Baby Brains (To Are or not to Our)

So I have to correct an embarrassing mistake that I just noticed in the subtitle of this blog... I said are experiences instead of our experiences.... wow... it only took me 3 months to find that one. Guess that is why I am in finance and not english:)

New Sounds

October 10, 2010 was Lucy's first all out laugh, but then it took another couple weeks to hear it again. We didn't hear Stella's first laugh until probably early November.

So about 10 days or so ago, Lucy started making a new noise. And I think Stella learned it from her sister as she started doing it 2 days ago!

Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

Grandma and Grandpa Treiber gave us a 6 month diaper service gift that includes cloth diapers plus pick up and delivery-- so no washing (thank goodness).

Originally, I didn't even think of cloth as an option; most of my friends with kids kind of balked at the idea, so I really just wrote it off. Then, we received the gift so I started doing some research.

My findings after using cloth (and occasionally disposable for 3 months):

• Cloth diapers including the cleaning service (along with pick up and delivery) costs approximately the same as disposables (assuming you are using 8-10 per baby per day or 5-6 per baby with disposable)
• Cloth is better for the environment overall (even though there is some argument about the energy used to wash the diapers)
• I have had no problem with diaper rash with cloth-- we just make sure their lil bums are dry before putting on a new diaper
• I change them after every feeding (every 2 hours approximately during the day)
• I use disposables at night- I decided it wasn't worth having babies waking up because they are wet, and disposables are definitely the masters in absorbtion
• I couldn't figure out how to put the cloth diaper around their hips (the pre folds were not big enough-- and maybe they aren't meant to go around their hips even), so we just fold them in thirds and place them in the cover.
• Covers: We bought a bunch at Soft and Cozy baby in Baltimore. Gussets are KEY. The interior lining of the cover should be water proof (many are not), and I prefer the velcro ones as opposed to the snaps (I have heard that as they get older snaps may work better because the kids cannot get them off themselves). I bought Thirsties brand and have been really happy with them, about $12 each.
• Peeing is not a problem, just pull out the wet one, wipe and dry the cover, insert new one and you're ready to go. Poopin' is messy. You are supposed to clean off the gunk before putting it in the pail to be sent out, but we generally skip that part. Since they are eating breast milk it doesn't really come off anyway since its more liquidic than anything else. You can get it off the covers, but expect a stain in the non-waterproof portions of the cover.
• Travelling with cloth. We generally do not. We will put them in disposables when we go somewhere and defintely if we travel for more than one day. They can stay in disposies longer with minimal leakage, however, it still does leak! I am not sure how #2 can work its way out of the top of a disposable but it happens! If I do travel with cloth, I just bring a ziploc bag for the soiled ones.
• Diaper Service: we use Modern Diaper Service and have been extremely happy with their service. They come every Friday around noon, and they even go to the back of my house (since we have a lot of sidewalk traffice during the day in front of our house).
• Disposables: we have tried both Pampers and Huggies-- Pampers overall has been our favorite, Huggies leak a lot more (but there are way more coupons for Huggies so we still end up getting those). We go through maybe 30 disposables every 3 weeks or so with using them at night and when we are out and about.

Happy Turkey (or Turduckin) Day! (And a special anniversary)

Stella and Lucy's first Thanksgiving was at our friends Tony and Michelle's house. I started getting ready at 1PM for a 7PM arrival date- good thing too! It's amazing how long it takes to bathe baby and parents, prep a casserole, put clothes on admist feeding and diapering babies as well.

We went to T & M's house last year as well. It was a memorable time of year because we found out the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 2009, that we were expecting! I couldn't believe it when I took the test- I took several actually:) The first test, the second blue line was kind of faint, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th got darker and darker. So I found a little plastic baby (courtesy of a box -1of 7 btw-that was kindly dropped off when my parents were visiting) that was part of a collection of mini toys that i had saved for whatever reason. Well, it worked out, I found it, and wrapped it up and gave it to Dave- Surprise!! It was hard not being able to tell anyone for 3 weeks (we figured it was worth doing it in person over Christmas when we were back in MN).

So, like 2009, I made Aunt Sandi's famous wild rice casserole for this year's festivities... sooo good. I used hot pork sausage instead of regular ps this year, which added a perfect kick. Our gracious hosts made a Turduckin, but I think they had a hard time finding the duck... so i think it ended up just being a Turkin.

It was a late Thanksgiving for us, but the girls were great and pretty much slept for a good chunk of time while we were there (with the exception of Stella taking a nice big crappola in her pretty dress:)) But, the triptophan must have made its trip through my system into the girls, because it was a long sleeping night for them. Gobble Gobble.

Bottle Envy... or not so much

So Dave was home for 6 weeks on paternity leave with the girls until early November. During that time it didn't seem as though there were too many bottle issues. I woke up in the morning, fed the girls, then pumped, then off to work. When I arrived home in the evening, I came back packin' a cooler with the good stuff.

Then Dave went back to work and I started part-time. So in essence that meant, more one-on-one time with the babies, or you could say two-on-two. On the days Dave was home, and hence the girls took the bottle, we have begun to have issues.

It's really hit or miss on whether they are going to eat from the bottle nowadays. Our doc told us not to worry and if they are hungry enough they will eventually take their chow from good ol' Born Free, but what we have been finding is that they don't and they just get super super distraught and eventually cry themselves to sleep until mamma gets home (there have been a couple times that I have actually had to leave work).

It seems as though Lucy is the primary mischief maker in denying the bottle. I guess she has the infamous stubborn quality of a first-born:) A co-worker recommended that we try another bottle that has a nude colored nipple and that maybe that would work better-- it's not very exciting to think of purchasing another (most likely $$) bottle just to test it out... argh.

On another somewhat related note... I am still determined to give them only breast milk until they are 6 months but its becoming harder and harder to make extra to store so that I can leave for more than 2 hours at a time (shopping, maybe happy hour??).

If I am feeding them and then pump I only get maybe an ounce. I do find that if I can motivate myself in the morning to hook up to the Ameda after I feed them I will get more. I think its because they eat less frequently at night (every 5 hours, versus 2-3 during the day) I have more leftover after they are done.

My blonde nature shown through when I thought placing a frozen milk bag (plastic) in a pot of boiling water to thaw it out, only to find boiling milk and an empty bag shortly thereafter. That was 7 oz. down the drain. We also found that some of the frozen milk had gone bad; I think we froze it too long after it was pumped.

And... my sis and I have grand plans of hitting the town when we are back for Christmas and I guarantee that I will likely not have enough. I can only travel with so much milk on the plane and I will not be able to pump enough once I arrive so I am thinking about sneaking in some formula gradually a couple weeks before we go back to MN-- we'll see.

Boo! Halloween and the Haunted Housing Market

OK, so this is a month late, but today is Black Friday so I figure its a perfect time to talk about the Spooky and the Scary.

Lucy and Stella's first Halloween was spent with our friends Andy and Ania over at Ania's sister house with her family, Kasha, Ben, Daniel, and Adam. They live in Severna Park, MD and I tell ya, when we pulled up to a cute house with lots of trees , a big back yard, and right across the way from the water, I thought of our crib in the city and I was dreaming of the suburbs.

BUT, these suburbs were not cookie cutter so it makes it OK right?! Both Dave and I love living in the city- being able to walk to stores, restaurants, and pubs is pretty convenient- not to mention that Dave can walk or bike to work which makes our one-car household work. However, I can't deny that since we found out we were expecting, visions of our girls running around a yard, being able to ride bikes down the street without worrying about the projects a couple blocks away, and having space inside to have crawling kids without blocking off 3 levels of stairwells is pretty attractive.

However, we purchased our home 3 years ago (September 2007) and I am pretty sure we are underwater on our mortgage. While it may not be as much as many folks, we would likely have to dip into our retirement if we sold the house, because we would probably end up owing money at this point. Zillow has informed us that our house is valued at $160ish; when we bought our house it was valued at $220K and at the beginning of the year it was still $200. Granted, we didn't pay $220K, but our neighbor (who purchased a similar house around the same time we did for about the same price,) thinks we would be lucky to get $130-$140K. We know that we do not want to be here for more than a few more years, so the question becomes, will the market recover by then? Dave thinks it is going to continue on the decline for several more years. I am more the optimist... am I being idealistic? Maybe.

So what do we do? Do we make improvements to our home gradually over the next couple years, or do we leave it as is and rent it down the line? Or are we going to have to make improvements just to rent it for a decent amount? I like the idea of making aesthetic changes like changing the fixtures in the bathrooms, and putting in a new kitchen floor etc. And I would love a deck:)