You're the Big 1-0!

1/17/11

My sweet baby boy, you are 10 months old today! I cannot believe how close we are getting to your first birthday. This past month, your father and I have watched you become much smarter. This morning as I got ready for work, you were playing in my closet, and I caught you looking at yourself in the mirror and then looking behind it, as if you knew that a small child should be there. Of course, you stopped as soon as I grabbed the camera! You know how to share now; you pass objects to us when we ask you to or when you want to share. You recognize your name now and can wave “hello” and “goodbye.” You will give us a “high five” sometimes…when you want to do it, of course. You have also started signing. You are still fascinated with lights and will sign for light and for milk, although you have only done the latter a couple of times. When you want to nurse, I sign for milk and ask you if you want your “nursies” and your reaction communicates your desire. You can now mimic actions. Your father and I taught you how to play basketball; you drop the ball through the hoop now! Yesterday we even enjoyed a game of tossing the ball back and forth. You are very active. You love to play and interact with others. You will play by yourself some, but it is not too long before you want us to play with you, and that is a good thing! This means that you are sociable and love stimulation. I would not have it any other way! You still love your books. One day this past month, I left you playing in your playroom for one moment to return and find you in your bedroom reading your books! It is a good thing that we have a baby proof home! Your curiosity is never ceasing, so I try to let you help me as much as possible. I know that you are learning through your experiences and that your senses are helping you understand the world around you. You help me brush my teeth; you help me with laundry; you help me when I’m cutting coupons; you help me put on my make-up; you even helped me blow dry my hair this morning!

You had your first Christmas. You must have been a good baby boy because Santa brought you so many fun toys! You got to experience your first fireworks, and while the noise startled you, you enjoyed the colorful lights.

This month was filled with a ton of firsts! You took your first big boy bath. We had to put your green tub in storage when you started trying to stand up in it!

You also took your first vacation out of the state. We traveled to Branson, MO. You got to ride on a boat for the first time when we took a dinner cruise. Although we were only there for the weekend, we had a great time and look forward to the day that we will go back.

You had your first visit to the zoo. You liked seeing Sophie and riding the train!

You now have 7 teeth! You tried figs for the first time and LOVED them. You also had your first meat—some ham. Needless to say, you are your father’s son. You loved your meat.

You experienced your first New Year's Day with breakfast at Jane and David's!

You stood alone for the first time this month. You cruise all over the house now. You have pretty much given up your military crawl for the more traditional one. You no long have to pull to stand, but you can now stand yourself up when just balancing on something…most of the time my leg when I’m sitting on the floor playing with you!

Nursery on a Budget

Creating a room for your little one is an exciting activity for you and your spouse, but it can be a little frustrating when you have a limited supply of funds. Designing a room that is practical and attractive while not breaking the bank is very possible! You just need to be both a little creative and a little crafty!

Start with color! You want you walls so have some sort of color to them. Paint on the wall can change the whole room. I've seen some really cute rooms that would be so much better if they had some sort of color to them. Don't think that not painting the wall is saving your home's value; you can always paint over the color!

We learned a valuable lesson--don't try to save money by buying a smaller amount because if you end up needing more, it will cost you more! AND don't cut corners with cheap brushes! We spent about 100 bucks on paint and supplies. FYI: Dollar store rolling brushes can cause some lint/fuzz to get on the wall which will cause more work for you if you end up sanding it and repainting like my perfectionist husband!

We chose two colors: a green color for an accent wall and a kaki color for the remaining three.

Next comes furniture. I know that it can be fun looking at all the cribs, bassinets, changing tables, dressers, and rockers, but seriously, get what you NEED! I've seen some beautiful cribs that my friends have bought for their newborns, and I love them, but when you are on a budget, this is the best way to save some moola! We found our crib and changing table on sell at Target; buy the crib and get the changing table FREE. Yeah boy, I jumped on that! Both were 190 total! That includes the shipping charges that I had to pay since both stores were sold out of this set. I'm so glad that I invested in a changing table because when John Warren was smaller, it made changing his diapers so much easier. Since we use cloth, it also has helped me stay organized. JW's crib is as cute as anything in Pottery Barn for a quarter of the cost. Since we co-sleep, is crib has been just a place to play but since it turns into a toddler bed, I'm sure we will get some use of it. Why spend a lot of money for something that you will only use a few years? Invest in the bed that your child will use from 4 years to 18 years!

Now, onto the fun part! I spent hours browsing bedding online, and it was downright depressing looking at some of the prices: 500+ for some bedding. Hold up, my own bedding doesn't cost that much, so there is no way I'm paying that for some bedding that will last about three years for my child who could CARE LESS!!!! Here is were the craftiness comes in handy! My Aunt Johnnie Sue and I made a trip to a fabric store and bought all of our fabric for 5 bucks a yard. Yep, you heard right FIVE DOLLARS a yard! Crazy steal! It would have cost less, but I bought enough for curtains and extra for anything else that I wanted to make. I ended up spending about 150 bucks on all the fabric. Now, it is important to keep this in mind. If you make your own bedding, find the fabric first and then match the paint to the bedding.

We found a simple pattern, bought a cheap 20 dollar bumper from BRU for the insides, had my friend monogram the minky dot, and sewed everything ourselves!

Wall art is a fun part of decorating a nursery and can be a very EXPENSIVE part! I browsed Etsy and HGTV's website for my inspiration. Now you can find a ton of ideas on Pinterest. I bought some scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby along with some cheap picture frames and cut out some Mr. Owls for my little man's room. Easy Peasy and cost about 60 bucks total--the majority of it in the frames which can be reused as JW's room changes. That is only 15 dollars per picture for something unique and so cute!

In the picture you can see how I store John Warren's cloth diapers. I had some old storage bins that I had bought from Wal-mart when Warren and I were first married. My wonderfully talented aunt took the old bins and made some matching ones out of the fabric that we had bought, so those cost me nothing! My favorite price! (She did have to by velcro, but I don't know how much she spent.

THE GLIDER--this is a great purchase if you will use it. Since John Warren co-sleeps, we have used it mostly for reading, cuddling, or rocking to sleep. I'm glad we bought it, but looking back now, I would probably have bought something smaller because this takes a huge amount of space. It was about 400-500 dollars for both the glider and ottoman. This is where you could probably save some money by buying something used and redoing it, or buying a less expensive chair. This will take some investigating on your part.

The hanging letters on the wall came from Anthropology and were bought with a gift card--FREE! The cute owl lamp was about 40 bucks from Target, and the curtain rod cost about the same on sale at Lowe's. We already owned the side table; it was a gift from the MIL--FREE.

We personalized the wall about the crib with a decal. This I found on Etsy for 20 dollars! Great steal!!

The bookshelf was one that we had. I took some fabric that we had left over and covered the back, painted the wood, and we have a new shelf for FREE!!

And for the final touch--my old rocking horse:

I had to buy some yarn to redo the hair witch was basically rotting away, but other than new hair and tightening up some screws, this bad boy was ready to roll! It adds a special touch to the room and was basically FREE!!

The key to a good room on a budget is finding some things that you already own that you can update/re-do for your new room. Cutting corners on expensive purchases like bedding and furniture can make a huge difference. The money that you save on your nursery can be used for other important purchases...in our case, an electric pump. Haha :)

9 Months and Growing

My baby boy is growing so quickly now! You are nine months old and have been alive in this world the same number of months that you were alive in my belly! On Monday, you weighed a whopping 20 pounds! At nine months, you can now sit yourself up from a crawling position and just a few days ago from laying on your back (12/12)!

You still prefer your military crawl, but you are perfectly capable of crawling in the traditional stance. You think that you move more quickly military style, so you choose to move about that way most of the time.

You pull up on everything: the wall, dishwasher (which you will even try climbing on), cabinets, sofa, bathtub, stools, your highchair, my legs, and anything else that you can. You love standing and can walk with assistance. I’m anxiously anticipating your first steps. We hope that Santa will bring you a sturdy walking toy so that you can practice moving around on your own two feet.

You are talking up a storm; you started babbling December 2. We went to the Donut shop to meet Mrs. Amy and Mackenzie for breakfast, and then we all went to visit Aunt Johnnie Sue. While we were there, you wanted to show off for Mackenzie and started babbling Mamamama. You make a variety of babbling sounds, but much to your father’s dismay, you haven’t clearly made any Dadadada sounds. I’m sure you are saving it for a special moment.

Not only are new sounds emerging from your mouth but also new teeth! You have cut a total of five teeth. This past month, you have cut your top two front teeth and one new one on the bottom. Because of this, you are chewing on everything! You like teething on carrots and frozen bananas. You have tried teething on Teaka’s bone, but that is off limits!

Your appetite is growing as you are. You are sitting in your high chair and feeding yourself more these days.You love broccoli, purple hull peas, strawberries, Great Mamaw’s biscuits, puff snacks, and yogurt melts (which you must love by the way your mouth waters when you eat them)!

You met Santa for the first time. I think stranger anxiety may be setting in because you were not too sure about him. I never got a really good picture of the two of you, so next year, you better warm up to the old man and make Momma happy! You haven’t asked for anything specific, but since you are such a good boy, I have a feeling that he will bring you plenty of toys to keep you busy until he visits again next year!

Your new best friend is Teaka, you spend countless hours chasing her around the house trying your hardest to get a hold of her tail or any part of her for that matter. You love looking out the door at her while she is outside, and you will laugh in her face when she comes back to the door and wants in the warm house. You are obsessed with her bowls, so we had to move them to the washroom, and you get really mad at me when I close the door to the room right before you have a chance to get there.

You had your first Thanksgiving; we went to Aunt Diana’s and tried to make the best of it even though Great Papaw and Mamaw were stuck at the hospital.

You attended your first funeral. We had to say bye-bye to Great Papaw. He loved you so much, but don’t be sad because you will have a chance to spend time with him again when you go home to Heaven. He will probably take you for a ride on his tractor and have plenty of cherry tomatoes for you to eat!

You never cease to amaze me. Everyday, I look forward to the moment that I come home and see your precious face smiling back at me. As Christmas is approaching, I know that God has blessed me with the best give—you!

Visiting Grandma on December 17, 2011!