9 Months Old!

Today is Sam's 9 month birthday. He has changed a lot the past month!

- He's eating finger foods now. Bananas and chicken are favorites.

- He's pulling up on everything in sight and crawling everywhere... including up the stairs (when we let him). I have a video of this that I will be posting in the next couple of days.

- He dropped his 3rd nap... which makes our day a lot more flexible and his other two naps a little longer (most of the time).

- He now has 6 teeth... three on top and three on bottom. It drives me crazy that they didn't come in symetrically :). I'm not asking for more though.

- He's transfered from the baby tub to the big boy tub. That might have happened last month, I can't remember. Once he started crawling, it was hard to contain him in the little tub.

- He can drink from a straw.

I think that's about it. We go to the doctor tomorrow, so height/weight measurements will be posted soon.

P.S. Check out Sam's outfit. Daddy dressed him this morning :) We have an ongoing debate about whether or not polos go with athletic shorts. What do you think?

Easter

Yeah, I know, I'm way behind on my blogging... Sorry about that.

For Easter this year, Sam and I went to Nashville to visit my parents and sisters. We had a great time, but of course missed Bud/Daddy a lot.
We decided to fly... 9 hours in the car with Sam alone didn't sound very appealing to me. Especially after the last few car trips where Sam gets very frustrated about being in his seat for so long and screams... a lot. He did pretty well on the plane. Of course naps were difficult and the 3 hour delay didn't help, but we made it without any screaming episodes and only a little fussiness. Sam ate a lot of puffs and cheerios and nursed in the airplane bathroom while some old man was banging on the door (I forgot a nipple for the bottle I brought and it was a very crowded flight). He took his first 3 hour nap and slept in till 8:30 (we are usually up at 6:30) the day after we got home.

Sam got his own seat on the first flight... it was the only one (of 4) that had any empty seats.

We made ourselves at home in the Nashville airport.

All 6 of us headed to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens for their Easter festivities. Sam got to meet the Easter bunny and participate in his first Easter egg hunt.

Sam in his bunny hat... which he enjoyed watching float across the pond a few seconds after this picture was taken.

Sam touching the horticulture. For Sam this was literally an Easter EGG hunt. He found one egg only after his aunts guarded it from the other kids until he could get there. The rest of the eggs were gone within 30 seconds (literally) of the beginning of the hunt.

Sam with his one egg.
After touring the gardens and museum at Cheekwood we headed out to the Nashville zoo (which is a great zoo by the way... it's not too big, a lot of it is shaded, and there is a great playground for kids of all ages).

I know zoo pictures are always weird, but this was the weirdest and ugliest animal I have ever seen. It was a giant anteater. Sam couldn't make it all the way through the zoo. He got a decent nap in though.

Sam and Gigi with the giraffe.

They had this great outdoor room of mats for the little kids to play in. Sam loved it (obviously)!

Easter Sunday

I didn't get any pictures of him looking at his Easter basket... oh well.

Bunny ears from Great Grandma Chris.

Sleeping on the way home from church... holding on to his Bible of course.
Mommy and Sam... I love his blazer (Thanks Gigi)!

We were a little concerned that Sam and Holly wouldn't get along. Holly is often a grouchy old lady (11.5 years old) and we didn't think she would put up with Sam pulling on her tail, gouging her eyes and eating her ears like Clara does. But, she did great! She didn't just put up with it either, she actually enjoyed the attention and never once was mean to him. And, of course, Sam loved his Aunt Holly.

The End... I'm impressed you made it all the way to the end of this very long post :)

Sam's newest trick

Sam is now pulling up to a standing position every chance he gets. He can even climb all the way up the stairs (with mommy standing right behind him). I guess it's time for a gate. I'm hoping to get a video of stair climbing soon. We find him standing in his crib when we go to get him up every nap and every morning. Often times he wakes fussy because he stands up and can't figure out how to lay back down. He's getting better at getting back down now.

Some Pics

Here are some pictures to tide my readers over until I get a chance to make a real post...

Helping with the dishes

Watching Baby Einstein on the Computer

(We were having a rough day... 2 teeth popped through that week)
My new favorite place to play... Clara's not too thrilled about it.

Playing with my friend Kellen.

Cloth Diapers

Showing off his new cloth diaper.
I have been experimenting with cloth diapers for about two weeks now. I think I'm finally ready to write about my experience thus far. I started this two weeks ago knowing nothing and have learned so much about the ins and outs of CD (cloth diapering)... as well as lots of new terminology. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm feeling more confident about the whole thing.

I decided to start cloth diapering simply because I was curious :). Everyone I talk to who has tried it LOVES it, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I wouldn't say I LOVE it at this point, but I don't LOVE 'sposies (disposable diapers) either. I don't think I will ever LOVE anything dealing with excrement. So far, I'm not opposed to CD and it's only a little more work than 'sposies, so for now I'm committed to it (after all, I've already put money into it... might as well use what I have). Of course there are other reasons to CD... the environment, cost, avoid diaper rash, avoid chemicals, and they're cute. Those are nice repercussions to my curiosity :)

I started by doing a little research (probably too little) and then going to the cloth diaper store (Terra Tots, for you locals) and buying a small set to get started. I went with prefolds (A flat diaper used with a cover... similar to what our parents used to use) because it was the cheapest way to get started. After getting home, washing them and trying them for a few days I HATED them. Every time Samuel was leaking out. So, I did more research (Baby Center Community Cloth Diapering Group offered a lot of assistance), asked some friends about CD (Thanks Sara) and went back to the store. So, I figured out how to make my prefolds better (for those interested... more washing to prep them, using a different fold and a "snappi", changing more frequently (every 1.5 - 2 hours) and using a doubler) and also went ahead and bought a couple of pocket diapers to try.

Pocket diapers are very similar to 'sposies except you wash them and use them again instead of throwing them away. They are easy to put on and more absorbent (than prefolds... nothing is as absorbent as 'sposies). So, far I like them (as much as you can like a diaper). I've tried three brands so far. I think my favorite is the Fuzzi Bunz One Size (in case you are interested in buying Sam a present :)). I've also tried Bum Genius and Happy Heines (the names crack me up) and have no complaints with those yet. The only reason I like my FB better is because they have snaps instead of Velcro, which seems like it would last better for future children as well as Sam as a toddler.

BOTTOM LINE: Cloth diapering is not that bad. I would recommend using pocket diapers if you are considering CD. I have to wash them every couple of days, but it's not that bad because there is very little folding involved (that's my least favorite part of laundry). Cleaning the dirty diapers is gross, but so is changing them... so, that's not really any different from 'sposies. And, it will save us money in the long run (we will break even with the cost of 'sposies in 6 months and everything after that is saved money).

I have a lot more information and opinions on all this if you want to know. I figured I wouldn't bore my readers with all the information I have acquired, but let me know if you are interested.

Crawling

Samuel started crawling a few weeks ago. He took his first crawl "steps" towards Clara (of course) on March 14. For about a week he wouldn't do it very much or go very far at all. The next weekend he started going in about a 3 foot radius. Now, he's all over the place. He crawls from his toys in front of the fire place to the kitchen. I caught him and Clara chasing each other this morning. Clara could get away pretty easy, but she kept coming back to him and he would try to get her again. So cute!

This isn't the greatest video, but it's the best I've gotten so far. It's definitely time to baby proof the house!