Oh baby!

Things continue to go pretty well around these parts all things considered: Charlie appears to be a boob man so I'm getting to experience all of the joys (bonding time with a snuggly baby) and frustrations (bad latching, ouch) that come with exclusively breastfeeding a newborn.  My body seems to be healing pretty well even though my mom and Captain Husband have to remind me several times a day to take it easy and not overdo it.  Having a surprise c-section kind of threw a wrench into how I expected things to go once Charlie and I came home from the hospital, like having to send my mom out on an emergency underwear run because everything I owned managed to hit right at my incision (I currently have a love-hate relationship with my giant granny panties and will probably have a party the day that I no longer have to wear them); plus there's the whole not-being-allowed-to-drive thing.  But other than that, things couldn't be better--well, they'd be better if I could figure out a way to get Sammy and Charlie to nap at the same time, but that might be asking for too much.  I'm going to cut back on posting for the next few weeks while I continue to recover and get into a rhythm with the two boys, but hopefully I'll be posting at least once a week; after all, I have two cute kiddos to photograph now!

Time for some fun!

It's amazing how nice it can become outside once the sun starts to set in El Paso--I swear, it feels like the temperature drops by about fifteen degrees once the sun starts making its way towards the western horizon.  Since Sammy still had a lot of energy to burn after dinner the other day, I suggested to my mom that we take him to White Spur Park to run around for a bit.  It's been awhile since we were last there and I was pretty surprised at just how more adventurous Sammy had become in the interim--he even tackled a rope bridge all on his own and without any hesitation; that was kind of a big deal for my typically risk-averse toddler.

After he had his fill of climbing and sliding, Sammy asked Gramz to push him in the swings; he flew up into the sky, laughing and smiling the whole time--I was pretty glad that I had thought to grab my camera as we made our way out of the house because he was totally cheesing it the whole time we were at the park.  We all had a healthy dose of fun and then it was off to cool down with some ice cream and then head home.  I hope your weekend was as fun-filled as ours was!

My first photo shoot

A few weeks ago I had the chance to photograph my friend's month-old daughter, Olivia; this was my first time doing any type of photo shoot for a kid that didn't belong to me.  Technically I was on bed rest when I took these, but I staged and photographed everything in my bedroom, so that should totally count for something as far as I'm concerned.

Once we figured out what made her happy/sleepy (hint: a full belly and a very warm room--I was sweating like a stuck pig), the photos practically composed themselves.

I still have so much to learn but I'm sure my little guy will give me plenty of practice opportunities as soon as he decides to make an arrival.

Olivia's big brother, Javier, joined in on the fun after spending most of the morning running around and playing with Sammy.  He's such a loving and sweet big brother--hopefully he'll give Sammy some pointers when the time comes.

Twenty-four-month update, aka Sammy's two!

Sammy turned two on Saturday and I'm still kind of wrapping my head around the fact that I've got myself a bona fide toddler on my hands.  Sammy has his two-year wellness checkup later this week but I'm going to guess that he's about 36" tall and around 32 pounds, give or take.  Sammy's still wearing all 3T clothing but he's just about outgrown his size eight sandals.  As for teeth, he has at least one of his two-year-old molars and I think another one is starting to make its way into his mouth, as Sammy's been chewing on his fingers and drooling non-stop the past few days.

 I'm no longer able to keep up with the amount of new words he's been picking up--seriously, some days it's a dozen at a time, although a few of the more notable words stick out, like "watermelon" and "suicide" (I still have no idea what possessed Captain Husband to teach him that one).  He's also starting to talk in three- and four-word sentences and has gotten really good at adjective/noun combos.  Another new trick is singing along to the chorus of certain songs--it's pretty darn adorable when he starts dancing and singing to New Sensation by INXS.

Other stats/fun stuff: Sammy can count to fourteen (this is because we have fourteen steps between the first and second floors) and knows all of his colors and shapes.  He loves to color and paint and building puzzles are one of his favorite activities.  Sammy loves being read to and "reading" his picture books to himself.  He's still a pretty good eater although he's recently started eschewing utensils, which is kind of funny because he hates having messy hands and will ask me or CH for a napkin at least three times over the course of a meal.  Sammy seems to have gotten over his clingy phase--thank goodness--and can go from shy to rambunctious in a few seconds.  I know I may complain some times about how big of a handful he can be at times, but I don't think I could love this kid any more than I already do.  I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for all of us!

Happiness is a Hello Kitty blanket (and leftover cake)

 

I was going to try and do another "Let's get real" post today, but I just couldn't get it right no matter how many times I attempted it.   So here's a cute photo of Sammy loving on his new fuzzy Hello Kitty blanket, which is actually bath wrap of some kind that my mother-in-law got me for my birthday (but was made for someone about 6" shorter than me--not that I'm all that modest, but that thing left nothing to the imagination).  In other news, Captain Husband turned 34 years young on Friday, so I baked him a cake:

It was my first time making pineapple upside down cake, but I was determined to do it, especially as CH had informed me that it was one of his favorite cakes a few years ago.  Unfortunately, due to deployments and other separations, I haven't really had the opportunity to actually make him a cake for his birthday so I thought that this would be a good way to celebrate being in the same zip code and all.  I have to admit that I cheated a bit and used a yellow cake mix rather than making the whole thing from scratch, but CH didn't seem to mind at all (here's the recipe I used if you're interested).  What's your favorite kind of cake?

Flags of our fathers

Today we pause and take the time to remember the American service members who died while fighting in defense of this country; the sacrifices of these brave men and women and their families will not be forgotten.  My family and I would also like to offer our most heartfelt thanks to all of the active-duty service members, veterans, and their families for all they have done and continue to do.

On a somewhat related note, I decided to update my yarn wreath with some patriotic flair over the weekend in honor of the holiday; my wreath was still sporting the felt flowers that I made last fall and was serious need of a new look.  Inspired by this tutorial, I made some paper medallions in red, white and blue and affixed them to the wreath using barrette clips that I hot-glued to the back of each medallion.  I think it's pretty enough to leave up at least until the Fourth of July.  Here's hoping you all have a wonderful holiday today!

Say Uncle

My brother and his family's visit has been beneficial to all of us; Sammy in that he's learned how to interact with someone much smaller than him and me in that I was given a small taste of what it's going to be like to have two kids under foot in the house, but I think this visit has been the most enlightening for Captain Husband.  It's easy for me to forget at times that CH has never really been around kids in this age group, but he was only here for the very beginnings of Sammy's newborn phase and then he came home a year later to a toddler that was walking, sleeping through the night, and feeding himself.

This visit has been eye-opening for CH at the very least--dealing with an eight-month old who can sit on his own but isn't quite crawling yet, that still takes a bottle a few times a day and needs to be fed in a high chair for all of his meals, who is beginning to cut his first tooth and thus waking up crying several times in the night, is a far stretch from having a walking, talking, sleeping-all-night-in-a-big-boy-bed toddler in the house.  But CH has taken to the differences between Henry and Sammy like a duck to water, so I know that he's going to be just fine this second time around.  But then again, a little practice never hurt anyone, right?  Plus it always helps that our nephew thinks his uncle is a pretty funny guy.

Out of this world (and out of whack)

I hope you all got a chance to check out the biggest full moon of the year on Saturday night--it was a pretty spectacular sight here in El Paso, although my photo doesn't really do it justice as I'm awful at night photography and couldn't be bothered to take the time to set up the tripod to do things properly.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew are arriving in here this morning; it's the first time we've seen them since Thanksgiving last year, so you can imagine just how excited I am about their visit.  As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing worse than traveling half-way across the country only to spend your first day there tracking down the brand of diapers that you like, or scavenging for age-appropriate snacks for your nearly eight-month-old, so to that end I spent most of the weekend running to various stores and getting things set up for them.  Well, between that and attempting to clean up the house a bit (we're going to have a crawler in the house, eek!), I managed to mess up my lower back something awful.  Throw in a thirty-pound toddler that still needs to be picked up and put in his car seat several times a day and now I'm hobbling around like a pregnant octogenarian.  If anyone has some tried and true remedies for alleviating some of the discomfort, I'm all ears!

In command

Friday was a big day for Captain Husband; he assumed command of a battery of just over a hundred soldiers.  He's been waiting a long time for this and I couldn't be more proud of him--I just know he's going to do a wonderful job.

This was my first time attending a military ceremony (and Sammy's too), so I wasn't quite sure what to expect; fortunately it was held outdoors, so Sammy plopped himself down in the dirt and spent the entire time quietly playing with some of his matchbox cars.  The ceremony itself was short, sweet and to the point, with the outgoing commander passing the unit guidon (or flag for those of you new to military speak) to CH in a symbolic transfer of power.

CH then led the battery in formation and then it was time to break for some refreshments.  It was one of those situations where I didn't know a single person, but everyone seemed to know who I was and kept coming up to introduce themselves to me--it's going to take me a while to learn all of these new faces and names!  Sammy had a blast running around and many of the soldiers were more than happy to indulge him in little games of chase and tickle monster; I was worried that he might get confused by all of the people in uniform and start calling random dudes daddy, but fortunately, that never happened.

Part of the ceremony included a presentation of roses to the outgoing commander's wife and to me; they're really quite lovely although Sandy seems to be under the impression that they're meant for her...to eat.

Breaking records

Sammy and I participated in the second annual Great Cloth Diaper Change this past Saturday; we had joined in on the fun last year when we went home to visit my family in Pennsylvania over Easter, so when I heard that there was going to be an El Paso location, I quickly signed the two of us up.

It also helps that the change was taking place at Jungle Jaks, a huge indoor playground on the east side of El Paso--all of the participants were allowed to play for free following the event, which totally sweetened the deal.  Sammy had been there once before, so I knew he would have a good time running around and playing with all of the other cloth-diapered kiddos.

The turnout this year was a bit more than I expected, which is pretty awesome because it means the word is getting out about the benefits of cloth diapering (or perhaps everyone wanted that free play pass).  The El Paso location had thirty two kids participating last year, whereas this year there were a whopping sixty four kids involved.  The changing quarters were a bit cramped, but everyone was excited to be there in the hopes of breaking the Guinness record that was set last year for the most cloth diapers changed simultaneously.

Afterwards Sammy ran around and played while I chatted with some of the other parents in attendance about the different cloth diapering systems everyone uses; it was nice getting to talk shop with some experienced fluff fanatics (and I'm sure Captain Husband appreciated the break from my recent non-stop diaper talk).  There were also raffles and prizes for the attendees and I was very surprised when I won two of the door prizes--a free month of classes at Gymboree and two dozen jars of Earth's Best baby food, which will come in handy when my nephew, Hank, comes to visit in a few weeks.  All in all it was a great way to spend the day--plus Sammy napped for several hours once we made it back to the house.  So how did you spend your Earth Day weekend?

Baby got back

A few weeks ago, Sammy started soaking through his diapers in a record amount of time.  I was at a loss, but I knew one thing for sure--I was getting really tired of mopping pee off of the floor several times a day.  I was getting so desperate for a solution that I almost resorted to disposables, but Sammy managed to flood through those in less than a half an hour (surely that has to be a record of some sort).  I talked to a few cloth-diapering friends who informed me that my beloved Fuzzi Bunz tend to max out once the wearer nears thirty pounds.  Crap.  Now what?  I had a few fitteds and prefolds left over from Sammy's old night-time routine so I tried a few different combos and struck gold with the following:

I've had to buy some additional components like more fitteds and covers, but I've gotten really lucky on eBay and Spot's Corner, so it hasn't been too expensive (contrary to what Captain Husband thinks); I also just ordered some wool wrap covers by Imse Vimse in the hopes that they will make this new system even more awesome.  Sammy can now go about an hour and a half to two hours between changes, as opposed to once every 30 minutes when he was in his Fuzzi Bunz (and a hemp doubler--my kid has the bladder of a race horse). 

The only downfall to my new super soaker combination is that it's a bit bulky and I may have to size up Sammy's shorts to 4T just so I can pull them over his giant butt.  He may look a little funny with that big bottom of his, but anything is better than dealing with the constant diaper changes and whatnot.  Since I've made the switch I've managed to cut way back on the amount of laundry I had to do thanks to all of Sammy's leaks.

And as you can see, the added bulk hasn't impeded Sammy's flexibility one bit. Have a great Earth Day Weekend everyone!