Bowling, Chins & Elbows

So on the Saturday before G's birthday, we had a bowling party for he and his little friend, Sayla, who had turned 3 the week before.  Isn't she just edible??!

The day started with Oma, Shannon, and Todd in town.  Hudson helped take a few years off of Todd's life {and the poor guy couldn't understand why I was taking pictures of him guarding H from tumbling to his death} ha! . . .

He's on the back of the love seat, for those wondering.  I mean, how else would you watch it "NOOOOOO!" {snow}

. . . and we also admired our cupcakes which were being safely stored in the oven.  Away from Hudson and Miles.

And, after naptime, it was party time!

None of the 7 kids had ever been bowling before, but they all seemed to have a great time.  As did the adults.  Mission accomplished.

Oma was on Hudson duty.  Poor Oma.

After a couple hours of bowling, we all headed back to our house for pizza & cupcakes.  Yum!

Love those fake toddler smiles!

LOTS of helpers!

And, other than the evening ending with a gash in a chin, some smoke inhalation, and a call to 911, we all had a wonderful evening!!  We seriously need to tone down these kid parties.  One of the kids fell and gashed his chin open in our kitchen {but is fine!}, Rich attempted to burn the house down when he put 3 pizza boxes in the fireplace at the same time {and closed the flue in the process!!}, and Sayla's grandmother slipped on some ice outside on her way down the street, fell, and along with a nasty bump on the head {hence, the 911 call!} busted open her elbow.  An ambulance transport, x-rays, and 2 staples later, she's sore but healing fine.  The excitement never ends! 

But, the birthday boy {and girl!} had a blast and G has already said he'd like to go bowling again.  Score!

Phone Dump Friday

It has been a loooooong time since I unloaded pictures from my phone! So, without further adieu, here is our life in cell phone pics from late December, January & February.

       Sweet brothers!                        Merry Christmas to me!

 

                  "Look Mommy! It's a Christmas Tree!"           Love.

January 7, 2012 . . . The first time G wrote his name.

 Modeling the hats Aunt Shannon made. 

With one sock. 

The bumper was lying outside of the crib before nap time.  And this was during.

How I found him one night.

Salad spinning is fun!

Wow.

Playing on Pappy's shower chair.  In the kitchen.

We had a little lesson in Cause and Effect . . .

 CAUSE

 EFFECT

The result of giving vitamins during bath time.

Wearing Pappy's hat.  With no pants.  My little ragamuffin child.

A small disclaimer for the following 3 pictures.  They were taken on different days.  In 2 different states.  And we had done laundry in between!

Crazy hair.

How I found him 3 nights in a row.  Makes this teacher mama's heart happy.

 "Ca-chow!"

 He's worn his "haaaat!" around the house all week.  Probably not a bad practice.

 "Look Mommy!  I'm a knight!" Um . . . okay.

 Monkey see, monkey do.

 And, finally, from yesterday.  The weather's been positively lovely so we went to Frying Pan Park...a very cool park/working farm. There were even 2 baby sheep that were born on G's birthday! Exciting stuff.  Although, as far as Hudson was concerned, all the animals were quite cool.  Especially since everything was a "Moo!"

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

"Hor-sey!"

Prayers are appreciated. 

: -/



FOUR

Four years ago. . .

. . . I fell in love.

Where has the time gone???

Garrett James . . . I am in complete disbelief that you are FOUR YEARS OLD!  You are an amazing little boy, wise beyond your years, and you make us laugh every single day!  You do things all the time {like completely dress yourself} that make me realize you're growing up so quickly.  I love watching you learn to do new things, but am also not ready for you to be so independent all the time.  I secretly relish those moments that you don't seem quite so big. 

Like when you say "fink" instead of "think" and that when we are traveling you like to stop for dinner at "Old McDonald's".  I love that you and Hudson "love ev-each-udder"; that you will only ask for an "o-ba-jay" for lunch and that you love when we have salad and "o-ba-skay" for dinner.

You are an amazing big brother to Hudson and I'm sure you will be to your new baby brother as well.  You're such a caring little boy - you worry about Hudson when he gets hurts, and don't like when even complete strangers are crying. 

You are completely your father's child and your little brain never stops working.  Even at night when I'm putting you to bed, you'll suddenly pop out with something from hours or days earlier that you've apparently been thinking about.  You keep me on my toes, trying to stay one step ahead of that little brain.  You like things in perfect order {just like your Daddy!} and more often than not, your cars are perfectly lined up.

You are so smart!  You can already recognize most written letters, count to 29, and have the memory of an elephant!  You forget nothing!  You can write your name, Hudson's name, and Mommy and Daddy {with spelling help}, as well as anything we spell out for you.  You've started showing some phonetic awareness and know what letters most of your extended family member's names start with.

You are, for the most part, a very content, independent player.  Give you 2 cars and you're happy for an hour. 

You love your Cars movies more than anything and can say a good portion of the movie verbatim.  Most trips in the car aren't taken alone.  Lightning and Chick or The King accompany us most days.

I love that you love music! Your favorite shows are {still} The Wiggles and Fresh Beat Band. {We're taking you to Baltimore in March to see the Fresh Beat Band . . .I know you'll be in heaven!}

Garrett, thank you for making me a mommy and for showing me a love that was impossible to comprehend before I had you.  I can't wait to watch you as you grow and experience life.  The forthcoming year will bring lots of new experiences . . .your first organized sport: t-ball; another little brother, and starting preschool in the fall.  I'm sure you'll take them all with a grain of salt, just as you take most "major" changes in your life.  You're hesitant for a minute, then jump right in. 

I hope you never lose the passion you have for life, the grin that melts my heart, or the sparkle in those big brown eyes.  Happy 4th birthday, buddy!  Mommy loves you more than much!

31 Days

31 days.  A full month.  The amount of time we have been 100% disposable diaper free!!

I was never even remotely tempted to cloth diaper the boys.  It was never on my radar when I found out I was pregnant with G.  And the only reason I "considered" it when I was pregnant with H was because my childhood friend {the Converter} was planning to CD her son {4 months older than H} and would send me links.  But there were so many options.  Fitted.  Pockets.  All in Ones.  And since I wasn't really interested, I looked, became overwhelmed, and deleted the emails.

Until a few days after Christmas when she came over to Mom's and brought some samples.  And then it all started making sense.  And wasn't nearly as overwhelming. 

Which leads us to today. 

I've been able to build up a decent stash rather quickly due in part to sales (buy 2, get 1); "Seconds". . .could be from wonky stitching, etc but nothing is visibly wrong; and also from Craigslist.  Why I have no problem buying used diapers but would never dream of buying used underwear makes no sense to me, but I scored almost 20 inserts, 14 pocket diapers {9 of which were in like new condition!}, and 2 wet bags for $100.  Whoo-hoo!  I also have 27 prefolds {a dozen large and 15 small} as well as several small AIOs and pockets for when 3 gets here. 

And the best part?  I've only spent $413. 

Theoretically, other than a few more covers and some more snappies, I won't need anything else.  Ever.  $413 will cover H until he's potty trained, and all the way from birth {or a couple weeks old after he stops pooping 378 times a day} to potty training for #3.  We were never a generic diapering family. . . I never found any that didn't leak.  We were Huggies all the way.  I'm estimating that 3 years of diapering G cost us approximately $2400.  TWENTY FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS.  How insane is that?!!!

Totally kicking myself for not switching sooner, but, it is what it is.  And, honestly, even knowing what I know now, had I not found these bad boys, I probably still would be using disposables.

source

Whomever thought these suckers up was a friggin' genius.  They catch most of the solids, allowing you to flush or just toss it in the trash.  There's no dunking or swishing involved.  Ah-mazing.  Especially for those of us who don't even like to put my hand in the tank.  Not kidding.  The only problem was that H ended up with a BAD rash soon after I started using them.  Mommy was not a happy camper.  Until I discovered if I washed them first {with a load of towels} . . . voila!  No rash! 

Overall, I'm quite thrilled with the experience thus far.  I had originally thought I'd probably change H back to disposables when #3 arrives as to not deal with the hassle, but honestly, I don't know that I will.  It adds 30 minutes to my daily chores on wash day, and since we're doing laundry daily, it's really not a big deal. 

So, there's my 31 day recap of cloth diapering.  I'm no expert yet, still learning how much absorbency I need in different situations, and can totally see how people spend big bucks on their stash, but in a few months when I'm doing it all without even thinking about it, I want to remember how it was in the beginning.  Leaks and all.