I feel like a crazy person saying this...

We have decided to use cloth diapers.

Top Ten Reasons to Cloth Diaper

Top Ten Myths about Cloth Diapers

We have already added several of the diapering items we will need to our baby wish list.

After researching today's cloth diapering options, we figured- I do not mind the added laundry (believe it or not, but I really don't- I really only hate folding clothes, diapers will be so easy to fold and fun in comparison), and there's no more toilet dunking and swishing required as I had (greatly) feared.

Practically speaking there is only one added step to the changing process- shaking out what can be shaken out into the potty. It sounds like a pain (and it probably is), but it's just one step. And the benefits are worth it to me (and to us).

Benefits: Better for baby, much better for the environment, saves lots of money from not having to buy diapers and wipes (after the initial investment- ouch), and the diapers are cute! Steven likes that there will be at least two less huge bags of garbage to tote out to the street every week. Much less to add to landfills. Currently we have to empty our diaper trash DAILY with all the wipes and diapers that we use. It will be SO nice not to need to deal with that every day. And no more running out last minute for diapers when suddenly we realize we used the last one without noticing and we're in an emergency situation!

Cons: One added step to the changing process and extra laundry (water, soap, power etc- we have factored that in and it's still better overall to use cloth).

Other cons that do bother me are that a cloth diapered baby needs to be changed more often. It's true! I realize that in reality, disposable diapers should be changed just as often as cloth diapers for baby's health, but also in reality, they simply aren't! Disposables do not force you to change when baby is wet because they have that gel stuff in there that absorbs everything and you can just let it go for a long time. It is convenient to know that it will hold soooooo much and not leak for a really long time and it's easy to just say "Oh I'll change her later" and then 3 hours later- finally do it. I enjoy that lazy convenience way too much actually! So I guess cloth will keep me accountable to changing baby more often as needed to be better for his health. That will be good for both of us.

We've decided to just go for it! We're even getting cloth wipes (or using wash cloths)!

For washing I'll simply take the liner (like a laundry bag) from the diaper pail to the washing machine and dump it all in together including the liner! The liner will get washed every time I do diaper laundry. That way I won't actually have to touch or deal very much with dirty diapers. The whole process is way less gross and messy than I had imagined.

Things we found that relieve me about this whole process-- no potty dunking or swishing, no having to touch/mess with soiled gross diapers, no diaper pins! (NO DIAPER PINS!!!), fitted diapers rock, all-in-ones are amazing, and the laundry isn't as difficult as I had thought. And I'm happy it'll be better environmentally and better for baby too.

We will probably mostly use prefolds and covers because they are reportedly so dependable and very economical, but still- even those are much easier to use and better than they used to be. I'm actually excited about it!

Steven and I have both been researching this option over the past few days and our favorite resources so far are: Green Mountain Diapers (Steven found that one and I love it!) and Diaper Pin.

So I can't believe we actually decided to DO this. I've been extremely resistant through my first two kids and even up until this week. Weird- just.... weird!

20 weeks

20 weeks

I'm starting to feel more than just a little "fat." Haha! At least I'm proportionately large everywhere. This picture is slightly painful for me, but eh- 20 weeks with a third baby. It can't be that bad, right? (Don't answer that unless the answer is "you look fabulous." ;-)

20 Weeks Picture

20 weeks

Oh Boy!

We are having a BOY!

We got to have our one and only ultrasound today after it got moved TWICE because of scheduling troubles. :) It was so good to FINALLY get to find out the gender as it has been driving me nuts with curiosity!

Names are still pending, but we may tell soon. We're mostly decided but want to feel 100% good about the name before we officially decide and tell.

Our baby boy has all his fingers and toes, kidneys, a heart with 4 chambers, two legs, two arms, a perfect spine and is developing healthy and normally!

We are so excited! A boy! Wow. We sure have a lot of pink around here... that'll have to change! What do you do with baby boys anyway!? Eeeks and WOOHOOOO!!!!

Emily's Many Accomplishments!

Emily loves drawing and writing on her Doodle Pro. We always call it her Magnadoodle, but I guess Doodle Pro is the "proper" name! Anyway, it often entertains her for long periods of time and she draws and writes many things on it. She will ask me to help her write words lots of times and we have practiced writing the entire alphabet on it!

At this point she can write just about anything she wants to (that she knows) and can also write all the letters of the alphabet by herself. She is also becoming a surprisingly and increasingly accomplished reader for her age.

Here is an example of Emily's writing. Not perfect, but not bad for 3 years old. We are so proud of her!

Last night Emily made dinner for us! She had a little help but she was very intent on doing as much as possible "all by herself." We had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum! She did an excellent job too and when dinner was ready she was sad because she wanted to keep cooking!

This picture is old news now but...

This was my "solution" to having a baby with a stomach bug. Use your imagination as to what the bowl was for. Claire thought it was a toy, noise-maker, and a very good sippy cup holder. It never did meet my particular purposes but that's perfectly fine with me!

Books and Hair Accessories

Books

Recently we have acquired some new books and I've been really impressed with them so I thought I'd mention them here.

We won a small Amazon gift certificate a couple weeks ago and with it we bought:

We saw this book in a store last fall when visiting Boone, NC with family. I flipped through it and liked it right away. We picked it up to buy it but by the time we got to the check-out counter we noticed that the book had been damaged by water and many of the pages were wrinkled. They didn't have any other copies so we decided that we'd just get it later on- maybe for Christmas! However, we completely forgot the title and the author and couldn't manage to find it again! This past Spring we saw the book in our church library and recognized it and were thrilled that we found it again. We took note of the name and then when we got our Amazon gift certificate it was a no-brainer to get this book!

This beautiful book includes Scripture verses and short poems about the character qualities love, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, and self-control. In the poems it gives practical ways for little girls to learn and put these qualities into practice. For example it suggests sharing your toys as a good way to show love to others. All very tangible ways that little ones can understand!

The illustrations are beautiful and even the verses and poems have captured Emily's attention on the several occasions that I've read this book to her. She likes the pictures of the two girls- one big and one little. She says, "That is Emily and that is Claire!" We like this book a lot and highly recommend it!

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While visiting Barnes and Noble with Nana recently, we saw a book that we had been wanting for a while and could not resist.


This book is very unlike most similarly-subjected books and I like the differences. Most other books in this genre that we have seen assume that the baby might be formula-fed and include that as an option and also sometimes mention when Mommy goes back to work or other such things that may be the case for many families but is not for us. Since exclusive breastfeeding is so important to me, I like for that to be presented to my children as "the norm" so to speak- as that is what I would most like them to be exposed to and what I want them to learn for now. It is an important aspect of our family. This book doesn't mention formula feeding at all and in fact includes nursing as a natural and normal part of family life. Nothing weird or uncomfortable about it! I think the illustrations of the mommy feeding her baby are beautiful and I'm glad that it will most likely never be weird or uncomfortable for Emily or Claire. These were specific things that Steven and I looked for in a new baby book!

It does give practical and easy-to-understand explanations of what is happening in mommy's belly and expresses the family growing in a very exciting way. It also gives ways in which to help that are good for small children and helps to answer the questions a child might have about a new baby in the family by shedding only a very positive light on the family growing instead of opening the door for jealousy or fear.

We also have and like What A Baby Needs by the same author. We like it for many of the same reasons as Baby On The Way. It puts breastfeeding into a very normal, natural, and positive light as well as how wonderful it is when a family grows. It also helps "big sisters" to understand the importance of nurturing, loving, and caring for a new baby.

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During the same trip to Barnes and Noble, Nana bought Emily these books:

This looks like just one book, but it is a hard cover case for a series of 10 small books! This series is very much like The Bob Books which we adore! Emily has quickly mastered both level 1 and 2 of the Bob Books and we are ready for level 3! This is similar but has some harder words that Emily didn't know. She has learned them from a combination of doing her best to sound them out, asking one of us for help, and looking at the pictures! She has learned lots of new words this way and is becoming better and better at sounding new words out in the process!

I like how these books are in little slip covers and can be kept within the hard case that has a magnetic clasp. It keeps the books neat and together and protected while still keeping them easily accessible to Emily!

Hair Accessories

And now for the hair accessories! Yes, I'm going to tell you about our new ponytail holders. Are you surprised?

Emily has rather long hair and it is somewhat fine, thin, slippery, and hard to pull back. I often put it up in a ponytail or pig tails only to find it back into a sloppy mess a mere 5 minutes later. I have tried other kinds of hair clips and headbands and hair wraps only to have the same problem. Almost nothing stays in for more than 5 minutes and it gets very frustrating to have to redo it over and over again!

Well a few weeks ago when I ran in the Riverbend 10k I received in my runners packet a free sample of Goody StayPut Active ponytail holders. I didn't think much of it, but decided to try one of them recently during a trip to the Sports Barn. I was very impressed! The annoying wispies that usually fall down into my face and irritate me while I'm working out never fell down!

Then last week I pulled one out and put it into Emily's hair to get it out of her face. A couple of hours later it was still exactly where I put it and all her hair was still IN it! She went to bed with it in that night- the ultimate test. Much to my shock the next morning, most of her hair was still held securely by the hair band- enough that I didn't redo it right away as usual in the mornings! I was so happily surprised! Since then we went to the store to see what else was in the Goody StayPut line and there is a whole line of little girls StayPut hair accessories. We bought a few of them and have found them all to have the same reliable hold in Emily's hair!

I usually find hair things to be excessively expensive and unfortunately- often a waste of money. These- while definitely not cheap- have been totally worth it because at least they work! I am so pleased!

The plague.

I'll just get straight to the facts.

By Sunday night I wasn't feeling so great. I didn't know whether it was paranoia or if something was really UP. Around the same time Emily started moaning and saying, "My tummy hurts!" over and over again. She was really pathetic. I figured we were doomed.

I was confused though because Emily was the one that started all this business with "the spits" last Monday! Getting it again within a week hardly seems fair!

But get it again she did! Thankfully it was much milder for her this time around. After just a couple of episodes she crashed for the night and slept through the remainder of her illness.

For me? It was... not so mild. Without getting into any gruesome details I will only say that I have never been so violently ill in all my life. I came this close to going to the hospital on multiple occasions. I did not get any sleep all Sunday night because of it. We called my midwife in the middle of the night out of desperation because I was freaked out by the broken capillaries popping up all over my face. She told us if the sickness were to continue more than 24 hours that we'd need to go to the hospital.

By mid-morning on Monday, however, I was able to keep some gatorade down and I actually got a nap! It was amazing. I still felt quite poorly all day, but I got some more sleep and even ate a little yogurt by the end of the day. This morning I felt *almost* normal!

Yesterday Steven was feeling bad all day too. I thought it inevitable that he would get it soon, but this morning he said he felt fine. Maybe he'll be the only one in our family to get to skip the plague! Lucky guy. Well- not that lucky, he had to clean up after all us girls when we were sick so he had his share of ickyness to deal with!

So that was our weekend! How was yours?

Bedtime Sweetness...

Oh my goodness I have the sweetest girls ever. Bedtime is such a precious time! When Daddy says, "Bedtime!" they climb up into my lap (no matter where I am or what I am doing) and give me tons of hugs and kisses. It's like there's some sort of competition as to who can give me more hugs. It is soooo sweet! And they give each other hugs and kisses too as part of the ritual. They are just too cute! It kills me!

After they go to bed they often "chat" and giggle with each other in their room until they drift off to sleep. We don't mind at all. They are sweet to each other and they definitely enjoy each other's company in their room.

Oh- and tonight when Claire was having her teeth brushed she said "Mo" when we took the toothbrush out of her mouth. She likes having her teeth brushed and didn't want to be through! So she got a few more brushes before she had to be done. hehe

Claire has been incredible today! She got sick a lot right at the start of the day but after 6:30am- nothing else happened! (Despite my following her around with bath towels and being paranoid all day...)

After thinking about it I am convinced that she had a milder case of "the spits" because she is still nursing and gets an added boost of immunity from me. That is my theory anyway and I've read that it's likely to be true. She is always the one in our family to have the mildest form (or not get it at all) of whatever sickness is going around because she gets that immunity boost from nursing. Just one more reason I'm glad she still has that advantage for now!

5:30 am on Saturday...

We had been looking forward to "sleeping in" today (which means until at least 7am!) all week.

We woke this morning to Emily calling out, "Claire has the spits! You need to check her crib!"

Steven got up and checked and Emily was right...

Claire just got out of the bath- her third bath in three(ish) days. We bathed the girls on Wednesday night after a picnic where they played and got very dirty. Then on Thursday afternoon Claire had the biggest diaper "blow-out" in her crib that I ever saw which required washing all of her crib bedding as well as a hose-down in the bath tub. A similar blow-out occurred yesterday- more crib laundry. Now her crib bedding is being washed again and wet-haired-Claire is toddling around happy as a lark.

When Emily was sick on Monday with "the spits" she threw up five or six times throughout the day. I figure we have similar things to look forward to today except Claire probably won't be as good about keeping her head over a bowl...

I'm really surprised that it took this long for Claire to come down with it. It makes me wonder if Steven and I will have it next Thursday or something. I had decided just last night that the rest of us had gotten by without catching it! I was so wrong.

We had many things we wanted and needed to do today. I'm frustrated but ya know, I guess it's life. The house needed cleaning anyway.

Edited to add: Well after the second episode, I am actually glad it is Saturday and Steven is so good about taking care of things. He always tells me "don't look!" or "go to a different room!" when it happens so that I'm not so affected by it (like I was all day on Monday). So there is a bright side to everything (for me), but poor Steven.

I'm not a baby, Mommy!

Note to the masses: Emily will no longer eat Cheerios!

The other day Steven and I had been out with the girls and when we got home Emily said that she was hungry. We suggested Cheerios as a snack and she said, "No! I don't want Cheerios. I'm not a baby!"

She has since repeated this several times when she has had opportunity to eat Cheerios. I guess Cheerios are only for babies. Steven tried to explain to her that he likes to eat Cheerios for breakfast sometimes too but she thought that he was being very silly and again told him that Cheerios are for babies.

Well that's that I guess!

Funny TV Commercial.

Why are alcohol commercials always the funniest ones!?

Yesterday was a day! (warning: it's a little gross.)

It all started with Emily waking by throwing up all over her bed and stuffed animals. I was still in bed and Steven was just coming out of the shower. He heard Emily make some noise and went in her room and said, "Oh my goodness! Rebecca STAY IN BED!" I knew at once that something gross had happened but I didn't know what.

Anyway, after a bunch of running around that he did (he brought Claire to me to nurse in the meantime so I wasn't just lying in bed going crazy the entire time- though it was hard!) he finally got everything cleaned up or into the wash and told me what happened. Emily had to have a bath too.

After he left for work I tried to keep Emily calm and on the couch but she wanted water. So I gave her water. Well that sure didn't stay down long! We both had to change clothes and I had to clean the couch...

I decided it would be smart to keep a big bowl handy for her. Boy am I glad I did that! She sat on the (towel-laden) couch all day hugging her "spits" bowl and trying occasional sips of water that didn't stay down most of the time.

It was horrible because I could hardly even handle taking care of her. When she threw up- I did too. Fun!

This went on the entire day- over and over and over again. Then last night she ran a high fever.

But this morning she is absolutely fine! She told me that she's all better. She has eaten a healthy breakfast and has been running around totally back to herself. Man these 24 hour bugs sure come and go in a hurry. And I'm glad.

Now if only the rest of us could avoid catching it. I have a midwife appointment today and I really don't want to miss it. We have all had breakfast and are all feeling fine now so maybe it won't get the rest of us.

Funny side note: Emily calls throwing up "the spits" and she excitedly told me today "I don't have anymore spits in my tummy!"

16w3d- The Pregnant Pose

We took a ton of pictures yesterday during all our activities. We were gone most of the day! We went to the Hunter Museum (free admission for the Fourth- YAY!), and then to the Creative Discovery Museum.

The kids had a blast! Pictures can be found here.

While we were out, Steven took a few profile shots of me to capture my 16 week pregnant form. (Oh so lovely...)

Since a few (okay-- my sister) had asked, here is your punishment reward for bringing it up.

16 weeks

Still not much to see, but church people who didn't know I was pregnant have started noticing and asking (which is just weird!) so I guess I'm starting to "show" a little. I really just feel FAT despite trying desperately to eat well and exercise regularly.

I definitely "show" when I relax and let it all hang out, buuut I try not to do that most of the time! It depends on what I wear also. When I'm wearing my workout clothes (shorts and a t-shirt), you really can't tell at all.

Interesting tidbit-- At the girls' latest pediatrician visit (about a week ago) the Dr. saw me and asked right away, "Are you pregnant!?" (Very bold I thought!) I told her yes. She said, "Oh you're having a boy! I can tell by how low you are carrying." I laughed and told her that I wasn't very far along yet so it was still early for that! Then she said, "Oh really? Well then you are having a BIG BOY!" Steven and I had a good chuckle over that one after we left her office...

16 Weeks

16 weeks

Happy Fourth of July!

Claire's reaction to the fireworks.
She wasn't scared, she just decided that she'd better put her fingers in her ears. It was very loud!

Holiday Happenings!

Today is the annual Pops on the River 4th of July celebration for Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Symphony! I have played it almost every single year since it started 6 years ago. It is always one of my most favorite concerts of the year!

This year we are playing all the usual patriotic favorites along with beautiful works by the great American film composer, John Williams. We'll be playing "Hymn to the Fallen" from Saving Private Ryan as well as themes from movies such as Harry Potter! I love that music. I'm so excited. :)

To me the picnic and the parking and all the crowds are the biggest pain and hassle, but Steven says he'll take care of all that. Just thinking about it makes me feel tired and stressed. I rather dread those things even though once we're there and set up, I always enjoy it!

My rehearsal is at 2pm this afternoon and directly after that we'll probably go straight to Coolidge to both claim a decent parking spot as well as find a good spot on the park lawn for our picnic. Soundcheck starts at 7:30pm and then the concert starts at 8pm. It will go until around 10pm at which point there will be lots and lots of fireworks while we play both The 1812 Overture by that great American composer Tchaikovsky and finally The Stars and Stripes forever!! ;-)

Happy 4th of July (slightly early) everyone!

The Weekend's Wedding

On Saturday we had a wedding in Alabama. I was concerned about getting there at the right time because of both the travel time and the time change. The central time/eastern time was confusing me!

We made sure we were able to get there in time though and the wedding went really well. As we were packing up and looking forward to getting back on the road and going home (It was 8pm eastern time already and was going to take at least an hour to get back) the father of the groom approached me and complimented us on the music and then said, "I have a business proposition for you."

It ends up that the band that they had hired for the reception got stuck in terrible traffic and weren't going to make it at all! They hired us on the spot to play for the reception. He said, "Don't worry, I'll make it worth your while."

So off to the reception we go! Once we got there and set up we found out that they wanted us to play until 10:30pm CENTRAL TIME. Yikes. We reluctantly agreed because we felt like they really needed us and that they were in a bind.

We played a bunch of our pop music, movie tunes, Beetles tunes, old romantic hits such as Unchained Melody and It Had to be You... we played for over an hour and decided to take our first break. We usually take a break every hour or so during receptions.

Very soon after we left we heard loud music coming from where we had been playing. We went out on the terrace to check it out and someone had brought out a stereo and turned on a CD. We hoped that they weren't upset that we took a break. I mean- the father of the groom had instructed us to take breaks as needed. Anyway, we finished up our break and headed back down to play another hour or so.

Once we got back the lady who had brought out the stereo said that they wanted to listen to CDs instead and to just keep taking an extended break. We were so confused! We found the coordinator and the father of the groom again and we were told not to worry about it but at some point when it seemed appropriate to start playing again for a little while and then we could go.

So we sat around and waited for a good opportunity to start up again. Finally we just decided that we'd start playing around 9:30 again and just turn the stereo off between songs. We were getting our instruments out again as the father of the groom approached us and said, "Hey don't worry about it. The mood has moved on (they were playing loud 70s hits.... not quite easily followed by a string trio). You guys can go ahead and leave." I felt bad that we ended up only playing for them for just over an hour but it was nice to escape a bit early. And he did pay us quite generously.

We loaded up the van and came back home. We got home right around midnight- quite exhausted! It was quite the unexpected venture!