I'll do anything for free diapers!

I am totally obsessed with cloth diapers. It's an addiction. I love the way they look on D's little bum. And I have to admit I love washing them and stuffing them. Weird--I know!! I used to make fun of people like that; however, now I am one of them. A relaxing day for me is heading to my local cloth store and checking out all the  newest diapers. Now, I'm obsessed with Applecheeks. I am slowly weeding out other brands, however, I think I'll hang on to my BumGenius, since they were my first diapers. Now, I'm entering a contest to win a special edition diaper for little D. So, to fuel this addiction I am posting a few pictures that I need for the contest. Yup, sad, I know, but I long to have the newest LE in my possession!! :)
Since there is no picture of me from the 80's on the web, here goes:

I so hope I win!!

Happy Birthday Little E!

Today's your birthday.


 5  years ago I was blessed to become your mom. I was terrified of not being good enough for you. You my dear ROCK! I am so proud to be your mom!

What I love about you...

I've been thinking a lot about my family and how much I love them. Extremely sentimental, and not typical of me, but I can't help it. So here are a few things that I love about each of them. 

Elisabeth, I love the way you dance around the house, singing and dancing. You always have a song in your head and a dance in your step. I love that you are so interested in books and that you are writing words by sounding them out. You'll be reading soon and it'll open a whole new world for you! You are a great big sister and a huge helper for me. 

Charlotte, I love your imagination. You are always pretending, singing, dancing and playing! You are constantly smiling and laughing. I love your laugh! Every time I hear it, I smile. Your laugh that starts off quiet and quickly gets loud makes me giggle every time. You are always reading books, playing with puzzles and dolls. You doing great learning how to be a big sister to Dalton. I can't wait to see how you grow! 

Dalton, I love the way you snort when you nurse. You are my little guy and I love snuggling with you during our 3 am feedings. You make me smile even when you are peeing on me or pooping out of your diaper! Every day you are completely different from the day before. I can't wait to see how you change every day! 

Neal, you are my rock! You are the best husband, father and friend that a girl could ask for. You help me out more than you will ever realize. During my first week of maternity leave you took care of the girls and EVERYTHING that needed to be taken care of and let me bond with Dalton and SLEEP/RELAX. You are always thinking about me and the kids and putting our needs before yours. Thank you for being so awesome! I love you and look forward to growing old with you!

I love you all so much, I cannot express it in words!

Dalton's here!

Dalton Alan Norman is here! He was born on 5/3/11 at 12:55 PM. He weighs 7 lbs 7.9 oz and is 21 inches long. He's long and skinny. 

 

5.3.11--Ready to go to the hospital.

12:55 PM-Freshly born Dalton.

Big sisters come to visit at the hospital.

Mommy and Dalton bonding.

Daddy giving Dalton a bath.

And here is Dalton!

Seriously?? Not my 5-year old!

I was browsing a favorite clothing retailers site tonight looking for summer clothes for my girls, when I came across a shirt that disgusted me! Elisabeth is at an age now where she is too long in the torso and legs for the Toddler sizes, so we are definitely in need of the little girls department. I put in her size at the top and was looking at all the shirts in the department when I came upon this shirt--in her size!!! Seriously??? What mother or father for that matter would let their 5 year old wear this shirt? Why do manufacturers even make this style of clothing for little girls?? I thought maybe my pregnancy was making me irrational in my last weeks and that maybe I was overreacting to the shirt, so I asked my husband to come look at the shirt. I asked him if he'd let me buy this shirt for our 5-year old, his immediate answer, "Are you crazy? Of course not!" 
So, sorry retailer, you won't be getting my business for a ruffled tube top for my 5-year old, talk to me when she's 15. 
Is that too harsh?

Blown-confetti Easter Eggs--A family tradition

When we were little my mom introduced us to the tradition of making confetti filled Easter eggs. She made them when she was growing up in Texas, so she taught us how to make them. They are super easy to make, but time consuming. 


Materials: 
1 dozen clean, room temperature eggs
1 needle (or a butter knife)
1 dye kit of your choice
enough cups for your dye (1 per color)
confetti (either make it yourself or buy it)
tissue paper
glue stick


additional materials: stickers, etc to decorate the outside of the eggs

1. Start with clean, room temperature eggs. Poke each end with a needle, making one opening larger. (This is where my mom does it a little differently, but I have pictures of this way--she typically uses the handle of a butter knife and gently breaks a hole on only one end big enough for the egg to just drop out of, and then she doesn't have to blow it.)

2. If you choose to blow the egg out,  you will put your mouth on the smaller hole, and then blow the egg out the bottom hole. 

When you finish your egg will look like this: 

3. Now it's time to wash it out and leave it to dry. 

4. While you are waiting for it to dry you can get your egg dye ready and cut up your confetti (unless you want to buy it already made). 

5. Once the eggs are dry, you can start dying them the same way you would dye your hard boiled eggs. 

Once again let them dry completely inside and out after you dye them.


7. Once the eggs are completely dry, you can decorate the outside with stickers if you want, or just go straight to filling them with your confetti. 

8. When you are ready to fill them with confetti, you will slowly and carefully put the confetti in the larger hole on the egg. Fill them about 3/4 of the way with confetti. (VERY IMPORTANT--make sure the insides are completely dry!)

9. To finish the eggs you will need to cut a small piece of tissue paper to cover the opening in the egg (you can color coordinate the tissue paper to match the egg, but last night I only had green). Using your glue stick, put a small amount on the tissue paper and then attach the paper to the egg. 

Now you have your finished egg! Repeat with the whole dozen!

We hide the eggs in the Easter egg hunt and then hit them over our cousin's/brothers/sisters heads and watch the confetti fall EVERYWHERE! 

Another Everyday Mama Giveaway!

Everyday Mama is having a wonderful giveaway!

Lovable Labels offers labels for your children's stuff. Yes I said stuff. I wish I would have had these for Charlotte's sippy cups. She had the same sippy cups as her two girl cousins and we were always trying to figure out who had which cup. If I had these tags, I could just put her name on it and not worry about it. Enter by April 29th and you could win your own set!