Study Time

This is what I get to enjoy while studying...

Little Girl slept on my lap while I worked on my health promotion presentation. T Rex had just awaken from his nap - he gets really snugly after nap time.

Can you understand why I enjoy study time so much?!?

Life is Good...

We just cannot express what a great existence we feel so privileged to have. T Rex's shirt says it all:

Good Bye Newborn Clothes and Hello Cloth Diapers...

Little Girl just keeps growing and growing. Yesterday she turned 5 weeks old. She's grown out of all the newborn clothes. However, the 0-3 month clothes are still a little big. That's actually a good thing because now she fits into the cloth diapers and they are quite bulky.

With my little princess

My model - here she shows off her cloth diaper set up - Bummis brand (thank you, Nina). She is also modeling a pair of baby booties that I made this weekend to go with a hat that is being sent out tomorrow for a special Iowa baby born last week.

See how she fills out those pants with the bulky diaper?

We're doing cloth diapers during the day and when we're home which tends to be all the time these days - a lot of work to go anywhere with two little ones. Our diaper of choice when not using cloth - Earth's Best chlorine-free. We've found if we order them off Amazon.com they are less expensive than nearly any diaper we can purchase locally at the grocery store. And, of course, we're also saving money utilizing the cloth diapers, although, I'm not sure how much since we are doing more laundry.

There are definitely pros and cons to use of cloth diapers whether they be environmental, health, cost, or personal choice/preference. For us, there are two main reasons we're utilizing cloth - health and cost. We figure we're saving money by not having to purchase disposable diapers. But as I mentioned previously, we're not sure if it's a "wash" (pardon the pun) because we're having to do more laundry. Secondly, there are some pretty harsh chemicals used when making most disposable diapers and I worry about the long term effects of exposure to such chemicals. Lastly, I was worried about the time involved with using cloth diapers and I must say I haven't really noticed it impacting my day that much.

I'm interested in your opinions and thoughts on use of cloth diapers. Did you use them with your kids? If so how did it go? If you didn't use them, why? Or if you just want to tell my how cute my little girl is in her big, bulky diaper, I'd love to hear that too!

My Best Baby Gift Project Ever...Wordful Wednesday

If you've followed my blog for a while you know I love sewing and crafting and especially love to make gifts - especially baby gifts. My mom says I sew like my grandmother used to (her mother) - "by the seat of my pants" - meaning I just start crafting and the project unfolds on its own.

This particular gift is a culmination of many of my other projects and is for a very dear friend of mine. She started trying to get pregnant with her second child when T Rex Dad and I were trying to get pregnant with T Rex - if that tells you how long her journey has been. Finally a long distance trip to a specialty fertility clinic in another state helped achieve success. Then she started to have preterm labor and has been on strict bed rest since. She has done so much to have this baby.

My mom went through a lot to have me - she was sick most her pregnancy and suffered many complications and even has long lasting effects as the result. Because of this I often make it a point to thank her for all she endured as a result. I shared this with my friend and told her that some day her baby girl will do the same. I just know she is going to be one special little girl.

Because of this, I just went all out. So here are some photos from this mega project. It took two Saturdays to complete. It's a lovely turquoise blue with brown accents. I am hoping this is "girly" enough - what do you think? What I was hoping to accomplish was a departure from the normal girl colors of pink and purple but something more than gender neutral colors like green and yellow.

On a side note, I actually purchased this fabric about two years ago specifically with this friend in mind. I am SO happy to be able to use it for her now!

Here are some photos of the completed project:

I was given a lovely baby gift in this basket so I'm passing it along. A couple of other items in the basket that I did not make - the organic teddy bear and a small little coloring project for the 5 year old big sister.

Here are most of the items I made - starting clockwise: burp clothes, breastfeeding cover, rattle, fleece blanket with satin trim (much harder to sew than it looks!), travel changing pad, and cover for changing pad.

Left: remaining homemade items - baby pants, bib, and hat/Right: close up of rattle.

Matching card.

I did pull together a couple of items for our Little Girl when I had the sewing machine out. I made a couple more "girly" burp cloths since I only had two others, which I also made, and some bibs. She's been needing bibs but it's a challenge to get out shopping with two little kids in tow. I purchased this super soft flannel as remnants ($2 total for 2 yards).

I used a button from my mother-in-law's button collection - I think it adds a nice touch and will avoid scratching the neck from velcro.

Since I could not get to the store to purchase bibs and burp clothes, I probably saved $20. And this has been a trend since Little Girl was born. I'm getting to the store less and less - we saved 40% from our normal month spending in January. Interesting, huh? I never thought having another child would save us money!

I am so grateful I have not had to endure all the pains having babies that my friend is currently enduring. Hence, I have to include a couple of photos of my sweet treasures...

Left: T Rex sitting on top of my completed project, right: Little Girl modeling her new bib. Side note - Little Girl's hat is homemade, not by me, but by my friend Katie - she is much more skilled in the knitting world than I am! Thank you, Katie!

For more Wordful Wednesday fun, visit:

Family Valentines Gathering..

On Saturday we went over to my sister and brother-in-law's place for a Valentines gathering. In classic fashion, my sister threw an amazing gathering. Seriously, the girl really missed her calling as a party planner.

Here are some of the highlights:

Playing one of the games - we're all big sushi eaters so one would think we would be adept at using chop sticks. We were given one minute and had to pick up as many candy hearts as we could with the chop sticks. T Rex actually helped me - he took hearts from my brother-in-law (to my left) and put them on my plate. But it still was not enough to win.

The winner - T Rex Dad - 58 hearts in one minute!

T Rex offering more assistance to his cousin and uncle during another game.

The other night during evening prayers T Rex prayed for a balloon - his exact words, "Help us...balloon" - his prayers were answered when he showed up at Auntie and Uncle's.

Little Girl got lots of snuggles from Nana.

T Rex Dad and I did not do anything particularly special on Valentines Day - just spent some quality time together as a family. Three years ago T Rex was my Valentines Day gift (he was born in November, you can do the math)!

This year, Little Girl was my birthday, Christmas, and Valentines gift - all in one.

I cannot thank T Rex Dad enough for these wonderful "gifts" and for being my very special Valentine for the past 10 years. He still makes my heart flutter every time we're together!

My Little Grover...

I'm a little behind on some postings since T Rex Dad went back to work this week and I'm with both kids during the day. We're still working on getting our routine down but T Rex is making some amazing strides toward helping.

He is starting to go down for his naps on his own meaning I don't have to sit with him for 10-20 minutes until he falls asleep - this is a huge help if I'm feeding the baby. We've also started doing this at night, too. It was a little challenging at first but he seems to like the idea of either "Daddy" or "Mama" coming in to "check". And he also gets to have his moon nightlight on until he's asleep and he REALLY likes that.

School is going good - I had a big assignment due this week which I just completed and submitted. It was a group project - I hate group projects but I'm learning to be a good member of the group (I prefer to just do things myself). Anyone else think they're more efficient on their own? (I feel horrible for saying that but at least I'm honest, right?)

T Rex Dad had a good week at work and managed to get away for a work out every day this week. I, too, have started back with my work outs - some how the baby knows when I've been on the elliptical for 10 minutes because that's when she decides to wake up! But we did get three 40 minute walks in and I did get 2 full Pilates workouts and about an hour total of elliptical time. Guess it's good to start back slow after not working out for nearly 7 months!

Last week we also took our first family outing to a restaurant for sushi - Baby Girl slept the entire time and T Rex enjoyed being his entertaining self. Everyone knows us there and had missed seeing us. T Rex always asks our server to "sit down" in an insistingly voice. The photo is from our sushi outing. He loves wearing his Grover sweatshirt (an amazing thrift shop find for $0.99). This photo makes me smile - I hope it does the same for you!

More to come as I completed an awesome baby gift. However, duty calls - I have to get everyone ready to go to our family Valentines Day exchange.

Happy Heart Day!

Photos, Photos, and More Photos...

We've been quite busy and there is lots to post so I'm just going to start with a montage of photos (the baby is hungry and T Rex Dad is using all his skills to keep her happy until I'm done). As he said, "Whose her Daddy?!?"

Our first complete and updated family photo - taken on Little Girl's three week birthday.

Photos T Rex Dad took when Little Girl was 10 days old - I wanted some "tiny baby" photos.

T Rex Photos - 27 months

T Rex Mom and T Rex Dad with Little Girl (age 3 weeks) - I don't take photos as good as T Rex Dad does that's why there are more of me than of him. (Yes, I cut my hair - about 8 inches - oh, so much better. Now it can all start falling out.)

We're working on Valentine cards for an upcoming family gathering - which one(s) should we use?

Siblings...

When I was pregnant, T Rex was already a fabulous big brother. He always understood there was a baby in my tummy and that was "Baby Sister". And he knew when she came home she was no longer in my tummy and stopped asking about the baby in my tummy because he knew his baby sister had come out. Pretty amazing for a 2 year old!

I took this photo from my hospital room when the boys came to the hospital to take Little Girl and me home. It was at this moment that I considered maybe T Rex knew his sister in a life before this one.

He continues to be extremely protective of Baby Sister and gets quite concerned if she is out of sight - you should have heard his protesting when I took her to her first pediatrician appointment and he did not get to go - he was not unhappy that I was leaving but that Baby Sister was leaving.

Every morning she gets snuggles and kisses before me! He is so gentle and kind to her showing no jealousy. And Little Girl looks at him with such adoration and fascination that I've never seen in a newborn.

I know this sounds weird to some folks and you can think T Rex Mom has fallen off her rocker but if you could see these two kids together you'd see what I mean.

T Rex going to great measures to check on his Baby Sister.

This is what he saw:

I was so concerned about another baby taking time away from T Rex. But now I know that providing him with his beloved Baby Sister is worth everything!