Happy Father's Day

I'm so lucky to have married such a wonderful man. A man whom I knew would be a fantastic father. People look for different things in their partners, and one of the most important things to me was "Would I want to raise a family with him". And the answer was, undoubtedly, yes. He's just proven what I've always known.

He loves Carson to death. Every night Jeff and I sneak into Carson's room and look at him. Jeff points at his bum when it's in the air, and we check under the blanket to see if his feet are crossed. With him feet crossed, and his hands under his tummy, he sleeps exactly like his Daddy does.

Jeff finds it hard to stay in bed once I start to get up to go get Carson. He often tells me to wait while he whips on a pair of shorts and comes into Carson's room with me. We start talking quietly as soon as we get into the room and he looks around for us and starts to smile. As soon as he spots us, he gives us the biggest toothless grin (You still can't see his tooth when he smiles, it's not fully out yet) and starts to kick his legs. It's adorable. You can never get tired of it.

Jeff loves reading to Carson, playing with him, giving him baths, spending tummy time with him and just being with him. They hang out together and Carson LOVES his Daddy.

And so do I.

Happy Father's Day Jeff!

And to my Dad, Ricky and Jerry.

Happy First Father's Day to Jeff, Sean, Phil, Jon, Damien, Brandon, Mike, Mundeep and Graham (Jan - you'll be mentioned soon enough!)

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's that I know out there.


*******************************************************************************

Guess who sits up by themselves now? That's right - Carson. There's a picture below to prove it. It depends on the surface he's sitting on (it's easier on the grass) but he was sitting up for a good 5 minutes. And there's a silly picture of him and I, I was trying to take a picture of the both of us.

This is what Carson and I made for Jeff for Father's Day. We went to the Mud Oven and painted a ceramic frame and then they glaze and bake it. Carson loved getting his feet "painted" but when we tried to put his foot onto the ceramic, it took a bit of coaxing to relax his feet. His toes are always squished up so we tried pressing down, but the right foot just never got relaxed enough. But I guess it will always be a reminder of this time! I'm SO not artistic so the paint job is not the greatest (plus, Carson was sitting on my lap playing with the paint brushes).

I feel beautiful!

Carson slept at mom's while I went and got my hair done (and maybe splurged on some Aveda make up that was 40% off). I don't care what people say, when you look good, you feel good. I have been feeling kind of bloated, icky, fat and ugly the past couple weeks. Now with a brand new (short and funky) haircut, some new make up and a promise to put myself together every day, I'm already feeling better!

My mom gushed about Carson when I called her on my way back from Kanata (ahh the distances we will go to get our hair done well) and said that she'd be stealing money from me if I was paying her to babysit (like, if she was a caregiver). He took a bottle when I said he would, he fell asleep when he said I would and had another 2.5 hour nap. He's happy, he only cries if he's tired or hungry (that's the complete truth) and he's content with playing by himself, he actually prefers it sometimes.

She said whatever we've done is good, becaues he's a perfect baby. And he really is. But I don't think we can take all the credit. I think babies are born a certain way and then we can only help (or unfortunately in some cases) or hinder their progress to be the person they are supposed to be. Sure we follow certain rules - like we never wake him up when he's sleeping, we get him to bed at 7pm every night (99.99% of the time), we feed him when he's hungry (we don't try to follow any schedule) and cuddle him whenever he wants (or whenever I want).

He's such an easy going baby, but Jeff and I are both easy going people so it's not really a surprise that he takes after us (we did make him after all).

I'm starting to get a bit nervous about daycare for him. Right now, I know what he does every minute of the day. If anyone was to ask me how much he ate, how long he slept, when was his last bum change? I could tell you. It's not like I'm a stickler for routine, I just mean I know exactly what he does. Well, because, I'm with him 24/7. Except for when he's with grandma. And giving up that is going to be hard. It's going to be hard to trust someone to care for him the same way Jeff and I do.

On a side note, the other day I wrote a post about how he spent the night at Grandma's and for some reason I always get a bit defensive when people tell me how little time they have spent away from their children. I feel like it's as if I shouldn't want to be away from him for that long, or that I don't love my child as much as they love yours. But I've recently found out that in some cases, they don't have someone here who they trust to leave their babies with for any amount of time. So, sorry if I went on and on about how I need time away - I shouldn' thave to explain to anyone - PLUS I probably took it the wrong way anyways. To be honest, I think it makes ME a better parent, taking some time away from Carson and it gets him used to people and keeps up his easy going nature. But different strokes for different folks - definitely! That's one thing I've realized reading all my mommy blogs.

My dilemna

Ok Carson went to sleep at 9am. It's now 11:25am and my cleaning lady normally comes around 11:45.


Carson currently looks like this:

The only other time I've ever woken Carson up is for our flight to Florida. I follow the old-age rule to never wake a sleeping baby! I suppose I can ask Stella to start in the basement, until he wakes up.

Good day

early morning - 10k jog with Carson
took a long shower - Carson sat in his bouncy chair
breakfast - for both Carson and I
Carson took a late nap, I cleaned the house
We had lunch, then went out to Costco
Carson fell asleep on the way home, so he skipped his afternoon nap
We played lots, he was in a great mood despite lack of sleep
Jeff came home and played with Carson while I made dinner
Jeff BBQd the steaks, my part of dinner was done so I played with Carson
We all ate, Carson - cereal, Jeff and I - steaks
We all played while we digested our dinner
I gave Carson a bath while Jeff cleaned up
Jeff gave Carson a bottle and then I went for a bike ride to the bank (to pay for Stella who comes tomorrow!) and then I watered my garden (a FUN chore)
Now I'm just drinking water and then heading to bed and Jeff's watching some TV show

These are our typical days, and they are my favourite. The only thing missing? A visit to grandma and nono's pool

So I've read

About teething. Some babies cry, get a fever, have a rash, don't sleep, complain, whine etc etc... what does mine do when he's teething? He sleeps.

I was just commenting to some friends today (great to see you both!) how he's been sleeping so much - like 11 hours straight last night, and two two-hour naps before 11:30 this morning.

We went out for about two hours, he fell asleep in the car ride home... and continued sleeping.

I was playing with him in my lap and he was coming forward to kiss me (yes, he does that) and what did I see? A freaking tooth appearing through his gums. I can see the top of the tooth on the bottom right hand side.

Wow - I would take a picture but he wouldn't let me get close enough - he would chomp my fingers. I'll try to take a picture tomorrow.

This was my weekend

Standing up!

If Carson is holding onto the coffee table (or the side of a bucket, see below) he can stand up on his own. Only for about 30 seconds, but he can do it. My mom's holding him in the bucket below but only because it's water and if he were to topple over I'd be sick.

He can sit up for a few seconds on his own but he hasn't quite mastered that. He loves his toes too much, as soon as you sit him down he goes forward to grab his feet and then his whole body just kind of tilts to the side until he eventually falls over.

This morning after our run, we were playing upstairs and he was the epitome of cute. He was squealing, laughing, giggling - you name it, he was doing it.

Jeff left to go to Kate's cottage for LJ's bachelor party, so although it's a bit of a bummer, we had lots of time with Daddy this week, he was off the majority of it. Carson and I once again are headed to grandma's pool and I think I may have convinced the rest of the troops to join me.

Carson eating sweet potatoes:

Sitting in a bucket!
Standing up:
Looking at the umbrella

What needles?

Carson was in good spirits last night (Daddy had him after his afternoon nap until bedtime as I took off with Carrie and the kids to go watch the Sens come home), he slept perfectly and is in bed for his second nap already (it's only 10am). It's supposed to be hot here today (of course it's going to be hot, Erin and Jan just left) so I'm packing up some stuff and going to my mom's to play in the pool.

I talked to my doctor about sunscreen and bugspray last night. I can put both of them on if I am going to be directly in the sun or around alot of bugs - but he told me to take it off as soon as I go inside so it's not sitting on his skin for too long. Also, to always keep his head covered (I'm a hat nazi so no problem there) and keep him covered, especially when in reflective environments (ie: pool). And since I'm in the pool quite a bit I think I'm going to look for that UV reflective swimwear for him. I will take a quick peek at Boomerang and then ask around to where I can get it. Oh - maybe I'll check the MEC website right now. I should have more pictures soon - I just haven't been using my camera. Bad Mom. Bad Bad Mom.

Solids

Carson has tried carrots, peas and sweet potato. In that order. He didn't want anything to do with the carrots, he made some pretty hilarious faces with the latter two, but he ate them.

I can't believe my son is eating food now!

At the doctor's today, I was given a "suggested diet sheet" that I thought I would post here. I know each doctor is different and probably provides different info - but this makes sense to me so I think I'll be following it (although maybe loosely)

The ** following an entry mean that should be introduced at that specific age

Breakfast:
4-6 tbsp of cereal
2-3 tbsp of fruit (pureed until baby chewing well)** 6.5 months
Breastmilk or 5-8 oz of formula

Should use formula or breastmilk to 10-12 months then gradually introduce homomilk over a few weeks. Next step formulas by 7 months. Leave 2% milk until 2 years. Milk intake should be 25-35 oz decreasing to 10-20 oz by 1 year. Can start cup feeding at 9 months.

Lunch:
2-4 tbsp of veggies (pureeed to 8-10 months then junior or table feeds) **6 months
1-3 tbsp of meat or meat alternatives ** 7 months
(eggs after 9-10 months; yolk initially, then whites after. Simple white fish 9-10 months leave shellfish until after 2 years. Peanuts leave to 18 months)
Vegetable and meat combinations together for taste
2-3 tbsp of desert (ie: yogurt, soft cheese or custard (after egg white started)** 8 to 9 months
Breastmilk or 5-8 oz formula

Supper:
4-6 tbsp cereal
2-4 tbsp of veggie +/- fruit
1-3 tbsp meat or meat alternative ** 7 months

Finger feeding:
Teething biscuits can be introduced beyond 7 months. Farley's Biscuits will dissolve easily in mouth as a starting biscuit (also num num's) Arrowroots/toast later. Do not leave unattended when starting more complex foods. By 8-10 months baby can finger feed. Use soft pea sized fruits or well cooked vegetables initially.
Baby at this age should be in high chair joining rest of family for meals. No TV at meal time from start this should be a strict family event.

__________________________________________________

Now, I have been feeding him cereal three times a day and I just noticed as I typing it out that he doesn't say to have cereal at lunch. I wish I would have noticed it back then, I could have asked him about it.

Jeff and I already feed him in his high chair and 90% of the time, when we are eating (sometimes we eat later, after he goes to bed) and it's in the kitchen, at the dinner table. My sister has two fantastic kids who have always always sat at the table, no TV and no toys until they are done dinner and they are 3 1/2 and wonderful eaters. They will be sitting at a table with tons of other kids and they are normally the only ones left at the end, looking at Carrie to see if they can leave the table. That's my dream!

So there you have it - hope it helps someone out there.

One less thing to be sad about

We're back from the doctor's.

The intern who looked at Carson kept laughing saying how cute Carson was - he'd giggle when the doctor touched his stomach, but then cried when they stuck the wood tongue depressor in his mouth.

Stats:
Weight 18 pounds 4 ounces - in between the 50th and 75th percentile (closer to 50th percentile)
Height 27.5 inches - same thing, just a bit over the 50th percentile
Head Circumference 17.4 inches - slightly over the 50th percentile

He said Carson is following the growth chart - he's a textbook baby in regards to that.

When the nurse came in, he smiled at her, then he watched as she soaked the cotton swab in alcohol and rubbed his leg with it, and his bottom lip came out and he started to cry. He's like his mom - he doesn't like needles. They stuck it in his leg and he had a different cry then I've ever heard before, he didn't like it at all. I fed him, we left the office and he was once again calm as soon as we got into the car. His forehead goes all splotchy after he cries - in a cute way (but you feel bad cause I know it's cause he was crying)

He fell asleep right as we turned onto our street (I swear that always happens) and he's right back in bed now.

He's healthy as a horse - I had the Dr look at his tongue again and he said the membrane below the tongue is really thin so he really doesn't see any problem with his tongue (I always make him look at the tongue-tied issue).

The next couple days he may just need a few extra snuggles, cuddling and loving - of which I am more than happy to oblige.

Today's no good

Why you ask?

1/ Erin and Jan left this morning (we loved having them with us, Carson will miss them!)
2/ The Sens lost last night (but I'm still super proud we made it to the finals)
3/ Carson has his 6 month appt, which includes getting needles
4/ I am taking Carson on my own to the dr. cause Jeff is driving Erin and Jan to Montreal
5/ I feel fat today

The only good thing about today? I booked my tickets to go to Vancouver and Edmonton in August!

Yikes

It's 4 degrees out there! Carson and I just got back from a run (8k woo!), he slept almost the whole way. It's Erin and Jan's last day, so we don't know exactly what today holds but it may involve Elgin St tonight with Carrie and Rob.

Sleepy-over

Carson had his first sleepover at Grandma's last night.

Erin, Jan, Peter, Jeff and I went and spent the greater part of the afternoon at the Scotiabank Place getting ready for the Sens game. We had a fantastic time (minus the rain). So Grandma took Carson around 1pm (I cried when I said goodbye) and she kept him till this morning (he's still there).

She said he was a perfect baby - he hasn't cried once since he's been there. He took all his naps, went to bed without a peep, is all smiles, and is talking constantly. I called this morning (was up at 5 thinking about him, and slept on and off for the rest of the morning, missing him) and my mom said as soon as she put the phone to his ear he was kicking his legs, smiling and just babbled in my ear for a good three minutes. God I love that kid.

I just checked the messages and there was one from my mom from ten oclock last night.

She told me that she was going to bed, she couldn't watch the game cause it stresses her out. She said that she knows it's hard on me, but that when I wake up in the morning I know my son is happy, warm, fed and being loved by grandma so she doesn't want to see my face before noon or she won't let me in the house. It was a really sweet message (she said way more then what I just wrote, but that was the jist of it) and made me cry.

Now to keep myself busy for the next hour or so. I know I won't wait till noon, Jeff is upstairs eating lobster right now (yes it's 9am) and I'm going to do some laundry, take a shower and then head over to see my little man.

Yay but nay

For the past two weeks or so, Carson has been freely flipping over from back to front and front to back. This is great! He's reached another milestone and I love seeing the new things he can do and he always seems proud of himself when he does it.

However, as we all know, Carson sleeps on his stomach. Now when I put him down for a nap, he immediately flips onto his back so he can look at his mobile, play with the mirror on the side of his crib (I hope it's not a sign of vanity! ha ha) and then when it's time to sleep he can't get comfy. Once in a while he'll flip right back onto his tummy and realize that this is his favourite way to sleep, but it's by accident. It's not like he rolls back onto his tummy because he knows that's how to fall asleep. At least I don't think so.

Anyways, now he doesn't go to sleep for his naps as easily anymore. He sometimes cries for up to ten minutes. Which I know tons of people go through all the time, and always have, but I'm not used to having to let him cry. But I dont' want to go up and flip him onto his tummy or else he won't figure out how to do it for himself. If he gets really angry, I do go up and help him figure it out, but otherwise I'm letting him go on his own.

It's hard, but it's gotta be done. Thankfully this hasn't happen in the middle of the night yet.

Roast is on, acorn squash with apples (yum), green beans and salad is ready to go. Jeff picked up Erin and Jan from their flight in, and they are just travelling back from Montreal. Carson and I are waiting, playing and about to go outside and water our garden.

I love weekends

The whole household slept till quarter after 6 this morning, then Carson and I got up and went for a run. 8K and I ran the whole way! I felt really, really good.

We came home, both had cereal, I showered and then the three of us got into the van and went garage sale-ing. We bought a used monitor, a few boys clothes, and a jogging stroller for Nadia and Sean. I already have oodles of clothes for Carson, but there were a few cute things I couldn't resist. The stuff they are selling at garage sales these days is NOTHING like it used to be. Things are rarely used, and I know when Carson is mobile and we need more toys, I'm definitely doing garage sales. Toys are super expensive, and I don't care that they are second hand, honestly the things Carson loves most are those that were handed down to me.

Carson's in bed, I'm eating lunch and then we are heading to mom and ricky's. Jeff is off to Game 3 tonight and I'm spending the day at mom's and then coming home to put Carson to bed.

Happy 6 month birthday Carson!

Today is June 1st, which means Carson is 6 months old. 6 months since he's come into our lives and now I can truly say I can't imagine our lives without him. I'm listening to him babbling in his bedroom. Jeff and I were watchin in the highchair this morning and we can't remember when he became the baby he is now. He's reaching for things, holding things intentionally, he cries when one of us (mostly me) leaves the room (again, I don't totally like this), he knows us, looks for us, loves our voice, likes to snuggle, rubs his face into your chest when he's tired, happily sits with us, plays with his feet, rolls over (back to front and front to back) all the time and is a constant joy to be around. When you're holding him, he's always turning his head trying to see everything around him. If anything is within his reach, he grabs for it. He loves feeling the different textures of things, he loves my hair, Jeff's glasses, holding things and turning them over in his hands over and over and above all else - EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. I can't believe how fast the time is flying by.

Yesterday we got his two car seats installed by a certified car seat safety instructor. Jeff met him through work, so we called him up and set up an appointment. He's one of 5 instructors in Canada who runs the car seat clinics (for those of you who will need to install one soon, you have to sign up the minute the clinic is open for registration, as it fills up really quickly) but lucky for us he was willing to help us out. He's a paramedic and he was on dispatch last nigh but he met us at his work an hour early to install our seats.

We had installed the Alpha Omega Elite ourselves, and he inspected it and said we were probably in the top 5% of getting it installed properly so that made me quite happy. But we ended up taking that one out and putting it in the van, and then putting the Eddie Bauer one in the Matrix (it's more pillowy (for lack of a better word)) so it looks like it's more comfortable for us. They are both made by the same company so for all intent purposes, it's the same car seat.

A little tip for those installing it themselves, in order to get it level (most cars don't have completely straight bum seats, they all kind of lean in towards the back) use pool noodles. He cut one up into three pieces, tied it together with duct tape (it looked like dynamite) and put it under the part of the seat closest to the back to get it level. We had used a phone book (bad) so now they are both installed correctly and I'm happy! We even got the sheet saying they were both installed according to the standards, apparently they sometimes have RIDE-type programs but for car seats. Crazy!

It's a completley different dynamic, now that he's in a car seat that stays in the car. We ran into Wendy's last night for a taco salad before we met up with Patrick and Carson can't quite sit in the high chairs they have available at the restaurants, and he's out of the infant car seat so he sat in my lap. Which was fine as we were just eating a salad, but I guess our restaurant dining is on hold until he can sit up himself. Which, we eat out so rarely now, isn't that big a deal. Also, if he falls asleep on the way to the grocery store, or anywhere else, I can't just pull out the seat and hope he stays asleep, I have to pull him out and carry him. I've been using my bjorn ALOT but it's still just not the same. It's funny how you so look forward to each new stage with them, but then you miss so much from the last stage.

Tomorrow is a garage sale in our neighbourhood, and I have quite a few things on my list to look for, the first and foremost being a monitor that we can keep at mom and rick's house seeing as he is often there taking naps and when we are out back I have to be constantly coming in to check on him. So much easier with a monitor. There are so many young parents with kids that I'm hoping to find lots of goodies for the C-man.

We had a wonderful walk this morning, Carson had a cat nap and we were walking for about an hour and a half. I love our mornings together. I'm starting him on veggies tomorrow, I have pureed carrot all ready to go!

Oh - he decided he loves sleeping again, thank goodness! Although I have experienced MANY new things since Carson's been around, the one thing (and please, don't hate me) that I didn't have to go through was sleep deprivation. I think the least amount of sleep I have gotten since he's been here is about 5 hours. Granted, I didn't get longer than a 2-3 hour stretch for the first two months, but he's always been a great sleeper. His naps sometimes aren't present, but he's never not gone to sleep at night. Maybe he'll be a bad sleeper as a toddler, or maybe he'll just keep loving his sleep!

Separation Anxiety

Ok maybe the title is a little extreme, but last night was the first night I stayed away from Carson. Jeff's sick (i'll probably write about that later on) so he stayed home with Carson while Carrie, Rob and I headed to the ScotiaBank Place to watch the Sens (lose to the Ducks... BOO!). Let's just say a few too many drinks were had and I stayed at their place. We got home around midnight and I woke up every half hour (no word of a lie) and had horrible dreams that Jeff and Carson were gone, that Carson was sick, I'd hear him crying in my dreams... brutal. Finally at 5:30 I bolted out of bed and rushed home (picking up a coffee at Tim's for Jeff).

Carson was still sleeping, at 6:30 he woke up and I was so happy to see him. However, Jeff gave me the thumbs up to go back to bed so I slept for an hour and woke up to a fussy little baby. He wasn't happy doing anything. I cuddled him, gave him a bottle and put him to bed and he's still sleeping. Poor guy is just a tad off these days. But as I've learnt, it's always just a phase and it will pass - I don't get frusterated anymore, my heart just goes out to him because he's not happy.

At least I have the "first night away" under my belt.

Routine

Before we had kids, Jeff and I lived a very spur of the moment type of lifestyle. We would make plans last minute to visit with friends, go out to dinner, go away for the weekend, go shopping, go for a drive, you name it and we did it. Last minute.

I was excited to have a baby for so many reasons, the least part to look forward to, in my opinion was the routine. On the other hand, Jeff was tired of me trying to jam pack our days and nights with things to do so he was looking forward to it.

Now that Carson's been in our lives for almost 6 months, I love our new lives, and besides the obvious, one of the biggest changes I love is routine. I'm at home every afternoon for his nap (unless I'm at mom's) and we eat dinner at home every night now (there may be once every couple of weeks we go out for dinner) and if we happen to be out, we are always home at night by 7 so we can get Carson to bed.

Yesterday he started eating cereal for breakfast (so now he eats it for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and our morning routine is almost my favourite (I know some of you are cringing now, you non-morning people). He wakes up around 5:30am (ok, I'll admit if it was 6:30 it would be a tad better, but he sleeps all night so I can't complain) and we go out for about an hour run (or walk, or run/walk depending on how I feel). He loves his stroller (it's like his second home) and plays, talks, and looks at everything around him. And sometimes he falls asleep (like this morning). Then we get home, he stays in his stroller while I water my garden, then it's breakfast time (cereal for both of us) and then a little more play time and he's down for his morning nap. And mommy takes a shower (one of the top ten highlights of my day, I LOVE my shower)

He's not really into the afternoon nap for the past couple of days, but he is coming on six months and they say babies go through a growth spurt at 6 months and some of my friends say their kids always got a tad fussy, or at least different from the norm around this time so I assume it's just a phase and it will pass. At least he still goes to bed easily and sleeps through the night.

I need to buy..

A food mill and a multi-layer steamer. I guess a trip to The Bay is in order (I still have gift certificates). I never made it to Bayshore today, instead I stopped by my work to say hi to everyone. They all thought Carson was gorgeus, who am I to argue?

I don't think I've ever seen a food mill before - I assume the sales people will know what they are. Or I could look it up online.

Carson will be starting veggies this week - I'm going to try carrots and sweet potatoes. That's what "the Healthy Baby Meal Planner" says.

Gotta go - game is starting!

GO SENS GO

It's 9:30am and Carson is down for his second nap (I can hear him blowing raspberries and squealing through the monitor, but he's tired, I can hear him rubbing his face into the blankets). We went for a run (yay 7K in 50 minutes) this morning, he took a nap in the stroller, I pulled dandelions, we played under the gazebo. During his nap, I'll shower, we're going to go to Bayshore and pick up some Sens attire for Jeff and I (jerseys are too hot these days) and then after our afternoon nap we are meeting Rob, the twins and my mom for dinner (it's Rob's 40th today and Carrie is out of town on training). And then it's home in time to watch Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals! Mom's babysitting Wed. night so we can go to Elgin St (right now known as the Red Mile) for Game 2 - everyone around here is pretty excited about it! Jeff is going to Game 3 and we are both going to Game 4 (tickets were my birthday present and our anniversary present, they weren't cheap). Jan and Erin are coming in from PEI so they can come with us too. I can't wait to see them - they are here from Sunday till Thursday.

I've decided that during the summer, in this heat, it's much better for him and I to go out for a long walk (or run) first thing in the morning. I loved going to Strollercize, but it's at 10:15 and on those 30 degree days it's just too hot at that point. Plus, I'm an early bird so if I'm up, I may as well be out!

Carson fell asleep on daddy's lap last night

Carson ready with mom to go for a jog

For some reason I can't post video on here anymore - so here's a link to Carson eating. He loves trying to blow bubbles while eating now. While it's cute, I can see it getting really messy in the not-so-far-future.

Just marking the date

Looks like nursing will be done within the next few days - I'm down to one feed every day and a half. I have totally mixed feelings, but overall coming out on top. I have a healthy, happy baby and I know I've done the best I possibly can for him, while keeping myself sane. I know some women love it, and all the power to them, but I know I've made it through all this being able to have Jeff feed Carson and now Carson is simply enjoying the bottle more then nursing, but he still loves me so it's all good :)

I bought his next car seat - the Alpha Omega Elite. We have to buy two, so going with the Britax Marathon (those are the two it came down to) just didn't make sense. The Alpha Omega is a rear-facing, front-facing and booster seat and the Marathon doesn't become a booster seat, so even if Carson grows out of the Alpha Omega, we will have to buy a booster seat - but we'd have to buy a booster seat for sure with the Marathon - so adding up all the pros and cons we went with the Elite. I bought one now and am on the list for them to call when their shipment comes in for #2. He is 27 inches, so he's technically grown out of his car seat (the one we have is 20 lbs, 26 inches) but I'm kicking my feet installing the new one. Now I can't just easily take the car seat out of the car and plop it into the shopping cart. I'll get it done this week, but not looking forward to it. Now my bjorn will get lots more use, that's for sure.

We had a joint Mom-Christy-Rob birthday party yesterday - tons of food, tons of people, and tons of kids in the pool. It was a really great time and my mom LOVED the convertible we borrowed for her. Her friends and her went to the casino and drove through the market, I love that she had a good time.

Jeff's golfing with Peter and his brothers today, so Carson and I are going to do a bit of shopping (including Jacob Connexion, Chapters, Winners, Pier 1 Imports) and then coming home for our afternoon nap. I may have to get a special fun drink at Starbucks.

Swimming!

The water was beautiful and Carson loved it! He even went underwater three times - he's gonna be a water baby like his Daddy and Mommy were (are).

Sofia and Carson in the playpen under the gazebo:

Happy, Happy Carson:

Just getting used to the water:

Just being dunked!

Getting warm:



Getting ready to leave Grandma and Nono's house:

Fridays!

We all know how much I love Fridays :)

It's hot - we've been spending time in the shade. I'm loving my garden these days, so lots of hours are spent in there. Carson loves being outside, he hangs out in the jumperoo on the deck or in his bouncy chair on the grass. Jeff put up our gazebo and it's awesome! We've had dinner outside twice, and drinks out there (on my birthday night) which we never would have done without it, so definitely a smart purchase.

Carson's flipping lots now, except he does it when we aren't around. After most naps he's on his back (he sleeps on his stomach, so he flips over when he wakes up). He's sleeping well (I think it's the heat) and he's starting to love his mommy. The mornings where Jeff gets up with him, as soon as I come downstairs and he sees me and starts to cry and try to get to me. Ok, yes it's cute. But I don't want him to become attached to me to the point he isn't happy with other people. I like the fact that he loves whoever holds him, he just loves people. So hopefully this is just a phase.

He's getting a little sleepy right now, as he attacks the star on his exercauser (which he LOVES), so I'm off to put him down for his second morning nap. We got up and went running (again, I ran, he slept) early so it wasn't TOO hot (although it's so muggy it's hard to breathe) and he took a brief nap in the stroller for about 45 minutes. This afternoon I'm packing Carson, our bathing suits, some food and sunscreen and we are heading to mom's house to go swimming. Then Jeff and I are going to somehow get Dwight's little convertible beamer over to mom's to surprise her - he's lending it to her for the week. She turns 60 next Tuesday and the only thing she's ever wanted is to have a red convertible for a week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

And Jenny and Kerri - thanks again for dinner on Wednesday. I used his new bowl and spoon for the past couple lunches. Sorry there are no pictures today, I need to charge the batteries for the camera!

xo

Happy Birthday to me

I'm 32 today. I woke up to a wonderful husband, a smiling laughing baby and singing. I love being who I am, where I am, and what I am.

I was in the shower (Carson's asleep, mom is on her way to play with us in our garden) when the doorbell rang. I jumped out of the shower (not wanting to wake Carson up) and ran downstairs in my bathrobe (most likely a rather scary site) to answer the door where a FEDEX person was standing. They gave me a box, I opened it up and found this:

I knew right away it was from Kim, who had visited us lately and when I first saw her she had this wonderful bright pink bag and I told her how great I thought it was.

Anyone who knows me, knows my materialistic side of me loves three things - in this order

1/ Cosmetics (I'm a junkie, and my sister in law Erin isn't any help)

2/ Pink (Carson's lucky he is a boy)

3/ Bags (although these days it doesn't make too much sense seeing as I have a diaper bag constantly, but I am starting to go out more sans Carson)

Thanks Kim - love you! And we're booking our flight soon to Vancouver so I'll let you know as soon as it's done.

Early to bed

I guess we tired Carson out today. I took him for a jog (he slept, I ran), we played outside, we gardened, put up the gazebo (well, mostly watched Jeff put up the gazebo), talked to neighbours, played, played and played some more, and then slept. At quarter to seven. I started to nurse him and he was asleep in record time. I think he may wake up early hungry.

And on top of all this, we took pictures.

I know I've said it before, but he LOVES his Jumperoo!

This is the face we see most often these days - his oooohhhhh face

And his COWS sleeper from Auntie Erin and Uncle Jan - we never made it to Cows (first trip without a stop there) but she knows how much I love it... we'll see if my love for it is passed onto Carson. But the sleeper looks adorable on him! (Anyone who is buying a Cows sleeper for a little one, they fit small - the 12 M one JUST fits him!)

Exciting!

What is exciting to me now is not quite what was exciting a few years ago, but I'm very happy to report that Carson now flips from his back to his front. It took him almost 6 months to do it (except for that one time he flipped over in his crib, but there was no one to witness it) but he's doing it. Repeatedly.

Only thing is, Jeff hasn't seen it yet.

He flipped over for me twice yesterday morning and then 4 times in a row while mom was here last night. So yay!

The race track/casino was fun. None of our horses ever won, I think Rob was the big winner - winning $50 and change on a $12 bet. But then. Then we headed downstairs to the slot machines. Julie, hitting the high traffic areas (apparently those are the machines to play) won $500! Holy crap! Way to go Jules!

Carrie gave me a beautiful hand blown tea light holder/vase with a beautiful card that made me cry. She's good like that. I meant to take pictures of all of us out last night, but forgot my camera. Poo. Carson apparently was wonderful for mom. He didn't cry once (Carson rarely cries) and went to bed at 10 to 8 and slept till about 7 this morning. I love that type of night. I even slept longer, till about 7:30.

Not sure what today holds, probably not a lot. Maybe making my garden in the backyard and if Kiddytown is open, getting a new carseat for him.

Carson's having a visit

Tonight from his grandma so that Jeff and I (along with a few friends) can go to the Rideau Carleton Race Track to have dinner and place a few bets. I'm pretty excited, I've never been before. We're celebrating Julie and I's birthday, so mom's babysitting (and spending the night - sleeping in Carson's bedroom on the spare bed that's never been used yet. She loves the idea of sleeping in the same room as him)

I think we've succeeded in pushing his bedtime back to 7:30 (instead of 7). This morning we went to church, a quick visit at grandma's, and then out to breakfast. The whole time he was laughing, blowing bubbles and playing with his toes. We are such lucky parents.

GO SENS SO

We just made it into the Stanley Cup Finals.

The calls are coming in - the plans are being made - the nights are being scheduled - visits are being had.

This is tres exciting. Bring the cup home boys!!

xo

The weekend is here

And I couldn't be happier! The sun is out, our fence is built, the hockey game is today at 2, it's the long weekend, what more could I ask for?

Yesterday afternoon marked the first day that Carson chose not to nap. At all. But he was in good spirits, so we headed out to Julie and Tim's for a BBQ. I figured Carson would sleep on the car ride over. Nope. Then we fed him dinner, Jeff gave him a bottle and I figured he would crash in Maisie's crib. Nope. He wanted to be included in the fun. So he sat downstairs with Jeff for a while, then got really sleepy so we said goodbye and headed home. 5 minutes into the car ride he was asleep. A successful transfer to his crib, and it was lights out until 6 am this morning. I'm going to assume today will be filled with naps, that usually happens a day after he doesn't get much sleep.

He's squealing now. A.lot. It's really kind of cute, experimenting with different sounds he can make and it's quite funny. He'll honestly sit there for about half an hour and just screech, squeal, yell and then laugh. I really should get it on video. I haven't taken video in a long time, and I should. Jeff and I went through the blog the other day and watched the video I had posted and it's almost like I had forgotten what he was like back then. For some reason I can't post video anymore, but I should be taking it for my own viewing pleasure.

Today is filled with gardening plans, putting the top on the gazebo, getting the yard ready and then hopefully hitting the Corel Center for the RED ZONE before/during the game. GO SENS GO!!!!

Poor little gaffer

He's just so tired. He didn't nap much yesterday and only got home to bed around 9:30. He woke up at 4:00 this morning just screaming. He absolutely wanted nothing to do with nursing so I had to make a bottle. Youch. Then he went back to sleep to 8am. The rest of the day didn't involve much sleeping (except an hour nap at Carrie's), so this afternoon I had to let him cry. That was hard. I always said I would do it, but the chance just never came up. A few times we've had to let him cry for about 5 minutes and then he would fall asleep. But this afternoon we knew he was tired. He would fall asleep while I was nursing him, and as soon as I put him in his crib he'd wake up and cry. But his eyes were closed. And he was turning from side to side. He just couldn't get that comfy spot. About 40 minutes later he went to sleep. He would cry - scream - be quiet - moan - cry - moan on and off the whole time. I turned the monitors off cause I couldn't bare to listen to it. He finally slept for about and hour and went down super easy tonight, without so much as a peep.

Jeff and I are watching the hockey game, I have a load of laundry on, and I'm searching for a yummy recipe for dinner tomorrow night. I think Rakhi and Shamil are coming over.

Oh - and moms? Today's Parent is AWESOME. I have a subscription and absoloutely love it. I know I'll keep them and refer back to them later on, lots of the information is for toddlers and beyond but they have great articles, recipes, advice, coupons, everything. And in this month's issue, you can sign up for a 3 year subscription for $46.00 - totally worth the money.

We're back!

And we had a fantastic trip. Everyone loved Carson and he was a little angel. All his aunts and uncles kept asking if he was real because they hadn't heard him cry ever. Then it got a bit past his bedtime and he let out a wail for less then a minute and they were relieved :) He met so many people, slept in so many different places, was held by everyone, fed by everyone and he kept his smile throughout it all. His cousins loved him, his grandparents threatened to eat all his toes and they just loved him to death.


Grammy and Grampy took him into their room after I nursed him in the mornings so Jeff and I had quite a few sleep ins, which was wonderful. When he was on people overload, we put him in the exercauser and he happily entertained himself for as long as we needed him to. We went on a few walks (not too many cause it was super windy) and he Erin and Jan agreed to be his godparents. We are getting him baptized in PEI by our priest from Ottawa (who also married us, and is from Jeff's hometown in PEI) on July 15th.



This morning we went over to Carrie's and saw quite a few friends and babies. It was great because all the kids there are very close to Carson's age so it's good to see how they are coming along, what they are doing, how big they are etc... I know we aren't supposed to compare, but really, who doesn't?

Now - uploading songs to my IPOD I got for Mother's Day :)

See you next week!

I am just starting packing now (have I mentioned I am the Queen of Procrastination?), and we leave on a 6 am flight tomorrow morning :) We are so excited to go and for everyone to meet our little man.

Who, is absoloutely adorable. Each and every day is a new thing with him. I swear he looks different, older, each day. He has the funniest expressions (grandma was talking like Donald Duck today and he kept turning his head towards her with this deadpanned face like "what the hell is that?" - hilarious). He smiles at everyone who stops to look at him and he talks all.the.time.

I love him and can't stop hugging, kissing and squeezing him.

I'm sure we will have lots of pictures when we come back.

Byebye!

Missing Duck

We went for a walk yesterday and I must have dropped his duck when i stopped one of the several times to put the blanket over his feet so he was hidden from the sun.
I retraced our steps, hoping that if someone found the duck they would have put it on a fence post or somewhere we could see it. But, alas, he's nowhere to be found.


He LOVES this duck. I'm going to have to search for one. All you mom's out there, if you've seen them, let me know! It's a duck head with a little blanket attached to it with satin ribbon around the blanket.


Update: I'm told the duck is at Babies R Us. Wonder what I'm doing tonight?

Back from the doctor

And Carson is given the thumb's up for travelling this Friday. There is no ear infection (phew!) and he has a little bit of croup but it sounds to be clearing up. The dry patches are excema and we were given a prescription for a topical steroid cream and a list of a few creams we could get that are unscented, sensitive skin that would be good for him. Don't keep him in the bath too long (just 5 minutes) and get the cream on ASAP. We normally give him a longer bath, just cause he loves it so much, but I'm good about getting the moisturizer on him right away because I do the same with myself - cream goes on much better when your skin is a little wet. And we always say, Carson is just a little person, so what's good for us is good for him.

I'm happy that he's healthy. He had fallen asleep in my arms in the waiting room (our appt was at 1:30, right during his nap time) and he woke up, on the doctor's table, first person he saw was the doctor and he... smiled. Laughed when the stethescope was on his chest and was smiling at the doctor the whole time. What baby does that? I love him!

Taking it easy

Carson and I are going to take it easy this week. We're leaving bright and early on Friday morning so the next few days we're going to slowly pack, get well rested, clean the house and spend lots of time outside gardening and getting our back and front yard ready for the summer. The coming weekend is going to be super busy so we are going to relax before it!


Unfortunately, Jeff's chest cold has found it's way to both Carson and I. I don't care much that I'm sick, I can take drugs and deal with it but my heart goes out to Carson. When he coughs he sounds like a seal, it's horrible. It doesn't seem to be bugging him that much, but it kills me. He also has oval shaped red dry patches on his back and now chest. It's just dry skin but it looks a bit weird, the ovals and all. His upper lip and chin are super chapped right now too. Again, he doesn't seem to be bothered by it, but when we put him in the bath last night he started to cry. The water wasn't too hot, it wasn't later than his bedtime and yet he cried (which he NEVER does in the bath) so we were thinking maybe the water was stinging the dry skin? We zipped through his bath and put him to bed (which he cried himself to sleep for a couple of minutes, which again, is abnormal, but I've chalked up to his chest cold).

I've been putting a bit of olive oil on the dry patches. Vaseline on his chin and upper lip. Anyone else have any suggestions for the dry skin? How about the chest cold? I'm trying to call his doctor right now but it's busy. I have the humidifier in his room, I've opened the windows during the day (they say fresh air is good for the cold) and I'm not sure there is much else I can do but I want to talk to the doctor anyways.


This past weekend was super busy, lots of time spent with friends and family and Carson was a trooper through it all. He's so good with people, he'll go to anyone and give out smiles and snuggles all day long. He's so lucky to have all this family surrounding him, with aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas and cousins who love him so much. And this coming weekend he's going to meet more family who I'm sure will feel the same way once they meet him.


Oh! And he put his toes in his mouth for the first time. Well, they would have been his toes if his shoes weren't on. I don't have a picture of it though. Here are just some shots from the weekend.

His cousins love lying in bed with him:

Jeff and Isabelle:

Isabelle and Maya:

Carson:

Hip Hip Hooray

It's the weekend! We had a busy week, cousins from England coming to stay, big long walks, shopping, cleaning (the cleaning lady is on vacation!), BBQs and now it's the tulip festival this weekend. I really want to try and make it down there and get some Carson-in-the-tulips pictures but we'll see. Kim is visiting from Vancouver, it's Kate and LJ's stag tonight, we're staying the night at mom's so we don't have to take a $50 cab ride home (and grandma and nono are babysitting Carson tonight) and then tomorrow we are having a big family BBQ.


Carson woke up at 5am the past couple days in a row but let me sleep in till 6 this morning! He now stays in his crib for a good 20 minutes just playing, he doesn't wake up and need to eat immediately as he used to.

Here he is hanging out on the patio swing. He's SO happy when he's outside



Here's Carson and I, his shirt says it all.

After eating lunch:

Being held by Grandma in her garden:

I'm really struggling with finding him something to wear to his baptism this summer. It would be different if he was only going to be 3 months old being baptized, then I could put him in a baptism dress. But, he's going to be 7 months. And Carson is a real BOY boy, so no dress for him. I found a pair of pants from the Gap yesterday, so I picked them up and am leaving the tags on in case I find something better. They are a crepe type of material with a nice light lining inside (if it's a super hot day I can just take them off after the church) so I can just pair it with a nice crisp short sleeved button up shirt, and a white hat and we are set. What do you think of the pants?

Too early

Carson insisted on waking up at 5 this morning. Maybe it was because of his 4 hour nap yesterday afternoon?

You can't win 'em all

Tee hee

We went strollercizing this morning. After the walk/run, there is a quick 15 minute pilates session. Carson was awake, so I took him out of his stroller and put him on my mat. He was lying on his back and I was doing my push ups. The sun was in his eyes so I put him under me so I was blocking the sun. Every time I would go down, my nose would be almost touching his nose and he'd laugh. A BIG laugh. Accompanied by a squeal. So, my push ups were not so successfull because he in turn, was making me laugh.

I'm going to do them now, he's sleeping :)

Oh (Part 2)

John is coming over tonight to get me to sign a few things and we are opening up Carson's RESP. I got his SIN today so we can do all the paperwork. I have been saving all his child tax care cheques and they are ready to be deposited. Then we'll set up all the PACs to top up his little savings account to get the gov't to contribute their $400.

We discussed it and researched it enough to know that yes indeed we will set up an RESP. It can be used for any type of secondary education so even if Carson isn't university-bound, he can go to school for any number of things (college, trade school etc...) and if he doesn't - there are still options.

We got his birth certificate yesterday and it's so cute! Ok, so maybe cute isn't the perfect word, but it's a birth certificate! For our son! Crazy :)

Ha, can you tell Carson was asleep for 4 hours this afternoon? I wrote 4 posts. Jeff's just putting him down now and I'm waiting to go to the gym until I'm sure he's done for good.

He stayed awake in his crib for about half and hour and then went to sleep. I'm following his lead. Nite.

Oh! Me Me Me

Now, about me.

When we were in Florida I bought two pairs of pants that I couldn't remotely fit into. They wouldn't even go past my thighs (ugh). Each week or so, I've been trying them on, and have been getting the tiniest bit closer to fitting. Yesterday after I was bummed that the scale didn't move again (after 5 walks, 3 runs and 2 body pump classes), I woke up this morning and was getting ready to go shopping and tried them on. AND THEY FIT. Woo hoo!

That is all.

Bye.

CJ

As he's called by a few special people, is 5 months today.

5 months. That's crazy. He's growing up every day. Now Jeff and I know exactly what makes him laugh. I know what his cries mean. I know when he's frusterated, when he wants to be alone, when he wants to be cuddled and when he wants to jump. He's starting to know our family and loves all the attention he gets, especially from his cousins.

We went down to Lincoln Fields today to get his SIN (and I changed my name from Walker to Gallant, on mine). He made friends with everyone in line, giving smiles out like they were free. The lady asked if it was our first, we said yes and she said it's obvious (but in a good way). I gave her my information (my name was on his birth certificate as the applicant) and she turned to Jeff and said "I assume your the father" and Jeff said "I assume the same thing". She burst out laughing. Jeff constantly makes people laugh, it's obvious where Carson gets it from.

We came home, had some lunch (I had a delicious tortilla with hummus, chicken, lettuce, roasted red pepper, Carson had rice cereal) put the little guy to bed and now I'm taking care of the house that I've neglected the past couple days and wait for the phone call telling me my gazebo is in! Then later on I'll start to make a list of what to bring to PEI, I've never flown to PEI and he's doing it at 5 months.

The good part

About him going to bed a tad later than usual? He sleeps in a tad longer than usual :) I've been getting 8 hour sleeps every night and feel wonderful. Today - Costco and Place D'Orleans (the latter is completely dependant upon Carson), then a lengthly walk this afternoon and BodyPump tonight.