End of the month

Wow, another month has flown by! New stuff going on...

• My sister got accepted to a post-undergrad Indian studies program in Jaipur for the next academic year - and was offered a fellowship that pays for the whole thing! Way to go, A!

• My chiropractic adjustments have eliminated the SI joint pain I've been suffering for months (and have suffered during each pregnancy too)!

• We saw Body Worlds 3, which was fascinating...I plan on going again with D, since he missed it the first time. C enjoyed it also, but answering her questions and chasing after both girls didn't exactly permit me to have an in-depth experience!

• We reduced the asking price of our IC home by $5K. Hoping for a quick sale...soon! Pass on the word to anybody looking for a Moffit in IC...in another couple weeks we'll have to drop it more if we still have no offers :(

• My SIL's chickens are now laying over a dozen eggs a day. I think our protein needs will be met! Feel free to pass on any great egg recipes...
  

• C got a haircut - I'll try to take a picture this weekend

• C is also outgrowing all her clothes! She put on a size 5 dress today that barely covers her rear! I bought a couple pairs of size 6 pants at a garage sale so she'll have something to cover her shins...all the 5s she owns are high-waters now!

• On that note, E is finally moving out of size 3s...and moved up a shoe size too! By gosh, I think the girls are growing up...

• The fetal one is still incredibly active. There are times where I actually gasp with the strength and (dare I say it) pain of some of the jabs I'm getting! Today was 34 weeks, 2 days based on LMP
  

Family Time

We're back from Rocky Point and enjoying more nice AZ weather. I didn't take my camera to Mexico, so we'll have to wait for my parents to send pictures...the girls did get their hair braided on the beach.

Update 4/1 - picture of the action:

More Mexico pics in the album now!

My mom, dad and sister were all in town all week - sister left this morning. D's family is also in town (sister, bro-in-law, 4 kids; aunt & uncle; aunt, uncle, cousin, cousin's wife, 2 kids). Had a cook-out last night with guitar songs around the fire pit, girls played for hours with all their cousins! The cousins are 9, 11, 13, and 15, plus the second-cousins are 2.5 and 5. What a crowd we make :) I'll try to take some pics today.

What else...discovered a great car trick for long trips: I downloaded an episode of Arthur and an episode of Backyardigans onto my ipod for $1.99 each. The girls watched them in the car coming home from Mexico. Cheap entertainment :) I also found NPR's Car Talk and This American Life to put on there...and VH1's "Best Week Ever." Those are free - just go to your itunes...to podcasts...and click!

More excitement from the Basses soon. Stay in touch!

The point of rocks...

Just an FYI for my loyal readers...we're off to Mexico in the morning! Will be back on Friday, so expect no updates until the weekend. Hopefully we'll have fun pics at that time.

My parents and sister are in town - went to a spring training MLB game yesterday - Padres vs. White Sox. Gorgeous sunny day, really cool venue for watching a game - the players were so close!




Happy spring on Wednesday, and more next weekend!

Belly gallery: 32 weeks

I'm trying to keep up better with my belly gallery...so here's 32 weeks + 2 days:

Baby is super active, constantly moving from side to side (or LOA to ROA), and kicking when not dancing back and forth!

And just in case you're following the heat wave...another record high day here in the desert - my car thermometer said 102 driving home at 3:30! Officially it hit 99...the hottest winter day EVER on record!

Uncovered

My sister just sent me this great photography portfolio...the artist is Jordan Matter, and one of his series is "uncovered," a collection of topless women going about life in NYC. This link will take you to a picture of a nursing woman, with a lovely excerpt of a conversation had while photographing. In the context of the whole series particularly, this really stands out as outrageous. You can see the collection here. Just click on the black & white photo. Thanks, A!

90 again

Here's a quick update on the last few days...water play, swimming (still way too cold for the old folks), and experimenting with my latest toy...a Vita-Mix! We've been eyeing one of these at every state and county fair we've attended for the last 10 years, and finally broke down and bought one at Costco (can I say "suckers"). Made orange sorbet (2 oranges from from our tree, teaspoon of honey, ice) and brocolli cheddar soup tonight (yes, in that order...). Yum...and oh-so-easy :)

Why America's obsession with BREASTS??

I'm a little late getting on board this one, but here's a lovely situation in Ohio where a daycare center is trying to charge $50 a week MORE to a mother who is breastfeeding her child (because handling the "biohazardous material" is soooo much more work?!?!). If that link doesn't work, go here and into the February 2007 archives for "City Kids Daycare Chain..." entry date Feb. 23.

And on top of that, for you readers who don't also follow Rixa's blog, here's a shamelessly stolen opinion piece she discovered. I highly recommend hopping over to her site to read her entry if you're interested in more.

I am simply baffled that so many Americans still take issue with (a) the use of a woman's breasts to feed her child, and (b) with the actual substance (milk) that comes from them. Nobody seems to have a problem drinking the same product from a COW's udder. Same thing...except at least coming from a human, it's species-appropriate. Sigh.

Silly girls.

Had a nice mellow Saturday for a change. Took a walk to a lame garage sale, played at an elementary school playground, did house chores, napped (me too!) and played. Basically just enjoyed the beautiful weather and having no plans. More pics have been added to the shutterfly album too!

School days

Got a call this afternoon that C got a spot in the charter Montessori school we wanted! It's all of five minutes from our house, offers private primary (ages 3-5) with charter K-6 (equivalent). She'll be in one of two primary classrooms, for kids ages 3-6. The next year she'll go into a 6-9 year old class. We visited and really liked the feel of the place - and obviously I appreciate the Montessori education or we wouldn't have picked it! She'll start in mid August...

Comments on dressing little girls

I found this commentary on a muslim woman's blog. Although obviously we don't have religious ties to modesty, I feel most of her thoughts on dressing little girls correlates with my beliefs. It is really hard to find well-made clothes that don't have advertisements on them, and are appropriately "little girl." The Hanna dress sets that she mentions are definitely high on my wish-list for Clara for school! And they really do last...

My new splurge!

I did it. I bought the OMT to which I referred in my previous post "new obsession." I love it! C took these pictures for me:



Don't mind the huge baggy butt - it's the jeans, I swear! The rectangle hanging down on E's back can be clipped up to help support a newborn's head or to protect from sun...and note the wide wrap-like straps. They're great!

Tale of a true Alaskan

This weekend my father was in the next town over from his (a mere 80 miles on winding two-lane road), where he stopped at the large grocery and discovered his favorite ice cream in stock - peach Breyer's. This particular flavor has never been available in his own town, so he stocked up on a few cartons. Since he had not come with a cooler, he also purchased a few bungie cords and proceded to bungie the cartons to the roof rack of his Subaru. Upon his arrival home an hour and a half later, he was able to enjoy a hearty bowl of his favorite (still thoroughly-frozen) confection!

Belly gallery: 30 weeks

Taken today, at 30 weeks + 4 days...

...I think I'm bigger now than I was full-term with the girls!

Entering the techno world...

So we finally bought an ipod. Got it yesterday, and now I'm trying to find really cool and free things to download. I know there are some great podcasts out there...anybody have recommendations?

Are you kidding me?! (or, why I hate ebay)

For years now, I have bought and sold gently used cloth diapering materials through ebay. A few days ago, I posted a listing for a "lot" of gently used small diaper covers (wraps)...I just checked my email, and this is the message I had:

"You recently listed the following auction-style listing:

190086943259 - Cloth diaper cover lot: small (s) approx 10-15 lbs

The auction-style listing was removed because it violated the eBay Adult Material policy. All fees related to this listing have been credited to your account. We also notified members who placed bids on the item that the listing has been canceled.

Adult material (material that is not appropriate for people under 18 years old) can be listed in the eBay Mature Audiences category only. Also, even though it may be legal to sell certain items to adults, sales of these items are still not permitted on eBay.

Sales of used underwear are not permitted on eBay."

So my infant-sized diaper covers are now somehow ADULT MATERIAL or USED UNDERWEAR???? Get real. Ebay even has a listing category specifically devoted to cloth diapering!!

Sadly, I just today noticed some discussion of this on MDC...but I half-ignored it, thinking it was an isolated incident. Nope.

Found a petition, circulating on MDC and elsewhere, to ebay to permit cloth diaper sales. Please consider signing!

Ebay cloth diaper petition - I'm number 3311!

Somebody else's diaper stash

Okay, I thought I was cloth-diaper crazy. Check out this picture of somebody's newborn and small stash!! Yikes. So much for cloth saving money :) And how on earth does a new mother keep it looking so tidy?!?!

Update on preschool

C loved it! She was perfectly dirty and running around outside when we picked her up :) She had a great time, fit right in, made friends and participated in everything (surprise, surprise - ha). She was bummed when I told her that no, she couldn't come back tomorrow!

E really wants to go too...but she had fun with just mommy today. It was a nice change for her (and me).

Lulu girls

Just got a new outfit for E in the mail today (bought through the MDC trading post). C immediately had to put on her matching dress...so we took a few pics of the Baby Lulu models...

(This is one of my favorite girls' brands...colorful, flowery prints in all cotton, but purchased new it costs a fortune. That's why I love consignment!)

Also, more pics added to the Bass Gang shutterfly site (see link at left).

Preschool!

I found a great program today for C! She's starting on Thursday, and will attend twice a week (Tues, Thurs). The curriculum is more our style than most - very hands-on, child-centered, free-play style. No workbooks and drills! I have to admit my favorite part though is the playground! It's kind of like a yuppified Tim's (for you IC readers). They call it an "adventure playground," and there's no park-like climbing structure. Rather, there are huge sand pits, places to drive trikes and pedal cars, a garden, buried tires for climbing, and more! I love it! More importantly, C can't wait to start :) E is on the waiting list...sadly there are no open spots right now for her age. The school also offers a summer session, in which both girls will be enrolled. Yippee :)

Off to get my eyes checked so I can get new glasses - I lost my sunglass clips (the only ones I have), and I'm dying in this sunshine!!

A new obsession...

Oh no, now I've done it. I went to a cloth diaper/baby carrier swap this morning and came away with carrier-envy. I knew there was a fair variety of baby carriers out there, but these women today simply blew me away with what they had! Aside from some of the standard wraps and mei tais, slings and pouches were some other asian carriers (podegi, ombu) and some variations on the above. The one that I am simply drooling over and will dream about tonight was a mei tai made from a didymos wrap - or maybe it was from a Storch? Either way, made from an organic woven fabric wrap that's supposedly the "cadillac" of wraps.

It's called an Octi Mei Tai, and has wrap-like straps to better distribute the weight. She doesn't have a website, though they're obviously out there...a quick google pulled up a few for sale on various boards. To make your own, see FrankenKozy. I guess Octi isn't the first to do this...but they were simply to die for!! The Octi also had a soft head cover with cord and clips. It just hung down when not in use, and clipped up high when needed...
*sigh*

While there, I may have picked up a few more diapers...four NB fuzzi bunz (only $3.50 ea!), two Little Beetle fitteds and a contour with elasticized legs.

My newborn stash (not including my dozens of Mother-ease one-size fitteds, and missing another red wool cover and a few misc. others that I've loaned out):

That includes, from left to right and clockwise, a dozen Snug-to-fit one-size fitteds, eleven size 0 Kissaluvs, three dozen Chinese prefolds, two Little Beetle fitteds, two Kushies AIOs, a Bumkins AIO, a bunch of misc. covers, four fuzzi bunz, and my wool. Wool includes yellow cashmere Grateful Buns pull-on, blues Grateful Buns pull-on, red Bizzy B Hive snap, purple-y embroidered Bizzy B Hive snap, and an Aristocrats pull-on.

Think I should have enough? (lol)

My current carrier inventory includes a Moby wrap, a Maya sling (#65), a friend-made sling, a Solarveil sling, and a friend-made gauzy wrap. I know I want to add a mei tai or two to the collection, as I don't actually find slings all that comfortable!

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