Just a quick post to show off Chloe's first go at wearing a dress. We took her to church for the first time this morning and put a dress on her for the occassion. We think she looked precious and as far as I'm concerned...LET THE DRESSING UP BEGIN!!! I've been so anxious to put our cupcake in all the little outfits people have sent us but so far she's been too tiny. She is still really thin but at least now things don't look totally silly on her. So I'll be making use of the dresses and outfits we've gotten much more often.
We had her one month appointment Friday and she was 7 pounds, 15 ounces and 21.75 inches long. This puts her in the 10% for her weight and the 75% for her height. Guess she's like her Daddy - long and lean :).
Hope everyone has had a Happy Easter!
This morning our neighborhood park had a pancake breakfast fundraiser for the local boy scouts and an Easter egg hunt. We braved the slightly cool weather with our little cupcake. We bundled her in our Jeep stroller (thanks Great Grandma!) and headed to the park.
The pancake plates were quite a deal...$3 per plate for a stack of cakes and a handful of sausages. Of course mama always says you get what you paid for! While the pancakes and sausage was yummy they had just run out of forks and syrup right when we got our plates in hand. Lucky for them we're sleep deprived parents of a one month old who will eat practically anything we don't have to prepare. So we used our hands, made the pancakes like tacos and we didn't even notice. Plus, as Chris so enthusiastically pointed out "At least we're supporting the Scouts." 
Chloe got her first picture with the Easter bunny. So precious! Happy Easter!
Some call it crunchy, some call it green, some call it Keepin' Austin Weird (only because they don't know what that slogan really means), some call it insanity, some call it old fashioned....we call it just another decision a parent has to make.
So, the confession here is we are cloth diapering. I always hesitate to share that with people because hardly anyone is encouraging or even just non-responsive. Instead most people passionately tell me why we are insane or make quick judgments about what we're trying to prove. We aren't trying to prove anything. We probably are insane in some people's books but not because we cloth diaper. There's plenty of other things that make the Crack house, well, Cracky. But this was just one decision, we had to choose disposables or cloth. I realize most of you chose disposables but I've never done anything because of what most people do. I promise not to judge anyone who chooses disposables for their child but in return I wish I could ask those more vocal folks not to judge us for choosing cloth.
Since I know none of you would question our decision I'm mostly venting here. But for the sake of putting it down somewhere here are a few of the things that sparked my interest in cloth diapering:
1. It is earth friendly. Even though we are using water to wash we aren't putting diapers in landfills that will be there longer than most men live.
2. It's healthy. There are chemicals in disposables that have long since been outlawed in the production of tampons and sanitary napkins but so far the FDA hasn't made that change for diapers.
3. It's cost effective. We just bought all the diapers we will need for all the children we ever choose to have. We may need a few incremental packs of the earth friendly disposables for long vacations but in general we have the bulk of diapering that we'll need. Our total was around $300. It would take lots of coupons of deal hunting to come close to that cost for disposable diapers for one child...but we've got them all covered, no extra charge!4. It's cozy! You should feel these things. Compared to the disposables these fuzzy soft diapers are like the Cadillac of butt huggers. Not to brag here but Chloe's bum is so darn cute I absolutely think it belongs in the Cadillac :).
5. It's going to help in potty training. Since the disposables are made to chemically whisk away all dampness children don't associate their bm's and pee pees with any sensation in their diaper. With cloth, there isn't any chemical whisking so while we'll have to be way more diligent about changing our little wet one, she should learn quickly that she's causing that and using the potty will help!6. It's come along way. Cloth diapering is no longer pins and diaper dips in the toilet. You should see the technology out there for cloth. Our diapers have velcro tabs just like the disposables so if you can do Huggies, you can do our cloth ones!
7. Finally and almost not important but always a factor when I am concerned...there is a TOTAL CUTENESS FACTOR. I haven't gotten a picture of Chloe's precious bums in a diaper yet but I will. For now, check out how precious they look drying on our clothes line (because it's more earth friendly than running the dryer and things smell yummy when dried out in the sun!) in our back yard: 
There, I confessed. We're a green, crunchy, insane, weird Austin, old fashioned cloth diapering family. But, we stand behind said decision, happily :).
Today is Chloe is 4 weeks old!!! I can barely believe we've had her for 4 weeks already. As much eating, sleeping, and stretching she's done you would think she'd be fitting into some clothes but our little cupcake is still a bit shy of truly fitting into her 0-3 month outfits. BUT since it was her 4 week birthday and we were headed to Grayson's 1 yr birthday I tried to make an outfit work anyway. Here is a picture with her bear from the Beasley's at 1 week old and today....she really is growing!
I can't believe how fast time is going by...this week Chloe will be 4 weeks old! WOW!! I feel like we just left the hospital. Maybe that's because we've been back on more than one occasion since her birth. We're still monitoring blood pressure and it's still higher than they want. Ugg. Chris's Mom was here this weekend and on Saturday my pressures dropped all day to the 110's over 80's. I was sooooo excited. Then today they were right back up. Come back SALLY! Chloe and I miss you!Tomorrow Chloe and I have a real adventure! We recently visited our friend and wedding photographer Laura Kay Wootan for some newborn pictures of Chloe. She is an extremely talented photographer and we absolutely LOVE her work. Tomorrow Chloe and I are driving to her studio in San Marcos to pick our prints and I have no idea how I will ever be able to pick! Laura posted one sneak peak shot on her blog that I thought was awesome but know that I'll have other favorites too. Here's a link to the post on Laura's blog of Chloe's sneak peak: http://www.thesmilehouseblog.com/?p=736More to come soon....
Chloe likes to bounce...and Mommy likes when Chloe likes to bounce so she can blow dry her hair, make a lunch, just have actual use of her hands.Thanks Aunt Elizabeth for the precious bouncer chair!
Just a quick post to show off Chloe's first go at wearing a dress. We took her to church for the first time this morning and put a dress on her for the occassion. We think she looked precious and as far as I'm concerned...LET THE DRESSING UP BEGIN!!! I've been so anxious to put our cupcake in all the little outfits people have sent us but so far she's been too tiny. She is still really thin but at least now things don't look totally silly on her. So I'll be making use of the dresses and outfits we've gotten much more often. 
