Silver Lining

It's no secret I wish I could be a stay-at-home mom instead of working outside the home, but since thats just where we are I am trying to suck it up and love my blessed life as is. I really am blessed beyond belief.

So one neat thing about my child being in day care? They make cute little crafts with him that I can have as little memories!



His Halloween pumpkin patch, made with his palms and heels.






His Turkey, made with his handprint. Miss Danielle said as soon as she put the paint on his hand he balled his fist up and wouldn't open it! Ha!






And his ornament I got today! I can't wait to have a tree full of his homemade ornaments! (well I can bc I want him to quit growing so fast!!!)

I am thankful that my daycare makes these cute things with him!

I love this little guys creations!
- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Sleep training- what did you do?

As I have mentioned before, Griffin has always been a good sleeper. When we brought him home from the hospital he automatically started going 4 or 5 hr stretches at night. By six weeks he was usually sleeping from 10-6! It was awesome. Then he got his first cold... About a month ago now. And he started randomly waking in the middle of the night some. We would give him his paci and back to sleep he would go.

The last month has been hot or miss. Some nights he sleeps without waking, some nights he wakes every hour. I keep making excuses or thinking it's a one time deal and will go back to how it was- but I probably need to face the music an realize something must be done.

So far we have tried taking away the swaddle, which seems to make it worse. I am still worried he will turn over in it so I think I am going To try to stick with no swaddle... He has to learn sometime right?

I have done a little crying it out, but I'll be honest I am not committed. It's harder than I thought it would be! And I find myself wondering what if he is hungry or sick or teething or in pain for some other reason? I don't want him laying there crying during that... Ugh!!!

Babies are a mystery! And I know each is different, but my question is- what did you do? Tell me what you did with your kids and if it worked. Please share!!! This momma needs.some.sleep!




But he is so darn cute! Haha!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Some random videos

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

A little visiting

Yesterday Griffin and I made a little trip down to TN for the day. I had a thyroid dr visit (which went great- I don't have to go back for 6 months!! Woohoo) in Hendersonville, so afterwards we visited our Nanny Martha.



Griff did great and gave her several cute smiles.

Then we headed to meet Kristen, one of my very best friends. She lives in Arizona, so she hadn't gotten to meet the little guy yet.



Our visit was short, but very good. Yay for Thanksgiving Break!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

4 Months Old!

4 Months Old

4 Month Stats:

• Weighs in at 13 lbs 8 1/2 oz and is 25 & 1/8" long. This puts him in the 25th% for weight and the 50th% for length. For head circumference he is between the 50-75th%. 
• Clothing: He is mainly in 3-6 months now. He can still fit in some 0-3 month, but is too long for one piece outfits. 
• Nursing: Still at it! Woo Hoo! Typically takes about 10-15 minutes for the whole shindig these days. Love it. Recommend it to everyone! 
• He is still spitting up a lot, but it has gotten better than it was. We just try to embrace it now, so Griffin is pretty much always wearing a bib and we go through like 10 burp cloths a day. 
• Schedule: Still on a 3 hr schedule. 
• Nighttime Sleep: This month was not our month for nighttime sleep. He slept thru the night 11 nights total for the month (sporadically spaced out over the month). In his defense, he got sick, we had a time change and he had his 4 month shots. The past few nights have been much better, so here's to hoping we are on the upswing!
• Milestones: This month Griffin rolled from tummy to back and back to tummy. He also is sitting up by himself for at least a minute or more (when you sit him up, he cant get up on his own yet). 
• Griffin is sooo fun at this age! He is loving being held on your shoulder where he can sit up and look around. When you carry him this way he holds on now, and even kinda hugs you! Love it! He is doing the bashful thing where he smiles at you, then buries his head in your shoulder. 
• His hands are still constantly in his mouth. And so is whatever he gets a hold of. We currently love our rings, sophie the giraffe, and key ring for toys. He likes spending time in his exersaucer or on a blanket on the floor. 
• He got congested for the first time this month and has spent the whole month all stuffy. So we have been sucking out his nose a lot. He hates it! He really hates saline solution. 
• We successfully slept overnight for the first time somewhere else this month. 

I love this kid! 

Click here to see how Griffin has grown each month. 

What a cutie!

Have I mentioned how much I love being a momma?

How about how much I love watching Mr.Pate be a daddy?

What a blessing. Children truly are a gift from the Lord!

Sleep- it is for the birds

Griffin has been a good sleeper from day 1, of course day 1-14 were spent in the NICU where they really get you scheduled. But he started sleeping thru the night around six weeks! Amazing. I should never complain I know. Lately though, Griff has been waking several times a night! At first we thought it was because he was congested, but now I think we have a habit on our hands.

Sleep and babies is hard. They respond well to routine and consistency, but you have to merge that with your life. We have been sporadic about his bedtime lately. It's hard to always be home at 7:30! And he can now roll over, and I thought he was trying to while swaddled the other day. So I decided maybe we should drop the swaddle...

We tried that last Thursday night. FAIL. He woke a ton! I finally swaddled his arms in the wee hours of morning and he slept some. So we are back to swaddling fully for now.

Friday night he was miserable from his shots and had a fever. No sleep. Poor thing!

Saturday night he sleep soundly all night! Could have been a mix of being tired, medicine, got him down at the right time etc. Who knows??

So for now my sleep plan is to try hard to get him in be by 7:30-7:45, dreamfeed around 9:45-10, and swaddle. This is what has worked on the nights he has slept.

Oh sleep- it's so funny that when we are children we fight it, then as adults we long for it!

Isnt it ironic... Don't ya think?... A little too ironic, and yeah I really do think...

Happy Birthday to me

I am one blessed girl. Today I celebrate 29 years of life. I got to spend the day with some of my best friends and their little ladies (poor Griff is totally outnumbered!). Though I got no sleep whatsoever last night, it was such a refreshing way to spend my day. These were college friends, and it is so funny to look back at how our lives have changed over the last several years! In college we would gather to watch Survivor or go to bible study, but now we have to plan out our visits months in advance. Everyone (accept me usually!) has a long drive to meet us in the middle. My house was filled with random crying, lots of feedings, and great conversation today. Thanks girls!!

The reason for the get together was to meet Maeve! She is so tiny and
Cute!

Afterwards Mr.Pate and I picked up some food and a movie and headed back home. We hung out with the kid, gave him a very fun bath, put him to sleep and then watched a chick flick. It was a laid back night- just what I needed!

Happy Birthday to me

I am one blessed girl. Today I celebrate 29 years of life. I got to spend the day with some of my best friends and their little ladies (poor Griff is totally outnumbered!). Though I got no sleep whatsoever last night, it was such a refreshing way to spend my day. These were college friends, and it is so funny to look back at how our lives have changed over the last several years! In college we would gather to watch Survivor or go to bible study, but now we have to plan out our visits months in advance. Everyone (accept me usually!) has a long drive to meet us in the middle. My house was filled with random crying, lots of feedings, and great conversation today. Thanks girls!!

The reason for the get together was to meet Maeve! She is so tiny and
Cute!

Afterwards Mr.Pate and I picked up some food and a movie and headed back home. We hung out with the kid and then wAtched a chick flick.

Poor baby

Griffin is 4 months old today! I can't believe it. A more detailed post is coming, but for now enjoy a look into our doctors visit today...

Way to go Griffin

The boy sat up by himself tonight! Way to go buddy!

We had such a great night just spending quality time at home. We had dinner here thanks to the crock pot, then we spent time playing with Griffin for awhile. He is sitting up really well, and when he has the boppy around him he will even pull himself back up when he falls over. He and Daddy had silly times during bath time tonight, and Dad put his hair in a Mohawk!

We decided to try not swaddling Griff's arms tonight for the first time ever, so I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

He turns 4 months old tomorrow- seriously?!! Where is time going?

Such a funny guy!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Menu Plan Monday!

Here is what we are having around here this week:

• Monday: Burgers, green beans and mac n cheese
• Tuesday: Asian Tomato Beef in the Crock Pot
• Wednesday: Dinner at Church
• Thursday: Pork Chops on the grill and Yummy Rice
• Friday: Youth Bonfire & Hayride
• Saturday: Friends over and then probably eating out for my Bday! 

What are you eating this week?

I am highly considering doing a "freezer cooking day" of slow cooker meals. i keep seeing on Pinterest where people do basically assembly days for several crock pot meals, and then you have them ready for the month... I just need to get a free day and energy... hummmm.

ABC

Copying my friend Elizabeth...

A. Age – 28... 29 next Saturday.
B. Bed size – Queen. I feel lost in a king sized bed!
C. Chore that you hate - Grocery Shopping... I consider it a chore and can't stand it!
D. Dogs – Joey! He let's us share his bed each night, and is a tad spoiled... Just a tad.
E. Essential start to your day – Hitting the snooze button
F. Favorite color – I don't really have one
G. Gold or silver – White Gold.
H. Height – 4' 9& 1/2
I. Instruments you play – Nada
J. Job Title-— Office Associate
K. Kids – Griffin, 3 & 1/2 Months Old and cutest.kid.ever.
L. Live – Bowling Green
M. Mother’s name – Sparks
N. Nicknames – SOG (high school), Bre (family and some friends)
O. Overnight hospital stays – 2, once for thyroid removal and once for baby
P. Pet peeves – Emails that try to pressure/guilt you into forwarding them on
Q. Quote from a movie – The concept is grasped! The execution is a little elusive.
R. Right or left handed – right.
S. Siblings – One older sister
T. Time it takes you to get ready – About an hour
U. Underwear – What does this mean?
V. Vegetable you hate – Onions and peppers! And okra!
W. What makes you run late – Always thinking I have enough time to fit in something more...
X-rays you’ve had – Teeth... I think that may be it.
Y. Yummy food you make – click "recipes" under my categories... Lava cakes!
Z. Zoo animal – Monkeys or Elephants.


So go ahead and jump in. Copy and paste and then insert your own answers.

Sweet Child of Mine

This journey changes daily! Goodness!

We are now in the stage where Griffin can grab on to things or people. So when I hold him & walk around, he holds on to me. I love it! He will even cuddle in to our (daddy's and mine) shoulders some.

Tonight we had him laying in the floor and Daddy decided to come lay down too (this kid loves him some daddy!). He reached up and holds on or almost pets Mr.Pates beard! Too cute!

He is trying hard to giggle these days. What comes out is a funny laugh/snort/grunt.

He loves to toss his wubbanub around now. It cracks me up to look back in the rearview mirror and see a monkey flying around the carseat.

Sometimes he just looks at me, stares for awhile and smiles. I do the same thing back. Love it!

16 weeks old tonight... Wow.

Cloth Diapers: What the journey looks like at 3 months

We are still going strong on our beloved cloth diapers and loving it. Seriously people- they are so easy and you save so much money! I sooooo recommend them to everyone. Check into it, you wont be disappointed.

Anyhow, I wanted to do an update to let you see what the one size diapers are looking like on our growing boy and give my opinions right now. If you want to catch up on all of my cloth diaper posts click here. These are the diapers we currently use & a summary of what I think right now:

• BumGenius 4.0
• We still love these. They are solid and made well. They still fit trim and are easy to snap. 
• Kawaii (Original CrossOvers, Ultrasoft CrossOvers, Round Tabs, Minkys, Bamboo Minky, Pure and Natural and Fun print)
• Obviously I have several kinds of these! The original crossovers (and minkys, bamboo minkys and fun print) were very bulky in the beginning, but are fitting him better now. They are still our bulkiest diaper. These diapers are also very solid. When we first bought them I worried because they were so cheap, but they are as well made as my BumGenius. The crossover snaps are kinda annoying right now, bc Griffin is inbetween sizes. So I do not send these to daycare bc it is hard to show them how to fit them right now. Kinda funny because I loved that they had the crossover snaps in the beginning bc they fit his tiny waist better than the others, but now they fit him the worst. Ha! However, once he outgrows this phase I am sure I will love them again. 
• Not a fan of the ultrasofts. The shell is flimsy and I just dont like it. 
• The round tabs didnt fit him until a few weeks ago. But now that they fit him I love them! I like that the pocket is in the front, especially when its a dirty diaper. 
• The Pure and Natural ones are trim and smaller, which is nice. But they are not great quality! The velcro (they are the only velcro I own) is already ripping apart. Ugh. 
• Love the Minkys. They are the softest things ever. 
• Sunbaby 4.0
• I have just fallen in love with Sunbaby. Wish I had known about them from the start! They fit super trim (which may mean they dont fit well later on when he is bigger?) and are easy to snap. They have hip snaps, which I like (so do the kawaiis). And they have such cute prints!! 
• GoGreenDiapers Champ
• These are not fitting Griff right now. He is inbetween snap sizes on these so its annoying and I just put them aside for now. 
• Alvas
• I have two alvas and they are very different from each other. I like my techno print one, but I do not feel like it is very good quality. It already seems kinda worn. I have a minky giraffe print also and it is too big in the legs for Griff so far. 

So thats a short rundown of each of ours and how they fit right now. If I were recommending what to get to someone starting out right now, I would highly recommend Sunbaby or Kawaii. The price is great and they make such cute prints! I know BumGenius is super popular and I do really like ours, but I have to say that I dont think they are worth the $12-14 more you have to pay for them. 

And now for some comparison picture shots:

Kawaii at 3 & 1/2 Months

Kawaii at 1 Month

Side View Kawaii at 3 & 1/2 Month

Side View Kawaii at 1 Month

Alva at 3 & 1/2 Months

Alva at 1 Month

Side view Alva at 3 & 1/2 Months

Kawaii Round Tab at 3 & 1/2 Months

I will try to take some shots of the BumGenius and SunBaby diapers and update those later. Currently I am washing the diapers about 2 a week, or every 3 & 1/2 days. We got an indoor drying rack and it has been great! I try to sun any that get stains (which totally works fyi) and then they rest I can just throw on this thing. We got the cheapest one at Wal-mart. It folds down very easily too. I make a batch of cloth wipes about once a week right now. Daycare is doing fine with the cloth diapers, and hasnt complained any. So far so good! Yay! I got some new sunbaby prints recently that are sooo cute and I will post some pics of those coming soon too! And thats all I have to say about that. 

Back it on up!

Guess who rolled from back to belly today???

You guessed it- Griffin! Yay for another fun milestone! I, of course, did not get it on video. And then he didn't do it again while I was video-ing either! Figures. It is a funny feeling, because I am excited to see him grow and learn how to do new things, but I am sadden by it too. It means he is growing up so quickly. Ahh!!