Best dreary day toddler activity...ever.

I had the absolute best idea this morning.  I have no idea why I didn't think of it sooner.  Blakely and I were playing with her new "pet" animal figurines.  She was picking out the ones that she knew (dog, cat, frog, turtle, bird, etc) when it dawned on me.  TAKE THIS CHILD TO THE PET STORE!  

The second it came to my mind I scooped her up, got her dressed and out the door we went. I was that excited.  Lonnie and I have been talking about how we want so bad to take her to the zoo when the weather warms up.  I even mentioned to him about looking for a farm to take her to so she could see the farm animals.  She looooooves animals.

We actually have 2 pet stores in town.  Which is weird because why would we need 2?  I picked the one I had never been to before.  At first B was just so excited that I let her walk in by herself instead of carrying her.  She looked at me like "are you sure?".  The first thing we saw when we walked in was the birds.  It is so great because most of the animals are on toddler level.  Genius.  Then we walked around and saw the fish.  We stayed there a while because she was intrigued.  After the fish she started getting brave.  She was running up and down the aisles like a crazy girl.  I stayed close but really let her explore wherever she wanted to go.  Next up were the cats.  Oh my goodness.  She loooooved the cats.  We don't have cats (I'm allergic and my nose was itching just looking at the cats!) so she has never seen one in real life.  She kept coming back to them over and over.  I wish she would have gotten to pet one....maybe next time.  We also saw turtles, lizards, hamsters, and mice.  

Buhs

Ish

I love this video so much.  She was stomping around and just so happy to be there.  At one point when the cat rolls over onto his back she steps back and says UH OH.  She also tries to kiss the cat at the end!  

Then she found the toys.  We didn't play with these much because I just kept imagining dogs peeing on them.  

I seriously can't believe I didn't think to take her there sooner.  Free toddler fun!  It was perfect for this awful rainy day we are having today.  She had so much fun and it completely wore her out.  We came home and she cleaned her plate for lunch and took an amazing nap.  I have a feeling we will be spending a lot of time there until the weather gets nicer.  TAKE YOUR TODDLER TO THE PET STORE! 

Flashback Friday

Inspired by Shannon, I decided to look back at what pictures I had of Blakely exactly one year ago.  I realized that was the day we took her for her first walk downtown!  I remember it perfectly.  I nursed in public for the first time :)  

Who is that little bitty babe with that handsome guy?

I also bought her some sunglasses after seeing this pic...

Happy Friday!  

weekend + IVF update + dizzy baby

I went to the doctor today for an ultrasound and lab work.  I have been on the lupron shots for a week now.  This appointment is to make sure my ovaries are good and suppressed.  All looked well and we are set to start stims this Saturday.  They had a resident there today so she did my ultrasound.  She scanned for 15 minutes and then told me she was going to have Dr. M come in to scan because she couldn't really see my right ovary.  It took all I had not to reach down there and guide her in the right direction!  I mean...my ovaries are super easy to see...they sit pretty...riiiiiiight where they are supposed to be.  I wanted to help her out but then I thought that would be weird, no?  Anyway, I don't mind letting them learn.  I had to learn once too and I am sure I took forever to find ovaries back then.  Actually, I know I did.  :)

Just say yes to students...and doctor students...

We had a fun weekend...yes, I know it is already Wednesday.  The past 2 days have been a bit hectic.  My brother in law and his family came to stay with us for the weekend.  Kristen, my sister in law, has recently gotten in to running.  She is running a 10K in a few weeks so she signed us up for a 5K to prepare.  Now, let me say, I have NOT been running.  I used to run and I *sort of* enjoy it.  No, that is a lie.  I hate running.  But I LOVE the feeling I have after I run.  So it balances out.  But I just haven't really wanted to run and I know I can't train for a race since we are about to get to the nitty gritty of IVF.  I do about 3 miles on the elliptical 2-3 days a week so I thought that would help me out for this race.  No.  Not at all.  

It has been pretty nice weather here over the past couple of weeks but on race day it was 35! And windy!  Are you kidding me?  Not only do I hate running but I really hate running in the cold.  Me, Lonnie, Marshall, and Kristen all bundled up and headed downtown.  We left the 3 kids with my mother in law...she is a saint.  

Me and Kristen before the race.  

cold

side note.  have I mentioned how happy I am that my honey is rocking the full beard these days?  I love it.  I know it won't last much longer...

Lonnie and I coming down the stretch.  Kristen took this picture because she smoked both of us!  

Even though it was way too cold for me, we still had a great time.  It was something fun for the four of us to do together.  We will definitely run more together.  Hopefully I will be walking the next one because I will be knocked up.  *please*

We all came back home, showered, and decided to head to the horse races for the afternoon.  There is a big race track in my town and we go a few times a year.  It is a fun way to mingle, lose money, run into people you haven't seen in ages, and drink beer!  Then sometimes you run into people you see all the time...the bestest!   :)

That night we ordered some amazeballs Italian food to go and ate family style in my dining room.  All while drinking wine and chatting about whatever came to mind.  It was the best kind of time and I am so thankful to have married into such wonderful and loving family. 

I leave you with this Iknowsheismychildbutthisisthecutestvideoofalltime.  Blakely learned how to turn in circles yesterday.  Dizzy baby.  

Valentine's fun...sort of.

Today is pretty much a lay around the house in our pajamas kind of day.  The husband and the baby are both sick.  I have to say...it isn't all that fun.  Because you know who else is sick?  MY MOM.  She never gets sick and she is the one who always comes over to help me when I get overwhelmed.  Anyway, Gran Di isn't contagious anymore and is feeling better today so I am hoping she is going to come over this evening to play with Blakely!  Yes...mom...if you are reading this...please come...help....

I am thinking B and Lonnie have the same thing.  Cruddy cough and super snotty.  Lonnie says he feels like he has golf balls in his throat.  Fun.  Blakely is pouring drool so I am assuming her throat hurts as well.  She just really wants to be held most of the time.  When her medicine kicks in then she will play for a while.  I just loaded her up with meds and put her down for a nap so hopefully she will sleep for a while.  Because she needs it...there hasn't been much of it around here.  Lonnie is sleeping on the couch.

I refuse to get sick.  Let's all repeat that, k?  KELLY WILL NOT GET SICK!

I really really really do not need to get sick.

Ok so the point of this post was to show you cute pictures of B doing fun Valentine's stuff.  Let's get to that.  

Jenni gave B some fun Valentine's gel stickers for the window.  You should all go out and get these.  Supreme toddler fun.

We put them all over the windows...

Then we moved them to the other part of the window...40256 times

Mommy will for sure be getting more of these.  

My mom got Blakely some Valentine's to give to people.  She also got her a bunch of stickers to decorate them with.  B goes to Gran Di's every Sunday so they were going to make these last Sunday.  Buuuuuut my mom got sick so that didn't happen.  She gave them to me and B and I made them.  Stickers...get you some of those too.  Any kind....all kinds... 

At first she thought they needed to go on the window....

I encouraged her to actually put them on the valentine's

Then the best part happened.  We put them on each other!  That fun lasted for a super long time.  

This is her saying stickers over and over and over.  It sounds like chi-chi...

Mom.  You are distracting me.  

So thank you to my mom and my aunt for getting B some super fun entertainment for Valentine's Day.  It was all thoroughly enjoyed!

I did manage to get her a new Mic.key and make red velvet cupcakes.  But I was out of energy to decorate them cute...so here they are.  With B's, L's, K's and x's and o's.  And one has a 16 on it since B turned 16 months old.  I'll let her eat that one tonight!  

Oh and I decided to cut her lunch into hearts at the last minute.  Turned out fun!  

16 months + photo dump

Our sweet B is now 16 months old.  I feel like I say this each month but she has grown up so much!  It really blows my mind how much this little person understands.  Toddlers are so smart!  I thought at 16 months I would do the full update like I did months 1-12.  

A few things about Blakely this month...

Blakely will bring me a clean diaper when she is poopy.  If there isn't a clean one around she says "pie-puh" or she brings me the wipes.  I know she isn't ready to potty train but surely this is a good sign that she sort of understands?  Anyway, one morning while we were in the bathroom, she found her little Min.nie mouse seat that goes on our regular toilet.  I decided to just plop her on there and see how she reacted.  This is the look I got...

She had no clue what was going on but I let her sit there and we read a book for a few minutes.  She pooped!  I was pretty shocked but I think she just did it because she poops every morning like clockwork.  She didn't really understand the difference.  I haven't put her on there again and I probably won't.  I want to get her her own little potty...I think she will feel more comfortable with that.  

We have had some nice days this month.  Just a little tease of spring every few days.  It has been great to be able to take her outside and burn some energy.  It makes me look forward to better weather!

She loves playing with this mini basketball outside.  I throw it.  She goes to get it.  Repeat.  

She also loves to run around the car.  

Or she plays with sticks....she is obsessed.  

She makes the kissing noise when she kisses now.

She actually took a nap with me one morning.  She hasn't done this in AGES.  It was so very nice and I miss that.  

She can make a mess like no other.  When I take a shower with just the two of us at home (rare), I let her run around our bathroom and play with her toys.  She usually just plays with her bath toys or the things in one of the drawers that she knows she can get it.  Well, the other day this is what my bathroom looked like when I got out of the shower.  Keep in mind that there was not a single thing on the floor when I got in.  

She is very good at helping me pick things up though.  I make her help me pick her toys up before her nap, before we leave the house, and before bed.  So far she thinks that is fun.  So she did help me clean up those messes in the picture above.  

She can rock the pigtails now.  I think I can probably get most of her hair into one ponytail now but I haven't tried yet.  It would take some bribery to get her to be still for that!  

She is pretty sassy.  She gives this look quite a bit.  

sassy stance....

She loves laying on the kitchen floor.  She will lay there and play with her toys or she will squirm around and give the floor kisses. 

She knows where her tummy, ears, nose, tongue, teeth, hair, toes, and fingers are.  

Where's your tummy?

She has discovered her nostrils.  This leads to a finger in the nostril often.  :-/ 

She absolutely haaaaates getting water poured over her head in the bathtub.  This makes washing her hair super fun.  

EATING
For the most part, B is a good eater.  She definitely has things that she would prefer (bread, cheese, crackers) but she will eat some veggies as long as I give those to her first.  I made some chicken drumsticks the other night and she went to town on them!

She is sort of learning how to use her fork and spoon.  I hate it because it gets so messy.  She knows that she can make her food fly if she wants to.  She does pretty good with the spoon if she is eating yogurt or oatmeal.  She doesn't quite get the fork though.  

Her favorite foods are: mac & cheese, peas, bread or toast with butter, breakfast sausage, cheese slices, crackers of any kind, chicken, bananas, grapes, and greek yogurt

Her dislikes are: tuna (I've tried multiple times), red sauce (no spaghetti or ravioli), and carrots....she throws them away every time.  

She drinks a lot of milk each day.  I would guess probably about 24-26 ounces.  I give her three 9 ounce sippy cups a day but she doesn't finish each one.  I give her a cup of milk with her breakfast, her lunch and then with her dinner.  In between she gets water, which she likes, but not as much as milk!  

We did have a somewhat interesting experience with food this month.  One day for lunch I gave her one of those steam in the bag veggie combos...it was like potatoes and peppers or something.  I gave her some ranch dressing to use as a dip (thanks Shannon for the dip tip!).  She was loving it but after about 10 minutes I noticed she looked like she had a bright red ring around her mouth.  I washed her up and noticed it was spreading across her face and getting more red and splotchy.  I didn't freak out because she seemed fine.  I did call Lonnie and tell him.  It lasted about 30 minutes and then faded away.  I figured it was something in those steamer bags because she had ranch before.  A few days later I gave her some broccoli and cauliflower and ranch as dip.  SAME THING.  Major red splotchy rash appeared where the ranch dressing had touched her face...she is messy so it was pretty much all over. So, apparently she has become allergic to ranch dressing or something in it?  She doesn't have any other symptoms just a red rash where the ranch touches.  Isn't that strange?  Sooo no more ranch for a while.  I sure hope she outgrows it or something because she will be missing some yumminess!  

SLEEPING
Blakely goes to bed at 7 every night and wakes up at about 730 every morning.  We have almost completely cut out the morning nap.  She only naps in the morning if she wakes up before 730 or if she is sick.  I like only having the one nap.  We are able to go out and do things without having to run home for her nap.  She also has started sleeping later in the mornings because of the one nap.  

Her afternoon nap is usually at 1 and lasts until 3 or 330.  

TEETH
Let's talk about teeth.  If I could get my finger in there to check I would tell you.  All I know is that I am pretty sure she has all of them but one.  When the doctor looked in her mouth a couple of weeks ago he said she had a "full set" of molars".  I may be crazy but I really think she has her 2nd year molars already.  Is that crazy?  It feels like she has her canines and then 2 teeth past that.  I am going to bribe her with a sucker to see into her mouth better tomorrow.  I can't really complain too much because she has handled it pretty well.  She poured drool like a faucet for about a week and was just irritable in general.  Some days she didn't eat too well but that was really it.  Mouthful of chompers...

TALKING
Blakely has about 20+ words that she can say regularly and without prompting.  I have tried to make a list just so I can look back and see what she was actually saying.  She will try to mimic anything I ask her to say.  Sometimes it comes out pretty good and then others not so much.  It is adorable listening to her "talk" though.  

mama
dada
Gran Di (dan-die)
no
more (muh)
milk (mee)
up (bup)
hi
bye bye
please (bees)
thank you (tan-tu)
Minnie
duck (duh)
chicken (chi-chin)
fish (ish)
dog (daw)
cracker (cha-chuh)
bear (bur)
bird (buh)
ball (baa)
shoe (igsh...a very weird sound indeed)
uh oh
Pop Pop
diaper (pie-puh)
snack (na)
tree (tee)

HER FAVORITE TOYS
She got a farm animal puzzle for her birthday.  Well mama threw the puzzle out real quick because it didn't have an on/off button.  Therefore, it talked all.the.time.  Even in the middle of the night when no one was touching it!  Anyway, I kept the puzzle pieces for her to play with. I have them in a little basket and she loves them so much.  There are 8 of them and she knows them as her "animals".  There is a rooster, pig, cow, horse, sheep, dog, cat and a duck.  She can makes the noise for all of them except the duck and cat...can't quite get those down.  They are puzzle pieces so they are all sort of an odd shape.  The other day I turned them all face down.  Then I asked her where the dog was.  She reached right for the dog and turned it over.  I then asked her all of the other animals and she didn't miss a beat, turning each one over correctly the first time.  I was seriously blown away...I mean she knew the random shapes of the pieces and which one was which animal!  As I am typing this I am thinking I should do a post about Blakely's favorite toys!  


She still is loving her books.  When we put her to bed she wants us to look through like 25 books.  She would sit there forever just pointing to things in the books and us telling her what they were.  She doesn't really like for us to "read" them.  She just wants to know what every single thing on the page is.  Tree, grass, sky, flower, monkey, car, boat, water, butterfly...you get the idea.  

She loves playing with any type of ball.  She will roll it to me and I have recently taught her how to kick the ball.  

MOMMY'S FAVORITE
This may be a little mean but I have to tell it.  Keep in mind...DADDY'S GIRL...always has been.  Once he gets home from work she doesn't care a thing about mama...ever.  

A few weeks ago I took Blakely up to work to see Lonnie.  I do this frequently but I don't usually go inside.  He just comes out to the car to see us.  Well he was having a slow day so I decided to surprise him and go in.  I let her walk in on her own instead of carrying her...that is rare.  The room he was working in was very dark (he was reading mammograms that day).  When we walked in I guess her eyes hadn't adjusted so she couldn't really see him and he scared her by swooping her up.  She started screaming crying.  Like hysterical.  And leaning for me!!!  He handed her back to me and she stopped.  We walked around to see a few people and then I gave her back to him...screamed.  She did this multiple times.  I could not believe it.  She has always been the opposite from the day we brought her home.  She would cry cry cry when I held her and then I would hand her to Lonnie and she would snuggle up and go to sleep.  He told me at work that day that now he knew how I felt!  I think he got his feelings hurt a little bit but he got over it quick.  Dare I say she is becoming a bit of a Mommy's girl??  

My babytoddler definitely grew into a toddler in the last 4 months.  I could not be more proud of her.  

Cloth Diapering- the day to day details

In this post, I want to talk about how I actually use, store, and clean my cloth diapers.  Also, what accessories I have and how I have my house set up for cloth.  *There is quite a bit of poop talk ahead!*

I bought a metal trash can from Walm.art that has a pedal you push to pop the lid up.  I had 2  Planetw.ise diaper pail liners to go in the trash can.  I keep this right beside the changing table in her room.  When she was only on breast milk (so up until about 6 months of age) this was all I had for my diapers.  I always changed her in her room and I threw the dirty diaper in the pail.  Breast milk poop doesn't have to be rinsed because it is water soluble.  So the diaper went straight from the baby into the pail.  I did buy some Bumgenius odor remover spray.  I would spray a few squirts onto a poopy diaper and then it went straight into the pail.  I don't really know if the spray helped or not.  I only used it for a few months and then I stopped.  I've never had any issues.  This stage was very easy.  

When Blakely was 6 months to about 8 months, I had to start spraying her poop diapers off because she was eating solid foods and her poop was changing.  I bought a Bumgenius diaper sprayer and had the husband attach it to the toilet in the bathroom closest to her room.    I would still change her diaper in her room.  If it was poopy then I would set it to the side and finish getting her dressed.  Then I would carry B and the dirty into the bathroom.  I put her on the floor and let her play...I actually kept a few small toys in the bathroom just for this reason. The girl loves to play in a bathroom, always has.  Anyway, then I would spray the diaper off.  I realized quickly that carrying the water soaked diaper back into her room where the pail was just wasn't working out.  I bought 2 more diaper pail liners and started keeping one on the floor in the bathroom.  That way I could just toss the diaper into it without a mess.  I didn't get a trash can for this one because I didn't feel like it was needed.  Keeping the bag on the floor worked just fine.  

At about 8 months, B's poop changed again.  It was no longer mushy.  We had little turds.  YES!  This makes life super easy because you can just plop them into the toilet.  No mess at all.  I still keep the trash can with the diaper pail liner in her room as this is the main place for changes.   I also still keep a pail liner on the floor in the bathroom downstairs just in case I need to spray a diaper.  It is pretty rare that I have to do that...I'd say once every two weeks or so?  Now that she is older I can just do quick changes upstairs (without the risk of her peeing on the couch).  I realized I didn't want to walk downstairs just to put the dirty diaper up so I bought a tiny metal trash can from Walm.art to keep in the laundry room upstairs.  I don't put a pail liner in it because the diapers are dirty but they aren't messy.  When it is time to do laundry I just dump the dipes into the washer and wipe the trash can down with a clorox wipe.  

**I do always take the inserts out of my pocket diapers when I take them off of B.  That way I don't have to do that on day old diapers.  I can just dump the bag into the machine.**

I have always washed my diapers every other day.  I do go to a third day sometimes now that B is older and not going through as many diapers.  I have a regular old top loader...nothing fancy at all.  I use Roc.kin' Green detergent.  I dump all of the diapers and the pail liners in the washing machine.  I run a cold rinse.  If there were a lot of poop diapers or if I am washing on the third day (so more diapers than usual) I run a warm rinse after my cold rinse. Then I do a hot wash with 2 heaping tablespoons of detergent followed by a cold rinse.  Once that is finished I run one more cold rinse.  I am sure on a fancier machine I could program this all in and not have to go back in and turn the washer on but, like I said, OLD top loader :)  

When the washing is finished I toss all of the inserts into the dryer (NO fabric softener) on hot for about 30-40 minutes.  

During the winter, or if it isn't sunny out, I put the AIO's and the pocket shells on my drying rack in the laundry room.  I do occasionally put everything in the dryer.  Most people say that is a big no no but I have had no problems.  Sometimes I just want to get it all done and put away...the dryer speeds things up a little bit.  If I have the pocket shells and the AIO's in the dryer then I put it on low for 40-50 minutes.  

If it is sunny out then I put everything (inserts, pocket shells, and AIO's) on the drying rack and take that outside.  The sun is a great bleaching agent and the diapers also dry much faster outside.  The only time I have ever seen a stain on a diaper was back when B was exclusively breastfed.  A couple of times I noticed a small stain when taking a diaper out of the washer.  I had read that the sun would bleach it right out.  I did not believe this.  Well what do ya know?  It totally works.  I was shocked.  After sunning the diapers and inserts they are so bright white!  The inserts can feel a little "crunchy" after drying in the sun so I usually throw only those in the dryer for a few minutes just to soften them up.  

So how do I store all of these diapers?  I keep them all in the bottom drawer of B's dresser.  Now that she is older and I change her upstairs during the day, I keep a few in the laundry room just for ease.  Here is a pic of the "changing station" in her room. 

I still use the diaper ge.nie for our disposable wipes.  I have yet to convince my husband to use cloth wipes.  I keep saying I am just going to do it and he will adjust.  

Wipes, coconut oil (I slather it on her booty a couple of times a day), hand sanitizer, and clo.rox wipes!

A look into the drawer.  Diapers all across the front.  On the back row, from the left, I have wipes (as soon as I convince the husband), extra inserts, and the extra pail liners and wetbags.  

I hope that helps anyone wanting to know what the day to day use of cloth looks like.  It really is easy once you get into a routine.  Isn't everything about routine?  Next time I'll talk about cloth diapering on the go! 

B-bug's first boo-boo

First of all, do you ever call your kids by their actual name?  I find that I rarely do.  We have so many nicknames for Blakely I just use those most of the time.  She does know her name is Blakely though because when you say "Who is Blakely?", she pats her chest with both hands.  I haven't tried this trick with her nicknames though...maybe I should.  

Anyway, that is not the point of this post.  I just started thinking about it when I wrote the title out.  

Blakely got her first real owie yesterday.  It was a gorgeous day outside.  We have had a couple of spring teaser days here and yes, you should be jealous!  I try to take her outside as much as possible because she loves running around and it also wears her out.  Win.  

Her favorite thing to do is kick the balls around in the driveway.  Yesterday she started running so fast and she lost her balance.  She fell hard on her knee and then her arms.  The momentum from her fall made her slide after the fall....SLIDE ON HER NOSE.  

Poor baby cried and cried and cried.  It took me forever to calm her down.  I knew she was ok...just a bloody nose (scariest part) and a few scratches on her nose and upper lip..but, man, I hated not being able to soothe her immediately.  

Today her nose is just scratched up and she has a bruise on her knee.  She also has dirty/crunchy hair from the bananas for breakfast and her shirt is covered in blueberry juice.  So basically she looks like a normal toddler :)