Updates and pictures

* I finally sorted out the cloth diapers before we left for the beach. So far it seems I have rid them of the stinkies. In fact, I did actually take them to the beach and use them instead of taking a CD vacation. I am very proud of myself.

* We are currently in the throws of the two nap, one nap tango. I had read that switching from two naps to one could be a process so I was prepared. At the beach she napped twice a day because the sun just took it out of her. She is taking a morning nap right now, but chances are good she won't nap this afternoon and she will be all sorts of cranky for our weekly neighborhood playdate. I even try napping with her sometimes (I mean, it's the least I can do) but she thinks that we are playing a very funny game or something. We end up laughing and playing and not napping. I keep holding out hope that one day she and I will take a glorious three hour nap together...

* School starts next week...I have seen teacher's cars in the Livsey parking lot and every time I do a wave of relief washes over me. However, I will miss that beginning of school rush of activity and excitement. I loved getting my classroom ready and meeting all of the kids for the first time. But, nothing makes me happier than being with Lila all the time. It's such a blessing!

* With school starting next week that means that Carson will again be in our house quite a lot. I will be taking care of her on Mondays and Wednesdays and I am really looking forward to it. Lila and Carson only parallel play right now, but they are pretty intrigued by each other sometimes. Katie mentioned yesterday how cool it will be to see how much they change together from the beginning of the school year to the end. It's so crazy to think that I met Katie when I was 15 and now I'm 30 and taking care of our babies. How cool is that?

* It has come to my attention that I want to do everything myself. I have these insanely ambitious goals of having a bigger and better garden, making my clothes and assorted accessories, selling what actually turns out looking sellable, etc., etc. Unfortunately, many times DIY projects cost as much as just buying things at a store premade. Fabric is so expensive. Unless you upcycle something or you happen to hit the jackpot at Goodwill you are putting in a lot of time AND a lot of money. For now my plan is to post DIY posts when I can about how I found ways to do things on my own and inexpensively.

Alright, here are my favorite pictures from the beach...I took so many pictures but I am just going to post a few here so they don't take over!

New age vacation

Here I sit in the condo in St. Augustine drinking coffee and typing a blog post. Seth and Levi are playing golf, Lee is on the beach, Lila is napping, and Levi's girlfriend Ashley hasn't gotten up yet. We come to this same condo complex every year.  The first trip I made here with Seth and his family seems so long ago and far away. Maybe it's because all we did back then was read books and lay on the beach all day. Or maybe it's because Levi was in high school and instead of a girlfriend in tow there were usually two, maybe three, other boys here with him. Or maybe it's because it was the kind of vacation that screamed vacation to me because I did absolutely nothing. Yes, this year is quite different.

That's the funny thing about the career known as motherhood. Family "vacation" really isn't your typical vacation at all. My neighbor recently said she went on "vacation" and happened to bring her two bosses along with her.  One is three and the other is nine months.

Don't get me wrong. Watching Lila carry around the same shell for hours and try to suck her thumb covered in sand is nothing short of glorious to me. I wouldn't have it any other way. Everything is new and amazing for her which makes it new and exciting for us too. She has added a little spark to the "usual" vacation. That being said, there are still diapers to change (PS - I did NOT take a cloth diapering vacation and I am very proud of myself). There are still sippy cups to be washed, sweet potatoes to be boiled, and toys to be picked up. Add in sand to be rinsed out of bathing suits, multiple baths to get the sand off of the baby, and finding ways to entertain her in a condo and you have what still is my daily job. Yes, there are extra helping hands. Yes, I did actually read a book so far. But, vacation is just a lot more work than vacation used to be.

I want to soak up all the baby days because I know they go by so incredibly fast. Being at the beach is no different if not more so a time where I want to relish in the moment. I just really have to admit in this very moment that sitting here, alone, only hearing the sound of the keys as I type is my tiny little old school vacation and I am relishing this moment just as much.

Pictures coming soon ;)

Cole Trickle in all his glory

Due to my recent struggles with photography and trying to do too many things at once, some of these pictures were taken by Meg.  Seth had the best time being a race car driver for a day. His top speed was 145 mph and he just looked so cute and happy. Thanks to everyone who came and helped him celebrate. I know he loved having you there to cheer him on! Happy thirtieth honey ;-)

Thoughts

The Real Simple Daily Thoughts that I used to love every single time have gotten kind of lame. But recently, they are starting to pick up the pace in the emails and in the magazine!

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked." - Bernarnd Meltzer

"There is more refreshment and stimulation in a nap, even of the briefest, than in all the alcohol ever distilled." - Edward Verrall Lucas

"Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place." - Abigail Van Buren

PS - I am hardcore struggling with my picture taking/editing abilities. I try really hard to take pictures of Lila on the 13th each month for the new header just because I think it's fun. I know these are grainy and maybe even weird looking. I think I need more classes because recently I am just getting frustrated. Anyway, these will have to do...she makes them gorgeous anyway ;-)

Venting about venting

I don't even want to write this post. But, I seriously need to vent (what else is new?). I am just going to start with a massive disclaimer:

"I hereby proclaim that cloth diapering is in fact better for my child and the environment. I do not regret making the decision to switch to cloth. I no longer see bags and bags of diapers that take 70 years to break down leaving my house. I am no longer part of the contribution to the third largest waste in landfills. I am proud of myself for sticking with it, and I want everyone to know that the problems I am having are a direct result of circumstances and not the diapers themselves."

OK, that being said, I AM OVER IT. We leave for the beach on Sunday and I will also be taking a cloth diaper vacation. I hate disposables at this point, but I need a break. What's funny is, there is a top loading washing machine at the condo we are staying at that would probably show me a whole new world, but I just need a break.

I am going to admit, as much as it pains me, that I did not do a lot of research before starting cloth diapering. I relied heavily on the wisdom and advice of a friend. In no way am I saying that said friend was wrong. She has had her fair share of struggles lately as well.

I love my diapers. They are soft and cuddly and pretty. They have, however, led me to loathe my washing machine. Which is also funny because it is a high efficiency washing machine that is much better for the environment (supposedly) as well. The problem is, according to my friend/diaper guru and the internet, the machine uses so much less water that it doesn't rinse the detergent out of the diaper well enough. Therefore, detergent builds up and the diapers get what the cloth diapering world calls "the stinkies". This would be an ammonia smell that is OBNOXIOUS. This can also sometimes result in a rash. Mind you, the whole initial reason I started with cloth was to rid us of rash.

I had the machine well before the diapers. My guru however, only recently got her front loader and for the very first time in her years of cloth diapering is having the stinkies. So we begin to email and talk and try to figure this out together. Now I decide to do research. Low and behold there are entire websites devoted to this very topic. You can find chats that have HUNDREDS of responses to how to get rid of the stinkies. Some say "I do this and my diapers never smell". Others say (like me) "I have tried this, and this, and this, and this and I CAN'T MAKE IT GO AWAY". Then there are those that give you eight hundred "ideas" for things you can do if you hard water, soft water, top loader, front loader, AND ON AND ON AND ON...can you feel my frustration building? The more I read the more I feel there just is no answer.

PLEASE NOTE - if you ever consider cloth diapering, it is like parenting. Every situation seems to be dramatically different from the next or exactly the same. You could do it and have zero stinkies. I do not want anyone to read this post and think, why on earth would I use cloth? Here's why:
http://supernaturalmomma.blogspot.com/2008/03/cloth-diapering.html

As I said, I just needed to vent. I will get this figured out and when I do, if you decide to go cloth, maybe I can help you. Until then, if you have any suggestions, thoughts, etc. I would love to hear it. If you just think I'm crazy for even trying cloth, keep that to yourself.

Videos

It's late, the title of this post is lame....I wanted my traveling the world sister to see Lila videos because I think she misses her a little bit ;-) Anyone else can watch too obviously....I am aware that every single video is so awesome to me but may be repetitive to the general public. I won't be offended if you don't watch them all. Night!

Dirty thirties, part two

My super hot, super wonderful husband is turning the big 3-0 on July 19th. Yes I am a cradle robber and he is SO much younger than me according to him.  Being that he such a super wonderful husband he planned the most amazing birthday bash for my 30th. No pressure.

I decided a long time ago that I really only had one option for this event. He said he didn't want a party. He kept telling me not to do anything. I simply chose the one and ONLY thing I could come up with that I could maybe, kind of afford and that seemed fitting.

Therefore, my soon to be 30 year old husband will be driving a race car wearing the name Cole Trickle (at his request) this coming Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway at around 9:30 am.

I sent out an evite and asked our friends to come and tailgate as we watch Seth look like a massively happy redneck for his thirtieth. I am getting all the fixins and hoping for the best. I tried to keep it a surprise. I really did (mostly). Seth's mom mentioned that half the fun of doing something like this is the anticipation of it. So I asked Seth if he would want to know what we were doing and he started guessing. Five minutes later the surprise was over because I have an annoyingly brilliant husband. There is still a little surprise that he knows nothing about so let's see how long I can keep my mouth shut.

Anyway, cross your fingers and say a prayer to sweet baby Jesus that our very own Cole Trickle has a blast /doesn't hurt himself or others.

PS - My pictures from the 4th turned out kind of crappy...I was a little distracted by my now fully walking child as she needed to walk up and down the dock at the lake eight million times (with assistance of course). I guess it's time to bite the bullet and actually attempt a photo editing program instead of continuing to hope I inadvertently take gorgeous pictures.

TOOT TOOT

That's me tooting my own horn!  I realize it's the Friday of a holiday weekend and no one will read this until next week, but I just have to gloat. I can't help it.

Two major accomplishments today:

First, Lila's eating habits have become frustrating to say the least. I don't want an orange baby due to an overabundance of sweet potato intake, so I am getting super creative. Well, super creative for me anyway. Until recently she would hoover just about anything I put in front of her so I haven't had to step outside the box until now.

I did some digging and fell back on my old faithful for baby food making; www.wholesomebabyfood.com. To my utter delight they have an entire toddler section! I cut and pasted the ones I liked into a document and just started trying them. A lot of them are pancake-ish recipes so I started there. Of course we did the sweet potato pancakes and of course they were a hit. I went bold this time and did the cheddar and veggie pancakes (http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/Toddlers/toddlerfastfoods.htm). They are loaded with items from most of the major food groups. The best part is, they have a LOT of veggies in them which, as I'm sure you could have guessed, is the area we are lacking the most. SHE LOVED THEM. The recipe makes a ton too and could be varied in so many ways. Needless to say, I did not realize it would make so much so I had them for lunch with her.

See! She's cheering! And the tray is almost empty! And yes, she is eating in the buff.

Next, we have an accomplishment that has been a long time coming for me. When the girls threw me a baby shower Seth's cousin gave me two gorgeous diaper bags that she made. I fell in love with them and vowed that one day I would make them too. Fast forward well over a year and I have done it! I followed an AMAZING tutorial from a blog called Sew Much Ado. It has taken quite a while with many, many mistakes.  A lot of the lines are crooked and the lining could be much heavier. Like I said...many mistakes. BUT, I am very happy with it. I asked my friend Kristin to be my guinea pig so I made it with her in mind. She is having a boy and blue and brown are the colors of his nursery. I will be adding a few homemade goodies on the inside too that I will post later. Anyway, are you ready? Here it is!!!!

Happy fourth everyone!  We are headed south tomorrow until Monday :-)

Entering the world of playdates

We have had a very busy week! I wish every week could be like this one. I started seeking out some QT with other moms/babies/kids and it just so happened that everything was scheduled for the same week.

Tuesday we went to a neighbor's house where we had three mommies and four kids ranging in age from 9 months to 2 years. Lila has been around Carson quite a lot and Carson is an incredibly mobile 6 month old. But, Carson doesn't have those toddler tendencies yet. She still smiles and laughs constantly and only notices for like two seconds if her toy is taken away. That being said, Lila is never around toddlers that are older than her. She pretty much just sat and stared at the two older boys like they were aliens as they argued over toys instead of just grabbing. It was almost like her face was saying, "why do they need to talk about it. Why don't they just grab what they want and go on their merry way? I mean, what the heck does "my car" mean anyway?". Little does she know that being a female relegates her to being part of the "talks about everything" club later in life.

Wednesday Carson came over for a few hours and then we went to their house for dinner. Lila and Carson do a lot of parallel playing and the only real interaction happens when one needs to get around the other. Carson will pull up on Lila and Lila will try and move Carson's hand. They are both adorably amusing little girls so putting them together makes for a good laugh.

Today, two girls I taught with came over. One has a seven month old and the other has a newborn. Lila treated Sofia, the seven month old, the same way she treats Carson....a little toy grabbing and staring but nothing major. She was somewhat enamored with Wyatt, the newborn, and tried very hard to wake him up while he was sleeping in his carrier (sorry Heather). She wanted to grab his feet and be her clumsy self around him and it was kind of hard for her to understand that that wasn't an option!

So, now that you know how Lila handled our playdates, here's how I did. I LOVED THEM. I love being a stay at home mom. I mean, I really, really love it. BUT, I love speaking real words in a real conversation too. I also love conversations that don't include "no honey, the little boat with Ernie in it is not a telephone" or "please don't eat the dog food!".

I hope that the other mommies had as much fun as I did. The neighborhood ladies will be doing this once a week now which is awesome! Hopefully those boys will help Lila transition into playing and not staring so much :-)