I can not believe my big ole baby keeps trying to get older! How dare he when we are having SO much fun at this stage of life!  He is just pure joy and snuggles!
Check out these rolls! ( and that relaxed bath time posture)

His daddy covered his bathroom parts with a measuring cup that he plays with in the tub!

Height: Approx 24"

Weight: 23 pounds!! He is a WHOPPER
Size Clothes: 12 - 18 months. Mostly 18 months for the width but they are a little long on him.
New Tricks/Milestones : 

• Making blubbery noises with his lips/mouth
• sticking his tongue out or messing with it. I think he just realized he has one.
• Maybe TMI but as a cloth diapering mom I have to say that I am ecstatic he has reached the stage of a solid poop!
• he chatters to himself a lot, especially when tired. It is adorable. I wish I knew what he was saying
• He can on occasion sit himself up when he is laying on his back. He has mastered sitting up now. He was very wobbly for a while.
• I can feel a sharp spot in his bottom gum which I think means a tooth is gonna poke through!
• He can now sit in restaurant highchairs and shopping carts. He Loves to do both!

Toys & Baby Gear:

• The Boon Flair High Chair has been AMAZING
• The Einstein Exersaucer .He still is obsessed with this thing.
• Stuffed animals. He really enjoys them SO much. I never thought I would be the mom that is buying stuffed animals, but alas, his happiness is priceless! 
• I just bought some v-tech toys at a consignment sale and he loves them! 

Favorite Non Toys:

• He loves to be talked to. Doesn't matter what you are saying just that you are looking at him and interacting.
• He Loves the doggles. We call them his "woofies" which is a phrase coined by his cousin Caitlyn. He is entertained by just watching them. Rarely does he try to pet or kiss them, but he does on occasion. They are also one of the few things that can elicit his belly laugh or excited shrieks!
• Paper. Holy Moly this kid LOVES paper. Especially Newspaper. It will keep him busy for 20 mins slinging it around and crinkling it up AND he will cry when you take it away, which is a new emotion!
• His daddy. I am mystified with how kids know who their daddy is and how obsessed they are with them. I have seen it with both nephews and now my booboo. Baby Fenn LOVES Erik and is happy just to lay in the floor and stare up at him. Literally that entertains him for 45 mins. He reacts so strongly just to see his daddy walk into the room.
• He enjoys watching us do chores. I can move his saucer or high chair into whatever room I am working in and he just sits and watches me wash dishes, fold laundry, put on makeup etc.
• Measuring cups and plastic cup in the tub. He loves them! 

Eating & Food:
He loves to eat and has been a good eater since day 1. I make all his foods and so far he has never had any food or milk that was not all homemade!  What he has been eating a lot of lately is Sweet potatoes, avocados, pears, apples and rice cereal. I have not mixed any flavors yet b.c that kind of grosses me out. He does not like bananas or squash!  He cries when we run out of food and smacks his high chair tray. We always feed him in the high chair just to create good habits, plus it makes it easier.  Currently he eats about 3 times a day and about 4 ounces per feeding (sometimes more or less depending on how big of a fit he throws. I feel like I am feeding him too much food for his age but he is also much bigger than most kids his age so I try to base the amount on his reactions rather than the feeding charts.)

Cloth Diaper Update:
Cloth diapers are really such a breeze these days! We are using mostly the One size  (snap) pocket diapers I bought off ebay. I have one Fuzzi-Bunz size Large that I love.  The only thing about the fuzzi-bunz perfect fit is that you have to buy different diapers for different sizes/stages, where as the snap adjusting one size is much more practical.
   We are having some issues with a night time diaper because, at night he tinkles ALOT these days and its hard to find the right stuffings to accommodate that. I am currently using a hemp insert from Sprout change and a doubler from Kissaluvs. Anyone else have comments about night time Tinkles? I even tried disposables and he was filling them up/leaking!

At the Preds Hockey Games! He likes watching hockey with daddy, and usually takes a good nap in the middle of the game! 

Saturday CB and  I hit up the Little Sprouts sale out in Franklin. We normally go on the 1st day so we can have first pick, but life dictated otherwise and so we went today and still had a blast. Tomorrow is half-price day for any others interested in going. I enjoy consignment sales so much more now that I know what I need, and what is best to buy 2nd hand. Today, I mostly got toys. Could not help myself when they were $3-4 instead of $20, $30 etc. I just brought them home and did a thorough disinfecting with clorox, water and a toy spray for plush stuff. Now they are all out in the sun drying which is also a natural bleach/disinfectant(sunlight).
I got only one Clothing Item because y'all those consignors were PROUD of those baby clothes. They were marked way too high!  This little beach set was $12 and I think its adorable. I love anything seer-sucker and the fact that its a matching set put me right over the edge! We have a baby beach trip planned with his birth mate walky this spring.
And.. at every consignment sale I have ever been to there is always this table of trinkets which is very obviously shower gifts people didn't want or like. They are usually expensive too! I got this scrapbook set with a plush growth chart, really because I wanted the growth chart but it was $5 brand new in the box. I checked it online and it costs $45
 The little stars are Velcro and you can move them to mark height. The clear pockets are for pictures!
I got this Skip*Hop wipes case for $3 which I am excited about because I needed a good case for my homemade cloth wipes that will keep the moist.
and then afterward I took CB over to my special cupcake spot, Ivey Cake . Originally in Franklin, she just opened a shop in Brentwood. You can also buy her cupcakes at Ugly Mugs in East Nashville. They are THE BEST CUPCAKES you will ever put in your mouth. Carrie Underwood certainly thinks so since Ivey did her wedding!
An excellent way to spend a Saturday! Now I must clean clean CLEAN for our open house tomorrow!

Maybe ya'll have noticed that I like to organize things in bags, bottles and the like! I have made a few little baby kits that come in quite handy so I thought I would share!



and a detergents travel kit. That way when I go to my moms I have all his laundry needs, which includes his special detergent for cloth diapers! (bag was part of a free gift of some sort)

We all knew it was coming!! I am pretty sure next Wednesday Apple will announce ipad 2.0 ! very excited to see what is in store!  I had no idea how much we would enjoy our ipad! We use it SOOO much that I have to charge it every other day! 
Here is what I hope the new version will have:

• I hope it will be MUCH lighter cause dang it is heavy.
• I think it is safe to say it will have a forward facing camera
• maybe a different type of screen display? I think the one it has now is beautiful
• I'm curious if it will have a home button or go all touch screen
• I really wish it had an SD slot and that it would be able to connect and sync with iphone

Stay tuned and we shall see!!

My girlfriend @edwardsedition is getting herself a BJCS Stroller since she is pregnant with baby #2 and in doing some research for her I happened across some interesting info. Baby Jogger has made a few updates for 2011 in the Seat ( see below)
I have yet to buy my 2nd seat for my BJCS and am trying to decide if I should get the 2010 model while it is on clearance or buy the 2011 model. The colors will all match previous shades from the 2010 line. I think the 2010 seats look better but the 2011 are more substantial and may be needed for my piggles.
2011 also added a new color to the lineup. Super pretty purple, but not sure it can be considered Unisex.
and then this little beauty will be available April 1st:
It is an attachment for the stroller seat that transforms it to a travel high chair. That is great news for multiple reasons! When we were in Arizona, we used his stroller like a highchair, but it would have been great if he could have joined the table, other than sitting in my lap because not all restaurants have enough room to bring your stroller to the table!

I have been meaning to post about a few fun Kitchen things I got for Christmas!
First up, I love this measuring cup because of all the different measurements it shows on the side, and its skinny so it doesn't take up a lot of room! $7 at Bed Bath & Beyond
This is the most awesome gadget for herb lovers! They had one on display in Williams- Sonoma this weekend. It works like a CHARM! If you love herbs then you should totally check it out! $20 in Williams - Sonoma
I also got a super cool cutting board that I can not find online! The sides fold up for easy sliding off of veggies! ( from BBB)
What are y'alls favorite kitchen items these days?

I LOVED all the feedback from my last post! You guys are awesome. I shall update about that very soon. While my mom was in town we shopped around a good bit and I found the perfect sippy cup to start Baby Fenn's learning process. I was in Williams -Sonoma to get wedding present for @jessipetti and came across this jewel. I know, I KNOW, who buys a sippy cup in Williams- Sonoma? Well... I will only buy one because it was certainly overpriced, but I can't find another one like it anywhere. It comes with lids to change out for various stages and one of those is a bottle nipple.

   Peebles LOVES it. He is very interested in it, mostly for a teething toy and good time, but every now and again he gets out a magical sip of breast milk and then he spends a long time trying to get his next sip out. He has mastered holding it and sucking, but not tilting it up.
The one qualm I have, which you can read about in the reviews online, is that it can't take much abuse before the lid pops off and spills. I don't put much in it, as right now its more of a teaching tool than an actual sippy cup ( another reason why I don't need more than one). I like that the little orange molding around the bottom edge is grippy so he can't knock it off his tray super easily.
 I wait and give him to him after he has eaten  and napped so he is patient and ready to learn.
 After 2 days with it, if he sees it around the house he wants to hold it, so I think that is a good sign!

** you know this post is about to get serious and all kinds of personal, cause there ain't no pictures!**

Baby Fenn will be 7 months old in 11 days, and I will start trying to wean him. I never had a plan of how long I was going to breastfeed, but I really would like him to have it for one year. The problem with this is, I am withering away. I can not remember the last time I was this skinny, and it ain't cute! No matter what I eat, I can not keep up with the calories burned by feeding my BIG baby and carrying him around all day.. and trust me I have tried !
My uncle reminded me of  something my grandfather (a cattleman) used to say "When a calf starts pulling the momma cow to the ground, its time to wean him". I loved that quote because that is a pretty good analogy to my current situation. I look like a preying mantis carrying around an elephant.
I don't feel particularly guilty or emotional over the whole thing. I think I am blessed that I don't involve myself in mom guilt or measuring to anyone else's standards because I really do think I am a good momma. I do everything I can to assure he is healthy and happy, and part of that is also making sure his momma is healthy and happy. I know that I am taking good care of him so it never matters to me much about what anyone else thinks, outside of my bubs.
  I don't feel unhealthy or unhappy at the moment, but I know I look bad, and my parents are in town right now and my dad has been particularly un-nerved by how I look.
So today, I called my doc to discuss the rapid weight loss, and she basically laughed at me and told me to eat a bowl of ice cream every night. I have not worked out, at all, for months.  I have eaten every high calorie rich food I can think of and I eat several meals a day, not just 3... so I really don't know what else I can do, outside of weaning my little dude.  Everything was going fine till he was about 4.5 months old and that is when I started rapidly losing weight.  Let me say also, that I still get up with him at night, sometimes every hour and sometimes just once a night. I know, I KNOW all about the CIO thing, and I know that is the best answer but I just can't do it ya'll! Not because I think he is hurting or anything like that, but because I know that if I get up, I am back in bed in 5 mins, If I let him cry, we are both awake for 10 minutes or more, and it's brutal.  My pedi told me that night time is survival mode and to do whatever I wanted to make sure we were all able to get sleep, so that is the road I have taken.
If I am being perfectly honest, I will tell you that every single day of my life, I look at Fenn, and I just can not believe that God has blessed us with such a wonderful, happy and healthy baby. I cant even explain the gratitude, and so when he cries at night for his momma, I think that is the least I can do, and I don't even care cause I am just so happy that he is mine and I know so many other mommas with sick babies, or babies who live in heaven and I think they would give anything to change places with me & my healthy baby( who doesn't care much for sleep, and takes all my nutrients!)
So this is where I am at. I would love to hear some comments from any women who have been there/done that or have advice that is helpful. I would not like to hear any snide comments because, just for the record, being on any extreme of the weight scale, be it too big or too small, feels the same. It hurts the same for people to make comments about my weight and ask me rude questions like " Do I eat" or " Do I have a problem" . So if you ask me that, I may knock your teeth out!
I am VERY interested in hearing stories and ways to wean. Is PB old enough to eat mostly people food and some milk? He LOVES to eat people food. He will eat pretty much anything I give him except bananas. Right now his favorites are Avocodo, Pears & sweet potatoes. So how should I approach his weaning? I think food wise he would be just happy with eating, but he does enjoy the comfort of a good boobie when he is sad, so that will be the hard part.
If you could leave your comments on the blog instead of emailing me , that would be awesome because I know of 4 other ladies who read my blog, that will have this same issue and they will probably really appreciate the info as well! THANKS!

He is so cool he needs sunglasses indoors! HA

We had a great time at the Preds game last night! We got to see some old friends from last season and we also sat next to Fisher and his family! After the game I had a chat with Fisher's lady and daughter about Auburn. Turns out he has 2 kids at Auburn, ( his daughter is a Chi-O there) and the ladies LOVED my championship bag!  He was super nice to my PB and we discussed his future football career since he is already the size of a linebacker!
The cousins are really starting to notice and enjoy one another. I love that they are so close in age. Last night Chlo gave baby Fenn some soap opera style kisses!

see the kissing cousins video Below:

Y'all may remember when I posted a while back about Bibs. It was driving me crazy not being able to find any bibs without velcro. Velcro is a nightmare to wash! Seriously. And the noise it makes scares baby Fenn sometimes not to mention it can scratch his squishy little neck if you don't line up the squares perfectly.
Today I happened upon snapping bibs, not once but TWICE! Was in In Babies R US or Buy Buy Baby where all things baby are sold? NO! I was in Hobby Lobby and Carters! HA

and Carters has 2 sets for girls or 2 sets for boys. 3 to a pack on sale for $10 right now. They are lined with something to keep the moisture from leaking through the back and most of them are cute prints and don't have any words on them! They wash really well too. You can order them online if you don't have a Carters store near by.
so yay for finding bibs that work well and wash well! Now that we are eating baby food they are really helpful, and also with all the drool Fenners manufactures.

This was one of the reviews I was dying to do for you guys. I had some questions recently about using your regular purse as a diaper bag, which I have tried ALOT. The problem always comes from the stuff mingling all over with your regular purse items, AND if you want to go out say, without your bebe, its hard to get all that stuff out of your bag quickly. ENTER this organizer! This is actually really useful , baby or no baby. I scoured the internet for all types of diaper bag inserts or purse organizers and the Pishposh Mommy Insert was the best one I could find.
There are several patterns/fabrics to choose from and 2 styles: a zip top or drawstring. I like the zipper assuring everything would stay put, but I am sure the drawstring is easier to open when you only have one free hand.
Below you can see the front side which has 3 pockets. I am using them to hold a teething toy, a bib and some earplugs and hand sanitizer. ( baby earplugs for PB when we go to hockey games etc)

The other side Holding another toy, and 3 packs of assorted wipes ( facial wipes, clorox wipes to sanitize any dropped toys or public tables etc and hiney wipes. There are 2 pockets on the ends as well.

and here is a pic of it with my cloth diaper. If I ditched the nursing shawl I could probably get 3 cloth diapers in there. I also put a change of clothes in the top.
Here you can see what it looks like inside my championship bag (neverfull GM)

I happen to love the same style bag, sort of over the shoulder bucket totes, so I could easily swap this insert in and out of lots of my bags. I also think this would be awesome for just purse items like wallets, sunglasses, cell phones, keys, makeup etc. It would make changing purses a breeze. I only wish it came in solid colors and multiple sizes, and that i had TWO! That way I could have always have a fresh packed diaper insert ready to go in case I need to leave in a hurry! Always stinks to go out and find out you are missing a burp cloth or your bib is dirty etc.
Check out PishPosh Mommy if you are interested in ordering one. They ship lightening quick! they also make matching diaper clutches with changing pads ( I already had one that I really like)
I know several of y'all that could use one of these in your pretty purse! @beachbum @melissa, @edwardsedition @maconbabies @mccooma!

Here is a Demo Video from their site:

This folks, was a dream house, and sadly we missed the boat. It was from an estate sale, in a FANTASTIC neighborhood with perfect schools and close to, the Y, a playground, the library... It really had everything we were looking for and for a GREAT price due to the estate sale.  The problem was, about 5 million other people had the same thoughts we did and beat us to the punch. It doesn't close until the 25th so I am not completely giving up, but if it does not work out I know that will be OK cause I put God in charge of our house moving process a long time ago, and I have to say it is a lot easier handing over that anxiety and feeling confident about the way the cards fall.
Now that being said, that opportunity is what prompted the moving idea, but once we got on the train to Brentwood,we didn't want to get off.  We plan to continue planning a move at some point and hopefully our house will sell as well.
Now, a lot of people love to remind me that I said this would be our forever house when we bought it, and at the time, I really did think it would be. The problem is, I'm Human and change my mind alot once I had a baby our needs as a family changed drastically. It is crazy how much a baby/family has changed our house shopping agenda.
We have looked at lots of houses and it is very hard to find one that meets all the needs, AND looks pretty because we have our hearts set on a ranch. Those are words I never thought I would say!  Getting a ranch in Brentwood is like winning the lottery cause nobody ever wants to leave, and when they do you can bet that house is full of 70's & 80's appliances, carpet and tile. I can't help but feel a little excited about a "project" and getting to show you all some makeovers.
Take this picture for instance. This is a room in our one of our top contenders. Right now it makes you throw up in your mouth a little, but ohhhh the possibilities..

I have some great reviews coming up for you guys! I cant wait to share them. In fact, the wait is killing me! ha

Below are some pictures of my baby, next to baby pictures of my Sister in Law ( juliel) could this really be her baby? I'm starting to wonder! He has her toes too! ha

One of my wonderful Bloggy friends made me stickers for some of my scrapbooks to mark the year. I have been wanting these stickers FOREVER but no one sells them! I mean NO ONE. So excited to have my books organized now showing the year on the front and spine!
Yesterday my boy had a playdate with his little friend Walker and I was shocked to discover at 6 months he doesn't want to share! He repeatedly took every toy from Walker that he touched. Not sure what to do about that... cause I don't know if he understands at 6 months the concept of sharing. He obvi has been watching brother Ralphie hoard toys in our closet b.c he was hoarding them in his lap.
Look at this snuggly bundle of love! After his playdate the inner boy erupted within him and he was shaking toys and splashing water like a wild man. It was so funny.( I told him it was cool to throw a peace sign in pics)
We went to a Hockey game the other night and it was fun. He loved it. I guess all the action and bright colors was intriguing to him. But I have to tell you that carrying about Baby Fenn is like carrying around a cinder block! He is SO heavy and kind of awkward since he cant help with his posture yet.