When did he get so big?

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ZIPPERS!

Something that I inherited for my mom is a love of bags — any bag — all bags. Neither of us can have enough purses, reusable grocery bags, drawstring bags, tote bags, corporate bags (the kind you get at conferences), and zippered pouches. My preferences tend to run on the pricier side of things like this Tory Burch tote but I also like making my own small accessories. I can only assume that an additional baby is going to add at least twice as much to my diaper bag and I need some bags in the bag to help me stay organized.

I ordered a 50 pack of zippers off of Amazon (think of all the bags!!!!!!). They accidentally sent me the multicolor pack so they are sending me the correct pack and letting me keep the others (100 zippers!!! I’ll be drowning in pouches).

This afternoon I started on my pouch making adventure – and I feel like I should go out and buy Katie No-Pocket to read to Noah. Anyone remember this book? It’s probably where my addiction started.

 

I’ve decided to do various sizes of pouches for my purse: diapers, change of cloths, snack, toys, and toiletries. The most exciting (and terrifying) moment when you are making a lined zipper pouch is when you turn it right side out. There’s a moment of panic where I think I didn’t something wrong and then all of a sudden it’s perfect! Here’s the one I made today:

The whale fabric is a remnant from Joann’s and the darker blue fabric is actually from my mom’s boss (she gave me a TON of quilting fabric that belonged to her mother). It’s the perfect fit for two diapers — one for Noah and one for baby brother. I’m going to have two “diaper changing” bags in my purse so I don’t have to open two different bags when I change their diapers. If I had been super smart I would have made these wet bags so that the dirty diapers can replace the clean ones.

 

Noah’s first gummies

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Our chatty boy

I feel like Noah went from just a couple words (momma, dadda, and no) to a bunch!! When he said “book” out of the blue this morning I realized that I should be keeping track of words that he has said.

First words:

• momma
• dadda
• no
• ball

More recent words:

• stop
• hot
• mall
• boat
• book
• cat
• woof (meaning dog)
• boom
• truck
• milk
• this
• uh-oh
• yeah / yes
• please
• more
• walk
• car
• up
• brush
• eyes (while poking you in the eye)
• bowl
• go
• woah (any time he sees a really big truck)
• fries

More difficult “words” (2 or more syllables):

• water
• airplane
• watermelon
• blueberry
• “all done” & “all gone”
• baby
• happy

The End of Days

…. Noah can climb out of his crib on his own.

Maryland and Delaware Vacation

Jake’s brother graduated from USNA this year so we made the trip down to Annapolis to spend a few days there and then joined his family afterward for a few days at the beach. Noah was basically a wreck the entire week until we discovered that he had cut 3 molars while we were there! (I think he cut all 4 but he won’t let us look in his mouth.)

Here are a few pictures from our week “down south”.

Uncle Greg graduating!

13/14 weeks at the Color Parade

Super hot/sunny at the Color Parade

Walking in from the beach

Very excited about the beach

Getting ready for bed!

In the living room, breastfeeding, and pregnant…

Yup, I’m that mom who got pregnant while breastfeeding. Noah wasn’t feeding very often (between 2-5 times a day depending on his mood and teething) but I did not think that it would happen for us!

My midwife said that as long as I was comfortable that I could continue to breastfeed him throughout this pregnancy since the baby will take what she/he needs first. Noah is down to 2 times a day (once during the night around 5am and then again after his nap). I was initially concerned about my weight (I’m still under my pre-pregnancy weight) but was told it’s totally normal. At this point in my pregnancy with Noah I had gained about 5-8 pounds.

So here starts my journey of breastfeeding through an entire pregnancy .. and possibly tandem feeding our two children. I’m glad that Noah will be able to wean himself when he’s ready, whether is next month or even next year.

Baby #2

Someone’s getting a little brother or sister for his 2nd birthday (literally…my due date is 3 days after Noah’s birthday). More info later on how we found out!!

Zero Waste Toddler Lunches and Snacks

Noah doesn’t quite yet have the appetite or teeth for sharing our meals just yet. This is easy to fix at home since we can just make him a separate meal, but it becomes more challenging whenever we go out. I’m not ready to shell out money for a kid’s meal (that isn’t very healthy) so we always come prepared with our own food. We all have things that are a priority and one of mine is waste reduction.

Here are a few ways that I reduce our waste every week:

1. No paper towels … seriously. I have a pack of paper towels in the garage from when we first got married (almost 5 years ago) that we use for things like grease or oil. Instead, I use microfiber cleaning clothes, hand towels, and real napkins.
2. No paper plates or utensils. If you don’t have them in the house, you don’t use them. I will buy a small pack if we are having a large party just to make the day a little less stressful but usually I use my extensive appetizer plate collection (Jake would refer to it as a plate hoarding problem) when we have a bunch of people over.
3. Water bottles and coffee mugs. We don’t buy bottled water and almost always make our own tea/coffee before leaving the house.
4. Cloth diapers.
5. Lunches.

Most of the time Jake takes his lunch to school. I found him the plainest, least ornate lunch bag at Target; he loves that he can clip it to his bag so it’s one less thing to carry. He uses Glass lock containers for leftovers and various other plastic containers we have in the house for salads and snacks.

We do something similar for Noah. I have a cute submarine lunch bag I bought at the Dolphin Store in Groton. It easy fits an ice pack, his milk, and 3-4 containers of food. Instead of plastic bags, I use LunchSkins – they are very durable and can be washed in the dishwasher! The downside is that they aren’t even remotely airtight.

Not only are we reducing the amount of trash we put out each week (normally our recycling is greater than our trash) but we are saving money!

April Snow Showers Bring May…?

It’s the middle of April … and there was snow on the ground when we woke up this morning. Since it was too cold to play outside, Noah and I made some snow of our own in the kitchen. I mixed about 1:1 ratio of shaving cream and cornstarch, mixed it together and then added more shaving cream until I got the consistency I wanted. To make it even more exciting, I added a little bit of blue food coloring.

Noah loved playing with the “snow” and had fun putting it into a little container I gave him or sprinkling it on his hair.

After 20 minutes of playing in the snow, it was time to clean up. The sink was the easiest place to do it — and while Noah playing in the sink with the faucet, I was able to clean up the floor.