It's entirely too late to do this

It's after 10pm, and I should be heading to bed. But I sat down at my computer desk, and realized I have been super neglectful.



Baxter is still ridiculously cute. No worries. I actually have more pictures on my camera I should upload and edit, but as previously state, it's too late tonight. So just an update. Maybe short, maybe long? We'll see :)

Ok, it's been a LONG time! Baxter is walking everywhere now. He hates to crawl it seems like. Until earlier this week he was crawling a tiny bit so he could pull himself to standing so he could take off again, but he learned how to stand up on his own. It's sooo cute! But it means my baby boy is growing up :( Can you believe he's 10 months old already? It's crazy! He still isn't working on any words, but he has learned a few signs. He rarely uses them though. In fact, I taught him to sign "more" the other day using blueberries, but now he only wants more blueberries. He loves blueberries. Almost as much as he loves pudding.




Oh yeah, if you didn't see them on Flickr or Facebook already, we gave Baxter chocolate pudding. He made a royal mess, but it was so stinkin cute, and he loved it. I still have pudding spots on my walls though... Oops! He's starting to want to eat 3 meals a day, but not eating much. He's such a slow eater, and HATES bibs, so now that its finally warm I've just been stripping him down.

I started doing some Photography on the side, and I've been really liking it! Right now I've only taken pictures of a few friend's kids, and I have more to put up, but here's my gallery of photos. I'm hoping that if I get good enough it can bring in a little bit of extra cash next year. I've still been sewing diapers, and my newest creations, embellished birthday diapers, have been a hit so far! Check out my Dilley Dally blog for pictures of those though.

Jason is getting close to the end of the school year. His last day is the 17th, but then the 18-19 are the beginning of summer school. He's teaching a Geometry class this summer for students who want to skip ahead to Advanced Algebra next year. Usually it goes Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Algebra. So this class will be mostly online, and then Jason will be at the school for 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays to be there for help. It's a pretty neat system, and I'm looking forward to having him around this summer!

Speaking of summer plans, I'm totally excited to be taking our first vacation over the 4th of July! The Spears/Irvine family is going to the Chelan house, but we're staying a whole week. So some family time, and some just us. We bought a pool/lake toy for Baxter, and stocked up on sunscreen. I even faced the dreaded swimsuit shopping, because none of my old ones fit.

Now, swimsuit shopping is NEVER fun, but it's worse right now. My old suits are all too big, which is a nice feeling, but my tummy is in need of a lot more ahem control now, and by chest is in need of a lot more support. I also can't use anything that ties behind the neck, and V-necks and low necks are out. Yes, Baxter knows where his next meal is coming from, and he's not afraid to go after it if he's hungry enough. So those had to stay on the hangar. Luckily I found the perfect suit at the first place, and scored two amazing skirts that have been a lifesaver in this weather.

Ok, that's enough of an update for now, right? Steve and Krystal and little Bruce are coming over tomorrow, so I better get some rest tonight :)

I'm behind...

I'm sorry I'm not caught up on blogging, life got the best of me! I've been busy, and if you check out the Dilley Dally Blog you'll see why :) I'll try to update more later, but Baxter was up every 40 minutes to an hour last night, and I'm exhausted today.

Also, I wrote a guest blog for Angie over at The Creative Mama all about cloth diapering! At the end, there are four different ways to enter to win a free Dilley Dally Diaper! So head on over and check it out!!!

growing up

I'm writing this from my phone, so please excuse any errors. On Tuesday Bax decided he could walk. He pulled to standing and then took two steps before falling on his bum. He's really good at walking while holding hands (great with two, and fine with one!) but he's just now turning 8 months old... I'm so not ready for him to walk.

Right now I'm holding him as he sleeps and lets out huge man farts. He still hasn't broken his top teeth, I think they will remain in his gums forever. We may have a two year old with dentures like two of his grandpas....

So far my store opening has gone really well!! I sold 5 diapers yesterday, which is virtually unheard of for a new WAHM.

Oh!!! And I ordered my camera last night, I'm so excited for it to get here!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

What a Day...

Amusing Baxter story time! But first some business...

I LOVE YOU JASON! I can't believe we've been married seven years. You're the greatest husband, the best dad, and I'll love you forever.

Also Dilley Dally Diapers is opening on Wednesday!!! Yay! I'm still fine tuning the process, but I'm loving how everything is coming together.

Ok, and now the part you've been waiting for. Fun Baxter story time!

First, a cute tidbit. Baxter is totally in love with his Daddy. This morning he went into hysterics when Jason took a shower. He didn't want ME, he wanted DADDY. So for most of Jason's shower we played peek-a-boo with the shower curtain. If that doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what will.

And now, one of the funniest things I've ever seen the man child do. WARNING: Swallow whatever you're drinking.

Yesterday Baxter was cranky, and it was just about nap time. So I nursed him, then put him in bed. He squirmed around for a little bit, and then let out a pretty good fart. Well, evidently the fart wasn't enough.

I watched as he woke up, then stood up in his crib. His nose just peeks out over the top of the rail. He held on, then squatted down, like he needed some support. He then proceeded to drop a ginormous load in his pants. From there he stood up, looked over the rail, and GRINNED at me, like he was so proud of that poopy. I was laughing so hard I had to go get Jason to change his diaper. Then I put him back down for his nap.

Happy Dance!

I just finished my final final. I turned in my final project. I have nothing more to do at WWU. Except I'm still here. In one of their computer labs. Not at home with my lovely family. Why? Because I get 500 pages to print each quarter, and this is the last time I get to use it. My mom wants her iPod manual printed out (72 pages) and I have some half sheet mailers to put in packages when I sell diapers. Instead of PAYING to print them at Kinkos or the expensive ink for my home inkjet printer, I'm taking advantage of what's already included in my college tuition. I'm being thrifty!

I'm so glad to be done though. Once I get home I might relax for a little bit, but my house is a disaster. The last couple weeks have been whirlwind, so laundry and vacuuming have suffered. I did clean the bathroom this morning, but I think all my floors are due for a good scrubbing. I don't think a mop will cut it.

Of course, then I need to get going on opening my business! I now own www.DilleyDally.com (it doesn't go anywhere yet) and I set up my new official business email address too. I think I need to purchase some good accounting software, just because I did just get a degree in business, and it would be hypocritical if I just did this without any forethought for the future. I have fabric on order, but I really need to sew some diapers too.

When Gary is here next week I'm going to have him help me do the site design for my shopping cart online. He is a graphic designer, and Baxter does nap, so he's obligated to help me, right? :) I think he wants to help me, but it's more fun to say he has to!

It takes a long time to print this much... But I can't imagine doing this at home. I'll probably have to do the paper cutting at home, but that's manageable. I can't believe how much it costs to set up a business! And I'm still attempting to save toward a new camera too. I can't even tell you how much I want it like 5 days ago. I've got the photography bug, and I just can't scratch it! I've even found myself reluctant to take pictures with my current camera in favor of waiting. I might be waiting for a while though, and I know you all still want pictures, so I suppose I'll have to continue to take them anyway!

We have a playdate with a friend tomorrow morning, then a second flu shot for Baxter (babies get it in two doses). Fun stuff. Ok, well I'm done printing now, so I suppose I better go home!

Seven

Baxter is seven months old today. Jason and I will have been married for seven years at the end of this month. Amazing! Time has flown by. I think being in school has kept me pretty busy, and I can't wait to graduate (done in 16 days!!!). Of course, then I will be busy sewing diapers, but I will at least get to somewhat make my own schedule then. 

I got labels for my diapers made, and they look fantastic. I should probably start a second blog about my diapers so that in case you don't care about diapers as much as I do you don't have to read about them all the time. But for now it's here. 

Baxter is getting a top tooth, you can see and feel it through the gums. He hasn't been too fussy, but we shall see. He's also really close to pulling up to stand. And he started making a funny scrunched face where he wrinkles his nose. Too cute!

But that's all my update is today, since I have two papers to write, a case study to do, three chapters of reading, and an exam to study for. The last 16 days are pretty packed. 

Chasing Shadows

The other day I was putting away Baxter's laundry while he played on the floor. He's been working on the pincher grasp, where he picks something up with his thumb and index finger. In the past this is only been used on me (i.e. nursing, pull off, look pointy thing! pinch, OUCH! resume nursing). Well he saw my dancing shadow in the rays of sun and was trying to pick them up! It was super cute, so I took a picture:


I also picked up some teething biscuits for him, since he seems to like table food more then purees. He loved it. He smelled of teething biscuits all day. He also made a big mess!



Shortly after this photo there was actually remnants on his forehead as well. I gave him half of one later, but planned it so he went straight into the bathtub afterwards.

He's also been laughing and ticklish a lot more. He especially loves mirrors. There are handprints on ALL of them in the house now. So next time I get them cleaned I'll try to video him playing with mirrors again. But in the mean time here are some fun videos of Baxter playing with Mommy and Daddy.





On other notes, I finished and shipped my diaper order! Now I have papers to write, but what else is new? Baxter can also scoot quite far now :)

Stand by me

So Baxter really likes standing. A lot. His new favorite toy is the laundry basket because he can hold both sides and stand on his own. See Exhibit A:

The only problem with this is that laundry baskets are prone to tipping, so we hold both sides. The picture is blurry because it's from my phone as I'm gripping the basket with my ankles.

He's getting better at crawling. He does this funny arm pulling thing, and still tries to get up on his tip toes. It's not really coordinated yet, and he still rolls over to get there faster some times. I'm not sure I would call it an army crawl yet. But it still gets him where he wants to go.

He has discovered the cat food and water. He hasn't tried to eat it yet, but he has pulled the water onto his head. Jason and I can't figure out where to move it to so that he can't get it anymore.

I've made a lot of progress with my diaper order. I'm learning silly things like remove the lint from my machine every night and it doesn't break as often. I'm also getting significantly faster. But Jason was laughing at my inventory skills. I ran out of elastic yesterday so I went to get more. But JoAnn's was having a huge President's Day sale, so I came home with a bunch of thread too, you know, for inventory. This weekend I also realized that I had ordered snaps from China forgetting about the Chinese New Year, so I wasn't going to have them in time. But then I recalculated and realized that I had ordered enough for this order but would still be short in the future, so I ordered a bunch more locally. Luckily it's only a tad bit more expensive, but the shipping is a lot faster.

This morning Baxter woke up with a bit of a cold, at 5am. He wants to be upright (so his nose drains?) and I'm too tired, therefore he is in the jumperoo. But he's starting to make whiney noises, so it might be close to naptime.

The last few days he's been trying to eliminate his third nap of the day. Which would be fine if his second nap of the day didn't start between 10 and noon, and only last an hour or two. Being up from 11 to 6pm is REALLY hard on him, but he fights that last nap. It might be because he was starting to get sick though. So today I'm going to try to push the middle nap back in case he fights number three again. Oh, and I'm going to use Tylenol.

Ok, there was yawn #3 in the jumperoo. It's still a bit on the early side for his first nap, but now he might need more mommy time. Off to my full time job!

I am so not ready for this

Starting last friday, Baxter started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth, getting ready to crawl. He continued to do this all weekend. Sometimes he gets up on his hands and tip-toes, like a funny push up. And this morning he army crawled about two inches. I keep telling him to wait another month!


Last weekend we went to Seattle. We stayed with Jason's parents, which was nice. Baxter couldn't figure out if he liked the dog or if it scared him witless. It was a lot of fun! I got to meet someone from my online forum. I'm part of the July Firecrackers playgroup, even though Baxter was born in August. They're a great bunch of ladies. Kyliee and I met and walked around the Commons at Federal Way with her daughter Natalie and Baxter. It was a lot of fun.



After that Baxter and I went to a baby shower for April, my step-sister. She's due on March 16th, the same day as my last class! Baxter was a huge hit, and the party was fun too.

While Baxter and I were out and about, Jason went with his sister Jessica to an orienteering meet. Orienteering is something that Jason did in High School and loved. It's kind of like a race, but you have to use a map to find different check in points before you can finish it. He wasn't going to run it because he is out of shape, but at the last minute he decided it would be fun. He was sore for three days.

Jason will find out on May 11th if he has a job or not. The irritating thing is that the job fair is on April 16th, so he's not sure if he's going to go to that or not. He might just for information gathering. We're somewhat preparing for the worst, which most likely means a move to Seattle. If we moved to Seattle I would have to find a job, which would be difficult with bottle-refusing Baxter. But with what we could afford rent-wise, I wouldn't have space to sew my diapers. So pray that Jason gets to keep his job!!!

I have a debate on Wednesday for my leadership practicum class, and a mid-term too. So not fun. On Friday we have a recertification appointment at WIC, and then we might go see Great-Grandpa and Grandma for a late lunch/early dinner. And I'm busy making diapers in my free time! Good thing I enjoy sewing them :)

Double

Baxter is now double his birth weight. At his 6 month appointment today he weighed in at 19lbs, 12oz. That's 6 whole ounces more than double his birthweight. And I think that means his growth has finally started to plateau! That mean it will be much easier to clothe the boy. He's almost grown out of his 6 month sleepers. I recently had to explain this to my father, so I'll explain it again. Baby clothes are stupidly sized. There is NOT consistent sizing between brands. Carter's is much more generously sized than other brands. In Carter's Bax can squeeze into some 6 month stuff, but he's generally too long. 9 month fits well, and 12 month works, but is really wide. In Old Navy, he's in a 12-18 month onesie (that's the only thing he has from there). In American Apparel he's in 12-18 month t-shirts, and they're slightly on the large size. He got some 6-9 month stuff for Christmas that's just too short, and some others that will be fine this summer if I turn them into t-shirts. I pretty much never put him in onesies, it's mostly t-shirts. And he usually wears the wool pants I knit him. I think he's set on clothes for a while!

My long week of school is over, but next week I have two short papers, one long paper and a mid-term. This sounds worse than it is, since the long paper is already written. And the two short papers are reflections on other people's papers. The mid-term I am slightly concerned about, but I'm not going to stress out about it.

We're going to Seattle for the weekend! I love seeing family. We're staying at Jason's parents this time. On Saturday I'm meeting up with a friend, and that afternoon Baxter and I are going to my step-sister April's baby shower. Fun times! When we get home, I have a TON of diapers to make!

See, I just knew that I had to write this and wait for bed. Baxter woke up. I'll put him back down and then put myself to sleep. Good night!

Sunrise, coffee, and alternate forms of fiber

There's one thing they never tell you about being a parent. "Sleeping in" means you got to sleep until 8am. Most mornings you are up between 5 and 6am, and if you're LUCKY it's 7. Jason and I take turns "sleeping in" on the weekend. He gets Saturdays, I get Sundays. But there are benefits to waking up early! Yes, that's right, benefits! For instance, I get to see the beautiful shades of pink and coral in the sunrise every morning. True that it's through the slats on his blinds, filtered through the bare branches of the maple trees outside, but it's still sunrise. And I see it six days a week.

Regardless of whether or not I get to sleep in, I need my morning coffee. I stopped drinking coffee while pregnant with Baxter, but now I drink it again. However, my coffee habits have changed. I now drink decaf, which still wakes me up. I think I'm just conditioned that coffee in the morning wakes me up. The other thing that I'm doing, is contributing my part to save third world countries. I now buy fair trade coffee, and it tastes great. Especially freshly ground in the morning. I swear, I wasn't a coffee snob until I visited the east coast and had to drink their "coffee" for a few days. But if we go back to the sunrise paragraph above, sometimes I don't feel like grinding my coffee in the morning. So today I had a brilliant idea. Why not have some of the coffee pre-ground, and some of it whole bean?!? Fantastic! But where do I PUT the ground coffee? Since Baxter refuses to take a bottle, I have some large bottles sitting around doing nothing. I think to myself "Hey, these bottles are airtight containers! And I paid good money for these!" Hence my new solution:

Enough about my rambling solutions. You want to hear about Baxter. The man child is doing fine, and he's more and more mobile every day. He seems determined to roll where ever he pleases. In fact, when he sees my shoes he gets excited, and makes his way over to them as fast as he can. He then promptly sticks them in his mouth. We did start him on solids (so far he's had carrots, banana, and avacado. Sweet potatoes or oatmeal are next) but by far his favorite food is wood. You know, door frames, chairs, the doors themselves. Seriously, the boy cannot get enough of them! I keep telling him that wood is not an appropriate source of fiber for a six month old.

On my end, things have been going. I'm not sure if they have been going good, or going bad, they're just going. I had a super busy week at school last week, including writing 5 papers. Pretty insane. I actually think my busiest week of the whole quarter ends tomorrow. Then I have a mid-term next week, but overall it calms down for a while. I also got some really great news on saturday. The CPSIA legislation that was passed last August that would virtually end business for small crafters of children's items was put on hold for another year. That means that I can officially start selling diapers in march when I graduate! I'm working on my first large order right now, and this morning I ordered labels! I can't even tell you how excited I was to order labels for Dilley Dally diapers. And on Sunday night I had a "mamas night out" with some of my good friends. It was amazing, and I just need that once a month.

Jason just finished up his first semester and is gearing up for the next set of lessons. He's been great, like always. I really have nothing to complain about with him. Oh wait, there is one MINOR thing. And it's not entirely his fault. He works at a public school, therefore he's ALWAYS SICK. Or bringing home germs. That part I could live without!

Liars and Frogs, 2.0

Welcome to those of you who came from my old Babysite! I decided to move to blogger so that I can include pictures, videos and links into my blog posts, and also have a more customizable format. I hope it's not too confusing for you, but it's certainly easier for me! I'm working on archiving and updating all my previous posts, so bear with me a bit as I work on that.

Classes have been crazy busy for me the last few weeks. This quarter I have two "writing intensive" courses, which means a lot for me to do. Oh, and the CPSIA gave us a one year reprieve on testing requirements, so that officially means that after I graduate I will be opening up Dilley Dally Diapers!

And a quick Baxter update, since he just woke up from his nap:

Last night I had a girls night out with some of my friends. When I'm home I put Bax to bed, and Jason does it on Mondays and Wednesdays when I have class. So last night he was distressed that I nursed him and then handed him off to Daddy to go to sleep, because he KNEW I was there! I went into the other room to finish getting dressed. When I left his room, he started crying, and called for "mama!" So I was his first word, but I MISSED it! Sad! I hope I get to hear it soon :D