8 Months Old

I'm so glad that THIS is the Edgar we now see most of the time. Phew! It's true: for first time parents it is so hard because we don't have perspective. If I had known how cute and smiley he would be so quickly...those first three months wouldn't have been so hard!

A new favorite sound: OOOOOooooooh! The other night we were playing guitar and singing Christmas songs. We got to a verse of ooh's. It was so freaking cute! He oooh'ed right along with us!

I think this is his Garrett Gillas face. Whatdya think?

Edgar loves music...of course--how could he not??? Here he is listening to something Alex recorded the other night. What a sweet expression! (= We took him to a Karl Blau concert a few weeks ago. He LOVED it. We had him in his protective ear muffs, in the Bjorn or on Dad's shoulders. He sang along (AAhhhh laaa laaa) and danced to the enjoyment of all. A week ago someone saw us shopping in a different town and said: hey! it's the Karl Blau baby! Yup. Edgar is famous.

This boy LOVES to eat.

"What do you mean babies don't eat pork ribs? It is delicious and tasty!"

Not really sure what this look was all about. He really was enjoying those avocados! (Check out the hair in the back...)

Just like Mommy:

He would totally crack up every time I brushed my teeth...pretty hilarious apparently. So, I got him his own tooth brush. Now he LOVES to brush his teeth and cries if someone brushes their teeth without him.

Edgar and Daddy hanging out:

Playing piano at Grandma Carmichael's house.

Playing guitar together at home. (This is Edgar's axe of choice. Probably because it is so shiny).

Just like daddy. (=

Oh, How We Love to Stand!

(pay no attention to the mess...)

Early last week I looked over to where Edgar was standing and holding on to the coffee table and watched him let go with both hands and look so proud! I was so excited I yelled, "Alex! Look!" ...

I startled Edgar and he fell. (=

But, that didn't keep him down! He's been practicing everyday and getting better and better!

And he started clapping last week to. Too Cute!

CRAWLING!

Wow. I live in a world where I have a baby who crawls. Weird.

Yesterday morning I said to my mother: "he may even be crawling by Christmas!" Then, he crawled at lunchtime! Yikes! Things are speeding up!

Thanksgiving

I am SO SO thankful for my super cute boy and his emerging crazy personality (even if he does act way too much like Chris Farley).

Dressed by dad. Excuse? "He is Super Baby!" Actual reason? Forgot to snap up the onsie before putting his pants on. Oh dear.

We had a great Thanksgiving with our Gillas family. We spent the weekend at the coast in a beach house. Edgar had a fantastic time eating and playing with his cousins.

The Meal: Edgar ate his first meat (Turkey), sweet potatoes, and his new favorite food and pasttime: Cheerios.

It was a hit.

It was a crazy fun weekend with lots of late nights. I have to share this video. It is Edgar at 1 in the morning. I had laid next to him since 10:30 that night trying to get him to sleep. He just talked, laughed, and played while I fake snored. Finally, after 1 am, I decided to go out and hang with Alex and our nephews. This is a super hyper baby with an audience:

DIY Closet with Curtains on a Flexible Track

{{I have been meaning to post about this project (which I completed 7 months ago the week that my baby was born). I'm a bit late in posting it, but in all the Internet research I did to make this closet and curtains, I never found exactly what I was looking for. With that in mind, I thought I would post the basics on my closet solution for others to use.}}

The Need:

We recently moved into another room in our basement apartment. This was to be our bedroom, music room, office, and craft room...and it didn't have a closet. As renters, it needed to be somewhat temporary. We decided to build a little closet/shelf system against the wall and use curtains to cover it. (This room has some ducting along the ceiling of one wall, so we built it under the ducting, but this could be done against any wall).

Do it yourself:

Shelves:

1. Hardware. We started with a shelf and rod bracket like this one from Ace. We used a stud finder to space the brackets along the studs.

2. Shelf. We used an two old shelves our landlord had in his garage (measured 3 times and then cut to size with a jigsaw) and secured them to the brackets.

3. Rod. We went to the Ace place, bought a wooden dowel, and cut it to the correct length. It was super cheap. I recommend getting a plastic stopper for the end. We haven't, and clothes fall off the ends of the rod.

Organization:

4. We used two inexpensive ($19.99?) 2-shelf shelving units from Target for shoes. We also used some milk crates ($5?) to hold extra shoes.


5. We have a lot of clothes. We used some multi-level slack hangers from Fred Meyer (they look like this)--I really like them--and some tie hangers like these. That has helped A LOT. Still, our closet is super full.

6. If I cared more (I may still do this) I would get some cute bins for organizing stuff on the shelf.

The Curtain:

7. Track. I really wanted a sliding track that bent in a U-shape. It was really hard to find! We used the Konnect International pre-packaged bendable track. It was the perfect length for our project and very reasonably priced. ($45 plus shipping). I LOVED this track. It was exactly what I wanted. (They also will cut a track to fit your projects specs). Warning: though it is flexible, it is hard to bend it into place...it is definitely a 2 person job. (It comes with all of the hardware you need, except for something to attach it to the curtains). I also loved that the middle two rollers are magnet catches--they keep your curtains closed!

8. Curtain Clips. I really liked these curtain clips from Target. They were $5 for a 10-pack (cheaper than the hardware stores). They easily fit into the circular rings on the track system and clip onto the curtains (no sewing a place for a rod or setting grommets!)


9. Curtain. I believe I used this article to help me get an idea of how to sew the curtains. This was my first sewing project since junior high (15 years ago??) and it turned out very well, thank you. I did A LOT of measuring--length and width. On one of the hospital curtain track sites, it gave me an idea of how much curtain to order...if I find it I will come back and edit this post.

I bought the fabric at Joanne's. The solid brown is a thick heavier fabric, and the pattern is a lighter cotton--but they worked just fine together. I was originally going to use a canvas drop cloth for the fabric--I still think that is a fantastic idea. I ironed the curtains, clipped them to the clips, and--VOILA!!--I have a closet!

Here are a few sites I used for inspiration:

My original plan was more like this.

I ended up with more of this look.

Fun with Font Capture

(Sorry for the smallish and blurry picture. It was the best I could do in trying to share my new fonts with my limited computer! Tip: to see the fonts better, click on the picture to enlarge.)

http://www.fontcapture.com/

Quiet Ambition

I'm getting kind of ambitious lately...in my imagination. I wish that would translate better to real life. I was playing with my great nephew and great niece this week, and totally admiring their grandma-made quiet book.

I totally remember having one of those as a kid! I remember something about a zipper and shoelaces...and not much else. But I remember loving it.

I have just spent the last hour perusing some how-to sites, including this one that has lots of links that sparked my imagination.

I now have a 2 page word document full of ideas. I would love love to make this and have it ready by Christmas next year (I think having it ready by Edgar's b-day in April is a bit too ambitious).

Hmmm...what about the scrapbook I got really ambitious about and have hardly done a thing on? What about my scripture reading schedule that I am way behind on, not to mention the little fort of unpacked boxes from the flood over a year ago or the pile of mail that needs sorting? I don't think I have the license to get ambitious about a new project.

Still....

A girl can have dreams, right?

Ah. There is my son fussing again during his nap. And I wonder why I never get very far on projects. *Sigh* Gone are the days of devoting entire days to my projects.

Guess I just need to learn how to move faster!

Trick or Treating RVs

That's right, I said "trick or treating RVs." We spent Halloween camping in Yurt's on the Oregon Coast with my nephew Garrett and his girlfriend Kelly.
Edgar was fat baby Elvis. It was seriously awesome.

We did a little trick-or-treating among the RVs that were also at the campsite. We got one piece of candy from the camp host. That was it. Some hippie biking campers offered Edgar some granola, but he declined.

We stayed at the Carl G. Washburn campsite. The best part was the blooming of fungi after it rained. Here, baby Elvis and I are checking out the GIGANTIC mushroom.

Kelly and baby Elvis having so much fun.

Such a cutie!

He certainly enjoyed playing with the candy! But, as he is only 6 months old, we ate the candy for him. He ate pears and chewed sealed candy wrappers.

It did rain, but it was also fairly warm and beautiful.

Kelly made some fantastic sand drawings. Here, Edgar and I are checking out part of one drawing.

Beautiful Halloween Sunset!

Family Love.

Daddy and Edgar playing in the COLD water!

Mama and Edgar howling at the Halloween Moon.

Back in the Saddle Again

We are (finally) back in the recording studio again! It's a little bit more crowded in the little studio though!

It's a good thing Edgar has a pretty late bedtime. Still...these sessions push his bedtime just a bit. He's done pretty good at both sessions so far, but does end up screaming tired by the end.

Still, it sure makes us feel more alive to be back working on our album! We are mixed 3 of the 12 songs we recorded. Hooray!

Hooray for a rock and roll baby!

More fun with cousins!

Today was another fun day spent with the Gillas cousins! We are sure glad they moved back closer (they used to live 4ish hours away!)
I think Emily's girlyness is wearing off on Edgar. He kind of has cleavage in this photo.

Garrett and I climbed to the top of a rocket ship at the Evergreen Space Museum! We spent the day exploring the Space Museum, Air Museum, and watched Wild Ocean at the Imax. The babies were very well behaved (=

I LOVE parks with baby swings. Edgar loves, loves, LOVES to swing. Evergreen has a particularly awesome playground.

Love this boy!

Ed in the Bed

The Story Behind the Sleeping arrangements:
Now, I certainly don't expect a baby to sleep through the night. But...my baby still wants to nurse every 2 hours. And, when I first put him to sleep, he wants to nurse every 20-30 minutes for the first few hours! Our solution to Edgar's colic and nursing needs in the early days was to take him to bed with us. Once I learned how to nurse lying down, it was almost as good as sleeping through the night! (For those of you with worries about crushing baby, studies show that parents do NOT roll over on their baby unless they are drunk or taking medication that makes them sleepy).


Current Events:
Part of me LOVES sleeping with my baby. I love the closeness. I love waking up with him staring lovingly into my eyes and patting my face. I love snuggling with him. I LOVE not having to get up out of bed to nurse him at night! But...as you can see in the above photo, my baby is a bit of a bed hog. There just isn't room for all three of us to sleep well. I sleep pretty well, but Alex doesn't sleep so well with an Ed in the Bed. My very loving patient husband has spent many nights on the couch or air mattress when Edgar decides to jump and kick in his sleep.

Also, we are paying for a gym membership that neither of us is using, because we are SO exhausted every morning. We need to do something differently.

The Plan:
Phase 1. Last night we moved our bed into Edgar's room, next to his crib. We are all still sleeping in the same bed as usual...but now we are conditioning him to sleeping in his room. I expect this will last about a week.

Phase 2. Alex and I will continue to sleep in the bed in Edgar's room, and I will continue to nurse Edgar to sleep lying down...but when he is asleep I will move him to his crib. I have no idea how long it will take before Phase 2 is successful.

Phase 3. We will move the bed back to our room. I will nurse Edgar in the rocking chair and put him to sleep in his crib. I may sleep on the air mattress in his room for a while while he adjusts to our bed being gone (and not hearing our sleeping sounds).

Phase 4. We get our bed back. Edgar sleeps happily in his crib. He doesn't nurse every couple of hours, and we all get better sleep.

Hmm. It definitely sounds too good to be true. Still, this is the best plan we could come up with in light of my refusal to let my baby lay in his room alone screaming his little heart out.

Unfortunately, the literature and classes that support co-sleeping, sharing sleep, the family bed, or whatever you want to call it--these sources suggest that your child will let you know when they are ready for their own bed--when they are 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...or older. That doesn't work for us.

And, the literature that has tips for getting baby to sleep on their own are usually vehemently against co-sleeping.

Is there anyone out there that lives somewhere between these two camps? Has anyone else gone through something similar? Any tips for helping baby leave the soft familiar family bed?


DISCLAIMER: I am posting about this, against my better judgement. My better judgement is reminding me that (1) people have VERY strong opinions about how/when/where babies should sleep and that (2) by inviting advice I will most likely just receive criticism.

But, I really would appreciate advice that jives with our do-whatever-works-for-you mentality about raising Edgar! You are, of course, welcomed to criticize me. Just know that I will likely ignore any advice that I don't like! (=

Fun with Pappa Lester

A Tale of Two Zoos

Last weekend we took a last minute trip to Utah in the hopes of meeting Edgar's new cousin. Alas, apparently Cal takes after Tayva's family, because he is 9 days late and counting (love you Tayva!). So, instead, we spent some time visiting the Case Family Zoo and the Hogle Zoo, in the hopes of distracting my very pregnant sister-in-law.

Edgar did pretty well on the car trip down. We stopped at a park on the way down and got some wiggles out...

Yum...old banana and grass!

Our visit to the Case Family Zoo was lots of fun! Edgar particularly enjoyed the interactive exhibits:

Grandpa Lester's face (ooooh! what a fun nose!)

The doting great grandparents.

And all of his Aunties and Uncles---especially Silly Auntie Can-Can and her bling.

We decided to steal Tayva away and distract her. First stop: Hogle Zoo!

My favorite part was our ride on the new "Conservation Carousel"--basically the coolest carousel ever!

Alex and Mr. Giraffe (Alex is impersonating Julie impersonating a giraffe.)

The sexy Stefanie and Kaylee on their jungle cats

The radiant Tayva on her Zebra

And me on Miss Lady Bug!

Pappa Lester and Edgar had a grand time with the Baby Bjorn. There was much dancing and silliness.

Edgar tried the drinking fountain for the first time. Only afterwards did we discover that this water was VERY warm! (weird?!?)

The trip was too short. We didn't get to meet Calvin, but we did really enjoy our time with family.

It was a long trip home, but the boy did very well. We stopped for a break at a rest stop and wanted to reward him with time in his jump-up (his favorite activity). We tried hooking it up to the park pavilion, but his poor little feet didn't touch the ground! It was a hoot! We fixed it with a piled up blanket underneath and fun was had by all. Some lady looked at us very worried and asked if we needed to call someone for help. "Nope," we replied, "just resting on our long car trip!"

I can't wait till Christmastime to go back and play some more! I Love you my crazy family!