Outside

The weather this year has been so crazy. Either way too hot or way too cool or way too rainy. It's a shame because Bean loves being outside. One of his favorite things to do is sit on the deck and watch the wind in the trees. It is so much fun watching somebody experience things for the first time.

Isn't the taco picture funny? I used that one for my 365. Guess all those tacos I ate while pregnant had an affect on him.

Expressions

When I look at my son I see so much of myself and my side of the family in him. My blue eyes, my light hair (where did that come from?), my father's chin, my nose.

I feel a little bad for my husband sometimes because I know the joy it brings me to look at this little being and see bits of myself. My little mini me.

But then I realized something the other day. Oh my goodness how Bean's expressions are his fathers. His little crooked one sided smirk, the way his eyes smile along with his big grin, the way he scrinches his nose. . . . the way he sticks his lower lip out when he's getting ready to burst into tears. . .heh.

The biggest thing for me is the crooked smirk. . . . that is SO Hubs. It's one of the things that made me fall in love with him. When he would play the piano and sing to me, he'd look up and see I was watching him and he'd smile that little smirk.

I'm sure that one day Bean's smirk will catch the heart of one incredibly lucky lady. It already has captured mine. Twice.

iPad Giveaway!

Whoa baby this is an awesome give away!

Merida Homes is giving away an iPad2 on THIS blog!! What an awesome sponsor and blog to give/host such a great giveaway. I think this would be a great gift to Hubs for father's day since he seems to have it in his head that he needs one for travel.

Check it out!!

Kidnapped Giveaways

First I want to say that this is one of my favorite blogs to read. Not only does Keli have adorable little girls, but she takes beautiful pictures, has great tutorials about photography and cloth diapering, and she cracks me up!

This week is her daughter Emma's 4th birthday, so in her honor she is having some giveaways!

My favorites by far are the custom blog design (how cool would that be!) and the blanket. Which are your favorites?

Click each link for each separate giveaway!

Farren Square Toy Bag

Zaichiki Organic Bamboo Blanket

Hand Knitted Green Cowl

Custom Blog Design from Creative Perch

Angry Birds

No. . . .not the iPhone game!

The exciting moment in my day today happened when my mother stopped by to drop off Bean's favorite toy that I left at their house yesterday.

Mom was literally in my house for about five minutes. She gave me the toy, we chatted briefly, hugged, she left, and I closed the front door. Not 10 seconds after I closed the door I heard my mom screaming. I freaked out thinking she was stung by a bee (she's very allergic). I swung the front door open again, rushed out, and saw her standing in the driver side door of her car. I frantically asked if she was ok and she yelled, "THERE IS A BIRD IN MY CAR!!"

Sure enough, our resident angry robin had flown into her slightly open window (only about 4-5 inches open!) and pooped all on the passenger seat and door. She opened the window all the way and got the bird to fly out again thankfully.

Crazy!

We've been dealing with this bird for a while actually. Every time a car parks on our drive way this robin comes and literally poops all over the passenger side of the car. I've looked for a nest near by, but haven't found any. I guess he/she's just defending our drive way?

Has anybody else had a bird that does this? Can anybody think of anything we can do to deter this bird from bombing our guests that come over? I would understand it if there was a nest near by, but really. . .I've searched all on that side of our house and can't find a thing!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's day to all the mothers, mothers to be, and women trying to be mothers.

Enjoy the video. I know it was probably an accident, but it doesn't mean I can't enjoy it :-) He was about 3 months old here and sadly has not said it since.

4 Months

My baby boy is 4 months old. I know every parent says this, but where does the time go?

We had his check up last week, here are his stats:

13lbs, 10 oz

25.75 inches long

- I think in the grand scheme of things Bean is a decent sleeper. He still hasn't had a 12 hour sleep stretch again, which makes me sad, it was such a tease. Normally he goes to bed around 7-8pm, wakes up to nurse between 1-3 am, and then sleeps till 5-6am. This is probably the hardest on me. You all know how I love to sleep. :-)

- He is FINALLY holding his head up from flat on his tummy. Whenever I would put him on his tummy he would go flat as a pancake, face plant, and scream. The pediatrician tsk'd me and said I really need to work with him on that. I was just thinking to myself. . .uh, I try every day! He refuses! Literally 2 days after his appointment I put him on his tummy and he raises his head up like he's been doing it for weeks. It's so amazing how over night babies change and do new things.

- Well. . . .he's still sleeping in the bassinet in our room. I might maybe perhaps possibly be ready to put him in the crib now, but since Hubs is traveling now. . . I like the company. So I'm not sure when that will happen.

- We tried giving him his first solid foods a week ago! Rice cereal mixed with breast milk. It didn't go over well. I didn't get a picture! But I did take a video. It was pretty hilarious. At first he just spewed it out all over his face, then he started crying. When I stopped trying to give it to him he started yelling at me! He didn't cry, it was yelling, like he was saying, "What are you feeding me woman??" The next day I tried the rice cereal mixed with formula, he hated that even more. He didn't even spew it out, he just started screaming and crying. I haven't tried it since, I don't think he's quite ready.

- I still haven't gotten a great belly laugh out of him, but he giggles a lot and recently started squealing with delight!

- I'm going to jinx my self here but he's starting to take a long nap in the morning. The past 3 days in a row he's slept between 2-2.5 hours! I don't know what to do with myself it's so awesome.

- He loves chewing on his hands. I'm so afraid he's going to be a thumb sucker!

- He gets such a kick when I make him dance. I sing "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to him and I move his arms touching the corresponding body parts, it always gets a grin of out him.

I love him so insanely incredibly much. He's my little peanut, my pork chop, my cuddle buddy, my little Bean. . . . . I cannot wait to see what the next few months holds for us.

Favorite Baby Things

Well I just found out recently my old college roommate is expecting! It seems like over night I went from knowing nobody with kids to everybody being pregnant. The problem is most of the people I know that have kids don't live anywhere near me. Oh well, it's still fun. I've decided to write a blog post about my favorite baby things. I don't claim to have any clue about what I'm doing. I know some people who are pregnant/expecting their first baby get so sick of people telling them what to do. When I was pregnant with Bean I was so nervous and really felt I had no clue what I was doing (even more so then now) I wanted to hear everybody's suggestions, stew them over, then make my decisions. So here are some things that I found helpful. . .

1. A dimmer switch in the baby's room - This is so nice for those middle of the night feedings and changings. The best part of it is you don't have to grope around in the dark for a small table lamp, the switch is right on the wall when you walk into the room.

2. Fisher Price Rock and Play Sleeper - Or at least some sort of bassinet. This one is really for breast feeding mommies. One of the advantages of breastfeeding is you don't have to get up to make bottles, so all you have to do is reach over, grab the baby and pop him/her on the boob. I think if I bottle fed I probably would have just kept the baby in the crib from the start. *cough* Then maybe I wouldn't be having such a hard time having him sleep in his own room. *cough* Ahem, excuse me. :-) Plus Jared would help with the night feedings then. Anyway, another nice thing about this particular brand is it folds up and it's portable.

3. Clothe diapers for burp clothes - A friend of mine told me to do this, but I didn't listen to her at first. When I felt the clothe diapers in the store they seemed so stiff and rough. If you have a baby that spit ups a ton those cute cotton burp rags won't cut it. Trust me. The clothe diapers soften after a few washes and they do a WAY better job at absorbing projectile vomit. Have clothes you don't want to get puke on? Clothe diapers are also bigger. Bigger = more shoulder protection.

That's a clothe diaper under his head.

4. Lots of Blankets - Not only are they cute a back drop for pictures, they are nice to have to spread on the floor to play on, throw in the stroller, or just to wrap the baby up in.

This quilt was hand made by my next door neighbor!

5. Take up Photography - Ha! I know this one is a stretch, but do you have any idea how much baby pictures cost? A LOT. If you want a photographer to come to your house, expect to spend between 200-500 dollars when it's all said and done. The first year of a babies life they change so much, and if you want to catch all those little changes, I think a nice camera is worth the investment. If you are interested, post a comment with your e-mail and I'll tell you how I got started.

6. Play mat, swing, bouncer, etc - I've heard mixed reviews when it comes to this stuff. Some say they are useless and take up too much space, some say they are life savers. I have all of the above, and honestly I use it all. I keep the bouncy seat in our bathroom for when I shower and the swing in our front room (he's still too small for the bouncer). Bean loves the swing best now, but when he was smaller he loved the bouncy seat best. So who knows, I think when it comes to buying this stuff it's a crap shoot. Consider this though, at some point you have to put the baby down to get certain things done. . .where are you going to put them? If I had to pick one, I'd go with a good swing that plugs into the wall so you don't have to constantly buy batteries.

7. Baby Carrier - Lets face it, most 1st born babies are spoiled from being held so much and they hate being put down. Many chores (cooking dinner, certain types of cleaning, laundry) can be done while wearing your baby in a carrier. Once again I think this is a crap shoot. You never know what kind of carrier the baby will like being held in. I have a ring sling, Moby wrap, a woven wrap, and an Ergo. My best advice? Find a friend that has them and try them out before you buy. Bean hates the ring sling, loves the Moby and woven, and he's too small for the Ergo right now. Wrap carriers take a little practice getting comfy with, but I think they look really cool on. If I had to pick one I would probably go with the Moby. It is a great one to start with because the material is a little stretchy so it's a bit easier to get the baby into it.

Doesn't he look so comfy in his Moby?

8. The Five 'S' Video - Rent this video, get it from Netflix, or watch it on YouTube before the baby is born. You will be AMAZED how awesome it works! I think there is a book too, but the video is only about 40 minutes and does a great job at demonstrating how the soothing technique works.

9. Boppy Pillow - Oh my goodness how I love this thing. It was the ONLY way I could get Bean to do tummy time for the past 4 months (Just a few days ago he finally started lifting his head from flat on the floor) and I love love love love it for breast feeding.

The Boppy is under the blanket

10. Baby Tub with a hammock - It's gotta have the hammock. Babies are so slippery when wet. If it wasn't for the hammock I don't think I would have been brave enough to bathe Bean by myself. It keeps him from tipping over for slipping to far into the tub.

Well I think that's enough for now! If I think of any more, maybe I will make a part 2 post.