Jacob these days.

 Jacob is now six and a half months old!! It seems crazy how fast the time is going.

Six months!

He hasn't been weighed or measured lately, but I know he's growing! Jacob is now wearing pretty much all 3-6 month clothes.
It seems like more of a personality emerges every day, and we love getting to experience it! Jacob is a little bit dramatic, about everything. He goes from extremely happy and smiley to sobbing if something goes wrong. But now that he has stopped teething (without any coming through) he is usually a happy baby and laughs and smiles a lot. He loves people and will smile at pretty much anyone, especially if they tell him he's cute.

Jacob has hit a few different milestones just in the past few weeks. One day he was playing on his back and when Alex and I looked back at him he was on his tummy! After all this time waiting for him to roll over we missed it. But now he rolls over all the time, even in his crib at night! He doesn't like rolling back over to his back though, I think it feels like too sudden of a movement to him. Jacob hates being off-balance.
Once he started sitting up in his bath, it seemed like siting up on his own just clicked for Jacob. He now sits up on his own for long periods of time, I think the longest has been about an hour. He just sits in the middle of the floor playing with his toys, and balances really well! He has only toppled over a handful of times.

Sleep has still been a problem. It's been over 3 months now that Jacob wakes up anywhere from 2-7 times a night, or more. Monday night he was up at least once per hour until 5am, when he finally slept until 8. We're going to be working on this problem over the next few weeks though, and hopefully next time I will have a positive update! I also want to work on weaning him from his paci at night.

Jacob loves food! He gets one 4oz jar of veggies with some rice cereal in the evenings, and has just started getting a little bit of fruit in the mornings. So far the only thing he has refused to eat is banana! His favorites are avocado, squash, sweet potato, or a frozen strawberry in his mesh feeder.

There are so many little things I love about Jacob, I can't even try to write them all, but I will share a few of my favorites...even though I know he is so much cuter, sweeter, and more wonderful in person.

*When he thinks something is funny Jacob tries to smile so big that he looks like he wants to take a bite out of something.

BIG smile!!

*Jacob is independent to the extreme. He wants to be able to feed himself, but doesn't quite have the motor skills necessary yet. Which makes feeding a rather messy affair more often than not. Oh, and he likes to talk with food in his mouth, which equals a spray of whatever pureed veggie he is eating at the time. I know I shouldn't laugh.

*One of the times Jacob was getting upset about us not feeding him fast enough we gave him the bowl and spoon...he threw the spoon and proceeded to drink the rice cereal. We managed to get a picture!

*Burping is hilarious, it will get a big grin from him every time...unless it's so loud and sudden it makes him cry.

*Jacob hates violence...even if it's just a group of teenagers having a tickle war, when he thinks someone is being hurt he starts bawling.

*Jacob wants to move forward but doesn't know how. When he's on his tummy and you call for him, he picks up his arms and legs and grunts.

Being a bookworm runs in the family

I love these two guys!!

Bath time!

I've mentioned before how much Jacob loves his bath time, but for the past few days he had been fussing in his bath and we weren't sure what was wrong. We had chalked it up to him being tired and all too ready to go to bed.
Last night I got an early start on his bedtime routine, and he was doing really good! I put him in his bath tub and let him sit up for a little bit. We've been letting him practice sitting on his own for a few weeks now at least, but he hasn't been very good at balancing for long, but last night he was sitting up really well! Jacob balanced himself with an arm on the side of the tub and sat there looking around for a little while. When I went to lay him down and get started washing him he started fussing, just like he had the previous nights. I knew he wasn't that tired, he had just had a nap. So I sat him back up again and he was fine. Our little man has decided that he's big enough to spend his whole bath time sitting up on his own. No more laying back on a sling to keep his head out of the water!

Jacob was so proud of himself we had to take a few pictures. I can't believe how fast he's growing up!

Happy again once I figured out he just wanted to sit up.

He spent most of bath time splashing!

DIY baby wipes

As new parents and a young married couple, Alex and I are trying to find more and more ways to be financially responsible. Things like eating out less, walking to the store instead of driving, buying groceries from a store that offers gas reward points, trying cloth diapering (I may have to write a post on that subject later!) etc. One of the ways I have been saving us just a bit of money each month is by making my own baby wipes. It's really easy, and one batch lasts me about 2 months, so I thought I would share.

You'll only need a few supplies

A roll of paper towels, a container for the wipes, and some baby wash.

I have found that in the case of paper towels, cheapest is not best. Spending a few extra dollars on a brand name will make the wipes more durable, and we prefer the "select-a-size" style.
Wal-mart sells some nicer looking containers if you don't like the look of my whipped cream ones. You could probably even find one tall enough that you could skip the following step. Just remember that if you use a whole roll, you'll need to combine the amounts of water and soap in one jar too.

Use a non-serrated knife to cut the paper towels in half.

You can kind of just eyeball the halfway point for this step, then have at it! It may take a little bit of elbow grease.

Ta-da!

Mix about 1 and 1/4 cups of warm water, and 2 Tbsp of baby wash in each container

For this batch I used 1 and 1/2 cups of water and they're just too wet! You can mess around with the amounts until you get the wipes exactly how you want them. Just remember that you'll need enough water to soak through all the layers of paper towel. I love that I can change up the scent by using different soaps, I'm sure you can even find hypo allergenic soap if your baby has extra sensitive skin.

Put the paper towels in the soap mixture

Make sure the lids are on tight and flip the containers over

I usually just guess how long to leave the paper towels soaking. It doesn't take a lot of time, about 20 minutes at the most.

Pull out the cardboard tube

The cardboard should be soggy and easily pulled out from the middle. If it's too soggy it will tear some, but still come out.

Pull out the middle paper towel so you can easily get to it when needed

And there you have it! A whole batch of wipes for just a few cents per wipe! I love how easy these are, and I don't know for sure if it's related to the wipes, but I have noticed that my little Jacob has not had a diaper rash since I started using these!

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.