Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Never Wake a Sleeping Baby

Some day's it is so hard to get anything done simply because the only way James won't be crying is in my lap. So if he happens to fall asleep I'm basically stuck wherever we happen to be sitting at that time. Most of these times I spend using my phone's internet.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

...and a baby

It's still hard sometimes getting used to the fact that I am a mom now. Everything in my life revolves around this little man. Dennis and I went to a restaurant with James for the first time the other day, and he did so good! He slept the whole time and was the perfect little baby. I love this new life I'm living and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Dear James,

I still look at you in amazement, James. I cannot believe you grew in mommy for nine months and then exactly on your due date you decided to make your arrival. I was so blessed with an easy pregnancy and delivery, and for that I am thankful. So many changes are taking place with you lately. You really started "talking" to yourself yesterday. It was the cutest thing, you were in your bassinet taking a nap and when you woke up instead of crying you were in there all happy talking away to yourself. Your even starting to sleep so much better through the night, you really are beginning to have a schedule. You finish your bottle around 10:30 then you'll sleep until around midnight and after that bottle you sleep until 3, then don't wake up until 6ish and then you'll sleep until 9. It's so much better now then a few weeks ago when you would be up all night. One of your favorite things to do right now is sit in your bumbo seat, you love looking around the room. You also love being outside, you barely ever cry when we spend time outside, which is really nice. I am so lucky to be your mom and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. You have completely changed my life and made it complete. I love you so much James.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Changes

So many new things are developing with James. He can hold his head up for so long now, and even loves tummy time. He's starting to really focus in on objects and even looks people in the eye now. We finally found a pacifier he likes. He's starting to make sounds other than crying sounds, he's really found his voice this week. He still loves staring at the fan more than anything. I had him sitting in his bumbo seat for the first time, and he LOVED it. He really likes the world from a sitting up perspective, he was so adorable looking all around the room and making different sounds. He's really falling in love with music, if he starts crying I can play a music video on my phone and it will calm him down pretty quickly. He's getting so good at using his hands, he can even grab on to things now-especially hair. He is starting to make this adorable sound when he's sucking on his pacifier. He is in love with the rocking chair and that will always put him right to sleep. He hates getting his diaper changed and getting his nose cleared. He made his first real smile today, so exciting!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

How to Choose a Name


It's a difficult process, choosing a name. You're creating an identity for a person you haven't even met yet. You're shaping their life, without even knowing their personality. It took Dennis and I months to decide on the perfect name for James David. We never really even came up with a girl name, and I take that as a sign. James name is the combination of mine and Dennis' grandfather's name. It's a strong name that means a lot  to us. I cannot speak for Dennis but my grandfather was one of the most influential people I had in my life. I'd give anything to be able to meet him one more time, to have him meet James, but that is far down the road. Not a day goes by where I don't think of my pop-pop at least once. I just hope I can express to James what a great human being he is named after. I love you pop-pop. <3

Friday, July 6, 2012

This is james new favorite thing to do, wrap his hands around the collar of my shirt and put both his hands in my cleavage. I love this little man!


Dear James


Dear James,
I can't believe you're going to be five weeks tomorrow. It feels like just yesterday I was holding you on my chest for the first time. These short five weeks have flown by and I wish I could slow down time. I wouldn't trade all the sleepless nights and baby throw up all over me for anything. Every moment with you I cherish as I know I'll never get it back. Even at this moment while I'm writing this you're patiently staring at mommy on the computer. I love every inch of you.


Things I'm going to miss:

  • How you love staring at the light
  • The noise you make before you smile
  • How you love flailing your arms
  • How much you freak out when I change your diaper, the wipes make you make the cutest face
  • How much you love your swing
  • How you grab onto my finger when I feed you a bottle
  • The grunting noises you make when you sleep
  • How small you are
  • What it sounds like when you cry
  • How dependent you are on me
  • How much you love the rocking chair
  • How bouncing you will always make you stop crying
  • How much hair you have
  • How blue your eyes are
  • How you love to make fists
  • Your tiny feet
  • How your just starting to look at objects
  • Your tiny nails
  • How you love "watching" T.V.
  • How calm you get when I hold you
  • Your smell
  • Spending every second of every day with you
  • How you love sticking your tongue out
I love you James

How my day went yesterday

So my dennis, james and I spent the day yesterday at my sisters house. Dennis was there to help build a tree house. Needless to say we had a pretty good time. They even started putting the floor in.




Thursday, July 5, 2012

How I Spent my 4th of July!

My fourth of July was simply amazing. As usual my family had a backyard barbecue, which included friends, family, swimming and beer. Let's not forget the fireworks! Instead of going to see a fireworks show each year my family does them themselves. Just remember, don't try this at home!

Why Cloth?

A lot of people ask me: "Why did you choose to cloth diaper?"
It's actually a harder question than it seems. I began researching cloth when I stumbled upon a cloth diaper message board. I honestly didn't know people still did cloth, and what I imagined it being was something like thins. A prefold diaper with pins. I couldn't imagine myself having to deal with putting sharp pins on a wiggly infant. I checked out many sites but the one that helped me the most was The Eco Friendly Family's FAQ about cloth diapering. I ordered a "new" style pocket diaper to see what it was all about and immediately fell in love. There are many benefits to choosing cloth. The most obvious is that it is good for the environment. Another reason I chose cloth was the price aspect. There is more of a upfront cost to cloth, but overall you will be saving thousands. I began buying my cloth around 20 weeks pregnant, so I bought slowly and didn't see it as much as an expense. Fuzzibunz, a popular "new age", pocket style diapers explains some of what you might spend and save on cloth with this image. New style cloth is almost exactly the same as disposables. They look almost identical, the only difference being you have to wash them. You may be concerned about your child pooping in the diaper and you having to clean it. Exclusive breast feeders don't have to worry about getting the poop off before they wash, exclusive breast fed poop is water soluble so you just put them in the wash and don't worry about a thing. Formula fed babies poop will have to be removed from the diaper before entering the wash but from my experience if you let the poop dry first it literally just peels right off, I don't use my hand to do this but a plastic butter knife works wonders. I've only just started easing into cloth, so far I've been doing cloth during the days and disposables at night(because I have so many disposables) and it has been going pretty smoothly. I encourage you to at least look into it before you have biased opinions, like I had in the beginning. Let's not forget that cloth happens to be incredibly cute.The picture below is a new style cloth diaper-the type I currently use most. I am including links below for valuable resources.

Useful Links:

A Facebook group where you can post all your CD(cloth diaper) questions and other moms will answer
A blog who talks about all things environmentally friendly and has a hugely helpful section on cloth
A message board on The Bump that talks about cloth and has a really really helpful FAQ
A site that has a marketplace for cheaper cloth diapers