0 - 7 months of Adam

0-7 months of cute

I know, I know, Adam is already 8 months old, but I haven't gotten around to making his eight month photos yet, so up till seven it is.

Adam, oh Adam, what a sweetie he is! He is the most easy going and happy little babe there is.
A little list of him at 7 months:
Loves: his brother, mah boobs, his dad, food
Hates: being stuck on his belly (even though he can easily roll to his back or scooch around)
Eats: everything, we're doing baby led weaning again, and Adam loves eating the same food we do. (for him I omit salt and make sure whatever is on his tray is soft enough for him to chew with his gums)
Teeth: nothing yet, but any day now
Breastfeeding: about 4 times a day and once or twice at night. Our schedule is usually: 7 a.m. , 12 - 12.30 p.m. , 4 p.m. , 7 p.m. , sometimes at 11 p.m. , and then at 2-3 a.m. I don't really mind that he still nurses at night, but it would be nice if he would give it up eventually.
Sleep: he does two good naps during the day, and at night he only wakes to nurse. Just like his brother he never puts up a fight when we put him down to sleep, I just lay him in his bed awake and he just falls asleep. I don't know how we got this lucky!
Moves: he can move from a sitting position to his belly and scooches around the house on his belly. He tries to pull himself up in the playpen and in his crib, he hasn't succeeded yet, but we definitely need to lower his crib asap!

I can't believe he's eight months already, time really does fly, but we're loving every second of it with him and his brother (maybe not eeeeevery second, but you know what I mean..)


Love, Maria

well hello!

My view right now

Hi! I'm still alive (if you follow me on Instagram you might know that)!

I just kinda lost all inspiration to write and maybe was in a bit of a winter funk, you know, the one all of blogland seems to be in ;).

But the days are getting longer again and Spring is around the corner, literally, this weekend it's supposed to be sunny and about 14 degrees (celcius), which is perfect spring weather! 

And I'm starting to miss blogging a little bit. 

So, although I won't be posting every day, I'll be writing a bit more. 

I don't have big, exciting things to write about, but maybe I'll be able to amuse you with my day to day thoughts and of course photos of the cutest little boys in the world! (Who are doing really well by the way, Micha is the funniest and naughtiest toddler I know and Adam is such a happy and cute 7 month old.)

Happy Friday!

Edit:
Also, this post by Crappy Pictures (do you know Crappy Pictures, you should, so funny!!) pretty much sums up why I kinda stopped blogging for a bit, and I also love, love, love this post about being mediocre and being fine with that. :)

Love, Maria

our holidays

I'm so behind with blogging I'm not even going to bother catching up with all different posts about our Christmas, New Years Eve or New Years resolutions.

So I'll just lump them all together in this post.

Christmas was great, New Years was fun and I have a few resolutions that I'll probably forget about by the end of January.

// 

We had B.to ourselves for two whole weeks, which was awesome. 

I'm so grateful that he has a good job teaching at a highschool, but the days are long and he only gets to see the boys for about an hour each day. Micha loved having him around and so did I.(Adam is still a bit indifferent about the guy, kidding!)

//

Christmas

 We spent Christmas Eve and morning at home where we opened presents and went to a beautiful Christmas service at church. Later on on Christmas day we went to B.'s parents house. We headed to my parents the day after that, which in Holland is called 'Second Christmas day' (we like to spread out our holidays here in Holland, we also have '2nd Easter day' and '2nd Pentecost day').

Almost all of my brothers and sisters and their family's were there, so it was a full house, but so fun.

//

NYE

Like every year for the past five years we celebrated New Years Eve with our friends. It started out with just the six of us all those years ago and now we have five kids added to the mix. Micha woke up at midnight from all the fireworks, so we brought him outside to see them, he was so excited!

//

We filled the rest of our days with outings and walks and just enjoying time together. 

We took our annual 'fall' hike photo, which we forgot to do when B. had his Fall vacation. 

I love seeing how this little family of mine is growing! 

What a blessing!

I can't wait to see what 2015 will bring for us!(and, no, I don't mean a baby..:) )

Love, Maria

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

our christmas card this year: 

(no spectacular announcements like last years)

May the true meaning of Christmas fill your hearts and homes.

Love, Maria

a christmas tradition

I'll share our special Christmas tradition in a moment, 

but let me begin by introducing the Worlds Best Babysitter Ever!!

World, meet Christmas Tree (he keeps Adam busy for ages) :

'hello!'

only kid friendly ornaments on the tree this year!

//

Now, for our Christmas tradition:

Every Christmas since Micha's been born, we've made a little memento ornament for the Christmas tree, and it's become a precious tradition (last years ornament)I hope to keep alive for many years to come.

 This year we attempted to make Cinnamon Applesauce ornaments, using (as the name says) cinnamon and applesauce in equal quantities (I used half a cup of each) to make a dough and than baking the shapes in the oven for a while to harden them.

As per usual with Pinterest ideas it looked a whole lot easier online than it was in real life. 

The dough came together quite well, but it was super sticky, and it was hard to roll out. 

I finally ended up rolling it out between two pieces of baking paper. 

Cutting out shapes wasn't too easy either, to be precise: the cutting wasn't that hard, but moving the cut out shapes from the table to the baking tray was a bit tricky.

look at that concentration!

Micha and I made little hearts and two gingerbread men (one for Micha and one for Adam), and they turned out pretty cute. 

After they had hardend up in the oven I decorated the gingerbread men ornaments with a bit of white paint in a piping bag to resemble icing.

They did seem a little fragile, so we ended up making some back up ornaments in case the cinnamon ones break:

this one is Adam's , it says '1st Christmas'.
I dipped his little fingers in paint and pressed them onto the ornament

Micha painted and 'glitterized' his ornament all by himself

//

Even though it was all a bit messy and tricky, it smelled heavenly and we had fun!

And we held onto our own little family tradition!

Score!

Love, Maria

Do you have any fun Christmas traditions? Do tell!

life lately + Adam 5 months

 - brothers enjoying each other. 

Adams face lights up whenever he sees Micha and Micha is mostly so sweet and gentle with Adam. Already Adam loves it when Micha is acting silly, 

I can only imagine how much fun these two will have once Adam gets older

//

- saying goodbye to a beautiful and sunny fall. 

I'll miss the pretty views from my livingroom window.

//

- this funny monkey is growing up.  

 We said goodbye to his soother last week. 

I was kind of dreading the moment but we felt it was time. 

So we made a little party out of it with balloons and his favorite food and then let him throw his soother in the garbage. We told him he could pick out a toy the next day. 

There were a few rough nights (especially the first), but things are going a lot better again and there's no searching for soothers in the middle of the night anymore!

//

- this cutie pie is now a five-month-old! 

 After a pretty rough week about a week ago, things are settling down again. 

He seems older and even rolled over for the first time. 

I'm able to put him down for his nap awake and he falls asleep by himself, which is so great!

He's a smiley, happy, giggly baby and we all love him like crazy!

// 

This week I'm going to decorate the house for Christmas 

and on Saturday we're putting up the Christmas tree! 

So excited!

Love, Maria

Thank goodness he's cute!

I should be going to bed instead of writing this little post. 

Adam has been kicking my butt the last few days, and I'm pretty exhausted.

I don't know what it is, teeth (already?), gas, or just a fussy phase? 

Whatever it is, I'm over it! I can't wait for him to be over it too!

I know he will, I know thát much, as a second time mom. 

With Micha I would always panic if his mood changed, 

and I would be so scared he would stay fussy forever. 

But, luckily, every hard stage comes to an end eventually, 

that is, until the next one comes around the corner (haha, life with a baby is so much fun).

It is pretty hard though, to see the big picture when you're in the thick of sleepless nights, fussy days, and toddler tantrums and all the frustration that comes with that. 

Every now and then I just need to take a deep breath and remind myself that 'this too shall pass'.

And, lucky for him: he's cute! So we used one of his nap strikes to do a little photo shoot. 

(Can't stay frustrated with such a cutie for long, right?)

Love, Maria