CD'ing ( I think I am so cool so I can call it this now)

Well I took a bit of time off so I could work on the CD'ing and I am pretty sure I collected everything I need now including two new diaper bags and a bunch of accessories to go with them :) They are ALL absolutely necessary, or at least that's what I tell my hubby ;o)
Anyways, as far as the Cding goes I have some new things to add in here that I bought and have tried, so here we go.

First up is what is called a gflapper cloth insert. I bought two different kinds, but I got them both from The Nappy Shoppe. The Nappy Shoppe is great because its run by SAHM who sew everything by hand that they sell. They have several different kinds of insert available, its up to you to choose which one is best for you. I am just going to show you the two kinds that I bought, simply because I have a grumpy baby and a terrorist 5 year old to deal with alone tonight :o) So here we go. First up is the Hemp, Microfiber and Micro chamois gflapper insert. It is made from 2 thick layers of hemp and organic cotton fleece, and 2 layers of thick microfiber terry and very soft micro chamois.

In the photo it is the top one. The first photo is of the flapper part open so you can get an idea of what they look like.

The second insert is the colored one in the photo (you can also get them plain but the colors were on sale) and it is the All Bamboo version. It is made and natural and organic Bamboo rayon fabrics. It has 3 flaps which are as follows-

Layer 1 is two layers of heavy Bamboo Rayon Fleece

Layer 2 is two layers of Double Bamboo Rayon Loop Terry.

Layer 3 is one layer of Bamboo Rayon Loop Terry and one layer of DYED Organic Bamboo Rayon Velour.

They are sewn flapper style so they wash and dry faster.
Both of these inserts are very trim fitting into the Gdiaper but they are really great for overnight use when you need a little extra absorbency. The gflappers will also work in pocket diapers as well as a few other diaper styles which is detailed on the web site.
I am also including a photo of the regular gCloth since I have some now. It is also nice but doesn't hold as much as the ones above since it is just 2 layers.

So there it is, if you have any questions please email me and I will be glad to help if I can.

Day 2 (gDiapers)

Well today went great! Dylan was in her g's all day long and we had NO leaks! She even took a 4 hour nap and was in the same dipe for about 5 hours total time and when I took it off the dipe was wet and her skin was completely dry! Not even that clammy skin feeling like with regular diapers! I was pretty impressed. I also got 3 more dipes in the mail today so it's beginning to look like a rainbow here :) I had to wash 2 of the dipes from yesterday because Bebuh is a very messy eater and they came out of the washer and dryer looking great. The liners are completely washable and you can put them in the dryer as well but I wouldn't on a regular basis (put them in the dryer that is) I would think it would take some life out of them. I have been wiping them out between pee dipes with a nice baby wipe, and the ones that she had a poopy in I hand washed and then stuck in my dish drainer. They were dry within minutes. Overall they are proving to be a super easy system and I will most definitely will be recommending them to new moms or moms who want to try CDing.

I am pretty busy the rest of the week, I will continue to update but I want to be able to sit down and write on the Pro's and Con's to this diapering system. I don't really see any Cons for my personal use, but I do see some things that might make greener parents pick something different. Anyways, this is all for now, but I promise there will be more :o)

CDing Day 1 (gDiapers)

So I obviously am posting consecutively but this is the first chance I have gotten to sit down at the computer long enough to write a blog. Even as we speak the 5 year old is awake and running around the house like a maniac, and yes, I know its after midnight, but what do you do? Anyways, here is what went on today-

First of all let me explain why I chose gDiapers brand cloth diaper. I was researching the many different types of diapers and finally settled on the gDiapers because of the versatility of them. First of they are what is called a 'hybrid" diaper. Meaning it has a snap in plastic liner than you can fill with either a flushable insert or "flushy" or the fabric insert called gCloth which of course is washable. I liked the idea that if I was out and about I could use the flushable insert in the diaper and either flush it, or bag it and toss it and it is 100% biodegradable. It is also compostable. The thought of putting a poopy diaper in my diaper bag, even enclosed in wet bag just had to much of an ick factor for me so this was one of the most deciding factors for me. I also listened to what others were saying. Of course every mom and every baby are not the same so gDiapers are not for everyone but they had a lot of excellent reviews on ease of use which was very important to me, but the also had rave reviews on the quality of the products and even better reviews on customer service. I also liked the fact that they are very trim fitting, I dont care for the big booty Judy look that many cloth diapers give babies.

That being said I was able to find (with help from other Cding momma's I know from my birth board) some pages on Facebook, and some pages on BabyCenter that are for Cding moms to buy, sell, and trade their used gDiapers (a few of them are also for any cloth dipes) so I was able to get quite a few new and gently used gdiapers and gCloth inserts for a very reasonable price. I ended up purchasing the "flushies" from Amazon. I had my 20% off coupon and Amazon had a special, so I was able to snag 4 pack of 32 "flushies" for $16 with free 2 day shipping. This was a steal considering regular price was $51. Right now I am just using the "flushies" but only because the gcloth is not here yet, I got it off one of the resale boards for a lot less than retail so I went that way. Once I get al my dipes I will break down where I got them and how much was spent, I cant do that yet because I dont even remember how much is coming! Its a terrible addiction :) I think so far I have spent around $100 but I have purchased 6 new gDiapers from Diapers.com . They have some great prices on gDiapers and they offer discounts on them as well as "sposies" where most places do not. So here are the dipes I got today-

The first one is called Grubby Knees Grey and it is a very dark grey color which obviously looks close to black, the second is a very pretty blue called Galactic Blue and it is much brighter in person. The last one she is wearing and its called Goddess Pink. The covers are made from a very soft cotton/spandex mix. The liners are made from what looks like poly vinyl (I cant find what it really is but I will) they are super soft and very easy to care for. The gCloth inserts are made from microfleece, hemp, and cotton. They are 4 layers for maximum absorbtion. I dont have them in hand yet so I know nothing about them yet (this is off their website) So here is a photo of the inside of the dipe-

The little orange dots are the snaps for the snap in liner. These is one package of the "flushies" and I forgot to take a photo of the actual "flushie" but I will tomorrow.

Last but not least here is Dylan in her first gDiaper!

Sooo cute! I love it!

Ok, so now to the good stuff. Dylan wore the gdiapers for about half of the day and we went through 5 "flushies" right now she is not a heavy wetter at all so they lasted awhile. The last 2 were "muddy" so they had to come off and of course we went through them faster. I could have left the inserts on longer as well since they had just a little pee in them but I wasnt sure what to do and I didnt want to leave her in pee. I did notice that her skin was dry, she didnt have any moisture next to her skin at all. The last diaper she has was quite poopy, and she had been in her bouncer so the insert had shifted a bit so the poo got on the plastic liner but it didnt get out of the dipe at all.

So far I think the half of day went well. I think these dipes are super easy to use, almost to easy..tomorrow may be bad, who knows. I hope it continues on like it is though :)

I am sure I am forgetting something right now but its after 1:00 in the morning and the baby is awake and screaming so I need to get off here. I will have more tomorrow on my CDing journey as well as some other product reviews that I have found usefull.

Cloth Diapering- The Beginning

When I was pregnant with Dylan I had the thought to try out cloth diapering. I didn't really look into it much besides for looking up a diaper service in the area which I quickly found was not really any cheaper than for me to just buy regular diapers or "sposies" as I now have learned to call them. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I still thought of the cloth diapers as the pieces of cloth with the safety pins holding them up. I now realize how wrong I was. I wish I had taken the time back then to really look into it, but I didn't, and still don't know anyone close who Cd's and from the little amount of research I had done (and our job situation at the time) I didn't think it was really in our budget. Soooo here it is quite a few months later and what am I doing? Trying out cloth diapering and so far I am really enjoying it. That being said it has been less than 24 hours, and I am sure we will face some challenges in the next few days, weeks, and even months, but I am ready for them and more than willing to work at this. I really hope that my experience will help someone else to do the research and and possibly choose to CD. There are so many benefits to it for you, your baby, and the environment. Anyways, I am getting down off my soap box for now, and on to the good stuff!

So my plan is to -

A. Document the next few weeks of my Cding to show what problems I encounter, my overall experience, and of course end result.

B. Document the costs of getting started, some money saving tips and websites for cloth diapering, and of course reviews on the products I have chosen to use through the process.

C. Show how Cding even late in the game has and will save me money.

So please bear with me while I fumble around, and I hope this will truly work as I want and serve as a tutorial of sorts for others who want to make the leap to Cding, and thanks so much for being a part of my daily journey!

Wow~

So I started off thinking that I was going to open my Etsy shop and get a couple orders and that would be it, but I am please to announce that I have been doing a pretty brisk business. The owl hat is a big hit. I just made an adorable bunny hat for easter which you can find on my facebook page or in my shop but here is a picture of one I made for Dylan, she is a perfect sleeping model~

My 50 fan give away went great and I ended up with almost 70 fans! Yay! I am so happy! I am working on some super cute new designs for spring and I will have them in my shop shortly. I am having a lot of fun making these hats and seeing everyones little cuties wearing them.

Anyways, a big thank you to all my friends and fans, hopefully I can get a few more people to start viewing this blog so I can do a BIG giveaway. There is one in the works, and it will be GREAT, so tell your friends to follow me here. I also have some great product reviews coming up, I just have to have time to sit down and write them out :o)

Well this will have to be all for now, I am trying to get dinner done, and the baby is screaming. Ahhh such a blissfull life ;o)

I am going for it!

Ok so for a long time now I have wanted to start blogging about deals and steals and all things baby related and have never done it. I have also wanted to open a shop to sell my hats and now that I have done that I am ready to move on to the blogging! I am going to see if I can get a few followers on here, my friends from Facebook, family, and my ladies from BBC Nov. board. I want to create a blog where I can share the good deals I find, and learn about good deals others have found. I want to get my business going, and I want to create my own enviroment of support so to speak. Anyways, I am all over this in the next few days, hopefully we will get a few followers on here and I can do a giveaway!

Holy Wow!

WOW! Is all I can say! I finally did it! I launched my own Etsy shop and started to sell some of my hats. I am actually doing pretty well! With a bit of help from my friends on BBC I have 10 hats to make in the next week! OMG how am I ever going to get them done?! Its nice though to have something to do! I also started a Facebook page for my stuff and I am really hoping to get a bunch of business from there, or at least get my name out there! I have a bunch of stuff I would love to do, like give aways, Hats of the Week, a collaberation with my great friend Christina of GiaCocco Designs of her gorgeous hand made flowers! Soo much, so lets hope this venture works out for me!

The other WOW factor of this week is an old friend contacted me out of the blue...TISH! I was actually totaly happy to hear from her and we had a nice chat! We have talked every day since then and she is actually coming over here tomorrow to stay for a few days while her mom is in Seattle. I am pretty excited! I have really missed her as a friend and I am glad she didnt hold it against me when I was not being such a great friend. I guess we all have our reasons and make mistakes, what else is forgiveness for?

Anyways, I cant stay long, I need to get hot on these hats while the girls are sleeping! Check out my stuff at www.etsy.com/shop/kristadenae and visit me on FB at La La Larue Yarn Designs!

28, 5, 1

28 is how old I am now......I feel older, hopefully I still look younger. 5 is how old Riley is :( Now I really feel old! 1 is for being married for 1 whole year! Soooo much has been going on I have not even had a second to spare but now that I am laying in bed and can text in the blog I can update you real quick ;) I cant stay long but I will be back soon, more than likely tomorrow....

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Snow!

So the last couple of days we have been getting slammed with winter storm warnings, and of course since its been fairly nice here we figured the weather man was overeacting again. However, we were wrong! It started snowing here around 7 and so far, it hasn't stopped. We have 4 inches and its still coming down! Thank god I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, there is going to be waaayy to many wrecks because people here don't know how to drive. Anyways, not my idea of a great day but I get to stay inside :o)

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An Answered Prayer

So tonight I am laying here in bed thinking about the day, and what my day will be like tomorrow and I decided to write a bit while I am still awake. I was so excited yesterday I somehow forgot to do it then...I guess somewhere between yelling at Riley and her little friend to be quiet and go to sleep at 3am, and trying to get the fussy baby to sleep(which never happened) it slipped my mind, but I am thinking about it now so here it is.................................................

ANDY GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!

I am beyond thrilled! He will be working for Aerotech, which is a company that is government contracted to work on the subs and ships. Right now it is a temporary position for 8 to 9 months with the option to reapply for any available position after that. Pay will start at $17 an hour and go up to $25 after three months. Thats about all we know for now but thats excellent news for us. I have been praying my rear end off and I guess this means someone was listening. I will update when I know more.

In other news I have two sick kiddos :o( Riley woke up with a cold and of course Dylan has it too. Both of them were rotten and grouchy all day. I am exhausted from no sleep last night, I have no idea how I am even still awake.....I do need to try and sleep, my house is a wreck and needs to be cleaned, plus tomorrow night I am sure I wont get any sleep. I have to take Dylan in first thing Monday for an ultrasound on her stomach. For the last month she has been puking up tons after she eats and nothing was working that I could do so I took her in to the dr who gave me meds for Reflux. The meds seemed to work for the first couple of days and then stopped. I took her back in and we scheduled the u/s and got her on stronger meds for the Reflux. So far these meds seem to be working but the dr. wants to rule out something called Pyloric Stenosis. I guess this is something that is very rare in girls so I am praying she doesnt have it. If you want an explanation on what PS is Google it, I am way to tired to explain, its nothing that serious though so dont worry.

Anyways, I am pretty tired and so I am going to sign off for now. I will update more as I find out more. Good night!

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Good News?

So its after 3 in the morning and I am sitting here, well, laying here in bed listening to Riley snore(she is sick) and the baby breathe. Andy slept dow stairs because with Riley in the bed there isnt much room and he cant sleep. He felt bad for her since she was in her bed crying because she didnt feel well so he tucked her into his spot and went downstairs. What a great guy huh? So to the point of this late night blog.....I cant sleep, and not just because the kid is snoring but because I am soooo hopeful that a place called Aerotech calls Andy back tomorrow and gives him the job he interviewed for today! Its a government contracted job working on the subs doing various things so its perfect for him. I guess they pretty much told him the job was his if he still has his clearances to get on the base. The good is more pay, less hours, and benefits. The bad is the job is only contracted for 9 months, when its done he will have to re apply for another job with the company, and he will have to do this every 9 months. He is super excited about it and is just as anxious as I am to hear back. Lets all pray for good news! We need some good news right now.

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Ready for the New Year!

I am so ready to say good-bye to 2010. It has been an wonderful year for us filled with many great things.

Andy and I finally became husband and wife January 30, 2010.

I found out I was pregnant March 5, 2010.

 We got orders to move to Bremerton in April and began house hunting.

We found and purchased our home in May 2010, and also found out that Andy would be Involuntarily Discharged from the NAVY.

 I got kidney stones in June and found out I was having a GIRL!!

 Things calmed down for a bit this summer and into fall.

November 11, 2010 we welcomed Dylan into our family, life is wonderful!

 Now December has come and almost gone and soon it will be January and the New Year. We will start all over again with birthdays and anniversaries and life will go on. So many wonderful things have happened to us its hard to even think of the few small bad things that have taken place. Our family has its health, and we are happy. We were fortunate enough to not have anyone in our families seriously injured or taken ill this past year and we hope and pray it will continue through to next year. We had some wonderful visits from family and made some great memories too! All in all I am so thankful for 2010, but I cant wait to see what 2011 has in store for us!

I will sign off with that, and here are some more great photos of the girls!

                                          

 Riley on Christmas Eve

                                                                               
With her bb gun from Larry and Mel                                                                                                 

                                                    

Here is a couple photos of Dylan sleeping, she is so sweet when she is asleep

Christmas

THANK GOD ITS OVER!!!

Ok wow, glad I got that out! I am just so thankful that Christmas is over, I will be even happier when January is over and all the holidays and the birthdays and anniversary is over as well. All the stress will be gone from them and it will be on to new stresses. Christmas did go pretty well. Riley had a great time and was super spoiled as usual. I was totaly shocked on Christmas Eve to get package after package from Andy's dad, mom, and sister! It was really nice that Lorrie made an effort and actually thought of us. Mindy too. It made both Andy and I feel better. Andy called and talked to both of them on Christmas which I think made them happy. Hopefully we can keep working on those relationships. Anyways, it was a pretty good day, however I have decided to purchase a new camera. That was the worst part of the day, I took a ton of pictures of Christmas and guess what? 1 flippin picture turned out and it was of Dylan laying on Andys lap! All the rest were crappy and fuzzy and it pissed me off. So now I have decided to save up a bit and purchase a really good one like I wanted to do in the first place. Anyways.....I am sitting here looking around at all the christmas crap that is up still and its driving me nuts! I really want to get it taken down, and now! Andy is working all week so I will have to wait a bit but its happening soon. I should go, I got up super early so I could shower and have some "me" time. Both the girls are still asleep in my bed. Its pretty nice to have some quiet time actually. I need to check on the baby though, if she makes it 15 more minutes she will have slept for 11 hours! I am so lucky!

We have our baby!!

Well I figured since I have a few minutes I would update you on the birth of our baby girl! We welcomed Dylan Larue to our family November 11th, 2010 at 7:59am. She weighed in at 8lbs 9oz and was 21 inches long. I had a pretty long labor but it didn't really seem like labor to me since I was resting the entire time. I went in to the hospital at 8:30am the 10th for an elective induction and was hooked up to the Pitocin. I started to have regular, painful contractions pretty quickly but the pain was actually not to bad. I know I could have handled it for awhile longer than I did, but the nurses were thinking that I would go into active labor pretty fast because of it being my second baby so they talked me into getting the epidural at 3pm. The whole process was super easy and the epi did not hurt one bit. I was able to sleep and relax for the next few hours. I ended up progressing really slowly and at 4am the dr. came in and was talking c-section which I adamantly refused. Dylan's vitals were all good and she was not in distress at all so I wanted to wait it out. I had had a 18 hour labor with Riley and I was induced with her as well so I knew the drill. At 7am I told the nurse I felt like the time was near and she checked me and I was ready to push. I already knew this because I felt like I was going to drop the baby on the floor at this point. I was crossing my legs to keep her in. The dr. came in about 7:30 and I started pushing and out she came!

They had to take her and suction her really well since she had pooped while she was waiting to come out but once that was done she was good to go.

Andy and I were totally thrilled to see her finally and both of us were teary eyed. I ended up not having any tears which was AWESOME and I felt great right after she was born.

We had to stay in the hospital overnight of course which was fine, Dylan was wide awake ALL night. She didn't cry at all, she just stared and looked around. We ended up having to stay later the next day then we wanted because the nurses were concerned because Dylan wasn't nursing really well and she was a really red color. After they checked her all out and the lactation consultant came in and gave me some breastfeeding tips and we had scheduled an apt. with the pediatrician for Monday they discharged us. Dylan slept all night the first and second night and I had to wake her up to feed her and change her. Last night she was a bit fussy but she was pretty hungry since my milk was just coming in and she hadn't been eating really well the last few days. She still was really good and I have been sleeping fairly well myself.

We had her first dr. apt today and we discovered she is pretty jaundice which made me feel like an ass since I hadn't noticed. In fact Andy was the one who noticed and he isn't medically trained even! The dr. made us get her blood drawn again and said they would call us with the results and what we should do next this afternoon. They never did call so I am guessing everything was ok or will be fine. The dr. said that the jaundice peaks at 5 or 6 days old so she will be at her peak tomorrow pretty much. He also said she was a bit dehydrated and that we need to make sure to feed her every 2 to 3 hours so she can pee and poo the jaundice away. Now that my milk is in that should be pretty easy and she is really eating a lot now. I still do have to wake her up but that's ok.

Riley is sure loving being a big sister. She has already been a super big help and she really loves on her sister. Its so great having two girls, I love it. Andy is in love with her as well. He has been a great help as well but sometimes he has been a bit of a hindrance. He especially likes to wait till Dylan is asleep and then he messes with her and wakes her up again. It is sweet though.

We are all just so in love with her and life is great with a new baby. I will share a couple more photos and then I have to run, I need to wake the princess up and feed her again :o)

Happy Halloween!

Well today is the last day of October and of course I still have not gone into labor. Thought I might be last night but the contractions went away :o( Oh well. I did tell Andy that with my luck I would go into labor tonight when we needed to pick mom up from the airport tomorrow and would have to scramble to get her here...Guess we will see since I will be doing a lot of walking tonight. I can at least hope if not labor the walking will help dialate me and when the Dr. checks me tomorrow I will be far enough along that stripping my membranes will work. Guess we will see.....

In other news, I am working on getting the house cleaned up today so Andy wont have so much to do tomorrow morning while I am at my Dr. apt.  So far the upstairs is cleaned up besides the dishes which I will finish after this since I am being lazy.....Andy has to do the downstairs since thats his domain and I cant pack the vacuum up and down the stairs. I just hope he actually does a good job, usually he just does enough to make it look ok and then I am the one who has to do the rest. I will be super pissed if he trys that this time since I dont want my mom coming over here to clean the whole time.

Today should be pretty fun, well this evening anyways....Andy is getting off early hopefully and then we are going to take Riley out with some friends. She is going as a cat. I have to try and figure out how to put the makup on her, we did a trial run last night and she wouldnt hold still enough for me to get the whiskers on her. She kept moving or laughing and it would make the whiskers all scribbly. I have a better idea for the make up tonight we will see how I do.....

Well I guess I should run, I am just super bored like usuall. I know I have a ton of crap to get done still but I dont want to do any of it....I am really looking foward to tomorrow and hopefully getting this kid outta me! Keep your fingers crossed for me and I will keep you updates :o)

Happy Halloween!!

10 days to go!

Well I know I promised more updates but really nothing has happened for me to update on and I didnt want to take the time to write nothing. Anyways, I will update everything that has gone on in the last few weeks right now :o)

Nothing major has gone on but I did have to make a trip into Labor and Delivery last Wednesday because of a fever. I didnt feel sick at all, but I was really tired and took a little nap and when I woke up I felt cold but hot and took my temp which resulted in a 103.7 fever. I called my dr. who advised me to take some Tylenol and see if the fever would go away, and if it did then no worries, if not to come in. Well of course it didnt so I had to go in and that sucked! The bed was soooo uncomfortable I thought I would die. I also was having pretty hard contractions that were anywhere from 2-7 min apart and they were pretty painful. The nurse ended up checking on me to see if I was making any progress into labor and of course I was not. I was 50% effaced but not quite dialted to a 1 even! I was pretty upset since I had been having hard contractions for the last couple of weeks....I ended up staying in the hospital over night and it was excruciating for me because of the bed, it made my back and hips hurt terribly. The figured out I had a kidney infection and gave me a ton of fluids and then the IV antibiotics, I have been fine since the stay so evidently it worked.

I also went to my dr. apt on Monday and the dr. was supposed to check me again for dialation but he did not. He did say he would this next Monday and if I was dialted to at least a 1 he would strip my membranes then. I am just praying that when he checks I will be a 3 or 4 and the stripping will send me into labor. I am totaly ready for this kid to be out! She is way to big to be sitting in there hanging out.

My mom is also coming in Monday afternoon and we have to go pick her up from the airport. She is supposed to stay for 2 weeks, so I am really praying I go into labor before the time she has to leave. She said she can stay longer but I dont know how that will go.

We are all ready for Dylan to get here though, everything is set up for her. I still have to finish packing my hospital bag, its pretty much done but I still have a couple of things to stuff in there. I am really procrastinating on doing it though, I guess its because I figure I will have plenty of time even if I go into labor.

I guess the biggest thing that happened the last couple of weeks was Andy having to get a new car. It really sucked because we had just paid his Eclipse off. I am talking 2 days after the check was cashed his clutch went out. I was really mad at him because he not only is super hard on his cars and I told him if he kept shifting so hard he was going to burn his clutch out and he wouldnt listen but because he ruined his credit again because he is friggin lazy so he couldnt get a loan for another car. I guess it turned out for the best that he couldnt get a loan because we really cant afford another payment at this time. It all worked out in the end and he ended up being able to trade his car straight across for a PT Cruiser. Its not the most ideal car but it is roomy and looks nice. It all checked out at the shop so we should be able to keep it for awhile with no major problems. Plus its an automatic and gutless so Andy cant hot rod it around town and it gets good gas mileage.

Well thats about all that has been going on. Now I just sit around waiting to go into labor. I will let ya know when that happens.

The Crud

Well it seems that I have gotten the crud that is going around :o( I had thought it was just allergies but now I think it is the nasty stuff that has been going around the town. No idea how I managed to get it since I am never out and about but I did get it. So for the last 3 days I have been a combination of snotty, stuffy, sore throat, coughing, pants peeing, gagging, puking ball of fun. It really sucks being pregnant, sick, and then having to take care of a 4 year old and a house. My house was terrible yesterday and all I could do was lay in bed. Andy had to come home from work and clean the house for me. so this morning I got up to a wonderfully clean house. I am feeling a bit better thanks to some rest and the Netty Pot but I am clearly not 100% and I am just praying I feel better soon, like tomorrow. Anyways...I figured since its been a week I should update you on my dr. apt. last was last Monday, especially since I will have more news tomorrow.

So my dr. seems pretty nice despite the bad word I had heard about him from a lady who bought a stroller from me. He did a full exam and said everything was fine as he could tell. He measured me and said that I was measuring small and he didnt think this baby would be as big as Riley, which I am not totaly upset about since she was almost 8lbs! When I asked him if that was a problem he said it wasnt because everyone grows differently and that I had not really gained any weight and that everything measured after 25 weeks was just an estimate anyways. It freaked me out a bit since he marked on my ultrasound ticket that I needed the ultrasound because I was measuring small for my dates, but Jill calmed me down and said it was like he said and just a guess. Not to mention that is the first reason given on the ticket for the apt so he probably just marked that option in a hurry. Anyways, my u/s is tomorrow at 11:45, Andy actually gets to go this time and so will Riley. I am really excited about it! I am a bit worried they will tell us its a boy though now that we have all the girly stuff bought and ready. I will be a bit sad if its a boy as well since I am really excited to have another girl now...Ultimatly we just want healthy, so as long as he/she is healthy I will be happy. I just cant wait to see our little sweety, its been so long and I didnt really get a good look at her the last time since I was so sick, and Andy never got to see her so I hope its special for him as well. I know Riley will really be happy to see the baby moving around as well. I have another dr. apt next week on Monday and after that I will have to come in every week until I deliver. I am hoping she decides to come earlier than later though. I am ready to be not pregnant and to hold my sweet little baby. I still have a lot to do though before she gets here, after tomorrow and we are sure its a girl I have a ton of clothes and bedding to wash and then I need to order my swing and get everything in the nursery organized. Its kinda scary to think I only have 5 weeks left! Time has sure flown by with this pregnancy, it seems like I just found out I was pregnant. Well I am going to get off of here now, I am pretty much out of energy again and I still need to make something for Andy to eat for dinner, he should be home any minute now. I will update you tomorrow, and I am sure I will have some new "money shot" photos of our baby to share as well.

Summer Recap

So I promised I would update this blog on our summer activities so here goes....

In August we had a wonderful visit from Jesse, Hilary, and the kiddos. They came over for a few days and we went to the Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium, and the Olympic Game Farm. I would have to say the favorite of the three places was the Game Farm. Once your through the gates you are fair game for the animals to accost you through your open windows. The ox were first on the list and they were pretty well behaved compared to some of the others, but they did smell horrible!

Then we ran into the Zebra, who I am pretty sure had had enough bread. If you look close you can see the piece of bread sitting on its back lol.

There were other animals and lots of birds but the photos are plentiful so I chose our fav's. Next we got to see the bears! They were very fat and lazy and barely moved to get the bread that was tossed to them. Good thing though since they were VERY large and only kept in their enclosure by a farm fence and a small piece of electrical wire fence. This bear was "fake roaring" as he was trained to do and it looked pretty scary but he actually didn't make a sound.

After the bears was where it got pretty exciting. We ran into the sentries at the gate.....

Oh what a site! These guys were HUGE!! They were also very pushy and being so tall they got right in your face inside the car for the bread. The cow was a bit smaller but she certainly was the worst at being pushy. She was all the way in my car at one point and she was trying to eat my pants. It was a very strange feeling to be surrounded by such large wild animals...

On the way out was when they were really bad, here is a photo of the elk trying to get into Jess and Hil's van

of course the cow was looking our way because she thought we had more bread.

After the game farm we went to a Lavender field, it smelled wonderful and was very pretty. Poor Ali got stung by a bee so she didn't have the best of times there but I snapped this super cute photo of the kids. Riley is not in it because she of course was being rotten, but we did get this photo of her and I together right before we left.

The next day we went to the Aquarium and the Zoo. I wont upload those photos though because they are pretty general. The Aquarium was also pretty crappy. No one had fun there and it was soooo crowded you could hardly walk through it.

The end of August I had my baby shower. Hilary threw it for me and it was wonderful! We had such a good time and I got some very nice things. Here is a photo of me before the shower. I didn't get many photos because of course I was the guest of honor, but a shower is a shower :o)

That about sums everything up that I can think of. I am adding my last photo here of my pregnant self at 32 weeks which of course has been two weeks ago since I will be 34 weeks tomorrow. When I get a chance I will take a 34 week photo and add it, hopefully tomorrow, but I have a lot of cleaning to get done since Andy will be off tomorrow, and then I have a dr. apt. later in the day so we will see.....

I am pretty happy in this photo since I am wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans. So far I can still wear all of my pre preggo pants but we will see what comes in the next few weeks.

September

Wow, I still cant seem to make time to keep up with this blog. I always think of it when I am laying in bed about to fall asleep which of course does me no good.

Anyways, I figured it was about time to log on and update you on whats been going on the last few months.

We can start with the good news, I always like good news :o)

 

Things are going well here, we are pretty much unpacked all the way and our house looks like a home now. I am glad we got it all done, and it only took us 3 months lol. Andy has also gotten a job at the car lot here. Its the biggest one around and he is doing very well so far. He loves the job which is nice, it sucks because he is gone all day and has been working his days off so we have money once the baby gets here. Speaking of the baby, she is trying to kill me :o) She is very active which makes me feel bruised and beaten but we are anxiously counting down the days till she is here. I am almost 34 weeks, so I only have about 47 more days till she will be here (if she comes on time). I have also only gained a total of about 7 lbs which I am super happy about! I can still wear my regular jeans!! Whoo hoo!!!

We are pretty much all ready for her, I need to get a swing still but I am waiting till after my next dr. apt. to see if they will give me another ultrasound, I want to be 100% sure she is really a she. Ohhhh I guess I should back up a bit, I have not told you all the stuff that has happened in the last few months... I will get to that in just a sec, but I will finish the good news first. So continuing on... Riley is doing really well, she is a bit lonely but she is very excited to see her new baby sister. She is also growing like a weed! She is wearing 5t and 6x clothing already and is in a size 11 shoe!! Holy cow she is getting so big. She is also getting super smart, I feel stupid most of the time compaired to her lol. Oh and the last bit of news is we got a new puppy! She is a super adorable Chocolate Lab we call River. She is pretty smart. Her and Riley get a long great and its fun to watch them together.

Ok so for the other news, it really isnt bad, so here goes-

Shortly after my last note I had to be admitted into the hospital for kidney stones. It was a terrible experience and I was in the hospital for a week and then misserable at home for another month. Thank god I am better now. The Naval hospital was an experience, and overall they treated me pretty well, I did have one dr. who was nasty the second time I was in the ER but I didnt have to deal with him much. I was checked out of the hospital the day Andy was discharged, and no, I dont think that it was a coinsidence. The NAVY has basically black listed us and will not get back to us on anything. They still owe us a bunch of money and medical which we have not seen and I am sure we wont. The medical issue was a bunch of crap and I have had a horrible time getting in to see the dr. I have not been seen for the baby since I was 10 weeks and living in Chehalis. When I was at the hospital they checked her heartbeat but that was it. The only reason we knew it was a girl (or at least THINK its a girl) is because I had to have an emergency ultrasound on my kidneys and the tech took a peek. She said she was 95% sure it was a girl, and I was drugged up but I saw the "money" shot and it looked like a girl to me as well. I am stressing a bit now since we have all girly stuff and if she turns out to be a he we will be in a bit of trouble. Really the matter that bugged me the most is that I have not been to see a Dr. for so long. First the NAVY refused to help us out and then once I applied and was given State insurance I had a bunch of problems with them. Thank goodness everything is all taken care of and I now have an apt. this coming Monday. I am just praying everything will be ok and there will be no issues with the baby. I am very anxious to talk to the Dr. about how she is and what all has been going on the last few months with this pregnancy. I have not had any complications thank god but who knows what has been going on on the inside. At least I know I will get to deliver in a hospital and actually have a Dr. present. Its just a relief.

Oh I also have a wonderful baby shower! Hilary threw it for me and it was very nice! I had so much fun and it was great to visit with everyone. It was a bit sad since Andy had to work and he could not come, BUT Riley and I took our first plane ride and went over. It was a bit scary for me but it wasn't to bad and I made it just fine. Riley loved it and wants to go again. When we landed she had her hands in the air like she was riding a roller coaster lol. It was cute. I got a bunch of great stuff which I am very grateful for.

Anyways, it is now officially fall here. we had such a great summer! It was wonderful weather most of the time and we had a lot of fun going to the beach and collecting shells, seeing starfish, and catching crabs. Andy actually caught some crabs and ate them when Jess and Hilary visted. i will post another note on their visit including photos, this one is getting to long and I still have more to write :O)
I am all ready for fall, this is the best time of year for me. I know the weather gets rainy here but I am ready for some cooler weather. I have already decorated the house and pulled out my fall Scentsy smells. I am really enjoying it right now. Its nice to have your own home and be able to decorate and not have to worry about the landlord.

Very rare Sunflower Starfish we found on the beach below our home.

HUGE Starfish we found on our beach!

River, the Lab pup.

Well I think this is long enough for now. I will post a couple of photos of the pup and this crazy starfish Riley found at the beach a couple weeks ago. When I have more time I will fill you in on Jess and Hil's visit, and then post some photos of the house, Riley's room and the baby's room. I will also try and keep up better with the blog. I know I have said it 10000 times before but I really have no excuse. Being a SAHM I have nothing to do all day but clean and sit around.

Bad to Worse?

So instead of finding out what all was going on with my hubs re-enlistment we heard nothing more. He went to his class today to learn more about what they were offering in this program and he was bored stiff. Evidently this class was supposed to be scheduled a year to 18 months in advance, so BEFORE they are to be discharged, not 7 days before! It is sooooo frusterating! Then the news gets worse! His chief calls him to tell him that he will know whats going on tomorrow by 12:30 but he had to threaten the higher ups with us getting a lawyer unless they A. Do everything they promised right now, or B. Extend him through December 1st after the baby is born. He told the hubs that those are the only two choices, so either they do either of those things or we will have to get a lawyer!! I cant even tell you how scared I am right now....I dont know what we will do... If they do what they promised we will be ok right now, but if they do not and extend us we will be ok but it will still suck because we really need the lump sum of money to pay things off. If they do nothing we are totaly screwed! Not only do we NOT have the money for a lawyer, but we wont have anymore money as of the 1st coming in, and could lose EVERYTHING! I am praying so hard right now they just give us the money as promised, but I will take the second option of extending us as well if its offered I just cant handle the thought of them doing nothing....
Anyways, I guess I will let you know...I just had to get that out....please pray for us if you pray, or do whatever you do....I just HAVE to hear good news tomorrow....