It's A Boy: A Shower For Shann

It’s A Boy!

We got in just under the wire here.  Little Patrick decided to make an early debut about 3 days later :)

Target diapers make the best diaper cakes.  Those polka dots are just too cute!

I wanted to do two large balloons with tassels but those tassels, although cute, can be really time consuming.  I can't help it though, I just love a giant balloon with a tassel string.  Blame Pinterest I guess. 

All the decorations were made by me.  I purchased the design from the Etsy shop called Haute Chocolate Favors.  The designer had a pink and blue girl whale theme and I had her do a custom package for me.  She sent the files over and I printed and put it all together.  

I made sparkling lemonade punch.  Just lemonade, club soda, lemon slices, blueberries, and ice.  Easy and refreshing.

The "salad party" has become the go-to with my girl friends.  Any time we have a party each girl makes a different salad and brings it.  It makes the food really easy and when it's all women (who eat like birds) it works perfectly.  WARNING: I would never serve this to a bunch of guys :)

My favors were small bags of candies.  I found Hershey kisses with "It's A Boy" strings which I thought were really cute.

A fun little diaper activity.  The guests write funny or inspirational messages on diapers to be reserved for late night diaper changes.  It's supposed to be a little something to get you through those incredibly tough/exhausting times in the beginning.

Blake's Grammie and Patrick's Grandma-to-be.

Making new friends :)

Niki, getting Blake down for a nap.  Thanks again for that one!!

The glowing momma-to-be opening her gifts :)

My daughter is 5 months and I still haven't gotten my hair done.  This is officially disgusting.  It has been over a year now.  This is first on my list if I ever get any "me" time and/or some money :)  But aren't her glasses adorable?

The whole crew

Blake Olivia: 5 months

What's been happening this month:

• 14 lb. 7oz at her doctor appointment.  Almost double her birth weight. 
• Doing much better at tummy time and rolling over from front to back.  She only gets to her side from her back though.
• Wearing size 6 month clothes.
• Laughing.
• Chewing her hands.
• Still drooling a lot.
• Understanding and anticipating games.
• Loves playing with toys, especially throwing them on the ground over and over and making me pick them up.
• Still needs to be swaddled for sleep.  I might get the Zipadee Zip soon to try to transition her.  It comes highly recommended from a few friends.
• Found her voice and loves to use it, loudly.
• Pulling hair. I can't ever wear mine down anymore.
• Loves to play with her feet.
• Waking up at night again. She wakes up about every other night.  I've read that this can happen at about 5 months because baby becomes more aware of their surroundings.  I am going to start some different methods for sleep so that I can create good habits.  I'm not a believer in "sleep training" but I am going to start gently helping her to learn to self soothe and fall asleep on her own.  I hope this works.  I didn't buy a book on it (because seriously, who has time to read a book?) but I have read up on a few different techniques and am going to sort of make up my own sleep techniques.  We'll see if it works.  More on that later.  I still really don't mind helping her to sleep but I would like to stop completely relying on nursing to sleep so that other people will be able to get her to bed.  

Blake Olivia: 4 months

What's been happening this month:

• Blake moved from the bassinet to her crib.  It was the easiest transition.  She loves the crib and sleeps great in there.  I was obsessed with watching the monitor for the first two nights and kept the video on, which lit up our whole bedroom, but by the third night I was ready to relax a little and just have the sound on.  Now I check the video periodically if I wake up just to peek in on her but we sleep with video off.  Everyone is sleeping better.  Even Cody.
• I'm still getting up once a night to pump and I think that will just be the way it is for as long as I am nursing.  It's actually not that bad, or at least I'm getting used to it.  I have stopped any extra pumping during the day because I was having a bit of an oversupply issue.  It's nice to know how to control it now and that I have to option to increase and decrease it if I need to.  Nursing a baby is such a huge commitment.  I never knew just how challenging it would be but it is so rewarding also.
• Blake is not rolling over yet and still prefers to sleep swaddled.  From what I have read, it is still perfectly fine and safe as long as she can't roll over.  I use the Swaddle Me velcro swaddlers and I love them.  It's funny because I hated them in the beginning.  It's crazy how things change.  I tried the Halo Sleep Sack Swaddler and it worked for a few nights but she was able to get her hands out pretty easily so I got rid of it in favor of the Swaddle Me.  
• Blake has discovered TV and definitely shows a lot of interest in it.  She has even been so distracted that she refused to eat because she was turning her head to see the TV.  I have been trying to keep it turned off during the day so she won't be staring at it but it's hard because I'm so used to having it on in the background.  
• Tummy time is getting better.  She will do longer stretches now that she has the super fun tummy time mat that looks like a pink surfboard and has a pouch with water and floating fish in the front.  By longer I mean 5-10 minutes.  We are still far from the 1 hour a day recommended by the pediatrician.  I'm trying though :) 
• We have had a few real belly laughs but they are unpredictable.  She had a huge blow out poop that she thought was pretty hilarious one day but I can't really get her to laugh on command.  It sucks because once you hear it once, you are addicted and I'm constantly trying to get her to laugh again.  Big smiles, on the other hand, are easy to get out of her now.  She is definitely ticklish.
• Her neck is getting a lot stronger and she has a lot more control.  She also has a lot more control of her hands.  She likes to grab at everything.  She also chews on her fingers constantly.
• We had a little scare when I was rear ended with Blake in the back seat.  It wasn't that bad of an accident but even a fender bender can shake you up when you hear your baby screaming right after.  It was just the noise that scared her and I was able to calm her within a few minutes but it definitely rattled us both.
• I have been trying to get outside and do some exercise since I really want to get back in shape so we have been walking.  Blake loves to nap in the Ergo baby.
• Her nap schedule really isn't a schedule.  I'm torn on whether to force her into one or not.   Some say that it's soooo important and others say let the baby take the lead.  I try to stay somewhere in the middle and make sure she gets her sleep but I follow her cues.  I'm also torn about nursing her to sleep all the time. It is great bonding time for us and she falls right to sleep and stays asleep.  It's hard to believe something that comes so natural and works so well could be a bad habit but there are tons of people that will tell you it's bad.  Again, I'm just following my gut on this one and doing what works for us.  I really can't complain since I have a happy baby that sleeps through the night.  I must be doing something right.  I am reserving the right to change my mind though if I get a more difficult child the second time around :)
• My hair is finally falling out and it's amazing I can lose that much hair a day and not be bald.  I was hoping I would be immune to this one but, just like everyone else I know, I'm losing my hair.  I Googled it and read that it's the pregnancy hormones that make your body hold on to extra hair that it would normally shed all throughout your pregnancy.  So this stage is just your body catching up and shedding the excess.  (That's why people often have really thick, gorgeous hair while they are pregnant) I don't know if this is the real reason for hair loss but it seems reasonable enough to me.
• There is one really weird/gross thing we have noticed.  Not all the time, but pretty often, her poops smell like popcorn.  It's like we just walked into a movie theater.  I might never eat popcorn again.  There are tons of people talking about it online so I guess it's normal.  It's only with breast milk apparently. 
• Lastly, the best thing about motherhood so far is this amazing bond that Blake and I share.  For this short period of time Blake prefers me to anyone else in the world.  She only wants me.  It's a great feeling.  I tell Kyle that even though right now he comes in 2nd (and it's a close 2nd because she really loves him) his time will eventually come when she prefers him for a while.  I know this can't last forever so I'm soaking it all up right now so I have something to look back on when she's going through those years where she hates me :) 

2013

Recap of 2013

1. This happened.

2. We moved. Again.

3. We went to Maui for my best friend's wedding.

4. I finished my post bac classes in Communicative Disorders.

5. We celebrated our 1st anniversary at L'Auberge Del Mar.

5. Our baby girl was born. 

6. We had our first Christmas as a family of 3.

It's been an amazing year!

My goals for 2014:
1. Get outside for some activity at least 4 days a week.  I need to lose some baby weight and getting outside is good for Blakey.  I've been walking lately and it's really good for stress.
2. Get organized.  I am shooting for one small project a week.  Soon I hope to have a more organized home/life.
3. Get a trainer for Cody.  He has been really good with Blake but he is still really protective and can be aggressive with strangers.


Blake's goals for 2014:
1. Practice more tummy time.
2. Grow some hair.
3. Learn to crawl, walk, and talk.

She will be very busy this year :)

Healthy Banana "Ice Cream"

I have been seeing this around the internet a lot and decided to give it a try.  Hopefully I will be able to fool Blake with it for a little while at least.  It is actually really good and a great alternative to actual ice cream since I'm trying to be a little more healthy post baby.

All you have to do is slice some bananas and freeze them.

Put them in a blender or food processor.  I added a scoop of peanut butter.

The bananas will start to look crumbly and you have to scrape the sides and blend a few times.

Eventually it will look smooth.  It takes about ten minutes.

Re-freeze the smooth soft serve-like bananas, scoop and enjoy :)

Three bananas made 2 portions

  Mmmm delicious!

Homemade Apple Butter

This year's Christmas craft is apple butter.  I was shocked at how many people didn't know what I was talking about when I told them I was making it.  I grew up on the stuff.  To clear things up if you don't know what it is...
1. No it is not apple flavored butter
2. It's like jam but apple and cinnamon flavored
3. You can use it on toast, for pb&j, on vanilla ice cream, in oatmeal.  The possibilities are endless.

• 12 apples- peeled, cored, and sliced (an apple slicer makes this really easy)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp all spice

Step 1:  Throw everything in the crockpot on low and cook over night.  I let mine go until the apples were really soft and falling apart.  I left it on low all night and most of the next day.  

Step 2:  Crack the lid or remove it and turn crockpot up to high to cook off the water and thicken it up.

Step 3:  Put in blender and blend until smooth.