Our Girls Weekend (Only One Boy Allowed)

Every year we go on a girls shopping weekend to Buffalo.  We stay in the same hotel, we eat in the same restaurants, we shop in the same malls.  It's tradition.  But this year, the exchange rate is just terrible and it was going to make everything so expensive!  So we decided to switch it up a little and stay on the Canadian side of the border.

Somebody figured out how to dump all of the treats from his cup...

There is a new outlet mall in Niagara so we decided to stay in Niagara-on-the-Lake and make it more of a girls weekend with a bit of shopping.  

Niagara-on-the-Lake is my favourite small town (besides the one that I'm from of course!)  It's so cute and all of the houses are so beautiful.  So we spent some time shopping downtown, got massages and went to a winery.  Parker even met Santa on the street!

We spent Saturday afternoon at the outlet mall and got a bit of Christmas shopping done.  My only request for next year is ladies, leave your husbands at home!  An outlet mall is no place for a man to be standing in the middle of the aisle on his phone.  Or send him over to bass pro.  And next year Parker stays home too so that I don't have to wrangle his stroller through the stores.

On our way home on Sunday we also stopped at the mall in Burlington and Ikea.  Parker ordered a kids meal at Ikea (ok I ordered it for myself so that I could share with him...)  He loved the mac and cheese!  But what's not to love about mac and cheese.

We had a great weekend and I can't believe it's over already.  This weekend always makes me realize how close Christmas is and how much I have to do.  I better get on it!

A Country Boy in the City

Yesterday Parker, my mom and I headed into Toronto to be in the audience for a Cityline taping.  I have been twice before but going with a baby was a new experience!

We had to leave the house by 6:45...which was also a new experience but something that I will have to do daily very soon.  We travelled into Toronto and hopped on the subway to get downtown.  This was Parker's first subway ride!  He seemed to enjoy it because he could just look at all of the people.

The taping itself was kind of stressful.  They told us not to worry about our babies making noise but if they got really cranky to take them out of the studio.  Parker is just so busy these days and doesn't want to sit still!  So I was letting him stand up and hold onto the chair.  Well of course he fell down and started screaming.  I couldn't believe that my good baby was the one that got called out on TV for being fussy!

Once he calmed down I let him eat puffs for the rest of the taping and that kept him occupied.  I should of done that from the beginning apparently.

The show was actually very interesting and it airs next Wednesday if anyone wants to see if we made it on TV.  Half the time I couldn't see what they were doing from our seats so I'm trying to look around people or looking at the monitors to see what was going on.  They told us not to do that but they were making a trifle with brownies and caramel....I mean how can I not look! 

I just have to say that Tracy Moore has to be the nicest TV host ever!  (Not that I have that much experience with hosts.)  But the three times that I have been to Cityline she is so involved with the audience and so friendly.  And she might be faking it, but if she is she's great at it!  It has to be exhausting to be that friendly to a bunch of random people every single day.

Parker at 10 Months

My baby is 10 months old and I honestly don't know where the time has gone.  I'm excited for the stages that are approaching but am not excited about the fact that I go back to work in 2 months.  This mom thing is tough, but is much more fulfilling than I thought it would be.  I'm scared about how I will fit everything in when I go back to work.  So let's just try not to think about it quite yet...

Weight: 13lbs 4 oz and 26 inches tall

Feeding:  Parker still eats fairly often throughout the day.  He is easily distracted and gets bored so I think he eats little bits at a time.  Feeding him in public has become a challenge because he eats for about a minute and then wants to see what's going on around him.  He still won't really take a bottle.  He will eat about 2 ounces and then quits.

He's eating his solids better.  His favourites are chicken with mixed vegetables and avocado.  He had a bit of rice pudding the other night and couldn't get enough of it!  I'm hoping the avocado will fatten him up.  He has 2-3 meals a day.

Sleeping:  Ahhhh sleep.  Parker still wakes once a night most nights to eat.  And it's not just a quick snack either, he would be happy to eat for 45 minutes if I let him!  I'm not a fan of this trend.  He will still usually sleep til around 8am though.  

He typically naps twice a day still at around 10am and 2pm for anywhere from an hour to three hours.

Milestones: Parker rolls where he wants to go.  He tries to crawl  and a few times has moved a little bit but then he falls and remembers what he can whip across the floor much quicker by rolling.  The cat doesn't understand what's happened and why he can get her now.

He can pull himself into a standing position if he's sitting and he has something to grab onto.  Couches are too high for him but he can do it on a hamper or in his crib.  He can't do it from laying down so we don't have a problem when we put him to bed.

Started waving.  At first he just stuck his arm straight out and then started waving the whole arm.

We have a tooth!  I had wondered over the past few weeks if he was teething but at 10 months I had kind of given up and figured he would just never get teeth.  Then one day I stuck my finger in his mouth and there's a sharp little tooth in there!

Parker went into the church nursery for the first time this month.  I thought I would get called in at some point because he would fuss, but nope!  He just sat there for the service and played with a rattle.  We also had our first non family babysitter.  Parker did great with her as well and went right to bed for her!

This is how most of our photoshoots go these days...

He's definitely a busy little bee and as a typical boy can always find the things he shouldn't get into.  There can be 10 toys on the floor but he wants to play with cords or touch the fireplace....  I think he's going to keep me on my toes!

That White Fluffy Stuff

 We got our first snow fall yesterday.  And we got a lot of it.  I'm not going to lie, I'm not a big fan of the snow.  If I can stay inside it's ok and it looks pretty.  But driving home last night was not fun and I hate the wetness and how slippery it gets.  (Because I'm clumsy...)

Parker watched the snow from the window this morning and seemed to be intrigued so I bundled him up in his much too big snow suit and we went outside.  He didn't really know what to think.  I think it's too early for this too Parker boy.

Currently

• Parker got congested last night and didn't sleep much.  He may or may not of ended up in bed with me.... a mamas gotta sleep....
• Today he is fairly miserable unless he's being held upright, which makes me fairly exhausted
• On the bright side, it gives me an opportunity to try out essential oil remedies for congestion
• I smell poop right now.  And it's hard to know whether that means it's on me somewhere or if it's just a memory of what Parker's room smells like.  And as I'm writing this I realized it's my yogurt container, fantastic, peach yogurt smells like baby poop...
• I finally think I have Parker's babysitting figured out for when I go back to work and it's a huge relief and weight off my shoulders
• I have been searching for a winter coat for Parker.  I don't want to pay $60, I definitely don't want to pay $120, but my baby needs something warm!  And apparently the stores don't think that winter coats are important for babies because a lot of stores don't even carry anything.  It might be because my baby is so teeny tiny and he's supposed to be snug in his car seat all the time.
• Right now I need all the coffee.  That's all folks.

My Anniversary Tradition

Someone once told me that they knew of someone who put on their wedding dress every year.  So I thought, that's a great idea!  Let's see how long I can actually get it on for!

I don't think I've ever actually done it up, which is why it always seems a bit baggy around the middle.  It's a corset tie and that's just too much effort.

Last year I couldn't get it over my thighs....these things happen when you're pregnant.

But this year I got it on again and Parker and I took some selfies.  Look at the judgement in his eyes, I think he's embarrassed by me already.

2nd Anniversary
1st Anniversary
(3rd Anniversary doesn't exist as it wouldn't of been safe for anyone's eyes...)
 

4 Years

4 years ago today I married this guy.  Since then we've bought and renovated a house, gone to Jamaica, New York, Chicago, the Dominican Republic and the Finger Lakes of New York.  We've bought 2 trailers (and sold one of course!) We got a rambunctious kitten who has grown into a rambunctious cat.  We've celebrated 4 Christmases and 3 super bowls.  And best of all we've created a teeny tiny baby who is the centre of our entire world.

He's my best friend and my partner.  He's a better cook than I am but I'm making up for it now in cleaning dirty diapers.  He's an amazing dad and I love watching the way that he loves Parker.  

So here's to many more years and many more babies together.  (I have to keep throwing that out there until he finally agrees to it...)

Love you fella.

A New Day

Yesterday I was feeling down and exhausted.  Last week at Parker's doctors appointment I learnt that he had only gained 2 ounces in the entire month.  Although I knew he probably didn't have a huge weight gain in the month because he had been sick, I thought it would be more than that.  Plus, for the last month he has been waking in the night and I've been feeding him.  

I've spent over 9 months focusing so much time and energy on feeding Parker and trying to get him to grow.  And I was tired.  I was questioning my decision to continue breastfeeding.  I always said that I would love to make it to a year,  but each month that Parker gets older I kind of think to myself that if we quit now, I've made it 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, and that's a whole lot longer than a lot of moms make it.  There would be absolutely no shame in stopping now.  

But there are still so many benefits to breastfeeding.  Parker doesn't take a bottle and so I felt to wean him would mean weaning completely and once you make that decision and lose your milk supply, that's it, there's no turning back.

Today I had an appointment at the hospital and so I got to have a little conversation with one of my doctors.  She has a baby who is just over a year old.  And she reassured me that Parker was fine.  He's doing great developmentally, he doesn't look malnourished and he's happy.  There are benefits to breastfeeding and he might just be a tiny little guy, and that's ok.  It was what I needed to hear today.

Being a mom is full of constant internal conversations and struggles.  I constantly wonder if what I'm doing and the decisions that I'm making are the right ones.  Talking to a female doctor, who is in the same stage of life as me and who has a tiny baby (not as tiny as Parker, but nobody is as tiny as Parker!) gave me so much reassurance that he was fine.  She told me to stick with it for just one more month, or two more months and see how things go.  

So today I'm grateful.  I'm grateful that despite his size, I have a healthy baby.  The struggles that I have had with Parker are nothing compared to what some parents go through.  And even in those moments where I'm so frustrated with him because he refuses to eat, he will then give me a little smirk, and that just brightens my day.  

The Littlest Penguin

Halloween is exhausting.

Because it fell on a Saturday this year, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take our time and try to make the rounds over the span of an afternoon.  We spent 5 hours going to 6 houses and didn't even hit some of the stops that we had planned on making.... We will have to find a way to be more efficient next year!

And I might be biased, but I'm pretty sure this is the cutest penguin that I've ever seen, and I've seen some pretty cute penguins in my day.