Sleep sack baby

First, We received the most beautiful dress from a friend. Its so sweet and Kira has been DYING for me to put it on Juliet for a picutre. She is her personal fashion detail after all, so I did it...and here is her picture... The dress is still too big, but Kira is happy. (Thank you for the GORGEOUS dress...its like I picked it myself!)

I was online playing one day, and found this infant sleep sack, and fell in love with it! I wanted like crazy, but she wanted $45 for it! I knew I could make it for $5, so I looked for a pattern...$6 later, and a trip to the yarn department, I was ready to go! I loved it and showed it to everyone I knew! I could not wait to get my baby girl into it.

When Juliet was 4 days old I pulled it out, and she spends most of her evenings in her little sack. She finds it cozy and safe feeling, and Dave and I find it stinkin' adorable! I finally took her picture. (SO you can see that she looks adorable in it too!)

Dave thinks I should sell them since the others I have found are so ridiculously priced, I can whip them out really quick, and I enjoy crocheting! Oh! and I can't wait to go buy more yarn in another color and make her the next size up, she sleeps so well in it, maybe I should make one for myself!

Juliet's birthday

Mom and Juliet
sad Juliet
weighing in at 6lbs 10 ozs
awwww

Nicole and Juliet first time together
Jordan meeting Juliet
Kira is a big sister!
stupid goop in her eyes... state mandated

look at her pouty lip!
Grandpa and Juliet
Finally!
skin to skin
Grandma and Juliet

Juliet Gabrielle Swaner 2/22/11

Because We are so Cute

Before Juliet was born I asked Lorelei to come down and take some pictures. She had done a fantastic job 2 years previous, and I thought I needed to get off my duff and get them done. I am a hard person to work with- picture speaking. I don't want some stooopid picture of a lovely railroad track and my beautiful child somewhere in the mix, or a field of poppies and my baby hidden in the weeds. I want a picture of MY CHILD. So you can see their perfect face and the light in their eye...not some artsy fartsy hoopla that loses the whole point of my kid... so yah... I am hard to work with. She just had her indoor backdrop shipped to her- so that worked even better for me...since it is winter! She was awesome, and I do admit, these pictures are pretty awesome too!Nicole, Kira and Jordan...the 3 Swaner kids...before Juliet
Kira's eyes look great in this pic. Jordan looks pretty handsome too!
Nicole...my 15 year old is on the verge of being locked up until she is 30....
Bauer was feeling left out...you should see him around the baby...He is SO JEALOUS!
Nicole
again- too beautiful
Kira, and the left out furry wuppy
Kira- again her eyes are captured perfectly
Kira Isabelle
My son
Jordan looks so much like Dave these days...its perfect
see...Mini Dave
Me and my baby girl...I have 2 baby girls now...
Yes- even one of me...Dave insisted
Dave's serious look
Me making him smile
David
Dave looks great here
I took some ADORABLE ones of Juliet yesterday... I will put them up tomorrow... but I had to remind ya all- that the rest of us exist
too! and yes- I posted them because we are so cute.

My new adventure!!!

Now that Juliet is nursing much better, its time to try my next adventure in motherhood. This one is NOT version 4.0. This is version 1.0, and I decided to jump right in and forgo the beta version.

If that previous paragraph went right over your head, your inner geek needs a tune up. But for those of you that are with me- you know I am about to attempt something I did not do with my other children and I and jumping in headfirst- not really going for a trial run!I had decided when I was pregnant in the summer of 2009 that I wanted to cloth diaper our new baby. I figured out that the cost would be a bit high to start, but would pay for itself in 6 months time. The thousands of diapers we would use by the time our child was potty-trained would be in a land fill for 200 years... along with the others from Nicole, Jordan, and Kira, which have probably not even begun to decompose! I was older, more patient, and have more time. I wanted to do it! I have read how much better it is for baby's skin, and they potty train earlier. Seemed win win to me! Dave on the other hand was NOT convinced!

Baby lost- but hey if there can be a bright side to that, more time to work on Dave. Ok- so second baby came...and went, and Dave still not with me. I knew I could sway him, I just had to find the right visual...so about 6 months ago I looked up cloth diapering on you-tube! Seriously does that site know any boundaries??? they have everything! I had to learn the lingo and each diaper type, and I showed him the videos for prefolds, all in ones, and g-diapers. After the videos he seemed much more interested! It looked a LOT easier...no pins, and no plastic pants! I think I had him!

Once the topic was open for discussion, he said he wanted the easiest way of all...something as close as possible to disposable. I looked and researched everything, showing him all sorts of brands and styles...we finally ended with all in ones...they are just as the name claims.... but that was not it...brand...what brand. Dave told me he would rather spend more than deal with leaks...so I researched more- and the best reviews came for the Bum Genius 4.0s. So I bit the bullet, and bought 24 of them. So no trial for us...its do or die!

So expecting Juliet to be bigger, like Jordan and Kira, the eight pound minimum was a no brainer... only she was 6 pounder! So we had to buy some small diapers... at $10 a bag- I was shocked! (and seriously GLAD we had chosen this route!) So as she is nearing the end of another $10 bag I decided to see if she was REALLY to small for her fancy diapers... if she could go all day with no leaks...we would make the move!

Talk about funny big bubble bum! She looks so funny...and adorable! And leaks? NOPE! Not a one! Its been fabulous! I am so excited! I will let you know of my adventures in cloth diapering! I hope we have a successful venture!

The bad and the GOOD

Its silly mostly, but this week has been hard. Hard the usual way with a newborn. Trying to teach her how to nurse is a challenge. Yes, I knew it would be. I think she is actually doing really well and mostly the tears have been hers!

I also expected that she would get jaundiced. My other kids did too. (well, Kira never needed photo therapy) So ya, expected. But its still hard to worry about that all day every day. She had to be poked and blood drawn every single day...Which makes staying at home and relaxing not happen. I just wanna stay home with her and enjoy our time together! But no, right now, I am getting ready to go AGAIN to the hospital lab for her daily torture session. (Even though she is amazing and has only cried once...I just IMAGINE the torture!)

This week has been wonderful too. Watching Nicole (the self proclaimed baby hater) fall in love with her little sister. Last night Juliet smiled in her sleep and Nicole said " MOM Look!" so I turned to see the normal sleeping face of my little dolly, and Nicole is laughing hysterically because as soon as I turned my head, Juliet stopped. She said- "Mom you missed it! It was adorable!" Nicole was who I worried about the most. she DID NOT want another baby, and if you ask her, she will tell you that she tried to talk us out of having one. Ha Ha Nicole... you love her!

I am so excited to have her little sweetness in our home. with all the heartache I felt the last two years, I can honestly say that now, I will tell those other sweet little angels that I am ok with having lost them, so they could get to work up there early. I was happy to have done so. I think it took the joy of Juliet coming into my life for me to find that peace. I knew it would come, I just hated the road to get there. She is literally my little angel on Earth right now. She helped me find peace and forgiveness in my heart. Thank you Juliet, helping your flawed Mommy see the plan my Heavenly Father had for me.