Meridian State Park Campout

Below is a slide show of our Halloween campout. We had a blast! We ate good food and hiked around 8 miles (total for the 2 day stay).

We went camping with some families and one other couple from homegroup. My mother, sister and brother came down for a visit on Saturday. We highly recommend Meridian. It's a small park but there are plenty of trails for a one weekend stay.

Smoothies for the Baby

A green smoothie is a smoothie where you "hide" greens like spinach or kale. I got the recipe from my friend and I wanted to share my version (it's not that different).

We don't actually have a blender... I borrowed a drink mixer (bullet like) from my mother-in-law. It works great because I couldn't eat the whole recipe from my friend... and Steven wont split it with me because he says they aren't sweet enough (which I think is crazy). So, I half the recipe.

1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup baby spinach (fresh)
1 tablespoon milk/oj/water
***blend together until smooth
1/2 orange
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 frozen fruit
***blend and enjoy!


I went to the store last night and bought enough ingredients to make 6 smoothies. I prepared all the fruit (pealing oranges, halving bananas & freezing them, and washing the spinach)... so that the smoothies come together really quick in the morning.

I was so scared to try mine this morning... but after I did I was chasing Steven around the house to try to get him to try it. I had mixed berries which hides the greenness of the smoothie but tomorrow I'm trying peach, and then strawberry, pineapple, mango, and maybe pear!

THE BEST part about these smoothies is that our baby is getting a full serving of SPINACH (folic acid & iron) while I get a yummy yogurtie berry drink! What more can you ask for besides a healthy baby and a happy momma!

:) :) :)

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!!!