Berend: 9 Months

February 18, 2019February 24, 2019 nk330Leave a comment

Can you believe we’re 3/4 of the way through Berend’s first year?? Sometimes I feel a little sad when I see photos of when he was itty bitty, but I definitely enjoy him getting to be more independent and playful.

Age: 9 months on 15 February 2019
Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz
Height: 29.88 inches
Teeth: 5
Clothing Size: 12 months & 12-18 months
Diaper Size: size 3 in disposable and one size in cloth
Milestones: soooo close to crawling (he has done one knee forward, then back down to his belly), pincer grasp, perfecting his mouth sounds (tongue clicking, popping sounds with lips, spitting), plays “peek-a-boo,” can get into sitting position from laying down (but only at night in his crib), turns pages in board books, figured out the 360 cup

Likes: being carried around, putting everything in his mouth, bouncing (in his jumperoo, in our arms, while sitting), playing with Gerrit, tickles, baths, eating food, grabbing our faces and hair, banging on toys, sleeping in bed with Mama, the laundry room, trying to pull over the garbage can, being walked around the house constantly, playing in the kitchen, touch-and-feel books, playing with the springy doorstops throughout the house, pulling his socks off in the car

So I don’t actually have a picture of Berend looking at a touch-and feel book, but this past month is when he really started noticing and enjoying the different textures. I think his favorite book is “That’s Not My Monkey;” he actually giggles when we get to the page with the monkey with the hairy eyebrows. I love it!

Dislikes: getting his diaper or clothes changed, sitting down, long drives in the car, when Mama walks away/not being able to see Mama, getting his face washed

This particular moment was Mama-is-not-picking-me-up-immediately dislike. But I’m using it to encompass all of them.

Sleep: Ah sleep… what is sleep… More of the same here, really. We’ve had really rough nights where Berend is up every 45 minutes or so, and we’ve had better nights where he’ll throw in a 3 hour stretch of sleep. He has restless nights where I have to try over and over again to lay him back down in his crib, and then he has nights where he goes back to sleep easily. On restless nights, I usually just give up around 2am and bring him to bed with me. On good nights, he’ll make it until 5am in his crib until I bring him to bed… and that’s usually just to try to keep him from trying to wake up for the day before the sun rises. And speaking of… I think Berend finally actually enjoys snuggling with me in bed. I haven’t had to get out of bed and bounce him back to sleep in weeks! Sometimes when I bring him to my bed, he’ll look around for awhile, but then he just goes to sleep. It’s great for both of us… SLEEP!

I think the earliest Berend has woken for the day is around 6:30am, and he has maybe made it until almost 8am once in awhile. I can usually count on him waking between 7 and 7:30am though. Bedtime is anywhere between 7pm and 8:30pm depending on how naps went that day. I prefer a later bedtime so that he can eat dinner with us, but his bedtime really fluctuates lately. Overall in a 24 hour period, Berend averages 12.5 hours of sleep a day, which is on the low end for a baby his age.

Naps… Berend is still definitely bouncing between 2 and 3 naps a day. I thought he was going to be solidly down to 2 naps a day by the time he was 9 months old, but he still has pretty frequent short naps. For Berend, a short nap is about 35-45 minutes long. He very rarely naps longer than 1.5 hours at a time. He often will have days with three 35-minute naps, which is tough on all of us.

One point of progress: right before 9 months, Berend started once in awhile letting me rub his back to get him back to sleep in his crib instead of picking him up and swaying with him or rocking him in the glider. I don’t think I got to this point with Gerrit until after he was 2 years old, so it is a big deal! I hope it means he’s getting to the point of being able to put himself to sleep, because this mama really needs some more sleep at night.

The hardest thing when it comes to sleep is that we can do the exact same thing every day, and we get very different results. We keep looking at wake times, trying to get the “perfect” time to attempt naps, and what works one day doesn’t work at all the next day. It’s pretty frustrating! It’s so hard to make plans when there’s no set schedule.

Eating: I’d say this is an area that I just don’t worry much about. Berend breastfeeds pretty well, although he won’t take a full feeding unless he thinks he’s going down for a nap. So I have been known to fake a 3rd nap just to get him to fully empty a breast. He would probably nurse at every night waking if I offered it, but I try to hold off on feeding him unless it’s been 90 minutes or more.

Berend continues to love food! I’m often unsure of how much he has actually eaten (I find a lot dropped in his lap and on the floor), but I don’t worry about it as much as I did with Gerrit. I’m pretty good about offering two meals a day. I usually offer lunch and dinner, and when Andrew is home he usually gets breakfast and dinner. I need to get better about offering 3 meals a day next month, I think.

Mommy Update: Just trying to roll with everything lately. Andrew’s schedule is always changing. On days he flies, I can expect him to work a 14 hour day. On days he doesn’t fly, he’ll often just go in for a few hours to prep for his next flight. On flying days, he could be gone from 6:30am-8:30pm or 11:30am-1:30am… just depends when he’s scheduled. So some days I get to sleep in, some days he’s home so I can get Gerrit to preschool without bringing Berend… and on those days I’m often on my own when trying to get dinner cooked and on the table, getting the boys bathed, and getting through bedtime routines. Sometimes it’s tough.

I have started getting back into scrapbooking though! I’ve been itching to get back into one of my hobbies, and I remembered that I had all the supplies for my Project Life/365 scrapbook. This was a project I started 7.5 years ago. I took a photo a day (more or less) for a whole year starting when we packed up to move to England back in August of 2011. So I started printing photos from that year, pulled out the supplies I had for this specific project, and started working on the scrapbook in the evenings.

Having my own project to work on again definitely helps me. I need “me time” to be in a good place. And having something specific to work on is good for my mental health. Plus it’s been so fun looking through photos from our first year in England and our first year as a married couple. It really makes me want to go back!

Memorable Events: One memorable thing from this month was combining bath times! We decided to try out giving the boys a bath at the same time after Berend turned 8 months, 1) because Berend seemed very stable sitting in the tub, and 2) because Gerrit was resisting baths. I asked Gerrit if he’d like to take a bath with Berend one night because Gerrit was starting to never want a bath (“Can I just take one tomorrow?”), and he was thrilled about it. I only bathe Berend every 3 days to avoid drying out his skin, so now Gerrit is on the same bath schedule. And for winter, that works out fine! I think Berend enjoys his bath time no matter what, but Gerrit really likes having someone else in the tub with him, I think. So bath time almost always happens after Berend’s dinner but before Gerrit’s (and our) dinner, and it’s working out just fine.

Another memorable event was our “38 weeks in, 38 weeks out” photo. If you’ll remember, here I was at about 38 week pregnant:

And here we are with Berend 38 weeks out:

I can’t believe how much has changed between those two pictures! Gosh, I miss that pregnant belly. My pregnancy was definitely less comfortable the 2nd time around, but I loved feeling my big rounded belly and those baby kicks!

Berend also celebrated his first Valentine’s Day! Nothing too eventful for him, but I did try to get some cute brother photos. I wasn’t too successful…

And here is Berend’s February photo:

Berend, gosh we love you so much! Some days are hard, and some days you are so smiley… we love you no matter what. You are such a little bear cub… you want to just wrestle and tumble around with your big brother, and you legitimately growl when you are disgruntled or excited. We love you so much, B!

Crafts · Daily living

Berend’s Nursery

December 16, 2018 nk3307 Comments

I started planning Berend’s nursery before I was even pregnant with him. I knew I wanted to reuse as much as possible from Gerrit’s beach nursery, so it really narrowed down room themes for me. I needed something gender neutral with a set color scheme (light blue, turquoise, white, neutrals), so I settled on a winter look. Once I started looking on Pinterest, I quickly decided I wanted a Scandinavian/Nordic winter theme.

I loved the minimalist, simple look of Scandinavian decor, and my color scheme seemed perfect for a winter-y look. Plus being in base housing means white walls… perfect for a snowy look! I figured I would focus on blues if we had another boy, and I would bring in purples and some sparkle if we had a girl. Either way I wanted clean lines, simplicity, and a cozy feeling. Here was my favorite of my inspirations:

Something I liked about Gerrit’s nursery was that most of the items I got to decorate his room were things I planned to reuse elsewhere in our home once we changed up his decor. I wanted to do that again with Berend’s nursery, and a winter look meant I could use some pieces I already had for decorating for Christmas. The few items I purchased for his room are not baby-ish, so they’ll definitely make their way onto my mantel or counter top down the road. I think I actually did even better than I did with Gerrit’s nursery in that respect! One of the first items I bought was this nightlight from RH Baby & Child:

It wasn’t my first choice (I was going to go with an animal), but it was on sale, and once it arrived, I fell in love with it! It looks like a snow-covered cottage on Berend’s dresser, and it gives off just the right amount of light.

Because I was buying so little for Berend’s room, I decided to spend a little more to get the crib sheet I really wanted from Crate & Barrel:

It is so cozy! I love this crib sheet, and it looks perfect in Berend’s bed. I also bought a light blue cotton crib sheet for when it gets warm out again, but this flannel one is so nice for fall and winter.

One of my favorite parts of Gerrit’s nursery decor was the painting I made to hang above his crib. I really wanted to do that for Berend as well, but I am not much of a painter! Gerrit’s was fairly easy since it was just layers of color to look like a beach scene. But the thing I chose to do for Berend’s room would require a little more skill:

This is actually not a painting; it’s a napkin! I found it on Pinterest while searching for inspiration, and I loved this. It has the simple Scandinavian look I wanted, and it didn’t look too challenging. To make things easier on myself, I made stencils for the houses and the triangle trees. Everything else was me doing my best with some wine for confidence haha.

One thing that I had wanted to do for Gerrit’s nursery but never got around to doing was a mobile. This time, I found one that I thought I could do on my own:

Again I loved the colors and the geometric design! I ended up doing things a bit differently though, because I wanted a little more color against all the white I already had going on, and because I didn’t want to order more than two packs of beads to copy this design haha! Here is what I ended up with:

Obviously neither of these are perfect, but I really like how they turned out. I also love having that handmade touch in my baby’s room. Berend is almost 7 months old now, and he has started checking out the mobile while laying in his crib.

Here is his completed nursery! Looking in from the doorway:

Berend’s dresser, glider, and decor:

I haven’t decided if I’m 100% happy with where I have everything on the shelves, but this is how it looks right now.

I got a simple diaper caddy for the living room when we were in Little Rock, and I decided to just move it into Berend’s room when we moved to Clovis. It matches, and it holds what I need for the few diaper changes that actually happen in his room since it’s upstairs. I got the same sound machine I have for Gerrit (the updated version), and the “winter wishes” sign is something I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

The stone frame is from Gerrit’s beach nursery, and I found the little aqua colored lantern on Amazon.

I believe I got these little tealight holders when we lived in England, but I can’t remember where I got them from. They usually make their way onto our mantel for Christmas and winter, but for now they look perfect in Berend’s nursery.

This little polar bear mama and babies might be my favorite decoration in his room! I wanted to bring some bears into the decor once Berend was born, since his name means “brave as a bear,” and I was excited to find this set on Etsy. I was so happy with them when they arrived! It’s another thing I spent a bit more than I usually would, but it’s also something I plan to use in the future, and it’s meant to be played with as well.

We have the same glider from Gerrit’s nursery, I framed one of Berend’s newborn photos, and I picked up this simple metal basket from Walmart for his bedtime stories.

A close up of this corner of Berend’s room: the little two tier table is something I bought from a rummage sale page when we lived in North Carolina for Gerrit’s room. I’m happy it looks great in Berend’s nursery as well.

The little arctic fox is something I found on Zulily while I was pregnant with Berend, and we actually ended up with two copies of “On the Night You Were Born” when Gerrit was a baby. I moved one of the books into Berend’s room as decoration and to read. The curtains are also being reused from Gerrit’s beach nursery.

Over on the wall with Berend’s closet is this name art from my friend Emily. She had gotten a similar one for Gerrit when he was a baby, and I love that she thought to get one for Berend as well. On the floor is a simple wooden activity cube that we had gotten for Gerrit for his first birthday. Both boys still enjoy playing with it!

As I’ve mentioned in a lot of Berend’s monthly updates, he does not sleep well. So I’m happy to have this beautiful nightlight glowing in his room every night.

I did my best to capture it in low light so you can all see how sweet it is. For some reason, it really makes me happy to see it in the wee hours of the night/morning.

So there is Berend’s Nordic winter nursery! I feel like this theme took a lot more creativity and Pinterest inspiration than Gerrit’s nursery did since it doesn’t seem to be a very common theme. I’d love to hear your opinions, so please leave a comment for me!

Crafts · Daily living · Holiday

Fall Frenzy

October 5, 2017 nk3302 Comments

I grew up in the Midwest. When fall weather arrived, it was a little bittersweet. Summers just aren’t that long in Wisconsin! But I loved sweater weather. I loved hot cider, scarves, boots, snuggling up with a blanket… ahhh… fall.

Now let’s talk fall in Texas. The temperatures dropped into the 70s the last week of September, and it felt almost like fall. I was so excited!! But I didn’t feel the urge to snuggle up and be lazy. Oh no… I finally had the energy to get stuff done! I feel like the heat of summer sucked up every drop of motivation in me. As soon as that hit-me-like-I-opened-the-oven feeling outside was gone, I was ready to do all the things. I wanted to clean, decorate, blog, crochet, organize… I just had such a burst of energy and oomph to be productive! I feel like fall in the South is like spring in the North… you have that glimmer of better things to come, be it cooler weather after a brutal summer or warmer weather after a frigid winter, and you feel human again.

Obviously, you can see that I’ve been blogging again. Ah, I really had missed it. I had so many ideas for blog posts to write, and I just never made time to sit down and type them up! Part of it was not wanting to finish drafts that had been collecting cobwebs for months. So I deleted the ones I wasn’t interested in and moved on. I don’t know why I don’t do that more often. Purging and starting fresh does wonders for me in almost every aspect of my life that feels cluttered.

I’ve been thinking of ways to pare down on holiday decor as well. I think when we moved to North Carolina after being overseas for a few years, I had this need to go decoration crazy any time I went to a craft store! I definitely accumulated more”stuff” in my holiday decor bins, and it was honestly driving me a little crazy. So after I changed out my summer mantel for my fall one, I decided to just get rid of everything I didn’t use. And again… the sigh of relief. It’s like spring cleaning… in fall!

I’ve also decided to only use one wreath for our front door year round. I think it will be a work in progress, but I’m planning to just use a plain grapevine wreath and rotate things to attach to it. My fall wreath above is just a fall garland that I tied to the wreath with bits of yarn. It’s a little tedious, I suppose, to have to re-make a wreath every holiday/season, but it will save space! I mean, if I had unlimited space and resources, I’d have a wreath for Christmas, winter, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, spring, summer, 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving/fall. That’s 10 wreaths!! So over the next year, I’m going to experiment with my rotating wreath idea. If you have done anything similar, please share your tips!