Cloth Diapers

Being the green junkie that I am, I'm in love with my cloth diapers.  In fact, Phil and I were both wanting to cloth diaper right from the start, but living in an apartment with coin op washing facilities, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to use cloth.  Plus the start up costs were too much for our college lined pockets.  


But time went on, and we moved into a rental house and we had our on washer and dryer.  And then Abi had the same problem that I did as a baby, she turned allergic to disposable.  The doctor told us that we could either keep trying different brands or switch to cloth.  That was a no brainer for us.  I had found some cute girl cloth dipes that had bugs or hearts on them.  Then we used them until she potty trained.  And then Lizzi wore them, and wore them and wore them.  Until she fiiiiinally potty trained.


Once again we expanded our family, and I decided that after three children (bought the first ones gently used off of ebay), that it was time to buy new dipes.  So I hunted and searched, until I found just what I wanted.  Bought 30 of them and haven't looked back since.  I love that my diapers are all in one, with snaps (velcro is waaay too easy for a toddler to undo and get nakie on their terms!), colorful, and cheap.  My friends think that I need more for my 'stash' and that I should try 'other brands' to see what I'm missing.  I say, why mess with a good thing!?

While at mom and dad's last month, I needed to wash the diapers.  One of the many things that mom and I have in common is we enjoy hanging laundry out to dry.  And while those dipes were sunning their stains away and entertaining my Phil, he snapped some photos that I would like to share.

And being the fun loving nut-head that I am, I am making sure that Wesley's shirts match his diapers each day :)

Time Marching On

I was really hoping to do this post before heading out to Colorado, but I wasn't able to squeeze it in.  However, it seems even more appropriate now to me.

Over seventeen years ago, my parents expanded their family.  I went from the oldest of three to the oldest of four, and then five a few years again.  My mom was in the hospital as I turned 11 that year, and I was pretty excited about the prospect of getting a baby for my present.  But much to my dismay, she was sent home with false labor.  Six days later though my brother Taylor was born.

I remember that when we got the call at Grandma and Grandpa's house grandpa held up two fingers,  we started screetching about twins and jumping up and down, but grandma quickly said no that he meant 22 inches.  And when mom and dad got home from the hospital I made sure to run and beat my sibs to be the first to see Taylor.  As you can tell by the photo, I was a chunky kid, so it wasn't easy beating them, but I did, and was so proud to get to see him first.

I was a very proud big sister, still am, and there were so many moments that were precious to me.  Probably one of my favorites was getting to take Taylor to kindergarten.  We got on the bus together, and I walked him to his classroom, and then I walked down the hall to start my senior year of high school.

So with many years of sibling love, I was busting with pride to watch him cross the stage and claim his high school diploma.  And once again, I lined myself up to be first in line.  I nabbed the first hug from that graduate.

And now my 'little' brother (6'3 I believe!) is here in Nebraska, working at the same camp our other siblings have worked at, and will go to UNK in the fall, just like the rest of us.  I love that he gave me another reason to go to Kearney.  And it's one that Phil will be much more accommodating considering the gas prices and all!

Love you bro and I'm so proud of you!

Summer is Finally Here!

Ahh, I made it!  The last few weeks of school where exhausting, time consuming, and SLOW.  We had been crawling to summer, and now it is here.  And in the short time that summer has been here, we've accomplished quite a bit.

1. Made a trip to Colorado.  Got to watch my 'little' brother graduate high school, and then see him move out of the house.  I cried.  Not really sure why since he's less than an hour away still instead of eight.  I suppose it has something to do with the fact that I remember him as a baby, and now he's a man.  Crazy how that happened!

2. Baked and succeeded at the Lego cake for Wesley's first birthday!

3. Learned after making and frosting four cakes in a 24hr pd, that as much as I enjoy baking, I have no desire to do it professionally.  So when I grow up I will not be opening a bakery of my own as I previously dreamed.

4. Sent my baby girl to our church's day camp.  I didn't realize how grown up Lizzi was getting until I took her to day camp.  I saw other kids crying about not wanting to go, and yesterday she tells me that 'you don't have to come in Mama, I know where my class is'.  Yes Lizzi, yes you do know where your class is but this Mama still needs to see you off to your new adventure!

5. Weeded and mulched my garden.  Of course you might laugh when you see just how small my garden is this year.  But I haven't had a garden in two years, so I told myself to have baby steps with successes along the way.  So I'm starting small, and am hoping to get bigger each year.

6. Got a blister doing manual labor.  The previous owners had this nice rock garden by the front door.  It grows all sorts of strange looking weeds.  I know I said rock garden, but the weeds apparently think it's their new sunspot.  I have different ideas.  So I started to hoe out the rocks.  Grabbed Phil when I saw how deep I was getting and not hitting bottom.  He got the bottom for me, and we started to move the rocks, and now I have a blister.  But I think that I am going to wear this blister with pride, because I was getting down and dirty with my summertime, and I liked it.

7.  Challenged Abi to read 100 books by the end of the summer.  Um yeah, she took me very seriously.  She's read over 60 books already!

8.  Told my son that he was still my baby.  I guess Wesley didn't like that so much.  In the few days since I've said that, he's started walking everywhere, tried to eat his supper with a spoon, is attempting to use sign language, and got frustrated trying to put his lego boat together.  Wesley is such a go-go-go guy that to see him sit still long enough to try and piece a toy together was pretty neat.  Oh yeah, and he actually sits on my lap and lets me read stories to him!

If summer keeps up it's nice leisurely pace that's jam packed with wonder, I'll have lots of memories for years to come.