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.

Obedience

A goal that I've had this year is to read through the Bible.  I've done it before, once, and I'd like to do it again.  I've tried numerous times since then, but I noticed that I would start at Genesis and get going real good, and then the genealogy would pop up and I'd nod off.   This year I resolved would be different, I would start, and finish.  Even if it took me longer than the year to finish.

So I started--at the end--and have been working my way back to the front since then.  I got halfway through the new testament and realized that if I didn't start reading the old testament too, I would probably not make it through.  And that's where I am right now, up to my eyeballs in Ezekiel.  And I've noticed each minor prophet book thus far cries out to me for obedience.  Oh I'm sure that there are lots of other things that I could be getting, but the Spirit keeps pointing out how much He wants me to obey.  Squirm if you want, I've done my fair share of it, it ain't easy.  It's not my nature.  I'm such a rebel.  Who me?  I need God?  Pssssh, naw, I'm good on my own, got my 'thing' goin on.

But I'm not, and I don't.  I'm nothing without my Maker.  And just when I think that I'm doing ok, and I'm starting to feel kinda holy.  The Spirit keeps pointing out more things that I could work on.  Right now it's the white lies.  Since God has started pointing out the little lies, I'm amazed at how often I do it.  Especially as a parent, I find myself twisting or omitting the truth to my children.  And the crazy thing is, I don't even know why I do it!

Back to Ezekiel.....
God asked him to lay on his side for 390 days to make a visual point to Israel.  And he did it.  God asked Ezekiel to shave off his beard and hair for another point.  And he did it.  There have been so many things that God has asked Ezekiel to do, some of which seem totally crazy to me.  But he did it.  No questions asked.  No whining.  No back talking.  He just obeyed.  And I am in total amazement and awe over Ezekiel's obedience.

I wanna be like that.  I want to do what God asks, without questioning Him over whether He thinks that's a good idea or not.  I want to be the kind of girl who is so trusting of my Savior that I just do.

It's not easy bein me.  I got a lot of me to work on, that's for sure!

Latest Tricks

Wesley is really just coming into himself and developing quite the personality.  He loves to give hugs, occasionally wide mouthed kisses.  He can click his tongue and make kissing sounds.  Just this weekend Wesley started saying hi and bye.  It sounds like 'iiiiii' and his little arm is waving at you while his ever constant grin is on his face.  He has also started taking steps here and there.  And he really motors around while pushing a walker, doll stroller, or laundry basket.

I love watching Wesley and our dog Emmy interact, he just adores animals!  He will get her tug toy and they will go at it.  I must admit that I am impressed that Emmy tones down her play with him.  And the peals of laughter while he is tugging spills over to those of us who are watching.

Just tonight all of the kids were playing together.  I feel lucky to have caught all the squeals of delight on camera.  Sorry to say that it's not getting posted for your eyes as 2 of 3 children were naked!  Wesley would crawl out of the bedroom down the hall as fast as he could and then one of his sisters would grab his diaper and drag him back into the bedroom.  Apparently when one is tired, this is quite the comedy routine.  When the diaper finally fell off, then the laughter really erupted.  And then I saw a naked sister and half naked older sister chasing a bare bottomed baby down the hall.  They were all laughing so hard they could hardly finish the game!

I am sure with Wesley so close to walking, the fun is just around the corner :)

Sleeping Booties

There is nothing that gets a bigger smile out of me than to see my children sleeping.  But when they sleep with their tushies up in the air, I have to hold back my giggles.  I don't know what it is about baby booties, but I just love 'em!

Abi thus far is the only kid to pass out in the middle of play 

I know, it's not a bootie picture, but Lizzi just didn't roll that way and I couldn't leave her out!

Fast forward 20+ years and you'll have an idea how his daddy sleeps :)

New Kid Pictures

I have been in a creative slump for a while now.  You might have noticed it by the lack of posts.  Blame it on the nice weather, or maybe the fact that I spend my day chasing two babies around the house that are constantly making messes!  Either way, I'm bummed that I don't have a slew of amazing things that I've been working on.  But I have been working on raising the kiddos.  So without further adieu, you can have a pictorial glimpse into our lives :)

Wesley cheering for the ball that he threw to Lizzi

Because everyone loves a good nudie baby pic!

swinging together on mother's day

drums at the park, we'd never seen that before!

best looking guys I know :)