Bittersweet

Pin It Now! We locked down J's daycare for next year yesterday.  This is such great news as it's with a daycare we didn't initially think we'd be able to get him into and he'll be going with on of my friend's sons who is basically the same age as him...but now that my return to work date doesn't seem like some distant date in the future I'm already starting to panic slightly.

The thought of rushing through our days
getting ready
packing lunches
commuting
dinner
clean up
bedtime
do it all over the next day makes me nervous.  Right now our days are pretty structured and flow easily and because I'm home on mat leave I do meals, cleaning etc when J is napping.  I can't figure out how we'll do it once I'm back at work but I just keep reminding myself that millions of people make it work and really there is no point in trying to figure it out now because no matter how I think it will be it will inevitably be different so there's really no point in worrying about it now*.
*lesson above learned earlier this year when I thought I knew everything I needed to know about having a baby so skipped every birthing/parenting class and decided to just wing it ;)

So I am trying to instead focus on this summer.  On enjoying this special time that we have just Jonah and I.  On going for walks, swinging at the park, playing at the splash pad.

And when he's napping and I'm caught up on chores I scrap.  I will miss that a lot when I go back to work ;)

I'm finally getting caught up with my month by month posts:

I'm really loving these month by month pages - I'm proud that I've stuck to it this long.  I really wanted to do project 12 this year but only got as far as January so I'm pretty happy I've got 8 months of these done already....even though the thought of that makes me cringe a bit with the realization that my itty bitty baby is now 2/3rds of the way to 1 year old!

sometimes

Pin It Now! Sometimes i go through kind of a rut with scrapbooking.  I kind of lose my mojo a bit.

Or i do a page and i just don't feel like it really gels....

Then I look back at my books - at memories from a few years ago - read about how I was feeling then, what we were doing and I remember why I love scrapping so much and why I'll stick to it.  It's therapeutic for me to be able to create.

It is SO hard to describe why you scrapbook to someone who doesn't - this video by Shimelle puts it all pretty much into perfect perspective. I have totally run into people that just don't get why I do what I do.  I'm sure they think of scrapbooking as just slapping stickers and photos onto a page.  It's hard to describe that it's more than just pretty paper.  Even for myself sometimes I get sucked into that mentality of thinking that that's what it's all about.  That is a fun part of it - but that's not the important part to me.

If i were my friend Meaghan I probably wouldn't need to scrapbook as much - that girl really is a rolodex of dates - she just remembers everything (hi meag!)...but not me - I forget pretty much everything.

And so I'm glad that I scrapbook.

I'm glad i started scrapbooking before i had kids.
I have lots of pages to remind me who i am.

I'm glad that i've continued to scrap now that i have jonah.
I'm not sure if he'll grow to love his books but i know i'll love to look back and remember these early months with fondness.

I'm glad that I write down how I'm feeling at a given point.
I love to be able to appreciate the here and now - to focus on the good things.  To remember that although things may be stressful and busy the important things stay the same...that it really is all about the little things - and you can't blink or you'll miss them.

Wordless Wednesday: Beat the Heat edition

Pin It Now!

I love having all four seasons - it baffles me that it can be SO cold and then SO hot all of the sudden.  Right now it is record breaking HOT!  We're doing what we can to stay cool

Swinging:

Sliding:

 Hanging out with pals:

 Getting ice cream:

 Going up north:

 Even the dogs are hot:

 This pic doesn't really have to do with staying cool but I just love it:

 Swimming! J's all time fave thing to do

 Ben's fave way to beat the heat is to sleep (look at his legs - ha!)

 and sleep some more:

and finally when it's too hot to go outside we just stay inside and play games like Baby Zoo (Ben was a penguin yesterday....today he may be a panda, we'll see ;)):

8 months

Pin It Now! Weighs 21lbs10oz
Measures 29inches
Lovingly called squishy, still so roly.

Total routine baby. As witnessed by last weeks 8 month dr apt where his beloved 2nd nap was missed. Poor thing had an absolute fit @ the drs office -he got to play w the germ toys and we ended up leaving the office in just a diaper (and a dirty one at that) - also reflects where I've gotten to as a mom that I'd travel so light. But note to self - bring at least one diaper and some wipes.  His whole weekend was thrown off by that one missed nap - we were away for the weekend and he just did not sleep well.  For him (and I am guessing for most babies) tired = not fun.  Thankfully he adjusted right back once we were home.  

He's sleeping 10-12 hrs a night plus two solid or 3 naps a day if the first two are shorter.  Insert hallelujah chorus.  We've got a simple plan- when J is cranky I put him down. He just seems to fare better this way. He'll still cry at naps but just for a few mins and then always wakes up happy. Gone are the days where we can go anywhere during naptime unless its an environment equipped for napping - but its worth it.

Loves loves loves his food. Sweet potato, squash, broccoli, chicken, chickpea, avocado, cereals. Not crazy about bottles - stopped nursing completely.  Our dr said this is normal and nothing to worry about.
Always moving. Even when he's falling asleep he's rolling around or moving one of his legs or arms.

Really good at crawling position, can turn on a dime. Hasn't mastered motoring yet.

Loves people. Loves to smile and just watch.

Good little babbler.

Still gets stuck sometimes on his stomach at night and naps and needs help tipping back over and getting re-set (thanks for that term Linds!) with his soother and bunny.

Wearing mostly 12-18 month clothes but buying 1year or 2t when I do shop for him. He's so round that it works and I figure better to have something for longer vs something he'll grow out of quicker.

Loves cruising in the Baby Ergo. We do most of our errands this way as he's graduated out of the bucket seat.

So responsive to music. I play it for him  almost all day when he's awake. The other day he was fussing a bit and I turned on Taylor Swift's 15 on itunes - after the first few guitar chords and he was smiling away. We listen to iTunes genius mixes almost all day.  

Was not a yoga baby. We signed up for classes and got through one. He hated it. The silence, the lack of movement. Wasn't for him. We're now doing a bootcamp class (I workout and he plays) and its much better.

Obsessed with water. Such a water baby. Loves swimming - pool, lake, bath - doesn't matter. We also go to the splash pad almost every day and into our kiddie pool in the back yard. Its his favourite hobby.  He squeals when he realizes we're at the splash pad. So cute.

Starting to like to feed himself with a spoon if I load it up for him and put it in front of him. I'm working on not worrying about the mess this creates :).

Can now feed himself a baby mum-mum.

Likes to take Ben's cuz and put it in his mouth. This is his second favourite hobby and why I need hawk eyes because as much as I'm fine with the french dog kisses dog toy in mouth is where I have to (attempt to) draw the line.

Things we're calling him these days - sweet boy, pet, puppy.

Happy 8 month birthday my sweet pet!


In other news good thing I am keeping this record on here - I thought I had my monthly pages up to date and just realized I have only done up to month 5!  

Scrappy Saturday and some links to share

Pin It Now!

I found this site a few weeks ago via this blog and bookmarked it then - I was excited to see this article on The Star.com this morning stating that it's a site from Toronto (from the TTC pic in one of the photos I had a feeling it was - so neat!)   

I'm already thinking about J's first birthday - I want to make to make these amazing Sesame Street cake pops...except this morning I tried to make just regular ones and had a few challenges....so I think I need to practice a few times!  

Here's a recent layout using lots of Making Memories Vintage Findings - love this line!  I know that pink is not typically a "boy" colour but I love it and I think this page is babyish enough that it's just fine.  

Winding down from a busy week and gearing up for another one full of fun and visits...can't wait to see two of my fave girls and these two babe's next week...they'll definitely be bigger than at our last visit

Finally I swore I posted this layout already but I guess not...documenting some of our fave reads of late

Have a happy Saturday!

making your own baby food - it really is easy (honest)

Pin It Now! there was a lot about having a baby that i didn't know (everything) - and there were some things that i just figured i wouldn't be "into"....cloth diapers (check), breastfeeding in public (check)  and making my own baby food...but i was wrong on this one.  For some reason I had this notion that it would be too difficult to make my own baby food and I figured the packaged stuff was fine.
1. I don't know why I thought it would be difficult because I'm not a lost cause in the kitchen....I'm no Martha but I do like to cook and bake.
2. I didn't realize how expensive the jarred/frozen stuff was.....and honestly?  It doesn't taste great.  Esp the meat kind (yick!) so...I've ventured into the world of making my own baby food.

So far I've made:
chicken (twice, once breast meat and then I read that babies should have full fat meats so the second time I used thigh meat)
butternut squash
broccoli
pear and apple sauce
sweet potato
carrot
chickpea

The easiest was chickpeas....open a can and whir it up with the handy blender and bingo.
Sidenote I really wanted the baby bullet until I realized that my handy blender is basically the same thing without a little happy face on it (I was still a bit tempted)

The toughest so far was the pear and apple sauce - I followed this recipe and it wasn't tough just took a long time to peel everything.

In case you are interested in trying this yourself here are a few things to get you started
This site is awesome - it has been my go to for figuring out how to cook things

These summer days are just whizzing by...I am having so much fun enjoying this time with my little man.  A few things I don't want to forget:
-how J's hair is like a treasure troll's when it's clean - you can make it into several different hairstyles including the comb over and the ever popular einstein 'do
-how when he's lying down and looking towards his toes his mouth goes into a little perfect "o" shape - it's so cute, we can't figure out if it's because he thinks he can see better that way or if he does it to get his lips out of his line of vision
-how he just stopped doing his little "sigh" after his sneezes....he used to do this breathy little "ahhhhh" after each sneeze...and one day this week it just stopped.

Also - for any of you new moms and mom's to be or really anyone who just likes a good laugh you have to check out Amalah's blog...she's one of those people who can just write the way she thinks...and her thoughts are ones that I've definitely had before!