Napping Is For Quitters. Quitters At Being Awake, That Is.

I got all excited because I was going to make my first cereal box magazine organizer from a box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes that Lucas finished off yesterday morning.  This idea was quickly deflated, though, when I discovered that my magazines were wider than the box itself.  It was even the family-size box, but apparently for this particular box of Corn Flakes, that just meant taller and not wider (probably because it fits in cabinets better).  Guess I'll have to scour the cereal shelves for the wider boxes, like Cheerios.  I may need to even carry a magazine to the cereal section for "good measure" (heehee I kid, I kid).

I took the double jogger out for a test drive yesterday afternoon!  Had Delano on one side and the empty infant seat on the other (I totally meant to grab Curious George for the infant seat!).  The stroller itself was smooth as butter, but HOLY CRAP my pregnant ass did NOT want to push it up any inclines!!  My mom actually pushed it up almost all of the hills!  And it wasn't because the stroller was heavy - because it wasn't that heavy - it was because Baby #2 was angry about the whole experience altogether.  Baby #2 does NOT want me to sweat, I guess.  Baby #2 is anti-workout.  On the plus side, it was an AWESOME day to be outside with the kiddo.  About 73 degrees and cloudy all day.  PERFECT!

It's me and Lucas!  Just kidding.  Lucas doesn't run.

Delano's nap times have been ever changing lately, and he obviously didn't consult me before deciding to revamp his nap schedule on a daily basis.  He used to nap like clockwork, and occasionally he'll have a day that is exactly like the old clockwork schedule:  Up at 8:00, down for a nap at 10:00, up at noon, down for a nap at 4:00, up at 6:00, and then down for the night at 8:00.  Nowadays, he may wake up at 7:30, or he may wake up ay 9:30.  Then he MIGHT be ready for a morning nap 2 hours later.  If he doesn't take his morning nap, then he'll for sure be ready for a nap by about 1:00 or 2:00, which will usually nix the late afternoon nap.  At one point I thought he was done with morning naps because he skipped them for three days in a row, but then he was back to AM sleeping by the fourth day.  Sometimes he'll fall asleep for a nap right away, sometimes he'll play/fuss for a while before he falls asleep.  The other day, he played (and lightly fussed here and there) for an HOUR AND A HALF in his crib before he passed out.  Sometimes he naps for 45 minutes, sometimes he naps for 2 1/2 hours.  And it's not that I don't try to keep him on a regular schedule.  I do, unless there's something going on that alters it.  It's just that he's growing up and trying to figure out what kind of schedule his body wants right now.  He likes to be awake!  I personally think he should stick with the 2 naps at 2 hours each schedule.  FOREVER.  :) 

Delano's new signs lately include "octopus" (waving his arms around wildly), "book" (opening and closing his palms like a book), "thank you" (kind of looks like blowing a kiss) and "more" (forming circles with his hands and tapping his fingers together).  Ironically, "more" was one of the very first signs we ever started using with him 6 months ago, but he just now started doing it back.  He knew what it meant after a while, just never performed it himself.  And now he does it all the time.  He's basically replaced his sign for "eat" for the moment with "more", which is totally fine.  His belly wants more of whatever's coming!  He also really like's the sign for "bug"- it makes him laugh - but he can't quite do it yet.  It requires a little more coordination!

This is the actual sign for octopus.  We prefer flailing our arms around like we're drowning.  It's way more effective and really gets your point across.  :)

UH. DORBS.

Bug - put your thumb on your nose and wiggle your first two fingers.  Delano just kind of puts his hand up against his face and waves.  Sort of, buddy!

Yesterday (the 16th) was both the day Delano hit 14 months old and I hit the 28 week (third trimester) mark with Baby #2.  I didn't get any good pics yesterday for 14 months, NOR did I take my 28 week belly pic.  It was a busy day!  So maybe I'll get around to it today or tomorrow.  But I did take this pic of D napping in the car.....

Double Joggers, Woolies, Preggo Heartburn and Velcro Shoes

Here's my 27 weeks (plus 3 days) belly shot:

 And here's my 27 weeks pic from last time around:

I think my belly actually looks bigger in the pic above from the first time around!  But then when you look at my 28 weeks pic from the first time around, it looks almost identical to right now:

I think it depends a lot on what I'm wearing, or how exactly I'm standing, or how the baby is laying at that exact moment.

So it looks like I'm right on track with the first time around now.  And I'm thinking a bulb must have burned out in the bathroom, because the older pictures are so much brighter than the recent ones.  I'll have to look into that.  But anyway, moving on......

I'M SUPER EXCITED!!

A while back I mentioned that the only thing I really needed for the arrival of Baby #2 was a double stroller, and that I'd like a double jogger so that I could hit the pavement with it as well.  A friend of mine commented on the post, saying that she had a double jogger I could buy from her that she LOVED but that her kids were finally outgrowing.  Well, I picked that stroller up today to "test drive" and now I can't wait to actually test drive it!

Thar she blows!

It's a Bumbleride Indie Twin, and it's all sorts of fancy.  One of the main things I needed to do with it was make sure that my infant car seat would work with it, and it does!  The top part of the car seat actually locks down onto the bumper bar and the stroller seat folds up to hold it even more secure.  And once the car seat strap is strapped around the foot-end of the car seat, it will be snug as a bug!  It came with a removable cup holder that clips to the side, but I've already been online eyeballing the Parent Pack Console attachment for my drink/keys/phone and the Snack Pack attachment for Delano's drink/snacks/toys.  I think tomorrow will be a good day for a test drive, even though my pregnant butt can't do much jogging at the moment!  And who are we kidding......I'm pretty certain I'm not giving this back!  ;)

So it was time to wash and lanolize Delano's wool diaper covers (this happens every few weeks), so I found out how to do it and did it myself last week.  The first couple of mornings after my first lanolizing experience, Delano was wet, so I figured I had done something wrong even though I had NO idea what that "something" was.  But this morning, Delano was bone dry on the outside of the diaper just as he should be.  So I'm thinking next time maybe I'll try separating the washing from the lanolizing (which is typically done together), and see if that helps with the first couple of uses.  I also know I used more lanolin than recommended, so maybe the next time I'll actually follow the recommendations and see if that makes a difference.  These aren't the instructions I originally followed (I watched a video I found somewhere), but here's an example of how you clean and lanolize wool.  It looks like a lot of work, but like the lady says in her instructions, it's REALLY easy and not much work at all.  I know from experience!

Washing/soaking a woolie.  Looks like fun, right?

Speaking of woolies, you can Google patterns for them online and make them yourself out of old wool sweaters (or, of course, wool you buy at the fabric store).  I'm not crafty enough to make them myself (nor do I own a sewing machine), but my mom is.......so I'm going to recruit her to make one for me to see how well it goes.  EVEN THOUGH SHE'S ALLERGIC TO WOOL.  That's because I'm an awesome daughter like that.  ;)  Just kidding.  I mean, my mom really IS allergic to wool so she said she'd have to wear a face mask while she sews, but she also said she doesn't mind trying it out.  BECAUSE SHE'S AN AWESOME MOM.  So next week when the Practically Perfect Consignment Sale hits Chattanooga, I'm going to scour the racks for some old, soft, wool sweaters we can cut up!  But if all else fails......the diaper doesn't come out as we hope or she can't handle working with wool.....the lady I bought my first two from has already made some more cute ones!

Monkey butt!

Since I talked about my constant heartburn in a recent post, I decided to try a lot harder to see if I could pinpoint what was triggering it.  For the longest time I couldn't seem to pinpoint it.  Sometimes when I ate greasy food, I got heartburn, and other times I didn't.  Sometimes when I ate sweet stuff I got heartburn, while other times I didn't.  Sometimes I felt like simply drinking water was giving me heartburn.  The only things I knew for sure that would make my insides sizzle up were peanut butter (anytime I eat a PB&J) and soy products (like my oh-so-yummy Morning Star corn dogs and chicken patties).  So I only eat those on occasion with the knowledge that Tums are the dessert.  But all this time I had never tried fully eliminating anything else from the equation, since there didn't seem to be any sort of pattern.  Until last week.

Last Thursday, I ate a bowl of Chex cereal in the morning, and decided that I was going to eat a salad for lunch (which I did, from F2O).  Then when I was STARVING in the afternoon, I ate an apple.  The apple did very little to quench my appetite, but I wanted to stick with fresh fruits and veggies to see if they caused my chest to cry.  THEY DIDN'T.  Then for dinner I had Japanese hibachi at Ichiban, which I thought would SURELY set my chest on fire.  IT DIDN'T.  I went all day and all night without chewing a single Tums! 

The next day (Friday), I had my chocolate sugary cereal for breakfast.  My cereal has never seemed to cause me any heartburn, but I wanted to make sure.  IT DIDN'T.  Then for lunch, I had leftover Ichiban.  NO HEARTBURN.  For a snack later that day I had grapes, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries.  STILL NO HEARTBURN.  It was turning out to be a glorious second day. 

I was feeling like this lady.

But then that evening, I had Mexican for dinner and went to a birthday party where I had a couple of cookies and about half of a cupcake.  That night my chest was back to being on fire.  Ironically, I don't think it was the Mexican food (though I can test this theory), since I ate about half of a taco salad and none of the chips and salsa.  I'm pretty certain it was the cookies and cupcake.  So I'm thinking that it's sugar that gives me heartburn!!  But not all sugary things, which is why I hadn't pinpointed it before.  My chocolate cereal in the mornings doesn't bother me at all.  And the homemade strawberry shortcake at my parents' house Sunday night didn't bother me, either.  It seems to be the really junky sugary stuff, like cookies and icing, that does it.  Good thing my craving for cake icing as a snack in the afternoons went away several weeks ago!

Because this was all sorts of a good idea to begin with, anyway.

I still think that other junk food, like the really-bad-for-you-fast-food kind, probably also flares up my chest like sugar does, but I don't eat enough of it to bother worrying about it.  I can just avoid it.  Or if I do have a craving one day for some french fries or whatever, then I'll know.  But I'm definitely going to avoid the high concentration sugar snacks, even though Halloween is right around the corner!!

I thought this was a neat and artistic photo for sugar addiction by an artist known as Nao-Dignity.

Delano has moved up in shoe size already from a size 3 (which I JUST bought at consignment sales last month) to a size 4 (luckily I bought some of those, too).  And I've already learned something, besides the fact that his feet are growing like weeds.  Velcro shoes are awesome for kids because you don't have to deal with laces, both getting them tied and keeping them tied.  But the downside to velcro shoes is that your child can also easily take them off.  Delano hasn't actually pulled his shoes off yet, but he undoes the velcro all the time because it's fun times.  But that's ok, because his shoes are adorable, and he DOES try to re-velcro them himself.

Star Wars!

I bought one pair of size 5 shoes at a consignment sale last month just in case he needed them before the next round of consignment sales hit in February/March, but it looks like I should buy a few more pair at the last couple of fall/winter consignment sales this month and maybe even a a couple of size 6s!!

Crazy weed baby.......

Projects and My To-Do List

I've been making my way (again) through my stack of magazines, and one of the DIY tips in an HGTV magazine was to make magazine organizers using cereal boxes.  I'd seen this idea before (it reminds me of something you would do with the kiddos on a rainy afternoon) but hadn't thought about it in who knows how long.  So since I probably won't make it through all of my magazines anytime super soon, I think I'm going to at least organize them so that they're not just sitting in jumbled stacks on the TV cabinet.  Because what I need is another project, right?  ;)

I'M GONNA BE CRAFTY!!

I figured I would cover my boxes with something to make them pretty, but I think at first I just need to focus on making the boxes happen.  THEN I can worry about what they look like, if I even care.

I have been VERY SLOWLY working on getting organized for Baby #2.  I pulled out the box of 0-3 month baby clothes and hung them up, as well as reorganized dresser drawers in D's room so that he and Baby #2 will both have drawer space.  I've got my double stroller on stand-by for pick-up, and I've got the recliner in the basement on stand-by for relocation to the upstairs living room.  The original plan was to have the glider chair recovered before Baby #2 arrived (which is already in the living room...the chair, not the baby), but that hasn't happened yet.  And I'm not going to ask Lucas about it right now, because he's been working hard on a bunch of other projects (including other things I've asked him to do) and so it's not a big deal.  But I do know that he pretty much hates my recliner, so I'll have to recruit my brother Ben to help me move it upstairs on the sly in a couple of months if we need to.   SHHHH!  :)

The glider is clean, but it has water damage on the fabric from being stored in a leaky attic, and it needs covered arms.

I haven't made any more progress on the office/guest bedroom yet, because I need Lucas's help moving a few things around first and cleaning up the office space portion (his stuff is EVERYWHERE, but according to him it's all "organized"). Once we rearrange his desk space, I can move a few other things around (or out).  Then I'll need to switch out the box spring on the future guest bed with the one on the current guest bed in Delano's room, since right now the mattress isn't level and Lucas says it's because the box spring is dead.  Then I'll need to get a few of the guys to help me level the piano (there's a board that goes underneath the backside to make it level because it's really old and missing two of its wheels, but it weighs about 1,000 pounds and lifting it is NOT easy).  THEN I'll need Lucas's help moving the full bed out of Delano's room and getting the bunk beds down from the attic to replace it.  I also want to put a ceiling fan in the office/guest bedroom, because it can get really stuffy in there and I don't want our guests to cook.  But that's not a big deal (Lucas can install a ceiling fan in no time) and since it's about to be wintertime, not on the "urgent" list.

The current state of the office/guest bedroom.  P.S.  Like our Halloween window decoration?  SUPER CREEPY.

The "office" portion of the office/guest bedroom.

Another thing I'd like to get done before Baby #2 gets here is to finish cleaning off my old desk and then get rid of it.  I've already started this project, now I just need to finish it, which actually may or may not happen before the baby gets here.  It would just be easier if it does!

My old desk, currently downstairs in the dogs' room.

Where I've gotten started on the desk, going through files and paperwork.

There are other projects on my to-do list, but I'm definitely not convinced that they're going to get done before the baby gets here.  And there are even bigger house projects on the agenda that I have absolutely NO IDEA when they'll even be started (since they require stripping wallpaper and painting).....probably when the kids are in preschool!  But all that's ok.  All of that stuff is just aesthetic, anyway.

I hear the baby, so I guess it's time to go get him up!

Smartphones, The Internet and Our Kids

We live in a technology-filled world.  I've mentioned this before a few times, and even talked about being a social media addict in a recent post, with the intention of backing off.  And I've done a pretty decent job at the backing off part.  The first few days I only signed onto Facebook two, maybe three times a day for less than 10 minutes each time, and I didn't touch my phone at all after climbing into bed.  Then we spent a weekend at a cabin with some friends, and I spent way more time than I should have on my smartphone out of pure laziness, which kind of rekindled the fire to be "connected".  So this week I've had to work on backing off again.  And I'm getting there.

It's not that I am anti-technology.  It's not that I despise the internet or the invention of social media or texting or any of that.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.  I just don't want it to take over my life like it has done with so many people.  I want to live in the moment.  I want to smell the roses and bask in the sunshine and enjoy my family and spend QUALITY time doing QUALITY things.  And although my computer and/or smartphone can keep me connected and updated with the world, I don't feel like it is time well spent (unless, of course, I am actually doing something productive, which would be an exception).

Interesting concept.....

I say all that (again) to talk about this.......I get Parents Magazine, and I've been reading a lot of articles and parenting blogs about the need that parents have nowadays to capture every. single. moment. of their child's life.  There are even commercials for it.

George Carlin even did a skit about parents who aren't really watching their children because they're too busy trying to capture the moment on their smartphones.  His advice?  Get the phone out of your face and actually WATCH your child.  And some of the parents' blogs I've read have talked about how they, too, have suffered from wanting to capture every cute and adorable moment so much that they have had to take a step back and actually LOOK at what they were really accomplishing.  They were collecting photos and videos of their child, but they weren't actually SEEING what was behind the lens.  If they didn't have those photos/videos, if for some reason they were erased, they wouldn't have actually seen a thing.

And I agree.  Granted, I am guilty of taking a billion pictures of Delano being cute and taking videos of him during funny or "milestone" moments.  And these pictures/videos often get posted on Facebook so that everyone else can ooh and ahh over his cuteness as well.  But I try not to live with my phone in front of my face, and I hope to consciously keep that at bay in the future as well.  And maybe this will be something that my kids can help decide on in the future - whether they want me to record any of what they're doing or whether they want me to leave my phone alone.  I don't know how it will all go down.  I will just have to wait and see what life is like when the time comes!

myphonemd.net posted this.....is that like WebMD?

Another internet-related issue regarding children that I've been reading a lot about lately is the fact that the photos/videos you post of your child could end up ANYWHERE.  In this blog post, one mom talks about how a potty-training picture of her child ended up on a child pornography website.  And another article was floating around a few months ago about how people can use the GPS tracking system attached to (some) photos to find out exactly where the picture was taken......as in, find out where you live, where you work, where your child plays, etc.  THE BAD GUYS CAN FIND YOU. 

I don't know anything about tracking a photo to its location, but I do know that when I use Google Images to find quirky things for my blog, I come across everything from commercialized photos to funny memes to personal photos linked to other websites/blogs that happen to mention whatever keyword I typed in.  For me (NOT a bad guy), this is often an awesome perk because I get to stumble across other mom blogs that I would have never known existed before.  And it's fun to think that maybe other moms out there stumble across mine and like it as well.  YAY FOLLOWERS!!  But on the negative side, this is really scary.  I want to share my photos and videos with my family, friends and followers, but in NO WAY do I want to put my family in danger all because of the convenience of the internet.  Some parents have opted out of posting pictures of their kids altogether.  And I get it, I understand it, but I also think that may be placing things in the "too paranoid" category.  Those children probably aren't allowed to do ANYTHING for fear that something bad could happen.  And I don't want to be like that.  I want to protect my children (which at times WILL require me watching them like a hawk), but I also want them to live life and I want my friends and family to be involved in our lives and feel like they KNOW us, even if they've never met us.  So I just have to be careful.

My next blog post will be more upbeat - I promise!  Back to pregnant bellies and babies.  The fun stuff.  :)

Which reminds me that I am 3 days late in taking my 27 week belly photo of Baby #2!  I'll go do that now.  Otherwise I will continue to forget!!

Cabin Trips and Climbing Stairs

This past weekend Lucas and I spent time with friends up in a cabin in the Nantahala Gorge between Andrews and Bryson City, North Carolina, which is only about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Chattanooga.  The boys went fly fishing while the girls relaxed with the kiddos.  It was a GORGEOUS weekend with perfect weather and perfect temperatures.  We had BLTs for dinner Friday night (by default - the only restaurant in town closed before we got there, so we ate our Saturday lunch for dinner and ate there for lunch Saturday instead) and grilled steaks for dinner Saturday night.  Lucas opted out of fishing on Sunday, so he and I took Delano on a short hike to a nearby waterfall instead before we packed up and hit the road.

P.S.  The hike to the waterfall was straight down, and therefore straight up on the way back.  With steps built into the steep portions.  GOOD LAWD this pregnant lady thought she was going to die!

Staring at each other.

One thing I didn't even THINK about for this trip was the possible need for baby gates.  I thought to bring a portable high chair, but not any baby gates.  So of course one of the first things Delano did Saturday morning was CLIMB UP AN ENTIRE FLIGHT OF STAIRS.  This was a first, as he hasn't had access to the stairs in our house to try them out.  And then of course after that first time he wanted to climb the stairs over and over and over again.  I had to push a giant lounge chair in front of the base of the stairs to keep him from climbing them, as well as lay a dining room chair down in front of the stairs leading to the lower level to keep him from trying to go down, since there wasn't a door I could close.  It was successful, but every once in a while he would pitch a fit that his staircase was blocked.  Because life is hard and unfair when you're little.

Note to self:  Next time, pack the baby gate!

What?  Lily's trying to eat?

Another new concept that appears to have been added to Delano's life lately is the attachment to a "blankie".  The only item Delano has ever shown any attachment to so far has been his pacifier.  But a few days ago, while I was getting him out of his crib, he reached down, grabbed his soft blanket, shoved it onto my chest and laid his head down on it.  And now when he's tired he walks around holding it up to his ear, or wants me to put it on my chest while I hold him.  He doesn't cry for it (and he actually doesn't cry for his pacifier either right now), but if it's there, he's all about it.  Which means I should probably find another one to stash away as a backup in case this one ever goes missing!

Sleepy baby!

So the minivan is officially tagged and titled, and the tags on my Rav4 expire on October 31st.  So by the end of the month, I'll be a full-time minivan-driving mom.  I'm terrified of driving the van because it's so much bigger than my car (parking that monster = ahhhhhh!), but I'm super excited about all the space I'm going to have!  The stroller isn't going to take up the ENTIRE back space anymore, especially since I'll be carting around a double stroller.  And I'm excited about the keyless entry and electric doors.  And I'm excited about the heat/air vents throughout the back.  And I'm excited about how much easier it is to get Delano in and out.  I'm excited for EVERYTHING about it except driving it!  But ah well.  I guess I'll learn and it will become old hat in no time.  Right, minivan moms???  Driving it like a pro WILL happen, right???

It was never my dream to drive a minivan - I was definitely one of those people who said I would NEVER own a minivan - but it WAS my dream to have a bunch of kids, which is actively a work in progress.  :)

I have a week and one day left before I am officially in my 3rd trimester!  And I've been chewing Tums like candy for weeks.  Which I also did the first time around - I just don't remember when the heartburn started.  I'd have to check my journal, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't until I was well into the 3rd trimester.  But I definitely remember that it was BAD there towards the end.  As in REAL BAD.  My insides were ON FIRE from all the heartburn I was having, and the only thing I could pinpoint it to was the fact that I was existing (and pregnant).  I would have to sleep partially upright, because if I laid all the way down I would burp up what seemed like pure acid in my mouth.  It was horrible.  And I totally anticipate that it will be just as horrible this time around.  OH THE FUN.

P.S.  I just checked my journal from the first pregnancy.   It looks like I started to get horrible heartburn at night between 29 and 31 weeks, but never had to deal with it during the day. 

I'm ready for Baby #2 to get here!!  Well, I'm sort of ready.  I haven't gotten everything done quite yet that I know will be harder to do with two kiddos in the house (like getting the guest bedroom moved into the office), but minus my to-do list, I'm ready!  I enjoy being pregnant, but I'm ready to not be so exhausted anymore.  You moms of multiple children out there just laughed and I know why......obviously two young children versus one young child is going to be exhausting!  What I meant by that was that I'm tired of being physically exhausted, as in being out of breath after walking up just three stairs.  I'm ready to be back in shape and on the move again.  I'm ready to run!

How Does One Shop For A Pillow, Anyway?

I need a new pillow, because I don't like my pillow.  Problem is, I don't really know how to shop for a pillow since I don't know exactly what I want.  When I bought the pillow I have now, I thought it was what I wanted.  And before this one, I bought one of those flat (non-contoured) memory foam pillows, thinking that's what I wanted.  But it didn't really do anything for me, either.

The chiropractor I saw a while back wouldn't approve of ANY pillow bought at the store.  According to him, they are all bad for your neck and in turn bad for your back.  The pillow he recommended was like the one below, and you actually measure yourself for the right size so that it's at the right height to support your head while not hurting your neck.

I didn't order one.  They're pretty pricey at about $70.  But in retrospect, I guess for the amount I've spent on standard pillows over the years trying to find the "right fit", I could have bought one of these from the start.  Of course, I don't know if it's what I want/need, either!

So how does one shop for a pillow, anyway?  I get that it's easy if you know what you like.  You like a soft standard pillow?  Easy enough to pick out.  You like a firm feather pillow?  Just pick up the feather pillow that says "firm" on the package and go home.  But if you're not sure......what do you do?  I've tried laying my head on pillows on the shelf.  I've tried laying on them on the display beds.  Problem with that is that they all feel okay in the store.  I need to SLEEP with it to know if I like it. 

(My 13-year-old self just giggled.)

So my son has discovered his peepee, though he can't really see it due to his massive belly.  But now while in the bathtub he plays with it and pulls on it trying to check it out.  And my favorite part is when his hand shoots down to grab it when I'm changing his diaper.  Especially if his diaper is super nasty.  Fun times, people.  I try to tell him that there's no need to be groping at something he can't even see or understand right now, because he'll be spending a good portion of his lifetime playing with it and have AMPLE opportunities to check it out, but he doesn't care.  It's his peepee and he wants to play with it NOW.

Speaking of pee pee (the liquid kind now), for the first week of using the woolie diaper covers for overnight, we were still having occasional issues with leaks.  The woolie itself would be dry (because wool is crazy like that), but D's pajamas would still be wet.  Well, Lucas added a gdiaper cloth insert (which has hemp on one side and microfleece on the other) between D's cotton overnight diaper and the woolie cover and WHAM BAM not a leak since!  D's cotton overnight diaper and the added insert are always both soaked in the mornings as expected, but the woolie and his pajamas are now bone dry!  So I think (at least for now) we've finally found our perfect, successful overnight diaper combination!

I own a bunch of different diaper options and have more than I need, but HOLY COW.  The sad part is, I would be giddy knowing I had a closet full of that many options!

I found that pic above from a blog post called Signs of a Cloth Diaper Addict.  Pretty funny.  And obviously true for the person above.  Though I'm still jealous.

Something else Delano has been playing with lately is his imagination.  He stirs imaginary food in pots and his little kitchen dishes (granted, he's watched me do it so he's probably just imitating me and not really "stirring imaginary food") but what really made me smile yesterday was that all on his own he completely pretended that a block was a car, and he was "driving" it around and making car noises with it.  I didn't think that the imagination part of his brain......the part of pretending......came until much later.  He typically only associates items with exactly what he knows (or at least thinks) they are.  So I was pretty surprised to see him driving a block around.  But that's what we did right then - drove blocks around!

Finally - Delano has definitely decided I FEED MYSELF!  He still likes and wants pureed food along with table food, but he will FIGHT the spoon out of your hand to do it himself.  I always have to bring two spoons to the table now....one for him to use and another for me to use to scoop up all the food that drips off his chin to actually get it IN his mouth.  And sometimes he even wins the second spoon.  And just like any other kid learning to eat out there, he is MESSY.  At home, this isn't any big deal, because I just wipe down everything afterwards while he runs around and then either rinse him off in the sink or toss him in the tub (if it's more than the kitchen rag can handle).  But while we're out and about, it's a little more difficult.  I don't care that he drops/tosses food or gets messy.....I pick up his mess and am fine with him being dirty.  But I'd really rather not have pureed pears slung everywhere within a 5-foot radius at a restaurant, where strangers and furniture are likely targets.  And since I can't just take him out of the highchair and let him go while I clean up his mess, it's like trying to clean while holding an angry worm who wants DOWN.  Because now that he can walk, he always wants DOWN.  LET.  ME.  DOWN.

The picture does NO JUSTICE to show the amount of cereal that was everywhere, but he is covered in it from head to toe!

Country Music Half Marathon, Here I Come! And Budgets - Gross.

I am OFFICIALLY REGISTERED for the Nashville Country Music Half Marathon that I've only mentioned about 18 times in 18 different blog posts.

Yay!

So now it's real.  Well sort of.  It's still a long ways away.  And I haven't had this baby yet and therefore I have no current knowledge of how my training will go.  But at least it's in the books!  So I'll be there, even if I'm not ready for it!

Yesterday was Day 1 of my semi-sorta Facebook hiatus.  I allowed myself 10 minutes to browse Facebook in the morning, then when Delano went down for a nap I hopped back on ONLY to answer a Facebook message I had received requesting some information about a bartending job, in the late afternoon I hopped back on only to check my messages again to see if she had responded back (which she had), and then right before bed I allowed myself about 10 minutes to browse again.  I only browsed through Facebook from my phone when I hopped on last night, so I didn't once use my phone to check it all day.  Though I did post a picture to Facebook straight from my phone's photo gallery......that doesn't count, does it? 

I shared this one of D rocking his footie pajamas and tennis shoes.

It was difficult!!  I am SO used to browsing Facebook throughout the day, so it took some REAL EFFORT not to pick up my phone and check in.  I kinda feel left out already!  But on the plus side, leaving Facebook alone caused me to be more "present" throughout the day, which was nice.  Now I'm on Day 2, have already been up an hour and a half, and haven't yet looked at it once.  I'll give myself my allotted 10 minutes here in a bit, probably during D's nap.  I'm hoping that after a few days (maybe a week max), the oddness of not being on Facebook all day will wear off and I won't care.  :)

On a more sour note and total change of subject, I've come to the realization that my seriously SERIOUS budget requirements are now a reality.  I've talked about my future of serious budgeting in a previous post (I couldn't find which one it was to link it), given that once Baby #2 gets here I'll be even more of a stay-at-home mom than I am now, which means even less money coming in from my end of the money train. 

Whose budget jar has hundred dollar bills in it?  Not mine.

And it's not that I mind as much, believe it or not, that I won't have a bunch of money to blow.  I'm not much of a shopper (I just tend to eat out way more than I need to), and Delano and I do free stuff all the time.  As I mentioned in my last post, D and I love to go for walks and go to the park and spend time at the grandparents' house.  None of those activities cost any money, though I do eventually have to put gas in the car.  And yes I DID pay money for our memberships to the Creative Discovery Museum and the Tennessee Aquarium, but those memberships give us an option of something to do for an entire year and pay for themselves after about 2-3 visits.  So if we're ever searching for something to do, we can go to either one of those places for "free" (minus parking, unless we get lucky).  We could go every day if we wanted to.  But Mommy definitely doesn't want to.

What I mind the most is that my two debts aren't paid off, and that I won't be pulling in any major money to really put much of a dent in them anytime soon.  The first debt (the smaller of the two) is my credit card.  I paid it off several months ago, but it has gradually built its "you owe me, bitch" list back up.  Granted, when you look at the posted transactions from the past several months, the list looks a lot like this:

- vacation house rental deposit (no regrets there!!)
- vet
- gas
- vet
- vet
- flea medicine (ordered from Doctors Foster and Smith, which is the cheapest)
- heartworm medicine (vet)
- winter clothes for Delano (consignment)
- groceries
- gas
- insulin and needles (vet)
- vet
- gas
- vet
- a few more winter clothes for Delano (still from consignment)

There seems to be a theme.

The second debt is my school loan.  I still owe quite a large chunk on that one.  Not as much as some other former students out there, but enough that there's still no light visible at the end of the tunnel anytime in the super near future.  Unless I win the lottery or discover some long lost inheritance.

So basically, debt stinks and I wish I didn't have any.  The end.

I try to tell myself that it's just money and that now I just have to be more careful with it.  Live optimistically!!

Right?