4 YEARS IN IMAGES

So the C Monster turned 4 this March here is a look back at some of my favourite picture taken of him over the last 4 years...

Taken in the first week he was born

2nd Halloween

He lived in his new helmet for 3 days; even slept in it.

I miss his mohawk it was soo cute

C Monster falls asleep anywheres when he is tired

Once again; he was playing upstairs too quietly I when to check and found him sleeping.

Halloween 2011

The Last Few Weeks in Pictures...

Every day I take picture thinking I am going to blog about the picture... I often never do because life just gets busy. So here is a quick look at some of the things that happened during the last 2 weeks that I wanted to blog about.

Baby Gets a Back Pack

My favorite pans for C Monster ripped at the knees when C Monster took a dive on the side walk.  C monster knees were fine but the pans had a great big hole in them.  He had these since he was 9 months old (We used to roll them a lot).  They were bought at Wall-mart in NB then C Monster had a poopy explosion in the store.

I took one of the pant pockets and transformed it into a backpack for baby.  C Monster was oh so delighted when he saw it.

Mama Gets New Boots

It has been since C Monster was born I was looking for rain boots.  I have thick legs so I have a hard time finding boots that work for me.  I also wanted real rubber boots not some of those boots you can get these days loaded with all sorts of chemicals.  I also wanted something that looked good on me.  I decided almost a year and half ago I wanted low Hunter boots but well they are not cheep - I finely went out and splurged on them.

In the picture to the left  C Monster is modeling them for you.

Canned Eggplant 

I finely got around to can eggplant and pistou in oil.  You place raw eggplant with spices and onions in sterilized jars and add lots of olive oil.  Wait one month then enjoy.  I also may pistou with basil from my garden that I also canned.  Once I open these and try them I will let you know how they turned out and post recipes if they were good. 

Which Towel is Yours?

A little while back I blogged about reusing our towels more then once. The problem with this is how do you tell your apart from Geoff's or C Monster's - all our towels are white and match.  I used some clothespins and labeled them with our initial and some identifying stickers. When we hang our towel to dry we add the pin to the side.  Problem solved you always know "which towel is yours"

Hole No More

As much as I will be the first to admit I love to shop, I also hate getting rid of something that is 100% still usefull or tossing out something that is broken - because I know no one else would want to use it.

So when C Monster bran new organic sheet ripped only a few months after we bought it I was not ready to down cycle it to something else. I decided to patch it -  I found this extra cute dinosaur patch for only a couple bucks on Etsy and sowed it on to the sheet.  Since the whole was on the side of the sheet I did not need to worry about the treads being uncomfortable under you when you are sleeping.

C Monster quite likes his "new" dinosaur sheets - that is a bonus too.

Movie Mondays

Christophe meet Yogurt...

poop poop and poop

I was just trying to think about what to blog about for today when Geoff said, "come help, he pooped." As I walked up the stairs I said "you did not learn your lesson yesterday?"

See, yesterday when Geoff was getting ready to give Christophe his bath, he did not think about checking the diaper to make sure there was no poop. He just took it off and, to his surprise, we had a naked poopy baby crawling around and Geoff with a poopy finger, so he called for help. I just assumed the same had happened again.

I was wrong. This time we had a baby and a papa taking their usual bath together when baby decided to poop in the tub. :-)

Thank you Christophe for giving me something to blog about.

Co-sleeping?

As much as I would love to say Christophe is sleeping in his crib, we are still co-sleeping. Christophe sleeps better with us; however we are in the process of trying to convince him to sleep in his room. Wish us luck.

Are you co-sleeping; or are you thinking of co-sleeping with a child? Safe Bed Sharing is a great website that gives parents tips on how to co-sleep safely instead of the ever so common typical advice of don't do it.

Are you a safety freak?

First of all, after being a mom now for a little over 10 months, I declare that there is no such thing as being a safety freak when it comes to babies and toddlers.

A few days ago, while I was baking--I think it was baked beans--Christophe and his new-found walking skills made it to the stove, reached for the oven door and pulled it open by a few inches.  (Before anyone panics, he is fine.)  The oven immediately shut itself, because his little muscles were not strong enough to hold it open.  However, I thought i was going to die from panic and imagined my son with burns, all as I rushed the three steps to him that I swear felt like three miles to whisk him away from the danger of the stove.

What was I doing while this happened, you ask?  Dishes.  Do I think I am a bad mother?  No, it happens to all of us. One of my friend's eight-month old figured out how to climb the stairs while she ran out the room for 5 seconds.  I know a mom whose non-mobile baby decided to learn how to roll on the change table at three months. The list could go on forever, I think almost all mothers have a story like this.

Now, you might ask does this change the way I baby-proof?  No - however I did immediately ordered one of those oven latches from Safety Super Store to install on the stove.

This was a scary reminder of just how quick and curious the little ones can be.

Image from Safety Super Store

I can walk (kinda)

Here are our sons first steps (he took is actual first steps on January 11, this is the first time I have been able to catch it on camera). He is 10 1/2 months in this video I took today; before I started filming he had already made 2 steps and in the video he takes 6 solo steps then one last unassisted step while he reaches for the chair to start cruising instead.



I would like to add this is one of the first times he has walked not holding on to a toy, usually he is distracted and does not realize what he is doing this time he was fully aware that he was walking to mama.

Photo Page 6

TERA has this beautiful page full of nursing mothers called Photo Page 6; the only sad part is the write ups that accompany these images. They are all about images being removed from Facebook or even worst accounts being closed.

If you have been victim to having a breastfeeding image pulled from Facebook, contact them as I did, your voice can be heard.

Something so natural should not be censored.

Facebook 1 - me 0

Today my account with Facebook was canceled because of an obscene image of my son nursing.

Do you think this is obscene yes or no?

Christmas Hazards

This the season to be Merry; however there are all sorts of hazard from little ones that come with the holiday. How did we as parents deal with these?

One of the major hazard is the Christmas tree and I know first hand how dangerous this is. On my first Christmas is the day I learned how to crawl and I made a b line to the tree and ate a glass Christmas ball. To make sure the same thing does not happen to Christophe we installed the tree in an area of the house that Christophe can not get to on his own.

Other decorations can also pose a problem to we made sure that all decorations are out of Christophe reach and securely hung.

Christmast wrapping, you would not think this is dangerous but the ribbons and bows can cause havoc if swallowed, same goes for tinsel - all of these are banned from our house this year. I opted for natural fabric ribbons to add a bit of decoration to some presents.

The last thing you want is to give the gift of danger; so before you buy presents for your little one make sure they are age appropriate. Don't forget to remove all wires, hooks, ties and packaging before letting your little one play.

Also just cause you are hopping from the house to the car and then to another house over and over while visiting friends and family it is no reason to skip on bundling your little one. You may decide to skip the coat and hat but make sure you bundle up your kids always in the cold canadian weather. (Sometimes I envy our friends to the south but I don't think I would take the heat over the cold if it meant loosing the snow also - I just love a white Christmas).

I am no longer a vegetarian...

OK before anyone thinks I am ill... I am not talking about me.

Last weekend Christophe was playing on the kitchen floor with some pots and pans, and then suddenly it got really quiet. I had forgotten that Geoff had fed the cats wet food that morning, and I am sure you've figured it out by now: Christophe was covered in cat food with some around his mouth.

We are still planning on raising him a vegetarian but he has been tainted with Turkey and giblets (I think). Instead of freaking out we just laugh at this one and are assured by the fact that we only buy really good cat food that only use human grade ingredients.

Hiding in a tent

In one of my baby developmental books it mentioned that some babies like playing underneath tents. So a month or so ago I built a tent using blankets for Christophe. I think we played underneath all day, that is also were we took our nap with mama. Seeing this picture reminded me that I should do this again with him.

He was so small

7 weeks old...

Wordless Wednesdays

Music for kids

This is something I have been meaning to blog about for a bit now. Christophe loves music and we always have something playing in the background. I also make sure we do some music time every day; sometimes we sing fun little songs for him; other times we dance to music; or even sometimes we play with instruments. Whatever it is we do we usually have a minimum of 30 minutes of music time everyday.

Christophe has a Rain Stick, Cage Bell, a few maracas, some jingle bells and a harmonica. I think that is pretty good for a 7 month old. Of course all music play is supervised as some of these instruments could be dangerous if left unattended. Once he turns one I want to pick him up a few more instruments from Plan Toys: Xylophone, Drum and Castanets.

As for Music CD's some of our favorites are:

New Orleans Playground
French Playground
A Pas de Velours
Cajon for Kids

We are always looking for new music I would love to know what your favorite CD's are.

References:
Photograph - Amazon.com

Baby sign language - have you tried it?

Since Christophe has been born we have been practicing signs with him, just recently he has started paying attention to them. I think he understands milk, cat and more. However on my side I am proud to say that I now know over 30 signs. To help us learn we bought 2 sets of sign cards: mocobabies and Signs and Smiles. The mocobabies cards are nicer looking but the Signs & Smiles cards are more functional. Each time we learn a new sign I mount the card up in our hallway so I can easily look at them for review. Geoff also ordered some books and a dvd about signing I will let him tell you guys about them.

Have any of you guys had success with baby signs?

Blind dates for moms

I have recently joined a group called mommy meetup group. It's basically blind dates for moms and babes in Toronto. I have met a bunch of moms in our area and gone to a few events. It's great everyone is very welcoming and all the moms are super nice. It's just really nice to have a chance to talk to other moms about everything and anything baby related.

I now have teeth, well kinda

This morning Christophe 1st tooth broke through his gums. It only sticks out a millimeter or so but its there and it sharp. It's the bottom middle right tooth.

Pregnancy for Three-Year-Olds

Step 1: Consider The Option:
Many three-year-olds haven't even considered becoming pregnant. It's a novel idea, and it takes a visionary mind.



Step 2: Find a Partner:
It takes two, so they say. It's pretty difficult to load that baby (or doll) into the shirt by yourself, you know.



Step 3: Show Off:
Look ma, I'm pregnant!

wordless wednesdays