Jacob these days

My little man is five months old today!

5 months old!

Still pretty small. He was just under 13lbs last time he was weighed. But his height has gone up! He was 24.5inches long. If I had to guess I would say he's about 13.5lbs (or more) now, and about 25inches. We'll have to wait and see though. He is still wearing mostly 0-3 month clothes, with a few 3-6 month mixed in.

Jacob wears size two disposable diapers, but this week we've been trying cloth diapering. A good friend from church was nice enough to let me borrow about 18 fuzzibunz diapers while I am still building up my own stash. So far it hasn't been bad.

Right now Jacob only rolls from tummy to back, but is still trying really hard to roll from back to tummy. Yesterday while doing tummy time he scooted backwards a little bit, he wants to be mobile really bad, but can't quite figure it out yet. He's also sitting up really well in his bumbo(ish) seat, and can sit up on his own for 15-20 seconds or so.

Sitting up on his own

Jacob loves standing!

Jacob's teething still, but we think he's pretty close to having some pop through! It feels like he's getting every tooth all at once, all of his gums are swollen. So far teething tablets, baby ibuprofen or tylenol, frozen washcloths, and teething toys have kept the fussiness manageable.

We started giving Jacob rice cereal last week. He had started watching anyone who was eating or drinking and had started making chewing/sucking motions with his mouth while watching us. He really enjoys it, and it seems to have helped his sleeping somewhat. He's now only getting up three times during his 12 hours of sleep, rather than getting up 5-7 times and refusing to stay in his crib more than 9 hours.

We've noticed that Jacob likes hearing the radio and will try to sing along while we are in the car. We tested this by turning the radio off. Radio off = Jacob being silent. Turn the radio back on = Jacob making noise. His newest noise is a high pitched scream, we're trying to nip that in the bud real quick.
Just over the past few days Jacob has learned to high-five. I hold my hand up and say "high-five" and he smacks it...repeatedly.

I think that's about all that's new! It's hard to believe the time is going by so very fast.

He has started to make this face, usually right before a huge smile

Therapy

Cleaning...It's pretty much like therapy to me.

I can have days that I am really frustrated and stressed and nothing seems to be going right, but all I need is 5 minutes to make my bed, load the dishwasher, wipe off the counters, straighten couch cushions...and I already feel almost 100% better! I think it's being able to see that my actions are making an impact in some way. That and clutter and messes can stress me out with out anything else being wrong.

I also love to be organized. There's just something about having neat rows of labeled boxes, rather than who-knows-what being placed who-knows-where. Which means I have this bad habit of buying storage boxes and collapsible cloth bins, and saving clear containers and jars, etc. without having a specific use for them in mind. Oh well, as long as my hubby doesn't mind my partial obsession with neatness and cleanliness, I'll use it as a cheap and easy way to keep my sanity.
Speaking of which, I should go clean the livingroom while Jacob is sleeping...

My new hobby?

FREE! The word kind of grabs your attention doesn't it? Everybody likes gifts, or getting something for nothing...including me.

So, I've started finding offers for free samples online. My favorite site is womanfreebies. They are constantly updating coupons, freebies, and sweepstakes. Mail is exciting again! I never know what I'll get when, it's not just junk mail anymore.
Here's what I've gotten in the last two months:

I got the Target sample beauty bag, which included samples of Simple brand face wipes, L'oreal lumi makeup primer, Neutrogena brightening face wash, Nivea ultra moisturizer, and Pantene color hold.

Two samples of Escada fragrances.

A Sample of Gevalia's new kaffe coffee.

Six single serve packets of nescafe taster's choice instant coffee. I already used the samples of decaf, and liked it so much I went and bought more!

A sample of purex ultra packs laundry detergent.

And a sample of gud  body lotion.(by the makers of Burt's Bees.) This stuff smells amazing! I got the blood orange scent.

Yesterday I got two more samples in the mail. Tide pods, and quakers oatmeal squares.

I love when companies are wiling to let us try before we buy! And out of the 4 things I've already tried, I did go and buy 3 of them.

What do you love about freebies?

And so it began...

A year ago today (May 2nd, 2011) was a day that I doubt I will ever forget. It had been about a week or so that I had been having some pregnancy symptoms.

Two months earlier I had had every pregnancy symptom in the book and all the dates and numbers were lining up, but when I took a pregnancy test it was negative. Another week went by with continued and worsening symptoms, then I experienced what was very likely a miscarriage. I'll never know for sure, but it was some of the worst few days of my life.

So here I was the beginning of May with the same thing happening. All the symptoms, dates lining up...and I was terrified. Scared that I was getting my hopes up for nothing, that I would go through all the emotional and physical pain I had just been through. I kept thinking that I would just wait one more week to see...then another week. I was starting to think I would wait a third week, but Alex and I got home from church on Sunday (May 1st) and I just broke down in tears. I wanted a baby so bad, I wanted to be pregnant, but I didn't want to take a test and find a negative again. I wanted to cling to that tiny hope I had that if I just kept putting off knowing for sure, I could keep imagining that it was real. My dear husband, he knew exactly what to say. He told me that not finding out just to cling to a hope was foolishness. That I was putting my life on hold for something that may or may not be true. That I shouldn't be trying to find happiness in a baby, that as a christian my true joy and purpose in life should be found in God. We decided that I would take a pregnancy test the next day. If it was negative I could be sad, then move one, if it was positive...it would open up a whole new part of life for us.

I spent that entire night dreaming of different outcomes, positive, negative, positive again. Happy, sad, surprised. I woke up exhausted, but Alex and I ran to wal-mart and picked up a test. As I was waiting for the results I was preparing myself for a negative. I had done this before and I knew how it would turn out. So when the time was up and I glanced at it I was shocked to see a second pink line. It was faint, but it was there. Alex was in the other bathroom at the time, so I didn't bother him, I just went to the kitchen and started working on the dishes. Because of my non-reaction, when Alex came out he also assumed that it was negative. He just hugged me tight and didn't say a word....then I looked up at him and asked if he was ready to have to buy a slew of diapers. The look on his face was priceless, and he hugged me even tighter!

And so began the adventure with our little "Berry".

I'm still so amazed that God saw fit to bless us with such a wonderful gift.