the best of friends

Matt's mom always sings a little song from Fox and the Hound that I think is appropriate for this situation.

When you're the best of friends

Having so much fun together

You're not even aware, 

 you're such a funny pair

You're the best of friends! 

Seriously, these two are so funny.  Bo just lights up when Moose walks in.  I find myself calling Moose off of the couch to come sit in front of Bo so I can get something done.  This works well during dinner preparation because Moose prefers to be in the kitchen at that time anyway, and as long as Bo can get a good view of his furry pal, we're all happy.  The other day Moose ran in from the rain all wild and crazy and Bo started just started laughing at him . . . oh, it was so cute. 

I know this is a bit gross, to let your child chew on your dog's ears, but I was amused at Bo going for the ears and Moose snoring through the whole thing.  

And this was sweet - Moose got a new toy from my parents and kept bringing it over to Bo.  In fact, I found that toy on Bo's play mat twice today!  Moose keeps bringing it to him.  I could cry . . . 

day in and day out

A tip:

If you have a new sitter, I highly recommend the bathtub as a safe place to practice the new skill.  I found this out kind of on accident when I stuck Bo in the (dry) bathtub one morning while I was fixing my hair.  He loved it and it kept him well enough supported that he couldn't tip over, but he could still sit independently. 

I dragged that thing all over the house for a couple weeks. 

That was about the time he established his favorite toys as the kitchen spatula and the Baby Einstein music box that plays classical tunes and flashes.

A little video in the bathtub of Mommy poking him with the spatula:

We don't use the bathtub anymore because he sits pretty well now.  And he doesn't cry as much when he falls over.  All of Matt's "toughening up" techniques must be working.

Be prepared for some cuteness this winter:

My friend sent us a big box of boy clothes and it had like 4 pairs of shoes, including these:

First time in the cart.  This was a tiny cart at Jo Ann fabrics.  I have since bought a cart/high chair cover because he wants to CHEW on the handle . . . no thank you.

Cold days. Pink nose.

Showin' off.

Sunset.

Sweet snoozin.

And this is a little Halloween preview . . . I can hardly wait.  Even though our church thing goes right through cranky time and past bedtime.  Even though he gets shots that morning which will have questionable affects on the rest of the day.  I can't wait to hold my crying baby in this little hilarious lobster suit.  

27 weeks

(Tracye, it's your blanket!  It keeps Bo warm every night!)

spoiled baby

A few bonus pictures of the Grandersons . . . 

My mom insisted that Bo needed more toys, and we went on a toy hunt.  Unfortunately the aisles at Babies R' Us/Toys R' Us were the worst . . . everything was plastic and obnoxious and looked like it was going to break in a minute and really not anything I wanted in my house.  So now my new stop for baby toys will be stores like TJ Maxx and Tuesday Morning.  We found some nice things there (it was a bit of a treasure hunt), including a wood Noah's Ark that I thought was awesome, although a choking hazard.  We'll wait a few more months before he can play with that.  So we came home with stacking rings, stacking cups, a shape sorter, and a bathtub toy, and of course miscellaneous other items.  Although I was opposed to bringing more 'junk' into our house, Bo has enjoyed his new things.  

Coco and Grandad playing with the new toys.  This is before Matt and I went to a movie and they let Bo stay up an hour after his bedtime.  The spoiling starts already. . . 

Waiting for a table . . . and getting walked around by Grandad so that the patrons don't have to hear his cries.  This was also the first time Bo actually ate with us - he downed an entire banana and then sat and played so well while we finished our meal.  

Showing Coco how well he can eat.  Bo used to put his hand in his mouth after every bite and it was just a really messy experience (flicking food all over us).  I read somewhere not to let your kid do this . . . so while I was dubious about trying to correct a baby, Matt and I worked on taking his hand out of his mouth and telling him no.  After a couple days he quit.  I'm not sure if this is because he learned not to or he just doesn't anymore . . . it's kind of amazing what babies can learn.  Bo also got a bite of doughnut while my parents were here . . . corrupting my child with sugar! 

dedication Sunday

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord . . . 

This Sunday Bo was dedicated at our church, as a sign that we will raise him as best we can to love the Lord, and a charge to the congregation to walk with us in this.  It was sweet to stand up with this church that we've grown to love over the past two years.  They are a family to us.  

 (eating shoes in front of everybody)

(the pastor hand-off) 

(enlisting help to keep the papers out of Bo's hands)

(Matt's co-residents and their families)

 
(the Andersons)

(part of our 'small' group)

(Pastor John)

I know you're wishing for a better view of Bo's little outfit . . . so here it is.  And a picture of the bow tie I made him.  He looked pretty good.  :)  

pumpkin picking

My parents came for a short visit last weekend and we took the much-anticipated trip the pumpkin patch after Bo's afternoon snooze.  It was perfectly crisp and cool, and we drove east until we found a patch that also sold apple cider doughnuts.  We had our priorities straight. 

Priority 1: Pictures of Bo.

Priority 2: Doughnuts in my mouth.

 

Handsome handsome men.

It was super sunny so Bo was a bit squinty, but he was a good sport.  And pretty entertained by the little baby pumpkins. 

And the doughnuts were yum. 

6 months

Wow, half a year old already.  That went by pretty quickly.  Bo is such a great little buddy these days.  He loves sitting up and playing with toys, especially ones that flash and make noise.   Bo is so funny when he eats, always flapping his arms around and dancing in his seat between bites.  The sleep thing is going pretty well, sleeping about 11-12 hours at night and a couple naps during the day.  My favorite new development is Bo's little 'words.'  He likes to babble on and on - a lot of ma-ma-ma and ba-ba-ba. It's cute and he seems like a real big boy.  He's definitely a fan of Mama and will let you know it if you try to watch him in the church nursery.  Love you, Bo Bear! 

26 weeks

i love these guys . . .

Bo loves watching Moose.  And Moose is so patient with him!  My sweet boys. 

25 weeks

diapers

Oh, diapers.

I do not use cloth diapers - primarily because I do not love our washing machine situation.  Picture the scariest basement on earth - that is where our washing machine sits.  My laundry routine consists of getting it in the machine and getting out of there.  Our machines are both Craigslist finds meant to get us through 2 years of renting, not sterilizing a bagillion baby diapers.  So, if someday we have beautiful HE machines and a nice little laundry room to keep them in, I might be tempted to do cloth.  

If I did do the cloth diaper scene, I would try gDiapers, which I have seen in action on a couple friends' babies.  They have little inserts so you don't have to wash the whole diaper EVERY time.  Also Kelly says they do a great job of keeping the mess contained.  Point for gDiapers!  I also think the BumGenius all-in-ones look like they deserve a try, because they don't have a liner to mess with, you just take the whole thing off and throw it in the wash.  This is a great post about one family's cloth diaper system. 

But we don't cloth diaper right now.  I used to buy a jumbo box of size 1 Huggies at Target every other week, for $20/box.  They lasted us about 2 weeks, and there was always this 'panic' time where I would be terrified of running out of diapers and make the drive to Target to replenish again.  Then I discovered Amazon subscribe and save.  I got a much larger box of size 1-2, which is a transitional size that worked great for us for a while, and for $20 that box lasted us the entire month!  Awesome.  Now Bo's in size 2, and we pay a little around $23 for less diapers, but he uses much less now and that lasts us a month.  The subscribe-and-save feature is wonderful - it's 30% off the list price, free shipping, automatic delivery, and I can opt out at any time.  I have already changed the subscription once as we upped the diaper size.  I get an email once a month saying they'll be shipping soon, and they arrive on my doorstep a few days later.  The price fluctuates every month a couple dollars either direction, but so far it has still been less expensive than buying at the store.  We bought a giant box of Huggies wipes at Costco the first week of Bo's life and those are still going strong!  So one box of wipes every six months is pretty nice.  We use Huggies diapers just because we like them better than Pampers.  Personal preference.

I also have a diaper pail that someone gave us.  I think the thing does a pretty good job of keeping the smell contained, and I can use regular garbage bags in it.

And that's how we change diapers.  

Baby Savers

It turns out that these little people need kind of a lot of stuff.  We're not swimming in dough here but we've managed not to go bankrupt while still providing for the little guy.  I'm still learning as I go, but I've adapted a few thrifty ways.

Amazon Mom
This membership is free to join and is basically "Amazon Prime" for a few months.  However, you have to order a certain amount from the 'baby' section to continue enjoying the benefit of free shipping.  I didn't quite keep up with that, but it was fun while it lasted.  I do enjoy the "Subscribe and Save" feature for diapers.

Zulily
This site sends me an email every day of the deals they have for that day for baby, kids, and mom stuff.  I haven't bought much, but when I do, it's been 50% off the retail price.  This is great for buying baby gifts.  If you do decide to join, the link above is a referral so I could possibly get some $$ if you buy something . . . share the love!

ThredUP (also a referral link)
I've joined but haven't used this site yet, although it looks fun.  People fill boxes of their (hopefully) gently used baby clothes and toys that you can get for $5 + shipping.  It's also a good way to pass on your baby stuff you are done with and make way for new stuff.

Baby Cheapskate
I'm sure there are tons of websites like this one out there . . . this site outlines baby deals as they come out, whether it be the latest price of diapers in stores or online, or clothing discounts and sales.

Friends and Family
My sister-in-law is our most valuable resource, since she has given Bo 50% of his wardrobe.  Bo's two boy cousins are so sweet to pass on their stuff! :) Since he grows out of his clothes so quickly, this has been really wonderful.  Bo's grandmas love buying him clothes, too.  We have been given several items from friends who's kids have outgrown them and are borrowing some items.  This works for us right now because we don't really have the space to store baby stuff and we know we'll be moving soon, so it's less to take with us.

Thrift stores/garage sales/Craigslist
To be honest, I haven't really used these avenues a ton, but I've seen stuff out there!  A month ago I saw a nice looking exersaucer (nicer than the one we had) for $15 at a thrift store.  Matt wouldn't let me get it because he hates giant plastic stuff (and we already had a free one), but it was in great condition.  I found it at Babies R Us for $90.  So obviously, that would've been a great deal!  Our Craigslist is wild . . . for example, I just found a 3-foot tall blow-up m'n'm . . . for the low price of $30 . . . why in the world would anyone want that?  And a crib for $300.  And a breast pump for $50.  I just can't imagine buying a breast pump from someone on Craigslist . . . however there are some good deals out there.  And it's always hilarious to look.

What are your saving secrets?

baby books

My friend Jenna wrote the bush woman's guide to baby gear . . . just kidding!  She lives in Kenya but in the civilized village of Kijabe.  I love seeing these throwback pictures of the tiny babes . . . 

This is kind of embarrassing.  I know I look a *little* obsessive by actually listing all the books I read.  Yes, there are a few.  But . . . I like to read.  And I was excited about this new little person joining our family.  And then I was a little anxious about taking care of this tiny human.  So I read a few books about it, ok?

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My health insurance company actually sent me this book, which was nice of them, because it was a good one!  It's similar to What to Expect When You're Expecting and it has a new exercise for every week.  Umm, it would've been nice if I'd actually done those exercises . . . 

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I read a couple books on pregnancy nutrition, and I remember that this one was short and sweet.  It also had some pretty yummy recipes.  I had a lot of time on my hands, I guess . . . :)  But really, it's important to eat well.

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I read this one before Bo was born, and it sounded great and easy.  I learned the foundation of the eat, wake, sleep routine from it and that definitely shaped our routine.  But once we started to hit some bumpy patches, I needed more concrete answers.  

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My sister-in-law gave me her well-loved copy of this book.  It is not an easy read and is pretty technical about how babies sleep.  This book is a great reference and answers a lot of "whys" about sleep habits and abilities.  I refer to this quite often these days.  

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I read this one before the baby was born, and she lines up with the Babywise routine, using the acronym EASY: Eat, Activity, Sleep, You (as in mom-time).  She's conversational and quirky.  I liked the charts that interpreted baby cries and actions - like if the baby is crying and turning in to you, it means he's tired, not necessarily hungry (which makes sense, since he just ate).

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I picked up this one after we hit the four-month weird behavior phase.  I like the sample schedules and how it was broken into sections on 'problems.'  I only read the sleep sections of this one but I might refer to it again when other things pop up.  I like a good hands-on answer to an issue.

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I learned from a friend at church that "Ferberize" was a technique named after this guy, Dr. Richard Ferber.  I read part of this book and basically you teach your child to sleep without any props so that he can put himself to sleep on his own.  I am all about this, but I think for Bo he only got to that 'self-soothing' point when he was about 4.5 months old.  So I read it at just the right time.  Ferber employs a cry-it-out method with parents going after a few minutes to calm the child down - first 3 minutes, then 5, then 10 and so on until the child learns to fall asleep himself.  Despite the very discouraging video on BabyCenter, I've heard from others that this technique really does work and it is SO FREEING to the parent!  My friend Kate wrote a passionate review of the book here after a rough few months with her babe.  

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Somebody passed this on to me and I like having a book of answers on hand . . . although I don't read it much anymore because BabyCenter still sends me weekly emails on what my kid is up to.  

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So this one is less informative and more a memoir on one woman's experience of having a baby . . . Less of the cuddles and roses and more of the reality of what adding a small helpless person to your life really means.  

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This was another memoir of one woman's experience, focusing on nursing, that left me convinced I would have trouble breastfeeding (I did not) but with the confidence to ask for help.  Breastfeeding can be extremely difficult, and this woman tells her story with some laughs.  

That covers most of them.  :)  A few of these my sister-in-law passed on to me, and the rest I got from the library or friends.  And what did I learn from all these experts?  That basically the "right" way is whatever works for you.  I've taken bits and pieces of their advice, seen what works for Bo, and adapted those as our method.  For the record, sleep time right now = wrapped in an muslin blanket, pacifier, a story or a song, lights out, fan on, see you later!  Sometimes he needs another hug from me, but if the timing is right, it's off to sleepy land.  If your nighttime ritual is standing on your head, reciting the ABC's backwards, shush-patting your child four times, and singing the Canadian anthem - and your baby sleeps - then congrats, I think you've done it right.