James Michael Herring

Yesterday was an exciting day! James Michael Herring was born! We went to the hospital last night to meet the new member of Tom and Carrie's beautiful family. John cried in the car on the way there. I thought about how, on this day in years to come, we will likely be celebrating with the Herrings and John will be going to his friend's birthday party. We can tell the story that they first met on the day James was born, and John was crabby! In John's defense, it was getting close to his bed time...


I thought I would let the blogging world know. Here is what Tom said last night on Facebook:

"Facebook followers, I give you: James Michael Herring. Born 6:33pm 9/29/09, 7lbs 15 oz, 19". After 5 hours of labor, Mom and baby are doing great. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers."

Congratulations!!

Update:
Here are some pictures from last night. Doesn't John look huge??

Our Health Care

As of September 1st, we have not had health insurance. I was covered through teaching and Andrew hasn't been insured. But that is all about to change...

We just sent in our application to Samaritan Ministries. We heard about this health sharing program from our friends Darius and Janet when we went to visit them in August. They mentioned that they didn't have insurance but were in a health sharing ministry. I was intrigued. This kind of ministry was completely foreign to me, but now that I have looked into it, it makes more sense to me than having health insurance.

In this ministry, we will share a monthly amount to people around the country who have medical needs. The first three of our payments will go directly to Samaritan Ministries for administration fees. After that, they will tell us another member to send our money to. There is an annual administration fee of $170, but other than that, our money will go directly to a fellow Christian in need. Our monthly share amount is $285 (that is the amount for a two-parent family of any size!).

The best part about this ministry is they do not support abortion! Now we can rest assured that our money for health care is not going to support abortion.

If this sparks your interest, as it did mine, check out the short movie below or visit their website:

Samaritan Ministries from Samaritan Ministries on Vimeo.

Adventures in Cloth Diapering: How I Wash those Spelly Dipes!

Some friends have asked me how I wash our cloth diapers, so I thought I would share it with everyone.

First, you should know how our bathroom is set up. The changing table is in the bathroom, along with the washer and dryer. This set up is very convenient and efficient (you will see why in a minute)!



After reading around on the internet and reading the cleaning instructions that came with the diapers, I have come up with the following system:

Storing those smelly diapers

1. After I take off John's messy diaper, I put it directly in our top-loading washing machine. Because the washing machine is right next to the changing table, I use it as a "dry pail." Click HERE to learn more about the different kinds of pails you can use.

2. I wash the diapers once a day, usually in the morning. Some people have asked "what if you need to do laundry, and there are dirty diapers in your washing machine?" Well, since I wash the diapers in the morning, if I have any laundry for the day, I will do that right after I wash the diapers. I don't typically have laundry to do every day, but there is a window of opportunity when the need arises. If John has a messy diaper while I am doing other laundry, I put his dirty diaper in a wet bag and keep it there until the washer is free again.

Washing

3. First, I use the "soak" setting on the washing machine with a small water load and cold water. The purpose of this is to rinse off the poop. Breast milk poop is water soluble, so it does not need to be rinsed off in the toilet. When we start solid foods, we will need to spray off the solid poop in the toilet. For that reason, we may put off solid foods until he is potty trained! ;) Just kidding!

4. Then I drain the poopy water out of the washing machine.

5. Here are the settings I use for the wash cycle: Medium water load, 2 rinses, hot water to begin with, cold water for the 2nd rinse.

6. I use 1/4 of a tablespoon (yes, it's only a small amount!) of Charlie's detergent and 4 drops of tea tree oil.

Drying

7. I hang dry the pocket diapers and the cloth wipes. The pocket diapers take about 12 hours to be completely dry. The wipes are dry in about 2 hours.


8. For the inserts and pre-folds, I check for staining first. If they are stained, I put them on our window sill that gets a lot of afternoon sun. Even on a cloudy day, the sun will bleach the stain right out of those inserts! I am always amazed!


9. If the inserts and pre-folds are not stained, I dry them in the dryer.

Preparing

10. When the diapers are clean, dry, and stain-free, I assemble them so they are ready to be used. This involves stuffing the pocket diaper with the insert. This makes it easy for Andrew and my mom when they change John's diaper. It's as easy to put on as a disposable!

That's it!

I hope that all made sense! I try to keep everything really simple. Many cloth diapering parents have other methods of storing, washing, and drying their diapers. This is just what has worked for us so far.

Related posts:
9-27-09 Cloth Wipes
9-22-09 And the Winner is...
8-24-09 Reviews and New Diapers
8-12-09 The Sun is Amazing!
7-22-09 The Beginning

Menu Planning Monday

I want to let all of you in on a little secret - you may already know about it: There is a blog called "I'm an Organizing Junkie" (orgjunkie.com). Every Monday, Laura, the "organizing junkie," hosts "Menu Planning Monday." This means she posts her own menu for the week and invites other people to leave links to their blogs where they post their menus.

For the past few months, I have been going to this blog every Monday and I excitedly browse through hundreds of people's menus. Some people provide links to the recipes they will be using (insert drooling here). If I find something that I think Andrew and I will enjoy, I bookmark it on Delicious for future use. I love finding new recipes! So I have been mooching off this blog for a while now, and I think it is finally time for me to participate. Here is my menu for this coming week! Enjoy!

Monday - Taco salad
Tuesday - White bean and chicken chili
Wednesday - Tortellini Marinara
Thursday - Chicken and rice casserole with "Texas Rolls" (Texas Rolls can be found in the freezer section of your grocery store - you defrost them and bake. They taste fantastic and it seems like I made homemade rolls!)
Friday - Out to eat with Grandma Launceford (My mom's mom)
Saturday - Dinner in Bellingham
Sunday - Dinner in Bellingham

For more menu plans, hop on over to orgjunkie.com. You won't regret it!

Adventures in Cloth Diapering: Cloth Wipes

At one of my baby showers, my friend Samantha (who sparked my interest in cloth diapers) gave me a bunch of diapers to try and a basket with homemade cloth wipes. I began using the cloth wipes long before I used cloth diapers. They are SO easy, and they have saved us a lot of money. We recently bought some disposable wipes for a friend who just had a baby - we spent over $5 for a pack of three refills! When I bought those, I realized even more how great cloth wipes are.

The wipes we use were made by Samantha. They are pieces of flannel that are surged around the edges. She picked cute, gender-neutral fabric that doesn't show stains (for the most part). I bought more fabric to make some of my own, though I haven't gotten around to it yet. I bought 3/4 yard of three different patterned fabric (1/4 of each). I found that 1/4 yard makes about 25 wipes!

Samantha gave me about 30 wipes. This is a great amount. I wash them right along with my diapers and with the frequency of my washing, I never run out of clean wipes.

Here are some pictures of the wipes, to give you a better idea:



I also use a homemade spray to moisten the wipes. Here is the recipe I use:

1 cup water
2 T baby soap
1 T olive oil
A few drops of essential oil (This is optional. I use "Clarity" from Sensaria)

To use the wipes and the spray, I spray the cloth wipe and wipe John's bum with the moistened wipe. I usually only have to use one wipe to get him clean - sometime two. Then I toss it in the washing machine with the cloth diapers. It's that easy!!

My next cloth diapering post will be about how I wash the diapers.

Related posts:
9-22-09 And the Winner is...
8-24-09 Reviews and New Diapers
8-12-09 The Sun is Amazing!
7-22-09 The Beginning

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 9

Hosted at Conversion Diary

1. Tummy time: This week, when John was on his tummy, he pivoted 180 degrees! I got on the floor and crawled toward him. He smiled and started moving his legs like he wanted to crawl to me. He wants to crawl, but he needs to get some more core muscle strength. Before I know it, I'll be chasing him all over!

2. We just heard on the radio about a couple who did in-vetro fertilization and they were mistakenly implanted with another couple's embryos. They decided to bring the baby to term and give the baby to the biological parents. The biological parents were overjoyed to have their child! This made me wonder: If the woman who was implanted with the wrong embryos decided to have an abortion, would the biological parents have any ability to intervene? After all, the embryo would be their wanted child.

3. Lesson learned: I really want to get an ergo baby carrier, most of my friends with kids have one and I have heard great things about them! So we decided to get one. The nearest retailer is in Poulsbo, which is about 25-30 minutes away. I packed John in the car and we drove out to Poulsbo. They didn't have the color we wanted. Sad. This reminded me of the value of calling ahead. Especially when you are toting around a little one, you should always call ahead when you are making a special trip to go somewhere for one specific item. On a similar note, I have also learned the value of drive-through banking - what a blessing!!

4. The Front Lines: The 40 days for Life has begun! This is a campaign to end abortion that involves prayer, fasting, and community outreach. It mainly involves standing vigil at the local abortion facility. So for the next 40 days, people will be praying outside the Planned Parenthood in Bremerton from Sept. 23rd through Nov. 1st from 7am to 7pm. John and I signed up for the 9-10 hour slot on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Last Thursday, we had a beautiful thing happen. A man pulled over on the shoulder of the road. He got out of his car (you never know if this is a good thing...) and came over to where we were standing - another man, Michael, was praying with us, so don't worry. The stranger knelt down and put his hand on Michael's shoulder. He began to cry. Michael asked him if he wanted to stay and pray with us. He got up and said "I will be praying" and then walked away. We had the feeling that he may have been suffering from past involvement with abortion. So after he left we prayed for him and that he will feel the power of Our Lord's mercy. Click HERE to see if there is a 40DFL campaign going on in your area!

5. Brewing Beer: Right now Andrew is watching a tutorial video about home brewing beer. We are thinking that we will probably start brewing our own beer to save some money - and have some fun!

6. Postpartum Update: So I know you all love updates on John, but you may also be wondering how my healing has gone. I had an "easy" time with postpartum recovery - compared to stories I have heard from friends. After about two weeks, I felt almost back to "normal." Now that it has been over four months, I feel great! Mentally, sometimes I feel a little foggy, but that is probably because of the sleep interruptions during the night. My "baby belly" is still there a little. I was looking at my stretch marks today. They have faded a lot! Right after John was delivered, my stretch marks were bright red. Now they have faded to a light pink color. It is hard for me to look at them and see beauty, but I try to think of them as "love" marks.

7. Dinner Party: At the Our Lady Star of the Sea's school auction in February we donated a dinner night for three couples at the "Historic Manette Fire Station" with on site childcare included. It has taken a long time for all of our schedules to line up, but we finally hosted the dinner last night! It was SO fun! The adults' dinner was in my parents living area, and the children were entertained in our apartment. My parents did the cooking, Andrew was the waiter, and Becky and I did the childcare. I know I had a great time, I hope the families that came enjoyed themselves also! The kids acted out the nativity story and guess who payed Jesus? - Yup, little Johnny! =)

Now we are just like the Duggars!!

(Minus 18 kids...)

As I said in my quick takes last Saturday, we have adopted the same organizing system that the Duggars use. I learned about this system by reading their book.

Here are the nuts and bolts:

They use numbered cardboard filing boxes. Everything that they don't use on a daily basis goes in a box. Each box has a corresponding index card. On the index card is a list of the contents in the box. The index cards are stored in a recipe box for easy access. When you want to find something, you take out the recipe box, and search for the item by looking on the cards. When you find it on the card, you know what box it is in. All of their boxes are stored in closets.

We modified the system a little bit. Instead of using index cards, we are using a Google Doc. This will be better for finding things, because we can just do an electronic search and find the item we need right away. Right now all of the boxes we have are in our closet (we've been blessed with a big closet). We are starting out with 20 boxes and if we need more, there is room to store things in the basement. The best part about this is when we have to move again, almost everything will already be in a box!!

20 Boxes and Counting!!!

Happy Birthday Perky!

Today is the birthday of my dear friend, Becky (who I refer to as "Perky"). We had her over last night for dinner and a huckleberry pie - the first pie from the new batch we picked in August!

Adventures in Cloth Diapering: And the winner is...

FuzziBunz!!

After trying Bum Genius, pre-folds with covers, and FuzziBunz, we decided to invest in more FuzziBunz because they are our favorite! I suppose we could try more, but we really like FuzziBunz - so I think we are done with our search for the best cloth diaper.

My review of FuzziBunz One-Size Pocket Diaper:

• It is one-size, so it will fit from birth to potty-training.
• The lining on the inside is very soft! (If I had to wear a diaper, this would be it!)
  
• I have had no problems with stains on the pocket diaper. The insert does hold onto stains, but the sun takes care of those.
• The snaps are great!
• Seems very durable and high-quality (I should hope so, for $18 bucks a pop!).
• The diaper is one-sized because the elastic is adjustable. It isn't too difficult to figure out. I like this because it makes the diaper less bulky, as opposed to the snap system that Bum Genius uses.
  
• The only downside I can think of is it takes a little bit of time to adjust the elastic, so if I ever had two different sized kiddos in diapers, it would be difficult to use the diapers interchangeably with both of them.

I have bought all of our FuzziBunz diapers at www.Kellyscloset.com. The shipping has been fast and they have a great rewards program. I haven't had any reason to contact their customer service, so I can't tell you about that. FYI - From September 10th through October 30th there is a deal on FuzziBunz diapers: If you buy 9, you get $40 back in other Fuzzi Bunz products! So now would be a good time to hop on the bandwagon!

Related Posts:
8-24-09 Reviews and New Diapers
8-12-09 The Sun is Amazing!
7-22-09 The Beginning

Cutie-pie!

Here is a much-needed dose of John's cuteness:

Awe, look at that little guy (*sigh!*)

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 8

Hosted at Conversion Diary

1. Practicum: Sorry for not posting this yesterday... I put in my first day at my practicum. I am in a 4th grade classroom that will soon become a 3/4th split! They had to cough up a teacher because they were short at another school. So now they have to divide the kids up and change everything! This will be hard because the kids are just getting use to their class and teacher - and the teacher is in the middle of training the students! Should be interesting! ;)

2. Guests: Mom and Dad St.Hilaire and their friends, Mike and Kay, came down for a quick visit on Thursday night, and they left this morning. We had a great time with them, but I was so busy with the practicum, that I felt I had no real time to visit. We will be going up to Bellingham the first weekend in October, so hopefully I will have a more relaxing visit with them then.

3. Organizing: I have adopted an organizing system that the Duggars wrote about in their book. I will take a picture and show you later. I am still working on getting everything organized, but it will be well worth my time in the end. I think Michelle Duggar said it took her about 6 months to get her house organized. I hope it doesn't take me that long!

4. Bed time: We have instituted a bed time for John. We try to get the routine going by 8:30 and hope for him to be asleep by 9pm. We have been doing this for about a week now. First, I change his diaper and put his PJs on, then I brush his teeth and sing him my "tooth brush" song. Then we say a prayer with him and Andrew reads from the Bible as I nurse John to sleep. That is the routine, I hope it sticks!

5. Clean kitchen update: Guess what... my kitchen is still clean! (Well, almost - there are some bowls on the counter from last night that need to go in the dishwasher) I did a pretty good job this week. I think there was one night that I went to bed with the kitchen being messy, but I promptly cleaned up in the morning. I do think I am getting better, so I am happy about that!

6. Cleaning the house: Before Andrew's parents arrived, we did a mad dash around the house cleaning up. It is so great to have company because we really get the house looking nice. Andrew commented that we should pretend that we are getting company every weekend. Then maybe our house would really clean at least once a week! =D

7. Update on John: John is such a great kid and he brings me much joy! When I was at my practicum, I missed him a lot, but I know he is in good hands with my mom. Sometimes I miss him even when he is napping. I will check in on him to see if he is awake yet - "C'mon John, I want to play!" This week, he has really been developing his motor skills with his hands. He has a little plush dog that he likes to hold. When I hand it to him, he reaches out to grab it! I reach for it and take it from him, and then smile and say "thank you." I am working on teaching him manners now, and to give me things when I ask for them. Obedience starts now! =)

The Butterfly Circus

Future Rock Star?

I don't know... John looks like a natural guitar player to me! Plus he has the bonus of having a father who is an excellent guitarist! Maybe he will be a Catholic rock star - yes, I would approve of that. =)

Future Rockstar? from Andrew St.Hilaire on Vimeo.

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 7

Hosted at Conversion Diary

1. I have been meaning to work out a system of organizing John's clothes. It is challenging when he is always growing. It makes me appreciate that I have stopped growing ...for the most part ;)... and don't need new clothes all the time! Anyway, I found an inventory sheet on the internet and modified it to fit our needs. Today I have been going through ALL the clothes we have for John and categorizing them on this inventory sheet. This will help me to know what we have and don't have and when I go shopping I will know what his needs are. After I put everything on the inventory and sort it all, I will put them in boxes labeled with the size. We are hoping to have many little boys; this system will make it easier to access the clothes down the road.

2. John is big enough to fit in his car:



3. Did you notice the pictures we finally have on our wall from my post about Labor Day?

4. I am trying this new thing where I keep the kitchen clean. It is hard. I love cooking and baking. Cleaning... not so much! But I have been thinking lately about how I feel when the kitchen is messy - like I have a huge burden on my shoulders. I just know that I am generally a happier person when the kitchen is clean. I thought that moving into our new apartment with a very large kitchen would help. On the contrary, I have found that it is worse because if I make a mess I can just move to a clean area of the counter and make another mess. Finally, when all the counter space is messy, I break down and clean the whole thing. It would be a lot easier if I cleaned as I cooked. This week I realized that another reason I need to keep the kitchen clean is it is my JOB! That is part of my job as wife and mother. So wish me luck and keep me in your prayers as I endeavor to keep the kitchen in order. I'm on day 3 of having a clean kitchen...

5.Right now John is laying in bed - post nap - and talking. He does this frequently. He will wake up and begin making all sorts of happy noises. I sure wish I felt that way when I wake up!

6. I started brushing John's teeth. He really likes it! I'm trying to develop healthy habits for him, so we do it every day!

7. On Tuesday, September 8th, the Church celebrated the Blessed Virgin Mary's birthday! I made cupcakes and decorated them with blue frosting (it's a Marian color) and put Marian symbols on them. It was fun, but it will be even more fun when John is old enough to do this stuff with me. I am so excited to teach him all about the beauty of our faith!

Huckleberry Picking 2009 and More!

Huckleberry Picking

In the middle of August we went on our annual St.Hilaire huckleberry picking trip. Last year we went at the tail end of our honeymoon. Not many people went huckleberry picking last year because they had just traveled a lot so they could attend our wedding. This year it was a lot different; there was a really great turn out!

Last year the misquitoes were terrible! I remember when we arrived and the car came to a halt, the misquitoes began tapping on our windows, inviting us to come out! This year the misquitoes were not so bad, but the wasps were everywhere! They were all over our food and it was difficult to cook. So Andrew made a wasp trap (designed after one that his cousin made). It consists of tying a hot dog to a tree with some string and dangling it over a bowl that has water and a little bit of oil or liquid soap. It worked pretty well, and was interesting to watch.

Getting together with this big group was so wonderful! We love the huckleberries... but we love our family more! Each night we prayed the Rosary around the campfire - well, John and I weren't around the campfire; we were nursing in the tent. On the second night, after the rosary, they all began singing. It was beautiful. From inside our cozy tent, I cuddled with John and we listened to our family sing!

I also had a great time connecting with some cousins. Peggy and I had fun talking about mothering, cloth diapering, and incorporating the faith in our households. Angele and I discussed the best parts of being married. John did some bonding with his older 2nd cousin Paul.

Picking was difficult this year with John. Andrew had to do most of the picking. I look forward to when John will be more helpful with important matters - like picking precious huckleberries! So this year we came away with 5 "pies worth" (thanks to a generous donation from Mom and Dad St.Hilaire!). Not too shabby, but we will need to ration the pies out a little more this year.

Newport

After berry picking, we headed out to my parents beach house in Newport. We were in the company of my parents, Andrew's parents, my brother, my grandpa, and my cousin, Beau. We had a full house! Some highlights of our time in Newport include: Eating tons of salt water taffy and chocolate, going on a beach walk, dipping John's feet in the ocean, playing Boggle and Forty-two, eating huckleberry pie made by Mom St.Hilaire (yum!), watching the sea lions, and spending quality time with our dear ones!

Salem

Then we moseyed on over to Salem, Oregon, to see our friends the Hardwicks! While we were there we went to a protest with a bunch of people at the court house (I think). John reached out and grabbed the sign I was holding... so he is already defending life in the womb and he is only 3 1/2 months old!


We spent the night with the Hardwicks before driving back home. It was really great to see them and their home. They have five beautiful children who are very obedient and respectful. It is good for Andrew and me to be around more seasoned parents, so we can learn from their good examples.

In the car I read the Duggar's book, it was really interesting and inspiring. They are the family on TV that has a show about their big family (19 kids!). It was neat reading about how they manage their home with so many children. After reading that book, I have a new idea of what constitutes a "large" family. The Hardwicks have been reading this same book and applying some of the strategies that the Duggars use. Through it all, I realized that we need to really train John in obedience because he will set the standard for our other children.

Labor Day ~ Fun with Corina and Ed

We had our good friends Corina and Ed over yesterday! They came early so they could come to Value Village with us. After shopping, we went down to the Blackberry Festival in down town Bremerton. We listened to the band and moseyed through the sea of vendors. Andrew and I got our rings cleaned for free... my diamonds are sparkly now! We also got a pair of sunglasses for me. I have had the same cheap pair for about 3 years now and the plastic frames have begun to flake and shed. It was time to retire those!


We decided to get a bite to eat, so we got some over-priced oriental food. We ate it in the shelter of the ferry terminal area because by that point it was beginning to pour. We also enjoyed some over-priced but oh-so-tasty walnut fudge from Amy's Decadent Chocolate.

We ran into our friend Lauren Frisch and she invited us to go see the boat she, her husband Adam and daughter Elena are living on. So we went to visit them after our "dinner." Their boat is bigger than we envisioned and very homey, but the novelty is wearing off for them and they are looking forward to moving into a house soon.


Then we came home and duked it out on Dr. Mario. This was reminiscent of our college days, when we would play this game for hours!

John's New Clothes

Yesterday was 50% off day at Value Village! That happens about every three months. Andrew and I have a tradition of always going to Value Village on the 50% off day. When we found out we were pregnant with a boy, we went to the 50% off day in February and stocked up on baby clothes from age 0-6 months. Yesterday we loaded up with Fall and Winter clothes.

We got:

5 pairs of pants
2 sweater/jackets
1 winter coat
3 pairs of overalls
4 onesies
4 long-sleeved shirts
1 short-sleeved shirt that says "Italia" (we like Italy!)
3 pajamas
3 pairs of shoes
5 pairs of socks
and a skirt for Mamma! =)

All of this for only $54!!

Here is all the loot:
John's new winter coat - it only cost $2.50! (Don't worry, it will fit him better in a few months!)

7 Quick Takes ~ Vol. 6

Hosted at Conversion Diary

1. Well, I just put John down to bed. He is going to bed earlier lately. He used to go to bed with us (around eleven). Now he goes to bed around nine. It is kind of nice to have a couple of hours to get things done and relax with out needing to tend to John.

2. For the first year of our marriage we had no pictures of us on the walls. Sure, we had some printed out to put on the walls, but we could not settle on frames we liked. Last week we finally found some good frames at Michael's craft store... and they were %50 off! We had no clue they were having a sale that day, we just happened to decide to go and check out what they had. God sure does provide! So now we will finally have pictures from our wedding up on the wall! =D

[... forget about quick take #1 because John just woke up and I had to sooth him for a while. So now it is 9:40 and he is asleep again...]

3. I was supposed to do student teaching last spring, but my little love bug was born then. So I had to postponed it until this Fall. Then I decided I will postpone it until Winter because I want to nurse John longer. So in the winter I will be student teaching full time. For now, I will be doing a practicum, which will involve me going into the school for a full day on Fridays. Hopefully this will help me, John, and my mom (she will be caring for him while I am gone) get prepared for Winter.

[...speaking of John he is up again, but my wonderful husband will attempt to get him back to sleep...]

4. John is grabbing his feet now!


5. I have always been frustrated about the quick decay of cilantro and parsley. It seems that whenever I buy either of them, they go bad within days. I did a little research on the web and found the idea of treating the herbs like flowers - clean them, put them in a vase (I used a Mason jar) with water, and keep the water fresh. I tried this and it worked really well! Every few days I changed the water and picked out leaves that were going bad. It has lasted for almost two weeks! The best part is when I used my parsley, I just snipped off what I needed with scissors and I felt like I had my own little herb garden on my kitchen counter! I also think it makes my kitchen look nice!


6. We went on vacation a couple of weeks ago. I have been working on a blog post about it - loaded with pictures! =) I promise I will finish it soon and get it posted!

7. John is up again, so I should go... maybe I jinxed myself by writing that first "take"...

"The Hope of Heaven"

A blogger that I follow wrote this beautiful post today:

To be honest, I wasn't totally surprised. This pregnancy was strange, not anything like my other two. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew it wasn't.... normal.

At five weeks, my doctor said that we'll just wait to do any bloodwork, that there's no hurry to do anything so early. I was guessing that meant something, that she wasn't prescribing any of the usual routines -- and in this culture, people opt for vagueness over sharing bad news.

So I waited it out a few weeks. The random spotting morphed into more of a blood flow, and everything from Google and from my heart said that wasn't right. I went to see the doctor again...

...To read the rest click here.

John's New Trick

When John was about two months old we discovered that he likes when we flap our lips together (aka "motorboat lips"). He has learned to do this and now he does it all the time.

Our Talented Boy from Andrew St.Hilaire on Vimeo.

Funny Grandma!

John is beginning to giggle! Here is a video of Grandma Stockton making John laugh!

Funny Grandma! from Andrew St.Hilaire on Vimeo.

"...Because he's our son."

John's Teeth!

Last week was rough. John was not taking naps very well. He seemed like he always wanted to be held. I was getting frustrated because nothing was getting done around the house. He began to develop symptoms of a cold. He had a stuffed nose and a cough. Then...

On Saturday, right as he opened his mouth to nurse, I noticed teeth! He "cut" one of his bottom teeth and I could see the other one right beneath his gums. Since then, he has "cut" both teeth and is a lot happier! I say "cut" because after reading online about teething, I learned that "to cut" a tooth means that it breaks through the gums... I learn so much! ;)

I was not prepared for this - as John is only 3 1/2 months old! My mom gave the advice to stick an ice cube in a washcloth for him to suck on. He really likes that! It's great to have my mom as a resource!

I have not been looking forward to John getting teeth for one reason: biting! So far he hasn't been too bad...

Here are those pearly whites: