Washing Diapers

I've been using Charlie's Soap to wash my new cloth diapers, but I realized that it's not a disinfectant. EWWW ICK! :-) I found new products called "Thirsties Pre Wash" and "Thirsties Super Wash" on The Cloth Diaper Report website. (They're also having a giveaway for the products.) What do you think? How do you ladies disinfect your cloth diapers?? NEED HELP!!! P.S. I can't use "sunshine" as a disinfectant because not only don't we have a clothesline, but I live in the northeast where sunshine doesn't exist during the winter months... :-)

Still Trying?

For those of you who are still trying to get pregnant, there's a great contest going on at Baby Makin(g) Machine's blog. She's giving away a fertility relaxation program that helped her to get pregnant on her 2nd month trying. (Ick, yeah I know...) :-) Go check it out!

Neurology Appointment

The twins had their follow up with the Neurologist today. The doctor says that they are developmentally perfect for their true age (not corrected age), which it totally awesome!!!! They also got their height and weight taken, so here are the new numbers.

Chana

weight: 17lbs 14oz (last month 16lb 10.9oz...a gain of 1lb 3.1oz)
height: 27 in (last month 26 in...a gain of 1 in)

In percentiles for her age, this means...

weight: 68%ile (last month 57%ile)
height: 71%ile (last month 50%ile)

Dovid

weight: 16lbs 5oz (last month 15lbs 1.9oz...a gain of 1lb 3.1oz)
height: 26.5 in (last month 25.5 in...a gain of 1 in)

In percentiles for his age, this means...

weight: 13%ile (last month 11%ile)
height: 29%ile (last month 19%ile)

Yay twinners!!! They both gained the exact same amount of height and weight. How awesome is that? And they are zooming up in percentiles. Can you believe that MY daughter is in the 71st percentile for height??? And she was a preemie!! Good golly... And Dovid is catching up, too...29th percentile for height! I'm just so proud of their development. :-)

Wedding Fun

We went to NJ this weekend for a wedding and had a great time. My brother-in-law posted some pictures on his blog, since they drove up from Virginia just to babysit the twins for a few hours. It was great to be able to enjoy the wedding without having to worry about feedings and crying babies. Once I get the pictures off of my camera I'll see if there are any good ones to post here. In the mean time, go to my brother-in-law's blog to see pics of the twinners!

Packages!

Today I received most of the things I ordered. The only things left to arrive are the bumGenius! diapers and the cloth wipes. I already installed the diaper sprayer, and I was impressed at how easy it was to install and how well the directions were written (with excellent pictures too). I impressed my hubby by showing him how it worked and how really cool it is. Man this would've been awesome post-partum when I was supposed to be spraying myself 24/7...although the water from the supply is pretty cold, which would not have been happy. Anyhoo, it's a pretty neat contraption in any case. I also showed Shmuel how the pre-fold diapers work...at least I showed him how I think it's supposed to work. Hehe, whether that's right or not remains to be seen. :-) I bought the detergent that you guys recommended (Charlie's Soap), and that should be arriving in tomorrow's mail. I don't think the bumGenius! diapers will be in in time for our trip to NJ this weekend, so we might have to use disposables... :-(

Chana's diaper rash is still the same. I called the pediatrician's office who suggested I put anti-fungal cream on her 3x a day and see if that helps. If it hasn't gotten better within 48 hours then we should bring her in. We'll start tomorrow and give it until Monday. We'll see what happens!

Making the Switch

We've decided to switch to cloth diapers. Chana has the most incredible diaper rash ever. She has sores "down there" and cries when we wipe her off and put the cream on. It's just so sad that it hurts her so much. Dovid has a little bit of a rash, but not nearly as bad as Chana's. So, cloth diapers. Here is a list of what we bought:

20 bumGenius! 3.0 One-Size Pocket Diapers (10 White, 2 Blossom, 3 Zinnia, 2 Twilight, & 3 Moonbeam) from Wild Flower Diapers

1 Cotton Prefold Diapers Package (Size Medium, Natural/Unbleached) from Diaper Junction

2 Bummis Super Snap Wraps (Size Medium) from Diaper Junction

2 Bummis Super Whisper Wraps (Size Medium, 1 Froggy Pond & 1 Flower) from Diaper Junction

1 FREE Baby Legs by bumGenius! (Hopscotch Jack) from Diaper Junction

3 Flannel Baby Wipes (15 pack, White) from Amazon

1 bumGenius! Diaper Sprayer from Amazon

1 Safety 1st Easy Saver Diaper Pail from Amazon

2 Thirsties Diaper Pail Liners from Amazon

1 Kushies "On The Go" Wet Bag (Large, 2-Pack, Boy Prints) from Amazon

Can you see I had fun? :-) I'm not even going to tell you how much it cost, but I'll tell you this...I would spend more on disposable diapers in a year than the total for all of these cloth diapers and accessories. Also, I'm going to be using cloth wipes instead of disposable wipes, and that saves me about $12 a month in addition to the savings on diapers. I'm totally psyched, and you guys are welcome to use what I bought as a guide to what you should get if you decide to make the switch (or just go with cloth from the start, like I should have done). Of course if you're only having 1, you probably only need 10 bumGenius diapers, and you probably wouldn't need any extra Bummis. I may need to buy more cloth wipes, but we'll see how these do. And I want to give a big thank you to Molly for helping me with this!!

Trying to Crawl

Dovid has gotten to that stage where he'll get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He wants to crawl forward, but he can't figure out how to do it. At one point he lunged forward and landed on his belly. He looked at me, and I smiled at him, so he knew that what he was doing was OK. He's getting there, though!

We decided to buy a lot of baby-proofing stuff, because we honestly having done anything yet. Yikes! Electric outlets are first along with putting locks on some cabinets. Of course they're not even close to that stage, but we have to get it done sometime! We also have to move the mattresses on their cribs to the lowest level since they're *this close* to sitting up on their own. I mean, they can sit up for a little bit if you sit them up inside their Boppy pillows, but they can't pull themselves into a sitting up position, and I don't think they can sit up very well without their Boppy pillows. Even so, you don't want any surprises...

March of Dimes Raffle and Baby Dickey Giveaway

Baby Makin(g) Machine is having an incredible raffle for over $1000 worth of prizes. I'm even donating some Avon stuff, so get in there and give a few dollars to the raffle!

While you're at it, go enter the Daddy Scrubs raffle over at Baby Dickey. It's easy to enter and the prize is absolutely adorable!!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

October 15th is the National Day of Remembrance for pregnancy and infant loss. Today we remember all babies who died because of a miscarriage (at any gestation), stillbirths, SIDS, or any other infant death. Tonight, everyone is encouraged to light a candle at 7PM (in every time zone) to remember the babies who never had a chance to grow up. Keep the candle going for 1 hour so that there will be a continuous "wave of light" throughout the world. Tonight I'll be lighting a candle for the baby I lost at 5 1/2 weeks on February 1, 2008.

Today is a good day to say a prayer for anyone you know who has lost a baby at any age. It means so much to those of us who have gone through this type of loss. And say an extra prayer for those women who have not yet had the blessing of healthy children.

Please leave me a comment and let me know who you will be remembering today and feel free to share your story.

He Crawls...Backwards

That's right, folks. Dovid likes to slither on his belly...backwards. It's funny cuz I'll find him in places other than where I set him down, and I see that he got there by scootching on his belly backwards. He puts his arms out and pushes himself. It's quite funny, actually, and he seems to be enjoying himself. Whatever works! It looks like I need to seriously start baby-proofing...

Dovid's been having a little trouble with the swallowing step of eating. He can pick things up and even chew a little bit, but he gags himself when he tries to swallow (even something really small). When he gags, he spits up milk. Poor kid. :-( He'll get it eventually, but it just pains me to watch him gag even though I know he's in no danger and he's not "choking."

Now then, I have to tell you how *awesome* I am at finding good deals. I knew I needed to buy new car seats for the twins, because they are rapidly growing out of the infant seats. Well, at least Chana is...hehe Anyway, I found the kind I wanted. It's called the Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite Convertible Car Seat, which ranges from approx $160 to approx $180. I had been looking on Amazon, but I wasn't so happy with the color selection...or the price. I mean, I knew I was going to spend a lot, but spending almost $400 for two car seats was making me feel a bit queasy. lol Anyway, I finally found two colors that I adored...Lamont and Sophia. Lucky me, I happened to find them at a store that was selling the Lamont for $110 and the Sophia for $100. Then, I go and use my amazing coupon finding skills and get a 10% off coupon code for the seats. Throw in free shipping, and I just spent $189 for two car seats. Now, how awesome am I? :-) That's right...pretty darned awesome.

Success!!

Dovid finally got his first *real* taste of food today!!! First off, he was a total pro at picking up the pieces of sweet potato that Shifra had given him. These are the EXACT SAME sweet potatoes that I made for Shabbos...spices and everything, except we cut the round slices in half so it would be easier to pick up. He definitely was chewing it, and it looked like he tried to swallow but coughed a bit up. Until a few minutes ago Shifra wasn't 100% sure if he had actually swallowed any of it, but she changed his diaper he had an orange piece in his poo!!!! YAY!!! Go Dovid!!!

Chana wasn't interested in food earlier when Shifra was feeding them, but I gave her some just now with Dovid and as soon as I wasn't looking at her, she picked up a piece of sweet potato and started chewing. lol Luckily I have it all on tape:



In other news, I am *not* anemic!!!! My hemoglobin is 13.6 gm/dl and my hematocrit is 39.7%--both within the normal range! I was shocked...and asked the nurse if my results had been switched with someone else's. lol Seriously, I don't know if I've ever had normal hemoglobin ever...even before pregnancy. So, the nurse told me to keep up the good work and stay on my iron once a day. Wheeee!!! I rock!

Good Intentions

For those of you who love my posts about interesting Jewish things, you are going to love this one...

First of all, this weekend we had two holidays--Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Torah. I'm not going into detail on either because that's not what the post is about. Sorry! Anyhoo, on Shabbos, holidays and every Monday and Thursday, the ba'al koreh reads a portion of the Torah and a man from the congregation is called up to the Torah to have an aliyah. There are between 3 and 7 aliyos depending on the day, it's an honor to have an aliyah, and in our shul men who get one then donate a small amount of money to the shul for this honor. That person says the blessings before and after the ba'al koreh reads a portion of the Torah. On Simchas Torah there are several special aliyos and many other honors that the men bid for. One of these special aliyos is called kol ha'neorim. In this aliyah all of the children in the shul (even the girls) get to participate. It is a segulah for children for the man who reads the blessings for this aliyah. I made sure that Shmuel bid for this aliyah in 2007, and we got pregnant within the year. :-) This year I wanted to make ABSOLUTELY SURE that friends of ours would have this honor. My friend has been married for 6 or 7 years, and I would honestly do anything to see her have the blessing of healthy children. So before the holiday, I called the Rabbi and said that I wanted to make sure her husband would get this aliyah. I told him that I would personally donate the money for it. He said he'd take care of it...

The men bid on the various honors long before I would ever arrive at shul, so I was looking forward to seeing my friend's reaction. As soon as I walk in, she runs over to me and goes "[Hubby] got kol ha'neorim!!!" I was like "I know, I helped plan that." She's like "Uhhh you did? I told him to bid for it." LOL Whooooooops! So much for that plan, they got it themselves. And boy did I feel stupid. :-) Well, bottom line is he got the aliyah, and I hope to hear very good news from her VERY VERY soon!!

Click HERE for more Hebrew & Yiddish word definitions

Puppy Update

Sorry I didn't post the update sooner.... Anyways, Trinity only had the 4 puppies! So either the doctor counted wrong at her ultrasound or she miscarried 3 puppies and just reabsorbed them. So I didn't miss anything at all. :-) The 4 puppies are doing well and gaining lots of weight, which is excellent.

Puppies!!

I've been waiting for my best friend's dog (best friend is Melanie, dog is Trinity) to finally go into labor for several days. We first thought she was going to have the puppies on Friday, and when I had to go home for the holiday starting Friday night, I was convinced she'd have the puppies over the weekend (without me). :-( I was soooo happy when I found out that she waited for me!! Then yesterday we thought she might have them...but no dice. This morning I woke up at 8am and called Melanie, who said that Trinity was definitely acting weirder and that I should come over. I got there before 9am, but Trinity didn't go into "serious active" labor until almost 2pm. Then it took her nearly an hour and a half to birth the first puppy. It was HUUUUUGE and Melanie had to help the puppy out by pulling. (That puppy was a girl.) After that, the second puppy, a boy, was born after about a half an hour. The next, another boy, after another 20 mins. Then she waited over another hour to have her 4th puppy, a third boy. Then she stopped.... That last puppy was born at 5:20pm. I left at 9:30 and she hadn't had any other puppies. She is expecting at least 7, because that's how many the doctor saw on the ultrasound, so we know she's not finished yet. I haven't heard anything, but it's possible that she is still awaiting the last puppies. lol I will let you know when I know!!

P.S. Dogs have it soooo much easier than humans, let me tell you!

P.P.S. No, we are not taking a puppy for the twins. Melanie would never let us have one even if we wanted one, because we don't have such a good track record with animals. :-)

Kreativ Blogger Award

Big thank you to Sarah R @ Andrew Tales for nominating me for the Kreativ Blogger Award!!


Rules:
1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2) Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4) Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
5) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7) Leave a comment on each.

7 things about me people may not know: (The TV/Movie/Music edition...)
1) One of my favorite movies of all time is Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I love everything Monty Python and have seen every episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. One of my best friends from college, David, used to play the opening to Monty Python and the Holy Grail very loud on his computer to get my attention when we were living in the same house but on different floors.

2) I played Dorothy in my camp's production of The Wizard of Oz back in 1998. Many of the munchkins were taller than I was...

3) I was an extra in the movie Indian Summer in 1993.

4) I've met the actor Chevy Chase, whose daughter was a bunk mate of mine at Camp Tamakwa. He's just as hilarious in person as he is on TV, and his daughter is such a sweetie (regardless of who her father is).

5) I met Blake Berris and Rachel Melvin (two actors who used to be on Days of our Lives) at a fan event almost exactly 2 years ago.

6) My favorite band is Rascal Flatts, and I would LOOOVE to see them in concert!

7) My favorite type of secular music is country music. :-)

Tag 7 people:
1) Baby Smiling In Back Seat (who just had her twins!!)
2) Celia @ Breeder Beware
3) Sharon @ Mindful Meandering
4) Christina @ My Life
5) Chelle @ Our Life in a Nutchell
6) Murgdan @ Conceive This!
7) WiseGuy @ Woman Anyone?

Guest Blogger

First off, on Friday I set this to post today because today is the 2nd day of Sukkos and using the computer is forbidden. But I wanted to let you know that today I am the guest poster for Nancy's Blog because she's on vacation. (Obviously Nancy set that post ahead of time, too.) Go read my post!! It's a good one (and quite funny too).

Weight Loss...

I woke up to this:



Not sure if you can see it so well, but it says 140.8. Then in trying to get a good photo of the numbers, I had to weigh myself like 10 times. The first 3 or 4 times it was exactly the same, but then the silly digital scale went down to 131 and I was like "ummmm no?" and then it went to 132 and then 135 and then 139 and then up to 141 and then back down to 140.8. It was quite funny. Digital scales are whack. :-)