Benjamin: One Month

Benjamin turned one month old this past Friday. I can't believe how fast the time is going by. It amazes me how much he's changed in the five weeks since we met him.

Playing on his blanket

He nurses every two and a half to three hours during the day, takes about three naps, and usually wakes up once in the middle of the night to eat. He's growing like a weed! His newborn size clothes are getting too small and he wears pretty much all 0-3 and 3 month clothes. He's also starting to show more personality, which is so much fun. He smiles and coos and is really a pretty laid back baby--though when he's hungry, he's hungry and when Katie's a little too in his face, he lets us know! ;) He's more attached to me than Katie was at this age--she always wanted Daddy!
 

Starting early! ;)

Katie loves Benjamin and is doing great at being a big sister (for the most part--I often have to remind her to be more gentle). She loves to read him books and talk to him and is also a great helper for mama. She loves to fetch things for Benjamin and throw diapers away (though there's not a whole lot of that happening now since we've switched to mostly cloth).
 

Katie beeping Benjamin's nose. Benjamin wondering what in the world she's doing. Ha!

Adjusting to two babies hasn't been a total walk in the park, but I feel like we're finally getting into a good routine and life is settling into the new normal. Both of them are such a blessing, and I certainly wouldn't trade this season of life for anything in the world!

My babies. {{heart}}

Menu Plan, January 31-February 5

Where did January go? We are settling into more of a routine, which is really nice. I love having some predictability to our day. I think it's good for all of us. I'm still keeping things pretty simple in the kitchen, and it's working well for now. We're still eating healthy--just faster meals and more leftovers. Here's what's on the plan for this week.

Breakfasts: 
scrambled eggs with toast or grits
pumpkin bread (making a triple batch--it freezes really well!)
cheesy potato pie
pancakes (batter refrigerates well and lasts for two or three breakfasts for us when I serve with eggs)


Lunches:
hamburgers
sandwiches (PB & J, PB & banana, grilled cheese)
smoothies
snacks
leftovers

Dinners:
Monday~Mom's chicken tacos, rice & beans
Tuesday~leftovers
Wednesday~meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad
Thursday~leftovers
Friday~biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, fried apples (hubby's request :)
Saturday~clean out the fridge
Sunday~dinner with my in-laws at the farm

For more menu plans, head over to OrgJunkie!

$6 for a box of gently used children's clothes

I don't usually post much about deals, but one from DealPulp caught my attention today enough to actually buy it. They are running a deal for a website called thredUP.

The idea behind this website is swapping children's clothes. When you sign up with thredUP, you can pay $5 + shipping for a box of gently used clothes. You select the size and gender, and you choose the box yourself from a list. Most members describe the contents of the box so you can have a pretty good idea what you're getting. Once you choose a box, you are supposed to list one.

With today's deal, you can try out thredUP for just $6 including shipping. Normally, buying a box of clothes without swapping is $15.95, so this is really a great deal! The promo code you receive will be good for one year. Katie needs some clothes (particularly pants), so I'm excited to give this a try!

How do y'all get clothes for your children without breaking the bank?

Disclosure: DealPulp has an affiliate program and if you order through my link, I'll receive a small compensation. I wouldn't share this with you unless I thought it was something worth looking into though. :)

He smiled.

It was about 6:45 yesterday morning. Benjamin had been awake about an hour (after waking up at 1, eating for 40 minutes, and then staying up for another 40 minutes until I nursed him to sleep--something I don't usually do), and I couldn't help but wonder why he suddenly decided to make the dark, wee hours of the morning his social time. I was tired, and I really wanted to go back to sleep. I knew the interrupted 6 and a half-ish hours of sleep I'd gotten weren't quite enough to get me through the day with a busy toddler and a newborn. While we snuggled, I worked on catching up on my Bible reading. Wanting to see if he was getting drowsy, I glanced down at my little man's face. Far from drowsy, he was wide awake, his big blue eyes {that sometimes look like they're threatening to turn brown} staring up at me.

Then he smiled his first smile. Just for me. Then he did it again, as if he knew I was wondering whether it was really a smile I had just seen on his sweet face. And, I was reminded {again} that the lack of sleep, the extra dust bunnies, the paper plates, the laundry piles--it's all so worth it.

2011 Goals: January

I know most people do these posts at the beginning of January, but I was pretty preoccupied  with a certain 4-day-old boy on New Year's Day, so I figure it's better late than never. So, here are my goals for this year. They're all very doable and not overly ambitious--which I think is important for this season of life.

::Read through the Bible. This means about 3 chapters every day, which I'm trying to do when Benjamin wakes up for his early morning feeding around 5:30 or 6. So far, I'm all caught up and approaching the end of Exodus. I'm following the daily readings in the Motivated Moms planner.

::Review previously memorized Scriptures. Over the past several years, I've memorized Matthew 5-7, Proverbs 31:10-31, Psalm 51, Titus, James, and most recently, Philippians. Unfortunately, I don't know most of them anymore. This year instead of trying to do a big, new memorization project, I'm going to start with re-memorizing the passages I've already memorized. I have Philippians down pretty well and have started working through Matthew 5 again.

::Get back to my pre-Katie weight. Thankfully, the 20 pounds I gained this pregnancy are all gone as of this week (!). Unfortunately, I'm still hanging onto about 25 pounds that I gained when I was pregnant with Katie. I had hoped to lose those in 2010, but then Benjamin came along and changed my plans! Once I get the OK after my 6-week check-up, I'm planning to begin exercising again. I'm hoping that between eating our normal healthy food, breastfeeding this little porker, and exercising, I won't need to "go on a diet" to lose the weight, but I guess we'll see.

::Start an emergency fund and pay off our debt. Thankfully, this should be accomplished within a couple weeks--much sooner than we expected, thanks in part to our tax return! *happy dance*

::Potty train Katie. Since she'll be approaching 3 by year's end, I really, really hope we can accomplish this! Do you seasoned mommies have any tips? I got her to use the potty a few times before Benjamin was born, and the last time she went #2 in the potty, it really bothered her to see it in the potty and she has been very resistant to the whole idea since then.


::Work school into my schedule again. I would like to finish 6 classes this year (2 are almost done--I just need to write the final papers) which would complete my freshman credits, but I'm not sure if this is realistic or not. I'll have to see how things go once we get into more of a routine. However, I would like to be able to spend time on classes at least a few times per week.

What are your goals for this year? Do you have plans in place to make them happen?

Snow

We had quite the snow yesterday afternoon/evening. I was thankful we didn't have to go anywhere! It sure was nice to fix some hot chocolate, snuggle up with Ben, watch a movie, and admire the snow from inside.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Cloth diapering

One plunge we have taken this time around that we didn't when Katie was younger is using cloth diapers. I started when Benjamin was about a week old with six bumGenius 4.0 diapers I bought from Nurtured Family with money that was given to us as a baby gift. We have since had one FuzziBunz one-size diaper added to our stash as a gift and I'm planning to order another 6 FuzziBunz next week.

Benjamin sporting his Bluberry FuzziBunz diaper--doesn't he look adorable?!

So far, cloth diapering is working really well for me and I really don't know why I ever hesitated! Changing diapers doesn't really take any extra time, and one extra load of laundry during the day really isn't a big deal. With the seven diapers we have, I use about one disposable per day. Once we have the extra 6 diapers, we will have about $230 worth of diapers plus some accessories (a diaper pail, a wet bag for the diaper bag, cloth wipes, and cloth wipes solution). The diapers will definitely pay for themselves over the next couple years, and even more so if we are able to use them for another baby, which I anticipate we will! Happy Housewife has a great cost breakdown here that even includes the cost of electricity to wash them.

While cost was definitely a large consideration in our decision to switch to cloth diapers, stewardship was a close second. While I was pregnant with Benjamin, I read an article about diapers (I don't remember where) that said they take over 200 years to break down in landfills and the average baby uses one ton of diapers from birth to potty training. Now, I'm not super green, but I do believe God requires us to be good stewards of what He has provided and I don't think unnecessarily putting thousands of pounds of diapers in landfills during the course of my childbearing years is very good stewardship.  Additionally, most brands of disposable diapers have harsh chemicals in them that aren't very good for our sweet babies!


What about y'all? Cloth or disposable, or both?

As a side, Katie is still in disposable diapers and we don't plan to switch her over. She only uses a few diapers each day and will hopefully potty train in the not-too-distant future.

This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday.