Hank the Tank is here!

"I'll make you an offer that you can't refuse."

I kept joking that I was keeping Hank in until Ely made it from Chicago.  True to my word, I went into labor the day after I picked Ely up from the train station in Ann Arbor.  I went into full on labor about 4 in the morning and Henry (Hank the Tank) was born 04.28.2013 at 2:59 p.m., nine lbs., five ounces.  If only it was as easy as it sounds.

I had decided to try to go the all natural route after having to do the emergency c section with Nugget.    The hubby got a big chuckle that even though Hank was almost out, I was crying for an epidural.  Because of his size, they had called in extra doctors to aid the midwives in the delivery.   I had passed the glucose test, so I did not have gestational diabetes this time, and they didn't do too much extra monitoring like they did with Nugget.   To make a long story short, there was a decision made whether to break Hank's clavicle or tear me.  I'm glad in the end poor Hank didn't have to endure a broken bone even if the healing longer than I had planned for,  We are so very lucky to have C.S.Mott Children's Hospital in our backyard.  I don't know if I would have wanted to deliver anywhere else.

Having two under two has been a bit crazy.   I honestly feel like The Walking Dead but I wouldn't change a thing.  Nugget is in love with her little brother and wants to help in any way possible.  I should probably try and get some sleep, because these moments are far in in between!

May the force be with you

Now that I'm in the third trimester with Baby Smudge, I've started to get the urge to decorate his room.  I found polka dot crib bedding on clearance just because someone ripped the zipper on the bag, started looking at paint chips to decide on color, and been shopping on Etsy to find some cute prints to hang on his wall.  I'm leaning towards either a very pale icy blue or a grey for the walls.  As for the room "theme" itself, well, i went back and forth on space vs. robots, and this may be the one chance I have to do it, so I'm going with a Star Wars/space theme.  It would be so easy to go hog wild and let the theme overtake the room, especially with my love of Star Wars.  I'm trying to tame it down a bit and I found great prints of the Millennium Falcon, an AT-AT, and R2-D2 from Noodlehug that I'm going to place in white frames.   The next part I'm having trouble with is trying to decide what to do about the mobile.  I'm going to take an existing mobile and make it Star Wars worthy.  I keep going back and forth on whether I want to buy model kits of a few of the ships and hang them from the mobile or find Star Wars amigurumi dolls to hang from it instead.  I've still got ten weeks to decide and he won't be technically moved into his room until I go back to work (hopefully three months) so I have a little bit of time on my side.  Hopefully by the time he's ready to move into his room Elise will be ready for her big girl bed so I won't have to buy another crib. Other than that, I'm checking out craigslist everyday to see if I can find a ddresser to refinish for his room like I did for Elise.  I'm thinking as much as I'd love to have that done before he gets here, it's going to end up like Elise's dresser and not be done for many months unless I'm feeling super energetic (which my energy levels have been depleting rapidly) and motivated.  

Han Solo Bobble head!

  

Brrr...

It's been a bit chilly here in the Magical Mitten state the past few days.  It's times like this that I really look forward to spring.  I also start thinking about gardening, flowers and vegetables.  As I've mentioned before I've become a Pinterest junkie and there are lots of great ideas for gardens on there and it's easy to get lose hours looking around if you're not careful.

I decided last fall not to renew our CSA membership and to focus on growing our own.  I enjoyed having a working share but didn't feel like I would be able to put in the hours at the farm with two little ones under the age of two and enjoy my spring and summer like I wanted.  I also wanted to ensure we would be growing exactly what we wanted to eat.  I have thought about joining a meat/eggs in the future but right now, I want to focus on growing my own little farm in the back yard.

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.