A New Year

Hello World,

I've decided to start blogging much more frequently, partly because of keeping everyone up to date, but primarily because I want Callum to be able to read about his adventures...

We are now 2 weeks into 2012 and Callum is just over 6 months old. The changes in his development are really happening now! Every day he becomes more and more like a little person with very specific likes and dislikes, and a great big personality to boot! Callum is smiling like crazy and drooling like mad, perhaps we will see some teeth soon?

During the past 3 months Callum has found his voice which he very enthusiastically uses to express himself with. He has a wonderful, joyful laugh-his dad is actually able to elicit the heartiest guffaws while playing horsie and bouncing Cal on his knees. The first time Shawn made Callum laugh, I thought my heart was going to burst open and melt into a puddle on the floor.

Cal's favourite sounds are 'dehdehdahdahdah' and 'oooooooohhh', he'll have full conversations with these sounds while the most determined expressions appear on his face. He is also quite adamant about being heard and being paid attention to. His sounds will escalate to high pitched screams and shrieks if he feels you are not paying enough attention to him. It's adorable :)

He is getting stronger and is able to put his full body weight on his feet if you are balancing him. We're working on him sitting up and he's coming along nicely. Cal loves his jolly jumper and jumperoo and spends alot of time in them, he especially loves it if Tommy brushes past him in the doorway! He's also been swimming a few times and has mostly loved it.

Our Christmas was great, Callum was spoiled (but not too spoiled as we have a small home), and today we had our first real snow of the season!

As our little family heads into the new year I've been taking a lot of time to think and reflect. I remember the day Callum was born, how small and precious he was. I try to steal away these memories and keep them in a safe place, my baby boy is growing so fast now that I just want to freeze each moment. I find myself taking the time each day to smell his hair, to breathe with him, and to just try to take it all in. He has taught me to live simply, to live gently, and to face each day with renewed hope and love.

Here's to a happy and silly 2012 for all of us!

Meagan

Callum is 3 months!

Phew, it's tough to keep a blog up to date with a new baby! We're all doing well, happy, healthy :) Callum is gaining weight like a champ and we're looking forward to his dinosaur costume this Halloween!
And now....pictures!

Recent Pics

Smiles! and Shots:(

Hello There!

Today Callum received his 2 month immunizations with Dr Fay. I thought that I would be okay to stay with him while he was being injected but at the last minute i panicked and fled. Luckily, Vicky was there to help out-Vicky is Dr Fay's receptionist-extraordinaire.
Cal received 2 shots today and is having his 3rd done next week as our doctor doesn't like to overload babies with stress. I'm not sure how I feel about that, is it better to delay and space out the stress or just get it over with?? I have to go back next week either way for my checkup as well so I guess we'd be there anyway.
Poor little bunny, screamed bloody murder during the shots. He's recovering ok, he's been pretty upset but I think the infant tylenol is helping. Thankfully he's been able to sleep since we've been home.

On a lighter note, Cal has started smiling!! He's practicing his smiles alot now and loves to coo and make different sounds. We have a ritual where we talk about our day before bedtime, he's so funny!

Off to bed <3

Meagan

2 months old!

Hi Everyone!

Well, in 2 days Callum will be 2 months old! Alot has happened in the last 2 months....what a big change it is to have a baby in the house!

Callum is waking up around 3 times a night now, he sleeps for around 3-4 hours at a time. It's amazing how your body gets used to broken/lack of sleep though, I can honestly say that I haven't been as tired as I thought I would be. He's just started practicing his smiles and just yesterday rolled over!

Everyone is completely in love with our little man-I must get stopped 30 times a day by people commenting on his cuteness :) Tommy is having a bit of a period of adjustment to not being an 'only child', but he sure does love his baby!

Callum is being exclusively breastfed now, we were supplementing occasionally with formula but now we don't need it. We're also going to be slowly easing Cal into cloth diapers as I hate the amount of garbage we're generating with the disposables. I've been really lucky to find a friend in my complex, Emily, who is a doula and makes natural products (she has a website www.naturalcreation.ca). Cal was having allergic reactions to his baby shampoo (Johnson's) and since I switched to her products his skin has been great! Everything with a baby is a major learning curve but it's neat how fast your confidence grows with each day.

Now on to the good stuff, pictures!

The Andersons <3

Baby Callum!

On July 3rd 2011 at 12:53am we welcomed to the world our little boy, Callum Rendell Anderson!!
He came 2 weeks early and weighed 6lbs 7oz. He's been in our lives for a little over 2 weeks now and we are just loving being parents:) Big brother Tommy is pretty thrilled too-he can't stop licking the baby! I will try to keep CopperDog updated with Callum's progress and will post lots of photos (I promise)

Love,

Meagan, Shawn, and Callum <3

Garden Odds and Ends

This year we are starting our first garden! I come from a long line of expert gardeners in my family but my skills are somewhat non existent (I'm hoping that's just from lack of practice:)

We have a nice deck at our place that gets a LOT of sun so we are hoping our garden will be a success. We're planning on mostly growing edibles (lots of veggies, fruit and herbs) with a few types of flowers for a nice aesthetic.

Our first trip to Garden Works was a shock when I discovered how much those fancy cedar planter boxes cost!! Luckily I have a very handy husband who has made some beautiful planters out of old pallet jacks at his warehouse-throw some stain on them and they look great! We're also going to be checking out craigslist alot(like i need an excuse) if we want to get some nice pots/lattice etc.

So what we've started doing is germinating some seeds indoors to get them started. What we have so far is marjoram, dill, rosemary, chevril and parsley for the herbs, and corn, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers and squash for the veggies:)

They've been germinating for a few days now and just today my zucchini is starting to sprout, how exciting!

I'll update more later with how our garden on the cheap is coming along...with pictures!

Meagan, Shawn and 'The Gang'