2 Months

I told you Orrin has grown - check out this comparison from 4 days to 2 months!


Some Orrin facts from the last month:

He loves his mobile

He loves playing with his hanging toys, especially this past week. He is starting to try to hit them and talk to them.
Even though we do it every day, he does NOT like tummy time
And is much happier when turned over to see and talk to me
He loves bathtime (but as I've learned, NOT shower time - which brings up another new development: a very loud shriek/scream when he is mad)
He still likes being carried around, although he usually falls asleep. So I can't tell you what he really thinks of art yet.
He likes to contemplate life

And then smile and tell you about it

He LOVES to talk, and is just starting to squeal a little trying to laugh.
He's sleeping 7-8 hours for a stretch at night, then another 2 hours or so after eating.
We've been working on a bedtime routine and he's still getting use to that. We're trying to get him to fall asleep at 8 or 9 instead of 12 or 1. He's getting better, and slowly learning to fall asleep on his own, too.
He just discovered the tv and finds it interesting. We need to cut way back (me especially, I like it on for the background noise usually).

We are having a blast with him and can't wait to see what he'll do next!

Ew

Please forgive me for posting this, but THIS is the grossest thing I think I have ever seen in my life! Who comes up with this stuff?!?

Warning: If you have a weak stomach, do not open this link!

Big Boy

Orrin is huge! He had his 2 month appointment today - 12 pounds, 6 ounces! And 24.5 inches long. So that is 95th percentile for length and 65th or so for weight.

He was so good and happy, enjoying all the attention from the doctor and nurse and smiling and cooing at them. Then she poked his leg and he got this sad look like "why did you just do that to me?" right after. He cried for a second and then just kept looking sad/hurt. He was a trooper though. We're going back in two weeks for the second shot. I was pretty worried that it was going to be a battle to get them split the shots up, but the doctor was very cool about it. They still keep bugging us about opting out of the hep b for now, though. Oh well. Orrin's a little fussy this afternoon, but nothing a little extra food and cuddling can't fix (like he really needs more food!). :)

Here's some pictures from Orrin's baptism last week:

Baptized


Introduced to the congregation with Pastor PaulI had to try on the bonnet - he didn't like it!

Family pictureThe cake (again from Cake Connection)


And here's a fun video for you - wait a few seconds and you will see how good Orrin is at communicating what he wants. I only get a few seconds to deliver, though. Then its total meltdown (you can see this about to happen at the end). Sorry about the quality, I was juggling him and the camera.

Cloth

See the post below for some of Orrin's recent adventures.

I thought I'd put some pictures of our cloth diapering. So many people were skeptical about this decision, but so far its worked out pretty well. I am still having issues with leaking out the sides when I use prefolds, I just can't seem to get it tight enough around his legs (and they are definitely not skinny anymore!). If anyone has suggestions for me - please share!! But the g-diaper covers with either cloth inserts or prefolds stuffed in them, and the fitteds that we got as gifts and that I sewed are working really well! I've been checking craigslist often and some of the cloth diaper discount websites and diaperswappers because Orrin will soon outgrow everything we have! I have prefolds in the larger sizes, 2 fitteds, and 1 cover in the next size up, so we need some more covers at the very least. Orrin has been napping for about 3 hours every afternoon, so I think I am going to try to sew some more diapers soon, too. Especially since those have been working so well for us. Scott really loves the thirsties fab fitted, but we only have one and they are expensive so I try and leave that one clean for when he changes Orrin.
The only negative (which is really a positive) is that Orrin definitely feels the wetness in a cloth and doesn't like it! He could sit all day in a disposable happily, but screams when the cloth is wet. So I end up changing him more often (but what do I care, since its free!). We haven't tried cloth at night yet, but I think we can soon since when I get up with him at 4:30am, he is usually still dry.

Here he is modeling a prefold (look how chubby he is getting!):

The snappis make putting them on so easy!

Here's one that I made
This is the Thirsties fitted - it is so soft and trim and nice!

And a wrap style cover goes on top (I use Thirsties)
Using cloth makes his bottom so big, though! I have to use a bigger size onsie and pants.
So there you have it - cloth diapering isn't so bad! I wash them about every other day. That doesn't bother me since it seems that I need to do regular laundry almost that much anyway. I even made my own cloth diaper detergent for super cheap. (you can't use most regular detergents since a residue can build up on the diapers causing them to repel liquid) And I'm able to hang dry everything on nice days.

Adventures

Here are some of the fun things that I've been doing lately:

Hanging out with John Ball and seeing all the animals at the zoo

Here I am with the Guanacos

And the ringtail lemurs

This is with Oma at the twins birthday party
Here I am playing with my cousin Leeum at his house
This is me at my Aunt Jerilynn and Uncle Jeff's wedding (don't tell anyone, but I also spent lots of time at salons getting pedicures and hairdos with the girls!)
I also went apple picking, seeing all the apples made me hungry
Dad and I both root for Michigan (in a couple weeks we're going to my first UM football game!)
As you can see, I'm a busy boy!

We can't believe how fast Orrin is growing! He is smiling a ton now, and starting to "talk" to me. I just had to pull out the 3-6 month clothes since he's outgrown all of the newborn and most of the 0-3 month stuff. We think he is going through another growth spurt because he pretty much slept the entire day yesterday, and surprisingly almost all night.

Can you believe he was just 4 weeks old here?!

And a few seconds later...

These are his one month pictures (taken two days late because I forgot). We're using the cow as a size reference, you can scroll down to see him with the cow at a few days old.
I like this one, he looks so contemplative. And notice that he is hugging the cow. :)

Sitting with his cousin Leeum - suddenly Orrin doesn't look so big anymore. I can't wait until they can run around and play together!


Spot likes to be involved in everything. I'm pretty sure he is letting me know I need to change Orrin's diaper here.
This was a few days ago - the difference is amazing! He was smiling huge for me but would stop as soon as I picked up the camera.
His poor face started breaking out bad this week, too. Hopefully it clears up soon, it looks painful.

I've got lots more pictures to share soon of some of Orrin's recent adventures. I'm doing this one handed today while Orrin eats so I'll put it off until I have both hands free. :)

Oliver

I have always meant to tell Oliver's story but I guess now is the last chance to do it.
I started volunteering at PigHoppers rabbit and pig rescue in July of 2002. On my very first day, a bunny came in. We all discussed what to name him - and I thought of the name Oliver after Oliver Twist since this little bunny was an orphan. This is the story that we heard that day:

Oliver had been first owned by a photographer around Easter time. Shortly after, a neighbor found him in the trash pile out front. He had obviously been attacked by some sort of animal as his ears and nose were chewed up and he was missing some toes. This person took him home and stuck him in a hutch in the backyard. When she finally called us, she said she hadn't really been able to take care of him since she had ALS, so a volunteer went and picked him up.

The story doesn't end there, though. I already had a rabbit (Fuzzy) and wasn't looking for another one. A few weeks after he came in, Oliver was adopted by a family as a pet for there 5 year old daughter. They had him for a few months but returned him that fall because the daughter wasn't taking care of him. After all this, Oliver was still a sweet and spunky rabbit. I took him home shortly after he came back to the shelter. He was a great bunny - litter trained and very friendly. He loved to be held and pet.

Anyway, he had a great life with me (I hope). The past year, he's been showing his age and for the last couple months could no longer use his back legs. Even more recently he was drinking a full bottle of water a day (a sign of problems in rabbits) and sometimes choking when he drank. Scott and I have been agonizing over when is the right time to put an animal to sleep and we finally decided last week that he was most likely suffering (even though he would still come to the door to be pet and get treats), so Friday we brought him in.

I know he was just a rabbit, but I've always loved his story. He went through so many bad things and yet always had such a good bunny attitude (believe me, I have seen rabbits with bad attitudes!). Is it wrong to be inspired by a rabbit? :)