Cooper's 12 Month Update: Cooper is now a TODDLER

Wow I can't believe my baby is 1 and is now considered a TODDLER. This year went by so fast but it was by far the best year of my life. While there were definitely hard moments and hard days, especially in the first few weeks, mommyhood is really the best gift ever. It is actually way easier than I expected. Everyone kept going on about the sleepless nights and constant crying, feeding, dirty diapers, never going out etc. but I didn't find that to be a burden at all. Granted, Cooper is generally a very good sleeper and eater, it really hasn't been as hard as everyone made it out to be. Maybe it is because we waited until our 30's to have kids so our lifestyle is probably a bit different that someone in their twenties...

Anyway, Mitch and I aren't big partiers so our day to day life didn't really change too much. We probably eat in more now than we used to but in general we still take Cooper out to restaurants, on vacation, to weddings, playdates, family events, get togethers with friends, races, the gym, farmers markets, etc. We often schedule stuff around his nap times but we still manage to get out and do just about everything we did before we had kids. Now that he is a bit older, we may do date nights a bit more often but other than that, I don't think much will change...unless we decide to add a baby #2 to the family!!!

12 Month Growth Stats:

• weight 21 lbs (42nd percentile)
• length 29.5 inches (30th percentile)
• head circumference 46 cm (48th percentile)

Favorite Foods: 

• bananas
• mushroom ravioli 
• nurses 3x per day since I went back to work - I hope to continue nursing until at least the age of 2

12 Month Milestones: 

• says "Hat" and touches head or puts object up to head
• walks pretty well with walker or Jeep and can now walk only holding on with one hand- still not walking by himself though
• wears 12-18 month clothing
• started daycare 2 days per week
• takes bites of food ie. bites of banana
• loves to share toys and food
• really enjoys playing with his stuffed animals (Coconut & Duke)
• dances to music on his toys
• now has 4 teeth (his 2 bottom front teeth, his left top front tooth and left fang tooth)
• first time at a pumpkin patch
• first Halloween party & first time trick or treating

1st Birthday:

We had a Cake Smash Photoshoot for Cooper for his 1st birthday. We had it a couple weeks before his actual birthday because we wanted to use the pictures from his cake smash on his birthday invitations. We had a baseball themed Cake Smash and actually did the photoshoot at a local baseball diamond. The pictures turned out great. However, we used red icing on the cake which took FOREVER to get off of Cooper and all our clothes. Haha! It was a lot of fun!

We had Cooper's 1st Birthday Party on October 17, 2015 at "A Gym Tale". A Gym Tale is an indoor playground that has a large play structure, mini trampoline, ball pits, etc. The party was 2 hours long. The 1st hour was spent playing in the play structure while the 2nd hour was spent having food and opening presents in the party room. We invited about 10 kids (which were all 1 or under) plus parents and family so all together there was about 25 people. The package came with a bit of food but we were able to bring extra snacks and cake. The downside was that we were not able to set up the party room until right before we entered the party room to eat so it was very rushed. I would definitely prefer to set it up before the guests arrive. It made it hard to have any food or watch Cooper eat his cake and open presents. Overall, the party was a great success and Cooper definitely got spoiled. He got a lot of toys, some of which we haven't even opened yet. I am going wait a couple of weeks and let him enjoy the toys he has opened so far and then open the rest. 

We didn't really get him any big gifts for his first birthday because we knew he would get a lot of toys from everyone else so we just got him a Little People car ramp which he can race cars down. It is supposed to be for 1-3 year olds but I think he is still a bit young for it. He doesn't really understand how to race the cars down yet so he just throws the cars at the ramp! Haha!

As far as future updates go, I don't think I will do baby updates every month anymore. I think I will do baby updates every 3 months or so but I will do other types of updates such as work/home balance, vegan recipes, crunchy mommy topics, baby games & learning, and maybe even TTC baby # 2 updates (when the time comes) so please keep reading and let me know if you have any questions or topic ideas!

Here are some pictures from Cooper's Cake Smash, Birthday Party and other random pictures from the last month:

First Time at a pumpkin patch

the last night as mommy's baby boy - soon to be a 1 year old toddler

Birthday present from mommy and daddy

playing in the ball pit at his birthday party

dancing with aunty Janice at his birthday party

hanging out with Grandma at his birthday party

Dressed up as a Dinosaur for Halloween 2015

Mommy's little Pumpkin

Cooper's 11 Month Update: Aruba Vacation & Deciding to Work Part-time

So Cooper is now 11 months...actually just about 11 1/2 months now. I can't believe I only have a couple more weeks at home with him full time. Anyway the last month has been a lot of fun. The biggest thing that happened in the last month was our family trip to Aruba.

If you have been reading my blogs for a while now you know that we flew with Cooper to Florida in April and he was pretty good on the flights. However, this time it was a bit trickier. In April he was only 6 months so he didn't crawl or move around too much. However, he is crawling now so trying to make him it still on a 5 hour flight was tricky but overall he was pretty good. 

We had such a great time in Aruba. We travelled with my sister-in-law and her family. I really liked the hotel we stayed at. We stayed at the Divi Aruba Pheonix which had an amazing beach. Tourquise water and white sand. I also really liked that the beach wasn't too rocky. My only complaint about the weather would be the wind. Aruba is very windy in general which makes it hard to do a lot of water sports so I didn't really get to paddle board as much as I would have liked. I really wanted to try paddle board yoga but unfortunately, I didn't get a chance.

Cooper spent a lot of time at the beach and he absolutely loved eating the sand and licking the salt water off himself haha! He loves the water. We also went to a butterfly farm, took a tour of the island, went jet skiing, and went to a few nice restaurants. My favorite part of the whole trip was feeding the flamingos on Flamingo Island. It is the only private beach on the island and is open to the patrons of the Renaissance Hotel. Overall, we had a great trip and I would definitely go back. 

11 Month Milestones:

• Clapping - Cooper knows how to clap and knows the song "If you are happy and you know it...". 
• Crawling - Cooper stated army crawling/scooting/rolling a few months ago but now he can crawl pretty fast. So fast that we really had to start baby proofing. We got a gate and a baby jail for our family room. 
• Cruising - he cruises around furniture pretty well.
• Throwing a ball - he can throw his baseball pretty well. We often play catch in his room. 
• Says ball - well it sounds like "ball" to me and it is usually when he is playing with his ball so I think that is what he is trying to say. 
• Climbs stairs - he just learned how to climb the stairs from our main level all the way upstairs. 
• Went to his first "Carp Fair" and rode the merry-go-around

Going Back to Work Part-Time:

I am pretty sure I mentioned in a pregnancy blog that I was worried I would be bored staying home and/or I would definitely go back to work after my year long maternity leave. I know I at least stated that to family members while I was pregnant. 

When I was working, I liked my job, I liked the routine, I liked the pay, etc. but now that I have a son and have been at home for a year with him, I like being at home and watching him grow. I like doing playdates and spending time with the new mommy friends I have made. I like my new routine and I don't really want to go back to work. The thought of only seeing him for a couple of hours each day really didn't sit well with me.

Mitch and I had chatted causally about me taking extra time off work (a few months off) but it really doesn't make sense financially. Plus, I am the only person with health benefits from work. After hearing another lady talking about how she worked part-time, I had an epiphany...Why don't I work PART-TIME.

I have no idea why this didn't occur to me earlier. I guess it is because no one I work with works "part-time". Everyone works full-time. I wasn't sure if my boss would allow it, but I decided it was worth a try because I would regret not at least looking into this option. 

The tricky part was trying to figure out what my salary would be. I get paid a yearly salary so its a bit difficult to calculate. I really wanted to make sure that we could afford to have me go back to work part-time and still be able to live comfortably. I also wanted to ensure that I would still be entitled to my benefits. After speaking to a few different people, I was able to find the information I needed and we decided that it would be best for our family if I only worked 3 days per week right now . This would give me two extra days with Cooper which I am so excited about. I will obviously look after him when I am at home, Mitch will look after him 1 day and then he will go to daycare 2 days per week. I am so excited about this decision and I think it will bring a good balance to our life. I think it will be good for Cooper to go to daycare and get into a routine and I think he will learn a lot from the other kids at daycare.

As I mentioned above, I am not really missing work at all but maybe once I get back into the routine, I will like being back. The only thing I am really looking forward to about going back to work is dressing up again. I think I might treat myself to some new "back to work" clothing. My pre-pregnancy clothes still fit me so I don't need a lot of new clothes but maybe a couple of things!!!

Overall, this has been such a great month. I have just been soaking up as much time with him as possible. He is becoming more of a rascal each day. He is getting into drawers and eating everything he finds on the floor but he is also becoming so much fun! He has so much personality! I am so excited to celebrate his birthday in a few weeks!

Here are some pictures from our vacation and some other random pictures over the last month!

The view from our balcony...

Cooper and his daddy ...

Me feeding the flamingos...

 Just swinging...

Cooper in his "baby jail"

Cooper with his friend Lucy

Cooper's 10 Month Update: Baseball Road Trip

So Cooper just turned 10 months old yesterday, August 17, 2015. We haven't got him weighed or anything since his last update but I am guessing he is about 20 lbs or so. The biggest change in the last few weeks is his personality. He is becoming such a rascal. Haha! His new favorite thing to do is twisting over to his stomach on the change table. He has been rolling around on the ground for months but he just started INSISTING he rolls over on his change table. He is so proud of himself too. He freaks out and screams if you try and stop him which makes it so hard to change his diaper...especially if it is a poopy diaper!

He has officially grown out of his bucket carseat and we upgraded to a larger convertible car seat. We decided to get the Diono Radian R100. It is rear facing up to 40 lbs and forward facing up to 100 lbs. Overall the Diono brand was highly recommended from friends and it got great reviews online. I was a bit confused on what model to get but after discussing each model with the sales rep in the store we decided on the Radian R100 because it was slimmer across and we have a small car. With this model you can fit 3 car seats in the back or two car seats and still have access to the middle seat if needed. Also, this model was a bit cheaper because it didn't come with the infant insert. Since Cooper is older and we don't need it, we decided to save the extra money right now. If we do decide to have a second child, we can most likely just use the bucket car seat again and then buy another Radian R100 when it comes time. So far Cooper seems to like it but I do find it bulky in the car when it is rear facing. I definitely need to have the front seat pulled up almost all the way forward. It is law to have your child rear facing until the age of 12 months or 22lbs. Since Cooper is only 10 months and 20 lbs., he is still rear facing. We will probably keep him rear facing for longer because it is supposed to be safer. However, I am not sure if we will keep him rear facing until 40 lbs because he will probably run out of leg room before that. The sales rep at the store explained that while you are able to have your child rear facing in other models up to 65 lbs, they often run out of leg room way before they reach that weight. It is similar to when you are buying the bucket seats. Many bucket seats advertise that they go up to 40 lbs. However, babies usually grow out of the bucket seat length wise before 40 lbs (usually around 20 lbs) so keep that in mind when buying car seats.

We had our longest road trip this past weekend. We went to Cooper's fist baseball game in Toronto to see the Blue Jays and the Yankees battle it out for 1st place in the division. Mitch is a big baseball fan, and most of you know that Cooper's nursery is baseball themed so I was really excited for his first baseball game. We also went with my dad and step-mom to celebrate my dad's and Mitch's birthday. Both of their birthdays already passed so it was a belated celebration. 

Cooper never had to drive in a car for longer than 2 hours so this trip was over double the distance since we had to drive across town to pick up my dad & step-mom then back-track to drive to Toronto. It was definitely tough to time pit stops. Usually I like to stop about half way there but Cooper needed to be fed and changed in between so I think there was 3 stops on the way there and two on the way back so it turned into a 6 1/2 hour trip each way if you take traffic into account. Cooper only slept a 1/2 hour on the way there and was getting fussy being in a car seat for so long but we survived. 

While we usually stay Downtown Toronto, we ended up staying closer to the airport because the hotel prices were so expensive. We had this trip in mind for a while but only finalized the tickets and hotel a couple weeks ago so everything was way more expensive. The baseball game was sold out so we got tickets on stubhub and they were more expensive than usual and even the parking was $50 to park underneath at Rogers Centre. Next time we will definitely plan ahead and hopefully it will be a bit cheaper. 

As far as the actual baseball game went, it was fun but Cooper was a bit of a handful. He was pinching the boy beside us and was really upset he couldn't have a hotdog and pop. It is so hard to eat in front of him if you are unable to share with him and he basically can't eat anything sold at the concession stands. I brought fruit for the drive up but he ate that already so we had to take turns holding him while the other person ate.

The Blue Jays ended up losing and Mitch blamed it on us. Haha! They had the biggest winning streak until we arrived in Toronto, lost the two games while we were in Toronto, and then won again after we left! I really want to make this a yearly tradition but I also want to follow the Blue Jays and go to games in other cities. Next year I want to go and see the Blue Jays play in Boston!

Here are some pics from our road trip to Toronto...and a close up of Cooper's first two teeth!

Baby Blue Jays fan just chilling at the hotel...

hanging out with Daddy

Cooper loves pulling Grandpa's beard...

Happy Cooper

Cooper loves his new bat for his babseball room

#BabySmiles #BabysFirstTeeth

Cooper's 9 Month Update: 2 Teeth Popped Through

So Cooper is now 9 months old. I think I say this every month but he is getting so big and learning new stuff each day. I still find it so amazing and exciting when he learns something new.

We had Cooper's 9 month wellness check-up and he has grown a bit over the last 3 months. He is now 19.5 lbs, 28.5 inches long, and his head circumference is 45 cm I think...he is in the 50th percentile for weight and length and the 65th percentile for head circumference.

The biggest news this month is that Cooper got his first two front bottom teeth. Well... they are 1/2 way grown in. They both came in within a couple days of each other. He was definitely a bit fussy for 1-2 nights but overall he took it like a champ! He looks so cute with his two little teeth.Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture showing his first two teeth. 

He isn't quite crawling yet but he is so close. He tries to crawl from leaning forward in a sitting position. He gets one leg behind him but then falls on his face and gets frustrated. Afterwards he gets too timid to try again. I think he will be crawling in the next week or so though. 

He has a couple new favorite toys. He really likes his activity table that his aunt Alicia got him for Christmas last year. He can finally stand and play with it. Before it would take all his strength just to balance himself while leaning on it. There was a point about a week ago that he wouldn't even nurse if it was in sight. All he wanted to do was play with his activity table. He also really likes his stuffed monkey named Coconut and his stuffed dog named Rufus. Coconut is now his favorite and he sleeps with him at night. 

Cooper still loves to eat just about everything. However, Mitch and I recently decided to adopt a "whole food, plant based diet". We are trying to cut out all animal products including meat, fish, dairy and eggs. It is definitely a learning process. I have been very strict eating a vegetarian diet for almost a month now but I have eaten eggs and dairy on occasion. I am still trying to find new recipes and meal ideas and eventually adopt a vegan lifestyle. By Mitch and I adopting this lifestyle, it obviously impacts what we feed Cooper. Up until this point Cooper mostly ate fruits and veggies anyway so his diet hasn't changed that much. I am definitely not worried at this point since I am still nursing and I know he gets his nutrition from breastmilk. I will definitely discuss this further in a separate blog post. 

This summer at home with Cooper has been a blast. We have been enjoying our summer going for walks, playing at the parks, playing at splash pads, and spending time with Grandma. We are also planning to go to Toronto next week for Cooper's first baseball game and then we are going on a family trip to Aruba at the beginning of September with Mitch's sister and her family. 

Thanks for reading and please keep an eye out for my blog post about why we made the switch to a vegan lifestyle. I will try and answer all your questions so please leave your questions on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter! I will also be posting a lot of new vegan recipes in case you guys are interested!

Cooper's 8 Month update: EATING & MORE EATING

So Cooper turned 8 months old on June 17. He is growing so fast! Again we don't go to the doctor until his 9 month check-up so I am not sure what his official weight or length is but I feel like he is getting a lot taller. I feel like his legs look slimmer so I think he has grown a bit more in length compare to weight this past month. He is still wearing 6-9 month clothing and we are still using the same size cloth diapers. We got a new Super Mario Diaper! He hasn't worn it yet but I think it is so cute. It is a hybrid diaper and made by Butt Ons Cloth diapers. She has the cutest prints so check out her Facebook page! I have never used hybrid diapers so I hope they work out well for us.

Cooper had a few new milestones this month. First, he is eating a lot more. We are still doing BLW and while he has done well with it from the start, he is actually eating a TON more. He still makes a bit of a mess but he is able to eat a lot more without spitting it out. One of the only things he spits out now is the skin from grape tomatoes. His favourite foods are raspberries and blueberries. He also started eating with a spoon. Up until now he always just ate finger foods but then after seeing a friend's 6 month old using a spoon, I decided to let him try. He still has trouble with it but he is improving. The only thing he eats with a spoon so far is oatmeal. Right now, he usually nurses about 5 times per day.

A weird milestone to mention but I have noticed that Cooper's poo is a lot firmer. I know a bit TMI but for those cloth diapering mamas you understand that it makes washing diapers a lot easier. We have our sprayer hooked up finally but a lot of the time I can just flip the diaper over and dump it in the toilet. I hope this is normal. I will definitely mention it at his next doctors appointment but I think it might just be that he is eating a lot more food and not just filling up on milk. FYI blueberries make for the grossest poop. It was almost black. I was a bit freaked out but then after spraying the diaper I realized that it was just blueberries. 

He was sleeping through the night up until a few nights ago. My sister and niece are visiting from Bermuda so I think having busy days and extra excitement in the house is messing up his schedule a bit. I think once his routine is back to normal, he will be napping better and sleeping through the night again. 

He has tried a lot of new activities this month and really liked them all. Our backyard is finally set up so he has tried out his sandbox and kiddy pool. We have also taken him to the splash pad near our house. I thought he might be scared of the water shooting up but he actually really liked it. He also really likes riding in the front of the grocery cart. I used to just keep him in his car seat but now that he can sit up so well, I just put him directly in the cart. He loves being able to see everyone and he also likes all the attention! LOL!

We started touring daycares this past month. I was really excited about two daycares in particular based on the information I read on their websites. However, after visiting them I was unimpressed. The first one was close to our house and had a very large facility but I thought it was a bit dated and the people working there didn't seem too friendly. The second one was also close but it had a small facility and I didn't think it was in a kid friendly location. It was too close to lots of busy streets etc. I was starting to feel that I was just being too picky or paranoid but then I found two daycares that I really liked.  Of the two daycares that I liked, one of them was quite far so I think we are going to opt for the closer one. This daycare has everything I was looking for. I like the program itself, the facility, the philosophy, and the location. I haven't officially enrolled yet. I was waiting to check out one more on my list that was highly recommended but they haven't been quick to return my emails and they are further away so I might just take the plunge and enrol in my favourite one so far. 

Lastly, a bit of a post-partum update for me...I ran my first race since having Cooper. This was actually my first race in about two years because I didn't run any while I was pregnant with him. I ran the 5k at the Britannia Beach Run a couple weeks ago. I definitely wasn't happy with my time. I think it was around 33 minutes which is not great for a 5 k but to be fair I didn't train at all. I thought once I signed up, I would force myself to train but I was too busy setting up my backyard. Plus, I think the course itself was not measured too accurately. There were different distances all running at the same time so there were a couple different turnaround points. It was a bit more hectic than I am used to. Anyway, it sets a baseline for my next race which I hope to do in August!

Here are some of my favourite pictures over the last month...

 Pool Party!

 Having fun with my cousin friend...

 Splash pad fun!

 My cousin friend pushing me on the swing...

 Just ridin...and eating free samples!!!

Cheering mom on at her race!!!