William had another milestone!

Little baby boy William sat up on his own today. Of course daddy was actually home, seeing it was Sunday and all... but he was in the shower. So, daddy missed it. :(

We had to lower the crib mattress today as well. William is able to just about reach the railing on the crib and soon enough he will be able to pull himself up. We decided to drop the mattress down to the bottom level so that we could put the crib tent on the crib. We are not satisfied with the ability to control the temperature in his room, so we are going to leave the door open overnight. Unfortunately, Zee likes to get in his crib so we need to keep her out. Hopefully this will work - a warm room over the winter and no kitties in the bed. He will be happy to see Dutch eye to eye first thing in the morning though!

Almost 6 Months!

William is just about 6 months old. What? Yes. My baby is growing up far too fast. He is on the verge of crawling, sitting, and has started to eat home made food. So far, he prefers barley over brown rice.

I was thinking this morning about what I would have done differently if I could have seen the future. For starters, we wouldn't have gotten the MamaRoo swing. I am sure lots of babies love it, but William didn't. In fact he just started liking it. Unfortunately, he can basically get himself out of it to pick up the toy that he drops on the floor. Scary. So, we decided to sell it. Not sure if we will get a swing for the next baby, but we do know that we are not going to store this one.

I also would have gotten a different breast pump. I am not a fan of sitting down at the couch all day either feeding or pumping. To all of you moms to be out there, get a hands free pump. It might save your sanity.

Clothes. Ya, far too many clothes! I think I would have been ok with 10 body suits instead of the 35 that I had for up to 3 months in age. He has outfits he wore once, if that. Towels, washcloths, and pacifiers. The kid takes a bath once a week, so 6 towels and 20+ washcloths are completely unnecessary.

Bedding set. We currently, as of 8 weeks of age, only use the sheet and dust ruffle. The bumper had to come out because William really enjoyed cramming himself into the corners of the crib so he couldn't breathe. Comforters are forbidden from cribs, so ours is now a wall hanging for decoration. We might put the bumper back in now that he is almost crawling. He love to roll over and bang his head. We will not be buying a new bedding set for the next kiddo since we will have this one to use!

Diaper bag. I will either get a backpack diaper bag or a ginormous diaper bag next time. I just recently purchased a wet/dry bag so that I didn't have to lug the whole thing into a store. Diaper bags are really for big trips, like a baby suitcase. What would be great is if I could get a diaper bag that could house my breast pump!

Lotions. Holy cow. I got so much baby wash, lotion, diaper rash cream... you name it... at my baby shower. I don't think I will ever use it all. We are half way done our first small bottle of baby wash. We only used the diaper cream when he was in disposables for a week and got a rash. The cloth diapers really do wonders on a baby's skin. I will be a cloth diaper fan for the rest of my life if not for that one reason!

New parents survival kit- aka the medicine bucket. Completely unnecessary. First off, half the stuff in there you can't give to an actual baby and by the time you can, the stuff is expired. Secondly, I am pretty convinced that most babies never need half that stuff in the kit.

I am still upset about the circumcision, but that will have to just be something I will have to live with. He is fine now, but it was completely unnecessary.

I think that is all I can think about changing right now. I am sure more will pop up as time goes on!

Been a while!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last update! I have lots going on these days! Short and sweet mommy update: back to work part time at TRU in Manchester, Mem (Roxanne) watches William while I am at the store. I am also one of the first sales reps for my favorite cloth diaper detergent! We are just getting started, but if you know of a place that you think should carry this great product line please let me know!

William is doing great at 16 weeks! He is growing and getting really good at becoming mobile! He loves playing "standy-uppy" as we call it. He grabs onto our hands and pulls himself up and with a little bit of help with angles, he makes his way onto his feet! He also can roll across a room in a matter of seconds if you are not watching him closely! This week he has almost succeeded in getting his feet in his mouth, but for now he is really focused on holding his feet while getting his diaper changed. He is also "talking", blowing spit bubbles, and giving open mouth kisses.

Here are some pictures to catch you up!

10 weeks old at a friend's baptism

First time in the pool! 12 weeks old

Dutch wants to make sure I am ok. I love him.

Grammy getting me wet. Ohhh, it was chilly!
Uh, mom? Where's my loincloth?
Airing out at the lake after a week of disposable diaper use.
Thanks for the cover, Mem. I am a modest boy.

I'm a CPST!

Many of you know that I love car seats. I love the concept of them, I love the different designs, and I love the fact that they keep our kiddos safe and sound! So, with the new love of my life arriving and seeing people I love misuse their car seats or using a less than "best practice" choice in their selection of seat and usage of said seat, I decided to take a national certification course.

So I am now a nationally certified child passenger seat tech! This is a certification that I can use to volunteer at car seat checks and inspection stations and to educate the public about proper use of car seats and seat belts when it comes to children.

I am very excited to help keep kids safe, especially those who I love so much! So, if you have any questions about your child's safe travels in the car please just ask! And, for those of you who have a car seat in your car, I will be double checking it when I see you! Just remember, I do this out of love!!!

Before and After

I finally got my hands on the picture from my baby shower of me, my best friend in the whole wide world, and my sister in law. We were all due with in a few weeks of each other! For Megan and Linda this is both their second pregnancies and their first borns are also only a few weeks apart! What are the odds?!?!

Before...

After!! William, his BFF Robert was born 3 weeks later, and his cousin Declan was born 5 weeks later. So, with in a 5 week period we all had our little boys! Watch out world, the three musketeers are here!

Hmmm, can you tell we all have a favorite brand of infant car seats? Perhaps I had a small part in that. Hehe!

Baptism and Father's Day

We had a beautiful day on Father's Day. June 19, 2011 was a big day in this house hold! Not only was it James' first Father's Day, it was William's baptism day! The weather was perfect, the ceremony was meaningful, and the food at the party was tasty!

Dressed and getting topped off.

The actual baptism.

This oil has the most amazing smelling on the face of the earth.

Proud parents and grandparents!

Mommy, Daddy, William, Fr. Ray, Godfather Brendan and Godmother Linda

James made a huge 7.7 lb pork loin using the rotisserie on the grill!

Milestones

Well, it is official. William can easily roll over from back to tummy. He did it once the other day and does it for fun now. He is also at the point where he digs his heels into the floor and scoots around. Ya, that is fun when he does it on the changing table.

I also had to wash his 3-6 month clothes because he is too big for most of his smaller stuff. I also had to adjust the sizing snaps on his diapers. My baby boy is growing up so fast!!!

Cha-Cha-Cha-Chia!

I think this is totally awesome. James thinks I am crazy. There are baby trees growing on our carpet on the porch. You know all of those fluffy strands that fall off of what ever kind of trees are in my back yard? I think this is the result. With all the rain and the carpet being a few years old and collecting dirt and such, the seeds are able to sprout! My suggestion is that we plant grass on the carpet like a giant chia pet! Nice clean grass free of Dutch presents! So, is it an awesome idea or am I crazy?

Big Brother

I have been trying to get a good picture of Dutch with William. So far this is as good as it gets. Thanks for the bandana, Grandma! For the record, it is not easy to get a dog and baby to pose for a picture!!

Dutch age 9 1/2, William 7 weeks

Moving out

At night, William has slept in a bassinet in our room, right next to mommy since he came home from the hospital. While James was gone to Jamaica, William decided that he was outgrowing his bassinet and displayed this new found way to show me - by spinning himself around in the bassinet and hitting his head on the wall of the bassinet. He wouldn't cry, I would just hear him making frustrated noises because he couldn't spin any more. So, when James came home we spent 2 more nights in the bassinet until we got our replacement crib tent. Sunday night William spend his first night alone in his room, sleeping soundly in his crib, only getting up once or twice to eat and to get his diaper changed. Last night was night two and he did well again! He went to bed around 10:30 last night and was asleep until 4:30am! Yay William!

Dishwashers - the truth!

I always believed that there was no sense of prewashing dishes that are heading into the dishwasher. I know some people who do this, quite a few in fact. I don't understand why all these people find it necessary to spend the time and waste TONS of water to wash dishes that are going into a dishWASHER.

I was reading some tips and tricks on saving time and resources the other day and guess what - prewashing your dishes IS a waste of time and resources and may actually leave your dishes less clean! Dishwasher detergent is formulated to stick to and destroy food on your dishes. So, if you wash the food off, there is just soap floating around with nothing to do!

So, save yourself some time and money. Just scrape off your dishes and put them into the dishwasher. Mother nature and your wallet will thank you!

He rolled over!!

You read the title right! William rolled over tonight! He rolled from his tummy to his back! I am sure this was a random fluke, but it is still exciting! He can stand up if we hold his hips and now this! I am going to have a mini-me athlete!!! Track scholarship, here we come!

I think I got part of it on video. Once I get it onto the computer I will post it!!

Ergo giveaway on make-baby-stuff.com

I have lots of new momma friends out there. Want an Ergo carrier? My new favorite website to explore is giving away an Ergo! Click this link to find out how to enter. Lots of cool stuff on this website, including home made wipe liquid recipes!

Meeting My Hair Twin

One of my favorite blasts from the past came up to meet William last night! We haven't seen Eric in almost a year. It was so good to catch up and have some tasty food. I made shrimp jambalaya!

Hey, we have the same stylist!


I know this didn't come out all that well, but I think it is so sweet! William was trying to snuggle with Eric as he was trying to leave!

Kitty Teeth Cleaning

Zuleika and Fritz went to the vet yesterday for dental work. As many of you know, Zee has teeth problems and had to have 4 teeth pulled a year and a half ago and has to get her teeth cleaned and checked every year. Fritz has never had his teeth cleaned and once I discovered that one of his teeth looked purple and that his breath smelled horrible, we allocated some of our tax money to get this taken care of before it became a problem. Noone wants a cat with a mouth infection!

Well, I totally expected Fritz to come out missing teeth because his back molars looked really bad. He came out with all his teeth still in his mouth but might need one or two pulled next year. Zuleika was not as lucky. Zee has a genetic tooth disorder which causes non-cavity dents in her teeth. They feel like cavities to the cat and are extremely painful. She has been getting sick every night for the past two weeks and her food has not been chewed. But, her teeth didn't look as bad as Fritz's teeth. She ended up getting 3 teeth pulled. So she now has no teeth on the bottom right and top left of her mouth. 7 teeth pulled in the past 1.5 years. Poor baby.

Zee was on pain meds when she got home and was so high. Fritz was also on something but not nearly as funny as Zee. Fritz paid us back by finding one of William's pacifiers and destroying it. They also took a loaf of bread off the counter and ate part of it and broke into their treat cabinet and got out two bags of treats and ate them too! I guess they had the munchies!

Zee is now on pain meds for 5 days - this should be interesting!

5 Weeks and Growing!

Our little boy is 5 weeks old! My father let me borrow his camera so I was able to take a ton of pictures with a really nice camera. Hopefully I can figure out how to use it to the best of its abilities soon! Here are a few of my favorites. I know he is looking more like James as he ages, but I can really see myself as a baby in some of these pictures, especially the last one!

I took these while he was playing on his mat.

I took these two while he was sleeping in his crib.

My Mom

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. It is my very first mother's day ever and I am very excited to spend the day with my family!

But who I am writing about today is my mom. My mother is an amazing person. She does so much for us kids. Growing up she was the firm hand that kept us disciplined enough to do our homework without being told to do so, she encouraged us to do activities that we were good at and enjoyed. For me, I was an athlete and aeronautical junkie. My mom made time to come to my track meets (my most important sport), helped me ensure that the winter track team would exist one year, brought me to the doctor when I pushed myself too hard and needed long term pain control so I could still run and not let down my relay team, the list goes on. She stayed by my side when I broke my arm playing soccer and needed surgery, then proceeded to be my physical therapist at home - pushing me to work on my arm so that it worked properly later in life no matter how much it hurt to walk my hand up the piece of tape on the porch door.

My mom stayed by my side, lent a shoulder, took time off of work and literally came to my work place to force feed me when I had a major break up in my early 20's. She supported me when I decided to move to VA to start a new life and to get away from the life I had in NH - so I could learn who I really was and what kind of person I wanted to be. I had not been on my own ever until the day I left for VA - I cried like a baby until I got out of New England, and I am sure my mom did too.

My mom treats my dog Dutch like her grandchild. She takes him to the lake for the weekend, buys him toys, lets him sleep over, comes to let him out on a daily basis, bakes him his own cookies and buys him his own tub of vanilla ice cream. She even makes him a new winter coat every year.

My mom is now the primary care taker for her in-laws. She tirelessly answers phone calls, coordinates medications, doctor appointments, interviews caretakers, and rushes over to their house when there is any type of a potential medical emergency. She spends her days off basically babysitting my grandparents because it is what needs to be done... and these aren't even her own parents.

My mom virtually single-handedly planned my wedding in a matter of a week. Who can do that?? I know - MY MOM!

Now that I am a mom, I find myself thinking about all the dumb things that I did as a kid and young adult and how my mom reacted to my behaviors. I also find myself planning my "mom style" based off my mom and my Memere - something we all swear not to do BEFORE we have kids. Well, if I am half the mom that my mom is I think that my children will be very lucky.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom! I love you and can never thank you enough for all that you do for me and the family.

Zuleika causing trouble... again!!

Zuleika is a fun cat. Cute, cuddly... crazy! She likes to cause trouble and then later that day will be all lovey-dovey to make up for it!

Zee using the baby's bouncy seat. After all, he doesn't like it yet so someone should use it, right?

Fritz wouldn't give up his spot in the bed in the cat tent. What did Zee do? She protested by holding a sit-in! She took her spot laying down right inside the tent, in front of the door so Fritz couldn't get out! Clever, Zuleika, clever.

3 weeks!

Just a few cute pictures from week 3! The first one is from our cloth diaper changing event. We changed twice while we were there, including our outfit. The second picture is just hanging around the house.

Auntie Laura made us this cute hat!

I look like a big boy already! Oh wait, I am big.

Cloth Diapers

James and I decided to use cloth diapers while we are home, at minimum. I have been brave enough to leave the house with William in cloth diapers with very little poor results. These cloth diapers are awesome! I have 1 of each of the 3 major national brands of "all in one" cloth diapers, but decided to use a local Work At Home Mom (WAHM) for the majority of our cloth diapers. Not only are they much less expensive than the national brand diapers, they are customizable with cute patterns, she is local so if I have a problem that needs to be addressed, and I am supporting a local WAHM!

My best friend got me some cloth laundry detergent made by her friend's sister-in-law. It works wonderfully and once again, supporting a WAHM!

First time wearing a cloth diaper!

If you are interested in any of the products that I use and recommend for cloth diapering, here are the links!

Three Monkeys Cloth Diapers: http://www.threemonkeysclothdiapers.com/
Ruby Moon Cloth Diaper Laundry Detergent: http://www.rubymoonlaundry.com/