Getting Ready: Baby #2 prep

Our big news of the week is that Mr. B turned 2. We had a great time celebrating pioneer day and his birthday in one big awesome day of parades, bbqs and fireworks. 

In other news (and less exciting news) we have been actively getting ready for our second kiddo (another little boy due to make an appearance between now and mid September). 

Although in all reality all we really need for baby number two is some clothes (check), some diapers (check) and a carseat (check). There are some things that make having a second baby go much smoother. Some of those things we already had and some of them we have been on the hunt for.

The first is a glider, and we have been on the hunt since before Mr. B's debut and our search was futile yielding only gliders too expensive or not comfy (thus defeating the purpose). Thanks to the handy dandy local Costco this has finally been remedied and man is it awesome. I am so ready to cuddle a sweet newborn in it. Although it was not a requirement it matches out nursery furniture and our couch. Not too shabby.

The next thing I really wanted was somewhere to store the baby's clothes while it lives in our bedroom (and then it can become the designated baby dresser). We finally decided on this one from Amazon and will most likely order it soon with our handy amazon registry discount :)

Another thing I wanted was a lightish weight double stroller. This has been ridiculously easier said than done.  I do technically already have a babytrend double jogger that I use for daycare kids and trips to the neighborhood park that sucker can barely fit through a doorway to save its life. Alas I have been on the hunt for something not budget busting, that fits in a trunk, I can actually lift without getting a hernia, and that Mr. B enjoys riding in. I struggled because with babywearing so much I did not want to spend the money on, nor did I need a full on tandem baby stroller (that I feel drive like tanks). After countless hours online and two hours dinking around two different baby stores with my infant carseat and cranky toddler in tow. I found it and I could not be happier. Mr. B can ride up front with the careseat in back (some put the baby upfront which I hate) and then when he is older he can ride in a jump seat in the back. 

One thing I will use a ton is my Beco Buttefly, I know I have raved about it a bajillion times but seriously the thing has been worth every penny I spent on it. It is just soooo nice to have a carrier that does not kill your shoulders. 

I am also dying to bust out my Sleepy Wrap (now called a Boba Wrap), I am so ready to cuddle a little one in it. 

Anyhow we are all pretty excited for our next little munchkin :)

Photo Bomb: Pregnancy #2 Edition

Living in a place with the most pregnant women per capita in the United States (or so I feel like, 6 women on my street alone) I never feel out of place walking around with a pregnant belly, however in San Diego my basketball belly seemed to elicit comments and questions from strangers everywhere we went. They ranged from, "you are so tiny," "you are such a little ball" to "hope you don't have much time left." They ran the gamut. I am pretty sure "ball" comment is most accurate :) Anyhow it inspired me to bore you all with a pregnancy or belly progress report.

15 weeks

21 weeks

24 weeks (June 3rd)

27 weeks (June 22nd)

30 weeks (July 5th)

Patriotism and Parades

 Our vacation did not end in San Diego but rather it continued upon our return with our town pride parade and then the 4th of July. It has really been an amazing two weeks to say the least. We officially have enough salt water taffy to last us until next years parades :)

Photo Bomb: San Diego Edition

Why you should definitely be brave and eat somewhere the looks like the picture below :) Holy cow the Strawberry Aqua Fresca and Pork Tacos were to die for. 

Mr. B proved that the passing of a year has helped make him a camping pro, the kid slept through a car alarm twice, and ou trightly asked for his naps. He was pretty stoked that camping near the beach made his day full of his favorite things, DIRT and WATER :)  He was pretty worn out to say the least.

We clearly camp a little differently in 2012 :)

Although we did not go to the iconic San Diego Zoo or Sea World G. and I did take a childfree (thanks mom) day trip to some smaller (and awesome sights) around town. Our favorite hands down was the Midway Mueseum, a naval museum on an aircraft carrier, how freaking cool. 

Although the waves still terrified him, Mr. B absolutely LOVED the sand, can you say toybox on steroids :)

We had an absolute blast, it was a wonderful week filled with family, friends and fun, just what we like.

Kicking It Old School: Cleaning With Oldies But Goodies

After getting fed up cleaning my hard water stains off my shower door and fixtures I hit up pinterest for some tried and true tips. I stumbled upon several "pins" that suggest the same cleaners I had been using with only some of the cleaners really doing the job.

Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner: Works just fine, no problems there
Magic Erasers: Great on some aspects of bathroom and home cleaning (like removing crayon), but was not making a dent on the hard water deposits.
Kaboom: Great for cleaning hard water off the fixtures, but it take 3-4 applications, so okay but not stellar.
Windex: It works just fine, but I am all ears for something better.

Cleaning Old School

Bathroom:

http://broccolicupcake.com/blog/2012/03/spring-cleaning-natural-cleaning-tips-for-the-bathroom/

Basically you can clean hard water with a mixture of baking soda and vinegar and lemons :)

Oven:

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/03/easy-homemade-oven-cleaner.html

Vinegar and Baking Soda strike again :)

What are your favorite cleaning tips?

Cloth Diapering: Overnight Diapers and Prefold Inserts

A few months ago I wrote a post on the types of diapers I was using, well being my love to shop, deal loving self I have taken advantage of some sale and have now find diapers that work for us. For my descriptions of each type of diaper and how they work you can visit this previous post. Anything else we had we have sold to other cloth diapering mommas.

Cloth Diapers I own as pictured above

   Top Left to Right:

• Infant Sized Indian Prefolds, newborn hemp doublers, Best Bottoms Hemp Inserts, Best Bottoms Overnight Doublers with Stay Dry Inserts, 1 lone Bum Genius All In One size Large (no longer sold)

 Bottom Left to Right:

• Best Bottoms Covers (mint,key lime, and moolicious patterned), Bumkins Covers (Turtle, Dr. Seuss), Flip Covers (Ribbit Green, Butternut Yellow, Mirrow Blue, Albert Print)

Homemade "Flip" Diaper Inserts from Prefolds:

One thing I have done that is kind of unique is jimmy rigged my own "Flip" inserts from prefolds. The traditional prefold as pictured below can be wrapped around a baby and pinned or "snappied" or you can trifold them and lay them inside a cover, my uber lazy self decided that I would sew the two long edged together, turn them right side out and voila, a tube like insert that is super easy to lay in a cover :) (in the bottom right picture I have "stuffed" it with a newborn hemp doubler for my super pee-er.

Then all you have to do is lay the "Flip" insert into the flaps of the Flip or Bumkins cover and you are ready to go. I snap up the diaper just because its nice to have one all ready to go.

What We Use Overnight

Before we started cloth diapering we went through many nights off peed out diapers and and expensive boxes of special "overnight" disposables. Now we may not have the trimmest diaper option for night time but  we have enjoyed the fact that our adorable son has only peed out of his overnight diaper 3 times since February. We use our Best Bottom Covers stuffed with a Fleece topped Microfiber insert called a Stay Dry Insert (this means his skin stays dry to the touch overnight, which helps prevent diaper rash), then we snap a Overnight Doubler underneath it. The Overnight Doubler is the the thickness and absorbent level of one typical Microfiber diaper insert so when you add that all up our son really does have 3 DIAPER INSERTS THICK :) He looks like he has a 2 by 4 between his legs, but it does not bother him and he rocks the "fluffy butt look."

 

Adventures in Parent Raising

I admit I should have known better. I should have realized that anything a toddler can reach a toddler can destroy. They can do so in seconds. The following mess occurred while I was blow drying my hair, STANDING NEXT TO THE KID:) well I should have looked down to notice that my favorite eye shadow (well favorite since I remembered I still had it from college, as it is the expensive mineral kind that does not go bad) was now all over my adorable son.

He was pretty upset about it, a) it was an expensive eye shadow (and the second one he had done this too, you would think I would have learned), b) I had just cleaned the bathroom not even 20 minutes prior, sigh, such is being a parent. So I did the responsible thing and took pictures so at very least I could savor the disaster :)

On the bright side other messes of his are much cuter, and far less destructive.