Chat thread for last week of July... or longer?

[JenInMpls]

So we ran a 2-week thread. Have you all opinions? Did you like it better? Was it easier to follow?

Here is a synopsis of the last page:

Sheryl is feeling like she does not have all of the time and energy she needs to get ready for baby with her job, and the back-up plan in place at work is shaky. Her 9yo brother is visiting her, too.

Savannah is 49" around and has a link posted of pictures!!

Caroline's little B just turned 3, :!

Samantha was kind of grouchy that her dh took off for a number of days and didn't re-install dd's car seat, making it impossible for her to run errands, but is planning a day for herself sans children that involves an air-conditioned chick flick or foreign film.

Sarah's ds is in love with the bus (Go Jack! Public transportation all the way!) and she brought up a GREAT idea for showers - a post baby dinner train - if you missed this idea, go back and look at it!

Anna and Jerome are spending the weekend in EC at the Farm doing clean up work. Anna plans to nap and swim and nap and swim and paint and then nap and swim some more and her baby shower is on Sunday. Jerome has been offered a position teaching Spanish classes at his college which may (or may not) work out well - remains to be seen.

Jen has been waking up at 5:30 every morning and she and Jo can't agree on a girl's name and it's making her nuts.

Christi is going to start getting prepared for Spud. Really! (No freaking out Christi!) She will find out next week if her placenta has moved up, everyone think moving up thoughts!

Poor Ellen has been diagnosed with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Hope it clears up soon!

Meredith is on a diaper kick but is afraid that her co-workers will shower her with disposables.

[plantmommy]

Jen, you are awesome!

I'm nesting, apparently. I can't think of any other reason why I had to get rid of the hard water spots on the shower doors at all costs, which ended up being repeated applications of straight vinegar and lots of scrubbing IN MY PAJAMAS.

I'm also waking up at 5:30 every morning, but am making great efforts to stay in bed until 6 at least, and occasionally go back to sleep. It seems this boy will be like Cullen was; he was up at the crack of dawn every morning. I'm woken to kicks and hiccups!

I'm also checking periodically to see if my belly button has pooped out yet! It never did with my other pregnancies, but it certainly looks like it will this time. It's stretched as flat as it can go without popping out!

[chrissy]

Happy Monday mamas! Just a quick note from me to subscribe to the thread. Noah and I are heading to the Children's Museum this rainy morning.

Will write more when he naps this afternoon.
Love,
C

[sistermama]

We all must have had busy weekends, I think that is the least posts ever!! I got to see my dad yesterday!!! He has been in Iraq for 4 months, so I'm very glad he is home. He brought Jack home an outfit from Istanbul, so check out my pics on Yahoo, cause he looks adorable!!!

Jack's bday is on Wednesday, I can't believe my baby is going to be TWO!!

[JenInMpls]

Another picture alert

I too posted some photos on the yahoo page yesterday - finally took pictures of the baby things I have knitted - sweater, elf hat and hat-n-booties.

Today is our first real organized baby shower at Jo's work. Of course the one up at camp was a baby shower too but it was also a staff party at the same time. This one will involve games, finger food and lots of pastels.

Does anyone else's belly sting? I have a patch about 5 inches below my sternum that just feels raw to the touch, but it's not, it doesn't look any different than any other skin on my body. No stretch marks or anything, either. It doesn't itch, just stings, and nothing makes it feel better.

Well, if I have to leave in an hour, I had better get on with my morning. Sarah, glad that your dad is home and Chrissy, hope the museum was fun...

j

[plantmommy]

belly stingin' sistah! Actually, on me it was the lower belly, below the navel. It lasted a few days and went away, and I figured it was stretching skin combined with ill-fitting clothes.

[MamaAcorn]

Thanks for the recap Jen! You're on top of things!

We finished painting the new place over the weekend. Boy, am I glad that's done and over with. Dh was getting hard to motivate there at the end. I also got the armoire put back together again and should be able to start filling it with all the baby's things this week. I can't wait!

My Bradley classes are going well. Dh was present while I was teaching last night (ds blessed us by taking a nap), and gave some really great input to the dads of my class and then kept telling me the rest of the night what a great teacher I was!

That's about all that's going on here.

Pam

[msrog]

Mine stings too! But it's where I can see my old silver stretch marks stretching further. The "new" areas are pink and shiny. OUCH...

I just got home from my last official day at work, woo hoo!
I'll still go in occasionally when they need something, then to train the new person... But -- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I'm off to the bead store to re-buy Anna's, get one for the other gal (forgot her name at the moment; I don't think I ever knew her), and I think Danielle also didn't get one from me??? Anyway, I'll touch base again later.

Hey, any of you Sept. mamas who just decided on cloth diapering: What did you end up buying as your first stash?? Now that I've read up on it a bit more, your responses will actually make some sense to me...

[MamaAcorn]

My diaper stash is pretty boring. I went with the kissaluvs newborn package from naturalbabies.com, so that's 24 kissaluvs 0. Then, I ordered 2 dozen infant ubcpf just to be safe and a few WAHM (SOS, BBH, and FMBG) fitted dipes for fun. I also have a Bumpkin AIO, 3 Wonderoos, and 1 sm FB. I have various types of newborn (6-7) and small (8-9) size covers, including my pride & joy small KP that I got a couple weeks ago. I have 3 dozen wipes, 2 snappis, and a wetbag. I'm feeling another order coming on, so any suggestions on what to get?

Pam

[Robertsgirl]

Hello Mamas,

We had a nice quiet weekend catching up since all of our company had left. We got the sleep part down, but didn't catch up on much else, LOL! We did pick up our first piece of baby furniture. We hadn't planned on buying new baby furniture because we just hate the establishement feel of it, but we caved to advertising pressure and bought a whole set. Can you say SUCKERS? Anyway, we picked up the first piece, dresser and it is leaching formaldehyde so bad I could hardly be in the truck with it (we have a Yukon XL). Anyway, we've now vowed we will never buy mainstream pressed board furniture again. Wish we could cancel our other stuff, but its a little late now. At least we have some time before Spud will be exposed to this stuff, and we plan on cosleeping for a long while anyway.......why did we buy a crib again?

Anyway, we also ordered some of our diaper stash this weekend. YIPPEE!! I had previously ordered a size 0 Kissaluvs, 2 XS Fuzzi Bunzs, 1 Sm Happy Hempy and two covers. We just wanted to see some dipes to get a feel for what to order. This weekend we ordered a package off of Jacksmagicbeanstalk.com with 1dz UBCPF preemie, and a whole assortment of covers and AIO's. We also added another dz UBCPF in infant, 2 snappis. I also got to order my wool nursing pads, YEA! So excited. Oh and on a completely unrelated sidenote, I got to order some more of my natural deodorant...the ONLY ONE I've found that works at all for me!!!!

I have the stinging itch thing too. Mine is way up high and I just assumed it had to do with my gall bladder problems I've had, but since you girls are having it in other places, maybe it isn't. Mine's been going on for several weeks now. Robert rubs lotion on my belly at night and that seems to soothe it a little bit.

Anyone else enjoying the thrills of hemmoroids?? Just wondering. Its such a joy!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm off to do laundry since it got skipped last week with our company here. Robert nicely pointed out to me yesterday that today was his last clean pair of boxers, oops!

[mum2tori]

We totally lazed around this weekend. David was exhausted from his little fun motorcycle trip with his cousin. He got a nail in his rear tire so he had to replace it, nice little sudden expense we hadn't planned on right now. David was also totally glued to the TV watching the Tour. I don't know what he's going to do now (he doesn't either he's been waiting for this since the LAST Tour. :LOL) I slept in yesterday morning so I missed seeing the final stage. We ended up watching it at 11pm last night. Should have gone to bed but it was fun to watch it until 1:30am : and David got all excited telling me what was happening. He's so cute when he really gets into stuff. He got up with the kids this morning and I slept in again. He's currently taking a nap. :LOL He was back on his trainer this morning (its been raining off and on for the last 2 days), he's got to keep training if he's going to participate in the Ride for the Roses in Oct.

Okay OT rant: Anyone who watched the Tour, here's something that really bothered me. Lance and his wife Kristin are now divorced. They have 3 children, a boy 5 and twin girls 3. She DIDN'T go to France, so his children WEREN'T there when he broke the record and won 6 Tours (and he's the only one to win 6 in a ROW!). You could see he was a little upset standing on the podium (without his children) when the third place winner was standing there with his child. He kept staring at the child. He's said he probably won't race in the tour next year because it takes too much time away from his kids. I'm sorry I don't care if you don't like your ex-husband, it is your responsiblity to make sure his children are there when something important happens. It certainly isn't like money was a problem for them to be there. You think he wouldn't have paid anything to have them there. This will be in the history books and what are his kids going to say one day "mom why weren't we there?" She's going to have to admit "because I couldn't be a bigger person and make sure you were there." He totally changed how he trained for this Tour because she wouldn't leave Texas with the kids and he trains in France (for obvious reasons) so he could even see them. I just don't understand using your children as a weapon to hurt the other person. Anyways...

The skin around my bellybutton HURTS!! It is so sensitive, just brushing against the counter makes my breathe catch sometimes. It's amazing the plethora of warrior marks I'm getting across my belly. Radish is definitely hanging out much higher that Jack did. I didn't get many marks with Tori (she rode really HIGH) until she decided to drop in the last 2 weeks. Jack was my total LOW rider, and I got tons of marks from him. Now Radish is making the ones from Jack cruise up my belly passed my bellybutton. I've got at least 10 that go passed my bellybutton. They are nice and bright red.

Jen- that sweater is AWESOME!!! I wish I could knit, I think I need to take a class. I read the books and I'm so confused when I'm done. :LOL

Sarah- Jack is so cute in his little outfit. Isn't it scary how fast they grow. He's such a cutie.

Savannah- Yeeeeeeah!! so glad to hear work is "done". Now try to relax. :LOL Yeah right.

Christi- try Tucks pads or use some witchhazel on a pad. It really helps. Great for PP too. I've been lucky to not get any this pregnancy. Of course I probably just cursed myself. :LOL

Pam- glad to hear your classes are going so well.

I'm helping to organize and host a cloth diapering party here in Houston of MDC moms. It should be lots of fun. Just need to get the house in order a little bit.

Newborn stash wise I have mainly fitteds. I used prefolds for Jack and just didn't "love" it. :LOL I'm a fitted girl. So I got mainly fitteds for this time around. I have BizzyBHives, IvyRoses (with are now Mudpuddles), MudpieBabies, BunnyHugs and a few of this and that. I really prefer side-aplix because of how quick they are to put on and how versatile the fitting is. I don't like to use contours because they always seem to leak onto the covers with BF poops. Here's most of our Newborn Stash I still have a few things that I've recently gotten that I need to take pictures of and upload. But that's the base stash. I also have a dozen of UBCPFs for back ups. We have a couple of AIOs but not a lot. They just wet so much and so fast when they are so tiny.

[JenInMpls]

Originally Posted by MamaAcorn

...24 kissaluvs 0. Then, I ordered 2 dozen infant ubcpf just to be safe and a few WAHM (SOS, BBH, and FMBG) fitted dipes for fun. I also have a Bumpkin AIO, 3 Wonderoos, and 1 sm FB. I have various types of newborn (6-7) and small (8-9) size covers, including my pride & joy small KP that I got a couple weeks ago. I have 3 dozen wipes, 2 snappis, and a wetbag.

I'm not teasing you, Pam, but couldn't you all just hear this coming over a radio like a secret code? "MamaAcorn, this is Sistermama, just a quick 10-4 on those WAHM AIOs, I'm now 10-76 to pick up the ubcpf..."

btw, did you know that 10-54 is the code for "livestock on roadway"?

Christi I had HORRIBLE hemorrhoids in my first trimester, and I tried witch hazel pads, witch hazel sitz baths, eating more fiber... the only thing that made mine go away was homeopathic Hamamelis virginiana 30c. And sorry to hear about your sensitivity to your new furniture, that's a bummer. You could let it sit outside and off-gas as long as possible before you bring it in the house...

Well, here's Jen before the shower:
Here's Jen after the shower: :

People like giving gifts to babies more than giving wedding gifts, it seems! We got so much stuff, I'm blown away. baby monitor, stroller, books, blankets, clothes, etc, etc... we did the baby picture game, the baby food in unmarked jars game, and the worst of all, the melted chocolate in the diapers game... and the diapers were 10 of our cloth newborn contours. I just HOPE that whoever had this grand idea is able to get the chocolate out!

it's just another manic Monday... (whoa-ooh-oh)

j

[hjohnson]

Well the gal who promised me her diaper stash I don't think is going to come through on her promise. I need to order stuff now. So far I have 4 small Bummis snap wraps, 2 small cosmic baby wraps from Bummis, 3 newborn covers (gerber and dappis), 3 wahm made newborn AIOs, 1 infant prefold, and 1 small Mollytog AIO. I need about 24 UBCPFs and I want 7 small Happy Heinys. Hopefully I will have more people order off of my wishlist before I have to buy stuff. I am getting down to the wire though. My hips ache, my ligaments are pissed, and my sacrum is definitely out of whack. I can't wait to see my Chiropractor and massage therapist on Wed. Now to find a babysitter.

[SiValleySteph]

This is my diaper stash:

Dipes:
1 Loveybums newborn fitted (birth to 12lbs)
18 Nanipoos newborn fitteds (6 to 12lbs)
15 medium Tiny Tots fitteds (6 to 15lbs)
12 Loveybums medium fitteds (9 to 22lbs)

9 infant CPF - hand dyed from Sunflower Derrieres
9 premium CPF - hand dyed from Sunflower Derrieres

Pockets & Stuffers:
3 small Fuzzibunz (green, red, blue)
3 Wonderoos (yellow, white, blue) (one size)
6 small MOE microterry inserts
3 microfiber inserts

Covers:
2 newborn proraps (6 to 10lbs)
4 small Bummis Super Whisper Wraps (8.5 to 15lbs)
3 Loveybums medium covers - 2 fleece, 1 PUL (9 to 22lbs)

Misc:
42 Lucy's Hope Chest sherpa/velour wipes
Happy Tushies accessory kit - wet bag, changing pad, 6 wipes, squirt bottle for wipe solution
6 Loveybums microfleece topped doublers (sm-med)

Still need!
Pail liners.
Ingredients for wipes solution.
Baby. :LOL

I'm thinking of adding a couple more newborn covers, just in case. I'm at the point (well, I hope to be assumming my Loveybums order finally arrives today!) where I'm ready to start washing so everything is ready to go. But I'm not sure how to go about this? Just a hot wash and dry for everything? Do the fuzzi bunz & wonderoos need to go in the dryer to "seal the PUL?" What about the covers? How could I not know this from all the time I've spent reading the diapering forum???

[JenInMpls]

Heather I hear you, a mom at school promised me a very large stash with a number of wool covers but she has not come through. Perhaps I need to actually have the baby in arm before she will give them up to me despite the fact that her youngest son is 5! oh... and the chiropractor... I get to go tomorrow. Yay. *happydance*

Steph in CA, I laughed out loud at what you still need for your stash - yeah, a baby might make it all more worthwhile, eh? hee hee! But it's so cute and clean right now!!!

j

[msrog]

Wow, those are impressive stashes! Hey, today was a neat MDC day: I made my first ever Trading Post CD purchase, and I found an MDC mama that lives right here in my small town! Yippee.

I need waaaaay more covers... Wow, I'm impressed at you mamas getting so much done with the baby rooms! We did a little over the weekend, too, but it was just getting the swing and pack and play down from the attic.

[chrissy]

OOOOOOOOOH, I am loving all this diaper talk. It's making me want to buy more and I really don't think I need more. I need to catolog what I've got and see if there are any holes. The only thing I'm kind of concerned about is not having enough tiny covers. Noah was 10 pounds 6 ounces so wouldn't have fit in newborn for long. I did go ahead and buy some preemie prefolds and a bunch of kissaluvs 0's and some other tiny fitteds, but I can't seem to bring myself to buy itty bitty newborn covers. I really only like to use wool, sometimes fleece, and even the tiny ones seem so expensive. Hhhhhhhmmmmm...

Savannah, some things to think about. Do you think you will like prefolds or do you think you will be more of a fitted kind of girl? Also, budget is a consideration there since prefolds are sooooooooooooo much cheaper. Another consideration with having twins is, do you expect they will be on the small side? If I were new to cloth diapering and I was having twins and I was on a somewhat limited budget, I *think* I would buy 3 dozen preemie prefolds, 4 snappis, 8 newborn proraps (unless you are thinking the babies will be really tiny, then I'd go with preemie proraps). And I'd scour the TP and ebay for some good deals on used fitteds and maybe some wool and fleece to try. If I could afford it I'd add in a dozen Kissaluvs size 0's. If I had no budget to worry about, I'd buy 36 Kissaluvs size 0's, a dozen preemie prefolds, 2 snappis, some newborn proraps, some wool newborn covers and maybe some fleece newborn covers too. Heck, if the sky was the limit, I'd also buy whatever cute newborn diapers I could find from Bizzy B Hive, El Bee, Firefly, and whatever else caught my eye. Sorry for the novel.

WARNING: Really sweet story ahead... Today at the museum, I was sitting down watching Noah play and I put my hand on top of my belly and I could feel the baby's heart beating!! It was the coolest thing. S/he must've been sleeping curled up with her back right under my hand. It was definitely too fast for hiccups and it continued for at least a minute until she must've shifted position. It was so cool!!

I've got the sore belly you guys are talking about too. Or actually I've had it. The stretching, tearing feeling I get around my belly button from time to time., though I don't have it now. The sore spot some of you were talking about last week, from where the baby likes to push I get a lot, especially at night. The baby must like to lodge up there and push back or something.

Boys are back so better go,

[sistermama]

Holy diapers, mamas!! I'm jealous!! All I ever bought for Jack were 2 dozen small prefolds, 3 newborn bummi covers, 2 small Artistocrat wool covers, 5 small bummi covers, 2 dozen premium prefolds (which I didn't ever really use - they are HUGE compared to the small prefolds!!), 6 bummi medium covers and 2 large imse vimse wool covers. I'm just going to reuse most of that this time. I wouldn't mind getting a little wool cover, does anyone know of any good ones that are smaller than the Aristocrat smalls?

I'm so excited, because Jack was in underwear all day today!!! He only had one accident, and that was while he was standing at the toilet trying to get his underwear down. We even left the house for two hours. Plus, while I was on the phone he went and used the potty completely by himself without my knowing it! When I walked in the bathroom, he was trying to get his underwear back on.

Samantha - I'm totally with you about his kids not being there. I felt really bad for him, and sad for his kids too.

[CdnAloha]

32 weeks, 3 days

mum2tori, I was wondering the same thing about LA's kids and feeling bad that they were not in Paris to experience the historical win...BUT...my dh says he read somewhere that they were in France for much of the tour and were likely in Paris. I assume they were staying away from the media - if that's possible with all the hundreds of them there. Anyway, I want to believe he shared the experience with them somehow. From what I could tell of Kristen Armstrong throughout their marriage and divorce she was VERY supportive of him and put the kids above all else, so I can't see her changing all of a sudden. (I followed their marriage cause I read his book and it seemed like a really special relationship. Normally I don't get caught up in celebrity worship, but I was saddened by their experience. Don't you think we just know too much about celebrity's personal lives?! I never want that kind of fame.)

OK, back to babies and diapers and such. I have 2 dozen small UBCPF and 13 growing greens one-size hemp fitted diapers. I have 3 snappies and 4 diaper pins but no covers yet. I am leaning toward two aristocrat covers and 4 bummis. A friend is knitting me some nice wool ones too. I'm tempted by the sugar peas wool covers, but I'm not sure cause I've heard great things about Aristocrats. I love the look of some of the designs that WAHMs have for covers and even dyed fitteds, but I can't justify the expense. I may dye some of my prefolds, but I may wait till they are used to do it.

Overall I am feeling reasonably ready, in the sense that if the baby came tomorrow we would manage for a couple of days. (The diaper shop wahm delivers personally if needed, so I could get the last minute stuff.) I don't want to the baby to come tomorrow, but just think it could be only 5 more weeks!

Cheers,
Julia

[sistermama]

32w6d

Julia - I love my Aristocrats covers. They're not cheap, but they are really worth it - I haven't find any nicer. I used the same ones on Jack for about 6-7 months, and they still look new.