Another cloth diaper post!

This is a picture of my "stash" of cloth diapers. Almost all the diapers I own are in this picture!

So here's everything. And boy does it seem like a lot!  Here are the detailed kinds I have...

3 work at home mom (aka WAHM) pocket diapers made by yours truly! I have one other one not made by me that isn't shown here. It was in the drawer...

5 total Bumgenius 3.0s and 4.0s. I have one more in green, but it was on the baby's butt at the time of pictures. The top left one is in the process of being converted from velcro to snaps.

3 WAHM fitted diapers. These need covers, but all the absorbency is sewn into the diaper. This one I JUST finished before I took the pictures. There's another one in the process of being sewn, but the baby was waking up while I was sewing so I stopped. I also have two more that were made by another mom. 

21 infant prefolds, 11 red-thread osocozy prefolds, and one thirsties prefold. I dyed the colored ones just because I wanted fun colors! 

3 flat diapers. Technically, these are flour sack towels from Target. I dyed the colored towels here also.

12 Alva diapers. Two aren't pictured, one of those is camo, and the other is a blue dotted monkey print. These are all OS (one-size) pocket diapers.

And almost all of my covers. All are OS except for the Prowraps.

2 WAHM covers (blue one was made by me), 4 Econobum covers (blue trimmed one was in the laundry), 1 Flip cover, and 9 Prowrap size small covers. I added snaps to the rise of some of the prowrap covers because they didn't fit my Butterbean when we first started using cloth. Now they fit great! 

Also not pictured are 2 Fuzzibunz elite OS diapers. I left them in the drawer. I am not the biggest fan of how they fit on my Butterbean, so they don't get used much. 

But yeah, there's everything! I do laundry every 3 days or so. So for instance, I did laundry today (Saturday), and I won't have to do laundry again until Wednesday most likely. Unless that baby decides to be extra dirty. :)

A day in cloth diapers!

It all started when my sister was pregnant and told me about cloth diapers. I thought she was a little nuts, but after hearing all about them from her we decided to go to a class together about them.

After that I was sold. SOLD. 

We started using the cloth diapers the week Butterbean turned 3 weeks old, which is pretty soon for a lot of reasons. Many moms wait until the baby is at least 8 or 9 lbs because "one-size" diapers (discussed later) don't fit well on little tiny newborns. Butterbean was born at a pretty substantial 7lbs, 13 oz, and by 3 weeks old she was 8.5 lbs. So they fit her okay at that point. 

With the next baby I plan to make my own newborn sized diapers for use from 6lbs to about 10 lbs. They'll fit better and we can start using cloth right away! 

I use two different diaper styles mainly, although there are a total of about 6 different types of diapers with about 100 different brands. I mix brands a lot, I've tried a little bit of everything, but these two kinds work best for me. Although I'm learning to love some new styles too! 

The kinds I like the most are pocket diapers. They're a waterproof outer layer, and a soft, generally "stay-dry" or wicking fabric inner layer (meaning that it sucks moisture away from the baby's skin) and an absorbent insert goes into the pocket created by these two diapers. So if you have a heavy wetter, you can put an extra insert in the diaper, or if you have a little tiny baby, you can use just one insert. It's pretty neat. And when I wash the diapers, I pull the insert out (or shake it into my pail), so the diaper dries REALLY fast. About an hour if it's on the clothesline, or 2 hours if I hang it inside the house. But we'll discuss the washing a little later. 

The other style of diaper I use a lot are prefolds and covers. Prefolds are called that because they are "prefolded" into a rectangle. The middle third of the diaper has extra absorbency, normally accomplished by stitching in extra layers of absorbent material. 

It's pretty cool. Then I put a waterproof cover on the outside to keep any wetness in and off my baby's clothes. 

It's really very nifty. I don't carry these out of the house a lot because they take up a TON of space in my diaper bag. The pocket diapers I can stuff ahead of time and throw a few in the bag and we're good to go! 

So here's the day. 

I didn't get the first change, but she was in a pocket diaper for overnight (she'll sleep about 5 hours at a time, and the prefold would get SOAKED in that amount of time, so I put her in a pocket instead with an extra insert). Dear husband gets up a little earlier than I do and he changes the first diaper and sits and plays with butterbean until she starts to get hungry, then he comes and gets me. 

First, let me show off the cute red diaper I made for Butterbean! That's right, stitched it myself. I made this one with velcro for use in the church nursery. I find that snaps seem to intimidate the nursery workers who are unfamiliar with cloth diapers, so this solves that problem. Velcro is pretty foolproof.

This is what is called a "one-size" diaper. Above is the diaper on the smallest setting. The snaps on the rise of the diaper (the orange and blueish snaps) can shorten or elongate the rise as needed. So when she gets bigger, instead of the cover becoming too short, I can simply unsnap one row of snaps and we can keep using it! Saves a ton of money! The alternative is to buy covers for specific weight ranges and as the baby grows, you buy new covers. I like this method, as I said, it saves money!

Below: the largest setting. 

 Change 1: She was already in this when I got up, so here's what Hubby changed her into, a green prefold (I dyed this one this color, it was originally a beige color because it was unbleached) with a snappi (the white thing) to keep it in place, and her blue-trimmed Econobum cover. I really like this cover. It's just the waterproof outer material, which is commonly a fabric known as PUL or polyurethane laminate. Knit fabric is bonded to a breathable rubbery film (the laminate part of PUL) and then that fabric can be used to make diapers and all kinds of other things! It's pretty amazing. No plastic pants here!

I also should mention, that unless poop gets on the cover, I lay the cover on the edge of the changing table here, and let it air dry, then I'll use it again. So it saves me time for washing the diapers also! Here's what the cover looks like. 

 Change 2! Using a Bumgenius 4.0 pocket diaper another one-size diaper. On the left of this picture you can see a little bit of the insert peeking out of the pocket. I can either pull that out when soiled, or I can just shake the diaper and it will fall out. Although shaking it can be messy if Butterbean has pooped. So most of the time I just pull the insert out. And then go wash my hands thoroughly.

 And here it is on my lovely model!

Change 3: I decided to switch it up and use a flat diaper. So named because it is literally a large flat square (30"x30") of fabric you fold various ways. This is the most versatile style of diaper because it seriously will fit any size baby. Newborn to potty training, although I find that I need a little extra absorbency, so I have shown a microfiber insert on the flat diaper. I actually folded the insert into the flat diaper, though. NEVER have microfiber sit directly against baby's skin, or it will leave a burn-type rash. The microfiber is so absorbent it will actually pull moisture out of the skin. So this is just for illustrative purposes! Oh, and this is an "origami" fold. I had to look it up on youtube, but once I saw how to do it, it's SO EASY.
And this is technically a flour sack towel I bought from Target. But it works the same.

 And actually on the butt. She was not liking the flash, but it got too cloudy to turn the flash off. So sorry kiddo!

 This is the last time this cover will fit on her, it is a sized cover, meaning it will not adjust on the rise of the diaper (no snaps, see?). Her little chunky legs were getting squished by the elastic. It's just too small. I'm not sad. This cover was one I bought used, and made by a mom and this cover snaps on the side.

 See how the adjusting snaps are on the sides of the diaper as opposed to the front of the diaper? Some people love it, some don't. I'm in the latter camp. But I love the superman print so I'll keep this diaper around for future kiddos. But the side snaps just bother me. I find that it looks a little more bulky on her.

Speaking of bulk, you may ask, "can they wear normal pants?" Yes. My baby can wear normal baby sized pants over her cloth diapers with no problems! And our diapers aren't even the trimmest diapers! She easily fits into everyday clothes, and think about it, most baby items are stretchy. So they'll stretch to accommodate the extra bulk of the cloth diapers.    

And I missed a change, my mother-in-law stopped by and I had to change her out of the flat diaper. But you didn't miss much, I changed her back into a prefold and since the Econobum cover was still good I put that back on her.
Change 5 (since we skipped pics for one): Into an Alva pocket diaper. I love these diapers. They're pretty cheap, but still good quality. They come from china which is why they're so inexpensive. You can get them here in the states too, but only online. Pockets are a little different though, once they're soiled (urine or poop) they have to be washed. You can't simply change the insert and go. So a little more washing, and when they are dry you have to stuff an insert in them, so it's a minutely small amount of more work.

 

Here you can see the snaps in between her legs. Those are the rise snaps. Different brands will have different numbers of snaps. This brand has three snaps across, and three different levels of adjustment. She's on the smallest adjustment here. 

A little about my setup.
Here's my changing table/ pail. I use a dry pail (meaning the diapers don't soak in water or something in the pail. Not recommended because standing water is a hazard to small children).
The top shelf has extra inserts, and the wipes container has my wet cloth wipes. I just get about 10 wet and put them in the container, then when it's empty I refill with more wipes (which are in the basket on the second shelf). The wipes are cloth too, and all I do is throw them in the pail with the diapers!
The bottom shelf has burpcloths in it. Easily accessible.
My pail is open which you'd think would be more stinky, but it's really not. Until I dump the diapers into the washing machine, I don't EVER smell dirty diapers. Unless I get really close to the pail, and I just don't do that.

 Top drawer has my pockets/covers. I stuff my pockets before I put them in here, so they're ready to go when I need them!

 Second drawer has my prefolds. I used to fold them and put them in the drawer, but decided that was silly, and now I just stack them in the drawer. The pink/blue items are my other flats. I dyed these also.

 And the bottom drawer has my handmade inserts and gerber prefolds. Let me say something right now. Gerber prefolds are NOT good prefolds. Cut one open sometime and you'll find poly fill, stuffing in other terms, in the middle. Stuffing is not very absorbent in case you weren't aware! Real, quality prefolds (such as those from cottonbabies.com or brands like osocozy) have several stacked layers of fabric in the middle that makes them absorbent. Huge difference. I use my Gerber prefolds on the changing table in case baby makes a mess before I can get the diaper on her. But seriously, they're not worth much. I plan to turn some of mine into swiffer cloths for my wetjet!

And a word about washing diapers. I currently will throw all my diapers in the wash (with the amount I have I can go about 3 days in between washing diapers), put the machine on a regular cycle without any soap, and run it through once. Then I put in my Rockin' Green diaper detergent (only 2 Tbsp does a large load of diapers and they don't smell when they come out!) and run it through a warm wash with a cold rinse. Then I run the washer again on the normal warm wash cycle as an additional rinse. If you skip the last rinse, the detergent can cause irritation and a rash to the sensitive baby skin. 

I typically hang dry my pocket diapers, my covers, and my inserts/prefolds. Although I sometimes throw the prefolds and inserts in the dryer. It is not advised to dry anything made of PUL in the dryer repeatedly. If you do it once or twice it's not going to do much, but repeated drying on high heat will cause the waterproof layer to separate from the fabric and the diaper will be useless. So just a warning! Don't do it! I have some clothesline strung up in my laundry room that I hang the diapers on if it's a rainy day. 

Also, since Butterbean is exclusively breastfed, her poop at this point is completely water soluble. It washes out in the first cycle through the machine. And any stains that may occur come out when I leave the diapers in the sun. 

Once she starts solid food, I'll be investing in a diaper sprayer (little spray nozzle like the one on your sink, but it attaches to the toilet) and then I'll have to spray her poop into the toilet before I throw diapers in the pail or in the wash. But I still have a few months before I have to worry about that. 

 You may wonder if we spend a ton of money on water because I do so much laundry, actually we don't! Our water bill is MAYBE $10 more expensive each month because of the cloth. And our power bill has gone down, so we're not using more electricity either, running the washer or dryer. The water and power that goes into making disposable diapers is WAY more than what those who wash and dry cloth diapers use.

You may also wonder why I do this. Why I don't just throw diapers away like most people. Well, several reasons. The biggest reason is because we truly save money. At this point I don't HAVE to buy any more diapers or wipes. The only recurring cost will be detergent to wash the diapers, although because I use so little it will last me a while! I do still buy diapers though, some of them are just so cute!!! But I don't need any more, and these diapers (if cared for well, which I plan to continue doing) will last me through several more kids. AND on top of that, when I am done using them, I can sell them to make back a portion of my money. You can't do that with disposables!!
Second reason, chemicals. I prefer to limit chemicals on my little one's behind. There are all kinds of chemicals that go into disposable diapers to make them so absorbent and there are even some that are known to cause cancer and infertility. In other countries these chemicals have been removed from the disposable diapers, and some american brands (7th generation, Honest co. diapers for example) have these chemicals removed and are more natural. However, there are still other companies that keep these chemicals in their formulas. Now, I'm not some crazy, crunchy, totally organic mom. I use lysol wipes, and windex for my bathroom like a lot of people, I just figure if I can keep these chemicals away from my children's sensitive parts, why wouldn't I?

And lastly, I do this because it's fun. Yes that's right, it's FUN! Girls, let me ask, why do you wear cute underwear if no one sees it but you? Because it's fun. Because it makes you happy. And that's why I love having cute things on my baby's butt even if they are covered up by clothes most of the time. I mean, hey, if you're going to be changing diapers, you might as well change the baby into cute diapers, right?

And that's it! That's my day in cloth diapers. It's not as hard as most people expect, and I really enjoy it! I hope this helps anyone who is curious about cloth! Feel free to contact me about any questions you may have. I'm certainly not an expert, but I've done a lot of research and I know my stuff! E-mail is amiekp"at"gmail"dot"com. (replace the "at" with "@" and the "dot" with "." this is so that the spam machines can't find my e-mail.)

I hope you've enjoyed this! I know I have! Although it has taken me TWO hours to get this posted!! Goodness gracious. Anonymous reader, that's how much I love you. 

And now the real blogging begins....

I have found that since I have a baby, for some reason I tend to be on the computer much more often, so I will hopefully be better about updating, but we'll see how that goes.
We've *seen* how it's gone in the past...

So a little bit more of the updates.
Since the post announcing my pregnancy, me and my husband (and our two dogs) have moved! We're now located about half an hour away from where we were previously, and let me tell you, the move was crazy.
We found our current house the 21 or so of August, and our landlord at our trailer was going to up the rent the 1st of September. Well we wanted to move anyways so that seemed like a good deadline to move by, and in a week, we had signed papers, packed up our (meager) belongings and moved! We had loads of help from family and friends, which we really needed, because our house was not clean at all. There were multitudes of dead roaches and dirt everywhere, and it looked as if someone had fried chicken in the kitchen and then splashed grease all over the cabinets and counters. It was nasty.
So we cleaned EVERYTHING, and moved all our boxes in on Wednesday, cleaned more on Thursday, let off some bug bombs, and spent the night at our friends' house on Thursday, and then I came back and unpacked.

Oh, and this was the same week that my sister gave birth (which I had the pleasure and honor of attending), and I was 16 weeks pregnant. That was the longest week of my life!!! Besides the week leading up to my Butterbean's birth, of course. My sister went into labor early Monday morning, called and let me know that it was the real thing around 1 PM Monday afternoon, I went to her house (where she gave birth! So cool!), and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening there with her and her husband, and their midwife until baby N was born at 3:58 AM. Baby N had to be sent to the hospital though, because she had inhaled some meconium while in the womb. That was scary, but she was okay, and it wasn't nearly as bad as the midwife had suspected. But she did have to go in an ambulance and spend 2 days in the hospital. So I didn't get to sleep that night until it wasn't night anymore! I went to sleep about 7 AM and only slept for 3 hours.
Then that day I was packing my house up (read; staying up late packing the last minute items), and then Wednesday was full of moving! It was a long and stressful few days.

Whit and I basically cruised through the remainder of my pregnancy, but his retail job was terrible. Although he worked in the afternoons (so we could both sleep in), he worked until at least 9:15PM and since we'd moved he was even farther from home, and wouldn't get home until around 10.
UNTIL, the pastor of our church offered him a part-time job working for his gold store. They buy gold and silver and give you CASH, but they're not like the cheesy places you see on TV. They have an "A" rating from the BBB, and their scales are actually calibrated once a year by an expert to ensure you get the best price! (Can I work for them too? I can do advertising!!!)
That was great, but then we was working both jobs. And that meant he left at 9:45AM and didn't get home until 10PM.

It was tough for him to be gone all day. And I hated it. I tried to keep myself busy (that's what friends and family are for!!) but I still missed him. And it went on like this for 4 months.

UNTIL, our pastor offered him a full-time position! We knew it was a possibility in the future, but it was dependent on whether they had a spot for him, and we didn't think they would for several more months. It was such a blessing that he was able to get this better job, because once he started working there full time, he worked for only 8 hours a day, and he now gets EVERY Sunday off consistently, and an additional day off every week. He gets home from work at about 6:30, which was very important to me, because I wanted him to be able to spend time with Butterbean before she went to bed at night, and I didn't want to be putting her to bed at 10:30 every night!

And icing on the cake is that now we have health insurance through his work! I was on Medicaid for the duration of my pregnancy, because my parents' health insurance didn't cover me for maternity benefits, so I would have had to pay for EVERYTHING out of pocket and when you see the doctor 17 times it gets pretty expensive.

All in all, we've been extremely blessed. We were provided with the major appliances for our house (most of them for free!), a load of furniture that we never had room for, a wonderful house that (although in the sketchy area of town) has been our home for these last few months (double the space for the same amount we'd been paying before), a well-providing job, working with and for great Christian people, and a beautiful, healthy, baby girl!

God is so good!

My next blog I'll actually get into the nitty-gritty everyday stuff, and I'll stop giving the update-style posts!
Look forward to it!

She's here!

God blessed me with a very easy, run-of-the-mill pregnancy, complete with going past my due date! Our little girl was due February 6th, and didn't arrive until February 19th! Almost 2 weeks late! 

Here's the story!

I was 9 days "overdue" and had set a date to begin induction. Me and my loving husband went to the hospital Thursday (the 16th) to begin Cervadil, a prostaglandin insert. They finally put in the Cervadil after trying to find a vein for an IV. It took them FIVE tries, and me getting nauseous! I was nervous, because if I couldn't handle the silly IV, how was I going to handle going through labor without meds? 

The cervadil was put in around 10:30 PM and I started having mild crampy contractions almost right away. But since I had the Cervadil in, I wasn't allowed to get up and walk around, until I got up and used the restroom before they started the pitocin. So that night was AWFUL, and I didn't really sleep much.

At 6 AM they came in and started me on Pitocin. We started at a low dose, and my doula came in right after they started the drip. The contractions weren't that bad! There wasn't much for my doula to do. We got from a "dimple" cervix, to the nurse being able to put her finger in, to a solid 1 by the time afternoon rolled around. I was disappointed that was only as far as we'd gotten, but tried to stay positive. They had the pitocin on its minimum setting because my body reacted well to it, and much higher and the contractions were coming too quickly and stressing the baby. 

So we keep going and by 7 PM there hasn't been any more progress. We're at a stand still. We decide to turn off the pit, let me eat, and get some sleep, and then start again in the morning. 

I did take some stadol (sp?) to help me sleep because I was still having contractions after they turned off the pitocin. My hubby has a video of me talking because that stuff knocked me out almost immediately and talking through it was HARD!!! But I slept pretty well!

Friday they started me on pitocin at 5 AM, and we started walking, and moving, and trying to stay active. We got all the way to 4 cms by the time noon hit, and they still kept the pit pretty low, it was only set to 2 (and it is often set to like 20 or 30). The contractions started to get more painful, and I had to think about breathing through them. At about noon, my water broke and it was meconium-stained, but Seraphina tolerated the pit-induced contractions REALLY well, and we could watch her "tracing" on the fetal monitor and see that she was okay. We got all the way to 6 cms, but the contractions weren't getting me much farther than that. So the Doctor suggested we put in an intrauterine pressure catheter to see how strong the contractions actually were (it's much more accurate than the machine with the belts since it sits in the uterus and can be zeroed out). It was good that we did, because it revealed that the contractions were about half the strength they needed to be to cause major changes so we upped the pitocin to 3, and then after a few minutes of watching the baby's heartrate, we upped it again to 6. 

The pitocin set to 6 caused contractions without breaks between them and was stressing out the baby, so it was turned down to 5. The doctor suggested we try an epidural to help me relax, but I wasn't sure that was what I wanted to do, so me and my hubby and my doula prayed about it, and decided to keep trying. They had to replace my IV which was LAME. It started to make my hand swell so they had to move it to the other hand. Although they got a smaller needle this time and got it on the first try. I was so relieved. The IV was terrible!

My mantra through the really tough contractions was Philippians 4:13. "I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me." I started saying it over and over through the really tough contractions, telling myself mentally that if I can make it to the peak, I can make it through the contraction. And I did. But when I was checked again at 9pm, I was still a 6. I was so disappointed, and I decided to try the epidural. Apparently my body needed the threat of the epidural, because I started having REALLY strong contractions over the next hour and a half. When they came to do the epi, I sat through it and that REALLY sucked, then after they placed it, the nurse checked me and would you believe it, I had gotten to NINE cm in one hour! I was SO FRUSTRATED! I was so close to going med-free, so they offered to turn off the epi, and let it wear off. I decided this was what I wanted to do. The epi never really had time to get to my uterus, so I was still feeling contractions, just my backside was numb, and my feet felt like they had fallen asleep. 

So we let the epi wear off. And when the nurse came back in thirty minutes I was a complete 10!!! The baby was only at +1 station though, so I had to "labor the baby down" as the nurses called it. 

Pushing wasn't that fun, but it did help me get through the contractions to have something to do with them. My doula suggested we try a different position or two once I got the feeling back in my legs, and then we rolled over onto my back with my knees in the air to get the baby down further (not flat lithotomy position, but with my back propped up). The nurse felt for the baby and suggested that we move my head down some more to make sure I wasn't pushing the baby towards the rectum, but out the birth canal. So we did that. 

And then we started getting really close! My DH and my doula held my legs for me while I pushed the baby down and my DH held one foot while I actually pushed the baby out. I started getting so excited when they called the doctor in and the room started to fill up with nurses and pediatrics! I knew I was close then! I labored down for about two hours, and actually pushed her out in about an hour! I couldn't believe it when she actually came out! I couldn't believe it was finally over!!! She was covered in meconium, but they didn't have to do anything more than use the suction bulb to get it out of her mouth and nose. The doctor laid her on my chest and I got to see her pretty little face for the first time.

 

 She is so beautiful. She has TONS of dark hair, that I'm hoping doesn't fall out, because it is beautiful. Her eyes are such a dark blue me and DH disagre on what color they actually are, but she'll probably end up with dark brown eyes like I have. 

She weighs 7 lbs, 13 oz, and is 21 inches long! (the ultrasound we had at the beginning of the week said 8lbs 1 oz, so it was pretty close!). She measured at 14.5 inches for head circumference. I LOVED my Doctor. He did his job well, suggesting interventions, but not pressuring me on them, allowing us time to consider everything and giving overall good advice. I'm so thankful that after two days of induction, my little girl is here and doing well! 

 

(The first time Daddy got to hold her.)

I couldn't wait to bring her home!  

I was also very sore! Not in the places you'd expect, but my legs, and my back and my arms even from all the different positions I was in! That was the worst part.  

But in the end, I got the natural childbirth I was hoping for, even though I faltered a little bit. I am so thankful for a healthy baby and to be going home tomorrow!!! And I couldn't have done it without my AWESOME doula and my sweet Husband. They were incredible through the whole thing. 

 

(Our Doula, Angel, with Seraphina!)

 

Going home outfit! 

Updates and Announcements

Well, I'm not a very good blogger, but I'll try to be better!

Updates: I'm a GRADUATE!!! My days at North Greenville are completed, and it feels weird. But also excellent. I can't even imagine my life if I hadn't gone to that school. I had originally planned to either attend tech school to become an RN, or to go to school far away from home and as far away from my comfort zone as possible.

Instead, God sent me to good old NGU, where I met my husband, and some of the best friends I've ever had and will have, including my roommate, whom I wouldn't have known without being assigned to her in Self Hall (such a weird name, but some trustee gave the money, and he had a weird name).

Being a graduate makes me all sentimental! I will NOT miss homework, or tests, but honestly, I will miss being in classes, and learning fascinating subjects like Embryology, or Plant Science (both taught by the amazing Dr. Higgins).

Anyways, in other announcements, My sweet husband and I have changed our plans. We were originally moving to Kentucky for Grad school and Seminary, but upon much prayer and evaluation of the costs of moving, the hardships of school and other issues, we have decided to stay in SC!!! At first I wasn't excited about staying, because I saw this as the opportunity to get out of the comfort of my small town and family next door, to really be out on my own, away from everything I've known all my life.

Upon more prayer and soul-searching, my mind has been changed, and I'm VERY excited to be staying here in town. I would miss my amazing family, and Hubby's family would miss us a TON, and we're both getting geared up for the next steps; new job and new place! Both of which have become essential because we just found out that WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!!!!!

I know! Pregnant. A baby. A little baby Whit/ Amie hybrid running around spouting off theological concepts blended with scientific terms. It will be an "epic child" as a friend of mine has said!

Though it was a surprise, My other half and I are incredibly happy!
It may sound crazy, but I've known since I was about 12 that God has placed me on this earth to be a mother. I've always loved babies, I've always wanted my own baby, I've always been the first one to ask to hold the baby in the room, to play with the baby, and babies like me, to the extent that my brother used to call me a "baby stealer" because babies would want me to hold them, play with them, and entertain them.
When my mom had a baby when I was 16, I was over the moon, because now the baby was in my house and besides my mom, no one stood in my way for the baby's affection. Well, besides my dad. But he went to work and I didn't. So I was happy! If my mom wasn't there, and my dad wasn't there, my little sister would come crying to "Mimi" and my day was made.

It was very similar when my little brother was born two years later, except that I was in college, so I wasn't home every day like I was with lil' sis.

But now, the baby will be mine. My dirty diapers to change, my spit-up to clean. My baby to rock to sleep, my smiles to get excited over. My child to hold, to wipe tears, to teach how to talk, to feed, to help, to carry. I almost cry just thinking about it, partly because I am so excited, and partly because the hormones make me cry over anything! Although that is not terribly out of character for me. I have the spiritual gift of tears. Ha!

At this point in time, I crave prayers. Prayers for Whitfield to find a good job that pays more steadily (and more period) than his current job, for us to find a bigger place, with room for baby, and for baby's development. There is a history of miscarriage in my family, and I have bouts of anxiousness where I worry that something is wrong. I've been fine the last several days, and when I do get concerned, I pray. And I do feel reassurance, but I still ask for prayers for my reassurance, and for the baby.

Please keep our little (and growing!) family in your prayers!
Amie

Second half of the Semester

I have a year and a half until I graduate from North Greenville and step out into the "real world."

I'm sitting here in my little apartment, listening to the wind blow the acorns and branches off the trees so that they hit my roof or the ground. It's an odd sound, that I still haven't grown accustomed to, but it is also a reminder that Fall is here.

I like fall!

Anyways, we have just come back from our Fall Break from school and finished a shortened week, and yesterday was a little rough. The question of "where have you applied?" "How'd you do on your (insert major test to get into post-undergrad program)?" "Have you heard back from (insert school you told someone you applied to)?"
My husband is planning to apply to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Kentucky, and because I won't be able to finish all the pre-requisites to apply to a PA program, I will be taking a year off and taking classes, and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) to get into the PA program at University of Kentucky.

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I hope this all works out, and honestly, even though at first I wasn't so sure I would want to move to Kentucky, at this point, I've more than just wrapped my head around it, I've started to get excited about it! Although I'm sure when next summer comes around and we are planning to move and all, it will seem a lot scarier, but I'm still really excited about what God has in store for us!!!

So this week coming up is homecoming. And although there will be something to do EVERY single night of the week, and I have a huge Senior Seminar paper to write, I'm getting really excited! Being Biology Club President, I have a responsibility to get the club excited and motivated and to try our best.
I'm really glad that Biology Club isn't doing this by ourselves. We've combined with both the Psychology Club, and the Health and Wellness Club as well as anyone in the science dept. who wants to participate.

I'm also the most excited that I was voted to be the Science Club Representative for Homecoming. I get to be on the Homecoming Court, and even potentially Homecoming Queen. :) Eeep! Although I REALLY want to win, I am also excited to get ot know the girls who are running with me, it's an odd feeling, to be competitive with people I know and love, and girls who are really sweet that I hope to know, except for the one or two who are not so sweet, those girls I just really want to beat! :P

So that's my speel for today. It's going to be a tough week. Pray for me and Whitfield, he's got about 17 major assignments due this coming week, and I've got homecoming stuff to do, but somehow dinner will be made and the apartment will be clean. Well, clean ISH.

10:34 PM

So here I sit. I originally came to the laptop to look up some study materials for my classes this week. Where do I find myself instead of Blackboard???

Facebook, mostly. Although some smattering of looking at the blogs I keep up with also occurs.

And that's just the way I roll. I get distracted, and I get behind. I forget to do things, and procrastinate, and don't do other things.

This is absolutely one of the many reasons I find myself with this desire. A desire to sit down, read my Bible, and learn something. To not only read for the sake of my "to do list" or to check it off and feel good about myself for the rest of the day. But because I haven't done it on a regular basis, and because I am a Christian, with a true desire to be closer to God, I desire to be in His word.

I find myself at this very moment kicking myself for blogging about this, instead of doing something about it.
I am married to a future pastor, and I don't even read my Bible on a regular basis, I truly am a hypocrite. I am a professing Christian, who talks about missions, and how I can minister, and I don't even minister to my own spirit.

I am in trouble. And I desperately need prayer.

I also need to ensure that my schoolwork doesn't come before the time I should be spending with God.

I think the biggest reason I don't read my Bible is because I'm not really sure how to read in such a way that I get anything out of it.

This year I am president of the Biology Club, and in one of the other clubs I was in last year our president brought a "devotion" at every meeting we had. I want to be that kind of president. The one who doesn't care that half the time I sat there wishing we could "get on with it" or that wants to bring the members of the club to a deeper understanding of how God works in us.

My heart is crying out for God and for His word, and I don't understand why I haven't answered until now.