No shirt, No Shoes, Sunshine - Happiness!

Troopers Ball? Don't mind if I do!

Budget Friendlyness

I have a super big problem when it comes to doing anything house related. 

I have caviar taste and our budget is more suited to fish sticks. 

If I walk into a store, chances are, the item I like the most is the most expensive thing in the whole store. What can I say? I must have good radar!

The website Houzz is Nick's new best friend. I say Nick's because while I am the one that searches things, he is the one that benefits because I always manage to find ways to save money by finding amazing looking things done with items that cost way less. 

I am a super visual person so if I can't see it, I generally want something that ends up being much more expensive. 

Case in point. 

We have a pathway that goes around our house. It is gravel, sorta. We have pretty much demolished our front yard. I wanted to do a paver path or stamped concrete. 

But then I saw these photo's

Both gravel, clean lines. Beautiful! 

And by going the gravel route, we save at minimum $500 if not more!

Cloth Diapers

Crappy Pictures Take on Cloth Diapers

I love this blog ^

I love cloth diapers.

I should be a spokesperson. If it were up to me, everyone would use them.

Gone are the days of rubber pants and safety pins. Please, please, please - don't picture white trifolds with and ugly rubber cover when you imagine my baby's diapers.

What do I love about cloth diapers?

The colors
How cute they are

The eco-friendlyness

The ease of washing them

The fact that I always have them on hand

The user-friendlyness

Few blowouts

Less diaper rash

What I don't love

They stain - the sun will remove the stains but Oregon lacks sunshine 9 months a year
I have to wash them either every day or day and a half
I can't use rash cream with them so rarely I have to use disposables
People aren't as keen on using them (they make people nervous)
They are bulkier than regular diapers

How I care for my diapers - basically, an user guide

1. I keep my diapers in a drawer in our bathroom. We change Bear on the counter next to the sink. We use a towel to change him on because it is so easy to wash.
2. Grab a diaper from the drawer, pull off used diaper.
3. We use the thin babies r us washcloths with just water as wipes. We used to only have 8 washcloths and we would use the same one over and over. He was getting rashes and I figured maybe it was because the used washcloth was irritating so I went and bought 3 more packs of 8 for $5.99 a pack and we use then more like wipes now. I will run the water, wet the cloth with warm water and wipe. Then the used washcloth will go in the diaper pail with the diapers.
4. We weren't using any kind of lotion or chemical but we have started using Kissaluv's Diaper Lotion Potion which has witch hazel in it which is a soothing agent. After rinsing his bottom, we give a quick spritz and then put on the new diaper. Super easy.
5. The used diaper and wipe go in the pail. We just got a regular Hefty trashcan with a click open top. We have 2 planet wise pail liners.
6. When it is time to wash, I just unload the whole liner with all the diapers and turn then inside out into the wash, pail liner and all.
7. I do a cold pre-wash then I do a hot/cold heavy cycle. We use charlies soap for diapers.
8. The diapers then go into the dryer.
9. Once dry, I lay them flat and put them back in the drawer
10. To remove staining, they get put out in the sun damp (that is, when we get sun in the grey haziness we call Oregon Fall/Winter/Spring

So there you have it, cloth diapers. Bear seems happy in them and doesn't seem to think they are different from what most babies wear. There are times that he will cry and tell us he is wet. I like that. He has never done that in disposables - in theory, I will be able to potty train him pretty young :)

Amanda and Barrett

Paint colors = HARD

I have a problem. 

This is my family room which is attached to my kitchen. 

We spend a ton of time in this space. 

All of the walls in the kitchen and 2 of the walls in the family room are Miller paint's Whip. This picture makes them look much more yellow than they really are but it is a very soft yellow/cream. 

We have a brick fire place on one side of the room and wood and white accents as you can see in the picture. 

Our cabinets are cherry and the floors are white oak (very warm color). 

Our couches are dark green leather. The dark green is so hard to coordinate with - but the couches aren't going anywhere. 

See that blue wall? 

I hate it. 

That wall was originally painted the same as the rest of the room and that looked bad. The room needed an accent wall...but I am still not convinced that I picked the right wall as the accent wall. 

Next, the wall was red. 

I hated that. 

Now it is blue. 

I don't know what color to paint it. Or perhaps, that should be the same color as the rest of the room and some other wall should be the accent wall? 

Either way. 

I need an accent wall and I need a paint color. 

Any ideas?

5 Months Old

 One Month

 Two Months

 Three Months

 Four Months

Five Months

At 5 months:

• Waking every 2-4 hours to eat - the 4 hour intervals are few and far between. Mostly, he wakes every 3 or so.
• Sleeps his first stretch of the night in his pack n play next to the bed and the rest of the night in bed with us. 
• Naps approximately 4 times per day. He has no schedule but somewhat keeps his own. He will take a morning nap approx 1 hour after waking up, a mid day nap around 11 or 12, an afternoon snooze around 2 or 3 and a final snooze around 4 or 5. The longest nap is usually the 11/12ish nap which lasts for anywhere from 1-3 hours. 
• Is still a speed nurser and will eat in 5 minutes
• Wearing 3-6 month clothes and 6 month clothes
• Loves to cuddle. 
• Hugs with purpose
• Smiles pretty much all of the time
• Has his pacifier in most of the time and can smile a big smile while keeping it in. Other paci tricks include burping with it in place, spitting up with it in, grabbing it and pulling it out and putting it back in (not always coordinated enough to make this happen), moving it to the side and chewing on it, holding it and chewing on the sides of it. 
• Hates to be alone - will play alone on the floor when he knows you are nearby
• Has "jazz hands" - is always opening and closing his hands, touching your face or clothing, grabbing strings, petting any surface to learn about the texture
• Shakes toys, crinkles them, waves them about
• Passes toys from hand to hand
• Grabs toys with purpose and examines them
• Everything goes directly into his mouth
• Slobbers constantly
• Spits up an absolute ton!
• Knows mom and dad - lights up when he sees us
• Is beginning to discover there is another moving "person" in the house named Trooper. He will grab for Trooper and of course, Troopie like the smart woofie he is will move away. 
• Still 100% breastfed. Has licked 1 banana but has not eaten any solids. He eats every 2-3 hours during the day. 
• Has rolled from tummy to back 2x but while it is obvious that he knows how to do it, he has little interest
• Sits up unassisted for up to a minute (or so) and does especially well when he has a toy to distract him
• Works on tucking his legs up under him and then straightening them (and repeating it over and over) which I believe is the precursor to crawling
• Can stand up holding an object like a table as long as someone is behind him because he is completely unaware of the consequences of letting go
• Loves baths. He is taking baths in the big bathtub and loves it. He plays with his stacking cups and enjoys the water. 
• Loves being naked or mostly naked with just a diaper. Will smile, giggle or squeal when he realizes you are taking his clothes off and is quite smiley and delighted the whole time he is without clothes. I have to wonder if he is going to be one of those kids who takes his clothes off at every chance. I have a feeling he might be. 
• Has been to McCall, ID 2x, Whidbey Island, WA 1x and Eugene several times
• Pays close attention to what we are doing, especially interested in watching us eat!

 Falling over after sitting up like a big boy!

 Bed Head

 Giving Melman the staredown

 "Talking"

 Checking himself out

 Big guy doing a mini pushup

I call this one "the peeper" - He woke up when daddy was taking pics :)