The last 6 weeks

Oh, hey, month of November and half of December. You were super fun. And busy. And jet lagged.
Since I last blogged, we have done the following:

-travelled to Hawaii with a 15 month old .This is probably top 10 on my list of life accomplishments, no joke. L is incredibly strong willed and averse to snuggling (sob!) so being on a place with her was a tad on the difficult side.

-enjoyed a packed week o'fun with my fun, glamorous, hard working sister, my parents and my grandmother in Maui. We beached, pooled, hiked, walked, ate tons of delicious food (L has been to an unbelievable array of nice restaurants, which was fun but challenging *see plane comment above*), napped, celebrated Thanksgiving and went lots of interesting places. It was a lovely trip and L was a trooper. We were very thankful for help from family while we were there!

-survived L's jet lag and our own on both ends of the trip (again, not for the faint of heart)

-took L for her 15 month appointment and she continues to be wonderfully average size-wise (other than her big head) and ahead of the game skills-wise. We are so grateful for a healthy and happy baby/little person. 

-travelled to Aiken for my mother in law's 60th birthday. Happy 60th, Ellen! What an exciting occasion! L loves her grandparents and we went to a beautiful Christmas performance at their church. It was half Nativity story, half Passion play. I had never seen anything quite like it, and it was totally awesome

-decorated for Christmas inside and outside (hence the pictures)

-completed my first semester teaching science at Veritas. It has been great, but I am excited to have a month off, and I know my students are, too.

-T has one more week at work before Christmas festivities begin in earnest. We are excited to be hosting his family over the holidays. I hope to be blogging more--I owe pictures of Asheville and Hawaii for sure!

She was a "huge help" while we decorated.

He's gradually winning me over to white lights.

Thanks to Thomas, we have outside lights!

Julia Child, I'm not

Two quick sidebars before I begin my real post:

1. Sometime this week or next weekend I will blog about our anniversary trip (which was AWESOME!), so prepare yourselves for a glut of pictures and exclamation points.
2. I wanted to put up a cute "I voted" picture of L, but in true Lillian fashion, about five minutes after we voted ,she had managed to rip her sticker and mine off and crumple them into unrecognizable blobs of paper, which she then "shared" with me. But, we did vote and it was awesome and patriotic and L made about 150 new friends as we stood in line for an hour. Go America.

After we voted, we hit up the ole grocery store. I decided to shop in a clockwise route rather than my normal counter-clockwise direction. I know, I know, it's a crazy life out here in the 'burbs. Just a word to the wise though, if you ever want to switch up your grocery store patterns, DON'T. I think it took me twice as long to gather everything and I felt off-kilter the whole time. Now, part of the problem was that I spent at least 10 minutes looking for minced garlic in a jar. When I couldn't stand it any more, I asked one of the kind check out ladies where this delightful time saver might be found. She had no idea, but the woman at self checkout did. She was one of the moms from my old school, so we exchanged brief pleasantries. (note: she was always very nice to me, but I was always glad that our encounters were brief and I knew that things would be different if I had a child in her daughter's class...). Back to the garlic: I'm slightly wild-eyed now and L is attempting to climb out of the race car cart, and the mom offers this helpful yet somewhat snide remark:

"I think I remember seeing the jars of minced garlic in the produce section by the fresh garlic. I mean, I've never bought one, but I think I've seen them there."

Isn't that great?? I love how she helped out (she was absolutely right on their location!) and managed to imply that her cooking was superior (fresher, at least) to mine. I wasn't mad or annoyed, but just amazed at how easy it is to not build someone up and to glorify ourselves instead. Thank goodness for a gracious God and a Bible that recognizes our sin nature and need for a Savior. 

Now, I'm off to cook something with my jarred garlic...

We love our photo shoots around here

I wonder if on every "31st" for the rest of my life I will calculate how old Lillian is...

"Oh, it's July 31, 2020? Lillian is 8 years and 11 months old. Happy 107 months, L!"
Halloween 2037...She'll be 26 years and 2 months old, or 312 months. PARTYTIME.

Okay, maybe not, but we're allowed to continue counting by months until age 2, I think.
Happy 14 months to my crazy lady!

Baby down vests and jeggings--I die of the cuteness.

Unfortunately Sullivan thinks the fur around the hood makes the vest a toy. L was briefly dragged across the yard...

"Happy Halloween to my loyal subjects."

Such a handsome boy! By the way, no more vest dragging incidents have occurred (and L thought the first one was hilarious)

Pumpkin Pics

Boone Hall Pumpkin Patch 2011 and 2012
[insert something about the passage of time, kids growing up too quickly, etc. ]

"Are you guys crazy? It's 80 degrees outside and you jammed a fleece hat on my head. Winston would never have had to deal with things like this."

"Deacs, I predict a lousy football season for you in 2012."

Proud new daddy!

We're trying to teach her to smell flowers instead of ripping them off the stem.

love love love those balance arms

Not feeling it, apparently.

fluffster in motion

Impressive? You be the judge.

Today is one of those days where it feels like nothing is going quite right (toybox threw up all over the downstairs, floors are dirty, teaching prep is nowhere near where it needs to be, L is protesting food, etc.), so in an effort to clear up the cloud of momguilt hanging over my head I am going to blog about L's two new "tricks."

1. She has discovered how to pick her nose while sucking her thumb with the same hand. Impressive? possibly. Disgusting? absolutely.

2. And for the win: just a few minutes ago, she was playing with one of her beloved toothbrushes (OBSESSED) when I looked at her and said, "L, it's time for a nap." She looked right back at me, headed for the stairs which she proceeded to walk up without crawling, and went straight to her room. Then she turned around and said, "Can I borrow the car later, Mom?" Okay, maybe not, but it is fun to see her making associations, becoming more independent, etc. Naturally, as I type this, she is upstairs protesting the nap that I am so meanly forcing her to take, but whatever, IT'S A WIN.

Okay, enough procrastination.

Hilton Head!

 
This is mostly a picture post of miscellaneous moments during our getaway to Hilton Head last weekend with my parents. It was a late birthday present for me and we had a blast!
You should learn the following things from these photos:

-L is obsessed with swinging. No day is complete without it. Oh, and watering cans, too. She frequently carries one around our yard and THANK GOODNESS she found a replacement while we were waiting for dinner one night.
-There was almost lizard carnage. Spot the two image sequence that features my dad protecting a little critter from my tiny gremlin child.
-My parents are so much fun and L obviously feels the same way!
-Baby leggings are the be all to end all of pants.
-Thomas has long, rockstar hair. So handsome!
-Sullivan and Lillian are best friends.

Linking up with Carissa today!

Life 'round these parts

another one from Carissa--early signs of martial arts prowess?

Some many days are just like this picture, lest you think things are always rainbows and sunshine around here...thank goodness for God's grace and lots of coffee.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly, than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us." Ephesians 3:20

What, your neighborhood doesn't look like this right now?

Linking up with Carissa today!

[I blame "adjustments" in L's sleep schedule last week for my lack of blogging. A moment of silence for L's dearly departed, dearly beloved, morning nap.]

And now, on to tacky Halloween decor! My neighborhood is not very big, or at least our little section of it is small, but boy do we have our share of amazing Halloween decorations. (by the way, does anyone every mistype words ending in --tion and end up with words like "decoratinos" and feel like your subconscious is taking over in another language? No? Just me?)

For your viewing pleasure, a sampling of the yards in our neighborhood during the month of October.

We're thinking some sort of Middle Ages theme here--perhaps "ring around the rosy" with Plague victims? I think the dying plant in the background is a nice touch, too.

Okay, so these people went fall/harvest theme rather than Halloween. Not so bad. Almost cute. Still kitschy though, and therefore still part of this blog post. 

There is a lot going on in a few square feet. Let's break it down: plastic battle axe (at least they skipped out on putting fake blood on the side, +1 point for them); creepy skeleton tombstones x3  because it is all about QUANTITY; ghost lights--least offensive part; lone hay bale (too bad they can't borrow some of the children of the corn from the previous picture); and orange lights in the tree--meh, but Halloween lights< Christmas lights.

 

 

"Alas poor Yorick; I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy."  It was fairly hilarious watching this mother daughter pair stab various limbs into the ground and position the tombstones "just so."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, the crown jewel yard. In case you can't read the sign, the top reads "Mummy and me playtime at 1 pm."There are also skeletons playing "Croac" quet. Plus a fake dead tree with cutesy pumpkin lights, a tiny graveyard (YAWN, so pedestrian), and a fence wrapped in cobwebs. Keep in mind, this is ONE part of the yard.

 

Ooh rhyming words! Happy ghouls frolicking in a prop-less john boat across the yard from the "croak" quet players. Also, note the big eyes in the background. They glow at night.

"Bat" minton. Perhaps a witch onlooker. I wonder which one she's rooting for.

Another angle on these guys. Maybe those are tomato plant supports inside our "batminton"-playing ghosts? Pretty impressive. 

This is what a TASTEFULLY DONE house looks like.  Fall wreath, check. Sweet lil pumpkin, check. Appropriate quantity and color of mums, check. Good job neighbors.

Proof positive...

...that Lillian is a climber!

glorious mullet

my mantra at these times is, "don't think about the germs, don't think about the germs"

getting as close to the germy surfaces as possible

"are you watching, Dad?"

Pictures courtesy of Thomas on Tuesday's daddy-daughter date night at Chickfila. I tutor and go to Bible study, and Thomas takes Lillian on an outing. What a sweet daddy he is--I love watching him delight in her. And she's pretty cute, too.

The year I became best friends with my washing machine

Or, our experience with cloth diapering, one whole year in.

I'm not sure if I've posted about this before and don't want to waste my valuable blogging time (naps end very unexpectedly around here) looking for an old post. So, now you know. We cloth diaper. We started in early October last year, when L was about six weeks old.

I knew that I wanted to cloth diaper before I got pregnant with L and fortunately my adventurous yet pragmatic husband was along for the ride. People had a wide range of reactions when I told them what we were planning:
"That's disgusting. Why would you do that?"
"Just wait 'til your kid arrives. You'll never have time for that."
"...neat...."
"Wow, that sounds awesome! Tell me more!"
etc.

We were undeterred by the naysayers. In fact, it was like waving a red flag in front of a bull. "Oh, you don't think I can do this? WATCH ME." Knowing that there were advantages to cloth in terms of money, health and the environment, I really wanted to make it work. This does not mean that I think disposable diapers are bad, or that people who use them are bad. I have used them myself. We have by no means been free of  leaks, diaper rash or smell issues. We are not better parents because we cloth diaper. We are better parents because we evaluated a given set of circumstances and made the choice that worked best for our family. There are too many crazy, broken things in the world to get upset over than disposable vs. cloth, formula vs. breast, or working vs. staying at home. Phew.
Okay, back to the diapers.

(If you want to know the nuts and bolts of cloth diapering in our house, read the next few paragraphs. If you think cleaning toliets would be more entertaining than reading about cloth diapering, then skip the next section and come on over! )

We knew we weren't up for trying a ton of different diapers. The cloth world is surprisingly huge with many different options but I wasn't looking to become a frequenter of message boards--people with names like Willow and River who write things like "I just made my own wool diaper cover out of wool gathered from the sheep in our backyard and lined with organic hemp."
Instead, we chose a well-known brand, Bumgenius, and have 3 different types--elementals, freetimes and one-sizes. Elementals are by far and away our favorites, though they take the longest to dry. We have become snap experts this year--you can buy them with velcro, but everyone says the snaps last longer--which is saying something considering that L regards diaper changes as something just shy of torture.

I wash diapers every 2-3 days with my patented 3 rinse cycle (1 cold rinse, 1 heavy duty wash on hot with detergent, 1 hot rinse with a little detergent and some essential oils). Every 6 weeks or so I add some bleach to the 3rd rinse cycle. I hang them on a drying rack outside and after a few hours, VOILA, clean, fresh diapers ready for our sweet girl.Occasionally I'll run some of them through the dryer if it's particularly humid or rainy.

Keeping it real:
As I mentioned before, it hasn't been a perfect system. There have been frustrating moments where the diapers weren't in the right place, or weren't dry yet, or there was a leak, etc. We have dealt with some diaper rash (though coconut oil has gone a long way to helping this). Things are definitely "grosser" since the start of solids, though I can handle 30 seconds of grossness every day. If you've ever picked up dog poop, it's really not any grosser than that. We have a diaper sprayer hooked up to our toilet for those special diapers that need rinsing.

On the whole, we are very happy with our cloth diapers and love color-coordinating L with her diapers and outfits (just a minor perk of cloth!). Feel free to leave questions in the comments if you have any.

Cloth in action--yes, we let L romp in public in her diaper because we are classy like that.