Happy 6 Months!!

First off, I can NOT believe you are already 6 months old- half a year!! I know I'll blink again, and you'll be in school, then off to college. I am not ready for that. Turning 6 months is emotional enough for me right now. I have tears just reflecting on these months. How they go by so fast. 

To our sweet babies:

Paisley- You still smile with your eyes, and it makes my day every time I see such sincere joy. I love that you wrinkle your nose with your smile when you get excited. You are very verbal, sweet P. You talk when you wake up from naps, when you eat, while we play, and before you go to sleep. Sometimes you talk when you wake up in the middle of the night. You have a sweet voice.... most of the time. I admit, when I'm changing your diaper and your brother is still asleep, the pacifier is a mute button. Saying "shhh" just makes you laugh. 

You love your cereal! After each bite we always say, "mmmmm," and that wrinkled nose kind of smile beams from ear to ear. Thank you for thinking I'm funny. I know God must get quite a kick out of the dancing, singing, and silliness that goes on in our home. :o)

You have certainly found your feet, and you love playing with them! You love looking at books! You enjoy sitting in the high chair so you can see everything. When being carried, you turn your head from side to side in order to see your environment. You are incredibly attentive, and if I sneak out of the room, most often you cry. I don't have to interact with you at all times, but you are secure with someone in sight. 

You are up to 2 tablespoons of cereal twice a day. We actually started a new schedule today, and I hope you adjust well. You don't nap very long- usually about 45 min to an hour. 

I am excited to watch you grow into a beautiful young lady. I hope your heart continues to be sensitive to others and forever endearing. I love you.

Mac- You are laid back and easy going. You don't get upset often, and it takes a hungry belly or tired body to make you cry. You have a sweet, open mouth smile :o) I love making you laugh since you are easily chuckled. When you're tired, you start humming. Even in your crib, you hum yourself to sleep. 

 You roll over every time I lay you on your back, and you are starting to push up on your hands. Nap times are pretty easy with you, though you are partial to me laying you down. I love holding you when you're tired because the cuddling is so sweet. :o)

Your favorite toys are your hands, your lovey, blowing raspberries with your tongue, and the play gym. You are so proud of yourself as you hit something that makes noise. You look around for praise. It's so sweet, my Macaroo.

You are such a sweet, sweet boy. I embrace our moments while I am the only girl in your life. I love you, Mac.

Here are your 6 month pictures, M and P! 

Thank you for believing that I hung the moon, sweet babies, and thank you for giving me six incredible months. Tear. :o)

-mommy and daddy

Yay, Thursday!

Mac and Paisley's Mimi and Geep (Jordan's  parents) came to visit today! It's been fun visiting, and we are excited to have them here :o) We were so excited M and P had to get lots of rest.

We were ready when Mimi and Geep got here. They gave lots of hugs and kisses, and we had a great visit. Jordan came home early, and we love those days! 

M and P were all giggles today, and they are super excited to have their Mimi and Geep here overnight.

They couldn't stay up for the slumber party, but M and P will rejoin the party in the morning. :o)

-ashley

Valentines!

Happy Valentine's Day!! We made cards, but they're still sitting in my kitchen because Paisley's aren't finished. Here is a picture of Mac's Valentine's card-

He squeezed his toes together on the left foot. It was fun watching his reaction to having paint on his feet and between his toes. :o)

Today we went to the children's hospital to have their labs drawn. The GI wants to check their liver enzyme levels. Paisley's continues to be elevated, and we checked Mac's to see where his level is. My dad has chronic elevated liver enzymes so this could be a genetic issue. We need to get medical files to let Paisley and Mac's GI look at the charts. Hopefully it's nothing, but we welcome any prayers on their behalf. 

Here they are after having their blood drawn... Mac was pitiful. Paisley doesn't fuss as much.It turns my stomach. 

I talked here about Mac popping his head up after nap, and I finally got a picture to show you:

Happy Valentine's Day from Mac and Paisley!

-ashley

pinterest projects

Have you fallen into the Pinterest trap?? It is a great resource to find DIY projects and ideas for a slue of things. It's also a great way to kill time.. like when you're nursing, pumping, or don't know where to begin the day so you just aimlessly search this site ;-) 

It hasn't all been wasteful, however, since I have found some really neat ideas and projects. I wanted to share with you a few of the projects I have finished.

My favorite is this light... made from a kitchen colander! My mom found a colander for me, and I spray painted it a dark silver. Then Jordan went to Home Depot to get all of the pieces to make it work. We didn't even have to drill any holes. 

 This is how it looks. Mac and Paisley love looking at the reflections on the ceiling. It took us a couple of bulbs to find the right one... To get this look and not be blinded by the bulb, we ordered a mirror bulb. Pretty cool, huh??

The second project I got from Pinterest is this picture frame. Write I love you because... on a piece of scrapbook paper, and fit the paper in the frame. Then write notes back and forth with dry erase markers. It's been quite entertaining for us. 

I still need to add a few fun things to the frame, but here's the idea.

Lastly, I framed Mac and Paisley's outfits they wore home from the hospital. These laughing bee originals were made by a dear friend, I can't believe M and P were so small. Okay, I can, but this time is so fleeting. It's already been almost 6 months since we brought them home!!! 

And here we are today...

As always, this cup overflows :-)

-ashley

daily humor

I have to share some funny things from yesterday...

First off, Mac has started to melt around 11ish, which isn't like him. They sleep from 8:30-9:50, nurse at 10, and we do cereal at 11. Before starting cereal, we would play until they went to sleep at 11:30. Since adding cereal, I have played around with when to give it to them... Either way, I feed cereal one at a time.

Since P finishes nursing first, I give her the cereal first. I used to feed her at 11, then him at 11:15. Well they were both puddles in the floor by the time that meal was finished so I pushed feeding up 15 minutes: P eats at 10:45, and M eats at 11. She loves her cereal and eats it pretty well. She's up to 2.5 tablespoons. Then I watch her cues as to whether she still has energy to play or needs to lay down.

A meltdown in the making

Mac is next.. He very intent when he watches her eat. He follows the spoon with his eyes- bowl to mouth, bowl to mouth. Sometimes I sidetrack and give him a bite. ;o) Then when it's his turn, the poor boy melts... So I play musical chairs trying to figure which position makes him happiest. When all else fails, I hold him in my lap, and we all wear the cereal. Here he was trying to feed himself. Such a big boy.

I laid him down as soon as he was finished while P played. He fussed for a minute and had been quiet a while when I took P to her bed. As if on cue, P sneezed as soon as we got close to their side by side cribs, and Mac's head popped up like a jack in the box. I ducked, P cried, and then Mac whimpered as he anxiously looked for me. So here I am, squatting beside the cribs trying to figure out how to get P's diaper changed and her in bed without Mac seeing me. (If we make eye contact, it's all downhill from there so there's lots of feeling around without being visible.) I waddled- still in the squat position- to the dresser/changing table, and Mac had turned his body to facing my back. As I peeked over my shoulder, there was his sweet face. It was a gridlock .So much for my National Geographic movements around the room. I got caught.

Later I found some "dry skin" on my neck. I need to put lotion on this, I thought. As I went to cover this dry spot with lotion, I realized it was peeling.. hmmmmmm, that's weird. Yeah, pretty sure it was cereal!!! Gross! I am a baby cereal-wearing mom. Goodness. And yet, somehow, I love it. ;o)

-ashley

"cloth diaper" is a verb

**I want to share a disclaimer about my last cloth diaper post. I am fortunate that I am able to stay home with Mac and Paisley, and that makes cloth diapering a reasonable undertaking for us. When we travel or I go out for long periods of time, I put M and P in disposables for the convenience. Disposable diapers are certainly more convenient, but we are committed to using cloth. Please do not feel that I stand in judgement of anyone who chooses to use disposables. Thanks for hearing me out. :o)

Our CD necessities...

Fortunately, I have had friends enter into the CD world before me, and they have been great support both before I began and now that we are almost 5 months into this journey. I am able to ask questions, get feedback, and gain second hand experience. My CD support group has been such an important part of our CD success. Thank you, friends, especially Becca and Kristina. Also, I use a CD facebook page to post questions, and there are tons of moms out there willing to help.

To start, we installed diaper sprayers in two of our bathrooms. These are like kitchen sprayers that connect to the toilet water system. When a diaper has more than urine, we spray any solids into the toilet, and flush it away! You have to deal with poo regardless of what type of diaper you use... 

Next we put the diaper in a wet/dry bag. The bag has a zipper for dry diapers and a separate part for dirty diapers. This bag keeps odors down, and we can easily throw it in the washer to clean. 

 

To wash the diapers, we use Rockin' Green. There are several detergents that CD moms use, but we have always used the RnG and been happy. We also throw in the ammonia bouncer from time to time to keep away any odors. 

Biokleen is also good to get out any organic stains... and it is CD friendly. 

We have a drying rack for the diapers. I prefer for them to dry in the sun because the sun bleaches out stains. If you don't believe me, try wetting what needs bleached, and put it in the sun. The UV rays naturally bleach the product to bright white again! It's why our diapers still look brand new too. 

Any products (creams or lotions) we put on M and P also needs to be CD friendly. It's important to only use products recommended for CD because it prevents build up on the diapers, and build up can cause issues. 

Do you use any products you'd recommend with your CD??

Happy CDing!! Please ask if you have questions!

-ashley

chitter chatter

Paisley rolled over yesterday! She was on her back and rolled onto her belly this morning while I was playing with Mac. I've known she was strong enough, but this girl does things in her own time. :o) Of course she refused to let me see her do it again. Strong personality... already.

We walked again yesterday and  today! Here are a couple of pics I took:

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M and P are really entertaining each other these days. I listened to them talk to each other during nap time this morning. She would babble something, and he would "listen". Then he would chime in with his own thoughts. It was so sweet, and I tried to catch it on video. The video isn't much for viewing unless you're in a dark room because I didn't turn on the flash. It was nap time after all so I tried to be sneaky, but if you could see the video, you'd see that she totally caught me... And of course he stopped talking and just stared at my phone. :o\

P usually wakes up from the morning nap 30 minutes before it's time to eat (about 9:30). I get her, and we have some "girl time". Here's a pic I snapped of her sweetness:

And when it was almost time to eat, here's how I found Mac... face down! He sleeps so hard he wakes up with lines on his face. It is pretty cute. He's always cuddly, but he's especially affectionate when he first wakes up... I. LOVE. IT.

I got a random pic today of the two of them.. Paisley was reaching over and rubbing her big brother. He didn't pay her any attention this time, but she surely was into him.

Tomorrow is hump day!!! Halfway through the week! Woo hoo! 

-ashley