5 months

Jay turned 5 months today. He has had many accomplishments.
He can roll over multiple times. He especially does it when he is MAD:) He grabs everything and has a super strong grip. I have special earrings and necklaces I wear only for work and take off right when I get home so he doesn't pull them off. This morning he broke another one of my necklaces while I nursed him for a few min. before I left.
He holds a bottle by himself for a few minutes (but we are always there for support).
I didn't get his height or weight yet for this month. He still loves his exersaucer and other toys. He has been somewhat crabby the last few days and has had a temperature of 98-99.7 off and on since last weekend. Some people have told me that he could be teething and by the way he chews on EVERYTHING they could be right, but I don't feel any teeth.
He saw his first snow:
Everyone says he has grown so much. I see babies a few weeks old now and I agree...he has grown a lot!
Here are a few more pictures from our Thanksgiving trip.
My mom loves this picture and thinks he looks like a doll.

We got together with friends from high school:

He hung out with his cousins:

What a fun trip.

Road Trip #1 down...a lifetime to go:)

We went to visit my parents and other family for Thanksgiving. When Jay first heard it was a 10 hour trip in his car seat he was shocked!

Here is how the rest of the trip went. A journal entry by Jay:
The drive really wasn't that bad. Sometimes mommy rode in the back with me and gave me toys and sang. I only got a bottle a few times. When I got really crabby we turned on Tim's music or I watched my "God Loves Me" movie. I got to hang out with Uncle Chad and Aunt Christine a lot.
On Thanksgiving day, I wore a cute bib that Grandma S. gave me. Sometimes daddy and I get sick of smiling for all of mommy's pictures.
I had a lot of fun hanging out with Grandma N. too!
More pictures and the rest of my story coming in a few days.

Fun by myself

Jay is just starting to enjoy playing by himself for SHORT stretches. This usually consists of me doing what I am doing right now: setting lots of toys in front of him while he goes through them one by one and throws them on the floor. Only a few things have lasted a few minutes before they end up on the floor. A baby toothbrush I got him, and this blue tractor.

wordless wednesday

I finally participated in one of these theme days from the blogosphere.

All the things I have been meaning to post...

or at least the things I can remember.
I was super pumped to go shopping on Saturday while Grandma and Grandpa watched baby Jay. I started out having a blast going to a few stores...then I got down to business and started shopping for a pair of tan pants for work that fit. An entire mall and 3 stores later I found NOTHING. Some stores even told me they only stock tan pants in the spring. GRRR baby weight. GRRR my oddly shaped stomach. At least I got a sweatshirt and a pair of shoes that fit.

Jay has started blowing bubbles now. It mostly just adds more moisture to his drool-soaked bibs. It is pretty cute though. Another thing that is super cute is HATS.

It is so funny to watch a baby go through the process of pooping. First they squirm and whine and fart because they have to poo. Then they concentrate seriously on something (Jay likes his dino lamp). Then he pulls up his legs, his face gets flushed and he grunts. After a few times of that his eyes start watering a bit and the grunts get louder and louder until he poops. Then it starts to smell:) It's even more funny when it happens during the sermon at church.

I took Jay out shopping quite a few times this week. Once with John and we took turns holding him, and twice when I wore him in the baby bjorn that someone let us have. He really likes facing out and being able to see everything in the isles. I have gotten TONS of comments on how cute he is and how blue his eyes are. I agree that he is adorable, but after a while I get sick of smiling at all the people who are smiling at the baby. I did get a funny reaction from some college guys...but they might have been trying to impress the girls they were with. Babies are just cute, and I guess Jay can brighten other peoples lives.

Jay now understands the car seat and how it is a place where you stare or sleep. He usually only makes a few squawks or whimpers for a few minutes before he is quiet. On our drive to grandma and grandpas house he slept almost the whole time (an hour and a half). I wonder if we can train him to stare or sleep when we are trying to do our homework?:)

what we've been up to

I combined a few of my favorite things: making videos, and my son. It will probably take a bit to load.
For your viewing enjoyment:

diaper tips

I know so many ladies who are pregnant. I am SUPER excited for all of them! Even though I feel like I have had some small bumps with the whole pregnancy(sickness)/newborn (colic)thing...Jay's smiles totally make it worth it.

This post was originally an e-mail written to a pregnant friend to give her my thoughts on how to save money on diapers by stocking up. I thought a few others might enjoy reading it.

Most people would say the easiest way to save money on diapers is to use cloth. They would be right...but I never considered cloth diapers. Mostly because I knew I was going to be a working mom, and I didn't want a babysitter or John to have to worry about it. Also, I did not consider it because many of the people who do start to use cloth diapers are excited about it at first (how cute the diapers are, and how much money they are going to save)...but end up switching back to disposable diapers in the long run.

My advice:
1. Sign up with the diaper companies (Huggies and Pampers) and their rewards programs now. They will send you coupons every month or so that are usually better than the Sunday paper ones.

2. Register at Babies R us and Target, because you get free stuff when you register...including coupons.
(I also signed up for free magazines, and with Enfamil and Smilac and got coupons for formula and diapers.)

3. Generally when I use coupons, it only saves me a lot of money when I buy the regular size packs (not the jumbo boxes).

4. If I go to Target, I can stack Target coupons with manufacturer’s coupon to get even more off.

5. Ask friends for coupons, or if you think you will be using a lot you can actually buy coupons online (legally:). I have only done it once.

6. Don't stock up on diapers that you don't know if you will like (Huggies and Pampers are usually a safe bet, but when it comes to generics it is best to try the brand before you stock up on something you will hate).

6. Walgreens usually has good deals every month or so...where you get register rewards if you buy certain diapers. A few months ago they had buy two packs for 8.99 each and get a $3 RR. I had 2- $3 coupons and got a $3 RR (which I had to use to buy something else at Walgreens, but still it is $3 free) So ended up paying 8.99 for 2 packs.

7. I usually consider it a great deal if I can get a pack for $5, but I think most people would think less than $7 is a good deal.

8. Read blogs to find diaper deals. Some of my favorites are: http://moneysavingmom.com/tag/diaper-deals , http://www.pennypinchingparent.net/category/diaper-deals/

9. Keep in mind how many you will really need. I only needed 3-4 packs of newborn diapers, and 4-5 packs of size 1. Now he is in size 1-2 (they come in these sizes at Sams- I got them as a gift). I'm sure Jay will be in the other sizes a bit longer, so I have started buying bigger sizes now. Plus you will probably get a few of the smaller sizes for gifts.

10. You can exchange diaper sizes at the store without receipts. I have heard this is true on multiple occasions, but I haven't tried it yet.

11. Don't forget about wipes:) I’ve heard you can make your own wipes with paper towels, but that seems too time consuming. I wait till I find a great deal and get as many as I can. A while back Pampers had a $2.00 off coupon. I got like 12 boxes of wipes for .07 each.

Buying ahead will definitely save money and you never have to worry about running out of diapers!

Clarification....

So it looks like John messed up at his appointment and thought he heard 17 lbs...but he really heard 17 inches (his head circumference).
I called the Dr. office today to get the rest of his stats:
Turns out he is 14 lbs. 7 oz.
That is more normal I think.
He is 25 1/2 inches long.

4 months!

Jay is 4 months old now!! He has experienced a lot in the last month. We flew to my brothers wedding on a plane, he got baptized, he smiles like crazy, he is great at grabbing things, and most recently was sick for the first time.

Yesterday afternoon Jay started puking...and kept it up about every 20 min. for 2 1/2 hours. After a while I called the doctor, because I didn't really know what to do. He told me I could give him a little bit of water (less than 1/2 oz.) and see how he does with it. He puked that up to...so we decided not to feed him until morning. Surprisingly he slept almost as much as normal and I sung him to sleep and used a pacifier when he woke up. This morning I started with a bit of water, then BM...and he kept everything down. We had a doctors appointment already scheduled for today, so when John took him in this afternoon he looked fine and they gave him his 4 month shots.
Tonight he is quite crabby again (because of shots).

If you think he looks bigger than last month...that's because he IS! *changed* He is now 14.7 lbs.

Even though Jay was sick so we didn't get to go trick or treating, we did carve pumpkins on Saturday.