Picture Post: 15 months old, Wrap Rant, and some DIY

First off- I highly recommend woven wraps... they are amazing and 100% worth every penny. You can use them from birth to... whenever. There are a ton of different carries you can learn: front, back, hip, nursing- its endless! And, unlike stretchy wraps - they are still super supportive far far far past 15lbs. They have a steep learning curve, but its worth it! I started wrapping when Faith was 5 months old and outgrew the sleepy wrap. Anyway, on with the show! This is Anna she is made by Storchenwiege and this is how we used her today...

...For a 3 hour nap. She is still sleeping actually and I'm very comfortable. This is in a reinforced rucksack carry which I just tried today and I love it. Faith doesn't nurse to sleep very often anymore, but she likes to be wrapped to sleep, sometimes I take her off after she falls asleep, sometimes not.

as a hammock

She loved it!

I left her alone with this book for 5 minutes and she ate the entire corner off... she was suspiciously quiet, no wonder.

She loves to put our shoes on. :-D

Mmmm meatballs

Isn't this so cute?! She is smelling my wilted basil plant!

Family picture via self-timer. haha. use your mind to crop out Mike's feet. Faith is nursing, isn't she giant?

DIY shape sorter. We're only sorting one shape obviously, and she still just tries to shove it through. I think circles would have been the smarter option...

tape a cardboard box closed, cut shapes out of the top, make a hole in the side to retrieve "shapes", cover sides of openings using duct tape to make the edges not so sharp, use glue gun or fabric glue to attach scrap fabric to box. Viola!

DIY Babywearing sweater!

You need a stretchy knit sweater with zipper (buttons would work too)... hold on, I have to tell you about this sweater. It's from Anthropology and I found it at Goodwill with the $90 price tag still attached!!! LOVE! Ok, so baby on your back, put it on backwards and have someone zip you up! HAHAHA. Don't worry, I only go on walks after dark like this...

She is 15 months old now. Weighs 22 lbs (she weighed like 20lbs at 7 months so she has really slowed down the weight gain) and is 31" tall. She says ball, dog, mama, dada, down (I think), and no. She LOVES going to the play area at the mall, you know, the germ infested place you swore you would never allow your child to play at before you had kids (no? just me then?). We have to wait until after 8pm to go because its less crowded then and she really likes to climb up/slide down this one slide over and over again. Its fun to watch.

This is our new house :). Having our stuff split between the two levels is hard... I'm still getting used to it and trying to figure out how to make it practical. ugh. I like the space though, a lot!

the end.

Church Nurseries

Today we visited a different church. One with a nursery. It wasn't like a real church nursery, no one demanded I hand my baby over or assigned security bracelets or parent pagers... just a room with toys and an adult assigned to help in it. I thought maybe it would be good, I would get to listen to the sermon finally, Faith would play. Great.

Well, maybe I should start with the fact that I haven't really sat in church for a year. I sit out in the hall with Faith, since our normal church doesn't have a nursery. I liked this fact for a while, but now that she is getting older and just wants to play - I see their purpose. I've also only left her in the care of others once. I had a dentist appointment and was gone for 2 hours when she was 5 months old.... bad bad bad decision she was one very sad baby when I got back and didn't stop crying for 30 more minutes! Mike takes off work for my dentist appointments now ;-)

So, we try out this other church. I go sit back in the nursery with her for 20 minutes, she is playing and interested in toys so I sneak out - back in to the service. But all I can think about is what she is doing back there... is she sad? Does she miss me? Does she know I'm gone? Is she playing with the balls? What are the adults doing in there? Did they do background checks? I might as well be back there with her, because I'm getting nothing from being out here! So after 4 minutes I hear crying. I go back there and sure enough- crying hysterically, splotchy face, hyperventilating... that's my daughter! AHHHH so sad. So... all this to say, I won't be leaving Faith in a nursery again and I'm glad to know that I'm not missing out on anything by our church not having one.

Off-topic: what would you say to someone who asks you when you're going to have another baby when you want one right now but you haven't ovulated in 2 years? haha, pretty specific, right? I should say something like "In God's timing" but I usually say "whenever" to stop myself from saying "ask my ovaries %*#(@!!" UGH I just hate getting that question!