New Favorite!

With Silas being sick for the past week we have gotten a bit desperate for something to help him calm down. I've used lavender scented baby products before but usually find them too sweet for my liking. I have a small addiction to Burt's Bees products though so I did not hesitate when I saw this on the shelf during my sick house supply run. Along with flu medicine, movies, tissues, soup, sports drinks, and antibacterial cleaners, calming lotion seemed a natural choice. For him and myself. I love how smooth it went on him and how gentle and warm the fragrance is. Not too sweet. Perfectly natural! I don't know if it has actually calmed him, but wrapping him up in the goodness makes me snuggle him even closer... and snuggles seem to work wonders on his calm and mine. I may be fighting him for use of this one...

LOVE my new high chair

We got our tax refund and have been spending the day getting haircuts, glasses, clothes for the kids and a high chair for Silas!  I originally wanted one that attaches to a chair instead of a full size one. As we were looking I found this one at Target. It was a bit higher than I had originally thought I wanted to spend, but I LOVE IT!! I set it up in about ten minutes flat from a box. Easy Peasy. The seat cover is more fabric like than plastic which I love, and it has a second padded insert to use with infants. It leans back comfortably, and easily, and is completely adjustable. Even the foot rest is adjustable. The fun part is the the entire seat part comes off (very simply) and can be attached to a regular chair! So when baby outgrows the high chair, or you go to visit grandmas house, you can just take the seat off and move it. That means this chair will easily be used for 2+ years on this kiddo! The tray has a removeable insert that can go in the dishwasher, and is very generously sized. Much bigger than the ones I've used before.  PLUS (this part is genius) the straps for the booster.. are stored inside a compartment underneath. Brilliant. We lost an awesome infant car seat because a strap went missing. Silas had his first meal in it tonight. (We are introducing rice cereal a little bit at a time to make sure there are no ahem constipation issues. ) So far so good! Cant wait for March when he gets to eat real peas in his sweet pea high chair.

Sweet Silas 4 Months

What he is up to this month:
Weight: 15 lbs even (and that's average in case you were wondering.  He is avg weight and a little small in length and head circumference)
Skills: he is now rolling both directions and has occasionally pushed himself up onto his knees when doing tummy time. During tummy time he rotates 360 degrees. He can play with his hands and hold objects. He can reach for what he wants, especially Mama. He recognizes all of our voices. He sucks his thumb and the first two fingers on his right hand. (Although he prefers to suck on Daddys knuckles.) He sits assisted. He loves his bouncy seat. We use the lid of a storage ottoman (about two inches deep) and a rolled up blanket to give him support since he is actually a bit too small for it. We have the Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper, Green.  It goes perfectly with the toys Gramma bought him for Christmas which quickly link on and off and can go with us on his car seat too. (Baby Einstein Classics Collection)  He blows raspberrys and talks to us in the sweetest coos.
Food: We are still Breast Feeding! This is the longest I have ever nursed a baby and I'm stinkin proud of myself :-). I have to give thanks to my family for their encouragement, my husband for his patience and  Heather Hendrick. Heathers blog about her family's life and decisions to give it all up in order to serve the Kingdom in Haiti has really been a beautiful source of encouragement to me. I was so selfish in my mind set about nursing. I really struggled with the inconvenience of it. Turns out a lot of my issues are heart issues. Reading about the women she helps who are close to losing their baby's because they don't have the resources or education to breast feed them really made me look at myself in a new light. I do have these resources. Once I got past the pain ( that went away about a month and a half in) it really became a matter of looking at nursing as a blessing. It is a treasure and gift that I get to sit at home right now and nurse my baby. I have plentiful food and clean water and all the fenugreek I can buy. (I use fenugreek to help my milk supply.. I'll write a post on that sometimes. I call it a milk miracle). Anyway, I've gotten so comfortable with nursing that despite everything I've ever said before.. I've even nursed "in public" with the aid of my cute nursing covers in odd places like the penguin exhibit at Seaworld. Silas gets bottles when were driving around town or shopping or traveling. Last night I tried one for his midnight feeding to see if he would sleep all night... did not work. Oh well. He has been cleared for rice cereal, but I'm going to wait a few weeks on that one.
Sleep: I kinda covered it in the food, but he takes a couple of long naps during the day but still wakes ups about every three hours at night. Bummer. Its my fault though. I'm lazy. He doesn't wake up to play, just wants to nurse all night long and sleep there. I'm really going to start working on it though. My goal is for him to be in his room by six months.
Favorite things: his tweety robbin and any of his blankets (Aden & Anais Safari Friends Swaddle Wraps 4 Pack).