Cloth diapering

    Recently, I was in line at Babys R Us and a young couple, obviously expecting a child, was checking out in front of me.  They had a tower of disposable diapers in their cart, and their total came to well over $300!  A small part of me wanted to scream at them, "you should look into cloth!  You could nearly diaper your child from birth to potty training with that much money!"  So that price is a small exageration, but it really does ring true!  You can diaper your baby from birth through potty training for a fraction of the cost of disposables!  If for no other reason, you should look into it!  Help me spread the word!  Everyone knows someone who has a baby!  For me, it has become a small obsession to shop for, research, and spread the good word about cloth diapering.  But I have to be honest, it wasn't always this way for me.  I used disposable diapers for Lilly and never batted an eye.  Even when battling rashes that were obviously caused by a particular brand of diaper, I never even considered cloth.  Why?  Because I was uninformed.  I am convinced if two things changed, everyone (or nearly everyone) would be using modern cloth diapers.  1)  Information.  If people were informed about the whats, why's and hows of cloth, everyone would choose cloth over disposable.  and  2) Accessibility.  A friend offered to let me borrow a few cloth diapers and try them out, which convinced me to get some of my own.  And for the most part, cloth is only purchasable online.  This makes it difficult to convince someone to try it because its hard to think of making an investment without trying it out in person first.
There are so many reasons why I love cloth, and I think at least one of each of those reasons can speak to every mom.  They are environmentally friendly, cost effective, better for baby and stinkin' adorable (pun intended)!  For me, cost was a huge plus.  I started cloth diapering Ryley at 14 months old and my diapers still paid for themselves in about 5 months time.  She still uses cloth at night, and occasionally during naps, so it has been a huge savings for us.  Now, I have a stash of cloth diapers ready to go for baby #3!  I won't lie, I will probably buy a few new diapers after we find out the sex of the baby, but I know I will be saving a ton in money and for mother earth.  I know lots of moms are skeptical about cloth, and I was too, but it has been one of the best choices and changes I have made as a parent.  I would LOVE to answer anyone's questions about switching to cloth, and remember, its not too late even if you don't have a small baby! 

   Here are some cool links to check out with more info about cloth.  This first link is a blog post about the cost savings of cloth diapering.

 http://serwachic.blogspot.com/2009/07/are-cloth-diapers-really-cheaper-than.html

This is a three part series put together by my friend Krista at The Playdate Crashers.  It REALLY breaks down some of the questions, concerns, costs, etc about cloth!  Krista was the "friend" I mentioned earlier in the post that let me borrow a few cloth diapers to give it a try!  I will always be thankful to her for that!

http://www.playdatecrashers.com/?tag=cloth-diapers

This blog is titled "Why I went cloth, and you can too!"  Very relatable!

http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2010/08/why-i-went-cloth-and-you-can-too.html

  Now for some pictures!  Here are some adorable shots of my Ryley bug in her prized diapers! 

(Raspberry Knickernappies pocket diaper)

(Blue Stars Kawaii pocket diaper)

And here are my baby nephews Jude to the left, Pax to the right.  Jude is modeling a gray gdiaper and Pax a brown Fuzzibunz pocket diaper.

Last but not least, my adored "stash" of diapers pretty-ing up my laundry line!

Introducing Jasmine!

Back in June, our family cat Frankie was killed by a neighbors car.  Our girls were devastated.  He was a stray cat that was so sweet and lovable! 

Lilly had been asking for a kitten for a while now, but our excuse had always been, "but we already have a cat!"  Well, now that excuse didn't hold water, and shortly after Frankie died, they started asking for a kitten.  A friend at work told us she knew someone that had kittens and was getting them all fixed, and it would be free to us!  An excellent situation!  We agreed and the girls even went out to her farm to visit and pick out a kitten.  Lilly debated back and forth the merits of naming it Ariel for a girl or Sebastian for a boy.  The kittens were still too small to come home with us, so we had to wait.  A few weeks later, my friend came to me upset.  The lady was not going to give her kittens away after all, she had decided just to keep them! :(  Lilly was devastated when I told her, she cried and cried about her long lost stripey kitten. 
Fast forward to one week ago today.  A knock on our door, a neighbor lady with a tiny stripey kitten in a carrier.  City workers found it in the sewer drain being worked on near our home.  She thought the kitten might be ours.  Lilly squealed!  "My stripey kittie!!" It wasn't ours before, but now she is!  Lilly changed her mind about the name and decided on Jasmine, and we have been calling her Jazzy!  I feel like I scold the girls constantly to put her down, Ryley especially!  But Jazzy is such a sweet smart girl, tolerant of all the handling, also she's really getting used to the dog and already filling out some!  She has been a great addition to the family!  Best part?  Since I am pregnant someone else (aka Carl) has to do the litter box cleaning!
Here our some pictures of our little addition Jasmine!
 

Lilly has her playing dress up already!

Curious about bathtime!  She hopped up there herself!

So cute!!

a fun filled MOPS weekend!

  MOPS.  Are you familiar?  And no, its not a handy (mostly unused in my house) cleaning utensil.  It stands for Mothers of Preschoolers.  It has become so close to my heart.  I joined MOPS at my sister in law's urging shortly after Lilly was born.  For me, it started as a morning off to get together with other moms, eat breakfast and chit chat.  However, the more I attended MOPS meetings, the more I loved it!  What a need MOPS filled in my life.  It's so isolating sometimes to have a small child and to stay at home with it all day--and for me, especially worse because it was winter time.  I recall mourning on days when MOPS was cancelled because of inclement weather!  Slowly, I took small leadership roles in my group.  Slowly, I gleaned more and more growth from the experience, both as a mother, a women and as a Christian.  Its a Christian based organization, but our group strives to make all moms feel welcome, regardless of their beliefs or affiliations.    Eventually, I accepted the role as coordinator of the group, and now with a great team of ladies behind me, we plan and prepare our monthly meetings.  From the outside it may seem like we are just a sort of moms group who get together and hang out once a month.  But we are so much more and I am proud of that!
   This past weekend reiterated to me how big and powerful MOPS can be.  It is an International organization, with more than 4000+ groups worldwide, effecting 14.3 million moms in over 30 countries (and those are 2009 statistics)!  Last night, I returned home from a fast-paced, fun-filled weekend of fellowship at the MOPS Int. Convention in Nashville, TN.  We stayed at the Opryland Hotel and spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday at workshops, concerts, hearing speakers and worshipping the Lord.  I grew up in the Catholic Church where loud "amens" never happened.  I now attend a fairly small church and let me tell you, there is NOTHING like worshipping with 3,000 women to live Christian music!  Its a totally new experience for me and there is nothing like it!  I made new friends and cemented existing friendships.  I laughed like I haven't laughed in sometime.  We all SLEPT IN one morning-it was 9:30 am CST (which is 10:30 am my time!!)  We walked like crazy, learned so much my brain was overflowing, and was recharged spiritually to the brim!!
  MOPS may not be as earth-shattering for you as it is for me.  However, what mom can't benefit from the friendship of other moms?  I guarantee you, there is a MOPS group near you!  You can check out http://www.mops.org/ and search for a group near you!  And don't think if you are a working mom, or don't have preschoolers anymore that you are left out!  There are now groups for mothers of school-aged kids called MOMSnext and are geared specifically towards those needs.  There are also groups that meet at night, during the day, and on the weekend.  There is a group for you! 
  This years MOPS theme verse is "God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold, loving and sensible." 2 Timothy 1:7  All the discussion this weekend revolving around this theme verse reminds me that everyone has different gifts and talents, but they all deserve to be cultivated, cherished and shared!  So I encourage everyone to get out there, find yourself a MOPS group and get to sharing already!!

And baby makes five!

  There is nothing quite like seeing your wiggly little baby on a big T.V. screen.  It really helps make it more real for me.  I know I am pregnant, we are making plans and getting prepared but I can't say it has really felt real yet.  Seeing a moving living heart beating thing that you and your partner created, that is a powerful thing.  The baby measured right on schedule and my due date is officially March 6, 2012.  Since I have had two previous c-sections, Dr. Saxena insists I schedule a c-section this time.  I trust her and I am going to go with this plan, but I can honestly say I am a little disappointed.  I really wanted, at least one time, a different birth experience.  I hoped and prayed for a VBAC with Ryley but she stubbornly decided to be breech at the last minute (after 12 hours of labor thank you!).  I guess its just not in the cards for me, and after seeing a good friend go through a torturous delivery with uterine rupture, I am just going to have to be okay with scheduled c-section.  The one nice thing may be getting to pick the baby's birthday.  Both the girls were born at 38 weeks, so we may not make it to 39.  BUT if we do, 39 weeks puts me on or around Leap Year Day Feb. 29.  Not sure how I feel about that.  Could be weird, could be cool, any thoughts?  Also, since Ryley is already a February baby, I've thought about waiting till March 1st so they'd have different birth months.  There's still plenty of time for all that, I was just so glad to see our little gummy bear looking baby on the screen!

Out of Order

  Recently I was reading on my friend Krista's blog http://www.playdatecrashers.com/  a little debate among moms.  When is your child old enough to use a public restroom by his/herself?  There was also talk about genders and age-appropriateness, but we can talk about that at a later date.  My question is, when DO you know if your kiddo is old enough?  Obviously all kids are different, and each situation unique.  I am also convinced I have seen the inside of every.single.public.restroom in Frankfort, and lots more on our well traveled routes.  This is surely an integral part of successful potty training, and Ryley has done tremendously well.  Part of that success is Mommy's willingness to stop whatever whenever and take her to the restroom.   Two year olds cannot hold it for long. 

  It is inevitable, when at a restaurant, without another adult, when our butts hit the seat, one kid will say, "I needa go potty!"  Usually it is Ryley.  Tonight, it was Lilly.  In a place like Walmart with huge bathrooms and lots of people, I would never consider letting her go alone.  In Taco Bell, with no other patrons, in a two stall bathroom, I thought I would let her give it a shot.  So I waited patiently at our table with a direct line of site to the bathroom door.  A few minutes ticked by.  A lady went into the bathroom.  The same lady came out of the bathroom.  I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to check on her.  I opened the bathroom door just in time to see Lilly come strolling out of a stall with a huge sign on it marked OUT OF ORDER.  Headslap!!!!  Seriously?!  She can "read" enough to know men's from women's and is recognizing all her letters and sounds but obviously could not read the sign!! So, lesson learned.  If your child is not old enough to read potential "out of order" signs, she is probably not old enough to go to a public restroom alone.

Homesick

  My in-laws live about two hours away from us.  Carl is an only child, so our kids will be my in-laws only grand kids.  I come from a family of four kids, and my parents have already been blessed with four grand babies, and another on the way.  Two of their kids are still waiting to be married and start their families and add big numbers to our already big and blessed family.  I struggle to remember that though all grandchildren are cherished, but to my in-laws, my gals are IT!  Literally and figuratively.  Sometimes its a struggle when I feel the seemingly constant need I feel to say no to something that a child asks of a grandparent.  My in-laws are wonderful special people and have always (and I am sure will continue to) honor our wishes as parents.  They aren't the go-behind-the-back types in any way.  But I sometimes find myself giving in to an otherwise definite no situation. 
  That being said, this past weekend we spent some time at their house attending a wedding of Carl's high school pal.  As the weekend was coming to a close, Lilly insisted that she should spend, "five days at Grandpa's house."  A family friend, 11 years old, was staying too, and she would have someone to play with all week long.  Grandpa is home during the day, so there is really no reason to say no here.  I knew Grandpa and Grandma would love some special one-on-one Lilly time.  Aside from my insides screaming,  "but she's just a baby!!  My baby!  I am not ready and she is not ready and I don't want her to stay.  But I am going to let her and I am not going to like it!"  We drive away with only Ryley in the backseat, Lilly waving at me from the porch as we drive away.  I cried all the way to the interstate and was teary half way home.  Even Carl was teary, it just didn't feel right without her with us. 
  Fast forward to today, Tuesday (less than two days later).  A teary Lilly on the phone saying, "I miss you mommy I wanna come home!".  We were going to meet halfway on Friday and pick her up, but instead the exchanged happened today instead.  Mostly, I am relieved my little girl is home, back where things feel right.  I should be disappointed she didn't make it all week long like a big girl, but secretly (or not so secretly, now) I am glad she couldn't do it.  I am glad my baby missed me.  Its a nice reminder that I still mean something to her, she still needs me.  These moments feel so fleeting, it feels like she needs me less and less every day.  Maybe that's why its an appealing thought to keep having babies, so I will always feel needed.....

Bedtime!

Ahhh bedtime.  My favorite time of the day!  Don't get me wrong, I love my girls so much.  If I didn't I wouldn't have had them, and wouldn't choose to be a (mostly) SAHM.  I can't venture to say if all moms feel this way, but I imagine most do.  I love the way they smell fresh and clean from a bath.  I love their attentive little faces as we read a book (or two, or five, like tonight).  I love their sleepy little eyes and the way they have the same requests every night.  Rock me this way.  Sing this song to me.  Butterfly kisses.  Scratch my back.  Drink of water?  Some days this routine feels so monotonous I could scream.  However, when I hold them or rub their hair before they fall asleep, its a reminder of how fleeting this time is.  This sounds so cliche, but I feel like it was only yesterday that we were bringing Lilly home from the hospital.  So I know it will be another blink of the eye and she'll think she won't need me anymore and will be embarrassed by me.  They'll both be ganging up on me and saying stuff like, "but MOM, its not fair!"  "Why can't I stay out past curfew?!" 
So for now at least, the house is all quiet, signaling the end of another day.  Sigh....