Five Months

Here's a spattering of pictures of our 5-month old...
We couldn't resist taking a few pictures after his bath of this adorable little bum, though he wasn't too comfortable with it. You gotta love baby bums.Caught in the act! Collin loves to suck on his toes. It is a great go-everywhere toy; he prefers his toes over any real toy. The sogginess of his socks was... nasty, but thankfully it's getting warmer and I can skip the socks more and more.

He can now roll over rather consistently from his back, to his right side, and then over to his belly. He doesn't always want to pull his bottom arm out. Of course, when he does get his arm out, he gets stuck on his belly and screams and screams until Mommy or Daddy comes to rescue him.


(Wait for it: At the end of the video, you can hear a little giggle.)
Collin is fair-skinned (so far) like his mom, so I have been searching for a baseball cap for weeks so we can go on walks in the Baby Bjorn when it's sunny. I finally found a two-pack at Walmart for $4 with adjustable backs, and I snatched them up. I love how grown-up he looks. (Sorry he's not wearing the hats: he's napping, and I want to get this thing posted!) He loves to swing in Daddy's arms, and he giggles when Ryan throws him in the air (not too high though!). It is fun to watch. I think he gets bored home alone with Mom all day; she isn't near as exciting.
Collin loves his acorn squash. In fact, I keep reintroducing peas, and he just makes the silliest faces. If I warm up his rice cereal he'll eat it too, but the squash is certainly his favorite.
When Collin wants to be picked up (which is most of the time!), he sticks his arms up and looks at you with the saddest big eyes. Who can resist that little guy?
He is increasingly interested in the toys surrounding his bouncer (like an exersaucer), and he can now spin the wheels and hit the buttons. He also loves to hold on to just about anything with a vice grip (rattle, Mom's hair, Mom's collar, carseat handle).

And that's our Collin at 5 months...

Confessions of a Dumpster-Diver's Wife

Well, not really a dumpster-diver. More a talented “trash finder.”

IN THE BEGINNING

It all began, as far as I know, on Ryan’s mission. He’d find things by the side of the road and pick them up.
This pair of shorts is perfect. They are long (ie modest) but they are thin/skinny-legged (they are my favorite biking attire). Apparently, the Japenese throw out many "great" things, and most missionary apartments were full of little finds.

OREM, UTAH

And so the mission-tradition continued as we were first married and and living in Orem. I was firmly against the practice, originally (which I now regret - weight-lifting bench).

On the other hand, many of the things I did cave on were so ugly we didn’t move them across the country with us, therefore we have no pictures (bookshelf end table and octagon end table).

This tv stand is an item I did cave on. Originally a stereo cabinet, Ryan reworked it by removing its door and adding wheels, and it served as our tv stand for the last 5 years. Now Ryan reworked it again, and it is our entertainment-holder under the end table in our living room.
MADISON, WISCONSIN

In Madison, the real enjoyment began. We found more treasures than you can imagine.

For the Baby

Before we were even pregnant, Ryan started bringing home car seats. One of them has been cleaned and inspected, and our giant baby will soon be moving into it (it's still in the bag we moved it to Peoria in).

After we got pregnant, we found this great high chair. I was planning on recovering the plastic, since I hate it, but hey, it was free, and it's doing the job!
For the Kitchen

One night Ryan came home with a laundry basket

full of hangers, dishes (4 dinner plates, 4 bowls, 4 appetizer plates),
bamboo serving spoons, mugs (4), and some random pots.

I was disgusted. “We can’t eat off someone else’s dishes!” So Ryan washed them up and ate off one each night, but I stubbornly refused to eat off anything "from the laundry basket." By this time we’d already closed on our house, so I struck up a deal: “I’ll eat off of these dishes after they’ve been run through our dishwasher.” And now they are used daily.

For the Bedroom

We also got into the bedding business. We currently have a queen headboard and footboard; a twin headboard, footboard and side rails; and a twin mattress all stashed in our basement.

Collin will need them someday, right?

We also found a great basket for all our stadium blankets.
Also of a necessity in Madison was our collection of fans. We needed one for every room!

Lindsey's Fave

My favorite find in Madison were these two great bookshelves with sliding glass doors and three interior shelves (still in the packing wrap we brought them to Peoria in). They are still a work in progress (I have more projects for Ryan than he can handle), but he is going to cut them down to fit under the windows in our two front bedrooms. A nice coat of paint and some wood putty, and they’ll be as good as new. I think the doors will be great for wet, grubby kid fingers.

Tour de Eagle Heights

The one summer we lived in Madison, they redid the road around our apartment complex, so for 4 months all traffic was in one direction around the loop. In order for us to get home each day, we were "forced" to drive through the whole complex, and therefore see almost every dumpster. Ryan loved the "inconvenience." I was annoyed as we stopped at many a dumpster to see what had been discarded.

What did we find on our "Tours de Eagle Heights?" I particularly love this great poster picture. My classroom (and now our guest room) was decorated in blue, silver and stars. And what would make the perfect picture?

Ryan's Fave

Ryan’s favorite find in Madison was our desktop computer. It needed a hard drive and a new CD-ROM, but we’ve been using it as our family server for 2 years now. Oh, and don’t forget, it was FREE.
Friendly Assistance

While in Madison, members of our ward heard of Ryan’s hobby and often called us to say, “Hey Ryan. I saw a really great --- in the dumpster outside of our apartment. You should come and get it.” (Johnny)
And what would we have done without the members of our ward that actually picked things up they thought were good finds and dropped them at our front door (Dave).
For Profit

Lest you think we kept our treasures to ourselves, Ryan’s dumpster-diving even became a mini-business. He found and sold many items. Usually Ryan had to fix and/or clean the items before they were worthy of sale, but other times we just “flipped” them. Televisions were the best money-earner, but he also sold a window air conditioner and a VCR. (He made $150 that summer!)

Of Service

Thinking we’re greedy? Some of our finds were donated to worthy causes. One of the car seats he found Ryan fixed, cleaned up and donated to the missionary efforts in our Madison ward. We found out one of our elders was sleeping with a spring in his back, found a twin mattress beside a dumpster, and delivered him the new one. And of course there was the family Ryan home taught that needed a window air conditioner, and they came and picked up one he found and fixed.

Much-needed Discretion

Think this dumpster-diving is for anyone? Ryan has a real talent for it.

One time Ryan picked up a piece of foam from beside a dumpster. I was doubtful. When I asked him what he’d do with it, he replied, “I don’t know exactly; I just know it’s a good find.”

And what did he do with it? He made his Kermit costume for Halloween that year, he made a new cushion for his living room chair, and the last piece of it is serving as a knee-cushion for ab-rolling in the exercise corner of the basement. He was right: it was a good find!

The Exodus

Right before we left Madison, we feared the worst at leaving a college town and started stocking up on things we’d need as homeowners.

We also found some great buckets for moving/storage. Do I need to remind you that they were free?
PEORIA, ILLINOIS

And then we moved to Peoria… We now face the drought of dumpsters. Our quaint little neighborhood has two garage sales per year, and everyone wants us to PAY for their trash.

And now the reason for this long-delayed blog: As part of our Biggest Loser Competition, Ryan has begun running each morning. And last week, the treasures started flowing again! Many homes have sold in our neighborhood recently, and the moving families started tossing:
When’s the best time to run? Tuesdays before the trash men come! And yes, they do need some cleaning, but my Babe is the best dumpster-diver out there. Agreed?

IN CONCLUSION

And so the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Amen.

Swaddling

So Collin sleeps like a charm; he has since he was only about 7 weeks old. (We count it as a blessing for my early-morning rising for Seminary.) We have swaddled him every night with a special velcro blanket called a Kiddopotamus. We love it! (Thanks again Rachel)

We have even purchased the larger size as he outgrew the first size. What a genius invention. Anyway, Collin is getting stronger and stronger though, and despite our best efforts, he seems to get out, and then he wakes himself up.

Luckily, the last two nights, he's found his thumb and put himself back to sleep.

Now we have a new challenge. This is how we found him this morning:

Remember how I wanted to report he had figured out how to roll over? I don't know if this really counts, but he has been rolling to his side for a week now, and sometimes he falls to his belly and sometimes he falls back to his back.

Apparently, last night, he discovered the joys of belly-sleeping. Unfortunately, due to SIDS, babies aren't supposed to sleep on their bellies. Therefore, I seek your advice. Do sleep positioners work? If you have used one and you liked it, where did you get it and how much was it? Basically, do you have any recommendations for us to try to get Collin to stay on his back at night?