Logan's Thank You card

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Logan's Photobook: Months 8 & 9

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Back Yard Improvements

Just checkin' to make sure the screws are strong enough for baba.

Watching baba work.

All done replacing the steps

Before power washing

After power washing

Basement Cleanup: Donation

Day 4:
I continued to go through all the boxes that were on the side of our house. I went through every last one and made a large pile for donation to the VVA. I scheduled the pick ups ahead of time in order to put pressure on myself to get it all done. I scheduled a pick up for 3 days (Thursday, Friday and Monday to take advantage of the weekend). It was a fantastic feeling to purge all that stuff!

Massive Basement Clean Up

It's happening! It's really really happening! Keith and I took the plunge and committed ourselves to cleaning out our basement once and for all! As soon as we moved in, we stored everything in the basement to deal with "later" and later began to look like "forever". But now we have a very special reason to clean it out and that's to make a space for Logan to play in.

Before:
Our basement looked like an episode of Hoarders. It was embarrassing how we let it go. Things just added up over the years.

Day 1: 

On Friday night, my baby brother Uncle Rob came down and hauled as much stuff out of the basement as he could before it got dark. It took about 2 hours and we made a small dent. It was overwhelming. The strategy was to take everything outside and start over new as though we were moving in for the first time. What we couldn't/didn't use in 2 years had to be donated, sold or trashed. We had so many cans of paint too.

Day 2: 

On Saturday, our town was having their annual town-wide yard sale and we took advantage of that . People were on a mission and we got bombarded as we were setting up. Keith wheeled and dealed. I wore Logan using the Ergo which doubled as my money bag ;) We spent about 5 hours out there.

We were very successful! We sold all the big ticket items and then some. I couldn't believe how many people bought cans of paint that were leftover from my projects. I did make 2 purchases of my own though; an over sized map of the United States that was laminated and a beautiful teal suitcase from 1960 that was in perfect condition! Here's my little guy in it. I thought I could use it as a photo prop or store Logan's keepsakes in.

After:

The morning of the yard sale, I spent 2 hours cleaning, gathering up loose change and nails or screws. I bagged up 2 bags of trash and hauled more stuff out to sell. I still can't believe how good it looks! You can actually see the floors and walls again.

Here's the Before again.

Day 3:

We always do family activities with Logan on the weekends so Sunday morning we went apple, pumpkin and veggie picking with some friends and their children. It was such a wonderful day! When we got home, I decide to spend little more time sorting everything we took out of the basement and wore Logan on my back in the Ergo. Trash is on Tuesday and Recycle is on Wednesdays which is why I was in a hurry to chip away at it. I scheduled a donation pick up by the VVA for Friday. I always find it motivating to have a set deadline.  

I sorted things into different categories:

- Donate

- Trash

- Recycle

- Scrap Metal

- Keep

Things are certainly looking a lot better outside. I couldn't be happier.

Total time spent: 10 hours

Logan at the beach

Logan is 9 months old now! He's growing like a weed, eats lots of different solid foods, and is pulling himself up to stand. We are amazed by how much he loves the water. We took him to the beach for the first time a couple of weeks ago and he was so curious about the ocean and digging in the sand.

Logan playing with his cousin Dane in the baby pool.

Logan waiting for the waves to wash in with Keith.

Digging in the sand and grabbing at baby clams. Love his hair in this photo.

Getting deeper into the water and splashing around.

Trying to go for a baby clam.

Splashing and kicking his feet.

Sleep Training

With a heavy heart, we decided it was in Logan's best interest to sleep train via CIO aka Crying It Out method.

Day 1: Bed at 9pm, cried for 50 mins. Woke at 2:40am, cried for an hour.

Day 2: SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! Nursed at 6:20pm. Strict bedtime routine starting at 7pm (bath, play, rolling, tummy time letting out some big burps, go to bedroom, read book with the light on, nurse at 7:45pm, burp real good, rock and sang, Logan sings back to me, asleep by 8pm. Deep sleep and put him down at 8:14pm. Cried 3 mins at 9:05pm. Slept through the entire night without a single peep until I woke him for the sitter at 6:00am. He took two 2-1/2 hour naps. Much more pleasant and well rested through the day. Curious to see how long he can sleep had I not woken him for the sitter.

Night 3: Started routine late at 7:30pm which messed us up. Sleep at 8:23pm. Cried for 10 mins at 9:15pm. Slept. Cried at 3:40am for a few mins. Slept till 7:48am. Played by himself in his crib. Picked him up at 8:14 am for the morning!

I feel like posts on sleep training always come with an explanation of why I would have my baby cry it out, so here goes mine.

Our work schedule/sitter's schedule and his natural feeding/sleeping patterns were conflicting leading to a very cranky Logan who got no sleep. I was nursing him at 4am, he'd want to sleep till 8am and we're waking him at 5:30-6-30 am to go to the sitters. Then we would pick him up from the sitters at 4:30pm when he wanted to nap from 3-6pm. Then he'd nurse at 6pm and it was messing up his play/nursing/bedtime. It was getting so bad that the last 2 weeks he was napping (20 mins, 15 mins and 65 mins = 1 hr 4o mins = not enough) So I moved my work schedule to allow him more sleep in the morning and pick him up later so that he can get his 3rd nap in as well. I worked with the sitter asking her to offer him quiet time or a nap every 2 hours and it worked!

Logan is an easy baby. He went down so easily while nursing that we never needed to put him on any regiment. Usually around 7pm he'd go to bed. At first we didn't recognize that he was tired and needs to put to bed not just wait till he falls asleep. He was extremely overtired - napping only 20 mins here and there and then waking in the night (which I found wasn't hunger related because I'd pick him up and he'd doze right off again). I couldn't function on 5-6 hours of sleep nightly and waking at 4am then going off to work full time. And ulimately, I felt like he was ready. He is thriving at 15 lbs and 2 oz (at 17 weeks old) and has been gaining weight regularly. Had I had an inkling that he was hungry I wouldn't deny him a midnight feeding. After talking to many friends with different experiences and versus what Pediatricians and books say, I pulled together the best method for us.

Fingers crossed it continues to work.

Projects

New sofa cushion covers and repainted the sofa.


Foot and paw prints on canvas to hang in Logan's room.


Pocket for books and my iPhone on the glider in Logan's nursery.


Bibs using receiving blankets that Logan has grown out of.


Little burp cloths for under the chin when Logan is nursing. Fabric by Amy Butler.

Logan's Pimped out Christmas-fyed room

Logan and T1 - shirt twins

Logan and T1 are shirt twinnies! http://thatwifeblog.com/2011/12/toddler-activities/#comment-198343

2011 Christmas Card

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Logan's Nursery

I should have known that once the baby was here, I wouldn't have time to write this post. Blood, sweat and tears (of joy) but here it is! Before we found out we were pregnant, Keith sanded and restained the floors which was truly a labor of love. We knew eventually this would be a nursery so we carefully worked on this room and turned Keith's man cave into a nursery for baby.

Here's an overall view on the room from the door. Too bad I can't get the whole room into one shot. Here you get a glimsp of the shiny refinished floors.

The quilt was made by my best friend Mary's mom. The floral and dot fabric are both from Amy Butler purchased through Fabric Worm. The gray and blue fabric were chosen by her mom from the fabric store to match. The quilt made such a beautiful addition to the crib especially since we didn't purchase bedding. The crib sheet is from Babies R Us and the crib skirt is from Amazon.

The glider was a hand me down from my sister in law from when she had her children. Instead of a solid color, I chose the gray and white chevron patterned fabric to make the room more fun! The fabric was purchased through Etsy from seller Hodi and Poppi. I spent $40. If you rememeber, the side table was purchased from a thrift store for $3.40 and we spray painted it a gumball red. We spent more on spray paint than we did on the table itself. I love how it turned out.

The chandelier and the shag rug is from Overstock. Also, seen here is the DIY "stenciled" wall that I painted by hand in a scallop pattern. Keith also put up crown moulding and the chair rail for detail.

Red frame from TJ Maxx. I like the swirl pattern in it. As you can tell I wasn't going for any particular theme. I was more interested in textures and patterns which "they" say is good for babies. Wooden blocks were made by Keith's dad back when he and his sisters were babies.

Print from Etsy. It's called "Rainy Day Love" by Rosy Designs Online. $20.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/rosydesignsonline

The shelves are from Christmas Tree Shoppe. They were the cheapest price (and quality), but it works for decor in a nursery that would be temporary and isn't holding up anything really heavy. The brown leather "B" is from Marshall's/HomeGoods. The silver "123" and "abc" book ends are from TJ Max.

DIY Origami mobile. This was just some fishing line, a piece of flexible gold wire and 3 cranes which I folded from scrapbooking paper from JoAnn's. Keith has a love of birds and flight, so this was my way of working that into the nursery. Plus, I think it's way cooler than a mobile purchased from the store which I'm told is now a "no no" for babies...that and crib bumpers.

Keith's grandma's cross.

DIY yarn letters. I meant to hang these on the wall behind the crib but have yet to figure out how. Our walls are plaster, so it just makes things a little trickier. We'll work on that.

Keith's christening shoes. I might put these in a shadow box and hang it as wall art.

This belongs to Keith as well. When I was looking for decor, all I had to do was go "shopping" in Keith's man cave.

One of the first gifts we received was Sophie the giraffe from our dear friend Jule over at Duet Letterpress. http://www.duetletterpress.com/blog/

To be continued...

First Photoshoot

When BB was just 7 days old we asked photographer Brittany Pugh of Brittany Lee Photography to do an infant shoot for us. The photos turned out AMAZING and we are so glad we did it!






Here they are in action! BB was a pro model. He IS MY son after all. The key is to make sure your baby is well fed and crank that heat up in your house if you're going to strip him down for the bare bootie shot.

Here are some teasers: