Becoming A Parent

Everyone thinks of what they will be like as a parent. It starts when we are still children ourselves... what 5 year old doesn't boldly say "When I have kids they are going to be able to do whatever they want!" or "I'm not going to make my kids go to bed at 8!" As teenagers again we think we know what being the perfect parent entails. We complain about how strict our parents are, how they just don't understand, how their rules are crazy. And then one day as an adult we finally make that realization we are really ready to have kids on our own. We suddenly find ourselves taking a moment to stop and seriously think about becoming a parent and what that entails. And then we become one and everything we thought we knew turns out was wrong.

When my husband and I made the conscious choice to have a baby we began seriously discussing parenting styles. We talked about what our parents had done, what we liked, what we didn't like, what we had seen other parents doing. We had this parenting thing figured out! We knew what we wanted to do and what we didn't want to do. Then we actually had a baby.

The first thing to go out the window was sleeping in bed with us. I purchased the lovely arms reach cosleeper and my idea was this... he'll sleep in there right next to me! Then when he outgrows that we'll transition him to his crib. Well, when your child wakes up every 2 hours to eat and will only stay asleep on your chest things change. Slowly he has wormed his way into our bed. Not the entire night because he does still sleep in his cosleeper, but I have no hesitations about pulling him in to bed at 2am if he's awake and fussing.

Next was the pacifier. I swore I wouldn't give Eirik a pacifier. I actually held out for about 4 weeks however at that point I was tired of being his human pacifier. At night he would fall asleep nursing and the second I would move him away he would wake up and want to latch back on. I couldn't do it anymore so out came the pacifier.

Finally there was the swing. I liked our swing but I wasn't going to let him nap in there all the time. fast forward to a few weeks and yes, thats right, all his naps were done in the swing. He LOVED it. Just putting him in there half the time calmed him down.

There are many things that have surprised me about my parenting style. Before having Eirik I never would have considered myself a "crunchy" mom (for lack of a better word). Sure, I wanted to breastfeed but I was 100% positive i'd never do it in public. However I very quickly realized it was just no big deal. I now nurse Eirik whenever he's hungry wherever we are! I knew I wanted to make my own babyfood... i've tasted jarred baby food and I wouldn't want to eat it! Then I came across the idea of baby led weaning and went "oh wow, that looks awesome!". Now I look at my parenting style and find myself babywearing, breastfeeding, cosleeping, making babyfood, and cloth diapering! Even just a short 5 years ago I never would have imagined that would be me doing all these things!

I'm sure the road of parenthood has more surprises for me. Things I thought I knew will be thrown out the window and things I swore I never do will be done. Ah the joys of becoming a parent.

Dress Up Fun!

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the new background! I figured it was time for a change. One day I'll get some sort of nice custom background but for now i'll keep using whatever blogger gives me. I figured the paw prints were pretty perfect! Or should that be purrrrrfect?

I sometimes think its a good thing I had a boy because if I had a girl I'd be playing dress up with her all the time. While there are cute boy clothes the girl clothing is just adorable... every time I go out I find some absolutely adorable piece of girl clothing that makes me wish I had a little girl to buy it for! And girl clothing stays cute as they get older! Those adorable little easter dresses in the spring and the holiday dresses in the winter. Every time I go shopping I have to stop and think of just how adorable they are. Boy clothes just get kind of blah after a while... its very much plain colors or stripes and sometimes sports themes or cars or the latest video game.

Anyway... i digress... Eirik and I played dress up this weekend! First I put him in his halloween costume again which still fits! Since he sits so well on his own now I got some great shots!





I also decided just for fun to put him in his sunglasses... can you say one cool dude?



He's also wearing an amber teething necklace! I got it 50% off and even if it doesn't help with the teething it looks adorable on him! I'll keep you posted as to if it helps or not!

And finally I will close with the biggest most exciting thing that Eirik has done yet.... HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! Yes, that's right, last night he slept from 8pm to 5:30am. I was in disbelief and shock! I actually had to dream feed him at 3am because I was pretty darn uncomfortable. I am not thinking there will be a repeat tonight... but one can hope right??

I Think I Can...

Sometimes Eirik reminds me of the little engine that could. You can see he is willing himself to move and crawl even though he can't figure out how to do it! I have to try so hard not to laugh while I watch his attempts to move forward. He gets his hands on the floor and you can see he is using all his strength to attempt to pull himself forward. Ultimately he ends up yelling at me as if to say "come on already!! I want to MOVE!" He can get his entire chest off the floor now and he can also get his butt off the floor... he just can't do both at the same time! I talked with my mom today and she had pulled out my baby book and was reading off to me when I did things. It was kind of interesting to hear when I did things compared to when Eirik is doing things.

I have some great new pictures of the little man, but I haven't had a chance to move them from the camera to the computer. We played dress up again this weekend... his dragon halloween costume still fits!! You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see those and instead you get a video of him trying to move. =) 

Happy Baby!

Over the past week Eirik has really started to have what I would consider a sense of humor. Before we could get laughter out of him when we did things like tickle him or gnaw on his belly, but now it seems like he laughs at EVERYTHING! All I have to do is stick my tongue out at him and he's in hysterics. Its adorable and wonderful all at the same time. You can't help but laugh back at him when he does it! He also has really discovered his vocal ranges... including squealing at the top of his lungs and then laughing about it. He even has his "i'm grumpy and angry noise" Its nananana.

So here is a short video of the little man squeaking and grinning and giggling!

Sleeping Update!

First off it makes me feel good to know I'm not the only one still sporting maternity pants! =) I actually tried on a pair of pants today and they are SO SO close to fitting! It was really exciting for me. I think however I am being ambitious to think i am going to get back into pants I haven't fit since I was in college!

I have to say things are actually going pretty well without the swing! He is napping less in the day but doing FAR better at night! 3 out of the past 4 nights he only woke up once! Yes folks, i'm getting SLEEP! He seems to be going down about 7:30 or 8 and sleeping until about 1:30 or 2. He then is waking up again about 5:30 or 6 and then taking another short cat nap until about 7. Since my alarm goes off at 5:30 every morning this means I am only getting up to feed him once a night!

Naps in the day are going well. At first he was taking lots of short 20 - 30 minute naps, but my husband said today he did an hour nap and a 45 minute nap, which is awesome. He still needs to be physically helped to sleep... either nursing, eating, cuddling, or rhythmic sushing... but we're getting better!

Do I regret using the swing? Nope... but I think I was relying on it a bit too much. However I have to admit during those first few weeks when sometimes it was the only way for him to sleep at night it was a lifesaver! My sanity was close to breaking sometimes! I'm hoping this sleeping at night trend will continue. Fingers crossed... =) 

Confessions...

I have a confession to make... and I'm almost embarrassed to make it. I am still wearing my maternity pants. Yes thats right folks, at 4 1/2 months post partum I still wear those lovely any trimester pants with the stretchy waist. The other weekend I decided to pull down my pre pregnancy clothing in hopes of finding a larger variety of clothes to wear. I am about 4lbs away from my pre pregnancy weight so I thought "something has to fit!" Oh how optimistic I was as I pulled out my clothing. I started with the pants figuring that one pair had to fit... just one. Nope, nadda. I got 2 pairs on and zipped... and then had to quickly take them off again before a button flew across the room! Next I tried on shirts. I figured at least some of my old shirts had to fit! Thank you breastfeeding for making me go from a 36C to a 36DD! Needless to say nothing fits. I have 2 huge rubbermaid bins in my room of clothes and NONE of it fits.

Now I did go to try and find some more clothes in a larger size. Not a ton, i just wanted a pair of jeans and a pair of black pants. Something I could wear to work as well as out. Well since its summer pants are almost impossible to find... and as I am hoping to get myself back into some of my pre-pregnancy clothing I didn't want to spend a small fortune on pants for this weird in between size. After hunting through various stores and trying on various pants (none of which fit much to my dismay) I gave up.

I'm beginning to accept that some of these clothes will never fit me again and I just need to donate them to goodwill. Even if I do get my weight down I have a feeling some things (like my lovely squishy stomach) are here to stay... and I am starting to become okay with that. However I am still in the frame of mind where I refuse to go and spend a ton of money on pants... so until I can find some amazing clearance deals or fit into my old pants the maternity pants will stay part of my wardrobe!

Supermom!

Whenever I have an interview they always ask that dreaded question "what is your greatest weakness". My answer to that question is always the same... i'm a yes person. I am known for biting off more then I can chew just because I want to make everyone happy and the end result is I am a big ball of stress but everything gets done. Apparently this applies to home as well as work.

I have enough on my plate... really. I have Eirik to come home to every night and its really hit or miss how well he sleeps. Some nights he goes down with  no fight and stays asleep and other nights its a constant up and down. Then I have schoolwork to finish. And then there is all the prep work I have to do for the next day... getting bottles ready, making lunch, and general household stuff such as stuffing diapers and doing dishes. Downtime? Whats that! So when we were discussing my friend at works upcoming birthday I was shocked to find myself saying "oh, i'll make a cake!".

Yes folks, before my brain could stop myself it was out there. I'll make a cake! Here's the kicker... i am not a box mix kind of gal. I LOVE baking (thanks mom!). I am that annoying person at Christmas that bakes about 5 kinds of cookies none of which are your standard chocolate chip cookie. So what did I decide I wanted to make for my friend? Cheesecake. A marble swirl cheesecake with an oreo crumb crust and cherries on top. My thought was this... Eirik goes to bed early enough that I can make the cake after he does. Great thought right?

One problem... its in the 90s outside which means the upstairs of my house is an oven which means Eirik is asleep in my living room in the pack and play. I have a small house... my downstairs is a living room, kitchen, and dining room and thats it. Needless to say every time I turned on the mixer I cringed fearing it would wake him up. Thankfully he slept through the noise and only awoke after I had already put the cheesecake in the oven.

So yes, here I am at 9 at night, my kitchen smelling of wonderful cheesecake, preparing to start my homework for the night. One of these days i'll get my brain used to saying No...

A Moment On the Soapbox...

I'm going to get on my soapbox for a moment here. I apologize in advance and if you don't want to read it i'm not offended!

This morning I read an article in my local paper about how Baltimore is starting a really big push for babys sleeping safely. They are trying to reduce SIDS and infant death. They are starting a big campaign about how babies should be put to sleep on their backs in their own beds. Now, I have NO issues with trying to inform people about baby safety and reducing SIDS. No, my problems lies with the second statement... in their own beds. I was even more shocked to see that the city had gotten mothers whose children had died in bed to speak out for the event to say how dangerous cosleeping was. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.

My big gripe is how cosleeping always gets used interchangeably with bedsharing. They are NOT the same. Cosleeping is having your baby sleep in the same room as you. Eirik cosleeps with us every night in his arms reach cosleeper.  What they are trying to discourage people from doing is bedsharing which is when the baby is physically in bed with you.

I'll start by saying yes, bedsharing can be dangerous. But so can carseats, hi chairs, bumbos, jumparoos, and every other piece of baby equipment! Bedsharing is only dangerous if you don't do it safely just like anything else. There have been numerous studies done to show that bedsharing can be perfectly safe. You just have to be smart. You don't put a blanket over yourself and the baby, you don't have pillows near by, you make sure there is no where for the baby to roll off the bed, you inform your partner the baby is in bed, and you don't bedshare when you are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. I can say when Eirik is in bed with me he sleeps in the crook of my arm away from the pillows. If its chilly and I do need a blanket it goes no higher then my waist, far away from his face.

To generalize and say cosleeping and bedsharing is dangerous disappoints me. I know that it's not for everyone, but for me its wonderful. I love coming home from work at night and snuggling up with Eirik. I sleep more securely knowing that if I want to check on him all I have to do is roll over and reach my hand out and there he is. I never wake up in the middle of the night because he is crying because I can hear him squirming in bed and naturally wake up to get him before he gets frustrated and upset. I wish they would instead of generalizing and saying how dangerous it is they would actually encourage people to do things safely! You can put your baby to sleep in their own bed next to your own... its called a cosleeper. They sleep safely and securely and so do you.

Dr. Sears has a lot of GREAT information on cosleeping and bedsharing here if anyone wants more information: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t102200.asp

I just want to add that the loss of any child is a tragedy and I am in no way saying the the parents whose children died were incompetent or did anything wrong.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Fun At The Park!

The plan today was to get up nice and early and get out before it got hot. We got to the park shortly after 9 and already the heat was getting intense! We went to find the baby swings only to see to my dissapointment it was the HUGE baby swings and not the smaller ones! What happened to parks with the smaller baby swings?? I put him in anyway and got a few pictures, but it was way too big. He liked it for the few moments he was in it though!



Next we just decided to go walking. The park we went to has lots of nice hiking trails, a lake, and a nice nature center. We walked around until Eirik decided it was time to eat at which point we sat at a picnic table in the shade for a while. Afterwards we began the trek back to the car... lets just say even though it was only 10:30 it was hot and disgusting! Eirik passed out in the Ergo despite the fact he must have been drenched in sweat. By the time we got back to the car I was pretty exhausted even though we really hadn't done that much walking! I guess carrying around the 20lb baby MAY have had something to do with it. ;)

A few more adorable pictures from today!

My Patience Has Been Rewarded...

With an AWESOME nights sleep!! I can't remember the last time he slept this well! He went down at 8:45 and slept until 2! 2!! I kept rolling over to check on him because he typically wakes up around midnight. Then he went back down until 6!! 6! I couldn't believe it! He got up for good at 7, which is normal for him. Of course I didn't sleep as well because I kept thinking he HAD to wake up soon. But nope, he slept on! I am really hoping we get a repeat tonight!

Last night we decided to give Eirik a bath in the big bathtub upstairs! He's really good at sitting unassisted now and to be honest I was tired of cleaning water off my kitchen floor every night thanks to his splashing. To say he loved it would be an understatement! He was splashing and grinning... it was so cute! Even the cat decided he wanted to get in on the fun...



Okay, so maybe the cat took one look at all the splashing going on and decided to run the other way. ;)

Today's adventure is the park! We are up early and just about ready to go so we can get there before it gets too hot outside!

Day 1 Without The Swing...

6:10 am - Eirik is wide awake and ready to start the day. I attempt to no avail to get him back to sleep... we eat, we change the diaper, we cuddle... nope. He's awake and ready to play. Since its my day to sleep in that means my husband gets up with him. Minor guilt ensuses... however I do make it back to sleep.

9:15am - I finally get myself out of bed and head downstairs to find Eirik awake. I ask my husband how long he slept, response is about 45 minutes. Typical for his morning nap so I'm not too worried.

11:15am - Finally get Eirik down for a nap. Break out computer to attempt to get some homework done.

11:45am - Eirik wakes up from nap.

12:15pm - give up with attempting to get Erik back to sleep after 30 minutes of rocking, nursing, and rythymic sushing has failed. Instead play with him!

1:30pm - Nap number 2... Still feeling optimistic about the day!

1:35pm - Awake again! This time I see if he'll put himself back to sleep as he's quite happy and laying in the pack and play. No dice. My husband gets him as i'm in the middle of eating lunch.

3pm - Attempt number 3 at napping after lots of jiggling up and down and 10 minutes of being carried around the living room in the piggy sack...

3:30pm - And we're awake again! I have to tell myself over and over "do not put him in the swing, do not put him in the swing".

5:30pm - Nap number 4 after lots of yelling and squirming and 10 minutes in the piggy sack.

6:15pm - Up again! And still obviously tired but not interested in going back to sleep.We play for a while before bath time and then hopefully bed.

8:50pm - After fighting sleep for 45 minutes finally zonked out in the cosleeper upstairs. The real question is how long will it last...

Needless to say its been a very long and exhausting day. I wouldn't be worried except the fact that I KNOW he's tired. Hes fussy and yelling and squirming. By 3pm today that swing looked so tempting just sitting there... i knew if i put him in within 10 minutes he'd be zonked for probably 2 hours or so. But I knew that ultimately doing that wouldn't do me any good so I struggled on. Its not even just the fact he wouldn't sleep long... but the 20 minutes it took to get him to GO to sleep as well! It was a long drawn out process of eating, rocking, jiggling, and then sometimes breaking out the piggy sack.... and then 1/2 the time he'd startle when I put him down and we'd have to start the whole process over.

The only positive thing was I got some very adorable photos of him today. He is a pro at sitting up now and my friend lent me this penguin that bobbles back and forth for him to play with! I think he still doesn't quite understand how to play with it, but he finds it amusing none the less!




His favorite toy at the moment is this red cube... it crinkles. It was a set of 3 blocks, but he likes the red one the best because it makes noise when he plays with it! I can pull that out and give it to him and he's entertained for a good 10 minutes!



Tomorrow we're going out for a large chunk of the day so no swing again. Now I just have to convince my husband not to use the swing on Monday when I go back to work... we'll see....

Random Thoughts For the Week

A random thoughts blog post! its been a crazy week for me and that means that I haven't really posted any updates or pictures! Bad Mommy! As much as I know all of you enjoy these things, this blog really is my baby journal... its why I try to update with even the most mundane dull updates on a regular basis. I am horrible about writing in a personal journal, but knowing there are people out there who read this motivates me to update this blog on a regular basis!

Eirik is well on his way to becoming a mobile baby. He can scoot himself in a circle AND backwards now! Yikes!! Better start getting the babyproofing underway! Thankfully its all scooting in very limited bursts... but I can see its coming! He has suddenly decided he likes jumping. I know I mentioned he loves the jumparoo... well now he tries to do that on your lap! Its cute because he grins while doing it! He has just about outgrown his little baby bath so this weekend we are going to try the big tub! He likes to sit now and the baby bath we have can kind of convert for sitting... so we'll see what happens. It should be an adventure, thats for sure! I'm pretty sure he had a growth spurt the other week becuase his sleeping was horrible but thankfully we are now back to longer stretches. He's still up 3 times a night... midnight, 3,and 5:30... but we are slowly getting better at nursing laying down which means I fall back asleep while he eats.



Doesn't that face just say "better watch out mommy, i'm gonna be moving soon!"

I've recently been giving some though to this blog. I have to say I have been very good about updates! Normally with blogs and journals I give up pretty quickly, but I realized the other day I have done over 200 posts... and I haven't had this blog for a full year yet! I'm impressed! I also have a small band of followers (some I am sure are more lurkers then commenters, which is OK by me!) but I have started thinking about adding more structure to my blog. I started this blog with 2 main intentions... to keep my family and friends updated on my pregnancy and then on Eirik as he grows but also for myself as a baby journal. However this blog has slowly taken on a third form and that is me throwing out my person views on some topics. I was thinking of maybe having some days set aside for a specific topic... i'm not sure what yet... just throwing out thoughts. I know I started Caturday and have been bad about keeping up... i am going to try and do better with that!

Breastfeeding Bags

I wasn't going to continue with my breastfeeding theme for the entire week, however there is a project going on right now that i'd love to share! Its something I just discovered and I think its great!

When you are at the hospital after giving birth they go around and ask if you want your free bag. Who is going to say no to a free bag? They ask if you want a formula or breastfeeding bag so naturally I took the breastfeeding one. I was a little surprised they even offered two bags as I had always heard from people about how they were given formula. Needless to say I wasn't shocked when my "breastfeeding" bag contained a huge massive can of formula in it! In fact there was nothing in the bag I kept except for maybe a pamphlet or two on breastfeeding... everything else just went right in the trash! Well, except the bag.

I was so excited when I read about a woman who is orgaizing a real breastfeeding bag project! You can read all about it here: breastfeeding bags at hospitals! Its such a great initiative! How much happier I would have been to get a bag filled with those sorts of breastfeeding goodies! If anyone wants to follow the progress or find out how to start their own breastfeeding bag project there is a facebook page dedicated to the Laramie Breastfeeding Bag project. I know that quite a few projects have sprung up in other states already! Sadly none in Maryland yet, but I'm hoping I find out about one soon!

Reading about these bags made me wonder... why aren't there breastfeeding companies who are making these bags? I know the idea of the formula companies is to get people to start using their formula... so what about the companies that make breast pumps? Medela for example is one of the first names that comes into anyone's mind when they talk abut breastfeeding pumps. So why have they not created a breastfeeding bag for the hospitals? They could load it up with samples of nipple cream, breast pads, those gel soothers for sore nipples, breastfeeding pamphlets, and even coupons for future purchases!

Maybe I should write them a letter asking them why they haven't done just that!

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

This week is world breastfeeding week!! I've given a lot of thought of how to structure a post about breastfeeding. While I am all gung ho about it, I know there are some of you out there who aren't... and that's okay! You guys are doing what is best for your family and your situation. I could start listing the many benefits of breastfeeding here but I know that many of you are tired of hearing those facts. If you breastfeed you know them and if you formula feed you don't want to be made to feel guilty for your choice. So, instead I am going to talk a bit about beginning to breastfeed. I think a lot of people start out with the intentions of breastfeeding but give up because its hard and they think they are doing something wrong. I am by no means a pro on breastfeeding, but I just wanted to share a few things i've learned in the past 4 months.

1. Breastfeed as soon and as often as possible after birth! I know its tempting to let the nurse take the baby for a few hours so you can sleep but the more they suck the quicker your milk will come in! Supply and demand!

2. Drink LOTS of water. I thought I was insane the first few weeks after giving birth because I was thirsty ALL The time! You should be drinking 10 - 13 glasses of water a day! Not drinking enough water can also effect your milk supply. So drink up!

3. Eat! Like water, you need MORE food breastfeeding then you did when pregnant! Not eating enough can also cause supply problems!

4. Get help! Just because some babies naturally have an amazing latch doesn't mean yours will. It may not be as simple as "put baby to breast, let baby suck". If you are having problems, talk to a lactation consultant... and do it BEFORE the problem gets worse. I stupidly thought I could fix my problem and ended up in a WORLD of pain that could have been prevented had I just gotten help sooner!

5. If one lacatation consultant doesn't help... find another! I must have talked to 3 different lactation consultants and about 5 different nurses about how to breastfeed before getting it right. And I have to say the way I did it wasn't exactly the way ANYONE showed me. I took all the tips and tricks and finally got it to work. Every baby is different! Each time I asked for help I got a little bit better at figuring out what to do!

6. Get comfortable! Initial nursing sessions can be LONG... I know sometimes I would be sitting in the same place for 45 minutes! When he was having a growth spurt sometimes the time between feedings was only about 20 minutes or so... so you can imagine how long I was tied to one place! Find a position that is comfortable for you! Just because everyone likes the cross cradle hold doesn't mean you do too! Same goes for nursing pillows. Just because your friend loved them doesn't mean they will work for you!

7. Have something to do! I know they say breastfeeding is bonding with your baby... and yes, I spent a lot of quiet time feeding Eirik and bonding with him... but after a while you really want to look at something else. Do what makes you comfortable. Some people simply want the quiet bonding time... others can use the time to catch up on e-mail while others read. Find what works for you and make sure to have whatever it is nearby. You're gonna be seated for a while. =)

8. Just because they nurse all the time dosent mean your supply is low! Eirik had a TON of growth spurts the first few months which at times made me worry I had supply issues. However he was gaining weight just fine and when I thought I couldn't take the round the clock nursing anymore he would stop. Yes, some people do have supply issues, but a lot of people freak out because of round the clock eating.

9. Watch for fuss foods! Have a gassy baby? What are you eating?? Some babies are more sensitive then others to what mom eats. Thankfully Eirik has very few issues... i feel VERY lucky for that! The only thing I have to cut back on is tomato heavy products... they give him a diaper rash!

10. Every baby is different! Some babies will sleep a lot, some don't. Some have periods where all they want to do is eat (Every night from 8 - 12 for Eirik for MONTHS). Some babies eat quickly, some slower... just know that as long as your baby is healthy and thriving its going okay. =)

An Ode To My Husband

So I don't talk about my husband on here much, mostly because I think he'd rather remain anonymous in the blogger world. He's big in to personal privacy and that sort of thing. Its why I haven't mentioned his name in any shape or form... he's simply referred to as "my husband". Though after reading other blogs I feel like I should give him a nickname. All of you have great little nicknames for your significant other!

My husband comes off as a little bit gruff and almost aggressive looking at first introduction. His natural facial features are very serious and he's a quiet person therefore a lot of people get the wrong impression about him. Heck, when I met him I wasn't sure what to think! However he is one of those guys that may look gruff on the outside but inside he's a huge softie. I discovered this very quickly when I went to his apartment when we were dating and watched him cuddle and coo at his cats. Nothing makes a woman's heart melt like watching him interact with his pets like that! Needless to say he is the exact same way with Eirik. He makes silly faces at Eirik that make him giggle and talks to Eirik in a weird voice. I always knew he would be a good father, but it makes me fall in love with him a little more every time I watch the pair of them interact.

Today's post was inspired by some photos we took yesterday. We never did make it to the swings (we went to a different park) however I did get some adorable photos of them. These are just a few of my favorites.





On an unrelated side note I finally used my Ergo yesterday and I am in love!! I still love my piggy sack... but the ergo is SO comfortable for long walks! That thing is going to be getting a lot of use this fall when it cools off enough to take him out walking on a more regular basis!