On his actual 8 month day Linc slept through the night, then took a 4 hour nap. He woke up a zillion years older. He’s bigger. His face looks different. He has more HAIR.

I don’t object to the sleeping, like, at all. But I object to the growing. I object to his thinking he is a KID and his sudden need to stand all the time. I don’t like the standing so much because when he stands on me he digs in with his grabby little toes and I end up covered with bruises. He does it when he’s nursing too – kicks me in the arms and face hard enough to leave marks. I feel like I’m being abused by a tiny, deaf old man. Saying “no!” has no effect unless I use a really angry voice and then it just makes him cry. And then I’M the jerk who made a baby cry.

I can’t even keep track of how many teeth he has anymore. He’s always teething, so I’m assuming more than the 8 I can see in the front? He mostly deals with it by biting me and my clothes, although sometimes I can talk him into biting an actual teether for a few minutes. But NOT the kind you put in the freezer for teething relief. That’s just ridiculous, in his opinion. He also really really likes to nurse for the teething pain, which means we’ve been doing a lot of nursing. A loooooot. He’s still ambivalent about food, unless it’s pizza crust (hashtag third child hashtag baby-led weaning) but I’m working on it. The day when I am not his only food source is in the distant future but I can almost see it.

Linc is in 9-12 month clothes and 12-24 months hats, because his noggin is epic. He has a bunch of soft-soled shoes but when I put them on his feet all he does is slide around and then fall on his face. I’m really looking forward to warm weather when he can just wear onesies and a diaper and get filthy throwing himself in the dirt.

Likes include standing, cruising, biting, eating paper, sister, brother, the dog, the cat, water, shoes that do not belong to him, scooting, sleeping, Mommy, smiling, friends, being worn, snuggles, nursies, breaking stuff, chewing on cords.

Dislikes are loud noises, being told NO, falling on his face and anything else he previously liked 5 minutes ago but changed his mind about. Like, say, this month’s photo shoot. He was NOT INTERESTED. And also got snot all over everything. Very attractive.

8 Month Milestones (from Caroline’s 8 monthday post)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Says “mama” or “dada” to parents (isn’t specific) – Eh. Sometimes says mamamama or dadadada but I don’t think he’s really talking?
Passes objects from hand to hand – Easily

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Stands while holding onto something – STANDS ALL THE TIME
Crawls – One legged monkey scoots, but yes. He’s completely mobile.
Points at objects – With like, one finger? No.
Searches for hidden objects – Yes. Especially if you’re hiding it specifically so he won’t choke on it.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
Pulls self to standing, cruises – Call him Royal Caribbean, he’s a cruising machine.
Picks things up with thumb-finger pincer grasp – I think he mostly ham-hand grabs stuff still.
Indicates wants with gestures – He can do the sign for “nurse” and basically does it constantly. It’s his only want.

I finished Linc’s nursery!

This room was Evan’s nursery, which had a Where The Wild Things Are theme for a while and then a monsters theme when he turned 2. I had plans to repaint and decorate BEFORE I had baby #3, but since our Team Green baby ended up being a boy I decided to leave it blue. Because, lazy.

I made those inspiration boards a few weeks ago and actually ended up doing almost everything from the yellow crib board, plus a bunch of DIY projects. I was prepared to not get this done until my baby was too old for a crib completely, so having it done when he’s only 2 months is way ahead of schedule. It’s currently the nicest room in our house BY FAR and I might sleep there myself.  I’m really excited about how Linc’s nautical nursery turned out and I hope you like it too.

The twin bed was already in the room from when it was Evan’s room (from Ikea). Ditto the ceiling light. The rocker was purchased for Caroline’s room (from Babies’R’Us) and my mother recovered the stool from our original glider. The dresser (also Ikea) was Caroline’s. The curtains are from our old house, 7+ years ago. The rug is from Wayfair too (I love them for real, not just because I work for them sometimes). The quilt on the bed was my brother’s when he was a child and my mom made the two striped pillows. The red basket was a gift from a client whose newborn photos I took whose baby was ALSO named Lincoln. The bouncer was a hand-me-down from a friend.

This onesie is the inspiration for the whole room.

I bought that paddle at the marine consignment shop down in Mystic, painted it with sample paint I had in the basement and added hooks for the cutest baby clothes. I got the idea from this pin and from this paddle on CB2 which costs $349. Total in on mine: less than $30.

It’s a pun! I wish I was better at chalkboard writing, but for freehand it’s pretty good.

The chalkboard wall was there from Evan’s monster room. The sailboat mobile I made and posted the tutorial on Wayfair, so you can check that out over there. The crib is the Jenny Lind crib in Sunshine which I ordered from Wayfair. The yellow blanket my mother-in-law made and the other thing is a KoKaDi woven wrap.

My lovely friend Liese made those burp cloths for Linc.

Everything on the dresser was gifts, except the canvas I ordered with the photos I took of Linc. The needlepoint poem was done by my grandmother when I was little.

The shelf is my favorite project. It’s a stair riser from Home Depot cut in half, with holes drilled in it and rope run through the holes. It’s anchored to the wall with boat cleats. No painting, no staining, no nailing or gluing. E helped me with the actual work but I made up the plans (and relayed them E) from my head.

Of course, Linc is still sleeping in our room in the rock’n’play for the foreseeable future so no one is enjoying all my hard work besides me. But I am definitely patting myself on the back for getting it done. I even assembled that crib myself, so it’s my favorite piece of furniture in the whole house.

Let me know if you need a source for anything I didn’t list! Always happy to help.

This week features my baby sleeping in various places. Of course, I’d like him to also be sleeping RIGHT NOW but he’s decided that’s no fun anymore. Hashtag here comes the exhaustion.

Sleeping in the hospital, looking slightly less yellow than when we went in.

There are THREE CHILDREN in this photo. I grew them all.

I need someone to come over and constantly reassure Caroline she is still adorable.

Monday:

Sleeping smiles in my lap

Caroline and Harry Potter share their ennui

I haven’t decided what to eat this on, so for now I’m using a spoon.

Tuesday:

Oh man, that face.

Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream to watch the Mystic Drawbridge

Photographer problems: Where do I put all this crap? (Answer: on the walls)

Wednesday:

You’re going to see this onesie A LOT.

This is why I buy blueberries – I only manage to grow about 3 a year in our garden.

Flower child

Thursday:

Sleeping in the shopping cart while I but essentials.

ARM PARTY! (She made all of those)

Ice cream and farm animals because we HAD to get OUT OF THE HOUSE

Friday:

Is she three or thirteen?

E was actually home long enough to see his children. It was exciting for all of us.

Sleeping baby in a hat

Saturday:

Baby sleeping in a fabric store

My no-theme, no-effort nursery now has a theme and some effort (my mom recovered the ottoman)

Tippy toes

Linc just stopped moving (he’s still BREATHING, I checked, but he’s not wiggling) so I’m going to hope the 5th feeding in a row worked and he’s finally asleep. Fingers crossed he continues to be an A+ Would Birth Again Excellent Baby.

As a sidenote, I have another sponsored post tomorrow. I know that’s 2 in 2 weeks but I don’t have any more scheduled. It just feels like they’re close together because the only blogging I’m really doing right now is blogging I HAVE to do (I consider my iPhone Photo posts HAVE TOs, because I cannot possibly quit after 195 of them). There will be actual Deep Thoughts and a LOT more pictures soon. Just not now, because sleep.

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Wayfair as part of their Homemakers program. All opinions are my own. 

We watch a LOT of HGTV. My children have favorite HGTV shows (Evan likes Love It or List It, while Caroline prefers House Hunters). And if you’ve watched even 10 minutes of HGTV you’re heard that song Wayfair uses in their commercials and right now you are cursing me for getting it stuck in your head AGAIN. Rest assured I share your pain.

Now that Baby Linc is no longer a surprise baby, I can finally finish the nursery. I moved the older kids in together to give him a room – I might as well make it a NICE room. I am attempting to prevent Third Child Why Aren’t There Any Pictures Of Me And Why Did I Sleep In A Drawer Syndrome. (Current status: medium. He has a birth story but owns no socks)  So far I’ve gone from this…

To this:

(more…)

The inspiration for Little Evan’s room makeover was this piece of art:

Evan the Nap Monster, by ModTots.

I ordered a monster – any monster, since they didn’t exist yet – as soon as I heard ModTots would be releasing them. So I actually bought half the stuff for the room before I knew what this piece would look like. But I knew it would be adorable so it wasn’t exactly a hardship.

I thought monsters would be a super easy theme for a kid’s room. I was wrong. Everything was Monsters, Inc the Pixar movie themed – and even that was hard to find. But I’m going to predict right now that monsters will be big by the end of 2011. Just watch.

Before pics. The nursery theme was “nautical” slash “tropical island” slash “Where the Wild Things Are”. And also very messy.

View from the door

Left hand wall

Right hand corner

Right hand wall

And after pics:

View from the door (I know it looks like a different wall color, but that's just because I rolled up the black-out shades...something I forgot to do for the before pics)

Left hand wall (extra lines added by one very excited 2 year old)

Right hand corner

Right hand wall

Adorable monster prints from Lulufroot on Etsy (I think I need the green monster one too!)

Bookcase

Best bed friends - he kisses them both good night

Snake from Taradara, Bear handknit by me.

Daydreaming in his big boy bed

The rest of the details:
Bed: Ikea
Monster sheets & duvet cover: Garnet Hill
Dresser: Ikea
Ceiling lamp: Ikea
Standing lamp: Target
Rug (moved from our family room): Target
Curtains: Ikea
Bookcase: Target
Rocker: Ikea
Book caddy: P’kolino from Amazon.com

Close up of the book caddy because it's so freaking cute. Oh and also, when I bought it it was like $10, not $30+. Don't buy one until they go back on sale.

I’m sort of ashamed that the curtains are 84 inch curtains that you’re supposed to hem (and by hem I mean use the iron-on adhesive tape they came with) and yet I did not hem them. The problem is the radiator is right below the window on the right hand wall, so I’d have to cut them REALLY short to be safe. But I don’t want to hem the other set that short and I still want them to match, so I just tied them up. And truthfully, I kind of like how they look.

Also, we have a bed rail for the side of the bed so Little Evan doesn’t roll out while he’s sleeping. Not that I think he would – he’s not a super rolly sleeper – but he likes pushing his feet against something while he’s trying to fall asleep and since we took the crib rails away I thought it would be a good substitute. I just took it down for the pictures.

Night night!

So far, we’re having about a 75% success rate with the big boy bed. Wednesday was the first day nap time didn’t happen AT ALL, but he’s been pushing them back later and later since we made the switch. He does get out and run around and pull things out of the drawers and read all his books and climb in the chair…but when he gets tired he puts himself back to bed. And it’s nice that he can get himself out of bed and play in his room in the mornings so I have time to brush my teeth and get dressed before he starts yelling for me. But sometimes he cries a little because he misses his crib. I think he’ll get over it pretty soon though.

Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored in any way. All items were paid for with my own cash money.