Baby Check List

I'm seriously sick of putting negative posts on my blog, so this is my attempt at something positive.
This is for my purposes -- don't bother reading it, unless you're REALLY bored.

Done :

Clothes - Thanks to Heather & Jenny, I'm set for even "end of pregnancy" pregnancy clothes.

Baby Clothes - sorted by size, washed & put away (mostly). I have tons of sleepers - that'll get us through until I'm mobile enough to shop. My babies are always swaddled, anyway, so no one knows what they're really wearing, no matter how cute it is.

Receiving blankets - I always go through these, but I have enough to start. - I like the big ones (60"x40") because my babies grow out of the regular ones when they still want to be swaddled. We're big swaddlers around here. (Dave suggested I make some of my own -- does he think this is my 2nd baby or something?? There's no way I have time, or energy, for nicey, nicey projects like that!)

Burp pads - I have a confession to make. I don't know how to burp a baby. NONE of my babies would burp for me. I would beat their backs like I was beating a rug on a line and they'd just bounce with it -- but no burp. Subsequently, they spit up ALOT. I ALWAYS smell like milk (no matter how many times I change my clothes). I comfort myself in the fact that mother's milk doesn't stain as much. Therefore, I need TONS of these. I found 2. Cari & Patrice both offered to give me theirs (Thank you, ladies). Dave suggested I make some -- please see above entry.

Baby Towels, Washcloths, etc - Baby bathtub: check. I bought a couple of towels & several washcloths & found a few from previous babies. Another admission : I found the baby towels in our linen closet. That means that I haven't gone through that closet completely since Ds#4 quit using a baby bathtub (like when he was 4 months old!! He's 5, now.) I still need to get some bath supplies (baby scissors, nail clippers, aspirator, baby wash, brush, etc).

Bumper Pads, Sheets, Waterproof pads - I found them & they all washed up better than I'd hoped for. The room is a cloud theme & the crib bumper pads are light blue with sheep on them. When we move the baby from the cradle to a crib, I'll need to get sheets & waterproof pads for that -- but that isn't usually for 4 months or so.

Baby Mobile - I was thinking musical in baby blue & white; clouds, airplanes, sheep (the crib bumper pads I have), do you think they have masculine looking angels in a mobile and baby blues? [Isn't this topic so much more pleasant than all my pregnancy woes? ] I'm thinking I'll have to wait until I can shop to find this -- nothing quite did the trick online. (Do you know that Target.com has bunches of specific team mascots for baby mobiles?? I must not be in the loop...it just doesn't appeal to me at all.) I had to make a mobile for Dd#1 (I bought & revamped a teddy bear one by making clothes for the bears in the colors I wanted) -- I will have 5 kids by then, though.... but this idea looks seriously interesting... and with satin ribbon & an embroidery hoop, this could be kewl, too!

Baby Monitor - Thanks, Patrice!

Bouncey Seat - Thanks, Amy!

Car Seat - Thanks, Kerri!

Diaper Bag - While I was writing this, I was looking around online for a link to remind myself what I wanted, I found it. So I asked Amy to stop by Target (her favorite store) and pick it up for me. So I can put this in the done category! I liked this one, too, but it's a little smaller and better for when he's not an infant. I know where to find it, now!

Nursing Clothes, sleeper - I haven't managed to find much of this. I did buy a nursing bra (shhh, don't tell anyone I'm blogging about undergarments -- Dave would be sooo embarrassed). I really intensely dislike nursing bras. Undoing those snaps while a kid is screaming is NOT inconspicuous nursing. Alternatively, trying to re-hook yourself while not letting the baby roll off your lap when it really does take 2 hands and the baby is ready to spit up because he nursed too long (see the burp pads confession above) is NOT inconspicuous nursing. Amy recommended Glamour Mom's tank, but the snaps scare me off. I like (what I really like is not nursing in public, but that's not really an option if I'm going to have a clue what my other kids are doing in the doctor's office or anywhere else. I also REFUSE to be relegated to the bathroom stall)... I like bras with lots of elastic so I can just yank & go.
Anyway...I don't like nursing nightgowns with the slits from the neckline down on either side -- I end up hanging out at night. We've already discussed snaps & hooks. I've been wondering if these pajamas would do the trick. There's not much else out there....thus, why I haven't gotten anything. Dave says I'm picky. I just counter that HE should have to nurse the baby exclusively for 4-6 months and see if he's less opinionated by the end of that.

6 foot gate - this is wishful thinking and nothing I'll need until the kid can move, around 8 months my babies scootch & 10 months for crawling -- so I'll have time in the spring to garage sale for this. Gates keep my babies alive and I know it. Dave HATES gates - they interfere with his late-night-I-don't-want-to-turn-on-the-light-scrounging-for-snacks. He's inevitably limping the next morning (a tell-tale sign).

Day 4

This is officially Day 4 (or night 4 as the case may be) of almost constant Braxton Hicks. It's almost comical (and yet...) that everytime my stomach gets hard as a rock I'm totally nauseous at the same time. The last 4 days have been...what's the positive way to say this...MISERABLE. I've felt like I had the DT's (not that I exactly know what those feel like) just crawling out of my own skin -- restless and anxious barely begin to scratch the surface. If I could run away from my body, I would. Sunday (yesterday according to my body's clock) I had accompanying...bathroom issues...to boot. I had to quit wearing my Medieval Torture Apparatus. Usually when I take it off, I'm in pain, but I was so miserable that I didn't notice.

Yesterday marked the beginning of the end. Not because these are all pre-labor symptoms (remember that my body can "pretend" to go into labor and have huge pre-labor symptoms for weeks -or more), but because one of my greatest priorities on earth as has been officially stymied. I made a valiant attempt to make it through Mass yesterday morning .... and failed. The kids brought me breakfast in bed and I laid in bed directing the traffic of the kids getting ready until almost 15 minutes before we walked out the door to preserve my energy. It wasn't enough. Half-way through I had to leave and go lay in the van with the air-conditioning on until Dave & the kids were done and could take me home. If I can't make it through the most important thing in my week, the one thing that I'm willing to expend my entire energy for the day to do, I'm not sure I'll be able to make it through anything outside my house. It's at this point that I'll have to rely on the kindness of strangers (well, actually really good friends) to get me through.

oh...and another thing. We're having fly issues. We've had fruit flies since AUGUST that I've been trying to battle, but just when I think we've got them licked, 2 days go by and we have them again. The going rate is $0.25 per house fly the kids kill and yesterday they earned $3.00. Where are they all coming from?? Dave informed me last night the the garbage can in our attached garage was "covered" in them. So we have pestilence as well as plague (can pregnancy be considered plague?) ...this is some sort of test...and I think I'm failing.

E-bay

I like e-bay and all and use it often, particularly for books. But this was SUCH a good read that I couldn't help myself but tell you all about it.

Go to www.ebay.com and enter 130144061675 into the eBay search menu bar. Have your cup of coffee ready -- THIS WOMAN IS LIVING MY LIFE!!!

More complaining

I am mad. I couldn't get to sleep until 1:30am due to hot flashes and tonight I've been anxious and soooooo restless - and the baby is doing acrobatics (it may be him just sharing my whacked out hormones). I've been awake for what feels like hours (actually 1hr 15min) and I'm tired and I've had a tough night. I want to be DONE but in objective reality I've got 5 weeks to go and I usually go 1 1/2 - 2 weeks past my due date (so it could be closer to 7 weeks!). I want to be DONE. ....I also want to wait on God's perfect timing -- except that I want to be DONE.

Reconstructing Rome

The kids decided to make an aquaduct for themselves.

Real Cheese vs. Processed Cheese

A good friend and I are having an e-mail flurry on such a small subject. It seems ridiculous that these small items can fill our lives, and yet, having someone to share the small discoveries and discussions with are what make wonderful friends (and my husband doesn't care a hoot about these kind of topics, he'd just like dinner once in a while).

My friend :

I found this article and thought it was very interesting. I'm always trying to learn more about nutrition and eating healthy, for me and my family.

This article talks about nutrition labels and real foods (ie, cheese) vs. processed foods. It was about a year ago that I learned that Kraft cheese slices are "CHEESE PRODUCT" not real cheese! And that it's hard to find cheese slices that are REAL cheese, as most are listed as "CHEESE PRODUCT". Not to mention, the powdered cheese in the boxed mac and cheese! Once again, you just have to read the small print and/or ingredients.

Me:

What I think is most interesting is that you didn't know that. Have you ever tasted Kraft singles? The price difference between real cheese & fake cheese is huge, too (real cheese is generally alot more expensive). One of my pet peeves about cheese is how often I'm slicing, grating, crumbling & cubing (it's cheaper in blocks) and how much work it is to melt to a smooth consistency. Even though it's a hassle, we
eat TONS of cheese, and almost all of it is real.

My friend:

I've never bought chs in a block. Sounds like too much work. I do buy the huge pkgs of slices at Sams, though. And I probably didn't know about the Kraft singles b/c growing up my mom didn't buy them. But what she did buy was lots of Velveeta. Funny thing is I thought that was real chs! It wasn't until I got married and was cooking for Ken that he brought it to my attention that it was fake. Then my dilemma was how was I going to make homemade mac and chs with real chs? I still use velveeta sometimes, just b/c it makes a great mac and chs. But I mostly use the slices from Sams. Maybe I should try the block. Is that what you do for M & C? What kind of chs do you use?

The article was so interesting to me b/c of the issue about labels. I think it is so misleading to put the words "real cheese" on something when it's clearly yellow powder. AND people believe it!!! I have switched to only buying the shredded chs made with 2% milk just b/c of my past cholesterol problems. After getting my numbers down without medication, it's really important to me to keep them down. I do the same with most dairy. I buy the lower fat stuff. It does cost more, but I feel like it's a good investment in my/my family's heart/arteries in the long run. If I'm prone to high chol. then maybe my kids will be someday too. Who knows.

Me:

To make Mac & Ch, I buy dried powder cheese from Schmucker's Greenhouse - Amish powdered cheese HAS to be healthier -- It's my one concession to buying bricks of real cheese.

My friend :

Are you serious? Or are you joking? Powered cheese? Never heard of it. And if you are serious, is it really healthier? How can that be? I'm guessing you're being sarcastic but in an email, without hearing your voice, I can't tell :)

Me:

I'm serious. I don't know how they make it (possibly grate, dry, grate
& dry it? here's one product description), but since the Amish make much of their own food (and I don't think they'd repackage & sell something at their store that they didn't make) I only assume it's healthier than all the chemicals that are added to the stuff they sell in grocery stores. It looks and tastes just like the mac
& cheese powder (or the stuff you sprinkle on popcorn) only in approximately
quart packages.

We found it by accident. They had it in these really thin clear plastic bags that they wrote on with permanent marker and had it low on a shelf. Ds2 at 2 years old poked a hole in one as we passed by with his finger, so we felt obligated to buy it. (The next time we went to that store they had it in thicker clear plastic bags.) I didn't know what I'd do with it besides sprinkle it on popcorn, but since we only have micro-popcorn, it doesn't taste right with the fake butter in micro-popcorn. So I just guessed at the proportions and made mac & ch with it -- the kids went crazy -- they loved it. So that's how we make our mac & cheese -- with whatever noodles we have on hand & Amish powdered cheese.

I think this sounds like a field trip BEGGING to be scheduled -- alas, not this year. Maybe next year with baby in tow...

Kids "Helping" Accident #547

DD#2 bleached out the recycle bin, put the lid on and said she put the bleach away. 6 hours later I tried to pull a towel out from its spot under the bathroom sink. It was just the outline of a towel with a huge hole in the center. After crouching under the sink, I found she'd put the bleach under there, instead of away in the cabinet above the dryer and laid the bleach on its side. I leaked through a stack of towels that she had to sort through and toss. Then she had to wash out the cabinet to make sure there wasn't bleach soaking into the wood. She was AMAZED that when I had said "be careful with the bleach and PUT IT AWAY" that just putting it in the wrong place and laying it on its side would wreak such destruction....