Adventures in Cloth

We started off the day with our newest adventure - cloth diapers. I've researched on and off about cloth diapers in the past, but just couldn't get past the poo part of it all. I got interested again recently because of the savings and really kicked my research into high gear. After figuring out how much money we would spend buying disposables for at least the next 3 1/2 years (a good portion of that includes buying diapers for two and we buy the cheap diapers), it just seemed silly not to give cloth a try. And seriously, I've been dealing with so much potty training poo here lately, what's a little more? So here we are . . . giving cloth a try!

First cloth diaper ever - "Twilight" bumGenius 4.0 with snaps

Proud to show off his velcro bumGenius 4.0 in "Butternut."

So here's a funny story about our first day in cloth. After lunch Sam made some serious faces and noises that indicated he would definitely need a diaper change in a few minutes. I took him upstairs to find the easiest poop diaper change I've ever had. It fell right into the toilet, no problem. I was actually a little disappointed that I didn't get to use my diaper sprayer (that's like the sprayer on your kitchen sink - it just attaches to the toilet to help with the "messy" poops). I even bragged to Marshall about how easy it was! About 30 minutes later, I started to smell something . . . That stinker had gone and pooped again! And this time - ooh, it was MESSY! I figured that's what I get for bragging about the first one and let me tell you about the diaper sprayer . . . Best. Thing. Ever!


So far things are going pretty well with the cloth diapers. We even had a chance to play peek-a-boo while reading books this afternoon.

Here he's wearing FuzziBunz in "Mac N Cheese."
(I'm loving the color names! We also have "Grasshopper" - obviously it's green - but I felt silly taking a picture of every diaper he wore today and that's the one that only lasted 30 minutes.)

As a side note, my baby actually did wear clothes today, but what fun is a post about cloth diapers if you can't see the diapers! So I stripped him down to take a few pictures. This way you get to see all those adorable rolls!

Pop's Tradition

Pop started a tradition when Jack was little of feeding him ice cream while he sat in his lap. Over the past few years, Pop's lap has gotten a bit more crowded, but everyone knows that after baths, it's ice cream time at Pop's house and they love it!

Daddy's Big Helper

Marshall was trying to install a new "accessory" to our toilet the other day and somebody decided to help him out.

Check out this post for a look back at Jack doing the very same thing (he was about a month older than Sam is here). Also, they both had snacks in the bathroom. Um . . . GROSS!! What kind of mother am I?!

(More info on our new toilet "accessory" coming soon!)

Climbing and Pretzels

I'm telling you, I can't turn my back for a second with this guy! One day last week I pulled up the blinds in his room while I was folding clothes on his changing table (my back was to the window). He was playing on the floor and when I turned around to put clothes in the drawer, this is what I found:

Today, I was in the process of cleaning up after lunch and before I could get to him, Sam pulled the entire bag of pretzels off the table and then all three of them proceeded to eat pretzels off the the kitchen floor! Thankfully I just mopped yesterday.

(I realize that 2/3 of my children are still in their pajamas at 12:45 in the afternoon, but today was our lazy day for the week!)

12 Weeks

I went to the doctor today for my 12 week appointment and baby #4 is doing great! I had an ultrasound to check the heart rate, which measured 175, and everything looks perfect. You can already see arms and legs (the head is on the left, the white circle to the right of it is a hand, and the feet are the white marks even further to the right)! I am actually feeling pretty good most of the time. I'm tired, of course, and I've had some days of constant queasiness, but I've only been sick once (huge blessing). The worst part of my day is 5:00 pm, even if I snack, but hopefully that will go away soon. Overall, I really can't complain because this precious baby is absolutely worth it!

Touch-A-Truck

We hit up the park this morning for their annual "Touch-A-Truck" shindig. There were tons of vehicles the kids could climb on and in and Jack and Anna had a blast running all over "driving" the different trucks.

My boy looks especially old in this picture to me.

He loved playing with all the gears and buttons on everything.

Driving the trolley.

This passenger isn't exactly riding in the appropriate spot - that's the windshield of the trolley behind her and Jack is just off to the left driving.

My girl was tired by the end, but we all had lots of fun.

This is how she sleeps . . .

This boy . . .

gets into EVERYTHING!!

We've been doing some painting in the kitchen recently and had the step stool out. I moved it out of the way, not thinking much about it, and when I walked back into the foyer, this is what I found:

The stinker just grinned and waved at me once he got busted! He really does love steps and is great at getting up and down. Sometimes when the kids are all playing in the bonus room and I'm putting up laundry in the next room, Jack or Anna will open the baby gate to go downstairs and leave it open. Before I know it, Sam is happily playing downstairs within a few seconds - he's so fast!

In other news, I think we can officially say he's walking now. He's been taking "real" steps (not the kind you fall into) for about a week (maybe longer?), but just over the past several days he will walk the length of the room. I still haven't seen him stand up by himself (he always pulls up on something), but he's walking more and more every day.

I can't get the video to load but this is a picture I accidentally snapped when I thought I was taking a video. :)

Potty Update

Here's the nitty gritty about the potty progress:

- Overall she's doing well! She was pretty constipated the whole first week, so we had to work through that.
- Now she's having the opposite problem and it's leading to lots of poopy accidents - yuck!
- She's pretty good at staying dry, as long as I make her go to the bathroom.
- She's had several days of zero accidents, and most other days recently she's only had one.
- She never tells me when she needs to go, but I've figured it out for the most part (except for the pooping).
- She sleeps in a diaper at night but has woken up dry most days. The days that she's been wet are when I don't get to her immediately after she wakes up.
- She sleeps in her panties during naps, and when she actually sleeps, no accidents. On the days she and Jack don't settle down and sleep, she usually has poopy panties.
- Too much information? Probably, but I actually just went back and read all of my posts from potty training Jack and it's made me feel much better about her progress, so really, this is just for me when it's Sam's turn!
- She's only pooped on the potty once in the 11 days we've been potty training, so I think I'm going to try a different approach. I've tried special rewards just for pooping but it hasn't really made a difference yet. I'm thinking about a separate sticker chart just for pooping. Not really sure at this point.
- I didn't have this issue with Jack so this is a whole different ballgame for me. We are working through it though and I am proud of how she's doing!

Thank Goodness for Super Glue and Silly Bandz

To make a long story short, we were in the Target parking lot and I picked Anna up out of the shopping cart and put her in the van. Somehow she lost her balance and fell out backwards onto the parking lot. The back of her head was a bloody mess so we went to the doctor to have him check her out. Thankfully, it wasn't too serious, just really messy. He numbed her head with some sort of goo, while we waited 30 minutes for it to actually make everything numb. Anna was distracted by a pack of silly bandz (the kids discovered these for the first time at a birthday party this weekend and fell in love) I had in my purse that were supposed to be potty prizes. She was so patient and cooperative when they came into scrub her head and glue it back together. We've already dealt with this medical super glue when Jack had an incident a while back, so once again, it saved the day. She declared that her head felt much better immediately! It probably helped that the doctor told her it was purple "princess glue" to make her boo boo feel better. She was a trooper and we are super thankful for the wonderful super glue that fixed her head and the silly bandz that entertained her today.

Rock On

I took this picture of Jack today and it immediately made me think of another picture I took right after Anna was born.

My how 2 1/2 years sure will turn a baby into a big boy!

Mmm . . . Corn!

This boy sure does love corn on the cob - he can eat more than the other two combined!

Potty Time

So we started potty training Anna last Friday. I haven't blogged about it yet, because I'm just not sure how I feel about it! The first couple days were extremely frustrating for me and I had to keep telling myself that I'm sure I felt this way while Jack was potty training, I just don't remember all the nitty gritty details. Yesterday she finally worked her way through the sticker chart enough to get her "special prize" (she got to pick one toy from a bag of dollar store goodies) and I think that helped motivate her tremendously! Pooping is going to be a problem for her - she has yet to do that on the potty in the six days we've been working on this and hasn't gone at all in the last several days. I've tried to up her fruit intake, but she really doesn't love the stuff, so I have to find fiber somewhere else (Miralax isn't really working either). Maybe this is TMI, but I will certainly take suggestions if anyone has any! She wakes up dry from her naps usually and has been dry in the mornings about 50% of the time, but she's in diapers at night (with the exception on one night where I had to get up to change her clothes at 4:45, so we went back to diapers after that). She really is doing well, though, and we're proud of her!

Mischievous Number 3

Three children are being raised in this house. Three children who have all tested their boundaries in different ways. Three children, all of whom, have grown up around this particular baby gate that's placed at the top of our stairs to keep them safe. However, only number 3 has actually tried to escape confinement by crawling UNDER the gate to get down the steps!

Do you see how I can't turn my back for even a second with this one?!

An Update

This guy still loves being a big brother. He has a great time playing with Anna and making Sam laugh. Until he gets tired of it, and then he definitely lets you know he wants to be alone. Then he just wants to snuggle with his yellow blanket (yes, he still has it). We're working through a whiny stage right now, but I think I can see the light at the end of that tunnel. He still has a passion for Thomas, Lightning McQueen, and now Buzz Lightyear. He loves puzzles (and is very good a them) and still likes sitting in your lap to read a good book.

This girl doesn't want to do anything unless it's her idea. We've been working on potty training the past couple days and it's not been the most pleasant experience (for me - she doesn't care)! I'm having to change my approach to things and I'm still not sure how that's going to go. She is very into making her own decisions, but takes forever to actually make up her mind! She loves princess shoes, but also has a soft spot for Thomas. She also has a knack for wanting to give you hugs and kisses right at the moment you're fussing at her! She enjoys singing more than any kid I know and will make up a song to go with anything.

This guy has absolutely no fear. He climbs on everything and I find him on top of the (kiddie) table multiple times a day! He's pretty content to play by himself, but also adores watching his big siblings play and entertain him. He has a molar that's almost completely through on top and I just noticed it the other day. He's a pretty big biter these days so we try to keep our fingers (and arms and legs) far away from his mouth. He can throw a fit with the best of them and has a pretty distinct fake cry when he's doing it. He's becoming a thrower and will toss anything when he's in one of those moods. He still has the cutest belly laugh when Daddy tickles his ribs in just the right spot.