snuggling him. He drank a little bit, but his eyes are glassy and he's just so lethargic. He has no energy and is happiest in my arms. Which I am MORE than happy to do all day long.

He has a temperature of 101.5 so I'll keep a close eye on that. I think it's teething, but really, this is a first for me so I'll just monitor him closely and try and figure out what's going on.

My heart breaks seeing him like this.

Mommy was right...

It's teeth. 2 more to be exact. Poor little booger is having 3 teeth come in at once.

It's now his front left tooth and the left eye tooth. So, in addition to his right eye tooth come in, he has three top teeth. The new teeth have just barely poked through the skin, I can see a pinpoint of white where they are coming.

We went for a long walk tonight, mom, dad and Carson and it's 8pm and he's in bed. This is the latest he's been to bed in a long time (besides last night goingtobed episode) - it would be perfect if he could continue like this!

He got a hit of Advil before bed, thanks for the advice T - about Advil lasting longer :) I hope we don't hear him till morning.

Maybe it's...

Teething? Last night was strange. Of course it happend when we had overnight guests, isn't that always the case?

I brought Carson upstairs to give him a bottle and put him to bed and as soon as I put him down in his crib he started screaming. A different screaming then I had ever heard before. I always put him in his crib awake, but he usually just babbles and talks to himself and then falls asleep. So I picked him up, and then a few minutes later I tried to put him down and the same thing happened. So Jeff took him, put him to sleep in his arms and then put him down.

11pm - the same screaming. Jeff picked him up and calmed him down. I gave him some Tempra. It sounded like a painful scream and he kept pulling his knees up to his chest. I thought maybe gas? This was totally new to us. I can honestly say it's been a good 5 months since he woke up outside his normal sleeping hours. He went back to sleep.

4am - the same thing. The screaming. The sobbing. The shoulders shaking. I picked him up, was up with him about an hour. He started to sound better, he was laughing when I put him back in his crib. He fell asleep and woke up at 6:30.

Today he's been fine. He's been happy, we went for a run in the stroller, he played with his cousins, he ate breakfast and went for a 2 hour nap. Then we went to the park for an hour and he's back in bed now. Maybe it's teething? He has his first diaper rash. It's not that bad, but it's red and splotchy. Poor little guy. I think I can see his two front teeth behind the skin, they haven't broken through yet but I think I can see them. I guess only time will tell.

Also, I gave him some naturally flavoured soft cheese after his veggies at lunch time. I can easily say they were a hit. I'm also to start yogurt, soft cheese and custard (what???) at 8-9 months so I gave him some. He LOVED it.

Wonderful weekend

And we still have one more day left!



I don't know how else to say it. He's absolutely incredible. He's such a different boy right now. He's talking all the time, laughing at everything, always on the move, climbing, scurrying his way across the floor, into anything he can get his hands on and just growing up SO quickly. I can't even keep up with everything new he's doing.

He now can get from a sitting position to a standing position on his own (pulling himself onto something, not into a freefall stand!). And a few days ago he started going from a sitting position to on to his tummy - to him pulling himself along the floor. And he loves walking while holding onto my hands.

I'm in awe each and every day.

AND

This morning Jeff and I were up BEFORE Carson (who wakes up at 6:30) - what is wrong with us?

Totally unrelated but..

My mom came to show us her new toy yesterday.





Now you have to appreciate this because my mother has never, ever bought anything like this for herself before. She's made sure she's done all she can for the kids, and then finally treated herself (after we begged her not to save her money for her kids as an inheritance, we told her we don't want her money!!)

And now, Jeff and I are getting ready for our first East Indian wedding. We are excited to go! The ceremony starts at 8:30, then we have a lunch after that, a break in the afternoon and then dinner. I like getting all dressed up every once in a while, I think it's going to be a great time. Grandma will have Carson all day - I'm going to miss him. We'll go to their house during the "break" though and spend a few hours with him. I bet Grandma didn't hardly sleep last night she'd be so excited.

Third one!

Tooth, that is.

His third upper right tooth has poked through the gums. It looks too far over to be one of his front tooth, but isn't it always the front teeth that comes first?

He was a little irritable the other day, but I figured it was the heat.

National Breastfeeding Week

August 1-7 is National BreastFeeding Week - so yay to all you nursing mothers!

I have never regretted my decision about weaning Carson at 6 months. He was just as happy to receive a bottle and while I know there are definite benefits to breastmilk, I don't doubt for a second that Carson will be as healthy as a child who is nursed for the first year. He certainly isn't any less loved, and our decision is what worked best for our little family, and like I said, I wouldn't change anything that I did. Our doctor (and I've heard several other doctors say the same thing) says no one can tell the difference between a breastfed or bottlefed baby (short of the mother telling them, of course).

Our day. In pictures.

I was eating a nectarine, and he really wanted my nectarine. So I gave it to him. He knawed on that thing for about 5 minutes. Yum!

It was SO hot today, I didn't even want to waste the energy to drive to my mom's, so we made our own pool.

He's used to a big pool, so this one was too small. He lasted about 15 minutes and then wanted out. So we sat and played.

Then we went for a walk to see a house for sale. (The front looked OK, but from what I could see the backyard was small. It backs onto a ravine, two tier deck with a hot tub but when I walked along the ravine I couldn't see it. The only backyard that I could figure to be theirs was small. Like too small)

Minutes before his third nap.


Now, I'm spent and am off to bed.

Unreal

These pictures make him look like he's a toddler. Having his face super dirty (chewing on a teething bagel) and passed out in a stroller. I can't believe I have one of those.

After hitting up Farm Boy and Costco, we came home for lunch and then after his nap we walked over to Kaethe's to play for a bit and then have dinner (golf widows bonding) and instead of taking the car (Jeff was at Broadway and could have gotten a ride home) I walked home. It was the first time we had gone in this stroller (since he was using it with the car seat) and he loved it. He loved sitting up and watching the cars, the animals and the people. But on the way home, he was so tired he kept doing the head nod until I realized he was falling asleep. So I leaned the chair back and he wasn't too happy about that, so I gave him a bit of a bottle, he got comfy and fell fast asleep. It's about a 1.5K walk over there, so about .5 into it he fell asleep so slept about 10 minutes. I didn't want to wake him up, but I did. I gave him a bath and now he's in his crib squealing (happily). That's his new thing - he loves testing the different pitches of his voice. He did it a few months ago, but now it's more of a happy thing. It's cute. He's cute.