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.