Introducing...

Introducing

Levi Paul Varela
Born November 13 at 1:53 p.m.
5 pounds, 3 ounces
18.5 inches long

Healthy and precious!

Our sweet boy decided to come a little early! We are all doing great; I'll post more information soon.

Quick update

The house is a crumby mess (meaning there are crumbs everywhere in addition to the laundry, random toys, shoes, grocery bags, more), but I wanted to check in. Nate has today off from school, so we went to Chick-fil-A and Trader Joe's, where the kids behaved well (always makes for a better outing). Funny side note about that: often, when Nate does a great job of listening, I make an effort to praise him specifically for what he has done. For example, today when we got to the car after Chick-fil-A, I said, "Nate, when Mama said, 'One more minute to play,' and then, 'OK, it's time to go--please get your shoes,' did you obey?" He answered, "Yes!" and was so proud of himself. I do that a lot. Once recently, after school, he did the entire conversation by himself. He said, "In school today, when Miss Meg said put away the toys, did you obey? Yes!!!"

Oh, and one other Nate thing I don't want to forget (I was reminded of this from one of Ricci's posts): he thinks McDonald's is called Old McDonald's. (And I'm sure he thinks the song is about the restaurant.)

Tomorrow we're driving up to Ventura for the day to visit with Nate and Louise and their three girls, who are in the states on furlough.

Several people have mentioned in the past few days that it looks like I've "dropped." I have my next appointment on Monday, so we'll see what the doctor says. I'm not quite 34 weeks, so I don't want anything moving along yet, but ask me again in 3 weeks! :)

Pictures

Lucy so proud about eating with a fork:


Nate riding his bike in the garage:


Me last week at 8 months (32 weeks):


And Lucy just looking cute:

Keeping busy

I've been sewing some more, and Ricci inspired me to start on some craft-y Christmas gifts. I ordered this cute Robert Kaufman fabric (it's brown corduroy) to make a wintery dress for Lucy... We'll see how that goes! I also ordered some fun boy fabric to try to make a skirt for the bassinet I have.

I've finally created a list of all the things I should do before this baby arrives, including freezing a few meals, making that bassinet skirt, getting out all the littlest baby/boy clothes, and finding a small dresser to go in Lucy's closet (I've already found a few good options on Craigslist).

OK, I'm off to do some more nap-time sewing!

Pregnancy cravings and baby names

Eating a snack right now, I just realized that I've had some food preferences this pregnancy. I guess you could call them cravings, but they are foods I do like anyway. The craving this pregnancy (besides citrus in the first trimester and Del Taco all the time, which has occurred all three of my pregnancies) has been balsamic vinegar. My snack right now is a diced tomato and half an avocado in a bowl drenched in balsamic vinegar. The other day, I made my mom's cucumber salad (just cucumbers, a little bit of sour cream, pepper, and balsamic) and devoured a big bowl of it. I've been doing carrots, celery, and cherry tomatoes in a bowl with bv too. I guess it's not unhealthy, so that's good. Yum!

As for the name of this baby, Jon and I have thrown around a few ideas but haven't settled on anything yet. We might head to the hospital with a short list and decide there! :)

Because Greg asked...

...here I am yesterday at 28+ weeks (7 months). Feeling good and big!

What will they come up with next?

Here are a couple of new baby inventions I'm eyeing for this next time around.

• Zip-top crib sheets. It is a big pain trying to get a crib sheet off and a new one on, especially in the middle of the night. (I often have to remove the entire crib bumper and take out the mattress and put it on the floor.) These sheets are two pieces: a base (which doesn't usually get dirty), and a top that zip together. When the sheet needs to be changed, just zip off the top and zip on a new top.
• A swaddling blanket. If Baby likes to be swaddled as much as Nate did, I will want one of these. (Lucy, on the other hand, hated swaddling.) The blankets made specifically for swaddling seem nice because they are big and have pockets so baby can't kick them off or wriggle his/her arms out. If you go to the site, scroll down and watch the video of the precious baby getting swaddled. (Oh--I'm also thinking of just making some of these. The picture here pretty much gives away how I could make one version.)

You'll notice that the things I like take up little to no space... I don't want to buy any new toys, big play mats, etc.--no space suckers!

Some pictures

First is 6-month very pregnant me, then Nate wearing the hat part of a hazmat suit Jon came home with, then Lucy with the bunny ears she kept asking me to put on, and last is Nate very excited today when he found out he could watch an episode of Super Why on the computer.

Room for girl and boy

I'm starting to think about rooming possibilities for the children once number three arrives. Of course, I'll probably keep him in a bassinet in our room for the first few months. After that, I'll have to decide who shares a room: Nate and Lucy (perhaps not ideal because Nate doesn't sleep very well) or Lucy and the baby (depending on how well the baby sleeps). No matter what, I'd probably put the baby in the bedroom next to ours, since Nate's room is all the way upstairs. The only small problem with that is Lucy's room is outrageously girl. And I love it. So I've been thinking about what to do to decorate.






The room is pink and green. Perhaps I'll paint one wall green--maybe the kelly green I have in the kitchen? That's the wall I'd put baby boy's crib against. I've also been looking for boyish fabrics that have frogs on them--maybe surfer frogs, camping frogs, etc.? I could use these for crib bedding and they would coordinate with Lucy's girl frog fabrics (which are on her crib right now and--I hope--will transition somehow to a toddler bed). Here are some fabrics and decor items I've found so far:













Some of the wall art is very cute, but I haven't found just the right fabrics yet. I'm thinking I could also do something simple--a white waffle-weave-type fabric for a bumper and bed skirt, with appliqued frogs.

Edited to add: found this cute fabric at purlsoho.com:

What's going on with us

I've been missing from the blog lately, I know! I haven't felt inspired with anything smart to say. :) Here's what we've been up to... Went to another pool/water park last week (Nate was scared of a big bucket that tipped and created a huge waterfall every few minutes, but once he got used to that, he loved this new place). We also went to a TACA "Pump It Up" night last Wednesday; Jon was able to meet us after work and Nate loved it (it was at a warehouse filled with several huge bounce house/slide contraptions for the kids to climb and jump in). We've also had several playdates, including a fun one today at a park that was new to Nate. The kids have also loved the couple of times we've done a Trader Joes/Chik-fil-a day. Nate can have the fries at Chik-fil-a, so it's a special treat. On Saturday we drove up to Brea to see our friends Phil and Katrina's new house--it is beautiful!!! (Katrina was my college roommate.)



Nate's month of summer has been good and bad. It has been fun for him to get to have some fun-only weeks without commitments. However, I think it has also been a little disorienting to him; he enjoys and is comforted by routine, schedule. Now, with no real schedule of going to school every day, he asks me several times a day what we are doing tomorrow, what we are doing after nap time, etc. He is trying to organize things in his head, I think.

I'm 23 weeks pregnant now. The new development this week has been the baby's exercises at precisely 10:30 every night. He must think I'm a punching bag... He will kick really quickly 10 or more times in a row--too funny. At least it doesn't hurt.

Tomorrow I have an AWANA directors meeting, which means fall ministries are just around the corner... already!!!

A radical decision?

I've been thinking for a couple of weeks about using cloth diapers.

Every person I mention this to recoils with horror.

However, with all the research I have done so far, it seems like it might really be worth the extra hassle. The main reason I've thought about switching is that it can save a lot of money. Of course, it's also better for babies' skin and the environment. I would use cloth at home and disposables for nursery time at church, traveling, etc.

My plan is to buy several varieties of the different options (one each of my favorite ones I've found) and try them with Lucy. Even if I decide cloth diapering isn't for me, I will have ended up saving money using them for a while with Lucy. (I figure cloth diapering just part-time for even a year would more than pay for itself.)

My favorite varieties are, of course, the more expensive kind: all-in-ones or "pocket" diapers that require no covers or extra pieces--usually just the diaper, which closes with velcro or snaps, and a "soaker" insert. Some diapers even come in "one size" options, with lots of different snap options so they can fit from newborn to toddler. One-size diapers are probably much bulkier for the littlest babies, so I would probably get some smalls no matter what. Here are some of my bookmarked diapers:

BumGenius one-size: Good reviews no matter where I've read. Expensive but very beginner-friendly. The picture below shows all the different sizes of ONE diaper.


Wonderoos: another one-size option. I've read that snaps last better through multiple washes and don't gather lint like velcro does; however, snaps offer a little less size customizability.


Fuzzi Bunz: these are pocket diapers that come in various sizes. I like the snaps and the good reviews.


"WAHM" (work-at-home mom) diapers: I've found some cute designs on Etsy and Ebay made at home by moms. I plan on buying one from a couple of different sellers to test the quality and then might buy more.





Here are the links for the above diapers:
Pink and brown
Pink polka dot
Yellow with ruffles
Dinosaur

P.S. To be truly cost efficient, I probably won't buy any of the adorable obviously-girl designs (e.g., ruffles), since I wouldn't be able to reuse those on the new baby. (I guess I could, but I'm sure Jon wouldn't approve.) :)

And it's a...

boy! I'm excited! I love the thought of two boys and one girl, of Nate getting to have a brother (and Lucy too, of course). Our scanner isn't working; otherwise, I'd scan in the ultrasound pictures. The doctor said all the measurements look great.

I must say it was more exciting waiting until the baby was born to find out the sex, but this time around it was fun to do something different. Now we only have to come up with one name! :)

A full picture

Here I am yesterday in a non-cropped picture with a new haircut. :)

Showing

I broke out the maternity clothes in the last week or so. I'm in that dreadful in-between stage where I feel extremely fat, nothing fits, and most maternity stuff still looks silly. The shirt I have on here isn't maternity, but the style works well. I did purposely crop out my face because, like I said, I feel fat! :) :) :)

Baby

A quick pregnancy update... I'm 13.5 weeks along and had a few appointments this week, including some bloodwork and a first ultrasound. I took both children with me to the ultrasound appointment yesterday (couldn't time childcare), and they sat in the stroller facing the screen. Nate looked up, saw the baby, and said, "It's a frog!" It was neat to see the little beating heart, the baby's profile, both feet (cute little footprints), the brain, etc. It's crazy how quickly so many intricate body systems begin forming! I'm feeling pretty good--haven't felt sick in a while. I don't know if I'm still super tired or not. I should rephrase: I am super tired, but I think it's jet lag. :)

I am not joking

Do you remember how I started the "I'm serious about losing those last 10 pounds" commitment several weeks back? And how I only posted about it for the first couple of weeks? I'm usually a very committed person; when I set out to do something, I stick with it. So what happened this time? I'll tell you: the day after I posted my first update, I found out that I'm pregnant! I had my first appointment last week. I'm 9 weeks along today and am due December 15. Jon's reaction when I told him was to laugh for about 10 minutes straight. This was not in "our plan," but I'm glad it was in God's. I'm feeling pretty good--just super tired. Crazy!