So we're doing this again?!?

I've always wanted to have more than one child.  My brother and I are three years apart and I've been of the belief that two to three years would be a good age difference between siblings.  Well, a funny thing happened on the way to that goal... I'm 13.5 weeks pregnant.  This means there will be 20 months difference between Elise and the new baby, or perhaps I should say just baby.  Elise is growing so fast and running around like crazy that it's hard to think of her as a baby anymore.

Of course with all the excitement of a new baby comes a small twinge of dread.  I am not looking forward to hearing the phrase "Advanced Maternal Age" and definitely not looking forward to the glucose tolerance test and the possibility of being diagnosed with gestational diabetes again.  On the other hand, I weigh ten pounds less than when I first found out I was pregnant with Elise and the gestational diabetes diagnosis really made me look at what I ate and make changes for the better to my diet.  Here's to hoping after this birth I end up weighing at least 10 pounds less than I do now!

Baby Elise's 1st birthday!

Elise modeling her birthday onesie & tutu.

Birthday parties.  There's so much made now about babies having blowout birthday parties to the point that they are hyped almost as much as a Sweet Sixteen party.  I have to admit, I felt a lot of pressure (most of it put on by me) to throw Elise a great party, not that she'll remember it or anything like that.  I knew that I wanted to keep it somewhat low key,and somewhat low budget, so I decided on inviting just immediate family and our neighbor who adores Elise and has watched her on several occasions. 

I have become a Pinterest junkie, so finding cute ideas and themes was easy.  After looking around, I knew I wanted to do a sock monkey theme.  I also knew that because of my work schedule and other events going on prior to her party, I wasn't going to be able to hand make or design all of Elise's decorations.  Etsy has many people who design invites, thank you cards, banners, food labels, and favor tags based on almost every theme available.   After conversing with the designer I chose Designing for Peanuts and she priced out a package for all my needs.  She made pretty much everything a breeze and was a great communicator.  I would definitely consider using her again whether it's for another birthday or a birth announcement. 

Smash cake and party hat!

Finding pink plates and utensils was easy.  Target and Party City have very reasonable prices for both.  Luckily Elise wasn't messy when eating her smash cake, which the hubby was kind enough to make as I was running around cleaning the house like a mad woman.  I'm thinking a tarp or an outdoor cake eating near a hose reel may be necessary for any other 1st birthdays we may celebrate in the future.

The menu consisted of pulled pork (I used a pork shoulder that was ten lbs. and was under $15 at my local grocer), baked beans, broccoli slaw, potato salad, orange fluff, and banana bread.  I did go crazy at Trader Joe's and bought quite a few banana products; banana chips, apple banana squeeze apple sauce, flattened bananas, and we made dark chocolate covered frozen bananas to serve as a treat before cupcakes and ice cream.

My pork got rave reviews.  Everyone was under the impression I slaved over it all day.  My secret?  Ten hours of slow cooking in the crock pot with chicken broth and a few grinds of Trader Joe's African Smoke grinder.  Once the ten hours were up, I let the shoulder cool, cut the fat off, then shredded the meat.  The morning of the party I put the shredded meat in the crock pot again with a bottle of our favorite bbq sauce and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. The best part is we had leftovers and it always tastes better the second day. 

I think she had fun. :-)

So all in all, birthday party, great success.  Is it bad that I'm already browsing Pinterest and getting ideas for next year?

It's crazy what a difference a year makes.

Elise being a ham bone.

Sweet baby Elise will be a year old in just a few days.  I can't even remember what life was before she came into our lives.  The past year has been a whirlwind of activity; late night feedings, crazy looking diapers to change, learning how to use the breast pump and trying to make time to pump at work, and just getting to know Elise.

This past weekend my mother watched Elise and the one night that we didn't have anything planned, I didn't know what to do with myself.  I watched the Olympics on the tele, but honestly I was bored and wanting my baby back at home.  I'm sure in time I will appreciate time apart and just some "me time" but for now, I'll take all the baby talk and messy diapers I can!

Baby of the Cloth

I had decided even before I was pregnant that I wanted to use cloth diapers.  Most people I knew thought I was crazy.  "Why would you want to wash a diaper when you can just dispose of the stinky mess," they would ask.  For me, it wasn't even an environmental issue (well, partly it was) but more of a cost savings for us.  After pricing out what we would spend on disposables each year and a one time buy of a Bum Genius 4.0 with snaps diaper ($17x24 diapers), my mind was made up.

Bum Genius 4.0 in clementine

I decided to purchase 10 newborn AIO Bum Genius diapers in addition to the 4.0s after reading reviews on various websites that the 4.0s may not fit a newborn baby so well.  This turned out to be a good decision and Elise wore the AIOs until she hit about 14 lbs.  When she hit 12 lbs. we put her in the 4.0s at night with a doubler as she was soaking through the newborn diapers and once we did that not only was she not drenched but she started sleeping through the night.

Many websites recommend using Rocking Green detergent to wash the diapers and get the "funk" out.  I have used Method Free + Clear and haven't had too many funky diapers except when Elise started solids.  Once things got a little stinky every once in awhile I would add a tiny amount of bleach to the load or a squirt of dish soap for very stubborn odors.

A few things that I learned this go around that I will remember with the next child (if we are lucky enough to provide Elise with a sibling):

1. Buy a few more of each kind of diaper.  Not only will this save your sanity when you are up every few hours, it will also mean less trips to your washing machine.
2. There will be times you may have to use disposables, despite how much you don't want to.  We lost power for five days and were staying at the grandparents' house so it was a no-brainer.  Also if some day cares do not like cloth diapers and only use disposables.
3. Never wash a load of diapers with fewer than 8 diapers in a load.  They just don't seem to come as clean.