104 Days Left!!!

On this rainy Friday I woke up feeling sick, so I called in sick and spent the morning in bed. I'm feeling a little better now thankfully. Since going back to work after Thanksgiving break I have taken it upon myself to be the "sick monitor" of the kids. This is the time of the year that their little germies seem to multiply and everyone gets sick! Therefore I keep a thermometer (and sanitizer) handy and when I hear the words "I don't feel good" I am on it! Seems as though hand sanitizer backed by thorough hand washing was not as effective as I had hoped. But I really don't find being stuck inside on rainiest day of the season so far is such a bad thing.

Aside from feeling sick, my pregnancy app reminded me this morning that I have just 104 days to go! YAY!! I am feeling good most days, today is an exception. I have a lot of energy and an amazing appetite. Baby is healthy and quite the mover! I am convinced he is an acrobat! My belly "popped" about 2 weeks ago (I've been told) and a lot of people started feeling comfortable to ask if I am expecting. 

While that seems like a long time it really isn't. It is only 15 weeks or about 4 months. In that amount of time we have a lot to do! 

The nursery is currently our guest bedroom and is under construction while the new baseboards go in. My husband and I have already purchased the crib and glider, as well as an infant car seat set. My mom  has started sewing the bedding. I am feeling really good about the progress but eager to get started putting it all together. This weekend we are going to add a chair rail to the walls and paint! Then hopefully we can get started assembling the crib and glider, and slowly adding more furniture.

For the next 104 days we are making it our mission to enjoy everyday, since they will be the last 104 days of just "the two of us" for a long time and that is perfectly OK with us :)

A Little About Me

Hello, my name is Ileana and this is "Simply Inspired Me". Up until Tuesday I have just been a blog reader (for quite some time), today I am a blogger! I found this link-up through a friends blog and knew that this is where my blogging journey should begin. I love reading others blogs but not really sure how to go about connecting with other women, this is such a great idea :)

I am a twenty-something year old unashamed Christian who is happily married woman the most amazing man! We met when we were kids and grew up literally down the street from one another. Growing up we didn't really like each other much since he is 4 years older than me and I was interested in playing Barbies with his sister and he was into playing basketball with my dad and younger brother. Life happened and our parents did not get together as often, then we didn't see each other at all. Then 9 years ago he volunteered to coach my brothers basketball team and we became really good friends, best friends to be exact! Our friendship quickly grew into love and 3 years ago we got married. 

I am a Montessori teacher and truly do not think of my job as work, it is so much fun to watch children grow and learn! I love to teach and find the Montessori method of learning fascinating. When I am not at work I enjoying baking and cooking. I have an obsession with Pinterest recipes and Pinterest in general.

My husband and I both work with children and knew right from the start that we wanted to start a family. However we wanted to first enjoy being married for a few years, travel and buy a home. Last year we bought our first home and our adorable dog Ocean. 

This year something was missing so we decided it was time to start our family! Over the summer we went on my "have to take vacation before baby" to Europe and found out that we were expecting our first baby! To make the moment even more special I found out on my birthday, hands down best birthday present EVER! Our baby boy will be here in March 2013!

My life is about to take a whole new twist, I am going to go stop working for a while to be a stay at home mom which I am so looking forward to! This is all new to me so I am excited to connect with other SAHM!! 

Thanks for reading :)

Cloth Diapering Part 1

Making decisions for baby had the potential to get really overwhelming. However, I have this amazing group of friends and family who have answered all of my questions. Believe me I have a lot being that I am a first time Mom!

One of the burning questions I had was what brand of diapers do I use. After asking everyone I knew, I got a lot of responses....long story short I found out that disposables were not the only option and I was inspired to research cloth diapering after two moms told me why they use them. 

My idea of cloth diapering was so old fashion. I envisioned a plain cloth diaper fastened by safety pins in which have to be soaked in a bucket before washing. To my surprise this is so not the case! There are so many options available and cloth diapers to fit anyones lifestyle and they are SUPER CUTE!

Now the two moms I talked to use completely different systems, both highly rated and recognized but different in their own respect. So I had to do a little research of my own, and when I research something I pour hours upon hours into finding out every detail possible....pros, cons, how to videos (thank you YouTube), pricing...you name it I looked it up!

Based on my findings I have come to the conclusion that cloth diapers are:

1. CUTE (yes this matters to me)
2. Very easy to use
3. Reduce diaper rash
4. Budget friendly (OMG diapers can run you up nearly $2000 or possibly more before potty training, cloth diapers depending how crazy you go buying covers about $500)
5. Make for an easier transition in potty training
6. Environmentally friendly 

Being that I am not in this alone in this I had to find a way to convince my husband that disposable diapers were not the only option available. His biggest question for me was will I have to touch poop? I'm not going to lie, I thought the same thing at first. Now when using disposables you also have the risk in touching poop, so yes it is possibly but not likely once you master diaper changing or upon freak accident. We agreed to cloth diapering!

I was so excited and purchased 1 of each type of diaper we will be using. For daytime we will be using Flip diapers and for nighttime, the Bumgenius 4.0. The most appealing thing about both is that they are made by the same company and are a once size diaper, meaning that baby can fit in them from about 8-35 pounds. They come in very cute designs and have a snap or hook and loop (which more closely resembles disposables) closure. They are highly reviewed by other moms on the web and one of my friends. Leaks and blowouts are really rare, which is a huge plus!

The Flip diaper is a hybrid diaper. It is made up of a PUL diaper cover and has three different options for inserts: organic cotton, stay dry or disposable. I am not going to be home all the time nor will my husband and I be the only ones who watch our son, so I love that there is a disposable option. Cleanup is really easy once you remove the diaper you literally flip the dirty insert in your wash bag and as long as the cover does not get dirty you can reuse it! 

The Bumgenius 4.0 is a pocket diaper meaning that you stuff the insert into the pocket. We chose this style because it can be a more absorbent nighttime diaper by adding a doubler with the insert of choice.

The Bumgenius was $17.95 and the Flip was $19.95. I found out that one should have at least 10 covers and 24 inserts which is about 3 days worth of diapers. However, I always like to be prepared so I plan to have a bigger stash but it is good to know what is essential. 

Next step was to figure out laundering these bad boys! It is recommended to wash every other day using a special detergent formulated for cloth diapers. The covers can be hung to dry and the inserts go in the dryer. 

My registry has been updated with diapers so our actual investment is not going to be much and the best part is that I can use these when I have another baby. I am thrilled to start cloth diapering and glad that I made this decision :)