Oh How I love my cloth!

I have simply fallen in love with our cloth diapers. Now, don't get me wrong, obviously I have loved it for some time to cloth diaper 2 kids. But I've gone up and down with the love of my stash of diapers. At this particular moment and for the past 6 months or so, I have been very content with my stash (this is rare!). I have found a system that works really well for us and is easy for family and the babysitter to use. I've also found a really, really good wash routine that has done away with the stinkies and never leaves any stains.

Since March, we have been using exclusively Nana's Bottoms AIO's (All in ones) and Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers. This system has worked really well for us. I send either the Nana's or FB's to the babysitter and then use the FB's at night for both boys. I usually double stuff the night time diapers and both boys go all night with no leaks. The Nana's are uber trim under clothing and I don't need to size up Bubba's pants with them like you have to sometimes with cloth diapers. Here are some pics of the little guy with his Nana's on:
We have also recently acquired some flat diapers. Basically these are just a large square piece of fabric. You have to fold them in order to put them on, or you can trifold them and lay them in a cover. The nice thing about these diapers is that they are super cheap ($12.50 a dozen) and you can fold them according to the size of your baby, making them truly a one sized diaper. Here are some pics of Bubba in the flats:For both diapers, the Nana's and the flats, I have made my own fleece liners that I just lay on top as a stay dry liner to help keep Bubba's bottom dry. The FB's have a fleece inner so they are already stay dry.

Our wash routine has also been perfected. We have hard water so its hard to find a detergent and wash routine that does not cause stinkies. This is what we do: wash on the heavy duty cycle on hot with a 1/4 scoop of Tide HE original powder. Then do another hot wash on heavy duty with no detergent. This has worked perfectly and we never have any stains. I just love it when everything seems to come together and you achieve stash nirvana! :) And, there's just nothing cuter than a little cloth covered bum!!!

A cool find!

During some down time at work I was reading some emails. I am a subscriber to the Hillbilly Housewives newsletter and I had a new one in my Inbox. I am a big fan of the Hillbilly Housewife simply because there are a lot of great tips, recipes, and tricks to getting the most for your money. They even have an emergency meal plan for a week for a family of 4 for $45!!! You can find the website here and subscribe to the free newsletter if you are interested.

Anyways, I was reading the newsletter and was browsing through the recipes and such. I came across the homemade detergent section and read a reply that had a link to the lady's blog. I then started to read her blog. She had some really good recipes on there for homemade cleaning products, fabric softner, and laundry detergent. She even posted a great link to an online store where she buys her scented essential oils. So, of course I visited the store because I have been looking for some more scented oils to put in our wetbag for diapers and other uses. So I ordered Monkey farts (smells like banana and other yumminess), pink sugar (which is my favorite and I even have the perfume), Amish Friendship bread (you know this HAS to smell good), and lemon pound cake (I love lemon smelling things, very fresh!). They were only $2.50 each and you can use them in so many things. I use them for scenting our homemade cleaners, laundry detergent, wetbag for diapers, and many other things. Here is a link to Natures Garden where they sell the fragrance oils.

I really wanted to share this blog with everyone because it has some really good recipes and tips on there. And with the economy the way it is at the moment, we all can really use some ways to save money. (Hint, cloth diapering is a great way!! :)) Anyways, here is the link to the blog: Farming on Faith

I hope you enjoy it and learn as much as I did. :)

A little bit of Christmas

The boys and I have been hard at work trying to get some of the Christmas decorations up around the house. It's been difficult without daddy here to help us get the house ready for the holiday season. I decided not to put everything up this year, just the important things that would make it feel like Christmas for the boys.

We travelled to the tree farm last Sunday to get our tree. Last year daddy chopped one down for us, but my plan this year was to just pick out a pre-cut one from the farm. However, Peytonn was having no part of that. Luckily, Papa and Nay Nay were with us and helped us pick out a tree. Papa was kind enough to cut it down for us and Peytonn helped pull the cart with the tree loaded up on it.
Once we got home, Peytonn helped Papa untie the tree and open it up. He then helped me decorate it and put the lights up. Everyday he reminds me to turn the lights on. He was such a good helper putting everything up with me. He even helped me decorate the mantel with lights and our stockings.
We have gotten all of our stockings from Pottery Barn Kids and I love them!!! We have gotten one each year and this year was my turn. This picture has my old stocking in it, but my new stocking came in the mail the other day and is now up on the mantel with the others. I got a red one so we now have 2 red and 2 blue ones. Our stockings are now complete. I can't wait to fill them up with fun things for the boys for Christmas.

Here we go....

We're very, very soon going to have a full blown walker on our hands. Bennett has been walking for a while holding just one of your fingers and will stand alone, but he would not take any steps on his own. So I got this brilliant idea to try out the old fashioned white Stride Rite shoes. I even got those little bell things that keep the shoe laces tied. And let me tell you, what a world of difference those things have made! Bennett loooooves the bells and will kick his legs just to hear the bells jingle. I've noticed he feels a lot more stable and sure of himself with the shoes on.

So, its been about a week and a half since we got the shoes and today he took his first steps all by himself. (I was only slightly trying to bribe him with his cup of milk) He is so cute though, he gets so excited and happy when he is standing by himself. He will even dance and clap his hands.

He is just growing so fast and quickly turning into a toddler instead of a baby. He is now into 18 month clothes and quickly outgrowing the 12 month stuff, especially in pants. I think he just has long legs and a short torso, because he not a "big" kid. I think he may just have long legs like his daddy. The outfit he has on in this picture is head to toe 18 months. He just looks so big in this picture, like a little man. :tear: