Our Daily Schedule: 6 Months old

7AM: I wake up to James making noises on the baby monitor. I quickly get up, pump, and grab a quick breakfast.
7:15AM: I go into James' room to get him out of bed and give him his morning medicine. He usually grins at me and as soon as I unwrap him from his swaddle blanket, he stretches his arms out. It is so cute! I change his diaper, take off his PJ's and put him in his clothes for the day (hopefully! we might have to change outfits a few times throughout the day)
7:30AM: I give James his first bottle of the day
8AM: I put James in his bouncy seat while I get everything ready for our walk. I find his hat, my hat, get my mp3 player ready, put sunscreen on the both of us, bug spray for me, clip on the OFF fan, put James in the sling and we are out the door for our 2.5 mile walk to Publix and back. This week I am listening to "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict".
9AM: We are home from our walk and I put James on the floor for some tummy time
9:30AM: James starts to get fussy, so I wrap him up and put him down for his first nap of the day. I pump again, then I make the bed and take a shower. After my shower I do my daily cleaning zone assignments.
10:30AM: James wakes up crying, so I put his pacifier back in. He has really started to fight naps for some reason
11:30AM: James wakes up again and I get him up from his nap. I change his diaper and play with him for a few minutes.
12PM: I give James his second bottle of the day. Afterwards I put him in his bouncy seat while I pump
12:45PM: I put James on the floor for tummy time. Sometimes we read a story.
1:30PM: James starts to get fussy, so I wrap him up and put him down for his second nap of the day
3:15PM: James wakes up and I get him out of bed and change his diaper.
3:30PM: James gets his third bottle of the day. Afterwards I put him in his bouncy seat while I pump
4:15PM: On the floor for tummy time
4:45PM: Fussiness kicks in, James gets wrapped up and put down for a quick third nap of the day
5:30PM: James is up, ready for his fourth bottle. Usually Anthony will feed him while I pump. Afterwards, he goes in his bouncy seat until he gets tired of it.
6PM: Me, Anthony and James all play together on the floor, trying to get him to laugh.
7PM: Anthony gives James a bath while I pump. Once he is dressed and ready for bed, I give him his nightime medicine and his last bottle of the day. We read a Book of Mormon story, say a family prayer and then James gets wrapped up and put to bed for the night.
10PM: I pump for the last time of the day, clean pump parts, put bottles in the dishwasher and get ready for bed

I have a confession

So here is my confession. I am having a really hard time being a stay at home mom. There I said it. I always wanted to be a stay at home mom and I dreamed about how wonderful it would be when I was working, but I really miss going to work every day and feeling a tangible sense of accomplishment. Sometimes I feel like the walls are just closing in on me in our house, but there really is nothing to do during the day around here aside from using gas to drive 20 miles away to browse Supertarget and spend money we don't have. There aren't any playgroups or moms groups close by, so I spend a serious amount of time home alone with James. The days just blend into each other and when I think about the future it is hard to imagine anything being different. Everyone I have talked to says that it gets easier, but here we are at 6 months and I am still struggling.

I try to think up projects for myself and things I can do, but I think at the root of it I am just plain lonely. Are any of you out there having the same problem?? If you have been through this, can you give me some hope??

Peek a boo

We really got James laughing the other day, playing peek a boo with him. He thought it was hilarious when I would pop up from under the jumperoo! It is times like this that remind me why I love staying at home with him. I love that I get to make him laugh and that I have the time to capture these precious moments.

Jumping

James loves to jump in his jumperoo!! He spends so much time in it, happy as clam, jumping to his heart's content. I caught a video of it today. Enjoy!

It makes you wonder...

So I was shelving books today at the library and happened to glance at the title of one of the books I was shelving. It was called, "An Encyclopedia of Serial Killers". My first thought? "Someone should keep track of who checks this out..."

My first day at the Library

Last Wednesday was my first day as a volunteer at the library and it was so much fun! My schedule for now is going to be Wednesdays from 3PM-5PM, so I am only doing 2 hours a week, but I might do a few more later on. It is amazing how much of a difference it makes to have two hours outside of the house doing something fun (for crazy me) and being around what feels like coworkers. I spent the first hour getting a tour of the library, the back room where they process books that need to be sent back to other libraries, the work areas, and then the layout of the entire library and where all the different sections are. I got some pointers on shelving, which is definitely not hard, but VERY detail oriented. I did a tutorial online on shelving, which seems silly but I was surprised at how many mistakes I made when I rushed through it.

I spent the last hour actually shelving books and I had a blast. I had fun reordering things when I found them out of place and straightening up the shelves as I went. The librarian that is over volunteers has a very loud talking voice (ironic for a librarian!) and I could hear her telling the other librarians what a "quality volunteer" I am going to be. This week I am going to be working with another volunteer who usually shelves and I will get some more tips from him on how to be quick and efficient, but not make mistakes. It took me a good 40 minutes just to shelve one cart of materials, so the quicker I can be, the better. Why haven't I been doing this all my life?? So much fun!

Make your own Clorox wipes

A few weeks ago I decided to make my own cleaning wipes and it was super easy! I've never bought Clorox wipes or things like that for cleaning because of the cost, but I have always thought of how nice and convenient it would be to use them. Normally I would just use a paper towel and some spray cleaner, but we would go through paper towels so quickly and I hate shelling out $6 for a pack of paper towels every time I buy them! (There usually aren't any good coupon deals for paper towels :)

I used the tutorial on this website to make my own and I have been loving it! All I did was buy a package of reusable wipes from the grocery store for about $1.50, cut them to fit in an old baby wipes container when folded in half, folded them so that when you pulled one out, the other comes up (had to look that up on the Internet too), poured in some water and cleaner to wet the wipes, and presto! Instant cleaning wipes! When I am done with one I just toss it in the washer and it gets washed the next time I do a load of laundry. This works well for me since my washer is right next to the kitchen, but you could also use a tiny bin under your kitchen sink or some other place out of the way.

I keep them on the kitchen counter next to the stove and let me tell you, cleaning has never been so easy!

A Nerd's Dream Come True

Ever since I was little I loved the library. Loved it. I adored everything about it, the smells, the sounds, all the neat books ordered just so. When I was in elementary school I would go to the library every day after school instead of walking home and stay for a few hours just helping out. I thought I was so cool, sitting behind the counter and checking out my classmates' books. One of the librarians kind of scared me because she was kind of gruff and was missing her thumb on her right hand so I tried to avoid her. Funny the things you remember!

As a family, we would all go to the library at least once a week, usually for family home evening and it was so exciting to get a new stack of books. I would read them in class in between assignments and I would even read them while I was walking in the hallways to and from classes and during lunch. The teachers would tease me that they didn't recognize me if I didn't have a book in my hand! I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but last year I actually got accepted to the Master of Library Science program at USF. I applied on a whim when I didn't know if I would have a job, and I figured I might as well work at USF and have them pay my tuition while Anthony finished school. I decided not to go when I got offered my full time job at SDS, but since the program is mostly online it has made me think I will probably go back and get it one day. Once we aren't paying off student loans anymore!

Wouldn't you know it, my dream of working in a library is actually coming true! (sort of :) I decided to start volunteering at the library down the street from us. I was needing some time out of the house doing something non-baby related and thought that a volunteer gig would work perfectly. I am starting next Wednesday with shelving. I am waaaaaaay too excited about this for it to be normal. All those books I get to touch and read the covers, and put in order. Heaven.

Herb Garden

After finding some great deals on plants at the farmer's market I decided to try my hand at gardening again. Hopefully, this time will turn out better than the last! I started out with some herbs just because they were so darn cheap! I got these two basil plants for 50 cents each and they are producing like crazy!! I have pruned them back a few times, but they seem to double overnight.

My oregeno died a brutal death unfortunately, but my chives and rosemary are hanging in there. We also have a few tomato plants that are on life support. Hopefully they revive soon! I would like to make my own italian blend of herbs since we use that a lot in cooking, but I have to figure out how to get my oregeno to stay alive first :)

There was no way that I was going to be able to use all of the fresh basil that I pruned, so I decided to try to dry them and then ground them up in their own shaker. I'm pretty happy with the results!

Hanging from a very convienent bar in the laundry room

The end result

Free Diapers

You remember my post about swagbucks? I decided that I would try to use my earnings from the website to buy diapers on amazon instead of just buying stuff (trying to curb that shopping habit!!). I set a goal for how many swagbucks I would need to earn a day in order to get enough diapers for a month and so far I have been meeting my goal or exceeding it! Today I ordered my first case of free diapers!! So, swagbucks has now paid for a month and half's worth of diapers. Awesome!

Seriously, if you spend any time on the computer throughout the day I would totally recommend trying it out. I'm trying to see how little out of pocket I can pay for diapers until James is potty trained and I love that I don't have even have to leave my house to do it! He is 5 months old and so far I have only paid $129.19 for diapers and wipes and that is including about 2 and 1/2 months worth that I still have to use.

If you sign up through my link, I get bonus points, so if you are thinking about it, give it a whirl! :) http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/redant21

5 Months

Our little guy is 5 months old today!! For some reason 5 months sounds soooo much older than 4 months to me. We can't believe how fast the time is flying, but at the same time it feels like we have had him for forever. Funny how that is! He has really started to be a fun baby. He is fascinated by everything around him and it is so fun to watch him discover the world. Our favorite is his trade mark open mouth look of wonder that he gets when something catches his attention. You can just see him thinking, "Wow!". Just the other day I told Anthony that the way he is now is how I always imagined having a baby to be, not that newborn nonsense :) He hardly ever cries in his car seat now unless he is really tired and cranky because he is so distracted looking out the window at all of the cool stuff!

I'm really sad that the weather has been so bad/hot/rainy for the past few weeks because we haven't been able to take our daily walks for awhile. He used to just sleep through them, but I know that now he would be in awe of the great outdoors. This past month he has started consistently sleeping through the night (!) which is wonderful but a small part of me sort of misses our night time cuddles. I just try to make sure I get extra ones before I put him to bed now. We've also started shaping up our bedtime routine since he is so consistent about his bed time now. He gets a bath around 7PM, then PJ's, a bottle, scripture stories, family prayer, then bed by 7:45 or 8. Then he sleeps until about 7am!!!! Sometimes he wakes up later in the evening and starts crying and we just go in his room, pat his back, put his pacifier back in and quickly leave and he usually goes right back to sleep. I always think that once he goes to bed I will have so much time to myself, but bedtime comes pretty quickly when you spend most of your free time pumping!

Things he loves at 5 months: seeing new people or things, being tossed in the air (he does huge belly laughs when you do this), his jumperoo, being on the floor and practicing his new rolling skills, having both hands in his mouth at the same time (if he could, he would drink his bottle and have both hands in his mouth at the same time), taking a bath, being held, having us play with him, being carried in a sling, looking at the aquarium, sitting in our laps, raspberry noises, being tickled, and eskimo kisses

Things he hates at 5 months: being alone, putting his clothes on after a bath, being in his car seat when he is cranky, and loud and sudden noises

Here are his 5 month pictures, including his comparison picture. Man this kid is growing!!