Wesley Arlo- ONE YEAR

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

I can hardly believe I no longer have a baby. Instead, I have a big and bubbly TODDLER. The past year has absolutely flown by and while there were several ups and several downs, I wouldn’t trade the past 12 months for the world. I am so glad I get to be this little boy’s mama and he makes me the happiest lady around. And pretty strong, too. <–from all the carrying and tossing…;)

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He had his one year checkup yesterday and weighed in at 23.6 pounds and exactly 2 1/2 feet tall. I think he’s going to grow to be taller than both mom and dad!

bow tie from Will & Co; leggings from Baby H designs; moccs from Posh Panda

As of March 17th, he was a crawling machine. Since then, he has progressed to pulling himself up, standing, and even attempting to step up onto things. Most of the time, he’s practicing his going up and down the step from our living room, which is equal parts hilarious and a pain because he’s either REALLY happy doing it or REALLY unhappy doing it.

I’m pretty sure his legs got the majority of his growth spurt over the past month, and the crawling has thinned him out a bit. He’s wearing his size 5 Baby Dry diapers at night and size 4 Cruisers during the day. All of his clothes still fit- 18/24 months-2T. And he’s in big boy shoes! 5s or 6s depending on the make. He wears 2-4y socks but the ankle is still pretty tight on him.

He’s got 6 teeth- 4 up top and two on the bottom. He eats EVERYTHING. Chicken is finally an acceptable protein, so it’s nice to be able to give him some leftovers from our dinners. And he really loves pasta with sauce! And pickles. And olives. And all crackers and fruit and cheese…..I could go on forever in this category 😉

Still no real words. Most of the time it’s dadadada, but he has started to really imitate the dogs or even us when we clear our throats! He knows his name and will react to ‘no no’ whenever he’s about to do something he shouldn’t- like mess with the cable box or touch Reggie.

His naps are still a bit touchy. Most days it’s now only one nap and that can range anywhere form an hour to almost two hours. If he falls asleep early enough in the day, I’ll try to get him to rest again- even if it’s just quiet time in his crib. I’ll check the monitor and if he doesn’t fall asleep, he’ll usually just be sitting there with his blankie or standing up along the side and trying to pet his rocking horse. Bed time is around 7 and he will sleep for 12 hours.

Wes still loves riding in the car and I think it’s mostly because he gets a kick out of seeing himself in the mirror. He will randomly laugh at himself! He’s pretty good in the stroller for walks- mostly because the newer Bob we got has a lot better back support, and he will sit in the shopping carts whenever we’re out shopping.

Wes like to clap and pat his belly and play peekaboo with his blankie (or just recently using his hands!) He has fantastic coordination and loves to roll his balls and can put his toys together or turn them on, or basically do whatever function they’re designed for.

Again, I still can’t believe he is a whole year old already. And now that he’s hit this stage, it’s like everything is just flying by! Before we know it, he will be walking and having conversations with us! Eek.

Wes- If the internet still exists when you get older and you’re reading this, I hope you know how much of a joy you are to your daddy and I and we absolutely love you to death. xoxo

In case you missed it:

wescollage

From the Week

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Hey friends! Happy Friday! It’s gonna be another gorgeous one over here, and I can’t wait to spend as much time as possible outside to soak it all up! Got a few things on the agenda this weekend, so it should go by in a flash. Bummer. Backing it up…

Monday: Right after breakfast, Wes and I walked to Safeway to pick up groceries for the week. I actually made a meal plan and lucked out that all of our dinners only required minimal additional ingredients.

The rest of our day was pretty laid back (from what I remember). I did day two of 22 Minute Hard Corps and we played in the basement for a while before Tyler got home.

Dinner was zucchini ‘meatballs’. They were pretty good taste-wise, but still a bit mushy. I’l have to simmer the heck out of the zucchini next time! Wes played with one for a while, but didn’t manage to get any pieces in his mouth.

Tuesday: Man, I need to up my picture game so I can remember what the heck we did! The usual morning hang outs..oh right! I actually got up early to do my workout while Wes was still sleeping! I even got in a shower too (perks of being able to shower in 60 seconds).

I had an interview that afternoon and ended up landing the position on the spot! Keeping it on the down-low, so don’t ask! I’ll share eventually 🙂

As soon as I got home, it was time to head out again to attend the media launch for the 2016 beer for Alberta Beer Festivals! I was really grateful to be able to attend AND bring Susie along. We chatted at Pig & Duke downtown until I ran out of time on my parking spot then we headed over to Last Best for another beer. If you haven’t been there yet I HIGHLY recommend checking them out!

I was home in time for dinner- which was Pickle Brined Baked Chicken Tenders then put Wes down and walked the doggies. I even squeezed in a second workout that evening since I had some extra energy.

Wednesday: The best part of waking up at butt crack? Being able to make a pancake breakfast. Only thing that would make it better would be if a handful of bacon was on the plate and a splash of Baileys was in my coffee 😉

While Wes was down for his morning nap (I’ve been lucking out all week with him taking 2 naps a day) I had a quick Skype meeting for a freelance job. Timing worked beautifully and Wes woke up just as the call ended so we had lunch and headed out for a walk and to cross a couple of errands off the list.

In case you didn’t see on my Instagram or Facebook pages, there is a limited time sale on a few of the Focus T25 programs and they are REALLY good prices. The sale started on April 5th, but we don’t know how long it will last. SO….if you’ve been thinking about biting the bullet, now’s the time! It’s my favorite program 🙂

For dinner we had BBQ pork tenderloin which was out of this world delicious. I rounded the day out with a long bath and simultaneously completed some online certifications I need for my job.

Thursday: Man oh man was Thursday a beautiful day. It seems that our ‘day’ doesn’t really start until after breakfast/workout/morning hang outs/nap/lunch and I’m pretty a-OK with that. I love my morning routine with Wes. But after all that stuff was done, we hung out on the patio for a good long while. It seems our patio absorbs the sun’s heat so much that the temperature was a bit warm out there, but none of us were complaining.

After sufficient patio time, I put Wes in the Bob and we walked to the liquor store. You know, as you do with an 11 month old while you’re still on mat leave. In the middle of the day. BUT- it was National Beer Day! And I celebrated by wearing my newest favorite shirt.

We walked back home so I could put the beer in the fridge then headed back out to the park to take advantage the last few weeks we have left with our playground. Apparently the city deems it too dangerous and since our part of the neighborhood doesn’t have enough appropriately aged children to use the area, it’s getting demolished. Wah.

We had Korean Grilled Chicken Breasts for dinner and paired it with a new Wild Rose beer. (Native to Alberta…or should I say, Albeerta?! ha I’m so funny)

Tyler has been full speed ahead on some home improvement projects, so my weeknights usually consist of me managing Wes while he work work work work works. Sorry, that Rihanna song has been stuck in my head all week.

So that’s our week in a nutshell..now on to the weekend!!

Wesley Arlo- 11 Months

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Holy h-e-double hockey sticks. I can’t believe how fast time has FLOWN by with this little man. Just to think that this time last year I was already off work on short term disability and laying on the couch all day watching Scandal on Netflix, eating Nutella, and waiting for my baby boy to get here. (I guess life is pretty much the same with regards to the couch sitting, Netflix watching and Nutella eating;) )

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So here’s where we’re at: the kid is a blast. Like, I’m pretty sure there is no better kid out there.

He’s still in size 5 diapers, 24mo clothes, sleeps 12 hours through the night, and eats just about anything that’s given to him.

See? The best.

He now has five teeth and loves to eat crunchy snacks. Most notably: MY goldfish crackers. Guess it’s time I learn to share. (Except I did just buy him some Annie’s bunnies only because they’re slightly healthier for him. Plus, no sharing required.) He sucks down smoothies like a champ, loves fruits and veggies and those GD puffs. He’s still not a huge fan of meat, but will tolerate some turkey meatballs or pulled pork now and again. Eggs are still having him make a yucky face, but he’ll eat a few pieces before moving on to more delicious foods.

He’s no longer breastfeeding. February 24 was his last feeding, and on the morning of the 25th, he just didn’t want it anymore. I am super sad about it, but it’s nice to know it was his choice. (Don’t get me started on how crazy my hormones/metabolism has been since then. ALL.OVER.THE.PLACE). He’ll have a bottle in the morning, one in the late afternoon and one before bed and we’re slowly integrating some milk into the formula.

He’s successfully mastered getting up on all fours, but no forward-crawling yet. Most of his ‘travel’ is an up-on-all-fours-twist-around-and-repeat motion. And he even more recently started using the couch or the fireplace to get up on his knees! Which means we really have to get our butts in gear and buy some gates and baby-proofing stuff.

Plus, this whole almost-crawling business makes it darn near impossible to get any non-blurry photos of him! I need to learn how to use my fancy camera better so I can avoid this! (ps: anyone have any tips or tricks on how I can achieve that?)

He’s down to one nap a day most of the time. This transition was a bit harder for me because it meant less of a mental break during some of those long days. But less napping means earlier bed time, so no real complaints from these parents 😉

I’ve started to stress a lot less about getting out of the house with him as well. Before, I wanted to always make sure we were home for nap time and for meals. But then something in my head clicked and I realized this little man is going to have to start learning to roll with the punches..plus, it just takes a bit of planning with packing food! We’ve gone out for some pretty long stretched of time and it has been SO nice.

Leggings: Little D Threads; Multi-use clip: KEWE Clothing; bibdana: Mawdsley Loves

Oh wait, this is a Wes update. Not a me update. Moving on..

It has been a lot of fun watching him develop! He now stacks toys, intentionally groups them, and throws all the balls. (I stepped on my first toy last week. It was a triangle shaped wooden toy and it hurt like a SOB..and even left a large bruise!) He’ll also hand us things and then take them back. I say I think it’s fun now, but I’m guessing it’ll get old really quick as I expect this will be an ongoing trend for the next few years. Oy!

This month, he has really hated being put on the changing table and will cling to us like an upside down sloth as we try to lay him down. How appropriate his 11 month outfit include sloth pants.

And he has had a few fits when Tyler picks him up..mostly because it makes him think it’s bed time!

But then all we have to do is throw him in the blue car and he starts screeching with excitement. Now if only he would stop snagging all the dishtowels from the stove when he drives through the kitchen…

As far as dogs go, he still loves them. More obsessed with Layla because she’s on the floor more then His Highness Reggie who is always on the couch. Lots of snuggles and kisses and fistfuls of hair.

I’m still working on having him say mama…At first it was a bunch of dadadadada’s, but now its evolved to rarararara so I’d say there’s progress. He’ll also mimic certain noises we make to him which is entirely too entertaining!

And the smiles. I love all the smiles. Even if they rarely happen for the camera.

I can’t believe the next update will be for his FIRST BIRTHDAY.

In case you missed it:

From the Week

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Woohoo for Friday! Forecast for this weekend: chores and sleep. Sleep sleep sleep. Some stuff that happened this week:

Monday: We started off the day nice and early with a stroll to the library. Gotta love nice weather that allows for us to get some fresh air! We picked a little corner and got some books and just hung out for a while. There were some other kiddos there too, but they sounded a bit destructive otherwise I would have had Wes try to mingle.

We left a while later with a ton of new books to enjoy at home. I even checked one out for myself!

Then I got a huge surprise in the mail. Tyler ordered me a professional light tent set! I am entirely too excited to use this (and it’s WAY better than the light box I constructed myself. I know a few of you were asking how I made it, but it was so crappy that you’re now spared the instructions. haha).

I already have it set up on a table in the basement and it’s just waiting for its first victim! 🙂

The weather was all too sunny, so I decided to take Wes for another stroll around the neighborhood. This time in the wagon! He just sat there pretty content and checking everything out.

We had leftovers for dinner and spent the remainder of the evening just hanging out. This guy is really starting to enjoy his bath time and gets super giggly throwing all of this toys out of his basket over and over again.

Tuesday: I checked the monitor before getting out of bed to get Wes and he was sitting up! Oh man, he’s just minutes away from crawling and I am just not ready for that yet!

We met up with Alison and her kiddos at the zoo. Just my luck Wes fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got there. And of course he woke up when I tried to transfer him into the Bob. There was no one at the zoo and we whizzed through almost the entire park in about an hour before heading home. Then, Wes fell asleep AGAIN five minutes before we got home. Same thing happened and he woke up when I took him out.

I attempted getting him down for a nap a couple of times before he FINALLY fell asleep around 2pm. He slept for 2 hours, but he was so out of whack that he woke up SUPER grumpy and stayed that way until bed time. Boo.

The only thing keeping him somewhat entertained was trying to pull himself up on the step. Or maybe he was doing a yoga pose? Who knows. Babies are weird.

The grump took a lot of my time and energy that dinner was easy peasy: chicken, cous cous, and spicy roasted potatoes.

Wednesday: After a yummy pancake breakfast, Wes and I walked to Safeway for a grocery run then browsed around a few other stores in the shopping center before heading home. The early morning air + an exciting WesOnWheels session tuckered him out for a good, long nap!

I seriously love taking advantage of this crazy good weather, so we headed over to a different shopping center after lunch and walked around for a bit. (Picking up a few necessities, of course. Dang it, even going for walks causes me to spend money!) Before heading home, I ran the car through the car wash and Wes was amazed.

Oh- and we had a delicious dinner! I made Crockpot Minestrone Soup (+ added chicken). I also made a cake. The cake is already gone. Never leave me home alone with a cake. Full disclosure: Tyler did help eat it.

It’s funny that the day after Wes has a ‘grump day’ he tends to be extremely happy. Case in point:

All smiles the whole day! His lack of afternoon naps lately have caused him to zone out pretty early which has been a pretty nice treat for me and Tyler.

Thursday: No morning outing for us. It was entirely too windy to go for a walk, so we played with EVERY toy in the house and hopped from room to room to keep it interesting. After lunch, I tried to take some photos of Wes with Layla (wearing some of his latest goodies from our Wee Nation box) but it was a HUGE no go. Mr Grump did not want to wear his hat. Or sit still. I was seriously considering a glass of wine at that point.

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Even his non smiley photos are adorable!

We got out of the house and went to the dollar store, Walmart (strictly to stockpile on Easter candy before it sells out), and Michaels. I just realized that I’ve been on the same tank of gas for 3 weeks now. Woohoo!

When we got home, Wes pulled out his personalized plank (A gift from his aunt, uncle and cousin for Christmas) and was mesmerized by it for almost 2 hours. Seriously, a piece of wood is that interesting.

We had naked dinner (Ok, just Wes. Tyler and I kept our clothes on) and bedtime came early once again.

Workouts from the week: Week 1 of Beta from Focus T25 and a 45 minute walk the the doggies each night.

Phew, I am exhausted! But I am so happy with the amount of out-of-the-house time Wes and I had this week. Here’s to hoping the weekend is just as nice!

PS: *Shoutout to all you readers that never comment* I’d love to hear from ya! That said, I dare you to comment below! You can tell me a joke or something random from your week or a new recipe you’ve come across that you think I should try!

Weekender

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Yay, it’s Monday! (not.) Ugh, so not. I crave weekends so hard…and I don’t even know why! Maybe for the slightly extra time with Tyler? Or…yeah, probably that. Here’s to hoping for another good week in the books. Backtracking a few days:

Friday: Spinach pancakes. So yummy. Wes was up before I made them, so I ended up sharing some with him and he LOVED them. I think he mostly loved the maple syrup- which is pretty much my favorite part too.

It was really great weather out, so I opted to take Wes for a nice long morning walk. The fresh air felt pretty great and he enjoyed all the sights. Even if he doesn’t look overly pleased.

On a side note: If you have a front load washer, I recently found the best way for cleaning the dang thing! Mix 1/4c baking soda + 1/4 c water and pour where the liquid detergent container is. Throw 2c vinegar in the drum, then run a HOT normal cycle. Man oh man, the washer is clean as a whistle and the clothes come out actually smelling like the detergent now! No more mildewy smelling nastiness!

I gave up coffee *moms around the world gasp* because I was becoming way too dependent on it…BUT, I did splurge and have a New Grounds Food Coconut Mocha coffee bar as a pick me up while Wes had his lunch. (more on these bars later!)

We lounged around the house for a bit and Wes decided to practice a little magic with his rabbit and hat.

Around 1pm we FINALLY made it out of the house to run some errands. I returned some stuff and bought some small goodies for Wes’s Easter basket. But mostly, we just had fun walking around all the stores. Wes seems to really love being in the shopping cart, which makes for a much more pleasant shopping experience 🙂

Last week, Tyler had ordered a carpet shampooer and he messaged me saying he got the confirmation email that it was delivered to our house. I looked on the front porch (we have two doorbells on the front since previous owners used our downstairs space as a separate living suite and often delivery people press the wrong doorbell) and there was nothing. It’s a pretty big expense, so I took Wes around the block checking out our neighbor’s porches and still nothing. Lovely! A few hours later, a woman messaged Tyler on Facebook asking if we were expecting a package and it turns out it was delivered to her- in an entirely different neighborhood. Once Wes went to bed, I went to pick it up. Thank goodness for nice people!

I also picked up another package that arrived for us…from wee nation!

They totally killed it this month with more of a clothing theme. The beanie from Charlee Dee is super soft (even though it’s not really slouchy on Wes’s head haha), the bandana bib from MawdsleyLoves is super cute and I’m absolutely loving the tee from Vagabond babe– I’m hoping Wes will get to wear it more than once. I’ve used the Sauce for Skin balm on this one tiny little dry patch Wes has on his back, and it seems to be doing the trick! I love that it isn’t sticky either.

Tyler had brought home a new to us beer (good husband). I was excited to try it- but it was entirely too sweet to have with dinner. I think it would be perfect for an outdoor winter fire pit, but not mixed with leftover shepherds pie haha.

On a bit of a downer note, the button on the side of my Fitbit Charge HR broke off. I started hyperventilating since I seem to be really good at breaking technology lately. Luckily, I was covered under the warranty and they’re sending me a replacement. PHEW!

We watched Amazing Race and In the Heart of the Sea then called it a night. (Chris Hemsworth <—heartthrob).

Saturday: The day started just after 7am and Wes was a whiny mister. All day. Woof. It really is a good thing babies are cute to make up for the worlds most annoying sound!

We did our usual Saturday Costco trip. With all the wonderful crap that Costco has to offer, how come they don’t sell any bulk baby/toddler snacks? I don’t get it. Maybe it’s just the one we go to? That stuff would fly off the shelves if they carry it.

We tackled the rest of the afternoon with attempting to keep Wes happy. Thanks to the suggestion by Brie, I even put Wes in the back carry position in the Ergo. He really liked it…until he started pulling all of my hair out, so I had to call it quits. And snacks. Always snacks.

I lucked out and caught a happy baby moment!

Can we just stop for a moment and talk about how my 10 month old fits (barely) into size 2T pajamas? Granted, they’re Carter and everything from there runs small. But still!

PS: Tyler always does home projects/PAITING in his pj pants and pretty much every pair has crap all over them. Oof.

Wes helped Tyler make fajitas for dinner..

And then I was granted the pleasure of sitting down AT THE TABLE to eat my dinner in peace.

It was a really early night for me..I was in bed by 8:30pm and got just over 10 hours of sleep!

Sunday: Mornings are SO much better when you’re well rested. Can I get an amen?!

I sorta failed in the photo taking department. Boo. And without photos, I tend to forget what the heck happened. Let’s see…

There was breakfast. And laundry. And a workout. And a walk with the dogs. And we shampooed the carpet! Ahhh life is so exciting.

The dogs sure can do a number on carpet.

Wes took two naps- a 45 min one in the morning and a 2 hour one in the afternoon. He always has great afternoon naps after taking a bath!

We had skip-its for dinner (that’s what we call it when it’s every man for himself). I took some of the leftover fajita mixture and made it into a quesadilla. So delicious.

Just before Wes went down for the night, I threw together a batch of no bake protein bars. I’ll share those later this week…assuming they turn out to be tasty 🙂