Marvin and I feel we've finally been initiated in the the parenting club, we experienced the middle of the night cleaning up vomit/hold your child while they get sick thing. I have a whole new appreciation for our moms. Just want to say thanks for taking care of us when we were sick growing up. Marvin and I are grateful. I also learned how much love it takes to clean up that nasty stuff at 3 a.m. (Thanks honey.)
After a long night the sickness continued into the day. The poor thing was miserable yesterday, he spent most of the day in my arms, or laying on the couch. Thankfully our sweet teammates brought us some food for the little man, Marvin had to go out of town before any stores opened and of course I had planned on a grocery run later in the day, which meant I didn't have much in the house. I am so thankful they brought a few items over. They seriously rock.
We're just about through with all the laundry that were casualties from the stomach bug, now if it would only dry. Every available cabinet is open and holding sheets and blankets that have been washed.
Thankfully Calvin's back to his old self, he's been quite busy today playing, playing, playing. His appetite starting is coming back, and I'm thankful I haven't heard "Mama my bummy (tummy) hurts" all day long.
So our cloth diapers were wonderful in America, you know the place with dryers that aren't ridiculously expensive. Little did I know that one wash here and they would turn into sandpaper. Part of the reason we pushed toilet training was that it was becoming impossible to change Calvin's diapers, he flat out refused to wear his cloth diapers, and I don't blame him. I've tried all sorts of things to soften them up, fleece liners, extra rinses, vinegar rinses, etc. and after they line dry they turned out with the same sandpaper texture. It's frustrating because I really like them. Anyone have any other suggestions?
Since getting a dryer is not an option right now (for one the heavy price tag and two where in the world would we put the thing) we're looking into ordering some new diapers for this next little one. (Really cloth diapering isn't too bad, this is coming from a girl who swore I'd never use them.) So we're stuck trying to figure out what we should order. I'm looking at the all in one/one size diapers. I've narrowed it to two diapers.
Bum Genius or Fuzzi Buns One size. Any suggestions? Anyone use these? Here are my thoughts:
I like how the bum genius seem to be more compact and from what I've read clothes tend to fit better. I like the velcro, but I also don't like the velcro. It's a pain to remember to close it when washing and if you don't all your diapers stick to each other and sometimes sticks to the diapers or wipes too. Also velcro isn't as durable and they may not hold up to another child. And they look a bit on the small side. I tried one on Calvin and it still fit him but he's also not a large child for his age, he still fits into size 4 diapers and he's 2 1/2.
What I like about the fuzzy bunz diapers is that they have snaps instead of the velcro. They seem bigger so they might fit longer. They seem soft when line drying since they are lined with fleece. Can anyone attest to this?
So there you go, that's what we're pondering as we think through things we need for this newest little blessing. Thanks for helping and if you know of someone with an opinion about either one people send them over and have them give us some advice. Thanks WFMW for the help.
and P.S. I must confess I totally gave up on potty training Calvin, my stomach just couldn't handle it, we'll wait till I stop gagging all day long. We're totally doing disposables right now and I'm okay with that.
Nope not what your thinking, Calvin finally hit 30 lbs. I picked him up yesterday and thought oh my goodness you're a chunk, I immediately went and weighed him. We have noticed he has grown but since I can't remember how tall he was at his 2 year check up I don't know how much he has grown. He's currently 35 inches tall (or 89 cm.). He's certainly turning into a fun little boy.
He's at that stage where he is starting to get jokes. We received an email from a friend who suggested Phil if it was a girl and Laura if it was a boy. He just started laughing and said, Mom Laura is a girl's name. It's been fun to joke around with him lately.
His language is exploding right now (one of my favorite developmental periods) and he busts out with words we didn't know he knew. Today after lunch he was playing with the magnets on the fridge and told me they were his passport and tried so hard to get his passport in his pocket. Too funny, guess it goes to show what's relevant in his world.
We were able to get out of the house yesterday and visit some friends in town we haven't seen since February. Calvin had so much fun playing outside and trying to figure out how to pedal a bike. I know he'll have plenty of time this summer to figure it out and we're hoping to go shopping for one tomorrow.
And since it's been a while since we posted a video. Here's some live action from our little veggie tales lover. And yes this is his stage that he must have in this exact position any time he listens to veggie tales.
Oh and speaking of veggies, the little man now loves GREEN BEANS. I never thought it was possible or that I'd hear him ask for more green beans at dinner. Funny how those taste buds change, glad we were persistent and keep giving him things he normally doesn't touch.
There is so much in our world that can weigh our hearts down, and recently my heart has been very heavy. I've had moments of pure brokenness lately, maybe it's due to the changes of hormones, but recently I've been brought me to tears in an instant.
Recently Calvin's been working on saying his name. For a while he was convinced his name was cowboy. Now he only says it when he's trying to be silly. But how that one word has brought a heaviness to my heart, Cowboy. My grandpa used to call Marvin cowboy, because he was a farm boy. When we left the states our first term I never imagined coming back to my American world changed so much. A few days before we returned my grandpa died, he never was able to meet Calvin. Though we had discussed such things happening my mind never really went there. So it was bittersweet when I heard our sweet little guy call himself cowboy.
There are things that we've choosen to give up because we believe with all our hearts that what we are doing is what we are supposed to be doing and as I think about my grandparents and family it's hard to think of the what ifs.
Another silly little thing that has been hard lately has also been thinking about our next little one and family. We want our family to know our kids, one of my big motivators to keep this little ole blog going. But part of my heart is a little sad that my mom and Marvin's mom will never feel my big pregnant belly. That they may never get to share in the experience of holding our newborn babies. It's silly really but it's something I have been grieving.
There are many more things, watching the older grandmas and grandpas dig through the dumpsters in search for recyclables. Staring into the eyes of beggers at the market. The sin in my own life, tragedies, etc, etc.
I honestly believe that Father has given me such a heavy heart for a reason and it's been sweet to have such sweet times of crying out to Him for all these things. I do hope that Father burdens your hearts for something. Today I found a song I had long forgotten about in my itunes library. It started playing right in the middle of lunch, it was a fun time of worshiping Father. Calvin even joined in and sang too. This is my prayer today.
" I will not forget you you are my God my King, with a thankful heart I bring my offering and my sacrifice is not what you can give but what I alone can give to you."
I’m trying so hard not to complain. I am thrilled to have this little one growing inside me, but man I am ready to not be sick all the time. My heart truly breaks for sweet friends who would give anything to feel this sickness. So I’m bearing through it, thankful that one day it will end, and we’ll get to meet this little blessing.
Our latest doctor’s appointment went well and I was able to hear the results of my blood work. Everything was normal except my thyroid test, apparently I have an overactive thyroid, which my doctor told me is fairly common in pregnancy. For many women this leads to a lot of nausea and weight loss. Here in a couple of weeks I’ll have another blood test done and hopefully it will be back in the normal range. So this can explain part of the reason why the sickness is more intense this time around. Thankfully I haven’t gotten sick for almost a whole week. I don’t think anyone enjoys getting sick, I certainly don’t and can’t wait for it to stop. I cannot imagine those who have it much worse than this pregnancy, I'm so sorry!
The biggest things that set me off are smells and tastes. Some things just send me gagging in an instant. One smell that usually does it is clean laundry smells. This would not be so bad if we had a dryer, but we hang our clothes up to dry inside and some days it’s just overpowering. I’ve already cut back on the soap but the dilemma now is go without fabric softener and have stiff clothes that almost stand up, or become overwhelmed by the smell. Both not fun options, because I HATE putting on stiff socks, it seriously makes my skin crawl.
So for now I’ll continue to try to eat, I’m really tired of bread & crackers, and I hope this passes quickly. I’ve made through 6 weeks of this and hoping I have only a few more weeks of not feeling well all day long. This week is my last week in the 1st trimester and I'm really hoping things turn around soon.
Well this week I had one of those days where I certainly was far from winning any mom of the year contests. We had been couped up inside for several days due to rain, and since it was just overcast and barely sprinkling I decided it would be great to take a little walk. I should have known better to have a purpose for our little walk, since Calvin was just dying to get outside and piddle, so our walk was far from ideal.
The whole time Calvin just wanted to play and I had another agenda, get to the store and back home. So we slowly made our way to the store, poor Calvin endured the wrath of his mama's tongue the whole way there. Here's what you would have heard, "Stop picking up rocks, stay out of the mud, don't splash in the big puddles, hurry along, we don't have time to "fish" right now, come on hold my hand a car is coming, Calvin keep moving." Get the picture, the poor guy just wanted to play.
Once we got home I was looking forward to resting during nap time. I hadn't been feeling so great and finally fell asleep and guess who woke up early, with a stinky diaper. Nice. My attitude was far from sweet and was seriously annoyed.
The rest of the afternoon he was literally begging me to play with him. Coming over and giving me hugs and kisses, bringing me books. I felt awful in more ways than one. It's amazing how much love that little guy can give in a day. I was literally about two seconds shy of getting sick and he comes over and just pats my back. Seriously I wanted to cry, he had already forgotten how ugly I was to him in the morning. I'm learning a lot about what forgiveness means from our sweet little two year old. I also have been learning a lot about what it looks like to love a two year old and how selfish my heart is. I do treasure this time in our lives and want to be a mom to builds our kids up. I have so much to learn and I'm thankful for the wisdom of Father to guide me in this precious task.
This Easter was a bit different than we had envisioned it, but it really was a beautiful day. Since we were still stuck out of country without visas we tagged along with another group to celebrate. It was such so fun to look around the room and see all these people that Father had brought together for that day. Some of us were just passing through and others actually lived in the city, but it was neat to see how different we all are, we've come from different parts of the world, grown up in different homes yet we're family.
Our Easter service was a bit different from years past, for starters we met on Saturday evening. We enjoyed our living room time of singing, speaking to the king and learning from the Word. At the same time little ones played below our feet or snuggled in our laps. It was fun to just truly worship. After our time together the big kids hid a few eggs for the little ones. It took Calvin a while to catch on but after a bit they all were pretty pumped to find an egg. It was such a gorgeous evening and we were able to hang out outside and play before heading home. I'm a little sad we forgot our camera.
On Easter Sunday we headed out to a park so that Marvin could play a little ball with some friends. Calvin and I enjoyed the park with another young mom and her son, and to our surprise a tulip festival had begun at the park. Tulips were in bloom everywhere. It was simply gorgeous. Part of this festival also included music and Calvin enjoyed watching them "pay tar" (play the guitar). There even was a guy out painting, which was so much fun to watch for a while. I know Calvin was just dying to paint too, but he did well and controlled himself. With all that excitement he barely even played at the playground. We ended our exciting morning out with an Easter lunch at Papa John's, and boy was it tasty. That night we had fun going through a hymnal we found at the apartment we were staying at and singing together as a family and reading again the truths of why we were celebrating. Calvin found a little musical instrument and accompanied us. It was pretty special. I hope you all had a great celebration too.
That night we had fun going through a hymnal we found at the apartment we were staying at and singing together as a family and reading again the truths of why we were celebrating. Calvin found a little musical instrument and accompanied us. It was pretty special. I hope you all had a great celebration too. 