Thanksgiving

I wanted to post these on Thanksgiving, but my family's internet was messed up and John and I could not get the pictures to work properly. We spent the weekend with my folks and Mom and I woke up really early Friday morning to go shopping. It's our time together to buy the last presents on Mom's list and have time together. I don't go anywhere without Stephen yet and he was a dream even with getting up that early.

Saturday we went to Olan Mills and did family portraits. Mom and I realized that we hadn't taken any family pictures since my wedding and with David graduating in May then moving to UNC for dental school we figured we should get some in before we scattered to the four winds. With all that said, below are some pictures from Thanksgiving day. I made the boys outfits, smocking and all. :D

Stephen smiling at Uncle David.

Caleb was curious about the camera. lol

Hey Uncle David.

Me and my boys with my Mam-ma, she is meeting Stephen for the first time.

Us with Pap-pa, I think he has trouble believing his baby girl is married with kids of her own now. :)

This Past Week

We found a really neat little park while waiting for Andy to finish something for school. Caleb loved the play area.

Stephen has started crusing this week. He is so proud of himself.

Thank You!!

Thank you everyone for your prayers for Kristin's family. My friend Stephanie went down to try to aid Jessica as she planned the funeral. Jessica is an amazingly strong young woman and we knew that she would be carrying her family through this. Please continue to pray for them as they go through the holidays and what would have been Kristin's wedding day over the next few weeks. Stephanie and I are trying to set up a friend chain to contact Jessica frequently so that she knows we love her and are there for her if she needs us.

So Sudden

I just found out a couple of hours ago that my dear friend Jessica Webber's sister Kristen was in a bad equestrian accident. She was in the accident either Monday night or yesterday morning and died yesterday morning. I don't have the details of exactly what happened.

Kristen was going to be married in three weeks. Her family is in absolute shock. PLEASE lift this family up in prayer!! I cannot even fathom what they are feeling right now. Please pray that God gives them peace that passeth all understanding as they make plans and try to deal with the coming days. My heart and mind are stunned right now just trying to realize that this beautiful, vivacious girl is gone. Please pray also for her husband to be.

Nighttime Training Pants

I had been looking into Training Pants because Caleb is outgrowing diapers. :( Since Rachel asked about them, I thought I'd do ahead and post what I had found. There are many different options, but a lot of them don't think they will had night time wetting. These 3 are my favorite ideas and I'll probably try them all.

This is the aristocrat diaper cover I listed for nighttime below in the diapers, but it is suggested that you put normal underwear on the child, then put this cover over it. The cover will keep them from leaking all over the bed, but they will be damp enough they will normally get up to change themselves. Claims are that since they feel wet, kids will start waking up to go to the bathroom. www.greenmoutaindiapers.com

These are just called pull-up or side snap trainers. They are pretty heavy duty, and claim they can hold night time wetting. I think they look like they will work well, but wouldn't know for sure. www.hyenacart.com/thecoveredcaboose

These are called bedwetter pants. They will feel wet to the child's skin to encourage them to go to the bathroom instead of wetting the bed, but will not leak. They are under "other products" on www.mother-ease.com

One other interesting site that has several suggestions is www.pottytrainingconcepts.com it also has some waterproof night time pants.

Cloth Diapers

I have been using cloth diaperssince the very beginning and LOVE it. I have people ask me all the time if I'll go to disposables when we have more money and I know I never will because I hate them. :) I have in fact fallen in love with wool covers. My boys have very sensitive skin and if they get a diaper rash it hangs around for a while. I have also had problems with both boys leaking a lot especially at night. I was getting really tired of changing Stephen a couple of times a day. A friend lent me some of her wool covers to see if they worked better and in one day Stephen's rash has cleared up completely. You would think that they would leak, but they don't leak at all. In the last month, Stephen has wet the bed every single night, but in the wool cover last night, his pj's weren't even damp. You use them the same why you use any other cover with a prefold under it and either diaper pins or snappis (my personal favorite). I'm madly in love, they are just a little more expensive. lol Anyways, below are 3 of my favorites.

These are firefly's They have a lot of snaps along the sides so they are really easy to adjust.
www.fireflydiapers.com

The 2 pictures above are of covered caboose wraps, they are a little heavier than fireflies so they hold a little more.

www.greenmountaindiapers.com

This last one is called an aristocrat and is for nighttime primarily. They are a dream and you don't need pj bottoms over them. They also come with long legs so that you don't need winter pj's either. These are also on green mountain diapers.

I absolutely love these covers and even if we can't afford them for these two, I know what I'm getting for the next one.

Microwaves

If you have a microwave, have you ever thought about how much you use it while cooking? Our 30 year old microwave bit the dust last week and I hadn't realized how much time was saved by having it. I can still cook anything I want, everything just takes more time. lol Isn't it amazing how much we take for granted in our "have to have it 5 minutes ago" society? :)