Free Zoo Day with the Cousins

Free Zoo day is the best.  Owen loves going on walks and loved looking around at the animals and people while we were at the zoo.  We went once in January which was chilly but hardly anyone was there and then in February which was PACKED but had great weather.

Here are some January zoo pictures with the cousins.  Aren't they the cutest?

It was so fun dad was able to go with us!

The coolest picture with a seal thing behind us.  Perfect timing.

A month later in February.  It took a half hour to park and again it was super crowded, but worth it because it was free.  In January we put Owen's carseat in the stroller and this time in February he sat up so grown up and big!  He's growing up so much and surprises me each day of new things he's able to do.

Since it's been cold we haven't gone out too much, so people and animal watching is a new/terrifying/exciting experience for this little guy.

Here are the cousins looking at the giraffes.  Sadly there's no more free zoo days until wintertime, but we'll have to go again with everyone else.

Bumbo Time

Here is my cutie before a mid day snack.  He started with rice milk around 5 months and then we've been introducing new foods like sweet potatoes, carrots, and today was squash.  He loves his new food that we've been slowly introducing to him.

I am totally sold on our new Bumbo (the thing he's sitting in).  Owen is right between sitting on our lap at dinner and using his highchair.  Our Bumbo is perfect to help him sit up and have fun with us during meals or playtime.

Hey O!

 

Baby Footprint with Silhouette

For Valentine's Day I wanted to make a sign that said "LOVE" with little Owen's footprints.  I had his newborn footprints on his certificate from the hospital from when he was minutes old and wanted to use those for the "V" in love.

1) I scanned in the file and saved it as a jpeg.

2) In Silhouette, I opened the file by going to FILE - OPEN - (then my jpeg file)

3) Next I went to the Trace - Select Trace Option then tweaked the filter, threshold, and scale to make the inside of the feet bright yellow.  Then I clicked Trace Outer Edge which traces the outside of the feet and toes.

 4) I then had an outline, I highlighted everything and went to Object - Release Compound path
This allows for all of the pieces to be on their own (right now everything is in one box)



5) Now since everything is now separated, we need to put each foot together then twist it to make the shape of a "V".  Highlight all pieces of your foot and go to Object - Make Compound Path
Do this for both feet

6) Now you can rotate the whole foot using your cursor on the green dot.

7) I used double sided adhesive paper from silhouette, I added it onto my mat with yellow side up, then into the Silhouette. Go to Send to Silhouette and add the right settings before clicking CUT 8)

8) I peeled off the yellow, stuck it onto the paper (or you could do it the opposite and take off the white paper). Then take off the white paper and sprinkle on the glitter!

Baby Photobook Options

Owen is almost 5 months and I've been wanted to create some custom books for him to read.  He LOVES books so I thought it would be cute to make a customized book for him for Valentine's Day.  

You have the option of creating photobooks through Tiny Print’s sister site, Shutterfly which is where I created my custom book.  I love the photobook options they have to choose from along with the sizes and quality of the paper and images.  I have created previous photobooks from them and absolutely love how they have turned out.  

Here are some of the cute options for creating a baby photobook.  There are ABC books already started so you can pop in pictures for each letter.  I went deeper and created a custom ABC book for Owen  using my own alphabet (A for About Owen, B for Ball, C for Cousins).  Here are some cute pictures of my photobook for Owen.

Here is a template for the ABC book where you can easily pop in pictures and change the text if you want something quick and easy.

ABC Book

 I love how you can custom things just how you would like, I chose a template and then went to their huge database to choose which fonts, backgrounds, and more that I wanted to use in my photobook.  For Mother's Day I'm thinking about creating a Grandma Brag Book.  This would be so cute to give both grandmas so they can see the cute pictures of Owen!

Grandma Brag Book

For his first birthday, I'm excited to create a "First Year" book for Owen.  I love this template with monthly images to add for each month.

Year of Firsts

Another one of my favorite photobooks is the Pregnancy Journal.  I took pictures each week of my pregnancy and think it would be cute to put it together in a book for Owen to read.  

Pregnancy Journal

With over 20 different options for baby photobooks and 200 different photobook template designs in total (from marriage, anniversary, and more), you can find which photobook you want to create and share memories with. Other personalized photo gifts like these photobooks can be found here.

Look who is 5 months!

How many diapers do babies go through?

Any guesses how many diapers babies will go through?  I saw these numbers from Babies R Us and I was shocked, especially since my numbers are very different from these so far.

Newborn/Size 1 (NB up to 10 lbs, Size 1 up to 14 lbs) = 320 diapers
Size 2 (up to 18 lbs) = 870 diapers
Size 3 (up to 28 lbs) = 870 diapers
Size 4 (usually used until potty trained) =728 diapers

Owen will be 5 months in a week and we are still on Size 1.  We've gone through at least 3 or 4 boxes of the 200 packs so far ( including Newborns) but our little niece started Size 1 diapers during her first month so they didn't really use Newborn sizes.  

I was telling my friend the best way to buy diapers is to do it in advance. That's what we did and I'm so glad because we've maybe bought a box of diapers and wipes since he's been born.  I told her that you get three free months with the Amazon Mom Program (through Amazon where you can save an additional 20% on diapers and wipes).  A monthly program is like $80 but about four months before Owen was due, we signed up and used the three free months to stock up on diapers which are already a discounted deal at Amazon, and then with the 20% I was saving I think $50 on my purchase a month.  I loved having the diapers available in my closet and bought up to a Size 2.  I definitely bought more Size 1 diapers then needed but am glad that we haven't had to run to the store in the middle of the night or pay for a lot of things for him recently which is nice.  

The first two months he was so expensive with buying things we didn't know we needed or wanted and so buying diapers ahead of time was an awesome plan.  So first time moms, I totally recommend buying diapers a few months out to save money and spread out how much you are spending because, believe it or not, babies can be expensive!

Sleep tips for a 4 month?

Owen started sleeping through the night the day he turned 3 months.  That day was amazing because I slept like a brick and woke up frantic as I looked at the clock and it was two hours after his normal 4am wake up time.  I have a monitor by my bed and saw he was ok and relief came over me... "he slept through the night!"
Well, let's fast forward to now.  This will be the fourth week that he's been waking up several times during the night, his favorite time is the 4am hour and he'll always need to eat. Doesn't matter when he goes to bed, 10pm, 12am... he will wake up in the 4 am hour to feed and won't go to bed unless he eats.  I know that's not terrible because sometimes that's 6 hours, but now it's been three times a night (around midnight, 4am, then 6am then up by 9am).
Any tips to help him sleep, hopefully this is a quick phase even though it's been a month right?  I don't think he's sick but I guess teething always is an option.