COLDPLAY!

So I know I am a little late in posting about this but I simply have to before I completely forget about the best night of my life! Last Wednesday Dan and I had the chance to go and see Coldplay in concert here in Calgary. It was AH-MAZING! First off let me tell you that when we heard Coldplay was coming to Calgary back in the fall of last year we were totally pumped. Neither Dan or I had ever seen them in concert but are huge fans of their music. Our wedding song was even a Coldplay tune- Til Kingdom Come. In any case we planned to get tickets but then when they actually went on sale we didn't because of one reason or another.

Later on I started looking for tickets on kijiji but didn't really find anything that I wanted to pay for etc. So I came to the sad acceptance that we weren't going to see them in concert :( Then a week before the concert a miracle happened. Like literally a miracle. A friend posted on facebook that her friend from school had 2 tickets she was trying to sell because she had an exam the night of the concert! I immediately messaged the girl and as luck would have it we were able to make a deal! I called Dan to see if he would be down with paying said amount for the tickets and he was like- is that even a question?! YES!! So later that night we went and got these bad boys.

Ok so now about the actual concert. Like I said earlier it was the best night of my life, I may be over exaggerating slightly, but it was definitely up there. Coldplay is an amazing band that makes amazing music. They are so inspirational and always get me right here. I LOVE their music. Seeing them in concert was even better than I imagined. They sound just as good if not better live and the show that they put on is incredible. I love seeing artists who are passionate about what they do and Chris and band are totally that. Dan and I had a blast. Here we are just before the concert began.

Here is the Saddledome full to capacity!

And some of the show (sorry I'm not such a good photographer)

It was an incredible night that I will never not ever forget. 

Thank you Coldplay for coming to Calgary and for being oh so wonderful!

I heart you. 

A LOT.

Jordan

Cohen Is 6 Months!

It's hard to believe that my little baby is already 6 months old. He was officially 6 months old on Sunday, but I've had a busy week and just managed to sit down and do some blogging today. Cohen has definitely been a much more difficult baby than Marshal was but he continues to bring joy into our lives each and every day.

Morning that he reached 6 months. 

Its amazing to me just how individual a baby can be- Cohen was definitely born with a personality.

Cohen is a sweet little man. He loves to snuggle and be held and really doesn't like it when I put him down for too long. He is completely a Mamas boy and seems only to settle or calm down when I am holding him, or nursing him. He has bright cheerful smiles that he gives to me each morning and whenever I look at him and smile. He likes to chew on my fingers and laughs every time he is tickled.

At church on his 6 month b-day.

Cohen already has a special bond with his big brother Marshal. I love watching the way that they interact with each other and I can see that Cohen already adores Marshal even though he is rough housed once in awhile! Cohen is always watching Marshal, and I suspect wishing he could do the things that his big brother is doing.

Cohen also loves his Daddy and tries to follow the sound of his voice whenever he hears him talking. He loves when Dan comes home from work and likes to sit nestled in his arm through the evening. Cohen likes to play with Dan and lie on his belly.

Cohen LOVES the jolly jumper- in limited doses of course. But when he is in there he is like a little leprechaun jumping for joy! It is totally hilarious to watch and so stinking cute! He always has the biggest grin plastered on his face as he bounces away, working out those chubby little baby legs. He likes the exersaucer too- though not nearly the way he loves the jolly jumper. But he is getting better at playing with the toys on the exersaucer which gives my arms a bit of a break!

Jolly little jumper.

Cohen has just recently started sitting up on his own. He is still a little wobbly and I wouldn't leave him sitting by himself but if I'm behind him I'll let him sit on his own (until he falls over) as he plays with toys. He seems to really like sitting up- a lot better than lying down- so I'm hoping that once he can sit stably he will be more content to sit and play which will hopefully make it a bit easier for me to get things done!

Cohen is also loving food, which is a huge relief for me and will hopefully allow me a little more freedom in the coming months. He has refused the bottle but likes rice and oat cereal and a variety of other fruit and vegetables he has also tried. He isn't eating a lot yet but I try to give him a bit at breakfast and dinner to help fill up his belly and get him used to eating. Plus he totally eyes up our plates at dinner time and I think wants to be part of the fun!

We are all totally in love with our little Cohen. He is a lovely addition to our family and we are so happy to have him as a part of the Fuller family! Here's to another great 6 months!

Photo by Arianne Bieber

Yummy Zucchini Bread

I just want to share a yummy zucchini bread recipe that we enjoyed at our Healthy Lunch Bunch Potluck today!

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded raw zucchini with the juices squeezed out 

1 cup oil

3 eggs

1 ¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup chopped nuts

2 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, makes 2 loaves. 

Places shredded zucchini in a strainer and squeeze out excess juices.

Beat oil, eggs and sugar until blended. Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together and then add to oil/sugar mixture. 

Add zucchini.

Add nuts- stirring in by hand.

Pour into 2 greased and lightly floured loaf pans.

Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Remove from oven and let stand a few minutes to cool, then remove from pans and allow to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

Jordan

Birthday Party Help!

Remember this awesome birthday party theme I had for Marshal's 1st birthday?

Well his 2nd birthday is fast approaching and I need help coming up with a fun idea. Your suggestions are welcome!

Photography cutesy Everglow Photography.

Happy Weekend- Jordan

Homemade Baby Food

About a month ago a couple girl friends and I got together to make some baby food. It was nothing exciting...but it was a lot of fun. We all have babies born with in 2 months of each other (though Cohen is the only boy) so we thought it would be fun and healthy for our babies to make some of our own baby food. We boiled, pureed and froze over 30 trays of vegetables and fruit. It made for a busy but fun afternoon. With the 4 of us working it only took about 2 hours and it only cost us $10 each! Here are a  few pictures.

Alex working away.

Barb and Angela filling trays.

Labeling the goodness. 

Some of our trays in the freezer!

This is definitely something I'll do again in the future!

Cheers- Jordan

Update on the Boys

I realize I've been a little absent of late. Things have been hectic and I won't lie I've had a breakdown or two from sheer exhaustion. It's amazing how much energy is required to be a mother. Anywho things seem to be on the way up again, so I can enjoy that and breathe easy...at least for a little while!

I've also been thinking about my blog lately and all the "changes" that I wanted to make. I've realized that I  wanted to make these changes for people other than myself. And that's really not a good reason to do anything. I mean really why should I care who reads my blog anyway?! It's not for other people its for me. It's my way to express how I feel, journal my memories and perhaps once in a while enlighten you few readers that I have and LOVE I might ad!

So with that in mind I'm probably going to become a whole lot more boring...but definitely more me. I used to be a really great journal writer and while I don't think I'll get as secretive on here as I did in my private journals, I'm really going to try to make this more of a memory keepsake. That way when I print off my blog book (in the future) it'll be full of things I actually want to remember about me and my husband and my children and my life.

So that finally brings me to the update on the boys.

They have changed so much and I've been really terrible about keeping track of all the little milestones that they achieve. So here are some things that I can remember that have been happening lately.

Marshal is 22 months old now! Say what? When did my little baby grow up into such a busy, active and energetic little boy?! Seriously this kid has me going all day non stop. Can I just say that I WISH nap time still existed at my house, cause seriously I could use one, real bad! I don't know where he get his energy from but I'm not kidding its go go go all day from 7am to 8pm and sometimes even 9 or 10pm! ARGH! Can I just say shot me now. Ok not really. But seriously this late night energy burst has got to stop. For some reason (I'm sure none other than complete exhaustion- note my sarcasm) Marshal has fallen asleep the past few afternoons- but unfortunately these "naps" have occurred as the result of either a car ride or bike ride, and have sadly been during the 3-5ish time frame. This has definitely not helped come bedtime (normally 7:30pm) when Marshal simply refuses to go to sleep. I know what you're thinking I'm bigger than him so shouldn't I be able to put him to sleep? In my dreams! No really I wish I was sleeping and dreaming. Ok. But the kid simply refuses and is not tired not one little bit. This has resulted in me and Dan both getting extremely frustrated because we're ready for bed at 9 but Marshal is still going strong. This has also resulted in the messiest house week ever. Like I'm talking mountains of dirty dishes in my kitchen! Toy explosion all over my house, laundry coming out of everywhere and well I'm sure you can imagine the rest. Ok. I'm trying to breathe. Tonight the little stinker actually fell asleep at 8:30 so I'm doing a bit of a celebration dance while I sit here and type right now!

Ok. So I should also mention that Marshal is now officially in a big boy bed. I think that this may also be attributing to the poor sleep habits as of late, but just maybe. He is totally and ridiculously cute in his toddler bed and once he actually falls asleep in it, he does great, he sleeps through the night and no longer drinks milk before bed- which trust me is a huge accomplishment for us! So I should be happy.

I've also finally got the boys sleeping in the same room and so far it's going great! Cohen typically only wakes up once to feed at night (around 4-5am) and he doesn't wake Marshal! Hurrah! It's definitely made our nights a little easier so we're not tip-toeing around our room so as not to wake Cohen. Cohen is also doing great at sleeping in his crib. I'm so proud of my boys and their new sleeping arrangements!

Ok so enough about the boring bed talk. Marshal has been talking up a storm lately. His words are still difficult to decipher if you're someone other than me or Dan- but I know that my little guy is trying ever so hard to talk! He tries to imitate everything and it's way too cute. Some of the words that he now says quite well include: Ball, Haha (hat), Aah (cat), Ouse (mouse), Eet (eat), Cai (car), tRuck (truck), Baby, Bampa (Grandpa), Eye, Ose (nose), Mouf (mouth), Eea (ear), Knee, Amm (arm), Butt, Doddie (doggie), Book, Vuus (juice), Voose (Shoes), Bus, Choo Choo (train or his friend Thomas), Mooon (moon), Stas (stars), Seet (car seat), Go, Svitch (switch), But (bike), Mitts, Buckee (buckle), Ready, Dirty, Wet, Watee (water), Mess, Coco (Cohen), Bea (bear), Dord (George his monkey), Muk (milk), Feesh (fish), Bib, Bea (bread), Cracka (cracker), Tree, Daddy, Mommy, Duck, Foot, Pretty, Otay (okay), Pan (pants), Socks, Yea and I'm certain there are more.

He also has a few phrases including: Uh oh, Humh (yes), Whersit (where is it), Mon (Come on), Don No (Don't Know). It's really cute listening to him talk and develop his language skills.

Cohen has started to get a lot more fun lately too. Not that he wasn't fun before, but I think that babies get to be a bit more enjoyable around 6 months. He's become super smiley and it's really cute. If you look at him and grin he gives back the biggest full faced smile ever. He is also rolling over like crazy and is attempting to crawl. It's a bit of an inch worm type technique and he doesn't get very far but he tries real hard. He enjoys spending time in his exersaucer and watching his brother run around and dance. Cohen has also started eating a bit. He's had rice cereal (which he loves), bananas and carrots. He also tried peas just the other night but totally gagged on them and spit up after a mouthful. He was clearly not impressed with the taste. It was pretty funny. I know he's just under 6 months but he was totally eyeing up our food so we decided he was ready to try it out.

Well I think I've probably blabbed enough for now. I'm sure I could write about the boys all night but I've save some for another update on another day. Besides it's time for me to go to bed.

Cheers- Jordan

Lemonade

You may or may not know that I'm obsessed with lemonade! It drink it all year round. Can you imagine my delight when I discovered this in the grocery store! Yum yum my new favorite treat!