A Happy Heiny

As most of you know, we decided to cloth diaper before Ava was even born.  We bought some diapers from a friend that had been gently used and decided that we would ease into them to make sure that they were for us before buying more. 

1 month old - first cloth-diapering experience.

6 months later, I am completely addicted and absolutely LOVE them!  A few weeks ago Ava was ill and we placed her in disposables for a couple of days...and I hated every minute of it.  In fact, I seriously contemplated writing a nasty note to Pampers regarding their complete inability to keep the poop in her diaper and off of her back, legs, socks, blankets, boppy, crib, and hair.  Multiple baths and a few loads of laundry later, we were finally back into our blow-out free, non-leaking cloth diapers.  Yippee!

In her cloth diaper at her 6 month check up.

People always look at me like I am crazy when I tell them that we cloth diaper, and I have to admit I was freaked out by them at first.  How do you wash them, will I be able to keep up with it, will the poop get my washer dirty, will it be a complete pain??!  Well, the washing routine has proven to be very simple and it is so nice to be able to just wash some diapers when we are running low rather than having to run out and buy more.  We had a difficult time getting her into the cloth diapers at first due to a persistent diaper rash (you can not use most diaper creams with cloth diapers), but since our transition to cloth at 1 month of age, she has only had one rash (and that was due to diarrhea).  With Ava's sensitive skin, this has been wonderful!  Other bonuses: the room is no longer stinky (the bag contains the smell better than the diaper pail), it eliminated a bag of trash each week, and we are saving a ton of money!  Oh, and they are super cute, too!

New Ride

In case you didn't hear, we bought a mini-van.  I knew this day was coming, I just didn't realize how quickly it would be here.  Josh is in love with it, and I have to admit that the few times we've taken it to church it was really nice to ride in.  The nice thing is that it is Josh's ride so I have not had to deal with it...until this weekend.  This weekend Josh took my car to Missouri and I was left with the mini-van.

You might wonder, then, why it is sitting just outside a perfectly good garage.  Well, let me tell you the truth: I am terrified of trying to get it in or out of the garage.  It took me over a year just to get comfortable with parking and backing out with the Corolla.  There is no way in this world I could get that monster of a vehicle out of the garage unscathed.  I think that my fear goes back to my memory of my mom scraping the front of her car (the Parisienne, which I drove later in high-school) while backing out of the garage.  Go ahead, judge, but it's just not going to happen right now.  Maybe next year.   

A Day without Dad...and other updates.

First thing is first, we are elated to announce that I am finally finished working 5 straight weeks of nights.  This is a relief to all of us, and we could not have made it out alive without all of the prayers and support from our friends and family.  Josh was essentially a single parent.  He did all the nighttime feeds, morning routine and taking Ava to daycare, picking her up from daycare, and doing bathtime and the bedtime feeding.  This next month will bring it's own set of challenges - I am starting hem/onc (aka, the cancer team) which means I get to be home most evenings with the exception of 6 overnight 30-hour calls.  There is light at the end of the tunnel, though, since I only have 2 more months of inpatient and just a few more months of residency total.  The Dalton household is thrilled to have one more month of residency out of the way!

Josh was gone this weekend, so it was just Ava and I.  What a great day, despite the fact that I did not flip well back to days and only slept a few hours last night.  We started out with a yummy breakfast of pears and bananas, and some playtime with her blocks.

 We also did our weekly trip to Target.  Ava loves sitting in the cart (thanks for the cart cover, Aunt Dena!) and jabbering at all the people she sees.  Unfortunately, we lost her pacifier, so this is the last picture you will see of it (good thing we have others at home).

We had lunch at Chipotle, too, and sat outside and enjoyed the nice weather and our food.  Ava loved the guacamole, like always, but also found something new that she likes - drinking water from a cup!  She squealed and giggled for more every time I took it away.  

  

Of course, we had to take a trip to the park.  We enjoyed the swings and a walk around the park in her Moby. (I love that thing! If you are a mom and don't have one, you are missing out!)  

We finished the day with sweet potatoes and tofu for dinner, and Ava worked on her pincer grasp (I am a proud pediatrician!), followed by a bath before bedtime!

Bathtime with new toys!