Resting Face

The picture above is a perfect representation of what J looks like when we go on walks. Looks like he's having fun, right?  Not!  I trust that he would whine if he hated it, and he always seems excited to go, so the only conclusion I can come to is that he will always look like this when he isn't smiling.  I have the same problem and it doesn't bode well for his future.  Poor kid!  Good thing he is so cute.  So now you know, if he ever looks like this around you, don't feel bad, he doesn't hate you.  He is just resting those facial muscles. 

Hungry Much

We hit up the North Shore one morning and hit traffic on the way home which made for a decently long car ride.  J (I think this may become his official blog nickname) was unusual hysterical on the way home.  I tried to calm him but it was to no avail.  Finally, he gave up and played with his toys while getting very drowsy.  A few minutes later I turned away from the window and found him asleep, with a book in his mouth.  Apparently he was either very sleep deprived or very hungry, or more than likely, both.  Promise I took care of his needs as soon as we made it home.

BOFM365

One of my goals this year is to improve my spiritual studies.  Some years I am better than others, but it is something I have wanted to work on for a while.  No more delays!  I am grateful that I found a tool to help motivate and remind me daily - BOFM365.  It is an Instagram account that tells you daily what versus to read, with the end goal that its followers, thanks to the daily reminder, will read the whole Book of Mormon in a year.  I actually just read the whole book a little over a year ago but I love the idea of doing it again, taking it slow, and doing it with hundreds of other Mormons.  My absolute favorite part is reading peoples' comments afterwards.  A prompt is given each day and the discussion that follows is often enlightening, thought provoking, and encouraging.  I have even gone as far as to write some of the comments down so that I have them to ponder on again in the future.  Because the scriptures are being split up across the whole year, the daily reading is small, which is great for people who struggle finding the time to read.  It's also a great start to a longer study session.  Basically, what I am saying is, everyone should consider participating, by yourself, with a friend, or with your family.  And if you don't have Instagram, they are also on Facebook, so no excuses. 

Christmas Time

My sister and brother-in-law both came to visit us this past Christmas.  Having multiple guests gave us a good excuse to drop many of our responsibilities and just have fun.  We hit up the beach multiple times, did some snorkeling, enjoyed shave ice, played games, drove around the island, etc.  It didn't feel much like Christmas but it was still an enjoyable month.

 Ward Christmas party Santa! 

Chilling near the Disney Resort.  

 Like most babies, he enjoyed the wrapping paper the best. 

 Quick stop at the temple. 

 Another beach visit. 

 Someone outgrew his bathing suit top overnight. 

 Of course, in Hawaii, they dropped a pineapple to celebrate New Years Eve. 

 Taking a break from hiking. 

Where we went snorkeling the first time.  Gorgeous but crowded.  

Yum!  

Portraits Part Two

As I stated in my previous post, I had my sister Laura take some time off from her vacation to take some quick shots of my little dude.  She has so much talent!  Even though no planning went into them, the lighting was off, Jack was tired, and the bed was unmade, I think the pictures came out really well, especially considering they haven't been edited at all (maybe I'll get to that eventually).

He gets huge bags under his eyes when he hasn't had enough sleep. 

Poor dude! Always having to deal with mom's shenanigans. 

All done! 

Little Mister Portraits Part One

When my sister Laura was here, I threw my little dude on the bed one morning and had her take some shots.  The bed wasn't made, the lighting wasn't perfect, and the pictures haven't been edited, but I still love how they turned how.  

A New Talent

He can't get up on his own yet but he sure does love to stand while holding on to things.  The other night he was sitting on my lap on the couch.  Before I knew what was happening, he had wiggled off my lap and into a standing position by holding onto the couch.  Then he proceeded to let go and try to stand on his own without the help of the couch.  Needless to say, that didn't end well. 

       

Sugar Addict

I think my husband has been teaching my son things when I am not around.  How else would he know to go for the pumpkins? 

Photo credit: Laura York

Food Time!

I am finally giving this handsome boy real food.  He gets it once a day when mommy and daddy are eating together, be that lunch or dinner. 

Minus the licks I give him sometimes of my food, he has tried bananas and sweet potatoes.  I am trying to skip baby food all together but am open to it if he doesn't progress with table food.

Because he is just starting out, he gets more on himself and the floor than he does in his mouth.  Part of the learning process, since we aren't feeding him ourselves, is learning how to handle the food.  In the process of learning to feed himself, he will also be developing his fine motor skills. 

I was giving him a lot of food at once knowing most of it would end up on the balcony and going to waste but, in the end, I decided I would just give him a piece or two at a time.  This has significantly helped cut down on the waste.  Speaking of which, I swear it sometimes seems like he is throwing the food onto the floor on purpose but he has to be too young for this, right???

I am not sure how much he actually enjoys eating the food but he sure does enjoy making a mess. 

 The first day I gave him a spoon as well but he focused more on it than the food so I have decided to start with just food and then add in a spoon later.  Now I think we just need to teach him some table manners.  He was smashing the banana all over his bib and then licking his bib. 

Thankfully he doesn't need table food to be healthy right now so it gives us time to allow him to learn how to eat on his own without rushing him.  If things don't go according to plan then we will just have to change our game plan and move on from there.  But for now, despite the mess, it sure is fun to see him try to eat. 

Cloth Diapering Update

I thought I would do an update on how cloth diapering is going for us as a bit of an introduction to those who know nothing about it and for those who may be on the fence about it.  Hopefully it is informative for someone.

Why am I cloth diapering? 

The biggest reason is to save money.  Disposables are so expensive.  Even the cheaper boxes from Costco add up quick.  I am just not interested in using so much of our budget up on diapers.  Just ask the hubby, I don't like things that can't be reused.   It's just too much waste for me. 

When did I start cloth diapering? 

I started sometime in July I believe.  By the time the kiddo was born I knew I wanted to cloth diaper but I wasn't interested in cloth diapering a newborn.  I thought it would be too overwhelming and I don't regret that decision.  Now that I know more experienced, I would consider cloth diapering our second child from the start. 

How many do we have?  

We now have over 20.  I don't actually know the exact amount anymore.  When we started out we only had about 5 and each month we would add more to our stash.  The pros of doing it this way are you can test out cloth diapering before making a huge investment, you can cloth diaper part time initially to get used to it, and it's not a huge investment all at once.  The cons are that you still have to buy disposables and you have to wash often.  I do like the fact that I didn't have my whole stash built initially because it allowed me to try different brands and types of diapers. You can always rent diapers to test out how cloth diapering works for you and to decide which type of diaper you want to use before building your stash.  Either way, I would not recommend building your stash completely before you have your child. 

How much did they cost us?

Sometime in January I need to go back and calculate exactly how much I have spent already but I think it is around $400.  You can cloth diaper for so much cheaper or for so much more.  It just depends on type of diaper and brand of diaper.  You can even get cloth diapers used though their retail value is often pretty high.  If you find someone local, they may be willing to sell you their used ones for much cheaper.  

What is washing them like?

Washing them has to be one of the biggest learning curves ever and I think this rightfully stops many people from trying cloth diapering.  But I am here to tell you its doable.  You will run into problems and you may make mistakes you have to undo, but you will figure it out as you go.  Or at least that is what I keep telling myself.  I have been having a problem getting the detergent amount pinned down which has caused a few problems but thankfully nothing impossible to deal with.  As for smell, sure they smell and you have to smell it as your are putting them in the washer and its awful but it only lasts for a minute and anyone can handle that (unless your pregnant and then I understand completely). 

How is traveling with them?

I know people who cloth diaper when they travel but I decided not to when I traveled to Utah in November.  I thought I would regret it and I sort of did (hello all the poo I had to scrub off his clothes) but I had my reasons and looking back I think I made the right decision.  I did not want the extra weight of them in my suitcase and I didn't want to deal with cleaning them in another person's wash machine.  Since some detergents don't work with cloth diapers, build up in another person's washer from their detergent could have gotten on my diapers and forced me to strip them and I wanted to avoid that.  And since I got sick on my trip I am glad I didn't have the extra laundry to deal with. 

How is everyday errands and church with them?

Easy!  I use a wet bag that contains the smell really well.  One pocket is for clean diapers and the other is for used diapers.  Basically they aren't any harder to deal with. 

What about night time diapering?

So far it's going fine but adjustments will need to be made as he gets older and has heavier pees.  At that time, there may be another learning curve for me but for now our system works.  We basically use a pocket with two inserts and very rarely have leaks. 

What has been my favorite type of diaper?

I love pocket diapers.  I think they are easy to use, even with the stuffing involved, and work really well.  I am currently working on learning prefolds.  I need to spend a bit of time learning folding methods since I am not great at the fold I have been using and I am unsure if it's the best fold for his body type, but I do have to say that they are much easier than people make them out to be and work really well.  This past week, I didn't even fold and pin them.  I just folded the cloth, put it into his diaper, and used is as any other diaper.  It worked and it was easy and less expensive than a pocket.

What has been the hardest part of cloth diapering?

The learning curve and figuring out a sufficient wash routine.  Learning about cloth diapers, deciding which ones to buy, and getting a wash routine down all take time and trial and error.  

Would I recommend it?

Yes!!!  I kept reading about all these mothers who were addicted to cloth diapering and I thought they were batty.  But I am now that batty mother.  I am so glad we made the decision and while it's not for everyone, I think there are many mothers out there who would love it if they just gave it a chance.

By the way, many sources you read make you feel like you should never have leaks and if you do, it's a problem with your product or with you.  And while that may be the case, I have tried to give up caring when we have leaks and give up spending all of my time trying to figure out why (unless it's leak after leak).  I figure that even if we have to deal with some leaks every now and then, its better than dealing with the poo blow outs that tend to happen with disposables.  We rarely have issues with poo when we use cloth, something I am extremely grateful for.

Thanksgiving Part 2

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, the little one and I flew to Utah to spend some time with my family.  It was a last minute decision and I was and still am grateful that I was able to go, even if the trip ended up different than expected.

Thanksgiving day was spent with my immediate family at my Grandma's old house.   She has now moved in with my uncle and was sadly not able to join us.  My uncle's family was going to have Thanksgiving on Saturday and I was going to join so I could celebrate with her but I ended up getting sick and didn't want to spread it among the old and the young alike.  We had a wonderful meal though and the day was thoroughly enjoyed even if I had already begun to feel ill.

Side note: The turkey for this part of my Thanksgiving was cooked in a big slow cooker made for large cuts of meat and it was just as good as the imu.  I am already planning to purchase one when I leave Hawaii.

The rest of the trip was spent just relaxing with the family with a quick stop at the temple and a visit with an old friend.  It seems that every time I go to Utah my list of things to do gets ignored because I am not feeling well (I was prego last trip).  Someday I will accomplish this list of things to see, food to eat, and people to see.

Utah had a huge snow storm the day I was suppose to leave and on the way to the airport we got in an accident.  I did not see anyway I could make my flight on time and the agent said I would have to spend more than $500 to get a new ticket which stressed me out.  Thankfully, while I was crying helplessly, my brother found a taxi driver who said he might be able to get us there in time.  I thought this guy was a bit full of it and didn't see how it would work out, but the guy did get us there and there were no lines at the airport so we made our flight home.  I was so grateful as taking care of the little one without the hubby was wearing on me.

One of many naps taken in peoples' laps.

Wearing a coat, something we don't need in Hawaii.  

Chipotle!  Come to Hawaii!

The nice china out for Thanksgiving. 

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Our names made out of chocolate - a cute idea by my sister-in-law. 

Chilling with one of his aunts. 

Introducing him to the snow. 

Snow is a no go.