Where's the Garbage Again?

So today in the kitchen, I see two Q-tips inside a chicken noodle soup can that I had rinsed out and ready to recycle. Since Ardyn can’t reach the counter, I have to assume this is a gift from my husband, who found it easier to put them in a soup can instead of walking to the kitchen garbage.

Today was a BUSY day for me. After lunch I packed up 99 percent of my scrapbook room and loaded 50% of that in the van. Evan loaded the rest and then I took everything to my moms, where my sister, mom, Ardyn, and I set everything up in my old bedroom, which has been redone. That got half of the room cleared to become Ardyn’s. Then after spending the afternoon there, Ardyn and I came home. She fell asleep in the van and I carried her inside and lay her on her mat with a blanket under her, in her jacket, and she slept on the floor for another 15 minutes before waking up and eating a late supper. Then I rearranged the dining room to find a spot for the computer desk, filing cabinet, and the computer. That was no small task. Then when Evan got home we unloaded the desk a bit and put it on the magic mover disks, and moved it into the dining room where I dusted it, re-organized it, threw out stuff we don’t need, and then hooked everything back up so I could blog before calling it a night. I was supposed to wash diapers but I got all busy and forgot and now I am so doggone tired that I will have to wait till tomorrow.

I am hoping that tomorrow I can take the paper sorters and craft lockers to moms and then work on what to do with the remaining stuff in the office, so that I can start working on making that the Beebs new bedroom/toy room. Right now I have moved about half of her toys in there. Whew. I need to find a home for my scrapbook table. I love that table and getting rid of it is NOT an option. Evan bought it for me, along with one for himself, at an old school sale, and that nice of a table is hard to come by. It’s nice and deep so that two people can really work (across from each other) comfortably, unlike on a foldable buffet table.
I decided to keep just a few things from the scrapbook room in a handy tote here, like my journaling pens, my cutter bee and honey bee scissors, my Xyron X, an adhesive runner, my tweezer bees, and a paper cutter and corner rounder. These things come in handy for trimming photos and making projects that are crafty for the Beebs, like her mummy card and her toothbrush and soap signs. I would hate to want to trim photos or something and not have my stuff and have to drive to my moms. That would drive me bonkers. I also decided to keep my ribbons and put them in the sewing room because I use them for both purposes.
The cool thing is that now I can sit in the dining room at the computer and not be right next to Ardyn’s room, and I can be near her during the day in the living room and also see into her new bedroom if she wants to play with toys. If I have to do some web design it will work out nicely. This is not the first choice for my computer location, but considering the circumstances, it will work out. I also have the Homemedics Shiatsu Heated Chair Massager on the computer chair now, so I can get my daily shiatsu massage. Yay! My in-laws gave us one as a Christmas gift last year, and it really is fabulous! Especially after a long day of being pregnant and moving a bunch of furniture and stuff around.

Today I got online a bit at my parents and read up on Rice milk in toddlers. I guess even though you can purchase fortified rice milk in vitamin A, D, etc… it is still really low in protein. Then I discovered that several moms buy “toddler health” which is a protein powder based of oat or rice, and it can be mixed with juice or rice milk to give a toddler more protein when they have dairy or soy allergies. I found many moms whose children had not just dairy allergies, but accompanying soy allergies or intolerance. It’s like $28.00 for a bigger sized powdered container of toddler health, but all the moms cite that it is really worth it. I will likely wait until our Ped appointment in a week in order to make the decision to use it or not, but I need to remember to get online and print out details because with my luck the ped hasn’t even heard of it.
I am also wondering about vitamins. I am sick of vitamin drops. If the kid can chew a pork chop, surely she can have a gummy vitamin? Any other moms give their toddler gummy vitamins? Beebs can eat fruit snacks and she has had a gummy bear before with no issues, so I don’t see why it would be a big deal. But all the vitamins say like over 2 or over 3 or something. I am not sure if that is because of what is in the vitamin or because they don’t want some kid to choke. ‘

So let’s talk a little bit about being pregnant. I still often forget that I am, except I do have a bigger belly. The midwife is very excited that my belly is just perfectly sized. I haven’t gained any weight, which is great, and I really do feel pretty good. As long as I don’t think about labor, I am fine. I did so much prep last time for hypnobirthing and a waterbirth and no pain meds, but like 12 hours into the damn thing I was not so thrilled and when they decided to give my pitocin I insisted on the epidural; although I didn’t get a full epidural, just a bolus, so I never really felt much pain relief. I was so damn hot in the waterbirth tub and I kept getting out to pee and it was just not for me. But I also know that when I was in the tub and SUPER hot, I was also in transition (for like HOURS) and stuck between an 8 and 9 for about 3 hours and then between a 9 and 10 for about 4 more hours. To walk in at 6cm at 8am and not get to a 10 until 11pm was insane.

I sometimes think that had I been able to get into the water before that transition phase and get relaxed and get a feel for the water and how to position myself, that I may have been able to tolerate it better, but I know the midwife wanted me out of the water because she was afraid I would relax too much and labor would stall, since I was induced. Seriously, If I had advice to give anyone, it would be three things. 1. Don’t make a labor plan. No matter what it is, nothing will go according to your wishes. And later you will feel like the whole OB unit is laughing at you. 2. Don’t be induced. Unless your baby is in jeopardy and you are SURE of that, don’t be induced in any way shape or form (even if you are 6cm and they just break your water.) 3. Never ever ever allow them to give you pitcoin. Don’t believe that they can “so finely control the dose that you can’t feel it” and don’t think that it is always necessary to speed your labor. I think that these three things linked together royally screwed my labor experience. And they have made me completely indecisive as to what I would like to see happen this time. So in reality, I just try to pretend that this time the baby will just fall out while I am vacuuming and not make a single plan or wish until I am in labor and then just bark out what I want through gritted teeth.

I remember while being pregnant with Ardyn, coming across a picture of a woman on Flickr who was in labor and on pit. She looked like a demon with her eyes rolled back in her head and commented that this is what pitocin does to you. I kind of forgot it until Evan said MONTHS after Ardyn was born that what really scared him was after they gave me pitocin that when I was in the worse pain my eyes would roll back in my head and he would feel like something was going very wrong. Well, something was wrong. The pitocin was so terrifying. It had control of my body and was rushing my contractions and I couldn’t feel my body’s own rhythm to push when I should. It made me hold back and try to resist labor (which I successfully did until they promised me a c section and had my prepping for the OR and the team all called in from home… )then I relaxed, made them turn off the pitocin, and suddenly, I could feel my own contractions and work with my body. I could relax enough to deal with it and get through it. I still vow that Pitocin is the devil and I have yet to meet a mother who has had it who thinks any differently. I do recall being exhausted and lifeless but when I heard them say to give me pitocin I rolled over and tried to get out of bed to get away from the nurse who brought it in. If they ever tried to give me pitocin again I think I would jump out the window. I never knew that my eyes were rolling back. I don’t think I knew anything but pain at that point. And I recall wanting to die. And begging god for relief which about sent my husband the atheist over a ledge.

Well, that’s all for tonight. I have more but wouldn’t you know I can’t remember it! And it is midnight now, so that’s a wrap.

Missing Mouse

Man. It is hard not having internet, because then when I don’t get to blog for a while, I can’t remember when I blogged last and where I left off, and then it gets all complicated because I can’t go online and read my post. So, apologies if I repeat myself.

The only downfall to having a wireless mouse, is that if you have a toddler in your house, you could frequently sit down to the computer and have no mouse around. If you were smart enough to fit one more thing into your brain, you might remember to look for the mouse before you sit down. But. Too Bad.
The funny thing about owning a laptop is that I completely forget that I have a fully upgraded home PC with wireless keyboard, mouse, laser printer, and 19 inch flat panel monitor, that is also loaded with software. I find myself roaming around the house thinking “Do I really need to grab my laptop out of the van?” and trying to talk myself into all the reasons I should put on pants and go out where it’s like 40 degrees at midnight to get the laptop so I can blog. Duh. I have a computer. Right here. 5 feet from me. It only took like 15 minutes for me to figure that out.

I realized this evening while sorting thread spools by color (more on that later) that blogging may be the reason that I really don’t have “rage” issues with people. I get it all out. And anyone who wants to read it, is perfectly able. I have recently had a few issues with people that made me want to speak up and tell them how I felt, and I have so far been able to hold back. Earlier in the week, we had a salesman from Pitcher Perfect Windows come. We are putting new windows in the house and were going to get estimates. We had gotten one previously and it was SO high that we actually shied off on even thinking about it for another year. Well, we called a few more people, and the first thing that we ran into is the guy being all polite and nice and smooth and giving his pitch, and then as soon as he finds out that we don’t actually OWN our house and the person who does isn’t here to make an immediate decision on buying his windows TODAY, he starts to get all asinine about how we have wasted his time and his money and his gas and continues on about how there is “no way he can make money today” and that he “could be showing windows to someone else with this time.” To be honest, I was feeling a little more than a little pissed off at this point. I could have told him from the second that I made the appointment that we weren’t planning on buying windows that DAY. That we were going to get prices and compare between several companies. And do you think that his boss would have told him not to come because we weren’t going to buy windows that DAY? I was so irate that the only thing that kept me from coming unglued (and I mean “Get the fuck out of this house” unglued) was the fact that A) my husband was here to talk rationally and sympathize and B) his estimate was the lowest we had so far and C)I kept thinking, you can just blog about this later.

Tonight in Wal-mart, a woman was in the toy aisle having an all out battle with three children (which I assume would be hers) and yelling in a VERY outlandish tone and volume (reminded me of my childish neighbor) and seriously, completely discussing with her children at which paycheck she could afford to purchase them which toys. She was so out of hand with her yelling that Evan said that Ardyn started crying because she was afraid of her. Now let me tell you, Ardyn doesn’t cry at people. Usually she would have just screamed right back. But Evan actually told the woman to keep her voice down and the woman burned him a look. I was in the fabric aisle (more on that later) and I could hear her when I we went back to the toys to look at books. She was crazy. And then she was in the checkout lane next to ours, and also was at the Chinese Buffet where we went to eat! Ugh. People. And so at the Chinese Buffet, I was going down the line with a plate in each hand (one for me, one for Ardyn) and was headed right for a specific item. I sat one plate down and reached for the spoon when a woman came around the corner, cut RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME and then proceeded to take the same spoon I was reaching for and take her sweet time adding the meat to her soup?! What? It was so obviously butting in and so amazingly rude that I had to contain myself from either yelling at her or snickering at her tactlessness. I wanted to say “You must be REALLY hungry to cut off a pregnant woman at the buffet line.” Seriously. Who raised these people? How have they gotten out in public for so long (the woman had to be at least 45) and never learned how to interact and treat other people?

So thank god for blogging.

I made Ardyn a couple more pairs of pants yesterday, purple meditating monkeys and pink pigs on yellow. I put lavender rick rack around the hemline of the purple pants, and pale pink ribbon at the hemline of the pink pig pants. They are super super cute. Tonight I got a thread organizer. I have had a Rubbermaid organizer, but it really annoys me that all I can see are the tops of the thread spools on when I open it, and I can’t ever tell what color I am picking out or which colors I have unless I lift each one out. That is way annoying, time consuming, and has resulted in several duplicate colors of thread. So I decided to just get a good ol fashioned wooden spool rack and tonight, I bought one and when we got home I went down and happily organized my new thread and then danced around in my underwear, sweatshirt, and fuzzy slippers at how pretty it all looked. I have more thread than I thought but now that it is organized it will be IMMEDIATELY obvious if I need a color. I also needed Class 66 Bobbins. I have three types of bobbins that I keep on hand. Class 15 for my mom and my MIL’s sewing machines (in case I need to do some emergency sewing, which has happened recently) and the other flatter wider bobbins that came with the Singer that I used to have, and then class 66 that I use in my machine. Well, I have something like 25 slots in my bobbin case for each type, and I had like 15 bobbins in class 66, and I really don’t like not having a bobbin to match all my threads. I am nowhere near close to that yet, but since I have been changing thread colors as often as 7 times a day, I really get annoyed and feel totally un-green and wasteful if I have to unwind a bobbin in order to start a new color. So My goal at Wal-Mart was to get more class 66 bobbins, at least 10 of them. We went to the SuperWal-Mart that is the newest in the area, and farther from home. They have a MASSIVE Selection of everything, but wouldn’t you know that they ONLY had class 15 bobbins? I specifically asked the fabric lady why there weren’t any class 66 bobbins and at first she looked at me like an alien. Then she told me they must not carry them (from 2 aisles over, without looking at the bobbin’s general vicinity at all) and then she proceeded to cut my fabric (more on that later.)

Okay, so I have this rule. I have had this rule since I was like 19. The older I get, the more adamant I get about this rule. If you are over 65, you SHOULD NOT allowed to be cranky. Seriously. You have had 65 years to get shit figured out, make the right decisions, and get yourself happy. If you haven’t figured it out by now, then the rest of us really don’t want to hear about it. Now, I am not saying you can’t be sad, or you can’t have stress, or issues. But if by the age of 65, you can’t even muster a smile or the ability to be polite to people, the last place you should be is at the wal-mart fabric counter. Because Damn it, I believe that if you are working at the fabric center, you had better know at least a little bit about sewing. And if you are over 65, you should be able to make me a quilt in your sleep or you can just go be a door greeter. Harsh? Maybe. Reality? Probably.
So I proceed to get my fabrics (some super cute sparkly black and grey Halloween fabric and some cute yellow flannel with monkeys) and then go to the pattern books so that I can look for patterns for changing table covers, because I am going to make some of my own. I am looking through books, going through pattern drawers, and ANOTHER old lady comes over and goes to the bobbin area (employee not customer) and goes through the bobbins and discovers that someone stocked all the class 15 bobbins over the class 66 bobbins and that there actually WERE two packages of class 66 bobbins on the hooks. The two ladies have this conversation, and the second lady fixes the shelf, and the FIRST lady, who I had JUST asked about the bobbins, went by me FOUR TIMES and even assisted me in finding a pattern that was misfiled, all without even MENTIONING that they found two packages of misplaced class 66 bobbins. Seriously. Not one breath about the bobbins. Now this, folks, is customer service at it’s finest, and the reason that I should be at a fabric store instead of Wal-mart. But it’s hard to go to a fabric store when my husband is with. Because then he knows that my sole purpose is fabric, and he gets all cranky and suddenly is on a time schedule and at least when I am at Wal-Mart I can say “I just need to stop in the fabric department” and send him to toys and electronics to entertain himself while I look.

Yesterday I started Ardyn on Rice Milk. She was so thrilled and even I enjoyed the taste of it. Tastes yummy like breast milk. Sweet. She drank like 32 ounces in 24 hours. Crazy. I will have to limit her on that. All day today, she had just one, solid poopy diaper, compared to 3-4 a day runny stinky pasty messy diapers on soy milk for the past 5 weeks. Seriously. It was like the poo gods shined down upon us. And I called the Ped. And they said that they now want to see us to “talk about all this” and a potential referral to a GI. Seriously? A GI? She’s allergic to dairy. Period. And she is either allergic or intolerant to soy. I don’t blame the kid, as many children and adults can’t handle soy. And they want to refer her to a GI for that? An Allergist maybe. Ugh. Mom’s jobs are never-ending. Even with a good pediatrician, I feel like I have to spend hours on the internet researching and printing medical articles that back my own hunches, in order to not be told something incorrect for my child. That is frustrating. Might be the perfectionist in me, but I am also tired of going around the bush with this deal. It’s been six months already. I am sure glad I spoke up and told them I thought dairy allergy against the ped’s repeated advice of “viral rash” and “yeast diaper rash.” Sometimes I feel like mom’s should get handed a Dr’s degree when their kids turn 18. Seriously. Well, not all moms. But most of the good ones anyway.

Well, midnight it is. Ardyn went to be just after 11. She had a nice long nap in the van on the way home ad was ready to rock and roll in her footie pajamas when we got here. SO I let her. If I put her in bed at 8am, I can’t sleep in till 9:30 or 10. Totally worth it. We live on a different schedule than most. But that’s what’s so great about being your own boss. He he.

Tomorrow I start packing up my scrapbook room. I am really sad about that in some ways. I am moving everything to my old bedroom at my mom’s so that we can scrapbook when we want to. That will at least get half this room empty so that I can start to move Ardyn in piece by piece. I have it all planned in my mind, what will move here and what will stay in the nursery, and in reality I can’t wait to put everything where it will go. But at the same time I have a giant expensive Oak Computer Desk with Hutch, plus the computer and everything on it, that will need a home. I also have a file cabinet, safe, and printer, and a whole shelf of board games that need a home. Oh this little house is going to be outgrown so so soon. Well, already is actually. I might be able to get the desk and the printer in the dining room. But that’s about it, and that would require some serious maneuvering on our part. Whew. Taking the leaf out of the table. Getting rid of the corner bakers rack. Oh boy oh boy.

Everyone have a great weekend and I hope to be blogging again soon.

Sewing and Stuff

Ahhh.... Tuesday.

I made it through Monday, although I was exhausted! I actually dozed on the couch for about an hour and a half before lunch, and then mom came over to watch Ardyn while I went to the endocrinologist. I had blood drawn and expect results tomorrow. When the Dr. felt my thyroid this time, it was actually sore, which he said COULD be a good sign, meaning that instead of hypothyroidism, I could have thyroiditis, or a swollen thyroid, which is easier to correct. But we will see if the thyroid has corrected itself. I have been SO tired the past couple of days, but I think that's because I didn't get a nap for three days in a row. But today I remedied that. Although I have still been yawning all afternoon and night. It's silly.
Today my bead retreat show arrived, and I made a necklace and bracelet right away, and delivered 4 of the orders tonight, and intend on delivering almost all of the other orders tomorrow. I am so excited to make jewelry! I bought three pieces of jewelry that I really loved but had NO clothes to match. Saturday I ran into Target with the family and we found a maternity shirt that matches the jewelry. I put it in the wash, by itself, on delicate (even though it didn't SAY delicate) and all 5 buttons fell off in the wash. I was pissed, but determined to just sew them on three times as secure, but didn't have the right color thread around home. My mom said "I have that thread, I will take it home and sew the buttons on and bring it back Wednesday." So I totally can't wait to get the shirt back and match the jewelry up and wear it. Haha.The funny thing is that we went to Target to look for a damn case for the portable DVD player that we have, and there isn't ONE case at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or Target that will secure the DVD player. Ugh. Now I have a $30 one to return and can't find the damn receipt. I also wanted to look at Target for another pair of maternity jeans, because all the ones from my pregnancy with Ardyn are WAY too big and I needed to go down a size. I have bought one pair with this pregnancy (Duo from JcPenney) and they are wonderful, but they are already sold out in stores and in the catalog so I can't get a second pair. When we went to Target, they didn't have my size. I tried on a size bigger, and they were WAY huge, so just for giggles I tried on a size smaller and they were PERFECT and I was like HOLY CRAP no wonder all my pants are too big, they are TWO Sizes too big, not one! Jeez! Imagine my surprise. So we left Target and Ardyn and Evan dropped me at the mall so I could take my wedding set into the jewelers. It has been so big that I have had to wear a plastic sizer on it because in recent weeks I have almost lost it several times, once in a fast food restaraunt garbage. Ugh. I wanted to wait and get it sized again AFTER this baby, in case I lose more weight (or gain god forbid!) and I just decided that it wasn't worth potentially losing it. So when I went in, I discovered that the ring is one and a half sizes too big! Jeez! No wonder I can't keep it on! So I sent it in to get resized. Even with my ring fitting perfectly when I got pregnant with Ardyn, I was able to wear it all the way until the last month of my pregnancy, so I figure it will probably be similar this time around. Unless I don't swell as much because I am not working this time around. So it was good fun to find out that I am a ring size and a half down and TWO pant sizes down. YAY! So I am 15 weeks pregnant now and still haven't gained a pound. In fact I may have lost 5-6 pounds. I thought that I would start to gain as soon as Ardyn was weaned, but nothing like that has happened.

Tomorrow I have my midwife appointment, and that is always fun, but this time it's also Pap time. LOL. So Ardyn isn't going with this time. Last time she got to sit next to me on the table and hear the baby's heartbeat for the very first time. It was cool for her to be part of that.

I have made Ardyn 8 pair of pants and I have two more cut out and two more fabric styles ready to go. The first pair I made was the pink dog pair she is modeling above, and then I made five pair of fleece (lavender, khaki, yellow, blue and yellow stripe, and an awesome tie-dye pair) and then the cool chick pants and the frog pants. Next in line is lavender "meditating Monkeys" and Pink and Yellow "Pigs."

I have been working on getting a stash of postpartum mamma pads ready since I never used cloth after Ardyn. I have a BUNCH of pantyliners all sewn with the exception of adding snaps. I am working on designing a postpartum size made to my specs. I have one completed and it isn't half bad, but there are a few modifications I will make to make the next ones more perfect. There are two layers of flannel wings with a industrial poly snap, and then a layer of flannel topped with PUL, and then two layers of Microfiber, and another layer of flannel.

Well, Ardyn is having a fit attached to my leg, so it's time to get going. Ahhh, how I have enjoyed my tiny spot of time online. I will miss it!

From Sunday, October 12th.

Can you believe I am blogging in notepad? Holy crap. I am on Evan's new laptop and he doesn't have office installed. It bugs me, but at least when I cut and paste this into blogger it won't go all wonky with Microsoft Formatting Code and cause me an extra hour to fix it. Although, without word wrap, this may get old very quickly. Maybe I should have used....ahhh yes, here we are, Microsoft Works. This is so 1994 Sophomore Keyboarding class that I can actually SMELL the old Manlius High School Computer Room. Wow.

Well at least I am not using my laptop that is so damn hot that you can’t stand to put it on your lap and even with the chill pad the fan runs constantly and will run the battery completely dead in less than 40 minutes. I think I need a new fan, but really I worry that it’s probably something else. Because hey, if the fan is running but not cooling, we have a problem. But I don’t want to think about that.

Today I didn’t do a whole lot. But you know how my lazy days go. I sewed Ardyn 4 pair of pants (seriously) and then cut out two more and washed and prepped six more yards of flannel prints. I loaded and ran the dishwasher. Unloaded it. Made Ardyn lunch and watched two movies. Washed a load of clothes. Picked up toys. Then at 11pm when we finished watching Speed Racer I recall thinking that I couldn’t stay awake another moment (I didn’t take a nap with Ardyn today or yesterday) and heading to bed. I took my medicine. I was in my pajamas. I was even getting INTO bed when I remembered I needed to grab my iPod from my purse (I listen to ocean waves) and that ended up with me rinsing poopy diapers, pre-washing them, washing them, unloading the dishwasher, adding dirty sippy cups from the day, cleaning up in the kitchen, going pee three more times, carrying up empty hampers and the empty diaper pail, and grabbing Evan’s laptop and sitting on my bed, again, 45 minutes later, still forgetting to grab my ipod.

Tomorrow I have so much going on! But I won’t likely get to post anything until later, because I have a lot going on, and freaking Starbucks doesn’t have “free” internet because you know that a $4 latte can’t possibly help them afford Wi-Fi in their many locations. Seriously? I am sure this is old news to many, but I live 45 minutes from Starbucks and don’t go there often. As a matter of fact I have probably had a drink at Starbucks, oh let’s say 7 times in my life. And only once was I alone. The only time I stop at star bucks is when it’s Pumpkin season or I can get a bottle of Tazo ginger peach green tea which I have never ever found sold anywhere else in rural america. I don’t like going to city places sometimes because then I feel all sad when I remember that I have to patronize star bucks (damn works keeps making that two words) in order to get the ONE bottle of cold green tea that I enjoy drinking. Bastards.

So anyway, tomorrow I go back to the endocrinologist to have my thyroid tested. We will find out if it has corrected itself or if it is still a problem and will need to be treated during this whole pregnancy. If all is well, I will continue to be tested on a regular basis to determine if things are still going the way they should be. Then on Tuesday we have one company coming to give us another estimate for windows in the house. Then Wednesday I have an appointment with my midwife again, and we will likely schedule my sex determination ultrasound about 4 weeks from now. I am trying not to get excited because Ardyn kept her legs crossed for SO long that we didn’t actually see that she was a girl until like 7 weeks after our sex determination ultrasound. It was AGONY I tell you. I am not the kind of person who wants a surprise sex announcement after a long labor. Or even after a short one.

It really warmed up here today, we had the house open still, and I had on shorts and a tank top. My favorite $45 Bravado Nursing and Maternity Tank Top which I accidentally dyed when I washed my Bravado Tie-Dye Bra from Nestmom with my load of good clothes. Ugh. We have been working on foods that Ardyn can eat. It is AMAZING that there is milk or milk products in almost ALL prepackaged food. Side Dishes of rice or pasta, bread, snacks, even in some MEATS! Holy cow! You learn so much about the food you are eating that it’s kinda scary. It took me almost two hours to get groceries because I spent so much time reading labels. I found chicken noodle soup without milk. I found a few family friendly meals without milk. Seriously, I feel like there should be an entire list of specific brand items that don’t contain milk. I have to say BLESS those companies who label their ingredients with the big bold words at the bottom that clearly say “THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS: Soy, Wheat, Milk.” Hello. Isn’t that fabulous? Instead of looking at boxes and trying to find crazy words like Whey? Seriously. I have started keeping my own list of things that she has been eating with no issues or reactions, that have no dairy. Then grocery shopping should theoretically get easier. Except when they change or discontinue products, or stupid stores like Wal-Mart change what they carry. I almost had a freaking heart attack (more like a 2-year old’s tantrum) in the snack food aisle when I discovered that my local Wal-mart has stopped carrying Honey Main Grahams “Bees” and I had to read 50 thousand labels to find a substitute that has no milk. Ardyn loves those things so much that she buzzes like a bee at the sight of the box. Did you KNOW that the only animal cracker I have found on the market that doesn’t contain milk is Barnum and Bailey? Seriously. I probably said that in a previous post. My heart truly goes out to families with a nut allergy, or a wheat and milk allergy combo. I swear Ardyn would starve. Even most sandwich rolls and buns contain milk. Practically every Gerber graduates product contains dairy. Today I had to clean out her snack tote and replace the snacks with safe ones. I got rid of SO many cheese goldfish crackers, and graduates cereal bars, and earth’s best organic crackers.

I was able to get my first batch of goat’s milk to give it a try. Today I pasteurized. I learned that it is illegal for the farm to pasteurize the milk, and that a buyer has to go to the farm with their own container to get the milk. So after getting groceries, I went to the farm, saw the goats, met the family, and got a quart of milk. Tonight it was cooling in the fridge and I hope that tomorrow we can try a bit and hopefully it doesn’t cause a reaction. Poor Ardyn just finally healed up about a day ago from eating the wrong animal crackers at trick or treat last Saturday. So with Vaseline with every diaper change (which happens like clockwork every two hours unless she is poopy) it takes a full week to heal an allergic reaction from milk. A full week of cracked and bleeding diaper rash. A full week of screaming and crying and thrashing hysterically while you try to gently clean her, ointment her, and put a new diaper on. Also trying to not get my hopes up about the goat‘s milk. But it would be SO nice to get away from Soy. It is really tearing her up, the poopy diapers are insane. If she DOES get a rash, the soy poo makes it worse and more difficult to get under control. I bought a little rice milk to try also, once we test out goat’s milk and make sure we have no rashes. The issue with goat’s milk is supply. Like a human mother (take me for example) when they are pregnant, their milk supply starts to drop and eventually can be gone altogether. So when I got pregnant, even thought Ardyn wanted to nurse like crazy, she slowly weaned herself because my supply decreased as a result of my pregnancy. Well, take a herd of goats, who are being bred, and the whole herd will have a supply drop if they are bred and due around the same time frame. So right now, all the goats around are bred, so even IF the farmers milk the goats, they don’t have much for supply. And most of them drink the goat’s milk themselves, and don’t have enough to spare 1 gallon a week for Ardyn. So if the goat’s milk DOES work out, I then have a supply and demand issue. Ha. But I do have three contacts who milk goats and hope that between the three of them I can find SOMEONE who will have a bit of milk here and a bit of milk there to part with. Otherwise we can supplement with rice milk or soy if we need to. Ick. Soy. I still wonder if she is having some type of Soy allergy.

Next week we have an appointment at the dermatologist to have Ardyn’s rash looked at. I can’t believe how much it looks like my eczema. I hope the doctor recognizes it and can help us get rid of it. I plan on taking my prescription ointment with me to show him.

Well, it’s nearly 1am. And I am going to regret this tomorrow because I won’t be able to nap then either! Hope I get this posted soon, Take Care!

Pics and Stuff

Good Day! I am amazingly on the internet briefly for the THIRD day in a row! It's a miracle. Not at home, but still very cool.

Today I got my own sewing machine setup for a while. I took my MIL's machine off hte cabinet and got mine all reinstalled and setup and then did some sewing. I made a couple of pair of legwarmers for Ardyn, and worked on mamma pads for postpartum. It was so awesome to sew again! FINALLY not so tired that I can't function! I have also been watching lots of movies lately. I rent about 5 or 6 a week. Recently my favorite was "Waitress" With Keri Russel. It was really good.

We got a tree removed from alongside our driveway today, it was dead all down the middle. We also got the maple in our front yard trimmed, we had branches so heavy that they were almost touching the ground. It looks so NICE and our yard looks so much BIGGER! Soon we will have our fence! We hired a tree service "A Cut Above" and they did an AWESOME job. Seriously. The trimming of the front tree was something that I was excited about but also worried but the tree is Beautiful! They did such a nice job while still taking good care to keep the tree pretty and healthy!

Here are a few photos: Starting with the Onesies that I converted to T-shirts yesterday.
Here's Ardyn today modeling the legwarmers we made this morning:It's so strange to be writing every day that I feel like I am blank!

I had a few blog-worthy revlelations lately, but by the time I get to the internet, I forget what they are!

Quickly.

So, last night we got home late and I saw the offending "mouse" leftovers. I got even more angry. There were seriously 4 mouse shit droppings and they were IN THE CORNER, BEHIND THE KNIFE BLOCK. Seriously. I rarely pull out hte knife block, specifically because the cleaning people clean behind the knife block every two weeks. So here they are all acting like we are filthy, because there were 5 mouse turds behind the knife block. I knew that I hadn't seen any droppings around in the last week. I couldn't believe I missed some. So there. Ha.

That's all I have to say.

Today I watched movies. Ate popcorn. Peanut Butter Cups. Ardyn took a three hour nap.

Oh and last night she took a dive and got a big lump and bruise on her forehead. She cried and cried. Poor baby. I put ice on it for a while and then the swelling was down by this morning. So she has the full body rash, a breakout of diaper rash from some milk that got through, a bump on her head with a bruise, a spot under her eye from her fall, and we are watching for Hand Foot and Mouth. Fab!

Sparkly Clean

You know, it really is hard to get people to understand that there is more to milk than dairy. Sometimes I make stupid mistakes, or totally innocent ones. But while doing a little trick or treating with bigger kids at a campground over the weekend, we stayed back and mostly watched, and several people tried to get us to take candy. Which was nice. But occasionally I would say "no thanks, she's allergic to dairy" and the one woman said "well here, she can have M&M's!" he. it was hard not to laugh. I mean seriously, who knew that chocolate was made with milk! I did make a mistake and let some animal crackers through the cracks, without checking, and of course, they had powdered milk in them (Barnum Circus crackers are the only ones that don't bother her) and last week we accidentally gave her a cucumber dipped in ranch without thinking. Both wreaked havoc on her poor bottom. Cracking, bleeding, the whole deal. and dark, pasty poop. Poor baby.

Her full body rash is looking more like eczema every day. I have put a call into the ped as "tomorrow" it will be three weeks since essentially removing dairy from her diet (except for a couple of slipups) and the rash on her body has gotten worse, and looks exactly like my eczema. I have asked for a referral to a dermatologist or an allergist. how long do we mess around with an allergy and an "unidentified" full body rash? I mean, we dealt with the diaper rash for 6 months before i suggested a dairy allergy, and the full body rash has been there for over a month now. I am done messing around. Mom has had enough.

So on top of all that, she was inadvertently exposed to Hand Foot and Mouth Disease on Saturday. I keep telling myself it happens, it issn't my fault, I didn't know, and on top of all that, of she had remained in daycare she already would have had it. But I am still twiddling my thumbs through the 3-7 day incubation period, watching for the fever, etc. Can this child's body handle another rash? ack. We had a great time going to visit Cari and her family at their camping site at the campground. There were older kids everywhere and they all seemed to like Ardyn and want to play with her. A couple of times I had to step in because some of the kids were trying to feed her random snacks (all dairy hazards I am sure!) but they were really very good with her. One girl was probably 10 or so and came over to play. She offered to walk around the site with Ardyn. She was very polite, and gentle, and patient, and never let Ardyn get down in the dirt or get out of my sight. it was relaxing and Ardyn was enjoying it. She held the older girl's hands and played with her, sat on her lap, etc. Then in conversation we overheard the girl say she wasn't feeling well and Cari asked her what was wrong and she let out that she was two days infected withhand foot and mouth disease and showed us the lesions on her hands that were just starting. I felt bad for her because I could tell that she had never thought about infecting Ardyn, but of course as a mom I had this sinking feeling of not having protected Ardyn. And then I worried about getting it myself, and while pregnant to boot. But of course they say that adults don't usually get it, although they CAN get it.

But overall we had a great time at the campgrounds, good foor, warm campfire, watching older kids run around in costumes.... Ardyn fell asleep in front of the campfire. She got a glow stick while trick or treating. She loved that! We tied it to her stroller. I have pictures that I need to upload. But since I am not online at home, it won't be today!

Yesterday we went out for brunch with evan, which was nice, and today we took my dad (grandpa Dave) to pick up his new car (new to him) because he has hit two deer in the past three weeks, which was the third deer he has hit with his bonneville, and finally it is to the point of no return. So he bought a new work car.

Every Fall we get mice in our house. We have an old house. Built in the 1920's and there are plenty of ways for a mouse to sneak in. We have a cornfield in our backyard too, which doesn't help. We have all our food in tupperware containers. We have glue traps, ultrasonic pest repellers plugged in in two rooms, and we have also used poison in the past. when the damn things want to be there, we have a hell of a time getting rid of them. I am not afraid of mice, but I despise mouse poop. This past week they got into the cupboard that has nothing but glass pyrex containers and drink pitchers, and 1 bottle of canola oil (that's too tall to fit in any of the above cupboards) and since there was nothing to EAT in there, the damn things ate the label off the canola oil bottle. Well, about two weeks ago, the cleaning people came. And while I try to stay on top of the mouse poop, there are bound to be a piece or two that I miss, and the cleaning woman got a little upset with me and asked "when we were going to get our mouse problem under control" as if I could just snap my fingers. I told her that we were using glue traps to no avail. I hate to use poison with both the dogs and Ardyn in the house, and also because then you just have stinking deal mice in your walls and how gross is that, especially when you are pregnant and gag at everything stinky. She told me "I don't DO mouse poop." and it kinda sounded like a threat. I just played it off, and said "Oh, I know. I wish we could catch them!" Then today she called me (they are at my house) and I returned her call. Evan had forgotten to leave their check.

Her voicemail to me was dripping with attitude. I called her right back and apologized that Evan had forgotten to write the check and asked her if she would like to leave us a self addressed envelope and we would send it to her right away. She said she would, and then continued to very harshly ask "when are you getting your mouse problem taken care of" and continued to tell me that she doesn't deal with mouse droppings and that she wouldn't be touching them because today is "not a mouse poop kinda day." I understand that, but at the same time I get the feeling that for all the YEARS they have been our cleaning people, they are recently trying to find reasons to drop us. All they have to say is "we won't be able to clean for you anymore." To be quite frank, I am really tired of being given attitude over things like mouse poop. But also when they started cleaning for us, we had no kids, one dog and both worked full time. Our lives have drastically changed. I don't believe that they have children, and so they don't understand what it's like to have a 1 year old and be pregnant and tired, and to have two dogs (who by the way are only allowed on the front porch right now and not in the house) and to really have more important things to do than lose sleep over a bit of mouse poop. I tried to tell her that we currently have traps, ultrasonic pest things plugged in, AND all of our food in tupperware, on top of having all dirty dishes inside the dishwasher... so we are doing what we can except for the potential Poisoning of a family member over some mouse shit. Basically I am upset because she is trying to make me feel like we are filthy because we have mice in the fall. Seriously? I have better things to worry about. And seriously, I think it's time to get different cleaning people. People who won't have a heart attack if they find a dirty sock under the bed or a cheerio on the floor. I mean I have the damn roomba that vacuums every day. How seriously filthy can it be? And when I pay them $65 every two weeks for 2 hours of cleaning, I figure we ought to be able to live in our house and I shouldn't have to worry about cleaning before they come to clean. I already run around like a nutcase picking up and organizing and making sure that all of Ardyn's toys are put away and that anything on the floor is up and out of their way (like the bigger toys, the bouncing Zebra, the ride-on car, the wheeled horse, etc) and I try to be understanding and don't say a word when for 6 weeks straight the top of Ardyn's bookshelf (which is like 4 foot high and mounted on the wall) never gets dusted, even when I remove everything from it in case they don't want to pick up the book and the frame and the stuffed bunny that's up there. And when I know that in the past six months they have never dusted the tops of the two wall shelves in the living room. maybe the problem is that I never say a word? I appreciate my cleaning people, but at the same time, I am tired of worrying that they might see something that will send them heading for the hills. Like, what if I don't get all the hair picked out of the shower drain? Or what if they find that sippy cup that I can't figure out WHERE my daughter left it last? I am pretty good at being on top of things, but spending quality and fun time with my daughter is my priority. And THAT is why I still pay for someone to clean. Because that is what's important to me and I intend to keep it that way. My house isn't filthy. But it is cluttered. But I take lots of time before they come to be sure that the important surfaces are visible, and I tell them that if the dining room table is cluttered, not to worry about it. They almost never have to clean the office desk or the scrapbook table, because they are always full of projects in progress or paperwork. I don't fault them for any of that. My mom mentioned that they never dust one of my end tables, and Evan mentioned that they never dust the arms or the backs of the leather sofa and loveseat. I notice these things, but I don't stress about them. If it bothers me I just do it myself later. I guess it doesn't matter to me if you don't get to everything every time you are cleaning, just as long as at least once a month, the dust gets off here and there. And seriously, I do get frustrated when I pay them for 2 hours and I get home and an hour and a half later, not only are they gone, but they had to pick up all their supplies and pack them up and then leave. I just figure that if they still had 30 minutes to go, why not dust that shelf or that corner end table? Ugh. Sorry. Enough ranting. Now they are probably going to read my blog and be all mad that I was "talking trash." They will probably post about how that one time my husband left his gum in the shower (WTF?!) and I didn't catch it in time. Or maybe about the time that somehow in some wild abandon a pair of my pajama pants entertwined with dirty underwear found their way under my bed, and *gasp* I didn't look under there for two weeks until they cleaned and found them. Jeez. I swear life is too short for this crap!

Please share your cleaning people stories. Am I the lone ranger here?

More Rambling.

Thursday. Really a beautiful day! It's been so cool and fall-like here, and for the first time inyears, farmers are taking out soybeans before corn. We've been drinking hot apple cider and eating lots of muffins, apples, this week (we have been there twice already!) and I cut one in half because I thought they would be really rich. I have to say, I couldn't even eat HALF of one. I needed to cut it into thirds. I am the chick who can eat two pieces of rich cheesecake without blinking, but this brownie was so rich it actually HURT my mouth to eat it. Isn't that crazy? I should have taken pictures of them to post. Since I am not online at home, I am online away from home, which means I can't reach the brownies from here. LOL.

Ardyn is really walking well now and I am trying to work on putting her down more out in public. When we walk to our table at a restraunt or while in the hospital having tests or in a parking lot that isn't busy, I have started to take her hand and let her walk alongside me. She LOVES that and I love not having to carry her everywhere. Last night I decided that I should write down the words and phrases she knows, because I haven't really done that yet (with the exception of her first two words) and by today I was already up to 65 words and phrases. Not bad for a 13 month old? When people had asked me I had been saying she had like 15-20 words to say, but wow was I way off. It's funny because sometimes she will say something and I will be like "Oh, forgot that one!" and run to my journal to add it to the list. Today for the first time she verbally answered a question I asked her. I was astounded. Seriously, very cool. She is getting really good at repeating just about anything you want her to say, but she never does it for an audience. In fact, I can't get her to say hardly anything for the video camera either. I love when she says "shoes" (sooos) and today I was trying to get her to say Rocket and it kept coming out like Cock, so I gave up. he.

Today I had foot and ankle x-rays and also visited a couple of nurses that I used to work with and who were there when I was in the hospital with Ardyn. Then we closed my bead retreat party. I got 4 half-price items, $80 in free stuff, and a free October Bracelet. Yay. Can't wait for everything to come in!

So I have been having issues with the ball of my left foot, right below my second toe. It's been very sore for a few weeks, and usually by the end of the day, I am limping. It has gotten better since I have been making an effort to wear shoes or slippers while around the house, and wear shoes versus flip-flops while out. I made an appointment a while back to go to the foot doctor, and my appointment was Wednesday afternoon. It was enlightening to say the least. My mom has feet that are much like mine, and has had nothing but problems recently, as she works on her feet all day. When I started to have pain where she was having pain, I decided no messing around and went right to the foot Dr. He drew me several pictures of the foot and toes and bone structure and explained that what I was experiencing was due to the way my feet are formed, with extremely high arches. This causes my weight to be distributed too much on my toes, and affects the balls of my feet.

I also have ankle problems, which increases my issues, and explains why I spent LOTS of my college years on crutches with ankle twists and sprains. It also explains why my ankle gave out on me while I was 9 months pregnant with Ardyn, and even though I was standing completely still, I had an avulsion fracture of my ankle where the tendon actually tore away from the bone and chipped a piece of bone off. Ack. So today's xrays will determine at which stage my foot problem (Second Metatasal Pain) is in. It starts with Bursitis, moves to a Plantar Plate Tear, and eventually becomes a Ganglion Cyst, where the bone has rubbed on the bottom of your foot for so long that liquid has filled the area around the bone and the fat pad of your foot has worn away and all that is left between the bone and the ground is your thin layer of skin. It's freaking scary, because not treated, it can end up with foot surgery, specifically a chunk of your bone removed and hoping that your foot bone heals at a different angle. So as complicated as all that sounds, the xrays are to determine if I am just at the bursitis stage, or if the plantar plate has already torn on my left foot, and to see the status of my right foot and my ankles. The plan will probably be to first get custom made arch supports to correct the way weight is distributed on my feet, and potentially Physical Therapy, Cortisone, and/or anti-inflammatory medicine (which I have taken in the past with flare ups of carpal tunnel or the arthritis in my lower back that I got from the double whiplash car accident when in my early 20's.) So next Friday I get to see the Xray results and see what the first step is. And of course since I am pregnant, and will be soon breastfeeding another, I won't be able to take medicine or likely cortisone either. Luckily my foot doctor is not only excellent at what he does, but extremely interested in making sure that it all makes SENSE to me, which is right up my alley.

Of course Ardyn's body rash is a little worse lately. Still new breakouts on her forehead and temples and in her hairline, also on her neck and her chest and tummy. I myself am beginning to think it is eczema. It looks almost Identical to the eczema that I have (when I first was diagnosed) and I am currently testing a bit of my steroid-free lotion on a patch to see if it gets better and so far, it seems to be getting less scaly and red. After Tuesday I can officially call th pediatrician back and let them know that the body rash has not been elimitated by removing milk from her diet.

I also recently learned online that there are vast differences between lactose intolerance and a dairy allergy. Children with lactose intolerance can likely eat milk products in moderation but can be pushed over the edge by drinking milk or eating too many dairy products. They may have gas, stomach upset, or diahrrhea as a result of their intolerance. These aren't allergies, just their digestive system's reaction to dairy consumption.

A Dairy Allergy, on the other hand, is a true allergy to dairy products. It's characterized by allergy symptoms, body rash, diaper rash that won't heal without removing dairy from the diet, etc etc. People with a dairy ALLERGY are the people who don't consume any dairy products, and usually this means even things as simple as the milk powder found in things like instand oatmeal, "lactose free" cheeses, and certain crackers and cookies. They have a true allergy to dairy products characterized by an allergic reaction when given any dairy. That's Ardyn. Today we mistakenly let her dip cucumber slices in ranch dressing, because we weren't smart enough to remember that there is milk in there! Tonight she had really bad, dark, pasty poo, and a diaper rash. All from a tiny bit of ranch dressing. Hence Allergy, not Lactose Intolerance.

Of course now I am reading all about phytoestrogens in Soy products and really searching for locally sold Goat's Milk. I have a couple of leads that I plan on pursuing tomorrow.

Well, still not internet at home, and it's past Ardyn's bedtime, so I think it's time for me to get offline and go home. Have a great night and a happy weekend, since I don't think I will be back before then!

Lots going on.

I have so much to write about. I am not as concerned about the time it will take to write it all as I am about my memory’s capacity to not leave anything out. It has been a fairly busy week. Really, I can’t recall when the last time was that I wrote in the blog, and because we are going on three or four weeks without internet at home, I can’t even check to see what I wrote last.

I decided to just sit down tonight and write a bit while offline, and hope that I can publish this maybe on Tuesday. It’s Sunday night, and I really would normally be in bed by now. It’s about 11:15 and I just started diapers. It’s technically only four days of diapers, but again, I have two loads to wash because they won’t all fit into the washing machine. I can’t remember if I mentioned in my previous post that Ardyn is allergic to dairy, but we discovered that almost two weeks ago, and have had her on a dairy free diet ever since. Her diaper rash cleared up in 2-3 days but she still has the body rash, including new dots on her chest and temples/forehead that show up every single day. The Dr’s office assures me that is also dairy related and that when she has had the dairy out of her system for three weeks, it will also be gone. I am still not sure, because why would she be getting NEW breakouts? Hmmm. Not convinced. But only time will tell. I am worried that I will discover that she is allergic to something else…. And I don’t know if they can send a 1 year old for allergy testing. And I can’t get online and investigate, because I have no internet and when I DO get to the internet, my time is limited because I generally have Ardyn with me. So far, Soy milk equals MANY more dirty diapers than usual. The Dr. also assures me that this 4 poops a day routine will end once she is adjusted to the Soy. Again. Three weeks. SO we wait.

In the meantime, I wash an insane amount of diapers. I try not to put it off too long, but when you are pregnant, rinsing poopy diapers is not at the top of your to-do list. Especially newly stinky and pasty diapers.

Washing diapers does take a bit of time. Basically because it consists of a prewash cycle, and then you have to go add the soap and disinfecting stuff and then do a wash with a double rinse. Just takes the washing machine more time. And when you have two loads to do, well, you get the picture. And when you have lots of poopy diapers, that usually adds an overnight soaking to the list of things for the washing machine to accomplish. Tick Tock. So I am trying to stay awake long enough to get the first load of diapers prewashed, and then washed and rinsed, so that I can get them into the dryer and get the second load started on it’s overnight soak. Don’t know if I can make it that long.

So this past week I hosted a Bead Retreat Party, and was in my friend Lisa and Josh’s wedding. Thursday was the bead retreat party. I had 10 people attend, and 8 people came for Chili and Homemade Cornbread before the party. I had a great time eating with everyone. It was less stressful than Thanksgiving and really so nice. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy having people over. I got to use all the nice napkins and tablecloth, the nice dishes, the expensive wine glasses… It was the best. I am still about $100 short of my goal, and the party closes Tuesday. Not having the internet is not helping me much with rounding up orders, but I have three more outside orders that I am expecting, so everything pretty much hinges on that.

The other thing, is that we don’t have cable or a home phone right now, since it is all through the same company. It’s just too damn expensive and not a priority. We have been renting movies instead, and I am more caught up on movies than I have been in years. I doubt I can remember everything I have seen lately, but I know the list includes Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Lucky Number Slevin, The Bucket List, The Constant Gardner, The Astronaut Farmer, Baby Mamma, Then She Found Me, Wilderness (totally retarded), In the Land of Women, The Darjeeling Limited (don’t waste your time), and Mr Woodcock (which I will watch tomorrow.)

And that doesn’t include all the things that I watch with Ardyn, like Rolie Polie Olie, The Wiggles, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, and The Little Einsteins.

Tonight Ardyn and I had to run to Wal-Mart and get dog food, and we also had to get a new DVD Player because we wore ours out. We just buy the cheap $29 model, it usually lasts a few years and that’s cool with us. We also bought some Halloween Cookie Cutters, and she said “Cookie” for the first time. And we got her a pair of Dora fleece lined clogs, and some Cheesecloth for part of her Halloween costume.

Other than that we accomplished a bath for me and a nap for both of us. That was nice. She has fallen asleep with me several times in the past couple of days. She is officially weaned, and she did it all herself. First she dropped the naptime nursing session, and then the bedtime session. Friday morning was her last morning nursing session and today I leaked a teeny tiny bit for the first time. No problem and really no pain. It was awesome to let her self wean. It couldn’t have gone more perfect. So I get to say goodbye to what was really the perfect breastfeeding relationship. She never had formula. I pumped through 5 months of full-time work, She breastfed for over a year, and I never had mastitis or a plugged duct and neither of us ever got thrush. I am so happy and proud, it is a major accomplishment!

So Friday was a great day too. Evan took Ardyn to his mom’s around noon. I went to town, checked my email, received a couple of paypal payments and sold all of my Size Medium Thirsties AIO Pockets to two mammas on diaperswappers. Then I turned around and bought four Goodmamas from a mamma on DS and they are from the hopscotch switch box. I can’t wait, they should be here this week. It’s insane that I can sell 12 used diapers and turn around with that EXACT money and buy 4 new ones. But that goes to show how badly the resale value is on those Thirsties AIO Pocket V1 when so many people have had issues with the leg gussets leaking, and Thirsties redesigned and came up with a V2. I am just relieved to have them out of my sight because they were really disgusting me, seeing them sitting here worth so much money and not being used. Ugh. So I mailed diapers, and then went and got my hair done for the wedding, and ran to Wal-Mart. I ate lunch and went home, where the house was ALL to myself and Incredibly quiet. I spent the next 2 hours listening to Tommy James and the Shondells, painting my toenails, and applying artificial fingernails, and then getting dressed and heading for the wedding. I picked up Josh’s sister and his nieces, and we drove to the home where the garden wedding was held. It was so nice, but the problem was the tiny biting black gnats. They had the garden sprayed that day, but nothing deterred those little bastards. Everyone wearing white (poor Lisa and the flower girls) were covered with the bugs. Everyone else was also getting eaten alive. I have so many bites that pretty much everything is still itching, and it’s terrible. I coat myself with Benadryl cream a couple of times a day to try to stop myself from itching. Just to give you an idea of how many bites I have, there are TWELVE on my left breast. And I was NOT naked at the wedding. They were in our clothes, down our backs, up our skirts, it was terrible. I was wearing Off, Cutter, Repel, Skin So Soft, and my Jason Natural Bug Repellent. I was also wearing Vanilla Oil that someone told me was a deterrent. Nothing kept them away. Nothing stopped them from biting. Luckily by the time the ceremony itself started, they were mostly leaving us alone. But that didn’t help us during the 2 hours of photos. The reception was nice too, I still think about the slices roast beef. Mmmmm.

So Evan’s parents kept Ardyn overnight on Friday, and had her for more than 24 hours, and it was FABULOUS. I felt so FREE! Seriously. We tried to sleep in but we ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep. We have a King Sized Sealy Posturpedic Mattress and Boxspring Set that we bought with tax return money in February of 2007. I was worried because the mattress can’t be flipped, and they assured me that it was designed to never NEED to be flipped. I am now absolutely sure that statement is a load of crap. We are so uncomfortable. Evan is sleeping on the couch and I am sleeping in the middle of the bed. We have tried rotating it, and it seems better for about two weeks. We have called the furniture store where we purchased it because it is under warranty. I am waiting to hear back from the “guy” who handles warranties. Of course I read the fine print and the warranty from Sealy states that the warranty does not cover “customer preference” and I will be infuriated if they try to tell me that our preference is the reason we don’t like the mattress. I really loved the mattress until about 5 months ago. The problems really started to become unbearable about a week ago, when I lay down on the mattress I feel like everywhere my bones touch, I have bruises. I can’t see the bruises, but if I touch my skin in those spots, it feels just like a bruise. Evan said the same thing a few days later. And because I am pregnant, I sleep on one side or the other, with a body pillow, so the same spot on my shoulder, leg, thigh, and Hip Bone always touches the bed. And I feel like I am covered in bruises. It is NOT a good thing and I sure hope that the furniture store or Sealy can help us and I mean FAST. Nothing is worse than being exhausted and pregnant and not being able to sleep because of your mattress. And I tell you, this is the FOURTH Sealy Posturpedic that Evan and I have owned. The Queen that we had last time was about 12-13 years old and we loved it. The twin that we have is about 9 years old, maybe 10, and it is in PERFECT shape and SO comfortable. As a matter of fact, that’s where I SHOULD be sleeping!

Hang on, let me go put soap in the diapers and get them started washing.

Well, now that is done, but it is almost midnight and I really can’t stay awake long enough for them to wash and rinse. Ugh. Oh well. Tomorrow is a different day, and I have a clear schedule. I did get the dishwasher run twice today, once for the china and wine glasses and once for the heavier dishes and the crock pot. It’s not like I did nothing all day. Not bad for a Sunday.

I also have everything from inside Ardyn’s crib to wash. Her sheet, blankets, mattress protector, toys… etc. When I was having the bead party, I had everything ready, myself cleaned up and dressed, the Chili ready and the cornbread in the oven, the table set, and was waiting for the hour to pass until the guests showed up. 15 minutes before the consultant was due to arrive, Ardyn woke up from her nap. I went in to get her and she was poop… head to toe. Under her nails, down her legs, in her hair, on her face, and on every area inside her crib… even the bars and the pouch of puppies that hangs on the side or the crib. I had to carry her at arm’s length to the bathtub and strip her down and give her a bath. Evan stripped the crib and scrubbed it clean and sanitized it, and put everything in the laundry room. We have been so busy that I haven’t got to wash it all yet. Ugh. Another fun task for tomorrow.

Have a great night.

Sweat Shop Mamma

(I am without internet at home so keep in mind that this post was written on 9-12-08)

The past couple of days I have shocked myself with the things I have accomplished. The pre-pregnancy Meagan must be in there somewhere trying to get out. Of course by 8pm I am so exhausted I can’t hardly keep my eyes open.

Yesterday (Thursday) I picked up the living room, dining room, bathroom, and our bedroom. I re-organized Ardyn’s toys and packed up some more “baby-ish” toys. I took tags off the new clothes that Evan bought her. I washed diapers. I went through a stack of magazines and papers on the dining room chair that was no shorter than 2.5 feet tall (seriously) and did something with everything, and kept a 1 foot stack of magazines that I haven’t cracked the covers on yet (I suck.) and am keeping them by the bed so that I may hopefully flip through them, and tear out the things that I want to file. I went through the file on the top of the desk in the office. I created new folders for each pregnancy (going to specialists really gathers lots of paperwork…. Insurance, referrals, prescriptions, letters and maps, lab tests, new patient forms, etc) I keep most of this because I am going to many specialists this time around too, and they always want to compare things to last pregnancy. I emptied folders from being a Pampered Chef Consultant, (2003-2005) and fold veterinary bills from when I had Carrie’s beagle. I consolidated paperwork from my “former” employer. Threw away 6 years of paystubs, and filed the contract for the website that I am currently working on (soon!) and also my exit interview from my former employer. I was pretty proud of getting all that in order. I found my envelope full of cards that I received from Ardyn’s baby shower, and cards I received in the mail after her birth. I decided to keep them for her, because I remember how much fun it was to see the cards that my mom kept in my baby book. But she has so many that I had to punch holes in them all and put them on a zip tie ring. I also found cards from her first Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and finally all of her first birthday cards. I added those to the ring too.

I miraculously found a gift card that fell out of one of the cards, and wouldn’t you know that it was a card for ME from my former co-workers, from when Ardyn was born? It said “this is to be used for something special for mom” and of course THAT is the card that got pushed to the wayside and never used. 1 year later, you can bet I will be buying something for myself! Ha!

I also went through Ardyn’s baby books and her health tracks book and put in her 1 year stats as well as her shots and the info on her new teeth that have come in. I filled out the pages for her first birthday and info on when she started crawling, standing, etc.

Yesterday Ardyn took three steps to Evan, which was awesome. She’s getting closer to full-blown walking every day.

So today was Friday, and it started out like any other day but got humid as hell. Around lunchtime I decided to bring up all the fabric that I had bought to make baby wipes. I started cutting and I cut 164 eight by eight squares of fabric. Then I serged 82 pair of them into 82 new and fabulous baby wipes. They are Organic Sherpa Fleece on one side and flannel or cotton knit on the other side (prints.) Then I folded 82 baby wipes in half and admired them over and over. Then I fray checked the corner of 82 wipes. Then I put them in a tote and smiled at them all. I can’t wait till tomorrow when I can start wiping a little butt with them. The sherpa fleece makes for excellent poo grabbing and they wash up really nice. They are so soft and thick. I am terribly excited.

I have been using baby washcloths for the past 9 months, and even though I have about 140 of them, they have been washed SO many times, and there just aren’t enough for two little butts to wipe. Plus toddler poos require a whole new wipe animal than little breastfed baby poos. So I feel like I have done a very accomplished thing and that I am even a little more prepared for two babies. I have also been loving the new stack of goodmamas. That’s all she’s been wearing for the past two days. It’s so nice. She can run around coverless and she is even coverless at naptime! Holy moly! I now know without a doubt that if I come into money, I will be ordering a Goodmama box, or even a bunch of bundles. Although I really like the clean look of the OBV’s. The prints are adorable but I can just see them getting pilly and faded so I am not sure that’s what I want.

I have gotten back into some books that I had been perusing, Green Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck, Unplugged Play, and Raising Baby Green by Alan Greene MD. In order to prevent myself from getting bored, I just keep rotating between them. I did a few things form Unplugged play with Ardyn today. I put a blanket on the floor and gave her a Tupperware container with an inch of water in the bottom of it, and gave her a bunch of her own spoons and forks and a dishrag. She was thrilled. She washed them. She washed herself… her legs, her hair, and then she put her feet in the water. Then she dumped it over accidentally, and then on purpose. Then she splashed around in the little bit of water that was left. I also got her little tiny stuffed baby doll out and cut her a blanket out of fleece from the sewing room. I put her baby to sleep in a shoebox. I showed her how to rock the baby and sing to the baby and put the baby “night-night.” She wasn’t fond of the attention the baby was getting. I then asked her if the baby wanted milk and acted like I was going to breastfeed the baby through my shirt, she got VERY angry and smacked the baby out of the way. Then she climbed up into my lap and started giving me kisses on the lips, like she wanted to remind me that SHE is my baby and a very sweet and loving one at that. And then she shoved the baby in her shoebox, under the coffee table where no one could find her. It was hilarious. We will have to keep working on the baby.

Ardyn loves to say that things are pretty. Candles and things that are glass and not to be touched are regarded as “pretty.” Freshly folded clothes, towels, and diapers are “pretty” (otherwise she will unfold them) and when I put clips in her hair I announce that they are “pretty” otherwise she will take them out. I gave her a big fat powder brush a month or so ago, and showed her how to put on blush and say “pretty” and now she loves to put blush on herself and then mommy and say “pretty.” Today we discovered a magic trick with a toilet paper tube and the brush. We put the brush, handle side down, into the tube. She can SEE the top of the brush and touch the bristles and she is trying to get it out and then suddenly, I whisk the brush out of the bottom of the tube and display it up by her face and she squeals with delight! Magic! How did that brush get out of that tube! And so quickly! We played with that for a long time today.

She also amazes me how fast she catches on. Earlier in the week I was using the oven and told her it was hot. Every time she sees me open the oven she makes her “hot” sign (waving her hand back and forth like HOT) and I saw “yes, it’s HOT. Don’t touch.” Very smart. Unfortunately, if you don’t know her, you might get her hot sign confused with her “stinky” sign. But her stinky sign usually comes with sniffing of the nose and sometimes the word “stinky.” And I guess it could also be confused with her waving hello or bye bye…. But again, in context.

Well, it’s past my bedtime. I intended on sleeping long ago, but wanted to get diapers started so I would have a full stash of goodmamas for the weekend and also wanted to get some stuff written down lest I forget.

Like today, I decided that for the first time in 29 years I would try mustard on my hot dog. I never tried it because even though I love mustard, it just never sounded right on a hot dog. And you know what, I was right. Mustard doesn’t belong on a hot dog. So I guess I haven’t been missing anything. But this from the person who had never had a chili dog until about 3 years ago. Sheltered I tell you!

Happiness is: Homemade Chex Mix and Goodmamas.

Hello everyone! Wednesday. We have been pretty lazy the past couple of days. We had a busy weekend and a Busy Monday (okay, a hectic monday) and so we have pretty much been napping and eating and sleeping and eating. Today we slept in again (ahhh, 9:30!) and then Ardyn and I lay around in bed and watched TV until 11am, when we made scrambled eggs and toast. I have laundry going, the dishwasher unloaded, reloaded, and running again, and Chex Mix in the oven. I love the smell and the satisfaction of chex mix in the oven. I am going to make two batches. I have a close friend whose family member is seriously ill (very likely terminally ill) and I will make Chicken Casserole, Cheesy Rice and Broccoli Casserole, and Chex mix to take over to them tonight. I feel like I want to DO something but I know that right now it's just a bunch of waiting for them, and spending as much time with their loved one as possible. I feel terrible. And Helpless. I can't even imagine how they feel.

Monday was my appointment at the Endocrinologist for my thyroid. It is overactive now (it was previously underactive) and they did more bloodwork and intend to monitor it for the pregnancy. No medications just yet, as they feel it might very shortly resolve itself. So I have been laying low. MIL Asked me if I wanted to go shopping today, but I just Can NOT do shopping. I can barely make it through a 30 minute trip to Wal-Mart. Last night I thought I was going to take Ardyn for a walk because it was so nice, but I forgot that I left the stroller in the loaner car and they have it at the dealership and I keep forgetting to pick it up. Ha. I go back to the Endocrinologist next week, and then I will probably go see my midwife, just because I miss her. LOL.

Last night I made Ardyn and myself some fabulous Cheerios Snack Mix Just mix...no baknig required!) For my recipe and a photo, go here! It is SO yummy. A little sweet, and dry... great for a preggo tummy... both to tide you over and get rid of nausea. (which I have no more... YAY!) When Ardyn finishes a little bowl, she turns it upside down and says "uh-oh" and looks at me hopefully.

Off to stir the chex mix! I love that burn in your nose when you open the oven and a big waft of seasoning and sauce hits you in the face. YUM!Last night I washed the BIGGEST Load of diapers ever. It was awesome. I actually had to wash them twice. I probably should have split it into two. Yesterday was an awesome day for fluffy mail. I got 5 Goodmama OBV's and 1 PIddle Poddle, which I also adore. It's amazingly similar to the Goodmama. The only differences that I have noticed with our first wearing is that the rise seems shorter (which will soon be a problem) and the wing snaps (to prevent droop) aren't exactly where I need them. I will probably stick to goodmamas for those reasons. This brings my Goodmama total to NINE beautiful OBV's. I adore them. I never thought in a million years that I would choose the $37 diaper as my favorite. Never. Ever. But I certainly do adore them. the fit is just perfect. And the fact that they are super soft, and one size, AND absorbent enough to go coverless yet trim enough to be comfy... not to mention they clean up spotlessly. Every. Freaking. Time.

I have been very much considering selling the Thirsties AIOs. I am disappointed that since the release of V2, V1's resale value has dropped to like $11 each. It makes me furious, especially since they were $17.50 each new. We aren't using them, I just have them in a tote looking at me.
I guess the money could go torwards more goodmamas.

Last Sunday was a busy day. I attended Lisa's Bridal Shower for her mom's family, and then went right to Evan's grandparents for his grandpa's 79th Birthday Party. We had a nice supper and sat outside and Ardyn played. She adores Evan's cousin Lukas (who is 18ish) and gave him hugs and kisses and snuggles. It was so cute. She kept going to him so he would pick her up and put her on his lap. It was cute. I stopped at Tanner's on my way back from the Dr. on Monday. Bought some apples and apple cider donuts, and some apple muffins that are TO DIE FOR. I also got some pumpkin butter, which I thouht I would love, but really didn't. Ardyn LOVES it though, so that's a plus. I recently had to make the honey/peanut butter decision for her. "They" still debate about giving peanut butter or honey at 1 year. The Ped gave the go ahead for honey in small amounts and the pep talk for staying clear of Peanut Butter and other nut products for another year. So I bought some sun butter (sunflower seeds) and she doesn't know the difference. I haven't given her the honey yet, but we have a LOVELY jar that just came fresh off the farm at Evan's parents, and the hives are located in the timber with wildflowers, fruit trees, and a garden... the honey tastes FABULOUS!

Ardyn's 1 year photos came back from the photographer. I have to decide which ones I am going to order. Tough Tough Decision!

Well, batch one of chex mix is cooling. Gotta go start the next one. Have a great week!

The longest post ever. And My Beef with Thirsties AIO Pockets.

Well, the birthday party is over. It was great. I was feeling icky. It was hot. I was exhausted. And Nauseous. And had a weird pain in my upper belly all day. But It was still fun. The pool was refreshing. The food was AMAZING. The cake got rave reviews for taste AND looks. I was pleased. Evan did a great job of blowing up the balloons and making a pretty balloon bouqet for the bench along the driveway. It was wonderful. Ardyn got lots of good stuff, a few toys, books, a beautiful quilt made by Bekah, and some really great clothes from my mom. She enjoyed every bit of it and wouldn't nap for a second. She was awake from 7:30am till 9:30pm, that little stinker didn't want to miss a bit of HER party. Ha.

Since the party we have recuperated. Gotten the dishwasher installed (I am in love) and Ardyn and I met with Nicole Isaacson and spent two hours, two locations, and FIVE outfits getting pictures taken. I can't wait to see the results! Hopefully we will see them online by the end of this week or the beginning of next week at the latest. Today Ardyn and I took the van for an oil change, and also to get the AC Checked out because by Saturday it was not working again. They found the leak this time and have ordered parts. We took a Dodge Magnum Wagon as a loaner car today. It wasn't bad but I wouldn't trade it for my van. I don't like all the blind spots it has, it's way worse than MIL's newer Durango. But it was a nice loaner. Except I left the stroller in the back like a Moron. But in my defense it WAS Pouring rain all day. And I didn't like moving the baby, car seat, diaper bag, purse, etc. in the rain.... let alone the stroller. I just forgot. Until about three hours later when I was mentioning strollers when talking to my mom and I was like "Holy shit I have to call the car dealer!"

Tomorrow are Ardyn's 1 year shots. I am not looking forward to them. At all. They worry me because she will get ones that she has never had before, and because MMR is "the" controversial shot. I am sure it will all be fine, but mom's can't help be be anxious abut these things.

Lisa's Bridal shower gift arrived today via UPS and I am SO Excited to give it to her. I also got a dress and shoes in the mail today, that I will wear to her wedding. I already had a dress with a cute little sweater that I bought at the beginning of the summer, with plans to wear it to the wedding and reception, but that was BEFORE I was pregnant, and it still has the tags on it because NOW I can't wear it. LOL. Oh well. My shoes are so freakin adorable. They are Kenneth Cole Reaction and I got them from PiperLime. I adore them and will be able to wear them comfortably forever and ever. That's the best kind of shoe there is. When I measured my belly last week it was already 46 inches! Holy Cats! They are right when they say that you show quicker the second time around. By 6 weeks I couldn't button my pants and had to break out maternity clothes. The only bad thing for me is that all of my maternity clothes (most of them) are too big for me. So either I can't wear them (in the case of jeans and some of my shirts) or they look frumpy. I have asked my mom for some smaller maternity clothes for my Birthday, which is actually approaching fairly quickly. I sent her links to ones I like and am pretty sure she's got me covered. Evan my maternity underwear are too huge, and my swimsuit too. For Ardyn's birthday party I was able to wear my regular swimsuit but my stomach was all squished and killing me after an hour or so. I had to get out of that suit.

The weather was awesome today. Low 60's, rained all day. We opened the house up yesterday and it is so nice and cool. Ardyn and I have snuggly pants on and long sleeved shirts and socks and slippers. We drank tea (juice for her) and baked cookies this evening. We have all the Scentsy warmers going with Sugar Cookie bricks. It smells heavenly here! If you haven't heard of scentsy, my best friend Carrie is a consultant and you NEED to check it out. Flameless home scents with wax that isn't hot enough to burn. It's heated by a regular lightbulb, and the warmers are beautiful. They JUST released a plug in warmer that I want to get for my kitchen. They are awesome. Check them out here www.scentsy.com/carriestokes

I was actually motivated to clean off the dining room table, which was a mess of paper and glue and scissors and glitter from working on decorations for Ardyn's party. I was pleased when I finished. I am really wanting to get my 2 yards of Organic Sherpa Fleece cut into 9" squares so that I can start matching them up with my flannel and cotton knit fabrics and making wipes.

I just bought 5 Goodmama One Size OBV Dipes to add to the collection today. Lavender, Purple, Hot Pink, Orange, and Light Blue. I already have Lime, Red, Circus (rainbow Serging), and Marigold. Ardyn is just now growing out of her Size Medium Thirsties AIO's.

They recently re-vamped the Thirsties AIO Pockets and removed the fabric from inside the leg gussets. The V1 model had leakage issues, which to my dismay, we have experienced. It is frustrating because I paid $17 plus for each diaper and we have a full dozen of them in Medium and another full Dozen in size Small. That's alot of money ($414.00 to be exact), and that doesn't count the Ten Thirsties PUL Covers that I have (@ $11.50 each) or the Thirsties fitted or the 18 Thirsties Prefolds.

Even though the thirsties diapers are under warranty, the manufacturer doesn't feel that the leaking warrants a replacement or a discount on replacements, even though the leaking did warrant a redesign of the product into a V2. This has been something that I have been thinking alot about and I have made the decision to no longer purchase Thirsties AIO Pockets. I think. So instead of moving up to the size Large, I will move into using more fitteds and OS diapers, like the BG 3.0's that I am so happy with, and the Goodmamas. If I want some AIO's I will be trying BG AIO's. I like their Organic AIO but it is pricey at $24.95 per diaper... but really not bad for a OS AIO (which there aren't many of.) AND I was recently able to send in 3 BG OS 3.0's that I had aplix issues with (they had the older style aplix) and have them completely replaced at no cost to me, with new identical diapers with all the newer aplix and newer foldback tabs. Now. That is what I call customer service. And THAT is what makes me be a repeat customer, when you will stand by your product. I adore thirsties, but when you feel like you have $414 in diapers that you can't use for your second child, that frustrates you. It frustrates you enough to not invest another $217 to buy a dozen large diapers. I saw that Kelly's closet is clearancing out the V1 for $11 each. Ugh. Proof that they have been improved and aren't worth as much anymore.

For me, It is making more sense to use more OS Diapers. OS dipes will fit the new baby and Ardyn at the same time. I can use the BG 3.0's, the MEOS OBV's, and the Goodmama OBV's for both kids at the same time, eliminating the need to keep different sizes of diapers separate, and also eliminating the need to pack two sizes of diapers for an outing. The only downside is the added bulk of a fitted and cover (but fleece covers seem to work well for us in substitute for pants) and the fact that the millions of snaps in pretty rows tend to make a grandparent's and daddy's head spin. Although Evan does really well with snap MEOS. Unfortunately, when grandparents see those snaps, their mind automatically says "Disposables at my house" which really does make me sad. Very sad. I don't mind education sessions, but the older you get, the more you can't remember from one day (or hour) to the next, and not everyone in the grandparent lineup is a good listener.

We adore prefolds at home, but if you think snaps make a person's head spin.... just let them face down the pointy teeth and snappin stretch of a snappi. LOL. I love snappis. I love prefolds. But it sets panic into the hearts of babysitters everywhere. Evan doesn't do snappis. But he does fitteds and that makes my heart beat faster. He he.

So tonight I put Ardyn in a Fattycakes Heavy Wetter Fitted By Butterfly Baby, and some wool longies for overnight. I know the fattycake will do well overnight, but I have never used it with wool overnight, so we will see what the morning brings. I usually use BG OS for nights, but they are all in the wash, with the exception of the 3 new ones that are on the way to replace the ones I sent back to Cottonbabies.

I also ordered 5 pair of Custom Fleece Longies from Michele at ThePeaChicNest (part of the inspired congo.) I have SEVEN of her fleece inspiration soakers and they are hands down the best on the market. She does great custom work. I can't wait for the new ones to arrive. Aunt Liz gave Ardyn some birthday money and that has funded the 5 pairs of Fleecey goodness that we are awaiting.

Well. it's midnight. I am falling asleep. Gotta Go!

My Review of Toys on the Go Backseat Organizer

Originally submitted at One Step Ahead

We asked our Parents Panel to describe their ideal backseat organizer, then made their wishes come true! Our ultimate organizer has a full 15 pockets in various sizes, including one big enough to hold 8½" x 11" books. There's even a detachable activity case for bringing special ...

Toys on the Go Backseat Organizer

Has worked really well for us!

By dazed81 from Illinois on 9/4/2008

 

4out of 5

Pros: Durable, Easy Use, Easy Setup, Strong Construction, Portable, Easily Accessible

Best Uses: Newborn, Travel, Infants, Toddlers, Daily Use

Describe Yourself: Pregnant with 2, First Time Parent, Used in both a car van

I bought this item when I was pregnant with my first child. She is now One and I am pregnant with #2. I initially used it in a 4-door 99 Grand Prix. It was close quarters in the backseat (even though the backseat is big!) and couldn't be used by the carseat at all (rear facing, not a good idea anyway) so it practically made anyone riding in the backseat impossible.

When we upgraded to a Dodge Grand Caravan, I loved this organized MUCH MUCH more. I have always used it to keep supplies handy. Extra wipes, a few extra disposable diapers (we use cloth diapers) and also wet wipes in a popup cup sized container (fit perfect in the cupholder areas) and sunscreen, bug spray, first aid items, extra pacifiers, sippy cups, etc. When I would get a travel size baby product I would stash it in the pockets and velcro them shut, and then I was always stocked. It seriously lightened the load in my purse and diaper bag. Bandaids, etc could be kept close at hand, for both adults AND kids.

My daughter isn't old enough to reach this yet, so we haven't used it for toys. My only thing is I wish it were a bit WIDER so that it took up more of the valuable space behind the seat. It's my estimation that if your car has small seats this will be in your way more than it's worth, so I wish it were bigger.

GREAT for a van. Okay for a car. Has lasted well, easy to move from vehicle to vehicle, very sturdy.

(legalese)