18 months

Oh my goodness, my little Landry, I cannot believe you are 18 months old. I know that every parent says that of every milestone but it is always true. The time simply speeds by in a blur with children. I can't believe it's been a year and half since you came into the world and changed it for the better.

You are 100% adorable and at least 50% evil. That biting thing is going to have to stop. Your love of trains can be exhausting but the smile on your face while you play means that I will assemble that bridge another time as you knock down, again and again. You are such a stereotypical boy. I've tried to not press the idea of boy or girl toys and lord, knows you have access to all the pink toys you can handle. But you always go straight for the trains, the cars, the tractors and bulldozers. I guess some things are just ingrained.

I love hearing you speak. And although, I want you to improve, I love that right now, it's a language only a few understand. "Dowa", OK, I'll get you an orange. "Bink?" Here's our special blankey. "Car?" Sissy is still sleeping. "Tom?" Yeah, you and Thomas the Train are tight like that.

Landry, I know you have to grow up. I want you to grow up. I can't wait to see who you become. How you harness your size and strength into something great. But right now, I am savoring
every last snuggle, because you are a world class love bug.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: The Gardner

Wordless Wednesday: Hair-raising cuteness

To Butterbean on the occasion of his 6 month birthday

Oh my sweet Butterbean,

Has it really only been 6 months? Has it already been 6 months? It seems like you have been a part of our family forever and it seems like it was just yesterday that the anesthesiologist yelled, " Holy shit that's the biggest baby I've ever seen" as they pulled you out of me.

You are such a great addition to our family. I'll admit, I was nervous about you joining the crew. How would you fit in when I already gave my all to your sister? But you, amazing you, made my all expand and I can't even imagine our lives without you in it. We all smile when you're around. Even your big sister.

Speaking of smiles, yours is the BEST. It comes so easily to you. You are always looking for a reason to smile. And to laugh. I defy any person on the planet to hear you laugh and not get a huge smile on their face. It can't be done. Your laugh is infectious. And it is even better because you are so generous with it. A simple fake sneeze can send you into long fits of laughter. I can't get enough of it.

You are hitting some big milestones, sweet boy. You can now sit on your own. Your army crawl is so fast that soldiers should come to you for lessons. You are amazingly close to a real belly-off-the-floor-crawl. This morning you even gave me a kiss. Well, it was a rasberry on the cheek but I knew what you meant.

You are loving solid foods. You take after your mama in you extreme love of carrots. A special thank you for eating food that your mama makes you. Something big sissie would never do. That means you always get the good stuff.

But don't grow up too fast. I know you are anxious to keep up with your sister but you are my last baby and I need you to slow down a bit. I need snuggles and nursing and soft baby flesh. I'm not ready for you to run away just yet. But when you do know that your mama is always here with open arms to welcome you back.

I love you, Butterbean. Now and forever.

Love,
Mama

Wordless Wednesday

Catch up

:big, long, exasperated sigh:

Yeah, I've been absent. I got busy. Then I got stressed. That resulted in me dropping the ball on a lot of things. Blogging for one, by the time I sat down at a computer at night, I barely had energy to read a little Facebook or Pinterest before I passed out.

Fitness is the other area that went awry. And I don't mean a little. When I'm stressed I eat. My pills of choice in those times are M&Ms, I don't want to talk about how many have been consumed in the last 2 weeks. Also, I failed to plan. I wasn't planning my lunches or snacks and that resulted in trips to the vending machine and deciding on what to eat for lunch when I was already starving (Chick-fil-a, always Chick-fil-a). Worst of all, I haven't run or done any exercise in 2 weeks. I have excuses, it has been hot as a mother trucker so I can't go during lunch. My kids have been waking in the early pre-dawn hours which has made it difficult to go early morning (getting out the door when they are awake is next to impossible), I've just been so busy.

But things have eased up a little now and I am back on focus. I'll delve into the ugly on FAT Friday this week.

For now, some randomness of what has been going on in our lives:

• My daughter starts ballet lessons today. She and I so excited. I try not to push her into the girly stuff but she makes her way there naturally and I refuse to be ashamed of loving every minute of it. There will be pictures. Hold on to your ovaries.
• We found out last week that my son has a paralyzed 6th cranial nerve. That means that his left eye has limited movement. We were really hoping for a muscle issue rather than a nerve as there are fixes for muscle problems. There is nothing to do for the nerve issue. He will likely develop ways of compensating for the double vision that can come with it. For now we just monitor him and patch his good eye occasionally to make sure his left eye doesn't shut down. The ophthalmologist will be a part of his childhood. 
• A couple of years ago we had our house on the market and put a lot of our junk in storage. The house didn't sell but we never bothered to take our stuff out of the storage unit until finally with a price increase up to $200 a month(!!!!) we finally cleaned it out. Now my entire bottom floor is covered in boxes of junk. I'm slowly going through it all and planning a heck of a yard sale in the coming months. Everything must go. 
• We are less than 2 weeks away from our beach vacation. I am so excited to spend a week where the adults outnumber the kids!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

My Cloth Diaper Story: Part 2

As I wrote in my last post, cloth diapering my daughter was easy peasy and we didn't really have any problems. Oh, there was the occasional leak when a diaper got left on too long (what? i never did that!) but really cloth diapers were a piece of cake.

So when I found out I was pregnant in 2011, I was excited to cloth diaper our next child. Really excited, because you know what is cuter than cloth diapers? Teeny, tiny, newborn cloth diapers. I couldn't wait to put those little cuties on a tiny butt.

My newborn stash

After researching, I decided to do a newborn cloth diaper rental* Kissaluv size 0's with Thirsties covers, as well as a few newborn purchases that I couldn't resist. When they arrived, I nearly died from the cute. So tiny!! So when I gave birth to an almost 11 pound baby boy, my first thought (after, "thank god I had a c-section) was "oh no, my diapers won't fit".

They did actually fit and on the day we took him on from the hospital he had his first fluffy butt. He hasn't worn a disposable since.

First Fluffy Butt

The didn't fit for long though. After a month I was finding myself needing to move on from the bullet proof combo of the KL0 plus Thirsties (seriously not one blowout or leak with this combo). He was big enough for my one size pockets but guess what? Boys are different than girls!! All there pee is up front and they pee a lot! My easy peasy pockets weren't so invincible anymore.

Suddenly I found myself in love with the diapers that I had previously had no use for, prefolds. My previous attempts with prefolds were cumbersome and they were so bulky. Why would anyone use those when pockets and AIO's were available? I'll tell you why, they absorb like a MoFo. Also, with a cover they are blowout and  leak proof. I haven't perfected my folds enough that I don't get poop on the inside of the covers but I'm getting there. One more great thing about prefolds, they can take the abuse of washing and drying frequently. This is crucial during the poop constantly phase.

My only problem with prefolds is that Landry will be starting daycare soon and they just aren't an option there. Luckily, I have found that Thirsties Duo All-In-Ones are also blowout and leak proof for us. With the velcro closure they are just like a disposable which makes life easy for my daycare provider.

What works for diapering one child doesn't always work for another. I thought I had cloth diapering figured out but my big boy taught me that there is always more to learn. I'm sure that 6 months from now, things will have changed again.

*I got my rental from Nell's Natural Baby.