April, Already?

My, oh my, one-quarter of the year gone already!  As a side note, we hit 10 weeks on Wednesday last week, so one-quarter of the way through our pregnancy too!

This last week, my Mother, Sister, Brother-in-law, and all 4 of our nephews came to visit!  We had a lot of fun in the time they were here, even if it did leave me exhausted at the end.  I had doctor appointments on the day they got here (after they arrived of course) and the afternoon of the only full day they were here!  I also had to go have blood work done in the morning of the day they left, so it was a very busy week for us all.  However, we did manage to pack in lots of baby shopping too!  They even helped me start my diaper stash!  Mom brought us a 10 pack of the single fold cloth diapers...I didn't realize how thin those were, but once I figure out how to fold them properly, I'm sure I can use them!  While they were here, we went to 4 or 5 second hand baby shops (I think they're all consignment types).  I wasn't really impressed by Other Mothers, mainly because they didn't have what I was there looking for...not prominently displayed anyway!  I did manage to find an adorable Tye-dye patterned all in one that is teeny tiny for only $1.99 (I snatched it up so fast my Mom didn't even know what I had gotten a death grip on)!  I also got a pale green Snappy for $0.99.
At Bugaboo's I found a one size (fits most) for $7 and a three pack of extra soakers for $5.99.  I sent one of the soakers home with Mom to copy, she even has one done and is mailing it back to me "for inspection" already, lol.  My favorite of all of our stops though has got to be Baby Boutique a resale shop, but their "actual" name escapes me...they had giant baskets stuffed with all kinds of cloth diapers!  All in ones, pockets, everything!  I picked up three more there!  While the family was visiting, we also hit Babies R Us, where my sister had a gift card to use, and she picked up a store branded version of a Boppy and I picked out two packages of Pre-folded cloth diapers from Gerber (also 10 packs, they were on sale buy one, get one 50% off), along with a package of white diaper pins (I can only find three of the four diaper pins I had floating around the house for craft projects).

Along with all those diapers...I got some hand me downs (from my sister's youngest who is 4 months old now), a couple of new ducky outfits (they are too hard to pass up and yellow works for a boy or a girl), a toy, a couple of homemade crib sheets (have you seen how pricey those suckers are?), a blanket, and half a package of baby hangers that my Mom crocheted on (they're super cute)!  Plus odds and ends, socks and such.  Our baby stash is out growing it's corner in the closet already!  We need to get furniture moved around and a dresser bought ASAP!  Also, from Garrick's parents, they are giving us a crib and high chair they bought when our nephew on that side of the family visited the first time, we need somewhere to go with those too!

Going with our "homemade" baby theme...I found a recipe for Homemade Diaper Wipes!  I don't think there is anything "wrong" with purchasing them, I just found this to be substantially cheaper then buying them!  A single roll of paper towels (the Select-A-Size kind), cut in half makes two containers of wipes!  From what I have read, that should last about a week, but even if I use more than one roll a week, it's all stuff we'll have "on hand" anyway and took all of 5 minutes to make!  The recipe I followed called for 2.5 cups of hot Water, 2 Tablespoons of Baby "soap" (I used Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo in Original scent), and 2 Tablespoons of Baby Oil (it said you could use Coconut or Vegetable oil instead, so I used the Vegetable Oil).  Since Viva paper towels are thicker than Brawny (the only brand I have seen recommended for this), I ended up using a full batch of the liquid with only half the paper towel roll (you cut it in half with a sharp, unserrated, knife).  Also, I added the other half of the liquid because the paper towels sucked up the first half and left dry towel in the center!  I poured the second half into the hole in the center to ensure they got soaked in the oily/soapy water too.  I'm giving this set of wipes to my youngest nephew (or his Mommy anyway) when I go down to visit them in the middle of April.  I'm going to purchase some tubs specifically for these wipes as soon as I make it to WalMart (where I can get them on the cheap), and get them "decorated"...then I can hopefully sit on my hands until a week or so before the baby is actually here to make up my first batch for "at home" use!

It's gonna be a very busy few months!  I have doctor's appointments every week in April, Garrick will be out of town the for a good portion of next week, and I'm bringing the 4-year old nephew back to spend a week with us before his Grandma and one of my Dad's cousins come for a visit and to take him home!  May and June appear quiet for the time being, but I know my Endocrinologist wants to see me every three weeks or so throughout my pregnancy, there's the monthly visits to the OB, and several more appointments with the Diabetes educator/nutritionists to boot!  As a side bonus...I won't have to do the Diabetes test at 20 weeks (since I already have it)!  Oh, which leads me back to June!  We'll be finding out (hopefully) if our little "Olive" (this week baby is the size of a Green Olive) is a boy or a girl!  Then, the first weekend in July is the big "kid swap/baby shower" weekend!  Our oldest nephew will be getting to come up for a week (or so) prior to that weekend and will travel with me to Portland for the shower and then I'll be bringing Nephew #2 home with me after the fact for his week of visiting.  Then, my Mom (and sister and Nephew #4, maybe) will come for another visit a week (or so) later to take him home!  Then August and September should be fairly "quiet" while we await early October and 37 weeks!

In the mean time...I'm off to Google "flat diaper folding" and "how to use a pre-fold diaper", lol.