10 months!

I cannot believe that Blake is ten months old today! Where has the time gone? And what a past month it has been. So much has happened! In the past month my little boy has learned to crawl, gotten his first two teeth (the two bottom middle ones), shakes his head yes and no (though mostly no...haha), says "uh uh," gives me high (well, low) fives, I think he's saying "dog," Andrea and Mom have heard him say "thank you" after they blessed him for sneezes (two separate occasions), he gives me what I think are (very slobbery) kisses on the cheek, and he's learning to share a little. He also loves to climb any and everything. In fact, typing this blog is proving especially hard, since he's crawling all over me and the computer, just being too much help. :)

The other morning, my mom had gotten him in the early morning when he woke up, and later laid him on my chest. He started crawling up to my face (he likes to get super face to face with me), and she said "Do you love your mommy?" and he nodded his head yes. Best wake up ever. :)

About a week ago he was eating a banana out of his little mesh feeder thing, sitting on my lap, and he tried to feed me some of it, then he'd eat some, and he'd try to feed me some, and did this for a while. That was the first time he's ever shared! And it was with me! :) Now days he doesn't care about baby food at all. He just wants to eat our grown up food. It's cute, but since he kind of gags for most solid foods, that doesn't always end too well. He LOVES bananas though. SO MUCH.

Let's see, what else can he do? He can walk backwards only in his walker. He seems to understand a lot of what we say to him. Like earlier, I asked him if he was being silly and he said "uh uh." It was cute. :) Me and Blake actually play a game where he smiles and sticks his tongue out (his new thing...hehe) and shakes his head no and says "uh uh," and then I'll nod and say "uh huh!" and we'll go back and forth like that for a while. It's so sweet! He's just got such a cute personality.

He's grown a lot too. He's now around 13 lbs. :) Finally! And I can't believe that in two months, i'll be celebrating his first birthday! I really need to get on the ball with planning his birthday party. I pretty much know about what I'm doing, but not really in detail. I would go check everything out tomorrow before work, buy of course it's memorial day and everything that I want to do is closed. Boo! Oh well, maybe I can FINALLY do my FAFSA, since it's due by June. And while I'm at it, maybe I'll go ahead and apply for graduation, so I can officially have my associates. :)

I've been really into scrap booking lately. I'm glad that I've finally started to do it again. Even now, I'm only in about month five of Blake's life, so I guess halfway through! Haha. It's turning out pretty cute in my opinion though. :)

We go back to Gainesville on the 2nd of June. I'm pretty happy to be going back there, not so much for the trip, but more so because I'm hoping they will give me some meds to give Blake for his itching. I hope it works, I've heard it's a hit or miss. I'm not a big medicine person, but it's so hard watching him be so miserable and tear into himself like he does, I'll give him more medicine if it will help him. He goes back and forth between being in a super good mood all day and being just taken over with the itching. And those times are the absolute hardest, just because there's not a lot you can do for them. :(

And also, so sorry for not blogging in a while. I've just been in such a funk, I just don't feel like using technology. I just feel like closing myself off from the world for a while, just me and my baby. I watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants tonight, and just watching Lena spend time by herself in Greece seemed amazing to me. I want that right now. I want to just spend the days not worrying about anything but me and my baby. Not about work, not about chores, not about getting online. I just feel weird, like fed up with people. Not really anyone in general, I guess just having to be social. I think a lot of it is having to bow down to tourists at work. And then I'm a little stressed because I guess to get the apartments I want (well, am trying for, because that's all I can afford), I have to ask for child support. I do NOT want to do that. Seriously, that's enough to make me say never mind about the apartments period. But I need space. So badly. This house is so tiny, especially for as many people as we have crammed in here. And I'm so tired of working. I feel like all I ever do is work now, and I hate it. But gotta pay the bills. Know anyone who's hiring with good hours and pay? That'd be nice.

Mom wants me to just stay at home and save up for a house, which is very tempting. I want to buy a house so bad. And I think I want to get married. Not right now or anything, but I think I do one day. The only part I don't like is having to cater to someone else like that...for example, what if I want to paint the walls green, but he wants them blue? Then what would we paint them? I have ideas of what I want my house to look like once I have one, and Ray does too. The only problem is that they're not really the same ideas. But I suppose we'll work something out. :) Not saying that Ray and I are getting married, but he's the current guy and decided to use him as an example.

Well, since it's very late (or rather early!), I should get myself and Blake off to bed. Night!

Cloth diaper stash!

Alrighty, here is the cloth diaper blog I promised! :D I want to start off by saying that on some of the diapers, such as prefolds and wipes, only show a few of the collection. I have more of both, but I didn't feel like dragging all of them out. :)

Here is the whole stash at a glance.



Now to pick through it all!

First, here are the prefolds. They're just the gerber prefolds. Nothing luxurious, but they certainly get the job done! Some of mine have this polyester pad sewn in the middle, some don't. These days I'm actually preferring the ones that do, just b/c it's extra absorbency and seems to snappi better (in my opinion).



Next are my flats! These are all I have of my flat diapers. I like them okay. I just got them not too long ago and am still getting used to getting an awesome fit with these. If I work at it, I can get it, but with as much as Blake hates diaper changes, getting that awesome fit is a very hard thing to achieve (escape artist!). I think with practice though I'll get better at it. :) I do like how ultra trim they are thought! Trimmest diaper ever.



These are all my doublers and inserts and such. Starting from the left, we have the plaid fleece liners I made (I put these on the top layer of a lot of his diapers, amazing at pulling the wetness away!), brown microfiber towels (I use these mostly in the pockets I make, or sometimes wrap them in a prefold and use them in my Flip covers), under those is a fleece lined Kissaluv's doubler, then my stay dry Flip inserts, hemp doublers from Hemp Babies (these are amazing!), then some microfiber newborn inserts from BumGenius, and then above that some terry washcloths. Those make nice trim doublers. :)



These are all my fleece pull up covers. I'm not a big fan of these. They do what they're supposed to do, and are SUPER cute, but what a pain to get on, and over a diaper! They're just such a battle to pull on, I don't use them a whole lot. But in a pinch, they will do.



All my other diaper covers! All of these except for the one with the trees are Flip covers. Favorite covers ever! I'm in love with these. And the whole one size is cool. :) The cute cover with trees is a Thirsties Duo Wrap. Super cute! But everytime I've used it, I've had a leak or at lease pee on the outside on the first wear. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, I don't know, but I don't feel like I'm any beginner at putting on diaper covers, so I don't know! I've seen so many raves on these covers, I feel like I should love them too! So maybe I am doing it wrong, don't know!



These are my wipes. This was my first diaper sewing project. It's just flannel that's surged. They work pretty well though! I have a ton of them, and use them for everything. :)



Now for my bumgenius AIO and some fitted diapers. I really like these diapers, both of them! I'm sad that they And making the bamboo fitteds though. At lease I can still buy the AIO's!



And finally, the diapers I made! In this order, fitted pocket, AIO pocket, fitted pocket!



Let's take a closer look at these newbies:







Last I would like to say I also have three gDiapers. I don't really ever use them. They're SO cute, but I can't get a good fit with them. I think it's because Blake's thighs are so tiny. My friend uses them and they work well with her! But anyway, I just forgot to take a picture of them. Oops!

Well, that's about it! Hopefully more to come, because I'm loving making some diapers lately. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

My first one. :) Unfortunately, I will be at work later on, and even more unfortunately, it's Sunday, so I will be taking the inventory (pain in the you know what). BUT, I'm determined to make the best of it! Little Blake got me a balloon and some candy, what a sweetheart! And the card I made my mom, yeah she thought it was store bought. Who makes awesome cards???? Haha. :D

Blake's been doing alright, I think he's sorta close to cruising. :) Yesterday at a birthday party I had him standing next to a bench, and he scooted down it a little bit. Baby steps (no pun intended)! Speaking of birthdays, I can't believe my little man is about to be a year old soon! It's just SO hard to believe. I was looking at birthday cards the other day, and came across some first birthday ones and, no joke, was on the verge of tears! I don't really cry a whole lot, especially over things like this, but I really was close. I don't want my baby to grow up! I mean, I do, but it's all so bittersweet.

Baby boy has been pretty itchy, but it doesn't look like his xanthomas have gotten any worse. Not any better either, but at least not worse. I don't think they'll go away until his cholesterol gets lower. I'm a little anxious for him to reach the three year mark, because I've heard that a lot of times kids experience spontaneous rapid improvement around that time. I'm so ready for that for him. I feel so bad, he seems so miserable these days, just with itching so much. I wish I could take it all for him, the itching, the jaundice, any heart problems, all of it. It's so not fair that he has to go through all of this. Everyone who has non-jaundiced babies who are not itching horribly at every moment needs to be extremely thankful. It's so hard to watch him go through this, and I feel so, I don't know, helpless. I want to help take that away for him, but what can I do? I help scratch him, I lotion him up, give him his meds/vitamins, what else to do? He seems a little less happy-go-lucky than what he was a couple months ago, and I'm sure it's because of the intense itching. I hate that he has to spend his most worry free innocent years being too busy with scratching everywhere and being in such discomfort. I'm extremely thankful for my sweet boy, don't get me wrong, but I wish he didn't have to go through so much so young. I know there are people who are worse off than us, but all the same he's my baby, and I want to help him through every little discomfort he may have.

Anyway, on a happier note, I've made two new diapers since the last post. :) One is another flannel pocket diaper, and the other is an all in one pocket. I made it with fleece and then cotton knit on the back and wings for decoration. I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! I haven't tried it out yet though, so I'm not sure how well it's going to work. Once I get more proficient at making these, I think I might start taking some volunteers to try out these diapers to see how truly "one size" this pattern is. The first one I made seems to fit Blake great. I usually stuff mine with a micro-fiber towel that I bought a pack of at Ross, and they also have them at Big Lots and I'm sure any other store, and that seems to work well. But you can also use a prefold or really anything that you prefer. :) Let me know what you think of that idea, and if you would be interested in trying out any! :D

I will post pics a little later today, in a new post. I still need to take/upload the pictures! :)

Oh how time flies...

I want to start off saying that I canNOT believe that Blake is already 9 months old! And get this, CRAWLING! Finally. :) I knew he'd get it, and he did it for the first time yesterday. He's still working on perfecting it, but he's definitely getting the hang of it. He's growing up so fast! I mean, he's a pro a sitting up super straight with no problem, and he's getting better and better at sitting up from laying down and pulling up to standing. He's always trying to pull himself up to standing. And he's so proud when he does! :D

I think he might be somewhat grasping the concept of sharing. Tonight he was playing with his pacifier, and kept holding it out to me. Everytime I went to take it, he'd snatch it back, until finally I opened my mouth for him and he tried to put it in my mouth (sideways, but it's the thought that counts!). It was so sweet!

Let's see, what else...hmm, well he's still jaundiced, and still itchy, somedays worse than others. He's starting to get xanthomas on his fingers. :( I also feel like he sleeps a lot more than other babies his age, probably because of the jaundice (makes them sleepy). Last week (I think?) he was 11 lbs 12 oz, so ALMOST 12 lbs. But, he was a little over 26 inches...last time I took him only a month before he was 24 inches, so that's not bad I don't think.

Oh! He's also turning into quite the chatterbox! He doesn't say any words yet, but man he babbles like no tomorrow! :) He says rarara, bababa, dadada, gagaga, etc...but still only mama when he's crying or mad. :( Oh well, one of these days, hopefully soon, he will!

As I side note, not about Blake, I finally have my AA! Well, kinda. I have my classes done, and I need to apply for graduation. I was stupid and missed it for this semester, so I have to wait for the end of summer to do it. But anyway, I'm basically done! And it feels SO good. :) I think I might know what I want to do now too: ASL translator. It just sounds like something I want to do; the more I think about it, the more excited I get. Now I just need to find a school that has the program (preferably not online). I'm working on it though! Or maybe I'll see if I can take the sign language classes at another school and do the rest online or something. I would prefer to do it in person though. Another side note: I'm finally down to one or two pounds lighter than what I was pre-pregnancy! :D Woo! The only down side is that all (ALL) of my work pants fall off. I went to buy some in a smaller size, and they were out of that size. Boo! So this was the smallest they had. Oh well. And yet another side note, me and Ray are doing AMAZING. :) So, so glad that we decided to date!

Well I think that's about all I have to ramble about for now. :) Not really any new pictures to post this time around, just been so busy doing finals and then working, but next post I think I'll post some pics of my cloth diaper collection if anyone is nosey enough to want to know! I don't know, I love looking at diaper collections, and I know I'm not the only one! Maybe I'll have made some new diapers by then! :D

Another first!

Today Blake finally drank out of his sippy cup! He seemed to be having problems transitioning from the bottle to a hardish sippy cup, so I tried the Nuk sippy cups (since he uses their bottles, why not), and it was a good buy. :) The sippy cup top is out of the same silicone that the bottle nipples are, but a little firmer and a little more controlled flow. Worked wonders! I'm glad. :D

Had some more sperm donor drama today, but thinking it might finally be over with. :) We can only hope!

I've started putting Blake in his crib to sleep. Tonight would be night number four that he sleeps there. :) He does good in there. He still doesn't sleep through the night, so it's a little more of a pain on my part, but oh well. He's fallen off my bed twice, so I figured that I guess it's time for the crib. Except I put him in it tonight, looked over a minute later, and his little head pops up. Guess he decided that he loves standing up! Little stinker. :)

I finally have pics up of my diaper! Woo hoo! I definitely need to practice making more and improve my sewing, but it's getting there. A lot better than I was when I first made my wipes! I surged those though, which in my opinion, is a lot harder! Less forgiving more so. But anyway, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out! It's made out of flannel. Flannel doesn't snappi too well, so I've been using pins. I'm not too efficient at pinning, so I need some practice. And for me, it was really hard to pin through. But maybe it was just me! I think I'm gunna try to make some with cotton knit over the wings, to make it more snappy friendly. :) I also want to make some covers with this pattern out of fleece and knit on the wings. I just have a lot of ideas for these diapers. I'm so excited! I need school to get out so I can devote more attention to these instead of schoolwork. :) A couple of people have mentioned that I should sell these. :) Would you buy one? Maybe I'll think about it when I have more time.

Things have been pretty steady

Sorry it's been about a million years since I've posted! I've just been pretty bogged down with work getting so crazy (at last, the slow period between spring and summer break is here!) and my classes getting ready to end soon. I've just been a busy girl!

So where to begin...health-wise Blake has been about the same, still itchy and all, but I've noticed that lotion does help, so I've been trying to put that on him when he seems to get super itchy. And during baths and just after I've noticed that I have to put socks on his hands so he doesn't tear himself up. It's not that bad when he has clothes on, but as soon as they come off...watch out. Which I think is a little weird, but I guess whatever floats his boat. Also when i change his diaper his hands go straight down to his...erm..."junk" and just scratches the heck out of that area. :( So a lot of times I'll enlist in someone to hold his hands while I change his diaper, especially if it's a poopy diaper.

Oh! And Blake pulled himself up to standing on April 1st. Must have been his version of an April Fool's joke though, since he hasn't done it again. :( But he will stand if he can hold onto something...even though he doesn't always realize that he needs to hold on or else he'll fall over. So a lot of times, he'll hold on for a second, let go, balance for a millisecond, and then fall over and cry. He's thisclose to crawling. He crawled a couple of...um...idk what to call it, steps? last night on his knees finally. A lot of times he just either does the army crawl or does his little inch worm thing where he sticks his butt up in the air and then lays on his tummy, over and over. I just love his little arms! They're so muscular, probably from his army crawls. But yeah, baby boy definitely gets around! And he's still into absolutely everything.

Still no teeth to speak of. I started giving him biter biscuits to try to help his teething, which are okay until he gets a piece off into his mouth. After that he just gags and usually throws up a little bit. :( Even with mushy veggies, cheerios, anything he does that. Tonight I got some rice snack things (Baby Mum Mum, Vegetable flavor) and love them! They taste pretty good, and he thinks so too. :) They advertise no mess and easy to dissolve, and they're so right! The biter biscuits would be sooo messy, and these aren't. Plus they're individually wrapped (well, wrapped in twos), which is bad for the planet, but so convenient for throwing in the diaper bag. And he didn't gag on it! Well I take that back, he did once on a bigger piece he got off, BUT didn't throw up, and swallowed it! Yay! Maybe this could be his gateway swallowing food haha. But yeah, I'm sold!

Hmm, let's see, what else has happened in the past month. He went to the beach for the first time, but that wasn't anything too exciting. I made my first cloth diaper, and it turned out pretty cute I must say. :) I can't wait to make more, and I have so many ideas, but I think I need to be done with school before I jump into more of those, so I don't feel too guilty about putting in so much time into something that isn't school related (I've been slacking a LOT lately...not good!). My last final is May 1st, so after that! But yeah, I haven't uploaded the pics of that yet, so next post, I promise! I think that's about it. OH! I did buy some sweet pea seeds today to plant for my sweet pea. :) I don't feel I have the time this year to really jump into gardening full fledge, so maybe this can be my starter plant. Thanks to the afore mentioned Sabrina, I now know how to start them out. :) I love having friends with green thumbs!

Ray and I are still just amazing. It's safe to say I'm in love I believe. What's not to love? He's this awesomely sweet guy who cares for me AND Blake...oh he's just so great with Blake, I love watching them together. I don't want to get all mushy on this though about the sweet love story that just so happens to be my life at the moment, SO I'll just leave it at that. :D

And now it's picture time. Since I've been gone for so long, I'll leave you with a few pics of my beautiful babe. The second pic is the same as the third, but I cropped it so you could see him more in detail, since the smaller version just couldn't do the little man justice! A bigger version of the pic is best though, of course! It's such a cute pic, Jessica of Wonderlife Photography did such a good job!

good news, less good news.

So a little while ago we got back the levels from his last blood test. His direct bilirubin is 5, which is awesome since in January it was 7.9. It's going down! I thought it was, but it's nice to see the numbers as proof. A little less than good news, his cholesterol level was 953. Normal is 100. It's not as high as some kids with AGS, but definitely higher than normal. No xanthomas still, so that's good. Hopefully it stays that way! I have noticed him itching though. :( Poor baby! It's not ruining his life yet or anything, but if his chest is uncovered, or his genitals or his legs, he just scratches away. I'm hoping it will soon get better rather than worse. Well of course I do, haha. Anyway, not only does he only have to go to Gainesville every three months, but now he only has to go to his pediatrician every month! We were going every two weeks. Finally, things are starting to slow down a bit. Now I just need to get physical therapy to rethink this weekly thing. :)

Blake LOVES solids now. It's so cute! He just gobbles them up. :) Which is cool, since someone told me that AGS kids a lot of times are on a liquid diet until they're ten years old! That's crazy! And he's trying so hard to crawl. He's been getting into the crawling position and rocking. So exciting! He's super mobile though, he's got his combat crawl down so well, and he's into absolutely everything, especially things that he should be, of course! Haha.

So in general things are just going really good. :) Besides the itching thing. It could be worse though. On top of that, things with Ray has been going great. :) I wish I didn't have to work so much, since I miss Blake so much. :( Hopefully that will get better soon too. We'll see. :)