Rainy Days

     Last night it rained. We needed it soo badly; all the grass is brown! Too bad my laundry was out on the line, though. Oh well, it will dry again. This morning was still overcast and not much fun for playing outside, so...

     we made playdough! And by 'we', I mean 'I' because, though I tried to get Laura involved with pouring the ingredients in, she only wanted to run around the kitchen eating chocolate with measuring cups and throw the dog bowls around the floor instead. Sans pants.

     In case you were wondering, I used this recipe for the playdough:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 cup salt

     Combine all ingredients in a pot and stir over low heat until desired consistency is reached.

     I also used leftover Koolaid packets to dye it and make it smell yummy! :D
I let Laura pick one (she picked lemon-lime) and I picked grape. After kneeding it into the dough, I had one very nice shade of green, and one fairly homely shade of ... grey.

     Several drops of red food colouring later, we were back in business.

 

It's not for eating, but I guess you could since it's made with all food ingredients

 

my awesome dinosaur making skills are overwhelming, I know

     and we also finger painted with dyed yogurt! (also okay for eating!)

 

     ... which - as it turns out - is way more fun to paint the table with and/ or throw at the dog when Mommy goes downstairs to hang up the paintings to dry...

 

Chester's such a good sport; dutifully cleaning up yogurt splatter even though he is covered in it <3

 

     It looks like it's clearing up for the afternoon, so maybe when Laura wakes up we can go to the park! Happy Monday! :)

Disposable Diapers

     This week we have been battling a diaper rash. I thought at first that it was just a heat/ moisture rash, and was able to get it to go away, but then it came back again, which made me wonder if it was contagious (ie. yeast infection) and our diapers were infected. So, I went out and bought a pack of 'sposies so I could treat all of our cloth diapers at once, and also so I could safely put a barrier cream and yeast cream on Laura without worrying about ruining our diapers. Usually I don't bother to buy disposable diapers if she has a rash; I either a) just use coconut oil as a barrier (which almost always works) or b) use flushable liners in our diapers when using a more heavy duty barrier cream like Penaten. But, since I suspected that our diapers may be infected, I decided to just bite the bullet and buy a pack of disposable diapers to use while I was treating our cloth ones. It sucks because all the packages cost upwards of $10, and I only needed enough diapers for maybe one day... about six. So, I guess we'll just have some extra on hand if we randomly need 54 emergency disposable diapers now.
     We started using cloth diapers when Laura was about three months old, and haven't even bought disposables in probably the last 10 months. But whenever we buy them, I am always reminded of how much I prefer using cloth diapers.

     Here is my list of reasons why I love cloth:

• I am not throwing 3 tonnes of non-decomposing, poo-filled plastic in the landfill (per child!)
• Instead of supporting large corporations and paying money for something for our child to poo in and then throw away every week, we were able to support entrepreneurial and Work-At-Home-Moms when we started up. It was a one time cost and we will be able to use them on subsequent children and probably sell them when we're done (or at least donate them), saving us thousands of dollars. If you think about it, buying disposable diapers is akin to buying disposable plates because you don't want to wash reusable ones.
• Although cloth diapers use water and electricity in the washing process, I don't feel nearly as bad about that because wastewater is treated and recycled. The only thing we are "wasting" is electricity to wash them, and not much at that (we didn't even notice an increase in our bill) since we have a high efficiency front-loading machine, and hang dry the diapers as much as possible (and our electricity is hydro, so not even that bad for the environment in the grand scheme of things.)

• I never have to worry about finding those unsettling, chemical-filled, gel beads that inevitably escape from the absorbent layer of disposable diapers on my baby's bum anymore 

• The cloth diapering community has opened my eyes to many other ways we can reduce our ecological footprint. I like feeling like I am doing something to help the environment.

• Laura's pants actually fit when she is wearing cloth diapers

• While I somewhat enjoy the smell of a fresh disposable diaper, it does not counter how horribly bad (like make-me-want-to-retch bad) they smell when they're used.
• Disposable diapers feel weird on my baby's bum... like crinkly tissue paper. Why would you want to sit in that when you could be sitting in a fluffy, fleecy pile of goodness?
• Cloth diapers are just cuter. And let's be honest, it's fun to coordinate diapers to outfits.

      Of course, disposable diapers have their advantages as well, but for our family, cloth is what works. 

Our stash :)

24-Hour Disaster

     They say bad things happen in threes. Hopefully that is not the case for us! Our life for the last (slightly less than) 24 hours has been somewhat disastrous around here:

      Last night Josh and I were discussing the lack of progress our vegetable garden is making. I pointed out that we should probably be watering it more than we are, and suggested Josh mow the lawn and then turn the sprinkler on to quench our collective greenage. He agreed as long as I went in to get dinner started. While I was busy coordinating dinner items while simultaneously trying to watch Laura, he yelled in to me to close the windows upstairs because he was imminently ready to turn on the sprinkler. I ran up quickly and shut the guest room window because I knew I had had it open earlier in the day, but what I failed to remember was that Josh gets way too hot to sleep at night (as we have no air conditioning) and has to leave our bedroom window open. So, because I wasn't the one who opened it and was preoccupied with dinner/ Laura, I forgot to check and make sure it was also closed. It wasn't. (Do you like how I transferred the blame, there? ;)) When we finally went to go to bed at 11:00, we realized that the curtain, duvet, pillows, sheets, mattress, and floor had all received a good watering along with the vegetable garden and lawn. Great. Just what I wanted to be dealing with when I was about to go to bed. So we spent 15 minutes changing sheets and hanging bedding to dry before bed and decided we would air out the mattress and pull the nightstand away from the wall in the morning to let it all dry out during the day. 

DISASTER #1

     This morning after breakfast Laura made her way up to our room only to discover a grand new play area! Did you know that box springs are a great playground for a one-year-old to jump and roll around on? Neither did I. So I just sat on the floor in there and watched her for a good 10 - 15 minutes. Then I decided I was going to paint in the guest room while she napped today, and so went in there to prep while she was otherwise occupied. I was moving a shelf out of the way into the nursery when I came back to discover terrible terrible disaster #2. Laura had gone into the guest room during the 60 seconds it had taken me to move the shelf and tipped over the entire bucket of paint. It had a lid on it, but it wasn't on tight, and so I came back to a centimetre deep, two foot wide bright turquoise puddle of paint soaking into the beige carpet.
"OOOHHHHH NNNOOOOOOOO, Laura NOOOO!!!"
     She was covered in it. She must have sat in the puddle, because there was paint covering the entire tops of her feet, pretty much up to her ankles, and the bottom of her (beautiful and expensive) cloth diaper were all Carribean Sea coloured. She started crying because I was freaking out. I put her in the tub while I frantically tried to scoop up as much of the puddle of paint back into the empty can as I could. Not only had she managed to dump the entire can of paint and coat herself in it, she also got bright turquoise paint on our clean white duvet that was in the guest room drying out from last night's fiasco (and also on a variety of other things that were in there.) Additionally, there are coordinating turquoise footprints in the carpet leading away from the puddle. There was no way I could deal with this myself. Laura was screaming at the top of her lungs in the bathtub thinking the world was ending, and as soon as any of the paint dried, that would be the end of my hopes of trying to get it off. Josh was already planning on coming home for lunch today, so I called him and told him to come home early. When he got here he dealt with Laura while I tried to salvage the rest of the paint covered items. There was obviously no hope for the carpet... I tried using the Green Machine to suck up as much paint as I could, but it is stained beyond hope. There was a power bar casualty. The duvet I'm not sure about yet... I doubt I will be able to get all of it out, there will likely be a faint turquoise stain, which isn't too bad since it won't be visible once inside the cover. The paint came off the diaper cover, but the fleece inside will probably remain turquoise for some time, as will the insert. My clothes got in the line of fire and are probably ruined, and there was also a reusable bag that was hit, but it was the one thing that came clean.

DISASTER #2

     I said to Josh, "Could this have possibly been any worse?" to which he replied, "Laura could have drank the paint." Good point. Well played. I also came up with, "Well, at least we hadn't already replaced the carpet in that room," and, "at least I was able to save most of the paint (although there is probably significantly more hair in it now)".
     So now what? Well, hopefully our mattress from fiasco #1 will dry out and not grow mould. And as for disaster #2, I guess we will be replacing the carpet in Laura's new room. We have a new student coming next week, though, and something tells me it's not going to happen before then. I guess she is going to be living in a room with a large, ocean-coloured stain on the floor. Ugh.

Daddy's Girl

     This week Laura and Daddy have done some bonding. Laura is becoming more and more proficient at "using her words" (especially when reminded to as she starts having a fit) and, though she is unintelligible probably 90% of the time still, it is becoming easier for Josh to understand her needs.

     A few weeks ago I decided that I would continue nursing Laura before bed, but I would not be going back in if she was crying before she fell asleep, as every time I do it she only ends up crying harder when I leave again. This was now going to be Daddy's job. In a few short weeks he has become amazingly good at calming her down and getting her to go to sleep. I guess she knows that Daddy means business when he comes in and tells her it's bedtime. It's awesome.

    This week, however, she invented a new game that involves throwing all of her stuffed animals out of her crib, and then calling out mournfully, "Daddadddaaddadaa". He smugly goes up there to comfort her, because, after all, she is calling for him, only to find that it's because there are stuffed animal casualties all over the floor. He picks them all up for her and tucks them back in together. Five minutes later, repeat. lol. The other night she did it three times. He started seeming less smug about her calling for him at that point. :)

   
     Anyway, it's nice that they are able to share more moments like this now, and that Josh is happy about becoming more involved. I like that. :)

O Canada

     We had a glorious Canada Day long weekend here. Weather was great and we got to spend some quality time together as a family. <3 

     Friday morning we went berry picking. Josh generally isn't an outdoors kinda guy, and he also hates all fruit, so needless to say, he was less than excited about the idea. Once we got there though, he decided it was less awful than he had anticipated. "It smells like candy out here! I wish I liked strawberries." 

      We proceeded to pick one large basket of strawberries (and it only cost $6!) with which I'm not quite sure what we are going to do I ended up making pie. mmmmm. And Saturday morning we had crepes with strawberry/peach puree that were amazingly delicious (although Josh didn't like them and Laura threw hers on the floor for Chester. :S)    

     After berry picking we went to the beach for a little while. Laura has always enjoyed the water, and the few times she has been in the lake this year we were at a rocky spot that is not easily maneuvred by a one-year-old. So I had been wanting to take her to the sandy beach where she could play and run around freely. The water was a little cold, though, so we didn't spend much time swimming. I think she still had fun.

Daddy showing Laura how to make sand castles

      We came home in the afternoon for a BBQed lunch (what would Canada Day Weekend be without a BBQ?!) and so Laura could nap. I also took the opportunity to grab a snooze. I was laying on the couch wishing I had a blanket (but was too lazy and comfortable to go get one) when I realized Chester would do just as fine a job keeping me warm. So I invited him up and we napped together on the couch. <3

       I also used Laura's nap time to make some Canada Day cupcakes and cut up our haul of strawberries. (I can get so much done now that she finally naps well!)

   

mmm freshly picked strawberries :)

     After Princess Laura awoke, we took a family bike ride downtown to check out what was going on. Unfortunately, it appeared as though we had missed most of it, so we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things instead.

     We came home and had meatball sandwiches on garlic bread (buns) for dinner, at Josh's request, and then headed down to the park to watch fireworks in the evening. Laura seemed really interested in watching them this year, unlike last year when she slept through the whole thing. ;)

     The rest of the weekend we just kinda laid low and played around the house enjoying good food and each other's company. Sometimes it's just nice and refreshing to have a long weekend together where we were not stressing about going somewhere or about entertaining guests. <3

Mama Bear

     Hear me roar.

     Sometimes I get very protective of my baby... like when we are out shopping or something and she says a friendly "hi" to someone who doesn't reply... it kind of makes me want to run over to them and give them a shake, "Don't you know that my adorable little daughter just said 'hi' to you?! Say hi back!!"

     It's bad enough when strangers give her the snub, but when people who are supposed to love her do it, it sends me into a fiery rage. I won't go into details, but it will suffice to say that I am quite upset with a certain someone today.

     God help the first boy who breaks up with her.

New Skills

In the last month or so Laura has been learning and practicing some new skills/ games:

1. Peek-a-boo in the curtains

2. Peek-a-boo with her hands

 

3. Walking backwards

4. Going down the slide

 

... and this is what happens when we take her diaper off! :)