Baby Milestones

Fox is really growing up.  *Sob!*  As a parent this is a exciting, and sort of heartbreaking thing. As he gets older, I find myself missing those first weeks, when he was fresh from heaven, sweetly scented and a more snuggly baby (truth be known, he has never been very snuggly, but he was way more snuggly then than he is now).

I loved nursing him in the middle of the night (truly, I did; it meant I got to read a lot and look through dozens of Airbnb rentals), and even changing his Little Snuggler Huggies in the wee hours of the morning.  I loved having him lay on the table during dinner so he could be part of the family (before he could roll, of course), and sitting around staring at his sweet, baby face with family and friends.  Man, I miss those days.

On the other hand, having him grow up is SUPER fun.  Last week, he started walking, which I was totally thrilled about!  He is 17 months, and at his 15 month appointment, the nurse practitioner looked very concerned when I told her that he wasn't walking yet.

I have a few friends whose kids started walking at 18 months, and Fox seems totally fine in every other respect (and his legs were getting stronger from pulling up on furniture), so I hadn't been worried about it until she told me that if he wasn't walking by his 18-month appointment, he would need a referral to a specialist.

Gah! Suddenly I felt super stressed about the walking milestone. We started making more concerted and consistent efforts to help him walk. We held his hand while walking him around, we had a little baby walker for him to practice with, and encouraged walking alone as much as we could.  Then, the day Adam left to go to a conference in Europe, he started walking, and Adam missed it :(  Isn't that how it goes?  Thank goodness for video hangout!

This walking stage might be my favorite, yet!  Watching him toddle around is pretty adorable.  Plus, he is extremely proud of himself, and holds his arms above his head in a triumphant way when he walks around.  Basically I am in love with this stage!  He is just so fun to be around.

A few days ago, he and I ran to Sam's Club get some Huggies Diapers.  Typically, he is not a huge fan of going to the store with me, and will get impatient or a little fussy if I take too long, but wow, was he a fan!  The diaper aisle was full of sweet baby faces on the boxes, and he spent the entire time while we were looking at diapers pointing at the babies and saying "Woz Dah (whose that)?"  He was a fan.

 (Who loves Sam's Club?  Fox does!!!)

Then, I thought he might enjoy trying a food sample or two (I'll admit, I wanted a sample, too), so we got a Rice Krispy treat to split, and a stir fry sample to tide us over until dinner.  Samples are definitely one of the draws of shopping at Sam's club (that and huge blocks of awesome, really cheap cheese).

I also love that they sell huge boxes of diapers and wipes there.  I always try to get the biggest box I can, because they almost always cost less per diaper/wipe if you get a large box.  Also, Huggies makes a great diaper.  The Little Snugglers never leak on me, they are super soft, and just darling on Fox (is there anything cuter than a baby running around in a diaper?).

I have also used Huggies Natural Care wipes many times.  They work really well and are thick enough that you can tear them in half if you only need half a wipe (at one point, I usually only used half a wipe if there wasn't much of a mess).

Right now, Huggies and Sam's Club have a special offer where you can get a $10 Sam's Club gift card if you buy 2 packages of either the Little Snuggler's Huggies diapers, or the Natural Care wipes.  If you can text or email a picture of your receipt to Huggies@uploadreceipt.com by 7/31/2016, they will send you a $10 gift card.  Pretty cool, right?  If you have ever been interested in checking out a Sam's Club membership, now is your chance!

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Raiding My Sister's Closest: Momiform in Las Vegas

As you may know, I put together a summer capsule wardrobe for this summer.  We are in Utah for the summer, and I wanted to bring a small amount of clothes, and to only bring items that are incredibly cohesive, and would fit with our lifestyle for the summer.  

Last summer, we spent seven weeks in France,  and I took a very limited amount of clothing (you can see what I brought here).  In the end, there were a few shirts that I never wore, and a couple that I didn't really love, so I wanted to be sure that every piece that I brought to Utah was a favorite.  

I implemented my capsule right before we left for my brother's mission homecoming in Las Vegas, so I used the pieces from it for our 'momiform post'.  Last year, I realized that I have very specific needs for a momiform (my capsule is 95% momiform friendly pieces).  

Basically my criteria includes: 

1.  Comfortable shirts:  This means non-sheer (I don't love wearing lots of layers in the summer), not too low or short (awkward/inappropriate with all the bending over with a baby), and shirts that make me feel pretty.

2.  Great pants:  Well-fitting, good wash, a variety of styles, and lengths.  I don't like shorts much, so I almost never wear them.  

3.  Stylish, but walkable shoes:  I quickly realized that carrying a baby in stilettos is dangerous.  Now I stick to wedges or booties.  My life is much happier and Fox is much safer.  

4.  Great earrings or necklace to finish the outfit.  I don't do really big jewelry much anymore, because Fox is like a magpie and with just try to pull it off, but a tasteful set of earrings do wonders to make an outfit look great.  

shirt: j crew (similar + similar) via ThredUp ($10 off your first purchase with this link)// pants: j crew via ThredUp// bag: made by me (similar)// earrings: Kendra Scott

Check out the details on Janssen and Merrick's momiforms below!  They are super cute!  

     

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Fox Monthly: 12 Months! + video!

Well, I officially have a one year old!  That is SO weird! When you have a baby, you unconsciously assume that time freezes and you will always have a baby, but they grow up so fast and change so much over the first year! It makes me just a little sad to see him become such a big boy!

But, he is getting more fun all the time, and is starting to imitate things we do, make funny faces, play with us, and express opinions about stuff.

A few things about Fox that I don't want to forget:
- He still loves taking baths.  If we turn the bathtub water on, you better believe he will come running.  Also, he tries to jump in the empty bathtub fully clothed occasionally.  Thankfully he can't actually climb over the side yet.

- He is getting picky with his food, and often spits stuff out that he isn't interested in eating.  I think it might be more that he wants to make his own food decisions, because I often feed him the same thing later, and he eats it willingly.

- He is not walking yet, but stands up against furniture, and is slowly starting to cruise (think teeny-tiny baby steps) around it.

- He loves being outside and gets really excited when we pull the stroller out for a walk.

- He really enjoys looking through books with real pages (as opposed to board books, although he loves those, too).  He is very careful and very rarely rips them.  He just flips through the pages. He also loves looking through any book that I happen to be reading.

We think you are the best, Little Fox!  Happy Birthday!

Two other quick things before you look through the photos:
1.  I would be so grateful if you would take a minute to vote for me on the Mrs. Meyers Maker webpage.  Just click the heart next to my name.  No sign up required.  You can vote daily until Feb 15th.
2.  There is a video embedded at the bottom in celebration of Fox's birthday!  Check it out! And subscribe to my youtube channel for weekly videos!  Last week, I counted my Mrs. Meyer's video submission as my weekly video, because it took so many hours to make, and it went live last week!

Cake recipe is from Martha Stewart.  

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Fox Monthly: 4 Months

People told me from the beginning of pregnancy that each stage of a baby's life is SO fun.  I believed them, but didn't have a real concept of what that meant.  Good heavens, Fox is SO fun!  And he can't  really do anything yet!

A few fun things about him at this 4 month stage:

1.  With a little assistance from me moving his arms into the correct position, he has now successfully rolled over 3 times!  (front to back)

2.  He loves sitting up (either in the Bumbo, or on our laps).

3.  He thinks lots of things are funny and is super smiley, and he laughs occasionally (until about a week ago, we had only heard his laugh a handful of times).

4.  He loves standing up on our laps.

5. He is obsessed with blankets, particularly swaddle blankets and takes the ends and stuffs them into his mouth.

6.  He drools like a crazy man, so he might be on his way to getting a tooth or two in the next little while.

(The hat looks a little out of place, but I figured we have come this far with a hat photo...)

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