We had some playtime upon arriving at the cabin. We figured letting Everly stretch out on the bed would be a nice change from being cramped in the carseat all day. E had fun playing as you can see in the above photos.

We learned that an increase in humidity impacts a baby’s bottom. Poor Everly got kind of rashy while we were in Tennessee so we put a potty pad (left over from the birth kit) under her and let her go naked for a bit. She liked being free but was also startling much more without clothes on. The fresh air and sunlight did help with the rash though.

The checkup went well and Pamela was very excited to spend time with Everly as you can see. You can read more about how the checkup went in this post.

We had a great time on our trip, it was a time for us to reflect on Everly’s birth and we also made some good memories while we were there.

The post Wordless Wednesday: E's 6 week checkup with our midwife appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Now that I am taking over 100 photos of E a week Ive got lots of material to share. Here we go!

She slept in her crib for the first time ever over the weekend. It was just a tiny nap in the crib on her tummy while N and I worked on stuff in the office but it was a milestone since she isn’t to crazy about independent sleep.

It turns out we picked the perfect bedding set because she is crazy about animal print for some reason. There is zebra print on her playmat that she loves to look at. On our couch I have a tiger striped throw that she stares at and now she’s got the bedding set that is full of animal print!

She’s been much more alert and is getting so strong now. She’s just over 5 weeks as of yesterday and we are constantly amazed at how much she is growing. You can see in her eyes how she is starting to understand and analyze the world around her.

She is still so adorable and is sporting the red hair still. I can’t believe she is ours and the we have actually become parents. We love her so much.

She is almost always in cloth diapers but she isn’t too good at signaling me when she needs a change. They say babies will let you know when they need to be changed or fed right? Well, I am not so convinced of this with her.

When she is on her side she’ll have a “blowout” if she naps for many hours straight. At night when we are expecting her to sleep for several hours straight I double up the diaper inserts to prevent diaper leakage and it works well.

When I am not expecting a long nap, like in this photo, and she sleeps for a long time she’s bound to leak. Can you see the pee ring on the sheets around her bum? Those sheets were just changed too, LOL.

Last night she was all diapered, fed and ready for sleep but she wasn’t feeling secure or independent so daddy comforted her all night. She likes to sit and watch him while he is talking to her, it gives me a nice break from her and it gives them good bonding time.

She’s also surprisingly good at holding her head up. When we are burping her or when she is sitting looking at us she insists on lifting her head or she’ll lean back away from our support. She likes to be in control of her own head it seems and she is very strong and good at it. Like I said we love her, she is amazing!

The post Less-words Wednesday: Baby Everly is 5 weeks old appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Felt good to be adjusted and all put back in place. Here’s hoping all stays that way for the delivery. With chiropractic care labor and delivery are supposed to be quicker and easier. Yesterdays adjustment was my last before heading off to The Farm.

Before I head off I’ve been sure to write many advance posts and get them all scheduled here to tide you over while we all wait to meet Tater. I’ll also be live blogging via text message (and twitter) while I am at The Farm and through labor/ delivery if conditions permit (subscribe and follow me so you don’t miss a thing).

I’ve also documented all the baby stuff you all have sent and I’ve got many belly shots that will be showcased here via slideshow and whatnot while I am away. Some will even be guest posting here too. So, rest assured you’ll have something to sink your teeth in to while I am having Tater. And now here are some belly shots for you.

Over two weeks ago at 35 weeks pregnant:

More than one week ago at 36 weeks 6 days pregnant:

Then there was a few days ago at 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant:

Tomorrow I am 38 weeks pregnant and ready to blow any second. Being at this stage of the pregnancy totally makes me appreciate and understand why so many ladies agree to labor induction. I mean this is crazy uncomfortable (even more so that all the previous 35 weeks combined) and when you’ve got a doc that wants to get things going via induction it just means that your discomfort and anxiety can end sooner. What is not to like about that?

No, I am not hoping for an induction though. Just saying I totally get it now, if that makes sense.

For more of my Wordless Wednesday posts throughout the years click here.

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In the meantime we have been trying to do things to have fun and to keep busy while we are waiting for Tater to do her last bits of growth and development. Things like putting the house together the way we’ll need it when Tater comes home, unpacking, organizing and even vegetable gardening have been a few of our pastimes these days (other than my excessive napping).

It has sure been quite a critter filled weekend for us though! Late last week we were out in the front yard planting some of the free iris’ we were given. I was working under the tree planting them and N was working under the mailbox.

All of the sudden this frog comes hopping out of the grass at me. I was pretty surprised by it but was also excited because I have never really played with a frog. We didn’t have many water sources in Arizona so in turn we didn’t have many frogs to encounter. Here with the water pond behind our house the frogs are everywhere so I got to play with one for a bit while gardening. Is this a frog or toad though?

Then on Saturday we were out on the deck enjoying the warm morning and planting some seeds when we noticed our outdoor cat, Haley, acting a bit odd. Dixie, our dog, was also quite interested in what Haley had going on. It turns out the cat caught a garden snake and was playing it to death.

N rescued it with a rake and we were sad that it’s head and body were bleeding. We grabbed it away from the cat mainly because we wanted to see if we could get some photos of it and figure out what kind of snake it was. The reason we were so curious about the type of snake is because we are pretty sure a much larger snake got Dixie a few weeks ago.

We noticed she was trying to get at something that went under the deck, she dug a huge hole that went under the deck. We also suspect she got bit while digging that hole. She’s been limping and babying her one paw for about 2 weeks. It is getting better now and she is doing fine but we are sure it was a bite of some sort. Hopefully not from a bigger snake!

Anyway, after taking some photos to reference and compare to what we’ve found online we let the poor garden snake slither off to safety. We still have no idea what kind of snake it is.

Haley was a bit bummed to have her torture subject freed but she got over it pretty quick.

We’ve got frogs frolicking in the back yard, snakes slithering in the brush and we even have huge scary spiders crawling through our grass (with egg sacks on their backs) as I discovered while putting a bunny out to run the yard. The critter fun never seemed to end!

The rabbits seem to be loving the supervised play time in the yard and Dixie is getting very good at not going crazy over the rabbits running free. I recorded a few videos of N, Dixie and Maybelle out in the yard.

Here N has a moment with Dixie, he is telling her how she’ll need to watch over Tater soon…

I also recorded a video of some crazy kicking of the belly while we were watching American Idol last week. The lightening is poor but you can still see the jabs and kicks (and you get to hear the song recaps too. LOL).

The post Critters in my back yard: Rabbits, snakes, spiders, frogs and more. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

So many people have remarked “You are so brave” or “I know I couldn’t do it” when they hear our plans to cloth diaper. People really don’t understand how modern and improved cloth diapers are these days. Everyone seems to need the low down on them, even N and I had trouble understanding all their features until we held one in our hands.

Here is how the diaper was all packaged when it arrived:

The velcro makes the width of the diaper totally adjustable. The outer pink material is super soft on the outside but on the inside it is a plasticy waterproof material made of polyurethane laminate waterproof fabric (or PUL).

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Then their are 3 snaps that run along the front. Those are to adjust the height of the diaper, which is helpful for accommodating an infant and their healing umbilical cord. Plus it is one of the features that makes this diaper truly all in one, it’s size and shape grows with baby.

When you look at the inside of the diaper you’ll see the white inner lining, it is suede cloth. This is what comes in to contact with baby’s skin and gets pooped on. It is super soft and way absorbent.

Between the inner liner and the outer cover there is a nifty pocket where the inserts are placed to absorb liquid and moisture. When you look inside the pocket you can see the shiny, polyurethane laminate side of the outer fabric.

Here are the two inserts that come with the diaper. One is the infant size, the other is a size adjustable (via the snaps) regular insert. The inserts can be used individually or can be used together for more absorbency. They are also made with super absorbent suede cloth.

Here is what infant the pocket looks like with an insert inside. You just slide it right in the pocket and fold the flap closed keeping the insert inside and hidden.

And there you have it, the BumGenius 3.0 cloth diaper. I think they are pretty darn nifty, don’t you?

In other news yesterday marked the start of my 32nd week of pregnancy. N went in to work early to cover a fun story and make some extra money. We succeeded in getting all our crap (including the motor home) off the premisis of the old place.

We’ve still not heard back from the slumloards about a walk though inspection time and thus haven’t returned the keys to them. We’ve also kept posession of the garage door openers to intice them to actually contact us so we can officially end this madness. It looks like they wont though.

Tomorrow is the date of the Arizona baby shower being thrown in our honor. We are both excited and also a bit nervous that the turn out wont be great. We’ll see… I’ve got Tater’s nursery all spiffied up as best as possible for the video conference we’ll be doing during the shower.

That is pretty much all there is to report right now. It’s supposed to be a rainy weekend and we don’t have that many errands planned to tackle so hopefully it will be a somewhat calm and quiet time. Probably not though

Hopefully the sun is shining and you are going to have a nice spring weekend in your neck of the woods.

The post Why all-in-one-diapers ROCK! BumGenius 3.0 fun and info… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.