Growing Bigger and BIGGER!

That's pretty much all that's going on with me these days! Today I am 30 weeks and 5 days pregnant and I can't believe that we get to meet our son in hopefully about 9 weeks! I also can't believe that I'm actually going to get bigger, and this baby only weighs about half of what he should weigh at birth! Crazy! I really can't complain too much because so many women have very difficult pregnancies that include a lot of sickness and bed rest... but sometimes it feels good to have a good, old-fashioned whine! But I won't do that here. :)

One very good thing is that my sciatica has all but disappeared in the 3rd trimester! This is a huge praise because it was almost debilitating most days starting in the 2nd trimester. Now I'm struggling with getting comfortable just about anywhere. A few weeks ago I dealt with the worst allergies ever, and spent a few nights sleeping in the reclining sofa because it was easier to not be flat on my back or on my side at night. Then I tried to lay down one night in bed and got no sleep.... so I started sleeping in my LaZBoy recliner in the upstairs game room. Slept like a baby! Then I got lonely and so Mike moved it into our bedroom so I can at least be in the same room with him. This has made a huge difference... until this week. Nothing is working! I'm tempted to try sleeping in the bed tonight just to see how it works.


Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I've been sleeping differently, but it has been helped tremendously by this little baby--- the SNOOGLE pillow. I freaking love it!! I would recommend it to all of my pregnant friends, as it supports you in all the right places! The only problem is that it puts up a wall between Mike and me at night... but sometimes if I wake up before him, I see him snuggling right up to it! So cute! Soon I'll put up a post about pregnancy must-haves! It will definitely be on the list.


Also getting thru work is getting harder because I'm running out of breath if I don't sit up perfectly straight. Not sure how I'm gonna make it the next 9 weeks!


But probably the most fun has been the increased activity in my belly. It's so neat to feel that little one moving around so vigorously, almost all day long, and fun for Mike to feel it. He gets a kick out of looking at my deformed stomach sometimes, and how it changes shape. Truly a miracle!


Well, June is upon us now, which means we are starting the busiest 2 months ever. This month I start going to the doctor more often, we have child birth classes, baby classes, maternity pictures, in addition to our normal summer busy activities. Hopefully I can keep up with the blogging. Haha, right!!

I'm gonna be a CD Mama!

And no, I don't mean compact disc... I'm talking about cloth diapers! Not long after we found out we were having a baby, we started looking at the finances, and I took it upon myself to find ways to save money so that we're not spending a small fortune on this baby, especially in certain areas. Having a baby is expensive, sure... but it's all about the small ways that we can save a few bucks here and there... cloth diapers, making our own baby food, buying at consignment sales and resale shops... the list goes on. One of the biggest ways we plan on saving money is by using cloth diapers!

Here are some reasons why we are choosing to go this route:

- Cost... most of the studies I read found that using cloth will save us approximately $2000-$2500 from birth to potty training. This is the biggest reason we chose to go this route. This also includes the extra cost that it will take to wash the diapers, which is usually estimated at around $15 per month. Still, a huge savings. And who knows, since we recently got a new w/d that is super energy-efficient. With my stash, I plan on washing every 3 days or so, but we'll see.

- Trash factor... I hate trash. So. Much. I also hate throwing away our money, which is what we do when we throw out diapers. Also, the bacteria from poo doesn't break down in landfills... EWW. And if you read carefully, most disposable diaper packages will tell you (in fine print) to dump out solid waste (in the toilet) before you throw away the diaper... which is what we'll do with cloth.

- Potty training studies... I read most places that cloth diapered babies potty train 6 months earlier because they notice the feeling of wetness easier, as the chemicals don't immediately suck away the moisture.

- Baby safety and comfort... babies in CD typically have fewer rashes. There are chemicals in disposables that can cause rashes. Also babies typically have fewer blowouts because these diapers are more customizable to baby's body shape. And how many times do we hear ads about sposies that claim, "feels like cloth"? Why not just use cloth?

- Fashion... OK let's be honest. The diapers they make these days are so stinkin' cute. They're hard to resist. :)

- Ease of washing... these are really not that hard to clean, and after a while, the laundry doesn't seem as crazy, depending on the size of your stash and how often you plan on washing them. One thing I love is that breastfed poo is water soluble, so those diapers don't even need to be rinsed before they go into the washer.... just throw the whole thing in there. Score.

Some things I want to make clear though:

- We are not those people who say that they will never allow a disposable to go near their baby's bottom, heaven forbid!! NO, we realize that sometimes we will have to use them for various reasons like multi-day car travel or going places that don't have washers and dryers. But we will go cloth 90% of the time. We are not opposed to having babysitters or family members use sposies if that makes them more comfortable, even though our diapers that we chose are very user-friendly.

- I don't consider myself a "green freak" or "tree hugger," just trying to be more responsible with money and not creating more trash on this planet.

So here's what we have so far! What you see below cost just below $400 total, and we plan on using these from birth to potty. Some people find that sposies are better for the first few weeks when baby is extra-skinny, so we'll have to play that by ear. Little Dude is already measuring a bit big, so who knows!

Our stash:

What you see in the above picture: (from L-R, top row then bottom row)
First row:
-Thirsties Duo Wrap cover, size 1 (6-18#), $12.25
-Econobum covers (set of 3), one-size (6-35#), $9.95 each or you can get the day pack with 3 covers and 12 prefolds (what I did) for $48.95
-bumGenius pocket diapers (set of 12-- well, 11, as 1 came in pink by mistake), one-size (6-35#), and each diaper came with a newborn insert and a one-size insert which will be good for doubling overnight if we have a heavy wetter. ~$120 for all of them, but I got them on sale. They usually retail for about $17.95 each, being the most expensive. However, they are the most "daddy-friendly," and Mike is actually perfectly fine using these. But we'll see, LOL!
Second row:
-Econobum prefold diapers (set of 12), one-size (came with the day pack, mentioned above)
-Snappi (set of 2) $2.99 each, this takes the place of diaper pins for the prefolds, if needed.
-Flip diaper inserts (set of 3), one-size, $6.95
-One-size inserts for pocket diapers such as bumGenius (set of 12)
-Kawaii pocket diaper, one-size (6-35#), $7.95 (the cheapest pocket diaper I've seen and the cutest, with the little soccer balls on it!)
-Not pictured are 2 Flip Diaper covers and 6 inserts that should arrive here in the next few weeks, as they were on back order. This day pack cost $48.95.
-Also not pictured would be the detergent that I got, Rockin' Green detergent that is ~$15 for 90 loads in our HE washer and dryer.

What's that, you say? Well this is the bumGenius Diaper Sprayer (~$45.00)! This will come in more handy when baby is pooping solids and not exclusively breastfed. This attaches to the toilet, and you just dump the poo in there, and use the sprayer instead of the old-fashioned "dunk" method. Which, personally, sounds absolutely disgusting. We also bought a diaper pail, liners, etc which cost some also, but not much.

So for less than $400, we have bought hopefully all the diapers that we'll need for this baby, not including the sposie every now and then. This gives us 34 diaper changes, so at the beginning I'll wash about every 2-3 days, and then further down the road about every 4-5 days. Nice.

Now for some lingo:

Prefold diapers are the old-fashioned kind of cloth diaper, but they are the most economical. They can either be tucked into diaper covers or fastened using a Snappi and then covered with one of the reusable diaper covers.

Pocket diapers are just like disposables, only you wash them. Before use, you have to stuff it with an insert, but that's it. This is usually the most expensive route, but most convenient.

Diaper covers are just used to cover a prefold or insert. They can be reused several times until they stink or get poo or pee on them.

I know everything I wrote about may be confusing, so welcome to the world of researching cloth diapers! This is just what I decided was best for us, considering price and convenience. Below are some websites I used to make my decisions, so I'm passing them on to you.

http://www.cottonbabies.com (this is where I bought most of our diapers and supplies)

http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/

http://www.diaperpin.com/home.asp

http://diaperpages.com/index.php

and of course you can find info and helpful tips on http://www.youtube.com

There are many more out there! I look forward to posting more about this once the baby comes and we are actually using them, so stay tuned! It is ridiculous how excited I am about this, but I am! Maybe part of the nesting instinct? I dunno.

But please let me know if you have any questions!

Recent happenings

My goodness, I can't believe I haven't blogged since Valentine's Day! I'm so terrible at this! Lots of things have been going on with us, we've barely stopped to savor these last few months as just Mike and me... hopefully we'll be able to slow down a bit in the summer as my energy slows down as well.

One of the biggest things that has rocked our world recently is my mom's diagnosis of ovarian cancer back in December. I'm finally at the place where I can talk about it more now... she is feeling really good for the most part, but has her down days of course. It's hard being so far away, but at the same time, it makes me rely more on God than EVER. Seriously. They have such a wonderful church family and such great friends who have come to help with everything from meals to driving Mom to chemo, to shopping trips, lunch out, and even just coming over to hang out with her at the house. I am beyond thankful.

As for us, Mike is doing well, finally finished his project at work, which had him working many weekends and late nights. It wasn't fun for either one of us, but the OT pay was nice, and it made the time we had together that much sweeter. He has just amazed me recently with his dedication to learning about becoming a new dad, and his interest in the baby. You never know with guys. :)

I'm progressing well with my pregnancy, today I am 25 weeks 5 days pregnant and feeling great for the most part. In case I didn't mention it before, we are having a BOY!! My sit-down-all-freaking-day job has been murder on my back and has caused sciatica in both legs, so that has limited my after-work activity significantly. As it warms up I am able to walk more, but just not as far. I'm getting HUGE, and as of about 2 weeks ago gained a total of 21# since my first checkup at 9 weeks. Holy smokes. The dr said that I would probably gain at least 40# total, mostly because of the fact that I started so small.

Baby is kicking and punching and dancing almost non-stop in my belly. It is so fun, I swear I could sit and just watch my belly move all day. My hunger is insane right now, but the more distracted I am, the less it bothers me. I don't eat a whole lot more at one sitting, just more often. I'm carrying him so LOW that sometimes it's hard to just get up off the couch. Ha! No heartburn or lack of sleep or anything YET, but then again I'm still in 2nd trimester. The only reason for lack of sleep is my appetite... I'll wake up out of a dead sleep at 4am and NEED food. Crazy.

Last weekend we traveled to Houston to be with my family and celebrate Easter, and it was just absolutely refreshing. We didn't realize until the end of the week how bad we both needed to just get out of town. We slept and relaxed a lot, and I got to spend some good quality time with both of my sisters and my parents. This only happens about once a year, so it was extra special. We are planning on driving out there again Labor Day weekend so that the family can see our new little guy. Yes, we will be driving 1000 miles with a 3-4 week-old, and we know that it may take 2-3 days.... but we're probably going to do it anyway.

The baby's room is taking shape as Mike has completely assembled the crib, changing table, dresser, and glider. He painted the room blue and I can't wait to get more things to put it in there.... it seems more real now, as if my growing middle wasn't doing anything for me. We have registered at Buy Buy Baby and Babies R Us... BBB is an amazing store that has everything you would ever need for a baby. Incredible. It is owned by Bed Bath & Beyond so they have great coupons and deals. Check it out!

I have lots of things to write about, but there just isn't time. That's about it for us! Until next time!

~Rachel

Happy Valentine's Day

Beware: most of my posts in the next 6 months will be baby-related. It's a fact.

In other news, today (Wed 2/16), Mike is on his 10th straight day of working, often at least 10-12 hours. Bless his heart. But thankfully he was able to get off early enough to swing by the house and pick me up for our Valentine's Day dinner on Monday! We went to Rick's Cafe & Boatyard for Valentine's Day and it was just perfect. I wanted to just sit there and enjoy the atmosphere, as this is our last V-Day before baby. Rick's has great food and a great view when it's not so dark outside. I definitely want to go back for lunch in the summer. They had it dimly-lit and even had a live jazz pianist and singer to make the atmosphere even more romantic. It wasn't quiet by any means, but I loved it. After dinner Mike and I went home and changed into our PJs to watch Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day. We were both so tired that we passed out on the couch in about 20 minutes! Aren't we exciting?

I think Spring showed up today. We have a high of 60ish, and it's sunny! Almost ALL the snow is gone, and I've never been so happy to see the yellow-ish brown dead grass. :) I think I may go for a walk before dinner if Mike is gonna be late again.

Pregnancy Stuff:

Below is a picture of me at 15weeks 3days. The picture was taken after I ingested a ridiculous amount of food like crab cakes, bread, and steak fries at dinner.

I have so much more energy now. I'm convinced that I got pregnant at the perfect time. When it was cold and icky outside, I had no desire to get up and do anything. And now that it's starting to get pretty outside, I finally have energy to play outside and get things done! The hardest thing right now is my constant, ever-present hunger. It started around week 10 or 11, and has gotten worse and worse! It seems like I could eat a full meal anytime, anywhere... and just about anything. My favorite foods have been peanut butter toast (or PB on anything for that matter), Eggo waffles, apples, Chick Fil A, and Subway sandwiches (toasted). I even wake up in the middle of the night at least 2-3 times and NEED FOOD. I keep a box of Kix cereal by the bed and sometimes fall asleep with it in my hands! Ha! This is definitely weird. I don't eat a lot at once, but a little bit VERY often. I shouldn't complain.

We have pretty much decided to go the cloth diaper route for this baby, so I'm excited to see how it will turn out. Expect a post about that some time soon!

Well that's all. Until next time!

"Baby It's Cold Outside" is an understatement

BRRRRR! It is FREEZING out there!

I, for one, have had it with winter. And I'm pretty sure everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line would agree with me. We've already had twice the snow we usually do up to this point, so here's hoping for an early Spring!

Last week was just crazy, as Mike was sick and I had a serious case of cabin fever!

Monday 1/31: beautiful day, but Mike came home from work puking and slept for 18 hours straight. (He's been sick off and on since before Christmas)

Tuesday & Wednesday 2/1&2: Terrible ice storm that coated our yard and driveway in 4 inches of solid packed ice. The city pretty much shut down. Since I work from home, I had to work while everyone else got a snow day. Not fair! But then again I guess it's not fair when I stay in my warm house all day and my co-workers have to drive out in that snowy/icy madness. Mike stayed home.

Thursday 2/3: I cancelled my appointment at the dr's office (to hear the baby's heart beat) which was sad... I worked and Mike stayed home.

Friday 2/4: Yay! Mike went back to work! And he's feeling a lot better. I ventured out for the first time in over a week to go grocery shopping, and my sweet hubby drove me there and helped me to not slip on the ice in the parking lot.

Saturday 2/5: Woke up to another 5 inches of snow. Are you kidding me? We stayed inside all day and laid around, and I did 1 load of laundry. It was a great day. The snow fell pretty much all day long.

Sunday 2/6: Woke up to more snow and decided that it was not safe to go anywhere until at least we could get out of the driveway. Spent at least 2 hours outside shoveling and I'm still sore! I shoveled and Mike broke up the ice. He definitely had the harder job. :) We went out to lunch to celebrate some birthdays with family, and then back home to bake before we went to a Superbowl party.

I heard that we may have temps in the 40s this weekend, which makes me SOOOO happy. Our street and driveway is still mostly a skating rink, as the highs have been in the teens and lows around zero.

Come on, Spring!!!

Pregnancy news:

Nothing new, except that I'm getting fatter all the time! The cold weather has caused some cabin fever for me, which isn't made any better with hormones. :) I finally have more energy, which is nice, and so maybe I'll actually make a dent in the laundry pile that hasn't seen much progress since Christmas. Oh well. TOMORROW we go to the dr to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. I am SO excited!!! Here's my Week 15 belly shot:

Our weekend

My goodness, that was short. Weekends are always short, when the week seems to drag on forever. What's with that?

These weekends will not be around too much longer before baby comes! I'm trying to keep up with my normal schedule of housework, if you can call it a schedule. I am still not caught up on laundry from our trip to TX for Christmas b/c my energy has been so low.

Saturday, my pregnancy hormones caused me to have a meltdown that resulted in uncontrollable sobbing, just from being so tired. Like even after I talked things over with Mike, I just couldn't stop crying. At all. I have been a little upset with Mike for not taking a lot of the load from me recently, but it's hard to blame him b/c he's been sick too. He coughs SO much that I can't sleep, and since my gag reflex is so sensitive, I have to plug my ears so I don't hear him. This and exhaustion culminated in this meltdown.

Mike talked me off the ledge and took me out on a date to the dollar theater where we saw "Unstoppable" with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It was a really fun movie that was non-stop action, had us on the edge of our seats the whole time. Fun! And of course I always have and always will love Denzel. After that, some energy came out of nowhere and we spent about 2 hours at Babies R Us looking at the big stuff like cribs, strollers, car seats, etc. We probably won't register for at least another month, so we were just looking and educating ourselves. Mike is funny... he doesn't know what half the baby gadgets are for, so it was fun helping him to understand things. I have a feeling that fatherhood is going to be very very fun to watch.

After Babies R Us, Mike took me to Denny's for dinner and I was completely, utterly exhausted. I was walking slowly, just wanted to be carried. I ordered a belgian waffle because in case I fell asleep while eating, at least my head would rest on something soft. :)

Yesterday was a nice, restful day. After Mike satisifed my Subway sandwich craving, we came home and Mike slept most of the day while I got up and did laundry with my newfound energy. Finally! 2nd tri is here!!! Do a cheer!

Now it's Monday afternoon and Mike came home early. He went to the dr today after throwing up 12 times today. He came home with antibiotics and some meds and is hoping to sleep it off. This sickness started with a cough, then throwing up, then a cough and now both. Here's to hoping that baby and I don't get it!!!

January is almost over!

Where has this month gone? Where has the year gone? In the past month we have gone to a wedding, greeted a new baby, had food poisoning, seen a picture of our little baby, watched all our favorite football teams lose, had a million inches of snow, announced the impending arrival of our baby, and done laundry a total of 6 times. Yikes.

First we saw the first ultrasound video/picture of our new baby. That was crazy. To see it squirming around in there, little heart just beating away... it took our breath away, that's for sure. I already posted a picture of our little one. Isn't he/she so cute??? It's still weird b/c I don't feel anything kicking or anything, to understand that there's a little person growing inside of me.

Then we attended the wedding of Scott Penix & Heather Swauger. We have known both of them for several years, and they are truly meant to be. :) About a year ago, I told Mike that we needed to find a nice girl for Scott... but the Lord found one for him! It was such a nice ceremony and really fun reception. I was exhausted pretty much the whole time, but that's OK!

It feels as if it's been snowing non-stop for the whole month.... usually we don't have this much snow by the end of January! I think we've already doubled the average amount of snow so far. I have been extremely thankful for my job (annoying though it may be) that allows me to work from home so that I don't have to bundle up and risk my life just to go to work. I hate Indiana, by the way. We warmed up to freezing yesterday, which was nice. It's funny because there is a discernable difference between 15 degrees and 25 degrees, even though both are far below freezing. Weird. I have to say that the snow is so beautiful if you're inside!

Well, it's been a rough month for our football teams. Colts lost to the Jets in the playoffs, and my Aggies lost to LSU in the Cotton Bowl. Sad month. We'll get 'em next year!

My dear friend Ingrid had a new baby last Friday, the 21st. On Saturday Heather and I went up to visit them in the hospital. Welcome to the world, baby Sasha!

I will spare you pictures of Mike's food poisoning. It's just not pretty. Needless to say, we will be avoiding the Plainfield Chili's for a while....




And due to the incredible lack of laundry, Mike and I are dangerously low on clothes. Fatigue is still getting me down big time! I'm still having a lot of the first trimester blues, except I don't have any throwing-up-type-nausea. I'm just ready for the 2nd trimester where hopefully my energy will be coming back. I'm hungry ALL the time, and so far I have craved apples and Eggo waffles. Could be worse, right?





One thing that has been so fun about this pregnancy so far is sharing it with so many friends. There are 4 girls in our Sunday school class (including myself, but hey- what do you expect from the "Young Marrieds class"?) and 3 of us are due within about 6 weeks of each other. And SO many friends from FB are expecting too. Yep, I drank the water! (which is about all I drink anyway, so...)





That's about it. I'm looking forward to a fun February full of (hopefully) more energy! We also get to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time on Feb 2, and I'm going on a fun little weekend trip to Louisville with Pampered Chef girls. AND believe it or not, I'm looking forward to this growing belly!

me at 13 weeks