10 weeks old!

(j reading to c from a graphic novel. cohen really acts like he understands. so cute)

we have reached the 10-week mark (see 6 weeks and 8 weeks, too). some things about the past few weeks:

- every day is really different. for a while, if cohen had a day where he wasn't fussy at all, i would think, ok, this is how it is going to be from now on. but really, one day might be really good, with lots of smiles, and i'll think, wow, this is so easy! then the very next day bubba will be really irritable and need to be held the whole day. on those days i have to remind myself that the next day will maybe (probably) be totally different.

- baby smiles are the best. cohen still doesn't smile all the time, but we get at least a few every day. when he smiles, it is the best feeling ever.

- cohen has started making noises when he is especially happy. they sound like "goo" and "coo". so awesome.

- one of my parenting books says not to make eye contact with baby in the middle of the night. but i can't help it, because sometimes cohen is so happy and animated after he eats in the night. i (usually) feel so grateful for the opportunity to experience motherhood, even night feeding. we are so lucky.

newborn baby gear i love

i wrote about the things i was loving when Cohen was just three weeks old. now that he is 10 weeks old, there are a few more things that i have been loving:

1. ergo baby carrier with newborn insert. i love this for two different situations. first, for traveling, so we don't have to bring our stroller, which basically takes up the entire trunk. second, when Cohen is fussy around 7 pm every night. we strap him into the ergo, and j walks around with him. Cohen falls asleep within minutes. so awesome

2. bouncy seat. we are not into having a whole bunch of baby stuff around the house, so we tried to skip this. i eventually caved and bought a really cheap one. cohen sits in this whenever we eat supper, and when one of us is in the kitchen. he seems to love it.

3. nuk soother. we didn't think we would want to use a pacifier with cohen, but we tried it out around six weeks when cohen was fussy while we were out (i think we were out for supper). he loves it. we call it our secret weapon and only use it when other things aren't working and we are in a public place, but i really do think it is great.

4. frida snot sucker. this is our most recent purchase. i had heard great things about it, but was totally fine using other methods of snot removal. plus the whole idea of me sucking his snot out seemed a tiny bit revolting. but then a week or so ago, i started noticing his nose looking pretty blocked up, and i really couldn't clear it very well. so we got the snot sucker, and now my mind is at ease because his little nose is clear. and it's not gross at all.

5. monte glider. we had ordered this ages ago, but due to a store in town messing up a bit, only got it when cohen was six weeks old or so. anyway, i love this glider and ottoman. before we had it, i was feeding cohen at night in our bed. this wasn't ideal, because it woke up jon every time. now, i feed cohen at night in the glider in his room. it is so comfy, and i think the gliding motion helps baby back to sleep.

see also my post on what to bring to the hospital, and the things i loved during my pregnancy.

hotel review: murray premises hotel, st. john's, NL

we stayed at the murray premises hotel on saturday night. please excuse the half naked baby in the pictures! these are the only pictures i got of the hotel room.

price: around $260 per night, parking included. one of the more expensive hotels in downtown st. john's
bathroom: really good. huge shower with three shower heads. huge two person soaker tub with jets.
breakfast: complimentary breakfast included. pretty standard, with toast, juice, hard boiled eggs, a little fruit, cereal.
wifi: yes, free, and fast
tv: yes. we watched lots of house hunters international
pool: nope
location: the best. we could walk out the door and be on the main street downtown with lots of restaurants and shops in less than a minute. and right beside the harbour
parking: included. this is good since parking can be really tough downtown st john's, but we found the parking lot really tight

notes:
- no room service!! no restaurant in the hotel! these are two pretty big negatives for us. with little bubba, it is so nice to be able to order a beer and a burger up to the room if necessary. i also love being right in my hotel for meals so i can run up to the room with Cohen if i need to. though there are tons of good restaurants all around this hotel, so that would work for most child-free people i think.
- we might not stay here again, because we love having a pool in the hotel, and also a restaurant. but we did really like it. the rooms had really low ceilings, which made it feel like we were staying in a cave. kinda cool. 

another weekend in st. john's

(a little stroll downtown)

 (croissants and coffee in the morning)

(tarts from rocket)

(breakfast and baby)

(relaxing)

on saturday we dropped grandma R off at the airport, then stayed in town to eat and shop. our evening didn't quite go as planned. first, we tried to get in to a restaurant for supper. 

it really felt like the restaurants weren't interested in us because we had a baby with us. it's really not something we ever thought about before, but maybe there are some restaurants (like all the restaurants in downtown st john's) that aren't appropriate to bring a baby to. so, we ended up having a beer at rocket, and heading back to the hotel. we were in quite a situation, because we couldn't move our car due to a huge concert happening that night, and we couldn't get a cab due to our car seat situation. all three of us ended up fast asleep by 9 pm in the big king hotel bed. only one of us got supper (it wasn't me or jon).

anyway, in the end we still had a great overnight, but we learned a few things. one is that we need to always stay in hotels with room service!

this week

(funny faces)

(homemade spelt bread)

(blue eyes)

(yoga aka tummy time)

(day trip to trinity)

(lattes in port rexton)

we had a great week. we head to town again first thing tomorrow morning to drop j's mom off to the airport. we are staying in a hotel we've never been to before, so i am excited for that. also, eating out and a bit of shopping. it's getting a little chilly (frost tonight) around here, which means pulling out my riding boots and big sweaters. loves it.

our coconut

what a thrill and responsibility to name a human being. when we were pregnant, we were always talking and singing to our little 'bubba' in my belly. we had a list of possible names for the baby on the ipad. we got ideas for names from tv shows (including sons of anarchy, of course), from distant relatives, from street signs, from literary characters. we were sure about a girl name: Jani. for a boy, we were pretty attached to the name 'hudson'. it is the name of the convenience stores in the airports we frequent. when we met our baby, we immediately knew he wasn't a hudson.

we thought for an hour or two after baby was born about a name. we had been to a leonard cohen concert during our pregnancy, and loved it. and at my 36 week checkup, the intern had mentioned that his sister just named her baby 'cohen'. we liked it. we tested out the other name we were considering, Lowell (from SOA). it just wasn't right. so our little baby was cohen. now, i mostly call him my little coconut (an orange is the new black reference) or munchkin. jon usually goes with coco or little man. love that little man.

on the weekend

we had a very quiet weekend. we arrived home late friday night after picking up j's mom from the airport in town. it then rained for the whole entire weekend. we made the most of it by taking naps, reading, watching tv, having coffee.

 (my men having a nap)

(Cohen and his Grandma getting to know each other)

 (we squeezed in a walk during a rare break in the rain)

(our serious little cutie)

in other news, our little guy has started smiling so much. we can't get enough of that sweet little face.

it's friday

We are driving into town today to pick up j's mom from the airport. She is coming for a week, and we are so excited for her to meet the little guy! It will be her first time to Newfoundland, so we hope to show her around a little bit, but mostly we plan to hang around, drink coffee, eat good food, and spend quality time with bubba.

8 weeks old

i just had to share a few more photos as our little guy turns 8 weeks old. j and i talk about how crazy it is that we have only known him for 2 months. sometimes it feels like we have had him much longer. what's new with him:

- he is not a really smiley baby, but loves to give j huge gummy smiles at lunchtime.

- his fav thing to do is have us bounce him around the kitchen while he looks straight up at the ceiling.

- he has completely outgrown all his newborn clothes.

-we have been using these cloth diapers. i will definitely write more about cloth diapers later, but so far we are liking them a lot.

- lately he sleeps from 10 pm to 1:30 am in his crib, then is up for half an hour to eat, then back to sleep again from 2 am to 5 am in his crib. after that we are lucky if he sleeps another hour, usually between us in our bed.

-his eyes are still a steely blue colour. we wonder if they will stay blue, turn green like mine, or turn brown like jon's. either way, he is so sweet!

on eating out with a newborn

(eating out pre-baby)

(at a restaurant in bonavista)

(eating out in twillingate)

j and i love date night and eating at restaurants. we took cohen out for supper  with us for the first time when he was only 5 days old. these are some things i'd recommend if you are going out for supper with a newborn:

- try to feed the baby right before you go. he will hopefully be able to sleep while you eat.

- ask for a table in the corner. you can put the baby carrier away from where the servers are walking.

- choose a seat facing away from the crowd. that way, if you have to breast-feed, you can do it really discretely. also, bring a scarf or blanket or something for cover if you end up breast-feeding.

- if baby is sleeping, use a light blanket to shield his eyes from the light so he doesn't wake up. i also find that if i constantly rock his carrier with my foot, he stays asleep.

- ask for the bill when the food comes. we try to pay before we eat, so we can bolt as soon as we are finished eating if the little guy is getting fussy.

- be prepared to leave. a few times, we have had to get our meals in takeout containers midway through the meal because cohen was fussy. no big deal

- enjoy your meal! the first few times, i was almost waiting for cohen to cry, so i really wasn't relaxing and enjoying myself. but now i know that no matter what happens, it's no big deal. the worst thing that can possibly happen is you have to leave in a hurry. no biggie. last night we were waiting to be seated at our fav restaurant, and cohen spit up all over himself. like, a lot. i didn't have enough stuff in the diaper bag to deal with the mess, so we ended up getting takeout and heading home. it was still a great night.

hotel review: harbour quarters inn, bonavista, NL

on saturday night we stayed at the harbour quarter's inn in bonavista, which is a few hours away from our new home. our main reason to go to bonavista was because we wanted to check out the relatively new bonavista social club, and have a good coffee at a real coffee shop. 

price: around $185 per night (taxes included). probably the most expensive place to stay in bonavista
bathroom: newly renovated, really nice. the toiletries were bath and body works and smelled really good
pool: no
breakfast: not included. we did end up having breakfast in the restaurant downstairs. it was good, and around $15 per person
wifi: yes
tv: yes. but you can't see it very well while lying in bed, which is where i want to be while watching bad tv in a hotel room.
location: so good. we walked to all the little coffee shops and along the harbour from the hotel.
parking: yes, easy, free

notes:
- the lounge had a really great view, and was perfect for us to have a beer. i love being close to our hotel room in case baby needs something
- the room was super hot at night. there was an AC, but a note on it said you weren't allowed to turn it below 22 degrees C, so it never actually went on.
- the bedding was bad. they are still using those old slippery comforters that probably never actually get washed.

an overnight in Bonavista

(relaxing at the hotel (review coming tomorrow)) 

(on a little walk along the water) 

(beers at the hotel lounge) 

(sweet view at the bonavista social club) 

(family photo) 

(the dungeons) 

(a beautiful gift from my husband)

we took our first real overnight family trip on the weekend. it was so good! cohen was so good! we stayed here, which was an easy walk to a cool coffee shop with awesome crepes. we ate wood fired pizzas here on saturday night. really good. there were goats walking all over the place, which was cool.

other things:
- we spent lots of time hanging around the hotel and taking short walks (cohen's favourite activity).
- jon treated me to the nicest journal i have ever had. i have already filled lots of pages. we got it at the elephant shop. i wanted everything in the whole store, but the prices were a little steep.
- our latest thing is listening to podcasts on our drives. we love this american life (like everyone), and we also love listening to alec baldwin's "here's the thing".
- the dungeons were worth the little drive out to see them. i recommend.

it's friday

it's friday, and this weekend we will be attempting our first overnight trip with the little guy that is just for fun. our previous trips (here and here) were out of necessity. so far, cohen has been an awesome traveller, and j and i are getting used to diaper changes on-the-go (see above pic). we really want to check out this place. we are looking forward to freshly baked bread and relaxing by the ocean while the weather is still good. have an awesome weekend!

scenes from every day

(chilling in his chair while i shower)

(breakfast time) 

(j making supper and entertaining the little man) 

(sleeping while i do his laundry)

just some scenes from our new normal. i am truly enjoying every day with our family of three. j and i were just talking about how we have never been this happy. cohen is changing so much, so fast. 

on the long weekend

we had a pretty low key long weekend. it rained really hard for the majority, which was a perfect excuse to hang out at home. 

(baby wearing)

(yoga)

(selfie)

(sunday afternoon)

(freshly foraged berries and homemade granola)

we ate at home a lot, watched lots of episodes of it's always sunny in philadelphia, read lots, and drank coffees. little man's absolute favourite is being in the ergo. we put him in there as soon as he gets fussy, and he calms right down. most nights you will find j making supper, and me bouncing around the kitchen with cohen in the ergo while we listen to music. it's good.