Show & Tell - Baby Talk

Today I am linking up with From Mrs to Mama for a little Show & Tell to talk to you all about Babies! Such a stretch for me right??? Mmmk...

1. Tell us your favorite Baby Names if you have some...

Well...this question isn't going to be so much fun because I'm not a big sharer of baby names. People like to steal or comment negatively and what fun is that? I've got a couple girl names in my back pocket, but I'm fresh out of boy names at the moment. You'll just have to wait and see ;)

2. Show me your dream nursery...

Just this weekend I actually put a mood board together for Jackson's future nursery. I'd been coming up with absolutely nothing then it finally hit me....baby Jack wants Elephants! The same thing happened with Ethan...birds all the way (see his nursery here). I could see nothing else. And you know what, E loves him some birds (or Ka-Ka's as he says). So apparently Jackson is a future little elephant lover. 

I plan on using all the same furniture from Ethan's nursery and making my own crib skirt. There are a few other (okay a lot of other) DIY projects in this plan as well. Let's hope I can make this dream nursery a reality with only 3 months left to go. Did I mention I still need to do Ethan's Big Boy Room and finish crafting stuff for E's birthday? Eeeks. 

3. How many children would you like to have? How far apart?

I have always wanted four. I've always dreamed of having a big family and can totally envision us all getting together for family dinners when everyone is all grown and having children of their own. Unfortunately that means I have to go through this "terrible two" phase FOUR time though doesn't it? Hmmm, we will see how 2 goes, but I really think 4 will be our number. 

I'll probably put a little gap between number 2 and number 3. I'm not sure I could handle having 3 in the house all day so preferably E would be in school before number 3 arrives, but we will see. I tend to be impatient. I'd cluster number 3 and 4 together though. I don't want to be ancient by the time I'm preggo with number 4. 

4. What is the most important thing about parenting?

I think this answer will change with every parenting stage, but for the toddler stage? Rolling with the punches. Being able to read your kid and know their limits. Being able to laugh off everything...kids are crazy, gross, messy and completely unpredictable. The biggest most important thing though...is having patience. I'm still learning about that one.

5. Show us your favorite newborn picture...

6. Tell us some things you promised you would never do as a parent...

Do I have to? I've broken most of those rules already haha. 

1. No ipad especially in the car....guilty. The kid doesn't sleep in the car anymore and Curious George is the only thing that will make the screaming go away.

2. I never thought I'd be that mom that would let my kid run around pantsless all day. Now? I think pants are totally overrated at least in the house anyways...okay and maybe the yard.

3. Let my kid have a paci past 2...that one I stuck with! It was gone by 6 months.

4. Let my kid make a scene at a restaurant...yeah...guilty. Apparently there are some things you just don't have control over.

5. This isn't something I said I would never do, but I am surprised at how messy I let my kid get and how little it bothers me. I thought I would be really uptight about this, but turns out I'm pretty into just letting him do his own thing and experience the world around him no matter how dirty he gets in the process.

Friday Letters

Dear son,

It's cool that you are having your "Daddy's boy" phase and all, but could you please stop treating mommy like she's some kind of child abuser while we are out together in public? Sometimes mommy needs to hold your hand. I promise the world won't end just because it's not daddy's. 

Signed,
Broken Hearted


Dear Lola,

I know you are completely against us having a second child. I sense your disgust every time you pee in our closet, hide under the bed or run away from me in the backyard. Mama is getting too tired to chase you so I hope you bring your doggie GPS next time you decide to run. 

Signed,
Lady with Dog for Sale


Dear OB,

I saw through your sly words this morning when you cleverly mentioned that I should be gaining only a pound a week at this point and then added that I had gained 6 since our last appointment 4 weeks ago. I'm also fairly sure that when you mentioned I had "blossomed" you were really telling me to lay off the cake. More importantly, I didn't appreciate it much when you handed me a bill for all the care you haven't provided just yet. That's fantastic. I love getting ginormous bills 3 months in advance without notice. 

Signed,
Cake Taste Tester for Hire


Dear Martha Stewart,

I decided to share my lunch break with you yesterday and unfortunately came out feeling  worse about myself. I saw your perfectly folded kitchen towels, perfectly planned birthday ideas and perfectly decorated cakes. Yay you. Oh, and I'm sure your perfectly made bed is so much prettier than mine because you iron your sheets and I do not. You, yes you, are the perfect housewife please let me give you a gold star. I do wish you would fess up and admit that you probably have a billion assistants that do all of this for you. I do not find your show to be inspiring.

Signed,
Cranky Housewife


Dear Horomones,

You are certainly in full swing this pregnancy. You have filled me with anxiety, exhausted me with frustration and single handedly raised my electric bill with all the hot flashes you are throwing me. The calmness I had while pregnant with Ethan has completely reversed with Jackson. Seriously hormones....you can shove it.

Signed,
All Hot and Bothered

Toddler Time - Color Matching

This week I was extra productive and created two crafts for Ethan to play with. In fact, I did them in the same day and one while he was even awake! That right there should tell you how easy these two activities are to make! 

The first one I made was crafted from an idea on Pinterest. It basically involves matching pipe cleaners with color coded holes. Look at that concentration!

Here is what you need to get started....

Empty Pringles can with lid

Pipe Cleaners (about 8 different colors)

Hammer and screw (yeah screw...has to create a big enough hole for the pipe cleaners to go through)

Craft paint

1 sheet of construction paper or cardstock

Packing tape or clear contact paper

Instructions

1. Carefully hammer holes into the metal bottom of the can. It will dent a little so try not to take all of your toddler mommy frustrations out on the poor can. 

2. Next I painted the bottom of the can white just for looks. I then painted the holes each a different color to match up with the pipe cleaners I had on hand. And no, I didn't take the time to make it pretty ;) It's definitely home made folks.

3. This step is really optional but I covered the can with a piece of construction paper and used packaging tape on top of that so there wouldn't be a problem later with greasy finger marks. You don't have to cover it, but I knew my kid would be more interested in the missing chips than the game if I didn't do it. You could paint it too...just use whatever you have on hand.

Now it's time for the fun to begin!

A lot of times the key to making these activities really work is asking the right questions. If he had a green pipe cleaner in his hand I couldn't simply just ask him to match it to the green one because he would look for another pipe cleaner. I needed to point at the holes and ask him which one it went in..."No, that hole is red and you have a green pipe cleaner" as I pointed out exactly what I meant by pipe cleaner and hole. You just have to keep changing your instructions around until you find what works.

I promise he was having fun. Don't mind the teary "I hate waking up from naps" eyes. Or the runny nose....

I fully expect that the more we use the same activities over and over, the easier it will become. The goal is just to make it fun the first go around. Neither of you need to get frustrated :) 

The best part is that all the pipe cleaners are self contained in the can since you have the lid on the bottom. And we all know how toddlers love to dump things out! Save the best for last right?

I also wanted to share one other color matching activity we did this week that was super easy to make.

For complete instructions please visit Rach over at Life Ever Since who actually made this as part of a craft swap. I did mine just a touch different by using a two craft punches, magnets and contact paper. Again, it's all about using what you have on hand.

Thanks Rach for the great idea. Ethan loved it! 

Happy Toddler Time!

(Linking up today with Cajun Cowgirl and Momma Mar)

Wordless Wednesday: Ethan at 22 Months

**Today Ethan is officially 23 months, but let's take a look back at month 22!**

Cloth Diapering *almost* 2 Years Later

Several people who come across this blog land on my cloth diapering posts. The story really isn't complete yet as the way I use them seem to be constantly changing. I figured since we are on the eve of Ethan's 23rd month now would be the perfect time to do a little updating. 

We are still using Fuzzibunz diapers. I have a mixture of mediums and one sizes and honestly don't prefer one over the other at this point. I don't think we will have a problem growing out of them before he is potty trained (or at least I hope not anyways!). Before we moved back in April, I had began getting a little frustrated with the diapering situation. I'm not exactly sure when the problems actually began, but Ethan would always wake up wet in the mornings and sometimes after naps. In fact, it got to the point where I just let him sleep pants-less for nap time so I didn't have additional laundry to do. There were also times that he would leak in the carseat so I was always sure to change him right before we got in the car and then again before we got out and it was getting a little time consuming. 

I tried stripping them (which did help some) and I double stuffed with hemp liners and even triple stuffed at night time. I adjusted leg holes and what not but nothing really seemed to be working. A friend suggested I switch to bum genius, but we had one which I had bought from the beginning and I still didn't find a solution with it. I'm sure I could have bought a selection of different types of diapers to try and maybe found a solution, but really at that point in the game I had no interest in reinvesting. 

Once we moved in April I quickly found out I would have to give up cloth diapering for a little bit when I was unable to install our diaper sprayer in the rental house. Yes, there are other ways of getting poop off a diaper, but my first trimester nose just couldn't handle any of those other options so I went to disposables. 

I'll be the first to admit that disposables are for sure much easier and really 100% dependable (at least in our case), but the downside is that they are expensive. I could tell the toll it took on our budget pretty quickly and honestly money was the number one reason I had decided to cloth diaper in the first place. While we didn't have any leak issues, I knew that I would be going back to cloth once we moved into our new place.

At this point we are doing a mixture of cloth and disposables and I couldn't be happier. He wears disposables at night and at nap times. I also always put him in them when we leave the house so I never have to worry about bringing him a spare outfit. While we are at the house though? I put him in cloth and am always sure to double stuff with a Hemp Babies liner. No, I'm not saving as much money as I did before, but I'm still saving. We buy one huge box of diapers a month (like the 120 count size) which I just order online to save a little money. Any disposable money saving tips would be appreciated as I'm new to this!

As for baby Jackson? I will be doing more of the same. I plan on cloth diapering him as much as possible. All of the diapers I have for Ethan will still work just fine for the new baby and perhaps the one after that! If he begins leaking I'll just do a mixture of cloth and disposables again. I believe you have to do what works for you and your family and this seems to work for us.