Ruby Wrap

Even Linnea can wear Ruby in my new imitation
Moby wrap.

A friend showed me hers.
Online cost for a "real" Moby: $40.00
Wal-Mart for 6 yds of fabric: $9.00

The difference: priceless!

Also, Ruby thinks cold carrots
feel oh-so-good on her new little teeth!
(Please don't worry--she can't bite any chunks off.
Her teeth are barely above the surface of her gums...)

All My Byself

Elijah put his shirt on
all by himself.
Can you tell???

I wish I could type the way he says
"do it by myself"--it's too cute!
Typing it wouldn't do it justice...

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

I recently discovered that there are bags of frozen onions, already chopped and recipe-ready in the freezer section of the grocery store!

Who knew??
And if you knew--why didn't you tell me???????!!!!!!

My eyes tear up so badly when I chop onions.

I am lovin' my new discovery!!!

Who says I'm hard to please--I quite obviously am easily impressed!!

Field Trip to the Fire Station!

Our homeschool group took a field trip to the
fire station this afternoon.
I LOVED it as much as (more than?)
the kids!!

Each child who wished got a turn in
the big rig--a real, live fire truck!
(in the photo above, Linnea and Elijah are in the middle.)

All the children got little plastic fireman's hats
as a little souvenir from our tour.
Even Ruby!

I took a few pictures of my other kids, too, but none of them turned out.
I'm aware that these barely count for "turning out".
Bummer.

I need one of those super-expensive,
costs-the-same-as-groceries-for-a-month-at-our-house kind of digital cameras...

I was trying to take some with the digital and some with our
"old-fashioned" camera.
I'm pretty sure I have some good ones on film.

Ruby is talking things over with Nathaniel...

Read Any Good Books Lately?

Ruby has.
A 5th grade reader no less.
She's so advanced, I know.

Nut 'n Honey

Disclaimer: This post is mainly for the benefit of my brothers.

Banding a bull calf was only partially successful, if you know what I mean.
Nathaniel says, "Yep. That's one nutty calf."

Helloooo?!

Ruby Tuesday

Ruby got her first tooth last week!!!
We called it
"Ruby's Tooth-day"
(a little spoof on Ruby Tuesday--even though it was Thursday)

One of the fun things about being the baby in a
large family is all the hoopla
your small accomplishments create.
There was a lot of cheering when I announced,
"Ruby has a tooth!!!"

Many small, unclean, fingers were henceforth thrust in
her mouth, searching for said tooth.

It was a fun day,
Ruby's Toothday.

Flowers for Mama

Elijah has been very busy
picking up all the dandelions
and bringing them in to me.

He is so proud of his gift
and loves to see the whole bowl full
of his work!

I thank him profusely
and he gives me a hug
and tells me
"I bringed them for you."

I think dandelions for Mama
are some of the sweetest "flowers"....

When I Am an Old Woman

I did some midnight shopping tonight. I used to do that, years ago, when Linnea was small. I tell you--it was so relaxing...
I needed just a few things, and so I went.
By myself.
By.
My.
Self.

No thoughts about whether the kids were fighting in the van while waiting for me.
No crying baby wanting to be nursed, or just to be out of her carseat.
No fighting over who's turn it is to come into the store with Mom.
No crowded store--it was 11:30 pm! In fact, I was a little surprised at how many people I did see.

I think I am on to something here.
I don't know how I could have forgotten how pleasant it is to shop so late at night.

However, I realized something on the (silent) drive home, alone with my (silent) thoughts:

I am an old woman.

Here's why:

• I don't like to drive at night.
• I can't hear people very well on the phone; and in conversations, I find myself needing to watch the speaker's lips in order to "hear" them better.
• I think all music is "too loud."
• I don't even know what an MP3 player is, much less own one.
• Diddo that for an iPod.
• I have come to have such a disdain for packaged things. I think to myself, "well, I could certainly make that for a lot less than the price they have on that!"
• I call everyone "honey". (I am not from the South, either.) As in, "What was that, honey?" when I didn't hear what they said. It's probably because I respond to my children that way--and I have so many children that I have said that phrase as often in my 30 years as some 75 year olds have.
• I announce when I have to use the bathroom. Not loudly, mind you. Just in a matter-of-fact way, as if everyone at the table would be completely dumbfounded when I had left the room had I not told them "I need to use the bathroom."
• I love the color purple.
  
• Lastly, caffeine affects me so much. I had a Dr. Pepper on the way home. And now I am wide awake. And it's nearly 2 am.
  

So I had best get off the computer and into my bed.
Oh--and I need to use the bathroom.

The Short One

I've mentioned before that Andrew says some rather off-the-wall things.
Here's another:

A person came to our house to do some paperwork with my husband.

Andrew, serving as sentinel, introduced all the people who were standing by the door to this woman.

"I'm Andrew," he said, "and this is Linnea. That's Christopher and that's Elijah."
"And the short one's Ruby."

The short one! I love it!

Brutally Honest

Step back in time 7 years or so...

We had just gotten a bathroom scale.
Isaiah (4 at the time) stepped on and said, "How much do I weigh, Mommy?"
I told him, "48 pounds!!!!!"

He said, "Now you step on it, Mommy."
(Here is the part where I question why I did, in fact, step on the scale. Can Mommys say "my 4 year old made me do it?")

I stepped on.
He said, "what does it say?"
(Here is another part where I think, "why did I tell him?????")

I told him.

You wanna know what he said?


He stepped back, aghast, pointed at the number and said,
"Whoa, Mom! You could'a broke it!!!"

Swingin'

Andrew

(ya'll like the snowmobile in the background? I've mowed around it for two years now...)

It's Our Anniversary

An event took place last month that I didn't take the time to blog about.

You see, it was our anniversary--my cloth diapers and me.
I've been putting them on my babies' bottoms for a whole year now.

They have gotten disgustingly dirty,
and sparkling white
over and over and over and over and, well--you get the picture.

There has been a learning curve for me.
I have learned a lot about how best to care for them.
I used to have trouble with leaks at night, and so I started doing disposables at bedtime. This added up in a hurry and it seemed I was needing more disposables too often (just what I was trying to avoid!
Then, I remembered reading that if you put a dappi over everything, no more leaks!
Problem solved.

For those that want more of the "details"--here you go:
I use Chinese prefolds; I have both 6- and 8-ply. Elijah wears the 8s and Ruby the 6s.
For a time, I had THREE in cloth.
Admittedly, it was a lot of work, but at least I wasn't running to the store for more diapers all the time.
When Ruby was a newborn, I used birdseye prefolds . These were much less bulky than the chinese prefolds for her tiny newborn legs.
I have 12 of them and they lasted her for about 7 months.
When she was about 7 months, I switched her to Christopher's old 6-plys.
Since he was/is such a slender toddler, I used the 6s on him while Elijah has always only worn the 8s.

I am now able to see the fruits of my labor, so to speak, as I am reusing from an older child. I so wish I had begun cloth diapering a few children ago, as it would have saved us a lot of money and probably 1/4 of a landfill.

For wipes, I use baby wash cloths and keep them in a
wipes warmer. I get them wet prior to putting them in the warmer,
and I wash them along with the diapers.

I use Thirsties covers now, although I started with some Bummis and Nikkys.
Ruby uses all Thirsties, and Elijah has all three brands.
I have 6 covers for Ruby and now I have about 12 for Elijah.
The reason Elijah has more is that I had both he and Christopher in cloth and needed that many covers to keep up with the two of them.

I like the Thirsties the best as they are the least expensive and work really well.
I also love the colors!
I like the Bummis as well; both the Thirsties and Bummis have the fold-over laundry tabs so the velcro doesn't stick to the other covers when I wash them.
Not so hot on the Nikkys, but oh well.

I use a doubler at night time or for going to church.
Sometimes I still use disposables if I think storing the dirty/wet ones will be too difficult while I'm out.

I use a snappi for Elijah.
I don't for Ruby--the difference is that Elijah walks.
As a toddler, he is up and about and climbing and running and jumping and--again, you get the picture. His diaper has a tendency to scrunch--the snappi helps keep it in place.
I'm sure when Ruby starts cruisin', I'll use one on her, too.

I have ordered all these things from Babyworks.
I LOVE this company!
They have an excellent return policy and have been so great to work with!
I also LOVE their catalog--it is like a "how-t0" manual for cloth diapering.
When I first entertained the idea of cloth diapering,
I requested their free catalog and literally poured through it.
Chock-full of valuable information--I kid you not.

To wash all of this, I use Bio-Kleen detergent.
I have been very satisfied with it.
So many people comment on how white my--I mean their--diapers are!
I run them through a few rinse cycles, and then one sanitary cyle with a double rinse.

I used to soak them in a tub of water, but I don't do that anymore.
I realized that they were basically soaking in sewage. Yuck.
Now, I just rinse them in the utility sink,
wring them a bit and put them in the storage tub that I use as a "pail".
Sort of a mix between the "dry method"--no soaking or rinsing,
and the "soak method"--putting them in a container of water.

When they're all done washing, I run them in the dryer for about five minutes to "fluff" them just a bit and out to the clothesline they go.
I like that the sun is a natural "bleach".

I would say I now use about 6-8 disposables a month;
not for each--total.
I've moved from thinking "wow--that's a lot of work" to
"I can't believe I'm just going to throw this away..."

A great read on cloth diapering is here:
and bean makes three.

So--that's the scoop on the poop around here.
Fascinating, I know.

Letter Pancakes

My dad used to do this for us when my brothers and sister and I were kids.
I should do it here more often than I do.
(read: I should do it again...)

So easy--and they think it's SO FUN!