Cloth Diapers, Anyone? Am I Crazy?!

Okay, so I haven't been one to fully jump on the "Green" bandwagon, but there have been some small changes I have made here and there. My question to you is, am I crazy for considering cloth diapers?

One of my good friends here in town is sold on them, so I'm leaning on her for the best products on the block...she's pretty much tried them all! I went over to her house last night, and she sent me home with a stash to try out for a few days. Today was my first official day testing them out on Graham, and I have to say, the process is much less painful than I thought it would be. Call me crazy, but I actually kind of like the system, and I'm a big fan of not having smelly diapers sitting around.

I am still contemplating whether or not I want to take the plunge, but I gotta be honest...it's not what I thought it would be. I hadn't realized how far these things have come over the past few years. My mind kept thinking back to the burp cloth type diapers + clothespins + plastic covers, and I wanted nothing to do with that.

Thankfully I have a friend who is much more informed than I am. Never would I have been brave enough to take on all the research myself, but I'm leaning on her experience, and it's been painless so far...what a great first day in the life of a cloth diaper mommy ;-)

I tried a couple different ones throughout the day today, and so far these are my favorite:

http://www.ragababe.com/

ChiCaGo wEekEnD

For weeks I have been looking forward to my weekend with family in Chicago. I'm always looking for excuses to go back to my hometown to be with them, and this particular weekend was the perfect one. Nana was turning 85, and my mom and my Aunts were throwing my cousin Jillian a bridal shower. She and her fiance, Todd are getting married this June, but since the wedding is too close to my due date, so I won't be able to go :( I felt a teeny bit better knowing I could attend her bridal shower, at least.

Todd & Jillian

This picture makes me feel old...not only is my "little" cousin getting married, but my cousin, Crystal (2nd from the left) was the flower girl in our wedding, and she was only 3 or 4 years old at the time! Where does the time go?!

It was a quick weekend, and we packed a lot in, but I was so glad to be there. Dave has been in a heavy travel season for work, so he held down the fort at home while I was away. My mom and me and Aunt Cathy stayed with my Nana & Pop, and I loved having all that time with them.

Aunt Cathy, Nana & Pop, and my mom

Since I didn't have the responsibility of the little ones, I took advantage of the opportunity to sneak away on Saturday morning to meet up with an old friend from grade school days (we've known each other since 5th grade!). We haven't seen each other in years, and I LOVED having the time to catch up with her! I wish our 1.5 hours could've been stretched into about a week!

Candice & me

Saturday afternoon was Jillian's bridal shower, and then all men-folk came over later that evening to celebrate Nana's birthday. We ate lots, and lots and LOTS of yummy food, and then all us cousins tried to burn off the calories on the Wii (I will spare you all from the embarrassing video footage, but will retain it for blackmail purposes)!

Jillian with my mom

The newest member of our family, Aristyn

Nana opening her gifts

Looking through a photo book that Aunt Tracy put together

My cousin, Karlie painted this for Nana :)

Pretty tulips from Todd & Jillian

Pop & Jaxon having a very intense conversation

I grew up in a small Presbyterian church full of wonderful people. I always love going back to visit. My grandparents and a few other family members still attend there, so we all went together on Sunday morning. After lunch, my mom and me and Aunt Cathy ventured onto Midway to catch our flights. We had some time to kill, so were able to hang out a little longer. A fun surprise, though, was that Dave was traveling to Orlando this week for work, and he had a layover at Midway on Sunday afternoon...our time overlapped for about 45 minutes, so we were able to have dinner together before we both went in different directions :)

Dave's mom was with the boys during this time, and the other fun tidbit is that my mom flew back with me to Omaha. She's here for 10 days, and me and the boys are loving our time with her so far. Dave's flight lands any minute, and we're looking forward to having him home! To make it even better, his work trip for next week was cancelled - woo hoo!

Our Trek Up North

Rewind a few weeks ago...we made our first trip to Sioux Falls, SD to visit Dave's sister, Kristin and her hubby, Dan for the first time since they were wed this past October 30th. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time, and it was fun to see their new "world." Dan has owned his home for some time now (and we saw it for the first time back in his bachelor days), so it was fun to see how Kristin has helped the transition to turn it intotheir home :) Dan has always had great style, though...he prefers the vintage look, and has a good eye for it. To further my point, the guy wore Converse high-tops on his wedding day...can't get much cooler than that ;-)

We spent a portion of the day on Saturday walking around a local park area...there were some waterfalls that the boys loved, and we ventured up the lookout tower. Dan and Kristin took us to their downtown area, and we opted to eat at a really fun diner for lunch. For the remainder of the evening, we decided to chill at their house. Dan busted out all of his old matchbox cars and trucks, so Will was on cloud 9. It was cute to watch Dan and Will playing together with the cars :)

Sunday morning Kristin made us a yummy pancake, egg, and bacon breakfast. Then, after we were all dressed in our Sunday best (errr, not so much), and we filled our coffee mugs, we ventured off to church. I always enjoy seeing where people worship on Sundays, and Dan and Kris seem to be part of a really great group of people. I love the space where their church meets...it's in an old warehouse, but somehow it's not sterile in the least. One wall was floor-to-ceiling windows, and the other walls were exposed brick. Throughout the space were these huge wooden columns that really warmed up the room. Rather than having pews or even rows and rows of chairs, they had several tables set up...it was so cozy.

Back at home, we've been having fun with little projects to bring us through the last few weeks of winter. Dave bought Will a truck casting kit, and he thought that was really fun mixing all the ingredients and watching the truck "set-up." Those 30 minutes of waiting was agony for him, so when it was ready to paint, Will got right to work.

Graham's personality is coming out more and more. He is such a little ham...always making us laugh. Dave flipped our table upside down to tighten the legs, and Graham proceeded to make a fort out of it. And here he is making a piggy face with the lid of a container...silly kid :)

Welcoming Baby Silas

Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending a baby shower for a couple who adopted a baby, after 4 failed adoption attempts. Hearing them share their journey was heart-breaking to say the least, and then to see how the Lord brought this sweet little boy into their family was absolutely incredible. They have such wonderful hearts, and will be amazing parents to Silas.

Can't you just see the love, contentment & gratitude in their faces?

Seeing Life Through Rose-Colored Glasses

Or, if you prefer, PINK!!

It is a GIRL for Baby Perkins #3

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday afternoon, and were thankful to hear that our baby was growing and developing normally. Praise the Lord for the blessing of yet another healthy little miracle! We never take that for granted!

In the past, we have always found out the sex at the actual ultrasound; however, Dave had a great idea. Being Valentine's Day, he had already made reservations for us that evening, and thought it would be fun to have the ultrasound tech write down the results for us, seal it in an envelope, and then open it during our dinner. I loved the idea, and that's what we did. We also had the ultrasound tech snap a picture of the "proof," and include that in the envelope as well.

It made the moment that much more special being able to find out if our newest addition would be a boy or girl over dinner, rather than in a doctor's office...what a perfect Valentine's gift. The restaurant is fairly new to Omaha, and I think the only other one is located in Houston (Loft 610: http://www.loft610.com/omaha/gallery.htm)...how fun that we can take her there someday and show her where we found out she was going to be a girl :)

When we called our parents later that evening to tell them the news, my Dad said her middle name should be Valentine. I thought that was such a cute idea :)

I just love these little profile shots

You've Got Mail

Anyone else ever make these when they were younger? Maybe it was just something me and my brother found entertaining, but we would create these "mailboxes" for our bedroom doors, and then drop each other notes and such in them. Don't ask me why we thought it was so fun, but we did (or, perhaps I did, and my brother was simply humoring me...yup, pretty sure that was probably the case).

Living in an older home has it's challenges at times, but it adds a lot of fun elements as well. For example, we don't have to make much of an effort to retrieve our mail, because it's delivered directly into our home via an old fashioned mail slot. Will has grown very fond of checking our mail slot everyday and handing us our mail.

Every once in a while, Will receives a letter or package in the mail, and when that happens he gets pretty excited. The other day I had the idea to have Will help me create a mailbox for him, similar to the ones my brother and I used to make. I didn't know how much Will would actually go for it, but he loved it. He checks his little mailbox periodically throughout the day, and when he discovers something in there with his name on it, his face beams :)

More Fun Around Here

Ya'll must think we never leave the house, based on my last several posts. Although that's not entirely true, it has been the case more than I typically prefer, due to the weather around here lately. Our high yesterday was 5 degrees, and when I left for Bible study yesterday morning with the boys in tow, it was -8. I hear we're supposed to get close to 50 degrees this weekend, though, which will practically make me want to break out the shorts and flip flops!

I wanted to allow Will & Graham some down time yesterday afternoon (actually, if I'm honest with myself, I really just wanted to sit and read), so I thought I'd pop in a video for them. The main area of the house where we spend a lot of time, tends to get quite chilly on these bitter cold days. That portion of the house was an addition, with lots of windows, and it doesn't seem to be insulated to the highest of standards. So, for a change of scenery, I fired up our portable DVD player and allowed them to watch it in Graham's room. I filled their snack bowls with popcorn, laid out a blanket on the floor, and propped some pillows behind them...they loved it! Even Graham managed to sit on his rear for as long as the popcorn lasted ;-)

nothing better than a grilled cheese on a cold day :)

Graham bringing me the laundry basket...asking me to give him a ride. How can I say no to such a cute face?!

Watching their video

We hosted our 4th annual Super Bowl party on Sunday, and had a smaller group this year, which was actually kind of nice for a change. Naturally, the guys were plopped on the couch glued to the game, while me and all the girls were at the table talking. As usual, there wasn't a shortage of food to stuff our faces with, and Will and Graham had a great time having everyone here. In the past we invited all to bring their kids, but the past couple years, we've opted for just the adults, as it just got to be too crazy due to the amount of little ones running around. All agreed they like it this way for a change of pace ;-)

Who cares about the halftime show?! It was the perfect time to break out the dusty Nintendo!

Graham sportin' his Steelers gear!

Food. Lots and lots of junk food.