August 29 & "Stripping"

Today is August 29, the day that I first became an aunt!
On this day in 1990 at 2:46pm my nephew was born. He taught me almost everything that I know about babies. He's always been a lot more like a little brother than a nephew. He is considerate, caring and funny. Today, The Muffin and I will be making Funfetti cupcakes with Funfetti icing and sprinkles for him. And if you're wondering, that's the kind of cake that he asked for after he decided that he wanted my mom to make chocolate pies fo him.

And on this day in 2005, Big Daddy and I got our first look at The Muffin. It was on a Monday morning after I was sure that we'd lost our baby over the weekend. I couldn't believe when I saw the little wiggling blip on the ultrasound screen. Hearing her heartbeat was like listening to the most beautiful music ever! We met with my midwife Rita and had our first prenatal appointment. After that day, the fact that we had a baby on the way seemed real to Big Daddy and we started to get excited. Maggie wasn't The Muffin yet. She earned the name of "Peanut" from my family the next weekend.

Now, about stripping cloth diapers. I noticed my diapers had a strange smell. They didn't really stink or smell like anything, they just smelled funny. When you strip them, you remove all of the detergent build up (that normally accumulates over numerous washings) so that they absorb well and smell better. I always hang them out to dry, so that helps to keep them naturally white without any use of chemicals. Bumgenius, recommends using a combination of original, blue D.awn and bleach.

Doesn't that sound like an exciting Saturday to you? Making cupcakes and stripping cloth diapers.

Friday Night Isn't What It Used To Be

We went out to dinner...at T.aco Bell. Isn't that exciting!?

Afterward, we went to rent a DVD to watch after the girls are asleep. I'll probably work on a tutu (or toot toot as she calls it) for The Muffin and maybe her sister too. Someone has decided that they want to be a ballerina for Halloween. Maybe Aunt Lisa can use the tutus as photo props too. I bought 100 yards of light pink and hot pink tulle. Hopefully, that will be enough.

We went for a walk and I called one of my best Mommy-friends. We talked for twenty almost uninterrupted minutes. It was glorious. I miss my friends even more now.

And tomorrow, I may just strip my cloth diapers!

Hallway Pictures

Ignore the fact there's a picture of the "Frame Family" in one of the frames! That one is being saved for a picture of Ellie by herself or a picture of her and her sister. Hopefully, Aunt Lisa can take some shots of them together sometime when the weather gets a little cooler.
I love family photos and for the most part, I prefer candid snapshots that aren't perfect. In our old house we had snapshots in these collage frames on both sides of the foyer hall. I decided to put most of the professional portraits that we're framed into a large scrapbook so that they'll be safe and we can enjoy them in a different way.

Still Naked At 4 Weeks

The walls of our house, that is. They're not completely naked, but pretty darn close!
The walls of our old house were covered in photos. For the last three years the photos were mostly of The Muffin. One of our friends called our foyer "The Maggie Gallery" because it was covered in photos of Maggie. The photos were also scattered throughout the house sitting on any available shelf or table. Once we put our house on the market I uncluttered and removed a lot of them. There were photos of Big Daddy and I when we were dating, pictures from our wedding, our trip to Oz, pictures of my sister's wedding, my niece and nephew, my parents, Big Daddy's family at his brother's wedding and then of course there were tons of pictures of The Muffin.
This morning I went through a lot of our photos and picked out my favorite ones of The Muffin. All of them were before her first birthday. Then, I went through our pictures of Ellie and picked out my favorites. Now, I have all of them in collage frames and they're ready to be put on the wall. That will take care of our hallway and then the rest of the house will come later, I guess. I decided that I couldn't use the excuse that "we just moved in" and "I just had a baby" forever. Baby Ellie has two miniature, chocolate brown barn stars on her wall and The Muffin has a white shelf with her "Big Sister" plate and "Wizard of Oz" ornaments on it. I'll get to the other rooms sometime later. I'm thinking about using some wall words to decorate along with the pictures in the hallway. Of course, I'm also dying for some sort of monogram for both girls in their rooms. I'll post pictures once I get something on the wall, but it will probably be a while. You see, we just moved and I had a baby.

What I Learned This Week

I'm participating in the "What I Learned This Week" carnival over at Musings of a Housewife again this week.

• Going to a birthday party for a four year old can easily be the highlight of your week...especially when your three year old has been asking, "You think today we're going to the birthday party today?" for over a week.
• Getting to go to said birthday party and spend a little time with an old high school friend can totally make living back in your hometown seem just a little bit better.
• A crying baby + a chit-chatty toddler + Kenny Chesney + my SUV = running a stop sign at an intersection I've been through at least a 100,00 times completely possible.
• There's never enough hours in the day to accomplish all that I want to.
• I have so many pictures of The Muffin and not so many of Baby Ellie...and this makes me so sad.
• Baby Ellie's cloth diapers make me feel good.
• No matter how much sleep I get, it never seems like enough.
• Baby Ellie loves me. She decided not to continue her "lets-stay-up-for-two-hours-playing-while-we-should-be-sleeping" thing.
• The Muffin is smart. Too smart.
• Big Daddy knows all sorts of useless, yet informative facts about Magnum, PI thanks to a new fan site he found. He's planning our "Magnum" tour of Hawaii for after he gets his MBA.
• Realizing that your first ever favorite little girl in the first ever preschool class that you taught all those years ago is now a senior in high school can make you feel so much older than 32.
  

Picture this...

The Muffin wearing an old bathing suit (size 2T when she's currently wearing a 4T or 5T) over panties around the house. She sweetly asked if she could sleep in it for nap. Of course, I said yes. She'll probably want to wear it all weekend long. I don't feel like fighting, so I'll draw the line at church on Sunday...I'll let her wear it until then.

Just In Time For Preschool

The Muffin was in the kitchen today and she started yelling, "Excuse me, sir...sir, could you please open my pencil box sir." I'm sure she'll start calling me sir in public now. It doesn't help any that she likes to say "sir", "ma'am" or "mommy" at the beginning and the end of a statement. She only calls me sir because she thinks it's funny.
I don't think this will be as embarrassing as when she'd see a man (of any age, color or description) out in public and say, "Do you think that's my daddy?". This happened countless times.

Being Better

Things have been a little rough lately. Okay, they've been rough for the past few months. I've spent lots of time thinking about what I can do to make our day to day lives run a little smoother.

The Muffin used to go to bed without any trouble, but then when her daddy started staying at Nana & Pawpaw's she started getting a little dramatic. Things got even worse with our bedtime woes after we left our house and moved into the apartment. Now that we are settled into the new house, I have regained control of bedtime at least a little bit. When The Muffin goes to bed peacefully it makes our house feel so much more calm. I want to help her without getting frustrated.

Sweet Baby Ellie is such a blessing. Of course, I know that she'll have her fussy times and those late nights and early mornings where she's ready to play and doesn't want to go back to sleep. No matter what, I'll do what she needs me to do. If she's hungry, I'll feed her and if she wants to play, then we'll play. I don't want to complain because I love her and will always do my best to take care of her. I feel blessed to have two sweet girls and I want to always take care of them the best that I can.

I would really like to lose the extra baby weight that I'm holding on to. I have good days and bad days, but I'm trying to eat better and going for our long walks in the evenings has become easier. Baby Ellie likes to ride in the stroller if she's awake and in the sling if she's sleepy and The Muffin rides her bike. This is one of the few things that we can do together nearly every night and it's good for all of us. I know I'd feel better if I lose a little weight.

Big Daddy and I have been under an overwhelming amount of stress. It started with the failing economy and his job layoff, then the new job and a move during the last trimester of our pregnancy. Living in the apartment was so hard and I have no doubt we would have gotten divorced if we'd stayed there a day longer. Seriously. Now that we are somewhat settled in, I want us to get back on track. I'm hoping that our upcoming beach trip will help to recharge our batteries and push our reset buttons. Maybe we can have a date night before then. We've been so busy, but we need to take time for us. This takes a lot of effort with two kids and two adults that have so many things on their "to do" lists.

Since The Muffin is getting ready to start preschool, I've decided that I want to start a new year along with her. I want to try and make things here at home a little nicer for all of us. I want to be a more patient and attentive wife and mother and I know that I can only do it one day at a time.

What do you do that makes you feel good about yourself?

By Popular Demand- The Hair Picture

As you can tell, The Muffin was totally unfazed by me serious butchering her hair. The haircut is starting to grow on me AND my mom liked it! I think you can see exactly what Miss Muff thought of her new cut. Big Daddy took a ton of pictures and in each one she was making a goofy face and/or looking at her reflection in the fireplace. She really does think it looks "beautiful and gorgeous" and so do I.
It isn' really this flat, but she had just finished her bath and it was wet when we took the pictures...and it's not quite as short as it looks either. You can see her hair before the cut in the previous post, "Wordless Wednesday".

Wordless Wednesday

(Before the haircut)

What I Learned This Week

I'm joining in on Jo-Lynne's What I Learned This Week Carnival over at Musings of a Housewife. Here are a few things that I've been taught over the last few days:

• Our alarm is really loud. I'm surprised that it took us over two weeks in the new house before we set it off and I'm so thankful that Big Daddy was the one who did it.
• Baby Ellie is no angel! She likes to wake up at 4 am and then stay up for two hours before going back to sleep.
• I need more than 5 hours of sleep at night, although I'm doing pretty well with that much.
  
• I'm not a beautician. I decided to trim The Muffin's hair and I cut it way too short. Luckily, she loves it and thinks it's both "beautiful and gorgeous". It's growing on me too...now if it will just grow back really fast! (maybe I'll post pictures one day...maybe)
  
• Shopping with my favorite big girl is so much fun!
• Preschool can't start soon enough for The Muffin.
• I think God gave me two daughters just because He knew that dressing them in matching clothes would make my heart soar.
  

Future Babywearer

Guess who needed a sling for "Pancake" this morning??

I think she may have a future in babywearing!

Smiles

This happens to be one of my favorite things to look at these days. She's too young to refuse to smile for the camera.

It seems like only yesterday that The Muffin was doing this. She would just smile and coo and let me take pictures of her without protest.
The Muffin's most favorite thing to do these days is to smile and go "cross eyed". I must get a picture of it soon.
They grow way too fast and she'll be doing something else before I know it.

Aunt Lisa will be taking Fall pictures of the girls sometime after she returns from Alaska. I can't wait for a few shots of my most favoritest sweethearts!

Almost Wordless Wednesday-What A Girl Wants

This is what she wanted for her new house. No, not granite countertops with lots of chocolate-y brown in them. A rain gauge. The Muffin asked for a rain gauge. Last night, she got one.
Then we got a little much-needed rain.

5 minute Snapshot of My Day

Because I often get asked, "what I do all day" I thought I'd share what happened in about a 5 minute span of time today.

The washing machine is running and a Kindermusik CD is playing very loudly. Baby Ellie is wearing a pink & white striped onesie and a very boy-ish orange and blue camouflage bib while drinking a bottle and making noises that sound like a little starving pig. I'm trying to hold the bottle while opening the closet, getting out the laptop and booting it up so that he two phone guys standing in the foyer can see if the internet is working. They walk into the kitchen where I'm struggling to hold the bottle, open the laptop and type in the right password. The Muffin is standing behind me kissing the stove...that's right I said kissing it. I tell her to stop kissing the stove and she smells of my bottom and proclaims, "It smells like a pee pee diaper to me". ( I assure you that my bottom smells fine...we had just finished changing a diaper and Muff said it smelled like poopy and I told her it was pee pee so she said it smelled like pee pee. Now that I've cleared that up...) The phone guys leave and then The Muffin acts normal again.

Now, back to cooking, cleaning and folding laundry...

Blog Hop- Favorite Photo

Of course, my favorite photo would be of two of my favorite girls!
I love the way that Baby Ellie is looking at The Muffin. You can tell by looking at The Muffin's face that she is totally in love with her baby sister.
I know that here will probably be sibling rivalry one day and that they will not always get along well, but these are the days that dreams are made of! The Muffin showers Baby Ellie with love and attention (sometimes too much) and Baby Ellie smiles, coos and looks at The Muffin with love and admiration in her eyes.

To Whom It May Concern...

I miss you and all of the fun things that we used to do together.
I'm sorry that I almost never call and only very seldom ever email.
I'm very busy these days.
I'm trying to get things settled in our new house and I have to keep someone from putting their toes in their sister's mouth.
I'm just sayin' that's why I don't take the time to call or email.

(The Muffin & Baby Ellie having a little sister time before breakfast.)

Baby Ellie at 2 months

Sweet Baby Ellie, you are now 2 months old. You are growing so fast and we enjoy watching you learn how to do new things each day. We are so blessed to have you in our lives.
So many things have changed since you were born. Of course, we moved exactly one week before your big arrival and then nearly one week after your arrival we officially said goodbye to our old house. It was so easy to get used to having you around, but it's taken more time to get used to our new town. We still miss Sanford and our old life, but our new life has you in it and we wouldn't change that for anything! We often talk about all of the things that we would be doing with you if we still lived there.
Now that we've left that tiny apartment and are in your first real home, we have fallen into a nice little routine. Mommy & Daddy still have so many things to do before we can really sit back and rest. We stay pretty busy, but we always manage to stop to watch you and your sister fall more and more in love with each other every single day. I can see how much you love The Muffin by the way that you look and coo at her. And I promise that she loves you just as much, if not more.
Baby Ellie, her are a few things about you at 2 months old...since I still haven't bought you a baby book.

• You still love ceiling fans.
• You coo and smile in the morning when you see me.
• Sometimes, you smile and turn your head to the side like you are being bashful.
• You like to watch everything that your sister and Callie do together.
• You get excited when it's time to eat.
• You like to watch the trees dancing in the breeze.
• You love your sling and go to sleep within a few minutes each time I wear you. We've done nearly everything together with you in your sling. And we still get a lot of looks!
  
• Now you wear cloth diapers.
• Nana says that you like to watch M.artha Stewart.
• You suck your fingers if you lose your paci while you're sleeping.
• You suck on your wrist if you're hungry.
• You are so loved and you are a light in our lives.
• You now weigh 11 pounds and 5 ounces.
• You are 23 and a quarter inches long.

You are a big girl.

Cloth Diaper Update

Well, 24 hours and two stinky diapers later and I still LOVE these bumGenius 3.0 diapers!!!
Baby Ellie greeted with me with a dirty diaper after her afternoon nap yesterday. I had just asked my mom how she handled our dirty diapers when we were little. I must say, it wasn't that bad. Of course, I do have a history of dealing with poo, so...I've seen worse.
These are not your mama's cloth diapers! My mom and Callie were coming over to hang out today and since Baby Ellie was asleep anyway, I decided to take The Muffin and run a few errands. I went over what I do with a used diaper and how the bumGenius diapers work with my mom. She seemed a little puzzled and overwhelmed so I showed her where the disposables were. My mom would probably have felt more comfortable with a pack of G.erber prefolds and some rubber panties because that is what she did with me and my sister when we were babies.
There are so many options with cloth diapering these days and I really think there is a cloth diaper to suit every parent. I used cotton training panties (panties that have a thick panel) and rubber training panties when The Muffin was ready to potty train. I did not want to spend money on P.ull Ups and I look at them as basically being a diaper anyway. This gave me a little experience with the rubber bloomer option.
BumGenius diapers are SO easy! You put the BumGenius diapers on the same way you do a disposable, so that part doesn't change. They are so soft on the inside! The part that touches the baby feels like soft fleece. They look a little bulky, but you realy can't feel a difference. The liner of the bumGenius diaper wicks the moisture away so well that it's hard to even tell if the diaper is wet at first. The 3.0 is fully adjustable so it is supposed to fit Ellie until she's potty trained. Talk about saving money!!
For now I'm taking the microfiber insert out of the diaper and putting both into a small trash can lined with a T.arget bag. The stinky diapers are being dunked in the potty and then placed into a reusable wet bag (waterproof bag made for putting used cloth diapers in) and then everything will go into the wash. I'm using this detergent to wash it all in. I've got to get another wet bag for the wet diapers, but recycling old bags works for now. You can check Etsy for homemade cloth diapers, wet bags and other accessories.
Later today, I'll start using my first reusable wipes. Mine are actually just baby washcloths that I bought in bulk. I'll probably be using Steph's recipe for this.

Wordless Wednesday-Two Girls

Guess who...

Baby Ellie is pictured in a bumGenius 3.0 in Grasshopper.

finally started wearing cloth diapers today!?!

Even though I've only changed her a couple of times, I LOVE these bumGenius diapers!
You may recall that I had bought a single bumGenius after The Muffin was potty trained and only wore a diaper at night. She wet the diaper one time, but I knew that I liked everything about it. During my pregnancy with Baby Ellie I did lots of diaper research and decided that I wanted a cloth, one size diaper for cost effectiveness. I ordered my diapers and Big Daddy made me promise NOT to buy any pink ones. Needless to say, that's killing me! They have such great colors, but we went with all gender neutral since we weren't then sure of Baby Ellie's sex. Now that we're partially settled into our life, I decided to get started with my cloth diapering adventure.
Lots of people think it's crazy and would be so much easier to go disposable. I like how these diapers feel, the fun colors, how her bottom looks nice and smooth (not wrinkled and red) when I take them off and of course, the impact on our wallet and the planet are also big positives. I'll let you know later how I feel after she really dirties a diaper! I'll still be using disposables when we go on vacation and stuff, but I intend to use cloth as much as possible. I'll be trying out cloth wipes, as well.

It's sort of sad that I'm so excited about changing diapers!

The Muffin's room and a few sling questions answered

Baby Ellie's room is "boring" as her Daddy says, but she loves her ceiling fan!

The Muffin's room isn't quite complete, but it's more together than any other room in the house, except maybe the kitchen.

As for Joy's questions about my sling choices, I only have two and I happen to love them both. The first sling that I purchased when The Muffin was a wee little thing, was a New Native. It's white mesh, very cool and great for use in water. It's a pouch style sling and very quick and easy to put on. Of course, it's not adjustable and even though I ordered a medium it was a little big. I purchased it from a seller on e.bay and she gave me instructions on stitching it to make it smaller. I re sized it and it fit great. Right now I use this one the most.
When I was pregnant with Baby Ellie, I decided that it would be necessary to wear her so that I could also watch out for The Muffin when we go out to run errands. I purchased a Sweet Pea Ring Sling from e.bay again. This company has beautiful slings and they'll custom make one just for you. This is a ring sling, so it's fully adjustable and hopefully, Big Daddy will feel comfortable enough to try it out sometime soon. He prefers the front (Baby B.jorn type)carrier. I'm not as fond of it because it's not as healthy for the babies physical development when it's used for extended periods of time.

Stay tuned for more pictures of the new house, hopefully for a Wordless Wednesday post. We'll see how busy I am.

Too Much To Do

I've been so busy this week with the packing, moving, unpacking and cleaning. I haven't sat down for more than a few minutes until church today...where I could have very easily have fallen asleep because I was just that tired. We celebrated my birthday with my family today since we were so busy yesterday.
This week will still be busy, but not as bad as last week. I'm hoping to post pictures of the only room that is near completion. Of course, it's The Muffin's very pink room. Thanks to my mom and Aunt Lisa, it looks really cute.
The Muffin is getting used to the house and Baby Ellie is enjoying the ceiling fans and she's being worn in the sling A LOT. (Thank You, Lord for letting her love it just as much as I do!)