A Year Ago Today (ish)

This is maybe a few days early, but knowing how consistently I blog lately I wanted to post it while I had the time.

August 25th 2010

August 18th 2011

What a difference a year can make! Life is so amazing.

Diapering Update

Well I figured it was time I posted a little bit about how cloth diapering has been going.

All in all it is going awesome! Hubs and I both love it. I would say the only down side we've encountered is it is a little more work. You have to take the time to do laundry, line dry the shells (some you can put in the dyer) and then stuff the diapers. At night we are still putting Bean in a disposable. We did get some hemp doublers so we could diaper him at night, but the one night we tried it he screamed his head off. I'm not sure if it was the diaper, but we haven't been brave enough to try it since.

The majority of our stash consists of Bum Genius 4.0's, a few Fuzzibunz, 1 Rumparooz, and a couple Sun Baby 4.0's.

The Bum Genius I think are our favorite, they fit Bean's legs and belly nice and snug. Honestly though they are all great diapers. BG's, FB, and the Rooz are all comparable on price, but the Sun Baby's are a great value! 12 diapers for 60 bucks is awesome! The only thing I'm not sure about is how they will hold up. They don't seem quite as sturdy as the more "mainstream" diapers, but so far they've been functioning as well as our "mainstream" diapers and holding up just fine.

Soooooooo, that's the gist of it so far! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a message in the comments!

7 Months

It's time to write another one of these posts again!

I have no idea how much Bean weighs since he doesn't have a doctors appointment this month, but if I had go guess he's probably around 17 lbs.

-Sleeping - He will only do 10 hours a night. We've been trying to keep him up later in hopes that he will start sleeping later, but it hasn't been working. Our Bean is an early bird. He goes bed around 8 and is always up at 6:30. Napping is still hit or miss. Sometimes he will nap 45 minutes, other times 2 hours. It's hard not having a set schedule, I'm hoping he will get into one soon.

-Eating - Still eating the same stuff last last month, just a bigger variety of veggies and fruits. Proud to say we are also still breast feeding. My initial goal when we first started was to make it to 6 months, now I'm hoping to make it to 12 months (recommended by the AAP). I love breast feeding so much, but I am also looking forward to stopping. I miss having my body to myself. I want to be able to have a drink with out worrying about it effecting my milk supply, or be able to eat what I want without worrying if it'll make Bean gassy, grumpy, etc. I also want to stop having an appetite like a horse because I need so many calories. (and I'm also hoping my. . .ahem. . .assets will shrink a little when I'm done, they too big for my liking. None of my clothes fit.)

-Motor/Strength - He can sit pretty well independently now; although he still face plants every once in a while when he goes to reach for a toy. He is pushing up into a plank position with his arms now, and just today (although I'm not sure if this should be in his 8 month post since it's past his 7 month birth day) he can prop himself on all fours and rock a little bit if I put him in that position. He can't quite get into that position on his own yet, but I think crawling is right around the corner. Also, if you prop Bean up next to the coffee table or a toy he will stand as long as he has something to hold on to. So strong!

-Play - He's getting more into big boy toys and books. He won't sit in his swing any more, and he prefers his jumperoo instead. He loves to sit at the piano and bang on the keys; he will even "sing" when he plays. Any toys that he can sit or stand next to and smack around he loves.

Parenting is such a crazy ride. Most days I have no idea what I'm doing. I feel like I have the "keeping the baby alive" part down, but I know there are things that I need to be teaching him but I'm not sure how or when to do most of it.

Ever see the movie Parenthood with Steve Martin? I just love this quote.

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

So true!

Thinking

I really should be reading the book I have from the library since it's due back soon. . .or sleeping. . .or cleaning. . . or something else, but I just had a few thoughts I wanted to jot down.

First of all tomorrow Bean will be 7 months old. Whoa. Just. Whoa.

He's sitting, he's a rolling master, he babbles, he will stand if you prop him up, he belly laughs, he makes my day 100 million billion times better with his gummy smiles.

I've been telling people at work now I know why people have multiple children because this age is so. freaking. adorable!!!! Uh! I just can't get enough.

Sometimes I get sad when I think about how fast this is all going. I worry that I haven't blogged enough, or taken enough pictures. There are so many small things I want to cherish and remember. . . But then I think a little more and I get excited; for all the things that are still to come: crawling, walking, talking. . . .having conversations, playing games as a family. . . just. . .everything.

Here's to everything! I can't wait to experience it all with my beautiful family of three.

Catch Up

Well I'm still behind but I just wanted to tell everybody I updated 3 weeks of my 365 Project. . .FINALLY! :-D

Check it out!

Neglected

Yeah. . . .my blog and 365 project have been greatly neglected lately. I think I'm a month behind in posting 365 photos. I want to say I've kept up with a photo a day, but honestly I may have missed one or two in there. I have to check and see.

The reason for blog neglect is life stuff. We've been so insanely busy. The past 3 weekends have been filled with visits from family from out of town, or going to visit family out of town. I also picked up a few extra days of work, which has brought my schedule to almost full time again. So yeah, working almost full time + baby + house work + visitors = no blog time.

Honestly the weekends have been so fun. . . .but I'm longing for a weekend to just relax and spend with only Hubs and Bean.

I'm not kidding when I say we have something scheduled every day until August!

Phew I'm sleepy just thinking about it.

6 Months

It seems like Bean has grown more in the past month then he has in his first five. Is that possible?

Stats:

15lbs 11oz

27inches long

Here is what he's up to:

-Sleeping - In terms of length of sleep time Bean is hit or miss, but he always wakes up at least once. We put him to bed at 7 and he will always way up around 5:45 at the latest. Usually he will go back to sleep till 6:45ish, but it's still rough waking up. He is also starting to nap a little better. He's been coming close to the 2 hour mark again. On average though I'd say his naps are an hour to and half and a half long.

-Eating - We started solid foods 2 weeks ago! So far he's had sweet potatoes (which he loved) and green beans (which he hated). Both times I've made the baby food myself. It's pretty easy, and SOOOO much cheaper then store bought stuff. . .at least the organic kind, which is what I'd buy if I did buy store bought. Oh man, I'm turning into a hippie. We really have no idea how to feed him solids. Right now he gets oatmeal for breakfast, bottles all day, and then some more oatmeal with a little veggies for dinner. Seems to be working well enough. I want him to eat veggies first, then maybe next month we will try some fruit.

-Motor/Strength - Little guy is turning into a rolling machine. He can roll tummy to back, and back to tummy now. He's also pretty content playing on his stomach. He reaches for toys (on his tummy), and rolls to reach them. We are currently working on sitting independently.

-Play - Oh my goodness how he loves to chuck toys and shake them. He flings toys left and right off his high chair until he gets to the one he wants. He also shakes things. He whips his rattle up and down with such force; I'm just waiting for him to clock himself in the face.

Let's see what else. . .

- He loves to pull my hair and touch my face. When he sees me he reaches both hands out to grab my cheeks (he does this to Hubs too). He always pulls my glasses off my face. . .that's a little annoying. I might have to start wearing contacts again. :-)

- He is becoming more independent. He will lay and play with toys, chuck stuff of his high chair, or sit in his jumperoo and jump for 10-15 minutes before he cries for attention.

- He did really well at his 6 month check up, and only cried a little bit for his shots. The rough part came in the middle of the night after his check up. He spiked a 101.7 fever and was miserable. I figured it was the vaccines since he didn't have any symptoms but the fever, but we still called the pediatrician the next day to make sure we were doing the right things to take care of him. The fever stayed through the following day (Saturday, the check up was Friday) but by Sunday it was gone and he started going back to his usual jovial self.

He is just so insanely fun right now. I wish I was one of those mommy bloggers that can write those eloquent posts about the love for their child. He is the center of my world. I just love thinking of all the fun experiences that we will have in the future. When my mind wanders, it always wanders to him and my family and how lucky I am. It's truly amazing how such a little person can have such a big impact on your life.