Poop makes me smile.... Wait, what?

Today began with looming excitement of the 4 of us going to the Children's Museum. The boys let us sleep in till around 8am so we were rushing around trying to get breakfast served and presentable to the public. Typically in the mornings while I'm getting showered and ready, Hayden plays in his jumperoo while Leeland watches a cartoon and eats breakfast. We always get Leeland and Hayden dressed last because Leeland is always anxious to leave, and when he's ready he thinks it's time to go, so unless you want a shadow following you around nagging you saying its time to go, it's best if he gets dressed last.

So I'm getting Leeland dressed, Hayden starts to get fussy. I grab him up to get him dressed and turns out he was fussing because he had a poopy diaper. I go to change him and get him dressed and notice poop on his feet... And there's carpet fuzz on it. Doesn't add up right away until I walk out into the living room and see poop all over the carpet under the jumperoo. How he managed to get it in his diaper and on his feet/in the floor I have no idea-- there was none on either leg, and not much in the seat of the jumperoo? A poop mystery.

We go have fun at the children's museum and then have a few other errands-- GNC, grocery store, Chick-Fil-A (free gallon of tea coupon)... Then we're headed home. We're all exhausted, the errands took longer than anticipated. It's past lunch time and really pushing nap time. We get home and get lunch served. Then we tell Leeland it's nap time and start getting him changed and ready. He happen to have a poopy diaper by this time.... He's at his hyper, silly, really sleepy point and I'm trying to wrestle him down to change him. I'm venting to Daniel about how exhausted I am, what a mess our house is, how frustrated I am, how we need to clean, how I hope we get to move.... Let's just say at this point I'm in need of a nap too....

So I get Leeland changed, and I'm walking the cloth diaper back to the bathroom to spray it out and toss it in the pail. I'm going down the hallway, I feel something weird and freeze. Look down and blurt out a cross between a squeal and a groan. Daniel looks, Leeland looks... I'm completely frozen still in the middle of the hallway. The poop fell out of the diaper and had plopped right onto my foot!! Ew! I don't know if I should be totally freaked out, or thankful it didn't land on the carpet.
I can't help but bust out laughing-- I mean what can I do? Daniels laughing too. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.
I put my foot over the toilet and sprayed it off with the diaper sprayer, then plopped it in the bathrooms sink and scrubbed with soap. Laughing hysterically the whole time.

I mean, who knew that poop had the ability to change my whole demeanor? Frustration out the window, all I can do is laugh at myself. I have been in the trenches it seems with poop today, how's your day? Can you smile about it?

Happy Half Birthday!

The Hayden Meister is 6 months old now!  Ack!! Time flies when you're having fun!

Took the infant seat out of his bath tub, he's a big boy now ;)

 -Hayden is still nursing (feeling quite accomplished myself in this department.)  We are going for Baby Led Weaning and I hope to give him some soft foods to try in the next week or so and see how he does.

-Hayden is a little ball of energy-- he has been military crawling for a month or so now and he is all over the house trying to keep up with big brother Leeland.

-Hayden and Leeland get along SO well, and I am so proud of Leeland and how he has fallen right into the big brother role and has taken little Hayden under his wing and loves him  so much.

Leeland loving on Hayden

-Hayden loves the sound of his own voice, we've gotten several "da da da daaa daaa"'s out of him along with some "goos" and LOADS of squeals.

-Praise the Lord, he is still sleeping through the night, still in our room in the pack &play until we get a bigger place.

-Hayden wakes up SO happy!  All around a happy kid really, just keep him fed.

The boys being silly

It's late and that's all that I can come up with at the moment.  He's a happy little man who is enjoying exploring the world.  Can't believe we have a 6 month old!

This pic just CRACKS me up!!! :D

A Diaper Bag Review

Reviews are not anything that I have really dabbled much in on the blog, but I sort of feel like I owe it to Skip Hop to review my Skip Hop Studio Diaper Bag.  When Daniel and I make purchases, they are always well researched, especially if they are what I would consider "expensive" because we are penny pinchers.  When I was looking into getting a new and larger diaper bag after I found out we were pregnant with #2, I instantly fell in love with the Skip Hop Studio Diaper Bag.  It has a load of space and a ton of pockets for organizing-- We have previously owned a Skip Hop bag so I knew that they were well made bags.  I was a bit shocked when I started hitting major websites like Target, Babies R Us, and Amazon and seeing incredibly mixed reviews and several really harsh negative reviews about the bags falling apart.  I'm not into wasting $90.  So long story short, my co-workers at the time, got us a Target gift card as a leaving work/baby gift, and I immediately knew that I wanted to put it towards the new diaper bag.  There wasn't a lot of needs with the new baby, but this was something that would be a sweet gift for me, and also fill the need of a roomier bag. 

I LOVE THIS BAG!  It is everything I wanted and more-- it's the perfect size to fit all of my stuff along with the things the boys need. (Keep in mind that both boys are still in cloth diapers.)  It's extremely well made, not one stitch on the bag has so much as even budged.  And... it doesn't really look like a diaper bag, it just looks like an oversized purse, and those are very "in".

So what's in the diaper bag?  Here's a breakdown of what I pack for a regular day:

 Pictured:
- Ear buds, I use these to talk on my phone when driving in the car
- 2 crayons, because if the toys don't work, coloring is a perfect quiet activity
- a paci, though Hayden doesn't take one
- my water bottle

Pictured:
- a clean onesie
- 2 bumGenius 4.0 diapers
- keys and monkey toy for Hayden
- wooden teething toy for Hayden
- A car and a book (from Chick-Fil-A) for entertainment for Leeland
-The brown/beige folded thing is the changing pad that came with the bag
- A prefold diaper that I use as a burp rag for Hayden
- The lime green case is a First-Aid kit I picked up at Target, super awesome. It even came with stickers which definitely make boo boos better.
- A bib, I don't really use them but my Mom gets on to me if I don't have one.  A little teething drool doesn't hurt in my opinion

Pictured:
- Sani wipes that I swiped from Buffalos ;)
- Not sure why I need 3 shades of lip gloss and a chap stick... but hey, I guess I'm a little indecisive
- The blue floral ribbon looking thing is "nursing clips" that I made, they can go around your neck to clip a blanket for nursing coverage.  (Though to be honest, I haven't covered Hayden's head in a while.)
- Leeland's sunglasses
- Pack of gum
- pen
- Leeland's inhaler.
- The sleep hood to our Boba
- coconut oil in the baby food jar (we use this one mostly as rash cream)
- A book for me, "Perelandra" by CS Lewis
- My calendar
-My wallet (red)


Things also typically packed that aren't pictured:
- A sippy cup for Leeland
- Snacks for Leeland and I
- My cloth wipes, I pre moisten them and put them in a travel Huggies container.  Aren't pictured because I'm restocking
- My phone!

And for the record, these are just things that I pack for the day to day and even with all of this stuff, this bag STILL has room!  I've even used this bag for longer day trips when a lot more diapers and changes of clothes were necessary.  Can't say enough good things about this bag-- I have carried it EVERY SINGLE DAY for almost a year!  And they even have newer cooler colors/prints now.  Check them out on their website here.

Yesterday

If you haven't been following our journey to buying our first home, this is the 4th post on the subject and you may want to start with House Hunting, followed by Under Contract, and then Trying to Have Hope.  If you've already read those posts, then you know that this has been quite the roller coaster ride of ups and downs for us.  Yesterday, August 10th was supposed to be our closing date on the house.  Of course as you can tell, it wasn't.  Since I last posted about the suspension of our loan, we "grieved" you could say over the house and felt like we were being forced to move on.  We were coming down to the wire of our contract extension, and it didn't seem the bank was willing to work with us-- I felt like I kept going in circles with them, and jumping all the hoops to no avail. 

Just when we started to research other options, such as re-signing our lease here at our apartment, searching home rentals etc. we found out that another mortgage broker could give us a chance.  He is extremely knowledgeable about the business and he is very passionate about putting people in houses.  When we started working with him we only had one week left and weren't sure if the sellers would be willing to hold the house for us.  I was super nervous about it-- of course if they didn't hold the house for us, he was willing to work out the financials so that we could start looking at other houses, but I just LOVE this house.  This is the house that I want, the house that I have had dreams about, the house that in my head, I already have the boys' rooms picked out and decorated. 

Anyway, through a wild turn of events yesterday, our last day in our due diligence period, and also the last day that we could put in our 60 day notice at our apartment, the sellers decided to continue to work with us.  Our mortgage broker wrote a letter on our behalf to the sellers that included a timeline of when he would be able to get the loan done.  We essentially are back to the pre-approval stage.  Our new closing date is set for September 6th! 

I'm completely in shock by all of this-- I haven't been able to hash out all of the details in full on the blog because quite frankly our finances are our business, but I will say that this has just been the craziest transaction ever.  We have nearly lost the house and extended our contract/due diligence period at least 4 times.  I mean we were literally down to the last hour yesterday-- not only with the house, but also if we were going to re-sign with our apartment for the next year it had to have been done by yesterday at 5pm.  I'm in awe of the timing and I know that only God could have worked these miracles in all of the time crunches.  We are really excited and praying hard that it works out this time. 

I finished a book ;)

Much of my life I didn't really care for reading books as a hobby/leisure activity. Well... maybe I enjoyed reading as a tot, I don't really remember that far back.  But as far back as middle school, high school and college, I was always in honors and AP classes and had loads of reading and studying assigned to me.  Plus I was super busy-- in High School, I not only played sports but I also worked a part-time job starting at age 15.  I had bills to pay-- car insurance, cell phone, gas money, spending money....  And in college, life got even busier with more work (rent money), classes, internship, I planned a wedding and got married my Senior year.  Just a hectic time.

When I graduated College and started my 1st "real" full time job as a social worker at a group home, working regular 8-5 hours, I was honestly amazed by how much free time I had!  I know, it sounds really weird to spend the majority of your wakeful time at work and say that you have a load of free time, but I truly felt like I did because I only had one thing to focus on, and it wasn't a lot of hopping from here to there.  (Oh, and don't forget weekends off! Say what!?) With all of that said, I started reading again, and I LOVED it.  For once in my life I had the choice of what to read and could read at my own pace.  I was flying through books! And then... came a baby.  Leeland of course.  The first few months were a breeze because he pretty much slept and ate all the time, so I still felt like I had free time.  Then he started crawling... and walking... and running and got into everything.  And his naps became shorter and shorter.... And then came baby number two!

Amongst all the chaos of life and kids, I would start books and not finish them.  Sometimes starting the same book several times.  I just didn't have the time.  Or if there was a free moment, I would choose something that required less energy and brain waves, like a nap! :)

Anyways, the point of this post is meant to be celebratory if I can ever get there.  Today, for the first time in like a year (sad I know)  I finished a book!! Haha!  I feel so accomplished!  And the beauty of it is that it's only the first in a series, so I have a couple more to go!

2 In Cloth

Several people have asked about what it's like to have 2 babies in cloth diapers, and being completely honest, not a lot has changed from having 1 in cloth diapers.  With Hayden almost 6 months old, I didn't anticipate having both boys in cloth this long, but after trying to potty train Leeland 3 times already and not succeeded, here we are with 2 boys in cloth diapers still. 

Hayden wore disposable diapers for the first 2 weeks of his life.  (Not that I remember much from that time period....) We didn't make the transition to cloth for 2 weeks because I was sleep deprived and constantly nursing and I wasn't washing our clothes really, much less diapers.  At 2 weeks old we began using pre-folds and covers.  Hayden wore size small Oso Cozy pre-folds and I had 5 Thirsties Duo covers.  At this point it was pretty much like Hayden had his own set of diapers and Leeland had his own set of diapers so I still only did laundry every 3-4 days.  I LOVE pre-folds.... and I sort of miss them.  He grew out of those pretty quickly. 

At around 3 1/2 - 4 months, the pre-folds stopped wrapping around my little chunk's body so we transitioned him into wearing our one-size diapers.  These are the diapers that Leeland wears-- we have a collection of mostly bumGenius 4.0's, some Kawaiis, Fuzzibunz, Charlie Banana and a couple "no name" diapers.  With the transition to the one-size diapers I have had to bump up to doing laundry every 2 days, but other than the extra laundry it has been really easy.  Because Leeland is so skinny and Hayden is so chunky, they wear their one-size dipes literally on the SAME setting-- same rise and same snap around the waist.  It's kind of weird that they wear the exact same size diapers, but at the same time it's really nice and makes my job easier.  The only difference I do between the two is that Leeland gets 2 inserts in his diaper because he's a heavier wetter and Hayden gets 1 insert.  Of course if I was ever in a "pinch" though and out with both boys and only 1 diaper, it wouldn't really matter how many inserts was in a diaper. 

We love our cloth diapers, loved them with one cloth tush and really love them with 2 cloth tushies! A lot of the reason for our switch to cloth diapers (almost 2 years ago) was because of Leeland's sensitive skin, but also because of tight finances-- and now that we are getting double the use out of our diapers cloth diapers have REALLY paid off! 

Loving Motherhood

I love that when Leeland and I sit on the couch, he sneaks closer and closer to me, says "snuggle" and expects me to put my arm around him.

I love that Hayden laughs and jumps, and jumps and jumps in the jumperoo until he passes out.

I love that when Hayden is crying, Leeland will shout over to him, "It's okay brother!"

I love that Hayden and Leeland can sit in the floor, staring at each other giggling about nothing.

I love the Leeland pats my back when he gives me a hug.

I love that Leeland sits on the end of his bed when he wakes up, though he can get out of his bed on his own, he waits for his Mom to come get him.

I love that Hayden gives the biggest grins and giggles when he's happily nursing.

I love that Hayden is incredibly ticklish and cracks up so hard at bath time and after bath lotion time at the slightest touch to his belly.

I love that Leeland knows exactly where we're headed when we drive certain directions and down certain roads.

I love Leeland's love of books, story time and the library.

I love Hayden's curiosity, and how he military crawls right into the middle of the toy pile where Leeland plays.

I love that Leeland wears a huge smile on his face when I call him a "big boy."

Loving every moment with my little boys.  We have our days, and there are times when I feel like I just want to count down to bed time, but these days will pass.... One day they won't want to be tickled, one day they'll move out and I'll have less opportunities for a hug... The boys are growing so fast, soaking in these precious moments.