The World's BEST Baby Shower!

Do you know what a crappy friend I am? A really bad one...really, really, really bad. I'm that friend who had some of her best buds in the whole wide world throw her a shower (oh, about 9 months ago!) and I have never blogged about it. Yes, there were extenuating health concerns at the time...but that's no excuse! These two lovely ladies threw me one heck of a baby shower and I dropped the ball sharing it all with you...

So in the spirit of "it's better late than never" feast your eyes on the world's best baby shower!

Two of my besties...T and B...spent so much time and effort making this a great weekend for me. Check out the decorations:







The food...




The gift table...with the CUTE homemade clothing-closet tags from B!

The little girls present were busy checking them out...

The guests started to arrive, and I took my seat to welcome most of them...I was pooped by this time!




Before long, the party was hopping, and we started playing some games that B came up with. I LOVE this face that my Mom is making while playing the "Guess which baby food this is game!"

Obviously the baby diaper/candy bar game was a hoot!
I think that I was laughing at Jenna, who actually tasted the baby diapers for her guesses...
Before long, it was time to get to the gifts!

We were blessed with SO much by our friends and family that day! Truly blessed...

Good thing that I had my little helper there!













And then it was MY favorite part of any party...CAKE time!! There's a story behind the cake (isn't there always?!?!) but look at it's gloriousness first, please! The lady who made it copied off of the shower invitations and did a FABULOUS job!

Doesn't it look all yummy! It was white with raspberry filling...I'm hungry now just typing that. Now for the story...If you look closely at the picture above, you'll notice that the bottom right corner is a little...off. To say the least. Well, what happened for sure is still a mystery, but we have two theories. T lives a good bit away from me, in Boerne, TX, and had the cake made by a friend of hers who makes really wonderful, yummy cakes. Because she lives so far away, there was a question about transporting a cake that far. For any of you readers who bake out there, you know that things can happen when transporting baked goods that have icing!

We're not sure if the cake got too hot, which made the icing unstable, or if just the jarring ride brought about the disaster. Either way, by the time that T got the cake to our house, she was nearly in tears (and half frozen for trying to keep the interior of the truck cold!) because the right side of the icing had crumpled and fallen off. B and I assured her that we could repair it somehow (although we weren't really sure how to go about it) and T got on the phone with the cake maker for better suggestions. We eventually went with the toothpick route and before long, it was all shored up and looking better. You can see in this photo how the icing crumpled a bit...

And here you catch one of our hands in the act of the repair...

In the end, I think that we did a good job...check out this close-up of the worst corner...

It all turned out well, and since T and B were going to do the serving, I just told them to cut that side first, removing toothpicks as they go, and no one but us would know the difference! I think that the photos speak for themselves...no one was the wiser, as the taste was PHENOMENAL!!

I just see lots of people eating cake...not complaining about it!

Overall the shower was one of the best parties that I've ever been thrown! All of the thoughtful details and personal touches really made it special...and Brent and I got enough gift cards to go shopping the next day and come home with these important items...





A great party all around...thanks ladies!! There is much love in my heart for you two...despite the lack of posting evidence! :) LOL!

I’m in L-O-V-E…

…with cloth diapers! Truly, they are much, much, MUCH different than I had pictured in my head, and everything that I “knew” about them was 100% wrong. I’m so glad that I gave them a try! Now I just wish that I could use them all of the time…

I showed off his cute butt the other day but in case you need another dose, here’s how cute he is in his cloth-covered bum:



You know that I was looking for options to avoid nighttime leaking with a heavy wetter. I tried the overnight diapers with mixed results. They leak about 50% of the time when I use them. But the cloth diapers? They haven’t leaked one single time in 6 nights.

Six nights.

No leaks.

That’s pure heaven for this momma.

Not that it means that he’s sleeping through the night – FAR from it! – but at least he’s not waking up ticked off because he’s all wet and I have to strip the screaming baby and the bedding at 2am. He’s apparently waking up to have a “party” in his bed…but that’s a whole other story.

Back to my new-found love for cloth. I really do like using the cloth diapers at night. Now, I will be honest here and tell you that I have yet to have to truly clean up a mess in them because it comes off as soon as he wakes up (it’s full!) so what I do clean is just pee, not poop. And if my day care was cloth-friendly (not something that I was interested in at the time when I searched for our day care) I would seriously consider switching all the way. But they’re not. And I love my day care…so we’ll be a mixed diapering family, I suppose. We’ll cloth diaper at night (and possibly on the weekends if I get some more diapers) for sure and use disposables during the day.

So being new to the cloth scene, I immediately started researching some accessories that I would need. Mainly a wet bag for when we’re out and about and a larger one (or a liner) as a place to put them at the house. I saw some cute stuff. And then decided that I could make my own. I went shopping on my lunch hour, went home and put the kid to bed then got to work on my idea and came up with this loveliness:





Isn’t it just perfect for a little guy? I love the old cars! The tutorial was fairly easy to follow, but there were a few moments when I scratched my head…and I’m still working out the kinks of making the hanging one for the laundry room door…but this one is perfect for now. Perfect for my diaper bag. Perfect for the laundry room floor. Just perfect.

I even went all fancy and lined it with PUL so that it's truly waterproof…



I think that it’s just as nice as one that I could have bought online at a diapering retailer or etsy. Too cute. I’ll post some pictures of the bigger one in action once I get it finished. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. Heck, it might even be one night next week…having a husband playing softball one night a week means having one night a week when I don’t have to “pretend” not to be crafting something! Score for both of us!

What do you think? Too cute? (Yes, I understand that I’m fishing for compliments...LOL!)

A New "Trick"

I don't know how your day care works, but mine sends me home with a paper that details how Jax's day went...what he ate, when he ate it, how much he ate, when he slept and what supplies that he might be running low on. It also has a section down at the bottom telling me what skills he worked on or showed off that day.

Two or three days last week, they've marked down that he's gotten up on all fours. We knew that it was coming soon, as he tried repeatedly this past weekend to make his arms and legs lock in the "up" position at the same time and just couldn't manage it. It was just a matter of time, but apparently he likes to show off at day care before he comes home and puts on a show for us...the little jerk. You'd think that the person who spent 12 hours in labor would get to see things first, but apparently not!

I managed to catch it with the camcorder last night and thought that I'd try to share it with you. Enjoy!




*Sorry about the Grey's Anatomy playing soooo loudly in the background! Oops!!

Calling All Moms! Nighttime help, PLEASE!!!

dash-dash-dash. dot-dot-dot. dash-dash-dash.

Or is it dot-dot-dot. dash-dash-dash. dot-dot-dot?  I can't remember...either way - HELP! 

I have a problem.  Well, I probably have many problems, but this is one that I think that you can help with.  I  have a heavy-wetter at night...and I don't know what to do about it.  He goes through diapers during the night like they're going out of style, and I'm at my wits end about it all.  I think that this could be "part" of the problem with his bad nighttime sleeping habits...he keeps waking up because his diaper has leaked again and who can blame him for being mad about it?  Not me! 

We use disposable diapers...go ahead, castrate me for it.  It's our choice and worked well for me before.  Jenna never had these leaking overnight problems.  Jax likes the Huggies Little Snugglers/Movers best, and during the day they work fine.  But at night?  I always have to change him at his nighttime bottle just to try to avoid the mess, but lately he's not even making it until then...the diapers are leaking sooner!  At first I thought that it was happening more often because he was growing out of the size 2 diapers...so I moved up to size 3.  They work fine during the day, but at night...every single night...they leak on the front since he's a tummy sleeper.  And sometimes they leak on the sides when he's snuggled up in his swaddle wrap.

So what should I do?  Try a different brand?  Try a different style (Huggies makes Snug and Dry vs. the Little Movers)? 

The other options that I've looked at are overnight diapers, but I can't find them in a store under a size 4...so that's out.  And then today, I was catching up in my Reader and saw this post where she talks about what they do at night...should I try cloth diapering just for the nighttime absorbency tricks that are possible?  And if I do go with cloth diapers...where the heck do I start?  There are so many options and brands and inserts...I'm truly overwhelmed!

What do you recommend?  Surely someone out there has a recommendation...what do you do for your nighttime diaper situation?  Thanks for any input you can offer me!!!

Belly Laughs for Valentine's!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my readers!  I hope that your V-Day is great...and just as a little gift from me to you, here's a quick video that I shot last week of the little man showing off his belly laughs!  I hope this helps make Monday a little more bearable!  Enjoy!



**I hope the video embed code thingy worked...this is my first time to try and upload a video for you!

"Yum, Yum" Mom!

Now that Jax has moved onto solid foods, feeding time has become...well, messy is the best way to describe it. I really thinks that he plays with the food more than he actually eats any of the food, but I'm sure that it's still good for him to try, right? We've started putting him in his high chair while we eat and giving him a few table scraps (whatever is safe for him to have).

Then you just sit back and watch the show. Babies are surely entertaining - that's for sure! There's no telling if he's going to attempt to eat the food or just smash it and crumble it all over the place. Either way, you get a mess. Depending on the food, it can be a really big mess.

He's teething right now and in an attempt to soothe him and occupy his fussiness a little while trying to cut those difficult top teeth, I looked in the pantry last night for something to give him that would feel good on his gums. Enter the Animal Cracker. (Yes, I know...I read that article too about the hidden trans fat, and I did pause before I gave it to him. But in the end, I still gave it to him - sanity ruled, sorry!)

He eagerly took the cracker and like most everything these days, put it right into his mouth. Then took it out. Put it back in...repeat this about a hundred times and three animal crackers later. This is what you get:


First it's that all-too-innocent look - "Who? Me? What did I do?" Do you see the pieces of the animal cracker laying off to the side? Those were the rejects. Trust me, they're not nearly as solid as they appear to me...they were more...mushy. Fun.  Want a close up on that face?


And just in case you think that it's not that bad, the outfit was saved...here's what it looked like after the animal crackers got combined with his dinner of corn casserole and pears...


Ah, solid food...such a fun and CLEAN stage! LOL!

Six Months…(and Two Weeks)

I know that I’m late…I won’t apologize. I’m not really sorry. Just kidding, I am sorry, but I doubt that many of you (other than my own mother) really care if I post this on time or not! Not to be hateful or anything, I’m just saying.

This month passed by in a blur of sickness, doctor’s visits and more doctor’s visits…and here I was thinking that things would slow down after the holidays! Who was I kidding? Myself, apparently. Since I’m already late enough, let’s get right to it!

Stats – Weight/Height, etc: I blame the lateness on this post on my inability to remember the official stats from the doctor’s office…but really, that’s not a good excuse. And now, don't you know, I can't find the blasted sheet!  I know that his weight was 17 lbs. 2 oz., but couldn't even guess on the height and head measurements.  Rats!  But I do know that although our actual stats changed, our overall percentages did not change – we’re still middle of the road, right where we need to be until you get to our honkin’ huge head! (Yep, still at 95th percentile on that one!) People keep assuring me that his head isn’t that big. I keep telling people that they need to learn to lie better. If you’re not a good liar (like me) then you just shouldn’t attempt to do it (also like me…most of the time!).

Bedtime: 7:30-8:00…yes, I’m trying to push it back a little bit earlier. But to be honest (see above about my bad lying skills) we start our bedtime routine at this time, not actually put him down for the night. Our bedtime routine includes bath time, getting dressed in our jammies (with lots of tickles and laughs from mom and dad), bedtime bottle and then his breathing treatment (for now). All of that starts sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 and takes about 30-45 minutes. This is starting to take longer as Jax becomes more and more enamored with the bath time part of the routine…which is why it got moved up a bit on the schedule.

“Wake Up!” time: Jax still wakes up around 6:30am on most days. On weekends, I have discovered that if I immediately give him a small bottle (4 oz) then I can get another hour to hour and a half of sleep out of him…that’s if he doesn’t poop right away upon awakening. If that happens, all bets are off! He’s still his happiest right after waking up in the morning…all grins and giggles for this guy!



Naps: We’re down to three naps a day…which can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, or longer if I’m really, really, super-duper lucky. Usually two of the naps are on the shorter side, and then one of them will be longer. I like having the longer nap in the evenings during the week, since that’s when I’m trying to get dinner ready or eat my own dinner…but Jax doesn’t always cooperate with me. One time this month, during the height of his sickness, he slept for almost two hours in his crib…I checked on him repeatedly that second hour…just to make sure he was still breathing. Two hour naps are definitely NOT the norm around here!

Bottles: We can’t seem to move up from 6 ounce bottles, so we’re staying right there for now since giving him more in a bottle is just a waste of money as he won't drink it. Every once in a while, he is dropping one of the day time bottles, but it’s so sporadic that I don’t count it yet. Right now our schedule is something close to 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm and 2-3am. Yes, we’re hanging onto that last nighttime feeding with all that we’ve got!

Meals/Solids: Jax started taking some solid foods at day care this month…I just marked fruits and veggies for them to try only, no pasta or breads. I figured that since I knew that he would take those foods in baby food form, I was safe letting them try to give it to him in small, mashed up bites. So far, he’s not that interested in doing anything with it other than playing with it and making a mess…but the day care wanted to try it and I was willing to let them. I mean, it’s not me cleaning that mess up, right?

At home, he’s still just taking baby food and formula, but I’m going to transition him to Stage 2 foods as soon as we finish the Stage 1 foods that are on our pantry shelf…I’m pretty sure that he’s ready for a little thicker food. He’s gotten the hang of eating in the high chair and readily opens his mouth (like a little birdie) to be fed. He still takes 2 Tbsp of cereal mixed with fruit and juice in the mornings…and we introduced puffs and yogurt melt-aways as snacks this past month.

New Foods: Oops! Jumped the gun, didn’t I? Oh well…I already said that he’s starting to take some truly solid foods. And Brent gave him his first French fry the other night “just to see”…once again, he played with it more than anything. He might have gotten a little piece of it in his mouth, but I seriously doubt it.

Developmental Milestones and “Firsts”: Jax can completely sit on his own now! This is the biggest change for us, and opens up a whole new door on toys and such.


He can easily sit for 10-15 minutes at a time entertaining himself with toys within his reach…allowing us time to do important things like: use the bathroom, sweep the floor, run the vacuum, fold some laundry or play a hand of solitaire on our phones... you know, important stuff! After about 10 minutes, he prefers to have someone sitting close by…and this is where the older kids come in handy! Jax is still totally enamored with big brother and sister…they’re his favorite "toy!"



Even though he can sit on his own now, he will still topple over if he gets too excited about something. Like when he does his “arm dancing” thing…or if he decides that he would like to try to eat his foot while sitting. Luckily, we’ve learned the hard way to leave a blanket behind him “just in case” and the bumps from falling over are a bit easier to handle and soothe!



Since he’s sitting so well, we’re starting to spend more time with him in the bath tub out of his infant sling…actually sitting in the tub (with our hands always close by) and he’s learning how to splash the water. He doesn’t do it on his own yet, but he will start splashing once you show him it's done. Think arm dancing in the tub…which is why it’s important for a hand to always be close by. It’s also a good idea to lower the water level just a bit once he comes out of the sling…just useful tips that we’ve discovered the hard way!

Jax’s babbling continues on…and on and on. He can out-babble any baby - I’ll put him up to the challenge any day of the week. And if he thinks that he might lose? He’ll just up the volume a little bit, if you don’t mind. Heck, he’ll do it even if you mind. Like when he’s telling you something really important to him and you talk over his babble, effectively ignoring the baby speak…watch out, cover your ears, it’s gonna get loud! I told Brent not to complain about this new trick, as it was likely Brent who taught him to do that.  He denied it, but only until I reminded him of how he handles Jax's crying in the car...yep, you guessed it, he turns the radio up.  I suppose Jax thinks that if it works to make him be quiet, maybe turning up his own babble volume will work to quiet us down?  LOL!

Brent swears that he’s saying “Mama” these days, but I don’t count it yet. He only says it when he cries and it’s just a repeated sound…NOT the real thing.



Favorite Toys: Jax’s favorite toy right now is his Exer-saucer. Our favorite toy is also the Exer-saucer.



When he’s not sitting, he makes little effort towards crawling – he just wants to stand. And once he stands, he wants to bounce. Which gets tiring after a while, but might be the only form of exercise that I get on some days! Enter the bouncing Exer-saucer. Can I just say "Life Saver" and leave it at that?

He also enjoys anything that he can knock over…the stacking rings, stackable blocks, or anything that Mommy is trying to work on.

His second favorite toy? Anything that he can chew on. This list should include: toys, clothes, hands, other people’s fingers, Mom and Dad’s shirts, and if they would just stretch a little bit more...his own feet. He puts everything into his mouth and drools through about 2-3 bibs/outfits per day. Teeth have to be coming soon…or else we might drown!

 
Like I said earlier, this month was more challenging than some due to the pesky, never-ending ear infections that we were plagued with. And I use the word “we” most appropriately – maybe Brent and I didn’t have the actual ear ache that Jax had to deal with, but dealing with a baby with an ear ache? Yeah, we all suffered. Every single one of us!

Even dealing with all of that, there were still high points during the month…good times to cherish and remember forever as this stationary stage passes so quickly. Jax is getting such a little personality, and it’s starting to show in little bits and pieces…in the words of Jenna: “It’s cool now because he does more than just eat, sleep, cry and poop.”

Here’s to a healthier seventh month in our future…

BEST Post Forgotten...

If you’re a fellow blogger, here’s a quick question for you: do you ever write the BEST post you’ve ever written in your head at 2am…and then can’t remember the gist of it when you wake up for real? Does that happen to others?


‘Cuz it happened to me last night…I promise that I had the best post ever going on in my head around 2am…I was even making myself laugh with my wit and charm (that’s not me being conceited, I was really funny!). Then again, it could have had something more to do with the late hour and little sleep that I’d gotten. Maybe it wasn’t that funny at all, and that’s why I can’t remember it all.

Oh well, I just wondered if it happens to others too…that’s all.

But what I do remember? I stumbled across the best idea ever. Ever. Here it is, let me share it with you so that you can all agree that I am onto something here.

Jax wakes up to eat at night. Shut it, I don’t want to hear stories about how your angel slept through the night after two months…that’s not the kind of support this parent needs right now. I love your children, and am SO happy for YOU, but let’s not go down that road right now, ok? K, thanks! So anyway, when he wakes up to eat, I’ve learned (the hard way) that I need to change his diaper at that time too. It just makes things easier, and I’d much rather change him before he leaks than after. Our routine has always been that he eats (because he’s screaming and who doesn’t want that to stop ASAP?) and then I change him and then he goes back to sleep.

Most nights, this routine works for us. Lately, he’s gotten all talky-talky during this diaper changing time and he babbles at me non-stop for a few minutes…it’s the cutest thing and I get the biggest kick out of it. The last few nights though, he’s been up a lot. Like every 30 minutes. Not fun. We think that it’s his top two teeth coming through and the doctor assures me that he’s totally healthy in every other regard (yes, we’ve checked his ears) and to “just relax, they should cut through sometime in the next few weeks.”

Umm, excuse me? Did you just say “weeks”?

Yeah. I didn’t misunderstand. Kinda wish I had, though. You see, I’m not sleeping much, and I was sorta hoping they would come on through in the next few days…but that’s just me.

Anyway. Since he’s been up so much, there’s been a lot of co-sleeping going on. Cut me some slack, I’m tired. And it just happens that around his feeding time, he’s in our bed, so instead of getting up and sitting in the rocker while I feed him, I’ve been feeding him in the bed. (It’s cold outside, maybe you didn’t hear…) I guess maybe it’s the angle that he’s laying on the bed or something, but when he feeds in the bed, he’s more than capable/willing to hold his own bottle, which he doesn't try to do when we're in the glider. Which means that my role falls from feeder to supervisor of feeding…which translates to me shutting my eyes “just a little bit” and “resting” while he eats. Nice, right?

But the diaper still needs to be changed. The last two nights, I’ve let him finish eating then I change him like normal and put him back in his bed to sleep. But last night? Last night I came up with an idea, or plan of action, that can only be called brilliant. Why I didn’t think of this sooner, I have no idea…I’ll blame the lack of good sleep. It’s a handy excuse.

Are you ready for it? Last night, I changed his diaper while he fed himself. No crying, no fussing, no fighting me while I tried to get the 127 snaps closed again…why do they insist on so many little snaps??? They’re fine during the day, but at night? Oh man. (I also just bought 3 sleepers that ZIP all the way up…yeah, I’m catching on! Better late than never, right?) So he’s up there being a big boy, holding his own bottle with both hands, not requiring me to do anything…and I’m down below getting him undressed, changed into a new diaper and redressed with the least fussing/movement/kicking I’ve seen since he was running his high fever almost two weeks ago. Nice.

This is one of those things that you have to look forward to when they’re feeding themselves. One of those things that should be in all the baby books that you read…well, maybe it is in one of those books. I don’t really know since I quit reading those books halfway through my first kid. I sort of figured that I had the hang on things this time around and didn’t feel the need to try to read them again. Maybe if I had, I would have seen this idea somewhere and been doing it for the last month that he’s been able to hold his own bottle. Once again, better late than never!

I felt like such a genius that I thought up a whole post (or two) right then and there on the spot…which I promptly forgot about when I got an additional 2.5 hours of straight sleep - helped along with half of a Tylenol PM. That’s another one of those secrets that no one tells you about – drugs. Use them. Not abuse them, but use them to help you. Tylenol PM is what is getting me through the days right now. I take half of a pill after I feed him at 3am, and the next 2-3 hours of sleep that I get is deep and really restful, allowing me to go to work and be productive. Somewhat. I’m still tired, but not as tired as I would be if I wasn’t getting that one good stretch of sleep!

I should start a list of things that no one tells you regarding motherhood, huh? Both of these would be on my list: change the diaper while he/she is feeding on his/her own when he/she reaches that age and dose yourself with half of a Tylenol PM to get a good stretch of sleep on the really bad nights. Because you will probably have them at some point…and those would NOT be better late than never. Have them sooner and get it over with – that’s my motto!

These are the Faces that I've Missed!

Oh, man.  It is good to see this again...


I mean, who wouldn't just want to eat that up?!?!  Not only is he cute...but he's in a good mood...because he FINALLY feels better!  No, I didn't actually catch any smiles with my camera, but trust me - they were there. This was the closest that I got to an actual smile...


Yea!

Whew!  What a week last week was...wait, who am I kidding?  What a lousy last THREE weeks that we've been dealing with/fighting these blasted ear infections.  After 4 doctor's visits, two oral antibiotics and three shots of injectable antibiotics...we're finally feeling better.  His fever broke on Friday afternoon/evening and we haven't seen it since then.  We did NOT have to go and see an ENT...but that might be the first item of action the next time a little ear infection hits since we now know how "resistant" he (his body) is to them! 

I was just happy to have my little man back...drool and all!