Quick Update

Bryan weighed in at 11lb 9oz, and 23 inches long. Not a huge weight gain, but the doctor said he looks great and, "Just keep breastfeeding." He screamed for his needles...poor guy. I've given him Tylenol to help with any discomfort, which I beleive he must be in because he is a wee bit fussy as the afternoon turns into evening.
Grace weighed in at 25lb. The doctor was very surprized to hear that I was breastfeeding her. His eyes kinda bugged a bit, and he said, "You breastfeed both of them?"
"Yep!" I replied with a smile.
I was worried about her reaction to the needle, but she just watched. No tears, no whimper, honesly, nothing. Just big eyes as she watched it all happen. She got a bandaid and a sucker when she was all done and checked to make sure the bandaid was still there when we got home. Very cute. If you ask her, "Did you get a needle?" She says "Yep!"

I noticed looking though the blog that I haven't posted to many pics. in the last little bit. I will take some in the next few days and post on the weekend with them.

More about diapers...

I have been busy using that sewing machine. As the piles of diapers grow I need to remind myself that a baby doesn't need toooooo many diapers. I have decided that pocket diapers are by far my favorite. They dry quickly, and I make them a bit slimmer so baby has more room to move around. They take longer to make. Lots of sewing, and cutting, and resewing. But I decided I will be much happier with the finished product if I make what I like, and not second best. A funny story...every time I make a new diaper I am so excited to see how it fits ect, that I can't wait to try it on Bryan. But it never fails, I make one, put it on him, and he poops in it, every time. I am not kidding. I can wait 2 or 3 days, make a few, and he poops 3 times in row to poop in them all. Little stinker!! So I thought maybe I have enough diapers and should make some more soakers. As well he is quickly growing out of the ones he is in. The diapers get bigger, and the soakers have to too. I have a pattern I am going to experiment with a bit plus I found a great one online. Here is the link to it.

http://www.birdcrossstitch.com/soakers/pattern/index_printable.html

I'm all about the 3 R's. So when I am looking for fabric for my diapers I go to Value Village and look there. It’s about reducing the waste in the world, but also reusing, right? That’s how I see it anyways. So I go there and look through bed sheets. As long as they are mostly cotton they are good. I found a Buzz Light-Year one last time so the last 4 diapers I made are Buzz Light-Year and friends. I have more then half the bed sheet left over but thought I would save them for the next size up. The time before I went I got this red plaid stuff, very cute and not gender specific so I could use it on a girl too. (Maybe next time) I thought it was a bed sheet and came home to find it was actually just some fabric from a fabric store. And I'm sure it was like 3-4 yards. Wow, the things people get ride of! I thought I would also try to make wool soakers out of old sweaters. (Another great idea I found online.) There is a great website that tells you how to do it. I would like to try it. It looks much quicker then knitting one. I will keep you posted.

Well that’s about it for now. Bryan and Grace have a Dr.s apt. on Thursday, and I will post after that to keep track of his weight gain. He is growing, I can see it. I am curious to how much he weighs...

Diapers anyone?

I've found a passion, for a while anyways...:) Below are some pictures of what I have made.

Here are the 1st 4 I made. Just a fitted diaper with the soaker sewn right in.

These ones take forever to dry!

And here is Mr. Man showing one off.

This material came from an old pair of PJ's of mine!

Can't forget my wool soakers! This is the 2nd size I've made, and I have 5 or 6. I luv them! A newborn in nice soft cloth and wool! I've had only 2 leaks, in 8 weeks. Really not bad if you think that with plastic covers you get an odd leak. Even disposables you get the odd leak!

Here are the pocket diapers. A pocket diaper is a shell of a diaper, and you add the soakers in the front pocket as you need them. I've made 2, and I like these. They fit nicer in the legs, and dry way faster in the dryer!

And here he is, smiling away! He likes his cloth!LOL

My mom is going away for a week and has promised to let me borrow her sewing machine while she is away! I will make tones of diapers! Well, but then I think, how many does a baby really need? Even if I had more then 36 I would need to do laundry before I used them all. But I figured I would make some for the girls for their dollies and Abby for hers, and make some for Bryan in the next size up as well. Its nice to know I'm doing something good for the enviorment, and for my baby! 2fold actually. Cloth are better for his health, but I am also leaving him a better world by not using disposable, right?

I was thinking of starting a online cloth diapering business! I would sew cloth diapers out of recycled clothes and sell them cheap. And make wool soakers and sell them. But then I was like, "But if anyone wants to cloth diaper their own baby its not hard to do, so who would buy my diapers, really?" I don't know. Its a nice idea because then I'm still at home with my kidz, but I don't really know how practical it is. I will have to think more on it all.

My Last Visit

Yesterday was a sad day for me. It was my last visit with Sylvia. That is always such a hard day. She was my midwife, but as my midwife she became my friend. She supported me, had faith in me, and she is someone I confided in. When little Bryan was breech, she gave me my options, but respect my choice to let my body work and let Bryan turn on his own. Each day that I was over due, she reminded me that my body would do it, despite my fears I would be pregnant forever! During labor she supported me but respected my need for space, allowing Goran and I to work together. She cheered me on when I thought I couldn't go another minute, and reminded me to listen to my body when I had to push. She caught my baby, but let me take him into my arms to hold and adore. After the physical need for her was over in the room, after the birth, she quietly left the room giving my new family uninterrupted time to bond. Over the last 6 weeks she has just been quietly standing in the sidelines, giving advice when I needed it, but letting me mother my baby as I needed, and encouraging me at the same time. Yes, that last visit with her is very hard. The last visit with Grace was hard too. Maybe more so this time, because I've now known her longer and respect her as a person that much more. Because during my pregnancy, labor, and birth, she empowered me. She gave me the faith to believe and trust in my body, and in myself. She did this as a midwife, but also just as being the wonderful person that she is.

Sylvia, thank you for it all. For catching my babies, and making a difference in my births.

As for Bryan he is 10lb 13oz yesterday, and 25 inches long. He is a happy content baby. This too, I believe is due to the peaceful pregnancy, and wonderful birth I had.

Glimpse' of a Smile

A few glimpse' of those smiles, but it's hard to get on camera!

And here is the strong little man, trying so hard to lift his head up!

Bryan has begun to smile. If I can get his attention, I can quite easily get a smile now. He has also started to 'baby talk'. He caught me off guard last week one the morning I was changing his diaper and he let out a little coo. He figures he has joined such a noisy house hold, he's not being left out! And he can hold his head up a few minutes now if I place him on his tummy. He's 6 weeks old on Monday. They grow too fast.

I luv my fitted cloth diapers so much, I am going to make some of my own. Last year when I had first got pregnant I bought some from my friend Erin, who had sewn them herself. Well I decided I will try my hand at it. I will keep posted on how that goes.

Happy Birthday Grace

Happy Birthday 2 year old!!

I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in the last year. A year ago she wasn't walking, or talking, and she just had short baby hair. She still slept in our bed, wore diapers, and still sat in the high chair. Now Grace runs after Angelina down the side walk and sleeps in a big girls bed with her sister. Her hair is no longer the short baby hair, but has grown 5 or 6 times its length. She is 100% toilet trained, quickly letting me if she's had an accident so she can have clean clothes. She doesn't even use a boaster seat. She's a big girl like Angelina and just sits in the chair. And as far as talking... she's picked up lovely phases from Angelina like "No fair!", "Your Bad!", and an all time favorite from Daddy, "Knock a bonk!" My favorite is when she all of a sudden for no reason at all, hug my leg and say "I love you Mommy!"

Now she fights to hold Baby Bryan, and cries when we take him from her arms. She calls him "Baby Bron", and thinks him pooing in his diapers is "Grooooooss!". She loves her big sister and hangs on her every word. Goran and I got her up this morning and gave her a birthday present. We gave her a dolly swing. She loves it!! But when Angelina first got up, it was war over that toy. (I knew this would happen, and I thought it was a great time to teach Angelina about sharing.) But after a few minutes Grace changed, and I felt sad for her. There they were, Angelina crying because she wanted a turn, and Grace crying because she doesn't understand sharing but she didn't want Angelina to be sad. Her attention was not on the toy anymore, but on Angelina. Now she was sad for Angelina. (Her sensitivity to others is one reason I love her so much!) As the day goes on I will make sure to make the time to spend with her to play with her and the swing.

Tonight we are just spending time together. We are having soup and hot dogs for supper, because that's one of her favorites, and cupcakes for dessert!! And as the week goes on, she has a few parties to attend to get all the relatives in!!

This morning when we got her up and said "Happy Birthday Grace," she would say 'Happy Birthday' back to us. Too cute!

Happy New Year!!

Well as you can see Bryan found his thumb.....once. I tried a soother just for when I'm having a shower. Because it seems to be every time I get in there, the little guy starts crying, and that turns into screaming within 2 minutes. So one morning I tried it and the soother lasted about about 3 minutes. Well now I don't wake him up and just hop in the shower. He sleeps while I have a few minutes just to myself without any kids and any crying. A great way to start the day. Anyways, I'm not really sure how he found his thumb. I was holding him a few nights ago, and he was fed and changed, and I looked down and saw that he had it! I thought it was great. He could sooth himself when he really needed to. But that was the only time. He hasn't done it since. But it was very cute, him sucking away, making slurpy noises...babies are so cute! Especially mine!

Talking about cute...here are the girls with their snowman that Dad helped them build. This morning we woke up to a beautiful dusting of snow outside. After Goran shoveled out the driveway and the deck, he took the girls out to play. They are always asking for a snowman, so away they went to build a snowman. (Which was nice for me, because that meant I didn't have to take them outside!) They wanted to bring it inside so we brought some snow in the house in a bowl, to show them what happens to snow when you bring it inside! So we are in the middle of that experience now...half snow half water...and Grace wants to feed it to all her babies so there are little clumps of snow all over the playroom floor:)

Oh, and Happy New Year!! We spent the evening here together, and after the countdown, and champagne, kissed all our children and wished them a happy new year too. What a wonderful way to bring in the new year! With each other and our children. And now, before I get all sentimental, I will end my post.

I hope you all had a happy new years, and I wish you the best the year has to offer you!!