Meet BOB



"The BOB" is my new best friend.

Not too long ago I came to the conclusion that our old double stroller just wasn't cutting it. It was a front to back stroller and was becoming impossible to push. The weight distribution was not good. I could barely make it around the block with that thing. And my kids are not getting any lighter!

With summer heat starting to subside, I really wanted to enjoy fall by getting out and about. And I was desperate to lose my last 10lbs of baby weight. So, we sold the old stroller on Craigslist and after some research (and recommendations from some folks) we decided to get a BOB Revolution Duallie. Can I just say - BEST MOVE OF MY LIFE!

This stroller is awesome. It's amazing how easy it is to maneuver with 2 kids in it. While the BOB is an investment (and ya all know how frugal I am!), I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth in just the 6 or so weeks that we've had it. We are walking A TON! My goal is to work up to running with it, but let's not go crazy just yet!

The kids love it. They both fit in it very well and enjoy being side by side.

 I absolutely love how big the canopies are. The kiddos have shade no matter what angle the sun is at. I bet you can't even tell that in the picture below Wes is actually snuggled up under the canopy.

 Yep, he's already taken a few naps in there!

I've been walking in the neighborhood with the boys in the mornings. We've been walking as a family in the evenings. We have taken many walks on a nearby trail. I also walk down the road (a few miles each way) to my grandma's for a visit. Since it's a jogging stroller, we've been able to take it on rougher terrain than we could before. Just this weekend we took the BOB to an outdoor fair at church that was on a lot of grass and it worked great. This stroller is also nice for X to hop in and out of too when he decides he wants to walk for a bit.

And I'm happy to report that as of this morning I'm FINALLY back to my pre-baby weight! YEAH!!!!! I guess the saying "9 months up, 9 months down" really is true. Imagine if I'd been walking like this 6 months ago.

Thank you BOB!

Wordless Wednesday - Oh Crap, I'm Stuck!

Get Out of the Dishwasher!

Seems like every parent has to say this. Or maybe it's just me?

Wesley discovered the dishwasher a few weeks ago  Let's just say if the dishwasher door opens you will usually hear the smack of little crawler hands on the floor as Wes darts his way across the room to try and climb in. I pretty much have to wait until he's either sleeping or confined to the high chair in order to unload the dishwasher now. It's just too much work to pull him out of there 25 times. Plus I'm worried that his big ol chunky monkey booty is going to break the hinge on the door one of these days. That would not be good.

Shopping in the Basement

It has worked out really well that our boys were born in the same season. Wesley is pretty much able to wear all of Xavier's old clothes. Wes does seem to be growing slightly faster though (probably because the kid still eats 24/7).

I'm soooo ready for fall. I'm done with the heat and sweat. I'm hoping we are in the home stretch of summer clothes. Yesterday I decided to "shop" for Wes' fall wardrobe. It was so nice (and easy) to just head to the basement, pull out two totes, toss it all in the washing machine, and voila! Now Wes is all ready to go with a new wardrobe to get him through the next 6 months.

It doesn't get simpler than that!

Pull Pull Pull

My Little Cantelope Babies

Wordless Wednesday -- He's Pro Breastfeeding

{Wesley} 8 Months

Wesley turned 8 months old last week (I'm a little late in getting to this). A lot has changed in the past two months!

- Wes is about 19lbs now and he is growing out of all many of his summer clothes. We need fall to get here soon so we can mix in some bigger sized long sleeve stuff!

- Wes has 1 tooth now. He got is right around his 8 month birthday. It's in the front on the bottom. The one next to it is getting close to popping through as well.

- Our little man is a crawling machine. He gets all over the house very quickly. He also pulls up on anything he can get ahold of. He's been getting good use of his "baby Leggs" legwarmers to protect his knees from the hard floors.

- We are continuing to introduce new foods. In addition to nursing, Wes is now eating solids at lunch and dinner, occasionally at breakfast, and a few snacks here and there. He loves puffs and biter biscuits which are helpful to keep him occupied in the high chair when we are eating dinner. He generally eats rice cereal once a day and we've introduced a wide variety of fruits and veggies. We've already determined he's much more of a fan of fruits than veggies. But he'll eat almost anything if you put a dab of applesauce at the front of the spoon to disguise the veggie behind it :) I'm not sure he'll be spoon-fed much longer though because he's getting better at feeding himself chunks of real food and seems to prefer that. He also knows how to drink from a sippy cup now and loves water.

- I wish I could say that he's sleeping through the night now, but that would be a lie. Sleep continues to be a challenge sometimes, but he's getting better. Wes now takes 2 naps a day for anywhere between 40 minutes  - 2 hours each. He's sleeping 10-11 hours at night and lately has been getting up only once, maybe twice. Things change at any given moment with him and sleep though so I don't like to fool myself into thinking we're on to something when he has a few decent nights.

- The honeymoon is over between Xavier and Wes. Xavier is no longer Wes' favorite person, mommy is. Why you ask? Because mommy can save him from the torture of his older brother! Yes, now that Wes is mobile and grabby, Xavier feels the need to protect his stuff. This often results in Wes getting pushed in the head by X. It's been a difficult couple of weeks around here with lessons in kindness and sharing. Xavier does like to be with Wes and wants love on him and wrestle with him. Sometimes Wes is ok with that, but Wes isn't exactly a fan of having a 34lb kid laying on him. I can't blame him!

- In addition to moving around, Wes is more vocal now too. His first and only word is Ma Ma (melt my heart!!) which he likes to repeat over and over when crawling around to find me. He is starting to make the "ba" sound. He laughs all the time and likes to blow raspberries too.

- By far his favorite toy right now is the floor registers. Ugh! He's driving me insane with pulling them up and licking them. I've started securing them to the floor with packing tape. Xavier polices him too. I'll hear "No No Wessa" and X putting the register back in the slot.

Happy 8 months Wessa Blessa! Looking forward to your first Halloween next month!

Look on the Bright Side

A stomach bug descended on our house this weekend. Not fun. And surely not my first choice for how to spend the weekend. We had to cancel on a birthday party and our small group meeting. But, instead of dwelling on the bad, I'm going to try to remember the good things of this weekend.

1. Since we all got sick on a weekend Walter didn't have to take a day off work (good thing because he used all his days off for his surgery recently).
2. Walter got sick 18 hours after me so we were kind of able to switch off with the kids.
3. Wesley, aside from a few interesting diapers, managed to miss the bug.
4. Xavier never got sick in his bed or on the carpets, only on the hardwood floors. They are soooo much easier to clean up!
5. We had plenty of fun stuff for Xavier to watch on the DVR. Great way to keep him occupied and calm when we could barely stand up! Walter and I also watched Anchorman. Very funny!
6. The kids napped together both afternoons which meant Walter and I could nap too!
7. My mom brought us get well goodies and juice to hide the nasty tasting Pedialyte for Xavier.
8. Once he was feeling better, Walter changed all the sheets and did ALL the laundry (be still my heart!)
9. I really didn't have to cook the entire weekend.

Videos

Two cute videos of Wes!