Cloth diapers

So with this little one being my last baby, I decided I am going to go ahead and try cloth diapers. I have toyed with the idea with both the girls, but never bought any.

So today after talking to a friend on facebook and looking at diapers on ebay, I went ahead and place my first bid EVER on ebay and on the auction. I won 5 diapers of my choice. Well there is a challenge, because I have no clue what I am having. I feel like this is a boy, but who knows. So I went with neutral colors, kinda. I mean they look kinda boyish to me since I always pick very girly stuff for my girls, so anything non girly looks boyish to me.

So my plan is to get diapers off and on through the months to come so I have a good stock ready when the baby comes, but I will probably wait to bid on anymore until I find out if I am having a boy or girl. And I am also going to try and get educated on cloth diapers and how to launder them.

John isn't too thrilled by it, but I figure since we have gone through potty training with JJ which means I have had to deal with ALOT of poopy underwear and had to clean them out and wash them, so I figure this will be similar.

I am praying this is a good idea for our family and not a huge mistake. But hey Walmart always has disposables.

Our last one

In the past, everytime I heard a women say this was her last baby or she was not having anymore, I always thought "I could never imagine getting to the point when I didn't want another baby." I then had one of John's cousins tell me that when you know it is your last, you just know it. And then a woman from church told me she was the same way, until she held her last daughter and just knew she was done. But I still had doubts.

But I have to admit, they were right. This is my last baby! Unless we have some miracle baby, this little one growing inside my womb will be my last bio baby. We might adopt sometime, not thinking about it but there is always the possibility that is something God will lay on our hearts. But this baby will be the last one that John and I create.

I knew this from the moment I found out I was pregnant. It was just this feeling like our family is complete with this one. I always thought that I would be sad if I ever knew a baby was my last. You know, if for some medical reason I couldn't have another or John refused to have anymore. Like every milestone, I would sadly say "this is the last time I will hold my newborn, this is the last time I will nurse a baby, this is our last first birthday" etc. But instead I feel peace and happiness.

I feel like I am ready to have this baby in January and start a new phase in our life: a non pregnancy phase, then a no diaper phase(I know it will be years down the road, but hey I look forward to that time), all our kids in school phase, etc.

Even though I know we are still young, I just feel like we are moving to a new place in our life and marriage. I love that! I can't wait to meet this new little one in January and have all 5(plus our angel in heaven) of our precious gifts to watch grow. This is one of those times I am so overcome with praise for God blessing us so abundantly!! My life is simply......BLESSED!!!

Changes in the Schimek House

The other day John came to me and was telling me about a dream he had. He was walking through the house and could hear me and the kids yelling, pleading for help and he was trying to find us. But as he walked through our house all the radios were on, the tvs, the xbox, and his phone kept going off with letting him know he had text messages. His focus was diverated from finding us to all the noise and entertainment around him.

He said that he felt God was telling him that his focus has been on things other then his family, our life, and most importantly God. I totally agree. And it is not just him.

For a couple of years now John has teased me(and sometimes gotten really mad with me) because there are times I get so overwhelmed with all the noise in our house from all the electronics that I can't cope and I turn everything off. Seriously there are times the tv will be on(which it is most of the time it seems), the kids will be playing xbox with the noise going, fans will be going(ceiling fans, standing fans, fans from the stove and bathrooms), and John will be walking around playing music on his phone and I will just feel like all the noise is overwhelming. I just want quiet. Not like everyone has to leave, but I want quiet from all the electronics.

Plus I feel that because we spend so much time in front of the tv, we don't spend much quality time with the kids or each other, and that our house suffers because we never seem to have time to do anything.

So we decided to limit the tv and xbox time for the whole family, as well as John and I limiting our time playing on our phones and my time on the computer. We talked about it on Monday and started it on Tuesday. The kids are not enjoying it as well. Livie doesn't seem to mind and Kennedy and JJ are pretty good at entertaining themselves with toys so they don't complain too much. But Alex and Ryan are not liking it.

We have been letting them watch tv for a bit in the morning while we are still laying in bed, but I have been making them turn it off by 9:30 or 10 and then it hasn't been coming back on late afternoon or evening when I let them watch a couple 30 minute episodes of something or maybe a movie while I do baths and such. But really I have found I don't like it on. Even now while the kids are in bed, I started to watch something and then was like, "I don't even really want to watch this," and shut off the tv. I find that once I stepped away from watching stuff, even stuff I didn't really want to watch, just because it seemed the thing to do, I really don't want to watch anything as much.

And except for letting Ryan play xbox for about an half an hour yesterday after he came home from his visit and I was still wanting to nap for a bit longer, the xbox hasn't been on.

Ryan and Alex have been kinda busy this week too, with Ryan doing visits with his mom and Alex going places with John and my brother, so that has helped keep them busy somewhat. But when they are home they will ask throughout the day, or complain cause there is nothing to do. But hey, I can remember going to my great grandmas and not having any channels to watch and only a few movies and we played games and did things to keep busy. That's why I love to do crafts, cause I started then so I stayed busy. They will just have to find stuff to do! Cause Mama loves not having the tv on all the time!!!

Morning sicknes blows chunks!!!

I have been feeling pretty sick this pregnancy. I remember being sick with the boys but I don't remember being this sick. And I wake up feeling sick and it just gets worst as the day goes on. Since the morning sickness, ok more like all day sickness, started I have been miserable most afternoons and evenings. The mornings actually are the better part of the day for me.

This picture shows how I feel a good amount of time of my days is spent.

I don't feel like doing much and feel totally useless most days around the house. The kids seem to notice my feeling cruddy and take advantage of it. They try to get away with more than usual.

I am so ready for the morning sickness portion of my pregnancy to be over!!

Dishes and laundry are piling up!!

So for some reason after every pregnancy I must block out how truly awful morning sickness is. I remember having it with each one, but forget how truly crippling it can be.

My house is suffering big time. I have a HUGE pile of laundry to fold and put away and another even HUGER(yes I am using this even though it isn't a real word) that needs washed. Of course part of this is 1 huge bag of hand me down clothes for Kennedy my sister dropped off and another regular bag that a friend dropped off for Alex. I just haven't felt up to doing my regular laundry let alone tackle these bags.

And then there is my kitchen that seems to stay piled with dirty dishes regardless of me washing some. Today I washed 2 rounds(I wash enough to fill up my towel, then while they are drying I do something else. I hate drying dishes) and after lunch I have the remainder of the previous sinkful of dishes and then lunch dishes.

Both the dishes and laundry are not things I like to do when I am pukey, because I am super sensitive to smell and both are known to have unpleasant odors accompanying them.

Then there is the regular vacuuming and picking up that I just haven't kept up with as well as I normally do. I am not one that keeps my house spotless by any means, but it would be so much nicer to deal with feeling pukey, if my house didn't smell from dishes and laundry.

But alas, I know that after I finally start to recover from the morning sickness, then I will be cleaning my house.

Announcement

It might seem totally crazy, but the Schimek household will be expanding again in Jan. John and I are expecting our fifth child. We just made the announcement to friends and family yesterday and the kids are all excited.

We went shopping this morning and Alex kept pointing out stuff he wants to buy the baby if it is a boy. This lead to the discussion of what they hope the baby is.

Alex is hoping for a boy, but hopes it is twins. JJ who must still be getting used to the idea asked if I meant we would have a live baby, then said he wants a girl. Kenna wants a boy. Ryan said he hopes it is twin boy and girl so they can be like Jack and Jill. The doctor said she only saw one, even though she couldn't see everything because it was covered at the time by bowel. So as far as we know there is only one.

John really wants another girl. I want another boy. So I guess we will just wait and see.

I thought I would show the progress to the The Schimek's "Not So Bummer Summer" List so far.

1. Go to the Omaha zoo
2. Go to the amazing pizza factory
3. Go swimming at cody park.
4. Go to the train exhibit.
5. Go to the history museum.
6. Go for a picnic in cody park.
7. Go to the splash park.
8. Go to the water park in Denver.(this might not happen)
9. Go to Island Oasis.
10. Go for a picnic in Memorial park.
11. Have a sundae bar.
12. Go to cody park rides.
13. Make smores over a fire.
14. Go bowling.
15. Go to the movies.
16. Roast hotdogs.
17. Go/be in parade.
18. Fireworks.
19. Go to the children's museum.
20. Go to Fort Cody.
21. Go to the library.
22. Family movie night.
23. Movie in the park.
24. Camp.
25. Make sidewalk paint and each of us design a sidewalk slab.

I am pretty proud that we have this much marked off so far. It is looking like a not so bummer summer so far.