Poof!

I need to apologize to everyone for my disappearance. Too many things happening prevented me from having the time, energy, or motivation to write. I'll give a brief catch-up entry, and there will be actual entries to come in the near future. I promise!

Bobble has had numerous relapses with his kidney issue since I last wrote. He's been on and off steroids many times, and that makes for a difficult time for all.We all have those days where our child is just acting absolutely horrible, right? (Please tell me I'm not the only one!) Imagine your kid at their most whiny, most defiant, most obstinate .... and then multiply that by about 10. That is how he gets every time he starts to relapse. Every. Single. Time.

Of course, after the relapse is identified, it all makes sense. Then we start the high dose of steroids that make his moods touchy, too. Sometimes he's just super whiny, other times very happy and hyper. All the time, however, he's hungry. Crossing my fingers he doesn't gain too much weight this go-round with steroids.

Squiggle is growing up, too. She's out of diapers (save night time), she has stopped nursing, and she has started attending a (pre) preschool 3 days out of the week. She used to beg to go, throwing a tantrum because her brother got to go and she didn't. Now that she gets to go, she gets upset that she can't go every day, only three days a week. I'll write an entry on this soon.

We lost our oldest cat over the summer, we gained 6 feathered babies (chickens), and our household has experienced changes in the dynamic as well.

I know that last year was a light year for how many entries I wrote. A lot of this has coincided with me returning to school. The first few classes didn't really take away from my blogging time, but as I moved through them, I had less and less time to devote to non-scholastic reading and writing. I am still in school, and it's not getting any easier or less demanding. In fact, I actually just took on as head of an organization through my school, so I have that to manage and I also have an internship taking up my time. Still, I am determined to at least write one post a week. Please bare with me if they are shorter posts. It's going to take some scheduling to get this to work, but I'll make it work.

Changes

I have struggled a lot with maintaining this blog, as I created this for cloth diapers, mostly, but have so much more I want to write about. I find myself writing elsewhere more often than not, and I don't think that is fair to this blog. Yes, cloth diapers are a big part of my life and I absolutely LOVE them, but I have other loves, too.

I went from just cloth diapering to other "attachment parenting" topics, and then expanded that to other "green" things in general (green items around the house, toys that are made of all recycled parts, etc.). Now it's time for one more change.

I'm making a jump. This blog should reflect who I am, and I am a lot more than cloth diapers and babywearing. I'm a displaced working mother. I'm fond of gardening. I'm a cook and a baker.

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start writing about lots of stuff, but mostly you'll see a bunch of recipes in the coming weeks. I love cooking and baking, and I love reviewing recipes. If I can find something my entire family will eat, that's a win and totally worth sharing in my opinion.

I hope you'll stick around as this blog changes course a bit and "grows up" a bit. I'll still write about cloth diapers, and I most certainly will be happy to do any posts on topics that you have trouble finding information about (like the stuffing of TotsBots Easyfits that I did a while back). I feel this change is necessary to continue on with this blog. After all, Bobble is potty trained and Squiggle is already a year old. Cloth diapers won't be in this house forever! *sniffles*

Thanks for following me thus far, and I hope that you will continue to follow me. If you have any requests on topics, as always, please feel free to ask on my facebook page, via email, or in the comment on my blog. I do read all of my comments.

Tiny Victories

I was very nervous about the last month of this pregnancy. Namely that Squiggle would try to come before 36w, which would mean she would be flown to the nearest Children's Hospital. I am now 3 days away from being 36w, and I feel sooooo much better. I am just thrilled I've made it until June! It's the tiny victories that matter, sometimes.

Everything seems to be going well, though I am nearly at my wit's end with Bobble. Yes, I know he's a 2 year old. Yes, I know he will push limits... but really? Does he HAVE to dump his toys repeatedly (after we just put them away..... again), throw things at us, hit/kick us, and then look at us waiting for us to tell him not to do something (i.e. turning off the PS3... which is the only way we have any television programming [netflix] or can watch videos) then grin mischievously and do the sloooooow reach for the button. He will pause, wait for us to tell him not to do it, grin, then do it and either hide, or turn it back on and then off again repeatedly. Yes yes... boundaries and all that... but give mom a break... she's already exhausted!

I could really do without the hitting and kicking, too. It's still something he only does either TO us, or to other little kids when we (mom/dad) are around. He's very obedient for anyone and everyone else. Go figure.

I hope you all are enjoying the start to your summer! I could have done without being laid off... especially since I was the income in the house, and I am the insurance carrier... but what can ya do. At least I get to relax the rest of my pregnancy (as much as Bobble will LET me relax, anyway!). The job hunting will start sometime next month. Oh, joy.

Well, there's my brief check-in for you all. Thought you might want to know how things were going on this end. I hope you are all taking advantage of the big giveaway going on this month on my blog! I see a lot of people are already entered in the (Un)Baby Shower giveaway. If you haven't entered yet, what are you waiting for!? :)

Changes

I'm up for a bit of a change that wasn't exactly my choice. For you readers, this means I will have more time to do reviews and posts... at least before Squiggle comes along. For my family, this means more stress and uncertainty.

I'm talking about work. Many of you know that I was the person that worked full time, and my husband went to school and watched Bobble. Yesterday, unexpectedly, my workplace laid everyone off and permanently closed their doors. I don't know what to do, being 34w pregnant, as nobody will hire someone that will just pop after they train them. Also, despite FMLA being awesome in that it holds your job, it doesn't really matter if you haven't worked at the place at least 90 days. I wouldn't qualify.

Yes, I was upset when we were given the news... but after about an hour I was in good spirits again. Don't you sort of have to be? I mean, honestly... nothing is going to change. You can't undo what's been done. I grieved. It sucks. Time to move on. Didn't make celebrating my wedding anniversary over lunch any easier that same day, though. The hubs and I decided to still go out to lunch, but opted for a slightly less expensive route than we were planning considering. Still, Olive Garden was a lovely treat that we normally wouldn't have gotten... and Bobble was at school, so it was just the two of us.

Again, I'm not certain what the future holds for me now, but I'm going to take it a step at a time. At least I get to spend a bit more time working on here, spending time with my family, and relaxing the rest of my pregnancy.