tub art

even when bathing they have to create.....

i am glad this stuff in cheap, since they used up both cans in just one sitting.  gotta be the cleanest kids on the block, right?!

bathtime is a fun time!

rub a dub dub {bathtime fun}

my kiddos still tolerate bathing together - though i think that those days are most certainly numbered......

hendrix thinks it is funny to dump water on blaire's head (which she does NOT appreciate)

and

blaire has been a little too interested in unfamiliar-to-her body parts.  

but for now, while they still like to splish and splash together, i thought it was fun to capture a few images of their morning playtime.

i just love this little girl's big facial expressions.  she has so much enthusiasm, and is capable of so much drama.  oh my.

and he is just plain good natured all the time.  ;)

love these eyelashes, and the headful of hair that is finally growing in!

water on my face?  this is fun!

cheesy grin?  check!

and her personality unfolds.....

honestly, with the last month including a bout of croup, an ear infection, and two new teeth.....i could really use to see more of this cheery face on this gal!  :)

love my two wet noodles.  

happy monday all!

rub a dub dub

another bath?

I don't know when exactly it happened, but Hendrix has definitely traded the days of baby bi-weekly bathing in for the toddler daily dip.  Some days I even wonder if he could use more than one bath. 

There are a combination of factors at play here which include sunscreen, bug spray, chlorinated swimming pools and, of course, being a messy eater.  

I think the winner of them all, however, is that Hendrix loves playing in the dirt.  I don't know where he gets this fascination.  Is this just a natural part of raising boys?

He likes to be barefoot...

...playing with twigs, leaves, rocks, etc...

...while sitting on the grass or cement (forget spreading a blanket out, he won't stay on it! )

I adore this messy face, but would someone please remind me not to buy him anymore white shirts?!?

mommy's favorite baby gadget

Normally the role of researching, acquiring and then reviewing gadgets falls to my hubby.  He is the one who loves to constantly be trying something new and current.  I, on the other hand, am the one who loves to continue using the product that I already know how to use and I tend to be skeptical of new gadgets.

When I briefly mentioned to one of my dearest mom-friends that Hendrix was getting to be a little wild man in the tub, and that he had actually slipped out of my hubby's grip and nose-dived last week, she asked me if I had ever heard of one of these:

I had not.  And I will have to admit that i was a little bit skeptical about it.  But she had one that she was willing to let me borrow, and I figured that there wasn't any harm in giving it a try.   It took a long time for Hendrix to warm up to taking a bath in the first place (he showered with either his daddy or I for the first several months of his life), and I really want him to be able to continue to enjoy them.  safely. 

The bottom of this little seat has four suction cups on it, and while I am told that it doesn't work very well in tubs that have texture on the bottom, ours doesn't, and the seat sticks to it like glue.  It is very secure.  I tried hard to move it before placing him in it.  

He also tried hard to move it while he was in it, by lunging and reaching for the farthest away toys.  It didn't budge.  

I think this is going to give mommy lots of peace of mind.  

Hendrix gives it a thumbs up! ;)

Wordless Wednesday

I'm so glad he finally loves baths!

  does it look like he might have curls?!?!

Sweet smelling baby boy!

Last night Hendrix lost his little umbilical cord and the the little plastibell from his circumcision in his diaper in the middle of the night.  We were excited because we had been planning to give him a bath this morning anyways, and this means that we were able to do more of an immersion bath than just a little spongebath.

I would say this picture is a little deceiving because it almost makes it look like he was enjoying it.  On the contrary, he was pretty grumpy about it.  I think he was cold and just wondered what the heck was going on!

Here you can see how he just got kind of scrunched up at the bottom of the tub.  He didn't like being stretched out at all!  He did great though, and it didn't take long at all to get him clean.

  

We wrapped him all snuggly in a towel.  This was after he pooped in the blanket that daddy had carried him into the bathroom wearing.  Also after he pooped in the towel that we wrapped his body in while we were washing his hair.  He then pooped in this towel also while I was trying to get him dressed.  He's a lil' stinker sometimes!  I had to fold back the adorable fish on his towel's hood because it hung all the way down past his chin.  He's still just a little guy!  lol

Well, now that his cord is off, I went to reassess whether we would be ready to transition to cloth diapering.  We have been told that disposables are much better at the very beginning because it lets that cord breathe much better, but now that we have reached that milestone, I would rather not keep buying disposables.  The cloth diapers I have are size small and they are supposed to fit babies starting at just 5 lbs.  Take a look at one of them next to the newborn pampers that he is currently wearing:

I think that whatever 5 lb. baby these diapers are supposed to fit, must be larger than my 5 lb. baby.  It is on the smallest snap setting, and I realize that it wouldn't be a huge deal if is goes all the way up to his armpits (in fact, it might make his clothes fit him better since most of them are a little bit big on him right now!), but the elastic around the legs doesn't get nearly small enough.  I could fit both legs in one leg hole if I wanted it to be snug enough to not leak.  :(  Guess we will have to buy another box of disposables and wait it out.  

Look at this sweet pumpkin after he was all clean and ready for the day!

I think he was posing in this one.  He knows how much mommy likes to take pictures!  :)

Now, I think I should back up a little bit and tell you about our return trip to the hospital yesterday for his first check-up.  The visit was with Homeward, which are the nurses that specialize in lactation counseling, and they wanted to weigh him and watch him nurse to assess how he and I are doing with that.

Daddy was responsible for the hairdo before we left for the appointment.  He and I both are just thrilled that our lil' boy has enough hair to even play with!  I'm hoping he doesn't lose it all........

At the appointment Hendrix was a rockstar!  They weighed him initially and he was up to 5lbs 13.8 oz  (which is a weight gain of 3.8 oz in just two days!).  Then I nursed, and right now he is just going 10 minutes on one side, and then we finish the rest of the feeding with the pumped breastmilk that has had fortified calories added to it.  After that 10 minutes, the nurse weighed him again so we could get some sort of an idea of how much milk he is actually getting - and he was up to 5 lbs 14.7 oz.  That means he got almost a whole ounce!  Currently our goal is to get him to eat about 2 ounces every feeding, though just 1 1/2 ounces would still be enough for him to gain weight.  He is doing better than we expected!

This is what he looks like after he eats.  Really lumpy. :)

Mommy and Daddy are getting used to a lil' less sleep, and are still thinking every single minute is SOOOOO worth it because we have our adorable little Hendrix!

We have our first follow-up visit with his pediatrician tomorrow so I am sure we will have more news to post after that.  In the meantime, I need to go catch some snuggles with my son!