Week of Firsts

Two weeks ago was a fun week of firsts for us.

It started off with Mother's Day weekend. My first Mother's Day. Mother's Day is SO fun when you're a mom! You get presents & extra love!

The Friday before Mother's Day AW took Little Man off to do some shopping:

It was kind of nice to have a couple of hours on a Friday evening to myself. But also kind of strange. I really didn't know what to do. I was definitely happy when my men came home!

Sunday was very special.

I woke up & got 2 very sweet cards. One from AW & one from Baby A. They also gave me my gifts! (AW said to put a disclaimer up with the picture that he did NOT get me that book because he wants 19 children, he only got it for me because he knows how much I love the Duggars.) ;)

We went to the early service at church & when I picked up Anderson from nursery he had made me a sweet little craft:

Of course I immediately put it in the baby book!

After church we went to one of my favorite places, Waffle House! Yummy!

We then headed to my grandmother's house in Oxford for lunch and an afternoon of family! 

Here's me with my sweet son:

And here's 4 generations:

That sweet little outfit was my brother David's when he was a baby. We're definitely missing him but proud of how hard he's working!

The next first was Baby A rolled over! I knew he was probably getting close and on Tuesday morning he was playing in the floor. I was watching him & talking to him but of course as soon as I looked away he did it!

I looked up and there he was on his tummy just smiling so big because he was so proud! I immediately got out the video camera but that little stinker wouldn't do it again! He was so mesmerized by the new "toy".

Here he is so happy to have flipped over:

The last "first" from last week was started to feed Baby A food! The Dr wanted me to EBF til he was 6mos. but my Chubby Bunny just couldn't wait. Anytime we ate he watched intently while smacking his little lips! Then one morning he actually reached out to grab my granola bar! I couldn't believe it! 

So, I called the Dr. got the "go-ahead" and got to work! I was so excited about getting to use my Baby Bullet:

The first thing I made him was oatmeal. He did ok. He at about 1/3 of the serving before he got tired of it. My mom watched him one evening while we went to see The Avengers & she said he ate the WHOLE serving of oatmeal! I couldn't believe it!

He's now had bananas which are also a big hit and he's had avacado which, unfortunately, messed up his tummy.

Look how cute he is sitting in his high chair like a BIG BOY (*tear*):

Rear Gear

So, Hannah Jo posted today about how she is starting her cloth diapering adventure which reminded me that I need to get my rear in gear & share my cloth diapering experience!

That's right, we cloth diaper. Save the eye rolls & "ewww, that's gross" comments. I've rolled my eyes & said "ewww, that's gross" enough for all of us. BUTT (pun intended) my friends Allison & Chloe convinced me to just try it.

So, I figured if it would save us money there was no way I couldn't try it.

AW was very anti-cloth diapering due to the ick factor but since Anderson is EBF (exclusively breastfed) it really isn't all that ick. I mean, think about it...what do you do when they get that seedy, yellow poop on their clothes? You put it in the washing machine, right? So...what difference does it make if it's on the clothes or in a diaper? 

Now, I am not even close to being a cloth diapering expert. But some of the benefits are saving money, the cuteness factor, saving money & new friends! That's right! I've made new friends since becoming a CD'ing mama! Speaking of, Delice, we still need to hang out!

Saving money is my #1 motivation for CD'ing. I had quite the sticker shock the first time I went to buy Anderson diapers after we had gone through all of our diapers that had been gifted to us. I spent $85 on approximately 1 month of diapers! Ridiculous. Don't worry as I review the diaper types I also review the cost!

Reason #2: Look at all the pretty colorrrrrrrs....

Reason #3: New friends! I joined the Cloth Diapering of Alabama facebook group & those ladies have been SO very helpful in my CD'ing journey! They got me to this video & if you're interested in CD'ing I highly recommend you watch this before you look at the millions of webpages out there. It's by Tara at www.paddedtushstats.com http://m.youtube.com/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUQDyF9ObuYQ%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded&feature=player_embedded&v=UQDyF9ObuYQ&gl=US

Now, I've only used 3 brands & so far I've been pretty happy with all 3.

The first brand is Charlie Banana. I got a pack of 6 diapers / 12 inserts from Target for $110.

These are "pocket" diapers which means you stuff them with a microfiber insert. I really like this brand because of the soft fleece lining. Also, they are One Size which means he can stay in these until he's 35 pounds! The only thing I don't like is the snaps. I prefer velcro. The benefit of pockets is you can double or triple up on inserts if you have a heavy wetter or for overnight!

The second brand I have is Bum Genius. I bought 2 diapers with 2 inserts from BuyBuyBaby for $18/ea.

These are also pocket diapers but I LOVE the fact that they're velcro (Hook and Loop)! They work just like a disposable except cuter & re-wearable! These are also One Size. Those snaps in the front allow you to adjust the size as Baby grows (in this picture it is on the biggest size).

The third brand I have is Flip. Now I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these! They are One Size, velcro shells! I bought all 4 of mine on sale so I got 4 shells for $42!

Now, I just bought the cheap Gerber cloth diaper pack (10/$13) at Wal-Mart & I trifold them & use them as the liner. The neat thing about Flip is once Baby takes care of business you just take out the cloth, wipe the shell & you can re-use it more than once before it needs to be washed!!! Sometimes if I'm expecting a poop or know he might be in a diaper a little longer length of time I'll add an extra one of my Charlie Banana inserts for more absorbency!

So, there you have it! Easy-peasy if you ask me. And I was the biggest "ewwww-y" nay-sayer before! And look how cute this boy is in a cloth diaper...

By they way, the estimate is that you will spend $3,000-4,000 on diapers from birth to potty training PER CHILD.

So far I've spent about $200 for our stash which is now large enough for us to be "full-time" & I wash them every other day. Future children can use them, plus cloth diapers have great resale value!

Thoughts From Anderson (part 2)

Marine Recruit Support

As many of you know my brother, David, is at boot camp to become a Marine. He will be gone for 13 weeks and during this time period we will only be able to communicate via snail mail. Yesterday at a family orientation his recruiting officer let us know just how important letter writing to your recruit is. They are going through some very difficult physical challenges but what is hardest are the mental challenges. They are essentially cut off. The recruiting officer continued to emphasize the importance of writing encouraging letters DAILY!

David will only have about an hour of free time every night and only some of that time will be for letter reading and writing. I know it would mean A LOT to him to have lots of encouraging letters from all of the different people in his life & even some letters from those who just want to thank him for what he's doing. 

If you do decide to write please know that it will mean SO, SO MUCH to him. Please also know that he may not have the time to write you back and if he does it may take a while to receive a response. Even if you do not get a reply letter please continue to write to encourage him. 

I know lots of people are already planning on writing him & I just wanted to share some general "Do's" & "Dont's" so as to not garner him any "special attention" from his drill sergeants. Also, we won't have his address until next week but you can go ahead & start writing letters TODAY!!! I will not post his address anywhere publicly but PLEASE feel free to ask me or any of our family for the address!!!

DO:

* write him often! Daily if you want/can!

*use plain white paper & plain white envelopes!

*use encouraging messages to let him know he can do it!

*share local/national/global news as he won't know what is going on!

*share daily happenings in your life / funny stories / Bible verses!
*be POSITIVE / ENCOURAGING!

DO NOT:

*write more than one page letters at a time!

*use colored / decorative stationary or envelopes!

*write / draw / sticker the envelope!

*send packages of any kind!

*put anything except a letter in the envelope!
*write anything negative or talk about how hard it is without him!

*address the envelope in any way other than "Rct. LastName, FirstName" (This is important because he is NOT a Marine yet & the title MUST BE EARNED!!!)

My sister, Anna, asked David to let us know if there were any recruits that didn't get mail or got very little mail. If you would be interested in writing encouraging letters to these troops-to-be please let us know that as well. 

David's #1 need at this time is PRAYER!!!

Please pray for:

1. strength physically, mentally & spiritually

2. NO injuries or sickness or any delay in his graduation

Thank you all so very much for supporting David & our family during this time!

OORAH!

Joshua 1:9

 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Crazy Yarn Lady

My brother, Stephen, was cleaning his room last week and found this wooden picture frame. He made it at school but had never used it for anything. He knows my love for mod podge & asked if I wanted it to mod podge or do whatever with.

Of course!


But since I LOVE wrapping things in yarn I decided why not wrap this too?


Then I had some leftover buttons from the curtains I decorated for the nursery and I found the little wooden ducky at Hobby Lobby. It was too big to go on the frame & since I didn't want to put an actual picture in the frame (there's no glass) I decided to just make it a piece of Ducky Artwork!