Aisha: our newest addition

My namesake! She came 6 weeks early but she is blessed and precious!

What to do, what to do??? Is it all its cracked up to be?

I have been on a mission to grow my hair long, and now that it is, I dont know what to do with it anymore!

Its either in a high or low ponytail.

I cannot seem to self relax anymore either. Its just too difficult to manage now. Even doing my cheat rollerset, its very difficult to do. I dont know.  Maybe I should cut a few inches off or layer it. I have thought about cutting some bangs too but Im not too sure about that either. So..what to do what to do????

Cloth Diapering; Its really not as bad as you think!

Yeah, I know. The first thing you think of when you hear those two words is "Hell no!" or "Ewww thats gross" or even "No freakin way!!!" If you didnt think it, I shole did the first time one of my online friends mentioned it to me. I was like, there is no way Im stepping back in time to that. What for? Especially when you can just go to the store, buy a pack and throw it away.

The more my friend detailed the how to's and hit me up to the advances in cloth diapering it got my wheels to turning. I have to admit, when I found out I was pregnant again the very first thing I thought of was " DANG!!!! You mean I got to buy diapers again?!?!" Yeah, such an inspiring thought but its true. I hated buying diapers, especially when I had to take my last dime to go buy a pack of diapers.

So after MUCH research I decided to take the plunge. I found a system that would be the most economical and perhaps the easiest to use and stocked up. Of course I only bought a little at a time here and there but I managed to build a stash to last me my babys entire diapering career.

Cloth diapering is not simply just a piece of cloth folded on your babys butt and pinned up with safety pins, although you can go that route if you want. Now they have diapers that actually mimic regular diapers. The lay-under-them-and-snap-or-velcro-close just like your Pampers and Huggies.

I decided to go with prefolds, or the old fashioned kind that you fold and pin. Not with a safety pin but with a Snappi. I also got 3 dozen flats too with lots of diaper covers to go over them so that there will be no leaks. I also made a few wool covers. Im just crafty like that! LOL!!!

If the idea of folding turns me off some days, I can use these All in 2's that act like regular diapers, only they require a cover.

Washing the diapers isnt hard either. Since infant baby doo is mostly water its water soluble, you can just throw it in the machine and go. Once the baby starts eating solids, I plan to use liners that you can toss and flush down the toilet. I must admit that I do love the fact that after the initial investment, I dont have to spend another penny on diapers.

Now I know you are asking yourself, "Well what do you do when you have to leave the house?? Where do you stash the dirty diapers?" Well they have these cute wet bags that you put your dirty diapers in inside your baby bag. They dont leak or smell so that problem is solved.

So you see, its really not all that bad!

DISCLAIMER: the posted links are not ads. I just did a web search so you can get an idea of what Im talking about. :-)

Whoa!!!!!

Its been 9 months since my last post?! Good Lawd!!! lol!

The Importance of a Healthy Self Image

Children form opinions of themselves early in their lives, and that opinion is shaped by the most important people in that child’s life: the parents. It is incumbent that children see themselves in a positive light so that they will not go thru life thinking they are less than, not able to cultivate the best parts of themselves, and accept sub par treatment not only from others outside of themselves, but they will not indulge in behavior that is self destructive.

Most young girls learn from their parents self love and self respect, in particular from the father figure in her life. This man teaches her what is acceptable behavior from other males, he shows her how she should be treated by a man, and he shows her how valuable she is by offering her a certain type of protection only a father can give. If young women do not see the value that God has placed on them by the attitudes and lessons learned at home thru loving and strong parenting, then they will begin to accept disrespect from others all while disrespecting themselves.

A Beginning Sewer's Must-Have!!!

I got this book from Barnes and Nobel a few years ago when I was still a novice at sewing.

Its GREAT!!!

The color pictures really help you to see each step that they go thru and they cover a lot in this book.

They cover topics and pics of:

your sewing machine

the serger

stitches

reading the pattern

fabrics, tools/accessories

gathers

sleeves

zippers

and a whole lot more even pillows, drapes and bed covers.

Its an awesome reference book to have.

On a sewing frenzy!!!!

Man it seems like I have been on the floor cutting, and sitting at my sewing machine forever!!!

I have sewn myself a shirt, my youngest daughter a uniform, as well as my oldest daughter.

Now I'm working on an outfit for myself which includes a jacket, pants, and a tam.

*sigh*

I did the outside of the jacket and now I have to do a whole nother jacket for the lining. Thats what I hate, having to resew the entire thing for the lining.

Ah well it'll be nice once its done.

Heres a pic of the uniform I made for my youngest.

I have potty trained my youngest!!! Thank GAWD thats over!!!!

This is a major milestone for me.

My youngest and LAST child is potty trained!!!

For those of you with children you know what that means and for those of you without them- imagine the joy of not having to deal with doo doo anymore. Not having to smell somebody elses funk is like heaven, even if that someone is your own child.

I have been changing dookie diapers for almost 8 years strait and God knows I have been tired of it.

Now its time for me to congratulate myself by donating the leftover diapers to charity.

"I love you so much Mom!"

I was laying on the couch dozing off, when my two year old crawled up on me and hugged my neck and said to me, "I love you so much Mom!"

I was like, AAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!

My heart melted.

It made me feel all warm and tingly inside to hear her say that.

It makes all the hardships of parenting worthwhile when you get such sweet rewards as that!

Sweet Georgia Brown by Cheryl Robinson

I read this book a week or so ago and it was......ok at best.

The synopsis of this book is about a woman who stands by her man, who wants to go into stand up comedy. They start out dirt poor and living with his parents along with their 2 boys. I dont want to give the story away if you decide to read it but the story line was just too predictable and for some reason I didnt like the main character even though she was a lovable person. I saw her as a weak woman.

I always make it a point to read 50 pages into a book and if its ok keep going, but if its boring me to tears I put it down.

The beginning was pretty good, but as it went along the story went down hill. It has over 300 pages in it but by page 150 I was already not feeling it. Since I had already invested that much in the book I made myself finish it. I would not suggest this book to anyone. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.