GIVEAWAY!

Since this is my baby blog, I don't have as many MILSPOUSE followers here as my Deployment Blog - but I still want to show a little Milspouse LOVE, so I am hosting a fabulous giveaway!  Don't worry, mil-girlfriends and mil-fiancees are also welcome.  Heck, even if you just KNOW a milspouse who would love this prize, you can enter and win it for her!

You probably already know that Build A Sign gives free custom homecoming banners to families of returning servicemembers.  If you are currently going through deployment, check that option out HERE (we loved our banner when my hubby came home a couple months ago).

But did you know they also make tons of other cool custom stuff?  I got to design some fun BUMPER MAGNETS specifically for this giveaway, and I decided to do one for each branch:

You may notice that the Coast Guard and Army ones look similar - that's because I used one of Build-A-Sign's many templates of ready-made designs, and simply customized the text.

It's pretty easy, even for someone like me (cool ideas in my head, but no way to really express them because I seem to be design-challenged).  If you happen to be great at designing stuff like this, you can always start from scratch on the site, too.  I could not believe how much fun I had designing these!

If you would like to win one of these AWESOME bumper magnets, here are the rules for this giveaway:

Before you enter, you MUST be a follower on this blog.  If you are not already following me, click the link over on the right!  You are more than welcome to grab my cute button for your own blog too, but that's not required. 

One entry for commenting on this blog - tell me which bumper magnet you'd like to win!

Additional entries if you BLOG about the giveaway (come back here and comment again after you do, and link to your blog post in your comment) and if you TWEET about the giveaway - make sure your tweet links your twitter followers back to this post, and make sure you come back and comment AGAIN to let me know you tweeted.  If you include your twitter handle, I will follow you on twitter.

So that's three possible entries per person - and I will draw a random winner from each branch next WEDNESDAY, March 16th. Comments posted after 12:01 AM Pacific Time on March 16 will not be eligible.

(don't forget to specify which branch you are with/supporting in EACH comment post, to make sure your entries all go toward the right prize)

What are you waiting for? Get commenting!

CUTEST BABY PICTURES EVER

My good friend Regina is helping me coach Knucklehead's basketball team this season.  She is also an amazing photographer, so the other day she brought her camera to our 'Coach's Meeting' (which I just so happened to schedule at my HAPPY PLACE, aka Wilson Creek Winery.) 

These gorgeous pictures of my little Bobblehead are the result:

MILSPOUSES: Giveaway coming SOON!

I want to start this giveaway TODAY, but I don't have pictures of all the awesome bumper magnets I made - so I am waiting until I receive them, in about a week.

But I wanted to give you all a heads-up so you don't miss this one!

I made five custom bumper magnets at the build-a-sign website, one each for Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and of course Marine Corps.  The USMC one is pictured on the right, and it's actually a button you can click to go design your own bumper magnet.

When you enter the giveaway, you will be asked to specify which branch you are affiliated with or supporting, so you have a chance to win the magnet of your choice.

Be sure to tell your friends, follow me, and check back next week for the actual giveaway!

5 months (+)

I've been a bad blogger again, and actually missed posting a 5 month update!

Bobblehead is now 5 1/2 months old, and still happy and healthy as ever.

The process of moving him into his own room has not been as smooth as I would have hoped, but we're having more good nights than bad ones.  I need to teach myself to leave him alone if he wakes up talking/fussing, and only go in there if he is actually CRYING.  This is hard for me, but I will get there.  Last night I listened to him 'talk' via the monitor for more than half an hour....I kept waiting for him to actually cry, but he never did.  He just fell asleep, and stayed asleep for almost 5 hours at that point.  YAY!  Progress.

This is what I woke up to this morning:

And as soon as he heard the camera, he woke up SUPER happy!

Bathtime has been fun for awhile, and we use it as part of our bedtime routine.  He found his little firehose last week, and now grabs for it every time I take off his diaper - so moments like this one are rare now:

After bath, we dress for bed - but not before Daddy rubs him down with lotion!  They both love the 'baby massage' part of the bedtime routine. It may be hard to keep our routine going when Daddy goes back to work, but we'll see.  For now, it is just so amazing to see them bond and grow and play together.

Knucklehead is proving to be an AWESOME big brother - I snapped this picture of them playing/reading at a restaurant last week:

We're not quite ready to start solid foods, but Bobblehead is EXTREMELY interested in food.  He watches us eat, grabs for food, and mimics us.  Most nights he sits in his highchair with a couple of favorite toys while we eat dinner, and he LOVES the show!  I don't follow the belief that all babies are ready for solids at a set age - just like not all babies crawl at the same time, or walk, or talk, etc.  Our pediatrician said we could start solids at 5 months old, but I prefer to individualize it.  There are actually FOUR signs that a baby is ready for solids: 1) Loss of the tongue-thrust reflex; 2) interest in solid food; 3) appearance of baby's first teeth; and 4) ability to sit up unassisted.  Now, with his over-the-top interest in food, I am willing to ignore #3.  And obviously he has already passed 1 & 2.  But #4 is important, especially because the ability to sit up while eating leads to healthier (and safer) eating throughout life.

Bobblehead currently sits up for about 15-20 seconds at a time before diving/falling to one side or the other.  If he happens to dive FORWARD, he catches himself with his hands (pre-crawling) so I am pretty sure the sitting-up thing will be a done deal within the next week or so.  Baby food, here we come!

He absolutely LOVES watching his big brother play basketball!  I haven't gotten any pictures of him watching practice/games yet, because I am COACHING the team this season (YIKES!) but the other night I got to take this picture of him all dressed for practice:

Last month we got to visit with Melissa, the incredible Doula who helped me so much with Bobblehead's birth:

She bought him a really cute stuffed bear, its like a sock monkey (kind of) and Bobblehead LOVES it.  Hoping I can get video of him laughing at it to post here, it's so cute!

I'm working on being a better blogger here, and to that end I am hosting a GIVEAWAY here next week!  It's specifically for milspouses, but if you see the items and are not a milspouse, but would like to win one as a gift for a milspouse you know, you can still enter.  Can't wait to show you all what I am giving away!

STAY TUNED.....

a GOOD night

Do you remember this post with pictures of the cool new nursery?  Well, in the 4 1/2 months since the birth, the nursery has primarily been used as a diaper changing room, and sometimes laundry folding room (AKA piling clean laundry in there until we all run out of stuff to wear, which finally forces me to sort/fold/put away the piles that bury the baby's room). 

Not exactly how I planned to use the nursery.

Bobblehead has been sleeping in a pack-n-play next to my bed - or some nights IN my bed, if I fell asleep nursing him.  A couple weeks ago I decided to try having him sleep IN HIS CRIB, in his own room.  What a concept, right?  Well that lasted all of about an hour, as he woke up too cold.  Turns out I had forgotten to open the heating vent in that room, and while we don't have any of the crazy snow/ice that much of the nation is frozen under these days, temps have been as low as 30 degrees at night here. Which means his room was as cold as, maybe 55 or 60 degrees - instead of the 68 to 70 degrees my own room stays at all night.

(OOPS!)

I decided to wait for warmer weather - and opened that heating vent in the nursery, just in case.

So, it's warmer now, and here I am, 2 weeks later, enjoying some SERIOUS peace and quiet while Bobblehead snores away in his (warm) crib.  It's only one night so far, but it's going so well that I am really optimistic about this.

Finally get to use the baby's room the way it was intended!

FOUR MONTHS????

WOW.  I can't believe my sweet little Bobblehead is already four months old.

At his four month checkup, he weighed 14 lbs, 2 oz and was 25 inches tall.  His head still measures bigger than average (but within acceptable range) but his height and weight put him at EXACTLY the 50th percentile.  That's right, he's PERFECT.

But I already knew that!

I feel really bad that I have not blogged here in so long - and wish I could write a LOOOOOONG post about how amazing this sweet baby is.  Instead, I will have to settle for some recent pictures, and these highlights of his development:

He finally likes tummy time, and rolls easily from tummy-to-back.  Rolling from back-to-tummy proves more difficult, but he's done it a few times.

He loves to sit on Daddy's lap and watch TV - especially The Simpsons. (great.  just what every baby needs, right?)

He somehow holds his poop in for a couple days at a time, so he only poops once every 2 or 3 days.  While the break in between poopy diapers is nice, this method simply guarantees diaper explosions - poop up the back almost every time, even in our favorite Huggies Little Snugglers diapers (they have a poop pocket in the back waistband that catches NORMAL amounts of poop before it can travel up the back)

He is VERY interested in solid foods, watches us eat with interest and tries to grab my food if I am eating while holding him - which I almost always have to do these days.  But we won't be starting him on solids until he can sit up by himself, probably still a few weeks away at best.

He is getting VERY 'grabby'.  He can finally coordinate a little bit between his hands and his eyes, so he is successful more than 50% of the time at grabbing what he is going for.  The rest of the time he grabs whatever random thing is closest - like a handful of Mommy's hair.

He sleeps through the night pretty consistently now - 7 or 8 hours every night, and usually sleeps 2 to 4 more hours after his early AM feeding.

He's incredibly social, preferring face time with real people over any toy or gadget (though Mommy's iPad is his second favorite form of entertainment!) He laughs all the time, and his laugh is infectious.

He is an all-around AWESOME baby, joyful and loving and snuggly - I just wish he could stay this way FOREVER.  :)

Hanging with his favorite cousin

watching Baby Einstein clips on YouTube

so Mommy can cook

fav. cousin again

(my sister and I can only HOPE that they

really will grow up to be BEST FRIENDS!)

Trying desperately to get Curious George's hand

into his mouth, but only succeeding in

tasting his OWN hand repeatedly.

The 'Daddy nap'.....personal favorite for all of us.

Note the dropcloth/blanket in between

Bobblehead and Daddy

HA HA HA!

Santa Baby

Bobblehead is now 12 weeks old, and looks A-DOR-ABLE wearing absolutley nothing (or a cute Santa hat!)  He has also officially outgrown his "MY FIRST CHRISTMAS" outfit - but luckily my friend Regina came over and shot these AMAZING photos of him last week, while we could still snap it all up.

The first one is my favorite, and the rest are in no particular order:

Merry Christmas!