Important lessons learned...cloth versus disposables

   Here are my findings on the new cloth diapering, as I was curious to try it out. I asked around to all of my friends on Facebook and at my church that cloth diaper. I found out some good info. Each baby is different, as well as each parent. If I wanted something simple and easy to use, I thought that for us, a cloth insert that snaps in and out of a waterproof shell sounds simple, so I went and purchased brand new GroVia cloth diapers. I love how easy they were, plus they now make flush-able inserts so when you baby poos, you can just flush it! No mess, no rinsing, no diaper sprayer! Just toss the soiled insert in a diaper pail, and wash! Genius! Now, of course, there is a small setback. The money you must spend upfront to get all the items you need, depending on the age of your child , will range from $200 to $400. Granted that doesn't seem to save you money, but it does pay off in the long run. If you really want to save money, if you have the time, and if you're a seamstress, you can find websites that sell all the fabrics needed to make your own all-in-one cloth diapers, or liners and shells. I used my cloth diapers for two weeks doing everything special to take care of the cloth diapers properly. After a few days, Hannah would wake up soaked even at nap times. I began to read more about GroVia diapers, and come to find out that most CL moms that have a toddler and use GroVia had the same issue, leaks with the cloth inserts at night and nap times. What?! I wish I would have known this before buying all GroVia. Oh well, needless to say, Daniel has talked me back into disposables, and thankfully I was able to sell my GroVia set online.  Maybe one day I will be brave enough again to try cloth but for now, I realized, especially with a sick toddler, it is so nice to be able to toss that diaper in the garbage. :)

Its vacation time!

Daniel and I decided that summer is almost over and we need a vacation! We took the Labor Day weekend and made the trip north to New Jersey to see Daniel's sister and her family. It was so nice! The best part of the trip was spending time with my wonderful spouse and daughter. The first day of our trip we stopped over in Hershey to see the Chocolate World Tour. It has been years since I have been there and Daniel has never been. It was so much fun! We even got pictures with the Characters! Getting chocolate of course at the Chocolate Factory was expected and i felt like a kid again! Daniel and I both got our favorites, as well as a cute shirt for Hannah. We then continued on to New Jersey, got to Daniel's sister's house that afternoon, where we took a swim in the neighborhood pool. It felt so good to be out of the car. That night we went to bed early, in preparation for our trip to Philadelphia on Saturday. In Philly, we stopped in to see the US Mint which was really neat, the Liberty Bell through a window, and Independence Hall. Being in the room where the signers of the Declaration were, was surreal. It made me ponder and greatly appreciate the things our founding fathers did for this country and sad at the same time for the way the country is now. Anyway, after all that, we were spent, so we headed back to the house. Sunday, was nice and restful. Had church and took naps. Monday, was the final day, so we crammed in everything we wanted to do. We took the hour drive to Staten Island New York, took the free ferry across to Downtown Manhattan, visited the Top of the Rockefeller Center, picked up Daniel's niece from the Manhattan LDS Temple, had lunch in Central Park, and visited the 9/11 Memorial, as well as stopped by Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken in hopes of getting a cupcake for my birthday, but my hopes were dashed when we found out they had closed early for the holiday. Oh well. New York City was so much more fun the second time around, plus it was so great to have a personal tour and help from Daniel's sister and her family. The best part was the dinner on Monday. We went to an Italian restaurant where I got my favorite dish, Chicken Alfredo! Happy 29th to me! Here's to another fun filled year before I reach the dreaded 30! Enjoy the pictures!

what happened to my sweet baby?

I am sitting here doing some work around the house, and my daughter is currently in her room with the door shut, crying every 2 minutes, because of who knows what, and I really don't care at this point. It seems, ever since Hannah turned 9 months, she turned into this monster, who all of sudden knew what she wanted, and threw a fit when she didn't get it!  We are talking throw herself to the ground, and cry hysterically. What in the world? It seems to happen almost all day! So what happens? I put her in her room, and shut the door. Of course, there is the chew on everything because she's teething too! So, I can say I really don't like being a parent right now, and who really wants to go through this phase again? Can we just have a kid and have them start at the age of 4? Potty-trained, talking, getting themselves dressed and fed, and of course sleeping through the night, and no more naps, That's sounds wonderful! I am gonna need some therapy for this. Seriously. Plus don't forget that my child's only playmate is yep, you guessed it, ME! If I don't play with her, she cries, if I do, she cries, its a lose-lose situation, or if I do play with her, she wants more until I have spent all day playing with and nothing else gets done, I have no time for anything that I need to do or want to do. Forget the bathrooms getting clean, laundry washed or folded, dinner wouldn't get made, and heaven forbid I take time to spend with Daniel. I would love to pay someone to come and do all that, but then the money I am making doing a paper route, is worthless. Maybe it's just me, thinking. Maybe I ought to change that somehow, I guess that is the only way that things will be better. Well, I have a lot of work to do then on top of taking care of that wonderful 14 month old who decided this past week that she is now going to walk everywhere! Thanks goodness for that, minus the bumps and bruises of course. This lovely 14 month old also had her first birthday. Here are some pictures of her birthday as well as her attempts to walk! Enjoy!

First beach trip!

We decided that we needed a small get away this month, so we decided to go to the beach! Last saturday, we packed up the beach gear, and our car, and headed down. We were a little nervous that Hannah really wouldn't like the sand or the water, so we went prepared. She didn't really like the ocean, but the sand was a hit as you can see from the pictures, she was having a blast eating it and playing in it. It was great to relax, enjoy the sun (even though I forgot sunscreen in some areas), overall it turned out to be a fun trip! Enjoy the pcitures and this video!

Adventures of self feeding and teething!

So the past two months, have been loads of fun! Around late January, early February, hannah got her bottom two teeth in, and has perfected her pincher grasp well enough that she seems to think she can feed herself. Little does she know. I used to think that hitting these milestones would be exciting, and they are when you get there. No one tells you the frustration you go through to get there. The whinning, cranky child is what it takes and LOTS of patience. What you anticipate and more. I didnt ever imagine that I would get so frustrated at my child, for not eating what I fixed because normally hannah is such a good eater, that is when you realize that they dont feel good. Aw the joys of parenting! So, then you play chef, finding whatever you can, that they want to eat, that is good for them as well. Good luck with that. Time to be creative, and thank goodness for the Tylenol! I am sure that it was a women/mother who invented that drug. Anywho, here are some funny pictures of hannah feeding herself and her teeth!

New house!

We closed on our new house! We made a few updates and have moved all of our stuff in this past weekend. We love having our own space and a place for everything. We took a walk this morning around our new neighborhood. Everyone we have met has been friendly and said that the area is nice and quiet. Here are some pictures!

New Year, Time to Update!

Since September, Daniel and I have made some big decisions, and lots has happened. Daniel has changed jobs, we moved, and are now in the process of buying a home! We felt it would be better to be closer to family, so that Hannah could grow up seeing cousins and grandparents. Its been a blast so far! We will post pictures of our new house soon! Here are some pictures from Christmas!