st nicholas day

I didn't get a chance to post these last week because of the insanity that is our holiday schedule, but last Saterday was St. Nicholas Day. Being a good dutch child (or at least half dutch), Tobo put his wood shoes out the night before. Not surprisingly, when he woke up at #$%$%^am in the morning, St Nicholas had filled his shoes with gifts.

From Baby Grows Up

Tobo of course was more interested in the shoes:

From Baby Grows Up

The shoes, btw, are from Holland (the country not Michigan!) brought over from ye old country I believe for my mom when she was a little girl. (Correct me if I'm wrong mom) Traditionally he would have gotten oranges and apples as well as a little candy, but since almost all of that is off limits to him right now, he got toys, an outfit, and some shoes. The shoes are important because he is now cruising all over the place, on all sorts of surfaces. I think we're in the final count down until he's walking.



He is into everything. So far he's managed not to haul the Christmas tree down on himself, but really, we've moved the coat stand, covered up the books, barricaded the front door with boxes, locked up all the doors, etc.

From Baby Grows Up

tobo vs the coat stand

A few days ago I broke down and figured out a way to make a makeshift playpen for him in the hallway. I closed all the doors and then put up a pressure gate so he had roughly a 5 by 5 square. This worked well until he realized I wasn't staying. I've been trying out the podaegi, with mixed success. When I get it put on correctly, Tobo loves it. When it's too loose, he starts jumping up and down and flailing his arms, which is disturbing when he's on your back.

From Baby Grows Up

We've got our 9mth checkup on Monday. Can you believe the boy is almost 9months old?!

closet give away

A few facts about me:
- I'm a big fan of reusing and recycling for a lot of reasons. (I blame my sis-in-law for getting me hooked).
- I'm obsessive compulsive about cloth diapering
- I hate waste
- I hate shopping
- I love helping

SO, I'm clearing out some of the baby stuff that tobo doesn't need anymore. If you are interested, ping me and I'll get it to you.

I plan to take this stuff to Once-Upon-A-Child but you all get first dibs (free).
Giving away:
- My Breast Friend Pillow with cover
- infantino front carrier, no manual or anything
- amy cole moble, blue animals (talk to the animals is the tune)
- 5 different 6-9 month old coats or winter (we really don't need this many)
- baby positioner

Lending (we'll probably want these back when your done): [CO Only please]
- bring along swing (folds up pretty good)
- bebe lionhart seat (good for baby's learning to sit)
- infant prefolds (about 30 of them) + covers
- infant car seat stroller frame (works with Gracos, possible others)
- clothing 0-3months, 3-6months
- Arm's reach cosleeper (straps to teh bed or works as a stand alone bassinet)

Someone asked me why we didn't register for much clothing.



As my official second day off, I decided to sort through the baby wear to see exactly how much clothing we actually have. From left to right the piles are: newborn - 0 to 3mths - 3 to 6mths. Behind this mountain of clothing we have a couple of things that are 9 to 18 months and then about 3 shirts that are 24 months. Not really anything that is 1 year though. funny. Anyway, we've got about 13 actual newborn outfits, plus a set or two of white onesies / newborn pants. All of this needs to be washed with non-smelly soap before we can really use it, but I'm trying to wait a bit before washing everything... just to wash it again in 5 weeks before the baby *actually* comes home.

We also got these to prove he's really a colorado native:

"its official, we have diapers"

This is the thought that came to my mind as we hauled in all the marvelous shower gifts after yesterday's party. Specifically, the large 216 ct swaddlers box that I was carrying at the time. The shower was wonderful. It was great to be 'gifted', but more than that it was great to see all these cool people I know get a chance to meet each other. Folks we knew from PA were able to meet people we work with from OMF. New friends we met last year got to meet people we've know for years. I just loved bringing them all together. Ok, I didn't really do much more than laugh and eat cake, so I guess I was happy to be the reason people came together. I left with many promises for dinner or movies later. I hope we can follow up on some of that before the baby's here. There were so many more of you I would have gladly had there except for the barriers of space and time. Must get thank you notes out into the mail soon.

With that being said, we now have I think most of what we need. There were a few items that we will want to pick up, but we can do that in the next few weeks. Thank you for all the advice on the last post. We will take notes and run to the store soon.

I have officially "swelled" again. tobo has been doing flip-flops for a day or two and now I'm really putting the stretch in my maternity wear under a lot of stress tests. Just when you think you can't get any bigger... So, I'm glad to be done working, just in case I have to wear a moo-moo for the last 8 weeks. Here is the evidence:
"there she blows. a hump like a snow hill, it is moby dick"



Paul thought this was funny.



And a more normal shot of paul:


The problem with having such a wonderful party is I was pretty much beat until this afternoon. I slept for 5 hours _straight_ before waking up last night. No kidding. That's huge based on my usual sleeping habits these days. I'll probably post a little bit more about this later, but I think I'm done for the night.

unclaimed baby swag

We've been gifted a few times this week by some awsome baby swag. My favorite address so far was sent to "Tobo Hoemke". (tee-hee!)

The problem is that I have no "sent from" information on some of these. So if you sent this to us, Thank you and please stand up and be recognized! We also received two t-shirts from cafepress.com with no name on them. I have my suspections but will hold off on putting those forward until I check with a certain lady in pgh. More pictures of those once Paul is back home. :)

The only other thing I have to report is that I'm *not* going to go see obama tomorrow. He will be speaking near our old apt at DU, but it will be at 8:30am. I thought at first if it was in the evening I could swing it but not at 8 in the morning. A coworker has voiced interest in going so I hope she's able to get there in the morning. (One of us should be at work.) She's still choosing between hillary and obama, so I hope hearing him in person will help decide for her. I already know I won't vote for hillary. :J