Halloween!

Here is how we celebrated Halloween this year.


We carved some pumpkins. Haddon watched and I even let him suck on some chunk of pumpkin. That kid will chew on anything, you have to watch out.  Ben again showed off his craftsmanship skills by carving a mean Spock. He readily admits that it is nerdy, but apparently there are a lot of nerds out there because last night during trick or treating, I fielded a lot of comments about the cool Star Trek pumpkin.  I too worked hard on my owl pumpkin, but sadly it did not receive nearly as many kudos as Spock did. Oh well.

Our family of pumpkins.

Ok, so last October when I was pregnant, I was in Target and stumbled upon the 75% off clearance costumes.  I did some quick math (If the baby's born in May and it's October, I should buy the 6 month size...) and purchased this monkey suit for something like $2.99.  I am so glad I did! It fit Haddon perfectly. If Halloween was a week later, it might not have.  So here are some photos I took of him outside our front door before the trick or treaters came by.

 

I wanted to stay at our house for awhile to hand out candy because I've made some little friends in the neighborhood that I wanted to see.  It's important to us that we interact with our neighbors, in hope that they might see a little of Christ in our relationships with them.  

After dark, we headed over to Jesse & Heather's to hang out with some friends from church.  Pictured below are the 5 kiddoes from the 5 couples.

L to R: Haddon the monkey, Gianna, Dr. Adelai (you can't see it well, but her onesie was a doctor's outfit), snoozing golfer Oliver, and little miss candy corn Ella.

Heather & Adelai, Ben & Haddon with demon eyes. Appropriate for Halloween.

Hope that you & yours had a fun time too!

Baby Gear According to Erin

My pal Erica is deeming this week BABYWEEK and asked if I would share my must-have items for baby for the early weeks of life.  I'm not going to say these things are must-haves but they sure were helpful to have! Enjoy.

When I was expecting Haddon, I spent a bit of time researching exactly what kind of baby stuff I would need.  Not a lot of time compared to some (heather!) but I wanted to be sure that whatever we bought or received was a good buy, both price-wise & quality-wise.  Fortunately, I had a lot of friends go before me into babyland, so they were super helpful in the purchasing process.

Without further ado, here is my list of things I found very important to my sanity and Haddon's happiness. 

In no particular order, 

1. Aden & Anais muslin blankets

Here is Haddon napping with one of the blankets. he loves pulling them up to his face. *Supervised, of course, I don't want him to suffocate.

I used these all. the. time.  Kate got me them for Christmas in a pack of 4 (I think from Target) and they are seriously awesome.  I used them to swaddle Haddon each night so he'd sleep better. However, he was predisposed to sleeping with his hands near his face so I wouldn't swaddle his arms in because he'd just pull them out.  Being a summer newborn, these blankets are great because they are lightweight.  Also they are huge.   I highly recommend them.

2. SWING.

They say some babies don't love the swing, but Praise Jesus Haddon loved it.  It seriously was such a lifesaver because he slept so well in it from day 1.  Also, it's great for when they are in their 'quiet alert' time.  Our swing plugs into the wall (no batteries) and also the seat removes to serve as a bouncy chair complete with vibration settings. You can see it here in a different pattern. 

 

3. Breast Pump

 Around week 3, we learned that Haddon wasn't gaining weight quite as fast as the doctor (and later Dawn the lactation consultant) wanted. For a long explanation and variety of reasons, I had to begin supplementing his feedings with pumped breast milk.  This meant the pump and I got very close very fast as I had to use it 8 times a day after feeding Haddon. Though I was able to read many the blog while I pumped, it was not that fun.  Anyways, we were gifted with the Medela Pump in Style and I had no idea how often I'd be using it.  It's a double, so that reduced the amount of time I had to pump.  Also, if you want details on my DIY pumping bra, shoot me an email as I will spare the world the intimate facts of that endeavor.

4. Bottle Drying Rack

Because I was pumping so much and giving Haddon an extra bottle every feeding, I was so thankful for the drying rack as I washed bottles many times a day.  It's compact and has enough space to contain all the parts to the bottles & breast pump accessories. It was on my Amazon baby registry. You can see it here.

5.  Burp Clothes

No need to get all fancy on this one.  Pre-folded cloth diapers work great.  I had plain ones from a diaper cake from one of my showers and then Erica sewed me up some manly ones for my Hadman.  I use them all the time. 

6. Newborn Sized Clothes

Before Haddon was born, I had a ton of 0-3 month clothing so I figured we'd be fine to use those right from birth.  After all, 0 months is how old he is when he's born, right? Well, even my fairly average sized baby (7lbs 12oz) didn't quite fit into 0-3s.  We had to get a few newborn outfits and thankfully received some as gifts early on.  I think he had 3 newborn jammies, about 7-8 onesies and maybe 3-4 pants.  He stayed in those for about 3-4 weeks until he got bigger. 

7. The Boppy

 

How cute is little bitty Haddon? He hung out like this a lot during the day, especially when I would have to pump after feeding him.  It has many uses; I used to lay it under his activity mat (another fave I didn't include) so he could reach his toys.  I would also put him on it for tummy time and I use it now for nursing when I feed him up in his room. I love it.  The cover is removable, you know, so it's easy to wash. 

8. Turtle Bath Sponge

There is Haddon at 4 days old.  I used the sponge pictured above when I'd bathe him at the sink and in the tub.  It's awesome.  It is only $5.  It wrings dry & is very easy to store.  I still use this for Haddon's baths. (I also have one of those bigger sitting up style tubs but he's very wiggly in it so I prefer the sponge.)

9. The pacifier. 

I was one of those new moms who pulled the whole "I don't want him to get addicted to the paci, it's just going to be a sleep prop" thing for a day and found myself sitting over Haddon's bassinet holding the paci in his mouth that very night at 3 am.  Haddon loved and still loves his pacis.  I have the Avent 0-3 month ones primarily.  He loved those right away.  I learned that babies need to suck on things, it's just part of being a baby.  So having a paci to help Haddon calm himself down and be soothed was just fine by me.  I love them.  I also highly recommend pacifier clips that you attach to the baby's shirt.  This saves you from bending down 57 times a day to retrieve pacis.

10. Perspective

Ok, so you can't buy this at the store or register for it, but it was something that I prayed I would have for the first few days/weeks/months of Haddon's life.  When I would find myself getting frustrated by my baby who wouldn't fall asleep or having to pump all the time, I tried to remind myself what everyone tells you, that it will all go by so fast.  Keeping things in perspective made a big difference to me early on, especially throughout the whole weight gain saga. Trying to soak it all in instead of just 'getting through it' yields a happier mom, dad, baby & life.

So there you have it, my top 10 baby items for the early weeks.  I hope it is helpful or interesting or whatever you want it to be. 

Just a few Haddon pictures to document our days here at home.

Happy Haddon! I LOVE that face.

We've been going on a walk almost every day now that it's cooler. Today he actually went the first time not in his car seat. But I forgot to take a picture. Oops!

Wearing overalls for the first time. He cracks me up because he always looks right at the camera! I think he recognizes the little beeping sound of it turning on.

My Crafty Half

Just a warning: I plan to brag on my husband in this post. I vow not to use superlatives and label him "the best husband ever in the world/universe/galaxy." I will, however, dedicate this post to him and his mad crafting skills. That doesn't sound too manly, does it.

For the almost 2 years we've lived in our house, there has been a large, blank gray all staring me down every day. In our living room, we have a fireplace with a pretty good sized metal medallion-type thing hanging above it. I knew that was the focal point so I always struggled with what to put on the adjacent wall. I already had picture frames up nearby so that was out. I thought about what kind of artwork I might like, but could never settle on one.

Until pinterest came along.

You may also frequent that site, which turned out to be the place of inspiration for me. I found on there a couple who had made a piece of art from little rods of wood. They looked like the cuisanaire rods from math class, but stylishly arranged. I showed Ben (who is actually quite picky; he had already turned down awesome chevron ideas I had.) and he liked it!

So literally, the next day, Ben heads over to Lowe's and picks up small paint cans & the few other things we needed. And so began our project.

Ben, not wanting to be photographed. This is after we had cut all the boards with his big saw. Or Ben cut the boards & I caught them at the end.

I don't have any of the painting part pictured, which is sad because that was a time-consuming portion. A lot of our neighbors were interested in what we were up to. One has commented to me that she "always sees your husband working in the garage." Yup.
The above picture was where Ben really impressed me. He arranged all of the pieces on his own & glued them all down as shown. He has a lot more sticktoittiveness than I do.

And now, the finished product!!

I love it. Ben rigged it up pretty cool by screwing it into the wall so it lays totally flat. Two of the slats are secretive & can be removed to get to the screws. Pretty ingenious.

Here it is up close, with weird lighting. You can kind of see how some of the slats are thicker than others, giving it a nice 3-d effect.
So, my husband is pretty darn talented. More than his actual craftsmanship, I am constantly humbled by how attentive he is to detail and how dedicated to the task at hand he is.

Because I'm not those things. Hence why he's my crafty half.

Who's the Professional?

I wanted to post these pictures directly after the pictures I took. That way, when you first saw mine, you might think, "Oh, that's a nice shot." Whereas if I posted mine after Heather's, you would be 0% impressed with my photog skills.

Heather Fink Photography, people. Hire her today.

4 months.

And so begins this post to commemorate Haddon turning 4 months old. We have the standard "on the couch with the dog" pictures as well as an excursion to....the backyard. Where we subjected Haddon to many the pose. I don't think he minded, though he looks confused in a lot of the pictures that I didn't post.







Ben would probably be embarrassed to know this picture is on here, but I am including it to 1.) show the softer side of Ben Fink and 2.) to highlight my son's awkward back of the head. Haddon has lost a stripe of hair due to "back is best" and hating tummy time for the first 3 months of his life. Ben wants to cut the mullet part completely off, but I think my baby's too little for a haircut.

Haddon & Mama. It was bright out, ok?

Summer Trips: The Wheaton Edition

Oh, I know. Most bloggers would update as they went on vacations, posting the day after a splendid trip. This blogger waits until the end of summer to review her excursions. Sorry to my darling type-A friends.

So to begin, my first adventure led me to Wheaton on a direct flight from Charlotte to Chicago. Ben dropped off Haddon & I early so that I could catch the first flight out. That means that it was me & the baby & a whole lot of suited-up businessmen. That flight was a piece of cake, we sped through the family-only security lines, waited just a few minutes at the gate as I enjoyed a coffee, and then flew just about 2 hours and Haddon slept the entire time. My sweet friend Mase (or emily mason, if you're boring) picked us up and we headed right over to Karen's house. Sad we didn't get a picture of the 3 of us together, but I did score this one of Mase and the babies. But Phinn is missing from the picture so you don't get quite the experience we did, with 4 little ones.
After spending some quality time catching up, Haddon & I skipped off to see Auntie Bell. (This is my I'm-testing-it-out nickname for my sister Kelly. The 3 of us went to Kate's to hang with her and the boys. That's the beauty of living in Wheaton. All of these people's houses are like 2 seconds away from each other.


Henry, who is 3 and 1/2, was willing to be Haddon's friend. However, I think Haddon disappointed a bit.

Henry: "Can he walk?"
Me: "No."
Henry" "Can he crawl?"
Me: "Nope."
Henry (giving Haddon one last chance): "Can he even...sit up?"
Me: "And another no."
Sorry Henry. Not too exciting. But he can look at the camera quite well.
During the trip, we also spent some quality time with family. Here's Haddon with Uncle Mike.

Mike & Whitney were kind enough to host a Family BBQ for our large extended family. Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Cousins Removed (?) abounded in their backyard. It's always fun to spend time with them, as we don't get to see each other too often.

Auntie Whit Whit having a blast. :)

Good looking group

Grandpa! Obviously taking appropriate infant-head-safety precautions.

Family Couch Love.

Haddon & I with my cousin Meghan & her daughter Grace, peering at Haddon's odd choice in sleeping positions.

Haddon also got quality time at Grandma's. Here's the evidence.

Relaxing on the couch.

Bathtime with Grandma

Kate & I met up for a walk to Starbucks and the fountain in downtown Wheaton before we flew out.

All in all, it was a great trip!