Thursday Thirteen #1

(Another something fun I thought I would start)

Thirteen Things That Drive Me CRAZY During Naptime...

1. Phone calls from telemarketers. Yes I don't mind an actual phone call if it were actually worth me racing to the phone hoping that it won't disturb one of the kids, but dang it when I see a 1-800 number I just want to pick it up and give them an earful...although I normally just pick up and hang up instead. (Yes this JUST happened)

2. The dog barking. Now this can be the result of a few different things but if I say that it drives me crazy when people take walks outside of my house when the kids are sleeping....well that would make me sound a bit neurotic so I'll just say the barking since that's actually what wakes them up.

3. UPS deliveries. These drive me crazy (although I always enjoy getting a package) even when the kids are not sleeping. The big brown truck pulls up, which the dog has now learned the sound of. The man gets out. The man sprints up the walkway and either (A) opens the screen door and sits the package down or (B) knocks the door or knocker nice and loud and puts the package down which in turn scares the daylights out of Molly which sets her off into a crazy barking fit (see #2). Now it wouldn't even be that bad but after they do either of these things they turn and sprint away not even waiting for you to get to the door to answer. I know what the back side of our UPS man looks like well but ask me facial features and well yeah I'm really at a loss. Closing the gate is always good for some fun though as it's pretty much broken and I've nicknamed it our theft deterrent as most people can not figure out how to open. So sometimes when Molly alerts me they are here I hide and watch them trying to get the gate open...is that wrong of me? I swear if they would just wait at the door if they are knocking my whole opinion of them would change. Really.

Ok sorry I got a bit fired up there. hehe Back to the list.

4. Solicitors - please don't come sticking your little fluorescent colored fliers in my mailbox - my dog believes that you are here to steal my mailbox and loves to flip out trying to get through the window to get you to give it back. Please don't come at all but especially at naptime. I am not in need of lawn service. I really don't need someone to come scoop our poop. And no I do not need new windows...alright I would like them but they are not in the budget at the moment.

5. Stray cats. Again, these bug me all the time, but especially during nap time. They taunt our dog the way they just hang out right outside the house and call to her knowing that she can't get them but will still try. You'd thinking living in a house with 3 cats that she wouldn't care, but I guess ours are her cats and if they aren't her cats then she needs to rectify the situation.

6. Thunderstorms - please don't come at nap time nor at bed time and truth be told I could do without you all together. Feel free to drop the rain but the lightning and thunder - well honestly there is no need for the theatrics. I'm not impressed and in fact I'm usually a wee bit unnerved...ok a whole lot unnerved. But when you also mess with my daughter's sleep well then that's just inconsiderate.

7. Loud cars/trucks/motorcycles - we all know how cool you are, really. We do not need to hear your vehicle as well inside with our windows closed as if we were standing right next to it. I'm sure it's fast. I'm sure that you are proud of it. But it makes me want to hunt you down and key your pretty paint job.

8. A little different but equally as frustrating - when I have to wake them from their nap for any reason - typically we have to be somewhere at a specific time and they are still sleeping. Waking a sleeping toddler especially is risky business. She wakes up like a bear and cries at the drop of a hat for the rest of the evening.

9. The cats when they decide they are feeling nosey - they are the biggest culprit of this offense with E-Man as they enjoy jumping up against the bassinet as soon as I get him quiet to see what all the fuss is about anyway. It drives me crazy and makes me want to throw them outside.

10. There's been two times that the dang roller blinds have woken K-Girl up - no lie. They have a mind of their own and enjoy rolling themselves up. The only times I have had it happen have been when she's been asleep - ok now thinking about that statement I realize well I only usually have them drawn during sleeping times duh. And talk about a rude awakening having one of those fly up. Yep that's wetting yourself worthy right there. I had thought about fashioning a clip or something for them but then it's not happened for a while...watch me jinx myself.

11. How about the neighbor's dogs? They have three extremely barky dogs. If unknowingly they are out back and I do something like oh take the trash out I am immediately greeted by growls and barks...not at all quiet in the least. I have already made the mistake of doing this while E-Man was napping in the bassinet in the family room. And on a few occasions they have raised such a ruckus as to even wake K-Girl up. Stupid dogs.

12. Meter Readers - if there is one thing worse than solicitors it's meter readers. Unlike the solicitors who stay near the road and are not normally quiet about the fact that they are there, meter readers are sneaky things. They go from house to house really quietly but they are no match for our dog's ears. When you are messing around right outside of the chair in which Molly occupies most of the day she will hear you and when she does she will about wet herself and then go into an aggressive get away from my house barking fit.

13. One must assume some responsibility in this list as well. It absolutely drives me crazy when, trying to be ever so quiet, I trip over something or let a door close just a bit too loudly and end up waking the sleeping child that I had worked so hard at getting to sleep in the first place.

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Fun with kids

I'm still scratching my head on why, but K-Girl dear woke up around 3:30 this morning and she was pretty much up since. It's been a fun one in the Gohn household this morning. E-Man woke up to eat at 4 and every time I would get him back to sleep K-Girl would wake him up singing over the monitor. It was lots of fun. I finally surrendered and brought her downstairs to watch TV. Luckily she was in a pleasant mood so at least we had that going for us. The Husband called his mom this morning to check if she still wanted her since I was worried that she was going to be miserable for lack of sleep. She said she still did so we carried on with the game plan. At 8:30 I woke E-Man up and changed him and fed him and got out of the house at 9:00 to drop K-Girl off and then E-Man and I headed over to get my hair cut. E-Man allowed me to get my hair washed before he started crying. So I got my haircut with him on my lap. Luckily he didn't get too hairy and he didn't fuss too much. I wasn't getting dye today so it wasn't a long time. I listened to all the input that everyone gave me saying to keep my length so I did. I figure it's everyone else that has to look at me so I'll listen to them, right?! haha So here's my after picture...



I think I'll be a bit happier once it gets a bit longer and I can pull all of it up, but I do have a pretty pathetic ponytail that will do for now. So until that happens I'll just continue the mantra "I will not chop my hair off I will not chop my hair off I will not chop my hair off".

And before I go (since E-Man is not agreeing that he should take his nap in his bed) I was going to share this AFTER we had this weekend to work outside, but oh well I can't wait. I need to share now. Here's a new progress picture of the front of the house without the big cherry tree. Yay! Look for another picture after the long weekend...hopefully we'll get a good bit of working time in. (Hoping and praying for some nice and not too hot weather)



Ok must go make my little boy happy again....and hopefully get him back to sleep (in his bed).

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Works For Me Wednesday - Make Your Own Frappuccino

This past week I clicked a link I saw on another blog that I read. They posted Works for Me Wednesday and I thought it was such a great idea. So starting today I thought that I would also take part. If you have some free time check out the link. There are tons of participants and LOTS of great tips and tricks!

So my first WFMW tip is saving that coffee money while still getting to enjoy the icy goodness.

All of you that know me know that my weakness for some time has been Frappuccinos at Starbucks. I love them and yes they are an expensive habit. Each of my luscious Grande Caramel Frappuccino Lights cost me $4.24 a pop. OUCH! A while back my mom mentioned to me in passing that she now makes her own. After a hair appointment I went back to her house and she made one for us. Man it was good! Now I'm not saying it's just as good as Starbucks, but knowing that you aren't out that much money with each drink it is most definitely a very close second. I can count on one hand the times I have indulged in an actual Starbucks Frappuccino since my mom shared this recipe with me. So in sharing this with you I hope that if you are a fellow frappaholic that this can save you some bucks.

This isn't a very specific recipe and you will find as you make it that you tweak some of the ingredients to make it better suit your tastes, but here it is...

In a blender add the following ingredients...
1 cup milk - I use nonfat
1 1/2 heaping spoonfuls (just your normal everyday spoon) of instant coffee - I use decaf Folgers
1 single serving packet of Splenda
Nescafé Ice Java iced coffee syrup - I squeeze the bottle for a count of about 5 seconds
(The steps this far will make a mocha frapp. I like caramel so I bought Smuckers Caramel topping squeeze bottle and I add a squeeze of that as well to make a caramel mocha frap.)

Blend all ingredients together.

Then I use my 1 cup measuring cup and fill it with ice cubes from the ice maker and blend them with the mixture. I will add about 1/2 to 3/4 of another measuring cup full to get to the thickness that I prefer. Just add ice bit by bit to find out how to get to the consistency that you like.

Once well blended pour into a large cup (or two smaller cups if you are feeling generous). You can top with whipped cream (light if you like the little splurge without as many calories) and drizzle with chocolate syrup or caramel or both if you are feeling especially frisky.

I know this is not a very exact recipe, but like I said there's a little tweaking to make it exactly right to you. But once you find the right amounts for your tastes it will be quick and easy to throw one of these together and enjoy your icy yummy drink for just a fraction of what it costs to run to Starbucks and you won't have to dread unloading and reloading kids in the car if you aren't lucky enough to be located near a drive-thru Starbucks. It definitely Works For Me!

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Fun, Food, and Fantasy and one busy week

I should be getting up to clean now, but diapers have been started and my kitchen has been put back together. The family room has been cleared of all the mess that was created pre-breakfast and post-friend's house (yes it was quite a mess even though the time allotment was minimal. I started on the dining room, but Mr. Crankypants was having no more of it and wanted his pacifier (and by that I mean me). So I gave up and had a sit. Well like I thought he was tired and ended up passing out. I moved him to his bassinet where he is now deciding if he is going to go to sleep or if he is going to break out into another round of fussiness from being put down. I'm taking this opportunity to hope and pray he decides to sleep and also to get a post in...even though I have so much work that I would like to do to get the place back in order. Oh well.

This past weekend we had planned on heading to DC to the Baby Carrier Expo and to the National Zoo. Well with a forecast of 98 and sunny with a heat advisory in effect, The Husband and I decided that it would not be responsible parenting to take the kiddos down there (as much as I really did want to go to the expo). Instead we looked into the options (and the weather reports) and decided on heading up to Knobles since the weather report was 93 and it's got a considerable amount of shade working for it. K-Girl was excited and understood that we will go see the animals when the weather is cooler. The poor thing was sooooo excited all week about seeing the animals so it's a big thing that she was ok about not going. I had been wondering at what age the infamous "Are we there yet?" question starts....well I got my answer. Between that and "Where are we going?" from K-Girl and screaming from E-Man telling us that he had reached his max of being restrained in the car it was an interesting trip up. 

K-Girl was so excited about the rides and was telling us that she wanted to ride the roller coaster and anything else you could imagine. Well the only rides that she was ok with was a little car ride that went around in a circle and the train that takes you back in the woods to see the squirrels. Other than that it was a no go. The Husband took her on the mini carousel and she proceeded to cry the entire ride. But she was all about the games and especially this digger where you put $0.50 in and you can operate it to make it pick up gravel and whatnot. Oh yes during that she was in heaven. Just as she had finished up her second time on the digger and decided that she would like another train ride we heard thunder. Me being the complete basketcase that I am with the weather said we're leaving. So we went to the car and headed home. (noting that there never was a storm just the thunder and then the clouds broke up)

In retrospect it's good that we left when we did (5ish) as we didn't make it home until 20 of 10 and no it's not that far away. We did stop for dinner at Denny's in Shamokin Dam where kids eat free on Saturday nights - always a good thing. But during a diaper change in the restroom a woman came in and the door slammed which sent E-Man into hysterics and sealed the deal for my dinner. I ended up eating my apple stuffed pancake in the car as we went down the road. As a bonus though it gave me an opportunity to clean up the car a bit while The Husband and K-Girl were working on dinner. Along with dinner we ended up stopping along side the road for K-Girl to "pee" a few hundred times...ok it wasn't that many but it was enough. Most were false alarms but with a toddler and potty you can't really do the "boy who cried wolf" thing unless you want that one time you shrug it off for the carseat and the kiddo to be wet because inevitably it's always that one time that you think they are pulling your leg that they really honestly have to go. So yes we ended up arriving at home at about 20 till 10 and finally got to bed a bit after midnight. It was a very long hot (but I'm sure cooler than DC) day.

Yesterday the tree service came to remove the last trees that we wanted down and to trim the other one. They had said it would take about 2 weeks and it didn't take that long so that was exciting. Well other than The Husband called me while feeding E-Man and told me they would be there by 8:30 so I rushed around getting us up and presentable and waited. They didn't show till about 11:00. Oh well at least they did the job. It looks totally different out there now with that tree out of the way and the side and back of the house is much more open without those two little trees gone. Much improvement. Then The Husband and I had dentist appointments in the afternoon so he took a half day from work. Always a fun time - getting your teeth drilled. Then after that the flooring guy, Bart, came over to take measurements and give us a quote on wood flooring. We're up in the air about exactly what we're doing now as it was a bit more than we had hoped. We'll have to see what all the options are. Finally after he left K-Girl voted Pizza for dinner and so we headed to Stevie B's to eat - can't beat $11.00 for all three of us to eat and leaving completely full. Good stuff. And last we headed over to Target before coming home to wrap up the day. It was a busy one for sure.

Today we went over to visit Amy & Hope and stopped at the DRIVE THRU Starbucks on the way home. I haven't been to Starbucks in a while and considerably less than I had been due to the fact that my mom gave me this AWESOME recipe for frappuccinos that I can make at home, but I just had to go since it was a drive thru...thank you York for not having one. Now K-Girl's sleeping in her bed and here I am (with E-Man attached again...yeah he decided to rebel against being put down in the bassinet). The rest of the week is equally as busy with K-Girl's day at the inlaws tomorrow and a hair appointment for myself scheduled (no I'm still not exactly sure what I'm having her do). Thursday is K-Girl's preschool open house to go in and meet her teacher and classmates before the first day of school (Monday). Then Friday we have the cable man coming to hook us up with phone service and digital cable. I'm very excited and must send a big thank you out to Devon and The Husband for the tip. Comcast has this deal out called the Triple Play...phone, internet, cable for a year for $99.00 and this is digital cable. Well we were paying that alone for internet and expanded basic cable now and another $40 to Verizon for phone. So we get to save money each month by doing this and we have the good channels that we wanted like Noggen and Sprout for K-Girl and DIY and whatnot for us...all for CHEAPER than we are paying now. And when the year is over I don't believe that it is still any more expensive than what we are paying now so a huge win win. Can't wait. So that's our week and then school starts Monday. I can't believe that my baby will be starting school, but I'm excited about it as I know she's going to love it and it will be so good for her...and well I'd lie if I didn't say I'm going to enjoy having that 2 1/2 hour break 3 days a week to get things caught up, have some one on one time with E-Man, and also to just get that break.

OK well I believe that about wraps it up for today. I shall leave you with a stupid for today and some pictures.

First, the stupid.

This morning I woke up and got E-Man out of his bassinet and wondered why his onsie was wet....he has never leaked his diaper before. So upon sitting him on his changing table I notice that...*drum roll please*...I never put a cover on him last night. Thankfully his Dream-Eze is usually wet but not sopping come morning so although he was wet it could have been worse. I guess because last night he was so upset when I was getting him ready for bed I was just hurrying to put him all together and I missed a step in the process. Oops!

And now some pictures...

The car ride that she LOVED -


Riding the Digger -


Height Check -

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That was fun...

In browsing through the blogs I like to read, What Works For Us had this test that finds your Sesame Street persona posted. I thought it looked like fun and took it. Turns out I'm Snuffy.

Your Score: Snuffleupagus

You scored 60% Organization, 56% abstract, and 54% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are somewhat organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.

I bet you didn't think you were Snuffleupagus. Let's find out why.

You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Alloyius Snuffleupagus (and all Snuffleupagus') is not sloppy by nature, but he moves so incredibly slowly that it is impossible for him to be totally organized.

You both are about equally concrete and abstract thinkers. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course. Snuffy generally has very basic interests, but he explores his abstract sensitive side when he plays his snuffleflute.

You both are somewhat introverted. Originally Snuffleupagus was very shy and was only Big Bird's invisible friend. However as he has aged he has started to build new friendships with new characters. Like Snuffy, you probably like to have some time to yourself. However, you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.

The other possible characters are
Oscar the Grouch
Big Bird
Cookie Monster
Ernie
Elmo
Kermit the Frog
Grover
The Count
Guy Smiley
Bert

Hey, don't be a grouch! If you liked the test, let others know by rating it below. Feel free to vote for your favorite character too.

Link: The Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

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Hodgepodge

I'm feeling a bit scatterbrained today. I'm trying to think of a title, but there's too much going on with this entry to really give it one so I guess you'll just have to sit tight and read through and find out all the bases for today's entry.

First I said that I wanted to get an updated picture of the house to show the already huge transformation out there and so here it is...

Although first refresh your memory with the before:


And here's how it's looking today:



Like I said, we have a lot more work to be done but it's coming along nicely. I'll update again when we have more to show. In about 2 weeks that big tree to the left of the walk is coming down so I'll probably get a new picture then of our progress.

Next topic...

I need help. I hate my hair. And although I've made it longer this time after birth getting to this point I'm still there. After K-Girl I made the mistake of totally chopping my hair. This time I do not want to do that, but I need something before I get desperate and have a repeat occurrence. I need a style and something that I like. HELP. If you have any ideas of what might look nice or somehow that I used to have my hair (since I've had a million and one different hair styles) let me know. I have an appointment next Wednesday and I don't know what to do. Just so you know this is the shaggy shaggy state that I am in right now... last time I had an appointment I didn't have anything but the ends trimmed because I had a wedding to be in and wanted them to be able to have hair to do. So that being said now my hair is REALLY a mess with no style left to it at all. Here's a picture of what I have to work with.



I welcome all suggestions :) Please help.

In a few minutes I must get up and go get a snack and a drink ready for K-Girl and then wake her from her nap - oh how much fun that will be. She has a hair appointment at 4. Yes, my daughter will have better hair than I do. haha Oh well. I'm crossing everything that E-Man will be a good boy and be content in the sling during the appointment. Last time I took my mother-in-law along for help and I really didn't need her after all so this time I'm going to brave it alone. Let's hope it goes as well as last.

Last night E-Man was getting tired and the camera was close so I had a chance to get a picture of what he does when he is trying to put himself to sleep. I think it's adorable. He has to suck his right thumb - never his left only his right - and with his left hand he plays with the back of his head/hair. He only does the combination when he's tired and trying to sleep though. K-Girl had her thumb but she never had the extra playing with the hair thing like he does. Here's a picture of my sweet little sleepy boy.


We went up to York Classic Carpets (the guy that put the carpet in our old house and this house) and we looked at flooring. He's coming on Monday to measure so we can figure out how much it will cost in different options to put hardwood down on this whole level. There is a darker bamboo that I really like. I'm really hoping that it's not out of our price range. Have I mentioned how badly I want hardwood floors? I HATE this carpet.

Yes and I'm really saying this after I just got done saying that we want to spend $$$ to get new floors put in and the work we are doing to the house (although there hasn't been much money involved so far to what we have been doing - most of the house improvements are just sweat more than anything) but I believe we are going to start working Oprah's Debt Diet finally. We have some debt that we would both really like to get rid of so we're going to start tackling it and using Oprah's method since it seems pretty easy to follow. So in addition to that I'm going to start looking into other ways to save a buck here and there. If I find anything good I'll share. :)

Alright well E-Man is awake again and it's time to start getting things ready so that we can get to the appointment on time.

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Becoming Suzie Homemaker

I've been doing really well lately at keeping up with everything...something that throughout my pregnancy and the first few weeks of E-Man's life was nearly impossible for me. Now that E-Man is approaching 3 months I'm learning how to get things done with two kids and I'm feeling pretty good about it. Anyone that knows us knows that The Husband does the cooking in this family but I'm trying to change that. All last week I had dinner taken care of and so far this week the same (although tonight we need to get take out after some errands). Last night I made this awesome chicken and potato dish. It's not too hard to please The Husband, but it's something else to get the rave reviews from K-Girl. She couldn't get enough of the chicken. Really it couldn't get easier either thanks to Kraft Food and Family! I LOVE that magazine! For those that are interested...

One-Pan Chicken and Potato Bake

Prep Time: 10 min
Total Time: 1 hr 10 min
Makes: 4 servings

4 bone-in chicken pieces (1-1/2 lb.)
1-1/2 lb. potatoes (about 3 med. potatoes), cut into thin wedges
1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
1/4 cup KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Place chicken and potatoes in 13x9-inch baking dish.
TOP with dressing; sprinkle with cheese and Italian seasoning. Cover with foil.
BAKE 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through (180ºF), removing foil after 30 min. Sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley, if desired.

Seriously you can't get much easier. If you don't receive this magazine you need to sign up for it. It's free and I get so many yummy recipes out of it - especially great desserts!

I also finally got started with the whole natural cleaning thing. I have a lot more to put into effect. I really need to raid my cabinets and get rid of things - you know like the Comet that I never touch anyway and the bottle of cleaner that has moved to this house along with us and I STILL haven't used it. Yeah I have some cleaning out to do. But I cleaned the floors and bathroom and windows all with just a vinegar and water solution in a spray bottle and clothes and let me tell you it worked as good as my cleaners on that stuff. It smelled a little vinegary (is that a word?) for a while but the smell did lift. I'm sold. When water is free and vinegar is what a buck or so for a huge bottle of it - that's cheaper than any cleaner I buy. I think the hardest cleaner for me to give up is going to be my Method Tub and Tile, but at least it's Method and they are more "friendly" than most other cleaners so I don't feel too bad about that. I'll give the baking soda a shot, but that Method Tub and Tile is amazing stuff. But I feel better that I'm working on getting my cleaning to be more natural - better for all of us and nothing to worry about the kids and pets getting into that cleaner.

I need to get out front and take an update picture of our progress. I'm very proud of The Husband. He's doing a great job in the transformation of the outside of the house. In the past week and a half he has taken out the bushes and laid the timbers and rock. He's working on grading the extra earth so that he can lay grass seed. He's put in solar lights along the walkway and changed the light out on the house along with taking off the shutters on the sides of the door as well. He weeded inside the fence and ripped out ivy outside the fence. It's really looking great. With the rain this weekend has pretty much been a wash and it seems the same for this week, but we need the rain and I've been really enjoying the dreary days as a welcome change from being hot hot hot for so long. So once the rain lets up I'll get out there and get that picture.

Tonight we are going to look at flooring for our lower level. I really hope that we can find a good price and something we like. I've been hooked on getting bamboo flooring all throughout the lower level from the moment you walk in throughout the dining room, kitchen, family room, and half bath. I'm crossing my fingers that we have good luck. I want to get this floor changed as much if not more than anything else I want to change in the house.

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Miracles DO Exist

They really really do! After yesterday being what might possibly had been my worst day so far as a momma to two - yes it was that bad - I do believe that today is shaping up to be the best. Now as I say this I am sure to be cursing myself as I hear thumb sucking coming over the monitor, but running that risk I'm going to brag on it anyway. Last night E-Man slept through the night! Yep you heard me! I got a full night's sleep. He went to sleep at 11:45 (yes it should have been earlier but again he woke up just as I was laying him down and then it was quite the task getting him to close those big baby blues again) and he didn't wake me till 7:15 this morning. Do you know how good it feels to get a full night's sleep again? Now in no circumstances am I believing that this will be any kind of norm yet, but it still happened which gives me hope that it will indeed become common occurrence more often than not soon.

Then if that is not enough this morning I was able to put him down for a nap in the pack and play with no problems and he stayed there for over an hour I do believe. It was enough time for me to prepare a dessert for this evening - oh yes I do look forward to sampling that! - get the cat litter scooped, take care of the dishes, and other miscellaneous tasks which I usually try to do one at a time as he allows me to put him down for a few minutes here and there. This way was much nicer let me tell you.

Now after a nice lunch of *gasp* something different than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (spaghetti O's for K-Girl and left over chicken parmesan with whole wheat pasta for me - in the words of Rachel Ray - YUMM-O!) I have managed to get BOTH kids down for nap at the exact same time without as much as a fuss from either. Oh and I'm not done yet...I actually got a shower. Yes everyone I am clean! Can you believe it. Ok in the interest of not grossing anyone out...oh heck full disclosure is more fun. Yes I joke that my daughter is usually cleaner than me because at least a bath is something we do with her every other night or as needed since it is summer time and toddlers love to get DIRTY. So today's shower was indeed a pleasant experience. Now I got my makeup on and real clothes on but I didn't want to push the envelope by getting out the hair dryer so my hair is still in need of getting done, but all in all I'm happy as can be. In celebration of my very good day so far I'm sitting her with my feet up typing away.

...well it happened. hahaha E-Man is starting to fuss. Hmmm I wonder if he'll put himself back to sleep. That would be good but honestly I run the risk of him waking his sister if I let him try too hard. So I guess I should just keep this a good day and go rescue him. At least I'll have some quiet time cuddles from him and I am clean...for now. But you know baby spit up is all the rave...an essential for every outfit...

Editing to add...
Just for the record my dear baby boy did end up waking up K-Girl. However all was not lost as she ended up having an dirty diaper and wanted changed and had no problems with me telling her to climb back up in bed and finish her nap. And E-Man is happy as can be nursing himself back to sleep. So although he is not in the pack and play all is not lost. ;)

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I love my baby's diapers

How many Momma's can say that and really mean it...

I love my baby's diapers. I mean it. I enjoy changing his diapers. I enjoy thinking about what might be my next purchase out of necessity or out of the fact that I just haveta' have it! I enjoy knowing that at the end of the day I haven't filled more of our garbage can with disposable diapers. I love the fact that I never have to run to the store when I notice at the last minute that Oh my gosh I only have a couple diapers left. When I realize that I just go throw a load in the washer and problem is solved. It really is wonderful. Not to mention that I have only had poop on E-Man's clothes maybe 2 or 3 times since he's been born and man I could have that many blow outs when K-Girl was a baby in sposies in one day. I just can't rave enough about cloth and am so happy that I happened upon it.

To tell you the truth I don't exactly remember where I first got the idea to cloth diaper (CD). The Husband thought I was crazy when I brought it up at first but even he said recently that he really is glad that we cloth diaper. Yay! I started cloth diapers when K-Girl was an older toddler. I decided that I wanted to do this with the next baby and in the land of newborns where everything is new and crazy and not to mention sleep deprived I thought it may be better to have an idea and what better than using our toddler as a guinea pig. We cd'ed her until she potty trained (the first time) and then we stopped when she was only in two diapers a day because I ended up battling some stink issues with having diapers sit longer and not seeing the good in washing just two diapers a day. Then she regressed and needed diapers again and I kicked myself at every diaper change that I had sold them off, but what can you do, right?

So this time around I knew I wanted to do it from the start and with so much information I had no idea what I wanted to do. I bought so many different brands of diapers but I knew I wanted either fitteds and covers or wool or prefolds. I did have a few pockets though and those were fine too. But you know what I have come upon in the 2 months of cd'ing E-Man? Simplicity is bliss. I love my prefolds. With almost all my fitteds there is something that I would change about them...they are either just a bit too bulky...not quite absorbent enough for the trimness...they take too long to dry...they are a bit tight on the thighs....something. With my prefolds I don't have any of that. They are a perfect custom fit every time and I can fold and snappi a prefold faster than I can do the snaps on most of my fitteds. Really they are great and I know what you might be thinking - the old diapers and pins from generations past but it doesn't need to be like that. LIke I mentioned there are Snappis now! Snappis are wonderful. They are these three footed little hoob-a-jiggies with claws. You snag the diaper and then stretch the other foot across and snag the other side and finally stretch the third leg down and snag it and whala you have yourself a diaper with no blood-shed (although I have tried pins and they aren't as bad as we let ourselves think they are).

For night time I went with the masses blindly. Yep just call me a sheep "Bahhh". The highest ranking diaper on DiaperPin were Dream-Eze and with wanting to find one super absorbent great diaper to use for nights I decided to order 6 of them without trying them to make sure I liked them. They are great. When E-Man wakes just to nurse and goes back to sleep I don't change him because then I end up with a wide awake baby ready to go. Not my idea of fun. These diapers will hold him from about 9:30 - 10:00 when I put them on him until about 7:30 - 8:30 when we wake up in the morning. They are wet but not thoroughly soaked. I love the fact that for how absorbent they are they don't take any longer to dry than my prefolds because of the fact that the layers are just sewn in the back and they aren't all together which is what takes so many other diapers so long to dry. They are GREAT diapers.

I started out thinking that I would use wool a lot, but now that he has outgrown the wool that my mom and I had crocheted for him I don't have that strong of a desire to make more. (Although I have one interlock wool Luxe cover that I do adore.) My favorite cover is Thirsties covers. They come in such fun colors. They are soft. They have held in so many could have been blow outs and have saved E-Man's clothes on many occasions. They are just fabulous. For night time I really like Mother Ease Air Flow (MEAF) covers as I like the idea of them breathing at night when he is in his diaper for such a long time. I like the MEAF as they are side snaps, thin, very soft, and have some really cute prints although definitely not as much to pick from as with other covers. And you can't beat the price!

So what started off as trying everything under the sun has left me loving my prefolds and Thirsties covers for daytime use and my Dream-Eze and either Luxe interlock wool pull on cover or my Mother Ease Air Flow cover at night. How much easier can it get?

And just to show you how very adorable a fluffy bottom is...

Rainbow Short Premium Prefold from Green Mountain Diapers


With a Thirsties cover over top...


A Dream-Eze Fitted Diaper...


With the Mother-Ease Air Flow cover over it...


And here with the Luxe...


Now I still have a few other diapers that we have from the beginning that I will use now and then, but mostly these are the diapers I reach for. I have some one size diapers that are ok. I have had to sell all our pockets as E-Man has a sensitivity to fleece. When he is in a fleece inner diaper (Fuzzi Bunz was the one that we had) his whole diaper area got red but would go away after the diaper was off for a while. So I sold them off. Natural materials are the way to go for his heiny.

I also am fond of my set up that I have upstairs. It works very well for us.





On the bottom shelf I keep my cloth wipes in the basket and my wetbags beside it. Yes I use cloth wipes mostly because honestly they work better. I can use on wipe sometimes a second is necessary for those really big messes where you can use like 4 or 5 disposable ones. They just grab more. And a wetbag is where I put my dirty diapers. When they are wet I just throw them in a bag. When it is poopy I spray it off and then stick it in the bag. Spraying diapers off isn't necessary if your baby is exclusively breastfed but I've found my frontloader can't handle the poop so I rinse them and they come out cleaner easier in the wash. And the bag and everything just go right into the wash together then on wash day.

On the next shelf up are my prefolds and my tie nappies which in all honesty I have not tried. Speaking right to left there are two stacks of brightly colored newborn prefolds which we used initially but he grew out of quickly - I would highly recommend to those of you that actually have tiny babies. Unfortunately I do not. Next I have a stack of tie dyed infant prefolds which he can still wear but are getting small and do not really hold his amount of output anymore. I use these when I'm at home and changing frequently. Next is a stack of unbleached infant prefolds - same deal as the tie dyed ones. Then the last two stacks are my absolute favorite prefolds....my Green Mountain Diaper's Rainbow Serged Premium Short Prefolds. Typically there are infant prefolds or premium prefolds. Premiums are huge these are trimmed a couple inches and do not swallow little ones. I still fold the back down about an inchish which makes me feel better knowing that he's going to be using these for a while to come before we need to get actual premium prefolds. These are GREAT prefolds. Now I heard that they discontinued them, but are bringing out the same basic thing with earth tone serging or something like that so I'll be interested to see what they will be.



Next we have the wash line. This is wonderful for airing out covers between use and it's colorful and E-Man just loves staring at it during changes. I no longer have any of my wool shown in this picture other than my Luxe (all the way on the right), but all my other covers are there - Thirsties and Mother-Ease Air Flows.



Up top in the boxes I have (left to right) my sized fitteds. In this box I have my Dream-Eze for night time (Mediums) the giraffe diaper no longer fits and I have a Mother-Ease Sandy's small in there that fits him (it's a two sized diaper so it fits to about 20 pounds. I dyed it as Sandy's come either bleached and unbleached.



The next box in has my one size diapers - Suzie One Size (SOS), Baybee, Muttiqin, Baby Beehinds, and Mother-Ease One Size. These diapers don't get used a ton but I do really like them.



Next box over is liners and doublers to add absorbency to the diapers.

And then the last box is empty - room to grow. ;)

So what else can I tell you? Washing? Oh yes the dreaded washing of diapers. ;) It's not that bad really. I do a load every other morning. That's it. I'm not a slave to my washing machine. Granted it is a little bit more than just running a cycle like your normal wash but as soon as you get down a washing routine you are set. With my front loader it's proving to be a bit more challenging to perfect it, but we're not having any real issues so it's not bad either. Oh and I touched upon the poop thing. Yes you really don't have to rinse exclusively breastfed baby's poop off the diapers. It is water soluble and the washer can take care of it. Now with my front loader I had some issues with that. With the VERY little water that they use it wasn't able to deal with as much poop as my little guy made so we did start rinsing and haven't had problems since. But you don't need to touch it. They make these wonderful things called diaper sprayers. They are like the sprayers you may have on your kitchen sink but they are hooked up to the plumbing on your toilet - easy to install as The Husband put ours in no problems. Then you just spray off the poop no touching or swishing or anything like that and you have yourself a clean diaper. After your baby is on solids or if your baby is formula fed you do need to rinse all poop off before washing though. If someone asked me if it was necessary to have a diaper sprayer I would honestly answer yes. They just make life a lot easier and they take the yuck factor out of the poop in diapers. And incase you are wondering what this contraption is here is a link for you.

In doing my research in favor of cloth diapering I stumbled across many interesting things that I had never known. The biggest being that you are actually supposed to be dumping poop out of sposies before throwing them away too. Did you know that? I've never seen the "proof" displayed anywhere and then I was checking out Barefoot Moms and saw they had posted a picture of the actual "directions" on the packaging. Here's the picture...



Now you can no longer live in blissful ignorance. Now when K-Girl poops in her naptime pullup (which isn't often thank goodness) I almost always flush the poop as I cannot throw it in the trash without feeling extremely guilty about what I just did. And if I'm doing that well then I might as well be cloth diapering.

I've been giving some serious thought to getting K-Girl some toddler prefolds to use for nap/nighttime. As soon as I figure out what to do about covers I might just do that for her. Our only hang up on it is the fact that they are not easy on and off for when she goes - "I HAVE TO PEEEEEE!!!" and we must sprint to the bathroom. haha But they do come off rather quickly but it's not something she is going to be able to take off/put on all by herself. So I'm still working on that. But how nice it would be not to spend that money on pull ups which are sooooo expensive. And the prefolds are CHEAP and E-Man will eventually be able to use them too. So it really would be a win win.

Ok I think I have gone on enough about this but incase you would like some more reading I'll leave you with some excellent links if you are interested in getting started with cloth. It really is never too late....well I suppose if they are totally potty trained then it would be too late, but shy of that. ;)

Two message boards with a TON of helpful people and information...
Diaper Swappers - http://www.diaperswappers.com/
Diaper Traders - http://www.diapertraders.com/

Other GREAT links...
Diaper Pin - http://www.diaperpin.com/home.asp
They have a great how to video to SHOW you how to put on a prefold. http://www.tinytots.com/how_to_videos.html
PinStripes & Polka Dots - http://www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com/basics.htm
Sunshine Diapers - http://www.sunshinediapers.com/university.html
Disposable or Cloth diaper article - http://www.ecobaby.com/cloth.htm
The Joy of Cloth Diapers article - http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/diapers/joy-of-cloth.html

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Yay!

I read about The DC Baby Carrier Expo on DiaperSwappers (a message board that I frequent). Immediately I wanted to go, but I thought that The Husband might not be interested in a trip to DC to go to an expo of this nature. I brought it up to him and he said he would have no problem going and that it might be a nice day away. So I'm very excited. From their website...

"Companies from all over the United States will come to Washington, DC to display and sell their baby carriers and natural family products directly to the public. This is your chance to see and try products that are rarely available in local stores."

I can't wait to see what all will be there. I read on DS that a WAHM (work-at-home-mom) was going to be there with her diapers so I would image there will be others too. I think it will be a neat event. Then since it is in DC I'm thinking that after we are done there we could go to the National Zoo as I know K-Girl would just LOVE that. We've only been to the Philly Zoo and I would love to check out the National Zoo especially since admission is free as well. The Husband said he would like to check out Ikea on the way home too since there is one right in route.

Yes I'm definitely looking forward to it!

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*2 Month Pictures*

Ok I finally got the pictures from Picture People's Website. So here at the pictures they took of 2 month. I'm not as pleased with them as I have been of other visits, but oh well we only bought one sheet so I'm not worried. Next month we're going to try to get "S" again who does a MUCH better job. So anywhere here they are...















And for fun I put this together of the kids' 2 month pictures for the comparison. K-Girl definitely has him beat hands down on amount of hair, but they have many very similar features. And I believe they are both just the cutest....but I may be a bit biased.

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E-Man's 2 Month Appointment

I always look forward to the monthly appointments with babies because I want to know how much they are growing and everything, but you know I DREAD them because of the shots.

Yesterday was particularly bad. I had to take both kids and The Husband had a meeting at 1 (the appt was at 12:15) so he couldn't come down for the appointment. The appointment started off well enough - E-Man's up to 13 lbs 13 oz and he's 24 1/2" long and his head is 41 - not used to them writing that. Anyway she said he was in the 90th percentile for height and weight and that his head is a little higher than average which makes him a very proportionate little boy. We talked about his eczema which has been particularly bad here lately. And then it was the bad time. He had one oral vaccine and 4 shots. Sometimes they have a nurse come in and help so they get two at the same time and then they only get it 2x rather than 4 separate shots. Well no such luck this time. And after the first one and he started crying K-Girl came over and saw the blood (he's a bleeder) and she put herself on the floor absolutely bawling because "he was getting owies" so I had two hysterical kids and I wanted to cry as well. Poor thing did not take the shots well. So then as soon as the dr finished I went ahead and nursed him which helped a bit, but not a ton. Also didn't help that he was soooooo tired and just wanted to sleep. So then when I was getting him dressed again he spit up everywhere .....which makes me wonder about the oral vaccine...did it stay down? But anyway I'm not at all looking forward to the 4 month appointment as it's an exact repeat of his 2 month vaccines. I called The Husband and told him that he MUST come along for that one. Blah.

So in all he's doing well except for the nasty shots. He didn't do well with them at 1 month we'll see how he does at 2. Yesterday all he wanted was to sleep and me so I didn't get anything done the rest of the day. Last night he was up for quite a while, but he wasn't upset just awake so it wasn't too bad. This morning he's sleeping in the bassinet quite a bit. I'm planning on keeping the Tylenol in him at least the rest of today and hopefully he'll just sleep it off and feel better. I'm crossing my fingers. Poor guy.

I will also hopefully have E-Man's 2 month pictures to share sometime today. They were not uploaded to the online store and I called and she said she could do it again and make sure I get them this time. So hopefully I'll have them to share this afternoon. :) When I get them I'll post them.

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Big Plans

The Husband and I have decided that we need to get some work done around here. Having a small baby makes things slightly harder, but other than that we want to get done. The Husband keeps making jokes about how bad the outside looks and well yeah he's right, but at least most everyone that matters knows we just had a baby and I think that's a pretty good excuse for letting the house look a bit rough.

So we're planning on for the most part starting outside. We bought K-Girl a small kiddie pool with the thought that since she loves swimming that she will play in that and not be running all over everywhere that we will have to worry about running after her. First things first is starting out front. My vision is simple and clean. That vision could not be further from the vision of the past owners of this house. They thrived on ivy, bushes, trees, plants, and everything that could require as much upkeep as possible. Total opposite of my tastes.



So this is what the house looks like from the front...well add a bunch of weeds that you wouldn't be able to see in this picture anyway. Our plan is to rip out all the bushes up and down the sidewalk to the house. Outta here! Then we are going to lay landscape timbers maybe a foot on either side of the walk and fill the space between with red rock. I think it will look very nice with the brick of the house. The tree off to the left of the walk is going to be taken out within the next couple weeks as it is forming little berries which makes a holy mess and we're just done with it. The ivy around the fence is getting ripped out and the flowerbeds inside the fence are getting cleared of their weeds. Under the picture window we are planting some low maintenance plants - maybe some dwarf pine trees and I'm seeing some kind of a plant with maybe some reddish leaves? I'm not sure. A trip to the nursery will be in our future. Then we have this area off to the right that is not pictured. It has 2 small pine trees and a bunch of other stuff - hostas and whatnot. We're clearing that out of the over-growth and maybe red mulching it to match the inside of the fence. We're not positive on that yet. I think that's about it for the front. The cost is relatively low but it's a lot of elbow grease to get all the work done.

Then it will be off to the sides and back. We plan on putting a wooden deck on the back of the house with the help of my stepdad who used to build awesome custom wood decks for a living so I'm looking forward to getting help from him to be able to do it ourselves - also saving us a bundle. We're planning on getting two trees taken out out back - one in the brick that will need taken out for the deck and one on the side which just looks like crap. The side of the house will have the brick work finished to make a nice patio and the other side of the house is just general clean up.

Inside there are many projects that we want to tackle...both bathrooms, family room, and bamboo flooring on the entire bottom level of the house. I think these projects will last us for a while as we need to come up with the funding to do them in the first place, but they will get done little by little. We're planning on being here for another 5 - 7 years before moving on so all the work we are doing is with selling in mind. We want to make it nice for us of course, but nothing that won't help the selling of the house down the road, ya know? I'm sure this is going to be a lot of work and I'm not sure on how it will be with a little one, but I am excited to get started with all of it. So those are our big plans.

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