Well....it's been awhile, but I'm back :) TONS OF UPDATES

It's been awhile.  Life has been, well, crazy!  Quintin is almost 6 months old....8 days shy...

There is so much going on.  He is mobile - learning to crawl, but right now gets around by rolling and shimmying.  It's pretty cute.  But now I have to keep my eye on him.

He doesn't always have to be held anymore.  It's nice.  Plus he is on the floor with Ethan so they play quite often.

We started Baby Led Weaning.  We did this with Ethan as well and had successful results.  We are a couple weeks early.  I wasn't going to start until 6 months old, but he's ready.  He sits up on his own, he knows where to put food, and he doesn't have a gag reflex.  Does he eat anything?  Not really.  Breastmilk is sufficient....have you seen those thighs? ;o)

 Nursing is going well.  He feeds a max of 5 minutes before he needs to move onto something else.  He doesn't nurse much during the day anymore.....he saves that for night!  He gets distracted so easily now that it makes it super hard to feed him when Ethan is awake.  So I try to get a good feed before he wakes, when he goes down for a nap, before he wakes up for a nap and before dinner when Ethan is playing with Ryan.  Then of course all night he has a lot of down time to nurse because EVERYBODY BUT US IS SLEEPING!!  

He doesn't sleep....ever.  If I can get two somewhat decent naps out of him during the day, then it's a good day.  They will either be a half hour or two hours long.  It is so random.  I try to stick to a routine but usually I just end up following his lead.  He's the baby that falls asleep while playing, eating, watching tv.  Never when I am trying to put him down!

And on top of that, night sleep is very less than adequate.  He used to be a fantastic sleeper - 3-4 hours in between wakeups.  A typical night would be 8:30pm - 3:30am or 4:00am.  Then up at 7am for the day.  NOW it's 9:00pm - 11:00pm, 1:00am, 3:00am, 5:00am, 8:00am  - you get the idea.  The bonus is that he is only up for 5-10 minutes max as opposed to 40 minutes like when he was younger.

We have upgraded to the big bathtub.  We tried it out yesterday with Ethan and he just loved it.  He watches his big brother like a hawk and is totally entertained by him.  Ethan is pretty keen on him as well.

He's taking a bottle now.... and a soother.  Crazy kid!  So I have had more freedom to go to the gym or we can go out for a couple hours and I don't have to worry that he's screaming because he is starving.

He likes the car now.  In fact, he takes many naps in the car (since he won't sleep at home).  Before you think I go out all the time...I don't....hardly ever.  But when I do go out he falls asleep.  And he doesn't cry!  It only took 6 months for him to get used to it :)

He loves the jolly jumper.  This was Ethan's favourite as well.  We have to limit him to 20 minutes because he will just keep on going and he gets so tired and a bit cranky afterwards.  (We lost track of time and he was in it for almost half hour - we learned the hard way!!!)

He is also starting to crawl..... ALREADY!  I can't believe it.  He's on all fours and rocking and he can go backwards.  He will probably starting walking at 10 months just like Ethan did.

Small update on Ethan - he is definitely our little toddler now.  No more baby (who am I kidding, he will always be my baby!). He is potty training right now....he is 2 years and 1 month old.  He decided it was time to potty train.  Do you know how nice it is NOT to change a toddler poop!  It's heaven.  He does very well. We use the M&M method, but he doesn't really care for them I don't think.  He is more interested in flushing the toilet and saying bye bye to his bodily functions.....awesome.

He is saying SO MANY WORDS.....a few we can do without lol.  But he says many.  He is also singing his favorite songs right now.  Raffi is his favourite singer.  We are taking him to see Raffi live in London soon.  We are so excited to see his reaction - he's going to flip!  He still doesn't speak in sentences but he puts 2-3 words together.  He knows his ABC's and he can count to 20 in english and 10 in french.

He is sleeping fantastic.  Goes to bed at 8:30pm and wakes at about 7:30/8:00am.  Hopefully Quinn wants to follow suit pretty soon!

Small update on me:  I'm feeling good.  I have been going back to the gym and eating healthy (well we all have been eating healthy).  I really like Gwyneth Paltrow's book "It's All Good".  She has some super healthy, amazing, great tasting recipes.  We are focusing on less gluten in our lives and in return feel less bloated.  I have also cut out added sugar and refined carbs (for the most part).  I am following Weight Watchers as well.  I feel good healing wise as well.  No aches or pains or soreness.  I still have phantom kicks - it's weird.  They are becoming less but still freaks me out!

All About Quinn!

If you missed it, I posted about Quinn's birth HERE at my other blog.  I decided to create a new blog for him so that both boys have their own and can read at their leisure when they are older if they want to!  So although this will mainly be about Quinn, it will naturally include the whole family since that will be the main part of his life, but I will try to mostly focus on him.

Quinn is going to be 12 weeks old on Sunday.....I can't believe 12 weeks have already passed!  I guess there is a lot to update on :)  I decided to just update in sections rather than a rambling blog (although I will probably ramble and it will probably be very long!)

Let's start from the beginning....

PREGNANCY - definitely a bit more rough than my first.  I had the same things happen - Gestational Diabetes and Group B Strep.  Weight gain was about 25 lbs (so 10 lbs less than my first pregnancy) but I felt so much bigger this time around.  I was not able to rest much so that made me more uncomfortable.  I went off work a total of 3 weeks early (I went back for 1 week in between and decided it was not working out).  This time I had a Midwife and the difference was like night and day.  You can read about that HERE.

The Bump the night before I went into labor.  (38 weeks & 2 days)

DELIVERY - nothing short of amazing.  It was a 4 hour labor, with 20 mins of pushing.  I did need assistance since he was stuck but really I have nothing to complain about.  It was fast, natural, hurt like a B**** but worth it in the end.  (Birth story is posted above)

About 20 minutes after birth

POST PARTUM HEALING - once again, amazing.   I was up and walking about half hour after delivery.  I was also on a super high and felt amazing....so much that I did not sleep that entire night! I won't get into details but everything "down there" was in tact and not much healing was required, just something they called a "skidmark" of a tear.  No stitches required!!   I had a bit of pain about a week later in my hips and abdomen - mostly from things going back to the way they were.  An extra strength Tylenol + Advil took care of that pain.

Me & my babies the following morning!

SLEEPING - For the most part he has been good to us.  The first week I co slept with him in the downstairs bedroom because I did not know how he was yet... but he was fine.  Didn't cry much so I ended up staying upstairs for the remainder.  He did sleep on me the first two weeks, but the transition to his bassinet/playard was easy for night sleeping.  He generally sleeps from 8:30 - 2:30 or so.  Then after that we need to work on it because he is up every 2-3 hours (from the beginning of a feed).  It's tiring, especially when there is a rambunctious almost 2 year old running around at the crack of dawn! Naps are still only on me in the Ergo Baby.  He will not sleep for more than 5 minutes in his bed or on a pillow.  But I keep trying every day.

This is in the Moby but still the same idea!

CAR RIDES - absolutely hates them....HATES them.  As soon as he is clicked into the car, he screams.... like bloody murder screaming. I don't know what to do about this...we have to go places, and instead of it getting better, it's getting worse.  Breaks my heart to hear him like this, and Ethan is not really a fan either.

Don't let this cute face fool ya!

BREASTFEEDING - He's a champ.   It started out about 45 minutes for a feed, every 2 hours, and now we are down to about 5-10 minutes a feed, still every 2 hours.  He does not take a soother (I have tried numerous times!!) so I am a pacifier as well.  It seems like he nurses more often, but really he is just soothing himself.  We are encouraging his hand often!  He latched great right away so I never had to go through the pain or cracks or blisters etc... now taking a bottle is our challenge....he can't get the hang of it and gives the weirdest looks when we try!  But we keep trying, yes we do!

Nursing in the Ergo!

GROWING - he grew a lot in his first 10 weeks.  He went from 8,11 down to 8,5 and back up to 9,11 in 2 weeks.  Now, 10 weeks later he is about 13 pounds.  His length at birth was 20.5 and he is now 23 1/4.  I jumped the gun and put him in 3-6 month clothing but it is a bit big on him, but that's ok since he will grow into them :)

Hi Ya!

MILESTONES - he is doing well.  He is starting to laugh now, which is really cute.  Half the time I do not know what he laughs at but he is doing it.  Ryan can get him laughing pretty good.  So with laughing, he is obviously smiling as well.  He has rolled over twice from back to belly.  When he is laying down, he tries to roll up (it looks like he is trying to see his toes).  Since he sleeps on his belly, he is able to move around in his playpen.  If I lay him lengthwise, when he wakes he is usually almost widthwise in the bed.  I also think he is starting to recognize me...once he sees me if someone else is holding him, he locks his eyes on me.  I think it's a start!

Daddy making him laugh!

So that's a bit about Quinn!