Family Photos

Pin It Now! A couple of weeks ago we had family photos taken.  Our wonderful photographer, Teran, posted  them on her blog today!  If you look closely, you can see both of Gene's teeth in one photo. :0)

Take a peek and let me know what you think!

Teran Elaine Photography

**If you live in Central Illinois, I highly recommend Teran!  She was so much fun to work with and has a great personality.**

6 Month Check-up

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Gene had his 6 month Well-Baby appointment on Friday morning.  The building where his doctor is located is situated somewhat awkwardly on the hospital campus.  Most of the parking right outside the door is for doctors or handicapped.  It feels like I part a mile away and then have to hike to the door.  Since a certain someone is becoming a little chunk, I don't like to lug him around in the car seat.  The stroller is also out of the question because there is no room for it in the exam rooms.  I thought ahead and took a carrier and wore him to the appointment.

I accessorize my outfit with a baby :0)

Someone made an oversight in scheduling and scheduled another well-baby appointment 15 minutes before ours.  If you're familiar with these check-ups, they are not 15 minutes.  Since we see a general practitioner instead of a pediatrician, there's only one baby room.  This meant we had to wait quite some time before being called back.  Fortunately, Gene was in a good mood.

The nurse finally called us back and apologized for our long wait.  I undressed Gene and put him on the scale.

Guess how much he weighed?

Just guess.

My chunky monkey is 14 lbs 13 oz!!!  In two months he has gained 4 lbs 7 oz.  75% of this weight gain has been since switching to formula, including a growth spurt Easter weekend.

She went ahead and gave him his shots since Dr. H wasn't ready to see us yet.  Gene did great.  He only cried for a few seconds and then went back to his normal, happy self.  Once Dr. H came in a few minutes later, he was all smiles and giggles for her.

She said he's doing great.  He's still catching up weight-wise, but he's always been healthy and incredibly alert.  He's hitting all of his milestones and doing everything a baby his age should.

She recommended holding off on the sweet potatoes, which stinks because he loves them.  They gave him a nasty diaper rash, though (thanks to the breathability of cloth diapers, it was gone in a couple of days with no creams).  She said since he's still catching up that we don't need to worry about solids for now if we don't want.  

We also had a chat about my deciding to stop nursing.  I told her I'd been pretty sad about it, but she commended me for nursing him for nearly 6 months, which is longer than so many moms.  She also said it's apparent that we have a strong bond, which made me feel good. :0)

Gene didn't have any reactions to his shots this time.  Last time he was fussy and clingy all day.  It seemed like after those few seconds of crying, it was as though the shots hadn't happened.  Why can't they all be like that?

Saturday Adventures

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Now that the temperatures are warming up, it's finally time for yard sales!  If you remember from last year, Mike and I spent many Saturdays browsing yard sales for gently-used baby clothes and gear.  Since we didn't find out until late May that we were expecting a boy, we missed out on all of the city-wide sales in surrounding communities.

But not this year.

My friend Becky told me the other day that a small town 15 minutes to the south was having their city-wide garage sale this weekend, so we decided to go.  We put Gene in the car and hit the road.

Our first stop was Casey's convenient store to pick up our map.  Yes, a map.  It was great.  On the front side it had a map of the town with each sale labeled.  On the back were corresponding numbers with addresses and descriptions of what was being sold.  We circled the sale we wanted to visit and headed in to town.

Many of the sales were Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  A few of the sales we wanted to visit weren't there and many of them didn't seem to have what they advertised.  We did find a few decent sales.  I love rompers and bought him several at one sale, including one with the tags still on it!

I also found him a Caterpillar zip-up sweatshirt.  It's 2T, so it won't fit him for a couple of years.  However, it was $2.  It was official licensed CAT gear, so I know it wasn't cheap.  I checked the CAT online store when I got home and it retails for $24.99.  It looks brand new still.  Bargain!

We ended up having lunch at a local pizza place.  I ordered a brick-oven sandwich.  Why do pizza places have the best sandwiches?  YUM.  Meat.  Cheese.  Bread.  Blue tortilla chips and hummus.  YUM.

Gene and I were wiped out after such an exciting and busy day.  We ended up napping from 5:30PM - 8PM.  Oops!  Fortunately he fell asleep easily after a quick bottle.  Now I just have to cross my fingers he doesn't wake up two hours early tomorrow morning!

Someone Can Scoot!

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What's Up Wednesday: Instagram Edition

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-- Today I managed to do some sewing while Gene played on the dining room floor.  I had some leftover cotton and flannel fabric, so I decided to try and make a faux chenille burp cloth.  It's actually quite a bit of work for something that size.  Lots of straight line sewing.  I still need to bind it and wash it once or twice.  I'm crossing my fingers it turns out well.  If it does, look for it later this week in my Etsy shop!

-- We are in the market for new carpet.  We have nasty old Berber carpet all over our house.  Since we'll soon have a little one crawling all over the place, we want to replace it.  There are so many carpet choices out there it'll make your head spin.  Do we want plush?  Frieze?  What kind of pad?  Memory foam?  Taking a mental break I saw the "carpet" shown above.  That's some pretty serious astro turf.  The second and fourth ones were actually a good 2" long fibers.

-- How adorable is my little man?  I found the onesie at Target a month ago and realized today it would fit him.  He's a handsome little thing.  I think he liked the stripes. :0)

Pen Pals

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Growing up, my best friend was Amanda.  She went to my school from second grade until sixth grade.  Her dad was in the air force, so he was eventually transferred to another base.

Even though she moved away, we continued to keep in touch.  We wrote a lot of letters.  I still have a bunch of them.  I always looked forward to receiving her letters in the mail (I'm kind of obsessed with checking the mail, ask Mike).  We kept in touch through junior high and high school.  Facebook started up soon after we entered college and now we keep in touch that way.

I read through several of her letters today and did a lot of laughing.  It was a bit horrifying to read the letters of a teenage girl from an adult perspective.  We talked about boys in our letters.  A lot.  We always seemed to have boyfriends.

Reading the letters just reminded me of how much I enjoyed getting mail and having a regular pen pal.  Why don't people write letters anymore?  Why don't people send cards just because?  Getting a message on Facebook just isn't the same as corresponding with a pen pal.

So what did I do today?  I got out a couple of sheets of notebook paper and wrote a letter to Amanda (today is her 26th birthday!).  It's been a long time since I've done that much writing by hand.  I'm happy I did it, though, and I hope she is as happy to receive it!

Welcome to My Quilt-a-Long!

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Greetings!  Welcome to my little quilt-a-long (henceforth abbreviated QAL).  During the month of May, I am going to take you through the process of creating a quilt.  If you've always wanted to try quilting but don't know about binding and basting, you're in the right place.  Each week I am going to explain, in detail, how to accomplish each step and some of the associated terminology.

A little bit about me... I am a self-taught quilter.  I was inspired back in the fall of 2005 by a quilt my great-grandmother made a zillion years ago.  I completed my first quilt in just over 4 months.  It's pretty terrible looking, but I'm incredibly proud of it and sleep under it every single night.  I've come quite a ways since then.  I'm still learning and it's likely that I'll be looking things up for this quilt as well. :0)

The quilt we'll be making is based on the Double Slice Layer Cake tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company, which was inspired by Pie Plate Patterns.  The block is simple to make and the finished quilt will contain 20 blocks and be approximately 36"x44".  This would make a good baby quilt.  If you are an experienced quilter (cough*Shanna*cough), you could easily make it larger.  Here is a fancy-schmancy mock-up of the finished quilt that I created using Photoshop Elements:

The QAL will begin on May 1st and I plan to post a new step every Tuesday.  If you plan to participate, here is a list of supplies that you will need before we start.  I will also create a QAL tab at the top of the screen so that you can easily access all of the tutorials without having to sift through posts about my adorable little man.

Supplies:

-- 1 Layer Cake

-- 1 yard fabric for the back

-- Batting

-- 1/2 yard fabric for the binding

-- Thread

-- Rotary cutter 

-- Scissors

-- Cutting mat (if using a rotary cutter)

-- Ruler

-- Iron

-- Ironing board

-- Water soluble marking pen

Terminology

~ Layer cake -- This is a collection of pre-cut fabric in coordinating colors and designs.  The blocks are 10"X10".  I purchased mine from the Missouri Star Quilt Co (I've met these gals, they're amazing.  I encourage anyone to support their store.  Your Internet orders secure employment for the workers of the Hamilton, MO post office. NO JOKE.).  If you buy a layer cake, check how many squares it contains.  We'll only be using 20, so don't go off and buy a cake with 42 in it, unless you really, really love it, of course.  

**If you don't want to buy a layer cake, you could easily choose 6-8 different fabrics and cut 20 squares that measure 10"X10"**

~ Batting -- This is the material that is sandwiched in the middle of your quilt.  You can purchase two types -- cotton or polyester.  You can purchase the polyester batting pre-cut and bagged.  If you go this route you'll want the crib size.  Cotton, on the other hand, generally comes on huge rolls and you tell them how much you need.  I've seen pre-cut cotton batting on Jo-Ann's website, but I can't remember if they have it at my store.  If you go with the custom cut, you probably want a 1 1/4 yards.

~ Binding -- This is the edge of the quilt and the last step between you and sweet completion!  We'll be making our own continuous bias binding.  How cool is that?

~ Rotary cutter -- This is a cutting tool that resembles a pizza cutter.  It will make quick work of fabric cutting.

~ Cutting Mat -- This is a self-healing mat that protects your work surface if you use a rotary cutter.

~ Water soluble marking pen -- this pen is for marking fabric and washes out easily.

SO... there you have it.  I am really excited about this QAL and I hope you are as well.  I plan to add a linky to each post so that you can share your progress with everyone else.  At the very end I'll post pictures of everyone's completed quilts in a little pat-yourself-on-the-back post. :0)

See you May 1st!

Twitter ♥ Facebook ♥ E-mail ♥ Etsy

6 Months

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Dear Gene,

HAPPY HALF-BIRTHDAY!!!

I can't believe I'm already typing that.  Where has time gone?  It feels like just yesterday we were putting you in your swing for the first time and wondering why you kept staring at the walls.  Now you're nearly too big for the swing and we've packed it away.

Over the last month you've mastered sitting up.  You don't push yourself to a sitting position on your own yet, but you have excellent balance when we put you in a seated position.  You still fall over if you get distracted, but it's happening less often.

This month you had your first taste of solid food!  You didn't care for oatmeal, but you love rice cereal.  You also love the spoon, so you'll try anything at this point.  You like to take a bite of cereal and then suck on your thumb.  As a result, meals are messy.  You end up with food all over your hands, your face, and even your hair. 

When you wake up at night you immediately roll onto your tummy, which makes you mad.  Instead of rolling back to your back, you cry until I come and rescue you.  You're always in the strangest places when I arrive.  I often find you up against the side or even in the corner of the crib.

Over the last month we slowly transitioned you from breast milk to formula.  You took to the formula like a champ.  You have a healthy appetite and are finally starting to gain some weight.  At your last visit a couple of weeks ago you weighed 13 lbs 3 oz and were 25" long!  Your 6 month checkup isn't for another week, but I'm eager to see how you're progressing!

We celebrated your first Easter a couple of weeks ago with a trip to Missouri.  You were able to see lots of grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins!  You loved the attention.  You napped a lot better than you did at Christmas, so you were a much happier baby.

You cut your first tooth a couple of weeks ago.  You had a growth spurt the same time you were cutting it, so we had a very rough few nights.  It was like you were a newborn all over again.  Your little tooth is so adorable and your second one will cut the skin any day now.

You still wake up twice a night to eat, but you go right back to sleep.  Daddy has been getting up with you once in a while on the weekends, though he hasn't quite figured out how to get you back to sleep yet.  Baby steps!

I can't believe how much you've learned to do in the last month and how big you've grown!  It's hard to believe that it's already been six months since we welcomed you into our arms.  I don't even want to think about how fast the next 6 months are going to go by!

I love you, Gene!

What's Up Wednesday

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-- We had family pictures taken today!  The weather was perfect for it.  Gene brought his A-game for the first 45 minutes or so, laughing and smiling like it was his job.  The last 15 minutes or so he was clearly getting tired, but by then Mike and I were having a few pictures taken of just the two of us.  Gene was chilling in the stroller.  The gal posted a preview photo on her Facebook page and it looks amazing!  The lighting was gorgeous at that time of day.  Plus, it mainly featured Gene and he's a cutie pie.

-- I ruined my junky rotary cutter the other night.  It was really dull and I thought I'd try to sharpen it with the kitchen knife sharpener.  Piece of advice... NEVER do that.  I ruined the blade.  I finally bought a new one today.  It's awesome.  I was cutting layers of fabric instead of trying to cut through one like I'd been doing.

-- Speaking of fabric, I've finished the first cuts for the Quilt-A-Long project!  I'm working on the introduction for the project and plan to post it on Friday, so keep an eye out for it!  I'm so shocked (and humbled) by the response I've received about it so far.  The QAL was a spur-of-the-moment idea for a series of tutorials someone asked me to do.  I can't wait to get started and hope that you'll all share your projects with me!

-- My cousin Zach is coming to visit in a few weeks.  He and Mike are going to a baseball game, so I know he's really looking forward to it as well!

-- I am SO behind on laundry and housework it isn't even funny.  I'm pretty much failing at the stay-at-home-WIFE part of my job.  I have to get it cleaned before my cousin arrives for his visit!

-- The neighbors are having their house painted.  It needs it.  When we got home today from family pictures, they were working on the side of the house next to ours and had their ladders in the driveway.  Mike said it was a good thing he was driving because I would have hit the ladders!

-- Gene received some sweet gifts this week.  His Uncle Junior and Aunt Marsha sent him Easter goodies (stuffed bear and a ceramic bunny that will definitely become part of our Easter decor).  Our neighbor Sally gave him a plush tool box with little tools in it as well as a romper for this summer.  He's definitely going to look handsome in it once it fits!

-- What am I going to do for the next 1-2 weeks while I wait to see the pictures from today???

New on Etsy

Pin It Now! I've listed a few new products in my Etsy store that I wanted to share with you!

I've had the idea for this first burp cloth for a while now.  I was so excited to finally make one.

How cute is that?  I kind of love it. 

You can buy it alone in my shop or you can buy both burp cloths in the above photo as a gift set!

Coming Soon...

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I just wanted to write a quick note to let everyone know that I am going to be hosting a quilt-a-long starting May 1st.

You don't quilt?  Not a problem!  Each post will include step-by-step instructions.  It'll sort of be a quilt-a-long and tutorial all in one.  How great is that?

This series of posts will be excellent for those of you who have always wanted to try your hand at quilting but aren't sure how to start.  I'll take you through the entire process.  You'll start with a pile of fabric and end with a quilt!

I'm still working out some of the details, so check back later this week for an introduction and supplies list!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, we're making this Double Slice Layer Cake quilt.  It's going to be quick and easy!

[source]

What's Up Wednesday... a Day Late

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-- All day I thought it was Wednesday.  It wasn't until this afternoon that I found out it's actually Thursday.  I felt as though I'd lost an entire day!  I know, it's silly.

-- The Hubs and I finally watched 'We Bought a Zoo' tonight.  We both really liked it.  We've been trying to watch it for a few weeks now (that's what having a baby will do to ya!).  Is it just me or is it strange to see Matt Damon playing the father of a teenager?

-- We went to Missouri over the weekend for Easter.  When we got home Sunday evening, Gene was fussy and tired.  We put him in his bouncer when we got into the house and he went nuts.  He was suddenly the happiest baby in the world.  He definitely missed his bouncer while we were gone.  I love that bouncer.

-- I'm trying out a new overnight solution for our cloth diapers.  Gene is sleeping longer and peeing more and our current routine is having trouble keeping up.  I bought a Hemp Babies diaper doubler.  It's made of organic cotton and absorbs more than microfiber inserts.

-- Gene wore his first pair of overalls this week.  I have been waiting months for them to fit.  Seriously.  How cute are little boys in overalls?  It's probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

-- Since Gene hates oatmeal, we decided to try rice cereal.  I knew he'd open his mouth considering how much he loves the spoons (they're really bright colors!), but I wasn't sure if he'd like it.  Boy, was I wrong.  The boy loves rice cereal.  He gets excited and starts bouncing in his high chair when he sees the spoon and bowl.  I plan to make him sweet potatoes in a few days.  I hope he likes them as much as the rice!

Traveling With Cloth

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Over the weekend we traveled to Missouri to spend Easter with our families.  We decided that, rather than purchasing a package of disposable diapers, we would take our cloth diapers with us.

I'll admit I was nervous about going out of town with cloth.  I wasn't sure that our stash was large enough for the length of time we were going to be gone.  We still had a half package of size 1 Pampers Swaddlers from Christmas, so he wore them from Thursday afternoon until we reached Missouri on Friday afternoon.  This gave me a chance to make sure all of our diapers were clean and ready to go.

[bumGenius 4.0 in Mirror]

Once we reached my in-laws' house, we set up a little diaper station in the guest room.  Since we had our pack-n-play with us, we attached the changing table to the top.  We also brought our diaper pail and our Blueberry drawstring pail liner and set them up next to the pack-n-play.

Our set up worked great!  While we were at the in-laws' we would change him on the p-n-p changing table.  When we were anywhere else we would store the dirty diaper in a small, zippered wet bag.  Once we were back at the in-laws' we would transfer the dirty diapers in to the diaper pail.

[Geffen Baby pre-fold diaper]

Because our pail liner has a drawstring, we didn't have any issues with smell at any point on our trip.  We had it in the floor board behind the driver's seat on the drive home and couldn't even smell it!  It was great.

I'm glad we decided to use cloth diapers on our trip.  It was much easier than I expected!  However, if we ever go on a trip any longer than 2-3 days, I'll have to find a way to do laundry.  That's another adventure all together!

Rough Night!

Pin It Now! I'm typing this on my phone from the glider in Gene's room. I've been here for most of the night.

Last night I put him in his crib around 8PM. He was awake 20 minutes later. This pattern continued until 11:30 when he finally stayed asleep (this always happens on nights when I try and go to bed early).

Gene woke up -- again -- at 1:30AM. This time he was hungry so I fed him and rocked him to sleep.

I've tried going to sleep 3 times since then but have been interrupted each time I close my eyes. I gave up at 4:45AM. It's now 5:30AM and I've been up for approximately 4 hours after only sleeping for 3 hours.

That's plenty, right?

Thank you, teeth, for making Gene so unhappy that only sleeping in my arms will comfort him.

[not from last night]

First Solids

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Last week we gave Gene his first taste of solid food!

He's been trying to grab our food and drinks for a few weeks now, so we thought it was time for him to try his first food.  I cooked up some oatmeal and grabbed the camera.  The hubs stood behind me with it while I fed Gene.

It didn't go especially well.  He tried a few bites but didn't seem to care for the oatmeal.  He really likes the spoon, though, because he eagerly opens his mouth for each bite.

The second time he tried it had much more dramatic results.  He made the most funny "yuck" faces.  I couldn't help but giggle.  

So far we've only tried oatmeal.  Rice is next.  Who knows, perhaps it will go better...