Watching

Watching Mommy decorate the Christmas tree.

Cereal

Yesterday Samuel had rice cereal for the first time.  Feeding him was hilarious!  He liked it so much we couldn't get it into his mouth fast enough.  I think we are going to have a big eater on our hands!

2 months old

Samuel had a checkup on his 2 month birthday.  He weighed in at 13.3 lbs and is now 24 inches long.  Both height and weight are in the 90th percentile.  Doc said his proportions are perfect... he's a lean and healthy baby. 

Zonked out

Here is one sleepy baby!

Snazzy mobile!

When we picked out Samuel's bedding, we also got a cute matching mobile.  Samuel loves it so much, but naive first-time Mommy didn't realize wind-up mobiles only go for about 3 minutes.  After an hour or more of running into his room to wind it over and over and over, I decided it was time to find a motorized mobile.

Oddly enough, there aren't many of these to choose from.  I've been trying to avoid bright primary colors, but didn't have much of a choice if I don't want to be want to be winding his mobile nonstop.  The mobile we decided on is perfect for Samuel... it has farm animals, rotates playing three classical music pieces and best of all plays for 15 minutes before shutting off.

Laundry time

Daddy was watching Samuel so I could get some things done around the house.  I asked Dan to get Samuel's laundry off the clothes line.  This is what happened...

Loves his blanket...

He wrapped himself up in his blanket...

Paparazzi's!!!

The paparazzi's just won't leave him alone!

Ok, so the paparazzi is Mommy...
 

Chilly out!

We've had a few days in the 50's and brisk winds.  Samuel and I had to make a run to town, so we had to get him bundled up first.

The Muppet Show

Samuel loves watching The Muppet Show, especially when the band starts playing and lights are flashing.  Here he is watching it with Daddy.

Big blue eyes

Samuel was keeping Mommy company and likes to lay on Mommy and Daddy's bed.

Airplane ride

Daddy taking Samuel on his first airplane ride.

Environmentally friendly

Cloth diapers hanging on the clothes line.  Environmentally friendly times two!

Loves his glider

This is Samuel's Soothing Motions glider.  He loves it.  It moves side to side or front to back and plays music.  We have it placed in front of our big picture window because he loves looking outside.  He can't stay away very long... it is indeed soothing to him.

Sleepy

Snuggled up in his play pen.

Sunrise

Our schedule goes something like this:  I go to bed around 10pm and Dan takes care of feeding Samuel until about 2am or so (napping in between feedings).  Then he goes to bed.  Then when Samuel wakes the next time, I get up and tend to him for the next two feedings so Dan can sleep without interruption.  This way we both get at least 5-6 hours of solid sleep - sometimes more if we're lucky!  I used to lay down between the first two feedings of the day since it's pretty darn early, but I've found that if I stay up, I'm not really any worse for wear and I can get some quiet things done around the house, such as updating blogs.  =) 

This particular morning, I was updating this very blog and looked out the window to see one of the prettiest sunrises I've ever seen.  Perhaps that's because anyone who knows me knows that I've seen very few sunrises.  Anyway, I decided to snap a couple pictures as the sun was coming up...

View out the back windows of house.

View of driveway out the front door.

Cloth diapers!

Initially we were going to use disposable diapers for convenience.  But then I started checking into the "new" cloth diapers.  Mostly because of cost savings, but also since they are so much better for the environment.  Our first concern was "do they work well"?  Then our next concern was "how gross will it be to wash poopy diapers"?  The products touts that they work with as small as 8 lb babies, but the sales folks said they recommend 10 lbs.  We waited until he was about 11 lbs.  We used disposables while Samuel was little and still keep them on hand while we are out and about. 

I have to say... we've been very happy with them so far!  We've only had one leak and that was my fault... we finished an early morning feeding and he went right back to sleep, so I opted to let him go instead of changing him.  By the time he woke up again, he'd wet through the diaper.  Also, he's had no diaper rash since we've started using them, which is another benefit the product boasts.  The biggest draw is that the diapers go on like disposables with Velcro closures.  The only difference is that you have to pull a liner out (that is what soaks up the urine) and wash them every few days.  Oh yeah, and rinse a poopy diaper sometimes.  Then when they're washed, I sit down and reinsert all the liners at once and we're ready to go for a few more days.  We figure over the 3 years or so that he'll wear diapers, we'll save roughly $1500 and put about 5000 less diapers into a landfill.  Not to shabby! 



Sporting a yellow cloth diaper.  He also has orange, blue, light green and dark green.



Bluebirds

Our real estate agent gave us a bird bath as a housewarming gift shortly after we closed on the farm.  It didn't take long for it to get some use!  Birds love splashing around in it.  Here is a pic of two bluebirds in it at the same time.  There were up to four at one point, but I couldn't get a good picture of them.

Lunch time

Take a hike!

Here are pics from a walk Dan, Samuel and I took recently through our property:

Our pond behind the barn...

The side of our house from the pasture right behind the yard...

Leaves turning red during fall...

A funny looking tree and our closest neighbor.  This is about half way back of our property...

Dan and Samuel in front of a fall tree...

One of the prettiest fall trees I've ever seen!...

The "lower" pasture...

An inquisitive cow as we were walking though the pasture...

Cows on pasture...