Birthday/Anniversary Getaway

So I know I went to Niagara Falls last week....and then two days later I packed up and went back to Niagara-pn-the-Lake.  It sounds crazy, but it was kind of just weird timing.  Ryan and I booked a little weekend getaway to Niagara-on-the-Lake awhile back.  Then my sister wanted to go somewhere for March break an it just so happened that both were a few days apart.  Oh well, I had a great time at both!

So since Cooper was born the day after our anniversary, and I was too close to my due date to risk going anywhere, we had said that for our 5 year anniversary we would do something this winter.  I kind of justified it since it was both our 5 year anniversary and my 30th birthday.  I booked a night at the Pillar & Post in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is probably one of my favourite places in the world!

Niagara-on-the-Lake is my favourite town.  It's so pretty, the homes are huge, and I'm always wondering why all these people do for a living that allow them to live there.  Plus it's wine country, and I love wine.  So we went down on Saturday morning and hit up a few wineries.  We went to Reif, Inniskillin and The Ice House.  

That night we had dinner at The Cannery which was in the Pillar and Post.  The dinner was included in the package that I had bought and it was unbelievably delicious! The rest of the night we just relaxed in our room.  Why spend all that money on a hotel room if you aren't going to enjoy it!  I also don't typically do dinner in the hotel that I'm staying in, but why not!  It's so nice to not have to get bundled up and pack Cooper into the car.  We just had to walk downstairs.

The next day we took Cooper for his first swim in the pool.  He seemed to enjoy it!

After we checked out we hit a few breweries and wineries.  We went to Oast Brewery and then Konzelmann winery.  I had never been there before and I tried 4 wines and loved them all.  So I highly recommend it because that doesn't usually happen.  After that we went to the Niagara College brewery and wine store.  Ryan got beer and I tasted more wine.  Everything was really good and the people there were really nice.

It was a really nice and relaxing getaway for us.  Even though we brought Cooper, we spent some quality time together which gets really tough when you have a couple of kids.  I could get used to this hotel life, that's for sure!

Fallsview

 Last week we went on a little March break getaway to Niagara Falls.  We went with my sister and a friend who has two kids.  Another friend of my sisters also went and stayed in the room next to us with her two daughters.  

Our room wasn't ready when we got there, so we hung out in the hallway

March break isn't really the ideal time to go away, but since my sister is a teacher it was necessary.  Niagara Falls was a zoo!  Just getting into the hotel was nuts.  We went to the swimming pool and it was crazy.  We waited in line for breakfast for 40 minutes!

But overall the whole trip was worth it.  The kids had a blast.  They mostly just ran up and down the halls.  Breakfast was totally worth the 40 minute wait.  And the view!  I've never had a fallsview room before and it was worth every penny.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites.  The rooms are so nice, because although they are a bit more expensive (we still have a Travelzoo deal), every room is a suite.  And with kids, that's key!  We could put the kids to bed in one room and still hang out in the other room.  Plus there was a jacuzzi tub.  Which was all fun and games until somebody pooped in it....(cough, my kid pooped...)  Apparently jets make kids poop, is what I'm telling myself because Parker never poops in the tub.

 Big kids love Parker, and Parker loves big kids.  So everyone had a good time running around and playing.  The older kids liked to push Parker and the one year old on the luggage cart.  Cooper on the other hand enjoyed just hanging out on the bed. 

Cooper and Auntie Tal napped while Parker and I had one on one time at breakfast

This is 30

I'm 30.

30 is one of those milestone birthdays for sure.  I remember when I turned 20 I heard that it was a good thing because nobody ever wants to go back to their teenage years, but everyone wants to go back to their twenties.  The twenties are full of fun times, finding yourself.

Well I've found myself.  And although it's crazy to me that I'm 30, I'm looking forward to these years.  I think that aging is difficult if you aren't where you want to be in life.  But I'm exactly where I want to be.  I had fun in my twenties, but those early years were also difficult.  My goal was to get married and have a couple of kids by the time I was 30.  And that's where I am.  I've been married for 5 years, I have 2 amazing kids and a good job.  So going into my thirties I'm incredibly happy with where I am.

I look forward to the next 10 years.  To watching my children grow, to travelling with my husband, to start spending time at the arena every night (ok I'm not actually looking forward to that, but I'm sure it will be fine once I'm there).  

With that being said, I had a fantastic day.  I spent the day at Adventure Room with my family, where we didn't escape, but we did have a lot of fun.  We went out for dinner and then back to my parents house for presents and cheesecake.  I got a necklace from the kids and stacking rings from Ryan, my brother and sister and my parents.  I also got the Ed Sheeran CD today (and this morning was able to get tickets to his Toronto concert, which I'm really excited about despite not typically being a concert lover).

It was a great day and I'm hoping that it means that my thirties are going to be fantastic.

Second Babies

I just want to clear a few things up about second babies.  My entire life I've been listening to my sister, who has a serious case of the middle child syndrome, complain about how everyone else is more loved.  And now that I have 2 kids, I think I can speak to it a little bit.

I love my second baby so so much.

With Cooper, when I had him I already knew what it was like to have a baby and have them grow so incredibly fast.  With Cooper I soak in every second.  I just look at him and can't help but smile at how much love I have for him.

The more kids you have, the more your attention is divided.  This is something that can't be helped.  And I feel that at different times, each kid requires more attention, meaning the other kid gets a bit less than they maybe deserve.  (And then in comes the mom guilt...)  But the love?  The love just multiplies.

Cooper definitely gets less attention from everyone else than Parker did at the same age.  But from me the kiddo gets loads of attention.  I could just stare at him all day.  And eventually, when he's bigger and his interest in me isn't solely because I'm his food source, I know he will get lots of attention too.

I mean look at this face.  What's not to love?

Cooper at 4 Months

Our littlest nugget is 4 months old!  He won't be the littlest for long though as he's catching up to Parker quickly!  Time is flying by and in the past month he has changed so much.

Weight: 16lbs 7oz on March 14

Height: 26 inches on March 14

Sleeping: His sleep is pretty inconsistent.  He can sleep through the night and has multiple times (including last night).  But there are also nights when he will be up at 1:30 or any time between then and the morning.  He rarely is up more than once in the night though and to be honest getting up to feed him doesn't really bother me.  Sure I would love both of my kids to sleep through the night, but I can handle this stage.

At night I feed him and put him down and he goes right to sleep. His last feeding is anywhere between 8:30-9:30. During the day is a different story.  He will only nap in his bouncy chair or in the car seat if we go out.  If we just stay at home getting him to nap is next to impossible.  Luckily it doesn't seem to make him too cranky or affect his night time sleep.

Feeding: On demand of course.  Mostly though he seems to eat every 3.5-4.5 hours. Depending on when he was up in the night, he will often sleep until around 8 and then might eat again at 10 or so.  He usually does a longer stretch after that and sometimes even goes 5 hours during the day if he has actually fallen asleep.

He's starting to get a bit more distracted while eating and will just stare up at me and smile.  It's pretty cute.

He eats 6-8 times a day.

Awake: He's developing a little personality in his awake time.  Sometimes I feel like he's getting bored of being a baby.  He's at the stage where he's more awake and he can smile and talk to us, but he can't move or grab toys or anything yet, so I feel bad for the little guy when he's just laying there all the time.

It is nice though that he interacts with us a bit more.  I love when he chats away to me.  For the first time the other day he stayed awake in the car and was talking away in his car seat.  

Diapers: Size 2 disposables but I put a size 3 on him to see if it would work and it did, so I'm going to return my unopened Costco box of size 2's!

Clothes: 3-6 months.  Although the shirts and pants are snug around the middle but the pants are way too long.  The opposite problem that Parker has.  I don't think he will be in 3-6 month for too much longer.

Milestones:
Lots of smiles and talking.  
If he's propped up a bit he kind of tries to pull his body up into sitting.  He's not sitting up on his own by any means, but he's in the early stages.
Getting better at pushing up during tummy time.  His neck is very strong and he can sit up on my lap easily but he doesn't always like to push up during tummy time.

Likes: Bath time, if I put him in the bath he always calms right down.  His brother.  Parker gets tons of smiles. 

Dislikes: Napping. When I eat dinner  He always cries during dinner.
He hates tummy time and so do I.  I think his belly is so big that every time I put him on his belly he spits up.  
He hates when I come at his nose with the aspirator.

Health: He still has his cold.  Well it kind of came back, poor kid.  So he's still coughing and is congested.  He handles it pretty well and luckily hasn't had a fever.

I love this little guy so much.