October Bluum Box

I forgot to blog about Oliver's September Bluum box, but I know we enjoyed and used pretty much all of the items we received last month!  I am back with a review of our newest Bluum box though, It's a pretty good one this month, so here's a little review of his ten month box.

We got two bath toys this month.  One of them is an adorable floating duck that also tests the temperature for you.  We already had a duckie like that, but this one is too cute because he's floating in a little inner tube. Ollie loves to grab his duckies and chew on them when we're giving him a bath, so the more duckies the merrier!  We also got these fun duck themed stacking cups.  They're pretty neat, not only can you stack them, but they also connect together at their wings (kind of like the pop beads we had when we were kids, anyone remember those?) He likes to take them and bang them together and make noise while splashing around.  It's also nice having these toys in the bathroom, sometimes he's content to sit on the floor with them while one of us is getting ready at the sink.

The next item is this adorable Caterpillar toy from Melissa and Doug.  I keep calling it a worm, but I guess it's a caterpillar.  It's neat, it's made of wood and it bends and flexes and is very easy for Oliver to grab and of course he loves to chew on it.

I love that they included a book this month.  This book, What Can I See, is pretty cute.  Each page is a baby looking at different things.  Even though it's a girl on the cover, there are boys and girls in the book.  Very cute little story and I love that it's a board book.  Board books seem to be Oliver's favorite right now, he likes to grab them and help us turn the pages.

Finally we have some food items.  We got another jar of baby food from Beech Nut which made me super excited, we're big fans of Beech Nut fruit.  We do make most of Ollie's food from scratch, but for breakfast we've been mixing these Beech Nut jars with either oatmeal or yogurt.  The awesome thing about Beech Nut is that it's natural ingredients and there is no added anything.  This particular jar is Apple and Arona Berry - and that's all that's in there.  Nothing else.  We also received a squeeze pouch from Ella's Kitchen - another good natural food brand for baby.  This one is Pear, Mango and Papaya.  We ended up bringing this to the wedding on Saturday to have an easy option to feed Ollie and he loved it.  He even figured out on his own he could squeeze the pouch and suck on it to get the food out!  While we don't want to give him this kind of thing all the time it's nice to have for a grab and go situation!  And then the last item was for mom - Snapea Crips.  They are baked green pea crisps and are supposed to be a healthy alternative to potato chips.  I was a little skeptical but gave them a try and they're actually pretty good!  They're light and crispy and make a pretty tasty little snack!

So overall I feel that Bluum did pretty well this month.  I said before I felt our earlier boxes were not great, but they've been pretty spot on since around July I think.  I'm paid up for another several months here so I look forward to seeing what items they send us especially as Oliver is closer to one year old.   Any of you mamas out there try Bluum before?  Or any other boxes?  Please share your favorites!

Norseman Distillery Tasting

Last Thursday Nate and I had an opportunity to do a unique date night experience.  You all know we're huge beer fans, but a couple of months ago there was a Living Social deal for a craft distillery near us.  It included a tasting, tour, two t-shirts and two glasses to take home.  We thought that sounded interesting even if we aren't as into hard liquor.  The options for the tasting were pretty limited, they offer two sessions on only two Thursday evenings a month.  I thought that seemed kind of odd, but it made sense once we learned more about them!

So, we dropped off Oliver with my parents and headed to Northeast Minneapolis.  Norseman Distillery is located in a warehouse type building.  We parked and headed inside.  As we followed the signs it started to feel like we were heading into a dungeon or something, it was way down in the basement of this old building! We finally found them and were greeted by this:

They had several barrels with bottles out and little glasses and they were pouring samples.  We quickly learned that this is a very small operation - it's a husband and wife team.  They have only been in operation since December and they're doing pretty well so far!  They make gin, vodka and rum and they're working on a whiskey.  We tasted the vodka and gin before heading in for the tour.  I'm not a huge gin fan, but I have to say, theirs is pretty good!

The husband led the tour as he does most of the work for the distillery.  He explained that he originally thought about brewing beer and getting into doing a brewery or something but then realized that there was nothing else like this on the market, so he decided to give it a try.  The response was overwhelming, they sold out of their projected amount of vodka for the year by February.  Slowly they've built up more equipment and are now actually going to be moving to a new space not far from where they are now since they are growing by leaps and bounds.

He explained the distilling process - it is very similar to brewing beer but there are a few more steps involved. Right when it comes out of the distiller it's more or less like moonshine and then you do some other steps to turn it into other types of liquor.  The equipment he has is pretty impressive!

As I mentioned, they pretty much do all the work themselves.  His wife even works full time still, so he ends up putting in some very long days on his own!  I was impressed to hear though that they have their product available in close to 400 liquor stores in Minnesota.  I think that's pretty darn good!

After the tour we were able to taste a little more, they poured their rum for us and also some strawberry rhubarb gin that unfortunately is no longer available for the year.  I think that one was my favorite, I might have even been willing to drink that one straight up!

We had a lot of fun checking out their facility, talking with the owners and tasting their product!  It was a unique experience!  We even stopped at the liquor store before we picked up Oliver to buy a bottle of their gin (Nate does like a good martini every now and then) and a bottle of their vodka to keep on hand. It's nice to support local businesses whenever possible!  I'd definitely recommend them to any of you local types out there!

Festivities

What a full and crazy weekend we just had!  I am so glad I had the extra days off on Thursday and Friday or I'd be just dragging today I think!  Anyway, we had a wonderful time at the wedding on Saturday even if it was a little chilly and Oliver didn't get much of a nap!  I didn't get a ton of pictures but I wanted to share the few that I did - the place was absolutely beautiful, it's hard to even put it into words!

He just wanted to be down on the ground, it was a battle to keep the leaves out of his mouth!

My handsome dates!

Of course he wouldn't pose with mama!

Congrats to Lindsey and Chris!! Isn't that backdrop amazing?

I'm keeping this post short and sweet today since I need to catch up on work stuff after being off, but I have plenty of posts lined up for the week including a review of Oliver's latest Bluum box and also a review of the distillery tasting Nate and I did on Thursday evening.  I hope to get an outfit post up this week too!  If you're one of my fashion friends don't forget you can follow along on my style challenges on Instagram too.  How was your weekend?

                                                             

Oliver - Ten Months

Well then. My baby is ten months old. TEN MONTHS? We are now using TWO digits to say how old he is?  Seriously.  How are we two months away from his first birthday?  I'd better get into planning mode a bit on that birthday party!  Anyway, even though it seems like time is just going too fast and needs to slow down, I am absolutely loving this age - I seem to say that every month, but for real, he is SO much fun right now.  The developments he's made this month are unreal.  Let's take a look shall we?  (And man is it more evident than ever that mama needs a new iPhone ASAP.  These pictures get worse and worse all the time.)

Weight - At his appointment on September 8th he was just around 21 lbs.  I think he hasn't gained much since then so I will say he's between 21 and 22 lbs.

Height - I think he's still around 28 inches though he feels like he may have gotten just a hair longer.

Nicknames - Bud, Buddy, Ollie Boy, Wiggle Worm, Smiles, Little Guy, Little Man, Monkey

Sleep - We've made big strides here, he is sleeping almost 8 hours without needing a feed.  He went through a nap regression for about a week and those were some rough days, but he's seeming to be back on track there.  He consistently goes down for the night around 6:45, has a dream feed when I go to bed at 10 (we'll phase that out eventually but it really helps I think) and now he doesn't wake up overnight until somewhere between 3:30 and 5:00.  And he still goes back down for another couple of hours after that feed, so while some mornings it means I'm waking up with only an hour until my alarm goes off, I think we're on the right track towards sleeping through the night.  And he is so happy when he is up for the day!

Eating - He is now up to three solid food meals a day.  In addition to his veggies we've added fruits, oatmeal, yogurt and meats.  Oh does this boy love meats!  He is a carnivore, that is for sure!  The only things he turns his nose up at seems to be in the cucumber family, he isn't crazy about cucumber, eggplant or melons.  Otherwise he'll wolf down anything you put in front of him.  He still loves his mommy milk too and he has fun using a sippy cup to get water.

Diapers - We're still in size 4, thank goodness.  I don't see this changing anytime soon.  We do vary the type of diaper he wears depending on what is going on.  He wears Pampers Cruisers when he is awake and then a Swaddler or Baby Dry for naps and bedtime.

Clothes - He is starting to wear more size 18 month items and we have bought a few things that go up to 24 month size as we're anticipating his growth into the winter.  Some 12 month still fit too, it honestly depends on the brand!  I had gotten away from using the footie sleepers as much but then when it got cold decided to pull them out again and he still loves them.

Mood - Happy.  So happy.  He only gets cranky if his mouth is sore (we have seven teeth now, seems like a new one comes in every so many days!), he is overtired, bored or frustrated.  Kind of like any average baby really!  And as I said last month, he is SO busy.  Moving all the time, exploring.  He is all boy.  But so happy.  There is a reason his daddy calls him "Smiles."

Loves - Mommy, daddy, his grandparents, the kitties, puppies, watching the cars go by outside, crawling around, pulling up on stuff, playing with things that aren't really toys like his wipes container, music, the Itsy Bitsy Spider song, his stuffed elephant, being outside, eating his meats and other foods.

Dislikes - Diaper changes that take too long, not being able to go outside (oh winter will be fun), when he can't figure out how to do something, having things that aren't toys taken away from him, cucumber, melon, eggplant, and when the food in his bowl is all gone.

Milestones/What I want to remember - Well let me tell you, this has been a busy month.  Crawling.  Pulling to stand.  Walking along the furniture.  Starting to say words that make sense like "Mama" and "Dada".  As I said above, seven teeth.  We visited the apple orchard this month, took him out disc golfing with us a bunch, went for many walks on beautiful fall days.  It's been so fun watching him try new foods.  Soaking up as much of the baby time as we can, as he is becoming closer to a toddler every single day.

Dear Oliver,

It took you so long to figure it out but now you can crawl and move around and as I predicted, there is just no stopping you now!  The world is now your oyster and you are discovering new things every day.  You melt my heart with your toothy grins and nothing makes me happier than when you say "mama".  You made your daddy's day when you looked at him and said "dada" and smiled.  We can tell you seem to like being with us and that's good, cause we like being with you too.  I can't wait for all the fun adventures we'll have in October, you get to go to a wedding, you'll get to meet lots of mommy and daddy's friends at their annual Oktoberfest and we'll be celebrating your first Halloween.  I hope you love all of it, I just can't wait to share it with you.  I love you to to moon and back little man.

Love,

Mama

Thrift Style Thursday - Touch of Vintage

Hi everyone!  I'm lucky enough to be off from work for a couple of days, but I'm still here with a quick post for Thrift Style Thursday!  This week's theme is a touch of vintage.  I love vintage items, especially as we get into fall - I have so many cozy vintage sweaters and skirts that I love pulling out and mixing in with newer items!  Today's look is cozy and comfy for a cool, damp, fall day hanging out with my favorite boy.  Later tonight Nate and I are going on a little date night too, so I am pretty excited about that!

Sweater - vintage via swap, Shirt - F21

Jeans - Old Navy, Boots - Target

Necklace - Stella and Dot

I'm waiting on some furniture to be delivered and then I'm off to do a little shopping for a certain young soon to be ten month old who needs a warmer coat!  Be sure to head over to our Thrift Style Thursday Facebook page and see how other ladies added a touch of vintage to their looks today!

Currently in October

It's a new month!  I can't believe how fast September flew by.  Since it is also the first Wednesday of the month, I'm participating in Jenna from Dearest Love and Anne from In Residence's Currently link up.  
--Currently I am--
Smelling - All things Fall!  Pulled out some fall candles, wearing my favorite Fall scents from Bath and Body Works, I even love the smell of falling leaves outside!  

Loving - Cool nights and snuggling under our warm comforter.  My friends, my family, my kitties and of course my two favorite boys!

Planning - Our annual Oktoberfest later this month - we're holding it a little later than true German Oktoberfest, but that's just how it goes sometimes. We didn't have it last year due to my pregnancy and the replacement of our front window, so I'm excited to be back at it this year.  We've got some awesome homebrew at the ready! I am also actually starting to get into planning mode for Oliver's 1st birthday (just over two months away, eek!) but it's still mostly just thoughts in my head about what we want to do.
Baking - Haven't done too much of that, but I have a couple of days off coming up here and I think I'm going to take advantage and make some apple crisp or apple pie.  I'm also in the mood to bake cookies, so that might happen too.  Last weekend we did made homemade applesauce, but I don't know that I consider that baking as much as cooking.  But I will say, this recipe found here at Twin Cities Mom's Blog is super delicious.
Celebrating - My sister-in-law's best friend Lindsey, who has by extension become a good friend to me as well, is getting married this weekend!  We can't wait to celebrate with her!

(Lindsey on Halloween a couple years ago as Jem)
October is looking to be a busy, but fun month!  I also have to get moving on Oliver's first Halloween costume.  We have an idea of what we're doing, just need to get some supplies.  I get the feeling time will go pretty quick here!  Just going to enjoy every moment!
What are you currently doing?