loving it

When a baby gets past the "newborn needy" stage and a parent gets past the "I don't know what I'm doing" stage.... things get fun!  And I'm loving it.

And sometimes you need to do random things to make the day even more fun.  So Obi took a bath one afternoon.

I'm loving wrinkly baby bottoms. 

He's loving to kick in the water.

I'm loving the hair after bathtime.  Obi is not loving the pink towel. 

I'm loving dressing him up :)  And I'm loving 75cent totally impractical baby bath robes :)  

... and Obi is not loving the bathrobe.  Just keeping it real over here! 

July and vaca baby

July has brought a lots of mini-vacations for Momma and baby.  Therefore, little blogging. But maybe I'll catch up.  I'll give you a teaser for some pictures I should post sometime... something to do with Obi, bathtime, and a mini-bath robe. :)

A must have for babies in the car... a mirror to see what they're up to, a cover of some sort to adjust as a sun shade, and a pacifier clip.
With a 12 week old baby.... it is a lot easier to go places. Or maybe I'm just getting more brave.  Yeah, he cries some in the car.  But that's why I got a pacifier clip for his car seat.  Because of this pacifier clip-- I've deemed it safe to drive with my left hand and reach back and find the pacifier with my right hand. I think he knows that driving is one time he'll always get his pacifier.

I took this picture from the front seat. Obi looks so thrilled to be a traveling baby.  I loved how he was holding the ribbon of the pacifier clip.

In other not so cute news... a few weeks ago Obi and I got pulled over for speeding :(  But let go with a warning :)  It may have helped that he started crying. And I may have teared up a little as well.  I've only gotten pulled over one other time several years ago so, FYI, this is not a usual occurance! Since then, I've gotten better at watching my speed... and watching out for cops. 

One year of Dory

July 5th (I think...) marked one year of our Craigslist cat, Dory, entering our home.  She's come a long way from those early days of hiding under the couches :)

I thought I'd flip through some pictures of our cat, and realized I have a ton of her and Ben!  I'll post about Ben on my blog... he post about me on his Twitter.  We're even.

                       

 But lately, somebody got swapped out as "nap buddy"

Sorry, Dory.

summer weekends

July is my month of mini-vacations!  But in June... it was our month of stay-cations.  Lots to do in this city in the summer!

  (These photos are a little old already because Obi is clearly much smaller than today!)

Something happens to a college city when the students leave.  It comes alive in a whole new way.  All the sudden, there is parking spots downtown and less mopeds on the road.  It also seems like it takes a little less time to get across town.

And there's tons of stuff to do on weekends.  And when there isn't anything "official" happening, there's always tons of garage sales.

I am loving my weekends lately.  It means I survived another week and we get 2 full days with Ben!  I can see so much more why God designed a child to have two parents.  Sometimes you just need to hand them off!

Our philosophy is that we will do what we would do normally. And with our baby, we will adjust accordingly!  Learning lots of flexibility and patience.  And an all around "new way" of doing things!


Here's us at a blues festival.

Did you hear about the landfill fire?  This was the night it happened and you can see the smoke in the background.  We are several miles away at this point. 

Then a weekend with some downtown family fun.

And a weekend with some lake and family/friends fun! 

  

Oh what a weekend can do to your mental health. :)

2 months

2 months today!  Official doctor 2 month stats on Tuesday.  I think it's safe to say he's grown!  Just for fun, I recreated a photo shoot from a few weeks ago. 

Looks like that onesie is a little more tight and those shorts fit a little differently!   

Here's some Obi things I want to remember..... First haircut at almost 8 weeks!  Just a trim of the mullet and sideburns.  He is liking bath time a little more.  He can "work out" in his baby gym happily for at least 10 mins.  He likes his MAM pacifier.  He will take a lot of mini vacations this summer, with his first one a few days ago to Kansas City!

Two months have flown by and gone slow all at the same time. I feel like I've got this kid mostly figured out :)  I know that most of his dirty diapers happen in the morning. He's got about 90 minutes (give or take 15) of happy awake time before he becomes cranky and needs to take a snooze.  Though sometimes it seems he just cries and fusses because he wants to!  Stepping outside will generally help that.  We haven't done as many walks lately because it's been so hot. And he gets sweaty fast.  Napping has gotten better-- and maybe I've gotten a little more relaxed about it.  I'll often encourage his afternoon nap by napping with him :)  Nighttime sleeping is going well, getting several hr stretches and I usually get up just once to feed him. He's got a pretty consistent morning wake time between 7-7:30am.  We've got a good little routine going and I feel like I'm at least starting to fit into a "mommy groove" of daily life.  

...and we'll send you out with a smile :)

Oh summer....

 He is a Cyclone baby in Hawkeye city-- I know, we are setting him up for a rough life.

That picture was a already a month ago now.... I'm just now getting around to talking about it and sharing it on the blog!

There was a brother's birthday celebration, bridesmaid dress shopping, a friend's wedding, and 2 senior siblings' graduations, and time with both families/extended family!


Obi met lots of great aunts and uncles, great grandparents, mom and dad's friends, cousins, many second cousins, ... and lots of other admirers :) 

Here's Obi and his cousin who is 6 days younger!  It was so much fun to be pregnant with my sister-in-law and she has been my official go-to person with all my baby questions :)

Obi and his cousins. 

Their grandchildren doubled with the arrival of these two. Can you tell that they're loving it?

Us at a friend's wedding.

And sometimes when I'm bored and he's happy-- I dress him up and do photo shoots :)

Photo at 5 weeks....

Miss Kendra, you gave him this outfit!  It's a newborn size and I had to see how it fit-- so we did a little dress up time and photo shoot.  Does Gap need any baby models???  Obi Jensen is ready. Well, he's got the serious look down, but still working for that baby smile!

These were taken today at 7 wks 1 day old 

If not Gap- then how about Ralph Lauren??  His agent is standing by.

So hard to capture that little grin on camera!  He makes us work really hard for his smiles!  Maybe in a few weeks we won't have to work as hard. 

No, his hair has not fallen out one bit.  It's grown longer and it's coming in blonde.  With the summer heat I'm considering trimming up the sideburns (which now gets in his eyes) and the mullet. I put a poll on facebook to gauge the public's reaction :) We'll see. 

we still have a cat

Since April 30th, this blog has been taken over by little Obi. But you haven't forgotten Dory that cat, have you??

She's been adjusting well to Obi. She looks at him funny when he squeaks and prefers not to be in the same room when he cries.  And her newest thing is sitting on the other side of the boppy pillow while Obi is eating.  Silly cat.

Bad cell phone picture that I had to brighten a ton-- but it's the only camera taking thing I had within reach of me!