disposable diapers are not meant to be washed

Gross gross gross. I'm reasonably sure it was a clean one. A rogue diaper probably slipped into the laundry basket when I was taking a diaper out of the box, and then it slipped from there unnoticed into the washing machine.

Then I went back to the washer when the cycle was done, and there plastered to the wall was the diaper. The very VERY fat and full of water diaper. I picked it off, and marveled at how funny it looked so full like that, then noticed that a tiny edge of the... "seam" for lack of a better word... had come undone. This of course meant that inside the washer was a large quantity of those fun little gel pellets. Yay.

Thankfully, the seam seems to have ripped in the second spin cycle, so they were somewhat in a pile. And they did come right off of the clothes that they were on. Then I gathered up what I could of the remainder and threw those away, then ran an empty rinse cycle to catch the last few that I couldn't see.

It could have been worse, definitely. It could have come undone in the wash cycle as opposed to the rinse spin. It could have been some wool. It could have been a DIRTY disposable diaper. I've learned my lesson, though. From now on, no more just dumping the whole laundry basket into the wash w/o looking it over first, item by item.

that parenting preparation email was right

A while back, I got an email with a list of things to do to check and see if one were ready to be a parent. It had a list of things like stick a fish stick in the back seat of your car and leave it there for a week, and put a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the VCR. One of the items was to prepare you for feeding a baby. It said to cut a small hole in a gourd, hang the gourd from the ceiling, and swing it. Then prepare some baby food, and try to spoon it into the swinging gourd. I originally read this, and laughed, but thought to myself, how much can an infant really move when you're feeding it?

Then, this past week, I was feeding my 12-month-old. I was just sitting on the couch with her food and she was standing up on the floor and I was feeding her that way. When she was getting full, she started swaying dramatically from side to side, but still had her mouth wide open to accept another bite. I was unsuccessful in getting the spoon into her swaying mouth, and suddenly remembered the email from long ago.

I got back home today after visiting my family for a week. It was a very tiring trip. My nephews are now 4 (next month), 2.5 and 1.5, and they are exhausting to be around. My family kept telling me to "just wait" and one day Lydia would be just the same. But I'm hoping that the parenting techniques I'm learning from Raising Godly Tomatoes will pay off. It's a very Bible-based way of parenting, and one of the keys is to start early, which I believe I have done with Lydia. I believe I'm seeing results, but people who aren't around us all day just think that it's her personality, or it's because she's a girl, or it's because she's still young, etc. Hopefully it'll become more evident to strangers as she gets older that she knows how to listen and obey -- the first time I ask her to.

I'm once again about to go through a decluttering phase. Every so often, our apartment just gets to feeling too cramped and crowded and there's "stuff" everywhere and it starts driving me crazy. I'm going to start in our bedroom, since in all my other decluttering phases, I still haven't managed to thoroughly go through our dresser drawers. There's no doubt clothes in there that I have forgotten I even have, and that no longer fit me, and that I probably won't wear again even if they DO fit me, etc. Hopefully I will be able to clear out a bunch of drawers and put different things in them that currently don't have a home, which will at least get things out of sight. Right now the task seems elephant-sized, but I just have to remember to "eat" the elephant one bite at a time.

12 month stats and birthday party highlights

We had Lydia's 12-month appointment today. She's doing fine, looks healthy, developing normally. She is now 27.5" long and staying on the "standard" percentile curve for length, but she's now only 15 lbs and 2 oz. Her weight curve is getting a little flatter, but her doctor said that if you just look at her, she doesn't look underfed or anything. I like to say that Lydia is "fleshy." We went briefly over some other miscellaneous things (like what's good to eat) and came home.

We celebrated her birthday on Sunday when hubby's parents came down for a visit. There are a TON of pictures of the party on her photo page (see the new link to the right). Her daddy helped her open her presents. She was intrigued and excited at being able to "play" with paper. Then we got the cake for her. I made her cake (homemade carrot cake w/ homemade cream cheese icing) because I wanted a tasty cake. She tried to grab the cake instead of blow out her candle, so her daddy had to help her with that. Then we cut her a little piece for her and put it on a plate on her high chair. She promptly smooshed her fingers into the frosting, then licked them off, then repeated this until the frosting was all gone. Then she picked up the whole piece of cake with BOTH hands and was going to eat it that way. She got about one bite off like that and then set it back down again. The rest of the cake-eating was pretty methodical. She was so serious about it. lol

This may be my last post for a while. This weekend, I plan to go visit my family for about 10 days. It's been since August since I've been up there so I'm really looking forward to being able to see everyone.

My home business is going slow for now. I did finish some candy-cane striped longies (wool pants that go over a cloth diaper instead of a diaper cover) and hoped that someone would want them for Christmas, but no bites so far yet. I also went ahead and listed all the rest of the yarn I had planned for longies as you-pick-the-size listings to hopefully have them sell better. I also have plans for something else that will be quick-ish to make when I come back home. Then soon after I come home, I'll need to order some yarn to start in on my play food items.

one year ago today

One year ago today, I hadn't yet found out that my little child was a girl.

One year ago today, I was completely surprised by going into labor a few days early (since most of my family went late with their first babies).

One year ago today, hubby and I were running last-minute errands, even while I was in labor.

One year ago today, a friend took some VERY last-minute maternity portraits of us.

One year ago today, we packed too much stuff to take to the hospital.

One year ago today, I knew that the 9 months of anticipation and waiting and wondering would be over soon, but a new phase of wonder would soon begin.

One year ago today, I never imagined that the next year would go by so quickly.

One year ago today, I started to capture a new little life in pictures, and wish I had taken more.

One year ago today, I finally met the little one whose foot I had been playing with while she was inside me.

One year ago today, I heard my child's voice for the first time.

One year ago today, I was surprised again by a newborn with a lot of hair since hubby and I were somewhat bald.

One year ago today, I first counted tiny fingers and toes in amazement.

One year ago today, I nursed a baby for the first time.

One year ago today was filled with dreams and unknowns and bonding yet to be, and this past year was filled with a love so intense it sometimes made me cry.

One year ago today, my little child was born. May her next year and all the years of her life be filled with unending love and blessings. Happy Birthday, Lydia.

please don't call me again, that is not my name

So hubby and I moved into this apartment in July, and got a phone number. Most "new" phone numbers nowadays are recycled, and ours recently belonged to someone, and we started getting a BUNCH of calls that were obviously from debts gone bad from the prior phone number owner.

I answered the ones I could, and they'd take me off their list w/ no problem once I explained that I am not so and so. Occasionally I'd get a phone message that was automated, and which left me a phone number to call back. One of these happened the other day and I happened to answer it so I could get the whole number (it wouldn't get it all on my machine for some reason).

So I called. The rep wanted my name and zip code, so I gave it to them and said but I'm not the person you're looking for, etc. He said something about putting a block on the file until they get updated information. He put me on hold for a bit, then came back and said that they're sending out a letter to that person requesting updated info, but that they can't stop the calls because they're automated.

O....kay..... so I say (very calmly, I might add), "And what happens if you can't get a hold of her? Am I to just receive these calls from now until forever? Obviously this is a debt you're trying to collect on, right?" He somewhat weakly said "yes." lol. I continued, "I am not the person you are looking for and do not want to receive these calls anymore. Continuing to call me is a violation of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."

(That is Dave Ramsey's "magic phrase" I was talking about. lol. I've listened to his radio show for long enough that I knew it applied in this situation.)

So the guy is silent for a minute and then puts me on hold again. Then when he comes back, just like magic, he says "OK I've put in a request to get these calls to stop going to you, but it does take 5 business days for it to be completed, so if you get a call in the next 5 days then please just understand that we are working on it."

Yay. :) They can't be stopped b/c they're automated, my FOOT! lol. There is always a way for them to be stopped.

Now I may have to call a bank. I get "automated" calls from them, too, but only about once every 3 weeks. Just enough to annoy me.