Wordless Wednesday: Our Trip to Niobrara

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Traveling with Cloth Diapers

I'm participating in the Cloth Diapering Bloggers' Carnival today.  The topic is traveling with cloth diapers.  To go read other posts about traveling with cloth go here. 

This past weekend was the first time I have ever been brave enough to travel with cloth diapers.  We have cloth diapered from about the time my daughter was born and been on a few trips, but I had always taken disposables.  This time I really didn't want to spend the money on a package of disposables.  Those suckers are expensive.

Since this was just going to be a short trip and wouldn't require any washing I figured it was a safe time to try it out.  I had just enough diapers to make it and wash immediately when I got home, barring any unforeseen events.  It went pretty well.  I should have planned better as far as having a big enough bag to put dirty diapers in and a deodorizer, but still not a deal breaker.

Overall, I really liked traveling with my cloth diapers.  I hate having to use disposables when I know they are so bad for my baby, my wallet, and the environment.  I'm sure there will still be trips where we switch to disposable, but traveling with cloth diapers is now an option also.  The trip went so well, I think I will be brave and try to take our cloth diapers when we go to Colorado at Christmas.  We usually go for a week, so that trip will require washing diapers.  I will have to get my grandma to agree to let me use her washing machine first.

My advice for traveling with cloth:
1. Plan ahead so you have enough diapers or somewhere to wash them. Also make sure you save enough space, since they are a little bulkier than disposables.
2. Bring a big enough wetbag/pail liner.
3. Don't forget to bring a pail deodorizer.
4. Liners would be awesome for traveling.

10 Months Old

Fiona was 10 months old yesterday. She is turning into such a big girl!

She is honing her standing and walking skills.  She has been taking a couple of steps for several weeks now.  The girl has no fear. She just tries to start walking and it generally ends in her face planting on the carpet.  One day she made it halfway across the living room.  She's still not very good without holding onto something, but she gets an A for effort.  One of these days she is just going to start running across the room. 


She has also turned into a little monkey.  She tries to climb everything. She can make it up onto the tv stand and into the basket of toys.  She tries hard to climb the baby gate and the rails of her crib.  We are going to be in a lot of trouble if she gets that figured out.

She has gotten 4 more teeth, making that a total of 6 teeth.  Now when she bites it really hurts.  I miss her gummy smile.  Her teeth make her look so much like a big girl.
Fiona says 3 words really consistently now. She says mama, dada, and dodo (dog).  She chases the dogs around the house saying dodododo.  It is pretty funny to watch.

Happy 10 months Fiona!

Not Me Monday: Camping Edition

Did you do something you aren't proud of this week?  Do you feel the need to fess up to your imperfections?  Well, join MckMama in a free therapy session and air those dirty secrets.

I definitely didn't let my child eat grass, sticks, dirt, etc. when we were camping this weekend. I was a diligent mother and kept my daughter from eating nature.

I most certainly did not almost have a head on collision with a deer while wearing my daughter. Nope I was 100% awake while walking around with my daughter in the Moby and alert to my surroundings.  I would never be so out of it that I almost got run over by Bambi.

My daughter did not have a s'more, while we were camping. I only feed her healthy foods, so I definitely didn't let her eat something so sugary. Nope, not me.

I absolutely did not give up on trying to keep my daughter from waking everyone up when she was screaming in the middle of the night.  No, I was considerate and did my best to keep her quiet so everyone else could sleep.

I didn't make myself sick because I forgot to bring the baking soda or anything else to help the wetbag of dirty diapers not stink so much. I have super pregnancy nose, so I would definitely remember to take something to keep our room smelling good.

I really was not glad to be back to sleeping in my own bed last night. No, I always love vacation and don't want to come home.

Fiona Has Something to Say

Yep, she's going to be a big sister in about 9 months!! (we think about the end of May)

We are super excited and little worried about the thought of having 2 under the age of 2.

I think this picture may show her true feelings on the subject ;)








On another note, this is my 100th post!! I think I'm a little addicted to this blogging business.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

A lot of you have seen this picture already, but it was just too cute, not to show off one more time.  Love all those fluffy bums and baby legs!!

Who Needs a Baby Monitor

Sometimes I really wonder why we wasted money on a baby monitor.  First of all our house is pretty small and you can pretty much hear through the walls well enough to know when the baby is crying in her room.  The only room you kind of need one in is if I lay a baby down to sleep in our room.

However, we apparently have a built in baby monitor in the dogs.  The dogs don't think a crying baby should be left alone.  Cry it out does not work well in our house because the dogs sit at the door and whine and scratch until you go free the Fiona from baby jail, aka the crib.  They will run back and forth down the hall from you to the baby, until you go get her.

Silly us, we didn't need to buy a baby monitor.  We had 2 already.

Aloha Friday

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.


If you won the lottery what would be your first purchase?
 
I think that I would run out and buy up all the cute baby clothes I could find.  I've only gotten to buy Fiona about 10 items of clothing in her almost 10 months of life, so I would splurge on baby clothes and accessories like shoes, because a girl needs shoes.
 
Don't forget to head over to Island Life to check out other Aloha Fridays

Fiona has been trying to walk for weeks now.  She has been cruising along furniture and attempting to stand on her own.  Last week she started actually trying to start walking without holding onto anything.  Most of these attempts ended in her face first on the floor, but she actually did take about 3 steps towards me the other day.  We decided that it might be wise to get her some sort of walking toy, so that she can "walk" around the living room without flaling flat on her face.  I found a dirt cheap one on craigslist, so we got it over the weekend.

You of course have to check out all the bells and whistles on a purchase like this.

She had the biggest goofy grin on her face when she realized that she could walk all by herself.

She has been all over the place since we got this toy.  She is going to be walking on her own any day now.  That is a very scary thought.

Look Mom! No hands!

Not Me Monday

Have you done something you are not proud of this week? Were your kids out of control? Did you lock yourself in the bathroom just to get 5 minutes of alone time? Then join in the free therapy session and head over to MckMama's blog and participate in "Not Me" Monday.

This week I definitely did not let my child run around the house diaper-less to try and clear up a nasty rash.

I most certainly did not leave the room for any length of time while said baby was diaper-less. That would just be asking for trouble. I am far to smart to do something like that.

There is no way that I returned to the room to find that my angelic daughter had finger painted my carpet, chair, and herself with her own feces. Not my daughter!

I didn't gag a little (or a lot) when I had to clean up the masterpiece my daughter had created, including some "chunks" of the previous nights dinner.

And lastly, I definitely didn't finally deduce that the diaper rash culprit was in fact peaches, immediately after feeding my daughter again. Nope, I'm a much better mother than that. I pay much closer attention to her diet and what may or may not be causing problems.

Husker Saturday

We love our Nebraska Cornhuskers. Naturally, Fiona needed something red to wear on Saturdays during football season. Since Husker baby gear is a ridiculously overpriced, I decided to make her a dress. My Mom and I found some cute red corduroy and a little red "N" to go on the the front. We were a little slow, so we didn't get it made by the first game of the season, but it is all ready to go for today.
The dress turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. However, it is just a little bit long. I think we are going to leave it though, because at least she should be able to wear it all season.

Fiona is all ready to cheer on the Huskers in today's game. She had a blast crawling around and getting loads of attention at the game last week. She probably thought it was a party just for her with all the attention she was getting and all the food she got to eat. We breed our Husker fans young ;)

Fi says "Who wants to be a cheerleader? I want to be quarterback."

Go Huskers!

Swagbucks

So I signed up for Swagbucks a couple of months ago. At first I didn't really pay any attention to it. Then I kept hearing about a friend who was getting some really cool prizes through Swagbucks. I decided to try actually using it. It really is easy to use. All you have to do is use the Swagbucks search engine like you would use any search engine and you can earn Swagbucks. Then you can use your Swagbucks for some really great prizes. I am saving mine up for Amazon.com gift cards. I really want a Wii or maybe some new cloth diapers. There are other ways to earn Swagbucks, like shopping online through the website. It's great. In a month I've earned enough Swagbucks for $10 worth of Amazon.com gift cards, and that is without really trying too hard. If you aren't signed up you should go and sign up right now. You won't regret it. Just click this link.

Growing Green Bums

I met a great cloth diapering mama on Twitter, named Marissa. She was looking for someone to do a tutorial on how to use a prefold cloth diaper for her new online store. That is the only kind of diaper that we used when Fiona was little so I volunteered to do it. I actually had fun doing it. Go here and check it out.

Well her store, Growing Green Bums had its grand opening a couple of weeks ago. Marissa was generous enough to give me a gift certificate to her new store for my help with the prefold tutorial. I was soooo excited. Our budget has been pretty tight lately, but I was in need of a few more diapers. I used my gift certificate to buy a couple of diapers and then was lucky enough to win another diaper, some wipes, a swaddle blanket, baby legs, and a Moby wrap in different drawing and treasure hunts for her grand opening. She was so generous with the prizes during her grand opening.

I couldn't wait to get my package from her. Who doesn't love fluffy mail?!? It finally showed up and I dove right in. Look at all the cute stuff



Here is a picture of Fiona in her new silly monkey Happy Heiny diaper. By the way, we are loving our Happy Heiny diapers.

I am so glad that I have a Moby wrap now. I love my sling and it is great for wearing Fiona around, but I also am really loving the Moby. It is a little more complicated, but Fiona loves to be snuggled in it. Her Daddy has even used it. He wore her around like this for quite awhile after work one day. Aren't they sweet?

Anyway, Marissa is super sweet and I love supporting WAHM (work at home moms). Go check out her store, Growing Green Bums, and buy a diaper or two, or some of the other great products she has.

Fluff Butt Event

There is a big Fluff Butt event going on over at Cassidy's blog, The First Time Around.
She will hosting reviews and giveaways sponsored by companies such as:
- For Baby With Love (Happy Heiny Review)
- FuzziBunz
- The Natural Baby Company (Gro Baby)
- DryBees
-Seventh Generation
- Snap-Ez Eco
- NuBunz
- The Diaper Sprayer
- Rockin Green Soap
- KissaLuv
- Thirsties
- Kushies
- Baby Bunz (Snugglebottom Diaper)
- CuddleWuddle.com (Fort Wayne Indiana's OWN diaper company!!)
- Baby Legs
- A Nurturing Moment
- My Sweet Punkin Patch
+ A FEW MORE!!

So go check it out!

Body After Baby Challenge: We Made It!

Samantha at MamaNotes hosted the Body After Baby Challenge: Fit by Labor Day. Well, it's Labor Day. It's been 8 long weeks and I'm glad that I participated.

I didn't reach all my goals, but I feel a lot better about myself. My main goal was to lose about 8 pounds so that I would fit back into some of my prepregnancy clothes. I lost 7 pounds that I was able to keep off!! I'm back in my "skinny" clothes and it feels great.

I kind of fell of the wagon as far as toning up. I did try to lift weights a couple times a week, but this one was a lot harder for me to stay motivated with.

I have started to eat much healthier since the challenge began. I know that I will stick with my healthier eating habits because it sets a good example for Fiona and it makes me feel so much better. I have noticed that when I choose to eat something like fast food, now I feel really icky after eating it. I'm feeling better eating salads and healthier options. That doesn't mean I'm depriving myself by any means. I still eat whatever I want, just in much smaller portions and I just don't want the unhealthy option as often.

Go here to look at the before picture (I was too lazy to upload it again). Finally, the after picture:

This challenge has helped to me feel better about myself and develop healthier habits in my life. Thanks Samantha for hosting it!! Head over to MamaNotes to check out all the after pictures.

Boxes

Why do we bother to buy toys for babies/children? Remember how I said that I wasn't sure if Fiona was more excited about the box or the car seat? It's because she has spent every free moment since we took the car seat out of the box, playing with and in the box.

When you get a box you should always check to make sure all the sides are secure. Also make sure to bring your blankie. You never know when you might need it.

Hours and hours of fun. That means lots of quiet time for Mommy :)

This box playing is serious business, Mom.

And of course, what fun would it be without your best friend?

It's so Pink!

Recently we discovered that Fiona was quickly approaching the maximum weight for her infant car seat. After lots of hours of researching car seats, I found a good deal on a Britax Boulevard. I will admit, I was pretty darn excited when the UPS guy dropped this box off.

Fiona was pretty excited as well. However, I'm not sure if she was more excited about the pretty pink car seat or the box it came in (more on that in another post).

Doesn't it make her look small? I can't imagine what a newborn would look like in that car seat.

Nathan was not overly excited about how bright pink and girly the car seat is, but I think Fiona likes it. Mommy certainly does.

I figured it was pretty safe to go with pink considering she will probably have to sit in this until she is 6 at the rate she's growing ;) I hope she doesn't get sick of the pink and flowers.

If you peek into our backseat there sure isn't any mistaking that we have a girl :)