Cades Cove

Last weekend we went to Cades Cove to drive through and have a picnic.

We didn't see very many animals unfortunately, but the scenery was beautiful!

I did get this one good picture of a bear :)

This was when we stopped for our picnic. I love this picture of Cooper!

This is in front of a very old cabin.

But not this cabin.

We had a great day and will definately be taking Cooper back. He loved riding in the Jeep all day with the top down.

Wordless Wednesday

Somebody Pinch Me!

** Did you notice that the previous post was my 100th?? I'm so excited about it!

Ok, on to the actual post..

Money is often a source of conflict in my marriage. My husband is an impulse buyer, although he has improved this since we first got married. (He demonstrated this by buying a dixie horn for his Jeep last week) I am not an impulse buyer. I do my research, make sure that I get the exact product I want and then research to find the best price. I demonstrated this last night my making an Excel spreadsheet of all of the things I will need to cloth diaper full time, along with the store to get it at and its price. This gave me the total amount of money I will need for the purchase. Before telling my husband said total, I told him to remember that I had cut this down to what I thought was the bare minimum to be able to do this conveniently. I then added up an estimate of what we had already spent on diapers. I was generous and said about $30 a month for diapers and wipes. $30 a month for 16 months comes out to $480!! Well my list total (including an Ergo carrier and the matching backpack as a present to myself) was about $440. And it will last until potty training!! I did include a diaper sprayer, pail liner, and a few other things that might not be completely "necessary" but will make the transition more convenient for me. MY HUSBAND SAID OK! I was in shock! I was bracing for an argument big time. I figure when he heard the total his head would explode, but he actually said that was FINE with him! He may be up to something and just trying to distract me from it, but for right now I am blissfully unaware :)

The Scoop on the Poop

I hope you are interested in my adventure into cloth diapering, because I like sharing about it. If it doesn't interest you, feel free to not read these posts. You won't hurt my feelings a bit :)


If you are still reading, I must warn you this post is about poop and may contain some TMI. If you have a weak stomach regarding poop, please look away now.


Now, on to the poop. Last night I had to change my first poopy cloth diaper. It was EASY! Just as easy as disposables for sure! I removed the diaper just as usual. Wiped his wee bottom, just as usual. (We are still using disposable wipes for the moment. I plan to get some cloth wipes when I get more diapers.) I put a clean diaper on his bottom and threw the wipes in the trash. As Cooper went on his marry way, no doubt to go find something to make a mess of, I took the dirty diaper to the bathroom. I plan on getting a diaper sprayer soon, but right now I'm making due with what we have. What we have is one of those shower heads that you can move around because they are attached to a flexible hose. Something like this. So since our toilet is right by the bath tub, I sprayed off the poop into the toilet with the shower head. Cooper's poop resembles clay is sorta stubborn about sticking to the diaper so the help of the water was very useful. After I sprayed off the poop, I took the diaper to the pail. It just so happens that diaper was the last clean we had so it was time to do laundry!

I took pail liner (also known as a pillow case for now) full of diapers to the laundry room, dumped the diapers into the washer and threw in the pillow case pail liner after them. I did a cold rinse with no spin cycle so the diapers would be heavier during the next cycle and trick my HE washer into using more water. Since I don't have that many diapers, I also threw in a couple towels for the same reason. Next I put in a scoop of my Rockin Green into the place for the soap and did a warm/cold wash cycle with an extra rinse to avoid any build up that might cause irritation. The diapers came out spotless! And smelled so good! Because we were expecting rain last night, I hang the diapers and liners on several hangers to dry overnight in the laundry room. This morning the were waiting on me to stuff them with the liners!

I'm definitely addicted. This is way easier than I thought. I HATE laundry, but this laundry was NOTHING! If you are on the edge about trying cloth, just buy a few and give a shot! You will be surprised how much you like it :)

ETA:: This is my 100th post!!! Personally I love that I celebrated this milestone by writing about poop ;)

Cloth Diapering: An Update

Cloth diapering is going great! Cooper seems to really like it, and it hasn't been as gross as I thought it might. I had given myself a couple "outs" when I decided to try cloth. They were (1) I could use sposies when going out and (2) I could use sposies overnight. Well last night my brother took us out to eat and I decided to use my cloth. I put him in a shirt and just let him wear a matching diaper. It was ADORABLE! But it was not hard at all to use cloth on the go. They take up a little bit more room in my diaper bag, but that's ok. Just an excuse to buy a bigger bag ;) In regards to "out" number 2, we did use a sposie last night. We only have 6 cloth diapers right now,and therefore not enough to use them full time. When I get enough to go cloth full time, we will not be keeping sposies in the house anymore. (Well we might keep a few for "just in case") I LOVE this so far. I'm definately hooked. I really look forward to getting more and using cloth full time! My husband's sister is graduating tonight and we are going to use cloth at the graduation. I will let you know how it goes! So far, so good :)

Here is Cooper's cute tush and his Uncle Ty at dinner last night.

I've Never Been So Excited to Do Laundry!

My Rockin' Green Cloth Diaper Detergent came in the mail today! Time to wash the diapers!

Here is my detergent, pail refresher dtuff, cute little laundry scoop, and samples to try different fragrances

And here is my make-shift clothes line that I am using until someone makes me a real one :)
Bungie cords and speaker wire. Is that redneck or what??

As soon as they are dry we get to start using cloth! I'm sooo excited to get his little bottom out of all those chemicals!

Look What Came in the Mail!!

FLUFFY MAIL!!

Look at that fluffy butt :D

My Newest Venture

If you have seen my tweets you know that I am in the middle of no where at my in-laws with no internet. Thank goodness for Blackberry! We will be home this afternoon but I just couldn't wait to tell you about my newest venture idea! (Actually it wasn't my idea it was Queen Bee's. She has helped me so much with all this IBCLC stuff. I can't thank her enough! When I get home I will link to her blog. Can't do that from the BB ya know. I have linked to her blog, because I am home now and have my internet back!) Anyway back to the idea...

I'm going to try to become a La Leche League Leader! I emailed my local leader to get started and it turns out she has been thinking of retiring! How cool is that?? Great timing! She has not held meetings in a while and to become a leader I will have to attend meetings. This might be a tiny challenge but not too bad. I can find a somewhat local town that holds meetings. I am so excited to get started on this! Did I mention it counts towards my hours for the IBCLC?? I went to try to buy LLL's book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding last night. I went to 3 different stores. All 3 said they had it online. Not one had it, so it looks like I'l be ordering it online. A new edition comes out in July but I just can't wait that long to get started! I will keep you updated as the process unfolds :)

Fluffy Butts

If you haven't already seen my many tweets yesterday proclaiming this...



I have successfully bribed my husband into trying cloth diapering! I told him he could buy in Jeep accessories what I spend in diapers ;)



So yesterday I ordered 6 Smartipants diapers and some extra inserts. I am excited! I can't wait to get them!!! Cooper will soon have a fluffy butt! (Atleast part time for now)



Thank you ZooKeeperJess for all of your help :)

My Giant (Almost) Cupcake

You will soon see why I say "almost." It wasn't pretty... but I'm sharing anyway because it was yummy! This is not a cooking blog and I don't plan on making it one. I do like to bake, but I don't do it very much because I hate cleaning up the mess. But here is my completely made-from-scratch giant almost cupcake.




I used one of those giant cupcake pans. I know you know what I'm talking about. Unless you have never watched TV of course... I got the cake recipe here. Yes it makes a difference whether you use cake flour or regular flour. Use the cake flour!!

I got the icing recipe here. I just used regular milk instead of cream though.

I filled the cake with strawberries sprinkled with sugar. It would also be nice to use macerated strawberries. This was a last minute addition so I just sliced them and sprinkled them with sugar. Also, I'm not old enough to cook with wine ;)

Here is the (over) filled cake. I put too much of the strawberries in so when I sat the top on it....

...the walls of the bottom layer gave way. So I just slathered it with the icing and we ate it :)

The cake was moist and delicious in spite of how it looked. I thought the icing was too rich, but I don't like overly sweet things. The strawberries really made the cake though.

***WARNING*** This cake is not for those watching their weight or for those with heart/cholesterol issues. Together, the cake and icing contain an entire POUND of butter!! That's FOUR sticks!!!

Wordless Wednesday

GRADES ARE IN!!!

Grades were supposed to be posted yesterday by 10 AM. They weren't. They still were not posted today at noon. I just checked again and FINALLY they are posted!

All A's! Even in Anatomy! I'm impressed with myself :)

The Anti-Attachment Parent

It is no secret I am in love with attachment parenting. I have breastfed Cooper for 16 months (almost) and counting. He sleeps with me every night and has since we came home from the hospital. I love baby-wearing, but Cooper has outgrown both of the baby-wearing devices I have. (I'm in the process of aquiring new one, hopefully soon!) I would LOVE to cloth diaper, but finances prevent it right now. I was not raised with attachment parents. I was not breastfed, slept in my own bed for the most part, was not worn, and wore a cloth diaper only when I had diaper rash. There is nothing wrong with that. Its just not how I've chosen to parent. I have no idea what led me to parenting this way. It certainly wasn't my husband.

My husband, while mostly supportive of the parenting choices I make, can only be described the anti-attachment parent. He was supportive of my decision to breastfeed, but his exact words were "They are your boobs; that is your decision." He would have been just as happy if I had chosen to use formula. He did sleep with his parents for a very short time as an infant, but he still would be very happy if Cooper slept in his own bed now. (For very obvious reasons that I shouldn't have to spell out for you) He could care less about baby-wearing. He did use the sling a grand total of one time when Cooper was about 3 weeks old. Since then he has been perfectly happy to push a stroller. He flat out said no to cloth diapering when I mentioned it a few months ago. I didn't push it because the finances are not there, but when the time comes to plan for Baby #2, I will get my research together and push it.

One big thing we do not agree on is spanking. I do not want our children spanked. For many reasons, but a few of them: (1) Teaching a child not to hit by hitting them is just plain stupid, (2) Parents shouldn't hurt their children, and (3) I don't think it is effective punishment. I was spanked and so was Jerry. Yet, we both have very different views about this form of punishment. He thinks it is the only way to make a child mind. I know this isn't true, but, besides time-out, I can't think of anything else. Time-out just isn't very effective at this age. But I refuse to spank or let Cooper be spanked by anyone else. I don't want Cooper to be one of those kids no one wants to be around. (You probably have a few in mind as you read this.) But I'm not sure what else to try. Any ideas??

GREAT BLOG IDEA!!... Nevermind...

Do you have get a great idea for a blog and when you actually get to where you can blog you can't remember anything about it? Yesterday while I was driving I remember having this great idea for a blog. I even had some of what I was going to say planned out. I was really excited about it too! Too bad I have no idea what it was now...

IT'S OVER!!!!

My first semester came to a close today. I thought I would be relieved, and for the most part I am. But, also, I don't know what to do! There is nothing hanging over my head that I need to get done! Cooper keeps me busy, but I'm usually juggling Cooper and working on something. I've kinda forgotten how to just relax with Cooper. I only have a month until summer semester starts, so I will barely have time to get used to this new found freedom until there are assignments hanging over my head yet again. Grades will be posted on Monday. I will post them for you as soon as I know myself :)

In other news, Cooper is a ball of energy lately. He is running EVERYWHERE! He has forgotten how to just walk. He is also opening doors by himself which scares me. Today, he heard my Papaw start up the backhoe. He ran to the door, opened it easy as you please, and walked right out. This scares me for 2 reasons. (1) He can open doors by himself, and (2) he is not afraid of heavy machinery. He will go right up to Papaw and demand "buden, buden." We will be making a visit to Target tomorrow for baby proofing stuff for the doors. We will have to work on the not-running-up-to-heavy-machinery thing.