Brother Drew

So I get a frantic call from my brother-in-law Drew (who by the way is a HUGE germa-phobe) last night and it went a little like this:

Drew: "So i have some questions about this cloth diapering thing.  It seems really gross"

Me:     "Yeah, what's the problem?"

Drew: "So you like, throw her poopy dirty diapers in your washing machine with all your other clothes?  I mean, aren't you touching poop?  How do you clean it?  Is there poop everywhere?"

Me (laughing hysterically): "No, no first of all I use a biodegradable flushable liner that i just flush away with all the poop on it.  Then we wash all the diapers separately from all our other clothes and they go through a 3 wash cycle of cold, hot and an extra rinse to make sure its all sanitary.  I swear its all clean and there is no residue or stains or anything.  Really, it's not that gross.  I promise"

Drew: "Hmmmmm, Oh, oh ok then i guess its OK.  I was really worried about that.  I wasn't sure i was going to be able to sleep tonight until we got that straightened out."

You have to know Drew to know exactly how hilarious this conversation was, but truly it made me laugh all night long.  

So----- we decided to make the full jump into the cloth diapering world. We ordered 12 more diapers last night and plan to do it when she is home with us- we aren't going to make her nanny deal with it. It should still save us quite a bit of money in the long run and honestly its pretty easy to do. Seriously its really not any extra work at all. i can't believe I am going to be a cloth diapering parent-who would have ever thought????

Here is a pic of Avery checking out the dogs.  She LOVES to watch them run and play and could seriously sit like this for hours!  So cute!

And in other news, my birthday was yesterday so my sweet husband took me out to a yummy dinner.  Avery was a little angel all through dinner even though it was waayyyyy past her bedtime.  It was so nice to have a relaxing dinner with my family and overall it was a pretty good birthday.  These pictures aren't that good but they were all that we took!

Doggies are a Girl's Best Friend

Marley is completely enamored with Avery.  She just can't get enough of her.  And she is totally adorable with her- she is really sweet and gentle and just tries to lick Avery's toes, which Avery thinks is hilarious.

This morning we were having a little tummy time (which Avery LOVES now by the way!) and I was just taking a few pics and playing with my sweet girl.........

When Marley started creeping closer and closer and closer.............

and then finally.................

Isn't that the absolute cutest thing you have every seen????  So freakin' adorable!  I think these two are going to be best friends!

oh yeah- for those wondering- we are on Day 2 of the "Cloth Diaper Experiment" and still going strong.  I survived through the first poopy diaper and it really wasn't all that bad.  So far not as hard as I thought it would be............i will keep you updated but i may be a cloth diaper convert pretty soon......

Adventures in Cloth Diapering

Let me preface this post by saying i never, ever EVER thought i would be the type of person who would try cloth diapering.  I am not a granola, organic, earthy person but i starting doing the math the other day and discovered that i could possibly save up to $500 a year on diapers if i switched to cloth diapers.  $500 a year- are you kidding me?  So I started doing some research and found that cloth diapers are not at all what i thought they were.  I pictured the flimsy cloth diapers that are held together by safety pins.........well that is not at all what they are like anymore.  They are so simple now and after a bunch of research (aka google searching) i decided to give the BumGenius brand a try (www.bumgenius.com)

So they seem super easy to use- you just have a removable liner and then you just throw it all in the washer when they are soiled.  No safety pins, no touching poop, no $40 for a box of diapers.  Seems like a great option, right?  

Well today was day 1 in the "Cloth Diaper Experiment" and so far so good.  They seem to fit Avery well, and they look super cute on her (and thats really what is most important after all).

We only got a couple of BumGenius diapers to try and make sure this was realistic before we make the investment, but so far so good.  I think it will take a few days for me to actually get used to how they fit and to learn all the ins and outs but i really like them so far.  Stay tuned for updates on my adventures in cloth diapering!

Happy 5 Month Birthday, Baby Girl!

At 9:23 AM exactly 5 months ago we were blessed with our precious little angel Avery Kathryn.  Time has really flown by and it is truly so amazing how fast babies grow in such a short amount of time.  Avery is growing every day and is rolling all over the place now.  She is thisclose to sitting up on her own.  She is laughing constantly at her mom, dad, and the dogs and is truly one of the happiest babies i have ever seen.  We are so blessed.

We had these professional pictures taken by a friend of ours when Avery was 2 1/2 weeks old and i thought it would be fun (or at least fun for me) to take a look back and see how much she has grown.  Enjoy!

Avery's First (and hopefully last!) Tropical Storm

So we survived Tropical Storm Faye.  It has rained ALOT and the winds got pretty strong but other than that nothing too extreme.  We were one of the lucky ones who didn't lose power and our neighborhood is in an area that does not flood so thankfully we got off pretty easy.  The schools around here have been cancelled for the past 2 days (the city officials don't play around if there is the potential for hurricanes!) so I have been home with Avery- which has been a great little vacation for her and I.  It was really nice because we couldn't really leave the house so it has just been the two of us here at the house all day long.  Normally on my day off I have to run a bunch of errands and get stuff done that I don't have time to get to during the week- but today we haven't left at all (we are both still in our jammies!) and it has been so amazing.  So much fun to watch her play all day long and get to just relax and enjoy our little blessing.

Here is a little video of her playing today.........she obviously wasn't phased at all by the storm!

Mom's Day Off

I was off today and we have had a very eventful day so far.......and its only 4:30PM here!

We started off by waking up early at 7AM and both Avery and I were wide awake so we decided to run some errands.  We went to Target (we LOVE that place!) and got Avery a high chair.  I can't believe my little baby already needs a high chair but since she started eating cereal we have been feeding her in the Bumbo chair and it was waaaayyyyy too messy, so a high chair it is now.   I think she looks pretty good in it, don't you? 

And Avery has been taking marathon naps today, for like 2 hours each nap!  Which is great for me since this is my only day off I have been able to catch up on all the laundry, dishes, mail, bills, and housework that has been piling up for the past week or so.  Doesn't she look so cute right when she wakes up?  I am not biased at all.......

Avery LOVES to be outside so  I try to take her outside for at least a little bit every day (when its not a bazillion degrees outside).  She loves to look at everything and watch the dogs, and it gives me time to try out all the different setting on my camera.  Here are some pics we took today. 

And the best part is that Matt is supposed to get off early tonight and we all get to spend a night together as a family.  Days just don't get much better than this!  God is good!

I'm a model, you know what i mean?

I read some good advice today about how to use the different settings on your camera and i got inspired....so Avery & I went outside in the backyard and had ourselves a little photo shoot.  She was very patient while I played around with the settings- our dogs Macy and Marley kept her VERY entertained (she thinks they are hilarous).  The pictures look better on my IPhoto but I think I got some pretty good shots.  What do you think?

"Those dogs are SO funny!"

"Yummmm, I love to eat my hands- especially after Marley just licked them and I stuck them in the dirt......."

My favorite shot

What you lookin at Willis?

This was before we went outside (obviously) and i was just messing with the camera but i thought it was a funny shot :-)

Can't forget sweet Macy dog.  I tried to get one of Marley but she wouldn't sit still long enough!

Four Generations

My mom, grandma, sister Jessica and niece Emersyn all came to visit us last week and we had a blast!!! It was so much fun to have the two baby girl cousins together and to get to spend some time with my family.  We kept pretty busy with shopping, going to the casino, strollin' around outside and site-seeing.  Really it was such a fun trip and some much needed family-time and we are SO sad that they are already gone..........hopefully we can see them again soon.

There are SO many cute pictures of the girls together that it was hard to choose so i am sure i will do another (possibly two!) more posts with more pictures.  So get ready for a bunch of cute pics.............

The cutest little 8 month old in the world- Emersyn Kay

Emersyn:  "Ummm, why are you wearing a hat?"

Avery:  "I don't know, my mom always dresses me in weird stuff."

Emersyn & Avery

(sidenote: Avery is 4 1/2 months and Emersyn is 8 1/2 months........they look the same age!  All week long people kept asking if they were twins-haha!)

Since we had a carload full of 6 people this is how we rode.  The girls got a private show from whoever was sitting in the 3rd seat.  Jessica was usually the one back there and Avery thought she was hilarious and laughed at her the entire time........Emersyn wasn't as impressed.  See the video below

Mom carrying Avery around in my Baby K'Tan (which if i haven't mentioned before is a HUGE lifesaver and i wish i had purchased one sooner!)

sleepy-heads

Us at the casino.....can you believe that this is the only group shot i took????  I was too busy enjoying all the company and didn't take nearly as many pictures as i normally do!  ugh!

Mom with Avery- modeling one of the (many) cute outfits that the grandmas bought for the girls at the baby boutique shop.  

my precious angel

outfit #2 that the grandmas bought

I am not so sure how i feel about the matching headband....sort of looks like a sweatband here-haha, but the dress is precious.  Matt of course said "she looks like a cupcake"........men...they just don't understand

"Now how can i get all this into my mouth?"

"Hey, I like your outfit!"

hahahahaha

this is one of my favorite pictures because it just shows the babies being babies........wish we could do this more often because i am sure these girls could really get into some trouble together!

grandma and avery

We miss you guys already!!!!!!!!  Come back soon!!!!!

Cereal Eater

I meant to post these earlier but my mom, grandma, sister Jessica and niece Emersyn came to visit (more pics to come in another post) so i got sidetracked.  BUT we started cereal with Avery a few days ago and it was pretty funny.  She had that "what the heck is this stuff?" look on her face the whole time but i think she is slowly starting to get the hang of it...........sort of!

Day 1

"ummm, what do you expect me to do with this stuff?"

Day 1- after her 1st bite

"whoa- this is really weird"

Day 1

"OK i have had enough if this stuff- gimme my regular food"

Day 2

"Let's try this again"

Day 2

"Now explain to me how you chew again....."