More on cloth diapers

So I almost gave up cloth diapering again. This is hard stuff. After our one (ONE!) day of no leaks, we had a bad, bad day on Sunday. Rex peed straight through 2 diapers during church yesterday. It was like he wasn't wearing anything. The first one I caught soon enough that I only had to change the diaper and take his oneies off. The second I was not so lucky. Rex left nursery for some reason or other and was sitting on my lap in Relief Society. And things starting feeling a little moist. I was sitting in front of every one so I didn't want to just get up and leave, so I hung in there, hoping the teacher who said she would end early, would actually end early, but by then it was too late. I stood up and looked down at my dress--a huge wet spot. I checked Rex's pants. Same thing. Luckily I had one last disposable in my bag. I changed Rex and he went home pantsless.

And then I had a brilliant idea.

The water proof liners are semi-permeable so as to allow air flow and reduce diaper rash. Pish posh. The liners are extra lame. But what if I used two?

So last night I put two liners and two inserts in Rex's diaper and we got through the night. Then we went most of the day today without a leak--and the one leak we had was because I think the diaper feel off and then Rex peed. I did notice some moisture in between the two layers of liner so I put one of the cloth wipes my mom made in between the liners. Problem solved. Here's what I do now: from the outside in: g Pant, liner, cloth wipe, liner, insert, bum.

We'll see if my plan continues to work tomorrow.

Either way, I only have until Sunday when we leave for North Carolina and I'm not packing cloth diapers across the country to wash at a hotel. And when we get back: pee pee in the potty!

6.26.11: Jazz in the Park

Like I said, summer in Provo is amazing. So many free and fun things to do.

Every Sunday in June there's a brass band concert at North Park. We've been trying to go every Sunday all month long, but something always came up, until this Sunday, our last chance. It was fun.

I made these muf-fus (as Rex calls them) to enjoy while listening.

Rex made these fun faces.

And then he got bored and started walking around with his pink Victoria's Secret umbrella we borrowed from Aunt Emma.
Not long after this, we ended up at the playground where Greg and I tried to listen to the tail end of the concert.

And then we walked home in the setting sun. I love summer in Provo.

6.24.11: Happy #4

I can hardly believe it--we've been married 4 years (almost)--our real anniversary is on Wednesday, but that's not a good day for a camp out. Ok, I can believe it. In some ways it feels like we've been together forever. Maybe because we will be together forever. Awww.

Greg and I decided to tone it down a bit from last year (we spent 3 days, 2, nights in Charleston, SC). We went camping. And it was great. It was lovely not having a TV or a computer or a toddler around. We spent most of the time just sitting next to each other and enjoying each other's company. Corny, a bit romantic, corny but I loved it.

We went to the same camp site Greg and Rex went to a few weeks ago on the back side of Mt. Nebo. It was beautiful. Wooded. Secluded. And we think there might have been a polygamist gathering that same weekend. We got lots of funny looks. Only one wife. What?

We arrived around 7 and Greg started building a fire. Good thing he's an Eagle Scout.

I made these beautiful pork kabobs that took like a million years to cook. Greg thinks he may have eaten a raw one or two. Oops.
Greg still roasting like an hour later.

After cleaning up, we walked the whole ten feet from our camp site to a raging river below to do some fishing. I was glad we didn't have Rex with us. The river was crazy and so is Rex. Crazy Rex plus crazy river don't mix. Greg even let me sit on his lap, because it was our anniversary after all.

After fishing, we ate cheese cake and drank sparkling cider to commenerate. Sat by the fire some more. Played jin (I won). And went to bed.

Here's how pretty we looked in the morning. Greg made another fire and cooked a wonderful, coarsed breakfast--egg coarse, bacon coarse, and lastly hash browns with some orange juice.

Hot.
We were home by ten so Andrea (our wonderful last minute baby sitter) could make it to her class.

When Rex saw the pictures and noticed our gear, he was quite upset that we went camping without him. I guess we have a few more trip this summer. As soon as the river goes down, we'll have to go back and take Rex with us.

Overall, Greg and I had a wonderful time--it was like we were dating again, but were married at the same time. The best of both worlds. I can't wait until next year.

6.24.11: Summer in Provo

I may have decided to change my favorite season. For many many years, it was fall. I love falls in Provo because they are still warm, but not too warm...a skirt and a sweater are perfect. The leaves change colors according to a girl from California (Greg says the leaves changing here hardly counts in comparison to the almighty South, which will rise again). The air smells fresh and crisp. And the new school year starts with all excitement of a new apartment, new roommates, new classes, new boys to date...

But now that I'm a stay-at-home mom, things are changing.

I still really like the fall, don't get me wrong. I've been planning our Halloween costumes since November 1. But when you have a very restless and energictic toddler, fall and the following winter and snow mean months of being stuck in doors trying to figure out how to entertain a kid.

But summer.

Now summer is different.

We can play outside. We can go to the park. We can play in the sprinklers. We can go on picnics. In addition to the three activities we do during the winter.

Here's my summer schedule--it's fantastic by the way.

Monday: clean house, walk to the park

Tuesday: walk to ta different park

Wednesday: walk to a different park (we have a lot of parks close to our house) or other interesting activity.

Thursday: walk to the library for Make and Take Crafts following by Canopy Capers (picnic and story time).

Friday: 7 Peaks.

It's awesome. This week we are going to the Bridal Veil Falls with a friend of mine to mix things up a bit.

Oh, yes, pictures. I took pictures last week because I finally remembered to get my memory card out of Greg's work computer.

Here are Rex and Reagan eating lunch and listening to music at the library.

Rex got really into it. Here he is pulling his arms way back for a big clap to go along with the song.

Here's a typical Reagan face. She's mad at me because she didn't like the lunch I packed her...she wanted mine. I did not want to share.

On Friday, Rex and I went to 7 Peaks. Rex is not a huge fan of swimming, which surprises me because he loves baths. So spend most of the time very slowing eating the lunch I snuck in and people watching. Here's a bunch of pictures of Rex saying cheese.

Summer is a great time in Provo. So much to do. So much to see. And the mild weather is working out for this pregnant lady and my hot son.

6.23.11: Cloth diapers

I'm really glad that I'm pregnant and can blame my mood on hormones. This has been a depressing week for me. I have felt like a such a failure. And I am not a failure. But I was failing. I've spent a lot of time examining myself and giving myself pep talks and reminders of why I am not a failure.

The cause of this depression: cloth diapers.

Last week I was so excited to start on this new adventure. I'd done super gross cloth diapers at an orphanage in Ecuador where I once changed 20 diapers in 20 minutes. I was sure I could do the more advanced, expensive, and yuppie class pseudo cloth diapers. But then this week, things went down hill.

First, I noticed that my diapers continued to smell like urine even after being washed and left in the sun for hours. I tried more detergent; I tried soaking them in vinegar; I tried hotter water and they still smelt like pee--I was getting ready to go get a display board and enter this year's fifth grade science fair. Except that none of my hypothesis were working out.

Add to that, Rex was leaking all over the place. On Wednesday alone, he went through 3 pairs of shorts before I ran out of cloth diapers and had to put him back in disposables.

My back porch has looked like this all week. I was washing every day and still not making it through day without using a disposable.

Then I talked to my friend Amy, the great cloth diaper sage, and found out that I was doing it wrong, but right. She said that she often has to wash her diapers twice before the pee smell comes out. That made me feel a bit better. Then she said that I shouldn't be washing my plastic liners in hot water because they aren't really plastic and the hot water ruins the water proofing. So then I felt dumb. But then she told me she went through the fifth-grade science fair project when she first started cloth diapering too, so then I didn't feel so bad again. She gave me a box of new liners and I was on my way.

Then Rex peed straight through his diaper like he was naked.

Needless to say I was discouraged.

I was obviously a failure as a mother because I couldn't even diaper my kid successfully. I've put a lot of money into these money-saving diapers, so I had to keep trying. But I wasn't sure how long I could last with washing every day and going through three or four outfits a day. I was failing. So I did what anyone would do. I took naps. A lot of them. And long ones.

And then today, not a single leak. Not even the poopy diaper. I don't know what happened, but I do know that I didn't take a nap and I reset our budget for July and did a few other rather unpleasant things because I was no longer a failure.

When I started this cloth diapering adventure, I had no idea it would take such as toll on my self-efficacy as a mother. Let's hope we continue to be leak free tomorrow, or we might have some serious problems.

6.18.11: Strawberry Days

Greg and I missed our date night last night. He had to work late and I had to babysit. Lame.

But we didn't not miss our family date tonight, which are almost (almost) as good as real dates. Real dates end with a kiss...well I guess I did make Rex give me a kiss good night, but Rex kisses and Greg kisses are a little different--I'll just leave it at that.

We went to the Strawberry Days festival in Pleasant Grove, which ended up actually being a carnival. Good thing Greg brought some cash because I was anticipating it being like any other festival in Utah--a bunch of people selling over-priced crafts that I could make in 15 minutes on my own. But no, it was a full-on carnival with only a few lame craft stands. Greg had never been to a carnival, and I can only remember going to one so Greg insisted that we enjoy it.

Upon arrival, we checked out the crafts. Then we went and looked for the ticket booth and some rides suitable for Rex. We let Rex pick one ride to ride and then went to get tickets--$1.50 each. What the what!?! The cheapest ride was 2 tickets--that's right $3.00 for one stinking ride. But, as we all know, Rex is super spoiled and we already promised him a ride and I'm not into breaking promises to 2-year-olds, so I gave Greg my last $2.50 and told him to go get tickets while Rex and I waited in line.

Greg came back with 10 tickets. I guess he got some sort of discount for buying more; besides the fact that Greg wanted to ride a ride that cost 4 tickets. I, on the other hand, was content to watch--not that they would have let me on any of the rides anyway.

First, Rex went on the car carousal. He thought that was great. 2 tickets.

Then we talked him into going on the Badland's 4x4 ride. He didn't like it so much. When he got off he told Greg he wanted to go in his own car. Rex is awesome at sharing. (You can just barely see Rex's little yellow hat in the back row). 2 tickets.

Rex wanted to go on the car carousal again, but we talked him into riding the train. He wasn't as in to that as we thought he'd be. He couldn't really reach the steering wheel so I think that killed it for him. 2 tickets.
Rex then insisted on going on the car carousal again. I told him no because Daddy wanted to ride a ride, but Greg said he'd feel lame riding it alone--the one Greg wanted to ride was a huge vertical circle with roller coaster-type cars that just went around the circle and stopped at the top to tell passengers hang up-side-down for a bit--neither Rex nor I could go on that one. So Rex got to go on the car carousal again. 2 tickets.

At this point, we had enough for one more Rex ride. But Greg wanted a funnel cake. So we took a break from the rides and got a ridiculously sweet funnel cake before returning to the rides and letting Rex ride the carousal again. He loved it.

And then, we were out of tickets so we went home.

All-in-all, we had a fun evening. Rex loved driving the cars. Greg and I loved watching him have fun--something about kids makes you so much less selfish.

I do love our family dates. I don't really care what we do, as long as we get to hang out as a family.

I really can't wait to die so we can just be together all the time and not have to worry about mowing the lawn or writing lame papers anymore.

6.17.11: 26 weeks

I realized the other day that I haven't taken very many fat pictures of me. Not that I've got a really high incentive to and I didn't really with Rex either, but then Mom sent me a new dress and Rex was refusing to wake up from his nap, and Greg was working late, so I played dress up and decided to take a few pictures.

So here I am at 26 weeks.

I know, I know, I'm an awesome photographer. And, in case you were wondering, I'm measuring right on--I'm the perfect pregnant size.