We've Moved!!

It has been WAY WAY too long since I have posted anything. We recently moved to Manassas in a small house, which I love. We haven't gotten everything organized yet but we are getting there. Aiden is crawling all over the place now, and pulling him self up! He also has learned to clap, it is the most adorable thing ever!

He also has 3 teeth and I suspect the 4th is on its way in!

Some really cool news!

The Natural Baby Company (the makers of my awesome GroBaby diapers) is doing an awesome giveaway with their new laundry detergent TINY BUBBLES, it is supposedly awesome, which I need something new because with our new front loader. I haven't been able to figure out a good washing routine, it could very well be the detergent. Also recently I got the new GroBaby snap diapers which I love. I just wish they came in the colors. I would like to replace my shells with the snaps. They seem bigger, I have to put them on a much smaller setting than the aplix kind. Which is great, it just means that I know they will last until potty training!

Here's the link to the detergent!

http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/tiny-bubbles-p-732.html

I will post some more pictures when I find my camera. It is MIA right now GGRR I am really hoping I didn't lose it!

Rub a dub dub!!

Yesterday, Aiden and I took our first bath together. I put on my maternity suit, which made me feel good since it was massive on me. He loved it. I let him float a little, and sort of try to swim. It was amazing how he just had the instinct. I sat indian style with him just so he could feel the water all around him and he couldn't wiggle his way away from me. He was kicking and splashing and it was just adorable!! I love my little baby!

Trying out solids!

Well, Aiden is almost 6 months, so I decided to try out some rice cereal last night. I mixed it up with some breastmilk. It was very runny, just for him to taste. As I was feeding it to him it seemed that it was getting runnier and runnier. Well it turns out breastmilk has an enzyme in it that breaks down carbohydrates. That stuff is amazing!

Well, feeding him, I think he still has the tongue thrust reflex. He took a couple of spoonfuls and then decided he was done. I guess this will be a slow process. I am using Happy Bellies brown rice cereal. It is supposed to be better for them than just the regular rice cereal that really provides no nutrition for him. I think adding solids is going to be a slow process! But hopefully it will get more fun when we add in veggies and fruits! He looks so cute in his high chair, and did very well in it.

Also, I have a Sustainablebabyish bamboo fitted for night time, I first got a medium and thought it might be too small for him. So I bought one in a large and the large is too big! I think I just need to get used to cloth diapering. Which means I need more! Hopefully my state tax refund will come soon and I will be able to get enough for us to diaper full time.

Cloth diapers, not as bad as everyone thinks!

These pictures aren't the greatest but Aiden is acknowledging animals now! And eating his feet! SO CUTE!

So yesterday I had the babysitter (Donnie's mom) try out the cloth diapers for the first time. Before now I was just doing them on the weekends. She said they weren't that bad. I think she needs some time to get used to them. I also wanted her to try them out, so I could see how it was washing them during the week, after work. It wasn't bad AT ALL. It seemed it took less time than on the weekend. I think because I was busy with playing with Aiden, pumping, and getting dinner ready that the wash routine seemed to be done in no time. Also drying time takes hardly anytime, if I just put a dry towel in there. The first time I dried them it took almost 3 cycles without the towel. With the towel it takes only 1 cycle!! Hurray! Now, I just need some more funds to invest in some more GroBaby's. And we will be in them full time!

Better news!! WE ARE SCOOTING!!!

Aiden scooted up and down the bed 3 times last night!! It was so exciting! I was clapping and cheering for him like it was a some sports game or something, haha! He buries his little face in the bed and lifts his little butt up and moves his feet, little by little. It takes him some time to do, and he seems like he is getting a real workout doing it. It is so amazing watching how fast they develop, how quickly he is learning things. I wish I learned things that fast!

Pictures of Aiden in his GroBaby!

The first picture is not very good but you can see they aren't too bulky!

Cheap Craigslist people!!!!!!!!

I am trying to sell a bunch of Kirkland brand diapers that I bought from Costco. I bought them for 40 dollars which is not cheap. I used about 15 of them and they come in packs of 208, so I posted something on craigslist trying to sell them for $30 dollars. I think that is perfectly reasonable. I have been getting emails asking if they could have them for free, for $20, for $10. Then I had someone who would purchase them for $25, but wanted to meet me in Reston! No where in my posting did I say I would meet people. If you want the diapers, come to me. I am not driving an hour. People are so cheap!!! Ugh!

First day in cloth diapers!!!

I started using my new Grobaby's today and also last night used a Sustainablebabyish overnight. He woke up a tiny bit damp but the diaper hasn't reached its fully potential!

The Grobaby's!! I love them they are awesome. They have an outer shell and snap in liners. It is supposed to be a cheaper and more "green" way of cloth diapering. Meaning less laundry. So far so good. I wish I had more of them, that will have to wait. They only come in green, and orangish color and a blackberry color. In June they will be coming out with a vanilla color which I like the idea of better. Who needs colors or prints if they are covered up??

Hopefully I can invest in all the diapering supplies and convert over fully to cloth! It would be a great investment for us and for the environment!

Also!!!! Exciting day! Aiden rolled over all the way today at my moms! He got his little hand out that always gets stuck. He's on the move now!!! Better watch out!! Also right now he is sleeping in his crib peacefully on his belly! Why???Because he chose to sleep like that. I put him on his back and he rolled to his belly!

I will try and post a picture tomorrow of him in his GroBaby!! They are adorable!

It's been awhile since I posted last!

Sorry it has been so long since I posted (Joan and Tony). I've been busy with work and whatnot.

Aiden is doing great! He is growing so fast. Last week he had a bad diaper rash that turned into a yeast infection, had to take him to the doctor to get a special ointment. I am convinced the diaper rash was caused by the new diapers that I got him from Costco (Kirkland Brand). He's never really had one before and when I switch his diapers BOOM! it gets terrible.

Well that has convinced me to venture into the world of cloth diapering. I had one bum genius from a while ago. I used it once and never used it again. I decided that one diaper is not enough to even decide whether I want to do it or not. So I purchased this new system called the Gro baby system. I accidently sent them to my mom's so I am gonna get them tomorrow. I also purchased a few more from various sites and I am going to start cloth diapering on the weekends and maybe nights and until I get a good system then I will introduce them to Donnie's mom.

Aiden is starting to be a wiggly little man. He is rolling from side to side now, which seems to have just happened in the last week. He is grabbing onto things now and even tries to grab his diaper when I am putting it on. He is amazing and the light of my life. He is such a happy baby.

The picture above is a slipper that is getting too small for his little feet so I decided to put them on his hands and this is what happened. He tried to eat it!!!

Donnie wants to try solids soon, but I am convinced to keep him on strictly breastmilk until he is 6 months. He is showing interest in food now. He watches when we eat which is good. I just want to give him a little longer to give his system more time to develop and less chance of him having allergies.

Well tata for now! I will try and post more pictures this weekend!

Some of my favorite pics

Woah yesterday was a busy day!

Friday night I found another consignment sale in Fairfax that started at 8 so I decided to go before Aiden's dr appt. Aiden and I were out the door at 7:45. We got to the sale and it was INSANITY!! So many people, hundreds in fact. You couldn't even get through the aisles there were so many people. I found a few cute things and spent 25 dollars and got out of there it was miserable!

Then we went to Aiden's dr appt. He weighs 16lbs 1 oz, which is hard to believe I thought he weighed more than that. He is doing really well, his Dr says he is real strong. He got his 4 month shots and handled them like an adult. He only really cried for a minute, then I put him on the boob. HAHA! He was content from there.

Then we went to my mom's where I met her to go to the other consignment sale. We drove all the way there, almost to Leesburg and we realized both of us had no cash! I felt like such an idiot. My mom had $20 and we got a few things and a really nice pack and play for $7.50. I am so glad we got that!

After that we were starving and we stopped at Wendys. Then we went to Costco where we got some diapers and wipes and some other things. Then we went back to my mom's where I had dinner and got home at 8:30! What a long day! Totally worth it! I can't wait until it gets warm so Aiden can wear some of these adorable outfits!

Will post more pictures later.

4 month appointment tomorrow and consignment sale!

Tomorrow is Aiden's 4 month appointment. He will be getting more shots which I am not really excited about but, I can't wait to find out how much he weighs! I am guessing he weighs around 17 or 18 lbs somewhere in there. I am also looking forward to tomorrow because I am going to a children's consignment sale tomorrow in Ashburn with my mom. I can't wait to see what kind of cool stuff I can pick up. I am hoping to find a walker/exersaucer type thing for Aiden. He is just getting too big for his swing now and I need something to keep him busy when I have to do things around the house. Just look at that picture it is a shopaholic mother's dream! Now lets just hope the prices aren't outrageous.

I'll post something tomorrow about his appointment and about what I get at the consignment sale. I am so excited! TGIF!

Aiden's First Bath

I have never showed anyone these pics and they are just too cute not to share!!!

Started this way too late!!

I started this blog way too late, but better late than never!!!

This is my journey of motherhood! Something that came sooner than I had expected but I will never look back.

Let's see where to start? I'll start from the beginning, when the love of my life was born.

Birth Story
Aiden Dean Churchner was born November 3rd, 2008 at 8:51 pm. He was 8lbs 4oz. Labor started for me when I woke up at 3 in the morning on Monday the 3rd. I woke up with a crampy feeling. I went to the bathroom and I had lost my mucous plug. Donnie had not gone to bed from the night before, yet and I had told him that I thought I might be in labor. I sat through the waves of contractions for about an hour, then got up for a little while and paced the hallway. I did that back and forth until I couldn't walk anymore. At about 5:45 I remember calling my mom and telling her that I was in labor and that I was going to call my doctor after I had talked to her. I called my doctor to let them know that I was heading to the hospital.

I got my overnight bag and we made it to the hospital. By the time we got there around 7 am, there was no way I was walking anywhere, so Donnie got a wheelchair for me. We went to registration where I got all checked in, even though we had already done this 2 times before. After that they wheeled me up to labor and delivery. I got put into Triage where they checked the baby and let me know that I was going to be admitted. DUH!! I was in labor! haha. The nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural, I said yes. I wasn't sure about having the pain meds but when I was in actual labor, GIVE ME THE DRUGS!!!

After that I was taken to my actual labor and delivery room where they prepped me for the epidural and gave me a cathoder (I don't know how to spell that word). After I got the epidural, everything gets hazy. I just remember being so relieved I wasn't feeling the contractions anymore. By 12:45 they came in to break my water and start me on pitocin. Sometime after that the epidural stopped working and I started feeling the contractions again. They were one minute on one minute off. It was intense and I had to focus my concentration on only them and my breathing. They finally came in and took the first epidural out and put in a second one in and it started working again.

By 7:30 or so, my doctor had decided that I was dialating but Aiden wasn't coming down the birth canal. I had dialated to an 8 but Aiden was still way far up the birth canal. He said I needed to have a csection. By then the second epidural was wearing off and I was feeling the contractions again. Donnie didn't want me to have a csection. All I cared about was to stop all this pain, and wanted to see my baby. So finally we (I) make the decision to get the csection.

By 8:51 my beautiful little boy was born instantly crying and doing what he was supposed to. Perfectly healthy. From then on it was love. Even though I was completely exhausted and a little drugged up.

I remember the first time I held him he was moving his little mouth like he was hungry. Breastfeeding came pretty naturally to me. The first day or so I had a little trouble until I got a good nurse who actually helped me and explained everything to me. From then on my little boy was an eater.

Fast forward to now 4 months later at over 16lbs. We will will find out how much he weighs on Saturday I can't wait!!