This baby is strong...

5 1/2 months old and already doing push ups better than her parents!


Quotes from a website on 5 month old development...They obviously don't know Shany.

"During this month, your baby can most likely prop herself up in a slow but sure manner and hold her head upright throughout the entire movement. She can also closely follow and observe in detail the movement and activities of people around her."

"By month's end, he is adept at rolling and begins to push himself up on his hands and knees."

"Just generally spend more time kicking or lying on their backs and playing with their fingers and toes." HA ha ha ha

"Rolling. While the general timing when it comes to rolling is front-to-back at 4 months and back-to-front at 6, there is a great deal of variation on this timing. In general, a 4-month-old should be able to push up on his forearms and lift his head and chest 90 degrees when lying on his stomach — a position which only requires a slight lean to either side to become a roll. Some are able to roll from back to side at 4 or 5 months, but typically aren't able to complete the task until 6 months or so."

Naked Baby & bumGenius Model

This is a sleepy Shannon!!!!

Sleepy Shannon from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

These are Shannon's friends...soon enough she'll be playing catch too!

Grady & Erin playing catch from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

I must be crazy

Most of you already knew I was crazy but I'm going to confirm it. Yesterday I went for a long bike ride and felt really good. It's been a long time since I would consider myself to be fit (having the standard I set back in 1996 when I was in top college basketball shape) and all I could think about as I maintained a very good pace was how I was going to train for a half-iron man. A 1.2 mile swim...then a 60+ mile bike ride...and finish with a half-marathon (13.1 miles). You see, I found out last week that both an iron man and half iron man would be held this fall near my hometown in Ohio at the BEST amusement park in the universe, Cedar Point. I had no idea! I looked online and saw that it would be held again next fall and the wheels started turning. It makes perfect sense to use the opportunity to visit friends and family, plus it will keep me motivated all winter to train. I think I'll start my official training in a month, with the Nashville half-marathon as a gauge in April to see how fit I am and then make the decision whether or not to register for the half iron man.
For now I'll post some super cute pictures I took today of Shannon while we lounged outside in the grass. She's my motivation!

Fall

I remember posting last fall, talking about how I felt so sick all the time and thought I understood how much our lives were going to change. Luckily this fall I feel better than ever (and will celebrate this with a beer at Oktoberfest!) and I was right about how much our lives would change-but I didn't know the change would be so wonderful. Sure, I go to bed by 9 each night and wake up around 6 (if I'm lucky), our lives revolve around a baby we are trying to get on a nap schedule, and most of my days are spent washing laundry and bottles or making sure Shannon has had enough to eat. But the wonderful part is when I see her amazing smile in the morning and how she wiggles with delight when she sees me. And then there's the cuddling, her little fingers gripping mine, as I rock her into a drowsy state for her naps. Oh, and the beautiful walks we go on around the park on these crisp fall afternoons. I almost forgot to mention her belly laughs and giggles, especially at Eric when he gets home from work. It just doesn't get much better and for the first time in my life I've slowed down to enjoy each day rather than looking ahead to what's next.
I'm also feeling better physically than I have in a long time and have been doing some intense biking. I'm feeling so good I'm even considering registering for the Nashville half-marathon and then possibly doing a few sprint triathlons late next summer.
That's what's been going on around here and here are some pictures and videos from the last few weeks.
Here's Shannon sporting her new BumGenius diapers. I had no idea that cloth diapers had come so far and wish I had switched sooner!

Shannon isn't really interested in solids but we are practicing with rice cereal each day. She likes the funny noises I make as I try to get her to open her mouth.

Each morning Shannon goes over to Erin & Grady's house. She loves watching the chaos they create and when they come over to her house to play. I think they will be great friends!

We had a picnic today and Shannon enjoyed chilling out looking cute. She's such a great baby!

Shannon adores Eric! Here they are listening to Shane this morning.

Erin & Shannon from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Shany from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

A fun video just for Alyssa!

Cousin Alyssa can't seem to get enough video of Shannon so I took this one today just for her :-) Shannon can't wait to visit her cousins Sam & Alyssa in Tennessee!
When do you think she'll crawl?

When will she crawl? from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Video and thoughts on diapers

We love taking video of her laughing. It's just so cute!

Our happy little girl! from Jennifer Parrish on Vimeo.

Now for diapers. A few weeks ago I sat down with Eric and asked if he's be willing to switch from disposable diapers to cloth since we were getting the hang of things (meaning Eric could now change a poopy diaper without gagging). I had already crunched numbers to have as ammunition since that's the language Eric speaks. Here's what I presented to him:
Number of months left with Shannon in diapers: 24
Amount of money spent on disposable diapers and wipes each month: $50-60 (on average)
Total amount we'd spend in the future on disposables= $1,200
Cost to switch to cloth diapers=300$

It was a simple decision. Some people will argue that you increase the amount of water you use from extra laundry and you have to buy more laundry detergent. After a week of using the cloth diapers I don't think we'll see much increase. You are instructed to use 1/4 the amount of detergent and I've found that each load uses the "small load" setting because you wash about 8-9 diapers each day. We chose the brand bumGenius and they are really cute.
I'll keep you informed but so far I'm sold that we made the right decision, not only financially, but environmentally. Plus for the first time Shannon doesn't wet her entire front by 4am because the cloth diapers are THAT good!