Happy Monday

We had a long weekend with Elly and her ear infection, so I am happy that it is Monday and we can get back on our normal schedule.  We love the weekends and spending time with Eric, but it really throws Elly off.  We had wonderful plans for the weekend, to go and pick strawberries and ride the train at Cleveland Park, but those were cut short.  She wasn’t up for much. 

We did however get to take a stroll through Lowe’s on Sunday, looking for a clothes line to put outside, only to figure out that we can make one that looks much better and doesn’t cost $50.  Elly’s microfiber cloth diaper inserts tend to smell like the zoo (stong pee smell) when they are put in the dryer.  However, it takes them FOREVER to dry hanging in the house.  So although I despise the thought of having a tacky clothes line in my yard, I think it will be better than pee-stinking diapers.  So Eric will be starting on this new project tomrrow. Tonight, we are skating!  A girl at church is having a Skate Palace Sweet 16…Not sure if I will be skating considering I am pregnant and Elly will be in her Moby.  That is just a disaster waiting to happen…wish me luck! 

Here we go…

After much internal debate, I have decided to start from scratch on my blog.  “Blogger” was great to learn with, but I just wasn’t impressed with the layout, so here we are.  I’m going to give “WordPress” another shot (you don’t know this but I origionally started here). 

So, with my good intentions in my right hand, and my lack of follow through in my left, I am starting it all over again.  There are many new adventures in our life since my last blog, like cloth diapering, babywearing and OH YEAH– a pregnancy– so I should have much more to write about and even less time to do it in.  I see some late nights in my future.  I’m not going to tell anyone about the blog until I get seval posts on here, otherwise, what would you read?  So by the time you read this, I should have some even more interesting posts for you.

Keep checking back!!

 

Catching up on the “E” Family

Considering it has been SO long since I have written a good, long blog, I think I should update anyone reading on our life!  So much has happened in the past few months, we are now cloth diapering and baby wearing and really enjoying both.  I purchased my first cloth diapers (bumGenius pocket diapers) several months back and I love it!  We are saving a ton of money and doing our part to save the earth!  We mainly use our pocket diapers, but throw in a couple of prefolds (old-fashion cloth diapers) when doing the CD laundry.  When I purchased my cloth diapers, not only did a make a wonderful friend, Julie, but I was introduced to baby wearing, Bjorn free style!  I have always liked the idea of wearing Elly, however the Baby Bjorn that we forked out the cash for was just VERY uncomforable.  So Julie showed me a Moby Wrap.  I am in love!  It is VERY comfortable.  In fact, I wore Elly for several hours in it, at the zoo, and could have kept her on for an entire day, given the chance.  Now, I was still mastering my skills at this point, so for all of your long-time baby wearers, I know it doesn’t really look right.    Even though I didn’t do it right, so was still happy to be out of her stroller! 

In the midst of these two new journeys, Eric and I found out we would be adding another child to the world of cloth diapering and babywearing– yes, you got it, we are expecting!  Baby #2 is due to arrive in early December!  Finding out about baby number 2 prompted me to begin researching natural childbirth…again!  I thought when I was pregnant with Elly that I had it all figured out, the way “go natural” that is.  Well, I was wrong.  I ended up with an epidural and had a less than satisfying birth expirience.  So, I have set out to do things totally different this time.  First things first, I hired a doula.  My friend Julie, whom I mentioned earlier, is a doula with UCEDS.   She will be my birth helper this time around.  I had hoped to use a midwife, but unfortunately, our insurance will not cover any of the costs.  Midwifes are VERY reasonable prices, but our insurance just so happens to cover 100% of OB fees, and nearly 100% of the hospital charges.  So we found a very natural-childbirth-friendly doctor in Greer, Dr. Stafford with Cornerstone Family Practice.  He has surpassed my expectations and I’m excited about delivering with him.  He will be a wonderful baby catcher.

Aside from all the babywearing, cloth diapering and pregnancy talk, Eric got a “new” job.  Since we have been married, he has worked about 45 min. from home, in Blacksburg.  He has finally been moved to his companies location IN PACOLET!!  Yes, thats right, he is only 2 or 3 min. from home and we are LOVING IT, especially with the high gas prices.  Elly and I are very happy to have Daddy much closer to home!

Around the same time as Eric was “re-located” we were given a wonderful thorn in our flesh, to keep us humble I’m assuming.  Our neighbors decided to a horse, oh no way, 2 horses, I mean, lets get it straight here… 6 HORSES! Now, I like animals and I think horses and farms are great, BUT NOT WHEN YOU DON’T LIVE OUT IN THE COUNTRY!!!  We now get to smell the wonderful fragrance of HORSE CRAP!  And our yard is now FILLED WITH FLIES!  Yes, can’t you tell– I’m thrilled.  How can they do that, you ask?  Because the wonderful county we live in doesn’t have ANY animal restrictions outside of CITY (we live in a town) limits.  Lovely.  I could go on for hours.

And back on a happier note, Elly is ONE!  She celebrated her first birthday on April 10th.  Eric and I took her to the zoo and then let her dig into a cake.

Her birthday party, I’m sad to admit, is coming up on May 24th, a month and a half after her actual birthday.  We are going to celebrate at Clevland Park in Spartanburg.  Plans are still being made.    With all that we had going on in April, namely the Upstate Work-at-Home Career EXPO that I organized, I just could not pull it off. 

I know this post was a little lenghthy, but now you can consider yourself all caught up on The “E” Family!