Grandma and Grandpa were here!

Grandma and Grandpa were needing a Stian fix, so they came for a visit. May 2nd was Grandma's birthday, so she got to spend at least part of the day with her grandson (the rest of the day she was in the car).





Stian likes his Grandma and Grandpa, especially when they follow him down the stairs, that is apparently very funny.

spoons and cousins

Stian had quite the exciting evening. First he got to play with a giant spoon while Mommy made dinner and Daddy put away the dishes. That was quite exciting.



Then he got to meet his cousin Paul. (he needed an outfit change between the two because he was sopping wet from drooling all over himself)



Kris's cousin Paul works for 3M and comes down to Indiana occassionally for work. So he rented a car and drove over from Muncie to meet Stian and come have dinner with us. It was great to see him and have him visit.

Sitting

Stian and I were practicing sitting just a little bit ago (him more than me, I'm pretty good at sitting, actually) and he was doing quite well! We were practicing on the bed though, which was a good thing, because he was doing a lot of this:



But he finally got the hang of it, and I got him to sit unassisted for 30 seconds or so a couple of times.



Perhaps his giant belly is making it harder for him to learn how to roll over, but it sort of works as a kickstand for sitting - so I guess it's good for something!

His other new trick is that he has learned how to cluck his tongue. He thinks this is great fun and we had quite the conversation earlier clucking back and forth at each other.

Five Months!

Wow! It's hard to believe Stian is already five months old!

He celebrated by having lots of fun in his jumper.



He also hung out with Mommy and Daddy. And took a lot of naps today. He was tired today, probably from keeping me up most of the night last night.

Related?

Gee, do you think these two are related?



We've been meaning to do a picture with Stian posed in Kris's arms like the picture of Kris in his dad's arms. I went back to look at that picture of Kris as a baby tonight to see if it looked like Stian was getting to be about the same age and had to laugh. They sure do look alike! Guess we better do the posed picture soon.

Grass and bottles

It was another beautiful spring day here, so we hung out outside for a little while when Kris got home from work.



Stian's first time having his toes in the grass:



He's getting better at sitting up. He still can't do it at all unsupported, but he needs less and less support. Although sitting on a pile of pavers is probably not the best place to practice sitting.



And then this evening he wanted to help holding his bottle. He wasn't great at it, but he did pretty well. Of course he wasn't all that hungry and was more playing with the bottle anyway.

Adventures in Cloth

So I've been thinking about doing this for awhile, but I finally decided to make the leap and buy some cloth diapers for Stian. They are a little intimidating, but they are better for him, better for the environment and better for my pocketbook. Although these things are not cheap - they are more expensive up front. But theoretically they can save you $1000 in the long run - even including the cost of washing and drying them. And that makes sense as right now it costs us about $20 for a 11-12 day supply of disposable diapers. So they are not cheap either.

Cloth diapers have come a long way since Kris and I were in them. They still make the traditional ones, of course, but they make all different kinds now. I bought Stian 5 different cloth diapers to try out. One is an all in one - and it's basically just like a disposable. The other four are pocket diapers. They are like a disposable, but they have a pocket that you stick absorbent material into. They are nice because you can vary your level of absorbency, but they are more work because you actually have to stick the material in there. But with all-in-ones and pocket diapers you don't need a cover like we needed when we were little.

So here is Stian in his 5 different cloth diapers. Aren't they cute?



They make ones called fitteds too, which is what I think I will try next. They look sort of like the ones above, but you do need a cover for them. They are typically cheaper though, and you can make your own covers (you can also buy them), including knitted ones, which I'd like to try.

So far it's going well. But he has only been in each diaper once. But we had no leaks or other issues. They are in the wash at the moment though, so we will see how that goes!

And just because I'm a mean Mom, here's a picture of Stian in his cloth diaper this afternoon and his leg warmers I knit him. :) Can't you just hear Kris saying "poor little guy!"?



Aren't they cute? They are all the rage these days. But Stian has such fat little legs (as you can see the pics above) that the ones you buy are kind of tight on him. So I made him some - although these don't stay up all that well either - I guess I need stretchier yarn.