S'mores Life

During my pregnancy I talked to other moms and researched the heck out of baby gear while I created my registry and made purchase after purchase. Ian still tells the story to everyone "Every day I came home from work, there was another package at our door!" In reality most of those packages were diapers or household supplies purchased from amazon.com with the free 2-day shipping I had throughout most of my pregnancy, but he likes to think that I bought every baby item out there. ;) I did buy a lot, and I registered for a lot and thanks to our generous family and friends received a great deal of those items off our registry. I'm hoping this list of what helped us survive (and thrive and enjoy, of course!) Clara's first six months might help another mom out there who is wondering why there are seven varieties of a single bouncy chair. ;) In another follow-up post I'll blog about what we purchased that we could have gone without. And of course, every baby is differen...

After writing Clara's Birth Story , I decided to write a few things about what I think about it all and what I might change for future children. I should probably preface this by saying that a lot of these are thoughts and considerations for next time, but that does not mean I don't view Clara's birth as a positive experience...besides the obvious, the fact that I met her and we are/were both healthy, there still aren't that many things I would do differently. And even as I reflect and consider different options for next time, her birth and life remind me how little control I have over some of these experiences. Those of you who know me in real life know that I *may* have a slight issue relinquishing control ( "Relinquish is just a fancy way of saying lose!" - Monica Geller ) and so I don't want to get caught up in the " This  is exactly what will happen next time" and risk feeling like a failure if it's different than I planned...because God...

How is my baby seven months old (today!!) and I had made it this long without going to Once Upon A Child? I frequented the Anchorage one as a child with my mom and also a few times since with friends who had babies and for a long time just assumed that it was local to Anchorage. It wasn't until after moving to Maryland that I realized it was a national chain. We were lucky in that we were gifted a lot of new items and given some hand-me-downs as well. There were a few things we wanted to buy brand new (for various reasons, whether it be for safety or because we want it to be able to last through a few kids) but I am definitely not against used baby gear! I bought the boppy and bouncy chair used at our church garage sale. Some family friends who have three children gave us an exersaucer, some clothes, and some diapers. Besides all the new clothes Clara has been given, I have a friend whose daughter is five months older than Clara who sent us a lot of her old clothes and a cousin w...

I really should have written this a few days or weeks after Clara was born, but better late than never, right? Here I am in all my huge gloriousness at 39-ish weeks pregnant. I didn't take a picture after that, mostly because once you hear how ginormous you are and miserable you look so many times, portraits of yourself are not very appealing. I cropped my ankles out because they were the size of a large man's thighs. Thank you pregnancy swelling and 110 degree heat and humidity. I was about 2cm dilated a few days after this picture was taken at a pre-natal appointment. My due date was Monday, August 8, 2011 . It came and went and my coworkers were graced by my oh so joyful presence that week. Thursday, August 11, 2011 : I went in for fetal heart rate monitoring which is a standard procedure my OB's practice encourages after 40 weeks. I read Harry Potter for an hour while I was hooked up to a monitor. I had two very mild contractions during that time. Saturday,...

At the most recent MOPS meeting I attended, we went over homemade cleaning products and remedies that are easy and safe to use, and save money. I am going to try the dishwasher detergent that she showed us; I have attempted it before but mine wasn't effective.I'll blog about that after I've tried it. I mentioned to the other moms that I've made our laundry detergent for a few years now. I think I spent $35 on all the ingredients three years ago and still have about half of the ingredients left, so I'd say it's definitely paid off. I used to make it about twice, sometimes three times, a year but now with Clara I have had to start making it more often. I will probably end up making it four times a year...they weren't kidding when they said the laundry never stops once you have a kid! We use a different kind of detergent for her cloth diapers, I purchased it but am considering making a special kind when that runs out. Anyways, here is the link to the original ...

This post is inspired by  t he blog Rants From Mommyland ; she wrote a post talking about what the things said she'd never do as a mother but has already done. I have thought about this a lot because I am only seven months into this awesome journey of motherhood and have already done so many things I said I'd never do! And before she was even born I tried to tell myself "Never say never" but deep down, didn't believe I'd actually cave or change my mind. Well, I did...and I imagine I will again and again. I had a lot of opinions about child rearing because I thought I had a lot of experience. I did have a lot of experience - watching other peoples' babies.  What a difference it is when the child is your own! Never say never... I'll never let my baby sleep on her belly, in our bed, or get used to sleeping her her swing, rock n' play, or bouncy chair:  Before I had Clara I said that Clara would sleep on her back, swaddled in the co-sleeper for the...

...about cloth diapering. If you cloth diaper, you must  read this . Or if you know someone who cloth diapers. Or if you have or have had a child in any kind of diapers at all. Or if you just plain have a sense of humor. Read and enjoy.

Mostly just because Clara looks so gosh darn cute in them. ;) Hehe. Naw, they really are great! I'm doing about three extra loads of laundry a week and that really isn't anything, especially because the worst part of laundry is the folding and it's not necessary with cloth diapers! Clara likes them, her rash has cleared up, they are easy and cost effective. If she wasn't still young and didn't have approximately two years left in diapers I'm not sure I would have bit the bullet and gone for it, but between her and our possible future kiddos we will be saving a lot of money. This is the stash I've built so far between the diapers I kept from Jillian's Drawers and the few I've purchased on sale in the last few weeks: As you can see, I have 14 and my goal is 18-20. They are mostly pockets, a few AIO's, and one hybrid. I am trying to stay gender neutral but there were a couple Kawaii diapers on sale on Kissed By the Moon's website t...