How do you do it?!

Seriously - all you moms and wives out there:  HOW DO YOU DO IT?!  I have become suddenly overwhelmed with all of the things I want to do - the mom I want to be.  I read other people's blogs and see them doing crafty stuff, cleaning their house, taking their kids all these places...blogging!...I'm lucky if I get Lily and myself dressed for the day!  I have fallen into this really bad routine.  And now that summer is over, winter is coming...which means cold and snow and only the necessary outings.  What do I do inside?  

There are so many things I want to get done, but I never have the motivation to start or finish it!  For example, around the time when Lily turned 2 (May), I decided that I wanted to make a picture book for her of the important people in her life.  My plan was (is) to use it as a church book to keep her occupied and quiet, as well as get to know her family and friends that don't live nearby.  So I sent out an email for people to send me pictures...well, I got, like, 2 back.  The project just kinda slipped off my radar and has been in the back of my mind ever since...but I can never find the time or motivation to put it together.  I know exactly what I have to do - I have it envisioned in my head...it's just doing it.  I'm horrible at starting projects and never finishing them...unfortunately, that's a trait I inherited from my mother (sorry mom!).  I have papers piled up around our computer desk, waiting to be filed...it's just always a bigger job than I think it'll be.  And I'm not the kind of person to do little bits at a time.  Just get it done!

So, to all you reading this out there, how do you do it?  Also, how do you do crafts and things with your kids on a budget?  I just can't take my kids to the zoo, or to the movies or something...at least not all the time, or as often as some.  

Any hints/tips would be great...anything to help me feel less overwhelmed!

Sounds of the Lily

Lily Singing

Lily sings the ABC's, a never-ending Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ring Around the Rosie, and It's A Small World After All. Enjoy!

People think I'm crazy...

(Warning: minor soapbox)

Heck, 6 months ago, I would have thought I'm crazy! So why am I crazy? Well, because I now use cloth diapers. Yep. We're "CDing" it up. My sister, Rachel, started with full on cloth when her son was born in May. We had talked about it when she was pregnant, and I wasn't really keen on the idea of cloth. More laundry, cleaning poop off, and disposables are so much easier and convenient. Well, after a couple of months, Rachel wasn't have much success with cloth. So she decided to try gDiapers. They were initially made as a cloth/disposable hybrid diaper. You have a reusable cloth cover with a removable, reusable liner inside, then you have a flushable insert that you put in the liner. That's the part that's like the disposable - the part that they pee on. When you change the diaper, you put it in the toilet and flush it! That's it! Well, while those are convenient and easy, they're also quite pricey. So recently, gDiapers came out with a gCloth option. You use the same cover and liner, but instead of the flushable, you put in the cloth. Super easy!

Rachel loved them so much that she convinced me to try them. And I love them! Today, I had my first poopy cloth diaper, and it was so easy to deal with. We also have some flushable liners that we haven't tried - but we're keeping them for when we go out. And we still use a disposable on Hannah at night - she sleeps for 12 hours straight, and the cloth just isn't absorbent enough to last that long.

So what about my earlier concerns? More laundry: ok, yes, but a load of laundry every 3 days is a lot cheaper and easier than buying more diapers. Not as easy or convenient? gDiapers are super easy! And they're practically as convenient as disposables. The only thing is that you have to make sure to carry around a bag for them if you're out and about. No big deal - I'm carrying a diaper bag anyway!

Cleaning poop off? Not a big deal! I'm not the kind of person to get squeamish over stuff like that, though. I'd much rather clean off a cloth diaper with Hannah-poop instead of deal with Lily's "big kid" poop! :) AND! (this is the part that gets me) I had absolutely no idea - along with probably most of you reading this - that you're supposed to shake, wipe, etc the poop from the disposable diaper into the toilet before you put the diaper in the trash can! WHAT?! I've never heard that before! Seriously - it's on the Pampers website (along with all the others, I'm sure) says "As the Pampers bag recommends, you'll want to dump bowel movements in the toilet. Then just roll the diaper into its backsheet, using the tape or fasteners to keep it closed, and dispose of it in the trash." This site also talks about putting it in the toilet and the safety reasons behind it (i.e. contaminating underground water supplies). So if I'm going to be cleaning it off of disposables, I might as well be cleaning it off of cloth!

And, all in all, cloth is cheaper than disposables. With gDiapers, it'll probably cost around $150 for 5 covers, 20 flushable inserts, and 18 cloth inserts. That's until they're about 14 lbs. Then medium and large have different covers, but use the same size cloth insert. For disposables, I figure it'll cost at least $175 for the first 4 months (until the average baby gets to 14 lbs). Ok, so just $25 for convenience - sure, I'd pay that. But what about your next babies - assuming you have more than one. That's another $175 at least for each baby's first 4 months. But with cloth, you don't have to buy anything else. And, the bigger the diaper size, the less you get in the package...which means more $$.

Anyway, obviously, I'm converted. But I know they're not for everyone. I just wanted to share what has worked for me - I didn't think there was another option to disposables. Well, I guess it's more like I didn't realize that cloth could be so convenient - and CUTE! Here's a picture of Hannah wearing her pink ruffle butt gPants:

/soapbox :)

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words...

So, to catch up with the past couple months, here are 27,000 words for you (plus some)!

Jonny got to shoot a .50 caliber rifle...

I didn't go...and I'm extremely bitter about it. I'm surprised I'm even blogging about it.

We went to Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove. Lily rode the extremely shady "merry go merry go." But she still had fun!

My cousin Jesse had his Master's recital at the end of June. He did an AWESOME job!

We saw a double rainbow one day.

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We celebrated July 4th with some of Jonny's family. Here's Lily eating some blueberries.

Kylee meticulously glazing the strawberries.

Yummy tart cake thing...

Victoria and Lily ready for the fireworks. (Lily's cousins told her to plug her ears......)

Some pretty awesome firework shots, if I may say so myself.

Lily, Christian and Victoria

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Hannah is now almost 7 months old!! WOW how time flies! She started sitting up around the middle of July...

She had her first solid food on July 19. She wasn't sure about it at first

But she took to it amazingly well! Now she LOVES it and she is so impatient while we get it ready...

And anticipates the spoon coming toward her:

Here she is in her gDiapers! (www.gdiapers.com) We use gCloth. Thanks Rachel!

Aren't they so cute?!

We went to her 6 month doctor's appointment at the beginning of August. She weighed 13 lbs (3-5%ile) and was 25 1/4" (~25%ile) long. Teeny tiny. But I'm not worried - she's just our petite girl. I'm sure with the solids she'll start to put on a little more weight. She can sit up by herself, and just in the past couple days she's really started to roll from her back to front. I think she's realized that there's something more to just laying there, as she was all over the place yesterday. She now sleeps 12 hours straight at night! She also is a mommy's girl, which I'm not used to because Lily was much more independent and loves her daddy. She cut her first top tooth on August 11, and her second top one on August 21. So she now has FOUR teeth! OUCH!

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Lily is growing up so fast. There's nothing she can't say now. Her newest things are "stop it," "my body hurts," and "don't talk to me." Yep - she's 2. She is amazing at singing songs. I'll sing a line of a song but leave off the last word and she'll fill it in - a lot of times on key! She is just about fully potty-trained now! We still put a diaper on her at night, but for the past week it has been dry when she wakes up! Yee haw! She's quite stubborn and has selective hearing, but she can be very loving and so sweet. And she's a wonderful big sister!!

She did this all by herself.

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Sisters.

One day I put her down for her nap in a normal outfit. When I went to get her afterward, she was wearing this. I think she was a little embarrassed, so she wouldn't let me take a picture of her!

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We went up Provo Canyon with Jonny's former co-worker (Joe) and his family. Us as Bridal Veil Falls.

Joe splashed Jonny with a HUGE rock. Poor guy. At least it was hot!

Lily had tons of fun playing with her friends. And she got ridiculously dirty...

And that just about sums up the past 3 months! I've got one more post I need to do, but I have to upload those pics first. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Terrys: 0, Mother Nature: 2

I didn't blog about our camping trip last year, but long story short: It was the beginning of June, we planned to go 2 nights and ended up leaving VERY early in the morning after the first night. This is why:

That's right. It snowed. It was freezing. So we left for the comfort of our warm home. We might have stayed for the next night if Lily wasn't with us, but she was so little and so cold! So Mother Nature won.

We decided to give camping a try again this year. We went up Spanish Fork Canyon with Andrew & Brittney and Chad & Clair for Memorial Day weekend. Leading up to it, the forecast looked awesome. No chance of rain whatsoever. And then Thursday came and everything changed. It rained practically all weekend. The rain was so bad on Saturday night that it started leaking through our tent. We didn't have any extra tarps (we had used them all up for shelter over the tables), so Jonny and I chose to drive the girls home. We bought a tarp for our tent the next day and didn't have any more problems. We had a ton of fun though! I'd call this one leaning slightly more toward the 'Mother Nature' winning side.

I'm so glad Jonny thinks he's cool. :)

Chad caught a rattlesnake and skinned it...


Then cooked it, and we ate some of it! It was chewy...


What a proud man.


Jonny & Hannah


Lily would do this every time she walked by the fire.


"Here's a pretty flower I picked just for you, Mommy!"


No comment.


Andrew & Brittney


Clair "cheesing"

Wow, it must have been early.
This is one of the only pictures of me. I love being the one behind the camera!