Wesley Arlo- 6 Months

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I don’t know what’s scarier..that I’ve had a CHILD for half a year or that I have to go back to work in 6 months. Oy. Searching for childcare is no easy task and the cost of it? WOOF. It would probably be cheaper to pay to have my parents move here and help out.

So, 6 months! What’s been going on? Well, LOTS. I feel like Wes has turned into a little person and less and less like a baby. He is obsessed with grabbing his feet and flailing about. Now I get why they call that pose happy baby in yoga. He also has his hands in his mouth 24/7. And when it’s not his hands, it’s whatever he can get his hands on.

He’s started to try to sit up, he’s rolled over, and he can reach with both arms to grab for things.

Most major development? He is no longer in his infant car seat. This makes me ferociously sad, but he seems to love it! And he has had no problem facing outward in his strollers when we go for walks. If anything, he naps more!

We started Wes on solids too. Last month, I introduced rice cereal into his bottle at night then gradually started making it thicker like actual cereal, then buying a lot of stage 1 and stage 2 squeeze packs that he now gobbles up like a champ. His favorite was the pear/spinach/peas combo. Who would have thought?! That’s my kid. He also got some local peaches and apples pureed while we were back home in NY. With that, comes weirder diapers. It’s kind of hilarious.

He is OBSESSED with his jumperoo. I think he spends a cumulative 3 hours each day in that thing. He loves to rotate from activity to activity and just jump. Jump. JUMP. A lot of the time, he jumps himself to sleep! It’s also a nice distraction for him when I want to get my workout in during the day.

With his increase in activity, he’s more regulated in his napping which is a GOD SEND. Usually one at 9ish, 1ish and 4ish. Usually. I cannot tell you how much more I get done around the house now, it’s insane. For the first time ever, I actually showered while he napped. That has never happened because I was so paranoid he’d wake up from the noise of the shower (our house is small, y’all).

We had a few instances in New York when he would wake up at 3/4am and would require a feed, but other than that he has slept through the night from 7:30pm-6:30am.

Wes now knows his name and will respond when called. He is also a lot better at following sounds and looking around and really focusing on things.

I swear he loves the dogs. Mostly Reggie, even though Reggie still gives zero craps about him. Layla is ALWAYS wherever Wes is. He’s started to grab for them and at first I was all AHHHH DOG HAIR IN HIS MOUTH. But then I realized it’s a lost cause. Especially when I find dog hair in his diapers. Whatever.

He’s still got that stupid eczema on his neck which I’m constantly slathering with cream. I feel really bad for him, but he doesn’t seem to mind at all.

He has a gorilla face that I think is the funniest thing ever. He usually makes it when he’s super concentrating (not to be confused with poop face) or when he gets so excited about something.

He is still a super jolly kid and I’m just WAITING for the photos to reflect that. We had his 6 month check up this morning and he was all smiles with the doctor. FYI: weight is 20.5 lbs, 27 inches and an 18 inch head (for all the smarts). Right after his doc appointment, we headed over to the health center for his 6 month vaccine where he was again all smiles and only made one cry as the needle went in. I swear all doctors and nurses love him to pieces.

…and we go through about a zillionty bibs every day because the boy’s a drooler! No teeth yet though.

He has a loud voice and loves to babble all the time. Especially if you put a burp cloth up to his mouth, he will yell so you can repeatedly pat his mouth with it to make it sound funny.

Hopefully I didn’t forget anything! #mombrain

In case you missed it, here’s his past updates:

Weekend Recap

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Friday

Pancakes! Ah, I missed my Vitamix so much. The bad boys were drenched in maple syrup and I just about licked the plate.

The morning was pretty low key: workout, errands, cleaning…. booooooring. But this guy finally fit into a pair or harem pants my mom made. Is he going to be a blondie? From his eyebrows it looks like it!

After Tyler got home from work, we made a pre-Thanksgiving trip to Costco and managed to get out of there under $100. I don’t think that’s ever happened. Still: a turkey, chicken, and some veggies= $98. Jeeze.

Wes has been really loving his solid foods. I picked up a few more organic squeeze packs for him and we’ve yet to come across a flavour he doesn’t like. The kid kicks his feet and grunts if you don’t feed him fast enough. Don’t worry, I didn’t let him have any wine- although, he was pretty keen on grabbing the glass!

We’ve been practicing our tummy time and rolling a lot this week and he FINALLY did a completely unassisted flip from back to front (TWO of them!). To the non-parents, this is no biggie, but I assure you it’s the most exciting thing since sliced bread.

The pups were itching for a walk, so I caved and took them for a quick one around the block. The sunset was INSANE.

And that picture is facing east!

Wes fell asleep at 7:30 and we watched Spy before heading to bed. Tyler and I agreed it was probably the funniest movie we’ve seen in a long time.

Saturday

Wes didn’t get up until 7! That’s a lot of sleep. Good boy.

Only difficult part is that it’s still dark as hell out until around 7:30, so it still feels like the middle of the night.

We enjoyed a nice long morning before it was time to head to Wes’s first pool class at the Y! I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about it- mostly for the whole locker room part. I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage with a baby who can’t yet sit up on his own. Luckily, it went pretty smooth and the boy loved the water. He was kicking and splashing a lot, just not smiling or giggling. He was mostly interesting in staring at everyone.

After his class, we ran to Rona where we left with nothing but Girl Guide cookies. These are the BEST cookies.

Then it was to Safeway for Thanksgiving fixings and Babies R Us for Wes’s convertible carseat. We got it for a pretty sweet deal. It regularly retails for $350, was on sale for $250, and we had $200 worth of Air Miles vouchers to redeem. Ended up paying only $60! Score.

Some fuel for all the shopping:

Then it was back to a few more stores for the essentials.

Does anyone get emails from Lucie’s List? I absolutely love them- they’re so helpful with Wes’s growing stages. Anyhoo- the latest email was about solid food and there was a lot of info on rice cereal vs oatmeal for babies and I was really glad to have read it (something about glucose yadda yadda in the rice. It made me *personal decision* run out and grab some oat cereal to swap out for the rice I had been giving Wes). And beer. Muy importante.

The evening was pretty good- we played around with Wes for a long time. The kid is seriously so fun to hang out with now– he rolls and giggles and well, it’s just the best. We enjoyed a delicious steak dinner, gave Wes a bath, watched Amazing Race, and I made brownies for Sunday. Once Wes went to sleep (8pm) I headed downstairs to get in my cardio workout then we watched Southpaw.

Sunday

7am wakeup! Dare I say I’m getting used to this?

So, I think I was in denial that Wes is growing up because I’ve had him in the infant car seat in the stroller up until today. He napped while I took him for a walk and cried about him growing up.

I have the Bob Revolution as well, but still have to take the adapter out of it from the previous owners. I really lucked out and found it on Kijiji for $150 and it came with the fleece liner, snack tray and weather shield! Can’t wait to use it for long walks instead of my City Mini GT (just to extend the life of it for future kiddos).

While we were out of the house, Tyler set up the smoker for our Thanksgiving turkey.

Then he made me breakfast. #besthusband

The afternoon was pretty low key. Wes napped, I worked out, Tyler watched football. Blah blah.. Then there was the turkey dinner! It was pretty good..I ate more turkey than I have in years, but not so much of anything else. There were carrots too, so there’s a veggie. And those brownies? They’re almost history. It’s gross how much of a sweet tooth I get.

Once Wes went to sleep, I laid in the tub for a bit and was in bed by 8:30. (Asleep by 8:31).

Monday

5:30am wakeup. Thanks, Wes. He ate and slept for a bit longer (giving him about a 12 hour sleep!) but I couldn’t get any more shut eye. As hard as I tried. Gave myself a big pat on the back for falling asleep so early the night before!

I think one of my favorite things about this baby is how he can look so peaceful in his sleep and simultaneously fart louder than a vacuum.

After breakfast, we went for a nice long walk then came back for more lounging. There were some naps- and it wasn’t just by Wes. I don’t think I’ve napped in ages and it felt glorious! Post nap, I finished the brownies. You know, to get rid of temptation.

I roasted some sweet potatoes and zucchini to pair with leftover turkey for dinner then headed off to a spin class. It was a new to me instructor and I absolutely LOVED her class.

Any workout that can incorporate this song into the mix is a winner in my books:

PS: Remember how the beagle stole/ate a box of quest bars? Well, the last two have been recovered! And in vary precarious places, might I add. That means the pooch didn’t consume any of my $$$$ protein bars so I’m a happy lady.

How was your long weekend?

What’s your favorite protein bar?

Take any group ex classes lately? What was it?!!

…From the Week

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Monday was our last full day home in New York. Ugh face. But hey, I got a whole month there! Not too shabby. We tried to make the most of the last day and took a family drive to the mall. SO EXCITING, HUH?!! Ha, well I had to return some things I bought for Wes (kid doesn’t fit in 18 month jeans! What the hellllllll) Afterwards, we drove to Grant Cottage only to find out it was closed. Womp. In case you’re wondering, Grant Cottage is the cottage where General Ulysses S. Grant died. See, those are the types of attractions near home. Thrilling.

We picked up my aunt for lunch at Panera and it was delicious. Half of me NEEDS one here in Calgary and the other half of me doesn’t want it because it would take all my money. Wes ate mangoes and flirted with the entire 70+ year-old population. Small baby boomer town = lots of places filled with gray hairs. Everywhere.

Oh, and I tried that limited edition pumpkin quest bar! I thought it was gonna be yucky but it was SO GOOD. I should probably buy a box. (no jen, no. you have no money.)

I packed. And I packed. And then there was more packing. It was a tight squeeze. I’m glad I won’t be flying for a while. PHEW.

Wes was in his carseat for a good part of the day, so I put him in the Ergo and went for a long walk. I would love it if somebody would strap me to them and walk around so I could nap. Could you even imagine?

The night ended with a weenie roast! It was on the small scale. Like, micro-mini.

Tuesday. Ahhhhh Tuesday. I am SO glad Tuesday is over. Let’s bullet point Tuesday, shall we?

2:45am wake up. Except my alarm wasn’t until 3:15. Can someone say anxious?
TSA lost my laptop. I had about 3592730293 bins to go through security (camera, laptop, stroller, car seat, breastmilk, toiletries, jacket, shoes, diaper bag, backpack…..) I had a minor anxiety attack before they finally recovered it.
The first flight was pretty uneventful. I got the row of three seats to myself, so it was easier to feed and change Wes.
RAN from arrival gate to departure gate of second flight. Made it just in time. Wes starts screaming profusely as I got to our seat so I started to feed him. No sooner did that happen, the flight attendant told me I needed to move seats to be on a side that had extra of those pig-nose bag thingies that drop from the ceiling in case of emergency (who cares what they’re really called). Cue MORE SCREAMING. And there was no changing table on the flight…I’m just going to end this bullet point because: RAGE.
I unpacked everything once we got home because I wanted to make sure there were no foods in my luggage that Reggie would get into. We went to run some errands and came back to find Reggie had gotten an ENTIRE box of Quest bars from the counter. 7 were among the wreckage (unharmed), 3 were recovered from various hiding spots and 2 are MIA. PLEASE NOTE: He buried one in the pillows of the guest bed and got so ferocious with his nose-burying, that his nose bled…..ALL OVER THE WHITE DUVET. Cue more rage.
Frozen breastmilk thawed en route and leaked all over my laptop. You know the end result because I’m typing from said laptop, so that’s good.

No pictures from Tuesday because: see above.

Wednesday

This was a total get-our-lives-back-in-order day. I was stressed x infinity about the number of things that needed to get done around the house- reorganizing Wes’s stuff, laundry, cleaning the dang house, groceries…….

Wes woke up nice and early, but I didn’t mind since I actually got in a good night’s sleep! I quickly got started on the eleven thousand shows that were recorded while I was gone, while Wes went through the usual eat/poop/lay/jump morning routine. We then went to the store to get some essential groceries. There was approximately ZERO perishable items in the house and one cannot survive on boxed goods alone.

PS: notice it’s the same jumperoo as the one I bought in NY? The kid is obsessed with it, so I had to find another one!

I set up Wes’s compact high chair and he got right to it and ate SO MUCH. High five for that thing.

And some stuff I won in a giveaway arrived! Yesssss

The weather was SO NICE that I put Wes in the stroller and walked to the bank to deposit some stuff, then continued on a nice long walk. It was hilly too, which felt good since all my walks back home were completely flat. By the time we got back home, I was drenched in sweat. LOVE.

I put together a dinner of turkey burgers and roasted veggies, then took the dogs for a walk and got in my workout. It was nice to have a little me time, but I did feel bad for putting Tyler right back to serious baby-duty (Ok no, I don’t feel bad).

Also: posted my extremely in-depth review on the latest pumpkin beers. If you missed it, you can read it here.

Thursday

In the morning, I did my pilates workout while Wes was in the jumperoo. As luck would have it, he fell asleep just as I finished so I put him in the stroller and went for a nice long walk. It felt really good to get some fresh air and quiet time.

I picked up some stuff at the grocery store for dinner..mind you, it took two trips because I forgot my wallet the first time. WOMP. And somehow this pint of gloriousness made its way into my cart..

Dinner was Crock Pot Sweet Potato and Quinoa Turkey Chili (I used beef instead since we had turkey the night before). I highly recommend it, it’s SO good!

Wes had a couple of friends during/after his own dinner.

Poor Wes, the stupid eczema is back on his neck and chest. This dry weather is taking its toll and I’ve been slathering him with CeraVe every two seconds.

So that’s this week in a rather long nutshell! Back to the same-old same-old routine at home!

Weekend Recap

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Another great weekend in the books! Which also mean one week closer to going home..womp. Friday: Obviously the day started with pancakes! The consistency of these are way different than the ones I make at home..I now know just how awesome … Continue reading →

Wesley Arlo- 5 Months

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I’m glad to say it..this month went by nice and slow. GOOD. DON’T GROW UP BABY. I think Wes grew way too much this month and I don’t like it one bit. I super cry when I see some newborn photos because I can’t believe just how teeny tiny he used to be. But, I do love to see him learn new things as he grows and he is definitely coming into his own personality.

Since we’re in NY, I obviously can’t take his 5 month pics with his bear, but this Mickey is just about the same size. Either way…you can really tell he’s grown!

New developments: He’s started grabbing things on his own with both hands. This includes my hair, my earrings, my boobs…He blows raspberries ALL THE TIME. I think he loves the trick, but that combined with his excessive drooling means the guy goes through a zillion bibs every day. The downside from all the drool? He now has infant eczema on his cheeks, chin, neck and chest. It comes and goes in severity and I try my best to keep it dry as much as possible. I also use cream (trying to avoid using the steroid given by the doctor).

On Sept 4th, we introduced a bit of rice cereal into his nighttime bottle (Still breastmilk). Sept 5th he grabbed his toes for the first time and on Sept 10th he rolled over from his back to front (I didn’t witness this- my parents did. I am BUMMED.) Yesterday (Sept 14th) we gave him his first real food- pureed sweet potato! He loved it even though he only probably swallowed about 1.5 tsp of it.

I’m not so sure he was a victim of the 4 month sleep regression, but he was a bit more difficult to put down on some nights- he gets overtired and fussy and will wake up as we put him in his crib. So a few times we’ve had to resort to letting him cry it out until he falls back asleep, which only lasts about 5 minutes. His bed time bottle can be up to 10 oz plus a small extra feeding (Which tells me he’s probably ready for solids..the boy likes his food!)

He giggles and smiles ALL THE TIME. He loves to stare at new surroundings and lets out loud sighs with every yawn. (Oh-mah-gawdddd baby yawns are the BEST).

He’s almost outgrown his infant carseat- last time I weighed him he was 19ish pounds- since the straps are starting to be too tight.

He had his first airplane ride! (Sept 8th) I got a picture of him with the pilot AND made sure to get a pair of wings 🙂

He wears size 3 diapers during the day and 4s at night (although, now that I’m typing this, I’m pretty sure he can be in 4s all the time. Because: THIGHS.) He still loves his baths and even grips the sides of the tub when we try to take him out. And he splashes a lot. My mom got a few baths herself from his splashing!

He’s getting a bit more hair on his head which is covering some of his cradle cap nicely..

He stretches all the time. He wants to be moving all the time. He babbles ALL THE TIME.

I usually let him babble in his crib for about 10-15 minutes before I get him every morning. He loves watching Reggie and focuses on anything that’s red.

(For some reason I can’t get this photo to rotate, so tilt your head to the right)

He now watches us eat food and genuinely looks sad that he can’t have whatever we’re having.

He naps about 3-4 times a day. 3 naps are about 30-45 minutes and his late afternoon nap is anywhere from 1-2 hours.

He starting to try to sit up on his own- he’s not fully there yet, but it’s great to see that his back is getting stronger! He enjoys tummy time and can turn his head from side to side, but shows no interest in pushing himself up (he has superman arms and likes to keep them straight with his palms back).

Overall, he is the happiest, healthiest, giggliest, cutest, most sociable (insert a ton of other positive traits here) baby ever and I am so lucky to be the mama that gets to hang with him 24/7!

And if you’re questioning the ‘giggliest’ part, it’s because he immediately turns on his serious face as soon as I get the phone/camera out. Or eat crackers.