Brother's Baseball Game....

Have I posted about Gage playing Summer ball through the YMCA?
If not, well, that's because the season happened at the same time that I was big fat pregnant, delivering a baby, at home with a newborn, and the whole season was kind of....blah.

There were times that we were lucky enough to have enough kids show up to play a game. There were times that we didn't have enough players and kids from the other team played on our team just so we could have a game.

Needless to say, it was NOT the same type of league Gage was used to playing in, but it was the only local Summer league. So we tried it.... Won't do that again.... Gage wasn't stoked about it....

On the day that we brought E home from the hospital, Gage had his first game with this team that night. Daddy got roped into coaching....Here's a picture of them back at home after the game...

About a week later, Gage was excited one evening to look out from the field and see Mommy and Sister there at his game. He wasn't so much expecting that!

How Eliette spent her time at the game (and please note that on this particular night, there was a breeze and it was pleasant out there, not super hot!):

Gage was very happy and proud to show off his sister....

First Grade Awards

Gage had an end-of-the-year singing and awards program at his school. He was excited to have his sister attend this year.
:)
She was only two weeks old, so I wasn't so sure about taking her into a class of germy first graders....but ultimately, we just went for it.

I don't have any pics of the singing program that was in the cafeteria. Have to say: one of my favorite songs that they sang: "Pretty Mama" to the tune of "Pretty Woman." It was a song for the mommies and I loved it! 

Pics from the awards portion back in his classroom...

Gage got lots and lots of awards including an award from the principal.
:)

Family pics from the awards program...

We will miss Mrs.H, his first grade teacher, and we will miss that school. Gage will be going to a new school next year, and who will he miss the most? The librarian! He loved his librarian and loved going to the library every Thursday. Such a cute thing....

Truth be told, I think she'll miss him too!
:)

Newborn Diapers...My $0.02.

So....I ultimately plan to use gDiapers. We aren't there yet. Before Eliette got here, I decided that we would start gDiapers at size M. I thought this would allow us time to adjust to life with a newborn, and allow me time to adequately heal from my csection, and that we'd go from there. In the meantime, we'd use disposables.

Well....Little Miss was itty-bitty! Preemie diapers fit her best in the beginning. Then we moved on to size Newborn.
Boy, do I have some opinions on these disposable diapers!!!

So, here's my $0.02 on newborn diaper comparisons:

Pampers Swaddlers:
Love the indicator line that is yellow when dry, and then turns green/blue when wet. Love that! They seem absorbent, and Eliette never leaked through them....

But---do you see how the top dips down very little for the umbilical cord area? That didn't make me happy.

Huggies Little Snugglers:

Love these! The center area dips lower. They were great on absorption, and they have the indicator line too! The fasteners are round tabs instead of square/rectangular, so they didn't seem to ever rub on Eliette's skin if she curled her little body up. On the newborn size, these were my favorites!

Mom to Mom brand:

I had to throw in a generic brand to try too....
Sadly, I was very/very/very disappointed in these...

They were kind of crunchy feeling. Not very soft. The umbilical cord area wasn't stellar. The tabs were the worst! They are stiff, and pointy at the corners. When Eliette would curl up like she was in the womb, the tabs would poke and irritate her belly skin. And, they don't have the indicator line. These were by far the crappiest newborn diapers we tried.

Luvs:

I failed to take my own picture of these. Absorbent, just like they advertise. I have no real complaints about these diapers except: they lack the color indicator line. In the middle of the night, that line is so helpful! I just have to say, the Luvs seem to be a more cost effective choice, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they worked on Eliette. I tried them in the past with Gage, and they were disappointing. ...but, that was 7 years ago!

So, in the end, the big winner for us has been Huggies Little Snugglers.


Now, how has our diaper changing been going?
Well, we've come up with a little system....
We have the changing table set up in the nursery, but in the first few weeks, Eliette wasn't sleeping in her nursery, so we rarely changed her in there. Instead, we've been changing her primarily in our room or the living room. So, we have these stocked baskets in both rooms.

 To start, each basket has a Munchkin brand pad that we lay down to protect the couch or bed... (It's draped over the edge of the basket in the above photo...)
Got them at Target, and they rock. They are waterproof and easy to just toss in with the laundry when needed.

So, also in the basket is hand sanitizer, diapers, diaper wipes, diaper cream, face/hand wipes, baby socks (because they so easily get soiled during diaper changes!), and toss bags for the throwing the diapers away... These little caddies have made diaper duty so easy!

Okay...that's my two cents for today....

It's Not a Real Bath....

Well, here are pictures from Eliette's first "Not a Real Bath."
Why do I call it that? Because we didn't fill the sink up with water. It was more like we put her in the sink, and wiped her down with clean water.
:)

Pics from Eliette's first "Not a Real Bath":

We had the heater going in the bathroom, and it was soooo warm. She pretty much slept through it!
{As an aside, see the swollen areas on her chest? Poor thing! The dr said that it's from hormones that she got from me in utero, which she continued to get via breast milk. It took a while for her little hormone levels to even out, but they have now, and she's no longer swollen. It just broke my heart to see that on her because I'm sure it was so tender and painful for her. Poor baby....}

First not-real-bath: success!!!!

Adjusting...

We've all been adjusting to life with a baby here....
It's been....a process....but, we're all getting there.
...and so worth it for this little one!

Gage is definitely taking to being a big brother...

Please note in the following pictures: Gage is holding a binky in Sister's mouth. Too funny!!!

Daddy's reacquainting himself with parenting a newborn...

...and if you lay out clothes for Eliette, Daddy will happily dress her, even if he puts her clothes on like a 1980's jazzercise instructor...

(Daddy, the pants go OVER the onesie!)

Ranger's had to adjust... In the beginning, he was sooooo curious! Then for a while, he thought it was his personal duty to watch over Eliette at all times. So cute!

Oh, it's been fun.
Well, it hasn't aaaaallllllll been fun, but I don't whip out the camera so quickly in those moments...I did however find one to share!

Poor baby!!!!!