More than I can chew?

June was a whirlwind of activity and today is the first day I feel as though I can take a deep breath and slow my pace a bit.  I was all over the place in June:  finishing up work, cooking double meals to freeze one for later, cleaning, sewing, sewing, and more sewing.  There are still things to do but the BIG projects are finished. 

Speaking of GaRgANtuAN projects:
 today I finished sewing my cloth diaper stash!!  Spencer and I are going to try cloth diapers.  It won't be easy (mainly because we don't have a washer--but we did buy a little portable washer you crank by hand...time consuming but cheaper than a laundromat) but I'm hoping it will be worth it ($$) in the long run.  As I was sewing diapers I thought back to the fall when I took a cloth diaper class in September (we weren't even trying to have kids yet) out of curiosity and genuine interest.  I don't remember the exact reasons why I want to cloth diaper anymore but that class got the ball rolling and I was determined to finish.  I'm pretty sure my plan was to save money and the environment by using cloth diapers...but I hope I don't lose my sanity in the process.  I did lots of research and finally decided on the system we would use (prefolds and covers) then put it into motion this summer (that's 9 months of researching and planning ladies and gentlemen...can you say 'overboard'??). 

I started sewing the diapers once I was off work for the summer and I finished one month later.  It probably shouldn't have taken that long but I kept running out of little things like thread or fabric. I should also mention that I'm human and can't seem to cut a straight line (a rotary trimmer and a serging machine could have sped things along).  There was a much welcome break when my sister and her family came to visit for a couple of days and a day or two of cooking freezer meals, but for the most part I worked on diapers Monday-Friday all the live-long-day.  

The end result?  60 cloth diapers.  I made 57 of the 60 (three are manufactured prefolds/burpcloths given to me).  Not too shabby.  That's enough for approximately 3-4 days...I'm still holding out for more prefolds at our baby shower but at least we have something to start with! I did a mix of prefold and insert style diapers and purchased two 'Thirsties' brand waterproof (PUL) covers from Target with a gift card.  The most expensive part of cloth diapering is establishing an initial supply (a.k.a. "stash").  Thanks to finding lots of tutorials online, buying fabric from D.I (old towels, flannel sheets, receiving blankets, and an enormous chunk of  purple-people-eater fleece), and the generosity of others, the overall cost has been minimal on our part; a true blessing.  

 Word of caution:  if you plan on cutting terry cloth EVERYTHING will be covered in fluff in seconds.

 Just a sampling:  two sizes of prefold, 2 sizes of inserts

 The PUL (poly-urethane laminate a.k.a. waterproof) covers.  These are set to the smallest size but can expand to grow with the child.

I mentioned that my sister and her family stayed with us for a couple of days while they were in town.  It was good for my heart to see them.  I finally met my nephew Mack, he's the happiest baby I've ever seen, you can't help but love him.  I only heard him cry once and the kid has the easiest smile.  Trae is growing up so fast. He's almost 4 years old and into Transformers, peeing outdoors, and other boy stuff (he could be one of my preschoolers)!  I can hardly believe it.  I loved just being able to talk to Kellee.  I can't wait for Christmas when we're all together again.  

 Spencer and Mack

Trae and Optimus Prime 

One last photo to prove we're well on our way to welcoming baby.  Spencer and I finally hung the garland and bird cage (top right corner of the garland) over the crib, put up the bumper, and organized the baby things in bins beneath the crib.  

Don't mind the bright orange tools and camping gear next to the crib.

I'll let you in on a little secret.  We finally decided on a name.  We've had the first name settled for months but couldn't decide on a middle name until last week.  Her name is Leone Noel.  Leone is Spencer's great-great grandmother's middle name.  It's pronounced lee-own and is a feminine form of 'lion' in french.  I'm french, we like the idea of using a family name, and it's not too weird but still original.  Noel was a name I had suggested before as a first name but Spencer wasn't really a fan.  

When I suggested it again last week Spencer said he liked it and decided he liked it even more when we realized that Leone Noel backwards is still Leone Noel (i.e. leonenoel).