Archive for 2013

i am behind on my monthly wesley posts, but hopefully i can catch up...  funny how once you have a baby, you no longer seem to have time to blog about the baby (or anything else)!!  wesley was 5 months old on november 21.

stats:  we did not have a dr appointment this month, but we did end up taking him in early december for an ear infection, so based on that weight, i'm guessing he was around 14 lbs, 6 oz at 5 months.  he's still long and skinny.  he was still wearing his 3-6 month clothes.

my cute boys!  mike decided wesley needed to wear his tie onesie so that they could match.

stats:  at wesley's 4 month doctor appointment, he was 13 lbs 13 oz and 25.5" in length.  he's still at 75% for height and head size, but dropped down to 20% for weight.  the doctor didn't seemed concerned since he's eating well, i guess he's just a long skinny guy (obviously didn't get that from me!).  he's still in 3-6 and 6 month clothing, he has a ton of outfits in this size so i hope he's able to wear them for a little while longer. 

eating/sleeping:  wesley continues to eat and sleep well.  the daycare ladies thought that he seemed a little hungry after his 4 oz bottles, so we added an extra oz and have been sending 3, 5 oz bottles to daycare and he's been doing well with that.  he's still a good sleeper, although he discovered how to roll over this month, so we usually have to get up a few times a night to roll him back because he'll get himself stuck against the side of the crib and start to be fussy.  usually we can get him to fall back asleep by flipping him over, and giving him his pacifier.  in the grand scheme of sleeping issues, i know that this is minor, but i am hoping that it ends soon, so that we can all sleep through the night again!

he seems to have a somewhat predictable schedule during the work week - we are still waking him up at 6:30, he nurses, we all finish getting ready, and leave the house at 7:15.  typically he takes a short nap in the morning at daycare (about 45 mins), and then another longer nap in the afternoon (2.5 hours).  he's drinking his 3 daycare bottles about 3 hours apart.  i pick him up at 4:15, and we will play for a little while once we get home, and also wash diapers and bottles for the next day.  he usually nurses again around 6 or 6:30.  sometimes he takes another short nap in the evening, and sometimes he's awake and happy just hanging out with us.  we are doing a bath every other night.  he nurses again between 8 and 8:30, depending on when he seems like he's getting tired.  mike takes him upstairs after he's done eating, puts him in his crib in his sleep sack with a pacifier, and he'll be out in a few mins.

the weekends never seem to follow the same schedule which is fine with me.  he tends to sleep a little later (sometimes until 8, funny how i now think that is "late"), and doesn't seem to take as many or as long naps during the day.  if we are out and about, he'll sleep in the car, but he's generally awake most of the day.  our evening routine is similar, although sometimes he'll be up a little later depending on what we're doing.  i haven't worried about trying to keep him on the same "schedule" - as long as he's happy, i prefer the flexibility!


milestones:  he loves to smile!  he hasn't given us a really big laugh yet, but he's come close and will giggle or do this laugh/snort thing.  probably the biggest thing this month has been rolling over - he can roll back to front, and front to back.  he still likes to "stand", and wants to be held upright most of the time.  he also really likes to be vocal, and will become very chatty, esp when in the car.  he now recognizes our voices and smiles when he sees us.  that's probably my favorite development so far!  he's reaching for toys now and can hold on to most things.  the daycare ladies think he is teething, but i'm not so sure.  he does drool a lot and puts things in his month, but i haven't felt any teeth yet.  mike thinks that he felt some though, so we'll see.
    

after we got back from the farm, mike was watching football and i noticed that wesley was watching the game with him, i thought that the photo was too cute not to share.


last weekend i had to go to chicago for a work event.  my first night away from wesley went better than i thought - i missed him, but he did great at home with mike.  mike sent me the picture below, such a happy little guy.  went i got back from chicago i actually got to go to the 3rd world series game, which was amazing!  the cards won, too bad they couldn't keep that up...

misc.:  the most exciting thing this month was our first trip to ohio!  wesley and i flew to ohio a few days early for labor day weekend.  as worried as i was about flying with a 9 week old, wesley did great on the plane.  he smiled at everyone around us, and was happy the entire flight.

please ignore the fact that he will be 3 months old in just a few days...  hopefully i will be more on top of things next month :)

misc.:  at the end of the month our friends made the drive out to visit us and meet wesley!  we had such a good time catching up, and spending time with them.  two of our friends have a little girl who was 9 months old (wesley's future girlfriend??) so it was fun to play with her, we don't get to see them nearly enough. 



wesley's second month was a good one, it was exciting to see him start to do a few more things and really start to show off his personality.  he's such a fun little guy.

(sorry for the weird picture format, something is wrong with blogger and i can't figure out how to fix it...)

we actually finished wesley's room back in may/june, but i never got a chance to post about it.  better late than never?  esp. since my last update was in april!  looking back over my recent posts i realized i am behind on several house updates...  i'll work on that.

anyway, wesley's room.  we didn't do a "theme", we just wanted to keep it simple, and make good use of the small space.

on the other side of the window, we have his crib, the animal prints, and a themis mobile. probably not a traditional choice for a baby mobile, but i liked the bright colors and shapes and hopefully wes will too.  


next is the closet.  i forgot to take a more recent photo, but it is full now!  thanks to the grandmas, wesley has lots of clothes.  the closet never fit adult sized hangers, but works perfectly for baby size hangers.  we added the shelves for extra storage, there is also a shelf above the clothes rod, it must not have been installed when i took this photo.  we added the bottom shelf to cover up the angled floor - the closet is over the stairs.  it is difficult to tell in the photo, but the closet is painted gray, we used a sample paint left over from another project.


between the closet and the door, we have wesley's dresser, which we are also using as a changing table. i was excited when i found this dresser on craigslist, it is the perfect size to fit in the small space. since we are cloth diapering, the hanging wet bag is for dirty diapers. 


and that's it - the room is only about 10'x11', but it has everything that we need for wesley.  i really love the wall color and am glad that we decided to keep it.  i think that i've previously posted about some of the items in the room, but if you have any questions, let me know.

a little late, but i thought that i should a least try to do a monthly wesley update post.  if nothing else, it will be nice for us to have a record of these things, plus i'm assuming that at least the grandparents will read this :)

milestones:  we started using our cloth diapers around week 3, and have been really liking them so far.  we've also gone out for a few walks, and have been able to go out to dinner a few times.  wesley is generally just really relaxed and happy, so we've been able to do more than i thought we would in the first month.  per our dr's recommendation, we introduced a bottle a few weeks ago to make sure we had time to work with him before taking him to daycare.  he took the bottle like it was no big deal though, so no issues there!  he's great at tummy time - he seems to have good head control and has even managed to flip himself over a few times.  we also had our first date out without wesley this past month, we went to our favorite wine bar for a drink when mike's parents were visiting.  wesley did great with his grandparents.



the first month has gone by very quickly and i can't believe how much he's changed already!

wesley was born a few weeks ago on the 21st, 4 days before my due date.  he was 8 lbs 3 oz, 21" long, and had a head full of dark hair.



we had a few scares during labor, but he is just perfect and i have had a good recovery so far.



i'm hesitant to say this because i know it can quickly change, but we're doing really well.  he's a decent sleeper - we usually can get a 3-4 hour stretch each night.  he's doing great with eating, and is just generally a happy baby.



we've mostly been hanging out at home, but have managed to get out for a few walks, and even went to a family dinner on the 4th.



we are so in love.

one of the biggest challenges in our bathroom project was the sink.  as you can see from this old photo (after we did our temporary update when we moved in), the bathroom is very narrow, and i actually always felt like the old sink was too deep.  for reference, the top portion was about 19", and the bottom was 16.5".  we had a tight budget for this remodel so moving plumbing or re-configuring the layout was not an option, the new sink would be installed in the same spot:

we looked everywhere for a sink/vanity/cabinet/something that was 16" or less in depth.  ikea had one, but the style did not really match what we were looking for, plus the length was not really right.  i found a few options online, but they were all super expensive...  i even looked at pre-made console tables, or end tables, hoping i could find something that matched the dimensions we needed, and that we cound install a sink in.  eventually, i gave up trying to find something that would work and decided instead to explore the option of making our own from scratch.

enter ana white.  have you seen this website?  it is fantastic - lots of tutorials on how to build various pieces of furniture.  i found this tutorial for an end table, and decided to use that as a starting point for our sink base.

i found a white ceramic undermount sink on overstock, and came up with this:

building the top took awhile because we had to biscuit join each board, cut to length, and then add the mitered frame to finish it off. and then cut the sink hole... i should mention that in the middle of this process, our (very old) table saw tried to kill us, so we also ended up buying a new table saw.



then we started working on the legs... murphy was obviously helping.



and the rest of the base...


and finally added the top and the bottom shelf.



murph kept helping.



once the sink base was assembled, we drilled the holes for the faucet, and then stained the entire base.  we used a walnut stain to match the door.  after the stain dried, we coated the entire thing with many coats of waterlox.  this was a long process because you have to wait 24 hours between coats, and then almost a week before attaching the sink.  and it still needs 30 days to cure!  we are hopeful that the waterlox will create a waterproof finish though.



finally installed in the bathroom!

i really like the contrast of the dark wood with all of the other light/white finishes.  we still need to do the closet, but the rest of the bathroom is done.


i'm very happy that we decided to tile the entire bathroom, i love how it turned out.