Six months old!

Oh, my boy.  You are growing up too fast!  I can tell it will be like this your entire life.  Here's to remembering the little things.

You're such a happy little guy.  You smile all the time!  You're only grumpy occasionally, and even then it's SO adorable.  You love to sing and play.  You're not big on talking, but you are good at making noises!  You're like to make the omigosh noise...where you suck in your breath in surprise?  Yeah, you totally love that.  You're a big boy now at almost 19 pounds!!  You also have a tooth.  Mommy's proud of that tooth.

You're eating solid foods so well.  You're eating about 2 ounces of homemade baby food (except the carrots we had to buy pre-made) three times a day, and you take an 8 ounce bottle in the morning and at night, and the two in the middle are 7 ounces each.  You always have a hearty appetite, and you always make a "happy plate".  =)  You're on a four hour schedule, and you're taking three 1.5-2 hour naps a day and sleeping 11 hours a night.  You get up every morning at 7:30am to a happy Daddy, and you're always in the best mood!  Occasionally, you have a grumpy day, but those days you're usually just extra hungry that morning.  You are a growing boy, after all!

You had a busy week this week due to Thanksgiving.  Your Grandmama and Pops came up from Louisiana, and your Aunt Linda and Uncle Nathan came up from Savannah to visit, too.  This year, for the first time ever since Mommy and Daddy got married, we spent the majority of the day with your Grandma and your PawPaw.  Usually we go to your Great Grandma Jean's...not this year!  Daddy deep fried two turkeys for our Thanksgiving meal at Grandma and PawPaw's house.  It was sooo good!  You, of course, had formula and sweet peas.  Mmm.  We had a good time playing.  Your cousin Hannah had a good time playing with you, and your other cousin, Dallas, had a good time trying to figure you out.  Good times!

You still love jumping in your Baby Einstein Jumper!  You love to chew on your linky rings.  You love music, and you love to smile and have a good time.  You're such a good little boy!!  Mommy and Daddy are lucky to have you.  God was good when he chose us to be your parents.  We couldn't be happier to have you here with us!!

Here's to the rest of the year being as fantastic as the first half has been.

All my love,
Mommy

Happy Thanksgiving!

As my first Thanksgiving as a mommy comes to a close, I have a little time to reflect on the past year and the entirety of my day.  Whew!  What a busy year...and a busy day!

This time last year, I was pregnant with Oliver.  I was about three months along, and I had gone back to work at the coffee shop at the Christian Bookstore.  I loved that job so much.  This year, I have my baby boy in my arms, and I get to stay home with him full time.  God is good!  This time last year, our finances were in better shape than they are now (because of furlough Fridays).  While in essence losing 20% of our income was a bit hard at first, we've learned to lean on God for our finances, and that is huge!  I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn, even though it hasn't been easy all the time.  God is always faithful.  This time last year, my relationships weren't as good as they are now.  My sister and I have become closer (we both had sons this past year, and it really brought us together).  An unexpected apology came from an old friend, and I have made peace with a long term ordeal and hopefully will build a relationship with that person as well...it looks hopeful!  And at the end of it all, I see the roles we have each played in the one another's lives, and it's amazing.  The author of redemption has seen us through to the end, and He mended fences I thought were doomed to stay in disrepair.  God is amazing.

I get to experience love in a completely different way now that I'm a mommy.  I get a small glimpse of the way God loves me...and I have to tell you, it's completely overwhelming at times.  I still have problems wrapping my head around God's love, but loving Oliver has given me a different point of view.  I can't quite put into words the way it makes me feel, but I'm forever thankful for the opportunity to experience it.  Raising a child is the most difficult and rewarding job there is.  I'm thankful God chose me to be Oliver's mommy.  =D

I hope you all had a great day with family, friends, and loved ones.  For the first time since we were married in 2003, Levi and I spent the majority of the day with my parents instead of his.  Levi deep fried two turkeys at mom and dad's, and omigosh...they were amazingly delicious.  We had dessert at Levi's Grandma's house...my MIL made the best German chocolate cake of all time.  Also, the dressing was the best ever.  I had a small plate of that, as well.  =)  Oliver had a hard day schedule wise...he was awake from about 10:30am-4:00pm...he skipped an entire nap!!  The worst part is that he was sooo sleepy, but it was so loud at my parents' house that he just couldn't get to sleep.  Poor guy.  He passed the crap out when we got home, though, and we haven't heard a peep all night.  Good boy!

One more thing; I have a friend who is need of some serious prayer.  Her parents are going through a really hard time, and her family needs your prayers.  Thanks in advance!

Praying God holds you close this holiday season...don't forget to cherish the moments with your friends and family!

Updates in the Cloth Diaper Adventure.

We've been successfully cloth diapering for a little over two months.  Our stash has grown from three bumGenius! 3.0's to a nice sized collection of 21 cloth diapers, including Fuzzi Bunz, Happy Heiny's, Smartipants, and the aforementioned bumGenius! diapers.  Overall, I am supremely happy with my decision to cloth diaper.  A big shout out of thanks to Margaret over at Creative Madness for the final push that made me decide to just go for the cloth diapers!  I had done a ton of research while pregnant, and got so frustrated at all of the choices!  That coupled with my fear of diaper laundry shied me away from it (and possibly my crazy pregnancy hormones!), but Margaret quelled all those fears for me.  I figured if she could do it with a newborn, surely I could cloth diaper my three month old!  And I can.  And the laundry?  I love it.  Wouldn't trade it for a whole truckload of disposable diapers!

So, when I last checked in on the CDing front, Smartipants were far and away my favorites.  They have some competition lately, though!  I've really enjoyed my new Happy Heiny's One Size Velcro diapers.  I ordered two from Lesley at Cute Caboose...one in Red and one in Kelly Green.  They are so great!  I'll post a full review soon, but my favorite features are the super soft and SUPER absorbent inserts, and also the velcro.  It's not as rough on your hands as the bumGenius! diapers, and the extra loop fabric on the right side tab helps get a great snug fit on my little guy with no leaks, ever!  Hooray!

We've had to move to double stuffing all nap diapers and single stuffing the wake time diapers.  We moved to a four hour schedule, so instead of changing after an hour, then after two hours, then an hour, then two, we've gone to changing after almost 2 hours, then after 3 hours, etc.  Luckily, my Smartipants inserts from Kelly's Closet have held their own (actually, Oliver's own! lol), and have done a great job.  By the way, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all who have ordered from Kelly's Closet through my affiliate button!  Oliver's bum is staying nice and dry in his cloth diapers with your help.  =D

Laundry is the same.  I throw the diapers in, and put them on a rinse cycle (since my washer has a Hot/Cold Wash/Rinse option) with no detergent.  Then I add a mere Tablespoon (!!) of Charlie's Soap (we use the liquid) and two Tablespoons of Calgon Water Softener, and run a hot wash.  I rinse an extra time or two, and then dry the inserts and wetbags in the dryer, and hang the diapers to dry.  The amount of detergent seems scant, but I'm only washing 8-10 diapers at a time, and I don't really think I need that much.  The recommended amount is two Tablespoons, but the one does us just fine.  I add the water softener because I was having ammonia smell issues, and with the water softener I have no issues.  I add half the recommended amount of that, too.  Meh, they are small loads!  Why waste?

Things are going swell.  I couldn't be happier with the choice to switch to cloth!  And Oliver loves his cloth digs, too.  =D  Hooray!

Sweet potatoes are a go!

Oliver has successfully made it through four days of sweet potatoes with no adverse reactions.  On to carrots!

I have purchased the carrots from Whole Foods, selecting the Earth's Best Organic brand to hold us over until Oliver reaches 7 months (when carrots are safe to prepare at home).  I'm hoping he likes the carrots as much as he likes the sweet potatoes!

I also prepared some pears that I bought the last time we went to Whole Foods, and OMIGOSH.  I wish they were for me, because they are soooo tasty!  I can't wait to get started on fruits...I just know Oliver will love them!  So the pears have been frozen and now live in the freezer with the peas and squash and the rest of the sweet potatoes.  =)  My next adventure will be green beans, but it's time to wake the tot up and get him to try the carrots.  Wish me luck!

Exciting weekend!

This weekend was great.  Friday was a pretty lazy day, but Saturday was tons of fun.  We met up with Stephanie and Robert at this hot dog place about halfway between our houses.  Delicious!!  I had a nice slaw dog and a chili dog with some awesome onion rings.  Levi got a Philly Cheeseburger, lol.  Oliver had formula and sweet potatoes.  =D

Levi and Robert moved a ton of furniture from Levi's office to our house.  We got two desks, two office chairs, a table, three bookcases, a fridge, two decorative chairs, a table, and a bean bag chair!  We're also picking up a safe eventually, as soon as one of the investors comes and picks which one they want first.  We got all this stuff for free, and basically our only cost was the U-haul to come get it.  Sweet deal, no?

While Levi and Robert were moving furniture, Stephanie and I went shopping with the babies!  I had to get some more soap from Bath and Body Works (I had a $10 coupon!) and I also found some compliments for Oliver's Christmas outfit.  I bought the cutest sweater vest for Oliver awhile back, and I got his a nice white collared long sleeved shirt to go underneath.  I have some corduroy khakis already, so the outfit looks nice!   I also got this sweater vest  and this long sleeved shirt from The Children's Place for super cheap!  I figured he could wear it for Thanksgiving.  =)  So adorable!  We also found this other store called Crazy 8, and I got this adorable monkey outfit for about $8!  I picked up a few other things, as well, and we called it a day.

Today was pretty lazy.  Levi was sore, and I spent most of the day cleaning up and arranging the new furniture.  We also noticed that Oliver is cutting his first tooth!  He has been sick with a little cold lately, including a runny nose and a slight fever.  He has been his normal, happy self though, so we didn't even think to check for teeth!  Well tonight I did, and it's part of the way through the gum already...sharp little bugger, too!  I'm glad that we made it through the first with no incident, and I hope the rest follow suit.  I've heard that folks who use Babywise don't usually have problems with sleep during teething, and for that, I'm grateful.  His sleep has stayed right on track, but I think the lack of fussiness is just due to his personality.  He is a happy, content little man.  Of course, I'd like to think I had a little something to do with that, too, hehe!  I like to think that good parenting skills also leads to a happy baby.  =)

Right-o, off I go.  Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Another chapter...solid foods!

We've moved on to the solid foods leg of our journey.  How fun!  We did rice cereal at first, and then moved on to oatmeal cereal.  We switched after about five days, because the rice cereal was causing some constipation issues.  After a few days on the oatmeal cereal, the constipation issues cleared up.  I saved the rice cereal to mix eventually with more high fiber foods like sweet potatoes.

I also started making and freezing my own baby food this week.  I went by Whole Foods and bought some organic butternut squash, sweet potatoes, peas, and green beans.  I got the squash and the sweet potatoes fresh, and the green stuff I bought frozen.  I wanted to get the peas and the beans fresh, too, but the thought of shelling peas and snapping beans was just too much for me.  I make all my baby food at night after the tot has gone to sleep, and it just seemed like so much work to do after 8pm.  Frozen works just as well, I've found, and it was super easy!  I love my Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food Trays.  I bought two sets of two, and that has worked great in my baby food making journey.  Even when the four trays aren't enough to hold all of my creations at times, I just refrigerate the overflow until I can freeze them in trays after I've washed them.  It works so great!  The only food I have bought pre-made from the store is carrots.  I'll continue to purchase them until Oliver is seven months old (due to the unregulated nitrate content of soils, even on organic farms), and then I'll make my own at home.

It's been really awesome, and I am looking forward to continuing on this path.  I never thought I'd be so...I don't know...crunchy?  Cloth diapering and making my own baby food...it seems so trendy that I want to throw up.  I do get the satisfaction of doing what I feel is best for my child, and that is awesome!!  I'll take being "trendy" if it means I get to give my baby the best.  =)  Hooray!

Our next big step will be to move to the four hour schedule.  It should be happening soon...once we get established on all solids, I think dropping a liquid feeding will be okay as long as we add an ounce to each of the other feedings.  We'll only lose like, an ounce overall.  Then we'll gradually decrease the liquid feedings. 

In other news, Levi was super sweet this weekend, and tried to help out by stuffing diapers for me.  I really appreciated the thought, but all of his diapers leaked!  I think he didn't get the inserts flat enough, and that led to the leaks.  Daddy is now banned from stuffing diapers.  He can stick with unloading the dishwasher and scooping the litter box to help me.  =)  Humorous cloth diapering daddy story over, lol.

Hope you are all doing well!