OK, I have to warn you, this an odd post, although I have a feeling a few of you out there may understand. I got all these old cloth diapers from the lady we used to live next door to, and I totally geekily happy about it. We have kept in touch by email, and when I wrote to tell her about Akasha, she wrote back and said she had a bunch of diapers she was finally ready to let go of. She used them with her son like 50 years ago! She always hoped she might be able to pass them on to grandchildren, but it didn't work out that way.
So, first of all, it is just cool to be part of her legacy. She is a super neat lady, and I am proud to be the recipient of her baby treasure. But second of all, I just like old stuff and feeling like I am doing something in a way that connects me to mothers throughout time. And lastly, they are so awesomely soft from being washed so many times!
What I didn't realize is that there are plenty of people still using them. I figured I would just fold them up to the size of a prefold, but I also thought I might as well do some research to see if I could find some nifty folding info. There were lots of sites about them, like this one. And after reading... I figure I will still just fold them up to the size of a prefold LOL.
This gives you an idea about how big they are. Akasha looks like she is thinking, "Just how are you going to get these on my bottom?" Some closeups for cuteness. :) Cutest pic in a long time! Because I guess I forgot I took a sneezing one just the other day haha. Oh, and there was just one of these in there! This is why they were called prefolds to begin with! You can actually see how it was folded over and sewn in place. Cute little brand stamp. Again, this makes me oddly happy.
I went to a lovely Mama Blessing tonight. There were some cool elements I had not heard of before, like having fruit themed food and everybody bringing a square to make into a quilt. And of course I can't resist taking a picture of the candles! Yes, those are canning lids - simple and brilliant!
Oh, and I almost forgot, this is the outfit Akasha wore! I thought it was so cute. I don't think I could get away with stripes and polka dots. But when she was fussing a bit before we left, Ron said, "I would cry too if I had to wear that outfit." No taste! :p
This is just a picture post, plain and simple. I realized I have not been very good about getting baby pictures, and even worse, I have almost none of her frequent smiles. She is such a happy, smiley girl there is no excuse! She just loves to have people talk to her while she is on her back. So I started with the little camera, and then Ron went on got the big camera haha.
This happened awhile ago - I think it was the night we watched the Wizard of Oz, but I am just now getting around to writing it out. It was a little thing, really, but also a very thing! Proof that math does indeed happen - Orion did subtraction. We got a box of microwave Kettle Corn to eat while watching our movie. Ron told Orion there were 3 bags in the box. Later that night, out of the blue, Orion said, "There were three bags, and we are eating one, so there will be two left!" :D
Chances are, that isn't what they had in mind, but I still love these: OK, I am not much for brand name, overpriced shoes, but these are so cute! Last time we were at Pump it Up, I saw two pairs of these in the cubby area. I liked them so much I had to go and find a picture of them. This is the first time I have ever wanted a pair of Nikes!
Orion has a cut on his chin from a couple days ago. This morning, he was in the bedroom with me while I was nursing the baby, and I got to thinking I should put some breastmilk on it to help it heal. When she was done, I expressed some onto my finger. Orion was watching and looking at me like I was a little loony. I told him it was good for his cut and dabbed some on the scab. He furrowed his brow for a few seconds, and then... he stuck out his tongue and licked it off. LOL Little monkey.
Orion has been so funny recently. Ron was whispering "secrets" in his ear the other day. For example, "I love you." Orion's response was, "That's not a very good secret - everybody knows that!" So he followed up with some other obvious stuff and got the same answer. But my favorite reply was to, "I love Akasha," which was, "That's not a good secret - everybody loves Akasha!" Ahhh, ain't it the truth? :)
Wow, I can't believe how different they look! Except for the hair, which is almost identical. OK, here is my mama overanalysis.
Eyes: the color difference is of course the first thing that jumps out at you, but the shape is different too. In fact, it was all the comments we got this past weekend about how pretty her almond eyes are that prompted me to do this. I always thought Orion had big, round eyes, and hers look almost Asian in comparison! They are also more hooded. She does have lovely, long eyelashes you can see when her eyes are closed, but you can't see them at all when they are open.
Mouth: her lips definitely look smaller to me. This is funny because I noticed right after birth my nipples seemed so big next to her mouth. I didn't remember thinking this with Orion, and now I see I might have been right about the difference!
Skin color: Akasha looks much more olive toned. It might be the lighting, but she does take after Ron, so that may be the case.
Head shape: It is obvious now that Orion got my long face and chin, and it is already clear at 2 months that his chin was bigger.
This was neat! I think I should do it every couple months or so!
We spent Friday through Monday at a timeshare on Rockaway Beach thanks to the lovely generosity of our good friends Jessica and Dane! The drive out was better than we expected. Akasha slept almost the entire way. We were probably only 15 minutes away when she started crying, but we decided to stop for a nursing session since it had been awhile. We got our stuff upstairs and took a little tour, only to find out... we were over the maximum occupancy in the room! I guess two little babies count the same as anybody else to the insurance folks.
We seriously thought we might have to turn around and head home for a minute there, but it turned out they had another room available, and Jessica and Dane used up a bit more of their time to give it to us. What awesome friends!
Here the squirts are the first night, looking out the window at the beach, or "beeee", as Olivia calls it. They also did lots of jumping on the beds and in general wrestled and knocked each other down. She sure is a good match for him!
And some Akasha cuteness back in our room. The next morning.... He looks so peaceful when he sleeps. :) The view from our room! Mama getting her artsy on hehe. Friends from birth. Sophia looks like she is wondering what the heck that monkey thing is. Olivia pronounced this to have a booboo. And here the boys are on the couch and home.... Oh wait, they are just doing the same thing we do at home. Sophia is almost crawling! We start them young around here! LOL, she looks like she is intently watching a screen, but it was just a random look. "Stop interrupting my gaming with all those flashes lady!" It was around this time Ron told me I needed a support group for all my picture taking. C'mon, kids eating watermelon are cute! The dads an older monkeys finally made it down to the beeee. I followed a few minutes later and came upon this scene: Our building as seen from the beach. Busy boys. Dad is digging a deep hole in the background... ...to illustrate how he can get down to the water. So we had a discussion about why this happens.
And here is Ron not knowing his own strength. He whacked this getting it off and actually cracked and broke it!
Then the offending foot inched in. And here is Ron's "don't kick my castle" face. I love this picture. A daddy's watchful eyes.... This would be Dane looking somewhat annoyed at Orion for continually stepping on his creations if I recall correctly haha. And notice little Olivia's feet propped up on Daddy. Don't remember what this face was all about, but it sure is cute. :) More busy boys. Random heart shaped rock. Olivia throwing rocks with the boys in the background. Looking for her next victim. Fling! And some arm swinging thrown in for good measure. Then she got bolder and decided to check out the water up close. Am I evil for thinking this is funny?
Back with the boys - a big project going on. This would be Ron's annoyed face as he tells Orion not to mess their wall up. Here comes the water! What will happen? Too bad I suck and didn't get the follow up pictures.
But I did take this funny one of Akasha. She slept almost the whole time in the mei tei and is looking pretty groggy in this shot. This is what you get when mom just holds the camera out and points. The next day was rainy, so we pretty much stayed inside and played games. Here is one more shot of Ms. Sohpia getting her crawl on. The kids played alot of "doughdough" as Olivia calls Play Dough. She is so cute the way she is coming into her talking. "Orion" is one of her most recognizable words. Ron said to her several times, "I don't speak Olivia," and then Orion was saying it by the end of the trip. Crack up.
We also managed to get some time in the indoor pool both days. I didn't get a shot of it because there really wasn't much space to put anything down in the room. See, I don't need a support group after all! I didn't take hardly any pictures the whole third day. In fact, I wish I had taken the camera in the evening when we drove up the coast for dinner. We passed some gorgeous scenery I missed out on!
One last shot on Monday morning - captured on Ron's cell phone - visual proof that it is possible for the kids to be asleep at the same time while we are up.... The drive home went smoothly as well. Except Ron started getting sick and now seems to have a full blown cold. Dang, I hope I don't get it, and I hope we didn't give it to the Jensen clan either!
Some closeups for cuteness. :)
Cutest pic in a long time!
Because I guess I forgot I took a sneezing one just the other day haha.
Oh, and there was just one of these in there! This is why they were called prefolds to begin with! You can actually see how it was folded over and sewn in place.
Cute little brand stamp. Again, this makes me oddly happy.
