Thirsties Giveaway

I promise I'm going to get to doing a post about our time at Bear Lake and with family. But for now I'm spending my time entering a giveaway.

Most of you know by now that I started cloth diapering. I'm not really into the "being green" thing other than where it saves money. Since at one point I was spending nearly $100/month on diapers I decided forking out a couple hundred dollars for cloth diapers and doing laundry sounded much better since Pmc doesn't have a steady job. It's been an interesting road. I honestly really like it - when things are going well. But there really is a lot to learn about cloth diapering. I would have quit long ago if it hadn't been for Thirsties customer service.

See, I bought prefolds with Thirsties Duo Wrap diaper covers. And even though I've had almost no problems with the diaper covers - I've had off and on problems with learning how to wash the prefolds. See, when you get lots of pee and poop on cloth you can't just wash that cloth like any other clothing. Anyway, Thirsties has walked me through every problem I've had and we're still going strong. In fact, now I hope I don't jinx myself here, I think I finally have the basics figured, and they're much simpler than a lot of the stuff I can find online. In fact, advice I found online often messed me up. So, if you ever decide to attempt cloth diapering - just be smart and start with Thirsties from the beginning. I am one loyal customer. And all of the work has totally been worth it!

And if you're interested, they've started doing a weekly giveaway. So go here to check that out!

Entitlement - and a GIVEAWAY

So I've been thinking a lot about entitlement lately. See, I think most of the struggles in our country these days have some deep roots in people feeling entitled. And I actually think it's not just today's generation - I think it started long before that. But I try not to blog about politics - mainly because I can't stand the way people discuss politics these days, particularly online. If I'm going to discuss politics I want to have a nice face-to-face conversation and I want it to stay calm. However, I am pretty passionate about these things, particularly the entitlement part.

Anyway, the other reason I've been thinking about entitlement is that my wonderful Aunt and Uncle - Richard and Linda Eyre - are publishing a parenting book called "The Entitlement Trap." For those of you who may not have heard of the Eyre's - they have some wonderful ideas on parenting, many of which are simply ingrained in me. In fact, sometimes I'm surprised when people tell me they've never heard of some of the things I do with my kids, simply because I grew up with that being the norm. Parenting is something I'm rather passionate about - but, even though I studied it quite a bit in my schooling, I have a hard time considering myself an expert. I just think parenting is such an individual/family thing. What works for one may be disastrous for another. That being said, I feel like the Eyre's have always been very good at teaching parenting principles and then giving ideas to go along with them. So I'm sure this will be a great book for our time.

The best news is that they're doing a giveaway. Just go to THIS LINK and you can sign up and get the book for cheap too!

Cdc's expressive face

He's had us convinced for a while. We caught him though. No more fooling us!

Motivation

I'm not sure what my deal is. I just can't get myself to do much today. Honestly it kind of feels good though. Sometimes I can't get myself to stop. Okay, most of the time that's the case. Are there other people like me? I hope not - it is relentlessly tiresome.

I do know that not a whole lot of the things I've been working at recently have been going the way I want. I've tried multiple times to make yogurt, only to waste a lot of milk. Cdc has a diaper rash I can't seem to get rid of, no matter what I try. Ok, really, I guess that's the only two things that haven't been going well. What happened to my perspective?

I made bread successfully again (I haven't been able to pull that off since we move in - I used to make bread every other week at least). I've been taking big steps on some of my personal projects. I've gotten some books from the library I really want to read. We've been having lots of fun nights together as a family. I've been exercising. So why do I focus on the two things that aren't working? That's so silly. Mental check - back on track!

See, here's proof of our fun nights as a family:

We've made ice cream a few times - which the kids LOVE doing with our ice cream ball. We also really enjoy eating cookie dough and rarely make more than a batch of actual cookies.

I knew if I could just get started I could keep blogging. YES!

Ok, so Cdc went to his first week of nursery (at church) a couple weeks ago. So you know how I've said that he is super-clingy if I'm in the room? Well, I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I got called as a nursery leader a few weeks ago (Nursery is where the 18 month-3 year olds spend their time while moms and dads go to other meetings). I was thrilled because I LOVE the little ones.  I was also terrified because I had been thinking nursery would be so good for Cdc, but with me there he'd probably just want to sit on my hip. Well, apparently making him go down a few water slides at the water park were the best thing for him - because not only did he suddenly become a dare-devil - he also decided being attached to my hip wasn't necessary. He LOVED nursery and hardly even looked at me the whole time.

I love seeing things from Cpc's perspective. Even on the stairs below Cdc I don't get to look up at him.

And here are a few pictures from Bear Lake last month - when I got to see one of my best friends (and her sister who served as a missionary in our ward in New York).

So, back to the "motivation." Recently I had a meeting with my Learning Circle. We talked about the balance, and some clues to help us. It was a perfect discussion for me this month. See, I've been taking on a lot of projects lately. Kitchen projects. It's really fun. I really like seeing how all these things work. But. They don't always work for me. And I have a tendency to not be able to just give up. The more I fail, the more determined I get. Well, while that determination is a huge asset to me a lot of the time - it can really throw off the balance in our family. So today all that failure kind of got to me, I suddenly deflated like a balloon. That is not balance. So my two sick kids and I spent the morning watching "101 Dalmatians." Twice. I've never ever let my kids watch the same movie in the same day, let alone right in a row. Then we ate lunch and watched Sesame Street. Twice. Yeah, I know. Terrible. But then I remembered something from my Learning Circle. We talked about "The Magic of Motion" for balance. Simply put - the magic of just keeping those bicycle wheels moving even when you're not perfectly balanced. So I got up and washed the dishes. Then I took the boys downstairs and played "Cooties" with them. It was a glorious afternoon. I even lost track of time playing the game. My boys thought I was the best mom ever today, I think. Then this evening I was finally able to look at all these projects I've assigned to myself (which I really am excited to do - nobody is making me do these, I chose them), and put them on a list for "someday" and focus on just one thing at a time. When I get the diaper rash to disappear, I'll try the yogurt again. And I won't try to make tater tots from scratch the same day either.

And please, don't let me make you feel bad for not making homemade bread or any of these other things. It's just kind of my thing - these kitchen projects. Also, if you're a mom - check into Learning Circles. They are seriously so fun and beneficial to me as a mother and wife!