I'm Back!!!

Wow... what a year! I apologize for my absence the past year, but we have had A LOT going on! Last September I became pregnant with our 2nd child, and all last fall, and most of winter I was unable to move from my sofa, in fear of loosing what little food I was able to keep down from my previous meal. Then when Spring rolled around I was busy planning. If you've ever been pregnant, you know exactly what that planning means. Of course, this baby needed all new bedding, and needed a brand new nursery of her own. Since we only have a 3 bedroom house, this meant that she (oh ya... forgot to mention she's another girl!) would be in my craft room, so I had to creatively plan how to make that work, and not just look like a crib had been thrown in the corner. Luckily, when we moved in the year before, I had my craft room done in soft pinks and creams (very chic paris like with black accents and all), so it was already half way there. Then after getting the nursery together I had to start getting ready for my shower. Then there was the matter of my Dr. thinking that she would come early, so while she was due on June 6th, we were ready and waiting as of the beginning of May. As it turned out, just like her sister before her, she decided to come late, and didn't make her appearance until June 11th.

So, with that said, June 11th we had ourselves a new baby, and life was grand... well sorta. I happen to be one of those women who gets really bad PPD, so every day around 4pm I would fall into a terrible depression. To top it off, this little one was colicky in the evenings for the first month of her life, so needless to say, life was pretty rough. Luckily for me, the PPD only last a couple weeks, and then all was back to normal. Then, before I knew it, it was August and I began homeschooling my oldest in Kindergarten... can you believe that... Kindergarten!

Then the holidays began to fall like dominoes  and now here we are. By the way... Happy New Year! I can NOT believe it's 2013 already! What a year. Kaylie is turning 5 in exactly one week (seriously, how did this happen??), and Brooklyn will be 7 months old the day after that. To top it off, she started to crawl one week after she turned 6 months, and just last week started pulling herself up to standing. Things are just happening far to fast for my liking, but I am trying my best to live in the moment and soak it all up. Life with two girls has been amazing so far. They are like two peas in a pod, and Brooklyn just thinks Kaylie is the greatest thing since sliced bread. No one can make Brooklyn laugh and smile like Kaylie can... not even me, and that's saying something! Those two just hang out and play together all day long. It really is an amazing thing to watch, and I feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity in life.


Speaking of opportunities, with Brooklyn I ventured into the land of cloth diapering. At first I thought it was going to be a hassle, but was doing it to save on money, but now that I have entered the land of OZ, I am hooked. Cloth diapering is WAY better than using disposables. Forget the money factor, and forget the environment, these things are stinkin' cute (See the cute little fluffy butt below), and there are SO many brands, styles, and colors/patterns to choose from. It's like shopping for a cute outfit... quite literally. On a more serious note, however, one of the BIG advantages to cloth diapering is that Brooklyn does not get diaper rashes, whereas Kaylie had them ALL the time in sposies, and I just couldn't get rid of them. Very rarely will Brooklyn's bottom get red (usually if she had a messy diaper in the middle of the night), and even then, I just put a bit of CD safe butt cream on (CJ's BUTTer and Grandma El's are my personal favs), and it is completely cleared up a few hours later. That is what truely makes CD'ing worth it to me.... and they're cute! ;) Actually, my sister in law, who just had her daughter last January, just switched to cloth from sposies a few months ago because of rashes, and her baby hasn't had a rash since.

Ok... so getting back to this opportunity I was speaking of. Coth diapers obviously have to be washed, and then they have to be dried. Some I line dry, like my pockets, and anything that happened to gets stains on them (the sun is your friend!!), but everything else goes straight into the drier. It usually takes me 2 cycles to get everything completely dry. Most of my diapers and inserts with dry in one cycle, but some (like my fitteds and thick hemp inserts) take 2 cycles to complete. That's where dryer balls come into play. "What are dryer balls?" you ask. They are little balls made of plastic or wool (wool is generally preferred but more expensive) that you throw into your dryer with your laundry, and then bounce around and cut down on drying time AND naturally soften your clothes, something that is a major plus with CD'ing mamas, since fabric softener is a big no-no. I have been wanting to get some wool dryer balls for some time, but at $34 for 6, I just couldn't justify the purchase to my husband, so I have forgone the purchase... until now! I recently stumbled upon an opportunity with Woolzies, a company who makes handmade 100% New Zealand wool dryer balls. They sent me a package of dryer balls to try out and review here on my blog, AND... host a giveaway to one of my readers for a free set of their very own. Awesome? I think so! I just got them in the mail today, so I haven't gotten the chance to test them out yet, but next week you can count on me having a review up, as well as a giveaway that you can enter for your very own set.

So... with that said, it is SO good to be back. I have SO many things planned for this year, including a new business venture that I plan to embark on (I can NOT wait to share this with you all), and many other fun things that I plan to do and make this year. Plus, as a huge bonus, my darling husband got me a really nice camera for Christmas, so I'm not able to start taking proper photos of my stuff to put on here. Yay!

Anywho... till next time! Be sure to check back next week for my review of Woolzies dryer balls, and enter for a chance to win a set of your own!