Cooper's 18 Month Update: Starting to talk & temper tantrums

So Cooper is now 18 months old (almost 19 months actually) and he is growing up into a "big boy". I feel like there are so many little changes everyday that I loose track of them by the time I actually do these updates. However, I will fill you in on some of the big milestones.

Stats:

Weight - We don't have his 18 month doctors appointment until the end of May so I am not sure of all of his stats but I did weigh him at the gym last week and he weighed 27 lbs.

Height - not sure but he seems pretty tall. He is tall enough to ride his ride-on toys by himself now. Before he could barely reach the ground so we needed to push him!

Milestones:

Talking: He says bye-bye, yeah, dada, vava (which means mama) Hi, up, juice, please, cheese, books, boots, shoes, socks, truck, dog, more, and his new favourite word is "NO"! He also communicates with us by answering "yes" and "no" to questions. This is starting to make life easier.

Motor skills: he is able to climb up stairs using his feet instead of climbing on his knees. He can also climb down the stairs very well now. We are currently trying to teach him to jump but he isn't quite there yet. He also loves to run and dig in the sand. 

Sleep: He only takes one nap now. We cut down to one nap when he turned 18 months and started in "toddler" daycare since that is his schedule there. He usually naps from 12:30-2:30pm most days. 

Diapers: We are still using cloth diapers during the day but we are using Honest Company disposables at night. He is in his one-size cloth diapers and takes a size 4 in honest company disposable diapers.

Clothing: He wears 18-24 month pjs but he still wears a lot of his 12-18 month pants and shirts. However, I think he will be moving into 18-24 month clothing very soon. 

Food/Drink: We are still breastfeeding twice per day. He nurses when he first gets up and then again right before he goes to bed at night. I plan to nurse him until he is at least two. His fav foods are watermelon, mac & cheese, chips, grapes, pitas & hummus, and now APPLES! He eats an apple whole like a big boy! We also started giving him a tiny bit of very diluted juice which he really likes. 

Daycare: He has been in the "toddler" program at daycare since April 1, 2016. The toddler program is for 18-30 months (I think). This program is a bit more structured with daytime routines and they only have 1 nap. They have outdoor time for 2 hours per day (weather permitting) and circle time, free-play etc. They told me that he has been tired in the morning leading up to lunch but I think he is just adjusting to the 1 nap/day schedule. Once he gets used to the 1 nap schedule, he will do a bit better. Other than that, he seems to really like his teachers and the other kids. He also sleeps in a cot and sits at the table in a chair (instead of a highchair) to eat. Because of this, he hated his highchair at home. Now we just use a booster chair to eat! He also likes doing art at daycare and Mommy loves all his art work!

Likes: He loves going to the park. He likes the slide (which he hated last year) and burying things, like pine cones, in the sand. He also likes reading books and playing with his trucks! He likes picking out his book each night for story time. Oh and he loves music. We have a kids CD that he likes but he also just likes listening to the radio! 

Dislikes: spicy food, poopy diapers...haha I can't think of too many dislikes...oh sometimes he gets fussy sitting in the car at a red light! He doesn't like red lights!

Temper Tantrums: Cooper has definitely started having temper tantrums. He has mild meltdowns when he gets tired which isn't entirely new but during the last week or two he had at least two MAJOR meltdowns. He was inconsolable for a good 10-15 minutes. The first major meltdown was over iced tea. We had a bottle of iced tea on the counter and he wanted to drink it. We didn't want him to drink it so we said "no" and brought him to sit in his booster seat for dinner and he LOST it. He was screaming and throwing food and wouldn't stop even after we picked him up. We finally had to bring him outside in our backyard to play for a couple minutes just for him to calm down. Right before this happened, he fell asleep in the car and I had to wake him up in order to bring him in the house for dinner. I forgot what caused the other major meltdown but it was also after I had to wake him up so that seems to be the trigger for meltdowns!

New Adventures: We haven't been to very many new places lately other than our trip to Hawaii but we took him to the children's museum for the first time about a month ago. There was a Thomas the Train exhibit there at the time which he really liked!

PICTURES: 

TTC CYCLE 1: BFN

So I am unfortunately NOT pregnant. I didn't even get the chance to test. AF came yesterday and I wasn't planning to test until today. To be honest I am pretty disapppointed. I really thought I was pregnant!!!  I was having so much fun looking at all the baby stuff...I was just really in baby mode the last couple of weeks. I know its just the first month, so I am trying to stay positive and just enjoy my Mother's Day weekend with Mitch, Cooper and my mom! 

Mitch planned a great Mother's Day picnic, got me flowers and Cooper made me a great card at daycare. Mitch also let me sleep in an extra day this weekend and surprised me by doing a few of my chores. I am also going to my mom's house for dinner tonight which should be nice. Aside from finding out that I am not pregnant, this has been a fantastic Mother's Day weekend! 

I don't really plan to do anything different next cycle but I have started reading "Taking Charge of Your Fertility". I have been meaning to read this book for a while now. It talks about natural birth control, pregnancy achievement, and reproductive health. It explains how to chart and discusses fertility in general. I am already familiar with the "Fertility Awareness Method" in general, but I will see if there is anything else in this book that can help us in our TTC journey. 

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, including those mothers who lost their babies too soon and those who are struggling to finally have their babies. 

God Bless,

TTC Baby # 2: Cycle 1

So this is going to be a new type of blog post...TTC blogs! I didn't start blogging until I was already pregnant with Cooper so I never did TTC blog posts!

Anyway, we have officially started trying to conceive baby number 2. At first I intended to start trying for baby number 2 when Cooper turned 1 but then we had our Hawaii vacation already booked. While I don't mind travelling while pregnant, Hawaii is a LONG flight and plus there are activities that you should avoid during pregnancy, such as certain water sports, so we thought it would be best to wait until after we got back.

We are not in a complete hurry to get pregnant but we would like it to happen sooner than later. Last time it only took 2 months to get pregnant with Cooper so hopefully we have good luck getting pregnant this time too! We didn't use ovulation tests or anything like that this cycle. I have been good at tracking my cycles for a couple of years now, and my cycles are usually quite regular so its not too hard to track when I am ovulating. I can usually pinpoint it within a day or two.

Right now I am in the middle my my TWW (two week wait) which is the two weeks in between when you ovulate and when your next period is due (just in case anyone is new to tracking ovulation). I don't plan to test early just because I don't want to stress myself out for no reason. I didn't test early with Cooper either. I waited until at least the day my period was due which was at least 14 DPO (Days past ovulation). I plan to test on Mother's Day this cycle which happens to be 15 DPO so it works out pretty well. I just thought if I was pregnant, it would be nice to find out on Mother's Day.

As far as symptoms go, I was feeling a bit nauseous the last 2 days but I really think that was just a stomach bug because Cooper was throwing up a couple days earlier. I feel like it is too early for symptoms anyway. If I remember correctly, I didn't start getting pregnancy symptoms until I was about 5 1/2 weeks pregnant with Cooper. 

I am really excited to be pregnant again...but I am already getting the pregnancy anxiety. Last time I was pregnant, I got really anxious about exposing myself to anything unhealthy, such as cigarette smoke, exhaust from cars, medication unhealthy food etc. I am trying to stay relaxed but I am also already getting worried about test results and thinking about what kind of genetic testing we should do and basically anything else I can worry about haha! Last time we did most of the genetic testing as well as the glucose test and all the standard ultrasounds plus extra ultrasounds since he was breech. I think I will cut down on the amount of testing and ultrasounds we will do this time though. I think I will opt for the standard anatomy scan at 20 weeks but I don't think I will get the dating ultrasound or do the genetic testing at 12 weeks. I will probably get the prenatal blood work done that they request at around 7 or 8 weeks...but I'm not sure though..there is so much to think about!

I also started planning what baby stuff we will need. Last time we were given some stuff from friends and we also got a lot of gifts from friends and family at our shower so we didn't have to buy much at all. However, since then we sold our swing and bassinet because they were hard to store and I knew I wanted different models if we decided to have another baby. Right now I think we need 5 big items:

1. Halo Bassinet
2. Fisher Price Swing
3. Double Stroller
4. Dresser 
5. Crib Mattress

Aside from that, we need some small items like pacifiers, nursery decor, organizational items, swaddle blankets, nipple & bum cream, newborn diapers etc. I already made a spreadsheet with the budget for each item and then I have another column for what we actually spend on that item. I am waiting to get my positive pregnancy test before I actually go out and buy any new items but I have to admit, I already spent a lot of time checking out items online. 

Anyways, the excitement is in the air as my Two Week Wait is almost over! Only two days left until Test Day!!!

HAWAII VACATION - DIDN"T GO AS PLANNED

So my mom and I have dreamt about going to Hawaii for a very long time and we planned this trip over a year in advance.

We have a timeshare in Florida that we can exchange for just about any location so we decided to exchange it for a unit at the Bay Club - Hilton Grand Vacation Club in Waikoloa HI which is on the BIG ISLAND.  We stayed there for a week before heading to Honolulu for 4 days.

Since it is about a 14 hour flight and there are no direct flights from Ottawa Canada, we decided to fly from here to Philly, then from Philly to LA, stay the night in LA and then fly to Kona the next day. Well the flight from Ottawa to Philly (about 1.25 hours) was fine. We left at 6:30am and arrived in Philly just before 8am. We had about a 4 hour layover in Philly before flying to LA. There was a kids area in Philly which Cooper played in for a bit but he really wanted to run around the whole airport. The flight from Philly to LA was a bit of a nightmare. Cooper was SO RESTLESS and there was actually no TVs on the plane. They must assume people have their own devices but neither Mitch or I have tablets so it was a very long flight.

When we arrived in LA we went to baggage claim to pick up our luggage and guess what...my bag was missing. I filed a complaint and was assured it would arrive in Kona the next day. Surprisingly,  I was not too frazzled at this point. I was just relieved to be off the plane and was excited to get to Hawaii. That night we went out for dinner and slept at a nearby hotel.

The next day, we left LA at around 9 am and arrived in Kona at about 2pm Hawaii time (there was a 5 hour time difference between Ottawa and Hawaii).  When we arrived in Kona I was surprised by the open-air airport and the lava rock everywhere. I knew the Big Island is famous for its volcanoes but I didn't expect the lava rock to be everywhere. It was like a dessert! Nonetheless, my bag still hadn't arrived. We were told by the people at the airport that it might be on an evening flight and therefore it would be delivered to the hotel later that night. We arrived at our hotel and had an easy check-in.

We arrived at our room which was a very spacious 2 bedroom condo with 2 full bathrooms, kitchen, living room and large lanai. The room was updated and really nice. The landscaping at the hotel was also nice. Our room had a view of the golf course so it was a decent view. You had to take a shuttle bus from the condo to the main Hilton property where all the restaurants were but there were a couple pools within walking distance of the condo. The first night we took the shuttle to a marketplace shopping area to go for dinner and get groceries for the condo. While we were there, I decided to get an extra bathing suit just in case my bag didn't arrive that evening (and since we had planned to go paddle boarding and kayaking early the next morning).

The next morning I called the front desk to see if my bag arrived. It had not. We then called to see if we were still allowed to go kayaking since it was extremely windy out, they were not offering water sports at the beach because of the wind so we went out for lunch and toured the main Hilton property. The Hilton at Waikoloa Village had a rocky beach which looked too rough to swim but they also had a calm, man-made beach which was nice for young kids. That night we went to a Luau which was pretty good. There was a huge buffet with some authentic Hawaiian dishes and a great fire show. However, Mitch got really sick that day so he slept throughout most of the show.

The next day we took a bus tour of the Island. We went to a coffee plantation, honey farm, Captain Cook lookout, farmers market, and a few beaches. It was interesting to learn about the island but it was a long day for Cooper. It was still too windy to go Kayaking on Sunday so we enjoyed a great pool day but then I came down with a flu on Sunday.

 Monday we went on a snorkel tour. I was still sick with the flu but feeling a bit better. I thought the snorkel tour would be fun but again it was hard for Cooper to sit still on the boat. He was getting restless so when we stopped to snorkel, Mitch and I decided to take him to a nearby black sand beach but we had to swim there. We took him on a boogie board with a life jacket. It was a lot harder then it looked to swim there while trying to pull the boogie board. Cooper got PULLED under the water by a wave once we got close to shore which was TERRIFYING. I was losing it but he was fine. We stayed at the beach for about a 1/2 hour before heading back to the boat. It was hard to swim back and we had to call to the captain for help. I think I was just too shaken up to swim back. We made it back to the boat safely but I don't think I will be trying that again. We took so long to swim back that we didn't even get to snorkel...

My mom didn't wear enough sunscreen on the boat that day so she got badly sunburned. When she woke up on Tuesday, her face was extremely burned and swollen. It turned out that she got sun poisoning. I never even heard of this! It was actually pretty scary since we didn't know what it was at first. We ended up just taking it easy because I was still a bit sick and my mom was in no shape to go out. We went to the marketplace to get more clothes (because my bag STILL hadn't arrived at this point) and  to get my mom some Aloe. We got her this all natural 99% pure organic aloe gel which helped A LOT with the swelling. Most of the swelling went down by Tuesday night.

Even though the swelling went down, my mom was still pretty burned so she stayed at the condo and rested on Wednesday while Mitch, Cooper and I went to the beach at the Hilton. Cooper loved the sand and the water (since there was no waves) so it was a nice relaxing day!

Thursday we flew to Honolulu. Honolulu was completely different. When we arrived at the airport all you could see was tall buildings and not really any nature. We arrived at the Hilton Village Waikiki. Since the hotel was pretty expensive (we weren't using our timeshare at this hotel) we just got 1 room with two queen beds for Mitch, Cooper, my mom, and I. It was so much smaller than the condo but we were right on Waikiki beach which was so nice. However, the beach itself was not as nice as I was expecting considering how famous it was. There was a nice boardwalk right by the beach. By this time my mom sunburn was getting better but she also caught the flu that I had, so she wasn't feeling well. My mom relaxed at the hotel the first day while Mitch, Cooper and I strolled along the beach and the boardwalk.

Friday was just a relaxing day at the beach because my mom was still sick. We had planned to take a hula lesson and lei making class but unfortunately my mom wasn't feeling up to it! However, Cooper Mitch and I had a lot of fun at the beach. I think Cooper enjoyed the sand more than the water because there were waves crashing on the shore. He was afraid of the waves but he still managed to go in the water for a bit. On Friday night we went out for dinner at a beach front restaurant so we could see the firework show that the Hilton puts on every Friday night which was nice to see.

My mom was feeling better Saturday so we got an early start and went to the Honolulu Zoo. It was smaller than other zoos, such as the San Diego Zoo, but I was quite impressed. They had a really nice Elephant habitat and the largest tortoises I ever saw. They also had a petting Zoo with goats that Cooper really liked because he liked petting the animals. Cooper definitely likes animals which I am grateful for! We had some famous Hawaiian shaved ice but to be honest I thought it was just like a snow cone. After the zoo, we walked back through downtown and stopped at the Cheesecake Factory. This was Mitch's and my favourite restaurant in Florida last year. There were less options to choose from since we are vegetarian now but it was still good. Unfortunately, we were too full to get cheesecake which is a bit disappointing (especially for Mitch).

Sunday was probably my favourite day of my trip. My mom went kayaking while I went paddle boarding. I absolutely LOVE paddle boarding and the water was pretty good. It looked windy from the shore but once you got out, it was nice. My mom had a good time as well. She was a bit nervous because she hadn't kayaked in years but she did good and a sea turtle even swam right up to her kayak! She said she wished she went out earlier in the week. At this point I came up with what I thought was an amazing idea - exchange our return tickets to Ottawa for a trip to MAUI!!! Flights to other Hawaiian islands are so cheap so I wanted to go to Maui for a few days before heading back to Ottawa. My mom seemed to be on board with the idea but Mitch wasn't. He doesn't get paid vacation leave so he needed to get back to work. I spent most of the day trying to convince Mitch to go to Maui...In the afternoon we took a short bus tour of Oahu. We saw some nice beaches and lookouts. It was a nice way to end our trip. 

Monday we flew from Honolulu to Calgary. Our flight left Honolulu at noon Hawaii time and we got to Calgary at 11pm Calgary time due to the 4 hour time difference. Cooper got a bit restless at points but overall he was more manageable than on the way there. The most annoying thing was that we hadn't ate since breakfast in Hawaii and since we arrived in Calgary so late, all the food stands in the airport were already closed. I was STARVING at this point. We got our shuttle to the hotel and thankfully we were able to order a pizza once we got to the hotel. We basically just crashed after we ate the pizza. On Tuesday we flew from Calgary to Toronto and then from Toronto to Ottawa. Both of these flights went smoothly. 

Overall, the trip didn't go as planned. I never received my luggage until a few days ago (almost a month after we got home from Hawaii) and we all got sick. I also think we planned too many activities considering we were travelling with a one year old but I still loved Hawaii itself. I definitely want to go back. Mitch and I talked about renewing our vows in Maui on our 10 year wedding anniversary (which would be in 2022). By this point, Cooper will be 8 so he would be old enough to do more activities like island hikes/tours and snorkeling which will be nice. I think if we did go back to Hawaii, I would go to Maui and Kauai! They look absolutely stunning!

For now, our next adventure will be visiting my sister in Bermuda next month! We went to Bermuda Christmas 2013, before Cooper was born. It will be a lot of fun to take Cooper there and for him to play with his cousin! The flight is a lot shorter so it should be a lot of fun!

My mom and Cooper when we arrived in Kona

Airport in Kona

HAWAII LIFE Brokerage - We should have tried to find a house here

My mom and I at the Hilton resort - Kona HI

Cooper chilling by the pool

Hawaiian Sea Turtles

Cooper and the Hawaiian Sea Turtles

Lava rock in Kona - The Kona landscape was covered in this lava rock

Cooper was in heaven with all the banana trees

Waikiki Beach

Cooper petting the goats at the Honolulu Zoo

Cooper's 16 Month Update: He is Now WALKING

Cooper just turned 16 months old on February 17, 2016. He is becoming such a big boy and is interacting so much now. I love watching him play and learn new things. 

Cooper's stats:

• Weight: 23.5 lbs - 65%
• Height: 31.5 inches long - 60%
• Teeth: 8 (I think unless he has a couple new molars hiding in the back)
• Clothing Size: 12-18 months
• Diapers: BumGenius 4.0 (with all front-rise snaps undone)

Milestones:

• WALKING: His first steps taken by himself were on December 3, 2015, but he really only started walking around Christmas 2015 when he was 14 months old. He walks/runs very well now and seems to really enjoy his freedom.
• Builds towers out of Mega blocks
• Puzzles: Cooper has several Melissa & Doug wooden puzzles and he is good at recognizing where the pieces go. He can put some puzzle pieces in himeself but sometimes has a bit of trouble. Doing puzzles is one of his favorite activities.
• Recognizing and pointing to body parts: Cooper knows several body parts including head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, arm, belly, and bum. He loves to pull up his shirt and show his belly!
• Stomping his feet - he just learned how to stomp his feet because it is at the start of his favorite book "Barnyard Dance". 
• First optomitrist appointment - he had his first optomitrist appointment which was just a regular checkup. They test to see if his eyes move together and look to make sure they are developing normally. His appointment went well and it was covered by OHIP if you live in Ontario. 

New/Favorite Foods:

• Macaroni & Cheese
• Hummus and pita bread or hummus and cucumber
• water from a water bottle
• diluted juice
• green smoothie
• honeydew melon
• chocolate pudding (he had it at a birthday party)

New Activities:

• Kindergym - we started taking him on Sunday mornings. It is an open gym at the community center with balls, nets, mats, a mini slide etc. It is a great way for him to burn off energy
• Fun Haven - we took him on a Saturday so it was busy but he enjoyed the toddler section
• Playing in the snow - we took him to play in the snow in our yard and he liked it for a few minutes but he hates to keep his mits on so he got cold pretty fast. We also took him to Winterlude and he loved being pulled by Grandpa in the sleigh!
• Crafts a daycare - one of my favorite parts about having Cooper in daycare are all the crafts he makes for us. He made us cute Christmas and Valentine's Day cards which are great keepsakes.
• Playroom: We just finished converting our family room into a big playroom for Cooper. We put down foam mats and moved all of his toys into the playroom. We also made him a "zoo" to keep his stuffed animals in, a chalkboard, a reading nook and a construction sensory board (which isn't quite done). The room has a gate and is right off of the kitchen so it is easy to watch him while I make dinner or put laundry in the washer. It is so convenient and he really likes it!

My sister also just came for a visit (its her last day here) so it was fun for Cooper to play with his cousin. My neice is 4 and is really into Princess stuff so they don't really have a lot in common yet but he really liked to hug her. I think they will have even more fun together when he is a bit older and can talk and keep up with her a bit. We are hoping to go to Bermuda to visit them in June so it will be nice to see the difference when he is about 20 months old. 

All in all, Cooper is doing great. He loves daycare and playing with other kids! I am actually excited to see him graduate to the "Toddler" program at daycare. He will have new teachers and I think there is a bit more structure to the program. I think they spend more time outside, have circle time, and start to learn about potty training. 

Our next big adventure is our trip to Hawaii in about 2 weeks! I will definitely post about our trip when we get back!

For now, here are some pictures of Cooper over the last few months. 

Playing at gymnosphere

Playing with the giant Panda bear at gymnosphere

Sitting in his Elmo chair in his new playroom

Having a blast at Funhaven

Stuck in his Zoo with all his animals

Playing with his cousin Julyana

Julyana wearing her construction hat

Mommys Superman baby

Riding in the tractor at Daycare

New Year, New Me...My resolutions for 2016!!!

So I had a good New Years Eve and rung in 2016 with some new friends that we made in 2015. It was one of the few nights that Mitch and I got a babysitter and went out with friends but I am glad we did. To be honest, I regretted making plans to go out the last couple days leading up to New Years Eve. When I originally accepted the invite, I forgot that I would be working earlier in the day, which meant I had to get up at 5am on New Years Eve. Therefore, I would be exhausted by the time midnight rolled around. Plus, we still have a 1 year old so I still needed to get up at 6:30am on New Years Day with him. Even with the lack of sleep, I am glad we went out. We went to Crazy Horse which is a country bar/steakhouse close by. I obviously didn't get a steak but the food was pretty good and they had a live band playing so we had a good time. Plus, it seemed fitting to ring in the new year with new friends we made in 2015.

Now that New Years Eve is done, and it's 2016, it means it's time to make resolutions for the New Year. As I mentioned before, I love New Years Day because I am always so motivated and I think a lot of people around me are also very motivated. I just love the positive energy that the New Year brings. I just looked over the resolutions I made last year and NO I didn't keep them all. Actually, there were quite a few resolutions I didn't keep but I think I kept the most important ones.

2015 resolutions I kept:

• Be present with Cooper - this was probably the most important resolution I had last year and I am definitely glad I kept this one. I definitely think I used my maternity leave wisely and spent lots of quality time with Cooper. We went to lots of playdates and activities, met friends, and I just really enjoyed being off with him. So much so, that I decided to only go back to work part-time so I can continue to spend quality time with him each week.
• Stain the deck - I was planning to have my dad help me out with this project but I actually ended up doing most of this project myself which I am very proud of. It took a long time but it was worth it. It looks great!
• Bathroom - we renovated Coopers bathroom. We painted the walls and cabinets white so it's so much brighter. I had my dads help with this one but I really liked how it turned out.
• Expand this blog - so I didn't expand this blog enough to make it my full-time career like I dreamed about but I have expanded my reader base a bit and its been a great outlet to get my thoughts out and something to look back upon. 
• Travel Somewhere New - So this resolution is on my list every year now and in 2015 I went to 2 new places. We went to Miami/Key Largo which was Coopers first trip and we also went on a family vacation with Mitch's sister and her family to Aruba. I loved both places. We had a lot of fun in the ocean and I would love to go back to both places someday!

There are several resolutions I didn't keep in 2015 such as oil pulling and doing yoga everyday but most of those resolutions are actually resolutions for 2016 as well. 

Here are my resolutions for 2016:

Family/Home:

• One date night with Mitch a week (at home) and 1 date night out with Mitch per month
• Do at least one fun outing with Cooper per week (hopefully we can do more but it's a bit harder since I am back at work)
• Make a playroom for Cooper on our main floor
• TTC for baby #2 (not sure when exactly but I hope we can start trying for baby #2 in 2016 since I am excited to give Cooper a sibling)!

Health/Fitness:

• Oil Pulling each day

• Drink a smoothie (to get extra fruits and veggies) 5-7 days per week

• make sure to take my vitamins (especially my prenatals if we are planning to start trying for baby #2)
• do yoga every day - this can be a class or at home. It will probably be at home most days but I definitely want to start going to more classes.
• Go to the gym 3x per week - while I like working out at home and outside I find it more motivating to be at the gym and I feel like I get a better workout so I want to make sure I get there a lot more this year! I plan to keep going even when I am pregnant! No excuses!

Travel: 

• Go Somewhere New - This year, I plan to take my mom on her dream vacation to Hawaii. We talked about going there since I was a kid so I feel very blessed to be able to take her and I hope it's a vacation of a lifetime! We are already busy planning out our itinerary! 

Try Something New:

• I really want to try SUP Yoga -I wanted to try this when we were in Aruba but I didn't get the chance so hopefully I can try it in Hawaii! Can't beat SUP yoga in Hawaii. I think that is a combo of all my favorite things!

Restore my Faith: 

• This is something a bit new for me. I went to Catholic school but I wouldn't consider myself the most religious person but I found myself praying to God more and more lately and just trying to rely on God and trust in his plan. I am also trying to show more gratitude for everything that God has blessed me with. I am not sure how it came about recently. Maybe it is a way to relieve axiety or just bring peace and be present in the moment. Whatever the reason, I found it has helped bring happiness in my life. 

So these are my resolutions for 2016. I would love to hear your resolutions and I pray that everyone has a happy and healthy 2016. God Bless!

Christmas/Hanukkah at the Spiegelman House

So I hope everyone had a good holiday...I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. Anyway, we had a great holiday this year. We always celebrate both Hanuakkah and Christmas so Cooper gets the best of both worlds.

Hanukkah started on December 6th this year so we lit our Menorah during the 8 days of Hanuakkah but we didn't go to Montreal to celebrate with Mitch's family until December 12, 2015. We don't really celebrate it in the traditional way since we don't give presents for the entire 8 days but we usually have a nice dinner at Mitch's aunt's house and exchange gifts then. Cooper got a great ride-on Zebra that makes lots of noise. It is actually a 3-in-1 because it is a ride-on, a push toy, and a scooter (to use when he gets older). It was definitely his favorite Hanuakkah gift. He also loves his bath-tub basketball net he got for Hanukkah. He was terrified to take a bath in his newly renovated bathroom until we opened his bath-tub basketball net. Now he loves baths in his new bathroom! Mitch and I just got Cooper a new toy box for Hanukkah. Mitch jokes that it was really a gift for me and not Cooper but in my defense, he really likes putting his toys in it! Not sure how long that will last though!

The weekend of December 19, 2015, we took Cooper to Upper Canada Village to see the Christmas light display. I saw a couple people post about it on Facebook the last couple years and it looks beautiful so I really wanted to go this year. We had a mild winter so far, so there wasn't much snow when we went but it snowed that day for the first time all season which made the drive up there pretty scary. Mitch actually had to pull over on the side of the highway because the snow was blowing so bad, he couldn't see where he was going. 

We got there safely (thank you God) and we really enjoyed it. My mom came as well. We ate dinner, took a carriage ride, sang Christmas Carols at the little church and got hot chocolate. It was a lot of fun and I definitely want to make it a yearly tradition. Next year, I really want to take Cooper to see Santa there but we were running out of time this year.

We have a big Christmas party at work on Christmas Eve every year. We have a potluck and Santa comes to hand out presents to the children. I really wanted to bring Cooper to the party this year but it turned out that Mitch had an appointment so we couldn't make it. I was a bit disappointed because it is always so much fun to see everyone's children and I wanted everyone to meet Cooper. Hopefully, I can bring Cooper in next year.

We had a great Christmas morning just the three of us. We opened our presents and Mitch made a nice Christmas brunch. We didn't get Cooper too many toys because he is only one so he doesn't really understand plus he really doesn't need them. I really don't want him to become a spoiled, materialistic brat like a lot of children these days. Anyway, he LOVED his giant monkey "Coconut". It is a stuffed "TY" brand monkey. He got the small version as a gift a few months ago and loved it so we had to get him the giant version. We also got him a larger version of "Duke" which is a stuffed dog and my mom got him "Bandit" which is a stuffed racoon. He really likes these toys. Mitch also got him a mini basketball/soccer net that makes sounds when you score. He really liked that toy as well. 

We had Christmas dinner at my mom's house this year. We went over Christmas Day. My mom made a turkey and veggies and I made some sides of mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and some mushroom appetizers. I obviously didn't eat the turkey but everything turned out great. We tried giving Cooper some turkey (we only let him have meat on occasion) but he didn't seem to like it. He really liked the carrots, mashed potatoes, oranges and Yule cake we had for dessert though!

My sister didn't make it down for Christmas this year because she is planning to come visit in February instead so it was a quiet holiday other than Christmas Day but it was restful and fun! I hope you all had a great holiday as well...

Here are a couple pictures from our Christmas photoshoot (used for our Holiday cards) as well as from Christmas morning!