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Gray Day

Posted on by Amy

Today is one of those dreary days you inevitably get in the transition from winter to spring. A day when things aren’t the pretty white of winter anymore but haven’t gotten to the beautiful green and colors of spring yet. It’s been this way for the past several days, but with the warmth and the sun shining, I didn’t even notice. Today it is gray and rainy and so ugly out! And to top it off I have to go plunge a toilet that I put too many cloth diaper liners into (flushable liners for cloth diapers, not cloth liners) before flushing. In an effort to save water, I throw in quite a few of these before flushing them away, unless there’s a poopy one, but this time apparently I put in too many. Blech.

But in spite of the gloomy day and clogged toilet, I have so much to be happy and excited about and that’s what I try to focus on. It’s not too hard, because there’s a lot. Here are a few things I’m happy about today:
– I am taking Miss to get her one-year photos taken today and I bought her the most adorable patent leather Mary Janes (marked down at the Stride Rite outlet no less!!!) and ruffly socks to go with the outfits she’ll wear. What is cuter than baby patent leather??
– We have a Stride Rite outlet! and Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree, OshKosh B’Gosh (hello adorable baby jeans and $1.99 tunics!), Carter’s, Children’s Place, Motherhood, etc. within 5 minutes of our house.
– I am feeling Baby move frequently now and heard his or her little heartbeat again at the doctor yesterday. Can’t beat that for happy.
– Miss’s new move is to wave her hand in front of her nose when she smells something stinky. This absolutely cracks me up. And she roars like a lion and points to her belly button, nose, ear, tummy, etc. Love this stage she’s in!!
– My hubby does the dishes after dinner every night while I put Miss to bed.
– I’m making progress on the projects I posted about the other day.
– I’m making Osso Bucco for dinner tonight and have a wonderful butcher who cuts my meat exactly how I want it.
– In a week and a half we’re taking a road trip (dogs too) to visit my parents and see my brother and his family, including my brand new niece.
Well that’s just a tiny bit of all the great things I am lucky to have in my life. Oh yeah, and while I’m looking on the bright side, the rain that’s coming down today? It’s melting that snow quickly! Hooray for rain!

Time to Snoogle Up!

Posted on by Amy

That’s right, I typed “Snoogle” on purpose. That’s because the Snoogle is the most fabulous body pillow ever when you are pregnant and only allowed to sleep on your side. It’s like a long, heavenly noodle of pillow that is shaped just perfectly to curl around under my head and between my knees. My husband calls it the “Floozy,” but I think he’s just jealous. I got it on a recommendation from a very dear friend when I was pregnant with Miss and it saved my life. Well, okay maybe not my life, but at least my sanity.

See, I love to sleep. Unfortunately, I’m an insomniac. Sort of. I used to sleep like it was my job. In college I could sleep until noon or later, no problem. My alarm clock would blare, my second alarm clock would blare, and I would blissfully sleep on, not even hearing them, sometimes right through my classes that I intentionally didn’t schedule until after 1 pm. Ever. Oh yes, I was a roommate’s dream. Fortunately they were usually all awake by the time my alarm clocks began their fruitless efforts to wake my snoozing self.
And this gift of sleep continued on through graduate school, where I sometimes had to get up before noon, but I didn’t if I could help it. Then the real word smacked me in the face when I started my internship and had to be at work every day at 7am. Yes, 7am, I had to be there. What kind of horrible place makes you arrive to work at 7am??? Oh yeah, it was a federal prison. So I learned to go to bed before 3 am and managed to adjust to a grown up schedule. And still I totally took the ability to sleep for granted until I had worked in another federal prison for a few years as a program coordinator. This consisted of endless work with people who tried to manipulate me all day long no matter how much I tried to help them, and lots of additional responsibilities piled on top by my boss because I was such a “fantastic hard worker.” I started to get burned out, lost my appetite, lost 30 pounds, and *gasp* lost my ability to sleep!!! I developed terrible work-related insomnia that was at it’s worst while I still worked in that job. Fortunately I was able to leave the prison and open my own private practice. So my appetite came back, some of the 30 pounds came back, but my sleep never did really return to it’s former glory. I left that prison job almost four years ago and I have continued to have problems with insomnia off and on since then.
So, why did I just tell you all that? To bring home the point that I have known good sleep. I was once a sleep expert, if you will. And I have known really bad insomnia and moderate insomnia. And of course as a mom I’ve known major sleep deprivation of a different sort. My hubby wants me to sleep better so badly that we just got a new Tempurpedic mattress, which also does wonders for improving sleep by the way. But now that I can’t sleep on my belly and I’m not supposed to really sleep on my back too much so I have to do the pregnant flip from one side to the other all night, the Snoogle really had to come out of retirement. And man it is a welcome friend, and even better than the last time I was pregnant because of the new mattress. The combination of the Tempurpedic and the Snoogle has me sleeping so well these days I’m almost bursting with energy. Almost. I’m quite sure I will never again sleep like I did back in the day, totally dead to the world, not waking up once between the time my head hit the pillow at about 3 or 4 am and I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed midway through the next day. But getting good deep sleep for several hours at time (between trips to the bathroom or getting up for a snack) is a welcome change. And who wants to sleep until noon anyway??

Spring is coming!!!

Posted on by Amy
We have had four consecutive days of above freezing temperatures around here and the snow is gradually fading away. We are so excited for sun and 40 degrees, we’re doing a “Hooray-Spring-Hurry-Up-And-Get-Here-Already!!” dance around our house (by the way, in her right hand is a part of an old, once-stuffed-now-pretty-pitiful dog toy and a coaster made out of an old quilt that she carried around for much of yesterday afternoon)



You might not be able to tell from this photo, but I think our dancing is working. Yes, our backyard is still covered with snow, but it gets much less sun than other areas. And, even though the ground is still covered, you only have to look at these photos to see how much of an improvement this is. The grass is poking through in many spots in our front yard and all over town. Even though it’s brown grass, it’s still a welcome sight.
Yesterday we even went for a walk. Here’s that “Mom, seriously??” look again.

You know she thinks I’m crazy.
But she did have a great time!! My girl loves to be outside, even when it’s chilly!

Projects

Posted on by Amy

I had a ball in Hobby Lobby today. Maybe it was the warm up of the weather (almost 40 degrees and sunny, woohoo!! Melt snow, melt!), but I was all about getting started on some spring projects today. I also bought a few Easter decorations for the first time ever. I’m not too into bunnies and eggs and pastel colors, but in the interest of making it fun for Miss, I did buy some of each, plus an Easter basket to stuff with fun gifts from the Easter Bunny for her and to give her a receptacle for the eggs she finds on her hunt on Easter morning. I’m so looking forward to that.

But back to my projects. I have been looking for a cute growth chart for Miss’s room for some time and have not been able to find one that I don’t find obnoxious either in the color scheme, design, or both. So, what better to do than make one myself? I bought some canvas, some dowels and little caps for the ends of the dowels, some gesso, paint, brushes, and stencils (I’m not very talented in the drawing/painting department, so a little help is needed, call it cheating if you wish), and I’m all set to go to make a fabulous growth chart that will match the decor of her room. I also bought some white gros grain ribbon to use to hang the growth chart.
This brings me to my second project. My mom made Miss a gorgeous quilt for her birthday. I am planning to hang it on the wall behind her crib. So, I got enough of the gros grain ribbon to make ties at the top of the quilt to hang it on the wall. Now this weekend I just have to get my hubby to help me rearrange Miss’s room so the crib will be in a better spot to make it and the quilt the focal point of the room. Then hubby also will be encouraged to put together the new bookshelf I bought for Miss’s room and put up the hanging shelf over the changing table and I can accessorize and finally get her room totally finished! Just in time to find out Baby’s gender so we can start getting that room done.
Third project is to make a duvet cover and draperies for the master bedroom. I have been looking for a duvet and curtains that I like for months and just cannot find anything. I have found some gorgeous fabrics from Calico Corners and have been wanting something like it. There is nothing for sale already made that is like what I want, so I am just going to order the fabric and make it myself. Thus, I bought the perfect Simplicity pattern set today with patterns for a duvet, tab-top drapes, and shams if I choose to make them as well.
Now all I need is to get myself moving!! I will post photos as each project gets completed!

New Hugga Buns One-Size Pocket Diaper Review and Giveaway – CLOSED

Posted on by Amy
Christy Perce is the owner of Maine Cloth Diaper Company (MCDC), which is a brick and mortar store in Darimiscotta, ME as well as an online store you can check out here. Christy is also the owner of Hugga Buns cloth diapers. In case you aren’t sure how much I love Hugga Buns diapers, check out this post from a few months ago. Hugga Buns sized diapers were some of the very first cloth diapers I purchased, largely because their prices are so reasonable. Once I tried them, I kept getting more because they just work. Period. I love them. One of the only things about my Hugga Buns that I had wished were different was that they be available in a One-size (OS) option. Well, be still my beating heart, Hugga Buns has come out with an OS diaper, and I got one to review!! Woohoo!! So, here goes:

The Basics –

I got a Hugga Buns OS pocket diaper in Sage to review. The diaper can be purchased with a microfiber insert that is adjustable in length, or you can purchase the cover by itself. I received the cover with the microfiber insert. When I got the diaper and excitedly ripped it from its packaging (carefully, but excitedly!), I noticed two things right away. First, I love how the snaps on the diaper match the color of the diaper itself (it’s the small things, right?). And also I noticed how big it looked relative to other OS pocket dipes I have. With a bit more inspection, I saw that the construction of the diaper is excellent. The snaps are strong and the elastic is sturdy and nicely stretchy. Well I threw it in the wash immediately to prep it and get a start on using it.

I will admit, and I have mentioned this in various posts before, I am not a lover of microfiber. But, in the interest of doing a thorough review, I of course tried the diaper with the MF insert first. I snapped the insert to the correct length, got the rise on the cover adjusted, and got the most fabulous fit when I put it on Miss. This really is a roomy diaper, so it will grow with Miss for as long as needed. I am absolutely confident she will not outgrow this diaper (sometimes I’m not so sure with OS dipes), and I highly doubt that any baby could. But, because of the way the snaps are arranged, it doesn’t get all bunchy when sized down for a smaller baby. It is a little less trim than sized diapers, especially with the MF insert folded over in the back to fit, but that’s common for OS diapers (and is much less of an issue when I put in a different insert).

After using the diaper a few times with the MF insert, I switched to my favorite insert of all time, the Hugga Buns bamboo trifold insert/prefold. I have purchased many of these inserts and replaced all of the MF inserts from my other dipes with these. I also am stocking up so that I can try these as prefolds when Baby arrives. They are incredibly absorbent and trim, and I just love them. So I was eager to try the HB OS with this insert. The insert fits perfectly and the HB OS is more trim with this insert in it.

Miss had to strike a pose in her HB OS!

My final test of the HB OS was to use it for overnight. I always stuff an overnight diaper with more than I use for daytime, so I did the same with the HB OS. I used the HB bamboo trifold insert with a couple of layers of hemp added. I had to snap the diaper slightly differently to accommodate the added bulk with this stuffing, but it still fit beautifully.

So, how did it work?? I never had a single leak with this diaper, with either type of insert or overnight. Period. The leg elastic is so stretchy it gets a great snug fit around Miss’s legs, and the great adjustability of the snaps allows a perfect fit all around. There was nowhere for a leak to get out! The diaper is easy to wash, like most pockets. Just take the insert out of the cover before putting it in your diaper pail, throw it in with your other diapers, do your usual wash routine (you can see mine here), then I hang the cover and put the insert in the dryer. The HB OS comes clean very easily.

In a Nutshell –

The Pros

This is a very well-constructed diaper with lots of room for baby to grow.

The configuration of the snaps makes it easy to get a perfect fit.

The price of this diaper can’t be beat!

I love that you can buy this diaper with or without the MF insert. For people who love MF, it’s a great deal. For others, like me, who don’t like MF, you don’t have to waste your money on an insert that you won’t use (I’ve already bought another HB OS cover and it is prepped and stuffed with a bamboo trifold insert, ready to go! 🙂

The HB OS doesn’t leak!!!

The Cons

There aren’t a ton of colors available. So far the HB OS is offered in White, Sage, Butter, Aqua, and Lavender.

The diaper is slightly more bulky than some of my other diapers.

The Bottom Line –

I highly recommend this diaper. If you like MF, the cover/insert combo is a great diaper and a great deal. Personally, I recommend getting the cover by itself and then buying the bamboo trifold insert to go in it. The price ends up being a couple of dollars more, but it is totally worth it!

Miss love the HB OS too. Here she is doing a little dance to show it!

If you want to try some Hugga Buns OS diapers for yourself, go to MCDC’s website and buy some!

Or, you could enter here to win one. Christy has generously offered a Hugga Buns OS diaper with MF insert in your choice of color to one of my readers who wins this giveaway.

Here’s how to enter:

MANDATORY ENTRY: Go to MCDC’s website here. Come back here and leave a comment telling me what your favorite item is from the great selection available in the online store. This entry is mandatory. Without this entry, all other entries will not count. Please be sure to leave a valid email so I can contact you if you win!

For additional entries, leave a separate comment for each of the following (these will be verified):

  1. Visit MCDC’s blog here. Leave a comment on one of the entries there and link to it in your comment here.
  2. Become a fan of MCDC on Facebook.
  3. Follow my blog publicly (current followers count too).
  4. Follow @Mom4Miss on Twitter.
  5. Tweet about this giveaway once a day (1 entry per day) for the duration of this giveaway. You must include @Mom4Miss, #clothdiapers, and a link to this post in your tweet. Leave a comment with the permalink for each tweet here!
  6. Add Motherhood and Miscellany to your blog list and leave me the URL (this counts if you already have it there too).
  7. Comment on any other post on my blog during the time this giveaway is running (comment during the time of the giveaway, the post doesn’t have to have been during the giveaway) for up to 5 additional entries (one entry per comment). Tell me which post you commented on in your comment here!

This giveaway will end on Tuesday March 16, 2010 at 12pm CST. The winner will be selected at random and will be contacted via email and given 48 hours to claim the prize. If the prize is not claimed within 48 hours of the email, a new winner will be chosen.

Burritos, Boobs, and Bundling Up

Posted on by Amy

Well, there are three things I thought of blogging about tonight. Usually I would pick one and save the others for later, but then I never get back to them, and I thought “why not?” just do a post about all three things? So, here it is.

Burritos. I crave burritos. Or really any Mexican-type food able to be wrapped in an 8-inch flour tortilla and served with sour cream and a taco-type sauce. I need help. My poor husband has eaten every variation on this food theme that I can think of. Taco Bell (I think I only sent him out for this once this pregnancy), regular burritos with ground venison I seasoned with my own special blend of spices (I think we’ve had this three or four times already, don’t judge), chicken enchiladas, chicken fajitas (another three or four times??), breakfast burritos for dinner (this was an act of desperation to be creative), and tonight I made my old standby, baked chicken burritos, again made with my special seasoning. I feel bad, but this is what I am really wanting to eat. For several weeks in my first trimester, this was the only thing that sounded remotely appetizing. But how many times can a man be expected to eat such food during the course of a pregnancy? As it is, we’re on track to have such culinary fare about 60 times before Baby arrives. So, I need some new recipe suggestions. Anyone have one? Or 10???

Boobs. Miss is in the process of weaning. I thought I was very ready for this. I am ready for this. Mostly. She’s ready for this, as you’ll see below. I know it’s the right time to start this process. The reason I bring this up today, is that today was the first day that Miss did not nurse during the day at all. See, she has been down to four nursing sessions per day for many months, first thing when she wakes up, late morning after her nap, mid afternoon after her second nap, and bed time. We dropped the afternoon nursing right when we got back from Hawaii. Today we dropped the late morning nursing. I got her up from her morning nap, changed her, and brought her downstairs to give her milk out of a sippy cup. She also had a cup of yogurt, which I helped her to spoon into her own mouth, for pete’s sake (where did my little baby go?). Man, it’s making me teary again to type it. “Why?” you might ask, considering that I’m still nursing her in the morning and at bed time. We’re only halfway done with the weaning. The daytime nursing sessions weren’t even my favorite ones. But they were different from the morning and bedtime nursing in that she was awake and kind of silly during them. She’d play with her toes, put her foot on my shoulder or sometimes in my face, look up at me and give me a big grin. The morning and bed time nursing times are just different, and now I don’t have the daytime anymore, so I’m a little sad. And you know what? While I’m getting all sad and teary about it, she didn’t even seem to notice anything was different! Which is actually a good thing I know, and confirms for me that this is the right time to make this change. So it’s all good. To try to celebrate this milestone, I made her a smoothie for the second snack of the day.
She tried it.
Seemed to like it.
But then I think she got “brain freeze” and she wouldn’t drink anymore!
Bundling up. If I were to get a grade for how well I have embraced winter since we moved back to a cold climate, it would be an “F.” I just don’t really love winter. I don’t love cold. There are things I do like about winter, like a roaring fire and drinking hot chocolate. Watching Duke basketball. Christmas. The first few days of fresh beautiful snow that sticks to the trees and makes everything gorgeous outside. As long as I get to look at it from inside. You know, with the roaring fire and hot chocolate. Last winter I was enormously pregnant, and then Miss was definitely too little to go out in the snow when she arrived, so I was off the hook. This winter, I did not buy her a snow suit. She wasn’t walking yet, and I did not think it would be fun for her to go out in the snow and crawl. I thought she was still too little.
But now she’s walking. And in the past few days I’ve been thinking, “This is the only year she’ll be little like this in the winter.” It just didn’t seem right to not let her experience the snow at least a little. Miss has a winter coat that I intentionally bought too big so I could fit lots of layers of clothing under it if necessary. But we still didn’t have a snow suit or snow pants. I debated going and buying her a pair, but that just seemed so wasteful, since they surely won’t fit her next year, and she probably wouldn’t wear them more than a handful of times this year. Yet I was determined to get her in the snow and keep her warm and dry. And today was a beautiful, sunny, relatively warm day and I just decided to do it. So here is what I came up with to solve the no-snow-pants problem. Watch as the layers go on:
This sweater is layer #3 on top already.
Yes, those are plastic Target bags on her legs.
And a garbage bag to top it all off and provide a double layer of protection.
This is her, “Mom, seriously??” look.
And the “pants” in action. She wasn’t very steady standing in the snow.
And she quickly ended up on her rear (this made a super cute butt print in the snow!)
She did okay for a while, and the pants worked perfectly.
Then things started to go downhill.
Fast.
So we went back inside where she had tons of fun playing with all the stuff we had both been bundled up in.
And even though we had only been outside for about a minute and a half, I still made hot, hearty vegetable soup for us for lunch so we could “warm up.” That’s one of the other things I love about winter 🙂

A Momma in Need

Posted on by Amy

I cannot imagine losing my husband. Ever. It chills me to my core to think about it. Yet this is just what happened to my friend Mandy’s friend. This momma is 32 weeks pregnant, recently lost her job, and her husband was just murdered. I’m not usually one for pushing a cause, but this one got to me. I’ll be sending some things to help. If you feel moved to do so, click here to see how you can help.

Okay, ready? Surprise!!

Posted on by Amy

This is Baby, at about 13.5 weeks gestation. Baby is expected to make his or her appearance in mid to late August. We are so excited to be welcoming another little one into our family. Miss is going to be a big sis!!!!
The belly shot. This was taken on our lanai on Kaua’i of course, a few days before that ultrasound “photo.”

So what have I learned?

Posted on by Amy

I know, Miss’s birthday was last week. But I’m still in reflection mode. Thinking over the past year. Evaluating my choices and learning from mistakes. Being a mom is definitely a learning process. Over the past year I have learned so much about mothering and about myself as a mother. I know I certainly don’t have all the right answers, but I am feeling pretty good about my process of learning what I think is right and what works for me as a mom, for Miss as a child, and for us as a family. So here are just a few of the many lessons I’ve learned:

1. I have learned to lighten up a bit. At first I was sooo worried about germs and dirt and well, everything, that I was stressing way too much and probably doing some silly things as a result. For example, when Miss was smaller and just learning to roll and sit up, I used to always put a clean quilt on the floor for her to play on. I was so worried she might get a dog hair on her! Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that she would eventually be moving way beyond the borders of that quilt, and I would not be able to protect her forever from the perils of, *gasp*, the floor!!! But I couldn’t help myself. Now, in all fairness, I think when she was so little that she couldn’t lift her head very well, the blanket on the floor was a good thing. I just probably hung on to it much longer than necessary. Anyway, the point is that I have learned to loosen up and just enjoy watching her explore and play, even if she’s playing with things I wouldn’t choose for her to play with, like gross dog toys. I do have limits though. She isn’t allowed to put the dog toys in her mouth, and I drew the line at hands in the toilet this morning 🙂
2. I have learned that Miss’s most ticklish spots are her armpits and the backs of her chubby little thighs.
3. In spite of what I posted in #1, I have learned that saying “no,” or some variant thereof, is appropriate and necessary at times. It’s all about balance!!
4. I have learned that the most beautiful sounds in the world, hands down, come from my baby. Her laugh, her voice as she “talks,” when she says “Mama” – music to my ears.
5. I have learned that nothing is more important than my family and being here to savor every moment with my daughter. The time flies by so fast, and that all those years I spent getting the degree that I’m not using too much these days, while still important, can be put to use later when my babies don’t need me so much. Forensic psychology will wait. Growing babies will not. I won’t ever regret not missing out on Miss’s babyhood.
All that said, I haven’t forgotten that I mentioned last week a surprise on the blog and another diaper giveaway. The surprise will be revealed in the next few days. The giveaway will be posted very soon. I’m still in the testing phase to write a review of the diaper. I have to try it overnight still!!! But I promise, that will be soon.