Solids for Sammy!

Hanging out in the Tripp Trapp.
He really seemed to like sitting
up higher, more on my level.

For NaNoWriMo, I have uninstalled the Facebook app from my phone. A consequence of this is that I am not posting as many pictures of my adorable son and I know that this makes everyone very, very sad. So here is a photo dump from this week - the week we started solid foods! It's been a lot of fun.

That's a little piece of mango in his pulp.

And it was delicious.

 So we made a big order from our very favorite baby store and got everything we would need. We love our TrippTrapp, the Pulp, and the Dips. The Pulp and the Dips are very easy for Sam to hold and get into his mouth as you can clearly see from the many pictures to follow.

Please enjoy this string of pictures of Sam trying new food. If you scroll quickly it turns into a little movie. 

Obviously, this one is my favorite.

 As ever, please excuse our messy home. Just focus on the adorable baby.

 All in all, Sam seems to really like eating his fruits and veggies!

Favorite Sammy Stuff for Months 1-3

Now that Sam is past his four month milestone, I can look back and see what things we liked and made our lives tremendously easier. So, for what it's worth, our newborn favorites!

At least he wasn't crying because we pulled a shirt over his head.

• Side Snap Baby Shirts. These come in short sleeve, like in the link, and long sleeve with little mitts on the hands. Onesies are baloney compared to these bad boys. Sam was born at the end of May and it was nice and warm so we would put him in one of these with one of his cloth diaper and he looked so cute. No pulling anything over giant baby heads, making babies cry and squirm. These were the best. Easy and awesome. Must have.
• Kissaluvs fitted diapers.They were great when Sam was smaller for nighttime stuffed with a BumGenius doubler. They contained the mess incredibly well and were very easy for me to manage. He could typically go all night without me having change him during our three o clock mealtime. And when he does poop in them, they are very easy to rinse out. Super plus. Nice to have.
• Soothies. Holy crap. There are the best pacifiers. Some moms think that they are ugly or too big, but they are the best. We took three home from the hospital and bought three more two packs at Target. If you go that route, check out Target.com first. They are normally fifty cents or a dollar cheaper online and Target will match their website prices. Hooray for saving money! Must have.
• Soothe-and-Glow Seahorse. This is a Sam favorite. Full disclosure: ours is pink and purple because we got it second-hand from David's boss. When Sam was having a tough time settling down for a nap, I would turn on his seahorse and he would just look at it until he fell asleep. Worked every time. It was amazing. Nice to have.
• LulyBoo.

  

  Someone is happy about being in his LulyBoo!

  This was amazing. We only got it because we were going to travel just a month after Sam was born and we had a Babies R Us gift card, but it turned out to be wonderful. If Sam fell asleep on my chest while we were watching TV, I could lay him in his little bed right away, right there in the living room and then shower or eat or walk around the apartment all by myself. It gave him a safe place to sleep on our bed when he was being particularly needy but we both needed a nap. And, best of all, it is super washable. Nice to have.
• SwaddlePod and SwaddleMe. We really didn't use the Aden+Anais swaddle blankets everyone loves right at first. I would use one to hide my fair babe from the sun while he was in his sling or as a nursing cover, but we only started swaddling him up with his gauzy blankets when he was nearly three months old. Before that we used the Summer Infant things. They kept Sam nicely snugged up. He could get his hands out of the top of the Pod, but we would just wrap him in a little cotton knit Carter's blanket and he wasn't too hot and was super snuggled up. These are just great, though. And way cheaper than many other similar products. Must have.

  

  Swaddlepod snuggles make sound sleepers.

• Netflix and Mario. So much of my time was sitting on the couch either nursing or pumping or sitting underneath a sleeping baby. So I beat Paper Mario, which Sam loved watching. Bright colors and fun music? Yes, please. David and I watched a ton of House, Mom and I watched two seasons of Supernatural (in, like, three days), I rewatched my various BBC shows like Sherlock, Coupling and the IT Crowd and discovered new fun shows like Wallander, A Young Doctor's Notebook, and Hell on Wheels. Seriously. This might be the most important thing on this list. When Sam was super little and I was feeding him three times during the night and all the time during the day and I was too brain dead to have an actual conversation with David, TV was the best and video games were even better to break up all the television. Must have.
• Comfortable nighttime nursing chair. We had our awesome corner couch (like the middle part of a sectional) in Sam's room. It's super cushy and soft and so comfy. You are going to fall asleep nursing the baby sometimes and you don't want to wake up sore or with weird parts of your body asleep, so a good chair is essential. It was so nice to have a place that was roomy and soft. Must have.
• Freebies, hand me downs, used items. This was David's favorite thing. Free things. Make friends with everyone. Scour CraigsList for cheap clothes, used cloth diapers (if that's your deal), nursery furniture (mind safety, obviously) nursing pillows, anything really. We had several friends who had babies before us who were ready to get rid of some stuff. We got free bottles, diapers, nursing pillows, a bouncy chair, a car seat, a co-sleeper bassinet, pacifiers, clothes (like a metric ton), baby carriers (an Ergo!), changing table, crib, various toys, blankets, you get the idea. We were able to spend money on a few, expensive, high quality items (like our jogging stroller) and we were able to afford it. Nice to have.

  

  Co-sleeper, check. Soothie, check. Seahorse, check.

• Co-sleeper. This was so nice during Hakon's first month. Mommy paranoia is a real thing. I would wake up and panic that Sam had died or something. I could reach over and lightly touch Sam's belly and be reassured that he was alive when he twitched. It was very convenient to reach over and pull Sam into bed to nurse in the middle of the night and then lay him back down without having to get up, especially nice while I was still tremendously sore from the C-section. When we were reading to transition our little guy to his own room, it was easy to set it up as a normal bassinet. Some folks enjoy the crib right away, but, for us, this was a Must have.
• Baby wearing gear. I really wanted to do a lot of carrying my babe because I was terrified of postpartum depression. I know that it isn't a definite solution, but I was doing anything I could think of to prepare a little. I used a ring sling and a Moby the most, but the Beco Gemini and the Ergo Organic are others that we have that I like. This is one department where knowing someone who is getting rid of baby stuff is very helpful. Or knowing  your way  around a sewing machine. 

Welcome Home, Paynes!

We are still settling in (read: there are boxes and messes all over our apartment still), but I think that we are going to be very happy here.

We are in Coralville, Iowa, which is to Iowa City what Orem is to Provo or Ypsi to Ann Arbor. It is very clean and bright here which is quite different that Ypsilanti where we were before. Ann Arbor was beautiful, don't get me wrong, and we mostly enjoyed our time there, but we are excited to be out of there in here in Hawkeye Country.

Some fun things of note since I don't know any history and not that much geography to share with y'all.

• The classic rock radio station (which was the first thing I did when we got here and got all our stuff off the truck) on game days does not play classic rock during the game. They broadcast the Hawkeyes game as if it were Led Zeppelin or the Stones. This station also does GameDay Traffic Reports before the game starts. These folks are not playing around with their football.
• I live even closer to the Target here than I did in Michigan. It's less than a ten minute walk. Also, the Target is attached to the mall. It's amazing and spells trouble for our budget. 
• Our apartment complex has a fenced in area right across the parking lot from our front door that is just for pups! Majzy loves it! They have toys and poop bags and grass; it's the best. Consequently, Majzy can no longer be trusted walking on her own from the car to the front door or from the front door to the car. 
• The Tractor Supply store where we get Majzy's food is right next door to the Adult Shop. Talk about one stop shopping. 
• When we moved in, there were six baby bunnies living in the grass right outside our front window. They have grown up and moved on (I hope; there are a lot of dogs in this complex) but they were pretty much the cutest things I had ever seen.
• I have had a sick tummy pretty much everyday we have been here. Apparently there is something in Iowa water that does not agree with me, but I have lost eight pounds so...just kidding, I'd way rather be heavy than be sick every night!

I think that's about it. When we have our mess cleaned up, I'll do a post (with pictures!) about our new home