Quite the day

Pin It Now! I have had quite the day today - yesterday I went on a shopping trip with my girlfriend and her little girl - we had a blast but by the end of the day when we piled out of the car it was a scramble to get everything in the house.

I always lock the car doors - but last night I must have forgotten.

Our car got broken into and our ipod along with a few gift cards and my wallet was stolen - it took me forever to piece it all together...I looked for the ipod when I got in the car this morning but thought maybe Kirk had taken for his drive to work.  I just assumed my wallet was in my bag (which I had brought in the house last night).  When I got to Walmart I decided to get an iced coffee before I shopped - I realized after I ordered my wallet wasn't in my bag --- so I told the cashier and a nice lady behind my paid for my coffee.  She didn't know then the type of day I was having...heck I didn't even know..I just assumed my wallet was in my car - but when I got back to check - nope, not there.  Then I came home and thought maybe it was here somewhere and I just hadn't remembered to put it in my car but nope not here.  Then I started remembering how it was a bit of a scramble getting the kids out of the car yesterday, how we were hot and tired and excited about our shopping so I probably just forgot.  Luckily my diaper bag made it inside and that had our passports in it (which is going to come in handy for replacing everything!)

Moral of the story is...I am disappointed, more annoyed than anything about the stuff I have to replace...but I am so touched by that lady - a total stranger who bought me a coffee...she had no clue what I was going through but it really made a bad situation seem ok, hopeful even - and made me realize that the good outweighs the bad.


Here is most recent Turtle layout - we're using the Authentique line this month and I love it!

Layout 1 - hidden element challenge - I chose hidden journalling:

In other news baby Jonah turned 9 months old on Monday!  Eeeeee!!! How did this happen?

My days are now filled with a TON of movement...chasing more accurately. I think this month has been the biggest in terms of changes.

This month Jonah is:

-Crawling like it's his job - from room to room, he's a quick little crawler!
-Saying "babababa" to basically describe everything.  He'll do it back to you on occasion - it's such a cute little noise!  He alternates between that and almost a clearing of the throat noise - particularly when he wants someone to pay attention to him.  It's cute!
-Getting pickier about food - not as into purees at all but much more interested in self feeding.  There was a ton of food on the list before but now he mostly just seems interested in what we are eating.....which I know is good but a struggle when we're having typical summer food like salads etc.
-Major flirt - LOVES his ladies, yesterday he put on quite the show at Target for the cashiers
-Loves to stand....can't pull himself up quite yet but if I place him somewhere he'll just hang out there until he eventually falls on his bum
-Loves to play with cars and spin the wheels, can find wheels on anything (open dishwasher as an example)
-Loves to crawl over to the door stop and spring it so it makes a boing noise

Just woke up from his nap so got to run!

xoxo

Authentique Sharesies

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Just popping in with a little scrapbook share: 

This month at The Scrapping Turtle the Design Team is working with a fantastic new line called Authentique - I am using the Blissful line and I love it!  

We are getting back into the everyday groove over here after a week away with family - there's lots of crawling and babbling going on these days - so cute! 

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

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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

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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!

Seven

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Really? 

Seven Months? (well it's tomorrow to be exact but I just felt like blogging it today ;))

Look at this giant!

I know I say this every month that time is just rushing by but this month seems especially bittersweet - now I am officially over halfway done my maternity leave - and I know that living in Canada it is such a luxury to get an entire year off but it really is just flying by.

And so - at SEVEN months Jonah...:

• Sits! This is a big one and has allowed me a ton of freedom - and an especially big thank you from my back and neck

• Naps regularly - equally happy about this one - it has been so amazing, he's actually turned into a "routine" baby....I always felt weird before this month when people would ask me what his routine was b/c I honestly wanted to say to them..."mmmm pretty much whatever the little dictator wants" ;)...but persistance paid off in this case.  And by that I mean me lying on his nursery floor for hours with one hand stuck through the crib rails (really? I cannot believe I did that now)
• Eats....and eats and eats and eats...3 meals a day and 4 bottles/nursing sessions - eats pretty much whatever is put in front of him, rice cereal, oat cereal, carrots, sweet potato, lentils, chicken, apple sauce, bananas - the list goes on.  Weighed 19lbs11oz at his 6 month apt and 21lbs4oz two weeks later.  Porky piglet ;) 
• Loves to drink water - I am very happy about this one and will do everything I can to continue to encourage this one, I don't think I'll offer him juice or anything other than milk or water for the first little while...I don't think there is a need when he's getting what he needs from whole fruit and veggies.
• Had his first fever :( - was so sad, poor thing got it on what was our hottest day yet - so we schlepped to the clinic with just a onesie on him sweating all the way - they did a few tests and said it wasn't in his chest or ears (which was good) so we just had to sort of wait it out.  Was so sweltering that night that we ended up setting up camp in the family room on the couch cushions where it was a bit cooler and thankfully his fever broke that night.
• Thinks animal noises are the coolest 
• Loves to be naked.  Seriously probably his favourite thing ever.  Flails around like mad.  He's a true boy.
• We've started reading two books before bed every night - Bear of My Heart and On The Night You Were Born...both are fantastic, Bear of my heart is perfect for him since he's our little bear. 

I'm also behind at posting my Scrapping Turtle layouts from the last few weeks - this month we're working with Bo Bunny - I am using the Blast Off line and I love it - perfect for boyish pages

Have a great day!

6 months

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6 months. Half a year.  Impossible to believe. I knew I would say this when the time came but didn’t realize how unreal it would actually feel.

So now this boy is 6 months old!  

He’s fully graduated from 6 months clothing just in time for his half-birthday – he’s now in 12 months and in some things even 18 months.  His ham hock legs are just too big for 6 month things, we did the jump and pull a few times with some of his pants but then realized it was all in vain.  So now he’s more comfy in bigger pants!

He cut his 4th tooth this past weekend so he is now getting pretty toothy with that grin of his.

He weighed in at 19lbs11oz and measured 27 inches at his 6 month appointment - I think that puts him more mid range -- he just grew so fast there for a few months.

I feel like I’m living on a different planet than I was two months ago – now that J sleeps, I sleep and that makes all the difference in the world.  He goes down at around 7 and wakes between 5 and 6 but then goes back to sleep until around 6 or 7 plus he naps!  In his crib!  This has been the best change by far – he is a happier baby because of it and I’m a happier mom.  I’m now getting to do all of the things that I thought mat leave would be full of – cooking, baking, cleaning – it’s been fun.  I feel like my house is finally somewhat in order – closets are organized, little repairs around the house are getting done.  I love that feeling.

He loves his jumparoo and excersaucer – except hasn’t really figured out the bouncing part.

Has started noticing other babies – for the first time when he saw Keira and Hudson he kind of knew they were there.

He is still working on rolling – I think those big leggies are a bit of a hindrances.

Working on sitting – still a bit of tippage going on

Eating lots of food!  He loves brown rice cereal and rice and banana cereal – we tried peas but those were not a crowd pleaser but he just tried sweet potatoes and loved them.  

He likes to drink water and has a bottle with his cereal. 

I really can't remember life without him :)

One Little word 2011

Pin It Now! Last year I chose Create as my One Little Word

Ironic really because in 2010 we made a baby!

This year I've thought a lot about my word - I chose it a while ago just didn't have time to document it or why I chose it.  For 2011 I chose Faith.

I was the most nervous pregnant person on the planet.  I read that "what to expect" book every day.  I was terrified to tell anyone at first for fear that I would miscarry.  I Googled everything there was to Google.  Every little kick and flutter of the baby in my belly made my heart race a bit.  I read a million books about what to do once baby was here (I retrospect I should just go and publish my own book that basically tells people to prepare not to sleep for a good 12 weeks time and forget about labour pains, after the baby arrives is when you're really in for a treat "down there"..but it's all worth it  and after that your life will become normal again!)...but I digress - before I had Jonah I was so scared - felt so unprepared.

I knew then that I didn't want to be a nervous mom.  I didn't want to be worrying all the time, raising him to be a person who was scared of everything around every little corner.  I am a worrier by nature so I definitely cannot say that I will accomplish this completely - but it is my goal.

I chose Faith as my word for 2011 because it encompasses pretty neatly what I want to have and show for him.  Faith that he will be ok, that I'll be ok, that as a family of three we'll figure it all out - that I'll try my best and that will be good enough.  Faith that he'll be ok without me - at first in his crib, then as he gets bigger with a sitter, then at school, then living on his own when he goes away to school - faith that I'll raise him to be a strong sensitive loving proud boy - a boy who will turn into a great man.  A boy who has a strong sense of worth but is not boastful.

I was laughing the other day because I looked up his horoscope - Scorpio:
Scorpios are the most intense, profound, powerful characters in the zodiac. Even when they appear self-controlled and calm there is a seething intensity of emotional energy under the placid exterior. They are like the volcano not far under the surface of a calm sea, it may burst into eruption at any moment. But those of us who are particularly perceptive will be aware of the harnessed aggression, the immense forcefulness, magnetic intensity, and often strangely hypnotic personality under the tranquil, but watchful composure of Scorpio. In conventional social gatherings they are pleasant to be with, thoughtful in conversation, dignified, and reserved, yet affable and courteous; they sometimes possess penetrating eyes which make their shyer companions feel naked and defenseless before them.

Pretty much sums him up ;) 

Easter recap and Scrapping Turtle weekly reveal

Pin It Now! Easter 2011 was a big success - we have hosted family before but always stuck to somewhat safe menus like brunches or bbq's - this was our first real fancy meal and it couldn't have turned out better!

It was kind of fun having two events back to back too because the prep work was kind of a 2 for one deal -- we did  a little candy buffet (which btw  by the end of the weekend gave me a stomach ache from even looking at it - I have since entered a "healthy eating phase" - bought a ton of veggies yesterday and made a soup last night - I think I am officially on a junk food cleanse)

 pretty flowers from costco - these are now on their last legs but I can't bear to throw them out just yet - it's not very often that we have so many fresh flowers in the house and they are so nice

 my little jonah bunny - he was SUCH a good boy this weekend - it was  pretty much a weekend full of his favorite things - people, lots of loud noises and attention...and as much as it's been a learning process for both of us these last few months (like in the sleep department) one thing I know to be thankful for is that he's such a portable, adaptable little guy, he just loves to be carted around and would be perfectly happy being carried around town all day (which came in handy on Thursday when I had to get ready ;))

 Dinner #1 - success!  Delicious menu courtesy of Dish Entertains cookbook and prepared by us!  The only thing that was a bit of a pain is the risotto is a bit time consuming - but we were all visiting in the kitchen anyway so it wasn't a big deal (just requires constant stirring)

 Dinner #2 - a bit more simple but just a delicious; homemade burgers and shrimps that we served after an afternoon of walking around town and eating yummy appies.

 Me and my fabulous sister in law - I am so happy for Jonah that he'll grow up having so many great people in his life, so special that the people that are dear to me are quickly becoming special people to him as well.

And onto some scrapping news - yesterday was reveal day at The Scrapping Turtle - our challenge was to create a layout using our April supplies based on this ad

it was our last challenge of the month so I was running low on supplies but I actually love the way this one turned out, it is so far from my "typical" style:

Have a great day!