To Colorado and Beyond!

After planning to move out of California for the last 5 or so years, and after choosing Colorado as our final destination over a year ago, we're finally here! It was quite a journey making the move. I flew out with the kids and Kevin's mom Susan. What was supposed to be a 2 hour direct flight turned into a 6 hour debacle involving a turn around to Las Vegas and sitting on the tarmac in the hot plane for almost 2 hours. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time we finally made it to the safety of our friends' house in Colorado Springs!

Here are Claire and Grandma at the airport in Long Beach

Our new house is amazing! We are going to rent for a while so we can get a feel for the neighborhoods. We lucked out big time with this place- especially considering we rented it long distance! It has 4 bedrooms plus an office for Kevin. This means we have a guest room and can still put the kids in separate rooms, so now they don't wake each other up! Hooray! The best part about our new place is the view. Off our back deck we have an unobstructed view of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak. It's gorgeous!

Kevin and I decided to make every Saturday an Adventure Day as we become familiar with the area. Last Saturday we went to Garden of the Gods, which is a beautiful collection of rock formations with lots of hiking paths. Claire had fun climbing on the small rocks and getting blown over by the wind. This Saturday we're going to check out downtown Colorado Springs.

We tried out a church on Sunday that my friend who lives here goes to. It was a bit of a culture shock for Kevin and me, but not a wholly unpleasant experience. We realized that we were very lucky to have gone to such an amazing church in Costa Mesa for so long, and that looking for another church like it may be an exercise in futility. We are not sure whether or not we will stay there, but will for sure give it a few more tries before deciding. We have some very great potentials for community there including my friend Anjanette and her family as well as some new friends we met on Sunday who were super nice. We are very encouraged by the renewal of old friendships and the beginnings of new ones.

The weather has been mostly sunny and warm (in the 50s and 60s) but with an icy wind. But one night shortly after we got here there was a light dusting of snow. It was all melted by noon, but it was fun for Claire to go frolic a bit in the morning.

All in all we are adjusting well and can't wait to see what is in store for us in this new chapter in our lives!

All About Jude

Jude is 4 months old now!!! So here's the low-down on our very favorite boy:



The numbers: He just had his check up today. He's in the 70th percentile for weight at 15 lbs 11 oz and the 50th for height (25 inches.)

Newest things he does:

He has started grabbing at things for the purposes of gnawing on them. His feet are his favorite chewing items.

He laughs and laughs and laughs! He is truly a happy baby.

He goes wild in the bath and I end up drenched from all his splashing.

He is a jumping bean. He loves his jumperoo and will LITERALLY go for over an hour without stopping. (Which is amazing cause I get so much done, but the noise is a little maddening.)

He simply will not sleep through the night. I think I have unrealistic expectations because Claire was amazing in this regard. But, we're working on it. I've got him down to waking only twice (on good nights) but the first time- around 1 am- I don't feed him, and if possible don't even pick him up out of his crib. If I don't get to him in time, however, he is too awake and squalls until he wakes Claire up. Then, I am forced to give in and rock him back to sleep. So, even though he only eats once between the hours of 8 pm and 7:30 am, I still wake up about every 3 hours. *sigh*

All in all, our son is AMAZING! He is so easy to love to pieces!





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Final Days in California

We've been taking full advantage of the last few weeks we have here. Recently we took Claire to Disneyland to see her first fireworks. She was in awe! She especially loved watching Tinker Bell fly through the sky amid the bursting lights.

Claire and Jude hanging out together in his crib:

This is Jude enjoying his new jumper. He goes crazy in this thing!

Cloth Diapering: My Picks

I just wrote this email for a friend of mine interested in using cloth diapers with her new baby. I thought since I had it all written up, I would post it here in case anyone else might be interested in using cloth. This is not a comprehensive review of all the different options out there. It's just what I have tried and liked.

Yes! I love evangelizing about cloth diapering!!

First of all, I recommend using disposables at least for the first week. You'll be shell-shocked from the birth experience and overwhelmed with the basic care requirements of a newborn. Plus, until the cord falls off, no cloth diaper fits that well.

Once you're ready, I have a few different options to recommend. First thing to decide: Do you want to wash them yourself, or use a service. The service is super nice cause you don't have to mess with cleaning them at all. They give you a diaper pail. They give you the diapers. Every week they pick up dirty ones and drop off clean ones. There's no rinsing or soaking or anything. You pay ~$80/month. There's one or two serving the Orange County area. I'm familiar with Dy- Dee Diaper Service but I just heard about another one in the area. The downside to using a service can be that you are restricted to the old-fashioned kind of diaper. We did this for the first 6 months of Claire's life. Then I bought my own old-fashioned diapers and washed them myself. I upgraded to a swankier version when she was about 1. (I'll get to the swanky ones in a second.)

If you choose to wash them yourself, I recommend getting a Potty Pail. It's great, and makes rinsing the liquidy baby poop no problem at all. I didn't use a service with Jude because we bought this.

The diaper options:

Diapering on a budget recommendation: Diaper service quality Chinese Prefolds

You will want at least 40 or 50 of these per week for a newborn. They require a diaper cover that you purchase separately. I like the Prorap. You need 5-8 covers.

• Pros: 1. The cheapest way to cloth diaper. (If you buy them yourself they are about $14/dozen). 2.You can use a service.
• Cons: 1. They require some practice because you have to fold and fasten them with a snappy clip. 2. They are not one-size-fits-all, so you need to buy a new set everytime the kid outgrows them (but they're cheap so it's not so bad.) 3. They're not good for overnight because there's no way to wick to moisture away from the baby. So, the baby basically sleeps in a wet diaper all night, unless you want to change it every 2/3 hours. (you don't!) I used paper at night when we were using these diapers.

My personal Choice: BumGenius Flip System:

Consists of a diaper cover and a stay-dry insert you lay inside it. You need about 5-8 covers and I own 30 inserts (But would like to have, maybe 10 more.) I do a load of diapers about once every 4-7 days.

• Pros: 1. Easy. No folding or fastening. Just place it in the cover and go. Even the nursery people at church can do it. 2. Top layer wicks moisture away from baby's butt. 3. Not too bad in the cost department. 4. Cute colors. 5. One-size fits most (tiny new babies may be too small for the covers for the first 4 weeks.)
• Cons: 1. They can leak if he/she is a heavy wetter and you don't change the baby at least every 2 hours. 2. After the newborn period they're not absorbent enough for all night unless you use multiple inserts, and that can get bulky.

The spare no expense recommendation: BumGenius One-Size Diaper. This looks just like a disposable and has a pocket in the back to stuff the absorbent inserts. I use these as my cloth night-time option, but would use them all the time if I had the money.

• Pros: 1 Super easy to use. 2. You can make it as absorbent as you want by just adding more stuffing, or different materials, so they almost never leak. 3. Really nice soft fit on the baby. 4. Good for overnight when stuffed with the right amount and materials. 5. Cute colors. 6. One-Size fits most, so you don't have to keep buying different sizes. 7. Wicks moisture away from baby.
• Cons: 1. Expensive. Each diaper costs about $18. If you want 30 of these it's going to cost you! Plus you will want to buy some extra insert options for night-time. I use an extra hemp prefold behind the microfiber insert that comes with it.

So, I hope that helps! The links have all been to the same Cottonbabies.com site, which are the makers of the BumGenius products. Their website is super-helpful for all things cloth-diapering. Also, the amounts I suggest assume full-time cloth diaper use. If you only want to use them sometimes, you won't need as many. I'm a full time cloth-user, but I still use disposable diapers if I'm going out somewhere without convenient changing facilities, or for traveling.

Transposition

Some of Claire's more amusing speech errors:

Alligator for elevator
Bookshelf for bookstore
Toocan't for toucan
Peanuts for penis (she watched me give Jude a bath the other day)
Boobies for Ruby's [Diner]

Plus a plethora of very inappropriate words for very commonplace words like "bench", "crunch", etc.

Good times with a toddler!

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Another Month!

Wow! Another month has passed already! Things are busy here. As many of you know, we are moving to Colorado Springs in March. Arranging everything for the move has taken all my "free" time. Last thing to secure is a place to live when we get there (you'd think that might be the first priority, but when you rent, it's hard to plan more than a month in advance!) Once I line something up. I'll have forwarding addresses for you all. Right now I'm in "Will someone please return my phone calls so I don't go crazy!" mode.

Jude is three months and doing amazing! He's still a very easy baby. The only area he is more tough than Claire was is in sleeping duration. He still wakes up every 3-6 hours at night, whereas she was going a solid 10+ by now. But I seriously can't complain because he really is a rock star! He will laugh big, long belly laughs, but it's really hard to get him to do it. Most of the time he is just very smiley. He is very inquisitive, and is constantly looking around intently. He can roll over from tummy to back. He is very chatty, and loves to have extended "talk" sessions that are very funny to watch.

Claire LOVES him! She always wants to help take care of him and comfort him. She encourages him to learn new things and installs herself in the roll of teacher. "Here Jude, like this, watch me!" "There you go, Little Buddy, good job!"

A new development this week has been having them sleep in the same room. Jude has pretty much outgrown his cosleeper. He's almost as long as it is, and when he creeps forward while sleeping, he ends up with his face smashed against the top. I also don't sleep very well with him so close. I wake every time he turns his head. So, now he is in his crib, Claire is in her toddler bed, and all are happy. I have a sound machine in the room turned up almost all the way, so when he wakes up talking at 2 am, it doesn't wake Claire up. And having him in there has been a great way to encourage Claire to be better about going to bed. She likes taking naps with her brother in the room. When she comes out for the millionth time at night, it discourages a tantrum because I warn her (very sternly) of the consequences of waking up Jude with her angry screaming.

In other interesting news, I'll be 30 in about a week! Hooray for a new decade! And on March 1st, Kevin and I will celebrate our 8 year anniversary. Best eight years EVER!

I posted the most recent pictures of everyone yesterday as a Picasa album link. Enjoy! I may not post again until we are all squared away in Colorado! (GULP! Reality is crashing in on us fast!)

Winter 2011