A moment

Just a really scene in our house these days. Jon and I love to spend time with Cohen on the floor of our living room playing with blocks, reading, playing with the fire truck. Cohen is a total pro at making towers really high. I'll be like, nope, that tower cannot handle one more block. And he'll carefully, gingerly add another block with a huge smile on his face. Skills.

Also, I am just loving the spaces where he is getting his little canine teeth. So cute.

Library list

Two solitudes: Just starting this one. Comes highly recommended by my husband.

Daily love: I am sorta into the Daily love website, so I thought I would like the book. It was just OK. The main message I got from it was that I need to check out Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker.

Wheat belly total health: I read the first wheat belly, but this one is so much more intense. He recommends you eliminate all grains from your diet, and also all gluten-free items. So no more bread, rice, oatmeal. And he says to reduce your fruit intake way way down. Since we are now a nut-free and egg-free household, it's almost impossible to follow this book. We did it for like a week, and we probably lost weight, but we didn't even want to.

Yes please: I can't pass up a female celebrity memoir these days. Tina Fey's was the best by far. Amy's was pretty good, but I laughed out loud exactly once. I expected more. Still, I would recommend this book. I liked hearing about her struggles with motherhood and working.

On the weekend

(he just loves to trudge through snow. around and around our house)

(and instead of working out I have been pulling him around the street/yard as fast as I can)

(driving in a snowstorm)

(he is a snow lover)

(must have sat up here for at least 5 minutes)

(snowshoeing)

We had a good, quiet weekend, maxing out on snow activities. We went snowshoeing twice, sledding 5 times, skating once and spent a ton of time just walking around in the snow. I sorta feel like a lot of toddlers don't spend much time outside. I am basing that mostly just on the fact that I know a lot of little kids live on our street, and I never ever see them outside. Maybe it's because they have sweet ball pits and indoor bouncy castles in their houses. I'll be over here hoping for some playdate invites. 

1.5 years old!

Cohen is 18 months old today. I am loving this age so much! 

Some things about Cohen lately:

- He is still apparently really small. He weighs around 23 pounds now.

- His auntie Kiki finally cut his hair, which I find makes him look so much more like a toddler as opposed to a baby.

- Favourite foods lately: frozen blueberries, always (he goes to the freezer door and says "boo?" whenever he wants them). He also really likes plain greek yogurt, pom juice (which I always lace with fish oil), ground beef, and tofu. Least favorite: salad. Whenever we try to give him salad, he puts it in his mouth, then spits it out as if it were poison. And he can eat a whole can of sardines in ten minutes, easy.

- Words: "bubble guppies." This is a show on netflix that we let him watch for 20 minutes a day. He LOVES it. He can say bubble guppies so clearly, it's amazing. We are also teaching him/making him say please whenever he wants something. Right now it is more "peas?" He also loves to say "moo" when you show him a picture of a cow, and he loves to try to count to four. Also says, "no" to every single thing J and I say to him.

- Favorite activities: He loves helping J and I. When I am baking and I let him pass me the muffin liners or dump the flour in the bowl, he is super happy. Though it usually ends in him being pissed that I wouldn't let him eat all the butter or climb right into the oven. He loves carrying the little watering jug around behind Jon to water all the plants in the house. He loves grabbing the freshly folded facecloths and throwing them right back into the dirty laundry hamper. Other true love: toddling around the driveway/empty parking lot/lawn/open space with no particular end game. Also getting chased by J or I.

- Things that make him super mad: When J or I ever have our phones or computers out, ever. If electronic devices are in sight, he wants to be using them. Getting out of his crib, sometimes. He sometimes just wants to spend the whole day in there, but with us in plain sight. If we try to leave his room, no, that is a problem. My makeup case. I am down to just blush and bronzer because he has destroyed all other cosmetics.

- He sleeps from around 6:30 pm to 5:30 am, then naps for 2 hours in the middle of the day. I would love if he slept a little longer in the mornings, but it's really not that bad.

More allergy testing

When Cohen was tested for food allergies a month ago, the allergist said we definitely should test him for environmental allergies too. We made the drive in last week to get the second round of allergy testing done. 

There was one really big red dot: feathers. The dude is allergic to feathers in a big way. We came home and bagged up all our pillows and cushions and the duster. I am feeling so grateful I never decided to buy one of the ubiquitous Canada Goose jackets, because I definitely would not be able to wear it now.

Some things we are figuring out about allergies:

- The allergy testing doesn't tell you what kind of allergic reaction you will have. They scale the reactions from zero to four. Cohen was a four for peanuts, walnuts, wheat, feathers. But only the nuts are anaphylactic for him. He would not need an epipen if he was exposed to wheat or feathers even though he is super allergic to them.

- Cohen is allergic to eggs (he scored a two for eggs), but he is able to eat them without us noticing much of a reaction sometimes. But then sometimes he gets all red and puffy. Allergies are super confusing.

- The allergist tells us that Cohen will likely grow out of almost all of the allergies eventually. The only one that may be for life is the walnuts. I dunno why.

- Cohen reacted less than one to dust and hamsters, but the allergist recommended we never own a hamster. No problem. He is also allergic to dandelions.

- Gluten free baking with no eggs is challenging, but not impossible. I am slowly trying to get into it.

On the weekend

(drinking creamers, as usual) 

(he spent 30 minutes on this, and still cried when we forcefully removed him) 

(enjoying some water with a straw) 

(first time on the ice) 

(loved getting pulled around on his sled-last year he was so tiny!) 

I may have mentioned a few times (or a million times) that our town is small, and sometimes it is a struggle to find things to do. We have our usual weekend errands/fun things we do like go to the grocery store, go for a walk, go get a coffee. So it's kinda thrilling when there is something new to do. This weekend it was skating around on the accidentally flooded ball diamond by our house. The weather lately has resulted in a pretty smooth surface. We haven't sprung for skates for Cohen yet, though we are told that 18 months is a pretty typical starting age for ice skating. For now, Cohen loves getting pulled in last year's red sled.

Some holiday pics

I was phone-less for the whole entire holiday, so I stole some pictures from J's phone. We travelled to NB for Christmas, which included a lot of driving, 4 flights, two hotel stays, and no delays!! Our first time ever with no flight cancellations or delays. 

We spent Christmas Eve eating burgers and fries at Wendy's. We were not the only ones there! Later, we watched a marathon of Fresh Prince Christmas episodes. Actually pretty perfect night. 

On Christmas morning we woke up in the hotel room at 5 am and watched cartoons in the big bed.

Dude got his first haircut from his Aunt Kiki on Christmas. The new haircut has reduced people mistaking him for a girl by at least 75%. 

Cohen loved his daily sink bath at my parent's. 

He really wasn't into sharing the sink with his cousin. He was grateful Nanny DD has a double basin. 

When we got back to NL, we went to this little coffee shop in a church basement, where Cohen tried hot chocolate for the first time. Here, he is drinking the cream for my coffee. 

Here, he is in heaven with his hot chocolate. 

This was my favorite Christmas ever. Mostly because having our little guy makes each day more exciting, especially holidays. But also because we kept things really low-key. For presents, we exchange names at Thanksgiving among the eight adults, so we each only buy one gift. We also do a gift swap where the only rule is that you aren't allowed to spend money on the gift, and I really think my family enjoys that gift swap more. I got a sweet jean button-up shirt with my brother-in-law's company name on it, and Jon got a sailor's hat that was previously owned by my brother (who is in the navy). We play a lot of board games (this year it was scattergories and 5 second rule, but other years we have been all about monopoly), and do puzzles like it's our job. This year we completed three huge ones. Best Christmas ever.

We are learning about baby eczema and wheat allergies

(Cohen at 5 months) 

Cohen has had these super red cheeks since forever. We are trying to figure them out (read on for more than you ever wanted to know about baby allergies and baby eczema)...

My iPhone died over the holidays...

(from Christmas 2013. I can't believe how small he is!)

Around December 21st, my phone started to get a little funny, but by the time we were ready to head to New Brunswick on Christmas Eve, the phone was totally broken. I didn't think I would mind being phone-less, but I have to say, it was hard. I missed the camera most of all, but also google maps, passbook, wifi, texting, and even the actual phone. We spent Christmas at my parent's house in NB, which felt pretty relaxing since we have done two-province Christmas holidays since we started dating. 

Holiday highlights/stuff:

- Traveling on Christmas day is awesome. The airports are pretty deserted, which makes it ok for Cohen to run around wildly. 

- When we visit my parents, Cohen sleeps in my mom's walk-in closet. Cohen sleeps really well in there, I think because it's so dark. The best part of it, though, is that Jon and I got to sleep in every morning. My parents would get up with Cohen at 5 am, and we would sleep another hour or two. Seriously, the best thing ever. I am going to be sad the day that Cohen can no longer sleep in the closet. 

- And Cohen takes his baths in the kitchen sink at my parent's. His favorite time to do so is when we are making supper. He just sits in the sink for ages, playing with a spoon and a cup. 

- Jon and I spent an overnight alone at a nearby hotel. So great. I would recommend taking advantage of sweet grandparent babysitting opportunities to all parents. We did some leisurely downtown shopping, lingered for half an hour at a magazine store, went for a beer in the hotel bar. Cohen barely looked up from his toys when we got back the next day. 

- We did our first professional family pictures in at least 8 years. It was so cold, we all had to wear our less-than-stylish winter jackets. Professional group pictures with a 1.5 year old? Not my idea of a good time. But so happy we did it. 

- We were all asleep by 10 pm on NYE. My sister and I ended our night drinking tea and chatting. Not sorry.