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!