The Happiness Project

This year I started writing in a 5 year journal.  A 5 year journal is one that has a page for each day of the year, with 5 small sections to write a couple sentences in.  You are supposed to do this for 5 years.  

My journal is The Happiness Project journal.  Each day also gives a little happiness quote, in case you need some inspiration.  And there have been very few days that I have forgotten to write since I got it. And there are very few days that I have needed that quote for inspiration.

And it has made me realize that I'm happy and I'm blessed.  This little family of mine brings me so much joy.  Even on the difficult days, I can usually look back on the day and find something that happened that makes me happy to be me. I record what we did that day, or something that Parker said, or something new that Cooper did.  

Practicing daily gratitude isn't something that many people do.  We are too busy.  But then do we get too unhappy?  It's easy to get caught up in the difficulty of life.  An unhappy work environment, being an exhausted stay at home mom.  But when you look around you, how lucky are you actually?    

These Brothers

The boys had a joint bath for the first time the other night.  Cooper loved sitting up in the tub and watching Parker.  Parker loved helping to bath Cooper.

Watching these two together is amazing.  Cooper is so young still and yet he loves to watch his big brother.  Parker gets the most smiles and Cooper just follows him around.  Parker loves to take care of Cooper.  He's always giving him hugs and kisses.  If I lay Cooper down in bed with Parker, he snuggles up to him.  I'm thinking at this point that a double bed would be better for the two of them than a bunk bed because they just love to be with each other.  I hope that doesn't change.

This morning Parker was sitting on the couch with us and Cooper's head ran into him.  "No baby!" As if Cooper did it on purpose....and for some reason Parker fairly consistently calls him baby, rather than Cooper, or "Popper or Pooper" because he can say cow but for some reason can't say the C at the beginning of Cooper's name.  And he calls himself ChaCha instead of Parker.  Toddler language continues to baffle me.

Cooper at 5 Months

Time is flying with this guy.  We are in a fun stage right now (although really all stages are fun...) because he's extra smiley and really starting to interact with us.  Looking back at the old pictures makes me sad because all of his hair fell out this month.  He looks like a completely different baby, and although he's only been bald for a few weeks I had completely forgotten what he looked like with all of that hair!

Weight: About 17lbs 5oz

Diapers: Size 3

Clothes: I still have him in 3-6 months but I really think that the next size would fit him better.  I've just been putting it off.  My mom put him in a 6-12 month onesie the other day and it didn't look silly.

Feeding: During the day we are every 3-5 hours most of the time.  Sometimes if he doesn't eat as much he will only go 2, but if we are out we can usually spread them out.  He usually eats about 6 times a day.

Sleeping:  We had a week long stretch where he slept through every night, and then for the past week he has been up once a night.  It really doesn't bother me so I don't mind it.  Parker usually wakes in the night anyways, so at this point I barely notice!  He still goes to sleep at night pretty easily in most cases.  He's starting to nap a little bit better.  I notice a fairly consistent morning and afternoon nap, but they are short.  If we are out I can tell that he gets tired and I can put him in his car seat and he will fall asleep.  If we are at home there are a couple times a day that I can get him to sleep for about 45 minutes in his crib.

Milestones: 
Started rolling over last weekend from his back to his tummy.

Grabbing toys and trying to play with them more.

First time being left with someone other than mom or dad.  In the past week I left him with Ryan's mom while I went to appointments, then she also babysat one night while we went out and put him to bed, and this week my mom took him while I went grocery shopping.  So it's been a lot all at once!

Went in the Jolly Jumper and exersaucer.  He hasn't quite gotten either of them figured out but seems to like them.

Likes:
His brother.  Parker gets the most smiles and Cooper really follows him around with his eyes.
The bath.  He's still a big fan!
Diaper changes.  He's not a fan of a dirty diaper, but the second it comes off he's all smiles.
When he pukes all over his clean outfit.  He thinks that's hilarious...

Dislikes:
Tummy time.  And sometimes when he rolls over he gets angry because he really dislikes his tummy.  
When mommy eats supper.

It's been so much fun to watch his personality start to develop.  He's turned into such a smiley little guy.  I like that he's starting to be able to play with toys a little bit and move around a bit more as it gives hims something to do if I can't be playing with him.  I was starting to think that it was getting boring being a baby!  I know these next few months are going to be full of changes and development!  He's going to start sitting up and eating soon and I can't believe how fast the time is going!  Part of me wants it to slow down, but part of me also can't wait to have him and Parker playing together because I think they will have so much fun!

And some of our out-take photos:

Ooooh What's that?

Oops I fell down

Mid Spit Up - gross

He thought the spit up was pretty funny

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!