Rediscoveries

I'm not sure exactly where the idea came from, probably multiple places, but Rob and I started a thing with Finn where we rotate out his toys. It seems to be an effective way to keep Finn's interest in toys longer and also to not have a billion toys out for him to play with...although, there still are pa-lenty. With Finn's birthday being around Christmas, I was worried about the amount of stuff we'd all the sudden have. Just the overabundance is what I was worried about, and this little trick seems to work well. I'm sure we'll try to keep carrying this over as he gets older.

Imagine him being 16 ... Me: Okay Finn, time for Mommy to take your cell away for a little bit. 

He'll be totally cool with that, right? Ah, teenagers and their need for independence. ;)

Saturday morning the boy woke up and ate and was as happy as can be...then we went into his room to play...

But after a little bit of playing with his toys, he leaned back and thought...hmm...I'm kinda bored with everything out right now...

So then he went on the hunt...(this is the basket we store his other toys in that we try to rotate)

With my assistance we pulled out a few "new" toys. An old favorite of his was brought back out and the fascination he has with this toy still lives on...

Reeeeeeeeeeach...

If only Jack hadn't eaten the adorable bat that went with this baseball tee, grrr, but we still can play with it...

His room is looking a little full on the toy side lately, so I'll probably put some away. It's been so interesting and fun seeing him not care about a toy one month, and then the next month he's obsessed. Ah, toy psychology.

Hope you all are doing well. I think I may have Rob help me hang our bathroom cabinet tomorrow. Lately house stuff...like fun house stuff (aka decorating, updating, painting, crafting) have been on the back-burner. But I know in time I'll get back into it soon.

Right now I just want to bask in the fact that laundry is in progress. Dishes are done. Grocery shopping is complete and a wide open Sunday is ahead of us. Just perfect.

Livin On The Floor

The floor is where we live nowadays...

It's where daddy comes up with interesting ways to play with Finn's toys...

And most importantly it's where Finn gets to explore...

At times being on the floor can feel so monotonous and simple...but I know one day we'll look back to these days with fond memories and appreciation of the simplicity of life with our boy.

So this just serves as a reminder to myself for those days when the routine feels routine, that livin on the floor is where it's at. It's where I truly want to be.

Mr. Octopus's First Halloween

Our sweet boy...

Gah, he just melts us. So stinkin adorable. Now let me say I can't take any credit for this idea, I found this brilliant tutorial that I followed except for some of the execution (for example, I didn't hand make his hat, just sewed on the eyeballs and didn't professional finish all the hems and what not). Found these socks at Target, the hat and the navy onesie we already had...overall a super easy project. This is coming from the girl who took 5 minutes to remember how to thread a needle. :)

But back to Mr. Octopus...

Loved how it turned out, and the best part being that he was very comfortable in it. We were concerned about him keeping his hat on cause he doesn't really do hats, but thankfully he did well. We went to my mom's neighborhood (ours gets zero trick-or-treaters) and were able to take pictures before daddy had to leave for work. :(

I love this pic for the sheer fact that it's capturing Finn's latest trick, clapping. Proud proud mama, hah. :)

Here's the nephew and niece this year, they keep getting so big. Such cuties.

Mom made chili which was delish and there was pa-lenty of candy present.

We walked around the hood while the big kids got their candy and little octopus fell asleep in my arms. Doesn't happen as often anymore so I eat that up...

Had a great day, sweet memories were made indeed. Happy NOVEMBER!! Ahhh, can't believe it.

Teething Pains = Dress Up Time, Right?

About a month and a half ago, Finn was in the middle of cutting his first tooth. One night the three of us were all home together and Finn wasn't his typical playful self. Poor thing. So along with other teething remedies we tried all we could to distract him. We played on the floor trying to get him to play with his toys but he just wasn't having it. I had Finn's little wooden brush at one point and was letting him touch the bristles, it then turned to Rob giving Finn a side part with it, and then it turned into me saying let's dress him up and take some photos. Parent of the year, right? :) 

To go along with the hair part, I found a checkered shirt, a sweater vest (oh yeah!) and some high water pants. If only he let us keep Rob's glasses on him. Our poor teething boy. What is with the appeal of dressing up baby boys as old men? I love it. And although the coloring/contrast of these photos bother the heck out of me, this cutie still looks cute. 

These high-water pants kill me...lol.

Then I switched back to automatic on my camera cause I realized the white balance I was using was making everything pink and I'm still not happy with the coloring below too. Oh well, still learning over here!

His little tooth didn't break through until 8 days later but thankfully he wasn't seeming to be in pain after this night. I'll never forget the weekend of my birthday in July where he had teething pains like no other and Rob and I ended up sleeping on the floor next to his crib. It was literally the night after we got back from Destin. I was just so thankful his teeth held off until after vacation. It was a long night, but thankfully nothing like that has happened since. He's back to his happy but studious manor.

For teething, we typically use the baby orajel naturals and homeopathic teething tablets. But I've been told about those amber teething beads which I'm thinking I will probably invest in. I've heard from some that it didn't do anything, but I've heard from others it can work wonders. And although he hasn't been too fussy about it, we've only got 2 teeth so far. Plennnnty to go.

Love our sweet boy, thanks for putting up with mama's crazy ideas!

These Are a Few of My Fav-o-rite (Baby) Things!

I hope you all had a great weekend, it's a Monday yet again. My how the weeks and months fly. Lately I've been re-watching Parenthood. Have you watched this show yet? Rob and I l-o-v-e it. This show seriously plucks my heartstrings. It's a perfect blend of drama, comedy and just a whole bunch of real-life-ness. Personally, I get to see our families quite often (a lot of us live within minutes of each other) and this show reminds me how much of a blessing family truly is. Yeah, drama can ensue, but I wouldn't have it any other way. The show is starting back up September 26th and I'm a just lil excited about that.

Well along the lines of parenthood...(too stark of a transition?) I know I'm no Oprah - and sorry to say I'm not giving anything away - but I wanted to share some of my favorite baby related items. Some that felt like lifesavers, some that were just nice to have.

1. Dria Nursing Cover: Let me start out by saying I use this thing e-v-e-r-y-day. Mostly and pretty much only for pumping but I used it when Finn was littler and less squirmy (now I have to retreat to a quiet room free of distractions) I love how it doesn't look like a nursing cover. However, I will say it's on the pricey side. If I knew how to sew, I'm sure a DIY version could be made. But honestly, I don't regret for a second getting this thing. It doesn't wrinkle, it's breathable and really soft.
2. WubbaNub: At one point in Finn's early days Rob and I found ourselves wishing there was an invention that kept a pacifier in place, we even joked about duct-taping the thing to his head. I discovered these by seeing them in photos of my friend's little ones. The stuffed animal is permanently attached to the pacifier which helps hold the pacifier in place for your newbie newborn as opposed to it falling out. This especially helped when we would swaddle Finn up and put him in his crib. I can't vouch for this thing enough, it was a life saver and really helped us out in the sleep department.
3. Evenflo Journey 300 Koi Car Seat and Stroller: Love this car seat and stroller. Super lightweight. Cute design. Win-win. If it lasts I would totally want to use this for our next little one, boy or girl.
4. Skip Hop Moby Bath Kneeler: Okay, I'll admit, this was one of those things that I thought was maybe a lil frivolous. But for me, this has been my life knee-saver. I didn't realize how much I was dreading bath time sometimes for the pain I'd feel on my knees. 
5. Skip Hop Mega Play Mat: When I first bought this, I had a little bit of buyers remorse thinking that we wouldn't use this thing much. But much to my surprise, I love this thing. And most importantly, Finn loves this thing. It's a generous sized mat, perfect for tummy time all the way up to crawling around. It has hooks to attach various toys to, a detachable mirror (that Finn likes to gnaw on sometimes). It's washable, easily portable, and pretty stinkin cute. 
6. Ju-Ju-Be Diaper Bag: I love our diaper bag. And yes, I say "our" because it's totally man-friendly. It was a little shiny at first in this particular color, but I couldn't be happier with this thing. It's not huge or anything so it lets you pack the essentials and some toys, but prevents you from over packing. Which I personally like. The quality is really nice and I see it lasting for a long time.
7. Noise Machine: Anyone else grow up with these machines? When Finn moved into his room, not only did I lose him, but I lost this noise machine! I love this machine and totally worth the price in my opinion. It's great quality and see this lasting for a long time.
8. Aden + Anais Swaddle Blankets: We used these to swaddle our boy up for his naps and bedtime when he was a newbie newborn. Now we still use them as blankets. The best part about these is the lightweight material and the generous size. A lil pricey, but worth it in my opinion.  

I'd love to hear your favorite things too! I'm still just a newbie mom...constantly learning as I go. I try to think of the days of yore and think how thankful I am to have the things we have nowadays...not that the old days weren't great, but I'd really have a hard time parting with some of these lifesavers.

I can't believe our little ham bone is 7 months old. I just ordered a bunch of Instagram prints off of Picplum the other day. Love these little square photos.

I got a few funny comments on this photo the other day. A friend said it looks like Finn's presenting his mom and dad, another said it looked like Finn is quoting the famous verse "come to Me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest." Truth be told, he really does give us a lot of rest, but if only you could see the other side of the camera. Leah and Jr in the background making all sorts of noises and clapping to get just a lil smile from him. They definitely had his attention. Rob and I were smiling non-stop for about 15 seconds just holding it hoping for the smiley shot. Lol, still love it though.

Happy new week!

Kids Clothes, What's Your Secret?

Okay, I'll be honest. This post partially derived from me just doing some virtual window shopping in the online baby section at Gap. I mean seriously, so much cuteness....

Those knee patches on that lil sleeper and that little straw fedora? Melt meeeee.

I'm obviously new to this adventure of kids clothes shopping. A couple of months back I had my first encounter with the lame-ity of the slim pickings stores can offer in the baby boys department (cough cough, Target) So I've started keeping a list of possible stores to shop for Finn. I haven't necessarily purchased from all of these, but these are stores I like to keep in mind:

• Gap - What can I say? Me and Gap are really close friends (but mostly stick to clearance or sale items)
• H&M - Cute and stylish stuff for cheap
• Old Navy - More cute stuff for cheap
• Target - Lots of stuff online, but not much in store
• Zulily - I'm new to this site, but there seems to be some really good deals on cute stuff

Also I should mention whenever I am purchasing online, before checkout I always check out RetailMeNot. This is an awesome site that provides coupon codes that usually saves me $5-$10. Definitely worth checking out.

Also a friend of mine led me to Ebates. This is a site that you sign up for and literally the only thing it requires from you is to go to their site and click on the store you are going to make an online purchase from and it gives you cash back for what you spend at that store. I'm still new to it, but definitely worth checking out if you make a lot of online purchases.

I will admit, I'm not a big shopper or spender, but I am seeing the fun in dressing my little boy up. I'm an obvious sucker for stripes (yeah, you may have noticed up there) or nautical or just general cuteness. Oh, but don't think that our little one isn't scooting around in a simple onesie at home, cause he totally is. Actually when he's with daddy, he somehow manages to loose the onesie. It's like a running joke lately. I recently realized Finn's naked a large portion of the time when I get home. lol

So how do you do your kid's clothes shopping? Do you get hand-me-downs? Do you have some favorite stores? I hear you can find some awesome stuff in thrift stores. Do you have stores that you avoid?