17 weeks! Oh by the way...

We are so excited to be expecting baby #2 in December! So far, everything is going great. Xander has no idea, but we have mentioned it to him. Yesterday he told me, "Xander have baby in belly, too." Cute cute cute. How far along? 17 weeks 2 days Total weight gain/loss: 4 pounds Sleep: Very good Best moment this week: Hearing baby's heartbeat on Wednesday. Sounds great! I also felt the first kick from the outside last night! Movement: Yes, I feeling it almost every day now. Food cravings: Sweet things! This is totally different from last time, when I hardly ever wanted sweets. Food aversions: Nothing specific, but every so often, I have a little freak out because I can't find anything I want to eat in this house. Gender: Don't know Labor Signs: None at all Belly Button in or out? Very in What I miss: I can't think of anything at the moment. I'm happy. What I am looking forward to: Getting our next peek at this baby! July 31st! Milestones: Since this is my first of these little surveys, I'm going to recap the whole thing so far. April 5th (3 weeks 4 days or maybe 2 days) -- Two lines! Yes!! 8 weeks -- first ultrasound. Our tiny blob of a baby measured right on track with a good strong heartbeat. 9 weeks -- first midwife appointment. I got to hear the heartbeat for the first time, and it was fast. 15 weeks 3 days -- first real good kick. J and I were watching the season finale of Once Upon a Time. 17 weeks 1 day -- first kick felt from the outside. Babies always get excited when mama stops rocking (walking around), and last night was no different. As I settled down in bed, I felt some fluttering around, so I put my hand down, and finally felt some big strong kicks!

$100 amazon

These days, when I think of shopping, I think of Amazon. With such a wide selection and convenient features like a Prime membership that offers free shipping, I can find just about anything I need, and I can get it quickly. Therefore, finding a chance to win money for shopping is pretty exciting. I came across this giveaway on Mama Chocolate's blog. Feel free to enter!
a Rafflecopter giveawayGiveaway brought to you by MROStop Industrial Products. Visit the giveaway page here.

When you don't worry about picking up

At the end of the day, I often find myself a little overwhelmed by the amount of mess one little person can make.

But then, he doesn't yet have to think about cleaning up after himself. Sure, I ask him to help me pick up sometimes. We make it into a game, and he helps me toss things into a basket. Inevitably, however, for him the next step is always to dump it right back out again. Why should things be constrained to living in a basket. Go free my toys, and see the world!

At least he let me take some wonderful pictures of him in his Santa hat.

The puppy got in and helped a bit, too. For some reason this last picture really speaks to me. 

It is one of the most accurate representations of life at our house right now. Along with the first picture. We love our happy busy messy life!

A good day for a fort

The new tile floor was recently finished, and we haven't finished putting everything back in place. Thus, we have a great big open space in our living room. That sounds like a good place to build a blanket fort! 

Xander is 16 months old now. His babbling is really starting to get more and more sensical, which is exciting. And he's just started to try to repeat everything we say. His favorite words are mommy, daddy, and cheese, and hi. He has a set of foam letters and numbers for the bath, and he will repeat the names of most of the letters. His favorite is "z." 

We play outside at least a little bit most days. I'm sad that it's getting colder, but we have a lot of fun holiday festivity to look forward to. And he does look awfully cute in his new winter coat.

Times flies, huh...

Xander is unbelievably big!

He's 15 months old now. He's a great walker; he says mommy and daddy; and he can follow simple instructions, although he often chooses to ignore them.

We've been having so much fun. Every little thing is so amazing and new. Today he learned to walk backwards, and he thought it was great so he just kept doing it. And every time he looked at me with a face that said "What am I doing?! This is awesome!"

He's been modeling little girl hats for me these days. I've been making some for a friend's little girl (and second baby girl expected soon!). He loves to try on hats. He doesn't like to wear them for any length of time, but he got excited every time he saw me working on one of them, and he would ask to try it on.

Also, he got his first haircut recently! And this picture should be a good illustration of why he needed it:

He make a cute little girl, doesn't he?

I made a little collage of his haircut experience:

EcoSash FTW!

This morning started off pretty well, which was very nice. But, just before lunch time, we had an attack of the fussies. I dealt with it for a while, tried to keep him entertained, but eventually, I got very very tired of it. I tried pulling out the Moby wrap, which can sometimes make him very happy and sleepy, provided that he'll let me get him into it. That was a no go today. So, I decided to try my Infantino EcoSash carrier. I hadn't tried it because it looks awfully complicated. But today I was determined. So, I tied it on, got him in, got it all secured...and the most wonderful look of contented stupor came over Xander's face. Oh happy day! I proceeded to vacuum the living room, which I've been wanting to do for a while, and Xander slept through the whole thing, and beyond! I think this may be my new favorite baby thing. I'll try to get a picture later.

1 month and rolling!

Xander turned one month old recently. It really does go by so fast, doesn't it? We had some fun with outdoor pictures in our front yard.

And yesterday, Xander rolled over during tummy time! I'm sad that I didn't manage to catch a picture or two. I called Jared in just in case he tried it again, but it was just a one time thing so far. Still, we were very impressed. We've got the coolest baby!