1+1+1=1

Carissa over at 1+1+1=1 is celebrating 1000 subscribers and I'm joining in on the fun! Check her blog out here! You'll be glad you did. She's encouraged us to introduce ourselves and to check out other blogs and get to know other readers! Here goes!

My name is: Katie
I have: an AMAZING husband, 20 month old son, and a precious golden retriever named Bailey.
I am a/an: wife, mother, Christian, only child, amateur photographer, lover of swimming and skiing (snow and water), former recreational therapist, former gymnast, and many other things.
The name of my blog is: Wilson Ramblings
I blog: mainly about our kiddo and his adventures while growing up, but also about Tot School, and our family's adventures.
I have been reading at 1+1+1=1: since March 2009
This is my first time commenting on 1+1+1=1: no
My favorite Bible verse: Ephesians 3:17-21~

¹⁷…And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

I participate in Tot School: yes

I laughed so hard I peed!

Funny story!!!! Today when Chad got home from work, he and Nathan were wrestling and having tickle fights as usual. Chad, who has a little bit of hair on his belly, was laying on his back when Nathan lifted up his shirt to tickle him. Nathan looked around Chad's belly, inspecting his belly button and then exclaimed, "Daddy penis is GONE!" I guess he forgot that those parts don't reside on the belly, rather below it! Hysterical!

Wordless Wednesday

Fluff stash

My friend, Shelby, inspired me to post about our cloth diaper experience! :) I thought I would share with you a few things we've learned over the last 4-5 months as cloth diaper newbies! First of all, cloth diapers are so stinkin cute and colorful! See?

You have no idea how much fun I had arranging those into a color rainbow for you! Our stash currently includes pocket diapers and all in ones.

Pockets:

Bum Genius 4

Happy Heiney 4

Whamies 2

Apple Cheeks 1

Swaddlebees 1

Rocky Mountain Diapers 1

Rumparooz 2

Tiny Tush Elite 1

Knickernappies side snap 1

All In Ones (some with a stuffable pocket):

Thirsties 4

Magic Alls 4

Bum Genius 2

Monkey Doodlez 2

Swaddlebees 1

Blueberry 3

DryBees 1

I thought I'd list our top 3 diaper choices for different categories...

Trimness (meaning the kiddos don't have a huge bubble butt)

BumGenius AIO

Thirsties AIO

Whamies Pocket

Absorbency

BumGenius pocket

Thirsties AIO

Monkey Doodlez

Nap and Night time Reliability (withstanding 13 hours of pee/poo)

Bum Genius pockets

Thirsties AIO stuffed with extra inserts

Blueberry AIO stuffed with extra inserts

Cute Prints

Monkey Doodlez

Dry Bees

Hpapy Heiny

I think Chad would agree that this is definitely the way to go for our family. We've not bought diapers in 5 months, we do 2 extra loads of laundry a week (minus the extra loads of sheets/blankets/blankies due to leaking disposables), and our kiddos rear seems much happier! Is it a bit more work? Sure, about 30 minutes total per week. Is scraping poo nasty? I don't scrape poo, so I don't know, but dumping it into the toilet isn't nasty and spraying directly into the toilet any that remains isn't bad either. After all, whether or not you use disposables or cloth, you still have to wipe your kiddo's bum, and that's when your hands are closest to poo.

I'm not at all opposed to using disposables at times, in fact to be totally honest, in order to photograph my whole stash of diapers, while clean, my kiddo is currently napping in disposables. :) What I have noticed is that EVERY time we use disposables for more than an hour or two, Nathan gets a horrible rash. Yuck! That keeps us going back to cloth every time.

Once the process was demystified for me, I realized that other than the extra 2 loads of laundry a week, its really no different than using pampers. If you're curious about it, ask someone who cloth diapers to show you their stash, let you touch it, inspect it, even try them. Maybe even buy one or two and give it a go! If you're going to buy one or two, I'd recommend Bum Genius pocket diapers. Most everyone likes them and they fit most kiddos!

I haven't found a whole lot of difference in the function, fit, or "work", of pockets versus all in ones and we use both quite interchangeably. There is however, a huge difference in the fit and level of bulk among all the different brands out there and I highly recommend trying a couple different brands before buying a ton of them. www.diaperswappers.com is a great website to buy used diapers and even sell the ones that don't work for you! If you want to buy new, check out www.kellyscloset.com.

The diapering process is simple enough that anyone can do it, including our 15 year old babysitter, my friend's who don't have kids, and Nathan's grandparents. The two things I've found to be tricky are deciding how much absorbency your kiddo needs and when, and the laundering.

During the day, I change Nathan every 2-3 hours. Usually an all in one, or a pocket stuffed with one insert is enough absorbency for him during his waking time. If we're going to be in the car or out longer than that and I won't be able to easily change him, I simply add an extra insert or two and off we go. During naps, I stuff his pocket diapers with 2 extra inserts or his AIO's with an extra insert and maybe a doubler (a thinner smaller insert). At night time his booty is so big it's hysterical, but since he's sleeping it doesn't bother him one bit! We use Bum Genius pocket diapers at night and are thrilled with their performance. I stuff them with 2 bumGenius inserts and a loopy do insert, and sometimes an extra doubler. This is because Nathan is such a heavy wetter at night. In fact, he is such a heavy wetter that when wearing disposables to bed, you can rest assured he'll wake up in the morning with wet pjs, blankies, and sheets. Now that we've perfected absorbency, I have one drawer for nap/nighttime diapers and one drawer for daytime, and there's no question for anyone about what he wears when! :)

Laundry... this one we're still trying to perfect. We have a front load washer and while it is great for our clothes, I'd rather a top loader for cloth. But since I begged and pleaded for 2 years for a front loader you can BELIEVE that I'm not about to trade it in! We use either Charlie's Soap or Planet detergent. I wash the pockets, aio's, inserts, doublers, and cloth wipes on a normal cold cycle with 1/8 cup detergent. Then I follow with a hot cycle with no detergent. If it's sunny, I line dry everything and follow with a 10 minute fluff for softness. If it's not sunny, it usually takes 2 dry cycles to completely dry the aio's. Once a month I add baking soda or oxy clean or white vinegar to the diapers, or as needed. The microfiber, as a synthetic fabric, sometimes will hold on to odors and those things do the trick to get the odor out. 2-4 times a quarter I strip the diapers which involves a drop or two of Dawn dish detergent and a slew of washes in hot hot water to strip the diapers of any oils that have built up over time. This takes a while, but is so worth it!

Have you ever thought about trying cloth? Do you use cloth? Do you have any questions? Leave a comment and share your stories or questions! :) How about one more look at the colorful stash laying in the playroom floor...

Oh and one more plus for cloth diapers... Nathan has learned his colors very quickly! He asked almost every day for a purple diaper so we got him one... I'm waiting for the day he asks for pink. We'll see what daddy says about that! :)

Our beach trip to Charleston... Part 1

We had a great time during our family trip to Charleston. I am so thankful for a family who values time together! This is my ENTIRE family on my dad's side, and each year, everyone makes it a priority to get together for a week. I love that and treasure the time with each of them. They come from all over! My Uncle Mark lives in Tanzania, Ginga (my grandma) is from AZ, mom and dad from VA, and the rest of us from NC. Here's the group pic! Last year's trip was to the Outer Banks of NC, this years trip was to Isle of Palms, SC. As the family continues to grow, the photo continues to change (of course only the children show signs of age - hee hee!)... check it out here...

Our first full day, we headed into downtown Charleston. We stopepd at the Battery to get out and walk a bit. Nathan loved the big park and got his first taste of climbing these big trees!

Fun family pic!

You didn't think I'd pass up an opportunity to climb a tree did you?

I LOVE THIS PICTURE OF US!!!

It's always nice to have PaPa down below to help you down from the tree you know!

PaPa still gives YaYa plenty of kisses, even after 30something years of marriage! :) Aren't they cute?

NayNay, just wanderin.

Check out this monstrous tree!

For some perspective, look at the size of YaYa and Nathan compared to the trunk and the height!

So, down on the water is this amazing water fountain. After dragging Nathan around 50+ city blocks, we thought it was time to let him cool off and play. I promise there are no shortage of pictures of this fun event. I also promise that I posted plenty here to show you!

Love the foot in the spray! These streams of water were super strong!

This is the body posture associated with cold water! We saw it all week. So funny!

Funny story. Chad's office is right in front of a lake with a water fountain in the middle. One day while driving by, Nathan declared to me that he could see the water fountain and that PaPa could ride it and he wanted to see it happen. Well, although my dad didn't play in the fountain, Nathan did ask him to ride it a time or two, but was content with PaPa watching from the sidelines.

The photo below is not edited beyond cropping. I knew my child was muscular, but the deltoid muscle in his right shoulder is remarkable for a 20 month old!

I love the facial expressions of everyone in these!

The next day, Chad and I, along with Nathan, and Jenna (Nathan's cousin) and John (my cousin in law) headed to the aquarium. It was a great trip and the kids were near perfect!

Nathan really liked this alligator.

We watched the divers dive into this 40 foot deep tank (complete with a 30 foot high viewing wall) and feed the fish. Really cool!

Did you know that this is how tall the average Emperor Penguin is? Taller than both of these kiddos... hmmm, makes me rethink Antarctica!

Touching sting ray, horseshoe crab, and sea urchins.

Daddies and their kiddos...

That's a wrap for this part of the trip! :)