Going The Way Of Cloth

Well it's official I'm making the change over to cloth diapers! Some may wonder why I'm making the switch 8 months into my third child but the fact of the matter is, better late than never right?!

Truthfully I have considered cloth quite seriously before, but it just wasn't the right time for me to make the switch. After having Cohen one of my friends was doing cloth diapers and I thought that she was both brave and fantastic for this. I gave it some serious thought but at the time I was really struggling with a bit of postpartum and adjusting to having two kids so I decided that it wasn't the right time. I didn't really think about it when I had Novah but over the past few months its been lingering in my mind again. With two kids in diapers I am simply disgusted by the number of diapers I go through every day, let alone the heaps of diapers that fill my garbage bin every week.
(Just as a side note: Today I kept track of how many diapers we went through because I'm trying to figure out how many I need in my cloth stash. And we used 12!!! My kids poop a lot. That means that in one week I have 84 diapers going to the landfill- YUCK!!)

Then just a week ago another one of my girl friends made the cross over (she's on her third too) and I thought why not. Who cares if I'm a little late in the game it will still make a huge difference! Plus I felt inspired by her choice to make the change on her third child and I thought, you know what I can do this! I am in a much better place emotionally and mentally now than I was when I previously considered it, I've always wanted to use cloth, plus my two boys are a bit older and my baby is a breeze!

Cue my obsessive cloth diapering research.

After looking into a TON of different companies (I already knew I wanted to use pocket diapers from my research last time) I finally found one that I really like and took the plunge and ordered some diapers. I cannot wait to get them. The company is called The Little Bee Co. and I love the look of their product as well as everything they stand for and do (they give a diaper to an orphan in need for every diaper purchased.) I did order a couple other diapers from two other brands as I know I'll need to grow my stash a bit from my initial order but I want to try out thee three brands to decide what I like best.

How beautiful are these diapers!

I'm really excited to start this new diapering journey. As I'm sure you are all aware cloth diapering has so many positive benefits, the main factors which are constantly discussed being that they are reusable for multiple children, you save money in the long term and its friendlier for the environment. Plus lets just add in the fact that they are so stinking cute! Cloth has certainly come along way from when our mamas were using flats and pins! From what I have read (and trust me I've done a lot of reading) they are just as user friendly as disposables. The extra work comes in with the laundry, but since I already do a ton of that anyway...what's a few more loads a week!

I obviously haven't actually started using cloth yet so I may feel slightly less enthusiastic a few weeks into scrubbing out poop (thank goodness for the flush-able liners they now have for modern day cloth diapering!) but overall I am really excited to make this switch. I'll be sure to post again as I venture on this new journey!

Tell me about your cloth diapering experiences. I'm interested in learning as much as I can!


Jordan

Novah Elle At 8 Months!

Well it's hard to believe it but my baby girl is already 8 months old. Say WHAT? Honestly I still feel like she was just born (except for the fact the she was born in the heat of summer and we have been enduring an epic winter that feels as though its lasted forever!) In any case I can scarcely believe that my once sleepy and immobile baby is now eating real food, playing with toys, jumping in her exersaucer, planking, rolling and even starting to push herself around a little bit. It really is happening all too fast.

My beautiful baby girl at 8 months. 

Novah continues to be a pleasant baby and truly a joy in my life. I have to admit that she is by far the easiest child I have to take care of and I secretly love her so much for this. Some days when the boys are giving me a particularly difficult time she is the reason I can put a smile on my face. She has such a calm, happy and easygoing personality, I hope beyond hope that she stays this way throughout her life. She loves to watch her brothers play and is easily entertained for long periods of time by them (thank goodness so I can get some things done around the house!) Now that she is starting to get more active I can tell that she really wants to get in on the action. She is happy when they come to play with her and is always getting excited when they are running around, wrestling etc.

Miss Novah with her big brother Marshal. 

Novah knows her name and always flashes the most beautiful gummy smiles when you talk to her and tell her how smart and beautiful she is. Novah also loves her daddy and is always super happy to see him when he comes home. It's so cute to see her react to those she loves. She is definitely a social girl and likes to make everyone around her happy. She loves her grandma and grandpa and especially loves her cousin Kendra. It is so cute to see how excited she gets when Kendra comes over to play. Novah just loves watching Kendra crawl and I am certain she picked up the crawling position from her. Novah is now practicing this crawling position daily and I'm certain it won't be too much longer before she figures how to move (yikes!) In fact she is getting the hang of army crawling so I'm all set to start baby proofing the house again!

Novah also loves to work her abs by crunching and planking for crazy amounts of time each day. I swear that every time we put her down on her back (diaper change etc.) she just holds her little head up for as long as she can before putting it down and then lifting it up again! She can also be found planking all the time. The first time she did this I thought it was hilarious but I now expect to see her do it several times a day! It is so cute and funny to watch. However despite her serious ab regime she still isn't sitting in her own yet! Oh well all in good time I guess.

Planking!

The aftermath!

Recently Novah has started talking. She is really discovering her voice, babbling, blowing bubbles, even saying mama and dada (though I haven't actually heard her say this one yet.) I think her talking goes along with her whole "Miss Social" thing, she just wants to be a part of what is going in around her.

Novah continues to be a good sleeper (hallelujah!) but she is getting to be a bit of a stinker before bedtime. She used to go out with ease every night around 7-7:30pm but now she is often staying up much later (9-10pm) and giving me a bit of a hard time when I go to put her down after nursing her. Still I can't complain too much because she sleeps through the night usually until 7 in the morning, though occasionally earlier or when I'm lucky, later! I have also been able to get out for a few girls nights and Dan has been able to put her to bed by feeding her some food (since she doesn't take a bottle) just before putting her down so that is nice too. Allows me to gain a bit of my freedom back.

This brings me to Novah's love of food. When we first introduced her to food she loved it. But then she got sick and we had a hard time getting her to eat for awhile afterwards. Finally she rediscovered the good taste of food but only wanted to have squeeze pouches! I swear she would purse her lips tightly shut every time we put a spoon anywhere near it so for awhile all she was eating were pouches. Finally we have gotten her eating from a spoon again but we are also now entering the territory of her wanting to feed herself. My kids are all so independent when it comes to food.

Here she is having her first "big girl" meal. 

I also just took Novah to get her ears pierced and she was a champ. It was honestly so quick and easy and she barely even cried. I am really glad that I took her because now its done! And it looks super cute.

Just after getting her ears pierced and she was totally happy!

She is really such a fantastic little girl and I have enjoyed her so much for the past eight months. It's hard to believe that she will be 1 year old in just a few more short months. The time is really going by way too quickly I just love having a baby! She is growing up far to fast for my liking. I love my baby girl.

My beautiful smiley girl. 

Jordan

#50 Stay Up Late Watching A Movie And Have A “Sleepover”

Well last night we checked #50 off the bucket list. Dan was away at young mens camp and whenever I am alone with the kids for a few nights I have to try to think of extra fun things to do so we stay sane! I figured that it was the perfect night to have our sleepover party. After dinner we constructed this awesome, "fort" in the living room.

Our awesome fort complete with a full set of kitchen chair anchors!

Sleepy heads just after getting up this morning.

Having breakfast in the fort this morning!

Cohen with his super grumpy face.

Watching cartoons.

The fort.

Marshal loves the fort. I think its going to be difficult to take it down. 

I was lucky that my dad and auntie Aeron and Kendra visited us last night and stayed to help out with bedtime. I was able to get Novah to bed while the boys snuggled up in their fort and started their movie (Hop) and then I came down to join them. I honestly thought they would fall asleep during the movie but they didn't! And it didn't end until 9:00 so they were obviously tired. Fortunately once the movie was done I turned out all the lights and Cohen fell asleep pretty quickly. Marshal was another story. That kid! I went to get ready for bed and thought for sure by the time I got out of the bathroom (I took my sweet time) he'd be sleeping but he wasn't. He ended up coming to bed with me so poor Cohen was the only one to actually sleep in the fort all night!

The boys were and currently still are pretty happy with their fort!

Jordan

#35 Go Skating On Lake Louise & #52 Take The Kids Out For Dinner

Well on Saturday March 8 we checked off two of my bucket list items, woohoo! We decided to make the trek out to Lake Louise to skate since the lake is only open for skating until March 15 and we had other things to do on the 15th. It also worked out splendidly because the weather decided to warm up a bit from the deep freeze we had been experiencing the week before.

We headed out around 11am on Saturday and didn't get back until about 8:30pm that night. It was a LONG day! But well worth it. The kids had a blast skating and exploring around Lake Louise and then we had a very eventful dinner experience. My parents came along for the day trip, as well as our good friends the Kutarnas. It was a lot of work with so many little kiddies to keep happy, but it was good fun for all. I apologize in advance for all the photos but its for my own memories sake!

Auntie Aeron helping Marshal with his skates.

Grandpa with baby Kendra.

Grandma with Kendra at the ice castle.

Marshal doing some skating with Dan

Some of our skating crew. Cohen and Navy looking so cute in their bobskates.

Natalie and Marshal with the skate trainer. 

I bet everyone just loved us with all our kids and strollers on the ice!

I love this picture because you can really see how snowy it was!


I had to spend some time nursing before I could get on the ice.

Strollin and sleddin in style.



Grandpa Jim with the baby girls Kendra and Novah.


Aeron and I getting ready to go skating. Dad photo bombing us.



Trying to skate.


Lets just say it has been quite a few years and my skates were super dull and rusty!

After skating for about an hour the kids had had enough. Because it was so mild and it was snowing heavily we got really wet. Needless to say we needed dry off so went into the hotel in search of a hot drink. It was super busy and I saw at least 3 maybe 4 brides! We eventually found a deli with hot chocolate but it was rather steep in price, but I got one anyway! It was a nice treat, As we sat we discussed stopping in Banff to get dinner and possibly hit up the hot springs. And soon we were on our way to our next adventure.

We decided to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Banff since that seems to be the only restaurant that we ever eat at there, and it is family friendly. When we arrived they told us the wait would be an hour and a half! We weren't thrilled but also didn't really know what else to do. After hmm-ing and hahh-ing for a bit they told us they thought they would be able to get us in in 30-45 minutes so we figured we could make that work. The kids had fun riding up and down the escalator and running around the mall. However time seemed to keep going and going and we were still waiting. The Kutarnas decide to leave since their girls were so tired but we decided to keep waiting and tough it out. Finally at 6pm we were seated, an hour and a half after we first arrived! Because we were a little upset (to say the least) they offered us 4 free appetizers which we gladly accepted! It was a bit of a gong show dinner since the kids were so tired and hungry but we ate and got out of their pretty fast!

Me taking a picture of Marshal.

Yup that face.

Grandpa and Novah,

Grumpy Cohen who wanted to be held the whole meal!

Squish.

All in all it was an eventful and exhausting day! Kids are so much work and having fun with them is even more work!! Even though there were many moments of stress throughout the day it was worth it! They had fun and now we have all the wonderful memories. I also really like that as time goes by you forget about the stress and bad moments and are only left with the good ones! Here's to more fun this year!

Jordan

#18- Bake a Delicious Cake From Scratch

Well...I actually made this cake before I created my 2014 bucket list...but baking a yummy cake has been something I've wanted to do for awhile so I added it to my list anyway! I made the most amazing and delectable chocolate cake with mint buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache for ward activity on February 1. 

I can honestly say that this is the best cake I have ever made! I really love baking yummy and fancy desserts but I rarely have occasion to do so, so I jumped at the chance to make something for our Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Party! It was so fun to make something from scratch and get the results I wanted! I got the recipe here but eliminated the use of the Andes Mints (for anyone who may want to try to recreate this for themselves.) I'm hoping to make this cake again one day because it really was that fantastic. Plus I love mint and chocolate. Best combo EVER!

Jordan

#83- Stay Up Late and Watch a Movie Without Falling Asleep

Well since its already March (say what?) I figured I best get jumping on this bucket list thing. On Wednesday (March 5) Dan and I actually popped in a good ol' dvd and stayed up till about 1:30am watching the movie Australia.

This may seem like a strange movie choice, but I have a habit of buying $5 dvds at Walmart and this happened to be one that I picked up a very long time ago which neither of us had seen. We figured we'd watch it and found it to be entertaining (not terrific but entertaining enough to keep me awake!) I particularly loved all the scenic videography. The landscapes were simply stunning and really made me want to visit Australia one day! You may also find it odd that we chose to stay up late on a Wednesday night but Dan had Thursday off (he's back to working for himself- blog post on this to follow shortly) so it worked for us. I honestly can't believe I made it. I don't know why but I always fall asleep when we watch movies at home!

Jordan