Alright, let's try this again

Ok, after many months of, once again, not blogging, we'll try it. My goal is to keep this as our family diary. We'll see how it goes.

Right now if our life we are in the middle of outage. This is a special kind of hell where both parents are tired and the kids are very stressed out. This has meant a lot of dinner and a movie nights (since Daddy's never home anyway) and some behavior problems. Ben is gone 5:45 am until 7:30 pm Monday - Saturday. That means he makes it home just in time for bed and is so tired he can hardly see straight. I started a support group for the outage on Facebook, Families of Cooper Outage 2012, which had given us some things to do to fill up time without Daddy. So far, we're keeping busy. We are all ready to have Daddy home, though. Hopefully it ends before Thanksgiving! Eventually, we know it HAS to end - right?

I am reading a new parenting book that I really love, Parenting With Grace: A Catholic Parent's Guide to Raising Almost Perfect Kids by Dr. Gregory and Lisa Popcak. I've learned a lot and I haven't even made it to most of the "good stuff" and techniques. I'm really hoping to address behavior issues that have come up with Celia. I'll post to see how it goes.

During outage I have been doing disposable diapers, but the cost is SO HIGH that I may go back to cloth and darn the consequences. We are sharing laundry with 3 guys downstairs, so laundry time has been really hard. The renters are temporary during the outage, but 2 of them work nights. I'm sure they love trying to sleep during the day below us, but I can't do a lot about what my girls do. They are already stressed, I don't want them walking on eggshells!

Allie is finally napping. YEAH!!! As you can see, now I can do the blog again. YEAH!! And I can do dishes in the afternoon! YEAH!

Celia is potty training, which is getting closer. We now venture out of the house with undies on occasion. Mattie disparately wants to wear undies, but she also plays in the toilet if you don't watch her like a hawk. She also plays in the toilet when you are watching, I'm just better able to stop her. I've been holding her off because I just don't think she's mature enough, but we may just do it. I put her on the potty usually at least 3 times a day, but we may give her more time in undies. We'll see. Uggh, I hate potty training more than I hate diapers. I really don't mind diapers that much!

So, things to keep updated - potty training, outage, new parenting ideas, and, oh yeah, I'm job hunting. I'm looking for something to do from home, you know, during my spare time. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully I can find something workable soon.

In conclusion, let's hope blogging sticks this time!

38 week profile pics

I took a couple of pics, since we are at 38 weeks, with the girls. Not the best, but hey, taking pictures with a 1 and a 2 year old with a camera on automatic timer ... well ... here ya go.

37 Week Check-Up

Even though we are at 38 weeks on Monday, we had our 37 week check-up today. All is well, if fact better than well. I hope this doesn't mean that I will have a difficult labor! I have almost no swelling, the baby is sitting somewhat low, we're GBS negative, and my blood pressure is good! So, in addition to good news, the girls were adorable. It was my first time taking them the hour drive on my own, so in a way it was a test. How well will long distance travel for medical care really work on a regular basis? It went well! And, as you can see below, the girls know exactly what happens at the midwife. Mattie wanted a check-up, too, and Celia was happy to give it to her!

Update in Cloth Diapering

So, since the first post we had a slight break in the cloth diapering. Turns out I made 2 mistakes.

1.  Celia is not ready for training pants and going potty regularly. The cloth training pants we got her leaked BIG TIME 3 times in a row because she's holding it, then going a lot at once. She's just not interested in being potty independent. I had heard from a lot of more experienced moms to wait until she's ready, and after reading an article in the Huffington Post, I'm more inclined to sit back and wait. So, Celia is back in regular cloth diapers.

2. With both kids in regular cloth diapers, I have no where NEAR enough supplies. I ran out of everything the first day. I didn't even have enough to use while I washed. Sad, just sad. I ordered more quickly at my favorite online store (Nicki's Diapers) and we had to wait for the back-ups. We're lucky that she has a great deal on her in-house brand right now (only $7.95 for a cover - yeah that's good). We also got Celia some toddler size prefolds, which seem to be doing the trick.

Well, now we have a full supply and after a full day and previous night of cloth diapering, we seem to be on track! Yeah! Plenty of diapers! Now, time to get us all into the habit of cloth diapers before we have 3 kids wearing them.

Here's a morning photo shoot of the girls in their overnight diapers!  I had no idea of the disaster Mattie had waiting for me ....

The New Cloth Diapering Adventure

So, it's finally happening. We're going back to cloth diapering for ALL of the children! Yes, that means that in a month I will have 3 children in cloth diapers. I plan on washing every other day. Currently I have 1 in cloth diaper training pants - pretty cool actually - and 1 in the conventional prefolds and covers. I found some great deals at Nicki's diapers online with their in-house brand Imagine. Amazing deals, actually. We haven't fully tested them yet, but we like the look and feel of them. So, time will tell.

Will this new trial last a day, a week, the intended rest of my life? I don't know, but I sure hope that it works out. We've invested in refreshing and updating our supply, and I've got it all out for the new baby. Here's hoping!

My official predition for baby #3

It is time for my official prediction of the baby's due date. I was right with the last baby, so the pressure is really on. For the record, but prediction is below.

gender: boy
date: May 5, 2012
weight: 7 lbs 14 oz
length: 21 inches

To enter your own predictions, I've started an online baby pool. The link is below. Forward it around if you like - the more the merrier!

http://bebepool.com/mamaBoda

I'm Back!

So, it's been a while - I think more than a year! Well, I'm back and I decided with my new phase in life to begin writing on this blog again. I think it only fitting :).

This last week was my first as a real stay-at-home mom (SAHM). It was great, the kids seem to be doing better, and our family life seems like it will be much more peaceful. In my new role, there's a lot of new things I will be taking on. We are going to get back to cloth diapering (as soon as I can get the supplies and house in enough order), we will be doing a little tightening of the belt to ensure that we can make this work (less eating out, huluPlus instead of cable), and I will try to do some things BY HAND. The last part is more experiment than plan, but we'll see. For example, I hope to start making our cloth diapers in stead of buying them. I plan on working toward a Nebraska where Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) can attend home births (currently a felony for CNMs in Nebraska). Plus, I hope to start home school for Celia soon (she's SO ready for preschool).

Anyway, I'm going to try to post daily about my exploits, the girls, and life in Auburn, NE. Hopefully we'll thrive here in our new town and new lifestyle. Look for more to come!