Our Monster is 8 Months!!!

Dylan, you're 8 months old and I can't believe how fast you're growing!!! We all love you so much. You light up the room when you're in it. You have the happiest and brightest eyes that would make anyone smile. You are the EASIEST baby to make laugh or smile and I love how happy you always are. 

Clothing- Carters 9 month clothing is becoming quite snug on you, even Baby Gap's 6-12 month clothing except for their pants. I'm waiting for Spring to come so I can pull out your 12-18 month Spring clothes, such fun bright colours!! I recently bought you this coat for the Spring, and you look so freakin' cute in it!!! Come on warmer weather!!!!!!!!!
 

 

Diapers- Size 3, although a size 4 would probably work too. 

Weight- I'm guessing around 19 pounds. You sure aren't starving.  

Feedings- 4-5 times a day. You are quite the eater!! You love pretty much everything I've given you. I've recently started you on a salmon, brocoli and cheese casserole- pureed of course. You'll eat it, but you give me a funny face. Tomorrow you will get to try chicken and I'm guessing you'll love that because it smelt delish when I was cooking it up yesterday! 

Routine- Still the same routine as last month. You don't like me messing with your routine either.
You wake up around 7:30am and finish your breakfast by 8am. You're bathed (I bathe in mornings because I like my boys smelling fresh for the day) and in bed for a nap by 10am and sleep for an hour and wake up for another bottle and solid food by 11-11:30am. You're awake again for another couple of hours and then I put you to sleep just after lunch. On a good day I have a few hours to myself while you and your brother are napping until around 2:30-3:00. Up again for another bottle and solid food and awake for another 2 hours. Usually a 30 minute cat nap around our dinner time then you're up for some rice cereal and a bottle and you're back in bed before 8pm.

Playtime- You can sit up unsupported now, although it usually doesn't last long unless you have a toy in front of you. You always bend over and eat your toes if there is nothing for you to keep busy with. Aidan loves putting on a show for you and you have so much fun watching him. You're not crawling, but you try and get your legs moving but haven't figured it out yet. I watch you look at something across the room and you kick your legs and try to go after it. For now you roll around the floor to get to things. You and the cat are obsessed with each other. When you see her coming toward you, you squeal and grab her fur. She lets you do anything to her. It kinda drives me nuts because you will be covered in cat hair. Even when you're in your doorway bouncer she lays underneath your feet and won't leave your side. 

My Monkey, Aidan!

Aidan, Aidan, Aidan! You have got to be the craziest child I have ever met. You surprise me and make me laugh every day. The words that come out of your mouth some times leave me speechless. It's funny because we once worried that you would never talk. Now it's hard to keep you quiet.

People say you are a high energy child. I would have to agree with them because it's very rare that you sit down and take a breather. You are constantly doing something and love testing your boundaries. Your favourite thing to say to me right now when I say no to something is: "I'm going to, I'm going to do it mommy. Here I go, I'm going to!"  I have a hard time keeping a straight face most of the time so I turn my back. You eventually give in, but most of the time it's a fight to try and get your way. There is something you need to know though. I am a lot more stubborn than you and you will not get your way. Muahaha.

You love being a big brother and you're such a great helper. Dylan adores you and watches you all the time. Sometimes I think you put a show on for Dylan just to make him laugh. Then you ask me why Dylan is laughing at you... gee, I wonder why. I can't wait for Dylan to get a little bigger and watch the two of you run around together. I can see you both getting into lots of mischief together. A part of me is excited to see the crazy things you'll get into but I know I'll change my mind on that soon.

As I write this, you are supposed to be napping. But again, you are being stubborn and trying to skip your afternoon nap so you can continue playing. You used to be a great sleeper but now you've realized that the more you sleep, the less time you'll have to play. You'll think of every excuse to stay awake. You remind me of the book Go the Fok to Sleep. My favourite excuse of yours to stay awake is that it's thundering in your room and you can't sleep.

You pick up new things right away but you get frustrated easily. You try to do everything we do and get angry because some things just aren't meant for you to be doing so young. You love working electronics like Daddy's iPad, your iPod or the TV, especially Netflix. You watch us very carefully so you can work things too. You also love making things for us. You are such a typical 3 year old.

You are such an awesome little boy and we love you very much. I get so excited to do things with you and show you things that I used to do as a child. I cannot believe how you grow so fast in front of my eyes. We already have to register you for junior kindergarten and that is making me so sad, that you're not so little any more.

Dylan's 7 Months!

I am officially the worst blogger ever. My last post was about Christmas, and Christmas was almost a month ago. It's not that I haven't done anything interesting lately, I've just been too lazy to blog about it. Oops.


Here are some fun facts about Dylan, and stay tuned because I am writing another post about Aidan as well. 

Clothing- Carters 9 month clothing or some 6-12 month Baby Gap stuff. I don't think you'll be in 9 month clothing much longer. It's not that you're a huge baby, although your thighs are really chunky, you're just so long. You're already in 12 month Carters jammies. 

Diapers- Size 3


Weight- I'll update this tomorrow after your 7 month doctors appointment. I'm guessing around 18-19 pounds? 


Length- I'll update this tomorrow as well. 

Feedings- 4-5 times a day. You love solid food and so far the only thing you don't like are beans and you have mixed feelings about peas. You love all fruit that you've been given so far and gobble it down- FAST! You also love Baby Mum Mum cookies and devour them quickly. Your brother loves giving them to you as well. 

Routine- Still the same routine as last month. You don't like me messing with your routine either.
You wake up around 7:30am and finish your breakfast by 8am. You're bathed (I bathe in mornings because I like my boys smelling fresh for the day) and in bed for a nap by 10am and sleep for an hour and wake up for another bottle and solid food by 11-11:30am. You're awake again for another couple of hours and then I put you to sleep just after lunch. On a good day I have a few hours to myself while you and your brother are napping until around 2:30-3:00. Up again for another bottle and solid food and awake for another 2 hours. Usually a 30 minute cat nap around our dinner time then you're up for some rice cereal and a bottle and you're back in bed before 8pm.

Playtime- You love rolling around on the floor now. In the past month you went from being a lazy baby to rolling around like a maniac. You roll in all directions and across the room to get things. You also laugh and show off your rolling skills when we cheer you on. I don't think you love your Exersaucer very much because you only last in it for about 5 minutes but you do love your bouncer and in the last month you've been bouncing up and down like a maniac. It's funny to watch you get so into it. You're a very ticklish baby and laugh hysterically. You wait for us to tickle you with your mouth open. I love how you're so easy to make laugh and smile and how your eyes are so bright when you look at me.

Eating a Baby Mum Mum

Our Not So Merry Christmas

Up until Christmas, I kept making jokes that on Christmas Eve we were going to go back to McMaster Children's Hospital because they give away gifts to children who have been to the E.R. I know this because last Christmas Eve, we were there because Aidan woke up from his nap with swollen eyes, and the only thing that was open were hospitals. I didn't think, and wasn't serious that I actually wanted to go there.

I woke up on Christmas Eve exhausted from the night before from being up all night with Aidan who had a terrible cough. Glen and I cleaned the house in the morning trying to get it ready for Christmas since my family was coming over for breakfast and gift opening. I did last minute errands and even baked Santa some Peanut Butter Cup Cookies . While I was doing all of this, Aidan laid on the couch watching the same movie, over and over again, The Polar Express. It's not normal for Aidan to be laying around while sick. It doesn't matter if he has a bad fever, or bad cold- he is still a maniac. I decided to take his temperature again around 4:30pm and it was at 39.4 Celsius. I told Glen that I wanted to take Aidan to the hospital because I knew something wasn't right.

Aidan and I got to the hospital around 5:30pm that night and shortly after seeing the triage nurse, we were asked to come into the E.R. The E.R doctor came over to us immediately, listened to Aidan's chest and told me he'd be right back. Suddenly, nurses came over to us and started him on a medical ventilator, drew blood, started an IV and took a chest Xray, all in under 5 minutes. I asked the nurse what was going on and she said he is being treated for pneumonia. It was heartbreaking seeing Aidan go through all of that, but he was a trooper- my strong boy. An hour later an E.R nurse came in and put him on oxygen since his O2 levels were 89%-92%. The E.R doctor came back in and told us we'd be admitted and should expect to stay for 1-2 nights over Christmas. Around 1:30am we were admitted to the Paediatric Ward. I felt awful- no child should have to be in the hospital over Christmas. I knew Aidan was so excited for Christmas as well, especially since we got him an Elf on the Shelf and we were also on the last day of his Advent Calendar. He knew exactly what was going to happen when he went to sleep that night- Santa was coming.

During the night, while we tried to get to sleep, "Santa" surprised us with a bag full of presents. I had no idea the hospital did this for children, and a smile came to my face right away- Aidan will get Christmas in the hospital. He had a rough night, waking up a few times crying while nurses came in to check on stats. When we finally woke up in the morning, I showed Aidan that Santa had been in the room. He smiled but asked me to open it for him because of the IV in his arm. There were quite a few toys inside the bag but his most favourite toy was the CAT dump truck in the picture below. He loves toys like that, so I pulled that one out of the bag last. He played with it his entire stay in the hospital. During the day we had a visitor from Daddy and Dylan and also a visit from an ex Tiger-Cat football player, Jeff Croonen. He gave Aidan a couple more presents and signed a football for him. I was so surprised of the excellent care the hospital gave Aidan. It was amazing compared to other hospitals I have been to before.

We tried to make the most of his stay and I'm pretty sure Aidan actually enjoyed being in there because of all the pretty young nurses that kept checking on him, and he also loved playing with his bed because of the up and down buttons on it. I stayed with Aidan the entire time, and never left his side. At the end of Aidan's 2 day hospital stay and 2 x-rays later, a virus nose swab, and 2 blood lab work requests, the doctors never figured out what he actually had. They first thought it was pneumonia but the chest x-rays came back clear. They also told me it could have been an asthma attack but since it was Aidan's first one they can not say that so the doctors are calling it a virus for now. At home he is still on a flo-vent puffer for about another month.

When we finally got home from the hospital we did presents right away. Aidan was so happy to see that Santa had brought him this kitchen that he loved from the book store. I have no pictures from Christmas except the two below. We're all so happy to have Aidan home and all better. He gave us quite a scare.

*Next year I plan on donating toys to the hospital so other children who are in the hospital can have a Merry Christmas as well. If any of you would like to do the same or make a charitable donation to McMaster Children's Hospital please click on this link http://www.mcmasterchildrenshospital.ca/

This picture is from Christmas morning, and it breaks my heart when I look at it. I hated seeing
Aidan hooked up to the monitors and having oxygen on him. 

Crazy Aidan getting better and going back to his nutty self. 

Happy 6 Months Dylan

Today my little monster, Dylan turned 6 months old. I know right? Where did the time go? I know everyone always asks that, but seriously... where did it go??? Does this mean I should already start planning his first birthday party since Dylan's first 6 months flew by? OK, OK... I sort of already started planning it ;) ha-ha! What can I say, I love parties and planning!!!

Here are some fun facts about Dylan:

Clothing- 9 month clothing or some 6-12 month Baby Gap stuff. 

Diapers- Size 2


Weight- 17 pounds, 7 ounces. My chunky monster!!


Length- 26.5" long

Feedings- 5 times a day, which include 2 meals of rice cereal morning and night. You just started sweet potatoes yesterday which was your first solid food besides rice cereal. Thank fully you love them because I made a huge amount. I still wake you up with one huge bottle before I go to bed around 11pm and you sleep usually until 7:30am, sometimes later if I'm lucky ;) I will probably continue that late night bottle for another month or so. 

Routine- I seem to have gotten you in a pretty good routine- finally. You wake up around 7:30am and finish your breakfast by 8am. You're bathed (I bath in mornings because I like my boys smelling fresh for the day) and in bed for a nap by 10am and sleep for an hour and wake up for another bottle and solid food by 11-11:30am. You're awake again for another couple of hours and then I put you to sleep just after lunch. On a good day I have a few hours to myself while you and your brother are napping until around 2:30-3:00. Up again for another bottle and solid food and awake for another 2 hours. Usually a 30 minute cat nap around our dinner time then you're up for some rice cereal and a bottle and you're back in bed before 8pm.

Playtime- You still love your Rain-forest gym and your kick and play piano. You are also loving your jumper and will bounce in that for a good 30 minutes before you get tired. Aidan enjoys swinging you in it and you don't seem to mind ;) You are still so easy to make laugh and smile. I love that about you. Your eyes are so bright and you're such a happy little guy. You watch your brother more and more every day and you love playing with him so much. You still hate tummy time and after your doctors appointment today we discovered that you have reflux, which was most likely missed because of your colic- ha-ha. Because of the reflux, you aren't a huge roller yet because of your huge dislike of being on your tummy. You are a back scooter though and will scoot along the floor and circle the room to get to things. You are also very close to sitting up unassisted. 
  

Cookies for Santa... and Me!

This is a whipped shortbread recipe that reminds me of my childhood. Every Christmas and throughout the winter my mom and dad would make these and they are delicious and go perfect with a cold glass of milk. 

Whipped Shortbread

1 pound of very soft butter

1 cup of white sugar

3 cups of all purpose flour- unsifted.

*Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. 

* Add flour and beat for 10 minutes... yes, 10 minutes, that is not a typo!! 

* Drop on ungreased cookie sheet

Bake at 300F for 25 minutes. 

(I cooked them on convection at 300F and watched them very carefully alternating the 2 sheets 10 minutes through. These cookies should be very light brown around the edges not all brown throughout. 

I bought this at Sams Club yesterday for $13.00. It came with 3 bags of sugar cookies as well)

My Monster is 5 Months Today!

Happy 5 months to my little monster, Dylan. What a 5 months it has been too. I love you more and more each day!

Here are some things about Dylan:

Clothing- some 6 month stuff but you just got a bunch of 9 month clothing that you are wearing now.

Diapers- Size 2

Feedings- 6 times a day, which include 2 meals of rice cereal morning and night. I wake you up with one huge bottle before I go to bed around 11pm and you sleep usually until 7:30am, sometimes later if I'm lucky ;)

Routine- I seem to have gotten you in a pretty good routine- finally. You wake up around 7:30am and finish your breakfast by 8am. You're bathed (I bath in mornings because I like my boys smelling fresh for the day) and in bed for a nap by 10am and sleep for an hour and wake up for another bottle by 11am. You're awake again for another couple of hours and then I put you to sleep just after lunch. On a good day I have a few hours to myself while you and your brother are napping until around 2:30-3:00. Up again for another bottle and awake for another 2 hours. Usually a 30 minute cat nap around our dinner time then you're up for some rice cereal and a bottle and you're back in bed before 8pm.

Playtime- You love your Rain-forest gym and your new kick and play piano. If I show you a toy you will reach for it, hold it and jam it in your mouth. You love laughing, talking and smiling. You're an easy crowd but when you're tired you definitely let me know and don't hide it like your brother does. Aidan loves making you laugh and tickling you. I've noticed that you've really started checking out older kids lately when they are playing nearby. You HATE tummy time with a passion. I try everyday and you will only last about 2 minutes and immediately start kicking up a fuss. You have great neck control so you've started going into your Excersaucer and Jumper. Another thing you do a lot is stick out your tongue. You also find it funny when we stick our tongue out at you too. You laugh and copy us.

There's your tongue again! 

Taken today, at 5 months old. You weren't into picture time. 

Your butt kept sliding down on the slippery couch.