Happy Halloween

recently and happy halloween!

(little man all swaddled up)

(tummy time is not his favourite time)

 

(pumpkin scones from here-sooo good)

it snowed last night here. like, there was at least an inch of snow on the ground when we woke up this morning. winter is here. i should be used to it by now, but i am always a little surprised when hardcore winter weather starts here so early. probably partly due to the weather, i am having to bake something sweet every day. j is not really into sweets, so if i make a dozen cookies, i eat 10.5, and he eats the rest. perfect. 

in other news only interesting to another new mom, we are trying to wean cohen from the swaddle. we left one arm unswaddled the other night at the hotel, and he got up three times in the night, compared to his usual one time. so we are back to the full swaddle, which just looks so cute. love him so much.

it's friday

now that the days are getting shorter, i find that i really need way more sleep! luckily, our little man is sleeping through the night now.

this afternoon we are off to meet another potential sitter for cohen. as my first day back to work approaches, i feel more and more grateful for these days that i get to spend with him. being self-employed has it's pros and cons. con: no paid maternity leave. pro: being able to work part-time when i go back, so i can continue to breastfeed, and spend lots of time with our little guy.

this weekend we have plans to drive the two hours round trip to the nearest coffee shop. and we'll definitely have a few games of crib, and watch more of the wire, which i signed out from the local library. oh, i love weekends

14 weeks old!

can we just admire how flipping cute this picture is? i can't get enough of that serious little face. some things about life with a 14 week old:

- he can lift his head! this is a brand new thing, and you can tell he is so proud/happy to be able to do it. he just loves to look all around.

- if i bring him close to a mirror, he smiles at his reflection, then buries his face in my chest. it's the cutest.

- his nails are growing so fast and i can't cut them! and somehow they are always really dirty. i dunno. 

- he has been sleeping 6 or 7 hours straight every night. he goes to sleep around 10 pm, then wakes at 4:30 am or so for a snack, then we bring him in our bed for a few more hours of sleep. at first i thought it was a fluke, but it has been a few weeks now. i am loving it, and feel so rested and happy and healthy. i wouldn't want to go back to waking up every few hours, but...i loved the time we spent in the middle of the night together cuddling and nursing.

-see cohen's birth story, and 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks.

my complete list of cool things to do in Gander, NL

Now that we don't live in Gander anymore, I thought I would write a big list of the cool things to do in Gander. We really loved our two years there, and still visit regularly.
 

 here is a list of things we loved to do in Gander:

swim at jonathan's pond

walk around cobb's pond

skate around cobb's pond (and here)

 

walk a dog 

take pics at the photo booth

go sliding at the golf course

hike to gander lake beach 

check out the  library (here and here)

 

go bowling or play bingo

 

 go to hot yoga

snowshoeing. more snowshoeing. (and more)

go for a bike ride

have a beer at legends lounge

shoot some pool

things to do in clarenville: bare mountain trail

we did a really nice hike on sunday here in clarenville on the bare mountain trail. the entrance to the trail is kind of hidden behind the pharmachoice. the trail is super well-maintained, and took us about an hour round trip. the views are awesome from the top. i am not super duper fit, but i would classify most of the trail as medium-strenuous. i wouldn't want to do it with a baby on my chest, but j was totally comfortable. i would highly recommend it!

Life lessons: never cut baby fingernails

This is so hard to write about! But maybe it will save another mom or future mom from doing what I did.

So  a week or so ago I was cutting little munchkin's fingernails with those tiny fingernail clippers. I finished his left hand, and was starting on his right, when a look came over his face of total shock. I had cut his sweet little thumb! It started to bleed, he started to scream, I started to cry. It was seriously  such a terrible feeling that I had hurt my sweet little man. I applied pressure (it was not bleeding much, but definitely more than a paper cut), and called Jon at work. I said I was taking Cohen to the hospital (looking back, that was probably not necessary at all). Jon was so good and calm. He said maybe I should call the nurse before I drag baby Cohen to the ER. I called the nurse, and she told me the story of how the exact same thing had happened to her, and how it happens to tons of moms. That made me feel better only a tiny bit. Anyway, she recommended I apply a tiny swipe of polysporin, cut a bandaid really small, and keep Cohen from putting his finger in his mouth. I decided to make Cohen wear  sock on his hand for the whole day just to be sure. I took the above picture to send to Jon at work, just so he would know that we were all good. Doesn't Cohen look so sad and sweet! Anyway, I will not be trying to cut his fingers again until he is maybe ten years old. 

it's friday

it's friday, and i'll be spending the weekend with my two main men. cohen is three months old now, and i have really never been happier. in other news, i finally legally changed my name after being married for well over a year. now all three of us share a last name, which was important to me. i love my little family.

life lately

(cinnamon buns from here)

(government issued toys for bubba)

(searching for the perfect bottle for cohen)

(naked baby before a bath)

(puzzling and beers)

apart from having our family visit over the holiday, we've been slowly easing in to fall. i've been doing lot of baking. i am going to blame the breastfeeding for me needing sweets all the time. i ate all those cinnamon rolls in one day by myself. no joke. colder weather is for eating baked goods, right?

we've also been trying to find the right bottle for cohen. since i am heading back to work in a few weeks (it's going so fast!), we need cohen to take a bottle. i am pumping daily, and jon is attempting bottle feeding every night. so far the winner is the vital baby bottle far right.

cohen had his first immunizations a week ago. a needle in each leg. it really wasn't so bad as i thought it would be. i discovered that the government of newfoundland and labrador issues a toy, a few books, and a diaper bag to each baby. so interesting. i wonder what other provinces do?

thanksgiving weekend

for the first time ever, i hosted my family for thanksgiving dinner! the truth is, my mom brought everything (and i mean everything) for a thanksgiving feast, so i had very minimal work to do. but it was soo nice to have my family here.

(cohen and his aunty. instant love)

(ready for a fall walk in the ergo)

 (love them)

(cohen hanging out with his grandpa)

(a cohen-sized pumpkin)

the last time i had seen my sister, i was 35 weeks pregnant at my baby shower. i loved seeing her with cohen. she is a natural! my parents, who visited us when cohen was just days old, were shocked by how big he has grown. and my brother loved him. 

we made lots of good meals, drank lots of coffee, went for walks, played cards, made puzzles, had a few beer. hands down best thanksgiving ever. i have so much to be thankful for.

it's friday

we are so thrilled to be hosting my whole family for thanksgiving! everyone is flying in, and i can't wait for cohen to meet his aunt and uncles. it's been a bit of a rough week, so i am really looking forward to having a beer and some good food with the fam. happy thanksgiving!

12 weeks old!

our little guy is getting so big! when i pick him up he feels so heavy to me! some things about the past few weeks...

- he doubled his birth weight a week or two ago. it makes me feel so good that he is growing so well from breastmilk exclusively.

- on that note, nursing is about a million times easier now compared to the first few weeks. i think he is better at it, so it is quicker and more time passes between "meals" now. it feels really natural for me, and i really do feel honored to be able to nurse, as i know a lot of women struggle with it.

- we found a babysitter.  i am returning to work part time early next month. i have such mixed feelings about this! although i will only have been off for less than four months, it already feels like forever. hopefully i remember how to do my job. just kidding!

-our baby keeps getting cuter. i don't even know how it's possible, but it is.

ps: see 10-weeks here.

a few snaps from twillingate

(coffee outside the hotel)

(he's got style like his dad)

(loves him)

(hotel time=tons of pics of little man)

we did another three nights in twillingate last week. twill is a very touristy town, so it basically shuts down in september. there is just one restaurant to eat all your meals at, and all the little coffee shops get boarded up. with that, cohen and i ended up spending lots of time in the hotel room, which was fine with me. there's nothing like a good excuse to watch tons of bad tv. when j got home each night we would go to the restaurant for a long supper, then take dessert to the room. everyone keeps telling us how lucky we are to have a baby that sleeps while we eat out at restaurants. we feel soo lucky. cohen is the perfect baby for us.

it's friday

we were in twillingate in a hotel for most of the week, so we are so looking forward to hanging out at home this weekend. we also got a shipment of 9 boxes of unassembled furniture yesterday. so we are going to be busy with that. we recently discovered the wire at the local library, so we have been watching it marathon-style. i love fridays.