Sleeping Under The Stars

We finally did it. . . We put paint on the walls of our house (I know it only took 2 years) !!!

I wanted to do a space themed room for Parker. I wanted it to feel like you were in space, but wasn't sure how to do it without making it too dark, and then I thought I could just paint the top part of the wall dark blue, and the rest of the wall gray with a border in between. I put glow in the dark stars and planets on the ceiling and blue part of the wall. While putting the stars up I decided to organize some into constellations so he has the big and little dipper, along with the north star, and Orion. The planets are organized around the ceiling light as if it was the sun so Mercury is closest to the light and Pluto (yes the set it had included "8 planets and Pluto") is the farthest.

His new room

I was able to find an outer space toddler bedding set for a good price.

Little Dipper & North Star
Big Dipper (You can also see Mercury, Venus, Earth & Mars)

Orion

The Happy Astronaut

I think it turned out cute. After we finished Troy asked if we could do this to our room :).

2 1/2 Month Stats

Weight = 13 lbs 6oz (71.73%)
Height = 23.5" (53.35%)
HC = 41.5cm (73.09%)

Some how Troy and I have a baby that is bigger then average????

We love our chunky MAX monkey!!!

From what I have read breast fed babies grow faster in the first couple months and then slow down later on so I suspect that may explain things a bit.

Max - 2 Months

I can't believe how lightning fast the last 2 months have gone. I swear someone has taken hours out of the day, or days out of the week, maybe a little of both since we became a family of 4.

Max has been a delightful little boy during the last two months. We are so happy he is apart of our family.

He doesn't have his 2 month appointment until the end of this month so I don't have official stats, but I suspect he will weight at least 12lbs.

He is a great sleeper. I usually get up with him once a night. He has been going to bed around 9pm, wakes around 3 or 4am and then goes back to sleep until 7 or 8am. One day last week he slept from around 9pm to 6am. He also will fall asleep on his own. It is so nice having a baby that sleeps.

He eats really well. He eats about every 2-3 hours, for about a total of 10-15 minutes. We've given milk in a bottle a few times and he seems to take in OK. I have found he takes it a lot better from the Playtex bottles with the disposable liners.

He has started to smile but mostly reserves them for dad.

It has been fun to see the similarities and differences between the Max and Parker infant experience. I feel a lot more confident this time, but maybe part of that is because I have a baby this is a lot easier to please.

Fruits of My Labor

I love to work in the yard. I find it very theoroputic. It is a lot harder now with a 2 year old that doesn't understand the difference between the corn stalks and the dandilion, but I have still managed to squeese in a little time in the yard. This year in our garden I planted tomatoes, red bell peppers, eggplant, peas, spinach, green onions, pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash, zuchinni, yellow squash, cantaloupe, cucumbers, watermelon, green beans, and corn.

The cataloupe and cucumbers died or were eaten, the peas and spinach did ok, only a few of the green onions came up. I'm still waiting to see how the winter squashes, corn and watermellon will do, but it seems like the summer squashes are going to be keeping us fed for the next few months. The beans seem to be doing OK, but I think next year I will plant two rows of them instead of just one.

My favorite thing about about a garden is harvesting. It feels so rewarding.

I'm most excited and proud of that AWESOME eggplant.

Smart Boys

Parker loves to play with this structure Troy made

Yesterday Parker decided he wanted to put his outside toys which consisted of a beach ball, a playground ball, a small sand pail, shovel, and strainer, a little people doll, and a small Winnie the Pooh figurine in an empty flower pot. He started by putting all the small stuff in then the balls last, but he found that the last ball wouldn't fit. Troy was watching this and was so proud of Parker for picking up his toys, until Parker started taking them all out. I told Troy to just watch and see what Parker was going to do. That is when Troy got both REALLY proud and SCARED at the same time.

After he took out all the small stuff, he put the two large balls in. Then in the gaps he put the smaller items making it possible to fit all the items in the pot.

Troy proudly said, "He's going to be an engineer." Then somewhat worried he said, "He's going to out engineer me when he's in high school.

Not sure what the future has in store for Parker, but he does seem to have a amplitude for spacial perception, which some say is a early sign of mathematical ability.

Coupon Shopping

About a year ago I was introduced to the art of couponing. I went to a Grocery Smarts class and learned about some great FREE resources available. I've been able to get some great deals by matching sale items with coupons.

Check out two of my recent shopping trips:

May 7th
Smith's
Total = 17.86
All of these items were on sale, and most I had coupons for.
They were part of a by 10 items and get $5 off
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 18th
Smith's
Total = 63.59
Most of these items were on sale and I had coupons.
Most were part of a promotion if you bought 5 items you got $5 off.
However the root beer, coleslaw and fresh ground peanut butter were not on sale and I didn't have a coupon. I just needed them.

A friend from my neighborhood teaches free classes if anyone is interested in attending a class let me know and I can either host a class, or I can get you info on how to attend a class

Max at 1 Month

I can't believe is has already been one month. At the same time I feels as though Max has been apart of our little family for a lot longer then that.

Time sure does seem to be speeding by. Part of that may be due to the additional responsibility it is to have 2 children or maybe time just goes faster when you have an infant that changes so quickly.

Max is growing like a champ. I suspect he weights a little over 10lbs. At his 2 weeks appointment he weighted 9lbs 3oz. Yesterday I weighed him on our scales at home (with clothes on) and he weighs 11lbs.

Max is really good at eating. He eats about every 2-3 hours during the day, and about every 4-6 hours at night. I can deal with this feeding schedule when compared to Parker who ate practically around the clock for the first 2-3 months. At about 2 weeks with Parker I actually gave him 2oz of formula, because I just needed a little bit of a break. With Max we haven't had to open the can of formula yet. I'm hoping it stays that way for as long as possible.

Max is sleeping pretty good. It has been such a blessing to have a baby that not only sleeps at night, but also sleeps during the day as well. He usually has one 2 hour nap during the day along with a lot of other 1/2 hour cat naps. At night he has good and bad nights. On a bad night he wakes about every 2-3 hours eats and then goes back to sleep. On a good night he sleeps for 6 hours eats, and then goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. It seems like we have been having more good nights lately so hopefully there won't be too many more bad nights.

Life for Parker seems to be getting better. He has always been really sweet towards the baby. He would give Max hugs and kisses, and occationally asked to hold him. However after we brought Max home he all of a sudden became a 2 year old. He would act out and when asked to do or not do something he wouldn't obey. He also became completely irrational at times. He's calmed down quite a bit. Parker calls Max by name (Mack is what he calls him).

Life for me is understandably busier. I'm still trying to figure out how to do some basic things like cleaning and eating, but even more difficult showering. I'm sure as Max gets on more of a schedule these things will get easier. I feel like I've recovered really quickly from the delivery. The Saturday after I had Max I put in my garden. I started jogging this last Monday. I've started slow and do 2 miles of walking and jogging and then a mile of walking. It has been fun getting back into it. Not to mention the hope that someday I won't have to wear my maternity clothes.

Troy has been really helpful. He usually hold Max during dinner. It is so nice to have my hands free during at least one meal of the day. He has learned he needs to wear ear plugs at night so he can get enough sleep. I would have him get up with the baby on the weekends, but I figure since I have to get up anyways there isn't really any reason for both of us to be tired.