I've been busy

My friend Lee was in town from Florida this past week.  We all got together Thursday night.  Friday we went into Chicago for a girls day, which usually involves a lot of window shopping and eating.  We took the train and it was fun.  We didn't have any problems due to the snow since we didn't drive. Our favorite restaurant downtown (nothing gourmet) is the Grand Lux Cafe.  We didn't get to eat there this year because their kitchen was broken.  We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory.  I had some weird pasta dish that smelled like marijuana.  Ava stayed home with Justin.  They had a good day too, playing with her new toys.  A perk of me no longer working is I don't feel guilty spending one of my vacation days without her since I will have her all the time now.  It was an immediate change.  I am not excited about only having three days of work left.  It is more of a calmness.

Saturday night we went with friends to the zoo to see the lights and the laser light show.  It was nice.  We were bundled up enough that the cold didn't seem to matter.  We saw a few animals.  Ava didn't seem too interested, but that could be because she couldn't really move due to all of her layers. 

I ordered a couple diapers after Christmas and got them already.  Meanwhile I am still waiting for the gifts I ordered for my grandparents.  I ordered them towards the beginning of December.  I got an email saying they were shipped on the 26th.  Still not here.  As my cloth diapering experience goes on, my opinions of what I like have definitely changed.  The bumgenius all in ones are excellent for on the go.  They will probably always be my diaperbag diaper.  They are reliable and easy to use, just like a disposable diaper.  They kind of suck to wash.  They take forever to dry and always need to be hung up because they are still damp out of the dryer.  They then lose favor in the every day use catagory.  Thirsties fab fitteds work really well and dry quickly but they need a cover.  In January they are coming out with a pocket all in one.  I believe this means it will all be ready to like the bumgenius all in one, but will have a pocket to stuff in extra stuff for night time if need be.  My night time diaper will definitely have to be the bumgenius pocket.  It never leaks.  Velcro is easy to use for off and on, but not a huge fan for during washing, which means it goes down in points.  I really do now like the fuzzibuns for during the day.  It is a pocket diaper with snaps.  It is extremely easy to wash and with the different leg hole size snaps, you can adjust the fit.  It is more bulky than say, the bum genius all in one, well not bulky, but less smooth.  Justin doesn't like the snaps so it loses points.  It then becomes tied with the bumgenius pocket.  So my new addition are two Happy Heiny's.  http://www.abbyslane.com/catalog.php?category=77  They might become the perfect diaper.  Looks to be the ease of washing with the thinness and the velcro for Justin.  We will see though.  THey came with GIGANTIC inserts.  They seriously look to be about as big as the adult diapers I had in the hospital.  I have read reviews that they are nice.  The thing about pocket diapers, if you don't like the inserts that come with them, you can use a different one.   I really don't like the kissaluvs.  I plan to try to sell them when I can.  I also ordered some Country Save detergent.  It is actually cheaper per load than other detergents (if you can get it in the store and not have to pay shipping and handling) and it is additive free, so no dyes, phosphates, enzymes, etc.  *Created by the inventor of Elmer's Glue*  It is supposed to be a top rated detergent for diapers and it has a little bit of borax in it, which will help with our water since we don't have a water softener.  I am excited to see that Target and Dominicks are starting to carry a couple brands of eco-friendly cleaners.  Seventh Generation at Target and Planet at Dominic's.  I have gotten the Seventh Generation dishwasher detergent and it works fine.  When regulations were put in place limiting phosphates in detergents, it effected everything except dishwasher detergent.  Phosphates are like a delicious snack for algae so it grows like crazy, affecting other water organisms and life.   (Please note I don't claim to be an expert, just what I have gathered from my reading.  I could be totally wrong.)

The den has been rearranged!  It is a much b etter use of space.  The toy kitchen has been put together.  We pooled our Christmas gift money and got a new tv!!!  Thanks day after Christmas sales!  We have now generated even more garbage.  Our room is a disaster but after that is clean, the house will actually all be clean.  It is crazy to even think about.  I have to get some pictures in albums and all that but those are projects for when I am home. 

Christmas 2007

I just put Ava to bed after going strong all day.  She was seriously in a happy, good mood 98% of the day.  It was an excellent Christmas.  She would have kept playing all night probably, but we could not.  She got SO MUCH stuff.  We definitely need to re-arrange the den and turn it into her playroom to make room.   I am sure eventually her toys will end up in her bedroom, but we don't spend time in there often enough to be able to supervise. 

I finished all of my Christmas projects, except
one.  That will be given as a gift at a later time. 

Here they all are.

eh, the picture is sideways, but oh well

So the Christmas recap-  We had dinner last night at my dad's house.  It was a nice time and good visiting.  Ava was friendly and sat on my dad's lap for a bit which he enjoyed.  She got changed into her Christmas jammies and was out for the night on our way home.  We stayed up late finishing one of the Christmas projects, wrapping, and Justin was putting together toys from Santa.  I woke up early because my throat was too dry, so I was reading in bed for a bit.  Then I got hungry (my present ((jewelry and a jewelry box)) (((can I use paranthesis like quotes)))was downstairs and not wrapped, so I wasn't supposed to go down until actual "present time") so I waited around for a while and then woke Ava up a little after 8.  She saw her presents from Santa that weren't wrapped (a stroller, pack and play, high chair and baby) and was so into them that she didn't really care too much about opening other presents.  We cleaned up our present opening mess, Justin got going on his stew (dinner in the crockpot) and I finished up our baked french toast for our brunch.  My mom and everyone came over for brunch and presents.  The room was completely full. Everyone was spoiled, especially Ava.  Justin will soon be putting together her kitchen in the playroom.  Everyone left, Ava had a nap, and I finished a book.  Justin's side of the family came over and we had more present exchanging.  Our downstairs is now completely full.  It looks like we just moved in.  Ava is fully stocked with fun new toys and is excepting reservations for playdates at our house.  We had stew for dinner and pie for desert.  Lots of playing.  Now we are tired.  I am sure you have all enjoyed the play by play.  Sometimes the posts aren't for your enjoyment, but for my memory. 

Here are some of the many outfits of Christmas for Ava this year.

Christmas Eve

Christmas pajamas

Christmas morning

Christmas Day

cosmetic issues

So Ava has impetigo, which is pretty gross.  She is good and crusty but is no longer contagious.  http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/impetigo.html

The street sign fell on the truck last night.  Left a nice dent right at the top of the windshield.  Too bad it didn't crack the windshield.  That needs replaced anyway. 

On the way home from church, I was rear ended in the van. Just a little dink, enough to scuff the paint on the bumper in the shape of a license plate.  You can see the letters for the words around the plate cover.

last cold of 2007

We (Ava and I) have colds.  Ava stayed home Monday because she had a slight fever Monday morning.  Tuesday night I think she had another one and was up a lot so I was debating keeping her home Wednesday, but daycare called and she was sick and was closed for the day, so that made the decision easier.  Yesterday I was thinking I must have a sinus infection.  I really had a migraine and a cold.  I was able to sleep all night (thanks Ava) and now I feel much better.  Now just back to plain cold.

I am wondering what they are going to think at work, me taking this much time off right before my vacation next week plus I turned in my notice.  They think I am going to call in every day until I leave.  Not true.  I plan to try to have as much paid time left to cash out.  As it is, counting today, I only have five days to go to work. It isn't that hard to do!  I am going to be working part time in the evenings at a domestic violence shelter.  I think this is the perfect job.  I get to stay home, it pays pretty well for part time, it still counts as a "real job" on my resume.  Plus I will move out of the whole nasty environment I work in now, back into the land of niceness and empowerment.  I will never again hear the comment made, "Don't have a baby.  Women who have kids can never do their jobs well after they come back to work."

more diaper talk

I got my new and probably final shipment of diapers today.  I got a couple kissaluvs, thirsties fab fitteds, and a bum genius 3.0.  I also got a thirsties cover and a prorap.   Like the 3.0.  Logical upgrades.  I would recommend the one size adjustable.  It is a must have in the cloth diapering/convenience world.  Ava has on a thirsties fab fitted with the thirsties cover.  It is extremely trim and soft to the touch.  I definitely like them.  Over all I can totally see why they say there are never or rarely "blow outs" during the explosive poop days.  There are more safeguards and they are way more fitted than disposable diapers.  Obviously, they are made more more durable material.   The kissaluvs look soft and that they would hold the mess in.  They just look bulky. 

Anyway, those are my diaper reviews of the day.

we should get a discount

This summer Ava was pretty much the only kid in daycare for a couple months.  There was another 2 year old who came about once a week.  When school started she was rejoined by her friend Kaylee, her mom is a teacher and a new baby (4 weeks old at the time) Rene.  Ava hated Rene at first.  She was totally clingy and was having major issues for a couple weeks.  She does not like to share her people.  Now Rene is her favorite.  She talks about him all the time.  She always asks where he is.  She likes to play near him at daycare.  I go to pick her up today and she is sitting on the floor next to him.  She told me she was playing with Rene.  Wanda tells me that earlier in the day Rene was having a major crying fit.  (he has a hard time napping at daycare and usually has very long, long, long afternoons) So Wanda had to help Kaylee with the bathroom and puts Rene in his swing.  It is a little travel swing that is low to the ground.  She said Ava sat in front of his swing, kept giving him his bink and rocked the swing until he fell asleep.  Ava is working!  We should totally get a discount. 

Wanda also always misplaces the phone in the playroom.  She says now as soon as she puts it down, Ava runs up and picks it up and hands it back to her. She says "oh! here you go Mama."  Wanda calls all the kids Mama.  Ava now calls everybody Mama.  She is handing crayons to Justin saying, "Here go, Mom"  She calls me Mommy, so mom is really mama.

even though we ain't got money, I'm so in love with you, honey

Things are currently looking amazingly good for the future for us.  Soon enough I will actually know details enough to share, hopefully. 

Bumgenius 3.0's came out today!  yay!  www.jilliansdrawers.com

I finally ordered the Christmas cards today.  Hopefully they will be out before new years. 

So Ava calls Tequi "ow"  Like everytime he meows at her, he is introducing himself.  So she walks into our bedroom today, sees Dori (the dog) on the bed.  She says, "Hi Dori.  Where's Ow?" and then goes and opens Justin's closet door, knowing that is where the cat normally is.  He is in there, so she goes in and says, "Hi Ow."  She will put her hands on her knees and kind of squat down to talk to him or try to before he runs away.  He will meow at her, and she makes her voice even higher than normal and meows back at him, like they are having a real conversation.

Yesterday we were all at a restaurant.  As we were leaving an older man started talking to Ava, just saying hi there and all that.  He then gave her $5 to go buy a toy.  This in itself is kind of creapy, but then I have to tell myself it is Christmas, he was being nice, stop being so creaped out because of your job.  Either way, we went to Target to buy boots and let her get a $5 toy.  She got a little stuffed Elmo. So I tell Wanda that she got money for being cute and told her the guy wanted Ava to get a toy. Ava then says, "I got Elmo" like she was actually following the story.  She must have been.  Otherwise I don't why she would have randomly said that she got Elmo.  Sometimes that little mind of hers....

Quick mid-Bears game post.  (I know!!! What is wrong with me?  I should be watching my beloved Thursday night TV!  I plan to watch some on ABC.com as soon as the game is over)

Things are moving along!!! Got a phone call back today about a part time job which is exciting.  I am in a good place. 

I have definitely discovered part of my enjoyment in cloth diapering is researching the different types of diapers.  Seeing people's reviews.  Different ones seem to fit different shaped kids.  I enjoy the hunt of it.  Some people like learning everything about the computer or TV or car they will buy.  I buy those things mainly on impulse, with a little research.  (i check gas mileages, overall value, safety ratings, and standard features on vehicles)  But diapers...I have heard people debate pampers vs. huggies vs. store brand for an hour.  I am talking pre-fold, fitted, pocket, all in one, hemp, organic cotton, terry cloth, microfiber, snaps, pins, snappies, velcro not to mention websites to buy from and their customer service reviews....come on people, this is an exciting venue!

Back to work tomorrow.  Justin is staying home with Ava because she threw up again today.  Yay!  He is taking her to the doctor.  We can't send her to daycare since she is apparently vomiting randomly every day or two.  Bumgenius handled sick poop nicely.  Also washed out completely.  Just in case you were interested.

Desperate Housewives this week? Anyone?  Anyone?  I can't believe they didn't show any previews for the next episode.  Nice tidy way to take care of one situation though. 

Furnace on, but no heat.  We have LCD indicator lights which talk about fuses and power and all this other stuff though it is running and has no power issue.  It just produces nothing warm.  I have no idea what it is talking about to try to fix it myself.  I did look and checked all the "check these before you make maintainance call" things.  I have a call in to a repair place.  They said they should be able to have someone out today.  I guess I will probably be leaving work early.  I vote no shower today since it is not even 60 upstairs.   

Furnace was fixed, no real problems getting anyone out.  It was just more that the problem was essentially the builders didn't really finish their job before we moved in. Yay!

Other things are moving along.  It is kind of funny, we were in a holding pattern for so long, it seemed like, and now things are going ahead at warp speed.  I don't know what to make of it.  Hopefully things work out and we really are moving at warp speed, not just feeling like we are but not really (like when you get off a treadmill). 

We will just have to wait and see if this continues but Ava came home from daycare today with somewhat of a rash, more of a skin irritation looking thing after her one day of being back in disposable diapers.  I put her in a cloth one to go to bed.  Hopefully if it just gets a little red during the day, it will go back to normal at night and she won't actually get a regular rash rash. I am sure all of you wanted to know about Ava's booty. Oh well. 

All of my online purchases came today!  That means I have boxes to wrap gifts in!  If you open your present and it is in an Amazon box, don't be fooled.  It is just a box. I did not buy you Amazon. 

Ava split my lip today with her head.  I knew it was going to happen eventually.  She was having a flailing melt down towards the end of a 2 hour on and off again meltdown. She is now sleeping and it is only 7:30.