On more of an upbeat note...

Dust came home to me setting up for a shoot today. I was using Minie as my light tester, and the first picture here is of Mins reaching for daddy as he walked in.

We love this girl.. She loves her Dad.

Feeling the need to...

to go GREEN

so pretty much i feel i am being bombarded from every angle about the awarness of my"un-greeness" in life. every parent magazine that bi-monthly arrives at my house is nagging about it, the pediatrician gives us subtle hints and tips on greenovating our lives, and now.. maybe the final straw, would be my TV network. i guess you could say i strictly watch TLC and Discovery Health. what can i say? i'm a sucker for those darn baby shows. lately they have been pushing this whole green planet bit, and to be honest i really have just scuffed at all of the new shows and pracitcally vowed to never watch them.

until last night.

there is a new series call wa$ted and essentially is the what not to wear for the average american and their greeness factor (mostly their lack there of). i begrudignly watched it last night with nothing else on. however, by the end of the eopisode i was at my computer surfing through various cloth diapering sites, our city's recycling facilites, and fervently looking for a more "green friendly" car for mins and i to buzz around in.

a little over board?? probably. i just can't deny it anymore. the jackson family is NOT enviornmentaly friendly. our garbage can is a mess off all types of recyclables, and you would NOT (or probably would) believe the amount of diapers we empty to our dump every week. do you know that it takes anywhere from 200-500 years for one disposable diaper to decompose?? ONE DIAPER!!

in this slight brain-washingesque episode last night, they pushed the family to really try cloth diapering their 2 year old. after some griping they gave it a go, and lo and behold by the end of the show, the family was converted.

could i do this??

i would think i want to, but all i can see is my own mom's horror stories come to life... nasty cloth diapers soaking in amonia, carting around a soggy poop diaper in my diaper bag... or even worse... my own memories of working at that orphanage in guatemala, carrying around the child's weight in cloth diaper nastiness, making any and all clothes unwearable.

BUT

.

apparently there is a whole new world to the cloth diaper.

besides the money saving perks, they are also smaller, snugger, obviously eco-friendly, and excuse me... C U T E R. no doubt they are more work.. but have i really become that lazy??? and really, by the time i change minie's diaper, run it down stairs and out to the pail, i really wonder how much easier it is??

not only are disposable diapers practically indestructable, but as the process of decomposing runs it's course, toxic chemical are emitted, and all that yumminess goes straight to our air. i suppose i have always known this... but not really cared, or thought i could make any difference. i just feel like i can't deny it anymore...

what do you think??

anyone else out there with green guilt???

how can we not have it???

one thing is for sure, i am out first thing for a recycling bin tomorrow.. and i may just order my first pack of cloth diaps. yes.. i may be crazy.

Every once in a while...

You take a picture you just love.

I don't know what it is, but I love this picture..

I want one of Minie just like it some day. How beautiful is this little girl?

GRAND(babies)

This could really be the gist of my mom and sisters on any given day...

The birth of Greta put only a small hitch in our day to day lives, but it didn't last long.
Now we're back to normal..
Plus one :)

Grets 2

Here they are K.

We will try some more after Tuesday.

Why is she so cute?

Grets

Yes, she is this amazing.

Sorry K, these are the only ones I've worked on (the memory card I had).

Keep in mind the lighting was NOT on our side at this point.. the others will be better.

Meet the non-crawler

We had Minie's 9 month appointment today, and while she is doing fabulous in general, there is a slight problem...

she doesn't move.

Yes, that's right, she is a stationay object.

I know you all are thinking "hmm.. not so bad", but let's all keep in mind she is my only child, and also I tend to ride on the hypochodriac side... *sigh*. What to do??

We however have made some progress. She has begun to slowly creep and thrust in reverse.. It's actually pretty much adorable.. oh, and pretty much unproductive.

Part of the problem is that she is an amazing grabber. She has something very similar to a go-go gadget arm, and she is NOT afraid to use it. Pretty much she can usually grab anything out of reach, thus making crawling a moot point. Why bother??

Oh baby girl...

I love you.

Greta Update

I know this is really Kennan and Trevan's place to update, but they are kind of going through a lot right now, and I thought I should just give a small update.
............After about 10 hours into Kennan's induction (she was trying for a VBAC) they decided to take Greta via semi-emergency c-section. Baby wasn't dropping at all, Kennan was barely to 5cm dialted and really was not much more effaced than when she arrived. Also poor little Greta's heart rate was giving us all a bit of a scare. We are all SOOO glad they decided to do the section when they did. Greta came out with the cord wrapped around her neck twice, both arms, then again around her torso twice, and finally one final loop around her thigh. She would NEVER have been able to deliver vaginally. Greta also did not breath on her own for nearly 5 minutes, and really has not quite recoverd. She is currently in the stage 2 nursery on the lowest level of oxygen, and they are not sure when she will be off. Kennan and Trevan are the only ones who have held her at this point, and even then I think it was never more than about 5 minutes. So far they think she is going to be just fine, but are worried for good reason. They are almost positive she will stay on the IV and oxygen at least till Saturday, and then will take it from there.
Please pray for this darling little baby girl, Kennan, Trevan, and Jude.... This little family needs it at this point!

Greta Pamela Gregory

4/2/08

~congrats kennan & trevan~

i already love her so much!