hump day nuggets: adventure

Well I thought about just saving these nuggets for this upcoming Wednesday since it's only 2 days away, but I really did write the majority of this post last Wednesday.  The computer was having issues so things got delayed. Poor computer. It's old. We bought it after college graduation in 2003! Kind of funny that two computer scientists have such an ancient computer!!

So, here's what I would have posted last week ... if I could have :)

hump day nuggets: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week

While not my norm and definitely not my comfort zone, it seems like we've been living somewhat adventurously in a few different areas of our lives. So, some highlights from our recent adventures around here.

Adventures in ... CLOTH DIAPERING.
It's something I've thought about a few times before, but finally decided to take the plunge. My biggest reservation was that Tulsa doesn't have a store that carries cloth diapers, so I had to shop online. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping online. But for some things, it's just hard. And having not seen a cloth diaper in over a decade, I just wanted to look at one before buying. So, I met with Tara, an amazing cloth diapering mom who gave me lots of good information, showed me over a dozen different types of diapers, and convinced me that it wasn't going to be difficult. Tara has a blog and also does cloth diaper parties and consulting here in the Tulsa area so if you live around here and are looking for an expert, she's your girl!

So, long story short, we are about 7 weeks in and I must say that it's going pretty well. Hasn't been a huge ordeal like I feared it might be. Really, it's not difficult. I can run a load of laundry every night and stuff diapers in the morning for the day. I can flush my kid's poo down the toilet. That's the rather unglamorous part of it all, but lets be honest, glamorous is about the last thing motherhood is ...

We still have a box of disposables around I wouldn't say I plan to be 100% cloth anytime soon (if ever). I am happy with where we are, our decreased landfill contribution, our financial savings, and plan to re-evaluate once the baby comes along. For now, I love Beetles cute cloth booty and she seems to enjoy selecting the color of diaper she's going to wear. It's the little things in life :)

note: For those interested, a little more about the specifics. I tried diaper covers and prefolds first, but just wasn't happy with the way things were going. Super bulky booty (like so bulky some of her clothes weren't fitting!) and some diaper rash (I think due to the fact that prefolds aren't stay dry) ... thankfully, I had purchased through Tara and the company she does her selling through offers a trail and exchange program. This was perfect. I exchanged my covers for pocket diapers and have been much much happier this go round. Right now I have 4 different brands of pockets: Bum Genius, Fuzzibunz, Smartipants, and GoGreen. I had initially wanted to find one perfect diaper and just order all the same kind. Now, I am so glad I didn't. Each diaper has advantages and fits differently and I think it has been good experience to try out the different kinds. For example, I LOVE the trim fit of the Fuzzibunz, but find them hard to stuff with extra absorbancy at night so reach for my BumGenius or GoGreen diapers. I love the pocket style (open on both ends) and snapping style of the Smartipants. Anyways, I have a pretty good idea what works well on a toddler (at least one particular toddler), and I have an idea of what kind(s) I'd like to try for an infant (based on sizing).

Adventures in ... EATING.
I am somewhat fascinated by nutrition. I didn't discover this until after college or it might have affected my career path :) But, the science behind what we eat and its impact on health is all very interesting to me. Just thought I'd tell you a little something you didn't know ... Anyways, I've been reading and learning a lot lately. I am retraining my brain on what's good to eat and what's not as nutritious as I thought it was.  We've made some changes. I am still learning. I'd say we are in process ... and will likely always be.

I am cooking more. Basically every meal. We don't eat a lot of carbs. We eat a lot of bacon :) We are at a minimal gluten, grain, dairy, and sugar place. I am feeling good about it. I don't intend to create a gluten free or sugar free bubble for the girls to live in (and would argue that this isn't the right approach to take), so we just minimize the amount we eat. Cooking gluten free has been interesting and rewarding. We (Dominic and I) don't really miss the "other" foods like we thought we might. We aren't as bloated and gassy. I don't feel like I'm on an up and down roller coaster all day long when it comes to being hungry and satisfied. Dominic has lost a few pounds.  I haven't put on as many pregnancy pounds.  We pay consequences when we eat junk food ... and Zantac is often involved :)

Here's links to some of the awesome resources I've been reading and learning from: Robb Wolf, Everyday Paleo, Health Bent, Mark Sisson. There are more, but that should more than get you started if you are interested.

Adventures in ... HOMESCHOOLING.
Rather than homeschooling, I thought about titling this adventure ghetto preschooling, but homeschooling just sounds like I have myself together and sometimes I like to pretend that I do :) At 3, Juliet isn't really ready for formal homeschooling and I am not even sure if that is the route we will go when it's time, but what I do know is that she loves to learn. And I hope that as her mom I will always see myself as her teacher, whether she has other teachers in her life or not. In our current daily routine, we have about 2 hours together during Beetles nap time every day (well, most days) and while I love to just do whatever, I have been feeling like she is ready for something a bit more structured. For a while now, we have been doing what Juliet calls her "letter project" at an online website called Starfall. It is a great resource for free phonics teaching (thanks to Aubrey for the site tip!). Highly recommend Starfall.  Juliet has a good grasp on what letter words start with and we have been working on what letter words end with as well as reading some very simple words. But there is so much more to life than letters, right?!

So, my current solution is to do a bit of ghetto preschooling homeschooling.  No formal curriculum or ummm plan, just winging it based on what's she's interested in (or what crafty thing I want to do!).  We have been doing a bit of spontaneous Google searching, gluing random objects to paper, making finger paint, and talking about fun new things like the seasons, ROYGBIV, and the days of the week. I have been trying to keep spending to a minimum and just use stuff around the house which has been fun and challenging. But, if you come over, be prepared that there is a bunch of paper, cotton balls, dyed pasta noodles, and leaves taped to our wall in the living room. Totally ghetto awesome :)

Some pictures from our ROYGBIV (i.e. rainbow) lesson. Homemade finger painting!

Beet Beet loved her some finger paint.

Dyed pasta.

We used it to string a necklace and to make our name.

Recipes for both the paint and the pasta can be found on my Pinterest board.

Adventures in ... CHILD NAMING.
So this one is a stretch as far as adventures go, but I figured I should slip it in here since we actually have a name for this little boy who spends most of his day kicking and pushing at my insides! Naming babies is hard ... or maybe we just make it hard, but it has been a difficult decision every time. Between Dominic's negative name associations and my laundry list of baby name requirements, I am somewhat surprised that we have a name at this point! I'm not going to deny telling Dominic at one point in our discussions that he could name this baby and I'd just name the next one so we wouldn't have to work together ... my brilliant conflict resolution skills right there people :)

But, we have a name we agree on now so that's all that matters. And it's a keeper.

Luke Wilfred Schulte.

(Wilfred after Dominic's grandfather).

So, yay! A name :)  Keep all negative feedback to yourself. I'm not used to putting a name out there before it's on the birth certificate. Ha!

And a couple pictures from our visit to the library this week.

So there are some very late nuggets!  Will check in again soon!

Note: Nugget format inspired by the very inspiring Nici over at Dig this Chick.