As you can see, we had lots of fun on my maternity leave! Here we are at my friends Kaleigh and Callum's Christmas party in Brandon in December (almost 11 months old).
Come to think of it, my whole mat leave was all sorts of fun! We were super lucky to have a very easy baby; he only gets fussy if he's tired, cold, or hungry. Otherwise he's a total superstar in pretty much everything he does (but I'm not a biased mama or anything!). We did tons of cool stuff during my year at home! Highlights:
- Traveled to: Winnipeg (April and again in December), Vancouver (June), Moose Jaw (June), Slocan Valley BC (September), and Utah (October)
- Visited the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa, Tunnels of Moose Jaw, and Skydive South Sask in June to fulfill my Christmas present to my dad of a tandem skydive! We watched from the ground and my dad LOVED it (I did my skydive in 2010 over Lake Taupo, New Zealand, and I knew my dad would love to do it himself!)
- Cooked and baked my way through about 230 new recipes in my GIANT mat leave cookbook project challenge of 2016. Whew!
- Learned and fell in love with the art of babywearing - my absolute favourite thing!
- Took the "baby boats" aquacise class at Marion Aquatics (so cute!)
- Checked out "turf time" at the Alfred Jenkins Field House
- Went for many runs in the Chariot jogging stroller
- Learned that we love the swings at Kinsmen Park
- Played in the paddling pools at Kinsmen Park and at Wildwood Park in Saskatoon
- Rented a car and visited the Halcyon Hot Springs in the Slocan Valley in BC while attending my friend's wedding in September
- Made a road trip to visit friends at IMC in June (North Dakota)
- Road trip to visit friends at RYLA in August (Manitoba)
- Road trip to my cousin's wedding in Minnedosa, MB in August
- Got my braces off in July after almost exactly 18 months
- Co-slept with baby for the first few months until sleep training at 5.5 months.... such nice cuddles, but also so nice to gain some freedom again once the little nugget learned to sleep well in his crib!
- Cut 9 teeth including a giant molar (fun, fun!)
- Learned to roll over, then army crawl, then bum scoot..... next stop, walking!
- Started to talk a lot ("Mama," "Dada," "Baba," "this," "that," and tons of random babbling), and he now understands lots of new words and phrases ("Give mommy a kiss," "push the button," "do it again," "make the fishies go bye-bye" when we're turning off his fish aquarium lullabies, "go upside down," "how old are you?" as he holds up one finger, etc.)
- Donated almost 110 lbs (!!!!) of breast milk to the Northernstar Mothers Milk Bank
- Had professional photo shoots in May for Mothers Day, in October with his cousins, in November for Christmas, and in January for his one year "cake smash" - he is a well-photographed child for sure!
- Bought myself a hot tub in January!
It has been a fantastic year and I sure have enjoyed my time at home with my mini-me. He's such a happy little guy, super funny and fun, and is just generally an absolute little sweet heart. I don't think I could have understood a love like this before having him, but now that I'm a mother I can't imagine my life without him!
 |
| Handsome little man! |
 |
| No more braces! |
 |
| Babywearing on a beautiful fall day |
 |
| Laughing at daddy being silly |
 |
| Swinging at the park with mommy in December |
 |
| Going for a walk to a "Movies for Mommies" movie in Saskatoon |
 |
| 1 year cake smash! "Where the Wild Things Are" theme. :) |
 |
| Mommy's homemade fruit bars are tasty.... especially the mini chocolate chips part. |
 |
| My little nugget! |
And then, POOF! I blinked, and a year has passed. And now I'm back to work. I have missed all of you and am looking forward to working with you again! Let the fun begin!
No comments:
Post a Comment