Win a Hazelwood Necklace

Okay, so I'm a terrible blogger.  I'm not surprised!  I'll try and do better, but Evangeline keeps me busy and when she's asleep I can't really get on the computer in her bedroom and typing a blog post on the iPod Touch is not easy or fun!

I do have something definitely worth blogging about today. A giveaway.  I do love winning stuff, especially useful stuff.  Check out my friend, Jen's blog, Wiggles then Giggles.  It's super simple to be entered in the giveaway.  She's giving away a Hazelwood necklace from Leah Beah.  Hazelwood is an awesome healing substance used for many things including eczema, acid reflux and teething.  Her son Brayden has responded very favorably to the necklace.  Good Luck and if you win let me know if it helped!!!!!

A Disposable Nation

I don't think of myself as a major tree hugger, but I try my best to recycle and conserve. I certainly could do a lot more for the environment, but I do like to minimize the waste in my household. I wanted to say how appalled I was when I received some Take and Toss sippy cups and spoons as a gift. Have you seen these? Oh how convenient to allow your child to use a plastic sippy cup once and then toss it out. What? Atleast they could've made it out of a coated paper product (like milk cartons are made of). I'm also disgusted by those single use Kleenex towels. The commercial makes us believe that we're going to catch a terrible disease using a hand towel. Aren't your hands clean when you dry them on the hand towel? Are you not laundering the hand towel regularly?

Ok, so now I do sound like a tree hugger. I just hate how our attitude in America is that everything is disposable. Will it kill us to wash a cup or use a towel? No! And we'll keep our planet a much nicer looking place!

Crawler Covers

I love baby leggings and I've found some super cute ones for a good price thanks to my friend, Jen.  Leggings keep the baby's legs warm, but unlike pants you don't have to take them off to change the diaper. The taking off of the pants is not difficult, but putting them back on is.  You get them on one leg and then as you are working at getting them on the other leg they kick them off the first leg.  And putting pants on over a big cloth diaper butt can be really difficult!.  I also love that the leggings are one of the only pieces of the wardrobe that can be worn for several years.  Older kids often enjoy wearing them on their arms.

Check out the website! They sell for between 5 and 6 dollars each (which is half of what other brands cost) when you order the special package. Evangeline has some black ones with pink and white stars and white ones with skulls and multi-colored hearts.  So cute!

www.crawlercovers.com

Cloth Diapering

I decided before Evangeline's arrival that I wanted to cloth diaper her. I knew very little about it at first, but have come to LOVE it! It's even easier than I thought it would be. Initially I was just going to use them at home and use disposables when out, but I've since become a full timer. Now I haven't been on any vacations with her, but even then I'd probably use disposable liners and my FLIPS diaper covers. The covers could easily be washed in a sink and they dry super fast when hung up.

I mainly decided to CD because I hated to think of all the non-biodegradable waste that would be in the landfill. Disposable diapers represent the third largest consumer product in landfills, making up about 4% of the waste in the landfills and they make up about 50% of the waste in a diapering household^1. And after researching them I learned of so many other reasons to CD. Firstly it will save tons of money. Who doesn't want to do that? Disposable diapers are a good portion of the budget for the babies first 18-24+ months. Did you know that the average child will go through 5,000-7,500 disposable diapers from birth to potty training? And at $0.25 -$0.50 per diaper, that's roughly $2500-$7,500. on diapers alone (this does not include wipes, pail liners, baggies, diaper rash cream, etc.). Think of what you'll save using them on all your children if you plan on having more than one child like I do! Cloth diapers may be more of an expense up front, but you are not buying new diapers all the time. They are also much healthier for baby. Babies in cloth diapers are less likely to get moist diaper rash because cloth keeps the moisture away from the baby. Also, disposable diapers are made of synthetic, potentially toxic materials that I'm just not interested in having up against my baby's skin. They contain dioxins, sodium polyacrylate, and other chemicals and dyes, all of which can lead to diaper rash and possibly many other serious health conditions. Sodium polyacrylate (a super-absorbant substance) was present in tampons, but removed after it was linked to toxic shock syndrome and dioxins have been linked to reproductive issues, hormonal imbalances, immune deficiencies and even cancer. It is considered by the EPA to be one of the most toxic of cancer-linked substances and is banned in many countries^1. I think I'd prefer to keep these substances off of my baby!

When I tell people that I cloth diaper they think I'm crazy, but they don't know how easy it is. They have many misperceptions that I hope to dispel. Cloth diapering can be easy and fun and I plan on sharing with you how this is so. I'll share some pictures of the diapers and supplies I use and how easy it is to use and care for them! If you are at all interested I encourage you to try them and decide for yourself. If you don't like them they are super easy to sell on Craigslist or websites like diaperswappers.com. Some sites even let you try cloth for 3-4 weeks risk free like diaperjunction.com or jilliansdrawers.com.

^1 Information from : The Real Diaper Associations website: http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php

Rockin' Green

Because I use cloth diapers I wanted to be sure to use a laundry soap that is good for the environment, but that smells great too. I came across Rockin' Green Soap and decided to order some when I ordered some cloth diapers for Evangeline. I especially liked that it is HE compatible. It was around Christmas time and they didn't have many scents available so I tried the Green Tea which is a very light scent. I use it on her clothes and diapers and it seems to do a good job of gettin the funky smell out of the diapers.
I was recently ordering swim diapers for my girl and I ordered some of the pail freshener in Smashing Watermelon. It smells yummy! And while it doesn't make the diaper pail smell like roses it does help decrease the odor some. I sprinkle it in as needed and then you just toss the diapers in the wash and the freshener dissolves in the laundry.
29 Diapers is having a giveaway for the pail freshener in your choice of scent. Some that I'd like to try are Mighty Mighty Marshmallow and Orangevana. Enter the giveaway at http://www.29diapers.com/2011/01/17/rockin-green-pail-freshener-review-giveaway/
GOOD LUCK!!!

It's a Surprise

When we were initially trying to get pregnant my husband and I both said we wanted a girl. At that time it seemed like all of our friends were having girls and besides, they
have such cute clothes! But finally my friend Gina had the most beautiful baby boy, Gavin, and I started to realize what a blessing a boy would be too. I even had this vision when I was pregnant the first time of a little toe-headed boy following Cory around with his little tools helping daddy fix things around the house. My heart melted thinking of this.

After losing a pregnancy I was just excited to finally be pregnant again! It truly made no difference to me whether we had a boy or a girl. While preparing for several baby showers I threw for my friends I came across the idea of a surprise shower where the baby's sex was revealed to the couple. My husband and I thought this was a fabulous idea. We didn't necessarily want the sex revealed on the baby's birthday, but didn't want to find out at the time of the ultrasound.

Spot in Time Photography

Many people said we were crazy. And I will admit that registering for clothes was difficult. The nursery theme was easy to come up with. I found Dick and Jane fabric several years back and decided that would be the theme. It works well for boy and girl. But, finding bold colors for nursery stuff is not easy. Lucky for me my mother-in-law sews. I did register for lots of brown, green, yellow and blue things. I figured we could dress a girl in blue, but a boy in pink? Not so much.

My mother was very unhappy with our decision to wait. Because of this I decided that we would let a few people know the baby's sex, my mom, my dad, and Cory's parents if they wanted to know. The fewer people that knew the less likely someone would slip and tell us on accident.

So on the day of the ultrasound my father and my grandma came with us as well. The technician showed us our little baby, it's face, it's little feet that had been kicking me in the rib cage, the little hands. We were in LOVE! When it came time to reveal the sex she asked us to close our eyes. She captured the image and typed a g for girl on it, printed it and placed it in a sealed envelope. When we had finished she made sure my dad knew we were having a girl. It would be my dad's job to e-mail my mom and Cory's parents with the revelation. The envelope was to go to the four ladies throwing my shower.

There was about three months between the ultrasound and the shower. In that time many people shared their thoughts on what we were going to have. Most people said it was a boy. "You're all baby." "You're carrying him high so it must be a boy." My acupuncturist guessed girl because my linea (the line that forms on a pregnant woman's lower abdomen) was not centered with my belly button and because, she said, I had craved spicy early on (a brief craving of Slim Jims). I even had a client I had just met ask me when my BOY was due. "Oh, I'm having a boy?" She was positive it was a boy. I became so convinced that I started thinking of the baby in my womb as a boy. And my husband figured that since he wanted a girl so badly that it was bound to be a boy. At work they had a contest where they asked everyone to guess the baby's sex and birth date. All but two guessed boy. I even made my husband finally decide on a boy's name. The girl's name came easily for us and had been decided on much earlier. But my husband and I could not agree on a boy's name. After spending a lifetime with one of the most common names I was adamant our child would not have the same name as 20 of it's playmates. My husband thought this was absurd, but I would not back down. The baby's name would not he in the top 50.

I left the reveal up to my friends throwing the shower. They were initially going to let all the guests know the baby's sex, but thought that someone would end up accidentally revealing it to us prematurely. I was kind of disappointed by this because I wanted to get some boy or girl clothes, but realized I had plenty of friends to stock my drawers with hand-me-downs. Besides, you end up getting more of the essentials that way. In between the ultrasound and the shower I had been thoroughly confused. There were times where people seemed to slip, but it was never the same sex. So that didn't help!

The shower was sock monkey themed. They couldn't find Dick and Jane stuff, but wanted it to be retro. We ate and played games and had a great time. Just before the gifts were opened my husband showed up. He and I would open the gifts together. We got many useful things from our guests. Then my friend Shaunna handed me her gift that was wrapped half in pink and half in blue. This would be the big reveal. I pulled open the lid and saw a pink outfit and an aqua one. I was still confused, especially because I was convinced I was having a boy. Then I saw the pink bubble gum cigar box stating "It's a girl!" My husband had already realized it and let out a shout of joy. Tears welled up in my eyes, partially sad because I felt like I was losing a boy I was convinced I was carrying, but also joyous because I now knew I was carrying little Evangeline inside of me.

As you can tell, Cory is very excited.  I think I'm just about to figure it out.  

A couple of weeks later my work threw me a lovely shower at a tea room. At this shower I received all the cutesy pink things so I still got my girly stuff. My friend, Shauna gave me more girl clothes than I could ever use and my mother packed an entire suitcase of girl clothes to be split between Evangeline and her cousin, Ruby, who joined the family on October 26, 2010. We are truly tickled pink!

Birthing the Natural Way: Evangeline's Birth Story

Me at 38 weeks.  Evangeline joined us about 1 week later.

I decided a long time ago that I wanted to have children, and to give birth naturally. I wanted to experience every bit of it no matter how painful. I must say this was my choice and I do not look down upon anyone for making a different choice as to how they give birth. If there is one thing I've learned by being a new mommy is that everyone's experience is different from birth to their children's personalities and I cannot judge anyone's decisions because I don't know how I'd act in their situation.
The mother of one of my good friends from high school is a nurse midwife in Houston and she was a Bradley Method (bradleybirth.com) teacher.  So that is the method we chose.  The closest teacher to us was 1 hour 45 minutes from us so instead of attending 12 one hour sessions we went to 4 three hour sessions. We learned all about the stages of labor, exercises and diet to prepare you for labor, and relaxation techniques.
My due date was September 28, 2010. I worked until September 22 which was a half day. After work I headed to my doctor's office for a checkup. I was about 2 cm dilated and my cervix was softening. The doctor decided to strip my membranes and she said that 50% of the time her patients go into labor within 24 hours. Wow, this could really be it! I was fairly uncomfortable at the end of my pregnancy so I was ready. I had some cramping that night, but all was quiet the next day and through the next evening.
I planned to meet my friend for lunch on Friday the 24th. I had a few Braxton Hicks contractions that morning but nothing exciting. My friend and I had an uneventful lunch and then I wanted to go to Target, maybe catch a movie and then stop at Sam's Club on the way home to pick up some food for our soon-to-be guests. While in Target the contractions started. I timed them and they were 5 minutes apart. Aren't they supposed to start out like every 15 minutes or so? So I decided to skip the movie, but stop at Sam's. After all, all first labors last forever, right? While in Sam's the contractions started coming every 3 minutes. Why did it seem like noone was in a hurry in Sam's? I almost ran over several dawdlers in the aisles. "Hello! Can't you see I'm having a baby?" I called Cory, my husband, and told him that he may need to leave work early. I also phoned my mother in England to update her. She was due to fly in the next day. She told me to go home and rest, it would be a long night (but who can rest while in labor?). I would go home and get in the bathtub and see if the contractions stopped. The drive home is about 30 minutes, and it seemed as if I hit every red light.
At home I put the salmon I bought in the refrigerator and rushed into the bathroom. I stayed in the tub, but the contractions were not slowing down. This was the real deal. I called the doctor's office and they told me to go to the hospital. I called Cory and told him we needed to go and he came home to pick me up. He came in to find me on the floor in pain. He loaded the car while I knelt in front of the recliner draping myself over the seat.
We drove back to Myrtle Beach trying to avoid the Friday vacationer traffic. We arrived at the ER and told them I had preregistered, but apparently that meant very little to them. The nurse took my vital signs and they asked me all the same questions they did with the preregistration and then wheeled me up to labor and delivery. The ward was very busy that day (full moon, they said) and she took me into my room. "Put this gown on and they will probably want a urine sample," the nurse said. "Is there a cup to pee in," I asked. "I don't know," she replied and then left.
I disrobed in a flash and pulled on the gown, but didn't tie it before another contraction hit me. I once again took the kneeling position in front of the recliner in the room. We learned in our birthing class that there comes a time where you lose all modesty with child birth. Well, according to my husband, I had lost mine since he was greeted by my bare bottom as he entered the room. He helped me to the bathroom and found me a cup. I soon had the desire to vomit and up came my lunch in the toilet. My husband pulled the emergency cord and finally an L&D nurse joined us. She helped me to the bed and placed an IV catheter, started IV fluids, checked me to find I was 4 cm dilated and placed the fetal monitor on me. Over the next few hours several nurses attended to me and asked me a bazillion questions, mostly the same ones over and over again! It is never fun talking during a contraction and it's even more annoying answering redundant questions!
The doctor finally came in and checked me and asked about drugs. I told her, "No, thank you." and she looked at me like I had two heads. She told me she could break my water and that may help with the pain. I was fine with this procedure especially since my mother said once the doctor broke her water my brother and I cane very quickly. I told my husband that we would give it an hour from breaking my water and if I wasn't progressing then I may take drugs. Luckily, an hour later I was 6 cm dilated. I can do this, I told myself.
I pressed on and within a few hours I was nearly 10 cm dilated. The nurse said there was a small lip of cervix still present. I got out of the bed and did some squats to try and encourage everything to open up. While in the squat I would get the urge to push so the nurse held the lip of cervix back while I pushed in the squat position. Now this was much better than sitting through the contraction. I loved feeling more in control! After pushing for awhile while squatting the nurse moved me back in the bed. The doctor came in and decided to do an episiotomy. I then pushed for another 45-60 minutes. There was concern that the cord was around her neck (and it was) because her heartrate drastically reduced after pushing, but quickly returned to normal after the contraction. The final push was a long, tiring push, but she came out quickly at 11:23 pm. All was well and she was beautiful with a full head of hair. The pain was forgotten, I was in love!

Mom and Daughter the day after Evangeline's birth.

She nursed very well. In fact, she came from the womb sucking on anything including her hands, her lip and even the blanket. I told my husband she was a hungry hippo. And that's why we call her Evangepotamus or Potamus for short.

The Two Potami

Hip Hooters

I have been in search of comfortable reusable breast pads. My mother in law is even making me a few for Christmas. I bought several before I gave birth and they 1. Don't work well and 2. They are super itchy. I have searched online, but I'm afraid of purchasing something that may or may not work well. Well, there's an opportunity to win some. A friend, Jen, is having a giveaway of Hip Hooters an Organic breast pad. They are super cute and most importantly Jen says they work very well. Check out her blog, http://cavanjenleah.blogspot.com/ and also check out Hip Hooters at http://www.etsy.com/shop/myorganicbreastpads?ga_search_query=Hip+hooters&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes%5B0%5D=tags&includes%5B1%5D=title&filter%5B0%5D=handmade
Good Luck!

UPDATE:
I won the giveaway. So I will let everyone know how they work out! :^)
I tried the pads and they work very well. No leaks and they come in super cute patterns. The outline does show through on some shirts, but I don't have a pad that this doesn't happen with. I also think they are super comfortable. My mother-in-law made me some for Christmas too and those are very comfy because the inner lining is minky. So soft!

Pregnancy

Thanks to Meredith at A Spot in Time Photography

I loved being pregnant. Sure, there were the annoying bits...morning sickness, heart burn, fatigue, hemmorhoids, restless legs, swollen feet, insomnia, etc., but for the most part I loved it. Maybe it's because I had lost my previous pregnancy and so I enjoyed the outward signs of a healthy baby, maybe it was because it gave me an excuse to eat what I craved. I loved watching my belly enlarge. I even wore a bikini which I would've never worn before pregnancy and won't wear again until I'm pregnant again! I figured that I had an excuse to have a big belly so why not let it hang out?

I loved feeling Evangeline growing and moving inside of me. Boy could she kick! I joked that we would call her Jean Claude if she were a boy. Lucky for her she's not a boy and I don't know any female kick boxers.
About 2 weeks before my due date I was done with the pregnancy thing. I felt like a whale and my feet were swollen. In the end we both survived pregnancy and she has a belly button to show for it and I have the stretch marks.

A Bit About Me

I am totally new to this blogging thing. I figured this will be a good way to keep friends and family up-to-date on our family and evolve from there. I am unsure how dedicated I will be especially as Evangeline grows and keeps me busy, but I will do my best.
A little history on me and my family of 3. I am from Texas and my husband, Cory is from Georgia (most recently-his father worked for the military so he's lived all over). We are both veterinarians. We met after I moved to South Carolina, fresh from veterinary school in 2002. I was not yet licensed to practice on my own and my boss found himself unable to work and oversee me shortly after I started. The manager asked another local office if they could spare a vet to oversee me until I was licensed. They sent Cory for a couple of days.
When I first saw him I thought he was quite good looking in his khakis and shirt and tie. Our managers then worked hard to set us up. Our first date was walking our dogs in town. We fell in love quickly and were engaged a few months later, marrying September 6, 2003, nearly a year after we met. Of course our dogs were in the wedding!
I loved married life and he and I love to do outdoor activities like hiking, kayaking, and biking and traveling locally and abroad. We are also very involved in our church and we even lead a weekly Life Group.
After 4 years of marriage we decided to try and have a baby (or not not try). After a year of no success I saw my OB. Testing in their office and at a fertility specialty office revealed nothing specifically wrong. We tried some fertility medications and my OB performed an intrauterine insemination (they placed the sperm directly in my uterus bypassing the cervix-very romantic). It did not work so we went to the fertility specialist and he amped up the drugs. I took pills and gave myself injections and then we traveled 2 hours to the clinic for another intrauterine insemination. On February 15, 2009 at 3 am I found out I was pregnant. I was so excited! I woke Cory and told him. He said, "I thought your boobs looked bigger." I couldn't go back to sleep. I called my mom in England to tell her the news and then I looked up nursery items for the baby that would join us in October.
Everything went well. The fertility specialists followed my progress until I was 9 weeks pregnant and then transferred me to my OB. At 10 weeks 6 days I had my first ultrasound at the OB's office. All looked great! He asked me to come back in 2 weeks for a pap smear. At that appointment I joked with him, telling him how cold his hands were. He did my exam and then took out the Doppler heart monitor. He moved it around on my belly, but heard nothing. He said he wanted to do an ultrasound to check things out, telling me this early it can be difficult to find the heart beat. I knew right away when I saw the baby something was wrong. "There's no heartbeat," I said. "I'm sorry," he replied. I was in total shock. I'd had a silent miscarriage/abortion where my body hadn't yet received the signal that my baby had died and so there was no bleeding. I did stop having morning sickness, but I thought that was because I was heading into the second trimester. I left the office without crying. In my car I called my husband and that's when the tears flooded out. "The baby is dead," I told him, but he couldn't understand me. I had to tell him 3 or 4 times before he understood me.
We decided to have a D&C because I was fearful of seeing the decomposed baby once my body figured it out and aborted it. I was anesthetized and the doctor did the procedure. Once I was awake my husband came back to the recovery area and I started to cry. No longer was my child attached to me, deep inside of me. I was not pregnant any more.
Even though we were not very far along in our pregnancy many people knew we were pregnant because they knew of our fertility struggles and treatments. Plus once we knew we were finally pregnant it was so hard to keep it a secret. My friends asked what they could do to help and I told them to spread the word. My biggest fear was having people come up to me and rub my belly and ask when I would start showing. I didn't want to have to say I'd had a miscarriage and I didn't want to have them feel bad for asking. So my friends had my permission to "gossip" and thankfully I only had to tell a couple of people myself.
We decided we would start trying to get pregnant again immediately. Once pregnant you often find it easier to get pregnant again the doctors told me. After 3 months we still weren't pregnant. We went back for another IUI at the fertility clinic, but it failed. We could no longer travel that far for treatments because of my husband's job. I decided to try acupuncture. Every week for 3 months I would go in for treatments. It turned out to be quite relaxing. I often fell asleep. Dr. Dong also had me follow my basal body temperatures which I had already been doing. I would wake every morning at the same time and take my temperature before ever leaving the bed. Basal body temperatures help you see you menstrual cycle in detail and determine if you are ovulating. In the middle of the third month on my treatment day, I took my temperature and it had climbed nearly a degree. Hmmm, that's higher than usual for me. Maybe this is a good sign, I thought. About 10 days later my temperature had remained elevated. Typically it falls just before your period starts. So I took a pregnancy test at 5 am that morning. POSITIVE!!! And so the journey to motherhood began again, but thank God this time the pregnancy would end with a beautiful, healthy baby girl!