Friday, August 24, 2012

Four Months!

Four Month Chair Photo
Rhett is officially four months old and he's such a baby! not a newborn or an infant any longer--he has preferences  annoyances and demands rather than just needs. He LOVES to be talked to, he HATES when his clothes are too tight and he trying desperately to crawl to his favorite toys (and failing miserably. We've got some time to go before we have to worry about a mobile baby).

As for me, I think I've finally (mostly) gotten over the trauma of his first few weeks of life. His birth and time in the hospital were a truly horrifying experience and until recently, I don't think I've been quite myself because of it. I used to spend a lot of time seething and worrying about the time we missed out in his first two weeks, because he was behind plastic doors. But I'm finally able to smile when looking at photos from Rhett's birth, which I think, is huge progress.

At Rhett's four-month appointment, he weighed in at 13 lbs, 4 oz (9th percentile). The doctor was thrilled with his stats and health and we were as well. He's come a long way already and we couldn't be happier. He did not take well to his first round of vaccines (which were delayed because of his small size). He cried for the better part of Monday evening and though it was gut-wrenching to hear, we got through it and he is back to normal now.

My frustrating little baby is not so good with cameras. He is very interested in them and as such, any time we whip one out, he will state at it in wonder and try to figure it out, rather than continue making the adorable smiles that made us bring out the camera in the first place. We're hoping he learns to smile at the camera soon.

Just for fun, I took a 'growth comparison' photo. These are the three different sizes of onesies Rhett's worn since birth. I can't believe that baby used to fit into preemie sizes! And he's wearing clothes now that I thought looked made for a giant back when I was receiving gifts at his birth.
Here's a few random pictures that we've taken this week. Enjoy!


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Photo Dump, 0-3 Months

So I thought I'd throw up some never-before-seen shots of Rhett during months 0-3. I don't think I've published these anywhere and I like a lot of them. So I figured I'd go ahead and collage them with the help of my friends over at picmonkey.com. Enjoy!

St. Louis Get-Together 2012!

Some time ago, my girlfriends from college and I decided that we were going to try to get together once a year for the REST OF OUR LIVES. So far, we're two years out of college and we're doing pretty well. I know that not everyone's going to make it every year, but it's really awesome that four of us were able to come this year. We've all changed so much already since college! We have Rhett, Michelle and Chris are engaged, Matt and Danielle just bought a house, and Allie and Kevin have a TODDLER and a baby on the way! Amber wasn't able to make it, but big changes are ahead for her this year as well. I'm so blessed by these girls and their husbands. I'm glad we were able to meet up and I hope that we can enjoy many years of "Girl's Weekends" to come!

Would have been really great if Rhett had made it into the picture, right?

Out and About

Elephants!
Rhett's an incredibly laid-back baby. At this age, it's really easy to pop him in the car and head out for an activity. Josh and I have never liked being cooped up in the house too long, and in St. Louis, there's a variety of free things to do. We've taken him a lot of places since we've moved here and we love the freedom he's given us to get out of the house and experience some new things together as a family. Our favorite spot is the St. Louis Zoo, where we've been a few times a week. It's nice to just walk around and enjoy being outside. We live in sort of a suburban area and (unlike all of the places we've lived in the last five years), it's not a place where we can exactly go for an evening stroll, which is something we've always enjoyed. So instead, we walk around the zoo. Rhett love to look at the animals. I wouldn't think a baby his age would be terribly interested, but he focuses in on them and watches them carefully. I keep saying he's going to be a scientists. He just likes to observe everything!
Sea-Lion Enclosure. No seal-lions out today.

We've really taken to baby-wearing over using the stroller. Rhett really, really hates being in his stroller. He likes to be close to us, and he likes to be high enough that he can see things well, so wearing him in the Bjorn is really the best option for his comfort. Additionally, I hate pushing the stroller around through the crowds at the more touristy locations we visit. I'm looking into carriers that we can use as he gets bigger and bigger, because I just hate the stroller so much.

We also took a trip to the Science Museum recently. I think we'll really like to take Rhett there when he's a little older. They had a TON of hands-on exhibits for kids. It was a really nice museum with a lot to do and see. Josh was shocked to learn that I've never been to a planetarium. We plan on going sometime sans-baby.
Don't worry guys. It's not real. 
We also headed out to a brewery tour this Saturday. St. Lois has a "rich beer history", according to our tour guide. This particular tour is close to our house. It's a micro-brewery, and we had a lot of fun learning about their history and tasting some of their samples of beer. I was a little nervous having Rhett at such an obviously adult-only location, but he slept through almost all of the tour, so he didn't bother anyone. When he wasn't sleeping, he enjoyed checking out the large, shiny vats of beer. I guess it doesn't take much to keep this kid entertained.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Rhett's Nursery

Nursery from the door
I thought I'd post some photos of Rhett's nursery here in our new home. The room we chose for Rhett here was already decorated as a nursery when we moved in. Unfortunately, it was decorated as a girl's nursery and an outdated one at that. There is a pink border all around the room at mid-level and the walls are a mossy green. I'm not a fan. We did some scrambling though and came up with a solution that I'm mostly happy with. We hung up prints from Eric Carle books. We had a print book that we got as a gift from my sister and they made their way around about half of the room. I plan on ordering another book of prints to stretch across the other half.

Rhett's room has the most closet space, and we've filled it up with our own clothes. All of his clothes that he currently fits in are in a little wicker dresser. The rest are under his crib in two boxes: Clothes his too big for (which make me teary) and clothes that he's too little for (which make me excited for the months to come)
The Dresser
Rhett's changing station is usually a mess. It's in the area of the room that hasn't been covered up with my awesome decorations. Cloth diapering is harder to keep neat, just because of all of the different stuff that we use on a daily basis. Some day I'll write about our experince with cloth diapering. We'll still trying to decide what system we like best.
The changing table with the ugly existing decorations
We have a reading corner. We need to get a little bookshelf. Right now we keep our favorite books on top of a trunk that's being used to hold his toys. We'll probably have to get a toy chest once he's big enough to get into it, because the edges are sharp. It's not exactly baby friendly, but I like how it looks in his room.
Where we read every night
I like Rhett's crib a lot. It's really on of the only purchases we made ourselves for our baby, and though we wanted a different color, I like the way the white looks in the room. It's not the most masculine option out there, but hey--he's a baby, not a man. I don't think we'll use it for it's intended purpose of being his 'lifetime bed' (it's convertible). More likely, it'll be our crib through all of our children. It's sturdy so I'm hoping it holds up.
I'm hoping to get a rug to go into the nursery at some point, as well as a few more little touches. We should probably get a mobile for about the crib sometime, though Rhett sleeps on his belly and I don't know how that would really work. Maybe it would just be a waste of money and space. 

It's nice to have space for a nursery. We were weighing our options when we moved about whether or not it would be worth it to just keep him with us for the time being to save money on rent. If we did, he would probably end up in our room until past the age of two, which didn't seem like a good idea. We like having him in his own room at this point. He's easily woken up by noises, so he really doesn't sleep is well with all of the noises we make in our sleep. It's nice to have a space that works so well for our little family/