More about my cloth diaper obsession

Baby daughter loves her cloth diapers! I love them too. I do spend money on them, but only when I've got it & find an irresistable deal. I discovered Kelly's Closet a while back when they had a great free shipping deal. I also discovered their blog & have been loyally following it ever since.

My current strategy when considering purchasing another diaper has been to get one size or adjustable, that is neutral colored or natural. Baby Daughter's diapers will still be in very usable condition when she is totally potty trained & it will be really nice to pass them down.....that will be a HUGE cost savings.

There are contests going on all the time all over the blogasphere & whenever they involve baby or kid stuff that interests me I try to enter. I have not won anything yet, but I'm very hopeful about the chance to win the latest Cloth Diaper Whisperer drawing. I have NEVER bought that many diapers at once & it would be such a thrill to win. Of course pretty much every person who has a child in cloth diapers is also trying to win, so I know my chances are rather slim.



If you have a baby or know somebody who is having a baby soon, I highly recommend checking out both the blog & the online store!

Have you heard about this?

My favorite online cloth diaper store is having a GREAT giveaway!!! I would LOVE to win all this stuff for Baby Daughter. She is now totally in cloth, it is amazing to me how much money we are saving. She will probably potty train by Summer, but she may not be our last.....maybe she will have a younger sibling eventually to pass these down.

I have more to say about this, but I'm going to spread it out over a couple days to get some extra entries to the contest.

Why is it so hard to find a simple baby doll with HAIR?

My 3 yr old LOVES baby dolls. She would like a baby doll that closes it's eyes when it is "sleeping", takes a bottle or pacifier & has HAIR. I would like a doll that costs less than $20. I have looked & looked & looked. Dolls that close their eyes when they "sleep" are few & far between now days & the ones I can find are all either totally bald or have painted on hair. She got a Dora doll that closes her eyes, for her birthday, but it is not a BABY.....she wants a baby. I'm seriously considering this fisher price doll

It makes noises, takes a bottle & pacifier & turns it's head, but unfortunately it doesn't close it's eyes & it has no hair.

Another that I'm considering is this Fisher Price doll.She has hair, she says her ABC's & plays games, but she doesn't take a bottle & doesn't sleep. She is also over the $20 budget.

Fortunately, the 8 yr old & the 1 yr olds were easy this year. I'm struggling a bit on this doll thing for the 3 yr old, but also procrastinating so that I don't have to even think about how difficult it is going to be to shop for the 10 yr old, the 18 yr old & the 21 yr old.....boys stop being easy when they outgrow trucks & move into the "everything must be electronic" phase. Plus they can all read & know way more than I do about computers, so I can't even ask for help when it comes to finding things for them.

Anyone have any good doll suggestions?

Well, I guess snow flurries are pretty....

The kids were very excited to see it snowing. I was very happy to see it melt as soon as it hit the ground. It has been very cold, but fortunately there doesn't seem to have been enough moisture for much snow. We drove past a sign on our way home from church that said the temperature was 38....it felt like 28 to me. I need to remember to take my wool coat to the cleaners tomorrow, I froze in my light jacket today.

Cold and Rainy Saturday

The temperature has suddenly turned much colder and it was drizzling as I arrived home from picking hubby up from work. We told the 10 yr old & the 8 yr old that we might get snow tonight.....they were thrilled!!! I wish I shared their enthusiasm, the thought of snow just makes me shiver and think about the mess that will follow.

Operation Christmas Child

This is the week when the boxes are due!!! We ended up making two boxes. Our church blessed the boxes last Sunday, but because of our hectic schedule we forgot to bring them then, so we took them & dropped them off at church yesterday before choir practice. The stack that our church has collected was pretty impressive. I hope they make a difference in the lives of some children this Christmas season.

10 yr old's box is for a boy age 5-9. It has a bar of soap, a cotton washcloth, a toothbrush & toothpaste, a comb, lots & lots of hard candy (mostly lollipops), two packets of hot chocolate powder, a packet of spiced apple cider powder, a Cars mini spiral notebook, colored pencils, regular pencils, stickers, lined index cards & 5 miniature Cars skateboards. It is all small stuff, but it is a nice variety. Hopefully the child who receives it will enjoy these things.

8 yr old's box is for a girl age 5-9. It has a bar of soap, a cotton washcloth, a toothbrush & toothpaste, a comb, hair ties, hair clips, lots & lots of hard candy (mostly lollipops), two packets of hot chocolate powder, a packet of spiced apple cider powder, a Princess mini spiral notebook, colored pencils, regular pencils, stickers, lined index cards & a jump rope. We ran out of ideas & space to put anything else inside, hopefully it will be enjoyed as well.

Busy, busy, busy

Things are hectic here right now. Baby Daughter's baptism was last Sunday. Amazingly she fit into the gown that three of her siblings wore for their baptisms when they were infants. She is very close to 18 months & definitely not on the small side. I didn't get any good pictures. She does love the gown, so I'm hoping to get her to pose for some pictures in the next few days.

My Mom is still here. Organizing is going slowly, but it is progressing. Yesterday we found a house for her to rent that is less than a mile away. It needs work, but it is the kind of work she really enjoys doing. She will have free rein to decorate any way she likes & there is a private yard with lots of trees. Best of all, she got a great deal on the rent in exchange for the work she will be putting in. It is bigger than the apartment she has now, costs less per month & is 2 minutes from my house!!!

Hubby saw the vein Dr today too....yesterday they did an ultrasound of his veins. They have decided he needs a laser procedure that he is a bit squeamish about, but hopefully it won't be too difficult for him & it may actually help a great deal with the problems he's been having. Now we wait to see if the insurance approves the recommended treatment & if the Dr's office can get him scheduled before the end of the year when our insurance carrier is due to change.

Second Son is hopefully registering to start college soon. I need to go with him & find out WHY they are saying he needs remedial English, he passed 4 yrs of high school English, got a decent score on the ACT & he passed the schools English placement test. He can't get a straight answer, so MOM needs to step in & figure out what the problem is. We will also need to finish all the financial aid stuff. He will turn 19 in January, so if he isn't in school full time by then or at least registered, our insurance may drop him.

All the paperwork came this week for the new insurance plan too, now I have to crunch the numbers & figure out which of 3 plans is REALLY the best one for us. Because of merger stuff going on inside the company Hubby works for, this insurance plan is only temporary & I will have to make all these choices again in the Spring for a new plan that will start June 1st. I guess the only consolation in that is that if I screw up the choices for the plan that begins January 1st we only have to live with it for 5 months.

Baptism

Baby Daughter's baptism was this morning. She is almost 18 months and we have been planning on doing it for quite a while. Ideally, I would have liked to do it last year, but our life was too chaotic. We have recently found a new church home & I'm feeling very comfortable & involved there, so the time was right.

She wore the gown that my Mom made by hand for our youngest son. The four youngest have now all worn it. Youngest Son was a little over 7 months old for his baptism & the other girls were 5 months & 3 months respectively when they wore it, it is amazing that it fit. It actually looked like it had been custom made just for her, the sleeves were the perfect length, the hem came to her toes, allowing her to walk without tripping. It truly was perfect.

She did not like having her back to the water as the priest scooped it up & poured it over the back of her head, but other than that, she did very well. Telling us "wet" & feeling her head in amazement after she was handed back. Fortunately, she didn't actually cry.

Unique new punishment

The 8 yr old & the 10 yr old were bickering & fighting all afternoon. They lost their computer privileges for a week, but didn't stop the fighting. Their Grandmother was with them & told them to go to their rooms. The 8 yr old did as she was told, taking her 3 yr old sister with her to play. But the 10 yr old felt the need to be defiant...he refused.

The usual punishments of grounding or taking things away don't seem to be enough to deter misbehavior & defiance in the 10 yr old anymore, so a new punishment was needed. Hmmm, how to impress on him that listening to authority is THE most important of household rules? Well, we decided that it was time for him to learn a new chore. He has had the responsibility of unloading the dishwasher for almost 2 yrs. Tonight he learned to LOAD the dishwasher. He put everything in & then I showed him how to rearrange a few pieces to their appropriate places. His only complaint was that the dirty dishes were slimy...he threw quite a fit about the sliminess, so we decided that he also needed to learn to wash dishes by hand. First he had to take all the dirty dishes out of the sink & stack them, then he had to learn about getting the water to the best temperature, how much soap to put in the sink. He washed the dishes, rinsed the dishes, dried them & put them away. He declared it to be a "fun" chore. Since he likes it so much, he will be keeping it for a while. I guess we'll see if he still considers it fun in a few weeks.

Works for me Wednesday...TOYS that stand the test of time

Like I've said, I've got SIX kids. I LOVE toys. I still have the original Little Tikes Bowling set and the Wee Waffle Blocks & Bucket that were bought for my now 21 yr old son when he was a toddler, I think those toys are older than my 18 yr old son. All my kids have played with & loved them. Soon my granddaughter will be joining in the fun. When my 18 yr old son was about 4, we discovered the Thomas the Train & Brio Wooden Trains. They were quite pricey & we didn't buy many at a time, but over the years we have acquired quite a collection. These get played with frequently & have held up well. We also have a collection of wooden blocks that have been added to over the years, each of my children has loved them for an extended period of time & they are still one of the most popular toys on days when the kids have to play inside.

When my oldest daughter was 2, I found a Fisher Price Doll House at Once Upon a Child (2nd hand store). It came with a bunch of people & accessories. Over the years, we have added more people, vehicles, pets & furniture. She is now 8 and still plays with it. My 3 yr old & 1 yr old play with it almost daily and the neighbor's little girl LOVES it so much her grandparents just bought her one of her own.

When we fall in love with something that is very pricey, I look for it in second hand stores & buy some of the accessories as they go on sale. Over the years we have acquired almost the entire Rescue Hero's set. My youngest son is now 10 & doesn't play with them anymore, but my 3 yr old is just discovering it & I think they will soon be one of her favorite toys. Fisher Price seems to have discontinued the line.

I try to buy toys that can be added to, that are very sturdy & that allow for lots of imagination. The toys I've listed have certainly lived up to our family's needs in all these areas.

No school because of the election?

I found out this afternoon after the kids got out of school that there is no school tomorrow. Most of the schools in our county are polling places, so for the convenience of the adults, the kids all get the day off. I guess this is such an ingrained thing here that nobody thought it was necessary to notify parents. It's a good thing I'm a stay at home Mom....otherwise, I'd be hunting for last minute childcare.

And now it is NOVEMBER!

Wow, that month of October just flew by. I LOVE the Fall time change....in the mornings, but when it starts getting dark at 5:30, I remember why I'm not a fan. The extra hour of sleep this morning was really nice, but it isn't even 8:30 yet & I'm ready to go to sleep.