dreamin' of the weekend

Here we are almost to the weekend, and I'm still dreaming away about the weekend we just had.

last weekend = amaaaaze.

 

Joe and I both got off work early last Friday and spent every precious moment of that squeezing in as much fun (and food!!) as possible.

 

We stopped at the local country store to get a little lunch which actually didn't turn out to be little.  It was a half pound chicken burrito.  And from there we dashed to drop off cars and hit the Boardman for a short kayak ride down to the property.

 

It's been sooo long since I've had a chance to sit in my kayak.  Way overdue.  And the time away from the boys was long overdue too.  I love them, but sometimes you just need a date away.

 

 

And the weather, perfect.

 

Thennn, we went and loaded up on some more food on the patio at North Peak.  It's been a long-standing tradition to sit on that patio and eat mussels every summer.

 

 

Oh, but that's not all on the food-front. We hit up Burritts since we in downtown and had a gift card, so we splurged on some NY strip steak, cheddar jalapeno sausage, and cheese.

yummmm.

 

Unfortunately, the time flew by and our date time was up so we headed over to pick up our boys from daycare.  Also, unfortunately for my waistline, we decided it would be a lovely end to our Friday to get Moomers ice cream because it happens to be the best in the country and my taste buds agree. 100%. 200%

 

It also gave Linden a chance to experience ice cream for the first time ever.

Home boy did not care for it.

I know, I know.. he'll learn.  He can dislike ice cream, but he will learn to love Moomers. 

 



linden | seven months

Home boy just turned seven months last week, and now we are officially on our way to his first birthday. And yes, I am already thinking about his birthday and what the theme should be. If there's one thing I know, it's that these next five months are gonna race by us.

 

Seriously everybody.  This kid keeps getting better and better every month!!

 

LAST MONTH: 

 

THIS MONTH:

EAT

Eat it up boy. Those words pretty much sum up the fact that this little boy loves his food.  And if you want to see him get really upset mad, just take his spoon away from him to refill it or block his sight from his food, and you'll get an earful for the next five minutes solid.  And once he gets mad about that, there's no calming him down, so instead all I can do is laugh because it's just too funny.  I know, terrible parenting right there.

 

Food-wise, we are still trying out new things, but I'm finding that he really doesn't seem to like anything cold.  That's a shame because ice cream is cold, and I love me some ice cream.  One of our biggest changes this month is that we have started supplementing with formula while he is at daycare.  I think I was a nervous wreck introducing formula, but in true Linden fashion, he didn't really care.

 





 

SLEEP

We made the leap and started sleep training.  I was about as far as I could go with the broken sleep. We've had a pretty consistent nighttime routine since he was 3 months old, but we still had trouble with him crying a ton when we put him in his crib. And then one day, I closed his door on my way out, and he stopped crying. And then I did that again the next night, and same result.. no crying.  So I think we found the trigger for him to fall asleep without any tears. just close the door.

He still wakes up almost every night around 2am out of habit and he'll cry for a minute or so, but then he'll put himself back to sleep.  All in all, it's an ongoing process, but we're getting there.





PLAY

This child is all about playtime.  He doesn't even want to sit on anyone's lap anymore.  If I've got him on my lap, he immediately starts wiggling his away off on to bigger and better things.  If he sees a toy out of reach, it doesn't stop him.  He'll figure out a way to get to it.  And watch out if you think it's safe to take a toy away from him.  Remember how I said he flips out if you take his spoon away?? yeah, same effect if you take his toy away.

 



 

Baby Misc:

Linden LOVES the phone and iPad.  He has to hold the iPad when we FaceTime Nana and Papa.

He can go from laying on his tummy to sitting without hesitation.

He doesn't like holding broccoli.  It goes right to the floor. Every time.

When I try laying him on his back, he manages to flip over to his belly before he touches the changing table.

Diaper changes now take 5 minutes of trying to hold his little hips down from flipping.

I forgot what solid food diapers are like.

   

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six month baby check up

Ya know, when Conner was born, time felt like it flew by, but it didn't feel like it moved as fast as it does now.  I fully admit it's been a couple weeks since Linden's six month check up, but I'm just now getting around to the update.  I couldn't believe how fast it snuck up on me.  I literally just sat there thinking, "weren't we just at the doctor for his four month appointment??".

 

Time flies. For real.

 

I always love taking my boys to their wellness checks because I can dump all one hundred plus of my questions on the doctor.

I bet she just thinks I need to take chill pill.

Really though, this is not my first rodeo, but it sure feels like it.  That's how different my boys are!! Everything feels so new because of it and because there actually has been things that have changed since Conner was a baby.

 

All in all, it went great.  We talked about belly buttons, food, formula (that's a topic in and of itself!), deciphered baby poop, skin, allergies, shots and of course sleep!

 

Over the last month, I noticed Linden's cute little belly button popping out further than normal.  To rule out a hernia, I brought it up to his doctor and she said she could feel a small hole in his abs, but not to worry, it will eventually close up.  And his little belly button will go back to being a flat and cute little thing.

 

We started Linden on baby foods about a month ago.  At this visit we were given the green light to feed him anything (except dairy milk and honey).  Bring on the eggs, berries, peanut butter and every good ingredient under the sun!

 

The last big item I was itching to ask his doctor was if she thought he was ready to be sleep trained and stop the night time feedings.  Not only did she okay it, she pushed for it!  It's so much easier the younger they are so I was super glad to hear that we could go for it.

Weight:  16 pounds 3 ounces (17th percentile)

Birth: 8 pounds 0 ounces

Height: 27.5 in (74th percentile)

Birth: 20.5 in

Head: 42.4cm (10th percentile)

Birth: 33cm

 

father's day 2016

Shout out to all the amazing dad's out there that we got to celebrate!!

I know my boys are pretty lucky to have their daddy light up their world every day.

 

 

 

Our Sunday of celebration was pretty low-key and relaxing.  No complaints at all!

 

Joe spent his honorary day like this:

working on the house

get called in

nap

work on house

get called in

boys

nap

get called in

 

you get the picture.

 

 

We ended it just right though.  While the boys took naps (at the same time!) I got some chicken on the smoker and let it do its thing then onto (finally) pulling out the patio furniture. Then it was time to set out the pool and bounce house to really surprise Conner when he woke up from his nap.

It was awesome!

 

 

So Father's Day was the first of our summer Dinner on the Deck and we did it right.  Eating smoked chicken/fruit/salad and guac while watching Conner play between the pool and bounce was summertime perfection.

 

 

These are the days that make me believe there's not much better than this whole parenting-gig.

 

Hope everyone got to celebrate all those amazing dads!

 

 

 

 

 



toddler life | thirty two

THIRTY ONE MONTHS

 

Eek!! Conner's already another month older! For real, how do these months fly by so unfairly fast!?  Life with Conner is b u s y. Always has been. Always will be.

This month I've really started to notice that he is growing more towards a little boy and less like a toddler.  It's exciting. It's sad. It's happening.

 

Toddler Talks

It's so much fun around here these days now that Conner can chat away.  Sometimes I catch myself amazed that I'm carrying on a conversation with a micro human that barely bothered to talk much a few months ago.  And we have lots of interesting conversations.

He can tell you all his colors, numbers, animals and toys. He can tell you what he wants to do.  90% of the time it's to go outside or eat (life of a two year old, right??)

The other day, I even caught him singing to himself. I have never heard him sing before! It just about melted me to pieces I loved hearing it.

 

Toddler Play

Conner plays like a typical boy through and through.  He is still crazy about all of his trucks and trains and anything that has wheels.  A while back, Joe and I had to hide his Tonka because it's just so loud being run through the house so every once in while we pull it out and it's like Christmas morning to that kid.

Now that summer's here, I anticipate us getting back out to the beach when we can.  That boy has always had a love for water and I love watching him go to town in it.  There are so many times that I miss having a pool around.  Since there are so many lakes and beaches, there are no outside pools in the area which is a bummer because we'd be hitting up the baby pools everyday if possible!!

 

Toddler Eats

Best part about summertime eats... the fruit! I love this time of year because I can just put out a bowl of fruit on the kitchen island so when Conner gets home from daycare he immediately goes for that.  No little boy going into the pantry begging for packaged foods.

Now that the little brother is eating solid foods, big brother is a little more interested in joining us at the dinner table. Big win!  He's even getting more adventurous and trying out our food.  And whatever he sees Linden eating, he wants it too which has led to him eating more bell peppers.

 

Toddler Sleep
I really don't need to be the broken record here... Conner is the best sleeper. ever.  Since the days are long now, we let him stay up til 9pm and he usually wakes up at 6:20am.  He'll go down for an early afternoon nap and sleep for hours. Can we say...Mommy free time!!!

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