Busy Summer!

It's been quite the busy summer for us!  Cole turned 1, we went to NS for a family wedding (Quinn was a flower girl), and now we're gearing up for Quinn's 3rd birthday!  How time is flying!

Cole is still a little munchkin at 22" long and 19 lbs 8 oz (below 25th percentile for both), but he's proportional!  Anything that makes him my "little" boy is great with me.  Our doctor isn't concerned about his weight or length since he's super healthy.  I've never seen such a little person pack away so much food.  I swear that he eats just as much, if not more, than Quinn!  It's nothing for him to pound back 2 avocados for breakfast.  Insane!

Quinn is turning into a little lady before our very eyes.  She learns new things every day and is quite the social butterfly.  Yesterday we met up with some friends at the park and she immediately ran over to her little friend Alex, grabbed his hand, and led him to the play structure.  These 2 haven't seen each other in months!

This week I'm looking after a friend's little one while their day care is closed.  It's giving me an idea about what things are going to be like in November when I start looking after my nephew!

Well, a short and sweet post today...but here are some pictures! :)

Birthday boy - June 28th

Cole's birthday party spread

The party theme was "Moustache and Bowtie"

Year 1 Update

Yummy cookies

"I'm one!"

Smash cake

Enjoying some applesauce on Canada Day at Parliament Hill

Little Canadian girl

Loving her little brother

The Latest

Wow...OK, so I guess that amidst all of my promises to update more, I've completely been off of the blogging wagon.  That's about to change...NOW!

Here are the latest dirty details:

• Steve has been back to work for 2 weeks after being off for 9 months on parental leave.  It's been a new routine for all of us, but we're settling in.
• Cole cut his first tooth on May 21.  He still won't let us see it and always sticks his tongue over top of his lower gums when we try to look.
• Quinn has met with both a pediatric allergist and dermatologist about her eczema.  It's been decided that she has both eczema and idiopathic urticaria (hives).  Of course her skin is the best that it's been in a long time when we went to the dermatologist, but at least we found out that it's nothing serious!
• We're waiting for Cole to see the same allergist about his potential allergy to eggs
• Last weigh-in for Cole (just over 9 months of age) was that he weighed 18 lbs exactly.  I forgot to ask what his length was, so I'll have to get that info at his 12m appointment
• Cole is the master of what we've been calling his "zombie crawl" - he drags his body around by using his right arm to pull himself around.  He has figured out how to crawl on all fours (somewhat) over the past week, so crawling is a work in progress.
• Quinn is becoming increasingly independent and says hilarious things.  Here are some recent gems - "Go away, Mom, and do your exercises", "Eat the crap" <-- that is referring to the ends of bananas or pepperoni sticks
• Cole was never a huge fan of pureed food, so this stage of eating didn't really last too long.  He has been eating small pieces of "big people" food for the last month or so.  He's a big fan of KD (also Quinn's favourite and the only way that she will eat macaroni and cheese), will eat Cheerios by the handful, and can devour an entire avocado in one sitting.
• Yesterday when we were at the gymnastics center for my boot camp/drop-in playtime, Cole pulled himself to standing and also climbed up onto a crash mat.
• We're planning Cole's 1st birthday party.  Can't believe that we're at this point already!

So once again, I'm vowing to make more frequent blog updates along with pictures.  Bear with me! :)

7 Months Old!!!

Cole is 7 months old today.  I have NO IDEA where the past 7 months have gone.  It seemed to take a really long time for Quinn to reach this milestone, but here we are already with Cole!

We took CJ for his 6 month shots a week and a half today and he also got weighed and measured then as well.  He weighs 16.6 lbs and is 67.2 cm long.  He's dropped down a bit from his 50th percentile curve, but the doctor said that he looks healthy and is clearly thriving, so she's not worried.  He'll get weighed again at his 9 month appointment, and there aren't any shots that he needs for that one.  Q and CJ both got their first dose of their flu vaccines then as well and were total champs!  So that was doctor appointment #1...fast forward a week and we were back at the doctor regarding Quinn's skin.  We had been thinking that she had eczema, but it never has really gotten better and we've been dealing with it for the past 18 months or so.  Now we're just waiting to hear from the dermatologist at CHEO and an allergist for her referral appointments.  We're really anxious to hopefully get to the bottom of her issue and nip it in the bud.  Right now we have to keep on bathing her every other day and making sure to keep her skin hydrated with cream.  She doesn't seem to be bothered by it all, so that's a good thing!

We FINALLY seem to have gotten CJ a little more used to solids.  He was definitely not a fan of carrots, green beans, or parsnips - all of those options elicited gagging.  Finally he seemed to really like the apple/pear with cinnamon combination - thank goodness!  Cinnamon seems to be the key to his heart, as he also likes sweet potato that was cooked with cinnamon.  Phew!

Baby Cereal - The Feeding Saga Continues

So it's been 5 mornings now that we've been feeding Cole rice cereal.  He's making a little bit of progress, but for the most part he still isn't so keen on being fed.  Yesterday he was actually starting to open his mouth for the spoon, but you still had to get past the flailing arms to get to his mouth.  I guess the good thing is that he's our second baby, so we're a bit more used to the "what not to dos" when it comes to feeding babies, so he doesn't get too messy!  Basically, we know not to put too much on the spoon, not to have too much cereal made, and how to quickly jam a spoon into a baby's mouth and clean up the extra with the spoon at the same time.  Quite the mastery lesson!

Cereal face combined with a "wtf is this?!" face

Quinn is doing very well with manual tasks.  She's getting better at drawing pictures and loves to play with her magnadoodles.  The other day she actually drew something that actually resembled a dragon (well, as much as a 2 year old can draw a dragon on a magnadoodle).  For Christmas, she got an easel that is a chalkboard on one side and has a roll of paper on the other.  This is definitely an item that she loves to play with!!! It's also great to not have to have all of her colouring implements on the main floor (although there is a sizeable tote with crayons and colouring books up on the main floor).  It's definitely a neat experience to watch her use crayons, chalk, markers, and paints to discover her inner artist.  One of the things that I'd like to do this year is have a "craft day" one day a week after her nap and before dinner.  Maybe I'll finally peek at all of the Pinterest pins that I have regarding kids' crafts!!

Quinn is also a total princess.  She received a sweet crown from her friend's birthday party and loves to wear it all the time (so much so that I hunted the local Target for replacements and when I couldn't find them, her Nana shipped some up from Nova Scotia!).  Her movie of choice lately has been the new Disney movie "Frozen".  She's a big fan and loves to sing the songs and parrot back dialogue.  For anyone who hasn't seen it, you really should go and see it!  Even if you don't have young kids, it's great and the music is fantastic.

Cole seems to be in the thick of his 6 month growth spurt.  He's been waking more often to eat (6x the other night and 4x last night, including over midnight - Happy New Year!) and isn't very content playing on his own.  His naps have also been all over the place, but today was a better day, so here's hoping that tonight is a better night!  I would love for Cole to go back to getting up 2x a night to eat and to kick this darn habit of pre-midnight wakeups.

Say "cheese"!

Cole the doctor

Big smiles from our growing boy

Super close up

Oh! And I almost forgot - Cole has been rolling over since the beginning of October (first from tummy to back, then from back to tummy), but he really only favoured going from back to tummy.  Well, that is no more!  Now he is a rolling machine - half the time you put him on the floor, turn around to do a task (like putting away clothes in the closet) and he's halfway across the room!  It's quite amusing to see.