Rock you, baby

Charlie is pretty good about going down for his naps.  He also goes down well for bedtime, although it took a little while to get there.  He's still not sleeping well at night, but I think I'm finally starting to adapt to being up every few hours.  Most days I take a morning nap right along with him! :)  The last few weeks when I've peeked in at nap time I've found him in some pretty amusing positions. 

Sock-less and on top of the blanket is a common position, but the feet on the wall angle is new!  He loves putting his feet up on things and throughout the day he finds spots all over the house to push up against...against the door, against the couch, against the baby-gates!  Falling asleep with them against the wall is a new one though.  

Even when he's not sleeping he's got some interesting crib moves!

A very good tale...

Things have been pretty quiet lately.  Charlie and I have been battling a head cold and been sticking close to home the past week or so.  Since we haven't been out and about too much, Phil and I have had some time in the evenings to watch a few tv shows.  One show we just finished was "Lark Rise to Candleford" and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a period piece.  We found it quite entertaining, with a unique cast of characters and some interesting twists and turns in the plot.  A few characters sort of... disappear off the show, and some things left us scratching our head, but all-in-all it was worth watching.  Postmistress Dorcas Lane is played by the same actress who played Lydia in the BBC "Pride and Prejudice" and we enjoyed seeing her in a much more mature and likable role.   If you're looking for something new it's definitely worth checking out!

Fluffy buns

When Charlie was about two months old, we transitioned him from disposable to cloth diapers.  It took a little getting use to, but I've become a fan of the "fluff".  I use all-in-ones, which are almost exactly like disposables except made out of cloth, and I also have pocket diapers, which are similar to the aios except that they have a pocket that gets stuffed (doh!) with layers of cloth.  It was a little expensive to start off with, but I've been able to build my stash up by buying a couple sets new (Grovia and Charlie Banana, in case anyone was wondering) and one set used (BumGenius).  I now have enough diapers that I only do diaper laundry twice a week, Sunday and Wednesday.  In the long run cloth diaper will save us quite a bit, especially when we have more kids, and it's also better for Charlie and the environment.  Oh, and he looks pretty cute wearing them. :)

Our one struggle has been at night time.  Charlie's a pretty heavy wetter and now that he rolls over to his stomach to sleep he's been waking up in the middle of the night completely soaked through.  I've tried adding extra layers to his diaper, but so far it hasn't helped too much.  I talked to my (fellow cloth diapering) sister-in-law and she mentioned wool pants as a solution.  Wool soaks up a lot more liquid than cotton jammies, and only gets more felted and waterproof with washing.  We talked about knitting some, and I found several cute knitting patterns, and then I stumbled upon this Pinterest tutorial for making them using the sleeves of a wool sweater.  I had been hanging on to a wool sweater of Phil's that I accidentally washed and dried, so I decided to give it a shot. I whipped these little guys up in a about 20 minutes:

We're going on our third night of using them and so far so good! They seem to be keeping him dry (and warm, which is nice in chilly PG!).  I still have the entire body of the sweater, so I think I'm going to use that to make some more pants.  It will be a little more work then just using the arms, but having a couple pairs of pants to cycle through will be great!! 

We layer him to keep him warm... he looks ridiculous and adorable all at once! :)

In which I show off my crafting...

While it sometimes seems like a spend all my time taking care of Charlie, and frantically trying to keep the house semi-clean in the few hours that he's napping, I actually do have time to do some creative, crafting things.  Charles is starting to take longer, more regular naps, and he's also very easy-going and happy when he's awake, so I do get a chance to make some interesting things. 

I wanted to make a mobile for Charlie's room so Phil and I made this one together.  The one flaw is that is doesn't move too much, unless the heat is on and blowing on it.  I've been trying to find a motor I could add, but so far haven't had much luck. 

Another thing for his room was this alphabet sign.  I saw a similar one on Etsy, and then made my own in about 5 minutes and using a $3 frame from Target.  

My first quilt!  I had this mostly done before Charlie arrived, with the exception of the binding.  A friend did the binding for me soon after his birth so I could use it while he was still little.  Now that he rolls all over it just looks pretty, but when he was little and I wanted him to have floor time it worked out perfectly for him to play on.

A friend saw a quilt on Pinterest and (jokingly) said her baby girl wanted me to make it for her. Since I wanted to try another quilt anyway I decided to give it a go.  Despite its flaws, I think it looks pretty cute, and it definitely was a good learning experience.

 Using scrap fabric, I made this table runner for my mom as a (very late) Mother's Day gift.  It was a great way to use up all the little fabric piles I have, and I think I'm going to make one for myself.

One of my knitting projects that I've actually finished recently.  This sweater is great for cool Monterey and I get a lot of use out of it.

Another sweater I knit, this time for the little Bear.  I still need to block it and add the buttons, but he looked pretty cute modelling it for me. 

My latest little craft (thanks to my friend Abbey) are these feltanimals.  Felt is only $0.29 at the craft store, so I got several different colors and picked out a couple different animal patterns to try.  Charlie is still a little unsure of them, but they're a great toy to bring to a quiet place, like Church, and he seems to enjoy throwing them around. :)

Little foodie

So, in all important baby news... we've recently started Charles on solid foods!  An exciting milestone in baby development. :)  While working at the daycare, most of our babies started at about 4 or 5 months, and they all started with purees and rice cereal.  My plan for the little man was to make my own purees, until I stumbled upon a system called "baby-led weaning".  The idea behind baby-led weaning is that baby eats what you eat when you eat it, and they do it themselves.  They don't start to eat until they show interest, which is usually around 6 months (rather than 4 or 5) and could be much later.  Once they are sitting up well in your lap or a seat, are showing interest in your food, and start reaching for it, you simply include them in your normal meal times.  We started with avocados, and then started began whatever fruits or veggies we were having with the meal, provided they were somewhat soft and an easy shape for him to hold.  Rather than being fed smooshy purees, and later having to learn how to eat solid foods, baby starts off by learning how to hold, pick-up, and chew everyday food. 

So far it's worked out great!  The first few times Charlie mostly played with and sucked on the food we gave him, but now- less than a month later- he eats anything we give him, and is getting really good at picking up and handling the food.  He's even starting using his pincer grip, which is a pretty neat developmental step. So far he's eaten peaches, plums, prunes, cantaloupe, banana, apples, applesauce, avocado, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, zucchini, broccoli, and spinach turkey meatballs!  Quite a variety for a little guy.  Here's a few pictures of his (enthusiastic!) eating.

Vacation, baby, and back to blogging

So, once again I have been a terrible blogger.  While we aren't really all that busy in cool Monterey, somehow I don't seem to be able to take time to sit down and update.  Along with cleaning the toilets more than once a month and switching to organic fruits and veggies, one of my mid-year resolutions is to blog more.  We'll see how I do.

What have we been up to lately?  In June/July we had a chance to visit family back on the East Coast and some on the West Coast and got to introduce Charlie to his (many) aunts and uncles, as well as grandparents, extended-family, and friends.

Our first week was spent soaking in all the joys and sunshine of Cape Cod.

We spent a day in Newport, RI, hanging out with Travis and Katie, as well as getting a feel for the area.  We'll be heading to Newport next year, so it was great to see the town and the base.

It was very special to introduce Charlie to his great-grandparents!

 After our two weeks on the East Coast we headed to Southern CA to see friends and family and celebrate the 4th of July.  Charlie made a new friend, and we found a baby who is actually chunkier than our plump little man!

We loved visiting and catching up with everyone!  It's always a treat to go home and see family, but it was particularly special this year since we had a baby to show off. :)  Three weeks of living out of a suitcase was a little rough though, so we were happy to get back home and into our own routine again.  However, with temperatures barely into the 60's here at home, we miss the warmth of, well, everywhere else!