It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I am happy to announce that we got our sleeper back! { Knock on wood - knock on wood - knock on wood! } Our doctor recommended that we slowly decrease the amount we let Asher eat at night ( he was eating SO MUCH AT NIGHT and barely eating - well, drinking milk - during the day). His appetite has now increased during the day and he doesn't wake up for bottles anymore. Hallelujah! Who knew?!

He's bound to wake up from his nap any minute, but I wanted to take a quick moment to post some cheerful Christmas pics to get this blog into the spirit! :) Pics are the best part of blogging anyways, right?? More to come, I'm sure, because I just can't get enough of this sweet little face. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far!

FYI - That tree took about 3 hours to complete. So worth it, though, and it creates some pretty awesome bokeh. Thanks to Pinterest for the inspiration and to my husband for being so patient. :) 

The stocking hanger was purchased here: www.etsy.com/shop/YouMeandThree

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Cloth Diaper Stash for SALE!

Hello! Oh my goodness, has it been awhile since I have made a post on here... I'm so sorry! My excuse it that I am just pooped ( pun intended with the subject matter of this post...). I'm too pooped to post - ha! Everyone is wonderful and Asher is doing wonderfully, getting so big and so smart. Business is booming and our lives are as crazy as ever. I do miss the therapeutic side of blogging, so maybe in the near future I'll pick back up on here. But for now... I'm pooped. :)

I hopped back up on here to let anyone who may be interested know that I am SELLING MY CLOTH DIAPER STASH!!! Oh my gosh... there is so much. Most of it is BARELY used; a lot of it has never even been used at all. I just don't have time to cloth diaper anymore (haven't for awhile). We cloth diapered mostly part-time for about... 2.5-3 months, I think, and everything was purchased new. So this stuff is pristine,  NO STAINS whatsoever, and hardly any wear. The only items that even look used are the handmade covers I purchase from Etsy. Otherwise, you can't even tell.

I don't know why there's some weird spacing going on on here... sorry if this list looks a little wonky!

Basically 40 diapers, all with inserts, lots of extra inserts and everything else you might need to cloth diaper full time... probably several babies.... and in style! :)

I put little stars beside the things that are 100% unopened/new. Some "unstarred" things are also completely new, just opened.


- - FITTED DIAPERS - -

1 - Thirsties Duo Fab FITTED Snap Cloth Diapers, Green, Size 1 (6-18 lbs)
1 - MonkeySnuggles Chocolate Chip FITTED Cloth Diaper
1 - SquirrelnOwl Brown Retro Cars & Green Velour Bamboo FITTED Diaper
1 - PoopsieDoodles Skulls & Stars Bamboo FITTED Hybrid Cloth Diaper

2 - Kissaluvs Cotton Fleece Hybrid Contour Diaper, Unbleached **
1 - Snappis Cloth Diaper Fastener, Size 2 **

- - DIAPER COVERS - - 


1 - Bumkins Cloth Diaper COVER, Seuss Yellow Fish
1 - GroVia Hybrid Hook/Loop Shell Diaper COVER, Color: Surf
1 - TheEliMonster Cloth Diaper COVER Superhero SIZE MED
3 - CountingtheBlessings Cloth Diaper COVERS AI2 - Argyle, Chevron, and Shark Print




- - ALL-IN-ONE DIAPERS - -

2 - GroVia Cloth AI1 Diaper, Colors: Surf & Cloud
1 - bumGenius One-Size AI1 Cloth Diaper 4.0

- - POCKET DIAPERS & SETS - -

9 - bumGenius One-Size Snap Closure Cloth Diaper 4.0 (1 unopened**
3 - Fuzzibunz Pocket Cloth Diaper w/2 Inserts Each - Elite 2013 (Yellow, Red, Lt Blue)

1 - Kawaii Baby Minky Pocket Cloth Diaper with 2 Large 100% Bamboo Inserts
1 - Kawaii Pocket Cloth Diaper with Inserts **
1 - Happy Heinys ONE for ALL Cloth Diaper + 2 Microfiber Inserts

1 - Charlie Banana 2-in-1 Reusable Diaper - Black

1 - Thirsties Duo Diaper, Cool Stripes, Size 1 (6-18 lbs)

1 - Lil' Impressions AI2 Pocket cloth diaper, Safari Adventure SIZE M
1 - Lil' Impressions AI2 Pocket cloth diaper, Tossed Puppies SIZE SM

1 - Rumparooz Cloth Diaper with Inserts - Brown **
1 - BabyKicks Pocket Diaper with Insert and Liner (Black) **



4 - Kushies Cloth Diapers **
4 - Kushies Washable Diaper INSERTS **
10 - Kushies Biodegradable Liner Sheets **
2 - Kushies Washcloths **

1 - Bummis Cloth Diaper Cover SIZE SM
1 - Bummis Cloth Diaper Cover SIZE MD **
4 - Bummis Cloth Diaper Inserts **

6 - Gdiaper gCloth Inserts
2 - Gdiapers (1 Red, 1 Green)
40 - Gdiaper Flushable Refills







- - EXTRA INSERTS - -


 6 - Charcoal Bamboo INSERTS **
3 - CountingtheBlessings Cloth diaper INSERTS w/gussets
12 - Alva Baby Cloth Diaper 4layers Antibacterial Bamboo INSERTS **

- - & MORE - -

10 - Fleece liners
3 - Thirsties Cotton/Velour Doublers
2 - Rolls of Disposable Liners (most left on roll)

1 - Wet Bag in Chevron Pattern **
1 - Kanga Care Pail Liner, Whale Tale Pattern
1 - Bag of Rockin' Green Hard Rock Cloth Diaper Detergent (opened, used twice)
1 - Bag of Rockin' Green Funk Rock Ammonia Bouncer (opened, used twice)


Send me an email at: hollyzarski@gmail.com if interested.

 FYI - Serious buyers only, please. For now, I prefer to sell everything together as a lot. For the lot of everything, I'll be asking $850 with free shipping (on the lot only). I'll ship within the US. I'll accept Paypal only. Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, & everything else that I have missed in the past few months!!! Updates coming soon, I hope! :) I'm still active on Instagram, so follow me to watch Asher grow! @hollyzmommy


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8 Months Development & Milestones

8 Months & Counting...

I think this has been one of the most significant months so far for mental development in terms of Asher starting to understand the things going on around him and what we are saying to him. His personality continues to emerge and his mind grows by the hour - or by the minute! He is having more and more "attached" moments. He is still a genuinely happy baby, eager to learn, generous with laughs, and sweet to the core. He's developed a crooked little smile, ripe with mischief. 

8 Month Milestones

• Still "dragging" himself along the floor, but now with Nascar speed!
• Can sit up on his own (and does so in his crib in protest of sleep)
• Can pick up and feed himself little snack puffs
• Responds to (and sometimes listens to) "no"
• Asher certainly has his preferences now and makes them known, i.e. favorite books and toys
• Likes to "share" his binky with both me and John. He'll take it out and offer it to us. We politely decline the sweet gesture but applaud his willingness to share!
• Mimics sounds
• Uses his fat little pointer finger all day long!

Fun Times

Asher loves to chase the vacuum if he is on the floor. He's fast enough to catch it, too! He's very good at spotting any missed specks on the tile and likes to announce when he's found one by pointing to it with his chubby little finger and yelling, "ugghhhhh ugghhhhh!". Thanks for lookin' out, little guy!

BABY SIGNING UPDATE

Asher still doesn't consistently use sign language, but I know he is absorbing it and understands much of what I sign to him. He even is on the lookout for new signs - i.e. I showed him a lion on his pajamas by pointing to the lion and saying "lion". He looked at me, then the lion, then to my hands waiting to see the sign, which to his disappointment, I didn't know! 

We've introduced lots of new signs throughout the past few weeks including "diaper change", "share", "brush teeth", "light", "airplane", "car", "bus", "duck" or "bird", "outside", "shoes", "socks", "friend", "hungry" and several more. Asher now signs "ball" when prompted for a game of rolling his ball around. We just work them into our everyday interaction with him.  I'm trying my best to stay consistent, which has been the hardest part of the baby sign language process.  I need to work on my sign language vocabulary so that I can show him new signs when he seems interested to learn them, such as the situation with the lion! 

TEETHING

We have 6 teeth! Six! Can you believe how quickly these little buggers just pop out of nowhere? The two top/front teeth are slowly making their way down and 3 front/bottom teeth are almost completely up with 1 more trailing behind. No more gummy smiles around here! We teefin!

Bros.

PLAY & SUCH

It's pretty much official now that our house is a baby house. By that I mean that the furniture is not aesthetically positioned anymore so that we could contain Asher in a specific area and allow for more space to play, the rug that I hated is now back because it's soft and bigger for more play area, no matter how often I pick up, it seems to remain a constant mess, we've added another baby gate to the picture... the perfectionist inside is a little unsettled but, hey, what are you going to do? I just keep reminding myself that what is important right now is not a perfectly coordinated living room or lack of clutter on our counters. What's important is our baby, our family, and our sanity, even if that means a messy house from time to time. Or all the time. 

SLEEP

I dream of the nights when Asher would sleep from 8pm-8am without so much as a peep from his cozy little bassinet, then I am awoken by the cries from his crib at 12am, 4am, 6am or 8am reminding me that those days indeed are gone. 

Even with the multiple wakings a night, we had a nice bedtime routine going on for awhile, but then Asher got sick from a brief stint with daycare and a sniffly little 10-month old named Andrew, and now our bedtime routine has been disrupted, smashed, broken, and crushed to smithereens. 

I'm not bitter about it at all, though. 

As always, we will get through!

8 Down, 4 To Go...

We had no idea 8 months ago just what we were in for. We didn't know that this warm little swaddled bundle would soon shift and consume our entire lives, our decisions, our thoughts, our plans, and our photo libraries. But it happened and we are (tickled blue?) to be immersed in this new world.

I guess this is when we start planning the first b-day bash, huh? Oh, goodness. Pinterest, here I come!

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Asher's Sensory Box - Activity for 7-9 Months

A few weeks ago, John and I made a "Sensory Box" for Asher. We went to Michael's Crafts in search of various things that we could include in this special collection of items.

The idea of the sensory box is to expose your baby to new and interesting textures, shapes, colors, etc. It can help with sensory processing, hand-eye coordination, fine motor development, and creative play.

We chose items from all over the spectrum including a textured rubber ducky, a feathered ball, a plastic cow, pig, and hermit crab, a foam koozie with glitter, a slinky, bells, textured fabrics, and a sea sponge, just to name a few of the treasures.

Most of these items are not baby toys, therefore the box is only to be played with under direct supervision. This means you shouldn't take your eyes off baby for even a few seconds while playing in the box! 

It's not uncommon for babies to be surprised and even scared of some of the new textures that they are exposed to during sensory play. Asher was terrified of the sea sponge. At the very first touch, he drew his hands back and held them over his head, looking around frantically for someone to take it away! He eventually warmed up to it and even held it up with a big grin! Then, when reintroduced to this mysterious sponge a few minutes later, he again DESPISED it and still will no longer give it a moment of his time. Maybe one day, sea sponge, maybe one day...

Watch Asher Experience.... THE SPONGE!!!!...

There are many different sensory bin ideas out there for kids of different ages. For babies who are still putting everything in their mouths, I would steer clear of small, choking hazards.

Here are some ideas to put in your own sensory box! Many things could probably be found at the dollar store or in sale bins at the craft store. It doesn't have to be fancy - just get creative!

• Bath Sponge (or Sea Sponge...if your baby will tolerate it :) )
• Slinky
• Rubber Ducky
• Feather
• Burlap
• Textured Felt
• Christmas Bell
• Hair Extension Clip
• Lace
• Mirror (careful of any sharp edges, plastic if you can)
• Shiny Cardstock

Have you made a sensory box for your baby? What kind of things did you put in it?

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