Just last week we were walking through Babies R Us (aka the Amazon showroom) to look at child seats because Frugal Boy has almost outgrown his infant car seat. We have also been on the lookout for a cheap high chair so that Frugal Boy can get out of our lap during dinner time and better participate in mealtime without clawing at our plates. Out of curiosity I took a cursory glance at the high chairs in the store and found the cheapest one with legs to be about $80.
The next day on our nightly walk we passed by a neighbors garage sale and there just happened to be a wooden high chair for $20. We scooped it up and carried it home to get it ready for its latest occupant.
Sans Tray
I removed the swinging tray and took it out to my little workshop in the garage. The tray had a slim piece of veneer that had been crudely glued into it and this made the perfect gaps for crumbs to sink into. I removed the veneer and the copious amounts of glue so I could repaint it.
Shae on the other hand set to work making a seatbelt system to hold Frugal Boy in place.
I really appreciate having a crafty wife. On our trip to the craft store we couldn’t help overhearing the clueless boyfriend/girlfriend couple who were attempting to make patio furniture (probably something they saw on pinterest). The poor store clerk told them that the interior fabric and padding wouldn’t work outside. Then later on they had no idea how much fabric they needed. “Enough to make five pillows.” Well how big are those pillows going to be?
Anyway, back to the point, I love a woman with a plan.
Here is a test fit of the restraint system with a live and very wiggly load.
After the paint was done drying, I was able to add the tray back on.
I don’t really care if he gets any wheat circles into his mouth. Just keeping him busy and letting us eat dinner is good enough for me.
August is National Breastfeeding month and we have our own little duo that is happily participating.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, recommends exclusively breastfeeding for the first 6 months and then continuing to breastfeed with the possibility of supplemental foods until 12 months of age.
According to the CDC’s 2014 report card, the average number of American babies that are breastfed at any point in their lives is 79.2%. By 6 months of age, the likelihood that a baby is being put to the breast at any time of the day reduces down to 49.4%. At 6 months the number of exclusively breastfed babies, those that eat nothing but breast milk, is a little less than one out of five (18.8%).
Clearly there is a bit of a gap between the AAP recommendation of 100% for EBF, exclusively breast fed, and the actual reported number of 18.8% and that in my mind is the point of having a breastfeeding month. Formula companies have an advertising budget and can run tv spots, boobs can’t. So consider this post our advertisement for the original happy meal.
For starters, it helps to move past some of America’s prudishness. Boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs, boobs!!! There, I said it. Women have them for two reasons. 1.) to signal that they can bear and raise children, and 2.) to feed the children that they bear. Thankfully my wife has no such prudishness and will happily feed our son when he is hungry despite where we may be. Take this park bench for example!
Or how about the backseat of a car (don’t worry, it was parked)
Hike or no hike, it doesn’t matter.
What about when moms not around? Here is our stash of pumped milk before Shae’s maternity leave ended.
Three months later and that supply has been all used up so now we are toeing a fine line of pumping supply and demand. Frugal Boy hasn’t quite reached 6 months yet, so the chances that we will start giving one or two feedings a day of formula are creeping up. Will we make it into that elite club of 1/5 that EBF to the recommended age of 6 months? Not likely, but we got pretty close.
Even partial breastfeeding confers a myriad of benefits including enhanced brain development and decreased sickliness. It was very tempting to throw in the towel at the hospital when Frugal Boy was hungry and the milk supply hadn’t kicked in yet. Another period of difficulty was when maternity leave ended and we had to transition to bottle feeding breast milk. In my opinion those are probably the two biggest traps that grab 4/5 moms.
Now that Frugal Boy is closing in on 6 months and has his first tooth, we have experimented a bit with solids. Here he is having baby oatmeal for the first time.
Mmmmm
We still haven’t given him a daily feeding of solids and he doesn’t seem to mind.
A little while back one of our friends proudly stated that their one month old baby slept 7 hours straight that night. I can guarantee you that baby is formula fed. Breast milk is easily digestible and no sooner is it in that little tummy it is being processed and used up. The result is that Frugal Boy still wakes several times every night to feed. So why do we sacrifice so much sleep? For starters, Frugal Boy weighed in on the bathroom scale this morning at 19.4 pounds. That is the equivalent to an A or A+ for his age. He is a very happy and intelligent boy. Finally, we are saving a ton of money by not buying formula. Do formula fed babies score A’s on growth charts and developmental milestones, sure they do! Is that something we want to do? Absolutely not if we can avoid it.
If you breastfed your babies thank you! If you are currently breastfeeding, keep it up! If you tried and switched, thanks for giving it a go! If you weren’t considering it at all, learn more about the benefits to both mom and baby!
This past weekend we loaded up Frugal Boy in the car and visited family in Kentucky.
It’s nice having some cousins his age because it lets us parents share supplies and advice. Thanks Aunt Sarah for looking after Frugal Boy for awhile!
Here is a slightly younger cousin.
I keep trying to turn Frugal Boy into a water baby, but he still hasn’t gotten excited about pools.
Visiting family means a whole new set of toys to play with. The Little Mermaid was a short distraction.
The audience grew
and grew some more!
Frugal Boy lost the somber competition.
but he did score some Grandma time.
The drive there and back was pretty good (even better than the trip to Missouri). Frugal Boy had some new toys to keep him entertained. The string on this clip was almost as good as the pacifier itself.
Who needs a cuddly teddy bear when you can hold a stainless steel water bottle?
Thanks to all of our family members that made food and entertained Frugal Boy. It was a nice break from the daily grind!
This past weekend my in-laws were visiting nearby and graciously invited us to tag along on a day trip to Springfield. Instead of zipping there on the interstate, we opted to take a well known, but lightly treaded path known as Route 66.
Even though we only drove along a short section of the historic roadway, we did pass by several iconic, larger than life, roadside attractions. This Paul Bunyan statue is holding a giant hot dog. We learned from reading the sign that a single Paul Bunyan mould was used to create a number of statues. The original mould was designed for him to hold an ax, but as other businesses adopted the giant mascot, they retrofitted him with whatever merchandise they were peddling (or whatever they thought would get motorists attention).
Nearby, partially obscured by trees was an old mural advertisement for a business.
A short while down the road we came upon another larger than life man.
While Frugal Boy slept for most of the car ride, these scattered diversions would be great for kids. Not only does it give them a chance to get out and run around for a bit, it also provides points of reference for future traveling. Now when I drive past these towns on the interstate, I will be able to remember something about them and the whole trip will go by a little bit faster.
Well Mr. Giant Lincoln, how about we visit your last residence. Okay, maybe a recreation of your last house, because that was the first place that we visited upon reaching Springfield.
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, IL tells the story of our 16th president from his humble beginnings in Kentucky and Indiana to his rather tumultuous political career in Illinois and Washington D.C. The museum is definitely worth a visit and seeing as photography was disallowed in most areas, you will have to see it for yourselves. Plan your visit during non peak days as the layout and flow of the museum can get a bit constipated.
Outside of the museum, we paused for a quick photo op.
There are a number of attractions within walking distance. The first one we visited was the “old” state Capitol.
This was actually the 5th state capitol and the first one located in Springfield. The General Assembly was a tidy room.
The 6th and latest state capitol, built after the Civil War, is a much larger building.
There’s a happy couple
and here are some ‘newly’weds
While we were trying to figure out where the handicap accessible entrance was (for Frugal Boy’s stroller) we somehow ended up at the Illinois State Museum.
This free museum spans 3 levels. The basement houses a large hands on activity area for kids. Frugal Boy found a comfy nest and waited for momma to feed him birdy style.
The main floor exhibit is centered around the natural history of the state.
The second floor contains a couple of art exhibits, a homage to the Native Americans, and a small exhibit about the evolving Illinois home.
By this time, Frugal Boy was doing his best zombie impersonation and we decided it was time to move on.
After scouting out the perimeter of the capitol building, we surrendered ourselves to the fact of dragging a stroller up some stairs and gained entrance. We had made it just in time for the last tour of the day and because it was a weekend you had to be a part of the tour to see anything past the first floor.
I have a soft spot for a big pretty rotunda.
By the 1980s, due to a combination of gas lights and smoking, the entire rotunda was black. It took a massive cleaning effort to clean up the filth.
Here is the current House of Representatives.
Near the end of the tour we saw the largest mural in the capitol depicting a peace treaty being signed with the native americans. In the 1800s the state spent $2000 on this mural. Today it is considered priceless (inflated cost of initial work is about $34.5k).
We had a great time and it was fun seeing a part of our state’s Capitol. A big thanks to my in-laws for coming down and letting us tag along on a little adventure!
