Thursday, April 19, 2012

Cloth Diapers and Potty Training

So this was supposed to be a cloth diaper update. In fact, its been in the works for probably six months now! Since then however, we have moved to "serious" potty training. I'll give you my diaper update first and then move on to big boy things (I feel like I say that a lot these days).
So the Fuzzibunz were going great. That is until Rylin started having a reaction to them while he wore them overnight. I tried stripping and soaking and every suggestion online, but couldn't quite solve the issue. I purchased some of them used, so I was uncertain about the previous owners care and this led me to decide that I needed to just replace them. Uggghhh. So I started looking at a few other brands that I had considered along with Fuzzibunz just to be sure, and I ended up going with G-Diapers. They are a "hybrid" of sorts with the ability to use a disposable (also flushable and compostable!) insert, or a fancy hemp/cotton cloth insert...both not in a pocket so easily replaceable should you have an issue like we did (for a much lower price). Because you only change out the liner and insert, you don't need as many diaper covers and therefore don't wash as much either. The one downfall is that they aren't one size, so if I follow through with the next kiddos, I might have to buy different sizes for different ages.


They are SUPER cute on our little man, though.

I also found this cool fandagled contraption at IKEA that works perfect for hanging them to dry!

So we've been enjoying our G Diapers but I started getting the sense that Rylin was ready to potty train. I had already made up my mind that I wasn't going to rush him...until maybe we started shopping for Kindergarten supplies(kidding), but the last couple of weeks he started telling me whenever he went. Yeah, yeah..."it's one thing to acknowledge when you've already gone but another to anticipate going"...so I didn't make a big deal about it. Then one day I decided to try the naked route and see what would happen. Sure enough he gave me a "pee pee" warning and then proceed to follow through on the kitchen floor. I read all about the One Day Training method and decided to wing it. After ten trips to the potty and back to the scene of the crime yelling "no pee pee in the floor, pee pee in the potty" we were both winded and crying from laughter. No way this is gonna work. Then, wouldn't you know, it did. He started running to the potty any time he needed to go. Not even telling me! I was pumped. This is until I realized he was still naked. Every time I put underwear on him, he either sat on the toilet without pulling them down or just treated them like a diaper. Naked...100% trained. Clothed...not even close. Dang! I knew we had to leave the house at some point. How could this naked method backfire on me?! After researching online (aka..reassuring myself I wasn't the only one with this problem) I got a few pointers, some looser boxer briefs and began again on Monday. We practiced pulling the undies down and up again, I made him recite what he was to do if he had to potty, and we spent the day perfecting. He did great! After an entire day he only had one accident, and that was on the toilet at the very beginning when he hadn't quite got pulling the undies down yet. The rest of the week has gone better than I could have expected.  We've even ventured out on several errands and to dinner twice with no problems.  I'm not calling training over, but I see the end in sight!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Dirt and other things I dream about these days

This past week while Rylin was at Mother's Day out, I made a quick trip to one of my favorite places...the public library. Our local library is just a few streets away and there are so many things I love about it. #1....peace and quiet! Something I don't get a lot of these days. I like the smell of the old books and I like how it makes me feel like I'm back in my 20's in the college library. Enough rambling on about my happy place...I was there for some books!

You can see I ended up with quite the bounty. I couldn't wait to get home and start reading. The compost book was the first I picked up since I've been wanting to get ours started for a while now. We had a very basic compost pile growing up that I don't remember having much interest in. (Really, what kid does) But now, the idea of minimizing waste and turning trash into garden goodness sounds way more appealing than the younger me appreciated.

The previous home owner left us this handy little thing when we moved in our house, and until a year ago we didn't even realize what it was!




This weekend I cleaned out the left over bags of manure, fertilizer, and cobwebs (I hate spiders) and prepped it for composting. Seems that they used it more for storage bug collecting. I dumped in some left over material from our garden, some chicken poo and shavings, and Rylin helped me collect dead leaves from the yard that missed the raking we did a month ago.


After last nights dinner, I made a small bag of food waste. Never have I been so excited over potato peelings and coffee grounds!




With a few stirs of the shovel and some time we'll be producing rich compost for the garden! Speaking of which, do you know what greeted me a couple days ago when I went out to water? Two tomatoes!




Can't wait till we're picking them off the vine and eating them!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Easter Weekend

We look forward to Easter every year. As I've mentioned in the past, it is the biggest holiday for my family. This year Rylin and I went to my parents a little early and got to spend some time with MiMi and Papa to ourselves. This is what greeted us as we came up the drive...






The bluebonnets were as thick as I've ever seen them and everything was so green because of all the rain we've been getting. My Dad is proud of his windmill and it was quite picturesque with the horses and sea of blue flowers.


We prepared food for Sunday lunch and Rylin helped Mimi fill eggs for our Easter hunt.


The main attraction for the weekend was Papa's new mare and week old colt, though. Since my Dad was young, he has always wanted a mare and colt and this past year, bred their horse Scout who was to foal just a few weeks before Easter. In an emotional delivery, the filly did not make it and our whole family was grief stricken. Then, just a few days later, after seeing an ad on Facebook from the Houston SPCA, my sister-in-law convinced my Dad to apply for a Mare that had been rescued who foaled a colt just a few days after ours. As fate would have it, the people at the SPCA chose my Dad's application and he was home with two new horses the next day!


Roxie and Buck





My nieces and nephews took turns riding the other horses and Rylin had to get on himself. He is much better about holding on now and was really enjoying his ride.




On Saturday Papa took him out into the pasture to spread some dirt. And man does this boy ever love his Papa. And dirt.

I helped the big kids dye Easter eggs, a tradition that I've been doing since I was their age. We were having a big group on Sunday and we counted 130 eggs that we dyed! We had quite the assembly line.




Rylin had to get in another ride...this time without pants! Won't be able to do that much longer:)



We were also excited that Rylin's buddy Atticus (and his parents) got to join us Saturday afternoon. These boys entertained each other and had no problem finding ways to get in trouble.





I tried for some cliche bluebonnet pictures but Rylin was not willing to cooperate. Instead I snapped this funny moment right before he free fell into the soft bed of flowers!

He definitely caught on to hunting eggs quickly. Although he still wanted to open and eat each one before moving on to the next!







It was a fun weekend, and in the end, we weren't quite ready to go home. (Though I think Mimi and Papa were ready to have a quite house again!)