Too grown up for her own good

Where did this kid come from?  She certainly can't be MY child.  I am not old enough to have such a big girl for a daughter.

Pacific Science Center

Yesterday we decided to take my sister and her family on a trip to the Pacific Science Center- we went in the summer and got a year membership for about $30 more than going that one time cost us, and we had enough passes for my sister's entire family to come, too.  Plus, the Harry Potter exhibit was there!  Leslie's 3 big kids were really excited about going there.

We got there around 11:30 or so and find out that Harry Potter is sold out until 5:45, and we weren't staying there that long.  Lovely.  That's ok, though- there's plenty to do at the science center!

There were way too many people there yesterday, though.  It made it difficult to do anything fun.  But that's okay.  We enjoyed the butterfly house,

Riah and Rose loved the music room,

and I thought the dinosaurs were really cool.

Rose hopped in the stroller when Ri wasn't in it.

But then Turner got lost.  He wandered off when we were doing silly pictures with the girls.  We got security to start looking for him, too.  And then he just... appeared again.  I don't know where he went.  Dave said he searched exactly where he was found and he wasn't there.  Leslie explained the importance of staying with the group to him, and we all decided we were done for the day.  The crowds were too big to have a good time.

We decided to see an IMAX movie (about beavers!  I really enjoyed it until Ri fell on his head in the theater) and then head home.  On the way out we snapped a few pictures in front of the space needle and headed home.

We took Porter with us so he could help butcher Dave's deer and then they went squid jigging last night.  I know they were successful because I was surprised to find a squid helping me do the dishes this morning.

We love the science center, but it's a lot more fun when there aren't huge crowds of people there.  Maybe we can go during spring break, but it might be crowded then, too.  I'll just hope that Lacy's school break is at a different time than the kids' in Seattle.

The Poop on Cloth

I was just reading an article about cloth diapering that appeared in someone's local newspaper. Her grandmother actually clipped it and sent it to her in a very passive aggressive manner. The article in question actually suggests that cloth diapering is a confusing and complicated process, not to mention expensive! Well, it can be confusing. There are a lot of different diapers out on the internets. But there are also lots of resources out there to help you figure out what you should get. In that article, it states that a newborn diaper stash can cost you up to $700. Well, that's a lot of money. But cloth diapering certainly doesn't have to cost you a lot of money to get some really nice diapers.

There are lots of different types of diapers available. The most basic type of diaper is a flat. You know, those squares of fabric that are only one layer that you have to fold to get to a diaper shape. Well, flats are still available and many parents still use them on their babies. I briefly considered using flats when I was pregnant with Lacy, but I opted for a different diapering system as to not overwhelm and confuse myself and my husband with folding techniques. There are tons of websites with folding instructions, and even you tube videos! Flats are the most economical of all cloth diapers, costing around $1 per diaper, or a little more if you get larger flats. Plus, with flats, you don't have detergent buildup issues that you can get with other diapers, and if you line dry your diapers, they will be dry lickety split!

It seems that more commonly used are prefold diapers. They look like squares and have layers sewn in them, but you still have to fold them. Here's my baby boy in a prefold with pins when he was new still:

Isn't that cute? Please excuse the sideways view- I swear I changed that in my pictures, but it's not showing up here. Ri was about 6 weeks when I took this picture.

Prefolds are actually very easy to use, and quite economical. They run about $1.50-3/dozen for your run-of-the-mill prefold cloth diapers. The price gets higher for larger sizes of diapers and for organic cotton.

Contours and fitteds are other diapering choices that are available- they are shaped more like a baby already and may or may not have elastic in the legs and back (fitteds have the elastic) and you may or may not need to use pins or snappis to fasten them. Many come with velcro or snaps already applied. When I was pregnant with Lacy, I bought a bunch of flannel and sewed my own diapers using the Very Baby All In One pattern. These diapers are now getting quite thin and have a new life as doll diapers, but they served me well with my babies!

My diapers have snaps on them, which I prefer to velcro for many reasons. The snaps had not been applied yet in this picture- my friend had a snap press and put them on for me, and later I bought my own snap press. Normally, contours and fitteds cost quite a bit more than other types of diapers. Some of the more popular brands made from specialty fabrics such as bamboo can cost more than many all-in-one diapers!

With any of the flats, prefolds, contours or fitteds, you will need a cover, and possibly something to close them with. Covers usually are more form fittting than they were in the days of plastic pants. They usually fit on like a disposable diaper and have either velcro or snaps to close them with. For closure options, there are either pins or snappis, which are, in my experience, much easier to use than pins. But some people prefer the pins to the snappis. I personally like snappis because they are much faster than pins, making potty breaks for elimination communication much easier.

Then there are the easiest diapers of all to use- the all-in-ones and the pockets. The difference between the AIO's and pockets is that the all-in-ones are all ready to go, and the pockets have a little place in back where you stuff soakers to make them absorbent. They have a waterproof layer on the outside (usually polyurithane laminate, or PUL) and close with either snaps or velcro. The benefits of AIOs are they are very easy to use and are all one piece, but they do take a long time to dry. The benefits of pocket diapers are that they are much faster to dry and they always have a moisture-wicking layer next to the baby's skin, so the diaper feels less wet.

Here are several of my diapers. I've gotten a few more since this photo was taken.

Most of the diapers in this picture are one-size diapers, meaning they can fit on a baby anywhere from about 10 to 35 pounds. The Fuzzi Bunz one size (I have five of them in this picture- they have the white snaps) are set on the newborn setting and can fit smaller babies more easily. The Bum Genius organic All-in-ones (the top row light green and orange and the middle row blue) fit my baby very nicely now, but they didn't fit him until he was about 2 months old. And he's a chunk! Many cloth diapering experts recommend using prefold diapers for the first month or two before starting with a one-size system, because they don't fit newborns as nicely.

Cloth doesn't have to be expensive, nor does it have to be difficult! I much prefer using cloth diapers over disposable diapers for many reasons. They are cuter, are easier on my babies' bottoms, less expensive and much easier on the environment.

Blessing Day

I'll update a little later with more of the details of the blessing, but I wanted to share some pictures of my adorable little man and our family right away!

Babylove

My sweet boy is one week old and we couldn't be happier in love with him!

The birth of Uriah Gregory

Wednesday I had a midwife appointment and was so tired of all the prodromal labor. We realized at the appointment why my body was having such a hard time starting labor. His hands were up by his head, making it near impossible to descend much farther down in my pelvis. My midwife was able to kind of push him up, move his hands out of the way one by one, and get him back down there. She stripped my membranes (I was 5 cm when I left) and gave me instructions to go walk around before getting in the car and driving off, while keeping my hands down by where his head was to keep his little hands from going back down so he could settle in head-down. I was supposed to use wide strides. It was very awkward to walk around in public like this.

Apparently, what we did that night did the trick. Around 12:15, I felt my first real contraction. You know, the kind that make your toes curl. Not just crampy or tightness, which all my previous contractions had been. After 15 minutes, I had had three of them and Dave told me that I needed to page the midwife. I did, and told her these ones were different, and she said that we needed to go up to the birth center. I called my sister Leslie, who came over to stay the night with my kids. Since I was laughing and joking between contractions, she was not convinced I was actually in labor. To be honest, I wasn't completely convinced I was in labor, either.

We left and told the midwife we'd meet her up at the birth center. On the way up, the contractions continued to intensify and started getting closer together. We got to the birth center almost exactly at the same time as our midwife, around 2 am. She unlocked the door and let us choose a room, and started filling the tub for us. I got into "birth mode" and changed out of my clothes into my swimming suit. I was in there maybe 10 minutes when the contractions went from me being able to talk between them, joking and laughing, to having to recover from each contraction with another contraction beginning again almost immediately. The pressure was getting intense. Then my water broke in the birth tub. Dave went out to tell the midwife my water broke (she was getting set up with her assistant out of the room- and her assistant had just gotten there maybe about 10 minutes prior to my water breaking) and then I had even more pressure on my perineum!

It only took about 5-10 more minutes before I started feeling "pushy." And, oh my goodness, I have never experienced such an urge to push as I did with this baby. I literally couldn't stop pushing. I was on hands and knees in the birth tub, and his head came out. The midwife ordered me out of the tub because his cord was wrapped around his neck three times and they had to get it untangled. I leaned up against the bed, standing, with both midwives and DH behind me, working on the cord. I said, "He's coming! I can't stop it!" and baby boy shot out into Dave's hand! His other hand was holding cord! He was born at 2:52 am.

The midwife told me this was the longest cord she had ever seen. It was about four feet long. Though Dave would describe it as even longer, and he's probably a better judge of that considering I had just given birth when I saw it. Not only was it wrapped around his neck three times, it was also under BOTH arms, criss-crossing in the back.

After a few seconds, he let out a nice little cry to let us know he was okay. We weighed him a bit later, and he weighed in at 9 lb 1/2 oz, and is 22 inches long. I escaped without needing any perennial repair! I'm pretty happy about that considering how fast he came out!

This whole pregnancy, I've had a strong feeling this labor was going to go by quickly. I still can't believe how fast it all happened! Just over 2 1/2 hours from first real contraction until he was born. WOW! I can hardly believe it. My family does have a history of very fast 3rd labors... my mother, a 3rd child, was born in the hallway of the hospital during the era of twilight sleep- no medications for my grandma because it happened so quickly! I am also a 3rd child, and was born in the labor room after my dad ran frantically down the halls trying to find a doctor to deliver me.

In labor, still filling the tub.

20 minutes later, a baby!

A few hours later, right before heading home. I was a wee bit tired! Sweet little Riah always has his hands up by his face, just like when he was in the womb. Little stinker!

Dirndls & Football

Of course I have to post adorable pictures of my children, since I'm on a posting frenzy right now (I think this is part of my nesting process since it won't be long now!).

The girls looked so darned cute for church on Sunday that I had to take their pictures.


Also, Lacy decided she wanted to be a football star, and was being hilarious, so we took more pictures. Her team colors are pink and purple, but the players on her team are less than enthusiastic about the sport (FYI, she said she's the coach).

She has her football poses down pat, though.

Midwives in Training

First, the details of today's appointment: I am 38w and 5 d currently. I gained 2 pounds since my last appointment, which puts me right where I should be since I lost a pound at the last appointment. Blood pressure was high (for me) at 108/60something, but I did have kids climbing on me at the time. Belly is measuring at 39cm and baby's heart rate was at 130. Since I've been having so many contractions lately and wanted to have an idea of when I may be needing some babysitters, I got an internal check today. Baby's head is much lower than it was last week, and I'm 3 cm dilated! I'm very thick though, so I could have several more days (or not very long at all). I'm thinking it's going to be within the next week, but honestly, who knows at this point! I just really hope I won't continue having these contractions into February!

The girls always love to help the midwife with checking me each time I go. They help with measuring my belly:

And listening to the heartbeat with the fetoscope

In full bloom

I tried posting this a few days ago, but I got a new memory disk for my camera which wasn't compatible with my disk drive. I have it all figured out now, so now you get to see pictures again!

Here I am, a couple days past 38 weeks. Usually I don't post the bare belly pictures, but the girls were being so cute that I'm going to do it this time.

The Hair

...and because my hair looked so beautiful in those belly pictures, I decided I would do something about it. I got it chopped off. The idea of having really long hair for labor wasn't that pleasant to me. I'm going to donate my ponytail as soon as I decide which charity should get it! I got about 10-12" chopped off.

Waiting for the cut with my snuggley cuties


Full length


During...
The finished new hairstyle:

A few photos from Christmas and Christmas Eve...

First off, I was 35 weeks on Christmas Eve, so Dave very kindly took a belly shot of me by the Christmas Tree (at Dave's dad's house).

My sweet girls all dressed up on Christmas Eve
Reading the Christmas story from the Bible

What Santa brought...
A choo choo train and a piano for Rosie, and a telescope, veil and The Sound of Music DVD for Lacy, plus stockings full of all sorts of good stuff! The easel they got earlier that evening from their Papa (Dave's dad).

Christmas Day at my parents' house... Rose, Regan and Lacy all in their beautiful Christmas skirts that Les and Mom sewed up for them! Don't they look great?


We had a really fun Christmas this year! I'm really excited about my new sewing machine, and Dave is stoked that he got gift cards to Wholesale Sports from both his Dad and my parents! Lacy and Rose got some really great gifts and we are so appreciative of everyone who thought of us this Christmas.

Hope you had a great Christmas, too!

Dave found Rudolph

...and he's going to taste delicious!



For any of you from out-of-state, who may be used to other species of deer (especially mule deer), this is actually quite a large black tail deer. And with a bow, it's an absolute trophy! We rarely ever see deer this large, and we see deer quite often living out near the woods. I'm so proud of my hubby! (Not that he was looking for a trophy- as he always says, you can't eat antlers! This deer also has a big body and will provide us with quite a bit of meat)

Santa Claus is Coming To Our Neighborhood!

Tonight was the food drive put on by the local fire department. They come through the neighborhood with the lights and sirens going and have Santa with them on a sleigh to help collect food. We told the girls that Santa was in the neighborhood and they were so very excited. Lacy immediately put on more appropriate clothes for wearing outside, and I swear we waited outside for 20 minutes because she couldn't stand waiting inside where she could possibly miss Santa coming by our house.

It was freezing cold. But the girls were so happy that they got to sit up with Santa on his sleigh for a minute. Thankfully I remembered the camera.