Dear Jude :: 3 months old

Dear Jude,

Could it be that every month is better than the last?  It seems we have hit that magical 12 week mark and life with you is so. much. fun.  Your smile lights up the room and you have the absolute sweetest personality.  I love our little chats every morning, talking about our dreams the night before.  I love playing with you every day as you discover your hands, how to move them to grab your favorite rattle toys as they slowly make their way into your mouth.  So cute.  It is such an honor to watch you discover the world before you.

You are still sleeping great.  Not much has changed in the past month.  You still get up 1-2 times per night.  You have also turned into a great napper.  You take a solid three naps a day.  Morning, noon, and evening.  You still must be swaddled for naps and night-time, but you are getting SO strong you often break out or sneak your little hands out to suck on your fingers.  I am thinking in the next month or two we will try breaking that habit.

You haven't been weighed lately, but I'm guessing you are close to {if not more than} 14 lbs.  You have already had your 3 month growth spurt and you are a LONG boy!  Still have little chicken legs though.  You eat every 3 hours - sometimes longer if you are taking a long nap.  You are still a champion breastfeeder and I love the moments I can sneak you away from everyone for our little alone time.

You have quickly grown to love sitting {still supported by mama or daddy} and now LOVE standing!!  You are growing so fast!  Tummy time is getting a bit more tolerable, but still most definitely not a favorite.  You have become quite the drooly baby - giving us yet another reason to keep a bib on!

You are such a loving cuddly baby.  I love when you fall asleep on my chest for a nap every once in awhile - snuggling up underneith my chin.  I love your sweet coo's and loving looks.  You only have eyes for your mama, and it can stay that way!

You are such a blessing and your daddy and I love spending every day with you!  Sometimes I still can't believe you are ours!  The most amazing gift I have ever received. :-)


Love you bubba,

Mama

I'll get better at this blogging thing, I promise.

Have I been M.I.A. lately or what?  I'm sure a little bit of that has to do with the WAHM status in my last post. :-)  But we're getting by.  I am up to my eyeballs in life.  And I love it.  I was telling Jordan the other day how being a mama is just an amazing experience.  To watch this little life bloom and discover the world in a different way every day.  It is fascinating and I feel so honored to be able to experience it.  Being a mama is by far, the best thing I have ever done.  I look forward to every little milestone.

Lately - we are into standing.  I don't have any pictures to show you, but when this boy starts moving we are IN TROUBLE.  A few weeks ago he discovered sitting up.  He loves sitting just holding onto my fingers.  Then he discovered that he can stand on his own two feet.  Of course he can't by himself.  He is so bitty yet, but he loves standing holding onto my fingers.  His little knees shake and wobble and he thinks it is THE BEST.  I love watching his proud little face as he tackles these new achievements.  What's next?  Rolling over?  Maybe... but first I think we need to be a bit more o.k. with tummy time.  Still a nightmare. :-(

I realized since I started work I've been lacking in the photo-taking area.  Also the blog area... and the sewing area... and the "me-time" area.  I'm hoping that as life gets some sort of rhythm that I'll fit that in again.  But I MUST keep taking pictures of my guy!  He is 3 months old tomorrow.  THREE.  Yes, 3.  That is a quarter of a YEAR OLD!!  No way.  No freaking way.  And I hardly have enough pictures to document month 2-3 of life.  I WILL change that.

Anyway.  A couple of weeks ago we joined the whole Griffis fam for a celebration with Jordan's Grandparents.  They celebrated their 60th anniversary this month and we partied Griffis-style for sure!  We ate and sang together and all had matching t-shirts expressing the legacy that Roy & Eileen Griffis have created.  60 years is just amazing.  When I went to get an Anniversary Card for them they only went up to 50 years, so 60 must be spectacular. ;-)  I can't wait to live that much life with Jordan... well... I CAN wait, but to know that will be us someday is amazing.  Here are a few snapshots of the evening:

All the GREAT-grandkids.

CAUGHT!!  Little thumb-sucker!! :-)

Jude & his Grandpa Griffis.

Happy Daddy's Day.

There is something about seeing your husband become a father that makes you fall in love in a whole new way.  Just when you think you couldn't love a person more, parenthood increases your love a million-fold.  For the man that was already in my life, and a little man that is new in my life.

Watching Jordan get on the floor and make crazy noises and faces for our little guy is one of the most attractive things ever.  He is already an amazing father, and I can't wait to see him grow.  He has big plans for his relationship with our little guy.  From teaching him to ride a bike, to basketball camp, to reading the Narnia tales to him, to fishing and hiking, to teaching him how to be a man, love the Lord, and follow Christ.  He sets a great example.

Happy Father's Day to the man I love.  And also to my own daddy, and my dad-in-law who showed us how to do this parenting thing right.

My favorite picture of Jordan and Jude... only hours old.  Pure love.

WAHM.

I'm a work-at-home-mama.  Prior to actually BEING a mama, this seemed like the most ideal situation.  What could be better than staying home with my little bubba, working when I can, and making some extra money?  Well... let's just say my glorified view of being a WAHM isn't quite what I thought.  It's still work... and it's hard.

I've just been struggling lately fitting work into my day.  My schedule is such that I am in the office for 6-7 hours during the week and I have to log about 8-9 more at home.  I've been getting all of my hours in, but at the cost of feeling overwhelmed and like my day is a haphazard mess.  The hard part is, I really do love my job.  The harder part is, I have a LOT more responsibilities to take care of when I am at home vs. when I am at the office.  And Jude doesn't nap quite as well as he did when he was 6 weeks old.  When he naps I find myself feeling like I need to be working, but also need to do the dishes, the laundry, vacuum, exercise, read my bible, etc... and those naps are getting fewer and further between.  Being a MOM is a full-time job in and of itself.  Anyone who things otherwise has never been a mom.

I'm not trying to complain.  But I'm bound and determined to find a solution.  I hate feeling like I can't be fully present at my job OR at home.  One solution would be to go into the office more.  But that means less money coming in, as I would need a sitter.  Another option would be to just say forget doing anything during the day (except respond to emails, which is easy), and focus on writing grants in the evening after Jude goes to bed and Jordan is home.  I'm leaning towards that option.  I feel like I need a schedule and a set aside time where I KNOW I will have time to work - so that I can push it out of my brain for the rest of the day... but other WAHM mama's... what is your solution?  How do you find balance and keep yourself from getting overwhelmed?    

My little fluffy bum.

One of the best decisions I made while preparing for Jude's arrival was to cloth diaper.  Yes - we use cloth.  It isn't as freaky weird as you think.  In fact, I really love it.  Who can say they love changing their baby's diaper?  This girl.  {except in instances of projectile poo, which we all know happens from time to time}

What is so great about it?  Here are my reasons why:

1.  It saves is TONS of money.  This is the main way I got Jordan on board, and now he loves it for all the other reasons I do.  :-)  I've probably spent $500 give or take on our cloth diaper stash.  This will last us from Jude's birth {he started wearing cloth at about 2 weeks old} until he is potty trained.  That may sound like a lot of money, but it is nothing compared to what you pay for disposables.  I love that diapers are never on my shopping list.  BUT - I have to tell you that even though I spent $500 {ish}... I am not going to be out that much in the end.  Because......
2. Diapers have AMAZING resale value.  I bought a few of my diapers used, and as I have come to figure out what I like and don't like, I've sold a few of my own in order to fund buying more of what I love.  I've sold nearly $200 worth of diapers so I can grow my stash.  And when we are all done with diapers, I intend to sell them off again!  Obviously I won't get all my money back, but I won't be out much when all is said and done.
3. No ucky chemicals on my boy's bum.  Disposable diapers are filled with chemicals to keep the baby's skin dry and to handle the mess.  There are no weird gel beads in disposable.  My favorite diapers are organic cotton - all natural fibers on my baby's bum.  And the ONLY time Jude has ever had even a hint of a red bum is when he was wearing disposables at night.  Ever since we are 100% in cloth, no redness.
4. They are CUTE!!  Let's not forget that!

My original stash... looks a little different now!

I have constantly been mixing around my stash to get what I like.  We started completely with prefold diapers from greenmountaindiapers.com.  I LOVE these.  I had 2 dozen of their newborn sized prefolds and that lasted until he was about 6-7 weeks old.  I can still use them to double up in his other diapers now that he is bigger.  Or use them as burp clothes or whatever.  They are amazingly absorbant.  And I'll use these same newborn diapers with all of our kids.  Now that he is out of the newborn size *sniff sniff*, I still have 18 infant-sized prefolds {which are still kinda my favorite for containing big poo's... if I suspect a poo coming on I always put him in one of these}.  I also have some all-in-one diapers and some pocket diapers for Jordan and the babysitter.  These function pretty much like a disposable.  At first I thought the idea of a pocket diaper was kinda ridiculous when I could just prefold and cover just as easily and then re-use the cover.  Now I am loving how trim my BumGenius pocket diapers are... and I just sold off some of my other pocket diapers that I was trying out {Happy Heinys and Oh Katy... nice diapers, but not for me} in order to buy more BumGenius pockets.

{cell phone shot} Jude in a newborn prefold with a Thirsties Duo Wrap at 1 week old.

ANYWAY... I could go on and on... all that to say it is an addiction.  I find myself constantly evaluating my diaper stash to see what works best for us.  And I love knowing I can buy and sell and keep saving money while figuring this whole thing out.  Right now I am still LOVING my Thirsties covers, but have been dabbling a bit in the WAHM covers - and thinking of trying to make some of my own. :-)

I've tried pretty much every system - prefolds, pockets, all-in-ones, all-in-twos, fitteds... so if you have any questions, especially about diapering an itty bitty newborn bum, I'd be happy to answer your questions!