One month!

Johnathan is one month old today (tomorrow for those of you in the States..) so I thought I would share some new photos:

I bought him a $7 Moses basket before he was born, I like it because I can carry him from the kitchen to the living room without waking him up :) Important because I love cooking!

He loves being on his belly (and being naked, hence the numerous blankets), it's almost the only way he will lie while awake.

Today I noticed he always calms down if he can see one of the dogs. Very cute because there is no doubt Luckie wants to be his dog!

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We are learning A LOT! haha... Naturally! And this week I finally feel as if we are getting a bit of a routine. I'm not pushing it either way, I sleep in the evening and then am up until 4 a.m. and then sleep again until noon. He sleeps every two to three hours and eats every two hours. Last night/early morning he slept for five hours!

We are co-sleeping for now. I didn't plan on it but it's so easy! I feel like I'm getting enough sleep and he hardly ever wakes up all the way to nurse, so it's not often that he gets upset and starts crying in the middle of the night, which certainly saves our nerves :)

I also have to add that after weeks of falling asleep in peoples' arms, today he fell asleep on his own for the first time! This is good news to me, who does not have the eight to ten arms that have occupied our house in the past month.


We are learning about cloth diapers. Thanks to friends' support and websites it's finally going well, they are leaky bitches! But I feel it's worth the trial and error to save the mountain of disposables we've already started creating; Chris takes the trash out twice as much and that really bothers me. I don't think we'll do them at night or in public for a little while longer, until we really get the hang of them, but at home during the day is a great start. We started ECing last night, I'm impressed by that to no end already... It will take a lot of dedication on my part but he already seems pretty comfortable with it :) No kidding, my one month old baby pooped in the toilet 4 times in the past 2 days!

My mom says I've now graduated to the 'parent that talks about poop'. So be it! I'm so happy to be home with him and to be able to pick up on his nuances and habits. Hopefully he'll understand as he grows older that his needs come first and he will never go long without them being met. People do no less for their puppies, they take them outside when they ask and feed them often (and I am now reminded by my dogs when it is time to eat, just as I am by Johnny!).

*Oh, and Meredith, the diapers we buy him (the only cost of his right now, and one which my goal is to cut in half by using washables) run us about $60 a month. The dogs' food is about $80 a month, so one month into it he is officially less expensive than owning a dog (well, three dogs)! Haha...*

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One goal it seems I've had throughout the whole pregnancy was to have the cheapest baby in town. Meaning, I do not think one needs to spend loads of money to have a child and I think that there is too much waste tied up into the consumerism of new parents (and the families of new parents). I'm seriously not knocking my family members and friends who purchased stuff for us! A little goes a long way and they all know and respect that :) Handed down gifts abounded, as well as fabric and patterns and very useful items like books, diapers, music and other learning tools and toys for future use.

Anyway, Johnny has ended up becoming the handmade baby poster child! Everyday his outfits consist of new, handed down and handmade elements, most of his blankets are handmade (with love!) and I've had fun working on things for him as well.

This hat I made from some fabric my grandmother gave me. She purchased it when my dad was born if I recall correctly. Those little hospital slip-on caps don't stay on his head so I'll be making more of these soon, some with fleece or felt to prepare for the upcoming winter.

These boots are made with fabric sent from my Aunt and some cozy cotton batting. It's a bad picture but they have little doggies on them!

I bought these at the BX, but instead of buying expensive baby chucks in the color I wanted, I just dyed them green!

This blanket was made by a friend's grandma and passed onto us. The bunny was made by Johnny's Oma, who re-learned to knit just for him! (She was then inspired to hand make her Christmas gifts this year- I'm proud of you mom!)

Oma also crocheted this adorable bear hat for his first Halloween. Needless to say he wears it regularly now :) (The yarn I purchased at a flomarkt, it's hand-spun from a black sheep!)

Almost three years ago I was at the Base bazaar and my friend Beth introduced me to her impromptu friend Katie, a lot of you know her as the genius behind FatPatch. She made the most adorable frog blanket and it was the first thing I purchased from her in the hopes that I'd soon use it for a new baby... It graced my living room wall for some time but now it's being used for its appropriate purpose!

The spouses of the squadron my husband belongs to gave us this other sweet frog blanket, I'm not sure who it's made by, but thank you! I love that they give each new baby a hand made blanket :)

*There are a few more photos I wanted to share of handmade goodies, like a cute hat made by Emi and a lovely blanket made by my great Aunt, but the photo uploader just stopped working :(

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I feel very blessed to have this tiny baby boy in my arms every day, and to have everyone's support and love on top of it is more than I could ask for! Xoxox!!!