A little early

Rebecca turns 5 months on Monday, so this post is a little early. It's amazing to see her grow and change. I'm working on the first pages of her scrapbook/photo album and I can't believe how tiny she is. Her skin has gotten much lighter since she was born, and so has her hair. It's also a bit reddish, although you can't see that in most photos.

She is turning over ALL the time now. Back to tummy, tummy to back. And inching her way across the floor like a caterpillar. The other day I looked up from my work in the kitchen and she had inched her way to her stroller and was sucking on the wheel (Noooooo! Ew, gross. All the stuff that wheel rolls through. Oh well.). I have to watch her much more closely. She just started playing peek-a-boo with us. She won't put the cloth over her/our face, but she'll pull it off and laugh or smile when we say "peek-a-boo". Bedtime has gotten a bit more difficult. We continue to have the same bedtime routine--change diaper, sing two songs, say goodnight--but have been spending much more time patting her back and helping her to sleep. But, it's all part of her growing up, and we just keep trying to remember that this is such a short time of her life when it will be exactly this way. We're trying to enjoy it amidst the small frustrating times.

Happy 5 month birthday, Becca. We love you.

Diaper liner or window washing rag?

We started using cloth diapers while visiting my parents and also discovered that the sun really does get out those poop stains. I had laid a liner out on the car to get some stains out, and accidentally left it there for quite a while (overnight?). Later I couldn't find it.

Well, never fear, the liner has finally been found. My mom went out to talk to my dad while he was washing the car windows the other day and I think their conversation went something like this:
Mom: "What are you using to wash those windows?"
Dad: "I don't know, but it works great."
Mom: "Where did you get it?" (a good question to ask the man who will use a nice dish towel to wipe grease off his hands--I love you, dad :) )
Dad: "I found it out in the yard."
Mom: "I think that's one of Becca's diaper liners. You didn't wax the car with it, did you?" (another good question to ask)
Dad: "No, I just cleaned the windows."

I think I know what to get my dad for a present.

Toe update

My toe is slightly better. Nathan has been so wonderfully supportive as I try to keep it up and iced to reduce the swelling (and the swelling has gone down a bit). He even made dinner tonight--a chicken and spinach dish that we like a lot, and it was so good. It is a bit more bruised looking than it was, but it hurts less.

Healthy Eating

In order to help me to remember to eat my fruits and veggies, my new mantra is "A fruit or vegetable with every meal or snack". I got it from a show on PBS we were watching at Lisa's when we visited. It's actually helped a lot; I would say for about 90 percent of my meals and snacks, a fruit or vegetable, and sometimes both, makes its way in there.

Speaking of good for you foods. My new favorite snack is a baked sweet potato. I finally found the perfect way to bake it, and although it takes a long time, it's soooo good. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, scrub, and then prick your sweet potato (or yam) with a fork a few times. Spray a tiny bit of cooking spray in a pan (I use a round cake pan) and place sweet potato in it. Put it in the oven for 45-75 minutes, depending on the size of the potato. When it is done, you should be able to easily cut it with a butter knife. Slice it open, put a tiny bit of butter and salt on it, and enjoy. You can put brown sugar or cinnamon-sugar on it instead, or if you really like it plain, that works too.

Ouch

Who knew that stubbing (or whatever you call it) my pinky toe on the fan stand would hurt so much. I was walking past the oscillating fan today and hit my foot on it. I thought it was just the normal quick pain that would go away, but now I can hardly walk on my foot. My toe is bruised and swollen. I've been trying to ice it for the swelling. I feel so silly having Nate help me walk around, but it really hurts. What if it's broken? What do they do for a broken pinky toe? Will they just tell me to stay off it and ice it? If so, I'd rather not pay for that advice.

Just Had to Do It...

...even though I wasn't tagged.

The rules are:
1. Search your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (this is meant to say something about you).
4. Post that sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

Mine was: "Patience, Iago."--how appropriate. I realize how little I actually have these days.

I tag:
Lisa, Kortnie, Andrea, Dan, and Kate. Only if you want to, of course.

New pics

Fourth month and World Tour pics have been updated by my wonderful husband here.

I'll update more later.

Diapers

We have been cloth diapering for about a month now. We started while we were up north at my parents. It worked better to start while on vacation because we were out of our routine anyway. I want to give good reviews below for what we have chosen and is working. I know there is so much stuff out there, but this is what we have decided to go with for now. Here is what we are using:

• Unbleached Flannel Fitteds with velcro closure from Annie Marie Padorie. They are affordable fitteds ($10 a piece) and dry more quickly because she uses a liner. They have worked well for us so far. I have 13 of them.


• Dappi Nylon diaper covers that I got off Ebay through GraniteSmith. With shipping they are about $3 a piece. They don't leave red marks and how can you beat the price? I have 8 size smalls.


• Cloth wipes--unbleached flannel from Baby Because. These are nice and thin and work so well for us for your basic wet diaper. We keep an old diaper wipe container with plain old water next to the changing pad. Sometimes I put a drop of lavender in it. Even if you don't use cloth diapers, using cloth wipes is such an easy thing to do. I prefer them to the disposable ones. We have lots of wipes.


• Diaper pail--From Diaper Safari. We use the seven gallon pail. It holds just enough to make me do wash every other day along with used burp cloths (pre-folds). I put a dry cloth wipe with a few drops of lavender on it in the pail each day and we don't smell anything but that (the pail is even in our bedroom). Oh, I also have two size large diaper pail liners from Diaper Safari that go in the wash too.


• Miscellaneous--We also have prefolds to use when we run out of fitteds. A MotherEase one size diaper and liner and Airflow wrap (I bought an introductory package) that are kind of bulky, but work in a pinch and will probably fit her better when she is bigger. We have one Sugar Britches flannet fitted that absorbs a lot but takes a long time to dry. Finally, we have some fancy cloth wipes--flannel on one side and velour on the other from ZtoABaby--that work really well for cleaning up dirty diapers.

Weather

It was gorgeous here today. Absolutely gorgeous weather. I was so thankful for our change in weather. We finally have the sliding glass door open to let in some cooler air.

We took Becca to IKEA first half of our date (neither of us have been there before, so although it sounds like kind of a weird date, it was something we were looking forward to). We bought a pair of beige/grayish Roman shades for our bedroom so I can make it a bit darker during Becca's naps. Becca did a great job at the store. She rode around in her stroller and Nate carried her for awhile. Then we went to Saltgrass Steakhouse to spend a gift card from one of my former students. I had the Chicken K Bob and a sweet potato and tortilla soup. It was very good, and so was their bread. Nate liked his grilled shrimp. With the wonderful food, good customer service, and my two favorite people as company, it was a great date.

I am up way to late. I should have been in bed two hours ago, but I let myself get sucked in to staying on the computer. Ah well. Goodnight.

Photos
The aloe plant is alive and well.


Can you guess what this is?






Newbie onesie courtesy of Uncle Mikey. They're getting her started early. :)