Love This Picture

We had a photo shoot today for fun

My sister had found this bathing suit for $3 when I was pregnant so I had to buy it, if for nothing else then to have these oh so cute pictures!

4 Months Old

This past Saturday Annabelle turned 4 months old.  Oh how time flies by.  I have no clue what she weighs but we do have a Dr. apt coming up next week so I will find out then.  She is in some 3-6 month outfits now and she is getting just a little to big for the 0-3 month outfits.

New news:  She is doing VERY well holding up her head now and she doesn't flip out when we put her on her belly.  She can also recognize faces now and she has had some stranger issues lately like this Saturday we drove to VA to see my cousin and her family and I gave her over to my cousin when we got there and she started screaming (not usual for her).  I think it was partly the "I don't know you" and the "I was just in a car for 4hrs and I am cranky" kind of cry.  But she also did it with someone in a store but that lady was kind of scary so I would of cried too.. LOL

Pictures:

What a big girl holding her head up

She was talking up a storm so I couldn't get a picture with her smiling

Our little cutie pie

This is my cousin and her her little ones with Annabelle, it was great to see them this weekend

Happy Father's Day and Cute Pictures of Annabelle

Annabelle and Daddy on Father's Day Weekend

Look who is holding their head up

This picture cracks me up you would think someone was coming after her

Cracking up!  Love her!!

So excited!

Y..M..C..A......... It's fun to stay at the...

Earlier this week I canceled our membership to the gym we had been going to.  You know the gyms full of 20 somethings with guys showing their muscles, grunting really lowed and dropping weights (the LOOK at ME kind of guy).  With the girls "working out" in their tight shorts and sports bras doing more "working on getting a date" then sweating.

Ahh a love connection at the juice bar.  These are the type of people that went to our old gym.

Yesterday we joined our local YMCA and we love it.  You go in and right away you can see they are all about Families, kids running around parents chatting with other parents.  Because it took us about 45 mins to sign up (they have new software, ugh) I ended up feeding Annabelle before putting her in the nursery.  As I sat there this little girl started talking to me.  She said she liked our shoes (we have the 5 toed shoes and have had them way before they became popular).  She asked about Annabelle's name and said "Awww I like her name".  The little girl was probably not older than 6 and she had 2 younger sisters who are not as chatty as her.  My point is the Y is a place for families and little kids are welcome and included.  At our old gym they wouldn't watch Annabelle until she was 6 months and at that all the kids went in one big room.  At the Y the little little kids are in a separate room.

Annabelle did great yesterday and she was so quiet (I think she was just taking it all in).  It felt wonderful to be in a place to work out with average people just trying to stay healthy or get healthy.  It also felt great to finally go to a gym and work out period.  I have not done that in many months!

The YMCA is a place for Families and it is now our place.

I am looking forward to doing Mommy and Me swim with Annabelle come fall and we are also looking forward to having a pool we can go hang out at when the days are hot and we want to cool off.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a Happy Fathers Day!  This weekend you will find me painting the office as our new Pottery Barn Desks are coming next Friday (sooooo excited we have wanted these for a very long time).

Take Care :-)

A Visit From Family!

This past weekend my cousin Brenda and her husband Brian drove up to visit with us from Atlanta.  It was great to see them and introduce them to Annabelle.  She made Annabelle an AWESOME blanket, she had made me one years ago and I still cuddle up on the couch with it today.

Here are a couple of pictures from our visit:

Once I get my behind into action and setup her Christening Brenda and Brian are going to be her God parents.  It was great seeing them and having family over :-)

BumGenius Cloth Diapers Feedback

We have now switched her over to the one size cloth diapers because she was getting to big for the small kissaluvs we were using on her and she was leaking through the diaper over night.

Here is my feedback on 3 different versions of the BumGenius diapers and let me start by saying I love the diapers.

BumGenius 4.0 One-Size:

• Description - It is a pocket diaper and you insert the pad between the water proof layer and the cloth cover.  The diaper is very soft.
• Blow Out Test - It held everything in the diaper.
• Keeping Baby Dry - The cloth cover does exactly what is claims, that is it keeps the baby dry.  I have touched the cloth portion when changing her and it was completely dry however the insert was soaked (2 thumbs up).  
• Ease of Use - The diaper is very easy to use and fits snuck around my daughters legs that are on the skinnier side with a little chub.  My husband prefers the velcro version and I will say they are easier than the snaps, however as she gets older I could see her being able to pull them off easier so I like the snaps.
• Cleaning - Spray out the poop diapers with the Bumgenius sprayer  over the toilet, it takes a little bit of time but not bad at all and you remove the insert from the cover making sure to put the velcro taps on the washing tab.  Like the others I do 3 washes (rinse spin, wash, rinse spin) and in the first rinse I add a little vinegar to help with the odder.
• Drying Time - The inserts go in the dryer and I add a dry towel to help them dry faster.  The covers I hang inside on a stand up drying crack and they take a few hours to totally dry.
• Over All Rating - 5 stars!  These are great diapers and well worth the money.

BumGenius Organic

• Description - It looks like the 4.0 except the organic cotton insert is sewed onto the cover and for smaller sized you fold it in the back for girls and in the front for boys.  The diaper is made of soft fabric for the insert making it very comfortable.
• Blow Out Test - It held everything in the diaper.
• Keeping Baby Dry - Nope if the baby is wet he/she will feel it with these.
• Ease of Use - The diaper is easy to use but others watching your baby who are not familiar with how to folder the insert for smaller babies might be a little confused.
• Cleaning - Same as 4.0 except you can not remove the insert.  They are a little easier to spray the pop out of.
• Drying Time - Because I can not remove the insert I hang the whole diaper to dry.  It takes a full day and night for it to drying hanging in the house on a drying rack.  I don't dare put them in the drying because I am worried they will get ruined.  I have 2 of these and I will not be buying more just because of the drying time.  If you had a drier where you can insert a shelf to dry items flat I think that would work.  
• Over All Rating - 3 stars because of the drying time.

BumGenius Flip 

• Description - These come with a cover and pre fold inserts that look much like the inserts for the 4.0 except there is no button to keep the insert folded.  As long as the cover doesn't get to wet you can just change out the insert vs changing the full diaper cover and all when baby gets wet.
• Blow Out Test - It held everything in the diaper.
• Keeping Baby Dry - The inserts have 2 sides one is smooth and softer and that is the side that goes up against the baby and it does tend to stay drier than the other side when wet.
• Ease of Use - A little more difficult because you have to get the insert to stay in place as you put it on but ones you get the hang of it then you are good to go.  Because you have to do this as you are changing the baby it doesn't make it easy for those not familiar with the diapers to use. 
• Cleaning - Much easier to spray out because the insert comes right out and there is no cloth cover to spay out also.  I wash them the same as mentioned above.
• Drying Time - A little faster than the 4.0 because I put the inserts in the drier and the water proof cover hangs to dry.
• Over All Rating - 5 stars! They hold up to the night time pee challenge and I have the ability to double up on the inserts at night if needed. 

How Many?

I started with 12 diapers.  I am going to be buying a few more because with the 4.0 and Organic once they are dirty the whole diaper is dirty.  They are very cute and come in some great colors but for the next ones I get I am going to get gender neutral ones so I have more that I could use on the next child in the event it is a boy.  

Diaper Rash?

Nope!  Annabelle has not had diaper rash once since she was born and I think the cloth diapers have a lot to do with it.  When she was a newborn we used disposable but changed them right away when she got wet or did number 2 and we went through a lot of diapers and that can get $$$$!

First Time Mom's Using Cloth Diapers

You can do it!  Get a few different diapers so you can find what works best for you and most of all get a BumGenius sprayer.  Get yourself 2-3 pail wet bags the best one I found is made by thirsties liner I have another one made by another company and I don't like it.  You don't need special laundry detergent or sprays for the diapers if you plan to wash them daily.  OxiClean works great to keep them looking like new and plain old baking soda and vinegar works wonders to get the odor out, so save your money on buying those "special" sprays.  I use odor free Arm and Hammer detergent and it works great and is cheap.  Don't be worried about cleaning them out.  This is my nightly routine:

• Spray out the poop diapers over the toilet using the BumGenius sprayer
• Remove the pads from the diapers and make sure all velcro tabs are secured to the wash tab and put in the washing machine
• Turn wet bag inside out and place in the washer
• Add a little vinegar to the wash and then put on rinse with warm water
• Once the rinse and spin is done then I wash them with some Arm and Hammer detergent, OxiClean powder and Baking soda again on warm
• Then one more rinse and spin
• In the morning I put the covers on the rack to dry along with some of my wet bags (the thirsties one is awesome because it can go in the drier) then I put the inserts in the drier with a dry towel for about 45 mins on Med-High heat
• Then once everything is dry I put the diapers together

It sounds like a lot of work and yes it takes time but not that much and it is so worth it to save money, prevent diaper rash, keep all the mess in the diaper and to keep from running out of diapers.

I hope you all found this helpful and if you have any questions please let me know :-)

The Adventure of Painting!

I just wanted to drop in to let you all know what I have been up to.  We are in the middle of turning our house into a home and it's a lot of work.  Since we bought the house last year we have not been able to paint, mostly because we got married the month after buying the house and then pregnant with Annabelle the month after the wedding.  So now we are putting our painting clothes on and breaking out the rollers and putting some love into this home.  So far we have painted the family room and kitchen and today I finished the dining room.  Tomorrow I am going to prep the formal living room to be painted.  You see the whole down stairs runs into each other so you really can't do one without out doing all, especially because we are painting the ceilings too.  It is so nice to get rid of that builder yellow flat paint!!!

Also, in the next two weeks we are having some landscaping done in our backyard.  We are adding a pergola over our existing deck and a patio off to the side along with some new bushes.  Very exciting!!

Jerry has also been doing a lot of traveling which is another reason I am not able to write much as I have been a one woman show off and on for a few weeks and it looks like that is going to continue for a few more weeks.

I hope everyone is doing well!!

It's a Van Life

We did it.  We are now a minivan family and I am loving it.  I never thought I would ever say this but having a minivan is awesome.  We got the Honda Odyssey EX-L 2012 and it is so comfy and drives so nicely. I am a Honda girl and this is my 3rd Honda so I know what a great car they make.  It is great to push a button and have the doors open when my hands are full with baby and other things.  One draw back is it is just to big to get in our garage and still be able to walk around it, but that's ok because now we can make our garage into a storage/workshop.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!