summer weekend

No [real] cleaning or yardwork. Just enjoying - when we can - warm languid summer moments. A friday night family picnic. Breakfast with my mom at one of our favorite places. An unplanned, but very successful thrifting experience. A park play date with Miles' school friends. Napping. Knitting. Fun playing in the water. Dinner at a new local Caribbean-inspired restaurant (tostones and tres leches cake are great, service needs work). Watching David compete in the dragon boat races. Staying cool. Enjoying our time together.

the baby post

With less than two months until baby arrives, I've been doing a lot of planning and preparing, and noticing that I've been doing a horrible job at documenting this pregnancy to date. So, this post might be a bit of a purge, but it's all for a good cause - to make sure that I've captured some of the decisions we've made, the planning we've done and the excitement around this baby's arrival.

We've taken a fairly relaxed approach to this birth compared to our first, which I'm guessing is how it goes for many parents the second time around. We do know that we plan to do a water birth assisted by a midwife at a local hospital, just as we did with Miles. The experience was so amazing the first time around, I'm really hoping that everything falls into place for us to do it again. I have to mention here that I initially was really set on having this baby in a birth center. That wasn't an option when we had Miles, but new legislation passed since then and birth centers are now in existence in our area. I probably would prefer this option if it weren't for the fact that my health insurance benefits cover all of my prenatal, labor and delivery costs - and I mean everything - with the exception of a minimal $150 co-pay for the hospital stay. Compare this to the cost of birthing in a birth center (~$5,000), which is actually cheaper than deliviering in a hospital, but is not covered by most insurances in our area - at least not yet. So, we're still happy with our choice, and I know that we're extremely fortunate to live in an area that offers so many birthing options, particularly the water birth/midwife experience, and that it's covered by insurance. I did briefly think about planning a home birth, but something about it just didn't feel right for me. When I was laboring with Miles I had this overwhelming urge to leave the house, get a change of scenery (after two days of being in early labor pacing around the house) and I just didn't know if I would experience that "cagey" feeling again. The only difference with our plans for this birth are that we have decided not to hire a doula for this birth like we did for our first. I loved having a doula when laboring with Miles, but felt that the support she provided could probably be given by other people already in our lives, so we've asked my mom to be present at the birth as an extra labor support person for me. I think she's a little nervous about this, but I so appreciate the fact that she's willing to be there with us during such an important event.

A recent (and major) decision we've made is to try cloth diapers. After reading so many good reasons about why we should use cloth diapers, I finally started researching some of the options. I have to admit that I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of information out there on this subject, as well as the number of options available for cloth diapering. After soliciting advice from some local "experts", doing some online research, doing a costs analysis and comparison, we've decided to use prefolds available through a diaper service for the first several months, with our own covers, diaper pail, etc and then re-evaluate at around 4-5 months when I go back to work to see if we want to invest in purchasing all-in-ones or pocket diapers for part-time use when baby is not in a child care setting. So many factors went into deciding on this particular arrangement, including me being a working mom, this probably being our last child, and how much we would save over using disposables over a potentially short amount of time compared to if we were able to use cloth diapers exclusively until baby is potty trained. Long story short, I'm happy we're giving this a try and feel like we are not going to have to break the bank to do something we think is important for baby and the environment. And, who can resist the cuteness of those diaper covers we have sitting in baby's dresser waiting to be used (see photos above). I mean, really...so. very. cute.

Just a couple of other fun things to mention, a couple of things that are more for me than for baby. I'm lucky enough to have some very special people in my life who will be hosting a blessingway celebration for me. I'm so looking forward to this celebration of motherhood, and how it feels just so right as a way to honor this second pregnancy. Also, I'm indulging in a little pregnancy body art and have arranged to have someone henna my belly closer to my due date.

Now, if we could only decide on a name for baby...

mini-golf

An impromptu road trip last weekend led us here where we also had the chance to introduce Miles to the game of mini-golf. He loved it!