Evaleigh in her Bumbo Sitter

This video is also before Christmas. She is in her Bumbo Seat.

Evaleigh and Rings

Here's a video of Evaleigh from about a week ago. She was playing with Oli and got the rings around her wrist like bracelets. Then she was sucking on her pacifier and sticking her thumb in it like she was sucking her thumb. She sucks on her thumb and fingers a lot now and drools a lot.



We just got back from Christmas in Minnesota. Evaleigh did well on her first plane rides. We did a lot and saw a lot of snow. Evaleigh talked a lot and had fun seeing her Grandpa and Gramma Holly and her cousin Tamsin and all her aunts and uncles. She got a lot of presents for Christmas.

She is getting good at sitting in her Bumbo seat. In this picture she has her hands on the sides like an armchair! Cute!

Evaleigh Playing

This looks like the other videos at first, but now she is in a bigger size of clothing, and now she grabs Oli's rings and pulls. She usually has one hand pulling the rings and the other pulling her bib. She grabs onto anything her hands touch now!

Touching the Lion

Evaleigh is learning to reach out and touch things. Most of the time she still has her hand in a fist but she gets excited when she touches things! Last night she kept concentrating really hard and reaching out and touching the lion, then she'd get so excited and kick a whole lot, then stop and reach out and touch the lion again, over and over. It was so cute!



This morning she was concentrating really hard to open her fingers to hold onto Joel's finger. It was so cute. She's growing so much every day!

Oli

Here is Evaleigh playing with her good friend Oli the Oliphaunt.

Evaleigh Talking

Here is Evaleigh talking to her favorite friend, the Raccoon.

Cloth Diaper Adventures

I thought it was about time to write about cloth diapering now that I have the experience. I used disposables for the first couple weeks (and went through over 4 packs of newborn diapers!) After Evaleigh's cord fell off then we started using cloth diapers. I love it! I would not want to use disposables instead!

I use mostly Bummis prefolds and covers. I fold a diaper in thirds and put it in the cover and put it on the baby. It's that simple!


At night I add a stay dry liner so it lasts longer.


There aren't many in this picture but I also use cloth wipes in the wipes warmer. I feel like these do a better job of cleaning than the disposable wipes, but I have to mix the solution every couple of days. They are also easier because I just throw them in the wash with the diapers.


When the diapers are dirty, I put them in the diaper pail. It's small, but just the right size. When it's full, it's time to wash the diapers.

I use Charlie's Soap and I think it works well. When it's time to wash, I just take the bag out of the pail, turn it inside out and dump all the dirty diapers into the washing machine. I first do a prewash, then add soap and do a normal wash with hot water. I always line dry my diapers because it not only saves energy and money, but it helps the diapers last longer, and when they dry in the sun the stains get bleached away. However, we've been having a lot rainy days lately and they've been drying in the nursery for a long time.. when it is sunny, they dry pretty fast outside!


Here is a picture of Evaleigh with a clean diaper. There's a dirty diaper in the background...

When the diapers are dry, I fold them in thirds and put them in the drawer. I also make solution for the wipes and add them to the warmer.

The covers can usually be used more than once so we have less of those. We have 19 prefolds and do laundry about every other day. The recommended amount is about 24 for newborns but we are doing ok with only 19. We have 5 covers and 4 gdiaper covers. I use the prefold diapers in the gdiaper covers which doesn't work as well but it still works. We also have one all-in-one diaper I use at night. I still need to sit down and figure out how much we spent on cloth diapers to see when we start saving money. Every time I hang the diapers up to dry, I count them and add them to the tally count. As of right now, we used 269 cloth diapers, and that doesn't count the load in the washer that just finished that I am going to hang as soon as I finish this post.. And that doesn't count the wipes either. We went through 5(?) boxes of wipes the first few weeks. So I know we are saving by using cloth wipes too! Also, we pretty much got all the cloth diapers and supplies from showers or shower money, but we are still going to see when we start saving money...

Dancing Evaleigh

Evaleigh was 8 weeks old on Friday. This past week she grew so much! She now smiles and coos. She is also bigger and more active and alert. And in this video she is moving so much! Joel was singing to her and she was going crazy! I took several videos but I had to post a shorter one. That same night, she slept for the longest stretch so far- 6 hours! I guess she was really worn out. She is growing so fast!

Dad and Holly's Visit

Last week we had a visit from my dad and Holly! Evaleigh enjoyed seeing her grandpa and grandma. We did a lot too! Evaleigh had her first trip to Atlanta to pick them up from the airport. We made breakfast and ate dinner at a friends' house and played the Wii. We took a hike to a waterfall and ate a birthday dinner for my dad at Okinawa hibachi. We went to church and walked around the square in Ellijay and looked at the booths and ate treats. We hung out at Whitepath Lodge where Dad and Holly were staying and had dinner and played 1,000. We went to Dahlonega and went gold panning. And we relaxed a little and had fun with Evaleigh.

Natural

Dangerous chemicals are everywhere! Even in our food and baby products. Here is a blog where you can download a recipe booklet for making natural household cleaners.
http://junie-moon.blogspot.com/2008/04/natural-cleaning-recipes-booklet.html

Here is a website where you can search cosmetic products and find out what's in them and how safe they are. Even baby products have dangerous chemicals in them! It's best to use products that have a 0 or 1 rating.
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1

There is a new Parasol magazine.. I bought this one.
http://aprintaday.blogspot.com/2009/10/parasolcraft-2-is-up.html

Cute Baby!

Here's a video of Evaleigh being a cute baby! She is about 1 month old!

Evaleigh is over 3 weeks old now! The days are going by fast! Joel went back to work and the past 2 days I have been doing laundry- washing, drying, folding, putting away, and cleaning a little. I also gave Evaleigh a bath today and baked cookies- from scratch! It's fun being a stay-at-home mom but I still feel like I am changing diapers and nursing all day. But it's fun!

Evaleigh

We are having fun with Evaleigh! She didn't sleep well last night.... but we are still enjoying her!


She puts her hands by her ears and sticks her legs up when she gets changed. That's how she keeps herself from crying.

Evaleigh Miriam Smith

Well, she's here! Evaleigh Miriam Smith was born on Friday, 09-04-09, at 5:38 am. She weighed 6 lbs. and 15 ozs., 18.5 inches long. The birth was all an answer to prayer- natural and fast! Her whole birth story is an answer to prayer....

My mom and sister are here for about a week and it's great to have them helping out! Evaleigh is a great baby, and she sleeps well, at least during the day...

Minutes after she was born.

Relaxing after her first bath.


I took more but haven't put them on the computer yet..

I got three great new books!




Click on the pictures to see them at amazon. I haven't made anything yet from any of them but they all look really good. I am just a little busy right now with school and other things.....

Here are a few pictures updates:

Our friend Will made this bookshelf for the baby's room.



Ants helping us put away the groceries.



Birthday flowers from Joel! My birthday was over a week ago and the flowers still look good.


Quilt made by my mom's cousin Dianne. It's really soft and nice!


We went to the doctor yesterday and the doctor said I was already 1-2 cm dilated... meaning it could be any day now! or still weeks away.. I am hoping to finish one more week of school and then rest a day or two first....
Just in case we started packing our bags for the hospital..

Stuff

I just finished watching the online video the Story of Stuff. It was really interesting. I think it's something everyone needs to see. I added a link on my blog on the side so it's always there for people to see. Our house is small and already full of "stuff" so we are already trying to buy a lot less. We tried to have a garden this year, but didn't get a lot from it. We have big plans for next year. She didn't talk at all about cloth diapers but that's definitely one way to help! The organic cloth diapers don't have toxins and don't fill up the landfills! And there is definitely less waste to make a few cloth diapers and ship them than to make tons of disposables instead!

School started this week so it has been a busy week! I think I have a pretty good class this year! I will only be there for one more month and then I'll be on maternity leave! I am glad to have this month to get to know the kids and get everything started. So when I come back, hopefully they'll remember me and it will be pretty smooth transitioning back.

The cats went to the vet yesterday so we could get rid of fleas once and for all! They didn't wake me up this morning so I slept in pretty late. I think their eventful day yesterday left them really tired all night and morning.

My sister and her husband and some friends are coming next week. I need to make sure the house is ready.. At least the fleas are gone.

Here are some recent photos:
After my first week of school. I look like I am slouching.


We got 2 okra from our garden! A day or two later Joel saw that all the leaves were chewed off... I guess we'll only get 2 this year...

We are pretty sure this is a pumpkin plant. In the mornings the flowers are open and beautiful! The other plant had 2 huge flowers open yesterday but I didn't get a picture.


Ants was resting his arm on Eustace.

Where is Eustace's head?? He didn't seem to mind that Ants was using him as a headrest.

Cats

Our cats, Ants and Eustace, do silly things. Here are a few photos from mostly this summer.

Ants is letting me know that they've been waiting for water from the sink.


He loves boxes.


Ants is hiding from Eustace. Eustace is on the other side.


Joel likes to throw his socks on the cats.


Ants is showing off/stretching his good leg.

Baby Shower and more

We had a wonderful baby shower this past Sunday! Other people were taking pictures and I didn't get any yet, but a friend used my camera to take pictures of the gift opening.

It was a couples' shower so we both got to open gifts! Here we are opening a cloth diaper with a Bummis cover. Can't wait to use them!


Handmade booties from Peru.

Joel thanking everyone for coming and for all the gifts.


I sorted through everything and took pictures of everything. I kind of organized it all on the couch.

We got a nice variety with not many doubles of things!

This is our pack 'n play set up. The swing in the back is a hand-me-down from Joel's older siblings.


The cloth diaper collection so far. 2 bummis super whisper wrap covers, gerber and Bummis organic cloth diapers, small wet bag, liners, reusable liners, and eco-friendly disposable wipes. Most of this stuff was ordered from suburbantreehugger.com. Great service and even free shipping with the promotional code! I now also have some reusable flannel wipes.

We hung up our IKEA lamp and mobile!