Burrito Baby

Well, this has been a new experience for me. I have never had a TRUE burrito baby before! Lewis and Conner enjoyed the "swaddle" for the first couple weeks of life if I recall correctly, but after that, I never really thought about it much. Brayden has been a whole different story! He definitely knows how to fuss a little and we realized from the get go, that we needed to do something to help the little guy out! I read the book, "The Happiest Baby on the Block", by Harvey Karp, because I remember watching him on Oprah a few years back. I thought to myself, "I am going to buy that book the next time I have a baby." And I am so glad I did! It ended up having the "secret" to Brayden's happiness. The author talks about swaddling and why it is so comforting and beneficial for babies ages 0-3 months old. We noticed a difference right away. When Brayden isn't completely bundled like a little burrito, he is "Mr. Fussy Gussy." He immediately pipes down as soon as we swaddle him and just seems so much more comfortable that way. We have had some issues with this funny little fetish of his. HE is EXTREMELY strong, has been since before birth actually (he moved and flipped so much he tied three strong knots in his umbilical cord)! His arms kept coming out of the swaddle and he kept scratching himself or hitting himself in the face and waking up from his naps. No matter how tight or precise we would wrap him, he would break free and he never was happy about it (like you would assume he would be!)! The fact is, he loves to be wrapped up tight! So, one night out of desperation, I found a terry cloth headband in a drawer and it held the swaddle together perfectly! Now, we use the headband every night and before his long naps. I also found some commercial swaddling blankets with built in Velcro straps, but he is growing SOOOOOOOO fast, he has already outgrown them! My favorite was the brown one with the feet sewn into it so he could be strapped into his car seat appropriately. I am sad that he is too big for that one now. I might have to break out the sewing machine and make a few of my own! I keep trying to "ween" him from this swaddling business, but he doesn't seem quite ready to let it go altogether. He is getting longer stretches of time between needing to be swaddled, so I am sure he will not go off to kindergarten swaddled up, but it has crossed my mind! He really does LOVE being my burrito baby!

50 Book Challenge

So, I am stoked that I am finally on the book bandwagon. I was getting nervous there as the months rolled along and I was getting NOTHING read and I wouldn't be able to read 50 books by the end of the year. I am convinced it will be doable now. It is soooo enjoyable to have time to READ for fun these days! Working full time REALLY puts a damper on the reading of books. Somehow my mom manages to do it though? I just had too many things to juggle and could NOT get into a book no matter how hard I tried! I did read my fair share of educational materials and text books for teaching! I am glad to set all those aside now and get back into some good old fashioned novels!

So far, I have been able to check a few books off of the book list I posted back in the day (click here).

I think I need to keep a running tab on the books I have read for this year, so I am going to make a list in my Good Reads box on my side bar. I know some of you are doing the challenge and have read some of the books from the list. Let me know which ones are worth reading and which ones to skip. I got the list from the Shelfari Website a while back.. I also want to know which books to add if you've read something awesome lately.

I have had a hard time getting into some of the books from the list. I think I am still in a "non-fiction" or biography kind of mood right now. I have tried to start "The Hunger Games" but it is not jiving with me. I have a hard time with Sci Fi type stuff. Steve just finished it and said it was so good but isn't sure I am even going to like it. I will keep trying though 'cause everyone says it's amazing!

A "Repeat" Birthday

Well, just a few short weeks ago my Conner officially gave up his title as "my baby" and became what he has so long wanted to be, a BIG BROTHER. Now, his second dream has come true, to be done with age six and be officially SEVEN-YEARS-OLD!!! I have never seen my Conner boy so content with life. He is so eager to grow up and BE all that he envisions himself to be. It is really endearing. He has longed to be a big brother for so long and it suits him so well. He really has surprised me with his skills as a loving big brother and on top of that, magically his temperament has come down a few octaves (not as much drama and sassy-ness) leaving us with a very mature, responsible and adorable young man! He is as much at peace with his new brother as I am with having a new son. It has definitely been something we've both needed. Usually I lament these milestones, I can't stand how fast these kids are growing, but this time, I am truly happy for Conner. He is awesome!

Conner's Birthday is actually June 24th, so I am way late on getting it documented. But we did celebrate on his official birthday and it went very well. This year, he went back and forth with how he wanted to celebrate his big day. Generally, we try to "live it up" for the kids' birthdays. It is their ONE big day they look forward to, so if it's affordable and not too crazy, we usually go along with it. This year, Conner mentioned "Jumping Jacks" the inflatqble bounce house place where he has been a few times before. I called them and it was a pretty steep price tag. $150 for a tne kid party-yikes! So, he played around with some other ideas, but ultimately found his way back to the bowling alley. The SAME exact party we had for him last year. He surprised me when he opted for a "do-over" party but as the old saying goes, "if it aint broke. . ."

The bowling alley party is really a great option. It was like $35 and we were able to invite way more than 10 people. Plus, the employees there are so nice and accommodating and they do a lot of cute little extras to make the birthday kids feel special.

We bowled, ate cake and ice cream (another shocker when Conner opted for a PINK cake this year! Who is this kid?) and opened presents. Of course, we couldn't end the party without first breaking open a pinata! The bowling alley parking lot has the perfect set up for this. All the candy spills into the open area of the car port so all the kids can safely fill their candy bags without getting run over! The manager said he'd never seen anyone do a pinata out in the parking lot before. We said he must not have noticed when we did it last year!

The whole thing came and went so fast. We had a ball (no pun intended) and Conner could not have been more thrilled with the outcome. I wonder if he'll go for this birthday again next year?