Smart Cookie

She is understanding more than we think she is. I asked her this question during bath tonight expecting it to be rhetorical. Instead she responded and shocked me. So fun to see her communicate with us :)

Family Date Night

What to do with a Sunday afternoon off in the middle of winter? Go to Cabelas of course! We all needed to get out of the house d/t some cabin fever and thought Rowan may enjoy the fish. She was very quiet but stared intently at them swim by. I think she enjoyed it?

 

 

 

Then we walked through their stuffed animal exhibits. This also was captivating and involved a lot of staring. We tried going through all the animals' signs and making their sounds but I don't know how much she was paying attention to us. I think this is a good foreshadowing to the zoo being a hit this summer :)

 



Wichita Trip

Here are some more pictures from our weekend trip to Wichita....well actually our 24 hrs in Wichita. I remember a time when our lives weren't so busy and we could stay longer than a day but it seems the last few times we have seen the Drehers this has been our story. Matt worked Friday and we drove down after that. We had all day Sat and then returned home because both Gina and I worked Sunday. Even though it was a quick ordeal we managed to squeeze in going on a walk, swinging at the park, making cookies, taking Rowan's pictures and catching up. The boys also went to shoot guns out in the country. Pretty successful trip I'd say :)


This was that Friday here in KS, a whopping 80 degrees and beautiful. We went to the park on the way out of town to swing with daddy. Rocking our shades, summer dress and flip flops of course!

Then the next day the crazy KS weather is in the 40's and freezing. This state is so weird. Trying to get two kids looking cute at once, nearly impossible.

Not sure if swinging in the cold is as fun.

 

 

Now watching momma swing back and forth

 

 

Cuddled up back at home reading books

 

Making chocolate chip cookies from scratch from a cookbook circa 1890 :)

There has to be at least one spill when you are making cookies for the first time right Sutton? At least it was the flour and not the shortening!

Thanks for hosting us friends, we love you! Until next time...

8 Month Photo Shoot

Another high five to my awesome friend Gina. She did a quick mini session with Ro to capture this stage of her life during our last trip to Wichita. Here is a peak at some of them.

We tried at first to go outside but it was freezing and I only brought spring clothes for her to wear. We tried taking off her hat and jacket to snap a few pictures and it resulted in these shots. She hates the cold apparently as much as her parents do. 

So we gathered ourselves up and went back to her studio.

 

 

 

 

Then Sutton got in some pictures and Gina caught this one...I mean really? They are so adorable I can't handle it. How did we get such cuties?!

Showing off her standing skills

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love my little ham. You can view the rest here on Gina's blog. Thanks again friend!!

 

 

 

Cloth Diapers

Lots of people lately have asked me how cloth diapering is going.  So I thought I would post a little about our experience.

Pro: They have first and foremost saved us a ton of money. All our diapers were gifted to us by my wonderful co-workers and our small group at our baby showers. The upfront cost is the most challenging because each diaper retails close to 20 dollars. So the fact that we are diapering Rowan basically for free is a huge blessing.

Pro: Rowan has never gotten a diaper rash. I don't know how common this is for babies but I feel like it must be since there is a huge market for diaper creams. She got a few rashes that first month of life when she was in disposable diapers and too small to fit into her cloth ones. Since we started using cloth, her bum has been rash free.

 

 

Pro: She looks adorable wearing them...superficial I know but it's true. I also love all the bright colors they come in. It makes me happy to fold them and sort out cute color combos, nerd alert!

 



 

Pro: I don't feel as wasteful knowing we aren't filling a section of some landfill with hundreds of diapers. I will admit, my drive to help the environment is low on my "why we cloth diaper" list but there is truth in the matter so it gets to be a pro. I'm all for recycling, composting, hanging my clothes on the line to dry ect but if it stressed me out more or didn't fit into our sometimes chaotic life, those things are first to go.

Pro: Fuzzi Bunz knows their stuff. They are easy to use once you figure them out. Adjusting the elastic in them as she grows is simple, as is stuffing them. User friendly for sure. We had one diaper break a snap and we contacted their customer service people. They took back the defective diaper with no receipt and mailed us a new one within a couple weeks. It was so nice not to fight with anyone to get the issue resolved.

Pro: She has never had an up-the-back blow out...ever. The elastic around her waist keeps everything in lock down. She has had some explosive bombs but they have always stayed contained within the diaper. Since we have started double stuffing, she has had a couple leaks by her crotch when she has had big poops but those are manageable. She has only had 2 or 3 butt to shoulder blade blow outs in her little life and they have all come while wearing a disposable diaper. One of those outfits is still ruined and will probably never make a come back.

Con: The biggest complaint we have had is our leaking problem. I have looked up everything I could on their website and the Internet on how to stop this from happening. She leaks right in her crotch where the shiny material meets the absorb able material at minimum once a day, sometimes multiple times. It's enough that her pants usually have to get changed because they have 2 wet lines. I didn't notice it as much when the weather was warm and she wore dresses/skirts a lot. Now that it is winter though, her tight fitting pants are flush with her diaper and wick away the moisture too. We have tried stripping them, adjusting the elastic looser and tighter and changing detergent. In the end we have resorted to just changing her more often. Just recently we have started double stuffing them with both inserts they come with and that actually is working really well. I guess I just figured the double inserts were for when they hit toddler size but perhaps I was wrong. Since we started double stuffing it is rare we leak now, hooray!

Con: Cleaning these little suckers has been a bit of a challenge. After reading a lot online I figured out that HE washers are actually not as efficient cleaning these diapers as the old fashion washers are. There is not enough friction, they are almost too gentle with them. Great for clothes, not great for getting poo poo out of diaper crevices. When she was little and the elastic was pulled really tight to fit her little bum, the poo seeds would get caught in the accordion-like folds of the sides of the diaper and the washer couldn't clean them out. We figured once we could loosen the elastic we wouldn't have to rinse them anymore, wrong. We still have to rinse out her poopy diapers once before throwing them in the wash. Slightly a pain but now we are used to it. I have been impressed how white the inner fabric of the diaper has kept. I figured they would stain with time but so far they are looking good.

Con: The last con is one we expected so it's really not that bad. She doesn't fit into any corresponding bottom sizes in clothes. We have to buy up a size to account for the extra padding in her tush. Fine if you are buying separates, a little bit of a bummer when it is a two piece outfit that you will never wear the bottoms of.

 

Overall I tell people we give cloth diapers a 85% positive rating. I would be curious to try other styles and see if we have the same likes/dislikes but they are too expensive to just buy and trial. Rowan's cousin Lynley wore Bum Genius diapers and gave us a few recently to try out so we will see. The pros still outweigh the cons for our family so we will continue to cloth diaper regardless :)