First Day at Daycare

The day has arrived.  I knew it would.  There was no avoiding it:  today James had his first full day at daycare.  A popular question people asked over break was, "What are you doing with James while you're at work?"  Some asked if I would be a stay-at-home mom, which was totally laughable since I would actually be a stay-at-box-under-the-bridge mom if I wasn't working.  Rather than move under a bridge or into a boxcar, we're taking him to a retired couple that live less than ten minutes from our house.  They watch babies until they are 2 years old, then they are 'aged-out' to daycare.  Including James, this couple will be watching four babies.  This couple was highly recommended by one of my coworkers who sent her son to them a few years ago.  They have said they'll treat James like he's one of their own grand kids and after seeing how much his grandparents love him, I feel good about him being with his babysitters.

He had a half-day yesterday.  Kyle dropped him off in the morning (I'm obviously not ready for that trauma), and I picked him up around noon.  We left him with a 4 oz. bottle, plenty of diapers, two changes of clothes,  wipes, and his pack'n'play.  You may notice one important item missing: the pacifier.  Oops!  The sitters kindly requested we bring one for him today.  They also were a little worried about the amount of milk we brought, remarking, "I was afraid I'd have to feed him a french fry if you didn't get here."  Double oops!  We're total rookies at this parenting thing; I'm thankful his babysitters know what they're doing!

Today we were able to make up for our mistakes- bringing a paci, bottles, and frozen milk.  Even though I knew he was in good hands, I couldn't help but miss him all day.  Hopefully this gets better! 

How could I not miss this face?

Another big change recently was beginning cloth diapering.  You may have noticed James is laying on fluff in the two month picture.  This big boy has used them for 4 days now and so far I love them.  They are adorable and produce so much less waste!  My eco-conscience is slowly returning, one cloth diapering at a time.  As an added bonus, his 'too big' pants are now 'just right' with all the added diaper bulk! 

He sure is growing up fast; we'll be taking him to college before we know it! : )

Week 35: Shower at the Hanneke Homestead

I am not a fan of Facebook shout outs.  Blog shout-outs on the other hand?  I'm for 'em!  I've got to give a shout-out to my BFF Jessica, sister Rita, Aunt Laurel, and everyone else who helped to make my shower amazing yesterday!  The decorations were perfect, the food was delicious, and the company couldn't be beat. 

FAVORS!  Psst- aren't the nests amazing?

Fresh shrimp and salad greens flown in from South Carolina

After eating lunch, we played a game.   The first game had us writing down baby necessities for every letter of the alphabet.  Naturally, I thought I'd rock at this, having looked at every baby product known to man while registering.  Despite going through my entire registry in my mind, I failed to dominate even come close to winning. Aunt Kathy took home the trophy for this game- she had an item for every letter!  

 

 The second game we played was guess the poop where you pass around soiled diapers and have to guess what animal the excrement came from. 

Teamwork

"Hey, this looks familiar!"

Laugh now mom, you'll be seeing a lot of the human variety soon enough,

Getting a second opinion

This game was a hoot and the best part was that everyone was a winner!  Evidently, we all know our poop candy bars.

Of course Baby M received some amazing gifts, and I had fun opening them for him!

We now have enough necessities where I can honestly say, we're ready for him to come!  Before the shower, he would have been sleeping in a diaper on the plastic covering of the mattress, now he has comfy sheets, swaddles, and so much more! One of the cutest gifts was a gift the grandmas received.

It's a suitcase!  In what insane fantasy world does all of a baby's necessities for a weekend fit in this?  I don't know, but I already want to live there!  Or maybe it's like a bottomless Mary Poppin's bag?  Either way, it's adorable, and I know Laura's chomping at the bit for little boy to be here to use it!  After presents, it was time to chow down on dessert.  Raspberry tart? Bird's nest cookie?  Cake ball?  Eclair (not pictured, but still amazing)?  YES PLEASE!  Being pregnant is the best when it comes to dessert because I feel no guilt.  None whatsoever, just pure deliciousness!

 

I want to thank everyone who came out to the shower!  It was a beautiful day, and I truly felt loved (even if that's not what you were going for)!  Kyle and I can't wait for Baby M to arrive next month, and it's clear quite a few other family members are anxious for his arrival as well!  We feel blessed to have such  great family to help us raise our little guy! 

 P.S. Did you know it's good luck to have a pregnant lady scratch off your numbers on a lottery ticket?  Jessica won $15 and a photo of herself on the blog!

Week 16: Cotton Babies

Kyle and I spent this past weekend in St. Louis celebrating a graduation and Mother's Day with our families.   As part of the celebration, we took the graduate and the mothers to the Cardinals game.  The Redbirds beat the Brewers 3 to 1; it was a great game and an excellent present for our moms! I received a few Happy Mother's Day cards and text messages yesterday.  My reaction was to freak out.  It was so weird getting them. 

Our project for this weekend was to learn about cloth diapers.  We are using cloth diapers for two reasons.  #1.  They are environmentally friendly.  I don't even use plastic sandwich baggies, so how could  I send dozens of disposable diapers to the dump each week?  #2.  They save money.  Initially, there will be a high cost, but then we won't have to rely on buying diapers at the store each week!  Those two reasons are why cloth diapers are a must for our little babe.

To learn about diapers, we visited the store Cotton Babies next to Whole Foods in Town and Country.  Cotton Babies sells three diapering systems.  We learned about all of them and were very tempted by the Econobum system where you could diaper a baby from 7 to 35 pounds for $100.  Quite economical.  However, the sales consultant was honest about those diapers being economical, but not necessarily the best at preventing messes.  YUK.  We learned about two more systems and have decided to go with the BumGenius Organic.  These diapers can be adjusted to fit a child from 7 to 35 pounds (that's what all the snaps are for!).    They are also good at keeping messes contained (A MUST!) and we have friends who use and like this system.  Plus, John and Sherry from Young House Love use them.  They wrote a Everything About Cloth Diapers post that basically sold me on these diapers.

http://www.bumgenius.com/organic.php

Those are the diapers we are so much looking forward to using on our little babe's bum!  Kyle and I even practiced changing diapers in the store with a doll on a changing table.  It was one of those amazing moments that I totally regret not having my camera for!  Kyle seemed to enjoy changing a fake diaper (let's hope that enthusiasm stays with him for say, the next two years.)

Check out The Bump page- my stomach is def. growing.  The baby is the size of an avocado this week which seems huge!! I've been feeling good so far this week, except for my seasonal allergies which have arrived in full force.   I'm hoping to get through them without taking medicine, but we'll see how long I last!