Busy

Wow! It's been ages since I posted last!

In the last 10 days we:

- Have packed our 1/2 our house up to send with the movers, sold about 1/3 of it and took the rest of it on a plane.

- Cleaned and cleaned and cleaned

- Reintroduced Jacob to all his grandparents and some of his aunts and uncles

- Painted, tore up carpet

- Cleaned some more

- Flew across the country

- Celebrated Adam's birthday

- Crossed 4 times zones

- Visited with friends

- Said goodbye to many people in BC, said hello to many people in Halifax

- Ate lots of takeout

And I think thats the best summary I can give for now. Off to spend a bit of QT with my husband!!!

Suzanne

It's about that time...

In 2 weeks Jacob will be 6 months old, which I can hardly believe! I feel like I'm always caught in this tension of wanting him to stay a baby forever and wanting to see him grow and learn new things. Things change so quickly with babies, for instance: 2 weeks ago Jacob could barley sit up unless he was slouched over, now he can sit straight up and play with his toys for a few minutes at a time before he falls over... how do their little muscles grow so fast?

If you've been reading my blog for awhile you may remember that I was debating starting Jacob on solids a little early since he was starting to wake up again in the night to feed. I told myself at the time that I would give him one week before I made any changes. By the end of that week he was pretty much back to sleeping for 12 hours straight at night again, so I decided to wait until 6 months to start solids. An added bonus to waiting being that we didn't have to buy any "feeding gear" until we moved back to Halifax.

Now that we are quickly approaching the 6 month mark I've been starting to do my research on "feeding gear". So, since I love to hear about things from people who have/are using them I was wondering if I could get some input on some highchairs! You all have had such great advice in the past I thought I would utilize it again!!

So here's the dilemma: I am torn between getting a full sized high chair :

Or a booster seat like this:

OR THIS:

Right now I'm leaning towards a booster seat, only because it takes up so much less room and you can take it with you to people's houses when it overlaps with dinner time. But I've never had a kid before, and it seams like most people who have kids go for the full sized highchair. I'm not really picky about how it looks, I just want something comfortable and functional!

What are your thoughts - is it worth the extra money to get a full sized highchair?

I'd love to hear from you all!

Suzanne

He Shoots He Scores

It's that time of year again! In case you're not a hockey fan we have officially entered into the NHL playoff season.

Adam and I are both big hockey fans (although I have to admit the only time I really watch it is during the playoffs or the olympics). We're both also Penguins fans, but since living in Vancouver have found ourselves cheering for the Canucks as well. So it will be interesting to see what this years playoffs bring!

It would appear that Jacob has inherited his fathers love for watching sports. As soon as hockey comes on the TV (or laptop as our TV is somewhere across the country) his eyes are glued and he won't look away until you turn it off.

"YAY! They scored again!!! That's 5 goals in one period!"

"I sure do love hockey season! Thanks Uncle Paul for my Penguins jersey"

Who are you cheering for this year?

Suzanne

Beach Day

Yesterday after the movers came we packed up our things and headed down to the beach. It was 21 degrees out and after all of our hard work this weekend we needed some time to relax

We spent most of our time walking with the stroller along the paths, since I am terrified of J getting a sun burn. I have yet to see a good natural sunscreen anywhere and I guess technically babies aren't supposed to wear sunscreen until they are at least 6 months old anyway, but if any of you can recommend a good natural sunscreen I would be very appreciative. We did stop for 5 minutes or so though to get in a good photo shoot on the sand.

Man, was it ever good to be out in the sunshine! I really am a different person when the sun comes out. There is just something about it that does wonders for the soul, I always feel so much more relaxed. Being cooped up inside in a basement during a rainy winter can zap the motivation right out of you. I even think it affects our marriage, Adam and I definitely fight a lot less in the summer!

Jacob is at the perfect age for these kinds of outings. He really thrives being out and about, and is always so happy. He can start getting crabby and as soon as we take him outside he is almost instantaneously a happier baby. And since he sleeps well at night I actually have the energy to get out and about during the day, unlike when he was a newborn!

He is really starting to explore things, and loves anything tactile. While he was sitting in the sand he kept reaching down and grabbing handfuls of it just letting it slide through his fingers. He actually had quite a hole dug by the time we went over to get him!

I am really looking forward to having the summer off and having a chance to go on lots of adventures with him. If any of you mom's in Halifax aren't working this summer I'm always looking for company for a walk or a trip to the park or beach! As much as I love hanging out with J. too many days without some adult company makes me go a little crazy!

Jacob must have been worn out from all of the activity because he was out cold by 6pm slept until almost 8am this morning (he did wake up once to feed around 5am). Since I almost never get to sleep in I was in heaven...except for the fact that I was sleeping on an air mattress that doesn't even bare a slight resemblance to my warm bed...but still I got to sleep in which was great:)

So, hopefully the sun keeps up for the next 10 days so we can spend our newfound free time outdoors!

Suzanne

Packing Up

Well we have had a crazy weekend trying to get everything packed for the movers to come today! Thanks to some great friends lending us cars, helping us pack, and keeping us company, we were able to be pretty efficient and pack things up in record time! Now that the movers have come and gone I finally feel as if I can breath a sigh of relief. I HATE moving! This will be mine and Adam's 5th move since we have been married, and even though we purge each time it seams like we keep acquiring stuff!

Jacob has been a trooper for the last few days. We have both been pretty preoccupied with packing and getting things organized so he had to entertain himself a lot. He did surprisingly well and spent a lot of time in his Jolly Jumper and playing sitting up against boxes. On top of that he's been a trooper with his naps sleeping between 1.5-2.5 hours for all his naps this weekend (which definitely helps us be more effective around the house!)

So, now that all of our stuff is gone (minus what we're bringing on the plane on the 28th) we can focus on cleaning bit-by-bit and saying our final goodbyes. Adam's dad arrives from Newfoundland on the 24th and will stay until the 27th so he can see Adam graduate, and it will be nice not to have to worry about packing when he's here. Hopefully we will have some nice weather so we can get out and do a few things with him!

In the meantime we will be living in a semi-empty apartment, sleeping on an air mattress (Jacob in a pack and play), eating meals that we froze ahead of time (aren't we prepared:) and definitely not watching any TV (which sucks during the playoffs)! I have to say though, I actually think that I like this period of gradual transition. It certainly means less stress, since we're doing things over a spread period of time, and it's nice to have these last 10 days in Vancouver to ourselves without having to worry about packing up an entire apartment!

We also found out today that our car is already in Halifax, which is fantastic news because it was supposed to take 3-4weeks (we sent it 2 weeks ago). That means we will have a car as soon as we get in Halifax which is awesome, since the bus system in Halifax is not quite as reliable as Vancouver!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Um guys.... I know you're busy packing but could someone give me a hand back up?

Things we love

Sometimes I can have a bit of an obsessive enthusiastic personality. This has definitely proven true when it comes to finding baby items that I love. I watch for sales, read lots of reviews, and ask every mom I know what they use, trying to leave no stone unturned, lest I miss out on a great deal, or fantastic item!

That all being said, I thought that it would be fun to post some of the stuff that I love every few weeks incase any of you out there are like me and like to do your homework! The one thing I have learned is the best way to learn about something is hear about it from someone who uses it everyday! There will probably be a lot of baby stuff in here but I'm going to try and add some other things too... you know to show that my life doesn't completely revolve around my child:)

But for today I think I will stick with a baby item, since It's late when I'm writing this and I can think of lots of great things to say about this item!

THE BOB REVOLUTION:

So, I researched strollers like a mad women when I was pregnant! I wanted something that would not only work for walking around our neighborhood but would also stand up to some "off road" trails. I loved the idea of a jogging stroller as well, because I was very ambitious and thought I would be back to running right after I gave birth (don't even ask me the last time I went for a run... I'm still working on a good excuse for why I still haven't started back up).

Well I debated between the finalists for awhile, but in the end the BOB revolution won my heart! Aside from the fact that it fit all of the stroller criteria that I listed above, it had so many other extras that I loved. First of all it is pretty light weight for a jogging stroller (23lbs), that, combined with the fantastic inflatable tires make it feel like you are pushing air (I'm not even exaggerating here the stroller practically drives itself). Another selling point for me was how easy it was to fold up. All you have to do is push the little levers up top, it folds over and you grab the little handle, wrap the strap around and away you go... no complicated gear for me thanks! Another selling feature for me was how far down the sun shade went. I had heard from a lot of mom's that getting something that provided a lot of shade was a big plus in a stroller, especially in the summer!

Finally, I really wanted something that had a car seat attachment and a "snack tray". I wanted to be able to easily transfer Jacob from the car to his stroller, so that if he fell asleep in the car I wouldn't disturb him. With the BOB the car seat adaptor includes a snack tray (and as an added bonus there is also 2 mesh sippy cup/bottle holders on either side of the seat). So I was set for one purchase I got both!

So, as good as something can sound on paper, the real test is how much you like it when you use it. The first time we tested it out with Jacob was in the endowment lands in Vancouver when he was about a week old. As a side note, I was so paranoid of him being too cold I swear that I checked the temperature of his face around 50 times before Adam made me stop. We couldn't believe how well this stroller drove, you barely had to touch the stroller to steer it! The shocks were another aspect that we really noticed, we could go over tree roots, side walks, gravel, and Jacob barley noticed. Even going down stairs was pretty easy (not a whole flight but the 3 leading down to our apartment). Another thing that we loved was between the car seat cover and the sunshade it was a perfect dark cocoon for Jacob to nap in while we went for walks, with the added bonus of a little "peek window" for neurotic mothers to peek in and check on their babies.

So those are the main highlights for us on the BOB revolution. I would definitely buy it again if we had to re-buy a stroller! Aside from what I mentioned there are lots of other great features such as: a 5point harness, a safety strap, foot brakes, decent storage, lots of mesh pockets for storing extras, a reclining seat, the option to lock the front wheel or let it swivel, etc. But for us the things that I talked about are what we really loved about the stroller.

Since a good quality stroller is an expensive purchase (although I think of any of ours, probably the one that was most worth the money we paid) I thought I would share a few tips on how we saved money. First of all if you plan on being in the States at any point - buy there it's much cheaper. Secondly if you do buy in the states plan ahead and keep an eye out on stores like REI (like an american MEC). They do free shipping to your local store and are always having promotions on items (20-30% off). Doing these few things saved us over $130.00 on our stroller, which with all the expenses that come with having a baby, is a big savings!

Well that's all for me! Stay tuned for more "Things we love"

Suzanne

45

So I need some advice from all you mom's out there reading my blog!

Overall Jacob is a pretty good sleeper. He usually goes between 11-13 hours straight at night without waking, and takes 2-3 naps during the day. That being said for over a month now his naps have been really erratic. He mostly goes down for his naps at around the same time each day, however, how long he sleeps is ALL over the place. We always get one 45 minute "sleep cycle" out of him, however, after that it's up in the air. Sometimes he'll sleep for an hour, hour and a half, two... even up to three sometimes in the afternoon.

The thing is I know he needs more than a 45 minute nap those times he wakes up, but the only thing that I 've tried that will get him back to sleep is nursing him (a habit I really don't want to get into, considering it will mean I can't leave during his naps since he won't take a bottle). I've tried letting him cry when he wakes up (he just keeps crying until his "nap time" is over), he uses his thumb to sooth himself to sleep and hasn't taken a pacifier since he was 3 months old so I can't just go in and give him the paci and hope he falls back asleep!

I know the 45 minute nap is a problem for a lot of moms around this age (baby's age not ours...I have no problem napping for more than 45 minutes:). So I was wondering if anyone out there has any tips or advice? I'm not super stressed, since he takes good naps 50% of the time... I just don't want to rob him of the sleep he needs the other 50% of the time! I love hearing what has worked for other people so bring on the advice!

Suzanne