A weekend of Firsts...

So this weekend started off, as any good weekend does, with shopping! My mom and I hit up the General Store, and miscellaneous Once Upon a Child's in the area. If there is one thing you should know about my mom and I is that we are ALWAYS looking for bargains. I'm the one that keeps my mom in check with my two phrases: "I have a coupon for that." and "Always purchase with a purpose. " It really eliminates the unecessary items that end up at our house. With the size of our house and the amount of stuff that Blake already has, we really don't need unecessary items! Anyway back to the weekend. Our first stop the General Store in Minnetonka, I absolutely LOVE this store. There are so many fun things to look at [rarely a bargain found] but such neat gift items you must stop! It was POURING rain, and it is not very stroller friendly. They do offer little umbrella strollers though, so we were bound to make our first attempt at Blake in the umbrella stroller. He was so content and loved it, although this picture doesn't seem to do it justice.

After a play date earlier this week, my friend Molly said that Blake would probably do okay in our jumperoo. Since I've been dying to see him in it since wegot it at shower, we put it together this weekend and set him in it right away! It took him a few minutes, and although he'll grow into it, he is VERY entertained by it. His little legs don't touch the floor quite yet, but he is in awe of the toys, music and lights.

This weekend The Oian's came over for dinner. It was the first time Macie was walking at our house! Very exciting. Well I guess it was for all of us, Husker was a little unsure about the whole thing. I guess it's just something she'll have to get used to. We attempted our first cousin's picture. I'm sure this will be one of many in the future, but it was really cute. Macie turns one next week so I'll try and get some video! She was was only somewhat

interested in her cousin, but we hope they will be good friends as they grow up. She was walking all over the place. It really made me aware of what is to come in the future! We are going to have our hands full.

Brian keeps saying that Blake is changing by the day...I think that's an understatement. He is growing so fast, I can't believe he's been here over three months. We are very lucky to be able to have a lot of time to spend with him during these months. Just watching him do new things and start giggling is worth all the work!

Day at the pool..

Well this summer has been very nice to be off of work, but some of the things I used to do in the summer just don't happen as often when you have a 3 month old. This is why it has taken until the LAST day in July for me to actually get to the pool! Some good friends of the family, The Leff's, have the most awesome pool in Buffalo. It has always been a fun summer destination, so I decided to make a pool date with my friend Katie and head out to Buffalo with Blake. It's quite a feat keeping the little guy out of the sun, but my mom was happy to tag-a-long and babysit while Katie and I soaked up rays in the pool! Blake debuted his cool shades, but he doesn't really like them that much, so they were short lived. We had a great time and I got a LOT of sun. Next summer will be much more exciting to have Blake out there, we can probably start "swimming" lessons there too. So much to look forward too.

Is he a good baby...does he sleep through the night?

This question is probably the most common question we get as new parents. Sounds like an easy question to answer, but really is it? What do I have to compare him too if he's a good baby...of course I think he's good, but I'm a little biased. It's kind of like my "favorite question" How's married life? What does that mean????

ANYWAY, back to my post...the second most popular question...sleeping through the night. Well it really depends on what the question asker feels is through the night. If you are asking "Do you guys get more than 4 hours of sleep?", then the answer is yes. If you are asking "does he go to bed at 8pm and wake up at 7 the next morning?" then the answer is no. I had a good friend tell me about baby sleep cycles and since I have latched on to the theory it's worked really well. Babies this age should rest/sleep every two hours. Basically the theory is when they wake up from sleep/nap within two hours they should be in a sleep/relax state again. This doesn't mean that they will take a three hour nap each time [although sometimes he does!] It just means that two hours of stimulation is plenty. Now even though he is taking naps around 7 pm, we always know that our nighttime playtime/routine starting around 9 will lead to about 5 hours of sleep at night. At three months he needs about 15 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Doesn't matter how it's broken up just that it happens. Not sure where this theory originated from but I'm on to it and love it. It has also helped him self soothe his way back to sleep. [Which is more based on his age, I guess] He rarely cries when he wakes up, just kind of squeeks and giggles until someone comes in there. So I guess the moral of the story is, that I will TAKE the 5 hours I get during the night and the naptime breaks I get during the day. I mean he is such a good baby and all!