_____ is my favorite age!

Do you ever hear moms say "I love this age! I say that at every age, but I really love this age"? Of course you do. Well I have never said it until now. 5.5 months, nearly 6 months. I love it. I love this age.

                                Rocking his vintage tank and Zara swim trunks. Being a pure joy.
                           Who know this little boy was waiting for us at the end of the colic train?

making your own baby food

When Jonas turned 4 months and we got the OK from our pedi to start introducing small amounts of solids, we dusted off the Beaba Babycook that my sister-in-law let us borrow. At first I was intimidated. Cook, then puree? What about freezing and re-heating? BPA leaching, plastic heating, no microwaving. What? These things were running through my head, but once I read the directions (and got a handle on myself!) it was a piece of cake.

 

So far, in here we have cooked sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash and green beans. After the food is steamed, then we puree. Once it cools we then divide it up in little baby food trays that look like ice cube trays.

 Last night we did green beans. Everything else has been in season so we were able to get at the farmer's market, but these we purchased from Trader Joe's. $2.99.

Ready to freeze overnight!

After freezing overnight. Yummy, huh? ;) Time to pop them out of the tray and into a freezer bag for storage. If you are counting, that is 21 meals for Jonas for $2.99. That works out to be 14 cents per meal!

Ready for the freezer! Let's hope Jonas likes green beans. :) We will start them once he is done with his batch of butternut squash. I like him to eat at fresh as possible. And look, I know the moms of toddlers are totally rolling their eyes at this. I'm sure I will take the easier route sometimes, but for now, this works and it's fun!

Before bed I pop out one of his meals into a little container and let it defrost in the refrigerator for the following day. 

I have these in the pantry, I got them all for free and they are nice to have as a backup. Each one ranges from $1.29-$2.00. There is much more food in there but once you open them they don't last as long and you have to commit to it! So based on how Jonas [currently] eats, these would each roughly cover 3 days of food. But you have to refrigerate after opening and use within 2 days for the pouch and 3 days for the jars. And for so much more money! It seems win-win to just make it yourself.

13 days until Spring!

While I am known to not let others jump the gun on fall, I kind of want to jump the gun on spring. Are we ready? I sure am! This mama wants nice warm weather so Jonas and I can get outside much more than we have. I always know spring is on the horizon when bright colors start creeping their way into my life again.

Anemones from the Farmer's Market// Tons of flowers from the Farmer's Market// DIY marbling some tags with nail polish// Jonas hanging out in his new Polarn O. Pyret onesie, just like Grandpa's Model A!

4 Months

As Jonas is a few days away from turning 5 months old, let's take a look back at month 4. And I can totally see how people do these updates weekly because so much happens and changes in the span of a month!

Food
He is still breastfeeding exclusively. Lately he is becoming a little more distracted while nursing though (ouch). Our pediatrician said to start him on solids at 4 months, which we did on the very day he turned 4 months. For now, this just means three tablespoons of pureed and watered down food daily. We started with butternut squash that I made myself. He loved it. He had that for about two weeks before we switched to sweet potatoes, which he also loved. What can I say, the kid likes to eat. Which brings me to...

Jonas' Valentine's Day card to Daddy.

Growth
Clocking in at 17 pounds, Jonas is in the 75th percentile for weight! Big boy.

Sleep
He has been sleeping through the night since about 8 weeks old, but nap time was always a struggle. He would only nap if I worked at it with him for 20+ minutes and then he would only sleep on me. This wasn't going to work. Since babies start making sleeping habits around 4-6 months I knew we needed to start sleep training. And after 18 days now, I can finally see how much good it has done! He is taking naps in his crib and he is putting himself to sleep! All habits I wanted to establish before he started teething, since that will throw everything off his groove.

First time on the swings!

Developmental Milestones
He is so grabby and good at holding things now, before we go on a car ride I can actually give him toys to play with. He can almost sit up on his own! He leans way forward like a little tripod but building strength everyday. Also, if we stand him up in front of the coffee table he will hold on, just standing there. Little man, it's so cute. But since he hates tummy time so much, I don't see him crawling anytime soon.

What's New
While Jonas is so much better these days, he is still the most difficult baby in my mom's group by far. I wouldn't say it's temperament because he laughs and smiles so much. I wish I could have given birth to a 4 month old baby! We are planning a trip to Disneyland this summer, so if you have any tips on doing Disney with a baby, let me know. :)

Come and knock on my door

Literally, we have no doorbell.

After four years of living in our house, we finally ditched the 1960's door for a new one. Let's take a look at the evolution of our front door.

 When we moved in there was actually a storm door covering this white one, 

complete with mismatched hardware. We quickly ditched the storm door. 

We painted the door red and got some matching hardware. The red goes well with the cream color our house is painted. This door was cute, charming and original to the house. But, it wasn't very secure-hello half windows. And it didn't get us much privacy-you can see all the way down the hallway, not to mention if I was sitting on the couch breastfeeding anybody could walk right up and see. Also, on the horizon we will be painting the house a more modern gray and knew the door would have to go.

Shazam! A bright-as-can-be yellow will go great with the dark gray later to be painted on the house. And, sexy new hardware. Now I need a nice new mailbox to go with it and we are set.

Time for a new backpack

The last time I bought a new backpack I bet I was in school, I think I had a couple rotating during the college days.  But now that I don't need one for heavy books, I can invest in a cute one that won't get as abused. With a baby I am carrying more stuff these days and not just for him, but for me too. I usually need a change of clothes also (hello, spit up) so one of these cute packs would come in handy.

Backpacks from Fjallraven, Need Supply and Mod Cloth.

Riddle me this

How do I read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child to learn how to make Jonas nap if my child never naps and there is no time to read?!?!

3 Months

Month three has been busy! Lots of new changes and milestones happening over here.

Diapering: We started Jonas on cloth diapers! We use Fuzzi Bunz and things are going great. They seem so much more comfortable on him and we rarely have leaks, and of course, we are not sending a ton of diapers to a landfill. Win, win. We use Charlie's Soap or Rockin' Green for the detergent and I can't wait for warmer weather so I can line dry them outside.

Developmental Milestones: He went from holding things in the bath to overnight grabbing at things and clutching blankets up to his face. It's so cute. And my prediction is that he is a leftie. He just seems to use that hand much more than the right. So, hopefully he will play baseball. ;)

Christmas morning. Could not resist. Sorry Jonas. I am so not into the outfits like "baby's first (fill-in-the-holiday) but this is on borrow from a friend and it was just too cute not to.

Poor guy didn't get the memo that this was the "silly pose" photo.

Sleep: He has been such a solid nighttime sleeper, been sleeping through the night since 7/8 weeks so I was worried about moving him into the crib. I am happy to report it has gone well. The first night he woke up 3 times, the second night he woke up once and now he almost makes it through the night, with one wake up around 5am and then back to bed till 7am. Naps during the day, however, are another story...

What's New: My days are spent trying to come up with new ways to make him laugh (flipping my ponytail back and forth is a good one), spending time with my mom's group, and trying to cherish the little moments-like when he started smiling at me while nursing! And we just started baby sign language, only three signs for now. (Milk, More and All Done) I jot down things everywhere, notepads, in my phone, because new things are happening everyday! It's impossible to remember it all.

merry merry!

Merry Christmas to all my readers and here's to a colic-less New Year!!

1-3 Month Faves

Here are some of our favorite things over the past few months, Jonas approved.

Exercise ball-I got one to use during labor which was great for working through contractions but we are getting WAY more use out of it now. Jonas loves to be bounced, all day and night if he had his way. Even if I am just sitting still on the ball, he prefers it to me sitting with him on the couch (go figure). Either way, this is the most used item on this list.

Dr. Brown's bottles-We registered for these because we prefer to use glass instead of plastic. Thankfully Jonas took to them like a charm, but I do know you may have to shop around before finding a bottle your baby will love. We have used other bottles (he will take any brand/kind) and the Dr. Browns have never leaked....more than I can say about Avent.

Bob Stroller-I was lucky enough to be able to use my sister-in-law's strollers. This one is my fave! I cannot believe how smooth the ride is. Sometimes I think Jonas needs it a little bumpier even to fall asleep. ;) It is so easy to push one handed while you drink your coffee or talk on the phone. It is also super easy to flatten and pop back up. It takes up a good portion of your trunk, though.

Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail-You can use your own trash bags and no smell, no smell, no smell! I know Jonas' breast milk poops aren't anything to complain about in comparison to babies on solid food, but I have a feeling this will stand up to those. You can use with disposables or cloth.

Travel Sleep Sheep-This was amazing in the first month or so. We used it non-stop. 4 soothing sounds of white noise, although we never really got into the whale sound. It was even very soothing for Jon and I to fall asleep to. Small enough to go wherever you want. A must for any baby registry.

Rockabye Baby! Music-These are just awesome. Songs we know and love made into instrumental lullabies. I was dragging my feet uploading them from the CD to my ipod when a mom in my mom's group said she swears by them for making her daughter fall asleep. I popped one in my car later that day and it didn't take more than one block for Jonas to fall asleep! We love the Bob Marley, Coldplay, Green Day, Beach Boys and No Doubt ones.

Seventh Generation diapers (and wipes)-These are what we will use until Jonas fits into his Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers. They are awesome and don't leak like the Huggies and Honest Co. ones did. Bonus for no chlorine or added fragrances. It is so weird, we use these primarily but I used a few non SG ones and noticed the others have a "baby powder" type smell! Very weird and unnecessary.

Pampers Swaddlers-Newborn-With that said, these were our favorite for when we used the Newborn size. This is what the hospital had and for good reason. We tried a few other brands and I don't know what it was, but these were the only ones that didn't leak. When a newborn goes through 10 diapers (or more) a day, you pick up pretty quick which are the best ones.

SkipHop owl-Ok, this is Jonas' favorite toy ever. We have it hanging by the changing table and whenever we lay him down there he looks up and sees Mr. Owl and smiles so big like "Hello, old friend!!" He will gaze at him and give him familiar smiles, it is the cutest. We actually don't move him from the changing table because we don't want him to get tired of it. So far, he is still obsessed after almost 3 months.