How do you do it?!

Seriously - all you moms and wives out there:  HOW DO YOU DO IT?!  I have become suddenly overwhelmed with all of the things I want to do - the mom I want to be.  I read other people's blogs and see them doing crafty stuff, cleaning their house, taking their kids all these places...blogging!...I'm lucky if I get Lily and myself dressed for the day!  I have fallen into this really bad routine.  And now that summer is over, winter is coming...which means cold and snow and only the necessary outings.  What do I do inside?  

There are so many things I want to get done, but I never have the motivation to start or finish it!  For example, around the time when Lily turned 2 (May), I decided that I wanted to make a picture book for her of the important people in her life.  My plan was (is) to use it as a church book to keep her occupied and quiet, as well as get to know her family and friends that don't live nearby.  So I sent out an email for people to send me pictures...well, I got, like, 2 back.  The project just kinda slipped off my radar and has been in the back of my mind ever since...but I can never find the time or motivation to put it together.  I know exactly what I have to do - I have it envisioned in my head...it's just doing it.  I'm horrible at starting projects and never finishing them...unfortunately, that's a trait I inherited from my mother (sorry mom!).  I have papers piled up around our computer desk, waiting to be filed...it's just always a bigger job than I think it'll be.  And I'm not the kind of person to do little bits at a time.  Just get it done!

So, to all you reading this out there, how do you do it?  Also, how do you do crafts and things with your kids on a budget?  I just can't take my kids to the zoo, or to the movies or something...at least not all the time, or as often as some.  

Any hints/tips would be great...anything to help me feel less overwhelmed!

Sounds of the Lily

Lily Singing

Lily sings the ABC's, a never-ending Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ring Around the Rosie, and It's A Small World After All. Enjoy!

People think I'm crazy...

(Warning: minor soapbox)

Heck, 6 months ago, I would have thought I'm crazy! So why am I crazy? Well, because I now use cloth diapers. Yep. We're "CDing" it up. My sister, Rachel, started with full on cloth when her son was born in May. We had talked about it when she was pregnant, and I wasn't really keen on the idea of cloth. More laundry, cleaning poop off, and disposables are so much easier and convenient. Well, after a couple of months, Rachel wasn't have much success with cloth. So she decided to try gDiapers. They were initially made as a cloth/disposable hybrid diaper. You have a reusable cloth cover with a removable, reusable liner inside, then you have a flushable insert that you put in the liner. That's the part that's like the disposable - the part that they pee on. When you change the diaper, you put it in the toilet and flush it! That's it! Well, while those are convenient and easy, they're also quite pricey. So recently, gDiapers came out with a gCloth option. You use the same cover and liner, but instead of the flushable, you put in the cloth. Super easy!

Rachel loved them so much that she convinced me to try them. And I love them! Today, I had my first poopy cloth diaper, and it was so easy to deal with. We also have some flushable liners that we haven't tried - but we're keeping them for when we go out. And we still use a disposable on Hannah at night - she sleeps for 12 hours straight, and the cloth just isn't absorbent enough to last that long.

So what about my earlier concerns? More laundry: ok, yes, but a load of laundry every 3 days is a lot cheaper and easier than buying more diapers. Not as easy or convenient? gDiapers are super easy! And they're practically as convenient as disposables. The only thing is that you have to make sure to carry around a bag for them if you're out and about. No big deal - I'm carrying a diaper bag anyway!

Cleaning poop off? Not a big deal! I'm not the kind of person to get squeamish over stuff like that, though. I'd much rather clean off a cloth diaper with Hannah-poop instead of deal with Lily's "big kid" poop! :) AND! (this is the part that gets me) I had absolutely no idea - along with probably most of you reading this - that you're supposed to shake, wipe, etc the poop from the disposable diaper into the toilet before you put the diaper in the trash can! WHAT?! I've never heard that before! Seriously - it's on the Pampers website (along with all the others, I'm sure) says "As the Pampers bag recommends, you'll want to dump bowel movements in the toilet. Then just roll the diaper into its backsheet, using the tape or fasteners to keep it closed, and dispose of it in the trash." This site also talks about putting it in the toilet and the safety reasons behind it (i.e. contaminating underground water supplies). So if I'm going to be cleaning it off of disposables, I might as well be cleaning it off of cloth!

And, all in all, cloth is cheaper than disposables. With gDiapers, it'll probably cost around $150 for 5 covers, 20 flushable inserts, and 18 cloth inserts. That's until they're about 14 lbs. Then medium and large have different covers, but use the same size cloth insert. For disposables, I figure it'll cost at least $175 for the first 4 months (until the average baby gets to 14 lbs). Ok, so just $25 for convenience - sure, I'd pay that. But what about your next babies - assuming you have more than one. That's another $175 at least for each baby's first 4 months. But with cloth, you don't have to buy anything else. And, the bigger the diaper size, the less you get in the package...which means more $$.

Anyway, obviously, I'm converted. But I know they're not for everyone. I just wanted to share what has worked for me - I didn't think there was another option to disposables. Well, I guess it's more like I didn't realize that cloth could be so convenient - and CUTE! Here's a picture of Hannah wearing her pink ruffle butt gPants:

/soapbox :)

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words...

So, to catch up with the past couple months, here are 27,000 words for you (plus some)!

Jonny got to shoot a .50 caliber rifle...

I didn't go...and I'm extremely bitter about it. I'm surprised I'm even blogging about it.

We went to Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove. Lily rode the extremely shady "merry go merry go." But she still had fun!

My cousin Jesse had his Master's recital at the end of June. He did an AWESOME job!

We saw a double rainbow one day.

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We celebrated July 4th with some of Jonny's family. Here's Lily eating some blueberries.

Kylee meticulously glazing the strawberries.

Yummy tart cake thing...

Victoria and Lily ready for the fireworks. (Lily's cousins told her to plug her ears......)

Some pretty awesome firework shots, if I may say so myself.

Lily, Christian and Victoria

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Hannah is now almost 7 months old!! WOW how time flies! She started sitting up around the middle of July...

She had her first solid food on July 19. She wasn't sure about it at first

But she took to it amazingly well! Now she LOVES it and she is so impatient while we get it ready...

And anticipates the spoon coming toward her:

Here she is in her gDiapers! (www.gdiapers.com) We use gCloth. Thanks Rachel!

Aren't they so cute?!

We went to her 6 month doctor's appointment at the beginning of August. She weighed 13 lbs (3-5%ile) and was 25 1/4" (~25%ile) long. Teeny tiny. But I'm not worried - she's just our petite girl. I'm sure with the solids she'll start to put on a little more weight. She can sit up by herself, and just in the past couple days she's really started to roll from her back to front. I think she's realized that there's something more to just laying there, as she was all over the place yesterday. She now sleeps 12 hours straight at night! She also is a mommy's girl, which I'm not used to because Lily was much more independent and loves her daddy. She cut her first top tooth on August 11, and her second top one on August 21. So she now has FOUR teeth! OUCH!

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Lily is growing up so fast. There's nothing she can't say now. Her newest things are "stop it," "my body hurts," and "don't talk to me." Yep - she's 2. She is amazing at singing songs. I'll sing a line of a song but leave off the last word and she'll fill it in - a lot of times on key! She is just about fully potty-trained now! We still put a diaper on her at night, but for the past week it has been dry when she wakes up! Yee haw! She's quite stubborn and has selective hearing, but she can be very loving and so sweet. And she's a wonderful big sister!!

She did this all by herself.

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Sisters.

One day I put her down for her nap in a normal outfit. When I went to get her afterward, she was wearing this. I think she was a little embarrassed, so she wouldn't let me take a picture of her!

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We went up Provo Canyon with Jonny's former co-worker (Joe) and his family. Us as Bridal Veil Falls.

Joe splashed Jonny with a HUGE rock. Poor guy. At least it was hot!

Lily had tons of fun playing with her friends. And she got ridiculously dirty...

And that just about sums up the past 3 months! I've got one more post I need to do, but I have to upload those pics first. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Terrys: 0, Mother Nature: 2

I didn't blog about our camping trip last year, but long story short: It was the beginning of June, we planned to go 2 nights and ended up leaving VERY early in the morning after the first night. This is why:

That's right. It snowed. It was freezing. So we left for the comfort of our warm home. We might have stayed for the next night if Lily wasn't with us, but she was so little and so cold! So Mother Nature won.

We decided to give camping a try again this year. We went up Spanish Fork Canyon with Andrew & Brittney and Chad & Clair for Memorial Day weekend. Leading up to it, the forecast looked awesome. No chance of rain whatsoever. And then Thursday came and everything changed. It rained practically all weekend. The rain was so bad on Saturday night that it started leaking through our tent. We didn't have any extra tarps (we had used them all up for shelter over the tables), so Jonny and I chose to drive the girls home. We bought a tarp for our tent the next day and didn't have any more problems. We had a ton of fun though! I'd call this one leaning slightly more toward the 'Mother Nature' winning side.

I'm so glad Jonny thinks he's cool. :)

Chad caught a rattlesnake and skinned it...


Then cooked it, and we ate some of it! It was chewy...


What a proud man.


Jonny & Hannah


Lily would do this every time she walked by the fire.


"Here's a pretty flower I picked just for you, Mommy!"


No comment.


Andrew & Brittney


Clair "cheesing"

Wow, it must have been early.
This is one of the only pictures of me. I love being the one behind the camera!

Something I've been wanting to write about

So I've been thinking about writing this post for a long time, but was unsure if I wanted to do it or not. I wasn't sure how it would be received, and thought that most people probably wouldn't care what I had to say. But something has been pushing me to post it lately, so I figured I would just go ahead and do it!

Be warned that if you are male, you probably won't be interested in what I have to say! But show your wives/girlfriends...haha.

I love to solve puzzles, and when I hear about another woman having issues with something, I'm always secretly (or not so secretly) determined to figure out why that certain thing is happening to them. Because of that - and my own journey to have children - I have, over the course of about 3 years, learned a lot about the female body...our cycles, conception, pregnancy and childbirth. The more I learn, the more the subject intrigues me, and I wonder why no one ever taught me any this stuff sooner! It seems like I've had many conversations on these subjects lately that I thought maybe there are others out there who I can share my knowledge with. So I thought I'd share some books and links that have been amazingly helpful and interesting to me.

1. First off: Taking Charge of Your Fertility, by Toni Weschler. I have decided that my daughters will be required to read the appropriate chapters of this book when we feel it is appropriate for them to read. It basically teaches FAM (Fertility Awareness Method) that you can use for birth control or tying to conceive. I hated the artificial hormones of hormonal birth control (I was on the NuvaRing and Yaz), and I have serious migraines that are worsened by hormonal birth control. This is a highly effective method that doesn't come with any risks like those of using hormones. I think that all women should read it to understand the female cycle and to know why your body does what it does. It's especially helpful if you're trying to get pregnant, or thinking about doing so.

2. FertilityFriend.com Used for charting your temperatures, as explained in TCOYF (Taking Charge of Your Fertility). TCOYF comes with a CD with charting software...but I personally like the FREE web-based software that ff.com offers.

3. The Business of Being Born (DVD) by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein. From the website: "The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?" This DVD is absolutely amazing. I think everyone should watch it! (Note: Since it is a documentary and not rated, there are a few swear words and they do show the labor and delivery of babies, with little censoring.) If you have Netflix, it's available online to watch. A couple comments I have about the movie: epidurals don't always end up in c-sections, but they do raise the risk of it, and hospitals aren't horrible. Lily's birth was pretty good - the only things I felt like I was forced into was having an IV and continuous monitoring. With Hannah, the midwife let me do pretty much whatever I wanted. I feel like nurses are a main cause of intervention. At both hospitals, the nurses were the ones that were wanting the continous monitoring, even though my midwife said it wasn't necessary.

4. Your Best Birth (Book), by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein. This book just came out last month so I haven't had a chance to read it, but it sounds great! It "is an empowering childbirth guide packed with crucial advice from medical professionals, delivered in a down-to-earth, engaging, and honest voice. Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein reevaluate the pregnancy process, renew expectant mothers’ confidence, and place the control back where it belongs: with parents-to-be." I can't wait to read it!

5. On Becoming Babywise, by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam. I absolutely LOVE this book. There is a lot of controversy with it, because people think that it's starving the child if you're not attached to them every 5 minutes, or that it's bad for the child to cry. So many people think it's impossible to put your baby on a schedule, when, in fact, it is very very easy. And you also can teach the baby to put themselves to sleep (yes, some crying is involved, but you don't let your baby cry themselves to sleep or cry for a ridiculous amount of time), so that naptime is a lot easier than having to rock your baby to sleep, lay them down, they wake up, then it starts all over. You can also have your children sleeping through the night after a few months. The book says that at 8 weeks they can go 9-10 hours, but it took both my girls about 12 weeks until they were sleeping that amount straight. Why wouldn't you want that for your child and your own sanity?

6. Chronicles of a Babywise Mom. Recently, while I was in search of other Babywise moms, I found a blog created by this woman who uses Babywise with her own children. She has posted so much great information on the blog, and she still updates it. If you decide that Babywise is the best for you, it's a great place to go for any questions you may have. She also talks about some other books, like Happiest Baby on the Block.

7. Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood, by Jim Fay and Charles Fay. There are a few different Love and Logic books, this is just the one I have. My sister gave it to me for Christmas, and my sister-in-law uses the method on her children. I haven't had the chance to use it to its full extent since Lily is too young, but I have used parts of it and I can tell that it works. Basically, it explains how to teach your children to use logic to think for themselves. Why wouldn't you want to give your kids those tools?

8. Midwives. My passion for this really all started when my sister, Brie, was pregnant with her second child. She decided to use a midwife during her pregnancy and deliver naturally. She was successful and went on to deliver the rest of her children without pain medication. That made such an impact on me that when I moved to Virginia, I chose to find a midwife as my "girly doctor." (Side note: When I tell people that I don't see an OB/GYN they are so surprised! Not many people know that a midwife can do *almost* everything an OB can. And having a midwife does not mean homebirth or waterbirth or "weird" stuff. They simply are an alternate, non-medical approach to well-women and prenatal care.) I am SO glad that I did. I feel like a midwife actually cares about me and the questions I have. Rarely did I find them asking me if I had any questions while their hand was on the door handle, ready to open it and leave...which made me feel like I was just another patient. I was always treated with respect and like I was the most important person in the world at that moment...which is how it should be. They never forced me into anything I didn't want to do - which is how medical stuff should be, since it's your body. Anyway, when I was pregnant with Lily, I decided that I wasn't going to have an epidural, and because I wanted to have a natural birth, I decided that a midwife would be best for me. I found an awesome practice in Virginia, and when we moved to Utah, I found an equally great midwife "team" that allowed me to have a wonderful birth experience.

Obviously I am a natural childbirth advocate. Women have been giving birth medication- and intervention-free for thousands of years. Why should that change now? Yes, labor hurts! There's a reason it's called labor. But I know that if someone puts their mind to it and prepares well enough, its entirely possible. And let me tell you - it is SO empowering. Lily's and Hannah's births were a little different, I was more aware with Hannah, which allowed me to know everything that was going on. The feeling of Hannah being born was absolutely amazing. I couldn't imagine NOT feeling that, like if I had had an epidural or a c-section. I honestly feel like women have been cheated in the childbirth process. I also feel like women have been led to believe that the pain of labor is so intense that it's unbearable, so they go throughout their lives and pregnancy thinking that they can't do it, and an epidural is the only way to manage the pain. It's very sad to me. Educate yourself before you make decisions! How can you make an informed decision of what's best for you and your baby if you don't know all of the options and risks?

I am a firm believer in all of these resources. I do know, however, that there are some situations when intervention is necessary. Parents-to-be should educate themselves as much as possible on this subject! Unfortunately, a general childbirth education class is not going to explain these things to you. How much research do you do when you buy a car? or a house? a digital camera?! Childbirth should be researched more than this - it's your body and your baby!

Anyway, I didn't mean for this to be a novel...this is just something I am extremely passionate about and feel like education in these topics is almost looked down upon for fear that we'll all start making better decisions and cause the OB/GYNs to lose their patients to midwives. Well I hope that happens!

I hope that no one gets offended by this. I do know that these things are definitely a personal decision for everyone.

If you have any questions, please ask! You can comment, send me a message on Facebook, or send me an email (lornadoone617@yahoo.com).

Ricki Lake will be on Chelsea Lately tonight (Monday, 6/8) on E! talking about her book (Your Best Birth).

4 months

Hannah is 4 months! I can NOT believe how quickly time flies. The past 4 months almost seem like a blur...but a good blur. Not one of those "baby-daze" blurs.

Anyway, we went to the Pediatrician on Monday and her stats are:

Length: 24 3/4" (75th %ile)
Weight: 11 lbs 15 oz (25th %ile)
Head Circ: 41 cm (50th %ile)

Lily was exactly the same length, and she weighed 12 lbs 6 oz. So Hannah's just right on track.

On May 20, I went in to get her from her nap and she had rolled over onto her stomach! She's done that one other time since. And on the 26th she rolled over from her stomach to her back - that one I saw. She also cut her second tooth around then, as well. Hannah does well during the day. Lately she's been waking up from her naps earlier than I had hoped...I think she's just going through a growth spurt. But she sleeps wonderfully at night. She goes from about 8pm to 7:30am with a feeding at 10:30pm. She started sleeping through the night at the end of April and has been perfect ever since.

Hannah is such a chill baby. She is so content wherever we put her...and even deals well with Lily's...um..."loves." Lily loves Hannah, but she doesn't quite understand that she can't sit on her and poke her....haha. But she's a great help and really cares about her sister.

The teeth:

She found her feet!

Believe it or not...

We're not playing tricks on you - that is what you think it is: Hannah's first tooth! (Sorry the picture it a little crazy...it's not an easy shot to get!) I noticed it on Friday...it seriously just came out of nowhere. Thinking that it would probably sit right underneath the gums for a while, you can imagine our surprise when it cut through the next day! So Hannah, who is just 3 1/2 months old, has a tooth. I'm pretty sure I can see the one right next to it slowly working its way through the gums.

So, our baby has a tooth. It's very exciting! ...yet...I'm a little scared of the biting. :)

Lily's almost 2!

Before her birthday, I wanted to get some pictures up of Lily being silly. I can't believe she's almost 2!

I suppose we should get her a bigger car seat...this one's a little small on her! Naw, she decided she wanted to sit in Hannah's seat.

As she was eating chicken nuggets and ketchup, she says "cute!" I looked over and saw she had put ketchup on each finger...

The same day, she climbed into the trash can. It's a perfect fit!

As is this diaper box...

Notice that none of these things are really toys, yet they keep her just as busy as some $20 gift I could have bought. Kids are funny.

I can't believe she's almost 2!!! They really do grow too quickly.

Lily's "Chocolate"

Last week I was holding Lily when she looked at my neck and said "chocolate!" Then she looked at Jonny's face and said "Daddy chocolate face." We couldn't figure out what she was talking about until she pointed at the mole on my neck and said "Mommy chocolate!" And Jonny's face is covered in freckles, so that was his "chocolate." Very cute. A couple of days later, I was looking at her face and saw that she has her first very own "chocolate." It's extremely small, but it's there!

What's crazy is that I when I was looking at it, she said "Lily chocolate" even though I didn't tell her what it was! Weird....

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was great! Lily had been sick, so we only went to Sacrament Meeting at church, and when we got home Jonny gave me my presents from him and the girls. The girls got me (more like Jonny got it for me and put their name on the card) the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. And Jonny got me an apple peeler/corer/slicer! I've been wanting those for a really long time! Maybe it's also Jonny's hints that I should spend more time in the kitchen...? ;)

In the girls' card were 2 stickers. One was for Lily and it said "Mommy's Little Princess," and the other one was for me:


I got to wear it all day - it was very cute. I also did nothing all day. Well, besides take care of the girls. But I didn't have to help with dinner or clean up or anything, it was wonderful.

I'm very glad to be a mom. It's the best feeling in the world when Lily comes up to me, gives me a hug and says "I love you, Mommy." Or when I get Hannah up from her nap and she just looks and me and gives me the biggest smile. These girls just make my heart melt! I wouldn't trade being a mom for ANYTHING.