The Grieves Family

Monday, September 17, 2012

A Day in the Life - Eli

This post chronicles "A Day in the Life" for Eli. If you've ever wondered what he's up to every minute of every day, here it is! If you haven't ever wondered that, I don't blame you :) I'm writing this post for two reasons. 1) He changes so dang often that I can hardly remember what our life looked like last week, and I want to remember this precious time I've had at home with him for the last 11 weeks. 2)Ashley over at The Domestic Wannabe does 'a day in the life' every Wednesday and I love it. I just enjoy seeing what other people are up to. Especially people I don't know. Oh what blogging has done to our society. We used to have diaries with locks on them...now we broadcast our every thought for the world to know. But I digress.

6:00 am - Little man starts hollering from the other room (yes, hollering. Our kid has some pipes). It seems he has finally dropped his middle of the night feeding (yay!) so sometimes we struggle to make it until 6:00, but today we do! Ryan goes in to get him while I pump for a couple of minutes so the poor child doesn't choke.

Morning stretches

6:30 am- He's done eating and Daddy takes him to the living room to play for a while before he leaves for work. Eli is very generous with his smiles these days, but is still pretty stingy with his laughs. He saves most of them for his daddy in the morning and at lunch time.

7:45 am - Eli and I have spent the last 30 minutes playing and reading books and now he's getting a little cranky which means he's tired. I set him in his bouncy seat (and buckle him in because the kid could wiggle across the room if I let him) and give him his paci. We have this special paci that automatically causes his eyes to get heavy when you stick it in his mouth. It's awesome :) I head to the kitchen to clean up my breakfast stuff mainly because if I'm within eyesight he'll watch me instead of fall asleep. It's not long before I hear silence and find him fast asleep. So now I must decide: be productive or nap. Today it's productive....tomorrow it will probably be nap.

Sleepy baby

9:50 am- Eli starts to stir so I quickly clean up the Modge Podge mess I've created. Yep, that's right, I'm working on a project. A very simple project that I've had the supplies for since I was 6 months pregnant. Crafts are not my forte.

10:00 am- Brunch for the little man. He's a great eater when he's awake and hungry. Sometimes he would rather sleep than eat, but he'll always give me a good 20 minutes at least. We play for a little while, he poops, I change his diaper, he spits up, I clean the floor, he laughs, etc.

11:00 am- We are out the door for a run/walk. A few weeks ago I blogged about my attempt at getting back in shape. Since then I found out that you're not really supposed to run with a baby as small as Eli because he doesn't have the neck strength to support his head over all of the bumps. Well, crap. Minus one for my mom score. The doctor said I better stick to speed walking. The thing Doc doesn't realize is that my running pace can probably be equated to speed walking. Therefore, I've compromised. We only run on really smooth sidewalks and never up and down the curbs. And, for Eli's sake, I better continue to keep my pace really slow. :)

12:00 pm - We're back and waiting patiently for Daddy to get home for lunch. All three of us are going to miss this time when I go back to work. Eli sits in his bouncy and plays with his waterfall while Ryan and I eat. E started to pay attention to his friends Pete (the parrot) and Marv (the monkey) a few weeks ago, but just the other day he figured out that if he reached out and hit Pete he would spin around and around. Yay for hand-eye coordination development E-man!

1:00 pm - Daddy is gone and Eli is yawning/being cranky again. Time for a nap! He usually doesn't go down as easily for this nap. I carry his bouncy back to his room, strap him in and give him his paci. His eyes don't immediately get heavy - is his magic paci broken?? But he's calm, so I give him a kiss, turn on his white noise machine, and leave to clean up the kitchen. I watch him on the monitor for a while and see that he is quiet, but not asleep. His arms and legs are going 100 mph just like usual. A few minutes later he starts to whine. I let him fuss for a little bit hoping he'll calm himself down. He starts to get mad so I go back in and give him his paci. This time his eyes close almost immediately. The paci isn't broken! I head out and when I check the monitor a few minutes later, he's passed out. As you know, he has fought his naps for about the last 6 weeks, but finally I've figured out that if I put him in a quiet place for his afternoon nap he does much better. I usually have to go in and soothe him/give him his paci once, but then he's good to go.

2:00 pm - Lunch time for Eli! Same routine - eat, play, poop, change, spit-up, read a book, and then I lay him down under his play gym to play with the animals and watch the mobile. He loves his mobile and the animals! The other day he laid under his play gym and entertained himself for 25 minutes straight! He just talks and laughs and has a good time with his colorful, plastic friends :) I'm trying really hard to find activities to help him experience the world around him and help him learn. Sometimes that's difficult for a 2 month old, but we're working on it!

3:00 pm - We have errands to run today. This time of the afternoon is very hit or miss with his naps. Sometimes he'll sleep, sometimes he won't. He has slept well today and doesn't seem to interested in sleeping right now so we head out to take care of some business.

5:00 pm - We're home and E's asleep in his carseat. I take him out and lay him on his tummy. He stays there until Daddy gets home to play around 5:30. The boys play a little until it's time to eat again.

6:00 pm - Dinner time for Eli.

6:30 pm - Dinner time for Mama and Daddy. Eli hangs out in his bouncy and watches us eat. Again, he is getting so good at entertaining himself as long as he has something to look at or listen to. Sometimes I'll even prop a book in front of him so he can stare at the pictures.

Hey Marv - how's it hangin??

7:15 - Eli's witching hour. What does that idiom even mean? Anyone know? In this instance it means our little boy gets cranky but has no interest in taking a cat nap. At this point, we try to appease him as best we can, which usually turns into Daddy/Eli cuddle time while mom heads to the gym to work out. Tonight is bath night so I can't be gone long!

8:15 pm - Bath time. Yay!!! Eli LOVES his baths. And Ryan and I love how happy he his when we give him a bath. Pretty sure the kid just likes to be naked. I mean who wouldn't like some freedom from having a diaper strapped to you all day?

Look dad - I can make bubbles!

8:45 pm - Time for one more feeding, a clean diaper, a sleep sack (no more swaddles), kisses and he's down for the night.

9:15 pm - Ry and I spend 45 minutes watching TV/hanging out before we hit the sack. However, once I go back to work, I have a feeling I'll only be about 5 minutes behind Eli at bed time.

There it is....a peek into our day. However, this post is only valid for about another 24 hours before E-man gets to start spending his days with Miss Dawn. We feel very, very lucky to have found someone wonderful to take care of our little boy. Eli is looking forward to spending his days with Dawn and his new friends Jayden and Maya. Mama is looking forward to Eli learning to adjust to new people/situations and getting some social interaction (this is what I keep telling myself to make going back to work easier). This is going to be a big week! Here we go...

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

What a Difference a Year Makes

A year ago we were enjoying football season footloose and fancy free.

A year later our picture looks a little different :)

We feel very blessed to have made such wonderful friends in college and to still be so close today. We have all been there for the boyfriends, the breakups, the engagements, the weddings, the heartache, the career decisions, the moves and now the babies :) Pretty excited for our boys to grow up together....and will keep waiting patiently for there to be a little one in Kara's arms too.

I have also loved every minute of becoming a mom right along side one of my best friends.

Emily and me waaaay back in the day :)

For those of you who don't know, one of my college roommates, Emily and I met up for lunch over Christmas break so I could surprise her with the news that I was pregnant. Turns out I wasn't the only one who was surprised when she responded with 'Me too!' (I will point out that Ryan had totally predicted this was going to happen. Good call babe). Since then there have been lots of phone calls, a great joint baby shower, and finally a visit so our little boys could meet. Eli and Dean are 5 days apart and already the best of friends. Can't wait for these two little boys to grow up together too. What a fun stage of life we are in!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Baby Check: 2 months

I know everybody says it and I know it's cliche....but 2 months already??? Where has time gone?

During the 2nd month of life things slowed down...a little bit. We still had some visitors and mama started taking you out on more and more errands. You also made your first road trip to Topeka and loved it! You were officially hired as mama's coach and have been on quite a few runs. You also had quite a few firsts! You gave your first real smile to daddy on August 11th. This also happened to be the day of your first major diaper blowout which led to your first real bath.

Please don't let him stick that snot-sucker up my nose again!

For a good week daddy was the only one who could get you to crack a smile, but pretty soon you started to think mama was kind of funny too. You also survived your first illness which may or may not have been related to your first week of Kappa recruitment. You are definitely recognizing mama and daddy's faces and usually give us some pretty good smiles when you see us. Your personality is developing every day and it is so fun to see the little boy you are growing up to be. We thank Jesus everyday that he created such a sweet little boy and entrusted you to our care. We're doing the best we can to love you and teach you and help you grow. Love you little man.

Hurry up mom, my head is getting heavy!

And I'm spent.

At two months you:
- Smile. A lot :)
- Laugh....mainly at your daddy.
- Recognize mom and dad's faces and usually give us smiles when you see us.
- Are happiest right after you've eaten.
- Coo and gurgle and make all sorts of funny noises.
- Poop like a MAN - red face, leg lifted, grunting and all.
- Have upgraded to the bath tub. And you LOVE the water. Yay!
- Get cranky when you're tired and mad when you're hungry. Just like your mama :)
- Have some pipes! When you're mad, you can get loud!
- LOVE hanging out with your BFF - Fan. Mom, dad and every toy in the world could disappear as long as you have the ceiling fan.
- Survived your first illness. Viral stomatitis made you a feverish, sleepy baby who had no appetite for about 5 days, but you rebounded like a champ.
- Don't love tummy time, but you're getting stronger every day!
- Never stop moving! Your legs kick and arms punch almost constantly.
- Enjoy looking out the window, laying on your boppy, watching your waterfall, reading books, singing songs, and dancing.
- LOVE your mobile. You will lay and stare and laugh at your mobile longer than anything else....except Fan.
- Have found your hands. You suck on them, stare at them and have learned to open and close them. When mama and daddy hold you over our shoulder, you like to 'scratch' our backs :)
- Are awake and alert much more throughout the day. You are also able to entertain yourself for much longer periods which means mama has no excuse to not empty the dishwasher.
- You eat every four hours during the day - 6 am, 10 am, 2 pm, 6 pm and 9 pm. In between feedings you mainly like to play, but sometimes like to fuss.
- Naps? Take 'em or leave 'em.
- Have worked and worked to sleep longer at night. You built up to about 6.5 hours before you got sick, but then dropped back down to 4.5 hours for a while. Then....two nights ago...bam! 7.5 hours. And last night? 8 hours. Please, oh please, let this sleep pattern be here to stay!

Getting so big!

Sweet Eli, you are constantly growing and learning and changing. Just when we think we have you figured out, you give us something new to learn. You are no longer a newborn even though you still have that sweet itty-bitty-baby cry. We love that you are becoming more interactive and can't wait to watch you continue to grow. We love you baby boy.

2 month Stats:
Weight: 11 lb. 7 oz - 40%
Length: 23.5 in - 70%
Head: 39.3 cm - 30%

Monday, September 3, 2012

It's Tradition

I love traditions. And this weekend was filled with traditions - starting with a Saturday full of college football. Is there a better time to live in a college town?

But dad, why can't I go to the game?!?!

We all got decked out in our purple ready to cheer on our Cats. Unfortunately, Eli isn't quite up for the games yet which means he and I (and Aunt A) hung out at home while everyone else endured the sun, humidity and heat. I definitely missed the crowd, the Wabash, the team running out on the field and the K-S-U echoing through the stadium, but I didn't envy everyone sweltering in the sun while I hung out with my baby in the air conditioning.

Goooo Wildcats!

I also love traditions that involve all the people I love. And good food. The big # 2-9 is coming up this Friday, which meant a Labor Day weekend celebration was in order. My birthday always falls on or around Labor Day and when I was in college I would usually come home for the long weekend. While I was home, we would inevitably have a family dinner of Taco Salad and Oreo ice cream dessert. My two all-time favorites. As I got older, I wondered if it was maybe getting weird that I was still having a 'birthday party' every year?!? That was, until the year we missed our Labor Day tradition. I received complaints that year from many of my family members that they had had to endure a Labor Day weekend void of the traditional taco salad and oreo ice cream dessert.

One year my mom asked if I was sure I didn't want a different meal??? I laughed. And she hasn't asked since. Would people even come if we changed up the menu on them?

I realize all of this might sound completely silly to most of you. But, it's tradition. You don't mess with tradition. And for those of you Labor Day weekend attendees, you understand what I mean. A Labor Day without Taco Salad? Ha!

So, yesterday our family got together for our annual tradition. As always, it was wonderful. Lots of food. Lots of laughter. Lots of stories. And, of course, this year the little man stole the show. We feel so blessed that he has so many people in his life who love him so much.

Eli was just as excited about family pictures as his dad was.

Next year we will celebrate. Next year we will have Taco Salad. But next year it will be in honor of Eli's 14 month birthday because it certainly won't be in honor of my 30th. Yikes!

Oh, hey. Just chillin' with Uncle Bogey.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Tip Top Shape

Baby yoga - the hot new thing.

Eli's been in the gym - workin' on his fitness. He's doing three-a-days. What a stud. Sometimes he gets annoyed when his mom lounges on the floor and critiques his form while he's working out, but the effort is paying off! Here's a little video of his latest workout.

Mama has been in the gym too. Daddy and Eli have man time about every other day while I relive the golden years working out at the K-State Rec. Working out is much more entertaining when you can people-watch. My favorites include the girls who bought their shorts in the toddler section, the freshmen who spend their entire 'workout' walking around in groups of four, and the guys who wear shirts that say 'Testosterone' in giant letters across their chest. I can't make this stuff up people. Ah, college students.

That leads me to story #1 - A few days ago, I was doing lunges in the back corner of the weight room (great place to do my people watching covertly). Just so happened I was standing next to a squat bar that had not been emptied of the four 45 lb plates 'Mr. Testosterone' had apparently been squatting. A kid walks up and asks if I'm almost done. Almost done doing my lunges? Uh, sure. Then I realize, he's wanting to use the squat bar. Oh, that? Yes, I believe I'm done squatting my 225 pounds for the day. It's all yours. Ha!

E-man and I have also been lacing up our running shoes again. What do you do when you get the 'all-clear' at your 6 week appointment? You buy new running shoes! These beauties are the Mizuno Inspire 8. I started wearing these a long, long time ago. Pretty sure I started with the Inspire 2 way back when. Anywho, just so happens that the color this year is purple. Go Cats!

The only 3 pairs that remain in order of demotion from right to left: running, 'trail' running (aka running anywhere that will get my shoes dirty), and ~~yard work~~ playing in the mud.

So when planning my comeback, I decided I'd give the Couch to 5K training plan a try. I've always heard great things about it, but honestly had never really been in a position where I needed to work up to a 5K. Post-pregnancy, however? That's exactly the position I'm in :) And...I love it. If you are thinking you want to get your booty out there and do some running, I'd strongly encourage it. It's structured for you to do three 30 minute workouts per week. Well, E and I have lots of time on our hands so we've been moving through the workouts a little quicker than that. We usually do two at a time giving us an hour workout. The plan starts out with short amounts of running interspersed with walking. The first week has you jog 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds for the duration of your 30 minute workout. I'm currently on Week 6 of the plan and the running portions have gotten significantly longer. So we're still doing two workouts, but I've switched it up a little. For the first 30 minutes I complete whichever workout I'm ready for (today was Week 6, Day 1). For the second half of my workout I go back and do one of the early walk/run workouts. This allows me to get some interval/speed work in along with the longer runs. Once I get my rear back in shape, I'm eager to check out the C210K app next.

My coach. No slacking with this guy at the helm.

And that leads me to story #2 - Yesterday, Eli and I are running our usual route, traveling west down Marlatt. As we approach the bridge that takes us toward home we notice a utility truck with a flashing light on top stopped near our bridge. As I'm explaining to Eli what a utility worker does, he asks "Why does the utility worker have a net?" Great question E-man. That worker has a net because he's not from the utility company, he's from animal control. Cue blood pressure spike. At this point we have made it to the bridge and I cheerily ask the man "What are you trying to catch?" The animal control officer, who looks more qualified to eat a donut than catch an animal, points to the field and says "A dog. A smart dog." Oh, I say quickly as I make my 180 degree turn to scurry back where I came from. "I wouldn't go over the bridge if I were you," he tells me. "It's some kind of pit-bull mix and he seems pretty agitated and kind of aggressive." " K, thanks" I holler over my shoulder as Eli and I make our desperate escape back down Marlatt. And, for those of you who know me well, you will not be surprised that I cried as I ran until the utility worker, his truck, and his aggressive dog were well out of sight.

You'll be glad to know Eli and I got up again this morning and laced up our kicks. We weren't going to let one little puppy dog scare us. We decided we'd try a new route, far far away from the Marlatt bridge.

In 4 short days it will be time for E's 2 month post. Where has time gone?!? See ya next time.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Rainbows and Cupcakes

*Disclaimer - this post is not about food. Sorry.

We are seven weeks in and I'm pretty sure I love being a mom. I especially love being a mom to this guy...

and a parent with this guy...

Eli has the sweetest personality and is SO cuddly. What more could parents ask for? That being said, it hasn't all been easy. R and I have learned that parenting (**spoiler alert**) is not always rainbows and cupcakes. That's right folks. Raising a child is a challenge and it challenges the predictability and control right out of your life.

About two weeks ago our sweet, cute and perfect baby turned into Mr. Fussypants...at least after 3:00 pm. Granted, he was not colicy or inconsolable, but his sweet demeanor that appeared every morning seemed to disappear every evening. R and I trudged through about a week of this and I am happy to report we are on the other side. Here's how we navigated the bumpy waters...

1. Baby Boot Camp - As I've said before, R and I completely believe in letting our baby cry it out. I am here to tell you it is much easier to believe in that method when your baby doesn't cry. When your baby does start to cry, however, that's where the rubber meets the road. Two weekends ago R spent three days letting/listening to Eli cry and scream and yell. Of course we made sure he wasn't hungry, dirty, or have any other obvious issue. Once we knew he was perfectly fine, we let him have at it. About every 10 minutes or so, R would check on him and calm him down, letting him know we were still there, but we didn't pick him up. R suffered through his entire weekend putting E through the ropes at Baby Boot Camp. And come Monday morning? I got to spend the day with an angel. Seriously. He was perfect. R had taught him that he could, in fact, soothe himself and mama got to reap the benefits. I'm not going to lie, I did feel a little bad that I got to enjoy the spoils of all of R's hard work, but Ryan definitely deserves the credit. Way to go daddy!

2. Operation Over-stimulation
Another major change in Eli's life occurred around this same time. We got the go ahead from our pediatrician to stretch E's feedings out to 4 hours during the day and let him go as long as he could at night. Well if you feed a baby for 30 minutes, play with a baby for 30 minutes and then let him nap for the remainder of the 4 hour cycle, that's a three hour nap. Surely he's not supposed to sleep that long we thought! Our biggest fear of letting Eli sleep so much during the day was that he would get his days and nights confused. If there is one thing this kid has known how to do since day one, it is sleep at night. And we weren't willing to compromise that for anything. Thus began our attempt to keep Eli awake for longer periods: we sang, we read, we danced. We rattled, squeaked, and crunched every toy in the house. And when he got fussy or fidgety, we tried harder. Until I read a nifty little article about overstimulating babies. The article stated that you know a baby is over-stimulated when he turns away from you (check), gets fidgety (check), arches his back (check), fusses (check), or shuts his eyes (check). Turns out our attempt to entertain our fussy baby was just making him fussier. As soon as mama and daddy backed off, gave him some space and let him sleep, E was just fine. Once again, we learned the hard way that Eli usually knows what he needs if we just pay a little bit of attention.

So here we are a week later. Eli is still sleeping at night and is a much, much happier baby during the day. Of course he still cries from time to time, but mama and daddy are getting much better at reading his cues. So, now that we've got this figured out, what is the next curve ball you're going to throw little man?!?

Who you callin' 'Mr. Fussypants'?!?

Friday, August 10, 2012

Mama Details

When I was pregnant (or any other time really) I loved reading about other people's experiences and 'must-knows' for being a mom. So, for you mom types....or if you just have nothing better to do than read this blog, here are the 'mama' details...

Breastfeeding - Yes, we are doing it and it's going great. We ran into a little technical difficulty (faulty equipment) around Day 5, but that issue was fixed with a $10 Medela purchase from Target and we're good to go.

Bottles - We just introduced E to his first bottle yesterday. He really didn't seem to care that it wasn't a boob as long as it had what he wanted. Question - how do we know how much to feed him? We gave him a 4 ounce bottle and I think he would have eaten more if we would have let him. However, later, he was spitting up as if to say...'I'm overflowing!' Hmmm....

Sleep Training - Yes, we are doing it and it's going well ...for us. This is definitely something that is a personal preference and it's not the only way to raise your baby. I have a lot of friends who are the MOST wonderful moms and have very different philosophies that work amazingly well. So, if you're a new/soon-to-be mom, find what works for you, not what works for someone else.

R and I both read Babywise and The Baby Sleep Solution....multiple times. We are not hyper-scheduly type people, but we do agree with the philosophies...not just for sleeping, but for life in general. (Having a 'plan' also greatly reduced the amount of parental anxiety we experienced. We didn't know if it would work, but at least we had a plan!) The basic purpose of these books is to help parents teach their babies how to establish a routine and how to become independent. We want E to be able to self-soothe and calm himself down without being completely dependent on eating, on us, or on a certain piece of baby equipment. The main rule we follow is to never let E fall asleep in our arms. Yes, we cuddle him and yes, we rock him (plenty!) but as soon as he gets drowsy (or when mama decides she's hungry and wants to eat lunch) we put him down. This way he has learned that he can fall asleep without us. If he fusses when we put him down or if he wakes up in the middle of a nap, we follow the five minute rule...the "Limited Crying Solution" (sounds so official, doesn't it). Essentially, we let him 'cry it out' for 3-5 minutes before going in to help soothe him. This brings us to Rule #2 - Soothe the baby without picking him up. We will pat his tummy, give him his paci, shush him, or turn on his white noise, but we won't pick him up. This will help him (eventually) learn that he can fall asleep without needing to be rocked, held or fed. (Editor's note: During the 3 days that mama ate the wrong food, these rules went out the window - when your baby's tummy hurts, you do what you have to do!) Finally, we follow the Eat-Wake-Sleep cycle. Eli eats, then we play for a good 20-30 minutes (or 2 hours if he's not feeling a nap) then he sleeps. Again, this helps him establish a routine and it keeps him from falling asleep on the boob and becoming dependent on that. Ok, enough of that. If you're still reading this, more power to you :)

Time for a picture break? I think so.

This was obviously an important day....Eli wore pants.

- Stuff: Now that we are a month into this and I'm clearly an expert (ha!!) here is my opinion on baby stuff. Take it or leave it :) (Note to new moms: I have decided you will use exactly 10% of all the stuff you get when you have a baby...the rest of it will take up room in your closets :) So, if I was running out of the house and could only grab 10 things, here's what they would be....

- Bouncy seat - ours is a hand-me-down and it is is our most used 'accessory.' E loves it because it keeps him a little more upright which gives him a different view of the world and helps when his tummy doesn't feel real great.
- Halo sleep sack/swaddle - this is what they used in the hospital and we promptly sent Grandma to Babies R Us to purchase one for home. He sleeps in it every night.
- 'Mam' pacifier - we have 3 different brands and this is the current winner. We also like the Nuk, but it is too easy for the little man to grab the handle and pull it out of his mouth.
- Receiving blankets and burp clothes- In our house receiving blankets get used for warmth, binky blockers (Ryan has a great 'shoulder tuck' method to keep E from spitting out his binky), and carseat head rests. Also, I quickly learned that having 25 burp clothes is not too many.
- Books - We read. A lot. Our favorites include Goodnight Moon, Goodnight iPad, SkippyJohn Jones, I Love you Through and Through, I Love You Stinky Face, Mother Goose and Willie the Wildcat's ABCs.
- Diapers and Onesies- And more diapers and onesies. And then one more handful of diapers and onesies. We bounced back and forth between Pampers Swaddlers and Huggies. We had a lot of trouble with leakage....but we soon discovered it was an issue with mom and dad's diapering abilities, not the diapers. However, we have chosen Pampers for the time being. We'll see what happens as he grows.
- Nipple Shield - This was the remedy for the 'faulty equipment' mentioned above. He is getting back in the swing of things eating without it, but for now it is like gold.
- Camera - R and I bought a 'good' one back in May. All we had was our phones and decided our child deserved a little better than that. We splurged and purchased a Canon T2i and we love it! We've even learned how to shoot in manual mode. We're not experts, but we're getting there.
- Boppy - Necessary? Maybe not. But such a wonderful convenience that it made the Top 10 list? Definitely. It will also serve many other purposes as he grows up.
- Quilt/Blanket - Eli was lucky enough to get two quilts made for him and he loves them both. This is probably the most used item in our house and we can prove it by all of the spit-up and pee stains all over it (okay, just kidding about the stains, I wash it regularly. But he really does use it all the time!)

Obviously we have lots of other 'stuff' that we use on a day-to-day basis, but this gives you a good idea.

Oh yeah, if you're a 'regular' - check the 1 month post again...the stats are updated :)