Photo Every Hour | July 2017

I've never actually had the discipline to do a "photo every hour" or "day in the life" post before. I've taken a few pictures in the morning, and then as the day goes on, I get distracted with life and neglect to keep it going.

After my friend Suzanne, posted one last week, it got me thinking that I really need to commit. Not only do I love looking at how other Moms of littles spend their days, but it occurred to me, that this is something I'll probably really love to look back on years down the road when my boys are both grown.

Before I share, I feel like I need to offer up some kind of disclaimer. In our house, we don't really have "typical" days. The boys do operate on a schedule, but I work outside of the house 3 days/week, as well as co-managing my local Farmers' Market on Saturday mornings. So usually, I have two days per week at home with the boys plus Sundays which are family days. The rest of the time, they're at home with a babysitter. Obviously, I chose to document one of the days when I was actually home with them. So, with all that being said, here's what life in our home looks like:

Photo Every Hour: July 2017

7:00 AM | The boys usually wake up between 6:30-7:00 AM. I went upstairs and fed Crosby first, then changed his diaper and got him dressed. Since he's been sleeping through the night more lately, I also pumped after his feeding so I can have enough bottles for the days when I'm working outside of the house. I made coffee and then got Charlie changed and dressed.

8:00 AM | I make the three of us some breakfast- scrambled eggs, toast and oranges. We watched some Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, I showered and put a load of laundry in the washer.

9:00 AM | Time for Crosby's first nap of the day! As soon as I laid him down in his crib, I got to work on some Farmers' Market stuff. I sent out a weekly email, responded to some emails, and scheduled some social media posts, among other things. (All while I served as a "horsey" for Charlie).

10:00 AM | I continued working and Charlie puttered around the house. He sat on the front porch for a little while watching cars and even got to see the street sweeper!

11:00 AM | Crosby woke up, and once he was fed and changed, I switched the laundry, and loaded the boys up in our double stroller to walk downtown to the bank and the library.

12:00 PM | We played in the library for about an hour and then walked home for a quick lunch of tuna fish for Crosby and me, and PB&J for Charlie.

1:00 PM | Once both boys were fed, it was time for naptime: round 2! Charlie finished first, so I got him settled into bed and then put Crosby down in his crib.

2:00 PM | I folded the boys' laundry and then worked on some blog stuff for a while.

3:00 PM | I caught up on reading blogs and continued working on my own blog stuff.

4:00 PM | I laid down in bed for a little while. I don't think I actually fell asleep before Crosby woke up, but it was nice just to rest for a bit.

5:00 PM | Charlie woke up and "needed cuddles" before we both went and got Crosby out of his room. Once the boys were both awake, we played for awhile. We played peek-a-boo in Crosby's room, and then went downstairs to play with toys in Charlie's room.

6:00 PM | After we played for awhile, Daddy got home from work around 6:30 PM. Both boys were super excited to see their Daddy Bear! Once he was home, we all piled into the car and headed to Aldi for a few dinner fixins.

7:00 PM | We got home, made dinner, and then put Crosby to bed.

8:00 PM | Charlie was allowed to stay up past his bedtime to watch "Moana" with Daddy and me.

9:00 PM | Moana, wine, and chocolate (despite his best efforts, Charlie was not allowed in on the vino action)

10:00 PM | Daddy passed out watching the movie, so I brushed Charlie's teeth, read him his requisite three books, and tucked him into bed. Then it was lights out for Mommy!

Why We LOVE Baby-Led Weaning

I remember being SO excited to start making baby food when Charlie was ready to make the solid foods transition. I got out my saucepans and food processor. I got to work chopping, steaming, and pureeing a variety of fruits and vegetables. Only the best for my little bear cub! I lasted about a week before the novelty of making my own baby food wore off, and we started him on store-bought purees. Two years later, my toddler is as picky as any other kid his age and we are out hundreds of dollars on organic baby puree pouches that we'll never see again.

As Crosby approached the 6-month mark, I knew I wanted to try a different approach because the transition to solids with Charlie was nothing but expensive and stressful! I posted on Facebook to see if any of my Mama friends had tried the "baby-led weaning" method before. I had no idea just how many of my Mom friends had done baby-led weaning and were singing its praises. One friend recommended the book, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods-and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater, and I promptly checked it out from the Ohio Digital Library.

Everything they talked about in the book made SO much sense to me. Once I knew that baby-led weaning was just a fancy term for skipping the purees and offering your baby real food, I was sold. (If you're interested in trying baby-led weaning with your little one, I highly recommend this book!)

I started Crosby off on the easiest and squishiest of foods- bananas and avocados. He took to feeding himself right away and it wasn't long before we were just feeding him off of our dinner plates. Four months later, Crosby eats anything and everything that my 2.5-year old eats and sometimes more!

It's difficult to separate what is a difference in personality between my two boys and what is a result of trying the baby-led weaning approach. But in my (limited) experience, here are some of the pros of BLW:

COST
There were months where I was spending $200/month on baby food pouches for Charlie. Now that we've pared down our grocery spending, that is literally HALF of our monthly grocery budget. That's insane! The cost of BLW? Next to nothing. I buy the same fruits and vegetables that I would give to Charlie or incorporate into our family meals and that's what I give to Crosby. No extra spending necessary!

EATING HABITS
Crosby is ten times better of an eater than Charlie has ever been. Like I said, I don't know how much of that is just a difference in their personalities. However, Crosby has tried and eaten everything I've ever given him. Charlie would often refuse or spit out the purees he was given. On the other hand, Crosby has the freedom to eat as much or as little as he wants/needs. I think giving him that independence to explore new foods for himself, rather than forcing them on him, has been HUGE in our solid foods-transition success!

DEVELOPMENT/DEXTERITY
I don't think Crosby has developed any faster than other babies his age. But I do think being able to feed himself has definitely aided in him learning to use the "pincer" grasp and his hand-eye coordination, in general.

In the interest of full disclosure, there is a con. BLW is messy. I pretty much scrapped the idea of a bib a long time ago. Now I just let Crosby eat in his diaper because he needs a bath immediately after dinner 97% of the time.

That being said, feeding a baby is pretty much a mess no matter which method you try, so I barely consider this a "con." Using the baby-led weaning method this time around has made my Mama life ten times easier. I'm constantly singing its praises and telling everyone I know how much we've loved our experience. If my story can make just one Mama's life easier, it's totally worth it!

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Have you ever considered baby-led weaning? What questions do you have?

5 Things I've Learned since Becoming a Boy Mom (x2)

I'm guest posting today for my dear Dayton Mama friend, Lindsey. Lindsey has the most precious twin girls and just added a little boy to her family! Since she's new to the whole #boymom thing, I thought I'd share with her and her readers, the 5 Things I've Learned Since Becoming a Boy Mom (x2!).

Head over to Fueling Mamahood to check it out!

Our Trip to the Yellow Cab Food Truck Rally [2017 Ohio Summer Bucket List]

Back in May, in my effort to become more well-acquainted with my Midwestern home, I made a summer bucket list. So far, we've made it to the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton and Celtic Fest Ohio at the Ohio Renaissance Festival Park in Waynesville (between Dayton and Cincinnati).

The weekend of July 4th, my Mama traveled down from NY to spend the weekend with her grandsons. While she was here, we checked off #3 on our bucket list...

The Yellow Cab Tavern Food Truck Rally!

We got there shortly after it opened at 10:00 AM. The lines were already long at the more popular trucks, so we got right in line for a freshly-pressed juice and then made our way indoors to snag a table right in front of the live jazz band! Chuck and his Dad got barbecue, I got Greek, my Mom got Mexican and my mother-in-law got a "drunken waffle." I also made sure to snag a Mimosa. It was brunch, after all.

We all filled our bellies to the brim and barely came up for air (hence the lack of foodie pictures. Blogger foul). Charlie absolutely loved the live music and danced around our table the entire time we were there.

The music and food were both phenomenal. It was so fun to get out of our little podunk town with our usual brunch spots and try something new! If you're in the Dayton area, be sure to check out the Yellow Cab Food Truck Rallies on the 3rd Friday of every month (and occasionally, even on Sundays!)

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Have you ever been to a food truck rally before? This was our first time and we loved it!

Life Lately v.3

I sat down to blog this morning. About baby-lead weaning, about breastfeeding, about decorating our home, or about all the fun summer bucket list trips we've been taking. And nothing, absolutely nothing would come out.

My brain is a mess of anxieties, questions, and just plain weariness. Since it's been TWO YEARS since my last Life Lately update, I figured this blogger cop-out was exactly what the doctor ordered.

ON HAVING THREE JOBS...I have three jobs. Yes, you read that correctly. I work part-time for my previous employer in a seasonal position. I work part-home coordinating my local Farmers' Market. I also started working part-time doing marketing for a local nonprofit. In the midst of juggling these three positions, I am also somehow raising two sweet, beautiful boys. Ask me how I do it, and I'll tell you- I have no freaking clue. *insert laugh crying emoji*

ON ANXIETY...I don't know where it came from or how it started, but I've been having really bad mom-anxiety lately. The kind where I lock and bolt all the doors when Chuck leaves the house because I feel weirdly on edge and like someone could break in at any moment. Or the kind that has me constantly feeling vaguely nauseous at the thought of what would happen to our boys if something every happened to Chuck and me. Or what would happen to us, if God-forbid, something happened to them. I can't even think about it because it makes me ill. And yet, I can't stop thinking about it. Maybe it's stress-induced? Parents- any tips?

ON CROSBY'S 1st BIRTHDAY...Not everything is stress and doom and gloom around here. My sweet baby boy is going to be ONE in less than two months. I've started thinking about what I want to do to celebrate this wonderful milestone. I don't have the venue nailed down yet, but I think I want to do something music-themed to play off his name and his obvious love of music.

ON ADDING TO OUR FAMILY...You may remember a post I wrote several months back about how we're done having kids. Now suddenly that Crosby is out of the terrible newborn/infant stage, I'm not so sure. We don't want to have more anytime soon. We know we want to be more financially stable. And we question whether adding another Stuckert to our brood would really make us any happier, or would it bring more stress to our life? I thought I was good with two, but as some of my friends are growing their families, I feel sad at the thought of never experiencing the excitement of a new baby again.

ON DECORATING ON A $0 BUDGET...I had planned to dedicate an entire post to the subject, but who knows if that will happen. Basically, since quitting my full-time job back in November, I've become obsessed with making our house a home. I've gotten some amazing deals on bedding from Ohio Thrift and Aldi. Yes, I got BRAND NEW sheets and a comforter for our guest room from Ohio Thrift and Aldi and spent less than $25! I've also fallen in love with using paint to transform a room. For a small amount of money, it's amazing how much of an impact a fresh coat of paint can make on a room. I've been buying paint, supplies and home decor using gift cards that I earn from using Swagbucks. If you'd like to sign-up, you can use my referral link and we both get points to put toward free gift cards!

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What's new with you? What is your family doing to celebrate summer?

CROSBY | 10 Months

And just like that, my youngest baby is nearly a year old. How did we get here?! Didn't I just have him?!

CROSBY'S 10-MONTH UPDATE

STAY-AT-HOME WORKING MOTHERHOOD

I really can't call myself a stay-at-home Mom anymore, though thankfully I'm neither full-time nor commuting an hour to my place of employment so I still get to feel like a part-time stay-at-home Mom. I snagged a killer local part-time job last month. It's the perfect position for me and will allow me to stay close to my babies for longer. Words cannot convey how grateful I am. (I don't know if I will be sharing anything about my job on here, but you can subscribe to my newsletter if you want more details).

BREASTFEEDING

Crosby is still nursing with about the same frequency, but has added a TON of solid foods to his diet. He enjoys three meals a day and I'm not kidding when I say that my 10-month old eats more than his 2.5-year old brother. He loves it all! I'm so happy I took the baby-led weaning approach with Crosby and plan to share a blog post in the near future on what BLW is and how it's worked for our family!

I don't have any kind of timeline in mind for breastfeeding. I plan to nurse until he's one and then just go from there. I'm not having the horrible supply issues that I had with Charlie so I foresee us going longer. However, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to having my body back again. Being at the mercy of someone else's schedule, not to mention the whole not-drinking thing are getting old.

As for Crosby...

LIFE

Have I mentioned yet that this kid loves to snuggle? He was teething most of this month and was extra needy. Whenever he was done nursing, he'd just nuzzle his sweet head into my chest and stay there until he was ready to face the day. He is just the sweetest, most delightful little boy.

He's also been eating like a champ. Anything I give him, he gobbles right up! I don't know whether it qualifies as a milestone, but he's started Army-crawling all over the house and loves playing with his big brother's toys! He has started laughing more and more. His Daddy and I will do just about anything to elicit those sweet baby giggles out of him.

MILESTONES

He already mastered the "muh muh" sound last month, and this month he's been all about "guh guh." This poor little soul also cut four of his top teeth this month. My baby has six teeth! It's insanity, I tell you.

STATS

According to our bathroom scale, Crosby is somewhere in the ballpark of 19 lbs. We're in Size 3 diapers and 12-month clothing.

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Several of our friends are expecting or are planning to start their families in the near future and it's been throwing me for a loop. It's made me start to think whether or not I do want to have more babies in the future. I don't think that I do, but knowing that I will never experience this sweet baby stage again is leaving me feeling...grief? 

I don't know what the future holds for our family, but I do know that Crosby Loren is the sweetest baby I could have ever hoped for. If every baby was as darling as him, I could have 20 more.

Celtic Fest Ohio [2017 Ohio Summer Bucket List]

I have lived in my husband's small, rural Ohio hometown for almost four years now. I would be lying if I said I didn't sometimes miss the proximity to the ocean and the amazing pizza that the East Coast offers. But I'd also be saying if I said I didn't love my home. It's small and lacks a ton to do. But our proximity to Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati means I never have an excuse for saying I'm bored or stir crazy.

This summer I decided this would be the year I would make the most of living in the epicenter of these three cities and discover everything that Ohio has to offer. I published my 2017 Ohio Summer Bucket List as a way to track my explorations and hold myself accountable to get out of my little home and give my boys some summer adventure!

One of my goals was to visit the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It's literally located just 15 minutes away from us and neither Chuck or I had ever been. When I found out that Celtic Fest Ohio was held on the Renaissance Festival grounds in June, that solidified our decision. I'm obsessed with Irish folk and culture so I was all too eager to check it out.

Our Trip to Celtic Fest Ohio 2017

Due to some work obligations on Saturday, we chose to take the family on Sunday, the second day of the festival. The forecast showed some potential rain which seemed to scare people off and we practically had the place to ourselves for the first half of our trip. It was awesome. We did a lap around the grounds taking in all the vendor booths, food options and kids' activities.

I bought Charlie a ticket for the bounce house and then we spent about an hour just watching the awesome live music. Charlie loved Ten Strings and a Goat Skin and was dancing and drumming along to their whole set. After their set, we made our way over to where the food was centrally located and dined on fish and chips (so good I forgot to take a picture!) and listened to some more live music in the shade. We then walked around looking at the handmade goods, got a taco to share, a pint for Mommy and some ice cream for Charlie.

The food was seriously so good and we practically had to be rolled out of the exit by the time we were done.

If you live near Southwest Ohio, you absolutely have to check out the Ohio Renaissance Festival and Celtic Fest Ohio. The Ohio Renaissance Festival is back every weekend September-October. Their themed weekends sound like so much fun and are a guarantee that our family will absolutely be coming back in the fall.

Have you ever been to the Ohio Renaissance Festival?

Disclosure: I received complimentary admission tickets to Celtic Fest Ohio. All opinions are my own.

CHARLIE | 2.5

Last week, Charlie Davis "turned" 2.5. I know 2.5 isn't a real milestone, but as I mentioned last week in Crosby's 41 Weeks post, I'm a big fan of celebrating made-up milestones. Since Charlie has officially outgrown monthly baby check-ins, I thought about what I wanted to do to honor and document this stage in his life. I looked up some year-end/birthday interview questionnaires and found some questions I thought would be fun to track as my boys get older. So, at 2.5, this is Charlie:

Charlie's 2.5 Year Interview

Favorite TV Show: "Blippi" on YouTube

Favorite pastime(s): Playing with cars, running around outside, playing on the playground/Splash Park

Favorite color: We're still mastering our colors, so this is an unknown

Favorite toy: His cars and trucks

Favorite food: Scrambled eggs and chicken nuggets

Favorite book: Little Blue Truck

Favorite animal: He has a bit of a dog phobia, so prefers kitties

Favorite sport: Disc golf

Favorite movie: Minions

Best friend(s): His cousin Lucie and my friend's daughter Willow

When I grow up, I want to be: "Mowing"

What I sleep with at night: His "lamby" and his owl, Hedwig

Above all, Charlie is just so much fun and such a great kid. Obviously, I'm biased but he cracks me up daily. He is so silly, sweet and good-tempered. Everywhere we go, he greets everyone with a smile and "hi!" He is the friendliest kid. He loves meeting new friends, though he prefers to scope out new social situations before he joins in on the fun. Which is exactly what I used to do as a kid and it's funny to watch so many of my personality traits reveal themselves in him.

He's a great big brother to Crosby. Even on the rare occasion when he hurts him (either purposefully or unintentionally), he is quick to deliver a kiss and hug to make his baby brother feel better. He is the oddest combination of fearful and fearless. He does not like big dogs or getting water in his face. He can be very sensitive about his personal space. On the other hand, he wants to run, jump and climb ALL THE THINGS. He is constantly adorned with scraped knees and bruises.

He can be a picky eater. He's obsessed with anything on wheels- lawn mowers, construction vehicles, fire trucks, etc. Every night we change into pajamas, brush our teeth and read three books together. We never really read to him before bed until his transition to his big boy bed. Although sometimes the "good night"s are tough, it has become such a cherished bedtime ritual.

Charlie Davis, I simply adore you and look forward to the next six months of fun. You make your Mommy so ridiculously happy and I hope you never forget that. I love you.