10 month-old gift complaint

Dear Santa,

I thought I was clear when we meet, that I didn't want all those baby things my mom has been saying I need for Christmas. I tried hard, though tears even, to explain to you that I have a list of several things that really I do want and they are not baby toys. 

I do not want baby toys this year. 

Not big ones.

Not noisy ones.

Not colorful ones.

Not floating ones.

I am a creative guy.

I improvise just fine for my own entertainment. But there are several things that I have been wanting, that my parent's just won't let me have that I was hoping you could provide.

I see my Papa use this every day. It has all kinds of great places to put my little fingers and when done right produces the most spectacular bright shiny spot at the tip.

I need an endless supply of these wooden test sticks. My Papa keeps putting them in the fire but I need them to test the sound they make against all the objects in the house. Oh, and could you please keep the dog from taking them from me to chew on them. They are to be mine, not his.

My parents let me play with these once, and then never allowed it again. They are irresistibly sparkly and colorful. I would like a set to line my bed.

I would like one of these fun filled, stand up, rolling, decorating toys. Every time I try to aid in decorating with it, I get taken to another room and the door shut. It is endless fun to unwind and wrap around other things. Could you install one next to my wooden tester sticks?

I would really like one of these chew toys. This one I am told belongs to the dog, who clearly already has all his teeth. Mine are just coming in and I could really use a sturdy chew toy. My parents keep giving me flimsy little things that aren't nearly as effective, and are much harder to hang onto.

I would like full access to all the contents inside this magical box. The few times I have gotten to play in it, the items made the most fabulous sounds when banged together and when I got them open they tasted so much better than Cheerios.

I would like one of these floor level splashing stations in every room of the house. Splashing is one of my favorite activities and whenever I get to this one my parents move me or it to another room.

I would really like one of these stand up light and noise machines complete with cord that isn't defective, like this one is. It is fantastic until it starts taking all the small, interesting and tasty specks that I love to play with off the floor. Why would it do such a thing? Be sure to include the cord, it's the best part.

I would like a set of these. Complete with grey fuzzy blobs in the soft bristles. Every time I have gotten close enough to try to taste one my parents take it away before I can taste it. I am sure those fuzzy balls must be divine.

I would like more of this stuff spread all over the house. It is fantastic for tasting and throwing. My parents are constantly trying to rid the house of it. They just don't understand.

I would like a set of these metal test sticks in various shapes to go along with the wooden ones pictured above. My parents are always shutting these in a box and don't allow me to test them and the sounds they make all over the house. How will I ever know what things are without them?
Please replace all baby toys with the pictured gifts that I really do want.
Sincerely your unsatisfied 10 month old costumer,
Josiah Wright

7/21/13 5 months old

Josiah at 5 months has already lived up to his name and has been a blessing and agent of change for the good in our lives. He challenges us to be all that God wants us to be simply by his existence. As he grows, we grow and change and improve. I have no trouble believing he is five months old because I have soaked up every moment of goodness with him and let it saturate me with joy in his achievements.

I worked 12 hours on Josiah's 5 month birthday, so Bryan had to do the photo shoot. It was fun having him text me a few of the pictures while I was at work. He did a great job!

photo shoot bloopers

big grin 5 months old shot

He didn't start out so chubby

After I got off work, since it was Sunday, we went to Sunday night dinner at Dove Vivi, a gourmet pizza place on Glisan that makes delicious pizza's on corn bread crust. Yumm! I had fun with my coworkers passing Josiah around and eating tasty pizza. Josiah did really well. He fussed a bit when a stranger would hold him, but if he could see me or Bryan he could be calmed down without taking him away. When the pizza came, Josiah just sat on my knee sucking his pacifier and holding his swaddle blanket. He was sleepy, but he didn't fall asleep and he didn't fuss. He must be getting used to falling asleep on his own, not being put to sleep, so he didn't fuss much, he just sat there waiting to fall asleep. It was wonderful.

Here is a list of our favorites for Josiah at 5 months.

Mine for Josiah:
1) wool cover with fitted diapers at night
2) Medela Swing Breast Pump
3) Playtex sippy cup

Bryan's for Josiah
1) Como Tomo bottle
2) BumGenius Freetime diapers
3) bouncy seat

Josiah's favorite things
1) Hawaii Medical GumDrop pacifiers
2) Sofie Giraffe teether
3) Adan + Anias bright swaddle blankets

Here I describe them a video blog (vlog).

 

 

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7/18/13 Cloth Diapering Adventures

After we returned from Hawaii I began the quest for a night time diaper. I didn't want to have to change Josiah every time I fed him at night because he just got so mad and I felt it was an additional disturbance to his sleep. So, I did a lot of internet research and decided to try what I had first. So here is a video I made about my night time diaper hunt.

This worked for about a month and we started to get leaks again. Josiah's legs are just so chubby that things aren't fitting perfectly. Bryan also thought that since Josiah isn't sleeping though the night very well at all, and his troubles with shorter sleep cycles began around the time I started night time diapering that the two might be linked. (I think it's because we took him to Hawaii and brought him home and I started working that he never got his routine back and is just all screwed up from that.) He suggested trying something else for night time. In all my reasearch I decided what I wanted to buy if I got to buy supplies for night time diapering, so I showed Bryan and he was ok with the idea. We bought two fitted diapers from a shop on Etsy called SootheBaby and a couple of hemp inserts to boost the absorbency of what we were already doing.

The fitted diapers need a cover. I have the Thirsty's duo wrap covers that I was already using which I figured I would try. I think they are part of what is causing our current leaking problem so I don't have much faith that they'll work. I also saw in my research some stuff about wool covers that made me want to try one. They are just so expensive and we agreed to actually stick to a budget so we really can move to the country some day. The ones I want are 3 ply and therefore don't get you wet when you pick up a heavy wetting baby in the morning, but they are $26 plus shipping and are sized so they won't fit the whole time.

This morning I remembered I had this sweater in my fabric bins.

I was keeping it for an upcycle clothing project some day. I checked the tag and it is 100% lambs wool. I found a few tutorials on YouTube on how to make wool longies and shorties and how to lanolize your wool. I got to work around 5 this evening and here are the pictures of the results.

One single layer longie and one triple layer shortie. I can put the wool pants over the shortie in the winter, and when using the AC in the summer, to keep Josiah's legs warm ,or I can leave them off and still have good protection in warm weather!

I made the pants really big in hopes they will fit for another 6 months. the legs are double cuffed to fit.

 

Hurray for free! I even had everything I need to lanolize them, so they are hanging on my clothes line right now in hopes that they will be dry tomorrow evening for testing over the new fitted diapers. We are testing the one below tonight with a Thirsty's cover.

One other cloth diaper adventure we have had is the diaper bag. I was forever not bring my purse or not bringing the diaper bag because either I didn't want all the luggage or couldn't handle the two together, so in effort to improve, I bought a mom bag. See my video below.

 

This is all my recent cloth diaper adventures. I am sure there will be more to come as we try camping and backpacking this summer, and as Josiah continues to grow. I'm hoping his diapers will fit him until potty training, but at the rate he is growing now, I am not sure that they will.

 

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7/16/13 Flash back to Epic Relay 6/21-22

It took some doing to pack me and Josiah and Bryan all for the relay, but I got it taken care of since I had designated a whole day to do it in. I even found time to make Josiah a couple speedy turtles onesies to wear while cheering for the race.

Everyone met at my house at 7:30, or something early like that, the day of the race. Van 1 runners got organized and headed over to the starting line and then most of us in van 2 went over to watch them take off. Jason and Savannah didn't make it due to Jason getting off work at 9am that morning.

What are we doing at the start? Van 2 runners

Gordan, I think, is the man in blue, who was our first runner. He ran with the Speedy Turtles for the Hells Canyon Relay.

My first leg. I got the hand off from Savannah.

Happy because I just started

I am supposed to be in the background of this picture, but I ran behind the sign just in time to miss it.

All done with the first leg.

My first leg was at 4:45pm on Friday. It was 5.49 miles. It was 73 degrees and cloudy, and I ran it in 53:03 minutes. My team stopped to give me water and spray me down every 2 miles. I didn't pass anyone, and I think I got passed by a couple people.

Nicole holding Josiah

the sunset at our first rest stop

At our first rest area, I tried to sleep, but I just laid there for 1.5 hours. Christy woke us all up when she got a text saying that the last runner of the next van was out, but it turned out to mean he just started, not that he was 10 minutes away. So we had an extra hour waiting around for him to get there. No harm really because I don't think any of us were really asleep even though we were trying to be.

Josiah sleeping though the sunset.

This is what Josiah wore to sleep in the field at the second sleeping spot. It's a long sleve onesie, an Columbia OmniHeat long sleeve shirt, some cotton pants, a fleece fubby, cashmere socks over wool socks, and a bunting. Bryan called him Ralfy.

Bryan, Nike, and Josiah went to our next sleeping spot ahead of us, while we all ran in the dark. My second leg was at 3:14 am. It was 51 degrees with a full moon. I ran 5.21 miles in 50:21, 9:39 minutes per mile. I ended up pumping milk before this leg so Bryan could give Josiah a bottle before going to sleep at the sleeping area. I listened to fast country songs, and my team stopped every 2 miles to give me coconut water.

Josiah and Remmy riding around in the back of the truck.

Christy running with Jason. (I think this is day one and just out of order.)

Spraying Calvin down on his last run.

Preparing for my last run by dousing my hair.

I decided it was too hot for a shirt. Who cares about baby fat, I just didn't want to melt.

My last leg was at 12:33pm. It was 85 degrees and sunny. I ran 4.09 miles in 43:50 minutes, 10:43 pace, and I didn't walk, which was my goal. My team stopped every mile to give me coconut water, pray me down, and put ice water on my bandana around my neck. As a team, we finished in the middle of about 40 teams. It was crazy, but we had a lot of fun.

I think I slept a total of 3 hours from 6am friday until 6pm saturday. But I still liked it. Adding being a nursing mom to the mix of figuring out when to eat and drink before a run was a challenge, but my amazing husband just followed us around in the truck and dealt with everything. I just had to figure out when to feed Josiah to not have it land in the middle of running.

 

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