Josiah's Journal Vol 1

5:22AM
Morning...I love MORNINGS.  They couldn't hear me so I sang louder.  I LOVE MORNINGS.  COME SHARE THIS MORNING WITH ME!! Eventually I got Mom's attention.

6:45AM
Down for nap #1...but I didn't WANT to go for a nap.  I love MORNINGS!  They just don't get it...so I had to sing them the song of my people... "WAAAAA".

9:30AM
I watched mom move clothes all over the house- from her bedroom to downstairs then back upstairs again.  She was giddy, mumbling some intelligible phrase like "I love laundry".  I don't get it.

12:00PM
Woke up from nap #2 and Mom's hands were covered in paint.  Guess she has too much time on her hands now that summer is here.  She needs a hobby instead of painting any old trinkets we have lying around.

1:00PM
My friend, Isabelle, came to play!  We didn't get a great picture together today so here is one from Sunday when we met for the first time.

5:15PM

Woke up from nap number #4  Mom's skin is barely visible underneath the paint on her hands.  She REALLY needs a hobby.  Wait...where's my stuffed elephant...she better not have painted my stuffed elephant!!

5:30PM

Mom discovered I'm ticklish.  I'm doomed.

6:30PM

Mom got bored and I paid the price.  She cushioned a laundry basket and slid me around in it while making the most obnoxious race car noises.    This is me trying to signal her to stop and put me down over there.

Clearly she does not read baby signs.

Oy Vei.  Someone save me.  This is my life on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Sleeping Habits of the Young and Restless

He's a tummy sleeper.
(the two below were taken with my phone, hence the terrible quality.)

Apparently armpit aroma replaces "soothing lullaby".

My mind races with all the captions I could use here.

The other morning I found him on top of his sleep-sack.  I'm not sure how he accomplished this.  I watched him, from what friends have dubbed, the "J-cam" one day, and he looked like an angry butterfly trying to get out of his chrysalis.  

Wes and I are adjusting well.  We're in a groove.  Josiah is smiling more and it's fun to try to get him to smile while he's upset.  It really confuses him.

He's in 6 month PJ's and 3-6 everything else.  Wowza.  They really don't wear clothes for very long, do they?

One of my favorite chores to do now is laundry.  I'm serious.  I just love making his clothes smell so clean, folding his cute little outfits and onesies, and putting them away.  Sometimes when he's just barely spit up on an outfit I take it off so we can put on a new one and the old has to go in the laundry.  It's sick, I know. He's like my little doll.  I told Wes where the cute outfits were in his room (clothes are separated by onesies and outfits) and he looked at me like "why would I ever need to know that?".  It's such a girl-thing to care about clothes.  He'll spit up on it before the end of the day so why do we even bother?  Because it's ADORABLE!

I ran out to do errands one afternoon and when I came home, J was back in PJ's.  I think it was 1 in the afternoon.  Wes's logic is sound.  He'll end up in PJ's anyway, why are we putting him in complicated clothes with buttons and snaps?  Because it's ADORABLE!

Cloth diapering, early mornings, and coffee!

Prior to Josiah, just like any couple, we talked about ways to save after baby.  I told Wes I was willing to try cloth diapering.  A few weeks ago I bit the bullet and bought a few to start.  For those of you expecting safety pins etc, this is what we're working with...

Cute, right?  I call this one the "Mickey Mouse" diaper.  

After a few hours of research, I landed on Charlie Banana.  Other brands looked perfectly fine and affordable, but I liked the feature for CB that allows you to use disposable inserts.  "Disposable inserts?!  What's the point of that?  Isn't that just like a disposable diaper?"  Well sure, you could look at it that way.  But if decide to use these more than just part time, then we have an option when we travel or when he is in the nursery, etc.  One of the other many great things about this diaper is that it's one size, meaning as he gets bigger the diaper will still fit because it's adjustable.

Let's look at affordability.  Pampers is our choice brand for disposable (fits him well).  A box of 100 diapers is $24.99 at Target + tax.  Let's just say J goes through 8 diapers in a 24 hour period.  That box of 100 diapers is used up in less than 2 weeks.  So we're looking at a cost of $50+ a month for diapers.  After 3 years that's closer to $2,000 (again, very conservative).  I realize as babies get older they don't go as often, but think about all of those times you put a new diaper on and after a rather disturbing noise 2 minutes later you have to change the diaper again!  The other day I went through 3 diapers in 2 minutes.  How is that even possible?!

If I buy CB in packs of 6, they are between $100-$120.  If J goes 8 times a day, I would probably want at least 16 diapers in my reserve.  The liners are $10.99 for 100.  These are the only things that need "restocking".  If I bought 3 packs of 6 CB's and enough liners for three years, I'd be spending around $1,300.  Baby 2 comes along, assuming baby 1 is potty trained at this time, and I am only adding the cost of liners while I am adding another $2,000 for starting over with disposable.  A family with 3 children is spending $6,000 on diapers at least.  Combine our two cars and the net worth isn't $6,000.

Granted, it can be gross because, let's face it, babies can be gross.  Since we're only doing this part time, I try to be strategic about when I use the cloth diaper.  Disposable diapers are way more convenient and  it's really NBD for anyone else to change the diaper.  Honestly, I'm a fan. 

But he is seriously cute in his CB.

It's not for everyone and perhaps I'll decide it's not for us in a few months, but for now, I don't mind cleaning them so it's working for us.  But I TOTALLY get that it's not for everyone.  Some things work for other families but I've found they don't work for us and there is no judgement here!  Just information.

On another note, my baby is 2 months old!

I've been back at work for a little while now and J gets to spend time with daddy, grandma, and a good friend.  I am very thankful he is in such good hands.  After I lost my mind early on, I decided to implement Baby Wise.  Best. Decision. Ever.  Within 3 days it was like clockwork.  It makes it easier for those taking care of him while Wes and I can't and it makes it easier to plan our day.

I love my mornings with him.  We play, then he goes down for his morning nap before I leave for work so I have a chance to drink my coffee, read the Bible, or get some work done for HEART or the business.  I am a morning person so the fact that J wakes up in the morning at 6, works perfectly for me.

It's a beautiful thing.  

Well, for friends and family faraway, I hope this gives you a glimpse of how we're doing.  :)

Our Life as a Family of 3

Clearly I'm not much of a blogger, but for friends and family far away who are curious about how we're doing over here-there's much to catch up on.
We had a baby...he's cute.

Everyone says he looks like Wes.  I just think he looks like a baby, a really cute baby.

On a whim around month three, we decided that we wouldn't find out the gender of our baby.  Our decision was met with "Don't you want to be prepared?" and "Oh, I could NEVER do that" from people.  1) No, we don't want to be prepared.  Not knowing the gender means we don't know if we're supposed to buy diapers or make them go outside.  Oh puhleeeze.  2) Yes you could.  You just chose not to.

Pregnancy wasn't an awful experience, being sick in the morning wasn't my favorite and having to eat the MOMENT I got hungry was annoying.  I never felt like I was "glowing" or if I was it was just the sun reflecting off of my greasy non-make-uped face.  However, being pregnant in winter is great.  You're always warm when everyone else is freezing and comfy sweaters are currently in style-win!

March 8 (1 day after due date)
After attending a class at church, I came home and felt somewhat strong contractions.  Within a few hours they were a mere 3-5 minutes apart and I thought I was going to rip in two.  "It could take 20-30 hours since it's your first", said the Dr, "stay at home and comfortable as long as you can".  GREEEEAT.  A half hour after that phone call we were on our way to the hospital...I don't like pain.  He was born 5 hours after checking in.  Whew!  Not wasting any time, I knew I was going to like this kid.

Now we're almost 2 months in.  Life is good...but I feel myself getting crunchier with every passing day.

I got some "are you crazy" looks when I mentioned that I wanted to try cloth diapering very part-time.  So stay tuned to hear how that's going...So far I LOVE our Charlie Banana diapers.  Seriously, I want collect all the different prints and colors like some people collect shoes.