one month

Ahem. Yes, Baby Boy is actually more than

one-and-a-half months old.

I'm running late on my blog post,

but the photos were all from the week

he turned one month old.

At one month Baby Boy...

eats

mama milk on demand

sleeps

anywhere relatively quiet

but preferably snuggled up on mama's chest

not in the middle of social situations

says

soft, monosyllabic, coos

hearty cries ("MAAAAAAA") when distressed

does

lifts his head and looks around

flails his fists and kicks his feet with vigor

makes a lot of "duck faces"

occasionally smiles

studies the world around him with solemn face and furrowed brow

likes

being in motion

dry diapers

cuddling

music

having his head rubbed

dislikes

sudden loud noises

sneezes (see above)

his car seat

hats

[first smile for the camera]

valentine mug

My parents got me a really cool set of Pebeo paints

for Christmas last year.

I have been not-patiently waiting to use them

on some blank thrifted cups I had stashed.

A couple of weeks ago

I  finally decided to just leave the laundry for a day or two

and get some painting play time in.

One of the mugs I decorated

became Benjamin's Valentine's Day gift.

A simple saying plus a cute penguin couple plus little hearts,

and BAM--I had a gift-worthy cup in my hands.

I neglected to get Benjamin a card this year,

but this mug plus some of his favorite teas

put a smile on his face

when I presented it to him last Thursday.

boy art

"Happy Birthday"

and a jaguar boat

by Little Man for his Nonna.

Spider Man

by Brother

also for Nonna's birthday.

"A Shark" along with some O's and L's

by Brother

for Grandma

(I love this one so much that I was sad when he gave it away.)

"A Squid in Some Water"

by Brother

for me.

(YES! So pleased to hang it on my fridge.)

preschool and valentines

[first day of preschool]

 This month there was an unexpected opening

in one of our local preschools.

One of my friends is on the board of directors

and was able to offer us the opportunity

to start Little Man mid-semester.

He began  last Monday
and was so excited,
that it was impossible not to catch his enthusiasm.
We are, however,
facing a bit of a learning curve
as we work on fitting our schedule around it.
Preschool has yet to become part of our routine.
It'll happen.

I was excited that he got to start before Valentine's Day
so that we could make some of the cool valentines
that I have been pinning.

We selected these simple yet unique
guitar lollipops from Zakka Life.
(I'm so, so thankful for the nice people
who provide awesome free printables.)

Little Man was able to do most of the work himself,

cutting and assembling like a pro

with just a little help.

They turned out fantastic!

Sadly, we had a break down in communication,

and in spite of his excitement to share them with his friends,

his awesome valentines came back home again in his backpack.

I almost cried (hey, yesterday was just an emotional day).

But in a quick call to his teacher,

I got the okay to try again Monday,

so it's all good.

I also free-handed some simple valentine hearts

for Little Man's teachers.

He colored some of the details and signed his name.

These did get delivered yesterday. : )

three things

Three simple things

I have discovered this time around

that I wish I had known about

when I had my first child:

Swaddlepods.

My sister-in-law gave us a set of these for Baby.

They are fantastic!

Simple

(Just zip it up!)

Secure

(Baby is snugly wrapped up in them.)

Stretchy

(He can still move around a bit when he wants to.)

Soft

(Made from mostly cotton

plus the zipper is cleverly covered with a special flap

so that it doesn't scratch his chin.)

It's a brilliant product.

 I don't know why it took me so long

to start folding receiving blankets

in stable oblongs

instead of in tower-of-pisa squares.

They fit so much better in the drawer,

they don't fall over,

and it's one less fold to make

which can add up when you're washing a few.

Win-win.

I don't have a photos for this last one,

but this take on a brilliant nursing tank top design

has revolutionized my nursing wardrobe.

newborn portraits

The nice thing about doing your own photography

is that you can take as much time as you want.

I enjoyed being able to break up

Baby's newborn portrait session

into several small sessions on different days

so that neither one of us got too tired and cranky.

The following are my very favorites:

There were a few ideas I had hoped to try

that I just didn't get to.

I may still try; we'll see.

When it really comes down to it,

I'm pretty pleased with what I already have,

and my motivation is waning

along with Baby's sleep-through-anything stage.

aliens

Little Man and Brother

love adding googly eyes to their projects,

so I got them some for their Christmas stockings.

They recently decided to use their googly eyes and paint

to make aliens.

These were Brother's.

This one's my favorite.

And these are Little Man's

I so enjoy the things they come up with.

very hungry caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

has been among all three of my older children's favorite books.

So when I saw this adorable idea

for embellishing baby clothes with button caterpillars,

I immediately knew that some day I would adapt the idea

to make a Very Hungry Caterpillar shirt.

 A few days ago I eagerly seized a spare fifteen minutes or so,

collected a white onesie we already owned

along with a few buttons and some embroidery floss,

and whipped out a cute little shirt for my baby boy.

 He doesn't seem to have much of an opinion,

but his big brothers think it's a pretty awesome shirt,

and I think he looks beyond adorable in it.

Of course, I'm just a little bit biased...

Baby

Our newest little boy

arrived on January 3 at 9:46 p.m.

after a short and smooth labor.

He's tiny yet big,

weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce

and measuring 22 1/2 inches long.

He has been perfectly healthy

(Which is a relief since the rest of the family

has been suffering from a nasty respiratory flu)

and is a peaceful, easy baby.

I am attempting to get my fill

of baby cuddles, tiny fingers, softest skin, and downy hair.

Also sleep.

You'll understand if posting is sparse for a while...

my first fingerless gloves

I am outrageously pleased

with how my first fingerless gloves turned out.

Well, technically this is my second pair;

I used the same pattern and yarn for the first set,

but they turned out uncomfortably small for me,

so a I gave them to a friend with tiny hands

who will be able to enjoy them much more.

(It's a lot harder than I thought it would be

to take photos of myself wearing them.)

I used this pretty Three Leaf Mitt pattern.

It was very well written,

and I discovered that following

what I believe is something like a lace chart

is nowhere near as hard as I feared!

To make my second pair larger,

I simply added an extra rib on the palm (3 knits and 1 purl).

I also added an extra three rows

to the all-around ribbing at the top and the bottom

because I liked the way it looked and fit better that way.

Fingerless gloves are so quick and fun.

I could easily get addicted to making them.