August 2010

Jack is now 4 months and he is 13lbs 12oz and 24.5" as of the 15th.  Jack rolls over from belly to back all the time and is starting to roll from his back to his side.  I don't think it will be long now until he gets the hang of going all the way over.  He can sit up all by himself and when he is in his bouncer seat he will pull himself up to a full sitting position and even reach over to grab his toes.  He is also attempting to walk when we hold his arms, he will put one foot in front of the other and take a few steps which really amazes me. He is very good at grabbing things and putting them in his mouth and loves chewing and gnawing on things.

Cloth diapering is going great.  I have added a few more diapers to my stash since last posting, and I have to say my very favorite diapers right now are the TKCuddlers.  They are made by a work at home mom and are just amazing.  I bought 5 custom all in one diapers with S-hooks and they fit and work so great.  I ordered 5 more.  Here is her website: http://tkcuddlers.com/    

I am also using cloth wipes full time now.  They are so much easier than disposables once you are using cloth diapers since you just throw them in the wet bag with the dipes, no extra trip to the trash can.  I bought some amazing velour wipes that are so soft.  I wet them and roll them and keep them in the wipes warmer, it will hold a dozen very easily.  I buy my velour wipes and burp cloths from here and just love them.  They are super high quality and she does an amazing job.  I love being able to support all these work at home moms! http://hyenacart.com/QuiltersNappies/

Jack loves to talk and chatters on and on sometimes, it is the cutest thing.  He is a BIG smiley guy, which I love.  He is very expressive with his voice, smile, laughs and facial expressions.  He loves to be tickled and to be walked around.  He likes to be up high so he can see everything.  He is super drooly right now but not whiney or fussy and I don't feel or see any teeth poking through so I don't think he is teething yet.  But then I never knew when Lydia was teething either because she was never whiney or sickly with teething, they just showed up one day!   I hope Jack will be the same and teeth won't give him any trouble.  I did get him an amber teething necklace.  If I notice any signs of teething I will start putting it on him regularly and I'll let you all know how it works for him.  Jack slept through the entire night for the first time this week.  From 10:30pm to 6:30am!  He usually always at least wakes up at 3am for a feeding.  I am so glad to see him slowly move more towards sleeping through the night and I hope he makes it more of a habit! 

He wears a size 3-6 months and they fit him perfectly right now.  His eye color is now just like his Daddy's. They are a chocolate brown color. Definitely no green tones at all.  Lydia's eyes are very hazel, like her Mommy's. 


Lydia is 28 months and is 26lbs & 35.5" tall.  Her sweet brown hair has gotten so long and curly in the last few months, it won't be too long now and I will be able to do some cute pony tails! :)  She is a great help with her little brother and loves to make him smile.  Lydia loves to dance, sing, read books and to play pretend.  She loves to pretend cook, pretend to catch bubbles, pretend her and I are going on a treasure hunt...  It's so fun to watch how her imagine grows and grows.  She loves to go places, on trips or just to the park or to the grocery store with me.   Her and I go on weekly grocery shopping trips where it is just me and her and Daddy stays home to watch Jack.  It is a fun time for just me and her.  I bought a preschool learning book and a learning to read book and I will be starting to teach her those this fall.  It will be a few years before preschool yet but she is so eager to learn and has got her colors & shapes down already.  She is ready to move on to the alphabet.  We did some flash cards with her last week and she really enjoyed it and did great with them.


We made a few new purchases for the kids this week.  We invested in some new Britax car seats and I tandem stroller.  I am very excited to have a stroller to push them both.  That will be so nice for walks and trips.   I will be giving our old car seats and stroller to my mom to use with the grandkids and the children she will be babysitting.  Here are the seats and stroller we decided on:   http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/advocate-70-cs  we got Lydia the Rivera color and Jack the Opus Gray http://www.britaxusa.com/car-seats/advocate-70-cs/fabric-options  Here is the stroller: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Graco-Quattro-Tour-Duo-Stroller-Platinum/14562906?sourceid=1500000000000003260330&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=14562906  


I was able to find both the seats and the stroller for REALLY good prices online.  About 30% off each plus free shipping. I was thrilled!  If any of you want links, let me know. With both kids next to a door it was important for me to find a seat that had great side impact safety.  I was going to need to buy a convertible seat for Jack when he out grows his infant seat but wanted to give Lydia the same protection as Jack.  So when I saw them for such a good price I got one for each of them.  They are rear facing to 40 lbs and front to 70 so they should last them many many years.


This Friday we took a short family fishing trip to Tie Hack, then on Saturday evening we went to a birthday party dinner with all of my family for my brother Sean's 23rd birthday.


We will find out sometime this week about Ryan's job.  The new company that bought the Marathon asset in Gillette will be coming to him with a job offer this week.  We are hoping it will be a good thing.


Our siding and roof are finished.  It has been 2.5 weeks and we have not really heard from our contractor.  It is very odd since we owe him $9,000 for the work and he has not been by to collect.  All he has left to do is put in our bathroom vent..


Next month our escalade goes in to get all the hail damaged fixed.  I will be happy when that is all finished!

Here are some more photos from the weekend:

Mini Vacation

Ryan and the kids and I went to Rapid City on Saturday afternoon and visited Reptile Gardens and Flags & Wheels.  It was Lydia's first time in a go-cart and she rode with me in a co-rider.  She was really scared at first and wanted out after they started the engine, but I held her hand and after 2 laps she was just fine.  I went a little bit faster each lap until we were full speed and she was REALLY serious the whole time but I think she had fun.

Then we went to Reptile Gardens and she got to see lots of neat things.  Crocodiles, parrots, prairie dogs, snakes, frogs & turtles.  She had fun but seemed to like the big sandbox they had best. ;)  Unfortunately we had forgot our camera.  We took a few pictures on my phone and Ryan bought a disposable, so when we get those developed I will be sure to post them.

Ryan took a floating holiday on Monday so we decided to go back to Rapid and see the things we weren't able to last time we went. I was able to work on the laptop on the way there and back which was nice.  We went to Old McDonald's Farm first which she LOVED.  She did a train ride, and a pony ride.  She bottle fed some goats and held baby chicks.  Fed the big goats and fish, pet the cows and chased turkeys and chickens around the farm.  We got lots of cute pictures, they can all be seen on our photobucket under Rapid Trip August 2010.

After the farm we headed over to Storybook Island.  She rode the train there and climbed and played on everything.  I don't think we missed even one attraction.  She had so much fun there.  We have lots of pictures of that as well.

Here is just a sneak peek:

A Few New Updates

Lydia is still doing great with the potty.  She is in panties full time and rarely has an accident!  We are very proud of her.  We are cloth diapering Jack full time now.  I love it so much and I really wish I would have looked into it a bit more before I had Lydia so I could have cloth diapered her as well; I was not as health conscious back then as I am now though.   After trying many different brands my very favorites are the BumGenius Elementals (Organic) all in one diaper and the Flips diaper with the organic inserts.  They are both amazing and fit baby from birth to potty training.  They contain even the messiest poops and you don't have to change them every hour like some cloth.  I would highly recommend them to anyone looking into cloth diapering their little one.  It is an expensive investment initially but it does pay off in the end.

Ryan got his vasectomy last week, so no more babies for us.  We were definitely sure of our decision and I am glad we will not have to worry about birth control any longer.

Jack is 13 weeks this week and weighs 13lbs 0.5 oz. and is 23.5 inches long.  I bought an infant and toddler scale for home so I can weigh them whenever it's convenient for us.   He is growing and changing so much, babbling, grabbing toys, rolling over, laughing and smiling.  He has such a cute personality, and he just lights up when he sees his big sister.  :)  He loves toys and he sits really well in his little prince lion heart chair.  His favorite thing is to be rocked and Daddy has become a pro at it.  ;)   We are still breastfeeding and that is going great.  He eats every 2 hours during the day, goes down for bed at 10pm and typically wakes up around 2am to eat then sleeps till 5 am.  Then he will sleep another stretch from 5-7 or 8am.   He takes little cat naps throughout the day and usually only one long nap that last 2+ hours which is usually late morning-lunch time.  I still am swaddling him at night.  I tried not swaddling him one night this week and he was up every two hours, won't be doing that again!   He likes the pacifier but not nearly as much as Lydia did and he takes it a few times a day.  We use the gumdrop pacifiers which are what he was given at birth.  It was the only kind he seemed to keep in well.

Lydia is really transitioning from toddler to little girl.  She talks so well and is just like a sponge when it comes to learning.  Her memory just amazes me sometimes. She loves music and dancing, and being outdoors.  She loves playing with children just her age or older, younger just doesn't click quite right with her yet.  She still loves her puzzles a lot, and to read books.  She loves being a helper when someone if fixing something or putting something together.  Her hair is growing in so much now, it amazing just looking back 3 months ago when Jack was born to now, she has twice as much hair!

We got our new roof put on a few weeks ago.  As most of you know we had an unfortunate occurrence when a delivery service for a local roofing company dropped a pallet full of shingles on our new roof thinking we were 206 EAST Laurel.  The causes some damages to our new roof so we have been battling with that the last two weeks.  They finally paid us for the damages so we released the shingles back to them early this week.  Our roofers came and repaired the damaged parts 2 days ago.  I am hoping they will be back next week to fix all of our siding.  I will be happy when all of the repairs to our home and vehicle are complete.  Our escalade goes in in September.

Ryan and some friends and family will be going to Denver this weekend for the Mile High Nationals, drag race.  It will be just a guy trip this year.  They are leaving tomorrow morning and will be back Saturday night, so just a quick trip.  I'm sure they will have a lot of fun.