The Day Staci Started (army) Crawling!

Today started out like any other normal Saturday--it's my day to sleep in (YAY!) so Max gets up with Staci when she wakes up, usually around 7.  He put her down for her morning nap about the time I got out of bed and took himself to Fry's to buy his Christmas present--a new computer (since I don't work outside the home and it was the first time he'd EVER said there was something he wanted for Christmas, and he wanted it before the old computer crashed again, I gave him teh go ahead to just go get it!).  He got home just a few minutes before Staci woke up, and we hung out with him while he put together his new game playing console (AKA brand new computer).  Staci must have been REALLY interested in the computer accessories, because this is when she started pulling herself forward. 

So, Staci is moving!  A couple of weeks ago she started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth, and just today she began dragging herself forward, or army crawling.

So, Where Have I Been?

So, where have I been, you might be wondering? Well, I've spent most of my online time this month doing 'The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt' through Diaper Decisions--a website dedicated to helping home based cloth diaper and natural parenting websites. You can read more about it here. I have officially found all 170 diaper icons and will be entered into all of the drawings, so I'm hopeful to win at least a little something, but if not I still had a blast doing all of the hunts! It's basically a giant virtual scavenger hunt for grown ups, and I got to learn so much along the way.


One of the most interesting things I learned in my 170 natural parenting website scavenger hunt was the idea of Elimination Communication, or EC.  I had never heard of this before, and to be frank, was a little caught off-guard at the idea of it.  However, the more I think about it, the more interesting it becomes.  I haven't done enough research yet to decide if this is something I want to try, but I figure we could start extremely slowly and go for maybe one less diaper a day, or even one less diaper a week.  I just think it would help bring my bond with Staci to another level--learning to communicate with her even more than I already do. 
 
Also, I was inspired by many of the websites I saw.  I even started thinking of learning to sew and trying my hand at making my own cloth diapers.  When we are ready for baby #2, we will at least be needing some newborn sized cloth diapers so I figured I could start with those.  This is just a pipe dream at this point, but *IF* I decided I liked sewing them I could maybe even open my own online store--and Etsy or Hyenacart site. I could potentially even design some of my own skin care/baby care products and use my esthetics background. 
 
It all seems very exciting to me at this point, but first I have to learn how to sew.  And after I've tried a few times at making diapers, then I can decide if it's something I want to pursue.

I'm back!

Whew!  I can't believe it's been almost an entire month since I have updated this! Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We had a wonderful holiday.  My mom came over to help me cook and clean in preparation for our family's celebration which I hosted here on Wednesday evening.  It was great fun, and a lot less pressure than the traditional hosting because we opted for a potluck style meal.  Most things turned out wonderful even though we hadn't tried the recipes before, and Mom and I were very proud of ourselves for cooking a turkey for the first time!  Usually, my dad is the one to take over in the kitchen but he was on the way to Baltimore to visit with a friend's family so we were on our own. 

I did get a bit flustered and overwhelmed when it was time to sit down and eat.  Staci was fussing (had refused her afternoon nap, so this was inevitable), and I had no clue how to carve a turkey. Thankfully, my mom took over and all was right again in the world, LOL. 

After the meal, we all sat around visiting, and Quinn--my 17 month old nephew-- was the life of the party.  He was so funny!  He loved my mom's phone, and she called her messages and let him listen to them, and he walked around pretending to talk on the phone for a good 30-45 minutes.  He was hilarious, babbling, gesturing, pacing, and at one point went to go have some privacy in his 'office' (the stairs).  Whenever someone would call the phone and it would play a song, he would dance.  It was so cute!

On Thursday we went to Max's aunt's home and enjoyed a wonderful meal with them.  Staci was a good baby and didn't cry a single time!  She even went down for a nap while we were there without being rocked--now that is a real miracle.