Should There Be Another...

These are the things I will remember if we have another baby:

1. The first six weeks are hard and I will let the baby sleep wherever, whenever and not worry I'm forming bad habits.

2. I will wear the baby more than I wore Ingrid. I didn't know about wraps with Ingrid, we had a front pack and I used that instead of a stroller and when I wanted to get things done and she was fussy, but I will use a wrap and really WEAR baby #2. If we have one, this is all hypothetical :)

3. I will try to nurse. I have meds I'm on and I don't want to NOT be on them, but I never really tried to find out if there were similar meds that I could've nursed on. Formula sucks, I don't think it's evil, but BF would be so much easier I think.

4. I will try to cosleep. We had Ingrid in our room but I was so crazy about every single noise she made that I would jump up and check on her. We both slept better in separate rooms. Until just a few months ago when she started getting up every hour for a couple weeks--I would've loved to be cosleeping then so I could stay in bed and try to comfort her instead of getting up, walking to her room, rocking her, putting her down, walking back to my room, getting in bed, and then hearing her cry again.

5. I will for sure cloth diaper from day one. Now that I understand how much money those stupid disposables cost when you can get super cute cushy cloth ones, I can't believe I went a whole year using them!! I am such a convert!

I just read a blog carnival about cloth diapering and what you know now that you wish you'd known then and it just got me thinking of having a kid in general. There are so many things I wish I would've known when Ingrid was born. But that's a dumb reason to have another kid, right?

Possible TMI

Sorry, everyone, this may be too much information. BUT--I have to share. After using cloth diapers I see how it's really not as gross as I thought it would be. Or else I'm just desensitized to poo and wee. But it got me thinking about other paper products that I use and could get rid of. I already stopped buying paper napkins and paper towels, we just have a big stash of cheap-o washcloths from Target we use. I got rid of disposable diapers, I would LOVE to get rid of toilet paper and use family cloths (but fat chance of that with Brendan, I don't think he'd go for it!) And then I said wait, pads! I use pads! I throw them away! They must go!

So, off to etsy I went, and after a little browsing, I found these cloth pads. I ordered a starter pack of 5, got them in the mail, washed them with Ingrid's diapers a couple times, and then waited (and waited) to use them. When it was time, I was so excited! A) because I thought I might be pregnant and DID NOT want to be, and B) because I had these really cute flannel pads sitting in my drawer waiting to be snapped into my underwear!

It's been a couple days now and the verdict is in: I LOVE THESE THINGS! They work so much better than even my best name brand pads, I haven't had a single leak even at night, and let's face it, they are so much cuter than looking at white plastic that has god knows what chemicals in them...After using them you just rinse them out in cold water, keep them wet until you wash them, and then I just threw them in with the diapers. Easy peasy and they're ready to use again today.

At first I was grossed out because it's...blood. But then really, I deal with so much poo from Ingrid, is it really that much worse?? To be honest, dealing with raw chicken grosses me out way more than either of those bodily functions. So if you're squeamish, it may not be for you, but if you already cloth diaper or have a strong constitution, try them!! I just ordered more from this lady and now I'll have a complete set for around $60. I'm so pleased!

Uh, YUM.

I have been having fun lately making things with whole wheat flour or spelt flour, adding flaxseed meal to things, etc. Today I came across a recipe for spelt cookies but I messed around with it to be able to use what I had in the house. (It called for maple syrup and molasses. I don't keep real maple syrup at home, we use the crappy stuff...) I just got the cookies out of the oven and I am SO proud of myself! They turned out great!

Here's the recipe:

1/4 cup oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbs flaxseed meal mixed with 3 Tbs water (let sit for 2 minutes before adding. This is an egg substitue)

1 1/2 cup spelt flour

1 tsp each baking soda and powder

chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

I had to add a little more flour to make it a good consistency, but it was around a cup and a half. The cookies are chewy and tasty and VEGAN! I didn't even think about that, but no eggs and no butter means no animal products. Cool. It was fun to try something new and have them turn out! Next time I make cookies I'm going to substitue almond butter in my peanut butter cookie recipe, with whole wheat or spelt flour. I have SUCH a sweet tooth and it would make me feel better if I baked stuff that at least was whole grain, even if it does have chocolate in it.

My Job

I love my job. I love that I get to sit here on the computer with a cup of coffee while Ingrid reads books. I am in my pajamas, I haven't yet washed my face or brushed my teeth, I don't even have to until I'm good and ready for it. I love that I get to just...be.

My days consist of figuring out how to entertain a one year old and making a mental list of what needs to get done around the house. And if I have a free minute I can watch dvr-ed House Hunters or do some crafting. Or both! Or take a nap!

I really enjoyed being a nanny because it wasn't like a "real" job. But there I had to do things according to someone else's idea of what was good for the kid, good for the house. Here I get to do whatever I want because it's my kid, it's my house, and if the laundry piles up because I just don't feel like doing it that day, I don't have to explain it to anyone!

I feel like this is just the job meant for me and I thank my lucky stars that Brendan is such a dedicated scientist and that he loves to work and bring home the bacon. And I like that he seems to appreciate everything I do around here and doesn't make me feel like I should be working a job outside the home. He knows how important it is for Ingrid to have a parent watching her all day, and he knows that if I'm home it means he doesn't have to do much around the house because I get it done.

Obviously there are cons to this situation (no sick days, no going home at 5pm, no sleeping in on the weekends) but I think the payoffs are worth any of those cons. I just feel so lucky that this is my life :)

Morning Walks

I love our morning walks. I get Ingrid in the stroller and Cody on his leash and we take off. We usually do the same 2 mile walk along the street in front of the apartment complex. It takes us by the lake and through big old trees and we always meet the most random people. Today it was an older gentleman with ankle weights and a weighted vest walking along using ski poles. Another day was a man on a bike pulled off to the side eating berries of the vines that grow all over the place.

While I walk Ingrid usually just goes along for the ride. She points out planes in the sky or birds that fly in front of us. I end up daydreaming about where our life will take us. Usually I daydream about where we'll move to when Brendan is done with his fellowship. Will we go back to Milwaukee? Will he get a job with the government and we'll end up in the DC area? Or will he look for a job in Colorado so we can live by mountains like we want to? So many possibilities!

Other days I daydream about buying a house and fixing it up. I am not one to look for a turnkey house. I really want an old house with good bones that I can strip off wallpaper, paint the walls, redo the floors, paint the cabinets, put in new countertops. I want to be able to see my work when I'm done, feel like it's our home because we put so much of ourselves into it. Of course, I've never taken on a project like that, so we'll see if/when it becomes a reality how jolly I feel about it...But it's great to daydream.

I love that anything is possible in daydreams. Yeah, we probably can't afford to put in new flooring throughout the whole house when we buy a house but I don't care! We totally will not be able to afford living in the DC area, but I don't care! I think it's good for the mind to wander and have a chance to go over things. That's what my morning walks are for, and if Ingrid gets fresh air and Cody gets to pee on everything, then that's just an added bonus :)

One Kid or Two?

The past couple weeks I have been extremely tired. Like falling asleep at 8pm tired, not being able to wake up even with the smell of coffee tired, taking a two hour nap with Ingrid tired. I thought it was just a medicine I had started, but after talking with a friend that is a nurse and familiar with this drug, she said fatigue isn't a side effect. So I started looking at other things that had been going on and thought "Oh crap, I've been tired like I was tired when I got pregnant."

Brendan and I were dead set on only having one child. A couple months ago we started talking about perhaps having another when Ingrid is at least 2. But we decided we'd think more seriously about it after we're done here in MI and we move and buy a house. So a baby is not in the near future for us. I would of course be happy if that were the case, but at the same time IT IS TOO SOON!! Ingrid isn't always sleeping through the night, she just started walking, she's still in diapers, she can't talk in sentences. She is a toddler but still a baby, you know?

So...a trip to Target and a negative pregnancy test later (I must just be tired) it really has me thinking about how many kids I want. I love Ingrid to death and she is so much fun and so cute and gives me so much happiness. I want to give her everything she needs and be able to travel with her and do fun things with her. But then I think of how much I like my relationship with my sister and I want that for Ingrid, too. And I think having another baby would be good because I have so much more experience now after Ingrid's first year that I could use for another one. And would another child really make it impossible to travel and do fun things as a family?

There are just so many things in my head and I keep going back and forth and it's silly, really, because we're not even there yet! We don't have to make a decision, I'm only 32, I still have a few childbearing years ahead of me. It just sucks to always have this on my mind. I liked it better when Ingrid was a baby and I was super sure I didn't want anymore.

And Here is Where I Ramble.

I have Ingrid's blog, which was originally for keeping my family up to date with her. Then I started finding all these amazing blogs on the web and it's got me thinking of so many things: homeschooling, attachement parenting, nursing/formula feeding, crafty things, eating a more healthy diet, having only one kid or more, and other random things. So instead of making my family read about that when all they want is to see cute pictures of my daughter, I started this side blog for me and my ramblings.

I love comments and conversations, so let me know you stopped by and if you have any wisdom to share with me :)