Baby :: 5 Months Old

Why is there a photo of Milo with a broccoli, Milo with a carrot and then a broccoli with a carrot? Well that's because I am officially losing my mind. On Milo's actualy 5 month birthday (November 21st) I confidently picked up the broccoli, plopped it down next to Milo and snapped away. It wasn't until the other night when I actually got around to editing the photos that I realized that it was supposed to be the carrot. I even labelled the broccoli photo "milo carrot 5 months". I honestly didn't notice my mistake until I went to add the 5 month photo to the 1, 2, 3 & 4 month ones for comparison. So...yesterday I took a photo of Milo with the carrot but I am far too honest to pretend that none of this broccoli business ever happened so you get the whole story.

The moral of that story is that I've been really exhausted lately and my brain isn't working properly. It's not really that Milo hasn't been sleeping well, he's been not too bad, it's that my thyroid is waaaaay out of whack. When I was pregnant I had to start thyroid medication because it was a little low. I just had bloodwork done to check it and it is super low which would explain my energy level. I just got back on medication but the dose is definitely too low so hopefully it will be sorted out within the next few months and I'll start feeling better because...whoa.

I just wrote a whole paragraph about Milo's day and night time sleep habits but then decided to delete it. This is where I'm at with blogging...I want to share things that are going on with parenting but I know that we are doing things differently than a lot of people would and I'm not looking for advice on what I should be doing or else my child will turn out awful and blah blah blah. I am a firm believer in going with the flow and doing what we feel is best for our family while allowing others to do what they feel is best for theirs. I know most of you out there are really awesome and even if my views are different than yours we can respect each other but I know the internet is a big place and I just don't feel like adding the stress of dealing with people trying to tell me what to do. Does that sound grouchy? I'm not trying to come off as grouchy about it. I'm also not saying that we just ignore all advice and think we are the smartest ever. I love reading different ideas about things and then figuring out what we think will work for us. I'm just going through a period where I don't feel like I need to share all of my business online. I think it's normal to want a bit of privacy about some things.

Also, as you can probably tell by that last paragraph, I feel the need to put in waaaaay too many disclaimers whenever I'm talking about anything parenting related. It's really just a pain in my butt to try to talk about parenting because I don't want to offend anyone who thinks differently than I do about it.

So, with all of that said I think I'll keep it light when it comes to parenting topics. I will definitely tell you that Mom brain is a thing (see the above broccoli/carrot example for proof of that one). I will also tell you that Milo is growing so fast and I can't believe he is 5 months old already. I'll also briefly mention that I think he is a bit of a high-needs baby which I definitely didn't think when he was a newborn. Or maybe he's just a regular baby and I just think he's high-needs because I have nothing to compare it to. Ha! Either way Ivan and I love him so much and baby smiles and giggles really do make absolutely everything worth it.

And in other Milo news, he just rolled from his back to his tummy two days ago and he had his first taste of his feet last night. He is reaching for everything, putting everything in his mouth and just seems generally very curious and interested in the world and everything in it. It is so neat! He seems to really enjoy it when Ivan or I hold him up to the piano so that he can bang on the keys and his previous favourite toy Mr. Moose has been replaced by his new favourite toy, Bluebird. We are very creative with toy naming over here.

Man, I ended up writing a lot and I am too sleepy to go back and make sure it all makes sense so just ignore anything that sounds crazy ok?

♥elycia

Giveaway :: ModCloth

First of all, please don't mind my sidebar. I switched my ad options finally and everyone I used to swap with is gone. If you are one of these people and you see this, just email me a new 185x100 button please. If you don't then I'll eventually email you. Considering how far behind I am on things lately it will probably be months before you actually hear from me but you know...I don't really know what to say about that so I thought that trailing off would be my best option.

On to much more exciting things...I have a giveaway for you guys today! ModCloth is being super awesome and offering one lucky winner a $50 gift certificate. Just tell me what you think you might like to buy with your gift certificate. Here is a little wishlist I put together from the ModCloth Gift Guide. I wouldn't mind finding any of those things under the tree this year!

1. Breathtaking Tiger Lilies Skirt in Black
2. Mushroom for More Oven Mitt
3. Sea for Two Tea Infuser
4. Cross-Stitch My Heart Pillowcase Set
5. Saber the Moment Tee
6. Work to Play Dress in Navy

I will announce the winner December 4th, good luck!

♥elycia

This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to my family. For more info on affiliate links click here. Thank you for your support!

Photos :: 365 (November 18 - 24)

322/365 :: Birthday cake for my Dad.

323/365 :: Always baby laundry. Diapers and more diapers. Really it's no big deal though.

324/365 :: Evening shadows.

325/365 :: A big 5 month old boy.

326/365 :: The view out the front window changed very quickly.  Our poor naked tree.

327/365 :: Ivan had a friend from work and his girlfriend over to help bottle the beer they made together. It was so mich more fun doing it with other people around.

328/365 :: Donuts from Cake and Loaf's pop up donut shop. Delicious!

As I'm sitting here typing this Monday night, holding a baby who should be sleeping I have so much to say but I think it will have to wait for Milo's 5 month update post because typing with one hand is super difficult plus I'm really tired and grumpy so I will just end up complaining.  I'll spare you and wait until I'm in a better mood.

I hope everyone had a good weekend and a good Monday.

♥elycia

Photo an Hour :: November 2013

I mentioned already that Ivan went to Ohio for work a few weeks ago and that Milo and I joined him. I also mentioned that Kaylah made the (kind of long) drive across Ohio to see us and I couldn't have been happier. It was really awesome to spend the day together and I can't wait to see my best girl again sooner rather than later. Here is an hour by hour shot of our day.

8 am :: We were up bright and early before 7 but photos didn't start until I snapped this one of Ivan sending an email with Milo assisting him.

9 am :: I wish the 9:00 photo was one of me hopping and skipping to meet Kaylah in the parking lot. I was so excited!! This shot of her taking a photo of Milo is pretty sweet though.

10 am :: We drove about half an hour to an outlet mall that we thought would have a photo booth. It didn't and it was really sketchy looking and pretty empty so we basically just stopped to feed Milo and then turned around and headed back to the hotel. There was practically nothing to do in the area we were in. Kaylah typed in "shopping mall" and Wendy's came up.

11 am :: We did see this building telling us to "Eat Cigarettes" and we had to turn around to get a photo of it.

12 pm :: I love this.

1 pm :: The view from our hotel room. Seriously, we were surrounded by fields.

2 pm :: Baby bed head.

3 pm :: Baby photo shoot.

4 pm :: Kaylah headed back home and Milo and I were just left to hang with blankets and sweatshirts.

5 pm :: The lamp reflection looked really neat. So I took a photo.

6 pm :: Baby play time. Concentrating very hard.

7 pm :: I recently watched all of Raising Hope and it is realllly cute and funny. Now I'm watching My Name is Earl in my spare time because it is by the same creator (right?) and has a bunch of the same characters. I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy both shows.

8 pm :: Hotel room doors always look kind of creepy. Milo and I were totally in bed for the night at around this time. Actually, I think he had already been sleeping for at least an hour at this point. Daylight savings did a number on my baby.

Kaylah did a photo an hour too so make sure you pop over to her blog and check out the photos. We took some similar photos right on the border of a few hours so I might have them as one hour and Kaylah might have them as another hour. Just put it down to the fact that our cameras, phones, hotel clocks all read different times. I am so excited so see Kaylah's photos!!

♥elycia

Photos :: 365 (November 11 - 17)

315/365 :: Stripes on stripes and a cute little face.

316/365 :: I have already finished this book and I am so excited about baby-led weaning. It will be at least another month before Milo starts food but I really want to use this approach. Have any of you gone this direction?

317/365 :: The boots have come out.

318/365 :: Milo playing with his Grandpa. Milo seemed really excited to see my Dad for the first time today and they had a nice time playing and snuggling. I'm not saying that this was the first time Milo saw my Dad, just that it was the first time he seemed really excited about it. It was nice.

319/365 :: What a cute little stinker.

320/365 :: Cooooouuuch. C...O...R, uh, are you going to the mall today?

321/365 :: Mr. Big Boy sat in a high chair for the first time today. It's pretty unbelievable how big he is.

We had a nice weekend over here. The weather was beautiful! Although, as I'm typing this (Sunday night) I can hear that it is really windy and rainy out. That's ok though, it was great out during the day.

Today is my Dad's birthday and I'm excited to spend some time with him. I tried making a layer cake (I still need to assemble it so we will see how that goes) and I think it is going to be delicious.

I hope you all have a good Monday.

♥elycia

5 Fave Friday

5. I can't resist the sparkle on these frames from BonLook.

Selfie from BonLook.com

4. I got an email about these really neat feeding ideas for cats.

It plays on their natural instincts and sounds pretty neat and also fun to watch! Some of these would probably be good for piggy Pinny to try out.

3. Oh if only I was currently wearing dresses.

Record Store Dress from ModCloth

2. I looooove these spoon fork things from Tumbleweeds. Best thing ever.

1. These are the prettiest push pins.

Ideas Take Flight Push Pin Set from ModCloth

Whoa, I finally got my act together for a 5 Fave Friday post. Now if I can get back on my outfit post game everything would be good. I just got a cute sweater that I want to show off so I will have to try really hard to take some photos this weekend. Oh and I need to respond to emails, update my info page and finally figure out what I'm doing with sponsoring. Yikes.

I am definitely happy that it's almost the weekend. We don't have anything big planned for this weekend so I'm looking forward to chilling out. Have a good one!!

♥elycia

This post contains affiliate links which help me run my blog and contribute to my family. For more info on affiliate links click here. Thank you for your support!

Photos :: Honey Locust Tree

For every grandchild my Dad and step mom plant a tree in their yard. As I mentioned, for Milo's tree they went up to the farm where my Dad grew up and got some Honey Locust trees to plant for Milo. See those sticks in the photo? Those are the trees so far. They planted about six and hopefully a few take. It didn't take my Dad to long to get them all in the groud so we all stood around and watched in the cold while I took photos. Milo was so nice and snuggly and I totally wish that I had an adult version of his little bear outfit.

I think that planting a tree for each grandchild is really sweet. Does your family do anything like that? Have a good Wednesday!

♥elycia

Video :: Babywearing with the Moby Wrap

My turn around time for blog posts is getting a little riduculous over here. We filmed this little video about a month ago and I have just got around to editing it. Let's not even talk about that cloth diaper post that I have been mentioning is coming for ages. Taking care of a baby has really thrown me for a loop and I find that goals and schedules tend to lead to frustration instead of a sense of accomplishment. A go-with-the-flow approach to everything is what has been keeping me happy these days. That sometimes means that there is less time for the things that I used to do (and take for granted!) but more time for baby smiles and giggles so I think it is an ok trade.

Anyways, what was I going to talk about here? Ah yes, babywearing.

A month or two ago (who can really keep track of these things) someone who was registering for gifts asked me what my baby must-haves were. I was thrown off guard and said something about how we didn't buy a lot of stuff and basically just had diapers and some clothes in the beginning. Thinking about it later I realized that I did have at least one must-have item that I should have mentioned. Something to wear your baby with. For me that was my Moby wrap.

I had my mind set on a soft, stretchy wrap in the beginning because as a newbie to babywearing I really liked the fact that with the stretchy wraps you could tie the fabric onto yourself and then just slip your baby in. I was too nervous to try out a woven wrap that needed to be tied up around your baby. All that maneuvering with a tiny baby scared the crap out of me! Side note: I do currently own a very pretty woven wrap and it is much easier to use than I thought but I'm still happy to have my Moby wrap.

Ok, so, I do own a Moby wrap but there are a lot of wraps that seem very similar out there. I have heard good things about Solly wraps and Happy wraps. In case you were wondering I wasn't sent my wrap for free, I purchased it from Barefoot Babies (my favourite baby store) and was shown how to tie it there but by the time Milo was born I had forgotten so I just followed the instructions that came with the wrap.

Milo loved/still loves to be held almost all the time so babywearing has been absolutely essential to me in order to get things done around the house. I also love it for when I go out. Before we leave the house I pre-tie my wrap and when we get to where we're going I just slip Milo in. I can count on two hands the number of times we have used our stroller because the wrap is just so much more convenient and way less bulky. Plus, Milo stays happy longer in the wrap than in his stroller which is a huge bonus.

Milo's first time in the wrap.

I was nervous about starting to babywear until Milo's umbilical stump fell off but I now realize that it wouldn't have bothered it at all. For the first few months when I wore Milo we used the froggy position for his legs so that his legs didn't stick out the bottom of the wrap. Once he hit about two or two and a half months (I can't quite remember) I started wearing him with his legs out. This is the way I will show you in the video. I am not the leading authority on babywearing or Moby wraps but I thought that I would show you what I do because watching a lot of different people do the same thing usually helps me learn better. Here is how I wear Milo in the Moby wrap.

babywearing moby wrap from love elycia on Vimeo.

Music is 'The Final Countdown' by Europe.

Now that Milo is getting bigger I still find the Moby comfortable but there are a few things to note. Since he is stronger and move more I need to keep an eye on the panels to make sure he doesn't squiggle around so much that they start to seperate and leave a gap in the middle. Also, since he is heavier and the fabric is stretchy, it seems that his legs fall out of the 'M' position (legs and bum should make an 'M') more often than I would like. I just make sure the check and adjust them back up if necessary. I have heard from lots of people that these type of wraps start to feel a lot less comfortable once your baby hits about 20 pounds but so far so good comfort-wise. Last time I checked Milo was about 14.5 pounds though so we will see once he hits 20.

So, my pros for the Moby:
- fairly easy to wrap
- can be wrapped without baby in it
- easy to slip baby in and out (this is my favourite part)

And my cons:
- baby can wriggle around and move the fabric a lot as they get bigger

There are so many different, wonderful options out there for babywearing. In the future I will talk a bit about my woven wrap and why I love that one. I know that different people like/are looking for different things in a baby carrier so I highly recommend visiting a local shop with a babywearing expert who can help you find the carrier that is right for you!

If you have anything to add to the discussion please do so in the comments! Have you tried babywearing? What is your favourite type of carrier?

♥elycia

PS. clearly babywearing makes me think I'm the Fonz. What's with all my thumbs?

Photos :: 365 (November 4 - 10)

308/365 :: Sleepy after a long drive full of sleeping. We went with Ivan on a work trip to keep him company and the drive downn was great.

309/365 :: Milo meeting his Aunt Kaylah!

310/365 :: A building in downtown Bryan. It was such a cold, windy day!

311/365 :: Someone told Ivan about this store and their great craft beer selection.

312/365 :: Milo's expression is just too funny in this.

313/365 :: This squirrel was here a few days ago doing this same thing. He found a good place to snack on sunflower seeds.

314/365 :: Sunday we went over to my Dad's house to plant a tree for Milo. It is a Honey Locust tree and my Dad got it from the farm he grew up on.

We had a good week. It was nice to take a little trip just for a break from the usual stuff. It was also awesome to see Kaylah, I have missed her so much! I got to another friend I haven't seen in a while this weekend as well. Andrea and I met up but I forgot my camera like a dummy. Oh well, still fun.  I don't know whether you know this but you can still have fun without a camera.

♥elycia