December 21, 2014

Sullivan: 9 Months

nine months old

Dear Sullivan,

By now, it's obvious that I've fallen a bit behind with your monthly posts. These are some of my favourite posts to write though, going through all my little notes I quickly jot down during the month, in efforts to not forget any little detail I want to cherish for all of time. These posts are a little bitter-sweet to write. Every day with you brings something new, and your growing both physically and mentally at warp speeds right before our very eyes. It's an amazing thing to witness. But at the same time, some days I want to freeze time - to keep you at one size and at one stage for a just a little bit longer. Sometimes it seems almost unfair that you have to do so much growing and changing in this first year - can't we slow it down and spread it out? I'm not ready for you to be a walking, talking toddler in just a few more short months!

morning light morning night
climbing stairs climbing stairs

This month you have turned into one busy, busy little boy! You have been pushing yourself around backwards all over the house, only stopping once you get stuck in a corner. It's pretty impressive how well you could get around this way! It seemed like you were never going to forward crawl, but after several weeks of pushing yourself around with your arms and rocking on all fours, you officially started crawling on November 1 and you haven't looked back! From a crawling position, you can even push yourself into a sitting one. You are pulling yourself up on everything and anything. From end tables, to your crib, to laundry baskets, to your toys, to the bookshelves, to my legs...you name it, you try to pull yourself up on it! It's both exciting and terrifying. And a huge wake-up call to our totally un-babyproofed home.

crawling nine months looking for toys climbing up bookshelves

Your appetite has been off the charts this month! You went from enjoying solid foods to temper tantrums in the highchair when the food doesn't get on your try, or in your mouth, fast enough! I've learnt to have the food ready before I put you in your highchair. You've developed quite the pincher grip, and hand eye coordination. Peas are your favourite food to eat and it's so adorable to watch you shovel them into your mouth with alternating hands. Your second bottom tooth has also finally come in and while it was sad to say goodbye to your gummy smile, your two little teeth are so darn cute! I'm still nursing you, but only every 4 -5 hours during the day and usually once in the middle of the night. I guess all this eating has paid off because this month you weighed 18 pounds and 15 ounces with a height of 28 inches! You've completely grown out of all your 3-6 months clothing, although it's still a challenge to find pants that fit your skinny little waist.

nine months old

We spent two nights in a fancy hotel in Calgary and you were a dream to travel with - sleeping the entire 3 hour trip both ways. You had no problems sleeping in the hotel room and you even napped! (Miracle!). We went swimming in the hotel pool and had it all to ourselves. We even took you out to your first restaurant dinner at The Keg. I ordered you your own little plate of food, but you were only interested in eating my mashed potatoes and flirting with the people at the table behind us.

swimming at the Delta in Calgary post-swimming naps post-swimming naps

You are quite the little social butterfly, especially when other babies are in the room. You love to grab at them and have even planted a few open mouthed kisses on unsuspecting babies. I try and work on "gentle" with you as you like to slap everyone on their head, but you just laugh when I do this.

dance class dance class barre class adventures of sully and harrison

Halloween also happened this month and we dressed you up as a bat and I have never seen anything cuter in my life! A few days before Halloween we had a little party with all of your friends from our New Mom's group and then we stopped in Red Deer on our drive home from Calgary so we could take you trick-or-treating with your big cousins. You were a great sport as we carried you door to door with them, taking in all the costumes and decorations.

baby bat

At the beginning of November, you battled your very first fever, which lasted for a few days. It was heartbreaking to see you so uncomfortable and your daddy and I felt pretty helpless. We didn't do much for those three days, other than lay on the couch together. You've always been a very cuddly baby, but with the fever you became inseparable. Luckily, you recovered within a few days, but I hope it's a long, long time before I have to see you so sick again.

cuddles cuddles

Sully, my dear baby, every month your personality develops further and your daddy and I just can't get over how funny, interested and curious you are about everything. You remind us to slow down and enjoy all the little things in life. Seeing the world through your eyes is both a blessing and an honour.

nine months old nine months old nine months old nine months old

I love you to the moon and back,
Mommy, xoxo

December 18, 2014

Canadian Blogger Christmas Swap 2014

For the past three years, the lovely Leigh and Lindsey have been hosting a Canadian Blogger Christmas Swap, but this was my first year participating. When I saw the signup post, I thought it would be a fun thing to participate in (who doesn't love to receive mail?) and a great way to discover some other Canadian bloggers! The rules were simple: send a Christmas ornament in the mail by December 2, with a price limit of $20.

I was paired up with Erin, the author of the blog Uptown Wife. Erin lives in Ontario and this will be her first Christmas with her son too! It's been great discovering a new blogger, especially another first-time mommy.

Erin's package blew me away when I received it! She sent me two awesome ornaments: one for the Harry Potter fan in me and another to celebrate and remember my first Christmas with Sully. And totally unexpected, Erin also included 3 tins of David's tea! And let's not forget to notice the beautiful box she sent it all in. Best mail day ever! (Now I just have to track down Sully's hospital bracelet to put in the ornament - what a great idea!)

canadian blogger christmas swap canadian blogger christmas swap
golden snitch

I'm so glad I participated in the swap this year and I'm already looking forward to next year's! I highly encourage all you Canadian bloggers out there to join us next Christmas - from what I've seen from other participants posts so far, everyone is sending and receiving some pretty awesome and fun packages!

Thank you so much Leigh and Lindsey for organizing this! And Erin - a huge thanks for such a thoughtful and generous gift.

December 15, 2014

Sullivan: 8 Months

eight months


My Dearest Sullivan,

I'm losing track of time and you are growing way too fast. Your eighth month came and went in the blink of an eye (which is why I'm writing this post for you almost two months late!). I keep a little journal with important things I want to remember each month, which is a good thing because the memories really do start to blur from one month to the next, but I'll keep this post short and sweet.

This was a busy month! We started weekly music, dance, and barre classes. Most music classes you are very vocal and it has been determined that you have a high internal pitch (which the instructor tells us you inherit from your mother, ha!). Dance and barre class are more for me, but we do these classes with your best little bud, Harrison, and his mommy, and it's always fun for us to watch you two interact at the end of class. We also did a lot of hiking in the ravines and we tried you out in the backpack carrier for the first time and you loved being up so high.

pump and groove dance class ergo baby
hiking in edmonton hiking in edmonton

You're a pro at sitting up now and you are starting to recognize faces. You love skype-ing with your Nanny and Papa in Nova Scotia and even over the computer, your Papa Fraser makes you laugh! You get really excited and your face lights up when daddy comes home from work. You aren't crawling yet, but you can get around amazingly by pushing yourself backwards. The only thing that stops you is when you back yourself into a corner!

sitting at eight months first cart ride at costco
eight months caught in the corner

Your appetite for solid foods has really exploded this month! You love your oatmeal in the mornings, mixed with fruit, avocado or pumpkin. We've also been making a lot of green smoothies and you are a huge fan. Sometimes you let me spoon feed them to you, but mostly you prefer to drink them out of a little plastic cup. You can also drink water out of a straw now and are pretty darn proud of it! You are working on your pincer grasp - you are able to pick up small pieces of food, but can't figure out how to let go of the food in your mouth. You are still breastfeeding voraciously, about every 3-4 hours, and will take a bottle of expressed milk when needed. And your first tooth has poked through, finally!

baby led weaning eight months baby led weaning lunch at IKEA

This month you weighed 17lbs, 4.5oz and are 27 and a 1/4 inches long. You're still wearing the same clothes as last month, 3-6 month pants and tops, and 6 month sleepers, although you're finally starting to grow too long for them. Your little waist has a hard time fitting into bigger sized pants, and often I find I could fit two of you in one pair!

Sullivan, considering how much your daddy and I love our sleep, I never imagined I'd have a baby that didn't love to nap. But you, my dear son, just do not want to nap. You will sleep in the car though, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't drive around for an hour some days just to get a nap in! And you still have the odd nap in my arms on the couch. Some days you let me put you in your crib for a nap, but other days you are not having it. Thankfully, you are going down easy at bedtime and sleeping through the night.

co-sleeping eight months chubby wrists co-sleeping

This past month you had your very first cold ever. Stuffy (and then runny) noses are no fun for anyone, but especially not for a baby who hates having his nose wiped! But I'm thankful you've been such a healthy baby thus far.

The most exciting thing that happened this month was a visit from your Aunty Vanessa. She flew in from Vancouver and spent 4 days with us and we had so much fun with her! She came to music class with us, we went for a hike, and you two got lots of bonding and cuddle time in. It was hard to say goodbye to her, but hopefully we'll see her again real soon!

Sully and Aunty Vanessa hiking with Aunty Vanessa hiking with mommy hiking in edmonton Sully and Aunty Vanessa
playing in the leaves

I love you to the moon and back,
Mommy xoxo


November 04, 2014

Sullivan's First Halloween

Growing up, Halloween was a big deal in our house. My mom would go all out with the decorations, both inside and out. We had this long, covered walkway up to our front door, and she would effortlessly turn it into a haunted house of sorts. Little kids were scared to trick-or-treat at our house. It was awesome, and I looked forward to each and every Halloween in that home. Somewhere along the line, my sister and brother and I grew up, we all moved out of the house, and gone were those days of embracing Halloween to the fullest. Since then, I sort of lost interest in Halloween, save for the odd party here and there.

But this year marked a change in my feelings towards Halloween and the Halloween's to come. Because now, I'm a mom, and this year, I've realized just how much more fun Halloween is when you have a kid. I didn't go all out - no decorations this year since we weren't home for Halloween anyway and I didn't make him a costume like I thought I might be inclined to do - we have many years to get super creative in the costume department! This year I chose to dress him up in one of those super cute puffy costumes. Seriously, is there anything cuter than a baby in a costume?! I don't think so.

baby bat costume

A few days before Halloween, my mom's group had a little Halloween party for all the babies and it was pretty much the funniest thing ever. There seemed to be a lot more crying than usual and I think it's because the babies didn't know what to make of the other babies in costumes! The puffy style costumes are also a little "top heavy", so at any given moment there was usually a "baby down".

halloween babies baby bat old navy costume

On Halloween day, we stopped in Red Deer on our way home from Calgary so Sully's cousins could see him in his costume. We also took Sully out trick-or-treating with them. While he had no idea what was going on, (or that he was collecting candy for his mom), he was a trooper, staying up way past his bedtime.

dracula, a bat, a chef
baby bat costume

Hard to believe that this time last year Sully was just a bun in my oven. And next year he'll be able to walk up to the doors holding my hand! I should probably start costume brainstorming now! I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend!