Mama KalilaThe not quite hippy... hippy mom

Moving

2010-07-12T01:49:00.000-05:00

This took a lot of thought... Not jumping into anything this time lol. And also not going into a great amount of detail on here because I already did there...

I'm moving this blog over to Wordpress. All my posts are over there, all my contacts are over there, etc. Thankfully it was very easy to do. Nothing will be lost. Nothing is wrong lol. I'm just switching sites.

http://mamakalila.wordpress.com/

Hopefully it won't cause any problems.. Sorry for yet another switch. I almost didn't do it because of that.. but its what I needed to do so yeah. I'll see you over there!

Going Places

2010-07-10T21:56:00.000-05:00

Aww.. I got an award from Rainy Days & Mondays. We just met (via blog of course lol) recently and I'm really enjoying both reading her blog and her comments on mine.

Anyways, the "rules" of this award are:

Make an acceptance speech, talking about where you see yourself in the next 10 years, as well as finding 10 other deserving folks for this reward.

Sigh.. 10 years. Kalila will be just a few months shy of officially being a teenager... So I'm probably going to be pulling my hair out where ever I am. Zavier will be 10. Hopefully we'll have a few more children or so... LOL Hopefully we'll have had our last baby by then because I really don't "want" to be going through all that at that point or later. :-) Baba will be out of school... I would like to either be teaching at a Catholic school or looking into becoming a doula and/or NFP counselor. Yes I know those are completely opposite ends of things, but... all things that bounce around in my head lol. All completely impractical at the moment too, but in 10 years maybe...

Ok.. 10 people now.

Reflections From Maadi

Mommy Mama Mom

RearZ Take 1

2010-07-09T11:50:00.000-05:00

Yeah... It definitely needs some extra inserts.

Part of the problem may have been that Baba left one side kinked a little, but either way the diaper was soaked through this morning to the point his whole sleeper was wet. Poor thing.

Either way I did get a really cute picture of him in it lol. He loves being changed and Kalila was there so he was even more smiley than normal.

Where's the Mustard?

2010-07-08T23:09:00.000-05:00

Can I just say I hate mosquitos? Seriously... I've never had much of a problem with them before, not even when I went to Tanzania. They just don't like me... I may get bit once or twice if I'm particularly unlucky...

But the other night I sat outside on the swing... and I'm covered. Seriously covered. Both arms (although one is worse, has about 20 bites on it), both legs, my back, my stomach, hands, feet... Its ridiculous. I don't understand why they went after me like that.

Poor Kalila has some too, thankfully not as many and most of hers are going away (she got bit before I did). Zavier has avoided getting bit at all thankfully. Of course he's just not outside as much lol. I don't think Baba's had a problem with them either, but I could be wrong...

Beyond all that.. We're still adjusting to Kalila wanting to go to school. I was definitely more prepared this week... and got a few pics on Monday. That third one was the "butterfly" she drew.. she was very proud of it lol.

Got some others the last time it rained (not today) too that I just love.

And Zavier's as cute as ever. Got some pics of him working on sitting up, "standing" and playing with his toys..

Plus a couple from earlier today.

As you can see the kids are both doing well lol.

Kalila is in this "princess" phase where she has to be in dresses (and calls them her princess dresses). Still gets just as messy as always, but has to be in a dress. She's also stopped saying she wants to be a dr or midwife... Yesterday she told me she works in a school. I asked if she was a teacher and she said no, just a princess.

And Zavier's growing... working hard on trying to sit himself up lol. He loves his new play mat. "Talks" to us a lot more (the little baby sounds) and has started laughing too.. So cute. I need to get video's, but batteries need recharging. I've been using my phone lately and the video on it won't upload.

Baba's been working a crazy amount of overtime... and his days off changed to Tues/Weds. And I'm mostly trying to keep up with the kids lol. Trying to get the house unpacked still too... but mostly just chasing kids. And getting eaten alive of course..

More Mail

2010-07-06T16:39:00.001-05:00

Got two things in the mail today...

The first comes w/ no picture. The Soap Nuts I won from Eco Nuts. I had to laugh when I opened the box because they left me a note apologizing for being out of the sample size that I won... instead they sent me the next size up and apologized for any inconvenience it caused me. Inconvenience? I guess for the extra loads of laundry I'll get to do lol.

The other was the Rearz diaper.

First impression? Eh... It was the cheapest of the diapers I got so no complaints. Now if I'd paid the original price (was cut in half) that might be different. I'm glad I didn't get two like I'd planned though. I can get past the orange colour obviously. It really isn't that bad even if it wouldn't be my first choice.

I like that it has a cute pattern on the inside, although I wish we'd had more of a choice (or any choice)... in the picture online it looked like it would be an orange or red pattern and its very pink. That might have been a deal breaker if I'd known. Baba was not thrilled about that either. It is a soft cotton, not as soft as the Katydid's but still nice, so that's a plus.

I like that the inserts snap together and to the diaper inside its pocket... I didn't unsnap them in the picture, just pulled them out so you can kinda see how it does... But they're very thin. Same pattern as the inside of the diaper and look like the same material. I have a feeling we'll be adding inserts...

Now, on the other hand, there is one thing I love about these. They have gussets! I love gussets.

I'm hoping that I end up loving this diaper... Right now not so much, but a lot of it is just the look of it. The thinness of the inserts is really the only major issue... and it may be nothing. And if it is there are all the other inserts we have around here that can be substituted (even if they don't snap in the same) or added to these.

Vax Info - Rotovirus?

2010-07-06T13:13:00.000-05:00

First off disclaimer... I am NOT telling anyone not to get this (would be silly since we are getting it) or how to do vaccinations lol. Just passing on some info I just got, that I'm really glad was passed to me (esp after the whole dairy/Kalila thing).

One of my friends has a little one Zavier's age. Like him she just got a round of shots. Later that day she had mucusy poo and some blood. In BF babies (well the blood in any baby of course) this can be a sign of something going on. They found out the next day or so that she was not sick (thankfully) and were told to cut dairy... since those are big indicators of a dairy allergy. Long story short she kept looking and found that there are a bunch of families that had this happen immediately after vaccinations and were told it was dairy. Interesting.

I got curious and pulled out my Dr. Sears Vax book and found "mild intestinal infection" as a symptom of the Rotovirus vax. Obviously that's not a huge horrible reaction... We're still gonna get Zavier this vax in a couple weeks... but it does explain (or could explain) why some babies are showing these signs after getting it. Its something to watch for... and if it happens see if it passes before letting them put me on a dairy free diet (honestly I think I'd cry at this point if I had to mess w/ that all over again lol).

Happy 4th!

2010-07-04T23:02:00.000-05:00

Well.. Baba had to work. Tia Sallie & Uncle Bud ended up not coming over. But I still made my pie and we ended up having a fun night anyway.

Gido took Kalila for a walk while I baked the pie...

I know the stars are a little off... Why I thought I could cut them out when I can't even draw one I have no idea lol. It was fun though and smells great. And its my first pie ever, so I'm not expecting much lol.

When it was done I took Zavier and started over to the neighbors. Two diff ones were having nini's outside and I ended up at the "wrong one" lol. As soon as I crossed the street one of them met me and led me to her place. The others had invited us earlier. Anyways I got to visit w/ them for awhile and headed over to the others after Gido and Kalila got there. We could see the fireworks from there, prob could have from our backyard too but it was nice meeting people and watching Kalila play with the kids. Plus she went nuts over the fireworks. What wasn't cool was little miss snuck a soda again... I managed to catch her about half way through it. Someone tried to feed Zavier too, but thankfully I caught her telling someone first. But yeah, other than that it was nice.. I wish Baba could have been here... but... He should be home soon.

And completely random, Kalila was telling me that the dragon was scaring her tonight... on the pack n play? Yeah.. no dragon there.

:-D Yay! Baba's home now... Gotta run!

Coincidence?

2010-07-04T12:29:00.002-05:00

I feel kinda dumb right now... Long story short... its not the milk that's the problem, or at least not a main one (she could still be lactose intolerant, we'll have to watch and see).

I mentioned what happened yesterday to Baba and he brought up that she'd been eating some dairy for days w/ no problems. I'd thought about it myself but just figured maybe it just caught up with her. I went to bed thinking about what she ate that day and then it hit me. She had a peanut butter sandwich..

Every time she's had that problem she's been eating them.

Not only that... but the time she was "dairy free" she stopped eating them too. Not something I intended to do together, but she just started refusing to eat them. She has twice since then... the first time was at Grans and she did get sick after, but we put it to dairy still getting out of her system. And yesterday...

I feel bad that I didn't piece that together. When I think about peanuts being a problem though, I think about the horrible allergies... not just an intolerance. She doesn't get hives or anything awful like that so I just didn't think... Confused looking it up though because while diarrhea can be a sign of allergy or intolerance, its not one mentioned for peanuts. Apparently intolerance to them usually is heartburn.. Strange. Maybe something else in the PB? Baba's thought there. I don't know...

Edit: No its listed as one of the symptoms for both peanut intolerance or allergy. Lovely. But at least we're not loosing our minds here (or not completely lol).

So yeah... may not be dairy at all. It made sense that it would be... and I'm still gonna keep an eye on her as we're reintroducing it.

Oh and the comment about getting her tested... really does seem like a good idea. Something we'll prob discuss at her next checkup.

Editing again: Just talked to Grandpa & found out Tia Banay is allergic to PB... not the peanuts themselves (she can eat the natural PB, just not the regular kind) but something else in it. Something else to look at, get her good again and try the natural kind maybe. Rule out that its not the same thing as her aunt.

Winners

2010-07-04T00:42:00.000-05:00

Picked by www.random.org -

25 Deltaflute - I follow your blog

20 - Bluedano - My favorite is probably the Thirsties Duo Diaper. They're a great fit on my toddler!

I'll get those giftcards to you asap :-)

Sad...

2010-07-03T20:26:00.000-05:00

We were a little over confident w/ the whole dairy situation here... Kalila did so well cutting it all out, so we decided to start adding in things to see what she could handle. Baba just knew it would be straight up milk only that was the problem, said maybe no yogurt to be safe. I pretty much agreed... wondered about the cheese, but still.

Either way the nasties are back within a couple days of bringing stuff in. I'm hoping it was just the cheese she had the other day.

First Impressions - Katydid

2010-07-03T10:27:00.000-05:00

Still laughing a little over the timing here. Yesterday I got the email that my last FG order shipped. Whoo hoo! Went to check the mail and part of it was already here...

Katydid's. I almost didn't want to try them. They remind me a lot of a snap version of BG's.... at least on computer. Ok, really they look more like FuzzyBunz, but still. Very few colour choices, not that that is important. Plus we weren't gonna buy more pockets.

But Zavier needed some for night time... and I poured over FG's pocket and AIO sections. These were a good price (even if I'm using the credits, I want to get the most I can for them) and by then I'd heard some good things about them. I put one in my cart and then right before checking out switched from having two of another brand to two of these.

I'm kinda glad I did now... Of course we'll see how they work, but I love the look and feel of them. The insides are incredibly soft. Having kids w/ sensitive skin that's a pretty big plus. I still wish there were more choices for colours or prints, but... I like the ones I chose.

Oh and I saw the tracking thing this morning that my package just left. Still hits me as funny... but the other 2 will be here soon & I'm very much looking forward to seeing them too.

Line Drying In The Rain

2010-07-02T12:49:00.000-05:00

Went to line dry our diapers this morning and found this...

Kinda hard to see in that shot, so here's another I got closer up.

Yes.. a goofy thing to get a pic of but I thought it looked really cool.. esp seeing the whole thing covered in them.

Backing up a little bit... Yes our line nini is rigged up a bit. It needs to be cemented in but there are so many more important things to get done here... so as long as it works.. no complaints!

Our drier is still out. Joy. Thankfully it does tumble (if not heat) so I can soften up the diapers after they dry outside. And Gido got his dryer hooked up the other day, so on days like today we can borrow his... which we did for Baba's jeans. The diapers I prefer on the line, so I chanced that today obviously and thankfully it hasn't rained again yet lol.

Why I prefer the diapers outside? The sunning thing really does help keep away stains. Yes prefolds are covered w/ covers (and then clothes on top of that usually lol) and they are clean.. which is the most important part. But... is nice to have them look that way too.

And on the sillier side, its cute to see the covers all lined up.

I wish I'd gotten a picture before Kalila started doing so well on potty training cause she's got red & orange covers.. There was one day we had em all out there and I was just itching to take a pic lol. No batteries though. Oh well.

Speaking of covers... and pockets fall in the same category.. less wear and tear this way. So another advantage.

Anyways, time to get back to work...

So Proud...

2010-06-30T13:57:00.001-05:00

2 really big things today...

One - Zavier had his 2 month checkup. It went really well.

He's 13lbs1oz... which means he's dropped a little on the chart (not that the chart really means anything to begin with), but no worries because he's still gaining weight, and still on the high end (very high end) of it. I'm assuming its either from him getting sick last week or because he's spacing his feedings out to a little more normal range lol. Or both. Either way, Dr M was happy with his gain and so are we of course. His measurment... honestly I think it was a little off. It went down in the records as 24 and 3/4 inches, but he wasn't quite straightened out when the nurse marked it... and it looked closer to 25 when she put the tape to the paper (like just shy of) so I'm thinking he's probably 25... but oh well lol.

She listened for a long time to his lungs and they're completely clear and everything looks/sounds good. I was a little worried since he's still getting over what he had. The cough is starting to go away, but hanging on a little.

We talked about his sleeping arrangements... and the fact that he's rolling and refusing to sleep on his back. She was very reassuring about that. I still don't like it, but like she said... I am right there so that helps.

Oh.. and he seems to like Dr. M too. Smiled at her a lot and stuff. Was cute.

Then the shots.

His first shots. Thankfully I did better than I did w/ Kalila on hers. I bawled when they gave her the first ones lol.

The nurse knows me well now too lol. I was expecting to have to ask about me holding/nursing him while she did it (as opposed to the holding him down on the table thing that I hate), but she remembered and asked me if I wanted to do it where I was sitting instead. Like Kalila did most times (a few she didn't) he unlatched when she gave him the shots and screamed for a few seconds... He actually turned bright red... kinda like Grandpa when he gets mad lol. I felt bad for him, but... it was literally like 5 seconds worth and then he was fine. The crying had stopped before the band aid was even put on.

But... I have to share what happened right after that. While she was putting the band aid on he latched back on and nursed a few seconds... great, just what we hoped. But then he unlatched, looked up at me, opened his mouth... and bit down! Opened back up.. and then latched on and nursed a few minutes while we got ready to go. Yeah.. he bit me. Seriously. Got mad and bit me. I was shocked...

Ok, not sure how to continue after that lol... Those are at the end of the appointment though so we got out and set up his 4 month appointment and I found out how to do the next round of vax's (he got 2 today, and is getting 2 at 3 months instead of having 4 today). Which turns out is extremely easy, we just have to walk in whichever day works out for us.

He seems to be doing well after the ones he got too. Fell asleep soon after and is pretty calm now.

Now on to the second thing... Kalila's potty training.

A few days ago someone posted something about this being the perfect time to potty train.. or so says the Farmers Almanac. I saw the link, it really does say that. Kinda funny right? Well that night she used her potty! And then the next morning... I can't remember what that first day was (2 or 3 days ago?) but she's consistantly been using it since... Has only had one accident and it was at night... and she ran to the bathroom when it happened.

So today we got ready to go out and let her go in her training pants (slightly thicker panties). She was a little upset because she wanted her regular panties, but... not sure we're ready for that while out yet. As is these would still get things wet. Packed extra's and a couple dresses for her too lol.

Well... after the appointment we went for food... I put sandwiches on our menu today knowing that we would probably end up doing this. The appointment and errands (I'm surprised I'm back here right now, unplanned break) meant it most likely happen.. and I was right. So we went to eat and before we left asked her if she needed to go. She said yes, Baba took her to the restroom & she did!

Seriously proud of her... I know its still gonna take time. But still. Very excited. And so is she...

More Pics & A Video

2010-06-29T10:46:00.000-05:00

Some of these are just too cute not to share lol.

First off the video I got earlier...

And some pics afterwards, yes he's trying to stand (with help of course lol)!

A few days back... that outfit is a 9mo size... How crazy is that?!?

And... My favourites...

I missed these completely, ok here's a few more new ones lol.

I just love those smiles lol... and the brother/sister shots...

MPM 28 June - 4 July

2010-06-28T22:41:00.000-05:00

Blah... I almost don't want to do this lol.

Before I go near this weeks schedule, have to share Baba's dinner from the other night. He'd had a rough couple of days and I found out we had pork chops in the freezer... so I made them for him (and then warmed up a halal pizza for myself lol). Thankfully they seemed to turn out well, you know for having been made by someone who'd never done them before and hadn't planned to either. Blech... Had to get a pic since I figured noone would believe me lol.

Also got one of Jas & Zavier that night.

And on to this week... Sorry Baba, no pork :-j Note: Any recipes I don't know off the top of my head (ie made a thousand times lol) I'm getting from the Settlement Cookbook that Grandpa gave me.

Monday
B- cereal
L- taco's
D-Leftovers
Baba's D- Hamburger Helper
Tuesday
B-Scrambled eggs & toast
L-Sandwiches
D- Pasta
Wednesday
B-Toad in Hole
L-Leftovers
D-Cheese Enchilada's w/ Rice & Beans
Thursday
B-Cereal
L-Leftovers
D-Chicken & Dumplings w/ Green Beans
Friday
B- Baked Eggs a la Columbus
L-Tuna Sandwiches
D-Beans & Rice
Saturday
B-Cereal
L-Spaghetti
D-Leftovers
Sunday
B-Cereal

Leaving the rest of the day open because I'm pretty sure we're doing something for the 4th.

Duo Sized Baby

2010-06-27T09:54:00.000-05:00

LOL Apparently Zavier is duo sized... He fits in both sizes right now. Found out by accident... washing diapers and most of his covers are in there, put on one of these and it fits on the smallest setting. Size one fits on the largest... No complaints I have twice the amount of covers for him right now!

This is What Happens...

2010-06-26T09:50:00.000-05:00

When I need to do dishes...

Wow That Was Fast!

2010-06-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

I love getting mail lol...

The other day the FG order of diaper covers came in. Size 2 Duo Wraps, velcro this time... I haven't decided if I like them in velcro or snap better. Still nice and I was so excited to see them. Mail, diapers, and free all wrapped together = one happy mama.

Then right after that I saw that Zavier's Baptism gown shipped...

Then Baba ok'd another FG order... mostly pocket diapers for Zavier to wear at night but also another pail liner. Trying a few brands we haven't before... Katydid's, Rumparoos, & Rearz. Leaves us w/ about 36 dollars in credit there... and I can't even imagine when/how we'll spend that, but I am very excited about the prospect of more diapers.

Then I got an email that the last FG order left from before shipped.. Toddler sized prefolds. I can't wait for them to come... as much as I want Kalila to potty train, she is still wearing diapers part time & the ones we have are getting small. And we figure Zavier will prob need the larger size when he moves up lol.

And today.. much earlier than I expected I opened the door to find this:

Ok obviously I brought it inside before I took the pictures lol. And yes I'm goofy and wanted a pic of the box... if you're wondering the phone is so no one can get our address off the pic. Not cool.

Front

Back

Not sure when we'll get pics of him actually in it yet. Waiting for Baba to let me know if he's called his brother about the date yet... and then I have to call the Church. Which should have been done days ago but yeah...

Still... Excited :-D

Oh and obviously... We got option C. Which I'm really happy with now that I see it. That really was a bad pic of the collar on the website. I can't really get a good one w/ the plastic and don't want to take that off yet or I'd get a close up of it. Has a sailor knot, which I knew, but it isn't as big as it looked in the other and the collar doesn't go out and past the shoulders like it seemed. Sigh of relief lol.

And Still The Cough...

2010-06-25T11:02:00.000-05:00

Kalila did not cough hardly at all yesterday. A couple times towards the night, but that was it... She's acting like she feels a ton better too.

Zavier on the other hand... His cough has me worried. I called Dr M this morning and found out pretty much what I already know... Still too young to give him anything, and no point taking him in since he has no fever, is eating well and all. Suction his nose (if only I can find the stinking thing to do it with). Elevate him... she did give me tips on how to do that, esp with the pack n play. I remember putting Kalila in her bouncer the one time she had a cold this young (well was a bit older, was 3 months old before it happened) but Zavier has decided he hates the thing. Loved it for the first few weeks... was the only way I could get him to sleep anywhere other than on me. Now putting him in it is an easy way to guarantee screaming... lots and lots of screaming. Yesterday he wanted to be held a lot so I put him in his wrap and he did really well in it. Probably going to be doing the same today... so far he's not thrilled with the pack n play solution lol.

Thankfully he doesn't seem too upset by all this. Still giving us that cute smile. Maybe a little more cuddly than normal, but still seems happy.

Pink Shirts and Denim Sunburns

2010-06-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

After deciding I'd had enough of freezing my tako off this morning I put on this pink shirt my parents gave me awhile back over my tank. It has long sleeves so should help right? Eh.. not much lol. But Kalila got all excited about it because, well... its pink and because it ties in the front and she likes those. Here's the conversation that followed.

Kalila - You're wearing pink.

Mama - Yes, I have on a pink shirt.

Kalila - I want to wear pink too!

Mama - You are wearing pink.

Kalila - (looks down and giggles) Oh. Yeah. I am wearing pink.

Now... a few minutes later I decided I'd had enough of the minus 45 degree weather in here and took her outside while I ate my breakfast. She ran around and had fun while I sat on the swing... after I finished eating I laid down for a few minutes, and the only thing that kept me from falling asleep out there was the fact that she was out there.

And then I felt my leg burning... Wearing jeans... Leg is covered. Nothing else having a problem, but my leg burning. Grabbed Kalila (who didn't want to come inside) and came back in. Yup... Leg is burnt! In a really weird pattern too. Strange.

Note: I think I have figured out why Baba keeps it so cold in here now. I think he may be encouraging us to go outside more... Now how this is gonna help me get anything done I don't know.

Random Thoughts..

2010-06-23T15:03:00.000-05:00

Yeah remember the kids being sick and getting better? Nope... didn't go away. I don't know if they recaught it or what, but it hit a low point last night/this morning. First Zavier threw up... then Kalila did. I started feeling bad yesterday too... and this morning I woke up to find our kitchen floor painted in shit. Kalila got up and had a major accident and then tried to clean part of it up. Yeah that was the worst thing I've ever had to clean... by far. Good news is she hasn't coughed once today and Zavier's sounds better too. So hopefully they'll get over it for real now. And hopefully I won't get any worse or Baba catch it.

I'm craving a Dr. Pepper so bad right now.. and no way to get one. Not happy.

Does anyone know (and have sources for) if both parents have to consent for surgeries in the US or is it just one & does it have to be a particular one? Someone told me the mom has to do it... which has me worried all over again. And of course I can't seem to find the info online to see if its true.

On a happy note our Size 2 Duo Wraps should be here today! :-D

I also got the email that Zavier's Baptismal gown shipped... and we picked up the invites the other day too.

On the other hand... the date is not set. The first one we picked did not work for Ammo Trevor. The second didn't (or didn't exactly) for Aunt Sonia. The week after that (not one we chose) is my family reunion... which we could rush back from, but would be rough. So... we're attempting the week after that now. If someone called/txt'd his brother to ask that is...

Still not used to my hair... No complaints of course lol, but everytime I pass by a mirror I do a double take...

Kalila has been coming up with more of those little comments that just make me smile, like telling me she'll "just try it" when I told her she wouldn't like the gravy. Note: I know she does and want her to try things... was just trying to hide the stuff from her at the time since she can't have it right now and it was the first thing to come to mind. Obviously not the right thing to say though lol.

Sounds like it may be time to restart the washer so I guess I'm off. I'm gonna try to get some more pictures soon but not exactly sure when that'll happen.

CYH Giveaway

2010-06-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

Ok this one is not mine... but CYH is giving away a $25 giftcard to Target or Macy's. Who couldn't use that? I'm def entering this one lol.

1 entry for commenting on this blog post of theirs..

Tweet and get 2 more entries (add 2 more comments).

And do a blog post like this one and get 5 more (comment 5 times as well).

Yes I love these giveaways. I've actually won one from her (a tichel) and loved the item I got. She does quite a few of them too. :-)

Gift Card Giveaway!

2010-06-22T18:16:00.001-05:00

Remember all those Swagbucks I've been racking up? I got so excited when I saw the Earth Angel Diaper Company in the gift card section... Most of our Amazon cards were going towards diapers and these had a better "price". I didn't realize you can only use 1 per order though... still really nice to get a discount on your order, but not something we can do right now. So I decided I'd pass them along to someone who can use them instead!

I've been thinking about doing this for awhile... figured now was as good a time as any. So here are 2 $5 giftcards up for grabs (2 winners, 1 card apiece). The giveaway will run from today until the 4th of July. I suppose it could be a holiday thing lol, but really just seems easier to have it end at the end of a weekend and this one is too soon.

Manditory entry - Post a comment with your favourite item from EADC.

Extra entries -

Become a fan of EADC on facebook

Sign up for Swagbucks (yes shameless request for referrals, but hey it will get you some free items too!) - 5 entries for doing this one, make sure and comment 5 times.

Follow EADC on Twitter

Tweet about the giveaway (once per day)

Blog post about the giveaway

Follow my blog.

Follow EADC's blog

I'll keep it short and not list too many more lol. Esp since its a pretty small giveaway.

Each entry needs to be in a separate comment. Sorry I know some wish there were an easier way, but I can't set anything like that up. I'm using random.org and need separate comments.

Disclaimer - I am not receiving anything from EADC for doing this. I was not asked to do this or anything. Obviously any referrals to SB could possibly get me a few SB's lol, but I'm not really expecting anything...

Damn Suicidal Flies

2010-06-22T14:49:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that there's little things we have to fix up around here... One of them has this unfortunate side effect of way too many bugs having access to our house. The main entrance for them is underneath the back door (in the laundry room). There's about a 1 to 2 inch space under the door. Thankfully Baba & Gido have plans to work on that very soon. But in the meantime it leaves me fighting bugs (esp flies) constantly... annoying but not much of a real problem until a few days ago.

Saturday I went to put up these fly motels... and accidently crushed one with the outside of the thing. I laughed at it, but looking back why didn't it move when I came at it?

I woke up Sunday morning to find a million of them on the glass door in the kitchen. Not by the trashcan or sink or anything like that... Just covering the door. I made sure the flytraps were still set up (they were... but only one fly has gone in there to get stuck.. one did catch a huge spider though! Uggh...) and then got online to find other options. Saw the bag of water trick... Tried putting one up, but it fell and exploded on the floor. Lovely.

Then Tia Sallie came over and suggested mixing dish soap and water to try and coat their wings. Sounds like it could work... and it did. Better than we thought because they don't try and fly away from us. I can pick the things off with the spray bottle one after another! Of course that's followed by a nasty cleanup of dead fly bodies... But we got them completely gone that night. Very happy.

Yesterday morning we woke up to more... covering that same door all over again. Now the first time part of me wondered if maybe sticky hands tracked something on there that I'd missed... but they were thouroghly cleaned the night before. Spray bottle out... dead flies. More cleanup.

Then today.. AGAIN.

Seriously something is wrong with those things. I've never seen flies act like this...

Adjusted Recipe

2010-06-21T15:28:00.000-05:00

Because it turned out so well I thought I'd share my recipe w/ ya. I'm not going to post the main one... for one thing I might have already on here lol. Found out its really my aunts recipe and not my Nana's like I thought. I'm assuming she wouldn't mind it being on here (hoping not if it already is lol) but still...

Anyways here's my Dairy Free, Whole Wheat version of the Texas Hot Cocoa Cake!

1/4 lb Earth Balance margarine (or other dairy free version)
1/2 cup liquid shortening
1 cup water
3 tbsp powdered dark chocolate
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup almond milk soured (add 1 tbsp vinegar & let sit a few min)
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp almond extract

Melt margarine, shortening, water and cocoa in saucepan, bring to a boil and stir. Sift sugar & flour in a large bowl. Pour liquid mix over dry, beat until smooth. Add soured almond milk, eggs, baking soda, cinnamon and almond extract . Mix well. Pour into pan and bake at 400 for 35 to 40 min.

Note: If possible (please please please) we'll go back to using real butter, including in this recipe.. wouldn't be dairy free anymore lol, but it doesn't really have to be for those of you/us who don't have a milk issue. The almond milk is staying though... its good in cake.

And as for the liquid shortening... We typically use sunflower oil, but can't find it (still packed somewhere lol) at the moment so we used olive oil.

I also ended up substituting almond extract for the vanilla in the Wilton's Buttercream recipe. Also turned out very good.

Now completely off topic, but too cute not to share:

Yes, he's still got a bit of a cough. This was the first time he did at all today (hasn't much), I think he got choked up when he sneezed lol. Lots of little smiles though... I'm gonna keep trying for one of those big grins that I love.

Happy Fathers Day!

2010-06-20T22:01:00.044-05:00

Hope everyone's had a wonderful Father's Day!

Oddly enough I got the idea for Baba's cake while I was planning the one for Kalila's birthday lol (yes I am already starting to plan that somewhat).

A few days ago I told Tia Sallie about it and we started making plans for them to come over.. She decided to make a cake for Uncle Bud too.

Not quite Father's Day related (although I joke that its my gift to Baba) she came early to do my hair.

The cake... It didn't turn out quite like I'd planned... for one thing I ended up not doing a chocolate marshmallow fondant, just a marshmallow one. And since it wasn't chocolate I let Baba pick the colour... I like the shade of blue it turned out though lol. I was also gonna do fondant squares w/ buttercream handprints on them... but we had so much trouble with it (Uncle Bud helped and he had trouble too... was finally the one to get it to go on though) that I scrapped that idea and just put the prints on the first layer. As you can see Kalila went nuts w/ her first one and grabbed at the fondant. Then smeared her handprint. Then Zavier took a cue from her and grabbed at it too. I don't know if you can see it in the pic, but I left that part all lumpy from it. Then he wouldn't open his hands back up so we went w/ feet print (yes all hands/feet were washed beforehand lol). Even if it wasn't what I had in mind I loved it, so cute... and with kids you know something was gonna happen lol.

Tia Sallie did cupcakes... I forgot to get a pic, but just think yellow cake, choc icing. They were good too lol.

Baba made steak and salad... Gido came over too. And here are a couple more random pics from the night.

NIP Uncovered...

2010-06-19T23:10:00.000-05:00

Was planning to write this post at some point soon, just not tonight. But... I found this blog, a post on a completely different subject (that part of me would love to post about... but I'm not sure I can do it w/out getting upset and would get in trouble on top of that) and out of curiousity clicked on her newest post.. and had to share it.

I'm not going to go into a lot of details. I really don't pay attention to the Kardashians.. but some things you just can't avoid seeing and one of them royally sticking her foot in her mouth (via Twitter) was one of them. I'd heard about it earlier... but this post on it is stinking hilarious. Link - Kardashian's Call To Cover Up

On a similar subject... and what I'd intended to write to begin with.. Everything is going great in that area here. I do still tend to use a blanket (poor Zavier lol) when we're at Church or around a few certain people. It makes things a lot more complicated especially when no more is really covered than when I nurse uncovered (potentially less if the baby throws it at the wrong time, happened with Kalila), but... still. I have gotten better around a few of them out of necessity.

But the big thing I just had to share was an NIP experience a week or so ago. We ran to Home Depot w/ Gido to look for something or another (I forget lol). While we were there Zavier got hungry... of course... we'd been out for awhile. Thankfully there was a good place to sit (I can while walking around, but its not easy esp with his size), the patio section. We headed over there (me & Zavier, the others were across the store still lol) and got situated. A few minutes later a lady walked up and said "The best kind of food..." and walked off. Seriously I think it was the best comment I've ever gotten on the subject. Just made me feel good.

All That Hair...

2010-06-19T18:26:00.000-05:00

LOL its so hot lately that Baba decided to get rid of his hair...

Before pic...

I wish I could say I got an after pic, but I didn't exactly. I wanted one of him sitting/standing like the first... but he decided to take a nap & he and Zavier were just so cute that I tried to get a pic then and accidentally got a video. Our speakers aren't hooked up so I'm hoping it turned out ok lol.

If you can't tell Zavier was a little tired by that point lol. He slept a bit after this, woke up to eat again and then fell asleep pretty quickly and is still out. He's been sleeping good stretches for awhile now and the past few days I've really noticed him being awake longer and doing more things while he is, playing and stuff... I can't wait to get video's and pics of it now that the good camera is working (ie batteries recharged).

Little Mama

2010-06-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

So this morning we got up, had breakfast, goofed around tickling kids and such. Baba went back to sleep (is working major overtime right now so needs it) and Zavier did the same... and Kalila and I headed out while it was still a decent temp out there.

As soon as we got out there I saw her shirt and started wondering why it was poofing out like this.. didn't make any sense!

Then I realized there was something under there... and she pulled it part way up and I got these pics.

An AIO shirt and wrap/sling? LOL

We sat in the swing for a bit... and then played soccer and ran around a bit. Thankfully she decided she needed an apple around the time it started warming up too much to be doing all that.

What a Day...

2010-06-17T18:08:00.000-05:00

We've had a big day around here...

Zavier is officially paid for lol. I called in the last payment today. Such a relief to not owe anything.

Tia Sallie came over for a good chunk of the day, just about the whole thing. She watched kids while I worked... although I have to say they've been good about letting me get more done when I'm on my own lately too. Helped me out some too.. and of course we got a chance to talk/catch up. Made plans for the guys Fathers Day this weekend... which I'm really looking forward to.

Oh and apparently Zavier has a little crush on her. Kalila has one on Uncle Bud too... we've known that for awhile. But today he cried anytime she walked out of site lol.

I kinda feel bad now because I just realized in all that was going on Kalila & I didn't have the tea party I promised her today... I need to put up clothes I washed earlier but I may stop and do that real quick lol. She was so excited about it.

Dairy Free Adventures

2010-06-16T14:34:00.001-05:00

Ok I'm gonna be completely honest here.. I'm hoping this doesn't last. I'm giving it a good try because I want Kalila to get better... but we've all been hoping we don't have to continue with it.

Pretty much the first whole week was just awful. I couldn't get to the store so I was very limited to what I could make for her. The one day we did eat out we managed to find a place that, while they do have allergy information online including things that are dairy free, cooks everything in butter and defeats the purpose.

I don't know whether to start this next part w/ thankfully or unfortunately lol... No, thankfully it does seem to be helping her so far. We had a few days of no issues all in a row, I can't even remember the last time that happened. But she managed to get sick in the middle of this (Baba thinks its allergies) and yesterday had the nastiness back. Part of me wonders if it means this isn't the issue (but could that part of me be the part that doesn't want to deal with cutting dairy out longterm?) and the other part figures it may just be whatever she caught or her body still adjusting. Not jumping to conclusions. Hoping she's over whatever it is before we start reintroducing things (like Lactaid.. I think that's what Baba wants to start with) to see how much she can handle. If its just straight up milk that's out (like Baba) then we'll be very relieved. Is the most likely right?

Anyways, off of all of that...

We got to the groc store and picked up a few things we needed to make this easier. Dairy free bread... yes most of them we've found have it in there :-/. Dairy free margarine (blech)... and of course almond milk. I'm actually a bit jealous of the bread... hers is better than mine lol. I'm ok with that though of course. Baba thinks the milk sounds disgusting... although we both agree it sounds like it'd be really good baked into deserts. Kalila likes it though... had it in her cereal and told me it's sweet.

And I've been playing w/ recipes and trying new ones. Yesterday we did that chicken and rice I linked on here. Surprisingly good... Kalila didn't even talk while she was eating, just shoveled it in lol. I made chicken adobo for the first time in forever. Thankfully that recipe already is dairy free and I hadn't thought about it before. Today I'm really stepping out on a limb though. Steph's roast recipe... made dairy free. I had to make my own cream of mushroom for it and am on pins and needles over how it will turn out lol.

Ok, I think I'm over the craziness that was getting that started (is in the crockpot now) while Kalila was running around in a life jacket (she's still wearing it) and Baba was leaving for work. Time to get back to work!

6 Weeks

2010-06-15T22:20:00.000-05:00

It just doesn't seem possible that Zavier is already 6 weeks old... and I had my last appointment at the Birth Center.

Not really anything to share from that... typical 6 week visit w/ all the fun stuff that goes along with it. Was nice getting to talk to our midwives and see them again though. Still a bit amazed that I won't be going back in a certain amount of time and won't be seeing them again... for awhile lol. Definitely planning to go back there for future pregnancies. Also hoping that's not for awhile yet :-D

Oh and even though it wasn't his appointment... We weighed Zavier so I do have to share that. He's now 12 lbs 11oz. I was so tired this morning I misunderstood and thought she said 12 lbs 1 oz and started to worry for a sec that he'd lost some weight, but nope.. still gaining very well lol.

And similar subject to that, we discussed the milk donation thing. I'm very excited about that... need to find/get together all the parts of my pump so I can get to working on that.

I'll end this here since this post is still nice and short.. and I really don't have anything else to share right now.

Pictures

2010-06-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

Ok, none of these are mine... and some are pretty old lol. Most of them Tia Sallie sent me yesterday, one Tio Rudy put up a few days before...

Folklife... Kalila wearing Tia Sallie's glasses.

And then they stuck them on me... Now I remember why I don't wear sunglasses lol.

Tia Banay's graduation... Obviously this is the one Tio Rudy posted... I wish I could get copies of more pics, but at least there's one for yall to see/me to remember with.

Seriously old pictures here... A year ago at Tia Sallie & Uncle Bud's wedding.

The day Zavier was born... a little while after we got home.

Other random pics she sent me..

MPM 14 June - 20 June

2010-06-14T22:49:00.001-05:00

Apologies for switching up styles on these so often. I like the look of the chart, but not that it won't let me link the way I want too and I really need this as simple as possible. Esp since I'm fighting to get on top of this again lol.

Obviously not doing so well this week... I'm still looking at the screen with a blank look on my face. A few ideas here or there but not finding what I need to make it work. So I'm figuring a half (or not even) done menu goes up for now & I'll keep coming back to it over the next day or two. Sorry. Feel free to toss in any ideas. Oh and ignore the notes to myself thrown in...

Monday
B - Cereal
L - Leftovers
D - Not quite Shit on a Shingle (hamburger with tomato sauce & sauce from leftovers on bread) and corn
Tuesday
B - Scrambled eggs & chorizo (check meat for dairy before cooking)
L - Spaghetti
D - Chicken & Rice
Wednesday
B -
L - Leftovers
D - Thursday
B
L - Sandwiches
DFriday
B
L
DSaturday
B
L
DSunday
B
L
D

All Smiles

2010-06-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

Neither of these are really new... but they are if that makes any sense.

Zavier's been giving us smiles for awhile now, but still pretty rare and I could never catch a picture. I finally did last night. I wish I'd caught the big huge grin he gave a few min before, but love this one too.

Got another this morning.. just a little smirk, but still cute.

He's also rolled onto his tummy before, but like I think I mentioned lol.. it took him a lot of work and time to do so. This morning he did it twice in a row fairly quickly. Just flipped right over :-D

And Kalila peed in the potty this morning too! I've been doing like Grandpa said he did w/ us and taking her in with me and having her sit on her little one when I need to use the restroom. The past couple days she's loved it, but nothing. This morning... as soon as she sat down she yelled out that she needed to go and then did. We were/are so proud lol. Now to keep it up right?

A few other pics...

Loving on her brother

One of the kittens from outside lol.

Baba w/ the kids

Good, Good, and... Not So Good

2010-06-09T18:03:00.000-05:00

No pictures right now although I've got a cute one of Baba and the kids this morning. No time to get it up yet...

Zavier had his hearing test this afternoon. He passed of course. We didn't really have any doubts he would lol. It was really interesting to see how it was done since I missed getting to see Kalila's. He nursed through the whole thing so it was really easy to get him to do what he needed. He even helped with taking the stuff off when they were done lol. What was funny, or at least I thought so, was one of the questions I got asked. Now I know they have too... but not even a couple minutes after me explaining we'd had an out of hospital birth I was asked if it was vaginal or c-section. Mental picture of a home c-section. But yeah the whole thing went well and we even ran into our eye dr there... He'd just had a baby apparently.

Then we went straight to the pedi's office for Zavier's one month checkup. Mixup with insurance (another not so good part, although not what I was referring to in the title) meant an extra long wait time... but they were nice about it and we got in as soon as possible... Poor Baba has to deal with getting everything straightened out when he goes in later though. Other than that everything there, w/ Zavier, went great too.

He weighs 12 lbs 7oz and is 24 in long. Kind of surprised me because I weighed him last weekend at 14 lbs. I know the diaper was part of that difference since I weighed him with one that time and they do it without, but still... maybe the diff between just having filled a diaper lol. We did change one right before.

We discussed his spitting up and gas. She's not worried because he's gaining well and all that.

Talked about what he's doing, which is all on track...

Went over the vax schedule... which was a big one. I was a little nervous about that, but it went well. He starts in on those next month. She did adjust it a bit, swapped out one from 3 months to 2 and vice versa. I'm fine with that, not so much that I wanted them in a particular order as just not having so much thrown at him at once. When we get to MMR, those will have to be adjusted too because our schedule has them separated out and noone here has the individual vaccines. Apparently she used to send her patients elsewhere for those if they wanted to do that, but that place is out too. Crossing fingers maybe they'll get them in, but doubting it because I've seen comments online about it being a problem.

Checked his ears, throat, chest all that... everything looks good.

So yeah Zavier's visit went well...

But we brought up Kalila and the diarrhea problem. This is where the not so good comes in. She asked about juice and fruit intake.. Kalila does eat fruit, but not enough of it to be an issue and usually the ones that are supposed to do the opposite... but they don't. Then she asked if she was still nursing, nope... and about milk/dairy. Said that might be the problem and is having us completely cut it out of her diet for the next couple weeks or so. I've seen online that it can take up to a month to completely get it out of your system so we may do that just to be safe. So yeah.. not so good. I'm not surprised because I've heard of it causing problems like this. I even saw it mentioned for the spit up/gas issues. I knew we might have to go there. I just don't like it lol. Cutting dairy out is hard. But if it helps... at least we'll know right?

Catching Up (as short as possible)

2010-06-08T22:53:00.001-05:00

I'm sure quite a bit of what I was gonna post just won't be... because its been a busy last couple of weeks. Oh well. Long story short things are going well... The move is over, we're adjusting here (loving it too).

But to share a bit about life here lately.

We started moving that one weekend... did the majority of it on Sat. Moved a few things on Sunday. Baba worked through the week and we stayed here at the house. Tried to unpack some, but didn't get a whole lot done... Our drier broke in the move, turns on but no heat... So I was down to one maybe two loads a day since it takes forever to dry.

Finished up the move the next weekend. I can honestly say I don't remember much from it... lack of sleep and all lol. I think we worked on it Sat. I know we went to Mass Sunday (Baba had to direct and it was luncheon Sunday so we really didn't want to skip even to get ahead). We got home about 3 or so the next morning. Monday Baba had to work... holiday pay so not taking off. He dropped us off at the apt to work while he did... and those of you on facebook know I had major problems getting anything done. Can you say Zavier and growth spurt? Yeah... he's that age. I was having to feed him every hour or so and on top of that he had gas pains... so he wouldn't let me put him down or in his wrap. Apparently he doesn't like it when he's in pain. Maybe its just getting him in there when he is, I don't know.. but it was rough. I had gotten almost enough for a load to come over when Baba got home... so was rushing at that point. He got in and we took turns w/ Zavier and somehow managed to get out by 9 Tues morning. It was awful.

Somewhere in there (a couple funny stories) I had some diaper issues w/ Zavier. The first one we ran out of covers since I was behind on laundry... We did find one of Kalila's old ones still there though and clean. A large. Velcro dead. But a cover. Tried keeping it on w/ the snappie but it wouldn't catch the material correctly... So what did I do? I duck taped it on lol. Hey it worked... and for the record this is one of the first covers I'm gonna convert to snaps now that I found some that I can sew on by hand. Not my fav cover, but I may need it from time to time.

Monday... We were down to pocket diapers at this point.. and they ran out. But... I found a bag of newborn sposies from Kalila's baby shower. The ones they decorated. I learned a few things... Yup, they blow out on him just like they did on Kalila... and they dry his skin out something awful. Was really weird looking. He had a little bit of a rash after the last one too but thankfully it went away very quickly w/ me using prefolds alone (no cover) the next day.

So that was the move.. Beyond that...

LOL - Kalila's trying to feed Zavier w/ her "boos". Just pinched them and pretended to get milk out and is holding "it" in her hand up to his mouth. Silly goose. At least she's not trying to get him to latch on again :-D

That first Sunday we had a Bday dinner w/ friends... at Dave & Busters and Kalila took off in the games section. Still scares me to think about... Obviously she's ok though.

We've been trying to get everything up here. The goal is 2 boxes a day... some days are better than others with it lol.

Got a nini to line dry our clothes. I wanted it anyway for diapers but is saving us right now since the drier is still out.

We ordered 2 new diaper covers awhile back. Wonder Wraps are getting discontinued apparently and everyone has them on sale. Stinks but I'm happy we got them. I found them in prints and just love em.

Speaking of diaper covers... The Thristies were leaking out the top the other day and I couldn't figure out why... Silly me didn't realize growing baby equals they might need the size adjusted. Yeah he's gone up a size... moved to the second snap. They're back to working correctly lol.

Things here at the new place are going well. Zavier's starting to nap in his pack and play some... and for a bit in his co-sleeper at night too. Kalila's adjusting to new rules here. Some days are better than others with that lol, but she's doing pretty good. She loves getting to play outside more and see her Gido more often (he just moved into his place so even more so now than it has been the past couple weeks). The cats... well lets just say that Mumble is back to how she was before someone traumatized her. We're so excited about it.. Both cats love it here. Baba and I are happy. I'll be happier when I'm done unpacking and all that of course. Ready to be settled in.

A few random pictures now...

Sleeping pics

Sibling pics

Zavier's teeth... you have to look pretty close, they're still right at the gums. This is the best pic I've gotten of them so far though.

Pushing up

Kalila upset

Kimosimi checking out a younger version of himself

Not as short as I meant it to be lol... esp w/ so many pics that hadn't made it over here yet. I'd say hopefully the next wont have so many but I have no idea when I'll get a chance to get on again. I'm gonna try after Zavier's appointments tomorrow but we'll see.

Oh and before I forget lol.. Baba agreed w/ everyone on Baptismal gowns... but we're still not going with it. It not only costs more than the others, but would use up our Pennies gift cards (and then some). The others are on Amazon where we can use Swagbucks and cost less... Looking like it will be option c. If I can get another card or two I might manage b. I do like c's skirt more though so oh well.

So I Don't Lose It This Time...

2010-06-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna go a bit out of order here... I do have a post about the move and all, but I'm not ready for it lol. So trip comes first... Unfortunately I only have a few pictures from it, but as soon as I get more I'll try and put some of the others up too.

It went really well. We were a little worried (or at least I was) how it would go w/ a five week old, but very few problems at all. The trip over was a little harder than the one back. Mostly because we tried to leave right after Baba got off work... we were gonna drive to Ozona and sleep a bit then continue on. Nope... We stopped twice before then to rest and didn't really get going until about 7 or so the next morning. It was rough. Added to that it got up to 106 and we have no air conditioner in the truck. That stunk. Zavier got really upset once and added another stop, but other than that one he did really good.

We stopped in Balmorhea for lunch... and I have to put that because Kalila made me laugh there. We got out at the Bears Den (restaurant) and she told us that its our new house. Looks nothing like it, but ok... While we were there a couple from Odessa told me I looked exactly like someone they know... I can't even tell you how many times I've been told that by different people. Apparently I have 23839 clones out there somewhere. Zavier apparently didn't want to be out cuted by his sister w/ her comments... He found a parrot decoration and kept staring and grinning at it... Adorable.

On to VH.

We made it awhile before the grad but of course we all had to get ready. My brother, his wife & daughter got there just before we had to leave for grad... Kalila and L (her only first cousin so far) met for the first time and attached pretty good. She didn't want her to leave when they did, we left a few min later at the same time as my other brother... Rushed over there and it was already starting when we got there.

The grad was really nice... if long lol. I nearly cried during the slideshow when they showed my sis' pictures... They did the whole baby pictures then recent ones thing. I still halfway picture her that little... so yeah... Kalila loved it too because everyone cheered w/ every picture so she got to clap and scream lol. I wish I'd gotten pics of it all but no batteries. Hopefully I will get copies of the ones afterwards cause we had some family shots.

Two grad parties after that.. one that night, and one the next. Had lunch w/ the family in between. It was nice... Had a lot of fun the entire trip. And like I said, Kalila had a ton of fun w/ her cousin... who tried to potty train her while we were there lol. Actually got her on the potty at one point.

We did manage to get a few pictures too.

Here's Zavier w/ Grandpa... They really do look alike lol

My parents wanted a pic of their grandkids all together, so we got this one Sat night.

And we had to get another of the girls

We'd planned to leave Sun night, but got some news from here that confused us so we left a bit early... The trip back went very smoothly. We actually made it back faster than we thought we would!

And that was our trip... I ended up never posting last time so I had to make sure it got done this time lol.

My Blog Has a Footprint?

2010-05-28T12:41:00.000-05:00

I found this by accident and thought it was pretty interesting.

I'm going to link a couple websites instead of trying to explain it all out in detail.. because a) I don't have much time on here and b) its a little too complicated for me to do that lol. Long story short, each visitor to a blog or website equals out to a certain amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

Planet Green explanation
German website (English version) how it works

Yes, the first link does link to the second lol. For obvious reasons. I like its explanation though, was very easy to read and verified the other for me.

So what can you do? If you haven't already read those sites, what they're asking is just for you to write a blog post like this & add a badge to your blog, send an email with your link, and they will plant a tree. Easy enough.

I Cant Do It...

2010-05-22T21:06:00.000-05:00

I have to post. This is too funny...

My daughter...

We're here getting stuff moved, more the guys than me because Zavier keeps getting hungry, silly boy... And Kalila keeps making the funniest comments. Mostly to Baba's friend who's helping us move.

First she told him, "When I was a baby like Zavier I ate mommy's boobs" Seriously I'm surprised I didn't turn bright red at that one.

And just now she went up and told him that she has diarrhea and then proceeded to explain exactly what diarrhea is.

There's been others, but those are the two that stick out.

We've finished moving for the day (got all the major stuff I mentioned.. only thing that we couldn't get was the washer/dryer since the clothes weren't done lol), eating right now & gonna head over for the night. Back to work tomorrow :-)

Away Message

2010-05-22T14:45:00.002-05:00

Well, I have some really cute pics I'd love to put up with this... but they're on my phone!

Anyways, as you know we're in the midst of moving... and the desktop is actually gonna be one of the last things moved. At the end of the week. Crazy I know lol.

Basically we're getting all the other major stuff today and tomorrow... and then coming over for a few hours each day Weds through Friday (Mon & Tues we have other things that need to get taken care of during the time before Baba works) for little things and finally for the computer and desk. Next weekend we're gonna come back and clean everything again.

So no, or very little, computer for me over the next week. I may get on while Zavier's eating and we're here those last few days, but we'll see. Esp since I'll have "housekeeping" stuff to take care of on here so that'll take precedence.

Point being we haven't dropped off the face of the earth, nothing's wrong.. Just computerless for awhile. Which is prob a good thing so I can be focused on getting stuff organized.

Hope everyone has a great week (and weekend)!

ETA - This goes for the phones too. We have our cell phones though.

Baptism Poll

2010-05-21T16:30:00.001-05:00

Not quite starting to plan it yet, too much going on... but while I have both time to do this and time at the computer that I can't get up and do what I need to be doing lol, I'm gonna put up a quick poll to get opinions.

Baptism gowns...

I've found 3 options. Am waiting to hear from Baba what he thinks about them... I honestly am drawing a blank on which one I like best. I'll admit it, I'm indecisive. With Kalila it was easy, we only had one real option (we'd have had more... but the rest were all floofy) and it just so happened we had a coupon for a good amount off an item from the store that carried it (BRU) so we weren't gonna look online for another. I've only found one place in town w/ boys gowns (I don't care for the suits) and its so out of price range its not even funny. I see no point in that... Was nice though. Anyways, long story short I got online this time and found these options and there we go. Hopefully Baba will have a big preference for one above the others lol.

Option A.

Option B.

Option C.

Technically there's a fourth very similar to the last one, but seems fuller and with more pleats. It has the same collar as that one, but the picture of it is better... here -

See its not as twisted as the one above lol. Is the same company though and has the same title so I think C just has a bad picture of it. Anyways, I don't care for the extra pleats and stuff.. plus its shown on a random website where C is on Amazon and would be easier to buy from.

Now obviously this poll (will go on the side above the SleepyWrap link) isn't going to decide anything. I'm just curious what yall think. And feel free to comment what you like/dislike about any particular one. Even if it doesn't decide anything, the comments might give us something to discuss if he doesn't have a preference lol. (Please let that not happen though...)

Eta - I kinda mentioned this in a comment, but so no one is confused.. option a isn't gown or suit option, its a combo thing. The bottom part (skirt? lol) can come off to turn it into the suit for use after the Baptism.

Couple Video's...

2010-05-20T21:15:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share some video's from yesterday... And if you're wondering the second was actually taken first. I stopped it short since he was so upset and got him calmed down before trying again. Then Kalila started in on pestering him. I love what she says towards the end of it though. So cute... Can't wait until we're done here so I can get better pics and video's.

Too Many Posts!

2010-05-19T10:41:00.080-05:00

Or - Too Many Titles.

I had this one set and then started to rename it "I Want The Water Back". It could also be "Its Gonna Be A Crazy Week" or... I could probably think of a few others but you get my point.

♪♪♪

I didn't really write as much as it looked like yesterday. LOL That completely happened by accident.

First I scheduled the diaper cover post for that day... not realizing it would be when the appointment would be scheduled (I wrote it before we got that done).

Then I took so long getting the menu done that it didn't post until early yesterday morning, putting the date wrong.

And of course we had the appointment & I had to write about that lol...

It was one of those days... really.

I ran the washer with no detergent.

Found out oatmeal is a bad idea for me right now lol.

Zavier was a bit fussy... I'm blaming it on the blood test. Who knows really, but still. He pretty much wanted to nurse or cuddle all day long after the appointment. ALL DAY LONG. Not that I really mind of course, but I did have stuff to do. Like pack.

One bookshelf is emptied though, and the second is almost done :-)

And I got some great news. For some reason our records were showing that we'd need to pay for a Rhogam shot, we couldn't figure out why insurance wasn't picking it up so we were planning to call. Well the BC did that for us and found out that our insurance did pick it up... which takes us from having two payments left to one..

Kalila got cranky last night too. Was pretending to cry over bedtime.. you know that fake cry. :-/ Thankfully "Trevor's Song" (I'm Yours) solved the problem.

I got some good pics of the kids before bedtime too...

♪♪♪

As you can see... Yesterday was crazy. I doubt that will stop either since we're neck deep in packing... more like ten feet above our heads deep in packing. Its nuts.

♪♪♪

Today is proving that point. Apparently a water nini burst in front of our apartment. Only affecting us and the people above us of course. The water has been off since 7 this morning... Meaning Baba had to leave for work early & stop by the other place for a shower. None of the rest of us have gotten one... The pitcher we keep water in in the fridge is empty so he had to leave what was in his water bottle for me & Kalila to have something to drink until they get it turned back on (2 hours from him leaving). We have orange juice, but I don't want her to have that much of that lol.

♪♪♪

Thankfully I got a call from Tia Sallie, who's coming over later to help pack and/or hold Zavier while I do. Seriously I'd be a lot farther along but he wants to be held so much. I love our Sleepy Wrap, but the boxes we have are too deep and I have to bend too far over for it to be safe... and I can't really get the stuff in one handed like I'd need to do while bending and such.

♪♪♪

Big progress last night... Zavier slept part of the night in his co-sleeper!

♪♪♪

Just had a phone call from the Pedi's office... and I think everyone got confused at some point!

They were calling about his hearing test. I couldn't remember if they do it at the BC or not (they don't) so I'd meant to ask at that second appointment and forgot. Oops. So Dr. M had her receptionist call to set something up assuming it hadn't been done. I was planning to call today anyway to set up his 4 week appointment and asked if we could do that while we were on the phone and if I could get ahold of the BC and find out about the test.

Well.. she was happy to make the appointment but asked if we were just released from the hospital. This is where I got confused. Hospital? Why would he be in the hospital? Then I realized she was thinking this was his first appointment, but that makes no sense considering I said 4 week... We got that straightened out and his appointment made.

Then I called the BC and found out he didn't have the test, but that we could go into any hospital and have it done for free. They prob told me that when he was born or before but I don't remember lol.

So I called back... and told them that he hasn't had it yet, so she started to put down info to have this place call me, etc.. and (thinking it'd be easier this way) I told them what I was told about the hospitals.. and she got quiet a second and then said something like "Oh.. so you'll go back to your Birth Center and do it there?" - I explained that no, they don't do them there.. and you could just hear the confusion in her voice when she said something about guessing I could call Methodist. We went w/ the people she was gonna have call us to begin with.. figured I'd make it easy on her lol. Since apparently the other wasn't... Now waiting for them to call.

♪♪♪

Kalila is cracking me up with some of the things she's saying lately...

Yesterday she told us that Gido's name is Elizabeth...

This morning she said that Zavier is her granddaughter...

and this afternoon.. this is prob my favourite (although the first is pretty close)... I said something about Zavier's lip quivering and she tried to repeat it and said that his lip was crapping. So hard not to laugh...

♪♪♪

Ok, Little Mr is done eating and sound asleep now.. .So I'm off here and back to work on packing this place up!

Another 2 Week Checkup

2010-05-18T14:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry no pictures right now, but small update...

We had our second 2 week visit today, the one that got rescheduled lol. Was just a short visit, Zavier had his second PKU test (the first was at 2 days). Thankfully he's clotting better than he did at the first one, but the down side of that was it took longer to do & he was very upset by it all.

She weighed him again too... Zavier is now 11 pounds. Sigh.. lol.

I have one more visit at the Birth Center (6 weeks) but Zavier is done there. I need to get his 4 week visit w/ the pedi scheduled soon though. And talk to Baba about vax's since they're coming up. Which reminds me... he's home. So I'm off to do that!

Another Look At Wonder Wraps

2010-05-18T12:12:00.046-05:00

So stinking confused here. I could have swore I posted a second time on these covers already... I guess I didn't though...

Wonder Wraps

I posted before that I had mixed feelings on them. Leaned more towards disliking them even... but something happened awhile back that really changed my mind.

Kalila had this horrible diaper. I'll spare details here. Lets just say it was bad. And Kalila being Kalila she tried to avoid a diaper change. She started running circles around our dining room... bad enough when you're tired and very pregnant but if I'd known what was coming I would have really feared for our carpet lol. Finally I caught her and got her into the tub.. got the diaper off and was shocked that none of it leaked out.

I now like those covers.

Skip forward a few weeks...

I was washing our Duo covers and needed one for Zavier. For a second wasn't sure what I would do, when I realized we had this cover clean and it is a one size cover. So I tried it on him.

Kalila was a bit taken aback. She told me it was hers lol. Thankfully she didn't really get upset and took our explanation pretty easily.

It worked just fine on him... Size fits well. I had it on the smallest setting and it still fit him pretty well, wasn't too small on it yet. I think the velcro helps with that.

Sorry, not the best pic of him in it though lol.

MPM 17 May - 24 May

2010-05-18T01:56:00.003-05:00

Ok, first off... I'm going back to my Excel MPM nini... Its more convenient for me and I like the way it looks. Not as easy to link recipes, but I can do that underneath like before. It works.

Secondly... Yes this weeks menu is very basic. We're in the middle of packing/moving. Not planning to get more groceries this week. Lots of sandwiches and leftovers if possible. Thankfully we do like them lol. Next week will probably be the same since we'll be unpacking/organizing.. all that fun stuff.

So here it is...

Now, little snippet from this afternoon I have to share. I've been working on this on and off all day. This afternoon Kalila came up and said that her throat hurt. She looked really tired so I tried to trick her into taking a nap (because if she fights it the tired would go away at that point and she'd just go crazy). She didn't want on to sit on the couch though, instead she asked for a snack. So I got her an apple and got her settled on her Elmo chair watching a cartoon.

Note: the TV and computer are side by side in here... We'd set her chair right by the couch, so she was right behind me and would have to walk by me to get anywhere. Kalila's also not the type to just sit and watch TV, either she interacts with the show... jumping and dancing, yelling out answers, telling and/or asking us about things, etc. Or she does other things like play with a toy or read (sometimes leaving the room in the process lol).

So I got her set up, fully expecting all that fun stuff... and I sat down here w/ Zavier and tried to work on the meal plan. A few minutes later I realized it was entirely too quiet and I freaked. Kalila + quiet does not equal good things. I turned around to see this -

Huge sigh of relief lol. For once she woke up from her nap pretty happy (she's good w/ mornings, but waking up from a nap is awful for everyone involved normally) and the rest of the day went well. A little rough right before bedtime but she settled down pretty quickly. I'm definitely keeping an eye on the throat thing though. She said it wasn't hurting anymore later, but I caught a couple coughs.

Oh and links to the recipes I got online -

Eggless Pancakes - http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,165,133179-255194,00.html

Pan Macaroni - http://lebaneserecipes.org/maakarona-bil-saynieh-macaroni-in-the-pan/

Wholewheat Oatmeal Waffles - http://portland.todaysmama.com/2010/04/whole-wheat-and-oatmeal-waffles/

All That Hard Work..

2010-05-17T10:13:00.000-05:00

Zavier is trying so hard to roll over lol. He's gotten onto his side a few times now but it takes him so much work (and is adorable to watch lol). He did it again this morning and tried to make it all the way over. He can't. Got pretty close but one shoulder... he just couldn't get it underneath himself to completely make it. Finally he got frustrated and started crying. I kinda wish I'd had the camera nearby to catch it all, but I know I'll prob get another chance lol.

--

Had a pretty good weekend here... Didn't end on such a great note, but started off really good.

One of Baba's aunts (and a cousin) came to town, so we went over to another aunts to see them. Kalila was extremely excited because it meant seeing/playing with cousins. She went crazy while we were there.

We were gonna go over to the other place after, but Kalila fell asleep and then the rest of us did too. Oops.

Sunday... Ran extremely late for Church. Went out to eat w/ Gido and then Kalila decided she wanted to go home w/ him instead of us lol. So she left and we brought Zavier back here for a change/food/nap and then headed over there too.

Baba needed to help fix something next door where Gido will be living.. (I'm not describing beyond that because I don't want to put too much detail about the place on here.. just a safety precaution there) so the kids and I were where we'll be. It was nice though. I was feeding Zavier (this kid eats a LOT) and Kalila was looking out the door and just going crazy about seeing butterflies, saying they were going to the butterfly garden and stuff. Then she saw the birds and was going on about that... It was so cute. Then she got on the piano (or pi-an-yo as she says it lol) and started "playing" and singing along... mostly Mary Had a Little Lamb, but some Twinkle Twinkle and Old McDonald too. So glad Zavier could sleep through all that... it was very... loud. LOL. Cute though. Another I thought about pulling out the camera moment, but it was in the truck.

Came back here and started making dinner... and I'll stop there because that's where the night went downhill for me. Hoping today is better... It should be though :-)

Oh and before I go, here's a pic we got last night of Zavier and Baba (right after a diaper change I believe lol). We just loved how he fell asleep on him like that...

Has It Really Been 2 Weeks?

2010-05-14T14:07:00.001-05:00

Yup... My little one is now 2 whole weeks old... and had his first 2 week checkup this morning. He was supposed to have two of them, but its been pouring rain here today and everyone's been running behind to their appointments at the Birth Center. We came back to a message asking us if we could go in at 2:30 instead of 1:30, but Baba has to be at work so we get to reschedule in a bit.

So the appointment we did go to today...

It was the first time he saw our Pedi... I'll call her Dr. M just to make things easier. I prob should have done that before, but honestly didn't think about it until I was discussing something online the other day. Anyways, his first time there and it went very well.

He is gaining weight well... I don't remember if I mentioned it, but at his 2 day visit at the BC he had gone down from 10lbs 1oz to 9lbs 7oz... which is normal. We were hoping for him to make it back up to his birth weight by today's visit (again normal gain there). Not only did he lol.. but he's up to 10lbs 13oz. So he's definitely doing well there. He's also grown an inch... is now 23 1/4 inches. I don't remember the head measurments, but it was 64% on the growth charts (weight was 96% and he's off the chart in height lol). That all reminds me a lot of Kalila, as an infant she was always towards the top in the first two and usually off the chart on one.. and towards the bottom on the head one. She was always closer to 30something on that one though lol. eta - I was generous there, just looked at earlier posts and saw one that had her at 9% for it... Of course the chart stuff really doesn't mean anything (esp since I'm pretty sure they use the FF chart and not the BF ones), but its still interesting to see.

She did see his little teeth. Almost didn't because he was hiding them with his tongue lol... There was no talk about pulling if they go ahead and come all the way through (big relief there). From the way she worded it they wouldn't even if they were all the way through at birth.

And of course she listened to his heart and checked everything else.. She went ahead and explained everything to us, mostly stuff we'd discussed with the midwives, but I like that she does that.

We also discussed the whole circ thing again. I'd talked to her on the phone before he was born, and through a receptionist afterwards. She would have done it but for his size (weight)... Long story short, she explained today why its best that its not being done till he's older (has to be 6 months). Personally I liked that she brought up the fact that we can decide if we really want it done during that time. I'm pretty sure Baba liked the fact that she tried to reassure me about the whole thing when we said that he does want it done. Enough about that though...

We talked about his eating and sleeping... Got a lucky comment over the sleeping because the little guy has been sleeping 6 hours at night the past few. I'm not sure how lucky that is... is nice getting the sleep, but he isn't waking me for diaper changes during that time either and woke up with a little rash this morning because of it. I think I'm gonna pull out our pocket diapers and see if that helps with that. I'm pretty sure they'll fit lol.

She also asked how Kalila's doing with everything. Said that she looks like she's doing well too. Thankfully we're down to once a year visits with her... so she has until Sept/Oct until she has to go again. What made me laugh is that Kalila remembered that she gets a lollipop and sticker there and started asking as soon as Dr. M came in.

Oh and she asked about his birth and all that while going over charts at the beginning. I don't remember discussing it last time, but its been 2 years lol. I think I've forgotten a lot about those first few appointments. I couldn't even remember if there were shots involved this time or not (nope).

Was a pretty short visit over all... despite all the new patient paperwork lol.

And since we thought we had an hour until the next appointment we decided to run an errand in between. Quick Sams trip.. just for a couple items since we're trying not to buy much until the move... just what we absolutely need in the meantime.

As much as I really don't like to do it, we decided to take Zavier in in his carseat (I'd rather it stay in the truck, just not comfortable with him spending that much time in it). It was just raining too hard and seemed easiest at the moment. He did ok though. Slept through the whole trip.

When we got back to the truck though... He got more than a bit upset as you can see here...

And Kalila, the big helper that she is, decided to help us out. So cute!

I had to get one of just her too... Thought it was cute she was mimicking him.

Ok, little miss is asking for more water now and I'm pretty sure I have a diaper or two to change, so I'm off!

Thirsties Duo?

2010-05-13T09:46:00.001-05:00

Before anyone goes there (LOL) - This was taken when Zavier was 2 days old... had the little newborn rash still and hadn't even had his clamp taken off let alone the cord come off. Actually... I noticed the rash during this exact diaper change (was first thing in the morning when I took it)... And we went in for our 2 day appointment where they took off the clamp that afternoon. The rash was gone within a day or two. He didn't officially get a belly button until a couple days ago lol. I'm gonna try to get a newer shot before I post this, but still... This was our first one. :-)

Anyways... Thirsties Duo Covers.

Obviously we're in size 1's right now... I'm not sure for how long considering his size lol. But they do fit very well. We have had no leaks with these... well unless you count one morning when I accidentally left a bit of prefold hanging out one leg. My fault lol. Other than that, no leaks. Just as good as the regular, sized Thirsties covers. In my opinion anyway.

What I'm not so crazy about... or at least have mixed feelings about... are the snaps. I like the idea... but they seem very fragile. I'm half afraid I'm gonna break one trying to unsnap them. That hasn't happened, but still. Between that and the fact that the velcro on the sized covers has held up as well as it has compared to the pocket diapers we had we've ordered this cover in the velcro version for size 2.

Now what does make me a little sad (silly but still) is that they've recently come out w/ some really cute prints and we have none of those lol. Not even the size 2's we've ordered... because we ordered them from Franklin Goose and they only have them in size 1 - which we don't really need any more of... I wouldn't mind... but we don't need them lol.

A more recent picture because I think diaper shots are just too cute.. Not the exact cover in the first picture... This one's the storm cloud colour I believe, that one was ocean blue. We also have meadow (green) and honeydew (yellow).

And because they do carry them, here's the links for FG's pages for anyone interested. Like I've mentioned in an earlier blog post and my disclaimer page, I would be making a small amount if you choose to purchase one from here. I wouldn't be sharing the link if I didn't really like this item though... and I will say as much as I love FG, they don't have a big selection of these so if you need a size 2 or want the prints you may need to look elsewhere (sorry).

Silly Girl

2010-05-12T16:53:00.001-05:00

I know I've been posting a bit more (lot more) about Zavier lately... but I don't want to forget about Kalila on here. Good thing I have some really cute stories to share right?

We went out to eat w/ some friends today, Unkie (sp?) Boone and Aunt Jen... We haven't seen them in forever so that was really nice in and of itself. Well at one point Kalila was bouncing all over the place lol and barked at Unkie Boone. Baba asked her if she's a puppy... and I guess Unkie Boone hadn't heard her bark cause he asked her "what's a puppy?" Kalila looked at him like he's crazy or something and said "a dog!" LOL

Almost forgot this one, but they brought gifts for the kids. Stuffed animals from WoW I think (correct me if I'm wrong here lol). Well a bit ago Kalila asked me what hers was... I have no clue... So I told her to ask Baba (as in when he gets home) and she told me, "I can't. He's at work!" Just thought that was cute lol.

She's also started hinting... This morning she touched my belly and said "There's a baby sister in there!" Uh... no.. LOL She's actually said something like that once before a couple days ago too.

And here's a I got a bit ago of her watching Princess & the Frog. Not that you can tell what she's watching lol. Apparently she thought she needed to match the characters... got into the green crayons just before I took this. I really wish she'd stop trying to eat the... things. I don't know how many times we've banned the things here. Everytime I think its gotten better she goes and does this again :-/ Anyways, that's what's up with the green face if you can see it lol. I tried to wash it off of her, but... apparently its gonna take a few more washes. Odd since none of the others stained like that.

Just Not Right

2010-05-12T00:11:00.001-05:00

I've spent half of today trying to get a good shot of these... and been failing miserably.

I don't know if you can see them on there or not. Those were the two best ones I've gotten so far... I can kinda see them, but I know where to look too (bottom middle). Gonna keep trying to get a better picture though...

Seriously I thought I was losing my mind last night (well Mon night, not sure what time this will post lol) when I first saw the little things... They're still so close to the gums that I very easily could have imagined it. Looked again this morning though and they were still there... Showed Baba, he saw them too... Then Gran saw em too when she brought Kalila home. Sigh.. He's too young!

On a more age appropriate note...

This little guy seems to hate sleeping on his back... For the first few days he had to be on me too. I wasn't surprised because Kalila was like that for the first 2 weeks. I did manage to get him to sleep in his bouncer during the day after a few, but nights he still won't sleep in his co-sleeper at all. Once again wasn't worried (yet lol) because it did take so long for Kalila and I figured I'd just keep working on it.

Well someone mentioned the swaddling thing earlier. Kalila hated that.. and I'd pulled out the blanket for it before Zavier was born, figuring there was a chance he might like it... but just hadn't thought about trying it yet. So while I was thinking about it I decided to give it a shot tonight... Yeah, he's out... on his back and not on me.

Don't get me wrong, I like cuddling him and will still let him sleep in his wrap during the day at times or nap on top of me after feedings if I don't have stuff to do. I like this time when I can do that... but I hate sleeping on my back too lol. And I know I'll be a lot more comfortable once he's sleeping in his co-sleeper.

And remember the pictures I mentioned we were going to get done last Saturday? She put a few of them up on her blog - 10 Pounds of Squishy Goodness - I just love them... esp that first one w/ his eyes wide open. And on that note, if you wouldn't mind leaving a comment on there I would be very grateful. Or if you "like" her on facebook and mention that I sent you.

Like I mentioned earlier, Kalila spent the night w/ Gran last night... and a good part of today. Sounds like they had a good time. Poor thing fell and bruised her face.. but like always she brushed it off pretty quickly. She was asleep when she came home though and when she woke up she was whiny and was telling me all about it like she was upset. Thankfully that didn't last long. Soon she was oohing and ahhing over Zavier lol.

Not sure if you can see it, but here she is showing off her "boo boo" and another of her grinning, as you can see she's very happy now.

ETA - I can't believe I almost forgot to mention this! Zavier met his Godmother today :-) I should have gotten a pic while she was here, but I didn't even think about it. My brain has been somewhere else lol. Not sure where... but somewhere. It was nice getting to see her again though and glad she was able to come.

The Batik Artist

2010-05-11T20:28:00.001-05:00

Haven't written any Afrika posts in awhile and have been thinking about doing another one on & off for awhile... and it just hit me the perfect post to do lol. Its another Zanzibar story..

One of the really interesting places to visit there is this old Omani fort. I'm pretty sure I went there w/ the guys the first year that I went to Zanzibar... but I know for sure that we went twice that last year. This story happened that last time that we went.

Backing up a bit.. because we were on vacation, those of us there decided we were gonna go by our middle names that week. Well, one girl did her middle name & I did a variation of mine that got used a lot at the time... One of the guys picked something random & I don't remember what the other did lol.

We had a great week & I'm sure there's other stories from it that may come up eventually... but it was ending and we were getting ready to fly back to Dar es Salaam and then onto Moshi. But we had some time left before we needed to get to the airport, so we went back to the fort...

One of the things you can do there is climb up into the towers and walk along (through) the walls and around. The one you go up has a batik artist who paints in there, I'm pretty sure you can buy from him too.

So we went up there, looked around at the batiks for a bit... and he asked me my name. I gave him the one I was going by... and then we walked out to go to the other side... One of the guys went back first and was already down and in the grassy area before I decided to head down too (long story that I'm not getting into here lol). So I walked back into the tower by myself and the artist spoke to me again...

And propositioned me.

Yes... I told him no. I don't remember if I said it in Kiswahili or Arabic (apparently using the Arabic word for it is a... stronger... way to say it there, at least that's what I was told... and only got used in rare occasions like this lol), but I remember being very shocked when I did.

We ended up joking about it later, but is definitely something I won't ever forget lol.

Wool

2010-05-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

I've been curious about wool covers for awhile now... I never got any because they cost so much more, and I really like the ones we did buy anyway... but still curious. Everyone that uses them (at least that I know who do) raves about them.

So I was excited when a friend gave me a bunch of wool covers that she made.

Unfortunately most of them are just too small for poor Zavier. We have a couple more I haven't tried on him yet (need to be rewashed first, Kalila got ahold of them) so hopefully one or both of them will fit.

The one we have tried... Lets just say its definitely a backup cover. If the others are all dirty... I'll use it. It doesn't fit quite right either. There's a gap at the waist so its a bit loose there... which means if he wets much (which he usually does) it will leak. I don't care for leaks. Our other covers don't...

So yeah... wasn't impressed... but that's just one particular wool cover. I'm hoping the others (if they fit) turn out better.

Mothers Day

2010-05-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

Meant to post yesterday but... didn't happen. Oh well. Hope everyone had a happy Mothers Day. Everyone that celebrates it that is lol.

Ours was pretty good.

Got up and went to Church. It was Zavier's first time... and he did really good. Baba took Kalila and they sat w/ the choir... Zavier and I went into the cry room, but there really was no point. He slept through the entire Mass! We went and sat w/ Baba after Communion... Kalila did pretty good too from what I understand. Baba only had to take her out once... and when I went in she was quietly playing w/ a friend.. Started acting up a bit at the end, but not too much.

Went to lunch w/ Gido after that... and then came back here to change the kids. Ended up resting/naps instead of what we'd planned to do and ended up moving plans w/ Gran back a bit because they were still asleep lol.

Had dinner w/ Gran and Papa Brian... was really nice. Zavier slept through most of that too. Kalila showed off her new tricycle while we were there. They got it for her last weekend... Is pink and purple Barbie...with Tinkerbell pads/helmet lol. She just loves it.

Was a nice day...

Choosing To Be Amused...

2010-05-08T23:22:00.000-05:00

Sigh... apparently the break I had after locking up the blog is over. The commenter is back. Oh well... Last time I had the stupid pg hormones going still.. This time I'm choosing to be amused. Not only is this person not worth the time/energy but every time she or he opens their mouth they make it more clear that they have no clue what they're talking about. Its almost funny. No... not even almost. This time they made a comment about stained diapers (among other things) when the picture was of a brand new, never used one... That is funny. Rude... but still. Yes I have an off sense of humour.

Anyways, I've already given them more time than their worth between this and the reply... not sure why I bothered. With the reply that is... this I get... sharing my thoughts on the whole thing/not letting them get to me like last time bit. I wont if they pull it again.

Beyond that...

Good news... We get to start moving in to the new place next weekend. So excited. We've been working on packing up for awhile now (not as much as we'd like, but still...) and I'm so tired of all that goes with that.

Got some pictures a second ago... really hard to get a family pic w/ 4 of us and noone to take it for us lol.

That actually started because I'm way too excited. I went to change clothes earlier and realized I can fit in my jeans again. How crazy is that? Granted these are pre Zavier jeans, not ones from before Kalila... I don't want to fit in those again though.

Took a break in the middle of typing this up because we had to go get groceries... I thought we were just going to HEB, but Baba remembered we were out of ground beef... so we went to Ali Baba's first. It was packed so we ended up parking next to the liquor store and while we walked past it Kalila pointed and said "I don't like that store!" - Completely random.. but made me laugh.

Speaking of our trip out... I used our sleepy wrap out for the first time tonight. Went well. He slept the whole time we were in the store lol.

Took Zavier to get pics taken this morning.. Originally we were going to have maternity pictures taken and then newborn ones... I was looking forward to it, but we didn't get to do the maternity part. Which is fine... Zavier didn't want to cooperate today though, just didn't want to fall asleep lol. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures whenever she gets them up.

Kalila is still doing really good w/ Zavier. She loves to help out... Sometimes a little too much lol. She's good at helping me change diapers though (gets the stuff for me and/or holds his hands)... and she tries to calm him down when he gets upset in the truck. Today I looked back to see her letting him suck on her finger... She got excited tonight because he was "squishing" her hand... He was holding on to it lol. Oh and remember me telling you about her giving him her Diego doll? She did it again and I got this shot...

Tried on one of Zavier's 3 to 6 month outfits tonight... and it fits. Kinda happy about that because he doesn't have as many 0 to 3's and all the NB's are out lol.

He is doing really well too. He's eating well, if a bit too much at times lol. He's sleeping pretty well... I added the pretty because sometimes a certain overzealous big sister wakes him up trying to love on him. Nights are good though. He sleeps very good at night for an 8 day old. Not really much else to say though... at this point eating and sleeping (and of course what comes of those lol) is about all he does. :-D I am enjoying the cute expressions he makes when he is awake though.. and the stretches and stuff. And like his sister he's been trying to hold his head up from day one. That always makes me smile. Oh and today he grabbed ahold of a couple things (a diaper cover I was about to put on him and something else that I can't remember)... on accident I know, but was still cute.

Anyways, I'm enjoying our weekend. I know Baba took some time off last week, but he's been back at work the past few days & its nice to have him home again. And on that note I'm getting back to it :-)

Oh Deer...

2010-05-07T19:37:00.001-05:00

Today has really just been one of those days. Seriously emotional, all over the place, its just been crazy.

Honestly the first part really started a few days ago and got worse yesterday & today both. Not going into details on this really, but basically dealing with an important decision and instead of it being an easy one like I thought, it hasn't been... its been back and forth and that is getting to me worse than it would have without that happening. Its gotten to the point that I got really frustrated yesterday & started getting a headache... which has continued to today and gotten worse today. I'm sure the heat didn't help with that, but still.

Then... I'm not sure if this was yesterday or today, because it was very late at night.. prob early this morning technically since I was waiting for laundry to finish and for Baba to get off. I got on Cafe Mom and read something that I'll come back to later... Was really hoping the person who posted was exaggerating, but got me upset anyway.

Then Baba came home... very late because he had to work late last night. I just happened to wake up when he came in... to find out that he'd been hit by 2 deer on the way home. Yes hit by 2 deer. Think Gilmore Girls, only he was driving when it happened and not stopped at a stop sign. Apparently one hit him, he swerved and the second one hit then. Yes, we are laughing about it now... but... still pretty scary. Had me pretty upset when he told me...

Woke up this morning, went to change Zavier and got pooped all over. Like seriously got pooped on. Shot out all over the place. Lovely right. Then in the middle of cleaning that up he peed all over himself and the bed (thankfully I didn't get that too).

Then the Birth Center called to schedule our 2 week appointment. While they were on the phone I decided to ask about Zavier's blood type. There was a random problem getting it by our 2 day visit because it didn't get to the place in time (something that's never happened before, aren't we lucky lol)... After talking about it at the appointment we'd decided to go ahead and get the Rhogam shot then anyway because the chances of him being Rh neg were so low. I could have waited a day later and had them bring it to me if he's positive, but we didn't see the point. Figured it wouldn't hurt me if he's not and most likely I'd need it anyway right? Anyways, asked about it this morning... and found out that Zavier is negative lol. Go figure. I'm not gonna complain about the extra shot... and I was pretty excited about it anyway.

Then... a facebook friend posted this New York Times article on the subject that I read about last night/this morning. It seems what I'd read was true... Completely upset me and I ended up bawling... That's just... disturbing doesn't even come close. I'm getting off of this before I get upset all over again.

ETA - I have the article linked above. I wish I could make links easier to see on here, but until I change my background again (whenever that may be lol) I can't do anything about that.

Finally got Baba and everyone else up and ready to go run a couple errands this morning and found out that I may have another babysitting job coming up. Really hoping/praying it doesn't fall through like the past few. So that part of the whole trip out was really good... most of it was. Other than the heat. Way too hot. I can't believe I used to be comfortable at this temp or higher lol.

Came back home to deal with the same stuff from the first part of the post... but other than that the rest of the day has been pretty uneventful. Doing laundry, cuddling w/ kids, all that fun stuff lol.

Wearing Zavier

2010-05-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

I have no clue if I've mentioned it or not, probably have, but I really wanted to wear Kalila when she was little. We didn't for several reasons...

The sling we got was a Hotslings... No this is not one of the ones recalled or that has had problems. Different style. I liked the way it looked, seemed easy to use and was a lot less expensive than some of the others... Unfortunately it didn't fit right. We ordered a size bigger than they said I'd need for my size (not on purpose) and it was still too small. A friend passed on some homemade ones of the same style and they didn't fit either. I tried several times as she grew and we were never able to make them work. I know lots of people love those, but.. not for me.

We were also given a Bjorn... I tried it out when she was a little older and it was too hard on my back. I have scoliosis, and while it has never bothered me before... it did cause problems with the epidural I got with her... which caused problems for quite awhile afterwards... and this carrier made it hurt even more. I found out later its not good for those w/ back problems.

After that I started looking into ones easier on the back... which is how I came up with wanting to try the Sleepy Wrap this time. Well, originally I wanted a Moby... which is very similar lol. But we got a Sleepy Wrap. I'm getting ahead of myself though...

On top of all that, we were given a travel system & I felt like we "had" to use it... I meant to do both but added to the above issues it never happened. I disliked the whole travel system thing the whole time... more so the longer we used it lol... but felt stuck at that point.

Side note: I do have plenty of kanga's... but was never shown how to tie the baby on with them and was uncomfortable doing that by myself. Tried a couple times and just couldn't get the hang of it... I would still like to figure those out, and will probably try again at some point lol.

Yes, I do feel bad that I didn't get to wear Kalila.

Skip forward to when we got that Sleepy Wrap. Very excited about it... Thought I would be using it a little earlier than I have, but of course I wasn't expecting Zavier to be as big as he is or to be told not to carry him around for the first little bit period because of that lol.

I did pull it out yesterday though... Baba's first day back at work and I knew I'd be needing it more and more soon. Pretty much just sat with him in it yesterday... and wore him a bit today. I have to say it is very comfortable. It does not hurt my back... of course other than the normal end of pg and labour stuff that hasn't been an issue this time around. He seems to like it too, sleeps very well when I put him in there.

I'll have to put updates on it as he gets older and we use it more, but here are a few pics.

Oh... and while this is available from FG (I almost got one from them but decided to pick it up in person), I'm not gonna go near that subject w/ this post. I may put up a link to it on the side later on... but the whole point of this post was to show off pictures lol.. and to sit down for a second. :-D

Diapering a Newborn

2010-05-05T20:05:00.000-05:00

If you remember back when I started this blog we were using disposable diapers at the time... Kalila was somewhere around 6 months old when we switched and I really looked forward to using cloth from the beginning w/ this little guy. At the same time... I wasn't sure how it would go lol. I wasn't worried or anything, just had nothing to draw from.

Our original plan was to get through this newborn stage w/ Gerber prefolds... because they go through so many changes anyway. Thankfully we haven't had to do that though... between one friend passing on some of her newborn diapers (mostly unused, and those that were were barely used) and another getting some for us off the registry... we have plenty. And as big as this guy is... the infant size does still fit, and fits a ton better than the Gerbers do.

I'm not going to go into detail about the covers just yet, because I want to break them down by brand... Sorry about that, but those posts will come soon I promise. And I'm sure there will be more than one because it is still early lol.

So far I love using them on a newborn just as much as I did on a 6 month old and as much as I do on a toddler. It was a bit of an adjustment figuring out how to fold them again lol. I'm not sure if that was just because of his age/size or because he's a boy though.

I wish I could remember when Kalila's blowouts started with the disposables... so I could compare that. We've had none w/ these so far... But yeah, I don't remember if hers started this early or not.

Speaking of diapers though... I think I have another one to change ;-)

Small Change

2010-05-05T12:38:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted this before now... I probably should have yesterday, but lots going on obviously lol. At least I got it up on the disclaimer page lol.

Anyways...

Look to your right & you'll see a link to Franklin Goose. Same store I've mentioned a couple times lately because they did that big promotion... which really helped us out a lot.

Random side note: Our mattress came in the other day. It actually came the same day Zavier did lol. We were still at the Birth Center and everything. Thankfully our neighbor signed for us.

So FG started up a new program recently that I signed up for. Basically its an affiliate program... Official details linked here. Long story short though - I have a link to them on my site, if you click over from here I'll get paid a small percentage. I can also link to specific products for the same result...

Which is why I updated my disclaimer page... Haven't put up any specific products yet, but if/when I do I will let you know that they fall under this. If I'm reviewing something that is not on there (and no chance I would make money off of) I will let you know that too.

Hope there's no confusion about this... I just saw the program and figured it was too good to pass up, esp coming from this company that I absolutely love.

3 Years

2010-05-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

Yup... Today was our 3 year anniversary. :-)

I wanted to have pictures to put up, but... Kalila's refusing clothes most of the day, the cake I had planned... well it tastes good but something went off w/ the icing & it looks like... well... not so nice lol. Is a good thing I gave up the idea of trying to actually decorate it or I really would have been disappointed. As is it was just annoying.

We've just had a nice lazy day today though. Got a bit done, but got some rest and stuff too. It was nice.

Brother & Sister

2010-05-03T18:57:00.000-05:00

Yup, she's a proud big sister all right!

So far we've been pretty lucky. Kalila is thrilled to have a baby brother around... and she's doing really well with him. We do have to remind her to be gentle, but it really isn't that bad either. Nowhere near what I thought since she tends to be pretty rough normally. I think the biggest issue we're having is a twist on the whole jealousy thing. She isn't upset a bit by us paying attention to him... but wants him to herself instead. She's constantly asking to hold him...

But she's been really sweet too. Likes to cuddle up with us. The first night we were home she came up while he was sleeping on me and laid down and fell asleep too. Last night she brought us her blanket and tucked us in.. then joined us. I got pics of those obviously, but wish I'd gotten one earlier today when she gave him her stuffed Diego doll.

Beyond all that...

So far these two are so different... which I knew they could be. I'd commented to Baba before about it, that I wondered how he'd be... and kinda hoped we'd have a calm baby. He didn't think we would lol. And its still early so this could end up changing, but so far we do. He does like to be held... and def lets us know it when he does get mad lol. But still much calmer.

They don't look very much alike either, Kalila looked like Baba from day 1... We're not sure about Zavier. A couple of my aunts/uncles think he looks like Grandpa lol. He def has the same lips as Kalila and foot shape (the first is one of the few things Kalila did get from me, the second is all Baba). We think he has my nose... but is really hard to tell. Kalila was born w/ brown eyes that went green several days later and bounced back and forth before staying brown... Zavier's were a greyish green right from the start... haven't changed yet (but its still so early). We're really curious to see what they'll do. Kinda hoping they stay green though, is a really pretty colour. He has reddish blond hair right now along w/ light eyebrows and eyelashes. Curious if that'll change or not too. Kalila's started out black and gradually got lighter before turning red. Not the same shade his is, but the same as Baba's beard lol. Zavier's is closer to mine. They both do have Baba's eyebrow shape though lol. So cute... And they both do sleep exactly like Baba too :-D (as you saw in the pic from the BC the other day).

Now what they do have in common... and this just hits me as extremely odd.

With both kids I went into labour the day after the full moon. They were both born the next morning after that. Kalila was born just before 9 am, Zavier just before 8 am. The day/evening after both births Baba had events to go to at the Church (w/ Kalila it was a fundraiser, w/ Zavier it was a family wedding) and he danced in both events.

How weird is that?

Sacrifice Beads Giveaway

2010-05-03T13:51:00.000-05:00

I hadn't heard of Sacrifice Beads until recently, from a post on A Woman's Place... but I love the idea. So excited that she's doing a give away for a set. Its going until Sunday the 9th, so if you're interested head over here to enter... and good luck!

Just In Time...

2010-05-01T12:41:00.000-05:00

As much as part of me wanted a May baby... I think Zavier had perfect timing.

I haven't really said much about it on here (mostly didn't want to get hopes up lol) but I'd been having pressure waves on and off for quite awhile. The last week or so they'd definitely gotten more regular, but just not close enough to go in. And as much as I wanted a May baby... I was starting to get nervous about it for reasons I'm pretty sure I did mention in the last few days.

So before yesterday I didn't get lower than 6 minutes apart... they got to that so often that I didn't think anything of it when they did yesterday either. Then a few got down to 4 and I let Baba know just like we'd talked about. He was at work... I laid down and listened to one of my hypnobabies scripts before he headed here... and then it seemed like it slowed down lol. At that point I figured we were not having a baby today.

On that note: I had not been good at practicing lately... partly because of Kalila. Is just hard to do alone w/ one toddler running around. I tried, and some days were better than others... Like I said, last nights script went pretty well while I had it on. Kalila did wake up towards the end, just before Baba got home and I had to get up.

Then Baba got home... and we started noticing them close together again... So we called our midwife and let her know. I felt really bad about that at the time because it was 2 in the morning lol. She had us go through another couple and see if we felt like coming in after them... I had one as soon as I hung up and another 2 min later lol. So we decided to take a quick shower and head over. Part of me was worried it was a false alarm though and that I'd be keeping them (and us) up for nothing.

So we got there and decided to check and see what was going on. I was right, my water had not broken... Dilated to 5 when they started the check and went to a 7 in the middle of it! So definitely staying at that point...

They had to have the hot water turned on (renovations to another part of the building) before we could fill up the tub so I spent a good chunk of time on one of the birthing balls... Tried to lay down and rest at one point, which wasn't too bad since I played the script again, but it wasn't near as comfortable so I ended up back on the ball.

Not that you can see it, but here I am on it lol.

And here's Baba & Kalila listening to music on the couch. And eating taco's... Yes we had a taco run just before this lol.

At some point Gido and Gran showed up and Kalila went in to watch Finding Nemo with them... She ended up crashing on the floor lol. I wish we'd gotten a pic of that. Prob should ask Baba if he did... As much as I wished she'd be there, it was so late/early and she was exhausted...

I had another check at that point... was at 8, but just shy of 9... So they decided to fill up the tub, but have me walk a little bit to help me get to 9.

The next little bit I'm a little unclear on what happened when exactly lol. I got in the tub, which was great... But I ended up shaking pretty bad, normal at that point.. but a little uncomfortable. We put on my affirmations cd. Maybe I should have done one of the scripts instead, but I was having trouble staying relaxed... towards the end they gave me some Rescue Remedy (not a pain med, a natural mix that helps calm you down) and that did help some w/ that. Poor Baba was stuck putting pressure on my back (and hurting his in the process) because me being tensed up and stuff equaled my back hurting pretty badly. Honestly I think that was the worst part lol.

Sorry about the belly shot lol, blame Baba he's the one that took this for me. I made do w/ something I had on hand for a "birth skirt" and it didn't work out so well, but at least it kept me decent for a picture lol. Edited the last one obviously, so that I could put up one from a bit later on..

Pushing... not going to go into a ton of details here lol (or post pics for that matter), but really it seemed a lot easier that transformation (Hypnobabies term for transition). I was still a bit nervous... esp about tearing. For one thing I did (only slightly though) w/ Kalila and for another I was kinda bad at one point... I'd started pushing w/ a pressure wave and just kept going when it was over lol. I just wanted him out at that point and stopping didn't feel right. But, yeah, it worried me too. It got him out though lol. (and random side note: I didn't tear, worried over nothing. Not really sure how I didn't though). They did have to stop after he was partway out and unwrap the cord from his neck. Kalila had that too so I wasn't worried... What was different was they had to break the sac to do it because he was born in the caul. Kalila's had been broken (by the nurses :-/ ) early in labour. Anyways, I thought that was cool, and kind of a good thing since I tested GBS positive when we took that test, water breaking later = good thing, not at all = even better, but I didn't expect that to happen lol.

Best part of that... I got to catch the "little" guy. Wasn't something I planned to do, was spur of the moment... and I'm glad I did.

A couple of things happened diff than I'd planned at that point, but not anything I'm upset about... I didn't get to nurse immediately/right away. He did come straight up on my chest, but he'd passed maconium so they had to check him out to make sure he hadn't inhaled any or anything. We did also cut the cord before the placenta was delivered, but at least it was still delayed... and I understood why they needed to do it. Had to draw blood from it to test his blood type and everything since I'm Rh neg. Surprisingly all the end stuff went very well and quickly too... and soon we were in the bed snuggled up and he did get to nurse.

Everyone was surprised by how big he was... Lots of guessing before he got weighed lol. Everyone was pretty close too... He's 10 lbs 1 oz. How crazy is that? The length didn't surprise me at all... We knew he had to be long. Is 22 and a quarter inches. Oh and he was born at 7:42 this morning. We left around 2 pm and came home. After getting a bunch of instructions of things to watch for and do of course... We go back in for a checkup Sunday afternoon.

Kalila woke up and the first thing she said (I was expecting her to yell out baby!) was boob! Made us all laugh... but she got very excited very quickly and has spent all day trying to help.

Now lets see if I can get these pics added so I can post this tonight lol. Might be hard since Zavier's sleeping on my lap right now lol.

Ok, that obviously didn't happen lol. The camera was out in the truck. I do have more pics on the phone, but need the other computer to get them up.. and most of them are taken here at home so it makes more sense to wait and put them w/ the next post anyways. :-)

Regressing?

2010-04-29T22:37:00.000-05:00

Ok so we're expecting some of that at some point right?

I've mentioned before that potty training has just not happened, so no worries about that one lol. Part of me feels bad about it, because I know part of it is me not working on it as much as I'd planned... but she started fighting it at one point too & I'm not gonna force her. She'll do it when she's ready... and from what I've been told she might have gone backwards after Zavier comes anyway.
The main thing she's already doing this with is baby talk. She can speak just fine... but she's started using baby talk again. Not every day, not even all day... but still. Some days are better than others with it. I've caught myself telling her to use her words more times than I ever thought I would lol. And I'm not the only one who's noticed either, Tia Sallie has caught it too. I want to say this one is just in the last few weeks, maybe a month at most...
She's also acted like she wants to nurse again a few times. Hasn't happened lol... but she'll mimic it or talk about it. Mostly she talks about Zavier doing it, but still.
Bed.. the past week I haven't even been able to get her down in her own room.

I know it could be worse... and may be after Zavier gets here. We'll see... I'm hoping not lol.

Pics from tonight... Yes these are of her misbehaving :-/ I love her, but it looks like its gonna be one of those nights....

Me...

I suppose this can fall under the same title lol.

Yesterday I got on my old email that I rarely check. I knew I needed to clean it out, and I get updates from a friend on there... ended up going through a bunch of old emails. Even found the ones from when Baba was in Austria. Made me smile... Was def a good distraction lol.

And yes, if you can't tell I'm still trying to distract myself. Been redoing housework all day today mostly... That and dealing with a grump. It didn't help that I dropped a dish (and broke it) scaring her in the process. Ended up w/ clingy Kalila after that... and now its gone to whining & fit throwing. And now she's begging for Baba... who is at work. (As I just message him about when his break is and praying its soon so she can at least talk to him)

Ok, he just called and she's just holding the phone looking sad... :-(

On a happy note (because the day hasn't been all bad, don't get me wrong)...

Kalila's started talking about "her family" today. Made me draw us a few times... I'll spare you the stick figures lol. She was so excited though.
She's learned to run in her flip flops... Did that for the first time today lol.
Told me a little while ago that she wants chorizo lol.
Has taken over the role of reminding me to drink enough water.

Ok, I need to get going... laundry to switch out and its hard typing w/ little miss in my lap (can you believe she still fits???). Before I do though... Seriously pray this little one doesn't show up in the next couple days. Baba's predicting tonight again, which wouldn't be as bad.. but still lol.

A Little More Kalila

2010-04-28T17:55:00.000-05:00

This little girl just has me shaking my head lol. You just never know what's gonna pop out of her mouth.... Just the amount of talking for one. More sentences... Making up stories (that may or may not make sense lol).

She just told me she's a bad Kalila. Not something she hears from us of course, honestly bothers me when she says it... is not the first time. There was an episode of Martha Speaks where there was a "bad dog" (was really a bad owner who was mistreating him and constantly telling him he was a bad dog). She'd picked it up somewhere else before, not sure where, but both Baba and I had gotten the "bad mama" and "bad baba" comments before and they'd finally stopped until this show. Uggh, I can hear her telling Kimosimi that she's a bad Kalila and he's a bad cat right now.

On the other hand, she likes to tell us that we're the best ever now... and that we're smart, pretty, gorgeous, beautiful, etc... Those she did get from us cause we tell her she is quite a bit lol. Well, not entirely sure where the best ever part came from, but its cute so we'll keep it ;-). Honestly... beyond the whole cuteness factor of it.. it has another upside. Lately I haven't felt like the best mama ever, so her saying it is pretty nice. Makes me feel better if I'm having a bad day or part of the day.

Awhile back we started picking up more Dr. Suess books... Something we've meant to do for awhile. She's going nuts over them. The ABC book is one of her favourites and I've noticed a huge improvement w/ her recognizing her letters. She could say them before and had a few down... but now she has most of them. There's moments when she decides to be silly and guess the wrong ones, I don't know if she's just playing or tired of working on it when she does that... but its obvious what she's doing too because she gets really hyper and laughs while she's doing it.

The love you's... Of course we love to hear those lol. Just last night she cuddled up and said "You love me, I love you, we love each other" - the last part of that was new & I couldn't help but aww over it. But at the same time she has these moments where she gets all stubborn and tells us repeatedly that we don't love her. Which obviously bothers both of us. Sometimes she acts like she's playing when she says it and will say its funny... obviously we tell her its not... but other times she seems like she's mad or something (or will say she's mad). Either way I don't like it. I like the cute/sweet I love you's.. or when she walks up and says that one of us loves her (even when Baba's at work she'll come up and tell me he does) or that one of us loves the other (me & Baba).

Sleep is uggh. Some nights are better than others. As always. I could write more but I have a feeling I've said it all before on this subject.

She still loves to sing and dance. Its so hard to keep her from joining in when Baba has practice (they're getting ready for Folklife now). Right now I've got "Hey Soul Sister" on (one of her fav songs) and she's dancing around me... She has all the words to it down, but instead is being silly and singing along in baby talk w/ really exaggerated expressions. LOL now its turned into ballet like dancing. Random...

Now she's on to drawing lol. She pulled out one of Baba's pens but that's ok... I actually prefer that to the crayons cause she still tries to eat those occasionally. Mostly she's still scribbling, more than mostly lol... but she tells me what they are now... A few days ago she drew the family. Baba's scribble was a little bigger than mine, hers was little and Zavier was a tiny line lol. I was impressed... as goofy as it was. If I could find the paper I'd take a pic of it, but its covered in other "pictures" too so not sure it'd be worth it even if I could lol. She can kind of do circles too, just well enough you can tell its supposed to be one.

We're still having some fits... Now I know that's prob gonna continue for awhile, but she's had some that literally have me at a loss of what to do. I'm just glad those days aren't as often as the good ones... but when they happen..

Not that I prob should have been watching it, but there was a marathon on of "I didn't know I was pregnant" last night and she walked in on part of one... That I don't have an issue with her seeing as a general rule, but it was bedtime... Anyways... She walked in to see this woman on the toilet screaming her head off. Kalila's reaction? She started jumping up and down all excited saying "A baby! A baby! I love babies!" They hadn't even shown it yet lol. I just thought that was cute...

Similar note, she's still in excited mode about Zavier. We'll see how long that lasts after he gets here... but for now she's talking about him being born and stuff.

Stubborn... Sorry that just came up again. Telling me no. Just threatened to spank my theezo and now is shushing me. Sigh...

She has been trying to help out some more around here though... Is very insistent on cleaning lol... and likes to feed the kitties. Thankfully she doesn't try to eat it anymore, that stopped awhile back. I have, however, caught her stirring the food w/ stuff and singing "bate bate chocolate".

I could go on, but I know this is long... I'll try to find a few new pics to add in instead lol. Sorry, trying to distract myself if you can't tell.

This is a little older, back around Easter... Kalila w/ her Ammo Trevor.

About to get a bath after drawing all over herself.. If I remember correctly it was good I dumped her in here like this before getting her ready for said bath because it was the same day I learned that I really like the Wonder Wraps cover lol.

Tackeling the kitties...

Painting on her "new" table (hand me down from her best friend). Is so nice to have a place to actually do stuff like this now.

What little miss has done to my birth ball... I just caught her at it again.

Ok, I'll be nice now...

41 Weeks - Part 2

2010-04-27T13:34:00.000-05:00

Ok, appointment this morning... went well as always.

Good news, the graduation is not as early as I was thinking. Is not until this weekend.. same time as the wedding really, so its just that day or so I really need to worry about (well few days since there's stuff for that around it). On top of that, they do have a plan in place for it... My midwife isn't leaving until Friday and only if she hasn't heard from me... and has it all mapped out to get back asap if things start happening. Hopefully a non issue though.

We also talked about what happens if I get past 42 weeks. I already kinda knew, but not when... If I make it to next Tuesday I'll be getting the ultrasound (basically) then, and we'll go from there. She explained how they measure it on a scale and what each would mean. Once again hopefully not an issue lol.

Natural induction methods... I'm actually not comfortable with most of them. If we get past 42 weeks and Zavier doesn't pass the tests then we'll go there then, but def not before that. I did let her do the pressure points thing with my check... mostly because Baba wants him out lol. Well that and I'm nervous about the whole weekend thing. We'll see what happens though.

I am dilated to a 4 now, so there is some improvement... and Zavier is still doing great. Apparently he takes after his sister and has a small head. I'm not complaining about that lol.

Oh and tonight is a full moon, so crossing fingers here ;-)

On a completely unrelated note... Remember that post about first two blog posts win a free tichel that I thought I had no chance of winning, but tried anyway? I got it.. and it came in today. So excited! I didn't pick the colour or anything, but it turned out to be one I love. My first thought was how thin it is... but the colours work well to "fix" that when its folded... and that could be a really good thing in the summer. Wow this first pic isn't great lol... Kalila came up and said something as I was taking it lol.

And here's some pics of me & Kalila yesterday...

41 Weeks - Part 1

2010-04-26T14:44:00.000-05:00

Two part post for this week because my appointment is tomorrow morning. More pics than anything this week I suppose.

I am starting to get nervous... Not because I'm 41 weeks and he's not here yet. That's fine... Not about giving birth... Just the fact that so much is going on this week that it could be a little crazy!

Remember me saying one of the apprentices is graduating? Everyone is going to that... I forgot to ask exactly what will happen if he decides to come then... Can and will ask tomorrow. I'm sure it will work out if it does, but still a little nervous about that.

Then... one of Baba's cousins is getting married on Saturday. And Aunt Sonia is in the wedding and has stuff to do for several stuff before connected to it... and of course the wedding itself. I have this fear of my water breaking while we're there lol. Luckily the bride's being really nice about it, but still...

Although, still have to say if that does happen I'm holding to what I told Baba before... we can't leave before they cut the cake ;-)

Now on to pics and other 41 week randomness...

Here I am... Yes another of Baba's shirts. I'd say they're all that fit me anymore, but they don't either. :-/

Look Zavier has clothes! Maybe not many but I don't feel quite as bad about it as I did before.. he'll have something to wear lol.

Sleepywrap! No haven't gotten our Franklin Goose order in... I actually had to cancel this off of the order and pick it up here because its just not gonna be in from them in time. Not their fault, its backordered and they're swamped from the promotion. No complaints at all... I need to get this washed today. Oh and if you can't tell, I got the blue one... not red like the box lol.

And since I picked it up here I got a $10 gift cert in my bag (didn't even notice until we got home lol) to diapers.com so I'm gonna look around on there and see if there's anything we want/need from there.

Ok, I need to get dinner started (crockpot) and do a few things around here... so I'm off! Hopefully more news to come soon :-D

Not Again...

2010-04-25T00:03:00.000-05:00

Yeah... zoo trip got moved again!

No it didn't rain out... although it did rain last night.

No Zavier did not decide to come...

We headed over there and it was stinking packed. Like to the point that there were police there directing things. It was awful. We turned around and left lol.

We are still planning to go. Obviously not until after Zavier's born at this point... I'm really looking forward to going whenever it is.

And no complaints about today either. We got together w/ Tia Sallie & Uncle Brian again and had fun..

Oh and on a completely random note... Tomorrow I'll be one day shy of 41 weeks, exactly when Kalila was born... and like the night before she was born Baba has dance practice at the Church. Yes we've joked about it a few times. More than a few times. Who knows though...

Getting Out

2010-04-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

I wish I could say I had pics, but no... none from today. We had a really good day though.

Tia Sallie called this morning and said she was off and wanted to go out, wanted to know if we wanted to as well... So Kalila and I got ready and the three of us (later 4 since Uncle Brian joined us) had a great day. I couldn't believe it when we started back and it was around 6 lol.

We started out w/ lunch... then headed over to BRU where we thought there was a sale... Not so much, but we did leave w/ a diaper bag (baby gift for Zavier from them). Very excited about it because we really needed a new one and this one is a lot sturdier. Not the cutest one there, another almost got picked because it was so adorable... but this one was a little bigger and we both liked how sturdy it seems to be. I just looked it up online and it has great reviews too. Link for anyone interested lol. We looked at the clothes too, but hardly any boy stuff and most of the boy stuff they had was awful.

From there we went to the mall, met up w/ Uncle Brian... and looked at this baby store Tia Sallie had told us about awhile back. Really good prices... Like stuff for 2 and 3 dollars... and they split the store in half between boy & girl so there's actually a good selection of boy clothes! I didn't pick up much... but found a Batman set that I knew Baba would love, and a couple outfits for Sundays. I know he's gonna be in onsies a lot for awhile, but still... would like to have something for Church lol. Kalila made us all laugh by refusing to budge from the shoe section... Such a girl.

Then we went and got food again... and Kalila jumped all over her uncle and just had a blast playing w/ him. Even gave him a kiss on the cheek at one point. Too cute. We talked for quite awhile before leaving.

So now we're home... which just as much to do as before. Maybe a little more because of extra laundry lol. No complaints though. When I first came in I was so tired I wasn't sure how I was gonna get off of here, but I'm starting to get some energy back... As long as Kalila doesn't insist on me laying down on her bedroom floor when I put her down in a bit, I should be good.

Uh yeah... remember the week of being sick? Little miss got used to sleeping on the couch for the first part of the night (she was so miserable we didn't fight it and it helped us keep an eye on her) that she's been fighting us on her bed lately. So the past two nights I've ended up on her floor until she crashes. It works but at this point laying on the floor not so comfortable lol. Hopefully she'll do better tonight.

Yes Another...

2010-04-23T11:42:00.000-05:00

Giveaway... from Mommy Saves Money. Eco Nuts this time.

Here's the link to the blog post.

Honestly I have never tried washing with these... am curious but the cost has stopped me. I do like the idea of them... esp for washing diapers. And one less thing to do around here (for awhile) after the baby comes would be nice so of course I'm entering this too lol. If any of you decides to enter too, good luck!

40 Week Appointment

2010-04-22T11:31:00.000-05:00

Ok... Where to start? :-)

We just had our 40 week appointment (tech a few days past, but is when we could get in). Started off a bit... dramatic... because it was set for 9 am. I set my alarm set for 7 so I'd have time to get ready. Phone goes off (ringing, not alarm) and I look over to see it was just after 9!!!!!! Grabbed up my phone (the other one had rang & stopped) and called the Birth Center to make sure it wasn't them. It wasn't lol. Thankfully as close as we are we were still able to make it, if a little late. We jumped up, threw on clothes & out the door.

Normally we see one of our midwives & an apprentice for the appointments... but the one we were gonna see was w/ a new family who got there early. And... the "apprentice" we were seeing this week (we've seen 2, but this one has been at most of our appointments, the other only a couple) is actually finished w/ all her stuff, taking her test soon & graduating next week! Excited for her... Of course she made sure we were ok with it just being her for most of the appointment before we started... and we were. Very comfortable with her too.

Not a whole lot to say about the appointment itself.

I was hurting a bit when we went in... on one side. Wasn't really sure why, but we figured it out pretty quick when she felt my belly lol. Zavier had his feet pushed up there!

My tests all came back good. They did show that I needed to eat (like I said, we ran straight there) and that I have been sick... which we all knew lol. Everything else was perfect.

I had my first VE... We debated having one last week, and I hadn't really planned too until the past few days. This morning on the way Baba & I talked to it & I explained why I was more comfortable having one now and actually could give reasons of why I wanted to know... So we did. Once again, everything is good. Prob not having him today or anything lol, but I am dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. He's also very low & she could feel his head :-)

And of course we got to hear his heartbeat... a little longer this time since he's past 40 weeks (which is fine, not overdue despite what some people think... Baba...). He did great, reacted to being moved and everything. All very cute.

Kalila had fun too... Jumped up on the table as soon as we got there and had to have her "baby" checked first. Then she played with puppets, stuffed animals, and just showed off in general. Just about amazed me before we left by getting water from the cooler all by herself!

Before we left we went over last minute questions.. most of which we've talked about before, like when to call or go in... but still nice to go over. And in the middle of that our midwife (one of, we have 2) came in and we talked with her some too. It was nice.

Scheduled appointment for next Tuesday. If we don't go in before lol. We'll see...

Oh and thanks to Baba we have these... Much better than the 40 week pic I tried to get myself the other night lol.

The Trip...

2010-04-22T08:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I know this was forever ago so I have prob forgotten half of it...

We've been wanting to go down to visit my side of the family for quite awhile and finally managed it before it was too late for me to travel. Was an interesting trip down... we had to stop every hour or so. Not too unusual, we tend to do that anyway... but I definitely noticed we needed it this time. Unfortunately we learned the hard way that one of the stops is no longer open (therefor no bathroom) lol.

We stopped off in FS first and visited w/ Granny & Nana... I wish I'd gotten pics w/ them but these were all we got.

Then we headed off to VH to see the others... Stayed the night there before heading back the next evening. Was nice visiting w/ everyone... Once again I wish I'd gotten more pics, esp when Kalila got to meet Grandma. But, these were all we got. :-(

Sorry, I wish I could say more... but its been over a month (at least) since we went. The trip back went well... We had a lot of fun. Looking forward to going back :-)

Catching Up....

2010-04-21T08:10:00.000-05:00

Ok... so I know I'm really behind on pictures, some of them anyway, because they were trapped on my phone. Tired of waiting so grabbed the laptop and getting them all on now lol.

Kalila's second haircut... She did so well!

I really don't remember what was going on here... was the week before Easter though and I just loved these.

When Kalila got into my makeup that day...

Since I had to get into Baba's phone for some other pics I needed... I found some more I have to share too!

Remember my embarrassing bench story?

Not my only embarrassing moment lately... Here I am stuck when I was trying to get out of the way while we installed our infant carseat.

The puppy Kalila fell in love with...

Just random other cuteness, some of it I wasn't there for and seeing for the first time myself lol.

Ok I'm done... for now :-)

Cover Your Hair Giveaway

2010-04-20T13:17:00.001-05:00

Good grief there's a lot of giveaways lately!

Cover your hair is giving away a free shawl.. and a free Tichel to the first two people to blog. I don't think I'm gonna make it in time, but... We'll see lol. Website linked on its name btw...

Oh and here's the blog post they wrote about it for more info!

Holy Week Part 2

2010-04-20T08:01:00.001-05:00

The pics I promised you... sorry it took so long!

Palm Sunday

Easter

40 Weeks And St. Expeditus

2010-04-19T20:51:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know St. Gerard is the patron of pg women, childbirth, and all that... but St. Expeditus has been, well a joke is not the right way to put it, but we've kidded about it a bit because his feast day and my guess date are on the same day.

I thought it was amusing when I found out because he's the patron saint of procrastinators... If you don't know me or Baba well then it probably isn't as funny, but... yeah.

So why we had a feeling this little guy would be early... who knows. LOL

Anyways... I've made it to 40 weeks. Which I'm really happy about. Baba maybe not as much, but I am. Not gonna lie, I am getting anxious to meet him too. Like I said the other day, I bounce around between whether I want him to come now or wait a little longer like I started off hoping for lol. And its not day to day either, but diff times of the day lol.

We did finally get his carseat in the truck... Finally. So that is done now too.

We also picked up a couple last minute things we needed (well one was more a want than need, but will make life a little more convenient). Took us a couple weeks to do it because the store is open such a short time on Sat and we couldn't find it last week lol... but we went for the one thing (milkies, so excited to actually find them!) and found the wet bag we'd had on our list too. That one we really did need... The one we had was nice, lasted 2 years... but its gotten to the point its giving up and doesn't work well anymore. Not an item that you can really make do w/ if its not working... I want to get another for a backup at some point, but not worried about it right now. We can still tech. use the old one if we need too (just can't forget the tto inside!).

I need to go through Kalila's newborn stuff still lol. Almost forgot until Baba mentioned the little hats. Most of hers were neutral so I should be able to pull them out... will prob do that tonight.

Yes, I'm trying to find stuff to do lol.

I tried to get a good 40 week pic too just now... Uggh, yeah not so much. I stayed up way too late last night so been tired all day, should have expected this... So apologies for crappy pic. I wouldn't even post it except I'm trying to keep up with these.

Mommy Saves Money Giveaway

2010-04-19T16:46:00.000-05:00

Yup, found another giveaway lol... over at Mommy Saves Money (linked to post there if you can't see it).

I really have never tried these diapers, but they look cute & of course I wouldn't mind winning one to try.

Random Thoughts...

2010-04-18T20:28:00.000-05:00

Note: I wrote this a couple nights ago and couldn't get it published. We did not get to do the zoo thing I mentioned... it rained. Oh well, hopefully next week.

Good news... I'm starting to feel better! Not 100%, but at least no throwing up today. Improvement right? On top of that I think the serious nesting thing is setting in. I really noticed it a few days ago, but I was too sick to follow through... I tell you that is a HORRIBLE feeling. Not just being sick, but wanting to clean & get stuff done and being stuck. Just awful.

Looks like the question of if our April zoo trip would include a newborn or not will be answered soon lol. We have it planned for tomorrow morning, so unless something happens between now & then (and moves it back a bit) there won't... Not upset. Doesn't hurt to get some serious walking in at this point lol. And it'll be nice to have this last one w/ just Kalila... spend some special time w/ her before he comes.

I'm still a bit in awe of my guess date being just a few days away. Not that it really means anything (and I know that lol) but still. It just seems like it... Mostly because we've been asked the date so many times and I've said it over and over and see the countdown to it daily on here. Its just crazy that we're just days away from it.

Speaking of the countdown... I'm curious what that widget will do once we pass it. If we do of course lol. Seriously though... does it go into negative numbers? Does it assume the baby has been born? I know that's a really goofy thing to be thinking about at this point, but yeah...

Trying to figure out how to word this next part. I don't mean anything mean by it, no offense to anyone who's done this... but its hit me as funny.. especially lately. We've gotten to that point where everyone is asking. I can't make a phone call w/out being asked if everything's ok or if Zavier's here. I'm getting phone calls daily to see "how I'm doing". Emails. And now a blog comment... Its kinda cute. Granted there's been days that its been annoying too, but mostly its funny & cute. (Can you tell I'm in a good mood?)

Don't worry yall aren't the only ones anxious. Baba is too. Its adorable. He can't wait to meet his son. I don't blame him one bit... I'm actually getting a bit anxious to meet him too. Definately looking forward to it. Still hoping he goes as long as he needs too, but... looking forward to meeting this little guy. Kalila keeps saying she wants to too... She's been talking about it more and more lately.

Kinda shaking my head at ourselves today though... I guess its a he didn't come early like we thought he would (we really thought he would lol) because I just realized how much we weren't/aren't prepared with a few things. Obviously we've been getting major things ready... but it just hit me that the people we're calling to head over there haven't really been told what would happen when the time comes lol. Oops.

Have a couple pics to share... One I think I've mentioned before. Was from last Saturday & one that I actually like lol.

This one, however, was earlier today... Wow.

Yes I know I look like I'm wearing the same thing in the two... I'm not I promise. I have two of those shirts & several pairs of yoga pants lol.

And because I can't just not put up any pics of Kalila...

Cute right? That's her w/ her best friend again... They haven't seen each other in awhile so this was a big deal today. She went over and played at her place for quite awhile and was very upset when she had to come home.

More on Kalila - Plus Some...

2010-04-15T23:08:00.000-05:00

We've had some really cute Kalila moments around here lately. Some not so cute too lol... but I've gotta share some of my favourites.

TV...

Lately she's picked up on a phrase from PBS... about calling your local library. Unfortunately we've never been able to go (hoping that will change after we move), so she doesn't really get what its talking about... but she's constantly coming up and telling me "Call your local library!" - Today it was even better... She said, "The tv say call your local library!"

She also commented on another commercial today... Normally we try to mute them out because she'd picked up on a really bad one awhile back, but its easy to miss... and this one just ended up being cute too. One for ATT came on and she yelled out something about it being a good price. Why its so cute? That's who Baba works for lol.

I also caught her singing the potty dance song today...

Yes we watch too much tv. I know this... I'm bothered by this... Something to work on... but does make for some cute stories lol.

Books...

This one prob should have gone first lol. She goes through phases of having one be her absolute favourite. Lately its been "What Baby Needs" by Sears. She calls it "The Zavier Book".

Well, earlier today (uggh back to tv) she saw something about soy milk and got all excited. I explained that we don't drink that kind, that we drink cows milk or goats milk. She added in chocolate lol. After explaining that was added in to the others lol, I said something about how when Zavier comes he'll have mommy's milk. Her eyes lit up and she started going on about how when he's older he might have mommy milk from a bottle when I have to be away. That is from the book! I was so proud of her...

And tonight (after reading it and another... she can't go to sleep w/out two stories... will try to con us out of more, but she gets 2 lol) she picked the book up and started "reading" it to herself again. I caught her saying that part again and then on the co-sleeping page I caught something about having been close to mommy's heart and not wanting to be far away. It was soooo cute.

She's also taken to the "I'll Love You Forever" book. She sings the little song and talks about the boy growing and growing lol.

Random other stuff...

She decided to clean the bathtub today. Asked for a washcloth and started scrubbing... Obviously I have to go back over it... but I'd put vinegar in her bath (no rash but being careful because we've been sick) so she did a pretty good job... for a 2 year old lol.

The giggles last night at bedtime... Ok, so I was tickling her w/ her stuffed flamingo, but still. I love that giggle!

A couple days ago she broke one of our glasses. I was already in bed, she'd woken up and was getting a drink and sitting w/ Baba when it happened. I'm not really sure how... but she got so upset by it. She ran into our room, crawled into bed & told me she'd broken it. Was an accident (I figured it was, and Baba confirmed that) but you could tell she felt guilty about it. She was still talking about yesterday...

She's also been... not sure how to word this, but she's basically trying to play us. She told me her tummy hurt the other day... I asked if she was gonna be sick & she said no that she just needed a cherry lollipop! She's tried that one w/ Baba too since then... and today...

Today... First she found a package of M&M's from Easter in her diaper bag while we were at the Birth Center. Asked Baba & he said no... None of us heard that part until later btw.. So she walked up to the midwife and tried to get her to open it... Of course she referred her to me, I said no... so she went right back to the midwife! Then on top of that, she kept trying to take my last peanut butter cracker (I was still feeling sick... actually hadn't gotten to its worse yet though). I kept telling her no, had given her a couple already.. and she stole it. We made her bring it back, but she stopped right in front of me, thought about it and then broke it in half and gave me half. All of us in the room were fighting back laughter at that one. On one hand it was cute... but no!!!!

She got ahold of a pen earlier and drew on herself... and apparently (I just noticed) she drew on my birth ball too. Not sure how I didn't notice since I was sitting on it at the time...

Speaking of the birth ball... She thinks its her personal toy. She tries to roll it, bounce it... but that's not the worse part.. She tries to stand on it too! Bad enough when I'm on it and she's hanging on to me... but I turned around one day to find her in the middle of the room, standing on the thing & jumping. I might have written about that before (sorry if its a repeat) but I'm still in shock over it. It was crazy!

Oh and crazy... She keeps telling me that things are driving her crazy. I think that goes back to the "I'll Love You Forever" book, but still... tonight she told me that I'm driving her crazy lol. Of course she was laughing and giggling, so it was just cute.

I could prob go on but I'll be nice lol... We're just full of cute around here... even if not all of it is exactly what we want her to be doing lol.

Beyond that...

Yeah I'm still sick. Today was awful!!!! From the time I got home from my appointment to about 5 I couldn't stop throwing up (sorry I'm sure you really wanted to know that). I had moments I'd stop, but still... it was horrid.

Finally Baba called and said he was gonna get ahold of Tia Sallie to see if she could come help... and oddly enough things got better around the same time lol. By the time she got here I'd gotten Kalila in the bath & was picking up and stuff. Thanks to her being here I actually got more done than I expected even feeling a bit better...

Still not a 100%, but that's ok. I'm just happy I'm not as sick as I was earlier...

And to add to the cute, when she left Kalila said that she loves her Tia Sallie. Oh and I got a pic of them too!

39 Weeks

2010-04-15T13:53:00.000-05:00

I was gonna break this into a couple posts since my appointment wasn't until today... but I didn't get a chance to post the first & honestly not much to add anyway.

I wanted to post the pic Baba got on Saturday. Was a pretty good pic... but he's got it on his phone & hasn't sent it yet. :-/

And Kalila got one Monday that makes me laugh. Where did Zavier go? Is crazy how diff my two pg's have been... We never could have gotten one like this w/ Kalila.

The appointment was ok... I was still a bit out of it from being sick. I was so hoping I'd be better today. Not so much. Zavier is doing good though.

Not really much else to say... I can't believe how close we are to the guess date. Baba is still wanting Zavier to come soon... I'm glad he's hung in there though because of the whole Kalila sick thing. That would have been rough.

Oh.. classes. We have officially finished. Sorry I've slacked off a bit writing about the last couple. I really enjoyed most of the reading material and while practicing the techniques has been rough lately (back to the sick Kalila thing) I have enjoyed it, like the way they work. So far I definitely recommend it.

I Hate My Birthday...

2010-04-14T16:11:00.000-05:00

I'm not even kidding...

Kalila is finally well, so that's good right? But no I end up sick yesterday... and in pain most of the day. To the point I ended up calling my midwife last night. Thankfully she had some good tips and I'm feeling a lot better today... but I'm still somewhat sick.

Nothing has gotten done around here so we're seriously behind. I need to do it today (bday or not) and just don't want too. And as if being behind wasn't bad enough, Kalila decided to climb into her diaper drawer and pee all over everything this morning... so I get to rewash all of her diapers today too.

One of my cousins called over some stuff we'd talked about awhile back and while we were looking it up I went to the website where I was going to get the new diaper bag... You remember the really great one that was on sale for over half off. It had been on sale for months & we kept putting it off... and now its not. I can't (and/or won't) pay $100 for a fucking diaper bag... So it looks like I'm not getting one now. Which also means there's no Houston trip because that was my whole excuse for going... which means no African food. Unless I cook it... Which I don't feel like doing... and goes back to the whole being behind on everything thing.

And of course you know it'd be raining today too...

One Size Cover?

2010-04-12T20:30:00.001-05:00

If you remember awhile back I won a random gift certificate to Go Baby Go. We thought awhile about what we wanted to get from there and decided to try a new brand of diaper cover... mostly just because we knew we needed more. I had thought about trying this cover before, both because I'd seen it in a store and it looked cute.. and because its one size.. but the reviews stopped me. But getting it for free.. I figured it was worth a try.

Note: This is where I reiterate... Yes we did win the gift certificate... I think it was for commenting on a facebook status, but I could be wrong. I may have posted on here for an entry. Either way I was not asked to review the items bought.

Here's a picture:

Yes... Its purple. I wanted to get the green one, but they were out.

I can't even remember how long its been since we picked it up... Has been awhile now. I'm sure I could look back on here, but that'd be too much work lol. It has had plenty of use though so I feel a little more confident in writing this now.

Almost right away (like the first time we used it) I noticed exactly what someone else was complaining about in the reviews. It leaves red marks around the legs. I do not like that at all... And keep in mind, this is on the largest setting. Yes, Kalila is 2 1/2 and almost 30 lbs so I'm not expecting her to be in a smaller one... but at the same time she's on the thin side... so for it to be the biggest setting and still so tight (that it does that) is a little troubling.

On the other hand... It does not leak. Period. Someone's had some tummy issues (that I'll spare you the details to) this week and nothing came out.

Its also very sturdy looking. The velcro looks like it may hold up a lot longer than the velcro on other diapers and covers we've had. I could be wrong about this, but is how it looks.

Back to the sizing thing... I like the idea of being able to use one cover longer (is why we ordered the Thirstie Duo's for Zavier) but... because of how tight these are on Kalila I really wonder about if they would truly be one size. Somehow I see needing a larger cover at some point especially if you have a larger baby (like we expect our next to be lol. Could be wrong, but we'll see).

On the other hand... This has become Kalila's favourite cover... Yes despite it leaving marks. She begs for this cover. It gets worn pretty much right out of the wash every time.. I don't know if its the colour or the snaps (she calls it her purple snap) or what.

And yes, if you haven't noticed by now, potty training not going so well right now lol. I really hoped we'd have it done... but looks like we're gonna have 2 in diapers at least for a little bit. Hopefully not too long though!

More Detergent Trials

2010-04-08T15:52:00.000-05:00

Just finished up our batch of the detergent I mentioned here. Like I guessed, it did work well... I haven't figured up the costs yet... mostly because I have no idea what we paid for the oxi-clean. We haven't had to buy any in so long (gotta love Sams) that it slipped my mind. We will need to pick up some more soon though, so hopefully I can get that done.

Just after I made that batch though someone brought up a point that I hadn't thought of. Our diapers and the soap in the detergent recipe. I'd seen others mention they'd used it on cloth diapers w/ no problem but a good point was made... Soap can coat them and make them less absorbant. I hadn't noticed anything like that... but others had noticed an ammonia smell that I hadn't noticed (I haven't been able to smell correctly in oh about 9 months lol) so I had to wonder if that could be part of it. So I went in search of a cloth diaper safe recipe.

I found one... but not completely happy w/ it because it does include borax. I got it from here, and its basically 1 cup each of borax, washing soda & oxiclean free (or baby oxiclean). I'm still searching for a borax free version, but for now this does work...

This brings up another question I was asked recently (and had no idea the answer to until a few min ago when I looked it up). The difference between regular oxiclean and the baby version? The baby kind has no dyes or fragrances.

And while I was searching for another diaper friendly recipe I also started looking up adding citric acid into my regular mix. Apparently it helps hard water, which we have... and we keep a good amount of it around too so its not like its something we'd need extra of. I found a recipe that includes it, but it was a borax recipe... so I figured I'd just add it in to the one I'm already using (since I just had to make up a new batch anyway) and we'll see if there's any difference :-) What can I say, I'm having fun with it...

Beyond all that... clothes are still looking/smelling good... I like having more room in the laundry room (takes up less space). If I don't get distracted while making it, it only takes a few minutes (note: chatting online and grating soap really isn't a good idea. Something that takes 1 to 2 minutes at most, can drag out to 30 lol). And I love not having to run everything through so many wash cycles to get all the soap out. This stuff comes out in one, where every store brand I tried took several no matter how little detergent I added to the wash. I am still running an extra cycle on the diapers, but before I had to run them through at least 3 or 4 times after so big difference there still.

Of course, on a similar note, I still really want to try Rockin' Green lol. Keep entering contests to win some online and just haven't managed it yet...

Now back to really doing laundry instead of just talking about it lol.

Having Fun

2010-04-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

Ok, I'm still tired from yesterday... and thought I'd post some of the pics I've gotten lately.

Kalila at bedtime. She insisted on Mumble sleeping with her... She managed to catch her and get her there. Of course it didn't last long. Glad I got a pic though!

After picking out her outfit for today, Kalila insisted on having some pictures taken... Can you believe I just cleaned that stinking room? I have my work cut out for me today... and little miss is not getting out of helping either!

After that pic, she wanted some w/ her new pink flamingo that Uncle Trevor gave her... She's just in love with the thing lol.

Then she decided her baby was hungry... I wish I'd had it on video because she was telling me all about it lol.

Ok, these are not Kalila, but I have to share because too cute. Will be even cuter when I get pics of someone in them though... One of Baba's aunts gave us a couple onsies for Zavier the other day... they're from a line that another family member started and sells online. Sorry, just had to share... too excited to have a couple more things on his section of the closet (can't even say side lol).

These are a little older... but Kalila cracked me up the other day. Insisted on wearing two pairs of shorts at once!

Ok, I've gotta go. Not only do I need to wash Baba's socks, but now I need to prep some new diapers too. :-D Sorry, very excited about that too. Gotta love unexpected mail!

38 Week Aventure

2010-04-06T20:47:00.000-05:00

Ok...

So I'm 38 weeks now (as of yesterday) and had my appointment today. I think the trip around it was probably a little more eventful than the actual appointment was (although it was nice).

This was the first time Baba could not make it. We thought about changing our appointment, but that didn't really work out. Was the only downside to his schedule change. So... We decided that Kalila & I would just ride the bus.

The trip over went really well... I was a bit rushed when we left. Kalila did not want to get ready (as usual lol) and we pretty much ran out the door. Luckily we made it w/ plenty of time. Kalila did great... She was very excited about the whole thing and talked about it the whole way there. Part way through another baby (7 months) got on & that was even better. Kalila just went nuts over her. We had one transfer, but it wasn't bad at all. We got out and made it to the appointment early for once.

The appointment... Not a whole lot to say. It went well. I was a bit tired from the trip of course, but still... We talked more about everything.. How I'm doing and what I need to get done still (lol, seems like a ton), and stuff more related to the pg & birth like how my iron's come up (yea!) and I can drop one (not all) of the supplements I'm on for it since I'm having a harder time with it. Not saying its horrible or having a reaction, just the side effects aren't fun & the taste gets to me. Kalila during the birth.. we talked more about that. And what was the other big one? Oh my GBS test. Good news is I was wrong about it meaning we'd have to go in right away... they sent home the flush stuff w/ me and directions for it. So when things really start (like my water breaks) I can go ahead and do that myself. Was nice to hear... Speaking of, I need to go put that up.. brb. Ok... Tests were all good. Zavier is still head down and dropped some more (like I thought). Moving all over the place so listening to his heart was fun lol. Once again Kalila insisted on being checked too. One of the new apprentices was in there and she did that, even felt around for her babies position, measured her tummy, and all that. Kalila was thrilled. Wouldn't let her get away w/out doing the doppler too though lol.

So that all done we set up our next appointment... and by that point I was starving. Figured I had time to grab us dinner before the bus ride... but then I saw the schedule I printed and silly me put the return time too early? Not sure why, I remember searching for an hour later... So I txt'd Baba for another schedule.. and found out the bus was coming, left w/ no food & didn't make it in time. Ticked, but he gave me two options and one was still good.. so waited. This time I get on the bus and the driver was an ass (sorry no good way to put it). The other bus had no issues w/ people leaving the strollers out and gave us time to deal with getting the kids out. This one jumped all over me to do so (note: Kalila was sound asleep too) and then made an announcement while glaring at me (after seeing me holding a sleeping baby) about needing to fold them up. Thankfully there was a nice lady on there that helped out. At this point I'm carrying a folded stroller the whole time, carrying Kalila, plus our bag... Worn out, hungry & have to go to the restroom. Long past the point of ready to breakdown. I get out to transfer and couldn't find the stop, cross to the other side and don't see it. Cross back to check in the office since it was a spot that had one and go figure it was back across the street hidden away. :-/ . Sat down & saw on the thing I'd grabbed that I had another 30 min for it to come. Luckily it came sooner... I get on that bus and it takes off right past a stop next to the one I got on the other bus on. Yeah the trip planner gave us a really stupid route. Not happy.

As bad as that was, Kalila must have noticed how upset I was because she kept giving me this sweet smile and telling me I'm a good mama. Gotta love it.

I'm so glad to be home now though... Tired. Sore. But very glad to be home. And now I have a headache (Kalila brushing hair and hit me on the head).

And I'm afraid of even seeing the pics from this week. Kalila helped me take them lol.