ethan's favorite toys - four months

First, I want to briefly review Ethan's stats. He is in the 85th percentile for length (so, down a bit from 95%!), 60th percentile for weight, and 90th percentile for head size. He's growing into his head and he is starting to "even out". Our doctor told us that because we are still breastfeeding, Ethan's risk for obesity is down 30%, and that Ethan is one of the few new babies in his practice that he hasn't seen for any sicknesses this cold/flu season - we pray it stays that way! We're thankful for our healthy little man!

I think buying toys for kids is so hard. What do you buy a new baby? A toddler? A kid? A teen? So, for those of you gearing up for a baby shower, I'm posting a few toy ideas that Ethan loves! (Note that I am not paid for endorsing these products!)

Kick n Play Piano Gym

This is one of Ethan's favorite toys. He plays with the dangley toys, and he kicks the piano. There's an option for the piano to play for a while during tummy time, which he also likes. This is my go-to for a fussy baby!

O'Ball Rattle

My mother-in-law gave us this ball for Christmas and it has really helped develop Ethan's grasp (he was about 3 months old). He is a huge fan! It doubles as a rattle and he loves to try to stick it in his mouth.

Evenflo Exersaucer

This starts out as a floor gym - the arch in the back comes off as well as a couple other pieces for the 1-3 month old babies. Then, at about 4-5 months, they can stand in it. When they're walkers, it converts to an activity table. Since it's three toys in one, it's actually a money-saver and space-saver! He likes anything that he can grab, especially if it makes noise and/or goes in his mouth easily.

Lion Wubbanub Pacifier

We paid about $13 for this one on Amazon.com, and we LOVE it. Ethan can hold it now, and attempt to keep it in his mouth. When he was just born, it was great because it wouldn't roll onto the ground if he stopped sucking on it - it just stayed on his chest or in his seat. Now we tuck the lion into his swaddle when he naps so he doesn't lose it if he stops sucking on it when he is falling asleep. We love this thing, and rarely use other pacifiers at all. It's hard to lose when it is this big!

Sassy Crib and Floor Mirror

Ethan loves this mirror! New babies love the black and white contrast of toys (so look for those!), and this has plenty of that - not to mention that it is interactive because he can see his reflection. It's inexpensive, and we take it on any trips we go on because it's smaller than a square foot (estimating - don't quote me!) and he loves it.

What are your suggestions for toys for new babies?

xo,

new office!

My dining room has been serving as my office for the past 4 months. I like that I can see the living room, so when Ethan is older and playing in there, he has lots of space and I can work while we play. It's also the only room I have for it. We converted what was the office in the back into what we hope will be a playroom, for two reasons: 1) the room previously only acted as storage, and 2) we plan to have any kids from the community group we host hang out back there, since it's the farthest room from where we will be for community group.

I LOVE the color we used. It's Hawthorne Gray from Benjamin Moore, and though the paint itself is much more expensive than what you'd pay at Home Depot or Lowe's, we love the color and that it took and easy two coats to cover the red that was there before (with the help of Kilz latex primer). We know that Lowe's says they will match the color, but we were too skeptical after getting a bad paint color at Home Depot (which we hate, and is sitting in our garage).

Here are some before/during pictures:

I taped off the carpet with clear scotch packaging tape to keep it away from
the baseboards and paint-free (works like a charm, if you tape carefully!)
Also note - the trim is beige, not white.

This was after I had primed the trim (would eventually go back for the red, too)

There's my little desk!

After!

I love this color! See how it looks brown in some pictures and gray in others?
It's perfect.

Blinds up so it could dry! I mark imperfections with tiny pieces of painters
tape so I know where I need to go back to before I can say I am finished.

So far, that's the only art I have for this room.. but ta-da! I am in love!

The room now feels bright, fresh, and modern (golden carpet aside). We had a couple of paint mishaps on the carpet, so we may be checking out wood floors sooner than we think (but not before I finish the trim in the living room!).

I'm now prepping the entryway and hoping to prime the blue and the trim today so I can get started on the gray tomorrow, followed by painting the top part white as well as the trim this weekend! We previously painted it that blue color just to cover up some old, nasty, blue wallpaper (it was about the same color, which is why we chose that blue/dark teal). I'm priming the trim at the moment and will prime the blue areas tonight as well. Tomorrow is when the real fun begins! (Pardon our dust, this place is a mess!)

xo,

PS - I finally switched to the green painters tape per my friend Sarah's recommendation -  they are worth EVERY penny - you get clean, gorgeous lines around your trim & cielings. You may know her as the paper flower queen.

four months!

Oh my goodness, we have a big boy on our hands! Sometimes, I look at him and I am so amazed by how much of a little boy he is becoming, but then I sit back (literally) and realize he is still a baby.

And now, for the 4-month photoshoot! {click here to view the past monthly/weekly shoots!}

air guitar

We go to the doctor on Monday, so we don't have any exciting news about his percentiles until then... but I will say that we suspect he is ahead of the curve. I love this age - he giggles, babbles, and is really working on those motor skills. Lately, he has been holding his knees a lot (so cute!) and working on that sit-up.

This is how we wake up daddy!

THE best toy for working on his grasp.
Thanks GiGi!

I don't always use a bottle,
but when I do, I hold it myself!

More to come! Xo,

painted basket - easy DIY

I get the Young House Love blog posts to my inbox every day, and some Better Homes & Gardens emails throughout the week, too. I love YHL beacuse they post simple projects (like this painted basket idea) and really complicated ones (like painting your kitchen cabinets!).

I decided to mock their basket idea when I saw this - very large - basket at Marshall's for $15. I'm all about hiding Ethan's toys away, so I snagged it in the checkout line and brought it home as a project. I love it already, y'all!

My little helper! Who would easily fit IN the basket...

Started out with some gray to match the brick on our fireplace.

Ta-da! I love it!

The basket is TOO large right now for all the toys we keep in the living room... which is nice because I'm sure we will only accrue more toys. Because I had acrylic paint from other projects laying around, as well as brushes, this only cost the $15 I spent on the basket. They had some smaller ones at Marshall's that I may go back for so I can use one for Bear's toys (all 3 of them...). I'm also working on re-decorating our mantel. The vases will stay but I'm kinda over the ampersand. :)

Also - the white paint was super thick. I took a really wet paper towel to it after I painted the white line and then dried it with a dry towel. It made it look a little less "painted" and a little more like it came that way.

I also plan on painting in the "dining room" this weekend... stay tuned!

xo,

"routine", rolling, and remodeling

What is routine, anyway? And who really has one?

Ethan is a remarkably good baby. I mean - so-good-you-are-scared-of-how-bad-the-next-one-will-be, good. I'm convinced that no amount of praying that I did over this baby could have ever made him this good. God just made him this way... presumably because he knows how quickly I lose my mind. I border on embarrassment when I talk about how good he is, especially in front of other moms whose babies didn't naturally pick up sleeping through the night on their own. I'm not sure that we did anything to make this happen, it just did. A lot of people ask how he sleeps and well... it's pretty amazing for an almost-4-month-old baby. According to this post, he slept through the night for the first time before he was even one month old (what! That has to be some kind of record), and he's been pretty consistent with that since about two months old. Unfortunately, we do find ourselves waking up to retrieve his pacifier in the middle of the night more and more lately. Last night it was at 3 am, then 5 am, then 5:45, and he finally woke up at 6:20. We're still working on that... but at least it's not a feeding!

a little cross-eyed looking at his projector :)

We don't really have a "schedule" with Ethan, though he does do things similarly each day. I like to refer to it as his "rhythm". We follow the EASY (Eat, Activity, Sleep, Your time) schedule, which is nice because "Your time" is actually my "work time". I do work sometimes while he is awake if he is content to play by himself. We do this in 4-hour increments most days, except when he is exceptionally cranky. Austin can usually hold him off and keep him closer to his schedule, but since mama has the milk, he goes crazy if I'm holding him and he is remotely hungry! He'll usually wake up, eat/play for the first two hours of the schedule (eating only taking 15 minutes or so) and then sleep for the second two hours of the schedule, and then so on. It's nice to have a two-hour chunk to myself. I am not looking forward to the days when Ethan just has one or two naps per day!

Ethan waving hi!

It seems like we're always tweaking Ethan's schedule - while we used to do bathtime anytime throughout the day every other day, we now are transitioning to a bedtime routine and bathtime after his dinnertime feeding. It's so easy to fall into one routine and think that your baby will always be in that routine, when realistically, it will change as he grows (and more quickly than you think!).

Starting to grasp & hold things (and insert EVERYTHING
into his mouth).

We go to the doctor next Monday, January 27th to get Ethan's 4 month shots and check-up. He is a little chunk and already in 6-9 month clothes. I have a love/hate relationship with the doctor appointments because we LOVE our pediatrician and love seeing Ethan's progress on paper, but we hate to see him cry!

Sweet smiles, all the time.

Wednesday, Ethan rolled over from laying on his back to his front for the first time! He nailed front to back a couple of months ago, and we think the next milestone will be sitting up. Since we're already one what we call "the downward slope toward mobility", I'm excited to see him sit up. He is so much fun to play with now! I am enjoying the last bit of the "blob-like state" but really looking forward to seeing Ethan and Austin get to play.

We go pantsless more than you'd think.

In other non-Ethan-related news, we are hosting a community group at our house starting February 9th! If you live in Houston and are looking for a new church, check out Bayou City Fellowship, and feel free to come to our community group. We're there most Sundays, and the group will meet at our house on Sundays at 5 PM. We're also looking forward to getting back to working on our house (er - I am at least). I've decided to start slowly painting our trim white (someone please explain why they thought beige/tan was a good choice for EVERY surface in this house!!) and paint the red part of our "dining room" (future purpose of the room is TBD) taupe. I think I have a weekend project!

Here are a few shots of our NEW WINDOWS! I can say that we have immediately felt a difference in how our house heats. Suddenly 68 degrees is slightly stuffy when it used to be COLD! It didn't completely soundproof our house, but I guess that was an unrealistic expectation... too bad, because when the garbage truck was trying to crunch Austin's umbrella for 5 minutes this morning (it was broken but opened up when they dumped it in) I would've really liked it to be a little quieter!

Ethan's window

Living room windows

Office - currently being converted into a playroom!

Another shot of the office/playroom... more to come when it's done :)

The bath update is on hold as we expect it to cost around $8,000, but (obviously) don't want to pay that much. Moving a toilet is no joke. If we don't hire someone to do the entire bathroom, we may start ripping it out on our own - or I may out of insanity/disgust - and slowly piece it back together. DIY projects certainly save a lot of money!

xo,