Dotted Duck Giveaway

Just wanted to let you all know that my friend, Mary, at The Yellow Door Paperie is hosting a giveaway from the dotted duck. Hop on over here to enter to win a free towel bib or a hand-crafted Valentine's Day card.

You have until midnight on Sunday, January 24 to enter the contest. Good luck!

Bath Time Fun

For Orin's bath last night, we did things a little differently. Usually I undress him while the water is running and then just throw him in the bath. But last night, Ryan and I let Orin play around a little bit before actually getting him in the tub. We needed to kill some time before bedtime, and a bath is always the best way to distract Orin and keep him busy for a while.

Here's our little curious monkey checking it all out.


Yes, he's holding on to the toilet which makes this germaphobe cringe, but he's about to get clean in the bath. And he was looking up at his daddy so happy and proud of himself.

A little naked fun. This didn't last long because someone (daddy) was afraid of a little mess. :)

He thought he was so cool when he stood up in the tub. Daddy sat him back down immediately...after Mama took the picture, of course.

11 Months

My baby boy is 11 months old today! How did that happen so quickly? I would have to say that before Christmas, when all the decorations were spread all over the house, I hated this mobile, get into everything, stage. But now that we have officially baby-proofed our home and put up a gate, I’m really loving this age! Orin is so interactive and intent on making us laugh constantly. He’s one silly boy and we can’t get enough of his fun, loveable self. We seriously giggle all day long. I LOVE being able to stay home with him!!

I feel like over the past month, he has accomplished so many new skills. More than any other month. Here’s what he’s been up to:

-He is eating more and more table food. He especially likes mooching from Mama and Daddy’s plates.
-He has eaten crackers, raisins, dried fruits, cheerios, craisins, and puffs for snacks.
-He hasn’t accomplished the ability to use his pincher fingers to pick up food and put it in his mouth. Once he picks it up, I have to help him get it to his mouth. He’s never been fond of putting stuff in his mouth, which is really nice when it comes to him crawling around on the floor.
-He is saying Da-da and yuck. He learned that one from Grandpa K. He does all kinds of other babbling as well.
-He knows what balls are and what his “drink” is- when we say to get them, he will crawl over and grab his sippie or a ball. We are trying to teach him to say “ball.”
-He signs “drink”, which is really the sign for milk. I don’t call it “milk” because we only sign it when he is drinking water out of his sippie. He has started to sign it on his own when he wants a drink.
-He crawls and pulls himself up constantly.
-He gets really excited when daddy comes home. He will crawl to the gate with a big smile on his face and wait for Daddy to pick him up.
-He has started to take a few steps along furniture.
-He waves bye-bye.
- He loves to crawl after us when we leave the room (if he notices that we left). Or he will stand at the gate and watch me while I work in the kitchen. He doesn’t cry when we leave the room, and I hope he never gets to that point!
-He likes to be held by anyone and will reach for anyone even when Mom or Dad are holding him. He isn’t afraid of strangers…at least not yet!
-He doesn’t like to cuddle unless he is VERY tired. I would love to snuggle him after his bottle, but he practically climbs me to get down so he can go play. Mom…don’t you see all those toys on the floor??
-He is taking three 6 ounce bottles and one 7 ounce bottle a day. He usually always finishes his bottles. The feeding is still fought towards the end, but if he has a toy that makes music or has lights, the bottle time goes much smoother!
-The hardest time for him to drink a bottle is when we are out and about (in the car) or at someone’s house. He just wants to join in the party and move around and watch people instead of laying still to drink a bottle.
-He is wearing size 12-18 month clothes, and I have started putting him in 18-24 month clothes even though they are a tad big yet.
-He wears size 4 diapers.
-He gets a jar of fruit mixed with cereal for breakfast, and a jar of vegetables or meat for lunch and dinner. For most vegetables and fruit, I mix in cereal to thicken it up a bit.
-Lately I have been mixing a bunch of foods together in the blender to give him more of a balanced meal since he will be on whole milk soon. For example, I mixed spaghetti noodles and sauce, peaches, peas, and twice baked potatoes and filled two ice cube trays. And I also mixed tator tot casserole, black beans, peaches, cottage cheese, and yams to fill one ice cube tray. Next up is chicken and rice casserole, banana, and carrots. Sounds yummy huh? He seems to really enjoy all the foods mixed together. And it makes me feel good because I’m giving him a variety of food groups while using up the homemade baby food that he wouldn’t eat individually because of the texture.
-He loves bits of table food- especially mandarin oranges!!
-This past month, he popped his first and only tooth. .
-He sleeps from 8:00-7:30 each morning. Most days he is up between 7:00-7:30, but he will just lay there and talk until I come in and get him.
-He naps from 9:30-11:30 and 1:30-4:00.
-He just started playing peek-a-boo with his blankets or burp cloth.
-He likes to clap his hands.
-When he is told no-no and moved away from what he is doing that is wrong, he kicks his feet and grunts at us. We try to hide our laughter- it’s pretty darn cute even if we have a little stubborn booger on our hands!
-He LOVES bath time!! I have never seen such a sight in my life! He kicks and splashes constantly! He will lunge down into the water on his tummy and flail all his limbs and make quite a mess with the water. He plays with all his bath toys and even crawls around in the tub. He loves it!

Baby boy, we love you to pieces!! You bring constant smiles to our faces and joy to our hearts. We can tell already that you are going to be one ornery and stubborn little boy. But we love that about you, and we look forward to seeing who you will become as God continues to mold and shape you. We love you all the way to the moon and back down to the dirt…times a million!

The Dotted Duck

The dotted duck is finally up and running!! My sister-in-law and I decided to start a business selling towel bibs and homemade custom greeting cards. Here’s some information about the items that we make and sell.

GREETING CARDS:

-We make all kinds of cards. Our most popular are birthday, anniversary, wedding, congratulations, baby, sympathy, and thinking of you.
-You can request a certain kind of card, and we can make it for you.
-You can purchase an already made card that we have available.
-The greeting cards are $3.00 each plus tax and shipping.

TOWEL BIBS:

-Bibs are made out of towels so they are very easy to clean.
-These bibs are a great size for all ages- 4 months up to 4 years!
-They tie behind the neck.
-They come in two styles: plain bibs or ribbon bibs
-Plain bibs are $7.99 and the ribbon bibs are $8.99. Plus tax and shipping.
-They come in a variety of colors. Right now we are offering bibs in aqua, blue, brown, green, orange, pink, purple, red, and yellow.
-Towel bibs make great baby gifts!!

Please be sure to check us out at www.thedottedduck.com!

Playing in the Snow

Who wants to play in the snow??

I do, I do!!


I am not a snow lover by any means!! In fact, I would be just fine with no snow all year! But I wanted Orin to have his first "experience" with snow, and I wasn't about to get both of us bundled up to go outside. Because I'm a snow hater. So I brought in a little snow for him to play with in his highchair. It was good, clean, sensory fun for him. And I enjoyed the part where we were both still in our pajamas, we were inside a warm house, and the easy clean-up afterwards. We might have to do this more often!

First Tooth

Orin finally popped his first tooth! We first noticed his swollen gum and the white tooth underneath his gum on December 31st at my parents' house. But last night, when the little mooch was begging for pizza, I felt the rough sharp tooth poking through. So finally, after more than 10 months, Little Man has a tooth!

Orin's Block

Towards the end of the Christmas season, I decided I wanted to start a new decorating tradition next year. I thought it would be cute to frame a picture of our child/children from each Christmas and hang them as ornaments on a small tree. But then I found a better and cuter option for the same type of idea.

This is Orin's block from his first Christmas 2009. I used a 2 inch block, mod podge, scrapbooking paper, photo paper, ribbon, a screw hook, and my cricut machine to create the block. I think it turned out really cute. My plan is to make one for each child each year. And if more children come along, I might include a siblings picture on the block as well.