Adventures in Cloth Diapering #14...The end of an era

I started cloth diapering in July of 2009.  My friend was/is a wee bit obsessed with them and I thought I could at least give them a try.
Well, I won a few, bought a few, wound up with Miracle Diapers, and then had a friend give me some...I wound up with a decent stash that worked quite well.

Today, as I noticed a dark red mark on Ethan's panty line and observed him screaming and crying and pulling at his panty line area, I realized...Ethan has outgrown his diapers!
He only has maybe 4 that still fit his 40 lb puffy behind.  And 4 is not enough for me...the lazy cloth diaper mother.
So, I realized, with a start, that the end of cloth diapering was near for me.  VERY near.  Sure, I could trade them or sell them and buy the next size up, but we are at the very early stages of potty training, I plan to go all out starting in August (after summer travel is over) and buying new diapers for basically two months seems silly, especially since I "pride" myself in having spent so little to cloth diaper (I'd say less then $60 total, including soaps).
It's been a struggle at times to cloth diaper.  My husband has not been on board at all with cloth diapering.  He will say, "Does Ethan have on a REAL diaper or one of "those" things?" before I leave for a girls night out.  (Most of the time I leave him in cloth ;) ).  I'm not sure where these feelings of his come from...it's saved him literally hundreds of dollars, but oh, well, I've let it be a non-issue so as to win bigger battles on other fronts ;).
Also, I am a lazy laundress, so I've had to battle that and make sure to keep them washed in a timely manner.
I've never soley cloth diapered, using disposable on the weekends and when we went on trips.  Also, if an outfit fit better on big butt Ethan, it was a sposie that day as well.
But, now that the end is here, and that I just twenty minutes ago took off the last cloth diaper I will ever remove from my baby, I was hit with a wave of nostalgia.
My little baby is growing up!

Before you know it, I will be posting part two to the end of an era: DIAPERS AT ALL!  Let's hear it for post summer traveling potty training!  Though...I am considering buying some cloth diaper based training pants that have a bit more absorbancy then regular underwear.  We will see.

So, for those of you who followed along in my adventures in cloth diapering, I bid you farewell...and want to let you know all cloth diapers will be for sale for $10 or less at the garage sale I am co-hosting this weekend in Omaha if you are interested ;)

Some Pre Summer Fun (because I refuse to call it summer before Memorial Day)

Especially refusing to call it summer since it is 65, wet, and windy today!

DIY: Breakfast

Showing how mature and responsible he is, Ethan "fixed" himself breakfast.  And by that I mean he brought a brand new bag of fake Smacks (I normally am 100% against fake cereal but this one was actually decent) outside, sat down on the plasma car (ours has been in our family for quite and we all LOVE it!), and ate his breakfast.  I asked if he wanted to come inside, get some milk and a bowl.
"No, Mommy, I just eat here"
And...he did, not spilling any.

Bless his heart, he slept in today until TEN...which is unheard me.  Me?  I was up by 8:15 to work on cakes!  What a shame...

Field Day

I really do like field day.
Getting the kids excited for whatever silly sport you are in charge of (croquet hockey), seeing kids I've gotten to know excited to have fun, spending a few minutes with Brennan when his class comes through.
Oh, and let us not forget the municipal whistle!  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?  And I've got some crazy mad whistle blowing skillz, yo!

This sign hangs on the back of Bren's school...what the heck prompted the need to make this sign I wonder?

It as the second to the last group that came through...the special ed preschool class...when I (along with them) figured out how I had on two very different shoes!  It did not bother me at all...until I knew they weren't the same, then I could barely tolerate walking in them!

Bren asked me to quit embarrassing him...I was having the kids do stretches after the races to waste time and he didn't want to play so I called him out on it :)

The kids doing static stretches after the races...before I had them hopping from one foot to the next, shaking their arms, practicing their hockey swing.  They all were laughing and having a good time, so I think it was a success.  (NOTE:  Brennan not doing it)

This year field day was postponed due to a bad storm that came through the night before (and I was not going to attend) but since it was postponed, and Bart had back issues, I was able to go!
Only down side?  The MAJOR sunburn I got on my neck!  Arms were fine from a spray sunscreen, face was lightly burned, but the neck...man alive...OUCH!
Today is the last day of school for OPS...meaning I will have a THIRD GRADER and a KINDERGARTENER next school year!  Yikes how time has flown by!

?

How's your day going?

Heaven, well...that might be taking it a LITTLE far...

It's not very fair to tell you all of Ethan's negatives without sharing some of the "heaven" part of his opposites attract personality.
He can be a very chill little dude...when he wants to be.  So mellow that if you are only around him during these phases, you'd never guess he can throw a tantrum like nobody's business.

He's kind, too.  If he sees someone hurt or crying, he tries to comfort them.

And my favorite...he often LOVES the camera, begging me, "One more picture Mama?"

He's a good friend.  He and Mia get along so well (when they are both in the right mood for that sort of thing ;)  They can play together for an hour and not have one crying episode.  She's taught him to color for ages and he has taught her to sneak snacks and the best ways to get on my nerves while still appearing adorable.
He also plays very well with Jackson and occasionally a threesome of the kids works in my favor as well.
I think my favorite part of Ethan's "heaven" side are his hugs and kisses.  He will kiss you on the mouth, then look at you and say, "That's how you kiss on the mouth."  Then he will give you a hug and say, "That's how you hug."  It is so funny and a great way to start my mornings.
I also love when he talks...it still occasionally catches me off guard when he presents a full sentence with proper grammar...he was a child who did not speak for a while and had to have speech therapy.

So, please don't think Ethan is all fire and brimstone and hell on earth...he has his good moments, and they do far outnumber the bad...it's just SO EASY to focus on the bad sometimes.
And GUESS WHAT?  He didn't even have to get taken out of church today...not one time!  He tried to take himself out once when he escaped our pew, but was lead back into place without much of a fuss!  YAY for sacrament meetings like today!

Heaven and Hell

This little stinker gives me so much hell, that some days I wonder how long my patience can hold.  One minute, he is as sweet as candy, the next, as rotten as a bad banana.  It's a switch, so I guess I can call it a blessing that the rotteness is generally short lived.

The temper tantrums can be caused by anything, really.  Say no to letting him drink lemon juice or heavy whipping cream, fit.  See his brothers playing with HIS ball, fit.  Put in his beloved Little People DVD only to have Jackson change the channel to something else, fit.

The fits are generally short lived, so they are ignored, as the "expert" information we've read on temper tantrums tell us to do.  Take away all attention to him and his behavior.  His speech therapist gave some "must reads" on the issue (after a discussion we had) and I must admit, it was nice to reassure myself that ignoring his tantrums was the #1 best thing to do.

Occasionally, though, it escalates into a screaming tantrum that goes on and on and on.  When that happens, I simply put him in his room, tell him, "You may come down when you quit crying" and go on my way.
It's hard to be consistent.  Sometimes giving in, even if it is something he should not have/do/be in, would be SO much easier.  Of course, occasionally, I do give in (see post below about sour cream), but I try to stay consistent.  I've read that doing the same thing every time is key.

But, I don't want to raise children who believe they are entitled to receiving whatever they want, whenever they want it.  I don't want them to believe it is acceptable to throw a fit and receive a prize for their effort.  (Even if lemon juice would make an awful prize at the end).  I've seen first hand what giving in to your children does to your relationship with them and with their relationship with others....and folks, it Ain'T pretty!


So, I just make sure to celebrate the good, express how happy it makes me when Ethan does whatever is a positive at the time I think of it.

I just hope I am doing the right thing...that I will be able to raise him up to learn to control his temper (for now he is two and only small explanations are given) and conquer that devil within.  We all have one...you just aren't lucky enough to be two and able to let it rear its ugly head.  ;)

Road Trip!

 Friday we delivered a cake to Lincoln.  The boys and I were all alone, since Ms. Mia's mama took the day off and since Megan was lame and spent the day with her mama as well.  Seriously folks, I am having abandonment issues here.

 The boys were as good as gold on the trip.  It's only one hour there, so it's not too long...but a good practice run for Ethan to get ready to being in the car for our big tripS this summer.  (Idaho and Louisiana, here we come!)  About ten minutes from our destination, Jack looks up from his video game and asks, "Mom, do we need shoes where we are going?  Because I don't have mine."
It seems Jackson and shoes don't like Lincoln during cake deliveries.  The last time I delivered a cake to Lincoln, Jackson's flip flop broke, right before we were heading to the zoo there (great zoo, btw, even if it is small), so we got to explore their Payless first.
This made me a wee bit frustrated, but since we didn't have to go in anywhere, it was not a big deal...but what if I had WANTED to go in some where?

Ethan kept his sunglasses on the entire trip.  He loves those things! He was one cool dude, just hanging out, exclaming when he saw random things that caught his attention, such as the RAISIN' CANES sign on our way for an early lunch (it's 12 o'clock somewhere, right?...even at 10:30).

Thanks for the cake order Jennifer.  I hope your daughter had a great day.  We sure had a nice day trip to Lincoln....if only they'd hurry up and finish rebuilding the interstate so the entire trip would be 75!  That would be great!

Mama Not Nice!

I've noticed my blogging has been a bit BLAH lately.  Other then that little nugget of awesomeness about Ethan busting out of his Sunday suit, it's been well...quite boring and unworthy of your attention.
Well folks, let me tell you, today something 100% worthy of your attention and tears of laughter occurred.

See, when I make frosting, I make a  LOT of frosting.  It's just easier that way.  I'm talking 4 pounds of powdered sugar, almost as much fat (shortening and butter), and other bits of yumminess.  How does one go about storing all of this frosting?  Freezer zip lock bags are nice...but very messy when trying to use that frosting.  Also, that will really start to add up in the price department.

So, being the cheap smart girl that I am, I looked around for other alternatives.  And what did my eyes find?
SOUR CREAM CONTAINERS.  LOTS of sour cream containers.  You see, one of my TOP SECRET ingredients is sour cream so I have LOTS of empty containers.  I just KNEW I'd find a good use for them one day, other then filling up the dumps of Omaha or being used as a decoy to the "good" tupperware in the plastics drawer.

And I did!  FROSTING!
And one is just about the perfect size for a 9 inch cake, too.
So, Ethan has started to think that sour cream containers are actually frosting containers.  And today, he so wisely went to the refrigerator and pulled out a container and brought me both the container and the spoon.
He puts the container on the ground, sits down, looks up at me and says, "Frosting now please Mama."
I explained to him that all the frosting was gone (I had 3 cakes this weekend!) and that the container only had sour cream, which while delicious in dips, on tacos, and in cakes, was not so delicious on its own.
He refused to believe me, and sat there trying to open the (brand new) container.
When he finally gave up, he brought me the container and asked me, "Mama you open it NOW please?"
So, I figured, what the heck?
And I opened it, got a new clean spoon (by now his had been all over the kitchen), and gave him a tiny taste.
He willingly opened his mouth and licked the spoon.
When he discovered his beloved frosting was playing some kind of trick on him, in cahoots with his mama, he got the saddest/funniest/pissed off face I've seen in a while (but of course I did not have my camera at that second).  While I was laughing at this face, he looks at me, with unbelief in his eyes and says, "Mama NOT NICE!"
It was all I could do to not pee on myself from laughing at the child.
I wonder if he will try to sneak any more frosting next time he sees a sour cream container?

Brennan, what a hunk!

Brennan does NOT like to have his picture taken.  In fact, most of the time he is making a silly face, turning away, or covering his face.

But for whatever reason, our day to the zoo, Gene Leahy slides, and Ted and Wallies for ice cream, he was a near perfect model!

Maybe it was the thrill of getting to take pictures of his own as well. I entrusted him with my Canon point and shoot at the zoo and he had a great time snapping pictures of wild life, his friends, his face, whatever.  He made some HILARIOUS videos as well.  I think I will be getting him his own camera with video capabilities for his birthday (which is a MAN theme, lol...it's going to be so fun!)

He even listened the first time and "posed" for me when I asked him to do certain things!

I did not ask him to smell the flower, but he thought it was a funny pose and asked me to take a picture.  The flowers at the Senses Garden at the Henry Dorley Zoo are so pretty.  Not a lot of variety, but what they have are beautiful right now!

So, I hope you enjoyed some rare "good" pictures of Brennan.  I can hardly believe he will be EIGHT in JUNE!  It seems like time has just flown by since he was a little baby getting swaddled like a burrito, sucking a paci, and refusing to drink from a bottle!