Bluebonnets 2013

I was so excited to take bluebonnet pictures because Beckett was able to sit on his own and I know next year he'll be way too busy running around to pose for a picture.  

We tried twice, and both times Beckett was comically uncooperative.  This kid is ALWAYS smiling and hamming it up for the camera.  But we'd set him among the bluebonnets and he'd get this totally spaced-out look and would not smile for the life of him.  It was so funny.

Exhibit A:

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from our first attempt, in a field near my parents' ranch:

On round two near our library, he finally gave a little grin:

Such a handsome little boy!

Five Months Old

 *This post is way late.  I wrote it forever ago but never got around to taking/editing the pics.  Whoops.*

Someone please tell me how it’s possible that my baby is now five months old?  Heavens I can’t even imagine what will become of me next month, when I’m forced to acknowledge that half a year has passed.

You are probably tired of my wailing about how fast time is passing but you might as well just go ahead and get used to it :)

Anyway, what’s new with our five month old?  Nothing and everything at the same time.  He’s still the happiest and easiest baby ever (seriously).  I keep thinking it’s just a great phase he’s in, but he’s still going strong with it so maybe it really is just his nature?  That would be a major score.  This month his physical growth hasn’t been too striking but his development has been in full swing.  Most notably is how he grabs on to EVERYTHING.  And faster than you ever thought possible.  He’s gotten a lot more coordinated with his hands.  Also, he is incredibly vocal.  He doesn’t really have a belly laugh, but he laughs/squeals quite a bit and has a happy cooing sound that he makes along with his smile.  He also has a happy scream that I think he makes because he likes the way it feels in his throat.

He is close to sitting up on his own.  He can do it for almost a minute at a time, so I know it won’t be long.  There is something so sweet and funny about a baby tipping over to me, so I’m in no hurry.  He doesn’t roll over yet but he never really tries to and I don’t care to make him try because I’m not afraid that he’ll be leaving for college and still not know how to roll over.  He’ll do it when he’s good and ready.

One big thing we’ve noticed this month is how much this kid has become a daddy’s boy.  He LOVES his dad.  It makes me think back to when I was pregnant and Beckett would always move like crazy when he heard Kolby’s voice.  Now, if Kolby opens his mouth anywhere in the house Beckett stops whatever he is doing to try and find where he is.  If Kolby is in another room I’ll have him come in or I’ll take Beckett to him because it gets really sad in a hurry—he never gives up.  When he finds him he just looks at him and waits for him to look his way and then slowly flashes a big gummy grin.  You can’t even imagine what it does to Kolby.

If you think I’m struggling with Beckett growing up, you should hear from Kolby.  The other day he said, “If I could choose between Beckett being a normal child or staying this age forever, I’d really have to think about it.”  Ha!  The thing that gets him lately is how much Beckett shows that he loves him.  Kolby seems to be convinced that there won’t be another time where Beckett will show his love like he does now.  Right now all Beckett wants to do with Kolby is smile at him, coo at him, be carried around by him, and just be with him.  No rebelling, no choosing friends or video games instead, no wanting anything in return—just pure unadulterated affection.

For the sake of documenting details for myself, Beckett started taking a longer morning nap this month—from about 8-10am.  He usually takes a quick nap mid-day and another long nap in the late afternoon.  This is the first time we’ve attempted to structure his nap schedule a little bit, and it’s going pretty well.  He eats six times during the day and wakes up in the middle of the night—usually around 3am—to eat again.  He usually wakes up one other time as well and just wants to be rocked back to sleep.  So no, he’s not sleeping through the night.  He did sleep through the night three times this month (he hasn’t done that since he was two months old, when he also did it a few random times), from about 10-5:30.  We’ve just moved his bedtime up to 9:00, which I think is still pretty late, and we’re planning to work with him on sleeping through the night in a few weeks, then hopefully move his bedtime up again to closer to 8.  Overall his sleep has come a long way, although when I hear of babies his age sleeping from 7-7 it completely blows my mind!

What we did this month:

-Beckett was baptized

-We ate out successfully several times

-First family trip to the neighborhood library

-Hung a swing for Beckett from a tree in our front yard and started using it

-Went to several Rangers games

-Played on a blanket in the back yard a lot

Beckett’s favorite things:

-Grabbing hair, shirts, necklaces, food, everything

-Reaching out to pet Maya when she walks by

-Going for family walks in his carrier and listening to the Rangers’ game

-His little fox stuffed animal

-Attending Rangers games (he’s been to 5 so far)

-He still loves everyone—he lights up more for people he knows, but he doesn’t have any stranger anxiety whatsoever yet

-“Favorite” may be a little strong, but he’s generally happy to have his picture taken and is SUPER cooperative, which makes things really fun for me

My favorite things about Beckett:

-I totally melt at all the sweet sounds he makes

-Carrying him on my hip.  He’s a great little passenger

-His personable demeanor—he is so fun to share with other people

-How he smiles so big and often laughs when I gobble his neck

Beckett's Baptism

We had Beckett baptized on April 21.  Our church baptizes infants, as well as believers.  Infant baptism is obviously not a part of our church heritage (growing up Baptist and all), so we talked to our pastor and read several articles and book excerpts about it and ultimately decided that while we respect both traditions, we want to have Beckett baptized, following in the tradition of this church that is such a big part of our lives right now.

As a Christian sacrament alongside the Lord’s Supper, baptism is “an earthly sign accompanied by a divine promise.”  Sacraments celebrate God’s specific action for us, that in every moment of our lives it is God who is relentlessly pursuing us no matter where we may be.  Infant baptism is not a substitute for a child’s eventual individual expression of faith in God and decision to turn from sin and put their trust in Jesus Christ.  But by baptizing Beckett, we are affirming that even before Beckett has any idea about Jesus or His love for him, Jesus is already at work in his life.

Beckett with his Godparents, Brad and Kassidy:

Our families and a few friends were there too and we had a little reception afterward to celebrate together.

I made my first cake for my baby:

Beckett with his grandparents:

Some pictures I finally got around to taking today of Beckett in his precious outfit:

 Beckett's baptism was a wonderful day of celebration!

Motherhood

In honor of Mother’s Day, I feel like it’s as good of time as any to write down some thoughts that have been stirring in my mind lately.

I was meant to be a mom.  I’ve felt that way for long time.  Really, since I was 5 years old and had to start kindergarten just two months after Russell was born and I cried and cried because how on earth was my mom going to take care of him without my help?  I mean, I was in charge of keeping socks on his feet AND brushing is hair.

I have to say, motherhood is everything I imagined it would be.  Far more, in fact.  And it suits me well.

I had the unexpected opportunity to wait quite a while before getting to be a mom.  It gave me a lot of extra time to think about what kind of mom I wanted to be.  And it gave me a chance to hear from other moms.  Hands down I’d say the most common thing I heard was how moms were able to enjoy their second, third, and so-on babies more than their first, because with the first baby you are stressed and anxious and insecure and have to learn a lot of lessons about what really matters. 

I made it a point to really take these lessons to heart.  I’m not promised a second, third, or so-on baby.  So I will for sure be enjoying my first to the fullest.  That was my commitment and goal.  And I have had the.best.time.in.the.world fulfilling it.

Beckett is growing up too fast.  At the end of the day when I’m rocking him to sleep I can’t help but think ahead to when he’s grown and what I’ll think of when I look back.  I want to be a good steward of this time with him and do my darnedest to not to have the regret, “I wish I had cherished it more.”

I know I won’t look back and wonder whether his bed time was too late.  Whether I ever let more than three hours pass without feeding him.  Whether he sat in a poopy diaper for more than ten minutes.  Whether I totally dropped the ball by not sleep training him at four months old.  Whether I did enough tummy time with him.  Whether he could fall asleep without being held and rocked.  Whether he could roll over by his five month birthday.

So I don’t care about those things.  He is clearly thriving.  That’s all I need to know.

But I know I’ll wonder whether I kissed his fuzzy head enough.  Whether I gave him my full attention.  Whether I held him enough.  Whether I spoke sweetly to him.  Whether I squeezed him hard enough.  Whether I smooched his sweet lips despite the constant drool and risk of him spitting up straight into my mouth.  Whether I told him from an early age that he’s my boy, that I wanted him so badly.

So I do all those things, all day long.

This time is so sweet, I can barely stand it.

And this boy:

He’s so much more than I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams.

Thanks you, Jesus.

Four Months Old

Three months old still sounded like a little baby to me.  But four?  Four months old sounds so grown up all of the sudden!  Six months old is just around the corner and then next thing you know we’ll be dropping him off at college :)

But alas, at four months old Beckett is sweeter than ever so I guess I’ll survive!  He’s so cute I could just die.  He melts my heart every.single.day.  He smiles ALL THE TIME and is the happiest baby I could ever imagine.  To say he fills our home with joy would be an understatement.

The things I enjoy and want to remember most about him at this stage are how sweet and easy he is.  And I mean EASY.  It makes Kolby and I feel like we are totally nailing this parenting thing (ha!), but I know it’s really just because he’s just at a simple age.  And he’s also naturally easygoing I think, at least for now.  I can already see myself looking back at that sentence and laughing when he’s a little older and throwing fits like crazy.  These last few weeks especially, Beckett has been such a trooper with adapting to whatever our days and especially weekends look like.  He’s missed naps and still stayed happy, and hasn’t flipped out if his feeding schedule got out of whack or if he’s in completely new surroundings.  It has allowed us to enjoy him to the max, not that the olden days of unsuccessfully trying anything and everything to soothe him don’t hold a special place in my heart :)

And he’s at the absolute perfect cuddling size.  It adds to his sweetness.  He has full control of his head (that sounds funny, but you know what I mean) so it’s easy to pick him up under the arms and give him a hug and he’ll pull his head away to look at us but then snuggle it back down on our shoulder.  I hold him like that all the time; I know it’s only a matter of time until he gets squirmy and doesn't want to be my little koala anymore.

What we did this month:

-Kolby and Beckett spent a ton of extra time together during Kolby’s spring break

-Beckett started his baseball card collection when Kolby took him to a local card shop

-Visited Kason & Sarah and cousin Kyndall in Houston

-Beckett sat in his Bumbo for the first time, played in his exersaucer for the first time, and “jumped” in his Johnny Jump-Up for the first time—he loved them all!

-Took Beckett on his first trip to the zoo

-Hung out with Brad & Remy and cousin Tucker several times, and Tucker got Beckett to belly laugh (for only the second time!)

-Celebrated the one year anniversary of finding out we were pregnant with Beckett!!!!

-Helped Beckett learn to roll over for the first time (front to back, with some help starting propped up on his elbows)

-Took our first family stroll to the neighborhood park

-Celebrated Easter with my family

-Kolby took Beckett to the Rangers’ Opening Day—all by himself!

Beckett’s favorite things:

-Grabbing things with both hands at the same time

-Riding in the stroller like a big boy (rather than in his car seat attached to it)

-Playing in his exersaucer

-“Talking” a lot when he gets tired

-When people smile at him (he always smiles back!)

-Roaming his hand all over my face while I’m nursing him

-Grabbing on to hair, clothing, necklaces, etc.

-Still loves his changing pad, but his attention is now more on us than on the wall of frames he used to be so fascinated with

My favorite things about Beckett:

-How he started helping hold his legs up during diaper changes by grabbing under his thighs

-His big blue eyes, which somehow got even more beautiful this month

-How when he’s in his exersaucer he plays really intently at each station and Kolby and I always joke that he looks like he’s having a really busy day at the office.  “I am just putting out fires all over the place today.”  “Man, things are just really stacking up on me over here.” etc.

-It is the easiest thing in the world to make him smile; all you have to do is look at him and smile

-He can easily sit in our laps like a big boy, which makes eating meals with him so much easier!

-How he calms down at bedtime when I sing him a lullaby, which makes me feel so good because I have the worst singing voice and was really worried about that aspect of motherhood!

 His hair is looking kind of red, huh?  Sometimes it looks blonde, sometimes brown, and in the sunlight sometimes red.  Still a mystery what color it will be!

Opening Day 2013

Kolby took Beckett to the Rangers first home game of the season, also known as Opening Day.

It was on a Friday afternoon and I had a work conflict and couldn't go, but he didn't let that stop him.  He played hooky from school and loaded up his boy and they spent basically the entire day at the ballpark, among the 50,000+ other fans.  They had an absolute blast!

This probably goes without saying, but Kolby has dreamed and dreamed about the day he'd take his kid to a Rangers game.  It being Opening Day and just the two of them made it even more special.

So much credit goes to Beckett for being such an easy baby.  But Kolby deserves a lot of credit too, I mean what dad dares to take a three month old to a baseball game alone, much less successfully?  This guy:

They seriously had the best time ever.  I think Kolby will always remember it as one of the best days of his life.  He was on CLOUD NINE when they got home, telling me all about their day together.

Here are a few more pictures.  

(I made Kolby pinky swear to take some pictures on his phone while they were there.)

Me seeing my guys off, with plenty of milk and diapers in tow:

 I got that knitted hat for his newborn pictures but it was too big, and it was a little cool outside that day so I figured why not get some use out of it.  Apparently it was a BIG hit with the ladies at the ballpark.

Walking in:

(Side note: I couldn't help but think of this picture when at Beckett's four month check-up they said he was in the 25th percentile for weight but the 90th percentile for height.  That body type sounds familiar....)

Chilling in their seats:

Needing a little pick-me-up:

Rangers win!  Time to head home:

 I had to include this picture of Beckett napping later that evening, smiling from sweet dreams of his awesome day with his daddy:

 He is one lucky kid to have such an incredible dad.

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken on March 30, the one year anniversary of finding out we were pregnant.

What a difference a year makes!

[Photo credit Mandie McMurdie Photography]

Cloth Diapering

We've been cloth diapering for four months now so I thought I'd give a rundown of our experience so far, including a description of our process.  Because doesn't everyone want to hear how we handle our baby's poo?!?  We do get a lot of questions about it (the diapers, not the poo) so I figured why not just write it all out.

We are using BumGenius 4.0 diapers.  They adjust to fit babies from 8-35+ pounds using a snap down design, which makes them a "one-size" diaper.  Here is what the diapers look like in the small, medium, and large settings:

One-size diapers have a great cost advantage over buying a whole set of diapers in each size.  But they are a little bulkier in the small and medium settings than individually-sized diapers.  We are all about saving money so we're happy with the one-size option.

To introduce more cloth diapering lingo, the BumGenius 4.0s are also what is called a "pocket" diaper.  This means there is a pocket where you slip in what are called "inserts."  Stay with me here, I'll show pictures to help this all make sense!  Pocket diapers allow you to customize the absorbency by stuffing additional inserts in them at night, for example.  Here is one of our diapers and the two inserts that came with it:

Right now we are only using the small insert, which is the perfect size for the small size setting.  The diapers have a slit in the back of them where you slide in the insert:

The inserts provide the absorbency while the layer of cloth on top wicks away moisture from the baby's bum and the outer (colored) cover is waterproof to keep anything from soaking through to the baby's clothes.

So that's the scoop on the diapers.  We stuff the inserts in ahead of time and then store all the diapers in the drawer in our changing table.  When it comes time for a diaper change, the diapers are similar to disposables in terms of appearance and function.  This is the big change from now versus a generation ago when cloth diapers meant folding and pinning and covering with waterproof pants.

Obviously the big difference between disposable diapers and cloth diapers is that you wash and reuse the cloth ones.  Here is a rundown of how we wash our diapers.

We keep a trash can next to our changing table with a diaper pail liner inside.  After we take off a dirty diaper, we shake/pull out the insert and toss it and the diaper into the trash can.  We use cloth wipes (along with a spray bottle of water) and toss the wipes in the trash can as well.

When we are nearly out of diapers, which happens twice a week, we pull out the liner:

Then we empty all the diapers into the washing machine and drop the liner in as well:

We run a cold rinse, then a hot wash with additive/fragrance-free detergent and an extra rinse at the end.  The first rinse dissolves the pee and poo and flushes it out of the way so the wash cycle can do the cleaning.  It's worth noting that this method only works when the baby is exclusively breastfed, meaning the poo is water soluble.  If the baby is on formula or food then there is an extra step to deal with the poo, but we aren't there yet.

Then we toss the inserts and wipes into the dryer and lay/hang the diapers to dry.  The diapers take only an hour to line dry, and avoiding the dryer makes them last longer (through multiple babies).

The last step is stuffing in the inserts, which takes maybe 15 minutes.

So, there's the rundown of our diapering system.  It may sound like a lot but it is super easy.  I'm sure it'll get annoying at some point, but right now it's not a big deal at all.

***

At four months in, we are loving cloth diapering!  We started using them when Beckett's umbilical cord fell off at one week old.  We do use disposables on occasion, but very infrequently (once a week or less).  Here are some of our favorite things about it.

Diaper changes are easier.

We both prefer changing a cloth diaper to a disposable.  The cloth diapers are big and they lay completely flat and only require one hand to get into position.  Also, when taking a poopy diaper off, the material inside the cloth diapers is great for wiping off the extra poo from his bum.

The material is soft.

We love having his bum sitting in soft cloth.

Fewer blowouts:

When we have Beckett in a disposable, he probably has a blowout half of the times he poops.  It just comes straight up his back.  In our cloth diapers, this doesn't happen.

Saves money:

We spent about $350 on our stash of diapers (we bought them on sale), which will last us through potty training, and a decent estimate of the cost of washing diapers for 2.5 years is about $250 (that includes detergent, water, electricity, etc.).  So we're out $600 on this gig, compared with about $2,000 for disposables.  That's a savings of $1,400 ($47/month).  For a second child we'd save a lot more because we'll be able to keep using most of the diapers we already have.

So there you have it!