I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
Jan 7th, 2011 by ECM
Sorry, fam, for taking so long to get these up!
Besides the front yard sledding, we got to do some visiting–wedding party girls, remember getting ready at Christine’s before my wedding? They’ve moved, and we got to see their new place and have some good hang-out time!
And we finally met Danny–and introduced Katie to Shakespeare’s Pizza (which she had somehow survived 28 years without ever having…)!
Jan 6th, 2011 by ECM
It’s funny–I realized I must not be talking much about my pregnancy this time around because several friends have recently been like, “You’re pregnant? Really?” Yes, and just at the beginning of the third trimester! We did put it up here on the blog and on facebook at the end of the first trimester, and we mentioned it in the Christmas letter, but I thought I’d do a facebook and blog acknowledgment of my status just in case anyone else missed it! =) I think I’m so busy with taking care of two that I haven’t had much time to contemplate taking care of three!
Anyway, things are going pretty well. After four months of totally incapacitating nausea, I was able to resume cooking and cleaning, and the kids aren’t pretending to throw up anymore (you know you’re really sick when your kids play “spit in the toilet” like it’s a normal game). Like I’ve mentioned before, this pregnancy has had its share of scary moments. I’ve had seven (or eight?) ultrasounds because early on, I thought I was miscarrying (turned out the bleeding and clotting was just due to the progesterone my old, inept OB office mistakenly prescribed), then we had trouble hearing the baby’s heartbeat (turned out I have an abnormally shaped uterus that no one had ever noticed before), then we had the accident (which didn’t hurt the baby at all). I’ve had to switch OB practices mid-way, but all the changes have been for the good, and I’m confident that baby and I are receiving good care now. Though my sacroiliac joint is messed up again this pregnancy, I was more proactive this time around about resting it and getting into physical therapy right away. I still occasionally have extreme pain in my pelvis where my hip slips out of socket and my SI joint gets misalligned, but it is much more manageable than last time. Though my physical activity is severely limited, I’m able to do most all of what I need to do to keep the house running. (As a side note, my PT here suspects that this will be an issue I will deal with in any subsequent pregnancies, as well–something that we have taken seriously as we discuss future plans for our family.) Thanks to those who prayed for our travels over Christmas, though–I was really able to relax and basically not do anything physical at either house, and our parents and brothers totally stepped in and helped with the kids, so I had whole days with zero pain! That is a huge answer to prayer.
Size-wise, I’m feeling bigger than I was at this stage with Tommy or Elizabeth, and I haven’t been exercising as much as previously because of my hip, but I have so few baby bump pictures that it’s hard to tell if it’s just subjective.=) Tums has become my constant companion, and I’m addicted to my morning Irish Breakfast Tea (yes, I was totally caffeine-free with Tommy and mostly so with Elizabeth, but I’m getting a lot less sleep now than I did before, so I think it’s okay). The baby is fairly active, and it’s fun to have the kids come up and feel their sibling kicking. I can’t wait for the three of them to meet face to face.
As I think back to this stage in my last pregnancy, Derek was preparing to leave for Montana for two months, and I was still in continual pain. I thought it was going to be three months of misery. I was totally blessed, though, by several of my girlfriends who stepped up that last trimester and helped me through my “single mom” phase–Ann Louise came up from St Louis to help with Tommy and give Derek and me one last date before he left town, Laura drove up from Louisville to keep us company and cleaned my entire house before my first Caris baby shower, Mariel came up from Bloomington to hang out and let me be a part of her wedding prep (which was so special to me since her wedding was tragically too close to my (over)duedate), and Hannah came over twice a week to bathe Tommy, empty our dehumidifier, shovel the driveway, generally do any other physical stuff I couldn’t do–and just have adult conversations with me! Wow–I really do have truly amazing friends. God is good!
Because we don’t know where we’ll be after May, I haven’t been able to do much nesting. I’m trying to channel my creative impulses into finishing a big girl quilt for Elizabeth when she moves into a real bed and making some homemade toys for the kids. And I’m trying to keep the house clean. I haven’t gotten down on my hands and knees to scrub random corners, though I did do a really thorough (and overdue) housedusting today. Does that clean freak aspect of nesting come a little closer to the duedate? I hope so, because my house can use it.=)
So there you go! That’s me, 6 months pregnant.
Jan 5th, 2011 by ECM
I don’t really know what to say…except these are my boys…
The whole family!
Christmas morning, take 3
Yes, that vest has working Christmas lights on it. John was always one for fashion.
By the third time around, Elizabeth totally understood what to do with her stocking!
Jan 4th, 2011 by ECM
Was this all really two and a half weeks ago?
coloring with KK
contemplating the Busses’ Christmas tree
Uncle Matthew, on-demand reader
First cookie! (Hello Dolly Cookies/Magic Cookie Bars/Puke Bars, depending on what you call them, don’t have eggs!) It was a big hit.
Jan 3rd, 2011 by ECM
Our wild and crazy bachelorette party, watching the super-secret interview I had with Paul online a few weeks before…
The ugliest rental car ever. Notice the lovely layer of ice and hail that fell during the ceremony?
Introducing…Mrs. Clare Cullen!!!!
Mariel’s Substitute Derek…just with a bit more hair on top instead of on the face…
Mr and Mrs Paul Edward Cullen
(Further pictures, including our shower games, Nat dancing with the 20 year old Belgian, and the newlyweds’ house, with be posted in the usual facebook location for interested parties tomorrow if I have the time!)
Dec 26th, 2010 by ECM
Dec 22nd, 2010 by ECM
Joy to the world! The Lord is come, let every single king,
Let every car repair Him room, and heaven and nature sing…
Dec 22nd, 2010 by ECM
“That’s a lovely idea, Diana,” said Anne enthusiastically. “Living so that you beautify your name, even if it wasn’t beautiful to begin with…making it stand in people’s thoughts for something so lovely and pleasant that they never think of it by itself.”
Dec 21st, 2010 by ECM
After my recent visit with another cloth diapering mom, I thought I’d post a little “report” of how our various types of diapers have held up after almost 4 years of constant use. I hot wash, cool rinse all my diapers with Allens Naturally detergent and line dry my pockets and covers 95% of the time. I always machine dry my inserts (microfiber, hemp, and cotton), and they have all held up fine.
Pockets:
Our Fuzzi Bunz pockets were the original model, before the “Perfect Size” modifications. I’ve had to replace all of the elastic (after about 18 months of use), but the PUL is great and all the snaps are still working after 3+ years of use. The fleece has thinned out a bit, but there are no holes yet. My replacement elastic seems to be holding up better than the original, so I won’t be replacing again before the next baby.
Our Bum Genius one-size pockets have been a disappointment overall for the price. At the time we bought them, they were really the main one-size pocket diapers out there, but there are better ones now for the same or less. I bought mine (2.0s and 3.0s) from the Cotton Babies store try-it-once-return program, so they were all essentially brand new. I’ve had to replace all of the elastic (after 12-18 months of use), and I need to replace all the velcro because it’s just not sticking well. You can send away for a kit for $1 to replace the velcro tabs and side elastic, but the big piece of elastic in the front is so worn that I had to go out and buy some separate velcro to fix that. The PUL has held up, but I will never buy velcro pocket diapers again! They’re just not going to hold up through multiple kids.
Our Haute Pockets one-size dipes are still going strong! I’ve used them for about three years, but I have not had to replace any of the elastic or the snaps. The fleece looks pretty good. Kristen got some of these where the PUL wore out within two years, though, so I think they’re uneven quality overall. I loved these because they were the first major one-size pocket diapers with snaps, but there are tons out there now. They are smaller in the rise than our others, so Tommy did grow out of them before potty training. I don’t think they’re readily available anymore, though.
I have one Mommy’s Touch one-size pocket that is also in perfect shape after 3+ years of constant use–the elastic seems like new, the PUL and snaps are great, and the fleece even seems less worn than my Fuzzi Bunz. This diaper seems more complicated because of all the snaps, but the sizing has always been great for my kids.
I’ve used the Swaddlebees Econappi for about a year now, and it’s still in great shape. It’s currently my favorite one-size pocket diaper. It has a longer rise than all of my others, and I think the elastic and fleece are high quality.
Covers:
We still love the Bumkins covers that we got when Tommy was born. They’re sized, so we’ve had three smalls, one medium, two larges, and two extra-larges. They are velcro, but since you don’t wash it in the dryer after every use (just when it’s been soiled), and since you don’t use them over the full 2-3 years that you diaper each child, the velcro wears much slower. Ours are still in pretty good shape, sticking fine though starting to look a bit worn. We did have problems with the waterproofing coming off one of them last year, but the manufacturer promptly replaced it for free. It looks like these might be clearancing out from my favorite cd websites, which is a pity. The pocket in front holds the diaper into place better than any of the other diaper covers we tried and returned.
Prefolds:
We got some Gerber cotton prefolds from Babies R Us that are definitely showing wear and tear. They were always thinner (less absorbent) and used only in an emergency, so it’s no great loss.
We have Chinese prefolds in two sizes–the standard infant size said they worked up to 15 lbs, but we made them last up through our medium sized covers (more like 20 lbs). The premium size worked easily up through potty training (about 35 lbs). The infant size have now been used for two years total and are starting to show a little wear along the edges, but they’re still in great shape.
The world of cloth diapering has changed quite a bit since we started four years ago! There are so many more options and big name players, and you can even buy a lot of these diapers at normal stores like Target and BRU! I’d love to hear from other cloth diapering moms about how their stashes are holding up over time. We don’t *need* to go out and buy any new diapers at this point, but we’ve been given a Blueberry one-size, Fuzzi Bunz one-size, and a couple Bum Genius Flips for baby #3. I can’t wait to try them out!
Dec 20th, 2010 by ECM
I first encountered The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope, my senior year of college. Cate Stearns had read it onto tapes and lent them to me for my drive up to Hillsdale. I was enraptured. (Never have Illinois and Indiana gone by so quickly!) Tragically, the second to last tape was flawed, and I just couldn’t skip it to hear the ending. I got in to school mid-afternoon and rushed up to the library to see if they had the book. Fortunately, they did, or I would have had to drive to Ann Arbor right then and there to read it! I sat down in the midst of my unpacked belongings and finished the book before I did anything else.
I really don’t know why I waited another six years before reading it again, but I guess I’d forgotten how good it was. This fall I got it out of the library again and could not put it down. My house fell to shambles while I read, but it didn’t matter.
Katherine, a lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth during the reign of Bloody Mary, is punished for something she didn’t do and sent into exile to the Perilous Gard, a castle in Derbyshire with a mysterious pagan past. Kate is the kind of heroine I love–homely (she resembles her grandfather, of whom King Henry VIII said “he could never have told Giles Sutton’s face from a stone wall if the stone wall had not been so much the handsomer of the two”), awkward, intelligent, and brave. The hero is wonderfully flawed, yet ready to die for those he loves. It’s a great combination of history, romance, mythology (the story is a retelling of the Celtic ballad of Tam Lin), and fantasy. I’m not sure about the author’s religious background, but I was struck at how powerfully salvation and redemption come across–much more than in any overtly Christian YA novel I can think of. I totally remembered the ending, but it made me cry again, anyway!
Make this your Christmas break read! (It’s a Newberry Honor winner, so any legitimate public library should have it.)