setbacks...

...seem to be the norm around here. Meghan's diaper rash is flaring up and I was a bit mystified until I stripped half of our diaper stash yesterday. Before, when we only had cotton prefolds and covers, I would just boil the prefolds for 20-30 minutes and covers for 10 minutes. You're not supposed to boil anything with PUL or snaps, as it can warp or cause leaks, but I haven't had any problem with that technique. Now that we have some microfiber inserts, fleece pocket diapers, etc., we get the stinkies/ammonia sometimes. What started this recent bout of stripping was I put Meghan in a Happy Heineys pocket diaper for overnight. We love this because it's easy to use and easy to stuff with extra inserts for overnight. Meg has turned into a heavy wetter at night time since she started drinking milk, water, and juice. The new routine is: I wash everything on hot with a regular amount of diaper soap, a squirt of Dawn dish soap and 2 splashes of bleach. Then an extra wash with just water, so rinse everything clean. I brought all the diapers upstairs and boiled them. Then I rung everything out by hand and hung it all up to dry. The diapers take overnight to dry thoroughly when doing the everyday diaper laundry. The stripped diapers were still quite wet this afternoon, so they're getting a spin in the dryer right now.

I use Dawn because it is "the grease fighter" or whatever their slogan is, so it helps to remove residue left behind by rash creams. I've been using coconut oil, which works great and washes out of the prefolds well, but not the Happy Heineys. The cover is repelling liquid and so Meghan is just sitting in her wet diaper until the liquid is slowly absorbed by the inserts-resulting in the red, angry rash. I'm using the bleach to keep the yeast away until Meg's bum is completely clear. I'm only going to use the 2 splashes of bleach every other week so that the diapers don't deteriorate too fast. Hopefully. :/

I wash every other day or every 3rd day. Lately, every other day. So our diaper stash is split into 2 loads and I'll be doing the whole stripping routine again tomorrow. Big plans for my Saturday-haha.

The beginning of this week didn't start out so great, as far as the scale goes. I gained instead of losing over the weekend. I did not eat right last weekend or exercise and I paid for it on Monday. In addition to not watching what I was eating, I didn't get a chance to exercise, so on Sunday shovelled out our car so I could use it and get some cardio in. :) Kim (mil) called me on Sunday afternoon to say that I was invited to Drew's cousin Katie's baby shower and that it started in 3 hours! I was excited to go because I love babies and parties and getting to see a bunch of Drew's family and their friends from their church.

As Kim was telling me about the party and that I didn't need to bring a gift because of the short notice, I was racking my brain to think of something to bring or quickly whip up with my crochet hook. But 3 hours just wasn't enough time. Add my "workout", Meg's late nap and getting ready to that...I ended up bringing a card. Kim and I were talking about how it would've been nice if I had the time to make an infant sized Mohawk hat like I did for Drew's brother for Christmas. I wish I had had the time to whip up a hat because that would've been too cute and Kim said Katie's husband would've thought it was a hoot. I might make one and give it to Kim to give to Katie anyway, or mail it to her. I don't know. I started a baby blanket for another relative who is due in April and it's not even 1/4 way finished. I started it right after Christmas and I'm only like 10 rows into it.

So back to the exercise deal. I'm thinking about posting my weight numbers on here. I'm not sure if I want the whole world to know exactly how much I weigh, but it would be nice to keep track. I'll probably just post about the milestones, like every 10 pounds or something. I'm not at 10 pounds yet, but I'm getting there! I did work hard all week, worked out every day and I saw a new number today! Very excited about that, I texted Drew right away. :) I also started the Special K diet, like the cereal. I'm eating a bowl for breakfast with fruit, a Special K protein meal bar for lunch with fruit or vegetables, and "regular" food for dinner. Plus Special K protein water, fruits and vegetables for snacks. I do slip up and catch myself splitting a Slim Jim snack with Meghan or eating Goldfish off of her high chair tray when she's done. Sometimes I have a mental battle with myself. ;)

I also have stopped snacking after dinner. It sort of happened subconsciously, the other night I just wasn't hungry after dinner, so I didn't eat. There's a new concept, eh? ;) Then the next night I just didn't eat anything after dinner. Usually Drew and I will have some sort of snack every night when we watch tv or movies together after Meghan goes to sleep. It's getting easier and easier every day. This is such a relief to me because sometimes it feels like an uphill battle.

I love it when it takes 3 4 hours to write a post...

how do you like...

...the new blogger interface? (for those of you who use blogger) Originally I didn't like it, there's so much white space, I find it hard to concentrate on what I'm writing, plus it's just different! :) So I switched back to the old version for awhile and now I'm on the new version again.

I guess you could call me a flip-flopper! ;)

It's been a little crazy in the small apartment lately, isn't it always? September was just jam packed with birthdays, parties, adventures, and culminated in what I like to call"Angie/Rebeccapalooza"! This past weekend was Volunteer Retreat Weekend at my alma mater, Wells College And my good friends, Angie and Rebecca came into town. Wells is very close to me, Rebecca took the train in from Chicago and Angie drove in from Boston. We spent the whole weekend together, causing trouble like we used to in college! Well, not really, but we did have a lot of fun! And we learned about some great opportunities to help our school.

We also went apple picking on Sunday at Beak and Skiff. It looked like we were going to get rained out, but the weather held out long enough for us to pick apples, browse the general store, eat fritters and drink apple cider! :) MMmmmm, it was delicious!

Of course, now that I've been apple picking twice in 2 weeks, I have a ridiculous amount of apples. I'm going to make apple cake today and probably some apple muffins for breakfasts this week. I found a very simple recipe for the cake on AllRecipes, I'll let you all know how it turns out!

In the baby department, more good news! My good friend and wife of Drew's cousin, Klare is pregnant with their second child! We are very excited! Klare and Jeremy (Drew's cousin) have a 15 month old, Scott, who is 28 days older than Meghan, so we were pregnant at the same time! I joked with her on Facebook that we should be pregnant at the same time again and it would be so much fun! I was ovulating over the past week and I'll know in a about a week! :) I mentioned on Facebook that I had been having vivid pregnancy/birth dreams like I did last time-right before I found out I was pregnant with Meghan... :)

It would be so awesome to not only be pregnant again, but again at the same time as Klare! Amazing to say the least! I joked with Drew that it would be crazy if we were exactly a month behind Klare and Jeremy again-haha! No symptoms yet, so I don't have my hopes up too high yet-just the regular amount ;)

Well, I've got cake to back and toddlers to put to bed, so long.

switchin'...

...it up around here! I just changed the background on this blog...not sure if I want to change the background on the giveaway blog or not. I probably will. I blog on a netbook, so it's this tiny little thing with a 10 inch screen, so I try to imagine what it would look like on a normal/bigger screen. I also centered the header and changed my profile picture to a more recent one. The old one was May of 2010 when I was pregnant with Meghan, this new one is in May of this year. Hopefully it looks ok! :)

Today we went to my Grandparents house to celebrate my Dad's birthday (7/22) and my sister, Kait's, birthday (8/8) We decided to celebrate Kait's today because this next weekend, my Grandma will be out of town, Kait's baby is due on her birthday, and then the following weekend we all have a baby shower to go to. My second cousin, Brendan and his girlfriend, Ashley, are pregnant with their first baby girl, Abigail Rose and Ashley is due in September. Brendan and his 2 sisters are close in age to my sisters and I, and we were close growing up. His mom and my mom are the same age and are good friends. His Dad is one of my Grandpa's little brothers.

Enough with the genealogy lesson! :) I only have to watch Dylan once this week, tomorrow. He is going with my Grandma to visit some family in Pennsylvania and will be gone all week. I'm hoping we get to see more of Drew's family this week. (hint, hint Kim! :) Haha, I thought she would enjoy that little shoutout!) Tuesday, Meghan and I will be going out to my Dad's house to see my sister Kait. I'm her doula for her labor and delivery, so I just want to go over some labor pain techniques and talk about what she wants to do, as far as hospital procedures go. She didn't take any sort of birth/pregnancy class, so I'm going to make her watch some videos. I've been sending her a couple emails a week with articles for her to read on birth, labor, breastfeeding, circumcision, etc. She has decided to have her son circumcised and I respect her decision even though I don't agree with it. I told her from the beginning that I wasn't trying to scare her, I just wanted to give her the information so she can make the most informed decision possible.

I am glad she has decided to breastfeed. It wasn't much of a stretch though, we've mostly been exposed to breastfeeding mothers. My older sister Lacie did supplement with formula during the first 6 months and then switched Dylan completely to formula at 6 months old when she returned to work. She stated that she never made enough breast milk, but she never had a good supporter and never really went looking for information on how to boost her supply. But, Kait's got me and Meg and I have been breastfeeding for over a year. I can share all my wisdom with Kait! :)

Then we have no plans for Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, Meghan has her 1st Birthday pictures "photo shoot" at Walmart. Saturday is theBig Latch On. The local event is being held in North Syracuse. I might have to treat myself to Ling Ling's! Sunday is free (so far) and then Meghan's 1 year doctor's appointment on Monday the 8th (Kait's birthday and due date!) Finally, we have a WIC appointment on Tuesday. That concludes our crazy busy long weekend!

Off to cuddle and watch Star Trek on netflix with the hubby, night all!

gaaaaaah!

you would think that life would slow down, but it just keeps plugging along, with no concern for the fact that I haven't updated in forever! :) We have been super busy lately, now that the weather is (finally) nice out, we have had some event or get-together every weekend for the past couple of months. Also, it is full on graduation party/baby shower/bridal shower/birthday party season! This weekend we have a graduation party, 2 birthday parties, Drew has 2 gigs for the band on the same day! This past weekend we had father's day at my grandparents house and a double graduation/farewell party for Drew's cousins M, A and B. B just finished basic training to be a medic in the Army, he and his wife are moving to Washington state where B is now stationed.

M and A both graduated from high school (M did it in 3 year) and were both accepted to the same nursing school, so they have great prospects ahead of them. I am so excited for B and his wife, B has made such a turn around in his life and he really is an inspiration. He was headed down the wrong track in life and he really took responsibility for his actions and made a better life for himself. I hope he feels as proud of himself as the rest of us feel about him.

So, on Friday, my nephew Dylan is turning 3! I can't believe it has been 3 years already, it seems like yesterday I was in the delivery room watching him take his first breaths. His birthday party is on Sunday at my mother's house, which is now a certified petting zoo! It all started when my mother took in some cows-heifers that had lost their calfs in a tragic flooding accident a few months ago. Then she and her husband decided to get some chickens-to have their own fresh eggs and also sell the extra eggs in a road side stand. Then the geese started migrating to their pond. Then they got a couple of pigs. Then it was turkeys, ducks and pheasants. It was a natural choice to have Dylan's party be farm-themed!

I'm in charge of the cake for the party. At first, Lacie wanted an ice cream cake. She had some recipe that involved cookies and I don't know what else. That was quickly squashed. I did a little research and found this:

and I was like, "Hey, that's not bad. I can totally do that!" And Lacie was happy with it and Dylan was ecstatic, of course. But I couldn't just let that be the end of it, because that would be too easy then I found this:

and I was like, "Hot dang, I can really do this!" :) So, this is the one I'll be making for Dylan's party. It's definitely better in all aspects, including having the animal cupcakes that I wanted to do-cows, pigs and chickens. I had also made the invitations to the party, which had cows, pigs and chickens and a red barn. I am going to take a lot of little artistic license with the design and sub some things like graham crackers for the roof instead of Life cereal- I like the way the grahams look like shingles.

And that's how my Saturday will be spent...constructing barns and farm animals out of cake.

Bake on!

beginning of...

...the week! Woot! Haha. I so do not like Mondays. I like Saturdays and Sundays, when Drew is home. I bring Meghan into our bed when she wakes up for a morning feed/snugglefest. She gets so excited when she's done eating and turns around to see her daddy. She just lights up when she sees his face, whether it's Saturday morning, the evenings when he comes home from work or if he just came in from the other room! She is such a daddy's girl. It is too cute for words.

daddy's girl!