Parlez-vous...?

When we walked through our 1920s house before buying it, we asked the owner about the three large doorways into the dining, living and sun rooms.  It looked as though there had once been French doors on each.

You can see the dining and living room doorways here...

The owner looked us straight in the eye and told us he wasn't sure what his dad had done with them.  We were super disappointed someone would get rid of original French doors (what were they thinking?!), but there was nothing we could do about it.  

Shortly after we moved in, our new neighbor (hi Jason, if you're reading this!) was chatting with us about his place and the history our two homes shared.  He invited us to come on in to see his digs and the work he had done to upgrade his old home.

When we got to the master bedroom he pointed out the closet doors, telling us they were actually one of the pairs of French doors from OUR house!  

Todd and I flipped!  We told our neighbor that Rod, the previous owner of our home, had told us he didn't know what happened to them.  Our neighbor said that wasn't right...he had bought two sets of the doors and Rod had helped him carry them out!

I have not one nice thing to say about the lying piece of...grrrrrr...that Rod is.  We discovered he is basically a pathological liar, looking us in the eye and telling us about the "new" roof on the house, or the "upgraded" electrical, or how he didn't realize that one end of the big, pretty fireplace mantel with a matching built-in bookcase to the other end had been removed so a larger window could be put in.  The list of lies goes on ad nauseam.  

We asked our neighbor what he would want for them.  He wasn't sure.  He did, however, think he wanted to move and if that ever happened he would make sure we had first dibs on the doors.   

Recently, our neighbor put his house up for sale and we purchased the doors back from him!  We couldn't be more ecstatic!

Here's Todd, on the left, with his friend Ken hanging the doors in the entry between the living and sun rooms...

The finished look...

The sun room operates as my office, which is one of the reasons we wanted the doors hung here.  This is now my view from my desk.  It's great to be able to shut out the rest of the house for a phone call or just some privacy...

We are soooo happy to have them back where they belong.  The doors have come home and it just feels right.  

Sleeping beauty

The time has come for Rosie to start sleeping in her crib.

We made the decision to have her in our room in the beginning.  She's our first baby.  We didn't know what to expect.  Not to mention we were the typical parents who wanted our baby close to be sure she was still breathing.

We had great plans to have her use the cradle my grandpa Sears made for me when I was born, but that didn't last long.  And by long, I mean it lasted about a week.  We had a lot of problems with the cradle, most of all, the fact that it rocked.  I know that's what it's supposed to do, but it really seemed very sensitive to movement.  Any time she would even turn her head it would tilt and she would kind of roll. Todd rigged it so it wouldn't, but we were always messing with it.  Also, the cradle was cold.  Rosie was pretty tiny when she was born and got cold really easily, and we could never get her warm enough in the cradle.

One day, unrelated to any conversation about the crib, my friend Jonna told me we could borrow their Snug-a-bunny Rock and Play basket.  To be honest, I took it half out of courtesy half to have it on hand just in case.  She said their daughter slept in it for a while before moving to her crib, but it was not at all something I would have considered buying ourselves.

Come to find out - it was a lifesaver!  It was warm and made her feel tucked in.  Rosie has napped and slept each night in it ever since.  The problem is, she's starting to get a little too big for it and it's time to move her out.  Not to mention she simply needs to learn to sleep in her crib and putting it off won't make the transition any easier.

Looking back, I'm happy we did what we did, but I also kind of wish we would have just started her in the crib in the first place.  The crib isn't new for Rosie.  She has spent some time napping in there, but she never sleeps very long or well in it.

We thought we'd start her on full-fledged crib training a couple nights ago, but it was a bust.  She barely napped that day and was overly tired, which meant trying something new was not such a hot idea.

I regrouped and decided that instead of going cold turkey on the Snug-a-Bunny we'd use it at first for nights and all naps would be in the crib.  Once she is more used to sleeping in the crib for any length of time we will begin to introduce it at night.

I feel pretty good about the plan.  What's harder, though, is letting her fuss and deciding when to go comfort her.  I have found so far that given a few minutes she will calm down.  If it begins to escalate then I walk in and try to comfort her.

One of my sisters, Stacey, assures me after a week of training she will be a happy crib sleeper.  Our plan might take a little longer, but I'm also hoping it will be a little smoother.

Kim of Green Gables?

I wanted so badly to be Anne of Green Gables when I was younger.

I lamented the fact my name wasn't Anne and told my family I would only answer to that.  I held a tea party with my sisters and aunts and made everything Anne and Diana would have had at tea.  My mom made me a "pioneer girl" dress that I would wear in our backyard pretending I lived during that time.  I was sad we had to use a car and not a horse and buggy...the list goes on, but you probably get the idea.  

I have easily read "Anne of Green Gables" a minimum of 15 times.  I lost count somewhere along the line.  To this day, I can recite entire scenes from the movies, which I must have watched 100+ times.  

I have been so excited for Rosie to love her too (and I'll throw Laura Ingalls Wilder in this mix as well).  I've imagined her curled up reading Anne's story for hours at a time.  With Rosie's hair becoming really red how can she not relate to Anne's plight?

My friend Linds recently gave Rosie a gift that will hopefully lay a good foundation for some future Anne-love: TWO Anne books for little girls.  

I've already started reading one to Rosie.

This is just the beginning...  

Diaper duty

For a long while now, Todd and I have been considering going the cloth diaper route.  Some friends in Cheyenne used cloth diapers for their little girl and we were impressed.

I know what you're imagining: a rag, some diaper pins and a plastic bloomer to prevent leaks.

Not so!

That option does still exist, but it's not the only one.  In fact, the number of brands and diaper styles is a little overwhelming.  Cloth diapers today are soooo much more advanced.  They're basically shaped like a disposable - only you throw them in the washer, not the trash.

This was one of the appealing factors to us when considering going cloth.  We're not crazy granola folks or anything, but we do believe in being responsible and we felt good about not contributing to the clogging of our landfills.

Also, the amount of money you can save with cloth diapers is amazing - upwards of $1,500 before your child is potty trained!

To help us in our decision we turned to a store in Denver called The Giggling Green Bean.  It's where our friends learned about cloth diapers and where they ultimately got theirs.


Before Rosie arrived, the weekend before in fact, Todd and I took a cloth diaper class at the store to learn about the different options.  The Bean has this great program where you give them a $50 deposit and they give you $100 in merchandise to try for two weeks.  At the end of that time, you send back what you don't like, keep what you love and they figure out the difference.

What a great opportunity to try out the different styles to see what works for you!

Let me help you visualize some of the options.  After some research and several questions for the girls at the Bean, here is what I finally decided on for our trial.  The red and orange diapers are called pocket diapers; the purple is an all-in-one; and the green is a hybrid...

This diaper is Rumparooz brand and is what our friends used.  The snaps along the bottom are used to adjust the rise.  So, when your baby is smaller you use that bottom row and as they grow you move up to the next row.  The snaps along the top hold the sides together in the same fashion as a disposable...

Why did we want to try this brand?  Well, first of all we've seen it in action.  Secondly, it has a patent-pending double gusset that is supposed to really fight leaks.  Those pads to the right are what you stuff down the center to provide extra absorbency...

This Baby Kicks brand diaper is also a pocket style.  The girls at the store agreed they thought this brand has a more trim profile than the Rumparooz.  Since bulk can be an issue when you're dealing with cloth diapers I thought a slimmer fit was appealing...

This is what's called an all-in-one.  This is the Tots Bots brand from Scotland.  Basically, it's the same idea as the pocket, but the soaker pads are sewn in.  I knew immediately I didn't like them.  You have very little control over the soaker pad which means it will always be bulky.  But, I gave it a try just to verify my first impression.  Yep.  Not happening.  I do like, however, how the Scots describe this product and how to use it.  "Wee in their nappy," is used many times on their website...

And the hybrid...

This is a GroVia brand diaper.  Hybrids come with a shell you snap liners into...

The idea with these is that you buy about 10 shells and 24 liners.  When it's time to change baby, you don't have to dump the whole diaper in the wash, just the shells; unless, of course, there is a mess on the shell.  The other diapers require you to wash the whole thing every time.

Ok, let's take a test drive!

Here is the Rumparooz.  Rosie looks pretty happy, right?  Really, I was too, but I did find them to be a bit bulky...  

And the Baby Kicks...

Again, I liked it overall.  It did have a more trim fit, which I really liked, but I was a little disappointed it didn't have very many snap options like the Rumparooz.  I worried about running out of room as she grows.

Are you noticing how her legs are ALWAYS kicking?  Baby Kicks, indeed...!

I didn't even take a picture of the Tots Bots.  I found the sewn in soaker annoying and bulky, just as I assumed, and they just didn't fit as nicely.

Here's the hybrid at work.  With this particular brand you can choose between Velcro or snaps for the side closures.  I wanted to go the Velcro route during our trial period because everything else we chose had snaps.  For purchasing, I would go the snap route.  That Velcro was crazy adhesive and stuck to everything...

I loved the hybrid!  It's super easy to use.  Snapping the liner in and out is a breeze.  The shell can be used more than once if not messed on.  They weren't super bulky.

It was the winner!

A cute picture of Rosie's bum sporting the GroVia...

We're pretty sure we'll be moving forward on cloth diapers!

This week I will be calling The Bean to talk to them about the hybrid.  There's a brand we are interested in that is made mostly in the USA, but the store doesn't carry them.  Currently, anyway.  That may change.  The GroVia brand is made in China (as are the Rumparooz and Baby Kicks) which makes us unhappy.  It kind of defeats the purpose of trying to reduce our "carbon footprint."

We'll see how this goes!