More Fluff Mail!

I received my WAHM AI2 diapers yesterday.  They are great and so cute.  Dominic asked if he had "cool" diapers like that when he was little.  I told him he just had the plain old regular type diapers.  What's great about this woman is I can send her material to make custom diapers.....so you know what that means!  Chiefs, Cardinals, and Mizzou diapers - even if we have a girl!

Cloth diapers, baseball, and more randomness...

We received more diapers yesterday!  Dominic is now getting as excited as I am.  He loves all the colors and says that "regular" diapers are so boring after looking at the cloth diapers we are getting.  Just waiting on 2 more packages to arrive to complete our stash - right now we have 20 one-size pocket diapers and are waiting on 18 more to arrive - 12 more pockets and 6 all-in-2 types.  I also made my own laundry detergent.  That was easy enough - 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda, and 1 cup oxiclean free.  Mix very well and use 1-2 tablespoons per load.

Tonight is the boys last baseball game for the season - at least we think.  We had a severe thunderstrom roll through on Sunday night with straight line winds at 80mph!  Tons of trees are down all around town and parts are still without power.  The baseball complex took a pretty good hit - no trees - but the metal bleachers were tossed around and thrown into the fencing, dug outs, and back-stops. 

Mark's cell phone is done drying out and actually works again - sort of.  The only damage is to the volume of his voice coming through during a call.  He said he can hear just fine, but it is difficult to hear him.  I thought I was going to get fired from my laundry detail, but I noticed this week Mark's clothes are back with the family laundry!

Luke informed me yesterday that his bike is now too little.  After riding for 2 months without training wheels last fall, Luke wanted them back on this spring.  He says he forgot how to ride his bike.  I keep telling him his reward for learning how to ride the smaller bike without training wheels again is picking out a brand new bigger bike!  And I mean "brand new" - not passing down Dominic's bike.

Almost 38 weeks!

H will be 38 weeks on Thursday!  She remains unchanged this week.  Her OB wants to schedule a possible induction around the 40 week time frame.  We are still so happy and amazed that our new little one will be here soon ...... and full term!

Cloth Diaper Update

My very first "fluffy" mail arrived today.  I can't wait to see it.  It is the "well-loved" diapers.  I'm interested in seeing how "well-loved" they really are.  Luckily for me, I have a great sister-in-law and niece that are fantastic sewers and could help me out on minor repair work if needed.

I ordered the laundry detergent and wet bags today too.  It is so hard with these items, because like everything, there are tons of great reviews and tons of terrible reviews.  I was going to order a bunch of detergent then decided I better start out small and see if it works for us before investing in tons we don't like.  Now I'm down to the toilet sprayer but need to measure our water line fittings first.

Instead of pre-folds for pocket stuffers, I have been advised to use hemp inserts instead.  I can't decide if I want to give my money to a big company or a WAHM (work-at-home-mom).  I'm leaning towards the WAHM because I like to support the "little guy" whenever I can.

37 weeks!

Holy Cow!  37 weeks!  Who would have every guessed?  Not me, that's for sure.  H is unchanged this week.  Still holding at 4 cm.  We are no longer going to have a baby that is considered "pre-term"!

Baseball

The boys had another game tonight.  No pictures because it was cold and misty.  The boys both had a great game.  Dominic had 2 doubles and home run.  Luke had 3 solid singles.  Luke also had 2 nice stops in center field.  Their last game is Friday unless we make up a couple that have been rained out.  It's been a great season...too short if you ask me, Dominic, or Luke.

Complete Diaper Stash on it's way!

I think I have completed our cloth diaper stash.  We now have the 6 AI2's coming, 12 Sunbaby pockets, 8 "well-loved" (aka used) bumgenius 3.0, and 12 new fuzzibunz pockets on the way!  I have read that we may need some 100% cotton prefolds that work great as overnight or doublers for the pockets too - but those are pretty cheap and easy to get.  The  bottom of the supply list is now down to a sprayer, detergent, and wet bags.

Added to the "Stash"

I ordered more diapers today!  This time, I'm trying out Sunbaby pocket diapers.  Hopefully they will work well since they are considerably cheaper than the big name brands.  Can't hardly wait to start posting pictures of our little one's "fluffy" bottom soon!

We have been asked why we have decided to cloth diaper this little one when we didn't with our first two.  Well, we never really looked into it before.  We had folding, twisting, pinning, and washing out poop stuck in our heads.  Cloth diapering isn't like that any more.  It is really close to using a disposable - but you wash it instead.  After potty training 2 children already,we have washed out enough poopie underpants that it just doesn't bother us like we thought it would.  Plus, there is a nifty sprayer that you attach to the toilet - don't even have to touch it!  Secondly, after using disposables with 2 others, it is literally throwing money away - so a cost savings is big too.  Third, the environmental impact is huge - it will be 6,000 less diapers that we contribute to a landfill.

But the 4th reason is truly why we started looking at it to begin with.  Our niece, Miss A (and Luke was a smaller degree), is highly allergic to all disposable diapers except pampers cruisers.  Her skin and the chemicals in the diapers do not get along......at all.  Since Miss A and our baby share the same birth mother, we thought we should seriously consider doing everything we can not to expose our baby to all the chemicals and off-gassing of plastics.

36 weeks 4 days!

Wow....never thought I would be posting our birth mother is more than 36 weeks!

On a not-so-good note, Mark's cell phone went through the washing machine last night.  He had left it in his swim trunks and put them in the dirty clothes pile.  I'm keeping up on laundry right now, so I quickly had all of our dirty lake stuff in the wash.  Well.....a cell phone doesn't like to go through a complete wash cycle.  Go figure....easyedge still works!

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great day today!  It was a wonderful day to be at the lake.  We swam, boated, and finished the new swim dock for the kids.  Right now, I have a very tired Luke laying next to me, and Dominic and Mark and playing catch in the backyard.  What a great way to end the day.

Took the plunge!

I just took the cloth diaper plunge!  I bought part of our "stash" this morning.  I found a great WAHM (work at home mom) that makes cloth diapers.  They are so cute and she has a great return policy.  I bought 6 covers and 12 inserts - these are the AI2 type cloth diapers - a cover with a snap-in soaker.  My next step is to purchase the pocket diapers we liked in the store.  That would give us a small variety to choose from.  My fear is I will fall in love with all kinds of diapers and won't be able to resist all the cute patterns and covers.  Buying more than really needed will defeat the whole purpose of saving money!

Almost 36 weeks!

Our birth mother, H, had an appointment today.  She is dilated more now and her doctor said that she should go to the hospital with any change.  We are as ready as we can be before the call comes in.  We are all getting super excited to meet this new little one!

A fun Pool Day

Miss A and Big B now have a pool in their yard!  They all had a great time - notice I have no pictures of my own children - they were not being cooperative!

Baring Lake Time!

Adoption Update

The birth mother is doing great!  She had an appointment this morning and is still holding strong.  We are looking more and more hopeful for a 36 week healthy baby!  Keep the prayers coming....they are working.

Few Pictures

 This is Luke yesterday riding in the boat.  Obviously not happy to be getting his picture taken.

 This is Luke this afternoon.  He begged for another mohawk.  It's just hair and his way of expressing himself.  Notice I had to take this picture while he was taking a nap!  I will admit that I was a little sad to see the large pile of curls laying on the kitchen floor this morning.

 All ready for the baby to come home!

100 cloth wipes are ready to go too!

More Baseball

This picture is from the game on Tuesday night.  Dominic is rounding 3rd base and head for home for his first home run of the season.

 This morning's game was hot and humid!!  Luke is standing on first after hitting a single.

 Dominic's look of determination as he heads for 3rd.

 Luke....so silly.....and doing so well for playing with 6-7 year olds!

 Dominic on deck.

 And here is the HOME RUN swing and hit!

 Going to 3rd.....

 And almost home!

 Luke on deck and ready as ever!

 This was a great solid hit .....good job buddy!

Luke touching home plate.

Toothless!

Dominic is now toothless!  He is missing both front teeth and is super mad that he won't be eating much corn on the cob this summer.  I think he looks so cute!  I need to get a picture.  He has 2 more loose on the bottom too!

Almost done!

I made great progress today!  The baby stuff is all packed and ready to go.  Now it is time to start getting things ready for us to leave on short notice.

Results

Dominic's results were sent home today.  He just barely missed qualifying for the program.  We are still super proud of him for even trying.

Tested

Dominic has his evaluation for the gifted program at school today.  I asked if it was hard.  Dominic said, "Oh, I don't really know.  But I think I did pretty good."  I have no idea when we will get the results.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for Dominic.  Then we have baseball games Thursday and Friday this week.

Emotions

What a whirl wind of emotions today.  I finished painting the kids bathroom - yeah!  I put up a 3rd towel hook.....starting getting teary eyed.  Moved on to washing and folding 3 sets of new towels......got teary eyed.  Put the clean car seat cover back on....got teary eyed.  Washed bottles and pacifiers.....got teary eyed.  Set up the changing pad....got teary eyed.  Set up the crib....and lost it.

I cried when I took the crib down over 2 years ago.  I never dreamed I would ever set it up again.  Fitting I had happy tears today putting it back together.  We are so happy we can hardly contain ourselves.  The boys are so excited that they are telling everyone they meet that their new baby brother or sister is almost ready to come home.

Luke is so funny.  He explains simply, "My new brother or sister is growing in H's tummy.  All of Mommy and Daddy's baby seeds died.  H's baby seeds don't die so that is why our new baby is growing in her tummy instead of Mommy's.  Did you know that is called "adoption"?  Adoption in when a baby grows in a different tummy but I will still be a big brother."

Baseball!!!!!

The boys had a game last night.  Dominic did AWESOME!!!!  Two triples and a home run!  Way to go Dominic.

Adoption Update

No news is good news at this point.  The birth mother is almost 33wks.  Luke and I have been working hard this week in preparation.  We have been washing clothes, blankets, car seat cover, etc.  We even got the kids bathroom painted this week!  I need to keep going with making sure I have some of the "less" thought about items ready - like our cloths for court and the Wii for the kids.  After my little blogging break, it will be time to clean up our bedroom so Mark can set up the crib when he gets home tonight.  We can hardly believe the time is so near.