first glimpse at our house

One part of a room in our house is done! (I say part, because the other half - the dining area - isn't done yet). We still have to put the drawer and cabinet pulls on the bottom half, and the side of the cabinets and baseboard still need to be stained and put up to. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and the only say I had in the whole thing was the yellow walls and the curtain! A and his boss custom designed the cabinets, stained them, picked out the matching counter, and put up the tin back splash! The dishwasher, sink, stove, microwave, and refrigerator are all brand new too. I'm having a very difficult time getting the floor clean because there are years of filth built up on it. (It's a dark tile, so it doesn't show dirt easily but the Swiffer mop doesn't lie!)

I'm excited to slowly start sharing pictures as our house comes together :) I imagine that the master bathroom will be the next room done when my parents come to visit in a few weeks.

green diapering products

(If you missed my post on why we're not cloth diapering, you can find it here)

All of the prices I have included are mostly from Amazon I have an Amazon Prime account so I do not pay shipping and they arrive in 3 business days. Also, they are based off of cases for size 4 that are the jumbo size boxes because that's what we're buying. Amazon states on every item how much you're paying per diaper.

I realize that cloth diapering is the best financial decision, I will not even deny that. With the decision not to go that route, I had to come up with another option that was as cheap as disposables (at least). I tried Seventh Generation Chlorine-Free diapers and their Free & Clear diapers (.32 a diaper). I will say I prefer the Chlorine-Free over the Free & Clear, they didn't have the chemical smell I hate about bleached diapers but I think they have completely gotten rid of this line. I also tried Bambo Nature Chlorine Free diapers (.38 a diaper) as I won a pack from a giveaway. They were okay, my issue was that they were pricey and you can only buy them directly from the website with 5 day shipping so I felt like I had to be way ahead of the game if I wanted to be prepared with diapers.

Once we got settled into our new house, I started researching other disposable diaper options and I came across the website safemama.com. Most of the products we are now using I read about on their site or I was directed to another site from them. They are a wealth of knowledge and I highly recommend checking them out. Through their site I heard about Nature Babycare diapers. My most recent purchase, last week, I bought them for .37 a diaper (we have been using them for over a month now). So far this has been my favorite diaper, even compared to any brand-names. We have had zero leaks (W was leaking at least once a day with Huggies or Pampers). My favorite features are that they are chlorine-free, their materials are completely biodegradable (I believe they are corn based), they are made from renewable resources, and they don't have cutesy characters on them which I find annoying about other diapers. I think they're doing a pretty good job! Just to give a comparison we were mostly using Huggies Little Movers which is .35 a diaper but we were having to use 2-3 more a day and with them only being .2 less than the Nature Babycare, I didn't think that was too bad. Pampers Cruisers are .29 a diaper in case you're interested, but these definitely weren't a favorite in our house.
Wipes is another area where I decided to make a switch. Every website I was on raved about Seventh Generation Free & Clear Baby Wipes. Amazon has them listed at .03 a wipe and we LOVE them. I am using less wipes than I was before and there are no harmful chemicals in them. I think they smell a bit like cucumber even though they are fragrance-free, but I don't mind the smell. We were originally using Huggies Natural Care wipes which really aren't they natural and are the exact same price per wipe on Amazon. (My only complaint is that the jumbo box comes in small bags which I have to cut open to put in our tub compared to the Huggies Wipes which come in one large resealable bag, a minor complaint but I think Huggies has less packaging). Because this post has gotten to be rather lengthy, I'll be posting about our other green baby products in a separate post! Let me know if you have any questions and I welcome suggestions of other diaper/wipes you use.

baby name help & poll

We are having a very hard time picking out a girl's name. We've had our boy's name picked out for awhile so no worries there. A is convinced we're having a boy so he thinks it's silly to consider girl's names...I want to, just in case he's wrong ;)

• We are staying away from any names that begin with A & W
  
• We don't like popular names (preferably outside of the top 400)

Our list so far looks something like this (this changes daily so A probably won't like a name on it tomorrow): Coral, Finley, Halle (Hal-e), Primrose, Jolene, Willow, Lola, Isla

Don't even get me started on middle names!

We're planning to announce the baby's name when we announce the gender so I'd really love to have the name picked ahead of time. I have come up with a fun way to announce it and I cannot wait to share when the time comes.

I welcome any suggestions :)

Also, I have a poll on the right hand side, please take a moment to venture a guess!

3 months

(pregnant with W)

Maternity clothes? None yet, but I wear sweat pants everyday. I fit fine into one pair of skinny jeans but they have a lot of stretch. I don't imagine any of my other skinny jeans would fit!

Stretch marks? None yet. Danielle mentioned trying coconut oil and I'm planning to give that a try because it sounds cheaper than other oils/creams!

Sleep? Still always exhausted no matter how long I sleep at night (ok I haven't slept past 7:30 in awhile). W has been going through teething spurts so we've had some rough nights this past week.

Best moment this week? Finding out Holly is coming to visit in April! I am planning tons of fun stuff to do and I'm pinning delicious desserts to make :) It'll be wonderful to have a girls weekend.

Food cravings/aversions? Meat is still the same and no new cravings. I'm equally craving sweet and salty and when I was pregnant with W, I definitely craved sweet!

Gender? Still really feeling girl, although I now have NINE friends having boys between the end of April and the beginning of July. I only know 2 more people that are pregnant in that period of time that haven't found out yet. I don't know anyone having a girl in the spring or summer!

Movement? I thought I felt something two nights ago but I might be tricking my mind into thinking I'm feeling the peanut. I know it's still early.

What I miss? Nothing this week! I'm loving being pregnant :)

What I'm looking forward to? My appt next Thursday, finding out the gender in a little over a month, my parents visiting in February :)

My decision not to cloth diaper

When I was pregnant with W I was drawn to cloth diapering because my mom used them with my brother and I. I realized that the world of cloth diapering had become a trend and I fell in love with the adorable colors and prints. I did lots of research and I knew that it was the best financial decision and it was obviously a eco-friendly option. Then I began to think about it seriously.

1. I didn't love the idea of scraping dirty diapers or spraying them. A was completely against this so every dirty diaper would have been mine (he changes disposables).

2. I learned about all the extra stuff you need. Diaper creams, detergents, softeners, etc. It quickly became overwhelming and I really didn't like the idea of having to do extra, special loads of laundry just for diapers (I hate doing laundry).

3. It is a greener option than most disposables but it still comes with its own eco-baggage. Cloth diapers will eventually end up in landfills too and their materials are more biodegradable than disposables, but not all of them are (there are some pretty crazy, super synthetic materials that cloth diapers are made from). The manner in which all these special fabrics and materials are made are generally not any better than disposables anyways.

My conclusion was as a new mom I didn't want to tackle such as a huge task, I didn't want to add extra chores onto my plate, and I couldn't really justify it as a green option without spending even more money trying to find the right eco-friendly products.

I read many cloth diapering blogs and I love to see their journey! I hope no one will judge me or be offended by what I have said. This is just what worked for my family :)

With that said, I will posting next week about the alternative I have discovered. As well as the green baby products we use/plan to use in the future.

homemade dishwashing soap FAIL

My very first attempt at making a homemade household product was an epic fail. I spent weeks researching the recipes I chose and so I assumed I had found a perfect recipe, but alas it wasn't perfect. I chose a recipe that used a quarter cup of vinegar ($3ish), a quarter cup of liquid castile soap (I purchased Dr. Bronner's Organic Castile Soap Baby Mild- $14 for 32 oz), a quarter cup of water (free), and a tablespoon of lemon juice ($1). I chose this recipe because I can use all the ingredients for other household cleaning projects.

The first two loads I used 2 tablespoons of the mixture although 1 tablespoon was recommended and I had regular jet dry. Since then I have only used 1 tablespoon and I have used vinegar as the rinse agent. Unfortunately my dishes come out with a film on them. My guess is it's soap and I have no idea what else to do. A has asked me to scrap this idea because we're having to rewash everything and so we've switched back to Cascade (our problem could be hardwater not soap residue, but I don't know how to tell the difference). I plan to attempt this again in the future, but after almost 2 weeks I can say this was a failed attempt!

I have all the stuff to make my own homemade laundry soap I just need to wait to we finish our bottle of Tide. I also have plans to make my own deodorant in the near future too (I was told you need to give this a full 2 weeks to see results so I want to get started soon).

Have you ever made your own dish washing soap? Any tips or suggestions?

bump month 1 & 2

We finally have internet! I had so many pics to upload from my camera and phone, it was crazy. I now need to back them all up on the external hard drive!

I'm planning to do monthly posts with this peanut instead of weekly like I did with W. If a comparison photo is available, I'll post that as well (I don't have one for months 1 & 2). I'm going to do a combined update for both months, as I will be posting month 3 next week (I am 12 weeks tomorrow!!)

(I was very bloated the first two weeks I was pregnant, so I look significantly more pregnant than I actually felt)

(bit more of a bump, but mostly leftover baby squish from W. The background gives you a glimpse at the disaster our house was when I first came down here..I flipped this pic so they were the same, forgive me!)

Maternity clothes? None yet. I can't find my belly-band anywhere, so I've been living in sweat pants. I plan to wear the same non-maternity tee and skinny jeans for each pic, so we'll see how interesting this gets!

Stretch marks? Just the ones that appeared around my belly button when W was born. I need to find an oil or a cream to use.

Sleep? How well does one really sleep with a toddler? W is sleeping through the night but he has fits in the middle of the night that wake me up. It takes me awhile to settle and go to sleep, so most days I'm pretty tired and I really want a nap!

Best moment so far? Getting an ultrasound and seeing the peanut! I didn't have an early ultrasound with W so it was really cool! I have the pics on the fridge and I love how it already looks like a tiny baby.

Food cravings/aversions? I have had a serious aversion to meat (mostly chicken and hamburgers). I have been trying to get protein through dairy, eggs, and peanut butter but it's just no the same. Cravings have been for lots of veggies and healthy stuff (surprisingly) with frosted donuts and popcorn thrown in there :P

Gender? I'm really feeling girl this time. A thinks it's a boy, which I am totally fine with too! I think W needs a little brother!

Movement? None yet. I didn't feel W until I was 18 weeks, but I think I felt him earlier and didn't realize it! We'll see when I start to notice it this time.

What I miss? Drinking a glass of wine. So silly, I know, but it would be much needed during some of the stressful times we've had since we've moved!

What I'm looking forward to: I have an appointment on the 26th and I can't wait to hear peanuts heartbeat (I got to see it last time, but it's cool to hear it too!) I'm going to be taking W with me so it'll certainly be interesting. It's so hard to find a babysitter in a new city (especially one that's out in the middle of nowhere).