Monthly Update {October-ish}

These pictures are from the 2nd half of September and the 1st half of October... Not a lot happened, but as usual, we had plenty of family time!

The boys shingled at Dan's parents' place. It was great weather and the crops weren't quite ready for harvest... now they've been harvesting like crazy (but those pictures will be in the next month's update!)

And we hung out with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Adam at my parents' place. James got to try out the old walker and E was able to fly a kite with Adam and spend time in her happy place (the playhouse!)

We also had one weekend that we stayed home for, but we hosted Dan's sister's family. We went for a hike, tried out a new restaurant in town and Sarah and I were able to walk around a craft fair, farmer's market and antique store (without the kids!!). 

6 Months {JT ~ Update}

6 months - 6 months - 6 months! 

I've had the pictures all ready for this post, but I just haven't taken the time to talk about them until now. I need to remind myself that it is so much easier to talk about his monthly updates right away, rather than waiting a few weeks... I always forget what all he has learned to do while waiting!

Anyways, he is truly a happy little boy (carseat time is still a 50-50 chance of going well or enduring a screaming fest) and is really started to study the world around him. He still is a cuddle bug - something that his sister never was! His weight and height are both average, so he is transitioning from 3-6month clothes to 6-9 month clothes. (He loved the leaf that was the same size as his head... well, he really just loves anything that he can grasp with his fingers!)

He rolls, but can be content on either his tummy or his back (again, different that E... she would never be content on her back!). Actually, one of his favorite positions is just lying on his back on my lap and playing with his feet while looking around. His fingers are often in his mouth, but he doesn't favor any. He still takes a pacifier, but we still haven't tried a bottle. His baby attitude continues to grow. In these pictures above, he was happily playing in the dirt and grass beside the blanket. As soon as we moved him to the middle of the blanket again and out of reach of the dirt and grass, he would get so upset! 

Breakfast times are getting more and more interesting! E eats her rice krispies and James has his oatmeal. (Then applesauce for lunch and then a veggie for supper... at the time he turned 6 months, he had sweet potatoes, squash and avocado). He is a much better eater than E ever was... sometimes he gets upset when I don't feed him quick enough! (my breakfast gets squeezed before or after this lovely scene).

He's getting more grabby for her toys. She's getting more pokey/pestering and a little more defiant. Yet, she gives him "big hugs" and kisses and still loves to "hold" him :)

Another Month. Another Family Update.

A boring month... but sometimes I like boring months!

We spent two nights over Labor Day weekend at my parents' lake cabin. We all love it there... we even dipped JT's toes in the lake. Of course, he needed to wear his entire swimming get-up just to get his toes wet! We recently purchased a fishing pole for E, since she loves fishing. This pole seemed to entertain her longer than others since there is a removable fishy on the end that she could "catch."

I was able to get some swimming in this trip, too. (See, I told you E loves the lake. She had to share her tube with JT after I told her where we were going that weekend, ha!). My brother found a crawfish on the beach. E wasn't super impressed with it... she just wanted to keep fishing.

Grandma's favorite thing... breakfast on the porch! We also spent one night at Dan's parents' farm, but I forgot to take pictures! 

We took the kids to the Corn Palace Festival one night. E rode the carousel 3 times! 

Breakfast with both kids in my lap made for a challenging bowl of cereal...

E still loves dandelions. We're just glad she doesn't eat them this year!

We had our first date night! One of Dan's former coworkers watched both kids while we went out to eat... and to Menards! 

5 Months! {JT Update}

Our little man is 5 months! 

He just keeps getting happier and happier... he is still not wonderful in the car - we think it's because he gets bored so quickly. He also loves cuddling so much, and that's just not possible while he's in the carseat! While he is able to keep a pacifier in by himself now, he is also able to grab it and pull it out (but he can't put it back in!) which doesn't make him happy. Anyways, we just keep doing lots of cuddling and rocking when he's crabby. Otherwise, he is a very happy and smiley boy ;)

We started foods this past month - mostly oatmeal mixed with breast milk. We also have tried avocado. He tolerates this feeding stage so much better than E did! She never did like being spoonfed, while he doesn't seem to mind it - especially because it means that Mommy is 100% focused on him during it, ha!

He sleeps much better at night now that he's eating solids. Most of the time he sleeps through the night, but he does wake up once every now and then. He is really getting the rolling thing done, but he is pretty lazy so he only does it in his crib when he wakes up from a nap. He does a lot of scooting backwards and he likes to get up on his all fours, but he can't stay on them for long!

Overall, it was a pretty boring month (I'm fine with that!). We did meet another friend. He lives in Arkansas, but I went to college with his mommy who actually grew up near Dan's family. (I made little Beau this and this). These two boys are only a few days apart. Yay friends!

Family Adventures {July to August}

In no particular order...

E just keeps growing up... her speech is continuously improving and her vocabulary is expanding. She still loves books and fruit snacks and dancing. She has started keeping her sunglasses on for longer than 5 seconds, she goes in spurts of letting me put bows in her hair, requesting two bows at a time, and then refuses bows on other days. One day she decided to reach for the moon.

We attending a family camp mini-session at Mt. Carmel in Minnesota. It really was a wonderful few days... 

... we attended with Dan's parents and sister's family. E went on her first kayak ride. We were in cabin 9 :)

We spent quite a bit of time with my family - both at my parents' lake cabin and at their home. My older brother's family was around for a couple weeks and we wanted to get in lots of cousin time! (E found a Mickey fishing box at a rummage sale and now thinks fishing is just so much fun!).

Then we had to say good by to that family (the top picture shows my other brother and his wife doing a good-bye selfie with our nephew)... they are off on a 2 year adventure to Guam where my brother is now one of the general surgeons at the naval hospital. E said good-bye to Lolo... the only other girl cousin on my side (she has 2 girl cousins on Dan's side). Two years will go by quickly, but the kiddos will surely have changed a lot!!

Last but not least... we froze some corn :) Our garden produced quite a bit of sweet corn, potatoes and cherry tomatoes. The carrots grew but they are not the best. We have a few pumpkins ripening still along with some decorative gourds. While the garden produced broccoli and okra, the broccoli never grew big enough heads and the okra was picked too late. We enjoyed this first year in our garden and look forward to applying what we learned next year!

James at 4 Months {JT Update}

Hip, Hip Horay for this little guy being 4 months old! 

We definitely turned a corner on his fussiness around 3.5 months... he still doesn't like his carseat all the time, and I'm pretty sure we've hit the 4 month sleep regression... but he is so much happier than he used to be! Praises!!

We celebrated his baptism. Doing so had us serving lunch to around 50 family members and friends at our house. It was our first big hosting event and it really went well! It was so wonderful celebrating James' special day surrounded by so many family and friends! I figure we won't have to worry about hosting that many people again until high school graduations (just a few years away, ha!), as hosting holidays or even birthdays will never be to such a large group. A big thanks to my mom for helping clean the house and to everyone who helped in the kitchen on that day. I appreciate all of you!

This outfit was one that Dan wore, so I had to to make sure to take pictures in it before James outgrew it! Future baseball player? We'll just have to wait and see...

The many faces of James :) 

The top two are during breaks from the carseat going to and from family camp.

Then we have a smile of stealing Sister's chair after she had gone to bed... and then I was trying to teach him how to play with his toes.

What?! He's not crying in his carseat? Yay James! And, special daddy-son bonding time.

Cute toes during a nap :)

Time with cousin Lolo and with Grandpa Tim.

Sister time!!

More special people... 2nd cousins, first cousins and mommy's running friends!

Stats:

• Size 2 diapers
• Slowly transitioning from 3-6 month clothing to 6-9 month clothing
• Lots of drool and finger chewing, but his doctor doesn't think his teeth are even close to coming in
• He can finally keep the pacifier in by himself, although we try to only use it if he really needs it - like in the car, hanging out with anyone other than me, and if he's just being super fussy
• He loves his crinkly book and softie
• He has a very strong grip!
• He loves to stand and smile and chuckle
• Rocking is still the quickest way to get him to sleep
• For most of the past month, he had been waking about once a night to eat
• He still doesn't like bath time
• He loves his sister (except when his sister pokes him in the face, ha!) and his sister loves him!

James {3 Month Update}

This little man is 3 months old! (Well, 3 and a half months now, but who's counting?)

He can be quite smiley when he wants to be! He continues to grow, although we won't have official weight and height measurements again until his 4 month appointment. He's still in size 2 diapers and 3-6month clothing.

As always, everyone is happier when Daddy gets home from work :) James can be pretty selective of who he allows to hold him, and while he is the most content with me, Dan is able to calm him down with a pacifier and white noise. 

Daddy celebrated his 30th birthday this past month! We didn't do anything too exciting, but it's near the 4th of July, so with all the traveling we did to see family that weekend, it just felt like one big birthday celebration :) 

James' first 4th of July was spent both at my parents' lake cabin and my inlaws' farm. He never was around the fireworks that much, so we'll have to wait until next year to see how he likes them (E's favorite is the smoke bombs). 

Happy (5th) of July! We didn't get into our patriotic gear until Sunday for church. 

Since James is getting more and more content, E can hold him more... and look, he's smiling at her sisterly kiss :)

Like I said, he is getting more and more content, which prompted us to stop his reflux meds after the 4th. There was no change afterward, so I knew that it was OK to stop. 

Tummy time is always more fun with new friends (even if they live on diaper boxes). For about a week, he was doing lots of rolling from tummy to back, but then he stopped... I'm guessing he figured out how to do it, so he practiced it for awhile, but since he prefers his tummy, he decided to stop doing it as often :)

He still hates his carseat, but he doesn't seem to scream 80% of the time any more... maybe closer to 75% ;) We had to capture him looking like Budda while (gasp!) sleeping in the car!!

Cloth diapers were introduced this month! We still use a lot of disposables, but the cloth seem to be working just fine at home. Oh, and he's able to hold on to toys we give him for little bits at a time. Hopefully, he'll start reaching for them himself soon.

We have pictures of E balancing on Daddy's hand at this age as well.

His cousin who is a year older than him doesn't appear ready for a sibling yet - look how he his hugging my sister-in-law's leg! So cute :) 

Cousin time at the cabin!

E does a decent job of sharing, as you can see on the top picture. I'm still on the look-out at rummage sales for a boy-ish chair or couch for James.

Documented proof that I had both kids sleeping on me at once in the rocking chair. E was crabby after not sleeping during her naptime, so I was singing and rocking both of them... and they both fell asleep! I don't see it happening again anytime soon, ha!

A few snapshots of E... fishing with Grandpa, swinging with Daddy and feeding her other grandpa's cows!

A little snippet of E at three months... Blog Post

JT at 2 Months {Update}

Quick, before June ends! Here's James' 2 month update...

He had a doctor's appointment at 6 weeks, where he weighed 10+ pounds and had jumped 2 percentiles in height. We then started him on reflux meds... he doesn't spit up (maybe 3 times a week) but he is a pretty fussy little boy, and we can see when he does "reflux" but then we watch as he swallows it back down (meaning the acid is hitting his throat twice). E also had some reflux issues, but we only kept her on meds for about a week. We can tell that James has increased the amount of time being content, but he still gets pretty fussy throughout the day. He especially hates his carseat. This makes going out and about difficult on my nerves! It would be one thing to have him screaming in his carseat if I knew that I could easily calm him down just by holding him upon arrival, but no, it takes a lot of bouncing and holding and patting and white noise for him to calm down in my arms. 

 

With that "fun" info out of the way, here is our first family picture! We went to a family wedding about 4 hours away. (You can imagine what that car ride was like since he barely slept).

 I love his faces!! It is easy to coax a smile out of him when he's content and he can see your face and hear your voice. He has even started "coo-ing" and there's a hint of a chuckle, but he hasn't quite laughed yet. 

 He's a strong boy and likes to have help sitting up so he can look around. E still loves her little brother, as long as she gets enough playing time with Mommy or Daddy :) The glasses in the first picture was her idea!

We were blessed with a baby shower from the church ladies. Something that I definitely didn't expect, but was thoroughly appreciated! 

• He's still in 0-3 month clothes, but I'm sure he'll be ready for 3-6 after his next growth spurt. 
• We will soon switch to size 2 diapers as well. 
• We can help him grab toys, but he doesn't realize that he's holding something fun. 
• He calms down with rocking and white noise. 
• I looooove it when his long afternoon nap overlaps with his sister's. 
• I can usually get him to take 1-3 naps by himself in the crib, otherwise he naps on me or Dan. 
• He sleeps in the pack-n-play at the foot of our bed at night, and usually wakes up once to eat during the night. 

One Month {JT Update}

Let's see if I can keep on top of these monthly update posts... I did pretty well with E's first year, so hopefully I can do the same for JT.

We chose tractors for his growth comparison pictures. The frame takes the place of the rope used for E, and the chalkboard tray is the same (although I did have to give it another coat of paint!).

One month old! He gained a pound in a week from his 5 day appointment to his 2 week appointment, but I have no guesses as to how much he weighs now. He definitely goes through plenty of diapers, so it is nice not having to worry about if he's gaining weight or not! He is out of his newborn sleepers and into the 0-3 month clothes; he's also out of newborn sized diapers and into size 1 already. 

His little eyes stay open longer now, although he still sleeps quite a bit. When he is awake, he's pretty fussy - nothing we aren't used to though, as E was a pretty fussy newborn as well. We just have to survive the first several months and I'm sure he'll be a happy baby then! He usually takes a decent nap in the afternoon, right around the time  E takes hers as well. Mommy likes the downtime this gives her! Nighttimes are still a bit of a struggle, but that too will pass eventually...

E still does very well with the new addition, although she does get tired of how often we have to change and feed him! We both look forward to when Daddy gets off work so she can burn off some energy! I also look forward to when the mornings are warmer, so we can spend even more time outside!

I also suspect as JT gets older and doesn't need me so much, things will get easier. E has shown more interest in touching, hugging and holding her brother this past week; as JT becomes more interactive, I'm sure her interest will also increase (or perhaps she'll be bored of him by then, ha!)

A little comparison picture. Dan is the pro at the colic hold! JT in the top picture and E in the bottom picture... calm as can be with some pressure on their tummies!

Last but not least, we've been busy in the garden and in the front flower beds, and we're hoping that our little plants are tough - the thermometer hit 32 degrees last night! If they don't survive, at least it's still early in the season so we can replant if needed. (JT lasted maybe 5 minutes in his rock-in-play outside. I'll just stick to wearing him in a carrier while outside for a few more weeks...)

More February Finishes for Ev

A few more February finishes... it's been a good month for finishing up a few small projects that have been in my pile for awhile.

This was my first time sewing the Lulu Dress and Top from Cino. Here's a link to the pattern. I've had the pattern pieces and fabric cut out for a few months now and I was getting nervous about sewing the elastic casing with the knit fabric. Thankfully, I was worked up over nothing! This pattern was a quick sew... especially since I didn't hem the skirt :) I love making play clothes out of knits - they are a lot faster to sew than cotton clothes without all the hemming and seam finishing that you need to do with cotton!

This is the dress and cap-sleeve version... grey interlock from JoAnns and a blue, sparkly knit from Hancock. It's big on her now, but should be great by the time summer rolls around... 

Both knits from Hancock - the blue is very thin. I used the sleeveless top version of the pattern. This should be perfect for playing my parents' lake cabin! The top fabric is not as stretchy as the interlock, so it may not fit as long, but it should still work for most of the summer.

You've already seen this dress - it was E's Birthday dress for my ALYOF February goal. I finally took the time to try it on her and take some pictures. It fits and it should be perfect for her birthday in a few months. She loves the shoes I recently found for the summer. They have "bows" on them, haha ... aka flowers...

And finally, here is the purse I made with some of the skirt scraps and leftovers from the solid fat quarters. I had the ribbon and the pom-pom trim in my stash. Those pom-poms were not fun to sew, so I was happy to use them up! 

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This isn't a WIP post, but I just wanted to see how the old list and the updated list compare. I love feeling productive!

• 1 baby quilt needing binding (done!)
• 2 baby quilts needing quilting then binding (progress: quilting done with one half way done with binding and one needing the entire binding)
• 1 lap quilt needing quilting then binding (on the back burner)
• 9 baby quilt tops needing backs (done! Now, 3 of them need to be basted before quilting and binding... the other 6 will go on the back burner)
• 2 cotton Easter/Spring for E that are part-way done and one matching "purse" (done!)
• 2 knit dresses for E that have been cut but need some sewing done (done!)
• 1 pillow top ready for quilting and then needing a back (back burner until those 3 baby quilts are done... can you guess what my March goal will be?!)

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On a final note, we recently took the crib out of E's room! Her big girl bed was already in her room, but we took out the box spring, so the mattress is just sitting on the floor between the bed frame. She has slept great at night so far with her naps being decent.  We are so glad we started this transition when we did... once we started thinking about it, we're glad we don't have to fight the summer sun at night. Her room is pitch black at bedtime, which I'm sure helps her fall asleep without being lured to play in her room. So far so good!