The Adventures of the Newman Clan

Better late than never…..

2011-12-27T21:10:00.001-08:00

Leo and I snuck away for the weekend during the Halloween season at Disneyland… Leo had never been there and I have always wanted to go during my favorite Holiday: Halloween!!

We went with out kids… we missed them and they wore their grandparents out but we sure had a BLAST while we were there…. Fun to be “kids” again! It was a much needed break as well.. I needed it badly…. so did my PPD!

In the above picture I was getting “a talking too” for using a”naughty” word… Whoops I forgot that was in the land of happiness!

We had a whirlwind blast and can’t wait to take the kiddos there in a few years…. I think that we will look into a Disney Cruise first…

My Little Elf…..

2011-12-20T22:09:00.001-08:00

Calvin is getting bigger and bigger by the day (if not quicker!) But lately he has been battling the Respiratory crud.. It has been one of the hardest things I have had to do: giving him Nebulizer treatments for his wheezing… Poor little dude screams (which is good for it opens up his lungs more!) thru the entire treatment (which seems like FOREVER!). He is normally a very happy, curious, eager to anything that his bigge sister does, smiling, talking little dude…… I want that little man back!!!

A New Arrival..

2011-04-26T16:38:00.001-07:00

If you look at this blog, you would think that the new arrival was either a new toy or pet… but nope it’s a BABY BOY…Funny thing with pregnancy, I didn’t want to shout it from the rooftops that I was pregnant, now I don’t know if that is due to my own neuroses or not. We made it 37 weeks and 5 days together before he make his unexpected early arrival! It was a rough pregnancy, but I wouldn’t of changed it for the world. At what other time can you get bi-monthly, then weekly massages, feel sick for months on end, have this wonderful thing dancing on your bladder at all hours, blood pressure medications that make your feel “wonderful” NOT, and not to mention that I saw my OB-GYN and the wonderful gals at the hospital more than I saw my own family! And go figure now that I am not pregnant, I miss all that stuff! CRAZY!!

But anyways on the introductions: Calvin and he was born on March 22nd at 1526. But what can you say after you see this darling little boy and his handsome face! It was all worth it… Even the horrific c-section, no one was ever in any danger, it just didn’t go as smoothly as it was suppose too. And after the 1st section with Jillian I was SO looking forward to a smooth one. Ahh, but in true Laura fashion, it was a struggle from the beginning… Some day I will put down on paper the details… (like I will ever forget them NOT!!) But at least Calvin will have on paper “look what mommy went thru for me!)

Calvin is a wonderful little man, little bit more work in the feeding habits (multiple different formulas and a lot of “is this one better than the one before?”) and sleeping has been a struggle (again multiple different ways and devices), he is sleeping in his car seat in the pack-n-play right now in our room. It is driving me crazy due to the fact that he is one of the nosiest babies I have ever seen. And not to mention that normal newborns have irregular breathing patterns and what better way to drive a ER Nurse nuts is: irregular breathing patterns and for that matter anything that is irregular, oh and add sleep deprived on top of that and it’s bound to drive me to drink… Oh wait I can’t do that due to the anti-depressants I (as well as my husband) are happily on.. (Oh and for the record, I am the only one taking the drugs!)

But who could resist this little man, we all will adjust in a few weeks, that is what I keep telling myself!

Never a dull moment…

2011-04-19T17:14:00.001-07:00

Well I haven’t been on here in a LONG time… so much for my New Years Resolution! But I guess that today is just as good as any day to start!

Things have been crazy and it will take me a LONG time to catch up but I will… But in true Laura fashion, I broke my foot today!! Can you believe it… It was Leo’s first day back to work after paternity leave and I had to call him at noon to come home and take me to the ER…. How it happened with a freak thing, Jilly was pitching a fit and I was trying to the gate on the stairs and I turned funny and “pop” went my left foot. And sure enough I have a 5th Metatarsal fracture (or better called a Dancer’s fracture) Yippee for me….. So now it’s a cast boot and crutches for at least a few weeks… Oh could we… NOT! I am still wondering how I am going to do everything on crutches, let along chase a 2.5 year old around and juggle a 4 week old…. Well now that I am done venting, I am going to go put my foot up, ice it and hope that the pain meds kick in soon!

Jump Planet!

2010-12-21T05:49:00.001-08:00

Today was the first day of Christmas Break for my little family… so I thought that it would be fun to do something together, the weather wasn’t nice AT all.. So I figured that I would introduce Leo to Jump Planet, especially since I can’t “jump” right now!

Needless to say, Jillian was thrilled to have Daddy there to play with! They had a blast and both were beat when the time was up!

Frosting cookies with the family!

2010-12-21T05:40:00.001-08:00

I made some sugar cookies this Holiday season and wanted the family to help me decorate them!

Jillian didn’t know what to think at first… she was just having more fun dipping the fork into the frosting and then licking it! Getting that girl to not double dip took a few forks!

Even Daddy got in on the action!

And here I am laughing… for Leo got a picture of me (at my best, in my pj’s for they are the only thing that is comfortable right now!) and for the fact that Jilly wouldn’t stop saying “Cheese”!

A Christmas Want…

2010-11-30T22:14:00.001-08:00

So I have wanted to go to

for several years and then today I was at Bellevue Square for lunch with two girlfriends and I saw the actual lane all decorated. It made me want to go even more…. and it made me think back to last year this time and I was here:

Disneyland during Christmas! What more could a girl who is on love with this season and Disney ask for!

Thanksgiving…

2010-11-30T22:02:00.001-08:00

Well it came and went like a flash of lightning… I had 9 people over from Leo’s side, my best friend as well. It was alot of work but rewarding to do… Sadly I didn't one picture of the day at all. For some reason these past few months I have been struggling to remember to take pictures of anything, much less Jillian… and I use to be SO good at it. Guess that it something I will have to work on now.

2 year pictures (a little late!)

2010-11-17T21:18:00.001-08:00

So… I finally got Jillian’s 2 year pictures done. After her 18 month pictures I was scared to do them, so I hoped that if I gave her a few more months that it wouldn’t go so badly, oh and I brought Grandmema along, who then brings Jellybeans. And her and those beans translates to getting her to do just about anything!

Great Pumpkins 2010!

2010-10-30T22:43:00.001-07:00

This year we only carved 3 pumpkins, usually we do more… but all in all we had fun… My husband is creative with his (as usual!) and did his all free hand, just looking at the picture was good enough! I carved a homegrown pumpkin right out of my garden, this year it was a yellow pumpkin (I swear that the tag at Flower world said that it was a pumpkin!) that never turned green much less orange. It was really easy to carve and smelled like a cucumber to boot! Who knows maybe next year I will actually grow an orange pumpkin!

Jillian…. helping wash the dishes while we carve! So cute!!! Jillian’s Pumpkin, carved by Auntie H! Leo’s Pumpkin… Jack Skellington!

My pumpkin……. simple Jack o’latern!

So now we wait for Halloween and hopefully a few trick-or-treaters……

What makes a girls day??

2010-10-28T22:29:00.001-07:00

I got SO excited this morning when I found out that Mariah Carey has a new Christmas CD out…

That made my entire day and it was a long one at that!

So between her new CD and Lady Antebellum’s Christmas CD I am a happy little clam! Now all I a need is to start decorating!!! Silly me!!!

A girl and her figurines…

2010-10-28T22:19:00.001-07:00

Jillian has taken an interest in figurines lately. She has learned and played with “E” (a little girl across the street). She now has her own stash of them and loves to play with them at our island in the kitchen while sitting on a stool, she sure thinks that she is a “big girl” now! It still amazes me at how fast she is growing up! At least this playing keeps her busy for quite a while and it is so cute to listen to her talk to them and interact with them!

Pumpkin Farm Trip

2010-10-28T14:13:00.001-07:00

This year we decided that we would try a new farm and we went to The Farm! Jillian had a blast and we were blessed that my sister Sarah (who is a wonderful photographer) came along and took some wonderful pictures… My sisters blog is:

http://sarahpotter-photography.blogspot.com/2010/10/search-for-great-pumpkin.html

After that plug for my sister! Jillian was excited to get to pick an apple off the tree and just eat it.. she carried one around almost the entire time! She like the goats as well.. she spent a lot of time trying to feed them… All in all it was a successful trip to the Pumpkin farm and Leo has his work cut out for him to carve the gigantic pumpkin he picked!

Grandpa’s Cake!

2010-10-13T20:46:00.001-07:00

It was my dad’s birthday this past week (amazing that I am actually blogging about the current month.. Thanks Michelle for the bugging!!). So I decided that Jillian would help me with it. She was excited to do that and I was worried that it might be disastrous!

But in the end it all worked out and there wasn’t too much clean up and she had a blast! And it was a good chocolate cake with raspberry filling!

Helping…

2010-10-13T20:36:00.001-07:00

Jillian is all about “help” these days, she wants to help me all the time. It started one day when she said “help” and I said Yes… she was all giddy and started running to the kitchen. We got out a stool and she started “helping” me with the dishes from making Cinnamon Rolls. And did she love it, she was drenched, and “used” a few too many towels, but all I had to do was rinse the clean dishes and it kept her busy for 45 minutes!

Here she is helping me roll out the Cinnamon Roll dough.. she had a blast rolling her piece with her pin! Can’t wait for Halloween Cookies.. I have a feeling that they might be heavy on the decorations!

A girl and paint!

2010-10-12T13:44:00.001-07:00

Jillian is all about painting right now… whether it’s at home, school or the neighbors house, she is into it!

She started out using water colors using a paint brush, I turn around and she is finger painting…. that turned into face painting…… she was so proud of herself… Who could be made at that face! Not to mention she was practicing her black nose, that is needed for her Halloween costume!

First Day of Preschool!

2010-10-12T13:28:00.001-07:00

Jillian started Preschool in the middle of September and boy oh boy it has been an adventure! I was lucky enough to find a Co-Op that takes those that aren’t potty trained yet (we aren’t anywhere near that adventure yet!) and I get to work in the classroom once a month or so! Off to our first day we went!

Jillian was excited to go and play, but then the tears began when Mommy said Goodbye… Thank goodness for Teacher G. She is amazing…. each week it has gotten worse…. one week she tried to put herself back in her carseat…. Poor girl! But once I leave she does calm down and is able to enjoy herself! I have learned that this girl LOVES to paint… now all of our walls are covered in her art work!

Tick tock… time gets away…

2010-10-07T15:20:00.001-07:00

Well I was going to be SO good at this blog over the summer and I have dropped the ball! Amazing how time flies right by you!

Jillian turned 2 over the summer, we had a large party and she had a blast and was spoiled!

Jillian and her buds at her party, we have been getting pictures on this chair since Jillian was 3 months and the E’s were 6 months!

August brought are annual trip to the Oregon Coast with Grandmema, Grandpa and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Danny. She had a blast, we had a lot of fun playing! She didn't know what to do with the sand exactly! We were lucky enough to have pool in our house this year, she enjoyed the water!!

A girl and her bucket!

2010-06-23T14:58:00.001-07:00

Jillian found this bucket in her toy box that has been there forever and decided that it was best used on her head! It was so cute, some of the faces that she made! Amazing what keeps a little one busy!

Forest Park!

2010-06-22T15:29:00.001-07:00

So today I decided that we would go the Forest Park in Mukilteo today, it was the first nice day in a few weeks… So we took advantage of it and took our buds (neighbors) along too! Jillian ran around the house all morning saying “nimals”, which sounds like a cross of Elmo and animals… it was soo cute!

So off we went, Jillian was sooo excited, when she got out of the car, she saw Horse and said horsey!

Then we were off the park! Jillian and her buddies had fun, climbing and swinging…..

and then she found the Spray Park, the one place that I was trying to keep her from, because we didn’t the swim gear (we didn’t trust the weather, but the weather prove us wrong!) She so cute trying to climb over the concrete wall and then watching her trying to “blow out” the water “bubbles” as she called them!

5 years….. Where did the time go??

2010-06-22T15:04:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, Leo and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary… I can’t believe that 5 years have flown by!

So this year I wanted to do something special, since we don’t get away a lot with Jillian. I surprised Leo with a night at Willows Lodge in Woodinville (in wine country!) It was a lovely resort and we had a lovely escape away! Here’s to another wonderful 5 years!

This was in our room waiting for us.. A yummy Fondue Pot!

Parks, Parks, Parks and more Parks….

2010-06-22T14:40:00.001-07:00

I have tried this summer (what there has been of it) to take Jillian to park. I didn't realize there were so many our local area!

Highlands Park (in Mill Creek) was the first stop, couldn’t believe that this one was in the middle of residential Mill Creek, we got there I was afraid that this was a community only park, but it wasn’t!

Love these pictures of Ms. Personality!

Deep in conversation with Daddy!

Next stop was North Rose Hill Woodlands Park (in Kirkland), Leo had drive by this one on his way home several times, so he wanted to check it out! So we did, there was only one real downfall it it. There is no parking lot, you have to find parking on the street. So it was a little walk, but once we got there it was GREAT! I really liked the fact that there was only one way in and out of the play area! And it was a wood structure and it was the great “fake” wood on top, so it meant NO splinters!

Growing Up!

2010-06-08T14:43:00.001-07:00

Jillian is growing up so quickly, and her hair is an example of that. Grandmema was over one evening and she wanted to try and French Braid her hair. I was thinking that there was no way that she was going to be able to do it… Boy oh boy was I wrong…….

So cute!

Long, long, long time...

2010-06-02T21:55:00.001-07:00

Well, it's almost been one year since my last post.... Where did the time go? Hmm.. Let's see...

Jillian turned a year old in July and it went way TOO fast!!

We had a great party and it was princess themed….

In August, we went to the Ocean, Lincoln City, Oregon where I have been going for the past 24 plus years with my family. Jillian had a blast playing in the sand.. it was in every orifice!

She also had fun playing with her cousins!

I just love her so!!!

Labor Day was the next stop!! We went to Tiger Lake for some camping and playing in the water…. But the weather didn’t cooperate with us at all! I was able to get in the water, but no Jilly.. which was a bummer, but we made the best of it…

Hanging with Grandmema and Grandpa at the lake…

October brought my favorite Holiday Halloween!!! I went overboard with the decorations and Jillian’s outfits…

The Pumpkin Patch….We have been going to Stocker Farms in Snohomish! Jillian had fun this year riding in the wagon and trying to pick up pumpkins….

For actual Halloween, Jillian was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz… Grandmema made the costume and Auntie Holly supplied Toto and the Basket…

Jillian in the black light room at Halloween Party we went too!

Thanksgiving 2009 It was my first Thanksgiving that I had at my house for Leo’s side of the family! It was alot of work, but fun….. And this is what was left of the Turkey… guess that it was good! Christmas…..

It’s a great season, that I love the most. I get extremely excited when WARM 106.9 (a radio station here) flips to Continuous Christmas music and then it all goes from there… I have 17 boxes of Christmas stuff to place in our house.

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the outside can be seem from miles away..

Leo’s LED Tree….

and Jillian had an outfit a day for 20 days and Christmas PJ’s too!

wearing Auntie Holly’s sweatshirt!

Jillian had fun helping Daddy set up the Christmas Tree…

Mommy’s Trip~!~

I got to get away with my best friend to Disneyland to celebrate her 30th birthday...

What more could a girl that loves the Christmas season and Disney ever want? (besides tattoos of her favorite characters, I have those) The two put together, it was a blast!! We girls had alot of fun…. We were like little kids again. We did almost all the rides and saw some of my favorite characters! We even stayed at the Pier Hotels (which is a Disney property)What a weekend to remember, we returned very sore and tired.

Christmas

We had alot of fun this Christmas Season….. Jillian was starting to really like to open presents. She got lots and lots of good stuff. Her favorites came from her Grandma’s. Grandma Pam got her a rocking horse, that she spends lots of time rocking on. Grandmema and Grandpa got her a cell phone that she plays with all the time!! It was a great few days to spend with family and friends that we love!

Amazing!

2009-06-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

Jillian sat at her "make shift" toy box and took every single toy out one morning.. she sure thought that she was funny after she did that... Not to mention that she was "burried" in toys! Curious little bugger! But I love her dearly!

It's amazing to see how fast tme flies... Here I thought that I would use this blog "lots" to communicate how Jillian is doing or what she had done that day! Ha.... I can barely get on here every three months to post! Now that she is almost a YEAR old and she is changing more and more every day, it is my goal to post more, not going to give an "amount" for that is setting myself up for failure and gosh knows I don't need any more of that in my life.

Jillian is 11 months old now and active dosen't even begin to cover it. She started crawling on May 3rd-ish and hasn't stopped! She would love to be already walking (I don't know if we are ready for that!) She says "momma, momma" frequently many times a hour and this week just started saying "Hi Kitty" to our cats and anything that has four legs and is about the same height as our cats! She is finally getting her top two front teeth, which will bring the current count to 4 (poor thing!). She loves to eat with a fork and feed herself, not too happy when she can't do it herself.

I cherish the times that she passes out while having her bedtime bottle, so that I can rock with her and listen to her sleep (those were and are still one of my favorite times with her!) I am ever so grateful that she is in our lives and I am looking forward to each day that she grows and I am still in shock that she will be a year old next month, seems like it was yesterday that I was pregnant, fat and sassy (swollen and miserable) but eagerly awaiting her arrival!

Easter Bunny!

2009-04-11T04:08:00.001-07:00

~Easter Bunny 2009~

Jillian went to see the Bunny this week and actually enjoyed it, she was laughing and smiling the entire time. I was so happy, I truly hope that she isn't afraid of the Bunny and Santa, for I find it a fun tradition. But if she is anything like her mom, she won't be afraid to talk with anyone and anything.

I can't believe that it's Easter already, it seems like yesterday was Christmas and we were knee deep in snow and to top it all off, Jillian is 9 months already.... Boy oh Boy am I having alot of fun, despite the sleep deprivation from working at night and not getting any sleep during the day, I wouldn't change it for the world (well except maybe to not work at all, but then who would support my fabric and scrapping habits!)

New Years....

2009-01-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

Look mommy what I got!!! (while Mommy was trying to get food ready for New Years!)

Yummy..... there are good... why do you want to take them away from me???

We keep New Years low key this year... Truthfully the thought of being hung over the next morning is enough to steer me AWAY from any consumption of cocktails AT all! So we had Auntie H over, ate, played card games, watched Jillian fall asleep in her Bumbo while we were playing those card games, then we played Scene It and got ours behinds kicked my darling husband.....The really funny thing is that we have two cats... you wouldn't know it, but we do. Gunther runs from Leo, so when there are others in the house, we don't see him or Suzie... but Auntie H brought over Frankie the pug (he is cute as cute can be!) whom is one of the best dogs I have seen when they are in other peoples houses... So I was thinking that this was going to be a disaster... but would you believe it that Suzie and Gunther were out the whole time, checking Frankie out, sniffing and there were NO claws thrown, hissing wasn't heard or growling... on either end... It was so odd... Gotta love cats...

Welcome 2009... should be an interesting year, can't wait to see what it brings.....

Jillian's 1st Christmas....

2009-01-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

Grandmema and Mommy playing with Jillian!

Daddy and Jillian getting ready to open presents!

Yummy Paper!!

Christmas was an adventure for our family (as sure it was for many of those that live in the Seattle area!) I was really excitied to wake up to it snowing on Christmas Day (but then I was so over it!.)

Jillian didn't know what to think of all the presents that she got (and was very thankful for) she finally at Great Grandmema's house starting eating the wrapping paper! I think that it will be alot more fun next year and then the years to come!

All in all, we were very fortunate to spend time with family and friends, eat good food (too much), have some laughs and get some good pictures so that Mommy can scrappbook them (someday!)

Brrr......

2008-12-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

Well the snow finally hit our area on Wednesday late afternoon and I was excited to get Jillian out in it.. It happened... Thursday afternoon with both of us at home (Leo works in Bellevue and it wasn't pretty there either, so he stayed home!) We bundled her all up, we got into our "makeshift" snow suits and went out.. She wasn't amused at all... I kept hearing "I can't put my arms dowm Mommy" over and over in my head... She was a good sport for being tired (started drifting off to sleep while we were getting her into the suit) and hungry too! I will have alot more fun when she gets older for I like to play in the snow!!

Time Flies...

2008-11-22T23:44:00.000-08:00

Well I have been slacking a little on my blog... Time seems to be the one thing that there is never a enough of... I have gone to bed many nights, wishing for "just one more hour" so I can do one more thing....

Jillian is almost 5 months old.... We went in her check up last week, she got a clean bill of health and took shots like a champ... She just sputtered out one little peep and that was all... Grandma was glowing with love while the doctor (whom I love) was telling us how well she is doing. Grandma (my mom) is completely and utterly in love with her (but then who couldn't be!)

Jillian weighed in at 14lbs 3 oz
She is 26 and 1/2 inches tall... she has grown 5 inches in a little over 2 months.... Sheesh... looking more like her dad every day!!

She is rolling over (still hasn't figured out how to get back) and holding her head up and eating Rice Cereal like a champ!! Who would of thought that things would go so quickly!!

just thought that I would give a little update! As we move into the Holiday Season, my goal is to NOT stress out over the little things and enjoy the Season with those that I love!!

P.S.: I just love this picture of her (it was taken on Halloween!) but the facial expression that she gave me was priceless! It says to me: Huh... you want to do what mom???

Pumpkin Patch 08

2008-10-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Newman Clan went off to the Pumpkin Patch this past weekend at the persistant nagging of mommy! I have some scrapping ideas that require some pumpkin type pictures! It was a beautiful day to be out and about. We went up to Stocker Farms off of Highway 9 in Snohomish. There were lots of people and not too many pumpkins to choose from, but we were able to find the perfect little pumpkin for our darling little daughter. Who by the way was happy as a clam in the baby bjorn (love it!) looking out at all the different sites and sounds.... She was "pooped" by tthe time that we got back to the car, that she was asleep by the time that we hit the highway!

We then went onto Central Market in Mill Creek and proceced to get 3 large and perfect carving pumpkins for 12 bucks..... 4 bucks a pumpkin.....any size!! That is a nice deal if you like the big pumpkins like we do! Now we just have to cleam them all out and pick out designs to carve into them!

3 months...

2008-10-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

How can it be 3 months already??? Time flies.. when you are having fun, being sleep deprived and learning as you go along... I wouldn't change any of it and I was reminded of this as I was walking with my "sister" (surrogate) into the Maternity ward this week.. Talk about flashbacks... just listening to his heartbeat on the monitor and waiting (with her) for "that next BIG" contraction spike and see what number it was.... sure did bring back memories... as I look back they are all good ones too. Even though I didnt think that at the time! There is a part of me that is ready to do it all over again ( I think that I need to make sure that I am taking my medications correctly!!!) I love her more and more each day and I am so greatful that she is here!!

Work....

2008-09-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

Well it is official... I went back to work today :( It was hard to leave this morning, especially since she was crying, but Daddy was there to save the day. It kinda feels odd to be the one doing all the "saving/solving" of her worries... I made it 8 hours at and so did Dad at home! I enjoyed being back in the "rat race" I had forgotten how much I truly enjoy my job (which for some people think I am completely crazy for!!) It ws even nicer to come home!!! There will be many more days that I will be working, but thankfully it is on my own schedule and not a REGULAR rotation that I have to follow~!~

To work or not???

2008-09-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

I have been completely stressed out about the work/daycare situation. It bugs the crap out of me that where I work (a hospital), the daycare is only open until 6pm... and I work until 7pm. To me that dosent seem too friendly... One would think that they would get alot of business if they were to work with those that work Day 12's (which are 7a to 7pm). Not to mention I didn't think that it was going to "bother" me to go to work, I had assumed that I didn't nor could I stay home with her! Boy oh boy was I wrong... I was already thinking that I couldn't go back to work full time 4 hours after she was born! So I am happy to say that I will be working Per Diem (which is filling in open, sick and vacation shifts..) It will be a change for all of us, Daddy is going to have to watch her more on the weekends and I am going to be working them more, but the pay off is that I am home with her the majority of the time, no daycare fees and I don;t have to work if I don't want to on the Holidays (which are very important to me!)

How do I start???

2008-09-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

How do I start is what I had to ask myself as I sat down to write this post.. Mind you it only took me a week to get thing up and going... Boy oh boy is that a change from how things use to be. Before July 9th, 2008 at 1332, it didnt matter when I went to bed (now i damn near fly into bed the minute she falls asleep at night) it didnt matter when and what I cooked for dinner (we would just go out, now I think "can we afford that?, wouldn't it be cheaper to eat in??) Getting the wash done was a one day deal max (now I am lucky if it is done in 3!) But it is ALL worth it in the end, when you are holding her and she smiles at you!! It just melts my heart...... Makes it all better and I would NOT change it for the world, but it is AMAZING how much they do change your life and QUICKLY!