Mail!

Checking the mail at our house is a very big event every day. Beth gets every excited when I say "mail" because it means we get to go outside for a few minutes during the day! I know that sounds awful, like we're cooped up all the time, but during the middle of the summer and right now with the mosquitoes- who can stand to be outside??? Not me. Anways, our mailbox is a community mailbox right across the street so she usually carries the keys as we walk over there. It's usually exciting to me too as I check for magazines or diapers or books that I've ordered. :-) But today we had a surprise in the mail! A sweet friend sent Beth and Luke each a gift! Thank you Sean and Mandi!

Last night I spent a whopping two hours on my sewing machine. Seriously. First I had to remind myself how to turn it on, lol, and then I started playing with my next project. I wanted to make Beth a fleece diaper cover using this pattern (all the pictures on that site are of wool though). Since I knew this would be an experiment, I used super-cheap fleece from Wal-Mart and unfortunately I chose black- it was going to be for another project but I didn't have enough of the other color I had. Anyways, I cut the pattern and just went at it since the directions were online and Ryan was busy doing something online. At one point the bobbin ran out of thread so I had to open the manual and figure out how to thread that, and that took up quite a bit of time, lol. I used a zig-zag stich because I thought it looked cool but now I realize that probably was a bad idea since the seams already feel like they're about to rip. I don't think it's tight enough. I guess this is how to learn- trial and error, right? I should probably also figure out if I need a special kind of thread to sew with fleece.

The white is the thread showing through because I didn't get the fabric lined up correctly. And one leg opening looks smaller than the other...it's a little puckered, the seams don't match and overall it's pretty ugly. And it's too small for Beth despite the XL toddler measurements I used!

It looks like it fits her in this photo because she has no diaper on underneath! There are several things I really like about it though and will try to incorporate those things while making it prettier and sturdier next time. I'm afraid to wash this one! Fleece is a good cover for cloth diapers because it breathes like wool but is cheaper than wool. :-) Once I get it down with the Wal-Mart fleece, I'll buy some pretty fleece and make her some real ones. I might even venture out and make fleece pants- watch out Old Navy!

This morning we met with our doula for the second time. She came to our house and we talked about our birth plan and ironed out a few details that Ryan and I just hadn't talked about yet. We also went over some laboring positions which is good since I haven't done that for almost 2 years. ;-) She asked if we had any fears about labor... I honestly said no. I am so excited, giddy, happy, anxious about birth but I am definitely not scared or fearful. I fully believe this birth will be a lot of work and probably some pain (ha!), but I have confidence in my body that it will perform as God intended. And I completely trust my support team- I love how my midwives are so confident; they make ME feel empowered. I know Ryan will do an excellent job and having the doula there for backup is also going to be awesome. I don't know if by having this viewpoint I'm setting myself up for failure or if I'm preparing myself to perform well. But it's truly how I feel!