Project 52: FOUR

I love this picture...

except for that strand of hair that's being weird. 

But maybe I love that, too. 

It's hard to get a family picture.

I really just forget!

Plus, G kind of steals the show...

But I want to INTENTIONALLY capture these moments.

I love this picture also because we're at the Riverhouse.

We're on the swing where I've spent so much time 

and taken so many family pictures.

It's where I took my bridal portraits, too.

I love this place.

We're sitting on a blanket that my great grandmother made my cousin on the other side.

Weird, I know.

She (my cousin on the other side) gave it to us when G was born.

So special.

Except that I left it out there. Boo.

Pops, would you get it for me?

Check out the other Project 52s over on Styleberry Blog.

And be sure to check out Mahina, too. Isn't her little one precious?

some fun videos as of late

Yes, he's covered in drool.

No, he's not showing any signs of teeth...

Yes, he gets distracted at the end by the tag.

What is it with babies and tags???

Just wanted to show y'all the addition of consonants!

This is a fun way for me to do crunches...

...and apparently teach G about Mozart.

I'm such a dork.

Project 52: THREE

Every week, a group of friends and we have gotten together on Tuesdays to share a meal. I've been participating for seven years now (!!!), and our group has changed so much. TND, as we affectionally call it, has had some rocky times the past several months because of new jobs and aspirations, new families (ahem, Garrett's arrival), and sicknesses. But we're determined to keep it going.

There's just something special about having people into your home. In college, the house I lived in had pretty much an open door policy. My parent's home is the same way. I want that for my family. I want us to be a safe place for friends and acquaintances and neighbors to drop by. I want to not have to worry about whether the house is clean or not (within reason) to be a green light for people to come over. I want people in my life to see the messy, cluttered, imperfect life that I live, not the clean, straightened, perfect life that I selfishly wish to portray sometimes.

If you want to see more blogs also partaking in Project 52 check outAdventures in Mommyhood!, Aubrey My Love, Bugs and Boo-Boos,Candice Craves, Caynay Photography, Chronicles of KT, Courtney Kirkland Photography, The Crain's Nest, Dana Moran Photography,The Daulton Dabbler, Englexas, Everything Eatherton, Fairy Wings and Dinosaurs, Finding Joy, Firecracker Mama, Gin and Juice Boxes,Heather Marie Portraits, It's a Strange and Lovely Ride, Kate L Photography, Keeping Up With the Carters, Kim Percival Photography, Mist Moments, Moments and Impressions, The Mommyhood Memos, Moxie Made, Navigating the Mothership, Phreckle Face Photography, Quiet Footsteps, Rachel Gray Photography, The Robersons, Shades of Bliss, Simply Us,StyleberryBlog, The Todd's, We Aren't Scared of Sugar, Wicked Kate and Z as in Zebra.  If anyone else is doing Project 52 and want to link blogs, please leave a link to your website in the comments so that we can link together!

Comparison

Eric at 6 months...                                                              Garrett at 4 months in Eric's outfit!

and, just for kicks, me at ??? months...

(Brown) Rice Cereal

So, G's doctor gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal.

I really didn't want to.

I wanted to wait awhile because everything I read says to wait until 6 months.

But the doc said it might help his reflux.

Good grief, this boy spits up a lot.

But he doesn't complain about it, and he is still growing.

But it's gross.

Also, I didn't really want to start with rice.

I wanted to start with avocado or oatmeal or something else.

I kept going back and forth with everything, and I finally decided to start him on...

brown rice.

That's kind of a compromise, right?

Well, here's his first experience.

He seems to like it, I think.

And, yes, I said, "I don't know if I'm doing this right."

That should be my motto for mommyhood.

I'm still guessing at all of it.

Thankfully, I don't seem to have ruined him quite yet.

As far as the reflux goes, it hasn't improved,

but we've only been feeding him rice cereal for three days.

(And now, I've figured out a way to not get it all over my hand!)

So far, I don't see any signs of an allergy, which is why I decided to stick with rice.

The doc said there is a very low allergy rate with rice.

So, there we go.

Wish us luck.

Project 52: TWO

I found that as I began nursing Garrett, it took so long! Plus, I had to supplement at the beginning for about a month, so I was stuck in my room, away from my family who had come to visit, completely bored. So, I whipped out the computer and watched hulu or got on facebook or google reader to pass the time. Well, that habit turned into a bad habit after family left. When I was nursing G, I would still distract myself instead of enjoy that precious time.

So, since we came home from Christmas, I have been nursing G upstairs in his room. No distractions. It has been so wonderful, too. I usually read to him after he's finished. I feel like a better mom.

Anyway, I couldn't put "Being intentional means nursing upstairs" because when this is turned into a photo book, that would be awkward. But you all know what this one really means.

4 months, oh my!

Stats: You are 27 inches long and weigh over 15 pounds (I must have been wrong in my calculations last month!). You continue to be off the charts in your length!

EATING:

• You still nurse about 7 times a day.
• You spit up a LOT. The doctor told us to keep you upright for 30 minutes after you eat (which is almost your entire waketime!), and it has helped quite a bit. You have reflux, but you're still growing, so we don't have to medicate. So that's good!
• The doctor gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal, but I'm not ready yet. (She said it would help your reflux, though.) Also, I've read about maybe starting with oatmeal cereal or avocado or something. I don't know whether I want to go with what the doctor recommends (rice cereal since it's easy to digest and has little to no allergies) or something that's more "whole food" or "nutritious." Any suggestions?
• I think I might wait a few weeks before starting you on anything, but because you're so big already, I'm not sure. Oh, this is such a guessing game!

SLEEPING:

• Before Christmas, you had gotten to a point (for a whole week) where you'd sleep from about 10 to 7 or 7:30am! You regressed a lot over Christmas, though, and we've had to kind of start over since we've been home...but it's been okay.
• In just a week, you're back to going from 10pm to about 5 or 6am! If you wake up between 4am and 7am, I'll feed you and put you back down. Then, I'll wake you up at 7:30am to start our day.
• You are no longer swaddled. We quit cold turkey when we came back from Christmas because you roll onto your tummy and can't roll back...even if your arms are out! You scared us over Christmas a couple times...
• You have become a tummy sleeper even though we put you to bed on your back.
• You take really good naps during the day once you're settled. You will take 3-4 naps at between 1 to 2 hours each. 

PLAYING:

• You grasp toys and bring them to your mouth.
• You still really enjoy sucking on your big toe and on my thumb! You've even found your thumb...even though I don't like that.
• You can keep your head level when I pull you to sitting, and you are VERY strong with your legs. You'll pull up to sitting or standing very easily when I hold on to you.
• You can sit in the Bumbo for 5-10 minutes, and your head control has improved!
• You like to sit in your high chair and play with your toys while we're in the kitchen.
• OHmygoodness, yesterday you started protesting when a toy was dropped or taken away. Like full on tears and crying! Let the real parenting begin!
• You can roll to your tummy when you're on your back (both ways, but usually to the right), but you still can't roll from your tummy to your back.
• You talk, squeal, and sometimes laugh (especially at daddy).
• You sometimes raise your chest up on your hands when you're on your tummy. Sometimes.
• You will smile at any face - even if it is in a magazine smiling back at you! It's so cute!
• Daddy really enjoys singing to you at all times, especially in front of the mirror. 

Oh, sweet Garrett,

You get to be more fun and interactive every day! I just hope I can keep up with you. Thank you for sleeping so well this month. Here's to sleeping until wake-up time again! We love you very much and can't wait to see how you grow in your fifth month.

Love, Mommy & Daddy

My Project 52 Story

Being intentional means...

This year I want to focus on being intentional

in my family

in my marriage

in my personal life

in my spiritual life

Each week, I want to document one way either I or someone in my little family has been intentional.

At the end of the year, I want to make this into a coffee table book.

I figured out that I can create each picture in PowerPoint and save it as a jpeg. (!!!)

This idea was started by Shawna at Styleberry Blog. Check her out!

Crafty Christmas

Christmas around my mom must include craftiness. It's part of what makes the holiday fun!

We started our 2 week vacation by going to Kerrville and seeing all of the little ways Momma/Mamo made the house festive. Her Snow Village scenes were super cute this year:

Momma is on pinterest, and she found these explosion balls (or something like that), where, when you unwrap them, you find all sorts of goodies like this:

My Aunt Christy is on a Japanese kick right now, and she brought us these sew-your-own-toy projects this year (in addition to us getting real kimonos!). Here's my awesome sister-in-law, Chelsea, sewing her giraffe.

Here I am with my polar bear. I feel that I am an expert on blanket stitches after this project.

Look how cute he is!

Apparently, he killed my cousin Asta's elephant that you see to the left.

I also made a polar bear cub. Look at their little rumps! So cute!

They go perfectly in Garrett's room since we have pictures of other bear cubs posted.

Pops also had a project as he put together his new table.

And, of course, Mamo outdid herself yet again with a project for Garrett.

She made oversized stackable rings in the materials we used for his room.

Love it!