Happy 2011!!

Wow! I cannot believe it is already 2011! 2010 was a great year for us. We celebrated Logan's 3rd birthday and Graysen's 1st birthday along with all the other major holidays. Logan's speech has grown leaps and bounds and he is learning new things everyday. He really amazes me with everything that he spits out. Graysen is also becoming quite the talker. She talks so much more that Logan did at this age and seems to be picking up new words almost everyday. She is also now so much more mobile and getting into everything. And another huge milestone for her is that she weaned from nursing on New Year's Eve. It was a mutual decision for the most part. She was basically only nursing before bedtime and only for a couple of quick seconds, so I decided that it was time and she has done wonderfully. She hasn't even asked for it in the last two days and has gone to bed for daddy without any problems. I will pick up the bedtime routine again in about a week's time and hopefully she won't have any problems with letting me put her to bed.

We have a lot to look forward to in 2011! We are hoping to get Logan enrolled in Pre-K, which would be Monday through Friday and I think would greatly help him with his social interaction skills. We are planning to see Nana in March while our daycare provider is on maternity leave having her 3rd child; a baby girl! And we hope to make it home again for Christmas this year and see my family again!

I promise to post some pictures in the next post. My goal this year is to take more pictures of the kids so that everyone can see how quickly they are growing up.

Happy Halloween....A Little Late

I think it is safe to say that the kids had a blast on Halloween!! We took them both out trick or treating. Logan walked the whole time with his neighbor friend Kathy and Graysen rode in the wagon with her buddy Armando. We all had a great time and got lots of candy which we are now in the process of eating. I am trying to limit Logan to one or two pieces a day since he really doesn't need to be eating that much candy, but he is constantly asking for more treats. I can't wait until it is all gone. :P I'm really looking forward to next year when Graysen can enjoy it a little bit more!!

Long Time No Blog

I can't believe it has been 2 months since I last posted to this blog. I guess you can say that life has been busy.

Updates:

Logan is a week away from turning 3 1/2 years old! I still can't believe how quickly my little boy is growing up. He is literally growing leaps and bounds. He is now 38 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds. He is also growing smarter by the day. He knows his entire alphabet and is working on recognizing letters and their sounds, he can count to 15 by himself and recognizes his numbers up to 10, he knows all his colors and shapes (even some of the not so common shapes like pentagons) and is just talking up a storm. He is looking forward to Halloween and is going to be a fire fighter again this year.

Graysen will be 16 months old this week! She just had her 15 month check up on Friday and she is now 30 1/2 inches tall and weighs 20lbs 2oz. The biggest news is that she is now walking!!! It came as such a shock that she took awhile to start walking since Logan was walking well before his first birthday. She is still a very laid back little girl, but now that she can walk, she is into everything! Her vocabulary is also growing by the day, which is something that Logan seemed to never be concerned with at this age. She can now say "mama", "dada", "baba (bottle)", "bye", "hi", "baby", "book", "nana", "bi (binkie)" and "me (mine)". I am looking forward to taking her out trick or treating with Logan this year. She is going to be a ladybug!

We also had an unexpected thing come up at her 15 month check up, but that will be for another blog post.

I hope to have more pics to post next time (especially of Logan since I don't have any of him since the summer) and I will hopefully get back to posting much more often.

Wordless Wednesday

Graysen's First Artwork and Cookie

While I was working with Logan on his preschool activities, Graysen kept trying to climb up on his table so I decided to pop her up in her high chair and let her color her first picture. In typical toddler fashion, the first thing she did was put the crayon in her mouth, but once I showed her what it was for, she did a little bit of coloring before throwing the crayon on the floor and crinkling the page up and then throwing that on the floor too. She is such a silly little thing.



I decided to make cookies from Nana's secret family recipe the other night and Graysen finally got her first taste. She absolutely LOVED it. She definitely has her mum's sweet tooth and proceeded to burst into tears when she realized she was done and she wasn't getting any more. Don't worry though; she did get to have a second cookie tonight after dinner and this time there were no tears.

August 2010

I can't believe that the summer is coming to an end already. We have been trying to keep busy and enjoy the weather, but it has been so hot this month that we have had to spend a majority of our time indoors.

Logan is at a really interesting age. I say interesting because he is learning new things everyday, but he is also very good at testing boundaries right now. We are working with him to try and keep him occupied during the day since he tends to test these boundaries more when he is bored or restless. I have been trying to take both kids for a walk in the morning before the weather gets too hot and make sure we have something fun planned on the weekends.

Graysen is a very mobile, but very laid back little girl. She is now cruising with ease, climbing the stairs and even took her first steps a couple of weeks ago. She hasn't taken anymore steps since then, but I can tell that she is thinking about it. She loves to play both independently and with her brother. Her favorite pastime is emptying a container, putting everything back and then emptying it out again. She is also in love with books right now.

We are hoping to take another trip to the zoo this coming weekend. They both love the zoo and seeing all the animals.

Grocery Shopping on a Budget

It can be done! We have been trying to save as much money in as many places as possible lately. One of the ways that we are doing this is by price matching and using coupons while grocery shopping. Thankfully, we have the local ads delivered to us for free every Tuesday. They have also started to include a coupon book with the ads over the last month and I am enrolled with CouponMom and get weekly emails with additional coupons and deals. Every week before we go grocery shopping, we go through the ads and circle the things that we need and are on sale. Then I go ahead and make out our grocery list and write down all the items that we will be price matching. Then I go through all my coupons and pull out the ones that I will be using that week and make note of that on my grocery list. This has really helped us save a lot of money and it helps me make sure that I don't forget to use the coupons. I realize that it takes maybe 30 minutes longer to prepare this list before we go grocery shopping, but it is totally worth it in the end. I don't think we have spent over $45 on groceries in a week over the last month!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Let me just start out by wishing all the breastfeeding mums out there a Happy World Breastfeeding Week!!

I have to say that I still can't believe that Graysen and I have made it this far with our breastfeeding relationship. After the rocky start that I had with Logan, I wasn't even sure how things would go with Graysen. She is a totally different baby though. She latched on from the time she was 10 minutes old and has never looked back. I was also concerned with how things were going to go after I went back to work and had to pump. Thankfully I was easily able to pump enough milk to keep up with her needs plus some extra that got put into the freezer. I was able to continue pumping until the week before her first birthday while gradually cutting down on pumping sessions from 11 months on. She is still breastfeeding at 13 months old and I'm not really sure when she will be done. I figure that I will see how things go and let her decided when she is done.

So to all the mum's and mum's to be out there, enjoy this week (even though it is almost over) and whether you breastfeed once or let your baby self wean, know that you are doing an amazing thing for your little one and should be proud of yourself!

He Did It!!!

Logan is officially 100% potty trained!!!!! He has been day trained since shortly before he turned 3 and over the last two weeks he night trained all by himself!!! Just before we left to go on vacation I told Logan that this would be the last time that he would wear diapers and that when we got back from seeing Nana, that the diapers would go away and he wouldn't need them at bedtime anymore. I guess he had plans of his own. He wore a diaper to bed the first 3 nights of vacation and woke up dry each morning. After that he decided that he did not need to wear a diaper to bed anymore and he hasn't looked back since. I can't tell you how proud of him I am. I have always hear that it takes longer for little boys to potty train and it is typically harder to do, but Logan did it all by himself. I am really glad that we decided to follow his lead and let him go at his own pace.

Summer Vacation

Well, we did it! The kids and I went to visit Nana for 10 days in Canada. Let's just say that flying with 2 young kids by myself wasn't easy, but we managed. We had a great time visiting family and friends and the kids got to do all sorts of new things. Aunti Ashley took us to an amazing park with a splash pad and Logan absolutely loved it!! Then we took the GO Train into Toronto for the kids first official trip to the city. Logan loved the train ride and was so good walking to the Eaton's Center and back to the train station. As usual, Graysen fell asleep and missed out on some of the sights, but we have pictures to show her when she is older. When we got back to St. Thomas, we took a day trip to Port Stanley beach. Again, Logan loved it!!! Graysen was not a huge fan of the water or the sand, but was fine as long as I was holding her or she was sitting on a blanket. I can't blame her though. The water was a little cold and the sand was HOT!!! Nana has all the pictures from the beach so I will have to get those from her. We spent the rest of the time mainly hanging out in St. Thomas. Logan even had a play date with one of mum's coworker's little boys named Curtis. We ended the week by going to Pinafore Park and letting Logan play at the splash pad and getting some really cute pictures of Graysen in her birthday dresses.

We all really miss everyone already and can't wait for Nana to be here at the end of September. Hopefully someday soon we will live a lot closer so that we can see everyone more often.

Graysen - 1 Year Old

What do you mean my baby girl is already a year old?!!! And look what she started doing on her birthday!! She started pulling up to stand and is now standing and letting go. She is also starting to take steps behind her toy stroller.

We took her for her 1 year well check and she is 18lbs 14oz (14th percentile) and 29 3/4 inches tall (60th percentile). I think he is going to be built like her Auntie Ashley; long and lean. Her new pediatrician is great and says that she is healthy and developing well. Now that she is crawling and pulling up, she is into everything she can get her little hands on. Poor Logan doesn't stand a chance of getting to play by himself anymore. As soon as she sees her big brother playing with something, she wants to play too.

We are heading up to Canada to see Nana and the rest of the family this coming weekend and can't wait. I'm excited to celebrate both kids birthday's with the rest of my family since they aren't always able to be here. I'll make sure to post lots of pictures when I get back. Until then, here are some from her first birthday party.

Her Birthday Cake!

She totally smashed it!!

Poor tired little girl.

Graysen - 11 Months Old

Our little pork chop is 11 months old! She is 18lbs 15oz now and is really chunking out which makes me think she will be hitting a growth spurt here shortly. She is now wearing anywhere from 9-18 month clothes depending on the brand. The biggest news is that she is now crawling!!! She started crawling the day before her 11 month birthday and she is into everything. Thankfully she actually enjoys spending some time in her pack n play so that I can get things done without her getting into it. The only thing is that she likes to crawl up to Logan and take whatever he is playing with or play alongside him. She is also trying to pull up to standing. She is getting up onto her knees and likes to play with things while she is sitting that way. I have a feeling that she will be pulling up and starting to cruise the furniture here very soon.

I am sad to say that the next monthly update will be for Graysen's 1st birthday. I still can't believe that she will 1 year old in less than a month!

A Day in the Life of Graysen and her Cloth Diapers

Just waking up in the morning. She is wearing a BumGenius 3.0 One Size diaper stuffed with 2 inserts. This diaper used to belong to Logan and works great for a night time diaper.

Her first diaper of the day is a Smartipants One Size diaper. This is currently one of my favorite diapers on her. The fit is great and it is a sleeve style pocket diaper so the insert agitates out in the wash.

Before her morning nap I changed her into a Fuzzi Bunz Perfect Size pocket diaper (size small). She is starting to grow out of this diaper, but they fit her really well and the print is really cute.


After lunch/before afternoon nap, I changed her into a Fattycakes All in 2 diaper (size medium). This diaper has side snaps and fits her perfectly. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite diapers. Normally I would have changed her after her morning nap, but today she decided to only take a 30 minute morning nap, so we had an early lunch and early afternoon nap.


After her afternoon nap I decided to try out our newest diaper, a Rumparooz One Size pocket diaper. We just got this diaper this weekend at a local cloth diaper sale and in true cloth diaper fashion, she "christened" the diaper the first time she wore it.


Since she was in a great mood, I decided to put her in a Green Mountain Red Edge Prefold diaper with a Thirsties Duo Cover. I love using prefolds and covers, but Graysen isn't always in the mood to lay still long enough for me to put them on.

After her bath, I put her in her night time diaper which happened to be a Kawaii Baby Minky pocket diaper with 2 inserts. These are our other go to diaper for bedtime. They are super soft and hold up great during the night.

I hope you enjoyed Graysen's day as much as we did!

Graysen - 10 Months Old

Ok. Time needs to slow down. How can Graysen already be 10 months old?!

She is now 18lbs 2oz and 28 inches tall. She is such a laid back little girl. Only this week has she really started to be 'mobile'. She is now rolling, scooting or 'crawling' backwards to get where she wants to go or get what she wants to play with. Otherwise, she is happy to sit there and watch whatever is going on around her. She loves to play with all of her brother's toys and especially likes it when he plays with her. She also loves to eat. I don't think there is anything she won't eat which is very different from Logan. He was a very picky eater and did not like textured food. We are hoping to start introducing a sippy cup to Graysen this month and see how she does. I will most likely have Jason offer her one instead of one of her bottles and see how things go.

The only sad news to report is that Graysen was diagnosed with pneumonia on April 30. She was started on antibiotics and nebulizer treatments again. We have since heard that viral pneumonia is going around the community, so that is most likely what she had. Let's hope that the rest of the year is a healthy year and that we don't need that darn nebulizer again.

Logan - 3 Years Old

I still can't believe that my baby boy is 3 years old!! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital. He has grown so much since then. I took some quick measurements on his birthday and he weighed 30lbs and was 36 1/4 inches tall. He is still as active as ever and loves to run around and play with all the kids in the neighborhood. He is also becoming quite the talkative little boy and has his opinion on everything. I know that a year ago I couldn't wait for him to start talking and now he doesn't stop. He is doing really well with his preschool activities and is starting to recognize his numbers and letters. He has been able to count to 10 for awhile now and can sing the alphabet with little assistance. He is also able to recognize his shapes and colours and can even tell you how many sides and angles some of the shapes have.

Logan's favorite things to play with are his toy food, BBQ grill and his cars. Once you let him go outside to play though, you can't get him back inside. He loves to ride his bike and jump on the trampoline. We have taken several trips to the zoo lately and he is starting to walk around the zoo with me as opposed to riding in the stroller. He loves going to the zoo to see the animals. His current favorites are the penguins, sharks and gorillas. Most times we need to take a second trip to the aquarium before leaving just so that he can see the penguins and sharks again.

I look forward to what the next year will bring for Logan. He is definitely growing out of the toddler phase and into the young child phase. He is no longer wearing diapers and is 95% toilet trained during the day, including naps, and 75% nighttime trained. He sits at the table for all meals and requires little assistance with actually eating his food and is starting to use a cup without a lid, which I think he could have done sooner, but I didn't want to have to deal with the mess.

We are going home to Canada for a week in July and Logan can't wait to see Nana and his Aunties. It is going to be a looooonnnng drive, but it will be so much fun once we are there and he gets to spend time with everyone.

Here is a comparison shot of pictures of Logan:

Birth


1 Year Old



2 Years Old

Logan - April 2010

Logan is a month away from turning 3 years old!!! Where have the last 3 years gone?! He is becoming such a creative, imaginative and active little guy. He is starting to play independently with his toys and has a crazy imagination when it comes to what he is doing and where is going. His favourite toy is still his play food, hands down. He plays with it every single day. He also loves his Mr. Potato Head and his Mega Blocks. He is also starting to talk in longer sentences and I pretty much understand 99% of what he is saying now. He is still working on his speech and has trouble with some of the letter sounds, but it is a huge improvement from where he was a year ago and going to speech therapy. He loves that the weather is getting nicer and he is able to play outside more often now. We are working with him on using the pedals on his tricycle, but he insists that he does not need them. It is still funny to watch him go flying down the sidewalk all the way to the bottom of the hill and then run into the grass to stop himself.

Graysen - 9 Months Old

My little Gracie-poo is 9 months old. She is weighing in at 17lbs 4oz now. I'm not sure how tall she is, but she is growing like a weed lately. She is now wearing between 9-12 month clothing depending on the brand. She has developed quite the personality lately and loves to show it off. She is very flirty when she wants your attention, but can turn on the tears when she doesn't get her way. She is also very determined and wants to keep up with what her brother is doing. She is finally starting to enjoy tummy time and is able to spin around and move backwards now. I honestly thought she was going to skip crawling and go straight to walking, but she may end up crawling after all. She is starting to eat more food now and pretty much loves everything we give her. We are working on having her feed herself as much as possible and she does really well with things that are big enough for her to pick up and take a bite of, but is still struggling with things that involve her using a pincher grasp. She is also working on 6 more teeth right now; 2 more on the bottom and 4 on the top. We are about to celebrate her first Easter and I will be sure to take lots of pictures to share.

Logan - March 2010

As you can tell by the pictures, Logan's favourite toy right now is his play food. He could play with it all day long. He is really starting to play "pretend" and it is funny to see him acting things out with his toys. His other favourite thing to play with right now is his puzzles. I recently rearranged the toy area and brought the shelving unit down from his room. Now all his puzzles are on one shelf and he can talk them out and play with them whenever he likes. He has gotten really good at all of them except for the alphabet ones. He is pretty good about reciting his alphabet, but he still doesn't recognize a lot of the letters. He does really good though if I ask him where something is, for example, grapes, and he can put the letter 'G' in the spot with the grapes.

Now that spring is around the corner and we have had a couple of days of good weather, Logan is really looking forward to being able to play outside. It is very hard to get him to come inside without a lot of persuasion.