Butternut squash

Last week we had butternut squash with a dash of cinnamon. He really seemed to like it (even though he spit out nearly all of it.) He has yet to eat more then maybe 5 bites at a sitting. He isn't quite ready for  more then that. 

Here are a few pictures:

Yummy yummy. As I am sure most know, I make all of our baby food myself. I tried two separate ways of making the squash. I steamed one and baked one. It didn't seem to make a difference to him. Two medium sized squashes cost me about $4 and made enough food for about 2 weeks. We still have a week of food saved up. 

I really love watching his try new things. He is so animated in his facial expressions. 

Walker's 5 month post

Where is the time going? I swear it was only yesterday that I had this sleepy little newborn who did nothing but snuggle me all the time. I now have a infant who is bubbling over with personality. I adore watching him grow up, but does it have to be so quick?

Sleep:

Yes! He is finally starting to sleep again. I never thought I would see the day. In fact, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to sleep until he was grown and out of the house. However, he has proved me wrong. My issue is no longer with him not sleeping, its with me sleeping on the couch because I fall asleep while nursing him. Walker goes to bed around 9pm, wakes around 1-2am, and then I end up fallen asleep on the couch with him until 7am. If I do ended up putting him back in the rock n play he wakes again around 5am. So the issue lies in me. 

Also, we are switching to his bassinet as soon as he is no longer coughing. He is still recovering from being sick, so I am waiting for him to fully recover. I plan to switch him to his crib at 6 months. The thought breaks my heart. 

Daily Life:

He is doing wonderful with a schedule lately. He wakes around 7, naps around 9-12pm, plays, naps again around 3pm, plays, naps around 5, dinner and bedtime routine start about 7, start nursing by 8, asleep by 9pm. He is assisted sitting and getting really good at it. I know that at any minute he is just going to sit up on his own completely. He has mastered rolling from back to belly, belly to back is still a challenge though. He loves to give bear hugs and open mouth kisses. His teething seems to be picking up a bit, but I don't see any teeth coming in. All in all he is a great baby. 

Solids:

He tried avocados, butternut squash, and pears so far. He loved the butternut squash and pears, he absolutely hated the avocado. I will be writing a post about each of the foods he tries I'm just running a bit behind. 

Here's a few pictures from the past month! Love my baby bear. 

Two fantastic Target deals

This week I bought an Ergo for $50 (originally $115), and a Chicco Nextfit carseat for $150 (originally $280). Target was offering two $20 off coupons, a 20% coupon, and for the Ergo a $20 gift card. The carseat was also on sale for $223 I believe. I knew these were steals. 

Walker loves the Ergo! I currently own a Infantino carrier that neither W or I really like. He always fights me when I try to wear him. I had my eye on an Ergo for awhile, and to be perfectly honest I wanted the Camel color instead of the Galaxy. I have since really started liking the Galaxy print. Here is a picture of our first ever back carry 

I look pretty rough, but we both really enjoyed it. The only other carrier I want is a Tula.

The Chicco Nextfit is the steal of the year for this momma! I had been researching over the last few weeks trying to decide between the Chicco Nextfit and the Britex Marathon (currently we are a Britex family). The two deciding factors came down to this sale and the fact that a friend of mine told me that children ABOVE the 50th percentile grow out of the Britex earlier due to the short shells. We plan to do extended rear facing and I read this seat is great for that! I am waiting till he sits by himself to switch him, but I knew we would need a new seat in the next month. Here is the seat 

I am ecstatic over these finds! Any other mommas take advantage of the Target coupons?

Guest bathroom remodel

We moved into our house in June of 2012 and since that day our guest bathroom has looked something like this...

I have never been happy with it. Recently, I have gone on a remodel kick and I wanted to start with the guest bathroom. Which resulted in the pictures down below.

All I needed was a little paint, a few shelves, and about $30 worth of yellow decor to transform the guest bathroom completely. I am absolutely in love with the way it turned out. I still want to frame the mirror, but that a project I will tackle down the road. Now on to the master bathroom!

C25K update

I have been meaning to post this for a few weeks now! 

I am on week 3 of C25K (I am so far behind). With the recent wedding and just Walker related stuff I have only been able to get to the gym once or twice a week which means my weeks overlap. However, I am making progress and find myself really looking forward to going to the gym. That is something I never thought I would say! I am really excited for the Color Run this year! Plus I am hoping to be shedding some of this baby weight. 

I just finished up the second week with is run 90sec walk for 2 minutes. I found this to be fairly easy. I ended up running almost 2 miles in 30 minutes every time I went to the gym. This is definitely progress for me. 

I am loving this running regiment! Maybe ill be in shape for a 10K at the end of the year? ;)

This was technically on the cross trainer. I like to spice it up.

Avocado update!

Well it turns out Walker hates avocados. 

Who would have known? 

We tried them two days in a row and he broke out in a rash on his back. So we quit all solids for a few days (this coincided with him getting sick) and we started with butternut squash, which he loves! 

We will revisit avocados in a few weeks to see if he still gets a rash. I read that a baby should try something 12 times before they can actually decide if they like it or not. 

2 times down, 10 more to go. 

Pedi appointment and breathing treatments

We are sick. 

Very sick.

Yesterday, I was woken up at 5 am  by a coughing baby. As soon as I picked him up he threw up all over me. He had been congested for a few days with a cough, but no fever. I assumed it was allergies. 

I set a Facebook status asking for home remedies for his cough. I tried vicks on his feet, steam showers, cool humidifier, anything I knew of. On that status, a nurse friend mentioned that he didn't need to have a fever to have RSV. She asked if he had retractions. After a little research, I concluded that he did have retractions. After talking a bit more to her, I decided we needed to see the pediatrician. 

A quick call to the pediatrian and they wanted us in immediately. I threw on clothes and loaded up W. We headed straight there. 

They ran a test to check for RSV which (thankfully) came back negative. However, the pediatrician said he has a severe chest cold that mimics RSV. He prescribed breathing treatments. 

After leaving his office, We came home and took a nap. I woke up feeling incredibly sick. I'm pretty sure I have an upper respiratory infection. Coughing hurts SO bad, plus the runny nose, headache. Blah. Ben stayed home from work today so I could sleep and hopefully feel better. 

At the time of writing this, I feel way better. Not 100% but better. Walker is feeling better as well. He is doing awesome with the treatments. I'm hoping he will be 100% by this weekend.

I'm so glad I posted that status and followed my gut. I didn't want to go to the pedi just for them to tell me he had allergies, but I knew it was something more serious. 

Always follow that gut feeling when it comes to your babies. 

Starting solids

and I mean real solids! Tomorrow kicks off Walker's first real solids and we are starting with avocados!

We have decided to do homemade baby food for a few reasons, but the main one is that it is way cheaper to make his food then buy it from the store.

So here goes nothing! I have been reluctant to start solids because I don't want to start him before he his ready. Tonight at dinner it was easy to tell the boy is super interested in food! He will stare at anyone who has food in their hand. So for I am so excited to see how he handles it. We will still be nursing before he gets solids each time because the bulk of his nutrition will still come from breast milk. I'm thinking he will start getting his food in the early afternoon around noonish. I will post with pictures on how he handles it! 

For information on how to prepare avocados for your little one visit Stormy over at Life's a Dance . She has a schedule for introducing solids to your little one that we will be following. 

4 months

My baby is FOUR months old. Holy Moley. 

As of 3/1/14, since 2/29/14 doesn't exist this year. 

Sleep:

He is the king of no sleep. We just tranistioned completely out of the swaddle, but we moved into a sleep sack. It's like a blanket that zips around him so he can't pull it up over his face. 

He seems to like it. Plus when we snuggle during the day we always use a blanket. He is still waking up 3-6 times a night. We are working through this right now, but this momma is so tired. I can barely function some days. He is also anti naps unless they are in moms arms. I would love to hold him, but this isn't possible everyday. He wakes up as soon as I try to lay him down. Right now I figure persistence is key. I am anti cry it out method, but I will allow him to fuss for a minute or two before soothing him. 

Nursing:

He is a nursing champ! I had so many issues in the beginning and I was so close to giving up. I am glad I stuck with it through the cracked nipples, intense pain, and bleeding. We are now nursing 100% pain free. The only downer is that we are still using a shield. I wish I could say that we intend to wean from the shield, but I think we will be stuck with it for the remainder of our nursing journey. Honestly, it's not that terrible. I think maybe thats because I have never had the luxury of nursing without the shield. When it comes down to it, I will take nursing with the shield over not nursing any day. 

Daily life:

Walker can roll from back to belly and belly to back now. Tummy time is ancient history (which I am sure he is glad about). All of him movements are now purposeful which is so fun to watch. He can interact with toys now and I adore it. We have started building up our library. Ben and I have decided to buy 4 new books every month. This month we purchased The knight and the Dragon, The Alphabet tree, Dream Train Steam Train, and Alphabet under construction. I am already adding books to my amazon cart for next month! I love reading and I am hoping to pass that on to Walker. We are also practicing assisted sitting which he is doing very well at. 

Solids (new category!):

Walker has taken up an interest in anyone with food within 10 feet of him. He will stare them down and open and close him mouth. So we started oatmeal this month! He wasn't a fan at first, but we have only done this twice to date, but he seemed to like it the second time. The first try I used water and the second time I used breast milk. Next Sunday we are starting avocados! I am so excited to see him with these. We are also making our own baby food! Any tips would be appreciated! 

During our 4 month photo shoot

He loves his Sophie!

Hanging with mom

Mr. Green eyes.