7 Months!

Happy 7 month Birthday Alex!

Sleep:

• You've been going to bed around 7:30 - 8:00.  Some mornings you sleep in and I have to wake you up at 7:45/8:00 so I can feed you and get to work!
• You've been sleeping in on the weekends, until 8:30, and sometimes 9:00.
• Your naps at home have been going really well.  We're still working on daycare, but when you take one there sometimes it's for 3hrs!

Feeding:

• You are eating every 3hrs (5x/day).  You take 6.5oz bottles at daycare.
• You're eating solids once a day.  You've tried lots of different things.  I'm pretty sure your favorite is prunes!  

Weight:

• We went in to get your eye looked at and you weighed 18lbs 7oz fully clothed, so I'm guessing around 18lbs 4oz.

Length:

•  No measurement this month.
  

Diapers:

• We're still doing cloth diapers.  We use the BumGenius Elemental Organic All-In-One One-Size.  You're on the second setting.
• When we travel or are out much we do disposables.  We also do them at night.  Wearing size 3's.  I like the Huggies Little Movers the best.
• Cloth diapering with solids is (still) proving to be interesting!

Clothes:

• You are wearing 6-9/9mo/6-12mo clothes.  You have a huge wardrobe now that Christmas is over.  Hopefully you stay in this size for a while and get some good wear out of all of them!

Personality/Likes/Miscellaneous:

• You celebrated your first Christmas, here in NC.  Grandma and Grandpa Bouchard came down to celebrate with us.
• You got lots of fun new toys and are learning to play with them all.
• The day after Christmas we noticed your first tooth popped up.  You weren't acting too fussy, so we were really surprised.  2 days later, #2 made an appearance.
• Lately solids have been hit or miss.  You definitely do not like veggies!
• You sleep face down in your crib, butt in the air, rather cute!
• We got to go to playgroup twice this month and it was fun to see everyone again.
• You LOVE your jumperoo!  Auntie Sarah got you a new Step-n-play music toy that you stand in too and you're getting used to that.
• We went up to Baltimore and cousin Shannon watched you while mommy and daddy went to the Redskins/Patriots game.  She was sad because you slept most of the time, but loved playing with her when you finally woke up!
• You hate being on your belly, you want to either sit or stand.  We've put you on your belly a few times and you've gotten up on all fours, head down, but no movement.  It's ok, no need to crawl too soon.  :-)
• You have become pretty loud and like to make lots of noise!  You've started chanting da-da-da-da constantly.  I've tried to get you to say ma-ma-ma-ma but no luck!
• You started clapping on New Year's Eve day.
• You LOVE bathtime!  You cry when we take you out!

What we've been up to:

• Week 27
• Week 28
• Merry Christmas 
• Week 29
• Week 30

Thursday Thoughts

Whoa, hello 2012! How have I not blogged yet. A few thoughts for today.

• Check out my feature over on Through Clouded Glass today! This is a first for me and was lots of fun. And if you don't read Callie Nicole's blog then you should!

• I've got a mental list of goals for 2012 and now I just need to compile them all.  (I know we've all read like 100 different lists since the New Year)

• My parents got Alex a Radio Flyer Wagon for Christmas and we went for a short walk in the cul-de-sac on New Years day since it was 66 out!  While he's a little too small for it, he definitely loved it!

• Going back to work after 11 days off and home with the little guy is sooo tiring. 

• We just planned our beach weekend for May and it's going to be both of our families, I'm really nervous about this!

• We are working on coming up with some 'together' hobbies and some 'alone' hobbies.  We've got the 'alone' ones pretty much covered, but we're looking for some 'together' ideas.  Anyone have any good ideas that you do just the 2 of you (most likely at home while the kidd-o is sleeping)?  Any suggestions for a good 2-person card game?

Sorry, that's about all I've got for today.  Work has certainly drained me this week and I'm so looking forward to the weekend.  Hope you are all having a great start to 2012!

2011 in Review

Apparently while I'm on vacation I am worse at blogging and reading blogs/commenting then when I'm working! Onward and upward!

With only a few hours before 2012, but I thought I'd do a quick recap post of 2011!

January

• Returned from my un-intended blogging break to announce our family is getting bigger!
• Reached the halfway point and found out that we're having a boy!

February

• Visited Lake Tahoe (end of January too!) and even though I didn't get to ski, I had a great time!

March

• Contemplated what baby boy's nursery was going to look like and wondered if I could convince the husband to paint squares on his wall.
• Had my first baby shower in NY with my family.

April

• Our friends hosted a baby shower for us in NC as well!
• I recapped my pregnancy must-haves!

May

• We decided to use cloth diapers.
• Celebrated our 2nd Anniversary.

June

• I shared Alex's nursery.
• We welcomed our sweet baby boy! And got his newborn pictures done!

July

• I shared Alex's birth story.
• We traveled home to meet family and friends and spent some time in the pool!

August

• A quiet month on the blog front.  Went and saw The Help and it had a great message (besides the intended story line).

September

• I flew with Alex to NY alone and made it out ok on the other side.
• Made my first diaper cake.
• I worried about going back to work.

October

• Took a little blogging break, was getting really stressed out.
• My little monkey celebrated his first Halloween.

November

• Did a cloth diaper update (pre-solids).
• Wrote a day-in-the-life post.
• Caught some super sweet giggles on camera.

December

• We got our first photo Christmas card as a family.
• Celebrated 6 months of our little munchkin!
• Celebrated our first Christmas as a family of 3!

Hubs and I are spending the night home, watching some movies/tv, enjoying a few snacks.  Most likely I'll be asleep before mid-night too!  No complaints here though.  2011 was fabulous, here's to 2012 and all that it will bring us!

Merry Christmas!

Joy to the world! The Lord is come: 

let earth receive her King!  

Let every heart prepare him room  

and heaven and nature sing. 

Merry Christmas!

#WEverb11 #6-#11: Playing Catch-Up #1

Rather than bombard you with several posts, I thought I would group them together from now on. Here's the first set to catch-up! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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#6:  Favor

What was your favorite month of 2011?  Why did it beat out all 11 the other months?
      contributed by Jen [http://livingabrighterlife.blogspot.com] 

Ok, so I feel like all my replies are baby related, but hey that's what happened this year.

My favorite month was June!  That's when Alex was born!  I feel like the 5 before that were all just waiting in anticipation.  The 6 after that were great too
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#7:  Travel

Where did you travel this year? What was your favorite part? If you didn’t get to travel, where do you want to go next year?
      Contributed by Allison [hisbirdiesnest.blogspot.com]

I feel like we actually did get to travel quite a bit this year.  I went to my parents house 4 times this year, which is a ton!  At the beginning of the year we also got to go to Lake Tahoe, which was fun (though I wish I could have actually skiied!  I think my favorite part of all our traveling was everyone meeting Alex.  I was so happy he got to meet so much family and all of the love they showed us.  Next year I hope that we get to go on vacation as a family!
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#8:  Choose

What was the biggest choice you made in 2011? What caused you to choose what you chose?
      contributed by Melissa [53blonde.com] 

The biggest choice we made in 2011 (Though I guess it was really 2010) was Alex, and we had to 'cater' to him.  That meant we couldn't go out and just do whatever/whenever.  That felt huge to us.  Sometimes we felt stuck at home, but he is so easy/versatile that we definitely went out a lot and were not those ppl that stay home and do nothing because we have a kid.  We chose to work him into our lives instead of letting him keep us from what we want to do.
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#9:  Appreciate

In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?
      contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com] 

I'm pretty sure this goes without say, but the moment I saw my son for the first time was just a flood of emotions.  Gratitude being one of them.  The fact that we were able to have a baby and not struggle like so many people do.  That he was healthy and a fairly 'easy' newborn.  That we had friends and family around us that loved him already and did whatever for us and him!
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#10:  Create

Share a creative project you undertook this year (art, writing, DIY, cooking, home decoration, crafts, photography … whatever comes to mind). How do you use your creativity to express yourself?
      contributed by Tara [twowishes.com] 

I was all ready to say my creativity was pretty low this year and then I went back and looked on the blog and realized that I felt extremely creative when we did the wall to the nursery!  I seriously love it so much and when I'm sitting and feeding Alex, I'll just look at it and think of the fun we had painting it and making it work.

I find that creativity is the easiest way to express myself because sometimes I tend to struggle with words, but when I create something I feel really proud of it and want the person I created it for to feel loved and the work that I put into it.  I really hope that in 2012 I can put my 'creative cap' back on and do some more projects than I did in 2011.
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#11:  Try

What 12 new things do you want to do/accomplish in 2012?
      contributed by Kimba [ultratrailgoddess.com] 

These aren't all new, but all things I want to do/accomplish!

1. Run in a 10K race
2. Pay off my car! - This will be the first car I've 100% owned
3. Seek out a new job
4. Some re-decorating around the house (mostly just accessories)
5. Create Alex's 1yr book
6. Finish my pregnancy book
7. Create photo books for the last few years and/or organize/back-up photos.
8. Reorganize my office/workspace/craft/sewing area
9. Highlight/Color my hair - I know this sounds silly, but I've never had my hair salon colored and only highlighted once (like 7yrs ago)
10. Find local things to do around Raleigh - especially free/kid friendly
11. Get myself back to church more regularly - We attended regularly before Alex was born, but a newborn really got us off track.
12. Read more!  I was reading lots before and I don't think I've read a single book since June. 

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For more info on #WEverb11, check it out here, and join in!