Did you know that the average household will spend over $ 2,000  on disposable diapers from birth to potty trained.

You may be expecting or like me just had a baby and the thought of clothe diapers might really overwhelm you but what I’m hoping to highlight here is your ability and the know how to integrate clothe diapers into your everyday life. Thanks to my dear friend and neighbor Shantel (who introduced us to our system) & her precious Emily we are now a very happy clothe diaper family, even my husband.

We do all our shopping at www.cottonbabies.com OR if you’re in the Vancouver area you can come into their very preggo friendly shop and enjoy some very stylish comfy recliners.

There are many types of clothe diapering systems but the two I’d like to introduce you too are the Econobum by Bum Genius & Flip Systems.

Joey’s brother Daniel gifted us our first sets of the Flip System complete with two covers and 2 prefolds. When starting out I recommend having enough diapers for at least two days.( 14 diapers/7 covers)  I do a load of prefolds, and covers each day because i love doing laundry. I also recommend buying two covered trash cans one for trash and one for prefolds and covers unless your like Shantel and sewed her very own wipes to use, thus going “green”.

Joey wasnt to keen on the wipes part but took to the diapering system very quickly. In fact all the young parents at our church which makes up 70% of our congregation (we go to a very small community church) use clothe diapering systems.  In fact, we all do. That makes having a community of “users” a lot more fun to share and learn from.

Cotton Babies offers two different prefolds the indian prefold and the chinese prefold both sell for about 2 bucks a piece. *very reasonable* the flip covers are$14 but if you catch them at the right time they have promo’s often where you can get multiple covers and inserts in order to get started or just add to your already growing collection.

The clothe diapers have their very own pre-use routine which includes laundering them six times (instructions come with your purchase) and how to deal with staining. Simply place in the sun for a few hours and those stains come right out ~ viola.

You can learn more about Econobum by Bum Genius at Clothe Diapers!  Joey and I just visited CB’s a few weeks ago and came across using hemp inserts folded into our prefold at night which wicks away moisture from baby and keeps them more comfortable such as how a disposable would work. This cover comes complete with an indian prefold for the great price of 9.95$ 

If you’re a traveling family like we are and make a lot of out-of-town trips to see family you can also find a package of disposable inserts for $4.95 since it may be awkward for you to wash dirty diapers in someone else’s machines. Keeping your little one on their normal routine and babies LOVE their routines

The Flip system just released their flip system potty pants which resemble the flip and since Gibson is already on his routine we  fully intend on using this system as our next step in potty training. You can also go online and check out the Cotton Babies schedule for classes that help with beginning clothe diapers/potty training/ and even breastfeeding classes.

So, are you a clothe diaper baby?

We love Cotton babies, and Gibsons Flip System you can find here.

What about when they start solid poopsies?

The sprayer. The sprayer which hooks directly to your toilet as the child ages and waste becomes more solid as well as the waterproof bag to tote all your used prefold/covers in your diaper bag. Both you can find at Cotton Babies.

For Dads: Joey just recently spoke with our cousin Desi and her husband Lee about intergrating their son Easton to clothe diapers after she saw how easy it was diapering Gibson.  Easton has to use organic, scent free diapers due to skin allergies which might I add are very expensive. Lee asked Joe how difficult is was to get started on the system and if he even liked it.  Joe replied “it’s so easy, once you learn how to do it, it’s just becomes what you do.”

Below is a link I watched during our pregnancy to understand how the clothe system worked. You can find this link here.

If you have questions I’d love to answer them.

Happy Clothe Diapering!

~convincedyet

While I realize that a ton of blogs are honing in on the New Year’s Resolutions I don’t really seem to care about what time of year it is because my body just did the most incredible journey filled moment it will ever do and I don’t want to feel ashamed of that but I do realize that loving pizza may just have to go away for a bit. Good thing my one vice is sugar free*

So..Here it is “THE PLAN”

I recommend that you get a food journal/exercise journal where you can either Martha or Mary it and keep it in any fashion you’d wish just keep track of what your eating vs. weight daily if you like or every other day your choice.  This has helped me greatly in the past when I went from 155 pds to 143 pounds.

I don’t have a “goal” weight either. That seems to rigid to me. I have a “do I look good/feel comfortable in my clothes” goal. YOU on the other had may have to have a weight in mind and you know what that’s totally acceptable. If it helps you get “there”.

If you are trying out a new fitness routine or jumping back on the wagon after taking much time off (like me) then leave a comment and let me know what you’re doing to improve your overall health.

Convinced yet.

January 2010

 I know what depression looks like. I know because of the most horrible seasons in life I had to encounter back in 2005 & 2006 made me take a good long hard look at life and experience and to recognize when I need to regain, refocus and renew my strength on HIS strength. I know a lot of scriptures but I want this year to be different. I want to feel like I once did. Excited about church, and getting involved. I feel blah. I feel VERY dry. I want Gods renewed rain to fall fresh on me. The past few days it’s ironic even funny really that my husband has discovered George Jones on Pandora Radio. Not only did he discover George Jones he discovered that he loves George Jones’ rendition of “just a closer walk with thee”. I’ve grown up listening to the likes of Jones’ Haggard and Hank. I recognized him in an instant. I said is that George Jones? Yes! How’d you know? I said my grandma used to listen to him a lot.

The lyrics to that song are:

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

That is EXACTLY spot on how I desire to feel in 2012.

 Side note: my husband is a huge encyclopedia of hymns. Joey is rare in this considering my husband is in his very early thirties and knows EVERY hymn there ever was. Some he could tell you who they were written by. This is so cute and it amazes me how deep and beautiful some of those hymns really are. So real, so raw. The way I desire to be yet I still feel dry. 

I need a change. *breath* read that statement again. I NEED A CHANGE.

 I started to take Gibson out for runs. To realize this depression must be fought physically first. I don’t like how I look post baby? Run.. RUN it off. Get back those hot legs that once looked hot in heels. Loose that baby belly * not easy for those who don’t breastfeed* and enjoy a bikini. 

Truth is my life stopped when we got pregnant. I have SO many things I want to do this year. I’ve been planning my entire rotten pregnancy dreaming of the baseball game that we could take Gibson to. To live, live right up to the hilt! The trouble is where do I start? I’m sat here blogging this because I write. I write it out when life gets to me. I take pen to parchment and make some reasonable goals. I put away pride and this is a BIG one for me I don’t know about you but I ask for HELP. If I don’t know how to do it then surely someone else has been there I apply this mainly to my photography business.  I desire to be so much greater than where I am now. I’ve seemed to have lost that since becoming a stay at home momma. I mean what do I really have left to contribute to society now?  There are a few of us women out there that I know of. The Over-Achievers, I’m thinking of a few off the type of my head that just drive harder than others and put out this incredible effort in doing such. These women are amazingly good cooks/meal planners, bloggers, writers, extraordinarily good mothers that eat, sleep and breath there kiddos,  Go to bed with their head full of thoughts some like myself keeping pen and pad next to our bedside because we don’t know how we could turn our dreams into reality but we sure are gunna try. God willing it will come to pass and if it doesn’t then He will use our failures for his Glory and in THAT statement is where this blog was actually headed.  I desire to be great and live a great life and leave an incredible legacy for my family.  I desire to make a difference to leave this place a bit better for someone behind me and I struggle that I’m just so mediocre. I struggle with giving time. It effects how time passes for me especially in certain areas where I never see improvement and I can blame it on so many things like “money” but I’ve got to set aside that road block I MUST because well…..

Time is inevitably going to pass and one year from today, you can find yourself in the exact same spot you’re in now, you can find yourself further away from your goal or you can find yourself closer to your goal – so where do you want to be a year from now?

~ Convincedyet. 2012 january

your friend,
convincedyet

History blurp:
(and I’ll get to the significance of the portrait of the man above)

In 2008 I went to Kenya as a Dental Assistant Missionary for a month to aid in the efforts of Dr. Mike Hyodo a personal friend of my family.
Since then I have collected items to continue my support thru shipment of containers to Nairobi in the planting of “satellite dental clinics” with the support of those Dr’s in the dental field since that time.

Fast Forward to today:
I woke up today a normal sunday since I’ve been well again from the pregnancy to get ready for church. The only difference is that today marked the first Sunday since we left SafeHarbor in Anacortes Wa *awesome church and congregation* that my husband since auditioning for the worship team at our new home church of Grace and Glory Community Church (literally across the street from our home) was going to be on Bass. I was so excited for him! He has such an awesome talent and to have put it on hiatus to care for me since moving here with such a complicated preganancy you can imagine our excitement!

So like any good and adoring wife I went to Starbucks and got Joeys new favorite drink. Brought it to him a tad early as the team was finishing. I came thru the doors this morning to meet a couple who I had seen before but mind you because I’ve been on bedrest for almost five months I dont really know a lot of this folks by name but they sure have been good about praying and taking care of us since we moved here. That we as literal strangers having been only a handful of times to this lil’ church they prayed and made us meals, called and just became like friends. I digress..

So this couple I did recognize because the husband had spoke a few times and was really proficent in the bible he introduced me to his wife and to a man who I’d say would stand out in a crowd here in Vancouver. Dressed in his Sunday African best (common attire for pastors in Africa) the man and I shook hands exchanged pleasantries and then I headed on to find my seat.
I never mentioned i had been to Africa but yes I did find his presence refreshing and real as well as the ceremonal sunday best he had on.

Ten minutes later my husband says. “Wife” this man knows Dr. Hyodo.” Excuse me? Certainly my husband was mistaken their are millions of Kenyans and to know a single man is almost a needle in a haystack. I excused myself from the conversation i was in only to realize my husband had told him I had been to Kenya Nairobi specifically and that i went with Dr. Hyodo and of course what seemed such a perfectly suited question by my husband to ask if the man by chance knew the ONLY person we have connections with seemed so now…relevant!
He does know him in fact he signed papers to bring him to Kenya as a resource. To put more on this already peculiar morning I had taught his daughter dental assiting skills while working at South C Dental Clinic in Nairboi. In fact, his daughter Tabby was my closest friend. We laughed and laughed as I asked him if he knew all my friends and that he did.

The truth is that todays message was given by our associate pastor Bill and it was his retelling of his own trip to Africa in Sierra Leone. I could not believe how this morning had just completely wowed me! I sat there thinking to myself just when Bill said that the mission changed his life and I had begun to doubt I had any impact or that I would ever go back and loose the memory in great detail of my time in Africa, that Our God provided a man that confirmed I was placed here in this lil’ rural community church for a purpose as they support this man and his ministry in Nairobi and that my dream of taking my husband and son back to Kenya one day will become a reality.

God you see my friends is still here and in the details of our lives, the tangible God. He, God showed up to day and suprised me. He made me smile and laugh at how beautiful and perfectly He loves us even when we start to doubt our worth or impact on the world around us regardless if our mission is in our town, state or worldwide. The vision God gives us is a vast and deep passion that surpasses even when what will be here, when we are no longer.

Having just come out of a very dark season into yet another very dark perhaps darkest season of my life upon moving here to Vancouver it has become evident to me we are in a specific place for a specific purpose. That we as children of the living God need to trust that.

What a glorious day!
And as the song says…. I miss the rains down in Africa.

Convincedyet

Joey @ Haystack. Cannon Beach Oregon 2011

This text was sent as you guessed from my friend Erin whom I met when I worked at Stanwood Dental Clinic back in 2008. She taught me how to sculpt the perfect temporary crown. *thanks Miss Erin.

Erin has been searching for quite sometime for the “perfect guy” but truthfully Miss E, I’ve got him. My husband Joseph is the man who many women could see themselves with and yes, I’ve been told by a few just that of my husband. Such a compliment. Joe has now inspired two of my friends to trust God in faith and write a list of attribute describing their perfect mate. It is from each of these women that I find what my husband’s act of faith required of him was/is a tale of how faithful he really is to what God’s precepts are in his life. This inspires me.

You can find out more about Joe’s perfect girl here on Convincedyet. Just scroll down a bit!

I love my husband and it is a priveledge to be his wife but the fact that he’s inspiring women to do just as he did is well, flattering really.

Convinced yet.

Isn’t it just the hardest to “sit by” and keep quiet? I personally think mothering gets harder as the years go by. Sometimes I dream about the “challenge” of getting up at 2 a.m. with a baby </

I found this comment on my nephews mom's blog this morning after she had posted a photo of her and my nephew Ross whom I lovingly refer to as "Puke" take about fourteen years ago. I stared at her. I thought of the challenges then as Ross was only seven or so as a single mom. I studied the love between them and thought of how far she has come in the midst of a turbulent storms She did not back down. Im sure she made/said some mistakes that she'd like to change but havent we all? I thought of her today as Puke turns 19 in a week or so and how much her career has blossomed and how I hope to achieve all of that someday and then some Lord willing.

The comment above was left by a fellow reader on her blog and while I think of what's coming next for Joey and I I am really trying to live in the present and keep myself thankful for each day even thru this difficult pregnancy. I find myself reminded that the 2am bottle feedings I'm about to experience as a new momma will be so welcomed as Gibson our soon to be little arrival will be presenting challenges in years to come that 2am might start lookin' mighty good.

I'm thankful for the womens comment. I'm thankful it has reminded me to continue to live each day in the present. I'm reminded of that admist a friend of mine who just suffered great turmoil over illness of her love, realizing on the other end that each day, each person is a gift from the God who loves us.

I'm all sorts of emotions theses days but becoming a momma? My cup runneth over.

P.S. In August 2011 I'll become a momma. I've never really thought about being a mom until i woke up on the morning of my 24th birthday which seems like it could have been decades ago and realizing that YES! I did want a baby. I wanted to have a baby with the love of my life. Someone who would be a dedicated, consistant father who'd love me and our baby. My dream is about to come to fruition.

Convincedyet

Our animals are used to being photographed in my home. I don’t have kiddo’s just yet ( in August) so I’ve always used my animals as a means of tackling a long-nosed wiener dog which IS challenging often times due to DOF for you in the common world that is “depth of field”. I also have a fish that apparently enjoys his photo being snapped and a perfectly poised at all times yorkshire/shitzu/teacup poodle who by the way is just a perfect model to top this off a slightly fluffy black cat with the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. gorgeous!

Enjoy the afternoon.

Convincedyet

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Titus 2:3-5

After an intense cooking lesson, bible lesson, and a short meet & greet us girls were served a three course meal by other women who had previously taken the classes themselves. I’ve remained close to a few of these amazing “apples of gold” women who are literally the best mentors a young wife could have. These amazing women taught grocery shopping effectively ias in buying in bulk, freezing, and serving up delicious meals that looked gourmet every night. I met some great gals, got a taught how to set a very elegant table and much more. I’m thrilled Tablerock offered the class. It was a great memory and a fun way to learn the ways of new wife-hood.

Filling:

4 eggs (L)

1 Lrg can of PUMPKIN

1/2c. Brown Sugar

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/4 tsp Salt

1. 1/2 tsp Cinn

1 tsp. ea of Nutmeg, Cloves, Ginger

Mix all of the above & pour into sprayed 9×13

Topping:

1 yellow or butter cake mix (dry)

1. 1/2 cubes of butter (melted)

3/4 c. chopped pecans

Sprinkle cake mix over top, lightly pat. Drizzle melted butter & cover w/chopped pecans.

Bake in a 325 oven for 1 & 1/2 hrs, let cool a bit, then serve w/REAL whipped cream & dash of nutmeg!

Happy Thanksgiving!