5 Months

Here's a rambling update and lots of pictures of Baby Jack at 5 months old.

Baby Jack is getting so big and chunky that his legs keep getting stuck in the Bumbo chair. I'm not sure how much he weighs now, but it's definitely more than he did a month ago.

He drools and likes to have something to chew on all the time. His hands are preferred, but he will sometimes chew on his toys if he can get them into his mouth.

We spend our afternoons studying Thai with Jay. She loves Jack and Jack seems to like her quite a bit, too. The rest of the day is spent playing and occasionally making the journey to pick up Asher from school. Wednesday's have become our special play date day with Baby Daniel. Jack and Daniel love to look at each other and giggle.

This month we started using cloth diapers at night. I didn't think they could last the whole night, but they actually do better than the disposables. During the day I try to use the cloth as much as I can. I think I need a few more diapers so that I can not run out of clean diapers while washing the dirty ones.

Jack can roll over when he really wants to get something and he is getting closer to being able to sit up on his own. He is pushing up higher and higher when he's on his belly and he tries to grab and bat at everything near him.

Still no teeth and no solid food, but I'm really not in a hurry for either. I'm pretty satisfied with Jack staying little and low maintenance for a while longer.

He is sleeping better than he was a few weeks ago. At night he always sleeps good and he usually will take at least one long nap and a few shorter naps each day. I keep trying to get him on a schedule, but things are always changing and it's been hard to be consistent with his nap times. I did try to take him out of the swaddle blanket recently. After a few nights of him waking up a lot we decided he wasn't quite ready to sleep with his arms free.

Jack's favorite things are getting tickled by Daddy and being near Asher. He is always giggling when he is around those two.

Two Months

Baby Jack is two months old. We went to the doctor this week so he could get some shots and he weighed 11 lbs. 10 oz. (5.275 kg) and was almost 23 inches (58 cm) long. I always think that Jack is bigger than Asher was at this age, but at two months old Asher already weighed 12.5 pounds and was 24 inches long.

Jack is still an easy baby and really doesn't cry unless he gets really hungry. He's on a good schedule, eating every 3 hours during the day and taking 2 hour naps, and he sleeps all night long. For a long time he liked to be awake from about 6 pm - 11 pm, but the past few nights he has gone to bed around 8 pm, woken up to eat at 11 pm and then slept until 7 am. I definitely can't complain. During the day he sleeps on his belly in his crib and at night we swaddle him and put him on his back. When we are out during the day he will nap in the Moby Wrap and when my Thai tutor is here he usually naps while getting passed back and forth between the two of us.

Asher gets excited every time we go get Jack up from a nap. He can't wait until he can see him, but then as soon as I pick Jack up Asher starts asking (and demanding) that I put Jack down. It's a little love/hate thing, but overall I think Asher sort of likes having him around. Jack definitely loves Asher, he gives Asher the biggest smiles and giggles.

Now that Jack is bigger the cloth diapers fit him even better, he even wears them out of the house (I was a little scared to do that at first because Jack was too skinny and the diapers would leak a little bit). He still wears a disposable overnight, but I think I'm going to try cloth one night and just see what happens.

Jack spends most of his awake time playing with the play gym, hanging out in his swing or sitting on the couch with me while Asher plays cars. We have been taking him to the park in the evenings, but he has yet to stay awake long enough to actually see the park. The taxi ride puts him to sleep every time.

We are having so much fun with Baby Jack and this next month should be even more fun. Baby Jack is taking his first trip to the beach next week and then his first airplane ride the week after that.

1 Month

Jack turned one month old on Monday. At his one month check-up he weighed 10 pounds (4.55 kg) and was 21.5 inches (54.5 cm) long.

So far Jack is an easy baby. He doesn't cry much and he sleeps pretty good. A few times last week he slept through most of the night and even when he doesn't sleep all night he goes right back to sleep after eating. We swaddle him at night and he seems to really like that. He is eating great and obviously gaining lots of weight. Mimi gave him a bottle for the first time while she was here. He attacked it, drank 4 oz. and then got handed over to me to eat even more.

During the day he mostly naps on the couch or in my lap. It's not that he won't sleep in his bed, it's just that I am having so much fun laying around in the afternoons holding him. We have started putting him in his bed for naps in the morning and as long as we put him on his belly he sleeps really well.

My mom brought all of the cloth diapers with her, so within the past two weeks we have started using them. They are pretty bulky, but seem to fit Jack for the most part and they give him a sweet cloth diaper booty.

After a month Asher still really likes having Baby Jack around. He likes to know where he is and what he is doing at all times. I am so thankful that Asher adjusted well to his role as big brother.

My Baby Wish List - Update

Yesterday morning I woke up to a wonderful email from the VERY generous folks at Cotton Babies:

Dear Roger & Courtney,
Your family has been approved to receive a Diaper Grant from Cotton Babies.
Your package will include:

* 15 bumGenius One-Size diapers (3 white, 4 butternut, 4 twilight, 4 grasshopper)
* 2 packages of Cotton Babies flannel wipes
* 2 extra one-size inserts
* 1 XL Bummis Tote (purple)
* 1 S Bummis Tote (red)
* 1 bottle bum Genius! Bottom Cleaner

Praise the Lord! I was blown away by this company's generosity. When I applied for the grant I was thinking I would just get a few diapers, but instead they are setting us up so that we can easily cloth diaper this new baby boy.

I also got an awesome deal on a travel swing on Ebay. It is currently sitting at Mimi's house waiting to be packed up and brought to us when she comes to visit this new little guy.

And to top it all off Mimi went by one of our favorite consignment shops to find that all of the summer clothes were $1 each. She loaded up on newborn and 3-6 month clothes. Asher and I spent a long time on skype last week checking out her purchases. The newborn clothes are actually already here in Bangkok (they came in a box with Asher's birthday presents) and the rest of the clothes will come with Mimi in January.

I am getting so excited about this new little guy joining our family and watching the Lord provide for our family.

And of course I am always excited about spending my days with this big guy!


He will be two next week. I can't believe it!

My Baby Wish List

Since we are having another precious little boy and I brought a lot of our baby stuff with us there's really not much I need to get before our new little guy joins us. I put together a little wish list of the things I would love to have. I would love to hear what you think. Have you used any of these things? Do you love them? Hate them? Think they are a waste of money? Let me know!

A Baby Carrier
I'm wanting to get either a Action Baby Carrier or Ergo Baby Carrier with Infant Insert. Originally I was sold on the Ergo (thanks Beth Puckett!), but now I am leaning towards the Action Baby Carrier (ABC). The ABC is cheaper ($90 vs. $105 for Ergo and $25 for Infant Insert), comes in pretty colors and from what I have read online it is the best structured carrier when it's hot outside. The Ergo comes highly recommended and I know it works well, so I'm still having a little trouble deciding. I thought I had hit the jackpot a few days ago on the Bangkok Craig's List when I found a used Ergo for sale. Then I saw the price. The lady wanted nearly $200 for it because she bought it new in Bangkok for around $275.
Any suggestions or personal experiences?

Boppy Travel Swing
Asher loved swinging when he was little and thanks to my cousin Kelly we were able to borrow a swing while we were living with Mimi. Maddie Jackson slept sweetly in her Boppy swing the first time I met her and I love that it's super small. The bad thing is that I can't find it for sale anywhere except Ebay. The good thing is that I can buy a used one on Ebay at a reasonable price. I did actually come across a Fisher Price travel swing here in Bangkok for only $222.15 (actual retail price at Babies R Us in the States $69.99). I think I will be sticking to Ebay.

Cloth Diapers
I have a few and I applied for a cloth diaper grant from Cotton Babies. I'm still waiting to see if I got the grant, but if that doesn't take care of it this little one will probably just join Asher in the disposable diaper club.

3-6 month clothes
Asher was in the States during this time so all we have are winter clothes. I have Mimi shopping the consignment shops for me and I am keeping an eye out for sales now that it is time for Fall clothes in the States.

Personalized Boppy Cover
Asher had one, so it's only fair. If only the baby had a name...


Mobile
This was another thing that we borrowed for Asher while we were living with Mimi. I'm really not particular, so I'm just hoping to pick up one around here somewhere.

Baby Monitor
We had an old intercom thing that we used when Asher was little and we lived with Mimi, but it broke. I would really like to get one of those video monitors just so I could see what really goes on when Asher (and in the future his little brother) are going to sleep and waking up. Probably I will take what I can find, but I hope I don't have to buy it new. Like everything else they are way overpriced here.

Changing Table
This is like my ultimate dream. I've never had one before and really I figure that if I never had one with Asher I really don't need one (pretty much like everything else on this list). But it would be fun to have a nice organized place to put all of the diaper stuff. I found one here that matches the baby bed and seems pretty nice. Items like this leave me wishing that IKEA would just go ahead and come to Bangkok!

The Beginnings of a (Diaper) Stash

Today I bought cloth diapers. I wanted to use cloth diapers with Asher, but for a few reasons (um, we moved 5 times last year) it just never happened. Now that we are settled in and back in Asia, the land of no diaper coupons, I decided to take the plunge. And by taking the plunge I mean that I said, "I would love to use cloth diapers, but I'm not doing it unless somebody gives them to me, gives me money to buy them or I find used ones here in Bangkok." Well, so far nobody has read my mind and mysteriously sent me diapers, but I did find some for sale last week.

I did some research and found out that used cloth diapers are a good option. The lady I contacted was from England and so most of the diapers she was selling were British brands. They all had good reviews online, so this morning Asher and I went out to her house to see what she was offering and get a quick lesson on how to use cloth diapers.

Sidenote: She lived really far away. And we went during rush hour.

She didn't have any diapers for a baby Asher's age, she was just selling some of the diapers she used when her children were younger. While I would love to go ahead and start using cloth diapers with Asher I figure that this way I will at least have cloth diapers for Baby #2.

I'm still learning all of this cloth diaper lingo, but I think that today I bought 3 pocket diapers (size small), 5 cloth diapers (the kind that have to have a cover over them) and 4 diaper covers. Of course she was British so I bought nappies and wrappers with poppers.

Here's the stash.



She had a lot more, but they were all for little boys and at this point there's a 50/50 chance that we will be having a girl. I told her I would get back to her once I found out what we were having. I did go ahead and get one blue diaper because it was cute and even if we have a girl this could be the diaper she wears for UK games.

I put one of the diapers on Asher tonight and it just barely fit him. If our next child is the same size as Asher these diapers should easily fit him or her until they are close to 18 months old.



And by the way, I paid about $40 for all of these diapers. I calculated later that if I had bought them new I would have spent about $175. I am not good at being thrifty, but I love it when I am!

And for those of you that are wondering the pocket diapers are Fuzzi Bunz and Happy Heinys and the other ones are Sandys with Motherease Wraps (they are British brands I think).

Money Saver

I'm really not the best at being thrifty, but I try. For example, I went to a yard sale a few weeks ago and got Asher a bunch of really cool toys for really cheap. Another big thing I have done is to shop at consignment shops for clothes. I am trying to buy most of Asher's clothes for the next several years and since I am shopping at consignment shops I have been able to get name brand clothing at a great price.

Usually my money saving ventures fail. We tried the whole Dave Ramsey put your money in an envelop thing. Didn't work. I threw away the envelope with the gas money in it and it made me into a cheapskate that wouldn't allow Roger to buy razor blades.

All of that to say that I thought of a new way to save money. Asher loves to swim and that meant we were going through a lot of swim diapers and those are some very expensive diapers. I reused some of them, but thought that there had to be a better solution. I searched online and found cloth swim diapers. I bought two different sizes of Imse Vimse swim diapers and these two diapers should last until Asher is potty trained.

So far they have worked well for us and as an added bonus Asher looks super cute in them!

I usually put swimming trunks over them, but sometimes he swims in just the diaper. I went ahead and only bought yellow and green so that any future children we may have could also wear them.

More Pool Time

This week we have been swimming almost everyday. We went with Mimi and few times and then spent an entire afternoon swimming and eating popsicles with the Powell boys. I didn't take any pictures (I was too busy trying to keep sunscreen on Asher's head and a pacifier in his mouth), but I do have some swimming pictures from a few weeks ago.



Don't you love Asher's baby (fake) Crocs? Actually I don't love them, I love the way they look, but he can get them off in a split second. They are probably one of the least functional baby items I have ever purchased. His swim shirt on the other hand, one of the best. It cuts way down on the amount of sunscreen he has to wear. An added bonus: he has the world's sweetest farmer's tan.

Today I received Asher's new swim diapers in the mail. They are Imse Vimse cloth swim diapers and I am very excited to try them out. Swim diapers are expensive and we have been using a ton of them lately, I am hoping that these cloth diapers will be an easy way to save money. I'm also not sure if I can buy swim diapers in Thailand. It's hot all the time in Thailand and I know we will be doing a lot of swimming, this way I know Asher will be prepared.