We are totally doing this!

I thought this was adorable. And we will most definitely put our baby in a pumpkin... it just seems like us!

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This is just horrible... but made me laugh

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And I wish this was sitting in front of our house!

My Diaper Report

I have many Mommy friends right now and I am very thankful for the knowledge and experience they provide! (You know who you are girls… Thank You!!!) Currently, a little less than half of my Mommy friends use (or want to start using) cloth diapers. So I decided to do a detailed report diaper report. It’s more for me to get my thoughts together, but I hope to also use it to explain to all why we are deciding to use cloth diapers.

Cloth What?

Now, let me tell you… the world of cloth diapers is way complicated… at first… it gets easier, I promise. There are several different styles (or methods) and brands and different ways to folds and snaps and Velcro and even a bungee/snappy thing? It is very interesting and overwhelming at the same time. The only real way to decide is to talk to moms who are doing or have done cloth diapers before and hear their thoughts on things. I feel much better about it and even excited about trying them, but to explain it to you let me show you some pictures…

Pre-folds with covers: the traditional rectangular piece of fabric that you fold around your baby can secure with a snappi (used to use safety pin). The cover is to protect the clothing from getting wet… it’s made out of a non permeable material and does not have to be wash with every use (usually washed every 2-3 changes). Video1. Video2. Video3.

Pocket Diapers: designed just like a disposable diaper and just as easy to put on. The pocket allows you to put extra liners in and allows for less diaper changes. They are more expensive, require a wash after every use and take longer to dry. We hope to receive them as gifts, but may purchase a few for the convenience on trips and with baby sitters. Also… bumgenius (also runs cottonbabies.com) gives diaper grants to missionaries so we really want to purchase this brand whenever possible. Video1. Video2.

All-in-ones: This eliminates the stuffing part of the pocket diapers, you could still put an additional liner in at night but it would be similar to the pre-fold method. I have heard that they take a very long time to dry and that they tend to wear out sooner. Video.

One-sized: very similar to the all-in-ones, except snaps allow you to adjust the size (first link is for a pocket-one-sized diaper). Video.

And the list carries on as far as options go. For the diaper with a cover system, you can have… pre-folds, fitted liners, flat liners, or contour liners with fleece covers, wool covers or synthetic covers. Sorry I didn’t research them all. I more interested in what I have seen work with my friends.

We decided to go with… pre-folds and covers during the day and pocket diapers for the evening, sitters or trips with some disposables when necessary. Pre-folds are the easiest to clean and pocket diapers not only allow for double liners at night time but they also make cloth diapers easy for guest who want to help out with the baby. Our friends that use pre-folds don’t bother with snappies because the cover holds the diaper in place. I like the idea of one-sized diapers but Steven feels they may be too bulky and he is right!

Pros and Cons

Disposable Diapers

Pros
-convenient & easy
-no extra laundry
-everyone knows how to use them

Cons
-will permanently take up space in a landfill
-have to buy them continuously
-may take longer to potty train (disposables are designed to keep babies dry and as a result they don’t know when they are wet)
-some studies say babies have more diaper rash with disposable.

Cloth Diapers

Pros
-they don’t produce waste to fill landfills
-more economical
-less chemicals on baby’s precious bottom
-may be easier to potty train (babies know that they are wet)
-reusable with each child (in fact the more kids you have the more money you save)
-cloth diapers have come a long way… with the new advances they are almost as easy as disposable!

Cons
-have to clean with every use
-increased laundry
-may leak
-can’t use them with diaper rash ointment (ointment can reduce absorbency because it is designed to repel water.)
-need special soap to wash them (some detergents cause a waxy build up and can reduce absorbency)
-not as easy to travel with (you have take your dirty diapers with you)

My Thoughts

I hate the idea of contributing to our growing landfill problem!!! However, like my husband I have a passion for saving money… so I don’t mind a little extra work to help reduce the waste I put into the landfill. We already compost and recycle… I fell like this is the next responsible step when it comes to good stewardship with our planet.

I am also very excited about the potty training thing.

I’m not too worried about the cleaning and extra washing concerns… if I start with the first baby they day we bring him/her home then I won’t notice the disposable vs. cloth diaper difference. Besides, it turns out we already use the “correct” detergent! Some recommend soaps are Dreft, Ivory, All Free Clear, and Charlie’s Soap.

About diaper rash… it happens… and we can run and purchase a small pack of disposables... we may them for nursery visits at church anyway.

You may wonder about the extra water used. Well, we believe that water is a more renewable reasource than landfills. God designed our water to be re-cycled... evaporation, rain, etc...

Being responsible with God's creation (earth) and saving money are our reasons for using cloth diapers.

Cost Breakdown

Here is my break down on cost.

Average Changes per day

(this is what I calculated by. It may be off by a bit, but I wanted to just picked some numbers, based off of online research, so that I could compare cost)
0-3m.................................... 12 times a day

3-8m.................................... 8 times a day

8-15m................................. 6 times a day

(((most cost were based off of what Steven and I register for at Amazon and Target)))

The Happiest Baby on The Block!

While checking my peeps' blogs I came across a post My Newborn "Must" Haves! I found it really insightful and I enjoyed reading advice from real mother working through all the changes a newborn can bring. One of the things she recommended was swaddling, which is of the 5 S's of from The Happiest Baby on The Block. I was intrigued so I did some research on the Internet (the site she recommended and youtube). I quickly became interested and wanted to read the book. However, I have a ton of baby books to read through and I still have school work to complete. I decided I would try to hunt in down after the graduation.

Well, last Friday we headed to Angleton for a fun fall weekend full of football, county fair exhibits and church! Steven's mother works as a pharmacist and, it being flu season, she gives a lot of flu shots! While working with a young pregnant customer, Cathy shared about how she will soon be a Grandmother (yah!!!!). Later in the day the customer returned with books for us! Cathy brought them home and gave them to us this weekend.

I was amazed to see that "The Happiest Baby on The Block" was one of them! So blessed by the Lord! I tried not to read it until after graduation... I even put it on the back room bookshelf... However, I cracked it open this morning. I had a hard day of school yesterday and needed to relax a bit on the bus. I'm glad I did... it's so enjoyable. I will probably re-read it next spring... but it one book that doesn't have crazy pregnancy pictures so I don't feel bad about reading it in public.

Anyway, I just wanted to share about a little unexpected blessing! I will let you all know how it works out when we have our little one. Have a great week!!!

10 week ultrasound

Steven and I had lot of fun today.... one little let down, but it was still a great doctor's appointment.

We went in for a check up and we had another ultrasound. I love ultrasounds, but this one will most likely be the second to last one so I really tried to enjoy it... it wasn't hard! The let down was that we were suppose to be able to hear the heart beat, but the hospital wasn't equipped to hear the heart beat at 10 weeks... maybe we can hear it at our next appointment around 14 weeks. Here are the pictures....

We were AMAZED at how much our little bean has grown. When the picture came on the screen Steven said, "WOW" and moved really close to the machine. I only noticed after I moved away from the screen myself. He is going to be such a good Dad... I can't wait!



The next picture is when she took some measurements. Everything looked good. The measurement said that our due date is May 9th and one before said May 12th, but our real due date is May 11th. The measurements can vary 5-7 days but they are a good estimate. The doctor sets the due dates and based off of all my information, she set May 11th.



Same picture as above, only the measurements are gone. What I think is neat is that you can see the jaw bones forming.



I love this picture! It kinda looks like the baby is sucking his/her thumb. Also, the bright spot in his/her arm is the bone. I'm drinking my milk... if only broccoli looked remotely appetizing.



Before the appointment I watched some videos of 10 week ultrasounds... I was anxiously waiting for Steven to pick me up. Anyway, some of the babies weren't moving as much and some were. Before I left I prayed that ours would move.... and our baby was VERY active. He/She was bouncing around and moving his/her arms and legs. We even saw our baby move the umbilical cord. It was so neat and such a blessing from God. I truly have a life forming in me and it is so amazing!!! It's like in Psalm 139:13 (For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb), God is forming a soul inside of me and He has a plan and a purpose for this little baby... I can't wait to see it play out!

Fall Garden

I am still gardening... I promise! Life just gets busy... you know how that goes.

We’ve had a lot of rain lately… which is a HUGE blessing because we were in a severe drought. As a result our back yard is looking like the Amazon. Steven has to mow more frequently and I’m having a blast starting our fall plants.

Pumpkins

After a slow start because of the heat, the pumpkin patch is off and running. I was recently out in the yard helping Steven while he was mowing. We were performing our “lift the vine while I mow under it” routine. It reminded me of last year and I smiled. I’ve noticed a lot of pumpkins and mums popping up around entrances to groceries stores. I love this season! However, I get a little disappointed because I think I started my pumpkins too late again. I followed instructions from our local coop to plant them before 7/15 for Halloween pumpkins, but I just recently saw some female flowers. On the other hand, if we get them late I can use them for Thanksgiving pumpkin pies. YUM!

btw: I can't wait till next year! Be prepared for a lot of pictures of an adorable 5-6 month old in our pumpkin patch!

Zucchini & Squash


Steven and I eat zucchini a lot. So we just had to have another plant this year. I made sure to plant them away from the pumpkins so that I can find them early enough. I couldn’t find a seed pack and it was getting late in the season and I didn’t want to order online. Our local coop had some started. I grab the smallest pack I could find… which happened to be a 6 pack. I would have only planted two plants, but what can you do. For the squash, I started three seeds and hope to plan them along the zucchini row…

Watermelon

I can’t believe I started watermelons. I love to eat them but have been afraid to grow them because it's hard to know when they are done. Pumpkins are easier because they turn orange. Well, at the coop (that is probably getting redundant… but they have the best prices on seeds… and they have varieties that work well locally) a man talked me into trying them. I bought a dip of seeds and planted 2-4 seeds in the yard. They had a rough start like the pumpkins because of the heat. However, they look good and I’ve even seen some little white flowers.

Fall Tomatoes

Summer tomatoes were a disaster! Again… that heat and drought. We were watering a lot, but we barely got anything off of our Better Boy and Beef Master Plants. I think we only managed a few Romas… which were delicious! The tomato seed packs I’m working through are from Home Depot and therefore are not necessarily geared towards our area. When I began thinking about fall tomatoes I ran to the coop, but they didn’t have any seeds. So I bought a 6 pack of started plants. I didn’t want to, but I got a determinate variety (tomatoes come all at once). I just need to learn to can and then this won’t be a problem. This summer we also had some nutrition problems in our soil so I planted the fall tomatoes in a new raised bed Steven and I had made. Last year our fall tomatoes did very well… we will see how this year goes.

The Garden Box


To prepare the soil for lots of lettuce, broccoli and spinach to come over the fall/mild winter months to come, I planted a legume. The legume of choice?… purple hauled peas… kinda like black eye peas… or cow peas, if you will. Everything I plant in the garden box does great because the soil is so good… I probably didn’t need to plant the peas… but I wanted them for New Years Day. We’ve been picking like crazy and our little patch is still growing. When we found out I was pregnant I went out to the garden and planted five spinach seeds and two broccoli seeds... however, I think I planted them too close to the pea patch. I thought the peas were almost done… turns out they were just getting started. I’m going to try to encourage them to grow up and thus save room… especially since my spinach and broccoli will need the sun light. The Aggie cotton is still growing tall and strong. I had to stake it because it lodged over in a heavy rain, but it’s still producing the flowers. I’ve having a problem getting the balls to open up. In our recent trip to Dallas I noticed all they fields had little white softness sprinkled about. Since we are further south, our cotton season should be over… I just can’t get mine to open up. Finally, CHECK OUT thoses Cannas! They were already established next to the shed. They are impossible to get rid of... so I just live with them... as long as they don't crawl over into the garden box.

Rain Harvesting

This is more just for fun. I often tell my friends about our crazy rain harvesting system. We hope to one day have barrels or even tanks but right now we are working off of a humble budget. However, that does not stop my husband from darting out in the pouring rain to rearrange our “rain tubs.” We line them up and catch as much as we can. We then use the water in the drier days to come. It works really well when we get rain every week. When it rains the plants get watered… then we supplement with the rain we’ve collected for them. Our city water is very salty and has a horrible ph level. It’s hard to get things to really thrive so providing plants with fresh, pure rain water does wonders for your veggies!