Happy Father's Day! (Part 1)

Last year, I took pictures of Tavin for Father's Day.  I decided to do the same again this year.

Unbeknownst to me, it would be one of the biggest challenges ever!

First, I tried sitting him down where I did last year

NOPE!

Next, I tried giving him a letter.

Moving toddler + one person with camera=horrible pictures!  NOPE!

So I racked my brain of what would get some good pictures.

Scout...

NOPE!

Ball...

NOPE!

Then a lightbulb went on...



Chicken Dance Elmo!!

So forgive me, for the bright yellow furry thing in the upcoming pictures but it was the only thing he would get excited for and give me a decent picture!

Pictures for dad....

CONQUERED!

Momma's Boy!

Tavin is definitely a mommy's boy.  Whenever he sees me he immediately wants to come to me and give me a hug.  He's pretty awesome and being a mom is something I didn't expect to love as much as I do.

Our self portrait

His new favorite toy (courtesy of Grandma)

I love this little guy to pieces!

Our Animal House

Just some random pictures of our zoo animals these days.

Daisy trying to figure out how to get the fish

Sadie waiting for Daisy to finish drinking

It's interesting to see how Daisy follows Minnie and sleeps where she sleeps.  Minnie's been a great big sister, except for the times when Daisy wants to play and Minnie just wants to go.outside.now!

I did not stage this picture!  Daisy jumped and curled up with Sadie all on her own!

And finally a little smothering loving from Tavin

First Summer Swim!

The weather was nice about a month ago-May 19 (yeah, I'm that late in uploading my pics).  We decided to blow up the swimming pool Shaun bought last year and let Tavin splash in it.  He had a BLAST!

All was going well until we tried to "float" him in the water.  He sort of froze up and freaked out.  Looks like we have some work to do!

Some after swimming/nap hair

LOVE it!

Master Bedroom Facelift

When we moved into our house in 2007 the master bedroom was decorated perfectly to match our bedspread already and so we left it.

But now, it's feeling drab and ready for an update.

I scoured the internet for ideas for a bedspread and had suggestions to try a duvet cover.  So with that suggestion I stumbled upon this:

And we were in LOVE!

We managed to pick the wall colors fairly easily.

Now we are stumped as to what to do for curtains.  I thought about sewing some but we can't find anything we like......

Stay tuned for before and after pictures!

Your kid looks a lot like . . .

I think every parent gets this.  The "you're kid looks a lot like you".  Well, I sure hope so!

So here's a bit of a flashback

Shaun (circa 1982?)

Mel (circa 1981)

And now Tavin

Introducing Our Newest Arrival!

Yep we have a new arrival in the family!  Another four-legged addition!

Introducing Miss Daisy Lynn.  And yes we give our furbabies middle names.  She was born March 1, 2013.

Everyone is still adjusting including Daisy who is secluded for most of the day to allow everyone time to adjust.  Minnie and Sadie have been doing great when she is out from her seclusion.  Minnie has actually shown some interest in wanting to play with Daisy and Sadie has only attempted to hunt chase her a few times.

Tavin LOVES Daisy. Loves to pick her up and choke hug her, loves to try and get her to play with the cat toys.  It'll be cute watching them grow up together!

Cloth Diapering

I haven't discussed it on here before but we are huge into cloth diapers (CD).  We've CD'd ever since we ran out of the disposables about 1 week after Tavin was born.  I had other disposables but they didn't fit Tavin right and we constantly had leaks.  Since switching, we haven't looked back.

We started out with mainly Fuzzibunz, Kissaluvs, and a few randoms (Oh Katy, Rumparooz, fitteds with covers).  I loved both Fuzzibunz and Kissaluvs when he was little. Fuzzibunz worked good until he was about 4 months and then we would continually get leaks near the inner thighs.  I read this was common.

So we switched mainly to bumGenius (velcro for daycare) and Diaper Safari (stuffed with a BG one size microfiber) for the day and Kawaii (goodnight heavy wetter) for overnight.  The overnight is stuffed with microfiber (closest to baby), bamboo, and hemp in that order.  There are very few times when I have leaks overnight.  If you are new to CDs and wonder why I use three different inserts, you may find this helpful:

"Inserts or soakers have different absorption rates. From fastest to slowest, it's microfiber, bamboo, then hemp. They also have different levels of absorbency. Hemp is the most absorbent, then bamboo, then microfiber."

Source:  http://happyfrazzledmom.blogspot.com/2012/04/cloth-diapers-101-great-learning.html

Granted I purchased more CDs than I should have on my way to finding my 3 favorite but the good thing is I can resell what we no longer use :)  Speaking of overbuying, I mostly bought gently used diapers.  My favorite spots to buy used/new were Diaperswappers or Spots' Corner.

Cloth diapering, like anything, has a learning curve.  Heck, even I was about ready to give up when we had stink and leak issues.  But then I realized, so does everyone at some point and trudged on.

Along with cloth diapering comes cloth wipes.  We've found the best for us is to use a single layer of flannel wipes (8x8) with our homemade solution of water, baby soap, lavender EO, and tea tree EO and put in a wipes warmer.

We fell into a routine with washing when I went back to work.  We wash every other day starting at night when we put Tavin to bed.  We use Tide Powder.  Here is what our washing consists of:

• a speed wash (no soap):  hot wash/cold rinse with no spin. (29 minutes)
• A long wash (about 1 tbsp soap):  pre-wash, warm wash/cold rinse, extra rinse (1 hr 58 minutes)
• Take out the wetbags and do another long wash (no soap):  pre-wash, cold wash/cold rinse, extra rinse (1 hr 58 minutes)  I usually do this in the middle of the night when I get up to use the bathroom.
• Rinse & spin (no soap):  cold rinse (19 minutes)  Shaun does this cycle when he gets up in the morning.

So by the time we go to work, the diapers are hanging in the sun or on a drying rack in our basement.

Now you may be asking, would I ever do cloth again.  Heck yes!  They are seriously so easy and knowing that my child is not sitting on chemicals all day/night is the best feeling.

A few pics of CDs over the past year

Who says cloth isn't fun?

Easter 2013

We spent Easter at my parents house.  It was a good weekend but the weather not so much.  Here's a few pics from that weekend.

Watching Grandpa cut the ham

Not sure what kind of face this is

Tavins' First Year: Picture Recap

My my how they grow!

Our adopted grandmother said it best:  "Imagine how smart we would be if we learned as much as babies do in the first year"

So very true!

::sigh::

I love this little man more and more each day!

3rd Anniversary

7 years by each other's side, 2 I mean 3 years (apparently time has flow so fast that I initially stated it wrong...ooopes)  married and we are still going strong!  Love it!

We decided to do a short get away for our anniversary and headed to Wisconsin Dells without....wait for it.....Tavin!!!  ::gasp::  He spent the weekend with grandma and grandpa and apparently had a blast!

Now the last time I was to the Dells I was a wee one and just remember a few of the pictures (hair standing on end, feeding the animals).  The Dells these years is something a bit cray-cray.  No seriously.  This place has exploded! Sort of like Disneyland Wisconsin style.

Since we visited in the "off season"  there wasn't much open but just enough to fill our day and half that we had to spend.

Upon arrival, we stopped to eat.  Then went on the Lost Canyon Tour.  It was pretty cool and I'd highly recommend for anyone visiting.

Next stop was Pirate's Cove Mini-golf.  Nothing to exciting to take note of but it was just nice to be outside!

We then walked Main Street and stopped at the Mirror Maze.  That place is a trip!

After that we started looking for a place to eat.  Stopped at a few to look at the menu but nothing seemed appetizing until we ran into The Alamo.   The food was superb!  It was like a low-key Texas Roadhouse.  It was perfect!

The evening festivities included a trip to Chula Vista.  Thanks to the hotel we stayed at we got free passes.  It was a good time.  It wasn't too busy.  But man oh man, the things people do.

Sunday we got up at our normal time (thanks internal clocks) and headed out to breakfast at Perkins.  It was actually a great meal.

Then last but not least, stopped for a little shopping at the Outlet Malls.  Not at all impressed with the store selection but we did manage to score a couple good deals.

And that was it.  Our little getaway in a nutshell!  Would we visit again?  Maybe.  But for sure go when Tavin is a little older so he can enjoy everything.