Caffienated Randomness

- In the ten minutes I've been on the computer so far, my kids have dumped two board games and a tote full of trains.

- In a similar thought, I often consider hog tying my kids while I clean - just so they can't follow behind me and make more messes.

- I'd like to know how people get their little girls to let them fix their hair. Trying to even go near Brenna with a comb is like trying to catch a spider monkey on crack. And one of us usually ends up looking like this:

- I've found that if I don't shower very first thing in the morning (even before Jeff wakes up) I will not shower until the last possible minute which will result in rushing, being late and lots of yelling. It's taking me over a year to figure this out.

- I've learned that I shouldn't judge other parents for letting thier kids listen to Ludacris if my kids know the "Family Guy" theme song by heart.

- I'm really beginning to wish I was more of a 'finisher' and less of a 'starter' when it comes to projects.

- Even though I'm incredibly excited about having a third baby, I'm also beginning to seriously wonder how I'm going to handle three kids.

- I'm thinking this random blogging thing works just fine for me. Because that's how my mind works anyway. :-) 

For more caffinated randomness, check out Andrea's blog Under Grace and Over Coffee. (You SHOULD check it out! It's a great blog!!)

I think I'm in love!

I absolutely loved this. The guy in khaki's and a plaid shirt kind of reminded me of my husband when we first started dating - but he wouldn't be caught dead doing this!!!

Distraction

To distract you from the fact that I haven't posted in a looooong time, here's a picture of Miss Brenna FancyPants during high tea at Rudd Manor...

Will there ever be new posts from the Mighty B? Only time will tell. But I'm hopeful! :-)

Menu Plan Monday and Moppin' it Up

I finally sat down and planned out a menu for the entire MONTH! I plugged it all into my Cozi calendar and now I'm set until June. So here's what is planned for this week...

Monday - meatball subs
Tuesday - Enchiladas
Wednesday - Chicken Stir Fry
Thursday - Spaghetti
Friday - BLT's
Saturday - Steaks
Sunday - Crockpot Beef Stew

I even planned out weekends! Normally they are just kind of a free-for-all where we end up eating really late or just eating out. Hopefully this will help us avoid eating out so much!

Find more menus at Org Junkie!

Under Grace and Over Coffee is now hosting Mop it Up! Mondays. If you've never read this blog, you certainly should!  The purpose of Mop it Up Mondays is to find a task and get it taken care of. So I decided to dive in this week and take up the challenge. This week I'm going to go through all of the kid's books and toys. This will have to be done on Tuesday and Thursday when Riley is at school and Brenna is napping. I'm hoping the short time period will help me be ruthless and get the clutter O-U-T! She also challenges us to work on a morning routine...which I rebel against but desperately need.

Hop over to Under Grace and Over Coffee to follow along with some other ladies doing the challenge!

What do YOU have planned for this week?

It's All in the Cloth: Flipping Out

First diaper I "test-drove" was the Flip. This diaper has a waterproof shell that you place an insert right inside, then close with snaps. You can use the snaps to adjust the size as needed.

I was concerned with the snaps because I thought it would take forever to do and would be nearly impossible with a very mobile toddler. They took a tad bit longer than velcro (of course) but were a "snap" (hee hee) and weren't a problem at all.

                                     
Here is Brenna in her Flip. (I love this picture because it's like she's the calm in the center of a brother/dog tornado.) I tried to take better pictures of her and the diaper, but she just wasn't having it. The diaper is a little bulkier than a disposable but her pants still fit her just fine. It just makes her look like she has a little more junk in her baby trunk. :-)

I really liked the Flip because it was easy to use. To change the diaper, you just open up the cover, remove the dirty insert and put in a fresh one. I never had any problems with leaks - even after an extended period. I haven't put her in it overnight yet - once I do I will probably put in two inserts for extra absorbency. The Flip seems to be the best economical choice out of the two I've tried because you can re-use the cover. The covers can be purchased for $13.95 and inserts are $4.95 a piece. I used four inserts with Brenna and only had to use a new cover after her BM. If you could time it right, you could easily use just one cover a day and just swap inserts as needed. The Flip system also has biodegradable, disposable inserts available for travel or scheduled poos. :-) I've used these and found them to do just as well as the cloth inserts.

For another really great review, check out Rachel's experience with Flip!

It's All in the Cloth, Part One

Call me crazy ("You so crazy!") But I'm thinking about using cloth diapers on Rudd baby #3. I never in a million years thought I would be one of "those hippie moms", but I've been reading up on it and it just makes sense. Here's why (in my humble opinion):

- Diapers are EXPENSIVE. And I believe you get what you pay for, so I am pretty loyal to Pampers. Even with sales and coupons, I'm paying an average of $10/week on diapers and wipes. That's $40 a month, $480 a year,  or approximately $1440 until potty trained.

- Diapers are AWFUL for the environment. It takes an average of 500 years for a disposable diaper to decompose.

- A few times I've gone to change a diaper and found clear, gel-like beads on their tush. I had no idea what it was, but wasn't comfortable finding it there! (I googled it, it's sodium polyacrylate, a polymer that can absorb 200-300 times it's weight. It's no longer used in tampons because of it's link to Toxic Shock Syndrome.)

I decided to buy a couple cloth diapers and try them out on their toughest critic...

...Brenna-Saurus Rex. (Here she is in her cloth diaper 'helping' me fix the screen door.)

I bought a bumGenius 3.0 One Size in Tangerine and a Flip One-Size in Blossom. You may ask, "But Bethany, why would you buy diapers for Brenna if she's going to be potty-trained soon? (God willing!!) Shouldn't you buy small diapers for the new baby?" That's the beauty of it! Since these are one-size diapers, they adjust to fit babies of any size (average of 7-35 pounds!) So I can use the same diapers on Brenna and Baby Siobhan (not going to be the real name)! Brilliant! Frugal! Neat! I attempted to get uni-sex colors just in case Siobhan is a William. That and I LOVED the springy yellow and orange. :-)

So how did it go? What do I think? Will I continue on my quest to cloth diaper? You'll have to come back and find out!

MPM and a Friday Surprise

I really have no idea what we are doing for meals this week. I'm all tapped out of ideas and really wish I could hire someone else to cook (and clean!) for me! Based on what we have on hand, here's what will probably be having...

Monday - Fettucini Alfredo

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken

Wednesday - Steak and Potatoes

Thursday - Spaghetti

Friday - Homemade Pizza and breadsticks

Not too shabby for just coming up with that right now!

Friday I had an OB appointment. Jeff went with me because we were suppose to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. Things went as planned until the doctor gooped up my belly to hear the baby. After searching with the monitor for a few minutes, the doctor said she was going to bring in the nurse to help. The monitor's cord kept coming loose and dying. So while the nurse searched and my doctor held the monitor together, I was panicking. Why couldn't they find anything? Was something wrong? They finally gave up with the monitor and my doctor said she was sending me to the hospital for an ultrasound. That's when I started crying. She assured me that she was confident nothing was wrong with the baby, that it was just their faulty equipment and that everything would be fine. Checking into the hospital I glanced at my paperwork - it said, "No Fetal Heartbeat Detected". Ugh. I started mentally planning how I was going to tell Riley that there would be no baby William. How do you explain that to a four year old? How would he understand that? I didn't even understand.

After the longest wait I've ever experienced (probably not, but it sure seemed like it!) they called us back, gooped me up again and started looking. And this is what we saw...

See that dark spot in her chest? That's her heart - and it was beating just fine. Did you catch that? I said, HER. The techinican was quick to tell us it's still pretty early, but he "saw no evidence of a penis" HA! He kept checking every now and then and finally said, "That looks like a labia to me." Funniest words ever. So there she is. And we'll get to see her again in a few weeks when we go for a second ultrasound to see her organs and such! Thank goodness for insurance!