You Capture - Kisses!

I have the perfect photo for this week's You Capture!

Anytime I'm on Skype with Michael (he's in Iraq) or have a photo of him up on the monitor, Rachael finds her way into my lap and shimmies herself up until she's level with (and an inch from) the monitor and begins her smooch-fest with daddy!!  She goes on and on about "dada" telling me all sorts of things and kissing the monitor.

She is absolutely in love with her daddy and it has to be the most heart-melting thing.  EVER.

This post is linked to: You Capture.

Sleeping arrangements

This is how I sometimes find Eli when I'm on my way to bed!

This post is linked to: Wordless Wednesday.

Menu Plan Monday - 2/15

Valentine's Day, 2010
We had a pretty nice Valentine's Day around here.  Admittedly, I was a bit grumpy this morning (had nothing to do with Valentine's Day...), but I managed to pull it together and we ended up enjoying our day.

The boys really enjoyed their heart shaped foods today.  I served heart shaped sandwiches for lunch and heart shaped pancakes (with strawberry topping) for dinner!  They thought it was fun!

Then we had a couple of friends over and after the kids were all in bed, we watched this week's Survivor.  (My DVR records it every week and I don't watch it until whatever evening they can come over to watch it with me).

I have another busy week ahead of me and I'm wondering when this will slow down.... hopefully once I get the bulk of the moving paperwork/appointments taken care of I'll get a few weeks of reprieve.

Here's what I'm planning for this busy week:
Breakfasts: Pumpkin pancakes, eggs & toast, oatmeal with fruit/honey, cereal with bananas

Lunches: Mostly leftovers, otherwise, pb&j, fruit/veggie tray, random assortments of odds-n-ends

Dinners:
Monday - Antelope steaks, brown rice, steamed veggies, bread w/butter
Tuesday - Philly steak sandwiches (w/green peppers, onions and cheese), fruit smoothies
Wednesday - Grilled cheese, fresh fruit, carrot sticks
Thursday - Tuna melts, carrot sticks, grapes
Friday - Pizza, fruit smoothies
Saturday - Take out
Sunday - Taco rice casserole (recipe later)

This post is linked to: Menu Plan Monday.

Note: I made that dress Rachael is wearing and I used this awesome tutorial.

Update on Rachael

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen these updates last night.

Here's the scoop.

On Monday morning, Rachael woke up with a moderate fever (102°) for the fifth day in a row.  Due to the fever and not feeling well, she also hadn't eaten more than about 4 bites per day in three days.  She has also had cold-type symptoms (coughing, runny nose, runny eyes) for 10 days.  She saw the pediatrician on January 29th and was diagnosed with a cold.

The only way I seemed to be able to get the fever down was with ibuprofen.  Now, I know what a fever is (the body's reaction to fighting off a virus/bacteria) and I'm not one to fret over a fever that has lasted a few days, however, FIVE days is too long to be running a temperature of 102°.

Monday morning I called the pediatrician and there were no appointments available in the pediatric or family practice clinics, so they scheduled her an acute care appointment at the US Air Force Academy (nearest military treatment facility with acute care capabilities) across town.  The appointment was at 2:20.  The boys stayed at our house with a sitter.

At this appointment, the doctor checked her over and then wanted to do some urine tests.  I am not quite sure why, but rather than using a catheter and gathering the urine immediately, he decided to put a "u-bag" on her.  Just Google it - I won't be explaining that one..... And then I proceeded to wait an additional 2½ hours (she had already had a dry diaper on for over an hour) for her to provide a sample for testing (:: I had to wait for her to pee in the little baggy thing::).  She was already mildly dehydrated at this point.

In the mean time, her temperature had spiked to 104.2°.  They gave her some ibuprofen and we then had to wait an additional hour for the test results and her temperature to go down.  She was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, prescribed some oral antibiotics and sent home.  By this time it was nearing 6:30pm a full FOUR hours after we'd arrived at the clinic.

On the way home, she began vomiting in the van.  I called the acute care clinic and they wanted me to take her to the nearest ER since she had a new symptom and it was probably an indication of an additional kidney infection - and the clinic didn't have the capabilities to run the necessary test.

We went home first so Rachael could have a bath and I could get her nasty carseat out of the van and into the wash (I adjusted Eli's carseat and she used that since hers was washing).  

Then we proceeded to the ER.  As with most ER visits, we spent quite a while waiting...

Once called back, they took more urine (this time they did it the quick way).  By this time she was refusing all drinks, so once they got the test results back, she was started on an IV for fluids.  When that was finished, she was given IV antibiotics to help with the infection.

Once, the fluids were in her, she was a completely different child!  She decided she wanted to eat some snacks and have some juice and play with anything in Mommy's purse she could find!

She was discharged with instructions to continue fluids, keep the fever down with meds, fill the prescription for the oral antibiotics and start them sometime today and follow up with our regular pediatrician on Friday.

We arrived home at 1:30 am, exhausted.

I am so incredibly thankful for our wonderful friends (friend and her 14 y/o daughter) who spent most of the day and half of the night at our house yesterday so I could get my baby taken care of without having to spend the extra energy to also keep track of the boys and keep them occupied.  I'm certain I would have been quite insane at the end of the 11 hour ordeal if the boys had been with me!

I'm also incredibly thankful for the prayer support we received last night after my tweets.

Oh, and evidently, the cold and the bladder/kidney things aren't related. Two separate issues - which I definitely think is accurate since the boys have also had the same cold symptoms.

What to do with those old military uniforms

We now interrupt this scheduled blogging break to bring you a lovely craft project.

The USAF has been in the process of implementing new uniforms for a couple of years and the changeover will be complete next year.  When you deploy you are required to wear only the new uniform.  This meant that Michael was issued (and had to purchase a few) new uniforms prior to his deployment.

Not wanting to be wasteful, I had him save 7 of his old uniform tops (4 BDU - that's the regular dark camo - and 3 DCU - that's the desert/sand camo) so I could come up with something crafty to do to reuse them!

I had an epiphany a few days ago!  Reversible superhero capes for the boys!

Here's what you need:
~ 4 mens shirts
~ Grosgrain ribbon in coordinating color (I used 3/8" because it's what I had, but I would recommend 1")
~ Fray Check **
~ Scissors
~ Fabric marker/chalk
~ Sewing machine
~ Coordinating thread

:: I started with this (I actually used 2 BDU and 2 DCU shirts for this project):

:: Then I cut the entire back panel off.  Leaving the bottom hem intact, cut just inside the seams, including around the shoulders and collar, to remove the back panel in one piece.

:: Once you have 4 panels cut out, iron them all, then pick out the smallest one.  You will be using this one to create your pattern for the other pieces.

:: Fold this one in half lengthwise and use chalk/fabric pen to make your outline.  Basically, you want to go from the shoulders to the bottom hem gradually flaring out toward the bottom.  You may also need to even up the shoulders/neck.  Just eyeball it - there's no need for perfection, it's a dress-up item, afterall!

:: Cut this out and then cut out your other 3 pieces using this as your "pattern".

:: Once you have all 4 pattern pieces cut out, place one right side up on your table, cut a length of ribbon long enough to tie around child's neck with plenty of slack.  Then cut that ribbon in half and pin one to the center of each shoulder.  Then place the other fabric, right side down on top of the other and continue pinning around perimeter.

:: Sew with a straight stitch and leave a ½" seam allowance all the way around.  Be sure to leave a 6" opening in one side for turning.  I also back-tacked my ribbon a couple of times for added security.

:: Snip corners on an angle and turn right side out, making sure to "poke" each corner out.

:: Flatten out, ironing again if necessary and pin the perimeter for top-stitching.  Be sure to close the opening used for turning.

:: Sew with a straight stitch and ¼" from edge, making sure to catch the seam allowance in your top-stitch.

** Use the Fray Check to treat the exposed ends of the ribbon to keep it from fraying.

Six years ago. . .

Jacob Jasper
January 12, 2004

9lb 15oz; 23½" long

PERFECT

1st birthday - January, 2005

2nd birthday - January, 2006

3rd birthday - January, 2006

4th birthday - January, 2007

5th birthday - January, 2009

6th birthday - today!

It's a girl thing!

A year and a half ago when I found out I was having a girl - after already having had two boys - I was definitely very excited! But I thought, since I am a fairly plain girl, I wouldn't be all that into frilly, girly things.... but I was VERY wrong. I love dressing her up in cute clothing and hairbows! It's just so easy to do!

This week, at 14 months, she had her first pig-tails and I was over the moon about it!I think that knowing she is most likely my last (doctor's orders) unless God decides to surprise us and bless us with another - which would be absolutely OK with me - has made me enjoy these baby days just a bit more than I did with the first two. It's a finer thing to love and cherish a baby!

Comparisons

Jacob at 9 months (10/04)

(Photo quality is not great because it's from before the studio went digital.)






Eli at 9 months (2/07)

I thought it would be cute to have Eli's photo taken at 9 months in the same outfit Jacob had been wearing and with the same background.











Rachael at 10 months (we were out of town during most of her 9th month) (7/09)

Then when Rachael came along, I just knew I had to continue the "tradition" I had inadvertently started. So, instead of jeans, she's in a denim skirt and I added a red bow to make that very boyish shirt seem a little more girlie!

Birthday

Friday was my birthday and we decided to wait until Saturday to do anything. We had already planned on the boys attending a MOPS parent's day out event at church, so it seemed like a perfect time to have a quiet meal together. I'm not ready to leave Rachael for long periods of time yet, so we took her along with us. Let me just say right now, she is a wonderful baby! Very laid back!

We dropped the boys off at church at 9:00 and then headed to Mardel and Super Target for some shopping.

We then came home for about 45 minutes so we could drop off our purchases, move the stash of unwrapped gifts I had hidden in the garage to our closet and feed Rachael.

Then we headed to a nice, long, quiet lunch at On the Border. When we lived in Oklahoma we got ourselves totally hooked on mexican food. Then we were VERY disappointed when we moved to Colorado and found the mexican food to be sub-par at best. On the Border would not be our choice if we still lived in Oklahoma, but since it's the closest thing here to what we enjoyed in Oklahoma, it's where we go if we need a fix!

While we were at the restaurant, Rachael started to get a little cranky because she had been in her carseat too long. I took her out and held her for a while, but as it started getting close to time for her to nap, she started getting a little cranky again because she wanted to be put down. This is what I devised to get her to nap (the carseat wouldn't have worked)......




I put her down and it took her about 5 minutes to fall asleep - there was no crying or squirming or anything - and there was some LOUD mexican music playing!!! She then slept there for about 45 minutes while we finished our meal at a leisurely pace!

Then it was time to go get the boys.

They were having quiet story time when we got there because it was just after lunch and everyone was relaxing on the floor on pillows and blankets. They all looked so comfy and relaxed!!

A little of this and that...

This post will be just totally random stuff that is happening in our lives or just going on in my brain...

* At my 35 week checkup this week Rachael's heart rate was 180..... the nurse said "woo, she's a bit active this morning, eh?" She was doing what felt like cartwheels at that moment!!

* Eli might actually be getting this potty thing afterall! My original goal back when we got pregnant was to have him completely potty trained before the baby arrived. I totally gave up on that after some serious 'unready-ness' on his part and we waited a while before we started trying again. We even bought him his own special little potty to sit on because it turns out he doesn't like the toilet. He likes the little one much more and I like that he can sit on it anywhere! He only wet 2 diapers yesterday and so far, only 1 today!! So, there is hope after all. If I can get him totally trained in the next 3 weeks I will be in heaven! Jacob was 100% daytime trained by 25 months, so I had high hopes early on with Eli, maybe I had my sights set too high.... oh well, this parenting thing is a learning process and every child is different. We were at Walmart this morning and I let him pick out a pack of undies for being such a 'big boy' - he chose Diego! We're going to give it a go after naptime.

* 3 weeks ago Jacob came down with what turned out to be some random virus. It started with a severe (almost debilitating) headache that lasted 3 days and could only be eased by ibuprofen and as soon as that wore off it came back. I ended up taking him to the dr. the 4th day because it's just not right for a 4 year old to have that bad of a headache with no trauma or anything. By the morning I took him in, he also had puffy circles under his eyes and a low grade fever. She diagnosed it as a virus and said he's probably get some other minor symptoms, but it would probably go away in a few days. He did get other symptoms. He got a scratchy throat and ended up almost losing his voice and a smidge of a cough. But, like she said, he was better in a few days.

Fast forward a few days after he was better..... Hubby woke up on a Sunday morning feeling icky with a bit of a sore throat and achy. I made him start guzzling liquid Vitamic C to try to stave it off - to no avail. He ended up sicker than I have ever (in almost 10 years) seen him. He didn't just get a scratchy throat - he got an on fire, swollen, red, inferno throat and also almost lost his voice - he also had horrible headaches, flu-like symptoms of fever, achy muscles, etc. (but it wasn't strep). He went to the Dr. Monday morning and was so bad they put him on quarters (for you non-military peeps, quarters is basically when you're ordered to stay home from work and they can't call you in or 'make' you come in). So, he took almost 2 full days off and slept THE ENTIRE TIME. Must be nice to actually have a day off AND get to sleep!!!

Michael was really sick for almost a week and during the end of it, Eli started getting it. However, I think he got it the easiest - he had a croupy cough for a few days (had to have some saline nebulizer treatments) and a scratchy throat and hoarse voice. He never complained of anything really though.... Eli has been better for about a week and I thought I was in the clear since they all got it so quickly to one another.

WRONG - I have had a scratchy throat since Tuesday with nothing else so I have been praying that would be the extent of it. However, I'm thinking it may not be. Since I got up this morning my throat has gotten progressively worse and now hurts and I can barely squeak out any words. I have no other symptoms though. So, in an attempt to pre-empt a raw and horribly sore throat, I've been drinking lots of hot tea and hot water with lemon and honey and even gargling with salty water - BLECK! I really don't want to be that sick at 35 weeks pregnant and with 2 very noisy kids at home with me. The only good thing to the timing is that it's almost the weekend and I can rest, since Michael will be home, if I do end up getting worse.

* My mother-in-law will be arriving from Oklahoma on September 10!!! Yipee! We haven't seen her since Feb. so the kids will enjoy some time with grandma and we'll enjoy having some extra help with the kids for 8 days. My c-section is scheduled for Sept. 12. It will be nice to have her here to help with looking after the boys while Michael and I get a little rest and I take care of myself and Rachael. She'll also get the added benefit of being at the hospital when Rachael is born (I've already arranged for the boys to be with a friend all day that day) and the first grandparent memeber to see and hold Rachael. The other grandparents all live in Florida or Australia.

I guess that's all the rambling I'll be doing for now. I think I'm going to go be a vegetable since my house is fairly clean and I only have 54 minutes until Eli gets up from his nap.

Updates

32 weeks with Rachael!

My big guy at 4 1/2!

There's just something about a little guy in his cloth diaper that just makes for a cute photo!!

Rachael's room

I thought I'd give you all an update on my to do list for Rachael's room:

* Put up curtain rod - done
* Sew crib skirt (will be the above fabric) - done
* Sew bumper pad (will be coordinating teal/aqua from print above) - done
* Sew curtains (will be chocolate, with coordinating purple valance and will use the print for the tabs and tie-backs) - done
* Cover the lamp shade (I have several scraps of coordinating colors and will use whichever one is big enough) - done
* Make some wall art (using this very cool idea) - done - I decided on the memo board instead
* Get baby announcements as ready as possible - put together with name info, etc. - so that all I have to do after she's born is fill in the date, time, weight, length, etc. - started
* Make a wall hanging with her first and middle names and meanings, biblical references, etc. - done
* Get box of clothes from friend and wash and put away - done

Now, here are the photos of the fruits of my labor!

I got the fabric for Rachael's room!!

I was sooo excited when I checked my mail on Friday and found this:


Isn't is just so lovely?


It's 5 yards of Michael Miller, Spa Far Out Floral fabric. The background is chocolate (in case you can't tell in the photo).

My to do list for the completion of Rachael's room is as follows:


* Put up curtain rod
* Sew crib skirt (will be the above fabric)
* Sew bumper pad (will be coordinating teal/aqua from print above)
* Sew curtains (will be chocolate, with coordinating purple valance and will use the print for the tabs and tie-backs)
* Cover the lamp shade (I have several scraps of coordinating colors and will use whichever one is big enough)
* Make some wall art (using this very cool idea)
* Get baby announcements as ready as possible - put together with name info, etc. - so that all I have to do after she's born is fill in the date, time, weight, length, etc.
* Make a wall hanging with her first and middle names and meanings, biblical references, etc.
* Get box of clothes from friend and wash and put away


I know this sounds like a lot of stuff to do and I hope you don't think that this is the only child I've done this much for. The boys both had hand sewn crib bedding, wall hangings, curtains and baby announcements made before arrival as well. I love doing this for my children. Plus, if I were to go out and buy ready made bedding and curtains, it would definitely cost me double what the fabric (and batting for the bumper) cost me. I also enjoy knowing that it was done so much out of love for each individual child.

Another quilt

This one was quite a bit less time consuming.

It's just basic squares and rectangles and is a bit smaller than the last one. There's no batting in the middle, so it's also much lighter, but won't be as warm.

But, isn't is just sooooo cute and cuddly looking!?

My first quilt

I have to say that I am proud of myself on this one! I have been sewing for several years. I am about 95% self taught and the other 5% comes from watching my grandma and one of my aunts sew while growing up. I think my grandma was even a seamstress at one point, I could be mistaken, though. If you check out my Etsy shop, you'll find several other items that I have sewn. I've done a number of things over the last few years (crib bedding for the boys, blankets for the kids, diaper doublers recently, aprons and random other things) and I enjoy it very much, though I'm definitely not a professional.

The quilt I chose to do for my darling little girl on the way was a Dutch Girl/Sunbonnet Sue quilt. I have one from when I was a baby and thought I'd try to replicate it in a modern sort of way.

I found a pattern online of the pieces for the girl and then spent the better part of an afternoon calculating the dimensions, square sizes, batting size, border piece sizes and backing size. Then I spent oodles of time in the fabric store one night a couple of weeks ago trying to pick out just the right fabrics. I went with solids because I just couldn't find coordinating prints that I was thrilled about in each of the colors I wanted to use (purple, blue, green and pink).

This first photo is after I have cut all the pattern pieces out. This is the first square that I have ironed and pinned in place!


This is a finished square after the stitching has been done.

This is one complete row, including bottom borders.

Apparently I didn't take any photos of the rest of the assembly part.... Sometimes when my sewing machine and I are together, the world seems to just disappear and the only thing I focus on is the task at hand (that's why I typically sew after the kids have gone to bed at night)!!

This is the completed quilt (the back is lavender flannel) prior to being washed. Yes, you might still see some fabric pen in places - but it's in the wash right now to rid it of those ugly blue markings and to get it all nice and cuddly!

My next project is Rachael's bed skirt, bumper pad and curtains. I just have to wait until my fabric order comes in to get started!

An ultrasound! But a very long day.

I didn't have time to blog about this because by the time we got home last night I was too exhausted.

Yesterday was a super busy day for us. And add into the fun that Eli is sleep depriving himself and won't sleep enough so he's been mostly miserable for the last few days....

We woke up around 6 and I got showered and ready and the boy I take to school arrived around 7:45 and we left a few minutes later to take him to school. Then we headed to Sam's to get gas (for those of you with Sam's memberships - the one close to me usually has gas for about $.15 cheaper than the local gas stations!!). After getting gas we headed on to the dentist.

Both kids had checkups today - for Eli this was his first. Jacob is a champ at the dentist and never fusses or anything. Eli did reasonably well for his age. They had to call me back to sit with him once the x-rays were complete. He sat on my lap and once the hygienist gave him the sucky-straw-thing to do his own suctioning, he was fine. Both kids got a clean bill of tooth-health and we're scheduled to go back in 6 months.

We were there for an hour and 15 min. so once we got home it was time for me to get lunch ready while the kids played.

After lunch it was time for naps, at which time Eli decided he was only going to sleep for 1:05 and he needs 2:30 to be non-miserable. So, the afternoon was already starting out bad because we had another appointment to get to.

Snacks were served and we left at 2:50 for my appointment. I have these little bumps in the skin under my eyes and the OB had no clue what they were - the only suggestion he had was clogged tear ducts (but after research on the internet I determined that was NOT what they were as I had none of the other symptoms associated with this). Turns out I have clogged oil glands under my eyes and the only treatment is hot compresses on the area to dissolve the oil and make it drain out. This is apparently a result of the extra oil my body is producing with this pregnancy (even though I never had these in my other 2 pregnancies...) Anyway, there's nothing seriously wrong with my eyes.

Back home for about 1/2 hour, then Michael gets home and I have to leave to go get the babysitter (she doesn't drive yet, however, she is 17). Get home and Michael has fed the kids dinner - YAY! so we leave for my ultrasound.

This did not go as planned for me. The baby is perfectly healthy but we could not get a good shot of the gender..... UGH. I rolled on my side, I sat up and then laid back down and I poked on the little one. This child had it's legs closed so tightly it was ridiculous. Best guess is girl, but I'll never convince myself to buy anything unless I know for sure. So...... we'll probably pay for an ultrasound at one of the local "ultrasound places" just to satisfy our curiosity. However, my guess all along has been girl for several reasons - including the fact that my pregnancies with the boys were almost identical and this one has been very different for me and I think there is some truth to the old wives tales about heart rate.

Since we had a babysitter (who didn't have a curfew), we took some time to have a little mini-date last night after the ultrasound. We went to Carino's for dinner and took our time and enjoyed each other's company!

Must go - it is yet again time to get breakfast ready and take Jacob and friends to school.

Cloth diapers - making the switch

In a previous post, I mentioned how we were doing our small part to help the environment and go 'green' in whatever ways we could manage right now.... well, I finally made the decision, did all my homework and discussed with Michael and we have officially decided to switch to cloth diapers.

Let me start off by saying that if you think of cloth diapering as the way it was when we were babies (messy, stinky, leaky, plastic pants that had tight elastic bands, etc.) you are very wrong. Cloth diapering has come so far in the last probably 10 years, it's absolutely amazing to look at what's out there. Try doing a google search for cloth diapers and you'll be inundated with all kinds of options (I'll discuss those a little further down) and price ranges and maybe even a local diaper service in your area! I know when I first got my idea a few months ago, I didn't know where to begin when researching. So I just started by looking at the different kinds of diapers available and then from there started researching pricing options and from there finally decided what was right for us.

We were going to just wait until the baby arrives because we were hoping to have Eli potty trained by then, but we've encountered a diaper rash issue (since the virus) and I've also come to the realization - after putting Eli in cloth training pants for a whole day (to let his bum air out a bit) - that he is absolutely NOT interested in the toilet. He'll go every now and then (as in, maybe once a week), but mostly just sits there for ages and then goes as soon as you put his diaper back on! He also will tell you after he's gone in his diaper but refuses to go on the potty. It's not a big deal to us since each kid is different (Jacob was 100% potty trained just after his 2nd b-day...) and really you can't force them to do it until they decide they're ready. So, I decided I was tired of buying disposables and am ready to go ahead and make the switch. And since I'm going to go ahead and buy toddler size diapers and covers now, I won't have to buy them when the new one reaches that size.

To put it all into writing for everyone, here's what we're doing:

We will be using prefolds and water proof covers. This is by far the most cost effective cloth solution and seems like it will work best for us.

There are tons of options ranging from prefolds to All-In-Ones (AIO's) - with MANY different options in between (fitteds, pocket diapers, diaper services, and patterns available to make your own). All in ones would be ideal if you had the money to spend up front for 30 or so of the newborn size, then 30 or so of the medium and the same for large. All in ones can go for as much as $15 EACH. So that's a total of $450 just for enough diapers to get you to around 8 months of age.... and so on. That's not including liners, inserts/doublers (for extra nighttime protection). Let's just say, that's way too much for us (and cost wise would have more of an impact on us than disposables), though I would love to be able to use that option, it just doesn't seem worth it for us.

Here's how much we're spending on the toddler size prefolds and covers:

*24 prefolds @ $36/dozen = $72
* 5 Bummis Super Brite covers @ $11.50/each = $57.50
** Totalling $129.50 (which will get us thru until Eli is potty trained)

I also spent a while calculating the cost of disposables used to age 2 (I think Eli would have been in them longer than that - probably an extra 6 mo.). Here's what I came up with (for Eli - this would be different for each child):

* Ages birth-6mo. - an average of 12 diapers per day = 84 diapers/wk. = 2184 diapers
* Ages 6-12 mo. - an average of 8 diapers per day = 56 diapers/wk. = 1456 diapers
* Ages 12-18 mo. - an average of 5 diapers per day = 35 diapers/wk. = 910 diapers
* Ages 18-24 mo. - an average of 5 diapers per day = 35 diapers/wk. = 910 diapers
**Grand total of diapers for birth-24 mo. = 5460 diapers

I even took it a step further and calculated the cost of a diaper in each size - 1 thru 6 - of Huggies... I know I'm a little cooky, but I really wanted to see cost wise, exactly how cost-effective this would be for us.

I won't bore you on how I came up with these calculations, but here is the break down:

* Size 1-2 @ $.15 each
* Size 3 @ $.20 each
* Size 4 @ $.22 each
* Size 5 @ $.26 each
* Size 6 @ $.31 each

We would have used appx. 2112 size 1-2; 752 size 3; 752 size 4; 910 size 5; 934 size 6.
The total spent on these for Eli since birth is $1,151.38. Now, I know that doesn't seem like a lot broken down over the course of 2 years, but it really equals $47.97 per month on diapers alone.

So, if I take the total amount I will spend on cloth diapers and covers and add in $5 per month for the extra energy I'm using for 3 loads of laundry evey week it comes to $508.50.

* 1151.38 - total on disposables
* 508.50 - total on cloth
** $642.88 savings for 2 years of cloth diapering.
*** $26.79/month of savings

Oh yeah, that $508.50 is the TOTAL we will spend on cloth diapers - even if we have more children. Good quality cloth diapers last MANY years as long as they are taken care of properly. So, there's $642.88 in savings ahead for this baby (due in September), but then there would be an additional $1,151.38 in savings per additional child if we were to have any more.

~ Did you know that disposable diapers make up 30% of non-biodegradable material in landfills today? Hmmm, something to think about!!

I ordered my diapers and covers this morning (and they'll be in next Friday) so check back in a couple of weeks for an update on how it's going with the switchover and Eli!! Should be interesting. He has always hated diapers anyway!!

16 week update and daily INJECTION...

Yep, ladies and gents., I said injection. I mentioned in a previous post about there being a good possibility that I would need to start blood thinner injections (Lovenox) for the duration of this pregnancy - due to a DVT (blood clot) I had when Eli was about 6 weeks old. I spent some time in the hospital and was treated effectively, then had to spend the next 6 months on oral blood thinners and go in to a Nurse Practitioner EVERY week to have my "thinness" checked. So, because blood clots are extremely dangerous and sometimes even fatal, I was advised that it's better to give yourself a daily injection (can't take oral because it crosses the placenta and has a 90% chance of causing birth defects) than to risk another clot and put yourself and your unborn child at serious risk. I COMPLETELY AGREE.

Here's how it works:

Simply pinch up a huge chunk of skin on your belly, wipe with an alcohol pad to sterilize the area, pop the cap off the premeasured syringe, stab yourself and depress the plunger. Voila! Sounds so appealing, doesn't it?!! Oh, and did I mention each poke leaves a bruise (because it's a blood thinner....). So I have small dot-like bruises (maybe 1/8") all over my belly now. Absolutely beautiful!!! Oh, and one other thing, it has to be done at the same time every day - need I say cell phone alarm!

In all seriousness though, it's not really all that bad and it's totally worth it to keep us both healthy!

In other pregnancy news, I am now 16 weeks and am feeling fantastic! I haven't had difficult pregnancies anyway, but so far this one absolutely takes the cake! I had a grand total of 2 weeks of nausea and about 4 weeks of extreme exhaustion - but my body adjusted quickly and I'm feeling wonderful! Oh, and I've only gained 6lbs (as of my appointment this morning)!!! That is a HUGE change from the first two.

I go back to the dr. on May 2 and then have an ultrasound scheduled for May 7 and I'll be 20 weeks!! After checking to make sure all is well, hopefully this little one will cooperate and we'll get to find out if it's a he or a she. Yes, people, I must know. I'm a planner and since I have the option of knowing and I'm having the ultrasound anyway..... well, you get it!

Ultrasound pics.

We had our first ultrasound of this pregnancy yesterday! This is our newest addition. Sorry, but I'm only 12 weeks so it's too early to tell the gender (but so long as this child cooperates next time, we WILL be finding out!). The little bean had a nice, strong heartbeat of 175 and all looks well, you can even see the fingers on the left hand in that second photo!!

In other pregnancy news, this ultrasound was actually done at the high risk specialist's office..... I had to see her because I developed a DVT (blood clot) in my right leg after Eli was born (about 6 weeks post partum) and had to be hospitalized for a week and have blood thinners injected daily. Then when I came home I had to take oral blood thinners for 6 months.... Anyway, I knew going into this pregnancy that there was a possibility that I would need to be on blood thinners during the pregnancy and for 6 weeks afterward. My OB comfirmed my suspicions at my last appt. 2 weeks ago and sent me to the specialist to see what she thought. In the time between my last OB appt. and this specialist appt. I had done tons of research and pretty much decided that they were going to put me on them, so I was prepared. What's the big deal you ask? The big deal is that you can't take oral blood thinners during pregnancy because there's something like a 90% chance of birth defects. So, instead you have to give yourself daily INJECTIONS in the stomach. YIPEE! Doesn't that sound fun? I will start them sometime within the next 2 weeks....