Hanley's 3rd Birthday

 

WOW. Where has the time gone. It's every saying and cliche in the book, where has my baby girl gone??

For Hanley's birthday this year, we decided to rent Outback Ray and his amazing animal show. I pretty much kept the rest of the party and decorations more low key since I wanted the main focus to be on the animal show.

Over last winter we had been following Outback Ray to various places around our city because we enjoyed his animal show so much. We started to become a familiar face to him and thought it would be so fun to book him for her party.

He has so many great animals and everyone gets to touch them all. He keeps it interesting and fun for the kids (ok, the adults too, who am I kidding!). Unfortunately, he broke his arm right before the party and had to have his wife help him out.

I printed on these paper bags for the kids to hold their pinata candy

I used Kraft paper to cover some of the tables and I thought that was very fitting for the "Outback" theme. I got paper bags from the grocery store and created "outback/safari vests". I found a free printable for "jungle safari passes" from this blog that I attached string to and the kids wore around their necks. I also created binoculars out of empty toilet paper rolls and duck tape.

Hanley had the best time at her birthday party and I would bet her most favorite part was her turtle pinata (that she pronounced ee-otta) and talked about it for weeks afterward.

Ziggy the Northern Blue Tongue Skink

Bindi the Chinchilla

Ruby the Albino Milksnake

Darth Vader the Hairless Guinea Pig

Oscar the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

Jabberjaws the Dwarf Caiman

Armadillo

Franklin the Red Footed Tortoise

Long haired rabbit

Spongebob the Albino Burmese Python

Pumpkin Farm Fun {The Fall Chronicles}

We took the kids to Kingsway Pumpkin Farm and we all had so much fun! They had so much for Hanley to do: playground, slides, feeding & petting farm animals, hay rides, and a fun corn box and much more! We went on a weekday hoping it wouldn't be crazy crowded but the only downside to that is we were on a time crunch because we had to wait for Michael to get home from work before we could go. So there was actually some things we didn't get to do because we ran out of time.

5 Months Old {Conrad}

Size
He's still wearing all the same stuff and sizes as last month, he seems to be really lean and long. Wearing size 2 diapers and weighs around 15 lbs but won't have official numbers until next month.

Eyes
Still rocking blue eyes and I'm hoping since Hanley has blue also, they will stay that way!

Hair
Coming in so good! It's silly how happy his little fuzzy head makes me! And his hair is so blonde that you can't even tell how much he truly has because it's so light!

Sleep
Oh baby boy! Midway through his 4th month he started waking constantly at night again like a newborn. I decided he was outgrowing his bassinet in my room and put him in his crib full time at night about a week ago or so... (09-23-15)

Naps (around 3 a day) are always in his crib and I rock him to sleep for those and then lay him down. It has become increasingly difficult to get him to fall asleep and then equally difficult to get him to stay asleep upon the transfer, we are working toward a solution...

Since he started rolling while being swaddled last month, I had to start letting him sleep unswaddled. I found the Zipadee-zip and that was supposed to help with the startle reflex babies have. He started using that at night and it seems to be a good thing for him (17 weeks) - plus it serves as a wearable blanket.

Diet
I haven't tried in awhile but he wouldn't ever take a bottle so we are still nursing - which I would still nurse him, but would let him have a bottle occasionally so I can be away longer than 2-3 hours at a time...

I also started giving him purees once a day to every other day. Started out with cereal (09-01-15), and quickly moved right on to avocado. Green beans, carrots, banana, and squash. I've made all the food that he has consumed so far and have a pretty decent stock pile in the freezer. He has loved everything I've ever given him. The banana was given through the mesh eater and that was a fun new experience for him!

Milestones
He is doing so much! He doesn't sit still, seems to be all boy! He is sitting up unassisted (19 weeks) (mostly, still placing the boppy around him if he's sitting on the floor) he is doing a crawling stance/motion. He gets up on his hands and knees, rocks back and forth and will pull one knee up at a time, like crawling, but his hands aren't moving. He is also trying really really hard to go from a hands and knees position to a sitter position, he's not quite there but so close and so cute!

Likes
Loves his big sister. Likes playing with toys and sitting in his exersaucer.

Dislikes
Being put down if he's tired, he wants to be held.

Nicknames
Brother, bubba, monkey

A Collection of Firsts {Conrad} 4 Months

When Conrad turned 4 months I mixed up a bowl of cereal for him to try. Of course, he loved it! We then quickly moved on to avocado since I only planned to use the cereal to introduce food to him. I'm only giving him 1 serving a day, and even then, some days we skip days here and there. His main source of nourishment is still breastmilk. He has since had green beans, squash, banana, and carrots. He has loved it all! I've (so far) made all his baby food and already have a little stock pile made up in the freezer.

At the tail end of 3 months and beginning of 4 months (17 weeks), he started rolling in his sleep when he was swaddled so I knew I had to stop swaddling him soon... Hanley stayed swaddled until a solid 6 months old so this was completely foreign to me. I knew he still had his startle reflex so I looked around and ended up purchasing a Zipadee-Zip to help him feel enclosed in something and I like it! It's also one of those things that I think he will start to associate with sleep so when I put it on him, he knows that's the goal.

He started sleeping super crappy in his bassinet at the end of 4 months old (21 weeks). I really wasn't ready for him to be in his own room but it was best for him so I moved him into his bed full time and his sleep got so much better. He went back to sleeping longer stretches of time. He was getting nearly as long as the actual bassinet and when he would try to roll in the night he would hit the sides and I just think he was getting too cramped in there. 


I was playing with both kids in our back yard and Hanley loves swinging on her swing set. She hasn't been in the 'baby swing' in quite some time because she took a liking to the 'big girl swing' so the baby swing has been in the garage for awhile. Hanley asked if Conrad could swing, and it hit me that we still had that baby swing so I set it up on the swing set and away he went swinging! He couldn't really hold himself up too well and kept sliding down (next time I might use a towel to line the swing to help him from sliding). He loved it, he was giggling and smiling and Hanley, of course, loved pushing him and thought I wasn't pushing him high enough! haha

Then I informed Hanley it was nearing bedtime and so we had to get inside to jump in the bathtub. She asked if Conrad could take a bath with he, and again, it hit me, that I could put Conrad in his Bumbo and place the Bumbo in the tub. Again, he loved it! He absolutely adores watching Hanley at whatever she is doing, at any time, so watching her splash around in the tub where she couldn't get out of his sight was a treat for him! She loved helping me rinse all the soap off of him, too. This is a huge game changer for us! While I actually think it's probably equal amounts of work to do the baths separate as it is to do them together, it just seems easier to do them together and they enjoy it!