Day 41

Aaron finished the door trim on the kitchen door.  Yay!

Day 42

We took a family walk because the weather was okay!  This was February 11th I believe, so rare nice weather in Pittsburgh.  Unlike today, March 18th, freezing rain!?  Also, Sam doesn’t like the stroller now..  no good.  Whenever I take him anywhere, he’s in the Ergo now.

Day 43

Sam’s first time in a shopping cart!  Home Depot trip.

Day 44

We installed new lights in the kitchen and dining room.  Prior to that light in the kitchen, there was just a dangling bulb hanging from it’s wire.  Upgrade.  Prior to the dangling bulb, there was a square fluorescent light with water in it that leaked from the tub. Fire hazard.

Day 45

Valentine’s Day and Aaron’s birthday! 32!  Sam’s gift to Aaron was a picture of himself for Aaron’s new office.  I got Aaron a paint brush(!) and a new travel coffee mug.  We kept gifts small because we have plans of buying a bigger “family gift” in the Summer.

Day 46

Working on painting the dining room here.  We painted it Ice Rink by Martha Stewart.  We used the same color in the kitchen of our old house and I LOVED it there.  We painted the kitchen and dining room in this house that color.

Day 47

Sleeping boy.  He sleeps in his new car seat much better than the smaller one it seems.  Plus we finally bought one of those mirrors so we can see him while driving.  It was definitely, definitely worth it.  I wish we would have bought one right from the start.

Day 48

I’ve been putting Sam in the Moby again when I’m cleaning up the house.  He really likes it and it’s still comfortable for me even though he’s almost 20 pounds.  I had packed it away because I thought he was too big but now it’s back.

Day 49

Aaron and I took Sam to a Gymboree class during one of the days of Aaron’s 2 week work hiatus.

Day 50

Missing! forgot to take a picture…

Day 51

I started writing a post about cloth diapers and took this picture for that.  I have to finish up that post.  But there they are (12 of the 15).

Day 52

Knitting was going strong in February and then kind of died off in March.  I still haven’t finished this scarf.

Day 53

MISSING too!

Day 54

Wedding!  This was the first night we left Sam with Aaron’s parents to put him to bed.  It turned out well!  And it was good to get away from the baby for a little while.  Even if I had to pump in the car between the ceremony and the reception.

Day 55

On our way to Cincinnati for Aaron’s new job training.  5 hour car right with the baby went surprisingly well.  Sleeping in a hotel room with a baby definitely did not.

Day 56

Sam and I tracked down Trader Joe’s by our hotel and bought supplies for the week.

Day 57

We went to the Children’t Museum in Cincinnati the next day.  Sam was pretty much too young to really do anything there but we wandered around and looked at things.  Something to do.

Day 58

The next day, we went to a thrift store.  It was the most amazing thrift store I’ve ever been to.  It was HUGE and so cheap.  Like each of those books above cost 9 cents!  I also got those two jackets for Sam.  Baby Gap down coat for $4.  I love thrift stores.

Day 59

We spent a lot of time hanging out in the hotel lobby people watching.  There was a power lifting conference going on in the hotel while we were there.

That brings me to March!

Aaron is off work this week as he transitions to a new job which i mentioned. Last week was devoted to the diy projects and so far this week has been errands. So many errands. Aaron isn’t even working this week and we feel like we have no time.. It’s hard to balance all of the activities we do everyday. It’s all a big balancing act which i was never very good at before we had a baby let alone now. It’s only been six months of this new life with a baby and i think it generally takes me two years to get used to big change. That sounds like a long time..and it might be. But that’s how it usually goes.

Aaron and i are getting used to our new life though and figuring out what our “calling” is and how we like to spend our time and live our lives. I guess it’s just transition time for us as we figure out who we are now and how to orchestrate the chaos.

It’s wonderful chaos though. Crazy, non sleeping baby and all.

Instead of taking a trip, we’re devoting a lot of the time to working on house projects so those pictures will hopefully being coming up in some posts soon.

Day 32
Sam has started sitting up on his own!  He balances for a few minutes usually then reaches for something and tips over.  He still prefers standing (supported) to sitting or laying.  Almost every time I try to get him to sit, he straightens his body and won’t bend into a seated position.

Day 33

We skipped a few days of solids last week because Sam was sick.  He started throwing up after eating (breast milk) so we didn’t want to aggravate his stomach more by trying to get him to eat food.  We’ve only done sweet potatoes, bananas and avocados so far.  Doesn’t like anything so far but we keep trying.

Day 34

Flannel shirt!  It has little corduroy elbow patches too.  I love it.  Aaron loves it.  I bought it at a consignment sale for a couple dollars.

Day 35

Rare baby sleeping photo.  Our phones making a noise when you take a photo so we almost never take pictures of Sam sleeping for fear of waking him.  I’m scared to breathe and wake him up, let alone take a photo.  In the above photo though, he had been sleeping for something like 2.5 hours (who knows why) and it was getting kind of late in the day to be napping.  Also note that he is sleeping on our bed (I was lying next to him).  He would never sleep in the crib that long.  He has only napped longer than an hour in the crib one time.  ever.

Day 36

I started baking all of our bread instead of buying it.  We have a bread machine and I’ve been using it to make dough and then making the dough into rolls and baking it in the oven.  Every time I’ve ever made a loaf of bread in the bread machine the whole way through (not just  the dough) it ends up being really dense and we never really like it.  These rolls ended up being light and fluffy and they’re half whole wheat.  I’ve been making a batch of 12 rolls about every 3-4 days.

Day 37

Sam. and my finger

Day 38

Sick boy!  Lounging on dad.

Day 39

Another sick baby picture.  We had retired the bouncer a month or so ago because Sam really didn’t like it after the first 3 months. We brought it back out while he was sick and he took a bunch of naps in it.  That thing has definitely gotten a lot of use.  He LOVED it the first 3 months.  One of our better baby gear purchases.

Another Day 39

And a not so good baby item purchase.  These things stink.  They’re way too scented.  Ugh.

Day 40

I went and checked out the light fixtures at Home Depot and sent this picture to Aaron to see if he liked it.  It’s now sitting in a box in the kitchen waiting to be assembled and hung.  We got the four light hanging island light behind the chandelier too.

The next post is definitely going to be heavy on the DIY projects.  I’ve also been thinking about writing a post about breast feeding now that I’ve been doing it exclusively for over six months.   I guess I just have to get my thoughts together for that post.

Have a nice evening!

We’ve also been pumping milk and feeding him bottles because he was nursing too fast and then throwing it all up. Pumping in the middle of the night multiple times is even less fun than nighttime nursing sessions.

Wednesday night Sam probably slept three hours total in various places in the house. Definitely not the crib. After that night, Aaron and I were so unbelievably happy that he fell asleep in the crib like normal last night. Three wakings and feedings if i remember correctly (which is questionable).

He seems to be doing better this morning though and is currently napping in the bounce chair. We temporarily abandoned crib napping until he’s doing better.
We did prop up one side of the crib with a book under each leg last night to help with his congestion. (recommended by a pediatrician).

Okay back to focusing on bouncing him with my foot while reading blogs on my phone.

Happy Weekend!

Day 21

Just hanging on the couch doing some tummy time.  Probably watching Word Girl.  The TV keeps Sam entertained for approximately 10 minutes.  I’m okay with a little tv in his life.  For the most part, the tv is off in our house but sometimes I need to take a shower.

Day 22

I’ve been wearing Sam around the house in the Mei Tei carrier lately.  I hardly ever used that carrier and pretty much just always used the Ergo.  And then one day the Ergo was in the car and I didn’t want to go outside and get it.  So we used the Mei Tei and Sam really liked it!  It’s a cheap Infantino carrier (Sash Mei Tei) but it’s really comfortable and only $33!

Day 23

Baby cheeks.

Day 24

We have two pairs of baby Chuck Taylors and I waited too long to try them on Sam and now neither really fit! I did squeeze him into this pair to take some pictures.  He promptly untied the laces and pulled them off.

Day 25

We hung a couple of new lamps in our bedroom.  I bought these probably 1.5 years ago from Ikea(they were supposed to go in our old house) and they’ve been sitting in the basement ever since.  They make me happy.

Another Day 25

I’m VERY slowly painting the kitchen.  So much edging.  And I can only do it in about 10 minute increments before Sam gets sick of watching me paint.  We’re eventually going to paint the cabinets white also and replace the cabinet hardware.  And you know, take out all of that horrible tile backsplash and tile countertops but that’ll be way down the road as we save up for some granite.  Hopefully the cabinet painting will happen this Spring though.

Day 26

Baby’s first swim!  He wasn’t really a fan.  It was pretty loud in there and the water was a little colder than he’s used to in the tub but he didn’t cry.. he just had a look of concern on his face the whole time.  It was fun though!

Day 27

We started solids!  Sam is six months old today (Feb 5).  Up until now, he’s been exclusively breast fed.  We started out with some steamed and mashed sweet potato that I mixed with some breast milk.  He hated it.  He actually threw up some of the milk that he had just eaten beforehand.  We tried again the next day and he still hated it so then I gave up with solids for a couple of days.  Then we tried banana.  He still made faces but didn’t mind it as much and I think actually swallowed some.

We did banana a few days then I switched back to sweet potato again today.  He hated it again but I’m just trying to get him to at least taste things at this point.  Up next, avocado.

Day 28

Sam!  And the only picture I took on the 28th..

Day 29

Sam and I took a trip to Home Depot and bought a shoe rack.  Before the shoe rack, there was a giant pile of shoes in this closet.  Much better. Aaron and I are both not naturally very organized but we’re trying to make organization more of a priority in this house.

Another Day 29

Did a little Pinterest inspired jar painting.  .69 cent acrylic paints and old pasta and salsa jars.  And then Aaron questioned what I was going to do with them! (no idea really but they’re sitting on our window sill right now)

Day 30

I’ve been eating this for lunch a lot lately.  Sauteed kale and baked beans.  Simple and good.

Day 31

A little cry time.

First month of project 365 done!

Sam and I were planning to go out somewhere today but we’re snowed in.  It’s been snowing for about the last 4 hours and our road is completely covered.  He’s napping right now.  I’m signed up to take a baby sleep class on Tuesday evening because Sam’s naps and sleep are still pretty terrible.  He’s going to be 6 months old in a week and is still waking up 3 times a night at least.  And naps.  I’m not going to talk about them more than to say that they’re bad, if they even happen at all.

Day 14

I made this butternut squash and apple soup.  It’s a Barefoot Contessa recipe.  I’ve made it multiple times before and it’s been great.  Something went wrong this time though.  It was way too sweet and spicy.  Ah well. I still have a container of the soup in my fridge… 9 days later.

Day 15

Just a picture of Sam in a cloth diaper.  I had read that people say they LOVE cloth diapers and I was always kind of skeptical about it but I do really like them.  Maybe not love but it’s saving lots of money and they’re fairly easy to deal with.  Plus, cute colors.

Day 16

If you look closely at Sam’s pants, you’ll see we had a leak.  If you don’t snap the cloth diapers on tight enough, they definitely do leak.  You also have to change them a bit more than disposable.  Again, like not love.

Another day 16

Turkey burgers and roasted sweet potatoes.  This is how our dinners usually go now.  We either take turns holding Sam and eating or we try to eat while holding him.  By that time of night, we can’t really put him down without crying.  Right after dinner, around 630, we head upstairs for bath and bed time for Sam.  His bedtime is pretty consistently 7-730 now.

Day 17

Sam loves the jumperoo with a passion.  Loves to jump.  LOVES to jump.  Like anytime you hold him standing, he starts to jump.  All the time.  He’s also into the swing now.  Amazing because he hated it as an infant.  Now he’ll swing while playing with toys while I cook or take a shower happily.

Day 18

We’ve been hanging out at the Galleria a lot lately.  We met a friend there once last week and then Sam and I went there again later in the week (plus again this week).  There are lots of couches and chairs and Sam loves to watch the people walk around.  There is also an Anthropologie in that mall.  I bought a new knob for the bathroom medicine cabinet last week.

Day 19

I’ve been searching for a gym to join around here.  I toured LA Fitness (outdated and the childcare room was depressing), Snap Fitness (super cheap, no frills club but they did have a nice childcare room), Extreme Fitness (expensive for what it was and not very convenient to our house.  Childcare room was okay..)

And then we went and toured the Upper St. Clair rec center.  Oh my!  That place is amazing!  Indoor and outdoor pools (both with slides and a lazy river!), huge gym plus a really nice childcare room.  Of course it’s more expensive than the rest…and slightly farther away but for what it offers, it seems that the price isn’t so bad.  Aaron and I are taking Sam there swimming tomorrow with our guest passes to check it out.  Sam has never been swimming!

Day 19 again

We’ve been working on cleaning the basement and have found all sorts of treasures.  Cat eye glasses.

Day 20

A little spray painting during nap time.  Can’t wait until Spring when we can start painting around here!  All of our downstairs walls are a weird peach, flesh tone, tinted brown due to cigarette smoke from the previous owners.

Sam is still napping!

Have a good weekend!

]]> http://pamcakesandeggs.com/2013/01/25/project-365-days-14-20/feed/ 0 pamcakesandeggs 2013-01-14 17.32.52 2013-01-15 08.15.28 2013-01-15 16.21.32 2013-01-16 17.12.29 2013-01-17 12.05.22 2013-01-18 15.06.06 2013-01-19 14.04.41 2013-01-19 17.42.40 2013-01-20 13.28.25 http://pamcakesandeggs.com/2013/01/14/project-365-days-5-13/ http://pamcakesandeggs.com/2013/01/14/project-365-days-5-13/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:50:14 +0000 Pamela http://pamcakesandeggs.com/?p=6271 ]]> Day 5

We did some weather proofing on our house last weekend.  Aaron did anyway.  I watched the baby.  The previous owners of this crazy house took off the garage door, closed off part of it and put in a random door from outside into the garage.  It’s weird.  This house has all sorts of quirks.  Anyway, it wasn’t secure at all because the house was a foreclosure so the door had been broken into.  We’re planning on eventually making it back into a garage (in the next few..years) but for now, Aaron just fixed the jam, put on a new lock and some weather proofing because the previous owners ran heat into the garage.  Totally normal.

Day 6

I bought these ornaments at Michaels after Christmas and cut apart one of our Christmas cards and put the pictures in them.  I’ve been trying to do a picture ornament every year since Aaron and I were dating.  I missed last year unfortunately but I have the previous few years.  I’m trying to create traditions over here.

Day 7

I’m attempting to take up knitting!  I’ve been wanting to learn how to knit for a few years but never did it.  So I finally went out and got the supplies and then watched some videos and read a few tutorials and started.  I only know the “knit” stitch. I haven’t tried to purl yet.  I’m trying to make scarf now and then I’m going to try to actually follow a pattern for the next project.

Day 8

We received a pack of these Carters striped onesies at Sam’s baby shower in size 6 months.  We dressed him in them constantly so I went out and bought them in size 12 months too since he’s grown out of the 6 months.  He’s 5 months old and wearing 12 month onesies.  He’s a tall one.  Also, I picked this picture to post because I wanted to point out that his bottom looks big in most of the pictures.  He’s wearing a cloth diaper under there so some of his pants don’t fit so well and he looks kind of funny.  We’re doing cloth diapers during the day (mostly) and disposable at night.  We have Charlie Banana one size pocket diapers with reusable inserts.  I love them!  I also have one Bum Genius pocket diaper and it leaks all the time.  I avoid using it.  Not a fan of bum genius.  We have one Fuzzibunz pocket diaper too and I like that one too.  It’s a little harder to stuff than the Charlie Banana and not quite as soft.  Charlie Banana wins.

Day 9

My friend Gina and her mom sent a gift card for Sam for Christmas to The Children’s Place.  I got this sweet sweater and hat.  I love them.

Day 10

The knitting went down hill a couple of days in.  I messed up some how and had to unravel the whole thing and start over again.  Boo.

Day 11

Tool pajamas.

Day 12

On Sunday, Aaron watched the baby so I could spend a little time doing something by myself.  I ended up going to the ReStore in Edgewood and got this jar for $1.  I also got a few books for Sam and a Christmas record.  Probably my favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning is go to yard/estate sales or thrift stores.  I love other people’s stuff.  Luckily Aaron does too.  This summer, Sam will experience early morning estate sales.

Day 13

This picture is just cute.  Sam’s hair grows straight up on top and he has a bald spot in the back.

That’s it for now.  Have a nice Monday!

Okay it’s now January 4th. I’m now blogging on a computer instead of my phone because I actually managed to get Sam to nap! In the crib! Unswaddled! Miracle. It’ll probably only last about 30 minutes but I’ve come to terms with short naps for the most part. This baby doesn’t like to sleep for long periods of time. He doesn’t like to fall asleep, doesn’t like to stay asleep and doesn’t like to sit anywhere ever.

Moving on..

I read a blog of a woman who lives in Thailand with her husband and two kids and she did “Project 365″ on her blog and basically took a picture every day of the year and posted it with short descriptions. I’m not sure if she came up with this idea or if it’s all over the internet and I’ve just missed it.. Either way, if it’s her idea, I hope she doesn’t mind if I do it in 2013.

I started off well with a few pictures taken on January 1st and then already forgot to take a picture on the second day. THE SECOND DAY! That’s pretty bad. Rather than take a picture of Sam sleeping at 11 PM when I remembered that I forgot to take a photograph (and risk accidentally waking up the baby that NEVER sleeps. Not happening), I’m just going to use a picture from day 3 for day 2 and work on remembering better going forward.

Day 1

Aaron’s family came over to our house on New Year’s to celebrate Christmas (we were in Florida visiting my family during the actual holiday).  Aaron’s parents got Sam a stacking toy which Sam of course, put in his mouth immediately then accidentally smacked himself in the face.  Not quite ready for that toy yet.

Day 2

Aaron and Sam playing on the couch.  We’ve all been sick with colds the last few days so we haven’t done much except lay around and eat soup.  Except Sam’s version of laying around is not laying at all but wanting to be bounced and walked and played with.

Day 3

These pajamas are way too small but we put him in them anyway.  He grows out of things so fast.  He’s in 12 month pajamas now.

Day 4

After two days inside, we finally ventured outside for the shortest walk ever.  We bundled up then only walked down the block and back before I decided it was too cold for Sam.

First four days of Project 365 DONE.  I have a tendency to get all these big ideas about blogging and then never actually follow through.  We’ll see how this one goes.  I’m going to try.  I almost always take a picture every day on my phone though so the hard part for me will be to actually post them.  Have a nice night!

12:00 pm
We play on the bed, dance and sing to the Baby Einstein Pandora channel, practice standing, walk around the house, and sit on the swing outside.

12:42 pm
Sam is hungry again. He eats then falls asleep in the bounce chair. I get dressed and get things together so we can leave for a walk right after he eats when he wakes up. I also clip coupons!

1:15 pm
Sam slept for 35 minutes! He eats again then i change his diaper and buckle him into the car seat for a walk.

We walk up and down the little shopping district here for about an hour. I brought along an apple and a granola bar for a snack.

2:30 pm
Back home and Sam wakes up as soon as i set the car seat down in the kitchen. I grab a piece of cheese for a snack because I’m starving but Sam has to eat first. I feed him and change him and play with him for a few minutes on the changing table until he’s in a good enough mood that i can set him down to eat lunch.

3:00 pm
I get to eat! I put the baby in the pack n play and get my salad out of the fridge that i made a couple of days ago. I sit by him and try to entertain him while i eat. Things like describe my salad to him..

3:15 pm
Sam is sick of the pack n play so we play on the couch for about 10 minutes but he’s grumpy so i try to get him to nap again. I try to put him to sleep rocking on the glider – fail. In the bouncer – fail.

3:30 pm
Sam is hungry again. I give up trying to get him to nap and hope he’ll fall asleep nursing.

3:45 pm
Asleep next to me on the bed after nursing! I start writing this post on my phone while trying to keep Sam asleep.

4:15 pm
He’s awake! We lay in bed for a bit because Sam’s in a good mood then eventually go and change his diaper.

I attempt to put him in the Moby so i can get some things done around the house.

But he gets sick of it and starts screaming after about five minutes..

4:48 pm
Sam is hungry again. He nurses and starts to fall asleep.

5:03 pm
Back to sleep in the bouncer! Unfortunately Aaron is on his way home and his band has practice at our house at 5:30…

2:37 am
Baby wakes up and nurses in bed for about ten minutes. Aaron gets up, changes him, reswaddles him and puts him back to bed. We all go back to sleep.

5:11 am
Hear Sam stirring in the monitor again. I go and get him and he nurses in bed again. After about ten minutes i take him back into the nursery, change, swaddle and back to sleep for Sam. Aaron sleeps through this feeding.

I head downstairs, pump a bottle for Friday night while reading blogs on my phone. Pump about 4 ounces, eat some peanuts, drink some water then i head back up to bed and go back to sleep. It’s about 6am at this point.

6:40 am
Sam is up again. Booo i only slept for 40 minutes. Sam screams while i change him since i decided to change him before feeding him. Wakes Aaron up and Aaron walks into the nursery thinking I’m still downstairs. Sam nurses in bed, then i take him back to the nursery, swaddle and back to sleep for all of us.

8:20 am
Sam is up for good. I feed him in bed, then Aaron and i play with him for about 15 minutes in bed. He’s the most happy and animated at this time.

8:45 am
We all get up. Aaron gets ready for work. I put Sam in the pack n play by the window downstairs and turn on nature sounds. He looks around and plays while i make coffee and get breakfast for me together.

I throw some laundry in the washer, make the bed and put some other laundry away. Drink coffee for a bit then Sam starts to look tired.

9:30 am
Put him in the bouncer with music and vibrations on for a nap.

I put the pacifier in his mouth a few times until he falls asleep at about 9:45. He sleeps for about .. 15 minutes. We try to get him back to sleep until we give up at 9:55, Aaron leaves for work and i take Sam upstairs to change him.

9:57 am
I feed Sam in bed and he falls asleep next to me. I start writing this blog post on my phone while lying next to him.

10:30 am
I sneak out of bed, grab my bowl of oatmeal that’s been sitting downstairs and eat it in bed next to Sam.

10:58 am
Sam wakes up. I try to get him back to sleep with the pacifier but he’s not having it so i nurse him again hoping that will put him back to sleep. If he starts the day with good naps, he is much more pleasant the rest of the day.

11:57 am
Sam wakes up for good. Grumpy…

But then i change him and he’s happy and we have playtime!

To be continued..