Ramblings for the Week

Here is a lot of rambling about a variety of things that have happened lately in our household:

First of all, Orin has been doing remarkably better with taking his bottle. Several days have gone by without having to throw any leftover milk away from his bottles. I approach every feeding with a much happier attitude and no longer dread the 45 minute process. It now takes him less than 30 minutes to drink a 6 ounce bottle, and he drinks most feedings while lying in my arms. There is an occasional feeding where he has to lay flat on the floor to finish the last ounce, but that only happens maybe once a day. He still does not have his pacifier, and there are many days where he does not get any cereal or baby food. I don’t want his bottle feedings to deteriorate to the point that they were at just a few weeks ago. However, there are some days that he does get one meal of solids, either cereal after his morning bottle or one cube of baby food after one of his other feedings. That maybe happens two or three times a week.

--------------------------------------
I also made slight changes to his schedule because he wasn’t sleeping full naps and it seemed that he was ready for nighttime sleep earlier than 9:00. So here is his improved schedule:

7:30- 6 oz bottle/cereal
9:30-11:30- Nap
11:30- 6 oz bottle/baby food
1:30-4:00- Nap
4:00- 6 oz bottle/baby food
7:00-8:00- Catnap
8:00- 6 oz bottle
8:30- Bedtime

He will be 7 months old tomorrow…I can hardly believe it!! He is getting so big and changing more and more everyday!

--------------------------------------
I have been quite the Ebayer as of late, and Orin has hit the jackpot! I bought him his 12-18 month wardrobe, a Halloween costume, winter coat, a pair of tennis shoes, and a new hat.




I first fell in love with this hat on Bless Our Nest. She had gotten the hat on a Gymboree sale and it was no longer available in the store. So I started Ebaying, found it, and won the bid. Now Orin has a winter hat that doesn’t quite match his red coat, but it is cute none the less.

--------------------------------------
This weekend has been city wide garage sales in our town. Orin was quite the trooper as I drug him along to several sales. Auntie Kim also let him take a few of his naps at her house on Thursday and Friday, even though she had a big sale of her own. That made mama’s bargain hunting a lot easier!! Thanks Kim!

I think I went to more than 30 garage sales, and although I didn’t find a few things on my list (bike seat for Orin and a sewing machine), I feel good about what I found and I even did a little bargaining of my own. I thought about taking pictures of my loot, but it ended up being way more stuff than I wanted to take pictures of. But here is what I found:

Highchair- $1 (This is the old style highchair like our parents had as kids-my mother-in-law asked me to look for highchairs and booster seats to keep at her house)

3 Booster Seats- Supposed to be $13, but bargained and got them for $11 (Two of them will go to my MIL’s house)

Pack n’ Play- Supposed to be $20, bargained and paid $15 (Again, for my MIL’s house)

New Paper Shredder still in the box- $10

18 month- 3T clothes for Orin- $25

3 Shirts for me- $6

Tons of Kids Books- Some were a quarter and some where a dollar (not sure about the total)

New Peek-a-Boo Balls still in the package- $2

Girls Clothes- Okay, this was risky. But I’m really hoping for a girl someday, and Kim had really nice girl clothes on her sale, so I splurged and bought a few outfits that may or may not ever be used. $9

4 Picture Frames- $1.50 These are for a decorating idea someday.

3 old-style wooden puzzles- 75¢

TV Stand- Supposed to be $20, but got it for $15 Ryan happened to be with me at this sale over his lunch break, and we went to look at the kitchen table and chairs with matching hutch. They were very nice, but not our style, but we did find a TV stand that was perfect for our huge old-style TV and that would require very little dusting compared to the current stand. So we bargained, brought it home, and then took our old stand to Kim’s sale. We sold it for $15 so we didn’t even lose money on this purchase. I still get excited when I look at the new stand. It’s nothing fancy, but we definitely upgraded!

--------------------------------------
Ryan and I spent many hours yesterday (like 4) canning tomatoes into juice. Ryan’s family grew up canning tomatoes into soup to use in chili and spaghetti sauce. So I had bought 54 pounds of tomatoes at farmer’s market (for $27) and we chose Saturday to do the first step in canning. We had to cook, mash, boil, strain, and boil some more before finally being able to put the juice into jars. We will turn the juice into soup on another day.

--------------------------------------
On Wednesday, Orin and I will be headed to my parent’s house for a week. We have big plans while we are there. My sister is on the homecoming court so we will be going to the parade and the football game. Also, we will be going with my grandma to the apple orchard to pick apples to make into sauce. I have never done it before, but I thought it would be kind of fun to try. I also need to find myself an outfit for family pictures, so a little shopping is in order. And the reason I am staying a whole week—I want to catch a few of Molly’s volleyball games. It should be a fun and crazy week, and I’m excited to visit. But I think they are even more excited to see the munchkin! Poor daddy will be without his boy for a week. He's already missing us!

--------------------------------------
Lastly, I will leave you with a picture of my little man and my big man. They spent some quality time watching the Vikings (my team) crush the Lions (Ryan’s team). Like father, like son if you ever saw it! They are my favorite!