Two Free Projects for Two Little Boys

Both of these were free and easy!  I started and finished them both today and it's only 12:30.

Project #1 - Clothespin Drop - For Amos

I got this idea from this website.  All I needed was a clean 2-liter bottle, clothespins, paper towel, and package tape.  I happened to have all those on hand.  I cut out a square at the bottom of the pop bottle and padded the sharp edges with paper towel.  I want to add some fun duct tape, but that I will have to get at the store.  Amos and Asher caught onto the concept really fast and sat and played with them for quite a while this morning!

Project #2 - Upgrade the Moby - This one is for Baby Brother

Neither of these were original ideas.  Here's the detailed tutorial for this one.  When Amos was born, my mom had heard of a cheap and easy way to make a "Moby" wrap from jersey.  All you need is 6 yards of jersey material cut in half (so it makes at least two).  It worked perfect for Amos and was one of my favorite ways to wear him.  Yesterday I spotted this tutorial on Pinterest and knew I could do it.  All I did was add a colorful panel to the middle of my pretty plain gray wrap.  It took about 40 minutes from start to finish.  Best part was, I already had a ton of material to choose from because of all of Amos' weekly pictures!  I tried putting Amos in it, but he's a little big, and I'm a little big, so you'll have to wait for finished pictures until Baby Brother comes a long!

I'm Jealous of a Zebra

Today,  Amos appeared out of his room with a stuff zebra from his bookshelf.  Has he every played with this zebra before? No.  However, he's not only spent most of the afternoon carrying it around, but gave it lots of hugs and kisses on demand.  He does not give me hugs and kisses on demand.  Hence the title.

Bed head...

Amos woke up from an exceptionally long nap yesterday with a bad case of bed head!  Curls, you've got to love them!

Swing Away

On the last day of Jason's summer, we decided it was time to hang up Amos' swing.  Jason gathered all of his materials and headed outside.  Because Amos loves to be outside, we headed out to "help."  Half way through I ran back in to grab my camera so that I could snatch a couple of pictures. 

Who would have guessed that there would be leaves on the ground already.  It looks like the beginning of fall outside.

All Amos wanted to do was run to the street.  The tree distracted him for a little while though.

Can you tell how much he loved it?

This one is a little better.  He did start smiling.  The poor guy was sweating so much though, I think he may have been ready to head inside.

There will be a lot more swinging in our future!

10 Things We're Going to Miss

...when Daddy goes back to work!

1.  Afternoon projects  

2.  Running errands without Amos

This was taken during one of my errands!

3.  Music, music, music.  There's always music when Jason is home.

4.  Giving Daddy kisses before naps.

Can you tell how much Amos loves giving kisses?

5.  Grilled Turkey and Cheese sandwiches for lunch

6.   All kinds of Daddy Time

7.  Late wake-ups and leisurely breakfasts

8.  Running outside to catch a site of the train

9.  Every night being Friday night

10.  Waking Daddy up in the morning

Plus One

Amos is now 1 month over a year.  I'm done with keeping track of weeks, but months are a different story.  These posts will be a little more formal and organized so that they are more useful to me when Baby Boy reaches these stages.

EATING:

Not much has changed this month with his eating.  He's been eating strictly table food since he was 8 months old, so he's pretty good at it by now.  He'll try almost everything, unless it has sugar in it.  Somehow he knows that the ice cream we are trying to give him is going to taste sweet.  Were not too worried about developing a sweet tooth, I'm sure that will come on its own one of these days.  Jason thinks he has high taste as he will barely eat hamburger but was putting away his steak this afternoon.  He eats yogurt & cereal for breakfast.  For lunch he has something substantial like a sandwich, pasta, beans and then a fruit and veggie to go with it.  A snack follows his afternoon nap of fruit or some sort of cracker/granola and then eats what we eat for dinner.  He still drinks about 24 oz of whole milk every day.

PLAYING:

He loves playing with his Daddy.  We're a little sad that Dad is going back to work because that means he won't be with us all the time.  However, Amos has a new friend to play with as I will be watching a one year old during the day named Asher.  He loves to play with anything round, get into his cozy coupe and rocking chair, and talk on phones.  From time to time, I'll find him sitting and reading a book, which I love.  He's super quick these days.  In fact, I accidently turned the light off and shut him in the utility room this week because I didn't realize he snuck in on me.  

One thing I do want to mention is Independent Playtime (Amos playing in a pack and play by himself).  At the beginning of summer, I kind of let this time go by the wayside.  I didn't think it was that important.  However, after having several Sundays of leaving a crying baby in the nursery, got me thinking about independent playtime again.  I decided to work our way slowing back into it.  At first, I was leaving a crying baby with a bunch of toys in his pack and play for 15 minutes.  Slowly we worked up to 30 and only a little crying.  Now he can happily be in there for up to 45 minutes.  And this Sunday I saw the pay off.  He actually walked to the nursery and didn't care at all that we were leaving him there.  That was enough to make me a believer.  

PERSONALITY:

More of the true Amos is coming out.  If you were like us, you thought Amos was a pretty serious, yet laid back guy who would be content with just taking in the world. HA!  He is now loudly and aggressively exploring the world around him.  He's realized there is such a thing as an audience of admirers and is stepping up to perform for them.  The newest trait has been the scowl.  If you do something he doesn't like, he very purposefully furrows his brows and frowns as you.  I think our laughter that always follows has just served to encourage him in his scowling.  

COMMUNICATION:

While majority of the time, he lets us know what he wants through the same whiny sound, he is starting to use words to communicate.  He loves to identify anything round with the word ball.  He also says a form of book, milk, more, outside, Asher, Hello, hi, bye, no, shoe, roof, and of course, Mom and Dad.  Its been fun trying to decipher all his words.

DISCIPLINE:

Discipline is in full swing.  Discipline is something Jason and I discuss often as we know that we must always be assessing our motives in discipline and making sure we are disciplining out of love.  I'm glad that I'm not trying to do this on my own, but have a husband who seeks the Lord and is leading me.  Our newest battle is the fit throwing.  The can come out of no where and end just as quickly.  I guess he's a one year old.

SLEEP:

Amos is a text book sleeper.  He sleeps a full 12 hours at night and takes two, two hour naps a day.  For a while he was sleeping in until 8 or 8:15, but now that we are getting up earlier, he's awake most days by 7:30. He loves to have a few books read to him and then is ready to lay down and close his eyes.  He's almost always happy to go to sleep which is so nice for us.  I'm on the lookout for signs that he is ready to drop his morning nap, but I'm hoping he'll keep it until at least the new baby is born.  

OUR SCHEDULE:

7:30 - Wake up and eat breakfast

8:15 - Independent playtime

9:30 - Morning nap

12:00 - Lunch

1:00 - Structured playtime with Mommy

1:30 - Afternoon Nap

4:00 - Daddy Time

5:30 -Dinner

7:30 - Bed time

Family Swim

Yesterday evening was the perfect time for a family swim at the Loy's pool.  It had been a hot day, but by the time we went to swim, the clouds were out and the pool felt just right!  

 I think Amos' favorite part was the puppy dogs.  He watched them most of the time.