Aurie at 6 months

Aurie is 6 months. She currently has her first cold and although I hate her being sick I love how cuddly she is! At her 6 month appointment she weighed 14 lbs 5.8 oz. and 26 inches long. We knew she was thinning out in the belly but thought she would weigh a little more. We have to get a scan of a cyst she has right under her right eyebrow to make sure that its nothing more. Aurie refuses to take a bottle and so will only breastfeed. Aurie is very close to sitting up by herself and she rolls all over the place.
I have been watching another baby that is only a couple weeks older then Aurie during the week. It's nice to bring a little money in and still be a stay at home mom.
What has really been keeping me busy, though, is buying and selling cloth diapers! I LOVE cloth diapers. I tried to convince my sisters to cloth diaper but they are SO not on board. Haha. I have been able to make a bit of money off of reselling them, not to mention all the cloth diapers I use for Aurie have been bought very cheap and saving us TONS of money. I also use cloth wipes which saves money!! I even enjoy the diaper laundry! There are so many different types of cloth diapers its insane! Anyways, that's all the news from me. I really haven't been up to anything but those things
Oh, except, we started watching the Blacklist on Mondays and that show is AMAZING! Anyone else watch it and love it?!? And the new episodes of parenthood are awesome and so real!
Aurie playing  with our daytime buddy!

 Aurie's Halloween costume! I picked it up for $3 at a consignment sale. Isn't she the cutest cheerbear

 This is Aurie today. I made these baby legs out of my old knee high socks.

 This was today too. I wanted to snap some photos of Aurie in the ukulele case and hat we used as props in her newborn photos to compare size!

 She is a MAJOR finger sucker! Always sucking on those two fingers. Grrr.

 This picture is hilarious. She woke up from a nap with her hand imprinted on her face. With fingernail indents and all! I was laughing so hard.

 Aurie and her daddy!

 Aurie and grandpa at the balloon festival

 This is what the front of my house looks like sometimes! Sunning and drying diapers.

 These are all the diapers I use for Aurie! Did I mention I LOVE them and want so many more :)

That's all for now.

The beginning of cloth diapers!

I decided to venture in the cloth diapering world. I started researching and researching about different styles/types, ways to clean, how to put on, what I needed, etc. I spent hours of looking into it. The more I searched the more intimidating it felt. Not to mention one diaper costs $12 new. Ugh. But, knowing I want another baby soon I figured we better do this cloth diapering business so when we have two kids in diapers it wont make us bankrupt.
I have been stalking craigslist for deals and trying to figure out what brands were best (thank you amazon reviews). Should I use pocket diapers, all-in-ones, or pre-folds. Even trying to figure out the lingo was quite the adventure. I realized I had no idea what any of that meant. So I picked up each type (not on purpose) from craigslist. I scored an awesome deal from one of the purchases. I did the math and have paid $168 on everything I have bought for cloth diapering so far. Adding up the new  value of all the items would have come to $707. Yep, I am a thrifty shopper! The majority of the stuff was brand new too. A lady thought she wanted to cloth diaper and after a day realized she didn't and just wanted it out of her house.

Just for my personal reference here is what I have bought (which is all I need to get the babies from newborn-potty training)
45- size one osocozy prefolds
12- size two premium osocozy prefolds
5- thirsties duo hemp prefolds
10- thirsties fab wipes
59- osocozy flannel wipes
6- snappi's
1- planetwise wet bag size medium
1- Charlies soap 32 fl. oz.
2- kissaluvs diaper lotion 4 oz. spray
1- kissaluvs diaper lotion 4 oz. concentrate
2- 14 gallon diaper pail
1- bumgenius diaper sprayer
3- bumgenius size small all-in-ones
10- babyland pocket diapers one size
bunch of pocket diaper inserts (haven't counted and baby sleeping in her room right now!)
Not pictured-
3- bummis diaper cover size small
3- econobums diaper cover one size
5- prorap diaper cover size medium
2- bummis diaper cover size medium

I did the math and if I bought disposable huggies diapers from amazon, a box of 222, it would cost $47. An average baby will go through 8 diapers a day so that box would last 27 days. It would only take 94.5 days to spent the same amount on disposable diapers as it did for me to buy everything for cloth diapers and not to mention I don't buy wipes either.
Speaking of wipes, I thought the idea of reusable baby wipes was nasty! I changed my first cloth diaper and it is only natural to put the wipe inside the diaper and toss it all in the pail. After the first load of cloth diaper laundry I realized...oops... I forgot to through away the wipe. That is when I realized cloth wipes for cloth diapers is genius and easier to use! So I was glad I had a bunch of reusable wipes!
So far, Rillz always grabs for the all-in-one (aio) diaper. It's the type that is just like a disposable. Put it on and take it off, that's it! He tried to do a prefold one morning and she just pee'd on the cloth right when he was trying to put it on and then Rillz got discouraged and grabbed the aio and hasn't stopped since! I personally like the prefolds with the cute diaper covers. I can use the same cute cover for the entire day and just switch out the prefolds. I haven't used our pocket diapers enough to have a view on them. The bad thing about aio's is it takes much longer for them to dry then a prefold.
Well, I have blabbed on about the start of cloth diapering long enough. I am sure I will write more about my experience later on as I get more experience with them.

Rolling over

During tummy time today, July 18, Aurie lifted her head up more than she ever has. I was so impressed. Then next thing I knew she rolled from her tummy to back! I was sure it was just a fluke. I stuck her back on her tummy to play some more. But, she just kept rolling over! Aurie is growing so fast! I have read so many times that premature babies may be delayed in some of the things they do but, at almost 3 1/2 months, Aurie shows no signs of being delayed anywhere. She is SO vocal, opinionated, and strong willed already as a baby and always has been! Her baby cry is LONG gone! Aurie makes so many grunting, cooing, giggling sounds with huge smiles and huge cries. Nothing she does is suttle! She also drools like crazy right now and making bubbles with her spit. It doesn't help that she loves chewing on her hands. We have a silly feisty one on our hands! Last week Aurie discovered her tongue which is pretty cute! She sticks it in and out all the time. We just love this girl SO much and wouldn't change a thing (ok, maybe her sleeping at night could improve).

Look like mom or dad?

It is pretty easy to distinguish who Aurie looks like. But, she does have some slight features from me. Here are our baby pictures to compare...
My youngest baby picture. I was 10 months old before I got a picture taken of me

Rillz... not sure how old but definitely younger than I was.

 

 Aurie at 5 days and 3 months

 

4th of July

Aurie and I enjoyed 4th of July day in Caldwell, Idaho. We joined the Miller's and Tracy's for a parade in the morning and then hung out in the park for several hours! The park had music, vendors, and jump houses. Aurie enjoyed her first parade in the arms of Heidi fast asleep while I enjoyed it by the street with all the kids and scavengering for pieces of candy to give to Camden. The day was beautiful and company was great!
When looking at my pictures I realized I had no pictures of Gunnar. I realized it's because he is off enjoying the bigger kid things and the majority of the time I was with a baby or toddler. Gunnar is just growing up so fast and becoming more independent! The toddlers are so stinkin funny! Brecken went down a big inflatable water slide in such a hilarious way that Heidi and I couldn't stop laughing! I wish I had my camera on video it was awesome!
The new batch of babies could not be more opposite in personality. Aurie is so noisy, vocal, needy and LOVES her toys while Trenton is just so chill, loves people watching and for the most part content with anything. Anytime the babies are together someone always asks one of us if they are twins.
When I got home around 8 pm I was SO tired! I didn't watch any fireworks and just went to bed. Aurie's first 4th of July was filled with fun and family! Oh, and I have never dressed up for little holidays like this but I guess after having a baby that changed for me and I found it fun for me and Aurie to be wearing red, white, and blue.
Happy 4th!

I love the outfits! So cute and festive

 This girl has so many faces

 Just chillin

 This is how these two look after about 2 minutes of laying together. Aurie screaming and Trenton looking at her like she is nuts! 

 I only have pictures with Aurie when I have been with one of my sisters!

 Waiting for the parade

 Aurie spent the whole parade with Heidi!

 Camden in her cute outfit enjoying cotton candy!

 Waking up from a nap

 Aurie's first run in with a camel!

 Cami had to warm up a little to the camel and paige LOVED the camel!

 Check out Aurie's ride...

 This is the only picture I got of Gunnar (and pretty sad picture at that). They rode a cute little Thomas train!

Family visiting

We had Rillz's sister and bro-in-law with Gracey come visit. We sure had fun! Gracey helped me plant tomatoes, do laundry, and take care of Aurie. She LOVED her cousin Aurie! Girlie and I had a great time doing random things together too! Thanks for the fun visit. We love you guys!
Gracey playing with Aurie

 Gracey looking at old pictures of her mom and Uncles

 Aurie and Gracey with grandma and grandpa Rivera

 Gracey with grandma Rivera

 David and Gracey playing with Aurie

 Gracey wanted to hold Aurie all the time! She is such a great big cousin!

 Aurie with Aunty Girlie and Uncle David!

Swimming!

We are finding out Aurie LOVES the water! We stayed at Brent and Noelle's house for a couple days and used their community pool. This day was a bit cold but Aurie didn't care! She went in, got out and nursed, and then happily went in again! One happy girl in the pool.
Not happy to be woken up only to get a swimming suit on :)

 I love this cute little swimming suit.

 She lasted  a lot longer than I had expected.