Travel

Last weekend, we took a trip. To Pennsylvania for a wedding. Our first time traveling together as a family of four. Was I nervous? Uh...yes! We flew to Cleveland Thursday night and then drove to Chambersburg, PA on Friday for the wedding. Then we drove back to Cleveland on Sunday and flew out Monday morning. Phew! Lots of driving and sitting.

Our kids did wonderfully. On our return trip, our flight took off almost two hours late due to various problems. Therefore, we missed our connection in Houston back home. We almost missed the next flight to Corpus Christi as well! We made it by the skin of our teeth. I got to sit by my girl Holly for that flight, just the two of us. We had so much fun.

By this point in our trip, we were all so tired. I mean, fatigue was beginning to take over our minds and make us a little crazy. Holly was goofy and had a great time hiding under her blanket. She also got to have her beloved paci on the airplane, which is a no-no at home. So she was extra happy to be able to have her paci. Thank heavens! She was such a good girl throughout our trip. So was Josie.

We had such a lovely time with our family and it was wonderful to see everyone who we hadn't seen in quite awhile. This little trip gave me the confidence to travel again with our children and know that it will be alright and everyone will survive just fine!

A Review: CuteyBaby "That's a Wrap!"

Awhile back I got the opportunity to try out and review the new "That's a Wrap!" diapering system from CuteyBaby. The company was started by Ada Vaughan, who knew that there could be an easy, affordable, modern way to cloth diaper our babies. CuteyBaby's promise is pretty cool: No soaking. No sorting. No stuffing. No kidding. For a lukewarm cloth diaper-er like myself, that sounds um, awesome.

The CuteyBaby diaper has a waterproof outer layer that feels more like cotton than plasticy PUL. There is a pocket opening of sorts right in the middle of the diaper, which makes it super easy to stuff the soaker in. Then it comes out by itself in the wash so you don't have to--ew--dig it out yourself. The best part for me is that they also sell these little numbers:

Biodegradeable, flushable diaper liners! For those of us who have toddlers with solid poops. You just slap one of these babies on top of the soaker pad, and it will catch the solids. Then all you have to do is put it in the toilet where it belongs and the poop issue is solved!

My first impression of this diaper was great. The print is so cute, and the soaker is very absorbant. I got a size medium which fits from 12-30 pounds so I can use it on both girls. I quickly washed the diaper and inserts and slapped them on Holly, my 20-month-old 25 pounder.

I could not get her to hold still for a few pictures! The fit was alright at first. While the diaper has a fairly low rise, I felt it was too low for my personal preference. Holly wore her new diaper happily for about an hour and then took it off and ran around with a bare butt until I noticed that something was amiss. Every time she wore this diaper, she took it off. Not cool, Holly. It seems like the velcro isn't very strong because she was able to pull it off so easily. But the velcro is very soft, so that's a plus. Also, the insert had a habit of getting twisted around inside the diaper while she ran around wearing it so it became less effective at soaking up the pee.

Next I tried it on Josie, who is 4 months old and 12 1/2 pounds. I got much better pictures of the diaper on her, but it did not even come close to fitting her in the waist. Really disappointing. She is skinny and long, so it would probably fit on rounder babies. But not on her.

So, let's sum it up.

Pros:
Soaker is very soft and absorbant
Central pocket opening makes for very easy stuffing and NO unstuffing
Biodegradable liners for solid poops
Waterproof material and velcro are very soft
CUTE prints and colors!

Cons:
Velcro isn't very strong--can be taken off easily by older baby or toddler
Soaker twisted with active toddler
Didn't seem to fit either of my kids quite right

Want to know more about CuteyBaby? Click here to go to their website. Want to buy a CuteyBaby diaper? Click here--they're sold on Amazon.


I received a diaper in exchange for this review. All opinions are mine and are based on my experiences with this diaper system, which might not be the same as yours. Obviously.

Daddy-Daughter Time

I walked into the living room the other day to find this. Andrew and Josie vegging out, watching TV. Not posed. Not planned at all.

I think we gave her the wrong name! Andrea (aka Andrew Junior) would be much more fitting.

Counting

Lately I have been trying to teach Holly things to make sure she will be smart. You know...body parts, counting, colors, letters. That sort of thing. It's never too early to start! She has been quicker to catch on with some things than with others.

She loves to count. I use this term loosely. She knows only a couple of numbers well enough to feel comfortable using all the time: two and nine. Almost everything is two. If you ask her how many crackers or whatever she has, the answer is always two. We were watching Sesame Street today and they were counting feet marching by. She counted right along: "Two, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, nine, two..."

You get the picture.

My Girl

My sweet Holly is such a good little girl! She just turned 20 months old and I can't believe it. Let's get statistics out of the way, shall we? She weighs 25 pounds and is 33 inches tall. I don't know what percentile she's in, but she's just the right size for cuddling.

My poor girl has taken it rough lately. She had a bad cold, and now has croup. The other night she woke up coughing and wheezing and breathing really heavily and I almost rushed her to the ER right then and there! Andrew talked me down, and we all survived. But still...it was really scary!

I have made a resolution to spend more time with her. I think Holly gets a little left out sometimes because Josie needs me physically so much. We're going to try and do a mommy-daughter or daddy-daughter date once a week to spend some extra fun time with our sweet girl. She is such a good big sister and always makes sure I am taking good care of Josie. She likes to help me change Josie's diaper, and will give Josie her pacifier if she is crying. (Or run away with it herself...)

Anyway, we are so blessed to have our Holly. She makes life so much fun.

Emily

So, if you haven't noticed my blog has a new look! I'm pretty excited about it. My fabulous sister Emily designed the header for me and picked out the coordinating background. In a few more days, she'll have some custom side tabs for me to use as well. Let's take a moment to discuss how awesome Emily is.

First, she custom-designed this blog header for me. For which I'll be eternally grateful since I have no clue where to even start with something like this. But I knew I wanted a cleaner, more professional look (because I'm so...professional. Yeah, that's it). She also made these birth announcements for our little Josie. Thank goodness, because I certainly did not have it together to make birth announcements. Anyone remember receiving one when Holly was born? Yeah, that's what I thought. She is also my wardrobe consultant and my best friend. Oh, also my favorite sister. (Or my only sister...whatever.)

The only thing I hate about her is that she lives so darn far away! Fargo is too far, Emily. You must come and live by me so we can go shopping and hang out in our PJs watching The Bachelor like the good ol' days. They were pretty great. Now we have to make do with talking on the phone 3 times a week and discussing play-by-plays of our favorite shows.

Anyway, she's super cute and awesome. So thank you Emily for the blog header and all the cute things you do for me! Oh, and you can find her blog here. It's pretty fun to read too.

Disclaimer: That picture is 3 or 4 years old. Em looks a lot different now. I, however, do not. What does that say about me?

Cold Front

The past few days have been the coldest we've had in recent memory! We've had some pretty dramatic cold weather down here. For those of you who live up north, DON'T LAUGH.

Last night it got down to a frigid 25 (or so) degrees. The temperature alone has been enough to freeze my thin blood. That, combined with freezing rain and a little snow, has left we South Texans at a loss. Our city has just about shut down--schools are closed, only "essential personnel" have been called into work, and we have been urged by city officials to stay inside our homes where it is safe and warm.

There is a thin sheet of ice over everything. Andrew hooked up the hose to the tree in the front yard hoping to make an ice sculpture, but unfortunately it was unsuccessful. However, I was able to catch a few pictures inn our backyard to give you an idea of what a South Texas winter wonderland looks like.

Here is our firewood in the fire pit we built in the backyard. Not a great day for a bonfire and roasting marshmallows.

Frozen blades of grass. It looks so cool and I can hardly keep my hands off the grass! I had to restrain myself to get a decent picture.

I can hardly bear the thought of bundling up myself and both my kids to go outside, so it looks like we're staying inside for awhile. If it weren't for the fact that I have a cold/a sinus infection/the plague, I would be going stir crazy. As it is, I am perfectly content watching TV, reading books on my Kindle, and making hot chocolate for Holly and I. And letting her spill it all over the place.

Happy winter!