Essential Wellness Ottawa: 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...